Blog Posts by Tips on Healthy Living

For one week, reserve a block of time each day to connect with the people who mean the most to you: your family. From Lisa Oz, author of Us: Transforming Ourselves and the Relationships That Matter Most.

Day 1. Have family breakfast together. If you or your spouse normally leaves before everyone else, let your boss know you will be running a little late. Sit down at the table, and before you eat, take a moment to express gratitude that you are a family.

Day 2. Have family date night. Do something fun all together. Go to dinner or bowling or miniature golf. Or just stay home and play board games. Try to avoid things like movies or TV. This activity is about bonding, and when you are watching something, you can't really speak to each other.

Day 3. Make a family values document. Get together for half an hour and brainstorm a list of the things that are important to you and your loved ones. For our family these things are telling the truth, saying you're sorry, letting go of

The DASH Diet has been named the No. 1 Best Diet Overall and the Best Diet for Healthy Eating by U.S. News & World Report. Why? The diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, isn't overly limiting, is heart-healthy, and focuses on key nutrients eaten in whole foods such as fruits and veggies-not in pills. Making simple changes are the answer, says Thomas Moore, M.D., author of The DASH* Diet for Hypertension: Lower Your Blood Pressure in 14 Days-Without Drugs.

To create a diet that would lower blood pressure, we knew we needed to study people who have healthy blood pressure and incorporate into our diet the characteristics of their eating patterns. For this we turned to two main sources.

Non-Westernized peoples: In stark contrast to the United States, where one in four adults has hypertension and over half of people who reach the age of 60 develop high blood pressure, many non-Westernized populations have low rates of hypertension, and their people do

By Deborah Goldstein
Ready to hit the gym or run in the snow? Motivation comes in spades the first week of January. Beyond that, it doesn't hurt to seek inspiration in the form of new workout gear. If Santa didn't bring you new yoga pants or a warm jacket, finding your own stylish new duds will help you look good, feel good, and put you in the right state of mind. Here's where to find fashionable, functional activewear you'll look great in while you work up a sweat.

Lululemon Athletica: Is a pair of low-rise yoga pants really worth $98? If they're uber-flattering, non-chafing, and by Lululemon-well then, yes. Yogis and runners are so crazy for their high-quality products, there are blogs dedicated to the brand.

Team Sparkle: Their fun, flashy running skirts and "racing legs" (footless leg warmers) scream "team spirit"-great for groups competing in an event or relay together.

Athleta: Part of the GAP empire, Athleta offers a wide range of styles, colors, and sizes

By Keri Gans, MS, RD, CDN
Author of The Small Change Diet
Out with the old and in with the new! Isn't that what we say in the New Year? There's no time like the present, so let's start right away on your kitchen pantry. At this point the holidays are indeed over, and there isn't one good reason for you to still have holiday candies, cookies, and cakes hanging around. You've had your fill, and it's time to stock up on healthy foods.

Here are some really simple, affordable items that should be found in your pantry in 2012:
Beans: These are one of the most versatile and nutritious foods I know and one of the easiest to cook with. Simply open up a can of your favorites-black beans, garbanzo beans (chick peas), cannellini beans, or kidney beans-drain, then rinse under cold water, and toss them into a salad, pasta dish, or soup. Or put them into a blender and create your own bean dip or hummus variation. This will make a great snack with raw veggies, whole-wheat crackers

A series of small lifestyle changes can help you lose weight-and keep it off for good. Learn how to stop dieting and make honest behavioral moves that will keep you slim. From Keri Gans, MS, RD, CDN, author of The Small Change Diet: 10 Steps to a Thinner, Healthier You.

Small Change 1: Create a healthy eating schedule. Don't skip meals. Eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and ideally two snacks a day. When you eat every three to four hours, you're less likely to overindulge or eat the wrong foods.

Small Change 2: Brighten your plate, naturally. Build all your meals with low-calorie fruits and veggies. They help fill you up without filling you out. Half your plate should contain veggies, especially at dinner. Have fruit for dessert more often than not.

Small Change 3: Think before you drink (sip, guzzle, or chug). Always think about your drink. Don't waste calories on sugary beverages with no nutritional content. Choose water, seltzer, low-fat milk, and other low-calorie,

When you're trying to lose weight, you might be focused on fitting into that sexy black number hanging in your closet. But there are wonderful things happening inside your body that won't be reflected on the scale, such as decreasing blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. Get the ego boost from Dr. Mike Moreno, author of The 17 Day Diet: A Doctor's Plan Designed for Rapid Results.

Being overweight is a symptom of being unhealthy. Focus on your weight and your health will improve-instantly. Consider what the results of various research studies say about the rather immediate effects of healthy nutrition on the body:

After 15 minutes: After the first morning of eating a healthy breakfast, your stomach's satiety signals have registered in your brain, and you feel full. The body's internal chemistry is at its most active first thing in the morning, so your breakfast is then used to the maximum. If you eliminated processed foods (white bread, sugary cereals) for whole

It's simple human nature to want to avoid conflict. But by not addressing the problem-or by mishandling the break-up-you might guarantee discomfort and unhappiness for days, weeks, maybe years, says Liz Pryor, Good Morning America's advice guru and author of What Did I Do Wrong?: When Women Don't Tell Each Other the Friendship Is Over. She shares the story of former friends, Terry and Mia, to illustrate.

In her book Connecting: The Enduring Power of Female Friendship, Sandy Sheehy says, "Merely acknowledging that we might want to stop being friends with someone brings a nagging sense of failure and guilt."

I didn't detect the guilt in Terry, quite frankly, but I think that like many women who initiate this experience, Terry has a feeling of entitlement that says we're allowed to choose our friends and end our friendships in whatever way we see fit. It is our own choice and it doesn't make us bad people. All of which is entirely true. We aren't bad people because we want to

This list of the worst culprits in our food (mainly junk food-just one more reason to avoid it) can help you make better choices while grocery shopping. From Unjunk Your Junk Food by Andrea Donsky and Randy Boyer.

The list is divided into two parts:
Red: Worst Ingredients (should be strictly avoided)
Yellow: Also Beware of (should be used with caution)

Below are the worst ingredients we found in the products included in this book.

Red: Worst Ingredients
• Acesulfame potassium, ace-K (artificial sweetener)
• Artificial butter flavor (artificial flavor)
• Artificial color
• Artificial flavor
• Artificial raspberry flavor (artificial flavor)
• Artificial strawberry flavor (artificial flavor)
• Aspartame (artificial sweetener)
• BHA (preservative)
• BHT (preservative)
• Blue 1 and blue 1 lake (artificial colors)
• Blue 2 and Blue 2 lake (artificial colors)
• Green color (artificial color)
•