Check out this story in London's Telegraph, there is a campaign to get Santa into shape. Do you think a fat Santa sets a bad example for kids? That's why the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, UK is demanding that its Santas get in shape.  After the original story broke, a new campaign started to keep Santa plump, fat, and jolly.  First I thought all these people have too much time on their hands, but come to think about it, they just might have a point, but Santa has always been plump, and 50 years ago there wasn't a childhood obesity problem.

Children play harder and longer when their child care centers provide portable play equipment (like balls, hoola hoops, jump ropes and riding toys), more opportunities for active play and physical activity training and education for staff and students, according to a study published in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health examined environmental factors that encourage children to be active with greater intensity and for longer periods of time. Increased activity levels help children maintain a healthy weight, the researchers say, which is critical as obesity rates climb nationwide, especially among children.

Soma Beverage recalls Metromint flavor water in 16.9 fluid ounce bottles. All flavors of Metromint with Best Before 2008/12/21 and produced at its California facility are affected by this recall, this includes peppermint, spearmint, orangemint, and lemonmint.

Soma Beverage of San Francisco, California is recalling all bottles of Metromint flavors Peppermint, Spearmint, Orangemint, and Lemonmint with Best Before 2008/12/21 and produced at its California facility because they may be contaminated with Bacillus cereus.

The products were distributed nationwide to grocery stores and sold on the Internet.

People are generally optimistic, believing they’ll do better in the future than they’ve done in the past. This time around, I’ll actually use that gym membership. I’m sticking to the diet this time. Now is the time to start saving for a down payment on a house. However, a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research reveals that this “optimism bias” can lead us to make immediate choices that go against our long-term goals.

Ying Zhang, Ayelet Fishbach (both of the University of Chicago), and Ravi Dhar (Yale University) identify how different mindsets work in conjunction with an optimistic attitude. They found that when people think about the goal in terms of progress, they are more likely to make a detrimental decision – such as eating an unhealthy snack. However, when people focus on commitment to a goal, they are more likely to choose an action consistent with its attainment.