That's Fit

Cynthia Sass, registered dietitian and co-author of Flat Belly Diet! has compiled a new annual list of belly-flattening foods that are full of fat-blasting nutrients like heart-healthy MUFAs (monosaturated fatty acids) and whole grains. These top 27 foods flat-belly foods are her favorite low calorie, non-processed snacks that will help you keep your summer weight-loss promises. Everything on the list is worthy of a try but I've narrowed down my top five favorite snacks:


My favorite from the list:

• DeBoles Organic Ancient Grain Penne. Regular pasta semonlina flour may be tasty but it's calorie content isn't. Each serving of DeBoles provides 7 g of protein, which helps control blood sugar levels and regulates energy to keep hunger away.
• Naked Juice Probiotic Tropical Mango 100% Juice Smoothie. This yummy juice is made from 100 percent all-natural fruits and contains healthy bacteria that boosts immunity and promotes digestive health. Each bottle has 180-calories but gives you a day's worth of vitamin C and 60% of your daily intake of vitamin A. Plus it counts as two servings of fruit.
  
• Kraft LiveActive Mozzarella Cheese Sticks. This little cheese snack is perfect when you're on-the-go. Plus it contains 8 grams of protein and will only cost you 80 calories.
  
• Garden of Eatin' Baked Blue Corn Tortilla Chips. I love these organic blue corn chips. Not only are they tasty but each serving contains 3 grams of fiber and protein, 300 mg of omega-3 fatty acids and only has three grams of fat per ounce, which is half of what fried chips have.
  
• World of Grains Blueberry Snacks. These crunchy little blueberry treats are made from nutritious whole grains and contain real blueberries and each serving gives you 12 percent of your daily fiber intake.

What are your favorites from the list?

Scouting is good for you, especially Cub Scout Day Camp. I just finished several days of chaperoning my son and ten other six-year-olds from Den B. I knew watching eleven boys that age would be a mental/emotional challenge, but I had no idea it would be a physical workout as well.

Out of each seven-hour day, I estimate we walked/ran around playing games a minimum of three to four hours. After putting my specs in AOL Body's convenient calories-burned calculator, I burned an extra 700-800 calories a day by volunteering. Not only that, I got to sing Mom Wash My Underwear, sung to the tune of God Bless America, about fifty times. A major butt burner of a week, while singing about bare butts -- it doesn't get any better than that. I'm pretty beat, but it's a rewarding physical exhaustion. The boys? They had the time of their lives shooting BB guns, learning archery and looking through telescopes.

Another bonus was packing a lunch. I ate a healthy lunch each day, sipped from an ice-cold water bottle and had no time to snack in between, except for the pack of sunflower seeds I purchased at the Scout Trading Post. My only major criticism of the entire week was the Trading Post -- they weren't offering the boys interesting trinkets like a lucky rabbit's foot -- it was a table packed with candy and chips. Maybe this is one area I can volunteer to organize next year.

You've heard that old phrase "never go to bed angry," right? It never seemed reasonable to me. Maybe I'm too hot-headed, but I just couldn't imagine being married and never going to sleep upset at my husband. Heck, there are days that I'm annoyed or angry with my son and we don't end the day on a good note. It's amazing how a night's sleep can wash away bad feelings.

According to an article on Revolution Health, it's OK to go to bed angry once in a while. If you think about it, staying up for hours on end talking over everything you're annoyed about could actually be counterproductive at times. Sometimes calmer heads will prevail in the morning after having a good night's sleep.

The article also recommends sleeping in the same bed as you usually do, even if you're angry. If you're up to it, you can even try making love. So what if you're a bit angry? Turn the energy into something a bit more fun than fighting. Also, sometimes it's necessary to agree to disagree. Stating something like "I'm angry with you right now, but I love you very much" can help put a temporary stop to an unresolved argument. For more healthy relationship tips, see AOL Health.

If you want to know how to get your kids to gobble up a healthy snack with relish, here's the secret weapon -- two hours of swimming. Today was our first family visit to our blue lagoon, the local swimming pool. The kids were jumping around all morning wondering when we'd be leaving. I was having childhood flashbacks as I always had to wait until my mom's favorite soap opera was over before pool time. How times have changed, I told them we'd go after I finished blogging.

After gathering towels, my new book and an ice cold water bottle, it was time to figure out a snack for the kids. I love our pool because they allow patrons to bring in their own lunch and snacks, with a designated grassy area to chow down so no goldfish are floating about. They don't force feed you the junk at concessions with bad policy. So I packed along some ripe plums on ice, along with a not-so-healthy yogurty snack. After a couple hours of swimming, plum juice was running down both my kids' chins.

If you want to motivate your kids to eat healthy this summer, bring cold, fresh fruit to the swimming pool. Avoid concessions and hand them frozen grapes instead. Trust me, they'll ravenously eat 'em right up. Here are tips on buying healthy kids snacks from the folks over at AOL Body.

