healthy living

If your diet is lacking in enough nutrients, adding a smoothie to your diet can help immensely. Toss any of these six ingredients into your next smoothie along with your favorite fruits to get their nutritious benefits without sacrificing taste.

1. Broccoli: The fiber-rich vegetable helps keep you full without changing the taste of even your favorite smoothie combinations. You can use raw broccoli or steam it quickly first for a smoother consistency. This 330-calorie peanut butter, broccoli, and strawberry smoothie will keep you full throughout the morning.
2. Chia seeds: If you're looking to start the day right, add a tablespoon of chia seeds into every smoothie. The high-fiber seeds are also a great source of anti-inflammatory omega-3s, so you'll feel full and ready to take on your morning. This berry chia seed smoothie recipe masks the taste and texture of chia seeds if you're not a fan.
3. Green tea: Want a little energy boost in your smoothie? Add strong, cold green tea to any smoothie instead of water for a subtle caffeinated pick-me-up. We like the refreshing taste of this green tea, cinnamon, and honey smoothie.

Keep reading for more nutrient-rich smoothie ingredients.

We know you're spending plenty of time getting your body bikini ready with healthy food and fun workouts. While taking note of these tips to make bathing suit shopping easier is a great start, being equipped with as many tools as possible will help you feel confident before running around on the beach. In case you're concerned about unnecessary extra bloat before you rock your bikini, here are six foods to avoid right before you hit the beach.

Carbonated drinks: While you've hopefully taken the initiative to say goodbye to soda for good, sparkling water can be a decent substitute if you can't get enough of those bubbles. With that said, it's best to avoid any carbonated drinks before you hit the beach to steer clear of unnecessary belly bulge or gas.

Salt: Supersalty foods or added salt don't necessarily make you gassy, but they definitely make you retain water. Even though those cantina chips and salsa may seem like the ideal prebeach grub, opt for something with lower levels of sodium to help you feel your best before you head to the ocean.

Cruciferous veggies: They're great foods for long-term weight loss, but if there's one time not to chow down on a heaping helping of broccoli, cabbage, or kale, it's right before you hit the beach! These veggies contain a complex sugar called raffinose that's known to cause some lovely bloat.

Keep reading for three more foods to avoid before the beach.

There's nothing like biting into a homemade cookie right out of the oven, but all the butter, eggs, and cream add fat, cholesterol, and calories to your diet. If you can omit those ingredients and make your recipes vegan, you'll be doing your heart and your waistline a favor. Don't want to compromise on flavor? Of course, you don't. Here are five easy ways to veganize basic desserts so your butter-loving self will hardly notice the difference.

1. For eggs: You probably remember making volcanoes when you were a kid using baking soda and vinegar. That amazing foaming reaction can offer the same binding qualities as an egg. For every egg, use one tablespoon of vinegar along with one teaspoon of baking soda. This egg replacer works best in cakes, cookies, muffins, and quick breads. If you want more fiber in your baked good, make flax eggs by mixing two and a half teaspoons flax meal and three tablespoons of water.
2. For butter: Instead of fat-and-cholesterol-filled butter or shortening, choose either avocado, banana, or prune puree. Whatever the amount of butter the recipe calls for, use half fruit puree and half Earth Balance margarine. Try it in cookie, cake, and quick bread recipes.
3. For milk or yogurt: This substitution is a cinch since soy, almond, and coconut milk taste like dairy milk. Choose vanilla-flavored for an even sweeter treat. The same goes for recipes that call for yogurt or sour cream. Just replace those ingredients with either soy or coconut milk yogurt. And tofutti cream cheese is made with soy but tastes so much like regular cream cheese that it makes a perfect vegan substitute.
4. For buttermilk: Mix one cup of soy or almond milk with one tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and let stand for five to 10 minutes.
5. For chocolate: Semisweet chocolate chips aren't vegan, but what's a chocolate chip cookie without them? Go for dark chocolate chips instead, like the ones used in these Vegan Samoas. Just be sure to read the label since some brands contain milk. Add a little espresso powder for a richer chocolaty flavor.

Curious if your foodie habits are hindering your workout results? Our friends at Health share five common missteps and how you can make healthy changes.

By Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD

Whether you earn your living working up a sweat, or squeeze in workouts when you can, it's easy to fall prey to eating errors that unintentionally hold you back from getting the most out of your workouts. Here are five common missteps I see, and how to correct them to reap the rewards of your hard work.

Eating too little fat
Despite my recommendations to include good fats at every meal, like avocado, nuts, seeds, and coconut oil, some of my clients remain fat phobic, and will scale back, fearing that fat is "fattening." But the truth is, getting enough fat is a smart strategy for both sports nutrition and weight control, because fat: delays stomach emptying, so you feel fuller longer; increases satiety, to shut off hunger hormones; boosts antioxidant absorption, which in emerging research is related to leanness; and ups metabolic rate, to help you burn more calories. In fact, fat is one of the most vital nutrients in your diet, because it's a structural part of your cells, which means you can't heal a cell or construct a new one without enough fat to perform these important jobs. Cutting back too much can result in fatigue, chronic hunger, or a lack of satiety, irritability, depression, a weaker immune system, and an increased injury risk. So even if you're trying to reduce your body fat percentage, don't be afraid to add almond butter to a smoothie, top your salad with avocado, and sauté your veggies in extra virgin olive oil. Filling the fat gap can be the key to finally seeing results.

Health.com: Are You Making These Dieting Mistakes?

Using a sports drink when you really don't need one
If you sweat heavily, work out for more than 90 minutes, or exercise in hot, humid conditions, reaching for a sports drink rather than plain water is a smart way to keep hydrated, stay fueled, and replace the electrolytes lost in sweat. But if you're exercising for less than an hour and a half, in a climate-controlled gym, plain water should be fine. The carbs in sports drinks are designed to keep you going when you can't stop to eat, but if your muscles don't need the fuel, just one 20 ounce bottle means consuming a surplus 35 grams of sugar, the amount in about 20 gummy bears. And while unsweetened coconut water is a little lower, an 11-ounce jug still contains 15 grams of potentially unneeded carbs.

Keep reading for more three more mistakes.