A new study of women ages 18 to 44 found that drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages can alter levels of estrogen. But the impact varies by race. In white women, for example, coffee appears to lower estrogen, while in Asian women it has the reverse effect, raising levels of the hormone.

The study did not look at older women, but women of child-bearing age who enjoy a daily cuppa have little reason to fret, the researchers said. The effects of caffeine on estrogen are so minimal that in healthy women, it has no impact on ovulation or overall health, at least in the short term.

On the other hand, this just maybe yet another study that gives more data than actual information we can use.

In her response to Katrin Bennhold’s op-ed piece about women’s focus on goals having to do with losing weight rather than climbing the corporate ladder, Erin Gloria Ryan reminds us of the obvious:

Achieving a professional goal requires the cooperation of others— the further away you move from your own body, and the more people who are involved in the achievement of a goal, the greater the chance that someone other than you will fuck it up. Dieting isn’t the reason women don’t succeed, but it’s a sign of popular acknowledgement that the odds are stacked against us. It’s not the disease; it’s the symptom.

It’s much easier to run until you have beastly calves or lift weights until your back looks like the statue of a marble goddess or chain yourself to the Stairmaster until your face is the color of a tomato than it is to convince your dinosaur of a boss that you shouldn’t be an administrative assistant anymore. And until the old fashioned attitudes at the top die off or retire, women will keep setting goals that aren’t completely soul-crushing.

- Erin Gloria Ryan

I agree: controlling your physical weight may seem like a reasonable proposition in the face to trying to control the weight of your professional presence, especially in a world in which if you are woman against whom the numbers are stacked, be they those of pounds or years, you are likely to impress and effect change in the world in an inverse proportion to those same numbers. That is, the heavier and older you are, the more invisible and powerless you appear to be to the guys - and gals - around the boardroom.

You can’t expect the Sort of People Who Tend to Read The Times to freak out about Amber Alerts and Child Molesters. The readership simply isn’t concerned with anything that has no direct effect on them, unless that thing is cool (design), epic in scale (Nicholas Kristof) or risible (Tom Friedman). About the only thing that will get upper-middle-class coast dwellers into a frenzy is the idea—the word ‘fact’ is so black and white, n’est-ce pas?—that Some Day They Are Going To Fucking Die. Like to exercise a lot? That might MAKE YOU DIE.

Sarah Miller takes on the recent NYT alarmist piece on the dangers of yoga with great humor that illuminates some of the twisted poses in the original argument.

In addition to listing the health benefits of dark chocolate and red wine, the article also highlights some of the healthiest foods for heart health.

Chocolate may be the food of love, but it also could sweeten the road to success. A new blog by Peggy Butler, Success & Chocolate features interviews of successful women and queries them on the kind of chocolate they eat. She maybe on to something new on the powers of the cocoa bean here….

A site that launched with 2012, promising to deliver lots of resources and tips for making the switch to vegan easy. In terms of design, the site is already a delight. As for the nutritional info or other resources, since I am not a nutritionist, nor am I a vegan, I can’t comment, but they look straightforward, well documented, and easy to take in. I’ll probably be checking out the recipes, since I do cook vegan often.

via @czilka

Injuries aren’t part of yoga. Injuries are part of “not yoga.” Yoga, just like life, is ours to create. It’s ours to create yoga that’s struggling, striving, pushing and forcing; a life that reinforces the strain and difficulty in our bodies and minds. It’s also ours to create a yoga that is calm and peaceful. And a life that is capable and easy in any setting, under any challenge. - Michael Taylor

Indeed, pursuing the better, be it in fitness, spirit, or creativity should take no effort, but a willingness let our attention takes us there. Or, as Simone Weil said: ” We have to try to cure our faults by attention and not by will.”

There are a lot of delicious recipes featured on this blog, with mouthwatering photos.

Good piece in The New York Time Magazine (January 8, 2012) by William J. Broad on the many ways in which yoga can injure its practitioners, including some senior teachers, if the ego makes them blind to the limits they should recognize they possess, be it because of age, inexperience, lifestyle and such.

Not just students but celebrated teachers too, Black said, injure themselves in droves because most have underlying physical weaknesses or problems that make serious injury all but inevitable. Instead of doing yoga, “they need to be doing a specific range of motions for articulation, for organ condition,” he said, to strengthen weak parts of the body. “Yoga is for people in good physical condition. Or it can be used therapeutically. It’s controversial to say, but it really shouldn’t be used for a general class.”

I took great pains to learn to do a headstand, and sure enough, great pains is what I ended up with….

The hopelessly simplistic claim of immune “boosting” is one of the most prevalent bogus concepts in all of quackery and health fraud, right up there with “balancing” and “detoxifying.” The immune system is far too complex to be turned up like a thermostat for general benefit, and every change in immune function has unpredictable side effects. This is an important general point that doesn’t just apply to today’s example of immune “boosting,” but basically all of them. See Dr. Harriet “SkepDoc” Hall’s excellent article, Boost My Immune System? No Thanks! Dr. Hall also posted about inflammation on ScienceBasedMedicine.org just last week.

Paul Ingram, a science journalist and a former massage therapist in Vancouver, Canada, whose website SaveYourself.ca is all about pain (but is hardly a pain to read) discusses the surprising role of the immune system in exercise in this post. [via Dale Favier]

Frankly, the whole idea of “inventing ourselves” just throws me for a loop. While my prediction for 2012 is that (unfortunately) “authenticity” is going to end up on top of the “list of most overused/abused words,” I still think we should focus more on “simply” being who we are instead of “inventing” something new for ourselves? Isn’t “reinventing” ourselves just code for moving from one non-authentic reality to another? It feels to me like the whole idea behind inventing/reinventing is an excuse to avoid our personal truths. At least, that’s what it has meant for me when I’ve experimented with such “reinventions” in the past.

Instead of our fascination with “invention,” maybe we should all change our focus to “permission.” If we give ourselves permission to do the things we really want to do and be the people we really want to be, we might not have to worry about any kind of “invention” because we’ll be exactly who we want/what we want/where we want to be. - Todd Lieman

I would go a little further and forget sweating the “permission” imperative. Taking that cliched and worn-soled saying form Nike, I’d say, “just do it…”