That's Fit

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.

Burritos anyone? Cameron Diaz will take one, and did take one -- a breakfast burrito -- the other morning after working out at the Gym on Nemo in West Hollywood. The fitness nut also had a full fat latte. The secret is out: Some stars really do eat.

VH1's Rock of Love reality star Bret Michaels -- you know, the Poison Every-Rose-Has-Its-Thorn singer -- was also spotted chowing down recently. Michaels indulged in a little southern cooking -- BBQ grilled chicken, cornbread, and ribs.

What do other celebrities really like to eat? According to this blog, Jennifer Aniston is a lover of Mexican food, Tom Cruise opts for Italian, and Angelina Jolie is a sucker for McDonalds, Cheerios, and tequila. Britney Spears: Give the girl some pasta, cookie dough ice cream, hot dogs, and her mom's chicken and dumplings.

Sounds impossible, doesn't it? Who in the world ever thought of going to Disney and eating healthy? Crazy talk, right? Wrong! Your loving online Fitzness Expert (me) who has extremely high standards on what I put in both my children's mouth and my own can spend a day at the Magic Kingdom or EPCOT and eat as well as I would in my own home. Disney has made grand efforts to improve the healthfulness of the foods they offer, and has even gone overboard with an abundance of fresh fruit stands located throughout each theme park.

I just spent a week at Walt Disney World in Florida and returned home half a pound less than I was the day before vacation. Want to eat right while enjoying the magic with Mickey Mouse? Read on.

• Mickey makes mealtime easy on the fitness fan. Every restaurant I ventured through offered several menu options based on lean grilled meat, veggies, and/or fruit. Even the children's meals come standard with side items like: grapes, carrot sticks, and unsweetened applesauce. They also come with bottled water or skim milk. Sweet! Parents would have to go out of their way to substitute french fries and soda for their children instead of the healthy stuff. Eww! You the fitness fan, certainly wouldn't do that!
• Sit down dining restaurants offer Egg Beaters cooked without oil in lieu of regular scrambled eggs. I enjoyed this perk while dining with Minnie and Goofy at Disney's Yacht Club Resort.
• Resort dining facilities offer endless refrigerators full of fresh fruit, veggies, yogurt, dried fruit, nutritious snack bars and more.
• Seek out healthier desserts. Anywhere they are served, Disney has made efforts to make reduced fat, low sugar or fresh fruit treats available.

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.

Oranges are healthy. No doubt about it. But did you know there's a certain way to eat an orange that capitalizes on its health benefits? Talk show host Jenny Jones says it's true. And here, in this video, she demonstrates just how to eat the fruit in the healthiest way possible.

We've got an entire post devoted to the power of the orange -- check it out here -- but here are some highlights to consider as you sink your teeth into this super food.

• Oranges offer the most readily available supply of vitamin C -- 93 percent of what you need, in fact.
  
• An orange contains only 60 calories.
• Nearly 170 phytochemicals and 60 flavonoids are packed into an orange -- these help fight off cancer and reduce inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and asthma.
• A daily orange will help combat diabetes and obesity and can lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
  
• An orange's peel contains limonene, which may ward off skin cancer.
  
  

Jenny has more to say. Check her out.

My home treadmill has a strategic location -- right smack dab in my kids' playroom so I can work out and watch my boys play at the same time. ER actress Linda Cardellini has a strategic spot for her exercise equipment too.

"I have an elliptical machine at my house that I placed between the kitchen and the couch," Cardellini tells Good Housekeeping in the June 2008 magazine. "So I can't sit there and eat bonbons on the couch -- I've got to get up and work out."

Got a strategy for your workout routine? Feel free to tell all.

• Eat right

• Exercise

• Get lots of sleep

• Drink plenty of water

• Brush and floss your teeth

• Stay safe

Five things. I've got five things for you to consider as you begin to overhaul your diet -- you do want to renovate your eating habits a bit, right?

Quality:

Eat the best quality foods most of the time, like fruits and vegetables, grains, lean cuts of meats, beans, nuts, and items low in fat, dairy, sodium, and sugar.

Variety:

Branch out. Don't eat the same four vegetables all the time. And move beyond your usual wheat and rice and go for grains like quinoa, barley, and millet. Throw in a few new fruits too, like papaya, mango, kiwi, or starfruit.

Frequency:

Eat lighter meals every three to four hours instead of three large meals. Add in snacks to help maintain steady energy levels throughout the day and help control your weight too.

Joy:

Love the foods you eat. Every nutrition plan has room for favorites, even if they do fall into the junk food category. Just keep your consumption minimal and you'll be OK.

Adventure:

Try different flavors and textures, cook new recipes, eat unfamiliar foods, go to new restaurants, and pat yourself on the back for moving outside your comfort zone.

Oh man. This is one of those statistics that makes you either swear off eating all together or throw your hands up in the air in disgust. I mean seriously. Who is the guy with the weird job which allows him to research these odd little details? I'd hate to be his wife, as he comes home each night with all the yucky tidbits in life that I really never want to know.

I learned about my bug consumption while flipping through the June 2008 edition of Women's Health magazine. Seems more the type of scoop you'd find in Maxim, but no ... it was my beloved Women's Health that broke the news.

We are certifiable health food freaks and have been since long before we had a child. One of my husband's biggest concerns about being a healthy eating household was that none of our son's friends would ever want to eat over and subject themselves to vegetables and such.

Well, now that our little guy is three, we've been having some of his friends for dinner. How did it go, you ask? Here are two cases in point.

