When it comes to beer, I have a refined palate, which is a nice way of saying I'm a snob.

My local favourite is Big Rock Traditional, but I'll take a Newcastle, Bass Ale, Guinness or just about anything German any day. So when the PR person for the new Molson 67 Calorie beer asked me to write about choosing low-calorie beer as part of a weight loss regimen I thought, You're asking the wrong guy.

Still, I agreed. It's free beer, after all.

Before even receiving it I was coming up with similes in my head: "It tastes like it passed through the urethra of a pack animal" came to mind. Alas, as with so many things in life, timing is everything.

It was a hot day and I was pulling up to my beer-less house having just returned from a 95km bicycle ride. And there it was on the porch: a six-pack of Molson 67. And it was still cold. I took it inside and threw it in the fridge, then I guzzled a large glass of water to replace some of the fluids lost on my ride and hit the shower, thinking about the beer waiting for me when I got out.

I wasn't expecting much. We are talking about a 67-calorie beer here, but you know what? It didn't suck.

OK, we're done. Review over.

Crud. My editor said something about a "minimum word count" for my articles, so let's do some math.

Each morning, we dish out a few links we love.

Forget diet and exercise -- here's a more enjoyable way to live to be a hundred: Hang out with your best friends. Studies show that social relationships lead to longer lives.

Hey, mamas-to-be, do you see pregnancy as a great excuse to apply the "eating for two" rule to your meals? Experts don't agree -- eating for one will do just fine.

Speaking of pregnancy, you may not be happy about having to give up sushi and soft cheese, but there's one addiction you can feel OK about -- Studies show that a bit of coffee is perfectly fine for expectant mothers.

Don't let all those fresh fruits and veggie from the farmers' market go to waste -- Here are some easy tips for storing your produce to preserve the freshness.

Everyone says we need to learn to love our bodies, curves and all, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Try these tips for learning to love your figure just as it is.

Dear Sarah,

I just spent the last two weeks with my sister and her newborn. Much of my time was spent holding the baby, after which my shoulders and arms ached! This is rather worrying as I am two months pregnant. I think of myself as being fit and strong (I do three body pump classes a week) so these aches came as a surprise to me. What can I start doing now to build my strength and stamina so I'll be able to hold my baby for extended periods of time?
Sera

Dear Sera,

Being fit and strong is essential when it comes to looking after a newborn and motherhood in general. While weightlifting (i.e. bicep curls and shoulder presses) is a great way to build strength in your muscles, it does not prepare you for the kind of stamina required to hold and rock your newborn for hours on end.

The average baby at birth is around eight pounds and 20 inches long. And the average newborn sleeps 16 hours a day, three to four hours at a time. What this means is there are eight hours a day that you should be prepared to rock your baby.

Here's how to train for marathon baby-holding:

Feel like your happiness could use a boost? Gabrielle Bernstein, author of Add More ~Ing to Your Life and Gen Y self-help maven, explains her equation for setting yourself free from whatever is holding you back ... in 30 days.

Q: What is 'ing?'

A: ~ing stands for inner guidance. Inner guidance is our voice of intuition and inspiration. It's the loving voice that reminds us of how wonderful we truly are. Far too often we disconnect with our ~ing. We choose to believe in fear-based ideas that we've picked up from friends, family, the news. These fearful ideas block us from a true connection with our ~ing. Therefore, I've created the ~ing Equation: a three-step process for bulldozing those negative thought patterns to create positive change.

Q: What is the ing Equation?

My roommate just came back from the farmers' market with a bag of fresh Ontario green beans and promptly cooked them up with some garlic and slivered almonds - really simple. She asked if I wanted some to which I responded "no thanks" as I'd just eaten. They smelled really good, though, so I rethought my position. "I'll try one," I said. And that lead to another and another and soon I was feasting on the poor woman's dinner. They were just too good to pass up.

We're right at the beginning of green bean season -- a season that should last through until October, depending on the weather. You can usually get them all year, but this is when they're at their best and least expensive, so take advantage over the next few months.

Green beans are a great source of vitamin K, vitamin C and manganese. They're also a very good source of beta carotene, the precursor to vitamin A, and they also contain a variety of other important carotenoid phytonutrients. You can tell by their crunch that green beans are a good source of dietary fibre. They also contain zinc, potassium, the all important folate, are a decent source of iron, magnesium, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), copper, calcium, phosphorus and niacin (B3), all of which is to say they're quite a nutrient-dense little veggie.

Each morning, we dish out a few links we love.

Demi Moore loves the smoothies-and-salad-only Clean Diet ... so much so, in fact, that she took to Twitter to defend it. Opponents to the diet claim that you shouldn't need it if you eat a balanced diet and I agree. Your thoughts?

Don't let massive restaurant portion sizes plump you up -- here are three easy ways to cut the amount of food on your plate when you're eating out.

