That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader. We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other. That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Adidas is giving gorgeous gym bags to each featured member. To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions, with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Jared Seymour

Age: 32

Occupation: National Account Rep for Oakley

What type of exercise do you do? Running, Bike, Swimming, Basketball

What gets you to work out, even when you're feeling lazy? My wife. She is a great motivator when I won't get off the couch.

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Running isn't just an effective form of exercise, it's cost-efficient (you need nothing more than a good pair of shoes), you can do it anywhere and it's an excellent way to work through life's little stressors. If running is your exercise of choice, you may want to fuel yourself with these four foods, recommended by running coach Jenny Hadfield:

• Almonds. The vitamin E in almonds helps to prevent achy muscles. Grab a small handful for a snack -- but watch your portion sizes. Even though almonds are rich in healthy fats, they still pack quite a few calories.
• Oranges. Vitamin C helps repair muscle damage caused by running.
  
• Sweet potatoes. A great source of healthy carbs, sweet potatoes are rich in potassium and magnesium -- minerals that runners lose through sweat.
• Tuna. Serious runners need 60-90 grams of protein a day to help repair muscle. Tuna is a convenient and lean source of protein.

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Here's a little tidbit I learned while perusing the September 2008 issue of National Geographic -- an article titled Shopping By The Numbers talks about a a food rating system called the Overall Nutritional Quality Index. Developed by researchers at Yale University and coming soon to a grocery store near you, the qualification system will rate foods on a scale of one to 100 -- one being the least nutritious and 100 being the most nutritious.

In NG's list of common foods, only four items scored 100 -- blueberries, oranges, green beans and broccoli. Here are some other ratings:

• Banana - 91
• Non-fat milk - 91
• Oatmeal - 88
• Raw almonds - 82
• Pasta - 50
• Vanilla yogurt - 43
• Skinless chicken breasts - 39
• Bagel - 23
• Hot Dog - 5
• Soda - 1
  
  

Interesting, huh? See if you can get your hands on the issue for the full list.

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My son started soccer practice last night and we were both so happy. There's a lull over the summer months where my son doesn't have any organized sports in season, and we both miss it terribly. But last night, I remembered what a time crunch it is planning for meals when there are practices to consider.

My son and I usually eat dinner at 7 p.m. -- smack in the middle of his soccer practice. It's too early for us to eat dinner before practice, so I like to make sure my son has a healthy snack before to keep him energized and curb his hunger during practice. We don't get too creative with the snacks, either. A piece of fruit -- usually an apple or a banana -- is my son's pre-practice snack of choice.

According to Healthcastle, the plain-Jane popular fruits pack a powerful nutritional punch. Check out the gallery to see the details.

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When you really get down to it, one of the main objectives of life is to stay alive for as long as we can. On average, we occupy a place on this planet for about 75 years. Some of us hang around for a little longer, while others take an earlier ferry. Still, barring any unfortunate accident or contraction of a terminal illness at a younger age, 75 seems to be the norm.

Keeping your stay on this wonderful world of ours from being cut short sometimes requires a good amount of work (regular exercise, adequate amounts of sleep, stressing less, etc.). However, there are also some easy ways to prevent early departure, many of which involve nothing more than a revised grocery shopping list. For the next eight days, we'll offer one death-defying food choice each day to help keep you healthy and happy for many more years to come.

Death-Defying Food #2: Oranges

Having higher levels of vitamin C in your bloodstream can greatly reduce your risk of stroke, according to an article recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. This comprehensive study (which included 20,649 British men and women) revealed that people with the highest level of vitamin C had a 42 percent lower risk of stroke than people with the lowest levels. Even when outside variables -- such as age, sex, smoking, BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, exercise habits, etc. -- were controlled for, these findings remained the same.

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At the grocery store today, I came across a sign the said, "Enjoy New Fit Apple," or something similar. I paused to take a look, because I was curious. Apples are pretty nutritious all on their own. Had someone really come up with a way to make them even healthier?

