One plan advises you to follow it three times a week. Another allows no snacks — except on certain days. And a third advocates for eating up to 20 percent less.

Kevin Kopjak doesn't care much about carbs, fat, sodium or high fructose corn syrup. He generally reads only two things on a nutrition label: the portion size and the calories. He says the strategy has helped him lose and keep off 100 pounds.

This Mother's Day, consider skipping the flowers and the cards. Instead, go with your mother to get a mammogram, and get one yourself if you're a woman who is old enough to need one, says "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon.

People who sleep fewer than six hours a night — or more than nine — are more likely to be obese, according to a new government study that is one of the largest to show a link between irregular sleep and big bellies. The study also linked light sleepers to higher smoking rates, less physical activity and more alcohol use.

Everyone's genes spell out a risk for some disease, and a coming anti-discrimination law is about to give genetic testing a boost. But discrimination is just one hurdle. The bigger quandary: Doctors don't yet know how many of the genetic tests being pushed for dozens of conditions are truly useful — and how many are misleading at best.

You won't find For Keeps (Seal Press, $15.95), edited by Victoria Zackheim, on the same bookstore shelf as most books aimed at middle-age and older women – you know, the books about anti-aging techniques, the latest in tummy tucks and collagen creams, or how to dress "appropriately for one's age."

So you want to live to be 100? Join the party. And quite a party it's getting to be. An estimated 73,674 Americans were 100 or older in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The shimmer of hope that carried Cindy Mesaros through her medical ordeal came in whimsical pastels. When the San Francisco woman underwent an emergency cesarean section, narrowly saving her daughter after an umbilical cord rupture, she was wearing a patterned hospital gown she had purchased with giving birth in mind. And when things got dicey, the gown helped her get through, she said.

WASHINGTON — Frightened by headlines about Lasik side effects? Lasik gets all the advertising, but there are half a dozen alternate eye surgeries — from a simpler laser approach to implantable lenses — that might solve your squint. They all have their own risks. A key is finding a surgeon who doesn't have a favorite but is qualified to evaluate patients for all of the options, to find the best fit.

The U.S. breast-feeding rate has hit it's highest mark in at least 20 years with more than three-quarters of new moms nursing their infants, according to a government report released Wednesday.

Suzanne Kreuziger is a registered nurse who uses e-mail almost exclusively to communicate with friends. But when it comes to reaching her doctor, there's a frustrating firewall.

The number of pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes has more than doubled in seven years, a California study found, a troubling trend that means health risks for both mothers and newborns.

New research challenges the notion that you can be fat and fit, finding that being active can lower but not eliminate heart risks faced by heavy women.

A decade after Lasik eye surgery hit the market, patients left with fuzzy instead of clear vision are airing their grievances before federal health officials.

Breakfast is diet Pepsi and two packets of M&M's. For lunch, macaroons and white chocolates filled with marzipan from the farmer's market near Wall Street.

With apologies to Mark Twain, reports of the death of the Pap smear are premature. Yes, new research suggests a test for the HPV virus that causes cervical cancer may replace the old-fashioned Pap one day as that cancer's primary screening tool. But even enthusiasts say it will take years of additional research to make such a big switch.

Snips and snails and puppydog tails ... and cereal and bananas? That could be what little boys are made of, according to surprising new research suggesting that what a woman eats before pregnancy influences the gender of her baby.

Many women know the story: Work out, diet, follow all the advice in magazines and still, a pocket of fat on the thighs or tummy refuses to disappear. Cosmetic surgery may be unappealing and expensive. So what if someone promised an easy treatment that promises to literally melt the fat?

With all due respect to the Pillsbury Bake-off, where peanut butter cookies won the $1 million prize last week in Dallas, there is more to after-school snacks than milk and cookies. Such as 8-year-old Hannah Weeks' Hannah Banana Smoothie and 9-year-old Tanner Williams' Salami Salad Sandwich, winning entries in the Kids in the Kitchen recipe contest.

You've got to love the sports bra. The well-fitting sports bra. The well-fitting sports bra that keeps bounce and, therefore, discomfort, in check.

A large study offers the strongest evidence yet that a diet the government recommends for lowering blood pressure can save people from heart attack and stroke. Researchers followed more than 88,000 healthy women for almost 25 years. They examined their food choices and looked at how many had heart attacks and strokes. Those who fared best had eating habits similar to those recommended by the government to stop high blood pressure.

REX C. CURRY/Special to DMN

Physical therapist Patsy Shropshire, who's also a certified fitness trainer, leads a women's exercise class with stability balls.

