Blog Posts by The Editors of EatingWell Magazine

I'm not exactly worried about the signs of age-related macular degeneration yet-after all I'm only in my twenties and AMD doesn't show up until much later in life. But because AMD is the leading cause of blindness in people over age 60 and much of the damage occurs decades earlier (read: now!), I am interested in the research that suggests the nutrients in some foods may help to prevent the development of AMD. (And delay the progression of AMD for those of you whose parents or grandparents are affected.)

Rachel Johnson, Ph.D., R.D., EatingWell's senior nutrition advisor and a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont, dug into the research for an article in our February issue. Here's what she found:

Ah, lasagna… Quite possibly my favorite comfort food, lasagna was one of the first dishes I learned to master post-college. I experimented with many different combinations of ingredients as the seasons changed, but Classic Lasagna (recipe below) layered with meat sauce and ricotta cheese filling was always my favorite.

I think the reason I mastered lasagna first was because it is the perfect dish for entertaining, which I loved-and still love-to do. A single pan makes enough to entertain several friends (and who doesn't love Italian food?), it can be made in advance and leftovers are a beautiful thing. Once the lasagna has cooled, individually wrap pieces in foil then freeze them in an airtight container. You can defrost just the number of pieces you want-talk about the perfect fast food for singles or couples!

Looking for something a little less traditional? Try Caramelized Onion Lasagna, which gets intense flavor from blue cheese, or Squash & Leek Lasagna, full of

Roasted Beet Crostini (82 calories a piece!)I love parties but I find it hard to keep my eating in check when I'm on the social circuit. So when the invites start pouring in, I follow these four tricks to party my way thin:

1. Eat what you want the most. Birthday-party buffets and potlucks are totally tempting. Rather than diving right in, I try to survey the offerings and decide on one or two "must-haves." Then I fill the rest of my plate with veggies.

2. Bring a dish. People generally appreciate it if you offer to bring something and this also allows you to bring something that's healthy. I'm not talking "diet" foods, such as celery and carrots, but rather something that you know others will enjoy too. I often bring Roasted Beet Crostini (82 calories a piece!) for an appetizer. And for new ideas I always check EatingWell's Healthy Recipe Collections.

3. Go easy on the alcohol. Alcoholic drinks are not only high in calories, but also they can chip away at your resolve to eat mindfully. When I can, I bring the

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Almost any pasta qualifies as comfort food in my book. Give it a rich creamy sauce and plenty of cheese and we're talking heaven. The problem is creamy, cheesy pasta dishes are tough on the waistline. Pasta on its own has plenty of calories-about 180 calories in a 2-ounce serving. Add a creamy sauce and you've just created a calorie bomb. Not to mention that those creamy sauces are normally full of saturated fat. (It's best to keep sat. fat to a minimum for a healthy heart.)

The good news is that there are ways to "fix" creamy pasta dishes. And that's just what we did with fettuccine Alfredo. Here are the changes we made:

• Swap whole-wheat pasta for regular pasta to increase fiber.
• Cut out heavy cream and butter to reduce calories and saturated fat.
• Instead make a creamy sauce with broth, thickened with

When you first start trying to lose weight, the pounds seem to come off easily. You're motivated, you're careful to stick with smaller portions and you're good about keeping track of everything you eat. But, eventually, your rate of weight loss slows and then… stops. Is this the beginning of the end? NO! It's the beginning of the second phase of your weight-loss journey.

Why not try some of my 4 secrets for kick-starting your diet:

1. Don't deprive yourself! Denying yourself favorite foods usually ends up backfiring. Budget in satisfying treats that come in discrete units, such as Chocolate-Dipped Gingersnaps (157 calories for two cookies) or snacks that come in handy 100-calorie packages.

2. For just one week, commit to writing down everything you eat. Refresh yourself on what a healthy portion looks like and measure/weigh your servings to see how close you come to these.

3. Stick with recipes that provide built-in portion control. I love making Broccoli & Goat

Grilled Shrimp RemouladeI'm going to try and take "Fat Tuesday" a little less literally this year with a healthier approach to my Mardi Gras recipes and menu. Of course I'm going to stick to the traditional favorites, but for my party menu I'm going to focus on healthier versions that stay true to those delicious Cajun flavors I love. Maybe I'll even score a few extra beads for my efforts.

For Mardi Gras, I'm going to cook up a menu of traditional favorites, including:

Grilled Shrimp Remoulade (see recipe below) An updated and untraditional rémoulade makes a tangy sauce for these spice-rubbed shrimp. While this is a favorite on the grill, you can cook the shrimp on a lightly sprayed broiler rack, about 4 inches from the heat, for a winter warmer any night of the week.

Louisiana Red Beans & Rice EatingWell's quick version gets its smoky goodness from super-lean Canadian bacon and a hit of ground chipotle pepper. It's delicious as a leftover but will thicken as it stands.

Black-Eyed Pea &

There's something about layer cakes that I just can't resist. Sure, those homey sheet cakes taste good, but a layer cake is cause for real celebration. And I love banana in any dessert recipe.

Many banana cake recipes are a butter-and-cream bonanza with just a bit of banana. Luckily this yummy cake already has a jump-start on being healthy. Bananas are one of the best dietary sources of potassium. So we set out to develop a banana cake recipe that kept the healthy ingredients and cut or reduced the less healthy ones to yield a cake that is low in cholesterol and sodium. Many of the healthier cooking tricks we used can be applied to other healthy cake recipes. Here's what we did to give this recipe a healthy makeover:

• Increased the bananas, which helped keep it moist and rich after we cut the fat.
• Replaced the butter with a smaller amount of canola oil.
• We used whole-wheat pastry flour in place of some of the white flour. Higher in trace minerals than

I'm a big believer that, most of time, teaming up to get something done is more fun and more effective than going it alone. Take, for example, shoveling snow or painting a room. When you do it solo, these are chores. But throw another person (or two… or a few) into the mix and you've got yourself a "party." And when you work as a crew, you're able to reap the rewards of your hard work (cocoa, or pizza!) faster.

This is also true when you're trying to eat better or to get in shape. Running with a friend motivates me to jog further-and faster. It always helps, too, to be on the same page when it comes to sharing meals: it's tough to stick with a salad when others at the table are loading up on big dishes of pasta smothered in cream sauce. (My solution: make delicious and seemingly decadent diet-friendly recipes that everyone will love, such as Sausage, Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna [recipe below], which is ooey-gooey delicious and has only 333 calories per slice.)

But sometimes