That's Fit

Pizza is something that's typically reserved for my "reward day" (see earlier post). This is probably a good thing, since I'm just about the last person you want to have around when you order pizza. Why? Because I never eat the crust. Never have, probably never will. The crust is the best part, what's wrong with you? is typically what I hear from my buddies, but still I remain an anti-crust pizza eater.

Strangely, I never thought that my almost Seinfeldian aversion to pizza crust could potentially have an effect on my hair.

Researchers from the University of Munster in Germany found that diet plays a significant role in hair-retention, and that crusts contain eight times more antioxidants than the rest of the pizza or loaf of bread. Couple this with a separate study highlighted in Men's Health, where it was discovered that antioxidant intake is vital to ensuring proper circulation to the scalp and the production of malanin -- the hormone that makes hair richer and thicker, and it becomes abundantly clear that there is, in fact, something wrong with not eating the crust.

If you're trying to lose weight, or even just trying to eat healthy, you've probably long since given up on pizza and ice cream. But not so fast, says WebMD. Here's their list of five foods that aren't as bad for you as most people believe:

• Red Meat. Protein is great for curbing hunger and building muscle. Just make sure you get an extra-lean cut.
  
• Ice Cream. Studies show that women who eat a serving of full-fat dairy a day lose more weight than those who don't. Who knew?
• Eggs. Eggs are a great, low-fat source of protein, and contrary to popular belief, they're not bad for you heart -- at least in moderation.
  
• Pizza. With a few healthy modifications, pizza can be a perfect meal. Opt for thin, whole wheat crust with tons of veggies and just a sprinkling of cheese and you're getting one well-rounded dish
  
• Bacon. Well, Canadian bacon, that is. It's got a third of the fat of regular bacon, and none of those worrisome nitrates. Not a fan? Try turkey bacon.
  

If you really stop and think about it, there are so many different food options out there. A casual stroll down a main street in even the smallest of towns will pass you by restaurants of all kinds, fast food chains, grocery stores, delis, convenience stores, vending machines, and food-selling department stores (i.e. Wal-Mart, Target, etc.). With so many options, it's amazing we are even able to make a choice!! Maybe that's why some of our selections aren't always what nutrition experts consider to be the healthiest.

WebMD recently put together a list of Dietitian's Top 10 Diet Tips, which offers some sound advice and a few pleasant surprises. Here is a breakdown of that list. Each item is click-able and will link you to a full description on the WebMD website.

Diet Tip #1: Enjoy Fast Food Weekly, but Make Smart Choices

Diet Tip #2: Drink No More Than One Diet Soda Per Day

Diet Tip #3: Pizza Night!

Diet Tip #4: Breakfast Cereals With Fewer Than 3 Grams of Fiber Need Not Apply

Diet Tip #5: Pump up the Protein

Diet Tip #6: Keep Score of Fruits and Vegetables

Diet Tip #7: Have Alcohol Only on Weekends

Diet Tip#8: Have an After-Dinner Drink

Diet Tip #9: Pre-Dinner Produce Munchies

Diet Tip #10: Count 4 Colors in Each Meal

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: Robyn Ackerman

Age: 45

Occupation: Insurance Adjuster

How often do you exercise? I'm now aiming for five times a week. Just getting back after several set backs health-wise.

What type of exercise do you do? Kickboxing, running and some weights.

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? The thought of you Fitz. Knowing that I've let you down by not doing what I should be. I'm also encouraged by my husband who is trying hard to support me.

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: Barbara Tripp

Age: 41

Occupation: Dental Office Manager & single mom

How often do you exercise? Five times per week.

What type of exercise do you do? Aerobics, walking, jogging, hiking, bike riding, weight lifting, and most recently added to my routine, yoga. I love it!

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: Jonathan Fisher

Age: 34

Occupation: Service Director for a chain of motorcycle dealerships

How often do you exercise? Six to seven days a week.

What type of exercise do you do? Swimming, running, biking, boot camp, and tennis.

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: Cindy Wooldridge

Age: 38

Occupation: Stay at home Mommy of three!

How often do you exercise? About five times per week.

What type of exercise do you do? Running, yoga, Pilate's, jumping rope, lifting weights, hiking, swimming when weather permits, and step aerobics. Mixing it up keeps me interested!

Get a load of this: It's OK to nibble before dinner, splurge on pizza night, drink a fruity cocktail, and shop until you drop. Not only are these practices indulgent -- they're healthy too, say the health experts at Woman's Day magazine.

Yep, eating before dinner isn't such a no-no. Having about 70 calories of healthy fat 20 minutes before you eat -- that's six walnuts, 12 almonds, or 20 peanuts -- can trick you into thinking you're full faster. Why? Because good fats stimulate the production of a hormone that tells our brains we've eaten enough.

What's this about pizza night? Well, if prepared properly -- with whole wheat crust, low-fat cheese, and piles of veggies -- pizza can be one nutritionally sound meal.

Drinking? How can drinking be healthy? Research shows alcohol can increase the level of antioxidants in certain fruits, including strawberries and blackberries. Next time you're craving a cocktail, make it a fruity one.

