Blog Posts by Blisstree Editors

Earlier today, Deborah explored one of the many maddening facets of professional sports' unequal treatment of men and women-coddling and special treatment, which essentially keeps women from every actually being equal. However, there's at least one way that male and female athletes are equal, in tennis, anyway: they all appear to be mildly-to-extremely bonkers when they're on the court.

While tennis feels like a polite game (the women are wearing dresses! The men are wearing polo shirts! It must be polite, right?), experience with previous US Opens and other professional matches has taught us that this is simply not the case, for both the men and the women.

Art Garfunkel lookalike John McEnroe made the Clueless-esque phrase 'You cannot be serious' into a catch-phrase (and a book title) after his most memorable meltdown; Marat Safin is pretty much a tinderbox; Maria Sharapova is well known for her potty mouth and of course, Serena Williams has gotten a reputation for racking up a

This month, we've been celebrating the many reasons that the onset of fall is a wonderful thing-and we're not alone. Last Tuesday (that's the day after Labor Day, for those keeping score at home), Starbucks brought back its autumnal icon: the pumpkin spice latte. And while this seasonal staple had folks lining up for a hot drink in 90 degree weather, they may not have realized what they were in for.

For the record, a 16 ounce pumpkin spice latte made with Starbucks' standard 2% milk and signature whipped cream boasts an astounding 49 grams of sugar. That's more sugar than you'll find in half a pint (that's 2 servings) of Ben & Jerry's Cheesecake Brownie ice cream, and about the same amount as an entire bag of Skittles. Which is not exactly what you need when you're already facing the single most fattening season of the year. (And the sugar crash won't help your busy morning at work, either.)

We Researched It: The Healthiest And Unhealthiest Coffees At Starbucks

But all hope

Actress Jennifer Hudson credits walking for jump-starting her 80-pound weight loss success, but walking for weight-loss is still more likely to conjure images of seniors in sweat-suits or the dreaded Mall Walkers than svelte Hollywood actresses. That's a shame, because walking is one of the easiest, cheapest and most pleasant ways to burn calories, fight fat and get in shape. It works the body's major muscle groups in tandem, raises your heart rate and can help lower your blood pressure (with a fraction of the impact running has on your joints).

Want to make the most of your walking time? Here are a few tips.

Back to Fitness: Confessions of an Exercise Hater

How Many Calories Does Walking Burn?
It depends on how fast you're walking, and (like any activity) how much you weigh. Here's a good estimate of what you burn when you stroll or speed walk:
Source: "Compendium of Physical Activities: An update of activity codes and MET intensities." Med Sci Sports Exerc

Running 26.2 miles will make your feet scream in pain; it will give you blisters the size of Texas; it will cause you to chafe in places you didn't even know existed; your legs will beg for mercy; you will curse the person who talked you into doing this; you will suffer gut-wrenching fatigue; and you will likely hate yourself and every single person around you at some point. And this is exactly why everyone should run a marathon.

Marathons are funny that way. Not every mile will feel this way of course, but chances are there will be a "dark" stretch or two throughout the three or four hours that it takes. One minute you're on top of the world, on your way to a new PR and asking, "Should I do Boston 2011 or 2012?" Then you turn a corner and run smack into that cruel brick wall. I hate that wall. All of a sudden, every step feels increasingly worse, every thought turns negative and every breath becomes more labored than the last. Forget Boston at this point. The question now

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We've all been there-after months of dieting you hit a breaking point and suddenly that Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream or chocolate chip cookie seems a lot more tempting than fitting into your skinny jeans. Well what if I told you that all my patients cheat-and continue to lose weight. In fact, I highly recommend it.

Continuous, extreme caloric restriction is not an effective long-term fat-loss solution because it's simply not sustainable. The short-term victories achieved with this type of eating are always followed with rebound weight gain because, whether we like it or not, hormones will kick in to return the body to status quo.

Ditch the Diet: 3 Hormones That Make Us Fat - And How to Turn Them Into Lasting Weight Loss

From a psychological perspective, there's no doubt this cheat meal helps with motivation. And from a physiological standpoint, this meal serves to increase your thyroid hormone and to lower levels of Reverse T3 that naturally increases with dieting

Nearly half of Americans will experience mental health problems in their lives, according to a new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. And about 25% of adults in America reported having a mental illness (defined as a diagnosable mental disorder that has substantially interfered with, or limited, one or more major life activities) in the past year, the agency says. What's going on here? These are "unacceptably high levels," says Ileana Arias, principal deputy director of the CDC. But the issue of why rates are so high is still a mystery.

Mental Health In the Movies: Who Got It Right?

Could mental illness-blame toxins in the environment or modern life or what you will-really be increasing in America? Or is it just a matter of growing diagnosis and awareness? I read a memoir a few weeks ago by the revered British editor Diana Athill, and though she recounts episode after episode of what sounds like textbook-case depression and ADHD, Athill attributes

Have you ever been tempted to eat a 100% pure, plant-based, organic, raw-food diet? Yeah, me neither. I would likely be hungry a lot (like the time I attempted a three-day fruit fast). And come on, a life without chocolate? Or wine? Or Chocovine (a fine French Cabernet with subtle yet rich undertones of dark chocolate, or some hoity-toity description like that)? More power to people who can pull off such a simple (yet strict) diet. Even though I am not that extreme-I'm a vegetarian who also has some food quirks-according to my meat-eating husband, my eating habits are still a bit preposterous.

Here's how we survive our "mixed marriage" of differing diets:

If one of you is a vegetarian and the other isn't, it's not the end of the world.

Just searching around the internet, I'm amazed at the number of posts inquiring, "Would you consider dating a vegetarian if you weren't one?" Or, "How your

A new study suggests that eating less salt and exercising more may keep our brains smarter longer-in case you needed further motivation to put down the Doritos and head to the gym. This isn't the first time that physical activity has been linked to better brain function, but the bit about sodium is something that might surprise you. Researchers didn't investigate the mechanism by which salt makes us stupid (if that's really true); they found a strong correlation between sedentary lifestyle, high sodium consumption and declining cognitive function. So should you put down the salt shaker?

If you love salty foods but you don't love to exercise, the short answer is: yeah. The link between salt and brain function is hazy; researchers simply analyzed data from the Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Successful Aging, and found a strong correlation between sodium intake, low physical activity and a decline in brain function with age. And that's even