That's Fit

Want permission to eat before you go to bed? Here it is: About 90 minutes before you turn in for the night, head to the kitchen and make yourself a snack. Make it light and around 200 calories and you won't head into dangerous eating territory. You will relax your muscles, quiet your spinning mind, and rev up the sleep-inducing hormones serotonin and melatonin -- if you eat one of these 10 picks.

Bananas. Bananas contain serotonin, melatonin, and the muscle-relaxing magnesium.

Chamomile Tea. Chamomile has a mild sedating effect.

There was a great deal of chatter on the internet last week about Olympic gymnasts' use of honey during competition. With a bottle of the sticky stuff next to the chalk basin, everyone wondered what purpose it served. Many speculated that it was used for a quick shot of energy, but this turned out to not be the case. The honey, it was later revealed on numerous websites, was used to help gymnasts maintain a better grip on the bar during certain events.

This actually isn't very surprising, since honey has many uses for helping the skin. Most recently, in fact, researchers from New Zealand found that burned skin covered with antibiotic ointment healed much more slowly than burned skin coated with honey. Honey not only soothes the pain of burned skin, but it also reduces inflammation and prevents further infection.

Being that the burned skin covered with honey healed about four days faster than burned skin covered in antibiotic creams, bringing a small jar with you on that sunny vacation your planning may not be a bad idea. And, as evidenced by how well the gymnasts performed at this year's Olympics, bringing it to your kid's next gymnastics meet wouldn't hurt, either.

You know which foods give you more energy, and you're aware of the foods that will pack on the pounds. But, can certain foods help your love life? According to a recent article on MSN, the answer is yes!

There's a reason people have turned to aphrodisiacs throughout the course of history -- while oysters alone won't turn you (or your date) into a raging sex machine, certain foods have been shown to have a subtle effect on "how amorous you're feeling."

Want to know what foods you should order on your next date? Check out the gallery!

Who isn't at least a little short on energy sometimes? Besides your toddler or small dog, I'd bet nobody really.

Lack of energy on a regular basis and/or sudden energy slumps in the middle of the day are two of the biggest reasons why people skip workouts and find excuses not to exercise. It's hard to motivate yourself to do something when you're really just not in the mood.

Energy levels are affected by a lot of different things, but one of the biggest players is of course your diet. Eating right on a regular basis will go a long way towards increasing and evening out your energy levels, but there are also specific foods that you can incorporate into your day whenever you need an additional boost. And no, a Starbucks triple shot latte is not one of them (darnit!).

If you have a bad cough, never mind those disgusting tasting OTC cough syrups. Instead, reach for something natural ... and much sweeter.

A new study from Penn State College of Medicine revealed that honey can be just as effective at suppressing coughs as cough medicine. Evidently, the natural sweetener in honey help to coat the throat and soothe any irritation and discomfort a person may be experiencing.

Not only is this great for adults, but it will surely play out much better for kids, too. My guess is that they'll be far more amenable to downing a teaspoon of honey than they will an equal amount of Robitussin.

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.

No bones about it: Losing weight is hard work. You're going to have to make some major changes and you're going to have to stick to them. But changing too much too fast is a recipe for disaster, so our advice is to take it slow and start off with some smaller changes.

Diet Blog recently put together a list of easy food swaps you can make that will cut 100 calories from your daily intake. Some examples?

• On your toast, have honey instead of jam and butter.
• On your sandwich, trade mayo for a little bit of light cream cheese.
  
• Instead of having a beer after work, have a glass of wine.
  
• Instead of ordering a cheeseburger, order a plain hamburger.
  

They have plenty of other great swaps -- click here for more info.

We're lucky today to have access to all kinds of food from all kinds of places around the world, but it can still be hard to eat right because it's amazingly easy to end up eating the same things all the time. If you're stuck in a dieting rut then it might help to shake things up a bit and try some of these healthy staples from across the globe:

Cabbage, from Ireland
Here in the States cabbage isn't all that popular as a main player in dinner, but in Ireland it's a basic staple that originated hundreds of years ago. Most people just think "smelly" when then think of cabbage when in fact they should be thinking "cancer and disease fighting goodness." Cabbage, as well as its cousins broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, and brussel sprouts, is known to be a beneficial fighter against stroke, all kinds of cancers, cognitive decline and diabetes.

I remember a while back coming across research related to honey's efficacy in treating diabetic foot ulcers. The study, as best as I can recall, pointed to the powerful healing properties of honey and its ability to reduce the chance of infection. Not surprisingly, more recent studies on honey revealed additional healing properties, this time related to burned skin.

After analyzing fifteen separate studies, researchers from New Zealand found that burned skin covered with antibiotic ointment healed much more slowly than burned skin coated with honey. Honey not only soothes the pain of burned skin, but it also reduces inflammation and prevents further infection.

Being that the burned skin covered with honey healed about four days faster than burned skin covered in antibiotic creams, bringing a small jar with you on that sunny vacation your planning may not be a bad idea.

Eating 5 to 6 times throughout the day can sometimes be difficult, especially in the fast-paced, I want things ten minutes ago world in which we live. Try as we might to follow this healthy paradigm, it just sometimes doesn't seem possible. Interestingly enough, it's sometimes not the meals that are hard to schedule, but the healthy snacks that you should be eating in between.

Look, any snack will be a better option than that Snicker's bar from the vending machine. The whole "keeps you satisfied" idea was abandoned eons ago, for it is now well known that the high-GI sugar content will actually cause you to feel lethargic and do little to curb hunger. But, our goal isn't to be just a notch above unhealthy; rather, our goal is to be as healthy as we can. To that end, why not try one of these 150-calorie snacks, suggested by the folks at Fitness Magazine, the next time you're looking to munch on something in between meals.

