Energy Express from Creators Syndicate

Kidfitness 101: The First Lady Moves and Grooves -- and You? for 02/14/2012

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

When it comes to getting TV cameras to focus on "Let's Move!" — the White House anti-obesity initiative to inspire kids to eat their broccoli, grow their muscles and ride their bikes — first lady Michele Obama is a role model of shamelessness.

To celebrate its second anniversary, she challenged Ellen DeGeneres to a drop-down push-up contest ... and won. She battled ...

Updated: Tue Feb 14, 2012

It's Valentine's Day! Have a Heart-to-Heart with Yourself for 02/07/2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

I've been saving this sweet quote for this week's Get Ready for Valentine's Day column. It gets to the heart of what really matters in life, not just this February, but every month of every year you have left.

"If I could ask someone only one question," writes best-selling author John Robbins, "and I wanted to learn the most I could about their health and how long they are ...

Updated: Tue Feb 07, 2012

It's Valentine's Day! Have a Heart-to-Heart with Yourself for 02/07/2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

"If I could ask someone only one question," writes best-selling author John Robbins, "and I wanted to learn the most I could about their health and how long they are ...

Updated: Tue Feb 07, 2012

Tweet Revenge: 10 Fitness Tips to Set You All a'Twitter for 01/31/2012

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

It's a revolution. Tweeting is in. Short is the new long. Attention spans are shrinking. R U serious? 4 sure! Less is more. #Cool.

#4TIGHTRABS. Want more core strength? Of course you do. Lie on your back in front of a chair. Put your heels on the seat in front of you so you form a 90-degree angle at your hips and knees. Clasp your hands lightly behind your neck, elbows moving toward each ...

Updated: Tue Jan 31, 2012

Swaportunity! A New Word to Healthify Your Snacks for 01/24/2012

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

This week's column is inspired by a TV commercial that I happened to catch right after the Golden Globes (Go Meryl!) It features a bespectacled young man in a spelling bee, and the word he's asked to spell is "swaportunity." He's stumped. He's never heard of that word. None of us have. The boy asks for a definition. "Swaportunity," the spelling bee judge says, is "the o ...

Updated: Tue Jan 24, 2012

The Latest Twist on Yoga: Will It Harm or Heal You? for 01/17/2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Normally, my yoga class is an oasis of calm. We unroll our mats, gather our props, sit in a comfortable posture — relaxing, breathing, quieting our busy brains — and wait in silence for the teacher to begin.

Not last week. Holy Patanjali! A bomb had been dropped, and everyone was buzzing — not just in my yoga studio, but across the country: "Did you see the piece i ...

Updated: Tue Jan 17, 2012

January Is Join-a-gym Month -- Then Comes February for 01/10/2012

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Every month is famous for something. April showers bring May flowers. July is for fireworks. December delivers Santa and Rudolph and Judah Maccabee. And January? January is the month health clubs live for. More people join gyms in January than any other month ... and within 90 days, at least 20 percent to 30 percent of them stop going. Sadder still is that after they go AWOL, millions of dropou ...

Updated: Tue Jan 10, 2012

Guilt Be Gone! Jumpstart 2012 With a Good Trainer for 01/03/2012

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

It's 2012! My first column of the new year! I'm feeling so perky, so well, so grateful. Where did I hide the New Year's Eve peanut brittle? In the garbage. It's a good thing. I open up my Energy Express reader email and am instantly rewarded:

Dear Marilynn, My husband gave me 10 sessions with a personal trainer for Christmas. He knows I've been struggling to lose weight and start exercis ...

Updated: Tue Jan 03, 2012

New Year's Resolutions: How to Make 'em and Not Break 'em for 12/27/2011

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

As 2011 bangs to a close, many of us wisely open up to making some positive changes in 2012. Most of those changes have to do with living a zippier, zestier lifestyle: "I want to start exercising every day!" "I'm going to lose 20 pounds by Valentine's Day!" "I want to drink more water ... less alcohol ... start eating breakfast ... bicycle to work ... go to yoga twice ...

Updated: Tue Dec 27, 2011

2011 in Review: What's Hot, What's Not, What's Rot for 12/20/2011

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

My No. 1 resolution for the new year is to live in the moment (I've mastered the Here, but the Now needs a little work.) At the same time, it's great sport to look back at 2011 and point out what's hot, what's not and why the Tummy Tuck infomercial is the wackiest thing to happen to TV since the return of "Fear Factor":

HOT: WELLNESS AT WORK — An overweight employee costs ...

