Tips for Adopting a Healthier Diet

There is very little new advice on controlling the calories in your diet, but today's greater array of low-fat, low-calorie products and the emphasis on more detailed nutritional labels make following that advice easier, say nutritionists and consumers. Among their tips:

- Eat more salads, says Atlanta mom Kathy Miller. And get your salad dressing on the side. Instead of pouring it over the greens, just ``dink'' your fork into the dressing and taste it a bite at a time. You'll eat half as much.

- Skip meals to lose weight? No way, says Miller. You have to eat to lose weight.'' That includes snacks.At 10 p.m., if I'm hungry, I go and get some yogurt.''

- Experiment with recipes. Miller reduced the sugar in a coleslaw recipe from one cup to one-fourth cup. ``It didn't change the taste at all.''

- Stop scarfing down soft drinks. ``Even chocolate milk is better than soda,'' says dietitian Rachel Brandeis.

- Identify the source of fat, advises Brandeis - in most dishes the fat comes from dairy products - and try to reduce that element. Use cheese with 2 percent milkfat, skim milk, egg whites instead of whole eggs and margarine instead of butter.

- Don't eat quite so much at one time. Portion control is boring,'' says Brandeis, andno one wants to hear that.'' But it works. For example, Brandeis says, at a certain chain restaurant, the cheesecake portions served at dessert could feed 10 people. Don't eat it all; share it.

- Offer sliced fruit as part of a meal, not just for dessert.

- Parents who want their children to eat a healthier diet must set the example themselves. Parents need to be modeling the behavior for their children,'' says Ruth Kava of Washington, a nutritionist with the American Council on Science and Health. Children won't eat wellif their parents are having fried chicken and french fries for dinner every night.''

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