That's Fit

The leaves are turning, the days are shorter -- it's impossible to ignore the fact that fall is coming ... er ... make that already here. Despite the fact that it means the impending doom of winter is just around the corner, I like fall -- the colours, the clothes, the warm food and the selection of produce at my local farmer's market.

Mark's Daily Apple Recently counted down the top veggies for fall -- next time you go shopping, stock up on these:

• Endive
• Broccoli
• Brussel Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Celery root
• Onions
• Pumpkin
• Spinach
• Zucchini

Want to know more about these awesome veggies, including how to eat them? Head over here for more info.

Growing your own produce is an economical way to feed your family healthfully. As an added perk, pulling all of the weeds helps to burn a few calories each day.

If you haven't gotten around to planting a garden this summer, you're not too late. There are plenty of veggies that can still thrive even into the fall. Perhaps even into the winter, depending on the weather conditions where you live. Divine Caroline has a list of edible goodies that can be planted now and enjoyed in the coming months:

• Long-maturing crops such as carrots, cabbage, and potatoes can be planted now for regions with October frost dates, or in August for regions with November frost dates.
• Medium-maturing crops like broccoli, Swiss chard, and kale take about two months to mature. You can plant them now or hold off a bit longer for fall growth.
• Fast-maturing crops such as spinach, arugula, and leaf lettuce mature in about a month and can be planted as late as September. Plant some now and then plan to plant again for a second crop in the fall.

We all know fruits and veggies that are bold and bright in color keep us healthy. But what colors are best? Red, for one. Health.com says we can't go wrong with these three red foods.

Red cabbage
It has has deep-red (almost purple) pigments containing 36 plant chemicals. Researchers say these may be useful for guarding against cancer, boosting brain function, and promoting heart health.

Beet juice
It has a chemical your body may convert into a compound capable of expanding blood vessels and lowering blood pressure, say British scientists. If this doesn't sound appetizing on its own, try mixing it into a smoothie.

Tomatoes
They have lycopene and beta-carotene -- antioxidants that can keep your heart young by lowering your cholesterol.

Of course, red isn't the only color you'll need to eat to stay healthy. It's important to incorporate other colors into your diet too.

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!

First of all, check out these super nutrition nuggets found in 1/2 cup cooked green cabbage: Calories: 16, Fiber: 2.9 g, Carbohydrates: 3.6 mg, and Vitamin C: 18.2 mg. No fat or cholesterol in this Super Food.

Green cabbage is just one variety of this cruciferous veggie. There are literally hundreds -- green and bok choy are the most popular in the United States -- and thank goodness for the abundance of this vegetable because it truly is a good-for-you food. It might just be one of the healthiest foods you can eat.

Cabbage, high in nutrients, readily available, and inexpensive, has been found to fight heart disease, osteoporosis, and high blood pressure. It fights cancer too. Even it's smell contributes to the cancer cause.

Cabbage contains phytonutrients that protect the body from free radicals -- boiling destroys phytonutrients so try to sauté, steam, or roast this health food -- and it's a a muscle builder, blood cleanser, and eye strengthener too. It's also rich in iron and sulfur, can lower serum cholesterol, and is chock full of antioxidants. In juice form, cabbage can heal stomach ulcers and treat fungus infections. There's more: Cabbage promotes gastrointestinal health, prevents Alzheimer's, and optimizes cell detoxification.

Time to get cabbage into your diet. For starters, give this recipe for Healthy Cabbage Salad a try. Check out these
10 healthy cabbage recipes too. And these from Epicurious.

If you've got any tried and true cabbage creations of your own, please do share.

We all know what foods to avoid--trans and saturated fats, refined sugars, white carbs, etc. But do you know which foods you should make a regular part of your diet? eDiets recently counted down the seven foods you should be eating every day. Every day sounds like a lot, but making these your staples will improve your overall health and help you live your best life.

Curious to know what they are? Click on the images below:

We're lucky today to have access to all kinds of food from all kinds of places around the world, but it can still be hard to eat right because it's amazingly easy to end up eating the same things all the time. If you're stuck in a dieting rut then it might help to shake things up a bit and try some of these healthy staples from across the globe:

Cabbage, from Ireland
Here in the States cabbage isn't all that popular as a main player in dinner, but in Ireland it's a basic staple that originated hundreds of years ago. Most people just think "smelly" when then think of cabbage when in fact they should be thinking "cancer and disease fighting goodness." Cabbage, as well as its cousins broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, and brussel sprouts, is known to be a beneficial fighter against stroke, all kinds of cancers, cognitive decline and diabetes.

We all know that antioxidants are good for us, and chances are we know which foods are higher in antioxidants (Hint: Veggies are higher in antioxidants than cheeseburgers, if you didn't know already), but do you know what the antioxidant levels are in certain foods? No? Well, here's a short list of the levels in some common veggies, according to this post:

• Beets, Raw -- 2774
• Spinach, raw -- 2640
• Broccoli, raw -- 1590
• Cabbage, raw -- 1359
• Carrots, raw -- 1215
• Red Onions, raw -- 1174
• Red Peppers, raw -- 901
• Cauliflower, raw -- 647
• Green Peppers, raw -- 558
• Tomato, raw -- 337
• Snap Bean, raw -- 290

Wow, beets. Who knew? If you could put together a salad with all of these items for dinner tonight, you'd be whoopin' some free radical butts. What do you think?

