That's Fit

If you missed our daily postings this past week, we invite you to take some time to catch up on our prior week's news and gear up for a new week of healthy living information and inspiration.

We're expecting our first frost next week, though it was 85 degrees today. Fall weather is unpredictable. If you're an outdoor exerciser, keep an eye on the weather and plan ahead for a safe workout. Find inspiration in this week's posts:

• Sure, those Spanx may make you look good. But are they good for you? Martha has the answer.
• You watched them lose the weight. Find out how your favorite Biggest Losers are doing now.
• Got hungry kids in the morning? Debra's got 10 healthy breakfasts for them ... and you.
• Looking to save some money on your grocery bill and eat healthier at the same time? Maggie tells you how.
• Kelly Osbourne cut out beer to lose weight. Find out what other tips she has to offer.
• Chris wants you to get up off your butt and make your workout work for you.
• Ever wondered what it's like to be an Olympian? Fitz gets the scoop from Nastia Liukin.
• Laura wants you to have bugs for lunch -- probiotics, that is.
  
  

Have a great week everyone!

A cup of yogurt can make for a healthy snack, but not if you reach for a sugar-filled brand. And though there are plenty of great tasting, lower-sugar yogurts out there from which to choose, an even better selection is Greek yogurt.

Two of the more popular brands of Greek yogurt, Chobani and Fage, provide ten percent of your daily need of calcium, in addition to containing probiotics for healthy digestion.

Plus, Greek yogurt contains more protein than regular yogurt (13g versus the typical six to nine grams). Reach for the zero fat kind and you'll get all this healthy goodness for under 80 calories!!

It's no wonder the Greek gods always had such great physiques.

Thanks to TV commercials, you know that yogurt is good for your digestive health because of the probiotics. But did you know that you don't need the yogurt to get the probiotics?

Because they're filled with vitamins and minerals -- in addition to having very figure-friendly names that include words like "Fit," "Natural," and "Body" -- cereals seem like a healthy way to start your day. I'm not saying they're not, I'm just saying that it's easy to get tricked into thinking a particular cereal is good for you when, in reality, it's not much better than a bowl of Fruity Pebbles.

Ideally, you should try to find a cereal that has fewer than 170 calories and less than 10g of sugar per serving. It should also contain at least 4g of fiber per cup. While the aforesaid Fruity Pebbles definitely do not meet this criteria, some that do are Kellog's Unfrosted Mini-Wheats (4.8g fiber, 0.8g sugar); Kashi Vive (9.6g fiber, 136 cal, plus probiotics); Quaker Simple Harvest Vanilla Almond and Honey (160 cal, 4g fiber, 9g sugar).

A totally different option is to start your day with steel cut oatmeal, an ultra healthy (but admittedly unpalatable) bowl of oats that will digest very slowly, leaving you feeling nice and full well into mid-morning. I'm sure there are ways to improve the taste of steel cut oats, but I unfortunately am not a person who knows any. So, please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments section below if you happen to have any recipes or tips.

The latest trend in food manufacturing seems to be adding active cultures to dairy foods like yogurt and cheese. You know how it is... you see a celebrity touting "bifidus regularus" in a certain yogurt, and though you've never, ever heard of bifidus regu-what-is, all of a sudden you've got to have it.

So what exactly are active cultures and do they really help? AOL Body clears up the confusion about cultures.

Micro flora that live in our digestive tract are essential for immunity and proper digestion. Yogurt, cheese, and fermented dairy products contain probiotics -- forms of this beneficial bacteria. Many new products are showing up on grocery store shelves claiming their probiotic content. Like most marketable items, the food industry has its trends and this is a current trend. To make sure the product you're considering purchasing actually has additional probiotics, check the label for the probiotic strains and the amounts.

A friend of my family underwent gastric bypass surgery. The surgery itself went without a hitch and -- other than the expected soreness -- she felt quite good immediately after the surgery. Within the month following, however, problems started to arise. She knew that eating certain foods -- such as sweets -- would be hard if not impossible after her surgery, but she didn't expect that eating anything would give her trouble. Every time she ate she felt nauseated, weak, and often had diarrhea. She also developed gallstones and had to have gallbladder surgery due to her rapid weight loss.

Now, a few years after her surgery, she is thin. But she is pallid and looks sick. Food has become her enemy because every time she eats, she feels ill. She's achieved her weight goals, but it came at a hefty price -- her better health, her energy, and her emotional health have all been damaged.

