Fit Club: You can make a low-tech gym for less money with equipment like resistance bands
Illustration: Michael Klein for Newsweek

Barbara Bushman rolls out of bed as early as 4 a.m. to head to her gym—even though it’s just downstairs. “I don’t really care what I wear or what I look like,” she says about working out at home. “It’s the dogs and me.” She owns free weights, a Universal machine, resistance bands and a treadmill. But that’s not all: Bushman also exercises at the fitness center at Missouri State University, where she is a professor in the department of health and physical education. “I like to mix and match,” she says.

Most of us struggle to find time for just one gym, let alone two. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Americans get at least 30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity (like walking) or at least 20 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity (like running) three days a week, plus some strength training (like push-ups or lifting weights). But most of us fall far short of that goal. As cooler weather approaches, forcing many to bring their workouts indoors, TIP SHEET provides a guide to what to consider before choosing to work out at home or join a gym—or both.

• Cost: Last year the average annual dues for U.S. health clubs were $402—or $33.46 per month, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportclub Association. That price can be a bargain if you go frequently—or a rip-off if you don’t. Novice health-club users should pick one that doesn’t require a long-term contract.

By Tina Peng  

Celebrities have fallen for a wave of trendy juice fasts—or “cleanses”—that purportedly flush the body of toxins. Nutritionist Gayl Canfield of the Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa says good diet and exercise habits are more effective and warns that people shouldn’t do cleanses for more than a few days without medical supervision. Here’s what some stars are downing.

L.O.V.E.fast
PRICE: $350 for five days LOCATION: New York INFO: organicavenue.com

Organic Avenue will deliver daily smoothies, soups, milks and salads—all organic and all vegan—to Manhattan customers’ offices. There’s also a less intense L.O.V.E.feast.

Blueprint Cleanse
PRICE: $325 for five days LOCATION: New York INFO: blueprintcleanse.com

The three-day Beginner’s Cleanse includes cashew milk with vanilla and cinnamon; the Excavation Cleanse lasts longer and includes more cayenne to flush out toxins.

By Anne Underwood 

Kylee Smith, 5, of Richmond, Va., loves cheese—grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese, cheese quesadillas. It’s what she doesn’t like that has her mom worried. Kylee won’t eat meat, other than chicken nuggets. Her vegetable consumption is limited to tomato sauce—but only on pizza, not spaghetti. Most nights, her mother has to prepare a special dish just for her. “If we’re eating something she doesn’t like, she won’t even sit next to us,” says her mother, Jean-Marie.

If this sounds familiar, take heart. Children can be notoriously picky eaters—and today’s snack-food culture makes it even harder to channel their tastes in healthy directions. But research is shedding new light on how food preferences are formed—and what we can do to promote healthy eating. The good news: your choices aren’t limited to sneaking puréed vegetables into foods or battling it out over broccoli.

One of the most surprising findings is that it’s never too early to start—not even during pregnancy. Flavorful compounds from a mother’s diet cross the placenta into amniotic fluid, which babies in the third trimester swallow at the rate of a quart a day. “Babies develop preferences for these foods long before they actually eat them,” says Julie Mennella, a biopsychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. Similarly, during lactation, flavors pass from the mother’s bloodstream into breast milk. Mennella has done studies showing that babies whose moms drank carrot juice or ate fruits while breast-feeding liked carrot and peach baby foods better than formula-fed infants did.

Statins used to be for aging boomers and their parents. Now the American Academy of Pediatrics says the cholesterol-lowering drugs can help kids as young as 8 who suffer from extremely high cholesterol levels. (The FDA has approved most statins for kids as young as 10, and pravastatin for those as young as 8.) Doctors stress that these guidelines do not mean that all obese kids should take statins.

In a recent clinical report in the journal Pediatrics, Dr. Stephen Daniels, pediatrician in chief at the Children’s Hospital in Denver, said kids between the ages of 2 and 10 with a family history of early heart disease or those with an unknown family history or other cardiovascular-disease risk factors, such as obesity or diabetes, should be screened with a fasting lipid profile. For overweight kids with a high triglyceride concentration or a low HDL (good) cholesterol concentration, weight management is the main treatment. For overweight kids with an LDL (bad) cholesterol reading of 190 or greater, even after trying diet and exercise, doctors should consider medications. The side effects of statins: mainly the elevation of liver enzymes and muscle inflammation. But Daniels says fewer than 1 percent of adolescents get a meaningful side effect that makes them want to stop taking the drugs. Dr. Frank Greer, chair of the AAP’s committee on nutrition, says, “If your father had a heart attack at age 27, and you have the same lipid profile as your dad, what’s the greater risk?”

