"Diet and exercise" is a phrase that goes hand-in-hand with losing weight. But what you eat or drink before, during and after your workout is key to the weight loss process. Whether you run marathons, bike to work or walk around your neighborhood a few times a week – if you really want to optimize your workout, it’s time to check in on your diet. It’s all about moderation and balancing your food groups: protein and carbs, fruits and veggies, experts say. So how do they all work together? Before a workout, it’s all about the carbs, said Carol Kelly, a dietitian at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. “Carbohydrate is the fuel for our bodies, fuel for our brains.  If you think of your metabolism as a fire, carbohydrate is the fuel that helps the fire burn hot.” You want a meal that includes quality carbohydrates, lean protein, heart-healthy fats and fluids.  Without a sufficient carb supply, you could be breaking down muscle when you exercise. If you’re working out in the afternoon or after work, you want to make sure to eat a balanced lunch with some carbs. Here are a few options: A turkey sandwich with a piece of fruit Whole grain pasta with low-fat tomato sauce A salad with grilled chicken Now, if you’re working out first thing in the morning for an hour or less, breakfast can wait until after your workout. That’s because the body usually stores enough glycogen (the body’s long-term energy storage molecules)  from the previous night’s dinner to fuel the workout. After exercise, refueling (a.k.a. breakfast) needs to happen within 30 to 40 minutes. That meal should look like a combination of carbohydrates and protein, but not too much protein: 10 to 20 grams, or a palm-sized piece of chicken, is enough. You can try some of these combinations: Greek yogurt and an apple Hummus and whole grain crackers Grilled chicken and a baked potato “With exercise, our bodies are constantly breaking down and need to be repaired and protein helps do that,” Kelly said. But there are still “ free radicals ” floating around in our bodies after we work out, one of the few negative effects of exercise.  These are molecules which are produced when the body breaks down cells and can cause cell damage.  The best solution to rid our bodies of free radicals is to eat lots of fruit and vegetables which help mop up damage that occurs during exercise. A salad, a piece of fruit, mushrooms, onions, even salsa — all are good plant options to fit in throughout the day, according to Kelly. If you do work out more than 60 minutes each day, you’re going to have to up your carb and protein intake. And definitely don’t delay breakfast if you’re working out  that long first thing in the morning. You’re going to need some fuel to keep you going, whether it’s some yogurt and toast or cereal with milk. You can also sip on a sports drink while you work out. Some sports beverages get a bad rap for the sugar some of them contain, but for intense workouts that last longer than an hour, they do the trick.  Stick to drinks that have a 6-to-8% solution of carbohydrates and electrolytes to help you hit your workout goal. For those of us who aren’t competing in a triathlon just yet, plain old H2O has everything you need to stay hydrated during your workout –and during the day. The important thing is to get moving first and then work your diet around your exercise routine. Filed under: Diet and Fitness , Exercise , Healthy Eating Tagged: Lindsey Bomnin – CNN Medical Intern

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – First Lady Michelle Obama made a South Florida stop Friday as part of her “Let’s Move” healthy initiatives tour. Mrs. Obama visited a Homestead YMCA for the “WebMD Town Hall: Simple Tips For Healthy Families.”  The First Lady and a panel of WebMD experts will hold a question and answer panel in front of a live audience to provide guidance about children’s health and wellness, in addition to steps South Florida families can take to implement healthy eating strategies in their homes. Other Florida stops on the multi-state tour include Orlando and Longwood. Mrs. Obama kicked off the tour Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa.  She chose the Hawkeye State for her first stop because it is working to become the nation’s healthiest state by 2016, as measured by the Gallup organization. It ranked 19th in 2010, the most recent rankings. She sold healthy eating to the kids as something fun, but also dangled the bait that it could help them “pass your tests and get good grades in school.” There were plenty of sports celebrities on hand to help pump up the crowd, including gymnast Shawn Johnson, figure skater Michelle Kwan, NASCAR champion Carl Edwards, Iowa State basketball coach Fred Hoiberg and former WNBA star Tamika Catchings. The first lady took on the issue of childhood obesity because almost a third of U.S. children are at least overweight, and about 17 percent are obese. In the two years since Mrs. Obama launched her campaign, she has brought substantial new visibility to the childhood obesity issue and has prodded schools, families, restaurants, grocery stores, doctors, local communities and others to do more to tackle the problem. Before leaving for the Sunshine State, she was visiting Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas to announce a new program to improve the meals served on military bases. And she was having dinner at an Olive Garden restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, to chat with parents about the challenges of getting kids to eat right. (©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Health.com here on our site. By Maridel Reyes It’s true that there are certain times in your life when extra poundage seems to appear out of nowhere . . . and settle on you. In fact, experts have honed in on the exact moments when you’re most vulnerable to weight gain. “Life transitions, having a baby, and going through menopause cause many women to pile on pounds,” says Susan Albers, PsyD, author of But I Deserve This Chocolate!: The 50 Most Common Diet-Derailing Excuses and How to Outwit Them . “But with planning and prep, you can stay thin.” We asked top experts for their strategies to help you ward off weight creep – and even shed pounds – at these tricky stages. Solutions ahead. Getting married Heavier ever after? It can be the flip side of wedded bliss: “Six out of 10 of my clients come back heavier after the honeymoon,” says celebrity fitness and wellness guru David Kirsch. Health.com: 25 Diet-Busting Foods You Should Never Eat Young newlyweds pack on an extra six to nine pounds in the five years after getting hitched compared to singletons, according to research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And most of that gain happens in the first year of marriage. “Couples start to mirror each other’s eating habits,” explains Albers. “You might be matching him calorie for calorie without realizing it.” Learn how to keep the pounds down postmarriage and in the mommy years, after the break.

