HEALTH & FITNESS FOR A BETTER LIFE

Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's -- these are supposed to be times of celebration, togetherness, and happiness. Yet, they can bring challenges to our physical and emotional health. Here are eight tips for staying healthy and happy during this season of joy.

If there's an excuse out there, I've heard it. Here's a few that I hear all of the time:

1. I don't have time.
2. I can't afford to eat healthy or go to the gym.
3. It is too hard.
4. It is uncomfortable.
5. I love to eat.
6. I don't know what to do or where to start.
7. I don't have the willpower.
8. I don't have support from friends or family.
9. I have a medical condition (thyroid, disabled, food intolerance, and many more).
10. I have an injury to my (select all that apply) neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, back, hips, knee, ankle, and/or baby toe.

There are a lot more, but you get the point. I'm here to tell you that not one, NOT ONE of these excuses has any power to stop your transformation.

Mornings rub you the wrong way. You wake up sluggish and groggy and have to chug a pot of coffee before you can function. Good news, though: You don’t have to be a natural early bird to boost your morning energy levels. “How you feel when you get up is affected by much of what you do the day before and when you first get up,” says Michael Finkelstein, M.D., director of SunRaven, a holistic healing and living center in Bedford, N.Y. Here are 13 simple ways to boost your a.m. energy.

Apparently, more and more teen girls are popping pills -- birth control pills, that is.

A Thomson Reuters study released this past March reported that 18 percent of girls ages 13 to 18 were on some form of oral contraceptive in 2009. These figures represent a 50 percent increase in birth control prescriptions since 2002 -- a mere seven years earlier.

Potato chips and French fries -- and generally any potato products -- contribute to the biggest weight gain over time, according to a new Harvard study, which researchers say is the first to look at long-term weight gain pegged to specific foods.