1. Make half your plate veggies and fruits
Vegetables and fruits are full of nutrients that support good health. Choose fruits and red, orange, and dark-green vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and broccoli.

2. Include whole grains
Aim to make at least half your grains whole grains. Look for the words “100% whole grain” or “100% whole wheat” on the food label. Whole grains provide more nutrients, like fiber, than refined grains.

3. Don’t forget the dairy
Complete your meal with a cup of fat-free or low-fat milk. You will get the same amount of calcium and other essential nutrients as whole milk but fewer calories. Don’t drink milk? Try a soy beverage (soymilk) as your drink or include low-fat yogurt in your meal or snack.

4. Add lean protein
Choose protein foods such as lean beef, pork, chicken, or turkey, and eggs, nuts, beans, or tofu. Twice a week, make seafood the protein on your plate.

5. Avoid extra fat
Using heavy gravies or sauces will add fat and calories to otherwise healthy choices. Try steamed broccoli with a sprinkling of low-fat parmesan cheese or a squeeze of lemon.

6. Get creative in the kitchen
Whether you are making a sandwich, a stir-fry, or a casserole, find ways to make them healthier. Try using less meat and cheese, which can be higher in saturated fat and sodium, and adding in more veggies that add new flavors and textures to your meals.

7. Take control of your food
Eat at home more often so you know exactly what you are eating. If you eat out, check and compare the nutrition information. Choose options that are lower in calories, saturated fat, and sodium.

8. Try new foods
Keep it interesting by picking out new foods you’ve never tried before, like mango, lentils, quinoa, kale, or sardines. You may find a new favorite! Trade fun and tasty recipes with friends or find them online.

9. Satisfy your sweet tooth in a healthy way 
Indulge in a naturally sweet dessert dish—fruit! Serve a fresh fruit salad or a fruit parfait made with yogurt. For a hot dessert, bake apples and top with cinnamon.

While a greasy plate of fries or sugary snacks may temporarily alleviate a bad mood, long-term happiness is rarely doled out at a drive-thru. Fortunately, there are plenty of foods with proven mood-boosting benefits that can help you get happier and healthier with every bite. So, before you dive headfirst into another value meal, add these foods that make you happy to your menu.

Live foods are foods that are consumed fresh, raw, and/or in a condition as close as possible to their original, vibrant, living state. Consider the difference between crisp red apples and beige, jarred applesauce; between green, ripe avocados, and grayish reconstituted guacamole dip; between a piece of salmon sashimi and a frozen fish stick; between sweet corn on the cob and a box of cornflakes. You get the picture.

Osaka-style sushi, also called “Oshi-zushi” or “hako-sushi”

Vinegar began to be added to the preparation of narezushi in the Muromachi period (1336–1573) for the sake of enhancing both taste and preservation. In addition to increasing the sourness of the rice, the vinegar significantly increased the dish’s longevity, causing the fermentation process to be shortened and eventually abandoned. The primitive sushi would be further developed in Osaka, where over several centuries it became oshi-zushi or “hako-zushi”; in this preparation, the seafood and rice were pressed into shape with wooden (typically bamboo) molds.

It was not until the Edo period (1603–1868) that fresh fish was served over vinegared rice and nori. The particular style of today’s nigirizushi became popular in Edo (contemporary Tokyo) in the 1820s or 1830s. One common story of nigirizushi’s origins is of the chef Hanaya Yohei (1799–1858), who invented or perfected the technique in 1824 at his shop in Ryōgoku. The dish was originally termed Edomae zushi as it used freshly caught fish from the Edo-mae (Edo or Tokyo Bay); the term Edomae nigirizushi is still used today as a by-word for quality sushi, regardless of its ingredients’ origins.

The earliest written mention of sushi in English described in the Oxford English Dictionary is in an 1893 book, A Japanese Interior, where it mentions sushi as “a roll of cold rice with fish, sea-weed, or some other flavoring”. There is an earlier mention of sushi in James Hepburn‘s Japanese-English dictionary from 1873, and an 1879 article on Japanese cookery in the journal Notes and Queries.

I am obsessed with this Mediterranean brown rice salad. It combines the flavors of a classic Greek salad with spinach and rice. Why add rice to your salad? Well, it may be surprising (but it really shouldn’t be), that rice:

• has a LOT of nutritional value –> Rice is a source of B-vitamins, phosphorus, and zinc, but brown rice also contains magnesium, selenium, manganese, and fiber. In fact, one cup of brown rice has almost 4 grams of fiber while 3.5 cups of raw spinach have only 2.2 grams. Well, this salad has both,  so we are seriously doubling up on some major fiber!
• is gluten-free.
• is low in calories (it only has 108 calories per half-cup serving!).

Watermelons are mostly water — about 92 percent — but this refreshing fruit is soaked with nutrients. Each juicy bite has significant levels of vitamins A, B6 and C, lots of lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids. There’s even a modest amount of potassium. Plus, this quintessential summer snack is fat-free, very low in sodium and has only 40 calories per cup.

“Foods that are high in antioxidants and amino acids allow your body to function optimally,” said Angela Lemond, a Plano, Texas-based registered dietitian nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Antioxidants help prevent damage, and cancer. Amino acids are the basic building block for protein, and protein is used in virtually every vital function in the body.”

Scientists have taken notice of watermelon’s high lycopene levels — about 15 to 20 milligrams per 2-cup serving, according to the National Watermelon Promotion Board — some of the highest levels of any type of fresh produce. Lycopene is a phytonutrient, which is a naturally occurring compound in fruits and vegetables that reacts with the human body to trigger healthy reactions. It is also the red pigment that gives watermelons, tomatoes, red grapefruits and guavas their color.

Lycopene has been linked with heart health, bone health and prostate cancer prevention. It’s also a powerful antioxidant thought to have anti-inflammatory properties, according to Victoria Jarzabkowski, a nutritionist with the Fitness Institute of Texas at The University of Texas at Austin.

To really maximize your lycopene intake, let your watermelon fully ripen. The redder your watermelon gets, the higher the concentration of lycopene becomes. Beta-carotene and phenolic antioxidant content also increase as the watermelon ripens. “Beta carotene is an antioxidant found in red-orange fruits and vegetables. It helps with immunity, skin, eye and the prevention of cancer,” said Lemond.

A 2011 study in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis that investigated five types of watermelon at four stages of ripening found that unripe watermelon with primarily white flesh has nearly zero beta-carotene. By the time it is fully red, the fruit has become an excellent source of the phytonutrient.