A Food Lover's Guide To Fat

Byers of the CDC goes further: he says diet isn't enough. ""You can't achieve a healthy life by choosing the right foods,'' he says. ""You have to be physically active.'' For most of us that's a lot more challenging than cutting out bacon or adding broccoli. The problem isn't just that we fail to make time to exercise, or drive instead of walk -- most of us don't do anything anymore. Brownell has his patients keep track of the labor-saving devices they use in a week. ""In most automobiles, you don't have to roll down the window with a crank,'' he says. ""You use a garage door opener. Radios don't even require you to turn your wrist to change the station. These are small caloric expenditures, but how many times a year do you do these things? We've never been more inactive.'' And we've never been more susceptible to many diseases. ""Physical activity, along with good nutrition, will protect against coronary heart disease, colon and breast cancer, and certainly obesity,'' says Byers.

Say goodnight, fat grams; the trumpet is sounding for a new dietary commandment. Exercise. Oi.

KAREN SPRINGEN IN CHICAGO, SHAWN D. LEWIS IN DETROIT, ELLISE PIERCE IN DALLAS AND GINNY POWER IN PARIS

© 1994