Two grams per day of sterols and/or stanols can promote heart health, reducing cholesterol levels by around ten percent in as little as two weeks. They are most beneficial for people whose cholesterol levels are already elevated. According to one study, sterols and stanols together are more effective than a double-dose of cholesterol-lowering medications! Not bad for a bunch of little-known plant compounds, huh?

The catch with sterols and stanols is working out how to get enough. Two grams daily. Doesn't sound like much. And, true, sterols and stanols are found in a great many foods - avocados, corn oil, apples, oranges, beans and peanut butter, to name a few. But they occur in minute amounts, making it hard to get as much as two grams daily. Example? The olive oil shown in the picture I've used at right only contains about 0.03 grams of sterols per tablespoon.

To the rescue (for a price!) come food manufacturers. Eager to cash in on a growing demand for the healthful compounds, these companies are releasing sterol- and stanol-fortified foods onto the market at a steady pace. A couple of examples: CocoaVia chocolate covered almonds, Rice Dream Heartwise vanilla-flavored rice milk, and Minute Maid Heartwise orange juice. With heart disease the number one killer in the US, demand for such products will likely continue to grow. Want to know more? Click here to view a handy dandy chart of easy-to-find supermarket foods containing sterols/stanols.

Oil...it's what for dinner.

Well, it's at least part of what's for dinner. Knowing which oil is the healthiest choice and the tastiest choice for said dinner -- ah, that's what I want to talk to you about.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know by now that the healthiest way to go in terms of your oil selection is Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or EVOO if you're Rachel Ray...which I'm not, so I'll avoid the acronym nonsense). It involves minimal processing and high levels of the antioxidants known as polyphenols. Very, very good for your heart.

So, what about the other oils? How do they measure up?

• Flaxseed Oil: Good for salad dressing. Great source of ALA, a form of heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.
• Olive Oil: This non-extra-virgin (please explain to me how something can be Extra virgin?) is perfect for grilling, sauteing, and using in a pasta sauce. It's high in monosaturated fats (good fats) and antioxidants, so it helps prevent the build-up of LDL (bad) cholesterol.
• Canola Oil: Good for baking and broiling. Rather low in saturated fat and also a good source of ALA.
• Grapeseed Oil: Works well for pan frying food. A good source of vitamin E, beta-carotene and sterols, which means that it also guards against the collection of bad cholesterol.
• Rice Bran Oil: Can be used for deep-frying food or stir-frying. Contains various vitamin E related antioxidants that have been shown in clinical studies to inhibit both breast and skin cancer cells.

It is rarely too late to begin living a heart healthy life. Cutting out high cholesterol foods and implementing a more active lifestyle can be done at nearly any time. However, the earlier a healthy lifestyle is introduced, the better. One Boston suburb has taken this thought to heart and has introduced a healthy lifestyle to the youth of the town.

The city of Somerville, Massachusetts recently changed old, bad habits to good ones in order to help the city youth eat better, exercise more and gain less weight. The improvements have taken root and the children now have better eating habits and enjoy a more active lifestyle.

The school cafeterias recently started providing unlimited supplies of fresh fruit, replaced fried foods with baked ones and stopped using frozen vegetables. Cross walks were repainted to appear more appealing to walkers. The teachers were given refresher courses on how to introduce more movement into their curriculum. The result is that the children are happier and more active. Kids are reporting that they enjoy the fact that they can play without feeling fatigued afterwards. Parents are happy to see their children running about and laughing rather than glued to the television.

I love nuts. Okay, that sounded weird. Allow me to back up for a second -- I love peanuts, almonds, cashews and even the occasional macadamia. All make for great, healthy snacks, and all of them carry their own, individual cardiovascular benefits. But, the one nut that I just can't seem to develop a taste for is one that may be the very best in terms of lowering cholesterol and protecting blood vessels: Walnuts. Despite what I keep reading about how healthy walnuts are for you, how many times I see news briefs saying the same thing, or even how my girlfriend swears that they have helped stabilize her cholesterol levels, I still can't bring myself to eat those damn things.

