But don’t limit yourself to walks around the block, challenge yourself and take a hike! Annie Parsons, avid hiker and Larabar community host, offers her top five tips to make your hike healthy.

1. You don’t have to head for the hills to make it a hike.

A hike is really just a long, steady walk. You can visit a national park or can hike around your own neighborhood. “I have a nine mile walking loop that I do in the summers, whenever it’s light enough after work,” Annie says. “It keeps me conditioned for longer hikes in the wilderness.” She hikes around neighborhoods and local lakes and, because she lives in Colorado, gets to the mountains whenever she can.

2. Proper fit is important.

“If you’re doing any more than five miles at a time, get properly fitted for shoes and a backpack (if you’re hiking with a backpack),” she says. Day-long or multi-day hikes require a well-fitted pack to ensure proper balance and prevent back, joint and muscle issues.

3. Food is fuel.

Long hikes mean your body is burning a lot of calories, so stay fueled with proper nutrition in mind. Annie’s favorite fuel? “Cheese and crackers, peanut butter and crackers, trail mix, nuts and fruits. it’s always nice to have a little chocolate.

Lärabars have only two to nine ingredients, they don’t freeze, don’t melt and they pack well,” she says. The type of food and the amount you may need is not what you’d need for a typical day in the office. Keep track of calories and ask yourself, “How long has it been since I ate?”

4. Take care of your body.

“Hiking can take a toll on knees, hips and back,” Annie says. Stretch before you start hiking and pay attention to what your body is telling you during your hike. If you’re hiking in high altitudes, you may experience nausea, light-headedness and headaches. Build up to high altitudes, acclimate for a few days, drink lots of water and get a lot of sleep. At the end of strenuous hikes, Annie lays flat on her back and elevates her legs up against a wall at a 90 degree angle to help take the pressure off her joints.

5. Pay attention to altitude.

Signs of altitude sickness include headache, nausea, racing heart and feeling like you’re going to pass out. If you’re experiencing altitude sickness, breathe deeply, sit down, drink a lot of water and take it easy on yourself. Pushing yourself further could make it worse and could lead to an emergency.

“I wish everyone could get out and hike as much as I’m able to,” says Annie. No matter where you live, “Walk as much as you can. Use your body, see things from a different perspective. You don’t need to climb a mountain. Get out at your own pace. Feel your legs work and enjoy whatever nature you can find.”

Editor’s note: Annie’s tips came from this Google+ Hangout video, with Andrea Metcalf. It also features Justin Lichter (35,000 mile hiker) and Jessica Mathews (ACE).

These concerns become even greater following a loved one’s recovery from an illness. Statistics show that 30 percent of seniors who return home following hospitalization are readmitted within 90 days. They often struggle with getting proper nutrition because the simple task of shopping and preparing meals at home becomes more and more challenging.

That’s one reason why General Mills this month is launching the Betty Crocker Kitchens meal delivery service in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

The pilot project allows shoppers to select from 25 frozen meal options, delivered to homes by partner CobornsDelivers, a Minnesota-based online grocery delivery service. The price for seven meals – most of which include a protein, a starch and a vegetable – is $55.

The project is focused on seniors, but anyone can partake. Menu items include favorites like pot roast, chicken breast, meat loaf and macaroni and cheese, and range from “Cheese Omelet with Salsa & Hashbrowns” for breakfast to “Beef Stroganoff with Dumplings & Carrots” for dinner.

The meals taste like classic Betty Crocker recipes, which are particularly well-known to older Americans. In fact, in 1945, Fortune magazine named Betty Crocker the second most recognizable woman in America behind First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt – even though Betty was a fictional character.

Developed with the needs of seniors in mind, the meals are easy to heat and eat. And each has less than 700 milligrams of. They also taste very good.

The new Betty Crocker Kitchens delivery service dovetails nicely with Coborn’s existing full-delivery service, which means that seniors can have a wide range of grocery items – such as cereal, yogurt, bread, coffee, and personal care items – that seniors can have delivered right along with their Betty Crocker meals.

