One of the simpler ways to curtail the obesity epidemic could be to cut the volume of sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks Americans are increasingly consuming, authors of new study say. The study, conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, showed that energy intake from such drinks in the United States increased 135 percent between about 1977 and 2001. Over the same span, energy intake from milk -- a far more nutritious beverage -- dropped 38 percent.

Dalia Isicoff knows pain. A lifelong sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis, she has had seven hip replacement surgeries. Since leaving the hospital in February following her latest operation, however, she hasn't taken any painkillers. Not because the pain isn't there — it is. But Isicoff, 52, said she has learned to accept the pain, the disease, and herself, thanks to meditation.