Category Archives: Diet And Food

Doug Schmidt loved to eat meat and ate it every day, until at the age of 49,out of the blue, he suffered his first heart attack. "No one expects to have a heart attack at age 49," he said. In the hospital, near his home in Rochester, NY, he made the decision to follow the American Heart Association's dietary guidelines and cut way back on meat and dairy and switch to amore whole-foodplant-baseddiet. Then, just a few months later, he was sent back to the hospital barely able to breathe, and the doctors told him he could have another heart attack any minute.

After getting through that ordeal, Doug knew it was time to take matters into his own hands and not trust that the AHA had the right approach. He and his wife started doing more research while he was recuperating and found out that a plant-based dietbased on whole foods and zerooil was the healthiest way to go for someone in Doug's position: No meat, no dairy, no animal fat whatsoever. "She wanted to keep me around," he recalls. Eventually, he adopted a completely vegan diet which ended up saving his life. Within weeks of going full-on vegan, he started losing weight and his blood work improved. Every three months he checked in with his doctor and within 3 years he was completely back to normal healthy levels of cholesterol and other markers for cardiovascular disease.

All in all, changing to an oil-free whole food plant-based approachhelpedDoug lose sixty pounds and change his entire life, including changing his career path (he is still working as a school teacher) to focus more on educating others about how to start a plant-based diet of their own, for whatever their reason may be. The Beet chatted with Doug on Zoom andhe sharedhis entire journey over the past 9 years since he got healthy, including the challenges, the rewards, the motivations, theexact foods he ate to get healthy, and what inspired him along the way. Here is his play-book including the helpful movies to watch, books to read, and more.

DS:"I had a heart attack at 49, and nobody expects to get a heart attack at 49. All the research showed that if I didn't change my eating habits, I would have another heart attack within five years. Initially, I found Dr. Caldwell Esselstyns work on preventing and reversing heart disease, and at first, I said 'Thats too extreme, I'm not going to do that.'

"So the first year I followed the American Heart Association guidelines, which said I could have a little meat, I could have dairy, I could have eggs, and I ended up in the emergency room with a threat of another heart attack. After that health scare, I took things more seriously but still, the switch didnt happen overnight. It took us about three years to get fully on board. I switched my diet to save my life, but you know that there has been the added bonus of helping the environment and helping the animals, so its allowed me to walk a little softer."

DS:"Once we [my wife Shari and I] made that full conversion over to a whole-foods plant-based with no oil once we did that, all my blood work numbers came in line.

"My total cholesterol dropped down to under 150. My blood sugars all dropped in line. I lost 60 pounds, I went from 225 to 165 pounds. Once the weight started dropping off,as I consistently ate clean plant-based foods, the better my numbers got.

"I had a great doctor, who would take blood work every 3 months and he could tell if I was staying on track with my diet.My doctor would know if I hadnt lost weight, hed know if my cholesterol was still high. And as soon as I started eating properly, all those numbers came down and came in line. So it really was miraculous, once that started happening. With those health benefits, that was sort of all the encouragement I needed to keep going."

DS:"I had my heart attack just before we met, so she wanted to keep me around. So she was very instrumentalin my making theswitch. She took the E-Cornell plant-based nutrition course and she would read andsay to me:"Oh, we got to stop eating this! Oh, weve got to stop eating oil!" And I replied "Really?" But she helped me transition the most, because we did it together. She also had all the same health benefits as mI had. She lost 30 lbs and her numbers also all came in line and she felt healthier."

DS:"We really didn't see a lot of the weight loss until we hit that no oil phase. In the first week of not eating oil, she lost 5 pounds. Then it just started dropping off after that"

DS:"Pretty much every day. Dairy was definitely all throughout our diet.Pecorino Romano went into just about everything I made. Actually, when I had the heart attack, we moved to an 8-acre farm, and we decided we were going to grow a lot of our own food or as much as possible. That included raising chickens, not for the meat, but for the eggs. When we made that transition over, now we had chickens, but we werent eating the eggs. We werent going to just give those chickens away, but we weren't going to eat them either.

"So they just lived out their lives on the farm, being chickens. It was interesting to interact with them, they were great creatures to interact with. We now laugh, when we look at our pantry right now and see that it doesnt look like what it did ten years ago. The things that are in there are like, My gosh! How 'Hippy-eating, Kombucha-drinking' our pantry looks now. We just laugh."

DS:"I was a baker in a previous life. I used to be a bakery trainer for a major supermarket chain, Wegmans, before I became a teacher. So I can bake anything, from Croissants to Danish to Cakes, and I also have a sweet tooth. So that was sort of hard. I asked myself "how do you make a dessert without all that added sugar, without all the added fat or the eggs, or the dairy"? Especially because the cornerstone of most pastry is eggs, as well as butter, and dairy. So it was tough to make that change.

"Probably the hardest thing to give up was the cheese. The meat wasn't too hard, but you know, the cheese, which we used to put on everything. Andthen we had to figure out ways to get away from that taste addiction."

DS:"Oh, yes, Im still baking. For eggs and dairy, I don't think of it as substituting eggs and dairy because they serve as a certain component. Whether its eggs for a binder or for a lift in a product orfor addingfat. So, I look at things I can use instead, for fat, for binders, and for leavening. So for instance instead of fat, a lot of it now comesfrom using nuts.

