Now let us see what would really help you in reducing midriff fat :

Cardiovascular exercises - these are some great exercises for reducing the midriff fat. You could start - of you are not comfortable with such exercises - with simple walking (which by the way is a great cardio exercise). Only remember to keep it brisk and it should cover at least 30 minutes every day. The best time to do it is early in the morning just at the crack of the dawn - but if you cannot do this, you could use any other time. It is important though that you do the exercise at approximately the same time every day.

Weight lifting - another type of exercises that would help you in reducing midriff fat is the weight lifting. This is because these exercises are the best at building muscle and as the muscle is built the fat is burned. In time, the muscle created by the weight lifting would burn the majority of the fat stored in the midriff. This is time taking, but extremely effective method of getting rid of that midriff fat.

Balanced diet - There is a tremendous importance on what you eat if you want to fight and prevent midriff fat. Junk food in particular is responsible for the sudden weight related problems that are so rampant today in the world. This does not mean that you should never touch any type of junk food. Only that you should not make it your staple food. You need to eat a balanced diet - which included not only the right combination of foods, but also in the correct quantities. If you are careful about your overall diet, it is very rare that you would ever suffer from weight related problems. A good diet should contain plenty of green vegetables, fruit and lean protein. The more natural is the food you take, the better for your system.

Proper habits - eating, sleeping, relaxing, working - everything should be done in moderation. It is true that today we live in a highly competitive world where everybody needs to excel at what they do. However, as much as work is important, so it relaxation. You need to eat your meals in time; you need to have at least 6 hours of sleep per night and you need to de-stress your mind and body on a regular basis.

All these in combination would help you get rid of your midriff fat. This is a slow process but it would definitely help you in your endeavor. Remember to be patient and to maintain a basic discipline in your day-to-day life. You should always aim to prevent the midriff fat from building; but if you find yourself with an unwanted tire around your middle start you anti-midriff fat measure today.

Remember, fitness is a journey. Not a destination.

LOVE AMY

Whether we're fretting over that pile of monthly bills or anticipating an exciting change like the birth of a new nephew, the million things we've got going on can leave us all feeling like big balls of stress—and that can wreak serious havoc on our health. But you don't need to turn your life inside out to beat the effects of stress. These quick and easy natural solutions can help you stay mellow in a crazy world.

Drink Tea

Black tea has been shown to have an effect on stress hormone levels in the body. Researchers in England have found that people who drink black tea de-stress more quickly than those drinking a fake tea substitute. Tea contains catechins, polyphenols, flavonoids and amino acids that affect your brain's neurotransmitters and ultimately reduce blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Go Nuts

Next time you feel a bit cracked up, forgo the junk food and snack on some nuts instead. Nuts are typically high in tryptophan and magnesium, two key nutrients that support serotonin production. And almonds are especially high in stress-busting B vitamins, zinc, vitamin E and antioxidants.

Rub Your Ears

"According to Ayurveda, India's 5,000-year-old 'science of life,' there are marma point,like acupuncture points in the ears that correspond to the various parts of the body," says Lissa Coffey, author/producer of the Dosha Yoga DVD. Simply rub the circumference of each ear—right hand on right ear and left hand on left ear—to instantly ease tension.

Take a Whiff

Aromatherapy has calming effects that can tame the tension in no time. Proven stress-reducing aromas include lavender, lemon balm, chamomile and geranium. Carol Duncan, a registered aroma therapist and owner of Massage Central says to place a few drops of essential oils on cotton balls and place them a few inches from fans or heater vents or underneath your car seat. "Each time air passes over the cotton ball, the essential oils are reintroduced to the area," she explains.

Pop a Vitamin C Pill

Researchers at the University of Alabama say that vitamin C reduces the levels of stress hormones in the blood, which may alleviate the body's response to stress. Studies suggest that 1,000 mg of vitamin C is most helpful.

