Quick announcement: On August 8 at 6pm PT I’m holding a Facebook Live Q&A session to answer question people have about pregnancy. The event will take place on the Summer Tomato FB page and you can submit/vote on questions in advance here.

Next week’s Mindful Meal Challenge will start again on Monday. Sign up now to join us!

This week the antidote to stress, Big Food rethinks chicken welfare, and why you can’t pay people to exercise more.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• How to Be Better at Stress – An excellent resource for reframing and managing stress. There are many sections, be sure to keep scrolling down. (NY Times)
• Losing It in the Anti-Dieting Age – A profound essay on the paradoxical culture of health and body image. There’s an elusive line between wanting to lose weight and needing to, as well as accepting yourself as you are and striving for a better future. None of this is easy. (NY Times)
• Perdue Farms Signs Up For A Chicken Welfare Revolution – One of the most encouraging articles I’ve read about the industrial food system in years. I hope Perdue is sincere, that their experiments are successful, and that this can be a model for the rest of the industry. (NPR)
• Monsanto Emails Raise Issue of Influencing Research on Roundup Weed Killer – Reading the emails, the most alarming thing I saw was how other ingredients in RoundUp besides glyphosate may be even more dangerous than the active ingredient, and that Monsanto has known this for years. (NY Times)
• They offered to pay people to go to the gym. Guess what happened? – A message I’ve been trying to drill into your minds for years: extrinsic motivators are not effective (and can even undermine) health behaviors. To stick with a new habit the activity itself needs to be intrinsically rewarding. Find healthy stuff you actually like if you want to make lasting change (and stop calling it healthy). (Washington Post)
• If Everyone Ate Beans Instead of Beef – It’s easy (and justified) to be alarmed about climate change, but it’s even easier to feel helpless given the magnitude of the problem. This is a welcome reminder that swapping out just a single animal protein source for beans (incidentally one of the healthiest foods on the planet) could have a tremendous impact. (The Atlantic)
• Farm-To-Table May Feel Virtuous, But It’s Food Labor That’s Ripe For Change – Caring about the environment and animal welfare is important, but don’t forget the people who feed us. (NPR)
• These 9 behaviors could cut your dementia risk by 35 percent – I was surprised to see “make sure your hearing aids are working properly” on this list, but the data is compelling. (Vox)
• Why running is so beneficial for older women – In case you didn’t know. (Washington Post)
• The Mediterranean diet doesn’t benefit everyone, study says – Interesting research suggests that the quality of foods within a given “diet” may have a significant impact on the health benefits. While I can think of a handful of other socioeconomic factors that are likely involved (stress, sleep, access to healthcare, etc.), the idea that quality and diversity of your foods matters more than we realize doesn’t shock me. (CNN)
• Crispy Lemon & Rosemary Chicken Thighs – One of my family’s dinner staples. Never gets old. (Foraged Dish)

What inspired you this week?