TIMED
1) If you’re okay being a “clock watcher” (i.e., do this for this many minutes then do this for this many minutes, then do this, etc….) you can choose the the “Timed Interval Walking Schedules“. Some people enjoy these because the mere act of watching the clock takes their mind off the exercise itself and time seems to fly by quicker,

or you might choose to

SET YOUR OWN LIMITS
2) If you’d prefer the “listen to your body” approach – (i.e., when I’ve reached a limit I want to be able to drop back and slow down a little) then try the following approach:

The “Listen To My Body Approach” To Interval Walking:

You look inside yourself to notice how you feel. You make every choice based on how you feel. There is no external measure or goal at all. Do exactly what feels good to you. Listen to the expert. The expert on you is YOU.

Here is an example of a fitness walk using intervals:

First: Warm-up by walking slowly until you feel a bit warmer and are breathing a bit faster. This usually takes about five minutes. Do not skimp on your warm-up! A good warm-up makes the entire workout more comfortable and more effective.

Then start your intervals: Each interval has two parts

Part 1: Walk at a medium intensity for a while. Medium intensity means you can pass the “talk test”. You can talk `while you walk, but you need to take a big breath between phrases. Notice how you feel. Medium intensity is not a challenge. Medium intensity is comfortable. If you need to go slow to find your own individual medium intensity, that is fine. When you have found your own comfortable pace where you pass the “talk test”, remember how it feels. You will use that same pace again.

Part 2: Now you are going to walk as fast as you can for as long as you can. This is the high intensity part. Again, listen to your body. Walk as fast as you can staying in good form and posture. There is no set speed. You have to listen to how you feel to decide what is high intensity for you. Stay at high intensity as long as you can. That may be minutes or seconds. That’s O.K. When you need a break, go back to medium intensity. Stay at medium intensity until you feel comfortable again.

That is one interval. You can repeat this interval as many times as you and your body feel are right for you. If you get chest pain, cool-down and see your doctor. If you get “a stitch in your side”, drop down to moderate or low intensity until it subsides.

Finally, cool-down! Walk slowly for at least five full minutes! Your cool-down is VERY important. Your cool-down is necessary for your safety and to get full benefit from your workout. That’s all there is to interval walking, your internally motivated workout that helps you listen to YOUR BODY!

As you walk along, simply check the time, then pick up the pace at each “stage” of the interval. To increase your walking speed, bend your arms so the elbows form a 90-degree angle. Then pump them at a faster pace than your usual walking motion. Take a shorter stride and your legs will keep pace with your arms. During intense intervals, around 70%-85% of your maximum heart rate, or a rate of about a 7 on the perceived exertion scale should be achieved.

Every intense interval you do benefits your body more than ordinary walking. As you walk faster, your body responds immediately. For instance, your heart will beat faster indicating a higher demand for oxygen. This strengthens your heart and increases your blood flow. You’ll work your muscles harder and develop new muscle fiber. You’ll burn calories faster. You’ll boost your fitness by teaching your body to hold a faster pace.

ONE INTERVAL
You’ll move from “warm-up”, to “brisk walking”, back down to a “moderate pace” and then proceed to “walking as fast as you can”, finally finishing with walking slowly which is called your “recovery interval”. Walk slowly, allowing your breathing to return to normal.

Click Here To Download A Printable Version Of The Beginner Schedule

Click Here To Download A Printable Version Of The Intermediate Schedule

Click Here To Download A Printable Version Of The Advanced Schedule

Choose The Most Appropriate Schedule For Your Fitness Level
These each use the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Method to Measure Intensity.
RPE may be the most versatile method to measure exercise intensity for all age groups. Using this method is simple, because all you have to do is estimate how hard you feel like you’re exerting yourself during exercise. RPE is a good measure of intensity because it is individualized—it’s based on your current fitness level and overall perception of exercise. The scale ranges from 1 to 10, allowing you to rate how you feel physically and mentally at a given intensity level.

With the growing awareness of the benefits of whole grains to a healthy diet, companies are touting their “whole grain” breads, pastas, cereals, and other products to attract consumers. Despite the advertising claims, many of these products may contain as little as 1% of whole grains. How can you tell what is a predominately whole grain product and what is just misleading advertising? First, let’s understand what is a whole grain.

