Category Archives: FITNESS + HEALTH

10 Smart Food Swaps to Save Calories and The Planet

In the age of organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, humanely-raised, locavore-approved food, the notion of “eating clean” can seem daunting. Balancing nutrient content with calorie content is hard enough alone. Factor in a modest grocery budget and concerns for the planet, and the act of eating virtuously appears next to impossible.

The good news: Unless you’re eating fast food for every meal, a dramatic diet makeover probably isn’t necessary. Focus instead on small, simple changes–like these 10 smart food swaps–to improve the health benefits and environmental sustainability of your daily diet.

Try: Hemp Milk
Instead of: Almond Milk

Once reserved for vegan cafes and hipster coffee shops, almond milk has become the non-dairy drink of choice. But almond milk delivers only a fraction of the nutrients of whole nuts because it’s essentially just a small amount of pulverized almonds mixed with water. Coupled with the environmental impact of the almond industry (a single almond requires 1.1 gallons of water to grow), switching up your dairy alternative makes sense. Enter hemp milk. Derived from the sustainable hemp plant, rich in vitamin D, calcium, protein and omega-3s, it’s a high-minded swap worth trying.

 

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Try: Canned Sardines
Instead of: Canned Tuna

Commercial tuna fishing is hugely disruptive to marine species and their habitats. Most American brands, including bestselling Bumble Bee, do not offer ocean-safe products or disclose how their tuna is caught. Sardines, packed with protein and more nutrients than you can shake a rod at, are an excellent alternative. They also happen to be one of the world’s most sustainable fish species. If you simply can’t live without tuna, look for pole-and-line or troll-caught varieties from brands like Wild Planet and American Tuna.

 

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Try: Pistachios
Instead of: Walnuts

Did you know it takes a whopping 4.9 gallons of water to produce a single walnut? As a record drought continues in California, the world’s #1 nut-producing region, consider a less thirsty alternative: the pistachio. They require less water to grow and, unlike other nuts, can tolerate stretches of time with no water at all. Bonus: they’re also lower in calories.

 

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Try: Applesauce
Instead of: Butter

It might sound strange, but switching up applesauce for butter in baked goods can be a great way to help save calories and the planet. Commercial dairy farms are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution; butter is a significant source of calories and saturated fat. Replacing butter with an equal amount of applesauce in treats like cookies and cakes is a no-brainer. You’ll get moist, flavorful results every time, and we bet you can’t taste the difference.

 

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Try: Rabbit
Instead of: Beef

Most Americans don’t consider rabbit a supper staple, but they should. It’s an excellent source of lean protein with a mild flavor that’s versatile enough to work in a wide range of dishes. Famously good at breeding, rabbits are easy to raise and use a fraction of the land and natural resources required for cattle. In fact, the amount of resources required to produce one pound of beef can produce six pounds of rabbit meat.

 

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Try: Swiss Chard or Collard Greens
Instead of: Mesclun or Spring Mix

Bagged salad mixes might be a tempting weeknight shortcut, but they also cut out valuable nutrients. What most people consider to be the building blocks of a healthy salad (mesclun, spring mix, iceberg) is really little more than colorful, crunchy water. Opt instead for dark greens like collards, Swiss chard and kale which pack way more nutrients per bite and cost a fraction of the price.

 

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Try: Cobia
Instead of: Swordfish or Grouper

When it comes to seafood, the list of sustainability concerns is lengthy. More than 100 species of fish are currently listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Topping the list are swordfish and grouper, which have been dangerously overfished for food and sport over the last three decades. Try swapping in cobia, which tastes almost exactly like a cross between the two, with a firm, meaty texture that’s great on the grill.

 

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Try: Agave Syrup or Honey
Instead of: High Fructose Corn Syrup

Americans consume a staggering quantity of sugar each year, much of it in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Odds are, if a food contains large amounts of the stuff, it’s heavily processed and full of other not-so-good-for-you ingredients. Corn farming accounts for a disproportionately large sector of American agriculture, leaving behind an equally large carbon footprint. Look instead for products sweetened with minimally processed agave syrup or honey.

 

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Try: Crayfish
Instead of: Imported Shrimp

What’s so bad about eating imported shrimp? It’s hard to say exactly because only about 2% is inspected by American regulatory agencies. What we do know is that imported shrimp can be contaminated with banned chemicals, pesticides and even animal waste. Commercial shrimp farms also destroy coastal mangrove forests, which are a critical buffer against hurricanes and flooding and home to many animal species. Crayfish are a tasty, and often more affordable, swap sustainably raised in the USA.

 

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Try: Porcini Mushrooms
Instead of: Black Truffles

Long touted as one of the world’s most delicious (and expensive) foods, the black truffle is starting to lose its cachet. One major factor is a recent influx of inferior (what some incensed chefs call “imposter”) truffles from China. Previously used as pig feed, Chinese truffles have flooded the market in North America at prices on par with their more delicious European counterparts. Chinese truffle farms use huge quantities of water and their full environmental impact is still unknown. Why not opt for rich, savory porcinis instead? These pungent ’shrooms grown abundantly in the U.S. and are available both fresh and dried, year-round.

