On cold winter days I’m among those of you who yearn to be in a warmer climate.  It’s 25 degrees in downtown Baltimore today and icy sidewalks are creating walking barriers in our normally pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.  I’d rather be in Sarasota, Florida right now where it’s 65 degrees.  Although it would be too brisk to be on the beach in a bathing suit, at least walking outside wouldn’t involve donning multiple layers of clothing and clunky water-proof boots.

After watching a few “House Hunters” episodes and seeing the many remote tropical locations people move to, I realize I wouldn't want to trade my neighborhood’s  

Throughout the year and especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas time, I am thankful for pumpkin puree.  Canned pumpkin is widely available in the U.S. and yet it is not found in many other countries.  When my husband’s relatives visited us from England, I was surprised that they had never seen canned pumpkin before. 

American farmers harvest specific pumpkin varieties that are better for making canned puree than the large pumpkins grown for Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns.  I stuff and bake small decorative pumpkins for dinner and reach for canned pumpkin when it’s time to bake a pumpkin pie or make pumpkin bread. 

A number of years ago before giving a fitness presentation to a group of public health professionals, I asked a small group of attendees what physical activity barriers they faced.  One woman spoke of how she had been active during the spring, summer, and early fall.  She walked daily after work and biked with her family on the weekends.  “Everything was great until the clocks changed and it was dark by the time I got home from work,” she lamented.  “Now I’m just waiting for more daylight and warm weather so I can start my evening walking routine again.”  I think of her whenever daylight saving time ends as it will this Sunday, November 3... 

On October 24, America will celebrate Food Day 2013, the nationwide movement for healthy, affordable, sustainable food. Food Day aims to:

• Promote safer, healthier diets
• Support sustainable and organic farms
• Reduce hunger
• Reform factory farms to protect the environment and farm animals
• Support fair working conditions for food and farm workers

This Be Well blog supports Food Day throughout the year by promoting healthy eating, safe food handling, and basic cooking skills...

Kayak is my favorite palindrome and time spent kayaking is one of my preferred forms of outdoor physical activity.  Kayaking allows you to view extraordinary natural beauty in remote shallow waters that are inaccessible using other watercraft.  Once you find a good stream, river, or bay “put in” you’ll be able to travel into aquatic areas that many boaters miss, including places with water depths less than one foot.

You’ve probably heard the old joke about the two happiest days in a boater’s life - the day they purchase a boat followed by the day they sell it.  That may be true about owning certain boats and yet, in my opinion, small watercraft including kayaks are an exception...

My father lived until his early 90s and was my wellness role model.  He maintained a healthy weight measured by the fact that the suit he wore on his wedding day fit him throughout his life.  A former high school and college athlete, he continued regular physical activity until his late 80s.  Dad controlled his portions by performing what he claimed was the most important exercise – pushing yourself away from the table. 

I remember that he enjoyed snacking on nuts and yet, because he was mindful of their high caloric content, he would only have a handful saying how much he enjoyed them as long as he didn’t eat too many.  We could all benefit by adopting his healthy approach to nutrition and physical activity…

When Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin said she couldn’t recall a time that she didn’t love being in the water, I knew exactly how she felt.  Of all the physical activities that I've participated in, none offer the same level of joy that I feel during and after swimming.  As a child I constantly begged my parents and older siblings to take me to a swimming pool, pond, or lake where I swam until my finger tips resembled prunes.  Although my first teen job was teaching swimming, I never took formal lessons or had the opportunity to swim competitively.  Maybe the lack of competition is why I still enjoy the sport as much as I do today.

Swimming improves physical health and it keeps me balanced emotionally. I've overcome some seemingly insurmountable problems lap swimming.  The rhythmic breathing necessary to swim freestyle evens out any emotional turmoil I’m experiencing.  By the time I’ve finished swimming a mile in the morning, worries tend to roll off of me for the rest of the day like water off a duck’s back...  

Once I get started eating sugary foods I crave them more and more. I’ve found that one way to lower my sugar consumption is to wait until late in the day and only eat a few small portions of sweetened foods.  If I skip lunch time desserts and bypass afternoon candy cravings my overall sugar intake is reduced by only having something sweet after dinner. 

There are plenty of reasons to eat less sugar (e.g., it’s addictive; it’s bad for your heart; it increases the risk of certain cancers). After watching the 60 Minutes Sugar Expose featuring Drs. Sanjay Gupta and Robert Lustig and reading more about hidden sugars in the book Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss, I decided it was time to pay closer attention to added sugars in foods and beverages.  Looking at breakfast cereal choices seemed like a good place to start…

Years ago during an American Council on Exercise conference, I was amused to find many of my colleagues riding escalators and shunning the adjacent set of stairs at the conference venue.  After opening day, an exercise researcher placed a large sign at the base of an escalator that read, “Be A Role Model, Use The Stairs!”  That point-of-decision prompt was all it took to get the majority of conference attendees off the escalator and onto the stairs...

A few weeks ago my husband and I ate at our favorite Indian restaurant.  Lunch is served buffet-style and that allows customers to sample several different dishes from their wonderful cuisine.  The drawback is that, well it’s a buffet and that means there are many ways food safety can be compromised.  If the lunch service starts at 11:30 for example, I wonder when the restaurant staff put food on the buffet table and whether the food will be held at safe temperatures during the entire lunch period.

Buffet Rule #1: Go early...