01. How can I follow a healthy diet if I eat out a lot?
02. It's hard to know if my portions are correct for a healthy diet. Do I have to measure everything I'm eating?
03. I know a healthy diet means I should control my fat intake. How do I know which ones are ok and which to avoid?
04. What are the most important steps to a healthy diet?

How can I follow a healthy diet if I eat out a lot?

The American Heart Association gives these tips for a healthy diet, even when you aren't cooking at home:

• Ask the server to make substitutions, like having steamed vegetables instead of fries.
• Pick lean meat, fish, or skinless chicken.
• Make sure your entree is broiled, baked, grilled, steamed, or poached instead of fried.
• Ask for baked, boiled, or roasted potatoes instead of fried.
• Order lots of vegetable side dishes and ask that any sauces or butter be left off.
• Ask for low-calorie salad dressing or a lemon to squeeze on your salad instead of dressing.
• Order fresh fruit or fruit sorbet in place of cake, pie, or ice cream desserts.

It's hard to know if my portions are too big or too small for a healthy diet. Do I have to measure everything I'm eating?

It can be hard to learn if your portions of food are putting you over amounts of things you're trying to control. It doesn't help that sizes for everything from bananas to soft drinks have gotten larger in the past 20 years. It's not enough to eat the right kinds of food to maintain a healthy weight or to lose weight. Eating the right amount of food at each meal is just as important. If you are a healthy eater, it is possible to sabotage your efforts by eating more than the recommended amount of food. A serving is a specific amount of food, and it might be smaller than you realize. Here are some examples:

• A serving of meat (boneless, cooked weight) is two to three ounces, or roughly the size of the palm of your hand, a deck of cards, or an audiocassette tape.
• A serving of chopped vegetables or fruit is 1/2 cup, or approximately half a baseball or a rounded handful.
• A serving of fresh fruit is one medium piece, or the size of a baseball.
• A serving of cooked pasta, rice, or cereal is 1/2 cup, or half a baseball or a rounded handful.
• A serving of cooked beans is 1/2 cup, or half a baseball or a rounded handful.
• A serving of nuts is 1/3 cup, or a level handful for an average adult.
• A serving of peanut butter is two tablespoons, about the size of a golf ball.

I know a healthy diet means I should control my fat intake, but I'm confused by all the different kinds of fats in foods! How do I know which ones are ok and which ones to avoid?

There are different kinds of fats in our foods. Some can hurt our health, while others aren't so bad – some are even good for you! Here's what you need to know:

• Monounsaturated fats (canola, olive and peanut oils, and avocados) and polyunsaturated fats (safflower, sesame, sunflower seeds, and many other nuts and seeds) don't raise your LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels but can raise your HDL ("good") cholesterol levels. To keep healthy, it is best to choose foods with these fats.
• Saturated fat, trans fatty acids, and dietary cholesterol raise your LDL ("bad") blood cholesterol levels, which can lead to heart disease. Saturated fat is found mostly in food from animals, like beef, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, whole milk dairy products, cheeses, and from some plants, such as tropical oils. Tropical oils include coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils that are found in commercial cakes, cookies, and salty snack foods. Unlike other plant oils, these oils have a lot of saturated fatty acids. Some processed foods (such as frozen dinners and canned foods) can be quite high in saturated fat — it' s best to check package labels before purchasing these types of foods.
• Trans fatty acids (TFAs) are formed during the process of making cooking oils, margarine, and shortening and are in commercially fried foods, baked goods, cookies, and crackers. Some are naturally found in small amounts in some animal products, such as beef, pork, lamb, and the butterfat in butter and milk. In studies, TFAs tend to raise our total blood cholesterol. TFAs also tend to raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol. One study found that the four main sources of trans fatty acids in women's diets come from margarine, meat (beef, pork, or lamb), cookies, and white bread. At this time, TFAs are not listed on nutrition labels, but that will soon change. Although it might take a couple of years to begin seeing it, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now asking food manufacturers to begin labeling TFA content. And some food manufacturers are announcing they are taking TFAs out of their food.

What are the most important steps to a healthy diet?

The basic steps to good nutrition come from a diet that:

• helps you either lose weight or keeps your BMI in the "healthy" range.
• is balanced overall, with foods from all food groups, with lots of delicious fruits, vegetables, whole-grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products.
• is low in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. Keep total fat intake between 10 to 20 percent of calories, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.
• includes a variety of grains daily, especially whole-grains, a good source of fiber.
• includes a variety of fruits and vegetables (two cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables per day are recommended for a 2,000 calorie diet).
• has a small number of calories from added sugars (like in candy, cookies, and cakes).
• has foods prepared with less sodium or salt (aim for no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, or about one teaspoon of salt per day).
• does not include more than one drink per day (two drinks per day for men) if you drink alcoholic beverages.