Were you frightened by your local newscast last month trumpeting warnings about trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in your drinking water? Clark believes these reports had more to do with sweeps week in the TV world than with an actual threat. Either way, the bottled water industry must have loved the news; they just got to sit back and pick up market share. But one recent study found that 40% of bottled water is just repackaged tap water. Plus, tap water is constantly tested to ensure safety. There is no equivalent for bottled water. Clark is more worried about al-Qaeda than killer tap water.

As a 17-year veteran of TV reporting, the penny-pinching guru knows that February, May and November are the months when ad rates are set based on how that month's news stories pop. So be careful with your TV during those 3 months. The news teams are trying to excite you, titillate you and make you fearful -- anything to raise ratings and drive up ad rates. Take it all with a grain of salt and wash it down with a glass of tap water. Think about it: How many people do you know who have suffered harm from tap water?

Clark's executive producer Christa recently gave up soft drinks for Lent. She had been drinking about 3 or 4 beverages a day. A recent Purdue University study found that soft drinks with saccharine actually make you gain weight, not lose it. Researchers believe the saccharine alters your appetite and makes you want to eat more. When the results of this study were released, everyone on Team Clark immediately thought about Clark and his love of soft drinks. Christa will go for 40 days without a soft drink. Can Clark go for 4 days without one? How about 4 hours?? Meanwhile, an older study suggested that diet sodas trick your brain and body in a bad way. While they're sweet to your palate, they don't offer any real sugar for the body to metabolize. There's a real disconnect between what your body expects and what it actually gets. That's why some people think drinking even one diet soda a day actually increases your chances of gaining weight.

Clark is obsessed with exercise. He doesn't feel right unless he works out every day, which may say more about the psychological than the physical. Exercise helps him relax and relieve stress. Interestingly, he doesn't do it to be fit or in good health. The Archives of Internal Medicine has now done a long-term evaluation of 2,400 British twins. Researchers found that people who exercise routinely through life slow the aging of their bodies. Similar studies have demonstrated that exercise can reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. But this study now shows that you can actually steal back some years from the calendar. The current thinking is that by consistently exercising 4 times a week you can gain about 5 or 6 extra years of quality living. Many people have difficulty developing the habit of exercise. Clark's advice is to do it one step at a time. Start with just a walk, perhaps twice a week. You'll need a routine, so pick a time of day and stick to it. Once you're comfortable with twice a week, start walking at least 3 times a week. From a financial perspective, you'll save on medical care and missed days at work.

For those who overindulged in calories during the holidays, here's a word of warning to avoid getting eaten alive by health club salespeople. This industry basically has two business models. In the good one, you pay month-to-month or quarterly with no real contract. The sleazy business model, however, involves long-term contracts designed to give your checking account a workout. In the latter model, the downfall begins when they offer you a free tour of the facilities. The tour is done by a commissioned salesperson with the intention of getting you to sign a multi-year contract. When you sign, the salesperson gets a commission and the club sells off the contract to a finance company that will take the paper on and sell it off for pennies on the dollar. Then the club gets what's left. Clubs sell so many memberships this way that they have to hope that you don't work out -- otherwise there wouldn't be enough space for everyone!

The Feb. 2008 issue of Consumer Reports rates health clubs, with the worst rating going to Bally's Total Fitness. Bally's got bad marks in staffing, classes and equipment, plus the worst possible score for locker rooms, cleanliness and crowds. On the flip side, the best club is a chain that's in 15 states called Lifetime Fitness. In the second-best slot are on-site gyms at work and coming in third best were gyms at your local Jewish Community Center/YMCA/YWCA. Though Consumer Reports doesn't mention them, Clark also recommends checking out hospital-affiliated fitness centers. They're usually rehab-based or geared toward hospital staff. They're clean, well run and don't force stinking contracts on you. Most sell memberships to the public. One final word: Signing a contract will not get you to work out. You may have the best of intentions, but most people quit working out within weeks. So don't obligate yourself to a multi-year contract.

