(Akiit.com) A peek into the lives of the rich, famous and infamous is intriguing, fun, and maybe just a little voyeuristic. We love living vicariously through celebrities, and are fascinated by every aspect of their lives.

The hair styles, the clothing choices, even the latest guy or gal escorting them on the red carpet. Heck, you may even visualize yourself walking the red carpet with your favorite star crush!

So what’s the draw? It’s that flawless physical appearance that exudes a seemingly perfect picture of health.

From Halle Berry’s post baby body, to those oh so scrumptious biceps of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, how do they pull it off? Aside from the additional paid help, what do they have that we don’t? Honestly, there is no magic spotlight that takes you from flab to fab.

According to published reports, celebrities work their posteriors to firmness the old fashioned way, through diet and exercise. Their careers and livelihood depend, in large part, on their looks.

Okay, so they can afford trainers and nutritionists to educate and guide them on how to diet and exercise. They get paid twenty gazillion dollars for their talents. Can you blame them for haulin’ it to the gym? But, did you know that you have access to the same health information that they receive?

Enter Healthy You! The time has come to turn the camera lens and make you the focus. Stop dreaming about the perfect you, and start working to make it a reality. Healthy You! can help. This column does the health research, talks with industry experts and then passes the information along to you, so that you can gradually incorporate healthy habits into your lifestyle. Learn how to make subtle changes in your life that will garner results to help you look and feel your healthy best.
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(Akiit.com) I lay in bed floating on an antihistamine high. I felt a presence at the side of my bed so I opened my eyes and stared into the face of innocence. Barely able to see into the bed my four-year-old son stood on his toes watching me. “Daddy, are you okay?” he was concerned.

“Daddy is just a bit under the weather today.”

‘Can I give you hug?”

Let me tell you, nothing satisfies like those little skinny arms around my neck. I felt better immediately. He ran downstairs to announce to his mother that he had given daddy a feel better hug.

Ahh Childhood. A time when puddles are for stomping in, running is just so we can feel the wind in our face and a hug and a kiss will cure most anything that ails you; A time that disappears all too quickly. Age often brings more than just wisdom it brings cynicism as well. Perhaps we suffer too much heartbreak. Maybe its just that we no longer have boundless reserves of energy, but as we get older what was possible becomes impossible or not worth the effort. We avoid puddles lest we dirty our shoes, run only so we can lose weight and for my money we don’t hug or kiss nearly enough.
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(Akiit.com) NEW YORK, NY - Nearly 60 percent of African-American children cannot swim, almost twice the figure for white children, according to a first-of-its-kind survey which USA Swimming hopes will strengthen its efforts to lower minority drowning rates and draw more blacks into the sport.

Stark statistics underlie the initiative by the national governing body for swimming. Black children drown at a rate almost three times the overall rate. And less than 2 percent of USA Swimming’s nearly 252,000 members who swim competitively year-round are black.

USA Swimming is teaming with an array of partners — local governments, corporations, youth and ethnic organizations — to expand learn-to-swim programs across the United States, many of them targeted at inner-city minorities. One of the key participants is black freestyle star Cullen Jones, who hopes to boost his role-model status by winning a medal this summer at the Beijing Olympics.

USA Swimming’s motives are twofold, executive director Chuck Wielgus said.

“It’s just the right thing to do — making an effort so every kid can be water-safe,” he said. “And quite frankly it’s about performance. We’re something of a niche sport and for us to remain relevant, considering the changing demographics of the population, it’s important we get more kids involved at the mouth of the pipeline.”

Study surveyed nearly 1,800 children

As part of the initiative, USA Swimming commissioned an ambitious study recently completed by five experts at the University of Memphis’ Department of Health and Sports Sciences. They surveyed 1,772 children aged 6 to 16 in six cities — two-thirds of them black or Hispanic — to gauge what factors contributed most to the minority swimming gap.

The study found that 31 percent of the white respondents could not swim safely, compared to 58 percent of the blacks. The non-swimming rate for Hispanic children was almost as high — 56 percent — although more than twice as many Hispanics as blacks are now USA Swimming members.
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(Akiit.com) Are you the guy or gal that has to stop at Starbucks every morning to get that liquid rush? Would you just have the most terrible day if you were running late for work and had to skip it? If you are, than you make up an estimated 90% of Americans that need that fix everyday!

Despite recent controversy about alleged benefits of drinking coffee, you may want to reconsider your position upon considering some not-so pleasant long term effects.

Coffee contains nearly 200 chemicals. Many of these chemicals are oil based and therefore put an added stress on liver function. One chemical, caffeine has several different ill-effects on the body. Here are 4 reasons to kick your coffee habit:

REASON #1: In large amounts, caffeine can interfere with normal sleep patterns as well as become difficult for liver metabolism.

REASON #2: Caffeine in coffee consumed during mealtime, fools the stomach’s ability to secrete the needed amount of Hydrochloric Acid. This reduced Hydrochloric Acid often times contributes to an Acid Reflux response.

REASON #3: Caffeine stimulates adrenaline, the “fight of flight hormone”; however once it wears off, you face fatigue and even mild depression. So then you have to take more and more to get the adrenaline going again. That’s the typical addiction that you want to stop!

REASON #4: Although some studies have shown coffee may reduce your risk of developing breast cancer; coffee drinkers are also more likely to increase their risk of stomach cancer and leukemia.

These are just a few of the known effects that coffee can have on the body, but understand that coffee, with its hundreds of chemicals, affects each person differently and it is still a drug - even if legal!
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(Akiit.com) Chicago, Illinois - Time to shape up if you want to collect Social Security…

I recently looked at my “Social Security Statement” and realized that I’m one of the hardworking boomers who may never see a dime of this nest egg.

After being in the work force full-time for 43 years, and paying into Social Security all those years, I’m beginning to have visions of going someplace where it doesn’t snow on the first day of spring.

But my escape may be short-lived.

No excuse

That’s because I have to be 66 years old to retire. I’m not rushing to check out of here, but you never know.

Last week, one of my earliest childhood friends died unexpectedly after a brief illness. In fact, the last time I saw her was about three weeks ago, when I drove to San Antonio after covering a political event in Austin.

Her name was Sirretha Fondren, and we were probably the same age. After serving in the military, Sirretha and her son, Tony, relocated to San Antonio.

When I saw her, I marveled at how well she had aged. There wasn’t a wrinkle on her face or a gray hair on her head. She was thin as a rail and still carried herself like the diva I remembered.

On Wednesday, I got the sad news that Sirretha had passed away after a bout with the flu turned fatal.

Her death was another reminder that — as hectic as things can get — it is a bad idea to put off the annual checkup.

Although the picture of good health, my friend obviously had some health issues that were probably not addressed.
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