That's Fit

About a month and a half ago, while I was out in Wisconsin, I was surprised to find that smoking is still allowed in restaurants. Being a native New Englander who has also lived in California -- where smoking in restaurants and bars has been banned for quite some time -- my personal knowledge of smoking bans caused me to be somewhat presumptive in thinking this was a nationwide trend. No offense to Wisconsin (or any other states that don't have a restaurant/bar smoking ban) ... but shouldn't it be?

If you take a recent Women's Health article on the topic of secondhand smoke into consideration, it's hard to argue against such a suggestion. According to said article, it takes thirty minutes or less for secondhand smoke to damage blood vessels and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Even such brief exposure disrupts normal expansion and contraction of blood vessels -- and it destroys EPCs, cells that help repair the arterial lining.

Look, I'm all in favor of people having the right to live their life without too much government interference. But, people eating at a restaurant also have the right to not have secondhand smoke destroy their blood vessels. While it's true that these folks could always eat somewhere else if the smoke bothers them, frankly, shouldn't it be the smokers who should go somewhere else?

Your thoughts?

To truly make the most of your weight loss and fitness efforts, it's best to follow a program that covers all the bases.

Resistance training is a great way to build lean muscle and reduce fat, but it may not be enough by itself to produce the results you're looking for. Therefore, be sure to also include regular cardio sessions in your workout and spend some time stretching, as well. The same logic applies for doing cardio by itself; you will drop pounds, but not as fast as you would if you also weight train. And, without resistance training, you will not put on any considerable amount of lean muscle. But, what do you do if you don't have any weights at your disposal? Simple - use your own body weight. This article, from the popular fitness website iLookLikeFit.com, offers some great tips on how to get a solid body weight workout.

The solution? Take a moment to reevaluate your workout. Be sure to include both resistance training and cardio sessions throughout the week. And, if you opt to do them both in the same day, most experts suggest performing your weight training first and then finish with your cardio.

Yesterday I made a quick stop to see my dermatologist. The reason: to have him take a look at a few tiny moles on my back. Granted, I was pretty certain they were nothing to be overly concerned with, but I'm a firm believer in being proactive in my health care, so I thought it was at least having a doctor take a look at them.

As I anticipated, they were thankfully nothing more than common moles. Still, he took some photos of them, measured them, and told me to keep an eye on them over the next six months to a year. If they grow or change color during that time, he said it may warrant taking a second look.

As I left, the doctor shook my hand and gave me a pamphlet on moles. Not exactly the most interesting piece of literature, for sure, but it contained some worthwhile information about how to recognize early warning signs of malignant melanoma in your moles. Based on what I read, dermatologists suggest using the ABCDs of melanoma when examining your moles.

Asymmetry. One half of the mole does not match the other half.

Are your kitchen countertops killing you? Stop laughing -- I'm being serious here. There might be a very real and potentially deadly source of radioactive gas in your home--your granite countertops. According to this article from the New York Times, granite countertops can contain high levels of Uranium, which is radioactive in itself, and when it decays, it releases radon, a radioactive gas. If that's not frightening enough, consider this: radon can cause lung cancer.

Not all granite countertops are dangerous, but have the potential to be. What can you do to protect yourself? Test the merchandise before you buy it by hiring a certified technician to measure your radiation levels or picking up a DIY tester from the Environmental Protection Agency.

(Via Crabby McSlacker)

Have you ever heard of the mind/muscle connection? Generally speaking, this is the process of focusing on, and visualizing, the muscle group you are working as you actually do. For example, if you are doing a set of bicep curls, you would focus on your biceps getting as good a workout as possible and, as best you can, visualizing the muscle working and growing.

The same way this mental connection helps build muscle, it also helps prevent injuries. This is because the visualization process is basically the same; intently focusing on your muscles as you work them will help ensure that you are sticking to proper form.

