That's Fit

What is it about us guys that makes us so bent on fixing, shifting, adjusting, and grabbing our crotches? A question for the ages, perhaps. Maybe it's because we're subconsciously aware of the need to be checking for signs of testicular cancer (by the way, guys -- feel free to use that excuse the next time you get caught with your pants down).

All joking aside, testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer in males ages 15 to 34, making a monthly testicular self-examination extremely important. Unlike some other forms of cancer, testicular cancer can be somewhat asymptomatic, save for the growth of a lump on the testicle or the slight enlargement of the testes. This, again, is what makes the regular self-examination of the utmost importance.

Early detection of testicular cancer is vital to ensuring that all treatment options can be made available. For more detailed information on self-examinations, as well as the disease itself, visit the National Institutes of Health's website by clicking here.

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 Calcium.

Name: Calcium

What it Is: The most abundant mineral in the human body. 99 percent of calcium is found in the bones and teeth, with the remaining 1 percent found throughout the body in muscle, blood, and the fluid between cells.

What it Does: Keeps bones health and strong, helping to prevent against osteoporosis. Calcium is also needed for muscle contraction, blood vessel contraction and expansion, the secretion of hormones and enzymes, and sending messages through the nervous system.

How Much You Should Be Consuming: Recommended Adequate Intake by the IOM for Calcium is 1000mg daily for men and women aged 19-50; 1200mg daily for men and women aged 51+

Where to Get It: Milk, yogurt, cheese, sardines, tofu, salmon, spinach, calcium fortified orange juice.

Consuming an adequate amount of Calcium is vital to maintaining a healthy, well-balanced diet. For more information on this powerful fighter against bone degeneration and myriad diseases, click HERE to visit the National Institute of Health's website.

Stretching is usually done in one of three ways:

1 - In a Yoga session, where they are performed with precision and purpose;

2 - Before and/or after a workout, when they are done as more of an afterthought;

3 - Not at all.

Save for the first way, stretching is something most people kind of do (or don't do) because they think they're supposed to. It loosens you up before exercising, and it helps ease muscle tension caused by a workout. But does it really do those things?

There's plenty of research that suggests stretching doesn't do anything in the way of preventing injury. What's more, some studies even show that pre-exercise stretching can reduce strength and power during a workout. Does that mean that we are just wasting our time?

Not entirely. Just as there's plenty of evidence suggesting that stretching is worthless, there's also plenty that demonstrate the myriad benefits. Most recently, the National Institute of Health released the results of a study showing that stretching and strength training twice a week may help reduce the risk of exercise-related injury by as much as 45 percent.

So, until we know for sure whether all that reaching, twisting, and contorting is either good or bad for us, I guess it's a personal judgment call. If it works for you -- great. Keep doing it. If you hate it, well, it seems as though you can safely do without it. Well, depending on which study you believe, that is.

I've been waiting for this news to hit the mainstream media, and finally it has arrived. The National Institute of Health is finally taking seriously laboratory tests that indicate that plastic baby bottles and sippy cups may be leaching chemicals and feeding babies and children more than their parents have bargained for.

The chemical in question is bisphenol A, and it's used to make plastic food ware, including five popular brands of baby bottles. Environmentalists have been warning of the danger of the chemical for quite some time now, and fear that it may cause neurological or reproductive problems in exposed children down the line. The NIH agrees that the chemical mimics female sex hormones and causes reproductive issues in lab animals, and has agreed to to review recent tests.

Manufacturers defend themselves, saying that the amount of chemicals that leach into liquids are so small that they don't cause harm to young children and that the tests that environmentalist groups rely on for information are sensationalized. I can't tell you who to believe, because until all the research is in the debate is still on. But I can tell you that shortly after I first heard this news, our plastic sippy cups found themselves in the recycling bin and were replaced with these. Just in case.