That's Fit

This week I've been sampling Dannon's Light & Fit 0% Plus Yogurt, and I absolutely love it. Before I go any further though, let me tell you how I feel about yogurt. I like it, but only if I feel like I'm getting a high in calcium, low in sugar, legitimately fruit-filled snack. Now, there is always yogurt stacked up in my fridge, because I have two little children. But, rarely do I even open up a cup for myself. Not that I would ever buy my babies anything "bad"... cause I don't. But I regularly expect perfection of the things I put in my mouth. I'm simply not willing to waste 100 calories on a teeny cup of yogurt. I'd rather have two big pieces of fruit.

So! I was thrilled instantly by the calorie count on Dannon's new Light & Fit 0% Plus Yogurt. Each cup boasts only 50 or 60 calories, depending on the flavor. That I can do! The fruity varieties are also full of real fruit chunks. Fresh and healthy fruit chunks, not the icky stuff dumped in from a can. On top of all that, each flavor has proven to be delicious to both my children and me, and then a few of my personal training clients as well.

Before you go give Dannon's Light & Fit 0% Plus Yogurt a try, I encourage you to do a side-by-side comparison of it's nutritional content versus that of other yogurts. I did this a few days ago and couldn't find anything as good. This is the type of thing you want to put in your fridge if you're trying to lose weight. It's a great fix for your sweet tooth, while providing a decent amount of protein, calcium, vitamin D and other important nutrients.

We are certifiable health food freaks and have been since long before we had a child. One of my husband's biggest concerns about being a healthy eating household was that none of our son's friends would ever want to eat over and subject themselves to vegetables and such.

Well, now that our little guy is three, we've been having some of his friends for dinner. How did it go, you ask? Here are two cases in point.

Our next door neighbor's six-year-old plays here almost every day after school and has recently begun to eat dinner here about once a week. She now asks every day what we are having for dinner because she has her favorites:

• taco salad made with homemade taco seasoning
• Applegate Farms hot dogs and Trader Joe's Organic Baked Beans and salad
• brown rice pasta with homemade red sauce, spinach, chicken sausage and zucchini chunks
• organic chicken burgers with avocado and salad

An easy way to lose weight is to include more fruits and vegetables in your diet. Produce is famous for jamming massive amounts of vitamins, nutrients and fiber into very few calories. With most produce, you can consume lots of food for a very low caloric price. More bang for your buck that is!

I ask my personal training clients to try to include at least five meals per week consisting of pure produce. No meat. No grains. Most folks eat at least 21 meals per week, so this five meal plan doesn't deter anyone from getting enough protein. What it does do though, is get them to try new fruits and learn new ways to turn veggies into a meal.

Another benefit to this effort is that by keeping a few meals to just produce, you will more than likely be cutting quite a bit of calories out of the day. Over time, the more you rely on fruits and vegetables for snacks and meals, the more likely you'll be to achieve and maintain your ideal weight.

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

This week I got to sit down on a beautiful sunny day, in The Swamp with the very sweet, smart and athletic ESPN College GameDay Analyst Mr. Kirk Herbstreit. No, we weren't knee deep in mucky water. We were in the heart of Gator Country enjoying the breeze after Kirk completed his workout, running zillions of steps at the University of Florida football stadium, The Swamp. Kirk retired from playing football more than 15 years ago, after four years at quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes. But now, he's one of the major faces of college football. Pandemonium strikes college campuses across the country when he -- along with host Chris Fowler and analyst Lee Corso -- set up shop outside the biggest games of each week.

Kirk brings something unique to the team. Every time the GameDay crew heads to the University of Florida, I find more than just the expected crowd of rowdy football fans swarming their booth. There is always an unusual amount of females in a frenzy to get as close a look as possible into Kirk's pretty blue eyes. He's definitely worthy of the attention. From my interaction with Kirk, I think he's a genuinely nice and genuinely thoughtful person. Before we started talking fitness, Kirk shared concerns over all the violence taking place on college campuses. He's a protective father and husband who tries to excel in his career while taking care of his family. He is just plain old sweet! And even though his professional life has been built around sports, he works hard to squeeze in fitness and manage nutritious eating just like the rest of us. Kirk seems to be an expert juggler of life and shares some great tricks for staying fit on the go. He also dishes a few doozies on football.

Fitz: What types of things do you do to stay in shape?

