Here are a few nutrition and fitness tips to keep you a bit healthier this summer.
 
Don’t Eat When You’re Thirsty: We often mistake thirst for hunger, especially during the warm summer months. Don’t eat when what you really want is to drink. Always ask yourself if you are really hungry.
 
Watch What You Drink: Drinking high-calorie beverages like soda, whole milk, juices, alcohol and sugared iced tea can add unwanted, and under-appreciated, calories. Drink water with lemon or mint, or try seltzer or unsweetened iced tea. Tea is loaded with antioxidants and health benefits, including reduced risk for cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. In fact, tea has been said to have more antioxidants than almost any whole fruit or vegetable. Read more about tea here: www.dietdetective.com/content/view/10/158/
 
Bike Instead of Drive: Buy a bike, save gas and get some exercise. A 155-pound person riding at a leisurely pace of 10 to 12 mph can burn 423 calories in just 60 minutes, or about 7 calories per minute. If you would like to know more about bicycling, visit www.dietdetective.com/content/view/1334/90/
 
Go Hiking: To get started visit the following Web sites:
 
Trimbleoutdoors.com offers thousands of day hikes and includes interactive maps, aerial and scenic photos, video and downloadable GPS files.
 
Localhikes.com has local hikes around the United States. There are not too many listings, but it’s a good start.
 
Trails.com charges $49.95 per year, but does have a 14-day free trial. The site offers detailed route descriptions, driving directions, guidebook-quality trail maps, photos and ratings and reviews from members for more than 38,000 trails.
 
Recreation.gov is the U.S. government’s one-stop shop to the outdoors. There is information on everything from monuments, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, water-skiing and rock climbing to wildlife observation and caving. It lists 388 National Park Service areas, 3,200 federal recreation areas and 16,741 miles of trails in parks that range in size from one-fifth of an acre to 13.2 million acres.
 
Make a Pop: A new book called Pops (Quirk, 2008) by Krystina Castella helps you learn to make delicious ice pops – some healthy, some not so healthy. Try the Banana & Date Pops.
 
Ingredients:
6 large ripe bananas, sliced
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup nonfat milk (modified from original recipe)
1 cup low- or no-fat yogurt (modified from original recipe)
2 teaspoons honey heated for 30 seconds
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
 
Put the bananas, dates, milk and yogurt in a food processor or blender – process until the mix is smooth. Add honey and vanilla extract – process again to combine. Fill 8 pop molds with the mixture (or use plastic or paper cups). Insert sticks. Freeze for 6 hours. Remove from the freezer and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds.
 
Makes eight 6-ounce pops.
 
Don’t Skip: It’s easy to skip meals when you’re out and about over the summer. Keep in mind that meal-skipping leads to overeating during meals later in the day – which means consuming more overall daily calories. Try to eat something healthy every few hours.

Enjoy Watermelon: It’s low in calories (only 92 calories per 2-cup serving) and it fills you up because it’s 92 percent water, which will also help to rehydrate your body on a hot summer day. On average, 1 cup of watermelon has 7.5 to 10 milligrams of the antioxidant lycopene — that’s about 40 percent more than is found in raw tomatoes. Additionally, watermelon is a good source of vitamins A (1 cup has almost 20 percent of your daily values) and C (20 percent of daily values), and it also contains potassium, vitamin B6 and thiamin. Look for firm, juicy, red flesh without white streaks and skin without cracks, bruises or mold. The best way to tell for sure that a watermelon is ripe is to ask your grocer to cut a plug (a small triangle that will show you how the inside looks) out of the fruit.

Injured? Try R.I.C.E.: Dr. William Levine, chief of sports medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, recommends that for tennis elbow, runner's knee, and similar injuries, you should try R.I.C.E. -- Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. “Rest means that the injured area is not put through any undue strain. When icing a body part, apply the ice in a covering so that it is not in direct contact with the skin. A cotton handkerchief covering the ice is helpful. Ice the affected area several times a day for about 20 minutes at a time. Compression is applying pressure to the injured area to stop bleeding (if any is occurring) or to reduce swelling. Elevation helps in these respects as well. Compression and elevation are to be used in the case of acute injuries, such as a twisted ankle.”
 
Exercise Dangers: The dangers of urban air pollution are of special concern to those who run, bike or skate. These individuals, while trying to help their bodies through exercise, should take care that they do not harm themselves through exposure to air pollution, especially in the summer, says Ronald Crystal, M.D., chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He suggests that if you’re in an urban setting on a hot summer day you should try exercising indoors, preferably in an air-conditioned room. If you must exercise outdoors, the early morning or evening is best. It will be cooler, the sun is not at its peak, and the ozone levels will be at their lowest.
 
