This story category covers active sports and fitness activities, nutrition, diet, supplements, sports clothing and gear, wellness pursuits, meds, massage and physio.

female-sprinter

Lean In: How To Walk To Build A Better Butt

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How sprinter’s mechanics and plain old walking on a treadmill can help you develop the derriere of your dreams.

 

female-sprinter

 

FIT FOR FREE | Elite athletes know which sport produces the best butt in their biz: it’s sprinting by a mile. A sprinter’s buttocks sits high, round and proud, a position that comes from maximum gluteus development through explosive running done in short bursts of time. Correct sprinting technique results in a long, lean lower body with both thighs and butt in proper proportion. Read more

The Nutribullet: An All-Time Favourite Kitchen Product

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Why the Nutribullet is our current favourite kitchen product.

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PRODUCTS WE LOVE | In 2010 it was the Sodastream; in 2011 it was the pizza stone; in 2012 it was the TopChip microwave potato chip maker—and, in 2014, the Nutribullet was the kitchen product of our dreams.  Read more

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Generic Over-The-Counter Drugs Are The Better Buy

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If you’re buying brand name over-the-counter meds instead of generic ones, nine times out of 10 you’re wasting money.

 

BEST BUY | When it comes to fashion and décor, I can be as big a brand snob as anyone, but it makes absolutely no sense to be a label slave where over-the-counter medications are concerned. Why chain yourself to a brand name “OTC” med when the no name equivalent is available at a seriously lower price? Read more

Super White Teeth

How To Use Baking Soda To Whiten Teeth

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Baking soda will definitely whiten your teeth. Here’s how to use it properly.

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CHEAP & EFFECTIVE | There’s no question that brushing with ordinary baking soda will remove surface stains from your teeth and contribute to a pearly white smile. Toothpaste manufacturers know this, which is why some of them have taken a page from 19th- and early 20th-century history books—when paste made from hydrogen peroxide combined with baking soda was a common agent for cleaning and destaining teeth—and included baking soda as an active ingredient in their product.

With baking soda’s proven track record, it’s no wonder people are curious about using it by itself as an inexpensive alternative to bleaching trays to whiten their teeth, though many worry that its abrasive properties will strip the enamel from their teeth. Read more

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A Very Good Reason To Buy Unshelled Nuts

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Notoriously addictive nuts are one superfood that should be consumed daily. Here’s how to avoid over indulging.

Walnuts-In-The-Shell-iStock-300x300EATING RIGHT | Jeffrey Steingarten, a leading food writer in the U.S., once compared ingesting a single pecan to swallowing a pat of butter. That didn’t stop the sometime judge on Iron Chef America from indulging in pecans, but this fact stopped me cold when I read it in Vogue—and it put me off pecans forever. After all who would knowingly shove multiple slabs of pure butterfat into their mouth? Read more

How To Loosen Tight Hamstrings Quick

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If you struggle with tight hamstrings, this five-minute yoga challenge will feel like a blessing for sure.

Five-Minute Yoga Challenge with tennis ball

 

FIVE-MINUTE YOGA | Massaging the soles of the feet loosens the starting point of a network of connective tissue that runs up the back of your body to the crown of your head. Rolling a tennis ball under each foot for just five minutes a day will lead to more relaxed feet and flexible hamstrings. Read more

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Chew On These Three Sugarless Gum Brands

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Some sugarless chewing gum is not like the others: these three brands are actually good for your teeth.

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BUY RIGHT | A chewer from way back, I could tell you I gobble gum because it stimulates the production of saliva which has been scientifically proven to help neutralize acid erosion on tooth enamel—but really it’s because I’m a fresh breath fanatic and mints and sprays leave me with a dry mouth. Read more

Happy Cleaning House

Can House Cleaning Make You Happier?

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Get out the squeegee, Margie—doing housework may well be the way to improve your state of mind.

Happy Cleaning House

 

HAPPY TALK | We don’t need social scientists or surveys to confirm that having a clean house is a natural mood booster. But did you know that actually doing the cleaning may improve your mood as much as having a house that’s clean? In her new book, The First 20 Minutes: Surprising science reveals how we can exercise better, train smarter, live longer, author Gretchen Reynolds reports that a recent large-scale survey done in Europe found an “inverse association between housework and distress.”

Read more

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How To Stress Less: A Free Lecture, Yesss!

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What, You Worry? Clinical counsellor Deborah Braun explains why you want to say yes to stress—and offers advice on how to fight immobilizing anxiety. (FREE Lecture)

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WHAT THE PROS KNOW | One thing most of us know for sure is that change is a condition of existence. We know, too, that the big changes in our lives, the ones that affect our health, our heart life (relationships) and home life (moved lately?) inevitably cause stress. Experiencing some anxiousness around change is not a bad thing, says registered clinical counsellor Deborah Braun. “Anxiety in itself is not the problem—worry can be a great motivator; it’s how we look at life and anxiety that usually trips us up.” Read more

AirFloss

Floss Much? No? Then AirFloss To The Rescue

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This cool new dental tool can help with a cumbersome chore many of us avoid like the plague.

AirFloss

 

MONEY WELL SPENT | Floss much? Didn’t think so. Don’t worry; you’re not alone. Daily flossing is as important as daily brushing, but most people don’t floss routinely, and if/when they do floss, it’s guilt flossing, the kind you engage in just before or after a trek to the dentist. Read more