The Healthy Diet »

Do you use butter or margarine?
Three out of four Americans now use margarine regularly because they think it is better for them than butter. Are they right? Margarine does have a nutritional advantage: Many margarines have at least twice as much polyunsaturated fat as saturated; the fat in butter is mostly saturated. And while a tablespoon of butter contains 32 milligrams of cholesterol, most margarines have none.

But if your overall diet is healthy, it actually does not make much difference whether you choose butter or margarine. The point is that if you keep the total amount of fat you consume relatively low, butter in small amounts — as in the recipes in this book — is no worse for you than margarine. Both have the same amount of calories and fat. People on a strict low-cholesterol diet are better off using margarine or a polyunsaturated vegetable oil such as corn, safflower or sesame oil. Otherwise, if you prefer the taste of butter, go ahead and use it. You can also try one of the new butter-margarine blends, which offer the taste of butter without as much saturated fat and cholesterol.

Do you enjoy making your own lunch at a salad bar?
Salad bars are usually stocked with a good variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as grains and beans, which together can provide a far more nutritious lunch than a ham and cheese sandwich and a bag of potato chips. But many salad bars also offer such choices as seafood, chicken and pasta salads drenched in mayonnaise, which is 99 percent fat. And with only two dollops of commercial blue-cheese dressing on your Romaine, you may take in of fat. You would do better to use vinegar and olive oil or, better yet, just sprinkle lemon juice on your lettuce.

Do you drink enough water?
On average, you will lose two to three quarts of fluid a day through perspiration, moisture exhaled through the lungs and bodily excretions. If you work out in hot weather, you can lose as much as two or three gallons water in an afternoon. Drinking alcoholic beverages or coffee can lead to excess; water loss, too. All this fluid must be replaced. You will replace some fluid by eating fruits and vegetables, which consist mostly of water, but you need to drink six to eight glasses of pure liquid as well. Some of this fluid can come fief soups, juices and milk, but some should come from plain water.

Do you drink some form of alcohol every day?
In moderation, alcohol probably is not bad for you. In fact, recent studies shown that people who drink two alcoholic beverages a day have a slightly Controlling your cholesterol The fiber from apples, car­rots, legumes, nuts, oatmeal and soybeans can decrease your serum cholesterol, while disease than those who are teetotalers. (Why this is so has not been demonstrated; alcohol may help clear cholesterol from your arteries and therefore decrease the risk of heart attack. So, if you drink moderately you may be doing yourself some good. But if you drink moderately you may be doing yourself some good . but if you do drink bear in mind that alcoholic beverages contain a surprisingly high number of calories. A can of beer, for example, has 150 calories — more than a small chocolate brownie a glass of white wine has 80 calories; a vodka martini has 140 calories, Plus another seven calories of fat if you add an olive.

If you are a teetotaler no one suggests that you start drinking: There are better ways that you take proper diet, exercise and stress control, among them — to reduce your risk of heart attack