YORK (Reuters Health) - Obesity rates continue to climb in California schools, but exercise and nutrition programs may be having a positive effect on student health, a new study suggests.

Kids entered fifth grade more obese every year, but they did not gain more weight and their overall fitness improved as they moved to higher grades.

"We accomplished a significant first step and that is to slow obesity," said Dr. William Bommer, a cardiologist at the University of California, Davis, who worked on the study. "But we importantly were not able to reverse it."

The researchers, whose report is published in the American Heart Journal, recorded the fitness gains after California mandated exercise time and healthful eating in public schools across the state in 2005.

While the findings suggest the prevention programs may be helping, they can't prove the programs caused the health improvements.

Obesity is associated with high blood pressure, diabetes and other ailments in children and adults. About 17 percent of children and teens in the United States are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In response to rising obesity trends, California required public schools to provide an average of 20 minutes of physical exercise per day for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade, and 40 minutes for grades six to 12. Schools also had to increase the quality and quantity of health education and could no longer serve high-fat, high-sugar foods and drinks.

Bommer's team tracked data from more than six million students in fifth, seventh and ninth grade from 2003 to 2008, after these measures took effect.

At each grade level, the students took fitness tests which included body mass index (BMI) measurements, endurance runs, push-ups and shoulder stretches. The researchers analyzed those test records for changes in obesity and fitness.

They found some encouraging signs. Though the number of obese kids continued to increase (two percent more children were overweight or obese in 2008 than in 2003), the rate of increase seemed to be slowing.

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Student fitness improves with anti-obesity program

Most workers dream of the day when they swap their business attire for shorts and trade in business meetings for time on the links. Maintaining your desired lifestyle in retirement without a steady paycheck takes discipline and extensive planning, and theres no one-size-fits-all approach.

There is a high correlation between the action people take and seeing results, says Jean Setzfand, vice president forFinancial Security at AARP. She adds that the level of action in financial planning is a good predictor for financial freedom when the golden years roll around.

How someone fares financially after retirement is directly tied to three factors-- their salary level at retirement, how long they work beyond 65 and how much and whether they save in a defined-contribution retirement plan during their working lifetime, says Nevin Adams, director of education and external relations and co-director of EBRI Center for Research on Retirement Income.

Know Where You Spend Money

Whether youre planning for retirement or in retirement, knowing your expenses is important. Not just your fixed expenses, like rent and food, but also your discretionary expenses, like vacations and other payments that dont occur monthly, says Michael Goodman, certified public accountant and president at Wealthstream Advisors.

Many budgets dont change significantly in retirement, especially if they stay in the same home, but, for example, there are adjustments for travel or whether someone eats out more or less. As people age, their budgets will change and some costs will disappear, but these may be replaced by health-care costs, says Ted Sarenski, certified public accountant financial planner and CEO of Blue Ocean Strategic Capital.

With life expectancy for Americans at 78.1 years, according to the World Bank, 50% of the population lives beyond the life expectancy, says Goodman. Taking this into account, you should be conservative with your life expectancy when calculating how much money you will need.

Calculate How Much You Will Need

When calculating how much you will need to cover retirement funds, Goodman suggests using investment earnings and a portion of principal in a retirement account. And while planning for life after work should start in your 20s and 30s, realize that there will be a significant shift in lifestyle.

You should have different sources of income in retirement, says Sarenski. Social Security only replaces 25% to 30% of your preretirement income. If you need $50,000 for retirement annually while receiving $15,000 from Social Security for example, you calculate the amount of savings needed by dividing $35,000 ($50,000 minus $15,000) by a conservative 5% or multiplying $35,000 times 20 years. In this example, you would need $700,000 in savings.

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Financial Literacy Key to Sufficient Retirement Planning

Most retirement planning emphasizes financial considerations. How can I plan for the way I'll live after I leave work? -- David, Miami, Fla.

Many of us get so caught up in the financial aspects of preparing for retirement that we forget the reason we do all that saving, investing and planning in the first place: to have a meaningful and satisfying post-career life.

So "lifestyle" retirement planning is every bit as important as crunching the numbers, even if it doesn't always get the same attention.

If anything, lifestyle and financial retirement planning complement each other. After all, you can't really know how big a nest egg you'll need without having an idea of how you want to live in retirement. And the kind of life you'll be able to lead will depend in large part on how successful you are at accumulating savings.

It's essential to factor lifestyle considerations into your financial planning, especially in the ten years or so leading up to retirement. Here are four ways to do that:

1. Envision your future. As you enter the home stretch to retirement, you'll need to address big questions like whether to continue living in your current area or move to a new city or town like one of the 25 profiled in MONEY's Best Places to Retire.

