A report released by the Pan American Health Organization and the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute goes into some detail on how to get the most bang for your nutritional dollar. The report is from 2006, but it is still relevant. For example, eat fruits and veggies. Lots of them. It also offers guidelines on how to select food – like making sure it is a part of the major food groups, and is low in sugar, fat (especially the trans variety), salt, and calories. They essentially admit that this excludes, like, all fast food. But they offer tips to make fast food healthier (anything not excluded by the previous, gets excluded in that list). I actually get a kick out of the report (it’s only 3 pages, so just read it), because it’s factual but it’s got a little humor streak, too. After awhile, it basically recommends just getting salad and water at fast food restaurants for the least amount of damage.

An interesting part is at the end, where it suggests indigenous variations (it’s a Caribbean publication, after all), which sound both mysterious and alluring.