That's Fit

In the grand pursuit of optimal health and fitness, there is one quality, one secret element, which can fuel your journey to success -- and that is pure PASSION! Every Monday, That's Fit's very own "charged up" wellness guru Laura Lewis presents The Passion Principle, a weekly guide that will help you achieve your greatest potential through words of inspiration, cutting edge ideas and action tips you can use in your everyday life.

Does being fit mean you'll have a better sex life? Some think so. Hey listen, my ultimate goal is to motivate you to become healthier, happier and more physically fit. So think about this: If you knew your sex life would be much improved, would you be more inclined to get your "fluffy" self to the gym? Or to eat a healthier diet? Maybe even take a few "good for your sex life" supplements? Your answer should be yes, yes ... yes!

Here are six "Better Sex Tips" that might improve the big "O" and more:

Today, on the Today Show, they're featuring the Flat Belly Diet, which sounds too good to be true. We know that burning more calories than we consume is the way to lose weight -- however, plenty of people will vouch for this diet and how flat it made their bellies without incorporating any sort of crunches or sit-ups. Don't believe that certain foods can help flatten your belly? Check out AOL Health's slideshow of Flat Belly Diet success stories.

The claims about this diet are pretty major -- it targets unhealthy belly fat first, allowing you to eat foods you love without making you hungry. You can lose up to seven pounds and five inches in 96 hours, and you don't have to exercise. Oh, and there's a 91 percent success rate. Seriously, why am I not doing this?

The Flat Belly Diet is based on a calorie controlled Mediterranean diet, combining monounsaturated (MUFA)-rich foods, veggies, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy. That means you get to eat things with olive oil and nuts, and even dark chocolate, but you have to stay away from refined grains, trans fat, and artificial additives.

Seems the healthy fats from olive oil keeps bellies flat, which is a mighty good thing. You know why? Because excessive amounts of abdominal fat increases your risk for high blood sugar and other health problems. Now olive oil alone won't do the trick -- you've got to eat an overall healthy diet and exercise too. But getting a good amount of your calories from unsaturated fats, like those found in olive oil, can surely help prevent tummy troubles over time. They will also help you maintain better insulin sensitivity.

The Mediterranean diet is one you might want to adopt. About 30 to 40% of calories in this diet come from unsaturated fats. A diet you'll want to avoid: The high-carb diet. It tends to cause body fat to relocate to the belly.

In the U.S., when people want to lose weight or at least clean up their diet, they often turn to the Mediterranean diet. Rich in nuts, fruits, vegetables, and olive oil, the diet has been credited for the the long life spans of the people who live in the region where it originated.

But sadly, even in countries like Greece, Italy, Spain, and Morocco, the Mediterranean diet is in decline. Instead, the latest generation of kids enjoy a steady diet of processed foods and sweets, making a whopping two-thirds of them overweight. Health experts and government leaders are aghast and are seeking to designate the diet an "intangible piece of cultural heritage."

In America, where our national foods are hot dogs and apple pie, this might not seem like a big deal. But I find it incredibly sad that these countries are not only losing a significant piece of their history, but along with it wonderful foods that contributed to their longevity.

Love the rich, flavourful, fresh cuisine of Greece and Italy? Eat up! Not only is the Mediterranean diet effective and recommended by medical professionals, but a recent study shows that it protects against all major chronic diseases, according to this article from the Daily Mail.

That's a pretty bold claim, but it seems to be legit. Researchers in the UK analyzed data from 12 different studies worldwide that took place over time periods of up to 18 years and found that those who followed a Mediterranean diet closely had a significantly longer lifespan and a lower risk of diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and heart disease.

The Mediterranean diet is high in nuts, fish, whole grains, healthy fats, fresh fruits and veggies and even red wine in moderation. To find out how you can incorporate it into your diet, click here.

Being healthy and fit is a complicated thing to achieve these days, given all the studies that seem to contradict each other on an almost daily basis and all the "diets" out there vying for your attention and claiming to be the best. But what if it the diet part of it could be simplified into a list of just 10 foods that could help you lose weight and be healthy -- would that make it easier?

Dr. Michael Ozner seems to think so, because he wrote the book The Miami Mediterranean Diet. Obviously it's a spin of the more well-known Mediterranean Diet, and not only does he think it will simplify things for people interested in being healthier but it will also help them actually be healthier. People in the Mediterranean following a Mediterranean diet naturally have much smaller risks of heart disease and other ailments like obesity, and he thinks he knows why. According to him, incorporating these 10 ingredients into your diet and lifestyle will result in improved fitness and health:

Though I love to cook, I'm prefer the simple life. If I see a recipe with too many ingredients, I'm likely to pass. I'm also likely to avoid it if it contains ingredients I've never heard of, are too hard to find, or if I don't keep many of them on hand. And if it takes longer than 30 minutes to prepare, forget about. That's why I was so pleased when I reviewed the 150 recipes inside Ric Watson's and Trudy Thelander's The Mediterrasian Way. Not only do their recipes promise to be full-flavored and nutritious, they also look relatively simple to create.

