Today, my oldest child begins first grade. I can't tell you how sad and happy this makes me. I'm sad because I realize my first baby boy is truly on his way to growing up. School has him now; I don't. I can't help but predict he will need me less and less as he takes on the world in his own independent way. This makes me happy too. I am eager to see how he fares on his own, how he develops, grows, and soars. And I must admit, I am pretty thrilled about having five mornings per week all to myself -- my youngest little boy begins school today too.

On Friday, we went to six-year-old Joey's elementary school for a meet-the-teacher event. Joey was right at home. He sat at his assigned desk, did a little drawing, and snuggled up in a pile of pillows in the reading corner. I felt right at home too, after reading a parent memo about public school physical education.

Fitness has become an everyday ritual for me. Along with eating right, it's my weapon for staying healthy and keeping cancer far away. I want this same ritual for my boys. It looks like Joey will get to embrace this way of life not only at home but while in the care of his teacher too.

In this Worthy Wisdom series, I have been spouting off all sorts of grand ideas about health and healing, diet and nutrition, exercise and fitness. What I share all comes from Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. I spent four days there. I plan to spend a lifetime practicing what their experts preach.

Canyon Ranch worked for me. I bought into every one of their healthy living approaches and for the two months since I've departed this desert destination, I've done just about everything right -- the eating, the exercising, the de-stressing. And as I sit here eating a bowl of red raspberries instead of a bag of chips and handfuls of M&Ms, I think it's only fair I make a confession.

I've made many attempts at changing my lifestyle. I've gone without sweets several times in my life, only to later reintroduce them into my daily routine and inevitably go way overboard on my consumption. The same goes for soda. There have been times when I've obsessed about exercise. And times when I've let it go altogether. My stress levels have been up and down and all around. I've searched long and hard for the motivation to change, to do better, be better, feel better. It took cancer to push me over the edge, toward positive and long-lasting change.

It's my boys who distract me most from exercise. That's just the way it is. They're kids. They have needs and wishes and demands that keep me busy from sun-up to sun-down. It's hard to find time for fitness. I don't go to a gym. I prefer to use my own treadmill, walk the seven hills in my neighborhood, run outdoors, and conduct my scrunching, pushing, lunging, squatting, and resisting in the privacy of my own home. I don't have a gym membership with free childcare offerings or a list of babysitters who will come to my rescue when I need to huff and puff. I have me, my kids, and the hours in the day, though. And I am trying desperately at fitting fitness in.

Today, after enduring what seemed like endless little-boy fighting and tormenting, I determined my guys needed a workout just as much as I did. I threw them in the car. I threw their scooters, a big wheel, and a football in the car too. We drove to a nearby community college track, unloaded ourselves and our gear, and got to work. I ran two miles. And six-year-old Joey and four-year-old Danny scooted, pedaled, walked, ran, climbed a pile of dirt, and threw their football until their faces were splotchy from the heat, their little bodies zapped with fatigue.

Our whole fitness feat took no more than one hour and ended as we guzzled water and poured our sweaty selves back into the car. Back home, I felt so much better about my day. And I was better equipped for the fighting that continued as soon as we walked in the door.

I write a lot about exercise. That's because it's clear the practice prevents all sorts of illness and disease, including cancer, and I think you should know all about it. I also write so much about the topic so the health lessons pertaining to physical fitness sink deep into my brain because I, like everyone else, need a reminder now and then about how importance it is to stay fit. So, here I am, back with another morsel about this noble endeavor we call exercise.

Think about this:

Making a habit out of exercise may help you stick with a routine you find hard to keep. It can be hard -- to create a ritual in an already-hectic schedule -- but it's possible. Experts suggest piggybacking any desired behavior, like exercise, with already firmly-established tasks. Perhaps you can forgo a shower until you have exercised for the day or watch TV only after you've mastered some endurance training on the treadmill. How about turning a nightly stroll with your dog into a brisk power walk -- this workout will benefit not only yourself, but your pet too. Maybe huff and puff a bit every evening before dinner. Reward yourself with a refreshing fruit salad after every strenuous workout. You get the drill. Now get those tennis shoes on and give it a go!