"I used to make a French Pear Tart that was totally decadent, and it contained a lot of eggs, butter, and dairy in it. I make that same tart now with crushed nuts, oats, and a little maple syrup for the crust. For the filling, I use flax meal to make the typical flax egg, and thats enough to act as the binder. So I do things like that.

"I look at ways of incorporating beans to give a creaminess, not just black beans but white beans, to give creaminess in a filling. Also using those old skills and substituting non-dairy milk, I can make a simple custard that tastes just as good as the old one, but without any of the animal products. I found some workarounds for most of these things."

DS: "It hasnt changed too much. Typically I have an oat-bowl in the morning, with lots of fresh berries strawberries, blueberries, raspberriessome flaxseed, Lately, weve added [plant-based] yogurt to our breakfast mix that we make in our instant pot. For the base, we start with a soy-based yogurt as the culture, and we just use soy milk and put it in the instant-pot overnight, and the next day when you wake up, you have about 4, 5 cups of fresh yogurt. Then we also have a bowl of steamed kale with some balsamic vinegar on the side and thats breakfastand thats also basically lunch. We eat two meals a day. For dinner, it's whatever we're creating at the moment. A lot of bowls, stir-fries, soups, and salads, depending on what we're in the mood for. Right now we're preppingour second cookbook, so it's whatever we're cooking for the cookbook is what's typically for dinner."

DS:"Our first cookbook is called Eat Plants, Love: Recipes for a Good Life, and the second one that will be coming out this fall is called Eat More Plants, Recipes from the Good Life Challenge and we had some of the people who took our 10-day challenge contribute recipes to it."

DS:"Right now, were taking Complement, which is done by the guys from Plant-Based Athlete. It gives us our B-12, our D3, and also K2, which is for heart health, specifically for me. It has all the stuff we need, and it also has magnesium and other essentials. Initially, we were taking K2, D3, and B1 separately, but we figured we might as well get it all in one package."

DS:" I always tell people it is going to be hard, because you're giving up a lifetime of eating habits, so take it a bit at a time if that's the kind of person you are. Or you can just go all in. You know the first thing we tell people is that dairy is probably the most addictive and is what most people strugglewith.

"But you'll also immediately see results. We do our 10-day challenge, in which we say just do it in ten days because you can do anything for 10 days. That really gets people clean in 5 or 6 days, they feel the results. We tell people going 75%plant-based isnot giving you 100% of results. The only way you really see results is going all in.

"We also tell people,youre going to struggle, relapse, or fall off the wagon, as some people say, but it's okay, you have a chance at the next meal to eat healthily. Just keep working at it, its like any habit, you have to practice it to make it easier. And the longer you do it, the easier it gets."

DS:"One that really hit home was The Game Changers. And,Forks Over Knives of course is a good one. The one that actually made me go vegan was the one Joaquin Phoneix narrates, Earthlings. Its the movies opening with the definition of Earthlings that really made me stop and think. Its saying that it's humans arrogance to think that we're the only sentient beings on Earth.

"Any creature that lives on this Earth is a sentient being, they are all earthlings, which really hit home to me. You can't go back [to eating animal product] if you're true to your morals about animal welfare. I don't know how people can revert back."

DS:"It's that I walk a little bit more softly on the earth. Whether that's in my interactions with people or interactions with animals, I know that eating this way helps everything and everyone. It helps the environment, it helps the animals, and I know I'm not hurting anyone.

"That next step for me is to be gentle, generous, and kind, and giving that to the humans I interact with. So it is to walk softly on the earth, or gently. That sort of encompasses everything. My wife and I talk every once in a while, and we ask each other: Would you ever go back to eating certain things. For instance, I loved eggs. I loved meat, but when you think about where these things came from, and those abuses that those animals go through, you cant let go of that idea. For me, that mantra is walk softly on the earth."

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I Had a Heart Attack at 49, Went Vegan, and It Saved my Life - The Beet

ICYMI, best-selling author, podcast host, and entrepreneur Rachel Hollis has a lot of fans. Like, we're talking 1.8 million Instagram followers. Casual.

Unsurprisingly, Rachel is busy. (Did I mention she just launched an appcalled The RISE Apptoo?) Her secret to staying energized through it all? Good food, of course!

I want to eat foods that bless my body, Rachel tells Women's Health. Saying it like this helped me to get out of the way I was raised, which was thinking of food as good or bad and punishing myself if I ate something bad.

Basically, this means that Rachel tries to eat intuitively, opting for whatever she feels will give her the strength she needs to carry about her day. Growing up, I developed really unhealthy approaches to food, like emotional eating and binge-eating, and no consciousness about the way food affected our bodies," she says. Now, I try to pay attention. I ask: How does this food make me feel? Does it give me energy?

For Rachel, this means a happier, healthier relationship with foodand all of the benefits that go along with it.

I hate diets because diets are all about restrictions, she explains. I think the easiest thing that you can do if youre trying to make a change in your nutrition or health is to add something, not subtract it.

Feelin inspired? Heres what a typical day of Rachels eatsfrom breakfast to dessertlooks like.

Rachel is the definition of an early-riser. She gets up at 4:30 a.m. in the morning so that she can read, have her coffee, and journal before the kiddos wake. Around 6:30 or 7 a.m., she drinks some natural pre-workout (she loves a brand called Natural Force) and then gets in a sweat, which usually involves a run.

