Fried food not bad for heart if cooked in olive, sunflower oil

January 28, 2012 – 7:13 am    Comments (0)

(CBS) Is eating lots of fried food a heart attack waiting to happen? Not if it’s fried in olive or sunflower oil, a new study suggests.

PICTURES: Yum – or yuck? 20 freakish fried foods

The study, published in today’s British Medical Journal, surveyed the cooking methods of 40,757 healthy adults in Spain – ages 29 to 69 – over 11 years. Participants were asked about their diet and cooking methods. Researchers assessed the amount of fried food consumed.

After 11 years, the researchers reported 606 events linked to heart disease – such as a stroke or heart attack – and 1,134 deaths. Upon closer examination, heart disease events and deaths were not statistically tied to fried food consumption.  The study authors, led by Professor Pilar Guallar-Castilon from Autonomous University of Madrid, concluded that “In a Mediterranean country where olive and sunflower oils are the most commonly used fats for frying, and where large amounts of fried foods are consumed both at and away from home, no association was observed between fried food consumption and the risk of coronary heart disease or death.”

In Western countries such as the U.S., frying is one of the most common methods of cooking, but typically solid and re-used oils are used – not olive or sunflower.

Fried food has been found to increase some heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity, but a clear link between fried food and heart disease has not previously been investigated.

Does this study mean it’s time to celebrate with some deep-fried Kool-Aid?

Not quite. Other factors may have contributed to the results, namely that the overall diet habits of those studied are not the same as most Americans’.

“The bottom line here is, most of what they were consuming were these healthful oils – olive and sunflower – and a lot of fish,” Andrea Giancoli, a Santa Monica, Calif. dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told WebMD. “The Mediterranean diet is different from ours.”

A large-scale study of more than 530,000 individuals found the Mediterranean diet contributed to health benefits including a lower risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Story originally published on: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57365614-10391704/fried-food-bad-for-heart-not-if-its-cooked-in-olive-oil/

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Mediterranean Diet: 12 Rules to Live By

January 23, 2012 – 6:03 am    Comments (0)

Quick – what comes to mind when you hear “Mediterranean diet”? For most people, this conjures up an image of olive oil and hummus, or a feta cheese and cucumber salad. These foods are part of the Mediterranean Diet – but if you ask a nutrition expert familiar with the research into this healthful diet and way of life, you’ll hear about more than just dishes you might order at a Mediterranean restaurant.

This diet, which in scientific terms is modeled after the traditional diet and lifestyle of mostly poor rural villagers from the island of Crete during the 1950s and ‘60s, is proven like no other to prevent the kinds of chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s that are so troubling to the modern world.

After decades of research, the essential components of the Mediterranean Diet are understood, so you don’t have to eat exclusively Greek food, or even love falafel, to reap the benefits. There are 12 essential qualities of a Mediterranean diet:

  • Vegetables are eaten several times per day, raw and cooked, and potatoes don’t count.
  • Fruit is also eaten multiple times per day.
  • Legumes, including soy, beans, and peas are a daily staple.
  • Whole grains are another daily staple (including whole wheat bread).
  • Nuts are a regular item, several times per week.
  • Olive oil is the main cooking and culinary oil.*
  • Fish is eaten more than once per week.
  • Saturated fat from butter, meat and eggs is rarely eaten.
  • Red meat is rarely eaten.
  • Deli, luncheon and cured meats are almost never eaten.
  • Refined sugars and sweets are rarely eaten and reserved for special occasions.
  • Alcohol is enjoyed in moderation (1-2 drinks per day).

You don’t have to follow every one of these principles, and you don’t have to follow them perfectly. What is important is to do them more often than not: most of the time. The more you follow them, the better it is for your health.

You may notice some items that are conspicuously absent from the list above: fried foods, fast food, junk food, and packaged and manufactured foods. Dairy is not considered an essential part of the diet, but when included it is generally in the low-fat or non-fat form. The overall picture is one of high quality, wholesome foods.

