Diet only 2 days a week.In a 3-month study, women who went on a low-carb diet for 2 days per week lost 9 pounds, while those who scaled back to 1,500 calories every day for the entire week lost the same amount. Here’s what’s probably happening: On a strict diet that never lets up, you’re bound to get hungry and slip up. But on a 2-day diet, you can better withstand the cravings because you know it’ll end soon....

FILL a large bowl with water and a touch of lemon juice. This will keep your artichokes from turning brown after you finish prepping them. 2. PLACE a single artichoke on a cutting board and turn it on its side. Using a sharp knife, slice off the top half—this will get rid of most of the very prickly leaves, which you can discard. If you’re making stuffed artichokes, just trim the stem and you’re ready to go....

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden conducted studies testing hypnotherapy on patients with IBS. In one study, 138 people with IBS received hypnotherapy one hour a week for 12 weeks. The results: 40 percent of the study participants saw an improvement in their IBS symptoms. And the news keeps getting better. Another study found the benefits from hypnosis were long-term—the effects were still felt up to seven years later by 85 percent of the people who’d gotten hypnotherapy years earlier....

“We found that positive emotions—especially awe—are linked to markers of good health,” says lead study author Jennifer Stellar, a postdoctoral researcher now at the University of Toronto. Good feelings may boost the body’s defenses by lowering levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, proteins that tell the immune system to work harder. “Pro-inflammatory cytokines are great for fighting illness and infection,” Stellar explains, “but when they’re cruising around the body without an ailment to fight, they’re not good for health....

At first, there were no tears. Those came later. Instead, there was just a seemingly endless list of questions—what are the characteristics of lymphoma? What are the available treatments? What can I do?—that I felt ill-equipped to answer. But sometimes personal and work lives can intersect in a surprisingly timely way. Case in point: My interview a few days later with Carson Daly, host of NBC’s The Voice, who’s working with the national initiative Breakaway From Cancer to get the word out about the resources available to people affected by cancer....

“Skipping meals, the proper way, also called intermittent fasting, can have incredible health benefits, like weight loss,” explains Brooke Alpert, RD, and author of The Diet Detox. But skipping a meal and intermittent fasting are two very different things. Skipping meals to deprive or punish yourself—or because you’re too busy to eat—is different from fasting to get cravings under control and practice mindful eating. In general, forgoing eating has negative consequences for your body....

Remember the first time a friend told you the horrible truth about hot dogs; that they’re actually made from lips and hooves and pig’s anus? For most of us growing up, it was one of those irresistible rumors—like how some rock songs have satanic messages if you play them backwards—that aren’t true but were endlessly fun to repeat. For the record, no, hot dogs don’t contain anus. But pig anus may seem like a more appetizing option when compared with the latest hot dog accusation....

A nearly 40-year study recently published by the American Academy of Neurology finds that women who scored highest on the neuroticism scale—which measures the tendency to feel easily stressed, anxious, jealous, guilty, and depressed—were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease compared to those who scored lowest. Apparently, these psychological stressors release stress hormones in the body and can affect structures in the brain that are connected to Alzheimer’s disease....

Studies show that the simpler your diet, the easier it is to stick to over the long haul. Follow these steps to streamline your plan and shed unwanted pounds for good. Make friends with your scale.If you want to lose weight, think of your scale as a friend, not a foe. Weigh yourself once a day, first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom and getting undressed (water weight and clothing can throw off the number)....

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Autumn Squash and Heirloom Bean Soup 2 lb hard squash, such as Buttercup, Kabocha, Red Curry, Butternut, or other heirloom squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1" cubes 3 Tbsp grapeseed oil 1 Tbsp unsalted butter 1 sweet onion, cut into 1⁄4" thick slices 6 garlic cloves, halved lengthwise 2 c kale or other hearty winter green 1⁄2 sm red Thai or Jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and finely sliced 4 c vegetable or chicken stock, preferably homemade 3 c cooked dried heirloom beans, such as Cranberry, Indian Woman, Lima or Tiger’s Eye 1 Tbsp fresh oregano, marjoram, or sage...

Every reaction I’ve seen in the press grants that maybe organic food isn’t more nutritious, but it’s healthier in many other ways, like much lower amounts of toxic agricultural chemicals, and so on. But there are many studies that show that organic food is indeed more nutritious. To really understand those studies, you have to know who paid for them. If Monsanto or Cargill is paying a researcher at a land-grant university to look into the nutritional value of foods, there’s a temptation there to work the data in favor of the company paying the bills, especially if they like your work and order more studies....

Ashley’s answer: Did your endocrinologist say to specifically avoid “soy lecithin”, or were you told to limit or avoid soy and given a paper that mentioned soy lecithin? The great soy debate wages on, but there’s one thing we’re clear about: soy contains many many health benefits when it is farmed organically. (That means non-GMO, a key distinction in the soy world since more than 90 percent of soy in the US is genetically engineered....

Why don’t they add the active ingredients after formulas have cooled down? Many companies do, but you can’t be sure that’s always the case. The solution: Two “raw beauty” lines have pledged never to heat their formulas high enough to compromise the efficacy of the ingredients. Products from the Body Deli (thebodydeli.com), an organic line made from superfoods, and Raw Essentials (rawessentials.com), a new skin-care line created by model Carol Alt, are not heated above 115ºF, the highest temperature that exfoliating and wrinkle-reducing enzymes can tolerate....

According to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 2011 saw the third-highest number of beach closures due to unhealthy bacteria in more than two decades. The NRDC estimates that one in 28 people will come down with diarrhea, dysentery, pinkeye, and other illnesses just from spending a day at a polluted beach. “Our beaches are plagued by a sobering legacy of water pollution,” says NRDC senior attorney Jon Devine, one of the report’s authors....

, I thought I’d make them into a frittata or torta, as we call this omelet-type dish in the . There, torta is often made with eggs, ground meat and sometimes minced onion and potato. My version is sans meat of course, this being the day to cut out meat for our health and the health of our planet. So when you have leftovers like rice, couscous or beans, make them over into a satisfying frittata or torta!...