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.

Do You Know How Healthy (And Good) Kelp Is?

I discovered kelp one day while I was having lunch with my friend Agata at Earth Matters in the LES, NYC. She grabbed a box from the fridge that contained what appeared to be pesto noodles.
They didn’t looked exactly like regular noodles, more of a squishy version of them. I was a bit skeptical, but she made me try them and I must admit, they were awesome.
They were noodles made of kelp, an algae. Now, I know in general that algaes are a pretty amazing food, but what I didn’t know to what extent kelp is  awesome.
Truth to be told we should all try to integrate more kelp in our eating regimens.
Not only because it’s a healthy thing to do, but also as growing algae is cheap and sustainable - hence a good thing for our beloved Earth!

Blueberry Protein Banana Bread

This banana bread is amazing, I’m not kidding, it’s truly amazing. No sugar added, almost fat-free but with lots of good proteins and other precious nutrients: soft, moist and simply amazing.
It’s made with a good amount of whole wheat flour, rolled oats and protein powder.
Its core is bananas. I used organic ones that I found at the local grocery store, and I was very careful to pick the most riped ones from the stack.
This is crucial because the recipe calls for no added sugars. This means that all of the sweetness comes from the banana: that’s why they should be very ripe and delicious.
Also, don’t cheap out on blueberries: they contribute dramatically to this bread.
The end result is...amazing. I know I’m repeating myself but I can’t find any other word to better describe it.
It’s the best thing for breakfast. And if you’re on a diet, check the nutrition facts below, I’m sure you’ll be surprised!

Weight Loss Tip: Plan Your Meals

One of the golden rules for keeping your weight under control and being healthier is to never leave the house in the morning without having a plan for lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner.
If you’re on a diet you probably don’t have to worry about this because you’re likely to be provided with a daily nutrition plan. If you’re not (or you just finished one) you better start thinking ahead and learn to keep in check what you’re going to eat throughout the day.
Over time I discovered that planning meals is really a necessary component in being healthier.
Why? Because there’s nothing worst than spontaneous eating: 9 times out of 10 you’ll make poorer food choices. As it’s always easier to head to a fast food joint or to order-in rather than to create a nutritious and healthy meal at home.
Menu planning doesn't have be complicated: it just requires a small investment of time and some thinking.

Pumpkin Protein Muffins

I had some leftover pumpkin puree and thought to make some healthy muffins that I could enjoy in the morning for breakfast.
Making these muffins is a cinch. You can mix by hand which allows to incorporate all the ingredients quickly without overdoing it, a little touch for decorating them and that’s about it.
Depending on the sweetness of the pumpkin puree you’re using you can cut on the sugar. You can always replace it with Splenda sweetener to make them sugar free. Also feel free indulge on spices. I really enjoy the flavor combination of pumpkin and cinnamon; next time I’m going to add a little more than what the recipe calls for. So feel free to adjust those things to taste.
What came out of the oven were some pretty good muffins, worthy of your palate. Packed with protein, fibers and all the nutrients pumpkin brings along!

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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!

Green Protein Smoothie

This is my favorite green smoothie recipe. I’ve tried several flavors combinations over the years and found this to be pretty awesome. It’s basically banana, spinach or kale, pineapple juice and vanilla protein blended together. The greens slight bitterness almost disappears in the mixture, but still gives a bit of flavor-kick that blends well with the sweetness of the other ingredients.
I like to add chia seeds and bee pollen to make it “complete” from a nutritional standpoint. If you have spirulina add some: this smoothie will get even more awesome!

The Best Sources Of Omega-3s

Omega-3s are a hot topic, everybody keeps talking about how they’re a magic wonder for our brain, heart, skin, joints, and eyes. The consensus is that fish is the greatest source for Omega-3s hence, we should eat it at least twice a week. If not, we should supplement such deficiency with fish oil capsules.
However, most of the people don’t know that Omega-3s are not just a single nutrient. The term refers to a family of compounds that has a wide chemical variety. With each type of Omega-3 playing a different role.
The sources for each Omega-3s are different and sometime fish oil supplementation may not be enough.
Let’s discover some more about this.

A Triathlete Beginner's Swimming Workout (That Everybody Can Use)

Swimming is my absolute favorite workout/sport, there’s nothing else I rather do than jump into the water and swim for hours. Of the three triathlon’s segment, swimming it’s my favorite one.
I like not only the physical effort but also the sensation of calm and quite that comes when the water surrounds the body.
People are always asking me how I don’t get bored by just doing laps in the pool.
In a way, this concern is legitimate, if you’re just going back and forth, over and over again (“without a plan”) swimming might get boring in the long run. That’s why it’s so important to have a workout program to follow: it will break the routine and it will make you become a better swimmer.
So, I thought of posting the classic workout designed for beginners’ triathletes but that can also be followed by anyone who’s willing to improve in their swimming.

Wanna Lose Weight? Cut Sugars (As If You Had Diabetes)

Notwithstanding thousands different diets, pills and drinks we all know that there’s no magic formula for losing weight.
There are two golden rules that you should keep in mind when trying to shed those extra pounds off your body:
1) There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat; and
2) That you should reprogram your metabolism to go into burn-fat mode.
In other words, to lose one pound you should burn 3500 calories and those calories should come from your stored fat.
However, your body will start burning fat only when it doesn't have other more readily available energy sources to resort to. Needless to say it, the first choice source of energy is sugar.
Sugar runs in our bloodstream and it’s also stored in our muscles and liver as glycogen.
When your body runs out of sugar that's when it starts burning the reserves (i.e., stored fat), and, as a consequence, you’ll lose weight.
The end of the story is that to get thinner you have simply to drastically cut your overall sugars intake.