Cholesterol

As an individual choice, vitamins and supplements are important.

The guidelines are ways and means to prevent chronic diseases and improve your chances of living a long and productive lifestyle.One of the Filipino American restaurant, and the only owner involved and advocating for this Healthy Eating Program is our local Filipina American, Nancy Mendoza.

The restaurant is located by 8th Street, and is known to specialize in, "To die for chicken." Nancy has changed the ambience with a little Euro- Filipino touch of being inside a more pleasant dining experience.

The interior has been remodeled, and the pleasant attitude of the workers and family staff makes it enjoyable to be there.

The food is exceptionally yummy.

They are made to order, mouth watering and a tasty menu.

To top it off, for those who are allergic to many food substance and have certain food restrictions, the customers have choices to request and remove the patis (fish sauce), bagoong (salted shrimp), no salt, etc.

For those who advocate already for healthy eating and fine dining at Villa Manila Restaurant, when rated from one to ten, if one ranks the lowest and ten ranks the highest.

Then the Healthy Dining Experience is a high ranking ten.

A hungry advocate party catered for KCS complimentary from Villa Manila, HEC Adv...

That very Sunday evening I vowed to seek help on Monday morning.

I'd follow my doctor's advice and sign up for weight counseling.My knees shook when I approached the counter to register for weight counseling, but I felt at ease when a gentleman with a smiling face greeted me, "Welcome, I'm one of the weight counselors here.

My name is Frank."I fought back the tears as I introduced myself and confessed to him how desperate I felt.

As I filled out the paperwork, Frank uttered softly, "As of today, desperation and self-loathing are banished from your vocabulary."Next, it was time to step on the scales.

I didn't want to look, but I had to face the awful truth; I had gained forty pounds.

I felt my cheeks grow hot, I closed my eyes, but that didn't stop the tears from trickling down my red face."You have to think of this as a lifestyle change, not a diet," Frank said, as he handed me a tissue.

"This program is not a quick fix.

Once you lose the weight you cannot go back to your old habits, and you won't want to."My lifestyle change entailed banishing my two addictions, chocolate and white bread, from the house.

Breakfast would no longer consist of chocolate candy and a cup of coffee.

Actually, I'd forgotten I really liked cereal with fresh strawberries for breakfast.The first week I lost thr...

"From my perspective, it is interesting that a natural product, especially something like chocolate, may have a beneficial effect." The positive effects shown thus far are predominantly associated with substances called flavonoids, which are abundant in raw, unprocessed chocolate.

These substances are thought to be potent antioxidants - chemicals in food that have shown promise in halting the destructive action of free radicals in the body, which may lead to cancer.

But if you're looking for a sweet and simple solution, don't unwrap that candy bar just yet.

The process that chocolate beans undergo between the field and the candy jar often rob chocolate of many of these helpful substances.

"The way that chocolate is manufactured and processed, most of the flavonoids are no longer present once it hits the shelves and our mouths," Sandon said.

She adds that thus far, only one company has adopted the special, gentle processing method necessary to preserve the flavonoids in chocolate - the Mars company.

And even then, she said any health claims the manufacturer makes about its chocolate would not likely stand up to scientific scrutiny.

Zusman agrees that it's not just the ingredients, but also the process, that determine the health benefits of something like chocolate.

"I think the closer you get to a substance or a product that has pure beneficial agents, the gr...