These days when the conversation turns to diet, the question is not so much what we should eat as what we shouldn’t. Deficiency diseases are almost history. Scientists have identified 19 vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients needed for good health; and our foods are laced with supplements to make sure that we get them.

Our problem today is not too little but too much—too much fat, salt, sugar…too much of whatever the latest study has chosen to attack. We now get so much advice on what foods to avoid that it’s tempting to simply throw up your hands and forget the whole thing. Unfortunately, that’s not a realistic option.

Some 34 million Americans are now classified as “obese”—that is, 20 percent or more above their ideal weight. And with obesity comes increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and some forms of cancer.

Indeed, according to the American Cancer Society, 50 percent of cancers in women and 30 percent in men may be related to diet. Worse yet, an estimated 67 million Americans, 1 out of 4, now have some form of heart disease, and several of the leading risk factors for heart disease, including high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, can all be aggravated by diet.

Eating a well­balanced healthy diet really can be a life­saver. But deciding what’s healthy is no easy task when we’re faced with an almost daily onslaught of often controversial, sometimes even contradictory, nutritional information. To help sort through the conflicting claims, here’s a quick review of the basic facts we know today.

For some women, food is a challenge, for others a compulsion. But food is not like cigarettes or alcohol—you cannot quit if eating gets out of control. Instead, you must strike a balance. There are no good and bad foods, only those that should be eaten more or less often. If your usual diet is rich in complex carbohydrates and low in fat, an occasional celebration will do you no harm. If you eat out daily, with a little bit of knowledge and some judicious choices, you can manage that, too. While you focus on cutting back on fat, increase your intake of health­protecting fruits, vegetables, and grains. Think of healthy eating as a life­style choice, not a diet. The changes you make should be livable enough to last a lifetime.