This worked because as a healthy "NMPer" I eat what I enjoy—things like cheeseburgers, chicken tacos, meatballs and chicken caesar salad in their more healthful non-meat/poultry forms, along with fish, eggs (egg whites or liquid substitutes), fat-free/low-fat dairy products, whole grains, vegetables and fruit. I applied same philosophy--experimenting until I found what I enjoyed—-to my exercise program, which currently includes walking, kick boxing, weight training and yoga.

My healthy lifestyle change was truly gradual--it did not happen overnight. And guess what, it doesn't end either. I am always looking for ways to improve with new food products and choices, new forms of activity, new ways to relax and appropriate supplementation. Healthy living should be an ongoing journey that is an enjoyable one at every stop along way. And this year is one that it can begin for you too! Take first step by making your "gradual lifestyle change" resolution. If you do, odds are very good that it will be one resolution you'll actually keep.

(c) Copyright 2001 By Melanie R. Jordan E-Publishing

Author's By-line: "Have Your Cheeseburger And Keep Your Health Too!" by Melanie Jordan can be downloaded at following URL: http://www.infopost.com/ItemDescription.asp?navtyp=SRH&ItemI=80058

Luscious: Brush a layer on corn-on-the-cob or drop a dollop into hot lentils. Pour into hollow of a freshly baked potato or saute with salmon. Stir-fry, bake, saute or spread--any which way you use it, ghee will find flavour with you. What’s more, it won’t smoke or burn during cooking.

Lasting: Keep ghee and butter at room temperature. Butter will eventually turn rancid; ghee will not. It's moisture in butter that promotes decay. Virtually moisture-free, ghee has no such problem. It will retain its original freshness and flavour for months, even without refrigeration.

Energising: Some foods dissolve in water, and some in fat. Ghee in your diet will carry fat-soluble foods quickly and easily inside cells. Such foods will reach where they are supposed to reach, to work way they are supposed to work. Sometimes, it's just packaging that makes difference.

An Anti-oxidant: Ghee has beta-carotene and vitamin E, both known anti-oxidants that counter effects of free radicals. Science has been able to establish that free radicals cause nearly 90 percent of all degenerative diseases. Ghee in your diet, then, could give Father Time a run for his money.

A Sharpener: The goodness of ghee not only powers your cells, but also penetrates corners of your mind. Result— quicker leaning, better recall, wiser decisions. Cow ghee in particular is supposed to be extremely good for your brain.

A Healer: Ghee repairs mucus lining of stomach and evens out acid balance in there. An ancient Indian fable says King Akbar Great once challenged a citizen to eat and digest limestone. The man accepted—and won. His secret? Just before he had limsetone, he downed a huge bowlful of ghee to arm his stomach against assault.

So stir-fry garlic in a teaspoon of ghee, and drizzle over piping hot bread. It’s aromatherapy of most intoxicating kind. Then feel flavour do ghee-licious things to your taste-buds. Indulge.