The secret to becoming fit and trim is painfully simple, and I know you can follow these easy instructions. No diets, pills or programs necessary!

Changing your post-workout routine, tools to "un-Gumby-fy" your yoga routine, and other neat fitness training tips can be found at ...

Source

Let's face it. Most of us have those days where we're tempted to use the old "I have a headache" excuse. But wouldn't it be a heck of a lot more fun just to take care of your sex drive like you take care of other aspects of your health? Try these tips:

• Exercise. Aerobic exercise gets your blood flowing, boosts your energy, and triggers endorphins. And when you incorporate exercise into your daily routine, you'll just feel better about yourself and confidence has everything to do with feeling sexy.
• Relax. A stressed-out mood isn't exactly made for the bedroom. In addition to your cardio workouts, try yoga or tai chi -- they offer mind-body benefits that can help you relax.
• Add a little novelty. And I don't mean novelty in the bedroom (although that's not a bad idea, either). Spend some quality time with your significant other doing something different -- go for a hike, play a game of tennis, or try your hand at a rock climbing wall. Any activities that have you working together will help increase your physical awareness of each other and will strengthen your relationship.
• Get your vitamins. Some supplements, such as Ginkgo biloba, have been linked with sex drive, but the science is sketchy at best. You're better off just sticking to a healthy diet including a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.
  

Source

My friend's son is just shy of 3-years-old and his favorite activity is golf. Nearly every Saturday, he goes to the driving range with his dad for some quality time. But that doesn't curb this toddler's craving for golf. Every day, he likes to go in the backyard and swing at his wiffle balls. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Here's this tiny little kid who in all other ways is a completely typical toddler -- but when you put a golf club in his hands, he's advanced far beyond his years. He's a natural.

But if you're like me, a golf swing is anything but natural. My son has a newly developed love for golf, so we've been going to the driving range quite often. It's almost inevitable that I'll end up with slightly aching upper body muscles after driving a bucket of balls.

Alive Magazine has some upper and lower body strengthening exercises that will help you put some strength and control in your swing. Tiger Woods strength trains to improve his swing ... if it's good enough for Tiger, it's good enough for me!

Source

This morning was a special day for the mommies in my playgroup and I. Today we donated over 150 stuffed monkeys to the children being cared for at North Florida Regional Medical Center (NFRMC) in honor of our Angel Odessa. Odessa Virginia Webster was born at NFRMC on February 24, 2003, and landed back at the same hospital on March 25, 2004 for care after a fatal head injury. At thirteen months old, Odessa was stolen from her parents Matt and Anita, her loving family, and our already tight playgroup family. It was devastating for all of us, and out of our grief came an intense drive to honor our "Angel O".

To back up a bit, our playgroup began when our infants met at a "new mommy" luncheon hosted at NFRMC when they were two weeks old. Well, the infants didn't exactly meet each other, but us moms did ... and we decided then and there that we wanted to stick together. That made ten families dealing with the insanity of newborns and leaning on each other for friendship, advice, stress relief, and fun. We literally have been getting together for "playgroup" every Tuesday since, and our children are all addicted to each other; the best of friends. At the start, we would have never imagined what would come for us, for her, the following year. I just remember checking my email one day and opening one from Anita with "Odessa Virginia Webster" as the title. I expected to see a new photo from a portrait studio. A portrait was included, but it went along with a letter written by Anita informing us that her daughter was gone. "Please don't call now. I'm not ready to talk" she wrote. I simply can't describe the agony that followed for all of us.

Source

I heard it on the radio yesterday, the news flash revealing that some police officers in Canada are parking themselves at fast-food drive-thru windows in order to catch drunk drivers. Why go fast-food? Because law enforcement officials kept hearing from drive-thru employees, "You should be here late at night." And because who doesn't like to eat after consuming too much alcohol?

Project WULF -- stands for "would you like fries?" -- puts cops right in the drive-thru booths where they can pick up on slurred speech and can sniff out the smell of liquor. When suspicions mount, the observing officer advises a second officer who stops the vehicle as it departs.

Already, a number of impaired-driving charges and roadside suspensions have been issued as a result of Project WULF. But does this make it a good venture? One of my morning radio co-hosts says it's a great thing. Getting drunk drivers off the road is critical, he says. His partner says it's totally unfair, a form of entrapment even. What do you think?

Source

I was watching TV last night, flipping at high speed through all the channels with my handy-dandy remote, when I remembered the long-ago days requiring an actual walk to the television set for a little channel surfing. It got me thinking about technology, about how the very thing that is revolutionizing the world in so many ways -- think electronic medical records, on-line banking, the fact that I'm publishing this post in cyberspace for all to read -- is also making us one lazy mass of people.

How about automatic garage door openers? Growing up, I remember hustling out of the car, often on cold and snowy days, to manually lift my family's garage door. Once our car was nestled safely inside, the door had to be yanked back down. These days are long gone. Now, I have a button in my mini-van programmed to shoot that garage door up and down at a moment's notice. I don't think I've ever even touched my garage door with my hand.

