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Recent science has discovered healthful properties in cocoa, which has lead media organizations that cover health, fitness and diet to proclaim chocolate as a health food. One of the better articles summarizing the health benefit of chocolate was published on the Huffington Post: " 7 Healthy Reasons To Enjoy Chocolate--Without the Guilt !" Those seven reasons are: 1. High in antioxidants 2. Helps with cholesterol 3. Reduces inflammation 4. Lowers blood pressure 5. Helps with mood 6. Improves blood flow 7. It's delicious! Sounds great! Here's the problem. Nearly all these reasons benefit only those who eat poor diets, or who don't get enough exercise or both. Conventional medical and health reporting assumes that you're overweight, undernourished and suffer from some level of cardiovascular disease. In fairness, those are pretty safe assumptions when writing for the general American public. Given those assumptions, chocolate can help make up in some small way f...

A new study published in the FASEB Journal found that rats fed higher-fat content diets took longer to finish a maze, and made more mistakes in memory than rats on a lower-fat diet. The study suggests what we already know intuitively: High-fat diets can make us mentally slower. We believe this is especially true with lower quality fats, including trans fats. Another recently published study has found that a Mediterranean diet, low in meat, dairy, processed foods and high in nuts, fish, whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, is associated with lower rates of mental illness and depression. And a recent study at Tufts University looked at low-carb diets, such as Atkins, and their effect on cognition and memory. They found that performance on memory tests started declining measurably compared with subjects on a moderate-carb, low-fat diet. We have found in our own experiences, and in the experiences of others on the Spartan Diet, that all this is very true. The Spartan Diet is bo...

Quinoa is a grain-like seed that originates in the South American Andes. It's not an actual grain because it doesn't come from a species of grass. Quinoa has been cultivated and eaten by the Incas in what is now Peru and Bolivia for 6,000 years. Quinoa is fantastic because it's so flexible -- it goes with just about everything -- can be made in just a few minutes, and it has quite a lot of complete protein. It's a great idea to always keep prepared quinoa in the fridge. You can quickly and easily create a wonderful meal with it thanks to its nutty and delicious flavor. Add it to just about any cold or hot meal including soups and salads. It also goes well with any type of cuisine including Mexican, Italian, French and Indian. Quinoa is a powerhouse food that provides complete protein with all nine essential amino acids. INGREDIENTS 2 cups dried quinoa (red, white or black, rinsed) 4 cups water or vegetable stock (or 1 cup water, 1 cup stock) 1 tablespoon olive oil Sea s...

Both men and women who eat the greatest amounts of whole grains have the lowest likelihood of high blood pressure , according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Men in a grouping that averages 52 grams of whole grains every day were 19 percent less likely than the men who ate an average of about 3 grams per day to develop hypertension, after other factors like activity level were factored out. The Spartan Diet calls for all dietary grains to be whole grains, and for the total elimination of flour and compromised grains.

We're living in a golden age of scientific discovery about the many links between diet, behavior and environment on the one hand and human health on the other. Scientists often try to and succeed in matching specific individual causes with specific individual effects. But rational minds can detect trends, and deduce best actions to take to protect the health of our families and ourselves. One of the trends we've noticed lately is that scientists are discovering links between events or behaviors that take place in childhood, affecting health in adulthood. These include: Children who eat candy every day in childhood are more prone to violence as adults . Rare, often fatal adult brain cancer may be linked to inactivity in teen years . Childhood anxiety increases the likelihood of adult obesity . Childhood social status predicts adult health . High blood pressure in childhood is associated with hypertension in adulthood . Reducing salt in teenagers' diets cuts risk of heart dis...

The first modern summer Olympics, held in Athens in 1896, included events selected at the first Olympic Congress organized by French historian Pierre de Coubertin. Nearly all the events selected were modern sports actively practiced in countries in Europe and in the United States, but many with roots in the ancient games. (One exception was the Marathon, the idea for which was proposed for the Olympics by French philologist Michel Jules Alfred Breal as a way to capture the glory of ancient Greece.) The Ancient Olympic Games, which started in 776 BC and lasted for nearly 12 centuries, included the following events throughout most of its history: Stadion (a roughly 200-yard running race) Diaulos (twice the distance of a stadion) Dolichos (7 to 24 stadions) Long jump Javelin Discus Pentathlon (long jump, javelin, discus, stadion and wrestling) Wrestling Boxing Pankration Hoplitodromos (medium-distance race run by athletes in armor) Plus, a variety of horse races. All the ancient human ...