Source: http://greatist.com/play/guide-to-male-female-erogeneous-zones?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

While certain bits of anatomy (ahem, genitalia) are well-known as sites of sexual pleasure, getting turned on doesn’t have to be limited to below the belt. Other areas of the human body have a high concentration of nerve endings, so they’re particularly sensitive to touch, pressure, or vibration. These so-called “erogenous zones” can contribute to sexual arousal—think of them as the road map to a happy ending.1

According to Monica Geller of Friends, there are seven erogenous zones on a woman’s body, but the exact list (for any gender) remains up to speculation. Still, while everyone is a little different when it comes to getting turned on, people generally agree about which erogenous zones are most pleasurable.2

The human body’s erogenous zones might seem like a topic worthy of a Cosmo article, but this information matters for several reasons. Knowing these “hot spots” is a plus for both your partner and yourself—who would say no to a boost in sexual satisfaction? Identifying different erogenous zones also may improve sexual health; some research suggests that stimulating different spots may produce different reactions in the body. For example, touching the vagina appears to set off the release of the feel-good hormone prolactin, while the cervix may be involved in controlling muscle tension during sex. Understanding erogenous zones is also important to make sure that people undergoing gender reassignment surgery or breast augmentation don’t lose sig…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/yoga/curvy-yoga/

When Anna Guest-Jelley, the founder of Curvy Yoga, went to college, she had just come off the tail end of a year of chronic migraines. During her last year of high school she suffered from migraines every single day. After trying what seemed to her like, “every single drug on the market,” she finally landed on one that slightly lessened the intensity of her experience. Still, the frequent migraines and general discomfort made her feel completely out of control when it came to her body. “I felt like the state of my health was at the whims of whatever medicine was available, which made me feel completely disempowered,” she says.

In the late 90s, as a freshman in college, she began to do research into alternative forms of healing. She began to learn about biofeedback, which led her towards meditation. Eventually Guest-Jelley began practicing yoga, and years later she is an internationally renowned instructor, who leads teacher trainings annually. Guest-Jelley teaches a form of yoga called Curvy Yoga, her own invention, which is an inclusive form of yoga that offers smart cuing and sensitive assists that are body-positive and comfortable for bigger-bodied yogis. We spent some time with Guest-Jelley to hear more about her inspiration, her struggles, and her hopes for the future.

What first drew you to yoga?

I actually started my yoga classes via meditation. I started with guided visualization and meditation kind of blended together and I wo…

Source: http://www.runningonrealfood.com/skinny-vegan-chocolate-chip-zucchini-muffins/

Vegan chocolate chip zucchini muffins? Yep, more baking! Carbs, carbs, carbs, carbs! Do you reach for fattier foods when you want a treat, or higher-carb items liked baked goods? I’m carbs all the way, whether it be banana, sliced apple, homemade cookies, sprouted grain toast or these skinny vegan chocolate chip zucchini muffins! With my…
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The post Skinny Vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins appeared first on Running on Real Food.

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Source: http://www.sonima.com/food/probiotics-foods/

You’ve probably heard the term “probiotics” thrown around in your doctor’s office or grocery store, especially regarding some staple foods in your kitchen, including yogurt, kefir, and kimchi. You might’ve also caught wind that probiotics are living microorganisms (including common bacterial strains like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium as well as yeast), but not the scary kind that make you sick. It’s the opposite: Probiotics support proper body function by stimulating the immune system, promoting digestion, inhibiting growth of potentially harmful bacteria that lead to infections, and producing key nutrients, such as B vitamins and folate. That’s not all: Probiotics have also shown to alleviate diarrhea and constipation, decrease the duration of colds, aid weight loss, and lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

While researchers have proven over the last two decades through 6000+ studies (60 percent of which were published in the last five years) that these invisible-to-the-naked-eye organisms are good for your health, it’s still unclear which probiotics to consume to reap the most rewards. Though fermented foods are nothing new—they’ve been around for more than 7,000 years, starting with fermented fruits, milk (aka kefir), meats, pickled vegetables, bread, beer, and wine —which are the best is still a mystery. What’s more confusing is that shelves are being stocked with more probiotics…

Source: http://clubindustry.com/world-gym/world-gym-opens-eight-new-gyms-first-quarter-2016

In the first quarter, World Gym opened a United States location in New York and opened international locations in Australia, Canada, Egypt and Russia.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/04/29/476032883/neanderthals-were-less-picky-eaters-than-early-humans?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Neanderthal hunters cutting up their kill.

Michel Grenet/Science Source

You know that feeling when your body is really craving a nice salad, but the only thing in your fridge is day-old pepperoni pizza? And you don’t want to go through all the trouble of heading to the grocery store to gather all the ingredients for salad, so you settle for the pizza?

