Can Snacking Help or Hinder Fat Loss & Muscle Building?

Boring apple picture

The Paleo nut butter cookies became my undoing. My first bite felt totally innocent and in-control. I simply wanted to be polite and sample my coworker’s newest healthy dessert, knowing full well I would like but not love it.

Even though I’m a chocolate girl, dang was that cookie good. So good in fact that one polite bite gave way to the whole cookie, and I found myself semi-consciously reaching for a second.

I wasn’t hungry. I ate a chicken Caesar salad with half an avocado just two hours before. Yet here I was, shoveling down cookies like I was trying to win a Coney Island hot dog-eating contest.

On my drive home that night, I pondered why I’d reached for that second cookie. What I learned revealed why so many of us habitually snack. Hint: Hunger isn’t among those reasons.

The 2 Post-Workout Fundamentals for Recovery and Repair

How to re-hydrate...the right way

My friend caught my expression and gave me a Let’s get Jini out of here before she becomes unleashed look. I only use professional-brand formulations, and rarely do I shop at supplement chain stores.

Today was one of those rare exceptions. We were headed for Saturday shopping at The Grove, I had my protein powder in a bag for a quick afternoon refuel, but dang!, I forgot my shaker cup.

As we browsed the aisles looking for shaker cups while some creepy 20-something bro-speak sales “dude” followed us around, my friend mentioned recently experiencing post-workout cramping. “It mostly hits me at night on my right arm,” she said, “but when it does… Whoa, the pain, and it keeps me up for hours.”

She needed an electrolyte formula. That’s when the trouble started

Can Java Become a Healthy Habit? It All Depends…

The latest on that cup 'o Joe

I hazily stumbled past semi-inebriated poker players and chain-smoking zombie-esque 50-somethings sliding dollars into slot machines. I wasn’t judging: I had a fix of my own to fulfill, and God help anyone who dare get in my way.

The night before, after checking in, I’d received devastating news: Our Vegas hotel room didn’t have an in-room coffee machine. The horror!

That meant at 6:45 the following morning, groggy and without make-up, I sheepishly had to wander through the gambling area to a second-floor coffee kiosk, where I impatiently stood in a 15-minute line to get my $4.50 caffeine fix.

Hello, my name is Jini, and I’m a confirmed coffee addict. I’ve become accustomed to a big cup of organic dark roast every morning, and no study or expert need tell me otherwise. Especially before a full day in Vegas, I needed my java fix.

As far as vices go, mine’s

Whey-ing Your Options for the Best Protein Powder

Protein powder: whey your options

Recently while strolling through our nearby warehouse superstore, my boyfriend pointed out a dominant display in the supplements area. “That’s like a lifetime of whey for just $19.99!” he joked.

Seriously: This hulking container might last an average person a year, and it contained plenty of preservatives to give it a shelf life of nearly forever.

Noting the “bargain” price, my boyfriend asked why professional-brand whey protein powders cost so much more. “After all,” he said, “it’s just a byproduct of cheese making.”

Anyone who knows me knows that's a dangerous question for Jinifit, since I could wax poetic for hours about such topics. (As you might guess, I’m quite the hit at dinner parties and other social occasions.)

“Well,” I replied, mentally bullet-pointing numerous reasons why professional-brand whey proves superior.

Turns out I didn’t need to recount those reasons at all. I simply picked up a container of the warehouse whey and began reading its ingredients. My boyfriend quickly got the point.