If you recall, not very long ago there was a great deal of fervor over a report linking diet soda to an increased risk of obesity. The story appeared everywhere; on the AOL homepage, in the New York Times, and yes, here on That's Fit. I'll admit, at first I was a bit skeptical; to me it seemed more like an issue of correlation than causality. At the time, there really wasn't any explanation for the statistically significant relationship between diet soda and obesity rates -- all that was known is that there was clearly some sort of link.

Since then, a number of studies have produced information to explain how and why there may be validity to this connection. Most recently, a Purdue University study published in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience revealed that rats that consumed yogurt sweetened with an artificial sweetener gained 20 percent more weight over time than rats fed yogurt sweetened with natural sugar.

Evidently, the artificial sweetener caused the body to falsely believe that it needed to increase metabolism to digest more calories than were actually contained in the yogurt. Then, over time, when the rats were fed sweet food that was also high in calories, they tended to overeat in order to compensate for what their body mistakenly perceived to be an insufficient amount of calories.

When you're working hard at working out, you sometimes can find yourself in a bit of an exercise rut. While a routine may work for you, if you want to stick to it long term, you need to shake things up once in a while. AOL Body gives us some tips for beating exercise boredom including:

• Head to the outdoors. If you normally walk on a treadmill, take a walk outside instead. Just the change in environment can refresh your workout.
  
• Find the fun. Join a sports team or engage in other activities that get your heart rate up and are fun at the same time.
  
• Play with your kids. Kick a soccer ball around, play a game of tag, have a relay race -- your kids will appreciate the quality time and you'll benefit from the activity.
• Give while you get. Join a charity walk or other event. It's a win-win situation.

Investing in fitness and healthy eating habits now may deliver a big payoff later. New research reveals group-based diet and exercise interventions over six years can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes for up to 14 years. The study was published last week in a Diabetes Special Issue of The Lancet.

This study started way back in 1986, randomly assigning 577 adults with impaired glucose tolerance across 33 clinics in China to a control group or one of three lifestyle intervention groups incorporating diet, exercise or diet plus exercise. Interventions actively continued for the following six years until 1992, then participants were assessed in 2006 to determine long-term impacts of each intervention.

Compared to control participants, the combined lifestyle interventions reduced diabetes incidence by 51 percent during the six-year active intervention, and by 43 percent over the 20-year study span. Average annual incidence of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes was seven percent for intervention participants compared to 11 percent in the control group. By 2006, 80 percent of the intervention group had diabetes compared to 93 percent of the control group. Additionally, the intervention group spent an average of 3.6 fewer years with diabetes than controls.

Summer is a time for outside grilling, barbecues and summer cocktails, which usually means you'll be consuming a lot more calories. You'll be shocked by the amount of calories in some of our favorite summertime foods -- like corn. Try boiling your corn as opposed to grilling it, this will save you about 10 grams of fat and 30 to 100 calories per ear.

If you enjoy slathering your corn in a little butter, don't worry about the added calories because summer is also a great time to get outside, enjoy the weather and get active. You can burn off 60 calories in one cob with a fun 15-minute walk. The best summer workouts are those that allow you to strike the best balance between calories in and calories out.

What do you guys do to burn off those extra summer calories?

Do you sometimes feel like your body is a living, breathing version of the Star Trek Enterprise; in that, you feel like you're always hearing someone frequently yelling out "We need more power!" No? Then maybe it's just me ... that's hearing voices. And sounding like a geek for referencing Star Trek. I'm officially a crazy nerd. Great. Anyway, the fact remains that there are times in just about everyone's day where a little boost is necessary. Sure, super-charged energy drinks are easy enough to find these days, but what you really need is something healthy to put wind back in your sail.

To help you along, I thought you might find the following list of ten "power foods" interesting. Including most or all of these foods into your diet should help keep some hop in your step throughout the busiest of days.

Here's what the folks at the Food Network suggest eating:

• Berries
• Salmon
• Tea
• Citrus
• Legumes
• Olive Oil
• Vegetables
• Nuts and Seeds
• Whole Grains
• Lean Proteins

If you're looking for even more options, visit our sister site, AOL Body, where you'll find a great list of diet-friendly foods that will not only give you a quick pick-me-up when you need it, but will also help you drop a few pounds in the process. Check out the full article by clicking here.

Summer is just around the corner and if you'd like to shed a few pounds before baring it all in your bikini check out AOL Body's new Summer Quick Fix and our 4- Week Diet Plan. Depending on your target weight and calorie goal, the plan allows you to have: 300 calories for Breakfast, a 160 calorie snack, lunch that averages 375 calories and a 475 calorie dinner.

If you have trouble Finding Your Motivation, remember to set goals within your reach and make a successful summer change thats right for you and your body.

Do you guys and gals have any Belly Flattening tips for summer?


info provided by Prevention

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!