Updated: Tue Dec 20, 2011

The Wrap on Wellness: Gift Yourself With Healthy Choices for 12/13/2011

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

I'm not suggesting that you call off Christmas or cancel Hanukkah and retreat into selfishness. No way. Santa forbid. I'm just saying that if you don't pay extra special attention to your own health and wellness this time of year — inhaling joy, exhaling tension — you'll burn out trying to care for others.

Give, give, give. That's what the December holiday season can feel lik ...

Updated: Tue Dec 13, 2011

Rethinking Gift-giving: More Joy, Less Stuff for 12/06/2011

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

This December holiday season — thinking about our consumer-driven economy too broke to grow and too indebted to save — I am reminded of that shopworn but still inspiring quote by Hamlet of Walmart: "To buy or not to buy."

Is that a question? Yes, it is — especially this woe-is-me year, with so many of us fearful about losing our homes, our jobs, our kid's future. Credit ...

Updated: Tue Dec 06, 2011

The Freshman 15 -- and Five More Fitness Myths That Flunk Out for 11/29/2011

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The Freshman 15 is not an Ivy League singing group. It's a long-held belief that college students gain 15 pounds their first year of school. All those late-night study sessions, drinking beer and munching pizzas, all those sedentary hours staring at the computer, all that stress about grades and anxiety about pimples ... sure, it makes sense. Nonsense.

The Freshman 15 weight gain turns ...

Updated: Tue Nov 29, 2011

Parenting 101: Getting Kids to Talk About Weighty Matters for 11/22/2011

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

A recent national survey revealed something pretty shocking about America's parents. The No. 1 subject they least want to talk to their kids about is sex.

Wrong. Try again.

The No. 1 subject parents least want to talk to their kids about

is ... the federal deficit? Texting while showering? Wait! It must be drugs and alcohol.

Wrong again.

The No. 1 taboo subj ...

Updated: Tue Nov 22, 2011

Pumpkin Iron: Seven Ways to a Lean and Serene Thanksgiving for 11/15/2011

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the 2011 holiday season, when the unchecked tendency to gobble-gobble means we end up 3 to 7 pounds heavier by New Year's. It doesn't have to be that way. We humans have choices, from what's on our plate to who's in our heart. If you're hungry for a healthier, happier, less stressful, more meaningful way to celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday, I have some ide ...

Updated: Tue Nov 15, 2011

Menu Aerobics: How to Eat Out Without Pigging Out for 11/08/2011

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Dining out has become our national pastime. So has porking up. Is there a link between the two? You bet your Krispy Kremes. We're a fast food nation of overeating eater-outers, and if you want to trim down and stay healthy, you've got to wise up when it comes to ordering a restaurant meal. Fish before steak; veggies over carbs. Eating out isn't the enemy. Spacing out is.

Menu aerobics i ...

Updated: Tue Nov 08, 2011

Want a Better Doctor? Be a Better Patient! for 11/01/2011

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Who likes going to the doctor? No one, especially if you have something we all dread, symptoms: a sudden chest pain, a screaming headache, a nagging backache. Though the symptoms will vary, your goal is always the same. You want your physician to figure our what's wrong. And you want to get well. Fast.

And that's why Dr. Jerome Groopman's classic, "How Doctors Think" (Houghton ...

Updated: Tue Nov 01, 2011

Killer Hospitals, Bad Docs and Other Haunting Tales for 10/25/2011

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

I don't need ghosts, goblins or stock market predictions to scare me this Halloween. It's enough just to read my email.

"If current trends continue," reads a report from researchers at Columbia University, "half of both men and women in the U.S. will be obese by 2030."

Half the population! Obese! And we're still refusing to tax soda pop? I reached for my secr ...

Updated: Tue Oct 25, 2011

10-10-10: Fall Fitness Tips That Inform, Inspire, Irritate for 10/18/2011

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Fall is here, dazzling us with the splendor and mystery of seasonal change. Overnight, green leaves turn red and gold. Birds perk up, pack up and fly south. Autumn days grow shorter and darker.

And the point is? When the season's change, so can we. Nature is us, and if you've been yearning to embrace a more active lifestyle that dances you down the path to better health, greater energ ...

Updated: Tue Oct 18, 2011

Self-Care 101: Seven Points for Healthier, Happier Joints for 10/11/2011

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Healthy joints make for happy athletes. If you're someone who suffered this summer with a bum knee or a sore shoulder, you know the frustration that's involved when your joints give out and pain sets in.

Research shows that more than 80 percent of all sports injuries involve joints. Ouch! The good news is that there is a lot you can do to keep your joints strong and healthy so you can s ...

Updated: Tue Oct 11, 2011