That's Fit

The Active Health Network has just launched and you can find it at SportsHealthExercise.Org. I'm very excited to announce this to you, because I'm one of the several health and fitness experts contributing to the site. Unlike other health and fitness sites, SHE is owned by a fitness expert, Master of Exercise Physiology, Tracy Benham. She has also surrounded herself by other experts (like me) in unique genres of health.

SHE sports a bunch of great text info, and it's full of FITNESS TELEVISION! You don't have to settle for words, when you can see and hear the various experts blabbing about and showing you personally what they want you to know about becoming a better you. General fitness training, yoga, healthy cooking, etc...

So ... I'm stoked! We've done tons of work leading up to this point, and now I can't wait to see how all of that effort pays off for you. So ... what are you waiting for? Stop reading what I say and go listen and see instead.

It's hard to say which day out of the six we spent a few weeks ago at the Walt Disney World Resort was my favorite, but day three really was special. It was jam packed with a variety of super fun activities that were both totally exciting and totally relaxing at the same time. The majority of day three was spent at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, where we were staying. We capped off a superb day with a glamorous evening at The California Grill, one of Disney's Signature Restaurants located on the top floor of The Contemporary Resort.

If you take your family to Disney, I highly recommend strategically placing at least one 'resort day' in the middle of your stay. The theme parks and water parks are amazing, but can be exhausting. Playing at your Disney resort still offers loads of fun, but doesn't drain. In fact, a 'resort day' is the perfect recharge for tired parents needed a break. The pools are wildly creative, the hot tubs....to die for, and the free organized activities are endless. Yes, you heard me right. Most of the Disney resorts offer planned activities for both children and adults.....FREE OF CHARGE! Whooohooooo!

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.

Mmmmmm. Just the mention of Chef Jens Dahlmanns's name puts my mind in ecstasy. His is the name of the man who created what I'd choose as my 'last meal.' He's the premier Chef of Disney's signature restaurant The California Grill, who also oversees a staff of award-winning chefs atop Disney's Contemporary Resort. Chef Jens was classically trained in European kitchens and worked for Le Cirque 2000 in New York City and Cafe 'L Europe in Palm Beach, Florida, before joining Disney in April 2004.

We first spoke on the phone a week before I was to dine at his spectacular grill. From a fitness trainer standpoint, he gave all of the 'right answers.' Not that he was contrived, but his stance on cooking is what I would wish to hear. If you've read my features before, you'll know that I preach the importance of lean fresh foods. Read on to see how dead-on Chef Jens is to that style of eating. From a regular gal's point of view, it was just really exciting and fun to hear Chef Jens talk about food. He described white asparagus the same way most men would describe a beautiful woman. I could imagine what each item tasted like as he described them.

My experience at The California Grill was almost indescribable. Chef Jens and his staff were pampering to say the least. He greeted me with a sample of the white asparagus he gushed about, and I knew I was in for something special. The combinations of flavors and textures were to die for! I relished every bite and cleaned each and every plate that landed in front of me (highly unusual for me). The man knows how to make fresh food taste divine. The advice he gave in this interview is exactly what I, as your online Fitzness Trainer, want you to follow. Chef Jens just knows far better than I, how to make all of the healthy stuff taste heavenly.

Fitz: How much does "healthy" influence the foods you create for your menus?

Chef Jens: Healthy actually has a lot to do with our menu. First of all, Disney has set an initiative for enhancing our menus in a healthy way, so across all of the Disney parks and restaurants you'll find better choices. On my part, I'm always driven by what's fresh in the market. We create meals based on the season. At the California Grill, our menu changes according to what foods are in season. Fresh food equals leaner and "cleaner" food. I never use processed ingredients.

One elite athlete downs 12,000 calories per day just to keep from dropping weight, reported The Today Show's Matt Lauer the other day. Considering that the average man consumes 2,600 calories per day, this is big stuff. But hey, that's what it takes to keep some Olympic bodies in fighting shape.

What Olympic athletes eat can make the difference between a gold or a silver win. Food is fuel after all, and these folks require top-grade fuel (and lots of it) in order to compete -- and win.