A recent poll in Fitness magazine revealed that 1 in 4 people would rather spend a week in jail, shave their heads or wear a bikini on TV than weigh an extra 50 pounds. One in 5 would actually give up 10 years of their life to not have the additional girth. But that's nothing compared to this next stat: Nine in 10 people said they'd take an extra toe rather than the extra weight! Around 75 percent of women currently are on (or have recently been on) a diet. Meanwhile, more than half of all women admit to having sat down and eaten a whole box of cookies or other junk food. Talk about true confessions!

Body image is such a difficult issue. On one hand, you have someone like actress Keira Knightley who has been photographed looking skeletal. On the other hand, you have people like musician/actress Queen Latifah. The Queen has a curvaceous body image and is proud of it. As we all know, there's no magic pill for weight loss. It has to happen through developing lifetime habits of watching what you eat and exercising. Clark himself is caught somewhere in the middle of it all. He admittedly has terrible eating habits, but he's also an exercise maniac.

Clark's executive producer Christa recently gave him an article from Health magazine that spoke about how plastic water bottles can leach Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical that's toxic in lab rats. So the inevitable question arises: Can it also harm us? Clark's not buying the leaching plastics theory, but he thinks you shouldn't drink bottled water because it will drain your wallet. Most bottled water comes from the tap, including Aquafina and Dasani. Just compare the numbers for yourself: Drinking tap water will cost you 40 cents/year vs. $1,500/year for bottled water, according to one study. Then there's the environmental angle: Between transportation, packaging and disposal, bottled water is an eco-disaster. If you're still reluctant to drink from the tap, try using an affordable filter. The Brita system was recently featured on NBC's The Biggest Loser -- a show that's watched by both Christa and Clark's other producer Kim.

How would you like to go in the store and buy meat that looks good yet is actually very old? Meat producers have figured out that by injecting packaging with carbon monoxide gas, they can make meat look perfect even way past its expiration date. Supermarkets have long wrestled with the problem of meat that looks spoiled even when it's good. But now that the processors have this new method, Clark thinks this is taking things one step too far. The Washington Post reports that there's also corruption at play here. Internal memos from the big meat handlers show that this process hasn't been proven safe. This, of course, embarrasses the FDA, which seems to be failing in its mission to protect consumers. Target is one retailer that sells meat that may be packaged with carbon monoxide. Target says it's looking at adding labels to the packaging that would disclose the treatment. But Clark says this is not enough. He still bristles at the idea of using carbon monoxide to make meat look good.

Clark loves news reports that affirm his deeply held beliefs about saving money. Right now he's gloating about the results of a Scottish study that found low-cost running shoes are just as good as more expensive ones. The only time Clark spends real money on shoes is for running. But somewhere inside he feels that inexpensive ones may harm his feet. So he picked up his current running shoes on clearance for $45, which is pretty expensive for him. He tries to get most of his other shoes for less than $15. He has a pair of loafers that cost $15, a pair of tennis shoes that he got for $12 and some dress shoes that he inherited from his father in 1989. Now the study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has found that inexpensive shoes provided better foot support for the sole, heel, forefoot and big toe than more expensive ones. This whole issue makes Clark thinks of the Steve and Barry's chain that features Stephon Marbury's NBA quality sneakers for under $15 and Sarah Jessica Parker's clothing line for $19 or less. In fact, Steve and Barry's is the only company really doing deep discounted merchandise in the sports field.

When Clark goes to Europe, he often gets dragged into museums to look at paintings. Much of the Renaissance art he sees depicts people who are slightly chunky because that was the sign of health and wealth at that point in history. It turns out that people from that era may have been on to something. Today our culture believes that being a stick figure is healthy and having some meat on your bones means that you're unhealthy. But the latest health findings from the Centers for Disease Control show that being slightly overweight when you're under 30 doesn't raise your risk of cancer and heart disease. In fact, it can even lessen your risk of death from some illnesses. The findings of the study were revealed in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Bear in mind that some scientists think these findings are faulty, so this not a green light for you to get a little chunky. Take any health advice with a grain of salt—or salt substitute because everyone's so sodium conscious these days!

