If you’re a little late starting off your New Year’s fitness routine (or you’re just looking for new tips on how to shake up your old one), join me on Facebook so that you can participate in my 10-Day Challenge! Every day I’ll post new photos, tips, and techniques to help you slim down and shape up in 2010.

And the fun doesn’t stop there . . . I’m also on Twitter!

Happy New Year! –>

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Check out KeyVive’s online campaign to get people tested for diabetes. As you know, this is a true passion of mine, and the reason I created Project You Type 2 with BeachBody. KeyVive is even offering free test kits!

Just imagine if we all moved a little more and cut back on that ubiquitous ingredient known as sugar… –>

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…and because our need to conquer breast cancer shouldn’t stop when November ends, I thought I’d share this clip from one of our recent episodes of HealthCorner on Lifetime.

We all know that exercise helps prevent heart disease and diabetes. Well, it may also help prevent breast cancer, and the reason can be summed up in one little word: Hormones. Exercise reduces the levels of estrogen, insulin and testosterone - and all of these can either contribute breast cancer or help it grow. Yet another reason to get moving!

Check out this clip for more info, and for some terrific workout tips. –>

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It’s been such a thrill to be part of the launch of NextFit’s new Keychain Trainer. And this summer, I’m joining forces with the NextFit team for a worldwide tour to Get America Moving! We’re kicking things off this Saturday in Salt Lake City with our first “test group” - a brave and lucky bunch of folks who have committed to a 12-week weight loss program in which I’ll help them every step of the way, with diet, exercise, motivation, and of course, using this cool and revolutionary gadget known as the Keychain Trainer.

For those of you who won’t be able to join us this weekend, here’s a little “nugget” of wisdom that I’ll share with the group on Saturday - and you heard it here first. It’s about consistency. It’s one of the oldest rules in the fitness book: To get results, consistency is key. But as we all know, “sticking with it” is easier said than done. So what’s the secret to staying consistent, so that you can stay on-track to success?

1) Do the things you enjoy doing, and
2) Do them with the people you enjoy.

It’s no coincidence that both of those points contain the word “enjoy.” Fun and fitness shouldn’t be mutually exclusive - they should mix and mingle, so that you can enjoy a consistent, healthy lifestyle for years to come!

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Join me at the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Expo 2009 at the Long Beach Convention Center on April 25th.

Diabetes EXPO is for people with diabetes, those at risk for diabetes, and anyone interested in healthy living. Here’s what to expect:

* How-to Product Demonstrations
* Free Health Screenings
* Healthy Cooking & Exercise Demonstrations
* Exciting Workshops & Speakers
* Interactive Youth Zone for kids of all ages
* Medical Professionals on hand to answer questions

* Kids: Come and play Guitar Hero, climb a wall, and sing Karaoke!

* Live Music: See L.A.’s top teen bands while learning about diabetes and healthy living.

For more info, click here! –>

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I just got back from a trip to Ohio with my daughter Perrie - it’s hard to believe, but it’s college visit time in our family, and Perrie wanted to check out Denison and Kenyon. We had a terrific time at both schools - the people of Ohio are truly salt of the earth, and so much fun to meet - especially the lovely ladies who took such good care of us at the Mt. Vernon Inn Bed & Breakfast.

We giggled when we visited Kenyon and and heard that some of the students were having a party that night with a hilarious them: Would you still love me if I dressed like this? I asked my friends the same question a couple weeks ago when I put on this Amy Winehouse costume for Halloween:

Back to the Ohio trip: When we arrived there, we drove for two hours or so from the Cleveland airport. Being on the road reminds me once again how fortunate I am to live in a place with easy access to open air markets with plenty of fresh, healthy options. And while Whole Foods is quickly appearing in more and more cities across the country, what’s not catching on is getting quick, affordable food. Around 10 pm, on our way from the airport, we were starving, and pulled into town with three choices for food: KFC, McDonald’s, or Pizza Hut - so we opted for the pizza.

