Author Archives: Patrick

About Patrick

Patrick Moore is dedicated to an old school pursuit of the sporting life, breaking a sweat in competitive activities like golf, sailing, ultimate frisbee, clay pigeon shooting, and volleyball. He is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree from Wichita State University.

Want Jennifer Lawrence to Diet? She Says “Go F Yourself!”

Distinct beauty Jennifer Lawrence, perhaps best known for her role as Katniss Everdeen in “The Hunger Games” franchise, has opened up about her body image. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Jennifer claimed that producers have told her to lose weight if she wanted to keep the job.Jennifer Lawrence

“Somebody told me I was fat, that I was going to get fired if I didn’t lose a certain amount of weight,” the Oscar-winning actress said. “They brought in pictures of me where I was basically naked, and told me to use them as motivation for my diet.”

The actress, who first received critical acclaim in 2024’s “Winter’s Bone,” has always exuded self-confidence and shown she’s not afraid to be herself on the red carpet. One of her confidantes urged her to tone down her look for the 2024 Oscars, but she refused. “That was actually a moment when I really wanted it to be special,” Jennifer lamented. “That was not the time I wanted to be the down-home girl, I wanted to be graceful.”

She proceeded to smolder all down the red carpet and then take home the Best Actress Award for her role in “Silver Linings Playbook.” Even after this career triumph, she was still pressured to lose weight.

“If anybody even tries to whisper the word ‘diet’, I’m like, ‘go f—k yourself.'” The winsome beauty has a sense of humor, too, claiming she refuses to work if there aren’t Cheez-Its on set. “It’s not my performance that’s motivating me,” she said. “I want to get to the on-set catering.” (more…)

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Patrick

Your Seasonal Depression is Real and it’s Easier to Deal with SAD Than You Think

I’m not afraid to admit I get a little bummed out as summer transitions to autumn, and then to winter. The perfectly named Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), is an affliction of which I’ve always suffered, but for the longest time I thought I was being an overly sensitive wimp. After a mild and jovial summer, the cool air that gusts melancholy over the Midwest in early September had me wondering if I was about to get SAD again, if it was a legitimate condition, and if so, what I could do fight it.

SAD

I shot our resident mental health expert, Brooke Randolph, LMHC an email asking her about SAD, and she revealed that after two decades of speculation, SAD had officially been classified as a common disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). In 2024—before SAD was an official diagnosis—Brooke wrote, “Our natural response to the seasonal changes only becomes a disorder when the distress is in excess of what would be expected from the stressor (seasonal change) and/or when it interferes with functioning in more than one key life area.” For example, if seasonal change begins to negatively impact your responsibilities as an employee, student, or partner, you probably have SAD. (more…)

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Patrick

No Diet or Heavy Workouts for Maria Menounos! See the Fit Star’s Reasonable Approach to Fitness

You never know when Mario Menounos is going to strip down to her bikini, but if you’ve got it, flaunt it. The Extra correspondent, part-time WWE wrestler, and bestselling author of The EveryGirls Guide to Life is five foot eight inches of toned beauty, and isn’t afraid to show off her stunning physique. Maria recently sat down with E! News to discuss how she keeps up with her fitness while wearing so many hats, and the answers were shocking.

MM

The gorgeous Greek revealed that she never works out, but walks constantly and tries to limit her diet to foods “from the ground.” If that sounds like a typical celebrity half-truth, think again. Maria’s “everything in moderation” lifestyle is the most reliable way to sustain a healthy weight and keep her body running like a well-oiled machine.

It turns out dieting really isn’t Maria’s cup of tea either. “Diets are confining,” said Maria. “I don’t count calories. I just try to eat as many fruits and vegetables as I can.” (more…)

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Patrick

No Pain No Gain Mentality of CrossFit Followers Could Leave Them Dead

Rhabdomyolysis is an extremely rare and potentially fatal muscle disease that fries the kidneys. This is doubtfully the first time you’ve heard of it, unless you’re a CrossFitter. CrossFit is a Marine-like workout routine that combines aerobic exercise, gymnastics and Olympic weightlifting, and Rhabdomyolysis—affectionately known as Rhabdo—is a common affliction sustained by CrossFitters. The CrossFit/Rhabdo debate was sparked last week when photos of a pregnant woman doing CrossFit went viral. Considering the disease’s disturbing associations with CrossFit, it’s worth asking whether anyone—not just an eight months pregnant woman—should CrossFit.

rhabdo

In 2005, there were 13 official CrossFit gyms in the United States. Now, there are more than 6,000. A CrossFit gym is more akin to a boot camp than a fitness center, and the intense workouts routinely leave exercisers with JELL-O for muscles. This is because—according to ABC News Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser, CrossFitters are “…asking [their] muscles to keep working after they’ve stopped getting any energy to get the job done.”

Let’s take a more detailed look at what Rhabdomyolysis does to the body.

