Health

It's sophomore year, and suddenly you're finding that your jeans don't fit like they used to? You're not alone. Although so-called "freshman 15" is an exaggeration, most students gain weight in college. Stress, a less-active life style, and those buffet-style cafeterias lead many students to pack on pounds. A Rutgers University study showed that if students keep up their freshman weight gain, they would gain 27 pounds by graduation.

Californians who get their individual health insurance from Anthem Blue Cross, the largest insurer for individuals who don't have access to group health insurance in California, got notice of increases in their premiums of as much as 39% on March 1. This is the second year in a row for many who faced an increase of 41% last year.

Anthem Blue Cross would not comment on the number of members it currently has, but last year when it raised its rates as much as 68% it reported it had 800,000 members. With those types of increases, one might speculate that Anthem Blue Cross wants to get out of the individual health insurance marketplace.

Lovers, you've got a little more than one week until the hottest day of the year. No, we're not talking about summer solstice or the dog days of summer.

Feb. 14, Valentine's Day, the day devoted to red-hot romance, love and hearts, is notoriously hot, hot, hot. And whether lovers are toting home heart shaped boxes of chocolate under their arms, ordering in heart shaped pizzas or going out for a romantic dinner, food plays a big role in Valentine's celebrations.

So WalletPop thought we'd give lovers a helping hand this year. With the help of Dr. Melody Hart a practitioner at ChicagoHealers.com, we compiled a shopping list of must-have aphrodisiac foods. And, as an added bonus, most of these foods are pulling double duty, offering numerous health benefits, too.

General Nutrition Centers, or GNC, is hardly known as a haven for budget-minded dieters. This is, after all, the place that will sell you 24 cans of green tea for $53.69 to go along with 60 packets of low-carb fudge for $155.99.

But in my quest to gain weight and build more muscle, I've turned to GNC -- and with the easy combination of a discount card and soon-to-expire clearance items, I've found that shopping at GNC can actually be cheaper than buying junk food at Walmart.

Here's how it works: For $15 per year, you can get a GNC Gold Card, which entitles you to 20% off almost anything (including almost all sale/clearance items) for the first seven days of every month. On top of that, GNC offers deep discounts on soon-to-expire bars, shakes, and other nutritional products. If you buy stuff two months before it expires, you can save a fortune.

Friday night on ABC's Shark Tank, we were introduced to a product that could, as infomercial godfather Kevin Harrington put it, make "$100 million on TV." It was LipStix ReMix, an ingenious lipstick recycler.

Although the pitch ended in a fantastic six-figure deal, its inventor made a simple negotiating mistake that could end up costing her an untold fortune. Jason Cochran found out what it was in WalletPop's exclusive AfterShark interview. (Make sure you stay tuned for the end of the interview, when Quillin offers an exclusive two-for-one deal exclusively for WalletPop readers.)

You'd likely complain if you were served cold coffee at a drive-through. But in 1994 Stella Liebeck sued McDonald's because she suffered burns when she spilled her hot joe on her lap while pulling out of the fast food giant's parking lot, prompting the application of stickers reminding customers that the hot coffee they're ordering will indeed be served hot.

But coffee isn't the oddest -- or most menacing -- defendant in lawsuits of late. American courts are over-crowded with plaintiffs looking for restitution as a result of a bevy of unusual circumstances. So inquiring minds asked "What were some of the most outrageous or scary lawsuits of 2009?"

It's easy to get sucked into buying a product based on what its label says -- after all, that's what the label's designed to do. And some of those label claims are regulated by the U.S. or monitored by the industry, and they actually mean something.

Others, though, have almost no meaning -- they're simply a marketplace come-on, and empty claims like "Made with Natural Goodness," "Kid Approved" and "Doctor Recommended" have become as common as those with legal definitions. Today, even regulated terms like "Healthy" and "Contains Antioxidants" have become muddied.

There's no better time to take a moment for yourself than in winter. And one of the easiest, most affordable ways to do that is with an all-natural at-home facial.

First and foremost, lock up the kids and your partner-in-life. Send them off to a museum or some activity that buys you a couple hours. Remember: recharging benefits not only you but those around you, since it renews your energy and frees your mind. And your skin will glow with a big fat thank you of satisfaction!

