That's Fit

I have not stepped foot in a Sam's Club wholesale food warehouse in at least three years. We don't have much shelf space for 30 rolls of toilet paper. But when a neighbor called today and invited me along on her Sam's Club adventure, curiosity bit.

Beyond the row of plasma TVs awaiting the eyes of entering customers -- the cheapest was $999, there goes half the tax stimulus -- everything appeared the same. I was already facing the fact a trip to Sam's Club meant walking in with money and walking out with no money and a cart piled with junk food. Today proved me wrong.

Here are the heart-healthier items I picked up at Sam's. Food I felt proud to buy for my family:

• A bag of frozen tilapia fillets. Physically I feel like a winner when I eat grilled or baked fish.
• A double box of Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal -- I was excited to see Kashi products at Sam's!
• 34 Go-Gurts which will probably last the kids a month.
• A plastic barrel of Snyder Snap pretzels -- we can use that barrel for arts and crafts post-snacking.
• Parmesan-encrusted chicken breasts -- higher in fat than I prefer (9 g per breast), but not bad if served up with a double portion of fresh veggies or a salad.
• One 48 oz whoppin' bag of trail mix -- 10 g of fat per serving is high, but a preferred snack over that big box of chocolatey granola bars I nearly pulled the trigger on.

Warehouse shopping is not as scary as I remember, just stick to the healthier items and try and avoid the pastry creme puff sample lady if at all possible. If you can't resist, pop the puff in whole or the creme will squirt on your shirt. Just ask my neighbor. Also, don't miss AOL Body's Diet Basics to learn a few nutritional tips. Armed with healthy diet information, march on over and join AOL Body's America Takes It Off weight loss challenge today!

What came first, the chicken or the egg? A question for the ages, or at least until everyone agrees that they don't care. But while scientists and lay people alike wrestle with this life cycle conundrum, we'll step aside and focus on a different question: Which is healthier?

All things considered, I feel the chicken is the clear winner of this battle. And, a recent piece in Maximum Fitness magazine on the health benefits of a five-ounce piece of skinless chicken helps support my decision. Here's the nutrient rap sheet on what a piece of chicken provides:

• 67 percent of RDA of protein, promoting muscle growth and the maintenance of muscle tissue
• 72 percent of RDA of niacin, which helps convert food into energy
• 32 percent of RDA of vitamin B6, an essential vitamin for forming hemoglobin for red blood cells
• 40 percent of RDA of selenium, an antioxidant which also prevents injuries to cells
• 8 percent of RDA of magnesium, which is necessary for the proper conversion of food to energy
• 7 percent of RDA of iron, which enables hemoglobin to carry oxygen to all body cells

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.

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.

• Olive oil

• Sunflower seeds

• Almonds

• Avocado

• Dark or semi-sweet chocolate

• Flaxseed oil

• Macadamia nuts

• Natural peanut butter

• Pistachios

• Walnuts
  
  

• 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.
  

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.

Losing weight is tough enough, but keeping it off -- now that can be really tough. Statistics show that 90-95 percent of overweight people who lose weight will regain it all (and in some cases, even more) within five years.

So, what's a person to do to stay slim? Work out harder, say researchers from Brown University. This may seem like a no-brainer at first, but what their study found was that duration during exercise does not matter as much as intensity when it comes to maintaining weight loss over time.

The good news is that you won't have to spend as long in the gym; the data shows that around 25 minutes per day is perfect. The bad news is that you won't be spending long, leisurely walks while reading a book on the treadmill anymore, because you're going to have to kick your workout into high gear.

That's what Credit Suisse restaurant analyst Keith Siegner did for all of April 2008 and somehow managed to lose five pounds. Yep, that's right, he only ate at fast-food chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, Subway and Domino's for 30 days straight. But unlike Morgan Spurlock, of 'Super Size Me' fame, he actually lost weight.