A couple of points deserve special mention: First, this is not a low-fat diet. The Cretans ate plenty of fat, nearly all of it from extra-virgin olive oil, but very little saturated fat. Second, the villagers didn’t have TVs or computers, and most of them got around by walking, often for miles in hilly country, with donkeys in tow. So, the Mediterranean lifestyle is the exact opposite of sedentary. Since the calories in their diet were in balance with their exercise, they weren’t overweight or obese. Finally, a big part of their lifestyle was enjoyment of life, of family, and of community. So they felt socially connected to their community, and, though they worked hard, play was an integral part of their lives.

We could learn a lot from what, at the time, appeared to be a “backwards” way of life, and what now is probably a nearly extinct way of life. But by preserving the best of that diet and lifestyle in our own lives, we will have received a wonderful gift of health from the Mediterranean.

*Studies in Northern Europe, where people use vegetable oils other than olive oil, found that other vegetable oils had similar benefits to olive oil. The main thing appeared to be the avoidance of saturated fat, as found in butter and shortening.

Added to Wellness, Nutrition, Illness Prevention, Diet, Anti-Aging, Alternative Medicine on Fri 01/20/2012

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Which diets are easiest to follow?

January 10, 2012 – 6:29 am    Comments (0)

January 4, 2012 (WLS) — Dieters have a new list of easy ways to shed pounds or kick start healthy eating habits.

US News and World Report released the 2012 edition of its annual rankings of best diets. This year it includes a list of the easiest diets to follow.

Weight Watchers took the top spot, followed by Jenny Craig, the Mediterranean diet, Slim Fast and Volumetrics.

For this list, programs received points for convenience, ease of initial adjustment fullness and taste. An independent panel of 22 experts, including nutritionists, dietitians and cardiologists, reviews 20 popular diet profiles.

One of the panelists said the ease of sticking with a diet is an important factor in determining how well a diet will work.

Originally posted on http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/health&id=8490538

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Mediterranean diet tied to better fertility

November 6, 2011 – 7:13 am    Comments (0)

By Linda Thrasybule

NEW YORK | Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:16pm EDT

(Reuters Health) – Women who eat a Mediterranean-style diet — high in fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains — are less likely to have trouble getting pregnant, hints a new study from Spain.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence linking the Mediterranean diet to all kinds of health effects, including lower risks of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

But Dr. Jorge Chavarro, who was not part of the study, cautioned that the new results are based on observations, not an experiment.

“There’s always the possibility that this association is not causal,” said Chavarro, who studies nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Researchers looked at nearly 500 women with fertility problems and more than 1,600 women of the same age who had at least one child. Based on questionnaires, they measured how closely women followed either a Western-style or a Mediterranean diet.

The Western diet consisted of red meat, fast food, whole-fat dairy products, potatoes, refined grains and sugar-sweetened soda, and was not linked to fertility.

In other words, there was no difference in fertility problems between women who followed this type of diet religiously and those who followed it less strictly.

But the picture changed for women with a Mediterranean diet. About 17 percent of those who stuck to it meticulously said they’d had trouble getting pregnant, while 26 percent of the women who followed that diet least closely had fertility problems.

“The Mediterranean type diet may have a protective effect on insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes,” said study researcher Dr. Estefanía Toledo, who studies nutrition at the University of Navarra in Spain.

Insulin resistance means that the body’s cells have a hard time absorbing sugar from the blood stream. But researchers have also found a link between insulin resistance and ovulation — when the egg is released from the ovary and can be fertilized.

“Insulin has other functions in the body,” Chavarro told Reuters Health. “It also regulates a number of hormones, in particular the amount of hormones needed for ovulation which is essential for reproduction.”

Chavarro thinks the Mediterranean diet indirectly influences ovulation.

“The Mediterranean diet contains nutrients that help your body clear sugar from the bloodstream while using less insulin to do this job,” he said. “This makes it easier for the body to keep the balance of reproductive hormones.”

For women who are thinking about getting pregnant, Chavarro sees no harm in adopting the Mediterranean diet.

But for women who are having fertility problems, he said, “we don’t have enough data to show that this diet pattern can help you get pregnant as a result of fertility treatment.”

More than six million U.S. women of childbearing age have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But men might also want to watch their diet and lifestyle if they are interested in maximizing their chances of becoming fathers. A recent study by Chavarro and colleagues found that overweight men have lower sperm counts than their leaner peers.

