The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is making it easier for consumers to read food labels. With a quick stop at a website called Make Your Calories Count, we can all learn how to better decipher and truly understand the numbers we find printed on the back of food items.

The FDA interactive site, featuring a cartoon character called Labelman, provides consumers with information related to healthful diets and calorie management. There are exercises, quizzes, and a training module available for download and printing.

The program, which presents two nutrients that should be limited (saturated fat and sodium) and two that should be consumed in adequate amounts (fiber and calcium), may be just the resource we need in our pursuits of better health and disease prevention.

Calorie counting may be a bit tedious for some -- like me -- but for others, it may be just the ticket for the management of weight and overall health.

Charles Stuart Platkin, author of the new book The Diet Detective's Count Down, takes calorie counting one step further and offers the exercise equivalent of a nutritional label.

His 341-page book offers charts that detail the number of calories, fats, and carbohydrates in more than 7,500 foods and drinks and then translates these details into what it takes, in terms of minutes, to burn the calories with walking, running, biking, swimming, yoga, or dance.

Platkin, a syndicated nutrition and fitness columnist, says he is not trying to encourage people to count every calorie consumed in a day and to exercise until each calorie melts away. His goal is to help those who exceed their daily calorie budget -- the number of calories they can eat each day without gaining weight.

The Count Down goes like this -- you consume one martini at your New Year's celebration, pushing you beyond your allotted calories for the day. All you have to do is walk it off the next day in a mere 71 minutes. Or you can run it off in just 39 minutes. If a single cracker with one slice of Genoa salami and cheese tempts your palate, go for it -- then plunge into a 55-minute yoga class.

Before taking a stab at the diet detective's approach, there are several considerations to take into account. First, the book is based on a 155-pound person. A person carrying more weight would burn more calories per minute, and a person carrying less weight would burn less. Second, a person's basal metabolic rate (BMR) must be calculated -- Platkin offers formulas for this task -- so it's clear how much activity output is required by each person. And third, the exercise equivalents are based on scientifically researched metabolic equivalent tables that try to measure what is being burned versus a person's resting metabolic rate. So this is not just a crazy gimmick. It's science -- with a touch of personal perspective too.

Platkin, clinically obese for most of his life, lost 50 pounds a few years ago and came to realize that people just don't know what a calorie is. He wishes the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) would include exercise recommendations on food labels and says, "I think that we are so confused in general as a population as to what's healthy and what's not, we confuse the term healthy with low-calorie. Sometimes they don't mesh. There's so much confusion out there that I think that it needs to be more defined. We need to have some sort of reference points so that people can make decisions before they consume."

Until the FDA delivers on Platkin's wish, he is taking matters into his own hands for those who choose to borrow from his wisdom.

Some of his wisdom includes eating calorie bargains (air-popped popcorn) instead of calorie rip-offs (potato chips) and substituting mustard for mayonnaise on a burger -- it will save 2,000 calories per month for someone who eats fast food three times per week.

Platkin's hope is simple -- he wants people to ask themselves whether certain foods are worth the cost. Is it worth a 54-minute run to burn the 510 calories in a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese? How about a 144-minute walk to rid yourself of a Subway six-inch Meatball Marinara sandwich?

It's a worthy hope, I think -- although this method is still a bit tedious for me. I think I will stick with my own formula -- eating moderate portions of what I enjoy and intensely exercising several times per week. I don't need to know how many calories I am consuming. I don't even need to know how much I weigh. As long as my clothes fit and my fitness routine keeps me sweating, I'll be a happy girl.

A Phase III clinical trial will study whether using the CellSearch test can help physicians determine more quickly whether a woman's advanced breast cancer is responding to chemotherapy treatment.

The National Cancer Institute will study whether women with metastatic breast cancer that have elevated levels of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) after their first chemotherapy treatment can live longer by changing to a different chemotherapy regimen immediately rather than waiting until their disease progresses.

An earlier study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggested that the presence of CTCs may help doctors determine the aggressiveness of a women's breast cancer. For example, a blood sample that contains fewer than five CTCs may indicate a cancer that will be slower to spread; a blood sample with five or more CTCs may suggest a cancer more likely to progress quickly.

The test CellSearch measures the number of circulating tumor cells in a sample of blood. Many women affected by metastatic breast cancer undergo initial chemotherapy to fight the cancer. In most cases, the women will receive a specific treatment until the cancer begins to progress. Researchers hope that by measuring the CTC count before a women begins treatment and following it over time, they may be able to determine whether the treatment is working before symptoms of progression appear.

These unique cards were developed by Denae Boromei Ottmann. Sadly, Denae passed away on December 13, 2006, at thirty six years old. She leaves behind her husband and four month old daughter. Denae took an active role in multiple organizations such as the Young Survival Coalition, The Cancer Institute, and was a guest speaker at multiple breast awareness campaigns.

Denae was the fourth generation in her family to receive a breast cancer diagnosis. She was diagnosed at the age of thirty two. She says she developed the chemo cards with one specific goal in mind: to make your friend or loved one smile during the difficult journey of chemotherapy

A series of six greeting cards are designed to provide support and encouragement. Several cards also include a fill-in space where you can count the number of remaining treatments.

Bounty -- the Quilted Quicker Picker-Upper -- is celebrating its 40th birthday and in celebration of this milestone is giving $500,000 to charity.

Bounty's promotion of this charity give-away takes the form of Cards That Count, inspired by three charitable organizations -- the American Cancer Society, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. -- and created with Chandra Wilson of Grey's Anatomy who says she strives to teach her three children about the importance of giving back.

Wilson's children -- and all of us -- can give back by helping Bounty decide how to distribute their $500,000 birthday gift. Just send one of the Cards That Count, and Bounty will allocate donations based on the percentage of e-cards sent in support of each charity. Choose from birthday cards, all-occasion cards, or create your own specialized card -- and cast your vote for the charity of your choice by sending a card that really does count.

Chemotherapy can cause anemia. Anemia is characterized by low levels of circulating red blood cells. These red blood cells are responsible for bringing oxygen to the tissues throughout our body.

I saw a commercial during my chemotherapy treatments for Procrit, a drug that can increase the body's red blood cell count. It showed an older woman running in an open area towards her grandson. I immediately thought to myself "I want some of that stuff!" I was getting worn down from my treatments and feeling very tired and had hardly any energy.

During a chemotherapy session I met a woman who said that she gets the Procrit shots. I asked her "how does it make you feel?" She answered "Well, I'm not running through any fields like that lady on the commercial." It was SO funny! I was LUCKY enough that my red blood cell count got low enough so I could try it. She was right. It didn't give me that boost of energy that I thought I would get but I think it just made me feel a bit more like my normal self.

Here I was looking for some fun! jeez.