It’s been a few weeks since we’ve gotten in a “7 Interesting Things I Read This Week” post, so I hope you enjoy this edition! Let me know in the comments which article is your favorite, and feel free to Tweet at me during the week if you have something you think I might want to include in my weekly roundup! 
- Here’s Why You’re Always Hungry: If you read only one article this week, I encourage you to make it this one! While I don’t always agree with the opinion that we need to ignore calories completely (it fully depends on the individual’s situation … if someone is severely obese, it is likely that that person will need to decrease caloric intake as well as shift composition of their diet), I love the increasing focus on what we are eating and how it contributes to our health and weight. Eating refined sugar has physiological impact on our cravings for more sugar, which leads us into a dangerous downward spiral. As always, my bottom line comes down to this: focusing on water, vegetables, and whole foods will almost always lead to increased health!
- Faces of Fitness … featuring me! Lora from Crazy Running Girl, who I met at ZOOMA Texas a few months ago, was kind enough to feature me on her Faces of Fitness series, where she’s highlighting “50 of the greatest health and fitness influencers on the web” this year (wow, I’m blushing just typing that!). Head over to check out a bit about me, and then browse through her other Faces of Fitness!
- 8-Minute (or 24-Minute) Full-Body Tabata Workout: I don’t usually highlight my own posts, but I got wind of a special follow-up offer that I wanted to share with you! Not only did I share this butt-kicking workout with you in Wednesday’s post, but I also reviewed Fit Plus Wear compression capris. If you were interested and want to try them out, use discount code 2HE90CGR5Y4U for 20% off any clothing item! Let me know if you try the pants, and of course, let me know if you try the workout!
- 5 Yoga Poses to Relieve Work-Induced Stiffness: If I’m not conscious about improving my posture at the computer, I often let my shoulders roll forward or scrunch up, which leads to neck pain and headaches (and even landed me in an MRI brain scan once, since no one could figure out why I was developing migraines and spots in my eyes!). If you spend a lot of time at the computer, check out these poses to help relieve stiffness!
- 52 Healthier Versions of Late-Night Snacks: OK, some of these may not be the healthiest choices in the world, but if you find yourself with an unshakeable late-night craving, this article may help you find some healthier alternatives! Of course, you could always go for some (Not So) Sinfully Delicious Apple Nachos – a great late-night sweet snack!
- Do You Really Know What Food Labels Mean? We’ve talked several times about misleading food labels (and Michael pointed out on this post that “natural” labeling can sometimes be stretched too far), and this post gives a quick run-down of some of the more common health-oriented labels. Which ones surprise you?
- 9 Habits of People With A Healthy Relationship to Exercise: I admit that I sometimes find it difficult to take a rest day, even when I know how important it is for my body (and I make myself do it anyway). I love the points that those with healthy relationships with exercise do it on their own terms, mix it up (I talk about the importance of that in this post!), and do it for the mental benefits – so critical! By the way, I found this link via another blogger’s weekly roundup, and unfortunately, I can’t remember who it was, so feel free to call yourself out and I’ll give you credit!
So tell me in the comments … Which article was your favorite? What was your best workout this weekend? (By the way, if you’re not a fan of The Lyons’ Share on Facebook, you may have missed out on the flash giveaway I did there yesterday for people who shared their own workouts. Follow along for other fun updates like this!)
I love the article about why you’re always hungry. It makes so much sense, and I hope that society can start moving back in the right direction and away from calorie counting and processed food!
I share your hope, for sure, Lisa!
The “healthy relationship with exercise” one was interesting, and largely idiotic/irritating to me. I had issues with several of the 9 habits, but it’s probably just the lawyer in me seeing the other side and generally being disagreeable.
“They don’t exercise to eat, they eat to exercise.” The article says an occasional brownie is fine but basically that you’re out of whack if you have dessert after every dinner because you exercised. I for the most part eat pretty healthy stuff, but if I’m in the middle of a training season (true about 10 months per year), if I want dessert every day, I have it — and I’ve maintained my weight within a 10 pound range for years and years and years. I wouldn’t say eating what I want is the sole reason I exercise, but if hypothetically working out added calories or didn’t burn any, I might not do it as much.
