Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2016/07/reading-for-the-long-weekend-jennifer-graysons-unlatched/

Jennifer Grayson.  Unlatched: The Evolution of Breastfeeding and the Making of a Controversy.  Harper. 2016.

I thought this book had plenty to say and said it well (and has a great cover).  I did a blurb for it:

Unlatched is a deeply engaging, highly personal, well researched, and thoughtfully balanced account of how modern society has denormalized breastfeeding.  Jennifer Grayson does not expect every mother to follow her example and breastfeed babies for three or four years.  Instead, she asks us to consider how formula feeding became the norm and how government policies perpetuate it as the norm (see especially the stunning chapter on the Women, Infants, and Children program).  She argues compellingly that our challenge as a society is to restore breastfeeding as the default for feeding babies, and to provide the support—political as well as emotional–that mothers need to breastfeed successfully.

…

Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2016/07/01/healthy-4th-of-july-recipes/

Happy 4th of July weekend, my friends! To help you get in the spirit, here is a round up of some of my favorite healthy 4th of July recipes from my blog and some fellow dietitians and healthy food bloggers.

Enjoy – and let me know if you try any of them! Happy birthday, America!

Fannetastic Food – 4th of July Cookie Cake

Mom’s Kitchen Handbook – Berries in a Cloud

Nutritioulicious – Red cabbage, Snap Pea, Blueberry Salad <img class="size-full wp-image-46045 aligncenter" src="http://www.fannetasticfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Cabbage-Pea-Blueberry-Salad-003-e1438369604435.jpg" alt="Ca…

Source: http://www.theptdc.com/2016/06/online-classes-or-in-person-workshops-for-ceus/

After you get the necessary certifications to pursue a career in personal training, you have to consider how to keep learning and continue getting better in this competitive field.

One option to supplement your knowledge is to read articles, as you are doing now, and books from experienced thought leaders in the industry. Another is to find seminars, classes, workshops, conferences, and so on to attend. The difference is that to be a personal trainer, reading books and articles is optional, while you actually need to periodically pursue educational opportunities within the industry. Most of the major certifying bodies, including ACE, NSCA, NASM, and ACSM, each require that you fulfill a certain amount of continuing education units, or CEUs, to expand your knowledge and skill set.

CEUs give you the perfect opportunity to enhance your educational background, maintain a high level of professional qualification, and increase your ability to assist and attract clients. The conundrum is that in today’s increasingly digital world, you have more continuing education options than ever, ranging from online courses to in-person workshops.

On one hand, the online courses can seem like the more convenient way to go, but don’t just blindly opt-in to a continuing education class based on convenience. Instead, consider the following three factors bef…

Source: http://romanfitnesssystems.com/articles/app-idea/

I’m going to tell you a mind-blowing secret. You ready?

Here it goes.

Your idea isn’t worth a damn thing.  

Sorry to be blunt, but it’s true. It isn’t worth a thing. Nothing. Nada.

People don’t buy ideas; they buy products. Product can have a number of definitions, but apart from a few successful serial entrepreneurs, it sure as hell isn’t an idea. 

Facebook is a product. Evernote is a product. SnapChat is a product; it isn’t the idea of Snapchat that’s valued at 16 billion dollars, it’s the product.

If You Want To Do More Than Dream, You Need To Build A Product

A product is simply the execution of an idea.

Not just thinking about the app, but building it. Not just figuring out how you can make some tool better, but prototyping and selling it. Not just coming up with a great idea for a business, but starting it.

That’s why your idea is worthless. It’s the execution that’s everything.

Execution is the sole reason why startups get funding. It has nothing to do with the connections that a founder has; that only gets their foot in the door. To get the check that you think you need, the investors need to think the idea is good, but more than that, they need to know that you have th…

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/qoHVRp8R79c/

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” ~Albert Einstein

I’m sitting on the couch by myself watching Dexter reruns on Netflix. But I can hardly focus on the show. I’m freaking out because I still haven’t made any friends, even though I moved here over a month ago.

I keep thinking to myself: “Will all my Saturdays look like this?” “Will I actually be able to make new friends and build that social circle I was so excited to have?”

Let me rewind just a bit.

It’s a hot and sunny summer day in Southern California.

After hours of Tetris-like packing, my Toyota Corolla is packed to the brim with everything I consider important. My guitar amp has clothes stuffed in the back of it. Even my snowboard is upside down, forming to the shape of the roof.

I should be exhausted from packing, but I’m not. I’m beaming. Smiling from ear to ear, I can’t wait to start a new chapter in my life.

With a new promotion in hand, I am given the task of opening a new office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have never even been to New Mexico before, but I am ecstatic to meet new people and create new life experiences. So I hop in my car and make the fifteen-hour drive to begin my new adventure.

