Three Really Bad Eating Habits

There are many bad eating habits out there, but three of them make the top of my list: portion distortion, distracted eating, and skipping meals.
I personally don’t know if one is worst than the other.
Truth is, if you have any of those three you better make sure to break them as soon as you can, because they might compromise your health!

A Diet Rich In Omega-3 Fatty Acids Foods May Lower Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

Being a Columbia University Alumnus, I like to give evidence to studies conducted at the institution where I studied. I might be biased, but who’s not when it comes to your Alma Mater?
Anyway, in this study, Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD, MS, with Columbia University Medical Center in New York and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, and his team, found that a diet rich in foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids (such as nuts, fish and chicken) may be associated with lower blood levels of a protein that is related to Alzheimer’s disease and memory problems.

Be Healthy To Reduce Cancer Risks

I recently took a class in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. We focused on the links between nutrition and degenerative diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer disease.
I  was utterly fascinated by the topic, in particular by the inextricable link between food and cancer.
How cancer can be related to food? Are there ways to prevent it just by following a correct diet? And how exercise falls into the equation?
The answers to these questions are much simpler than one might think!

What is Cancer?

According to the American Cancer Society, cancer is a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. If the spread is not controlled, it can ultimately results in death.
About 1,638,910 new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2012. And sadly, about 577,190 Americans are expected to die of cancer, which is more than 1,500 people a day. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the US, exceeded only by heart disease, accounting for nearly 1 every 4 deaths.

I Must Eat Slowly, I Must Eat Slowly, I Must Eat Slowly!

I don’t know what’s up with me these days. I sit at the table and engorge food as fast as I can. I just can’t help myself.
I know that this is a wrong thing to do. It’s a bad habit. One that I want to break before it’s too late.
In that effort, I did what my elementary school’s teacher forced me to do when I did something wrong at school. I grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote “I must eat slowly” over and over again on the chalkboard...until I became nauseated.
The same way Bart does in the opening sequence of every episode of “The Simpsons”.

Raw, Vegan, Pescatarian...Personally, I'm An Healtharian!

Nowadays there is a label for all possible diet practices. Until not long ago it was all about being either omnivore or vegetarian. Then the macrobiotic diet became very popular (also thanks to Ms Ciccone), and also the vegan diet became part of mainstream food movements.
More recently the rawism is acquiring an important spot (just here in New York raw restaurants are popping out in every neighborhood). But that’s not it, there are flexitarians, pescatarians, pollotarians not to mention paleos and so on...
However, there’s no “official” definition for those (like me) that believe only in healthy eating: healtharian I like to define myself.
I actually randomly searched such term on Google and I found only a couple of websites that talk about it and in very marginal way (sigh!).
This means that time has come to claim our spot in the food movements.
First of all, I really like how healtharian sounds.
I can’t wait to be at the next time dinner party and when somebody will ask me “Are you vegetarian?vegan?” and I will be able to proudly reply “No, I’m an healtharian!”. How cool will it be? I’m already savoring the moment when I’ll start explaining what be an healtharian means (ha!)
And then you know it, once the word is out, it will start circulating and in a heartbeat we will rule the world!
Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch, but I know for a fact that there are many of us that just can’t wait to proudly walk under the healtharian banner.
But let’s move one step at the time...

Exercise Can Change (And Improve) Your DNA!

If you think that you’re going to be stuck with your DNA for the rest of your life, think again, because DNA is not immutable as many believe.
A recent study, published in the March issue of Cell Metabolism (a Cell Press publication) has discovered that when healthy but inactive men and women exercise for a matter of minutes, their DNA changes immediately.
One might think: is this a good or a bad thing? General consensus among scientists is that this is a very good thing.
Which means that altering our genomes for better health might be only a jog away.

One Grapefruit A Day Helps Lowering Cholesterol, But...

A few days ago, the NYTimes health blog reported a pretty interesting news: the FDA acknowledged that cholesterol-lowering statins carry a risk of cognitive side effects.
If you’re not familiar with this drug, statins help people at high risk of cardiovascular problems, lowering cholesterol, risk of heart attack and stroke. They are one of the most prescribed drugs in the world.
For years doctors have been fielding reports from patients that the drugs leave them feeling “fuzzy,” and have been experiencing big memory problems. Finally the FDA has officially acknowledged that.
This news has raised concern because 21 million patients only in the US were prescribed statins during 2011. It's difficult to assess how many of them have experienced cognitive side effects.
So what’s the solution? Lowering cholesterol through a healthy diet and exercising, easy as that. You can get off statins and no more fear of “losing the mind”.
Among food that help with cholesterol issues one might be particulalry helpful: grapefruit!
A study conducted in Israel demonstrated that eating one ruby red grapefruit a day was as effective as taking statin drugs in the lowering of cholesterol. But beware, you cannot use the two together!

