The Rundown

Cheat Meal Rethink. You might want to skip the weekend cheat meal. Researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australia found that cycling between a healthy diet and a weekend of unhealthy eating could trigger cognitive impairment and poor gut health.

Building on an earlier study where they linked poor diet to long-term spatial memory, the team used a rat model for the current research.

Rats that ate healthy diets most of the time but sometimes binged on foods high in saturated fat and sugar performed much worse on spatial memory tests where they had to remember where objects were placed.

The rats exposed to any period of unhealthy foods also had a less diverse microbiome, which was more pronounced the longer the period of poor meals lasted.

The results demonstrate the latest link between cognitive function and gut health.

While this research may put a damper on Friday night pizza, the team has a key takeaway: The longer the stretch of healthy eating, the better for our guts and minds.

“We think this sort of work is critical to get us to think about maintaining the health of our brain into old age,” a lead author of the study says. “If we can maintain a healthy diet…we have a better chance of preserving our cognition.”

“Fitfluencer” (Un)Follow. On Instagram, “fitspiration” accounts (generally any influencer who posts content related to fitness) are designed to inspire people to lead healthier lifestyles but some can result in negative psychological outcomes like body dissatisfaction.

A new study that developed a tool to audit these accounts found that almost two-thirds of the 100 most popular “fitfluencers” lacked proven advice or posted messages that could negatively impact people’s mental and physical health.

So how do you choose between accounts that promote health and potentially harmful ones? As Danielle Friedman writes in the New York Times, experts suggest that you consider a few questions:

Does the fitness influencer make you feel good about yourself? If the account makes you feel guilt or shame about your body, move on.

What are the images? Do they encourage you to exercise for strength, mental health, or functionality? Do they focus on movement as a source of joy and confidence? If the pictures are fat loss before-and-after shots or ones that make body parts into objects that need to be perfected, choose another account.

You should also look for professionals who have formal training in your field of interest and be wary of those who offer advice outside their expertise.

Lastly, seek out accounts that feature a range of body types, ages and abilities. The more our social media feeds include a diversity of bodies, the more we can broaden our ideas about what we are capable of achieving.

Extra Point

Watch

Quest for The Stanley Cup. The defending champs are out and a team from Seattle that few pundits saw coming made it to game seven of the second round. It’s playoff hockey season!

This seven-episode docuseries takes you behind the scenes with the biggest names in hockey as they face off for their chance to make NHL history. The first episode features Edmonton Oilers player Connor McDavid and Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy. Quest for The Stanley Cup is on ESPN+.

Share Fit Cult

Listen

The Art of Being Well with Dr. Will Cole. Dr. Will Cole’s podcast is described as a “manifesto for a new breed of health seekers.” Recent episodes cover intentional eating, debunking clean skincare myths and all things testosterone.

Read

Micro-Burst Training: Increase Power and VO2Max. In this short article for Training Peaks, Landry Bobo discusses the best types of HIIT workouts and why micro-burst intervals are worth the effort.