Clark recently saw healthy Halloween treats in the candy aisle at a supermarket. Who really wants to be the Scrooge who ruins the holiday for kids by handing out nutritionally smart treats? Yet there was a recent article in the The Los Angeles Times about the growing healthy Halloween candy trend. Little pretzel packs, Teddy Grahams and even packets of carrots are among the items that some people now hand out. The idea is for kids to have fun without getting rotten teeth. Clark's 8-year-old daughter is usually not able to eat her Halloween candy because she's allergic to nuts. But she gets a Starburst from her mother for every piece she gives up. If you like to give out Halloween candy, make sure you buy a type you don't like -- that way you won't eat the excess! Bring leftovers to work if you can. Clark brings candy to his workplace that he buys after Halloween for 75 percent off! Clark's executive producer Christa thinks you can save leftover candy and use it next Halloween. But even Clark says that giving out stale candy is way too cheap for him! One caller suggested that leftover candy makes a great Christmas stocking stuffer -- and it won't be stale by then either!

About a year ago, Clark talked about Scott's Miracle-Gro firing employees who smoked. Employers have a direct interest in your health. Statistics tell us that smokers have higher absentee rates and medical bills than non-smokers. Clark recalls when he had a furniture delivery job in high school and the driver claimed that smoking since 12 hadn't hurt him! But today people accept it as common knowledge. Other than outright firing people, is there a way that companies can motivate people to have healthier habits? It turns out that paying workers small financial rewards to go on a fitness regimen works.

According to a new study in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, cash incentives of as little as $7 work to get people in shape. Money is even a better motivator than having a gym at work, the study found. Here's how the study worked: Groups were either offered no incentives, seven dollars or fourteen dollars. They weren't given any advice on how to loss weight or exercise. The people who were paid fourteen dollars were more likely to loss weight than those who received no money. Fourteen dollars was an even bigger motivator than seven dollars, which Clark thinks is funny because it's not really all that much money as an incentive for three months of exercise and diet. The authors of the study now plan to do more research to find out the optimal amount of money it will take to bribe workers to health!

What if cities trying to reduce air pollution and traffic made bicycles available for free on their streets? Some European communities have been trying this out for years. There's even one car-dependent suburban Atlanta community that's had a program like this. The typical setup is simple: The bikes, which are usually painted bright yellow to deter people from stealing them, can be picked up and dropped off at various locations around town on the honor system. Now The San Francisco Chronicle reports that that city is in the process of setting up a free bike-sharing program. Other cities that have expressed interest in doing the same include Washington D.C., Portland, Ore., Chicago and New York. Clark thinks this is a really great trend that could help increase the life expectancy of our population. Our average lifespan is about 79 years, a figure that's lower than in other nations around the world because of our sedentary lifestyle. Bike-sharing programs are one way to encourage people to get moving.

Clark's wife loves drinking coffee and often makes her java at home. She uses an electronic barista that has pre-packaged coffee blends to deliver ultra-fancy, boutique-style drinks. The packets cost 25 cents each, which is about five times more expensive than it costs to make a no-frills cup of joe. So how does Clark feel about this added expense? He loves it! It's not hard to see why when you consider that the alternative is to pay upwards of three dollars a cup at a Starbucks.

The Financial Times reports that people are now making more cups of coffee at home rather than buying them out at coffeehouses and restaurants. Starbucks wants a piece of this market, and the chain plans to offer its blends at your grocery store so you can brew it yourself at home. If you're like Clark's wife and brew yours up on a fancy machine, you can take solace in the fact that the return on investment is incredible. Though it may cost a few hundred to buy the machine, you'll quickly earn that back when you cut expensive coffee runs out of your budget for a few months. Or you can just go for the less-expensive Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which Clark's executive producer Christa says is the best in the world!

One town in Massachusetts is changing everything about how they treat weight problems. They have decided to treat the issue of child obesity very seriously. The menu at the local schools has changed dramatically, with more whole grains and fresh fruits. Their program is called “Shape Up” and also includes more exercise for the youngsters and easier ways to walk to school. The amazing thing is that the serious approach to this problem is producing results. Kids in this town weigh less than kids in nearby towns. Our society has become more sedentary with all of our amazing inventions that make our lives easier. This makes it more difficult though, to stay fit as well. It is an amazing thing that the effort of this community is making a huge change in the lives of their youth.

