February is American Heart Month, dedicated to the serious matter of monitoring and taking care of our beating hearts. This is important because while heart disease has claimed fewer lives in recent years, it is still the nation’s number one killer — responsible for nearly 600,000 deaths annually. However, almost as if to prove that no good intention goes unpunished, February is also National Snack Food Month. And America truly “hearts” its snack foods. After the brief disappearance a couple of years of Twinkies, there are again about 615 snack food manufacturers across the country. About 47,000 people are employed in the nearly $28 billion a year business of testing America’s willpower … or lack of it. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at .