Which will help you lose weight faster -- diet or exercise?
Ah, the age old question -- as debated as whether Archie should go for Betty or Veronica ... because they both have their merits, but deep down, you know he should choose kind, safe Betty. I'm talking about Diet vs Exercise here -- which makes more a difference when you're trying to lose weight? We know that both have their benefits, but many of us suspect that it's diet that ultimately makes the difference. Not so, according to this article. In a study where one group exercised only and one group change their diet only, with the calorie reduction the same in both groups (so, the exercise group would burn, say, 25% less calories a day and the diet group would reduce their %caloric intake from food by 25), it was found that it didn't matter whether the method of weight-loss was diet or exercise -- what mattered was the calorie reduction. But exercise has one distinct advantage -- the benefit of improving cardiovascular health.
I think the real key to weight-loss is a balance between the two. Don't you agree?
According to new research, 
Jillian Michaels, one of my favourite celeb trainers (besides 
The adenovirus has been around for years, causing cold and flu-like symptoms, including some stomach flus, is gaining lots of attention lately -- for being potentially deadly. New and improved testing methods has revealed that the adenovirus is prevalent and sometimes fatal in healthy people, often fatal in those with a compromised immune system -- those awaiting a bone marrow transplant, for instance. 
Words ending in the syllables 'athlon' tend to send chills up my spine -- being someone who likes to take fitness at my own pace, I'm always wary of races, particularly looooooong ones. But not all 'athlons' are the same. Do you know your 'athlons'? 
Does it sometimes seem like the fitness industry is geared towards peppy twenty-somethings with boundless energy and enviable waistlines? Well, we're heading into a time when today's baby boomers will be retiring and starting to focus on their health, and I imagine the face of fitness will be changing too. In fact, 
Halloween can be the demise of your best-laid dieting plans, but it doesn't have to be. 
Can you name all the 10 commandments? I sure can't, but seeing that I didn't grow up in a religious family, my only real exposure to them was the movie of the same name (and I fell asleep watching it.) Don't worry -- I do have a point here. 
Here's an appalling example of how far people are willing to go for weight-loss: 
You may have seen some of his posts already ... now meet the guy behind them -- Chris Sparling. Chris was a frequent contributor to our now-retired Life Sciences blogs, where he shared his insights on health, fitness and his 
I'm a big fan of pizza in all its forms -- fresh, homemade, frozen, you name it. As long as it has cheese, I'm guaranteed to like it. But I'm also conscious of what I eat and I make a effort to avoid anything that is too greasy, too fatty, too high in sodium and with too many refined carbs. For me to eat something, it has to have some sort of nutritional value -- maybe some fibre, lots of veggies, just something viable that I can use to justify eating it. I'm perpetually on the quest to find pizza with whole wheat crusts that actually taste good when I don't have time to make my own crust. 
Certain celebrities -- I'm thinking along the lines of Jessica Alba, Uma Thurman and Reese Witherspoon -- seem to look good all the time. So we have to wonder -- just how do they do it? 
Fall is a bit of a dieting disaster for me -- there's Thanksgiving, Halloween and the birthdays of several people close to me, mine included. So when turning down dessert isn't on the agenda, what's a girl to do? Well, offer to make dessert and use a healthy recipe. eDiets has four great recipes:
I was alerted to this article, 
Getting fit isn't always convenient -- or cheap. Gym memberships, fitness gear and workout equipment can be really pricey. But it's important to find a way to get fit without breaking the bank -- 