 

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The Rise of the Flexitarian Diet

From Meatless Mondays to vegetarian dishes at your favorite restaurant, making or ordering a meal sans meat has never been easier or more acceptable. Once the stuff of vegetarians, vegans, and hippies,  more and more carnivore-loving Americans are enjoying not eating meat. At least some of the time.

Meet the flexitarians. It’s a mouthful but fairly simple in practice. Flexitarians are simply those who consciously eat less animal products such as red meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, and eggs, while still occasionally having a big, juicy, beef patty with all the fixings.

vegetarian versus meat

“It’s a pretty flexible diet,” said nutrition expert and owner of The Flexible Dietitian LLC Mckenzie Flinchum, RD, LD/N, CPT. “You’re getting the health benefits of a vegetarian with a diet rich in nuts, seeds, legumes, beans, fruits, and vegetables but the occasional consumption of meat, especially meat low in fat such as fish with benefits for a healthy heart.”

Flexitarianism is not a new concept but it has exploded in popularity during the past few years. Food personalities including former New York Times columnist and author of VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00, Mark Bittman, author Michael Pollan, and registered dietitian and author of The Flexitarian Diet, Dawn Jackson Blatner have helped to make the term mainstream. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary added flexitarianism to the book in 2012. This year it was identified as one of the key trends in restaurant marketing, and according to The Washington Post, as many as 22.8 million Americans now identify themselves as flexitarians. That’s compared to just 7.3 million American vegetarians.

Behind this latest lifestyle trend are millennials.

“The emergence of ‘flexitarianism,’ or adherence to a primarily plant-based diet, has been driven largely by millennials,” said Holley Reeves, the Director of Research, Insights and Sustainability at Butin Integrated Communications.  “We’re finding that millennials – and especially millennial mothers – increasingly are incorporating vegetables as a key component, if not the centerpiece, of their everyday diets.  These consumers are motivated both by the health benefits of the flexitarian diet and by the desire to decrease the high environmental impact of livestock production.”

Farmers Market
Anna Levan / Shutterstock.com

Thanks to Bill Clinton and any vegetarian or vegan friends you have, you probably know some of the health benefits of not eating meat or any animal products. Recent studies, however, are showing that simply eating less meat and animal products while not completely abstaining from it also has significant health benefits. According to U.S. News and Reports flexitarians weigh 15 percent less than regular meat eating Americans and research suggests that a flexitarian diet can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels and therefore heart disease, as well as the risk of diabetes and cancer.

But while the diet offers a range of health benefits, Reeves’ firm Butin Integrated Communications, which monitors and conducts research on trends being shared by online influencers, advocacy groups, and mainstream media, believes much of the rise of the lifestyle is driven by environmental concerns.

sustainability cattle

It’s not a secret that eating meat isn’t exactly good for the planet. The livestock industry is the third largest generator of greenhouse gases. Industrial meat, which includes the majority of supermarket chicken, beef, and pork, is likely a contributor to the increase in antibiotic-resistant illnesses, not to mention the  inhumane animal conditions that we see pop up on insider videos at industrial farms and processing plants every so often. At one time or another those things have probably made you consider giving up meat. But remember that burger? Not eating any meat isn’t likely for a majority of Americans, but eating less of it still poses environmental benefits. If every American replaced one serving of chicken per week with a plant based protein it would be similar to if 500,000 cars were no longer on the road in terms of released carbon dioxide. A 20 percent decrease in meat consumption throughout the U.S. would be similar to every car in the U.S. turning into a Prius.

beet burger vegetarian

Tempted to try it? Well as Flinchum said, the diet is flexible and while this sometimes makes vegetarians criticize flexitarians for having no real rules, it makes it easy to at least try the lifestyle out.  Those who have gone flexitarian recommend beginning small, such as with Meatless Mondays.  Being a flexitarian is all about being creative, reinventing familiar dishes by centering the protein around plants instead of animals, and letting yourself have meat when you want it.  Some flexitarians will only eat animal products once a day, others will only eat animal products one or two days a week, and others will commit to a certain number of meatless or animal product free meals a week. It’s all about slowly figuring out what works for you.

Whether or not flexitarianism goes the way of other passing fades or is here to stay, however, is something we’ll have to wait to see.

6 Daily Sources of Positive News

Stories about the blitz to end homelessness or how tourism is reviving coal-based economies don’t tend to make it into your daily news feed, and that’s a shame.

In the social media age, we’re constantly bombarded with news about poverty, conflict, disaster, and injustice, and that’s for a couple of different reasons. One is our innate negativity bias, which draws us to click on headlines with words like “outrage” and “scandal” while letting our eyes gloss over the stories where everyone makes it home safe.

Another is the media industry’s belief that, according to the old saying, “if it bleeds, it leads.”

This media attitude is a problem for a few reasons, not least of all because the daily barrage of negativity can severely warp your worldview. Most people don’t know that we’re living in times of rapidly decreasing global poverty, rapidly increasing public health, and, with a few media-inflated exceptions, we’re dangerously close to achieving world peace.

happy news

But the consequences of bad news go beyond Debbie Downer syndrome: Bad news is literally bad for your health.

A popular but extreme remedy is to simply go cold turkey on current events. That’s a great strategy to free up scarce mental space, but it comes at the cost of being an informed citizen in our increasingly interdependent global village.

