That's Fit

There's no stopping the hands of time. We're all going to age, and there's not a thing we can do to stop the process.

I don't know about you, but I'm happy to get older. The older I get, the better, in fact – because right now, I'm not too fond of the alternative.

If, like me, you want to keep tacking on the years, try these five Woman's Day magazine secrets for aging long into the future.

• Don't smoke. And avoid secondhand smoke. These two practices will help prevent cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung disease.

• Do play. Working too much can increase your risk of high blood pressure and heart attack, so take a breather from work-related fatigue and stress whenever you can. Start this weekend.

• Don't eat fried foods or drink soda. Too much fast food and soda contributes to weight gain and can cause chronic inflammation, which prompts the entire body to age.

• Wear sunglasses and a hat. Protecting your eyes from the sun's UV rays will cut your risk of cataracts and macular degeneration -- it's the leading cause of blindness by about 45 percent.

• Get important health screenings. Get checked for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugars. Get screened for cancers of the skin, breast, cervix, colon, prostate, and more. Catch any of these conditions early, and you have a good chance of surviving them.

Firefighters are known for their bravery. Their job description includes risking their own safety for the sake of others. But it turns out that forging into raging fires isn't the only danger firefighters face. Frequent exposure to smoke and chemical fumes puts them at higher risk of certain diseases, including bladder cancer.

A research team tested over 1,000 active and retired firefighters. Ninety-nine of the firefighters exhibited warning signs of bladder cancer, and two were diagnosed with the disease. The overall incidence rate of bladder cancer for firefighters was 36 of 100,000 -- which is higher than the general population.

Check out AOL Body's quiz to see if you're doing what you can to avoid cancer.

Sometimes, despite our best intentions, we can't avoid secondhand smoke. I know because smokers huddled outside restaurant doors and mall entrances always force me to wade through dirty air. I guess I don't have much choice but to breathe in others' smoke if I want to enter these establishments. Or do I?

It seems I do have a few options when it comes to steering clear of smoke, says Mego Lien in the March 2008 Ladies Home Journal.

I can hold my breath. If the exposure is brief, this might be worth it, especially for those with respiratory problems. I can cover my mouth and nose. I can add distance -- at least six feet in those outdoor areas I described. And I can wash my clothing as soon as possible -- smoke chemicals can liner indefinitely in fabrics and can be reemitted into the air.

So I've got some options. What would you do?

Bars and other hot night attractions in Minnesota have found a loophole to get around the smoking ban that was rolled out last year. According to the legislation passing the ban, nobody can smoke in these public areas... unless you're an actor.

This is for stage performances, and patrons must be told beforehand that an "actor" will be lighting up. Well, to garner more traffic, over two dozen bars have rolled out Theater Nights where customers show up in costumes to become actors for the evening. Essentially, the bars are hosting their own plays using the public as an acting crew!

Needless to say, the Department of Health doesn't take kindly the idea. They're about to slap these establishments with fines as high as $10,000. But bar owners say they were struggling before and that these "theater nights" provide them with huge sales. Even if it means exploiting a loophole in the system, they want to be able to act and smoke. It's a clever idea -- no doubt about it! However it's going to be interesting to see how long they can keep it up.

Newsflash: smoking is bad for your health. Okay so everyone knew that already, but until now the carcinogenic effect of cigarette smoke on lungs was not completely understood. Scientists knew the smoke caused cancer due to toxins, but how?

Now they've tracked it down to hydrogen peroxide contained in the cigarettes. By exposing human lung cells to cigarette smoke and hydrogen peroxide independently, they found the same cancerous development after a couple of days. Don't worry, this was done in a lab so nobody was sucking down peroxide for test results.

At any rate, the cells which were not exposed to anything were naturally clear of all signs. The connection has been made, so now companies can start making "safer" cigarettes without the chemical which they know causes cancer. Since they figured out exactly what triggers it, this could also lead to better treatment options!

File this one under the "When I was your age" category. Kids in Canada are getting some cold, hard incentive to stay smoke-free through high school. A new program is launching alongside their National Non-Smoking Week which is aptly named R.E.W.A.R.D.S. -- Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Doesn't Smoke.

They literally want to pay children to not light up. The payoff? Five thousand dollars at the end of 12th Grade! To keep them honest, a contract must be signed and four sponsors found to help pony up the cash. The students being offered this deal are currently in grades 5-8.

This is quite a movement to encourage healthy lifestyles. The group is reaching for the stars, hoping to sign up 100,000 youngsters. It will be interesting to see how many kids take the bait, but hopefully it becomes an effective program. I know I would jump at the chance to stay smoke-free if I were that age! Do you think something like this would work in the US?

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. 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 two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Ms. Fitzness, I stopped smoking five months ago and have put on about 1.5 stones (21 pounds)! When is the best time to try and diet? I don't want to try and do too many things at once. I exercise regularly as I have my own horse and am always out and about. Thanks in advance, Lisa

A. Hey Lisa. Congratulations on your success getting rid of smoking! Smoking is one of the absolute worst things one can do to themselves, and your decision to quit is one of the best. Hooray! I'm literally doing a little 'happy dance' here at my laptop for you.