While the complications my friend has experienced are risk factors for anyone undergoing gastric bypass, not everyone experiences these problems. Or, at least, not to the severity that my friend has experienced them. But, knowing the digestive issues that can result post-surgery, researchers tested the efficacy of probiotics (the beneficial bacteria found in yogurt) on the digestion of post-gastric bypass surgery patients.

The word isn't all that appetizing, really -- fermented. It sounds like something that happens to gym socks left in a locker over a long weekend. But fermented foods are packed with beneficial bacteria, known as probiotics, and can be a nutritious addition to a healthy diet.

What exactly are fermented foods? According to this article, they are foods that use microorganisms to convert the carbs in a given food to alcohol or acid. This prevents the food from spoiling, and also gives fermented food a nice tangy flavor. Examples of common fermented foods are:

• yogurt
• kefir
• sauerkraut (non-pasteurized)
• kimchi
  
  

You can easily make your own kefir and yogurt at home, if that interests you. Or you can find these and other fermented foods at your local health food store.

For more tips on what makes a healthy food choice, check out AOL Body's America Takes It Off! and their article on How to Stock a Healthy Refrigerator.

I have a bottle of probiotics in the fridge. But a new study published in The Lancet reveals you might want to stay away from probiotics if you're also facing pancreatitis.

This study involved 296 patients at risk for severe pancreatitis, which can be fatal. Subjects were randomly assigned a probiotic or a placebo and provided conventional treatment. Alarmingly, 31 percent of the probiotics group needed intensive care compared to 24 percent taking the placebo. Surgical intervention was needed by 18 percent of probiotic-takers compared to 10 percent of the placebo group. Regarding fatalities, 24 from the probiotics group died, more than twice the death rate of those assigned the placebo.

Pancreatitis can be acute or chronic. While the article does not clarify which condition afflicted study participants, of the approximately 80,000 cases of acute pancreatitis in the U.S. each year, 20 percent become severe. Acute pancreatitis is more common in men than women.

A Finnish study discovered that the bacteria found in a baby's gut may be an early predictor of future obesity. The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that babies with high amounts of bifidobacteria and low numbers of Staphylococcus aureus have a reduced risk of overweight and obesity. This study is in keeping with previous studies which determined that breast-fed babies are less likely to gain excess weight. Bifidobacteria, which seems to have a positive effect on weight control, is present in breast-fed babies.

The exact role the bacteria play in weight gain or weight maintenance is still unknown. But the correlation is strong. In the Finnish study, the bacteria mix was studied in children at birth, five times before age two, at age four, and, finally, at age 7. A majority of the children who maintained a healthy weight had higher levels of bifidobacteria and lower levels of S. aureus as babies than those kids who gained excess weight.

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!

We spent much of 2007 reviewing all sorts of Super Foods -- click here for all previous You Are What You Eat Super Food posts -- and now that we're barreling quickly into 2008, heres' a handful of super items -- some old; some new -- that are sure to get lots of attention.

Probiotics

Look for labels advertising live and active cultures and you'll get yourself some health-enhancing organisms. Found primarily in yogurt and fermented dairy products, these will help you maintain a healthy digestive tract and may even ward off cancer.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D strengthens bones and prevents and treats muscle weakness, gum disease, diabetes, insulin resistance, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, and certain cancers. Too much vitamin D can be toxic over time, though, so keep your daily intake under 2000 IU. Look for D to emerge as the vitamin of the year.

The Omega-3 Fatty Acid DHA

This omega-3 is not only good for the heart -- it can also improve mood, mental function, and vision and can cut your risk for certain cancers, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease. Try for two weekly servings of fatty fish (salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines) or 200 milligrams daily from supplements or fortified foods.

Nuts

Make it just a handful several times per week and nuts are a good thing. They can help cut your heart disease risk by as much as 39 percent and can lower your cancer and diabetes risk.

Curry Power

Curry powder contains the goods to help the brain get rid of amyloid plaques, which are associated with Alzheimer's disease. Curry's compounds also boost immunity.

I'm not usually a sucker for advertising, but the cold and flu season has hit my family hard this month. Looking to boost our immunity after three weeks of colds, fevers, stomach flus, and nasty coughs, I picked up a couple packs of DanActive, along with every fruit and vegetable I could stuff in my cart. I had no idea if it would work, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

A recent class action lawsuit makes me wonder if I wouldn't have been better off just buying the less expensive store brand yogurt instead. Critics say that the makers of DanActive and Activa (who claim their product will regulate the digestive system) have wildly exaggerated the clinically proven health benefits of their product. Dannon, who makes both yogurts, stands by their products.

