I heard today that eating nuts helps to lower bad cholesterol. That's good news because I love nuts of all kinds. I always have a stash of almonds and walnuts in the fridge. Apparently, in order to have the full benefits of these nuts, they should be plain: not salted, not sugared, and obviously not roasted. There are some naturally occuring chemicals in nuts that counteract the LDL (or low-density lipoprotein which is the actual name of the bad cholesterol). You probably all know that here in the U.S there is quite a cholesterol problem. Obesity is on the rise, and of course, all of the related diseases as well. As I was thinking about this today, I remembered a sign that I saw in the recent carnival a few weeks ago. It was a list of some fast food items that were particularly high in saturated fat, sugar, refined flour, and all of those dangerous foods. If you check out the blog you will see the photo of the list. The worst item, I think, was the 'deep fried candy bar'. Wow! Just imagine, a candy bar that is already full of calories and so, so sweet, being dipped in a batter (made of flour, milk, and oil) and deep fried in oil. Now, I have a sweet tooth; I like to have something sweet in the house most of the time, but that treat sounds ridiculous. I wonder how many grams of saturated fat were in those fried candy bars. And how much sugar, come to think of it. Curiosity probably makes a lot of people try one of them. Let's hope that it doesn't become a habit. Obesity is predicted to cost the U.S health care 344 billion dollars by the year 2018, because of all the related diseases, complications, loss of work time, and extra health care needed. That is a huge cost! It sounds like some people should trade their candy bars for a few healthy nuts.

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: a stash, naturally occuring, on the rise, saturated fat.

1. She has a stash of candy bars in her car. No wonder she is overweight!

2. Vitamin C is a naturally occuring vitamin found in many fruits and vegetables.

3. Many people are trying to get fit. However, aerobic related injuries are on the rise.

4. Animal meat has saturated fat. It's best to cut it off rather than eat it.