It's up to U.S. Olympic Committee Executive Chef Jacque Hamilton to make sure the 600-athlete delegation gets tasty, healthy food free of butter, trans fats, and lots of sodium. Now that' a high-pressure job. But she's got it down to a science. Check out some of her favorite dishes, made with nutritious ingredients, fit for the finest athletes -- Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Chicken Stir-Fry, and Baja Chicken Salad. Right here they are.

Cat Cora, star of the Food Network's Iron Chef America and author of Cooking From the Hip writes in Parade magazine about her love for desserts and her lack of love for what desserts do to her hips.

So that she can have the best of both worlds -- decadent desserts and happy hips -- Cora has learned to create healthy dishes that still taste like the original sin. Her secret? Substituting lighter ingredients like yogurts, light puddings, soy, or light ice creams. Less fat and calories are the end result, with taste and flavor still intact.

Check out these four delights -- Kiwi Parfait, Affogato, Baked Apples, and Clafouti -- by clicking here. Read the recipes word for word or watch video clips of Cora as she prepares each one.

Want to have your cake and eat it too? Cora says it's possible. Just follow her lead.

Chef Ethan McKee, like Darlene Dougherty, former president of the American Dietetic Association, has a few tricks for spicing up holiday recipes that won't clog arteries or pack on the pounds. McKee, who dishes out health-conscious cuisine year-round, says his technique tweaks can slim down a menu. Here's how he does it.

McKee braises his sweet potatoes in vegetable stock, herbs, and garlic so when he purees them, he can ditch the butter. He brines meats to boost flavor without adding loads of extra calories, and when he wants to create a creamy dish, he grabs some non-fat yogurt. Add some to your mashed potatoes, he says, and you'll get a nice little tang.

Is cauliflower on your holiday menu? If so, slice and sauté it with olive, some raisins and almonds and your dish will come out caramelized and crunchy. To lighten up your desserts, cut portion sizes and use Whey Low, an all-natural sugar substitute with a quarter of the calories.

See, it's possible to be jolly without abandoning taste. You just need to know what's naughty and what's nice, says McKee.

Padma Lakshmi is an Indian-American supermodel, actress, chef, cookbook author, ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women, and host of Bravo TVs Top Chef. She can also add "blogger" to her resume because this accomplished one has been recapping snippets from her reality show via her video blog.

Lakshmi, a culinary goddess who features in her cookbooks recipes for a delicious low fat diet, reveals more than critiques of Top Chef contestants on her blog. She also shares tidbits about her own approach to food and drink. Through my own tour of her blog, I learned that she's a big lover of breakfast -- it is the most important meal of the day, you know -- and while she doesn't consider herself a big drinker, she does enjoy white wine, red wine, and single malt Scotch. She also loves green markets and enjoys cooking with items grown by local farmers. Lakshmi likes to take classic recipes, like macaroni and cheese, and add one or two ingredients to add a twist. And she's all for basic cooking. The better the chef, the more simple the cooking gets, she says.

There's quite a lot to learn Lakshmi, whose cookbook Easy Exotic was awarded Best First Book at the 1999 World Cookbook Awards at Versailles. See for yourself what this top chef has to offer by visiting her blog.

We ate at a new restaurant on Saturday night. Everything we ate was organic. I had an organic salad, organic bruschetta, organic wild salmon, organic veggies, and organic rice. My husband had what I had, and our kids -- who were a little hesitant about the menu at first glance -- ate quesadillas made with organic tortillas and organic cheese. They had organic apple juice and organic fruit bars for dessert. Everything was organic. Everything.

Our Saturday night meal was delicious, and filling, and while it was a bit expensive, it was grand. My husband remarked that he could get used to eating like we did for that one meal. I could too. And so I've revised my wish for a personal chef -- not only do I want my very own chef, I now want my very own organic chef.

It's common sense for many that eating organic -- this means consuming foods grown and prepared without pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, irradiation to prevent spoilage, and microwave cooking -- is healthier for the body and better for the environment. Make sense to you? If not, check out this article, which provides a few arguments about why you should bother to eat an organic diet.

