it. Like vegetables, fruits are generally low in calories and full of nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber. (You lose out on the fiber, however, when you choose fruit juice instead of whole fruit.) Most fruits are naturally sweet; they make great snacks and desserts. Again, variety is the key. Keep it interesting: Add pear or apple slices to garden salads. For breakfast, have whole-grain cereals with yogurt and berries — or top toasted whole-grain bread with peanut butter and sliced banana. For dessert, serve fruit layered with yogurt, drizzled with honey, and sprinkled with chopped nuts. Broil or grill fruit slices brushed with oil, and then sprinkle them with cinnamon. To enjoy a variety of fruits year-round, buy bags of frozen out-of-season and exotic fruits (mango, papaya, passion fruit). Whirl frozen fruit into a smoothie made with low-fat yogurt and half a banana.
3. Go a little nuts. Nuts contain many antioxidants and other nutrients. Walnuts, in particular, are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce cardiovascular risk and have anti-aging effects in the brain and skin. Unlike snacks made from refined grains or sugar, nuts have a low glycemic index, which has a steadying effect on blood sugar, and they're good at satisfying hunger. But they're calorie-dense, so restrict yourself to small amounts — no more than a small handful (160 to 180 calories) a day. Keep it interesting: Sprinkle chopped pecans or walnuts on salads, fruit, or yogurt. Top cooked vegetables with sliced almonds. Dip olive oil–coated fish or poultry in ground nuts before baking or roasting. Brush small slices of whole-grain bread with olive oil, and then sprinkle them with — or dip them in — a mixture of ground nuts, seeds, and spices.
4. Go for the grain, the whole grain. Grains are mostly carbohydrate, and we need carbohydrates for energy. But highly processed grains like white pasta, white rice, white bread, and refined-grain cereals and snacks are stripped of important nutrients, including their fibrous coating. With little or no fiber to slow their digestion, refined grains can cause blood sugar levels to spike. Eventually this can lead to weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, and other disorders. Whole grains contain more vitamins, minerals, and protein, and they have a stabilizing influence on blood sugar levels. Keep it interesting: Maybe you're already eating whole-wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal, but there are many more tasty options to explore. Try pasta made with whole-grain flour or a mixture of whole-grain and legume flours (with at least 4 to 6 grams of fiber per 2-ounce serving). Instead of regular oatmeal (from rolled oats), try the steel-cut variety: it's chewier and slightly nuttier in flavor. Other interesting possibilities: whole-grain cornmeal (not the degerminated kind); the South American grains amaranth and quinoa; farro, a wheat grown in ancient Egypt and now part of the Italian diet (in the form of semolina); barley, which (like oats) has a type of fiber that helps lower cholesterol; spelt; kamut; kasha; sorghum; buckwheat; and wild rice. Several of these grains can be cooked like hot cereal or rice. Some are ground into flour and can be incorporated in breads, muffins, and pizza dough. Amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, sorghum, and wild rice are gluten-free. For more information about whole grains, visit the Whole Grains Council on the Web at www.wholegrainscouncil.org.
5. Eat good fats. Thirty to forty percent of calories in the traditional Mediterranean diet come from fat, half or more of it from olive oil. This healthy monounsaturated fat lowers both total and LDL cholesterol when it's used to replace unhealthy saturated fats — like the fats in whole milk, butter, and meat — and trans fats (especially the solid vegetable fat used to fry foods and in commercial baked goods). Canola oil and nuts are also rich in monounsaturated fat. Another source of good fat is fish rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids — for example, anchovies, sardines, mackerel and salmon. Keep it interesting: Use high-quality olive oil in sal