Hot dog lovers, take note: Eating that frankfurter could reduce your healthy life by 36 minutes. On the bright side, a serving of nuts might help add 26 minutes of additional healthy life.

That’s what University of Michigan scientists found after evaluating more than 5,800 foods and calculating their potential harm or benefit using a new epidemiology-based nutritional index. The Health Nutritional Index is based on 15 dietary risk factors. It is adapted from the well-known Global Burden of Disease, which associates single food choices with mortality. The findings were published recently in the journal Nature Food.

But the new index also goes a step further, allowing people to understand the environmental impact of the foods they eat. The researchers used a method to calculate the full life cycle impact of foods, from processing to transportation and preparation.

The researchers also assigned foods to one of three color zones based on nutritional value and environmental impact. Like a traffic light, “red zone” foods are ones to be reduced or avoided. They include nutritional issues due to processed meats and environmental factors involving beef, pork and lamb. Healthier, more environmentally friendly “green zone” foods include fruits, nuts, vegetables, whole grains and some seafood.

So just how does someone turn back the dietary clock from that tasty but life-changing hot dog? The researchers suggest starting small. Swapping just 10% of daily food from beef and processed meats to fruits, vegetables and other “green zone” foods can add 48 healthy minutes of life per day. It also cuts your food’s carbon footprint by one-third.

So hold the hot dogs — and pass the nuts.