The Stress Buster You Haven’t Tried

“Stop and smell the roses” isn’t just good advice—it’s also a powerful safeguard against stress. Mindfulness, or the practice of consciously and non-judgmentally observing the present moment, has been linked to better wellbeing in previous research. And according to a new study from the University of Utah, people who are naturally mindful report being more emotionally stable during the day and more relaxed at night.

Researchers recruited 38 people aged 20 to 45 for the study. First, the subjects completed a questionnaire that measured how naturally mindful they were, including their ability to notice their surroundings and act consciously. For two days, the subjects were asked to rate their emotions throughout the day, as well as their physical and cognitive arousal before falling asleep (a measure of anxiety). The people who were naturally mindful had less variable emotions, described themselves as being more in control of how they felt, and were calmer at bedtime.

The study suggests that mindfulness can act as an emotional buffer, protecting you from the normal highs and lows of your day. “People who are more mindful are able to stay somewhat separate from shifts in their body and their emotional state,” says Paula Williams, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the University of Utah and co-author of the study. “They’re more observant, as opposed to reactive.” And when you’re not reacting to every little change in your environment, you’re bound to feel more at ease.

Luckily, mindfulness isn’t just a personality trait—it’s a skill you can learn. Susan Evans, PhD, professor of psychology in clinical psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, offers these tips on how to be more mindful:

Ease into your mornings
On an average weekday, you may abuse the snooze button before scrambling out of bed to (just barely) make it to work on time. Rather than rushing through your a.m. activities, Evans suggests taking up to 30 minutes every morning to sit quietly and simply focus on your breath. “When your mind wanders, come back to your breath,” she says. This gives your mind and body time to transition from a resting state to an active state. If sitting still for too long makes you squirm, meditating for even just five minutes is better than nothing.

Step away from your desk
You don’t have to be a smoker to excuse yourself from your office for a few minutes to mentally recharge. In fact, Evans says it’s vital. If you take a walk, observe what’s going on around you—the color of the sky, the movement of the wind, and any physical sensations you experience. Mindfulness is the opposite of living your life on autopilot, and these mini-breaks will help train you to appreciate the here and now. “We get caught up in a lot of thoughts about the future, the past,” Evans says. “This an opportunity to kind of break out of that.”

Take a real lunch break (seriously)
We know it’s hard. The temptation to shovel food into your mouth while cruising the blogosphere or touching up that last work assignment can be tough to resist, but it prevents you from enjoying your meal—or even paying attention to what you’re eating. Try to ditch your desk for 20 minutes and carve out time for really zeroing in on the texture and taste of your meal. You’ll enjoy your lunch more, slow down, and—as an extra perk—eat less of it, Evans says.

Give yourself time to transition
In any given day, you might go from a career woman to a Zumba junkie to a domestic goddess. Rather than jumping from role to role, take a moment to mark these shifts. Doing so will help you get into the right mindset so you can better focus on the task at hand. When you sit down at your desk in the morning, for example, give yourself a full minute to center yourself and say, “This is where I am right now.” Likewise, when you come home at night, try to consciously change gears. It’ll prime you to embrace your new role and help you to be fully present for the people you’re around.

Listen up
We’re all guilty of zoning out in the middle of a conversation. And let’s be real—water cooler chit-chat isn’t always the most riveting. But practicing mindful listening, where you focus on what the person is saying without judging or interrupting them, is a way of getting out of your own head. Think of it as a vacation from your own thoughts. It may even help boost your bonds—everyone loves a good listener.

Workout Fiends =)

When you survive a crazy boot camp session or set a personal record on a run, there’s one thing you want to do (besides shower): Tell the world. The thing is, your Facebook friends and Twitter followers probably don’t want to hear it. More than half of social network users think fitness- and diet-related posts are the most annoying updates, according to a new survey conducted by Sweatband.com, a U.K.-based e-commerce site.

Surveyors asked 1,793 Brits about the most irksome social media habits. Fifty-three percent of those polled said bragging about diet and exercise is the worst. Almost as annoying: people who share food photos, write cryptic status updates, invite others to play online games, and post baby pictures. More than 50 percent of respondents said they avoid Facebook and Twitter altogether to avoid these irritating updates, and 38 percent have quit a social media site because of them.