Source: Canyon Ranch Connection, Spring 2007

While visiting Tucson's Canyon Ranch health and wellness resort, I spent a few hours with a fitness instructor who evaluated my body composition, flexibility, muscle strength, and cardiovascular performance. After offering me a grade in each of these areas -- my muscle strength was average, for example; my cardiovascular performance very good -- he gave me all sorts of tips and techniques for reaching a high level of fitness. He armed me with a variety of options, and I now have a solid collection of exercises in my bag of tricks. One thing I don't have in my bag, however, is a need for a lot of fancy equipment or gear.

This fitness instructor told me he once knew a college football player who had the most gorgeous body he'd ever seen. He'd picked up not one weight in his pursuit of such beauty. He merely used his own body.

We are everything we need to get fit. Our bodies are tools. We can use them to do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, dips, squats, lunges, wall sits, planks. We can walk, run, sprint, jump, balance, and more. We need nothing more than our own body weight, really, to achieve greatness. So before you go out and spend a fortune on weights and bands and balls and other contraptions, try using what you've got -- yourself.

Thanks Canyon Ranch for the inspiring fitness wisdom.

I'm trying to keep breast cancer away. I've had it once, and I really don't want it again. So I am committing myself to all strategies for keeping the disease out of my life -- like eating right, maintaining a normal weight, not drinking, not smoking, and as of yesterday, exercising strenuously.

New research shows strenuous exercise is what it takes to minimize the risk of breast cancer. Not moderate. Strenuous.

OK, I'm on board.

Now I've been a student of moderate fitness for most of my life. But now I'm embracing this new approach, this new way of pushing my body to its near limits. I figure if my choice is cancer or strenuous exercise, I better take the route that will leave me sweating and huffing and puffing, not sick and weak and bald. And so yesterday I took my first stab at what I will try to do at least five hours per week -- what experts say it takes to make a difference.

It all started with a warm-up lap on my treadmill -- just one lap at 4.5 miles per hour. Then I upped my speed to 5.3 and ran for a mile and a half. I continued running for another half mile at 6 miles per hour and then began walking again. I started at incline 1 for one minute, then moved to incline 2 for one minute, then incline 3 for one minute, and so on until I reached incline 10. My goal was to then continue walking while decreasing the incline each minute for ten minutes -- but I was so out of breath and fatigued, I jumped the incline down to 4 for one minute, then did 3 for one minute, 2 for one minute, 1 for one minute, and then I stopped. The whole process took about 40 minutes and left me soaked with sweat and gasping for air. Then, just in case my workout wasn't strenuous enough, I did 20 push-ups, a handful of sit-ups, and a few other floor exercises before heading to the shower.

So that's my version of strenuous. Now, I don't plan to do this same exact routine for all five hours I must complete each week, but I do intend to sweat and huff and puff just as much as I did yesterday. Because if strenuous is what it takes to ward off evil cancer cells, then I'm game.

Regular. Strenuous. Exercise. Memorize these three words. Live these three words. And abandon all thoughts of a fitness routine that is easy, moderate, or periodic.

Brisk walking, golf, and volleyball are considered moderate forms of exercise. Swimming laps, aerobics, and running are considered strenuous. And these are the activities we should be taking part in -- for the rest of our lives -- if we really truly wish to prevent breast cancer.

A new study, published in the February 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, shows women with a long-term history of engaging in strenuous exercise for more than five hours per week were 20 percent less likely to develop invasive breast cancer and 31 percent less likely to develop in situ breast cancer than those logging less than 30 minutes of strenuous exercise per week.

