That's Fit

We at That's Fit and AOL Health know you've got a lot going on in your lives besides staying in great shape, and we realize that more than just diet and exercise goes into feeling your best every day. That's why we're sharing some of the exciting reporting going on at AOL Health.

So we're all savvy enough to know that just because it's under the salad section on a menu, doesn't mean it's healthy, but who knew these salad shockers could pack in thousands of calories and nearly a day's worth of fat grams (or more). AOL Health culled together some of the worst leafy-green offenders.

First it was an epidemic of obesity, and now it's an epidemic of diabetes and obesity. One sure-fire way to ward off the latter and reign in on your overall health? Ditch your car. Walking -- even if it's not helping you lose weight -- does a great job of keeping your health in shape. Read all 12 diabetes prevention tips from AOL Health here.

Want to know what the ladies are thinking about themselves (and their partners) in bed? Read AOL Health's sex survey to find out once and for all how (and if) size matters, whose looks she's worried about and how far on the kinky scale she's willing to go.

It's good timing that bikini season falls during summer, because it's the best time for slimming down. The warm weather means outdoor exercise opportunities are abundant, fresh fruits and veggies are plentiful, and with kids out of school, family fitness kicks into full swing.

Summer is the ideal time to lose weight and keep it off, says Lynn Goldstein of the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. And as Memorial Day comes to a close and we embark on the unofficial start of summer, it seems appropriate to start brainstorming strategies for trimming down and tightening up during the next few months. Here are a few:

• Satisfy a sweet tooth with fresh fruit instead of cakes, cookies and ice cream, says Goldstein. Fabulous Foods offers tips for selecting the best summer fruits.
  
• Summer is perfect for salads, and Prevention magazine names 25 low-cal ideas for mixing up greens and other mouthwatering ingredients.
• Grilling is great this time of year, and AOL Health helps you make sure your meats are safe and healthy.
• Exercise at the beach. Practice yoga on the sand, says Women's Health magazine, because the uneven surface will really work your muscles. The sand is also great for power walks, jogs and family football games.
• Torch some calories in the pool while your kids splash around. Fitz has the perfect water workout.
• Tennis is a super summer sport. Just understanding the game might help you lose weight too, says Jonny.

What are your plans for getting fit this summer?

Fast food restaurants have long been criticized for their fatty, salty menu options -- greasy burgers, salty fries and gigantic sodas. So they've started adding choices for the health conscious, like salads, baked potatoes and yogurt. But it seems when healthy choices are on the menu, people might actually let down their guards and go big -- choosing the least healthy option instead of the salad.

Three small studies turned up this conclusion, and it's an intriguing finding. Study author Keith Wilcox attributes it to the "licensing effect." You know how sometimes after a long run, you think to yourself, "Well, I can indulge at dinner tonight, I worked out." The same appears to happen in the brain when salad or other healthy choices show up on a fast food menu. "People give themselves license to eat more indulgently because there is a healthy option," Wilcox tells That's Fit.



In one study, Wilcox gave participants -- college students -- two different menus. One had french fries, chicken nuggets and baked potatoes. The other had all three choices, plus a salad. Participants were three times more likely to choose fries when offered the menu with the salad than without.

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: Leah Galione

Age: 35

Occupation: Mommy of 4

How often do you exercise? About five times a week

What type of exercise do you do? Stretching class, water aerobics, running, cycling, walking and strength training

What gets you to work out, even when you're feeling lazy? I get up before the kids to work out, because I really need to do something just for ME before my day starts. It helps me to be more patient knowing that I've started the day doing something for myself.

I don't know about you, but I am amazed that it is March already. Make that amazed and pretty happy because March marks the slow emergence into spring, and I literally cannot wait until I can venture outside without a heavy coat in tow. It also means that it's time to start thinking about -- gah! -- bathing suit season, which will be here quicker than you know. In other words? Start ordering salads.

Take, for instance, an Arby's Chicken Salad. It has the two key words you should be looking for -- chicken (as in, lean protein) and salad (as in, lots of fresh veggies.) But not all salads are created equal. How does this one stack up? You tell me.

That's Fit blogger Kristen Seymour and I were chatting at lunch yesterday, comparing notes on our salads. Hers won by a landslide, both for creativity and nutrition: strawberries, mushrooms, dried cranberries, roasted almonds, avocado, and mango poppyseed dressing, all on a heaping serving of romaine hearts.

It put my boring but still yummy avocado and tuna on romaine to shame.

Salads are my go-to lunch these days, especially since I'm trying to trim the fat before spring officially hits. Done right, salads are a low-cal, low-fat lunch that can be super-stuffed with nutrition and fiber. But eating a salad every day can get boring, so it's smart to be creative and change things up.

Check out this video of President Barack Obama boarding Air Force One for the very first time. I know opinions on the man vary, but I must say he seems like a very nice guy, warm and caring and similar to us common folk in so many ways -- diet included.

