Tag: article roundup

It’s snowing like crazy here in Colorado, so I’m working from home today. I love being able to watch the snow from my home office window, knowing that I don’t have to drive in it. I’m guessing I’m going to be snowed in all weekend, but I might make the trip to my Mom’s house to watch the Super Bowl. She’s only 10 minutes away, anyway, so I’ll probably go if the family decides to get together. It should be a great game. Have a good weekend!

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

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Power Plants: Feast On These Vitamin-Dense, Cancer-Fighting Veggies

I didn’t know what cruciferous meant, so I had to look it up and basically, cruciferous veggies are simply those that come from the Brassicaceae family of vegetables. These are the best cancer-fighting vegetables you can eat, but this article claims that not cooking them can lead to thyroid gland problems. I’ve never heard of that before. I guess I should limit how often I eat raw cruciferous vegetables from now on.

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Why Running Drills are Bad for You

I’m sad to say that I’ve never even done running drills, but my new goals this year consist of doing more cardio-based activities, such as 5k runs and military-style mud runs, so drills will probably become a new part of my routine.

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How To Make The Perfect Guacamole

I love guacamole, but I’ve never been able to find a really good homemade recipe. My favorite guacamole comes from the pre-mixed stuff that comes in a packet near the avocados in the grocery store, but it isn’t vegan, so I can’t use it anymore. Next time I make some guac, I’ll try the recipe and the tips in this article.

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How to Make Rice Milk and Horchata

Ooh, this looks so easy. I’m actually not a big fan of rice milk, but I am a fan of horchata. I can’t wait to make this.

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A Beginners Guide to Biking

This is such a fun and entertaining article that I was sad when it ended. If not for the great writing, you should read it because you’ll probably learn something along the way too 😉

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Power Rack Fun Time! | DIY Power Rack and other stuffs

If you’ve got $400 laying around and have the time to build your own power rack, this post is for you. I would rather just buy a nice used one on Craigslist for that price, but this is still pretty cool.

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Recipe: Blueberry Buckle

Mmmm, this sounds tasty and it’s nice and healthy.

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The Best Nut Milk Recipe Ever {Really!}

Yep, this certainly sounds like the best nut milk recipe ever, based on those ingredients. Personally, I would rather drink plain almond milk without the sweetener and salt, but I’m still probably gonna try this one.

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Pull Pause Clean Press Dip Power Jerk Drill

I’m way too scared to try anything like this myself. I don’t have the right weights or space to do this anyway. I’m fascinated by lifts like this though.

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Swole.me – The automatic diet planner

This is a great idea for a dieting tool. It’s completely free and you don’t even need to create an account to use it. Simply enter the amount of calories you want to eat, in how many meals per day and that’s it. You can remove options containing dairy and meat for vegan/vegetarian meal plans too. You’ll probably notice that it still needs some work. Sometimes the meal plans seem a little wonky, for example, one plan suggested eating 3oz of ground beef and cup of oranges for breakfast.

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My 56 Day Juice Fast Summary – How I Lost Weight Every Day! – YouTube

People say that juice fasting is extreme, but as long as you do it right, I don’t see it that way. It’s super-healthy, you get plenty of calories and tons of nutrients and your body doesn’t waste energy by digesting food. Difficult not eating food, yes, but I don’t think it’s extreme. Check out this guys amazing 56 day juice fast transformation.

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12 Reasons You’re Not Losing Fat

In my own experience with the amount of fat I’ve placed on my body while trying to bulk up, I will agree with a lot of the advice here. I plan on creating some lower carb meal plans for myself to get some of my current body fat off, and I hope to replace more of the nuts and fruits in my diet with vegetables. It’s hard making changes like this as a vegan, but even eating more carbs, in my opinion, is healthier than putting animal fat, cholesterol and cancer-causing foods in my body.

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

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Channa Serenity: Raw Vegan & Fitness Model

Channa Serenity is a gorgeous raw-food vegan athlete who takes her health very seriously. She doesn’t even partake in cheat meals!

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Grocery Sale Cycles – When Do Things Go on Sale?

This is helpful month-by-month guide for purchasing all kinds of things at the grocery store, but the most useful for me are the lists of seasonal vegetables.

