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.

Nastia Liukin was the darling of the U.S. gymnastics team this year as she conquered Olympic Gold in the All Around competition and proudly added to her collection four more medals. That would be three silver and one bronze; I personally would kill to have just one in any color. She's Russian born, American bred and now working with the Secret Sport Challenge to help make other athletic dreams come true. I scored this interview this week while she was promoting the Challenge and bringing attention to the twenty $5,000 scholarships being given away to help others achieve their sporty goals. Nastia is ridiculously fit and has some great advice to help you look better, feel stronger and live longer.

Fitz: How many hours a week do you train before a competition?

Nastia: Before the Olympics I trained for about seven hours a day. It included about two hours of warming up and conditioning, and the rest of the time was spent practicing routines and skills on the events.

Fitz: If you weren't a professional athlete/gymnast how do you think you'd pursue fitness?

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I was watching the Olympics the other day and saw a piece where a reporter went and received acupuncture treatments. It was interesting to hear about this particular practitioner who was influential in acupuncture's acceptance into Western culture. After the piece, the reporter mentioned that Nastia Liukin, gold medalist in the women's all-around gymnastics competition, has weekly acupuncture treatments.

She's not alone. Acupuncture is widely used as a method to aid and speed healing from sports-related injuries. Though the thought of multiple metal needles being inserted into your body is daunting, to say the least, proponents of the traditional form of medicine sing its praises. In addition to aiding in healing, acupuncture is said to help athletes by boosting energy, improving circulation, and ensuring the body gets the most out of nutrients. In addition, acupuncture is said to help improve the quality of sleep and boost immunity.

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When it comes to fitness opportunities China is doing something right. I recently read a blog post that discusses the public fitness centers that are available there and how many of the people that frequent the sites are older. In some cases -- like for one 82-year-old woman -- they spend hours each day taking advantage of the free community fitness equipment.

When I think of the public parks in my community, they're very kid-oriented. Which isn't a bad thing, of course, but what about the adults that live in this community? There are basketball hoops which are obviously appropriate for any age, and there is a sidewalk running around the perimeter of the park for running or walking. Other than that, the equipment is of the playground variety.

This makes me wonder, if fitness equipment geared toward adults was provided in local parks, would you take advantage of the opportunity? I know I would. When my son and I visit our favorite park in the area, I often circle around the park to try to squeeze in a little fitness while he's playing.

[via SmarterFitter]

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With the Olympics coming up, the use of supplements to enhance performance is big business. I asked my pal Jose Antonio, PhD, Sports Nutrition expert what was hot and gave me this scoop. Besides safe and effective supplements like creatine, protein powders, and even fish oil, there's a new kid on the block. It's called beta-alanine!

Beta-alanine is basically an amino acid that has been shown to help fight off the fatigue-promoting effects of lactic acid. When muscle pH drops from intense exercise, beta-alanine helps buffer this increased acidity. Technically, it is muscle carnosine (which is made from beta-alanine) that does the buffering.

What could beta-alanine help as far as Olympic events? Sports like wrestling, the long sprints such as the 400 meter dash, boxing, and team sports in which there is a lot of sprinting can be helped. In fact, a recent study from the International Journal of Sports Medicine proved that beta-alanine significantly improved muscular endurance. So for those of you seeking that extra performance edge, look out for beta-alanine!

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Kids in predominantly Caucasian countries get pretty good sleep, says a new study. Better than kids in Asian countries, anyway.

This study, led by researcher Jodi Mindell of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, is the first ever to look at sleep patterns in infants and toddlers cross-culturally. The results, says Mindell, are astonishing. Here are two of them.

• Mindell found significant variability in bedtimes and total sleep time. For example, 15.1 percent of children in Canada shared a room, compared to 94.5 percent in Thailand, and the percentage of parents who believed their child had a minor or severe sleep problem ranged from 11 percent in Thailand to 76 percent in China.
  
  

• Kids in Asian countries were more likely to have later bedtimes, shorter total sleep times, increased parental perception of sleep problems, and were more likely to share a room than children in Caucasian countries. But there were no significant differences in night wakings and naps.
  
  

Mindell says her findings present more questions than they do answers, like: Why the differences? Could it be different cultural practices? And what is the impact of these differences? Seems it's time for another study.

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After several reported deaths and illnesses, the blood-thinner heparin was recalled and has been under intense FDA scrutiny for several months. Federal drug regulators revealed this week that they have found the contaminant in the medication. An inexpensive and unapproved ingredient was included in the medication; it eluded detection until recently because the ingredient mimics the proper component.

At this point federal officials are not certain if the contaminant (an altered form of chondroitin sulfate) was introduced accidentally or if it was included intentionally. The contaminated heparin was sourced in China; traders and producers there say that the chondroitin sulfate is significantly cheaper than heparin -- as little as 1/20 the cost of heparin.

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China's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that poultry in Guangzhou tested positive for bird flu. This is China's fifth outbreak of the virus this year. The most recent outbreak killed 114 birds, 518 others were slaughtered as a preventative measure. The Ministry of Agriculture states that the outbreak has been contained.

According to the World Health Organization, bird flu is responsible for at least 235 deaths worldwide. Scientists feel that the virus could mutate into a form that easily infects humans. To date, humans that have died from bird flu have been linked to infected birds.