Most exercise-related injuries occur when attempts are made to lift unmanageable amounts of weight and/or when proper form is all but forgotten. Homing in on these areas of your body as they are being worked will reduce the likelihood that you'll abandon correct form and, consequently, lower your risk of injury at the same time.

Remember how happy we all felt when Lay's introduced Baked Potato Chips? I do. It was a feeling of relief for me. I had given up chips in lieu of a hard fit body. Fair exchange I thought! But then, there was this company telling me that they weren't going to fry all of their chips anymore, and yes ... there would be a healthier version for people like me. Yahoo!

Once again, snack lovers get to rejoice. The LesserEvil brand snack company has created an amazing variety of popcorns and krinkle potato sticks to make just about everyone drool. Most single servings contain about 110 calories of which about 20 come from fat. Not bad!

The Classic Kettle Corn is the perfect combination of sweet and salty, and thank goodness my bag was a single serving. If it weren't, I could have devoured nine! It was better than any of the junky stuff they sell at carnivals for sure! The Black and White Kettle Corn made my children's "movie night" here at home an even more special event. Good news for me ... I didn't feel the slightest bit bad about giving it to them. The Zesty Pizza Krinkle Sticks were odd to my husband and I though. Why? Because we could not figure out how they made them taste exactly like pizza! It was both weird and wonderful at the same time.

Summer is just about at it's end (believe me, it pains me to even write that), which means that kids who went to overnight camp are probably on their way back home. Just the same, freshman college students have just headed off for their new campus life, most likely sharing a dorm room with a person they've only met over the phone or through Facebook. In both cases, these kids probably have a tale to tell about the dreaded snorer they may have had to share a bunk with. And while the snoring they were forced to tolerate may seem like nothing more than an annoyance, it may actually be a sign of a bigger health problem for the snorer.

An article in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine reports that snoring may lead to chronic bronchitis for a good number of people. The study found that snoring places a great deal of stress on the airways, thus increasing inflammation. In fact, researchers discovered that people who reported snoring six or seven nights per week were 68-percent more likely to develop chronic bronchitis than silent sleepers.

So, if you happen to have a snoring roommate (or spouse), perhaps you should suggest they speak with their doctor about it. If nothing else, you'll finally be able to get some rest while they're at their appointment.

As we've mentioned many times before here on That's Fit, most Chinese take-out menu items can be a disaster to your diet. Many are high in sugar and sodium, while some also contain a great deal of unhealthy fat. But could there possibly be something else in Chinese food that causes weight gain? There is indeed, say researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and it may be something you were aware of.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer frequently used in Asian cuisine, can cause you to gain weight, new research published in the journal Obesity suggests. Rural Chinese men and women who consumed the most MSG were more than twice as likely to be overweight than their peers who didn't use the additive.

In the past, no definitive connection between MSG and weight gain in humans could be made, primarily because it was considered to difficult to measure the intake of the additive from processed foods. However, the UNC research team devised a method of analyzing certain data, which for the first time provided a clearer picture on the possible MSG/weight gain link. To read more about their findings, click here.

If you are an obese man, using statins to help lower cholesterol may not be the safest method to employ, a new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology reports.

In a population-based, case-control study, researchers discovered that the use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, especially long-term use, appears to raise the risk of prostate cancer among obese men (defined as a body mass index of 30 greater)..

Speaking to Reuters Health, a lead investigator in the study stated that "Among obese men, current use of a statin was associated with a 50 percent increase in risk of prostate cancer; and use for 5 or more years was associated with an 80 percent increase in risk of the disease; both of these risk estimates were statistically significant."

Women's Health magazine just sent me a release with some fun tips entailed, and I thought I'd share this one with you. Four fabulous moves useful for those of you guilty of missing morning workouts to sleep in late, and then missing the gym after work due to fatigue. As your online trainer I want to make this clear to you: skipping your workouts on a regular basis is detrimental to your health!

