That's Fit

As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

While preparing for a recent camping trip, I decided to splurge and get my kids those little mini boxes of cereal. I remembered using them as a kid and thought they'd get a kick out of them. I was disappointed to discover that you can no longer eat the cereal directly from the box, but what surprised me more was that the boxes were about twice as big as I remember them.

My husband and I began wondering -- what came first? Are the cereal boxes bigger because people eat more now than they did 25 years ago? Or are people bigger now because portion sizes are growing out of control? (Seriously. One of those boxes would not even fit when we poured it into our cereal bowl.) It's all very chicken-and-the-egg.

So when I returned home and saw Mark's post on portion distortion, I laughed out loud. He's thinking the same thing I am! Divine Caroline talks about portion sizes then and now. And Rochelle at A Natural Choice reminds us what portion sizes should look like in the first place.

Got a blog you'd like to see featured on Fit Links? Tell us about it in comments!

In many ways, celebrities are just like the rest of us. Some of them pack on the pounds during pregnancy, while others stay relatively fit. Some of them love to exercise, while others want nothing to do with it.

Milla Jovovich is one of those celebrities who experience major weight gain during her pregnancy, and, according to her trainer Harley Pasternak, she "is not someone who embraces exercise." She got up to 192 pounds by the time she gave birth in November, and then she had to be ready to be filmed in a bikini less than half a year later.

She got back down to her goal of 130 pounds in five months by ... get ready for it ... working out hard and eating well. I know, it's not exactly breaking news, but we all know this is the system that works. Milla trained with Harley five days a week, and he prepared three meals a day for her and two snacks.

It's easy to assign blame when it comes to our collective weight gain. Poor food choices, sedentary lifestyles, overindulgence, lack of sleep, etc. But what if there was something else going on? Something far less obvious as the reasons mentioned? It turns out there may be.

A recent study, published in International Journal Obesity, found that certain viruses and bacteria may also play a role in weight gain. Specifically, these microscopic belly expanders may affect our ability to absorb nutrients from food and influence hormones that regulate appetite and metabolic rate. In separate studies, researchers discovered that overweight people tend to have more of these particular types of viruses than fitter people, suggesting that a link between the two variables is not outside the realm of possibility.

Does this mean that viruses are solely to blame for the girth of our nation? I wouldn't exactly make that leap just yet. I think the aforementioned reasons -- poor food choices, sedentary lifestyles, etc. -- are far more likely to be causing us to run out of belt notches. Still, it's an interesting theory, certainly one that merits further investigation.

How often does this happen: You're watching your favorite show on TV, munching on a snack as you do. Going into this whole situation, your intention was to only eat a small portion of that food, but you instead ended up devouring the whole thing. Are you to blame? Well, yeah. Completely? Mmmm ... pretty much. C'mon, there has to be something else to blame? OK, fine, you can blame the TV show a little bit.

This assignment of blame is not entirely unfounded. Obviously, the TV show itself didn't make you eat more (leaving out the psychological effects of some commercials, of course); rather, it was the distraction the TV show created that may have contributed to your overindulgence. For example, RealAge.com cites a related study, wherein women who ate snack cakes while playing a video game wanted to eat more of the food than the women who ate without any distraction.

Evidently, if you eat the same food for a period of time, your palate essentially becomes bored. You feel full sooner and don't want as much of that food. This is known as sensory-specific satiety, say the folks at RealAge, and it helps keeps your appetite in check. But get distracted for an extended period of time, and this appetite-control mechanism gets turned off.

If you pound a couple cans of soda per day, you're drinking your waistline bigger with each gulp. Even drinking one regular soda a day really isn't the best idea, for it drives your blood sugar through the roof and boosts insulin levels -- both have been linked to a number of health complications. So is drinking diet soda the answer?

Not so, says a growing body of evidence. Studies show that people who drink diet soda daily have higher obesity rates than non-drinkers. As if that weren't enough, there's plenty of information out there suggesting that dark soda (diet or regular) can contribute to the growth of kidney stones.

