Raquel: Total Beauty and Fitness [VHS]

This is Etta James's first full-length album, recorded for Chess Records' Argo subsidiary in 1960. It taps all aspects of her then-blossoming talent. There's the crooning rock ballad "My Dearest Darling" and the elegantly symphonic "Sunday Kind of Love." Her classic, brokenhearted "All I Could Do Was Cry" follows the sweet title track and the bawdy blues stomper "I Just Want to Make Love to You." And there's a version of Harold Arlen's "Stormy Weather," which Lena Horne made famous. James's fine way with such a wide embrace of material wouldn't again be this well displayed on a single album until she was united with producer Jerry Wexler for 1977's Deep in the Night. --Ted Drozdowski

Price: $19.99

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Zumba Fitness Total Body Transformation System DVD Set

Now you can shed the pounds and have a blast while you're doing it! It's easy with the Zumba® Fitness Total Body Transformation System DVD Set.

Loaded with red-hot dance steps, pulsating Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow routines, this invigorating dance-fitness "party" will have you movin', groovin' and shakin' the weight off to the sexy, exotic rhythms of salsa, cumbia, samba, merengue and more! Work your body from head to toe with four DVDs and six exhilarating workouts that teach you all the basics and hit your favorite targets, like your core, thighs and abs. You also get maraca-like Toning Sticks to add some muscle to your body sculpting routines. Now's the time! Get ready to "Join the Party" and see a whole new side of yourself!

Zumba Fitness Total Body Transformation System DVD Set includes:

* Zumba Fitness Basics Workout
* Zumba Fitness 20-Minute Express Workout
* Zumba Fitness Sculpt & Tone Workout
* Zumba Fitness Cardio Party Workout
* Zumba Fitness Live! Workout
* Zumba Fitness Flat Abs Workout
* 2 Zumba Fitness Toning Sticks

Price: $69.95

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Total Obese Americans to Reach 42%

It's not the bubonic plague and you get it from cheeseburgers, not blood thirsty rats, but the United States is double-chin deep in an obesity epidemic.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity has grown dramatically over the past 20 years. Only Colorado and the District of Columbia have an obesity rate less than 20%.

But now researchers say total obesity in the U.S. will reach 42%.

Published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Computational Biology, scientists predict the number of obese people in the United States to "top out" at 42% over the next 40 years. Up 8% from a 2007 prediction of 34%.

Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30.

For the study, a mathematical model was applied to four decades of data obtained from the Framingham study; a long term study examining the health and habits of nearly an entire town in Massachusetts.

Data also found an association between obesity and the friends you keep. The researchers say an American has an additional 0.5% chance of becoming obese with each obese social contact, i.e. friend, they make per year.

The severity of obesity in the U.S. varies from state to state. CDC data shows southern states tend to be the fattest.

Obesity takes a toll on the economy too. CDC data puts the total cost of obesity-related healthcare expenditures at $92.6 billion. Wow, that would buy a lot of burgers and fries...with a diet Coke of course.

Image credit: Erupting Mind

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