If your back hurts, here are some simple ways to ease your pain at home. 

1. Stay active and keep moving: Keeping your muscles warm by walking, swimming and bicycling. The key is not to overdo it.

2. Stay strong: Build up those muscles to keep your hips, pelvic and abdominal muscles strong. Avoid crunches because they can more strain on your back.

3. Stretch: Stretch throughout the day, even at your desk.

4. Prepare your work space: Make sure your desk, computer and chair are set up and adjusted to your height and physical needs. The adjustments will make a huge difference in comfort.

 5. Watch your posture: Stand straight and tall. This will do wonders for your back pain, your overall look, and your confidence. 

6. Wear low heals: Nearly 60% of women who consistently wear high-heeled shoes complain of low back pain.

7.  Give up smoking: One study found that smokers are about a third more likely to have low back pain compared with nonsmokers.

8. Lose weight: Being overweight puts excess stress on your spine.

9.  Chill: If and when you injure your back, make sure to ice your injury the first 24 to 48 hours after an injury to reduce swelling and pain. 

10. Use an over-the-counter pain reliever: These might work great and could eliminate your need for the hard stuff.  

All the shopping, cooking and putting up those holiday decorations can put a crick in your neck and give you a pain in the back. That's not even considering the effect your relatives might have on you.

The fact is, with a little planning and care, you can keep the physical pain caused by the holidays at bay.

How?

• Wear comfy shoes to shop.
• Take shopping breaks; tea is always good.
  
• Take advantage of valet services and shopping carts. Valet can be expensive but you're better off spending money on someone to park and fetch your car than on a doctor, medicine and x-rays.
  
• Rely on others to do the heavy lifting.
• Find time to exercise and to rest. Remember to stretch. 
• Wrap your presents sitting down. Standing up and hunching over puts a lot of strain on your back.
  

Could we really be surprised by this news? A study by the Environmental Work Group shows that some children's cereal have as much sugar as popular desserts. 

In fact, three cereals have more sugar in a one-cup serving than a Hostess Twinkie. About 44 cereals are loaded with more sugar in a cup than three Chips Ahoy cookies.

Take a look at the biggest culprits.

 But not all cereals are bad. In fact, some with sugar added are actually good for you. Take a look:

Popular cereals that ranked well:

Best cereals in the supermarket (cereals free of pesticides
and genetically modified ingredients)

• Ambrosial Granola
• Go Raw
• Grandy Oats
• Kaia Foods
• Laughing Giraffe
• Lydia's Organic
• Nature's Path Organics