Fitness Articles of the Week #15

image courtesy of Johnny Jet

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


My First 5k

I just set up a new website for my fiance because she wanted to capture her journey on becoming a competitive runner. This is her first post about running her first 5k.


The Aquaman

My fiance was so excited about her new site and having a place to share her journey, she put up another post only a day after the first. This one’s about the upcoming Aquaman race, which I plan to attend to cheer her on and take pictures 😀


Chewing Ice: A Sign of Iron Deficiency?

It’s weird how the brain and body works sometimes. If you’re deficient in iron, you might have a strange desire to chew ice. Some people even have been also known to want to smell things such as gasoline, ammonia or body odor.


Why Do Most Vegetarians Go Back To Eating Meat?

It seems that one of the biggest reasons vegetarians return to meat is because of health reasons, commonly anemia due to a lack of iron. As a new vegan, I can’t speak on experience, but would guess that most of these vegetarians were not eating properly and weren’t taking vitamins. Some of the more disappointing reasons from people in the study are things like getting tired of the lifestyle or social acceptance 🙁


Can Biking in a Skirt be Considered a Crime?

This is one of those stories that is so ridiculous that you wonder how some of these people become police officers in the first place.


Pumpkin Protein Bars Recipe

Sounds delicious, but I’ll have to replace some of the ingredients with vegan alternatives. High protein, low calories. I can’t wait to make them.


Twin Study Shows Lifestyle, Diet Can Significantly Influence Course of Macular Degeneration

Articles about macular degeneration always interest me because my Grandma has it. She has lost her vision completely in one eye and the other seems likely to be lost too. This new study shows that a diet high in vitamin D could help reduce the risk of macular degeneration. This is good stuff to know now before you lose your vision too.


What’s in your food? 1500+ possible food additives

This huge list is the reason you shouldn’t be eating processed foods. It’s hard not to eat processed foods sometimes, but I try to keep it to a minimum as much as I can. Eat foods that only contain a few ingredients and ones that you can pronounce.


Same Ingredients, Three Meals – Italian

This is a neat idea. Here are three different Italian meals you can make using the same basic ingredients, each with only a slight moderation. And they are all vegetarian too!

Fitness Articles of the Week #14

image courtesy of bayasaa

Every weekend I publish a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. Most of the articles are new but some might be older, which often come up during my own personal research. Here are my favorites.

Have a great 4th of July weekend!!


Happy 4th of July from VegWeb

One of the funniest misconceptions about being vegan is that the only things we can eat are salads and berries. My family thinks this way too, no matter how many times I try to tell them, so that’s what they serve at family get-togethers for me and my fiance. So it’s up to us to bring foods for ourselves, which is where this excellent list of recipes will come in handy for this 4th of July weekend.


Attention Scale Addicts, part 2

This is a fantastic article explaining exactly why you shouldn’t become obsessed with the scale. Check out Deb’s before and after results, both at a weight of 155 lbs. She eats 3900 calories per day right now too. That’s more than I eat!


Photoshop Disasters – AB Exercise Ball

You won’t learn anything from this article, but it’s certainly funny. This company just took workout photos and photoshopped the Ab exercise ball into the shots terribly.


How to Select Fresh, Ripe Produce

I suck at picking out fruit, especially bananas and avocados. I always have to wait days before I can actually eat it because it’s so under-ripe that it won’t even peel. This article has some great tips. I never thought about smelling my fruit before buying it before 😉


tigroo //Unbreakable//

Tim Ferris tweeted about this video and couldn’t pass up mentioning it here. Watch this B-boy show off his skills. You’ve gotta have lots of strength and balance to pull moves like this off.


5 Reasons that I Think Treadmill and Elliptical Machine Workouts are a Waste of Time

I agree with almost everything said in this article, but won’t deny that using the elliptical helped me lose 25 lbs. in three months. While I did find it extremely boring at first, I eventually grew to like it, especially after setting up Netflix on my iPhone.


“Compound Exercise Overload” to Force Muscle Growth and Gain Strength

Feel like pummeling one specific muscle group over and over for a week? If so, you might want to consider compound exercise overload. I’ve never heard of anything like this, but I really like the idea. I’d love to try it out.


