H.E.A.T. Blog

With Halloween coming up, many of you are probably wondering how to have celebrate this spooktacular holiday without undoing all the hard work you've been putting in during camp. Check out this helpful guide to healthy Halloween candy from Real Simple, which will tell you whether Snickers is better than Reese's, how Tootsie Rolls stack up against Candy Corn, and whether you should reach for the Sweet Tarts or the Smarties on Sunday night.

Happy Trick-or-treating, and I hope to see you all at this year's HEAT Boo Camp for a little pre-Halloween workout!

In the past week, you might have missed the hilarious hubub over whether a McDonald's Happy Meal can or cannot grow mold. It all started when a photographer bought a burger and fries from the golden arches back in April, then placed the food on a shelf in her apartment and documented its decomposition -- or lack thereof -- over a 6-month period.

Now Mickey D's is locked in a PR battle with those who say that the fact that the food grew not one iota of mold is a sure sign it's packed with preservatives, and definitely not something you want to put in your body. (We at least agree with that last part.) While there's some debate about how scientific an experiment this actually was, as well as how much moisture food needs in order to foster bacteria, it's weird that a fast food chain is actually trying to convince customers its food can and will spoil. Of course, now tons of people are trying to replicate the shenanigans, so we'll just have to wait a few weeks to see whether our beloved childhood meal of choice is made less of food and more of fillers. {Read the rest}

If you're like a lot of people -- especially if you're young -- you probably don't think much about your cholesterol. The thing is, your cholesterol level (which is reported in milligrams of cholesterol per deciliter of blood, or mg/dL) is a good indication of whether your diet and exercise regimen is working for you.

This month's issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter looks at how lifestyle choices can affect "good" and "bad" cholesterol levels. The article doesn't say all cholesterol is bad (it actually helps with digestion and hormone production), but too much cholesterol can narrow blood vessels and put you at risk for heart attacks and all sorts of other icky things. Being active and eating foods that are low in cholesterol -- and high in fiber -- can make a big difference to your body.

The point isn't that you should be in your doctor's office every week asking for a reading, but it's definitely a good idea to get it checked every once in a while, and it helps remind us that the choices we make on a daily basis are affecting more than what we see in the mirror in the mornings. For more info, read the rest -- or check out another great article on the top 5 foods that will help lower your cholesterol.

Can athletes go vegan/vegetarian and still be competitive? They can if they're dedicated to taking in enough calories to keep their energy output up -- especially if they're Scott Jurek, a record-winning, vegan, ultramarathoner who also happens to be the subject of an NYT piece on extreme diets and exercise. Jurek is training for the 24-Hour Run world championship in France, averaging 140 miles or more per week.

It's difficult for most people to fathom this kind of grueling schedule, particularly when they realize that Jurek gets all of his 5,000-8,000 daily calories from plant sources. But he says he just eats "the way people have been eating for thousands of years … Remember, almost every long-distance runner turns into a vegan while they’re racing, anyway -- you can’t digest fat or protein very well."

To hear more about what Jurek eats for training, read the rest. Interested in other vegan athletes? Check out this story about Kenneth Williams (photo above), the world's only vegan bodybuilder!

Since we've been talking about nutrition this week -- and getting back on track for that summer bod you want -- here's a great piece about the top 10 reasons most of us fall so easily into the trap of eating more than we actually need.

The idea is that if you know why you overeat, you can avoid doing it by removing some of these enablers from your life. Major contributors include constant access to food, massive portions (especially in Texas), distracting yourself with the TV while you snarf down dinner, and skipping meals during the day, which leads you to binge at dinnertime. {Read the rest}

Which one trips you up the most?