That's Fit

Kim Cattrall, Hilary Swank, and Mariska Hargitay have something in common, and I'm not talking about their wildly successful careers or their overflowing bank accounts. It has to do with health, a drink, and the color green.

The "green drink" is their collective beverage of choice and here's what it's made from: Cucumber, celery, fennel, chard, kale, parsley, and apple. Full of antioxidants and only 50 calories for an eight-ounce glass, this energizer can be yours -- get the recipe for this fresh juice here.

So why the allegiance to this green concoction? Because all three women follow the nutritional wisdom of Oz Garcia, author of the new book Redesigning 50: The No-Plastic Surgery Guide to 21st-Century Age Defiance. Learn more about this nutritionist to the stars here -- and see if this guy has what it takes motivate you in healthy directions.

My five year old daughter's beautiful light blond hair has turned the most not-so-beautiful shade of green. Ugh! We swim a lot. We live in Florida, and that's what we do almost every day during the summer. Her hair has been pretty green for about two weeks now, and for about the same amount of time I've been looking for the special swimming shampoo that's supposed to get the green out. I checked three pharmacies, one Walmart, and two grocery stores with no success. How frustrating!

Fortunately, today I stumbled across the ultimate score in 'get the green out' shampoos at Target.. Suave has a cute little kids line of hair and body products that are tear-free, smell great, and sell for less than two dollars. And! They've recently added a special shampoo to the line which is designed to remove chlorine from cute little heads of green hair. It's called Suave Swim and Sport Flippin' Citrus 2 in 1 Shampoo for Kids. We've already used it, and we love it! So....if you are Going Green in a way that has nothing to do with the environment......give this stuff a try!

Besides the different things we do and wear from season to season, the foods we eat vary dramatically as well. The snow keeps hearty stews on the stove and hot drinks in our hands. The summer however, propels us to brew ice cold tea and lighten up a little at mealtime. I found a recipe I like a lot from the book Delicious Disney, The Disney Chefs with Pam Brandon.

The Field Greens Salad with Grilled Salmon just feels right this time of year. It's a delicious dish you can gobble up tonight and not pay the price in your swimsuit tomorrow. I've placed it on page 38 of my recipe book on Fitzness.com. Enjoy!

Sometimes I don't know which one is worse: dealing with the bugs or dealing with the greasy, smelly, full-of-toxic-chemicals bug repellent! Thankfully there are natural ways to cope.

In this day and age, most everyone is doing at least a little something to benefit the environment. Whether it is as simple as participating in your town's mandatory recycling program or using environmentally-friendly cleaning products in your home, I bet you are trying to make a difference.

The buzz around green cleaning products is astounding; for years, there have been companies like Seventh Generation spearheading the green cleaning movement, while now we are seeing big chemical companies like Chlorox manufacturing environmentally friendly cleaners.

So this is all good, right? Some would say that this is still big business looking to make a buck, even though the environment and your health thanks you for using products like this. Why? Because there is a simple fabric that cleans and removes bacteria with only water. No chemicals or other solutions are needed. And it is probably right under your bottom.

What smokers really need is to quit smoking. Well, if better health is a goal, anyway. Short of kicking the habit, though, there is something smokers can do to protect themselves against lung cancer: Eat three servings of fruits and vegetables per day and drink green or black tea.

That's what UCLA cancer researchers say now that they've completed their first-of-its-kind study. They found that high levels of natural chemicals called flavonoids in smokers' diets translated into a lower risk of lung cancer. This is a promising finding since 90 percent of lung cancers are caused by tobacco smoking.

Smokers most protected from the disease are those who ate catechin, found in strawberries and green and black teas, kaempferol, found in Brussels sprouts and apples, and quercetin, found in beans, onions, and apples.

You might feel pretty accomplished in your efforts to go green. You're using reusable supermarket bags, composting your food and yard trash, and forgoing plastic bottles. You're in good company. Check out these noble recycling efforts from around the globe.

• Got your body in tip-top shape for swimsuit season? Think you "can" dress like this: In 2007, the Brits had svelte models strut down Brighton beach wearing swimsuits made from steel cans. Take a look at these sporty suits here.
  

• Next time you're pounding the surface on a tennis court or sprinting around a running track, look down – you might be bouncing around on someone's old shoes. Nike collects old athletic shoes and turns them into raw material for sports surfaces.

• Before you tie your hair back for your next athletic endeavor, you might want to check out you elastic hair band. Last year, Chinese hair salons controversially and unlawfully began recycling used condoms -- most likely gathered from area nightclubs -- and making them into hair ties. Are your bands "Made in China"? I hope not.

For 17 more remarkable recycling efforts, check out this Discover magazine article.

I, like many fitness professionals around the world, am a huge proponent of drinking lots of water. The benefits are tremendous and should even be considered necessary. What I am not a huge proponent of though, is the need to buy bottled water consistently. Of course some times it is perfectly appropriate to do, and the best choice for the moment. But bottled water shouldn't need to be a staple in your day.

A better choice would be to get yourself a couple of reusable bottles, containers, jugs etc...., and refill them when they're empty. This habit would not only be better for the environment, but better for your wallet! The January/February 2008 issue of Women's Health Magazine reports the savings you could create based on your consumption if you choose to make the switch.

