Two years of a school nutrition program and your kiddos could be significantly less likely to become overweight. That's what happened at five Philadelphia schools. No such benefit for kids at five schools that didn't have such programs. Here, four reasons five schools got skinnier.

• Choices. Vending machines were stocked with low-fat, low-calorie snacks, like pretzels, baked chips, and low-fat granola bars. Soda was banned. And kids were encouraged to drink water, 100% fruit juice, and low-fat milk.
• Rewards. Kids who made healthy food choices won raffle tickets and could score prizes like bikes and jump ropes.
• Training. Teachers received 10 hours of training in nutrition education, and students got 50 hours throughout the school year.
• Family. Parents were asked not to send sweet treats to school, and kids were given a 2-1-5 daily challenge: Spend two hours or less watching TV or playing video games, spend an hour or more engaged in physical activity, and eat five or more servings of fruits and veggies.
  

Like what you see? Print this out and take it to our kids' school. See if the powers-that-be can implement some of these healthy practices.

(via Good Housekeeping, September 2008)

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For this week's Fit Factor, we're going back to basics and learning the ABCs of fitness. Whether we're just starting out or are seasoned veterans, we all need a little reminder every now and then of why we're doing it, how to get fit and what we want to achieve. Here we go:

A: Aerobic exercises. Also known as cardio. It's what burns the most calories and will ultimately help you take off that fat.
B: Barbells and dumbells. Don't get too caught up in cardio, though. Weight lifting is
C: Crunches. Want awesome abs (and really, who doesn't)? Crunches will get you there. Do some every day.
D: Depression: Exercise is known to combat the blues. Next time you have a bad week, go for a run instead of hanging out with a gallon of ice cream. You'll feel so much better.
E: Elliptical trainer: If you have trouble with your knees, or even if you don't, the Elliptical trainer is a low-impact, high-calorie-burning workout.

I wrote the other day about employers offering financial incentives to staff members for losing weight. And while washing dishes Tuesday night after eating an experimental homemade pizza with fat-free cheese -- it was pretty good -- I stumbled upon NBC Nightly News and a commentary about this very weight-loss reward system. It went beyond the discussion of monetary prizes for shedding pounds, though. It addressed the fact that some employers are punishing employees for unhealthy lifestyle choices.

It was like listening to a parenting expert discuss rewarding and punishing kids for poor behavior. I'm always stuck on the topic -- do I go overboard with praise and ignore defiant outbursts so my kids realize only positive behavior gets attention? Or do I punish my kiddos for poor choices so they learn not to repeat them? Like my confusion on this topic, I'm not so sure about the workplace health scenario.

So some employers are raising insurance premiums for the overweight, for those who won't consent to health assessments, and for those who choose to smoke. It's all in an attempt to lower health care costs, minimize absenteeism, and promote wellness. The whole punishment approach seems harsh. It makes sense too. See how I'm wavering?

What do you think?

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The contestants on NBC's The Biggest Loser compete in the ultimate of weight loss challenges hopefully for the sake of overall health and fitness but first and foremost for money. Lots of money. The one who comes out "the biggest loser" at the end of the show takes home $250,000. That's quite a chunk of change. And quite a motivator too.

Money motivates. And employers are starting to capitalize on this fact by paying staff members to slim down. It beats paying medical and absenteeism costs for overweight employees. And it seems to work.

Studies show overweight employees who were compensated for their weight loss efforts lost more weight than those who received no monetary reward. Now it's not clear whether or not participants will keep the weight off or if this strategy will be profitable for companies in the long-term, but financial incentives are surely worth a try. Don't you think?

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If the words "jumpstart your fitness" sound like something that applies to you then what you probably need is renewed motivation. Motivation is the gas that keeps your workout plan moving -- and although it's cheaper than the gas that moves your car (it's free!) the trade-off is that it's much harder to come by. There's no one way to motivate everybody -- heck, there's not even one way that will always work for motivating one same person. It's all about your mood, and your current situation. What helped you drop that last 5 pounds two summers ago may not mean anything to you at all this year, and maybe you've got other things in your life on top of it all that you didn't have to deal with before, like children or a new job.

It's tricky to figure out what's going to trip your trigger and get you moving again, especially when it feels like you've been dieting and exercising forever and you just want to rest. Remembering that being healthy and getting in shape is about making permanent lifestyle changes can help, and if losing weight feels like true exhausting 'work' to you then maybe you need to make some changes on how you're going about it. Not to say it will always be a totally easy piece of cake, but you shouldn't be miserable either.

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No, this isn't a program for shoe shop-aholics. The Shoe Diet is about rewarding yourself for a job well done, a goal reached, pounds and inches successfully lost. It's about the power of looking forward to something and how motivating it can be in helping you to overcome those bumps and slumps and plateaus along the road to your ultimate goal.

Shoes can help you look thinner, feel sexier, and the majority of women love the whole idea of going shopping for them in the first place. What better way to motivate yourself than by the promise of new shoes floating on the horizon?

So here's the gist of the Shoe Diet:

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