GlaxoSmithKline has decided to advertise one of their prescription drugs in a revolutionary way: They are planning on telling the whole truth about it. When you watch most commercials for prescription drugs they make it seem as though your world will be a rosy place after popping their particular pill, and the side effects scroll along the bottom of the screen in tiny mice type. GSK, however, has released a weight loss pill that is being marketed not as a miracle pill, but as a slow but sure way to weight loss. How impressive is it that this company is willing to buck the system and just be honest with consumers.

The workout facility Bally’s is going to be filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy but will stay in business. There are a few things you have to keep in mind when you are searching for a work out club though. Don’t sign a contract! If the club feels confident that they have a good product, why do they need to rope you in for three years? Look for good customer service. If you are new to the work out club game especially, you want to go somewhere where they have people walking the floor to help you if you have questions.

Personal trainers are very hot these days. But how do you know if the person who is training you is legitimate? A TV station in Boston wanted to find out so it had reporters try to get “certified.” One reporter was able to take a two-hour online test and within a week she had her certification in hand. There are only a handful of accredited organizations that legitimately certify personal trainers. They are:
• American Council on Exercise
• National Council on Strength and Fitness
• National Strength and Conditioning Association
• National Academy of Sports Medicine
• National Federation of Personal Trainers

It’s the New Year, and you’ve probably started to see the ads for weight loss miracles and wonder drugs. Health clubs also advertise heavily this time of year because everyone is trying shed those holiday pounds. The truth is that most people don’t enjoy working out. So the idea of exercise is not pleasing. There are other ways to get in shape, though. Did you know that cleaning the house burns a good bit of calories? In fact, just an hour of exercise a week reduces your risk of coronary disease by half. If it’s raining out, go to the mall and walk the perimeter a few times. Just don’t shop.

Do you have a teenager who plays video games all the time and is putting on a little weight in the process? Well, companies are now devising and developing exercise games that combine video games with exercise. Some look like elliptical machines or Nordic machines. Others are mat-type games that require people to jump around on certain spots of the pad. It’s a great way to keep teens fit while they have fun. If you have a son or daughter who is especially sedentary, consider getting one of these devices. Some are very expensive, including “The Kilowatt” which is $500. You hook it up to the television and kids jump around while interacting with the TV. If we’re going to get kids to exercise in today’s society, we have to reach kids where they are.

The Archives of Internal Medicine conducted a long-term study on exercise and found that working out has clear and concrete positive effects on lifespan. People who exercise about five times a week live five years longer than those who do nothing, for example. Just walking 30 minutes a day adds an extra year and a half to your life. But vigorous exercise will get you 4 more years. Even if you’re 35 or 45 and you’ve never worked out, you can start now and still add years, results show. It’s never too late to improve your health.

Have you heard of pizzarants? These are very compact pizza restaurants. A company called Wonder Pizza USA has created a pizzarant vending machine that delivers hot pizza right in your hands. The $18,000 vending machines stock $5 pizza and have an oven built in. So when you put your money in, the pizza is cooked in the oven and delivered out to you. Apparently it’s fantastic. In fact, it’s already in Italy and has been hugely successful. So, what if you’re trying to lose weight? Which diet is the most effective? Well, according to Health magazine, only 10 percent of people on the Atkins stayed with it and were successful. Of those on the “Dean Ornish” diet, 15 percent saw successful results. And the diet called “The Way to Eat” had a 33 percent success rate. The most successful diet was Weight Watchers online. One-third of those dieters was successful and stayed on the diet 60 percent of the time. So, it’s a huge endorsement for the Weight Watchers online diet, which Christa, Clark’s executive producer, has tried. She was successful and is going to go back on the diet after she has her second child. Getting on a diet is hard enough, but staying on it is even tougher.