My absolute favorite gift for Mother's Day is time -- time alone for fitness. My kids hang with me all day long. If I'm not running them around town, I'm running to the grocery store in anticipation of cooking dinner. Yes, I am a stay-at-home mom and one element seriously lacking in my life is a sizable chunk of alone time so I can read the paper, paint my toenails, head to the gym, seriously stretch and take a luxurious hot shower without having to squeeze it in between preschool runs, blogging, graduate school and a part-time evening job.

If your mom digs the gym, purchasing a fitness-themed gift for Mother's Day is certainly a good idea. Maybe she needs an at-home barbell set or how about a cool new yoga shirt? I bet she'd be delighted with a fitness and diet book off the NY Times Bestseller list. Just make sure to include a block of Mom Alone Time, too. Solo time so she can actually crack open that new fitness book, slip on the yoga shirt for a Mountain Pose or simply stick her toenails on top of those new barbells for two coats of shiny red polish.

If your mom needs a fitness jumpstart, guide her toward AOL Body's food tips and strategies to Energize Your Workouts. Dads and older kids -- offering to prepare three healthy dinners for mom the week after Mother's Day will recharge her batteries for fitness and provide three workout slots, too.

If you're busting your tail in the gym, but the pounds keep sticking around, you're probably wondering why. If you're eating as healthy as you can, but your bulging waistline serves as no indication of your effort, you're probably wondering why. And if you're doing both of these things and more, you're probably ready to punch a hole in the wall and scream at the top of your lungs: "Why am I not losing any freakin' weight?!!!"

Okay ... calm down. Everything is going to be just fine, I promise. Tell you what, why don't you take a second to let your blood at least reduce from a boil to a simmer and then we'll start to deconstruct your approach and, as best we can, come up with a solution. To help us in this endeavor, we'll refer to a recent article published in the current issue of Maximum Fitness magazine, which is aptly titled "6 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight."

For the next six days, I'll offer one of the tips in the order that they appear in the Maximum Fitness magazine article. So, you can either wait to read them day by day or, if you don't have that kind of patience, you can run out to the bookstore and pick up a copy of the magazine. Your call. Either way, we're going to get to the bottom of all this and find out what's keeping the numbers on your scale from getting any lower.

Possible Reason #4: You're Not Chewing Thoroughly. I can't be alone and not even considering this one. Just the same, it turns out that this is an extremely common problem with regard to proper digestion. According to the Max Fit article, not chewing properly can lead to food reactions, which -- as we learned from Reason #2 -- can result in the accumulation of false fats. What's more, chewing slower and more thoroughly will give your brain time to catch up with your stomach. Remember, it takes close to 20 minutes for your brain to receive the signal from your stomach that you're satiated. The solution? Pretty much what was just suggested; take your time while eating by chewing your food thoroughly, as it is in the teeth and saliva where the first stage of digestion takes place.

For more ways on how to kick-start your weight loss, join us for AOL Body's America Takes It Off!

As a person who wears contacts and eye glasses, I've always considered getting Lasik eye surgery because of the convenience of being able to wake up and see clearly, without having to put on my glasses or contacts. An estimated six million Americans have undergone Lasik surgery, but I'm still too nervous to go under the knife for eye surgery or any surgery for that matter. Although 20/20 vision is not guaranteed by Lasik surgery, about 95 percent of patients are satisfied with their results.

However, a recent study found about that about 31 percent of Lasik patients had some degree of dry eye before their surgery, and about five percent worsened afterward. Other patients also said they suffered severe eye pain, blurred vision and other problems after undergoing Lasik.

So now the FDA is urging the government to issue clearer warnings about the potential risks of Lasik eye surgery, which is always a good idea with risky procedures.

Would you ever undergo Lasik eye surgery, and if you have, did you ever experience any problems after the procedure?

Now that we're into May, there's no doubt that spring is springing. You'll need to dig out a few things: The barbecue, the lawnmower, the sun dresses, the flip flops, and perhaps most frighteningly, the bathing suit. Yes, that's right -- all the failed post-Christmas promises will reveal themselves with a vengence when you step out of the cabana for the first day on the beach. But don't fret -- it's not too late to do something about it.

We're teaming up with our friends at AOL Body to bring you America Takes It Off: Summer Quick Fix Challenge. Each week, we'll offer you tips and tricks to get you looking your best in time for summer. Watch for these great upcoming features:

• Each Monday, we'll issue you a Summer Quick Fix Challenge.
• Don't be shy -- reveal how many pounds you've lost each Wednesday in our Summer Quick Fix Poll, and we'll keep track of your progress in our Wednesday Weigh-in feature.
• Each Friday, we'll reveal how you did and talk about what worked.

Are you ready to take on the challenge and welcome a new you in time for summer? Yeah, we thought so. We'll see you back here on Monday, May 5th for our first Summer Quick Fix Challenge.