That's Fit

Wouldn't you love it if your favourite guilty indulgence could be part of a healthy weight loss plan? Like, say, the cheesecake diet? The triple-meat-extra-cheese pizza diet? Sounds ridiculous, huh? But the ridiculous thing is, someone probably has already thought of it, marketed the idea and made a profit on it.

What, don't believe me? Check out this post on Mark's Daily Apple on the craziest diet ideas. Some of the wackiest ones?

• The alcohol diet, in which you imbibe regularly and frequently, provided you stick to low-carb, clear drinks like vodka and gin.
  
• The chewing diet, in which you chew each piece of your food 32 times and don't swallow it. Apparently, chewing it enough ensures you get the nutrients. Yeah, right.
  
• The cold foods diet, which is based on the idea that you'll lose weight eating cold things because your body will burn calories trying to warm it up. Which means you can eat ice cream -- yay!
  
  

Want to know more? Read the post, and feel free to share any bizarre diet plans you've heard of.

Tired of being the guy on the beach who gets sand kicked in his face? Years ago, you could have bought the Charles Atlas dynamic tension muscle-building system to help you fight back. These days, adding some muscle to your frame requires far less effort (outside the gym, anyway).

No longer do you have to mail a check or money order, wait six to eight weeks for a package to arrive, only to then realize that your order was accidentally switched with a woman in Appleton, Wisconsin who ordered a new bird feeder (but let me tell you, that lady is jacked now!!)

Instead, there are hundreds of reputable magazines and websites a person can turn to for some weight room guidance. Needless to say, seek out publications and wellness sites that are most applicable to your particular fitness goals. To that end, and since the goal -- insofar as this particular post goes -- is to bulk up, you're already at the right place, my friend. Try the following quick-tips on for size ... literally.

Don't skip breakfast. Fill up on fruit, some whole-grain carbs, protein, and healthy fats. For a quick fix, try mixing a chocolate protein shake with some steel cut oats and a tablespoon of natural peanut butter.

The other day I told you how key it is to feed your body after exercise and suggested you eat these three post-workout power foods. As good timing would have it, just after sharing my message, I received an e-mail from my local fitness center. The topic? The importance of post-workout fuel.

It may seen counterproductive to eat after a workout, said the e-mail. I mean, we work so hard to burn all those calories, so why put more back in so quickly? Well, because an after-workout snack provides vital nutrients the body needs for muscle and cell repair. Eating after exercise also keeps us from feeling ravenously hungry a few hours later.

So, here's the deal: Aim to eat 15 to 30 minutes after the end of a workout. This is the period of time in which the body seems to get the most benefit from ingesting carbs and protein. Try yogurt, a fruit smoothie, or a protein shake and you'll feel energized and revived -- not sleepy and sluggish.

Got a favorite premium food you put in your tank? Tell us what it is.

Fruits and vegetables are among the most nutritious foods you can eat, which is why they are so close to the wide base of the food pyramid (and, arguably, should be at the very bottom in place of breads and cereals). Still, as I mentioned in a recent post, it's entirely possible to overdo it when it comes to eating healthy food, too -- especially fruits and vegetables, since they usually don't have nutritional labels on them (the only exception being when they come in pre-bagged packs).

Unless you've researched the carb and calorie content of certain fruits and veggies before heading the grocery store, you're pretty much at a loss. Fortunately, in most cases you really can't go wrong. But, it's still worth knowing what you're putting in your body, which is what makes dLife.com's recent article, "The 25 Lowest-Carb Fruits and Vegetables" so worth reading.

Check out the full article by clicking here.

One recent story that's been populating my google reader several times over is the recent comparison of diets. In short, low-carb diets were found to be the most successful, followed by the Mediterranean diet, with low-fat diets in last place.

But don't be so quick to trash all your bread and pasta. Low-carb diets aren't all their cracked up to be. I'm Not Obsessed recently revealed one very big problem with low-carb plans: Not enough fiber, leading to digestive issues, particularly constipation. As someone with IBS (read: regular digestive issues) I would stay away from this kind of diet, and I'm not expert but maybe you should too.

The key, if you ask me, is balance. Low-carb diets can help you slim down, but don't take it to an extreme. Make sure you're still getting a bit of healthy, whole grain fiber in your diet. You know, to keep things moving.