The good news is there’s actually plenty of good news out there.

And not only does it exist, but when you read, digest, and share it, it’s just as good for you as the bad is bad. Check out these six sources of daily positivity and add them to your content streams for a more balanced look at the world and a more peaceful and positive inner life.

Positive.news

Positive News sees itself as “a magazine and a movement,” churning out meaty in-depth narratives about how “real progress and possibility” are overcoming society’s challenges.

The self-proclaimed longest-established publication for “quality reporting that inspires,” Positive News is a top tier publisher of in-depth articles that piece together the one-off feel good stories you’ll find in the other feeds on this list and pulls out the big picture and positive patterns. Topics like the positive environmental impact of bee tourism and America’s black banking revolution give you something to smile about today, but also show you how it might be leading to an even bigger smile tomorrow.

Real Life Heroes


Real Life Heroes is the YouTube channel that wants to restore your faith in humanity. Every day subscribers are submitting high quality videos of everyday heroes, from the usual suspects like police officers and life-saving pups, to unlikely heroic acts from bikers and brave little kids. While the other sites on this list curate articles that are sure to brighten your day, sometimes you’ve got to see it to believe it, and the videos on Real Life Heroes are high definition proof of the good in the world.

Good News Network 

For nonstop human interest stories with guaranteed happy endings, head to Good News Network. While some of their stories hone in on positive social trends like rising high school graduation rates, the majority are great for a quick read and a smile on your morning commute, like cops choreographing to Beyoncé or baby elephants rescuing humans from adorably nonexistent danger.

Reddit Uplifting News 

Thanks to social media, we no longer have to rely on editorial boards to decide what they think will inspire and uplift us. Reddit is the perfect platform for grassroots good news, which is why it’s no surprise that the Uplifting News subreddit enjoys over eight million subscribers.

Rather than composing their own uplifting news stories, every day Redditors are upvoting articles about little kids making sure their classmates get to eat lunch, Tasmanian devils overcoming facial cancer, and the like. Even better, you can submit your own links, and upvote the most inspiring ones you find, joining the community in ensuring that the best positive news on the Internet is getting read and shared. 

Daily Good

What started as a college student’s late-90s endeavor to inspire his friends with daily motivational quotes has grown into Daily Good, one of the biggest curators of the day’s good news on the web. Stories are conveniently curated in categories like generosity, nature, and mind and body, and their inspiring newsletter is a reliable daily, weekly, or monthly digest of what’s going right in the world.

Upworthy


Upworthy is probably the most popular provider of uplifting news and videos, and for a good reason.

Founded with the goal of using the Internet as a mind-opener rather than a conversation-ender, Upworthy produces some of the most clickable articles and videos on the glass-half-full side of the web, like “How a DIY dress helped one woman reclaim the power words had on her body” and “Having a rough week? These uplifting comics are your chicken soup.” Their illustrations and short videos have a knack for drawing your attention to today’s big issues, but doing so by shining a spotlight on where the most inspiring progress is being made in addressing them.

In need for a regular dose of good news like this? Try an RSS reader like Feedly, curate some uplifting content feeds for yourself, and start every day with a cup of coffee and a reminder that you live in a world that’s becoming a better place every day.

Counting Calories to Lose Weight: What You Need to Know

One of the hottest debates in the nutrition world is whether or not calorie counting is the best way to lose weight. We’ve all heard the expression “a calorie is a calorie.” And to a certain extent, there’s no arguing with this, as a dietary calorie that comes from a Twinkie versus one that comes from a sprig of broccoli both contain 4,184 Joules of energy. What it comes down to is how each of these calories functions in the body.

Our bodies are incredibly complex biochemical webs of processes that are affected and controlled by hormones, and this is where the very real differences in calories come into play. The type of calories you eat has a major impact on the processes that control appetite, cravings, and much more. Here, we looked at some specific ways that a calorie is not just a calorie.

 

Calories and metabolism

Every food has a thermic effect, meaning that each food affects energy expenditure differently. According to a study conducted by the Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders comparing the thermic effects of all three macronutrients, protein, fat, and carbohydrates, protein requires more energy (calories) to metabolize than carbs or fat, so it greatly boosts your metabolism and, therefore, your weight loss.

macronutrients

 

The Hunger Hormone

Understanding why the type of food you eat should be prioritized over the quantity boils down to actual hormonal reactions that occur in your body upon eating certain foods.

apple vs donut

Glucose and fructose are two sugars metabolized very differently. For example, the production of ghrelin, the “hunger hormone,” is increased when you ingest fructose much more than with glucose. This means (and studies show) that you are more likely to overeat and succumb to cravings if you have a diet high in fructose. Conversely, glucose has a bigger impact on the satiety center of our brain, meaning we feel fuller longer, again generally causing us to eat (less) more. Also, studies have proven that diets high in fructose have been shown to lead to increased belly fat, insulin resistance, and high triglyceride levels. This means that even if you log time each day tracking your calories, you very well might be fighting an uphill battle against your hormones if eating a high refined sugar and carbohydrate diet.

vegetables nuts marble

Foods high in glucose include vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans, legumes and whole grains.

