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Self-Care Is Not An Indulgence. It's A Discipline.

The way self-care is portrayed today is completely and utterly backward. First, self-care as a concept is almost exclusively aimed at women (generally wealthy white women who can afford the goods and services that get marketed to them as self-care). The not-so-subtle suggestion is that women need to be reminded to care for themselves because, after all, they are so busy taking care of everyone else. And the even less-subtle suggestion is that while we should be taking care of ourselves, that doesn’t absolve us from taking care of everyone else.

Click Forbes.com for the rest of the article.

HOW TO QUIT SUGAR: THE 7 STEPS I TOOK TO FINALLY QUIT SUGAR AND HOW YOU CAN, TOO!

Click A Sweet Pea Chef for the full article.

The Best Tips for Reading Nutrition Labels

How to read nutrition labels at a glance. The nutrition facts explained, plus what words to avoid and the most important nutrients to watch for on the label.

The nutrition world can be confusing. One minute, we’re all worried about fat, the next minute we’re all worried about calories and then everyone was up in arms about sugar. Have you noticed the health trends shifting over the years? It's hard to stay on top of it!
The nutrition world is ever-changing, but there is one constant that hasn't changed in 18 years: the nutrition label. The label was passed into law in 1990 and required that all packaged foods bear nutrition labeling, which included the food ingredient panel, serving sizes and all terms such as “low fat” and “light” be standardized.

Since these labels are on pretty much everything in the grocery store these days, I thought it might be helpful to share how I personally look at nutrition labels. What I pay attention to, what I don't pay attention to and what it all means.

I have a certain process I go through when buying new products or looking at packaged food at the grocery store so that's what we're going to talk about today!

Click Simply Quinoa for the full article.

Artificial Sweeteners 101: Are They Healthy or Harmful?

A complete guide to artificial sweeteners. Are they healthy or are they harming our health? We break down each sweetener and also include healthier options.

If you’ve been an avid reader of the blog lately, you’ve probably noticed that I’m diving into all things sugar. The general theme is around the dangers of a high sugar diet and ways to limit that… and you can’t talk about that theme in full if you don’t talk about no-calorie sweeteners, amiright?!

Artificial sweeteners have a lot of draw. They add sweetness to our food of course, which makes our brain happy, but they're also zero calorie, which makes our waistline happy, right? Well…not really! It's actually be proven that artificial sweeteners can just as much harm to your health as sugar. The fake sugar packets you see in restaurants are chemicals and have been linked to health issues like weight gain, diabetes and even cancer

So… what do we do? Let's dive in!

Click Simply Quinoa for the full article.

Fiber 101: How to Get More Fiber & Why It’s Important

Ever wondered how to get more fiber? Here's how! See why fiber is important for health, how to get more fiber into your diet and the best sources of fiber.

We're back with another nutrition article and this time we're talking all about fiber! Fiber is one of those things I talk a lot about in my masterclasses, but we haven't gotten down and dirty with it here on the blog.

So think of today's article as a kind of Fiber 101. A who, what, why, where and how style thing.

We'll be talking about what fiber is, why fiber is important, the best sources of fiber, how to get more fiber into your and how much fiber is recommended per person. Fiber is a pillar to health and super important part of our diet, so let's just go ahead and dive in!

Click Simply Quinoa for the full article.

Sweet potatoes vs potatoes: Which are really healthier?

Let's get to the bottom of this never-ending debate.

By Brian St. Pierre, RD, CSCS, CISSN

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Sweet potatoes vs. potatoes: A nutritional debate fueled by misinformation, baseless ‘superfood’ obsessions, and carbohydrate phobias. Here’s how these tubers compare — and why both deserve a place in your diet.

Click the link for the rest of the article: Precision Nutrition

11 Reasons Why Real Foods Help You Lose Weight

It's no coincidence that the rapid rise in obesity happened around the same time highly processed foods became more available.

Although highly processed foods are convenient, they are packed with calories, low in nutrients and increase your risk of many diseases.

On the other hand, real foods are very healthy and can help you lose weight.

Click Healthline for the rest of the article.

7 TIPS TO GET BACK INTO EXERCISE AFTER A BREAK

Most of us fall off our exercise routine at one point or another. Whether busy, injured, stressed, on vacation or suffering from burnout, even the most dedicated fitness junkie has to take the occasional break from physical activity. Trouble is, most of us struggle to gain traction once we’re ready to return to our exercise routine.

“When we fall out of the consistent habit of exercise it can make even the idea of it feel completely daunting and downright stressful,” says Chelsea Aguiar, personal trainer and founder of Athaya Fitness in New York City.

So, what are some steps to make your transition back into fitness more manageable? Here are seven expert-backed tips:

Click My Fitness Pal for the full article.

How to Read Food Labels Without Being Tricked

Reading labels is a tricky business.

Consumers are more health-conscious than ever, so food manufacturers use misleading tricks to convince people to buy their products.

They often do this even when the food is highly processed and unhealthy.

The regulations behind food labeling are complex, so it's not surprising that the average consumer has a hard time understanding them.

This article briefly explains how to read food labels, and how to sort out the junk from the truly healthy foods.

Click Authority Nutrition for the full article.

Fitness After 40

I’ve had the following conversation, or one very similar to it, every August for the past few years upon my return from participating in the annual Lake Placid Summit Lacrosse Tournament.

