Category: news

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

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In search of non-GMO corn tortillas

I’ve been doing my best to avoid GMOs and non-organic foods in addition to gluten, so in those regards, I’ve stopped eating flour tortillas. I’ve been buying organic tortillas from my local health food store, but I don’t believe they are non-GMO, which led me to search the web for a brand that is and in my search I came across this recipe. It sounds really easy and Bob’s Red Mill Masa Harina is really cheap too.

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Whistle Activity Monitor for Dogs

Whistle is a technology company dedicated to creating products that benefit the health of pets. Their first product, The Whistle Activity Monitor, is like a FitBit but for dogs. The Whistle attaches to your pet’s collar, collects data on activity and provides a report for you or your veterinarian so that you can make informed healthcare decisions. The Whistle will cost 99.95 and can be preordered right now. I don’t know when it will officially launch.

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BPA, the plastic food packaging, may be partially responsible for obesity

Yet another study showing the negative health effects of consuming foods that have come into contact with BPA. I don’t know if all of my Tupperware is BPA-free but after reading this I’m finally going to go through all of my containers and make sure.

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Sun protection and safe sunscreen tips

I’m one of those people who never use sunscreen even though I know I should. It’s not because I want a tan or anything like that. I’m just lazy. There’s a handy list of safe sunscreens at the end of this article if you want to jump right to it. I like the Kiss My Face brand because they don’t test on animals so I’ll probably pick up a bottle of that.

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One set, not three, is enough for strength gains over a 10-week session, says new research

If three sets of an exercise resulted in the same outcome as one set, which option would you rather do? I’m guessing you’d do one set and get the hell out of the gym. Well this study shows that one set actually could be better than three. I think this is basically what Doug McGuff, MD has been teaching for a while now.

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Anti-smoking medication shows promise for treating alcohol dependence

I love seeing studies like this. It’s so cool that a drug that was created for one purpose also works to treat other illnesses. Science! I have two family members who struggle with alcoholism so hopefully this study results in something bigger.

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Chipotle Starts Labeling GMO Ingredients On Website Menu

I’m a big fan of Chipotle, but now that I know that most of their menu consists of GMO ingredients, I probably won’t be eating there much anymore. If I avoid GMO’s at Chipotle, I can eat black beans, guacamole, lettuce, and any of their salsas. I can’t eat their tortillas, tacos, chips or rice. Also, I really hate when people call Chipotle, Chipoltay, like the guy in this video does. I hate it almost as much as GMOs.

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Toxic Tampons: Feminine Hygiene Alternatives

Not being a woman myself, I would have never thought about this, but I’m sending this to my significant other for sure. I care about her health as much as I do mine.

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Danish Students Attract International Attention with Cress and Wifi Experiment

Whoa, I’m not sleeping with my phone next to my bed anymore. Or I’ll at least put my phone in airplane mode from now on. I’ve been using airplane mode all week so far. I was thinking about unplugging my router before bed, but I wonder if it would be better to put it on a plug-in timer. I’ll just have to set it late enough so that it doesn’t mess with our internet use on the weekends.

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Five Best Exercise Headphones

I’ve never had luck with earphones when exercising until I found these Sennheiser MX85 Sport Series II Twist to Fit Earbuds on Amazon. I’ve put those things through some strenuous workouts and I’ve never had a problem. They have made my ears a little sore though on some of my longer bike rides. They also don’t have a mic or in-line controls.

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Master the Squat

Another fantastic article to help you work on your squat technique. There are a lot of technical tips here, warm-up info and even some notes on additional exercises to help supplement the squat exercise. I love the section on modifying squat stances based on leg and back length.

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Growing glutes without growing the legs

I’m sure many women worry about their legs getting too muscular when they start doing exercises like squats and deadlifts. This article explains how to prevent that from happening while still being able to workout the glutes. Personally, I love women with strong muscular legs. 😉

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The Health Benefits of Smoking

If there is an article that requires being as open-minded as possible, this would have to be it. Could you imagine smoking tobacco for the health benefits? In addition to what the author discusses, if you click some of the links near the end of the article, you can see that nicotine may help in treatment for schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and people with autoimmune diseases. It can prevent cartilage deterioration and can stimulate cognitive function and creativity. I don’t plan on ever smoking again, but to all of my smoking friends, I will definitely recommend that they switch to roll-your-own, organic, additive free, pure tobacco. And if they can afford it, to smoke it in a vaporizer.