Foods high in fructose that should be largely avoided include sodas, processed baked goods, candy, agave syrup, fruit juice and dried fruits (among others). But note that fructose from whole fresh fruit is less worrisome, as it comes along with fiber and other important nutrients that slow down the absorption of fructose and offer other benefits.

 

Calories and feeling full

Why is it so easy to stuff yourself full of 1,000 calories worth of ice cream and cake, while eating 1,000 calories worth of grass-fed steak and steamed vegetables seems impossible? Because the protein and good fat from steak and vegetables has a much higher satiety index, which measures how much foods increase our feelings of fullness and reduce hunger.

half eaten cake slice

Naturally, a diet high in foods with a low satiety index will usually lead to overeating and weight gain since you have to eat more of them to feel full. Foods with a low satiety index include refined carbs such as baked goods and processed sugars.

Foods with a high satiety index include starchy vegetables, whole grains and legumes, red meat, eggs and fruit.

 

So, should you count calories?

If the foregoing is largely new information for you, it is best to try changing your diet model before you begin counting calories. Many people find that they lose weight by simply making these dietary changes alone. However, if you have already adopted the type of eating style discussed here and have found that you are not losing weight, then counting calories could definitely help.

couple running stairs

As with most nutrition “rules,” there is no exact answer that will work for everyone. Calorie-counting could be exactly the right strategy for some individuals, and exactly the wrong strategy for others. The bottom line is: the quality of your food matters more than the quantity. With that said, if you are already eat a healthy diet and want to take your weight loss efforts up a notch, calorie counting could be quite beneficial.

The Kale Conundrum: How to Make the Best Kale Chips Ever

October 5, 2016, is National Kale Day, so toss aside your one-ounce bag of potato chips—a bigger pound-packer than red meat, alcohol, or sweets according to a 2011 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine—and get ready to eat your greens.

Dubbed “a nutritional powerhouse”, “the queen of greens”, and “the new beef”, kale is packed with more iron than a steak and more calcium than a big ol’ glass of milk.  It’s also chock-full of 45-different flavonoids, powerful antioxidants that reduce inflammation and boost the immune system.  This leafy, cabbage-related green staves off at least five different types of cancer, prevents diabetics from riding the “blood sugar roller coaster”,   and stops fat cells from expanding, according to one study published by the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

kale chips

Veggie phobic? No worries. With over 100 varieties and 50 shades, you’re sure to find greens that’ll tickle your taste buds. Plus, we’ve chatted with three top-chefs whose tips and tricks will help you cook up mouth-watering kale chips that’ll blow an extreme Dorito out of the water.

 

What the Kale?

Kale fell from twelfth to fourteenth on the Environmental Working Group’s 2016 Dirty Dozen list: fruits and veggies plastered with pesticides even after being washed and, in some cases, peeled. Though, bear in mind, that only 1 out of 744 apples, the dirtiest fruit in 2014, tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture had a residue limit higher than the government’s allotment.  What’s this mean?  If you can buy organic from a local farmer’s market or big-box store, go for it. But, if you can’t, opt for non-organic.  According to a 2009 meta-analysis from the American Society for Nutrition, there’s no nutrient difference in organic versus conventional.

washed kale

What really matters? “The fresher the kale the better,” said Ken Immer, founder of Culinary Health Solutions. The only caveat: use it the same day that you buy it. Jennifer Iserloh, CEO of Skinny Chef, adds that green thumbs should give kale growing a go.  “Kale grows all year round and likes cooler temperatures. [It] is one of the easiest plants to grow,” she said. “I live in a very urban area, and I grow it in a window box on my fire escape.” Hands down: you can’t get any fresher than that.

 

Size Matters:

The size of a kale bunch’s leaves really does matter.   “For salads, [I] always recommend baby kale for first timers since it’s far more mild in taste and texture,” Iserloh says. “Mature, larger kale leaves are better for chips, though, and the roasting process makes them sweet, so [these] chips are still good for veggie haters!”

baby kale salad

 

Making good eats:

The best kale chips are like that “one chip at the bottom of the bag that has that extra cakey layer that you love”.  How do you make them? “The oven method is the fastest way,” Immer said, “but it’s the least exciting.” A French-foodie turned yogi, he prefers to pop curly, dinosaur, or red kale chips into a dehydrator, which is “essentially a hairdryer on steroids.”

After blending sunflower seeds, flax seeds, garlic, onion, spices, yeast, and flavored olive oil into a cottage cheese-like paste, he coats the leaves and bakes them for 24-48 hours.

The end result? Kale chips that aren’t burned around the edges and have an extra-crunchy goodness. “If you make it yourself, you really realize how small the kale gets. You can eat more kale this way than you ever would in a salad,” Immer said.

kale chips

Don’t have a dehydrator? The classic oven still works.

Simply rinse and spin the kale in a salad spinner.

Then remove its stems and flatten the leaves with your hands.

Cut or tear the kale into bite-size pieces and massage them with ½ to 1 tablespoon of olive oil. “Massaging them a little bit will cause them to dry a little faster,” Immer said.  “[But] if you put too much of anything on them, they don’t dry out all the way, and you end up with wilted leaves.”