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The FitDesk is a Space-Saving, Apartment-Friendly Exercise Bike and Laptop Desk

I would love to have one of these. At $229.99, they aren’t too expensive either. The article mentions that resistance can be set with dials, which could be a bit of let-down. I’d be interested in seeing how it actually feels on various resistance levels.

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PaleoVeganology: Speciesism = Creationism; Treat It That Way

This article brought up some very interesting points about being vegan. Why should I have to explain myself for being vegan? Why don’t omnivores explain themselves for eating eat?

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Markus Rothkranz: The Power of Raw Foods (1/2) – YouTube

I’ve never heard of Markus Rothkranz, but it seems that I should. I’m becoming more and more interested in raw foods and Markus looks to be well known in the community.

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Make an Impromptu Heat Pad

If you don’t have a heating pad nearby, but you have a sock and some dried rice or beans, you’re good to go!

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10 Tips to Help You Find the Right Doctor

There’s one tip that caught my eye in this article – find a doctor who shares your beliefs. I’ve been looking everywhere for a list of vegan-friendly physicians, but no directories seem to exist.

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How to make FAST Fake Bacon from coconut meat – YouTube

After finding Markus Rothkranz, I started following his YouTube channel and I came across this great recipe. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will. I miss bacon, but I don’t like any of the fake bacons I’ve had so far, so hopefully this will be the answer.

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The Science and Practice of Low-Carb Diets – YouTube

I find it very interesting that Dr. Eric Westman from Duke University suggests that it’s ok to eat the Baconater, a nearly 1,000 calories sandwich from Wendys, as long as you remove the bun. I’m sure there are many other health professionals that would disagree with that. If you have time, listen to the entire 40 min. interview to see what you think. I admit that he makes some compelling arguments, but I don’t believe all of his claims.

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Quickie Vegan Cookie Dough Ice Cream at Home

Before going vegan, my favorite item from Dairy Queen was the cookie dough Blizzard. This recipe sounds so easy, I think I’m going to be making it soon.

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Squat Exercise Builds More Muscle, Burns More Fat

These are the reasons you should be doing the squat in your workouts. It’s such an important exercise!

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Interactive, motion-sensing walls to motivate gym-goers

I guess this is cool. Seems gimmicky to me, but the idea of seeing what your body could look like if you continue to work out sounds really cool.

I just got over a cold a week ago and then I got an ear infection which has left me dizzy and nauseous for the past week. I haven’t worked out for about two and half weeks! I think I’m finally getting over the ear infection and I really can’t wait to get back to the weights. Even if I’m not completely better, I’m gonna try to at least get a small workout in this weekend.

At least I’ve still been able to read! Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

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How Can I Quickly Recover After a Tough Workout?

If I do a really tough workout and I know I’m gonna be sore, my normal recovery routine consists of consuming hemp protein, creatine, and glutamine right after my workout and another before bed. Then the next day I try to fit in some sort of workout. This article has many more tips than just that. I’m pretty sure I’ll never try a contrast bath though.

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Hat + Ball + Elastic Cord = DIY Reaction Trainer

I don’t box, so I’ve never seen a device like this, but this DIY method seems like a really good idea for people who do box. I’d be too afraid of it hitting me in the eye. I want to try one though, just to see how tough it is. I’m guessing it’s pretty difficult.

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What’s In Your Food? Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)

I definitely need to learn more about the ingredients in my food. BHA is harmful if swallowed or touched with bare hands. It comes with a warning that it can cause cancer, yet it’s used as a preservative in foods that we eat?

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How many lives could a soda tax save?

This study estimates that adding a penny-per-ounce tax on soda could prevent 100,000 cases of heart disease, 8,000 strokes and 26,000 deaths in the next 10 years. I say do it!

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Jimmy Pena’s Power Rack Training Series, Part 3: Isometrics

This is really cool. I would have never thought to use an empty bar in the power rack to do isometrics.

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Metabolic Resistance Training: Build Muscle And Torch Fat At Once!

This is one of those magazine-style articles that are very hard to believe. Personally, I’m a bit skeptic. I thought the idea behind this training is interesting though. I was planning on doing a routine similar to this just to break up my normal routine, so I’ll probably give this one a shot for a couple weeks.

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Enjoy low sugar fruits!

Fruits are healthy, but they also contain sugar, which isn’t a good thing if you’re trying to keep the fat off. Eat fruit with lower amounts of sugar instead.

