New fitness stats tracking site giving out free invitations

If you go to this page: Collabofit online fitness announcement you will find the email address to get free invites to use Collabofit.

Disclosure: I’m one of the developers for Collabofit and am really excited about how it’s helped me to get more in shape, and if you send an email to me I can get you an invite.

Collabofit lets you track all kinds of fitness related activities, including both home and gym and even playing video games (the new Nintendo Wii can really give you a workout).

Some of the cool features are that there are RSS feeds for every stat you can enter, it’s not Javascript-heavy, so it will actually work using your mobile phone web browser too.

If you want an invite to try out the system, send an email to gserafini [at] gmail.com and I’ll send you a link to create a free account.

Snacking To Sleep

There are millions of Americans who suffer from insomnia and many end up raiding the fridge. But did you know that someone snack foods will keep you awake while some will help you get a good nights rest? Here are a few examples:

First, let’s look at the foods that are most likely to keep you tossing and turning.

1. Caffeine. Now, you don’t need a doctor to tell you that caffeine will keep you awake, but it can lurk in unexpected places. Chocolate not only contains caffeine but also alkaloids which have a stimulating effect.

So what can you raid the refrigerator for to limit the sheep count? It has a lot to do with serotonin.

1. Milk (warm or not) contains tryptophan, a precursor to serotonin. It’s tryptophan in turkey that makes us so sleepy after that Thanksgiving dinner. Cheese, chicken, soy, yogurt, nuts and seeds also have tryptophan. Eat these (and all foods) at least 45 minutes prior to your planned bedtime.

Emergency Contraceptives

More than 350 Planned Parenthood health centers across the country will offer free emergency contraception Wednesday, Dec. 6. Free EC Day will increase awareness of this important backup method of contraception… and also help girls whose insurance doesnt’ cover EC.“Emergency contraception is a safe, effective backup birth control option that every woman should have in her medicine cabinet and know how to use,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America Vice President for Medical Affairs Vanessa Cullins, M.D. “Planned Parenthood is committed to educating women and couples about emergency contraception and all their birth control options.” From Planned Parenthood

Eating Disorders In the News Again

After two models died from eating disorders, people are once again talking about bulimia and anorexia. Specifically they are talking about the fact that young teens can access ways to lose weight and hide what they are doing from the people around them. These sites started about 5 years ago and have become known as pro-anorexia or Pro-Ana sites. They encourage people with eating disorders by showing pictures of obese or extremely thin people and also trade some very dangerous tips including buying unconfirmed weightloss drugs from the internet.

A pilot study released on Monday of U.S. eating disorder patients aged between 10 and 22 showed that up to a third learn new weight loss or purging methods from Web sites that promote eating disorders by enabling users to share tips, such as what drugs induce vomiting and what Internet sites sell them.