The following guidelines should help you design and stick to a well-balanced diet:

• When choosing breads, cereals, rice, and pasta, always choose whole-grain, high-fiber, low-fat varieties, preferably without added sugar, coloring, or unnecessary preservatives. Choose brown rice over white rice, and whole-grain pastas over pastas made from white flour.
• Eat your vegetables and fruits fresh and, preferably, raw as often as possible. Water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C may leach out of foods during cooking, be damaged by overprocessing, or be destroyed when foods are overcooked. Even fat-soluble vitamins, which are fairly stable during low-temperature cooking, can be affected by frying. For this reason, it is best to steam or microwave vegetables rather than boiling or frying them. And, unless produce is organically grown, be sure to peel or thoroughly wash it before eating to reduce such unwanted elements as waxes and pesticides residue.
• Select low-fat and nonfat varieties of milk, yogurt, and cheese. These provide the most nutrients and the least amount of fat. When eating meat, poultry, or fish, choose the leanest cuts available, trim off any excess fat, and bake or broil the foods instead of frying them.

Select as few foods as possible from the fats, oils, and sweets category. When you do use fats and oils, choose monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats instead of saturated ones. Limit your intake of sweets. Choose fresh fruits instead of cakes, cookies, and other high-fat desserts.

Food labeling

Food labels are required to include a “Nutrition Facts” section that identifies how many servings are found in each container, and how much of the following components each serving contains:

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Fats have been classified into three major categories – saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and monosaturated fats. This classification is based on the number of hydrogen atoms each has in its chemical structure.

Saturated fats, which are usually solid at room temperature, are found primarily in animal products, including fatty meats like beef, veal, lamb, pork, and ham; and in dairy items such as whole milk, cream, ice cream, and cheese. For example, the white marbling you can see in a piece of beef is saturated fat. Some types of vegetable products – including coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and vegetable shortening – are also high in saturates.

The liver uses saturated fats to manufacture cholestrol. Therefore, excessive dietary intake of saturated fats can significantly raise the blood cholestrol level, especially in people how have an inherited tendency toward high blood cholestrol.

Guidelines issued by the National Cholestrol Education Program (NCEP) and widely supported by most experts recommend that your intake of saturated fats should be kept below 10 percent of your total calorie intake. However, for people who have severe problems with high blood cholestrol, even that level may be too high.

Polyunsaturated fats are found in greatest abundance in corn, soybean, saffflower, and sunflower oils. Certain fish oils, particularly those containing the omega-3 fatty acids, are also high in polyunsaturates. Unlike the saturated fats, plyunsaturates may actually lower your total blood cholestrol level. In doing so, however, large amounts of polyunsaturates also have a tendency to reduce your HDLs – your “good cholestrol.” For this reason – and because, like all fats, polyunsaturates are high in calories for their weight and volume – the NCEP guidelines state that your intake of polyunsaturated fats should not exceed 10 percent of your total calorie intake.

Monosaturated fats are found mostly in vegetable and nut oils such as olive, peanut, and Canola (rapeseed). These fats appear to reduce blood levels of LDL cholestrol without affecting HDLs in any way. However, this positive impact upon LDL cholestrol is relatively modest. The NCEP guidelines recommend that your intake of monosaturated fats be kept between 10 and 15 percent of your total calorie intake.

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