Americans have a love-hate affair with calories. At any given moment, more than 4 out of 10 of us say we’re on a diet, yet we are gobbling 300 calories more each day, on average, than we did 20 years ago. And calorie counts sometimes dominate our lives: We choose workouts based on how many calories they burn, shop for calorie bargains at the grocery store, and blame holiday calories for our widening waistlines. But do we really understand when calories do -- and don’t -- put on pounds? Take this true/false test and see how you score.

1. True or False: Women trying to lose weight should eat no fewer than 1,200 calories a day.
True. It’s the lowest, yet still safe, calorie level for weight loss, says Elizabeth Somer, RD, author of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman’s Diet. Take a multivitamin to fill in some of the nutritional gaps, since nobody eats perfectly. Extreme dieting on 1,000 calories or less is a recipe for failure: The weight won’t stay off. Plus, shedding pounds too quickly can throw your body chemistry off and increase the risk of heart problems and gallstones (ouch!).

2. True or False: Most people have a pretty accurate idea of how many calories they consume.
False. People typically underestimate how much they eat -- sometimes by up to 700 calories a day. “But most of us tend to be off by about a third,” Somer says.

3. True or False: Excess calories go straight to your hips. 
False. They go straight to wherever your genes tell them to. Could be your waist, could be your chin(s), could be anywhere, including, yes, your hips. But the decision's genetic, not caloric. A calorie is simply a measure of energy, and if you don’t need that energy right away (to sprint for a bus or build new cells, for example), it’s stored -- as glycogen -- in the liver and muscles. When those storehouses are full, excess calories are warehoused as fat in whatever areas your genes favor: sweet cheeks or chubby knees.

4. True or False: Fat calories pack on pounds faster than carb calories.
True, if the calories are excess calories -- that is, more than your body needs. What accounts for the difference? It’s really easy for your body to convert excess dietary fat into body fat -- the process burns as little as 3% of the calories involved. But converting the calories in carbs and protein to fat is far harder and burns up to 23% of the calories in the process. That’s why excess fat calories bulk you up faster than excess carb calories.

5. True or False: Calories eaten at night are more fattening than calories consumed during the day.
False. Calories eaten at night aren’t any more fattening -- but they are more tempting. During a jam-packed day, you may barely think about food. But when you get home, you’re tired, you're hungry, you want to relax, your resistance is down, and suddenly, everything in sight looks good. Whether you’re contemplating a lovely meal or a quart of ice cream for dinner, it’s easy to overeat after dark.

Here's an extra helping of willpower: Eating a diverse diet that's low in calories and high in nutrients can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.

Diversify your diet for a younger, healthier you!

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If we all spent as much time reading nutrition labels as experts tell us to, supermarkets would have to start installing more cushy chairs and coffee bars than Barnes & Noble. Which may be what inspired two gods of healthy eating -- Harvard's legendary nutrition guru, Walter Willett, MD, and Mollie Katzen, authors of the groundbreaking Moosewood Cookbook -- to name names in their latest book, Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less.

The book lists brands for the foods that make grocery shoppers crazy: Either you choose from products where there are so many options (e.g., bread, cereal) that you just want to throw in the towel -- especially if your shopping cart is loaded with kids as well as cartons -- or you choose from products that sound healthy but often are sugar and calorie extravaganzas (e.g., many energy bars, tricked-up yogurts).

In the words of Willett and Katzen, "Bring your glasses when shopping for breads, crackers, bars, yogurt, smoothies, and even veggie burgers -- the calorie counts and nutritional profiles of these items can vary wildly." Or bring this handy list of the healthiest brands. Although they name more brands in the book, we've done the legwork for you and picked out the most widely available. If it's on this list, consider it blessed.

Bread
Pepperidge Farm sliced bread
    100% Whole Wheat Very Thin Sliced
    Carb Style, Soft 100% Whole Wheat   
    100% Natural Nine Grain
Country Hearth Stone Ground 100% Whole Wheat sliced bread
Thomas' English Muffins Hearty Grain 100% Whole Wheat
Roman Meal Multi-Grain Hamburger Buns

Cereal
Wheaties
Total Whole Grain
Kashi GoLean
Old Fashioned Quaker Oats
Wheatena

Crackers
Wheat Thins, Multi-Grain
Triscuit Thin Crisps

Yogurt
Dannon Light & Fit (regular, Carb Control, and Creamy)
Stonyfield Farm MOOve Over Sugar
Yoplait Light

Smoothies
Stonyfield Farm Light Smoothie
Yoplait Smoothie Light
Dannon Light & Fit Smoothie

Protein Bars
PowerBar Pria Complete Nutrition bar
Luna bars
Kashi GoLean Crunchy! bar and Roll! bar

Veggie Burgers
Boca
    Original
    All American Flame Grilled
    Grilled Vegetable
    Roasted Onion
    Roasted Garlic
Gardenburger
   The Original
    Sun-Dried Tomato Basil
    Veggie Medley
    Black Bean Chipotle
Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie Patties

Not only will this list streamline your grocery time, but shopping from it could also help you blow off a few birthdays. Because eating a diverse diet based around foods like these -- low in calories and high in nutrients -- can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.