Recipes aren't all you'll find in this interesting volume. Watson and Thelander discuss how adopting a "Mediterrasian" lifestyle can protect your health and prevent disease. Adopting cuisine from both Mediterranean and Asian cultures, the authors have created dishes that are rich in whole grains, healthy fats, and fresh fruits and vegetables. They also encourage activity and time to reflect.

This is not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. But adopting the Mediterrasian Way will prevent obesity and help you trim pounds along the way. Learn more at their website, and take a minute to look through the recipes there as well.

Two of the most popular and healthy international cuisines are Mediterranean food and Asian food. The Mediterrasian Way by Ric Watson and Trudy Thelander combines these two influences to encourage healthy eating habits in readers. One of the main facets of their plan is a food pyramid that's based on how often you should consumer certain things. For example, red meat should be eaten monthly; fish, poultry, eggs and sweets should be eaten weekly; and veggies, fruits, legumes, nuts, olive oil and carbs should be eaten daily. Physical activity is also a daily requirement. Of course, there's more it to than that, which you can find out by checking out their website.

Diet Blog has a great review of MediterrAsian program and brings up a couple of important problems, including the fact that the diet is high on carbohydrates and includes too much processed soy. But on the whole, it seems to be a fairly wholesome approach.

What do you think of the MediterrAsian approach?

Researchers recently stated that a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains and fish can cut the risk of COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in half. Sound like pretty god advice. In fact, those foods are great staples for any diet even outside the diet aptly names "Mediterranean."

Fruits and vegetables are great ways to have tasty nutrition with a whole slew of nutrients, and whole grains are so good (better tasting than processed grains. Fish may be iffy to some, but insofar as omega-3 oils, they're quite nutritious.

Why is COPD mentioned in this newest research? Well, it's expected to become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2020. With that estimate, preventing it in the first place is probably a good idea, no? It's yet another reason to eat a diet full in those colorful veggies, fruits, grains and even fish (for those oils).

Last month, Brian wrote about how the Mediterranean diet may prevent childhood asthma. Now another study has found that it may not be too late for adults as well. That news is coming out of France, where researchers followed 43,000 men for over a decade.

What they found was that the more closely men followed a Mediterranean type diet, the lower their risk was of developing lung disease like bronchitis or COPD. COPD is not only debilitating, it also is set to become the third leading cause of death across the globe. The Mediterranean diet, filled with fruits, veggies, fish, and whole grain breads, is rich in anti-oxidants which reduce inflammation in the tissue. On the other hand, a typical Western diet rich in red meats, processed foods, sugar, and nitrate-rich cured meats actually increases the amount of inflammation in the body.

Following a Mediterranean-type diet has also been linked to the prevention of Alzheimer's, heart health, and brain health, in addition to the childhood asthma study. According to the American Heart Association, there isn't one specific Mediterranean diet. Instead, it's a pattern of eating that has similar dietary guidelines to our own, but is rich in fresh, unprocessed foods and monounsaturated fats. Learn more about it here.

I don't think I know a single child these days who eats a diet that would be considered "Mediterranean", but perhaps some should.

Researchers are stating that kids who regularly eat a Mediterranean diet are less likely to develop asthma and even develop allergies as children.

Sounds pretty logical to me -- as a Mediterranean diet includes healthy amounts of fruits, vegetables and nuts. Those areas of nutrition are good for any age, yes?

There are a plethora of weight-loss plans to choose from these days, and here's another to add to the list: The Mediterranean Diet. What exactly is it? It's not so much a weight-loss plan as it is a healthy lifestyle choice to be followed indefinitely, not just for a few weeks or so. Based on the eating habits of people living in the Mediterranean, the diet is rich in whole grains, fresh produce, fresh meat and fish, nuts, moderate amounts of healthy fats like Olive Oil, and even the occasional glass of wine. The Mediterranean Diet also focuses on lifestyle, encouraging people to eat smaller portions more slowly, surrounded by family and laughter.

The Mediterranean diet has earned a lot of good publicity in the last little while, being linked to both a healthy heart and a healthy brain.

For more information on the Mediterranean Diet, check this out.

Stock up on Olive Oil and feta cheese -- following a Mediterranean diet can help prevent Alzheimer's, according to this article. The Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits, veggies, healthy fats, dairy, fish and meats, and even red wine in moderation. Anything that's fresh (not processed), low in bad fats and full of flavor can be consumed according to this source.

This sounds less like a diet and more like a way of life to me. Sounds delicioso as well!

I just found this WebMD article which briefly delves into the reasons behind why other cultures don't have the high obesity rates that North America does, following in the successful footsteps of the popular books such as Why French Women Don't Get Fat. The gist of the article is that while other cultures may have the same refined, fattening foods that we have, they eat much less in general than Americans, and are more active. I concur -- I was in Paris in May and although at home I walk for at least an hour every day (more than anyone I know), I was completely exhausted by the amount of hoofing it I had to do.

The article also talks briefly about eating habits of other cultures. I like the Asian idea of using meat as a garnish and vegetables as the main component of the meal. I also have embraced the Mediterranean way of incorporating whole, fresh foods into my cooking. That said, I've traveled quite a bit around both Asia and the Mediterranean and I've found that both are becoming more Americanized in regards to the food they serve, so it's important to look for traditional cooking methods.

What healthy tips have you learned from other cultures?