Happy Easter to those who celebrate Easter, Chag sameach to those who celebrate Passover (is that right?!), and happy weekend to everyone! And to anyone running Boston tomorrow, good luck! Tomorrow will unquestionably be a day full of emotion, struggle, memories, honor, gratitude, unity, and so much more. Above all else, I just hope and pray for the safety of everyone involved.
Well, it’s time for a brand new round up of the latest health news … here is “7 Interesting Things I Read This Week.” Enjoy! 
- Red Meat: Healthy or Harmful? I’m having a bunch of blog issues (ugh!), and you all know how tech-saavy I am (hint: negative), so those of you who subscribe to my email list did not receive Friday’s post. Issues aside, it was a good post, and one that sparked a lot of great opinions from readers, too … so head on over to check out my thoughts on whether red meat is healthy or harmful!
- Food Intolerances and Healing my Gut: Laura posted about her experience as a client of my food intolerance testing. She had just as overwhelming a list as I had (probably more so), but she approached it like a champ. It’s only been a week, but she’s already feeling much better!!
- 9 Ways to Tell You’re on the Wrong Diet: If you’ve ever felt like a ‘failure’ because you couldn’t stick to a traditional diet, this article is for you! I had one of my Spring Reset participants text me the other night saying “I can’t believe I’m getting these awesome results without being on a diet!” I explained to her that my approach is never to put clients on a traditional diet – I believe that restriction and very stringent elimination only sets people up for self-sabotage and is unsustainable, and I do everything I can to get results by making small, sustainable changes. That’s why I love this article, which agrees that the healthiest way of eating revolves around balance, moderation, and flexibility. Of course, there are some things (water! vegetables!) that I think are generally good for everyone, but for the most part, it’s all about customizing what works to each person.
(picture source) - 10 Snacking Mistakes that Cause Weight Gain: I don’t necessarily agree with the last one for everyone, but I definitely believe in focusing on real foods when it comes to snacking, and seeing snacks as an opportunity to fit in more fruits and vegetables! I’ve also talked about water, healthy snacks for work, the health halo, and more!
- Will We Ever Accept that Exercise Is Often the Best Medicine? Forgive me if I sound like a broken record here. Regardless, it is so, so, so important, and this particular version of the argument for exercise is very well written. The benefits of exercise are too numerous to name in any single study or blog post, and exercising can alleviate so many of the symptoms that people experience all the time. If you’re not exercising now, I challenge you to give it a go this week – start slowly, but just move your body for a few minutes each day. I know you’ll feel better if you do!
- Lifetime Cost of an Obese Child More than a Year of College: You’ve probably noticed that, despite not having any kids of my own, childhood obesity is something that really tugs at my heartstrings. It’s such a sad issue – and something that leaves both the child and the parents feeling helpless and lonely. Someday, I hope to figure out how I can make a difference in this area, but for now, all I can do is offer hope (we are learning more and more about nutrition as a society, and there are so many positive changes being made) and encouragement to parents (please, please, prioritize nutrition for your kids, and let me know if there is anything I can do to help!).
(picture source – only because, while I love the Huffington Post in general, I never agree with putting pictures of kids online for the purpose of showing them as ‘obese’) - 75 Thoughts Every Runner Has While Out for a Run: This one was just funny. It’s pretty amazing how much running makes your mind wander, right? As soon as I read #1-9, I felt like the author was reading my mind. If you’re a runner, I can almost guarantee this will make you laugh!
(All pictures are sourced from article linked in title, unless otherwise noted).
So tell me in the comments … Which article is your favorite? Are you running Boston? Does anyone known of a reliable but cheap resource that will just help you deal with blog problems (like Geek Squad, but for blogs?)
Great articles! I loved the one about thoughts runners have. Its funny to realize some of the things that go through my brain while I am running! And I agree, exercise is the best medicine!
