Diet and Nutrition

We Love Evol Burritos

Finding healthy snacks foods can be tricky. My kids come home from school ravenous and ready to eat anything that doesn’t move, but finding a food that a) is healthy enough to make me happy, and b) yummy enough to make them happy is, c) a tall order to fill. I was recently sent a selection of Evol frozen mini burritos. Evol is Love spelled backwards, and love is what I feel for these bites of yummy goodness.

Tom Speir and Brendan Synnott, two of the founders of Bear Naked granola, discovered these all natural burritos that were being  sold on the side of a mountain to climbers. Impressed by the flavor and quality of the burritos, they created a partnership with the creator, Phil Anson. Made with fresh ingredients, including free range chicken, whole wheat tortillas, and house made chorizo, these burritos have been profiled in Oprah, Vegetarian Times, Hungry Girl and Shape, and were voted Best Burrito by Men’s Health magazine.

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Posted on December 20, 2023 by Carmen

Best Celebrity Bodies of 2024: From Kelly Osbourne’s Weight Loss to Kate Gosselin’s Winning Mom Abs

Fitness magazine just released its list of the best celebrity bodies of 2024. Just as a warning: This is probably not the article you want to be reading after polishing off the last three slices of the holiday pecan pie.

kate middleton

Pie or no pie, having a perfect body is part of the celebrity’s job responsibility – or so it all too often seems.

The good news about this list is that Fitness Magazine drew from a variety of body shapes and sizes when selecting their contenders. So, without further adieu, here is the best celebrity bodies of 2024 list. (more…)

Posted on December 20, 2023 by heather

Weight Watchers Launches Healthy Cooking iPad App

Healthy Eating AppThe long-standing weight-loss system Weight Watchers just got a little more-high tech. Last week they launched a new app for iPad to help you eat healthier meals and slim down. Best of all, the Weight Watchers Kitchen Companion is free.

Anyone who downloads the app will get the ten latest featured recipes, the ability to save their favorite recipes and instructive cooking videos. Plus users can create custom shopping lists and share recipes with their friends via email or Facebook.

People who subscribe to Weight Watchers Online will get even more utility out of the app. Subscribers will receive thousands of Weight Watchers recipes, complete shopping and ingredient guides, and be able to send recipes to the Plan Manager for tracking. Also, they will be able to use the Wight Watchers’ website Recipe Builder to customize and create recipes.

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Posted on December 20, 2023 by Health Buzz

Demystifying the Ways to a Healthy Lifestyle

Maruchy Lachance is president of Running Ninja!, a lifestyle brand for runners by runners. Running Ninja! offers a wide variety of apparel and gifts for runners to keep you happy and inspired while you’re on the run.

I’m not a natural born athlete. So the only way I was finally able to adopt a healthy lifestyle was by simplifying and taking the mystery out of dieting and exercise. This is why I took up running because all it required was a pair of shoes. I also adopted a simple diet that only required that I count calories. I am not the only person to have decided that I would make living a healthy lifestyle easy and inexpensive. Check out some of the creative ways that can help you with your commitment to a healthy lifestyle:

  • Weight loss does not have to be difficult or expensive. A lot of employers are now providing weight loss systems for their employees right at work, while some insurance companies are reimbursing their clients for joining weight loss programs. Take advantage these inexpensive ways to lose weight or to change your eating habits so they are healthier and more efficient.
  • Weight training does not have to happen at a gym and it does not require traditional weights. A pint weighs just over a pound while a gallon is the equivalence of just over eight pounds. Using water in a plastic container with the appropriate weight can provide you a cheap and effective weight for toning your body. (more…)
Posted on December 19, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Quick, Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Every Schedule

Pamela Ofstein is the Director of Nutrition Services at eDiets.com, a leading provider of weight loss services, information and products.

I have three kids, a husband and myself (oh wait, my dog, too!) to get ready first thing in the morning and out the door – it’s utter chaos! There are many days that I get so wrapped up in the hustle that I am half-way to work before realizing I didn’t eat breakfast!

You probably heard your parents say, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Well, they were right! Why, you ask? Research has shown that men and women who eat breakfast every day are far less likely to become obese, compared to those who skip the first meal of the day.

Breakfast helps to fuel your body for the start of the day, so it’s important to choose nutrient-dense foods to fill your tank! It doesn’t have to be a huge fare. A simple meal containing a balance of complex carbs, protein and healthy fats is usually a good combination.

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Posted on December 18, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Jillian Michaels Jumpstart Diet Comes Just in Time for Your New Years Resolutions

Jillian Michaels; Image via: Self.com

What do you get when you put the country’s most powerful fitness expert with the leading women’s health magazine?