The bottom line is that yogurt is good for you. But can it improve your immunity and cure your digestive complaints? The answer to that remains to be seen...

Let's face it, unless you're a culinary genius (or have the money to have one on staff), it's sometimes difficult to make healthy food taste good. I mean, you can make it taste pretty good, but most times it still doesn't taste all that great. Apart from convenience, this is probably the reason why so many people instead reach for not-so-healthy, but incredibly tasty, junk food.

The good news is that more and more food manufacturers are jumping on board the health bandwagon. Subsequently, there are a growing number of fortified food products (over 200 in the past year alone) being made available that are healthier versions of their former selves. Plus they taste good.

Omega-3 fatty acids are popping up in products ranging from peanut butter to cereal. You can also find this blood pressure lowering and inflammation controlling good sources of fat in some brands of milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese, crackers and even waffles.

Probiotics help keep your digestive system working properly, warding off urinary tract infections and preventing diarrhea, bloating and constipation in the process. Activa was one of the first products on the market to highlight its probiotic properties, but many others have since come along, including cereals, smoothies, energy bars, tea, chocolate, and yogurt.

Phytosterols block the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine, which may explain why so many food products proudly proclaim that their products contain them. Minute Maid offers an orange juice that contains 1g of phytosterols per glass, but there are a host of other products that list phytosterols as one of their active ingredients, including certain brands of milk, margarine, almonds, cookies, muffins, and yogurt.

Not to be a naysayer, but I still think it's important to scrutinize nutritional labels before you officially deem something as healthy and good for you. Remember, food manufacturers are in the business of selling food, so they may sometimes employ less-than scrupulous marketing tactics to help bolster sales. Nevertheless, all of the products mentioned in this list were previously made without the added bonus of any of the above listed additives, so these changes were definitely steps in the right direction.

Anybody who hasn't been living under a rock for the past few years knows all about the "organic" craze for more natural foods. These products sell like hot cakes (organic ones!) and fuels a multi-million dollar industry. But another trend is experiencing a growth spurt that you might have heard a little bit about. It's called probiotics, and they are foods with friendly bacteria.

That's right: Apparently people love the idea of pumping good germs into their body. After all, food labels never ever lie, right? And with claims like "strengthening your body's defenses" how can you go wrong? Well these foods are certainly not bad for you, but they still require a bit of research. But that's not going to stop the rest of us from paying out the nose for it.

Word has it this is just another way to tap into the wallets of Americans who are obsessed with health foods. Other parts of the world, like Europe, are already indulging themselves in probiotics. Over here across the pond, we're willingly paying up as well to the tune of $1 billion by 2010. But friendly germs aren't just an easy selling point. Some of the studies are really interesting! For example, research going on at UCLA is looking at probiotic treatments that target allergy-induced skin rashes in babies. So there could be something to this friendly bacteria stuff after all!

Current research suggests that allergies and asthma, among other illnesses, may start in the gut when the delicate balance of microflora get out of whack. The intestines are lined with millions of "healthy" bacteria that promote that balance and aid in digestion. These healthy bacteria are being closely investigated to find out if ingesting them -- through probiotic products -- may improve a person's health.

Probiotics are popping up everywhere. Yogurts, dairy products, even baby formulas are infused with these live cultures and sold with labels that suggest they can do everything from improving your immune system to regulating your digestive tract. While health experts say that probiotics may be able to do those things, according to this article, the science behind them isn't quite that solid yet and more research is needed.

Luckily, while we wait, they also say that eating products that contain probiotics is generally safe. My gut (no pun intended) tells me that research will come out on the side of probiotics. What do you think?

MRSA, which is a drug-resistant staph infection, is getting a lot of press this month. Infections from the bacteria are on the rise, faster than health experts previously realized. While everyone agrees there's no reason to panic, it is a troubling finding. MRSA usually causes skin infections, but in some instances can cause a dangerous systemic infection. And while infections are most common in hospitals, they can also occur in the general population.

If you find yourself worrying about an MRSA infection, here are a few simple steps you can take to protect yourself:

• An oldie, but goodie -- wash your hands. MRSA must establish a colony on your skin before they can infect it.
• Avoid unnecessary antibiotics, but if you need them, finish the entire course.
• Eat foods containing probiotics (such as yogurt). Populations of friendly bacteria may keep MRSA away.
• Take care of your health to avoid chronic diseases. A healthy body can fight off infection more easily.

For more information on the MRSA virus, here's a comprehensive Q & A that should answer all of your questions.