Put on the Pressure

"Self-administer acupressure," suggests Susan Lark MD, a leading authority on integrative medicine and women's health. Put your left finger at the base of your skull, then move it down the width of one finger, and then move it to the left the width of one finger. Position your right finger in the same place on the right side. Press both points for one to three minutes. According to Dr. Lark, a second stress-busting point is located four finger-widths below your kneecap and one finger-width to the outside of your shin. (You should feel a slight indentation.)

Eat Berries

Blueberries, blackberries and other berries contain some of nature's most powerful antioxidants and are jam-packed with vitamin C, making them potent stress-busters. Stress causes the body to release free radicals, highly unstable oxygen molecules that can damage normal cells and antioxidants help to neutralize those harmful molecule

Strike a Yoga Pose

"When we get stressed, we tend to tense up and cave our chest in," says Lissa. She recommends folding your hands as if in prayer behind your back, then pulling your shoulders back, tilting your head back and breathing deeply.

Stretch for Balance

Another move that Lissa suggests is to sit in a chair with your left foot on the floor. Put your right ankle on your left knee and lean forward with a stretch. Hold it as far as you can go, then bend forward a bit more. Repeat on the other side. "This opens up your hips and balances that tensed up muscle feeling," she adds.

Reframe Your Thoughts

"Reframing simply means putting a different context around the situation," says Jay Winner, M.D., author of Take the Stress Out of Your Life. For example, Winner suggests thinking of time spent in a long line as a break from a busy day—a chance to relax your mind or meet someone new like the person standing next to you. A positive spin can counteract the stress-induced physiological changes that wreak havoc on your body.

Crave Complex Carbs

Complex carbohydrates boost serotonin levels and keep a heightened sense of calm and relaxation for a longer period of time. Target carbs include whole-grain foods and cereals such as whole-grain breads, oats and brown rice, as well as legumes such as peas, beans and lentils

Take 10

Brian Jump, multi-day tour sales manager for Arizona Outback Adventures, breaks the tension of his long days by doing 10 jumping jacks, push-ups or anything that gets the blood flowing through the body. "This helps to release endorphins, which are a natural stress reliever," he says.

Laugh Out Loud

According to a University of California, Irvine study, even the expectation of a laugh boosts stress-busting hormones and increases hormones that induce relaxation—an effect that can last for up to 24 hours. Read a comic strip, check out the joke of the day or make funny faces in the mirror until you bust out with a belly laugh.

Eat "Good Mood" Foods

Certain foods contain compounds that may help the body produce mood-boosting neurochemicals. Dr. Lark, who's also author of Dr. Susan Lark's Hormone Revolution, says the following foods have been shown to produce a noticeable calming effect: turkey (high in tryptophan, taurine and B6); pumpkin seeds, spinach and black beans (all high in magnesium); papaya (high in vitamin C); and bananas (high in potassium).

Be in the Moment

Focus on what's right in front of you, using your senses to connect with the environment. Dr. Winner suggests, for example, taking 10 seconds to smell the aroma of the food you're eating and savor its taste. "Take a few steps and let go of thoughts, feeling the ground massaging your feet with each step," he adds.

*content from Women’sDay

LOVE AMY

Fitness is journey, not a destination.

Please consider the environment before printing.

1. Do a Wheeze Check

Untreated asthma leads to 1.8 million ER visits and 4,000 deaths a year.

Asthma can make exercising a struggle and everyday activities a challenge. But it’s often overlooked, especially in adults. In one recent study of more than 4,000 African American men and women, 10 percent had signs of undiagnosed asthma. Experts say that about the same proportion of people over age 65 have the disease without knowing it. “You may think you’re just having breathing problems because you’re getting older,” says researcher Paul Enright, MD, of the University of Arizona. “But don’t downplay it. Undiagnosed asthma can make life more difficult and could even be deadly.”

Home Check

Ask yourself these two questions used to assess respiratory health in a pair of studies involving nearly 27,000 people. The questions are simple, but they can identify 90 percent of people with asthma:

1. Do you wheeze sometimes?
2. Do you experience shortness of breath while you’re exercising or exerting yourself?

Your Next Step

If you answered yes to one or both questions, ask your doctor to check you for asthma, Dr. Enright says. Your physician may prescribe an inhaled asthma medication to see if it helps. Or she may perform what’s known as a spirometry test and, if that signals asthma, an inhalation challenge—both of which help your doctor gauge your lung function.