I was thinking as I read that 75 things article that I should bring a recorder with me sometime and record all the random thoughts that go through my head on a run … now THAT would be funny!!
Saw these briefly but was pretty much offline yesterday. No way I can just pick one! Here are a few thoughts:
– You KNOW I love the ‘Wrong Diet’ one – because all of the items listed should be common sense, but it seems like every year there is some new fad diet or exercise gadget or plan that will give you all of the results with none of the effort … and ultimately just end of giving all of your money to someone else! My entire diet philosophy comes from a Bloom County comic in the early 80s … ‘how about eat less and exercise?’ I would just augment that to say ‘also, eat more of the right things’.
– Thanks for the link to Laura’s intolerance test – I missed that in my still-heavy daily feed deluge! It is amazing looking across her table of intolerances … makes life really challenging. Sometimes I feel like we are living a day-to-day experiment …
– Also love the ‘exercise is the best medicine’ article – and it is so important to note that it isn’t just for crazy people like us. Lisa has been increasing her elliptical use slowly since her ankle injury in the fall, and we’ve started taking evening walks now that the weather is nicer (even tried biking yesterday after doing yard work but had a tire blow out!). It all makes her feel so much better in every way!
– I am lucky that I am not much of a snacker – especially when I have periods of heavy ‘desk time’ … but that whole thing is a major issue: graze-snacking, too much desk / couch time, all adding up to deadly sedentary lifestyles!
– One thing – you don’t need to HAVE kids to CARE about kids – you volunteer, think about it, see it in action … why would you NOT care? I’m not sure if you saw it, but we had a friend of my younger son visit back in Mass, probably 1st grade or so, and Lisa offered healthy snacks, real juices, water or milk. The next time he came (we were helping out as his parents were having a ‘rough patch’… from which he ended up in rehab), he had soda and junk food … and we didn’t feel comfortable saying ‘no’ to what his mother had packed for him. The whole family was overweight … and it is really sad seeing a 6 year old kid who weighs more than my 5’7″ wife …
Just some crazy good stuff you had there, and I love your context for each one as always!
Michael, I couldn’t be more thrilled that Lisa is feeling better with the elliptical and daily walks. It really is amazing how much exercise impacts our entire life!! And yes, I remember you telling that story about your son’s friend bringing unhealthy snacks. That is so, so sad … just makes me want to cry and feel like the problem is so big / out of control. BUT … that’s not the right attitude to have … every step in the right direction really does add up, even changing ONE kid’s snack or having someone try ONE new healthy meal!
I am not running Boston but Wes is so we are here. Doing the normal “day before the marathon” routine 🙂 Looking forward to it!
So glad it worked out so well for Wes!
The thoughts a runner has is hilarious and so true at some point. In”Ways to tell you are on the wrong diet”-Measuring your self worth by a number you see on a scale is something that many of us, especially women, do on a regular basis. It’s so self destructive. After doing this for years myself, I gave up weighing myself last fall and I am so much happier. I’m still eating and exercising the same and feel great. I still wear the same pants. What I don’t have is the daily stress of a number. This may not be right for everyone but it’s done wonders for me.
I’m so glad you’ve found what works for you in terms of weighing yourself, Deborah! For some people, the scale can be a routine and normal check-in tool, but when it comes to “rule” you and you obsess over it, it’s generally best to just ditch it and use the good old pants trick!
I read the 75 thoughts one and loved it! That was incredibly funny!
Good to see you around here, Tonya!
Thanks for the link back… but especially for all of your support! I’m getting the hang of it. I even had one of my favorite restaurants specially prepare me a piece of catfish this weekend! 🙂
Childhood obesity… don’t even get me started. It pissed me off.
(Not the article itself, but the fact that we have such a problem.)
I totally hear you on this. Childhood obesity is such an enormous problem, and there are so many efforts out there to stop it (some great, some useless, in my opinion), but it’s going to take a big mindset shift to really overcome our issues. UGH.