There’s nothing like a little peer pressure to help you lose weight and get into shape. I remember that I was in the best shape of my life when I had a workout partner at the gym in my 20s. Now that I’m approaching 40 with two children under four-years old, the exercise is a bit more of a challenge to squeeze into my lifestyle.

There’s another bit of pressure that may help you attain your weight loss goals: losing money! The phenomenon known as “bet dieting” is apparently still going strong. Last year, we spotlighted a site known as StickK that uses gambling as a way to keep people motivated to lose weight. You put up money, and if you hit your weight loss goal, you retain your cash. If you lose it, you can even attach it to a charity that you disagree with, making the incentive even higher. These are generally right or left wing political initiatives. If you aren’t politically inclined, the motive of keeping your money is probably still enough

The latest entry into the weight loss betting sites is Lose It or Lose It. The domain name pretty much says it all. You cough up the cash if you don’t reach your goal. But unlike StickK (whose slogan is “Put a contract out on yourself,” by the way), the cash stays with Lose It or Lose It.

Maybe the Mayans were onto something with the whole end-of-the-world thing in 2012 after all. Pepsi just announced this week that they plan on pulling all of their fully-sweetened drinks from schools in the U.S., and in more than 200 countries total, by 2012.

In its fight against childhood obesity, The World Heart Federation has been negotiating in recent months with soft drink makers to get them to remove sugary beverages from schools.

Coca-Cola, the number one soft drink maker in the world, has also made some positive moves. This month they changed their global sales policy to not sell any of their drinks in primary schools around the world, unless parents or school districts ask. However, this policy does not apply to secondary schools.

Procter & Gamble, the makers of Pringles potato chips, has issued a recall of two of its flavors: Restaurant Cravers Cheeseburger and Family Faves Taco Night. Maybe things got a little out of hand anyway when they started making cheeseburger and taco flavored potato chips!

The decision to recall the chips was made when salmonella was found on the plant equipment of Las Vegas-based company Basic Food Flavors, which provides the flavor-enhancing hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) in the aforementioned Pringles flavors.

While the recall is being classified as voluntary, it comes on the heels of a recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration to do so.

I’m a pretty hardcore movie fan. When I’m in a groove, I’m watching 2-3 movies a week. But, this is almost always in the comfort of my living room. My wife and I splurged a few years ago on a nice home theater system, and it’s paid off in so many entertaining hours of movie nights, not to mention NFL Sundays for me.

Needless to say, I am rarely tempted by the junk food that populates movie theater lobbies. With the exception of Avatar a few weeks back, I don’t recall the last movie I’ve seen in theaters. But, for the millions of others who make their local cineplexes a regular destination, they may – or may not – crave a few healthier options to choose from. From my perspective, if I’m going to fork over $12 on a drink and some popcorn, I’d prefer something not just a little healthier, but more substantial.

Theaters have made a point of adding more food items to their menus in the last 5-10 years, but the choices are still usually not much to write home about. Well, health food advocates have a Hollywood heavyweight in their corner now. Michael Lynton, chairman and chief executive officer for Sony Pictures, is calling on movie theaters to offer healthier snacks as a way to fight obesity, not to mention give moviegoers more food choices.

Ruby is not only taking charge of her own weight loss, she’s now mentoring others. In this week’s episode of Ruby, on the Style Network, Ruby and her so-called fashion guru Anthony go shopping for a new dress, when they stumble upon a brochure for a plus-size teen beauty pageant called Plus Teen U.S.A.

The pamphlet sparked a memory of a teen girl named Christina that Ruby met at a weight loss camp. This girl was so damaged by the ribbing she took by her peers that she dropped out of school and began being home-schooled.

So, Ruby recruits Christina to enter the pageant, which is in Texas, as a way to boost her self-esteem and get her out of her shell. There’s a short conversation to convince her to enter. But, when Ruby said she’d come too, Christina instantly acted more open to the idea.