Our next door neighbor's six-year-old plays here almost every day after school and has recently begun to eat dinner here about once a week. She now asks every day what we are having for dinner because she has her favorites:

• taco salad made with homemade taco seasoning
• Applegate Farms hot dogs and Trader Joe's Organic Baked Beans and salad
• brown rice pasta with homemade red sauce, spinach, chicken sausage and zucchini chunks
• organic chicken burgers with avocado and salad

My first grade kid brings home a folder full of completed worksheets every Monday. Some of his work I toss. There is so much of it. And some of it I save. I can't wait to pull out his handwriting samples when he's a teenager.

One crumpled-up piece of paper came home with my seven-year-old yesterday, and I'm definitely throwing it in the "Joey's First Grade" box I have stuffed in a hallway linen closet. It's all about health -- Joey wrote out seven good health habits -- and so that makes it a keeper. Here are Joey's tips for good health:

1. Take a bath
2. Drink water
3. Exercise
4. Get plenty of sleep
5. Eat healthy foods
6. Keep cuts clean
7. Bruch (he meant brush) your teeth

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.

Ready for another "I eat everything and don't gain any weight" story? Here's one, by Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker.

"I eat everything," the actress, 43, says. "I'm just an eater. If it's free, I honestly eat everything."

To prove her point, Parker shared with PEOPLE magazine a list of the foods she'd eaten in the 48 hours prior to her diet confession.

"Last night I had steak and some lamb shank," she said. "And I had some roasted chicken and some cassoulet and some profiteroles and some ice cream and some cheesecake."

Another example: On Monday, "I had two different tarts from Once Upon a Tart [in SoHo] and toast and a banana and a cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese," she said. Oh, yeah: "And a glass of fresh orange juice."

While she doesn't gather up many calories from alcohol -- "I'm just simply not really a drinker," she says -- Parker definitely enjoys her food.

So how does she stay so slim and trim? Predisposition probably, says Parker. And Pilates -- although she hasn't worked out in weeks. And running around after her 5-year-old son. Oh, and anxiety too, she says.

For more scoop on what the stars do to stay in shape, check out AOL's Celebrity Diet & Fitness site.

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!

Sunday's Parade magazine lists some Super Foods we ought to embrace. Each one is packed with nutrients. And flavor too. Can't beat that combo. Check out these six.

Coconut Milk
Coconuts are rich and saturated in fat. Sound scary? It shouldn't. The people in the South Pacific enjoy diets loaded with coconut oil, yet studies show that these people don't get heart disease. U.S. researchers are hot on the trail of this interesting fact, hoping to support the claim that the fatty coconut is a heart-healthy fruit. What they do know is this: Coconut flakes, coconut milk and cream, and coconut oil contain lots of an antiviral, antibacterial fatty acid called lauric acid. It's one of the immune-boosters babies get from breast milk.

Try this: Mix a can of coconut milk with a pint of chicken stock and some grated ginger for a healthy coconut chicken soup.

Grass-Fed Beef
All beef is a great source of iron, B vitamins, and zinc -- three nutrients most of us don't get enough of. But grass-fed beef (versus grain-fed beef) is best. It contains less fat, less saturated fat, more CLA (an anti-cancer fat), and more omega-3 fatty acids.

Try this: Use the very lean grass-fed beef for spaghetti sauce, chili, and meatloaf.

Nuts
Rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and antioxidants, moderate amounts of almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, and hazelnuts are a good addition to a healthy diet. Walnuts too. They are one of the best vegetarian sources of the omega-3 fatty acids that fight obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Try this: Put nuts in a blender with a little olive oil, milk or water for fresh nut butter.

Cinnamon
Cinnamon regulates blood sugar, inhibits cancer cells, and is anti-inflammatory. Can't beat that.

Try this: Sprinkle cinnamon on French toast, oatmeal, or a cup of hot chocolate.

Raw Honey & Molasses
Great for a sweet tooth, these whole and natural sweeteners make for a healthy sugar substitute. Unfiltered, raw honey contains lots of phytonutrients and enzymes to aid digestion. Blackstrap molasses is a surprisingly good source of iron and many other minerals.

Try this: Honey is best unheated but molasses already has been boiled, so there's no reason not to cook with it. Use with baked goods like muffins and pumpkin pie.

Olive Oil
Olive oil's monounsaturated fats reduce inflammation. Its phenols fight cancer. And its vitamin E lowers the risk of heart disease, protects skin from damaging agents, and prevents nerve damage.

Try this: Gently sauté vegetables in olive oil, drizzle it on salads, or use it in pesto.

It's not easy sitting at home and preparing every single meal of the week. Even the people who love to handle their own food may find a day that demands eating out. But where to go? There are so many flawed menus in the food industry that it makes choosing a healthy establishment feel like playing the lottery.

Enter America's top 15 healthiest restaurants as chosen by Health magazine. Some of the eateries may surprise you by being on the list! For example, Denny's brought up the bottom of the pack thanks to their Fit Fare menu featuring items that are 15 grams of fat or less. The editor's pick for their favorite choice off this menu was the Grilled Chicken Breast Salad.

P.F. Chang's also made the cut partly thanks to their carb-free vegetarian lettuce wraps. The other contributing factors were their use of whole grain rice, all-natural chicken, and reduced sodium sauces. These are not the only reasons, but you can bet they're not loading you up with excessive fat and preservatives. Criteria for these restaurants included how they prepared the food, the trans-fat content, portion control and other nutritional factors. Check out the full list for more information and see the other healthy establishments.