That's Fit

Did you eat breakfast today? How about yesterday? If you answered No, you may be interested to learn that starting the day off with a substantive meal can help keep your weight in check.

The American Journal of Epidemiology reports that participants in a recent study who sourced 22 to 50 percent of their total daily calories from their breakfast gained an average of only 1.7 pounds over a four-year span. By contrast, those who did not eat breakfast -- or only sourced up to 11 percent of their daily calories from breakfast -- gained about three pounds.

Researchers posit that eating a meal after a long period of fasting -- as in, sleeping through the night, skipping breakfast, and then eating at around noon -- releases excess amounts of insulin, leading to fat storage and, as a recent Japanese study revealed, prevents the breakdown of stored fats.

Britney Spears has been amazing in a number of ways lately, but most of them have not been positive in the least. However, she is apparently amazing her trainer, Marc Corliss, with her dedication. He states that her commitment and attitude are the reasons she's been able to drop 15 pounds in the last four weeks.

Honestly, I would be surprised if she has dropped that much weight -- not that she's not looking healthier, but that's a lot of weight to lose in such a short time. Either way, it's nice to see her smiling, and I'm happy to see that fitness is playing a role in her recovery.

Mario Lopez is sharing his hot body secrets in his book, Mario Lopez's Knockout Fitness, which goes on sale May 13. He's currently out stumping for the book, and while he admits that it's hard to find time for fitness, he believes everyyone can achieve their best body. It's certainly helpful for him that his current job requires that he dance all day, but he has some down to earth tips -- eat healthy, keep a journal, and stay focused. Sounds like good advice to me!

How long does it take McDonald's to make a hamburger? My guess is around 30 or 40 seconds. How long does it take to make a healthy meal at home? Much longer, right? Not quite, says Keri Glassman, registered dietitian and part of the Women's Health magazine team. Glassman suggests the following ten easy food flips to help you prepare healthier meals in a jiffy.

1. SWAP THE MAYO (or the sour cream). Instead use nonfat Greek yogurt as a much healthier, low-fat substitution. In addition to being much lighter in the calorie department, nonfat Greek yogurt is high in protein, calcium, and also contains digestion-aiding probiotics.

2. PUREE. Freeze your favorite fruits and vegetables and then days or even months later you can puree them in large batches. In a matter of seconds you can have a healthy and tasty snack. For kids, Glassman suggests purchasing the containers that ice cream manufacturers usually use to make push-pops and filling it with a fruit puree.

3. INCREASE VOLUME. Make your meals bigger without adding any calories. Trust me, it's easier than it sounds. For some easy ways to do this, click here.

4. GO FOR CHICKEN STOCK. Using the low-sodium version, add chicken stock to mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower instead of butter or cream. You can also use chicken stock when you steam vegetables for added flavor rather than using butter or oil.

5. CONDIMENTS. Steer clear of those high in fat and sugar and instead opt for herbs, spices, and even low-sodium soy sauce, lemon juice, brown mustard, vinegars, and salsa.

I'm so happy to be back to incorporating outdoor workouts into my routine, sporadic as it may be. It's been almost three years since I moved from the West Coast to the East Coast and I still don't have winter workout gear in my wardrobe. So I tend to wait around for April to go for any lengthy walks or jogs outside.

But that would be so normal.

The other day, I actually did sprints, played hide and seek and pretended to be Dora the Explorer in a field of tall grass down the street from our house. Of course, I wasn't alone. This was my daughter's idea of a grand time. And it turned out to be a pretty darn good workout, too.

No trails, stroller, trails, or special gear needed. Just an empty meadow and our imaginations.

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.

I'm on board for this whole grain thing. If it's the best for my body, then I'm game. And yes, I'm just now committing to it. I happen to be one of those people who considers her diet a work in progress. I can't change everything at once and amazingly, while I've known certain things are bad for me for quite some time -- excess sugar, lots of fat, loads of sodium -- other Aha! moments strike me long after others catch on. Case in point: Whole wheat.