Here's some good news for kids in Britain: Brussel sprouts will be scarce this year, due to flooding in Europe in the summer. And other vegetables are affected too -- like peas and cabbage. Dairy products are affected too, and families trying to stay healthy are seeing their grocery bills go up every week.

Why, oh why, couldn't the twinkie crop have been affected? Or the trans fat crop? Why is it that when natural disasters hit, it's the healthy stuff that's affected? Oh, that's right. Because junk food is made of chemicals, in a factory, with no access to nature or sunlight. So while the price of good, health food might go up, there's only one answer: We need to bite the bullet and eat the good stuff from the earth, for our health and the healthy future of our kids.

But this doesn't mean that parents should forgo veggies for junk food. This Christmas season,

Are you a cabbage fan? In winter, I sure am. The leafy greens are excellent when slow-cooked (or raw, if that is your thing), and when you add a lot of pepper and even some Italian spice, the result can be quite tasty.

The amount of vitamins and other good-for-health minerals in cabbage make it one of the cheapest food sources I've seen. An entire head of cabbage is generally lower than that junk-food cheeseburger, and offers nutrition that's head and shoulders above most other non-fresh foods.

Some even call cabbage the "tumor's enemy" in relation to its cancer-fighting properties. Personally, I prefer fresh blueberries, but cabbage is a great alternative as well. It may be hard to stomach raw for many of us, but when blended into a smoothie, it's easily palatable.

I know it sounds cliche, but I've never liked brussel sprouts. They're one of the only veggies I don't care for, and while I'm sure they're awfully good for me, I just can't eat them. They're too bitter for me. But there might be a reason why brussel sprouts taste bitter to me -- I might not be getting enough zinc.

Seriously. A study from the University of Ulster in England found that women who didn't get at least 7 mg of zinc a day are more likely to find brussel spouts and similar veggies like cabbage bitter. The recommended daily intake for zinc is 8 mg and it's found in fish, lean beef, chicken, yogurt and nuts.

What do you think about this finding? I don't know that a lack of zinc is a problem for me -- I think it's just brussle sprouts are gross. Don't you agree?

Cabbage soup does not sound like a delicious meal to many of us (hint: it i, with the right spices), but how about using it as a detox for your body? Sounds ridiculous, right?

There is a 'cabbage detox diet,' and it takes seven days to purge the nastiness from your innards if you follow it correctly. It sounds unhealthy to eat cabbage in several forms for an entire week (only cabbage), but having done this one in the past, I can say that it works. You can guess on how the results show up, okay?

But, it has downsides as well, ones that you need to be aware of if you decide to pursue it sometime near. First off -- the blandness of the cabbage itself (this is where spices come in). More? How's this:

• Be prepared for gas.
• Requires will power.
• Lacks good nutrition
• High in salt (unless you sub in non-salt spices).
• Not a long-term answer -- after all, it's a detox, not a diet change.

Left to his own devices, the only vegetable my guy would eat would be tomatoes (and then, only as salsa), not because he doesn't like them, but because of the shopping, cutting, and cooking that's involved. If you're a man who's interested in nutrition, then you might enjoy this article from Men's Health that lists the 10 best foods that men aren't eating. All but the savviest cooks seems to be leaving these off their shopping lists, but these 10 foods pack a powerful nutritional punch. What's even better is that, though there are a few exotics on the list, many of these foods can be found in season at your local farmer's markets right now. They include:

1. Beets
2. Cabbage
3. Guava
4. Swiss chard
5. Cinnamon (and not on a bun!)
6. Purslane
7. Pomegranate juice
8. Goji berries
9. Dried plums
10. Pumpkin seeds

I'll admit that beets haven't crossed our plates in years, but this article may have just inspired me to grab a few the next time I'm out.

When it comes to growing and eating healthy vegetables, the Alaska State Fair isn't messing around. There are vegetable growing contests at pretty much every state fair around the country, but those in Alaska have an edge. The summer months in Alaska mean hyper-extended daylight hours, which means ginormously overgrown veggies -- like this 73.4 pound cabbage grown by Brenna Dinkel. In fact, cabbages do so well up in Alaska they have their own category at the fair. I really do love cabbage, but there's no way around the fact that it stinks when you cook it -- that must be one smelly neighborhood the days after the fair is over and everybody's having cabbage (lots of it!) for dinner!

Omega-3s have the medically proven ability to reduce the amount of fat in your blood and help lower triglycerides. Triglycerides are a huge risk factor in heart attacks. Not only are they good for the heart but they help with depression, type 2 diabetes, fatigue, dry and itchy skin, brittle hair and nails, joint pain and other inflammation in the body, and the inability to concentrate. Here are some top 10 food sources for Omega-3s. Start a healthy habit by adding some of these items to your daily diet and remember to buy organic when available.

Flax Seeds
Dried Ground Cloves
Walnuts
Salmon, Halibut, Cod
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Dried Ground Oregano
Mustard Seeds
Brussel Sprouts
Cooked Soybeans