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Leading a healthy lifestyle can get downright frustrating when the messages are mixed.

Case in point: soy.

For a while, studies seemed to indicate that consuming soy reduced a woman's risk of breast cancer. Then the pendulum swung, and eating too much soy could speed the development of tumors.

So which is it?

In observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I decided to find out what nutritionists and dietitians believe to be the best cancer-preventing and fighting-foods in the market.

What they had to say may not surprise you.

Maintaining a healthy weight for your height and avoiding excessive alcohol consumption are particularly powerful ways to fight the chances of getting breast cancer.

"I think that is the best [scientists] know," said Nancy Robbins, who teaches nutrition at Jefferson College of Health Sciences.

But there are other tools to keep in the prevention kit, and if anyone remembers what Mom used to fuss at them to eat when they were youngsters, they've already got a pretty good idea what those not-so-secret weapons are.

Fortunately, with maturity comes a more sophisticated palate. What was yucky when we were 5 can be oh-so-delicious now.

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For a healthy, delicious recipe for Minestrone Salad, read on.
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When you're on a diet like me, you tend toward the salad side of the menu in an effort to stay virtuous. But it's important to remember that many of those salads contain as many fat grams and calories as burgers, sandwiches or entrees. Some contain a full day's worth of those values, or more! It can be very deceiving. Fortunately, we are intelligent people who understand that fried things, cheese and full-fat dressings (like my very favorite, bleu cheese, waaaaaah!) pack a fatty punch.

From Sparkpeople.com, a great weight-loss Web site I learned about at the YMCA, comes this list of the most fattening restaurant salads. We don't even have some of these restaurants in Roanoke, so that saves us the temptation:

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Me, in slightly skinnier times

The first question that comes to mind is: Why would any sensible person start a weight-loss challenge that ends just before Thanksgiving, when they are liable to put it all back on?

Close on its heels, the second question: How can someone who writes about food for a living ever expect to diet successfully?

Well, I had no control over the timing of the eight-week "Y Not Be a Loser" challenge at the Kirk Family YMCA, but I knew it was time I did something about the tight waistbands and straining buttons.

As for the second question, well, I'm not sure. But I'm hoping to figure that out along the way.

To read the rest of this column, click here.

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