Dear Lee,

Don’t feel guilty if you skip a bike ride, golf game or workout at the health club to go on a collectibles hunt. It can be just as healthy. Here is my latest list of the healthy habits for collectors:

Grab your sunscreen and go to a large flea market. Even if you walk slowly and make a few stops, you’ll burn about 240 calories an hour. (If you want a more accurate measure, multiply your weight in pounds by .029, then by 60. If you weigh 150 pounds, you burn about 261 calories an hour.) If you find some great buys and carry them with you, the extra weight will increase the number of calories you burn. And walking is also good aerobic exercise.

Time to eat? Use the antiseptic wipes you brought with you. Think about all the dirt and germs that might be on everything you touched.

Food at flea markets does not promote health. Avoid milkshakes, desserts, pizza, French fries, funnel cakes and other junk food. Order roasted corn-on-the-cob without melted butter. Pick low-calorie bottled drinks. Part of a barbecued turkey leg is OK, but the whole leg is too large a portion. And don’t forget that fried dill pickles, soft pretzels and sauerkraut sundaes are loaded with way too much salt.

Buy collectible luncheon or salad plates to use for meals at home. Experts say you help yourself to stingier helpings and eat less if you use smaller plates. And shop for a selection of different colors, particularly blue. Portions you serve yourself will be smaller if the food and plate are in contrasting colors. What’s so special about blue? That’s the color that’s the least appealing next to any food. And if your tablecloth matches the color of your plate, then your food contrasts even more with its background.

Finally, any shopping trip will include loading and unloading your car. It’s a form of weight-lifting that strengthens arms, legs and torso, and it tones the abs, too—at least that’s what we all hope. But it might be a good idea to include a few sessions at the health club, just in case.