Tools for going from fat-to-fit
Summer is the perfect time for a fresh start for personal health and fitness. It is easy to fall into diet fads and fitness traps that begin as hopeful but quickly turn to let-down. Carole Carson, fitness guru who lost 60-plus pounds at age 60 and is the spokeswoman for AARP.org's "Fat-to-Fit" campaign, provides tips to reduce calories and/or fat grams in your diet while keeping high flavor. The secret behind successful weight loss choices with food is affirmative eating — not dieting.
• Swap evaporated milk (170 calories, 6 grams of saturated fat per half cup) for heavy cream (411 calories, 27 grams of saturated fat per half cup).
• Replace baking chocolate (73 calories, 5 grams of saturated fat per half square) with cocoa powder (12 calories, 0.4 gram per tablespoon).
• Use canned beans (231 calories, almost no saturated fat per cup) in place of ground beef (231 calories, 6 grams of saturated fat per cup).