Lisa Shives, M.D., is the founder of Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Illinois. She blogs regularly on The Chart . Read more from her at Dr. Lisa Shives’ Sleep Better Blog . Patients often come to me with symptoms they describe as "fatigue" or "tiredness." The first task is to tease out exactly what they mean. To a sleep doctor, fatigue and tiredness usually mean the body needs or wants to rest, whereas "sleepiness" suggests that the mind wants to rest. Patients with any pain syndrome often come in complaining of fatigue or tiredness. Their bodies have trouble falling and staying asleep. Sleep and pain are both ultimately controlled by the central nervous system. Poor sleep and pain form a vicious cycle – uncontrolled pain makes sleep difficult (if not impossible) and, in turn, the resulting poor sleep makes it more difficult to adequately control the pain. Most physicians know very well that poorly controlled pain will cause difficulty sleeping. But they often don’t think about the patient having a separate sleep disorder that may be fueling the pain. For this reason, it is important for people with chronic pain to first have a thorough sleep evaluation in order to determine if there is an underlying cause. If a patient has something like sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome, then the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders can make a huge impact on  sleep and, as a result, on his or her quality of life. Unfortunately, many times people with chronic pain syndromes do not have sleep disorders that are easily diagnosed, but they do have sleep disruptions of unknown origin. They also tend to spend a lot of time in the light stage of sleep and have a characteristic, but non-specific, finding on their EEG (electroencephalogram, which measures the brain's electrical activity) during the sleep study. This finding is called "alpha intrusion." The cause of this particular brain wave pattern is not known, but it has been associated with different disorders that lead to chronic fatigue or chronic pain. There are no specific treatments that are aimed at alpha intrusions – we just try to treat the underlying pain syndrome and any primary sleep disorder that patients have. The question remains whether sleep disturbances can actually lead to fatigue or pain syndromes. In fact, recent research has shown that people who complain that their sleep is disturbed or not refreshing have three times the risk of developing fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is poorly understood, but there is a specific pattern of musculoskeletal pain with the involvement of common anatomic sites, or trigger points, that can be tested on physical exam. The persistent myalgia, or muscle pain, and the fatigue are thought to result from a disturbance in the functions of the central nervous system. Since sleep is a function of the central nervous system, it makes sense that the CNS dysfunction might start with sleep and then affect pain receptors and pain perception. And it is often the case that the healing can’t really begin until the patient can get the right amount of good quality sleep. The take-home message here is this: If you have chronic pain, for whatever reason, and feel tired or sleepy in the daytime, get a sleep evaluation. Pain doesn't explain everything. Filed under: Lisa Shives M.D. – sleep expert , Sleep Tagged: Lisa Shives M.D. – sleep expert

