I was grocery shopping at Hy-Vee last week when I ran head first into a Nuun.

And I yelled, “HOLY FIT!”

No I didn’t.

But I was excited to see they were giving away samples of Nuun, these little flavored electrolyte tablets, that I first heard about from my friend Suzanne.

Nuun tabs are great for hydrating and replacing salt during and after a long workout…or any workout for that matter. Here’s what I like about Nuun:

• The packaging -> There’s not a lot of packaging like other sports drinks so you can feel better about your carbon footprint while you’re pounding out miles of your own footprints.
• The nutrients -> No sugar added! And there are only 6 calories and less than 1 carb per tablet. Nuun also contains electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium)  and  a small amount of Vitamin C to help prevent cramping.
• The variety -> There are a lot of flavors to choose from. So far I’ve tried the Citrus Fruit and Tri-berry is up next!
• The taste -> Quite refreshing and not too sweet.

Now I really must go grab some water and a Nuun…after only having this stuff for a few days, it’s already becoming a habit!

Today’s Random Acts of Fitness & Spice (RAFS) challenge comes from one of the 25 most influential people in the lives of children according to Children’s Health magazine (and I).

This must have been a pretty good year for Dr. Katz because he was also nominated for the position of U.S. Surgeon General to the Obama Administration by the American College of Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, among other national and international health organizations. I wonder how he’ll top all of that in 2010? I can’t wait to find out!

I wrote about Dr. Katz a few weeks ago after his visit to the Hy-Vee Whole Health Experience. You might remember me telling you about two programs he founded: NuVal, a nutritional scoring system, and ABC for Fitness© (Activity Bursts in the Classroom), a free program that encourages teachers to introduce short bursts of cardiovascular activity in the classroom.

Here’s our Random Acts of Fitness & Spice challenge from Dr. Katz:

My challenge is, in fact, best summarized in a program; it is a challenge to schools, and to an extent parents, to make physical activity fit into the daily routine of every child.  Here it is- http://www.davidkatzmd.com/abcforfitness.aspx.

We can do this, right? Let’s grab our favorite kid and do some random bursts of fitness with them everyday. Not only is this a great way to teach our children great habits but it also helps us work in some extra exercise, too!

Once you’re done with your daily workouts, why not celebrate and reinforce your kiddos success by recording it in a fitbook junior?

One Wisconsin teacher is passing out fitbook junior, a 12-week interactive fitness and food journal for kids, to teach students the importance of goal-setting, engaging in daily physical activities and making nutritious food choices, while balancing their tasks at school and home. “My goal is to teach students the importance of taking care of their health. I want them to have fun while doing it, and they’ll also be graded,” says Beth Ivey, a Physical Education teacher at St. Francis de Sales. “More than ever, taking responsibility for your health is a critical subject kids must learn while they’re young.”

Lisa Greenwood, a mother and Program Director of Fleet Feet’s Zoomerang Kids Running Club in Connecticut says “I use the grown-up book, and my son and I make our plans together. His goals include running eight laps and eating five new fruits this week, while I’m working on strength training and stretching.”

Want to win a fitbook junior for a fit kid you know? Simply tell us how you are going to incorporate daily bursts of exercise with a child as proposed by Dr. Katz. Here are a few ideas to get you started..

• Download the ABC workbook to get some great ideas
• Tell your school or Parent Teacher Association about the ABC Program
• Add some bursts of exercise with your kids in your own home, your backyard, or a playground near you
• If you’re like me and you are not a parent, tell a mom or dad you know and enter the contest anyway. I’m sure you might know a kid that could benefit from this program and would love to own a fitbook junior!

Enter the drawing by telling us how you’re going to participate in this Random Act of Fitness & Spice challenge in the comments section below. Be sure to submit  your comments by 11:59 P.M. on Tuesday, December 15th and check back on Wednesday to see if you are the lucky winner of a fitbook junior!

Now I really must go make a play date with my neighbors kids, I think we’ll have a blast channeling our inner Katz.

I used to take a class at the gym called Butts & Guts where we focused on nothing but lower body and abdominal exercises. I thought about this class yesterday when attending the Whole Health Experience put on by Hy-Vee, a grocery store chain in my neck of the woods.

One of the presenters was David Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, his credentials read like an eye chart, don’t they? The title of his presentation was Feet, Forks, and Fate. In a nutshell, Dr. Katz explained if we use our feet for physical activity and our forks for fueling our bodies with healthy foods we can impact our fate of getting heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. In other words, if we get off our butts and care about what goes into our guts, we can look and feel better, and live healthier lives.

Not only does Dr. Katz educate audiences about using exercise and nutrition as components in preventative medicine, he also develops programs to help children and adults live healthier lifestyles. Dr. Katz discussed two programs during his presentation: one for fitness and one for nutrition.

Dr. Katz developed the ABC for Fitness© (Activity Bursts in the Classroom) program for schools. The free program encourages teachers to introduce short bursts of cardiovascular activity in the classroom periodically, adding up to about 30 minutes a day. What a great way to teach lifelong habits and turn restless-energy into healthy activity! No wonder Dr. Katz was named one of the 25 most influential people in the lives of children by Children’s Health magazine.

As adults, I think we can all take away a valuable lesson from the ABC for Fitness program. Short duration cardio exercise throughout the day can add up to make a big difference for big kids like us, too.

NuVal, the nutritional scoring system that scores food on a scale of 1 to 100 is another solution founded by Dr. Katz. The NuVal program helps shoppers make sound decisions about food quickly and easily just by looking for one number on the grocery store shelf. The higher the number, the healthier the food. Lucky for me, Hy-Vee has the NuVal system in their stores so I can benefit from this program every time I shop. If it’s not in a store near you, chat with your grocery store managers, and find out more on NuVal.com.

I’m so impressed with Dr. Katz, a man on a mission to teach others the ABC’s of fitness and the 1-2-3′s of nutrition. Changing the way schools and grocery stores look at fitness and nutrition takes butts and guts!