Prep Once, Eat Twice: Double-Duty Ingredients

By: Meg Galvin : 2/8/2010  2:58:05 PM : 21 comments : 3,739 views

The key to getting a nutritious and delicious dinner on the table in under 30 minutes is not a culinary degree or a team of sous chefs. It's one short French phrase: mise en place.

In the kitchen, mise en place means everything in its place. The vegetables are chopped, the herbs are washed, and the pots are clean and ready to go. When you're short on time, using prechopped vegetables (either chopped ahead of time or purchased that way) is a huge time saver.

In these two videos, I used one set of ingredients--chopped vegetables and precooked chicken breasts--to create two very different meals: Veggie Chicken Stir Fry and Spring Rolls. Watch now!

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Eat Like an Olympic Athlete

By: Tanya Jolliffe : 2/8/2010  5:46:37 AM : 37 comments : 4,986 views

I LOVE the Olympics and from February 12-18, I will be watching as the world comes together 'with glowing hearts' to witness as the saying goes, 'the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat' during the Vancouver Winter Olympic.

A couple years back during the Beijing Summer Olympics, we learned gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps consumes 12,000 calories a day when he is in training. In stark comparison, a male of about the same age and height that is only moderately active would require around 2,000 calories a day.

Do all Olympic athletes need a diet significantly different than ours?

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Weekend Reading: The Top Health Stories

By: Stepfanie Romine : 2/7/2010  11:06:41 AM : 22 comments : 4,285 views

The 3-Minute Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

Can a Beer Company Tell Us How to Get Healthy?

Snacks now account for a quarter of daily calories

Rules to Eat By

Running Prehab: Toe Scrunch

Teach your children wellness: Schools are rethinking phys ed

Brooke Hogan Takes a Stand Against Airbrushing

What stories piqued your interest this week?

Mastering the Art of Imperfection: How I Am Learning to Let Go of My Perfectionism

By: Nancy Howard : 2/6/2010  12:15:51 PM : 154 comments : 9,336 views

I was born a perfectionist and it is something I have fought with for the better part of my life. I believe my need to be perfect has kept me from going out and truly embracing everything that life has to offer. I have often wondered why I expected more from myself than I would ever expect from my friends and family. For me, anything short of what I deemed was perfect was like a Scarlet Letter I wore for everyone else to see.

A few months ago I was watching an interesting documentary on the masterpiece painters. They told the tales of how it took some of the painters years and years of painting and repainting a particular portrait or landscape before they felt all was just right--and even then it may not have been right for them. What surprised me was the sheer beauty of their work and yet these great painters were, many times, never satisfied as they always saw the flaws in their own work when no one else could.

That is precisely what I found true with myself-- my need to be perfect was keeping me from ever accomplishing anything I wanted out of life. I would set the bar so high that the minute I fell flat on my face I did what so many others did and that was to give up. Giving up was so much easier than forgiving myself for not being perfect and moving on.

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Poll: Which Fitness Fashion Trend Shouldn't Make a Comeback?

By: Nicole Nichols : 2/5/2010  12:46:18 PM : 290 comments : 13,605 views

A couple months ago, I shared some fun and entertaining 80s aerobics videos. Many of you could relate to these workouts and remember doing similar moves yourselves. Today I'm back with another fitness flashback that is sure to conjure up some more memories, but I don't know if they'll be good or bad ones!

Recently, ACE (The American Council on Exercise) created a fun slideshow of the Top 25 Fitness Fashion Trends from 1985 to today—definitely worth checking out.

I like leg warmers and yoga pants and lots of the more recent trends in workout fashion. But regarding most of these items, will you please join me in saying, "What were we thinking?!"

This led me to wonder: Which fitness fashion do you NEVER want to see making a comeback? Read More >

Employee Benefits: The Less You Weigh, The Less You Pay?

By: Jen Mueller : 2/5/2010  7:16:58 AM : 241 comments : 9,477 views

With health care costs rising more each day, employers are constantly looking for ways to lower their expenses and give employees incentives for healthy behaviors. Whole Foods has launched a new program for their employees called the Team Member Healthy Discount Incentive Program. All team members currently get a 20% discount on Whole Foods products. But now they will have the opportunity to get higher discounts (up to 30%) based on health measures like blood pressure and BMI. So the healthier you are, the more of a discount you'd be eligible to receive. Read More >

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