by Sarah Jio, Glamour

Think of the most calming activities: Maybe, you love taking a hot bath, lounging on the couch and watching a movie, or maybe getting a massage at your favorite spa. Sounds nice, right? Well, for some people with an unusual form of anxiety, relaxation could actually cause their worries.

The phenomenon is called "relaxation-induced anxiety" and it affects more people than you may think, according to a new report from the University of Cincinnati.

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"Someone with a fear of relaxation is able to initially relax," says Christina Luberto, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Cincinnati, who has developed a questionnaire, known as the Relaxation Sensitivity Index, to examine this fear. "But once they start to feel relaxed, they begin to feel anxious as a result."

People who have this type of anxiety, tend to experience heart rate increases, rapid breathing and muscle tension when they try to relax. Luberto and her

By Chef Meg Galvin, Healthy Cooking Expert at SparkPeople.com

You might not find discussions of pan frying or deep fat frying in most cookbooks geared to healthy cooking for obvious reasons. I guess that means that if we want to live a healthy lifestyle we will no longer enjoy the golden breading color on pieces of cooked Dover sole or the crunch we hear when we bite into a chicken leg coated in a crispy breading. Guess again! If you've said goodbye to those crispy cooked foods--say hello again! Faux frying creates a lighter version of the pan- or deep-fried foods that we all crave. It's simple, quick, and easy. Best of all, your home (and your hair) won't smell of a deep fat fryer for days after the meal.

First you need to understand the basic breading procedure that produces the golden brown crispy crust on fried or faux fried foods. You can fry almost anything, from chicken to pickles, zucchini to shrimp. The first step is to make sure your vegetable or protein is completely

By Melinda Hershey, for SparkPeople

Although you're probably putting a plan in place to reach your healthy goals in 2013, a little extra luck couldn't hurt, right? In some countries, it is customary to eat legumes for good luck in the new year. Many southerners in the US traditionally make Hoppin' John--a dish made of rice, onions, pork and black-eyed peas. Due to their coin-like shape, lentils are also eaten in many cultures to symbolize a prosperous new year. If you were to pick the more nutrient-rich legume to kick off a lucky 2013, would black-eyed peas or lentils be the better choice?

The Winner: Lentils!
Per a ½-cup cooked serving, lentils contain 115 calories, 8 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein. Although black-eyed peas have fewer calories per serving (100 calories), they also contain less filling fiber (5.5 grams) and protein (6.5 grams).

Love legumes? Check out the table below for a nutritional comparison of some of the most common varieties. (All nutrition values are

By Jen Mueller, for SparkPeople

With the New Year just around the corner, exercise is on a lot of people's minds. So many of us are bound and determined to reach new fitness goals, hit the gym with vigor, and change our bodies once and for all.

Does this sound a lot like last year? What happens between January and December that causes so many people to fail, only to set the same fitness resolutions year after year?

No one wants to fail. When you start a fitness program, the hope is that all of your hard work (and sweat) will carry you to the finish line. A lot of people can start a fitness program, but very few can stick with it for the long-term. Why?

In my experience as a trainer and health coach, the excuses we use to miss a workout aren't the real reasons people fail. You don't have to be a fortune teller to predict who will be going strong next December and who will be starting over again. Most often, I can tell whether someone will succeed or fail based on four simple signs.

by Sarah Jio, Glamour

Sometimes I dread to report on the health risks of smoking, because obviously you know the risks by now. But, just in case you (or a girlfriend you love) is still, occasionally smoking socially (even a cigarette here and there), this news is for you (and her).

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According to a new study published in Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology, an American Heart Association Journal that looked at results of more than 100,000 women as far back as 1976, those who were light to moderate smokers had a significantly increased risk of dying from sudden cardiac arrest than those who didn't smoke.

"Cigarette smoking is a known risk factor for sudden cardiac death, but until now, we didn't know how the quantity and duration of smoking effected the risk among apparently healthy women," said study author Dr. Roopinder K. Sandhu, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the University of Alberta's Mazankowski Heart Institute in Edmonton, Alberta,

by Sarah Jio, Glamour

A superfruit for weight loss? Experts indicate that it could be apples! And, since we all know that most people gain more weight during end of the year holidays than any other time of the year, this is news we all can use--right this second!

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Here's the details: In a study of mice, researchers at University of Iowa report that apples--which are rich in a compound called ursolic acid (found in apple skins)--may increase your body's ability to burn calories and build muscle.

So maybe for every Christmas cookie you eat, munch on an apple slice too!

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Are you a regular apple eater?

P.S. 16 percent of your calories may come from this surprising source! Experts call it "food porn" and say it may make you pack on pounds...

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by Lexi Petronis, Glamour

You know what's really great? Finding out that something doesn't increase your cancer risk. And, today, we just so happen to have one of those somethings.

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A study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology has found that the UV lamps used to dry gel manicures don't cause skin cancer--something dermatologists have been concerned with for years.

In fact, the researchers for the study say that it would take 13,000 to 40,000 drying sessions under the lamp to raise your risk of getting skin cancer. That works out to one gel manicure per week for the next 250 years.

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The researchers say that gel manicure lights use narrowband UVB rays, which are the same kind used to treat skin conditions such as psoriasis.

Yay! How nice is it to hear that this doesn't cause cancer?

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by Lexi Petronis, Glamour

We know that sugary beverages pack a lot of calories into their sweet little containers (they've taken a lot of heat in the obesity debate). But now the results of a new study are showing that they may also trick our brains into thinking that we're hungry!

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Actually, it's the fructose in sugar-sweetened drinks that researchers say affect the brain region that regulates appetite. The researchers--who point out that the study does not show that fructose causes obesity--say that participants who drank a cherry-flavored drink with fructose in it experienced a spike in their hypothalamus. The participants who drank the same beverage made with glucose didn't have the spike.

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The conclusion: high-fructose corn syrup and other forms of fructose might actually help lead us to overeat more than glucose does. (Plain table sugar contains both glucose and fructose.) Which means, say the experts,