That's Fit

I heard two radio hosts the other day arguing about who should wear cropped pants and who shouldn't. One host (a man, age 28) had the Who Really Cares attitude. The other host (a young woman, age 23) maintained that certain women with certain body types just should not sport the short pants look. She held firm in her position.

Is it inappropriate for some gals to wear cropped pants? Does it really matter? This Oprah.com source doesn't ban anyone from such a fashion choice but it does issue some guidelines for wearing the item.

Getting away with the cropped look can fall short, say the Oprah experts. Unless, of course, you pay serious attention to style and proportion. Like this.

• Go plain. No cargo pockets, drawstrings, or stripes. Details are just too much.
  
  

• Cropped pants that hit mid-calf are fine for tall women, but if you're shorter than 5'4" -- go lower so you get every bit of length possible.
  
  

• Wear looser crops with tighter shirts, not fitted pants with blousy tops.

A story like this is best summed up just like a doctor put it by saying the case is "extremely unusual." After receiving a liver transplant at the age of nine, Demi-Lee Brennan's immune system literally switched over to that of her donor's. She now has a different blood type, and doctors say nothing like this has ever been observed before.

In the beginning, they discovered she had liver failure and required a transplant. But after the operation, stem cells from the transplanted organ made their way to her bone marrow. This is how the incredible switch took place. Now doctors are trying to figure out if they can replicate the same results for other transplant surgeries.

Considering that the human system can reject transplants, it would be extremely beneficial to find a way to make the body change its own makeup to adapt a healthier organ. Demi-Lee is perfectly fine now, so maybe some day we'll see these amazing results on a regular basis!

If you're a workaholic or someone who likes a routine or schedule, taking a vacation may actually make you sick. An expert cited in this article calls it "leisure sickness" -- a phenomenon characterized by taking a break from a busy schedule only to acquire aches, pains, and cold and flu-like symptoms.

One possible explanation for such sickness goes like this: When you are busy, your body is activated. When you are not busy and have nothing to do, your body is relaxed. For some people, this can be pathogenic. Some say "gimme a break" to this perspective; others say it's serious stuff, perhaps tied to stress and the challenge of transitioning from work to non-work.

While the science of leisure sickness remains unproven, the topic is not a new one. An inability to relax on vacations and holidays has long been a characteristic of Type A behavior. When Type As are not in control, headaches, nausea, and fatigue often result. It may be a hormonal thing. Or it could have nothing to do with personality at all. It could be that vacations involve greater exposure to germs that make us sick. Or holidays may simply allow us to acknowledge the symptoms of sickness we may ignore when we're busy with work.

Regardless of the reason behind leisure sickness, it seems regular exercise may be the cure.

"If you're under such chronic stress that you're impairing your immune system, you need to pace yourself," says Esther Sternberg, researcher of neuroendocrine immunology at the National Institutes of Health. "You can't expect to push your body to the breaking point and not have it break."

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!

Every time I walk into my local grocery store, scents of cinnamon drift my way, compliments of spiced-up holiday decorations strategically located just inside the sliding doors. On most school-day mornings, I make my boys slices of cinnamon toast. They always ask for more. And when I buy my favorite Yankee candles, I always grab the cinnamon varieties. I burn them whenever I'm home. I especially love them at Christmas time.

Think warm mugs of apple cider sprinkled with cinnamon, baked apples with crushed nuts and cinnamon on a cold winter day, or a cool glass of spiced tea on a hot summer afternoon and you're likely to conjure up visions of a Super Spice that's good for all seasons. Not only is cinnamon good, though. It's also quite healthy.

Diabetes can be prevented. Do you know how? Surprise: Diet and exercise.

According to the website HealthyUpdates.com, about 54 million American adults have pre-diabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetes. These people can prevent their conditions from evolving into type 2 diabetes by employing these three strategies.

1. Eating right. Studies show an increase in fiber, whole grains, and cereal can prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

2. Moving. Exercise can reduce insulin resistance.

3. Losing Weight. Exercise plus weight loss cuts the risk of developing diabetes, says data from the National Institutes of Health's Diabetes Prevention Program. It only takes a loss of four to six percent of body weight to make a difference.

Did you know worms live longer when they are unable to process the simple sugar glucose? Sure enough. And this finding, published in the October issue of Cell Metabolism, may mean for humans that glucose could have a negative effect on life span. Study of these little worms may have other human implications too.

Already, researchers think their findings cast some doubt on traditional Type 2 diabetes treatments, all of which target lowering blood levels of glucose by increasing the amount of sugar taken up by body tissues. Questions are also being raised about the widespread use of antioxidant supplements -- antioxidants and vitamins given to the worms canceled out the life-extending benefits of sugar deprivation.

While banishing refined sugar is definitely a wise idea -- surely, we all agree on that, right? -- no one recommends tossing the multivitamins just yet. I mean, we're talking worms here. Still, some good food for thought, don't you think?

Do you ever feel like the harder you work to change your body the harder it fights to stay the same? Well you may not be that far off the mark -- it probably is fighting you, depending on exactly what it is you're trying to change. Scientists in Israel have discovered that a person's lean body mass is mostly influenced by genetic factors, and we all know you can't fight genetics (well you can fight, but you won't win).

So what does this mean? Well the specifics of this information still need to be uncovered, but for now I'm just taking it as one more argument for focusing on overall health and wellbeing on an individual basis, and not comparing ourselves to others.

The debate on whether coffee is good or bad for you has been lobbed back and forth on That's Fit with everything under the sun being discussed including Adams Briscoe's post on how coffee may raise cholesterol and Maggie Vink's discussion on coffee reducing your risk of getting a certain eye disorder.

At the risk of being torn apart by brew-lovers everywhere, I have to admit that I'm not a big fan. Tea has always been my hot, caffeinated beverage of choice. So with my unbiased view I bring all of you fans of a moderate (yep moderate) amount of coffee good news. According to this, a cup (or even a few) a day is pretty darn good for you. The piece states that various studies have found:

• Coffee reduces your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes
• Coffee lowers your risk of getting liver cancer
• Caffeinated drinks including coffee lower the chances of getting Parkinson's and Alzheimer's
• Drinking coffee may reduce the risk of colon cancer, asthma and cirrhosis of the liver
• Coffee aids with endurance in activities such as swimming, running and cycling

So go ahead and enjoy your morning cuppa!

There are a lot of beautiful celebrities out there, with beautiful bodies. Now of course no two people look exactly the same, but there are definitely only a limited number of body types out there. So what if you wanted to know which of those beautiful celebrities deal with similar obstacles, problem areas, and generally have the same body type as you? All ya gotta do is take this quiz!

I don't know how accurate this thing is -- it told me I'm a Jessica Simpson type. Is that good, or bad? I definitely don't look like Jessica Simpson...does that mean that I could if I only applied myself? Geez. Now I'm more confused than ever, ha!

Of those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, almost all had "pre-diabetes" before-hand. Pre-diabetes is defined as blood glucose levels that are higher than normal, but not high enough to actually be diabetes. There may be as many as 54 million people in the U.S. that have pre-diabetes, and it's important to know if you're one of them for 2 main reasons: research suggests that internal damage to arteries and organs may already be happening in the pre-diabetes stage, and it's possible to prevent full-blown type 2 diabetes from ever developing if you take steps to manage your blood sugar early.

So how do you know if you have pre-diabetes? Testing your blood sugar at home isn't the way to go, instead you should see your doctor and have either a fasting plasma glucose test (FPG) or an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). As far as treatment if you do have it? Expect your doctor to recommend some diet and exercise strategies, as most people have positive results with losing as little as 10 pounds.