Kids in New York City who want to raise money for their sports teams or clubs are going to have to get creative, but not in the kitchen. New regulations have effectively banned bake sales, which, traditionally, are major money makers for school children, according to The New York Times.

In fact, according to the assistant principal of organization at La Guardia High School, a bake sale could bring in $500 in one day -- enough to fund a trip or purchase new uniforms.

The education department actually developed the new wellness policy last year, but it's only now, in the new school year, that the effects are being felt. Other changes include healthier options in school vending machines and restrictions on what can be sold in school stores.

Photo: NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene

The latest health campaign in New York isn't aimed at stopping smoking or increasing HIV awareness, it's all about sugary drinks.

The signature images of the ads show an iced tea, soda or sports drink being poured into a glass from a bottle and by the time the drink hits the ice cubes, it's turned into lard. In subway cars across the five boroughs, New Yorkers will spend the next three months with these pictures in the hopes that at least some people will ditch sweetened drinks for healthier refreshment.

"Sugary drinks shouldn't be a part of our everyday diet," New York City Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley said in a press release. "Drinking beverages loaded with sugars increases the risk of obesity and associated problems, particularly diabetes but also heart disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer."

The scourge of soda is nothing new, but the public campaign to ditch other sweetened beverages is gaining traction. The American Heart Association recently called for Americans to cut back to no more than 100 calories of added sugar a day in our diet.

About a quarter of teens in New York City slurp down a soda every day according to health surveys -- that's equal to about 360 calories -- more than three times what the AHA recommends. The posters are meant to be shocking, but they also help put things in perspective. The campaign points out that sodas used to be in 12-ounce cans, but now 20-ounce bottles are often the standard. And soda isn't the only culprit. The posters point out that "sports" and "energy" drinks are often high-sugar, low-nutrient beverages that should be avoided most of the time as well.

Welcome to the Good, the Fat and the Hungry. I'm Karla and I have been -- or am -- all those things. Here, I will share with you my lifelong struggle with my weight and I hope you'll follow along on with my determined attempt to lose nearly 40 pounds. I promise to tell you every win and setback along the way every Tuesday and Friday.

As soon as I open my mouth, my roots are a dead giveaway. I am a proud Southern girl. I hail from the land of grits and gravy. If it's not fried and fried, well, then take it back. I grew up in a house where pork was not a four letter word. It was breakfast, lunch or dinner. There was one portion size that fit all -- heaping. We were not rich, but we were family. Sunday dinners were a HUGE deal in our house. If you've ever seen the movie Soul Food, you've seen us. You've also seen a table that had no concern for fat content, cholesterol, calories or any of the other things that matter so very much to me now.

I now reside in New York. It's Thanksgiving, and I am headed South with my new size 12 body. I am terrified at the prospect of what could happen to it while I am home. In so many ways, aside from my singing voice, my weight was my most identifiable trait back home. Growing up, having endured nicknames such as Pork Chop, Fat Momma Cass; accompanied by casual greetings such as "What up big girl?" home is the fattest place on earth for me.

Powerstrike Forza is a fitness class taught in New York City, but this is no ordinary class. The moves are all based on Samurai sword techniques and it generates quite a workout. Participants work their arms, legs, glutes, and core muscles. According to the Powerstrike web site, participants can burn around 500 calories per class.

Don't live in NYC? Or don't have the $399 to shell out for the class? (Whew! That's pricey!) Self Magazine shows us how to get the workout at home. Just grab anything that's sturdy and a few feet long (for example: an umbrella or a wiffle bat) and you've got an instant "sword." You can also use a bokken (wooden sword for martial arts training).

Self's slideshow gives you eight different moves to start with.

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The American College of Sports Medicine has tallied the statistics to rank 15 of America's largest metropolitan cities. Which cities were deemed the fittest? Which fell at the bottom, and why?

The goal of the fitness index is to give a quick glimpse of the health status of America's metropolitan areas. Ultimately the ACSM hopes to help cities achieve a higher level of physical activity and healthy eating habits. The reports about each city include strategies for improvement. The top five cities were:

• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Boston, MA
• Washington D.C.
• Atlanta, GA

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What makes the Men's Health Urbanathlon and Festival different from other marathons? What makes it so special?

It's special because it's awesome. And I don't care if I sound like a 13-year-old for describing that way, either.

Apart from its advanced level of awesomeness, the Urbanathlon is also different in that it is more than just a run; it's a long-distance, urban obstacle course that's stationed over various parts of New York City (and also Chicago, which is its own separate event). Participants cover a total of 8.1 miles, starting from the Band Shell area in Central Park and -- after jumping over taxi cabs, navigating through a scaffolding maze, climbing the 52 stories of a skyscraper, and successfully overcoming a myriad of other obstacles -- eventually ends at a festival of live entertainment, health and wellness expos, interactive sports, and samplings and demos by a range of fitness-related vendors at Battery Park.

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Bicyclists in NYC may soon have a new place to park their ride...in the city's first bicycle parking lot. The lot, if constructed, will be protected by an attendant, reducing a cyclists risks having their bike vandalized or stolen. The lot have a handful of free spaces for short-term use, but most users would have to pay a fee for parking.

The bikes-only lot would be located on 33rd Street, close to Penn Station, which city officials hope would make it convenient for commuters. In addition, the city has been making an effort to install more bike racks. Commuting by bike is an excellent way to get in your daily workout and reduce pollution at the same time.

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New York, New York -- it's a hell of a town. People from around the globe make their way to the Big Apple, just to get a look at the many extraordinary people, places and things that make NYC the great city it is. However, what they're probably not seeing is a citywide epidemic, one that continues to pervade at a staggering rate.