Well, Neanderthals feel you — kind of.

See, researchers are finding that Neanderthals and early humans weren’t all that different — they even got together and made babies every now and then.

But when it came to diet, the two may have had different approaches.

Both were omnivores. But, during the Ice Age, when the climate was constantly fluctuating, Neanderthals tended to chow down on whatever was most readily available, according to a study published this week in PLoS One. During cold spells, Neanderthals — especially those who lived in open, grassland environments — subsisted mostly on meat. During lusher climes, Neanderthals would supplement their diet with plants, seeds and nuts.

Early humans, on the other hand, s…

Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2016/04/the-guardians-article-on-the-sugar-conspiracy/

I mentioned yesterday that whenever something comes out saying that “everything you thought you knew about nutrition is wrong,” it’s a sign that some skepticism may be in order.

Here is another example: The article on the “sugar conspiracy“ by Ian Leslie published in The Guardian.  This strongly criticizes the work of Ancel Keys, whose work was largely but by no means exclusively responsible for the diet-heart hypothesis linking excessive intake of animal fats to heart disease risk.

I love conspiracy theories as much as anyone else and appreciated how the author made his case for this one.  My sense of his article was that it had grains of truth (Gary Taubes and Cristin Kearns, for example, report that Keys had funding from the sugar industry).  But the overall thrust of the article seemed excessively hyperbolic and based on selective picking of the data (cherry-picking).

Going through the piece line by line to identify errors and misinterpretations was not something I thought worth the trouble.

Fortunately, someone else did.

Katherine Docimo Pett, a master’s degree candidate in biochemical and molecular nutrition at Tufts University, who blogs as Nutrition Wonk, sent me her detailed critique of the paper.  She explains:

So I decided to look into the Seven Countries Study and I found a number of occasions where “The Sugar Conspiracy” misinterprets the evidence.  So buckle you…

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/dUFMtxe0wa8/

“Stop beating yourself up. You are a work in progress; which means you get there a little at a time, not all at once.” ~Unknown

I haven’t always been the woman I am today.

I used to be scared. Of everything. And everyone. Painfully shy and insecure, I saw myself as a victim of my circumstances, and was always waiting, on guard, for the next rejection. I masked my insecurity in a blanket of perfectionism, and worked hard to put forth the image that I had everything together and had it all figured out.

I did a good job looking the part. On the outside most people just saw an attractive, intelligent, successful woman, and had very little awareness or understanding of the pain and fear that was living inside.

To further protect myself, I often times took advantage of knowing that others believed my facade.

I believed myself to be unworthy of love or loving, and there were times when the only way I knew to feel good about myself was to treat others harshly, often by knowing I could intimidate them just by being my “perfect” self.  

I had split the world into people that I was either better than or less than.

It’s been said that someone once asked the Buddha whether it was possible to be critical and judgmental of other people and not treat oneself the …

Source: http://zenhabits.net/upward/

By Leo Babauta

The bad news about health and productivity habits is that if you start to slip up, things can slowly spiral downward.

If you are tired, you can’t focus on your important work, you don’t make time for exercise or cooking healthy food, so you grab some fast food, you veg out in front of the TV. This doesn’t lead to better energy the next day, but it does lead you to feel worse and worse about yourself.

When you feel worse about yourself, you want to comfort yourself with more unhealthy food. You don’t feel motivated to exercise or be productive.

Things spiral downward, until you feel hopeless and out of control.

The good news about these habits is that they can also spiral upward.

If you take a positive step, like going for a walk, you feel pretty good about it. That gives you the inspiration to eat a healthy meal. Now you’re cranking out emails and important tasks. You’re motivated to take care of yourself and turn your life around, so you start paying attention to sleep. You start flossing. You try some meditation. You feel great!

Things start to spiral upward, and you feel like you’re capable of change.

I’ve experienced both kinds of spirals myself, and have seen both kinds in so many people. The upward spiral makes you feel amazing, and changes your entire life. I recommend that one.

Turn Your Spiral Upward

Here’s the key: ask yourself which spiral…

Source: http://greatist.com/live/whatyoudontsee-hashtag-is-spreading-depression-awareness?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

A major reason so much stigma surrounds mental health is that you can’t “see” depression, anxiety, or any other mental illnesses the way you can “see” when someone has a cast on their arm. Although we still have a long way to go, social media has proved to be an awesome platform for people to speak out against this stigma and talk about what it’s really like to have a mental illness. That’s why Blurt, a depression awareness organization, took to Twitter and asked people to share their own experiences with depression using #WhatYouDontSee.

Check out some of the powerful responses below:

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