A whole grain kernel (such as wheat, oat, barley, etc) has four main parts. The germ is the nutrient-rich and fat-dense inner part of the whole grain. The Endosperm is the soft, white inside portion of the kernel that contains starch, protein, and provides energy. The Bran is the fibrous protective covering of a whole grain kernel that is the source of fiber, B Vitamins, and trace minerals. The husk (also known as chaff) is the outer, inedible covering of a grain. To create the products that we see in our grocery shelves, this kernel is processed in various ways: Refined, Enriched, or maintained as a whole grain.

The refining process strips away the chaff, bran and germ, leaving only the endosperm to create a whiter, smoother-textured flour in which to make refined breads, pastas, rice, cereals and other products. These refined products have been found to be high in calories, but low in nutrients.

The enriching process adds the B vitamins thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, and the mineral iron back to the refined grains, though levels may not match the original whole grain. Enriched flours are healthier than the refined varieties, but still lack many of the nutrients of a whole grain. Fiber, Magnesium, and Zinc are some nutrients that are not added back during the enriching process.

A whole grain is a grain that is milled in its entirety, except for the inedible husk, to maintain the naturally occurring nutrients of the entire kernel. The following is a list of some common whole grain products:

· brown rice

· oatmeal

· popcorn

· whole wheat cereal

· muesli

· whole wheat bread

· whole wheat crackers

· whole wheat pasta

· whole wheat tortillas

· wild rice

· quinoa

Why are Whole Grains Important?

Studies show that diets rich in whole grains help to reduce the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses. It also helps with weight loss and weight maintenance by helping you feel fuller faster and longer. It is a nutrient dense food that is usually low in calories and fat, giving you more bang for your “caloric” buck.

How do I Identify a Whole Grain Product

The Whole Grains Council recommends at least 3 servings of whole grains per day. A serving equals 16 grams of whole grains. To help consumers weed through the misleading advertising, the council has developed a stamp that allows you to easily identify whole grain products. There is a basic stamp and a 100% stamp. The basic whole grain stamp is displayed on foods that have at least 8 grams of whole grains per serving size of the product. The 100% whole grain stamp (show below) has at least 16 grams of whole grains per serving size of the product. To get your daily allowance of whole grains, eat at least three products that have the 100% stamp or six that have the basic stamp.

If the product does not have a stamp, but advertise whole grains on the label, then check the ingredients list. If the first ingredient listed contains the word “whole”, such as whole wheat or whole oats, then most likely the product is mostly whole grains. If the next ingredient listed is “wheat flour” or “enriched wheat flour”, then the product can be up to 49% non “whole grains”.

If the word “whole” is not first, but second on the list of ingredients, then the product can contain as much as 49% or as little as 1% of whole grains. To be sure, always look for the word “whole” as the first ingredient on your whole grains product.

Be aware of multi-grain products. They may describe several whole grains or several refined grains, or a mixture of both. Again, look at the ingredients list and look for the word “whole” as the first ingredient.

Be aware as well that wheat bread or wheat pasta is NOT the same is whole wheat bread or whole wheat pasta. Usually this means enriched if the word “whole” is not listed in the ingredients list.

If you want to get into shape, aerobic workouts can’t be beat for their power to tune up the heart and lungs. Aerobics will also tone the muscles you’re using. But pumping iron can be another potent weapon in the battle against the bulge. Weight training will not only shore up your bones, build additional muscle mass, and make it easier to heft grocery bags or firewood, it can also help hold the line on your waistline.

Lose what you don’t need
If you’re dieting, weight lifting can help you lose fat instead of muscle and bone. Most people don’t realize it, but when they diet, only about 60 to 75 percent of the weight they lose is actually fat. So if you shed 20 pounds, five or six of those pounds are from nonfat tissue, including muscle, bone, and water — leaving your body weaker. But exercise, particularly the iron-pumping kind, can preserve muscle and bone, so that up to 85 percent of what you trim is fat, says Dale Schoeller, a nutrition researcher at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

We all tend to fatten up as we get older, and one key culprit is the dwindling of muscle mass that begins in our 20s or 30s. After 40, we lose roughly a third of a pound of brawn a year. And since muscle burns more calories than fat does, our metabolism slows down. In women, who start out with proportionally less muscle than men, this process takes a bigger toll on the waistline. The average female gains around 20 to 25 pounds of fat between the ages of 20 and 50.

