Do social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook put youth in "mental risk?" At least one London-based psychiatrist thinks so. Dr. Himanshu Tyagi thinks kids who have grown up with the internet and who frequent social networking sites may have a skewed view of how true social interaction works. He warns that kids involved with social networking may place less value on their real lives and that this can lead to impulsive behavior.

Of social networking sites, Tyagi says "It's a world where everything moves fast and changes all the time, where relationships are quickly disposed at the click of a mouse, where you can delete your profile if you don't like it, and swap an unacceptable identity in the blink of an eye for one that is more acceptable."

Other experts disagree. While most concur that overuse of social networking sites can be harmful, some experts like psychologist Graham Jones feel that moderate use is perfectly healthy. In Jones' opinion, many people who use social networking sites tend to be quite social in their real lives as well. Their online presence is just an extension of their real-life social behavior.

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For me, losing weight would probably mean cutting back on my social life. I love my friends, but we rarely do much together besides drink beer and eat junk food, and I'm not brazen enough to insist that they all make healthier choices just because I have trouble resisting the urge to chow down on chicken wings when I'm around them. It seems the best strategy for weight loss would be avoiding the social scene, but what kind of a life would that be?

Diet Blog has some great suggestions for eating healthy and maintaining a social life. There are lots of strategies that you can use, but here's what works for me:

• Encouraging healthy habits in others, such as a going on a walk instead of an all-night drinking session in the pub
• Making healthy food for my friends and I to enjoy
• Saying NO -- to another beer, to a plate of nachos, and so on. And sticking to it.
  

What works for you?

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