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The Beat of fitness
The heart Rate Monitor at the gym is nice in theory. While using the treadmill or elliptical machine, simply place your hand on the sensors and wait for the result.
But a more accurate reading might come from a wearable monitor. The MIO is a heart rate monitor that looks like a wristwatch and functions like a computer. The monitor also tracks speed and distance so runners can pace a workout and even time intervals.
Cyclist can mount the monitor on a bicycle and record tme and distance traveled.
Like most workout gadgets the MIO    has small buttons. You might want to spend time with the manual and have a trial run before the workout.
Available at

Product Highlights

    * Take your on-demand heart rate anytime, anywhere � Superior MIO technology gives ECG accurate readings WITHOUT a chest strap
    * Set calorie targets, count calorie intake, track calorie burn easily � MIO's patented calorie management tool is worn right on your wrist. MIO is a strapless heart rate monitor watch and a calorie counter.
    * Get up to running speed fast � Step-up your routine with MIO's dual interval Walk/Run program. Proven to get you in better shape in less time

Product Description
Burn calories, lose weight, right? Not necessarily. Workout too hard and you'll tire quickly. Not hard enough and you'll burn too few calories. Measuring your heart rate is the only way to ensure you stay in the optimum calorie burning zone.

Think of MIO Shape Elite as a speedometer for your body, monitoring your heart rate and calorie burn for maximum effect. And MIO's patented strapless heart rate monitors makes it easy to burn fat without fuss, get fit and get on with life!

STEVIA: the herb that is sweeter than sugar and the lastest trend for diabetic sweetners.

MARLA MILNE swore off sugar 10 years . ago, but She still indulges her sweet tooth with�out regret.
She does it without using saccharin, aspartame or any of those pink, yellow and blue packets of artifidal sweeteners. Chemically engineered sugar substitutes aren't her thing.
Instead, Milne of Colorado Springs, Colo., reaches for a plant-based substance called stevia, which is said to be 300 times sweeter than table sugar and has got�ten a reputation as the sweetener of choice for people with diabetes and those on low-carb diets ..
Sara Smelling , owner of Gentle Strength Well�ness & Herb Shop in Albaqurque, and her husband are such stevia fans that they won't leave home without a stash. She carries a small vial of the liquid form in her purse.
"I use it to sweeten my water," she says. "In the summer, putting one or two drops in my water bottle helps me drink more water due to the great flavor. My husband takes abaggie full Ofme$Illall packets ever) where he.goes to sweeten anything he drinks that needs it."
So whereare all the ads proclaiming the wonders ofstevia? Wbere are all the packaged sugar-free products, puddings, ice cream, cereals, hot chocolate packets boldly announcing the switch to stevia?
Turns out,this food product is not considered a food at all ,at least not by the U.S. government. Instead, it's categorized as a dietary supplement. Despite glow�ing consumer reviews for stevia, it has yet to win ap�proval from the FDA, although it's been used for years as an ingredient in SouthAmerica, Japan, South Ko�rea, Taiwan, China and Malaysia without any reports of adverse health effects
�tevia is "an all-natural", calorie-free sweetener that is suitable for diabetics, safe for children, and does not cause cavities," according to Ray Sahelian and Donna Gates auuthors of "The Stevia Cookbook" (Avery, 2004).
Rediscovered in Japan

While nothing came of this early show of interest in the United States, an event occurred in France in 1931 that would later prove significant. There, two chemists isolated the most prevalent of several compounds that give the stevia leaf its sweet taste, a pure white crystalline extract they named stevioside. One U.S. government researcher, Dr. Hewitt G. Fletcher, described this extract as "the sweetest natural product yet found," though adding, "It is natural to ask, 'of what use is stevioside?' The answer at this point is 'none.'"

Within the next couple of decades, however, the enterprising Japanese had discovered just how useful stevioside really was. The Japanese either banned or strictly regulated artificial sweeteners during the 1960s, consistent with a popular movement away from allowing chemicals in the food supply. They soon discovered the ideal replacement for both sugar and its synthetic substitutes: refined stevia extracts.
Originally introduced to Japan in 1970 by a consortium of food-product manufacturers, stevioside and other stevia products quickly caught on. By 1988, they reportedly represented approximately 41% of the market share of potently sweet substances consumed in Japan. In addition to widespread use as a tabletop sweetener, like the packets of saccharin ("Sweet-n-Low") and aspartame ("Equal") commonly found in the United States, stevia was also used by the Japanese to sweeten a variety of food products, including ice cream, bread, candies, pickles, seafood, vegetables, and soft drinks.

