I was recently at a restaurant and was skimming their drink menu when I came across a special section of mocktails; non-alcoholic cocktails. While I am aware that restaurants often have alcohol-free cocktail options, such as your classic Shirley Temple, this specific menu felt novel. In fact, it boasted that their mocktails were constructed using…
By: Royer Cook, Ph.D. An important report from the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that consumption of red meat (which includes beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse and goat) and processed meats (like hot dogs, ham and sausage) are associated with an increased risk of cancer, especially colon cancer. The link between these meats and…
By: Royer Cook, Ph.D. In my many years of creating and testing a wide variety of health lifestyle interventions, I’ve discovered that there are two over-arching reasons why people fail in their attempts to improve their health practices. First, they underestimate the power of the forces arrayed against them, forces that are environmentally ubiquitous and rooted…
With advancements in technology, there is the proliferation of electronic screens for every aspect of our lives. Whether we’re looking at a smartphone, computer, television, or reading tablet, most people’s screen time has increased dramatically over the years. We may even find ourselves staring at these devices right before bed. Unbeknownst to most people, electronic…
Embrace Behavioral Strategies to Improve Your Health In a recent blog, I described the powerful twin forces that are arrayed against us in our quest for a healthier lifestyle, internal forces rooted inextricably in our evolutionary history and external forces bombarding us relentlessly from the environment. Sounded pretty grim, didn’t it? Not to worry. As…
By: Royer Cook, Ph.D. The concept of “Blue Zones” was made popular by Dan Buettner’s best selling books describing areas of the world where people live measurably longer lives. The concept grew out of demographic work done by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, who identified Sardinia’s Nuoro province as the region with the highest concentration…
It has been slightly over a year since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) a pandemic. It is hard to imagine how different our lives are today compared to the March 2020. Some of us have achieved some level of normalcy by returning to in-person work, while others are still working from home. You…
Engaging in regular physical activity during a pandemic can be a challenge when you do not have access to local gyms or group exercise studios. Covid-19 restrictions are slowly getting lifted across the U.S., however, there is still uncertainty of when places of indoor exercise will be allowed to operate at normal capacity in some…
The Covid-19 pandemic is directly affecting the health of the U.S. workforce. And as we continue to navigate these tough times, we will begin to see indirect effects on the overall health of the workforce across our nation. There are major disruptions in worksites across the U.S., and in some cases, businesses are shuttering their…
Stress is a normal part of daily life; however, you may be experiencing more stress than usual during the Covid-19 pandemic. Daily stressors may stem from job uncertainty; lack of childcare options; inability to find the foods or supplies you need at your grocery store; or simply the concern of transmitting the Covid-19 virus. While…