That's Fit

Just wanted to wish all of my fellow Americans a very happy Fourth of July, and to remind everyone why we celebrate. Of course politics can be rough, and the economy sometimes varies, but those things pale in comparison to all that this country has to offer. As I was explaining to my three and five year old children this week, we celebrate our freedom this Friday. As Americans we are able to choose our jobs, choose our religion, choose our spouse, choose our homes, and have as many or as little children as we'd like to have.

Nothing is perfect of course, but America is perfect for me. I rarely walk by a man or woman in uniform without thanking them for their service, nor an elderly man proudly wearing his baseball cap describing which branch of the military he served. I value the local and state law enforcement officers for placing their lives on the line each day to protect ours. I'm even grateful for the sometimes messy brood of politicians we elect to run this beautiful country of ours.

Lastly, I'm grateful for the nation of Americans. Thank goodness the majority of us are really good hardworking people. The good certainly outweigh the bad. I thank you for voting, working, educating your children, volunteering, helping strangers, and just making this country what it is today. I love it here. I'm proud to be here, and I'm grateful to those who laid their lives on the line to provide my family and I the simple yet irreplaceable luxury of freedom.

Reader's Digest calls it the "American Paradox," the curious way the proportion of fat in the American diet is going down while the numbers on our American scales are going up. The explanation: While the percentage of fat in our diets may be dropping, the amount of fat we consume as a nation is going up because we're eating larger portions of everything.

All is not lost, though. Here are six steps for slashing some calories from your diet. Calories, after all, are the golden ticket for weight loss.

Keep food off the table. Serve your food onto plates right from the stove or kitchen counter. No serving platters, no extra calories.

Don't eat from packages. It's too easy to lose track of how much you've consumed when you keep grabbing from a bag. Try portioning out crackers, pretzels, and other snacks on a plate and you'll have a clear sense of what you're eating.

Downsize your dishes. Smaller plates and bowls make portions seem larger.

Take it slow. Put your fork down after each bite, sip slowly from your drink, and when you're done with your food, wait 20 minutes -- this is how long it takes for the brain's appetite-control center to register that there's food in the stomach.

Work for your food. Eat foods that require some effort. Peel an orange or crack open crabs and your eating pattern will slow down.

Socialize outside the kitchen. You won't be so tempted to nibble if you congregate in the living room.

I met a woman the other day while waiting to get my annual mammogram. She had a suspicious something she was waiting to have examined and during our discussion about her concerns, I told her about my history with breast cancer. At some point during our chat, she shared that she wasn't so sure diet plays any real role in preventing cancer. Maybe no one can be entirely sure but it does seem a worthy endeavor to clean up your diet just in case. If it turns out diet and cancer have no link -- most evidence, however, supports that fact that they do -- then at the very minimum, you've stepped up your health a bit. There's no harm in that.

Back to the cancer connection, and the evidence that says meals really do matter.

What you eat counts, say the American Cancer Society experts. Food choices not only provide vital nutrients that can help prevent cancer, but they also help people maintain healthy weights. Research suggests that one-third of U.S. cancer deaths each year can be attributed to poor diets and inactivity. Another third is due to tobacco use. The last third: genetic variations and environmental factors.

American Idol doesn't typically contain great health and fitness material. I mean, when I watch the show, nowhere in my head do I think I'll grab onto something I can later write about here -- well, with the exception of the show I watched last night, the one where the two Davids -- Archuletta and Cook -- faced off in an attempt to win the entire singing competition.

So these two guys were competing, and their match-up was referred to on the show as a fight, which is all about health and fitness. It went something like this: Train hard. Prepare your body. Because in a fight, it's the first thing to go.

And so it occurs to me that this is so perfectly right. It's exactly what I've been doing for one year now. I've been preparing my body through a clean diet and strenuous exercise so that it won't go. I've had one major fight already -- cancer -- and by the luck of the draw, I won. In the event another opponent faces me, I want to be as fight-ready as I can be.

Train hard. Prepare your body. That's what I'll do. You should too.

My kid got a cavity. Just had it filled recently. It cost me a bundle and makes me rethink getting dental insurance. It also makes me rethink what I need to do to ensure my two little guys do the very best they can with their pearly whites.

Of course, they need to brush. If I had it my way, they'd brush after eating, every time they eat. But this is hard since they spend a few hours each week day in school and I can't realistically mandate classroom brushing after snacks and lunch. I can be vigilant at home, though. I can hover like a helicopter over them, judging their respective techniques. Let's face it: Kids left to their own brushing devices will cheat, even if unaware their form is not exactly right.

My boys can floss -- and they do -- but as a team, we can do better. We can also swirl around a little mouthwash. And use this cool pink solution the dentist gave us (well, sold us) that marks the hiding places of food bits. And my favorite: We can cut down on sugary, sticky, sweet treats. We've got them down to a pretty good minimum but there's always room for improvement.

What can you do to treasure your kids' teeth? Visit this American Dental Association site for age-appropriate practices.

Here at That's Fit, we're forever grateful for the service, courage and sacrifice made by the heroic men and women who serve as military, law enforcement officers, and firefighters. We're so grateful, that we'd like to dedicate some features to both showing our heroes off, and learning a little bit in the process as well. If you serve your country courageously, are a veteran or know someone who does, please return this form completed to Fitz along with a photo and we'll share your story with the world.

Name:

Age:

Heroic occupation:

If you're in the military...where are you?

How often do you exercise?

What type of exercise do you do?

Bad news for women in the Washington Post yesterday. A study, also published yesterday, reveals evidence that life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American females.

According to the Post, the study cites that in nearly 1,000 counties that together are home to about 12 percent of the nation's women, life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the early 1980s. This marks the first decline in life expectancy for a significant number of women since the Spanish influenza of 1918, the Post reports.