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Dr. Doug McGuff on the Benefits of Exercise

This is a fantastic interview about exercise. You will definitely learn something if you take the time to listen to the whole thing. It’s long, but it’s worth it. You should also read the accompanying article. Dr. McGuff’s blog is now in my RSS feed. I don’t want to miss anything this guy says.

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The New Raw-Food Diet

I’ve been considering going to an all raw-food diet, but after reading this interview, I’m having second thoughts. According to Victoria Boutenko, a 100 percent raw diet is effective for healing, but a 80-95 percent raw diet is a better choice for sustainable living.

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Omega-3 Fats in Vegan Diets: A Quick Primer

If you’re vegan, you need to make sure you’re getting the Omega 3s you need. This article opened up my eyes to why flaxseed and other types of oils are so important, even if you’re already taking Omega 3 supplements. Lucky for me, I already consume flaxseed oil daily in my salads.

The Broncos are in the playoffs and they’re up against the Patriots tomorrow. I usually do my cooking on the weekend so that all my meals are ready for the upcoming week, but I’m dedicating this Saturday to hanging out with friends and watching the game, so I did a bunch of cooking last night and I plan to do a bunch more tonight. This week I made the Ginger “Chicken” from the cookbook ‘How it All Vegan’ and it came out absolutely delicious. I can’t wait to eat it next week and I can’t wait for the game tomorrow. Have a great weekend and see you next week!

GO BRONCOS!

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

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WHY I CHOOSE TO STARVE MYSELF ~ WATER DIET DAY #9 – YouTube

I’ve been watching Dan (liferegenerator on YouTube) for a month or so now and I really enjoy his videos and the information he provides. He’s currently doing a water fast and this video goes over the process with one of his doctors. Very informative if you plan on fasting.

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Diesel Crew – Equipment Review: Instant Fat Bar Handles

In last week’s article review I had mentioned that I wanted to get some fat bar grips and then with perfect timing, here came an article reviewing three different brands of grips. The Fat Gripz seem to the be the best option for me, which is why they are now sitting in my Amazon wish list, waiting for me to buy them 😉

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Don’t Let Sickness Derail Your Progress

Sadly, I came across this article right after I had a bad cold. Interestingly, I did many of the tips recommended in this article without even thinking about it. I got plenty of Vitamin C from my normal diet and I take glutamine every morning as part of my supplement regimen. I get vitamin D everyday when I’m beat down by the sun by working in an office that has huge glass garage doors. I also took naps immediately after work, which is the first time I’ve ever done that during a cold, and I will forever do that in the future from now on because it helped me tremendously. I’ve never tried hydrogen peroxide in my ears though, but I will next time.

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The Post Punk Kitchen 100

A great post of the top 100 things for vegans from The Post Punk Kitchen. This list includes tips, websites, recipes, gadgets and other things. It’s random, but very cool. I think the best one out of this list is the vegan cadbury eggs. I hope to get some of these for Easter this year!

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How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body – NYTimes.com

People who do yoga regularly probably won’t be happy to read this article, but it completely makes sense. Despite the beliefs of yoga having healing effects, unless you’re athletic and in great shape, it’s more likely to lead to injury. Even if you’ve never had a bad experience with yoga in your life, that’s not to say something won’t happen in the future. Personally, I’ll continue to do yoga, but I pretty much stick to the basics.

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Avocados: The Super-Fruit

Avocados are definitely super healthy. I usually eat one avocado every day in a kale salad. Mmmmm.

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10 Stubborn Body Myths That Just Won’t Die, Debunked by Science

Here’s a fun one to read. Did you know peeing on a jellyfish sting is a bad idea? And did you know that obese people tend to have higher metabolisms than do lean people? Yup, it’s not the metabolism, it’s the sedentary lifestyle.

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Wi-Fi Smart Scale Records Fitness Goals Over Time

This is sweet! This scale from Fitbit can track weight, BMI and body fat percentage, and then send the information to the Fitbit website. This would be a great way to track progress over time. I currently do this by writing it down in a notepad, which kinda sucks. I want one of these scales! $130 is a little steep for me though.

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How to Keep and Reheat Your Leftovers for Long-lasting Tasty Meals

I make it a habit of never wasting any food unless I absolutely need to, but my fiance is the exact opposite. She hates reheated food. If you’re anything like her, you should probably read this article to learn some tips on how to reheat food for the best taste.