Then, an hour or two later, after showering and checking on her kids, its time for breakfast. Its always a green smoothie with almond milk, hemp, flax, natural almond butter, collagen protein powder, and spinach. Rachel says. Yum!

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Recently, Rachel has gone the grazing route, opting for a few hearty snacks throughout the day instead of one big lunch.

My favorite snacks are green apples, almonds, and almond butter. Ive got Justins nut butters in just about every flavor, she says. I also love RXBARs. (She digs their simple, transparent ingredients.)

Another favorite: protein overnight oats with berries.

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She also munches on tons of veggies, and she says she feels best when she eats raw foods.

Rachels other staple throughout the day is hydration. I drink water like it's my job, she says. Im a long-distance runner, and its 100 degrees in Texas, so I have to make sure Im hydrating. To give her H2O a boost, Rachel adds sugar-free electrolytes called LYTEshow, which she says give her water a yummy lemon-y flavor.

Organic Apple Ginger Pre-Workout

$39.99

Chocolate Sea Salt Protein Bar

RXBARamazon.com

Classic Peanut Butter

$5.88

Sugar-Free Electrolytes

$19.95

Come dinnertime, Rachel likes to sip on a lil cocktail (her fave is vodka in La Croix) while she cooks. Im not going to pretend that I dont have cocktails, she says. Straight whiskey, vodka, and tequila are my only go-tos, though. I really tried to get on the White Claw bandwagon, but my body cant do it.

What exactly dinner looks like, though, varies depending on whether Rachel has kiddos to feed (they live with her for half of each week). When shes solo, she keeps it super simple with a protein like steak, chicken, and fish with a side of veggies. If her children are with her, though, she makes the same thing, plus some sort of carb (like pasta), too.

They had spaghetti last night, so I had spaghetti too, she explains. I dont want my kids to see me prepare a full meal for them while I eat something different, she says. I think that sort-of says that theres something wrong with what theyre eating.

Whether Rachel is eating out or at home, her love for sweets is strong.

Baked goods are my favorite, she says. I love cake. I love cookies.

Though she also loves dairy-based treats, too, she doesnt stomach them too well anymore. I love things like ice cream and banana pudding, but they dont end well for anybody. So, to save her tum, she limits these to special occasions. Same, girl. Same.

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Rachel Hollis Diet Is All About Intuitive Eating And Staying Energized - Women's Health

Bernard J. Wolfson September 9, 2020

If your life these days is anything like mine, a pre-pandemic routine that included regular exercise and disciplined eating has probably given way to sedentary evenings on a big chair, binge-watching reruns of your favorite TV series while guzzling chocolate ice cream or mac n cheese.

But lets not beat ourselves up about it. Several doctors I spoke with recently said most of their patients and many of their colleagues are struggling to maintain healthy habits amid the anxiety of the pandemic. The Quarantine 15 (pounds, that is) is a real phenomenon.

The double challenge of protecting our health, including our immune systems, while battling unhealthy temptations is a struggle everyone is dealing with, says Dr. David Kilgore, director of the integrative medicine program at the University of California-Irvine.

Well before COVID-19, more than 40% of U.S. adults were obese, which puts them at risk for COVID-19s worst outcomes. But even people accustomed to physical fitness and good nutrition are having trouble breaking the bad habits theyve developed over the past five months.

Karen Clark, a resident of Knoxville, Tennessee, discovered competitive rowing later in life, and her multiple weekly workouts burned off any excess calories she consumed. But the pandemic changed everything: She could no longer meet up with her teammates to row and stopped working out at the YMCA.

Suddenly, she was cooped up at home. And, as for many people, that led to a more sedentary lifestyle, chained to the desk, with no meetings outside the house or walks to lunch with colleagues.

I reverted to comfort food and comfortable routines and watching an awful lot of Netflix and Amazon Prime, just like everybody else, Clark says. When I gained 10 pounds and I was 25, I just cut out the beer and ice cream for a week. When you gain 12 pounds at 62, its a long road back.

She started along that road in July, when she stopped buying chips, ice cream and other treats. And in August, she rediscovered the rowing machine in her basement.

But dont worry if you lack Clarks discipline, or a rowing machine. You can still regain some control over your life.

A good way to start is to establish some basic daily routines, since in many cases thats exactly what the pandemic has taken away, says Dr. W. Scott Butsch, director of obesity medicine at the Cleveland Clinics Bariatric and Metabolic Institute. He recommends you bookend your day with physical activity, which can be as simple as a short walk in the morning and a longer one after work.

And, especially if you have kids at home who will be studying remotely this fall, prepare your meals at the beginning of the day, or even the beginning of the week, he says.

If you havent exercised in a while, start slow and gradually get yourself up to where you can tolerate an elevated heart rate, says Dr. Leticia Polanco, a family medicine doctor with the South Bay Primary Medical Group, just south of San Diego. If your gym is closed or you cant get together with your regular exercise buddies, there are plenty of ways to get your body moving at home and in your neighborhood, she says.

Go for a walk, a run or a bike ride, if one of those activities appeals to you. Though many jurisdictions across the United States require residents to wear masks when out in public, it may not be necessary and may even be harmful to some people with respiratory conditions while doing strenuous exercise.

