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First: Be sure to take our nutrition quiz here

Then, read on for the full answers..

1: b. You'll get more food for fewer calories (and less fat) if you choose the shrimp. Five large shrimp with cocktail sauce have only 57 calories, considerably less than the vegetable spring rolls (120), mini quiches (140) and veggies and baba ghanouj (205).

2. c. If you're watching your saturated fat intake, beef tenderloin is the better choice with 1.7 grams per three ounces. The salmon and dark turkey both have 2.3 grams of saturated fat; the roasted ham has 5.3 grams. A healthy diet should derive no more than 10 per cent of daily calories from saturated fat (e.g. no more than 20 grams for a 2,000-calorie diet).

3. False. Quinoa is often touted as a high protein food because, by weight, raw quinoa has a higher percentage of protein than many other grains. Raw quinoa is 14 per cent protein, whereas brown rice is 7.9 per cent. But you don't eat quinoa raw. One-half cup of cooked quinoa has 4 grams of protein, only a little more than brown rice (2.5 grams). Choose quinoa for its carbohydrate, fibre, magnesium and B-vitamin content, not its protein content.

4. a. All are decent sources of fibre, but the real winner is the whole-wheat pasta with 6.3 grams. Runners up: quinoa (4.1 grams), sweet potato (3.8) and brown rice (3.1). Men and women aged 19 to 50 need 38 and 25 grams of fibre per day, respectively. Older men require 30 grams and older women should consume 21 grams.

5. d. While I can't recommend any of these as a nutritious breakfast, the lowest sodium choice is the Tim's English Muffin with Egg White and Cheese (590 mg). The highest sodium choice – get this – is the sodium-reduced bagel with cream cheese (1,049 mg). Even without the cream cheese the bagel clocks in at 818 milligrams of sodium. Starbucks' Spinach & Feta Breakfast Wrap (830 mg) and McDonald's Egg McMuffin (760 mg) both provide half a day's worth of sodium.

6. True. Contrary to popular belief, bananas rank low on the glycemic index (GI) scale, having a GI of 51. Foods with a low GI cause your blood sugar to rise gradually after eating them. GI values less than 55 are considered low. One medium banana has 105 calories and 27 grams of carbohydrate, similar to a medium pear (103 calories, 27 grams of carbohydrates).

7. a. Leafy greens are excellent sources of lutein, especially when they're cooked. The clear winner is kale, delivering 12 milligrams of lutein per half-cup. In second place is Swiss chard (9.5 mg), followed by the spinach salad (3.6) and corn (1.1).

8. c. Yogurt fuels your body with both carbohydrate and protein. A pre-strength workout snack should include carbohydrate to energize muscles and at least 6 grams of protein to enhance muscle repair. One cup of plain yogurt has 17 grams of carbohydrate and 12 grams of protein.

9. b. If you're trying to get a day's worth of folate (400 micrograms) in your diet, chicken breast is not a good choice, providing only 1 per cent of your daily requirement (4 mcg). Better choices are the lentils (269 mcg), asparagus (112) and orange juice (74).

10. False. The reality is that holiday weight gain is slight. According to a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, the average adult gains only one pound during the winter holiday season. The bad news? That extra weight tends to accumulate year after year.

Leslie Beck, a Registered Dietitian, is based at the Medisys clinic in Toronto. She can be seen every Thursday at noon on CTV News Channel's Direct www.lesliebeck.com

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