Lively Women has joined in with the other Science & Health channel bloggers for our monthly theme day round-up. You can read all about the topic of SUMMER from different angles over at Grace’s blog, Flu Patrol.
Thanks, Grace. Happy reading!

I need to be honest here and update you on my diet. I’ve let it go the past few days! The first week of school here has sent me into a spiral of stress-related eating. At least I know what’s causing it, and I know where I need to go to get back on track.
My weight is staying steady, at 10.5 pounds lost since starting the diet three weeks ago. At least I haven’t gained back anything, but my loss is at a plateau. I’ve had more snacks in the house because I’m packing lunches for the kids. So guess …read more

It’s not fair that I blogged about how eating dark chocolate is good for you — yet if you’re trying to lose weight, you can’t eat it. (Unless you have amazing self-control, which I don’t have.)
So here’s a delicious alternative. When you’re craving a 3 pm pick-me-up, these Atkins chocolate chip granola bars are yummy. Being the geeky label reader that I’ve become, I’ll go ahead and tell you they’re 220 calories, with 6g fiber, 17g protein, and only 1g sugar.
The way I translate this: the calories are worth it because the fiber will help you feel full, the …read more