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5 Healthy Facts about Spinach

I think we can probably create an article like this for every single fruit and veggie in existence. Spinach is definitely a super-healthy vegetable and all of us should be eating it regularly. Since getting my juicer, I’ve been trying to consume spinach more regularly.

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Anatomy of a Vegan – Infographic

You know that veganism has made it big when someone creates an infographic about it. There are lots of interesting stats here. Did you know that 46% of vegan households spend $51-$100? I spend about $20 per week, but that will probably go way up if I go raw vegan, which I’m strongly considering.

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The Different Juice Fasting Stages of Detoxification

I would like to juice fast for 30 days someday, but it doesn’t sound like a fun process. It seems very beneficial to the body though, but you need to keep in mind that this isn’t science-based medicine (as far as I know) so a lot of this information is based on claims not backed up by scientific studies.

I checked all the same blogs and feeds that I do every week, and I guess everyone is still out on vacation for the holidays, because there really wasn’t much to read this past week. There were a few good articles I felt worth mentioning though.

Happy New Year! Stay safe and I’ll see you in 2012!

image courtesy of BluEyedA73

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Rusty Weight Restoration

I don’t have any rusty weights, but I see them at the flea market all the time for cheap. I might have to pick some up when summer comes back around.

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Creatine for Teenagers

If you’re a teenager consider creatine use, there are some good questions here that you should ask yourself. I think most people would agree that while your body is still developing, refrain from supplements.

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How Creatine Supplements Affect Muscle Growth

Here’s another article about creatine from the same site as the one above. It’s a quick read and a simple explanation of how creatine works.

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Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead – Watch the full movie

This is a must-watch film. My fiance watched it sometime last week and immediately ordered a juicer. I figured that if it impacted her that much, it must be pretty good, so I watched it too. Fantastic movie! The full movie is available on Hulu for free. It’s also on Netflix Instant.

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Rawfoods’s Channel – YouTube

After telling a coworker about how my fiance bought a juicer, he suggested I watch the videos on this YouTube channel. I definitely recommend you do too. I’ve learned a lot between masticating and centrifugal juicers. Masticating (auger) juicers squeeze the hell out of the plant and get just about everything out of it. Centrifugal-style juicers shred the plant and then spin the juice away from the pulp. A word of caution after watching these videos though, the guy in the video is an authorized dealer of the Omega, which is a masticating juicer and he does an excellent job at subtly persuading you away from centrifugal juicers. In my own opinion, I think the masticating juicer probably does a better job, but it has lots of negative reviews around the internet for breaking often. I absolutely love our Breville (centrifugal) right now. It’s fast and it doesn’t do so bad with leafy greens as longs as you bunch them up.

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No Meat, No Dairy, No Problem – NYTimes.com

I liked a lot of things about this article. Good points, great advice and it’s summed up shortly.

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Milk Does A Body Good, Huh? So Which Kind Of Milk Should I Drink?

The author of this article did a good job of quickly reviewing the various types of milks, but I’m always disappointed when someone claims that milk is a great source of calcium to help build strong bones. I doesn’t take a lot of research these days to learn that our bodies struggle to absorb the calcium from cows milk and because of the acidity of milk, our bodies actually have to pull calcium from our bones to neutralize the acidity. Milk is worse for our bones! Outdated knowledge dies hard.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Yay! I just want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and I hope you have a great holiday. Spend lots of time with the family, eat lots of food and be happy. And if you eat too much food, like most of us do every year, put aside some time to do a few workouts. I plan on doing a heavy workout tomorrow morning as a preemptive strike 😀

Every weekend I publish a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. These are my favorites.

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Ten Great Books to Expand Your Horizons

If Martin Berkhan has reading suggestions, you can bet they’re worth checking out. I just got a Kindle for Christmas and I can’t wait to read these books on these on it.

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Smash Your Bench PR by the End of the Year

I caught this one a little late, so you probably won’t smash your PR before the end of the year, but you can start this now and do it shortly after the new year!

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Do Vitamins Actually Work?

Basically, if you don’t have a healthy and highly nutritious diet, taking a vitamin wouldn’t be a bad idea. I’ve never noticed a benefit from taking vitamins, but I take them to prevent any sorts of deficiencies I might have.

