Blog Posts by The Editors of Prevention

How to prevent flip-flops, cookouts, cocktail parties and more from ruining your summer fun 'Tis the season for easy living--until a bug bite, a burn, or a little too much booze does you in. More than 29 million people are treated in the ER for injuries every year, according to the CDC, and summertime is far and away the busiest season. (This is especially bad news when you consider the fact that hospital medication errors--and fatalities--also spike in summer.) Here's how to avoid becoming a statistic, and some treatment tips if you're reading this a little too late.

1. BBQ blunders
Making burgers and kabobs sounds like a brilliant idea, until you remember that you aren't a grill master. U.S. fire departments respond to an average of 8,200 home fires involving grills, hibachis or barbecues per year, and burns to the skin and smoke inhalation are far more numerous.

Sidestep it: Exercise caution when lighting the grill and opening the cover, since once it's fired up, the whole shebang is hot. And while it's tempting to toss some gasoline or kerosene on the grill to see it

Learn which summertime treats are the biggest calorie culpritsIt's hard to enjoy a summer excursion without being bombarded by high-cal, fatty foods and humongous portions at every turn. Making matters worse, if you find yourself catching a whiff of funnel cakes on an empty stomach, the temptation to get a plateful might be more than your weight-loss resolve can handle.

We asked nutrition experts to share their know-how and take the guesswork out of the calorie counts of common foods you'll find at popular summer events. Find out what they suggested you steer clear of--and better-for-you options--to maximize fun without hurting your waistline.

13 Rules for Dining Out on a Diet

1. The Ballpark
Bathing Suit Bomber: Jumbo Dogs and Large Beers
You don't have to get the super-sized foot-long, jumbo dog or the largest cup of beer, says David Grotto, RD, a former spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and founder of Nutrition Housecall, a nutrition-consulting firm.

"A jumbo beef hot dog (larger than a foot-long) can contain about a

TELL US: What's your favorite summer/theme-park food?

-Nina Elias, Prevention.com

Ride a rollercoaster, win a prize, and...ruin your diet? Here, 5 unhealthy foods to avoid--and what to eat insteadAt some point this summer you're bound to find yourself weaving your way through a maze of bright, blinking food carts. The smell of roasting hot dogs and deep-fried funnel cake is enough to eat away at anyone's willpower--and who cares, right? What's one little treat when you're fêting? Well, we'll tell you: That one snack could pack a days' worth of calories, sugar, and fat, and leave you starving. To help you navigate the rows (and rows and rows) of trashy, tempting treats, we uncovered the five worst diet disasters--and found some healthier options, too.

9 Worst Summertime Calorie Bombs

Diet Disaster: Soft Pretzels
It's not fried, it's not dipped in anything, so it's safe, right? Not when it's as big as your face. A jumbo-variety soft pretzel will cost you 527 calories and over 100g of carbs-almost your entire daily allowance.

Diet Disaster: Funnel Cake
With 700 calories and 40g of fat in just one funnel cake, be grateful these light-as-air webs only rear their deep-fried heads

8 common injuries--and how to work out when you have one"No pain, no gain" won't work as an exercise mantra if you're already injured. In fact, pushing yourself too hard when you're hurting can land you at the doctor's office (or worse). Still, aches and pains are no excuse to cut out exercise altogether-you just have to be smart about it.

To help you pick a safe--but satisfying--workout when you're injured, we found the 8 more common injuries in women over 40, and asked Kimberly Safman, MD, board certified physiatrist at Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, Calif., to help you pick a substitute.


5 Best Workouts For Chronic Pain

1. Carpal tunnel syndrome
It's often caused by…repetitive motions, such as typing or writing, gardening, needlework, and golfing; or swelling due to diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Women's smaller wrists make them three times more likely than men to develop carpal tunnel.

You should avoid…push-ups, plank pose, and any other exercise that involves excessive bending the wrist forward or back; racquet sports

Bored with plain water? Us too, but you still need your H2O. Here, 3 delicious ways to hydrateThe conventional wisdom--often repeated and just as often debunked--is that you should drink eight glasses of water a day. But do you really need that much? And are there ways to get hydrated without refilling your glass with plain old H2O every hour? Sort of, and absolutely! Let us explain.

First, here's why, despite the frequent bathroom trips and the hassle of schlepping around a reusable water bottle, hydrating is worth it: Drinking water may promote weight loss by speeding up metabolism, according to a study published in the journal Obesity. And skimping on fluids can take a toll on your mood, too. That may sound like no big deal, but recent studies have linked mild dehydration to fatigue, anxiety, poor concentration, and even your cranky midday slump.

6 Best Water Bottles to Keep You Hydrated

But do you really need a bottle of water on your desk (or in your handbag) at all times? The latest guidelines from the Institute of Medicine recommend women get 91 ounces of water a

Peer inside the daily diary of woman on a liquid cleanse.Nothing riles up health writers like the debate over the relative merits and perils of detox diets. In one camp, you have women convinced that cleanses are needed to flush harmful toxins from your body; in the other are people persuaded they're dangerous fad diets that deprive you of essential nutrients (and then trigger binges). I was in neither, so I decided to give one a whirl myself.

Now, I'd like to say my motivation was pure professional curiosity: A desire to use my body as a research tool so that I could better report on a trend that celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow to Beyoncé have sworn by, inspiring legions of women in their wake. But that wouldn't be completely true. When I volunteered to test a liquid cleanse, it just so happened I had a trip planned to a tropical island just one week later. If, in the name of journalism, I could also feel better in my two-piece, well, wouldn't that be nice?

The Best Way to Detox Naturally

There are countless trendy detox diets out there,

Why you need Fido in your cubicle--and how to make it happenHow does this sound: You get another annoying email from your boss, but instead of biting your tongue or downing doughnuts, you're instantly comforted by Mr. Biscuit's knowing look and wagging tail next to your desk. Sounds pretty great, right? Make it happen and bring your pooch to work this Friday for a fun end to the week! Remind your boss that June 22nd is the 13th annual Take Your Dog To Work Day® and ask if your furry friend can make an office visit for the day. Or, take advantage of Take Your Pet To Work Week™ this week and secure another day to bring a pet to the office. This day was created by Pet Sitters International as a way to promote adoptions and encourage people to support their local pet community.

Letting employees bring their dogs to work is a growing trend--with companies like Google and Amazon in on it--that benefits workers and employers alike. Here's why you should sit up, take notice, and (sorry, we had to…) beg to do the same.

What Your Dog's Breed Says About