Do you clog others’ feeds with fitness updates? No need to risk losing friends over it—or stop using the web to stay motivated. Instead, share your fitness triumphs with people who actually want to hear about it. All of these social networks are made for workout fiends:

Fitocracy
Unlike other social networks, Fitocracy rewards you with points for being active. Earn enough points, and you’ll get special profile badges (aka bragging rights) and advance to the next fitness level. On this game-like network, you can log and save workouts, monitor your progress, and connect with your most fitness-minded Facebook friends—or meet new ones via shared interest groups. Then, use the corresponding Android or iOS app to broadcast good news or share before and after pictures. You’ll also see friends’ fitness updates via a Facebook-like feed. The best part? You can give each other “props” (the Fitocracy equivalent of a Facebook Like).

Daily Mile 
If logging every single workout, tracking your mileage, and posting after-workout updates helps keep you motivated, head over to DailyMile.com. You can also search for routes or map your own. Then, connect with fit friends on your DailyMile feed. For even more fun, share a running route and challenge your DailyMile buddies to follow in your footsteps. Not a runner? You can also log swims, bike rides, and other fitness routines.

Map My Fitness 
Billed as the world’s largest online community of fitness fanatics, the MapMyFitness family (which includes MapMyHike, MapMyRide, MapMyWalk, and MapMyRun) lets you log in with your Facebook credentials, then record your outdoor workouts using Google maps to automatically tally mileage. Better yet? Link up with friends from your other social networks to swap routes and make sure they’re the first to know when you hit a training goal. You can also access others members’ routes and join groups through the sites to find local events. The coolest part: You can input your workout stats from the tracking device you already use, like Nike+ or Fitbit, and selectively email fitness feats to people outside the network—so even your Facebook-averse mother can stay in the loop.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

7 Salads You Should Never Eat

It starts with peas. As kids, we nervously push them around our plates, waiting for an opportunity to slip them quietly to the dog. Something that tastes so bad must be out to kill us, we reason. The same goes for all vegetables, we think.

But over time, our skepticism wears off. We learn that vegetables (and fruits) can help us stay slim and healthy. We overcome our fear, and start seeking out green beans, broccoli, spinach, and romaine. This is a good thing. Numerous studies have shown that increased produce intake can decrease our risk for diabetes and heart disease. And in a large 2011 study, eating lots of fruits and vegetables was found to be one of the strongest predictors of successful weight control.

This doesn't completely erase the lesson we learned as toddlers, though. Some produce is still evil—that which today's restaurants use as a delivery system for low-cost fats and sugars. With the number of absurd toppings now routinely tossed into salads, it’s not uncommon to find more than 1,000 calories buried in a plate of lettuce. These dastardly salads can be hard to identify, which is why I’ve picked out the seven worst America has to offer. Honestly, I wouldn't even feed them to my beloved pooch.

-Dave Zinczenko

#7: WORST BUFFALO-STYLE SALAD

Friendly’s Kickin’ Buffalo Chicken Salad

1,180 calories

95 g fat (19 g saturated)

2,090 mg sodium

Don’t be fooled by the lettuce—it’s simply a foil for the hunks of deep-fried meat, oily wing sauce, cheese, and cream-based blue cheese dressing. This salad is, in fact, more damaging than the hot wings that inspired it. (It has 66 percent more calories than a full order of Applebee's wings!) Instead, opt for the tuna melt and salad combo, the sole menu option to keep both calories and sodium in check.

#6: WORST TEX-MEX SALAD
Baja Fresh Steak Tostada Salad
1,230 calories
63 g fat (17 g saturated, 2 g trans)
2,380 mg sodium

Props to Baja Fresh for introducing lower-calorie entrées like Bare Burritos and Baja Ensaladas, but that doesn’t excuse the more nefarious offerings like the 2,000-calorie nachos and this fat-drenched salad that comes served in a deep-fried tortilla receptacle. Don’t let the novelty suck you in. There’s still nothing better than the Original Baja Tacos paired with a side of fiber-rich beans.



#5: WORST CLASSIC SALAD
Outback Steakhouse Aussie Crispy Chicken Cobb Salad with Honey Mustard
1,288 calories
98 g fat (32 g saturated, 2.2 g trans)
2,096 mg sodium

Cobb might as well stand for “Corrupted by Oil, Bread & Bacon.” These iconic salads’ toppings include croutons, cheese, bacon, and an oft-fried protein, and they tend to be topped with heavier dressings. In the case of Outback, this salad contains more fat than 64 ounces—that’s four pounds—of the chain’s Victoria Filet. The Shrimp Caesar is the lightest salad on the menu, and it comes with 25 grams of lean protein.