The most successful infomercial of all time has been exposed as a huge lie. CortaSlim made more than $200 million in about two years. And, now the execs behind the scenes have been ordered to pay big fines for the lies. They’ve also had to remove the ridiculous claims of weight loss on their Web site. However, they are not going to have to pay back the public they stole from or go to jail, which is a shame. Let’s hope they are subject to some civil suits. One of the spin off products was called CortaStress, and it claimed to cure cancer. Thank goodness it’s not on the market anymore. The sad part is that more than one million Americans and Canadians bought into the idea and bought CortaSlim. There is no such miracle drug. Getting exercise and eating right are the only healthy ways to lose weight.

how would you like to be a researcher who spends decades on a study of human beings and their behavior. One researcher in New Zealand monitored 1,000 children born in 1972 and 1973. He tracked them into adulthood, visiting them every 24 months in their homes. The subjects didn’t know why they were being studied, but the results are amazing. By age 26, about half of them were significantly overweight or obese. The key contributing factor was how much television the children watched. If they watched a lot of TV, they were almost certain to be obese. Diet and physical activity did not correlate at all. According to the International Journal of Obesity, children who watch a lot of TV tend to snack a lot and don’t get outside as much. So, by all means, don’t put TVs in your kids’ bedrooms. They’ll be more healthy because of it.

Here’s a tip: Exercise and eat healthy food and you’ll probably live longer. It’s just common sense. But people still choose to lead very lazy lives. So, enter the latest idea in the Richard Branson “Virgin” empire. He’s decided to open health clubs with all kinds of incentives. Basically the clubs monitor your fitness and eating. And if you stick to the regimen, you get incentives from this other companies such as airline tickets and music. He’s convinced Humana to jump on board, and Clark understands why. Right now, consumers get no inventive to be healthier. But if insurance companies save money and we get freebies, it makes complete sense.

Several years ago, when the issue of commutes and sedentary lifestyles originated, Clark was excited to tell you about what Sprint was doing at its corporate campus outside Kansas City. The entire layout from landscaping to design was created to encourage exercise. There are no roads on the 240-acre campus, and employees must walk a half-mile to and from the building each day. It’s build like a big park and the design inside requires employees to take the stairs more than elevators. There is also an on-site health clinic and a three-story gym on the campus. As a result, absenteeism is down, productivity is up and employees are much healthier. What are you doing at your company to improve the health of your employees and lower health costs?

Some employers are now offering cash to employees who track how they eat and how much they exercise. Pacificare is one of those companies. It has set up a food log on the company’s Intranet, and employees enter everything they eat each day. For keeping the logs, employees get $15 every paycheck. Tell us what you think about this trend in our weekly poll.

Clark has pretty bad eating habits, he admits. But he’s always thought that he exercises enough to make up for it. Well, according to the FDA, he doesn’t. The agency is now saying people need to work out 60 to 90 minutes every day. Very few people meet that requirement every day, including Clark. Just as long as you get regular exercise, you will be much healthier. So, what about food? The FDA has doubled the amount of fruits and vegetables, and increased the amount of whole grains people eat each day. The cities that need to work on these new guidelines the most are: (from 10 to 1) Columbus, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Arlington, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Fort Worth, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; San Antonio, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan. The “fattest” people in the United States live in Detroit, according to WebMD. The healthiest people live in (10 to 1): Sacramento; Tucson; Portland, Oregon; Boston, Seattle, Colorado Springs, Denver, Virginia Beach, San Francisco and No. 1 is Honolulu, Hawaii.

Fast food is going high tech these days. Phone services have become so cheap that there are now “call centers” taking your order at the drive through instead of an employee in a cute hat. So, you may be talking to someone across the globe who then relays your order to the particular store where you are. Pizza Hut, Chuck-E-Cheese and Hardees are all experimenting with it right now and many more will jump on the bandwagon. It’s a way for the restaurant to save money because they don’t have to staff so heavily for certain peak times of the day. We’ll see how well it works.

Americans have been the heaviest people on earth for about 15 years now. But other countries are starting to compete with us. You may have heard about the 17-pound baby born in Brazil, for example. The New York Times recently profiled this country, which used to have a huge problem with famine and starvation. The issues of getting food to people around the globe was a big deal not so long ago. But Brazilians, who have always had a reputation of being gorgeous people, now seem to have an abundance of food. About half of the residents in Brazil are now overweight. And, it’s not just happening in Brazil. Communist China is also consuming way too much food, after years of starving. In fact, the new disease of poverty is being overweight. We now need to reign in how much we eat and spread the benefits of exercise.