“Other than that, there’s very little we know about body composition and male fertility,” he said. “That’s an area that we’re working on right now.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/puuLP3 Fertility and Sterility, September 22, 2011.

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How the Mediterranean diet could help you live 15 years longer

August 8, 2011 – 2:59 pm    Comments (0)

In case you needed convincing fruit, nuts, vegetables and olive oil really are good for you.

The results of a decade long study by researchers at the University of Maastricht suggest that eating a Mediterranean diet could extend your lifespan by up to 15 years.

The study, which involved 120,000 people aged 55-69, showed eating fish, grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts and olive oil helped women live up to 15 years longer and men up to eight years.

The Dutch researchers, who published their work in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, worked out a healthy lifestyle “score” based on what participants ate, if they smoked, how much they drank, whether they exercised and how much they weighed.

The healthiest participants were those who ate a Mediterranean-type diet, did not smoke, were a normal weight and who exercised regularly.

Piet van den Brandt, professor of epidemiology at Maastricht University, explained: “Very few research studies worldwide have analysed the relationship between a combination of lifestyle factors and mortality in this way.”

‘This study shows that a healthy lifestyle can lead to significant health benefits. Furthermore, the effects of a Mediterranean diet were more evident in women than in men. Within this diet, nuts, vegetables and alcohol intake had the biggest impact on lower mortality rates.”

Are you an advocate of the Mediterranean diet or more of a McDonalds type? Let us know below…

for the original article visit http://lifestyle.aol.co.uk/2011/08/04/how-the-mediterranean-diet-could-help-you-live-15-years-longer/

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Mediterraneans Ditch Their Famously Healthy Diet

July 20, 2011 – 1:00 pm    Comments (0)

BY COURTNEY HUTCHISON, ABC News Medical Unit
July 14, 2011

The Mediterranean diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy oils — has been praised for its ability to stave off obesity, diabetes, heart disease and even arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease.

All the benefits come to naught, however, if no one is willing to follow it. While the obesity epidemic continues to grow in the United States, even those native to the birthplace of the Mediterranean diet have forsaken their healthful culinary roots for a more modern, processed, obesity-inducing diet.

As early as 2008, while the Mediterranean diet was experiencing a surge of popularity stateside, a United Nations report by Josef Schmidhuber, senior economist at the U.N’s Food and Agriculture Organization, wrote that the diet had “decayed into a moribund state” back in the 16 Mediterranean countries that made it famous.

Instead, those living around the Mediterranean wanted food that was “too fat, too salty and too sweet,” Schmidhuber said. Today, that trend continues, with researchers in the region reporting that more and more, young people are shunning traditional diets for processed food and a sedentary lifestyle.

“How tragic, then, that rather than importing the Med diet to the U.S., we are exporting to the Med region the very dietary and lifestyle practices that have given us rampant obesity and diabetes, and unsustainable disease care costs,” said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center.

But is the growing love of fast food and soda simply the exportation of the American diet, or is it the product of modern living and affluence? That even Mediterranean young people have opted for these kinds of cheap, fast, convenience food options might shed light on why the Western world, in general, is rapidly expanding its waistline.

Although undoubtedly one of the healthiest diets, the Mediterranean diet has received some flack in the United States for being an expensive one. The fresh produce, olive oil and fish that make up the staples of the diet are all many times more expensive than the processed meats, fats and carbohydrates that are the staples of junk food diets.

“Studies have shown that if you shop around the edges of the supermarket, where all the fresh produce and dairy is, you pay about 10 times more for every 100 calories of food you get when compared to shopping in the middle of the store, where the chips, snacks and processed foods are,” said Dr. Carla Wolper, senior clinical nutritionist at New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City.

“The amount of junk food consumed in the U.S. has mostly to do with how cheap it is, especially in the recession.”

Other research has tracked how those on welfare eat and found that how much junk and fast food people consume is tied to how recently they received their welfare check, Wolper said.

“When people get their checks, they tend to spend it quickly, and toward the end while they’re waiting for the next check, that’s when they eat the most junk food,” she said.