Eating out? Check out the healthiest choices -- and worst diet busters -- from these chain restaurants.

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Traditional Japanese sushi is a dieter's dream, thanks to its heart-friendly, low-fat ingredients. But leave it to Americans to supersize it. What started out as truly lean cuisine now arrives on platters for one that could easily feed a family of four. Likewise, Japanese sushi kitchens don't use oil or mayo, says Hiroko Shimbo, chef and author of The Sushi Experience. Yet, chances are your favorite sushi bar serves fried shrimp and spicy tuna plumped up with the bad stuff. What's a calorie-counting sushi lover to do? For starters, don't tackle a 20-piece sushi boat yourself! And follow our lead: Get the skinny on the four fattest and leanest choices right here. Meshi-agare (Japanese for bon appetit)!

The Chubbiest Choices

1. Tempura rolls: Any tempura dish -- read deep-fried -- is a big-time diet buster. A shrimp tempura roll, for example, can deliver 500 calories and 20 grams of fat. Plus, breading and deep-frying boost the cholesterol, too.
2. Spicy tuna and other mayo-based rolls: Before you order, ask if the minced fish is mixed with mayonnaise. If so, that delicate roll may harbor as many as 450 calories and 11 grams of artery-clogging fat.
3. Philadelphia rolls: Unheard of in Japan, this salmon-and-avocado wonder is schmeared with something a sushi purist wouldn't even consider -- cream cheese. Calories for a roll start at 300 and rise, depending on how much cheese is used. A clue: Two tablespoons of cream cheese add 10 grams of fat (6 saturated), and some recipes use four times that amount. 
4. Dragon rolls and pretty much anything else made with eel and/or toro: Just 1 ounce of raw eel has 3 grams fat, and toro -- sliced from the fatty belly of tuna -- packs a shocking 7 grams per ounce. Even though the fat is the heart-healthy omega-3 kind, all fat is still loaded with calories, and the trade-off here is too high.

The Skinniest Sushi

1. Assorted sashimi: Sashimi is sliced fish a la carte, and by omitting the rice that would make it sushi, you save 30 calories per piece. Plus, says Shimbo, eating an assortment of fish -- white, red, oily -- creates delicious synergies: You get the flavors and benefits of each. For instance, delicate white fish has fewer calories, while richer mackerel and salmon have more omega-3s.
2. Veggie rolls: Cucumber rolls and tangy pickled vegetable rolls are free of fat and provide a pleasantly crunchy contrast to the soft texture of fish sushi -- and at only about 150 calories a roll. For a vegetarian entree that packs heart-friendly fat as well as some iron and protein, try a shiitake, avocado, and pickled-ginger roll. That little sheet of seaweed that holds it all together? It gives you calcium, vitamins C and K, and folate.
3. Edamame (soybeans): Okay, okay, they're not sushi. But they're a staple at sushi bars and one of the healthiest menu choices you can make, brimming with fiber, folate, iron, and protein. Half a cup of steamed edamame has 127 calories and a whopping 11 grams of protein -- hence its nickname: "meat from the vegetable garden."
4. Tako (octopus) or ika (squid): Though high in cholesterol, both are even higher in protein, B vitamins, iron, selenium, and taurine, an amino acid that helps keep your arteries, heart, and eyes healthy -- for almost no fat and only 25 calories an ounce.

There you have it -- sushi on a diet. But, actually, it's just sushi the way it ought to be: naturally healthy. So don't hesitate to indulge. Eating at least one serving of fish per week can make your RealAge as much as 2.7 years younger.

Worried about mercury?  Here’s the fish to pick or skip.

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Why is it that the minute cold weather hits, your skin gets dry and chapped? Partly because the colder the air, the less moisture skin can hold. But also, frigid air gums up the normally soft, fatty lipids that keep skin pliable. Think about what happens when you put something oily in the fridge: It turns into a gunky mass. Same idea here, but the results make skin less stretchy and more prone to cracking.

What to do? Just what you’re thinking: Get your hands on a serious moisturizer. It doesn’t have to be a budget-busting brand. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a moisturizer per se. Try a light sweep of sweet almond oil instead. It’s so easily absorbed that there’s no risk of looking like a walking oil slick. It’s virtually scent-free, so no clashing with fragrances. Plus, it’s a multitasker: Not only does it defend against moisture loss, but it has a healthy amount of vitamin E, a primo age-fighting antioxidant that can help keep your skin’s RealAge young.

Almond oil is in lots of products, from body lotions to cuticle balms. Among the most elegant: L’Occitane’s Almond Supple Skin Oil, $30 for 3.4 oz. Among the most affordable: Almond Body Butter from The Body Shop, $10 for 1.7 oz. But the true beauty bargain is the real thing: 8 oz. of sweet almond oil is $4.25 at mountainroseherbs.com. Sweet.

Perk up your skin with personalized tips from the RealAge Skin Care and Beauty Center.

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