Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

Written by Stephan Guyenet on 28 April 2013. Posted in Food

How do you get people to crave? Through scientific efforts to determine the "bliss point" for combinations of sugar, flavorings, and other ingredients that maximize the enjoyment and "craveability" (reward value) of soda and other foods-- that ultimately drive purchase and consumption behaviors.

Michael Moss is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who has made a career writing about the US food system. In his latest book, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants... Read more...

Why Do We Eat? A Neurobiological Perspective

Written by Stephan Guyenet on 25 April 2013. Posted in Food

Researchers have divided eating into two categories, which are important to understand: 1) 'homeostatic eating', in which food intake is driven by a true need for energy, and 2) 'non-homeostatic eating', in which food intake is driven by other factors. Eating in response to hunger is mostly homeostatic, while eating for pleasure, emotional/stress reasons, social reasons, or just because it's mealtime, is non-homeostatic. As I'll explain in more detail later in this series, non-homeostatic... Read more...

Why We’re Motivated to Exercise. Or Not.

Written by New York Times Review of Books on 22 April 2013. Posted in Body

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

If you give a rat a running wheel and it decides not to use it, are genes to blame? And if so, what does that tell us about why many people skip exercise?

To examine those questions, scientists at the University of Missouri in Columbia recently interbred rats to create two very distinct groups of animals, one of which loves to run. Those in the other group turn up their collective little noses at exercise, slouching idly in their cages instead.

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6 Healthy Carbs To Keep In Your Diet

Written by Nicci Micco on 15 April 2013. Posted in Food

Nicci Micco is editor-at-large for EatingWell Magazine

Do you avoid carbs when you're trying to eat better? Our bodies and our brains need carbohydrates to work effectively.

6 healthy carbs to keep... Read more...

Can yoga help you slim down?

Written by Andrea Cespedes on 21 March 2013. Posted in Movement

Let’s face it – not everyone comes to yoga to clear their mind and find spiritual bliss.

Just the other day before class, I overheard a gaggle of teenage girls deep in discussion about the potential of getting a “yoga butt.” You may giggle, you may roll your eyes, but be honest, most of us would love to lose a few extra pounds and tone our extra bits while down-dogging it.

Yoga doesn’t burn calories like a good hour-long cardio session, not even power yoga, where you feel like... Read more...

10 Great Ways to Eat Less Meat

Written by Fine Cooking Magazine on 07 March 2013. Posted in Food

There are lots of good reasons to eat a little less meat these days. But who knew that what’s good for the environment, good for your health and good for your wallet could be so much fun for the cook, too?

Once you cook with (and eat) less meat, you’ll find yourself adding a great new lineup of dishes to your weekly repertoire. Here are ten delicious stratagies, each with a half dozen recipes to help you get started.

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Antioxidant Uncertainty

Written by Ethan Engel on 21 January 2013. Posted in Body

In 2006, a group of Caenorhabditis Elegans - roundworms used to study the biology of aging - were supposed to die, but they lived.

David Gems, assistant director of the Institute of Healthy Aging at University College London was using them to test the idea that oxidation causes significant cellular damage. According to the dominant theory, oxidation deforms more and more cellular Components over time, and eventually tissues and organs are compromised. This has been assumed to be one of... Read more...

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