Articles

If you’re looking for a local-source sweetener with some health benefits, try honey. Use honey sparingly, enjoying its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, and thank the hard-working bees who brought it to you.

Glucomannan, from konjac root, is a form of beneficial soluble fibre that can improve bowel health, blood sugar and lipids, and other health conditions. It can also help you lose fat and stay lean by improving satiety and appetite hormones.

Acne is a multi-factorial disease. While each case is unique, you can greatly improve your chances of clear skin by eating whole foods; lowering inflammation and stress; getting a good fatty acid balance; and cutting down the worst offenders: wheat, sugar, and dairy.

Many behaviours qualify as addictions — things we feel overwhelmingly compelled to do, despite the consequences. What’s food addiction, and how can we treat it?

The squat is a basic human movement. Performing it makes you better at athletics, fitness, and life in general. Here’s how.

Resistant starch is a type of starch that isn’t fully broken down and absorbed, but rather turned into short-chain fatty acids by intestinal bacteria. This may lead to some unique health benefits. To get the most from resistant starch, choose whole, unprocessed sources of carbohydrate such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans/legumes.

If you think that frozen or canned veggies are a poor nutritional choice, think again. We all benefit from more veggies and fruits in our diet — and preserved plant foods can be a great option for busy people or consuming out-of-season produce.

Ouch! That hurts! What do you do? Quit moving altogether? Suck it up and push through it? Neither. Find out how to treat acute and chronic pain with movement — the right kind of movement.

Ginger is one of the oldest medicinal foods. It can help treat a variety of conditions from nausea to inflammation. And it tastes good, too!

80% of adults report lower back pain at some point in their lives and 10-15% of all sports-related injuries involve the spine. Low back pain accounts for more lost person hours than any other type of occupational injury and is the most frequent cause of activity limitation in those under age 45. Thus, it’s important to understand what the spine is, what it does, and — most importantly — how we can keep it healthy.

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases. The good news? You can control it significantly with diet, exercise, and lifestyle. Here’s how.

Acupuncture is an ancient art, but does it really work? Ryan Andrews reviews the evidence.

Where do vitamin supplements actually come from? You may be shocked to find out.

The plant-based eating gurus are back for another round! This time they cover supplements, reasons for eating plant-based, why milk does a body bad, tricks for traveling, and how to sneak more veggies into your daily routine.

Many people are confused about plant-based eating. What’s “good”? What’s “healthy”? What really benefits animals, the planet, and your wellbeing? Resident plant-based-eater Ryan Andrews gathers some of the best and brightest to discuss the topic.

By age 70, about 1 in 10 Americans will have a very painful kidney stone experience. The good news is that you can decrease your risk by improving your diet.

To keep healthy knees, you need mobile joints above and below the knee; a strong knee joint; and proper mechanics during physical movement.

Hey, where did that spare tire come from? Why doesn’t food X agree with you any more? Why is it so hot in here? And where did you leave your freaking car keys??! Menopause is a normal stage of life. Each woman’s experience is unique. The good news? Eating and living PN-style can help (although we can’t find your car keys for you).

We are “use it or lose it” organisms. By practicing joint mobility with intent, we re-educate and rehabilitate our movement towards a healthier range of motion.

Remember when you’d get done with a bowl of Froot Loops and the milk would be blue? Those were the days. But where did that colour come from? And are we all going to regret slurping up that milk?

Got enough room to swing a cat? Got opposable thumbs? Then you can swing a kettlebell! Learn about this popular and effective training tool that can help you get strong, fast, and lean. (Oh yeah, and give you a pleasing posterior chain — aka a nice butt.)

Blood tests, aka blood work, can show us what’s in our blood — and by extension, what’s in our bodies. Blood can also show us changes in our bodies that we might not be able to see from the outside.

When Neolithic farmers figured out how to cultivate wheat, millet, oats and other wild grasses some 10,000 years ago – they created the first steady food supply we’d ever known. We could actually grow food and store it! But a supply of barley for the winter is a bit different from the bulk pack of Cupcake Pebbles from Costco.

Many muscles coordinate shoulder movement. If they don’t work together — or more likely, if some muscles are strong and some are weak or inhibited, they can’t work together effectively. The result: imbalance and eventually, injury.

Since humans invented fire, we’ve enjoyed the benefits of cooking food. However, cooking food has its drawbacks, including the development of carcinogens. Here’s how to prevent harmful chemicals while still enjoying that summer cookout.

Carrying a lot of excessive body fat makes health, body composition, and athletic performance worse. But here’s the problem — collectively, we’re not very good at losing fat either. We need a better solution. Knowing how fat loss works may be helpful.

It’s been said that gluttony is overcome only when someone has a “full soul” and derives pleasure from passions that come from simple pursuits in life. What are you missing by over-indulging?

Gluttony has traditionally been defined as a “sin of immoderation” linked to earthly excess. Here’s why “going medieval” may actually be relevant to modern eaters seeking leanness, health, and a better relationship with food.

Recipe for muscle growth: Lift heavy thing. Eat protein. Sleep. Repeat.

Yoga: It can relax you, enlighten you, help keep you from falling down, protect your heart, put the brakes on overeating, and just maybe give you a yoga booty. Om.

Including more plants in your diet can make you healthier, provide important nutrients, and possibly help conserve environmental resources.

If your idea of a warm-up involves a few pec flexes, ogling gym hotties as you lean on the treadmill, or just leaping right into that 300 lb bench press, you might want to rethink. A good warm-up can make you stronger, faster, and more mobile; and help prevent injury too.

Fish oil is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, which can keep you healthy, smart, and lean.

If you’re eating a standard Western diet, you’re probably getting less than half of the dietary fibre you need to stay healthy (and despite this, you probably think you eat enough). Yet dietary fibre is crucial for GI health, staying lean, and preventing chronic diseases. Live longer and leaner via lentils!

Greens supplements can function as a serving of fruits and vegetables, and contain vitamins, minerals, fibre, and phytonutrients. With supplements, it’s actually pretty easy being green!

The thyroid is one of the “master controllers” that regulates nearly every major metabolic function in the body. If it slows down or speeds up, this can drastically affect health and body composition.

Whether it’s prebiotic or probiotic, learn how to care for all your zillions of biotics, aka friendly bacteria.

Growth hormone can make you more muscular, stronger, and leaner. Find out how to make this important hormone work for you, in and out of the gym. We’ll show you how to sleep your way to the top… of your growth hormone peak, that is.

Strength training is using muscular force against resistance. And it’s for everyone, regardless of goals.

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the physiological part of appetite. We learned that many hormones, neurotransmitters, glands and organs regulate appetite. Now we’re going to look at the interactions between biology and environment, and how you can become a better, more aware eater.