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The Best Damn Bench Press Article Period

If you’ve got some spare time and you want to learn just about everything there is to know about the bench press, this article has you covered.

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Caffeine study shows sport performance increase

Caffeine and carbs are a good mix for endurance, performance and skills. I’m not sure I’ve ever consumed a caffeine/carbohydrate drink before. I wonder what the options are.

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StrongLifts 5×5 Workout Tracker for iPod/iPhone

You’ve probably heard me mention it before, but I’m currently doing the Stronglifts 5×5 program and I’m seeing huge success. I’ve never come close to the amount of weight I’m lifting today. Apple just approved the app yesterday so go download it for free!

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Update: Men’s Health Stopped Writing New Cover Lines Years Ago

Wow, isn’t this terrible? That means that most of the stuff you see on the cover of this magazine isn’t even in the issue. I wonder how many other magazines do this.

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What Is Braggs Liquid Aminos

It’s not the article that’s interesting here, but check out the comments. What an interesting conversation! Some people say Braggs Liquid Aminos is a healthy alternative to regular soy sauce and others say it’ll kill you, lol. I just bought some and personally, I’m not afraid to use it.

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How to foam roll – YouTube

I’m not well-educated on foam rolling, so this video was very helpful. He shows quite a few different ways to use a roller. It seems like it would feel pretty good.

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Let’s Go Eat! – Michael Collins at City O’ City in Denver, CO

City O’ City is an awesome restaurant in downtown Denver. We eat there all the time. The seitan buffalo wings are awesome and I haven’t tried one dessert that wasn’t super-delicious. Check out their sister restaurant, Watercourse, too.

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How to Put on a Bench Shirt (video)

Jeez, it takes a lot of work to put on a bench shirt. This is probably only useful for competitive lifters, but I thought it was still pretty interesting. I wonder if it’s possible to put on a bench shirt by yourself? Probably not.

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Remove Excess Fat from Soups and Casseroles with an Ice Cube

This is a really cool trick. I wonder how much fat and calories can realistically be removed using this method. I can’t wait to try it and see what it looks like.

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Ben Green Podcast: Eating for a Long Workout

I’ve read quite a few articles from Ben Green in the past, all of them very good, but I’ve never listened to one of his podcasts. After checking this one out, I’m definitely gonna start catching them from now on. There was so much information in here and not just about eating for a long workout, as the title suggests. He covered so much stuff. Damn! 😀

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23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?

This is a fantastic video explaining the benefits of walking and how walking regularly can dramatically increase your mortality rate. The presentation is amazing and will keep you entertained the entire time.

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The Bottom-Up Squat

A bottom-up squat is a squat starting from the bottom position of the exercise. I actually did these involuntarily at my old gym because their power rack didn’t have j-hooks to hold the weight at shoulder level. Perhaps I should do them on purpose now.

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Low Back Stretches for Snow Shovelers

This one couldn’t have come at a better time. I just shoveled more than a foot of snow from my sidewalk and driveway yesterday and boy, was my back hurting.

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Tacos With Mushrooms and Chipotle Ranchera Salsa

Mmmm, these look tasty. I’m not sure about the cabbage, but I’m willing to give these tacos a try. Looks really easy to make too.

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Starting Strength Routine Generator Spreadsheet

If you want to build strength and you need a place to start, download this spreadsheet. It’s got the big lifts you should be doing. If you enter your starting weight in the fields, it’ll automatically update the routine to the amount of weight you should be lifting for each set.

Every weekend I publish a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. Here are my favorites.

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Alternate Sleep Cycles: You Don’t Really Need 6-8 Hours!

I’ve always wanted to try something like this. The Uberman and Dymaxion cycles sound awesome, but I don’t have the lifestyle that would allow me to attempt it. It would be great for a work-at-home person though. I would probably have to go with the Everyman cycle. Could you imagine how productive you could be by switching from a monophasic to polyphasic sleep cycle? I wonder how it would affect the ability for muscles to recover after a workout though.

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How To Overcome a Bad Night’s Sleep

I’ve been writing about sleep a lot lately, huh? I love sleep so much! :D. I wish there was a place for me to take a quick 20 minute nap at work. That would be awesome.