If you buy........you'll save:

• Five bottles a week............$391 a year
• Seven bottles a week........$548 a year
• 10 bottles a week...............$782 a year

The health of our planet is interconnected with our own personal health, so whether we like it or not, committing ourselves to a healthier, fitter lifestyle also means committing ourselves to a healthier, greener lifestyle. And although the whole "green thing" is starting to catch on in people's homes, it doesn't seem to have the same steam when it comes to workplaces. It's not clear whether it's because people think environmentally-friendly efforts at the office are someone else's problems or because they are simply discouraged by their employers lack of commitment, but whatever the reason, the environmental gap between home and office is shockingly large.

In a poll, 85% of people said that when they're at home, they turn their computer off when they're not using it as an effort to conserve energy but on the flip side, only 53% of those same people shut their office computers down at the end of each day. And that's just one small area -- the numbers are just as bad (or worse) for things like shutting off lights in empty rooms and avoiding excess waste when it comes to coffee and donuts.

Here are some must-haves to jot down on your next grocery list: Leafy spinach, kale, turnip greens, squash, green peas, broccoli, and corn. These are just a few of the foods rich in lutein and zeaxanthin -- two plant nutrients one large study reveals can reduce your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.

You might be 35 percent more likely to ward off the most serious form of macular degeneration by incorporating these veggies into your diet. So get them on your list, get them in your cart, and get them in your mouth. They'll do your body good. You'll see.

Happy shopping. Happy eating.

Are you doing your part to help keep the earth a little greener? Many people are. From buying fuel-efficient vehicles to making a concerted effort to recycle, it's great to see that the health of our planet is as important to us as the health of our bodies. Still, as much as we are all doing, there's always a little more that can be done. And in some cases, these are things we didn't even know would make a difference. Such is the case with what are known as "vampire loads."

When you leave appliances turned off but still plugged in, they actually still utilize energy. Now stop and look around you right now -- what's plugged in but not being used? The TV? The computer (well, clearly you're using that right now if you're reading this, but maybe you have a second computer)? The toaster? The stereo? And so on and so on.

All these unused but plugged in appliances - aka "vampire loads" -- make up for five to seven percent of total household electricity use, says a recent report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Frankly, even if you're not into the whole green movement thing, don't you still want to save money on your electric bill (I know you must at least be into THAT green thing)? The takeaway: if it's not in use, unplug it.

These days, it seems like all the rage to be into exercise and being more eco-conscious. Hey, there have been worse trends, that's for sure!! But, is there a way to somehow combine both of these endeavors into one? There are plenty, actually, the easiest of which is working out in the morning before work.

If you are able to get up a little earlier -- that is, without the risk of shaving off time from the 7 to 8 hours of sleep you should be getting each night -- and squeeze in a workout, you may find it to be perfect for your busy schedule. No longer do you have to race home from work, run a few errands, change, and then high tail it to the gym. Instead, you can take your time waking up, have a healthy breakfast, and then make your way to the gym. It will be difficult at first, especially if you're used to working out in the evening, but you're body will adjust in about a week or two.

Now, I also mentioned that working out in the morning could somehow be more eco-friendly. How's that, you may be wondering. Simple; if you work out in the morning, you only have to shower once (instead of having to shower again in the evening if you were working out then), after your workout. On average, that can save around 25 gallons of water each day!!

Here at That's Fit, we're forever grateful for the service, courage and sacrifice made by the heroic men and women who serve as military, law enforcement officers, and firefighters. We're so grateful, that we'd like to dedicate some features to both showing our heroes off, and learning a little bit in the process as well. If you serve your country courageously, are a veteran or know someone who does, please return this form completed to Fitz along with a photo and we'll share your story with the world.

Name: Frank Kinsey

Age: 29

Heroic Occupation: Deputy Sheriff

How often do you exercise? Two to three times a week.

What type of exercise do you do? I lift weights, run and play basketball.

Most alcohol gets burned off during the cooking process. But if you have some recipes that require a cooking wine or liqueur and don't want to risk it on children or less-than-healthy guests, give these simple substitutions a try.

Replace one tablespoon of bourbon or sherry with:

• one tablespoon of apple or orange juice

Replace one tablespoon of coffee liqueur or chocolate liqueur with:

• 1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract or
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee in 2.5 teaspoons of water

Depending on where you live, summer may be right around the corner, or it might already be here. And you know what that means ... bathing suit season! If the thought of being out in public in a bikini makes you cringe, don't worry -- you have time to join America Takes It Off and get your body where you want it to be, and if, by some slight chance, your body doesn't end up looking quite the way you planned before your next trip to the beach, you have wardrobe options (check out the gallery if you don't believe me).

First of all, let's take a minute to talk about your body. I'm hoping that you love every inch of it, but if there are some things you'd like to change, I'm right there with you. Perhaps you're not too confident about your mid-section, or there's a little more junk in your trunk than you'd like. Or, maybe you're really thin and wish you had more curves. What we all need to do is realize what parts of our bodies we like best and figure out how to play up those assets when we put on our bathing suits.