Posted on 2008-12-03T19:00:00+00:00
Now that he's been elected the leader of the free world, Barack Obama is the subject of intense scrutiny. But it's not just his foreign policy that's attracting attention -- his eating habits are being examined and copied throughout America. It could be worse -- the Obamas are pretty healthy folks, after all. They make fitness a priority and they eat well to boot. According to Steady Health, Barack's favourite foods include chili, Mexican food, almonds, pistachios and vegetables. His dislikes include mayonnaise, beets, soft drinks and ice cream. And he never skips breakfast.His one unhealthy weakness? Cookies. At Baby Boomers Cafe in Des Moines, next door to Obama's campaign headquarters, they can't make enough of his favourite chocolate chunk cookies to keep up with demand.
Posted on 2008-11-19T14:00:00+00:00
In Britain, people are dying to be thin -- literally -- and one company is pulling in a profit of about $30 million because of it, according to this article from the Daily Mail. A popular diet program in the UK, called LighterLife, is wildly successful these days, but it's costing some people their health -- and their lives. The program advocates an extreme calorie deficiency -- participants consume shakes that give them a total daily caloric intake of only 500 calories, and they end up losing weight at an alarming rate. LighterLife claims it's all perfectly fine because the body doesn't need those excess calories, adding that this type of starvation has been used healthfully for over 30 years. Yeah, right.But now, some people are speaking out about the side effects of this diet. One former participant claims her vision is now permanently blurred and she suffers from ongoing memory loss; another, a dentist, says the lack of calories ruined his wife's teeth; another claims it led her to become anorexic. Other side effects include hair loss, menstrual disruptions and constipation. And if that's not frightening enough for you, consider this: One 25-year-old participant died from heart troubles believed to have been caused by the diet. Click here for some more horror stories.%Gallery-9999%Continue reading LighterLife - the Diet Craze That Causes Memory Loss, Heart Problems and More
Posted on 2008-11-20T07:00:00+00:00
Yesterday I rejoined one of the most athletic guys I know, and he taught me both the most insane and brilliant exercises I've ever tried in a gym. His name is Anthony Field, and yes ... he's the Blue Wiggle from the children's TV show The Wiggles.
Anthony and I have trained together before, and he's impressed me each time. But yesterday ... I have a hard time finding words to describe. He started doing pull-ups almost two years ago, and he lost about 40 pounds. Then he added rings to his routine, which made things more fun. And now, well, the average person would just think he's lost his mind.
He is addicted to strength training while using nothing but his body weight, and his physique is proof that this strategy works like a charm. We spent a ton of time in a hotel gym shooting a bunch of fun and exciting fitness segments, which I'll be airing here soon. We giggled through it, but mostly because he doesn't speak "American" and I'm not so good at "Australian."
%Gallery-37438%Continue reading Which Celebrity Trains Upside-Down?
Posted on 2008-09-16T12:00:00+00:00
AOL debuted its new site for women last week. As Team Lemondrop puts it, the site "is a place where you can care equally about America's Next Top Model and America's next top president."
I care more about the latter than the former, but I was enticed enough. A quick surf session brought me a collage of the weird faces people make when they dance, a piece from a model on how to take a decent pic and, my favorite, how to handle a Facebook request from someone who really isn't a friend. I made sure to take note of the 1,600-calorie desserts, too, so I can avoid them!
Posted on 2008-09-16T12:20:00+00:00
When you work out with weights, you naturally elevate your testosterone levels (check out this recent post about boosting testosterone). Naturally, raising testosterone levels via weight resistance training can be a very good thing for both men and women unless it causes you to be less attracted to your spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend!A recent journal publication reveals that women who have higher testosterone levels are attracted to men who have more masculine, "manly," high testosterone-like features -- such as the physical facial qualities that Russel Crowe or Dwayne"The Rock" Johnson possess. Men with elevated levels of the same hormone are more likely to be attracted to more feminine faces like Natalie Portman or Jessica Biel. This fascinating study was conducted at the University of Aberdeen's Face Research Laboratory. Researchers had male and female volunteers view pairs of photographs of the opposite sex and asked them to choose who they found the most attractive. Each volunteer gave saliva samples to measure testosterone levels during their photo viewing sessions. This process was conducted four times in four weeks with each session one week apart. Face preferences changed as testosterone levels changed. For women, if testosterone was found to be lower, they would choose a less masculine face and conversely, if the hormone was higher, they selected the image of one who had more chiseled, macho features! Men selected more feminine faces when their testosterone was higher. What does all this mean? Continue reading Pumping up changes laws of attraction