Weight training can also raise a person’s metabolic rate for as long as 12 hours after exercising. That means that if you lift weights your body will burn calories faster. But whether regular exercise generally increases your metabolism over the long-term remains controversial, says Glenn Gaesser, an exercise physiologist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

One study in the Netherlands found that 18 weeks of weight training by young men sped up their metabolism by 9 percent. Other studies haven’t found such a benefit. Nonetheless, Gaesser and others believe that by maintaining muscle, weight lifting can help minimize the metabolic downturn that occurs as you get older.

Here’s the math. A pound of muscle burns five to 10 calories daily, even if you’re lying on the couch. With a moderately strenuous weight-lifting regimen, women can gain one to two pounds of muscle after three months; men rack up about twice as much. Two extra pounds of brawn would thus consume 10 to 20 calories daily. That seems like small change, but over months and years, it can really add up. “Ten calories a day is 3,650 calories a year, which is equivalent to about a pound of body fat,” says Gaesser. Over 20 years, that extra bit of muscle could keep you from putting on 20 pounds. “So it can make a rather sizable difference in the long term.”

Indeed, nutrition researcher Miriam Nelson, director of the Center for Physical Fitness at Tufts University, often sees weight lifting open the door to a trimmer body. In one study, she put 10 overweight women on the same diet, but half of them lifted heavy weights twice a week. Both groups ended up around 13 pounds lighter on the scale. But that wasn’t the whole story. On average, the diet-only crew lost only 9.2 pounds of fat, whereas the lifters actually lost 14.6 pounds of fat and gained 1.4 pounds of muscle.

Which points up a neat thing about strength training: You may not necessarily lose more weight, but you can still gradually slim down as you trade fat for brawn. Contrary to female fears, crunching dumbbells won’t turn women into the Incredible Hulk. If anything, it’ll make them smaller as they replace jiggly fat with compact muscle, says Nelson. Even more gratifying, people who pump iron notice striking improvements in strength fairly quickly, giving them more stamina for walking or biking. Two more major long-term bonuses, especially for older women: You get stronger bones and better balance.

By Ingfei Chen

Here is some good news about alcohol and fat calories: A very small percentage of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. It’s in the single digits. But the problem with alcohol and it’s calories is that when consumed it reduces the amount of fat that your body can burn off for energy.

Here is a super quick lesson about the body and burning body fat. Your body wants to burn body fat for energy. Especially when at rest. When you workout it wants to use carbohydrates and glycogen (stored carbohydrates) for energy to fuel it through those workouts. But when the activity stops your body wants to burn fat. It wants to burn it when you’re watching TV, reading a book, cooking dinner, brushing your teeth, and even sleeping. But the lifestyle of the person will dictate how much, if any fat is being burned for energy.

Things that can detour the body from burning body fat as energy are skipping breakfast, low-calorie diets, not enough sleep or rest, skipping meals, and drinking too much alcohol.

Why does this happen? It comes down to a substance called acetate. Acetate levels rise sharply after alcohol is consumed. This substance pretty much tells the body to STOP burning body fat ASAP. And yet another problem is the body starts making another substance called acetyl CoA. This causes the body to actually start making more body fat.

An interesting fact about your body and alcohol is that it can only process about .5 to 1 ounce of alcohol per hour. To the body it is a toxic substance. And it is extremely hard for the liver to perform all of it’s regular functions, and even more so when alcohol is added to the mix.

12 ounces of beer has around .6 ounces of alcohol in it. So if you drank 5 beers your body would not be able to burn fat for up to 6 hours. The more you drink the longer you delay the body’s regular fat burning mechanism.

Also remember when you drink alcohol that it is empty calories. You get no nutritional benefit from it. No vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, omega-3′s, nothing!

So what to do? Well, if you were on a fat loss plan the best thing to do would be to avoid it. But for some people that’s out of the question. So if that’s the case always remember the word ‘moderation’. I’m sure you’ve heard it before with your nutrition and other parts of your life. Some other tips would be to choose wine or a light beer. And limit your intake to just 1-2 days a week with a maximum drink limit of 2. Drinking everyday on a fat loss plan is not a fat loss plan at all.

