A few nutritional tricks to add spice to your life

Who says good health is about staying in and eating celery sticks? Certainly not us. Here's how to take even a dive-bar outing or movie and make it a little healthier:

1. Add oregano to your slice. If you're going to have a slice of pizza, be sure there's some oregano in the sauce. This herb, thanks to a substance in it called (E)-beta-caryophyllene, means less inflammation. Good news, since inflammation has been fingered in a bunch of bad health outcomes, from heart disease to cancer. Even better, of course, is to skip the slice and go somewhere you can get inflammation-taming salmon.

2. Chase it with beer (in moderation). The bitter compounds that come from beer derived from hops seem to activate PPARs (at least in animal studies). Those are substances in your body that some foods and beverages stimulate and that may have anti-inflammatory effects. Once they're activated, they also decrease glucose and insulin levels, as well as lousy LDL cholesterol.

3. Choose your movie wisely. In one study, people ate less popcorn when they watched a happy film than they did while watching a tearjerker. Even better than sitting around and being entertained is to be the entertainment yourselves: Go dancing, sing karaoke, challenge your friends to Wii bowling - even go to an actual bowling alley. Or just be intertwined. More physical activity and more mutually monogamous sex keep you younger.