That's Fit

Is your favorite sunscreen safe? The Environmental Working Group (EWG) investigated nearly 1,000 sunscreens and determined 4 out of 5 sunscreens provide inadequate protection or contain ingredients with safety concerns. Surprisingly, EWG named Coppertone, Banana Boat and Neutrogena as the worst offenders -- fewer than five percent of their products are recommended as safe and effective.

EWG recommends you purchase sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher and at least seven percent zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. AVOID oxybenzone or benzophenone-3, spray or powder sunscreens (inhalation hazard), added fragrance, and sunscreen with bug repellent (you might absorb too much pesticide). Another tip, apply bug repellent 15 minutes after sunscreen to cut down on pesticide soaking through the skin.

Here are EWG's Top 10 Sunscreens:

• Blue Lizard (anything without oxybenzone)
• California Baby (SPF 30 or more)
• CVS with zinc oxide
• Jason Natural Cosmetics Sunbrellas Mineral Based Sunblock
• Kiss My Face "Paraben" free series
• Neutrogena Sensitive Skin Sunblock
• Olay Defense Daily UV Moisturizer (with zinc)
• SkinCeutical Physical UV Defense
• Solar Sense Clear Zinc for Face
• Walgreens Zinc Oxide for Face, Nose & Ears

Happy 4th of July!

Here are some "kick butt" tips for keeping fit, active and regret free on the Fourth of July from KickYourButtIntoGear.com. As KickYourButtIntoGear.com is owned and managed by a fellow expert in the field of fitness, Exercise Physiologist, Tracy Benham ... the tips are awesome advice for you and you family to adhere to!

• Sports and summertime go together. Plan an activity early in the day. Play baseball, touch football; go to the local pool or beach.
• Get outside early and see if you can think of and do more than four activities before four o'clock to celebrate the Fourth.
• Eat a bowl of fruit before you head for the barbecue goodies. Tons of fruits are in season. Make a Fourth of July fruit cocktail. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries...
• Use a plate. You will be less tempted to mindlessly snack.
• Skip the cheese and the Mayo on your burger and load up on lettuce tomatoes, pickles, onions and relish.
• Alternate cocktails and other caloric beverages with a glass of water. Or ... just avoid the high calorie beverages all together!

Going to a Fourth of July bash this weekend? Straight from the Delicious Disney, The Disney Chefs with Pam Brandon book I bring you the most yumtastic side salad ever! Want to look like a fancy pants when you walk through the door at that party? This is the way to do it. I've posted the fairly simple recipe for Papaya, Avocado and Grapefruit Salad in my recipe book at Fitzness.com (page 37) for permanent access. Enjoy!

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. Dear Fitz, I love the summer weather, and really want to use the large outdoor pool at my gym. I do water walking and swim a couple of laps, but then I get so bored! Swimming 20 laps in a row is not fun for me. I'm pretty sure swimming burns a lot of calories, which is my goal. Help! Deanna

A. Hi Deanna, I'm so excited to help you, cause I too love the benefits of training in the water. We always hear that it's a terrific workout for those who want to avoid trauma from high impact activities. It also happens to be a fantastic workout for those who want to burn a massive amount of calories! Quick personal story. About eight years ago, while in the midst of a competitive kickboxing career, I tore my right hamstring. This made it impossible for me to do almost any sort of activity that involved any sort of impact. I also happened to be about 5% body fat at the time. I thought there was no way in the world that I could lose another pound. At 5'6" and 114 pounds, I was sitting on my bones. Having said that ... after swimming most nights for three weeks I actually lost three pounds. I was sold! Swimming is awesome exercise!

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Sounds impossible, doesn't it? Who in the world ever thought of going to Disney and eating healthy? Crazy talk, right? Wrong! Your loving online Fitzness Expert (me) who has extremely high standards on what I put in both my children's mouth and my own can spend a day at the Magic Kingdom or EPCOT and eat as well as I would in my own home. Disney has made grand efforts to improve the healthfulness of the foods they offer, and has even gone overboard with an abundance of fresh fruit stands located throughout each theme park.

I just spent a week at Walt Disney World in Florida and returned home half a pound less than I was the day before vacation. Want to eat right while enjoying the magic with Mickey Mouse? Read on.

• Mickey makes mealtime easy on the fitness fan. Every restaurant I ventured through offered several menu options based on lean grilled meat, veggies, and/or fruit. Even the children's meals come standard with side items like: grapes, carrot sticks, and unsweetened applesauce. They also come with bottled water or skim milk. Sweet! Parents would have to go out of their way to substitute french fries and soda for their children instead of the healthy stuff. Eww! You the fitness fan, certainly wouldn't do that!
• Sit down dining restaurants offer Egg Beaters cooked without oil in lieu of regular scrambled eggs. I enjoyed this perk while dining with Minnie and Goofy at Disney's Yacht Club Resort.
• Resort dining facilities offer endless refrigerators full of fresh fruit, veggies, yogurt, dried fruit, nutritious snack bars and more.
• Seek out healthier desserts. Anywhere they are served, Disney has made efforts to make reduced fat, low sugar or fresh fruit treats available.

