In a world of misinformation, Fitness Pudding is here to separate fact from fallacy, and science from fiction.

Fitness Pudding - Where The Proof Is

Dr. Faries has a Ph.D. in Behavioral Medicine and a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology, balanced with experience across the fitness industry, medicine, public health, research and extension.  His research explores why and how people initiate and maintain healthy behaviors, with focus on self-regulatio...n success and failure. In other words, he seeks to better understand the common struggle with adopting healthy lifestyles, clarifying the reasons why we don’t “just do it.” Dr. Faries also holds unique expertise in medication adherence, when lifestyle is the medicine. Dr. Faries also trains the next generation of ‘myth busters’ through medical and public health education, including his popular course, MythBusters: Health Edition. Dr. Faries has served on the Board of Directors of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, is founder of Lone Star Lifestyle Medicine for Texas, and is founder of FitnessPudding.com – a non-profit site dedicated to debunking common health and fitness myths. More

McDonald's French Fries: A Cure for Baldness?

mythy-white

A recent study on hair growth needed to make a silicone container or chip. An epoxy mold was surrounded with a silicone polymer called poly-dimethyl-siloxane. This chip was then covered in culture of hair follicles germs, and implanted on the back of a nude mouse. As a result, there was hair growth. Clearly then, McDonald’s french fries cure baldness, right? No. The study found that hair growth on the mice was from hair follicle germs, and...
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2011 Hits

Is Obesity Contagious?

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  A social contagion is a process where the network in which people are embedded, influence their behaviors.  The idea of obesity being socially contagious is not new. 1,2,4 The idea is this: If you live around people who have healthy behaviors, you might be influenced to have healthy behaviors. However, if you live around people with unhealthy behaviors, you might follow suit - thus increasing your risk of obesity. It has been shown, for example,...
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2372 Hits

Nutrition Labels Influence Healthier Food Choices?

mythy-white

A recent study 1 looked at this exact question. Participants used smart phones to scan food barcodes for 4 weeks. The nutrition labels were then displayed for all the products they scanned. They found that the products for which participants viewed the label, and subsequently purchased were about 13% healthier than the products where the labels were viewed, but were not purchased. The authors conclude that, "nutrition labels may influence healthier food purchases by those consumers...
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  2524 Hits
2524 Hits

Coffee Enemas?

Coffee Enemas?

  I was growing tired of the same ‘ol, boring oral ingestion of my coffee. At the same time, I was made aware of the growing popularity of coffee enemas, which now had celebrity endorsement, and could done at home with the “Implant O-rama” – which sounded like something a clown doctor would use. So, I needed to first confirm the benefits of the coffee enema.  The local barista was no help, so I perused the...
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3555 Hits

Weight Regain After 'The Biggest Loser'?

mythy-white

Video only.
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2118 Hits

Can Pacifiers Reduce Infant Obesity?

Can Pacifiers Reduce Infant Obesity?
  Babies suck.  Let me explain. Infants have a natural reflex for what is called nonnutritive sucking (NNS), such as sucking on their thumb or a pacifier. They do not get any nutrition from this sucking, as they would with breastfeeding, thus “nonnutritive.” We also see occasional nonnutritive sucking from my favorite sports teams. But, I digress.  Due to the rise in the number of obese children, and that breastfeeding can be associated with a reduced...
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4639 Hits

Can How Fast You Walk Predict Your Risk of Dying?

Can How Fast You Walk Predict Your Risk of Dying?

 “How would you describe your usual walking pace?” Slow Pace Average, Steady Pace Brisk Pace If you are like the nearly 421,000 middle-aged adults who were asked this question, it can tell you about your risk of dying from cancer or cardiovascular disease. 2 Here was the percentage of women dying from anything (or all-cause), cancer or cardiovascular disease the following 6 years after answering this question. Walking Pace All-Cause Cancer CVD Slow 3.4% 1.5% 0.7%...
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2270 Hits

Birthday Cake Bacteria

mythy-white

A recent study confirmed that eating a piece of birthday cake that someone has just blown their spit and gooey germs all over, is gross. The scientists' specific objective was to “evaluate the level of bacterial transfer transferred to the top of a cake when blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.” 1   What they Did A foil circle was placed on a styrofoam disk. Vanilla icing was spread on top, and adorned with...
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2806 Hits

Ping Pong for Weight Loss?

Ping Pong for Weight Loss?

I went back and forth on whether or not to cover this one, but it kept bouncing back up.  In short, ping pong (or table tennis) is being promoted as a weight loss tactic. What We Already Know The Compendium of Physical Activities has table tennis listed as a 4.0 MET activity. "MET" stands for the metabolic equivalent of a task, and represents the amount of energy required for a particular test. 1 MET is the...
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5478 Hits

Can Our Bones Be Fat?

Can Our Bones Be Fat?

Bone Fat? Spot losing fat has been busted, but recommendations still persist that we can beat everything from belly fat to back fat with exercise. Now, we can possibly beat bone fat with exercise? Wait, our bones can be fat? We have already seen that our tongues can be fat, so maybe bone fat is a possibility. At first glance, it might appear that too much bone fat is related to the “big bone” myth, but...
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  3042 Hits
3042 Hits
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