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If getting in a quality workout has been dropping down on your to-do list faster than the falling temperatures, here’s your new secret weapon: Call that ultra-fit friend of yours. Turns out that not going it alone can help you work out longer and harder, according to a new study from Kansas State University. Researchers had nearly 60 female college students exercise alone on a stationary bike, and gave them the option of quitting whenever they wanted....

The Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, which represents big food and drink companies, recently unintentionally exposed just how messed up our food system is after it announced it would grant the FDA access to its database the industry uses to determine whether an ingredient is safe… Because, amazingly, the FDA didn’t already have that seemingly crucial information. By law, food ingredients are regulated as additives unless the ingredient is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS)....

Your body was meant to move—to walk, run, swim, jump, and dance whenever the mood strikes you. Movement is the body’s way of celebrating life. Sometimes chairs, cars, and comfy couches get in the way and make you forget what a joy it is to feel yourself in action—how fun, exhilarating, and amazing it can be. But if you listen closely—really listen—your body is asking to be used. Maybe it’s been speaking to you through achy, underused muscles; low energy levels; or a few too many extra pounds....

The research: While under the guise of participating in a different study, volunteers were asked to watch a series of TV ads. While they viewed the ads, researchers provided the volunteers with cups of bite-sized brownie bits as tokens of appreciation for their time. Half of the participants were not asked anything about the brownies while the other half were questioned about the calorie content of the bits. Within each of these two groups, half received soft brownie bits while the others ate hard ones....

Sad, but true: Organic produce spoils faster than the chemical-covered conventional stuff. So when the farmer’s market explodes with fresh, delicious produce and you buy a pound of everything in sight, here are four easy tips to prevent those best intentions from rotting away at the bottom of your crisper drawer: Buy ingredients as you need them. Easier said than done, I know, but if you are able to make shopping a more-than-once-a-week habit, you’ll be far less likely to over-buy foods that are prone to early wilting....

Warm Shrimp and Pineapple Salad 1 pkg (16 oz) frozen black-eyed peas (about 3 3/4 c) 1 1/4 c frozen green peas 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp salt 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and cooked 1 1/3 c chopped pineapple 2 tsp lime juice 1/8 tsp hot-pepper sauce 1/3 c fresh basil leaves, chopped (optional) COMBINE black-eyed peas, green peas, bell pepper, oil, paprika, and salt in large pan and cook over medium-high heat 4 minutes....

So what can you really achieve in 20 minutes? Try the 20 Minute Body routine below, and see for yourself. You’ll tone your core, legs, and booty, spike your metabolism, and burn some major calories. Time: 45 sec work + 15 sec rest per move = 19 minutes total Booty Builder Press Photo courtesy of Bretty Hoebel Stand upright with feet shoulder distance apart with fists in front of chest, palms facing each other....

Drinking green tea may affect parts of the brain linked to working memory, according to a new study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition that used neuroimaging methods to test the effects of green tea on the brain. Researchers had volunteers drink a beverage with green tea extract and then perform a memory test. Compared to people who didn’t drink the beverage, those who drank the green tea showed an increased activation in the part of the brain in charge of working memory processing....

The problem is most dishes are loaded with artery-clogging oils and sugary sauces—not to mention a flavor enhancer called monosodium glutamate (MSG), which can spike your hunger. The average Chinese takeout dish can easily pack in more than a day’s worth of calories, fat, and sodium. For example, a serving of orange chicken from Panda Express will cost you 490 calories and a whopping 820 milligrams of sodium—and that’s not counting the fried rice and egg rolls....

The remaining 79% of Americans are “planners,” or those who put schedules and structure into their eating habits. Planners fall into one of three camps: they either eat three times a day with some additional snacking, eat four or five smaller “mini-meals” a day, or eat three times a day without snacking. On the other hand, “opportunist eaters grab food and drink as the chance arises during the day, with little consideration as to whether they are consuming a snack or a meal,” says Susan Viamari, an editor for Information Resources, Inc....

After a long day of being oh-so-good, you might find you have no willpower left to resist any other temptations. (Make no mistake: your body creates willpower in limited quantities.) So does that mean you’re destined to flop on the couch and faceplant into an angel food cake? More From Prevention: Improve Your Willpower—Instantly Not necessarily, finds a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Yes, we fall back on bad habits when our self-control reserves are empty....

Wet RubsA wet rub is essentially the same as a dry rub, but with moisture that helps the flavors seep into the food. Wet rubs are great on meat, poultry, seafood, and veggies that grill slowly, such as portabella mushrooms and zucchini. The wet component of your rub can be anything, from beer, wine, bourbon, soy sauce, cider vinegar, vegetable oil (peanut, olive, canola etc.), to Worcester sauce, honey, molasses, Dijon mustard, and fruit juice....

The trick, however, is to not overdo the snacks. Here are some guidelines for weight loss snacks: Women should strive for two snacks per day.If you get very little exercise and are over 50, limit yourself to 200 calories of snacks per day.If you are very active and younger, you can have two 200-calorie snacks per day.If you find that you are having more than a three pound a week weight loss, choose from the higher-calorie snacks or add additional snacks to your daily menus until you maintain or lose at a rate of no more than two pounds per week....

Ashley’s answer: Omega-3 fatty acids indeed are wonderful for promoting heart health as well as reducing overall chronic inappropriate inflammation in the body. These fatty acids are so important that they’re called “essential” fatty acids because the body doesn’t make them but definitely needs them. In recent decades, we’ve realized the need to emphasize these fatty acids because we eat too few of them. Why? Here are just a few American dietary changes that resulted in a reduction of omega-3 intake: The emphasis on a fat-free diet; the change in feed for animals like cows and chickens from grass to corn and soy; the huge usage of highly refined vegetable oils; trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils); the increase in eating highly refined baked goods; and a reduction in overall fish consumption due to fears of heavy metals....

The sweetener in question is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which earlier research has suggested is linked to obesity and heart disease. The syrup is sweeter and cheaper than sugar, making it a mainstay for many US packaged snacks and sodas. But now researchers, writing in the journal Global Public Health, warn that more high fructose corn syrup also means more diabetes. They analyzed data from 43 countries and found a 20% higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes in countries that use it, compared to countries that don’t....

A survey of more than 5 million hospital patients found that nearly 18% were sent to the ER or readmitted as inpatients within 30 days of discharge, according to a team of researchers from Yale, Pennsylvania State University, and several other institutions. And among those hospitalized for heart attack, heart disease, and pneumonia, the hospital readmission rate jumped to 25%, concluded a separate study of 3 million patients. In other words, getting out of the hospital and staying out of the hospital are two very different things....

For the studies, researchers compared how much cereal, candy, cookies, and carrots people ate while watching TV. The catch? In certain instances, the foods came in transparent packaging. But at other times, it was in partially transparent or opaque packaging. Compared to opaque packaging, clear packaging led the participants to eat 69% more Fruit Loops, 58% more M&Ms, 38% fewer cookies, and 78% fewer baby carrots. There were no significant differences between the amount of food eaten from transparent and partially transparent packages....