Aren't we all dying to be told to eat some bread....lots of bread? Unfortunately...I recently dealt with a pretty disgusting reason to chow down on some firm crusted French bread. Ick, ack and yuck! There was a hair stuck in my throat, and I was going nuts! I know........gross! But it was true. Fortunately that's about the grossest thing I've dealt with in a while, so I suppose I should feel pretty lucky? Hmmm.

Anyway. I complained about it to some friends, and they too had experienced the same thing at some point. Very annoying. So I Googled the question and fortunately found an answer. Dr. Khaghn recommended drinking milk to break down the hair (which could take up to three weeks!) Or ... eating some bread which had a good chance of grabbing on to the hair and dragging it down. I chose the latter, and thank goodness it worked. (Now it's probably stuck in my stomach.)

So! If you ever are violated by a hair that won't go away ... find some milk and bread. If you ever want a great excuse to devour some white flour .. chow down on some hair!

What you put inside your body eventually shows on the outside, reports Reader's Digest. Just ask the 100 dermatologists who analyzed the skin of 4,000 women ages 40 to 74. What they found is that eating habits, weight, history of sun exposure, and menopausal status all affect the skin. Specific to diet, though, the good doctors discovered the following.

• Women with higher vitamin C intake had significantly fewer wrinkles. Makes sense since vitamin C is key in the formation of collagen, which protects the skin from damage and keeps it strong and elastic. For best results, be sure to get vitamin C not through a supplement but in its natural form -- think orange juice, citrus fruits, and tomatoes.
  

• Those who ate plenty of the nutrient linoleic acid had skin that was less dry and fragile. Known to keep skin moist, this stuff can be found in green leafy veggies, nuts, and plant-based oils.

• Women who ate more carbs and fat had more wrinkles.

It makes sense than that we put in our bodies what is truly good for us, on the inside and out. Check out the following gallery for 11 healthy -- and antioxidant-rich -- goodies.

One of my favourite summer indulgences is a pint of cold beer on the patio on a hot summer's day. See, it's so refreshing, and when enjoyed with friends, it's a fun way to get together. Problem is, when you're having so much fun, one pint can turn into two, three or even more (provided you're not driving, of course!)

Calorie-wise, I know that beer is a better choice than, say, a margarita. And I know that a bottle of beer usually isn't too high in calories, depending on the beer you choose. But what about pints? Are they a good drink choice or a calorie disaster? What do you think?

Being a guy, there is little I know about what foods most women enjoy. Come to think of it, being a guy, there is little I know about all things women enjoy (except for some things, that is -- bom chicka wah wah). Anyway, to help come up with a list of what foods the fairer of the species fixates on, I turned to the popular magazine Self for some answers.

In almost no time, I came across an article about the foods that women crave most, based on a study conducted at Tufts University in Boston. In reading it, I learned that...

31 percent of women report chocolate is their most coveted food

24 percent of women say their strongest desire is for salty snacks

10 percent of women admit they regularly have an urge for ice cream

10 percent of women long for carbs, such as pasta and bread

7 percent of women desire protein-rich foods, such as fish and meat

Now there are two things I must do: 1 - Pat myself on the back for discovering, with the help of this list, that I wasn't nearly as ignorant about women as I thought I was, and 2 - Go bang out some quick sets of bench press, fix a car, punch some dude in the face, and throw a 90mph fastball in order to restore my manliness. Maybe I'll pick up a different magazine while I'm at it. Guns and Ammo sounds good.

BIggest Loser trainer Jillian Micheals, once a chubby girl who transformed her body and her life, has just the plan for shedding a few pounds prior to that perfect party, wedding, or class reunion.

Cut the carbs, says Michaels. Not permanently -- just two days before the big event. Ditch the grains, rice, pasta, cereal, sugar (even fruit sugar) and you'll look stunning and feel fabulous.

An idea for more long-term weight loss: Make a list of reasons why you want to lose weight and get into shape. Be realistic -- don't plan to run a marathon right off the bat -- and use your list to guide your efforts. Take responsibility, says Michaels. Choose your actions wisely. And your actions will influence your results.

Now get to work -- Jillian continues to pave the way right here, at AOL's AmericaTakes It Off location.

When you're grabbing a meal on the run, most of us know better than to order our meal with fries. Why? They're loaded with fat and sodium, and will make a big caloric dent in our daily intake.

