Blog Posts by FITNESS Magazine

Laura Doss/Fitness MagazineBy Chee Gates

You need high-octane fuel for your action-packed day. Gas up and go with our sunup-to-sundown engine-revving plan.

Related: Healthy Habits That Can Zap Your Energy

Wake-Up Call
Good start -- you managed to peel away from your comforter with only minor separation anxiety. Now it's time to snap to it. First order of business? Eat! Or risk going into energy debt later in the day. "A balanced breakfast raises blood sugar, which perks you up, and it also stokes your metabolism -- your body's chemical 'on' switch, which helps you burn calories throughout the morning," says Molly Kimball, RD., sports dietitian at Oschner's Elmwood Fitness Center in New Orleans. To get the biggest bang, build your breakfast from these foods and drinks.

Peanut or Almond Butter on Whole-Grain Toast 

Protein and heart-healthy unsaturated fat are digested more slowly than carbs, releasing a steady stream of energy.

Smoked Salmon with a Scrambled Egg 

The fat fills you up and prevents an energy crash before

Jonathan Kantor/Fitness MagazineBy Amanda Pressner

Yogurt's got power-boosting protein and bone-building calcium. It can also help you lose weight and fend off a cold. Here's the scoop on what it can do -- and how much you should eat.

Related: Cook with Yogurt: Our Favorite Yogurt-Based Recipes

1. Yogurt can give you flat abs.
Eat 18 ounces a day and you can drop a jeans size. People who ate that much -- in conjunction with cutting their total calories -- lost 22 percent more weight and 81 percent more belly fat than dieters who skipped the snack, according to research from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They also retained one-third more calorie-torching lean muscle mass, which can help you maintain weight loss. "Fat around your waist produces the hormone cortisol, which tells your body to accumulate even more belly flab," says nutrition professor and lead study author Michael Zemel, PhD. When you eat yogurt, the calcium signals your fat cells to pump out less cortisol, making it easier for you to drop

Dan Saelinger/Fitness MagazineBy Virginia Sole-Smith

When Gwyneth Paltrow gave up dairy, I rolled my eyes. And when Zooey Deschanel waxes poetic about "g-free" cupcakes, it makes me want to bake some gluten-licious ones stat. In the past few years celebrities have made wheat, dairy, nuts -- you name it -- into public enemies, mostly, it seems, because cutting out these foods helps them fit into their red-carpet dresses.

But I found myself wondering if I'd been too quick to judge when my doctor prescribed an elimination diet after medication failed to get my chronic weekly migraines under control. He told me to give up alcohol, chocolate, and bacon -- in other words, joy -- plus nuts and any foods containing nitrates, sulfites, or MSG for an entire month. I did it and my migraines disappeared. Then I reintroduced these foods one by one. After some trial and error I figured out that red wine, nitrates (in my beloved bacon), and aspartame were my key food triggers.

The experience made me more sympathetic to friends

Laura Doss/Fitness MagazineBy Colleen Moody

Whether you need a break from your usual route or just want to get outside more, trail running is becoming the latest craze to lace up to. According the Special Report on Trail Running 2010 by the Outdoor Foundation in partnership with Montrail, trail running attracted 4.8 million participants in 2009, and the numbers have only increased since. And more than 82 percent of trail runners were roadrunners looking for a new scene.

"Trail running is much more engaging than going for a run on the road," says Stephen Hatfield, REI outdoor programs and outreach manager in Portland, Oregon. "You have a limited corridor so you constantly have to sense what is around the corner and make sure you are fully engaged in what you're doing, as opposed to mentally checking out on a run around the block."

Before you head out for your first trail run, check out this must-know info.

Related: The 15 Best Marathons for First-Timers to Run

Beginner Basics
Before you tackle the trails, newbie trail

Chris Fanning/Fitness MagazineBy Jenna Birch

Drop that spoon! Everyone deserves the occasional indulgence, but before you dig in there are a handful of foods you should steer clear of to avoid damaging effects on your body, skin, and waistline. Here, experts weigh in on 10 foods to push off your plate for good.

Related: 10 Stay-Slim Foods to Stock Your Kitchen With

Frosting
That store-bought frosting from a tub might taste great on cakes and cookies, but it's packed with problems. "It's one of the only items in the grocery store that still has trans fats, which are terrible for your health and waistline," says Melina Jampolis, MD, physician nutrition expert and coauthor of The Calendar Diet. "Trans fat raises bad cholesterol, lowers good cholesterol, and causes inflammation, which can lead to belly fat and diseases ranging from heart disease to diabetes." On top of that, tub frosting is loaded with sugar, and high-sugar diets contribute to premature wrinkles. Yikes.

Bagels
If you're prone to skin problems and

Darren Braun/Fitness MagazineBy Kristina Grish

When aches and pains send you to the doctor's office, you probably don't question the diagnosis. But physicians can be wrong. Up to 15 percent of patients are misdiagnosed, research in the American Journal of Medicine revealed. And more than 150,000 people in the United States suffer preventable harm from an inaccurate diagnosis every year, according to a newly released estimate from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. We asked MD's we trust to tell us which conditions they often see misunderstood and mislabeled in active women. Here are five common mix-ups docs make -- plus how to finally get the right Rx so you can feel better fast.

Related: 7 Habits to Stop Now

You have an urgent need to pee all the time, and when you go, it's uncomfortable. This happens a lot.

Misdiagnosis: Urinary tract infection

What it really is: Painful bladder syndrome (interstitial cystitis)
With this chronic condition, the tissues of the bladder wall become inflamed, resulting

Joseph Montezinos/Fitness MagazineBy Nicci Micco

People tell me that I come across as a confident person. It's true that I have no trouble speaking up at meetings, mingling at parties, even asking for a raise. But those close to me know that the mere idea of navigating a car through Manhattan (or any large city) makes my heart race and my palms sweat. And that I don't go into the ocean past my ankles because, well, sharks are there, waiting. To eat me.

Some people are less prone to panic than I am -- because of their genes or experience or, more likely, a combination of the two -- but everyone experiences fear. This universal emotion registers in a part of the brain called the amygdala, which detects danger and dispatches a "code red" message that results in a cascade of physical symptoms: a racing heart, dizziness, shortness of breath, a dry mouth. You're ready to run. Or fight. Or maybe you freeze.

All three responses served our ancestors, who needed to evade and escape predators. Problem is, our scary situations have

Miko Lim/Fitness MagazineBy Kari Molvar

Whether you run, lift, or are into Spinning, we know you don't let beauty challenges get in the way of a workout -- especially when you're armed with these easy fixes for the biggest skin, hair, and nail bummers that affect active women.

Related: 5-Minutes to Bouncy, Post-Gym Hair

My hair is a frizzy mess after yoga.
Before hitting the mat, mist a dry shampoo, such as Aveeno Pure Renewal Dry Shampoo ($8, drugstores), all around your hairline, including the nape of your neck, where sweat often collects and causes fuzz. If you have supercurly or hard-to-manage hair, comb a light leave-in treatment, like Pantene Pro-V Repair & Protect Overnight Miracle Repair Serum ($6, drugstores), through the ends to seal in moisture and form a barrier against frizz, says Gregory Patterson, a hairstylist for Blow, The New York Blow Dry Bar in New York City. Then pull hair into a high topknot and slip on a mesh head wrap, such as the Lululemon Athletica Bang Buster Headband ($14,