“What did you do this weekend?”
“I was up in Lake Placid playing in that giant lacrosse tournament they hold up there every year.”
“Wait. You’re … how old?”
“I’m 48.”
“Aren’t you a little too old to still be playing lacrosse?”

Click Healthier Upstate NY for the full article.

8 Common Side Effects of Weight Loss Nobody Talks About

When we begin a weight-loss journey, we often have a vision of what our body and life will be like when we reach our goal weight. But the reality is typically different.

“Weight loss is something that, for people who need it, can make a huge positive impact in their lives, physically and psychologically. But weight is such a complicated and publicly visible matter that sometimes weight loss is a mixed blessing,” says Patrick O’Neil, PhD, director of the Medical University of South Carolina Health Weight Management Center.

Here is how to handle eight typical consequences of losing weight that nobody tells you ab

Click My Fitness Pal for the full article.

Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

"I'm going to make you work hard," a blonde and perfectly muscled fitness instructor screamed at me in a recent spinning class, "so you can have that second drink at happy hour!"

At the end of the 45-minute workout, my body was dripping with sweat. I felt like I had worked really, really hard. And according to my bike, I had burned more than 700 calories. Surely I had earned an extra margarita.

The spinning instructor was echoing a message we've been getting for years: As long as you get on that bike or treadmill, you can keep indulging — and still lose weight. It's been reinforced by fitness gurus, celebrities, food and beverage companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, and even public-health officials, doctors, and the first lady of the United States. Countless gym memberships, fitness tracking devices, sports drinks, and workout videos have been sold on this promise.

There's just one problem: This message is not only wrong, it's leading us astray in our fight against obesity.

Click VOX Media for the full article.

15 Simple Hacks For Eating Less Sugar

All it takes is one Google search to confirm that too much sugar is bad for you. We hear it all the time that we need to eat less sugar. But with the current state of the food label, it can be very confusing and hard to identify how much sugar we are actually eating.

Obesity rates are on the rise and sugar-sweetened beverages have undoubtedly taken the heat, but that’s only the short story. Leading researchers are finding that added sugars such as high fructose corn syrup might be the causing the liver to work overtime leading to a myriad of issues from metabolic syndrome to fatty liver disease.

Click My Fitness Pal for the rest of the article.

What a Healthy Summer BBQ Plate Looks Like

Navigating summer barbecues may seem like a daunting task when you’re trying not to undo all the healthy eating you’ve been doing all winter long. Yes, you can still be swimsuit-ready and enjoy poolside parties without going overboard on calories. Below you’ll find examples of what a healthy, but satisfying, summer cookout plate looks like at four different calorie counts.

First, some quick tips: Make sure at least half your plate is filled with fruits and veggies

Click My Fitness Pal for the full recipe.

The Surprising Benefits of Cutting Back on Sugar

Don’t be alarmed—but something’s hiding in your food. From the cereal you had for breakfast to the dressing on your salad to the ketchup on your fries, an addictive substance is lurking in many foods that you’d never suspect.

Far more loathed than fat or cholesterol these days, sugar has become public enemy No. 1 when it comes to the health of America. In fact, in our effort to listen to doctors’ orders (and government guidelines) to consume less fat and less cholesterol, Americans turned to “healthy” low-fat foods that were actually loaded with sugar.

Click My Fitness Pal for the full recipe.

7 Signs you're getting healthier even if you're not losing weight.

It’s no secret that there are myriad ways to measure your overall health: strength, aerobic fitness, cholesterol levels, mood and, of course, the seductive shrinking of that number on the scale. But what happens when you’re not dropping pounds — or worse, you’re actually gaining a few — despite sticking to your diet and exercise commitments?

This isn’t a sign that you should throw in the towel. The number on the scale is simply one factor of your health, and weight-loss plateaus are incredibly common.

If you feel like you’ve hit a frustrating leveling-off period after making some dietary changes, it might be time to amp up your fitness routine to restart that slim down. Add speed drills to your morning run or tack cardio onto your weight-training routine.

In the meantime, to keep you going strong to the other edge of that plateau, pay extra attention to these seven signs that you’re getting healthier even if you’re not losing weight:

Click My Fitness Pal for the full article.

What Sugar Cravings Might Really Mean

For many people, the battle with sugar can be particularly ferocious. It can arise during an afternoon slump at work, first thing in the morning, after every meal, in the middle of a workout — or, worst, in the middle of the night. In a sugar-laden world, it becomes too easy to reach for a quick fix.

Cravings tend to crop up when there’s a sense of depletion. However, if you can pinpoint what you lack, it’s easier to make healthier choices instead of going for something sugar-coated.

Here are a few possibilities for what may be driving those sweet cravings:

Click My Fitness Pal for the full article.

Is junk food really cheaper?

The “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes. I frequently read confident statements like, “when a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli ...” or “it’s more affordable to feed a family of four at McDonald’s than to cook a healthy meal for them at home.”

Click NY Times for the rest of the article.

Articles

The Best Tips for Reading Nutrition Labels

Artificial Sweeteners 101: Are They Healthy or Harmful?

Fiber 101: How to Get More Fiber & Why It’s Important

Let's get to the bottom of this never-ending debate.

7 TIPS TO GET BACK INTO EXERCISE AFTER A BREAK

Click My Fitness Pal for the full article.

How to Read Food Labels Without Being Tricked

Fitness After 40

The Surprising Benefits of Cutting Back on Sugar

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