Tips

        Healthy holidays: Kathrine Switzer, program director of Avon Walking and Running, offers these tips for celebrating the holidays without worrying about packing on the pounds:

        • Enjoy the holiday feast — just once or twice. It's consistent overeating that adds pounds. Have low-fat, healthful snacks and meals during the day (instead of all those desserts and leftovers) and have a small snack, like a banana, before heading to a holiday dinner. Then enjoy a bite or two of everything.

        • Start the day right. Eat a healthful breakfast, such as a bowl of oatmeal or high-fiber cereal. Dietary fiber helps flush fat and cholesterol out of the body, and it's filling, so you won't be starved by lunchtime.

        • Cook and eat smart. Choose lower-fat alternatives for recipes and meals. Try olive oil and canola oil, light margarine instead of butter, and low-fat cheeses and spreads.

        • Exercise. Thirty minutes or more of exercise can help you sweat off that second piece of pumpkin pie.

        • Remember the buddy system. Make a standing date with a friend for daily exercise.

        • Lift your spirits. Exercise improves your mood and eases stress, so head out for a long walk when the mall gets to be too much.

        • Enjoy yourself. Take time to feel good, not guilty, during the holidays.

Just in

        Limber: A Tai Chi exercise program may help ease pain and stiffness for people with osteoarthritis, a new study says.

        The study examined the changes in pain, balance, muscle strength and physical functioning in older osteoarthritis patients after they completed a 12-week Tai Chi program.

        The Tai Chi students showed significant improvement in physical function, abdominal muscle strength and balance, but no significant differences in flexibility, upper muscle strength or knee muscle strength.

        Osteoarthritis is the deterioration of cartilage that cushions bones in the joints. It is usually associated with middle-aged and older adults.

        The study, conducted at Soonchunyang University in Asan City, South Korea, was presented Nov. 10 at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.

Siting

        Double-click: Check out www.betterbodz.com, which is loaded with free advice on getting buff. The site includes a store, library and a part-by-part animated exercise guide showing visitors proper form for firming up abs and other areas.

Resource

        Smart snacks: The American Heart Association is offering a

        free brochure, “Nutritious Nibbles,” with suggestions and recipes for low-fat, healthful holiday snacks for youngsters. To order, call (800) 242-8721, or log on to www.americanheart.org.

        Contact Peggy O'Farrell by phone: 768-8510; fax, 768-8330; e-mail, pofarrell@enquirer.com.

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