#4: WORST CRUSTED SALAD
Applebee’s Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad
1,360 calories
80 g fat (17 g saturated, 1 g trans)
2,640 mg sodium

Nuts can be a great salad topping, but because they’re calorie-dense, they should be applied judiciously. Applebee’s does not adhere to this advice. With this salad, the chain adds both crushed nuts and sugar-coated pecans. In addition, it adds deep-fried chicken and fat-heavy bleu cheese dressing. The total damage is more than a full day’s recommended fat intake and 117 grams of carbohydrates. You’d have to be nuts to eat that.



#3: WORST “HEALTHY” SALAD
California Pizza Kitchen Moroccan Chicken Salad (full)
1,370 calories
12 g saturated fat
1,040 mg sodium

At 116 grams, this salad has more carbohydrates than most of the pasta dishes on the menu. Then there’s the saturated fat. With the exception of the Sicilian or the Meat Cravers, you could eat half of any thin crust pizza on the menu and take in the same amount or less. Try the new Quinoa and Arugula Salad instead. Despite being a seed, quinoa supplies the same amino acids as meat, making it an excellent vegetarian source of protein.



#2: WORST SPINACH SALAD
IHOP Chicken & Spinach Salad
1,530 calories
111 g fat (30 g saturated, 2 g trans)
2,400 mg sodium

This is the improved version. IHOP’s previous effort at this same salad had 1,600 calories. Call it progress? We don't either. Despite being 70 calories lighter, this plate still manages to fit in more calories than 5 McDonald’s Cheeseburgers, not to mention a day’s worth of sodium. And athough this salad is by far the worst of IHOP’s greens, the others are far from ideal: With the single exception of the Chicken Caesar Salad—ordered without chicken, that is—none of the chain’s dinner salads fall below 1,000 calories. You’d do better to play it safe and order off the Simple & Fit menu.



#1: WORST SALAD IN AMERICA
Cheesecake Factory Santa Fe Chicken Salad
1,720 calories
17 g saturated fat
2,636 mg sodium

Tex-Mex salad iterations are rarely light, what with all the sour cream, guacamole, and creamy dressings. But wait—this salad can’t claim any of those usual culprits! The only two potentially troublesome toppings are cheese and tortilla strips, but how much damage could they possibly do? Well, based on these numbers—and the fact that their inclusion appears to be the main difference between the Santa Fe and the Skinnylicious salad below—a lot. Order accordingly.

The Fast Food That May Cause Cancer

Eating deep fried foods boosts your risk of prostate cancer, according to a new study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Researchers analyzed survey data from more than 3,000 men ages 35 to 74, and discovered that guys who reported eating French fries, fried chicken, fried fish, and/or fried doughnuts once or more a week had a 30- to 37-percent higher risk of prostate cancer. The risk remained the same even after the researchers considered factors like age, race, family history, body-mass index, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels.

By comparison, men who had the lowest prostate cancer risk only ate fried foods less than once a month, while men with a more moderate risk ate fried foods one to three times a month.

What gives? Lead researcher Janet Stanford, Ph.D., codirector of the Hutchinson Center’s Program in Prostate Cancer Research, says that when oil is heated to high temperatures, it can create carcinogenic compounds in food. “High-temperature deep frying can really change the constitution of the food, so it produces chemicals that can be damaging to DNA,” Stanford says.

Your move: Keep the KFC visits to a once-in-a-blue-moon minimum. For a better, prostate-protecting alternative, go nuts. Nuts contain zinc compounds that reduce inflammation—a pathway to cancer—and oxidative stress, says James Hébert, Sc.D., a professor at the Arnold School of Public Health. “The prostate is a zinc sponge,” he says. Harvard researchers also found that men with the highest levels of selenium had a 48 percent lower incidence of advanced prostate cancer than those with the lowest intakes. So eat three Brazil nuts every day, which will provide you with 200 micrograms (mcg) of selenium, the exact amount you need to keep your prostate-cancer risk at rock-bottom levels. (For more smart fast-food swaps, check out Eat This, Not That! 2013.)

And load up on black tea. Stanford examined 19 percent of the general population of men in Washington and found that guys who sipped one cup of the beverage every day reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 37 percent. The potential reason? Polyphenols found in tea function as cancer-fighting antioxidants, researchers say.

Rev Up Your Reps

"It's not how long but how strong and intense you're making your workouts," says celebrity trainer Jackie Warner, the author of 10 Pounds in 10 Days. "The mistake a lot of people make is doing too much of the wrong kind of cardio." Want to burn more calories in half the time of your regular routine? Incorporate these speedy strategies at your next sweat session.

By Jenna Autuori-Dedic

The Plan
Get set to sweat and sculpt with Jackie Warner's 18-minute cardio acceleration session. Complete this routine three times and you're guaranteed to need a towel when you're done.