2. Read Your Palms

Iron deficiency leaves you exhausted and can reduce immunity, but your hands hold a clue.

Iron is your body’s “energy” mineral, grabbing oxygen from every breath you take and delivering it to cells throughout your body. If you don’t have enough, you can develop bone-weary fatigue, concentration problems, even shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat. Unfortunately, deficiencies aren’t uncommon: It’s estimated that 20 percent of women (half of all pregnant women) and 3 percent of men have low iron. “It’s very common to be anemic and not be aware of it, because it comes on slowly and insidiously,” says family practitioner Lloyd P. Van Winkle, MD, at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Home Check

Spread your palm wide. Are the creases pale? “No matter what your natural skin color, unusual paleness of your palm creases, or of your gums and the inside of your eyelids, is a sign of reduced circulation in small blood vessels near the surface of your skin due to low iron,” Dr. Van Winkle says.

Your Next Step

Ask your doctor if you should have a hemoglobin or hematocrit test to check levels of iron-rich hemoglobin in your blood. Your physician should also examine your red blood cells (small and pale could mean trouble). A serum ferritin test, which measures levels of a protein that helps store iron, is good at flagging early signs of iron deficiency.

3. Tap Your Toes

Heart rhythm troubles trigger as many as 20 percent of all strokes. This simple test can help prevent one.

Off-rhythm heartbeats—the flutters and crazy palpitations of atrial fibrillation (AFib)—are responsible for up to 140,000 strokes each year in the United States alone. Seventy percent are fatal. Most could be avoided if it weren’t for the fact that about a third of the estimated 2.2 million Americans with atrial fibrillation don’t realize they have the condition.

“AFib isn’t just the occasional missed heartbeat. You have extremely irregular rhythms,” says Eric Prystowsky, MD, director of the Clinical Electrophysiology Laboratory at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. “The upper chambers of the heart just quiver. That lets blood pool briefly in the heart, which can allow a clot to form. When a beat pushes the blood out, the clot can go right to the brain.”

Home Check

Tap your foot to the rhythm of your pulse (find it by placing a finger on your neck or wrist) for one minute. In several studies, this test alerted doctors to over 90 percent of people with atrial fibrillation, as confirmed by heart monitoring. “If the beat is so irregular that you can’t tap along, relax for an hour and check again,” Dr. Prystowsky says. “If it’s still extremely uneven, mention it to your doctor.”

Your Next Step

After listening to your heart, your family doctor or cardiologist may order an electrocardiogram, which gives a detailed look at how your heart is beating. Some people with atrial fibrillation take blood thinners to prevent a stroke; sometimes other medicines or procedures are needed to control heart rate and rhythm.

4. The Two-Minute Diabetes Q&A

Uncontrolled diabetes doubles your risk of heart disease and shortens life by 10 to 15 years. Here’s how to know if you’re headed for trouble.

Shockingly often, doctors miss opportunities to test people at high risk for diabetes. The result: According to a Centers for Disease Control survey, just 4 percent of people with prediabetes have been told by their doctors that they have the condition. And another 5.7 million are living with undiagnosed diabetes.

So grab a pencil—this self-check is easy, says study author Heejung Bang, PhD, of Weill Cornell Medical College, but it can find nine out of ten people at risk for dangerous blood sugar problems.

Home Check
Circle your answers, then add up the points.
1. How old are you? (Under 40: 0 points; 40–49: 1; 50–59: 2; 60 or older: 3)
2. Are you a woman (0) or a man (1)?
3. Does a family member (parent, brother, or sister) have diabetes? (No: 0; yes: 1)
4. Do you have high blood pressure or are you on medication for high blood pressure?(No: 0; yes: 1)
5. Are you overweight or obese? (Normal weight: 0; overweight: 1; obese: 2; extremely obese: 3)
6. Are you physically active? (No: 0; yes: -1)

Your Next Step

“If your total score is 4 or higher, there’s a good chance you have prediabetes,” Bang says. “If it’s 5 or higher, you’re at high risk for diabetes. See your doctor for a blood sugar test.”