Its clearly hard to exercise with a mask on, says Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases at Stanford Universitys School of Medicine. We go hiking up in the foothills and we take our masks with us and we dont wear them unless somebody starts coming the other way. Then we will put the mask on, and then we take it off and we keep going.

If you prefer to avoid the mask question altogether, think of your house as a cleverly disguised gym. Put on music and dance, or hula-hoop, Polanco suggests. You can also pump iron if you have dumbbells, or find a cable TV station with yoga or other workout programs.

If you search on the internet for exercise videos, you will find countless workouts for beginners and experienced fitness buffs alike. Try one of the seven-minute workout apps so popular these days. You can download them from Google Play or the Apple Store.

If you miss the camaraderie of exercising with others, virtual fitness groups might seem like a pale substitute, but they can provide motivation and accountability, as well as livestreamed video workouts with like-minded exercisers. One way to find such groups is to search for virtual fitness community.

Many gyms are also offering live digital fitness classes and physical training sessions, often advertised on their websites.

If group sports is your thing, you may or may not have options, depending on where you live.

In Los Angeles, indoor and outdoor group sports in municipal parks are shut down until further notice. The only sports allowed are tennis and golf.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, the Ron Schell Draft League, a softball league for men 50 and older, will resume play early this month after sitting out the spring season due to COVID-19, says Dave Hyder, the leagues commissioner.

But he says it has been difficult to get enough players because of worries about COVID.

In the senior group, you have quite a lot of people who are in a high-risk category or may have a spouse in a high-risk category, and they dont want to chance playing, says Hyder, 67, who does plan to play.

Players will have to stay at least 6 feet apart and wear masks while off the field. On the field, the catcher is the only player required to wear a mask. Thats because masks can steam up glasses or slip, causing impaired vision that could be dangerous to base runners or fielders, Hyder explains.

Whatever form of exercise you choose, remember it wont keep you healthy unless you also reduce consumption of fatty and sugary foods that can raise your risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension all COVID-19 risk factors.

Kim Guess, a dietitian at UC-Berkeley, recommends that people lay in a healthy supply of beans and lentils, whole grains, nuts and seeds, as well as frozen vegetables, tofu, tempeh and canned fish, such as tuna and salmon.

Start with something really simple, she said. It could even be a vegetable side dish to go with what theyre used to preparing.

Whatever first steps you decide to take, now is a good time to start eating better and moving your body more.

Staying healthy is so important these days, more than at any other time, because we are fighting this virus which doesnt have a treatment, says the Cleveland Clinics Butsch. The treatment is our immune system.

This KHN story first published onCalifornia Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

This story can be republished for free (details).

Subscribe to KHN's free Morning Briefing.

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Exercise and Diet Are More Important Than Ever With Virus at Large - Exercise and Diet Are More Important Than Ever With Virus at Large Bernard J....

The fusion of work-life-school and at-home togetherness is taking its toll on the best of us. Our workdays are longer, with the break normally found in a commute, no matter how short, reduced to a few steps from bed to makeshift office. Working mothers, in particular, are adding to their regular jobs by shouldering much of the burden of housework and childcare. Unless we are deliberate about it, it can be easy to let our boundaries slip away.

Healthy boundaries are essential to any relationship, including the ones you have at work. Your personal limits are an expression of your values. They let others know what you care about and how you define acceptable and unacceptable behavior. While it seems simple enough, for many of us setting boundaries, and enforcing them, is challenging.

Of course, in your professional life, theres the extra factor of how to meet your personal needs without putting your paycheck at risk. Responding to a boss or client who oversteps can be more stressful than dealing with a friend or partner where you feel like youre on an equal footing.

Here are some strategies to try if setting and enforcing boundaries is challenging for you.

Treating your coworkers with respect is fundamental. When you recognize and abide by their boundaries, theyre more likely to reciprocate.

Take care of your mental and physical well-being and feel confident about your worth. Eat a balanced diet and exercise regularly. Remember your accomplishments and treat yourself like a close friend.

If you want others to honor your boundaries, its important for you to understand them first. Think about your core values and priorities. How will you react if someone keeps asking you to do something that makes you uncomfortable?

Be prepared to discuss your position. Whats important to you, what your values are, may be different from whats important to your boss or client. Communicate with each other instead of making assumptions.

Offer compromises and alternatives that allow everyone to meet their needs. Maybe youd be happy to work some hours on the weekend to make time to help your child with schoolwork.

There may be some issues where you just need to draw the line. Let the other person know your reasons when you think that youre being asked to do something impractical or even unethical, and again, see if there are alternatives you can offer up.

Overall, learn to advocate for yourself. Keep track of your accomplishments. Ask for feedback to help you evaluate your performance. When it is time to set a boundary, do it with confidence.

You might be tempted to let some violations slide, but consider the consequences. Others are more likely to recognize your limits if you stick to them.

You need to protect your time as well as your self-esteem. Let others know what hours youre available for office matters instead of checking emails, texts, and phone messages around the clock. For example, leave wherever you are and go out for lunch. Check out when you are on vacation.

We may think that setting boundaries will damage our careers or hurt our reputations, but the reality is that when its done the right way, we do just the opposite. Setting boundaries enables us to be more productive by saying no to things that waste our time. We improve our relationships with colleagues by opening lines of communication and clarifying expectations; and we reduce stress, increase satisfaction in our jobs, and create a greater sense of overall well-being. And right now, who couldnt do with that?