It seems strenuous exercise most affects estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer. But clearly, everyone can benefit from vigorous fitness training -- the American Cancer Society recommends moderate to strenuous exercise five days per week for at least 30 minutes each day -- and this is exactly why I am headed out for a run. Today!

I just took the Great American Health Challenge -- an on-line quiz offered by the American Cancer Society -- and after just a few minutes of answering a few questions about my age; weight; height; family history; and eating drinking, smoking, and exercise habits, up popped my very own Health Action Plan.

My plan was quite revealing and listed both the good and not-so-good facts about my lifestyle.

I learned that my weight is normal -- whew! -- and that I seem to have an active enough fitness routine. More is always better, though, I was informed. I digested the fact that I don't eat enough whole grains and probably need more low-fat dairy in my diet. I was commended for not smoking and not drinking. And I was encouraged to limit sugars because they are high in calories and low in nutritional content.

My plan came to me ready to print so I can take it to my next medical appointment where my physician can help guide me toward healthier living.

American Cancer Society experts say the Great American Health Challenge can help those who take it to lower their risk of cancer. Get checked, get moving, nourish your body, and quit smoking, they say.

It only takes five minutes to get started. So click here and start now.

I like to exercise. I like the challenge, the sweat, the mental release, the physical results, the time to myself. I like everything about it -- practically.

What I don't like about exercise is the pressure to accomplish the feat over and over again for the rest of my life. For years, the pressure I put on myself was palpable. I thought about exercise all the time. I stressed about what to do and when to do it. I fought to convince my kids to climb into a double stroller long after they were too big to sit comfortably in the wobbly contraption and when I found time to exercise all by myself, I struggled with an overwhelming desire to spend quality time with my little boys. I felt rushed to complete my workouts -- because my kids were waiting, dinner was waiting, work was waiting.

I was faithful about exercising -- even through treatment for cancer -- because of my self-induced pressure and despite the stress and worry it caused me. And then something happened.

It was probably a combination of cancer and my relentless push for physical fitness that caused my body to crash. I became tired and exhausted and could barely lift my legs to walk up the neighborhood hills I typically conquered with ease. My oncologist told me to stop, to give my body a break, to let go of my high expectations. He advised me to exercise two to three times per week -- and that's it.

It took some time but I have finally embraced this approach. I have abandoned schedules and routines and plans and I now exercise when I can, when it fits into my day, when I really want to do it. My fitness trainer friend Fitz, a new blogger on That's Fit, wrote in one of her first posts that we should all stop trying to get fit -- and we should just do it. "Don't wake up tomorrow with the idea of trying to go for a jog," she says." "Get up and go for a jog! Put it in your planner and make it happen."

Fitz might not like my approach, but I have stopped putting exercise on my planner. For me, this works. It takes away the pressure, the stress, the worry. It gives me peace to confront each day free of exercise anxiety. It makes me happy to tackle exercise on my own terms, without some preconceived notion of what I should be doing.

I should share something else about myself. I am a perfectionist. I want everything to be just right. As child, I tore up drawings that may have had one stray mark. I wouldn't leave my house for school until my ponytails were flawless. My house is clean and neat, my toenails are pedicured and painted, my hair is styled just so. Perfectionism, sometimes just a step away from obsession, can be an unhealthy practice. And for me, exercise was becoming an emotionally unhealthy endeavor.

I am confident my perfectionist tendencies will keep me in the exercise loop for all of time. Just knowing I need exercise will propel me to conform. But I must say that I am so relieved to have let go of some of my exercise burden.

I like exercise. I really like it. And today, when I ran three miles -- because I had the time and felt up for the task -- it was refreshing, empowering, cleansing. I think it's the lack of pressure that allowed me to lose myself in the moment today. For me, letting go of exercise has lightened the load.

As evidence mounts, it's becoming more and more clear that chemo brain, a mental fogginess that can result from chemotherapy, is a real concern and not just a convenient excuse cancer patients use to explain away their flighty and forgetful tendencies. It seems the brain really can suffer cognitive damage from the poisonous drugs that fight off deadly cancer cells. And sometimes, this damage is present years after treatment.