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Vanilla Coconut Protein Pancake Recipe

I’d have to remove the eggs and substitute the yogurt and whey protein powder for this one, but I think I can do it. It sounds delicious.

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Popular Programs – German Volume Training

I wasn’t familiar with German volume training, but I am now. This article provides a pretty good overview. I can’t wait for the next in the series where the writer examines Stronglifts, which is a program I’ve had lots of succes with.

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How to Snatch, Part 1: Catch it and Ride it Down – YouTube

This is a three-part series on learning on how to snatch. The videos are long, but for good reason. This is real instruction. Here are parts two and three.

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How To Rapidly Improve at Chin Ups – YouTube

This is a really cool idea, and it’s so simple. I’ll be incorporating this into my workout immediately.

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Ideas on what to do with old whey containers?

Here’s an interesting post from Reddit. If you can get past the typical Reddit silliness, there are some great ideas here. You can turn old protein containers into a survival kit, vegetable planter, use it as food storage (sugar/flour/beans/rice/oatmeal, etc), oil catch cans, or a tip jar. You can also store things like dog food, spare change, toys, nails or fertilizer.

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Homemade Wooden Power Rack

This thing looks awesome. Personally, I wouldn’t trust it, but I’m not a woodworker and I have no idea how strong the wood might really be. Luckily, I found a great deal on a steel power rack.

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Not quite a hamburger, Qrunch is quite a success

This is awesome! A vegan, gluten-free quinoa burger entirely free of allergens. This should appeal to lots of people. I’m gonna go go to King Soopers this weekend to see if I can find some.

Every weekend I publish a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. Here are my favorites.

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Alcohol: Not a Friend to Sleep

I always try to tell people about this when they say they’ve been having problems sleeping and then someone suggests they drink a glass of wine or have a couple beers before bed. Such destructive advice!

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Say No to Coffee!

You won’t find much research online with claims that coffee is bad for you, because there are just so many benefits, but Jim Stoppani, PhD is suggesting that you get your caffeine through supplements instead. He says that coffee can increase cortisol levels, which is not a good thing for people trying to build or maintain muscle mass.

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Remove the Tube and Pull Up: Your Toilet Paper Roll Is Now a Box of Tissues

I considered this a fitness related tip because I always blow my nose before every workout so that I can breathe clearly and without distraction. This is such a cool idea that I actually tried it right after reading about it. I had to tear up the inside a little bit to get the cardboard out, but it wasn’t difficult at all. I need to get one of those roll covers to make it look nice now.

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How muscle fatigue originates in the head

Anyone who who has ever done an extremely strenuous workout probably already had some idea that muscle fatigue was somewhat triggered in the mind and not entirely from the muscle itself. According to this new study, the brain reduces muscle performance to prevent physiological limits from being exceeded. So next time you’re feeling a little tired, push yourself a little harder to see how much further you can really go.

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Fitness May Lower Death Risk Even Without Weight Loss

A new study shows that your body doesn’t have to look good for you to live longer. As long as you continue to maintain or improve your fitness levels, you’re more likely to increase your lifespan. If you’re overweight and you aren’t seeing physical changes from working out, don’t give up, because you’re still doing yourself a lot of good.

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The Ultimate Squat-Free Lower-Body Training Program

This is a great guide for those of you who hate squats. I used to hate squats too, but after reading continuously about how important they are, I kept doing them. I’ve seen so much progress in just the past 6 months that I actually don’t mind them much anymore.

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FoodTrackerPro Keeps Track of Your Diet Without Forcing You to Count Calories

This app looks really cool. It actually reminds me a lot of the food tracking app that comes with the BodyBugg, which helped me easily track my calories and lose weight earlier this year. I haven’t tried it, but I think this app is probably worth the $1.99 price.

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How to Train for a Marathon

Wow, this is an incredibly in-depth post on how to train for a marathon. I personally don’t have any plans to run a marathon soon, but I have nothing against doing one. It’ll be good to be able to come back to this post when that time comes.

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CrossFit – How to Build a Garage Gym Rogue Style – YouTube

Wouldn’t it be awesome to have your own personal cross-fit gym?

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How to Ditch Your Junk Food-Filled Pantry and Reboot Your Diet

If you’re new to eating healthy or you just can’t stop cheating on your diet, you should probably read this. You’ll never get in shape if you keep junk food around the house.