The product in question was the Grapple. It's essentially an apple that's infused with natural and artificial flavors to taste like a grape. On their website, they claim the most commonly asked question about their product is "How do you do it?" That's not my question at all. My question is:

Why do it at all?

Are apples not sweet enough already? Is it just too hard to buy grapes? Both are sweet, both are portable, both are easy to find on grocery store shelves. Why on Earth are we injecting artificial flavors into our fruit so that they can taste like other kinds of fruit?

Am I just missing the boat here? I'm sure they're tasty, but still...

It wasn't long ago that the prevailing wisdom for protecting your heart was to eat a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. That's not to say that this advice was wrong; rather, it fell somewhat short only because it focused on what you shouldn't be eating instead of what you should be eating.

To keep your ticker ticking, there are many foods that can provide protection against such threats to your heart as inflammation, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure.

WebMD recently listed 15 foods you can eat to help protect your heart. Click HERE to read the full article, or just breeze through the list below.

1. Swiss Chard

2. Fresh Herbs

3. Low-Fat or Non-Fat Yogurt

4. Garlic

5. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6. Almonds

7. Barley

8. Cayenne Chili Pepper

9. Carrots

10. Broccoli

11. Oranges

12. Lean Pork

13. Salmon

14. Black Beans

15. Dried Cherries

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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: Amber Edwards

Age: 25

Occupation: Receptionist

How often do you exercise? Six days a week for 2-2.5 hours a day.

What type of exercise do you do? Running, Circuit Training, Free Weights

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? The energy I feel when I'm done, as well as the sense of accomplishment.

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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!

Vitamin C is vital for the normal growth and development of the human body. It repairs tissues, helps wounds heal, and forms blood vessels and collagen -- an important protein used to make skin, scar tissue, and tendons. Vitamin C is good for cartilage, bones, teeth, and it's a rich and powerful antioxidant, instrumental in blocking the damage caused by free radicals. Pretty super, eh? Yep, but we only benefit from the power of vitamin C by ingesting it.

Our bodies don't manufacture or store vitamin C, so we must consume plenty of vitamin-C rich foods in our daily diets. Miss out on this potent property and your deficiency may lead to dry and splitting hair, rough and scaly skin, nosebleeds, anemia, weight gain due to slowed metabolism, and even scurvy. Get enough and you'll protect yourself from life-threatening illnesses like heart disease and cancer.

Although all fruits and vegetables contain some amount of vitamin C, oranges offer the most readily available supply of it. The orange, a Superfood with about 60 calories, is also famed for its 170 cancer-fighting phytochemicals and 60 flavonoids, as well as its ability to reduce inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and asthma. A daily orange will also help combat diabetes and obesity, and its flavonoid hesperetin and the compound herperidin lower blood pressure and cholesterol. There's more: An orange's peel contains limonene, which may ward off skin cancer.


Healthy Orange Chicken

Curried Zucchini and Orange Soup

For more lowdown on the orange, see what Sunkist has to say about this super citrus fruit.

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Forget expensive anti-wrinkle creams -- the key to preventing wrinkles is wearing sunscreen, getting lots of sleep ... and eating lots of oranges? That's right, a new study shows that people who ate lots of vitamin C had fewer wrinkles than those who didn't.

That's not all -- those with diets rich in Omega-6 fatty acid showedhless signs of aging, while those who ate diets high in overall fat showed more. Omega-6s can be found in sunflower and safflower oils, as well as some fish. For more information on what to eat to keep your skin looking it's best, check out this article from WebMD.

What do you think -- does what you eat really play a role in how well you age?

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Is it better to drink pure fruit juice or soft drinks? Both have loads of sugar and there are arguments that sugar content is pretty evenly matched based on the quantity and brand of soft drink or fruit juice you consumer.

But there is more to the picture than that. Natural sugars in all-natural fruit juices are not combined with high-fructose corn syrup (a cheap sweetener) or caffeine and other ingredients that are harmful when taken in large quantities.

Solution? I make whole-fruit smoothies on occasion but day-to-day, I like Naked Juice all-fruit smoothies. No mess to clean up!

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