Amy Kanis a leadership coach, with a focus on womens advancement and authentic leadership.

Excerpt from:
9 easy ways to set boundaries at work to improve your life - Fast Company

Benefits of Coconut Milk: We all crave to have a refreshing drink after a long, tiring day at work. We all have that surge to sip on a cooling, hydrating drink dont we? So, why not try something new, get over the regular lemonade, and try Coconut Milk! The thick, milk-like fluid comes from the white flesh of mature brown coconuts, a fruit of the coconut tree. Also Read - Mediterranean Diet May Protect Against Rheumatoid Arthritis Suggest Studies

It has many benefits to offer- coconut milk has a thick consistency and a rich, creamy texture. People down south commonly use this milk to prepare multiple cuisines. And it is a common ingredient across the world. A lot of people prepare smoothies, pouring it into their coffees, desserts, and rich sauces. Also Read - COVID-19:Experts Says Obese Young Adults More Likely To Get Affected From The Deadly Virus

Just FYI, Coconut water and Coconut milk are not the same, coconut water is usually found in green coconuts. Coconut water is the clear liquid that comes out of the young and green coconut. Although, coconut water also has great health benefits. Also Read - 7 Indian Destinations For Solo Travel If You Are A Woman

The coconut milk is prepared by grating flesh from a brown coconut and soaking it in water, straining it to produce a milk-like consistency.

Did you if you consume Coconut milk in moderation, it can be beneficial for your health as well as your beauty regime? Coconut flesh is highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5, and B6, and minerals including iron, selenium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous. It is lactose-free, so if you want to switch from regular cows milk, heres a substitute. A lot of vegans opt for coconut milk.

Here we give you five benefits of adding that sweet coconut milk to your diet:

1. Good for your Heart: Coconut milk is rich in lauric acid, which might have a positive effect on cholesterol levels in men and women.

2. Can help you lose those extra kilos: According to a study, Coconuts have 12% medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), and capric and caprylic acid which do not get stored as fat in your body. It also helps in promoting the production of ketones and induces satiety, which may help in reducing a few kilos.

3. Repairs damaged and dry hair: Coconut has moisturizing properties that can be used to treat dry, itchy scalp. Massage the coconut milk for 5 minutes, followed by a hot towel that will help moisturize your hair. Coconut Milk also helps in promoting hair growth, it has essential nutrients that will promote hair growth.

4. Say Bye-Bye to Acne: The fats in the coconut milk do not clog pores of the skin which helps in preventing Acne. Did you know by applying coconut milk on your face you can prevent aging? Well, it does. It has vitamin C which helps to maintain the elasticity and flexibility of your skin.

5. Helps in controlling Diabetes: It helps to control blood glucose levels, it also has antioxidants properties that maintain insulin secretion in the body.

Experience this tasty milk alternative today!

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Benefits of Coconut Milk: 5 Best Ways to Add Coconut Milk to Your Diet For Better Health - India.com

Where I stopped reading the email:

In these unprecedented times, we are all feeling additional stress, from concerns about catching a frightening disease to wondering how we are going to educate our children as we work from home. And that is why it is especially important now, more than ever, to look after ourselves, slow down and take the time to think about artichokes

How was your weekend? I hope you are staying healthy!

It is a difficult time for us all. Studies show that Americans have gained an average of 16 pounds since the beginning of the COVID-19 virus. But our scientists at Nosuch Laboratories have been working hard on developing healthy and nutritious ways to satisfy our anxious cravings with foods that are healthy and nutritious.

Everybody loves chocolate, right? Youre probably familiar with carob, the natural chocolate substitute. Now were happy to announce the introduction of CARE-OB, a new healthy alternative to carob

Good morning! In these unprecedented times, we are all finding ways to eat right and stay healthy. Fiber is beneficial to us all, and is an important part of any diet. That is why I am superexcited to introduce our new line of cabbage-based liqueurs

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Neman: Where I stopped reading the email - STLtoday.com

Plant-based or cultivated seafood is a small sector, but a growing one, according to The Good Food Institutes 2019 U.S. State of the Industry Report on Plant-Based Meat, Eggs and Dairy.

In 2019, there were numerous product launches, including New York-based Good Catchs plant-based tuna, which debuted at Whole Foods Market, Thrive Market and Fairway Markets. Meanwhile, New York-based Ocean Hugger Foods showcased its own plant-based tuna, Ahimi, and launched a plant-based eel product at the National Restaurant Association show. The new product is created by altering the texture and flavor of eggplant to resemble that of freshwater eel, or unagi.

Family-owned Van Cleve Seafood Co., based in Spotsylvania, Va., launched a plant-based line, Wild.Skinny.Clean, with Crab-less Cakes and plant-based pink shrimp. Tyson Ventures investment in San Francisco-based New Wave Foods, the first major investment by a conventional meat company in the plant-based seafood space, opened a door for the Springdale, Ark.-based meat company. For a company like Tyson, seafood has been out of reach in the past, because of production systems. Plant-based seafood can be produced in the same facility as other plant-based meat products, however, making it practical for Tyson.

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The Fight for the Center of the Plate - Progressive Grocer

ADELAIDE, Australia For most meat eaters, theres nothing better than a perfectly cooked steak. Unfortunately, a new report says grilling red meat is also cooking up trouble for your heart. A University of South Australia study finds certain cooking methods produce a compound that may increase the risks for heart disease, stroke, and diabetic complications.