5. Bend and Stretch

Stiff blood vessels make your heart work harder. This low-tech test may help you prevent a heart attack.

Like birthday party balloons, healthy blood vessels are flexible, widening and narrowing as needed throughout the day. But when arteries stiffen—due to aging, extra pounds, a buildup of plaque in artery walls, a sedentary lifestyle, or diabetes—blood pressure rises. And so does your risk for fatal strokes and heart attacks.

Testing for stiffness usually requires high-tech equipment found in research labs. But now you can get a sense of whether your arteries are as supple as a silk stocking—or as inelastic as an old bicycle tire—just by sitting on the floor. In a recent study of 526 women and men, researchers found that those who were the most flexible on a sit-and-reach test also had the most supple arteries, as measured by a pulse-wave pressure test.

What’s the connection? Artery walls are made up of the same components—smooth muscle cells and connective tissue—as the muscles in your hips and back, notes lead researcher Kenta Yamamoto, PhD, of the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. So whatever stiffens one will have the same effect on the other.

Sure enough, there’s some evidence that activities that keep big muscles pliant, such as stretching, may “soothe” nerve activity that also affects artery flexibility. And another recent study found that adults who started a program of regular stretching significantly increased the flexibility of the walls of their carotid artery— the vessel that supplies the brain with blood.

Home Check

Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, toes pointed toward the ceiling. Bend forward from your hips and stretch your arms toward your feet. Try to touch your toes.

Your Next Step

If you can’t reach your toes, you may be at increased risk for arterial stiffness. If you haven’t had your blood pressure checked in the past year, do it now. “You should get your blood pressure checked at least every other year,” Yamamoto says. Adding some stretching exercises to your routine just might limber up your muscles and your arteries, he adds.

6. Measure Your Middle

With an oversize waist, your risk of an early death shoots up—even if you aren’t overweight.

A bulging middle is a signal that you have lots of visceral fat, the thick, yellow fat deep in the abdomen that pumps fatty acids, appetite-stimulating hormones, and inflammation-fueling chemicals into the bloodstream.

In a recent study of 360,000 people from nine European countries, big waistlines predicted disaster even for people who weren’t overweight—increasing the risk of premature death 79 percent for women and doubling it for men. A big middle is particularly hard on the heart, tripling the risk of fatal heart disease in a Harvard School of Public Health study of 44,636 women.

Even so, experts say, doctors frequently fail to measure the waists of normal-weight patients— which means they’re likely to be missing “abs fat” in these otherwise slender patients.

Home Check

Bare your torso and stand in front of a mirror. Circle your waist with a tape measure, then move it down until the bottom of the tape rests at the top of your hip bones. This is the position recommended by the National Institutes of Health. Don’t hold your breath or cinch the tape too tight. Write down your number.

Your Next Step

For men, risk for diabetes and heart disease begins to rise with a reading of 37 inches; a measurement of 40 inches and up is considered high risk. For women, 32 inches is the danger threshold, and 35 inches is high-risk terrain. Best ways to shrink visceral fat? Exercise and a Mediterranean-style diet (plenty of produce, grains, fish, and monounsaturated fat from olive oil and nuts). Because visceral fat is more metabolically active than fat on your hips or elsewhere, it’s actually apt to come off relatively fast as you start to lose weight.

7. The Two-Second Depression Quiz

Depression is bad for your heart, memory, and more.

Television is jammed with commercials for antidepressants. Celebrities from actress Ashley Judd to astronaut Buzz Aldrin have revealed their struggles with gloom. Even so, about 70 percent of America’s 15 million depressed women, men, and children get no help for their condition.

