Diet and Nutrition

Reverend Al Sharpton Released from the Prison of His Own Body after 170 Pound Weight Loss

In an all encompassing interview about his life, airing this Sunday on OWN, with media mogul Oprah Winfrey, the Reverend Al Sharpton discussed his substantial weight loss. The civil rights leader, who’s always been a fierce orator, decided to become just as passionate about his health as he was with his beliefs. After a max weight of 305 pounds left him feeling like a “prisoner in my own body,” Sharpton has since lost nearly 170 pounds.

The 135-pound Sharpton once coupled his larger than life sermons with an equally boisterous body. While his physique can now be best described as shockingly petite, he’s still a spitfire in the pulpit. His come-to-the-scale moment happened when he realized the contradictions involved in preaching self-control while he overate and lived a lethargic lifestyle. He told Oprah, “We can’t preach community control when we aren’t practicing self-control.”

So, how did the good reverend do it? Simple portion control and exercise. He swapped platefuls of fried chicken for whole grains and salads and exercises on a cardio bicycle everyday. “You live seven days a week, that means you should exercise seven days a week,” he told Oprah. (more…)

Posted on November 20, 2023 by Patrick

5 Fall Fruit Desserts to Bake, Poach, and Grill Your Way to 5 a Day

By Team Best Life

You already know that fruit is loaded with good-for-you nutrients, including fiber, vitamins and phytochemicals, all of which can keep you healthy, so we’ll save that lecture again. Choices certainly become a bit more limited in the fall and winter (unless you want to shell out for expensive imports), but there are plenty of in-season fruits that totally satisfy your sweet tooth. Our favorite way to get our fruit fix: Have it for dessert. Fruit is the perfect base for desserts because it’s naturally sweet. So this season, grab your favorite fall or winter fruit and bake, poach, or even grill your way to five a day.

apples pears

Bake It

Pop some fruit in the oven for a warm, melt-in-your-mouth treat. You can make a fruit crisp or crumble, which features a crunchy, sweet topping, or a fruit slump, which boasts a moister topping that literally slumps into the fruit while it’s baking. Or top your baked fruit with a little chocolate, as in this Baked Pear with Chocolate Sauce recipe.

Poach It

Simmer your fruit in liquid with a bit of sugar to create a juicy and mouthwatering dish. Want a little more flavor? Try adding some of your favorite spices, as shown in this recipe for Poached Fall Fruit: Grapes, Apples and Pears with Cinnamon, Cardamom and Anise. (more…)

Posted on November 20, 2023 by BestLifeDiet

8 Thanksgiving Myths Debunked: Fact Checking Your Food Coma

Thanksgiving is about as traditional as you can get. The holiday has been around for centuries, and the celebration of it really hasn’t changed much. Essentially, you gather family and friends around a table, eat some turkey and slip in to a food-fueled haze. Frankly, it can be a little stale (much like the leftovers).

In an effort to shake up the holiday, we’re taking on some of the most persistent myths about Thanksgiving. From sleep-inducing turkey to a show-down of the spuds, here are some holiday “facts” that you may want to get checked.

Myth 1: Turkey makes you sleepy

Want to take a nap after ingesting an enormous Thanksgiving dinner? It must be the tryptophan in the turkey! However, that’s not the case. While turkey does contain tryptophan, and tryptophan does make people sleepy, there’s not enough of it in your turkey dinner to have any effect. More likely you’re sleepy because of holiday stress, alcohol or the giant meal you just ate.

Myth 2: White meat is better than dark

Dark turkey meat has more calories and fat than white meat. It also has more vitamins and minerals per serving. Not only that, but because of the higher fat content, it has a juicier flavor which makes for better-tasting leftovers. (more…)

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Elizabeth

Detox Diets and Fasts Do Not Work and May Increase Toxins in the Body

To detox or not to detox? That is the question I had for Gerard Mullin, MD of Johns Hopkins University as he spoke about nutritional detoxification at the 2024 Food & Nutrition Conferences and Expo a few weeks ago.

Dr. Mullin said that toxins are everywhere – in the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the things we touch.

Bisphenol A (BPA), a carcinogen, is in plastics, dental sealants, canned food linings, and cash register receipts.

Phthalates, other carcinogens, are found in fatty milk, butter and meats, along with personal care products, detergents, children’s toys, printing inks, and more.

Heavy metals, like arsenic, mercury and lead, are in food, batteries, paints, plastics, and fertilizers.

