Karen the editor's page.

Swimsuit tips that work at any age!

I'll never forget the first time I thought about my weight, it was in fifth grade, at lunch. I was chowing down with my crew (me, Beth, Heidi, the two Jens and Merritt) and, after eating my usual (bologna sandwich, chips, some cut-up veggies and milk), I tore open a bag of gummy bears. Just as I was about to pop the first one in my mouth, Merritt looked at me and said, "You know, if you keep eating those, you're gonna get fat one day."

Fat? Me? I wished. In fifth grade, I was already tall--well over 5 feet--and such a rail I could have slipped down a shower drain. At that point, i only dreamed of having curves.

Though I was tempted to hurl my bag o' bears at Merritt's head, I merely rolled my eyes, plucked out a red one and proceeded to chew ... loudly. Fat that, Merritt.

Decades later, I'm not fat but, I'll be honest, I'm no longer carefree about candy consumption. For the record, at 5-foot-10, I weigh what doctors consider normal. Thankfully, I've never been into a lot of the stuff that's bad for you--I rarely eat fast food, I stay away from pizza rolls when at all possible, and I try to eat things like raw spinach (although, sometimes, I think it tastes like someone's lawn).

But even so, lately, when I pull on my favorite jeans, they feel tighter than they did a few months ago. No one should want to be rail-thin, but I'm suddenly resembling a muffin. And that sound you hear out there, somewhere, is Merritt laughing her head off.

There are tons of different body types. Some girls are naturally skinny. Some are naturally curvy. Some are naturally strong and powerful. And every single one of those body types is fabulous as long as you are staying active, eating healthfully and feeling positive about yourself. But when you don't feel positive, that's when the trouble starts. Learning to walk the fine line between respecting your body and knowing when to take better care of yourself is a toughie, especially when your body is going through changes. It's difficult because there are so many messages about how you should look.

So how do you separate fat from fiction? By using that little thing we are all blessed with--it's called "common sense." In fifth grade, my common sense caused me to almost projectile my gummies at Merritt. Now, that same common sense is telling me it's time to eat more healthfully, get my lazy butt off the couch and swap out the sodas for water (you have never met a girl who loves Coke more than I do).

Certainly, we are all so much more than how much or how little is spilling over the tops of our jeans. But there is something to be said for learning to be honest with yourself--and learning how to do something about it. Because, at the end of the day, we all want to be happy and healthy ... and to be able to enjoy the occasional bag of gummy bears.

KAREN'S TiP OF THE MONTH

Next time you are craving chocolate, try this!

A cup of chocolate ice cream? That's a whopping 540 calories. A cup of 2% milk with 2 tablespoons of Hershey's chocolate syrup? Just 190, plus you get lots of calcium and vitamins A and D. Tasty!