If you haven’t already heard, May is National Skin Cancer Awareness Month so it’s a great time to get screened. The American Skin Cancer Foundation is touring the country offering free skin cancer screenings. If the tour stops aren’t convenient you’re not out of luck–participating derms around the country are giving free screenings during the months of May, June and July.

I’m going to take this opportunity to be serious for a moment and remind all of you to wear sunscreen every time you play outdoor sports or workout outside. Even if you’re only going for a quick 20 minute run, you’re exposing yourself to harmful UV rays and I don’t think I have to tell you why skin cancer is scary. Be sure to choose a formula that’s waterproof or sweat-proof to ensure the protection will last for the duration of your workout and to avoid that stinging ‘sunscreen in the eyes’ feeling. I like easy-to-apply Coppertone Sport Continuous Sunblock Spray SPF 30 for bodies. And Neutrogena Active Breathable Sunblock SPF 45 is a good choice for faces. It contains silica powder that will absorb oily residue and allow your skin to breathe instead of clogging your pores.

“The future depends on what we do in the present.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Here’s a tough 2 minute sequence from Violet Zaki, a top NYC fitness instructor. It’s a string of several classic ab and pilates moves that will help you work toward that six pack. Think it’s easy? Do it twice. I promise you’ll feel it!

I was reading InStyle’s Special Shape Issue at the gym this morning and the more I read, the more annoyed I got. First there was an article on summer clothes by body type–as much as it makes sense I still don’t like having to match my body to one of only four options. Next up, swimsuits that are best for our body troubles like wide hips, tummy, large bust or small bust. Can’t we accentuate the positive? Later, a quiz (“Hate your hips?”) that will determine our body-image index. Results: 44% of you “hate your stomachs” and only 10% of you “love your body–yay.” Really? And for the final kick in the body image butt, directly following is a story about four real women with four real bodies who need to solve their fashion dilemmas. They’re quoted: “I don’t like my thighs,” and “I hate my stomach.” Hmm, I wonder where we get that body complex?

It’s not like this is the first time I’ve noticed the negative angle. All too often fashion magazines ask us to focus on what we don’t like about our bodies instead of loving what we’ve got. But isn’t it time to start choosing our styles based on flaunting our favorite body parts and the results of your work outs? So I ask you, what do you love about your body? What are you looking forward to proudly showing off at the beach this summer? And when you put on your favorite party dress, why is it that you look so hot?

OnePlusOne reminds us that Friday is Bike to Work Day–how eco and fit!

Sprig finds high-fashion eco-friendly tees by Luella and Lacroix–great for yoga class or anytime.

The Serendipity Factory tells us about the You Are Beautiful Campaign–buy some stickers and spread the compliments!

FitSugar tells us how to make squats (ugh!) harder.

Cranky Fitness offers a few good tips to remember when buying a bicycle.

BeThree gives us a lesson in Meditation 101 including a link to an audio guided online meditation.

Need extra motivation to get to the gym or to go for a hike today? A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine followed over 2,000 twins for a year and discovered that the DNA of the active sibling (90 minutes of vigorous exercise a week) appeared four years younger than the DNA of the sedentary sibling.

So the May issue of Shape concludes that “for every minute you sweat it out per week, you can take about 16 days off your age.” Ok, let’s calculate this. Take the number of minutes you work out per week on average (say 3 hours a week or 180 minutes) and multiply that by 16 (days). Divide that number (2880 in this case) by 365 (days in a year) to find out how many years younger you are thanks to your active lifestyle. In this example it’s 7.89 years! Pretty impressive, but remember that in reality there are a bunch of other factors that affect aging as well. For a better calculation on how your good and bad health habits affect your age, take the Real Age test.

I just took a fun little quiz at About.com to see if my eating habits are more manly or more feminine. And the results say…I eat like a woman. Whew! I was worried because I had a little pizza and wings incident this weekend. The quiz, while not scientific, seems to confirm what research has discovered about men’s and women’s eating habits. Without giving too much away (because you want to take the quiz unbiased, right?), men prefer spicier foods and women like their sweets.

Would you eat undercooked eggs? How about alfalfa sprouts? Take the quiz to see which side your taste buds are on, then report back here to tell us how it goes. And don’t worry, there’s not a chance that this quiz will tell you that you eat as much or as often as a man, it’s all about the flavors.

I love this new twist on the old green grocery bag idea–the I Heart NY t-shirt meets an eco tote. Brilliant!

Each Tbag shopping bag is made out of recycled or irregular t-shirts. It even folds up compactly into an inner pocket made out of a t-shirt sleeve. So you’re eliminating the need for plastic grocery bags and giving new life to a used t-shirt all at the same time. And at only $10 it’s certainly a bag worth buying.

“I wake up every morning with a great desire to live joyfully.”

-Alexandra Stoddard