For the most part, toxins are “endocrine disruptors” that change the way our hormones regulate bodily functions. In animal studies, endocrine disruptors are linked to cancers, birth defects, diabetes, and other diseases. What is worse is that, when they work together, the sum of their actions is greater than the whole, and they are stored practically forever in body fat. Whether or not an individual develops a problem depends on genetics, level of exposure, and the quality of nutrients in the diet. (more…)

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Natalie K

Conflict of Interest Colored Dietitians’ Annual Food and Nutrition Conference

Sponsorships are generally beneficial and non-controversial. They’re a way to keep doing business without having to worry about funds. But what happens when those sponsorships are in direct conflict with the mission of the sponsored?

When this happens in the field of dietetics, advocacy groups like Dietitians for Professional Integrity (DFPI) are formed. Founded in February by a group of citizens and 14 dietitians, they were primarily a Facebook group discussing concerns like the connection between the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) and Big Food.

Last month AND held their annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. DFPI attended the event, commonly referred to as FNCE, and have now released a report entitled “The Food Ties that Bind,” summarizing and detailing the message Big Food shared with the attendees.

According to the report, the Expo hall was liberally peppered with information from AND’s various partners and sponsors, including but not limited to: Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Unilever, General Mills, PepsiCo and the National Dairy Council. Corporate sponsors of FNCE had the opportunity to include “educational materials” in the tote bag provided to each attendee.

One handout, “Aspartame: One of the Most Studied Ingredients in the World,” was provided by Coca-Cola’s Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness. It detailed how long aspartame has existed and stated that it is used in 100+ countries around the world. It failed to include information from a recent study that found artificial sweeteners can alter the food reward-system response in the brain. This after Coca-Cola got blasted for being the health and wellness sponsor at BlogHer by the social media community. (more…)

Posted on November 18, 2023 by Elizabeth

Health Focused Startup CEOs are a Health Trend Worth Adopting

When you hear that a guy is techy, a computer geek, or the like, you probably picture some frumpy Mountain Dew-chugging, finger-stained Cheetos eater. It’s an unfortunate stereotype, and like those tend to be, it can be true. It can also be terribly untrue. And that’s the case for some of the biggest names in tech.

The start-up and tech community is bustling; it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that is generating the biggest ideas, products, and innovations of our time. The best part? Its leaders aren’t weighed down. Not only is it ultra cool for these start-up companies to have offices that resemble something closer to playtime at a kid’s after-school program than a Fortune 500 boardroom (which is a mark of pride, mind you), but they try to out-kitchen each other. From Google’s globally infamous healthified free-to-employees cafeteria to the fresh apples and KIND bars that are staples in Greatist’s kitchenette, health is a mark of pride.

And what these brilliant CEOs are eating is as interesting as what hip hop moguls have parked in their garages – we want to know! From what we can tell, taking care of yourself isn’t just for the ladies. In an industry dominated by dudes, it’s nice to know they’re choosing fit over frump.

So how do these titans of tech, these moguls of mobile “diet,” per se? Better than most of their consumers, that’s for sure.

MARK ZUCKERBERG — Facebook

He’s an on-again off-again meat eater. He spent 2024 “basically” as a vegetarian, after committing to only eat meat he killed himself. He says the experience was good, and that it lead him to healthier foods, even learning more about sustainable farming and raising of animals. Fast forward to last summer and he was posting pictures of steaks, thanks to his iGrill app, he certainly didn’t kill himself. (more…)

Posted on November 18, 2023 by Natalie K

Food Blogger Spotlight: Lauren from I. AM. YOU.

I’d like you to meet Lauren, a Cali girl with a Princeton education who moved to New York and left her job as vice president of Morgan Stanley to create I. AM. YOU. Located in Manhattan, I. AM. YOU. is a, “lifestyle company based on Yoga, Nourishment, and Music.” You guys, she is just the coolest!

If doing yoga in NY is not on your to-do list, first of all, where are your priorities, second of all, no problem, her site still provides a wealth of information about healthy living and a ton of delicious recipes you’ll want to make – right after your sun salutation. Namaste!

Kelly Sand Lost 59 Pounds by Kickboxing and Dropping the Cheat Day

I’ve never met Kelly Sand in real life, but she seems like the kind of person who would be the first to give you a hug if you were down and make you a batch of tasty, low-fat cookies for your birthday. Kelly is an exuberant champion for weight loss and a health-conscious lifestyle, though she admits it was a long time coming.

