Diet and Nutrition

The Healthiest Ways to Celebrate a Birthday!

A new trend is officially gaining steam: Healthy Birthday Celebrations! When it come time to blow out the candles, it seems like boozing and binging are out and exercise and eating well are in.

To be fair, this could be a sign of being a certain number of years out of college, but I don’t think getting older is the only thing at work here. It’s probably about getting wiser too. I have definitely noticed an increase in the healthier birthday party: For my roommate’s birthday a year or two ago, we all woke up at six in the morning to go on a group run. We spent the rest of the day antique shopping, walking around town (even more exercise), and ended the night with a glass of champagne each.

That’s right. Birthdays do not have to be about totally throwing your healthy lifestyles out the window. Here are some fabulous (and yes, still really fun!) ideas for a more adult birthday party. Enjoy!

Fitness Class Fun
Yoga, Zumba, Indoor Cycling, Pilates, ballet, kickboxing?! There are so many different exercise classes that are an extremely good time—why not bring your friends? Your birthday wish can (and should!) absolutely revolve around getting your best pals to join the fitness class you love. A lot of gyms and fitness centers have group rates or bring-a-friend prices, so definitely take advantage of them. What better way to start a new year in your life than with a little healthy sweat alongside your best friends?

Group Run Get-Together
Similarly, a nice group run is a wonderful way to set yourself up for success. Start your special day off right with a gorgeous run outdoors. Yes, gyms are great, and treadmills are good for your joints, but Vitamin D is important and it’s a lot more fun to run en masse in a park or along a trail. You can even theme the run. How fun would it be to run with birthday hats on or along a trail of landmarks from your childhood? Make it a little more interesting and your friends will definitely be in.

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Posted on May 14, 2024 by Jessica Tholmer

On Demand Eating: 6 Types of Food Delivery Services that Will Bring You Whatever You Crave

Remember when having food delivered basically meant the Domino’s Pizza guy ringing your doorbell? Now you can get pretty much anything delivered to your doorstep, regardless of where you live or what you feel like eating. Here are 6 of our favorite healthy ways to make the most of this new craze for on demand eating:

If You’re an Athlete: You know how sports drinks and energy bars seem to take up a lot of shelf space at the grocery store? It can be hard to cut through the clutter and find the best foods to fuel your workouts. The pros at The Feed do this for you. Their in-house experts customize a monthly box of sports nutrition for you or you can build your own. Boxes start at $20.01

If You Like to Cook (but hate to shop): We’ve already reported on Amazon’s growing grocery delivery service and other companies like Fresh Direct are also carving out a space in the market. This is great for anyone who likes to keep food in the fridge but can’t seem to make the time to shop. Some services charge a fee of around $10, which may seem steep or cheap, depending on how you feel about grocery stores. (more…)

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Jessica Cassity

6 Secrets for a Healthy Backyard Cookout

By Team Best Life

Spring is in the air and so is the smell of smoky, mouth-watering barbecue! As you prepare to pick up your spatula and fire up the grill follow these six barbecue basics for a healthy and tasty meal:

Look for lean.
Opt for lean meats to keep calories and fat in check. Try burgers made with lean beef (95 percent), buffalo burgers with naturally lean ground buffalo meat, turkey burgers, or veggie burgers (try this tasty recipe). As for steak, look for T-bone or different cuts of sirloin and flank steaks, or buffalo steaks, which are naturally lean. And don’t forget to remove the skin from poultry; it’s loaded with fat.

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Posted on May 13, 2024 by BestLifeDiet

Vermont Becomes First State to Require GMO Labeling

Governor Peter Shumlin made history when he signed a bill into law making Vermont the first state to require the labeling of genetically modified foods. The new law will take effect July 1, 2024, so in just two years, residents of the state of Vermont can expect to GMO labels on foods.

While many were cheering the signing of the bill, Shumlin announced an online fundraiser set up to help battle the expected legal challenges to the new law. Opponents to the law have already threatened lawsuit, and the Grocery Manufacturers’ Association has state government has no compelling interest in warning consumers about GMO foods.

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Posted on May 12, 2024 by Elizabeth

No More Sicky D’s for Me! I’m a Recovering McDonald’s Addict Who is One Year Clean

There’s this strange food euphoria that exists when you bite in to a plain cheeseburger, a few french fries, and take a swig of an ice cold Coke from McDonald’s. I craved it. Lusted after it. I would make up any excuse in the book to get it. This was one of my biggest food vices – the number two combo at McDonald’s with cheese and mustard only.