That’s due at least in part to doctors who fumble the ball. When psychiatrist Alex J. Mitchell, MD, of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, analyzed 41 studies involving 50,000 people from around the world (including the United States), he found that doctors missed depression 50 percent of the time. That’s an important oversight, since undiagnosed depression is linked to higher risk for diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic health conditions, plus suicide.

Home Check

It can be tricky to figure out if you’re just a little down or depressed enough to ask for help. But when New Zealand family doctors asked 421 men and women a couple of questions, they spotted 97 percent of those suffering from depression, say researchers from the University of Auckland. The quiz isn’t perfect; like other depression screening tests, it turns up lots of false positives. Consider it a doctor-patient conversation starter:

1. During the past month, have you often been bothered by feeling down, depressed, or hopeless?
2. During the past month, have you often been bothered by having little interest or pleasure in doing things?

You Next Step

“If you answered yes to one or both questions, it’s worth talking with your doctor,” says psychologist Marian R. Stuart, PhD, a professor emeritus at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “The good news is that there’s a lot of help available, including counseling, exercise, gratitude journals, and, if you need them, antidepressants. The first place to go is to your family doctor, who hopefully knows you and the circumstances of your life.”

~peace out~

Here’s what the research says:

Carbohydrate-Rich Dinners (This one works!): A light bedtime snack can stave off hunger, a known sleep robber. But eating quickly-digested carbs (a.k.a, “high-glycemic-index” or “GI” carbohydrates such as jasmine rice) hours earlier at dinner—might also help. A study found that when healthy sleepers ate carbohydrate-rich suppers of veggies and tomato sauce over rice, they fell asleep significantly faster at bedtime if the meal included high-GI jasmine rice rather than lower-GI long-grain rice. The study authors speculated that the high-GI meals triggered greater amounts of insulin, which increased the ratio of tryptophan relative to other amino acids in the blood, allowing proportionately more to get into the brain and make people drowsy.

Warm Milk: Decades ago, scientists looked into this folk remedy and posited that tryptophan, an amino acid in milk (and turkey), might be responsible for its supposed sleep-inducing effects. Earlier research had shown that when tryptophan is released into the brain, it produces serotonin—a serenity-boosting neurotransmitter. But when milk (and other tryptophan-rich foods) were tested, they failed to affect sleep patterns, perhaps because other amino acids in those foods competed with tryptophan to get into the brain. Warm milk at bedtime may be comforting, but it won’t boost sleep-promoting serotonin.

Herbal Tea: Chamomile, lemon balm, hops and passionflower are all touted for their sleep-promoting properties. You’ll often find them in “sleep-formula” tea blends, but unfortunately their effectiveness hasn’t been proven in clinical studies, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Some experts say that these teas may work for some, and a warm liquid before bed may make you sleepy by generating body heat. That said, a cup of “sleep-time” tea might be worth a try.

Caffeine: Caffeine affects everyone differently, so if you’re sensitive it might be worth trying to cut down—or limit caffeine to the morning only. This can mean more than just cutting out a cup of coffee. The major sources of caffeine in Americans’ diets are coffee (71 percent), soft drinks (16 percent) and teas (12 percent) but chocolate is also a source. Our ability to excrete caffeine decreases with age so while you might have tolerated four cups of coffee a day when you were 20, you’ll probably need to cut down as you get older. Cut down on caffeine or limit it to the morning; if insomnia persists, consider going cold turkey.

Alcohol: Though a glass of wine may help you fall asleep, excessive alcohol use can make you wake up in the night. One theory is that alcohol suppresses the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep state that’s critical to a good night’s sleep. Drink moderately, if at all; avoid drinking within a few hours of bedtime.

Sleep Supplements: Shelves in supplement stores are stacked with sleep formulas. According to one survey conducted in 2002, 1.6 million people tried complementary or alternative therapies like these, and over half of them reported their insomnia improved “a great deal.” However, those glowing anecdotes haven’t been backed up by rigorous scientific study; evaluations of most nutritional supplements haven’t shown any effects whatsoever. The one exception is valerian root, which seemed to help improve sleep (with rare, and mild, side effects, such as stomach upset). But finding an effective formulation of valerian root is tricky, since the FDA doesn’t regulate herbal supplements. Don’t waste your money on sleep supplements; hold off on using valerian until standardized formulations become available.