By Jason Yun

As budgets tighten and some families begin to prioritize their organic options, this list can be invaluable in helping to evaluate the healthiest choices: choosing organic for the produce designated as the “Dirty Dozen” can reduce pesticide exposure by nearly 80 percent.

So, what’s new about the Dirty Dozen? 

Three new foods made the list: kale, lettuce, and carrots, replacing potatoes, spinach, and red raspberries.

The newly updated Dirty Dozen now stands as follows:

• peaches
• apples
• bell peppers
• celery
• nectarine
• strawberries
• cherries
• kale
• lettuce
• imported grapes
• carrots
• pears

The fruits and vegetables that you can stress less about include onions, avocados, frozen sweet corn, pineapple and mango.

Check in with EWG for a full list of fruit and vegetable rankings, calculated using these criteria:

• percentage with pesticides detected
• percentage detecting multiple pesticides
• average of different pesticides on a single sample (One sample of a sweet bell pepper tested harbored 11 different pesticides!)
• average amount of all pesticides found
• maximum number of pesticides on a single sample
• total number of pesticides found per fruit or vegetable group

The Guardian reported that organic food sales were down by 14% last year, and another decline of 5% is predicted for 2009.  If you need to choose which food to buy organic, choose the Dirty Dozen.

 Print your own wallet-sized Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 guide and take it with you to the store for easy referral!

“Many women assume that 30 minutes of exercise will change their bodies, but it’s not automatic,” says Geralyn Coopersmith, the senior national manager of Equinox Fitness Training Research in New York City. “If you’re focused and smart about how you use that half hour, you will be amazed by your results.” Here is what to do—and not to do—to rev your metabolism and slim down for good.

Don’t: Sacrifice good form for speed

Do: Slow down and stand tall

The results: Burn 50 extra calories per session

High-intensity exercise may burn loads of calories, but not if you’re hanging on to the handrails for dear life. It is important to focus on your form, even if that means lowering the intensity. “You recruit fewer muscles and burn fewer calories when you’re slouched over,” says Coopersmith. Same goes for strength-training, says James Levine, Ph.D., a scientist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., whose research has found that standing while lifting weights boosts calorie burn by about 50 calories per half hour. Best of all, one study shows that good posture allows you to take in more oxygen so your workout feels easier, even while you’re blasting more calories.

Don’t: Exercise while parched

Do: Sip 15 ounces of water two hours before working out

The results: More energy to lift weights and firm up faster

Experts are constantly back and forth on the merits of the eight-glasses-a-day guideline. However, when it comes to working out, the importance of drinking up is clear. “Nearly every cell in the body is composed of water—without it, they don’t function efficiently during exercise,” says Dan Judelson, Ph.D., an assistant professor of kinesiology at California State University in Fullerton. Translation: You’ll fatigue faster and your workout will feel tougher than it should. In recent studies, he discovered that exercisers who were dehydrated completed three to five fewer reps per set while strength-training. Part of the problem is that dehydration decreases the body’s levels of anabolic hormone that are necessary for strong muscles. On workout days, drink an ounce of water for every 10 pounds of body weight (i.e., 15 ounces if you weigh 150) one to two hours prior to exercise. Then keep sipping during and after your session to replenish what you lose through sweat.

Don’t: Read a novel on the treadmill

Do: Listen to music

The results: Burn 15 percent more calories

“If flipping through a magazine keeps you motivated, by all means do it,” says Coopersmith. “But reading while exercising is so distracting that you’re probably working at an intensity too low to burn a significant number of calories.” Magazines and books are just the tip of the iceberg—one in 10 of us reads texts or e-mail on a cell phone during workouts, reports a new survey by Standard Life, a health insurance company. Instead, turn on some tunes to increase the duration and intensity of your cardio session. Researchers at Brunel University in London discovered that runners who listened to motivational rock or pop music (think Queen or Madonna) exercised up to 15 percent longer—and felt better doing it. You don’t have to nix TV shows, cell phones, books, and magazines during every workout—just leave them behind a couple of times a week so you can focus on intensity.