When was the last time you tossed your toothbrush? If it takes a while to remember, it may be time to replace it. You should get a new toothbrush whenever you get sick and every three months if you haven’t been sick. Toothbrushes carry tons of harmful germs, including salmonella. If you’re very concerned about this, there is now a device that sterilizes your toothbrush every time you use it. It uses ultra-violet rays to clean the toothbrushes and takes about 10 minutes to do. It costs $50 and you can find out more at violight.com.

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In other health news, ABC recently covered the germ population in health clubs. With everyone back in the gym this time of year, ABC wanted to know how clean, or in this case dirty, fitness equipment is. Suffice it to say that all kinds of disgusting germs are on machines. So, clean the machine before you get on it, and wipe it down as a courtesy to others when you get off. Just remember that many people are not as sanitary or careful as you might be. If you want to read the full report, go to abcnews.com.

Clark has pretty bad eating habits, he admits. But he’s always thought that he exercises enough to make up for it. Well, according to the FDA, he doesn’t. The agency is now saying people need to work out 60 to 90 minutes every day. Very few people meet that requirement every day, including Clark. Just as long as you get regular exercise, you will be much healthier. So, what about food? The FDA has doubled the amount of fruits and vegetables, and increased the amount of whole grains people eat each day. The cities that need to work on these new guidelines the most are: (from 10 to 1) Columbus, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Arlington, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Fort Worth, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; San Antonio, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan. The “fattest” people in the United States live in Detroit, according to WebMD. The healthiest people live in (10 to 1): Sacramento; Tucson; Portland, Oregon; Boston, Seattle, Colorado Springs, Denver, Virginia Beach, San Francisco and No. 1 is Honolulu, Hawaii.

Internet telephone companies are huge these days. Clark has had Vonage in his home for about three years, for example, and he gives it an “A” so far. Mainstream players are now starting to adopt the idea, as well. Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, is going to offer Internet phone service for $40 a month with unlimited local and long distance calling. That is 50 percent higher than typical phone services, but Comcast will monitor your burglar alarm and will allow 911 calling, something others have trouble with. Clark doesn’t think that price will last for long, either. It will move down after a while, so keep an eye on this one.

A report from the Journal of the American Medical Association shows overwhelming evidence that the combination of eating right and exercise has an enormous effect on lifespan. Exercising alone, in older years, also puts off the start of dementia. So, what is a healthy diet? According to the AMA, a Mediterranean diet is the best for you. That includes whole-wheat grains, olive oil, vegetables, fruit and fish. The things you shouldn’t eat or should eat in moderation are dairy, meat and alcohol. Doing one part of the combination – eating healthy or working out – will help you a little. The combination will help you a lot. Also, giving up smoking is key. Smoking contributes to all kinds of diseases, so stop smoking if you do.

Kids meals at restaurants are not the healthiest these days, you may have noticed. The menu items usually include hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken fingers. And the meal always comes with french fries. So what can you do to instill better eating habits in your children? Eat at home more often! Research from the Journal of Adolescent Health found that the more meals kids eat at home each week, the better their eating habits will be. In addition, they will be less likely as teens to have eating disorders, the journal states. If you eat just 1 to 2 family meals a week, one in five girls will manifest some kind of eating disorder. When the number jumps to three meals a week, one in 10 girls are at risk. Eating at home five times a week or more result in almost no chance of an eating disorder. Of course, we need more statistics on this, but the sample was very large and the results were extreme.

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On a positive note, teens and tweens are working out a lot more these days. According to Fox News, the number of teens going to a health club is up about 25 percent in the past few years. About five million kids are working out routinely at fitness centers. That is great news. Kids not only need to work on their physical fitness, but they also simply need to blow off some steam.

America is obsessed with diets and obesity. The government has been in the midst of a debate regarding the food pyramid and whether to change it. First it was Atkins. Now it’s South Beach. What will be next? Well, there are now clothes that adjust to your size depending on whether you shrink or grow. That’s right. For men, the clothes will grow or shrink about two inches depending on the size of the person. So, that kind of clothing is not just for pregnant women anymore. The clothing market is flexing as our bodies are flexing. In the past 15 years, the average size of a woman’s dress has gone from a size 8 to size 14. In the case of men, it’s not that much – about two inches on average. So, it’s a much bigger deal for women. Fast food restaurants are flexing as well, in order to accommodate consumers’ desire for healthier foods. McDonald’s has apples that can be dipped into a caramel sauce, and Wendy’s offers orange slices instead of French fries in kids meals.