I guess I've known for longer than I let on that whole wheat is the way to go. Maybe it's just that I like the whiter versions of breads better. Perhaps preference and habit have kept me grabbing at that honey wheat bread for so long. Well, no more. Because yesterday, while grabbing my two loaves at the grocery store, I checked out not only the nutritional label but the list of ingredients too. My kid's school newsletter tells me this week that the word "whole" should be listed first on the healthiest of products -- manufacturers must list ingredients in descending weight order so you want your whole grains to be tops -- and sure enough, things just didn't read this way on my bag of honey wheat bread, which also happened to hide the bad words "high fructose corn syrup" amidst the tiny typed paragraph I tried to decipher. So the bread went back on the shelf. And whole wheat, without any of that fructose stuff, became content in my cart. One-hundred percent whole wheat, I should add.

Today, I'll have a sandwich for lunch on my new bread. So will my kids. Not so sure how they'll react but it's just got to be this way. For my health. And theirs.

For a bunch of whole grain guidance and inspiration, check out The Whole Grains Council here.

Go to the grocery store hungry and you're bound to crave everything in sight. Blame your "Mmm" hormone, says new research that names the natural molecule ghrelin the responsible party.

Why ghrelin? Because it improves perception and memory when it comes to food. When hunger strikes, watch out, because ghrelin makes the brain find just about every food appealing, sending us on a path to diet destruction.

Researchers have long known that ghrelin, a hormone secreted in the gut, rises and falls before and after meals. Now they're learning that this "Mmm" hormone has even more power -- it causes hunger and encourages eating.

Hi That's Fitter's!

On Wednesday we asked you to join us in a reader weigh-in and report the weight you lost. Forty-one of you took the challenge, stepped on the scale and revealed your weight loss.

So, how much weight do you think we lost last week?

I recently got married and moved into a new house, which means I'm cooking in a new kitchen and am all inspired to start trying new recipes. In the cabinets of a healthy kitchen, one of the most common players is olive oil (love a good stir fry) but getting what you pay for is isn't as easy as it should be. Many stores have bottles of oil that have been sitting for ages on the shelf (which diminishes not only flavor but also antioxidant benefits) and some companies are even fraudulently blending in filler oils like sunflower or soybean oil. For the best, healthiest olive oil, follow these tips:

• Go for the smallest brands -- smaller growers almost always produce higher quality oil than mass producers.
• Keep your olive oil cool and dark, and look for brands packaged in dark bottles.
• Read the label carefully, intentionally vague statements like "imported from Italy" can be deceiving (it wasn't necessarily made in Italy).
• "Extra virgin" isn't necessarily the best. To be labeled extra virgin, olive oil must have an acidity of 0.8% or less, which isn't that hard to do. For really good oil, look for 0.5% or less.
  

Life Fit Chat with That's Fit Life Fit Expert Laura Lewis brings conversation provoking tidbits to your table, served up with a touch of spice! Byte-sized information that pack some punch, brought to you every Wednesday and Thursday!

I really enjoy the ritual involved with eating sushi. My current boyfriend professed his interest in me while looking in my eyes leaning over a bowl of seaweed salad. I find it sort of romantic. Then again, I am not a hard-core sushi eater. I refer to my self as a "weenie" sushi eater. No, I don't go for the octopus, things with eyeballs evident or anything remotely moving. I know, it's a cultural thing, and I don't have judgment about it. It's just not MY thing! I order things like cooked egg, avocado and California rolls, double shrimp rolls ... nothing raw. I am a bit nervous about parasites invading my body as well as the negative health effects of ingesting fish high in mercury.

But I don't want to be the one who ruins the party! Being aware of what types of fish are lower in mercury and those that are higher would be helpful, right? Here is a list of fish you would find on a sushi menu with mercury levels listed. Since mercury can act as a neurotoxin, I find this list helpful. How about you? Would you rather mindlessly indulge on sushi and not worry? Or, will you become a more cautious sushi eater?

