Sixteen-year-old Lara, winner of beauty pageants and Homecoming Queen, is distressed and bewildered when she starts gaining weight and becomes a fat girl.

The ultimate cheat sheet that sets out a workable and flexible plan for successful weight loss to fit every lifestyle and diet choice. In this “worst-case diet survival handbook”, nutritionist and founder of Foodtrainers™, Lauren Slayton offers strategies and tips to avoid the most disastrous diet booby traps. Along with her no-nonsense nutrition and exercise advice, readers will discover that the missing component of most weight-loss schemes is planning. Planning to succeed and planning for the obstacles on the way to slim are as vital as what and when to eat and how to incorporate fat-burning activity into your day. All too many dieters give up when they hit a few road bumps created by work, family, socializing, travel, fatigue or indifference. Slayton comes to the rescue with: • The Big 10 “Do-Not-Pass-Go” Basics, from high protein breakfast to “closing the kitchen” after dinner! • Top Ten Things to Avoid to Get Healthy and Slim Down Fast • The 4 P’s -- Plan, Purchase, Prep and Promise -- to get and stay on track • The 4-Step Treat Training Strategy to survive the “Witching Hour” Dozens of smart, simple ways to cope with the big obstacles to slim: family, restaurants, travel, entertaining, alcohol and more. Slayton provides the know-how and the what-to-do-when-things-go-south to help readers keep on track, no matter what diet they follow.

Originally published: Maggie Valley, N.C.: Living Life Publications, 2008.

Overweight teenager Catherine embarks on a high school science project in which she must emulate the ways of hominins, the earliest ancestors of human beings, by eating an all-natural diet and foregoing technology.

Why didn't the ancient Greeks or Romans wear pants? How did they shave? How likely were they to drink fine wine, use birth control, or survive surgery? In a series of short and humorous essays, Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants explores some of the questions about the Greeks and Romans that ancient historian Garrett Ryan has answered in the classroom and online. Unlike most books on the classical world, the focus is not on famous figures or events, but on the fascinating details of daily life. Learn the answers to: How tall were the ancient Greeks and Romans? How long did they live? What kind of pets did they have? How dangerous were their cities? Did they believe their myths? Did they believe in ghosts, monsters, and/or aliens? Did they jog or lift weights? How did they capture animals for the Colosseum? Were there secret police, spies, or assassins? What happened to the city of Rome after the Empire collapsed? Can any families trace their ancestry back to the Greeks or Romans?