But when a sandwich isn't enough, what can we get to go with our fast food entree? Most places now offer sides of stuff like salad, fruit or other healthy fare. And at Wendy's, you can even enjoy potatoes without having to order them deep-fried and covered in salt -- you can order a baked potato on the side.

But are baked potatoes a healthier option than fries? One would think so, based on the fact that they're cooked in the oven instead of the deep fryer. But what baked potatoes lack in deep-fried goodness, they make up for with add-ons like sour cream, bacon bits, butter and cheese. Still, how bad can it be? You tell me.

Anorexia and bulimia are eating disorders where people use unnatural methods to get or stay thin. But there's another category of eating problems; disordered eating is a term that describes any number of unhealthy eating patterns. While disordered eating is likely not as detrimental to health as anorexia or bulimia, unhealthy eating patterns can affect overall health in a number of ways. And disordered eating is more common than you may think. SELF Magazine recently conducted a reader survey and found that 65% of respondents have an unhealthy relationship with food.

So what is disordered eating exactly? The definitions are vague, but any unnatural method of eating could be lumped into the disordered eating category. For example, cutting out whole food types in an effort to control weight (such as shunning all carbs), emotional eating or turning to food for comfort, and following restrictive diets beyond what is medically necessary.

Take SELF magazine's quiz to see if you're at risk for disordered eating.

Are you a hearty eater? No, I'm not talking about a hardy eater; eating robust meals (for some reason beef stew comes to mind) and washing them down with pints of lager. What I'm actually wondering is if your diet is good for your heart. We've all heard plenty about the importance of cutting bad fats from your diet to ensure heart health, but did you know that cutting back on carbs can also help? This is clearly the case, says a study out of the University of California at Davis.

Researchers found that cutting your carb intake to be less than 40 percent of total calories actually turned off a particular triglyceride-producing gene. As a matter of fact, they found that the more carbs were slashed from a person's diet, the less active this gene (known as stearoyl-coenzyme A desaurase) became.

This doesn't mean that it's time to go back to an Atkin's philosophy; rather, it simply means that being aware of carb intake is crucial for a well-balanced diet. Of all the macronutrients we get from food, carbs seem to be the easiest to source, which is also why it's so easy to go overboard with them. The most sound approach, based on current research, is to stick to heart healthy whole grains, legumes, and fruits and vegetables as your carb sources.

Want an easy way to cut a good chunk of calories from your meal when you eat out? Here it is: skip the bread basket. Dinner rolls can have between 100 and 270 calories, and that's not including the butter. Have two or even three of these before your get your entree? You've got a whole meal's worth of calories before dinner. Yikes!

So it should go without saying that if you're trying to cut calories, you should nix the bread. It's easy -- just ask your server not to bring it. Can't live without some pre-meal carbs? Ask for half the bread basket, or better yet, just one or two rolls. And ask that he or she bring you only whole wheat dinner rolls.

Want some tips on how to have your bread (basket) and eat it too? Check out this post from Noshtopia.

It's such a simple idea for a book, yet it's still absolutely brilliant. By pitting one food against another, Men's Health has taken Eat This, Not That, a recurring sidebar entry from its magazine, and turned it into a national bestselling book. I know it's been covered here before on That's Fit, but I think some of the takeaway lessons from this book bear repeating.

Here are just a five examples, taken from the book, of ways to save on calories even while eating at notoriously unhealthy chains.

1. AT KRISPY KREME, ordering the Very Berry Chiller instead of the Mocha Dream Chiller will save 500 calories. (Do that once a week and you'll drop more than 7 pounds this year)

2. AT CHIPOTLE, save 498 calories by ordering your Chicken Burrito as a bowl (without the tortilla) and asking them to hold the rice. (you'll also eat 83 fewer carbs)

3. AT COLD STONE CREAMERY, cut 40 calories and 2 grams of fat by choosing shaved chocolate, not chocolate chips, as your topping. (If you're going to indulge, there's still no need to tack on extra calories and fat simply for the sake of it).

4. AT McDONALD'S, containing only 300 calories, an Egg McMuffin is actually a reasonably healthy choice. (The Hotcakes, by contrast, pack more than double that amount!)

5. AT CHICK-FIL-A, not a single sandwich tops 500 calories. (When it comes to fast food, this bird might be the healthiest option there is).