Let's Do It Healthy

March 19, 2005

Want to burn 160 calories in 30 minutes? You don't even need a gym! All you have to do is walk -- a great way to tone up, decrease your risk of heart disease and colon cancer, and help control your weight. A 150-lb. person, walking briskly for 30 minutes, can burn 160 calories.

Trans fat, or hydrogenated fat, contribute to high cholesterol. Trans fat, which is found in margarine and shortening, is formed when liquid oil is made solid at room temperature. Replace these unhealthy fats with moderate amounts of monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, canola oil and peanut oil.

Eat the right stuff at lunch, and you can cancel those desperate 3 p.m. coffee runs. The building blocks: Minimally processed carbohydrates (whole-wheat bread, whole-grain crackers, pasta, brown rice or bulgur); protein (lean chicken or turkey breast, low-fat or fat-free cheese, canned tuna or salmon); any fruit and/or any vegetable; and low-fat dairy (yogurt, pudding, certain low-fat cheeses, skim milk).

The more salt you eat, the more your taste buds get used to the taste -- meaning you shake more on your food each day to get the same flavor. If this sounds like you, ditch the salt shaker and high-sodium soups for 1 or 2 weeks to let your palette readjust. You will then find that a little shake of table salt will be much more potent on your taste buds. Despite popular belief, table salt alone is not a major risk for raising most people's blood pressure, but it can cause water retention and bloating -- something that most of us would prefer to avoid!