Let's start off this Monday morning with a few tips for making fitness a little more fun. Because let's be honest -- exercising day in and day out can become monotonous, tedious, downright boring. Employ a few of these Reader's Digest strategies, though, and you might just discover a new bounce in your step.

• Try a pair of walking poles. Don't go it alone on your neighborhood walks -- take some walking poles along. You'll burn far more calories -- like 20-50% more -- because poles recruit the muscles in your upper body. Call it fitness trekking, Nordic walking, or simply walking with poles, and be on your way. Need some instructional tips? Try out these sites: www.exerstrider.com or www.nordicwalking.com.
• Say your ABCs out loud. Use your ABCs to chart your walking pace. You don't want to gasp for air and you don't want to be able to talk non-stop with your walking partner either. When you're by yourself, then, recite the alphabet -- if it's easy, pick up your pace. If you're gasping for air by the time you reach the letter F, then slow it down a notch.
• Take an after-dinner walk every day. Consider it a way to burn some of what you ate for supper. Grab your partner, your kids, a pal and hit the pavement. Play a game while you trek for entertainment. Remember that old license plate game you played as a kid on long family car rides? Give it a go.
• Use your car to clock errands you can do on foot. Check your mileage to and from your typical stops and determine which routes you can walk. Bethany did it. You can too.
• Clip on a pedometer. Start charting your steps in the morning and see how many you take by the end of the day. Aim for 10,000 a day and remember that 1,000 steps equals roughly one-half mile. To step up the fun factor, start logging your steps. It takes about six months for a behavior to become habit and recording your progress might just keep you motivated. And hey, you can even strap a pedometer on your walking stick (see photo above and click here for more on this product). Double the fun.
  
  

Reader's Digest has more fun in store -- jump over here to keep reading.

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Still wondering about coffee, the very drink once implicated in a variety of diseases and now touted as a possible health food? Reader's Digest weighs in this month on the mounting evidence suggesting coffee has the power to heal.

Coffee is packed with hundreds of compounds, say the Digest folks, including the all-popular and all-powerful antioxidants -- one Norwegian study reports that brewed black coffee is richer in antioxidants than a serving of blueberries, raspberries, pineapples, and fruit juice. Who knew? Not me. Maybe if I drank coffee, I would have known, because coffee might one day prove to boost the brain just as much as it does the body -- studies of sleep-deprived rats show a calming after-coffee effect.

The bottom line if you're confused about coffee is this: Moderation is key. Limit consumption to one to two cups a day; skip the whole milk, sugar, and cream; cut out or limit coffee if you're pregnant; and if you're worried about cholesterol, opt for paper-filtered and instant coffees --unfiltered varieties, often made with a French press, contain more of a cholesterol-raising substance called cafestol.

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Once while having an echocardiogram to test for heart damage from the breast cancer drug Herceptin, my technician asked me if I was a runner. "I do run," I told him, and then asked how he knew. He told me I had a really low resting heart rate, something runners often have. He seemed impressed by my low number. I was flattered.

Many athletes pride themselves on a low resting heart rate. It means they're in good physical shape and their hearts don't need to pump as hard, say the experts from Reader's Digest. Translation: Low heart rate folks have less risk for heart problems. Higher rates mean the heart needs more oxygen, and the cardiovascular system gets stressed.

The best way to reduce your heart rate is to exercise regularly. While working on your fitness, shoot for this healthy resting heart rate range: 55-65 heartbeats per minute.

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I re-built my pantry one year ago, after an inspiring visit to Tucson's Canyon Ranch. After meeting with a nutritionist and eating four days worth of healthy meals and snacks, it became clear my pantry was a bit dysfunctional. So I ditched a bunch of stuff, replaced it with more nutritional goods, and then realized I felt a lot better -- and lighter -- for having made the change.

If your own pantry needs a little renovation, Reader's Digest suggests stocking your shelves with these items.

Brown rice
This is one great whole grain food -- it's rich in B vitamins, calcium, and iron.

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