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Ryoichi Sekiya has won the 27th annual Spartathlon . Sekiya is a 52-year-old ulramarathoner from Japan. He completed the 152.85 mile course in 23 hours, 48 minutes and 24 seconds . The top female finisher was Japan's 43-year-old Sumie Inagaki who finished in 27 hours, 39 minutes and 49 seconds. According to the Wikipedia: "The Spartathlon aims to trace footsteps of Pheidippides, an Athenian messenger sent to Sparta in 490 BC to seek help against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. Pheidippides, according to an account by Greek historian Herodotus in The Persian Wars, arrived in Sparta the day after he departed. Herodotus wrote: "On the occasion of which we speak when Pheidippides was sent by the Athenian generals, and, according to his own account, saw Pan on his journey, he reached Sparta on the very next day after quitting the city of Athens. Based on this account, British RAF Wing Commander John Foden and four other RAF officers travelled to Greece in 1982 on an of...

We blogged a study published over a month ago by the British government's Food Standards Agency (FSA), which found enormous nutritional differences between organic and conventional produce, but then bizarrely concluded that the differences were insignificant. The press then broadly reported that organic foods aren't any better for you than conventional. A new study by the French Agency for Food Safety (AFSSA) found the same thing as the UK study -- massive differences in health properties between organic and conventional foods. But unlike the UK study, their conclusion supported their findings. The AFSSA found that: * Organic foods contain fewer pesticides and nitrates linked to disease * Organic foods have higher levels of minerals * Organic foods have more antioxidants known to protect against disease * Organic plant products contain more "dry matter," which means they're more nutrient dense * Organic animal products contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids Th...

University of Colorado at Denver researchers have found that exercise minimizes weight re-gain after dieting by curbing appetite, burning fat and lowering what scientists call the "defended" weight. The study found that exercise causes the body to burn fat before it burns carbohydrates. Because the carbohydrates are still available to be burned for energy, the body is slower to trigger pangs of hunger. Researchers also discovered that exercise prevents an increase in the number of fat cells during weight gain, which challenges the belief that the number of fat cells are fixed in number. The "defended" weight is each individual's "natural" weight, which the body constantly strives to achieve. Exercise lowers that weight, so the body tries to stay slimmer than it otherwise might. The Spartan Diet perspective is that everyone should exercise every day. Nobody should go on a temporary diet, but instead permanently embrace the diet that leads to total fitne...