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Apple Chips Make small batch fruit chips by cutting apples into ¼-inch thick slices, spinkling a little cinnamon on top, and toasting on a low setting (about 1.5). When they’re done, let the toaster cool, then unplug it and flip it over to remove them. Looking for low-fat veggie chips? You can also toast eggplant or taro. Slice thin with a knife or mandolin, and sprinkle with salt—voila. MORE: 6 Foods Where Organic Matters Lazy Grilled Cheese Lay a toaster on its side....

Festivals Worthy Of Your Winter Vacay [Greatist] Speaking of happiness and extra cash, consider shelling out a little dough to attend one of these 38 health-oriented festivals that take place all over the world. Think you’re more of a “white sand and sangria” vacationer? Perusing these options—which include endurance races, vegetarian food fests, and a celebration of all-things avocado—is bound to make you reconsider. And please, if you end up attending this year’s National Lentil Festival, do report back....

In recent years, I’ve heard many stories similar to mine. Meanwhile, hits like Super Size Me have advised us that eating a steady diet of fast food might cause maladies from sluggishness to liver failure. Best-sellers like Fast Food Nation warned us that feces may be found in our meat supply. So we Americans slowly but surely started to wonder more and more about the hazards of eating fast food....

Burgers turned every minute while being cooked had 75 to 95 percent fewer total carcinogens than burgers turned only once after 5 minutes of cooking (Jour. of the Natl. Cancer Institute, Nov 1, 2000).

The most widely eaten seafood in America gets high marks for versatility and vitamin B12, which may lower levels of homocysteine, a marker of heart disease risk. 1 bunch fresh cilantro 1 avocado 2 jalapeno peppers 1 spaghetti squash 1 lg onion 1 sm head garlic 2 clementines 3 lb lg shrimp 2 oz mild feta cheese 1 c Israeli couscous* 1 can (14.5 oz) no-salt-added diced tomatoes 1 jar kalamata olives Canola oil Extra virgin olive oil Rice wine vinegar Sugar Sea salt & kosher salt Dried oregano White miso paste* Orange juice *Available at large natural food markets....

Begin with an exercise move called the Pendulum Kickback by standing with your feet together. Keep your arms at your sides as you hold a weight in each hand. Pull the weights up so that your arms form right angles. Stand on your right leg as you lift your left leg up with a flexed toe. Engage your abdominals to help you stay balanced. Slowly swing your arms and left leg back, really squeezing in your buns and the backs of your arms....

Hospital food has long had a reputation as healthy, but bland. As time has rolled forward, experts have come to realize that the bland part may be true, but healthy is merely public perception. Pre-packaged, processed and fried foods reign the food line at most hospitals and are the last thing patients struggling with their health should be eating. I’ve often visited patients on morning rounds and been shocked at what I found on their food trays, because the foods they were given weren’t healthy for anyone, let alone a hospital patient....

There’s no wide consensus about what is and what is not professional online behavior for doctors, according to a recent survey in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But what is clear is that technology has made it easier than ever to blur the lines between patients and doctors. The Preexisting Condition That Every Woman Has Straight from the pros, here’s why you might want to think twice before you try and friend your doc: It’s unprofessional, says Ron Steingard, MD, psychiatrist and senior pediatric psychopharmacologist at the Child Mind Institute....

On good mornings, Hooman Noorchashm wakes early, a relic of the days when he rose at 4:30 am for surgical rounds at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He pads through the quiet house to pop a coffee pod into the machine, then heads for his home office, where, over the course of the day, he will calmly, deliberately compose and send dozens of emails. His wife, Amy Reed, sleeps till 6:30 am, when she slips on a red Phillies T-shirt, snugs a maroon jersey cap over her stubbled head, and begins the work of getting six children under 12 ready for the day....

In other words, the well-known “rule” that you need to drink eight glasses of water a day isn’t accurate. The take-home message: Just drink if you’re thirsty; you’ll get the rest of your fluid from food. The problem is, I’m not sure I always drink when I’m thirsty. Even though I’m a nutrition editor of Prevention, I admit there are days when I’m so busy that I come to the end of the day and realize I haven’t had much to drink (or eat) since morning....

