Study: Bad Carbs Make You Eat More

Eating high-sugar foods and low-quality carbohydrates stimulates the part of your brain that controls appetite, cravings, and "reward" signals, according to a new study from the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center. That's because, as we've known for many years now, these "bad" carb foods cause rapid spikes and subsequent falls in blood sugar, not to mention huge increases in insulin production.

The take away: Don't eat sugar, "white" breads, and other processed carbs if you want to control hunger and appetite (and lose weight!).

More here: How Carbs Can Trigger Food Cravings

Reprogram Your Brain to Deal With Stress Better With Stress

Here's some more good news for all us stressed out and anxious people: exercise helps to "reorganize" the brain to deal with stress and anxiety better. Some smart guys from Princeton did a study on mice and found that physical activity causes the brain to improve its response to stress and prevent anxiety from interfering with normal brain function. In fact, consistent running workouts increase the amount of neurons in the hippocampus, one of the most important parts of the brain responsible for regulating anxiety.

So if you want to reduce stress and minimize the negative affects of anxiety, get to the gym or go out for a run!

More: Exercise Reorganizes the Brain to Be More Resilient to Stress

New Gene Test Tells You How Effective Your Workout Routine Is

Want to know how much you'll benefit from a regular exercise routine? Well now there's a new genetic test that can predict whether or not you are likely to get aerobic health benefits from exercise. Genetic differences are the reason why some people can lose weight and get fit in a matter of weeks while others need years to receive the same results (if they can get significant results at all!).

The test is sold by a UK company called XRGenomics and all you have to do is send them some cheek skin cells. Within a few weeks they'll send you the results. So you can know whether it's worth it or not to stay on that Zumba, P90X, CrossFit, or Brazil Butt Lift routine!

More here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/are-you-likely-to-respond-to-exercise/

More Exercise = Less Anxiety & Stress When SHTF

Want to be able to deal with stressful events better? Do more exercise! A new study found that people who exercise experience much less anxiety during high-stress events than those who don't. According to one of the researchers:

"We found that exercise helps to buffer the effects of emotional exposure. If you exercise, you'll not only reduce your anxiety, but you'll be better able to maintain that reduced anxiety when confronted with emotional events."

Maybe this is why soldiers who do high intensity exercise on a regular basis are able to stay cool even when sh*t hits the fan on the battlefield!

More here: Stressed? Exercise may help ward off anxiety

Daily Fasting Keeps You Lean, Fit, Healthy (Even On a Poor Diet!)

Not eating for most of the 24-hour day might be really good for your health and keep you from becoming obese, according to new research. Fitness scientists from Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that people who increase their "fasting hours" every day can avoid the bad health effects of eating a diet high in fat. In fact, mice who did exactly that were able to avoid becoming obese, getting diabetes, and developing diseased livers -- all normal effects of eating a high-fat diet on a regular basis. More specificially, mice who could only eat during an 8-hour period were much healthier (and leaner) than mice who could eat freely throughout the day, regardless of what they ate. According to one researcher:

"Our findings, however, suggest that regular eating times and fasting for a significant number of hours a day might be beneficial to our health."

Read more: Extended Daily Fasting Overrides Harmful Effects of a High-Fat Diet

Natural "Brain Drugs" Turned Us Into Endurance Athletes

Ever wonder why us humans (well some of us at least) love to go for long runs and do other forms of endurance exercise? Most animals don't share that trait, so what sets us apart? New research has found that the natural brain drugs responsible for the "runner's high" effect -- called endocanabinoids and endorphins -- caused us to evolve into biped distance runners.

Very intesting stuff here: Runner's High Motivated the Evolution of Exercise, Research Suggests

Exercise & Caffeine Both Do Good Things to Muscle DNA

Here's some good news for coffee lovers, energy drink junkies, and exercise fanatics: caffeine and exercise seem to affect muscle DNA in similar ways. Researchers from the University of Barcelona have found that exercising for even just a few minutes causes rapid beneficial changes to muscle DNA. The incredible thing is that consuming caffeine appears to cause similar changes!

This is great news for those of us who like a little pick-me-up energy booster before our HIIT cardio sessions. The study focus on people who didn't workout regularly but experts believe the positive effects are seen in more fit people as well.

The bottom line: We already know caffeine has some big benefits for athletes and people who exercise regularly. So why not do both -- get in some intense exercise and drink some delicious caffeine -- almost every day?? :)

 Read more: Exercise and Caffeine Change Your DNA in the Same Way, Study Suggests

Exercise = Better Students

Want your kid to actually pay attention in school and be a better student? Make him or her exercise, according to a big new study. Scientists found that children who get regular exercise tend to do much better in school. Apparently it doesn't matter where the exercise comes from -- recess, phys ed/gym classes, sports, or even walking to school -- the benefits are the same.

 The funny (and sad) part is schools all over the US are cutting their phys ed and sports programs to cut costs. Even funnier/sadder: many schools cut gym classes in favor of academic test prep classes.

Good job "No Child Left Behind"!

 Find out more: Want your kids to do better in school? Try exercise

Onion Juice Boosts Testosterone BIG Time

Looking for a dirt-cheap, safe, and natural way to triple your testosterone levels? Then you might want to start drinking onion juice every day. Researchers in Iran recently found that it raises "test" levels as much as some steroids... at least in rats.

How? It has to do with antioxidants -- probably selenium compounds and quercetin -- in the juice reducing the concentration of free radicals in the body in a way that boosts testosterone production.

Of course, the Buzz Killingtons over at reddit are already saying that rats and humans are too different for the effects to be similar. But what do they know??

Find out some more here: http://www.ergo-log.com/onionjuice.html