That's Fit

You are what you eat, right? Since women have unique nutritional needs, like extra calcium and iron, it is important to address those differences through healthy whole foods.

If you need a little help knowing what the best foods are, Nursing Degree has put together a comprehensive list of the 100 best foods for women. What's nice about this list is:

• these are foods that are good for everyone, so we can serve them to our families.
• the list is segmented into categories: foods for overall health, bone health, skin health, weight loss, antioxidants, and other nutritional focuses.
• there are a variety of choices under each category, so you can pick and choose the foods you like.
• dairy is not stressed as the best food source for bone health, which is great for those who are allergic to dairy or simply don't believe it is a healthy food.

Each week, we'll be naming a Super Food and offering unique ways to use those Super Foods that pack nutritional power. After all, you are what you eat -- make it count!

It's no secret -- beans are great for you. In fact, we've told you before on You Are What You Eat about the amazing health benefits of two common types of beans -- kidney beans and garbanzo beans, aka chick peas. But when it comes to beans, don't limit yourself; there are other healthy beans you should make sure you're eating too. Case in point? Black beans.

Black Beans aren't a staple of most people's diets, but maybe they should be -- In addition to being a great source of fiber and protein, black beans also contain valuable antioxidants and vitamins, including manganese, magnesium, folate and iron. All that and they're virtually fat free. You can't do much better than that, huh?

Each week, we'll be naming a Super Food and offering unique ways to use those Super Foods that pack nutritional power. After all, you are what you eat -- make it count!

Peas are one of my favourite vegetables -- especially when they're fresh from the garden. Crunchy, juicy and just a little bit sweet, they're absolutely delicious. Even in the winter, when they come frozen from a bag in the freezer, they're still really tasty. And usually, things that taste good aren't good for you (and vice versa) but peas are the exception; not only do peas taste good, they're really good for you too.

But just what about green peas makes them so nutritious?

Each week, we'll be naming a Super Food and offering unique ways to use those Super Foods that pack nutritional power. After all, you are what you eat -- make it count!

Ever heard of goji berries? You should have -- they're the new kids on the superfoods block, the health food that everyone seems to be talking about these days (including us -- we wrote about them here, here , here and here.) Still not sure what all the hype is about? Here are some health benefits that have been attributed to goji berries:

• Boosted liver protection and immune function
  
• Improved eyesight
  
• increased sexual function and fertility
  
• Increased muscle strength
  
• Improved circulation
  
• Greater longevity

So you're the type of person who fills your grocery cart with healthy foods -- fruits and veggies of every shape and color, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean protein. Your healthy choices are enough to make the check-out person feel guilty about the candy bar stashed beneath her register. But are you sure you're getting the most vitamins and minerals out of the foods that you buy?

Shape has a list of 9 common kitchen mistakes even healthy eaters make:

• Overloading on produce. It's best to buy fresh fruits and veggies within just a few days of using them. If you stock up on too many they'll lose precious nutrients as they sit on your counter waiting to be eaten. Or, worse yet, they'll end up going to waste altogether.
  
• Exposing foods to light. Opt for milk in cardboard boxes and don't store foods in glass canisters or see-through storage containers. Many foods are susceptible to a process called photooxidation in which light breaks down the nutrients.
  

Here's another installment of what I'm sort of making an ongoing feature here on That's Fit. It's not really one of our true features (those are listed on the right hand side of this page), it's just something I felt like putting together myself. It's called Vitamins and Minerals 101, and this time around we're taking a look at Iron.

Name: Iron

What it Is: One of the most abundant metals on earth. It is essential to most life forms and to normal human physiology.

What it Does: It is an essential component of proteins involved in oxygen transport, as well as for the regulation of cell growth and differentiation. A deficiency of iron limits oxygen delivery to cells, resulting in fatigue and decreased immunity. Excess amounts of iron, however, can result in toxicity and even death.

How Much You Should Be Consuming: Recommended Daily Allowance for men age 19 to 50 is 8mg/day; women age 19 to 50 is 18mg/day; men age 51 years plus is 8mg/day; women age 51years plus is 8mg/day.

Where to Get It: Soybeans, lentils, kidney beans, tofu, spinach, fortified cereal and oatmeal.

Consuming an adequate amount of Iron is important for maintaining a healthy, well-balanced diet. For more information on this vital mineral, click HERE to visit the National Institute of Health's website.

Cat Cora, star of the Food Network's Iron Chef America and author of Cooking From the Hip writes in Parade magazine about her love for desserts and her lack of love for what desserts do to her hips.

So that she can have the best of both worlds -- decadent desserts and happy hips -- Cora has learned to create healthy dishes that still taste like the original sin. Her secret? Substituting lighter ingredients like yogurts, light puddings, soy, or light ice creams. Less fat and calories are the end result, with taste and flavor still intact.

Check out these four delights -- Kiwi Parfait, Affogato, Baked Apples, and Clafouti -- by clicking here. Read the recipes word for word or watch video clips of Cora as she prepares each one.

Want to have your cake and eat it too? Cora says it's possible. Just follow her lead.

If you find yourself experiencing fatigue and you know you're getting sufficient sleep, your nutrition could be to blame.

Even those of us who try to eat really well occasionally come up short on certain vitamins and nutrients. Fitnessmagazine.com gave this list of five nutrients that people commonly short themselves. Don't be surprised if you find that you're not getting enough of something -- according to the study, you're in good company!