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

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Cinnamon compounds have the potential ability to prevent Alzheimer’s

Cinnamon is no cure, but it shows promise in preventing Alzheimer’s. There aren’t any recommended dosages yet, but the researchers of this study suggest not using more than what you would typically use when cooking. If you’re not already using cinnamon in your food, it’s time to start!

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Squat Like A Boss: How To Fix The 3 Most Common Squat Mistakes

Tony Gentilcore is now a contributing author on bodybuilding.com and his first article on the site is awesome. It’s packed full of squat tips. He also followed up on his own site on head position, which commenters on bodybuilding.com kept asking about.

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Sadistic Strength Methods: Sadiv Sets

This sounds like a brutal routine. I think I’m too afraid to try it. If I ever need a shock to my system, for example if I plateau, maybe I’ll come back to this one and give it a try.

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Teaching your kids about food will not cause eating disorders

There are good ways and bad ways to teach kids about food. You don’t want to deprive your kids of certain food groups, but you should educate them. And when you give your kids sweets and snacks, make it a healthier version of that food. Instead of giving them a bag of highly processed BBQ Lays potato chips, find some organic non-GMO chips with an ingredient list you can read. Or you can even make your own chips. With kids being diagnosed with high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes at earlier ages and more frequently then ever before, education is becoming very important.

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“Natural” Glute Ham Raise (GHR) Alternatives – YouTube

I just started a new routine and one of the exercises is the glute ham raise and since I work out from home, I don’t have a glute ham raise machine just laying around so I had to look for some alternatives. This video shows a whole bunch of different ways to do the exercise. I used a barbell in my power rack to hold my feet and an ab roller to assist me.

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The Risks of Sitting and 5 Things You Can Do To Counteract Them

This is an awesome PDF article. By now, most of you should be familiar with the negative health effects of sitting, and this article goes into a few of those details, but most of what this article discusses are the things you can do to counteract those negative health effects. There’s some great stuff here and lots of links to additional info. The friend who sent this article to me also sent me a link to this sweet standing desk. How awesome would it be to have that?! Too expensive for me though.

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Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation

And while were on the topic of the risks of sitting, here’s an interesting post from the Harvard Business Review. Walking-meetings are a great idea! I rarely do meetings, but the next time I have a meeting I’m going to suggest taking a walk instead of booking the conference room.

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What You Need to Know About Rhabdomyolysis: Insights from the University of Iowa Incident

I’ve never had Rhabdomyolysis caused by over-exertion during exercise, but I wouldn’t doubt if I’ve been really close. One time I actually had to call in to work because my legs hurt so bad I couldn’t walk. If you’re a trainer or even if you’re not a trainer but helping to train a friend or partner, heed the tips at the end of this article to prevent exertional rhabdo.

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The Kale Shake is Awesome – So Upgrade It

I keep hearing about Joe Rogan’s awesome famous Kale Shake, but I also hear that it tastes pretty bad. If it doesn’t taste good, there’s no way I’ll be able to stick to it, but Dave Asprey has made some upgrades to it and he claims that it tastes great. I’ll see about that! Ben Greenfield took Dave Asprey’s idea and made some modifications of his own to the kale shake, namely the addition of cinnamon and protein powder and swapping kale out with spinach.

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Bug and weed killers may up Parkinson’s risk

Exposure to pesticides, and bug and weed killers increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by 33 to 80 percent. That’s a lot! More reason to buy organic foods, or use a veggie wash when not buying organic, and to not use poisons on your lawn or around the house.

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A Love Affair with Pulp

Anyone who has ever juiced has thought about ways they can re-use the pulp leftover from their juices. Here’s a great recipe on using pulp to make wraps, or if you dehydrate longer, chips. I’m doing this!

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The Vitamin Deficiency That is Written All Over Your Face

If you’re deficient in Vitamin K2, you may have extensive wrinkles or skin sagging. That’s a visible symptom. Vitamin K2 is also needed for bone and kidney health, protecting against heart disease, preventing cancer and promoting brain function. Since I’m vegan, the best source for me to get K2 is in natto, or fermented soybeans, which I’ve tried before and didn’t really enjoy. Maybe I just need to suck it up and keep trying. I did eat it plain though, so perhaps I should mix it in with something tastier.

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As Seen On Twitter: Diet Sodas Make You Fat

You might have seen all the news all over Facebook and Twitter this past week about the dangers of diet sodas. I saw it myself several times. Well here’s an interesting point of view from Keifer who disagrees with some of the points the media are making in regards to the study.

