Learning to Like Spicier Food– I have always found it fascinating the differences we all have in our tastes. For instance I hate cilantro, but I know many people out there who love it. Spicy food is along the same line, for some the burn is not that bad or very enjoyable. Others it feels like they may die from it. This article is interesting as it touches on why some people can tolerate spice and others cant. It also gives ways to improve your tolerance. “Researchers noted a positive correlation between the levels of testosterone in a subject and the amount of hot sauce he chose to apply to his potatoes: Those with higher levels drizzled on more of the spicy condiment. Those men also shared tendencies towards social dominance, aggression, and risk-taking behaviors, the researchers found.”

What is Siphon Coffee, and How is it Made? One of the perks of living in the Bay Area is you get immersed in new food and alcohol trends. Not only new trends, but really good ones. Right now coffee is really big in San Francisco and I for one am 100% on board with it. Most of the artisan coffee houses in the city offer siphon coffee. I have yet to try it, but since I keep seeing it pop up as a premium choice I thought it would be good to look into what the process of making Siphon coffee is.

Should Athletes Eat Fat or Carbs?– “Exercise scientists long ago established that endurance training makes athletes better able to use fat as a fuel. And that metabolic adaptation prompted many scientists and coaches in recent years to wonder what would happen if you extended that ability to its farthest extreme and trained an athlete’s body to rely almost exclusively on fat, by removing almost all carbohydrates from the diet and ramping up grease intake?”

Processed Food Additives May Alter Gut Bacteria– A short article on  how researchers have looked at a study with mice and have determined a common ingredient called emulsifiers which is found in a lot of processed foods might increase the risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and metabolic syndrome. A short read.

The Skinny Carb– With all of the different messages being sent to people on what a healthy diet is, researchers decided to give a group of people one message. Eat more fiber. It is interesting to see the results compared to the group who was watching everything they ate.

Photo from Huff Post

A little late with this weeks articles, that is what working on the weekend in NYC will do for you 🙂 Enjoy!

Real Runners Do Take Walk Breaks– I am a runner and I have to say I have the same mentality as the writer of this article does. If you are not running the whole race can you really say you ran it? However now that I am getting older and starting to feel my body more, it just makes sense to approach races with the run/walk mentality. If you end up running the whole thing awesome, but knowing you can walk will just make it easier to approach. “The walk breakers performed well. Runners in both groups finished the marathon with similar times, and the group that took walking breaks experienced less muscle pain and fatigue after the race than their running-only counterparts.”

The Great American Sleep Recession– For anyone who has kids this is a great article on how much sleep different age groups should have along with talking to the preferred age groups for napping. Are you getting the right amount of sleep every night? “While there is plenty of research confirming all that goes wrong when you don’t get enough sleep, there are also proven steps people can take to help fall asleep and sleep better once they do fall asleep. A new study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine says mindful meditation helps adults fall asleep and stay asleep.”

The Best Thing You Can Do For Yourself — And All The Women Around You– One of my girlfriends sent this article over to me as a must read. For any woman out there who feels like you are not doing enough, this is a great article. I for one am constantly juggling work, friends, family, fitness, and feel like I am never living up to my full potential, but why? Why do we all push ourselves so much? I really like what the author has to say here, good food for thought. “Can we draft a joint resolution to drop the crazy-making expectation that we must all be perfect friends and perfect mothers and perfect workers and perfect lovers with perfect bodies who dedicate ourselves to charity and grow our own organic vegetables, at the same time that we run corporations and stand on our heads while playing the guitar with our feet?”

Eggs Are Back: The Elegant Simplicity of the New Diet Guidelines– Finally! We now have guidelines that just make sense. Just a good article on overall nutrition.  “according to new 2015 federal dietary recommendations, released today—are the time-tested basics: moderation and a focus on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.”

Photo From Huff Post

Binge-Watching TV: Sign of Depression, Loneliness?- Ok this article is not ground breaking science. It seems pretty common sense. What I did like about it though is how it made me think about the concept of binge. I have always incorporated this word with food. However when I start to think of bingeing more broadly I think back to my time when I was unhealthy and would binge eat, but it didn’t stop there. I would also binge on TV marathons, I remember watching 8 episodes of the first season of Lost back to back one hungover New Years Day in college. I can recall coming home from work my first year in San Francisco and pouring myself a glass of wine. It felt so relaxing and tasted so good. Next thing I knew I had finished the whole bottle on a Monday night. Looking back now at all of the areas I used to binge I have pretty mush ceased this behavior. I now can hardly sit still for an entire movie let alone an entire season of TV. One glass of wine seems to relax me enough without needing more. I still struggle with the food piece, but I am worlds apart from where I was even 9 months ago. What does this all mean? Well for myself I think once I learned how to eat in moderation it started a trickle down affect across every area. Life is all about balance and once you learn how to balance one area it is easy to apply that behavior to more.

