That's Fit

Sounds impossible, doesn't it? Who in the world ever thought of going to Disney and eating healthy? Crazy talk, right? Wrong! Your loving online Fitzness Expert (me) who has extremely high standards on what I put in both my children's mouth and my own can spend a day at the Magic Kingdom or EPCOT and eat as well as I would in my own home. Disney has made grand efforts to improve the healthfulness of the foods they offer, and has even gone overboard with an abundance of fresh fruit stands located throughout each theme park.

I just spent a week at Walt Disney World in Florida and returned home half a pound less than I was the day before vacation. Want to eat right while enjoying the magic with Mickey Mouse? Read on.

• Mickey makes mealtime easy on the fitness fan. Every restaurant I ventured through offered several menu options based on lean grilled meat, veggies, and/or fruit. Even the children's meals come standard with side items like: grapes, carrot sticks, and unsweetened applesauce. They also come with bottled water or skim milk. Sweet! Parents would have to go out of their way to substitute french fries and soda for their children instead of the healthy stuff. Eww! You the fitness fan, certainly wouldn't do that!
• Sit down dining restaurants offer Egg Beaters cooked without oil in lieu of regular scrambled eggs. I enjoyed this perk while dining with Minnie and Goofy at Disney's Yacht Club Resort.
• Resort dining facilities offer endless refrigerators full of fresh fruit, veggies, yogurt, dried fruit, nutritious snack bars and more.
• Seek out healthier desserts. Anywhere they are served, Disney has made efforts to make reduced fat, low sugar or fresh fruit treats available.

My son is a picky eater. But, surprisingly, he likes a lot of vegetables. Carrots, celery, and cucumber rank as some of his favorite snacks. (Lucky, aren't I?) Even so, there are plenty of veggies that he shies away from. I think most parents struggle to get their kids to try different vegetables and, better yet, enjoy them. HealthCastle has some ideas on getting your kids to eat more veggies:

• Make it fun. Serve ants on a log or make a smiley face out of veggies. Let your child top their own individual pizza with their choice of veggies.
  
• Hide them. Serve cut veggies with ranch dressing for dipping. Add vegetables to casseroles, soups, and pasta dishes.
  
• Be creative. Prepare vegetables in different ways or even just slice them differently. Sometimes a subtle change makes all the difference. (For example, my son won't eat asparagus spears, but when I cut off just the tips for him he gobbles them down.)
• Don't give up. Don't force your child to eat their veggies (it's a sure-fire way to make them HATE vegetables). Instead, be prepared to offer the new vegetable over and over and over until your child is willing to really try it and give it a chance. It takes some kids 10-15 times before they'll really entertain a new food item.
• Buy a kid-friendly cookbook. There are several on the market that have sneaky ways of incorporating vegetables into meals.

I've got two sweet potatoes sitting on my kitchen counter. They're for lunch tomorrow -- one for me; one for my husband. We're planning to microwave them and then add a little low-fat sour cream or perhaps some low-fat cottage cheese, maybe some flax, some nuts, and some broccoli too.

I have Fitz to thank for this healthy meal idea. She told me the other day she's been eating sweet potatoes lately and is really enjoying them. I think we're going to like them too.

The sweet potato -- also referred to as a yam -- is one of the most nutritious vegetables around. Containing unique root storage proteins that have lots of antioxidant capacities, sweet potatoes have great healing properties and are known for combating free radicals and fighting inflammation. With just 114 calories per potato and a sweetness even kids will enjoy, this is one food we all ought to incorporate into our diets. I'm starting tomorrow -- how about you?

Feeling and looking like a superstar starts with eating superstar foods and when it comes to summer salads, you might know that veggies are good for you but do you know which ones are the best? In terms of antioxidant levels there are five veggies that stand out from the rest and you'll want to be sure to throw as many of them as you can in your salads this summer. Which veggie do you think is the absolute richest in antioxidants?

Need something to remind you to eat your veggies every day? How about wearing some broccoli right smack dab on your shirt?

Check out these witty one-liner t-shirts made by FoodTees and DietDetective.com. Made to fit women, men, children, toddlers, and babies, these super slogan shirts are organically made and benefit non-profit organizations aiming to teach kids about nutritious eating.

Not quite sure about sporting veggies on your front side? Maybe a yoga bag, apron, or tote is more up your alley. To explore your veggie options, head on over to the FoodTee Market and see what you might toss in your virtual shopping cart. Check out this gallery too for available veggies and their catchy phrases.

The US government recommendation for fruits and veggies used to be eat 5-9 a day. The recommendations now are a bit more vague; if you visit mypyramid.gov you can create a custom plan that works for you. Other sites, such as fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org just recommend eating "more." While I personally prefer the more specific recommendations, I have worked with some dietitians that prefer the more general encouragement to just eat more because so many Americans are so, so far from the older 5-9 guideline.

It's not as hard as you might think to eat lots of fruits and veggies every day. The trick is to start eating them fresh -- just munching on them in the whole or sliced form -- and also looking for ways to incorporate them in all of your meals. Check out the gallery for some easy ideas on healthier eating.

Soy products are a great way to incorporate lean protein into your diet, and you don't have to be vegetarian to appreciate the benefits. However, while many people are familiar with tofu, I get a lot of puzzled looks when I mention tempeh. While both are made from soybeans, they're as different as salmon and steak.

This chart breaks down the differences between tempeh and tofu, and basically it makes the conclusion that tempeh is less processed than tofu, contains more protein and fiber, and therefore is somewhat better for you. And, to be honest, I actually prefer the taste and texture of tempeh to tofu. However, if you're used to cooking with tofu, you can't just substitute tempeh instead.

Click through the gallery for some recipes including tempeh. If you have a favorite recipe of your own, be sure to leave a comment!

