That's Fit

Day 7: You know what? I've decided to quit counting calories when it comes to non-starchy vegetables. The calorie content is negligible at best. Take the following foods, for instance:

• 1 cup of broccoli -- 40 calories
• 1 cup of cauliflower -- 48 calories
• 3 stalks of celery -- nine calories ... I mean, come on. Is that worth writing down?
• 1 cup Swiss chard -- 32 calories
• cucumber -- 30 calories, for the whole thing!
• 1 cup eggplant -- 38 calories
  
  

You get the idea. These foods are jam-packed with nutrition and carry little weight when it comes to calories, so to make my life simpler, I've decided not to write them down. Will it make a difference in my weight loss? In the long run, I doubt it. This is about teaching myself life long healthy habits, not about obsessively tracking every last calorie.

We all know by now that French women don't get fat. And it seems the French government is interested in keeping it that way, what with proposed taxes on junk food and laws against images depicting too-thin models. Now the French are taking their message of health to the media and running 'healthy living' ads on TV and radio stations across the nation, as well as in print. Kind of like this one on Fitsugar, which reads 'For your health, eat at least five fruits and veggies a day.'

I think if introduced in North America, these ads would be a refreshing break from all the pizza and fast foods commercials we are bombarded with on such a regular basis. But would they work? What do you think?

Welcome to Walking the Walk, a feature that takes a deeper look at commonly shared diet and fitness advice. Every other week, I'll choose one piece of advice and practice it for seven days. Then I'll report back on what I discovered about making it work in real life and how it affected my own personal fitness -- and how it ultimately can affect your own efforts.

My healthy habits took a slide this summer. Maybe more like a nosedive. Maybe even more like a quick, slippery dunk into the deep end of the junk-food pool. There's something about long days spent at the beach that makes me think more potato chips and chocolate cookies than fresh, green salads. This fall, I'm working hard to reclaim those healthy ways, one step at a time.

Though fruits and vegetables are always part of our daily diet at my house, I've caught myself frequently grabbing a simple bowl of cereal for breakfast or throwing together a sandwich for lunch, rather than slicing and chopping to add those delicious, nutritious fruits and veggies to my meals. Standard nutritional advice says that we should all be eating a minimum of five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day, a goal that can be difficult to reach unless you incorporate these nutritional powerhouses into every single meal and snack. This week, that's exactly what I'll do.

To prepare for the week, I made a quick run to the store today. I loaded up on some favorites -- cucumbers, colored peppers, watermelon, and fresh cantaloupe. In a couple of days, our CSA crate will arrive, full to the brim with tomatoes, kale, corn, salad greens, more cucumbers, green peppers, summer squash, and green beans. And a few days after that is our weekly trip to the farmer's market, where I can load up on more favorites like leeks, and those tiny little gold tomatoes we love so much. If there is ever a season to reacquaint yourself with fruits and vegetables, this is it.

Let's face it: Nobody's perfect. But most of us try our best, and that should count for something, right? Over at AOL Health, they've recently put together the Good Enough Guide to Health -- a handy checklist of bare minimum you can do to make a positive impact on your health. For instance, we're told we should be getting eight to 10 servings of fruit and veggies a day. But if that's just not possible? Five will do just fine.

We all have a strong points and our weak points. So we want to know, when it comes to healthy habits, which is your strength?

Sometimes it's hard being a member of the fairer sex. We're busy. Really busy. In fact, a recent study found that women work a 15-hour day, no matter how many hours they actually put in at their jobs. So it's understandable that we may make a few mistakes throughout the day -- forget to pick up milk, send a child to school without her lunch money, leave the cat out all night. It's just going to happen.

But according to Prevention, women are also making big mistakes when it comes to health. But unlike forgetting to wash your daughter's soccer uniform, making mistakes about diet, fitness, and lifestyle can cost you more than inconvenience in the long run. If you're guilty of some of the following mistakes, take a closer look at where healthy habits rank on your list of priorities and see if you can't make a difference in your own personal health.

