That's Fit

I'm on the plane flying home from the Prilosec OTC Roundtable Discussion with the gorgeous actress, Cheryl Ladd and nutrition expert, Elizabeth Somer, R.D in New York City. They/we discussed the benefits that both a healthy lifestyle and positive attitude can have on today's Baby Boomers. I was happy to see two bright women, both 57 years old, who were able to close in on 60 without being or looking "old". While preserving their appearances and health, they still embrace and enjoy the gifts that come with aging.

Both Cheryl and Elizabeth personify the woman I hope to be when I am of similar age. Not only because they are gorgeous women who have defied the years physically though. Their healthy eating choices, chronic exercise habits, and joyous perspectives on life offer proof that with decent effort one can earn a long, productive, enjoyable life.

Gallery: Defy Aging

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

My guest this week became famous as one of the hot, yet capable babes of Charlie's Angels. This role that burned Cheryl Ladd's name and face into our minds forever, in my opinion, will not in the end, be what we remember her for. We spoke recently both over the phone and in person, and she definitely showed a side of her I hadn't expected to see.

Although stunningly beautiful, and more capable of turning heads at age 57 than most women are at 25 ... Cheryl's most impressive quality in my book is her willingness to take care of other women. She's investing a lot of time in guiding and educating other Baby Boomer women about menopause. Menopause is often a taboo, hush hush topic. But Cheryl has embraced her age and stepped up to the plate to help make her personal experience with menopause an educational experience for others. She shared a bunch of private experiences with me and offered advice for growing more beautiful each year. Read on to learn how to age as gracefully and gorgeously as she has.

Fitz: You're an iconic figure in beauty. You've aged flawlessly, and to me ... you're prettier today than you were 30 years ago starring in Charlie's Angels. What can we do, to be more like you?

Cheryl: First of all, I think it's most important for women to have a close relationship with their doctor. It's important to trust your doctor, so when things go weird you are comfortable addressing the situation and taking care of things. Be proactive with your health! You also have to love yourself! Beauty comes from the inside first.

Fitz: Well your outside is pretty fantastic too. Let's start with your fitness routine. What do you do to stay in such great shape?

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!

How do naked push-ups sound to you? Well, let me tell you, I just got off the phone with a colleague and friend, Dr. Jose Antonio, Ph.D., FACSM, CSCS, Chief Executive Officer of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) and one of its co-founders. We were talking health and fitness when he brought up something a fellow fitness pro, Suzy Favor Hamilton does and recommends on a regular basis.

You got it. Naked push-ups.

Before showering each morning, Suzy -- an elite athlete, makes a habit of dropping and doing 20 push-ups. It's simple and it may sound silly, but getting down and earning a good shower each day seems like a great idea to me!

Naked push-ups are smart for two reasons. They create a habitual time and place for you to make push-ups happen. Second, it seems as they would force you to get in touch with your body at least once each day. Do you like the way your legs hold firm as you go through the motion? Could you work on trimming down your tummy so it doesn't touch the ground first? I imagine that naked push-ups would give most of us the motivation to choose the right foods and pursue even more exercise as the day progresses.

Just wanted to wish all of my fellow Americans a very happy Fourth of July, and to remind everyone why we celebrate. Of course politics can be rough, and the economy sometimes varies, but those things pale in comparison to all that this country has to offer. As I was explaining to my three and five year old children this week, we celebrate our freedom this Friday. As Americans we are able to choose our jobs, choose our religion, choose our spouse, choose our homes, and have as many or as little children as we'd like to have.

Nothing is perfect of course, but America is perfect for me. I rarely walk by a man or woman in uniform without thanking them for their service, nor an elderly man proudly wearing his baseball cap describing which branch of the military he served. I value the local and state law enforcement officers for placing their lives on the line each day to protect ours. I'm even grateful for the sometimes messy brood of politicians we elect to run this beautiful country of ours.

Lastly, I'm grateful for the nation of Americans. Thank goodness the majority of us are really good hardworking people. The good certainly outweigh the bad. I thank you for voting, working, educating your children, volunteering, helping strangers, and just making this country what it is today. I love it here. I'm proud to be here, and I'm grateful to those who laid their lives on the line to provide my family and I the simple yet irreplaceable luxury of freedom.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Dear Fitz, I love the summer weather, and really want to use the large outdoor pool at my gym. I do water walking and swim a couple of laps, but then I get so bored! Swimming 20 laps in a row is not fun for me. I'm pretty sure swimming burns a lot of calories, which is my goal. Help! Deanna

A. Hi Deanna, I'm so excited to help you, cause I too love the benefits of training in the water. We always hear that it's a terrific workout for those who want to avoid trauma from high impact activities. It also happens to be a fantastic workout for those who want to burn a massive amount of calories! Quick personal story. About eight years ago, while in the midst of a competitive kickboxing career, I tore my right hamstring. This made it impossible for me to do almost any sort of activity that involved any sort of impact. I also happened to be about 5% body fat at the time. I thought there was no way in the world that I could lose another pound. At 5'6" and 114 pounds, I was sitting on my bones. Having said that ... after swimming most nights for three weeks I actually lost three pounds. I was sold! Swimming is awesome exercise!

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.

Gallery: Dining at Disney is a fitness family's dream!

Hooray! Fellow blogger,Jacki Donaldson just brought up a great subject. Using your phone to help you stay motivated works! I use text messages to harass my personal training clients, and I always receive feedback that they've inspired and kept the recipients in line when tempted to go to the dark (not-so-healthy) side.

