Free Republic

LANSING, Mich. - Get ready to say goodbye to the days of high-fat meals, junk-food snacks and that after-work cigarette you always enjoy smoking - at least if you intend to have a job and health insurance. The rules of the workplace are changing, and personal behavior and lifestyle habits - those unrelated to what you do at work - are now fair game for employers determined to cut health-care costs. If you smoke, you might not get hired or you could get fired. If your cholesterol is too high, you can pay higher premiums for your insurance. The same...

At an addiction treatment center in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, teenagers and young adults begin detox by admitting they are powerless over their addiction. But these addicts aren't hooked on drugs or alcohol. They are going cold turkey to break their dependence on video games. Keith Bakker, director of Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants, tells WebMD he created the new program in response to a growing problem among young men and boys. "The more we looked at it, the more we saw [gaming] was taking over the lives of kids." Detox for video game addiction may sound like a stretch,...

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey's health department is escalating the battle against the bulge by starting a new Office of Nutrition and Fitness to better coordinate programs aimed at preventing obesity. The agency is particularly needed in New Jersey — possibly the first state to create such a government body. The Garden State has the highest percentage of overweight and obese children under age 5, at 17.7 percent, according to a 2004 survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Jersey also has many black and Latino youth, who are more likely to be overweight than white...