Your health: No Christmas crunches
Holiday flabs or abs?
If you're eating your fair share of cookies, cakes and who knows what other holiday treats this time of year, an ab workout without hundreds of crunches might be just what the scale ordered.
A new DVD, “Personal Training With Jackie: Crunch-Free Xtreme Abs” ($14.98, Anchor Bay Entertainment), is out just in time to help you, according to The Washington Post.
Jackie Warner, the reality-TV fitness guru from shows such as Bravo's “Thintervention,” is known for her flat, sculpted abdominal muscles.
As she says in her new workout DVD, she loathes crunches, so she has created two, 15-minute crunch-less ab workouts. One is done from a standing position and one is done on the floor; both use hand weights. Challenging moves such as the side plank will leave many exercisers longing for the humble crunch.
So give her new workout a try and see if you can upgrade to abs of steel this holiday season.
Fend off flu for free
In an effort to eliminate disparities in influenza vaccination rates especially among older Americans, the American Lung Association of Greater Chicago is offering 15,000 free Walgreens flu shot vouchers.
A report, “Missed Opportunities: Influenza and Pneumonia Vaccination in Older Adults,” places special emphasis on seniors and shows that millions are at an increased risk from these preventable, yet deadly, respiratory diseases.
Vouchers can be obtained both online at the American Lung Association website, lungusa.org, or toll free at (800) 548-8252.
Hold the sugar
A Yale University study has good news for parents wanting to avoid serving super-sugary cereals.
Believe it or not, the kids studied liked low-sugar options, and even though they added more sugar, their breakfasts weren't nearly as sweet as kids who ate sugary cereals, The Associated Press reports.
The study involved 91 school-aged kids at New England summer camps. About half were given sugary cereals, the others got low-sugar cereals. Both could choose to add sugar and fruit slices.
Kids in the low-sugar group added more sugar than the others, but also more fruit. The sugary group kids ate almost twice as much refined sugar.
The researchers say the results show kids will eat healthier breakfasts with low-sugar cereals, especially if parents offer fresh fruit and a little extra sugar, too.