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"There are certain key nutrients that make a huge difference in not just how healthy you feel on the inside, but how healthy you look on the outside," says Tara Gidus, team dietitian for the Orlando Magic and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Check out her "No-Effort Guide" to looking great this week on AOL Health. One tip? Do this simple detox: Drink enough water. This liquid flushes out toxins and transports oxygen to your cells, which can not only boost skin clarity and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, but water also affects how defined your muscles look and how much power they provide you when you need them for other purposes -- say working out. So what are you waiting for? Start looking better today.

Back in the mid-90's, I was looking for a gym to join. A friend of mine got me a guest pass to her gym and I was horrified. The gym was filled with guys working out and women dressed in spandex -- most of whom were just standing around patting their perfect hair, fixing their makeup, or checking out their manicures. Needless to say, despite the stellar equipment the gym offered, I didn't sign up.

Soon, I found an all-women's gym that didn't have half the equipment, but they offered great classes and the women there actually worked out. They let themselves sweat and they didn't worry about how their hair looked. It was the perfect fit for me. (I miss that gym. I moved over an hour away from it and had to cancel my membership.)

Luckily the Jane Fonda-esque spandex era is long gone. But there are certainly still gym-goers that are more concerned with their appearance than their workout. Glamour recently ran an article wondering if their readers gussied-up for the gym or not. It made me wonder about That's Fit readers, too.

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The first rule of looking slim is to stand up straight -- good posture can take 10 visual pounds off your frame, easily. So, it's no surprise that someone has come out with a gadget to help you maintain better posture. Allow me to introduce you to the iPosture.

This handy dandy gadget is small -- the size of a necklace pendant (and can actually be worn as one, although, as your fit fashion consultant, I have to dissuade you from doing so) -- and alerts the user with small, short vibrations when he or she begins to slouch. You're allowed three degrees of deviation from your chosen posture -- if you slouch more than that for longer than a minute, it lets you know.

According to the website, there are a multitude of reasons you should be trying to improve your posture, including:

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I spent an hour sitting and visiting with a neighbor the other night, a neighbor nearing the end of her life, thanks to stage IV breast cancer that has spread to both lungs. We talked about all sorts of things -- how she should have been more vigilant about mammograms, how it's nice for her to know exactly what it is that will take her life, and how she can eat just about anything she wants now. We also talked about exercise.

My neighbor, who is in her early 70s, said she was in the marching band in high school. But ever since that time in her life, she's never really exercised. In her day, she said, exercise was about vanity. Women worked out to achieve a certain figure, to look good. There was very little talk about the benefits of exercise on overall health. And since she didn't buy into the gotta-look-a-certain-way mentality, she'd didn't buy into exercise either. In hindsight, she wishes she would have.

This thread of our discussion really makes me think. It makes me mostly think how lucky the young people of today are to know the health merits of exercise, to realize that while it can make a body look good, it's also a life-saving venture. It makes me feel good that my kids, now seven and five, will likely always know of exercise as a health measure. I'm not even sure they realize it can be used to achieve a certain appearance. Lucky for them.

Clearly, exercise is about wellness. Now, in her unwell days, my neighbor knows this. There's just very little she can do about it now. Unlucky for her.

FitSpirit explores the mind-body connection and the intangible benefits we gain from our efforts to stay physically fit.

You know that sinking feeling you get in your gut when something happens the way you don't want it to happen? Ever felt completely deflated because things just don't go according to plan? I have. It may be a not-so-pleasant interaction with someone, a job disappointment, or a family insecurity that dashes our spirits and leaves us feeling a little lifeless. Sometimes it's our very own body image that puts us in a spirit-less mood.

My spirit has been dashed on many occasions. And I admit, sometimes it's body issues that send me spiraling downward. I know it's not just me. People everywhere, and especially women, have long battled with shame related to their appearance. In fact, body image is one of 12 areas author Brené Brown has identified as the most vulnerable for women. She calls it a "universal trigger," so powerful and so deeply rooted in our psyches it affects the shame we feel in other areas, like sexuality, parenting, and health. The sad thing is that body image is just that -- an image. Our pictures, thoughts, and feelings about our bodies have little to do with our actual appearance, says Brown, who has interviewed nearly 400 women about the topic.

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Good news! A new study shows that when men tell their sweetie they will still love them even if they gain weight they are most likely telling the truth. That's not to say we thought they were lying this whole time, but there's always that doubt in the back of our minds wondering if they really really mean it, and apparently they do!

Three groups of men shown pictures of women of varying weights were asked to rate their appearance. One group was given positive traits about the women, one negative, and one no list of traits at all. The group given the positive list of traits was much more 'forgiving' and chose a greater range of body types as "attractive."

So somebody who genuinely likes you as a person really can overlook imperfect outward appearances. Yay! *Sigh of relief*

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