Health is hard enough—so it stinks when you make it even harder. “How far do you want to go?” my friend asked. “I’m game for 5,” I said. I mean, why the heck not? We were at the beach, the… read more
Ted Spiker
Can One Small Life Change Lead to Bigger Ones?
My ongoing list of “things I could do better” in the health department has filled these pages for years and my brain for decades. Often, I feel like I spend 17% of my waking life wrestling with habit-forming, decision-making, and… read more
Is a Deadline the Best Motivator?
Almost 10 years ago, I started a Facebook group for people who wanted to run a 5K under 30 minutes. The group—called the Sub-30 Club, which now has nearly 7,000 members—quickly changed its focus: We wouldn’t just center around 29:59.… read more
Tips For Staying Healthy While You Travel
For so long, I always believed that “healthy” and “travel” went together about as well as chocolate and toothpaste. After all, where’s the fun if you can’t have the pizza and wine carafe(s) in Italy, the paella in Spain, or… read more
Humorous Side of Health: Food Fight
As much as I’d love to have flung marinara-dressed noodles across a cafeteria once or twice in my life, I’ve never had a real food fight. Unless you count these battles: The bloody nose I got after wolfing down 12… read more
How Songwriters Unintentionally Inspire Your Journey to Better Health!
It does not matter whether you listen to soul or Sinatra, classical or Kanye, music improves your health. It has been shown to lower stress, boost mood and elevate workout performance. It is also linked to better memory, sleep and… read more
Ted Talks: Hobby Shopping
Typically, I like to make decisions thoughtfully and quickly. I don’t hesitate over simple choices (tonight it shall be merlot!), I try to use a mix of logic and emotion to come to conclusions, and I don’t like to linger… read more
Ted Talks: New Year, New You
The season of resolutions usually brings about mantras of motivation and fist-pounding declarations that this year — THIS YEAR! — will be the one in which we [stop smoking/lose 25 pounds/give up bacon-cheese fries]. For good reason, too. Coming off… read more
Ted Talks: 9 Things I Hate About the Holidays
Why these two months tend to be my danger zone. We all know that New Year’s resolutions exist in direct correlation to the 60ish days of holiday hoopla that precede them (bookended by an Oct. 31 candy gorge and a… read more
Ted Talks: Will I Win the Food Fight?
At a recent gathering of friends and former colleagues, I caught up with some people I’ve seen only once or twice since the late ‘90s. Amidst the conversations, the reminiscing, the beer, the wings and an Oreo dirt concoction that… read more