Even if you normally eat nothing but salads, one junk food binge may cause a serious shift in your body making it easier to pack on the pounds.

A new research study found that the type of food you eat can affect the type of bacteria in your stomach in as little as 24 hours, which can make gaining weight easier and losing it harder.

Researchers at the Washington University in St. Louis examined two types of stomach bacteria: Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. It's this bacteria that determines if the food you eat is stored as fat or burned as calories. While some bacteria in the stomach is good to help safeguard against disease, the amount of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes can make a difference in your waistline. And a major contributor to which type of bacteria people have is food.

Natasha Henstridge says diet pills did her body in, but now she's clean, healthy and fit.

Probiotics -- we know they're linked to a long list of healthy benefits, but can they also help fight belly fat? Jonny thinks so ... find out why.

Jillian Michaels doesn't argue that she's pushy, but when a contestant on "The Biggest Loser" accused her of pushing drugs, she got even tougher.

Craving a cool treat on a hot summer day? Find out exactly how many calories that frozen yogurt has.

Fat on the gut or fat on the butt -- which is more dangerous? Fitz has the skinny.

Looking for a fun or quirky way to perk up your exercise routine? Laura's got 'em, including scheduling a boudoir session and donating to a cause you hate when you slip up.

Nina Vardalos lost weight after a diabetes scare. Have you ever been inspired to fitness by a big wake-up call?

Grabbing that brass ring this summer and going for a marathon? Learn how to take care of your body and protect yourself from risks before and during the race.

If you're the kind of person who likes to pay attention to detail, check out the new book "Conquer the Fat-Loss Code." Sounds complicated, but some people like that sort of thing.

You've probably heard about that mythical "fat burning zone," right? Here's a reason not to worry about it anymore. Liz says exercise burns fat (period!) and that we all should be mixing up our high and low intensity workouts.

The benefits of probiotics -- the "good bacteria" that populate your gut -- are legion, and many nutritionists consider probiotics to be one of the most important supplements you can take. They help support digestion and assimilation of nutrients. And emerging evidence strongly supports the idea that probiotics are important for a healthy immune system.

But cutting belly fat?

Yup. Researchers from Finland enrolled more than 250 pregnant women in a study on pregnancy weight gain. During their first trimester, they were divided into three groups. Two groups received standard, prudent dietary advice in line with current recommendations about weight gain during pregnancy. They were also provided with lots of foods that contained monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, plus fiber-enriched cereals and the like. But one of these groups was given capsules of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, commonly used families of probiotics. The third group was the control group -- the women in this group received no counseling and were given dummy capsules.

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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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.

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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...

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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.