If you're already rolling your eyes in anticipation of what you know I'm going to say next (you're right, I am going to say it), please allow me to at least offer some tips on making a more interesting drink out of it. Here it is ... ready? Drink water. There, I said it. Now let me say this much -- if H2O is a bit too boring and flavorless for you, try adding fresh fruit to your water jug, such as berries or lemon or orange slices. There's truly no better way to stay hydrated and replenish your fluids than drinking copious amounts of water. Sorry for sounding like a Boy Scout about it, but it's the truth.

Americans are extremely productive people. If there is one thing we are good at doing, it's working. The unfortunate downside of our productivity in the workplace, however, is our consequential lack of sleep.

All work and no play may make Jack a dull boy. But, all work, some play, and no sleep make Jack an extremely unhealthy boy. Getting less than seven to eight hours of sleep each night can cause an increase in ghrelin levels, the hormone responsible for making you crave salty, sugary, and fatty foods.

If you're having trouble squeezing in enough sleep at night, you can still benefit a great deal from a 30-minute power nap during the day. The trick is to not nap past the 30-minute mark, for it is as that point when your body begins entering in the deeper stages of sleep. And, waking up during this portion of the sleep cycle could potentially leave you feeling tired again. So, stick to 30 minutes and under and you should feel plenty refreshed and recharged, in addition to being able to stave off cravings for comfort foods.

While Jennifer Lopez was pregnant, there were rumors that she was unhappy with, even embarrassed by, the amount of weight she gained. However, she's now proudly announcing that she put on 50 pounds while carrying her twins, and though she acknowledges that it's a lot, she feels she had good reason.

She told OK! Magazine, "I gained a good amount of weight, which I was focused on because twins can sometimes have a low birth weight. I gained 45-50 pounds, a lot for my frame, but for twins it's right on." She also said she was proud of how she looks after giving birth, flaws and all. Lopez even admitted playing with her "little leftover belly."

I've got to say that it's refreshing to see a celebrity who is happy with her post-pregnancy body, even enjoying it a little (or pretending she is). So many stars feel such pressure to drop right back down to a size six (or zero, Nicole Richie), and that's just not realistic for anyone who can't spend all day with trainers and personal chefs.

Think you're a healthy eater? Why? Because the foods you eat are labeled as being a "Healthy Option?" If so, you may also be wondering why your waistlines seems to telling a different story.

It turns out that most people will consume 131 percent more calories when they select food labeled "Healthy Option" on menus and on packaging, say researchers from Cornell University. What's more, because they're convinced that their meal choice was low in calories (which, incidentally, researchers also found is seldom the case), many people will go on to have more drinks, sides, and desserts.

At the end of the day, you're Healthy Option can quickly become the biggest challenge to your opting to eat healthy.

Every now and then, we find ourselves in a bit of a bind. We're on the go, we're hungry, and we need to eat. Like, now. But, the problem is, the only available option is fast food. This is where a diet that is firmly placed on its tracks can suddenly become derailed.

Take, for example, the Wendy's Classic Triple hamburger. Apart from the very high protein content (70g), you'd be hard pressed to find anything else healthy about this mammoth meal. Let's start with the whopping 980 calories. Then, as you probably expected, it's loaded with fat; 59g to be exact (25 of which being saturated fat). It also has 38g of carbs, 2,090mg of sodium, and 215mg of cholesterol. In sum, this thing is a heart attack in a bun!!

If possible, opt for a much healthier bowl of chili or even a grilled chicken sandwich. And, if you're ever in a pinch and aren't sure what the healthy meal option is, you can either visit a website like DietDetective.com or even text message DIET1 (which is actually the numbers 34381) and list the name of the restaurant and the food. Within seconds, you'll receive a text message back that contains the nutritional content of the food you entered.

A Finnish study discovered that the bacteria found in a baby's gut may be an early predictor of future obesity. The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that babies with high amounts of bifidobacteria and low numbers of Staphylococcus aureus have a reduced risk of overweight and obesity. This study is in keeping with previous studies which determined that breast-fed babies are less likely to gain excess weight. Bifidobacteria, which seems to have a positive effect on weight control, is present in breast-fed babies.

The exact role the bacteria play in weight gain or weight maintenance is still unknown. But the correlation is strong. In the Finnish study, the bacteria mix was studied in children at birth, five times before age two, at age four, and, finally, at age 7. A majority of the children who maintained a healthy weight had higher levels of bifidobacteria and lower levels of S. aureus as babies than those kids who gained excess weight.

