• know the different types of fats in the foods you eat,
• learn which are bad and which are better and
• make heart-healthier food choices.

According to the American Heart Association, your saturated fat consumption should be less than 7 percent of your daily calories and your trans fat consumption less than 1 percent.  That's easy to say, but what does it actually mean to the average Joe or Jane looking at today's menu specials or staring into the fridge to decide what to eat for dinner?

If you're like most people, you may be consuming a lot more fat than you think, due to what I like to call "fat creep" - a little here, a little there.  And you may not know how to even begin to figure out how much (or how little) you're supposed to be consuming in a day (which you can find by using the "My Fats Translator" tool.  So I decided to try to make this a little easier to understand with a brief video.  I call it getting the "big fat picture."

The "Get the Big Fat Picture" video should help you visualize the amount of fats an average person consumes, the amount of bad saturated and trans fats we should cut out, and the amount of better monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats we can choose instead.  The video also shows some everyday foods where these fats are found, and what a heart-healthy day's worth of food looks like.  How about whole-grain toast, low-fat or skim milk, and fresh fruit for breakfast?  Let's try a turkey sandwich for lunch.  Have a handful of nuts for a quick snack.  For dinner, we can have a three-course meal starting with a salad, grilled salmon, rice, and vegetable for our entrée, and a low-calorie fruit dessert.  I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised at the delicious foods you can eat in a day for no more than 2,000 calories!  Enjoy!