Perrie had a laugh as I attempted to create the healthiest option possible by making something resembling a “pizza salad,” requesting every vegetable available: bell pepper, mushroom, spinach, black olives, doing my best to get as many nutrients as I could stacked onto the pizza. It was a pretty tasty solution - and no big deal since it was only for a night. But those situations always gets me thinking: if those are the options you’ve got, those are the options you’re going to take.

–>

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There was a great LA Times article recently asking the question “That Salad Sounds Healthy, But Is It?” The writer Mary Engel points out that most diners at chain restaurants, when trying to make the healthiest choice on the menu, go straight to the salads and assume they’re in the clear in terms of fat, calories, and carbs. She also included a great quiz that points out that salads are NOT always the answer. The quiz tests your nutritional knowledge, asking you to choose the lowest-fat or lowest-carb option on a given fast food menu. Even with my years of nutritional training, I got most of the answers wrong!

Salads can be the source of many hidden calories. You might assume a chinese chicken salad, for example, is a safe bet; however, while they are indeed delicious, those wonton crisps and breaded chicken are loaded with fat and extra carbohydrates. And dressings, of course, can also be trouble: one serving can add a whopping 34 grams of fat! To make matters worse, fast food salads are often comprised largely of iceberg lettuce (one of my least favorite foods), which has ZERO nutritional value!

Thanks to recent media attention to our nation’s obesisty crisis (and films like ‘Super Size Me’), fast food restaurants have begun to take note, and clean up their acts. But the journey isn’t over! While many have already made their nutritional analysis available on handouts or somewhere on their menus, we’d all benefit if they posted them on the wall (like Jamba Juice used to do). We all know that both the cheeseburger AND the salad can be delicious, but know we need to figure out exactly what each of them are costing our bodies. –>

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I’ve always been fascinated with longevity and old age. I remember writing a paper in college about what centenarians (people who live to be 100) had in common. At that point, the research suggested that they had great genes (thanks to their parents), moderate diets (no extremes of fasting, raw food diets, or overeating) and had something they were very passionate about in life. Many times that passion involved helping others.

So it caught my eye the other day when the LA Times ran an article on aging and gerontology. It says that centenarians are not randomly scattered throughout North America. On the east coast, Minnesota and Nova Scotia have their fair share. On the west coast, Loma Linda, California (where there’s a large share of Seventh Day Adventists who don’t drink, smoke or eat meat) ranks at the top of the list.

Of course, there’s always the exception of the people who don’t follow the rules and still live to a ripe old age, including a French woman who died in 1997 at age 122, who was known for eating two pounds of chocolate a week and didn’t quit smoking until she was 117.

Perhaps this fascination is one of the reasons I joined the Board at the USC Davis School of Gerontology about four years ago. Davis is the oldest and largest institution developed to human development and life-span studies in the world. I had one of our Board meetings today, including the usual business - the changing of the guards from the previous dean, Ed Schneider, to the new one, Jerry Davison.

The most interesting presentation today was by Mara Mather, who is a nationally known leader in cognitive and emotional changes over the lifespan. The research she presented today showed that one benefit of aging is a more positive attitude. Her research concludes that older adults exhibit a positive memory bias when compared to younger adults, which may explain how they maintain their positive moods. In other words, as you age, you tend to focus on the positive, and when negative things do occur, you tend not to dwell on it as much. As a matter of fact, the most unhappiest crowd in Mather’s study is the 20-30 crowd. In that age range, people experience a much higher rate of mood swings and negative thoughts.

Another topic of the day was Caleb Finch. He’s one of the top researchers at USC, and ranked in the top half-percent of the world’s most cited scientists. Today we discussed his latest book, The Biology of Human Longevity, which talks a lot about inflammation, including “environmental inflammation” - caused by what we eat and breathe. He says that being overweight is a pro-inflammatory state that contributes to chronic inflammation and conditions like heart disease and diabetes. With poor dietary habits and pollution on the rise, Finch predicts that increased levels of environmental inflammation could lead to shorter lives. He believes that this relationship between inflammation and diet might be key in unlocking the potential of human longevity. –>

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Deprivation is not something I handle well.

