That's Fit

This orange veggie makes me think of fall feasts. After reading up on it, it makes me think of smooth skin too.

Butternut squash is the way to go if you want to nourish your body -- and your face. It works from the inside out, suppling pH-balancing compounds and vitamin A, a must-have for healthy skin.

Butternut nutrients work wonders: They keep the skin's balance on the acidic side (this keeps bacteria away) and promote cell turnover -- no dry, rough, scaly skin for butternut eaters. This squash also protects from the sun and fights wrinkles with beta carotene and vitamin C.

Got a feast coming up? Go butternut squash. Want smooth skin? Ditto.

The perfect food to fuel your body is just a shopping trip away. It's sweet, crisp, and full of important nutrients. Can you guess what it is?

This past week, we wrapped up our America Takes It Off coverage by revealing that you, our readers, have lost an astounding 231 lbs! But just because we're not checking in with you anymore doesn't mean you should give up on losing -- let's keep up the good work! And, in honour of our continued efforts to look great for summer, I'm going to talk to you about one food that is notorious for helping you slim down: grapefruit.

You've probably heard about the Grapefruit Diet. Now, we would never advocate a fad diet like this one, but you know what? It does have some merit -- adding grapefruit to your diet has been proven to help you lose weight. Why, you ask? Well, in addition to being high in fibre and water to help flush out your system, it's thought that grapefruits can help lower insulin levels, which can lead to weight loss.

In a surprising bit of news, researchers from Copenhagen University recently asserted that antioxidant supplements do nothing to extend life and, perhaps even more shocking, that "beta-carotene and vitamins A and E seem to increase mortality."

Even after various outside factors were taken into account, the researchers linked vitamin A supplements to a 16-percent increased risk of dying, beta-carotene to a 7-percent increased risk and vitamin E to a 4-percent increased risk, reported the BBC news in a recent release.

Researchers speculate that taking these supplements may somehow interfere with the body's utilization of vitamins and minerals derived from food sources. Beta-carotene, for instance, is thought to change the way a body utilizes fats. As such, the researchers -- as well as the Department of Health in the U.K. -- urge people to exercise caution when using supplements and, if possible, to get the vitamins and minerals they need from their diet.

Just like anything else, when it comes to diet, nobody is perfect. True, some are better than others at sticking to a healthy and sensible meal plan, but even the most stalwart dieters still have room for improvement.

In a study on women's diets, published in Topics in Clinical Nutrition, researchers looked at how close most women are to, or how far they are from, consuming the RDA of certain nutrients.

Here's a breakdown of five of them:

1. Sugar -- RDA: 32g. Women Eat: 53g.

2. Vitamin A -- RDA: 1mg. Women Eat: .77g.

3. Iron -- RDA: 18mg. Women Eat: 13.32mg.

4. Vitamin E -- RDA: 15mg. Women Eat: 5.25mg.

5. Fiber -- RDA: 25g. Women Eat: 14g.

As mentioned, these figures represent the Recommended Daily Allowance vs. what the average American woman consumes. While there's not a tremendous disparity between the numbers, it's still clear that some dietary changes could be made.

For everyone who's been popping vitamins to keep them healthy and strong, Reader's Digest recently published 'The Vitamin Hoax - What Not to Take' in their November 2007 issue.

To my friends (myself included), who have been popping pills like Vitamin A and E everyday by only following a beauty columnist's advice on how to make your skin glow (yes, I'm trying to get rid of wrinkles), the Reader's Digest article claims that studies show:

• Taking antioxidant vitamins increases a person's risk of dying by 16%.
• High doses of Vitamin E taken over 10 years slightly elevated cancer risk in smokers.
• Too much Vitamin A increases the risk of liver and lung cancer.

There's so much more to quote in the recent issue, and that doesn't mean I agree or disagree with the article. I just want to share it with you. Everyone should take the time to read it and decide for themselves about what it says because what we learn about vitamins and supplements seems to change daily.

If you are wondering, yes, I take vitamins (as do my children), and will continue to do so -- but that said -- people should stop depending on supplements and instead get their vitamins from a balanced diet consisting of real food (rather than processed). The problem: Only 3 percent of us actually eat that well, so it's much easier said than done ... and supplements can be a good option if you're not getting what you need from your diet.

Here is the list of 10 Vitamins that Reader's Digest suggests that we do not need to take and their reasons why:

I received an Email last week that escaped my spam filter and went straight to the inbox. Though usually I delete junky-looking stuff, this one didn't have any mention of Rolexes or enlarging my manhood so I read it and was taken to this website on Krill Oil. Actually, based on aesthetics, the website looks like it's selling snake oil, but looks aside, let's figure out what this Krill Oil is all about.

Krill oil is like fish oil but derived from the antarctic Krill. It's considered a great source of Omega-3 and antioxidants, not to mention vitamins A and D, and it's beneficial in lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, and it's good for your brain too. And it's thought it can even help with menstrual cramps and PMS. Though no 'superfood' is without a price tag -- it will cost you about $20 for a bottle of 6 capsules. I'm not sold, because I think I eat enough fish to get my fill of Omega-3s.What about you? Are you a krill oil convert?

Each week, we'll be offering original recipes and unique ways to use those Super Foods that pack nutritional power. After all, you are what you eat -- make it count!

Watermelon conjures images of summers past . . . the juice dripping down my chin, watermelon seed spitting contests with my siblings and the ever-present watermelon poolside, next to the corn on the cob on my plate and served by the giant slice for dessert.

This trip down memory lane rejuvenates my fondness for watermelon, but did you know that it is nutritious, too?

Fellow blogger Bethany writes about room temperature watermelon having more antioxidants than refrigerated melon. WebMD tells us of watermelon's high lycopene content, that watermelons are ninety-two percent water and that they are actually not a fruit at all, but a vegetable.

As if that is not enough, how about the high content of vitamins C ad A? Seems to me we should all be eating lots of watermelon.

Scientists have apparently been having fun turning vegetables into different colors in the lab, and now they've stumbled onto something they're fairly proud of: orange cauliflower.

You may have already come across it in the grocery store (I'm actually kind of glad that I haven't, it looks a little creepy) but scientists are still working on it and other veggies -- and they're getting excited by what they're finding. Orange cauliflower, golden rice, even potatoes are getting successfully genetically modified to make more room for and to include extra nutrients like beta carotene and other essentials.

I'm all for vegetables, and I'm also all for science, but I still can't bring myself to happily eat anything that's genetically altered. Am I crazy?

At some point in time, many of us are concerned about all those wrinkles that start showing with our age. Men and women both don't like wrinkles, right?

Products like Retinol and others claim to give a youthful appearance to aging or wrinkly skin by way of supporting the skin itself. What about vitamin A?

In a recent article in the May issue of Archives of Dermatology, vitamin A is said to have the power to propel the production of skin-building compounds along with helping to do away with wrinkles. How many readers out there apply vitamin A directly to their skin on a regular basis? Has it helped your skin?