Eat Yourself Healthy: Superfoods, to the Rescue!

Many of us have heard the term "superfoods" thrown around with wild abandon.  But, what are these mythical superfoods and what makes them so...super?

Superfoods not only help with weight control and overall health, but they are also easy to find and simple to incorporate into your daily diet.  Because, really, how super are foods that claim such magical things as weight loss and great health but require a detective, a GPS and a downpayment to actually get them into your kitchen?

Here are 10 superfoods that are sure to satisfy not just your body but also your pocketbook and gas tank.

1. Low Fat Plain Yogurt

2. Eggs

3. Nuts

4. Kiwis

5. Quinoa

6. Beans

7. Salmon

8. Broccoli

9. Sweet Potatoes

10. Berries

5 Reasons Runners Should Sport Compression Sleeves

We love Kim Bogin's synopsis of compression sleeves for trail runners.  Recently, compression sleeves have caught on like wild fire among professional athletes.  We've seen them sported on runners, basketball players, football players, and in just about every other athletic event over the past couple of years.

For the past few years, studies have gone back and forth on the level of benefit these sleeves provide but what we have found (and what Kim Bogin found as well), is that those that use them swear by them regardless of science.

So, even if the exact science of what these sleeves offer is currently being debated, we love Kim's list of 5 reasons to sport these compression sleeves:

1. Protection:  They protect your legs from small scratches, abrasions and nasty things like poison ivy on the trail.

2. Swelling:  Compression technology has been proven to limit swelling, especially in people who spend all day on their feet. I'm guessing spending 24 hours on the trail for a 100-mile ultra counts.

3. Dirt:  Collects on your sleeves and not on your legs.

4. Warmth:  Allows you to wear shorts on those iffy days when you'd reluctantly wear tights.

5. Coolness:  No they don't keep you cool, but the Team Salomon guys looked pretty darn cool in their Salomon EXO III calf sleeves.

So, we ask ourselves, does it matter if scientists have found the sleeves to be beneficial if we can't imagine running without them ever again?  Does the opinion of the scientists outweigh what we believe to be true?  No way.

To browse calf sleeves, click here.

Eat Yourself Healthy: Immune-Boosting Foods

It's no secret that diet plays a starring role in our overall health and wellness.  Not only can it change our mood, anxiety level, stress level and energy level, we now know it can also boost our immune system.

Enter the lovely & much-discussed antioxidants! Antioxidants are proven to prevent illness as well as aging (Ding, ding!  We have a winner!).  Need we say more?  And, to boot, we subscribe to anything that keeps us from catching that awful flu virus every year.

Here are 15 immune-boosting foods that are sure to keep your health up-to-par.

1. Elderberry

2. Button Mushrooms

3. Acai Berry

4. Oysters

5. Watermelon

6. Cabbage

7. Almonds

8. Grapefruit

9. Wheat Germ

10. Low Fat Yogurt

11. Garlic

12. Spinach

13. Tea

14. Sweet Potato

15. Broccoli

Pennies: Luckier than we thought

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have created an ICU room wherein all "high-traffic" surfaces have been covered in copper sheeting.  Copper's antimicrobial properties are not exactly breaking news but its use on surfaces where bacteria can be very dangerous or even lethal has us thinking, "why haven't we tried this before?"

Well, for obvious reasons, copper is quite expensive.  However, costs associated with hospital-acquired infections is estimated at $45 billion annually and death tolls around 100,000 from such infections.  It is suggested that the high cost of covering key surfaces in the copper alloy would be recovered within 3 months.

So, in the interest of Americans' health and our deficit, we think these Low Country scientists may be on to something wonderful.

Learn more about this study here.

To see the benefits of copper yourself, try these copper-infused athletic socks from Medicore.  They have been shown to promote healing, tackle athlete's foot and minimize foot odor.