Eat healthy, live better: trade in your cheeseburger for a business lunch.

• Author: Kinder, Peri
• Position: Executive Health

You've spent six hours in a marathon meeting and you're so hungry you could eat your filing cabinet. Now you're eating a package of Twinkies, guzzling Dr. Pepper and promising to spend an extra hour at the gym--even though you know you don't have time. Those empty calories might tide you over temporarily, but in the long run it isn't just your waistline paying the price. You've likely heard that unhealthy eating could shorten your life, but the numbers are living proof of that fact.

Four of the top 10 causes of death in the United States--coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes--are related to diet and poor food choices. Throw in long work days, high stress levels and no exercise and you're a walking death sentence.

Business lunches and meetings contribute to the problem by combining work with food. Mindless eating adds lots of calories to a diet, contributing to weight gain and fatigue. Fortunately, making small changes can yield great results. Nanna Meyer is a nutrition research specialist with The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Salt Lake City. She says the Europeans have the right idea when it comes to food and business.

"Europeans are very good at not mixing the two," Meyer says. "They eat lunch to socialize but then they go back to work. And they don't spend the day eating at their desks."

Americans, on the other hand, tend to combine working and eating all the time. A business lunch with clients can add hundreds of extra calories to your daily consumption. Even "healthy" salads can be drenched in high-fat dressing, smothered with cheese and sprinkled with fried croutons. Learning how to discern between good and bad menu choices can make a big difference when stepping on the scale.

According to Meyer, fast food restaurants should be avoided at all costs. Big portions, fried foods and sugar make these places fat-traps. But if you need to eat on the run, there are better choices you can make.

Instead of gulping down a double cheeseburger with French fries, Meyers suggests ordering a grilled chicken salad with vinaigrette on the side. Also, a turkey sandwich on whole-wheat bread with lots of vegetables is another good option. Balancing protein, carbohydrates and fat will keep you full while providing the body with proper nutrients. "You want to create volume on your plate, but not at the expense of calories," Meyer says.

Filling up on fruits and vegetables, wheat pasta, brown rice and whole-grain breads add fiber to the...