It's all about the beer. So say that ads, anyway. And, there's no harm in cracking open a cold one once and a while, so long as you're not drinking them with near abandon.

This also applies for those so-called "healthy" beers. You know, the Michelob Ultras and other brands that feature very fit people exercising in their ads, as if the beer was a sports drink. While it is true that these beers tend to have less calories (thereby making them the better choice in that department), drink a six pack a night and you're guaranteed to look nothing at all like the men and women pictured in the ads.

Simply put, one Michelob Ultra = 95 calories. A six-pack of Michelob Ultra = 570 calories. Considering that the FDA recommends a daily caloric intake of around 2,000, you will have less than 1,500 to spare after your "healthy" beer binge.

Keep your red and processed meat consumption to a minimum to avoid an increased risk of cancer, says a new study by the U.S. National Cancer Institute in the Public Library of Science Medicine.

Researchers found that people who ate the most of these specific types of meat had the highest risk of developing colorectal and lung cancers. Evidently, compounds created during cooking or the digestion of these types of meat damage DNA and in many cases result in the growth of tumors.

To help minimize your risk, the best -- and most obvious way -- to do so is to cut back on the amount of red and processed meat you consume. Researchers suggest sticking to around 3g per 1,000 calories you eat.

This Mother's Day, be sure to thank your mom for everything she has given you. All the love, all the affection, all the attention one person could ever ask for. But, there may be one thing your mom has given you that, if you had a say in the matter, you may have respectfully declined: her overweight genes.

Well, mom isn't completely to blame for this; dad's weight factors in equally. An article in Muscle & Body magazine points to a British study suggesting that you have a 75 percent chance of being overweight if both of your parents are. Specifically, it seems that the accumulation of body fat and waist circumference are very hereditary, whereas environmental factors played a far more limited role.

Does this mean you're doomed to be heavy if your parents are? I wouldn't say doomed. Not at all, actually. Predisposed? Perhaps. But that doesn't mean that you can't do anything to change what would appear to be your fitness fate. Regular exercise and eating a healthy diet will work just as well for you to stay fit as it will for someone whose parents are quite lean, so don't even think about counting yourself out before the race even starts.

With the temperature on the rise these days, it may soon be time to break out the grill and officially kick off backyard BB-Q season. Generally speaking, hot dogs, hamburgers and the like aren't known for being the healthiest of foods. But, there are always little healthy switcheroos you can pull on your guests without them even tasting the difference. Turkey burgers instead of ground beef, whole wheat buns instead of those made from enriched flour ... that sort of thing. Still, even with your best intentions at keeping the calories and fat to a minimum, there may be something you're forgetting: the condiments.

That little tablespoon of mayonnaise you slopped on your burger? 100 calories and 11g of fat. The barbecue sauce you slathered onto your ribs? 26 calories, including a good amount of sugar. And, who could forget about the pats of butter you spread across your rolls? Yup, those will cost you 102 calories and 12g of fat. While these, in and of themselves, may not seem to be all that damaging, you have to remember that they aren't the actual food; rather, they are simply what you're adding to it!!

If you want your turkey burgers or turkey hot dogs on whole wheat buns to stay as healthy as they can, swap out ketchup (15 calories per tablespoon) for mustard (10 calories). As for the dips for your chips, don't even think about the 60-calorie and 6g of fat per tablespoon ranch dip. Instead, reach for the fresh salsa, which usually has only 4 calories and 0 fat.

Revolution Health has a new interactive tool, momScore, that ranks states based on the accessibility and quality of maternal health care. To determine the score, a team of health experts compared state-to-state criteria including:

• Access to prenatal care
• Maternal mortality
• Risk of pregnancy complications
• Childcare availability per capita
• Infant mortality
• Air quality
• Violent crime rate
• Access to health insurance
• Affordability of children's health insurance
• Mandatory paid leave policy
  

You can check your state's score overall or by specific health topic. My state ranked roughly in the middle, which was what I expected to see. Where does your state rank?