TO read the original article visit: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/mediterraneans-ditch-diet-made-famous/story?id=14070596

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Dr. D’ Brant’s Healthiest Meal on Long Island

April 8, 2011 – 5:23 pm    Comments (1)

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In the first annual “Healthiest Meal on Long Island” competition, the Healthy Media Group and a panel of experts reviewed in the area the best restaurants.  The search was extensive. But in the end, the choice was clear: Ayhan’s Free Range Chicken Rosto from Ayhan’s Mediterranean Restaurants.

Acclaimed for their authentic Mediterranean cuisine, Ayhan’s restaurants have always been synonymous with quality ingredients and carefully prepared meals. Such consistency has earned them the loyalty of many Long Islanders who trust that a dinner at Ayhan’s will satisfy the senses without sacrificing value. And Ayhan would not have it any other way. “Growing up in Cyprus, everything on the plate was always natural,” he says. “That was just the Mediterranean diet.”

Ayhan’s Free Range Chicken Rosto features Murray’s organic roasted chicken, basmati rice, and a medley of vegetables, including broccoli, carrots, and white cabbage. “It is a delight to the senses on every level,” reports Dr. Garry D’Brant, a clinical nutritionist and dietician. “The fact that Ayhan can offer a healthier choice to the public and make it taste so wonderfully delicious is a credit to his methods and concern for the health of his patrons.”



When the meal first arrives, the rich aromas deliver before you even have a chance to ask your server for more of that homemade Turkish bread. “Immediately you could smell the delicacy of the spices and the richness of the flavors,” remembers Dr. D’Brant. “The first bite did not disappoint.” Marinated for 24-48 hours in orange, grapefruit, and lemon juices, garlic, paprika, black pepper, sea salt, and onions, the chicken is then double baked to melt off fat and ensure extra crispy skin. Drip pans catch any excess fat and oil. “Over spicing and salting is a characteristic of poor quality or quickly prepared food,” says Dr. D’Brant. “Ayhan’s choice of sea salt should be commended.” The use of citrus juices is also a healthy, natural choice that makes for a remarkably flavorful dish.

Basmati rice could not have been a better choice to complement the juicy quality of the chicken. Non-glutinous, aromatic, and slender-grained, basmati rice exhibits a sweet taste and soft texture that soaks up the dish’s most satisfying flavors. As for the vegetables, that added far more than just color, they were tender, crunchy, and almost a meal in their own right. “The portion is worth every cent,” points out Dr. D’Brant. “Great value and healthy food put together are not something that most diners have an opportunity to experience.” Perhaps the most telling sign that we all incredible satisfied, as the meal came to a close, was that we almost forgot (at least I did) that we were there to evaluate a meal based on what it contributed to our health. Ultimately, we had a splendid meal with great company in a comfortable setting. What more could you ask for when eating out?

Ayhan’s formula for success is relatively simple, but that is exactly why it works. Buy the best ingredients, take the time to prepare them, and establish relationships with your patrons. At the heard of it is a genuine love for food and the act of sharing it with other, and when you care about the people you are dining with, you also care about the quality of what they are eating. “We have to make our food choices work for our health, not against it,” Dr. D’Brant reminds us. “Fast food does us no favors, but food that is prepared slowly and with care nourishes our bodies as well as our souls.” Ayhan, his staff, and his patrons would wholeheartedly have to agree.

- Melissa C. Navia

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Spotlight on Organic Turkish Dried Figs…Healthy, but sinfully good!

March 22, 2011 – 12:52 pm    Comments (0)
fig
Most of us have heard of a Fig Newton, but did
you know that the fig inside of that delicious cookie is actually good for you?
Dried figs are just as sweet and tasty as any candy, and you don’t even have to
worry about the guilt. They are naturally fat free, sodium free and cholesterol
free. They are chock full of fiber, providing 20% of the Daily Value and contain
1 gram of soluble fiber which is a cholesterol fighter. They contain high levels
of minerals, such as potassium, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese and calcium.
Can you believe that they are the highest plant source of calcium!!! Figs can
have a laxative effect to help keep you keep regular and they are packed with
many antioxidants. So what are you waiting for?? Put the Fig Newtons down and
order your dried Organic Turkish Figs from Ayhan’s without an ounce of guilt.
fig
debra
delicious


