Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a North Carolina registered dietitian and nationally recognized author, has given us 601 ways to eliminate trans fat from our diets in “Get the Trans Fat Out” (Three Rivers Press, $13.95).

Following are just five of Hobbs’ suggestions. Try these and check out her book for many more:

• Stuff your sandwiches with trans fat-free items such as hummus, peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, apples, yellow mustard, mushrooms, grated carrots and sunflower seeds.

• Vegetable kabobs cooked on a grill brushed with olive oil are a great side dish, or even a meal for the vegetarians among us.

• Switch from white pasta to whole wheat.

• Thicken your soups with pureed cooked beans or lentils instead of creams.

• Stay away from fried eggs in restaurants. The grease used on griddles often is filled with trans fat.

Dress those salads – lightly

Salad dressings may help you retain more nutrients from your salads. Or so says a study published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

The study, which took place over a six-year period, determined that people eating salads and raw veggies with dressings boost their immune systems and get the most from the veggies in their salads. Still, you shouldn’t overdo the portion of dressing.

For more health news from the ADA, visit eatright.org.

Pumpkin recipes aplenty

Need some pumpkin ideas?

At buzz.yahoo.com, type in any of these pumpkin-related foods and get dozens of entries for recipes: pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup, pumpkin jam, pumpkin dip, pumpkin spice cake, pumpkin cupcakes and pumpkinfudge. Yep, pumpkin fudge.

And if you’re wondering what buzz.yahoo is, it’s a server that aggregates the daily searches made on Yahoo!.