When red meat is seared at high temperatures, such as grilling, roasting or frying, it creates compounds called advanced glycation end products or AGEs which when consumed, can accumulate in your body and interfere with normal cell functions, researcher Dr. Permal Deo says in a university release.

Researchers reveal red and processed meats which undergo high-heat caramelization see a significant rise in AGEs. Eating these meats can increase a persons daily AGE intake by 25 percent. The study warns this increase can contribute to vascular and myocardial stiffening, inflammation and oxidative stress all signs of degenerative disease.

Researchers look at the impact of two distinct diets, one full of red meat and one high in whole grains, dairy, nuts, and white meat. The diet with white meat also avoids grilling foods, choosing to steam, boil, stew, and poach the proteins instead.

The study finds participants eating a diet with red meat and processed grains have much higher AGE levels in their blood. Although researchers are still working to figure out how exactly AGEs affect your health, they add red meat plays a major role in putting AGEs in your system.

The message is pretty clear: if we want to reduce heart disease risk, we need to cut back on how much red meat we eat or be more considered about how we cook it, co-researcher Peter Clifton adds. If you want to reduce your risk of excess AGEs, then slow cooked meals could be a better option for long-term health.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. According to the CDC, heart disease accounts for one out of every four deaths in the United States each year.

The study appears in the journal Nutrients.

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Red meat even worse for you when you cook it on the grill, study says - Study Finds

In a season when we would usually be out cheering on our local sports teams, we are spending more time at home and repeating a new mantra: Wash your hands, practice social distancing, wear a mask.

But what if you could play offense instead of defense to fend off colds and viruses? What if adjusting your daily habits could build your immunity to help your body fend off illness, not only this year but every year?

Thats not only possible, says Katie Moksnes Bowman, its something she encourages her patients to do every day.

Stress is the number one way we increase inflammation in the body, says Moksnes Bowman, a licensed acupuncturist and Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM) for Northwestern Health Sciences University. She says inflammation can affect digestion, sleep patterns, pain, and your bodys immunity.

The key to improving your immunity is to reduce inflammation in your body.

The amount of stress that has been created from the pandemic is causing issues for people physically and emotionally, she says. In Chinese medicine, your digestion matters, sleep matters, your immune system matters.

When I am in practice with a patient, we talk about sleep, bowels, diet and movement at every single treatment. I really want to work with them where theyre at.

She sees patients ranging from professional athletes to seniors with mobility issues and everyone in between, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to treatment.

In Chinese medicine, we really view the body as a whole, she says. For example, if a patient has shoulder pain, Moksnes Bowman proceeds knowing the shoulder does not work independently from the rest of the body.

"The amount of stress that has been created from the pandemic is causing issues for people physically and emotionally. In Chinese medicine, your digestion matters, sleep matters, your immune system matters." Kate Moksnes Bowman, Northwestern Health Sciences University

If you are not digesting your foods properly, if youre not getting a good nights sleep, she says, I can do a ton of work on your shoulder, but its not going to repair well.

To help patients improve their health and build their immunity, she suggests small changes in diet and exercise, such as drinking enough water, reducing caffeine and sugar consumption, adding anti-inflammatory foods to their diet, and getting more movement every day.

I am not going to overhaul your whole diet, she says. If you do not want to stop eating pizza, I cannot make you stop eating pizza. But she might suggest that you try goat cheese on your pizza or sample a cauliflower crust.

I see myself as a reminder person, she says. I have patients come in and I say, How did your diet go this week? Did you eat something green? That means a plant, you know, not a green Jolly Rancher.

That question always gets a laugh, but the point is that little changes can make a difference in reducing inflammation and improving immunity.

When we are talking about diet and exercise, both of those things reduce inflammation and so does sleeping. Sleeping is a time to repair your body, Moksnes Bowman says. Asked what tops her list as the most important step, she says: Its not a hierarchy for me. Its more of a circle than a list, because all of those things are going to influence the next thing.

Small adjustments in diet and exercise are something patients do on their own between clinic visits, where Moksnes Bowman and other practitioners offer a range of therapies, from acupuncture and massage to cupping, Gua Sha, herbal medicine and even recipes to help improve your immunity.

If you have a lot of stress and are getting the common cold five times a winter, I would suggest you consider herbal medicine, she says. She advises against buying supplements in the grocery aisle. Seek a health professional who is specialized before taking Vitamin D, C or Elderberry syrup. They are all really good things, but theyre not always the right thing for everybody. Its always important to make sure you are taking the right amount.

Creating good sleep habits and a good sleeping environment are important, too. If you are on your phone or watching TV at night, the blue light from the device stimulates a part of the brain that doesn't allow you to fall asleep as well, she says.

Improved diet and exercise, combined with acupuncture or other types of Chinese medicine, can reduce inflammation over time by increasing blood flow and releasing endorphins, which Moksnes Bowman describes as that calm, happy hormone. That is our own bodys way of reducing pain in the body.

And that calm, happy hormone can lead to a good nights sleep, as described in a text from one of Moksnes Bowmans patients, who said: I cant believe how much my sleep improved by getting acupuncture.

The results arent anecdotal, she says. Sleep-tracking devices demonstrate that acupuncture can improve sleep; they record how well and deeply you are sleeping and if you are waking frequently during the night.

