That's Fit

Though I know the benefits of healthful eating, I'm all for having a treat now and then. I love a good batch of fish n' chips as much as the next person. But some of the foods that people dunk into a deep fryer just amaze me. How -- and why -- would anyone ever come up with these ideas?

Fitz just told us about chocolate-covered bacon. That's pretty outlandish (not to mention it sounds utterly disgusting). But the deep fryer holds it's fair share of nastiness, too. Maybe you've spotted some different concoctions -- like deep-fried Twinkies -- at your local greasy spoon. Or maybe you've visited your state fair and sampled some of the newest trends in fried foods.

If you must indulge, just remember to keep high-calorie, high-fat foods like these to extremely rare treats -- your arteries will thank you.

Jerry O'Connell isn't just running races lately -- he ran Sunday in the 6.2-mile Nike + Human Race in Los Angeles. He's also on the run for wife Rebecca Romijn whose pregnancy cravings have him plenty busy.

Lemonade and soy cream cheese -- do you know how hard it is to find soy cream cheese, says O'Connell -- are tops on Romijn's list of must-have foods. Ah, food. Everything centers around food.

"Meals are not missed," jokes O'Connell. "We promptly hit them and if we're a little late, then ... somebody's not happy."

What did this dad in training -- twin girls are on the way -- do to prep himself for the L.A. 10K? He didn't hire a trainer. He just went running solo. O'Connell tells others: "If you want to get in shape, I highly suggest jumping into a race like this. It forces you to get out of bed in the morning and really motivates you."

Yuck! I just watched a little news bit about Minnesota on Fox News. They were featuring the state as it is hosting the Republican Convention in St. Paul. (That title is meant to be read with an adorable accent.)

Apparently all the folks in Minnesota aren't in "the know" about health. On display in this feature was an obnoxious amount of fried food being carried around on sticks. Mmmmm. Heart disease. Corn dogs, fried chips, fried meat and to top it off, chocolate covered bacon!

Would you ever even consider eating this? It looked pretty fowl to me, though I am fairly particular about what I put in my mouth. I can only imagine some guy sitting in a diner one day thinking, "how could I improve on this strip of pig fat? I know! Let's dip it in chocolate!"

Kim Kardashian has vowed to eat better -- she loves junk food -- but she just can't seem to shake her bad eating habits. Even boyfriend Reggie Bush has been pushing her to take better care of her famous body. What will it take for Kardashian to get her butt in gear? Training for Dancing with the Stars, that's what.

Kardashian is already in rigorous rehearsals for the show, and she hopes it's going to do her prized "booty" some good. She wants to firm it up, shape it up, tone it up. And she wants to sport the sexy thing in dance costumes that show a little skin. The better shape she's in, the more risqué her attire will get. Her first outfit is not so crazy -- it's just a ball gown, elegant and a little bit more covered up -- but it shouldn't be long before she's baring more and more. She's dancing eight hours a day with pro partner Mark Ballas and already, she's noticing changes in her figure.

Stay tuned. Dancing with the Stars premieres live on ABC at September 22 at 8 PM.

Bruce Jenner, Mary Lou Retton, Muhammad Ali... lots of sporting greats have landed on the front of a Wheaties box. As Bev told us, Michael Phelps opted to promote a less healthy cereal instead. He's not the first athlete to lend his name to a less-than-healthy product:

• Former football greats Tony "Goose" Siragusa and Boomer Esiason both came out with the "perfect" ribs. Siragusa also sells prepackaged meats such as pulled pork, sausage, and meatballs; while Esiason sells Boomer's Barbeque Sauce.
• Bo Jackson knows pre-packaged foods, too. He teamed up with N'Genuity Brands to create Bo Jackson Signature Foods -- a line of products including burgers and country fried steaks.
  
• Fred Smoot from the Washington Redskins promotes the SMACK energy bar. According to the website, SMACK's main ingredients are sugar and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. The bar has 250 calories, 10 grams of fat (6 of which are saturated), and 22 grams of sugar.
  
  

Check out Mental Floss for the complete list of 7 famous athletes who now sell food.

I have learned that when I go tailgating, I'd be wise to bring a cooler with my own food -- most people don't think to throw some Boca Burgers in with the brats, and I don't expect them too. Being a vegetarian is my choice, not theirs. However, if you know you have some vegetarians coming to your tailgate and want to plan for that, I have a few tips for you!

First of all, know your options. You can very easily stock up on a few store-bought options and keep everyone very happy -- there are some delicious veggie burger, chicken patty, and hot dog options out there. However, you need to read the instructions carefully because these items don't cook quite like meat, and some really aren't meant to be grilled at all.

Second, plan out your grilling. Many vegetarians would prefer not to have their food grilled on top of meat particles. If you have a couple of grills going, that should be pretty easy, but if you're using just one, your guests would probably appreciate it if you did a thorough cleaning and scraping before slapping their vegetarian fare on.

Blanching refers to the technique of plunging a food into boiling water until its color has set or the food has softened. Ten seconds is usually all it takes to brighten color and bring out flavor. To stop the cooking process, the food is transferred to a bowl of ice water.

Why use blanching? Besides perfecting color and flavor, it makes it easier to peel the skin of fruits like tomatoes and peaches. Blanching is also recommended for vegetables you wish to freeze -- blanching inactivates the enzymes that promote spoilage.

For more on blanching -- and a similar process, called parboiling, click here.

Do you have a junk food lover in your house? Sometimes it's hard to deny those cravings... especially when they're foods we've eaten for years and years.

