Proper nutrition (or lack thereof) in schools s a hot topic these days -- parents, teachers, celebs and even some health-conscious kids are fed up with the amount of junk food available and the amount of healthy food not available in places of education -- so much so that they're doing something about it.

Take the Los Angeles Unified School District -- years ago, they bought a TS4 Sushi Robot with the intention of getting kids to eat healthier. Now they're finally putting it to use at Santee Educational Complex. The machine will be used for educational purposes in culinary classes, and the sushi produced will be featured in the school's student restaurant.

It's too bad the machine wasn't used sooner, but it's great that healthy sushi will be made more available to these kids. Maybe every school should have a sushi robot -- and a salad robot, a whole-grain sandwich robot, a fresh fruit and veggies robot ... well, you get the picture.

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When my body isn't moving so much, my mind goes to a bit of a blue place. I'm not quite there, but I feel myself getting close. Ironically, this week my body has traveled thousands of miles and I've seen my favorite blue place in the world -- the Pacific Ocean.

As most of us know, traveling usually means our health suffers a bit due to lack of exercise, increased stress and the subsequent effect on our mental state of both. I travel from my home in the mid-Atlantic to my native California at least twice a year. I am writing from my mother's home in the Los Angeles area right now. Before heading home a week from tomorrow, we will have traveled by air and navigated airports for more than 12 hours and spent almost 20 hours in cars in order to visit family and friends on opposite ends of the state. So much movement, so little exercise.

Thankfully, visiting the loved ones we live so far away from keeps my mind a bit happier during these sedentary vacation days. And I do try to adhere to some of the common tips for maintaining good health and fitness while traveling, such as making good food choices and drinking lots of water. I also follow certain prevention guidelines.

When I get home, I'll run through the neighborhood, hop on my bike or swim laps at the rec center in an effort to kick those endorphins back into high gear and then some. I'll certainly have to in order to heal the little bit of homesickness and heartsickness that's sure to crop up after leaving so many loved ones behind.

We now know that a city the size of New York can ban trans fats altogether. But is it possible for a city the size of Los Angeles to ban fast foods? The LA City Council thinks so, and they plan on doing just that for a whole year according to recent news.

OK, they're not banning all fast foods. Rather, it's a ban that will keep new fast foods restaurants from opening up in the LA area for a year. But just what defines a fast food restaurant? Here's the criteria: "any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers."

It's thought this move will help reduce rising obesity levels in the LA region. That and help independent sit-down restaurants establish roots. What do you think of the move? Will it work?

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The American College of Sports Medicine has tallied the statistics to rank 15 of America's largest metropolitan cities. Which cities were deemed the fittest? Which fell at the bottom, and why?

The goal of the fitness index is to give a quick glimpse of the health status of America's metropolitan areas. Ultimately the ACSM hopes to help cities achieve a higher level of physical activity and healthy eating habits. The reports about each city include strategies for improvement. The top five cities were:

• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Boston, MA
• Washington D.C.
• Atlanta, GA

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Using factors such as stress levels, cardiovascular mortality, high blood pressure, smoking, and the number of people who commute by foot/bike instead of car, the American Heart Association ranked the best cities/metropolitan areas for women's heart health. Did your city make the list?

• Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota
• Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, District of Columbia
• Denver-Aurora, Colorado
• Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Massachusetts
• Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington
• Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Oregon
• San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, California
• Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona.
  
  

Nashville, St. Louis, and Detroit metropolitan areas were ranked as the three most unhealthy cities for women. Want to see more? Read Chris' post about the 20 healthiest US cities.

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Are you one of the 1/3 of Americans who live in a smoggy city? Smog -- a heavy, dark fog primarily composed of ozone -- can trigger asthma symptoms, cause coughing, chest pain, wheezing, or even premature death. The top 10 smoggiest cities are:

• Los Angeles, CA. The air quality is slowing improving in LA, but, on average, it still has 90 days per year with unhealthy ozone levels.
• Bakersfield, CA. Bakersfield has an average of 83 days with unhealthy ozone levels each year, as well as other air quality issues.
• Visalia, CA. Lying near Sequoia National Forest, Visalia has an average of 68 high ozone days per year.
• Houston, TX. Nearly 400,000 Houston residents have asthma -- a condition that can be exacerbated by the city's average of 36 unhealthy ozone days per year.
• Fresno, CA. In 2000, Fresno had 87 unhealthy ozone days. Now, the city is averaging only 34 unhealthy ozone days per year -- still high enough to land it in the top 10, but amazing progress.
• Sacramento, CA. The fifth city from California's Central Valley to make the list, Sacramento has an average of 25 unhealthy ozone days per year.
• Dallas, TX. Dallas has an average of 22 unhealthy ozone days per year.
• New York, NY. With such a constant flow of traffic, it's almost surprising that New York doesn't have more than an average of 12 unhealthy ozone days per year.
• Washington DC/Baltimore. Our capitol region has an average of 11 unhealthy ozone days per year.
• Baton Rouge, LA. Baton Rouge averages 11 unhealthy ozone days per year.
  

