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Every few years, a new diet comes along that captures our fancy, evoking a romantic, faraway place where people are thinner, live longer, and never have cellulite. Scientists add to the fascination with population studies showing just how much healthier these beautiful foreigners are, compared with fat Americans—the Mediterranean diet with its wine and sunshine, the Japanese diet with its seaweed and sushi, French Women Don’t Get Fat with its chocolate and fashion....

Before you point the finger at your Dorito-munching office mates who you know don’t give a rat’s ass about gene-splicing in the world’s corn supply, know this: A whopping 91% of Americans support GMO labeling in polls. So what gives? Why hasn’t the U.S. been able to pass any GMO-labeling laws to date? Well, kids, it may have something to do with the zillions of dollars Monsanto and various industry groups have funneled to shut down the labeling effort....

When coupled with someone’s mood and mental state, six biomarkers in the blood could predict 80% of the time that someone will be hospitalized from a suicide attempt. Mood and mental state alone has a 65% prediction rate. These markers were narrowed down to six in a series of four studies, with the “aha” moment coming when researchers discovered that the top biomarker for suicidality increased dramatically in blood samples from suicide victims collected from the coroner’s office, says principal investigator Alexander B Niculescu, III, MD, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and medical neuroscience at Indiana University School of Medicine....

Like many products in this category, it touts itself as containing “a revolutionary new compound that research has identified as being able to not only help consumers lose weight, but actually reshape their entire body, reducing waist size, hip size, thigh and buttock circumference, and belly bulge.” Other information implies that the product has, or will soon have, the blessing of Dr. Oz (it does not, as of this writing) and that the product has clinical research to back up its claims....

“I just need more discipline,” you tell yourself. “I’ll have to work out extra hard tomorrow to make up for this. Ugh, I’m so weak.” It’s natural to blame your own lack of willpower for your inability to achieve your health and fitness goals. After all, everyone tells you self-discipline is what’s needed for success. No pain, no gain. Just suck it up and do what you need to do....

Looking for an easy, waistline-friendly lunch? Fast-casual chains around the country are launching mini, low-cal meals that won’t break your calorie bank. Au Bon Pain recently introduced “Portions,” 14 light dishes with 200 calories or less, including Brie, Fruit, and Crackers; and Chickpea and Tomato Salad.Quiznos offers six 160- to 240-calorie “Sammies,” petite flatbread sandwiches like Sonoma turkey and Bistro steak melt. Chickpea and Tomato Salad Brie, Fruit, and Crackers

New research from the University of California San Francisco has shown that simply swapping vegetable fats (think olive oil, nuts, seeds, and avocados) for animal fats and carbs dramatically lowers your risk of developing lethal prostate cancer—and even reduces risk of dying from any cause. The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, analyzed 24 years’ worth of data from 4,577 men with non-metastatic prostate cancer. Researchers found that men who replaced just 10% of their calories from carbohydrates with vegetable fat had a nearly 30% reduced risk of developing lethal prostate cancer, plus a 26% lower risk of death from all causes....

Eating more legumes (such as beans, chickpeas, and lentils) as part of a healthy diet was shown to help with blood sugar control and reduce the risk of heart disease in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a new report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Adding one cup of protein-packed beans per day was linked to lower blood pressure, which means a healthier heart. More from Prevention: The Best and Worst Foods for Diabetics
[sidebar] Diabetic or not, fiber-rich beans are a smart food to add to your diet, says Angela Ginn, RD, an education program coordinator at the University of Maryland Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology....

A quick click around the interwebs for a decent bean dip recipe yields page after page of instructions for party dips stacked with refried beans, cream cheese, shredded cheese, and sour cream. But I prefer one with light, good-for-you ingredients, like green vegetables—and OK, lots and lots of garlic. Enter my fava-cannellini bean dip with green peas, cilantro, and garlic. It’s packed with flavor, has 7 g of protein per serving, and is ridiculously easy to make....

Ashley’s answer: I hear your frustration! And I hear it from many women your age. You are doing so much right, so let’s see what could be upsetting the balance. When it comes to seemingly unexplainable weight change at any lifestage, we need to first start by asking some questions: Are hormonal changes happening? Are you peri-menospausal or menopausal? Have your sleep habits changed recently? Are you getting less or worse sleep, or waking up in the night?...

How you behave within close relationships, develop and maintain emotional bonds with romantic partners, and support your partner in stressful situations is determined by your attachment style— your own unique levels of avoidance and anxiety. You can probably tell what a less-than-ideal combination of attachment styles can do for your relationship, but it also affects your stress levels when a conflict arises. Researchers recruited 218 married couples aged 18 to 50 to discuss three areas of disagreement within their relationship in a laboratory setting....

Ashley’s answer: Your question is a gift to my Qualitarian ears! So many people assume that all tofu (or all soy, for that matter) is created equal. But the answer to your question is really simple: Don’t eat tofu unless it’s organic. Yup, that may mean you need to buy your own tofu for home or the office and add it to the food you order or make. You see, if it’s not organic, then it’s GMO almost for sure....

She also didn’t know if she’d be able to afford Zoey’s treatment. According to Trupanion, a pet insurance provider, costs range from less than $5,000 for a mast cell tumor to $40,000+ for bone cancer. Dallacco had pet insurance, but she quickly learned that most policies offer only partial coverage. Surprisingly, nearly half of older dogs and 30 to 50% of older cats develop cancer, says Rodney Page, director of Colorado State University’s Flint Animal Cancer Center....

Researchers recruited 1,993 women with BRCA 1 or 2 and asked them to report how much chest radiation (such as X-Rays and mammograms) they had been exposed to from adolescence onward. They found that women exposed to chest radiation in their 20s increased their risk of breast cancer by 43 percent compared to those who didn’t undergo any radiative procedures. The risk didn’t hold up for women over the age of 30 who’d been exposed to radiation....

“Plus, cold weather forces your body to exert more energy to stay warm, which translates into extra calories burned,” says Prevention advisor Wayne L. Westcott, PhD, fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, MA. Even the weight of added layers of clothes, such as knit hats and down jackets, helps intensify the burn. (It’s true. Watch our fitness editor show you how to layer for cold-weather workouts....

meals is nothing more than a great big salad. Packed with veggies and with some beans tossed in for protein, there’s little more I need in a meal. One hardly needs a recipe for salad; indeed, putting together a big salad with whatever’s on hand can be an efficient method of making sure none of the produce you’ve purchased goes to waste! When having salad for a full meal, I like to incorporate some complex carbs....

Researchers from New Zealand were able to isolate and stop the production of lachrymatory factor synthase (LFS), the enzyme in onions responsible for making our eyes sting and water. LFS is usually responsible for creating the volatile compound that escapes into your eyes and eventually leaves you reaching for a tissue. But without LFS, there’s no compound. Those molecules are instead converted into thiosulfinate—a compound very similar to the one found in garlic that is known to have heart-healthy benefits....

In recent years, we’ve been acculturated to think of vampires as svelte, sometimes sparkly biters of necks—or at least biters of Kristen Stewart. Mercifully, the closest most of us will get to a real life bloodsucker are the mosquitoes to whom we unwittingly donate 0.01 milliliters of our blood per bite. At best, you’ll survive with an itchy nuisance. At worst, you can contract any of a number of debilitating viruses....