When it comes to weight loss, it certainly would be nice to have a quick fix. We can talk to our cars and order a pizza, we have Segways to keep us from having to walk too far ... but how can all this technology help us in our weight loss goals?

Forbes came up with eight tech toys to help us shape up and slim down. Not only are they helpful, but they're fun!

• A Sensei for Weight Loss personal digital coach turns your cell phone into your personal nutrition coach.
  
  
• Diet.com offers nutrition texting so you can always know how many calories you're taking in, no matter where you are. Well, as long as you have cell reception, that is.
  
  

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If you'll be shopping this Friday or weekend, watch out for some of those toys which could be choking hazards to those small children. Although toy recalls have made headlines this year, there are sure to be plenty of dangerous toys still lurking on shelves.

The most obvious culprits are small toys, since everything and anything that can go into a child's mouth actually does go there. Keep an eye out on sizes and remember this quote: "Consumers looking for toys still face an industry full of safety loopholes." Comforting, yes?

It's always been wise to scrutinize, but this year an extra effort should be made.

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When you're trying to raise a healthy child, you have to start early. So this Christmas, instead of buying your little one something that keeps them sitting in one spot, why not buy them something interactive that will them moving today and hopefully for life too?

Fitsugar has some great suggestions:

• YogaKids 2: ABC by Gaiam will introduce them to the basics of yoga
• Hullabaloo gets them spinning, dancing, twisting and more.
  
• The Smart Cycle is like an exercise bike but more fun and for kids.
  

The best gift my brother and I got as a kid was a little car that we had to peddle ourselves -- we spent so much time on that, both in the house and outside. What fit gifts are your favourites?

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Yesterday, Bethany told us that Australia recalled Bindeez toys for containing the 'date-rape' drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. Well it seems that today the U.S. has followed suit by recalling the popular toy Aqua Dots for the same reason.

Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads from the toys. Shockingly,
these toys were found to contain a chemical that converts into a powerful "date rape" drug when ingested. In the United States, the toy goes by the name Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday toy distributed by Toronto-based Spin Master Toys. It is called Bindeez in Australia, where ironically it was named toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year.

Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound - made from common and easily available ingredients - can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death. It's reported that the toys were supposed to use 1,5-pentanediol, a nontoxic compound found in glue, but instead contained the harmful 1,4-butanediol, which is widely used in cleaners and plastics and happens to be much less expensive than pentanediol. Both chemicals are manufactured in China.

To prevent any other child from being hurt, parents should take the product away from children immediately. Sadly, to my horrification, my boys actually had these Aqua Dots -- the glow in the dark kind -- on their Christmas list.

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Hand out a toothbrush or dental floss for Halloween this year, you're bound to end up with your house toilet-papered or egged. But that doesn't mean you have to contribute to the expanding waistlines of America's youth. Here are some candy alternatives I've heard about through the grapevine in the past little while:

• Recreation passes. In my city, you can buy books of passes to any parks and rec facilities around town, most of which have a pool, an exercise room, a playroom and drop-in classes. Each pass costs $1 so it's expensive if you live in an area where you get hundreds of trick-or-treaters.
  
• Small toys. Here, teeny-tiny Winnie-the-pooh dolls with interchangeable plastic costumes are all the rage, so I suspect they would be very well-received by kids. But they don't have to be expensive. Remember how excited kids get when they get to choose between troll dolls and cheap plastic rings at the Dentists' office?
  
• Temporary tattoos and stickers. Kids love stickers and tattoos. That's about all there is to it.
  

Have any additional ideas? Please share. What are you giving out this Halloween?

Lead poisoning has been getting a lot of attention in the media these days, what with toys, lunch boxes and even lipsticks having found to contain potentially unsafe amounts of lead. Yes, lead poisoning is a dangerous thing -- but do you know the symptoms of lead poisoning? I for one do not have a clue. Or at least I didn't until I read this post on Fitbuff.

Here are some of the symptoms:

• Fatigue
• Metallic taste
• Headaches
• Poor appetite
• Uneasy stomach
• Weight loss
• Reproductive problems.
  

Think you might be at risk? As always, talk to your doctor.

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Oh now, here we go again. More toys are being recalled due to lead paint scares, and national retailer J.C. Penney has joined the fray now by recalling thousands of Winnie-the-Pooh doll play sets, wooden art boxes and horse-themed holiday ornaments.

In perfect holiday season timing, all of these products were recalled due to unsafe levels of lead paint, including over 49,000 Winnie-the-Pooh playsets. These products, quite naturally, were made in China.

Now, as a parent, here is the scary part: these products were not new ones, as they had been sold for a two-year period that just ended this last August. The Winnie-the-Pooh art boxes do give China a break, as they were made in Vietnam and Taiwan.

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More lead paint news this week, as a doll toy purchased at a Toys "R" Us locations was found to be tainted with 10 times the legally-allowed lead level.

Not only that, but in addition to the Curious George doll, vinyl lunch boxes and backpacks were also found to contain high amounts of lead as well. Do we have another toy recall headed our collective way soon? Who knows.

Marvel Entertainment had made the Curious George doll, which Sassafras Enterprises had made the tainted lunchboxes and backpacks. The Center for Environmental Health went as far as giving notice to Sassafras already that it was violating a 1986 California law that prohibits exposing consumers to carcinogens without warning.