• 1 medium apple, sliced, with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
• 3 slices of mini pumpernickel bread with 1 slice of Swiss cheese
• 1 packet of low-sugar oatmeal topped with a hand full of berries
• 1 caramel apple (without nuts)
• Spiced maple yogurt: 6oz of plain yogurt, 1 tablespoon maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon
• 1 cup of chocolate pudding with 1 graham cracker square crushed and sprinkled on top
• 8-ounce serving of V8 with 1 piece of string cheese
• 1 trail mix granola bar
• 4 whole-grain crackers with 1 tablespoon of honey soy nut butter
• 4-ounce cup of mandarin oranges topped with 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts

Before too long, we may be able to go to our local drug store and pick up honey adhesive strips. It worked for the Egyptians, why not now? That's the thinking behind Medihoney, a new product based on manuka honey which has been known to kill germs and heal wounds where traditional antibiotics fail.

Dressing wounds has been an issue for diabetes patients when drug-resistant germs keep some abrasions from healing. This is where honey comes in. Using a material based on seaweed, they soak the dressing in leptospermum honey. It will not only kill microbes, but soak up fluids and get rid of the bad smell of wounds.

Honey being used in this way has picked up in other parts of the world already. Even when the concentration is diluted ten times, this stuff can kill bacteria. Let's hope honey-based medical products hit the open market soon -- some hospitals are already using it! People with weak immune systems or persistent trauma will be able to get a lot out of this.

Honey may not be the worst of all diet pitfalls, but it's still sugary -- honey is 75 to 80 percent simple sugar and only contains trace amounts of some vitamins and minerals. Spoon for spoon, it's sweeter than actual sugar and contains 65 calories per tablespoon to sugar's 45 calories for the same measurement. If you're looking to limit your intake of sugar then, honey should make the cut list. Feel free to use it for other purposes, though. It has plenty of impressive non-nutritional qualities. Here are a few.

Disease Protection. Honey has antioxidants, just like fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants are non-nutritive agents that decrease the activity of cell-damaging free radicals. The darker varieties of honey can contain large quantities of a particular antioxidant called flavonoids, the same substances found in red grapes and linked with a lower risk of heart disease among wine drinkers.

Skin Protection. Honey helps skin retain moisture and its antioxidants may also find a role in skin-care products because nectar can be used to produce alpha hydroxy acids, a vital ingredient in skin creams and moisturizers.

Preservative. Honey is a preservative and doesn't spoil. It can therefore slow chemical reactions that cause rancidity in foods. Substituting honey for refined sugar might even extend the shelf life of some products.

Honey's nutritional value is less than what many believe. But its other properties are considerable, clearly.

I don't know how I got so blessed but my entire family all comes down with hay fever and pollen allergies every fall -- everybody except for me. But seeing people like my mom and sister suffer really brings home the fact that having allergies can present a real problem because often the medications that are supposed to help come with side-effects that are almost as bad as the allergies themselves. And although the drug companies are getting better and there are more options out there than ever before, what if you'd rather just do something natural?

Mother Earth Living has come up with this list of natural allergy fighters, including garlic & onions, honey, horseradish, vitamin C, and ginko biloba. You've probably already got several of these in your kitchen cabinet, so have you ever eaten them with allergies in mind?

Are you a food fan? Yeah, aren't we all? Sometimes it's tough to know exactly what to eat though, especially if you're trying to find a healthy, balanced diet but don't want to spend precious free time reading and re-reading labels. If you want to find out what foods give you the most most bang for your buck (health-wise at least) check out this fun, illustrated article posted on AOL Body.

It lists 10 of the best possible foods to eat when attempting to create a balanced diet full of nutrients, vitamins, fatty acids, antioxidants and more. These are the foods that will not only fill you up but that will keep your heart, brain and the rest of your body in great shape.

In no particular order, here are the Top 10:

• Kidney Beans (Check out this post by Debra McDuffee for the skinny on kidney beans).
• Avocados (Learn more about the healthy fats in avocados by taking the quiz Brian White mentions here).
• Bananas (Find delicious banana-tastic dessert recipes in Jessica Ashley's post on the healthy fruit).
• Green Tea (Decide what kind of tea is best for you in Bethany Sanders' post on green, black and white tea).
• Almonds (Check out Rigel Gregg's post on celebrity snacks to find out which stars love almonds).
• Wild salmon (Try the easy glazed salmon recipe mentioned by Debra McDuffee for your next meal).
• Honey (What's so fab about honey? Find out about the wonder-food in this post by Rigel Gregg).
• Broccoli (Debra McDuffee lets you know why broccoli is super here)
• Blueberries (Enjoy healthy blueberry muffins with this recipe courtesy of Jessica Brim).
• Extra virgin olive oil (Martha Edwards' post on healthy cooking tips discusses olive oil and other foods).

They're all tasty and offer the added bonus of being really really good for you. Head over to AOL Body to take a look at the foods and find out more about what exactly it is about each that makes them so edible and excellent.

Honey has been around since the beginning of time, and with technology giving us so many artificial and chemical alternatives for everything from sweeteners to healing aids to beauty products it's easy to forget that something so simple and "old" has such an amazing list of benefits and properties. Good for everything from sweetening your tea to helping with insomnia, honey also has antibacterial properties and can sometimes even help with seasonal allergies.

This makes all the news lately about the honeybees struggling and disappearing especially distressing!