By Tina Peng

Caffeine is the world’s most common mood-altering drug, and more kids are consuming it in higher quantities. About a third of 12- to 24-year-olds chug energy drinks, which are often marketed to teens. How much is too much? The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate Americans’ caffeine intake, but Health Canada recommends that children ages 4 to 6 ingest no more than 45mg of caffeine a day (one cup of tea or one can of cola); kids ages 7 to 9 no more than 62.6mg, and those ages 10 to 12 no more than 85mg. Teens ages 13 and up should not exceed 400mg, the same as a healthy adult. An 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee contains about 135mg of caffeine; an 8-ounce Red Bull has about 76mg.

Because children weigh less than adults, they’re more susceptible to the chemical’s effects, says child psychiatrist Elizabeth Burger, a spokes-person for the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. As with adults, caffeine can keep young children up at night and contribute to higher blood pressure, a racing heart rate and a grouchy or overly excited mood. During the summer, caffeine can quickly make your child dehydrated.

By Christina Gillham 

First, the good news: The American Academy of Pediatrics’ Back to Sleep program, which teaches parents to put their babies to sleep on their backs instead of their stomachs, has helped reduce cases of sudden infant death syndrome by 40 percent. The bad news is that babies are now spending too little time on their stomachs, a position that helps them strengthen their back, neck and shoulder muscles so they can roll over and, later, crawl. In a survey released last week, two thirds of occupational and physical therapists reported seeing an increase in early motor delays in children. The American Physical Therapy Association is now urging parents to give babies more “tummy time” while they are awake and supervised. TIP SHEET’s Christina Gillham spoke to Judy Towne Jennings, a pediatric physical therapist and spokesperson for the APTA. (Readers can get more tips by clicking on “Tummy Time Tools” at www.apta.org/consumer.)

Gillham: Why is tummy time important for babies?
Jennings: All development comes from the tummy position. If a baby doesn’t develop the core strength—the muscles of the chest, the tummy, the back, the neck—they also don’t have those muscles to use for breath control, for the tongue moving back and forth and for the ability to form their mouths to do speech. Babies don’t have to use their muscles if they’re sitting in a car seat. They don’t have to use muscles if they’re in a swing or a bouncer seat.

Several new medical studies are reopening the debate over which men should be screened for prostate cancer, at what age the testing should stop and how doctors should interpret the test results, especially in obese men. What the news means for you and your family.

• The background: Prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men after skin cancer, kills about 29,000 Americans a year. To detect the disease early, many doctors give men 50 and older an annual screening test for an elevated level of a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Higher-risk patients, including African-Americans and those with a family history of the disease, should get screened at 40 and again at 45. Traditionally, most doctors have considered PSA readings above 4 as the cutoff for performing another screen and then a biopsy, but they are now moving toward looking at how PSA levels change over time as a better predictor. “PSA is very inexact,” says Dr. Durado Brooks, director of prostate cancer for the American Cancer Society. “You can have a very low PSA and still have cancer.”

 
Planting Time: Concerned about food standards, more people are growing their own vegetables
Taxi-Getty Images 

By Christina Gillham 

Yvette Roman and Fred Davis’s 1,300-square-foot front yard stands out from the grass lawns that are typical of their suburban Los Angeles neighborhood. Two large raised vegetable beds that contain colored rows of bell peppers, basil, parsley, purple cauliflower, two kinds of broccoli, onions, leeks, beets, four kinds of potatoes and three kinds of tomato plants dominate the yard. Climbing up a trellis are concord grapes, melons and pole beans. Near the driveway, there is another bed that holds tomatoes, tomatillos and Swiss chard, and Meyer lemon, tangerine and lime trees.

Roman, 43, and Davis, 44, started the vegetable garden just over a year ago (the backyard is reserved for their dogs and barbecuing) as a way to reduce their carbon footprint by eating locally and to ensure that their food supply was as healthy (read: pesticide-free) and as safe as possible. “Growing organically is super important to us,” says Roman. To read more about the Roman/Davis garden, log onto their blog.

Long a hobby among retirees, vegetable gardening is gaining popularity with a younger set of green thumbs. Many home growers are concerned about recent salmonella and E. coli outbreaks in store-bought produce and the widespread use of pesticides. “As we’ve gone toward a global food chain and away from local farming, a lot of people have become concerned about food standards,” says Robert LaGasse, executive director of the Garden Writers Association (gardenwriters.org).

By Paul Tolme 

Bicycle touring, a European obsession, is growing in popularity in the United States as more vacationers look for healthier getaways. “It’s a great way to explore the country,” says Dan Nidey, a 56-year-old Iowan and touring fanatic who plans to pedal from San Diego to Austin, Texas, later this year. “You smell the air, see the sights and feel the breeze.” Some tips for touring stateside:

The Adventure Cycling Association (adventurecycling .org) offers information and detailed maps for 21 rides, including the Green Mountains loop, which covers 373 miles through rural Vermont.

By Tina Peng 

Summer gymnastics and swim camps across the country are full of tomorrow’s Shawn Johnsons and Margaret Hoelzers, but where do future Olympic hopefuls go to train for the somewhat more exotic track and field disciplines, such as javelin and shot put? You might have to look a little harder, but there are clinics and coaches that offer beginners an introduction to these sports, too.

