In my experience, a lot of grazing happens over the course of Christmas day. You wake up early to open presents and often eat late. This is why it is important to have healthy snacks to nosh on throughout the day. This flame-grilled eggplant dip has a surprisingly festive look. The red of tomato chunks and the green bits of Italian parsley pop against the neutral eggplant background. Mild, yet flavorful, this Mediterranean style dip seems geographically appropriate for the holiday as well.

To see the recipe, read more

Earlier this Fall, I was invited to attend a Women's Media Summit at Nike HQ to learn about their new training shoe for women, the Zoom Sister One+ ($110). After treating all the attendees to a killer workout designed to show off the flexible features of the Sister One (I was sore for days), they sent me home with a pair of shoes to experiment with on my own. I've been wearing them for a few months now for my strength training sessions and when I use the elliptical. I feel I have thoroughly tested this shoe, and I can tell you it is pretty great.

Not only is the Zoom Sister One+ cute, but it so lightweight and flexible that I feel like dancing around after lacing them up. I am no longer plodding through my lunges, but dancing a duet with my dumbbells. The shoes make me feel nimble and ready for action. These shoes are a hybrid of the Nike Free barefoot running technology and the ultra lightweight Nike Flywire that debuted at the Olympics this Summer. The end result is your feet can truly sense the ground. And like we teach in Pilates and yoga, your feet making contact with the floor starts the muscular chain of command, so the chances of the correct muscle pattern happening are considerably higher. This means more effective and efficient training. When you do squats in the Sister One+ you don't have to think about pressing through your heels because in these shoes your weight is already there. The shoe moves in all three planes of motion, so if you are twisting and lunging the shoe moves with you instead of breaking the motion. They feel great for kickboxing when you pivot while throwing a punch with your entire body.

To see what activity the Zoom Sister One+ is not designed for, read more

It's not every day that a celebrity has to give up a project because of dangerously high mercury levels, but Jeremy Piven had to leave his role in Speed-the-Plow, currently playing on Broadway, because he was too sick to continue working. The actor's physician, Dr. Carlon Colker, spoke about Jeremy's condition and stated that the mercury levels in his blood were nearly six times the limit and the highest he's ever seen.

According to Dr. Colker, Jeremy's symptoms began with "extreme fatigue and exhaustion" and progressed to "profound neuromuscular weakness, dizziness and nausea."


To learn what caused his high mercury counts and the scary, accompanying symptoms, read more