Our hope is that this service provides peace of mind to those who worry about how their aging parents are eating, and that it makes it more convenient for seniors to prepare the meals they love.

The Twin Cities pilot could be replicated elsewhere. Grocery delivery systems, such as Coborn’s, cover about 70 percent of the United States.

For now, General Mills is piloting the Betty Crocker Kitchens meal delivery service in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to gauge interest. We’ve already received a lot of positive feedback.

You can read more about this project in the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. And you can take a peek at our ad — which will officially launch March 25 — on YouTube.

Please let us know what you think in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you.

“With each passing year, schools feel like it’s just getting harder to find the time, the money, and the will to help our kids be active,” the first lady said. ”But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean we should stop trying – it means we should try harder. It means that all of us – not just educators, but businesses and non-profits and ordinary citizens – we all need to dig deeper and start getting even more creative. “That’s what Let’s Move! Active Schools is all about – it’s about all of us coming together to once again make being active a way of life for our kids. And with today’s announcement, anyone, in any community, can become a champion to bring physical education back to their school.”

As a child, you may have participated in the well-known “presidential fitness test” developed 50 years ago, which measured a student’s athletic fitness through a series of events, including push-ups, pull-ups (or the bent-arm hang) and a distance run.

This test was replaced last September with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP), a comprehensive school fitness program that places greater emphasis on cultivating lifelong skills and healthy habits.

To maximize the impact of this new program, the General Mills Foundation announced today that it has committed $10 million – the largest donation in the history of the General Mills Foundation – to help schools implement the program.

The $10 million commitment will be made over six years and includes both financial support and in-kind marketing expertise to raise awareness and participation in the program.

The goal is to reach an unprecedented 90 percent of schools – and more than 50 million students – in the U.S. by 2020.

Other partners joining PCFSN and the General Mills Foundation in this effort include the Amateur Athletic Union; The Cooper Institute®; American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD); and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Our announcement today is just the latest in our more than 50-year commitment to promote active lifestyles.

In 1956, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower called the nation to action after a survey found that American children were far behind those in Europe in muscular strength and flexibility. General Mills and Wheaties were among the first to respond. Our Wheaties Sports Federation promoted youth fitness and education throughout the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

More recently, in 2002, we launched Champions for Healthy Kids (in partnership with PCFSN and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation), which was a 10-year initiative designed to improve kids’ nutrition and physical fitness through 50 yearly grants of $10,000 to nonprofit organizations throughout the United States.

One such organization is Girls on the Run Chicago, which works to boost girls’ overall health and well-being through non-competitive sports, nutrition and health education, and leadership development. View the video.

It was exciting to be a part of the first lady’s Let’s Move! anniversary event today! The event made me even more eager to see the impact the new Presidential Youth Fitness Program will have in the coming years.

We look forward to being part of the solution to one of the most challenging problems of our time.

Now, advertisements for new Fiber One Protein Bars – chocolaty, chewy bars with the added benefits of fiber and protein – encourage consumers to break up with their candy bars.

“While we were developing the marketing campaign for the new Fiber One Protein Bars, we kept talking about how the bars would be a great way to satisfy the 3 p.m. craving, and could help keep people on track with their weight management objectives,” explains Katherine Zonino, associate marketing manager for Fiber One.

“This led us to start talking about the fact that with Fiber One Protein Bars, consumers no longer need candy bars and can break up with their candy bars for good. We thought the break-up-with-your-candy-bar message could be very motivating – particularly on Valentine’s Day.”

Fiber One already offered all sorts of tasty bars. Still, there was a need for a bar with more protein.

“Consumer testing shows that consumers are looking for different ways to get more protein into their diet. In addition, the launch of Nature Valley Protein was very successful, so we knew that consumers of granola bars were excited to obtain more protein from their snack bars,” Katherine adds.