Next, place the leaves in a single layer on a cookie sheet. “The best way to dehydrate the kale is to cook it low and slow – 275 degrees for 30-35 minutes,” said  Liz Palmieri, the Head Chef and Owner of Provisions Tampa, Inc. “[Then] season your heart out with cheese, nutritional yeast, sea salt, pepper, garlic, onion, paprika – whatever your heart desires.”

 

Everything You Never Knew About Honey

You may have noticed that buzzwords like ‘superfood’, ‘antioxidant’ and ‘free radicals’ seem to be having a surge of use right now. It can be annoyingly trendy to hear these terms thrown around haphazardly, and you probably want to know what foods are genuinely  beneficial and nutrient-rich, and which ones are just full of hype. Some claim that honey is a superfood, while others say it is no healthier than refined sugar. Does it actually offer the myriad of health benefits that its proponents tout, or is it basically just white sugar in disguise? To answer these questions and determine if honey should have a place in your diet, we’ve compiled the benefits, and dangers, of this sweet and natural ingredient.

different forms of sugar honey

 

What Exactly is Honey?

You might be surprised to learn that honey has been historically used by cultures around the world for both its nutritional and medicinal benefits. It’s true that honey is high in fructose, which could be concerning for those with insulin resistance, diabetes, or other metabolic conditions, although it is far less damaging than regular sugar.

While there’s no arguing that honey contains sugar, it also contains an impressive amount of nutrients and health-promoting compounds that make it a far better choice than refined sugar and most other sugar substitutes.

honeycomb

 

What Exactly is Refined Sugar?

On the flip side, refined sugar (often referred to as white or table sugar), has zero health benefits, meaning no vitamins, minerals or other nutrients whatsoever. This sort of sugar is mainly sucrose, which the body breaks down into fructose and glucose after it is consumed. Sucrose is made in a lab and usually derived from cane or beet sugar, and is put through a refining process that involves crystallization and bleaching.

refined sugar

A diet high in refined sugar can make you fat. This has to do with the body’s primary fat storage hormones, cortisol and insulin, which are directly affected by sugar consumption. Multiple studies have linked refined sugar to being the leading cause of obesity in the SAD (Standard American Diet).

Also, unlike honey, which offers at least some nutritional benefit, sugar is an anti-nutrient. This means that not only does it offer no health benefits, but it actually depletes your nutrient stores because you use up more nutrients processing sugar than it provides.

 

Health Benefits of Honey

Simply put, honey is not just sugar and by quick comparison, offers far more nutritional benefits than its refined sugar counterpart. 

High in antioxidants

There’s that buzzword; but it’s popular for a reason. Antioxidants fight free radical damage in the body, which is linked to serious diseases such as cancer. Studies show that honey is high in phenols, enzymes, and flavonoids that work to fight free radical damage and prevent the onset of degenerative diseases.

Supports heart health

Those same antioxidants also work to support healthy blood pressure. High blood sugar is linked to a higher risk for heart disease , as are high triglycerides and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. One study of diabetic patients showed that using honey as an alternative to white sugar could help lower triglycerides and LDL cholesterol levels in the blood by up to 11%.

Heals wounds

Honey is also a potent anti-microbial and anti-bacterial agent, and has been used historically to treat infections. Studies show that honey is most effective at healing infections related to partial thickness burns and to surgery, while medical grade honey is commonly used by Naturopathic Doctors and other healthcare practitioners to treat eczema, psoriasis, herpes, and diabetic foot ulcers.

Makes a great sugar substitute

Honey is one of, if not the best alternative to white sugar. It raises blood sugar levels far less as it provides nutrients and fiber that help to mitigate the body’s insulin response. Like any form of sugar, natural or not, honey should still be used in moderation.
While honey might not be a miracle food, it certainly is far better than refined sugar. Not only does it offer some excellent nutritional benefits, but it can also act medicinally in treating certain conditions. It still should be consumed in moderation due to its insulin spiking effects, but it by no means reeks the same havoc that refined sugar does on the body.

 

Will Exercise Actually Help You Lose Weight?

Basic science tells us that to lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume. With that reasoning, it seems logical  to assume that you will shed pounds  if you work out  because exercise burns calories. And while there is some truth to that statement, it’s not quite so simple. Yes, some form of physical activity on a regular basis is essential for health. However, if weight loss is the main reason that you exercise, you may be misleading yourself.

Here are some points to keep in mind if you’re considering including exercise in your weight loss plan.

girl exercise

 

Exercise and hunger hormones

Let’s start by taking a look at how exercise affects your hormones, thus influencing the relationship between exercise and weight loss. While you do burn calories through exercise (the amount will depend on what type of exercise you do), exercise doesn’t only affect the “calories out” end of the equation.

Studies have shown that exercise can have a pretty hefty impact on your hunger levels and appetite, often leading you to eat more. Not only that, but studies also suggest that on a psychological level, you are more likely to overeat after exercise, because you think that you can  reward yourself with that cookie, extra serving, etc.

girl donut craving

The primary hormone we’re talking about is ghrelin, otherwise known as the “hunger hormone.” T he manner in which ghrelin affects your appetite after exercise varies from individual to individual. Studies show that for some it might cause major surges in appetite, whereas for others it will have no effect, or could even reduce appetite after exercise.

