Instant Nutrition Boosters

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Got a minute? Then you have time to make a major difference in your diet. These five quick and easy adjustments will help slim you down and infuse your diet with more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients.

1. Say buh-bye to butter. Replace regular butter with peanut or almond butter. Nut butters contain the same amount of calories as margarine or butter, but they keep you feeling full longer. That may be because the creamy spread is high in protein; there is 4 g of the satiating nutrient per tablespoon. Plus, the healthy monounsaturated fats help protect your ticker. If you're in the mood for a butter-like spread, be sure to choose one that contains no partially hydrogenated oil, such as Smart Balance Buttery Spread, which carries the Best Life seal.

2. Choose whole over white. Opting for whole-grain products, such as bread, cereal and rice, over white will help you get your fiber fix for the day. Hitting the 25- to 35-grams-per-day goal for fiber will help keep you satisfied and reduce your risk for cancer, heart disease, constipation, and obesity.

3. Drink your vegetables. Don't have time to wash and chop? Six ounces of vegetable juice counts as one of your three or more daily vegetable servings. Ideally, you should use juice to fill just one of your veggie servings because the whole vegetable is much more filling for the calories.

4. Select a smarter cup. Coffee can weaken your bones, but drinking fat-free milk can help offset the risk, according to a study from the University of California at San Diego. So add some calcium to your cup by turning your coffee into café au lait or your espresso into a latte. Calcium- and vitamin D-enriched soymilk is also an excellent choice—soy has been linked to protection against heart disease. (Many flavors of Silk soymilk have the Best Life seal.)

5. Go for real fruit, not fruit juice. Fruit juice can cost you up to about 150 calories per 8-ounce cup. The real deal—a piece of whole fruit—will set you back only 60 calories. Plus, whole fruit contains fiber (there's 3 to 4 g in a medium orange or apple), whereas fruit juice has none. Note: Veggie juice, though lower in fiber than whole veggies, is still OK for one of your daily veggie servings because it's low in calories. In fact, it has half the calories of most fruit juices.

For more quick and easy healthy-eating tips, check out TheBestLife.com. 

Your Passport to Healthy Eating

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My hometown, Washington, D.C., is a true melting pot. The area attracts more foreigners than most other American cities. We have immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and other Central and South American countries. We have a large Ethiopian community as well as people from other parts of Africa. Then there's the diplomatic and World Bank community—well-to-do foreigners who are either here for a few years or who have settled in D.C. And, of course, there are all the tourists who come to visit from every possible country.

Whenever I get to chatting with any of these people, they all seem to express the same thought: "Why is it that I've gained weight since I moved to this country?" or "I never used to eat junk food until I came here." No matter where the person is from—Lebanon, France, Brazil or Japan—this is a common refrain. So, I wasn't surprised when I read about a study that linked moving to the States with poorer dietary habits.

The study analyzed blood levels of three sets of Americans: Those who were born here, those who were born in Mexico and those born in another country. The researchers compared levels of carotenoids, antioxidants found in produce, which are an indication of how many fruits and vegetables a person eats. The result: The longer a person lived in the U.S., the lower their levels of carotenoids. This isn't the first study to show that being an all-American eater is bad for your health. Previous research suggests that moving to the U.S. increases the risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer and other diseases. So, stop eating like an American and take a cue from other cultures by adopting these healthier habits:

• Eat fruit for dessert. Of course, this is easy to do when you live where fruit is locally grown, top-quality, seasonal, ripe and bursting with flavor. But farmers markets are loaded with delicious and fresh options for most of the year, so grab a basket and enjoy the season's bounty.

• Get cooking. You don't have to spend hours in the kitchen. For a meal you can make in minutes, sauté some greens (five minutes) or make a salad (10 minutes if you use pre-washed greens, wash and cut some tomatoes and scallions, and toss them with olive oil and vinegar). Then, you can add rotisserie chicken or some broiled fish (five to 10 minutes) to round out the meal.

• Don't be a penny-pincher. Europeans spend about twice as much on food as Americans—and they're thinner. You might find that when you buy higher quality staples, you'll be more satisfied with your meals, and you might spend less money—and calories—on junk food. For instance, if you spring for the more expensive but wonderfully flavorful fruit, you might not need ice cream or cookies. A salad of interesting mixed greens with an avocado and a first-rate dressing is a much more satisfying experience than iceberg lettuce topped with a mediocre dressing. And dinner starring wild-caught salmon, with its less fishy, more delicate flavor, wins hands-down over the canned version.

• Don't miss meals. Meal-skipping is a mostly American phenomenon. The trend of bypassing breakfast or doing away with dinner will simply set you up for overeating. Be sure to eat three real meals and a snack (as long as you're actually hungry and the next meal is still an hour or more away).

For more healthy-eating tips, check out TheBestLife.com.