In the aftermath of thyroid cancer, 47-year-old Kristin Githens wanted nothing more than to climb a flight of stairs without feeling winded. So she joined Women With Balls, an early-morning exercise group in her North Dallas neighborhood.

Divorce. Bullies. Foster care. There are books for children on just about every tough subject these days. But mommy's plastic surgery? A Florida plastic surgeon has written about just that in "My Beautiful Mommy," a picture book due out April 28 that tries to calm the fears of kids with parents getting tummy tucks, breast enhancement procedures and nose jobs.

Barbra Streisand has put her money where her heart is.

Summer camps just for kids with chronic diseases are booming — places to learn about epilepsy or finally meet someone else with Tourette's tics or slice open a cow's heart to see what's wrong with their own.

Cynthia Nixon has joined forces with the breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure and is going public with her own battle with breast cancer.

A chemical used to make baby bottles and other shatterproof plastic containers could be linked to a range of hormonal problems, a preliminary government report has found. The report was greeted by some environmental groups as confirmation of their concerns, while chemical makers latched on to the report's preliminary nature and its authors' warning against drawing overly worrisome conclusions.

The more girls and women play sports, the more they, like boys and men, get hurt. And they get hurt in different ways.

Late night television infomercials seem to have a cheap fix for anything: lose weight, banish cellulite or improve conditions like diabetes, arthritis and insomnia.

That woman on the cover of America's best-known pregnancy advice book doesn't have a name — she's only a sketch, after all. But countless women have come to know this expectant mom over the years, with her dowdy clothes and nondescript haircut, staring placidly into space from the safety of a rocking chair. She needed an update. And now she has one.

The French parliament's lower house adopted a groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for anyone — including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites — to publicly incite extreme thinness.

Getting your morning jolt can be tough in Hawarden, Iowa, where there are 2,600 people and not one Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts. It's even harder when you're too young to drive. Which makes the middle and high school students at West Sioux Community School especially grateful for the Falcon Joe Coffee Shop, an oasis of espressos, lattes and other coffee drinks right inside their school.

LONDON (AP) -- A report by the British Fashion Council, organizers of London Fashion Week, has stopped short of recommending a ban on ultra-thin models.

MIAMI (AP) - Burger King pledged Wednesday to offer healthier fast-food items for American children under 12, with plans to sell and market flame-broiled Chicken Tenders and apples cut to resemble thick-cut french fries.

ATLANTA (AP) -- The life expectancy for Americans is nearly 78 years, the longest in U.S. history, according to new government figures from 2005 released Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Don't just take a vacation. Change your life.

Three new cases of people infected with the West Nile virus have been reported by the Tarrant County Public Health Department this week. 

AUSTIN (AP) -- The vaccination rate among young Texas children fell 2.1 percent last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health officials on Monday considered whether adding symbols with nutrition information to food labels, like a traffic light system used in Britain, might help shoppers make healthier food choices.

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than one in 10 pregnant women smoke in the United States, and new research suggests many of them also may suffer from depression, which makes kicking the habit even harder.

Walking is a great way to help prevent and fight diabetes. And now you can help the nearly 21 million Americans with diabetes fight the disease when you walk in the Step Out to Fight Diabetes fundraising walk Oct. 13 at American Airlines Center.

WFAA-TV

The water washes away irritants.

Allergists predict this could be one of the worst years on record for fall allergies. But there is a treatment to wash away allergies. The best part about it - it's virtually free.

Wesley Ann Brady, M.D. is a local woman whose career took a turn when she took a chance and stepped outside the world of obstetrics and into the realm of cosmetogynecology. Her new path in medicine tackles an issue women often live with but rarely discuss. Her goal is to help women in North Texas be healthy and even improve their sex lives. We asked her the questions. She provided the answers in her own words.

The nation's largest microwave popcorn maker, ConAgra Foods Inc., says it will change the recipe for its Orville Redenbacher and Act II brands over the next year to remove a flavoring chemical linked to a lung ailment in popcorn plant workers.

Bringing your lunch to work has never looked so good. And it's never felt so good, either. Lean Cuisine is selling insulated lunch bags to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure effort.

When the mayor of the Italian town of Varallo announced that he was going to pay his residents to lose weight, I said, "Brilliant." This seemingly small incentive is a huge breakthrough in helping normal, middle-class people become rich and skinny.

THE WORKOUT: Jeanette Jenkins: The Hollywood Trainer, 21 Day Total Body Circuit ($14.99). This workout DVD takes minimal coordination, looks easy, but feels hard. When it's over, you'll feel well worked-out.

A new study finds that pudgy toddlers have an alarmingly high rate of iron deficiency, and Hispanic youngsters are more affected than other groups.

