Blog Posts by The Editors at Sharecare

Your mom is a colon cancer survivor. Your BFF's brother just had a polyp removed during a colonoscopy. What does that mean for the two of you? For starters, put down the pepperoni pizza and get off the couch. You both have twice the risk of developing colon cancer as someone with no colon cancer in the immediate family . . . and you need to do something about it. Now.

This to-do list will help you beat the odds.

1. Skip the pepperoni. Eating processed meat, and red meat in general, is flirting with disaster. It's high in iron, calories, and saturated fat and forms nasty chemicals when cooked at high temperatures (see number 6). Just 4 ounces a day -- a burger's worth -- makes your colon cancer risk almost 30% higher than eating just 5 ounces once a week.

Related: Need help cutting back on red meat? Here's how to make it painless.

2. Have an apple a day. Apples are full of quercetin, a cancer-fighting flavonoid that puts a whammy on precancerous cells, lowering

Your office may not have a literal "rest" room yet, but your employer might be smart to create one. Some companies already have, including Nike and Google. Why? Studies show that a quick afternoon power nap can:

• Boost productivity
• Counter burnout
• Improve memory
• Take the edge off of stress
• Lower risk of heart disease

There's even an app for the power nap. In fact, there are four of them, from free ones with soothing ambient noise to more sophisticated programs that (for a small fee) provide different sound frequencies to lull you to sleep and gently wake you at a preset time.

Related: Got sleep questions? Check out these answers.

Here are three ways to get the best from your siesta:

• Limit naps to 30 minutes. Give yourself 10 to fall asleep and 20, at most, for napping. The benefits of a 5- to 20-minute nap are almost immediate and last up to 3 hours. Going into a deeper, longer sleep causes sleep inertia. That's a doc's way of saying

Fat is like real estate: It's all about location, location, location. You need fat in some places -- like your hips (which store good fat) and your brain (which is 60% fat). But in other locations, like your belly, fat is not a healthy addition to your real estate portfolio. And as far as your sex life is concerned, that spare tire around your middle is like a "Go Directly to Jail, Do Not Pass Go" card in Monopoly, the ultimate real estate game.

What does that spare tire have to do with your love life? Yep, it's also about location. Deep abdominal fat, technically known as omentum fat, builds up near your liver and other vital organs. That's a dangerous location. When fat is released from the omentum, some of it goes straight to your liver, and from there it goes to your arteries, damaging blood vessels.

Here's the sex connection: Clogged arteries and blood vessels reduce blood flow to critical organs -- including your genitals. Without free blood flow there, men can

Get this: Every year, Americans throw away 415 million unused vacation days. Are you thinking what we're thinking? Have people lost their minds?

The truth is, not taking a vacation is ghastly for your health. In fact, being overworked and overstressed has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and death. So whatever your excuses for not taking a break -- your job can't live without you, you can't afford it, there simply aren't enough days in the year -- toss them out the window. Now!

We're not making this stuff up. Research shows that reducing stress and taking regular vacations -- at least once or twice a year -- may be as vital to your emotional and physical well-being as exercising and eating right. There is plenty of evidence.

People who take frequent vacations:

• Are less likely to be depressed, tense, or tired
• Have a lower risk of heart disease and death
• Tend to be more satisfied with their marriages
• Are more interested and

Overtreating your skin is as stressful on your face as it is on your debit card and bathroom storage space. In fact, using too many products is one of the most common problems skin docs see, says Manhattan dermatologist Amy Wechsler, MD, author of The Mind-Beauty Connection. All those cleansers, lotions, scrubs, masks, creams, and toners together can add up to dryness, irritation, inflammation, and, ultimately, breakouts -- the opposite of what you're trying to achieve.

Related: Is your skin older than it should be? Take the SkinAge Test.

Here are Dr. Amy's four must-haves. They're all that most women -- and men -- need to keep skin clear and healthy.

• One mild everyday facial cleanser, like Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser or Aveeno Ultra-Calming Foaming Cleanser. If you're prone to acne, Dr. Amy likes Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Cleanser or Clinique Acne Solutions Cleansing Foam.
• Two good moisturizers -- one for day, with sunscreen, such as Eucerin Everyday

Does downsizing your diet backfire because it supersizes your appetite? If you're so hungry by mealtime that you wind up stuffing yourself silly when you hit the table, you need to take the edge off beforehand. Try eating these. All can tame your flying fork.

Nuts: Having a smidge of healthy fat -- the kind that nuts are full of -- 20 minutes before a meal tells your brain, "Hey, I'm not really that hungry." No wonder they're called "good" fats! They stimulate the production of cholecystokinin (CCK), a hormone that not only turns off appetite alarms but also slows the emptying of your stomach. You start to feel full before you even get started. It only takes about 70 calories' worth -- that's 6 walnuts, 12 almonds, or 20 peanuts.

Related: Is it really hunger -- or are you just thirsty? Here's how to know for sure.

Dried plums: Yep, thanks to heaps of hunger-quelling fiber, the wrinkled, old-fashioned dried fruit formerly known as prunes has the power to help you eat

Are you so over breakfast? You might be smart if breakfast for you means (yes, confess) a daily Sausage Egg McMuffin (450 calories, 27 grams of fat). A recent headline-making study blames big morning meals for weight gain. But wait! Before you decide to skip breakfast forever, there's a flip side to this story. The right breakfast will not only help you lose weight but also help you keep it off. Just do NOT make the two morning mistakes below. Go for our skinny winners instead.

Do NOT do this: Skip breakfast. It's as bad as or worse than overdoing it. Pass up breakfast and you're twice as likely to pack on pounds. The reason's a no-brainer: You're famished by lunch and feel justified eating anything in sight. That's because not eating in the morning triggers a surge of ghrelin, the appetite-stimulating, willpower-withering hormone. More proof: Thousands of successful dieters can't be wrong. Nearly 80% of the happy losers in the National Weight Control Registry -- a data bank

Changing your baby's diaper -- or peeking into the training potty -- is a little like opening birthday presents: The contents are usually predictable, but every once in a while, there's a big, colorful surprise inside. Here's the scoop on seven odd poop hues and what to do next:

• Black poop is only normal during the first few days of a newborn's life. After that, tarry black lumps could signal bleeding -- or just be a sign that a toddler's been cramming down Oreos or licorice. What to do: Double-check the color by putting a small piece on white paper and looking at it in bright light. If it's actually dark green, see below. If it's true black (and food's not the cause), call your pediatrician.
  
• Bright red may mean your toddler ate beets for dinner. This isn't the only veggie that can turn poop (and pee) dramatic dark red. So can tomatoes, cranberries, cherry or cranberry Jell-O, and even grape Kool-Aid.
  
• Red streaks could be bleeding from tiny skin