Eating – Topics

1. Get Savvy about Fat For all of the low-fat rhetoric, know this: Without fat in our food, we might as well be eating cardboard. Not only do our bodies need fat to function, but the simple fact is that fat tastes good. It may also trigger chemical receptors in our body that create a feeling of fullness and well-being. So fat isn’t all bad. Actually, some types of fat are downright good for your arteries. Get enough of these “good” fats, eliminate enough of the “bad” fats, and watch your cholesterol levels improve and your heart disease risk plummet. This doesn’t mean you have free rein when it comes to fat; we still want you to limit your overall intake of fat to about 25 percent of calories. The point is that both quality and quantity count. Hazards of the Hard Stuff Butter. Milk. Steak. Hamburgers. Cream. Cheese, You can just taste their richness now, can’t you? Well, much of that richness comes from the high level of saturated fats in these foods. Saturated fat is solid at...

Here, then, are the essentials of the eating plan. Calories. Calories matter because if you eat too much—of any kind of food—you. You won’t be counting calories on the  Plan. Rather, you’ll be eating more fruits and vegetables (which are naturally low in calories) and cutting back on many of the high-fat, high-calorie, nutritionally empty foods you’ve probably been eating—so it’s likely that you’ll lose weight in the process. If your Body Mass Index is 26 or higher (see on this), you’ll need to make a special effort to lose weight, particularly if you have metabolic syndrome, diabetes, or a high triglyceride level. One study found that losing 10 percent of  your overall weight resulted in a 7.6 percent drop in LDL. The way to lose weight is simply by consuming fewer calories, burning more calories through exercise, or both. (See “Winning Weight Loss Strategies” beginning  for some tips on how to do it.) Fat. All it takes is a stroll down anysupermarket...

There are plenty of ways to go about lowering your cholesterol through diet. For there’s the Mediterranean diet (high in fat, but mainly the heart-healthy kind), the Ornish diet (extremely low in all types of fat), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet, known as DASH (rich in grains, fruits, vegetables, and nonfat dairy), and the American Heart Association’s Step I and Step I diets (relatively low in fat and protein). In many ways the success of these diets and the expert findings and opinions behind them help map out a common ground of healthful eating habits. While mary experts in the field may defend their particular view or territory, we believe the greatest benefits lie where the territories overlap—a moderately low total fat intake, a healthy balance of “good” and “bad” fats, plenty of fruits and vegetables, and a moderate amount of protein. This overlap area also happens to correspond almost perfectly with what we know about how our early ancestors ate, which...