Kirk: It's kind of a lifestyle really. As an athlete I worked out so hard, I could eat anything without paying the price for it. As I got older, I still had that appetite and I was not able to work out as hard as I did when I was playing football. What I really try to do is control my portions, and mix in cardio and strength training workouts four to five days a week. If I can do that, I feel like I'm in a pretty good place. It's just about doing it though!

Fitz: What do you do while you're on the road?

The Environmental Health Perspectives journal recently published a paper claiming that certain ingredients in sunscreen are killing coral reefs. National Geographic, among others, picked up on it, and now beach-goers the world over are worried that the sunscreen they use to protect their skin is damaging coral reefs.

The Beauty Brains were asked about this last week, and they broke the issue down into an easy-to-understand format, explaining exactly what the concern was (certain chemicals found in sunscreen can cause bleaching in the reefs). The fact is that, yes, there are chemicals found in sunscreens that are detrimental to the environment, but the quantities listed in the paper failed to take a number of factors into account, such as those same chemicals being present in pollution as well as in sunscreen.

Their final opinion was that sunscreen use is not likely as big a culprit in the death of coral reefs as the paper indicates. However, if you're concerned because you swim near reefs (or just because you don't want to use sunscreen that could be damaging to the environment), you can look for natural sunscreens, or look out for the ingredients The Beauty Brains list as problematic.

It's been a busy month for home remedies on That's Fit and AOL Body. First, the AOL Body editors shared our home remedies. Then, we asked for your favorite home cures. Now, we've pulled together our favorite reader health help suggestions -- some a bit unusual (we'd suggest checking in with your doc first). You gave us tips to help everything from colds sores to dry feet. See if your suggestion made the cut, and what other bizarre advice other readers had to offer.

Readers' Favorite Home Remedies: http://body.aol.com/health/home-remedies-real-people.

Think you're making a pretty good attempt at going green? You might want to think again. Sunday's Parade Magazine tells readers that just because something is marketed as green doesn't mean it actually is. Take paper shopping bags. Pick them over plastic and you're doing a great thing, right? Not exactly. They are biodegradable but it still takes four times more energy to manufacture paper than plastic, leading to even more air and water pollution. Oops. Opt for sturdy, reusable totes and you'll be doing the planet a favor.

Have you been picking up organic processed snacks at the store lately? If so, then stop. These processed treats require hugs amounts of energy to produce, pack, and ship. Snacking on whole foods that are locally or organically grown is so much better.

Are you a fan of recycling your plastic water bottles. Good for you, if you are. But even better than using these bottles in the first place is to sip tap water from a safe reusable metal bottle. Why? Because we dispose of about 70 million plastic bottles every day. Fewer than 15 percent are recycled.

Surprising stuff? There's more right here -- like how to redecorate your house in the greenest way possible, how to buy the best green car, and what eco-friendly duds to wear.

It's that time of year again. When my son plays outside until the very last minute I'll allow. Then, later, as he's lying in bed he starts to complain of this spot or that spot. Invariably, I don't see anything in the spots he's pointing to. It seems odd because when I get a bug bite I flare up terribly. But flare-up or no flare-up, itchy bug bites drive my son just insane.

I prefer to use home remedies on my son's insect bites more often than not. My old stand-by is mixing baking soda with a bit of warm water and creating a paste. It's soothing and seems to take the sting away quite quickly. I've used it on both mosquito bites and bee stings.

Health911 has some more ideas on home remedies for insect bites. Some of their recommendations include rubbing apple cider vinegar on the skin as an insect repellent, dabbing dissolved Epsom salts on insect bites, using ice packs to reduce swelling, and using a paste of meat tenderizer to reduce the sting of bites.

I was in the checkout line at Target the other day and spotted a steam mop on the conveyor belt behind my stuff. I asked the woman behind me about it. She was trying it for the first time. At $40, she figured she couldn't lose. Well, anything but $40. But anyway, it piqued my curiosity. Turns out, it's the hot new trend in cleaning supplies.

A recent Washington Post article on the subject offers a pretty nice overview of the method. As for effectiveness and the potential to provide relief for allergy sufferers, steam cleaners seem promising. They are not a "magic wand," but myriad types of steam cleaners can apparently clean things from floors to outdoor grills pretty well. And because hot steam is touted for its ability to kill dust mites, mold and other allergens, they appeal to allergy sufferers.

Another lure is that the method offers a healthier alternative to chemical cleaners and is therefore kinder to the environment, especially waste water. But as with many eco-friendly efforts, there's an "inevitable weighing of pros and cons." Steam cleaners require electricity to use and energy for production and transport and will eventually add to solid waste in landfills.

