That's Fit

Want whiter and brighter teeth? Look no further than your food. Grab an apple, some carrots, a cucumber now and then and you'll scrub your stains away. It's the abrasive or crunchy quality of these foods that do the trick, says Elisa Mello, DDS, a cosmetic dentist in New York City. Items to avoid: Red wine, coffee, and cola, which may darken your pearly whites.

Another cleaning trick, says Mello for Woman's Day magazine (July 8, 2008), is to sip staining beverages through a straw and then chase with plenty of water to prevent them from leaving a mark.

For more tips on eating for healthy teeth, check out fatfreekitchen.com.

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.

In my expert opinion, yes! Disney World is the healthiest place on earth. I just returned from a five-night, six-day vacation with my husband and two children and was blown away by the amount of physical activity both offered and required of ourselves in order to indulge in the full Disney experience.

We pushed our double-stroller miles through two theme parks, climbed thousands of stairs and jumped an equal amount of waves at two water-parks, danced our tushies off to live bands at various Disney resorts, and played game after game with our children as we giggled, oohed and ahhed at all the Disney magic. As a fitness trainer, one of my biggest obstacles is convincing my clients not to trash their fitness efforts when they head out on vacation. Disney offers the perfect opportunity to not only maintain one's fitness level, but improve it.

The physical adventures are endless, and Disney World has made a deliberate effort to increase the availability of legitimately nutritious, low fat, and lower sugar foods. Fruit stands have popped up all over the theme parks, and children's dining has switched from burgers and fries to grilled chicken with carrots and grapes offered as side dishes. Soda has been dumped for low fat milk! I can't get food that "clean" in my own neighborhood, unless I cook it myself! Of course, the old junkie favorites like popcorn, fries, and ice cream are still available, but if you do care about your health and want to maintain it on vacation ... Disney makes it easy.

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!

The Carrot Museum calls your average carrot a nutritional hero. Storing a goldmine of nutrients, no other vegetable or fruit contains as much carotene -- this converts to vitamin A -- as this herbaceous plant containing about 87% water. Good raw or cooked, carrots provide healthy doses of vitamins B, C, D, and E, potassium, folic acid, and magnesium. Cooked carrots are best, however -- they are more nutritious this way.

Even small amounts of carrots do the body good with their essential oils, carbohydrates, and nitrogenous composites. Well-known for their sweetening, healing, diuretic, remineralizing, and sedative properties, carrots are important for their three most powerful elements: Beta-carotene, Alpha Carotene, and Phytochemicals. Beta-carotene gives us vitamin A which strengthens immune systems, keeps the skin, lungs and intestinal track in order, and promotes healthy cell growth. Alpha Carotene helps inhibit tumor growth. And phytochemicals may reduce the risk of cancer and strokes, hinder the aging process, balance hormonal metabolism, and promote antiviral and antibacterial properties. Combine these three elements and carrots are yes, nutritional heroes. Just look at some of what they can do.

• Boost immunity, especially in older people

• Reduce risk of heart disease

• Improve muscle, flesh, and skin health

• Fight anemia

• Reduce acne

• Improve eye health

• Heal minor wounds and injuries

• Fight infection

In our house, we tend to keep food in our fridge for longer than most people. It's part laziness, part iron stomachs and part frugality, but whatever the cause, I'm often left scratching my head wondering if I should use a certain ingredient in my next meal. But I recently came across this handy timeline for storing common fruits and veggies:

• Carrot (peeled): 51 days
  
• Tomato: 36 days
  
• Garlic: 30 days
• Broccoli: 27 days
• Strawberry: 22 days
  
• Asparagus: 22 days
• Spinach: 19 days
• Grapes (black and green): 14 days
• Peppers (red and green): 14 days
• Cucumber: 8 days
• Lettuce: 8 days

Surprising, yes? I thought the times on many of these were much shorter. This is good news though, particularly for those month-old carrots in the back of my fridge.

It wasn't long ago that the prevailing wisdom for protecting your heart was to eat a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. That's not to say that this advice was wrong; rather, it fell somewhat short only because it focused on what you shouldn't be eating instead of what you should be eating.

To keep your ticker ticking, there are many foods that can provide protection against such threats to your heart as inflammation, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure.

WebMD recently listed 15 foods you can eat to help protect your heart. Click HERE to read the full article, or just breeze through the list below.

1. Swiss Chard

2. Fresh Herbs

3. Low-Fat or Non-Fat Yogurt

4. Garlic

5. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6. Almonds

7. Barley

8. Cayenne Chili Pepper

9. Carrots

10. Broccoli

11. Oranges

12. Lean Pork

13. Salmon

14. Black Beans

15. Dried Cherries

Fitzness Fiends is a section devoted to you, the reader! We all have learned so much on our path to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! Fitzness Fiends are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect, some are not. All have health on the mind. Please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Chris Wilmont

Age: 34

Occupation: Claims Manager

How often do you exercise? Try to keep it between 4 to 6 times a week.