I want a personal chef, someone to manage all my nutritional needs and prepare for me all sorts of hearty, healthy, delicious meals. Sadly, I don't have the income to support such a perk in my life. On second thought, maybe I do.

Hiring a professional to cook for you isn't a whole lot different than hiring someone to clean your house or walk the dog, says John Moore, executive director of the United States Personal Chef Association. Contrary to popular belief, personal chefs are not just for the wealthy.

"People don't have personal chefs because they have tons of money," declares Moore. "They have them because it solves a problem: It puts dinner on the table."

It's always nice when readers send in interesting health and wellness-related websites for everyone at That's Fit to check out. One of the most recent ones that caught my eye was the website for Dr. Gourmet. According to the site, Dr. Gourmet is both a physician and a chef, making him an expert on healthy but tasty food.

The site includes links to a wealth of resources including a Q&A section, a newsletter, columns and resources for things like body mass index and hip-waist ratio. The highlight of the site though, is Dr. Gourmet's My eatTHIS diet. The free, interactive menu software can be accessed online and gives advice on how to eat healthier, how to eat to lose weight and even how to plan healthy but delicious menus for the whole family.

The diet can also cater to those with dietary restrictions such as lactose intolerance and food allergies. Sounds like something worth giving a try. If you check out the site and decide to try the planned menus, make sure to come back and let us know what you think.

Think that vegetable dinner that looks so delicious is really healthy? Depending on how it was prepared and finalized, it may be anything but that. Chefs prepare many heart-healthy foods with marinades and oils that really make the dish look good, but bathe it in fat and other components that are anything but healthy.

Whose fault is this? Well, blame the diner, says I. The U.S. culture seems preoccupied with the appearance of food when the healthiness really should be a top priority. But if chef-prepared meals are pretty and tasty, we rate the experience "excellent." No fault of the chef, but more the fault of the patron -- right?

To really get that low-fat, heart-smart menu selection as it was meant to me, you'd have to ask a lot of questions to a server and insist that that meal not be added to with anything that would cause it to be less healthier than a Big Mac. It's rare that I have seen that happen, though. Have you ever done this?

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. Hey Fitz, I have a question. How come Hollywood celebrities lose weight with such ease? There has to be some secret. I can't figure out why Renee Zellweger can gain and lose 20 pounds with ease, yet I can't get eight pounds off once! What's the deal? Elaine.

A. Good question Elaine. It does seem easy for the celebs to shed pounds quickly doesn't it? I can tell you for the most part, that besides the few that are blessed with oddly high metabolisms......the other popular hot bodies stay hot due to discipline and hard work..

Celebs do have certain benefits that make their efforts easier. First, they have budgets that can afford them personal trainers and chefs. Having a team of fitness professionals to guide and harass you would make one more likely to stick with a healthy eating and workout plan. Second. They have extra motivation to stay in great shape knowing their next job relies heavily upon their appearance. Imagine if you had to maintain a certain weight to keep your job! It may be half great and half crappie, but if you wanted to work ... you'd probably maintain your ideal weight.

Besides the benefits of celebrity and wealth, the bodies don't stay 'hot' without the same old fashioned exercise and conscious eating habits that I recommend to you non-celebs. The "Rich and Famous" may have trainers standing over their shoulders, but they still have to put in hours on the treadmill and do endless amounts of squats, push-ups crunches. Chefs may provide perfect meals, but the celebs still need to avoid the ice cream shops, candy, and fast food.

It's easy to feel inadequate and frustrated in a society where most of the folks we see on screens and in magazines are physically fabulous.Since you seem interested in celebrities, I encourage you to accept your different roles in life and try to find someone you can be inspired by. Pick a person with a similar body type and find an article on their fitness habits. Maybe you can learn from the advice given to them by their celebrity fitness staff! Fitz

Q. What's up Fitz? I see Matthew McConaughey splashed all over the magazines and that guy is definitely ripped. I think he's on steroids though. What do you think? Jason