Tips for Running with your Dog

These are some really good tips that I can agree with based on experience. We’ve been taking our dogs out on runs recently and had to learn this stuff the hard way. One additional tip I’d recommend would be to carry along a foldable water bowl to pour water into during your run.


Eat Before You Work Out to Burn Fat Without Losing Muscle

New studies show that not eating before your workout will leave your body with no fuel. The fat burning process will stop quickly and your body will begin to burn muscle instead. Eat before you workout!


9 Ways To Improve Your Body As Quickly As Possible

Some of these tips might seem basic to you, but this is an excellent guideline to follow if you’re just getting started on improving your body.


TO SOY OR NOT TO SOY???

Finally an article against soy that isn’t using out-of-date nonsense such as how soy supposedly causes man-boobs. This information comes from a certified vegan dietitian and makes some great points. I will still continue to consume soy for now, but I’ll be keeping this in the back of my mind.

Fitness Articles of the Week #13

Every weekend I publish a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. Most of the articles are new but some might be older, which often come up during my own personal research. Here are my favorites.


Japan scientist synthesizes meat from human feces

I suppose this is a good thing, but will something like this ever take off? I don’t think anyone will ever accept the fact that this “meat” was created from human feces. Interesting though, lol.


Eccentric Training for Athletes

Eccentric training is the act of resisting the weight, instead of simply push-pull. You might also know eccentric training as negative reps. Resisting more weight than you can lift as long as you can is an awesome way to train if you’re looking for something new and this article has plenty of workouts that won’t require a spotter.


Olympic Triathlon Nutrition Plan

This article isn’t as thorough as I was hoping it would be when I read the title, but it’s still got some useful tips for anyone considering participation in a triathlon.


Healthy Iced Raspberry Mocha

Damn, this sounds good. I just bought a package of raspberries that I need to use too.


Chocolate Mousse

This chocolate mousse is made with silken tofu, which doesn’t sound so appetizing, but after tasting some of the vegan recipes made with tofu as an ingredient over the past couple of months, I have no doubts that this isn’t delicious.


Bodybuilding The Vegan Way

In my quest to become vegan, I’m so happy that my fiance found and sent this article to me. There’s a complete nutrition plan too!


Get Drunk Not Fat

Alcohol is one of those things that lots of people worry about giving up when they want to get in shape. The Get Drunk Not Fat website will help you figure out which drinks you can have that will have the lowest amount of detrimental impact on your body.

Fitness Articles of the Week #12

image courtesy of Pavel Ševela / Wikimedia Commons

Every weekend I publish a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. Most of the articles are new, but some might be older, which come up during personal research. Here are my favorites.


Recipe: Blueberry Buckle

Another awesome recipe from the good people at Beachbody putting out the P90X newsletter. This is probably going to be my breakfast for the entire next week.


Vegan Lemon Curd

Mmmm, I love lemon treats. I definitely want to think of something to make with this lemon curd soon.


10 Reasons to Control Your Salt intake, Right Away!

If you don’t already manage your salt intake, you should read this article. Salt seems to be in everything. You’d be amazed at how much excess sodium we consume on a daily basis when you actually track it. I do my best to manage it, but it seems nearly impossible to stay below the daily recommended intake.


Tasting! Whole Grain Brown Rice Krispies

I had to post this because I freakin’ love Rice Krispies and now they are made with brown rice! I’ve never compared cereal nutritional values, so I have no idea how much healthier brown rice makes Rice Krispies, but it sounds like an improvement to me.


From Fit to Fat to Fit Again: Man Gains Weight On Purpose

Drew Manning set up an experiment to go from fit, to fat, and back to fit again. The goal is to show people that it’s possible to get fit and stay fit.


Is Late Night Eating Better for Fat Loss and Health?

Martin Berkhan is the king of intermittent fasting info on the web. Everything he talks about on his site is backed up either by science or personal experience. This time he takes on the myth that eating late at night will cause fat gain.


Ronnie Coleman’s Get Huge Program

Ronnie Coleman is well-known in the professional bodybuilding world and for good reason. The man is huge! This program requires working out 5 days straight with two days of rest and about 5500 calories of food per day. Wow. I actually think I might do this one starting in two weeks.


How to eat when you’re really broke

If you maintain a very healthy diet, you probably already know most of this. Foods like oats, grains, brown rice, beans, etc. are cheap. There are plenty of other good tips in this article if you need to save some money.