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Gold is molded to fit the contours of the face.

In the stock market, its value rises and falls but gold is making a steady surge in the beauty industry and clients find its anti-aging properties precious. The 24-karat gold facial is now available in Dallas.

Women who have their ovaries removed before menopause run a heightened risk of developing dementia or other mental problems later in life – unless they take estrogen until age 50, a new study suggests.

CPSC

Toys "R" Us has recalled 27,000 crayon and paint sets made in China because the packaging of the wooden box contains lead, as does some of the watercolor paint within, company and government officials said Thursday.

The cartoon characters who normally inhabit your grocer's cereal aisle are on the move. Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants and the Disney and Sesame Street gangs are among the many children's favorites who in recent years have taken up residence in the produce section. Which is why you now can tempt your tots with Dora edamame, SpongeBob broccoli and Winnie the Pooh apples.

Pauline Amell-Nash worried that the pesticides and additives used to grow and preserve food were bad for her 1-year-old daughter Sophia, not to mention the earth itself.

It was a sweltering August afternoon in 2005 as I lumbered through a store with my daughter, Paige, wishing I could submerge myself in an ice-cold swimming pool and literally chill. I was nearly eight months pregnant with my son, Chip, and as we approached the checkout counter, I felt a tingle that stopped me in my tracks.

Pampers, move over. There's a growing "diaper-free" movement, founded on the belief that babies are born with an instinctive ability to signal when they have to answer nature's call.

New research on fat mice suggests that the location of fat cells – and not obesity in and of itself – determines whether the rodents develop type 2 diabetes, a Dallas researcher and his colleagues have reported.

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Gary Stocklaufer with his first adopted son, Robert.

Gary Stocklaufer weighs 501 pounds and thinks he is a good dad. But a court in Missouri says he's too fat to adopt a second child. So Stocklaufer is undergoing gastric bypass surgery in Dallas today to reduce his weight.

U.S. women are dying from childbirth at the highest rate in decades, new government figures show. Though the risk of death is very small, experts believe increasing maternal obesity and a jump in Caesarean sections are partly to blame.

The first long-term studies of stomach stapling and other radical obesity treatments show that they not only lead to lasting weight loss but also dramatically improve survival. The results are expected to lead to more such operations, possibly for less severely obese people, too.

An unprecedented study of sex and seniors finds that many older people are surprisingly frisky – willing to do, and talk about, intimate acts that would make their grandchildren blush.

While exercise balls are in nearly every health club and considered a great way to strengthen abdominal muscles, one ball turned out to be a bust, literally, for a North Texas man.

Bob Proud of Irving describes himself as the ultimate nonrunner. He smoked three packs of cigarettes a day in his 20s.

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Hand sanitizer is a common product, but studies show young kids are getting buzzed and sometimes drunk from licking too much sanitizer off their hands.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) -- Don't worry about calling Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin a pair of skinny bitches. Just don't try to get them back on the double-bacon-and-cheeseburger diets of their youth.

Another North Texas nail salon has been forced to pay a fine, following a News 8 undercover camera investigation. State investigators went to DJ Nails on South Cooper Street in Arlington after our reports.

For young athletes, back to school means back to sports – with its giddy triumphs, heartbreaking defeats and painful injuries. Here's a look at six young athletes and how they learned to recognize, heal or minimize their injuries. We've also included tips from experts for other young athletes.

In the buffet of reasons for why Americans are getting fatter, researchers are piling more evidence on the plate for one still-controversial cause: a virus.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) - People in the United States are living in a world of pain and they are popping pills at an alarming rate to cope with it.

A red rash on the cheeks and a lacy rash on the hand, feet and torso are symptoms of fifth disease.

Wikipedia

A high temperature and rash turned out to be fifth disease.

Hoping to prevent a growing number of injuries to infants and toddlers, the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory on Wednesday warning parents never to give cough and cold medicines to children younger than under the age of 2 unless instructed to do so by a doctor.

Moms-to-be once resigned themselves to nine months of misery. But, frankly, they've had enough. Now, pregnant women are finding help from chiropractors. Here's how to tell if it's right for you, and how to find the right doctor.

An influential U.S. medical panel is considering changes to the medical guidelines for how much weight a woman should gain during pregnancy. It's acting on the insistence of doctors who say heavy moms are gaining too much weight and the current recommendations do not factor in the country's obesity epidemic.

CPSC

The recall includes this toy truck that contains lead paint.

Even as a massive toy recall was announced today, Mattel officials warned that it could grow as the company implemented more rigorous testing measures.
• TELL US: What do you think about the recalls?

