Tip of the Week: Sure, there are a ton of diet products on the supermarket shelves, but if you're looking to lose weight, step away from the processed foods, and head over to the fruit and vegetable aisle.

Although they may claim low fat, low carb or low sugar, diet foods often replace that which is missing with something that may be more damaging to your diet, and your health. It's hard to go wrong with fresh fruits and vegetables, however, not to mention whole grains and antibiotic- and hormone-free meat.

Remember, our bodies evolved to run on the fuel that grew up on the Earth alongside us, not stuff created in a laboratory.

Q: If you could do just one exercise, what would it be?

A: This is a bit of a loaded question. If I give you an answer, you may use it as an excuse to perform just one exercise in your workouts and nothing else. I'll assume, however, that the reason you're asking is out of genuine curiosity. In that case, I would tell you that my vote goes to the squat.

Squats probably involve more muscles throughout your body than any exercise I know of. Of course they work your thighs, from front to back, top to bottom, but that's just the beginning.

Glutes (buttocks) take a lot of the weight in a squat, especially during the bottom half of the movement. The lower back is called into action, as are the abdominals, to help stabilize the torso as it balances the bar across the shoulders. Calves flex as you lower the weight and back again on the way up, with a nice stretch in between, at the bottom of the movement. Even the chest, shoulders and arms feel an indirect hit from the work it takes to hold the bar in place.

I recommend squatting once to twice a week, five sets of 10 to 20 reps. Although some advocate going heavy to stimulate the leg muscles, I believe in going a little lighter to protect the joints and increase cardio action.

And while I don't recommend doing only squats for your entire body, you could get away with making them the sole exercise in your leg workout -- they're that good.

Q: My 15-year-old daughter's soccer coach has the entire team lifting weights after practice. She's often complaining about sore muscles and being tired. Should a girl so young be working out like a bodybuilder? She loves soccer, but I don't want it to affect her time off the field.

A: You raise a couple of different points in your letter, so for the sake of clarity, I would like to address them one by one.

First of all, I don't believe 15 is too young for progressive resistance exercise, either for a boy or a girl. Regular exercise not only strengthens the body, but the mind, as well. It helps push oxygen-rich blood throughout the body and into all of the vital organs, including the brain.

That being said, I agree with you that if your daughter is experiencing constant muscle soreness and tiredness, then something needs to change. While slight muscle soreness is a sign of an effective workout, too much can be a sign of something more serious.

Of course, there's no guarantee that overtraining is the problem. It could be a nutritional issue, or a lack of sleep. Talk with your daughter about her eating and sleep habits before getting involved with her soccer training routine.

If you can rule out nutrition and sleep as the culprits, I suggest you speak with your daughter's coach and tell him of your daughter's symptoms. Tell him you'd like to see if a reduction in the amount of time she spends in the gym makes her symptoms subside. Cutting out just one workout a week could make all the difference to both your daughter and her team.

Joe Wieder is the co-founder of the International Federation of BodyBuilders, creator of the Mr. Olympia and Ms. Olympia bodybuilding contests, and publisher of numerous fitness magazines. To find out more about Joe Wieder, write to him and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.
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