1. Have regular family meals.
2. Serve a variety of healthy foods and snacks.
3. Be a role model by eating healthy yourself.
4. Avoid battles over food.
5. Involve kids in the process.

Few experts argue that for those with cholesterol levels outside the norm, or with high risk factors for cardiovascular disease, dietary change often can be a valid intervention. But when it comes to high-fat foods such as burgers, cheese, butter and cream being liberally shunned by those bent on lowering their cholesterol intake, it’s time to lard the conversation with a little straightforward science on dietary fat and health.

Your body knows how to handle dietary fat, and if you’re not overweight and have no other high-risk conditions, your risk of heart disease is probably low. That means even if you occasionally eat several slices of pizza with a Haagen-Dazs chaser, you needn’t punish yourself with guilt and worry. The stress will probably do more damage than the Super Bowl special you just ate.

Specifically, the team noted, “the scientific evidence to support a role for dietary cholesterol, [or the cholesterol we eat, as opposed to serum cholesterol, which is the cholesterol in our bloodstream], in CHD is relatively insubstantial in comparison with the incontrovertible link between its circulating blood relative in LDL cholesterol and CHD.”

The type of fat in your diet does matter to some degree.  From highly processed oils, was shown to be more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease. It was ultimately subjected to strict labeling and voluntarily removed from thousands of foods and beverages.

However, many research studies have shown that natural fat in foods such as eggs and dairy products has no effect on the risk for cardiovascular disease. Some studies have shown a positive effect of dairy consumption on reduction of disease risk. Saturated fats from sources other than eggs and dairy, such as from meat, once were associated with increased disease risk. Later studies are proving the issue to be more complex than that. And studies of saturated fats from plants such as coconut and palm oil are revealing positive health benefits.

Most important, mono- and polyunsaturated fats from olive oil, nut oils and vegetable oils, and the omega oils found in fish, flax and nuts boast thousands of studies backing their benefit to health for everything from protection against cancer, heart disease, certain birth defects, depression, cognitive decline and more.

It doesn’t negate the value of eating a balanced diet, with the majority of calories coming from fruits, vegetables and whole-grain foods. But it does mean that, if we have been taking care of ourselves by maintaining a healthy weight and staying active, we don’t have to seek penance every time we butter our toast.

- By Cyril Curt