About two-thirds of American adults and one-third of American kids are overweight today. In the rest of the world, it’s about 10 percent. Americans also eat about 235 more calories per day than we did a generation ago. This leads to lots more weight over time, a topic that newspapers are discussing about everyday. Traditionally, people had to do more physical labor at work and at home, and it kept the weight off. People also walked to where they needed to go instead of driving. So, we’re in a sedentary era, and the availability of food makes it even worse. Smart employers are starting weight loss programs in the workplace to help overweight employees. They are bringing in personal trainers and building fitness rooms in the workplace. Employers benefit financially if people lose weight and get healthier because it cuts down on sick days and expenses. The company that makes the X-box video game has created an electronic personal couch program that guides you through your workout and congratulates you when you’re done.

When Clark bought his home several years ago, it came with a pool. He didn’t want the pool necessarily, but his daughter went bananas over it. Pools can be very dangerous and parents often don’t want one for that very reason. It doesn’t even have to be your own child at risk. Neighborhood kids can wander into the pool area and drown. Drowning is the second leading cause of injury-related deaths among children under age 14. The No. 1 cause is car accidents. But companies continue to improve the safety devices that prevent drawings. Children are out of parents’ sight for less than five minutes on average when these drownings occur, according to kidshealth.org. And usually, one or both of the parents are home at the time. So, what can you do? There are two kinds of alarms you can get. The simplest and cheapest go on your pool gate. The alarm goes off and makes an ear piercing racket when someone opens the gate and they cost about $50. The second kind of alarm is one that tells you when the water is disturbed, and those start at $150. A third kind of alarm is used at bigger community pools and professional facilities, where an alarm goes off when someone is on the bottom of the pool These are more expensive but they are showing up more and more at public facilities because of liabilities. It’s something people forget about, but it’s very important.

Clark drinks a lot of water and a ton of soft drinks every day. And there is a move across the country to restrict access to soft drinks. In California, Texas and New York, school systems are using legislative orders to ban soft drink machines and snack machines. Every soft drink has 150 to 200 calories and a sports drink can be as much as 400 calories. Drinking water is important, but according to The National Academy of Sciences, you don’t need two liters of water a day. Most people consume the right amount of fluids because they are thirsty and they drink water. The academy also found that getting your fluids from coffee, tea and alcohol (in moderation) is just fine.

Clark really feels good when he gets a decent night’s sleep. He can be pretty grumpy when he doesn’t. But the average person is getting about six hours of sleep a night. As recently as one generation ago, it was just under eight hours. Early last century, it was up to nine hours. Why are we not sleeping as well as we used to? The main reason is because of work. The average individual works about 54 hours a week, according to the Labor Department. What about commuting? People spend 7.5 hours a week in a car on our way to and from work. One of Clark’s staffers is in the car two hours every day. He’s crazy! When we do have down time, how do we spend it? The No. 1 leisure activity is to listen to the radio, according to the Wall Street Journal. The second top activity is watching TV. The sad part is that the average American spends only three hours a week reading the newspaper. And the really surprising fact is that the average American spends less than 30 minutes a day on the Internet. Clark figured that number would be much higher. The good news is that the amount people are exercising in a 7-year period is up eight percent!

In order to have a clear head for work, Clark must exercise every day. It’s more of a mental thing than a physical one for Clark. So, when he broke his hand and the surgeon told him he couldn’t exercise for a few weeks, he nearly collapsed. Luckily, the doctor told him he could walk if he wanted, and it helped him stay sane. Clark never felt like walking was strenuous exercise, but it turns out it’s a great work out. According to a long-term study by Duke University, overweight people who didn’t diet but walked everyday did not gain weight. Half of the people walked every day. The other half continued their sedentary lifestyle. And the half that didn’t walk steadily gained weight. For most people, gaining a few pounds a year doesn’t sound like a big deal. But it can add up. Just walking will help you keep the pounds off. Granted, you have to walk briskly for about 30 minutes to maintain your current weight. And you can step it up if you’d like to. To lose weight, you must exercise vigorously six days a week and eat healthy food. But that can be a future goal.