While I don't typically find the time to cook, prepare, and present creative kiddie meals for my little boys, this clever lunch idea caught my eye. I'm not saying I'll set out on a mission to prepare this healthy masterpiece, but you might and that's why I share Family Fun magazine's Lunch Ahoy idea with you.

First things first: Create our own veggie vessel by carving out half of a pickling cucumber, plum tomato, or yellow pepper. Then: Fill your vessel with tuna salad and push one end of a celery or carrot stick into the tuna. This is your mast. Finally: Set a triangle sail of pepper, lettuce, or cheese next to the mast. If you want to really go crazy, serve on a blue plate with a few fishy crackers.

How cute is this?

I'm what you'd call a flexitarian. Tofu is a mainstay of my diet, much more so than meat, but I'll still have a bit of chicken or fish or even a bit of steak from time to time. I'm not overly crazy about meat, but sometimes I rally enjoy it so I'm hesitant to go completely vegetarian. But going veggie has a number of benefits; here's a list of the top reasons to stop eating mean, courtesy of Alter Net:

• A veggie lifestyle can ward off disease.
  
• It can also help you lose and maintain your weight.
  
• Vegetarians live longer
• They also have stronger bones
• They're less prone to food-borne illnesses.
• Veggie women have less symptoms of menopause
• Going veggie will give you more energy
• You'll also be more regular
• It's good for the environment
• Vegetarians aren't exposed to as many toxic chemicals
• Being a vegetarian helps reduce worldwide famine
• You'll spare animals if you're a vegetarian
• You'll save money
• Your dinner plate will be full of colourful, yummy vegetables
• It's easy

What do you think? Is it really easy going veggie? I know that in my own house, going veggie would be a breeze but eating out or at someone else's house might not be as simple. Your thoughts?

Here's some good news for kids in Britain: Brussel sprouts will be scarce this year, due to flooding in Europe in the summer. And other vegetables are affected too -- like peas and cabbage. Dairy products are affected too, and families trying to stay healthy are seeing their grocery bills go up every week.

Why, oh why, couldn't the twinkie crop have been affected? Or the trans fat crop? Why is it that when natural disasters hit, it's the healthy stuff that's affected? Oh, that's right. Because junk food is made of chemicals, in a factory, with no access to nature or sunlight. So while the price of good, health food might go up, there's only one answer: We need to bite the bullet and eat the good stuff from the earth, for our health and the healthy future of our kids.

But this doesn't mean that parents should forgo veggies for junk food. This Christmas season,

Now you may think the words "smoothie" and "october" don't exactly go together, and although I do agree that they're mostly a summer food I don't agree that that means they can't be enjoyed at other times of the year also. The trick, for me anyway, is to switch up ingredients for something fresh and new and seasonal. There are several good recipes over at Mother Earth Living, including one based on tomatoes, one based on blueberries, and even one focused for flu-fighting. Now if that isn't season-specific I don't know what is!

I'm thinking I'll be trying the "Zippy Tomato" first.

For a lot of people it's tough figuring out what kinds of food to eat as well as how much. But for vegetarians, it can be even harder as a major staple of their diet -- protein derived from eating meat -- is removed from the list of foods they can eat.

If you're a new veggie and you're wondering what exactly you need to consume each day to maintain a healthy diet, this vegetarian food pyramid is a great place to start. Obviously, it's pretty similar to a traditional food pyramid (and shouldn't be confused with a vegan food pyramid) but offers examples of what you should eat to replace meat in your diet.

This article goes into a bit of depth explaining how the pyramid works. Basically, you should eat the foods at the top (vegetable fats and oils, sweets and salts) sparingly, and munch on more of each of the subsequent levels. Staples like whole-grain bread, cereal, rice and pasta are at the bottom of the pyramid, so you should include lots of these in your meals and snacks each day.

Remember though that everyone is different and while the pyramid is a useful general guide, it may be a good idea to chat with a nutritionist about your own personal dietary needs.

While I'm not a vegetarian, I don't eat much meat either so I'm always on the hunt for yummy veggie recipes that use healthy protein alternatives like tofu and Quinoa. I suspect there are other people like me out there, so I decided I had to share this yummy recipe that I found through SELF Magazine: Spicy Asian Eggplant with Tofu and Red Pepper. Check it out! I had it for dinner tonight.

I'm a habitual recipe-modifier, so of course I made some changes, name adding more vegetables -- including zucchini and green onions. And all the produce I used was picked up this past weekend at my local farmers market, so it was all really fresh. And I served it with a side of Quinoa.

What's your favourite veggie recipe?

Have you ever had a green smoothie? If you have them available in your area they're a great way to get more greens in your diet, and no, they don't all taste like grass or mint. Marisa McClellan over at Slashfood recently shared her favorite green smoothie, found at Trader Joe's. It's the "Green Protein" smoothie and it's full of all kinds of good things and tastes like strawberries. Strawberries I can do.

For recipes on making your own green smoothies check out A Veggie Venture -- and from now on don't be afraid to try ordering the green smoothie option off your local cafe's menu! You'll probably really like it.

We're all busy, there's no way around that. Unfortunately one of the things that often suffers as a result of our constant rushing around is our diets and our consumption of healthy fresh foods. But does "fresh" always have to mean "not frozen?" When it comes to nutritional value, not necessarily. If your goal is to get more fruits and veggies into your diet, and get the fast food and processed foods out of your diet, then frozen is a perfectly healthy way to go.

As in any diet variety is best, but in many cases frozen vegetables are actually more nutritious than their fresh counterparts. As as example take green beans: after sitting on the shelf for 3 days in the store and in the fridge for 3 days at your house fresh green beans will have only 1/2 the vitamin C left as the frozen beans that have been in your freezer for at least that long. So don't feel guilty! Frozen is awesome.