Articles About Health And Fitness

When Jessica Simpson took to Instagram to announce that she lost 100 pounds in the six months after giving birth to her daughter Birdie Mae, her followers flocked to the comments section to ask exactly what she did to drop the pounds. In a recent interview, Simpson’s trainer, Harley Pasternak, gave fans the answer they were looking for.  Pasternak told  People  the 39-year-old former pop star made diet changes based on his book  The Body Reset Diet . “It’s three meals and two snacks a day, and each meal has protein, fiber and fat, and snacks are protein and fiber or protein and fat,” he said, explaining the gist of the diet. “It’s about balancing in a way that doesn’t make it painful or too much of a departure from your life before that.” But, when you dig a little deeper into Pasternak’s Body Reset Diet, what exactly does it entail—and can it really help you lose weight like it helped Simpson? Here’s the lowdown on how it’s structure...

I knew next to nothing about fasting until I did this deep dive into the medical literature for you. There are, by my count, 1,527 articles on fasting in English-language peer-reviewed scientific journals, and I read every single one of them… so you don’t have to!   I’ve compiled all the best science into 41 videos which will drip out on NutritionFacts.org over the next few years, but for those who don’t want to wait, I am holding a series of webinars to go through them all at once and answer questions. The first webinar in July covered intermittent fasting, time-restricted feeding, and water-only fasting for weight loss. You can get the digital download here . The second webinar, Fasting for Disease Reversal, is coming up this weekend and while registration is already closed, the digital download will be available next week. The final webinar – Fasting and Cancer – will be October 25 at 2pm ET (my birthday!). In this session, I will focus on fasting for cancer as both an adju...

On Wednesday, the company behind Barbie, Mattel, announced the launch of a new line of gender-neutral dolls. When I read the headlines, my first thought was that those dolls would have completely transformed my childhood. But then I let out a sigh of relief for all of the children coming up in the world now, in hopes that they might have one less moment of discomfort because they don’t fit the binary gender mold. The new dolls, which are available in a range of skin tones, come with short hair and long hair options as well as various clothes, shoes, and accessories that are both female- and male-presenting, according to Mattel's press release . A promotion video says the line, which is called Creatable World, is designed to "to keep labels out and invite everyone in." The release states that the company worked with experts, parents, doctors, and, of course, kids to create the dolls. "Through research, we heard ...

“Most deaths in the United States are preventable and related to nutrition.” According to the most rigorous analysis of risk factors ever published , the Global Burden of Disease study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, our diet is both the number-one cause of death and the number-one cause of disability in the United States, having bumped smoking tobacco down to number two. Smoking now kills about a half million Americans every year, whereas our diet kills thousands more. If most death and disability is preventable and related to nutrition, then, certainly, nutrition is the number-one subject taught in medical school and the number-one topic your doctor talks with you about, right? How can there be such a disconnect between the science and the practice of medicine? Let’s do a thought experiment. Imagine you’re a smoker in the 1950s. The average per-capita cigarette consumption was about 4,000 cigarettes a year. Think about that. In the 1950s, the average American sm...

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't told some fibs in my life. "I wish I could go, but I'm busy" is code for "I would rather be home on my couch." And "Sorry, I forgot to reply" is really me saying "Sorry, I was avoiding you." (Part of me is hoping that admitting this doesn't totally undermine my credibility, but another part is sure that a lot of people reading this can relate.) Those are what I consider to be white lies, or "a lie about a small or unimportant matter that someone tells to avoid hurting another person," according to Merriam-Webster. It's not that I get some kind of enjoyment out of being dishonest. I'm just being polite...right? Well, as I learned while reporting this article, many experts would disagree. They would say my motives go beyond being courteous.  Robert Feldman , PhD, a professor of psychology at University of Massachusetts Amherst, studies "verbal deceit." He tells me...

In the past few years, the field of energy healing has pretty much exploded—but there’s a ton of confusion around it, too. What is it, exactly? Are there credible studies on it? And isn’t it just a little bit...woo-woo? Let’s start with the definition: Energy medicine (or biofield therapies) is the act of channeling and manipulating the energy that courses through your body in order to heal it. This can be done with hands-on practices, such as acupuncture and Reiki, as well as sensory-based experiences, like the use of crystals, sound baths, and aromatherapy. Once derided as too mystical, energy medicine is becoming more common—trendy, even. Adele reportedly said that she performs better when she holds crystals . Kim Kardashian West visited a local energy healer while on vacation in Bali. And some elite athletes in the NFL and NBA now bring Reiki masters on the road. Increasingly, scientists are starting to take energy medicine seriously too. RELATED:  A Guide to Choosing the Be...

