One of my friends is deep in a life makeover. Six months ago, she decided to sit down weekly on a therapist's couch. Since then, she's been meditating and journaling up a storm in the name of personal wellness. So none of us were surprised when she showed up at a party over the weekend after seeing a nutritionist, wondering aloud if this was a health helper worth the hefty expense. "You don't need a health coach," another friend suggested, "you need an accountability partner." But is the buddy system really as helpful as an expert?

A study at Stanford University showed that even small amounts of social support, like a quick phone call or an email from a friend, can help produce lasting change in our health. But would a friend offer the same "I don't want to disappoint her," pressure as someone who wears a shroud of authoritative anonymity? Think of Gladys at the weekly weigh-in of a diet program. She doesn't know that you're the world's best crocheter or play a mean game of horse. Her

In the spirit of National Yoga Month, we asked three of our favorite yoginis to tell us how yoga has made over their lives. As most of us know: it's so much more than exercise. Be inspired, and then find a free yoga class in your area.

"Yoga has reminded me to be easy in my body."
--Tara Stiles, creator of Yoga Anywhere and Slim Calm Sexy Yoga

"Studies have shown that women who practice yoga regularly have a more positive body image than those who don't," explains Esther Kane, MSW, author of It's Not About the Food. "It's not about how we look on the outside that counts in yoga."

Abigail Steidley, a Martha Beck certified mind-body coach, adds that connecting to our breath in yoga roots us in our bodies, instead of letting our minds run willy-nilly, "rushing off to think about daily to-dos, concerns, and stressful issues. When we fully inhabit our bodies, we feel confident because we accept and love our bodies and feel at home in them. This is probably the most important thing anyone

If I had every dollar back that I fed into the vending machine when I heard its four o'clock snack siren song, my Roth IRA would be significantly more flush, and I'd likely have a firmer midsection. But from now on, what those cute vending machine stocking guys put in those wire racks is going to stay there. We've got desk drawers filled with the sort of tempting treats that won't do as much damage to our wallet or our waistline.

If your portions are super-sized, healthy foods can result in the same unwanted pounds as burgers and fries. But you don't need to carry around a travel set of measuring cups to make over your serving size. On today's Real-Life Makeover, we've got six ways your hand can help you keep a grip on your portion sizes.



SIZE UP YOUR PROTEIN
Protein fuels our energy and helps build strong muscles. Use the area and thickness of your palm to eyeball how much chicken, fish or tofu you should be eating in a single sitting.

SIZE UP YOUR VEGGIES
What should accompany your protein? Scoop up two fist-sized portions of fresh veggies for a ton of nutrients and antioxidants.

SIZE UP YOUR SALAD
Use both your hands like serving spoons to lift up a big portion of leafy greens. To give yourself about a tablespoon of dressing, use the length of your thumb as a guideline.

SIZE UP YOUR FRUIT
When you're figuring out how many berries to pile on top of your morning yogurt, fill your hand for just the right

Do you ever wonder if feeling bad about our bodies is a placeholder for all the ways we feel bad about life in general? Maybe you hate your job or had a terrible father or shrink from opportunities at work. It's much easier to just say, "I hate my thighs," than it is to dig into what's really keeping your self-esteem in first gear. But there's a silver lining to this predicament. What if tonight we threw our self-loathing to the floor along with our cardigan? If we're using our bodies as shorthand for our life as a whole, then maybe they're also the quickest way to feel pretty bad ass tonight. It's worth a try, don't you think?

Luxuriate some kind attention on your body.
Here's a word we don't use enough in modern life: toilette. It brings to mind an old-fashioned daily ablution with potions, fragrance, and creams. Not a mad dash five-minute teeth-brushing and hair-combing, but a slow, daily ritual that is about attention and care. And it doesn't have to be time-consuming. It could

AMCTV.COMY'all know we're crazy Mad Men fans, even if the office politics make us die a little inside. But watching Sunday's episode, you could have knocked me over with a feather: even rapscallion Don Draper wants a Real-Life Makeover! Here, six universal truths evident in his makeover and applicable to yours.

It's never too late, and you're never too far gone.
So you've been lying to everyone about everything for your entire adult life. So you took a wrecking ball to your wife and family. Your whole life can be in ruins, but let this be a lesson to all of us: you are never too far gone for a change. Things are never too bad to get better, and it's never too late to make over yourself or your life. If Don can do it, any of us can. Change can happen whenever we have the will.

Write in a journal.
How surprised were you when Don sat by the window in his apartment and started writing about his feelings? Dude is sad. But instead of temporarily drinking his troubles away, he's working through his

MiramaxIf you're like me, you often wish life were more like the movies. We would make excellent use of the hair and makeup people and have that marvelous movie advantage called I-can-walk-all-day-in-impractical-shoes-and-my-feet-never-hurt. There would be a soundtrack, of course, that followed us as we--so full of vim and vigor, spilling charm onto the sidewalk there's so much to spare!--bopped down the street carrying dahlias, a baguette, and The New Yorker. You know, movie heroine stuff. This isn't my daily reality. But would it be wrong to have a little more movie magic in our day-to-day?

One night a few years ago, feeling sad and depleted about something I can't even remember now, I called my friend Alison. I sat in my bedroom with the lights turned off, holding the phone tightly to my ear. That night, she offered the kind of advice that was perfect in that moment, and which, years later, I still fish out on rainy days. "What would the heroine in the movie version of your life do?"

Why should only school kids get the excitement of a new lunch box? Our lives are way harder, and besides, aren't you tired of toting your lunch to work in that leftover Sephora bag? These ten lunch boxes are super cute, of course, but equally important, they solve the age old problems of where to put the dressing on your take-to-work salad and how to keep your sandwich from getting squished.