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Health
Even if you are an
experienced shopper, the grocery store
can be a confusing nutritional maze that
requires looking beyond slick packaging
and impulse buying to find the right
healthy food choices for you and your
family. Since 1990, the U.S. government
required food label has been a practical
tool for deciphering what's actually inside
those boxes of cereal, tubs of butter and
jars of peanut butter stacked along grocery
aisles. And for those watching their choles
terol, take note that as of Jan. 1, die U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
began requiring food manufacturers to
add trans fat to the Nutrition Facts that
already list, among other things, calories,
sodium, dietary fiber and nutrients in a
single serving size.
All fats are not the same, and know
ing which ones are unhealthy is the
first step in lowering your risk of heart
disease. Fat is a major source of energy
for the body, aids in the absorption of
certain vitamins and helps us feel full.
However, consumption of saturated
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Finding the Fat in Foods
by NANCY DUNCAN
fat, trans fat and dietary cholesterol
raises low-density lipoprotein (LDL),
or "bad" cholesterol levels that increase
the risk of cardiovascular disease. With
the revised label, consumers now can
compare and chixise foods with lower
amounts of saturated fat, trans fat and
cholesterol.
What is trans fat? According to the
National Cholesterol Education Program,
trans fat forms when vegetable oil is hard
ened into solid fats like shortening and
hard margarine through a prcxess called
hydrogenation. This process helps make
frxxls more solid, gives them shape, and
prolongs tlieir shelf life.
It also hardens your arteries!
Trans fat often can be found in processed
foods made with partially hydrogenated
vegetable oils, some margarines (especially
harder margarines), crackers, candies, cook
ies, snack foods, fried foods and baked
goods.
Saturated fat still is the primary dietary
culprit in raising a person's bad cholesterol
levels, though. Saturated fat most often is
found in animal food products, including
fatty cuts of meat, chicken skin and frill-fat
dairy prrxJucts such as butter, whole milk,
cheese and in tropical vegetable oils such as
palm and coconut oils. On average, Ameri
cans consume four to five times as much
saturated fat as trans fat in their diet.
The FDA recommends replacing satu
rated and trans fats with mono-unsaturated
Know Your Cholesterol
While a high blood cholesterol level can lead to
cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol itself does not carry symptoms to warn
of the potential for a heart attack or heart disease. Therefore, checking and
understanding your cholesterol numbers should be part of a lifetime regimen
for keeping a healthy heart—and could even save your life.
Cholesterol can be both good and bad. The body produces it naturally and
needs the waxy, (at-like substance to function normally. However, excessive
cholesterol creates plaque and builds up on the walls of your arteries. Over
time, this buildup can slow down and even block blood flow to the heart.
By monitoring your cholesterol and taking action when it rises beyond the
optimal level of 200, you can reduce your risk of a stroke, heart attack or heart
disease with lifestyle changes including diet and exercise and, if your physician
recommends, by taking cholesterol-lowering medications. This is especially
important if you have a family history of heart disease.
No matter what your age or gender, it is important to keep your choles
terol in check. Dr. David Gordon, a preventive medicine physician with the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Md., recommends
adults begin at age 20 to have their cholesterol measured at least once every
five years. Because risk factors for cardiovascular disease increase with age,
men should have their cholesterol checked yearly starting at age 40 and women
beginning at 50.
The numbers will tell you what to do next:
TOTAL BLOOD CHOLESTEROL
Desirable: Less than 200 mg/ dL
Borderline: 200-239 mg/ dL
High: 240 mg/ dL or higher
Sonn e: National Heart. Ij/ng. and Blood Institute
While age, gender and heredity all can affect cholesterol level and are
beyond your control, you can lower your cholesterol naturally through other
means, such as diet, exercise, weight control and choosing not to smoke. Choose
foods that are low in saturated fat such as lean meats, fish, skinless poultry, whole
grain frxxls, fruits and vegetables—and high in fiber such as oats, vegetables, dry
peas and beans.
"While we are fortunate tcxlay to have safe and powerful drugs to lower high blood
cholesterol, a healthy lifestyle remains the cornerstone of heart health,” Gordon says.
“These are simple, basic things that any motivated person can take on.”
Photo Media Bakery
and polyunsaturated fats, which do not
raise LDL cholesterol levels and have health
benefits wlten eaten in moderation. Tliese
tats, found primarily in oils from plants,
include canola, olive and peanut oils, avoca
dos, sesame and sunflower seeds, com and
soybeans.
The food label can serve as a helpful road
map in navigating which fats are good and
Good for you! Keep it up!
Be on the alert! You are at risk for a
heart attack and should make changes in
your lifestyle.
Danger zone! You have a higher risk for
a heart attack. Consult your physician as
soon as possible.
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•American Profile