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Marisa Churchill began her career as a pastry chef in the San Francisco area after graduating from culinary school in 2000. Her desserts have been widely praised and featured in publications such as Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and Details. Marisa was among the forty top pastry chefs invited by Food Arts two years in a row for their annual pastry conference. She was a competitor on Bravo’s Top Chef: Season 2, and continues to appear on Food Network Challenge. She is also an accomplished competitive swimmer. For more information, visit MarisaChurchill.com.

Between promotions for my debut cookbook, Sweet & Skinny (Clarkson Potter, June 2011) and traveling for work, I seem to be living out of a suitcase these days. While I enjoy traveling, constantly running to and fro can be challenging when trying to stay healthy and fit. Indeed, eating an $8 slice of airport pizza and shirking your workout routine just doesn’t fly when your cookbook is called Sweet & Skinny!

So whether you are a frequent flyer, or just need a little extra Sweet & Skinny inspiration, here are a few tips I picked up recently that will help to make traveling easier on your body . . . now if only I could master the secret to getting an automatic upgrade.

“Whether you are a frequent flyer, or just need a little extra Sweet & Skinny inspiration, here are a few tips I picked up recently that will help to make traveling easier on your body”

1.) Drink green tea, unsweetened, up to 20 ounces a day. Green tea causes the body to secrete more interferon, a key element in your body’s infection protection arsenal. This is vital when you are traveling on planes, or when you are simply feeling worn out and run down.

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2.) Traveling, or not having time to get to the gym, is not an excuse to skip your workout. Only 20 minutes of cardiovascular activity can burn off as many 200 calories and will work wonders for your heart and mind. If you can’t get to the gym, or the hotel does not have one, no problem: just hit the pavement! Whether you want to do squats and lunges or go for a jog, there are plenty of outdoor exercises that can be enjoyed anywhere. Although my exercise of choice is swimming, when I’m traveling and pressed for time I find that a jog (or brisk walk) around the city can be a great way to get in a workout and take in the sites. Be sure to bring your camera-phone with you!

“Traveling, or not having time to get to the gym, is not an excuse to skip your workout.”

3.) Don’t skip meals. Eating well will help to keep your energy levels and your immune system up and running. Skipping meals is one of the easiest ways to start making poor food choices, like that $8 slice of airport pizza. If you might not have time for a meal, pack a healthy snack. When I am feeling particularly virtuous, I carry carrot sticks or fresh fruit. Okay, it has nothing to do with being virtuous. Those are the snacks I carry when I don’t have time to prepare a tastier treat. When I do have time, I love to bring along Sweet & Skinny oatmeal sour cherry or PB&J cookies. In fact, during my recent travels I made the PB&J cookies with Liam Mayclem from Eye on the Bay, and tucked a few of the cookies into my purse for emergency snacking.

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As I get ready for my next round of events to promote Sweet & Skinny, which includes a visit to Twitter headquarters on June 28, I am already stocking up on healthy snacks that will help to keep me on the straight and narrow when I’m on the road. I wouldn’t want to make a Sweet & Skinny misstep, like actually purchasing that overpriced slice of pizza that was tempting me at JFK, and getting discovered by the head Tweeters. That certainly would not motivate Twitter employees to compete in the Sweet & Skinny baking challenge I have planned for them during my visit (competitors can win autographed copies of Sweet & Skinny)!

Thanks to modern technology, Recipe Club members can also join in the digital fun at the dedicated Twitter hashtag, #SweetandSkinny at 6:30 p.m. PST on June 28. Not only will eight followers win autographed copies of Sweet & Skinny, one follower will also win a virtual cooking class avec moi. In addition, my favorite natural, zero-calorie sweetener, Truvia®(which is featured in all of my book’s Sweet & Sugar Free! recipes) will be providing product gift basket prizes!

So be sure to follow me and Truvia on Twitter @marisachurchill @Truvia at #SweetandSkinny on June 28 at 6:30 p.m. PST. We’ll be tweeting pics and recipes from behind the walls of Twitter headquarters, and dishing out Sweet & Skinny challenges to those of you following online.

Check out Marisa Churchill’s recipe for Sweet & Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups Recipe from Sweet and Skinny by Marisa Churchill