By Zach Kussin

First considered a home to Roman fishermen in the 2nd century BC, Jávea has since evolved from a small port town to one of Europe’s most popular Mediterranean destinations. Today, visitors can learn about Jávea’s vivid history while enjoying a variety of fun summer activities, especially at the many beaches that dot Spain's Costa Blanca—known to be one of the country's most beautiful coastlines. Located an hour’s drive from downtown Valencia, Jávea gives tourists the opportunity to simultaneously experience traditional Spanish life and southern Europe’s most active outdoor culture.

EXPLORE El Pueblo, Jávea’s old quarter. Previously enclosed by a formidable stonewall to protect Jávea’s inhabitants from troops of marauding pirates, El Pueblo is now open to visitors from all lands…as long as they don’t thieve Jávea’s treasured collection of gold jewelry and precious gems from past centuries on display at the Soler Blasco historical museum. All of El Pueblo’s narrow and winding streets lead you to the Church of Sant Bartolomé. Dating back to the 14th century, this impressive structure made of tosca stone hewn from Jávea’s rocky shores forms the geographic, spiritual and cultural center of Jávea. Besides holding Sunday mass, communions, conformations and festivals honoring the saints, a variety of outdoor concerts, traditional Valencian danzas and plays take place in the church’s plaza for all of Jávea’s residents to enjoy.

CLIMB the Montgó Massif. Standing at 753 meters high, a hike up Montgó’s steep façade gives breathtaking views of Jávea’s entire shoreline, its neighboring towns, Denia and Jesús Pobre, and even the Balearic island of Ibiza on clear days. A variety of guided tours explaining Montgó’s diverse species of flora or exploring its many caverns are also available.

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.”

Rent “Smart People.” Dennis Quaid heads a terrific cast (Ellen Page, Thomas Haden Church, Sarah Jessica Parker) as a monumentally self-absorbed widower and college professor in this sharp indie comedy about a dysfunctional family that’s, well, too smart for its own good.

Hear “This Is the Life” by Amy McDonald. This Scottish singer has hit our shores with an album that is exuberant in its folksy energy. Her quick guitar and fast-paced lyrics make for a debut that is sure to leave a bounce in your step. Standout track: the title song ($13.98).

Visit Philadelphia for “Bug Fest” at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Watch a roach race, touch live insects and sample creepy-crawly cuisine at the Ace of Arthropods cookout that’s sure to please the kids, even as it grosses them out (Aug. 16–17; ansp.org).

By Elisa Mala

The city that dubs itself "Hotlanta" has far more to offer than gimmicky sobriquets. Long before hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics, A-town has been setting global records, so eat well and drink heartily, because traversing a town that satisfies all five senses requires more energy than running a marathon.

Born and bred in the Big Apple, NEWSWEEK'S Elisa Mala had never been south of D.C. until this spring. But Southerners were so hospitable that she soon found herself tossing out the occasional "y'all."

EAT at the world's largest drive-in, the original location of The Varsity diner (thevarsity.com). Before taking any order, servers bellow "What'll ya have?" Answer back with the eatery's established lingo: Order a "glorified steak" (burger with mayo, lettuce and tomato), a "ring one" (one order of onion rings) or a "bag of rags" (potato chips). Have to eat and run? Then "walk a dog" and take that frank to go. Southern comfort food like Brunswick Stew, creamy grits and mouthwatering Pecan Pie are on offer at Food 101 (food101atlanta.com).

For modern takes on classic Asian dishes, try Spice Market (jean-georges.com), the first Atlanta outpost from three-Michelin star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, or Straits Atlanta (straitsrestaurants.com), the brainchild of hairstylist-***-chef Chris Yeo and Grammy winner Ludacris. For a white-cloth experience, Joël (joelrestaurant.com) offers some of the most indulgent French fare in town and Bacchanalia (starprovisions.com) lives up to its name with organic dishes that evolve with the seasons.

DRINK at Front Page News (frontpagenewsrestaurant.com), which with two stories, a spacious patio and a lively crowd, is fit to print. The Twisted Taco draws a more laid-back crowd, which matches its charmingly dive-y environs (twistedtaco.com). For an uplifting experience (literally), try the rooftop bar at the Glenn Hotel (glennhotel.com), where the views are as fresh as the drinks.

