Author Archives: Jason

About Jason

Jason's career as a health journalist and researcher helps readers understand what they really need to know and use. This music buff loves a good record store and plays a mean bass.

4 Ways to Stop Stress Eating

I have a confession to make, one that I really didn’t know until a few weeks ago. I can be an emotional eater. Since I’m not in a priest’s confessional booth, I won’t go into details, but life has been a little crazy over the last few months and I’ve found that I’ve been burning the candle at both ends.

Subconsciously, I’ve been dealing with that stress by snacking more than I should (it doesn’t help that I work from home). While I’ve been writing about diet and fitness for a decade, I’m by no means an angel or have the resolve of a nutritionist or fitness instructor. That means, if I’m not careful, I can find myself having difficulty buttoning my favorite pair of jeans.

What this all means is that maybe I can benefit just as much as you can from the advice I’m about to dispense. Here are some great ways to stave off stress eating: (more…)

Posted on November 14, 2025 by Jason

Soda vs Marijuana – Which Do You Think is Worse?

There’s a chart that has been floating around the Internet for a while comparing various health effects of soda and marijuana. The agenda doesn’t appear to be pro-pot as much as it is pointing out societal hypocrisy and the serious dangers associated with foods most of us have no moral issue with.

I would be the first to get in line with people who think the demonizing of marijuana in Western culture has always been taken to an extreme level. However, if you think it somehow comes without any serious health risks, you need to consider putting the bong down for a moment and read on. Let’s take a look at how soda and marijuana really compare:

Carcinogens – Let’s start with the biggest hole in the chart’s argument: that there are no carcinogens in marijuana. According to Donald Tashkin, MD, a researcher at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, there are as many or more carcinogens and co-carcinogens in marijuana smoke as in cigarettes. Inhaling carcinogens for a long period of time can’t be harmless, can it? (more…)

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Jason

Movember Raises Prostate Cancer Awareness

Sporting my mo for the cause.

For the last eight years, November has been hijacked by the folks from “Movember,” a mustache-themed not-for profit that uses the month to raise awareness for prostate cancer and other men’s health issues.

What started out with humble beginnings in 2003 has blossomed into an amazingly powerful fund raising campaign. According to Movember’s CEO Adam Garone, his organization managed to raise $81 million in 2026, which makes it the largest prostate cancer fund raiser in the world. All by the power of the flavor savor.

Since Movember is all about raising awareness about health issues that affect men, let’s take a look at some of the most concerning and what we can do to prevent or minimize our chances of suffering from them. (more…)

Posted on November 7, 2025 by Jason

Gym Music Playlist of the Week: Something Old, Something New

As I get older, I find myself more and more entrenched in my musical ways. I love exploring new music, but I think I love discovering older music even more. It’s either intense nostalgia for a perceived superior past or a slow approaching midlife crisis. Either way, as long as I use that passion for good, who cares, right?

To show that I’m not just turning into an old(ish) fogy, I’d like to put forth a workout mix that blends some of the great music out now and some from yesterday. (more…)

Posted on November 4, 2025 by Jason

Low-Fat, High-Fiber Childhood Diet Prevents Adult Health Problems

While it’s never too late to turn your health around, it’s also never too early to make a difference. One of the scariest parts of childhood obesity is that it can have health repercussions later in adulthood.

Take a recent study, for example. It says that if parents were to feed there children a diet lower in total fat and saturated fat and more fiber, it would help ensure lower glucose levels and lower blood pressure in adulthood. A high fat diet is associated with an increased risk of the metabolic syndrome. (more…)

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Jason

6 Reasons You May Be a Food Addict

People often say they are “addicted” to a food without much thought. But real food addiction is not something that should be taken lightly.

While it may be difficult to ever imagine comparing food and drugs, the difference in how people interact and react to each is not so different after all. People who suffer from food addiction exhibit some of the same behaviors and chemical reactions in their body as a drug addict.

Scientists are finding that food addiction begins in the brain. Here, there are chemical surges that affect a person’s response to food. These surges are very similar to those that occur with substance abuse. (more…)

Posted on October 29, 2025 by Jason

Coffee May Prevent Cancer

Anytime I see a new positive coffee study, and there seems to be that chance every few months, I feel less and less guilty about one of my few vices. Here’s an enlightening new study…

Coffee as Sunscreen? Well, Not Exactly

Not only will you be perked up and alert with your daily joe, but researchers now say it may also reduce your risk of developing skin cancer.

“Our study indicates that coffee consumption may be an important option to help prevent basal cell carcinoma,” said lead researcher Fengju Song, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of dermatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

(more…)

Posted on October 28, 2025 by Jason

Health Food Movement Needs Political Savvy

There is a lot of talk about what we need to do about the obesity epidemic we are facing in the U.S… and that’s precisely the problem, according to Jane Black, a food writer for The Atlantic.

“To make real change, reformers need to stop preaching and start forming smart political alliances to get the job done,” says Black.

As she astutely points out, it’s not enough to be right. You can be right about every point on your food policy agenda, but if you don’t have practical and political solutions for achieving results, what good is it?

The problem isn’t unlike any other political battle in our country. You can have truth on your side all you want, but if you aren’t politically savvy with how you brand your messaging, good luck with winning those battles. (more…)

Posted on October 26, 2025 by Jason

Diet Beats Genes in Heart Attack Risk

If you are genetically predisposed to a health condition, it may make you feel hopeless. According to a new study, you may be able to beat genetics with a healthy diet.

The researchers found the gene that is the biggest indicator for whether or not a person will be predisposed to heart disease can be modified simply by eating a good amount of fruit and raw vegetables.

“We know that 9p21 genetic variants increase the risk of heart disease for those that carry it,” said Dr. Jamie Engert, joint principal investigator for the study, and a cardiovascular disease researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. “But it was a surprise to find that a healthy diet could significantly weaken its effect.”

“Our research suggests there may be an important interplay between genes and diet in cardiovascular disease,” says the study’s lead author Dr. Ron Do. (more…)

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Jason

Health Benefits of Beets

A few weeks ago, I decided to dust off my juicer that has been sitting in the back of my pantry for years. It was one of those things, you know, out of sight out of mind. There are positives and negatives to juicing… but to my mind, as long as you don’t look at it as replacing your fruit and vegetable servings, you are able to get much more variety and many more nutrients than most people would otherwise.

One vegetable that I just don’t incorporate into my diet is beets. For most of my life they have been one of the few foods that I have had an aversion to. Later in life, I started to occasionally put them on my salads when hitting a restaurant salad bar, but otherwise they are absent from my meals. Until now. (more…)

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Jason

The State of Food and Obesity in the U.S.

Obesity rates and other related statistics are rolled out every year, sometimes even more frequently, with each seeming worse than the last. The U.S. is on a fast train that’s heading towards a brick wall, unless something can be done to put on the brakes, and better yet, put it in reverse!

The overriding question that has to be on everyone’s mind is how did we get here and why does it seem we are helpless when it comes to making better food and lifestyle choices?

There is no doubt that a major component to our growing obesity problem is that we are less active than ever before. We live in a technology-based world where more and more of us sit in front of computers and televisions (remember when you didn’t have 300 channels and the entire world’s information at your fingertips?). Even careers in manual labor fields that provide some form of physical exercise have become more automated. (more…)

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Jason