Don’t: Run if you hate it

Do: Pick a cardio routine that’s fun

The results: Lose 4 pounds a year

No matter how many calories an activity promises to burn, if you don’t enjoy it, you’ll be less likely to do it and won’t reap the benefits. Think of it this way: If you burn 300 calories every time you exercise, but you dread it so much that you skip one session a week, it adds up to 1,200 calories a month—or more than 4 pounds a year. Instead, find a workout you want to do, rather than one you feel like you have to do. When University of Nebraska-Omaha researchers polled women who’d been exercising regularly for longer than a year, they found that one of the top predictors of adherence was choosing enjoyable activities. Study author Jennifer Huberty, Ph.D., also suggests experimenting with ways to make exercise more appealing. For example, if walking is your workout of choice, try recruiting a friend to join you.

Don’t: Put all your time into cardio

Do: Swap aerobic exercise for weights three times a week

The results: Lose up to 12.5 pounds in a year

Over 80 percent of women forgo strength-training, says the latest survey by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. If you’re one of them, it may be the number-one reason your scale is stuck. You’ve probably heard that strength-training can boost metabolism, but here’s something you may not know: People who pair aerobic and resistance training eat less—517 fewer calories a day—than those who do only cardio, reports a new study in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. The combo workouts may increase satiety hormones more and boost the body’s ability to break down food and stabilize blood sugar, so you feel full longer, says study author Brandon S. Shaw, Ph.D.

Don’t: Trust gym-machine calorie-burn estimates

Do: Track your burn with a heart rate monitor

The results: Lose 3 pounds this year

Oh, how sweet it would be if 20 minutes on a cardio machine really did blast 400 calories. But like most things in life that sound too good to be true, those digital displays broadcasting mega calorie burn are often bogus. Recent research presented at the National Strength and Conditioning Conference found that elliptical trainers over-estimate calorie burn by an average of 30 percent. If you’re trying to create a calorie deficit to lose weight, those thought-you-burned-’em calories can add up over time and thwart your success. To ensure you’re burning the number of calories you want, consider investing in a heart rate monitor. We love the FT40 by Polar because it’s a cinch to set up and use ($180; polarusa.com). Input some basic info (weight, height, age, activity level, and so on) and the gadget will accurately track your heart rate to compute the number of calories you torched.

Eaten many coconuts lately? How about cherries or blueberries or grass-fed beef?
You should, because these are all foods with powerful health properties. However, few people pack their grocery carts full of these items.

Take kiwifruit. It’s chock full of vitamin C–a whopping 115% of what you need to eat in a day. It’s also low in calories–just 45 per fruit, sans skin.

“In America, most people don’t eat three servings of fruit and vegetables a day,” says nutritionist Jonny Bowden, author of seven books including, most recently, The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy. According to him, there are 10 very healthy foods we don’t eat enough of.

Ignore the Food Pyramid

Bowden says many Americans are misled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food pyramid, which is a graphic, pyramid-shaped depiction of nutrition guidelines, updated every five years, that tells Americans what to eat according to food groups. Bowden dismisses it as the product of interest group politics.

“It demonizes fat,” notes Bowden. “Fat is an essential building block for many important compounds in the body.” This is why Bowden puts grass-fed beef, wild salmon and, yes, coconuts, on his top 10 list.

Salmon, in particular, is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with heart and brain health as well as bringing down blood pressure and triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease. Omega-3s have also been found to improve mood and reduce inflammation, says Bowden.

Another food packed with nutritional value that’s present–but not necessarily front and center in every grocery store–is kale. A member of the cabbage family, which Bowden dubs “vegetable royalty,” kale contains indoles, a compound found to fight cancer. Kale is also rich in antioxidants, which also help prevent cancer, says Bowden.

If that’s not enough for you, kale is also full of sulforaphane, yet another cancer-prevention agent. Kale has calcium, iron and vitamins A, C and K, and two nutrients that are great for the eyes, including zeaxanthin. Kale’s pièce de résistance: Two cups packs three grams of fiber. Try sautéing it with garlic and butter, recommends Bowden. Or eat it like salad, with pine nuts, cranberries and olive oil.