One of the saddest times in someone’s life also appears be a period of increased vulnerability to a heart attack, new research shows. A study of 1,985 adult heart attack survivors finds that heart-attack risk rises to 21 times higher than normal within the very first day after a loved one has died. That sharp increase in risk tapers off with each day, but is still almost six times higher than normal within the first week and stays somewhat elevated for at least a month. The results suggest that people mourning the loss of someone important should be sure to take care of themselves in the period right after the death, and not to dismiss physical symptoms as purely signs of emotional stress, says Elizabeth Mostofsky , lead author of the study and a postdoctoral research fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. And they should be sure to take medications as directed, says Mostofsky, even though this study didn’t seem to point to missed dosages of critically important drugs as a reason for heart attacks in the period right after a loved one’s death. Previous research has shown that people mourning the death of a spouse had a higher risk of death in subsequent weeks and months, but this was the first look at heart attack risk in the period immediately following the death of a loved one. The study was published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The study found that the absolute risk of having a heart attack within a week of the death of a significant person to be between one additional heart attack per 320 people and one in 1,394, depending on an individual’s baseline risk for heart problems. Why could the death of a friend or spouse help trigger a heart attack? The short-term spike in risk is likely due to higher heart rate, blood pressure and increased blood clotting that can result from intense psychological stress, the researchers report. Luckily those changes are short-term, which likely explains why the risk drops off as the days pass, says Mostofsky. The WSJ has written about so-called “broken heart syndrome,” also known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy, a rare malady that mimics a heart attack but doesn’t seem to be connected to coronary artery disease. It’s usually “triggered by acute emotion or physical trauma that releases a surge of adrenaline that overwhelms the heart,” the WSJ wrote in 2010. Grief, anger, anxiety and other strong emotional responses can trigger the problem. The authors of the study write that they can’t rule out the possibility that some of the cases in their analysis had this problem rather than a true heart attack. The next step, says Mostofsky, is to look at more comprehensive registry data that can pinpoint whether a heart-attack patient experienced the loss of a first-degree relative in the recent past, rather than relying on people to recall their losses. That study will also try to identify specific factors associated with a heart attack, such as the relationship between the patient and the deceased. And it will be able to see if there’s a link between fatal heart attacks — which obviously weren’t included in this interview-based study — and the loss of a loved one. Image: iStockphoto

If you have a long holiday list to tackle, we’re here to help you score the perfect find – without breaking the bank either. We’ve rounded up 25 gifts, with selections for the runner, yogi, health food nut, and fitness freak. And your wallet will appreciate that all these finds are under $25. View Slideshow ›

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, but even if you are watching your weight that doesn’t mean that you have to skip out on all the fun. We’ve rounded up five super important tips so you can enjoy the holiday without packing on the pounds. Read on for our tips for preventing weight gain over the holidays! View Slideshow ›

If you’re looking for a frozen vegan treat this Summer, this chocolate banana soft serve that reader LaurenMurphy posted in the Healthy Recipe community group may be just what you need. This recipe is a great dessert, or can even be a breakfast option (I literally just ate this for my breakfast). The bananas not only provide a creamy texture, but also a major hit of vitamins B6 and C, and potassium. Moreover, the almond butter adds some protein, and the raw cocoa powder adds a hit of antioxidants and satisfies your chocolate craving without any guilt. Learn how easy it is to make this dessert after the break![break] By the way, when you’re freezing the banana, peel and chop it up before you freeze it. I’m a bit of an idiot and threw a full banana, peel and all into the freezer overnight. Peeling it sucked this morning, it literally look me 15 minutes, and my fingers probably have freezer burn now! So remember: peel and chop before freezing! Whip this up tonight a

More than half of Americans say they don’t fully understand the health-care overhaul law, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll . The 53% who say they’re confused is only slightly less than the 55% who reported the same last April, shortly after the law was passed. The confusion rate dipped to a low of 42% in June in the past year. Last month’s Kaiser poll found that almost half of those surveyed thought — incorrectly — that the law had been repealed. In general, people remain divided in their feelings about the law, with 42% viewing it favorably and 46% viewing it unfavorably, Kaiser says. And not surprisingly, people identifying as Democrats generally have a positive view, while Republicans are strongly opposed. Independents are split, though they’re leaning towards a negative view (49%) rather than a positive one (37%). When the provisions of the law are evaluated individually, the only one that a majority of people say should be eliminated is the consistently unpopular mandate that most adults buy insurance — but the response depends on how the question is phrased. (Explain that without the mandate, people might wait until they’re ill to buy coverage, for example, and support for its repeal drops to 48%.) Lately the Obama administration has been saying it’s willing to give the states flexibility to carry out the requirements of the law, as the WSJ reports today . On the face of it, that’s a popular strategy, according to the poll, with 66% of respondents saying that “if states can provide coverage that is equally comprehensive and affordable, they should be permitted to substitute their plan.” A majority of people identifying as Democrats, Republicans and independents say that flexibility option should be made available before the health law’s designated date of 2017. But support drops off sharply for that concept if the states’ plans cover fewer people or offer more limited coverage. The latest poll was conducted during the second week of March and covered a nationally representative sample of 1,202 adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Shirtless career evolution: Matthew McConaughey Video: yoga secrets from Jennifer Aniston’s guru How to pit and cut an avocado the safe and easy way Bride-to-be but on a budget? Check out Costco’s new wedding dress offerings ! Joe Jonas and Ashley Greene part ways Why cleansing oil is awesome Designer diaper bags for fashionable moms Best of the best: Spring blazers and vests you need now! The design duo behind Vena Cava talks Spring style 5 majorly inspiring outdoor spaces Kate Hudson tries going incognito in the American Idol audience 10 of the most expensive purebred pooches Match your iPad to your smart cover with skinit ! Spread the love: taken friends can make great matchmakers Before and after: see an incredible bathroom transformation done with stencils!