5 Ways to Boost Your Creativity The study tested more than 300 people in silent, moderate, and loud settings. The findings? Folks working in moderate noise scored higher on object-word association tests—and gave more innovative answers—than the other two groups. Can’t leave the building—or tell the boss you’re working at Starbucks from now on? Find the chatter. Bring your work to the cafeteria, a common area, or just open your door every now and then for the café effect, says Amar Cheema, Ph....

But suddenly, everything changed. Two of Brenda’s dearest friends were stricken with life-threatening conditions: one with heart disease, the other with diabetes. Brenda heard how each was learning to make time for physical activity, healthy eating, and mindful living. She took their message to heart, literally. This 5-K was her golden opportunity. Brenda told herself, “Let the journey begin.” Brenda’s Story Brenda was no athlete. She made every excuse to avoid exercise....

Cut calories—but not too much Sure, losing weight involves cutting calories, but limiting your calorie intake too much can deliver a double whammy to your metabolism. When you eat less than you need for basic biological function (about 2,000 calories for most women), your body throws the brakes on your metabolism. It also begins to break down precious, calorie-burning muscle tissue for energy, says Dan Benardot, PhD, RD, an associate professor of nutrition and kinesiology at Georgia State University....

Why? The truth is that living a healthy, miraculous life—with vitality and grace—requires real commitment and a practice. Without it, even your most soul-directed intentions may falter. The right tools make these moments more of a mindset and allow you to live your good intentions. Practice radical forgiveness. When we slip up, we often enter a cycle of guilt that sabotages our progress even more. What if you could learn to forgive yourself on the spot?...

MORE: 6 Things Your Hiccups Are Trying To Tell You Nobody is really sure what triggers the hiccup reflex. A common explanation is that it is caused by irritation or stimulation of the vagus nerve (which controls breathing) or phrenic nerve (which connects the brain and diaphragm). This may explain why hiccups frequently start from overeating, swallowing too much air, spicy food, carbonated beverages, sudden excitement, and stress. Interestingly, hiccups:...

Your plates are platter size “Most of us make a habit of filling our plates and finishing what’s on them,” says Lisa Young, PhD, RD, author of The Portion Teller Plan. But since the 1970s, dinner plates have grown 25%, to 12 inches or more in diameter. Eat off a plate about 2 inches smaller and you’ll serve yourself 22% fewer calories per meal, which can mean a 2-pound weight loss in 1 month, says Brian Wansink, PhD, director of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab and the author of Mindless Eating....

This finding is supported by previous research published in Social Science and Medicine and the Journal of Organizational Behavior; the research linked unfair work environments to psychological distress, newly diagnosed depression, and depressive symptoms in general. Your happiness at work depends more on your work environment than by what you’re actually doing. That seems counterintuitive, but the link is straightforward. “Organizational injustice fosters a sense of helplessness—that whatever you do, it’s not going to make a change in your environment,” says Ramani Durvasula, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at California State University in Los Angeles....

“When you spend all day sitting at a desk your back seems to be permanently in a hunched over position, which can lead to lots of aches and pains,” says Prevention’s Fitness expert Chris Freytag. “To counteract that, you need to strengthen the muscles in your back. You’ll start to feel better, and look better instantly.” The antidote is this week’s exercise, the renegade row with burpee. It combines a back strengthening exercise with a calorie-burning cardio burst....

In Moran’s first book, which has been characterized as something of a contemporary feminist manifesto, she argues that women who shy away from being labeled “feminists” don’t really understand what the term means. That’s because, according to Moran, the feminist movement has strayed from being “one of the most exciting, effective revolutions of all time,” to a series of exclusionary academic arguments and sweeping stereotypes. If you ask Moran, feminism amounts to nothing more than the belief that women should be as free as men—and free to engage in public discourse about the nitty-gritty details of womanhood, from Brazilian waxes to payment inequality in the workplace—without feeling the need to offer any apologies....