I don't want to be too heavy or too sedentary. I know both will increase the odds that my cancer will come back.

Most cancer survivors know a healthy lifestyle can help prevent recurrences and increase life expectancies. Yet, new research finds that this group has rates of obesity and physical inactivity similar to those of the general population. This is troubling because maintaining a healthy weight and getting regular exercise is critical for cancer survivors who wish to conquer their diseases and live a long life.

The details of this research, published in the June issue of Cancer, include the following.

• Less than one quarter of cancer survivors were physically active.

• Thirty-four percent of survivors were overweight. Almost one in five were obese.

• The lowest rates of physical activity were found among colorectal cancer survivors, breast cancer survivors, and female survivors of melanoma.
  
  

Kevin Stein, director of Quality of Life Research at the American Cancer Society, says this research underscores the fact that cancer survivors need to pay attention to their health.

"There is a teachable moment when someone is diagnosed," he says, "It's the perfect opportunity to say, 'We all need to eat healthy and exercise, but it's even more important for you as a cancer survivor.'"

If avoiding cancer is a priority for you, check out this AOL Body site.

Here at That's Fit, we're forever grateful for the service, courage and sacrifice made by the heroic men and women who serve as military, law enforcement officers, and firefighters. We're so grateful, that we'd like to dedicate some features to both showing our heroes off, and learning a little bit in the process as well. If you serve your country courageously, are a veteran or know someone who does, please return this form completed to Fitz along with a photo and we'll share your story with the world.

Name: Rob K.

Age: 42

Heroic occupation: Police Lieutenant

If you're in the military...where are you? N/A

How often do you exercise? Five times each week.

What type of exercise do you do? Running, strength training, lots of pull-ups, and a variety of cardio machines.

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? The knowledge that I'll be glad I did when I'm done. I also feel that the most rewarding workout is the one that you didn't want to do in the first place.

You know, I've never been all consumed with American Idol like lots of people. But I must admit I'll tune in here and there throughout the competition. It's decent entertainment, and I kind of think Simon Cowell is sexy. Nonetheless! I just tucked my healthy babies into bed and plopped down into mine with the old laptop to write about fitness with the television on here in my room.

American Idol is in the middle of their Idol Gives Back program, and they seem to be making a great case for helping children in the U.S. and abroad. Feeling fortunate that my two angels do not have to deal with any of the horrors some other children are suffering from.....I logged on to AmericanIdol.com and made a donation. Partly because of guilt, but mostly out of hope.

If you're a lucky parent like me or just someone who loves children, maybe you can call or log on and donate too. 1-877-IDOL-AID or AmericanIdol.com

Head on over to this American Heart Association site where the experts say if we walk more and eat better, we'll live longer. They're so sure of it, in fact, that they're kicking off National Start Walking Day on April 16.

Do you know that heart disease is the number one killer in the United States? Do you know that physical inactivity doubles the risk of heart disease? Sobering, isn't it? Fortunately, these facts can be changed. Here's how.

First, you can start walking and start reducing your risk. Second, you can support the American Heart Association. The folks there are challenging Americans to walk a million miles and raise a million dollars all in one day -- April 16. Ready to accept the challenge and help fight heart disease and obesity? Click here for more information.

Cancer is everywhere. Still, researchers and scientists and doctors don't fully understand the disease. Either does the average American. When the American Cancer Society put 1,000 people to the test, these four questions stumped many respondents. Sixty-eight percent got the first one wrong.

Now it's your turn. Which of the following are true?

1. The risk of dying from cancer is increasing in the U.S.

2. Your risk of lung cancer is greater if you live in a polluted city than if you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.

3. Some injuries can cause cancer later in life.

4. Some or all of the following cause cancer: cell phones, deodorant, antiperspirant, under-wire bras.

Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts is bald, thanks to breast cancer and chemotherapy. She's done a bang-up job of covering up since she shaved her head in preparation of the big fallout -- her wig is a perfect match for the hair that once sprouted from her scalp -- but she recently decided to bare her shiny scalp. She did it to challenge her comfort zone, she says.

What started as a dare had Roberts braving the catwalk the other day as part of Isaac Mizrahi's runway show, live from New York Fashion Week. All of her friends and fans knew she was doing the show -- they just didn't know she'd do it bald.

"This is who I am," Roberts said about her decision to ditch the wig.

When Roberts was diagnosed with breast cancer last July, the last thing she felt was beautiful. When the folks at Good Morning America dared her to be model, she seized the opportunity. It was a perfect way to push herself outside a certain comfort zone.

To transform herself into a supermodel, Roberts worked with Tyra Banks on walking the runway, Mizrahi on finding the perfect gown, and model Nikki Taylor on photo shoots -- a special layout will appear in an upcoming Redbook magazine.

Check out Roberts here in this video where you'll see a courageous woman make a bold statement as she fights to regain her health. Now that's what I call a model -- a role model.

This month is all about your heart. So in the spirit of keeping it in tip-top shape, here are a few heart-healthy facts.

• Your belly and how it measures is more important than your body mass index (BMI) because it's a better indication of atherosclerosis (artery hardening). A healthy waist should total less than 35 inches.
  
  

• Do you know what your cholesterol is? You should. It's a major heart attack risk factor and should be checked at least every five years -- more often if it's high or you have risk factors.
  
  

• Antioxidant supplements won't mend a broken heart. In fact, the American Heart Association recommends against taking vitamins A, C, and E because there's just no proof they do any good. A multivitamin is fine, however.
  
  

• Losing weight will cause a drop in your blood pressure. If you need to slim down, then, do it for your heart.