The Jillian Micheals Jumpstart Diet at Self.com.

Just in time for New Years when weight loss is a top goal and motivation is high, the Jillian Michaels Jumpstart Diet is a four-week plan to help you drop pounds, strengthen your  muscles and receive the hottest fitness and diet tips from the Biggest Loser‘s toughest trainer.

The Jumpstart Diet is free to join. Once you’re registered, you are entered to win a series of prizes starting from December 16 to March 16, 2024. Find out more about the promotion at Self.com.

For those ready to get losing, here is how the Jumpstart Diet works: (more…)

Posted on December 17, 2023 by heather

Are Your Kids Over-Caffeinated?

little girlA study found that the majority of children are drinking enough caffeine daily to equal a cup of coffee. The study surveyed 228 children between the ages of five and 13. Researchers, who where attempting to find a correlation between caffeine and bed-wetting, reported that 75 percent of children consume caffeine in the form of caffeinated sodas.

The study found that the average child between the ages of five and seven drink an average of 52 milligrams if caffeine a day. Even very young children are drinking a considerable amount of caffeinated soda. Slightly older children, ages eight to 12 averaged 109 milligrams of caffeine per day, the same amount that’s found in a cup of drip coffee. This much caffeine could potentially affect a child’s sleep.

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Posted on December 17, 2023 by Health Buzz

Food-borne Illness Claims 1 in 6 Americans

We recently spotlighted the passing of the Food Safety Modernization Act in the U.S. Senate. Part of the data that supported the legislation, the number of people who die every year from food-borne illness, has been revised in the latest government estimates.

The good news? It’s now estimated at 3,000 deaths as opposed to 5,000. The bad news? That doesn’t mean our food supply is safer. Not to mention, I don’t know about you, but 3,000 people dying every year simply by eating bad food is still disturbing.

“Just because we have more precise data that allows us a better estimate, that doesn’t mean that food-borne illnesses have gone down that much,” says Kirk E. Smith, DVM, PhD, supervisor of the Foodborne Disease Unit of the Minnesota Department of Health. (more…)

Posted on December 17, 2023 by Jason

Winter Soup Swaps and Additions To Maximize Nutrition

Especially this time of year when Old Man Winter is in full force, there’s nothing I love more than a bowl of soup as a meal. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch or even a snack, soup is filling (hello Volumetrics!) and you can pack so much nutrition into a single bowl. Not to mention that soup is pretty fool-proof one-pot dish to make, and usually keeps well as leftovers.

Over the years, I’ve found that no matter what soup recipe you’re following, you can almost always up the nutrition and lower the fat and sodium with a few easy swaps and additions. The best part, because all the flavors in the soup meld together, as long as you keep the proportions right, no one usually notices the healthier changes!

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Posted on December 16, 2023 by Jennipher

Just Say No to Food Pushers (Nicely)

The time between Christmas and New Year’s is always the hardest time to eat healthy. Why is that? Is it because there’s temptation all around? Sometimes, yes. Is it because we have less time to work out and cook healthy meals? For sure. But what’s the No. 1 reason we all seem to struggle this time of year? Guilt.

We feel bad telling our grandmother that we have to forgo her famous mashed potatoes with lots of salt, butter and cream. Or that we can’t eat our aunt’s prized pecan pie. Or we even feel bad for not baking the family’s sugar cookie recipe that we always make. Change is hard, and in a lot of families, people’s feelings get hurt when you don’t act as though you have in the past. It’s a cliché, but in many ways it’s true: Food is love.

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Posted on December 16, 2023 by Jennipher

Cherry Juice May be the New Pomegranate Juice

Remember a few years ago when pomegranate juice was all the rage? Well, it seems as though there may be a new super-food fruit juice in town: tart cherry juice.

Makers of tart cherry juice claim that the drink can do everything from help with wrinkles, insomnia, headaches, swelling, puffiness around the eyes and — most importantly for exercisers — increase muscle recovery time. Manufacturers say that tart cherry juice is high in the antioxidant vitamin E, along with melatonin, vitamin A and beta carotene.

While there hasn’t been that much independent research on the juice, one study published in the online version of the British Journal of Sports Medicine evaluated whether or not a highly-concentrated, specially-processed tart cherry juice blend could prevent the symptoms of muscle damage in a 14 male college students. The study participants were asked to either drink a bottle of the cherry juice blend twice a day for three days before exercise and for four days afterwards, or to drink a placebo juice containing no cherries. The 12-ounce bottle of juice contained the liquid equivalent of 50 to 60 tart cherries blended with commercially available apple juice (from all the cherry juice blends on the market, this is a pretty typical blend, I’ve found).

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Posted on December 16, 2023 by Jennipher