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

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Developmental Fluoride Neurotoxicity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This study shows that fluoride exposure could negatively effect a child’s neurodevelopment. I really don’t know what to think about fluoride, but it just seems like there’s not enough data to prove that fluoride is beneficial, yet there’s quite a bit of research out there that support negative health effects of using it. I still use toothpaste containing fluoride, but that’s only because I’m working my way through a bunch of toothpaste I bought almost two years ago from Costco. When it’s gone, I’m switching to charcoal toothpaste.

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2-A-Day Training for Radical Gains

I’ve never tried a workout program requiring morning and night workouts but athletes always talk about it. Of course they’re athletes and I’m not, so there you go. This program isn’t really for athletes though, since it’s designed to build mass as opposed to strength. If you have enough free time, money for extra food and a desire to put your body through some pain, this might be the workout for you!

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Anabolic steroids may affect future mental health

Are the physical benefits offered by steroids worth the negative effects they have on the mind later in life? I say hell no! I want to be healthy and happy when I’m old.

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How harmful is the pill?

I posted an article about this in last weeks update too, but after learning about it, I’ve become very interested in the topic. I’ve even convinced my partner to stop taking birth control. You don’t have to take hormonal contraceptives to prevent pregnancy or diseases. There are several birth control options listed here. One of the lubricants she mentions that can be used with condoms is Aloe Cadabra, which is organic and “practically edible.” Interesting! Check out the comments on the page for more helpful information.

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Gluten-free diet reduces adiposity, inflammation and insulin resistance associated with the induction of PPAR-alpha and PPAR-gamma expression

The mice they tested in this study were fed either a 4.5% diet of gluten or no gluten at all. Despite there being no changes in the amount of food either groups were fed, the ones who consumed no gluten showed a reduction in body fat and weight gain.

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

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Find Your Perfect Hummus

Earlier this week I made the basic hummus recipes that’s linked to from this page, and I think it came out tasty. It was super-easy too, for the most part, but I learned some things after trying it out for myself. First, I didn’t add enough water so mine came out a little thick. Second, I used my Vitamix, and I think a food processor would have made this way easier. As soon as the batch of hummus I just made is gone, I’ll try some of the options listed in this article. I can’t wait!

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How to Make Fatty Coffee with Butter and MCT Oil (Ketogenic Coffee Recipe for Biohackers)

People everywhere are catching on to Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof coffee. Abel James likes to call it fatty coffee and he’s included several modifications you can try, such as cocoa powder, MCT oil, almond butter and vanilla powder. He also sometimes uses heavy cream and grass-fed butter, but being vegan, I obviously don’t use those. I could try coconut cream though. I was actually thinking about buying one of those frothers from World Market but I wasn’t sure how well they worked, but they look pretty good. I’ll probably pick one up this week.

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Fascinating Facts About Sleep

I’ve mentioned one of the ideas from this post before, which is that before man-made light, people used to go to sleep as the sun went down and woke up in the middle of the night to have tea or get things done and then went back to sleep for a second time. Some theorize that this is how the body was designed to sleep. It’s interesting. The post also goes into sleep aids and pharmaceuticals and how some help and some hinder your ability to get a good night’s rest. I personally really like the idea of sleeping in different rooms, but I know for a fact that my partner would not be happy with it. She barely lets me have my own blanket, but that’s a luxury I’m unwilling to give up.

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5 Fitness Buzzwords That Make Me Want to Punch a Hole in the Wall

I wish that everyone in the entire world could read this article. It pretty much tackles everything that’s wrong with the marketing hype of the health and fitness world. I’ve fallen for all of these things over the years, and that’s because as a beginner, I turned to magazines from the grocery store. I eventually wised up and started doing my own research but luckily for beginners these days, there are posts like this from Nerd Fitness.

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Guides to Local Foods By State

Great resource to figure out what foods are in season in your state and where to find it. This will help you find fruits and veggies grown closer to home, which is better for the environment and requires less travel, which also means your food will have more nutrients as it gets in your belly.

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Balancing Hormones Naturally, Post Hormonal Birth Control

This is a great post that discusses the many negative side effects of birth control, such as thyroid problems, nutritional deficiencies, gut bacteria depletion and how it compromises the body’s ability to produce hormones naturally. The post also talks about how to re-balance the hormones in the body after coming off of hormonal contraceptives. In addition to what this post doesn’t mention, I’ve also read that hormonal contraceptives can cause blood clots, migraines and even seizures. Mercola.com lists a whole bunch more. Just because you’ve been taking birth control for years and you’re fine now, who knows what kind of damage that birth control is causing in your body that you’re not even aware of.

