The 80% Diet - 20% Exercise Rule

It is well established that when trying to lose weight a combination of both exercising and dieting provides best results.
Alone, neither of them is sufficient.
Some people are able to shed pounds just by cutting calorie intake, but the results are unlikely to last without some physical activity. Conversely, you can spend hours in the gym, but if you’re stuffing your mouth with high-caloric and unhealthy food you won’t go far.
To put it differently, both factors are necessary to achieve optimal weight loss.
Exercising without a healthy diet is futile, but an healthy diet is per se not enough.
However, it’s not always apparent how much these two factors plays in the weight loss equation.
In other words, how much should you exercise? How much you should restrict calories?

Why You Need To Read Nutrition Labels More Carefully

In our quest to become healthier, one of the strongest tool we have in our hands are the nutrition facts labels printed on the food we’re buying.
They've often been the subject of criticisms, as some claim that they fail to provide enough information and that the data displayed can be misleading.
I'd rather say: they’re there, let’s take advantage of them.
All we need to do is to learn how to read them correctly and with some common sense we are going to do a lot of good to ourselves.

Source FDA

White Bean Hummus

You know how much I fancy hummus. Since I mastered - what I believe to be - the ultimate hummus recipe, I make a batch almost every week.
Hummus is made with chickpeas, which are legumes. There are many other legumes that I adore though: lentils for instance, not to mention beans. So why not making hummus with other legumes?

Do You Know How Much Caffeine You're Drinking?

Judging by the line I see every morning at the coffee shop down the street from where I live, it seems that we’re a city, a country and maybe a world running on caffeine.
It would be actually fascinating to see what would happen if we took caffeine out of the picture for just one day. I don’t think much will be achieved, but who knows...
Anyway, this is not my point. My point is: do you actually know how much caffeine are you getting each day?
If you’re not sure, take a look at this infographic below.
It’s accurate and very accessible. You can find the original file here, along with a detailed explanation of how this infographic was created alongside the data collected. It’s too bad that there’s no reference to tea (especially green tea, which is my only source of caffeine), but the creators did an awesome job in displaying how much caffeine contain the most notorious drinks you can find today on the market.



The Iron You

Andy Murray, A Bikram Yoga Enthusiast

Have you watched the US Open final on Monday night? If not, you really missed on something because it was awesome.
Five sets in which the players battled like crazy on every single point.
In the end Andy Murray of Scotland overcame defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia in five sets which lasted over four hours and three quarters.
This is the first Grand Slam title the Scottish player has won in his career; but as many journalists have reported this is partially due because he has had the misfortune to be playing in the same era as three of the greatest players who ever played on a tennis court: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
However, in the last few months Murray seemed to be at the top of his game; reaching the final at Wimbledon, winning the Olympic gold few weeks after that and now triumphing in New York.

Spicy Turmeric Chicken

Lean meats, such as chicken and turkey, are an important component of an athlete’s diet as they are a readily available source of precious aminoacids.
Even if it’s crucial to differentiate what we eat so as to include also plant sources of protein; lean meats are always a handy thing to resort to especially after a kick-ass workout.
However, plain grilled chicken can get boring soon, that’s why it’s nice to have a quick fix recipe for cooking a tasty chicken.

Suggested Reading: Eating Animals

This book has been around for almost three years, and chances are you have already read it or heard of it.
If not, “Eating Animals” talks about the food industry with a particular focus on factory farming; providing a serious and (unfortunately) horrific information of how livestock are raised in America today.
The detailed data presented is the result of more than 3 years of accurate research and it’s offered through the author’s own journey.
It reads like a novel, the narrative is captivating and at times funny; it’s well documented and gives factory farmers and animal activists a chance to speak in their own words.

It's Never Too Late To Become Healthy

Saying that it’s never too late to become healthy sounds always really cool. It’s the kind of motivational saying that anyone wants to hear. But have you ever stop and wondered what really “too late” means? Are there really no age limits when it comes to making changes in your lifestyle?
Apparently so, as a recent published research has concluded that even seniors and elderly people, aged 75 years old or more can greatly improve their health by living a healthy lifestyle.
The results of switching habits can be pretty dramatic as it can add 5 years to women’s life and an astonishing 6 years to men’s.

Whole Wheat Quinoa Bread

Another recipe, more quinoa involved. Yes, we have to get ourselves ready for 2013 (UN’s International Year of Quinoa). There’s no slacking off, we must learn how to incorporate quinoa in all our meals.
What about making some bread with quinoa?
Bread, real bread, it’s not that complicated to make, but it does take time. Not so much in the preparation but it has to rise for several hours. This quinoa bread is no exception. You’ll need a good 4 to 5 hours. Good news is that while the dough rises you have plenty of time to do other things.
I, for instance, scheduled my training schedule accordingly. I knew I had to wait around 1 hour between each step so I went for my 6 miles run during the first ‘rise’, took a yoga class during the second ‘rise’, and watched two full episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” during the third and final ’rise’ (I know, this is not so much exercising but I was worn off and wanted to be a couch potato for once).

Let's Talk About Malnutrition

When we hear the word malnutrition, we immediately think about not getting enough food. However, that issue has another name: it’s called undernutrition.
Undernutrition happens when the human body doesn’t get enough calories in order to function properly.
For millennia mankind has struggled with undernutrition. Only during the last century or so, in the most affluent societies, this issue has been almost eradicated. Unfortunately, it still afflicts the poorest parts of the earth where, people still struggles to get food on their plates daily.
Malnutrition, is broader category, that includes undernutrition but is not limited to it.
In fact, malnutrition has been defined as the condition resulting from an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, are in excess or are in wrong proportion.
In other words, malnutrition includes undernutrition, overeating and nutrients deficiency.
The latter being the insufficient and/or unbalanced supply of nutrients that the body needs.
So, even in affluent societies, where undernutrition is no longer an issue, and where we have the luxury of throwing away more food than we actually consume, malnutrition is still an issue.
How come? Because the modern unhealthy diet makes us overfed and overweight, but may fail to provide for all the micronutrients that the body needs to maintain optimum health.
And it’s this latter issue that I would to focus on today.