Sprinkler systems. Remember watering your lawn with a sprinkler attached to your hose and dragging it from place to place until every blade of grass got a drink? Now we have the luxury of sprinklers running on auto pilot. We also have drive-through and drive-up options at almost every restaurant around. We don't even need to exit our cars to collect our carry-out slop. And riding lawn mowers. We're not talking traditional technology here but still, it illustrates my point. I saw a neighbor plowing through his miniature-sized yard the other day on his big and burly John Deere ride-on. Could the 30 minutes it might take to manicure his entire lot of grass be so difficult?

If you ask me, motivation is the single most important thing to tossing out your bad habits and re-building a healthy lifestyle. After all, if you don't really want it, ultimately, you won't feel the drive to go after it.

But motivation is a funny thing -- sometimes it just disappears and your chocolate cravings seem more important, and certainly easier than going to the gym. So what to do if your motivation takes a vacation? ultimately the key to maintaining your motivation is to build it up yourself -- motivation doesn't just magically appear one day. eDiets has some great tips for holding on to your motivation -- check them out!

What do you do for motivation?

Source

Introducing kids to sports is a wise idea. It's steers them away from television and video games, channels their boundless energy, teaches lessons in cooperation and determination and well, it's just good for the body. Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, herself a life-long athlete, says sports are particularly good for girls.

"If you're a mother of daughters, encouraging them to participate in sports is the best gift you can give them," Roberts says. "Playing sports, feeling the competitive drive, winning and losing -- these experiences build self-esteem and character."

Roberts says even grown women become timid because they get stuck feeling they have to be liked by everyone. Sports shakes that out of you, she says. It's the best training ground for adult life.

Source

In April, Fitz K wrote a touching post about the potentially devastating effects of drunk driving. In the post, Fitz describes how Corey Dahlem, a family friend and police officer with the Gainsville Police Department, was killed by a 20-year-old drunk driver after a local sporting event.

While I won't take the responsibility square off the driver for making the choice to drink and drive, I wonder if the tragedy (and others like it) could have been prevented had the man been driving a car with some of the new technology discussed here, which is meant to prevent drivers from taking the wheel after too many drinks.

The article discusses Saab's AlcoKey system -- basically a breathalyser linked to a car's ignition that prevents the vehicle from starting if the driver blows over a certain alcohol limit. Meanwhile, Nissan has integrated cameras and sensors that detect everything from sweaty palms to drowsiness. While the various devices will stop a car from starting if they detect signs of drunkenness beforehand, once a car is in motion they can only warn a driver that he or she is impaired -- it is still up to the driver to pull over. While the technology may not be perfect, it's a pretty impressive start.

I appreciate that car manufacturers are working to make the roads safer and think that similar technology should be mandatory in all new vehicles. What do you think?

Source

Responsible adults are careful about not driving under the influence of alcohol, and there's even growing awareness of the dangers of cell phones while driving. Here's another hazard to your driving: Food. How many of us are guilty of eating and driving? I definitely am -- sometimes there's just not time to stop, sit down and eat. But this kind of on-the-go eating is dangerous to your waistline (unconscious eating) and to other driver (diverted attention)

Here's a list of the top 10 things you should never, ever eat while driving, according to eDiets:

• Chocolate: ewww ... can you say melted mess?
• Soda: It sure is sticky when you spill it ... and you will eventually
• Cream/Jelly filled donuts: that cream/jelly is going to squirt all over your dashboard sooner or later
• Fried Chicken: Imagine greasy fingers ... everywhere!
• Barbecue: BBQ sauce will end up all over your lap
• Big burgers: Those add-ons are hard to keep track of when you're driving, huh?
• Chili: Something that requires a spoon takes too much attention from the road ... plus you might burn your mouth
• Tacos: Tacos are messy at the table. In the car? Disastrous
• Soup: Ummm....is this even possible?
• Coffee: This one I am guilty of. If you must drink coffee on the road, save your sips for stop lights.
  

I know you have some interesting food/car stories to share ....

Source

For many of us the summer holidays mean traveling by car across cities and states to meet up with relatives or loved ones for festivities and fun. But with all those cars on the road traveling can be dangerous, with some places ending up more dangerous than others. Wonder if your plans will take you over any of the most dangerous roads this summer? According to elliot.org 57% of all traffic deaths happen on rural roads, and 75% of all public roads in the U.S. are considered rural. So the odds are you'll be doing some rural driving whether you like or not, and according to The Center for Excellence in Rural Safety here are the top 10 most dangerous places to drive:

• Maine
• North Dakota
• South Dakota
• Iowa
• Vermont
  
• Montana
• Wyoming
• South Carolina
• Mississippi
• Arkansas

Obviously many of these states probably landed on the list because they have more rural area than other states, but you may still find yourself passing through. Something to think about, and remember your seat belts!

Source

This is the time of year for grand resolutions that often are never followed through. But what if we resolved to make simple changes instead of life-altering changes? Would we have more success?

This short but sweet article , taken from a tea cup, gives a few suggestions we should follow to create a healthier life for ourselves, emotionally and physically. There are no urgent directions telling you that you must do this or you must do that. These are guidelines for what you should do more and do less.

You should do the following less: Drink alcohol, use salt, use sugar, eat meat, worry, drive and get angry. On the other hand, you should do the following more: eat vegetables and fruit, drink more tea, sleep, walk, laugh and give selflessly.

What do you think?

Source