Nutrition Corner

5 cooking and baking steps you really shouldn’t rush: Don't rush these steps while you're cooking, and you'll be rewarded for your patience.

Healthy eating - How to eat healthy for a healthy weight and lifestyle: Start by making sure your diet includes whole grains and healthy fats.

Recipe for The Day

Whipped Feta with Cranberries & Walnuts: If the feta seems too thick, add 1 teaspoon water at a time until loosened. Walnuts provide a nice crunchiness, but you could easily swap in another nut like pecans or pistachios. If you have leftover cranberry sauce, try a dollop in some yogurt or oatmeal for an easy breakfast.

Lifestyle & Fitness Focus

A Simple 3-Step Plan to Stop Sugar Cravings

• If You Are Hungry, Eat a Healthy and Filling Meal: It’s important to realize that a craving is not the same as hunger. It’s not your body calling for energy, it’s your brain calling for something that releases a lot of dopamine in the reward system. Eating real food may not feel very appetizing when you have a craving for sugary junk food. But if you truly need to lose weight, resilience is worth it in the long run.

• Take a Hot Shower: Some people who experience sugar cravings have found that hot showers or baths provide relief. The water must be hot — not so hot that you burn your skin but hot enough that it’s on the verge of feeling uncomfortable. Let the water run over your back and shoulders so that it heats you up. Stay there at least 5–10 minutes.

• Go for a Brisk Walk Outside: Another thing that can work is to go outside for a brisk walk. If you are a runner, running will be even better. This serves a two-fold purpose. First, you are distancing yourself from the food that you are craving. Second, the exercise will release endorphins, or “feel good” chemicals in your brain, which can help turn the craving off.

Pecans: 4 Benefits of Snack-Size Portions

• Diabetes Protection: The fiber, low carbohydrate, and healthy fat content of pecans can help stabilize blood sugar, benefiting people with diabetes or prediabetes.

• Cancer Prevention: Overall, nut consumption has been shown to help decrease the risk of various cancers. In particular, studies have suggested that eating pecans daily may lead to a reduction in the risk for postmenopausal breast cancer.

• Weight Management: Eating more nuts has been linked to weight loss. Some research suggests that consuming pecans regularly is linked to having a lower body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

• Digestion Support: Because fiber helps regulate bowel movements and may prevent intestinal cancer, pecans are a supportive food for your digestive system.

3 Benefits Of Cycling For Physical Health

• Build muscle strength: Cycling truly is a full-body workout. Building muscle and strength through cycling correlates with how much resistance you put on the bike (when indoors) or how steep the incline is (when outdoors). To amp up the strength training, add in resistance or incline to build those lower body muscles.

• Improve heart health: Cycling is considered an aerobic exercise, which means its main benefit is working out your heart, blood vessels, and lungs. That’s because, according to The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), aerobic exercise is any activity that uses large muscle groups, can be done continuously and in a rhythmic nature. So everytime you get on the bike, you are working toward better heart health.

• Boost joint health: The benefits of cycling are two-fold for your joints, according to the Arthritis Foundation. You aren’t pounding on or stressing your joints repeatedly, but you are also helping strengthen the muscles that support your knees, ankles, and feet.

4 Best Dumbbell Exercises for Back Strength

• Dumbbell Pull-up: Strength training is all about progressive overload, and the classic pull-up is a perfect choice. By adding a dumbbell, you elevate the challenge. Whether you hang the weight from a belt or grab a dumbbell between your feet, the additional load creates an opportunity for progressive overload, paving the way for a stronger back.

• Dumbbell Dead Row: Power demands speed and explosiveness. Enter the dumbbell dead row. This exercise starts from the floor, incorporating explosive movements that drive the dumbbells upward, engaging not just your arms but your entire back. The ground-based force generates power, making it a zero-momentum exercise for coordinated explosiveness.

• Dumbbell Pullover: For muscle growth, focus and isolation are key. The dumbbell pullover, with a twist, becomes an ideal choice. Position your body perpendicular to the bench, drop your hips for an added stretch, and embrace forced eccentrics for maximum hypertrophy benefits.

• Chest Supported Touch Row: When chasing that burn, the chest supported touch row is a game-changer. Protecting the low back with a bench, this exercise allows you to push your lats to the limit without compromising safety.

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