These drinks:

1. Contain useless sugar calories (no nutrition)

2. Rot your teeth

3. Cause weight gain

4. Aggravates Diabetes or pre-diabetes

5. Cause blood pressure issues (energy drinks especially)

6. Cause energy sag after wearing off leading to more food or more energy drink or soda consumption

7. Cost $250 per person per year and provide no food value

Additionally diet sodas are no better than regular sodas and have been shown to cause weight gain.

For more information about soda and energy drinks, please think about reading or purchasing my book "Diet Myths Busted; Food Facts Not Nutrition Fiction." I devote an entire chapter to the subject.

It’s a little difficult to answer without knowing a little more about you but here’s what I would say based on a few assumptions about a 37 year old mother of 3:

1. I am assuming you want to lose some weight – perhaps 10 or 20 pounds
2. I am assuming you want to be more physically fit (stronger, more shapely, leaner, tighter)
3. I am assuming you are not on any particular kind of diet

Step 1 - you need to start at the beginning. Exercise is a learned skill. Unless you’re a fitness professional you don’t have that skill. You will need to enlist the services of a Personal Trainer. It’s possibly the best investment you will ever make.

Step 2 – go slow. It took a while to get this way; it will take a while to undo it. You probably haven’t done much exercise in a long time. Don’t go for broke. Try for 3 days a week, 1 hour a day, moderate intensity for a few months. On 1 day do an hour of cardio exercise. On 2 other days do some kind of strength exercises for an hour each day. Your personal trainer can assess specifically what you need and get you on the right program. If you can’t get to a gym or can’t afford one, get some workout DVD’s (for example Jillian Michaels has some really good ones) and start working with those. Ramp up to 5 days a week, 2 days cardio and 3 days of strength exercises for one hour gradually increasing weight & intensity.

Step 3 – Clean up your diet.  This is where most of us go wrong. Diet is a HUGE contributor to fitness, much more so than exercise. I repeat: diet is a huge contributor to fitness, much more so than exercise.  This is too big of a topic for one question but I would encourage you to read more on my website (www.dietfitnessdiva.com) or check into my book on this subject (Diet Myths Busted: Food Facts not Nutrition Fiction). A few general guidelines are:

1. Learn to read labels on food
2. Cut down on sugars of all kinds especially sugary drinks of all kinds (pop, juice)
3. Cut down and eventually stop eating processed foods
4. Beware of snacking – most of us eat many more calories than we realize
5. Start a food journal – again, most of us eat many more calories than we realize
6. You CANNOT out train a bad diet
7. Allow at least 2 months to start noticing changes

Thanks for writing and write back in two months to let me know how it’s going.

I am so glad you asked that question! Holiday foods are a real treat for many of us so if you overdo it just a bit don't worry about it. Worrying will just make you eat more! To avoid making a habit of overindulging, remember what the holidays are really about. Reconnecting with family and friends is the important thing, not eating as much as we can. When visiting with friends and family, socialize first and when presented with a buffet, go through without a plate and make mental food choices first. Pick foods that you don't get very often over foods that you can have anytime. For example, we can have sugar cookies anytime but not homemade rumcake!  When having a full meal, remember to take small portions and eat slowly. Wait a few minutes until you go and grab seconds! That way you will feel full sooner without overeating. Have a glass of water with your meals and be careful of alcoholic beverages because they contain a lot of calories and go down easily. Plus they tend to make you more hungry. Lastly, enjoy the holidays! If you indulge here and there a little and resume normal, sensible eating habits later, you will be just fine.

Thanks,

Dr Nancy O'Reilly, Psy. D.

I really enjoyed talking to Dr Nancy

Make sure and check out Dr Nancy's website:

http://www.womenspeak.com/

the disk erodes or moves out of its proper alignment, the joint's cartilage is damaged by arthritis, the joint is damaged by a blow or other impact, the muscles that stabilize the joint become fatigued from overwork, which can happen if you habitually clench or grind your teeth. The only connection between your workouts and your TMJ that I can see is clenching and/or grinding your teeth as you workout. Also working out twice a day is a bit excessive and does not allow for your body to recover. This puts undue stress on the body and one way people deal with stress is to grind their teeth and clench their jaw. Since you already have had operations, you are seeing a specialist for the condition.  I would suggest hiring a personal trainer to review your workout schedule and goals and see if making some changes in that area will alleviate any stress and help you avoid more operations.

Skechers to pay $40M to settle government charges over claim that fitness shoes toned muscles.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government wants you to know that simply sporting a pair of Skechers' fitness shoes is not going to get you Kim Kardashian's curves or Brooke Burke's toned tush.

Skechers USA Inc. will pay $40 million to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that the footwear company made unfounded claims that its Shape-ups shoes would help people lose weight and strengthen their butt, leg and stomach muscles. Kardashian, Burke and other celebrities endorsed the shoes in Skechers ads.

Wednesday's settlement also involves the company's Resistance Runner, Toners, and Tone-ups shoes. Skechers made deceptive claims about those shoes, too, says the agency.

Consumers who bought the shoes will be eligible for refunds, though it's not clear how much money people will get. The FTC says that will depend on how many claims are received in the eight-month filing period. Most of the $40 million will be returned to consumers, the commission said. A small amount of the money will be used to administer the payouts.

"The FTC's message, for Skechers and other national advertisers, is to shape up your substantiation or tone down your claims," said David Vladeck, director of the agency's consumer protection bureau. For millions of consumers, he said, "the only thing that got a workout was their wallet."

The commission settled similar charges with Reebok last year over its EasyTone walking shoes and RunTone running shoes. That $25 million agreement also provided customer refunds.

Skechers billed its Shape-ups as a fitness tool designed to promote weight loss and tone muscles with the shoe's curved "rocker" or rolling bottom — saying it provides natural instability and causes the consumer to "use more energy with every step." Shape-ups cost about $100 and are sold at retailers nationwide.

Ads for the Resistance Runner shoes claimed people who wear them could increase "muscle activation" by up to 85 percent for posture-related muscles and 71 percent for one of the muscles in the buttocks, said the FTC.

The commission says Skechers falsely represented that clinical studies backed up the company's claims about its toning shoes. The settlement bars Skechers from misrepresenting any tests, studies or research on its shoes in the future.

In Wednesday's court filing, Skechers says it disputes the charges and is pursuing additional studies. A call to Skechers seeking additional comment was not immediately returned.

The settlement is part of a broader agreement also announced Wednesday — a settlement resolving a multi-state investigation led by the attorneys general from Tennessee and Ohio and involving more than 40 states. The company, based in Manhattan Beach, Calif., will provide $40 million for customer refunds in the federal case and $5 million to the states.