Planting Time: Concerned about food standards, more people are growing their own vegetables
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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
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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.

Illustration: Tim Bower for Newsweek

Priscilla Marquard wanted to set herself and her three daughters on a lifelong course of healthy eating. Marquard was about 10 pounds overweight, and her daughters, 12-year-old triplets, were “beginning to pudge up.” So she brought them to the Pritikin Family Program in Aventura, Fla., a two-week weight-loss camp for parents and kids (pritikin .com). The family had such a good time playing tennis, running on the beach and learning to make healthy tacos in cooking class they hardly noticed they were shedding pounds. Last December, Marquard’s daughters chose a return trip to the weight-loss camp over a family vacation in Barbados.

Since many families put on weight together, it makes sense to lose it together. Program options include high-end camps like Pritikin (two weeks cost $6,500 for adults and $2,500 for kids, sometimes partly covered by insurance), as well as less expensive outpatient services. Most of these offer a combination of fun activities mixed with group therapy, parenting classes and medical checkups. Experts say these types of programs, where kids and parents make a commitment to losing weight together, tend to have lasting results. The idea is to change the whole home environment, rather than putting the kids on a diet. “If the changes made are familywide, they have a very good chance of sticking,” says Dr. Bill Dietz, a pediatrician and director of the Centers for Disease Control’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. In Marquard’s case, she and her kids cut back on restaurant meals and started carefully monitoring fat and calories in prepared foods. They now cook mostly fish and vegetables at home.

Illustration: Chris Gash for Newsweek

By Joan Raymond

Joe Minott says he sometimes feels like a bit player in a remake of the B-movie classic “Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster.” On hot, sunny days, when a blanket of smog—a noxious mix of ground-level ozone and other pollutants—darkens the skyline near his Philadelphia home, Minott is loath to venture out. He suffers from an autoimmune disorder called sarcoidosis that affects his lungs. And when pollution is high, his ability to breathe is laid low. “No one wants to be stuck inside because it hurts to breathe the air outside,” says Minott, 53, executive director of the Clean Air Council, a Philadelphia-based environmental group. “We have to do a better job of cleaning up the air.”

Minott may soon be breathing a little bit easier. In March, the Environmental Protection Agency lowered the limit for the acceptable concentrations of ground-level ozone from 84 to 75 parts per billion. That’s still higher than the level of 60 to 70 parts per billion recommended by the EPA’s independent scientific advisory panel. “Based on the science and how best to protect health, we wanted a lower standard, period,” says Janice E. Nolen, assistant vice president of national policy and advocacy for the American Lung Association. “But this is a small step in the right direction.”

When it comes to health, ground-level ozone is a major threat. “The thing about ozone is that once you breathe it in, you can feel something is wrong almost right away,” says Dr. Herbert Wiedemann, chairman of the Respiratory Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. The gas is formed when sunlight and heat cause a chemical reaction between volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are emitted as gases from such items as dry-cleaned clothing, paints, aerosols and nitrogen oxide—pollutants that come mostly from coal-powered industrial plants and motor vehicles. Epidemiologic studies show that long-term exposure causes premature aging of the lungs and decreases in lung capacity and function. Though children, the elderly and those with heart disease or respiratory problems like asthma and emphysema are at particular risk, about 20 percent of otherwise healthy adults are unusually sensitive to ozone’s effects, experiencing symptoms like coughing, wheezing and pain when they breathe deeply in highly polluted areas.

Short of fleeing civilization, there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself and improve air quality, both outdoors and inside your home. The first step: check the Air Quality Index (airnow.gov). The site gives daily readings by state and region for ozone levels and particulate matter (a mix of soot and other pollutants). To see specific pollutants for your state or to drill down to a specific county, go to the interactive map at epa.gov/ air/data/geosel.html. See if your state and county get passing grades for ozone levels and particle pollution at the American Lung Association State of the Air: 2007 report (lungaction.org/reports/stateofthe air2007.html). For more information about outdoor air quality, go to the National Library of Medicine (sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/ outdoorairpollution.html). For more tips on how to protect yourself on high-ozone days (and expect more ozone alerts due to the EPA’s new standards) check out lungusa.org, epa.gov and cleanair.org.