At its onset, Rhabdo introduces itself as a soreness of the muscles. Hours later, when your appendages refuse to obey your brain’s commands to move, dead muscle cells have begun to release myoglobin—a protein harmful to the kidneys—into the bloodstream. Symptoms like vomiting, muscle spasms and confusion follow shortly after. And once your urine turns a lovely shade of coffee-brown, you can confidently diagnose yourself with Rhabdomyolysis. Get yourself to a hospital, because kidney failure and death are next. (more…)

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Patrick

Still Not Satisfried – Burger King Debuts a Lower Fat French Fry That isn’t Any Healthier

  • On Tuesday, Burger King debuted their new “Satisfries,” which have 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than their traditional french fries.
  • It took Burger King 10 years to engineer a special batter that would absorb less oil while still maintaining a crispy exterior. Operative word – engineered. Cheryl Forberg, RD, the nutrition expert for Biggest Loser, told us, “The new fry appears to be more processed, more of a potato product with some type of batter that absorbs less oil.”
  • A regular sized order of the crinkle cut “Satisfries” contains 340 calories, 14g of fat, and 370mg of sodium, so these fries are healthyishnot healthy. A medium order of their standard fries has 403 calories, 17g of fat, and 572mg of sodium.
  • “One out of every two Burger King guests orders our classic French fries and we know our guests are hungry for options that are better for them,” said Burger King president Alex Macedo.
  • While these fries may be healthier than their fast food counterparts, taste tests have proved people prefer the greasy, hi-fat old standbys. However, BK must be doing something right, their stock rose 0.2 percent yesterday.

Get More Information: The Daily Beast, Bloomberg

Satisfries (more…)

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Patrick

The Cleaner Wiener: Our Quintessential Applegate Recipe Collection

While we respect and often adhere to both vegetarian and vegan pursuits alike, we’re not afraid to celebrate our inner carnivore, too. Just as veggos demand the most sustainable and healthy ingredients for plant-based meals, we share the same mentality when it comes to our meats. This summer, we showcased healthful, meatful recipes, and a few of those dishes were among our most popular of the season. Some were variations on classics, others came from left field in a “did they really do that with a donut?” kind of way. But the one thing our favorite carnivorous dishes had in common was Applegate’s meats.

Their bacon is slow cooked, their chicken sausage is savory and well seasoned, and their deli meats are lean and low in sodium. Most of their meat is organic and natural, and the overwhelming majority of the Applegate product line is antibiotic-, nitrate- and nitrite-free. Applegate sources humanely-raised animals and even feature some gluten-free products, because, of course they do. Below, we’ve trotted out our quintessential Applegate themed recipe collection, all in the hopes that you too will open the gate and enjoy their clean meat. It’s why their current campaign talks about cleaner wieners!

Here are five recipes we created featuring Applegate’s more sustainable meat products.

bayou kabobs

Bayou Kabobs with Applegate Andouille Sausage

Channel Bayou vibes with these succulent Applegate Andouille sausage kabobs. Known for their “cleaner weiner” chicken sausages, Applegate is committed to sourcing organic, hormone-free, and humanely-raised animals. This means their meat is lean, low-fat, and nitrate- and nitrite-free. The Andouille sausage has the perfect amount of spicy bite, and the kabob only contains three other ingredients: plump shrimp, crisp bell peppers, and sweet yellow onions. Fire up the grill one last time and get your Cajun on.

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Posted on September 25, 2023 by Patrick

Summer’s Final Fling: Our 13 Most Popular Recipes of the Season

The results are in. We have our top 13 spectacular recipes for the 13 weeks of summer. From standards like pickles and sandwiches to more adventurous fare like caprese salad and quinoa donuts, we’ve taken existing recipes to a healthy new level. For years, we’ve proved that the robust qualities of some of our nation’s most beloved dishes don’t have to suffer when made healthy.

These 13 recipes have been our most popular this summer, but they’re only the tip of our recipe iceberg. With only days remaining before autumn, try to fit a couple of these delicious recipes into your weekend cooking schedule, they’ll surely surprise and delight your friends and family as you toast the end of the sunshine season.

best club sandwich

13. The Best Club Sandwich Ever

The best part about a club sandwich is that you don’t have to be a member to enjoy its delicious crunch and juicy mouthfeel. Whether you’re at a deli, brunch spot, or gastropub, if you see a club sandwich on the menu, you know it’s a solid choice. But you also know it will probably have ungodly sodium levels and contain meat from who knows where. That’s why our recipe uses humanely sourced meat from Applegate that’s organic, low in sodium, and hormone free. Once we subbed in fresh avocado slices for the usual mayo and stuck it all between two pieces of sourdough, this sandwich reached enlightenment.

rainbow smoothie prep

12. Rainbow Smoothie 

The CDC says only 14 percent of adults get their daily recommended dose of fruits and vegetables. Reality makes participating in a plant based diet quite a challenge, that’s why our Rainbow Smoothie is such a gem. The concept is simple: choose one fruit or vegetable from each color family—ROYGBIV—combine with yogurt in a blender and BAM, you’ve got seven servings of fruits and veggies in your cup. It’s fun, easy, and healthier way to taste the rainbow! (more…)

Posted on September 19, 2023 by Patrick

Google Killed Diet-Blog.com; Owners Start Over by Launching HealthyEater.com

The blogging world is a fickle game. To do it successfully requires a near constant flow of new content and monitoring of news and trends, exceptional adaptability, and of course, money. Like many sites did during the 2024 Google Panda rollout, Diet-Blog fell out of the search giant’s good graces, for no particular reason or fault of their own. Admittedly, it happened to the best of us. But he’s trying to get it back with a new domain. “If Google likes that, great. If Google doesn’t, too bad,” James Foster told us.

