Fasting is a requirement during the Muslim month of Ramadan. CNN's Leone Lakhani reports on the risks and benefits.
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CNN's Ivan Watson speaks to a chef in Jerusalem who is preparing to cook for Pope Francis. This will be the third pope he’s cooked for.
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Something is brewing among American Protestants, and it has a decidedly hoppy flavor.

For much of the last century in the United States, Protestant Christianity’s relationship with beer was cold or even hostile at times. Protestant organizations such as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League led the campaign to make alcohol illegal.

Even after Prohibition ended, many evangelicals defined themselves by their abstention from alcohol, called “the beloved enemy” by televangelist Jack Van Impe.
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Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.

Happy This Year! If, like me, you’ve already broken a few of your resolutions, you might be done with new diets in 2014.
 
If, however, your will to lose weight is stronger than ever, US News & World Report has some helpful intel. It ranked 32 current diets for effectiveness and simplicity, naming the DASH Diet (developed to fight high blood pressure; the focus is on fruits, vegetables, lean protein, low-fat dairy) and the TLC Diet (focusing on increasing fiber intake and cutting back on saturated fat) as the winners.

Tied at the bottom of the list are the Dukan Diet (the super-strict high-protein diet that claims you’ll lose 10 pounds in the first week) and the Paleo Diet (followers eat like cavemen: lots of meat, fish and vegetables; not a lot of refined sugar, beans, grains).
 
And then there are a few new weight loss plans that somehow missed the rankings, like the Mushroom Diet and the God Diet. Read on to learn how to lose weight according to the Old Testament.
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