That's Fit

Easter is over but chances are, the chocolate is far from gone. I can relate--the Easter Toblerone I was gifted is staring me down from across the room as we speak. Luckily, I recently stumbled across this excellent post on Diet Blog on how to deal with chocolate cravings. Here are a couple of gems:

• Eat something that really doesn't go with chocolate. Like something garlicky. Or a dill pickle.
  
• Fulfill your craving in a healthy way with, say, a small glass of low-fat chocolate milk or hot cocoa
• Do something else, such as taking a walk. It will take your mind of the sweet stuff.
  
• Hide it. Or, if worst comes to worst, throw it in the trash.

Still tempted? Head over to Diet Blog for some more tips, and make sure to share some of your own!

For those of you who just celebrated the Easter holiday, there's a good chance that you have a chocolate bunny or two still lying around. The question now becomes, how long can you go without eating it?

Just in case you had any intention of caving, here are some quick stats that will likely make you change your mind.

A 6oz Solid Chocolate Easter Bunny contains 920 calories. Remember that figure. 920 calories.

To burn that many calories, you would have to do one of the following exercises (based on a 175 pound person):

• 70 minutes of Step, high-impact aerobics
• 70 minutes of running at 6mph
• 70 minutes of jumping rope
• 70 minutes of water polo
• 70 minutes of competitive racquetball
• 70 minutes of boxing, sparring
• 140 minutes of softball
• 140 minutes of walking at 4.5mph
• 140 minutes of whitewater rafting
• 210 minutes of Frisbee
• 210 minutes of volleyball (non-competitive)
• 210 minutes of weight lifting (general)

How harmless is that little, 920-calorie chocolate bunny now?

Easter has come and gone, but the candy's still around, at least in my house. There's good and bad news to this: On the plus side, the fact that there's still candy in the house means that I didn't eat it all in one sitting. But the downside? it means that there's still temptation to be resisted, and to potentially get the better of me.

But nothing ruins a good craving like the cold, hard truth. It's a good idea to look into the calorie counts of things you might be tempted because it might help you talk yourself out of eating it when you realize how bad it might be for you. Then again, maybe not. But hey--can't say I didn't try, right?

So here's a question:

So, Easter is over and some of you might have a whole bunch of (very pretty) hardboiled eggs sitting in your fridge. Personally, I would be thrilled -- I make a mean, low-fat egg salad, plus on FitSugar I just came across a new recipe for not-so-devilish eggs that I would love to try. But, today's your lucky day -- here are two tasty ideas for using up those eggs:

Kristen's Low-fat High-flavor Egg-salad

(I know there is quite the debate on whether to use yolks or not -- I keep about 1/3 the yolks in for the nutrition, but otherwise discard them. Do whatever your hungry little heart desires.)

• Chop eggs, using whatever portion of the yolks you want.
  
  
• Add enough fat-free mayo and brown deli mustard to get the desired consistency -- I like to use just enough to get everything stuck together.
  
  
• Sprinkle in some paprika or, my personal favorite, Tony Chachere's More Spice Seasoning -- not too much, just enough for a little kick.
  
  
• Eat on greens, a wrap, or by itself. Yum!
  

Not So Devilish Eggs recipe after the jump:

Bright shades of pink, purple, yellow and green make a pretty sight in a basket. But be careful if you plan to eat decorated Easter eggs; if handled improperly they can be contaminated with salmonella. Some tips:

• Hard-boil your eggs thoroughly, and cool completely before coloring.
  
• Use a food-quality, non-toxic dye.
• Don't apply color to eggs with any cracks in them.
• Put colored eggs back in the fridge after coloring them; the eggs shouldn't be left out for more than 2 hours before eating.
• If kept chilled, they can be stored for up to 1 week.
• Don't hide real eggs for an egg hunt -- they can be inadvertently exposed to bacteria (and what a stink it would create if you neglected to find one).
  

Or, you can really play it safe and blow out the eggs like I did. That way, you can leave them out as long as you want and even save your masterpieces for another year.

This Easter, I'm sure I'll get into the discussion with my aunt that I seem to get into every holiday. I'll have a plate of food in front of me, a small portion of the healthiest meal options of the day. She'll then say to me, "Chris, you exercise all the time and you're in shape. Why do you eat like that?" She always laughs and follows up by saying, "I would eat whatever I wanted if I did what you do!" No word of a lie, this same discussion occurs every holiday.

The point I'm making is that you simply can't eat whatever you want just because you exercise. Well, I take that back -- you can, you just can't expect to obtain the best results. A study from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center found that people who started an exercise program for the first time (exercising 3 hours per week) shed 3 pounds in six months. Not bad, but definitely not great. Why did they only lose a half pound per month? Because their diets were far from good. Had they followed a more sensible eating program, their weight loss would have been greater.

