Restaurant menus poor choices for good health

November 28, 7:56 AMDisease Prevention ExaminerPeggy Kraus

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Restaurant menus deadly.

It makes me so angry! The selection of food items on most restaurant menus are so unhealthy that I am not surprised that nearly 81 million Americans have cardiovascular disease.

A quick glance at most menus reveals fried foods, beef cuts, creamy choices, and cheesy fare. Is it too much to ask that restuarant operators create 2 or 3 plant-based recipes that use little oil, no meat, and  no eggs or other dairy to prepare?

Here are some menu items that I would welcome on a restaurant menu:

• Pasta primavera with marinara sauce over whole wheat pasta
• Vegetable chili with brown rice
• Super salads -- the options are endless:  baby greens, spinach, kale, or whatever lettuce is in season served with walnuts, dried cranberries, chopped apples, pears, flax seed, endive, roasted vegetables. Dressing on the side, of course.

These low-cost, simple-to-prepare menu options would bring a smile to the faces of those people who truly want to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, and the availablility of these foods in a restaurant may persuade others to follow suit.

Yes, there is room in a healthful diet for an occasional treat, but look around you. The two-thirds of Americans that are overweight are not eating these foods only occasionally, and they will fall prey to the staistic: one of 2.8 people die of cardiovascular disease.

You are in control of your life. Cardiovascular disease is PREVENTABLE and REVERSIBLE!