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The City of Los Angeles recently kicked off an anti-trans fat campaign. Here's how it works: restaurants who agree to cut out trans fat will get a decal to display on their front window. It might not seem like much but I know that to all the people out there who are concerned for their health, the decal can make a big difference -- I would definitely favour restaurants who had pledged to eliminate it.

And it's working -- Some LA-area fast food joints, including Burger King, KFC and McDonald's, have already earned their decals. This is a step in the right direction, but don't be fooled -- a Double Whopper with Cheese is still bad for you whether it has trans fats or not.

I suspect this is only a stepping stone in the entire nation becoming trans-fat free. What do you think?

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A few months back, the New York Times wrote an expose of sorts on the bottled water industry. By now, most people are familiar with the paper's shocking (read: barely causing people to blink) uncovering of truth: Aquafina and Dasani water are simply purified tap water. Did this revelation hurt bottled water sales? Not really. The fact of the matter is that people didn't really care about the water as much as they cared, and still care, about the convenience. It's not as though the water in these water bottles was sewage, so a question of health concern never actually became one. Instead, the undaunted bottled water industries forged ahead, promising labels that were more forthcoming.

This is all well and good. But, in an age where people are willing to spend more on a 12-oz bottle of Diet Coke than a 2 liter bottle of the stuff (merely because it's far more convenient to tote around the 12-oz bottle than it is to constantly refill a glass), there are some folks out there who are letting common sense prevail over laziness. Two of those people are the mayor of San Francisco and the mayor of Los Angeles. The individuals have banned the use of city money for the purchasing of bottled water. Use the tap water, it's just as clean - that's the general attitude being stridently taken by these two California city mayors, as well as city officials from states around the country.

I can't say that I disagree with these folks. Why waste taxpayer money on bottled water when what you're getting is pretty much the same thing as what comes out of the drinking fountains? Feel free to weigh in on this in the comments section.

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Los Angeles Salad Company, out of California, is recalling all of its packages of baby carrots labeled "Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots" with a 'sell by' date up to (and including) August 16th due to the possibility that they are contaminated with Shigella bacteria. The packages were sold in Colorado, California, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida with the "Los Angeles Salad Company" brand name, and in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Washington under the brand "Trader Joe's."

4 people have become ill in Canada and investigators are still trying to determine the source. Shigella bacteria infections can cause bloody diarrhea, fever, nausea, and vomiting -- if you find any of these carrots in your home don't eat them (obviously) and return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.

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In another example of smoking being banished from certain public areas, the LA city council has decided that banning smoking in city parks is probably a good idea.

Originally conceived based on the health concerns of the public, the LA city park smoking ban does exclude public golf courses that are profitable.

What do you think? Should there be exceptions when "public" revenue is involved? I wonder if this will happen in other communities where profitable ventures that are public domain are in question.

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So maybe the thought of joining a regular old spinning or Pilates class at the gym just doesn't trip your trigger. Maybe you're looking for something more interesting and different than that? Well then maybe, if you're lucky, one of these unique classes are located near you:

• In the Los Angeles area at the Crunch gym try the Rocket Workout. You'll get to use a new machine that is rapidly catching on in gyms all over called the Orbital 360, and the workout includes everything from strength training to stretching to Pilates.
• In Boston at Healthworks try the class called Burn. You'll alternate between walking and running on and off a treadmill for up to 50 minutes. Feel the burn!
  
• The Miami David Barton Gym has a class called Barton Biking where you'll alternate between biking and arm strengthening moves to burn over 500 calories in an hour.
• Chicago's Equinox is home to Chaos, where you'll get to do intervals of strength training and cardio, but with an element of make-believe mixed in.
• And finally, at the New York Health and Racquet Club in New York City you can opt for the Bin Zhou class where you'll meditate and do tai chi, qi gong, and isometrics.

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Okay ...This is the kind of thing I find on the web that makes me want to drop everything to give birth to a few bundles of joy of my very own: Itsy Bitsy Yoga for Babies and Tots! Stop the madness, please!!! I mean, seriously, this is too cute for words. Every Thursday, Karuna Yoga out of Los Angeles offers an Itsy Bitsy Yoga Baby Class (seven weeks old to pre-crawling) and Tots Class (crawling to 2-3 year-olds). For the little-little ones, the classes are used to help babies unfold motor skills, sleep better, feel happier and digest with ease. Tots will gain confidence in their moving bodies as they move into yoga poses of their own. Ready to register your bambino yet?

This a six-week ongoing series at Karuna Yoga which is located at 1939 1/2 Hillhurst Ave, Loz Feliz (Los Angeles, CA). Classes are held every Thursday; Babies from 1:30-2:30 pm and Tots from 2:30-3:30 pm. Cost is $120 for a six-week period and pre-registration is required. Click into Karuna for additional details.

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