Simple ways to turn your health around

General advice for better health. Image is of happy middle aged woman in glasses outside and smiling at the camera.

Think you can put off taking care of yourself? Think again. When it comes to our health, “It’s easier to protect well-being than it is to repair damage,” says Gary Small, M.D., director of the UCLA Longevity Center and author of “The Longevity Bible.” To make a U-turn now and head down the road to […]

Find your motivation power hour

Find your motivation power hour: image of clock face

Most people’s mental energy is a roller coaster, says Chris Bailey, the author of “The Productivity Project.” “There are certain hours when you naturally have much more drive than at other times,” he says. The tricky thing is that the time of day when mental energy — and motivation — peaks is different for everyone. […]

End the yo-yo diet cycle

A yo-yo diet is not effective for sustainable weight loss. Image shoes scale with tape measurer and apple on top of it.

Last spring you reached your goal weight and celebrated by hitting the beach in a bikini. Then your job got stressful, you didn’t find time to work out and your healthy eating spiraled out of control. Now you realize there’s no way you’re going to hit your target weight before your friend’s wedding next month […]

Keep those New Year’s resolutions

Tips for keeping your resolutions. Image shows neck down shot of woman sitting on wood floor doing yoga with legs crossed and hands in prayer position.

With the chime of the clock at midnight, you whip out your resolutions list. Sure, it’s the same as the one you wrote last New Year’s — lose weight, exercise more, eat more healthfully — but maybe this year will be different. To inspire you, several leading health experts provide tips to help you succeed […]

A spoonful of motivation helps the medicine go down

Medication adherence comes down to motivation. Image shows pile of caplets and tablets on top of medication container.

We have all done it. We are prescribed a medication to help us, but we don’t take it as directed, or at all. Sometimes we don’t even fill the prescription. Why? Things get in the way of getting to the pharmacy. One last phone call at work or one more math problem with your child. […]

Weekend-proof your diet

Group of friends sitting around a table outside drinking wine, eating a healthy diet, and laughing.

Finally, the weekend. After watching what you eat all week, it’s natural to want to indulge a little. But once you loosen the reins, it’s easy to lose control. To keep that from happening, try these stay-strong strategies. Friday: Happy hour You’re in the mood to unwind, but the more you drink, the more you […]

Sneak in Fitness

Mary Lou Cerami paddleboarding

Kick the sitting habit with exercises for body and soul Above photo: Mary Lou Cerami paddleboarding “Sitting is the new cigarette,” says Angie McDermott, certified athletic trainer and owner of Konscious Body in Kenilworth, relating a popular thought among health professionals. “I get what they mean.” Most of us think of exercise as something we […]

Trick yourself into liking exercise

Girl in gym before exercising.

You know that exercise usually makes you feel better, but sometimes life — or excuses — can get in the way. You can spend 20 minutes debating about whether it might rain, or focusing on all of the reasons why right now is not a good time to walk — or you could just lace […]

How to Exercise Without Even Knowing It

Woman washing her car

By EatingWell In a review that appeared in the International Journal of Obesity, a group of scientists recently suggested that Americans are simply spending too much time talking about how our toxic food environment and our couch potato ways are making us obese. Perhaps there are other reasons that we’re plumping up, they proposed. Among […]