Fiber One Protein Bars come in two flavors, Caramel Nut and Coconut Almond. They contain 20 percent of the daily value of fiber with at least 6 grams of protein and are 140 calories or less.

Here is what some of Fiber One’s Facebook friends are saying:

“These are so YUMMY!”

“These are so good. Taste like a candy bar.”

“I love these bars. So awesome.”

Hmmm, sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Visit FiberOne.com for more information about Fiber One Protein Bars and other Fiber One products.

The most popular New Year’s resolutions include losing weight, eating right, spending more time with family, managing finances, getting organized and volunteering.

“Around this time of year, I’m often asked by people how they can improve their health,” says Dr. Julia Halberg, General Mills’ chief medical officer.  ”You may want to consider the following ideas to enhance a heathy lifestyle.”

1) Be clear and specific

Tangible goals such as, “I’m going lose 10 pounds by Memorial Day” or “I’m going to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day” are actionable and make it easier to reach your goal.

2) Be kind to yourself

Celebrate your successes no matter how small. Choose to focus on your accomplishments and work to increase healthy activities.

3) Know your numbers

The saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you” certainly can when it comes to health. Knowing your numbers, such your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol values, can help you take action to create a healthier future.

4) Don’t be afraid to try something new

If your goal is to exercise four times a week, start slow and consider enrolling in a fitness class. Trying something new can be fun and help you be successful in your plan to improve your health.

5) Build your team

Tell your family and friends about your new goals. Their support will help you stay on track.

We’ve been in the process of checking out some options for our budding young scholar.

Since I haven’t stepped foot in a kindergarten classroom since, well … kindergarten, I was interested to see what was new in the way of education.

One ubiquitous feature was the use of white board technology in all the classrooms we visited. For those of you not familiar, this is the “blackboard” of the 21st century; a technology tool that lets teachers project to the classroom the handout or book that everyone is reading together, or connect to the internet for exploring the world on-line together.

Simultaneously, we at the Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition are pleased to announce the release of a new and improved Go With The Whole Grain For Kids nutrition education curriculum.

It is estimated that 95 percent of the population is falling short of the whole grain recommendations. So clearly there is a lot of opportunity to help people, including our children, understand the health benefits and importance of choosing whole grains as part of an overall balanced diet.

The Go With the Whole Grain for Kids curriculum is intended for children in kindergarten through fifth grade and features two Whole Grain Heroes, Grain Girl and Grain Boy, who guide students on a journey to learn about the benefits of whole grains. (Despite many creative attempts to name our heroes, Grain Boy and Grain Girl consistently won out in focus groups. Here’s to simplicity!)

And, in order to leverage the latest in classroom technology, the newly updated program also includes a new interactive white board activity appropriate for students in grades 3 to 5.

The new white board activity is an engaging addition to the more traditional tools of the program (slide program and in-class activity sheets) that teaches students how to identify whole grain foods. The program components for students do not include any General Mills branding. It is strictly a nutrition education resource with the goal of helping children improve their diets.

First released in 2007, the refreshed Go With the Whole Grain for Kids program has also been updated to reflect the latest MyPlate recommendations.

The white board activity has students choose from three different foods to select the whole grain option by dragging it to the Grains section of the MyPlate graphic. Not only does this reinforce the clues students can use to identify whole grains, it also increases familiarity with the sections of MyPlate.

As a MyPlate National Strategic Partner, we’re proud to support the “make half your grains whole grains” message in the context of a balanced diet.

Overall, the program is designed to educate teachers and their students about the health benefits of whole grains, dietary guidelines and how to choose whole grain foods.

The curriculum was developed in collaboration with our whole grain scientists in the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition and education experts to create and test the curriculum with kids. We received feedback from educators and children in both a rural and urban schools through a series of focus groups.

We’re excited about the program and hope it will be a valuable part of helping more kids and their parents make half their grains whole grains.

No, they didn’t lose their razor or forget to shave. They actually have a good reason for their facial hair.

