I’ve talked a lot about gardening lately, especially since April was National Gardening Month, and I found one more article that I though the gardeners out there would appreciate. The Santa Barbara Independent tells you how to grow a thriving garden by using crop rotation. This technique seems fairly time consuming, detailed, and scientifically based. All things that would normally scare me away. But if you’re a vegetable gardener, it’s also definitely worth your time and brain power.

For those of you who aren’t the gardening type, but still want your family to eat right at home, it all starts with the choices you make at the grocery store. The Mercury Life gives you great tips on how to shop healthy at the grocery store. Of course, there are the tips you hear all the time, like buy fresh food instead of over processed food in boxes. But they also have a few new tips. Check out the article for all the tips. And before you get to the store, check out this article from Today’s Diet on foods that help you mend. You may want to add a few items to your list once you find out what foods can be your ally when battling stress, fighting fatigue or illness, or trying to heal from wounds or injuries.

Of course as busy as we are nowadays, all this talk about eating healthy normally gets put aside when you’re too tired to cook. We’ve all had those days when just deciding what to cook for dinner seems like a terrible chore by itself. So we opt for take out instead. But eating out doesn’t always have to mean unhealthy. Fitness at Home shares their guide to eating out right. Many restaurants are starting to realize the need for healthier menu choices and this article helps you pick them out.

And as I’m sure you know, a healthy lifestyle doesn’t just mean eating right, it means being active. If you’re one of those people who gets burned out from doing the same exercise routine day after day take a look at this article from Today’s Diet. They show you how to add new flavors to your fitness routine. Most of these tips are simple modifications to your exercise routine to make it a little less mundane. Exercise should be fun, not something you dread doing. So spice it up a little! Share some of your own ideas for adding flavor to your fitness routine in the comments section.

We all know fruits and vegetables are good for us but now studies suggest they can help keep us young. MSN shares the seven fruits and vegetables that can help you defy your age. Who isn’t interested in staying young?! But, since a lot of fruits and vegetables are seasonal, it doesn’t matter how young a blueberry can make me look, I’m not eating it if it’s out of season. So to make sure your produce is in season, use the seasonal fruit and veggie tool from RealSimple.com. Not only does the tool tell you what’s in season, it also tells you how to buy, store, and cook the produce. It’s a very helpful tool for those, like myself, who aren’t extremely knowledge on the subject.

If you’re interested in knowing what’s in season and how to cook these items then you probably do your fair share of cooking your meals at home or your interested in doing it more often. And if you have children you’ll be happy to know that according to CNN, cooking meals at home can lead to healthier kids. Of course, as long as you don’t live in a fast food restaurant, this statement makes complete sense. When you cook a meal yourself you pay more attention to the ingredients used and the ratio of fruits and vegetables to meats and breads. We normally make healthier decisions when we are behind the stove, especially when children are involved.

We’ve shared several articles touting great healthy living tips for children and what to do to help your kids eat more fruits and vegetables but this next article changed it up a little. WJTV* in Jackson, Mississippi went to several elementary schools and got healthier living tips from the children themselves. It’s so great to see children that understand the importance of healthy living.

National Women’s Health Week was last month and to help celebrate Ellen Pompeo and thousands of others have committed to health and cancer prevention. They are calling it Choose You. They want women everywhere to be part of the Choose You Movement and commit to making a healthy living and early detection a priority. You can choose to Eat Right, Get Active, Quit Smoking, Get Regular Health Checks, or Protect Your Skin. Join Ellen in this movement and Choose You.

Share your comments and questions in the Comments section.

*When you click this link you’ll need to scroll down the page to March 31, 2010. The article is a little old but still great!