What type of exercise do you do? Mostly weights, but I incorporate cardio to ward off bad doctor visits.

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? The inspiration to feel good after accomplishing something for a better me.

According to scientists, many people are a bit, shall we say, nearsighted when it comes to protecting their eyes. That's because eating a lot of carrots, despite popular belief, will not reverse or prevent poor eyesight. However, there is evidence to support the beneficial role that carrots play in protecting against age-related eye diseases.

Carrots are high in beta-carotene, which, along with other vitamins and minerals (such as vitamins C and E, and leutin) has been shown to stave off macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older adults.

Eating carrots, so it would seem, is a preventative measure that can be taken against future eye disease, but should not be expected to help you switch to a weaker prescription.

My little family and I really love Christmas. Ginger, 4 and Parker, 2 are really young and adore all of the excitement that Santa brings. It's just pure fun, so we tend to take advantage of every little moment that we can.

Within the next few days we'll start preparing for Santa and his reindeer's arrival. The gingerbread houses are already decorated, so at the grocery store we'll get cookie mix and broccoli for Santa. Carrots, glitter and something else for the reindeer. Read this, if you're not so sure why Santa will be receiving broccoli.

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?

It doesn't have to be only your husband you help with issues of the prostate. It can be any guy you know who might use a little assistance. And the only guidance you need to offer the men in your life is this: eat six servings of vegetables every day and you'll be less likely to develop an enlarged prostate.

Accomplishing six servings is not as big an undertaking as you might imagine. A serving can be as small as a half cup of cooked vegetables, six baby carrots, or half a cup of spaghetti sauce. Sound simple? Good. Now spread the word.

For more on what constitutes a serving, take a look at this site.

I was told by a nutritionist at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona to make sure I put something in my body after I exercise. Exercise takes a lot out of us. So it's important we replenish what we've lost when our physical activity is complete. The experts at active.com agree and offer some smart eating tips for runners wishing to nourish and repair their bodies after workouts.

Try red bell peppers, they say. Just one provides 380 percent of the recommended Daily Value of vitamin C, a nutrient crucial for repairing connective tissues and cartilage. Vitamin C should be worked in throughout the day, every two to three hours or so until five daily servings are consumed. Also give papaya, cantaloupe, and oranges a try.

Protein rebuilds muscle and also repairs bones, ligaments, and tendons. What better source of protein -- and omega-3 fatty acids -- than salmon. "Eating fish high in omega-3s or taking supplements is like throwing a big bucket of ice water on inflammation," say the experts. Mackerel, flaxseeds, and walnuts will also do the trick.

This morning rocked. Not because I got to sleep in late, cause I didn't. This morning rocked because my four year old daughter climbed into bed with me, and asked if she could have some baby carrots for breakfast. Ahhh! That's what makes this fitness trainer Mommy giddy with glee.

I recently lectured at her preschool and spent time directing parents to make great choices for their children, because of both the short term and long term benefits. I preached that if we consistently offer the truly 'good stuff' to our kids, they will eventually choose it for themselves. Both of my children regularly request fruits and veggies, but carrots in the morning gets the gold prize.

I volunteered to bring cut-up fruits and veggies for my first-grader's Fall celebration on October 31. I don't want to be the mom bringing sugar cookies, a bag of fun-sized candy, or ultra-sweet juice. I want to be the mom who entices kids with nutritious options. Can I do it? Joey's teacher isn't so sure. She told me today she wants to offer healthy choices for her students -- but she doesn't think many will opt for what I bring. That's OK. I'm willing to a step into uncharted territory anyway. I tend to think some of the kids may be tempted by my apple slices and grapes, my baby carrots and cherry tomatoes. Call me an optimist.

When my sister shared grapes and cookies for her daughter's preschool birthday party recently, little hands fought for the grapes -- not the cookies. Won't six-year-olds do the same? I can only hope.

What's your vote? Will Joey and his pals reach for the wholesome food, or not?

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!

My latest addiction -- a good one! -- is lacto-fermented veggies. A member of my food coop got me to split some with her, and the rest is history.

I have actually been wanting to make my own for a while, but I was always daunted by the process, wondering if I would get it right or just end up with a pile of rotted vegetables . . . ewwww . . .

I have been devouring the Deep Roots Organic Carrots and also the beets daily. There is something about the delightfully sour taste that leaves we wanting more. And since they are so good for my digestive system, and they are raw veggies, how can I deny my addiction?

Why should you eat lacto-fermented veggies?