Gotta love a reason to shop. Here's one: shopping burns calories. So put those walking shoes on and start hoofing it through your mall. Be sure to choose a parking spot in the last row too.

Fast food is getting even faster, thanks to impatient consumers and electronic ordering.

One recent survey, cited in the November 2007 issue of Reader's Digest, found that 68 percent of people will not sit in a drive-through line for more than five minutes. That's why more and more restaurants are implementing electronic ordering options for those who want their food NOW.

Pizza chains are leading the pack with this electronic ordering trend. The folks at Pizza Hut report they get 30 electronic orders every minute, and their online ordering volume has increased sixfold in the past three years. Chipotle jumped on board in 2006 and saw a 40 percent increase in the first half of 2007. Some chains are even experimenting with text-messaged orders.

What ever could be next? Orders handled from outside call centers, maybe. Read more about this possibility here.

A self-confessed cheese fiend, this post from Eat Right, Now! got me thinking -- in it, the author calls cheese liquid meat. And I supposed it is, in a way. Although you're not actually chewing on muscle and skin when you eat cheese, you can't ignore the fact that regular cheese has just as much calories and fat as a slab of meat, if not more. It's also very high in saturated fat.

Still, if cheese if your passion, I think it can be a part of a healthy diet, as long as you control the urge to eat pounds and pounds of cheese in one sitting. A snack of cheese should be a couple of slices of partly-skimmed cheese. And, when you make pizza, it should have just a sprinkling of cheese on the top, instead of a thick layer. Same goes for nachos and sandwiches.

How do you control the cheese cravings?

Oooooooh, the evil "trigger" foods...we all have them and we all love to hate them. They're the foods that are usually found in your diet somewhere right before, or right during, a fall off the dieting and healthy eating bandwagon. Either that, or they take a sneakier role and fool you into thinking you're eating healthy (the baked potato is famous for this move) when you're really not. We all have our own particular triggers but there's no denying that some trigger foods are common to the majority of people:

While at Canyon Ranch -- a health, healing, and fitness resort in Tucson, Arizona -- a nutritionist told me to take a breather from hard-core healthy eating once in a while. "Order a pizza once a week," she told me. "Everyone needs a break." At the time, before I embarked on my strict diet overhaul, this seemed like sound advice. It was an invitation to let loose. I liked it. But now, five months and 15 pounds later, I can't seem to let go of my nutrition reins and give in to that cheesy, greasy pizza.

Is my diet behavior too extreme? Should I loosen up? Perhaps. But what about those who go to the other extreme? The one where letting loose is practiced a bit too often.

While every health nut should lighten up now and then and a short hiatus from the gym is certainly OK, it's not wise to go overboard. Practicing a healthy diet all week long only to guzzle beer on the weekends, shovel in the junk food, and party until the wee hours of the morning is simply counterproductive.

I'm a big fan of pizza in all its forms -- fresh, homemade, frozen, you name it. As long as it has cheese, I'm guaranteed to like it. But I'm also conscious of what I eat and I make a effort to avoid anything that is too greasy, too fatty, too high in sodium and with too many refined carbs. For me to eat something, it has to have some sort of nutritional value -- maybe some fibre, lots of veggies, just something viable that I can use to justify eating it. I'm perpetually on the quest to find pizza with whole wheat crusts that actually taste good when I don't have time to make my own crust.

Kashi, the people behind all those healthy cereals and crackers, have a new endeavor -- Frozen Pizza! And according to Fitsugar, it's good. The crust is made from seven whole grains, and it comes in three healthy flavours -- Five cheese tomato, Mediterranean and roasted garlic chicken. A serving -- about 1/3 of the pizza -- has 290 cal, 9 g of fat, 4 g of fibre and 14g of protein. Not bad!

Have you tried it?

Ahh, pizza. It's one of my favourites -- how about you? But while pizza can, in theory, be healthy, it's so often not. In fact, it's often one of the worst things you can put in your body. Particularly if you get take-out or order it for a restaurant. Want to know how your favourite pie stacks up? eDiets has published this article on the calorie counts of some popular pizzas.

The good news is that some places off servings of pizza that will only run you around 250 calories.The bad news? Some slices are much, much more. One common offender is Sbarro -- their pepperoni pizza has 730 calories and 37 g of fat!

One surefire way to make sure your pizza doesn't pack too many pounds is by making it yourself. I make mine with a whole wheat thin crust, lots of veggies and just a sprinkling of cheese.

My little boys are fans of the kids' cheese pizza sold at the sandwich shop Schlotsky's. It's not what I'd first choose for them to devour -- it contains 479 calories and 13 grams of fat -- but they love it. And I love when they actually eat, so I mostly oblige when they request this cheesy treat. To make myself feel better about their food choice, which happens to come with a side of grease, I blot the top of their meals with napkins and try to sponge up every bit of oily stuff I can manage. Does my strategy accomplish much? I don't know. Still, it makes me feel better.

While flipping through the September 12 issue of Woman's Day magazine last night, I got my answer. "Blotting your pizza with a napkin can soak up around 30 calories and three grams of fat," read a little blurb on page 20. So my technique works, to some degree. My kids are now ingesting 449 calories and 10 grams of fat. Not ideal. But better.