And while youre getting those extra ZZZs, your body is resting and fortifying its immunity.

One of the side effects of social distancing and working from home has been an increase in loneliness. Moksnes Bowman says that after a brief shutdown of the NWHSU Bloomington Clinic several months ago, she noticed two things when the clinic reopened: Patients who had missed appointments were in pain, and they were lonely.

People wanted to talk for so long, she says. I made my treatments a bit longer so patients could just talk, because people were feeling lonely.

She and other practitioners frequently refer patients to therapists, Tai Chi or Pilates instructors or others when they see an opportunity to help the patient move, relax or sort things out. Taking a deep breath and getting some release is also good for building a sense of well-being.

Think of amping up your immune system as the ultimate DIY project. Add some green to your diet, make sure you drink enough water, cut out some caffeine and get enough sleep for starters, and then add some acupuncture or massage. Together those steps can help fortify your immunity.

And keep in mind that this year, none of that replaces the need to frequently wash your hands, socially distance wherever possible and wear a mask when its not.

___________________________________________________________________________

Located in Bloomington,Northwestern Health Sciences Universityis a pioneer in integrative natural health care education, offering degree programs in chiropractic, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, massage therapy, medical assisting, medical laboratory programs, post-bac/pre-health, radiation therapy, and B.S. completion. At press time, itsBloomington clinicis open to the public and services include chiropractic care, Chinese medicine, massage therapy, naturopathic medicine, Bloomington Clinic offers integrative, natural care for the entire family in one location.

Each monththe Bloomington Clinic providers host a Provider Talks webinar that discusses topics from foot health to the ABZzzzs of Sleep to Promoting Health through the Seasons. Learn more about the webinar serieshere.

Telemedicine is a convenient way to care for yourself during these unprecedented times. Appointment times vary depending on the service. Providers are part ofNorthwestern Health Sciences University, a non-profit industry leader in integrative and natural healthcare education that provides access to the latest evidence and state-of-the-art technology so you get the natural solutions you truly need.

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Immune-Boosting Strategies to Stay Ahead of the Cold - Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

Gerrit Cole has a home run problem.

Look, the New York Yankees have plenty of issues, and Cole is hardly the biggest of them, but when you sign the most lucrative contract for a pitcher in baseball history, the expectations are skyscraping, especially in New York and for a storied franchise that has not been to the World Series since 2009.

Cole is 4-3 with a 3.63 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 52 innings heading into Thursday's start against the Orioles, who happen to be improbably breathing down the necks of the Yankees for the eighth and final playoff spot in the American League. As Cole has slumped so have the Yankees. He's 0-3 in his past four starts, and the Yankees have lost all four of those games in the midst of a 5-15 slump that led general manager Brian Cashman to head to Buffalo to give the team a pep talk. New York finally got back in the win column Wednesday.

David Schoenfield joins Buster to talk about the struggles of the Yankees in general and Gary Sanchez in particular, among other topics. Listen

The number that stands out for Cole is 13 home runs allowed. That rate over 212 innings, which is how many he pitched for Houston in 2019, translates to 53 home runs. To put that in perspective, the only pitcher to allow 50 or more home runs in a season was Bert Blyleven, who allowed 50 for the Twins in 1986.

Cole entered the season as the consensus Cy Young favorite in the AL after a dominant campaign with the Astros in which he won his final 19 regular-season decisions and set a record for starting pitchers with a 39.9% strikeout rate.

What has happened?

It isn't just the home runs. Cole's strikeout rate, though still impressive, is down to 32.9%, his average exit velocity allowed has increased from 87.6 mph to 91.1 (which puts him in the bottom 10% of all pitchers), and he has pitched seven innings just once in nine starts after doing so 15 times in 33 starts last season.

Let's dig in to some of the numbers, starting with what has happened on those 13 home runs:

July 23: Adam Eaton, 2-2 count, 98.1 mph fastball (406 feet to RF)

Staked to a 2-0 lead over the Nationals in the top of the first, Cole wanted to go up in the zone but left the pitch middle-in, and the second batter he faced in his Yankees career hit it out.

2 Related

July 29: Dwight Smith Jr., 0-0 count, 95.7 mph fastball (389 feet to RF)

This one came late in the game on Cole's 101st pitch with the Yankees holding a 7-1 lead over the Orioles. Smith turned on an inside fastball at the knees.

Aug. 3: Jay Bruce, 3-2 count, 98.7 mph fastball (418 feet to RC)

A third-inning home run that tied the game 1-1, this pitch was up in the zone, though over the middle of the plate, and the Phillies' Bruce knocked it into the bullpen at Yankee Stadium.

Aug. 8: Jose Martinez, 2-0 count, 96.1 mph fastball (428 feet to LC)

Cole really had to work against the Rays, as Martinez's home run came on his 107th pitch, even though it was only the fifth inning. Martinez was sitting fastball up in the count, and Cole threw one right down the middle.

Aug. 14: Alex Verdugo, 1-1 count, curveball (375 feet to RF)

As with the previous four home runs, the Yankees were ahead when Cole allowed this one. It was a curveball in off the plate, with a strike probability of just 21%, but Verdugo golfed it into the second deck at Yankee Stadium for the Red Sox.