But for me, daily workouts can help you to sleep like a baby at night because that works for me.

LOVE AMY

Of course you knew it's a fruit, or did you?

"a world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins." - Laurie Colwin

You must be a tomato lover if you ended up clicking your way here. Do you eat your tomatoes raw or do you fry them? Or may be you do both. Former is a great health builder and the latter is a killer.

Knowing these tomato facts would let you in on the errors of your eating habits. It's a gastronomy scientific fact that cooking fruits makes it toxic. Tomato is a fruit, cooking it has the same effect - toxicity.

Raw tomatoes = Blooming health

Cooked tomatoes = Acidity, Gout, Hypertension, kidney stone, I am not kidding

In the words of Andre Simon, The Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy

"A cooked tomato is like a cooked oyster: ruined."

Enough with the quotes let get on with the meat (of the article I mean)

Why is tomato a fruit?

Because it has seeds. The scientific definition of a fruit is 'the fleshy or dry ripened ovary of a plant, enclosing the seed or seeds'. Everything you eat which has a seed or seeds is a qualified fruit. Tomato, I hope you noticed, is rife with seeds. That's solves the puzzle of is tomato a fruit, lets proceed..

Stop eating Fried "Killer" Tomatoes

What is it about frying that makes tomatoes toxic? They become extremely acidic. When taken raw tomatoes are alkaline in natural and highly beneficial to health. Upon cooking tomatoes, they become highly acidic and acidify your whole system.

Patients with Gout, a painful disease in which there is crystal formation along the joints, are asked to keep away from cooked tomatoes. Cooked tomato is the main food which causes gout. Increase in the uric acid content, in your body, will lead to problems like gout, hypertension, thyroid problems and kidney problems.

Some of the foods to avoid that causes gout

• Cooked fruits in any form (especially tomatoes)
• Meat
• Fish
• Baked Beans

So keep away from that southern fried green tomato recipe you have been planning to try. Fried green tomatoes or red tomatoes whatever be the recipe, its not good for your health.

Few Tomato Nutrition Facts

• Great source of sulphur, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron
• Contains iodine, zinc and copper
• Great source of Vitamin C along with other vitamins

I have Gout and high blood pressure, can I eat raw tomatoes?

By all means, raw tomatoes are alkaline in nature. Raw tomatoes will not increase the uric acid content in your body the way fried or cooked tomatoes will. Just make sure you avoid eating cooked fruits at any cost. The nutrition facts of a tomato in itself should be a good reason to inculcate it in your vegetable salad everyday.

Let me end with a famous tomato quote

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato"-Lewis Grizzard

I don't know about homegrown tomato, but it better be raw.

Some Other Facts:

Is cucumber a fruit or a vegetable?

It's a fruit folks, believe it or not. It has seeds and so it's a fruits, in the world of science. In real life we call tomatoes and cucumbers vegetables because we grew up hearing our parents say that. It was just a sinister lie that you were told.

By the way I hope you are not frying a cucumber, that's just as toxic.

 LOVE AMY

22. Eat like a kid You don't have to give up that quick lunch if you order smaller portions: Instead of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and large fries, opt for the cheeseburger Happy Meal. You can even play with the toy. Saves 390

23. Recharge yourself Anytime you're waiting in line, stand evenly on both feet, clasp hands behind your back and squeeze shoulder blades together to open your chest, an energizing yoga-based move that stimulates the nervous system. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds while slowly breathing in and out, taking longer on the inhale. Burns 5

On the Home Front

24. Jog for junk mail Turn clutter into a challenge: For every piece of junk mail you pull from the mailbox each day, do one lap around your house or building, or up and down a flight of stairs. Burns 35-140

