This month, in celebration of its 20th anniversary, the editors at Cooking Light magazine chose their top 20 cities based on access to nutritious food and opportunities for maintaining optimum physical health and well-being. In their words, they ranked "the 20 American cities that best fit our philosophy to eat smart, be fit and live well."

Milwaukee came in No. 8, ahead of Colorado Springs, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago and others. Milwaukee will be profiled in the magazine's May issue. In Jan./Feb. issue, the cities ranked 11 through 20 receive full profiles.

Fifteen criteria were used in the ranking, including healthfulness and exercise data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, restaurant ratings from the James Beard Foundation and the Zagat Survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's farmers' market listings and parks and recreation data from the Trust for Public Land. Each category was calculated on a per-capita basis for the comparison.

The "Cooking Light 20 Best Cities" in America are:

1. Seattle
2. Portland, Ore.
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Minneapolis
5. San Francisco
6. Boston
7. Denver
8. Milwaukee
9. Philadelphia
10. Tucson
11. Baltimore
12. Colorado Springs
13. Pittsburgh
14. St. Louis
15. New York
16. Atlanta
17. Austin, Texas
18. Chicago
19. Las Vegas
20. Kansas City

Milwaukee's own Leon's Custard Stand was also No. 8 but on Saveur's annual 100 list, which appears in the February 2007 issue.