1) chop and add them to hot cereal for breakfast
2) pack them along with
some nuts as a high energy, vitamin and mineral loaded snack
3) chop and add
to any grain dish (rice, couscous, bulgur, quinoa)
4) add them to muffin and
bread recipes in place of raisins
5) boil them down/stew them with water and
puree into a fig spread to use on toast, sandwiches, or crackers
6) stuff
with your favorite cheese (goat cheese and feta cheese work well) for a great
party appetizer

fig5
fig6
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Mediterranean Diet Reduces Risk of Metabolic Syndrome

March 15, 2011 – 1:22 pm    Comments (0)

Mediterranean Diet Reduces Risk of Metabolic Syndrome

Researchers found diet was associated with improved blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) — The Mediterranean diet, long known to be heart-healthy, also reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that boost the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, according to a new review.

Researchers from Greece and Italy reviewed the results of 50 published studies with a total of more than 500,000 participants as part of a meta-analysis — a statistical analysis of the findings of similar studies — on the Mediterranean diet.

Among their findings: the natural foods-based diet is associated with a lower risk of hikes in blood pressure, blood sugar and triglycerides, as well as a reduced risk of a drop in good cholesterol — all of which are risk factors in metabolic syndrome.

“It is one of the first times in the literature, maybe the first, that someone looks through a meta-analysis at the cardiovascular disease risk factors and not only the hard outcome” of heart disease and other conditions, said Dr. Demosthenes Panagiotakos, an associate professor at Harokopio University of Athens in Greece.

The study is published in the March 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The Mediterranean diet is a pattern marked by daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, and low-fat dairy products; weekly consumption of fish, poultry, tree nuts, and legumes; high consumption of monounsaturated fatty acids, primarily from olives and olive oils; and a moderate daily consumption of wine or other alcoholic beverages, normally with meals. Red meat intake and processed foods are kept to a minimum.

Metabolic syndrome — increasingly common in the United States — occurs if someone has three or more of the following five conditions: blood pressure equal to or higher than 130/85, fasting blood glucose equal to or higher than 100 mg/dL, a waist measuring 35 inches or more in women and 40 inches or more in men, a HDL (“good”) cholesterol under 40 in men and under 50 in women, triglycerides equal to or higher than 150 mg/dL.

In the review, Panagiotakos and his team found the Mediterranean diet “is strongly associated with decreased metabolic syndrome risk,” declining to pinpoint an exact percentage because the data would not fully support it.

The research team also noted that further study was needed, as a few of the studies reviewed also included interventions such as physical activity and smoking cessation.

The findings come as no surprise, said Dr. Ronald Goldberg, professor of medicine at the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who reviewed the findings. Since many studies have confirmed the role of the Mediterranean diet on reducing heart disease, he noted, it makes sense that the diet would also reduce the risks that lead up to heart disease.

But since Americans are fond of processed and fast foods, how willing would they be to adopt the diet? “Not particularly,” Goldberg acknowledged. But, he added, nutrition experts, recognizing that reluctance, have recently begun efforts to adapt the diet to different cultures — for example, including many traditional Hispanic foods into a Mediterranean diet adapted for those of Hispanic descent.

By doing so, the diet not only provides the same nutrients as the Mediterranean diet, but the familiar food of one’s ethnicity, Goldberg said.

Panagiotakos says even U.S. fast-food-lovers can eat more like Mediterranean’s. “Even in fast-food, we can introduce healthy eating, like salads, fruits and vegetables, cereals and legumes, and use good sources of fat. We can replace burgers with all these products — it is a matter of nutrition education.”

More information

To learn more about metabolic syndrome visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

SOURCES: Ronald B. Goldberg, M.D., professor, medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Demosthenes Panagiotakos, M.D., associate professor, biostatistics-epidemiology of nutrition, Harokopio University of Athens, Greece; March 15, 2011, Journal of the American College of Cardiology

This story was originally published on http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/650643.html

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Heart-healthy eating can be easy as no pie

February 16, 2011 – 4:18 pm    Comments (0)

Gerry and Laurene DeHoff started their heart-healthy eating plan long before anyone heard of a food pyramid or a Mediterranean diet.