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The United States Olympic Committee isn't taking any chances at the Olympics this year. To ensure that their athletes are eating the most nutritious meals possible, and to avoid food issues like steroid-heavy chicken breasts and tainted meats, they'll be shipping in 25,000 pounds of lean protein ahead of the games.

This year, for the first time ever, American athletes will have their own center where they can eat three meals a day. Much of the meat in their meals will come from America, while fish will be imported from Japan and fruit from Australia. The USOC wants to make sure that athletes have access to balanced nutrition to improve their performance and also avoid any doping questions if athletes eat an animal that's been pumped full of steroids.

On the one hand, it's kind of a shame. Part of the beauty of traveling to new places is enjoying the local cuisine and learning about local customs. But the USOC says that once they are finished competing, American Olympic athletes are encouraged to go and search out local meals.

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Although the world wide web has opened up possibilities for millions seeking everything from marriage advice to television repair diagrams, one thing that needs more scrutiny from web surfers is researching details for medical procedures. As in, where to get them that won't cost an arm and leg.

Often, those in America researching medical procedures find themselves looking towards China. Specifically, for stem cell treatments that don't exist in the U.S. at this time. Are such treatments safe and effective? Are these bets for medical cures just that -- bets?

Some Americans have said they found success with such medical procedures in China. When it comes to physicians in the U.S., many say these folks -- even with reported procedure successes -- are actually guinea pigs in a country where some advanced procedures are carelessly documented. Some even performed an experiment using seven patients and found "no clinically useful improvements" beyond the belief of the actual patients that they had become "better" somehow.

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Dry winter skin deserves attention for sure, but in some spas in China and South Korea, bathers are tossing out their loofahs and jumping in the tub with hundreds of little fish.

Nicknamed "doctor fish" or "nibble fish," the Garra Rufa can live off the dead cells of human skin, and also survive in steamy waters. Bathers take a soak in hot springs filled with the fish, and are said to only feel a tingling sensation while the tiny fish clear their dead skin away, leaving a fresh layer of healthy skin behind.

Even if the opportunity arose, I'm not sure I'd jump at the chance. What about you? Does this sound like a relaxing day at the spa, or does it make you think about being a contestant on Fear Factor?

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Chinese health officials, in a striking statement all things considered, told Chinese consumers this past week that they need to take more personal responsibility in preventing themselves from eating tainted food.

Well, that's nice. Tainted food should never find its way to a store shelf unless I am mistaken. Now, the responsibility of a normal adult to know what they're eating by reading food labels sounds fair enough, and it was another suggestion from Chinese authorities.

But then again, those same authorities suggested for Chinese consumers not to buy obviously shoddy or expired products. I guess there is very little quality control in that country when it comes to food safety, eh?

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In a public relations response from the government of China, a company's "license was revoked" this week on the back of a tainted leukemia drug made there which has apparently caused leg pain and partial paralysis in some patients.

It's hard to trust any consumable product from Chinese factories these days after numerous scandals rocked the country's manufacturing industry in 2007, and this can be added to the list. Want some tainted drugs for that condition? Look no further than China.

The company in question, Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co. -- which is state owned (oddly enough) -- will be fined the highest amount possible under Chinese law as well as products and profit forfeiture from sales of the methotrexate and cytarabin hydrochloride products.

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While they were studying pandas in a Chinese wildlife reserve, scientists came upon an interesting finding. Among the human citizens who lived on the reserve, the number of households were increasing far faster than the population. The reason was divorce, and in the reserve, it meant less room and fewer resources for the animals. Thinking they had hit on something, the researchers decided to study the effects of divorce on the environment in 12 different countries.

What they found is this: When divorce splits a family, it means that there are now two households where there used to be one, households that demand resources like heat and lighting. In the U.S. alone, if divorced households combined to be the same size as their former married household, 38.5 million rooms could be eliminated.

It's kind of like emotional carpooling. Of course, you can't stay married just to save the environment, can you? Or can you?

Joking aside, what do you think of this finding?

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Japan gets credit for producing the square watermelon in the 1980s but Lee Chong, a self-taught Korean farmer, gets the blue ribbon for devising the very first cubic apple. It took him five years to perfect his square apple -- grown in plastic containers attached to branches of apple trees -- but he's done it.

Fruit may be one of nature's perfect foods -- it's delicious, good for you, and portable -- but for markets with limited shelf space, the irregular packaging of some fruit items can be problematic. Enter the square apple. Presto -- it fits on shelves in a space-optimizing manner.

OK, so there's a not a huge market for Chong's $7 a-pop apple at the moment. But this apple may soon take off in Korea. It'll make for a great gift, says Chong, who believes parents of college kids will gobble up the idea. Korean parents will do anything for their children, he reports -- and definitely if their endeavors are education-oriented.

While this apple will make an appearance in China, there are currently no plans for expansion into the U.S. market.

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China is tightening up its policy on giving organ transplants from non-citizens of that country amid a very tight supply or organ donors and a growing need for more transplants.

The Chinese Ministry of Health stated that "We strictly supervise and control hospitals that are authorized to perform organ transplants and we monitor every transplant they carry out." In essence, China is trying to limit the influx of visa-carrying foreigners trying to slip into that country's medical system needing an organ transplant.

Some stats from Mao Qun'an, spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Health: 1.5 million patients in China need organ transplants each year, but only 10,000 can find organs. That is a supply-demand imbalance if I've ever heard of one.

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