Whooping cough is a growing public health threat. State health officials recently re-launched a campaign in the fight against the coughing disease. Part of the problem, according to health experts and patients, is that many doctors aren't paying attention to the signs.

Sandra Poulin couldn't have been more thrilled when she found out she was expecting. Then, when Rachel was born in 1996, the Dallas mom, who had always thought of herself as a happy person, couldn't sleep and began crying for no reason. Relief didn't begin until she learned about postpartum depression (PPD) and realized that she was among the 15 percent of new mothers affected by it.

Babies come with everything they need except an owner's manual. So, what do you do when things go wrong?

Anything made by McDonald's tastes better, preschoolers said in a study that powerfully demonstrates how advertising can trick the taste buds of young children.

Helping people is a family tradition for three area sisters who take their cue on careers and charity work from their mother. Heather Jones, Christa Curry and Melinda White are all teachers and the founding members of the Pilot Club of North Dallas.

It's called the "word spurt," that magical time when a toddler's vocabulary explodes, seemingly overnight. New research offers a decidedly un-magical explanation: Babies start really jabbering after they've mastered enough easy words to tackle more of the harder ones. It's essentially a snowball effect.

Nearly three-quarters of new mothers in the United States are breast-feeding their babies, but they are quitting too soon and resorting to infant formula too often, federal health officials said Thursday.

CPSC

One of the toys involved in the recall.

Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys—including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters—because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead. The recall being announced Thursday involves 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August.

This is the seventh in a yearlong series of essays and articles focusing on elements we need to lead a healthy and balanced life.

The list of headline-grabbers to have recently undergone some kind of rehabilitation is long, and isn't it delicious when the elite look ridiculous? But, you know what? Rehab is not funny.

TI and J.C. Penney are among the area companies with employee wellness programs designed to improve productivity and cut health-care costs.

Can adding a cup or two of coffee to the exercise routine increase protection from skin cancer? New research indicates that just might be the case.

Turns out, life's little stresses can be more harmful to your health than residual stresses such as death or divorce. So says Dr. Claire Michaels Wheeler, author of 10 Simple Solutions to Stress: How to Tame Tension & Start Enjoying Your Life (New Harbinger Publications, $13).

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Samantha Collins was born without ears.

After re-examining the case following a News 8 special report, United Healthcare decided it will pay for the device it had denied four times previously to a 15-month old girl.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - If your friends and family get fat, chances are you will too, researchers report in a startling new study that suggests obesity is "socially contagious" and can spread easily from person to person.

Stacey Barich changed her mind about having a tummy tuck when her mother contracted a serious infection after a hospital stay. That's when she knew she had to find another way to drop her weight. "I couldn't even do a sit-up when I got here, but this was a no-brainer for me," Barich said. The no-brainer was a 12-week weight-loss contest offered by her employer, Agora Inc., a newsletter publishing company based in Baltimore. The reward: A $1,000 prize for the top "losers" in male, female and team categories.

Health and how you live are focal points for actress and author Mariel Hemmingway.

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Samantha Collins was born without ears.

A North Texas family found themselves surprised to be locked in a battle with their insurance company over a device you may think is covered under most policies. At stake is $15,000 and a little girl's hearing.

People who drank more than one diet soda each day developed the same risks for heart disease as those who downed sugary regular soda, suggests a large but inconclusive study.

These classes are much more than a series of push-ups, sit-ups and sprints. They're about pushing yourself to achieve things you didn't know you could do.

This year, Texas begins mandatory physical education testing for students to help combat the growing childhood obesity problem. Experts say kids can't get healthy without family support. News 8 has been following one North Texas family trying to do just that for more than a year.

While traditional screening methods for skin cancer have been known to be time consuming and often painful, cutting edge technology is now making detecting and tracking skin cancer easier.

We have all fantasized about being a hero. We could dash into a burning building and emerge with the family dog. We could catch an infant plunging from the window of an apartment, screech our car into the path of fleeing bad guys so the cops can catch up. Then we would be a model of modesty. "Anyone would have done it, if they were in my position," etc. We could be noble, confident and stand by calmly while the villagers cheer.

Kelli Smith was nervous as she walked into the Philadelphia treatment center, seeking help at last for her anorexia. Looking around at the other patients, she was struck by how young they seemed.

CPSC

The Easy-Bake oven, an iconic toy with a four-decade history, has been recalled for the second time in less than a year, government safety advocates announced on Thursday.

JOHN DAVID EMMETT/DMN

Thousands of children are eligible for CHIP but are not enrolled.

Reforms in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which makes qualifying for coverage and keeping it easier, will give large numbers of North Texas children the opportunity to visit a dentist.