Blog Posts by Simon and Schuster AUTHORity

By Dr. Mike Moreno
Author of The 17 Day Diet Cookbook
So many people tell me they can't stay fit while traveling, but I don't buy it-that just means they don't want it badly enough. Good planning helps you fit fitness into your travel plans. Here are my 17 travel-friendly snacks.

1. 4 oz. applesauce cups (unsweetened)
2. Fat-free pudding snack cups
3. 4 oz. fruit cups, packed in fruit juice
4. Apple or pear
5. My Lean Granola
6. My Power Cookie
7. Cut up raw veggies: carrots, celery, sugar snap peas, pepper or cucumber strips
8. Baby carrots
9. Single-serve box of high-fiber cereal
10. String cheese
11. One boiled egg
12. Small bag of fat-free popcorn
13. Small bag of grapes
14. Healthy sandwich with veggies
15. Beef or turkey jerky
16. Orange
17. Edamame

Get fit. Find nutrition facts. Live a healthy lifestyle. Sign up for our newsletter!

Photo by Zade RosenthalBy Delilah S. Dawson
Author of Wicked as They Come
I'm a steampunk vampire romance writer, and therefore, I'm a little crazy and awfully geeky. My husband has a Ph.D. in psychology and actually enjoys talking about feelings. We've been happily married for 10 years and know a few things about fighting fair. And of course we had to see The Avengers in the theater, stat.

Although the villain and his evil plot are important, the biggest challenge facing The Avengers is that they have a horrible time assembling into a cohesive team. After all, superheroes are by nature outsiders. They're either super strong, super intelligent, or, as in The Avengers (for everyone but Thor), both. Watching them bicker and sulk reminded me a little bit of the early years of my marriage, when we were still figuring out how to fight evil on the same side.

Anyone in a relationship can benefit from taking a close look at The Avengers and the ways each character has had to put aside their

By Laura Schaefer
Author of The Teashop Girls
Let's get real about wedding planning. As excited and happy as you are to be getting married, the truth is planning the Big Day is a lot of work. There are a hundred decisions to be made and it can be tough to keep your head above water when you have a full-time job.

I'm getting married in August, and so far my strategy has been to try to tackle one task at a time and keep things as simple as possible. But no matter how determined I may be to stay calm, there are moments when I worry if it'll all come together. I'm sure my fiancé and I will forget something fairly important, like, you know, having chairs for our guests to sit on (BYOC!). With that in mind, I sought out some tips for women like me who planned their weddings with a lot on their plates. Here, the best gems from their helpful advice.

Limit the seemingly endless choices. "Give yourself two to three choices of vendors and don't go crazy researching stuff,"

By Josie Brown
Author of The Baby Planner
A few years back, the term "mommy porn" was an oxymoron. Today it's a catchphrase describing the yummy mommy's latest literary obsession: erotica. And no, it's not referring to the paperback bodice-rippers touting heaving (hers) and bare (his) chests we found while scrounging for change at the bottom of our mothers' purses. I guess the surrendered wife is back, in heels and in a cage: at least, in her fantasies.

Trust me, hubbies: After one flick of a horsewhip, she'll gasp, "Honey, you shouldn't have!" and for once, she'll mean it. Expect a call from her attorney in the morning.

A recent cover of TIME displayed a different kind of mommy porn: a three-year-old, suckling the teat of his comely 26-year-old mother. I'm guessing she'll have second thoughts about saying yes to the photo once the kid's shrink bills pile up. She better hope Universal Healthcare is a reality before he turns twelve. Should the poor boy end up with

By Keri Gans, MS, RD, CDN
Author of The Small Change Diet
It's not uncommon for me to have patients in my office who have hit a weight loss plateau. For weeks and weeks the weight was gradually coming off and then all of a sudden, it stops. At first I say, "I'm sure the scale will move by our next visit" and when the next visit comes, again, nothing! When this happens, I put the patient on the "Plan B" of weight loss consisting of these five simple steps.

1. Don't Panic
Surely panic doesn't get anyone anywhere. I try to reassure my patients that worse things in life could be happening to them and they need to relax. The more stress they feel, the more they are likely to start eating foods that they've worked so hard on limiting.

2. Step Away from the Scale
Lots of my patients get too obsessed with the scale and it rules their life. So many factors can influence a number on the scale that has nothing to do with real weight gain, e.g. sodium and bloating. I

By Lindsay Harrison
Author of Missing
Surviving a holiday in the wake of losing a parent is always difficult. In the six years since my mother's untimely death, Mother's Day has been a particularly bittersweet affair for me. In the weeks leading up to this Mother's Day, my email inbox has been bombarded with no fewer than 50 offers for Mother's Day gifts. Sure, I would like to give my mother a hot stone massage, a bouquet of flowers, or a box of chocolates, but I don't have that luxury anymore. Living Social even sent me an offer to take my mom on a Sex and the City walking tour. Time Out New York suggested a disco brunch. While I have no choice but to quickly delete these emails, they fill me with a pang of regret.

I know that I am not alone in this struggle. For all of us who have lost a loved one, and are sadly reminded of that loss on holidays, I have a few suggestions.

1. Celebrate the living. If there was a silver lining to losing my mother, it was that the

By Jessica Massa
Author of The Gaggle
"I'm offended by all the 'supposed to's.' I don't like women telling other women what to do, or how to do it, or when to do it. Every time I have sex, it's MY choice. And if I wanted to go on some dates, I would. But I don't. Because they're for lesbians."-Jessa on Girls

HBO's new series Girls has arrived on the feminine-focused TV sitcom scene-and to listen to the critics, the press and the Twitter feeds of young women everywhere, TV, comedy, and the modern female experience will never be the same.

Much has been said about Girls: that the relationships between the women feel authentic, that the Millennial sense of mild entitlement feels all-too-real-and-damning, that the sex is horrifying (and, oh dear god, it is), that the all-white and all-middle-to-upper-class cast doesn't properly represent the cross-section of modern women for whom the show has been charged with speaking.

But here is my favorite thing about Girls: It

If you haven't already bought Mom the lovely, hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind gift she deserves, it's time to break out the big guns. With less than a week to go, we can't afford to lose valuable time surfing cookie-cutter gift sites.

Here are 10 great gifts you can procure easily or make yourself, package, and hand deliver (or hey, because their pricetag is low, you can still afford to spend a little on shipping). Bundle several together for a nice gift basket, or recycle a simple straw basket, galvanized metal tub from the 99-cent store, or cute clementines crate to hold your gift. The end result will have Mom beaming with pride.

-Best Books for Mom (Simon & Schuster)

-Homemade Scented Bath Oil (Homemade)

-Adorable D.I.Y. Stuffed Owls (Efemera Ink)

-"You Are Entirely Amazing" handmade wooden card (Etsy, cardtorial, $10)

-Homemade sugar scrub in jars (Maybe Matilda)

-Mad Men-style Retro Apron (Etsy, 4RetroSisters, $36.95)

-"Mom, You Are My Sunshine" art