Will that do the trick, or are more lead-based paint recalls on the horizon? My guess is that these items were made in China like all the others. What is is with lead being in so many toys these days? Talk about being incredibly annoying to millions of parents.

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There will be a shortage of toys this coming holiday season due to underestimated demand and the whole toy recall thing -- you know, because of the lead paint and toxic plastic used in the production of some children's play things. "Say it isn't so," you might be saying. Me? I say this is the best news I've heard in a while.

I'm always looking for excuses to not buy toys. We already have a house full and in my opinion, they are a grand waste of money. Most toys, with the exception of imagination-builders like blocks, puzzles, and games, have a shelf life of a few hours for my two guys. I can't begin to list off all the trinkets we've brought home that ended up swiftly stuffed into some toy bin without a second thought. So yes, I like that the toys shelves may be a little bare this year. "See kids, no toys, sorry."

Now don't think I'm a Grinchy old mom or anything. I love presenting my kids with gifts that make them happy, and Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Learning about this trouble with toys just gives me more motivation to be creative, to purchase items for my kids that have a little more staying power and really matter in the long run. I'm thinking physical fitness here. Just imagine the possibilities.

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It looks like China is using Mattel's apology to reinforce the feeling around the world that Chinese exports are generally safe. While I applaud the effort, it's hard to see how China sees exports as being safe.

While trust may change on that topic after a period of time without some kind of product recall, the fact is that too many recalls have come out of that country in the last year. Albeit, these were from American firms many of the time, but the actual product maker or producer was a Chinese company or firm.

Are both American companies and Chinese exporters to blame here? You bet -- and it will take a while for the trust level to be built back up in countries around the world.

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Industry professionals from the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association told a congressional committee this past week that lead needs to be a component in fake jewelry for children even though lead poisoning and other problems were possible. Say what?

But, after reading the tired line, it made sense. It comes down to cost problems instead of, you know, protecting the health of your own consumers. Basically, the quote was this: "The total elimination of lead in jewelry, particularly jewelry that is not intended for young children, would impose difficulties and costs on the industry and adversely affect quality and costs to consumers." What absolute hogwash.

that is, unless his argument that lead is harmless when covered (plated) in kids' jewelry stands as 100% true. But, we all know that kids' jewelry remains in 100 perfect condition while being used right? Sigh -- do these 'experts' live in the real world, or some perfectionist play world?

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In the lazy summer days of my youth, every day was spent outdoors, either terrorizing the nehgbourhood on my bike, whipping down the slides of the park, playing Marco Polo in the pool with my friends or a variety of other activities. The evenings were usually spent with my dad and dog at the park or playing croquet in my backyard.

Today, my summer days are spent frantically rushing around in my car or in my office and I wish for the carefreeness of my childhood again. I do manage to escape the city for a couple of weekend of wilderness adventure, but this summer I'm going to make an effort to spend even more time in the sun. If I had kids, I'd take them to the park every night like my dad did and create the same memories of warm, sunkissed youth for them that he did for me. Or, if the standard park isn't exciting enough for them, I'd try one of the fancy toys that Melissa at the Buzz Off listed here.

Spending time in outside in the summer isn't just for kids -- it's for kids at heart too! So this summer season, get out more, play with the kids and enjoy the nice weather while you can.

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Friday April 17th, I'll be attending a fitness conference. Fitness conferences are a blast and are designed to take fitness professionals to the next level. Keep us updated on new tools, toys, and training ideas. It's a place where we share our research, invention and experience. It's a awesome!

I've been going to these conferences for almost two decades and I look forward to each and every one. I love my job, would do it for free if I was one of those 'trust fund kids,' and love the buzz I get from the whole experience of helping others live better and longer. Fitness conferences are super cool, because they inspire and educate my colleagues and I to better ourselves in order to better you.

Fitness pros aren't the only ones who'll benefit from them though. I would love to see more general fitness enthusiasts there. You get to choose the courses you're interested in taking and just go experience a bunch of different innovative workouts. For example. The area I live in does not offer any Strip Tease classes. But, I got to try one at a conference. Does that mean I want to become a stripper or become the Strip Tease instructor? NO! I just wanted to go do it for fun. By the way.....from my experience, the class is basically a hip hop dance workout with some extra thrusting and hair flipping.

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With the holiday season upon us, the wrapping paper may have already begun to fly. Your children will be opening new toys, many of them electronic, many of them noisy. I've heard more than one parent joke that they wished a particularly noisy toy had an volume switch, and it seems those parents may have been on to something.

Toys that are too loud for adults are too loud for children, experts say. While most toy makers are meeting the non-required ASTM standards on toys, it doesn't mean that children won't play with them in an inappropriate way. Parents need to be aware of how children are playing with noisy toys and to not let them hold them up to their ears for long periods of time.

The reason, one expert explains, is that hearing loss happens gradually over time and is painless. That means that we don't always know we're damaging our hearing, and children are especially vulnerable to this.

If a toy seems too loud to you, don't buy it. If you receive an especially loud toy, tape a piece of duct tape over the speaker to reduce the volume.

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