Thinking of moving in with your boyfriend or girlfriend? Be sure to buy a bathroom scale -- you're going to need it. For men, it will be to watch your weight decrease. For women, don't be surprised to see your weight increase.

Based on research from Newcastle University over in the U.K., men tend to lose weight when they live with a woman, whereas women tend to gain weight when in that living arrangement.

Researchers came across this discovery after reviewing previously published data on the influence that live-in partners have on each other with respect to eating habits. They found that guys tend to follow a more healthy diet, while their better halves tend to eat less healthy than they did prior to cohabitation.

Men and women typically metabolize food at very different rates. So, if you are living with someone, chance are you're eating the same foods -- foods that may work just fine for the guy, but no so much for the gal.

If you find you're weight is slowly creeping up these days, fear not; there are things you can do to stop it. The first, and most obvious, solution is to start working out. What if you already are working out, but the weight keeps creeping in? Then the problem most likely lies somewhere in your diet.

Here are four simple ways to cut back on some calories and hopefully nip that weight gain at the bud.

Eat Slowly. Sit back, relax, and savor the food you're eating. Research shows that people consume around 67 fewer calories per meal when they take their time.

Take Off Your Top. Calm down, fellas -- I'm talking about the top half of a sandwich. Skipping the top slice of bread will save you around 70 calories. If you eat a sandwich a day for lunch, you'll save yourself 490 calories a week.

Go Pro. Try to consume more protein if you don't eat enough already. Protein digests very slowly (especially casein protein, which is found in dairy products), so it requires a great deal of calories to be expended in order for it to be processed.

Vote for Vinegar. Because many popular salad dressings contain about 75 calories per tablespoon, you can save yourself about 150 calories per salad by substituting in vinegar.

Popular job search site CareerBuilder.com recently conducted a survey on weight loss in the workplace, finding that 49 percent of workers say that they've put on some pounds on the job.

The comprehensive survey also uncovered the following work-related numbers:

• 13% of workers eat lunch from a vending machine at least once a week
• 38% of workers eat more unhealthy snacks at work than at home
• 69% of workers admit to snacking at least once during the workday
• 58% of workers go out for lunch at least once a week

Cravings for foods high in sugar and fat will be at their strongest when you allow yourself to become hungry. Avoid this by eating healthy snacks and small meals throughout the day. For a guide, try following my Sample-6.

Eating alone may sometimes make you feel a bit lonely, but it may also save you some from added pounds over time.

According to a Georgia State University study, people dining with other people consume 44 percent more food than when they eat alone, chiefly because they spend more time at the table. A related study, published in the journal Appetite, revealed that women tend to mirror the eating patterns of their same-sex dining friends.

There have been a number of studies that link a person's weight to that of their friends and family. The two mentioned above are among the first that I've seen that directly examine how and why this happens.

Without getting all Freakonomics on you, I still feel strongly that statistics are sometimes a great way to make sense of this oft-confusing world of ours. Then again, as I've suggested in the past, statistics can also lead you wildly astray, making just about anything seem plausible. Nonetheless, I feel that a simple statistical analysis of microwave usage and weight gain will reveal a very interesting correlation, if not actual causality.

A day late and a dollar short as always, it seems that my theory on this relationship has already been made. Researchers from the University College London found that the obesity epidemic began at the same time that the microwave started to become a standard fixture in the American household (around the early 1980s). Being able to nuke your food made it far more convenient and required less preparation time, thereby also making it easier for us to eat until our bellies were more than content. No longer was it necessary to stand over a stove for twenty minutes to make a meal, as the microwave made it possible to create the same meal in about two minutes.

Convenience is the American ideal (hence why we're willing to pay $1.50 for a single-serving bottle of soda instead of $0.99 for a 2-liter bottle, which rids us of the incredibly arduous task of pouring into cups). It's the goal of every new product; to be easier to use and more effective than the last one. With regard to the microwave, however, it stands to reason that convenience has lead to reliance and abundance, which in turn has resulted in marked, collective weight gain.