This month, more than 250 men across the company are adding a “lip cap” to their face to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

The men, known as “Mo Bros”, are participating in “Movember.” They started the month clean-shaven, and will grow their moustache for 30 days, getting friends, family and colleagues to donate to their Mo-growing efforts.

During that time they become walking, talking billboards for men’s health.

Female participants in Movember, called “Mo Sistas,” also play a crucial role during the campaign by acting as team captains, recruiting others to join, sparking conversations, lending support to Mo Bros who grow, and raising general awareness for the importance of men’s health.

Last year, 85 General Mills Mo-Bro’s raised more than $20,000, more than all the Mo-Bro’s in Spain.

This year we hope to raise at least $35,000.

I’m a member of the planning committee organizing this year’s Movember effort at the company. We already have 277 Mo-Bro’s signed up as of today, and have more than $17,000 pledged, and we’re on track to raise more money than France, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, and the Czech Republic and yes, Spain too! (Movember began in Australia in 2003).

Our committee has planned a number of events and promotions to help drive awareness and participation this year. We held an awareness and kickoff event to capture the “before” photo of the 2012 Mo-Bros.

Additionally, mid-month and final photos will be taken. And, the latest Mo-Bros will host a fundraising event on November 16. There also is a rumor that a General Mills Men of Movember Calendar is in the works. We’ll see!

I also was fortunate to be asked to talk about our campaign on our local CBS-TV affiliate, WCCO.

While the event is a lot of fun, there are serious issues at stake. One in two men will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lives (compared with one in three women). And a man dies from prostate cancer every 15.6 minutes – about 33,000 deaths this year alone. Some men just don’t think about their health as often as they should.

I’ve been a part of Movember for a couple years, after a friend of mine came down with a rare cancer. It was a big wake up call for me about men’s health.

As for the mo, I think I look great with one!

Though, I wish I could grow one like actor Sam Elliott. Mine grows in a little too patchy for that.

But If I could grow a mo like his it would be Movember every day of the year!

You can learn more about Movember, here.

Marlo Thomas is, indeed, all of these things, with a successful career that has navigated more than 40 years in the public spotlight.

So what is she up to now?

Thomas is running on all cylinders. She recently launched MarloThomas.com in partnership with AOL. Its mission is “to inform, empower, and motivate women.”

The site’s inspirational charge to women is: What’s Next? The platform offers video, a blog, celebrity profiles, and commentary on topics ranging from the 2012 elections to fall fitness.

Live Better America – a General Mills owned platform – recently engaged Thomas on a web series called Living Forward. The series highlights remarkable boomers and their stories of reinvention and accomplishment.

For example, Gail Blanke, a corporate executive who endured a surprise double bypass surgery, used her own experience to advocate for women’s health.

“Live Better America exists to help Americans live better longer – something that is fundamentally important to Thomas and her personal brand,” notes Mark Skeba, marketing manager for Live Better America.

“The great thing about Marlo is that it’s not about her. It’s about being true. It’s about a conversation and she lets consumers lead,” says Mark.

Below are photos from Marlo’s recent visit to General Mills, where she toured the Betty Crocker Kitchens and the Photo Studios. She also paused for photos with employees.

“True to who she is, Marlo was completely absorbed in the details – how Betty Crocker has evolved over time and how long Cheerios has remained an iconic brand. We look forward to furthering our partnership with her,” says Mark.

“In our over-scheduled, hyper-individualized culture, there are endless forces pulling families apart,” she says. “One of the reasons that family meals are so important is that there are so few things that families commonly do together.”

Some of the most common excuses for not gathering the family together to sit and eat are after-school or after-work activities, working overtime, long commutes, not enough time and not knowing how to cook.

But, Weinstein told us, people have to think about what’s really important to their family.

“Most of our kids will not grow up to be professional athletes or musicians. But most of them will grow up to live in families,” she says. “It makes sense to develop the habits and skills that will really help us throughout life.”

According to Weinstein, one of the biggest benefits of having family meals is the comforting knowledge that the family will get together on a regular basis for a low-key check-in.

