Madonna is obsessed with her body. Just my opinion, of course, but clearly, in order to look as slim and trim and toned as she is, one would need to focus almost entirely on pursuits of the body. Wish I could do it. Just don't have the time or resources to make it happen, though. But I can borrow some tips from the material girl. I can jump rope. I can ramp up my time with free weights. I can run (this one's easy since I already run). And I can retox with salmon. Huh?

Madonna is retoxing with salmon, says Life & Style magazine. It's her latest effort to turn back the clock, because, you know, she isn't in good enough shape at age 50. So why the salmon? It's all about the omega-3 oils, which apparently make her look younger and more radiant.

Ready to sneak some salmon into your diet? Check out this post for eight tasty recipes.

Source

Cutting calories? Make sure you aren't robbing your energy levels at the same time.

Source

I was a cheerleader back in my high school days. When my squad was training for competitions, we really worked out long and hard. Many times, the muscles in our legs would visibly shake with strain. Our coach, restricted from recommending vitamins or anything of that sort, always brought bananas with her to practice to help us with muscle weakness and muscle cramps. Bananas aren't my favorite fruit, but I have to admit that they helped.

While bananas are a decent source of potassium, there are many other options. Potassium-rich foods are important for your diet. Not only do they help with muscle cramps, but they can also have a positive effect on blood pressure. Good sources include:

• Avocado
• Baked potato with skin
• Edamame
• Papaya
• Sweet potato
• Salmon
• Tomato sauce
• Winter squash
• Cantaloupe
• Dried apricots

Source

A little while ago, we told you about Yum Brands restaurants making an effort to get healthier by displaying calorie counts on menu boards. Now they're going a step further with one of their brands -- Long John Silver's seafood restaurants are not only revealing their calorie counts, they're populating their menu with healthier items. Whereas a standard meal at the restaurant chain consisted of only deep-fried food, the new Freshside Grille will offer non-fried options like grilled Pacific salmon, grilled shrimp scampi, vegetable medley, and seasoned rice.

So how do these healthier meals stack up? According to their nutrition calculator, like this.

• The Grilled Salmon has 150 calories, 5 g of fat and 440 g of sodium.
  
• The Shrimp Scampi (full portion) has 110 calories, 5 g of fat and 610 g of sodium.
  
• The Vegetable Medley has 50 calories and 2 g of fat.
  
• However, the rice has 270 calories, 4.5 g of fat and 670 g of sodium. Yikes.
  

All in all, not bad -- just avoid the rice if you're cutting calories.

Source

What kinds of foods are good sources for vitamin D? Let's see:

• salmon
• mackerel
• tuna
• sardines
• fortified milk
  

Except for milk, nothing on that list is typical kid-friendly fare, making it difficult for parents to help kids get enough vitamin D in their diet.

That job just got a little tougher. The American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that kids get 400 units of vitamin D daily, twice the past recommendation of 200 units. The most efficient way to get vitamin D is by exposing skin to the sun, but with winter on its way, that's just not practical for parents in northern climates.

Source

Sounds amazing, doesn't it? Curried tuna, carrot and hummus couscous. The mouth waters just thinking about it.

But wait -- there's more. This healthy recipe's got a couple of sources of lean, complete protein: tuna and hummus. Its overflowing with nutrition from veggies too, like carrots, garlic, red pepper, onions and greens (rocket or arugala). And the health benefits of the turmeric in curry are plentiful.

The fun begins, though, when you start imagining all of the ingenious substitutions you could make to boost the nutrition and healthfulness of this recipe. Join me after the jump for some specifics.

Source

Salmon is by far my favorite type of seafood. Not only is it delicious, it's good for you, too; it's rich in omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin D, selenium, protein, and vitamins B3 and B12.

While it's important to me to serve healthful meals for me and my son, I'm not the world's most innovative cook. That's another reason why salmon is tops on my list. It's so easy to cook ... you really can't go wrong. My favorite method is to drizzle it with just a tiny bit of olive oil, sprinkle some paprika on top, and grill it. The same method works in the oven, too. I usually pair it with some seasoned brown rice and steamed asparagus.

Real Simple has eight salmon recipes that are much more creative than my stand-by preparation method. The Dill Salmon Burgers sound awesome as does the Blackened Salmon.

Source

I have a favorite salad I make at home. It's healthy. It's easy. It's something you might want to add to your at-home menu.

It all starts with a bed of baby spinach leaves. Then I add a handful of red grapes, sprinkle on some shredded carrots, mix in some dried cranberries, and toss in a few shaved almonds. For a dose of good protein and a serving of essential omega-3 fats, I top with salmon, which is always a leftover from a previous dinner meal.

No dressing for this salad. The juice from the grapes and the moist fish do the trick all on their own.

We keep telling you here on That's Fit to eat salmon. Full of the the right kind of fat, salmon is good for your heart and blood pressure. It can reduce your risk of stroke, prostate cancer, even macular degeneration. It keeps the brain sharp, inflammation down, and can ward off Alzheimer's. Yep, we want you to keep eating salmon, even though you may be hesitant after reading the story that follows.