Now for your question about when you should begin dieting. Easy answer. NEVER! Never diet, lady! Diets are temporary behavioral changes that only lead to temporary results. Screw that! You are in this for the long term, sister, and no diet can last forever. What to do then? Gradually become more and more deliberate about what you put in your mouth. Seek out low fat, low calorie, high nutrition type food. Before you decide on any meal or snack, ask your self which would be the healthiest choice. Trade french fries for a baked sweet potato. Choose grilled poultry or fish over hamburgers. Find some calorie free beverages you enjoy as well.

"Leader of the Band" soft-rock singer and songwriter Dan Fogelberg died Sunday at his home in Maine after battling advanced prostate cancer since 2004. He was 56.

"Dan left us this morning at 6 a.m. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife, Jean, at his side. His strength, dignity and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him."

Many, many men get prostate cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. But it's unusual for someone so young to develop and die from the disease -- eight out of 10 men diagnosed with prostate cancer are older than 65. But it does happen. So, guys, take notice and make sure you follow these life-saving steps.

• Get tested beginning at age 50, or 40 if you are at high-risk.
• Get control of your diet. A low-fat diet is key.
  
• Exercise.
• Don't smoke.
  

Now, more than ever, it's clear that cancer can be caused by lifestyle, namely a poor diet and lack of exercise. So, do your part now, before it's too late.

Here's a bit of an oxymoron: a smoker who's concerned about putting too many chemicals in their body. But apparently they are out there and they're interested in getting their cigarettes in all-natural, organic, and animal-cruelty-free style. The brand "Natural American Spirit" promises all that, and some are calling it marketing genius.

I think it sounds more like an experimental last-ditch-effort to save the dying tobacco industry, but you can't really blame them for trying. Just don't fool yourself: smoking is smoking.


Via Green Daily

It's amazing what lengths people will go to get their smoking fix these days, especially considering that there are fewer and fewer public places that allow smoking indoors. Here's an option that lets smokers get their nicotine fix inside -- even in non-smoking establishments. It's a "smokeless" cigarette. Well, actually it's a plastic stick with a nicotine "nico-filter" inside and a battery operated atomizer. The tip glows red, little fake puffs of smoke come off the end, and the user gets their nicotine fix without any tar or chemicals.

So that's the up side. The down side is that they're fairly expensive (10 for a pack of 6 replacements) and for some they could be deceptively unsafe: there may not be smoke to inhale but the nicotine is still an important (and unhealthy) part of the addiction.


Via FitSugar

A new report out this week stated that teenagers who smoke cigarettes may become more susceptible to depression and alcohol/drug abuse. The actual figures stand at nine times more likely to abuse alcohol and 13 times more likely to abuse drugs. All from smoking cigarettes.

So, although smoking, for some reason, is still seen as "cool" or "hip" for many teens, the effects pile up towards a bigger predisposition to substance abuse in their futures. Yeah, smoking is neat-o.

Although the report was published and funded by the anti-tobacco group Citizen's Commission to Protect the Truth, there is no agenda besides trying to get teens off cigarettes (or prevent them from trying).

I'm not sure what to say about this news item regarding musician Paul Weller lighting up on stage at a recent London gig despite the smoking ban in that country. I think that Weller has every right to smoke cigarettes if he chooses to, but I also feel it's unfair of him to openly flout the ban in front of non-smokers in the crowd.

I even think it's kind of unfair to the smokers in the crowd who may have wanted to have a smoke as well but couldn't afford to pay the fine. According to the piece, the fine for defying the smoking ban is about $400US, which for a regular person in the audience would likely be a hefty chunk of change, but for Weller is likely a mere drop in the bucket.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if one person in the building isn't able to smoke then no one should be able to, but if the only deterrent is a fine, then what's to stop wealthy celebrities like Weller from defying the rules anyway?

Now more than ever, we know that certain diseases can be stalled, even prevented, by a healthy lifestyle. There was a time when a cancer diagnosis, for example, could be traced to nothing concrete. Today, women who drink as little as one drink per day increase the odds they'll develop breast cancer. That's pretty concrete.

Times have changed. And now that we're in the know, we really must know how to live life so our future days are more of a guarantee. So here's a little cancer butt-kicking know-how for you, compliments of Men's Health magazine.

1. Drink Pomegranate Juice. It contains polyphenols, isoflavones, and ellagic acid. If this means nothing to you, that's OK. All you need to know is that this juice -- try 16 ounces per day -- bolsters your body's defenses and has been shown to inhibit cancer growth.

I used to work at a shop where approximately half of the employees were smokers and half were not. The smokers used to take extra breaks and longer breaks in order to get their fixes and it used to drive the rest of us crazy. Why should they get to work less because they smoke?

According to this article, that sort of thing might be a regular occurance. A study conducted by U.S. Navy showed that, on the job, smokers were generally less productive, took more sick leave and tended to have a higher instance of personality disorders. The study, which followed the careers of women in the Navy, also found that non-smokers often made more money than those who lit up daily.

The piece is quick to point out that so far there is no direct correlation between job performance and smoking, and a doctor from San Diego State University comments in the article that those who smoke might also have other personality traits, such as non-conformity and higher risk taking, that would lead to the results observed in the study.

According to new research smokers need to be especially conscious of knee pain, as it could be an early indicator of lung cancer. In a small study looking at patients with both knee inflammation and pain, a small percentage (only 2%) were also found to have non-small cell lung cancer. Now that may sound like an extremely small number, but consider this: of that 2% that had both knee pain and cancer all of them were smokers.

Non-small cell lung cancer is very difficult to treat unless it's caught in the early stages, so getting this clue that knee pain could be an indicator could really help save lives.