“They can go with the flow.” Author seems to say you don’t have a healthy relationship with exercise if you “wake up drastically early to fit in a workout,” but I (and pretty much every other runner in Dallas for 6 months out of the year) do exactly that all the time. And yes, if I’m traveling, I put fitting in exercise as a high priority, but I travel often and if I used travel as an excuse, I’d skip about 10-20% of my workouts. And yes, I guess I skip out on all kinds of exciting moments to exercise — when I’m out of town visiting my brother and I go out to run at 6 a.m., I might miss a precious moment where my niece has a complete breakdown about not getting to wear her princess costume to school. I get the point about being disordered if you skip important events for workouts, but how on earth will you know if you’re accidentally missing an “exciting moment” when you’re gone?
As for the “They do it on their terms.” point, again, where is the line? If I prefer evening exercise but I choose mornings so it’s not 110 degrees, is that wrong? Or if I prefer afternoons but my job dictates that I work then, so I work around that schedule?
Some of the points are valid, but overall, the article was pretty much a waste to me. I think you can have a very healthy relationship with exercise even if you only do one sport, or even if you don’t take rest days (assuming you don’t feel that you need them, you’re not injured), etc.
Anyway, other articles were interesting, I just emailed you too about boot camp!
Yikes that was long! Sorry!
Thank you for your strong perspectives, Carina! I actually really appreciate when people like you make me think twice about articles like this. Your first two points are especially relatable for me – I definitely eat dessert every night, too, and I am 100% OK with it, whereas I may not be OK with it if I never exercised at all. Like most things, I think this point is about balance – you don’t want to ever think “I’m starving, but if I eat this apple I have to run an extra mile,” but I also think it’s OK to justify some splurges. And I think you read the point on going with the flow differently. I 100% agree with the travel point (I would have skipped 60% of my workouts that way last year!), but I also see the article’s point, which I took to mean that if you happen to miss or shorten a workout one day, you have to be flexible enough to not beat yourself up too much. Thanks again for the thoughts, and see you tomorrow!
Great round up of links and off to check out the habits of exercise one- I have a post on rest days tomorrow and would love to read that viewpoint! Congrats on the accolade- but be aware it is well warranted- sorry, broken record but you know my thoughts!
Hi 5 to fellow late night snacker! 😀
I loved your post on rest days and completely relate to the feeling!
All great links! Congrats on the feature. It’s well deserved. Now I’m off to read the Healthy Relationship to Exercise. I think mine is heathy. We’ll see 🙂
How did it turn out, Jill?
I’ll be reading that hungry article! I’m honestly always hungry (if you see my twitter account, you can see me tweeting about being hungry every couple of hours).My workout was today’s MEC 15k race haha. Hope you had a good weekend!
Awesome, Carmy! How was the race?!
I finished in 1:24 but I my arms were chafing for 10k ): I didn’t realize I’d be chafing there so I didn’t put body glide there. you live and you learn 😛
So awesome to see you on Lora’s Faces of Fitness! Congrats!
Thank you, Maria!
I really liked the article “5 Yoga Poses to Relieve Work-Induced Stiffness:” It was really helpful and practical. (Luv the fit plus compression Capris; I think I’ll use the discount code.)
Glad you enjoyed it, Erika!
Great links as always (a bit self-referential this week, though? hehe just giving you a rough time)!
I love the ‘why we are always hungry’ article – there has been so much I have learned these past couple of years about food and how it works with our bodies, and it is scary … it really does mess things up!
That ties into the ‘food labeling’ stuff – and it is interesting to see how much is NOT controlled tightly … and I know I veer between cynical and alarmist (and unfortunately also often correct), but so much of this is ‘follow the money’ stuff. The food industry is MASSIVE, and their duty is to profits, NOT to health.
I also like the ‘9 habits’, and as noted in my ‘weight loss journey’ posts this week the one that has been utterly transformative for me this time compared to the past is “They don’t exercise to eat, they eat to exercise.” That is my life now.
Haha, thanks for calling me out! Yes, I totally agree on how scary processed food can be in terms of what it does to our bodies. And sadly, I also agree about the ultimate goal of the food industry. LOVED your weight loss journey posts!
I had to say something since I loved BOTH of those posts – and was totally jealous of that incredible view in the video! haha
And thanks about the weight loss journey posts … it is really amazing to reveal personal things, failures and triumphs and get such great support. I don’t think there ever comes a time where you don’t have some sense of vulnerability. And kudos to you for making it through them! haha
I only make it through long posts that I actually ENJOY, and yours always qualify!
congrats on being featured in the article-I just discovered her blog. I like #7 as well.
Thank you, Deborah!