Anemia is a fairly common condition, and because it has such sneaky symptoms (fatigue, inability to concentrate, pale skin) all too often it goes undiagnosed. Although eating a balanced healthy diet is a good start, if you're prone to anemia you might have to make some more conscious choices in regards to what you eat and what you don't. You'll want to make a point to both get lots of iron-rich foods (legumes, leafy greens, whole grains) while making a point to not always eat them at the same time as iron-blocking foods (dairy products, egg whites, coffee/tea). It's also a good idea to talk with your doctor about supplements and a blood test to see exactly where you're at.

Of course there's a lot more to fighting anemia than simply eating your veggies separately from your coffee and popping a pill with breakfast -- you can find more advice here (plus if you have any concerns never hesitate to ask your doctor!).

Fitzness Fiends is a section devoted to you, the reader! We all have learned so much on our path to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! Fitzness Fiends are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect, some are not. All have health on the mind. Please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Lauren Rinck

Age: 23

Occupation: Consumer Product Sales Representative for Hormel Foods

How often do you exercise? Every day.

What type of exercise do you do? Road Biking, Running, Cardio, Circuit Training, Spinning, Swimming

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? Exercising and fitness is just something that is a priority for me, something I look forward to. I love how I feel afterward as well! I can see results as I continue to place emphasis on working out. My ultimate goal is to race in an Iron Man, so I continually strive to push myself in that direction.

Want the food you put in your body to really matter? Then try these healthy combinations, compliments of Publix.

To yield more phytonutrients: Add a little olive oil to a salad of baby spinach, shredded carrots, and red onion. Or mix avocado, tomato salsa, and lime juice for a tangy guacamole.

To score more iron: Serve black beans with salsa and a sliced orange, drop some cut strawberries into a bowl of whole grain cereal, or stir up some brown rice, tofu, and red and green bell peppers.

For stronger bones: Create a quiche with broccoli, eggs, and low-fat milk or how about the leafy vegetable chard and garlic in olive oil, topped with a bit of Parmesan cheese?

Why am I always cold when others never are? Either my thermostat is too low or my clothes are too skimpy, say Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz in a December 2007 Reader's Digest blurb.

Actually, body temperature is a little more complex than this, say the docs. But there are some possible explanations for my chilly tendencies. My muscles could be too inactive -- the body generates heat when muscles are active -- and I may be eating not enough carbohydrates (the 100 percent whole wheat variety, not the white flour kind). I could have hypothyroidism -- this slows metabolism and cuts down on body heat. My chilliness could also stem from low blood sugar, poor kidney function, or iron-deficiency anemia. Or it could be none of the above, because science has yet to completely unravel the mystery of body temperature.

Maybe my problem isn't a problem at all. Maybe I just need a warm sweater and a few extra blankets.

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!

Every time I walk into my local grocery store, scents of cinnamon drift my way, compliments of spiced-up holiday decorations strategically located just inside the sliding doors. On most school-day mornings, I make my boys slices of cinnamon toast. They always ask for more. And when I buy my favorite Yankee candles, I always grab the cinnamon varieties. I burn them whenever I'm home. I especially love them at Christmas time.

Think warm mugs of apple cider sprinkled with cinnamon, baked apples with crushed nuts and cinnamon on a cold winter day, or a cool glass of spiced tea on a hot summer afternoon and you're likely to conjure up visions of a Super Spice that's good for all seasons. Not only is cinnamon good, though. It's also quite healthy.

Just like anything else, when it comes to diet, nobody is perfect. True, some are better than others at sticking to a healthy and sensible meal plan, but even the most stalwart dieters still have room for improvement.

In a study on women's diets, published in Topics in Clinical Nutrition, researchers looked at how close most women are to, or how far they are from, consuming the RDA of certain nutrients.

Here's a breakdown of five of them:

1. Sugar -- RDA: 32g. Women Eat: 53g.

2. Vitamin A -- RDA: 1mg. Women Eat: .77g.

3. Iron -- RDA: 18mg. Women Eat: 13.32mg.

4. Vitamin E -- RDA: 15mg. Women Eat: 5.25mg.

5. Fiber -- RDA: 25g. Women Eat: 14g.

As mentioned, these figures represent the Recommended Daily Allowance vs. what the average American woman consumes. While there's not a tremendous disparity between the numbers, it's still clear that some dietary changes could be made.

Cinnamon is one of those spices that can liven up many dishes, and while tasty things often aren't good for you, this is one exception -- cinnamon is exceedingly healthy. It has a number of benefits, according to The Healthy Snacks Blog, including these top five:

1. Cinnamon has antifungal, antibacterial and antiparasitic properties. This means it can help fight yeast infections, lice and ulcers.

2. Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties. It can reduce your chances of strokes and heart disease.

3. Cinnamon can help lower bad cholesterol and it can help manage blood sugar levels and diabetes.

4. Cinnamon is an excellent source of manganese, dietary fiber, iron and calcium.

5. Smelling Cinnamon can improve your memory.

So enjoy cinnamon, but make sure you do it in moderation -- it can be toxic in large doses. And please note that large, doughy cinnamon buns are not an ideal source of cinnamon -- but they're a great source of fat and calories.

How do you use cinnamon in your diet?