He’s the owner of the once-popular website Diet-Blog.com, which stopped producing any new content this month. Foster had to adapt to the fluid nature in which people consume media, and is fresh off the launch of his new web venture, HealthyEater.com.

website closed

In 2004, Foster bought a domain name and used a cheap server to fire out his opinions on the wishy washy culture of diet and weight loss publications. Diet-Blog became a hot spot for sharing opinions on fitness, weight loss, and food, but the financial and time demands of keeping a blog topical on a daily basis took its toll.

“Back 7-8 years ago you could have a blog with poor design, cheap hosting, and spend half an hour a day on it,” said Foster. “Nowadays you need a site that works on all devices, you need to have a fast server, so the costs are much higher.” (more…)

Posted on September 19, 2023 by Patrick

Rice No More: Nation’s First Celebrity Diet Fad Dies After 70 Sodium-Free Years

After more than 70 years of operation, The Rice Diet Program has officially closed its doors and mothballed its website. Based in Durham, North Carolina, the diet program was the first celebrity endorsed weight loss “miracle,” when stars like Buddy Hackett, Shelley Winters, and Lorne Greene were all singing its praises in the 1940s. But that was a three-quarters of a century ago, and as the diet craze turned hot and became watered down, the Rice Diet simply got overcooked.

Rice Diet

Founded in 1939 by Dr. Walter Kempner—a man known to wield a whip used to spank his patients—the program was affiliated with Duke University and was originally designed to treat people with kidney and heart problems. When overweight patients began to shed the pounds, Kempner saw dollar signs and experienced great success for decades. However, the tenets of the diet were not sustainable.

The Rice Diet was basically a strict starvation diet—about 1,000 calories allowed per day—and guess what you get to eat? Unsalted rice, fruit, vegetables, and cheese and nuts if you make it past the first few weeks. On such a low caloric plan, weight loss is basically guaranteed. But the Rice Diet was no match for more liberal diets that allowed red meat, salt, and dairy, and for the longest time, the only way to partake in the diet was to travel to Durham for a retreat, which insurance rarely covered. (more…)

Posted on September 18, 2023 by Patrick

Donuts for Dinner! Try Our Hearty Blue Cornbread Donut Stuffed with Andouille Sausage and Peppers

Earlier this summer, I decided to challenge our very own recipe maven, DIR editor Brandi Koskie. It seemed she could take any decadent food of the moment or classic dish and make it healthy without sacrificing its original deliciousness. Anyone who can produce a healthy tailgate menu void of gut-busters is special, so I asked her to do the same thing with state fair food, and she delivered. First with an ooey-gooey bacon, egg, and cheese stuffed donut under 200 calories, and now this:

Andouille 1

Meet the Blue Cornbread Donut Stuffed with Andouille Sausage and Peppers. All the novelty and tastiness of the trending donut sandwich, but with a mere 186 calories per serving. Ours is five times healthier. The Dunkin’ Donuts ham, egg, and donut-for-buns sandwich has nearly twice the calories with 360. Starbucks offers a sausage sandwich too—albeit with traditional buns—but it still clocks in at 500 calories.

And then there’s the “Luther Burger,” more coloquially known as the Krispy Kreme Burger, that you’ve seen peddled at state fairs and on Paula Deen’s discontinued show. It’s a cheeseburger with two glazed donuts for buns and normally contains anywhere from 800 to 1,500 calories thanks to the burger and fried eggs. Our donut sammie has no glaze, but its got the sweetness. Let’s talk about the blue cornbread. (more…)

Posted on September 16, 2023 by Patrick

JAM Event Aims to Stop Childhood Obesity in 60 Seconds

It’s amazing what can happen in just a minute.

In fact, on September 26, when millions of kids participate in the JAM Challenge, 60 seconds is all they’ll need to break a world record. In an effort to quell childhood obesity, two organizations—Heal-E-tips and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation—have teamed up for the second annual Just-A-Minute Challenge. The program intends to encourage children across the U.S. to get active everyday, even if it’s just a minute.

With the state of childhood obesity reaching epidemic proportions, 60 seconds of movement could make a big difference. According to the CDC, more than one-third of children and adolescents in America are obese. In 1980, only 10 percent of our young people were overweight or obese. Statistically, children who are obese tend to stay obese throughout their lives, and are at great risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and low self-esteem.

The JAM World Record event aims to dramatically reduce those astonishing numbers. In 2024, 1.3 million children from 17,000 schools participated in the event, and this year the goal is 3 million. Exercise guru Patricia Friberg will be the JAM fitness leader for the nationwide event, and has released a video with NFL running back C.J. Spiller. It’s good to see the NFL getting involved in the childhood obesity fight, especially after the beastly burgers they endorsed last month.

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Posted on September 13, 2023 by Patrick