This blog covers a fairly wide variety of topics under the very general Health & Fitness umbrella. Given this variety and the lack of guidelines given it is not surprising that the submissions for the 1st Monthly Health Blog Carnival varied considerably. I’ve made an attempt to organize the accepted submissions into the following four categories: Diet, Exercise, Mental Health, and For the Children.

Diet

The main thrust of the Diet related submissions are foods to avoid; mainly meat.

Saving Simply’s Practical Reasons to Eat Less Meat says that reducing meat consumption is better for the environment, our bodies, our wallets, and our morals.

Life Crafting doesn’t pull punches with Meat Part I: How It’s Slowly Killing You by Strangling Your Heart and Riddling You With Cancer. Andrew says eating meat is a social relic that causes a host of deadly conditions including Atherosclerosis and Cancer.

zenhabits is a little less dire about meat consumption with Gradual Vegetarianism: The Easy Way to a Slim Waist. He has lots of great tips on how to go vegetarian one day a week.

Wenchypoo thinks you should add milk to your list of foods to avoid in Moooove over, Bossy—A New Nutrition Game is in Town. Wenchypoo thinks that milk is not an essential part of your diet and can actually cause health problems, particularly with your gallbladder.

Sundance contributes her list of foods to avoid, but also provides some healthy alternatives with How To Eat To Avoid Heart Disease. She suggests foods that are low in fat and salt, saying apple juice is great for keeping cholesterol low.

Dietriffic doesn’t mention any specific foods, instead they focus on how to set and maintain dieting goals with Getting SMART with Goal Setting! There are some great tips here on how to make health changes that you can stick with for the rest of your life.

Kate Spicer takes dieting to an unhealthy extreme in an attempt to achieve a model-thin body in Faking Good Breeding’s The Price of Thin. Kate’s extreme diet alienates her friends and family, increases stress, damages her self-esteem, and causes health problems.

Anna Farmery discusses how podcasting and blogging helped her lose 35 pounds in Podcasting for Weight Loss. She received a lot of positive support from the blogging community on her way to achieving her health goals.

Exercise

Exercise, the main category I had in mind for this Carnival, only received a couple good submissions.

Higher Endeavors has some tips on removing Stubborn Abdominal Fat by perfecting your workouts, improving your nutrition, and supplementing where necessary.

tacithydra has some creative ideas for improving the stair master at your local gym in NordicMech by making them more like your favorite video games.

Mental Health

There are some great tips here on how go stay sharp, deal with mental health issues, and keep your stress levels low.

360 Degree Success has some tips on how to slow things down to deal with stress in Speed Kills.

GNIF Brain Blogger discuses his personal experiences with anxiety in Do You Have Panic Attacks? They also have some good news about medical insurance: The Mental Health Parity Bill of 2007

Addiction Recovery Basics has Ten Tips for Easing Depression including #7: “Get out of your comfort zone. You may find the house to be an all-too welcoming haven, or your routine tasks to be comforting. Your comfort zone, however, is also the place where your depression reigns, and you must try to escape it.”

Personal Growth & Personal Development will help you stay sharp with 7 Brain Foods that Will Increase Your Productivity. They list some tasty berries, veggies, and nuts that will boost your mental capabilities.

For the Children

This was a surprise category with both submissions covering the same topic. If you are approaching your 30s and plan to procreate you should check out these articles.

Leslie B. Raschka M.D. thinks you should have kids early in Disease-Causing Genetic Mutations In Sperm Increase With Men’s Age: “Importantly, disorders linked to advancing paternal age begin to increase rapidly at about the same time as maternal risks increase — age 33 to 35.”

EBDblog is even more specific about the problems with middle aged insemination in Fathers’ Age as Contributor to Risk for Autism.

That wraps up the 1st Monthly Health Blog Carnival. Check back next month for more great Health & Fitness information from across the web!

New Scientist has a disconcerting article about why antioxidants may actually contribute to the problems they are supposed to help prevent.

We have become antioxidant devotees. But are they doing us any good? Evidence gathered over the past few years shows that at best, antioxidant supplements do little or nothing to benefit our health. At worst, they may even have the opposite effect, promoting the very problems they are supposed to stamp out.