When driving, avoid jack-rabbit starts and long idling. Choose air-friendly alternatives for home improvement, such as using a rake instead of a gas-powered leaf blower, trading in your gas-guzzling lawnmower for a manual model or planting shrubs to reduce the size of your yard. For more tips, go to sparetheair.com.

Don’t forget about indoor air quality, since it can be worse than outdoor air. First, don’t allow smoking in your home. VOCs can be a big problem indoors. Cut down on VOCs by cleaning up dust (which is a VOC magnet) and using low-VOC or water-based paints, nonaerosol pumps and sprays, and eco-friendly cleaning products. Simple strategies like keeping air conditioners and furnaces maintained; vacuuming rather than sweeping; running ceiling and attic fans, and opening windows to improve circulation and ventilation can help, too. Keep humidity in check to prevent mold growth. For more ideas, go to airqualitytips.com and healthhouse.org. Make sure you have a working carbon-monoxide detector (see lungdiseases.about.com/od/buyersguides/tp/ top_ codetectors.htm for a buyer’s guide). And consider radon testing (see epa.gov/ radon/pubs/citguide.html for more info).

The best advice: “Get off the couch, get involved and let officials know you want cleaner air,” says Minott. For ideas, check out cleanair-coolplanet.org/action or ww2.earthday.net. That way we can all breathe easier.

Reneged on your New Year’s exercise resolutions? Planning to rush back to the gym for swimsuit season? You’re not alone: at gyms across the country, the spring rush is getting underway. Here are some new workout trends to look into.

Rowing. For those who enjoy rowing but don’t have the discipline to go it alone, Rowbics, a 50-minute full-body fitness class on rowing machines, is spreading to gyms nationwide. It includes calisthenics and stretches to give a workout for all muscle groups and burns more calories than spinning. See rowbics.com for more info and locations.

Semipersonal trainers. Bally Total Fitness (ballyfitness.com) is introducing a new series of classes manned by two or three personal trainers who walk students through dozens of different stations, maximizing their workout. The gyms are offering these classes free of charge on Thursday nights in an attempt to help gymgoers get a partial personal-training session if they’re not yet ready to make a full commitment.

By Tina Peng

Nancy Muriello, 37, decided a few years ago that she wanted to “empty all the junk” from her mind. So she began studying meditation techniques and practicing breathing and mindfulness, or being aware of the present moment. Now Muriello spends 15 minutes per day clearing her head of clutter. “You can really picture it as a reversal,” says Muriello, who owns Big Apple Power Yoga in New York City. “All the junk, all the stimuli are pouring out of you, so you’re left with a clearer, lighter mind and body. You feel very refreshed, very relaxed, and you have more capacity to take on new things.”

Recent studies have shown meditation can yield a host of health benefits, from increased concentration to some relief from depression. Hospitals and clinics are including meditation as therapy, and medical schools are including it in their curricula. As the practice becomes more accepted as something that can be both secular and therapeutic, publishers are responding: at least a dozen books on meditation are scheduled for release in the next three months. “It’s definitely become very mainstream in many ways,” says Alan Wallace, president of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) Institute for Consciousness Studies.

Brain-imaging research has shown that meditation reduces stress and can enhance one’s sense of well-being. Novice practitioners have increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that can produce positive feelings and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, says Richard J. Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin and the director of its Lab for Affective Neuroscience. Long-term practitioners are able to better focus their attention and cut down on a psychological effect called the “attentional blink” that causes people to overlook rapidly changing visual stimuli. Wallace, who is currently studying how meditation can be used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), says the practice can also lower anger levels and act as a supplementary treatment for depression, heart disease and social-anxiety disorders.