Add to chemo brain the normal aging process as well as brain conditions such as mild cognitive impairment and even schizophrenia and the brain might not stand a chance of ever remembering anything. Unless we buy into the new concept of mental training -- somewhat like physical fitness training -- in which case we may be able to bring back a level of sharpness to our lives.

Research suggests this type of training may delay mental decline. And Betty Hall, 85, who is taking a brain fitness class at her senior living complex in Illinois, says brain-enhancing activities are definitely helping her.

Hall is participating in an eight-week program where she spends one hour per day, five days per week using a computer to match words and listen for details in stories. She says it's helping her remember where she places her keys and her grocery lists -- and it's even helping her in her bridge club.

"I've won four times out of the last five at bridge club, and I think the players are going to shoot me because I keep remembering the cards people have," she said. "It's much easier for me to concentrate . . . and I brag about it everywhere I go."

One clinical professor of neurology says brain health programs will explode over the next few years because of the stunning findings on this front. One study shows relatively short training regimens, lasting just five or six weeks, improve functioning for as long as five years. And booster sessions help advance these gains. Study participants says their everyday tasks, like managing finances, are much easier after mental workouts. Another study of the computer software Hall uses shows the program shaves an average 10 years off the mental age of users.

Not all mental training is alike, and different cognitive difficulties may call for different training protocols. But the simple fact that I can work out my brain like I can work out my body gives me hope that I can possibly reverse the effects of chemotherapy on my own foggy brain, that I can one day not worry anymore that I might find my check book in the refrigerator and my cell phone in my sock drawer. Bring on the workouts!

Thanks to Bev, my brainy friend, for this story tip!

The January 2007 issue of Reader's Digest is full of little tidbits of health news. Like how patients are losing patience with hospital emergency rooms.

In an effort to cut the waiting time for ER patients -- the average wait time is three hours and 42 minutes -- some hospitals are offering incentives. One Ohio hospital is giving $25 gift cards to those made to wait longer than 30 minutes. Patients at three Virginia hospitals get a pair of movie tickets if they are not treated in 30 minutes, and a Nevada hospital is cutting fees for those who are not seen by a nurse within 15 minutes of arrival. The incentives appear to be working. One hospital cites a new wait average of 23 minutes and new patient satisfaction score of 90 percent.

In other Reader's Digest news, it is reported that people who weigh themselves daily as part of a diet and fitness routine are more likely to regain lost pounds than those who avoid the scale. And in another news brief, information about the transnasal esophagoscopy (TNE) is shared.

The TNE is an esophageal cancer screening procedure worth some attention. Few know about it's merits yet it may be a tool allowing earlier detection of a cancer often caught too late. It's a less risky procedure than tests requiring sedation, and the whole process is quite simiple. It merely involves numbing of the nose and insertion of an endoscope and tiny camera through the nostrils so pictures of the esophagus can be taken. This test is not recommended for symptom-free individuals -- just for those with a persistent cough or hoarseness, which are early signs of the disease.

There's more where all this comes from -- hiding among the pages of this month's Reader's Digest. So take a peek -- try a visit to www.rd.com -- because you're likely to find something geared just for you.

Lance Armstrong has a commercial airing in which he stares into the camera and says, "Remember me cancer? You made me who I am today." Jane Younce, who writes a community column for The Noblesville Ledger, has shared some of the lessons she has learned as an ovarian cancer survivor.