0 to 5 minutes
Do 15 reps of each of these moves:

15-pound-dumbbell squat: Hold a dumbbell in each hand with arms by sides and palms in, then squat.
10-pound-dumbbell lunge: Hold a dumbbell in each hand with arms by sides and palms in, then step right foot forward, bending right knee 90 degrees. Return to standing with feet together; repeat with left leg.
Push-ups

10-pound-dumbbell bent-over row: Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with arms by sides and palms in. Hinge forward so that your back is 90 degrees to floor; drive elbows behind you, bringing dumbbells by ribs.

10-pound-dumbbell military shoulder press: Stand with feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Bend elbows to bring dumbbells to shoulder height in goalpost position, palms out. Press dumbbells overhead, keeping arms slightly bent.

10-pound-dumbbell biceps curl: Hold a dumbbell in each hand with arms by sides and palms up, then curl weights toward shoulders.

Triceps dips: Sit on bench, palms next to hips and fingers pointing forward. Extend legs forward, keeping heels on floor and back straight, and then bend elbows to lower your body; repeat.

5 to 6 minutes
Choose your cardio move: Jumping rope, jumping jacks, star jumps, or mountain climbers
For a longer workout, try a five-minute HIIT like the one mentioned below.

Fat-Melting Strategies
Work the upper and lower body simultaneously.
Doing movements that hit multiple muscles -- like a squat with a shoulder press, or a lunge with a biceps curl -- will zap more calories than movements that isolate individual body parts. "During a short workout, this is the fastest way to bump up your heart rate and keep your body in a fat-burning zone," Warner says.

Rep, don't rest.
Group your exercises -- for instance, push-ups, squats, and lunges -- and perform them as a series without taking a break. "You'll maximize your calorie burn if you do more work and keep your downtime to a minimum," Warner notes. If you must take a breather, make it no longer than 15 seconds.

Take a HIIT after each circuit.
"Tackle all your strength moves first, then go all out on the treadmill for high-intensity interval training," Warner says. Try this: Start with a 12 percent incline and walk at a fast pace (3.8 miles per hour) for two minutes. Then decrease the incline to 0 percent and run hard (6.0 to 8.0 miles per hour) for another two minutes. Finish with a slow jog (3.5 to 4.0 miles per hour) for the final 60 seconds. "You're spiking your heart rate with these short spurts while toning your lower body on the inclines," Warner says.

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, March 2013.

30 Things you can do with BEER

1   OVERVIEW
2   BATHE IN IT
3   PUT OUT A FIRE
4   MARINATE MEAT
5   POLISH POTS
6   MAKE BEER BARBECUE SAUCE
7   SHAMPOO HAIR
8   LOOSEN RUSTY BOLTS
9   CLEAR UP BROWN SPOTS IN YOUR LAWN
10 STEAM CLAMS OR MUSSELS
11 PASS A KIDNEY STONE
12 BOIL SHRIMP
13 KILL SLUGS
14 FIND DUE NORTH
15 SOOTHE TIRED FEET
16 MAKE A BEER SLIDE
17 LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE
18 TRICK A CHEAP LANDLORD
19 BAKE BEER BREAD
20 CATCH MICE
21 TIE A FLY
22 CURE INSOMNIA
23 MASSAGE YOURSELF
24 CALM AN UPSET STOMACH
25 BUILD YOUR NEXT HOME
26 COOK RICE
27 STOP SNORING
28 BUILD A PLANE
29 ROAST CHICKEN
30 ICE A HAMSTRING

6 Healthy Peanut Butter Recipes

Peanut Butter Pancakes

Two spoonfuls of PB go a long way in these delicious flapjacks. A dose of wheat bran adds a little extra depth, without getting too grainy.

Peanut Butter Banana Spirals

Ever thought of drizzling your banana with orange juice? In this recipe, you will. Don’t fret if you can’t track down the honey-crunch wheat germ — the original flavor will do just fine.

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Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Treats

A healthy spin on a classic favorite! The natural ingredients of these treats make them a guilt-free snack — which makes them very, very dangerous.

Roasted Squash & Kale Salad

Hello, vitamins! The peanut butter adds a creamy richness to the light dressing, without adding empty calories.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Smoothie

This morning favorite is packed with protein, making it a perfect post-workout indulgence. For an extra health-kick, swap the chocolate syrup for 2 tablespoons of a dark chocolate that’s 74% cocoa or higher.

Peanut Butter Protein Bars

Creamy and crunchy mingle together in these energy-inducing bars. You can up the ante by sprinkling in a protein powder of your choice.

Drink a second cup of coffee

It might lower your risk of adult-onset diabetes, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.