50 Little Known, Ridiculously Awesome Health and Medical Resources

If you’re looking for fresh insights and tools for health and medical management, we have the ultimate list of some ridiculously awesome and little-known articles and Web sites waiting for you. You can gain access to online training programs and tools, sleep and nutrition help and get a total picture on what a healthy lifestyle is like through these resources. What a way to begin the new year!

The following sites are categorized and listed alphabetically within those categories. Although some sites are well known (mostly in the “total health” section), those sites now provide some new tools and resources that you may not know about.

Online Training Programs and Tools

1. CrossFit: If you already are in good shape, then kick it up a notch with the training programs provided by this Marine fitness coach.
2. Gmaps Pedometer: Draw a walking/running/cycling route, save it and learn about the calories you’ll burn along the way.
3. How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise: No, this is not a scam. But, it is a very radical yet healthy way of looking at food and consumption. Enjoy this entire site, especially the article, “From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks” for inspiration.
4. Map My Run: This site has grown rapidly over the past year, providing runners (and walkers) with routes and the ability to build your own routines.
5. One Hundred Pushups: Follow this six-week training program to increase your strength and to complete a simply awesome goal of 100 consecutive pushups.
6. SimpleFit: This is the simplest site we’ve found for weight loss, muscle toning and home fitness. Free exercise routines, circuit training, a fitness community and natural nutrition are all yours at no cost.
7. The Couch-to-5K Running Plan: This site is all about getting up and moving for health. Using this site, users have gone from the couch to running three miles in just two months.
8. Traineo: You may have heard about this training program, but did you know it was free? Register to join a community set on total health.
9. Two Hundred Situps: A companion site to one hundred pushups, this site offers a six-week training program that may flatten those abs for good.

Awesome Eating and Weight Loss

10. FitDay: Use this free online diet journal to track foods, exercises, weight loss and goals.
11. Healing Food Reference: Offered as a free public service to promote health freedom, this site covers the most common health conditions and healthy-happy foods.
12. MyPyramid.gov: Learn about nutrition basics and about how good nutrition affects your health and daily life.
13. Nutrition Data: Know everything you need to know about what you eat. Plenty of tips here on weight loss, eating for a healthy heart and more.
14. The Daily Plate: Lance Armstrong’s reach goes to your plate with this site that has helped over 800,000 members to lose weight. Free food tracking, exercises and recipes for anyone to use.
15. The Hacker’s Diet: If you want to jump-start your weight loss program in a healthy way, use this site. Although the tag line states, “how to lose weight and hair through stress and poor nutrition,” you may soon learn that this is one geek’s attempt at weight-loss humor.
16. The World’s Healthiest Foods: What are those foods and how easy are they to find and prepare? Use this site to learn more about the healthiest foods in the world.

Quick Nutrition Resources

17. Fast Food Restaurants & Nutrition Facts Compared: This site may turn you off to daily trips at the take-out window.
18. Over 100 Quick and Easy Healthy Foods: This list provides the person on the go with an easy reference to healthy foods for any meal.
19. Shop Once, Eat for a Week: Although focused toward men, this article is perfect for anyone with a busy lifestyle (includes recipes).
20. Still Tasty: Do you keep that milk or toss it? Go here to learn how long your foods and beverages can last on the shelf.
21. Sugar Stacks: If you cannot imagine the amount of sugar in any given food, use this site for shock value and for a great sugar-intake education.
22. This is Why You’re Fat: As if you didn’t know…maybe this site will help you stay away from those foods that are eating away at your wallet and your health.
23. Top 100 Foods to Improve Your Productivity: You can find energy and brain foods here, as well as foods that can improve eyesight and more.
24. What Do 300 Calorie Meals Look Like? If you have trouble with portion measurements, use this site to get a glimpse into “normal” meal sizes.
25. What Does 200 Calories Look Like? Wise Geek shows that you definitely can eat more celery than peanut butter for the same calories…
26. What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now? If you’re trying to give up Cokes (or any other soda), print out this page and paste it to your fridge now.

You Are Getting Sleepy…

27. Good sleep, good learning, good life: Here’s some more information on sleep. Try it. You might like it.
28. How to Get Great Sleep: This Psychology Today article provides some great tips on how and why to get a full night’s sleep.
29. How to Nap: Don’t laugh – midday dozing is great for mental acuity and overall health. Learn how to do it here.
30. SimplyNoise: Need some white noise to help with that afternoon nap? Switch to this site, click on the oscillating button, close your eyes and enjoy.
31. Sleep Disorders Information: The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute offers a site that focuses on sleep disorders.
32. Sound Sleeping: If rhythmic drums and flute music put you to sleep, then you can use the amazing options available for free at this site.

Healthy Lifestyles

33. 9 Secrets Health Insurers Don’t Want You to Know: If you read this article and the comments to this article, you may begin to realize why getting and staying healthy is important to you life and to your wallet.
34. 22 Ways to Overclock Your Brain: Learn twenty-two easy ways to build brain power (including sleep, play and sobriety).
35. GoodGuide: If you want to live a healthy low-impact life, this site can help you avoid the scams and gain insight into what works.
36. Hacking Knowledge: 77 Ways to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Better: This list provides seventy-seven incredibly easy ways to change your life for the better, from mental to physical health.
37. LocalHarvest: Not everyone knows about this site yet, although it is highly popular among those who want to eat local for fresh foods and to support local food producers.
38. Luminosity: Start your brain training today with the help of this site. Take courses, play games and get assessments of your mental well-being.
39. RealAge: This site is not just for the elderly who want to look younger — it’s also for the young who want to live longer through healthier lifestyle options.
40. Steve Pavlina: Train yourself for new healthy strategies to live a fuller and more productive life.
41. The Good Human: Read the site to learn more about health scams, “greenwashing,” and other issues that may affect you personally and the world as a whole.
42. ZenHabits: If you want to find simplicity in chaos, then this site is for you. Gobble up three articles per week on simplicity, health and fitness, motivation and inspiration, frugality and more.

Total Health

43. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: You may know the CDC for its work in infectious diseases, but they offer so much more in health and medical resources, including national and international health news.
44. Dr. Weil: You may have heard about Dr. Weil, but why haven’t you visited his site? When an eighty-year-old man praises Weil for his simple cure for arthritis (dried ginger in cap form), you might want to listen — especially if that elderly man is your father.
45. EarthClinic: Can you really avoid insurance woes and pharmacies with folk remedies? You’ll never know until you try…
46. MayClinic.com: You may have heard of the Mayo Clinic, but did you know that this institution provides help online from over 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers?
47. MedlinePlus: You can find health directories and local health help here in over forty languages.
48. RevolutionHealth: Find a new doctor, check your symptoms, learn about foods, exercise programs and general health with this site.
49. Virtual Body: What a great health tool for kids and for adults — learn what healthy bodies look like so you can emulate the images, inside and out. This site also include tips on how to get there.
50. WebMD: WebMD is a popular health-readiness and solution-finding site. But, many folks do not know that they also provide health alerts and news.