And it can be surprisingly easy to get started. “You don’t have to leave it all behind or run away to a mountaintop,” says Sharon Salzberg, a meditation teacher and author who cofounded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass. Practitioners can learn it in a class, off a CD or from a book. Here’s a look at some of the new offerings, as well as some of the classics.

“Real Meditation in Minutes a Day” (Wisdom Publications. $16.95. May 2008), by Joseph Arpaia and Lobsang Rapgay, leads readers step by step through the process of medi-tation, helping them build from focusing awareness to developing mental flexibility and clarity to, finally, opening the mind. Bullet-point tips and instructions make the book seem like test prep for life.

“Ending the Pursuit of Happiness” (Wisdom Publications. $16.95), by Barry Magid, takes a Zen approach to meditation and spirituality, arguing that meditation shouldn’t be a conscious effort to treat spiritual or physical ailments.

“Eat, Pray, Love” (Viking. $15), by Elizabeth Gilbert, has topped The New York Times’s paperback nonfiction bestseller list for more than a year. Gilbert writes about taking a year off to travel the world and find herself, spending four months learning to meditate at an ashram in India.

“Full Catastrophe Living” (Delta. $20), by Jon Kabat-Zinn, is about increasing mindfulness and using meditation to deal with stress and pain. Kabat-Zinn was one of the first to bring meditation into the secular world and point to its more-medical, less-spiritual applications. He’s particularly famous for this title.

Pema Chodron, a Buddist nun and well-known meditation teacher, has released several audio CDs, including “How to Meditate With Pema Chodron” ($19.77; amazon .com). She has forthcoming titles on such subjects as living with uncertainty and cultivating compassion (preorders at bn.com).

Salzberg has created Unplug ($21.56; bn.com) and Insight Meditation ($19.77; amazon.com) kits comprising workbooks, audio CDs and flashcards.

Several meditation teachers also offer free series of podcasts for download. Mary and Richard Maddox talk listeners through breathing and grounding techniques and pain-release meditation on Meditation Oasis (meditation oasis.com or iTunes).

Learn to Meditate (meditation .org.au or iTunes), produced by the Meditation Society of Australia, has published 25 podcasts since 2006. Each episode consists of a lecture on such diverse subjects as love and string theory, followed by a guided meditation session. Now you can contemplate the interconnectedness of the universe from just about anywhere.

Should you ever worry that a toddler isn’t active enough? For the most part, kids naturally are going to get enough activity. But if the child is gaining weight excessively, and you think a lack of activity might be contributing to that, then it might be an issue.

What can you do to encourage a shy child to run and climb? Try going to the playground at a less busy time. Help them climb up the slide backward, or ask them to race you to the swings. Play Hide and Seek or Simon Says.

Don’t overdo it. Runners of all levels fall victim to the too’s—“too much, too soon, too hard,” says Dr. William Roberts, medical director for the Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota. Start slowly, running half a mile, then walking half a mile—or walking a block, then running a block. People who do too much too quickly can develop problems like tendonitis in their heels or knees. For the average runner, a half hour five times a week is enough.

Don’t postpone a doctor visit. “People are notorious for trying to run through their pain,” says Dr. Tyler Cooper, a physician at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas and coauthor (with his father, Dr. Kenneth Cooper) of “Start Strong, Finish Strong.” “Be proactive. Go to the doctor before it gets bad. A lot of times just put-ting some orthotics [special inserts] in your shoe can change everything.”

Walkvest: As you progress in your exercise and weightloss program, it’s harder to improve as quickly. The Walkvest, made famous recently by actress Valerie Bertinelli, who used it to shed pounds, allows you to add half-pound weights, up to eight pounds, to make your walking or running regimen more challenging ($59.90; walkvest.com).

Goody: If you often have to stop mid-workout to adjust your hair band or clip, what good is it? Goody’s StayPut collection really does just that. Its hair bands ($3.99) have 52 percent more holding power than a regular band, and the quarter-inch and half-inch claws ($3.99 to $4.99) grip probably longer than you can on those barbells (goody.com).