SEE the entire city through floor-to-ceiling windows at the rotating Sun Dial Restaurant, located on the 73rd floor of the Western Hemisphere's tallest hotel, the Westin Peachtree Plaza. Watch yourself on TV or observe broadcasters in action during the CNN Center Studio Tour (cnn.com/studiotour), which requires an eight-story ascent via the world's tallest freestanding escalator. For a blast from the past, check out the Louvre Atlanta display at the High Museum of Art (high.org) which features a rotating collection from the venerable French institution.

 

Aug. 11, 2008 issue
Tara Weingarten

Maybe you’ve noticed that traffic in your town hasn’t thinned out this summer. If so, you’ve identified a trend. High fuel prices are keeping American families at home, clogging local streets rather than heading to the airport for that exotic faraway trip. Hoteliers eager to tap into our frugality are offering enticing deals to locals that include comped room nights, heavily discounted spa treatments and gratis tickets to local attractions. Dubbing it the “staycation,” resorts are begging their neighbors to give them a try. It’s working.

Michael Gereboff, a 32-year-old health-care management executive, and his girlfriend Lori Cohen, a 31-year-old Ph.D. candidate, last week made a two-hour drive from her home in Arlington, Va., to the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay (chesapeakebay.hyatt.com). The couple bought the hotel’s Chesapeake Bay Experience package (summer rates from $235), which included a $25 gas card, a s’mores kit to prepare at the resort’s outdoor fire pit, a kite to fly on the bay and two passes to nearby Blackwater National Wildlife Preserve. “We’ve gone to the hotel’s spa, we went to the nature preserve, we’ve taken a catamaran tour of the bay and we’re about to rent a speedboat. We could have had the same vacation in Mexico but it would have cost us a whole lot more,” says Gereboff.

At Miramonte Resort and Spa in Indian Wells, Calif. (miramonteresort.com), book a standard room (rates from $155) and get four free passes to Knott’s Soak City. And, kids eat free at the resort. In Austin, Texas, the Crossings destination spa (thecrossings austin.com) has cut rates 35 percent through the end of summer; packages begin at $126.75 and include unlimited fitness classes, three meals daily and use of the infinity-edge pool overlooking Lake Travis.

Southern Californians and drivers from the Phoenix area can hit the super hot Las Vegas desert this summer on one tank of gas. Wynn Las Vegas’s Midsummer Night’s Dream package (wynnlasvegas.com) is a steal at $185 per person for a three-course dinner for two at Daniel Boulud Brasserie, a bottle of Mailly Grand Cru champagne and two premium seats to Wynn’s show Le Rêve. Every Thursday throughout the summer at the Mandalay Bay (man dalaybay.com), Nevada locals get rooms for $109.99, plus 10 percent off food and beverages, two free passes to Mix lounge, two passes to the Moorea Beach Club and two free cocktails at the Eyecandy Sound Lounge.

By Oscar Raymundo

Breaking up is hard to do. But you don’t have to walk away from a relationship empty-handed. Two new Web sites allow you to cash in on all that jewelry you got from your ex. For a $5 listing fee, a $50 appraisal fee and a small commission, Ex-cessories (ex-cessories.com) figures out how much those David Yurman earrings are worth and guarantees their authenticity. Ex-Boy-friend’s Jewelry (exboyfriend jewelry.com) doesn’t charge a posting fee or take a cut of the sale. It does encourage women to vent about the breakup behind that 14-karat white-gold engagement ring now selling for $9,000. Both sites also feature other listings to sell off that PlayStation or other toys he might have left behind. Boys come and go, but diamonds are forever.

Go to the New World Flamenco Festival in Irvine, Calif. Featuring performances by Spanish dancers María José Franco and Juan Ogalla, the event also has film showings, courses and an exhibit by flamenco photographer Daniel Muñoz (Aug. 8–17; thebarclay.org/festivals).

Hear “The Airborne Toxic Event.” This self-titled debut album from the L.A.-based band will rock you with energetic guitars, haunting violins and melodic hooks at every turn. Song you’ll want stuck in your head: “Sometime Around Midnight” ($12.98).

Visit Rome. American Airlines is offering round-trip fares from $750 for travel in September, October and early November (book by Aug. 7). Log on to smartertravel.com or aa.com for details.

See “Hail to the Chief: Images of the American Presidency” at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Timed to coincide with the Republican National Convention, the exhibition includes presidential portraits, photos, handwritten letters and campaign materials (through Sept. 21; artsmia.org).

Subscribe to mPassport, a service for travelers that allows you to access a database of English-speaking doctors on your cell phone from anywhere in the world. The list covers more than 4,200 doctors in 180 countries. For details visit mpassport.com.