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Overwhelmed by all of the "Follow Friday" recommendations on Twitter? Each week AOL Health's Twitter alias Healthpop and That's_Fit search the Twittersphere for the greatest diet and fitness Twitterers, and each week, we'll highlight the best-of their best tweets (no Twits here). Got any great advice for our Fit Follow Friday post? Give us a shout on Twitter and let us know all about it!

Celebrity dietitian and motivational life coach Tanya Zuckerbrot, author of www.ffactordiet.com and founder of www.skinnyandthecity.com, has helped thousands of people lose weight and keep it off with her program. Her philosophy? Tanya believes you should never sacrifice taste, even when you're eating healthy foods. Send us an email to reciperehab [AT] thatsfit [DOT] com to submit a recipe for a makeover!

Recipe may vary from food shown. Photo: Photodisc

Whether it's made with chicken, seafood or vegetables, it's hard to resist a creamy rich bowl of risotto. The only drawback is that essentially no matter what the topping, risotto is basically a big bowl of rice with lots of empty calories -- usually enough to be a meal in itself. So instead of the usual Arborio rice, this risotto uses pearl barley for a dish as creamy as traditional risotto, but with a bigger nutritional payoff -- fewer calories and more fiber.

Whether the motivation is the economy or the environment, backyard gardens are popping up all over the country. Perhaps most famously, a garden was even planted at the White House. Regardless of the reasons for planting a garden, there are undeniable health perks to growing your own produce.

Produce that is freshly picked (or dug as the case may be) hasn't had time to lose any nutrients. What's more, the fresher the produce, the better it seems to taste. And, as you grow different varieties of produce and have them right on hand, you're more likely to find ways to prepare and enjoy them. And increasing your fruit and vegetable intake is a good thing.


You can never have too many fruits and vegetables, but there are other, less healthful, foods that can send you into a flurry of overeating.

Mmmm ... chocolate. Just reading the word is enough to make me start salivating like Pavlov's dog. We all have foods that just make us drool, but not too many people list "vegetables" as one of their biggest cravings.

If eating your vegetables is more of a have-to than a want-to activity, try some of these tips. In time, you'll start to love -- and even crave -- vegetables.

• Choose babies. As vegetables mature, the flavors grow stronger. In some cases, that makes the mature vegetable more bitter than the "baby" version. Look for baby artichokes, carrots, turnips, Brussels sprouts and squashes. (Oh, and those so-called "baby" carrots in a bag are usually just regular carrots trimmed down. Look for true baby carrots with the greens still attached.)
  
• Opt for oils. Use small amounts of oil or fat to flavor your vegetables. Olive oil is a healthy choice and great for sauteing. Butter isn't great for your health, but if a tiny bit is the difference between eating vegetables and not eating vegetables -- then go for it. You can also try a butter substitute with all the flavor but without the calories and unhealthy fats.
• Try a new cooking style. There are more options for vegetables besides raw and steamed. Try blanching or roasting your vegetables.

AOL Health has more tips for loving your vegetables.

Tell us ... what's your favorite vegetable? What's your favorite way to prepare it?

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Do you eat your recommended servings of fruits and vegetables? Not many people do.

Increasing the fruits and vegetables you eat isn't as hard as you think. Many people overestimate what is actually considered a serving of fruit or vegetables. Those super-sized portions we've become accustomed to affect us in more ways than one!

Check out this guide for fruit and vegetable serving sizes, then keep track of your progress with this handy Veggie and Fruit Tracker from AOL Health.

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I tend to believe what Meg Wolff says about diet and nutrition. The girl knows what she's talking about. I mean, she has survived cancer on numerous occasions and maintains that a healthy lifestyle is key to her survival. So when she tells me to add one leafy green vegetable to my meals every day, I'm inclined to listen.

Start the year off right, says Meg, and add your leafy green today. A good source of calcium and high in fiber, vitamins, minerals and all sorts of cancer-fighting stuff (oh, and low in fat too), these veggies are tops.

Meg suggests trying kale. And we just happen to have some dirt on this super food. Find out here why it's more than just a garnish. And here, how it can add color to you life. Planning a garden this year? We suggest adding kale to your crop.

Meg has lots more healthy diet suggestions -- check out her website here. And her blog here. And try to do what she says, because honestly, I'm pretty sure she really knows her stuff.

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Do you have a few minutes to waste? I know, I know ... you're busy. But everyone deserves a few minutes just to relax, right?

Check out this new game on Shockwave.com. The Wonder-Juice Machine is a fun way to give your brain a little challenge. A minor mental workout like this is a great way to take your mind off of your troubles for a few minutes and relieve a little stress.

As as added perk, the game includes actual recipes for nutritious smoothies that you can try at home. And keep your eye out for the health tips about different fruits and vegetables. Who knew a game could include such handy health advice?