Sun Screening: Biking, swimming or walking outdoors in the summer sun? Try Bullfrog – it stays on great. Also Bethesda Sunscreen Soap (www.bethesdaskincare.com) actually contains sunblock. Use this soap in the shower and you’ll have protection of at least an SPF 10, plus it also has whole leaf aloe vera gel, healing balm of Gilead, glycerin and chlorophyll.
 
Sunblock? Got Carrots? A recent review of several studies that was published in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology showed that eating foods rich in beta carotene or taking supplements may protect against sunburn. However, the study also indicated that 10 weeks of use was required to show an effect. Unfortunately, supplementation with beta carotene is not a replacement for using sunscreen.
 
Summer Heart Attacks: Weekend warriors beware -- heart attacks and all other cardiac problems occur in the summer months just as often as during the winter. According to Jack Flyer, M.D., of CardioCare, a Washington, D.C.-based medical practice focusing on wellness and preventative patient care, “Heat stroke is a condition that causes the body’s core temperature to rise. This heat can cause end-organ (i.e., the heart) damage directly and can also cause symptoms, such as fast pulse, that can secondarily cause a heart attack. It can also lead to dangerous arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms). The signs of heat stroke are fast heart rate, confusion, shortness of breath and cessation of sweating.”  Also, watch out for dehydration, which Flyer says is a close relative of heat stroke. Solution: Stay out of the sun, especially during the heat of the day, drink water before you go outside, particularly before exercise, and make sure you take water with you wherever you go.
 
Buy Some Cool Cooking Tools: We love all the offerings at Williams-Sonoma; however, there are a few seasonal standouts. Want to make guacamole, grilled veggies or cut up fresh fruit? If so, you have to get their Professional Multi-Chopper. It slices, dices, wedges and cores, and it’s dishwasher safe. The cost? $49.95. Looking for extra flavor on your gas grill? Try Williams-Sonoma’s Smokehouse Hickory Wood Chips ($7), a great way to add flavor that doesn’t cost calories. Speaking of flavor, there’s nothing better than garlic. For that they offer the Garlic Genius – wow! This cool tool chops the garlic into tiny cubes ($24.95). www.williams-sonoma.com
 
Ice Cream Cheat Sheet: Fudgsicles are still a good choice at 45 calories. Frozen yogurt or soft-serve ice cream also have the same calories per serving – about 140. No-fat yogurt is about 110. Italian ices (100 calories per cup) are a better choice than gelato (about 500 calories per cup). Keep in mind that if you’re going for a cone, you should make it a wafer cone, which has 20 calories, as opposed to a sugar cone that’s 50 or 60 calories or a waffle cone at 100 to 160. Four tablespoons of sprinkles are about 220 calories.
 
Barbecues and Picnics: For frankfurters, the best toppings are sauerkraut, good old ketchup, mustard and relish. Stay away from cheesy sauces and chili. As for burgers, make your own using the leanest beef you can find and toss in veggies such as mushrooms, onions and peppers to increase nutrients and lower the calorie content without reducing the volume. Watch out for barbecued ribs: They add up to more than 1,000 calories for six medium ribs. Just one 3.5-ounce fried chicken breast has about 250 calories, and one drumstick with skin has about 200 calories. Pasta salad? For 1 cup, depending on ingredients, you're looking at 500-650 calories. Use 100 percent whole-wheat pasta and light vinaigrette or low-calorie Italian dressing. Baked beans can be 300 calories per cup. Coleslaw can be more than 350 calories per cup. Use light or nonfat mayonnaise and make it yourself. Use healthy, low-calorie marinades instead of oil and butter to flavor foods. And be careful when using cooking spray on your grill. Spray the grill before you turn it on; otherwise, the spray can flare up.
 
On The Road? Watch out. When unhealthy choices are made on the road, there may be irritating consequences to deal with. “Unhealthy eating, in general, can cause decreases in energy and mood. In addition, stress levels are easily increased with improper nutrition. Furthermore, a lot of greasy fast foods can cause indigestion, which can negatively affect sleep,” says Steven Aldana, Ph.D., author of Stop and Go Fast Food Nutrition Guide (Maple Mountain Press, 2007). According to Aldana, the worst restaurant choices are typically breakfast places such as Denny's, Shoney's and IHOP. In addition, places like Krispy Kreme and Taco Bell offer very few, if any, healthy selections. Where should you eat? Surprisingly, almost all the offerings at Panda Express receive a "green" or healthy rating because of the high quantities of vegetables, healthy oils and whole grains that are used. Other great selections include sandwich shops like Subway – which allow tremendous flexibility when ordering.
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CHARLES STUART PLATKIN is a nutrition and public health advocate, founder and editor of DietDetective.com, the health and fitness network and author of The Diet Detective's Calorie Bargain Bible (Simon & Schuster, 2007). Copyright 2008 by Charles Stuart Platkin. All rights reserved. Sign up for the free Diet Detective newsletter and iTunes podcast at www.DietDetective.com