Fitness Articles of the Week #11

image courtesy of aslakr

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


It’s Not OK to Eat That: Mold Goes Deeper than the Surface

I was raised to think that just cutting mold off of my foods was all that was necessary from poisoning myself. Turns out I was wrong. No more moldy bread for me!


Recipe: Baklava! (Chomp 06.01.11)

Chomp! is a free event that takes place once a month here in Denver, CO where various chefs get together and cook a bunch of delicious vegan foods for attendees. I attended the most recent Chomp! dinner last week and ate this awesome dessert. It’s funny because as I was eating the Baklava, I was telling my fiance that I wish they would post the recipes online. And here it is!


The Myth of Waxy Maize Starch…And the Truth Behind It All!

I few years ago I read a study about the benefits of using waxy maize starch as a simple-carb post-workout supplement. I’ve never tried it, but I’ve been recently looking into it and according to this article, there are much better and cheaper alternatives.


DIY California Roll

I’ve never cared for sushi, but tons of people love it. Here’s a vegan version!


The Art of Making Fast Sweet Potato Fries

I love sweet potato fries and they’re super easy to make. All you have to do is cut up the potatoes, put on seasonings and olive oil, shake it up and bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.


Healthy Snacks: 10 Ideas for More Wholesome Eating

I think snacking is a problem for most of us. If you’re going to snack, and we all know you will ;), reach for something healthy. There’s a great recipe for making roasted chickpeas too!


Estimating Your 1 RM

If you don’t have a spotter to help you figure out your one-rep max, or if you do have a spotter and are looking for a good number to start with, read this formula to help you estimate it.


What Sugar Actually Does to Your Brain and Body

There are a lot of misconceptions about how sugar affects the body and this article does a lot to clear those up. Did you know that high fructose corn syrup can actually be good for you? If your an athlete it is. If not, you put your liver through hell and risk gaining lots of fat. There’s a lot more to learn.


Toning shoes: One false step can lead to the ER

There have been lots of reports about the consequences of wearing toning shoes, so you may already know about this, but here’s a detailed article from Consumer Reports. The gist of is, if you have balance problems or weak ankles, be extra cautious.


Lose Weight Without Losing Muscle Mass

Is it possible? It seems to be possible, but it’s a slow process. The same goes if you’re trying to gain weight and reduce fat.


Are We Built to Run Barefoot?

Many doctors who study the effects of barefoot running still aren’t sure whether or not running barefoot or in “barefoot” shoes are beneficial, but if you want to take it up, there are some excellent tips here on getting started to help prevent injury.


You Asked: Will Going Vegan Help Me Lose Weight?

Did you know that even on a vegan diet, you can gain weight? Of course! There are unhealthy vegan foods too. You have to watch what you eat just like any other diet. I really like the comments on this post from people with real-life experience.


Apple’s Exercise Guide for Designers

Apple cares about their designers, so they’ve created an exercise guide designed specifically for them. As a person who sits at a desk all day to work, this should come in handy.

Fitness Articles of the Week #10

image courtesy of Falashad

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


The Burger Lab: Building A Better Big Mac

The Big Mac is one of my favorite fast-food hamburgers of all time. I don’t really eat fast-food much anymore and when I do, I definitely don’t get the Big Mac now that it’s the size of a tiny hamburger and is priced at $4. What a rip-off. But now with this in-depth rebuilding of the Big Mac, I can make my own!


Finally, the Truth About Soy

This is a must-read. Just in the past two weeks since announcing that I will be transitioning to veganism, so many people have told me that soy is bad for me and will cause man-boobs (moobs). I’ve read many studies over the years on both sides of the argument, but I lean more to the side that says soy is safe. It’s not the only thing I’ll be eating once completely vegan, but I’m certainly not afraid of it.


Fat Burning Zone Myth; Going Slower Burns More Fat

When I started doing cardio to burn fat a few months ago, I had this same question. The elliptical machines and treadmills at the gym showed that keeping your heart rate only slightly elevated would burn more fat than high heart rates. It didn’t make any sense to me. Some research showed exactly what this article explains. Basically, it’s not true.


Gaining Mass with P90X

If you’ve ever done P90X, it should be obvious to you that you aren’t going to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger, but you will get in great shape. If you do want to get huge though, read this mass building plan created by the P90X team.