Having said that, my brilliant colleague, Tracy Benham, is the mastermind behind TxtVox's Get Fit text messages. The girl is a sharp exercise physiologist and fitness trainer (we met getting our Master's Degrees in Exercise and Sports Sciences). Let her in your mind a couple of times a week ... and sooner rather than later ... your body will rockin'! The texts come twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, and are really just there to motivate, educate, and harass you like a personal trainer would.

Go to TxtVox.com. Find the All About Me section, and then check off the box Get Fit! And did I mention that it's free? Oh yes! It is. If you're someone who could use a bit of consistent motivation from a REAL-DEAL professional ... TxtVox.com Get Fit messages are the way to go.

If you're like me, you've spent many days in either the pool or an ocean this summer. When I hit the water with my family, my purpose is to have physical fun. We're not the type to loaf on a chair, hoping to earn a few extra wrinkles before we call it a day. Heck no! We move! We play, we swim, we chase and more. Having said that ... I have two teeny kiddies and that's what I'm supposed to be doing.

Adults however, are entitled to play, chase, and move near or in the water too! Why the heck not? A warm summer breeze offers a great opportunity to feel strong, energized, and in good touch with our bodies. Women's Health magazine offers a bunch of cool yoga exercises to do at the beach. I like them, I really do. And as your adoring online Fitzness Trainer, I recommend you give them a try.

Gallery: Yoga on the Beach

I love multitasking! Any opportunity I get to kill two or more birds with one stone gets me giddy. I'm a busy woman with far too much to do, and when things get done in an efficient and pleasing way...I feel elated. Where am I going with this, you ask? Women's Health recently published this Park Workout and I thought you may need to see it as well.

If you have kids, I'm guessing there is a 99.9% chance that they like to run around and play at the playground. If this is true, then I'm talking to you. Let your kids and their buddies have their fun while you get a workout. No use sitting on that park bench anymore....use it for a glute training! Utilize the swings, monkey bars, and more.

Gallery: Fitness in the Park

When I grow up, I want to be just like the adorable and inspiring 85 year old women I saw following along as best as they could in the back of a cardio kickboxing class today. I stood in awe watching them in their elastic waisted linen pants and button-down collared shirts jabbing and crossing with energy.

I thought about the things I do today to increase my health and preserve my athleticism. Will I be able to do the same things those amazing women were doing today while surrounded by others more than half their age? I bust my butt to ensure a long healthy life, but I when I watch things like that....it just seems like a bit of a miracle as well. That's what I'm working for. With all of my being, I want to be just like them.

Last night, I watched in both horror and hysterics as Bear Grylls, one of my past Celebrity Fitzness Report interview guests, devoured "too many" worms in Zambia -- which left him with an atrocious case of diarrhea. Imagine that!!! He cooked and ate a few big, gooey, spiny worms that he found on a tree, then continued to groan in agony throughout the rest of the show due to his "killer diarrhea." The guy is a combination of handsome, athletic, daring, brilliant, and accidentally hysterical all at the same time.

If you've never seen Bear's show Man vs. Wild on Discovery Channel, it's about time you check it out. Bear was a survival expert in the British Special Air Services (21 SAS). He's an elite adventurer and stops at nothing to teach us how to survive if we ever happen to get stranded in the wild. A part of survival is finding safe and energy-filled food sources. Normally I find this disgusting; typically I watch much of Man vs. Wild with my eyes under my blanket. Lately though, I've been peeking out, because Bear's facial expressions in response to his nasty food choices are side-splitting.

Watching him climb up waterfalls and run through the brush agonizing over diarrhea was priceless. My husband and I squirmed as he ate the worms, giggled as Bear grimaced while chewing on them, and then rolled in laughter as he suffered through his tummy troubles.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Dear Fitz, My husband makes a big stink when I give our kids any type of 'sugar candy' like gummy bears or bubblegum. The kids are totally skinny and I don't see what the big deal is. They are kids! What do you think? Christy

A. Hey Christy. Your husband is a freaking genius. That's what I think! He has the insight and thoughtfulness to know that as parents, you should be teaching your children the best habits possible. He knows that your children are less likely to eat nutritious things when they've had a dose of candy. They're more likely to deal with the pain and terror that comes along with having their cavities filled if you give them candy. They're more likely to struggle with their weight and other less than lovely issues later on in life if you don't instill high standards in them today.

Last night, I spent an hour or so with the faces of college football. Now, of course these faces are no longer "in" college. But! They're the ones we turn to week after week to get the scoop on our favorite teams, athletes, and upsets. ESPN College GameDay. is coevering the Orange and Blue game, which is the University of Florida Gator Spring Scrimmage. I know...it's just a scrimmage! But...it is a big deal. A very big deal to the fans, and one of the great symbols that fall football is almost back again. Since I spend a lot of time near the University of Florida, I paid them a visit for some Celebrity Fitzness Report interviews.

When I arrived, sports analyst Kirk Herbstreit and side-line reporter Erin Andrews were working out, running up and down the bleachers in the Swamp (the Gator Stadium). Maybe they knew a fitness trainer would be popping in to check on them, but probably not. They were just wisely using their short break time to squeeze in a great workout. I was kind of sad not to have been in workout clothes myself though. It would have been fun to interview them on the go! Maybe next time they're in town we'll do that.