The Best Sources Of Iron (Other Than Meat, Fish, And Poultry)

Last night I had a long and interesting conversation with my friend Pete. He’s thinking about becoming a vegan but he’s scared to lose on precious nutrients such as proteins, calcium and iron. He seemed particularly confused and concerned about iron: why it’s crucial for the correct functioning of our body, what foods contain the most amounts of it, and so on.
I told him that I know some vegans elite triathletes that are doing just fine (maybe even better than us “omnivores”). However, they are very conscious about getting all the iron an athlete’s body requires.
Fact is, being meat, fish and poultry the greatest sources of iron, if you take those foods out of the nourishment equation one needs to be extremely careful to find other sources of iron.

Wanna Get Smarter? Do More Cardio!

Who would have ever thought that if you want to win a Nobel Prize, you should not spend countless hours in a library or in a laboratory, but you must also make sure to raise your heart rate with a kick-ass cardio activity almost daily?
In fact, a newly published study has determined aerobic fitness has a positive effect on mental functions.

Beware: Natural Doesn't Mean Healthy!

Lately I discovered that there is some misunderstanding on food labeled as “Natural”. The uncertainty comes from the presumption people makes that a natural food is also an healthy food.
I actually had a big discussion about this last night in my apartment as one of my roommates was fairly convinced that a box of cereals she just bought, because labeled as “naturally made” were also healthy.
That’s when I jumped in and said: “Stop right there, “natural” is a word with such a broad meaning that food makers now use it to ingenerate in consumers the belief that what their selling is also healthy, but that might not be the case.” A long discussion followed (which I’m not gonna report here) until we looked at the ingredients list on the box and well, that was the end of the controversy.
Why? Because the “all natural” cereals contained the following ingredients: “Yellow corn meal with added corn bran, Unshulphured molasses, Whole oat flour, Expeller pressed high oleic oil (canola and/or sunflower), Salt, Cinnamon, Natural Flavour, Baking soda, [...].”
I’m not questioning that the aforementioned ingredients are all natural but if you believe, like me, that ultra-processed foods are not “that healthy”, well there you go, you can do the math. I mean that “Expeller pressed high oleic oil” sounds a but shady to me.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the manufacturer is claiming that the cereals are healthy, but by labeling them as natural, it does make them sound as they are in some way “made according to nature” and/or “hearty” and/or “good”; that was at least my impression (and also my roommates one).

The Christmas Survival Guide (For Your Health)

It’s almost Christmas and according to some popular tunes: “It’s the best time of the year!” No one doubts about this however from our standpoint there’s one thing you should be careful with and that is your health! (No surprise since that’s what we’re passionate about here @TheIronYou).
The fact is that besides presents, what Christmas really comes down to is EATING and DRINKING and let’s face it: too much of it!
Christmas parties, Christmas dinners and Christmas lunches all filled with delicious (high-caloric) food and flowing with drinks. But after of all this bonanza what are you left with? Let me tell you: with few extra pounds on your belly, waist and tights (depending on where you store it!)
According to some recent studies The average person gains 5lb (2kg) over Christmas. Some of this extra weight - 1 lb to 4 lb - will be water and glycogen (stored carbohydrate); the remainder will be fat.
So here are our two cents on how to make it through Christmas without becoming a big tub of lard!

Spice Up Your Life!

Do you know that herbs and spices have more disease-fighting antioxidants than most fruits and vegetables? This means that they may help protect against certain chronic conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
Most of the evidence exists for cinnamon, chili peppers, turmeric, garlic, oregano, basil, thyme and rosemary.
For instance anti-inflammatory compounds contained in cinnamon have been linked to lower inflammation, as well as reductions in blood glucose concentrations in people with diabetes. We are going to explore some of the most used herbs and spices in the next days for now let's just get a general idea on them.

The Water Trick (aka Are You Hungry Or Just Thirsty?)

Especially for those of you out there trying to lose weight, this trick can prove to be really helpful.
It is known that most people mistake low-level thirst for low-level hunger.
Try this: when you’re feeling hungry (and it’s not breakfast, lunch or dinner time), drink a glass of water and only if you’re still hungry after 20 minutes later then maybe it’s time to think about eating. Truth is, half the time you were just thirsty.

Calorie Restriction: Our Future?

Already in several posts we have mentioned the concept of calorie restriction but we never went into much detail about it.
In fact, even if I had a general idea, there were still some technicalities about it that I ignored. I mean, when you’re talking about restricting calories, to what extent should you limit your food intake on a daily basis?
We know that you should be careful with what you shovel down your throat and that overeating is never good but what worried me is that there is always a fine line between being healthy and unhealthy: you want to restrict but not missing on necessary and precious nutrients.   
With that idea in mind I did some research and found quite a bit of literature on the topic.

What Is Gymnorexia?

