Social Workout

Newslinks

Cardiovascular Intelligence and Chocolate Directives

• A new study shows that cardiovascular fitness makes young men smarter. Old men out of luck.
• Testosterone may have gotten a bad rap. Subjects in a recent study who were given small doses of testosterone didn't exhibit aggressive or risky behavior. In fact, they acted more "fairly." 
• The National Cancer Institute says the estrogen-mimicking proteins in soy won't cause cancer recurrence in breast cancer survivors. So soy lattes are back in business. 
• The EU's "Chocolate Directive," which requires all chocolate with more than 5% vegetable fats other than cocoa butter to be labeled as inferior, is finally being adopted as an international standard. Plenty of sad, American chocolate products have already been labeled as merely "chocolatey" for years, but perhaps there's further demoting for Hershey's is on the way?   

My Body

Aimee Raupp on Sleep, Soy, and Skinny Bitches

Aimee Raupp is a licensed acupuncturist with practices in Manhattan and Nyack, New York, and the author of Chill Out and Get Healthy.

The most important part of being healthy is being in touch with yourself on an emotional and physical level. Being in touch with your reactions to situations. How they make you feel, how you express your emotions, what are you using to manage your stress? Then it's sleeping and eating sensibly, as wholesome and clean as possible. We're losing touch with our physical and emotional selves. Be in your body. If you're not in touch with yourself, good luck with that. Check in with yourself. Notice that you feel like crap when you eat that Snickers bar.  

Links

Girls Who Live Long and Prosper

Women's Health, taking its mission literally, has conveniently ranked women all over the world in terms of their health. We'll summarize (to the tune of California Girls, on this rainy day in NYC): Well, the Japanese babes live longer thanks to soy, miso soup, and green tea. And the Frenchies, with the wine they drink, they have less heart attacks over there. The South Koreans grandmas eat garlicky kimchi and that makes them feel alright. While Italian girls take siestas, and it keeps them strong at night. The Swissies like to walk, and it really shows up in their bods. And for some strange reason, Senegalese women don't get colon cancer.... Right, check it out: We wish we all could live like those foreign girls.