When you think about whether or not you want the insurance companies or the government making decisions about the health care you receive, you probably quickly answer neither. But unfortunately, that's not an option unless you can afford to pay for all your health choices out of pocket without carrying a health care insurance policy.

Since we're looking at what could be the demise of the national health care package now being held up in Congress, we'll likely continue to be solely under the control of the insurance companies. Knowing that they're going to be in control, insurance companies are flexing their muscles and making it harder for you to get the care you need.

Let's face it: We all do enough battle with the pests in our lives without having to face down the likes of ants, roaches and rodents. But when unwelcome critters decide to make themselves at home in your living space, what's the best plan of attack? We'll find out in today's Savings Experiment.

Sex at least twice per week can reduce heart disease according to a new study at the New England Research Institute in Massachusetts. Researchers tracked the sexual activity of men between 40 and 70 years old who were taking part in a long-term project called the Massachusetts Male Ageing Study, which began back in 1987. In research involving more than 1,000 men, scientists found that sex apparently has a protective effect on the male heart. They did not examine whether women benefit too.

Over a 16-year period, each man was regularly quizzed on how often he had sex and then checked for signs of heart disease. Researchers took into account other risk factors, such as their age, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The results showed men who made love at least twice a week were much less likely to have heart disease than those whose sexual encounters were limited to once a month or less.

As the New Year's Resolution crowd looks to lose weight once again, many people are combining it with another recession-inspired resolution: managing money better.

WalletPOP's Geoff Williams has been chronicling his efforts to lose weight while saving money, and I recently looked at how exercise videos can offer an affordable alternative to the gym for fitness newcomers. Today, The Wall Street Journal reports on (subscription required) a few other possibilities: walking around the mall in groups, participating in free or ultra low-cost yoga classes, and bike paths.

Time Magazine covered the rise of mall-walking way back in 1985, and About.com recommends checking with the information desk at your local mall to find out about mall walking programs. Alternatively, you could just go to the mall and walk around on your own without the structure and motivation of companions there to talk you out of ducking into the Godiva store for refreshments.

You could also go vintage and buy this Suzanne Somers Thighmaster on eBay -- complete with the instructional VHS! Or you could go really vintage -- as in practically antique -- and work out with Jack Lalanne, who has uploaded some of his vintage exercise programs onto his website so you can watch them on your laptop while you work out. He's 95 years old, and he's in better shape than most 20-year-olds. So clearly he knows of what he speaks.

The bottom line is that lack of money is never an excuse for not getting in shape. There are tons of alternatives to gym memberships that cost little or nothing.

Nearly 20 years ago the Apple Newton became the first device to be called a PDA, 14 years ago Nokia provided a newly mobile world with the 9000 Communicator, which was the first phone with PDA functions.

Since then we have quickly become a nation that relies on our phones to help us remember important information, check prices, run background checks on our dates and even do our taxes.

These tasks, while impressive, are but the beginning of the ways in which our mobile phones will help us make decisions.

According to Dr. Andras Pellionisz, a triple PhD holder, the time is near when phones will evolve from a PDA to a PGA -- Personal Genome Assistant capable of helping purchase the right vitamins and foods to delay or prevent proclivities to diseases such as macular degeneration or diabetes that are revealed by genotyping.

With National Fettuccine Alfredo Day (February 7) just around the corner, is it possible to find a recipe that will befit the occasion while remaining true to our New Year's resolutions ... you remember those? Something about eating healthier and losing weight?

Shirataki noodle evangelists at Miracle Noodle and House Foods believe the answer lies in the refrigerated food case at Whole Foods, health food stores, Asian markets or via online purchase. Shirataki noodles, made from either tofu and yam flour (House Foods) or the konnyaku imo plant (Miracle Noodle), cook almost instantly, are high in fiber and low in fat, calories and carbs. A dieter's dream. If you're counting "points," an entire two-serving package of tofu shirataki noodles from House Foods has zero points. Yes, you read that right.

In many parts of the nation, this has been an exceptionally cold winter. Even here, in what is supposed to be sunny Southern California, the sun seems to have gone the way of Conan's NBC contract. It has been rainy and windy and very cold (by L.A. standards, you understand!).

To help low income families pay their heating bills, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has just released $490 million in emergency funding to states to be used for energy assistance.

The money is in addition to the basic funding (LIHEAP -- or, Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program) that all states get automatically. In fact, the government released $2.6 billion back in October and another $1.2 billion just last week.