Each week, I head to the farmer's market. It's always fun to see what new fruits and vegetables are at the market. Produce never tastes better than when it's fresh from the farm. Take advantage of summer's bounty and preserve some fresh produce.

You can can or freeze many fruits. I remember spending many summer days helping my mom freeze and can fruits and vegetables. My favorite was (and is) sliced and frozen peaches -- they're so delicious when they're just partially thawed. You can also try some of these recipes from Cooking Light and create yummy jams, chutneys, and relishes for use throughout the year. Some of their recipes include:

• Spicy Cucumber Relish
• Blueberry-Chipotle Chutney
• Raspberry-Almond Jam

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When you're in a time crunch, a piece of whole-wheat toast and some fruit is a quick and healthy breakfast. But what are you putting on top of your toast? Healthcastle's dietitians review some popular toast toppers and give us the nutritional low-down:

• Nutella. While a hazelnut spread may seem like a healthy option, Nutella is packed with more sugar and palm oil than hazelnuts.
• Margarine. Be sure to pick a spread that has zero trans-fats. (Look for non-hydrogenated vegetable oil on the ingredient list.) For an even better option, choose a spread that has plant sterols added for cholesterol health.
• Cream cheese. You may think this yummy spread counts as a serving of dairy. While technically it does, it's actually pretty low in calcium. Calorie-wise cream cheese isn't too bad when you pick the lite versions.
• Peanut butter. This tasty treat is packed with protein and also provides some monounsaturated fats. Just choose a natural peanut butter that doesn't contain hydrogenated oil.
  
• Jam. It's fruit... so it must be healthy, right? Not when it's paired with sugar or artificial sweeteners. Choose 100% fruit varieties that are sweetened with natural juice. Or, better yet, make your own.

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Got an inground pool and $8,000 laying around? Then you can have an aquatic climbing wall! I must admit this 10 1/2'-tall inwardly slanted wall with interchangeable handholds (thanks FitSugar) intrigues this rock climber, especially from a fitness perspective.

You see, bouldering is a fantastic way to train without traveling to the big rock. Bouldering is rock climbing -- it's just done without a rope and at low heights to prevent injury when you do drop off to the ground. From the description and look of this wall, you can interchange handholds to varying levels of difficulty. Overhangs, underhangs and cracks allow you to practice a variety of holds such as a smear, a jam, a mantle, open/closed crimps and the like. Regularly scaling an aquatic climbing wall would also work critical hand strength and improve technique, upper/lower body power and overall flexibility -- all in a refreshingly fun environment.

Besides, it's the ultimate bouldering crash pad -- when hands and legs start shaking with exhaustion just lean back and Nestea plunge.

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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.

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I was stuck in a traffic jam today on the way to visit my family for Thanksgiving. I and the bazillion others stuck on the Florida Turnpike had our engines off for over thirty minutes while an accident up ahead was being attended to. Most of us just kind of loitered near our cars, but a group of men and boys actually got together on the side of the road to play some football (pictured at right). Hmmm.

I suppose it was safe in that they certainly were in no threat of being hit by a car, but it just seemed a little weird. In fact, since oncoming traffic was completely stopped as well and the lanes opposite mine were completely empty, a group of teenagers spent some time skateboarding in them. Weird. Lesson being, always come prepared for fitness? Keep some sports equipment in your car for traffic jams? I don't know. It was just a little funny to see.

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One of my favorite treats is bread and jam. Toast and jam works too, and both are especially good with a tablespoon of the tasty, homemade raspberry variety. When I was little, I used to love visiting the family farm and spending an afternoon picking berries (although admittedly, a lot of those berries didn't make it into the pail, but rather ended up heading straight into my mouth after being plucked from among its leafy green surroundings), knowing that my grandmother would turn it into one of my favorite sweet treats.

I never sat in on a jam-making session though, so have never had the chance to make it on my own and wouldn't even know where to start. But recently I came across this post at DIY Life by Heather Craven that gives details on how to make your own jam! She mentions that it's great to use fruit out of your own garden, but if you don't have that particular luxury it's the perfect time of year to find all sorts of appropriate fruits at a local farmer's market. Next time all you fellow jam-fans out there have some time on your hands, you'll know what to do.

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