I’ve arrived in New Mexico, and I am high on life …

Source: http://www.sonima.com/food/cucumber-tomato-salad/

It’s no coincidence that we use texture as a metaphor for bringing variety, excitement, and freshness into our lives. It’s easy to fall into a rut of eating the same breakfast eggs, doing the same weekend errands, feeling the same churning emotions, thinking the same tired thoughts. And as quickly as these actions become habits, they can prevent us from seeing the world anew. To clear away the staid gloss of habit from our vision, we need texture.
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This is a salad for texture, filled with the chunky, crisp coolness of cucumber, the tangy firmness of summer tomato, the tender aromatics of fresh herbs, the creaminess of feta cheese, and the crisp bite of pan-fried chickpeas. It’s easy enough to quickly become …

Source: http://zenhabits.net/story/

By Leo Babauta

If you want to create a new exercise habit (for example), you might tell yourself something like this:

“This is going to be amazing, I’m going to get fit and look incredible and be super healthy!”

This is a story you’re telling yourself. It’s not real, but it has tremendous power to affect your feelings about your habit, and to change your action. You have a positive story about the habit, and it motivates you to take action.

But perhaps the exercise you did one day was really tough, and you didn’t enjoy it. Your story might change, to something like, “Wow, that was super hard. It sucked!”

Now your story about the habit is not so good, and you’ll be less enthusiastic about doing the habit from now on.

Maybe you also missed a couple of days of exercise because you got busy. Your story changes to, “Damn, I screwed up, I’m not as good at this habit as I thought, why am I not disciplined?”

The story isn’t so good. Now you might actually try not think about the habit, and you are much more likely to skip the habit from now on.

The story you tell yourself about your habit matters more than most people realize.

So the key is to shape the story, become your own habit storyteller, and create a story that will make you more likely to stick to the habit.

Telling a Good Story

The truth is that none of these stories is actually true…

Source: http://www.thefitbits.com/2016/06/the-benefits-of-walking-to-work.html

While I was off sick patiently waiting for my broken bones to fuse back together, I did a lot of sitting on my arse. And I really do mean a lot.

The most exercise I got each day was the two minute walk to the shop to pick up chocolate/pizza/chips/cake/anything with a satisfyingly high enough comfort-food rating, or if I was feeling really energetic, the very careful and ultimately achey walk to the doctors wearing my sling.

Hubs was working away for most of the weeks I was off, and I couldn’t comfortably use a computer to do a big online shop. Carrying heavy bags home from the supermarket was obviously out of the question, so I (quite happily, actually) succumbed to a life of sugary, fatty, processed food and a non-stop Breaking Bad binge.

Of course this couldn’t go on forever.

Loving the power #walk to work while I can’t get on the #bike. Time to think, listen to music, and work up a mini sweat before sitting on my arse at my desk for 8 hours 👌🏽A video posted by @fitbits_tess on Jun 14, 2016 at 12:48am PDT

I’ve been back at work for just over two weeks, and because I’m still not allowed to ride my bike I’ve had to start walking into work. Anyone who knows me will know that for as long as…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/fitness/active-alignment-for-yoga/

Watch video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1BnJnEcHV8

When we practice yoga, we bring all of our habitual patterns with us. The practice has inherent neutralizing effects, but sometimes, whether because of extreme tightness, hyper-mobility, stress, or otherwise—our practice gets muddled by our current state. There are many ways to center the body and mind before practice including meditation, breathing practices, as well as moderate exercises to prepare the body. In this video, alignment expert Pete Egoscue, with the help of Sonima founder and long time Ashtanga Yoga practitioner, Sonia Jones, offers a pre- and post-yoga workout routine to help solidify the powerful effects of the practice.

Related: A Workout Meditation to Do Before Exercising

The pre-yoga active alignment sequence consists of stretches for the muscles in the arms, feet, and legs to help the body loosen up and get grounded for practice. Additionally, you’ll work through spinal undulations which will help prepare the body for back bending. Think of the post-yoga sequence as a cool-down that will feel great on the hips, work out any left over kinks in the back, and leave your hamstrings and legs feeling sturdy but soft.

Follow along in the video above or download a PDF of these exercises below, with step-by-step directions so you can take these sequences on the go.

<img src="http://son…

Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2016/06/the-fda-weighs-in-on-gmo-labeling/

The Senate’s proposed GMO labeling bill gives food companies three options:

An on-package code that consumers can scan with a smartphone
A 1-800 number
A symbol to be developed by USDA

None of these does what Mars is already doing on M&Ms, for example—a straightforward, easy-to-read, quickly understandable statement that the product is “partially produced with genetic engineering.”

Now, the FDA has just produced a technical assessment of the Senate bill.

This makes it clear that the Senate has no idea what labeling rules entail.  Some examples:

We note that provisions to allow information regarding the GE content of food to be presented only in an electronically accessible form and not on the package label would be in tension with FDA’s statute and regulations, which require disclosures on food labels.
We are concerned that USDA’s regulations implementing the mandatory standard under this bill could conflict with FDA’s labeling requirements.
We note several points in the drafting of the bill that raise confusion.
It appears that the intent is to have the bill apply to all foods except those that are essentially meat, poultry, or eggs, and that the drafters may have assumed, incorrectly, that products covered by the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, or the Egg Products Inspection Act are not covered by the FD&C Act.
[One section requires] the USDA regulations to…