Christina Stiehl

POPSUGAR Fitness • 29th October 2020

Looking For the Perfect Jalapeño Marg? Try This Low-Sugar Recipe That's Only 200 Calories

I love a good spicy jalapeño margarita when I'm out, but I don't love all the sugar and simple syrup it tends to get made with. Even store-bought mixers aren't ideal; one popular jalapeño margarita mixer has 20 grams of sugar and 90 calories per serving, and that's before you add the tequila. As someone with PCOS, I need to be careful about my sugar intake since people with PCOS are more prone to insulin resistance.

POPSUGAR Fitness • 12th February 2019

Yes, You Can Drink Alcohol and Still Lose Weight — Here's How

I you're trying to lose weight, you probably think you need to give up alcohol entirely, right? Not exactly.

POPSUGAR Fitness • 27th January 2019

We Answer Once and For All: Do You Really Need to Eat Breakfast?

It's sound advice we heard from our moms since we were little: eat breakfast; it's the most important meal of the day. As we got older, that advice evolved into "if you eat breakfast, you're less likely to feel famished and gorge at lunchtime."

POPSUGAR Fitness • 26th January 2019

If You're Trying to Build Muscle, You Should Be Eating a Lot of Carbs — Here's Why

Building muscle requires a diligent effort of strength training (such as weightlifting) and dialing in your diet. And while eating plenty of protein is important — protein is the building block of muscle and helps build and repair tissue — there's a macronutrient that's often overlooked when it comes to making muscle gains: carbohydrates.

POPSUGAR Fitness • 22nd January 2019

The Macronutrient You Should Be Eating More of to Build Muscle (Hint: It's Not Protein)

You've probably heard that eating plenty of protein is key to building lean muscle and generating strength. And while it's important to eat enough of this macronutrient for muscle gains, it's not the only macronutrient you should be focused on. In fact, it's not even the most important.

POPSUGAR Fitness • 28th August 2018

This Is What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Too Much Protein

You've probably read that it's important to eat plenty of protein to help you build lean muscle and lose weight. But it is possible to have too much of a good thing. While the FDA recommends around 50 grams of the macronutrient, the numbers if you want to build muscle are even higher.

thrillist • 14th September 2016

Which Is Worse: Artificial Sweeteners or Sugar?

It's a tough choice at the coffee shop milk station: do you go with the yellow or pink packet of artificial sweetener, knowing it will add zero calories but possibly contain harmful chemicals? Or the white packet of natural table sugar because it's, well, natural?

thrillist • 5th August 2016

How to Track Macros for Weight Loss

If you've spent any time eavesdropping on people at the gym recently (who hasn't?), then you've probably heard the phrase "tracking your macros." Or, more accurately, "That doesn't fit in my macros, bro." It sounds complicated, and something only jacked, roided-out fitness bros have the secret info on. But like counting reps and stacking weight plates on a barbell, tracking macros is just basic math disguised as an overhyped fitness concept.

Eat This, Not That! • 7th June 2017

The Absolute Worst Food To Eat Before Bed

We’ve all been there: it’s nighttime, well after dinner, but your tummy is still rumbling. You’re looking for something satisfying to silence your hunger pangs and set you up for a cozy, restful sleep. Or maybe it’s been a late night with a few too many adult beverages and your late night cravings get the best of you.

Tonic • 2nd October 2017

Drastically Cutting Calories Can Wreck Your Metabolism

Weight loss, it's often said, is all about calories in, calories out, and burning more than you take in—except when it's not. Eat too many calories, and you'll gain weight. But eat too few calories, the theory goes, and your body will enter what's called "starvation mode," where your metabolism stops burning calories and instead converts everything you eat to fat in preparation for a famine.

thrillist • 31st August 2016

How to Eat Carbs Without Gaining Weight

Carbs have been vilified as the culprit behind America's obesity epidemic over the last decade. If you've embarked on a trendy low-carb diet (like Paleo or keto), then you know the anguish of staring at a beautiful basket of French fries and being forced to resist, lest you send yourself into a downward spiral of self-hatred and regret.

Men's Health • 21st November 2017

Can Drinking a Hot Toddy Really Cure Your Cold?

When your first cold of the season hits, there’s no doubt you’ll turn to comfort food and mom-approved remedies to relieve your dry throat, watery eyes, and achy muscles. One of the most popular? Hot toddies.

thrillist • 16th September 2016

Everything You Need to Know Before Trying Intermittent Fasting

It sounds like a late-night infomercial, but most major religions recommend some form of fasting, so it's not like this is a new fad diet. If you're considering taking the plunge, here's what you need to know. Leangains, UpDayDownDay, and the Warrior diet are the three main intermittent fasting strategies, with infinite variations possible.

thrillist • 30th September 2016

Why Your Diet Is Doomed to Fail

Want to lose weight? Go on a diet -- pounds will melt away! At least, that's the default way most Americans think about losing weight: find a specific eating system that categorizes your food into "good" and "bad," don't eat the bad stuff ever again, and you'll unlock the keys to weight loss and happiness. Except that's not what happens at all.

Men's Health • 6th November 2017

Is Kombucha Really That Good For You? Here's What You Should Know

You’ve probably seen the trendy glass bottles of kombucha lining the refrigerator at your local health foods store. Touted by wellness gurus and nutrition enthusiasts, kombucha is supposed to help detox your body, heal your gut, and even help you drop pounds.

thrillist • 23rd January 2017

Hey Meatheads, the Real Paleo Diet Was Mostly Plants

Hunting for berries and gathering greens isn't as exciting as trudging through the elements to take down a wooly mammoth, but it's probably a more realistic picture of what our Paleo ancestors were doing for food. A 780,000-year-old collection of edible plants found in Israel points to a more plant-based diet.

Eat This, Not That! • 19th April 2017

Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino: Just How Unhealthy Is It?

Starbucks is capitalizing on the unicorn social media craze with the release of its limited-edition Unicorn Frappuccino. Bright pink and blue and topped with edible glitter, the fruity beverage was released on April 19 to much fanfare and colorful social media snaps. But it packs more sugar than half a dozen glazed Krispy Kreme donuts. Worth the splurge?

thrillist • 23rd November 2016

The Best Things to Do After Eating a Gigantic Meal

Apart from feeling miserable and bloated while you're lying on the couch with your pants undone, overdoing it on your holiday meal isn't great for your body (internally and aesthetically) to overeat. Fortunately, there are a few ways to help undo the damage.

Eat This Not That • 2nd May 2017

Will Ditching Dairy Help You Lose Weight?

It’s the weight-loss trick celebrities such as Khloe Kardashian and Jessica Alba have credited for helping them slim down. By forgoing diet staples like cheese, milk, and yogurt, dairy-free advocates swear cutting out cow's milk has helped them shed those unwanted pounds.

Eat This, Not That! • 17th October 2017

The 35 Best Paleo Snacks

When people think of eating paleo, they think of tons of meat: bacon, steaks, pork chops, and chicken thighs. And while meat does play a role in the paleolithic diet—named for the way our ancestors ate free of dairy, grains, sugar, and most other refined carbs—it’s also based heavily on plants and healthy fats like nuts and extra virgin olive oil.