Then there are coconuts, a terribly misunderstood food, according to Bowden. The fat in coconuts is a particular kind that’s good for you. It’s called MCT, or Medium-Chain Triglycerides. The body doesn’t store MCT as fat, says Bowden, but rather uses it as energy, like a carbohydrate. Coconuts are also high in lauric acid, a fatty acid that tends to kill pathogens. In addition, coconut oil is great for cooking since it has a very high smoke point.

Eat Mediterranean

For Bowden, sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet is the healthiest way to eat. That means plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, and lots of olive and nut oils. The Mediterranean diet has indeed been proved by study after study to have multiple healthful properties.

If all that sounds just too darn healthy, consider the 10th food on Bowden’s list: dark chocolate. Rich with a phytochemical called flavanol, found by a 2005 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology to improve cardiovascular health, chocolate with at least 60% cocoa content should be a regular on your shopping list.

Chocolate and coconut anyone? OK, but not until you’ve finished your kale.

Even if you shun regular soda and rarely cave in to your cupcake cravings, chances are you’re still on a major sugar high. According to the USDA, Americans take in more than twice the maximum recommended limit of 40 grams of added sugar a day. And it’s not just your dental bills you have to worry about: Consuming too much of the sweet stuff can lead to weight gain, metabolic disorder (a precursor of diabetes and heart disease), and possibly even certain cancers. To scale back, read labels, looking for ingredients panels with little or no added sugar. “The type found in fruits, vegetables, and dairy is preferable,” says Melinda Johnson, R.D., a Phoenix nutritionist, “because it comes packaged with nutrients our bodies need, like vitamins, minerals, and fiber.”

Hidden Sources of Sweeteners�
You know you’ll find sugar in candy and cake, but it also lurks in products you’d never suspect. Defend yourself with these tips.

1. Speak the language “Most people monitor their intake of table sugar, or sucrose,” says Mary Ellen Bingham, R.D., a New York City nutritionist. But sugar goes under a variety of aliases. In addition to the usual suspects (granulated, brown, and raw sugars), keep an eye out for these red flags: maltose, dextrose (glucose), fructose, fruit juice concentrate, corn sweetener, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, malt syrup, and brown rice syrup.
2. Get the skinny on fat-free “Some lowfat or fat-free foods contain higher amounts of processed sugar to mask missing flavor,” says Bingham.
3. Lay off the sauce “Barbecue, spaghetti, and hot sauces may get more than half their calories from added sugar,” says Elisa Zied, R.D., author of Feed Your Family Right! “The same goes for condiments, such as ketchup and relish, as well as some bottled salad dressings.” Request them on the side when dining out.
4. Know that “all-natural” doesn’t mean “sugar-free” There aren’t any guidelines for this healthy-sounding label, and some products that bear it, like certain cereals and yogurts, are packed with added sugar, such as high-fructose corn syrup.

3 Top sugar Questions…Answered
With all the headlines and claims, it’s easy to be confused about sweeteners. We asked the experts to address your most pressing concerns.

Q Can you become addicted to sugar?
A It seems so. Research suggests sugar may trigger the release of neurotransmitters that activate the brain’s pleasure pathways. In fact, a study from France’s University of Bordeaux found that a high-sugar dietmay cause cravings in animals that rival those for drugs like cocaine.

Q I’ve heard a lot about agave nectar. What exactly is it?
A This liquid sweetener is made from the blue agave plant, a desert shrub. “Agave is only slightly lower in calories than sugar,” says Elisa Zied, R.D. “But it falls lower on the glycemic index, which means it’s absorbed more slowly by the body and won’t cause blood sugar spikes.” Because it’s sweeter than table sugar, use about half the amount called for in a recipe; if you’re baking, reduce the oven temperature by about 25°F because agave nectar has a lower burning point.

Q What’s the real deal with high-fructose corn syrup. Is it bad for you?
A “High-fructose corn syrup has a higher ratio of fructose to glucose than other sweeteners,” says Alexandra Shapiro, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Florida. Her research found that eating too much fructose may impair the function of leptin, a hormone that controls appetite. Other studies, however, show that it has no effect on hormone levels. The bottom line: “Limit your intake of high-fructose corn syrup as you would any added sugar,” says Zied.

by Jenna Mahoney – Shape