Thanks to a promotional subscription during the Austin Marathon, our apartment is littered with fitness magazines. From Men’s Health to Fitness, I have a gigantic pile of literature focusing on achieving that “perfect” body.

All social criticisms aside, I do enjoy skimming these rags for new food recipes or additional workout recommendations. But, let’s be honest, I don’t need +3 subscriptions to essentially read same information.

So, I tried to boil down my my favorites. For pure fitness recommendations and grade-A overall health consciousness, I find Fitness and Self magazine to be most informative. I mean, who doesn’t want tips to that perfect body in less than 30 days?

Luckily, the great city of Austin has some really great local fitness magazines as well. I absolutely enjoy reading Austin Fit. If I see it at a local store, I’ll almost always pick up a copy. I highly suggest picking up the latest version which has some great bikini motivations. Plus, it’s free!

Additionally, all of these magazines have a presence online. And a lot of them even include some sort of registration and fitness challenge. These include videos, online diaries and “personal” fitness tips. If you’re part of one, let us know what you think!

Being a lover of all things fashion I’m very familiar with trends.  But these fleeting fits of popularity are not restricted to just the latest styles, they can also be found in the health, nutrition, and exercise industry.  One of the latest fads to return to the spotlight is the organic movement.  It seems that every time I turn around I’m seeing another article or ad touting the greatness that is organic and all natural foods.

Considering my recent decision to go au natural, it seems only natural that I would take a trip to a local farmers market to kick off my healthy new lifestyle.  So I did just that on Sunday.  After having a fabulous (and even organic) brunch with Kristine, Andrew and Cesar at Blue Dahlia, we headed a few blocks over to HOPE Farmers Market.

This adorable market nestled in the Eastside (ironically in the same field where we were up to no good a month ago at Fader Fort during SxSW) lures you in with organic offerings from local vendors.  Maybe it’s the natural setting or the return to the simplest form of presentation (aka a booth), but the foods manage to look and smell more vibrant and fresh at a farmers market.  The colors are brighter, the leaves of lettuce are bigger, and the smell of strawberries waft at you.

Not only can you find produce, but there’s organic chocolate, fresh salsa, and even tamale’s at HOPE Market.  If you don’t have an appetite, then check out the live band playing in the warehouse or peruse the local jewelry and vintage clothing vendors.  There’s something for everyone here…seriously.  Oh, and bring your dog too!

I can’t wait to check out the other Austin markets to see what they have to offer.  Here’s a list of a few of them so you can discover the wonderful world of farmers markets too:

• Austin Farmers Market at the Triangle, Downtown, and Sunset Valley
• Westlake Farmers Market
• Travis County Farmers Market

Just saw this one someone’s Facebook profile. For all of you Austin Yoga lovers, enthusiasts or wannabes..looks like you can fit in a session during your lunch break.

This is a great mid-day break! And, if you’re downtown, very convenient. The yoga sessions will be lead by Yoga Yoga instructors. Plus, it’s FREE.

When: Every Wednesday beginning April 7-28

Time:  12-1pm

Where: Republic Square Park (Downtown Austin)

Sometimes it pays to live in the South — other times, not so much.

In the November 2009 issue of Self, they took a look at the 100 Healthiest Places for Women. The further you go down the list, the less healthy the women in that particular location are.

Unless you count Washington D.C/Virgina area , Raleigh, NC or Palm Beach as the Deep South (so, yummy home cooking), the first Southern location on there is Austin.