But you'll want to focus on small-picture issues too, even down to how you'll actually spend the hours of each day once your work routine no longer provides the structure for your day.

One way to sharpen your vision of the future is to rev up a tool like T. Rowe Price's Ready-2-Retire. Among other things, this tool allows you to pick different retirement activities (travel, pursuing creative interests, going back to school, etc.) and then prioritize them based on how important each is to you.

How I'm easing into retirement

For a deeper dive, you may want to attend one of the growing number of pre-retirement seminars that can help you manage the transition from the work-a-day to retirement. For example, the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement in Asheville, N.C., offers two three-day "Paths to Creative Retirement" workshops each year where participants explore options for retirement and figure out which are the best fit with their goals and values.

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Retirement lifestyle

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Most retirement planning emphasizes financial considerations. How can I plan for the way I'll live after I leave work? -- David, Miami, Fla.

Many of us get so caught up in the financial aspects of preparing for retirement that we forget the reason we do all that saving, investing and planning in the first place: to have a meaningful and satisfying post-career life.

So "lifestyle" retirement planning is every bit as important as crunching the numbers, even if it doesn't always get the same attention.

If anything, lifestyle and financial retirement planning complement each other. After all, you can't really know how big a nest egg you'll need without having an idea of how you want to live in retirement. And the kind of life you'll be able to lead will depend in large part on how successful you are at accumulating savings.

It's essential to factor lifestyle considerations into your financial planning, especially in the ten years or so leading up to retirement. Here are four ways to do that:

1. Envision your future. As you enter the home stretch to retirement, you'll need to address big questions like whether to continue living in your current area or move to a new city or town like one of the 25 profiled in MONEY's Best Places to Retire.

But you'll want to focus on small-picture issues too, even down to how you'll actually spend the hours of each day once your work routine no longer provides the structure for your day.

One way to sharpen your vision of the future is to rev up a tool like T. Rowe Price's Ready-2-Retire. Among other things, this tool allows you to pick different retirement activities (travel, pursuing creative interests, going back to school, etc.) and then prioritize them based on how important each is to you.

For a deeper dive, you may want to attend one of the growing number of pre-retirement seminars that can help you manage the transition from the work-a-day to retirement. For example, the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement in Asheville, N.C., offers two three-day "Paths to Creative Retirement" workshops each year where participants explore options for retirement and figure out which are the best fit with their goals and values.

2. Do a test drive. Once you have a sense of what your ideal retirement might be, give it a trial run to see if the fantasy squares with reality.

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Retirement planning: It's not just about the money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Most retirement planning emphasizes financial considerations. How can I plan for the way I'll live after I leave work? -- David, Miami, Fla.

Many of us get so caught up in the financial aspects of preparing for retirement that we forget the reason we do all that saving, investing and planning in the first place: to have a meaningful and satisfying post-career life.

So "lifestyle" retirement planning is every bit as important as crunching the numbers, even if it doesn't always get the same attention.

If anything, lifestyle and financial retirement planning complement each other. After all, you can't really know how big a nest egg you'll need without having an idea of how you want to live in retirement. And the kind of life you'll be able to lead will depend in large part on how successful you are at accumulating savings.

It's essential to factor lifestyle considerations into your financial planning, especially in the ten years or so leading up to retirement. Here are four ways to do that:

1. Envision your future. As you enter the home stretch to retirement, you'll need to address big questions like whether to continue living in your current area or move to a new city or town like one of the 25 profiled in MONEY's Best Places to Retire.

But you'll want to focus on small-picture issues too, even down to how you'll actually spend the hours of each day once your work routine no longer provides the structure for your day.

One way to sharpen your vision of the future is to rev up a tool like T. Rowe Price's Ready-2-Retire. Among other things, this tool allows you to pick different retirement activities (travel, pursuing creative interests, going back to school, etc.) and then prioritize them based on how important each is to you.

For a deeper dive, you may want to attend one of the growing number of pre-retirement seminars that can help you manage the transition from the work-a-day to retirement. For example, the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement in Asheville, N.C., offers two three-day "Paths to Creative Retirement" workshops each year where participants explore options for retirement and figure out which are the best fit with their goals and values.

2. Do a test drive. Once you have a sense of what your ideal retirement might be, give it a trial run to see if the fantasy squares with reality.

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Retirement planning: It's not just money

TWENTY-eight years ago, Michael Murphy, Dale Mitchell and David Ryan savoured premiership success.

Today, with a strong bond forged through cricket, the great mates are hoping to once again win the games ultimate prize.

They may not move as fast as they used to and the grade might be a rung or two down from where their careers peaked, but the Brierly Christ Church life members, who have played a combined total of more than 1080 senior games, are as excited about todays division three showdown with Russells Creek as they were all those years ago.

