Stepping in it: bad. Chewing it: good. MensHealth.com recently reported on several studies that show chewing sugar-free peppermint gum, which costs about 25 cents per pack, may have greater health benefits than $100 worth of prescription drugs. (I can hear pharmaceutical lobbyists sharpening their spin skills as we speak.)

Here's what the studies found:


DENTAL HEALTH - The sugar-free sweeteners found in the gum help you produce more saliva. That keeps your breath fresher and helps fight cavities.

NAUSEA RELIEF - Compounds in peppermint slow stomach contractions, helping you feel less queasy.

WEIGHT LOSS - While you chew they say repetitive jaw movement helps you burn calories, and increases your metabolism by up to 20 percent while you chew. (This one, I'm not convinced. Burning calories by just chewing? Wouldn't cows be the skinniest creatures on the planet?)

MOTIVATION and ANXIETY REDUCTION - The scent of peppermint can improve your mood and helps you work harder at the gym.

MEMORY IMPROVEMENT - The chewing motion increases bloodflow to the brain, boosting memory by as much as 35 percent.

www.MensHealth.com

Let's face it. None of us are getting any younger. You might be pushing 30. Maybe pushing 40. And it's pushing back. Hard. (You guys in your 20's stop laughing and pay attention too...)

Those late nights partying in clubs, weekly poker games clouded with cigar smoke, even stress from work all take their toll on your face. Especially on your eyes. We've all shown up for work on Monday morning with more bags under our eyes than a Delta carousel. After a while those bags take longer and longer to disappear. Until one Monday morning you wake up, stumble over to the mirror to shave, and see your dad staring back at you. And dad looks bad.

Fortunately, modern science has come up with ways to correct the damage we do to our faces every day. Moisturizing your skin regularly is one way. And using special creams around your eyes is also highly recommended by all the experts I talk to. Yeah, I know. Your girlfriend uses eye cream. So does your mom. The very term "eye cream" makes you cringe. But suck it up. Once those bags and wrinkles start showing up and girls start noticing, you'll be reaching for whatever you can to stop them.

Dr. Sebagh's Eye Expert is one to reach for. Made specifically to reduce puffiness and erase wrinkles, it has ingredients such as ceramide-like, hazelnut oligopeptides, and hyaluronic acid that firm skin tissue and restore moisture. I'm not big into the science, I just know I tried using it before, during and after a Vegas trip. And even though I barely slept for three days, my eyes didn't betray me. Which is good. Because my staff thought I was at a business conference.

$80 Available at Barney's in NYC, Chicago, Dallas, LA and Boston and online at www.blissworld.com.

He was the original rebel without a cause. He was what all of the posers in Hollywood now pretend to be. His style and mannerisms are still widely copied, his look emulated.

Killed driving his Porsche Spyder at age 24, James Dean embodied the mantra "Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse", (although the line was actually spoken by actor John Derek). James Dean is one of those rare guys whose legend and popularity live on long after they're gone. James Dean is an American icon. (Jimmy Dean is an American sausage maker.)

Mighty Fine, an LA-based design studio, let's you pay homage to Dean, (the icon, not the sausage maker), with their James Dean tee. Be a rebel on casual Friday. (Does not come in Giant size.)

www.mightyfineinc.com

"Woke up. Got outta bed. Dragged a comb across my head."

While that might have been a day in the life of Paul McCartney, chances are your day is more like: "Woke up. Hit snooze. Woke up again. Hit snooze. Woke up. Realized you were 20 minutes late for work..." etc.

Whether you're a bad "morning person" or just had a particularly late night, (hey, it's not your fault TNT started "True Lies" at 11pm), Rise-N-Shine, a Sparta, NJ, company, says they have the product for you.

Their new supplement, "Wake Up On Time," is designed to get your day started with a bang. (No, not in that way.)

Taken before you hit the hay, Wake Up On Time claims you'll "effortlessly wake right up in the morning feeling alert, happy and ready for anything your demanding schedule throws at you." Um. Sure. They forgot to add "with birds singing and sunshine streaming through your windows". If this little pill can defeat a night out bar-hopping and drinking till 4 am, and still get me up and "ready for anything", (other than drinking a pot of coffee on the couch until mid-afternoon), I'll be impressed.

If you want to give it a shot head over to www.wakeupontime.com.

Hugh Hefner is, for obvious reasons, one of my heroes. He’s the world's most famous bachelor. His magazine created an entire genre. And his personal style puts everyone else's to shame. The man is living the dream. Actually, he's living multiple dreams. The type of which I once made the mistake of telling a now-ex-girlfriend about.

Now Hef and Playboy introduce their Rock the Rabbit project, which blends cutting-edge music with classic fashion. They recently asked twenty musicians to design a custom line of limited edition T-shirts, placing their own personal stamp on the Rabbit Head brand and logo.

Artists like The Flaming Lips, The Thievery Corporation, Rhymefest, Lil' Jon, and the Trainwreck Riders are involved, each putting a new spin on an old icon. I highly recommend you go to www.rocktherabbit.com to view the designs. (And I promise the site's safe for work.)

Playboy will offer the limited edition Rock the Rabbit shirts at the Playboy Concept Boutique at the Forum Shops, the Playboy Boutique at the Palms - both in Las Vegas - as well as online at www.shopthebunny.com. For $39, you can dress like Hef... without having to resort to wearing silk pajamas in public.

And one final reason to salute Mr. Heffner: The original prototype Ts will be auctioned off to benefit LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS. (www.lifebeat.org)