As of Friday, I haven’t had it in a year. I’m really proud of that. It’s not that I learned something new, but I finally reconciled how that “food” made me feel was not how I should feel after eating a meal. I decided I never wanted to feel that way again.

Invariably, every time I’d finish a burger and fries from Mickey D’s I’d have a headache, stomach cramps, nausea, shaking, or a combination of those. That was consistent. Sometimes I’d order it because it sounded good or it was the easiest option. Sometimes I’d order it out of boredom. Sometimes it was because I was traveling on the turnpike and well, you can’t not get McDonald’s on a road trip! Sometimes I ate it just to eat it.

TELL US ON FACEBOOK: When was the last time you ate fast food?

Whatever the reason, I always knew what I was putting in my body. I swore off my love affair for their chicken nuggets years ago after watching Jamie Oliver demonstrate how that food atrocity is created. The thought makes me ill. Considering that a McDonald’s burger isn’t inclined to rot or spoil, I knew that whatever was in it wasn’t beef alone. Did that stop me from eating it? No. Ignorance is bliss, and I’d chomp away. (more…)

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Natalie K

Work it Off: 3 Ways to Burn off the 350 Calories in a Chocolate Croissant

This past fall I noticed a big flaw in my diet: When I wrote from the comfort of a coffee shop I tended to treat myself to baked goods. When I worked from home I snacked on whatever was available, which was usually fruit or nuts. Oops!

Of course, my coffee shop routine didn’t start out this way. At first I ate a chocolate croissant every few outings, but before long this turned into an each and every time splurge. (Clearly I didn’t read this article on choosing healthy snacks at a coffee shop!) So I changed course and started working from home more. But after several months of this new routine I decided that I needed a change of scenery.

This past week I returned to my favorite coffee shop and, for old times sake, ordered my favorite baked good of all, a chocolate croissant. I love the flaky pastry, the gooey chocolate… the way I can drag it out to last a good part of an hour.

I do not love the 350 calories in each one.

What are some ways I could have burned off these extra 350 calories? (more…)

Posted on May 11, 2024 by Jessica Cassity

Dawn Bonavita Lost 93 Pounds After Painful Struggle with Fertility

This Sunday, when Dawn Bonavita celebrates Mother’s Day, she will likely open homemade cards made by sticky hands and hug each child as they bound in to tell her good morning. In the decade and a half it took to have her three daughters, Dawn struggled with infertility, pregnancy loss, and weight that fluctuated wildly due to stress and bouts of depression.

After losing 93 pounds, Dawn feels blessed that she’s now the mom who can play with her kids without feeling winded, lift up her two year old with ease, and be an example of healthy living.

Just say no to cookies – This was the humiliating advice given to Dawn by a pediatrician when she was just a young girl. Heavy most of her childhood, Dawn became very active in high school and sprouted to five foot ten, which kept her trim for a few years but soon, the process of starting a family would take its toll on her waistline once again.

“My late twenties and all of my thirties were consumed with fertility issues,” Dawn explained. “We used fertility treatments to get pregnant with our first child and it worked within three months.” Unfortunately, Dawn’s second pregnancy would not be as easy. During the four years it took to conceive her second child, Dawn endured four rounds of IVF treatments and lost five pregnancies.

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Posted on May 10, 2024 by Dani Stone

5 Reasons Why Most Of Us Should NOT Go Gluten-Free

By Layne Lieberman, RD, Culinary Nutritionist and author of “Beyond The Mediterranean Diet: European Secrets Of The Super-Healthy”

A small percentage of the population that greatly benefit from following a gluten-free: These are the estimated 1 to 2 percent of people who have been diagnosed with celiac disease and the 0.2 to 0.4 percent who suffers from wheat allergy.

So what about the rest of us, the 98% of the population that hasn’t been diagnosed with celiac disease or a wheat allergy?

Some of the biggest diet buzzwords right now are gluten-intolerance or gluten-sensitivity but there’s no test to determine if an individual actually has this. The truth is, the gluten-free movement has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Despite what’s written in fear-mongering books like “Grain Brain” and “Wheat Belly”, for most of the population there is no reason to go 100% gluten-free. (I do, however, strongly support eliminating processed foods like white bread, cookies, chips, pretzels, and cakes.)