If insomnia has you in its wide-eyed grip, try pulling on a pair of wet socks. I've read plenty of tips to sleep like a baby, but never cold, swampy feet.

Julie's Health Blog recently shared this unusual remedy, which is published in the book Health20 by integrative physician Alexa Fleckstein and Roanne Weisman. They don't get credit for the idea -- Sebastian Kneipp, a Bavarian priest and a founder of Naturopathic medicine, introduced the concept over 100 years ago. Here's the chilly regimen:

• Before bed, put on a pair of cotton socks which have been dunked in cold water and lightly wrung.
• Then pull on a pair of dry woolen socks over the wet ones.
• Wrap your feet in a towel and hit the pillow.

Studies show cold feet and insomnia are linked. With this treatment, the cold and wet socks stimulate a rush of blood toward the feet, warming your footsies and bringing on sleep. Fleckstein claims it worked for her. I don't know, going to sleep with the aroma of wet wool and bound feet does not sound appealing. Anyone tried this one?

From rubbing whiskey on sore gums (not a good idea) to gargling warm salt water when you have a sore throat (pretty soothing, actually), my mom is a fountain of home remedies. No matter what the ache or pain is, I always know I can count on my mom to have some sort of "cupboard cure."

AOL Body has weeded out the home remedy facts from the fiction. Some of their tips include:

• Rub a small amount of liquid laundry detergent on a mosquito bite.
• Put a few drops of eucalyptus oil on the floor of a hot running shower and inhale the steam to relieve congestion.
• For brighter, whiter teeth, combine a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda with a few drops of peroxide. Brush the mixture on, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse it off thoroughly.
• To remove dead skin from your feet, soak them in warm water for 15 minutes then scrub with a mix of water and salt to exfoliate.
• Soothe a sore throat with tea infused with clove, ginger, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey.
  

I have been both shivering with disgust and giggling my head off all day today. I grabbed the March 31st issue of OK! magazine off the rack at my gym this morning to keep me company as I ran on the treadmill, and I nearly fell off from laughing. Ugly Betty star, Vanessa Williams, admits to having almost smeared urine all over her face in an effort to get rid of acne.

Oh my! Acne is stressful and embarrassing I'm sure, but I think my face would have to be falling off before I considered doing that! Apparently, someone told her that urine cures acne and she almost followed through with it. Her confession suggests she put her valuable "morning urine" in a container, but just couldn't follow through with applying it.

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 two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz, I'm 56, run three to four miles, five or so days a week. Lately, as I'm walking to cool down, the back part of my right knee tightens up and bending it becomes very painful as I do post-run stretching. No pain when running. Anyone familiar with this condition? Dave

A Hey Dave. I get soooo many questions about knees. In fact, I had knee surgery long ago, so some people think I'm some sort of knee expert. I'm not. In fact, I don't think anyone who isn't a physician or physical therapist and hasn't seen you in person should give you advice on your condition. Not helpful, right? Wrong.

For thousands of years, traditional Chinese medicine has looked to the goji berry as a potent source of nutrients. Specifically used for its supposed anti-aging properties and its benefit to eyesight, goji's high vitamin C and B content also help make it a powerful combatant against kidney and liver problems.

Sometimes referred to as wolfberries, goji berries make a healthy and delicious little snack. In addition to the benefits listed above, some recent research into this rare fruit uncovered a potential link between its consumption and a decrease in blood pressure and cholesterol.

In addition to the berry, you can also try goji juice, which has somewhat of an unusual, but decent, taste. A word of caution for people taking the blood thinner warfarin, though. Just as many leafy green vegetables can lessen the effectiveness of this medication, goji may do the same. Talk to your doctor to see if goji is right for you.

Did you know that for most people, cleaning the wax out of their ears is unnecessary? That's because ear wax provides waterproof protection to the ear canal, as well as a barrier against infection. Some people have an abundance of ear wax, which makes removal necessary. Removing the wax can be tricky, however, and should never be done through a process known as ear candling.

This is just one thing I learned reading about these five home remedy no-nos from CBS News. Others include putting whiskey on a teething baby's gums (whiskey provides no numbing relief and could be dangerous to the baby), putting butter on the burn (doesn't help, might cause infection), and taking colloidal silver to improve immune function (too much colloidal silver can be toxic and its benefits are not well supported).

Minor health issues can often be treated through home remedies, just be sure that the method you are using won't cause more harm than good!