As she reflects on the last year, and looks forward to the new one, Younce writes:

• I've learned in the last year that bald is beautiful and people love you with or without hair.
• I've learned that my illness brought out so many friends I didn't even know I had.
• I've learned that there are no "do-overs" in life, so you should make the most of every day.
• I've learned that my best friends don't have to say a word about my illness; they just have to be there and hold your hand through the tough times.
• I've learned that real love, not the stuff you see in movies or on soap operas, is my husband telling me I look beautiful while I am bald and vomiting.
• I've learned how to make a hospital gown glamorous.
• But the most important thing I learned in 2006, is that prayer changes everything!
• Remember me, cancer? My friends kicked your butt with prayer.
  

Losing all my hair from chemotherapy treatment did give me a new perspective to all the times I groused about having a bad hair day, and I gained the wisdom to realize beauty was never physical. I knew I was loved, but never as much or so much, as after my cancer diagnosis. Unfortunately, I never learned how to make a hospital gown look anything but unflattering. Prayer can indeed carry us through the darkest moments in life.

Cancer does change us, in ways we could not have anticipated or predicted ahead of time. Some times it reminds us what is important, other times it helps up to clarify the need to follow dreams we put aside for a better more opportune time. We realize there is no better time than now. If you are a cancer survivor, what would you add to the list of Remember me cancer? You made me who I am today.

Over the years, here is an on-going conversation I have with my family physician:

Doctor: What kind of exercise are you doing?

My reply: I have three kids and a house to keep clean. I think that is all the exercise I need.

Doctor then rolls his eyes.

End of conversation.

I am 5-foot, 7-inches, weigh 120 pounds and am on the go from 5:30 AM to about 10 PM each night. Aside from work as an artist and writer, which requires that I sit at a drafting table or in front of the computer (which is not prolonged sitting -- I am up and down, up and down -- because as every parent knows, somebody always needs something or something needs to be done) I am in movement.

I am physically able to climb down riverbanks and over river boulders when we go fishing, and I can hike up any hill with the best of them. I do not worry that I am out of shape. I know I am not physically inactive. You can bet I will be taking a copy of this latest research with me to my next visit to see the doctor. He asks the same exercise question each time, only this time, I have data to back up my claim that I am indeed getting a very good form of exercise.

According to researchers, when it comes to the best workout, cleaning the house outranks playing a sport as a better form of exercise and "far more cancer protective." They state "that moderate forms of physical activity, such as housework, may be more important than less frequent but more intense recreational physical activity in reducing breast cancer risk."

The women in the study spent an average of 16 to 17 hours a week cooking, cleaning and doing the laundry, and the researchers found housework cut breast cancer risk by 30 percent among the pre-menopausal women and 20 percent among the post-menopausal women. The study focused on women and breast cancer, but there is no reason to believe that these findings will not translate into cancer prevention for all cancers, and for men as well, as exercise is known to offer protection against the development of cancer. And in weighing in for the guys, men do housework too.
.

Ah, the festive holiday parties and dinners were fun, but now we notice a few extra unwanted pounds. No surprise that diet and exercise top the list of traditional New Year's resolutions, and with good reason. Not only do we feel better when our clothes fit easily, but staying active, exercising and keeping fit are known lifestyle choices each of us can make that will offer an added measure of cancer prevention.

But, before we finish making our list of resolutions to a slimmer waistline and better health, the inner naysayer voice pipes up to point out all the reasons why we should not even bother. The Entrepreneur Diet comes to the rescue as it busts the more common myths standing in our way to getting and staying fit, and offers a reality check to the misconceptions.

As we read the reality checks to the following top ten myths -- I'm not athletic, so even if I wanted to become more active, I can't do it; it's too late for me to exercise; exercise isn't enjoyable; a woman will get too bulky if she lifts weights; exercise is dangerous; it takes too much time to eat right and exercise; I won't be able to enjoy my favorite foods; no pain, no gain; it's inevitable that I'll gain weight as I age, so it's not worth fighting it; and I have to join a gym or buy expensive equipment to get in shape -- we realize that keeping the resolutions we are about to make are more than doable.

To read the reality checks to these top ten fitness and diet myths, visit the Entrepreneur's Work & Life column here.