In addition to demonstrating stevia's nearly instant popularity in locales far removed from its native habitat, Japan's experience proved several other significant facts about this phenomenal plant: its adaptability and its safety. Adaptability was proven through the discovery that the plant could be grown throughout most of this temperate island nation, albeit under special hothouse conditions. Studies were even initiated to evaluate the substitution of stevia for rice under cultivation in some areas. Stevia's safety was proven through extensive scientific testing.

The spread of the stevia phenomenon was not limited to Japan. Today it is also grown and used in approximately 10 other countries outside South America, including China, Germany, Malaysia, Israel and South Korea. Stevia might by now be entrenched in the United States as well, had it not been for a concerted effort to block its very entry.
But because the FDA hasn't OK'd it, several watch�dog organizations, including the American Dietetic As�sociation, are reluctant to endorse it.
"The FDA has not received sufficient scientific ev�idence to assure that this substance can be safely used as. a food additive," the ADA says in a posi�tion paper on sweeteners. "Stevia can be sold as a 'dietary supplement' and may be available in packets that resemble tabletop sweet�eners.
"Consumers should be in�formed that Stevia is not ap�proved as a non-nutritive sweetener."
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a pit bull among consumer organiza�tions, is equally cautious.
"The U.S. FDA has rejected stevia for use as a food addi�tive. In sum, small amounts of stevia " are probably safe," but it is inappropri�ate to endorse wide use of this sweetener," says Jeff Cronin, the organization's director of communications.

Economlst says pnvate sector and �government can promote healthy living

Health economist Eric Finkelstein weighed in on the issue Thursday at an obesity prevention conference in downtown Charlotte. The event, sponsored by nonprofit organization Eat Smart, Move More, North Car�olina, drew about 350 people from communities, agencies and organi�zations around the state.
Finkelstein noted that in the United States, although societal norms are more accepting of thin bodies, the economy drives behav�ior that makes people fat.

Cheap high-calorie fast food is prevalent even in rural areas.
"Food prices have never been cheaper, and access has never been easier," Finkelstein said. "Once the cost of an activity goes down, it's easier to do that behavior."
But whereas it's cheaper and easier to eat extra calories, it's be�come harder to burn them off as television and other pastimes com�pete with physical activity.

Eat smart, move more - it seems like a sensible thing to do.
Many people acknowledge that, but do just the opposite. The result? High levels of obesity among both adults and children. The medical costs associated with obesity are es�timated at $90 billion a year.
No wonder policy makers and researchers have been thinking of No wonder policy makers and reasearches have been thinking of the epidemic and its solutions in terms of financial gains and losses.

"It's not that we don't have time, we're just not choosing to use that time for.physical activ�ity," Finkelstein said. "Technology has made our jobs better, faster and easier. "
"The economy is driving us to engineer physical activity out of the workplace," said Finkel�stein, author of "The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What to Do About It" (Wiley, $26.95)
Plus now there are medi�cines that help people stay healthy even when overweight.
Although economic forces drive behavior, health concerns should take precedence over economic ones when address�ing obesity, Finkelstein said.
The private sector can get in on the act by using incentives or other strategies to make it cheaper and easier to be thin, not fat. If the government is go�ing to get involved, they should focus on children rather than adults, Finkelstein recommends.
He and colleague Justin Taylor published a report this week in the American Journal of Public Health,in which they looked at different business models for the reduction of childhood obesity.
They concluded that steps to address the problem shouldn't be based on the potential for short-term financial savings.
Instead, they should look at how effective a program is at , controlling weight and improv�ing quality of life, compared to other uses for the money.
Heading off obesity during childhood in the long run saves billions of dollars of obesity-re�lated costs during adulthood.
Margo Calvas of Fayetteville is do�ing her part to change her life and that of her 4-year-old daughter Christa . She changed her eating habits, and in the process went from 411 pounds to 195 pounds in just under two years.
Her daughter now also re�jects high-calorie foods in favor of more healthful ones.
Tyson says, All right, sounds to me like we should all get body trim.