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Veggie Burgers, Meatless Chicken and Paleo Bread

I’ve actually had people ask me why I sometimes eat meat alternatives. I don’t know why it’s so hard to understand that I grew up with burgers and wings just like everyone else. They are comfort foods. Vegans and vegetarians eat alternatives because it reminds them of foods they grew up loving while in turn not having to worry about animal cruelty. And paleos do the same thing with breads and crackers and pizza crusts. Diabetics do it with cookies. Everywhere we look people are looking for a healthier (or ethical or safer), but similar, alternative to a food they grew up eating. Sorta puts things into perspective, huh?

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New evidence on how fluoride fights tooth decay

So there actually are benefits to fluoride. I was starting to wonder because it seems like all I ever hear about fluoride these days are how bad it is. Most of the anti-fluoride stuff seems to be theory and not proven, but I suppose you can never be too careful.

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Weekend binge drinking could leave lasting liver damage

A lot of people save their partying for the weekend but a recent study shows why that could be detrimental to our health. Not only can weekend binging cause permanent liver damage, it can also cause damage to many other important organs in the body.

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Sleep Deprived? There’s an App for That

This isn’t just a post about sleep hacking apps, but sleep hacking technology in general. There are some really cool devices here that I’ve never heard about, like earthing sheets or outfitting your mattress with sensors that can track breathing rate, heart rate, presence and motion. Very cool!

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12 Lessons For The Weightlifter

I don’t plan on ever competing in any kind of weightlifting competition but I watch a lot of lifters videos on YouTube and Olympic lifting just seems like so much fun. Even if the routine here isn’t Kendrick Farris’, it looks solid enough to me. I’d like to try it for one week to see if I can handle it.

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Are Back Squats REALLY Necessary? The Legs, Hips, and Ass Issue

This is an awesome article and provides some alternate exercises you can do if back squats are not an option for you. I actually do back squats regularly along with all of the exercises mentioned in this post, except for the front squat. I’m thinking about switching out the back squat for the front squat for a while though.

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The Three “Longevity” Tests

Dan John performs these to determine where you are in life as it relates to your health in addition to where your form is at and if you should be regressing to simpler exercises and working your way back up. These are some great tests.

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How to Do Sumo Deadlifts

Great demonstration of the sumo deadlift from Bret Contreras. Looks like I’m doing it right!

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Muscle in a Bottle

A friend sent this to me and asked if I’ve heard anything about either of these supplements. I haven’t heard of these and to be honest after reading this article, I feel like it’s an advertisement disguised as a report. I don’t trust it, but I hope my friend tries it out so that I can see his results 😉

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Effects of Static Stretching on 1 Mile Uphill Run Performance

Because of it’s huge reach and popularity, P90X is one of the first places people learn about the the negatives of static stretching before a workout, but it’s a fitness program and Tony obviously doesn’t have the time to go into the science of why. Here’s a study showing how detrimental pre-workout static stretching can be, at least pertaining to short endurance bouts.

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Joint Mechanics: The Hip

This video goes into joint mechanics of the hip, self-diagnosing typical issues, and simple exercises you can do to fix those issues.

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Stop Doing Corrective Exercises!

This post makes the great point that instead of doing corrective exercises, you should be doing exercises with proper form, which will often fix the pain issues that cause people to start doing corrective exercises in the first place. There are some great tips here on getting into proper squat form too.

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Cheap Deadlift Bar Jack Alternative: 2 Ton Jack Stands!

I love this idea! I already have some jack stands that I use when I work on my Jeep, so I might give them a try. My stands are heavier duty than 2 ton, so they might be too tall. If I see a deal at Harbor Freight on 2 ton stands, I might pick them up, along with some jack stand rubber pads to protect the bar.

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

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Mushrooms can provide as much vitamin D as supplements

Vitamin D is good for bones, muscle strength and strengthening the immune system, so it’s something everyone should be getting plenty of. This study shows that mushrooms grown under UVB lights can produce Vitamins D2, D3, and D4. I’m not sure what the best mushrooms are to get these benefits, but from some quick research I see that wild mushrooms have 400-500 IU of Vitamin D per serving. If you don’t have access to wild mushrooms, you can set store bought mushrooms in the sun or under a UV light for 5 to 10 minutes to increase vitamin D levels. It works both pre and post harvest.