Everyone knows it's more fun to gain weight than to lose it. And if you're getting paid big bucks to gain it, well, all the better. But there comes a time when the bagels and fried food have to be put away and the weight has to come back off.

That's what happened to Beyonce Knowles. She was asked to gain 20 pounds for her role as Etta James in Cadillac Dreams. But when shooting was finished, she was left not only with a paycheck, but with 20 pounds extra weight, which she had to lose for psychological thriller Obsessed. "I had to lose it," she said, "I was so angry with myself. I was like, 'D'oh! Why do you have to go through this?'"

Losing weight is such hard work. I've always wondered about celebrities who gain weight for roles. Matt Damon recently buried his fit figure under a layer of extra pounds for the movie The Informant, and Hillary Swank will put on 20 to 30 pounds (ironically) for the movie version of the book French Women Don't Get Fat. Not only is it hard mentally, I imagine, to get back into healthy habits after being out of them so long. But isn't all that yo-yoing hard on your body? Maybe not as hard as giving up a million-plus dollar role in a major motion picture, I guess. What do you think?

You practice healthy habits. Your partner/family member/close friend does not. It's only natural for you to want to inspire someone you care about to live a healthier life. But how?

As I sit here typing this, my three-year-old -- according to her anyway -- desperately needs a cookie. The trouble is, it's only 8:44 A.M. and she just had breakfast. It's not easy being being the one who has to enforce healthy habits, because I'm sure things would be a lot more pleasant around here if I'd just give her the cookie. But teaching kids good healthy habits are part of being a parent.

Denying a poor little child an A.M. cookie and giving her some fruit instead isn't really all that tough. But when kids get older, we not only give up some of our influence over them to friends, teachers, and TV commercials, we also aren't with them every minute of the day.

I like the idea of "family health rules." Just as kids know that they need to look both ways before they cross the street, they should also be taught about the importance of healthy lifestyle habits. FamilyDoctor.org has some great suggestions for laying the groundwork for family health rules. Teaching healthy habits is a lot easier when kids learn them from the get-go (like no cookies for breakfast), but even if you're just now making lifestyle changes for yourself and your older children, it's not too late to teach them healthy habits that will last a lifetime.

There are certain times of year that make it easy to start fresh with new habits. Fall is one of them.

If you missed our daily postings this past week, we invite you to take some time to catch up on our prior week's news and gear up for a new week of healthy living information and inspiration.

Goodbye August, goodbye summer... hello September! Whether you're busy loading kids onto the school bus, heading off to college or taking classes, or are just gearing up for the changing weather, your routine is probably changing. Prevent stress by eating right, exercising regularly, and reading That's Fit for the latest in fitness news, including some of this week's posts:

• Ever wonder how the "Desperate Housewives" stay so slim? Competition!
• Insomnia can steal your energy for working out. Learn about the 10 foods that might help you get a good night's sleep.
• Make sure your youngster is getting a healthy mid-day meal with these healthy lunch tips.
• Think you're being moderate with the medium soda from the drive-thru? Think again!
• Sure, it may smell sweet. But burning incense has been linked to cancer.
• Are you a beginner at weight loss? Chris has a few tips for those first few workouts.
• Want to know how Jessica Alba lost the baby weight? Her trainer tells all.
• That seat warmer is great in the cold winter months, but men might want to think twice before using it.
• Got a kid that's resisting their back-to-school bedtime? Here's one more reason for not budging when it comes to healthy sleep.

Have a great week everyone!

I've said before that I wish there was a way to ration myself a handful of M&Ms or a small serving of something sweet a day. But I can't keep that stuff in the house because when it comes to chocolate, I just don't have enough self-control. So (perhaps sadly), I can get behind the idea of the Chococlock.

