We’ve certainly posted articles in agebuzz over the years about strategies for extending both your health span and life span. While there are innumerable ideas about diet, exercise, brain engagement, and stress reduction, it can be overwhelming in your daily life to remember what you can do to improve your prospects for the years ahead. Well, if new research is to be believed, there are pretty simple strategies that are easy to incorporate into day-to-day life that will yield big results for the long term.

First, let’s take a look at new research out of the University of Michigan that determined that very small dietary changes can yield substantial benefits for both individual health and the health of the planet. As published in Nature Food, this research developed a new Health Nutritional Index that calculates the minutes of life lost or gained per serving size of over 5800 different food items. As one example, if you consider the average American hot dog, these researchers determined that for every hot dog you eat, you lose 36 minutes of “healthy” life (an unfortunate discovery for the Nathan’s hot dog eating champion, Joey Chestnut!). The good news is that you can counteract these losses from processed foods such as hot dogs by eating healthier options, such as nuts and seeds, through which you can gain 25 minutes of healthy life from one serving. In fact, as the researchers bluntly state, “Substituting only 10% of daily caloric intake of beef and processed meats for a diverse mix of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and select seafood could reduce, on average, the dietary carbon footprint of a U.S. consumer by one-third and add 48 healthy minutes of life per day. This is a substantial improvement for such a limited dietary change.”

Another easy substitution that could yield significant results for your health comes from a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and just presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference in Paris last week. The study looked at the impact of utilizing a salt substitute rather than table salt in diets around the world. Not only did it turn out that the substitute (which has reduced sodium and increased potassium) had no negative side effects (only to be avoided by people with kidney disease who can’t tolerate the extra potassium). The research also demonstrated that by just this one simple and inexpensive diet change, millions of early deaths due to cardiovascular disease around the world can be avoided. To find out more, put aside your salt shaker and take a look here.

Finally, one other simple step you can take for better health when it comes to food. In a recent observational study out of Harvard published in Nutrients, looking at data over a 20 year period, researchers found that incorporating small amounts of walnuts into your weekly diet can make a big difference in your long-term well-being. According to this study, eating at least 5 servings of walnuts per week (with one serving being about 7 walnuts) can lead to an additional year of life expectancy. Given the nutrients and fiber to be found in walnuts and the ease of tossing a few in your morning yogurt or evening salad, it seems rather easy and obvious to take advantage of this additional health benefit. To find out more, grab a handful and click here.