3 foods to banish from your diet

Shape, March, 2005 by Elizabeth Somer

Drop these high-calorie, low-nutrient foods from your plate, and you're practically guaranteed to lose weight.

Banish sugary refined carbs.

Instead Satisfy a sweet tooth with chin-dribbling watermelon, mangoes, berries and other fresh fruit. Sprinkle candied ginger on mandarin oranges; snack on dried plums, figs or apricots; or savor a baked cinnamon apple.

Banish crackers and snacks made with trans fats.

Instead Avoid harmful trans fats by making your own practically fat-free munchies from toasted whole-wheat pita bread and corn tortillas (cut into triangles and bake until crispy).

Banish deep-fried foods.

Instead Satisfy your cravings for crispiness and crunch by oven "frying" sliced potatoes, cutting up vegetables (jicama, carrots, cauliflower) and dunking them in fat-free dip, snacking on nuts or baked chips and dipping apple slices in sugar-free caramel sauce.

--Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.