Is Your Diet Very Healthy? Take this Quiz

The world's healthiest foods website (whfoods.org) has a quiz you can take to see how much of the healthiest foods you are eating and based on your answers, it will tell you what vitamins and nutrients you are probably lacking.

Check out the quiz here.

This non-profit website was founded by a guy who became a wealthy mogul by starting a health food company called Health Valley Foods in 1970. Though his principles were sound, the food was mostly packaged, convenience food. He sold the company in 1996 and now operates this non-profit web-site to give back and also possibly to atone for selling too many granola bars over the years.

The healthiest foods are non-packaged, non-processed foods.

This is the best site we've seen on truly healthy foods and it gives the highest quality information about their nutritional values. Check out the 100 healthiest foods.

Weight Loss for Men - Visualize It

If you have an iPhone or iTouch and are a male who wants to lose weight, check out this Virtual Weight Loss Avatar for men. It's fun to get visual milestones for each few pounds you lose.

As with the similar app for women 'Virtual Weight Loss for Women', this app is based on BMI calculations so it will look different for men who weigh the same but are different heights.

Update: December 16th 2011: We've updated the app and artwork! Check out the latest versions here.

Outdoor Exercise for Weight Loss

Here's a fun story from a discussion about mindless eating. Photo via wheany.

Outdoor Cat v.s Indoor Cat:

Living in the country we had pet cats that lived outdoors.

All of these outdoor cats had to be called to come to eat and did not beg for food. Most of the time they were 50 to 100 yards away from our house. Being predators they were constantly roaming, killing mice and occasionally a bird and patrolling their territory of a couple of acres. Needless to say all of these cats during my childhood were healthy, lean and fit cats.

As young adults we took our pet country cat to live with us in our apartment. The cat ate more food. Begged for food. Yowled for more food and was always underfoot looking for more food. He was left alone most of the day to an empty apartment. He quickly gained a huge amount of weight. Seeing that he was not fit for apartment living and was getting to be a fat cat with nothing better to do than beg for food, we took back home to our parents in the country.

Quickly, the cat lost weight and stopped begging for food since he had mice to chase and a couple of acres to patrol and occupy his time.

We humans sit in our homes watching TV and "reality shows", playing on the computer playing virtual games and wonder why we get fat.

Losing 200 Pounds

Becky Griggs has lost an amazing 200 pounds. At her heaviest, six years ago, she weighed 352.

She now weighs 150 and has become a personal trainer. She's 43 years old and the mother of two grown children.

Becky cut out sugar and flour from her diet. She eats five times a day and works out regularly. Check out her story at CNN (From Fat to Gym Rat) and see her short video below;

Slim Fast Recall

Ten million cans of Slim-Fast ready to drink products are being recalled due to a possible health risk. Slim-Fast is owned by Unilever and in cooperation with the FDA they are recalling the products because of the possibility of contamination with Bacillus cereus, a micro-organism, which may cause diarrhea and possibly nausea and/or vomiting. The probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.

These ready to drink products were being sold in stores nationwide.

No other Slim-Fast® products are affected by this recall. No Slim-Fast® powdered shakes, meal bars, or snack bars are included.

Consumers who have bought Slim-Fast® RTD products in cans are urged to discard them immediately and contact the company at 1-800-896-9479 for a full refund.

Losing 250 Pounds

Suzi has lost an incredible 256 pounds in one and a half years. She was a morbidly obese 430 pounds 18 months ago. She's a 40 year old single mother and now weighs 176.

She was able to accomplish this incredible feat without weight loss surgery. But she did quit her job and moved in with her parents to focus on weight loss. She's kept up a very time-intensive exercise regiment to get rid of the loose and flabby skin.

Her typical breakfast these days is a bowl of oatmeal and fruit. (Photo of oatmeal, blueberries and sunflower seeds shown here is via Flickr).

See her inspiring story here.

Catherine Loses 35 Pounds

Catherine lost 35 pounds and has kept the weight off for the past year. She's 30 years old, 5'7" tall and used to weigh 168. In the photo here she weighs 132.

She was able to break the cycle of overeating by joining Crossfit as well as learning about nutrition and beginnning to cook her own meals. See her inspiring story and before and after photos here.