Granted, their rational for ranking is a little whack. It’s based off of a few numbers like:

• The number of individuals who die of cancer
• The smoke rate among women
• The cleanliness of water
• Fatal car accidents (?? how does that make a place more healthy? Safer, yes. Healthy, no. You could be the healthiest person in the world and still get into a car wreck.)
• How many ob/gyns per capita
• Access to birth control and abortions (?? Once again, how does this make a place “healthy”? Just because I can get an abortion if I want to doesn’t make me — or my city — any less healthier than one that does)

In my opinion, the rankings should have also included:

• Number of public parks/trails
• Number of local gyms/YMCA programs
• Obesity rates among adults and children
• Health-related school programs
• City-sponsored fitness/health programs

At the end of the day, it seems like an arbitrary list (I would love to see how they did the ranking process). I mean, look at the description for San Francisco. One of the reasons is that you sleep better in San Francisco. Uh, really? Never discount shut-eye, as it is an important bodily function, but geebus. I sleep great every night and I attribute that to my Tempur-Pedic bed, not the city I live in.

I’m not entirely shocked about Dallas (#69) and Houston’s (#79) ranking. AND super not surprised by the San Antonio (#87) or El Paso’s ranking. The Tex-Mex in those towns alone makes it worth it to die of a heart attack at the age of 30. OMG, queso. Mmmmm.

Point is, there are several things you can do to lead a healthier life — despite where you live. Let’s run through them really quick:

• Eat Well. In my opinion, this is the most important thing you can do for yourself. If you didn’t work out, you can still be relatively healthy if you ate nothing but fruits, vegetables and lean meats. But because we don’t, you also need to…
• Work Out. Opinions vary with every new report that comes out, so I’ll just tell you what I try to do: I do some type of cardio exercise (get my heart rate above 130) for an hour three times a week. It’s hard to do, but makes up for the @fatroll fails I have when not eating well.
• Go to the doctor regularly. That means an annual physical (get your blood work done peeps), an annual visit to the dermatologist (especially if you have fair skin), twice-yearly visits to the dentist, and a once-a-year check-up with the OB/GYN. Don’t have insurance or can’t afford those visits? Your city (and the City of Austin) has programs available to help you find affordable solutions.
• Be smart. We can all be pretty dumb (I definitely have my moments), but try to avoid the following: drinking alcohol often (it can make you fat and in large quantities is bad for you), visiting tanning beds (I need to beat down my 18-year-old self… fair is fab people!) and read articles on the latest trends around eating and exercising (you may find that you can eat more for fewer calories and do more for your muscles in less time).
• Pass it on. One of the reasons I love this site is that we’ve motivated other people to do analyze how they live their lives. I call it good karma, which means I can enjoy a brownie now and again. Did you recently start living a healthier life? Share it with  your family and friends — especially those that need extra encouragement to do the same. They’ll thank you later, and you can enjoy that brownie knowing you did your part.

So, that’s it. Regardless of what town you live in, do your part and spread the good @fatroll karma to someone else.

Saw this sign last night as we were walking back from dirty sixth..fantastic!

Like Jenni conveniently pointed out last week, so begins the new academic school year. And, for the first time in over four years, I rejoin Longhorn nation as a graduate student.

Overall, it will be a different experience. I won’t have the naive aura of a freshman, a long standing boyfriend and a body of an 18 y/o. I don’t live in Jester, won’t eat in the cafeteria or attempt keg stands (ok, not all the time). I have no intention of frequenting the Union or Wendy’s for every meal. And, I totally plan on abusing my rights at Gregory gym.

But let’s not be hasty and ignore the fact that I’m back to a very irregular schedule. With classes, writing, reading, Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) meetings, consulting, TA-ing and general life, I will no longer operate on a 9am to 5pm schedule. And, this is where I for see my greatest downfall.

Stress eating, late night eating, inconsistent exercise routines are the exact pitfalls Jenni points out in her post.

Not to mention the first rule of thumb of every graduate student is to find the free food. Hey, we’re poor. What did you expect it to be? For example, I’ve already had two types of pizzas, bagels, coffee and will be consuming BBQ twice as a result of free “event” food.

I’m hoping I don’t have to take another trip to lose all of this theoretical weight gain. A bit older and hopefully a little wiser, I have confidence in not gaining that freshman 15 or 20 or 30..

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