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Diet Group Fights The Fat

Rick Bonino Food Editor

It seems like everybody talks about eating less fat, but not everyone is doing something about it.

Now the American Dietetic Association is making it easier with a new booklet, “LEAN Toward Health,” that offers practical advice for reducing the amount of fat in your diet.

Tips range from how to read nutrition labels on packages, to ways to cut fat in recipes by up to one-half without sacrificing taste, to spotting low-fat items on restaurant menus.

Copies of the 23-page booklet are available for free through May by calling the ADA’s toll-free hotline, (800) 366-1655.

Mouse potatoes

Many people who used to snack while sitting in front of the TV screen now snack while sitting in front of their computer screen.

So what are they feeding their faces while surfing the Net? Popcorn (24 percent) is a slim favorite over pretzels (23 percent), according to an on-line survey by the Snack Food Association, followed by potato chips (17 percent), tortilla chips (14 percent) and cheese puffs (9 percent).

Tastes, as you might expect, vary by age. Generation X is partial to potato chips, thirtysomethings go for tortilla chips, people in their forties prefer popcorn and those in their fifties favor snack nuts.

For more tidbits, point your browser toward http://www.snax.com.

Pig skins?

According to the Snack Food Association, as reported in USA Today, Spokane ranks second among the nation’s cities in salty snack consumption per resident, at an annual 30.9 pounds. We were second only to Green Bay, Wis., where they pack away 33.3 pounds per person.

Dilly dallying

And to put that into perspective, each American eats an average 9 pounds of pickles per year, according to the sponsors of International Pickle Week, which starts Friday and runs through May 27 (it’s apparently a 10-day week because of the international date line or something).

Let them drink cake

If you believe coffee belongs inside coffee cake, not just beside it, try the coffee cake recipe contest sponsored by Seattle-based Caffe Appassionato Specialty Coffee Roasting Company.

Recipes must use ground, whole bean or brewed coffee as an ingredient. Five finalists will be prepared by chefs at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers, with the winner receiving two pounds of Caffe Appassionato coffee each month for a year.

Send recipes by June 13 to: Caffe Appassionato, c/o National Coffee Cake Contest, 4001 21st Avenue West, Seattle, WA 98199.

, DataTimes