Ryan Hughes’ Muscle Building Program

I always love these programs from Bodybuilding.com. This one looks difficult, but doable. That’s a ton of calories to eat though. 4,689 calories per day is enough to make most people sick. I would imagine it would take me a week or longer to get used to that diet.


Ryan Jones Transformation Story: 45 lbs of Monstrous Muscle Gains

This is an inspirational story for anyone who has felt self-conscious about being skinny. I was just as skinny as this kid when I was his age and people don’t realize how embarrassing it is. I wish I had come across this post when I was a teenager.


Breaking News! USDA Replaces Food Pyramid with MyPlate

It’s about time the food pyramid has been updated. The new dietary guidelines set forth by the USDA now recommend that plates contain half fruits and vegetables and less meat and dairy. Sounds like a good step forward in reducing obesity rates in the U.S.


This Week’s Must-Have – Cacao Tea

Mmm, this sounds delicious. I wonder if my local supermarket has them in stock yet. I hope they aren’t too expensive.


Hero Training Workouts Get You in Shape and Prepare You For Heroics

If you want to be able to jump from rooftop to rooftop, you’re going to have to work on strength, speed and endurance. Do these workouts to get in “hero” condition.


Cycling in the City: How to Stay Safe

A friend of mine was just hit by a car while riding his bike through the city. He broke his wrist, dislocated his knee cap and broke his tibia in 15 places. It wasn’t his fault, but it’s a good reminder to make sure you’re taking all the proper precautions when riding your bike.


Jack3d Review

Jack3d is a preworkout supplement that I’ve been wanting to try. I just did a review of N.O. Xplode which is in the same category as Jack3d. Both seem to come highly recommended from people all over, but most preworkout formulas also have their drawbacks.


Tips to Deal With Your Obese Child

If you’re a parent, you need to be cautious of your child’s nutrition. There are lots of great tips here on dealing with an obese child as well as preventing it.

Fitness Articles of the Week #9

image courtesy of eddiecoyote

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Enjoy the outdoors, BBQ and spend some time with the family! Oh, and read the articles below 😉


Laura Bailey Fitness 360

Laura Bailey is one super-fit woman and a 2011 BodySpace Spokesmodel finalist. Working with Bodybuilding.com, she has put together a complete fitness program – one for muscle building and one for cutting fat. Choose the one that fits for you and stick to it.


Top 10 Detoxifying Foods

I’ve never tried a detox before or even really had the desire, but I might consider adding some of these foods to my diet. This article has a nice list of things you can consume to provide a gentle detoxification to aid in the removal of toxins in the body.


Soy Free Vegan Ice Cream

I wasn’t sure how this was going to come out since it’s just frozen bananas and peanut butter, but it actually came out really good. I liked it a lot.


Top 10 Veg-Friendly Major League Ballparks

I would’ve never guessed that many baseball fields would have any good vegan options, but it looks like plenty of them do. And what’s even better is that Coors Field in Denver, which is where I live, is at number 5. Sweet!


Eat to Compete: Training Diet

A carb-rich meal plan from the Iowa State University teaches you how to eat before, during and after training. This is an awesome resource. Read it!


5 Great Food and Nutrition Tools

There are four really cool tools mentioned here and one that I’ll never use because I’m not in the Weight Watcher’s program.


Mushroom Compound Suppresses Prostate Tumors

A compound called polysaccharopeptide was extracted from the “turkey tail” mushroom and during early test trials in mice, it has been found to be 100% effective in suppressing prostate tumur development. Awesome stuff!


Spinach Stir-Fry

Another awesome vegan recipe from the P90X newsletter. These guys just keep putting out awesome stuff.


3 Ways To Bench Press Safely When You’re Training Alone

Anyone who has ever bench pressed alone has asked this question. I definitely have. I would love to get a power rack in my house but I just can’t afford it right now. I’ve always kept the collars off my bar so that I could dump the weight to the side in case of failure, but I really like the “roll of shame” tactic mentioned in this article.


Mark Zuckerberg Only Eats What He Kills

The CEO of Facebook has started a new diet in which he will only eat what he kills. My favorite quote – “A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn’t want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me.” This means that most of the time he’s a vegetarian, but he has killed a lobster, chicken, pig and a goat for food so far.