But, I should try. Maybe I can coat them with something delicious -- like dark chocolate, which would also provide me with the health benefits of its own natural flavonoids. Cinnamon is supposed to help regulate insulin/blood sugar levels, so maybe that would be yet another healthy way to eat walnuts without wanting to spit them out when no one's looking. Yeah, that sounds pretty good. Roasting them might help, kind of like almonds or chestnuts. The bottom line is that these damn nuts are healthy (that too sounds weird when taken out of context), and the science is certainly there to support that -- yet, I still can't bring myself to eat them.

In efforts to force myself to eat at least a handful of walnuts, I looked up some studies showing their efficacy in lowering cholesterol and protecting blood vessels. It didn't take long for me to find a welter of useless internet blips, but I also came across some well-documented research studies. Among them was a study held in Spain, where participants were asked to consume an unhealthy 1,200 calorie lunch each day that included an extra-large salami sandwich and either eight shelled walnuts or 5 teaspoons of olive oil. What they found was that although both the nuts and olive oil reduced arterial inflammation caused by the participants' diet, only the walnuts improved blood-vessel elasticity.

Alright, fine, I'll eat some damn walnuts. Apparently, it only takes as little as a handful a day to produce the positive effects, so I suppose I can choke them down. But, should anyone out there reading have an idea or recipe enhancing the flavor of walnuts, please pass it along!!

With all the talk these days about oil, I thought now would be as good a time as any to add my two cents. The main difference, though, is that the oil to which I refer can't power a car (yet), but it certainly can help power your body. Olive oil, a staple of the Mediterranean diet for millenia, and quickly becoming a regular part of the American diet. It's high concentration of good saturated fat makes it a very healthy alternative to vegetable oil and cooking spray. Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention that it may be able to help prevent you from having bypass surgery, too?

A study conducted at the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University uncovered a new use for the slippery, lubricating properties of olive oil. When used in a mixture with egg yolk, glycerin, sodium hydroxide and water, this emulsion can be used as a lubricant for surgical stents. Because there are a small percentage of people with arteries that cannot be stented (due to their having oddly shaped, winding, or tightly blocked arteries), the use of this olive oil lube may be the medical breakthrough they needed.

This mixture, composed of olive oil and the other named ingredients, allowed doctors at the lab to successfully place stents in 85 percent of patients who had previously been deemed unsuccessful candidates for stent insertion (by the way, just in case you don't know, stents are metal mesh tubes that are placed in an artery to assist in keeping it open. Sorry I didn't mention that earlier). Moreover, of these patients that had the stents inserted with the help of the primarily olive oil-based lubricant, none have reported any problems with their stents, months after their surgery.

Certain words carry very specific connotations. "Healthy," for example, lends itself to more positive images of proper diet and nutrition. People running, jumping, skipping, eating an egg whites breakfast with Bruce Jenner -- that sort of thing. But, sometimes the connotation of a word can mislead people, especially when it comes to the word "Fat."

In the quest to maintain a healthy cardiovascular life and lifestyle, it almost seems instinctual to avoid eating fat. Why? Because we automatically associate the word Fat with (big surprise here) Fat. You eat fatty foods, it makes you fat. Right? Um...no. Wrong. Very wrong, in fact.

Sure, chowing down on foods full of trans-fats is in no way, shape or form healthy eating. If it was, I would be at KFC right now ordering a heaping helping of fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. And, many other saturated fats can have a detrimental effect on cholesterol levels and hamper arterial function. But, not all fats are bad. Not all fats will make you fat. Some can actually help make you skinny!!

Monosaturated fats -- those are the good cops in this good cop/bad cop routine that fats have going on. They are the fats that will help clear your arteries, be burned as energy, and help you feel more full. Examples of foods containing monosaturated fats are extra virgin olive oil, avocados, fish, and most nuts. Bear in mind, however, that all things must be done in moderation -- including the consumption of these good fats. So, a good idea is to snack on these foods in between meals (except for the fish, only because carrying around a ziplock bag full of herring will make you look like weird -- so, save the fish for meals).

**I don't exactly fancy myself a chef, but as a healthy alternative to popcorn, you may want to try spraying a hand full of almonds with some nonfat cooking spray, popping them in an oven set at 400 degrees and then letting them back for about 8 minutes. Then, give them a little zing by adding some spices or brown sugar.