Heat players and young kids turn to yoga

LeBron James

When the Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach was searching for more programs to offer patrons, it found articles written about yoga benefits to athletic teams.

Specifically, the Miami Heat basketball team now in the playoffs.

The Heat were NBA champions in 2006 and 2012. At least two of its stars, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, practice yoga in the off-season.

Dwyane Wade

Practicing yoga at Four Arts in Palm Beach

The babbling fountain in the Four Arts garden can be heard
 inside the Pannill Pavilion where the yoga classes are held.

Every time I drive over to Palm Beach, my mind automatically relaxes.

A friend introduced me to The Society of the Four Arts Friday night movies that cost only $5, a real steal to see artsy movies these days.

And when I found out that the Four Arts also offers yoga three mornings a week until May 31, I knew I would be going.

Trying not to snack in Lake Worth

Cheese-flavored puffs used to be my guilty pleasure.

This past year, I've become increasingly aware of how addictive snack foods can be.

Investigative journalist Michael Moss just finished a whole book on how food manufacturers and their scientists conspired to create salty, fatty and sugary foods that target the pleasure centers in our brains, similar to what cocaine does.

His Salt Fat Sugar book makes a compelling case for the food industry's role in our current obesity epidemic -- similar to what the tobacco industry did to hook people on smoking cigarettes. When food manufacturers dialed back one ingredient, reduced the fat as an example, they amped up the other two: sugar and salt.

Exploring Dyer Park near West Palm Beach

Sunday morning provided a brief respite to the sweltering weather of the past few days, making me think it was a perfect day to explore Dyer Park.

Built on a former landfill, west of West Palm Beach, the 560.4-acre park is one of the few places in the county with hills -- other than the bridges that connect the mainland with the barrier islands.

'Waist Watchers' packs theater in Manalapan

"Waist Watchers" cast: Katie Angell Thomas
(in blue), Missy McArdle,  Shelley Keelor,
and Jeanne Bennett (provided)

Even in the 21st Century, most women still wrestle with their body image.

South Florida styles magnify the insecurity because they reveal more of the body shape than in colder climes where sweaters and coats can hide extra pounds.

And then there are slender women here who believe they are too fat as they obsess about how much they eat.

It's no surprise, then, that "Waist Watchers The Musical!" resonates with audiences at the Plaza Theatre in Manalapan. The show is held over until May 12.

Another Strava user in Lake Park, Internet crisis created and solved by AT&T

Zach Wolz at the Tropical Triathlon in Lake Worth (provided)

I am fascinated by the geekiness of cyclists and how data-obsessed the serious ones can be.

Enter Strava, a fitness app that is changing how cyclists ride. It allows cyclists to track their rides and compare their segments with earlier rides or against other cyclists.

"I heard about it through some friends who were using it, and saw some ads for it on TV," says Zach Wolz of the OYM Performance Bicycle Shop in Lake Park.

Ready for National Walking Day in Palm Beach County?

A walking family (Photo provided)

What are you doing this Wednesday to improve your fitness level?

The first Wednesday in April is National Walking Day, designated by the American Heart Association to encourage people to walk more.

The Heart Association touts these grim statistics of our inactive lifestyle:

*65 percent of adults are overweight or obese,

*sedentary jobs are increasing while physically active jobs are decreasing and now make up only 25 percent of our jobs,

*and our average work week is lengthening to approximately 47 hours per week.