According to a new Health Department report, close to 500,000 New Yorkers -- which pretty much translates to one out of every eight adults -- have been diagnosed with with diabetes. In addition, there are an estimated 200,000 other people who have diabetes but are unaware of the fact that they do. The morbidity rate for diabetes-related deaths rose by 75 percent between 1990 and 2003.

The report also points out the disparities that exist between different racial, gender, and socio-economic groups. If you'd care to take a look at this report, you can find it at: www.nyc.gov/health

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Tomorrow is the New York City Marathon. Tomorrow is the day I knew was coming for a while now, and one I've for which I've been trying to prepare myself.

Unlike approximately 38,000 others, including my husband, I will not be running in the marathon. Instead I will remain with our seven month old son and perhaps scoot on down to the avenue in Brooklyn where all the runners travel.

Most of this was my choice. Actually, ultimately it was my choice. At some point along the way training for the marathon became too much. I had a new job and a new baby and my sense of family was being thrown askew with every additional minute I was out of the house. In addition to that, after I hit nearly fifteen miles at a pop I realized I didn't have it in me to do more.

Perhaps if I'd not just had a baby or not been breastfeeding and so focused on my new family I would have done better, tried harder, etc. There were times when I was so tired I couldn't go any further, times when stomach cramps frustrated and stopped me dead in my tracks.

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Those New Yorkers just won't stop, it seems, when it comes to trying to get calorie counts listed on area restaurant menus. After the effort fizzled this summer, it's now back.

NYC health officials have indicated that they are ready to revive efforts to have caloric information listed on all restaurant menus in order to give patrons informed information about the products they are eating.

Logistically speaking, this has to be hard to do. From an informed consumer perspective, I believe this effort to be worth everything. We can't make decisions without all relevant information at hand, and every time we eat out, we're eating in the dark (so to speak).

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It's always heartening to hear of new programs designed to get kids off their collective duffs and exercise, whether it be normal play or regimented exercise.

Some New Your schoolchildren are participating in a program called "Might Milers" which encourages kids to get up and get running. Not walking or playing, but running.

The program is found in 100 NYC-area schools and in other states. Although childhood obesity is at a high rate now, it's never too late to fix the problem. Along with regular exercise, of course, is a much-needed diet change for millions of U.S. kids.

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As people, and later, as parents, we set many goals for ourselves throughout our lives. Many of these goals are met and subsequently replaced by newer, often grander goals. We enjoy challenge in our lives--it makes us faster, stronger, smarter--kind of like the bionic woman.

But sometimes, every so often, a goal takes on a life of its own. Sometimes it becomes too large and looms out there in front of us as the golden carrot we will never reach. These goals become so enormous and encompassing (especially as we use all our energy to strive to meet them) that everything else gets left in the shadow of that giant goal.

And most of the time it's those smaller things, and the smaller goals, that are just as if not more important than the big goal.

When I first decided to run the New York City Marathon it was really for no good reason. I'd never wanted to run it in the past. I never had that strong desire that haunted my dreams. I enjoyed running, liked being fit, that kind of thing. But never once did I say my dream was to run a marathon, let alone the biggee in NYC.

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Recently, I wrote a post about "What Not to Wear's" resident make-up artist, Carmindy, and her tips on how to get great, glowing skin. The Californian beauty always looks fantastic without being overly made-up, so I thought it would be cool to check out her advice on how to get that naturally beautiful look.

Those of you out there who are also Carmindy fans, especially New York City-area residents and fashionistas who'll be in town for NYC Fashion Week, are in for a treat as the artist will appear at Byrant Park on Monday September 10th, as a part of the Word for Word Author Series.

Carmindy, who has penned a book called The 5-Minute Face: The Quick and Easy Makeup Guide for Every Woman, will appear at 12:30 p.m. and 1:45 p.m., and give away some of her best secrets and tricks of the trade including tips on how to enhance your best features and how to look great without spending hours primping. The author will also be available to sign copies of the book. If you love to look great and have fun with makeup, mark the event in your calendar.

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I'm not so sure that I would call it a vacation, per se, but I did recently take a ten day road trip with my husband and new baby to see both our families. We rented a car and went from Brooklyn, New York to Cleveland, Ohio, down to Louisville, Kentucky (my home town), back up to Delphi, Indiana, on to somewhere in Pennsylvania and then back to New York City.

The entire event was mind-boggling. Trying to juggle dealing with an infant, spotty directions, managing an SUV (and gas) and seeing all our friends and family really put a damper on our efforts to exercise.

That said, I did get a few runs in, all of them in Louisville. There is a one mile track all the way around my parents' neighborhood that I ran around over and over and over. It was so repetitive that at one point I forget where I was and thought I'd gone a lot farther than I had; turned out I had just decided to go the other way for a bit of variety. Sheesh.

I knew going into it that it would be difficult to find time--and places--to run on this trip. Since we were spending so much time in a car, which we're not used to doing, we got less time in walking as well. We sat and sat and sat and sat some more. We tried not to eat too poorly but there were times when we had to eat something and the only thing around was fast food joints.

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All the drama from New York City's recent regulation requiring fast food restaurants to post calorie counts on menus is about to come to a head as the deadline, this Sunday, approaches. Burger King, McDonalds, and Wendy's are all openly planning to defy the order and will not be making any changes to their menus anytime soon. And due to a pending lawsuit by the New York Restaurant Association the city won't be handing out any fines until at least October, if the new law is still standing by then.

In the meantime fast food chains say it's not that they don't want consumers to know calorie counts (many of them make the information available voluntarily anyway), but they say that putting them on the menu in print as big as the price would make for a messy, hard to read display that would look like "a bad day at the eye doctor's office."

What do you think? I like the idea of easily accessible calorie information, but I don't know that it needs to be in huge print right on the menu board.

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