Learn how to navigate the farmer’s market, whip up dinner in 10 minutes and make the most of your next doctor’s visit in this week’s links we love.

Fit Bottomed Girls: FBG Fitties! The Best Fitness Products of 2013

Fitbie: 7 Condiment Swaps that Help You Lose

CNN: 5 Ways to Maximize Your Doctor’s Visit

SELF magazine: 10-Minute Dinners

Huffington Post: Foraging the Farmer’s Market

If you skip stretching before your workout, why? Is it because you don’t have the time? Is it because you don’t think it’s all that important or valuable to your routine? Is it because you’re not exactly sure what to do?

First, let me say it is worth it. As we age, we lose flexibility and become much more prone to injury. A consistent stretching program will maintain and even improve your current level of flexibility. Time shouldn’t be an issue: You can get a good stretch in less than five minutes.

And if you’re not sure what to do, take a look at my stretching routine, which was featured in my book 20 Years Younger (I essentially follow level 3 of the fitness routine). Five times a week, I do the following moves:

• Hamstring stretch

• Quadriceps stretch

• Upper calf stretch

• Lower calf stretch

• Middle and lower back stretch
Sit on a chair with your knees apart. Hold your arms out in front of you and stretch them forward while you gradually bend your torso forward, allowing your back to round out. Your arms may be between your knees and your hands should be touching the floor if possible. You should feel a gentle tension in your upper and/or middle back.

Hold each stretch for five seconds then relax for five seconds; repeat two more times. Remember to breathe through each stretch. And don’t forget: It’s best to stretch after you’ve done a warm up, like jogging in place or jumping rope.

The other two days of the week, I use a stretching apparatus—Precor’s 240i Stretch Trainer. They have a wonderful illustrated stretching routine right on the apparatus. If you can afford your own or you have access to one at your gym or fitness center, I highly recommend it. It has added a deep stretch quality to my routine.

What does your stretching routine look like?

Trying to lose weight? Watching the clock could help. New research shows that

7 a.m. – Get up and exercise.
Whatever time you can squeeze in a workout—that’s the best time to exercise. But here’s a reason to get up with your alarm and sweat before work: Folks who exercise in the morning are less tempted to bail on a gym session because they don’t have to grapple with the office deadlines, personal errands and family obligations that can come up during the daytime and evening hours.

8 a.m. – Eat breakfast.
You probably already know that eating breakfast every morning is a habit shared by people who successfully lose—and keep off—extra pounds. Want to take breakfast from good to great? Making it rich in protein will accelerate your slim-down success. (Eggs, lean meats and yogurt are all good sources.) Research from the University of Missouri found that people who eat a protein-rich morning meal have fewer junk food cravings and consume an average of 200 calories less each day compared to breakfast eaters who don’t make protein a priority. Why? Protein increases levels of the feel-full hormone called leptin.

12 p.m. – Have some lunch.
Dieters who ate their midday meal before 3 p.m. lost an average of five pounds more over five months compared to those who ate later in the day, according to a study in the International Journal of Obesity. (Both groups consumed the same number of calories and followed similar exercise regimens.) Researchers aren’t sure why late lunches impede weight loss, but think it may slow down metabolism.

9 p.m. – Get ready for bed.
Many studies have found that banking a solid night of shuteye keeps the huger-stoking hormone ghrelin in check. Which helps explain why night owls who stayed up late (and slept in the next morning) consumed an average of 754 calories in a late dinner, while the people who had supper before 8 p.m. and hit the hay earlier at night only ate 630 calories for dinner, according to researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. That 124-calorie difference? That’s 13 pounds over the course of a year. You sleep better, you eat better.

10 p.m. – Do some yoga stretches in bed.
Doing some asanas before hitting the sack (think bridge and child’s pose) lowers cortisol levels to quell anxiety and make it easier to drift off, according to researchers at Harvard University. Bank a solid seven to nine hours and you’ll be ready to do it all again tomorrow!

Does your daily schedule resemble this one? 

Thinking you’ll save a few calories, you ask the bartender to mix rum with Diet Coke instead of regular. But this calorie-cutting trick could just make you more drunk, according to a recent study from Northern Kentucky University.