In a study of the dietary advice given by newspapers in the United Kingdom, “no credible scientific basis” was found for most claims. Indeed, “[m]isreporting of dietary advice…is widespread and may contribute to public misconceptions about food and health”—and potentially not only the public. Scientists like to think they are not influenced by popular media. One study decided to put it to the test. The New York Times reports on scientific research each week, and researchers found that the studies covered by the Times end up being cited in the New England Journal of Medicine more than those that don’t. Seems like the popular press does indeed have an impact on science? Not so fast. That’s just one potential explanation. Perhaps outstanding studies are more likely to be picked up by the media and, independently, more likely to be cited. It’s possible the Times was just earmarking important science and its publicizing of that research didn’t have any effect on how often it was cite...

As my Summer Squat Challenge continues to rock, I will be sharing with you several of my favorite squat variations throughout the challenge or in your daily workouts. Since working out only at home and without the use of gym equipment, I have found squats to be an absolute must for keeping the legs toned and tight while booty round and lifted. With good form and mind-muscle connection, the results are amazing when you incorporate squats into your daily routine. Have fun and let’s get our squat on! THIS WEEK’S SQUAT VARIATION: SLIDE SQUATS Slide Squats (Skateboard Squats): Stand with one foot on a skateboard or if you don’t have a skateboard use a sock, paper plate or anything that will allow you to glide outward. Use your elevated foot to slide the skateboard (or whatever you are using) out to the side as far as you can. Engage your inner thighs, then roll the skateboard back into the starting position and repeat before switching to the other side. G-Tip: This is a very challe...

Why is the salt industry so powerful? It has its own PR and lobbying firms to play tobacco industry-style tactics to downplay the dangers of high salt intake, but salt is so cheap. How much money is the industry really making? As I discuss in my video Big Salt: Getting to the Meat of the Matter , it’s not the salt mine barons who’re raking it in—it’s the processed food industry. Indeed, the trillion-dollar processed food industry uses dirt-cheap added salt and sugar to sell us their junk, and, by hooking us on hypersweet and hypersalty foods, our taste buds get so dampened down that natural foods may taste like cardboard. The ripest fruit may not be as sweet as Froot Loops, so we just continue to buy more and more of the processed junk. There are two other major reasons the food industry adds salt to food. “The other 2 reasons, however, are entirely commercial and for most foods are the real reason the food industry wants the intake of salt to remain high.” If salt is added to meat...

7 Exercises to Burn Fat Faster Jumping Rope The idea of jumping rope may seem tedious, but that’s probably because you’ve never really explored jump ropes. This exercise can give you the most complete body workout with plenty of calorie burn and all you need is a rope. To get started, just stick with simple skipping for short periods, building speed as you get in the groove. Do this for at least a minute at a time and once you’re completely comfortable, switch to some high-intensity interval training (HIIT) jump rope routines to get even bigger gains.     Med Ball Slams This is even simpler than jumping ropes and it’s also a great stress buster. In case you didn’t know, high cortisol or stress hormone levels can increase fat accumulation, making it harder to lose weight. Quite simply, this exercise involves slamming the ball into the ground with as much force as possible. This uses the entire body if done right. You raise the ball above your head, also extending your...

By Anita Fernandes                   There’s an app for just about everything these days and weight-loss apps are among the most popular apps right now. There’s been plenty of debate as to whether these apps actually work and whether they provide substantial and accurate information. A recent study found that there are several weight-loss apps that provide effective strategies and practices for weight loss but there are also many apps that do not. Researchers emphasize the need to use only evidence-based apps as the others can do more harm than good.   5 Weight Loss Apps That Work SparkPeople SparkPeople: the best of the best! SparkPeople is one of the most popular apps, which is not surprising as it allows users to track their food and water intake as well as their exercise. SparkPeople has over 500,000 healthy recipes as well as exercise demonstrations and related videos. Spark also offers  dietary advice  for people wi...