Here’s why most of us should NOT be on a gluten-free diet:

Gluten-free diets recommend substituting rice for wheat. This may not be a good idea in the long-term. Rice absorbs arsenic (and cadmium) from the ground. Small quantities in the diet are of no concern. But when rice (or rice flour) is a staple, as recommended in some gluten-free diets, it can be troublesome and may even result in poisoning.
Restaurant and supermarket gluten-free offerings can be highly processed and packed with calories, sugar, salt and fat. One half of an Uno Chicago Grill Gluten-Free Pepperoni Pizza has 500 calories, 21 grams of fat, 1040 milligrams of sodium and 6 grams of sugar. Yikes! (more…)

Posted on May 9, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Goji Berries: Healthy for Everyone, Vital for Vegetarians

Sometimes the best things come in the smallest packages! What am I referring to? The tiny goji berry, which is one of nature’s most nutritionally complete foods.

Never heard of it? Goji berries are referred to as “red diamonds” in their native Himalayan China and Tibet. The bite-size super foods contain 18 different amino acids, aka the building blocks for protein, including 8 of the 9 essential food-based amines that our body cannot produce on their own. This makes them especially crucial for vegetarians and vegans who are not eating complete animal proteins like eggs, fish, and meat products.

Goji berries are sold around the world and are usually packaged as dried berries. (They kind of look like pink raisins.) You can find them in most health food stores and increasingly in regular grocery stores too. The berries are pretty sweet in taste, but they’re also pretty complex tasting overall because of all the nutrients and minerals they deliver.

History of Goji Berries
Goji berries have always played an integral part in Chinese medicinal practices since ancient times, dating back as far as 5,000 years! They are still prescribed for their eye, liver, and kidney-supporting properties and they are also believed to boost “chi”, or invigorating life energy, in those who eat them. There are many well-documented claims that daily consumption of goji berries played a key role in unbelievable longevity: one man even claimed to have lived 252 years! (I’m not convinced of his math, but still!)

Super Food Superpowers
Here’s a cheat sheet on the benefits you can expect from go-go-goji berries:

Contains 21 trace minerals like zinc, iron, copper, calcium, and phosphorus
Richest source of carotenoids of all known foods on earth. Way more than even carrots!
500x more Vitamin C than oranges by weight
8 of 9 essential amino acids, almost a complete protein (more…)

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Katie McGrath

Get it While it’s Hot: Cauliflower is THE Vegetable of 2024

A delicious new trend has been popping up everywhere lately, and I am all for it: Cauliflower is having a moment, sprouting up in all sorts of recipes and proving that it is one of the most versatile vegetables out there. (It’s a side! It’s a main dish! It’s probably even a dessert somewhere!)

Have you noticed this trend? We’ve been spotting cauliflower recipes all over the web and cauliflower dishes on restaurant menus, sort of like Brussels sprouts circa 2024.

So what are the best things to do with this hearty veggie, which is low in fat, but high in fiber, water, and vitamin C? I’m so glad you asked! With no further ado, the best cauliflower recipes to try out ASAP:

Mock Potato Salad
Like the mashed potato idea you may have heard of but with a summery twist! This recipe for “mock potato salad” is brilliant. There are no potatoes in this salad, but cauliflower instead. Everything else you will recognize from your favorite potato salad recipes: eggs, mayonnaise, celery, mustard, dill. Warm weather friendly!

Cauliflower Tater Tots
There is not a potato in sight in this phenomenally addictive recipe. Only (spoiler alert!) cauliflower! Served as a side dish or even the main course, the recipe calls for not much more than cauliflower, coconut oil, and seasoning. Yum. (more…)

Posted on May 7, 2024 by Jessica Tholmer

Weight Discrimination – Real, and Wrong

Should body weight be considered a protected class under Civil Rights laws? According to 3 out of 4 people asked in a new study, the answer is yes.

New research from the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity shows most Americans support policies addressing weight discrimination. In fact, at least 60 percent of Americans are supportive of policy efforts to address weight discrimination across the country.

According to Rebecca Puhl, PhD, study author and deputy director of the Rudd Center, “More than two-thirds of adults in the United States are affected by overweight or obesity, meaning they are also vulnerable to the stigma and discrimination that these proposed policies and laws would help prevent.”

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Posted on May 6, 2024 by Elizabeth

Diet and Nutrition

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