Although a variety of foods are always important, there are certain vitamins and nutrients that specifically help prevent inflammation and ease the symptoms of arthritis.

One word of advice for prospective trampoline yogis: Don't take yourself too seriously. You will be bouncing, swaying and stretching yourself out in all kinds of unusual ways atop a mini trampoline, and it will probably feel weird at first, if not for your whole first class.

Since May is "Exercise is Medicine" month, as designated by the American College of Sports Medicine, now would be the perfect time for us to reopen a dialogue on the subject and increase national awareness.

Do you know how much work goes into getting our food to us? Farm to table? So much more work than I realized and still more than I know. That's how much.

Identifying a food you react to can be more challenging, since it's possible to have reactions that occur one to two days after eating something. In addition, when we eat a food frequently, we often cannot recognize the symptoms it causes, since we're too used to them to identify them.

If your pet ingests rodent bait containing warfarin, there will be no symptoms to alert you right away. Your dog or cat won't throw up or seem sick, and in fact, a lot of pet owners don't even know their animal has ingested bait.

Although everyone is stressed out to some degree, and everyone has occasions where they feel their negative emotions in their gut, those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) seem to have an enhanced sensitivity to the feedback that the gut sends to the brain.

Richard Simmons "Sweat" class was my fantasy exercise class -- a real full body workout, inside and out. If my abdominal muscles were not sore from laughing so much, I'd think I had been dreaming!

Luxury -- that's the word I didn't expect to come to mind when I signed up to get a weekly produce box last winter.

The next time you feel your eyelids starting to droop, consider a power nap before reaching for more coffee. While it won't make up for a sleepless night, a nap can be the perfect prescription for late-afternoon fatigue.

By Dave Smith Wish those workouts didn't seem to last forever? Research actually shows that ...

Getting to your goal is going toward where you want to be, and making a comeback is going back to where you were before. Getting to a goal is a challenge that takes discipline, willpower and dedication. But making a comeback is even harder.

I wasn't just overweight, but downright sickly due to poor nutrition and stress. I felt trapped in my sad state, recognizing that there was not enough food on the entire island of Manhattan to soothe me.

There is no question that in order to become skillful at any sport or fitness activity, you need to participate in and practice the activity. But if that is all that is required -- practice, practice, practice -- how come not everyone that practices a lot excels at what they do?

I am a big believer in the power of group fitness. Whether it's the energy of hundreds of yogis sweating together at an outdoor festival or a group of 40 spinners rocking out to Kanye remixes, group fitness inspires healthy camaraderie and shines a bright light on the world of wellness.

I fully agree that strong abdominals are very useful and important to have. But this is not the full story. The most powerful muscles of our body are all the muscles that are attached to the pelvis, what I call the "power center."

Losing weight is torture enough without having to deal with negotiations about forbidden food. And with weight loss saboteurs, if you can spot them, then you can stop their effect on your weight loss efforts.