While fitness is about feeling great and being healthy, for many of us it's also about looking good. And so, you can just imagine how excited we are to announce the merging of the lifestyle blog StyleDash and AOL's style channel, StyleList, to create a mega-channel blog!

StyleList will continue to offer its service while the blog will take the content to a whole new level, offering of-the-minute style and fashion tips, news, and advice. You can read all about it in the StyleList blog introductory post.

If you have StyleDash bookmarked, don't worry -- it will continue to redirect to the StyleList blog. If you don't have it bookmarked yet, head on over and check it out! We're proud of and excited about this news, and we hope you will be, too.

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Watch out if you ever order the Boston Market Creamed Spinach side dish. It comes packed with 280 calories, 23 g of fat, and 580 mg of sodium. It may taste great but bad things do come in this small package. Same goes for McDonald's Cinnamon Melts, featuring 460 calories, 19 g of fat, and 370 mg of sodium.

Ah, Wendy's large fries. Gotta love 'em. Gotta avoid 'em too, unless you like a quick dose of 550 calories, 26 g of fat, and 480 mg of sodium. Steer clear of Chipotle Chips & Guacamole too. Calories: 710. Fat: 37 g. Sodium: 740 mg. Need I say more?

AOL Health has more to say on this topic -- the experts there uncover 14 other fattening fast food side dishes. Check out just how disastrous they can be to your diet, right here.

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Think you can cut just 300 to 500 calories a day from your diet? If so, it could be the very thing that keeps you living longer.

It's been said before: Limiting caloric intake can slow the aging process. This theory, based on the study of rats and mice, goes like this: Fewer daily calories decrease production of the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3), which then slows metabolism and tissue aging. Now, a new study adds to this theory and shows that this hormone decrease occurs when humans regularly skip rich desserts or forgo the Big Mac for a turkey sandwich instead.

So, researchers know now that calorie restriction does indeed slow hormone production in both animals and humans. Great news. What they need to determine now is whether the restriction actually slows the aging process. Common sense says that it does -- there's lots of evidence that cutting back on calories can limit risk for many common diseases, like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Avoid these diseases, and yes, you will live longer.

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AOL Health likes this Self magazine Eat Like Me blog. After checking it out, I do too. I like how the blogger details everyday occasions, like working and vacationing, and offers me, the reader, specifics on how healthy meals can easily be incorporated into busy days. Ever stuck on what to bring to the beach for lunch? How about leftover food from the house, like romaine, cucumbers, carrots, red onion, chickpeas and kidney beans? Thrown all together, they make a tasty and nutritious treat.

Need a mid-morning snack? How about yogurt, a toasted bagel, and a peach? Works for this blogger. Might work for you too.

The bonus with this site is that photos are included -- I got to see the actual yogurt, the bagel with raisins, the peach. And all nestled underneath the photo is serving size information. For this snack, it goes like this: This Meal Provides Approximately: Grains = 3 ounces (-whole), Fruit = 0.75 cup, Milk = 0.75 cup, Discretionary Calories = 40 kcals (sweetened yogurt).

I like this blog. Check it out and see if you do too.

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If water isn't enough to quench your thirst, you're in luck. A new UCLA study reveals the top 10 healthiest drinks, and AOL News features the nitty gritty on the whole lot right here. And guess what? Nine of them are fruit based. Here they are.

• Apple Juice
• Tea
• Orange Juice
• Cranberry Juice
• Acai Juice
• Black Cherry Juice
• Blueberry Juice
• Concord Grape Juice
• Red Wine
• Pomegranate Juice
  

What makes these drinks so healthy? Antioxidants, mostly. The more vivid the color, the more antioxidants there are. No wonder so many berry drinks made the cut.

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AOL Health has the secret for energetic living. It's as easy as eating well -- and avoiding foods that zap the life out of us. Here are some of them.

