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Sheryl Kraft

Sheryl Kraft, a freelance writer and breast cancer survivor, was born in Long Beach, New York. She currently lives in Connecticut with her husband Alan and dog Chloe, where her nest is empty of her two sons Jonathan. Sheryl writes articles and essays on breast cancer and contributes to a variety of publications and websites where she writes on general health and wellness issues. She earned her MFA in writing from Sarah Lawrence College in 2005.

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African-American woman in her 20s shopping in a grocery store, carrying a shopping basket. She is reading the ingredient label on a bottle
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3 Questions to Test Your Healthy Nutrition Smarts

Nutrition & Movement

I do my best to eat healthy foods, especially as I get older and find out how important it is for my body to run at its peak performance. And I do okay – most of the time. As I've said in the past, it's amazing how most of the time I find my body gravitating toward fresh fruits and veggies and lots of grains, anyway. Give me a salad with lots of colors thrown in, and I'm happy. Give me a steak and mashed potatoes and you'll get the entire plate back, untouched.

But something recently shocked me – and made me realize that what I know is, well, limited. Here I am, thinking I know what’s good and what’s not – and when I sat down to take a quiz I stumbled across on WebMD, I haven’t felt so bad about my grade since the first time I took the SAT back in high school.

Confused about low-fat, fat-free and reduced or less fat? Me too. "Low-fat food" means 3 grams of fat or less per serving (Fat-free has less than 0.5 grams) And "reduced fat” or “less fat," although better than full-fat, has at least 25% less than its regular counterpart. Want to know about good foods to help reduce belly fat? Click here.

Because I worry about salt’s effect on my blood pressure, I got this one right (or it was a lucky guess): For a food to be marked 'low-salt' or 'low-sodium,' it has 140 mg. of sodium in a serving. Watch out for processed foods like soups and frozen food, which is loaded with sodium. Just one teaspoon of salt a day is what experts recommend you limit your intake to (even less if you have high blood pressure or prehypertension). Click here for info on blood pressure.

I try to get enough fiber because, well, you know, it helps keep everything moving in the right direction. But maybe I think enough is too much, since I flunked this question: How many grams of fiber are in a 'high-fiber' or 'rich in fiber' food, per serving? I guessed 10 grams. Wrong. Foods labeled "high-fiber" must have 5 grams or more of fiber in a serving.

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