Kelly remembers being aware of her weight when she was in middle school and was no longer able to share clothes with her smaller twin sister. She attributes the weight gain to simply being unaware of “how” to eat correctly. “I don’t think I ever really got a handle on my portions,” she explained. “I don’t think I stopped eating when I felt full. It wasn’t anything emotional; it just was there so I ate it and more than I probably should have.”

Later, an influx of new-ness into her life including marriage, the move to a new city, and a new job caused her to be depressed and withdrawn. Due to the lack of activity and poor diet choices, her weight crept even higher. While looking at Christmas pictures where she was sure she was, “sucking it in,” she realized that her current weight of 255 pounds could no longer be hidden. She had to get serious and make changes.

(more…)

Posted on November 16, 2023 by Dani Stone

The Cotton Ball Diet is Trending Amongst Young Girls Despite All Logical Reasoning

Let’s eat cotton balls so we’ll feel full … to whom did this ever sound like a great idea?

Apparently it’s sounding better and better to young girls across the country who are gobbling up the newest trend in diets (read: eating disorders). Not exclusive to teens and tweens, it’s no surprise that models are swallowing this new take on eat-less-weigh-less, too.

It appears to work like this: Dip the cotton ball in your choice of beverage. In the video, lemonade, orange juice and a smoothie were shown being used as the lubricant to make these cotton balls more palatable. Some dieters do this before a meal, limiting the amount of real food they’re able to consume; other dieters consume the cotton balls exclusively.

Nothing good can come of doing this. Absolutely nothing.

Dr. Doug Nunamaker, a physican at the direct care practice Atlas, MD in Wichita, Kansas called it “pretty much one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard people trying in order to lose weight.” We are quite inclined to agree.

Followers of this absurd trend stand to lose more than just weight, as any level of extended use will bring on malnutrition, which has warning signs of anemia, diarrhea, hair loss, disorientation, loss of concentration, weakness, lack of energy, dried and cracking skin, and can even lead to organ failure and death in some cases. (more…)

Posted on November 15, 2023 by Natalie K

More Deadly Chemicals Looming in Foods We Already Eat; FDA Warns of Acrylamide

It’s time for our weekly “Everything You Eat Will Somehow Kill You” blog post. We all know the health consequences of eating fast food and oversized restaurant portions, and just last week we learned that many seemingly harmless grocery store products secretly contain trans fat. Personally, I’ve been avoiding all risk by subsisting on small berries and nuts I gather through urban foraging, and when I want to treat myself to an actual meal, I haven’t dared venture out of my chemical-free kitchen. But my extreme measures may be all for naught, as the FDA has revealed that cooking food at home—even the most organic of natural grains and vegetables—could kill us all.

Pardon my apocalyptic tone, but it’s true. Acrylamide—a chemical that naturally forms in foods prepared at high temperatures—is a carcinogen that can cause severe nerve damage in high doses. A scary fact when you consider the stuff “is found in 40 percent of the calories consumed in the average American diet,” according to the FDA in a release posted today.

Side note: acrylamide is also used as an industrial chemical in waste water treatment. Yum. (more…)

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Patrick

Biggest Loser “Save” Goes Home Amid Controversy – We Talk to Craig

Last night on The Biggest Loser, the battered white team was dealt another blow when trainer Jillian Michaels was called out during the final weigh in for giving her team caffeine supplements last week without permission. The public chastising led to a ripple effect of consequences including a four-pound penalty for Jillian’s team and a reversal of last week’s events that gave immunity back to team blue and allowed the convenient return of fan favorite Ruben Studdard.

Unfortunately, the white team could not overcome Jillian’s penalty and Craig fell under the red line – for the second time.

We had a chance to speak with Craig about his elimination, his feelings toward Jillian now, and how he’s doing at home:

DIR: Your journey continued with a save from Jillian but ended because of it, how does that feel?

Craig: I know my leaving was premature but it was my time. The five weeks I had at the ranch were amazing and gave me motivation to do it on my own at home. I was actually excited go to back and see my wife and daughter.

DIR: How is your relationship with Jillian? Do you blame her for your exit?

Craig: My relationship with Jillian is great. Fear-wise she helped me through things I never would’ve been able to work through on my own. I’m using everything she taught me and I’m grateful.

(more…)

Posted on November 13, 2023 by Dani Stone

Diet and Nutrition

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