Every little bit of weight loss helps bad knees

A little off the waist equals a lot off your aching, bad knees.

A North Carolina study has shown that losing as little as 5 percent of body weight can dramatically improve a person's knee health and help prevent osteoarthritis. For a 200-pound person, that would mean losing just five pounds.

According to research by CDC/UNC, 1 in 2 people are at risk for osteoarthritis.

If you're already in the middle of a knee crisis, try reading The Knee Crisis Handbook: Understanding Pain, Preventing Trauma, Recovering from Knee Injury, and Building Healthy Knees for Life. It provides detailed, effective advice covering knee alignment, diagnostic tests that your doctor should perform, and exercise.

Starbucks offers new line of light, healthy snacks

Now you can snack at your local Starbucks with a little less guilt. The coffee company has just launched a number of low-calorie snack options, and has simplified its menus to include whole grains, Oregon blueberries and Michigan cherries. Here's a sampling of the new snacks:

• Marshmallow Dream Bar - A light, sweet snack for people watching their weight. It has 210 calories, and has been getting mixed reviews from bloggers. Some non-weightwatchers are outraged that it replaced the old rice crispie square, which was more than 400 calories.
• Dark Cherry Yogurt Parfait - With real cherries, vanilla granola, and fat-free cherry yogurt, this has 320 calories.
• Strawberry Banana Vivanno™ Smoothie - Made from simple ingredients – pure strawberry puree, a whole banana, whey protein powder, 2% milk and ice - and under 300 calories.
• Farmer’s Market Salad – A blend of blue cheese, almonds, dried cranberries and apples piled on a bed of romaine lettuce with all-natural balsamic vinaigrette for 220 calories.
  

The many benies of yoga

Everyone knows that yoga helps you tone your muscles and increase flexibility. But did you know that yoga also lubricates your joints? Joint lubrication is very important as you get older (and if you don't believe me, just go check out the booming market for glucosamine). And if you love massages, you'll be happy to learn that yoga makes you feel massaged on the inside. There's a reason for that--when you do yoga, you are actually massaging your internal glands and organs, even the prostate (men will love that).

Yoga also helps you rid your body of toxins. What could be better?

So go out and have yourself a Namaste day.

Two hours a week, that's all I ask

Women who exercise more than two hours per week can drastically reduce their risk of sudden cardiac arrest, according to studies.

Now you know that we'll spend that much time doing stupid stuff, like watching reality shows. All you have to do is redirect those minutes into aerobic activity, and odds are you'll live longer.

Move to the groove, even when you're cooling down

When you finish a workout, you should engage in active recovery (aka low intensity exercise) rather than passive recovery (flopping on the couch). Staying active is better for you, both physically and psychologically, when you are recovering from intense exercise.

I recommend shopping to cool down. It's low-intensity, and so rewarding!