We all know that people tend to use time as a so-called "legitimate" reason to eat poorly. Those people never like me much. Why? Because the excuse is lame and doesn't hold water, and I'm fairly upfront about it. The truth: Bananas are quicker to peel than any package can be opened. Apples don't even need peeling!

Cooked food can also be insanely quick. In fact, I always keep giant bags of various frozen vegetables in my freezer so I can toss them in a bowl and heat them in the microwave in under five minutes. Is it gourmet? Not really. Do I care? Hell no!

What matters most is that we choose fruits, veggies, lean meats and whole grains. Those are a few of the things that are vital not only to weight maintenance, but they support a nourished, energetic and disease-free body. If you are hell-bent on eating poorly than just get on with it. But if you truly want to make fitness happen and change your life, you're going to have to kick excuses to the curb.

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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.

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When I look at the lunch menu for my son's school, I feel safe in assuming that any kid who brings a lunch from home is getting better nutrition. After all, it's not hard to beat chicken nuggets and greasy pizza. But home-packed lunches aren't always the better deal.

Due to rising food costs, regulations for Texas day-care centers recently changed and now allow the centers to require parents to send meals and snacks for the children. A subsequent (albeit small) study found that 71 percent of the home-packed meals didn't have enough fruits or vegetables and the number of milk servings was also low.

When you're busy getting the kids ready for school and trying to get ready for work, sometimes convenience takes priority when packing your kids lunches. But nutrition can be convenient, too. You can't get much easier than a ready-to-eat piece of fruit. And you can pre-cut carrots, celery, cucumbers and other veggies at the beginning or the week so they're ready and waiting. Check out the gallery for other quick, easy and healthful foods for your child's lunch bag.

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Any time there's a gimmick to a weight loss plan, I immediately get skeptical. Not fair, really. I should read about the plans with an open mind. Call me silly, but I'm jaded after all the crazy diet plans that have been created over the years.

Good Housekeeping has a plan they're calling The Amazing Soup Diet. Basically, they have a seven-day meal plan. You start your week by making a big pot of a basic vegetable soup recipe. Then they give you healthy meal suggestions for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, you add some ingredients to the basic soup to give it some variety. For snacks, you can have a small portion of the basic soup at anytime; you can also snack on raw vegetables.

The Good Housekeeping staffers who tried it are very positive about the plan. I, however, remain a jaded skeptic. I love soup as much as the next person, but that's a lot of soup to eat. More importantly, I think any plan that requires you to eat certain things is a bad idea. To successfully lose weight and maintain the loss, you need to learn healthful eating patterns and establish an exercise routine -- and those habits have to last a lifetime. However, unlike other crazy diet plans, there's nothing in The Amazing Soup Diet that's unhealthful or potentially harmful ... and the soup does sound tasty.

For diet tips that really work, click on the Shrink a Size banner.

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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.

As a three-time Sports Illustrated cover model and world famous supermodel, Cheryl Tiegs knows quite a bit about being beautiful. I suppose this makes her a perfect fit for her role as judge on ABC's new reality show True Beauty, which debuts this Monday, January 5 at 10 PM. Instead of really judging the unsuspecting contestants on their physical beauty, though, Cheryl and her cohorts will be removing folks who act really ugly. That should be fun to watch.

In the gallery below, you'll find more about the show and Cheryl's beauty tricks. You just might learn something new about Cheryl Tiegs -- for example, did you know she once gained a good deal of weight? Click below for more!

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Monday through Friday, you can find a new Daily Fit Tip on the right-hand side of That's Fit. From nutrition to fitness to weight loss to body image ... the Daily Fit Tip covers it all. I scoured through this year's archives for some of the best tips for securing good health. Take these five tips into the New Year for a healthy, happy and fit 2009.

Kids learn a lot in school. My fifth grader is learning algebra and geometry, which is fine now but I'm a little leery of the math lessons he'll have in high school -- at some point he's going to surpass my knowledge completely. So with all that reading, writing and arithmetic, why not learn good nutrition habits as well?

Many schools are starting to restrict sugary and fatty snacks. And students' nutrition habits are modestly improving as a result. Over 10,000 fifth graders at schools with restricted snacks were surveyed and they reported a three percent increase in fruit and vegetable consumption.

As a parent, I strongly believe my child's nutrition habits are learned at home. But when good nutrition habits are modeled and supported at school as well, it's a win-win situation. Now if I could only convince my son's school to stop serving those molded chunks of who-knows-what they try to pass off as chicken nuggets.

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As you deck the halls with red and green, be sure to deck your plates, too. The holidays come along with all sorts of tasty temptations, so be sure to balance out the naughty with plenty of nice. After all, there are plenty of good New Year's resolutions to make -- why get stuck making a "lose those extra holiday pounds" resolution?

From snacks to side dishes to the main course, nature's versions of red and green are nutritious and delicious. Check out the gallery for a few red and green choices.