Fitness Buzz: Michelle Obama's Arms, Contagious Eating, and More

Too busy to catch all the week's fitness, diet, and workout news as it happened? Here's a quick wrap-up of what was getting buzz.

Budgeting for Organics
Organic fruits and vegetables are more expensive than the conventional kind. If you've made the decision to go organic but are stuck on the cost, prioritize: To help you out, Fooducate has put together this handy guide, courtesy of the Environmental Working Group, to the produce most and least affected by pesticides. So you're avoiding lots of pesticides by purchasing organic peaches, apples, and bell peppers but may be able to buy conventional onions, avocados, and sweet corn.

Food Choices Are Catching
New research suggests that your serving-size choices are influenced by how much the person ahead of you dishes out, reports Cornell researcher Brian Wansink on his Food Think blog. As with so many of the other behavioral patterns he's observed, people have no idea they're influenced this way. Want to learn some other tricks gleaned from his research? See 4 Easy Ways to Prevent Mindless Eating.

The First Lady's Guns
You can't do much to control your declining 401(k) balance or the sinking value of your home, but you may at least be able to reshape your arms into something resembling Michelle Obama's fantastically ripped ones. So says this New York Times article, which notes that trainers are getting requests for the first lady's biceps and triceps. The bottom line: You need strength training, but you also very likely need to burn fat via cardiovascular exercise and diet to reveal the muscles' contours. New to lifting? Check out these 8 Strength Training Tips for Women.

Not Trendy, Still Worthwhile
Fresh off its list of the most overrated health trends (which we mentioned in last week's Fitness Buzz), Diet Blog rolls out a list of the most underrated trends. Included are vitamin D, the Mediterranean diet, and a foam roller designed to ease your achin' bod through self-massage. (Interested in the Mediterranean diet? Read about it and other traditional eating patterns associated with better health.)

Dara Torres, Role Model
More magazine has published this interview with Dara Torres, who became the hero of 30- and 40-something women (and probably a lot of men, too) with her awesome showing at the Beijing Olympics. She talks about her eating and exercise routines and her decision to keep swimming. We'll leave you with this quote: "I'm in the best shape of my life. I can't do what I did when I was 20, as far as training, yet I can swim faster. When I'm standing on the blocks, I don't think, oh, I'm 42 and these girls are 15 or 16 years old. I feel like an athlete; I'm one of them, and I'm going to compete against my competitors." (Inspired? See Meet 11 Olympic Contenders and Their Favorite Workouts.)