Little Choices, Huge Health Payoffs

Every day, you're faced with so many decisions: Coffee or tea? Bath or shower? Treadmill or StairMaster? They may not be monumental, but collectively, these choices form the big picture of your health. What's so terrific is, if you make lots of teeny good decisions—a little less fat here, a bit more sweat there—you can change the way you look and feel in no time. There's no serious sacrifice or major lifestyle overhaul needed. To help you tweak your health for the better, SELF created this how-to guide to picking the best-for-you option every time. Choose wisely and you could feel healthier by tomorrow!

DINING DILEMMAS

Coffee or tea?

The best part of waking up is tea in your cup. "Black tea has antioxidants, which could help prevent cancer, and L-theanine, which may enhance the immune system's ability to fight infections," says Jack Bukowski, M.D., assistant clinical professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Green tea is also tops. (See "12 Bare-Essential Foods," page 141, for why.) A few herbal teas offer other medicinal benefits, but most specialize in comfort.

Butter or margarine?

Squeezable or tub margarine, made with liquid vegetable oil, beats butter, which is loaded with saturated fat. It's also better than stick margarine, which has trans fats. But if you use only a tablespoon a day, go ahead and choose butter. A little bit won't kill you, and it tastes better.

Olive oil or canola oil?

Olive. Canola and olive oils are both full of healthy mono-unsaturated fats and low in nasty saturated fats, but olive packs the most flavor, so you can get away with using less.

Peas or carrots?

Peas, please! The little green guys have more fiber, iron, vitamin C and folate, which may mean they're better at preventing cancer, heart disease and birth defects. What's more, a cup of boiled peas has almost 9 grams of protein. One cup of carrots has only 1.7 grams.

Bottled or tap water?

Both. Bottled water drinkers are more likely to swallow a healthy eight glasses a day, says Lauren Slayton, R.D., a counselor at Foodtrainers in New York City. Still, many bottled waters lack fluoride, the mineral often added to tap water to protect teeth and bones. Your best bet: Chug a bottle, then refill with tap throughout the day.

FITNESS DECISIONS

Stair Master or treadmill?

"Because you have to lift your entire body weight up with each step, the StairMaster makes you work harder," says Heather Dillinger of Alexandria, Virginia, a national certification specialist for the Aerobic and Fitness Association of America. The same number of steps on a flat treadmill gives you less of a run for your money, but upping the incline or going faster can enhance benefits.

Jog or walk?

It depends. If you crank out 12-minute miles walking (5 mph), fab. You'll burn 4 percent more calories than jogging at the same pace because you have to work harder to walk quickly than to jog slowly. But if you're clocking a 15-minute mile, you should jog. You'll burn 36 percent more than you would if you strolled at that pace simply because you're fighting gravity.

Weights or aerobics?

Both burn close to the same number of calories, but only lifting offers big fat-burning potential long after you've hung up your Nikes. "Each pound of muscle you gain from lifting increases your resting metabolic rate by about 30 to 40 calories per day," says Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., fitness research director of the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts. Lifting also strengthens bones. But don't forgo cardio altogether. Thirty minutes, three times a week, will keep your heart happy.