You’re busy, you’re hungry, but you don’t have to kill yourself with bad food.

By Mary Ellen Flannery

Your New Year’s resolution calls for two inches from the waist, 10 pounds dropped, and a 180-degree turnaround in your eating habits. Buh-bye, Frito-Lay. Sayonara, Snickers. Sniff, we’ll miss you. But, oh, hey, Pumpkin! (Pumpkin seeds, that is.) The best way to meet your goals is to make wise choices when you belly up to the cafeteria counter or open that refrigerator door.

All teachers love Starbucks. (Okay, maybe not all.but an awful lot of you greet the barista before you turn on that classroom smile.) Is the daily latte a good way to start the day? It has 4.5 grams of saturated fat and 17 grams of sugar. If you order it “skinny,” you lose the fat, but the sugar remains at 18 grams. (Test your knowledge of daily drinks at Starbucks' website.)

Drink this instead: A green tea. It has as many antioxidants as your lesson plans have standards. And, although many claims about its health benefits are unsubstantiated, a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests the tea may help you live longer. (Make the most of that defined-benefit pension plan!) Still, if you simply insist on a full dose of caffeinated coffee beans before facing your lovelies, try the cappuccino. It has about half the fat and sugar.

Elevenses. You’ve dropped the kids off at music, or you’re seizing the two minutes between classes. Now is that sweet time of the morning that Winnie the Pooh marked with honey on bread: snack time! Honey on bread isn’t the worst. (Whole grain, right?) It’s better than the elevenses celebrated in a certain Herman Wouk novel, which consisted solely of Scottish whiskey.

Eat this instead: When the munchies strike, grab a handful of almonds. In addition to the e-ssential Vitamin E, almonds are packed with cholesterol-reducing attributes, found Cyril Kendall, a University of Toronto scientist. In his study, published in the American Heart Association Journal, people who ate almonds daily saw significant improvements in cholesterol levels. “One ounce gives you a good effect. Two ounces gives you a better one,” he says. (Kendall also found a diet including oats, beans, and almonds can reduce cholesterol as effectively as medication.)

When the lunch bell rings: The worst thing you can opt for is nothing at all. While skipping meals might save you calories, this strategy could backfire, suggests Alexandria, Virginia-based nutritionist Elizabeth M. Holm, DrPH, RD. Without food, you set yourself up for overeating or even bingeing later in the day. Plus, when your brain is deprived of glucose, you’re likely to feel irritable or dizzy. Try teaching algebra like that....

Do this instead: Get thee to the cafeteria, where your colleagues work hard to provide healthy choices. In Sayreville, New Jersey, where Pat Lieberman is cafeteria manager, the daily sandwich special is tops. (Make sure to stop by on a Thursday: grilled chicken on a honey-wheat wrap with your choice of fat-free or light dressing.) “Sandwiches and salads are made fresh daily!” she promises.

When you pack your own, you want the same convenience. So, like your students, those handy little Lunchables tempt you. It’s grab and go! Well, here’s the thing: Even though Kraft has made them healthier over the years, most of the meat and cracker combos, as well as the “Wrapz,” still have close to 1,000 milli-grams of sodium—and too much sodium is a sure-fire way to crank up your blood pressure and leave yourself vulnerable to a buildup of plaque in your arteries.

Eat this instead: An Amy’s Southwestern Burrito. No effort—and a lot less sodium, sugar, and saturated fat. Compared to the Lunchables Beef Taco Wrapz, which has 960 mg of sodium, the burrito has 680 mg. And, instead of 34 grams of sugar, the burrito has just 2.

How to rock your lunch box There’s nothing wrong with PB&J. But every day? Try tossing some of these so-called “super foods” in your lunch box as well. They promise good health and long life, and better salaries and well-behaved students.
	Pumpkin seeds: Nutritionist Jonny Bowden, author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, told New York Times readers that the seeds are the best part of the pumpkin. Packed with magnesium, a mineral associated with lower risk for early death, they’re like something that Ponce de Leon might have packed. Throw them on top of your cafeteria salad or eat them out of a handy Ziploc.
	Sardines: Sardines are not gross! Bowden calls them “health food in a can,” because they’re loaded with omega-3s (good for your heart!) and calcium (good for your bones!). Here’s our advice: Don’t go cheap if you don’t want to see any heads. Spread on toast with a little mustard and tell your colleagues in the faculty lounge to hold their noses.
	Apples : You might be sick of those apple-themed gifts on your bookshelves, but you should still keep a few real ones in your produce drawer. Perhaps not surprisingly, the old saw, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” has more truth than not. An apple is the ideal snack—it’s portable, it’s tasty, and it’s full of Vitamin C and pectin. Those last qualities put it on a top ten foods list published by the Mayo Clinic.

Photo: Meiko arquillos

Photos: Seeds: Tamara_k; Sardines: Jabiru; Apple: Xxmmxx; Woman: rubberball

Photos: Fork and tape: Carlos Caetano; Scale: Haywiremedia; Product shots: Groff Creative, inc.