• While not everyone will get sleepy after a turkey sandwich, turkey (and milk, corn, brown rice, and legumes too) contain an amino acid called tryptophan that can be both relaxing and exhausting. If fatigue is a problem for you, you might want to steer clear of these foods.
  
  
• Sugar may seem to give you a burst of energy, but that's all it is -- a burst. Long-lasting energy will never come from sugary foods. The body metabolizes sugar too quickly and then leaves you feeling just plain "blah."
  
  
• Any food with lots of fat takes longer to break down in your body and won't leave you feeling perky.
  
  

For more eating-for-energy secrets -- Hint: sports drinks may not be all they're cracked up to be -- check out this AOL site.

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Now that my belly is flat -- I never thought I'd say that -- I want to keep it that way. I know basically how to maintain my new flatland -- a clean and healthy diet and lots of good exercise -- but this AOL America Takes It Off slide show definitely helps.

I need monounsaturated fatty acid -- that's MUFA for short -- according to the AOL experts. A recent study published in the journal Diabetes Care found that eating a diet high in MUFAs can help reduce the accumulation of abdominal body fat. No other nutrient can do this. So here are the MUFA foods I ought to be eating so I can hang on to my trim tummy.

• Olive oil

• Sunflower seeds

• Almonds

• Avocado

• Dark or semi-sweet chocolate

• Flaxseed oil

• Macadamia nuts

• Natural peanut butter

• Pistachios

• Walnuts
  
  

For the run-down on exactly why these foods have such magical powers, take a peek right here.

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As a person who wears contacts and eye glasses, I've always considered getting Lasik eye surgery because of the convenience of being able to wake up and see clearly, without having to put on my glasses or contacts. An estimated six million Americans have undergone Lasik surgery, but I'm still too nervous to go under the knife for eye surgery or any surgery for that matter. Although 20/20 vision is not guaranteed by Lasik surgery, about 95 percent of patients are satisfied with their results.

However, a recent study found about that about 31 percent of Lasik patients had some degree of dry eye before their surgery, and about five percent worsened afterward. Other patients also said they suffered severe eye pain, blurred vision and other problems after undergoing Lasik.

So now the FDA is urging the government to issue clearer warnings about the potential risks of Lasik eye surgery, which is always a good idea with risky procedures.

Would you ever undergo Lasik eye surgery, and if you have, did you ever experience any problems after the procedure?

We all know broccoli is good for you, right? Not only does it have anti-cancer compounds, and anti-oxidant containing vitamins (vitamin-C and bets-carotene) but it's loaded with fiber. But which way is the best way of cooking broccoli and other vegetables, to preserve the most nutrients?

Believe it or not a recent study done at Cornell University said microwaving (behind steaming) is one of the best ways to cook vegetables and retain the nutrients inside. The study found that cooking vegetables on a grill, which exposes them to higher temperatures, is actually more destructive.

But be careful not to add too much water when cooking your veggies in the microwave. Researchers suggest that in order to keep the nutrients undamaged when microwaving you should only use a couple of tablespoons of water to cook raw vegetables and no extra water to cook frozen ones. That's because vegetables lose water-soluble nutrients like folic acid and vitamin-C when they are immersed in cooking liquid.

What tips do you have for steaming or microwaving your veggies?

For many people, flying can be really nerve-wracking. Getting to the airport on time, putting all liquids in clear, resealable bags, remembering important travel documents, the threat of lost luggage, making connections and much more, make airplane journey's stressful.

With all of these things to think about, you definitely don't want to also have to worry about getting sick or feeling ill on-board. In order to stay as healthy and happy as possible on your next flight, get prepared ahead of time with these 10 tips from AOL Body .

Suggestions include everything from making sure to get up and move around in order to prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT) , washing hands or using antibacterial wipes to avoid picking up germs from your seatmates and swallowing, chewing gum and yawning to pop blocked ears. For more information on these as well as additional tips, such as staying hydrated and avoiding alcohol, check out the entire piece here on AOL Body.

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