Efforts aimed at obesity prevention are well underway, but we are still a nation very uncomfortable with paying for services that could help treat the two-thirds of Americans who carry excess weight.

There are so many physical, mental, and emotional benefits to even a simple running "routine." No fancy equipment needed, no teams to make -- just a pair of shoes and some guidance and encouragement.

Even though the word "holiday" is supposed to evoke images of carefree fun and frolic, we all know the truth: The holiday season is one of the most stressful times of the year.

The future will change one person at a time and one thought at a time. You can't bring back a child, but you can bring back the hope in one. You can show love to those that have been raised in hate and you can be an oasis of kindness in a desert of cruelty.

Familiarity breeds contempt, or at least complacency, and perhaps the annual return of influenza has induced that response. Perhaps that's why we seem to be dismissive of this germ, and overlook what a serious illness it can be. But that tendency is at our peril.

My career is devoted to the use of lifestyle practices -- and above all, diet and physical activity -- to the promotion of health and the prevention of disease. Feet and forks, along with fingers that do or don't hold cigarettes, are well established as the master levers of medical destiny.

As told most famously by Shelley, the kingdom of Ozymandias fell to ruin in the desert sand. We are misguided to think we are too mighty to do the same. Signs of our vulnerability abound.

The debate rages as to why more children are diagnosed with chronic health conditions. Better diagnosing? More ill kids due to environmental factors? Both? While I do not agree we are "better" at diagnosing, I do think we are better at labeling. There's a subtle difference.

As has likely come to your attention by now, a new study shows that daily multivitamin use is associated with a reduction in the overall rate of cancer. These findings are intriguing and promising, but far from the proverbial slam-dunk.

So "okay at any size" seems to be gathering pop culture momentum. And I regret to say, I can't be entirely okay with that. It's not the size I'm not okay with -- it's the consequences.

Whether we are Democrats or Republicans, all Americans can agree that our health care costs are unsustainable -- and the sooner we acknowledge that, the better. A new report from the Institute of Medicine reveals the truth about the way our health care dollars are spent.

We all deserve water and the more we drink it, the better. It's time to teach our children and ourselves that when it comes to quenching thirst and hydrating the body, nothing beats good old H2O.

Clinical research has demonstrated that resistance training benefits everyone, from children to seniors.

Several years after making headlines for its health care reform, Massachusetts is back in the news, this time for passing legislation that aims to impose a cap on overall health care spending. That ambition implies, even if it doesn't quite manage to say, a very provocative word: rationing.

We need to reduce our emphasis on disease management and emphasize health promotion instead. How much more desirable -- and less expensive -- it would be to prevent diabetes and heart disease, rather than to have to treat those diseases and their myriad complications.

The world's most widely used pick-me-up reduces your risk of neurodegeneration, depression, cancer and cardiovascular disease, and that's just the beginning of the story. Yes, I'm talking about that legal, over-the-counter beverage now available every other block.

The Affordable Care Act is the start of a "prevention revolution" in America. The focus will begin to shift from treating the sick to also keeping the healthy well and detecting disease early when there's the best chance of cost-effective interventions and cures.

Safe collection and disposal policies keep medications out of landfills, groundwater and drinking water, and reduce risks of poisoning, suicide, and antibiotic resistance.