President Obama loves a good burger and fries. And it's just what he ordered for his first pre-inauguration in-flight meal. He takes his burger cooked medium-well, with a little Dijon mustard, lettuce and tomato. That's not all. He also asked for some salad or veggies. Good thinking.

We know our President is a good thinker when it comes to fitness -- heck, the guy worked out the morning of his inauguration. Now we know he fills his plate with greens too. He's a balanced guy, who can afford some red meat and fried taters now and then. We just hope it's not all the time. And we hope he's kicked that smoking habit too.

For more Air Force One moments, tune in to National Geographic's new TV series On Board Air Force One beginning tomorrow, January 25, at 8 PM.

Oh, how I miss my local farmer's market. When I go shopping at the local grocery store, the produce department is kind of depressing. The other day the bell peppers were wrinkled and just begging to be put out of their misery. But carrots ... carrots are the ultimate fighting champion of the vegetable world. They look good all year long.

Carrots are a frequent snack at my house. We also steam them as a side dish and dice up the leftover steamed carrots to add to rice the next day.

The New York Times has two great recipes for another carrot side dish. Both grated carrot salad varieties sound utterly tasty. The curry-laced salad is going to be showing up on my dinner table soon.

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. And to reward you for your efforts, Everlast and Everlast Woman have provided gorgeous T-shirts to bestow on our featured members.

Name: Candice Miser

Age: 22

Occupation: Student/ PCA

How often do you exercise? Not enough!

What type of exercise do you do? Yoga and ab training.

When I invented this recipe years ago, I told my husband what I was making and a big fat question mark suddenly appeared over his head. He looked at me like I was a bit insane, but didn't say those words. I think he was afraid to hurt my feelings.

But vindication came as he took his first bite. Sweet Crusted Chicken Nuggets are to die for. As my husband did that day, every single guest in my house has cleaned their entire plate when I make them. I imagine yours will be received in a similar way.

My secret formula is available in the online recipe book at my site Fitzness.com. They're very easy to make and don't take a lot of time either.

Serve them with grilled veggies, a sweet potato or on top of a salad to round things out in a healthy way. Enjoy!

When it comes to cutting calories, you're usually better off making your meals at home. But there's one area where a restaurant may have a leg up on the home chef. Salad dressing.

It's not that restaurant salad dressings are lower in calories ... more than likely, they're not. But if you're pouring your salad dressing on top, you're probably getting more dressing than you really need. And, no, I'm not suggesting you dip your fork in the dressing before each bite because -- let's be honest -- that's annoying and just doesn't give you enough flavor.

The New York Times recipe tester has spent a lot of time working in restaurants and she says that if you're dressing your salad, you're dressing the wrong thing. Surprising, isn't it? It's kind of like finding out you're supposed to wear your shoes on your hands. After all, it's called salad dressing. Restaurants usually put dressing in a squirt bottle and then -- once the salad is mixed and in the bowl -- squirt a ring or two of dressing on the bowl. They toss the salad against the sides of the bowl until it's evenly coated.

Organic foods seem to be everywhere these days -- from the corner store to the grocery store, there are pesticide-free, unprocessed, free-range foods on every shelf. But could you live on nothing but organic foods? Think about it -- you'd only have a handful or restaurants to choose from, and you might have to give up on some of your favourite dishes altogether. Could you do it?

One doctor in California did, and he recently spoke to the New York Times about his experiences on the all-organic diet. "This isn't a way of eating I could recommend to anybody else because it's so far off the beaten food grid," said Dr. Alan Greene. "It was much more challenging than I thought it would be, and I thought it would be tough. There were definitely days where there was nothing I could find that was organic." Still, he thinks it has improved his health. Read the full story here.

Your thoughts?

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answers. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz, I just bought a fairly fitted dress for a party this weekend and am desperate to avoid a poochy tummy. I'm in pretty good shape but often get bloated. I can not wear this dress if I'm bloated. Help! Andrea

A. Hi Andrea, Bloating is a bummer, but I can definitely help you avoid it. You're just going to have to be smart about what you eat and drink for the few days prior to your event.

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

Scottish actor Kevin McKidd, known best as Dr. Owen Hunt on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, has had his health and fitness habits completely uprooted as a result of his career. Besides starring on a hit prime time TV show, Kevin starred in Rome and has an athletic role in the upcoming action movie Bunraku. He used to be a carb addict and now he's passionate about the fighting arts and fitness. Pay close attention to the lessons he's learned to stay hot in Hollywood and see if they can change your life as well.

Fitz: The characters you play are usually pretty fit. What type of training do you do?

Kevin: Fitness has always been a part of my life, but it's become a much bigger part because of my job. I just finished an action movie called Bunraku (with Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson), which I did a lot of martial arts training for.

Fitz: My sport is kickboxing; it's the best exercise ever! How did you like it?

Kevin: It was great fun. I had a boxing trainer, and I did a lot of rounds hitting the bag and his mitts. During the week, I trained with the stunt team.

Fitz: What's your favorite strike?