25. Use better butter No, you don't have to give up the real deal -- instead of a tablespoon of stick butter, use a tablespoon of whipped and cut half the calories. Saves 30

26. Step on it Before you lug those backpacks upstairs, stop and stand on the bottom step for these calf toners. Hold the banister with one hand. Bend your right leg and place the toes of your left foot on the edge of the step. Let your heel drop down, press into the ball of your left foot and rise to your toes. Pause; repeat with each foot for 8 to 12 reps. Burns 10

28. Start with soup Order a clear soup instead of a salad soaked with two tablespoons full-fat ranch and you can save twice the calories. Plus you'll feel fuller, so you'll eat less when the entrée comes. Saves 100

28. Play footsie After dinner, while you're still sitting at the table, extend your right leg out and slowly bend it up and down, squeezing and holding in the up position for at least five seconds. Repeat on each leg five times. Sculpts quadriceps. Burns 10

29. Make perfect pasta Substitute whole-grain pasta for semolina and you'll be satisfied with a smaller portion (1.5 ounces instead of 2). Saves 50. Or use the same amount of oat-bran pasta. Saves 90

30. Climb up! Taking the stairs for a total of just two minutes, five days a week, gives you the same calorie-burning results as a 20-minute walk. Burns 100-140

31. Fill up with fruit Like pie? Here's how you can cave to the craving: Sprinkle fresh fruit -- some cut-up apple, pear or a handful of cherries -- with some Equal, cover and nuke for a minute or so. Tastes just like pie filling. Saves 275

32. Have your cake Pick up an angel food cake for dessert. It's packed with air and has fewer than half the calories of, say, pound cake. Saves 70

33. Ease into evening Sitting with feet uncrossed, grab your wrist and raise your hands above your head to lengthen the spine. Take a deep breath in as you reach and hold the position, breathing slowly in and out for 20 seconds, taking longer on the exhale. Instant relaxation. Burns 5

34. Get your chocolate fix Instead of a candy bar, try a sugar-free, reduced-calorie Jell-O chocolate pudding snack with a squirt of nonfat whipped cream topping. Eat it with a baby spoon to savor it longer. Saves 185

35. Crunch for your clicker The average half-hour TV show has eight minutes of commercials. Make reaching for the remote control worth it: Place it out of reach on the coffee table or, if you're lying down, on the opposite arm of the couch. Every time an ad comes on and you reach for the remote, crunch until the show comes back on; you should reach 100-150 or so. Tones abs. Burns 24 ( I did this J )

36. Lift those hips Before you tuck yourself in, lie on your back on the floor with your legs up on the edge of the bed or a chair. Slowly bend your knees, lifting your hips off the floor. Hold for five seconds, relax and repeat 10 to 12 times. Firms up hamstrings and core. Burns 10

The Weekend

37. Sing a song Go for karaoke and sing out loud. Burns 50 per song.

38. Move it, Soccer Parents! After every quarter of the game, get up from the bleachers and take a lap around the gym or field. Four or five times around a typical one is about a mile. Burns 75

39. Movie time Most people eat 45% more popcorn from large-size containers, so make sure you get only a small and skip the butter, which adds more calories than the popcorn itself. Bring your own seasoned salt or Parmesan cheese for more flavor. i think you can request for this at GSC. Saves 350

40. Orient yourself At Chinese restaurants, be sure to avoid anything named General Tso or Crispy, which means fried. Eat only the filling of the egg roll and not the shell. Saves 400-500

41. Catch this! Spend a half-hour tossing a ball or Frisbee with your kid. Burns 90

42. Cut the cheese Order your pizza with half the cheese or even cheese-less, and then sprinkle with a few tablespoons of Parmesan. Saves 100

43. Fix your fries Rather than asking for medium fries, get an order of onion rings (8 to 9 rings). Saves 60

44. Scream for sorbet Indulge in chocolate sorbet instead of chocolate ice cream. Saves 125

45. Make whoopee Instead of a bowl of ice cream as a bedtime snack, have a robust tussle with your spouse. Burns 300

LOVE AMY