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When you’re on a diet, you deny yourself things you love, force yourself to eat things you don’t like, and generally lead a miserable existence. Diets isolate you socially, screw up your metabolism, and destroy your relationship with food. On top of all that, they don’t even work. Because diets are so horrible, they require willpower to stick to. Lots of willpower. And since willpower is unreliable for long-term goals, diets inevitably fail to make you healthier....

Will These Rules Prevent Contaminated Food? [The New York Times] An estimated one in six Americans becomes sick from contaminated food every single year, and these tainted edibles are responsible for 3,000 annual deaths. Now, the Food and Drug Administration is proposing new laws designed to combat the problem, including tougher regulations for water used in irrigation and contact between raw and cooked foods during processing. One problem? The implementation of any new rules depends on Congress approving an additional $220 million in federal spending....

The most common (and effective) weight loss strategy is to eat less and work out more. Unfortunately for those who can’t cook (or have zero interest in cooking), the tips for eating less tend to focus on cooking healthier meals, avoiding prepared foods, making recipe swaps, and so on. If the only appliance you use is your microwave, then that advice may not be realistic for you. Luckily, there are plenty of other smart choices you can make that’ll help kickstart your weight loss....

Once the weather warms up, and we start spending more time outside, the chances of getting bitten by one of the nasty bloodsuckers starts to skyrocket. Researchers estimate Lyme disease causes around 300,000 illnesses in the United States every year, with most occurring in the summer months in the Northeast and Midwest. (Folks living in western New Jersey also have a new foreign tick species associated with Japanese spotted fever to worry about....

Here’s a bird’s-eye look at ACA’s provisions:If you’re already insured, you’ll find new benefits and protections. If you’re not insured or if you purchase insurance on your own, a new state-based system will help you get coverage that fits your needs, perhaps at a rate more affordable than you could find before. If you choose not to get insurance, however, and aren’t covered under an employer’s plan, you may have to pay a penalty....

[sidebar]Small businesses with fewer than 25 fulltime employees who make $50,000 or less a year may be eligible for tax credits to help them purchase health insurance for their employees, so you may see more employers offering health insurance (it’s a great way to attract the best employees!). Small businesses will also have access to specialized exchanges called Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) that will help them compare cost and benefits of insurance options for their employees....

He’s written three books about it, including The Mindbody Prescription. A professor of clinical rehabilitation medicine at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City, Dr. Sarno believes that to protect you from acting on—or being destroyed by—that rage, your unconscious mind distracts you from the anger by creating a socially acceptable malaise: lower back pain. Noted integrative medicine specialist and Prevention advisor Andrew Weil, MD, is a big fan of Dr....

Between encouraging picky eaters, dishing out afternoon snacks, and snagging “just a couple” fries from that drive-thru meal, you probably end up eating as much off your kid’s plates as they do, if not more. And although kids’ snacks are packaged in the most convenient way possible, they’re not convenient for your health—or your child’s health, for that matter. Since your metabolism isn’t quite at the place your kid’s is anymore, it’s time to leave these sugary, fattening culprits at the playground....

“The sooner you recover, the sooner levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol return to normal,” explains exercise physiologist Michele Olson, PhD. Too much adrenaline makes us feel anxious, and high cortisol levels promote fat storage, both of which can trigger a host of health problems over time. For the study, participants were “stressed” with mental arithmetic tests and different forms of breathing. As this was happening, their oxygen consumption was measured....

Yoga’s focus on the breath and movement can boost circulation, especially to the extremities. It’s one of few exercises that set the entire body in motion with the breath, circulating the blood through parts of the body that might otherwise go unused in our day-to-day lives. While daily practice is ideal, Lieb says you shouldn’t stress yourself out or feel pressured by a set schedule. Instead, slip these two poses into your day at a time that is convenient for you....

Despite the science fiction-worthy name, prolonged exposure to extreme cold temperatures can pose a serious threat to your health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 700 people die in each year in the U.S. due to the dangerous effects of hypothermia. Here’s what you need to know to stay safe: Watch out for the “umbles.” With wind chills well below zero, hypothermia—or what happens when your body temp drops below 95° F—isn’t out of the question....

Courtesy of Rodale News As Americans’ waistlines are getting wider and wider, our resolve to lose all that extra poundage appears to be shrinking, according to a new Gallup Healthways poll. The survey of just over 1,000 adults found that the average self-reported weight for men rose 16 pounds between 1990 and 2011, from 180 to 196. For women, the figure rose 18 pounds, from 142 to 160, over the same time period....

In an editorial published in the British Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, lead author Jane Muncke, PhD, managing director and chief scientific officer of the Food Packaging Forum, writes that these food contact materials pose a “silent challenge to researchers concerned with human health, nutrition and the environment.” More than 4,000 materials are allowed for use in foods sold in Europe and the United States, and synthetic materials are the most problematic....

“How you answer makes a difference,” says Randy Wexler, MD, an associate professor of family medicine and vice chair of clinical affairs at the Ohio State University Medical Center. Wexler explains that, when you sleep, increased blood flow to your kidneys can accelerate urine production. So if you wake up because of a snoring bedmate or insomnia or some other reason that has nothing to do with your bladder, you’ll still have no problem producing urine if you decide to head to the bathroom....

Putting in the effort but still don’t have the abs you’re after? Here are 10 slipups that hold you back—and the right moves to get you on track. Your form is sloppy. “The wrong form can turn an effective move into one that won’t do anything for you,” says personal trainer Jessica Smith Gomez, co-star of the 10 Minute Solution: Best Belly Blasters. A few of the most common mistakes: pulling on your neck (which allows your abs to slack off), using momentum rather than muscle strength (again, a freebie pass for the abs), sagging your hips in plank, and not keeping your abs pulled in during every move....

About 40% of people in the U.S. experience sciatica—leg pain caused by a pinched nerve in the lower back—at some point in time during their life. Since the condition can be quite painful, and affect so many people, finding effective sciatic nerve pain relief is so important. The sciatic nerve comes from either side of the lower spine and travels through the pelvis and buttocks. Then the nerve passes along the back of each upper leg before it divides at the knee into branches that go to the feet....