As a fitness professional, I constantly ask myself: "Am I with the current trend in fitness"?

My thought process when predicting the future involves analyzing the past. So let's look back. The basic idea of fitness started very simple. Men went to drab, sweaty, testosterone-filled clubs called gyms and women went to spas where they did exercise only to keep themselves attractive to their husbands. This was all starting around the 50s. Exercise slowly evolved from this mode until the 80s with the introduction of group exercise by Jane Fonda and other self proclaimed "fitness gurus". I have to hand it to Jane, she helped to make exercise trendy. Since that time we have still continued on that path (not necessarily wearing leg warmers and butt thongs, although I have seen those recently in gyms). When a new trend emerges in fitness, it quickly catches on. When a system claims to be "groundbreaking" or a few celebrities endorse it, people start to jump on the wagon.

The good news is that we are finally coming around. The baby boomers, who seem to be the majority of our spending and decision-making population, are beginning to age and realize the consequences of lifestyle. Because our vision is shifting to long term results and goals, the focus of personal fitness is now defined by health more than appearance (hopefully this means that eventually fitness trainers will have to be educated and not just look attractive). Slowly but surely, we are beginning to consider the status of our bodies, when we measure the quality of our lives.

I know better than to personally make predictions, because we never really know what will happen next. So here is the top 10 fitness trends for this year as expected from the American College of Sports Medicine(ACSM). Now this is a trend in the right direction...

While in the health food store, I walked by a sale on noodles which caught my eye. A sale on food usually means either something is going to expire or no one is buying it. I decided to try them once and decide if it was a good idea later. Shirataki noodles are thin, clear and gelatinous. Originally from Japan, today they are popular in health food stores because they are very low carb and calorie, and most are gluten free.

Having never cooked w them before I decided to keep the recipe simple. I cooked a simple stirfry of chicken, broccoli, peppers and green onion. The noodles are cooked just like regular pasta, boiled in a pot. Tossed it all together with a soy sauce concoction, and loved the final result.

I did my online research and found a site that has created 101 Shirataki noodle recipes!!