Slow Runners Come Out Ahead– “Plodding joggers tended to live longer than those who ran faster. In fact, the people who jogged most often and at the fastest pace — who were, in effect, runners rather than joggers — did not enjoy much benefit in terms of mortality. In fact, their lifespans tended to be about the same as those who did not exercise at all.”

Is Costco Making Us Fat?– It is interesting to think about if being able to get food for cheaper and in bulk is one of the reasons America is becoming more obese.”Only two of the factors ended up being meaningful drivers of obesity: 1) the proliferation of restaurants and 2) the rise of warehouse clubs, like Costco, and super-centers. Both restaurants and super-centers saw a remarkable growth since 1990, and together they explain about half the rise in class II and class III obesity—the worst varieties”

Why Is Popcorn the Default Movie Theater Snack?– If you are like mean when it is dark, cold, or rainy out I love going to see a movie. What I also love is popcorn, which can be a healthier snack option if you are avoiding the extra butter and salt and eating in moderation. This article is not related to health or fitness, but the history of a snack we all know and love. With the rain pouring down outside this felt appropriate for today.

We Know Why You Are Always Late– This article dives into why people tend to be late. The biggest theme is essentially people are not good at estimating the time certain tasks will take. This article does give some helpful tips on trying to curb tardiness.

Photo from Huff Post

How will you be working out this year? Top fitness trends for 2015–  I had a similar article like this last week, but if you are like me I am all about trends. “Experts predict that the most popular form for exercise for 2015 will be high intensity interval training. This form of exercise uses short bursts of intense exercise, followed by short periods of rest. Usually, this type of training is done as part of a class with a leader. The benefit is that you can get a good workout in as little as 20 minutes.”

Muscle Strength Is in the Mind– “In a small study recently published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, researchers found that much of muscle strength is based on brain activity, rather than on the mass of the muscles themselves. There’s a fair amount of evidence that you’ll activate the same parts of the brain doing imagery as you do if you’re actually doing the task itself,” The basic thought is that the imagery is allowing the brain to maintain those connections.”

The 7 Secrets of Travel Workouts– After just wrapping up my busy season at work I for one am getting ready to start my work travel again. Through in a couple of planned vacations this Spring as well and it looks like I am going to be spending at least a week or two away a month. What this means is breaking up my usual workout routines and having to improvise. This is a lengthy article, but the author gives some really good and specific tips. If you want some quick go to’s then scroll down to the bottom of his article and he has some quick tips.

Junk Food In The New Year– This article is really short, but it is interesting to me that with everyone’s new year resolutions un-healthy food consumption continues to increase after the holiday’s.

Unearthed: How to get people to cook more? Get Easters to complain less– I really enjoyed this article. It talks about the obstacles people face when cooking at home vs eating out or cooking more processed foods. Probably since I do not have children myself, I had never thought about how challenging it would to have someone at your table complaining about what you cook. “Prepared and processed foods are made by people whose job it is to formulate delicious dishes. In some cases, they devote vast resources to irresistibility. They don’t care whether you eat your vegetables or whether you’re getting fat. Their job is to make you like what they cook.  So the hard, cold fact of it is, as Lumeng says, “the food you cook at home is often not as tasty.” No one says “how delicious” because it is not delicious.”

Photo From Huff Post

5 Fitness Trends to Try in 2015- In several articles I have read it looks like High Intensity Training, or HIT is going to be the big trend this next year. I mean who wouldn’t want to burn the same amount of calories in less time? Also top of the list are Body Weight Training, Treadmill Training, Recovery Efforts, and Digital Engagement, aka Apps and other fitness technology.

Mile Posts: 10 Tips For Making 2015 Your Fittest Year Yet– I found all of these tips really useful and good. Especially the Self Pep Talk, we can all do a little more of that.

Why Not Just Breathalyze Yourself?– This article essentially covers personal breathalyzers and if more people were to use them then we could potentially see a decrease in drinking and driving. I like how the author compares it to a speedometer. You would never drive your car without knowing how fast you were going, so know what your BAC is should be similar. With cost’s starting at $30 and the size of a key chain, it seems like an easy low barrier of entry. The question is how do you make it more popular for people?

My Relationship With Food: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do- But So Worth It– This is more of a personal story then it is health tips. However I feel with the New Year and people making resolutions, it is nice to read from someone else’s perspective. I also love the questions she has at the very end to ask yourself. Sometimes I feel we do not stop enough to ask ourselves how the food we eat makes us feel. So why not start now?

The Super-Short Workout and Other Fitness Trends–  Let’s just face it. Exercise is good for us.It is important everyone moves their body, however it does not need to be an hour in the gym every day. Even as little as 1 minute of vigorous activity can make a difference. Anything is better then nothing. “In various experiments, physical activity was found to lessen and even reverse the effects of aging on human skin; protect against age-related vision loss;improve creativity; lower people’s risk of developing heart diseaseeven if they had multiple risk factors for the condition; increase the numbers of good bacteria in athletes’ guts; raise exercisers’ pain tolerance; and alter, in desirable ways, how our DNA works.”

Photo from Huff Post