Health

You might know pomegranates as one of the world's most delicious and least accessible fruits. I have a friend who was once on a date, one summer day, with a man who bought and ate a pomegranate while they were walking down the street, resulting in one of the messiest, most awkward and least charming seduction attempts she has ever experienced. But I digress. Pomegranates might be messy, but according to a recent study — reported by the Guardian ("Can pomegranate juice lower stress levels at work?") — they might also be the remedy for all kinds of life-shortening ailments, especially stress.

When it comes to athletic conditioning, the diet equation is pretty clear: eat meat for muscle-building protein, and carbs for quick energy. Right? Well, maybe it’s not that simple. A growing group of athletes are giving plant-based diets a try and finding that they can provide great results — it’s all part of the growing popularity of vegan eating, whether you do it all the time or part of the time.

We can’t stop the clock, but it’s possible that by choosing the right foods in our diets, we can slow it down a little. The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer Cookbook features meals that attack what the authors refer to as the “Four Horsemen of Aging”: oxidative damage, inflammation, glycation and stress. When we choose meals that prevent these effects in our bodies, we can protect ourselves from getting old before our time.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, of reality TV Jersey Shore infamy, is crediting some recent weight loss to taking a product called Zantrex-3. The questions that come to mind are: What is Zantrex-3, does it work, and should you take it?

I've been writing about training for a triathlon in fairly broad terms, but today, let's get down to the nitty-gritty details. How much swimming, cycling, and running must one do before signing up to complete a triathlon? Realistically, how much is enough?