Can Diet Drinks Aid Weight Loss?– I personally find the diet soda controversy very interesting. For me personally I can honestly say diet soda was sometimes a savior during my weight loss and I do not know if I would have been able to accomplish my results as quickly without it.  Diet drinks allowed me to get a sweet fix in the afternoon without turning to sugar and were a huge help in social events when wanting to avoid alcohol.  I did end up giving up diet soda two and a half years ago when I went into weight maintenance and since then my sweet tooth has diminished substantially.

Fitness Crazed– This article asks the question are trendy workouts really better then classic exercise? “The human body is an adaptation machine. If you force it to do something a little harder than it has had to do recently, it will respond — afterward, while you rest — by changing enough to be able to do that new hard task more comfortably next time. This is known as the progressive overload principle. All athletic training involves manipulating that principle through small, steady increases in weight, speed, distance or whatever.”

30 Percent of World Is Now Fat, No Country Immune- “Researchers found more than 2 billion people worldwide are now overweight or obese. The highest rates were in the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 60 percent of men and 65 percent of women are heavy. The U.S. has about 13 percent of the world’s fat population, a greater percentage than any other country. China and India combined have about 15 percent.”

Mental Illness Can Shorten Lives More Than Chain-Smoking– This is an interesting perspective I have never thought about. Something to keep in mind. “About 20 percent of people in the United States and the U.K. smoke, he adds — around the same percentage of people who suffer from mental illness.”

Mastering the Art of Self-Negotiation– This article is not as much research based as tips and tricks to help you stick to your plan. I thought the advice was good, so thought I would share. “For every positive choice that affects our health and well-being, there’s at least one counter-argument that – in the murky waters of our mental workings can dissuade us from our good intentions.”

Photo from Huff Post