The point here is to be aware of this possibility and make sure that you’re not significantly increasing your calorie intake after exercise, as this may negate any weight loss benefits.

 

Don’t lose weight, lose fat.

If you reduce your caloric intake without doing much exercise, you are likely to lose weight that consists of both muscle and fat. In fact, studies show that when you lose weight by calorie cutting alone, about 1/4 of weight loss is muscle. This happens because your body is forced to find other fuel sources, so it turns to not only fat stores, but muscle protein.

Including exercise in your weight loss plan will make sure that you are losing more fat than muscle mass, which is usually the goal. While it’s not exactly true that muscle weighs more than fat (a pound is a pound), the important difference is that muscle is about 18% denser than fat, so it takes up far less physical space in the body.

girl black and white muscle

Paying attention to body composition via measurements and fat composition is much more accurate in determining how your body is changing than simply going by the number on the scale alone.

 

What matters more for weight loss, exercise or nutrition?

This might be hard to hear, but the amount of calories you burn via exercise alone is relatively small in the scheme of things.  You burn most of your calories by naturally going about your daily activities. The rate of calorie burn is influenced by your BMR (basal metabolic rate ), which is the amount of calories you burn while at rest. In addition, you burn calories through the thermic effect of the foods you eat, i.e., calories burned just digesting and processing your food.

One study took a group of people who had just exercised to a buffet and asked them to eat the calories they thought they had burned during their workouts. Results showed that subjects ate about three times more than they had actually burned. This demonstrates that we tend to drastically overestimate the amount of calories burned during exercise, and increase our calorie intake according to this skewed perception.

girl protein shake

Nutrition accounts for the majority of weight loss (perhaps as much as 70%), so while you should certainly keep exercising, be clear that nutrition is key.

 

Losing weight with cardio vs. weight training

Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, and burns far more calories when at rest. Many people wanting to lose weight (especially women) narrow in on cardio, often missing out on the massive weight loss benefits provided by strength training. Yes, cardiovascular activity is important for many reasons such as increased heart health and improved recovery time. But, if you think of calories in/calories out, you are simply not going to burn enough calories for effective weight loss only focusing on cardio. Instead of being shortsighted, understand how you can mold your body into a long-term, calorie-burning machine via weight training.

runners feet

The impact that cardio has on your metabolic rate (the rate at which you burn calories) doesn’t extend far from the treadmill or stationary bike. When you strength train, however, you are actually changing your metabolic rate, which means you will burn more calories outside of your workouts in each and every one of your daily activities.

 

Weight loss issues: over-exercise, stress and weight gain

It is also important to understand that certain types of exercise can actually cause weight gain. While this definitely varies across people (due to genetics, metabolism, stress level, and diet), frequent, long distance, medium- to high-intensity  cardio workouts can be particularly stressful to the human body. This has to do with the body’s cortisol reaction, your primary stress hormone. When our adrenal glands are under stress, they release a boost of cortisol to allow us to react accordingly. Cortisol is a fat storage hormone that stores fat especially around the mid-section.

sneakers in bed tired exercise

If you are constantly and exclusively engaging in this type of extreme cardio, you could be prompting a chronic release of excess cortisol, which can actually cause weight gain or prohibit weight loss. This does not mean that you shouldn’t do cardio, but try working out in different ways, such as HIIT (high intensity interval training).

 

Other health benefits of exercise

Even though exercise is not necessarily a shoo-in for losing weight, you will still benefit from including it in your daily routine. Studies have concluded time and time again that exercise helps to prevent serious diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease, certain types of cancer, diabetes, obesity, and more. In fact, one study revealed that regular exercisers have a 50% lesser chance  of dying from these diseases than those who live a sedentary lifestyle. Not to mention, exercise is a major de-stressor and can help with mental and emotional health just as much as physical health.

healthy stomach

Combining exercise and nutrition with stress management is the winning combination. Our health is influenced by a wide variety of factors, certainly including exercise. For some, this may come as a relief; rather than obsessively exercising, you can divide your efforts across the different categories necessary for both wellness and weight loss.

 

What’s In Your Porcelain Throne? The Dirty Truth That Could Save Your Life

“Poop” seems like a dirty word — one that’s reserved for off-color comedians, potty-training parents, and GI doctors.  While everyone squats, squeezes, and flushes, nobody wants to talk about it. Why? Because “toilet talk” is a social red flag, a sign of truly bad manners. Naturally, we skirt around it, nod and pray for the topic to drop, or run in the opposite direction. But taking a second peek at what’s in your porcelain throne — your stool’s shape and color — can save your life.  So, we assembled this guide to help you decipher what your bowels are trying to say.

toilet

 

The Bristol Stool Chart

Type 1: Often the result of low-fiber diets, ball-shaped stool is scratchy and can cause rectal bleeding.

Type 2: Sausage-like, lumpy formations can stay in your long intestines for three or more weeks.

Type 3: Similar looking to type 2, type 3 moves through your colon in one to two weeks, causing minor flatulence.

Type 4: Smooth, soft, snake-like shapes are typical when you’re visiting the porcelain throne daily.

Type 5: Soft blobs with clear cut edges are normal when you’re going three times per day, usually after major meals.

