I write consumer watchdog/investigative health and fitness related stories for Tribune Co. publications. My content is also used in most other major newspapers around the country. I produce the blog "Julie's Health Club" www.chicagotribune.com/julie.

10 things about me:

1. I started my career at the Chicago Tribune as a sportswriter. During those years, only one naked athlete jumped up and down behind me while I conducted an interview in the locker room.

2. Pre-motherhood, I traveled to Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, Cambodia, Vietnam, Zambia, Tokyo, Europe and the Philippines. Now I just go to Target.

3. My great-grandfather, Laban Deardorff, invented the Deardorff portrait camera.

4. I played in the Class AA girls high school state basketball championship for Wheaton Central High School. It remains one of the best experiences of my life.

5. I started keeping a journal in 4th grade, after reading "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" and "Harriet the Spy." I've kept one ever since.

6. My husband is my role model for fitness and good nutrition.

7. I've been a vegetarian since 1985.

8. I could live on chocolate. I also love avocados, broccoli, blueberries, eggs, spinach and quinoa.

9. After college, I worked for the nation's first and only sports newspaper, The National.

10. I've delivered a 9.2-pound baby without pain meds and completed two Ironman triathlons. Both events changed my life.

My family, travel, sustainability and insomnia. Also, yoga, meditation, reading, running, triathlon, strength training, nutrition, Spanish, audio books, maternal, child and environmental health.

Alternative medicine: Hype or hope? 1/1/0001
There’s a very interesting and unusually civilized debate going on over at the Atlantic.com, where David H. Freedman has written a boldy-headlined piece called “ The Triumph of New Age Medicine.”

Should pregnant women lift weights? 1/1/0001
New moms must routinely lift and carry weights ranging from about 6 to 10 pounds – their tiny bundles of joy – shortly after giving birth. Yet current professional exercise guidelines only recommend strength training during pregnancy for women who have previous experience with weights.

Wrinkles may signal bone risk: Study 1/1/0001
Deep wrinkles, a telltale sign of aging, may also offer important clues about a woman’s bone fracture risk, according to a new study in early menopausal women.

The obesity epidemic: Can parents say 'no?' 1/1/0001
McDonald's is often blamed for making our children fat. Some groups are calling for Ronald McDonald's head -- or at least, the clown's retirement. Shareholders, meanwhile, asked the company during the recent annual meeting to assess its policy on childhood obesity.

Crunched for time? Try this exercise 1/1/0001
8-Count Bodybuilders works the pectorals, triceps, shoulders, core, lats and hip flexors, says one expert If you have time for just one exercise and want a full body workout, try 8-Count Bodybuilders, which work the pectorals, triceps, shoulders, core, lats and hip flexors, said military physical training specialist Mark Lauren , who advocates using nothing but your own bodyweight.