It may come as a surprise, but those meals they serve at school were never meant to be solely about helping kids to be healthy.

We are giving away healthy eating and diet books on the Turning the Scales blog.

If you're taking part in today's 8th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge, you'd better be prepared to run a little longer than in years past. The route has been expanded to nearly 5 miles - up from about 4 miles last year.

The boot camp workout, born a decade ago and initially targeted to hard-core fitness buffs, is moving out of the gym and into local neighborhoods, where it's finding a growing following among busy moms struggling to juggle work and family.

On the Table:  Would you like an order of lies with your meal? Our national conversation about food is frequently seasoned with ripened half-truths, hidden agendas and dissembling, all in the pursuit of money.

Intensity, not the amount of time spent sweating, is what makes a good workout, according to Mark Hatmaker.

Triangle.com's health and fitness columnist has a few tips for you.

Andrea Weigl, food reporter, writes: Before I left on maternity leave, I promised to chronicle losing my pregnancy weight on this blog.

It's been a little more than three years since Heba Salama lost nearly 140 pounds in six months on "The Biggest Loser," and pocketed $100,000 for winning the show's at-home weight loss challenge.

Exercise: The real wonder drug, Part 4:  Those who really understands the relationship between what we put in our bodies and what we get out of a workout, say we should eat right, all the time. There's no better way to maximize the benefits of physical activity, period.

Last you heard from me, I shared a few detox secrets to help kick your fitness efforts into high gear. But what happens when you finally reach your goals?

The real winners of Saturday morning's Krispy Kreme Challenge didn't eat a single doughnut. Sure, the gold medal went to a UNC-Chapel Hill student, but the race helps patients at the N.C. Children's Hospital.

On the Table:  Is it worth fighting the Battle of the Pudge? It's a question you should examine as you listen to the national conversations on questions of diet.

Diet Dispatches:  Andrea Weigl, features reporter, writes: I am now into my fourth week back at work. I have to salute any woman who can juggle motherhood, full-time work, breast-feeding and exercise. I haven't been able to do it.

When yoga teacher Tara Stiles listed her influences on her YouTube profile, she typed in "Deepak Chopra, Jane Fonda and Yoko Ono."

Diet Dispatches:  With the new year, we introduce some new members of the Turning the Scales team. They are beginning to share their stories at blogs.news observer.com/turningthescales , and you'll hear more from them here in coming weeks.

On the Table:  One new resource that is especially helpful comes courtesy of the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. It's the Healthy Eating Plate, a guide to healthy eating.

By December, Knightdale residents will be able to walk, jog, or cycle through wilderness via a bridge linking the town to the 28-mile trail.

Exercise: The real wonder drug, Part 5:  Determined to lose weight and keep it off, our Dieting Dispatches bloggers have spent a year writing about their journeys to better health.