Being deprived of food can really play tricks with your mind. Ask any dieter who goes on an extremely restrictive eating plan: They’ll tell you there’s often a feeling of slight depression as you focus on all the things you can’t have.

I’m experiencing this firsthand today, because of a one-day liquid diet I’m required to follow to prep for my colonoscopy tomorrow morning. For five years now, my doctors have been reminding me to get a colonoscopy. And for five years, I’ve made excuses as to why it’s not the right time or the right place. But now, with so many friends and family saying “Kathy, you’re really insane not to have this done,” I scheduled my test. Tomorrow is the day, and today is the big internal clean-out.

My friend Jeff Hays put it bluntly: “Anybody who gets colon cancer is downright dumb, because all you have to do to prevent it is go in for a colonoscopy.” The polyps that might be discovered in the process take 10-15 years to progress, so this simple procedure can be life-saving.

I’ll tell you more about the experience once I finish the procedure. But today’s experience of having to stick to a clear liquid menu has me completely out of sorts, and it reminds me how depressing dieting can be. I’ve noticed that most people get caught up in that vicious cycle of dieting and then blowing the diet. It usually goes like this: You’re unhappy with the way you look and feel. You seek a diet that promises instat weight loss through complete control of what, when, and how you eat. Soon you discover that you can’t stick with it, and you end up right back where you started.

I can already tell you that tomorrow I’m going to be compensating for my lack of food today.

To be successful, you have to move out of a diet mentality. Most plans don’t take into account what food really means to us. They don’t consider how the flavor and color and texture and presentation of food can give us so much pleasure. They don’t consider how eating foods that you don’t like leaves you unsatisfied.

It was a good reminder for me today that, as I support others in their efforts to lose weight, choosing foods you truly love and that also enhance your physiological well-being are the key to becoming an independent eater.
–>

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Anyone think they might have overindulged a bit this holiday weekend?

You might find yourself thinking, “Well, I’ve already blown it, so I might as well let the whole diet and exercise thing go completely for the weekend.” For me, it was dessert. After the turkey dinner, complete with stuffing, potatoes, and gravy, we went over to a friend’s house for dessert, and there, spread out on the buffet table, was a full array of tasty treats: From the traditional pumpkin pie to the most delectable lemon cake I’ve ever had to a warm apple crisp with vanilla ice cream drizzed on top to a strawberry rhubarb pie - and that was just the beginning. It was hard not to do a wide sampling with everyone encouraging, “Oh, you have to try THIS!” I know my story’s not unique, and most of us lose motivation after a day of overdoing it.

Remember - it’s just one day. Don’t let one day of overeating turn into a week, and then a month. This is also true for working out. It’s critically important to abandon that “all-or-nothing” thinking that plagues so many. People believe that if they don’t subject themselves to a full-tilt workout, then they might as well not do anything at all. That’s not the way it has to work. In fact, a moderate but consistent approach is the one you’re more likely to stick with for the long haul.

You’ve heard me say it before, but it’s worth repeating. There are three forms of exercise: formal, functional, and fun.

A lot of attention is given to the formal (weight lifting, running, etc.) and functional (gardening, walking to do errands, etc.). But this time of year, especially when you’re surrounded by family and friends, is the perfect opportunity to practice the third kind of exercise: Fun.

For instance, I was teaching one of my nieces “Cats Cradle” - a string game I used to always play with Kate and Perrie. Playing with this long string led to a discussion about jumproping, and before we knew it, we had the jump ropes out, and I showed her some moves that Michael Olajide taught me as drills for my Aerobox Workout.

Pretty soon, it was time to turn the tables, and the teacher became the student: My niece decided to teach me the newest teen dance craze, The Souja Boy. Now it was my turn to be humbled as I attempted to do my version of “Superman,” and other moves the she did effortlessly, while I barely managed to keep up. Even so, it was good, lighthearted fun, and yes, it counts toward burning those extra Thanksgiving calories.

So look for fun ways to incorporate movement into your day. You won’t have to feel guilty about skipping the gym, and The idea is to inject more activity into your life - and sometimes it’s important to just play and have fun. It keeps you moving, but prevents burnout and boredom. –>

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