Do 2 sets of 10 reps on each leg for all exercises, 3 to 5 days a week. Big Squeeze Photo by Lynda Churilla Sit on floor with back straight, right leg extended, and left knee bent, foot flat. Tighten right quads, pressing back of leg toward floor. Hold for 10 and relax. MORE: 10 Moves To Ease Tight Hips Thigh Tightener Photo by Lynda Churilla In same position as above, flex right foot and lift leg about 6 inches....
Good news! Enjoying a few drinks doesn’t mean you’re destined to spend the next day sloth-like on the couch or hunched over a toilet. In fact, researchers are finding that your alcoholic choices and what you eat before, during, and after you drink could drastically reduce your risk of a morning hangover. In the event that you do overindulge and find yourself feeling queasy the morning after, reach for natural hangover food and drinks instead of bottled cures in the medicine cabinet and you’ll be feeling refreshed in no time....
Maybe you’re already using your microwave for heating up leftovers or popping up a movie-night snack. But what about the most important meal of the day? I’m here to argue that if you’re not using your microwave to make breakfast, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t believe me? Take a break from that tired avocado toast and try these crazy delicious microwavable breakfasts. Clean Eggs Florentine Poached eggs aren’t just that fancy, expensive thing you order at brunch: With a little help from your trusty microwave, they’re a totally doable weekday breakfast....
Veggie chips, puffs, or crisps Yes, they’ll deliver slightly more nutrients and fiber than plain ol’ potato chips. But don’t let yourself get seduced by the wholesome packaging: With loads of added starch, most of them still fall into the “nutritionally worthless” category. Plus, the salt, fat, and crunch makes them addictive, so you’ll probably end up eating the whole bag. Vegetable-infused waters Remember how everyone thought that Whole Foods’ asparagus water was a total joke?...
On the prowl for a “happiest age,” researchers surveyed 766 people who were in different stages of their lives—adults in their late 20s, early 50s, and late 70s. They rated their life satisfaction thus far and how satisfied they predicted they would be in the years to come. Researchers found that for people of all ages, perceived happiness steadily increased starting at childhood until it reached a peak at a certain age....
Enter nutritionist-author Heather Bauer, of Bread is the Devil and Bestowed fame—and our culinary compass. Each week, Bauer steers us toward the healthiest choices on restaurant menus of any type. Last time, it was what to eat at a steakhouse. This week, it’s Chinese food! Grab those chopsticks, everyone. When Chinese food’s in your dinner plans, it’s particularly important to make sure you’ve had your eight glasses of water so your body is prepped to handle the high sodium content....
What exactly is this stuff? Butter, minus the milk solids. It hails from India, where it’s called ghee, and is used in everything from delicious curries and dals to traditional medicines and religious ceremonies. It’s made by melting unsalted butter until it boils and skimming off the white milk proteins at the top. The result is a golden liquid that tastes richer than regular butter, can be heated to a higher temperature without smoking, and can be kept in the fridge for weeks without turning rancid....
Now we know better. Science has shown that not all fats are created equal. Sure, some fats are still bad, and too much of any kind of fat is harmful to your waist and your health. But research has shown that certain types of healthy fat protect us from high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure. These types of healthy fat are turning out to be so healthy that you probably need to eat—get this—more of them....
Cell turnover slows. Through the natural exfoliation process, your skin sheds dead cells as younger ones, generated deep in the epidermis (skin’s top layer), migrate upward to replace them. In young, healthy skin, cells take about 28 days to reach the surface and flake off 12 days later. As you age, renewal slows: New cells aren’t produced as quickly, and old ones hang on longer. Free radicals attack. The body is assaulted by unstable oxygen molecules—called free radicals—from pollution, stress, cigarette smoke, and the skin’s top enemy, the sun....
Eleven of the 50 chemical pesticides tested inhibited an enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). ALDH’s job is to detoxify aldehydes to protect dopamine cells. When this doesn’t occur, the dopamine cells float around the body, which exposies them to chemicals. It’s this chemical exposure that increases the risk of Parkinson’s overall, explains study author Beate Ritz, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology at University of California, Los Angeles. About half of the U....
Here’s how the study worked: Forty-three college-age women were divided into two groups. One group ate three ounces of beef at lunch, while the other ate a non-beef protein lunch (like chicken, pork, cheese, pasta, or rice) three times a week. Why the focus on beef? Red meat is a good source of iron that the body can easily absorb, says study author Cynthia Blanton, PhD, RD. And because the study’s goal was to determine if increasing iron intake would improve cognitive function (iron deficiency is associated with memory and attention problems), beef was a good fit....
For nine years, researchers followed nearly 7,000 adults, including 156 asthma patients who used daily controller meds and 511 who were asthmatic but not on controller meds. Compared to non-asthmatics, asthmatics who took controller meds were 60% more likely to suffer from a cardiovascular event like a heart attack or stroke, even after accounting for other heart disease risk factors like age, smoking, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. It’s hard to say for sure what drives this increased risk, but both conditions share an inflammatory basis, says Matthew Tattersall, DO, study author and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health....
In the study, 11 recreational athletes performed two separate exercise tests on a stationary bicycle. After completing a 90-minute ride that included some tough intervals, they underwent muscle biopsies to measure their now-depleted level of glycogen. For the next four hours, they rested in a chair while consuming two modest meals of either fast foods or sport foods (see Table below). After four hours and another leg biopsy, the subjects completed a 20K time trial as a performance test to confirm their glycogen resynthesis....
In four different experiments, testing people in the lab and over the Internet, the Caltech researchers asked participants to rate the trustworthiness of average white male faces. In all of the experiments, the researchers found that people judged the men as untrustworthy when the photos was taken from a distance of around two feet, compared to photos taken 7-feet away. The researchers chose these two distances because the close up is inside what is considered your personal space (about 3 to 4 feet from the body) and the distance photo was greater than that space....
We’ve all been there. Whether you’re stalled for five seconds or an hour, the daily commute is always an adventure—because of what’s happening around you, yes. But also because of what’s going on in your head. To help us with this on-going challenge (and to hold onto what’s left of our summer serenity), we reached out to columnist, Emmy winner, and Shambhala senior teacher, David Nichtern. Nichtern’s made a career of positive thinking, meditation, and mindfulness....
You know how it goes. You wake up in the morning, glance at yourself in the mirror, and decide you’re “too fat” to go anywhere. Instead of interacting with the outside world—mirrors! people!—you’d rather sit at home watching too many hours of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and eating cheese fries…with your hands. Hey, we’ve all been there. But would you believe us if we said it’s all in your head?...
Here’s how it works: Do each exercise for 60 seconds, performing as many reps as possible with good form. (Remember, form trumps speed.) Rest for 30 seconds between exercises. For an additional challenge, do the entire circuit a total of 2 or 3 times. Alternating Tick-TockTargets:A.B. Glutes, outer thighs Stand on the middle of resistance band, feet hip-width apart, one handle in each hand. Engage your hip and glutes as you lift your right leg out to the side....
First, abdominal crunches work only one area of your abdomen—the part along the front of your belly above the belly button. Unfortunately, this happens to be the one area of the belly that’s often strongest for most people. So, as ab exercises, crunches simply make an already strong area of the abdomen even stronger, ignoring important weak spots that are the true source of your problem. Second, many of us don’t enjoy doing abdominal crunches....
