photo by Marni Molina

There are few things that make me so happy as cooking a dish for someone I know will love it. Example: Zach loves french toast. So being the merry little domestic wife I am, I decided to whip up some french toast this Saturday morning for brunch. Now, French toast may be the world’s most adored breakfast food, but it sure isn’t Read the rest of this entry »

photo by Masala Cha Photography

I was walking through the mall the other day and I saw a stand selling all kinds of books and products for something called the “cookie diet.” I laughed. Out loud. Are you serious? Yes, they are… that is the sad part.

People are so confused when it comes to exercise/>lose-weight-exercise/>weight loss. We’re an obese nation, so it makes sense that we’d be desperate. But let’s set the facts straight- no short term plan will do any long-term good. Period. Read: do not buy into the cookie diet, the grapefruit diet, the potato chip diet (ok, that one doesn’t exist, but if the cookie diet exists, the potato chip diet probably isn’t far behind)…

A recent article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition studied the different effects Read the rest of this entry »

photo by Wedding Wire: wedding cakes & flowers

For those of you who haven’t heard, I have to share with you the biggest news of my life up to this point… On October 10th, 2009 I will be marrying my best friend in the whole world! We are so excited and busily planning the big day.

And part of the planning involves dress shopping…which I was doing last night. Bridezilla happened to be trying on dresses in the fitting room adjacent to mine. It’s no secret that many brides try to exercise/>lose exercise/>lose-weight-exercise/>weight to look their best for their wedding day, but apparently bridezilla has a lot of exercise/>lose-weight-exercise/>weight to exercise/>lose. She’s planning on losing 30lbs by August, and she plans to do it by not eating anything all day but a granola bar and yelling at the fitting room attendant to burn calories. Really?!

While this poor girl didn’t know that she was giving nutritionista in the room next to her good material to write about, a lot of people identify with her. Starving yourself to exercise/>lose a bunch of exercise/>lose-weight-exercise/>weight really quickly sounds morbidly unpleasant but somewhat successful in theory, only it actually is the worst possible way to exercise/>lose exercise/>lose-weight-exercise/>weight. You see, when you don’t eat, your metabolism turns to mush and Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Travis K.

Isn’t it funny how people are afraid of fat? If I didn’t know better, I’d think that people assume that if you eat fat, you become fat. Actually, I do know better, and I still think that. I could go on a bazillion of my famous tangents to explain the importance of healthy dietary fats, but really, when it all comes down to it, we just simply need to clear something up: FAT IS GOOD.

But don’t listen to me. Listen to the pros. A study done at UC Irvine shows that foods rich in unsaturated fats like avocados, nuts and olive oil actually curb hunger and help you feel satisfied before you’ve over-stuffed yourself. Why? Because the Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by 360Forged

As a child, I thought I could convince my dad to buy me a new dress because “Daddy, I need it! If I dont have it I wont have anything to wear!” Of course 7-year old girls are oblivious to the exercise/>lose-weight-exercise/>weightlessness their arguments hold, and the response usually was something along the lines of, “You want that dress, but you don’t need it, and might I remind you that you will have plenty of things to wear if you don’t have that one.” Pfffft!

Thanks to my dad, I now have some Read the rest of this entry »

photo by Steffe

I wake up at 5am every morning. You probably think I’m crazy. You’re right. But there is something so wonderful about being the first person awake, and being able to have my quiet time and drink a hot cup of coffee, and listen to the silence. But one thing I always do is put my coffee pot on auto-start. That way when I mosey into the kitchen at that ghastly early hour, I don’t have to wait for a single second to pour a steaming hot cup of liquid energy. The funny thing is, usually just the smell of the coffee in the kitchen wakes me up. Come on, you know what I mean. You walk into Starbucks and you are instantly energized. Maybe part of it is the anticipation of your latte, but research also shows Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Andrew Huth

Next time you’re prowling around the kitchen for a midnight snack, just go back to sleep. You’re not really hungry, you’re dreaming…

Wake-up call! Studies show that when healthy adults get 4 hours of sleep for even just 2 nights in a row, the hunger causing hormone, called ghrelin, in our bodies increases by 28%!  Resultant of the increase in ghrelin, study participant’s appetites also increased by an enormous 23%. Getting less than 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis will have a similarly poor effect on your decision making skills: aka, resisting junk Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by jaggat images

Whether or not we were a part of it, we all know about the “in-group” from our yesteryears. New research shows that our health behaviors are correlated with our perceived identity.

A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that when people associate a particular behavior with the “out group,” they are less likely to participate in that action. For instance, if we were led to believe that gangsters (an out-group) ate junk food, we are more likely to choose healthier foods so as to not be associated with the “out group.” Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by fonsico

Change is the mantra everywhere we go these days. And as the nation has just turned a corner approaching change, think about the changes you want for YOU.

If you’re looking to make some positive changes for your health this year, there are a few Read the rest of this entry »

If you were to guess, how many food-related decisions would you say you make each day? If you’re the average person, you probably estimated that you make about 15 food/beverage related decisions every day. Guess what? You’re wayyyy off. Read the rest of this entry »