Gallery: Dining at Disney is a fitness family's dream!

• Make sure your equipment is very sturdy.
• Look for sets that can be changed or upgraded to accommodate your child's growth.
• Secure the legs of the set in below-ground concrete. Got anchors that came with the set? Keep them below ground.
  
• Make sure all cables are taut. Cap any screws or bolts.
• Be sure your slide has no more than a 30-degree slope. Your slide must have tall sides to prevent falls, and an area at the bottom where children can regain balance and sit upright.
• Avoid sets with "S" hooks or parts that can pinch, cut, or crush small fingers.
  
• Avoid rings that are less than five inches or greater than 10 inches in diameter.
• Equipment should not be higher than eight feet tall.
  
• Be careful with metal equipment. It can lead to burns when used in hot weather.

My five year old daughter's beautiful light blond hair has turned the most not-so-beautiful shade of green. Ugh! We swim a lot. We live in Florida, and that's what we do almost every day during the summer. Her hair has been pretty green for about two weeks now, and for about the same amount of time I've been looking for the special swimming shampoo that's supposed to get the green out. I checked three pharmacies, one Walmart, and two grocery stores with no success. How frustrating!

Fortunately, today I stumbled across the ultimate score in 'get the green out' shampoos at Target.. Suave has a cute little kids line of hair and body products that are tear-free, smell great, and sell for less than two dollars. And! They've recently added a special shampoo to the line which is designed to remove chlorine from cute little heads of green hair. It's called Suave Swim and Sport Flippin' Citrus 2 in 1 Shampoo for Kids. We've already used it, and we love it! So....if you are Going Green in a way that has nothing to do with the environment......give this stuff a try!

I am in love ... ladadidaaaa! The kind of love that would make Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty) sing a strange little song to some birds. I'm truly very happy right now. As I write, I'm wearing my new capri pants and shirt, courtesy of Loyaltee Fitness. Why would I be singing silly songs about that, you ask? Well, it's because all morning, random people at the gym have been complimenting me on how "good I look," and how "cool my clothes are." Hey ... I'm a girl. That sort of thing makes me happy (especially cause I'm a Mom. Rarely do I actually look worthy of compliments.). Pictured at right is me, post-workout in my Loyaltee Fitness duds this morning.

The clothes are cool, though! I recently received these duds in the mail along with the Technical Jacket and a little white racerback tank. Oddly, the clothes fit every part of my body perfectly ... almost as if Loyaltee sent spies over here to get my exact measurements before they filled my order. That never happens to me. The clothes are soft, fit all of my curves the way they are supposed to, and have very sexy detailing. For example! The shirts and jackets are a little long, falling right over my hips. The smarties at Loyaltee put their logos right over the small of a woman's back. Kind of gives the sexiness of those tattoos on the low back, without all of the skanky! You know what I mean.

Gallery: Loyaltee Fitness

Of course going jogging on a trail is a super form of exercise. I specifically like what trails have to offer hips and ankles over a flatter surface. The inconsistency of the trails' surface causes the joints in our lower body to constantly adjust which makes them uniquely beneficial for strengthening hips, knees, and ankles.

Trails are also great for other types of training as well. I think Women's' Health magazine did a super job of taking a few simple items we'd all eventually stumble across while trail running, and turning them into fitness equipment. As your fancy online Fitzness Trainer, these are the types of skills I want you to learn.

Hooray! Fellow blogger,Jacki Donaldson just brought up a great subject. Using your phone to help you stay motivated works! I use text messages to harass my personal training clients, and I always receive feedback that they've inspired and kept the recipients in line when tempted to go to the dark (not-so-healthy) side.

Having said that, my brilliant colleague, Tracy Benham, is the mastermind behind TxtVox's Get Fit text messages. The girl is a sharp exercise physiologist and fitness trainer (we met getting our Master's Degrees in Exercise and Sports Sciences). Let her in your mind a couple of times a week ... and sooner rather than later ... your body will rockin'! The texts come twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, and are really just there to motivate, educate, and harass you like a personal trainer would.

Go to TxtVox.com. Find the All About Me section, and then check off the box Get Fit! And did I mention that it's free? Oh yes! It is. If you're someone who could use a bit of consistent motivation from a REAL-DEAL professional ... TxtVox.com Get Fit messages are the way to go.

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. Hi Fitz. I would like to start teaching my family good eating habits. I'm overweight and my children are too. Where should I start? Thanks. Charlene

A. Hello Miss Charlene. Thanks for the great question. Raising fit and healthy children is my soap box, and actually one of my favorite lecture topics. Why? It's so important! Parents literally have the capability to set their children up with terrific habits which will greatly increase their chances of living a long healthy life. What a wonderful gift! The opposite is true as well. Moms and Dads who do not insist upon healthy foods and exercise can doom their children with awful diseases, ailments and even worse ... premature death. Junk food is no fun in the long run, and we as parents, owe it to our beautiful babies to provide a healthy start.