Obesity Run In Your Family? 30 Minutes of Exercise a Day Will Keep the Pounds Away

If obesity runs in your family, you might think it’s unavoidable. But research shows that moderate exercise can counteract the genes that are working against you. Just boosting your heart heart rate for 30 minutes a day reduces your risk of gaining weight while you age by 40%. … More »

The Happiest People Are Extroverted, Engaged, and Healthy

If you make at least $75,000 a year, are extroverted, healthy, and engaged in your life: Congratulations. This is the happiest you’ll ever be, and it’s all downhill from here! On the bright side, you’re probably happier than most people you know. In fact, a new study shows that you just may be the happiest person in America.

The good news for those of us who don’t fit the above description is that happiness comes with age — besides the period from age 35-44, where there’s a dip in contentedness levels. … More »

Do You Know How to Say a "Positive No"?

For all the times we say “yes”, there are too many times when it’s difficult to say “no”. But instead of seeing it in a negative light, some say that using a “positive no” can guide us toward success, if we know how to do it the right way. Lifehacker borrowed some advice from the blog A List Apart to help figure out a way to say no that’s productive and agreeable – our desire to say “yes” stems from wanting to please others and be agreeable, but saying “no” doesn’t always have to be unpleasant and contradictory. … More »

Fluorescent Lights: Ugly AND a Migraine Trigger?

People get migraines from stress, from not eating, and from being overtired — but do fluorescent lights also cause them? A recent post on the New York Times Well Blog reports that several readers have experienced migraines after being in a room with fluorescent lighting. Doctors claim there isn’t scientific evidence to support this claim, but there is an explanation for why some people associate the two. … More »

What Does "Grade A" Mean When It Comes to Eggs?

When you see a “Grade A” stamp on a carton of eggs, do you think that means they’re top-quality? Not necessarily. It’s just a USDA stamp that means there’s a grader in the egg-packing facility who checks the eggs’ size, shell, and color. This “Grade A” label is more a marketing ploy than an actual measure of quality, at least as far as eggs are concerned. If the carton is stamped with the highest grade possible, consumers will be more likely to buy it. … More »

Meat, Greet, and Eat: Do You Consume Smart Animals?

A post on Treehugger about the intelligence of octopuses raised an interesting question: Does an animal’s intelligence factor into whether or not you’ll eat it? As the article points out, we eat pigs, which are typically smart (despite the fact that they roll around in shit), yet eating the highly intelligent dolphin is socially unacceptable. … More »

Pet Health: A Salad for Your Dog

We know that eating greens reduces the risk of cancer, but a recent Huffington Post article suggests that feeding your dogs organic kale could cut their cancer risk as well. The article describes a dog with a tumor. Its owner added kale to the dog’s diet, and after four weeks, the tumor had disappeared.
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September Is National Yoga Month – Get a Free Week of Yoga

September is National Yoga Month, which means lots of free events throughout the country, and our personal favorite: A week of free yoga at over 1,200 participating yoga centers in the country. The pass is good for any week this month, at any participating studio that you haven’t already visited. … More »

Delish Raw and Vegan Burger Recipe? With Chef Douglas McNish, Anything's Possible

Douglas McNish is back from summer vacation! Our friend Doug, head chef at Toronto’s Raw Aura organic and raw food restaurant, made his Blisstree debut sharing his original recipe for carrot and parsnip ‘fettuccine’. Then it was peppercorn-crusted tempeh steaks, massaged kale salad, quinoa pomegranate pilaf, quinoa and lentil burgers, a killer raw pizza crust recipe, plus a wicked marinara sauce and vegan cheese topping for your pie, cauliflower tabouli, and pumpkin seed refried beans for your dipping pleasure, an original summer Caesar salad, and avocado “fries” and ketchup. Last time it was his no-bake blueberry peach cobbler. Doug also teaches food workshops and gives cooking demos. He has tattoos. And he’s hot. Sadly, Blisstree can’t always get to Canada to visit Doug, so he’s kindly offered to come to us. Every other week, expect a surprisingly delish raw or vegan recipe from him. (Doug is into “cruelty-free” food – and we are into him.) Now dig into his 13th course for Blisstree. … More »

World's Healthiest Human Listens to NPR Health on Doublespeed

A.J. Jacobs, editor-at-large at Esquire and author of several books, including The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically, gave the folks at Social Workout a few pointers on health-conscious living. This guy should know, given that his upcoming book, The Healthiest Human Being in the World, is all about his year of being as healthy as humanly possible.

One of his favorite ways to get through a treadmill workout? He listens to NPR’s Your Health. “…I listen to it on doublespeed. It’s great. … More »