Type 6: Mushy, fluffy consistency with ragged edges passes easily, but it may be difficult for you to control your urge to go.

Type 7: Watery stool without solid pieces causes you to eliminate 1-2 liters per day.

 

The “Number Two” Color Wheel:

Brown:Your ideal stool has a toothpaste consistency, banana shape, and milk chocolate color—due to bile and bilirubin, a byproduct of red blood cells and bone marrow, breaking down in your liver. Winning number twos also should be the size of a baby’s arm, 12 inches or longer, and be made up of 75% water and 25% bacteria and fiber. Bits of corn, oats, or carrots floating in the toilet? No worries. These superfoods are loaded with insoluble fiber, so they’re squeezed out fairly unchanged.

 

Red: Fire-engine stool is often the result of pushing too hard, which creates tears in the lining of your anal canal. Or, it could mean you’ve been munching on foods packed with red dye, such as red velvet cake, Kool-Aid, or tomato soups and sauces. If less than a teaspoon of blood is coupled with pain and discomfort, you probably have internal hemorrhoids. The other possible culprits that’ll send you scurrying to your doctor’s office: inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulitis, fissures, polyps, or colorectal cancer.

 

Purple or Blue: Good news.  If you’ve had a purple or blue bowel movement, there’s nothing to worry about. Edible purple and blue dye passes through your 30 feet of intestines at warp speed. Most likely, you’ve downed one too many grape sodas, beets, or Burger King black whoppers.

 

Orange: If you’re chomping on farm-fresh produce, such as kale, sweet potatoes, turnips, cilantro, and fresh thyme, or pre-packed foods high in yellow or orange dyes, you’ll likely have harmless orange stool. Taking a daily turmeric supplement? Expect bright orange specks to cling to your excrement.  Having bright orange diarrhea?  Its bright color might be caused by an infection, which blocks bile and forces food to move quickly through the digestive system, or microscopic colitis, inflammation of the large colon’s lining.

 

Yellow: Stress and high-fat diets can crank your digestion system into turbo drive while reducing your liver’s bile salts, which turns it a yellow color. Carboholic? Consuming gluten-laden breads and pastas might also lighten your stools. But don’t let that fool you.  Greasy, frothy, or floating yellow stool is the calling card of several serious diseases: cirrhosis, hepatitis, gall stones, pancreatic cancer, cystic fibrosis, and Celiac disease. Head to the doctor and get your liver and gallbladder checked out. Then sneak liver detoxing foods like garlic, walnuts, and lemons into your diet.

 

White: If you have white flakes in your stool, they’re likely undigested pieces of rice, husk, seed, or grains.  Had an x-ray lately? Barium, which is used for bone scans, can also turn it white.  This also might be the result of popping too many antacids or vitamin supplements, but it’s usually a sign of a serious liver, gallbladder, or pancreatic issue, meaning you’ll want to wave your white flag and go see a doctor.

 

Green: Your Cleveland Brown can turn into a Green Bay Packer if you’re taking iron supplements or crunching loads of chlorophyll-rich greens.  Parasites and bacteria—and ironically the antibiotics that treat them too—can cause your guts to flush faster resulting in Skittle-like plugs. Other possible causes are bone marrow transplants and organ rejection, so when in doubt, head to the nearest hospital.

 

Black: If you’ve gobbled up black liquorice, blueberries, or even Oreos, your stool might be black. Sipping Pepto-Bismol® or taking prescribed medications, like Codeine or Oxycontin, are additional benign causes of tarry, black stool. However, this dark color might have an even darker meaning. Blood could be leaking from your upper gastrointestinal tract, which is called melena. If your black stool is paired with vomiting, stabbing pain, and diarrhea, it could be a bleeding ulcer, gastritis, or a Mallory-Weiss tear, a gaping hole in the membrane that joins the stomach and the esophagus.

 

The dirty truth: what comes out is just as important as what goes in. Think of your daily doodie as if it were a free checkup.  After all, the answers you’ve been looking for could right behind you. And don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone that you looked.

7 Foods That Protect Your Skin From Sun Damage

You already know to lather on the sunscreen when you’re heading out for a day at the beach or any day the UVs are strong. And you know that you should wear sunscreen every day, even if you forget more often than not. But what if you could give your sunscreen an extra boost of effectiveness while also helping to repair the damage the sun does to your skin by simply eating? Hiding at the farm stand, at the fish market, and in the produce aisle are foods proven to help protect and heal your skin from sun damage. Consider this your guide to eating your way to better skin.

 

Protect your skin with: Chocolate

Sweet tooth lovers, rejoice and go ahead and give into that chocolate craving. Scientists’ orders. Dark chocolate made from 65 percent or more raw cacao contains antioxidants called flavonoids that, according to German researchers, help improve your skin’s complexion and protect it from UV rays.

shutterstock_360182846

 

Protect your skin with: Citrus

Good thing you’ve been making drinks with lemons and limes all summer, blending oranges in smoothies, and eating grapefruits in the morning. All that Vitamin C citrus fruits are famous for combined with their other vitamins, like vitamin E, can reduce the potential for sunburn while helping to give your skin a radiant glow.

limes
Limes | Photo via Henry Zbyszynski on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

 

Protect your skin with: Fish

Lobster rolls, clam bakes, fish friesit’s not really summer without them. And here’s your excuse to plan a few more seafood dinner parties this year. Fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, think salmon and shellfish, may actually help protect against sunburn and  cancer.