Having trouble ditching that cigarette habit? Don't fret -- help may be just down the road.

Can expensive Hoodia ice cubes make you skinny? We're guessing the answer to this one is a big old "no" ...

Forget the brain vs. brawn debate -- Studies show that more "brawn" can actually help boost your brainpower so get thee to a gym, pronto.

Yoga is great for meditation and centering, but it can also provide a great workout. Leo Mowry, founder of Toronto's Village Yoga, explains the strengthening benefits of the practice.

Q: Can yoga make you stronger?

A: Yes. There are two reasons for that, the first being, physical strength: Instead of using weights you're using the weight of your body. Standing poses and abdominal poses, in particular, will strengthen your core in addition to the muscles you're targeting. Take that into consideration with different poses, especially balance poses. You build muscle when you're standing on one leg, but you also have to stabilize through the core to keep your balance. With the plank position, you're strengthening the arms and shoulders, but also activating your core and legs.

The second piece is flexibility, which is one of yoga's biggest physical benefits. Increasing flexibility also increases strength. Muscles are either contracted or relaxed, but if a muscle is so tight that it's always contracted then that muscle is weak -- it's the act of contraction that strengthens. If you can soften the muscles and allow them to contract, it will increase your strength.

Hi Doug,

Why is it that health writers seem to seldom agree on some issues. I was reading Dr. Natasha Turner's latest piece on coffee and she's touting the benefits of soy??? This is certainly contrary to what I've read from you and Dr. Mercola.

L

Hello L,

Soy is one of those things in the holistic health world that attracts as many opinions as there are practitioners. I tend to agree with the likes of Dr. Mercola as well as David Wolfe, Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon - that soy is a no-no. But there are other health experts with whom I agree on other points who also tout the benefits of soy - Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Michael Murray are two that come to mind; both of whom I greatly respect, but disagree with on the soy issue.

What makes you happy? Money? Your family? Your health? Your career? While it's true that all of these things can contribute to how content you are with your life, new research suggests that there's another factor in the equation that's more important than all the rest: You.

And that doesn't just apply to your happiness -- You are also the most significant determinant when it comes to other emotional states, including your levels of depression and anxiety. What's more, if you're prone to either of the aforementioned issues, you can re-wire your brain to deal with stress in a more efficient and healthy manner.

That's according to two prominent doctors who are currently studying the kinds of stressors we're faced with these days and how we deal with them. Remember in high school biology when you learned about the "Fight or Flight" reaction to stress? That's a simplified view of how our body deals with stress and for our primitive ancestors, it worked. But these days, we're dealing with more than just the stress of escaping a predator during our weekly hunt. We're worried about bills, deadlines, what to cook for dinner. Issues like these may seem inconsequential, but put 'em all together? We're constantly stressed out. And neither fight nor flight is an option.

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.

For many people, myself included, grabbing a latte is the high point of a day. You may occasionally give it up for a few weeks at a time, but the comfort and gratification from this basic pleasure doesn't keep you away from the local coffee shop for long. However, there are a few things you can do right now to make this unhealthy habit, a whole lot healthier:

1. Go for soy milk over cow's milk: Some sources suggest that cow's milk is a common food allergy that can contribute to eczema, asthma, sinus congestion or digestive upset. Soy is high in protein and in calcium. It is also beneficial for heart health, prostate cells, menopausal and PMS symptoms, bone density and sex hormone balance (due to its phytoestrogenic isoflavones). Breast tenderness, irritability and acne breakouts before menses can be lessened by having a cup of soy milk each day. Recent studies even suggest that soy protein contributes to fat loss and the maintenance of muscle during a weight loss program.


2. Top it off with cinnamon: Cinnamon is all the rage right now in the treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes because of its insulin-sensitizing effects. Insulin instructs the body to store extra calories as fat if they are not burned off after consumption. An insulin-sensitizing agent is one that causes the cells of the body to have a better response to insulin, which ultimately lessens the need for excessive insulin secretion. A study published in Diabetes Care found that half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day significantly reduces blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. It also reduces triglyceride, LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol levels among this group. Less insulin is beneficial beyond weight loss reasons and cholesterol control as avoidance of high insulin levels over long periods of time is linked to reduced risk of cancer (i.e. breast), Alzheimer's disease, high blood pressure, accelerated aging and heart disease.


3. Coffee: One cup a day is not that bad: New research confirms that moderate coffee consumption has possible benefits and may not cause us harm. These benefits include reduced risk for type 2 diabetes, gallstones, liver disease, colon cancer and Parkinson's disease. Studies show that type 2 diabetes is lower among regular coffee drinkers (two or less cups per day). In addition to the long-term health benefits, the immediate effects of coffee consumption include improved endurance in long-duration physical activities and higher, fat-burning effects before a workout.