The trio played in the Bulls most recent premiership, the 1983-84 A reserve flag, and would dearly love another one as the end of their careers near.

Murphy, who turns 50 in two weeks, is adamant the grand final is his swansong.

I had retired . . . several times, Murphy said.

But (son and coach) Nathan talked me into playing a few games because they were short of players. A few games turned into most of the season.

But its been far from a chore for the paceman, who now describes his speed as slow medium.

I just enjoy playing with mates Mitch, Dave Ryan and Gary Stonehouse. To come back and have a year with them has been great.

Murphy said his knees were buggered and he had to use his personal relationship with the coach to not bowl at training during the week.

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Mates go for more success, nearly three decades on

It hasn't been all sea breeze and endless blue sky in Oxnard this spring.

The frustration has been on a rolling boil at the Condors' Nest, where the Oxnard College baseball team has struggled to plate enough runs to support a strong pitching rotation.

"We've got good pitching and we play defense," Oxnard head coach Jon Larson said. "Offensively, it's been hard to watch."

The proud program of professional hitters like Terry Pendelton, Paul McAnulty and Erik Komatsu, of four all-state sluggers (Jake Mahan, Mario Landeros, Jonathan Erb and J.C. Aguayo) in just the past two seasons, is hitting just .260 and slugging .310 through 20 games.

"A lot of Mendozas," said Larson, referring to the Mendoza Line, which in baseball parlay is hitting below .200. "I can't explain it. It drives me nuts."

A pair of draft-caliber sophomores in smooth centerfielder Westley Wright and quick-handed shortstop Kevin Minjares have attempted to carry the offense.

Wright's .388 batting average is fourth in the WSC North. The Moorpark High product also leads the team with 21 runs scored and six doubles, as well as two of the team's three triples and one of the team's two home runs.

"He's long and swings like a man," Larson said. "He's pretty dang good."

Minjares, who has already signed to play at the University of Oregon, is hitting .333 with a team-high 14 RBIs.

The rest of the team is hitting .230.

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Oxnard College baseball hoping for a run of success

By Tom Gibbs - March 23, 2012 | Tickers: GMCR, MNST, NSRGY.PK, SBUX, WSM | 0 Comments

Tom is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) has issued more game changing press releases in the past two weeks than most of its competitors have announced in the past year. Soon after Starbucks unleashed its plans to expand into the $8 billion premium single-serve coffee market, as well as its full launch into the premium juice market with its Evolution Fresh branded stores, the retailer has shown that it still has other tricks up its sleeve. In digesting the message from the coffee kings March 21st investor conference, it is clear that the relevancy of the Starbucks brand is swiftly growing.

Starbucks Refreshers

The retailers latest venture uses the extract of unroasted (green) coffee to create a light and, as the product name implies refreshing energy drink entry into the $8 billion industry. Refreshers, sweetened with stevia and lacking huge energy boosters like taurine and additional caffeine, will be a lighter competitor to popular market incumbents including Red Bull and Monster (NASDAQ: MNST). However, this should not imply that the product has little chance of success, as it will be targeted towards a more sophisticated, coffee-enjoying adult core group, and is intended to further boost the traffic that patronizes Starbucks stores in later day parts. Many of the corporations new product offerings, including juices, teas, expanded food menus, and even after-work alcoholic drinks (wine/beer) have acted to spread out the traffic at worldwide Starbucks locations.

Although more than three-quarters of the traffic has traditionally come in the morning day parts (5 am 11 am), an increasing percentage has been spread out into early afternoon and late night day parts. Refreshers are intended to further enhance this trend, evening out the number of employees the corporation needs on staff throughout the day, and creating a less crowded, more intimate Starbucks experience for consumers.

If Starbucks Refreshers enjoy even a fraction of the success as other entries in the market Monsters revenues have grown at a 30+% CAGR over the past decade the new venture should add a hearty revenue stream in addition to the corporations core offerings.

Deeper Penetration into Single Serve

The Starbucks/Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) pairing to co-produce Starbucks-branded k-cups for the Keurig machine has been a suitable first step into the premium single-serve market. Starbucks shipped more than 100 million branded k-cup packs during the first quarter of the year, and the retailers own venture into the market with its upcoming Verismo machine will give it further access to unlock the benefits of Green Mountains razor/blade sales model.

Being released during the holiday season alongside Starbucks Verismo is Green Mountains own high-pressure Vue machine. Similar to the existing low-pressure Keurig, Starbucks will continue its relationship with Green Mountain through the Vue machine, co-branding Vue packs for release in department stores and general merchandise retailers.

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Brew-haha at Starbucks Investor Conference

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22-03-2012 22:51 New Project 7

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