The article "Why Hikers Get Fat," published by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in 2004, and a perennial online favorite found here, contains extensive details about how your blood cholesterol test reveals a great deal about what you've been eating. At the request of friends, here is a simpler version of that article.

The typical supermarket and restaurant supply of prepared foods includes an overabundance of super-refined ingredients. The same truth applies to commonly available snack foods.  The skinny on fiber can be found: on these two pages.

When you strip roughage from natures products to last longer on the shelf and so that you can digest your food more easily, you pay an unseen price. You get plenty of calories, but your nutrition suffers, leaving you "hungry" for your basic needs.

In past centuries chronic diseases have been traced to over-reliance on single foods, such as white rice. You might say that our present over-reliance on white bread and soda limits the B-vitamins in our diet. You'd be surprised at how much ready-made food in the supermarket, restaurant, or convenience store is actually glorified pastry.

There are two instances when you can get away with eating a lot of this kind of food - when you're young or athletic. In those cases, your high metabolism may be able to eat and burn off anything you eat.

The ratio of 25% prepared foods to 75% raw or fresh foods can put your health on track, bearing in mind that this is easier said than done. In reality, this means putting great quanitity of garden vegetables on your plate, and substituting fruit for snack bars. Bear in mind that bread, soda, beer, and even fruit juice can be considered as refined food.

Remember also to get enough clean protein and healthy fat into your nutritional strategy. White fish and turkey tend to be relatively healthy, while whole milk and greaseburgers containing lots of animal fats should be limited. Healthy fats can be found in natural peanut butter and olive oil.

In general, six small meals a day are healthier for you than two or three big ones containing the same calories. The reason is that your body assimilates the food more easily, keeping your blood sugar levels more stable. Alternately starving and overeating produces a yo-yo response in the body.

If you have a chronic health problem or high cholesterol, it might be time to get fanatical about reading food labels, but most people (myself included) won't invest the effort until they face a health crisis.