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System allows multitasking runners to read on a treadmill

I don’t do much cardio these days, but I have in the past and yes, I’ve tried reading while running on the treadmill, because treadmill running is BORING! If you’ve tried reading while running, you know that it’s not easy. Well it looks like a new device called the ReadingMate might be the answer. The ReadingMate can account for the runner’s motion and will move the text in unison with head movement. Cool!

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Interval Training and Intermittent Fasting: A Winning Combo

HIIT training and intermittent fasting is really popular these days and you get more benefits if you do both. The idea is to fast for 12-18 hours – stop eating 3 hours before bed and try not to eat for the next 12+ hours after your last meal. You want to workout in a fasted state and eat a recovery meal 30 minutes after working out. For HIIT training, you want to warmup for 3 minutes, exercise as hard as you possibly can for 30 seconds and recover for 90 seconds at a slower pace. You repeat this for up to 7 more times if you can. Check out the video on this page to see an example. He does it on treadmill, but there are lots of other HIIT workouts you can do. Just search Google.

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Blood, Berries or Butter: Maverick Wellness Highways

This is a crowdsource campaign to raise funds to create a documentary featuring people like Dave Asprey, Rich Roll, Nicholas Perricone, Abel James, Steven Fowkes, Justin Mager, Jim Kean, Chris Berka, Patrick Drake, James Hardt, Sarma Melngailis and a bunch of other biohackers. This is going to be one amazing documentary!

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Cold Thermogenesis Easy Start Guide

I can do the face dunking and I can probably do 20-40 lbs of ice on my chest with a compression shirt on, but I’m not sure how I feel about cold water immersion. Who knows though, I just might end up trying it sometime this summer.

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The Red Meat Scapegoat: The New York Times, Carnitine, Heart Disease and Science

You might have heard all the news recently about red meat causing increased risk of stroke, at least according to sensationalist journalism on sites like Forbes and the New York Times. I’m not saying that the study is wrong, but here’s a write-up from Dave Asprey on where the scientists who performed this study might have made some mistakes. Dave makes some interesting observations, but at this point his theories are still only theories and they don’t prove that red meat doesn’t cause increased risk of heart disease. I definitely think another study needs to be done though.

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. I might as well have called this the Ben Greenfield edition because I’ve linked to several of his articles this week. He just consistently puts out awesome content.

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Why Vegetable and Nut Oils Suck

According to this article, it sounds like the only good plant-based oils worth consuming are MCT oil and coconut oil. He also mentions one of the benefits of coconut butter, which is that it contains stearic acid, which helps prevent cells from collapsing.

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Ben Greenfield’s Macronutrient Green Smoothie

Ben Greenfield posted this awesome green smoothie recipe on his Facebook page. I’ve already made this a couple times. I should warn you, it’s a very “green” smoothie that some people might not have the taste buds for yet. I’ve been making green juices and green smoothies for two years now, so it’s not a big deal to me. I’m all about it for the health benefits.

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New Uses For Creatine

According to the latest research, there are many reasons to use creatine daily, outside of its typical use as a bodybuilding supplement. I wonder if daily use would result in it becoming less Effective for bodybuilding.

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Turmeric equals exercise in its ability to prevent aging

Studies show that consuming turmeric can be just as good as working out in terms of preventing aging. And if you do both, you’ll get even better results! Ahh, the miracles of plants.

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How Much Fiber To Eat

Konstantin Monastyrsky seems to be quite the expert in fiber, although there are some skeptics online, which you can find by searching his name in Google. If what Konstantin is saying is true, we definitely shouldn’t be consuming foods that are intentionally fortified with bran and fiber. He also recommends peeling all fruits and vegetables before eating them, not only because of fiber but because the skins are what protect foods from bugs and the environment and we shouldn’t put that into our bodies. This is one of the most interesting podcasts I’ve heard in a while. Konstantin also answers everyone’s questions in the comment section too, where you can get all sorts of great additional info.

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NEW P90X HOST!!! THIS GUY’S NUTS!! – YouTube

Has Tony Horton been replaced? Now way! It’s too hard to match the awesomeness and funniness of Tony Horton.

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What Are The Best Biohacks?

The tips here kinda suck, not because they aren’t good but because they aren’t anything special. But I’m linking to this post anyway because these are people in the bio hacking community worth following.