(1995) Minding your peas and cucumbers in the supermarket

The average supermarket has about 26,000 items, and these days a healthy portion of them boast that they're "cholesterol-free," "fat-free," "reduced," "lite" or just plain "healthy." If you're counting calories, watching your cholesterol or reducing the family's sodium intake, a trip down the supermarket aisles could fluster the Jolly Green Giant himself. To help people mind their peas and cucumbers when grocery shopping, Jo Ann Carson, director of clinical dietetics at Southwestern Allied Health Sciences School, offers EatRite Supermarket Tours. Shoppers learn how to decipher food labels, plan nutritious meals and get the right nutrients without excessive fat, cholesterol and sodium.

Frozen meals sometimes contain large amounts of sodium. The average adult should strive for less than 3,000 milligrams per day.
Check serving sizes. Don't choose the "healthy" entree, and then eat two of them because the portions are minuscule. "If the portions are really small, plan a small salad or fruit, or bread to go with it," Mrs. Carson said. "It's a way to add to the meal and still be healthy."
With icecream, it's a bad sign if the label indicates more than half of the carbohydrate is sugar. Healthy Choice offers a line of frozen desserts that are acceptable," Mrs. Carson said.
Frozen juices from concentrate are just as nutritious as fresh fruits if the label says "100 percent juice."

Select lean cuts; "loin" and "round" mean lean.
Veal and poultry are very low in fat.
Seafood is a good way to get protein and not much fat. In general, however, shellfish contains more dietary cholesterol than beef or chicken. (But fatty meats can raise your blood cholesterol.) "It's OK in small portions, but stay away from the all-you-can-eat shrimp bars. If your cholesterol is OK, it's probably fine because shrimp is low in fat.
Chicken breast is the healthiest part of the chicken.
Cold cuts contain lots of sodium; try fat-free and reduced-fat selections.
A meat serving should be no larger than the size of a deck of cards.

Mozarella made with part-skim milk has almost half the fat of many other cheeses. Reduced-fat cheeses also are abundant and can be substituted in recipes for full-fat cheese or at least used to replace half of the full-fat cheese called for.
One cup of yogurt contains more calcium than an 8-ounce glass of milk. The healthiest choice--and the one with the most calcium--is fat free plain yogurt topped with free fruit.
Try Egg Beaters instead of eggs, or substitute 2 egg whites for every whole egg. One egg provides two-thirds of an adult's daily dietary cholesterol.
Use tub margarine instead of butter, and check the label to be sure liquid oil is the first ingredient. Try Butter Buds as a fat-free substitute for margarine.

"Consider this the special no-fat section of your supermarket," Mrs. Carson said.
Splurge on fruits you might not normally buy.
Fresh herbs are a great way to add flavor and get by with less salt.
Berries are high in fiber.

Salad dressing-try fat free brands and canola-based oils or mix flavored vinegar with plain yogurt.
Bagels--they have very little fat but avoid smothering them with fatty cream cheese.
Apple butter--try spreading it on toast instead of butter or margarine.
Soups--vegetable soup is the lowest in fat. Cream of anything is fatty.
Cereals and breads--choose whole-grain varieties.
Cakes-Angel food cake has no fat.