Whether religious or not, many people consider ritual and tradition to be an important (and treasured) part of life. The word ritual has such a serious ring to it, but rituals can also be simple, comforting and fun. And now that we're past the distraction of the holidays, it's easier to think about ritual in its less-loaded, everyday form: the little things you can do each day, each week, or each season to insert a pause for reflection or appreciation. Rituals need not be time-consuming (or all that serious) to be special. As long as they're predictable and important to your family, they will be meaningful. Here are 7 ideas to consider. See if one resonates for you. - By Asha Dornfest

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Peter Ardito/Fitness MagazineBy Dana White

Going with your gut feelings is a good practice. Too bad I don't always like what mine are saying. When I'm stressed, nervous, or feeling down, my stomach pings and my insides churn. It's as if there's an E-ZPass lane connecting my brain and bowels, its sign flashing "Go, go, go." And I suddenly have to. Badly.

See, when it comes to mood, it's not all in your head -- it's in your gut, too. "The brain influences the digestive tract and vice versa," says Rebekah Gross, MD, a clinical gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Medical Center. In fact, new research has found that our esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon have a big say in how our minds and bodies function and how happy we feel. "The gut is a critical group of organs that we need to start paying more attention to," says Steven Lamm, MD, the author of No Guts, No Glory. "Doing so may be the secret to improving our overall wellness."

Related: The 10 Best Foods for Flat Abs

Inside Your Other Brain
If it seems

by Alanna Nuñez

FDA approves new IUDLast week, Bayer HealthCare announced the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of Skyla, a new, low-dose hormone intrauterine device (IUD) designed to prevent pregnancy for up to three years, the first of its kind to be approved in 12 years.

"This opens up the conversation," says Anita Nelson, M.D, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. "Before, the thinking was that women who've never had a baby should try other options or only get an IUD if they couldn't use the pill. This offers women another choice."

Skyla is designed specifically with young women who've never had a baby or given birth in mind: It's narrower and smaller than other IUDs, which makes placement in the uterus easier and less painful, and it contains a lower dose of hormones then even Mirena (currently the lowest-dose form of birth control on the market).

A trial of 1,432 women aged 18 to 35 saw a pregnancy rate over a three-year period of less than

The average American consumes a whopping 22 teaspoons of added sugar every day. Dr. Robert Lustig, author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease, reveals the surprising places the sweet stuff is lurking, and how to cut back to the American Heart Association's recommended six teaspoons per day. By Ava Feuer, REDBOOK.

When you eat an entire bag of gummy bears, or down a large soda the movies, you're aware of what you're getting yourself into. But more than half of the sugar in our diets is strewn across the entire range of what we eat, put there by the food industry to make things taste, well, sweeter. And even if you're a careful reader of nutrition labels, you might never know it. "There are 56 names for sugar," says Dr. Lustig. "If you can figure out a way to have five or six different kinds of sugar in one product, then you can make some type of sugar fall further down the list. When you add them up, they add up to number one."

Tomato

By Elizabeth Sheer, Cheapism.com

Each year about one-third of American adults resolve to make their lives better in some way. For smokers, that often means a pledge to kick the habit. The benefits of quitting smoking are obvious: It's the best thing you can do for your health and for your budget. And with less tolerance for smoking all around, saying "no" could improve your social life, as well.

Related: Budget exercise bikes

Many would-be ex-smokers fail to quit smoking because it's hard to do. Quitnet reports that it takes seven tries, on average, for someone to successfully quit smoking. So make 2013 the year you pledge to give it up forever. And if you need an extra nudge, note that some of the best techniques for reaching this goal are absolutely free.

Quit smoking now with these frugal tips.

For starters, have you ever figured out just what this habit costs? A quick calculation at Quitnet, which entails entering your zip code and the number of cigarettes you smoke daily, tells you exactly how much of

Herbal Flu Season Tonic

From the perch of my bed, I like to watch a family of ravens that hang out atop a cypress tree that's about a block away. Last week, when a storm came through the city, my husband and I sat and watched as one brave raven continued to sit on his perch, facing into the wind, despite the constant battering. He was a brave bird. When it comes to flu season, I feel a lot like that bird. There's a constant battering going on: of commercials for flu products (honestly, taking a bunch of pills to suppress your symptoms and get back to work really isn't the answer!), of commercials for flu shots, of germs flying around, of everyone around me getting sick, and I'm just doing what I can to cling on to my health and sanity.

I read once, in a book by the herbalist Stephen Harrod Buhner, about herbal 'antibiotics' and why they're so much more effective than chemical ones. Viruses mutate. Its a fact of life. You know what else mutates? Plants. Fact. So just as a virus can psychically pass on

If you want to lose weight, don't sabotage your diet with these six common mythsAfter weeks of holiday indulgences, many people are ready to start the New Year on a healthier foot, and often that means shedding pounds. But even the most health-savvy people can get caught up in diet myths that sabotage their goals. "Weight loss is so complex and confusing because there is so much conflicting information out there," says Leslie Bonci, M.P.H., R.D., director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. With our experts' help and the latest research, we've dispelled six myths so you can start slimming down for good.

MYTH: No sweets before noon
Most people who want to lose weight assume they have to forgo dessert. But not only can you have it, you can have it for breakfast, according to a study published in March 2012 in the journal Steroids: Researchers found that participants who ate a 600-calorie, carb- and protein-rich breakfast that included dessert, such as chocolate or ice cream, lost more weight over four months (and kept more

The secret your favorite cook is hidingIt's easy to get suckered into thinking that celebrity chef creations are nutritious--after all, their food just looks so good. But while popular chefs churn out tasty recipes, they're likely turning a blind eye to nutrition, warns a new report. In fact, a new Food Network reality TV show focuses on weight loss tips for overweight chefs.

A team of UK researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, examined the nutritional content of 100 recipes from popular celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver, Lorraine Pascale, and Nigella Lawson. (The study focused on chefs popular in the UK.) The researchers also looked at pre-packaged grocery store meals, and compared both to the World Health Organization's recommendations.

As it turns out, none of the meals or recipes--whether store-bought or from a celebrity cook--met the nutritional criteria. Even more surprising? Study authors discovered that many of the pre-packaged meals were actually healthier than recipes from chefs. (Surprised?