Nutrition Basics

A Guide to Healthier Eating
You should cut back on foods that have only limited nutritional value, that are overprocessed or that contain too much fat, salt, sugar and refined white flour.

Give Eating Right a Green Light
Trust that when kids are hungry enough, they'll eat the healthy options you serve.

Good Sources of Antioxidants
The most important antioxidants are vitamin C, vitamin E, and carotenoids, including beta carotene.

How to Cut the Fat and Keep the Flavor
By adopting a dozen or so of these eating habits, most people can continue to enjoy the foods they like and still lose pounds. Don't forget to include daily exercise in the plan.

How to Junk a Junk-Food Diet
Whether you’re trying to maintain a healthy weight or improve your health, junk food can sabotage a worthy effort.

Salad Days: It’s Easy Eating Green
At home or when dining out, here are suggestions on how to add the goodness of greens to your diet.

The Seven Best Foods We Never Eat
Stuck in a food rut? You don't have to go far to find some overlooked food choices that are easy to prepare, pack a nutritional wallop and avoid unhealthy fats.

The Sweet Scoop on Stevia
This zero-calorie, natural sweetener may help you manage your weight and stabilize your blood sugar level.

Five Must-Have Superfoods of Fall
Fresh produce tastes best—and is cheaper—when it’s in season. Here are five nutritious, delicious foods to try this fall.

Snacking Can Help You Maintain a Healthy Weight
Many nutrition experts say that having a healthy snack midmorning or midafternoon can help you maintain your energy and prevent you from eating too much at lunch or dinner.

Your Guide to Organic Foods
Fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products, and meat can all be certified as organic if they meet FDA requirements for growth, handling, and processing.

Your Guide to Condiments
Condiments can be the perfect topping to your favorite sandwich, salad, or taco. But you can undermine a nutritious diet by adding too many dollops of ketchup, mustard, or other favorite seasoning.

Understanding Trans Fat
Research indicates that trans fat raises LDL cholesterol. You can find out how much trans fat a food contains by checking the label.

Putting Healthy Fats on Your Plate
Certain types of fats can actually help your heart, so you don't need to avoid fat altogether. Instead, watch how much and what type you eat.

Cut Your Cholesterol, Without Drugs
People with a strong genetic predisposition to high cholesterol need medication to control cholesterol. But a lot of us don't.

Beyond Cholesterol
Scientists have learned that other substances may give you and your doctor new clues about your heart disease risk. And that's good news. Coronary heart disease, in which fatty deposits build up in your arteries, is the nation's top killer.

Children and Cholesterol
If you, your parents or your parents' siblings had a heart attack before age 55, you should have your child's cholesterol tested.

The Egg Bounces Back
Eggs are a great protein source. If you're on a diet, protein helps satisfy your hunger.

For Your Heart's Sake, Lower Your Cholesterol
High cholesterol contributes to heart disease, which kills more Americans than all cancers combined.

All About Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs
According to the American Heart Association, there are five main types of cholesterol-lowering medications.

Vitamins: Too Much of a Good Thing?
Remember being warned as a kid that if you didn't take enough vitamin D, you'd come down with a scary disease called rickets? Or that if you didn't get your calcium, your bones wouldn't grow right? Chances are you heard the message about getting enough vitamins and minerals. But have you heard about the risks of an overdose?

Among the Missing: Vitamin D
Just when you thought you had your summertime outdoors routine down -- plenty of sunscreen, a large hat, limited exposure between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. -- comes the news that Americans aren't getting enough of the "sunshine vitamin" -- vitamin D.

Five Minerals We All Need
Chances are you know you need minerals such as calcium and iron. But five lesser-known minerals also deserve your attention.

As You Age, Be Aware of B12 Deficiency
Getting too little vitamin B12 may leave you feeling fuzzy in your thinking and lead to numbness or tingling in your hands and feet.

Dietary Supplements
Adding anything to your regular diet to improve your health or healing is considered a dietary supplement.

Do You Need a Daily Vitamin Supplement?
Daily vitamin and mineral supplements are an option for people who don’t get enough essential nutrients through the foods they eat.

Making the Transition to a Vegetarian Diet
People decide to eat a vegetarian diet for a variety of reasons. But how they make the change requires they take one of two routes -- the overnight approach or the gradual one.

Vegetarian Diets: The Myths vs. Facts
Roughly 20 million Americans are vegetarians, from partial vegetarians who limit the amount of animal flesh they eat, to vegans, who eat only plant foods -- no meat, poultry, fish, dairy products or eggs.

It's Time to Veg Out
Vegetables are good sources of fiber, and they're chock full of vitamins and minerals.

Vegetarian Kids
Most nutrition experts and dietitians say that children of any age -- even infants -- can safely follow a vegetarian diet, according to the Nemours Foundation. But some planning is involved to ensure that children receive the proper nutrients, especially if their diet does not include eggs and dairy products.

Vegetarian Teens Need Diet Advice
If your teen wants vegetarian options, you may worry that dropping meat, poultry and fish will be unhealthy.

Choose My Plate Now Tailored to You
Many of us used the old Food Pyramid for years to help make sure we were following a balanced diet. Its replacement, Choose My Plate, was introduced in 2011.

Give Your Diet a Nutritional Tune-up
Between spending long days at work and evenings and weekends attending to personal and family concerns, few Americans have time to eat right. But you don't have to remodel your diet to improve its healthfulness.

Understanding the Latest Diet, Nutrition News
Does a low-fat diet protect against heart disease? Will taking calcium supplements help reduce the risk for osteoporosis?

Nutrition Glossary
Whether you’re trying to maintain a healthy weight or lose a few pounds, knowing the definitions of terms relating to diet and exercise can help you make good choices.

Why Portion Sizes Are Important
Most people are serving-size challenged, thanks to today's large portions: mega-muffins, heaping plates of pasta, behemoth burgers and extra-large bagels.