And because it’s so important, people need to have the confidence to say, “This is important to me and my family and this is what I want to do.”

Despite the pressure to participate in many activities and the feeling of being pulled in many directions, having a meal together offers immediate rewards. “Family members feel better about themselves and about the family. All of the long-term benefits are bonuses.”

Some of those long-term benefits include:

*Families tend to eat more fruits and vegetables when they eat together, research shows. And when young children eat dinner frequently with their families, they are less likely to be overweight.

*Eating together as a family helps teenagers get better grades and keeps them away from cigarettes, alcohol and drugs, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

*Family meals allow space for family members to communicate, connect and relax.

With all the important emphasis placed on family meals, how can you actually make it happen?

Here are a few tips from Weinstein:

Start where you are

If you are currently eating drive-thru meals in the car, begin by bringing the food home and spreading it out on a table. If you never eat together as a family, start with a birthday or other celebration. If you eat together one night a week, aim for two.

Make the meal happen

Things are easier to fit into schedules when we make them habits or rituals. When you are organizing your calendar, put dinner in first. Make a shared meal the rule, not the exception.

It’s important!

Let all family members know that the family meal is important. It will help everyone get to the table and, once there, best take advantage of the time together.

Give them something to do

If you’re dining with kids, make them part of the group by giving them age-appropriate activities (passing out forks, helping clean up) and conversation to help them participate.

Miriam’s book was featured in a presentation hosted by Smuckers, at the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest earlier this year. For more information on the importance of family meals and tips for family meal time from Miriam Weinstein, visit PowerOfFamilyMeals.com.

As a marketer at General Mills, this role is one of great heritage and responsibility, but when I look outside of our walls, the responsibility is even greater.

When I started on the business, I was surprised to learn that one in three adults suffers from cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in our country. This fact really struck me – I found myself suddenly thinking about all of the people in my own life that are affected and those that could be affected in the future.

The opportunity to change people’s lives by inspiring them to make heart healthy choices, such as Cheerios, is one that our team doesn’t take lightly.

When we learned last year that many people don’t know how oats, like those in Cheerios, actually work to help lower cholesterol, we were excited by the idea that education could be really inspiring.

With excitement in our veins and science on our minds, our team set off to find the perfect way to bring it to life.

The question was how?

Sitting at my desk a few days later, I realized the answer was staring right back at me. From a retro, 1960s-era picture, a character stood smiling clutching a bright yellow box of Cheerios and flexing his muscle revealing a Cheerios piece inside.

He was a lovable character who had been a childhood friend and hero to many adults today: the Cheerios Kid!

The Cheerios Kid and his friendly sidekick, Sue, were first introduced in 1953 but stayed around all the way through the 1960s, encouraging kids to “connect the Big G and Little O” for the GO power of Cheerios. (Here’s one of the many classic spots, on YouTube).

Our team quickly set out to bring these iconic characters back to life for a new mission: teaching those who grew up with them what Cheerios can do for them now. The fit was perfect.

On duty once again, the Cheerios Kid and Sue are making their big comeback during September, National Cholesterol Education Month.

In retro-reinvented style, the Cheerios Kid and Sue star in “Oh, It Really Works!” an “edu-taining” video about how soluble fiber, in oats like those in Cheerios, can help naturally remove some cholesterol from the body.

It’s a new meaning of GO power!

By bringing a friendly approach to the topic, our team hopes to inspire people to once again listen to their childhood friend and be motivated to make some changes … in adulthood.

So, grown-ups, now is the time, and the Kid is back in action to help.

Let’s GO!

You can find the Cheerios Kid and Sue on YouTube, at Cheerios.com/happy-heart and on the Cheerios Facebook page.

Do you have some memories of the Cheerios Kid and Sue from your childhood?

Editor’s note: Studies show that three grams of soluble fiber daily from whole grain oat foods, like Cheerios cereal, in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Cheerios cereal provides one gram per serving.