Talk about strange, as I was just finishing this post and my aunt called me (yup, the same one I mentioned) to confirm that I was coming over for dinner on Easter. She then asked me if I have any dietary restrictions!!

Maybe this will be the first time that discussion is not had. It only took about ten years for her to finally see where I was coming from.

A few weeks ago my son and I went to the store and bought his Easter basket. It's huge. Seriously huge. If I filled it only with candy I think he could have a constant sugar high that would carry him until next Easter. To buffer out the sugary treats I've bought a lot of non-candy items to fill his basket including a game, a jump rope, sunglasses, and a new water bottle. But he is going to get his fair share of goodies. So how many calories are lurking in a chocolate bunny? Here are some guidelines:

• 1 Cadbury Creme Egg = 170 calories, 6 grams of fat
• 50 Jelly Bellies = 200 calories, 0 grams of fat
• Reese's Peanut Butter Egg = 90 calories, 5 grams of fat
• 2 marshmallow Peeps = 64 calories, 0 grams of fat

Just in case you overindulge on jelly beans, use AOL Body's Calories Burned Calculator to help you balance things out with exercise!

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

My kids are still whittling away at their Valentine's Day candy while Easter looms right around the corner -- Sunday, March 23 is the big day. That means more candy. Candy from school. Candy hidden in eggs. Candy lining the aisles of every store we drop by. Candy. Candy. Candy.

Candy-filled holidays present a challenge for me. I want to limit my kids' sugar intake. I don't want them to go overboard on calories either. Still, I want them to enjoy the sweet occasions that seem to arrive on every page of my calendar. What scares me is what this blogger has to say: "A few studies have recently estimated that Easter rivals Halloween and Christmas for copious candy consumption among kids, with the average Easter basket packing a whopping 4,000 calories or more in sugar alone."

Fortunately, this same blogger calms my fears with a few suggestions for building baskets with health in mind. Check out these ideas fit for Easter.

• Substitute a huge solid-filled chocolate bunny with a more moderate sized hollow bunny.

• Don't include a whole bag of jelly beans but a handful or two.

• Give a bit of variety with candy while you avoid a large volume.

• Shop around for low sugar snacks but avoid those that use artificial sweeteners. Evidence suggests these may be worse on the body than sugar itself.

I could also substitute a few fun trinkets for candy, throw in some fun coupons redeemable for miniature golf maybe, and toss in a jump rope too. Ah, peace of mind.

OK! I....I mean the Easter Bunny just finished hiding eggs around the house for my two little tots. At the last minute, the Easter Bunny had to come up with healthy alternatives to stuffing these dear little people full of teeth-rotting sugar tomorrow morning. Mission accomplished! If the big furry one shows up to your house last minute, here are some great alternatives to candy in eggs.

• Goldfish
• Cheerios
• yogurt raisins
• stamps
• stickers
• raisins
• deflated balloons
• coins
• dollars
• erasers
• teeny nail polish bottles
• barrettes
• ribbons
• bows
• key chains
• put a five dollar bill in a surprise egg

Good luck! Happy Easter! Don't let the bunny hide the eggs where they can't be found again!

Easter is just a few days away, and I'm encouraging you to encourage your Easter bunny to consider each child's health while creating a basket. Baskets are a blast and so much fun. They don't have to be filled with sugar, fat, and junk like traditional baskets of the past though.

My kids have never even heard of a Peep and they've always been thrilled with Easter. We fill their baskets with tons of fun, and usually just one small hollow chocolate bunny. They love it and your kids will too. Here are some ideas for both healthy theme baskets and Easter morning fun. Have fun with it, and enjoy the fact that you're putting personal effort into their day. Don't cower to the advertisers pressure to shove junk into the little ones you love the most. Have a day that's exciting, fun, and happy in every way.

Choose a theme such as:

Sports: Balls, mini bats, shin guards, a sports team t-shirt or hat, new sneakers, jump rope, Sports Illustrated for Kids, water bottles, whistle, cones, sweat bands, sports watch, game tickets

Arts & Crafts: Paint, pencil, crayons, brushes, stamps, glue, pom-poms, googly eyes, construction paper, kid scissors, glitter, coloring books, paper bags for puppets

Beach fun: swimsuit, colorful kid sun-block, visor, shovel, pail, mini umbrella, summer Barbie, books, a personalized voucher for a trip to the beach, water park or pool, slip and slide, make a kiddie pool the basket, water bottles