Some people are addicted to drugs, others to cigarettes, others to alcohol, others to sugars as for myself I guess that my addiction is exercising.
I can’t deny it, I have an addiction and I’ll admit it. Everyday I have to sweat it out by either running, swimming, biking, practicing yoga, hitting the gym...but I have to do something. If I don’t I just feel miserable: I need my daily dose of endorphins and that’s final!
I always thought that among all the dependecies a person can possibly have mine was probably the best one.
Actually I thought it was not even worth of calling it addiction (a word with an underlying negative meaning) but more of a good habit.
I was happy about this until I found out that there is quite some literature on this “addiction”...to the point that lately it has also been officially labeled as “‘gymnorexia” or “exerciseorexia” or “exercise bulimia”.
And some doctors started warning about the serious damages people can do themselves  through developing a compulsion to workout excess.
In the UK, at Berkshire’s Huntercombe Hospital, people addicted to exercise are treated as strong as any associated with drink or drugs.
I personally think that this might be little bit too much so it's best to find out more!

What To Do After A Bikram Yoga Class

When you hear your teacher saying “Namaste” to the class you now that you have made it: the 90 minutes in Bikram’s “torture chamber” are over.
You have twisted your body in all possible ways, locked your knee, kick your butt big time, and sweat tons. Now it’s time to give yourself a well deserved reward for all this effort but before that you wanna make sure to take care of your body.
Why? Because after every intense workout you should spend some time focusing on your body before going back to your daily routine. And this is even more true when you’re dealing with Bikram Yoga...

Why A Lot Things That Taste Bad Are Good For You

I bet you always had the suspicion that there was some correlation between bad tasting food and its health benefits.
As far as I’m concerned every time I make myself a green juice I get more than a mere suspicion: it has to be good for me otherwise why all the pain of drinking this gross tasting stuff?
And what about broccoli? I eat them everyday and I’m accustomed to the taste but I cannot say that I find them to be the better tasting food on the planet. But as they are one of the most healthy food on the planet I just go for it thinking that it’s totally worth to sacrifice the taste for the health.
Not to mention Brussel Sprouts...my food nightmare.
So the suspicion that there must be a correlation between bad taste and healthy benefits of food grew in me to a point of almost certainty.
And, I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG! In fact, a recent study conducted by a team of researches of the University of Washington confirmed that since the phytonutrients (that have been long associated with cancer prevention and other health benefits) have a bitter, acid or astringent taste the food industry has worked over the decades to remove them.

Michael Pollan's 7 Rules For Eating

Have you ever heard of Mr. Michael Pollan? If not you should better get on board because he’s one individual capable of changing the way you think about food.
Michael Pollan is an American author, journalist, activist, and, last but not least, a professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s been described as a liberal foodie intellectual but what’s most relevant about him it’s his knowledge about food and, moreover, the food industry.
For the past twenty-five years, he has been writing books and articles about the places where nature and culture intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in the built environment. He has wrote some pretty relevant stuff, including one of my favorite books of all time The Omnivore’s Dilemma that I will soon review here on TIY.
Pollan strongly believes that Americans suffer a national eating disorder: the unhealthy obsession with healthy living. "The French paradox is that they have better heart health than we do despite being a cheese-eating, wine-swilling, fois-gras-gobbling people," Pollan said. "The American paradox is we are a people who worry unreasonably about dietary health yet have the worst diet in the world."
In various parts of the world, Pollan noted, necessity has forced human beings to adapt to all kinds of diets.
"The Masai subsist on cattle blood and meat and milk and little else. Native Americans subsist on beans and maize. And the Inuit in Greenland subsist on whale blubber and a little bit of lichen," he said. "The irony is, the one diet we have invented for ourselves -- the Western diet -- is the one that makes us sick."
Increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in the U.S. can be traced to our unhealthy diet. So how do we change?

Calories Counting Is No Longer Enough!

We have already discussed this many times, in order to stay lean and fit you should not only exercise but also restrict your total calories intake (aka eat less). This becomes even more true when you’re aging.
Recently, a new research conducted by five nutrition and public health experts at Harvard University and published on The New England Journal of Medicine, has analysed the factors that influence weight gain.
The result of such study are astonishing, to put it mildly. Most of all, they support all our views and especially what we believe in here on TheIronYou.
Actually, they support the very reason this blog exists. You might have then figured out how excited we are. So, let’s see what is all about...

Re:Model Yourself

It doesn’t matter if your job is to walk down the fashion runways or not, in today’s world appearances do matter, so it’s better to be prepared and to try to look at your best every day.
In fact, looking sharper will give you that extra confidence that will eventually help you succeed. So here are few tips that will help you look better and, also, feel better.
Of course, we can’t guarantee that if you follow them religiously poster campaigns will follow or that you’re going to be booked for a runway show at next Milan’s Fashion Week, but it will enhance your style, boost your confidence, get fitter and, at the end of the day, help you become more successful in your life!