  • Gerry DeHoff, 92, and his wife, Laurene, 90, eat fruits and vegetables regularly to maintain proper health. By Joe Brier, for USA TODAY

    Gerry DeHoff, 92, and his wife, Laurene, 90, eat fruits and vegetables regularly to maintain proper health.

By Joe Brier, for USA TODAY

Gerry DeHoff, 92, and his wife, Laurene, 90, eat fruits and vegetables regularly to maintain proper health.

A retired engineer, DeHoff, 92, has mitral valve prolapse, a condition in which a valve in his heart doesn’t close properly, but his cardiologist has never had to admonish him to improve his diet.

He and his wife, who is 90, grew up in Indiana farm country on a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, fish and chicken. “We pick our own cherries, strawberries, peaches and blueberries,” he says. They don’t keep salt on the table and use it sparingly in cooking. They eat their main meal at lunch and have a light supper. Married nearly 69 years, DeHoff says, his wife has “done a pretty good job watching our diet.”

Health officials and cardiologists wish the same could be said for most of us. Americans are eating their way into a public health crisis, creating an epidemic of obesity, heart disease and diabetes, doctors warn.

The habits — and consequences — of poor eating start early in life, says cardiologist Richard Milani of Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. “We focus on obesity, and yes, it’s horrible, but there are thin kids” heading for heart disease, too, he says. “It would be a mistake to say that a person’s not obese, so they’re not setting themselves up for heart disease. It has to do with diet as much as anything.”

Just look at what kids eat for lunch at school, he says. “You see cheese, meals that are all carbs and fat. Then they all have a snack of a candy bar and chips.”

Parents unwittingly may be teaching their children to overeat or to eat poorly, he says. “You go anywhere, a basketball game, Walmart, you’ll see a stressed-out mother, and she says (to her child), ‘If you calm down, we’ll go to McDonald’s.’ The point is, heart disease takes years to develop … and we start it young.” The result is more people in their 20s and 30s with diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and the hearts of older people.

Tracy Cherry, a dietitian in the cardiac rehab program of the University of Rochester Medical Center, agrees. “Our food environment really doesn’t promote healthy eating. How easy is it to slip in and order fast, processed food?”

Put these on your plate and eat them

Pack your diet with these items: :

Food Minimum serving
Fruits and vegetables 4.5 cups
Fiber-rich whole grain Three 1-oz servings
Fish (preferably oily fish like salmon or tuna) Two 3.5-oz servings
Nuts and seeds Four 1-oz servings

Limit these items:

•Salt: Less than 1,500 mg of sodium a day.

•Sugar: No more than 36 ounces (450 calories) of sugar-sweetened beverages per week.

•Processed meat: Limit to two servings a week.

Bad eating habits can be changed, she says. For instance, it’s as easy to fix a healthy breakfast as it is to grab a pastry and soda on the way to work or school. Her ideas for a fast-food breakfast? Cereal and milk. Yogurt with nuts or dried fruit. Toast with peanut butter.

There is cause for optimism. First lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign and the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Bill, which expands and improves the national school lunch program, show that concern about child obesity and inactivity has become part of the national consciousness, says nutritionist Rachel Johnson of the University of Vermont-Burlington.

It will take a national effort to improve dietary habits, she says, because “there are so many aspects of culture working against us, from our sedentary lifestyle to the barrage of high-calorie and low-nutrient foods all around us.”

It’s “not hopeless,” Milani says. Not long ago, “everybody smoked, and now, you go to a restaurant and if somebody lit up, the entire restaurant would be up in arms. We have to develop the same attitude toward food.”

Parents tell him they give kids fast food because they won’t eat the healthy stuff, but that’s “nonsense,” Milani says. Children like food that tastes good, even when it’s chock-full of nutrients. “Kids and men are the same. If it tastes good, they’ll eat it.”

The above article was originally posted on http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/diet-nutrition/story/2011/02/Heart-healthy-eating-can-be-easy-as-no-pie-/43776186/1

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