In the study, eight men and eight women ages 21 to 33 came to a University lab on three separate days, each time trying out one of three combos: diet soda with vodka, regular soda with vodka or a non-alcoholic placebo, which was diet soda scented with less than .34 ounces of alcohol—enough to give the impression the drink contained alcohol, but not enough to produce an effect on the breathalyzer. (Recruitment for this study must have been a piece of cake.) Subjects knew they were drinking alcohol, but didn’t know exactly what they were drinking.

The alcohol content of the drinks was based on body weight—on average, women downed 4 ounces of vodka; men 5.5 ounces (for reference, 1.5 ounces of vodka counts as one drink). And down they did—people were instructed to finish the drink in five minutes. The alcohol was combined with twice as much soda.

Then the fun began. Researchers measured reaction time, perceived level of intoxication, mood and breath alcohol. Sipping on the diet-vodka mix slowed reaction time significantly compared to the regular soda-vodka mix. On the diet-vodka cocktail, breath alcohol exceeded the legal limit, while it stayed under the limit with the non-diet soda mixture. What’s really alarming: Diet boozers didn’t perceive being more intoxicated, saying they felt just as competent to drive as when they were on the regular soda cocktail.  

What gives? Just as having food in your stomach slows down alcohol absorption, having a little sugar does the same.

The take home: Save calories elsewhere, and mix your drink with the real thing. Remember that while alcohol can help protect against heart disease, it only does so in moderation, meaning one drink—1.5 ounces of vodka, gin or other hard liquor; 5 ounces of wine or 12 ounces beer—for women, and two for men. (To reap the most benefits, opt for red wine, which has 10 times the protective phytonutrients as white.)

And note that alcohol can raise breast cancer risk—studies indicate that this depends on your genetics, but the research still isn’t clear.

Do you typically use diet soda in your cocktails? 

My father was not raised to demonstrate love in a way that made sense to me—with hugs, kind words and sensitivity toward emotion, for instance. I remember one time when I suffered a concussion, he didn’t give a hug or inquire about the pain, but rather, a he offered a lesson on how I needed to be tough and shake it off. For most of my life, I wanted to resent him for not being more affectionate.

You’ll notice I say “wanted to resent”—that’s because what I’ve realized as I’ve matured is that resentment is a choice. If we resent someone, there is a part of us that “wants” to and is choosing this resentment. We could forgive, but instead we choose to hold on. We may believe that gripping tightly will make us safe: “If I never let go of this pain, I will never be surprised by it again.” Or perhaps we think that holding onto the pain somehow keeps our perpetrator accountable: “If I let go, they get away with it. I will never forget this.”

Neither is true. What really happens when we hold onto resentments is that we suffer. We replay the tragedy over and over in our minds, re-experiencing painful feelings. By clenching tightly to the resentment, we also remain closed, unable to receive anything positive from the relationship or experience.

What I missed by choosing to rigidly resent my father’s lack of affection was his generous albeit unconventional outpouring of love. He sacrificed time, activity and freedom to marry my mother and raise my brother and me as his own. But because I chose to not accept him and instead to resent him for his shortcomings, I missed out on 30 years of love.

Then, I learned about emotional flexibility. The “epiphany” that changed my life, created emotional flexibility and allowed me to finally release resentment was quite simple, as most epiphanies are. I simply came to realize that he did the best he could—really, truly. Besides, I don’t want to be resented for my shortcomings, so who am I to punish someone for theirs?

If someone is actively hurting you, of course, you have to set boundaries to protect yourself, such as limiting your interactions with that person. But that’s different than resentment, which is just emotional rigidity that creates more pain and suffering. Consider relaxing your clench and opening to the gifts that are there.

As an important side note, I received a note in the mail from my dad last week: “I love you. I’m trying to support you emotionally. I’ve learned a little through the years.”

What grudges are you holding onto?

Learn how to sleep better, run easier and grill the perfect chicken breast in this week’s links we love.

Fitbie:10 People Over 70 Who Are Fitter Than You

Huffington Post: Happiness Could Help You Sleep Better, Study Finds

Fit Sugar: 5 Ways to Make Running Feel Easier

Cooking Light: Learn How to Properly Grill Chicken

Men’s Fitness: Phil Simms Urges Men to Get Screened for Melanoma