Scallops
Scallops | Photo via stu_spivack on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

Protect your skin with: Green Tea

There are almost too many green tea benefits to count: metabolism booster, artery-clogging prevention, improved brain function. And now you can add skin protector. Studies show that the antioxidants in green tea may protect against sunburn and that tannic acid, also found in green tea, helps heal sunburns. Go ahead and order that iced matcha green tea latte.

Green tea

 

Protect your skin with: Leafy Greens

Your mother was right when she said to eat your greens. If it’s green and leaf-like it’s good for your skin. Herbs like parsley, basil, and rosemary are chalk full of skin-protecting antioxidants and salad favorites, such as spinach, swiss chard, and kale, contain carotenoids which may also protect against skin damage.

shutterstock_239421886

 

Protect your skin with: Strawberries

Nosh on a handful of strawberries, or order creamy strawberry ice cream at the beach and your skin will thank you. The sweet, red berry is full of antioxidants and Vitamin C that protect your skin from sun damage while also helping sunburned skin heal.

strawberries

 

Protect your skin with: Tomatoes

Tomatoes may be the best thing you can eat for your skin. Not only will the carotenoids protect your skin from sunburn, they can also protect your skin from wrinkles. The trick, however, is to not peel the tomatoes if you want to reap the maximum benefits.

tomatoes

Smoothie Bowls 101

Are you looking for a different way to get your daily servings of fruits and veggies? Smoothies are great, but in addition to potential carb-loading and the resulting sugar spikes that come from quickly drinking this meal-in-a-cup, you may forget to add enough proteins and fats that would make each drink nutritionally well-balanced. A fun, filling and beautiful alternative is the smoothie bowl.

We all know the importance of eating a breakfast that provides energy-producing, heart-healthy benefits, like toasts, omelets, oatmeal, and granola, and now we can add smoothie bowls to the list. In addition to enjoying your favorite smoothie blends, a variety of toppings can help make each bowl more robust and will help you feel fuller, longer. They also make great dessert and lunch options.

 

Healthy Toppings:

Fresh fruit

Unsweetened coconut shavings

Almonds (whole or slivered)

Sunflower seeds, Chia seeds

Quinoa, Granola

Avocado

Goji Berries, Golden Berries

Fresh Herbs (such as mint or basil)

Green spirulina bowl with oats, goji berries, and
Green spirulina smoothie bowl with oats, goji berries, flax and pumpkin seeds

Piling on these toppings can reduce the ingredients in the actual smoothie, potentially decreasing your carbohydrate and calorie intake. You won’t need so much yogurt in the smoothie if you add heaping amounts of nuts, seeds and low-sugar fruits on top.

 

Making The Smoothie Bowl

How you choose to make each bowl will rely on your taste buds but keep these tips in mind. First, be wary of packing on high-sugar fruits and starchy vegetables. Great low-sugar options that are in-season during the summer (or found easily year-round) include:

Kiwi, watermelon, lemons

Figs, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries

Cucumbers

Avocados

Kale, spinach

smoothie ingredients
A variety of toppings can help make each bowl more robust and will help you feel fuller for longer.

Freezing your fruits and vegetables beforehand will reduce your need for ice.

A liquid is the other major constituent in smoothie making. Many people use milk, water, juice, and yogurt (which also creates a thick consistency). Coconut water, which is rich in nutrients and other healthy components, is a wonderful liquid alternative. And if you want to incorporate yogurt,  Greek yogurt is known for being high in protein while still low in sugar.

 

Papaya, Kiwi, and Mint Bowl

This was a fun concoction that I came up with using fruits on-hand at home and mint from my mom’s garden.

kiwi smoothie bowl
Kiwi smoothie bowl with raisins, granola, pine nuts, and mint

½ papaya

1 kiwi

3 mint leaves

coconut water

ice

 

Blend the ingredients and pour into a bowl. Add additional chopped kiwi, papaya, coconut shavings, and chia seeds on top.

 

Simple Watermelon Strawberry Smoothie Bowl

watermelon smoothie bowl
Watermelon strawberry  smoothie bowl with coconut, granola, and mint

1 ½ cups scooped watermelon

½ or ¾ cup of chopped strawberries, fresh or frozen (the quantity depends on your preference)

1 cup Greek Yogurt

½ cup of water or coconut water

ice cubes (quantity will vary to preference)

 

Blend everything together. Finish with your choice of toppings including chia seeds, fresh strawberries, almonds, and watermelon slices.

 

Green Smoothie Bowl

Leafy greens are the superstars in this mixture that has an infinite number of variations.

green smoothie bowl
Green smoothie bowl with banana, kale, pumpkin seeds, coconut, and blackberries

1 cup of kale or spinach

1 frozen banana

½ cup frozen fruit of choice (mango or strawberries are great ideas)

1 cup of coconut milk (or less for a thicker consistency)

 

Blend together, then pour into a bowl. Top with sliced bananas, blueberries, and any nuts or seeds that you like.