Javelin coach Erik Bernstein (erikbernstein.com) gives private lessons and group clinics throughout New Jersey. Bernstein, who usually has about 40 clients, says some of his students are high-school athletes who see the underrepresented sport as a shot at scoring an athletic scholarship to college. But he thinks interest in javelin is likely to surge after the Olympics air on television. “A lot of high-school kids aren’t aware of the event,” he says.

You’re an avid runner, and now Junior has decided he’d like to start, too. Is it OK? Sure, with a few caveats.

• Factor in age. Kids who run too much too soon can burn out. There’s no hard and fast rule, but try a mile or so for kids 9 to 13, one to three miles in junior high and three to five miles in high school, says Dr. Rebecca Demorest of the American Academy of Pediatrics (aap.org).

• Beware of overheating. Kids heat up faster than adults and don’t sweat as efficiently. Make sure they hydrate every 15 to 20 minutes.

• Don’t overdo it. Overuse injuries are common in repetitive sports. It’s not clear whether excessive running can harm growth plates, but use common sense.

 
Asleep on the Job: Sleeping pods at the Empire State Building in New York
AFP-Getty Images

By Tina Peng 

If Kristine Johnson gets fewer than seven hours of sleep at night, she barely makes it through the workday. So when that happens, Johnson, a 33-year-old San Francisco office manager, takes a nap. She’s slept in a lawn chair on the roof of her office, in a locked private bathroom (with just a pillow for support) and in her car. Johnson naps at work only twice a month, but it makes a noticeable difference, she says. “It makes me more alert and better able to do my job,” she says.

She’s in good company. In March, the National Sleep Foundation reported that 37 percent of Americans nap during the day. About a third of the people surveyed by the NSF said their workplace permitted naps, and more than a quarter said they would sleep at work if their employer let them. Worktime napping has seen enough of a popularity boost to fill its own business niche: Yelo, a New York City store that opened last year, has private rooms with sleep pods for quick naps ($15 for 20 minutes; yelonyc.com). Its founder, Nicolas Ronco, plans to expand to three New York City locations next year and then to other cities.

Naps do more than make up for lost sleep. They increase creativity, memory and alertness, says Sara Mednick, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and author of “Take a Nap! Change Your Life.” A recent six-year study of 23,500 healthy Greek adults by the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Athens Medical School showed that taking naps at least three days per week reduced coronary mortality by 37 percent.

About one in six newborns suffers from colic, a mysterious ailment that causes bouts of unexplained, prolonged crying. One way stressed-out parents can cope is by helping to re-create the womb, says Dr. Harvey Karp, creator of “The Happiest Baby on the Block” book and DVD. Swaddling a baby tightly can make her feel like she’s back in the safety of her mom’s uterus. Using white noise, like that of a hair dryer or fan, can mimic the loud sound of blood flowing through a pregnant woman’s arteries. Every time a pregnant mom moves, she is swinging her baby, so keep the infant in motion through rocking, wearing her in a sling or riding in a car.

Soothing the baby with warm baths and warm washcloths on her belly may also remind her of life in the womb, says Tara Kompare, whose book, “The Colic Chronicles: A Mother’s Survival Guide to Calming Your Baby While Keeping Your Cool,” chronicles her experiences with her colicky daughter.

By Christina Gillham 

A coach helps you devise a plan and helps motivate you to carry it through
Illustration: Chris Gash for Newsweek

When Sharlene Langner won four free sessions with a wellness coach through a local school raffle, she was skeptical. At five feet and 175 pounds, the Maplewood, N.J., mother of two had tried to diet and exercise on her own but never really had much luck. Commuting to her unsatisfying job didn’t help her situation—by the time she’d get home after her hourlong drive from work, she’d be starving and would fill up on pasta, followed by what she calls a “cookie chaser.” “I was overweight; I couldn’t move around,” she says. When she won the raffle, “I remember thinking, ‘This will never work’.”

Once she met with her coach, Risa Olinsky, Langner’s attitude changed. Instead of telling Langner what to do—“go on a diet,” “lose weight”—Olinsky prodded her with questions. “She asked what I’m all about, how do I motivate myself, how do I feel about myself,” says Langner. “It was never ‘What size do you want to be?’ but ‘How do you want to feel?’ ”

Olinsky collaborated with Langner, who is 51, and helped her figure out what kind of exercise she could incorporate into her busy workweek and how to best control her eating. They decided that Langner would use the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator whenever possible, take walks on her lunch breaks and always have healthy food with her so that she wouldn’t be tempted to snack on junk food. It was not a complicated formula, but it worked: after a year of weekly phone conversations (at $75 for 45 minutes), Langner is 35 pounds lighter, full of energy, more confident and is happily ensconced in a new job in New York City. Having a professional devise a plan with her and stand by her for support gave her the extra push. “When I thought I couldn’t get beyond a certain point, Risa was there to encourage me,” she says.