Women's Health has a great idea for making some junk foods a little bit healthier. You can mix healthier options in with your not-so-healthy favorites to create a treat that's not so damaging to you waistline. Better yet, when you start adding healthier options in -- like mixing a bowl of half whole grain cereal and half sugary cereal -- you're starting to retrain your taste buds. In time, you'll find you enjoy the healthier foods as much as the junky ones.

Did you know that when you don't drink enough water, you can actually gain weight? That's because when you aren't well hydrated, your body will hold on to water.

The advice about how much water one should drink can get pretty murky. Some say 6 glasses a day, others say 8. Still others say only drink when you are thirsty, while some advice will tell you to drink as much as you can. Though it's less than pleasant to talk about, I tend to agree with the experts who say that your urine will tell you if you're well-hydrated: Clear and pale is good. Dark or cloudy means it's time to increase your level of fluids each day.

If getting in enough water is tough for you, don't forget that you can load up on fluids through the foods you eat as well. For instance, did you know that watermelon is roughly 90% water? Maybe that's why it tastes so good on a hot summer day! According to CNN, about 20 to 30% of the water we need come through our food. Check out their advice on eating your fluids to stay hydrated.

There are 26 confirmed cases of food poisoning related to deli meats produced by a Canada-based Maple Leaf Foods plant. 12 of those cases have resulted in death. Listeria, the bacteria that was found in all of the people who contracted food poisoning, was detected in two beef products made at the Toronto plant.

The plant in question is closed while health officials inspect and test product until they're sure it is safe to reopen the plant. Maple Leaf Foods voluntarily pulled 220 products that are produced at the plant, a safety move that cost the company roughly $19 million.

There are another 29 suspected cases of food poisoning related to the tainted deli meats and health officials expect more cases will surface in the coming days.

Has anyone else noticed that TV and movies are providing us with more strong, kick-ass female characters? There's Yvonne Strahovski, who plays spy Sarah Walker on Chuck, and we had Angelina Jolie carrying Wanted. And, you might not have seen her yet, but Gabrielle Anwar is just as tough.

She plays the trigger happy ex-girlfriend to the lead character on USA's Burn Notice, and while I wouldn't go so far as to call her character a role model -- she's a little too good at making bombs for that -- she holds her own physically, especially considering she's quite petite. To get ready for her action-packed role, Gabriella adjusted her diet.

She said she cut out "foods with ingredients that I need a dictionary to define. I find that the less animal products I consume the better my general health; the less refined sugars, the less I feel the energy fall out; and the more organic fresh produce I eat, the lighter I feel."

Friday night usually means there's a new movie to check out at the local theater. Sometimes that new release is a great flick, while other times you wonder why you bothered to leave the house. I don't know about you, but if I eat concession stand food and a movie isn't very good, I feel even worse about eating it -- as if the movie didn't make the calories worthwhile. A ridiculous way of thinking? Oh, absolutely.

The fact of the matter is, good movie or bad, the calories count. And in many cases, they count a lot. Concession stands aren't exactly known for their high quality eats, but you may still be surprised to learn just how damaging some of your favorite movie theater treats actually are. Here's a quick look at some movie fan favorites:

• Small Popcorn (unbuttered) = 500 calories, 25g fat
• 3oz Junior Mints = 360 calories
• 6 oz Twizzlers = 604 calories
• 5.3 oz M&M's = 752 calories, 31g fat
• 3.5 oz Raisinets = 418 calories, 17g fat
• 3.5 oz Gummi Bears = 354 calories

The other day I told you how key it is to feed your body after exercise and suggested you eat these three post-workout power foods. As good timing would have it, just after sharing my message, I received an e-mail from my local fitness center. The topic? The importance of post-workout fuel.

It may seen counterproductive to eat after a workout, said the e-mail. I mean, we work so hard to burn all those calories, so why put more back in so quickly? Well, because an after-workout snack provides vital nutrients the body needs for muscle and cell repair. Eating after exercise also keeps us from feeling ravenously hungry a few hours later.

So, here's the deal: Aim to eat 15 to 30 minutes after the end of a workout. This is the period of time in which the body seems to get the most benefit from ingesting carbs and protein. Try yogurt, a fruit smoothie, or a protein shake and you'll feel energized and revived -- not sleepy and sluggish.

Got a favorite premium food you put in your tank? Tell us what it is.

If you have a diet soda instead of a regular one, do you think that means you have more "room" for a big piece of cake? It sounds kind of crazy, doesn't it? Odds are the piece of cake would be more calories than the soda, and what does one thing have to do with the other anyway?

According to Brian Wansick PhD, author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, that type of reasoning isn't unusual. In the Journal of Consumer Research, Wasnick states "We found that when people go to restaurants claiming to be healthy, such as Subway, they choose additional side items containing up to 131% more calories than when they go to restaurants like McDonald's, that don't make this claim."

So when we perceive a restaurant as being "healthy," we become more liberal in our choices -- potentially choosing more calories than we might have consumed at a restaurant with fewer healthy choices. Wansick calls habits like ordering cookies to go with your low-cal sub the "halo effect." While having cookies or other treats isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, it's the fact that many people are consuming these calories mindlessly; they aren't viewing them as treats, but more of a regular item that they have made space for by eating foods that they perceive as healthy.

Remember, restaurants don't always tell the whole-truth-and-nothing-but about their nutrition information. Check out Bev's post and learn why it's more like the whole-lie-and-a-bigger-butt.

When is the last time you pulled something out of the cabinet like a loaf of bread and noticed there was a little moldy spot on one corner? What did you do, throw it out? Or just cut off the mold and eat the rest? I think more of us are guilty of option 2 than would like to admit it, but (shock of shocks) it's not a good idea.

According to the USDA, by the time you see mold on the outside of food it's already deeply worked it's way into the inside, i.e. the visible mold is just the tip of the iceberg.

Via Book of Joe