One man -- Anthony Franz is his name -- claims salmon gave him a nine-foot tapeworm. The salmon came from a place called Shaw's Crab House and so Franz is suing the Chicago establishment for $100,000. Why so much? Topping the list are: Pain, suffering, lost time from work, and lost enjoyment in life.

Franz was just trying to eat healthy when he ordered his salmon salad back in 2006. Then he became violently ill and later passed the tapeworm. When a pathologist told him the giant parasite was likely from only one source -- undercooked fish, such as salmon -- the man decided to take legal action. The food safety folks at the restaurant's parent company (Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises) say they are confident the tapeworm did not come from their restaurant.

Not very good publicity for salmon, is it? Still, the fish is a sure thing when it comes to eating healthy. Eating regular servings of fish is one of the following 13 tips for healthy living, in fact. Here's what we suggest: Make sure your portions are fully cooked, then press on.

Source

Unless you want to ingest a hefty dose of mercury, you should not be eating swordfish, says the current issue of The Oprah Magazine (September 2008). But for most other fish, the benefits of moderate consumption outweigh any risks. This from a landmark study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which also makes these recommendations.

• Canned albacore (white) tuna contains more mercury than canned light tuna, which is why the EPA urges women of childbearing age to eat no more than six ounces of albacore a week.
• Salmon does not contain too much mercury but it does harbor some PCBs -- these are industrial compounds -- so you'd be wise to limit servings of farmed salmon to one per month. You can enjoy wild-caught salmon four or more times per month.
• To learn more about the merits and cautions of other seafood options, check out oceansalive.com.

Source

Besides the different things we do and wear from season to season, the foods we eat vary dramatically as well. The snow keeps hearty stews on the stove and hot drinks in our hands. The summer however, propels us to brew ice cold tea and lighten up a little at mealtime. I found a recipe I like a lot from the book Delicious Disney, The Disney Chefs with Pam Brandon.

The Field Greens Salad with Grilled Salmon just feels right this time of year. It's a delicious dish you can gobble up tonight and not pay the price in your swimsuit tomorrow. I've placed it on page 38 of my recipe book on Fitzness.com. Enjoy!

Source

Time for another installment of Sample-6, where I offer an easy combination of meals and healthy snacks. In case you haven't heard, eating 5 to 6 small, healthy snacks/meals per day is the optimal way to increase your metabolism and lose fat through diet alone. What happened to 3 squares, you may be wondering? Gone the way of the dinosaurs.

With that, here's a great Sample-6:

BREAKFAST: Bowl of steel-cut oats; 1tbsp of almond or all-natural peanut butter; 1 glass of milk

MID-MORNING SNACK: Plain yogurt mixed with fresh berries; a handful of almonds

LUNCH: Tuna mixed with mashed avocado, olive oil and spinach, spread on toasted wholegrain bread

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK: Sliced cucumber, celery and peppers dipped in hummus

DINNER: Grilled salmon; steamed broccoli; small portion of brown rice

EVENING SNACK: 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese mixed with 1tsp of horseradish and a dash of pepper

For more great ideas for healthy snacks and meals, visit AOL Body by clicking here.

Source

Fish really is brain food. A recent European study of elderly men and women found that those who regularly ate seafood did way better on cognitive tests than those who ate little or none. The more fish these old folks ate, the better they did on their tests. Effects were more pronounced for non-processed lean fish and fatty fish.

If you can't imagine eating a lot of fish, try to think outside the box. You don't have to consume only fillets and steaks. Try some smoked salmon with your eggs or dose a healthy salad with some canned tuna. Like anchovies? They count too.

Source

Who says you can't eat healthfully and still have a burger? Burgers are standard Memorial Day fare -- and treats throughout the summer. But, with some tasteful substitutions, you can have your burger and eat it too. Shape Magazine has a list of their five top burgers:

• Barbecued Tofu-Potato burgers have 351 calories and 6.6 grams of fat.
  
• Curried Pork Burgers with Mango Chutney have 364 calories and 6.9 grams of fat.
• Grilled Portobello burgers have 394 calories and 12.9 grams of fat.
• Spicy Wasabi Salmon burgers have 209 calories and 8 grams of fat.
• Tuna Burgers with Horseradish Mayo have 294 calories and 4.9 grams of fat.

You can also try modifying the traditional burger by using ground turkey instead of beef, opting for whole-grain buns, trying a veggie burger, loading up on veggies, and choosing healthy condiments.

Source

Let's say you head out to a restaurant for lunch with your co-workers. Depending on the situation, you might not have a say in what restaurant you end up going to. And you don't really have a say in how the restaurants prepare the food. In fact, the only thing you do have control over is A) What you order, and B) how much of it you eat.

So let's say you end up going to a Asian restaurant like P.F. Chang's. Chinese food is notorious for being high in calories, sodium, carbs and fat, but surely there must be some healthy options. You browse the menu and come across one dish that that sticks out as healthy: The Citrus Soy Salmon Lunch Bowl. Heck, they even let you choose whether you want it with brown or white rice! So let's analyze this choice. Salmon is healthy. Citrus is healthy. Brown rice is healthy. Soy is high in sodium but low in calories and fat. Overall, for a restaurant meal, it sounds pretty good, right?

You tell me ...

Source