Food & Nutrition: Culinary Techniques, Diets & Metabolic Health

Nutritional health is achieved through the therapeutic use of whole foods, safe culinary preparation, and understanding the metabolic impacts of specific dietary frameworks and ingredients.

Grilled Chicken Breast with Vegetable Salad

40-30-30 Diet Plan

The 40-30-30 meal plan, also called the Zone diet, emphasizes the ratio of the types of food you eat, rather than restricting particular food groups. If you're looking to lose weight and enjoy a balanced lifestyle, it can help you look and feel your best.

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Young man eating candy bar

Protein Bars That Help You Gain Weight

Whether you're trying to gain weight in the form of muscle mass or just looking to add a few pounds for general health reasons, taking in adequate calories can sometimes be tricky. If you find eating enough food a challenge, one way you can make things easier is to supplement your diet with protein bars.

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Women performing yoga in fitness studio

How to Eat to Help Tone Your Body

Getting toned muscles requires a carefully planned diet. Muscle tone is a mixture of muscle size and a low level of body fat, which gives a lean, defined look. Exercise certainly plays a role, too, in helping to maintain muscle mass while you lose fat, but the phrase "Abs are made in the kitchen"

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Young woman drinking water after cycling

Healthy Alternatives to Gatorade

Sports drinks like Gatorade are designed to give you an [energy boost](https://www.livestrong.com/slideshow/1011517-8-noncaffeine-ways-boost-energy/) before and during training or sporting competition and help you [recover afterward](https://www.livestrong.

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Coconut oil, essential oil, organic cosmetic

Does Coconut Oil Lose Nutritional Value When Heated?

While olive and canola oil often steal the show in terms of healthy fats, you might be overlooking coconut oil as a healthful option. Despite its high saturated fat content, coconut oil has made headway by offering a number of health benefits.

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sardines

Health Risks of Eating Sardines

Oily fish is known to have many health benefits due to the heart-healthy essential fatty acids it contains. A quick, convenient way to meet your oily fish quota without having to cook is to grab a canned variety, such as sardines.

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Box of bananas

Should I Eat Bananas if I Want to Build Muscle?

One thing people often neglect to think about when planning a muscle-building diet is carbohydrate. As protein is the main building block of muscle tissue, it often takes center stage, but carbs are vital, too.

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dessert pineapple sliced on a wooden plate

Pineapples & Weight Loss

Some claim that pineapple can speed up your metabolism and boost fat loss. While there's nothing wrong with including pineapple in your weight-loss diet, this claim is overstated, and you need to be careful not to consume so much pineapple that you overshoot your daily calorie allowance.

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Whey protein scoop. Sports nutrition.

Whey Protein & Dairy Intolerance

When you're on the hunt for an easy way to top up your protein intake, whey protein may be a convenient choice. If you have a dairy intolerance, you may be hesitant to consume a supplement derived from milk. You may find, however, that certain types of whey protein don't affect you and are perfectly safe to consume.

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Healthy Diet breakfast of oatmeal, cereal and fruit.

What Is Carbo Loading & Why Do Athletes Do This?

Marathon runners, endurance cyclists and elite athletes all know the feeling when, during a big competition or long training session, energy levels plummet. This is due to a lack of readily available fuel to power the muscles.

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Tour de France stops in Brussels for Eddie Merckx 65th Birthday

How to Eat Like a Professional Cyclist

Nutrition is paramount for the professional cyclist, as well as for those looking to up their speed, stamina or overall athletic ability on the bike. The food you eat is used to fuel your performance on the bike, so you need to make sure your nutrition is on point to get to the top.

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Woman doing exercise on fitness ball in gym, side view

How Much Protein Should a Female Take Post-Workout?

Protein is an integral macronutrient for women looking to maximize performance and aid recovery from hard training. One of the key times to consume protein is after a workout, when the amino acids that make up protein are used to repair damaged muscle tissue.

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Close-grip Push-up 1

Alternatives to Parallel Bar Triceps Dips

Parallel bar dips are effective in working your triceps and are often a primary exercise in many bodybuilding and strength routines. However, if you train at home, or your gym doesn't have parallel bars, you need to find other exercises that replicate parallel bar dips.

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Meat and vegetables meal

The Best Vegetables for Bodybuilding

Vegetables can easily be overlooked in a bodybuilding diet. When you're so focused on getting your protein and carbohydrates in, concentrating on more calorie-dense foods like steak, oats, eggs and rice, vegetables often fall by the wayside.

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Bodybuilder

Diets for the Cutting Phase

The cutting phase is a term bodybuilders use to describe the period of dieting leading up to a competition. While bodybuilders spend most of the year eating excess calories to build muscle, when a competition is looming, cutting calories is vital to help shed body fat and get as lean as possible for the stage.

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grilled split chicken breast

Mesomorph Diet & Weight Loss

A mesomorph is someone with a naturally athletic physique. A typical mesomorph is strong and muscular and finds it easier to gain muscle mass than a slim ectomorph but is also more prone to fat gain.

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Chicken breast with green salad

Hardcore Bodybuilding Cutting Meal Plan

When preparing for a bodybuilding competition, you need to enter a "cutting phase" during which you attempt to lower your body-fat levels while maintaining your muscle mass. Ideally, you should start to do this well in advance of your contest, to make sure that you have time to get to your desired standard.

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Man drinking a glass of water

How to Lose Fat in Your Face as a Man

People store fat in different places all over their body, including the face. Unfortunately, you can't pick and choose where you lose fat, which is a concept known as spot reducing, notes exercise physiologist and trainer Tom Kelso.

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coconut oil and fresh coconuts

Is Coconut Oil Better for Health Than Ghee?

In an attempt to be healthier and lose weight, many dieters try to limit their intake of fats. While this can be advantageous, you do need some fat in your diet. Coconut oil and ghee are both fat sources that may not traditionally be thought of as healthy, but they can offer some benefits.

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