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This is an even bigger issue for men. Guys who can’t resist high-fat, high-sugar foods consequently have elevated blood sugar levels. And because of this, many men are walking around in a prediabetic state and they don’t even know it. Eventually, most doctors say, almost everyone who is prediabetic—meaning, they have blood sugar levels that are above the normal range but not yet at the point where they are truly diabetic—will develop type 2 diabetes....

The good news? The study is hardly conclusive evidence that you need to back away from the chocolate to find your way to clear skin. Yes, the researchers found a link between acne and chocolate, but they’re not sure how many of the young adults surveyed were eating chocolate and how many were eating other sweets that could have contributed to skin problems. Plus, the researchers asked little about the rest of the participants’ diet and lifestyle habits, meaning it’s impossible to definitively connect the dots between chocolate and acne, in this case, at least....

That can be frustrating when your ultimate goal is to see the number on the scale get smaller. But “it’s definitely not something to be concerned about,” says Joel Seedman, PhD, owner of Advanced Human Performance and a certified strength and conditioning specialist. “It’s a good sign that you’re doing the right kind of exercises and working out at an intensity that’s going to lead to a difference in your body composition....

Hot peppers have been linked to weight loss in rats, and plenty of researchers have tried to test these findings on humans. A team from the Netherlands analyzed 12 of these spicy studies and turned up the following eye-watering details: After eating moderate or high doses of hot peppers—roughly half or more of a medium-size jalapeño pepper—energy expenditure and fat metabolism both shot up among the study participants. MORE: This Is Why You Love Spicy Food So Much Other experiments linked even very small portions of hot peppers to increased levels of fullness and a drop in hunger....

Frosted Blue Raspberry Pop Tarts Let’s get something out of the way really quickly: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NEON BLUE RASPBERRY. If you found a neon blue raspberry growing in the wild, you’d run away or throw it in a ditch or take it to NASA because that is some radioactive alien sh*t right there. But would you eat it? Hell. No. That’s why I can’t understand the latest Pop Tarts flavor, piped full of gummy electric-blue goop with “natural and artificial flavors” and 16 g of sugar per pastry....

Researchers from the University of Nebraska, University of Florida, and Oregon State University tested a powder made from muscadine grapes on human fat cells and liver cells. It worked like a fat-burning machine, blocking both the development of new fat cells as well as the growth of existing ones, and increasing the liver cells’ ability to break down excess fat. This isn’t the first study to show the grape’s amazing effects: Earlier animal studies corroborate the new findings....

A daily walk, a good book, a game of checkers. They’re more than mere simple pleasures, finds new research: These everyday activities might be your best defense against age-related mental decline, according to two new studies presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. In one study, a team from Rush University Medical Center and the Illinois Institute of Technology recruited 152 older adults and measured the structural integrity of each participant’s brain....

Friends lower your stress, fend off depression, and serve a hundred other important functions. But plenty of people find themselves out of touch with their old friends (it was a lot easier to meet people in college), and without adequate replacements. So how do you go about making a new pal? More importantly: How do you do it without being a weirdo? Ask for referrals. As in business, nothing beats a good referral....

When something stressful happens, like when you roll over in the morning and realize you’ve slept through your alarm, it causes a burst of sympathetic nerve activity—aka, the “fight or flight” response. With that burst comes a release of norepinephrine, a stress hormone that causes your blood vessels to tighten, your blood pressure to spike, and make your heart work a lot harder. After thinking about how many times a day you have that surge of anxiety, you shouldn’t be surprised at the long term effects of stress on your cardiovascular health and ability to control your blood pressure....

Cynthia Sass MPH, MA, RD, CSSD is Nutrition Director of Prevention magazine. Her first assignment at Prevention was to comb the latest research and develop a diet that specifically targets belly fat, which is how The Flat Belly Diet! was born. Cynthia holds two master’s degrees–in nutrition science and in public health–and is Board Certified as a Specialist in Sports Dietetics. In 2005, she was named one of the American Dietetic Association’s Recognized Young Dietitians of the Year....

Spaghetti Squash Marinara Oven-Baked Crispy Sole Muffins Galore Muffin Flavor Boosters

Fiber is the part of a plant that the body can’t digest, meaning it’s not absorbed into the bloodstream. Of the two types of fiber—insoluble (does not dissolve in water) and soluble (dissolves in water)—soluble deserves a big chunk of credit for helping the heart. Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and rich in fruits, vegetables, and grain products that contain some type of dietary fiber, particularly soluble fiber, may reduce the risk of heart disease....

As part of a long-term project studying the health effects of GM foods—crops that have had their DNA modified to resist pesticides and drought—researchers from Norway fed food containing GM corn to one group of rats and food containing non-GM corn to another group. Over the course of 90 days, the rats on the GM-corn diet grew fatter and ate more food than the rats on the non-GM diet. The researchers also noticed that rats got fatter when they ate fish that had been raised on GM corn....

DO: Create contrast: If you do choose the cover-up route, try highlights. “That’s the best way,” explains Canale. “You get a contrast effect going so that you can blend it away.” Another benefit? You can go about two months without having to worry about a touch-up. Try a semipermanent: “To eliminate gray, start out with semipermanent hair color,” advises Canale. But instead of doing it all over, just apply it to areas that need it, such as the temples....

DairyThough dairy’s freshness aligns closely with posted expiration dates, it can have a bit more shelf life. Milk can be used for one week after its sell-by date as long as it’s been continuously in the fridge, up to 3 months if it has been in the freezer. Greek yogurt can last 1 -2 weeks past its printed date if kept in the refrigerator and 1 - 2 months if kept in the freezer....

Two small helpings of purple potatoes a day decreases blood pressure by about four percent without causing weight gain, according to a new study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. While four percent may sound small, researchers say it’s big enough to potentially reduce the risk of several forms of heart disease. I had Asperger Syndrome. Briefly. [The New York Times] One writer’s first-person account of being diagnosed with Asperger’s—when he was really just an awkward teen....

Turns out, most of those beneficial bio-nutrients taste sour, astringent, or bitter. “In our quest to produce better-tasting fruits and vegetables, we’ve bred the ‘medicine’ right out of our foods—and only now do we have the technology to understand what we’ve done,” Robinson says. Most ancient native food plants were also higher in protein and fiber and much lower in sugar than the ones we’ve devised. The progenitor of modern corn contained around 30% protein and 2% sugar, compared with today’s sweet corn at 4% protein and 10% sugar....

“When it comes to nutrient absorption, pairing certain foods can make a healthy meal even more nutritious,” Caspero says. A lot of vitamins and minerals work together synergistically, she says, meaning you get more benefit from one if you swallow it with the other. You can supercharge your meal’s health-supporting powers by seeking out these simple, tasty food combos: Lean Beef + Broccolilow iron An iron shortage is one of the more common nutritional deficiencies in the U....