Photo by Marisa McClellan

Leave the pickles, take the juice.

Having spent a fair amount of time perusing running websites for nutrition tips, I am used to encountering strange food and drink recommendations, particularly in online forums where everyone is a nutritionist (or at least pretends to be). Often I chalk up the more bizarre advice to the eccentricities of long-distance runners, a wacky bunch, needless to say, for their dedication to running ten-plus miles for fun.

That's what I did, at least, when someone first mentioned drinking pickle juice before and sometimes during a marathon to squelch muscle cramps. Since I fortunately do not experience cramping on long runs (piriformis issues, well, that's another story), his advice wasn't of much interest to me anyway.

I went along my merry way on the interwebs in quest of more "professional" eating and drinking guidance for endurance athletes. A few months later I stumbled upon "Runners Share 7 Secret Food Weapons." I couldn't read through that list fast enough. And what did I find at the end?

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Photo by adactio

Summer's here and it's time to grill.

Step up your grill game by checking out our list of dos and don'ts for marinating meats, poultry, seafood and veggies.

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john47kent

Follow these tips to get beach body ready this summer.

Swimsuit season is here and most of us are probably not quite ready to set foot on the beach or go poolside. Along with working out in the gym to burn some calories and get your body in shape for the summer, you'll need to alter your diet to get your body where it needs to be.

Here are ten tips to get yourself beach body ready, oh and you won't have to starve yourself to get there.

10. Shrink Your Plate

Studies have shown that reducing your plate size actually helps you to eat less. It's simple; less food can fit on a smaller plate. So when filling up your plate for breakfast, lunch or dinner, opt for the smaller plate. You'll be surprised how much less you'll consume at each meal.

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Photo by Don LaVange

We love Friday-night pizza or lazy-Sunday Thai delivery as much as the next guys -- but we can't say the same for our waistlines. Luckily, we have a few tricks up our sleeves. By remaking your favorite take-out foods at home, you can get all the pleasure...with none of the guilt. All it takes is a few switch-ups.

We've remade everything from pizza and hot wings to chicken pad Thai, but with summer right around the corner, this time we'll be focusing on the backyard BBQ.

See also:
-Take-Out Fake-Outs: 5 Favorites Lightened-Up
-Take-Out Fake-Outs: 5 More Favorites Lightened-Up

Check out our top secrets to making just-as-delicious Summer BBQ Fake-Outs:

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Photos by Molly Dunn

PB2 is the perfect food for peanut butter junkies.

If you give me a jar of peanut butter, there is a guarantee that I will start eating it by the spoonful. Creamy, sticky and comforting peanut butter is one of those foods I just can't resist. Unfortunately, it isn't calorie- or fat-free -- the downside to most comforting foods.

I love to look at the new products on the organic aisle in grocery stores in hopes that I will stumble upon something interesting and healthy. Recently I found the best thing to add to my diet, PB2. PB2 is powdered peanut butter that has 85 percent fewer fat calories than regular peanut butter. Seems to good too be true? I beg to differ.

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Crazybananas

Taking pictures of food is a fun way to share with friends and family what you ate.

We are all guilty of whipping out our phones to snap a photo of our food at dinner, then making it look artsy and hipster before uploading it to Instagram for all our friends to see, secretly hoping they will be jealous of the delicious meal we are about to consume.

While many restaurants are banning customers from snapping photographs of food while in the dining room due to the obnoxious distraction it causes, a researcher believes this trend of instagramming pictures of food needs to stop for a different reason.

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Greatist

Wrigley stopped selling its caffeinated gum, Alert Energy, after the FDA raised concerns about added caffeine.

Wrigley's new caffeinated gum, Alert Energy Gum, only lasted a couple of weeks on the shelves of supermarkets, grocery stores and convenient stores after the FDA became concerned about the amount of caffeine each piece of gum offered.

With 40 milligrams of caffeine (equal to half a cup of coffee) in each piece, it's no shock as to why the FDA was concerned, especially because we live in a world where energy drinks and coffee thrive. Although other gum companies have released their own caffeinated items, like Mentos's Up2U Gum and Jolt's energy gum, the FDA has become recently concerned with the amount of added caffeine in foods and drinks.

In fact, the main worry the FDA has about caffeinated beverages and foods is that most of the products are marketed to children, who shouldn't be consuming energy drinks and coffee throughout the day. The FDA's limit for caffeine consumed each day is 400 milligrams, the equivalent of four or five cups of coffee. This limit is set for adults, but the FDA discourages the consumption of caffeine or caffeinated items by children and youths.

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Panera Bread

You won't see this healthy egg white bowl with roasted turkey on the main menu board.

Secret menus at some of our favorite fast food, quick-service restaurants like Burger King, Sonic, Chipotle and McDonald's are not so secret anymore, and now you can add Panera Bread to that list. Like most secret menus go, the items off the menu are usually unhealthy, loaded with calories/carbs/fat and are deemed too good to be on the menu. However, Panera Bread's "hidden menu" isn't filled with giant sandwiches loaded with calorie- and carb-heavy ingredients, or an overly cheesy pasta dish; the Panera Bread secret menu is filled with power-food items with fewer calories than most items on the main menu.

Rather than indulging in a carb-heavy bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, customers can order a power-breakfast egg white bowl with roasted turkey, spinach, roasted peppers and basil pesto, all for just 190 calories; a blueberry bagel racks in at 340 calories. The other hidden breakfast menu item is another power-breakfast bowl with two eggs, top sirloin, avocado and tomatoes for 270 calories.

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Photos by Molly Dunn

McDonald's new Egg White Delight McMuffin is a good healthy breakfast option.

In an effort to lighten up its menu, McDonald's offers new breakfast sandwiches made with egg whites. With its new motto -- "Turning breakfast on its head" -- McDonald's has reduced the calories in various breakfast options by employing egg whites instead of eggs and white cheddar cheese instead of American.

The chain has lightened up breakfast items from its Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit to its Sausage, Egg and Cheese McGriddle -- and even the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes. I decided to try out the new Egg White Delight McMuffin in comparison to the ever-favorite original Egg McMuffin to see if saving 50 calories, five grams of fat and 235 mg of cholesterol is worth it.

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Photo by Barbara Rich

Do you dare to eat a peach?

We all know that we should thoroughly wash our fruits and vegetables after buying them from the grocery store or farmers market. That doesn't mean there isn't still pesticide residue left on the produce items, however.

According to nonprofit advocacy agency Environmental Working Group, a lot of the most commonly consumed fruits and vegetables still contain a large amount of pesticide residue. If you want to avoid most of these pesticides, buying organic is the way to go, especially for the ones ranked highest on the list. Here are the top five fruits and vegetables that made the EWG's Dirty Dozen list and Clean 15 List found in their Shopper's Guide to Pesticide in Produce.

Let's start with the bad news first.

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