Aug. 19: Ji-Man Choi, 2-1 count, changeup (413 feet to RC)

With this flat changeup on the outer third of the plate, Choi displayed impressive raw power by reaching for the pitch and crushing it well into the bleachers at Yankee Stadium. The second-inning home run gave the Rays a 1-0 lead.

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Aug. 19: Mike Zunino, 1-2 count, 97.8 mph fastball (428 feet to CF)

This was an awful pitch to a bad hitter. Zunino hit .104 with two strikes in 2019. He's hitting .119 with two strikes in 2020. Catcher Gary Sanchez wanted the pitch away, but Cole threw this one dead center, and Zunino hit it out to center field.

Aug. 26: Ronald Acuna Jr., 3-2 count, 97.3 mph fastball (473 feet to LC)

Facing the first Braves hitter of the game, Cole threw a good fastball on the outside corner. Acuna didn't miss it, hitting a 114 mph rocket.

Aug. 26: Dansby Swanson, 2-1 count, slider (354 feet to RF)

Cole fanned Swanson earlier in the game with a steady diet of power sliders, and he threw a good one on 1-1 on the outside corner, but the umpire called it a ball. Cole came back with another slider, but it didn't move at all and hung up in the zone, and Swanson got enough to send it into the first row of seats. Really, this was the first semi-cheap home run Cole had given up.

Aug. 26: Marcell Ozuna, 1-1 count, curveball (469 feet to LC)

Two batters after Swanson, Ozuna gave the Braves a 4-0 lead with another mammoth home run off Cole's knuckle-curve that kind of rolled over the middle of the plate.

Aug. 31: Ji-Man Choi, 1-2 slider (360 feet to RF)

Choi didn't hit it all that hard -- at 95.3 mph, this is the "softest" of the 13 home runs -- but he snuck it into the second row of the short porch at Yankee Stadium to give the Rays a 2-0 first-inning lead. The hit made Choi 7-for-11 lifetime against Cole, with three home runs and three doubles. Go figure.

Aug. 31: Kevin Kiermaier, 1-1 count, 97 mph fastball (411 feet to RF)

"Gerrit Cole is kind of in shock right now," Yankees announcer Paul O'Neill said after Kiermaier's 110 mph blast on an inside fastball -- his hardest-hit ball of the season.

Baseball is back! You can watch 2020's 60-game sprint all season on ESPN.

Sunday, Sept. 13Astros at Dodgers, 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 16Dodgers at Padres, 4 p.m.Mets at Phillies, 7 p.m.

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Sept. 5: DJ Stewart, 1-0 count, 96 mph fastball (353 feet to RF)

A towering fly ball to right field at Camden Yards -- with a 43-degree launch angle -- Stewart's first hit of the season broke a scoreless tie in the sixth inning. Cole then fell apart after an error extended the inning and allowed four unearned runs following Stewart's home run.

"I try to take the good stuff from it, but in the end, especially right now, I just feel like it wasn't good enough," Cole said after the game. "Some really nice pitches tonight, some really nice sequences, but in the end, when the pitches mattered, we kind of fizzled out."

Eight of the 13 home runs Cole has allowed have come on fastballs, but only two have come when Cole was ahead in the count. That's kind of what you might expect: Cole is still pretty untouchable with two strikes, so hitters will try to jump the fastball, especially when ahead in the count. Of course, that was the approach hitters used last year as well, when 17 of the 29 home runs Cole allowed came off his four-seamer.

As you can see from the pitch locations listed above, Cole's command within the strike zone hasn't been quite as elite as we've seen in the past, and he has left too many fastballs in hittable locations. His swing-and-miss rate on his fastball is what jumps out to me:

2019: 37.6%2020: 25.0%

Fewer fastballs in the right location leads not just to fewer swing-and-misses but also to more counts favorable to hitters, which means they can sit on the fastball. Also, Cole's average fastball velocity is down a tick, from 97.1 to 96.5, which could be a minor factor.

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Maybe he's simply throwing too many meatballs? We can tally the number of fastballs determined to be "mid-mid" of the strike zone -- meatball location, in other words. In 2019, 10% of Cole's fastballs were mid-mid; in 2020, it's ... 10%. So that's not the issue. (Batters are doing a little more damage on those pitchers, however. In 2019, Cole allowed six home runs all season on mid-mid fastballs. He has already allowed four in 2020.)

The skeptics out there could suggest that Cole is missing the Astros' secret sauce -- their infamous ability to get pitchers to increase their spin rates on fastballs. This is what Trevor Bauer insinuated a couple of years ago, when he tweeted in reference to the Astros, "If only there was just a really quick way to increase spin rate."

Well ... Cole's spin rate on his four-seam fastball is down very slightly, from 2,530 rpms to 2,503. That doesn't seem like a big factor, but the vertical drop on his fastball has increased from 10.9 inches to 11.6, which means it isn't holding its plane quite as well. That's how you get so many swing-and-misses on those fastballs up in the zone.

These are all minor issues. It's also just nine starts. It's worth noting that through his first nine starts last season, Cole was 4-4 with a 3.88 ERA. He had one more bad outing a couple of starts after that, and then he went 16-0 with a 1.78 ERA in his final 22 outings.

Of course, Cole doesn't have four months to make his adjustments this year. He (along with a few of his teammates) needs to make them now.

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New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole has a home run problem. What's going on? - ESPN