Of course, early morning workouts can be tough. They're also what keeps you full of the energy you need to get through each day with vigor! Check out this gallery, and next time you go to hit the snooze button ... get your fanny up and do the Cat Cow pose instead. (No moo-ing necessary!) These four easy moves will give you the energy to get to the gym and start your day off right!

We spend hours upon hours each year working out our bodies, yet we frequently forget to give our brain a good workout. Just like your biceps and your quads, challenging the brain helps keep it in proper shape.

To keep your mind sharp, try some of these brain-boosting techniques, which were sourced from MedicineNet.com and the Cleveland Clinic:

• Go over in your head what it is you want to remember, and be habitual in your tasks. Put things in the same place, for example.
• Get plenty of social interaction, sleep and regular physical exercise.
• Reduce stress whenever possible.
• Challenge yourself with activities. Try a crossword puzzle, take a class, or build something.
• Try to avoid distraction when learning something new. Give it your full attention, and use all of your senses to become familiar with it.
• Break an activity into multiple steps, and stretch it out over several days. For example, take a few days to learn how to program a new electronic device.

Here in the U.S., we're fortunate enough to have clean drinking water at our disposal almost at all times. As such, when we're thirsty, we either fill up a glass with some tap water, take a sip from a water fountain, or spend a buck-and-a-half on a bottled water. Whatever method we choose, the end result is the same: we're no longer thirsty.

But what if a glass or bottle of water isn't enough to satisfy your thirst? And, what if you're excessively thirsty all the time? HealthCentral.com reports that this may be a sign of a serious health problem.

Health Central lists the following causes of excessive thirst, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:

• A side effect of certain drugs, including anticholinergics, demeclocycline, diuretics or phenothiazines.
• Significant loss of water or salt, possibly caused by not drinking enough water, profuse sweating, diarrhea or vomiting.
• Significant blood loss or loss of body fluids, caused by an underlying health condition.
• Diabetes or diabetes insipidus.

The lower back is an important stabilizing muscle group that's called upon during many other exercises (not to mention simply keeping you standing upright). But, it doesn't exactly rank high in terms of areas we think about toning and firming. This is unfortunate, as a failure to work your lower back can lead to muscular imbalance and injury.

To help prevent this from happening, try implementing at least one of the following exercises (clicking on each will bring you to a video demonstration) into your resistance training workouts:

• Hyperextensions
• Supermans
• Deadlifts
• Good Mornings
• Seated Row

Be sure to use extra care when performing lower back exercises. As you may have found out in the past while lifting a heavy box or piece of furniture, if you do not use proper form, it may result in a pulled muscle or even a slipped disc.

Medicine cabinet is actually a terribly misleading misnomer. Contrary to popular belief, bathroom "medicine" cabinets are among the worst possible places to keep medications, which seems to call for a name change, if you ask me.

Due to the regular warmth and humidity in a bathroom, many prescription and over-the-counter drugs can break down over time. That's why it's best to instead keep medicines in a cool, dry place -- preferably somewhere that is locked up and out of reach of children and pets.

For more examples of some of the worst places for your health, check out this slide show from our sister site, AOL Health.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hey Fitz, My name is Sarah and I'm almost 16. I have always been involved with sports including: hockey, basketball, soccer and you name it! Now that I am older, I have slowed down a bit and only play basketball for high school and travel. This is what is bothering me: I can't seem to run as long as I used to. I get tired easily and run out of breath. I'm not fat or anything, and I am even really fast. But by the time I run one length of the court I'm pretty much dead. What am I doing wrong and what do I need to do to change this? It seems like I get more out of breathe each season. Thanks, Sarah

A. Hi Sarah, Thanks for writing. I have two thoughts on what may be happening with you, the first being more probable than the last. Most likely, you've just become out of shape. That doesn't mean you're obese or in horrible shape, it just may mean you're not capable of doing as much as you were two years ago when you were involved in three sports! You take pride in the fact that you run fast. That's great! But, the fact that you like to go all out probably makes you more likely to suck wind at the end of one lap.