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Why Sugar Makes Us Sleepy (And Protein Wakes Us Up)

According to the studies mentioned in this article, consuming even a little bit of protein can cancel out the inhibitory effects of sugar and it’s even better if the protein is consumed after the sugar. I guess this means we should start eating dessert before dinner 😉

Every weekend I publish a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. Here are my favorites.

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Hey Kids, Eat Yourselves Smart!

Another great post on why Omega-3 and DHA is important to have in our diets. It helps us think! I have a friend that was telling me about how when he started eating fish again, after being vegan for several years, there was a noticeable change in how well he could concentrate. There are better ways of getting DHA though, also pointed out in this article. Get it from the source – algae and seaweed. I use supplements derived from those sources.

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Body Transformation: Anna Cut 140 Pounds From Her Life

It’s amazing how getting in shape can completely change how you look and feel. She looks great!

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How Wheat Makes You Fat!

I haven’t done in-depth research into how wheat and gluten affects the body, but I’ve been hearing this argument a lot lately and I’m leaning towards it being correct. My diet is already quite limited as a vegan, so it would take a lot of planning for me to also remove wheat products.

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Scientifically-Credible Information on Vegan and Vegetarian Diets

This site looks terrible and is in dire need of an update, but the information here is top quality. Lawrence Forti holds a Masters degree in chemical engineering and provides only scientifically-credible info about veg diets – no ethical or cultural issues are discussed here. Straight to the point and useful.

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19 one arm pull ups. (10 right arm, 9 left arm) – YouTube

Holy crap, this guy is nuts. I can’t even do one 1-arm pull-up. One day though… One day. 😀

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Becoming a Vegan R.D.

This article provides some great tips on becoming a vegan registered dietician from one of the best in the industry. Jack Norris also wrote about becoming a registered dietician. I was actually considering going back to school and becoming a registered dietician. I talked to the director of the dietetics program at Metro State College of Denver and I was told that they do try to hit on the subject of vegan diets. To become a registered dietician takes 5-6 years and another 1-2 years of interning, so while I would like to be a dietician I decided that I would rather go into journalism.

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My New Roots – How to Make Nut Milk on Vimeo

I’ve posted some links on making almond milk and soy milk before, but this video really shows how easy it is to make nut milk. All I need is a cheesecloth, which I saw at Sunflower Market just the other day.

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Vitamin B12 Deficiency Can Cause Symptoms That Mimic Aging

I was just researching B12, because it’s just about the only nutrient a vegan can’t get from natural foods. It’s a very important vitamin as you’ll find out if you read this article. I take a multivitamin that provides B12, but I’m also going to try to find fortified foods to help me get more of it throughout the day.

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DIY Candied Ginger Is Easy to Make and Relieves Stomach Discomfort and Nausea

I don’t think I’ve ever tasted ginger candy before. It sounds good though and it never hurts to have a natural stomach sickness recipe on hand.

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Bodypart Frequency and Soreness

Lyle McDonald is a smart guy but it’s been so long since he’s posted helpful advice. This one is about working out when your body is suffering soreness.

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Best 20-Minute Home Circuit Workout for Ultimate Fitness

There’s nothing new here, but I admit that this is probably a killer workout if you stick to the timing and rest periods. I agree that working out at home is much better than the gym, but I also own a lot of heavy equipment and an awesome power rack that allows me to do pretty much anything I want.

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13 Tips for Choosing a CrossFit Gym

I’ve never been to a Crossfit gym before but I’ve always wanted to try out a membership. I don’t have any immediate plans to go to one, but this will come in handy when I do.

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Enough with the Foam Rolling, Already

I don’t think I’ve ever read an article against foam rolling, and I’ve never tried it, but I’ve noticed how big of a fad it has become over the last couple of years and I’ve always wondered if it works. This article explains that it doesn’t but I’d certainly like to read other articles on the subject first before making that decision.

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Preventing Winter Weight Gain

I psychological look at why we crave unhealthy foods during the winter and how eating steel cut oats can help put a stop to daylong cravings.

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How to Stay Safe When Exercising Outdoors in Cold Weather

This article provides some nice easy tips on how to dress, knowing the warning the signs of hypothermia and useful technology to help you stay safe when working out in the cold. I think it’s cold enough working out in my basement, so good luck trying to get me to workout outside during the winter.