Every hour on the hour, the clock offers up a piece of chocolate. You've got 30 seconds to grab it, then it's gone until the next hour. The fatal flaw with this product, however, is the cheat button. Doesn't anyone understand how a chocoholic works? I'd have that cheat button worn out in no time.

Thankfully, there's a free way to keep a handle on overdoing the sweets. Leave them at the store. Studies show that if you leave tempting food in your line of sight, you're far more likely to eat it. When I want a treat, I go out and buy one, but control my cravings by only buying a single serving every time.

How to you keep your cravings for your favorite treats under control?

Prenuptial agreements are traditionally drawn up to protect parties in the case the marriage fails and they need to divide their assets. But according to Michelle Andrews, over at U.S. News & World Report, lawyers are increasingly seeing prenups that include clauses related to health.

Some potential spouses want to be assured their betrothed won't gain weight or pick up smoking. Others want a guarantee on how many times a week they'll have sex or, in one case, put a weight restriction on physical intimacy. Of course, these clauses aren't legally enforceable, but I suppose if your fiance asks you to agree to them, then you know up front exactly what you're getting into.

We all want our spouses and partners to take good care of themselves. But putting healthy habits on a legal contract? That feels controlling and manipulative to me, not emotions you want to feel when you're saying "I do, till death to us part." I'd have run, far and fast, if my husband had approached me with one of these.

What about you? Are you willing to put your health requirements on paper? Or does this give you the same icky feeling it does me?

What Buettner and his team have done is studied how people live in these blue zones to try and discover why they live up to a decade or more longer than the rest of us. What it boils down to, if their theories are correct, at least, is fairly simple. The people in those communities eat less and eat mostly plant-based foods. They have less stress, they indulge in a glass or two of red wine, and they incorporate physical activity into every day. Essentially, less is more.

It's difficult to make changes like this sometimes in our Western culture, but it's clear that these communities are doing something right, as far as longevity goes anyway. To learn more about what makes the blue zones special, check out Forbes gallery on the subject.

Heart Disease is something few talk about, even though its touched many of our lives. But one notable star has spoken up about how heart disease has affected her life--Marie Osmond. The child star, who recently competed on Dancing With The Stars, talked with Everyday Health about matters of the heart. Here are the highlights:

• (On changing her unhealthy habits) : I started by exercising with my kids - taking long walks, riding bikes, even playing outside games. Then I kicked it all up a big notch by appearing on Dancing With the Stars. My mother told me a couple of months before she passed away (from heart disease,) "Marie, don't do what I did. Take the time to take care of yourself."
• (On passing on healthy habits): My 10-year-old daughter will order a salad instead of pizza. Even my 5-year-old surprised me when she chose an orange once after being offered a bag of chips. They still love their video games, but physical activity is a part of every day.
• (On her advice to other women): Most women spend 90 percent of their time taking care of others, so we put ourselves last on the priority list. I think women have to stop and decide that it's better for everyone in the long run if they take care of themselves in healthy ways every day.
  

Read more here.

There were exactly three reasons I was a couch potato last night:

1) Lost
2) A big bowl of homemade hummus and chips
3) See above.

Six nights a week, I could be happy never turning on the TV, but on Thursdays, I'm committed...and not to my exercise program.

If you're tend to be more couch potato than fitness fan, there could be some not-so-obvious reasons why. So many of us blame our poor exercise habits on lack of time, but that may not be the whole truth. Forbes tells us 10 common reasons why people don't exercise, and some of them may not be the reasons that you think.

For instance, if you live in a neighborhood where people aren't out exercising regularly, you might be less likely to get out and do it yourself. People who live in areas that have safe, convenient trails in pleasing environments are also (somewhat obviously) more likely to get out and use them. Maybe the effect is more psychological -- if you were a hot shot athlete in high school or college, you may have trouble facing up to the ways that aging has affected your performance.

Maybe you'll recognize yourself somewhere in their slide show, and sometimes just knowing is half the battle in changing your behavior for good.