Category Archives: Diet And Food

If you're a long-distance runner, it's safe to say you have a zest for pounding the pavement and going strong for miles. But before you lace up your sneakers and get in those strides, it's crucial to know the food choices that will enhance your absolute finest performance. We have some expert input on the matter, so read on to learn about the best diet for long-distance runners. And next up, don't miss The 6 Best Exercises for Strong and Toned Arms in 2022, Trainer Says.

We chatted with Melissa Pfeister, founder of the health and wellness brand Stripped with Melissa and a member of the ETNT Medical Expert Board, who explains, "Food is the most crucial element to getting the energy we need." It's important that your food choices are the right ones, though. Following the wrong diet and eating bad food items will not provide you with the energy you need to optimize your performance and help you achieve your workout goals.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

So without further delay, let's get into what Pfeister has to say about the best diet for long-distance runners.

Related: These Are the Best Foods for Running Stamina, Says Dietitian

Pfeister tells us that lean protein is crucial. It's truly a number one choice for long-distance running. She says, "Protein is so beneficial for many reasons; it supplies the amino acids your body needs to build and repair your muscles."

Excellent sources of proteins include lean pork and beef, turkey and chicken, eggs, low-fat dairy items, nuts, and beans.

Related: The Beginner's Guide To Training For Long-Distance Running

Another food item that's an amazing choice is Greek yogurt. In fact, Pfeister calls it a "rockstar" for runners! She explains, "Not only does it supply you with protein for your muscles and carbs for energy, but it also provides an amazing amount of essential vitamins and minerals and [is] easy to digest."

The best part about yogurt is the fact that it's portable. It's so easy to put it in a container along with some other goodness like fresh fruitspecifically, berries, which are another winning item for runners!and granola. Pfeister adds, "Out the door you go, all while enjoying a quick and easy meal before or post-run!"

Carbs are really important to eat as wellespecially if you're running for one to three hours on any given day. When you're training vigorously, the majority of your diet should consist of carbs. Mayo Clinic recommends 2.7 to 4. 5 g of carbs for each pound you weigh, every day. That being said, a runner who weighs 135 pounds should consume between 365 and 670 grams of carbs every dayand we're not just referring to any carbs, they should be "high-quality." Examples include pasta, rice, cereals, and whole-grain bread, in addition to fruit, starchy vegetables, low-fat yogurt, and low-fat milk.

Healthy fats are also an integral part of a runner's diet. Examples of good healthy fat choices are avocado, seeds, nuts, nut butter, and olive oil.

Alexa Mellardo

The rest is here:
This Is the Best Diet for Long-distance Runners, Expert Says Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Over the course of human history, scientists believe that humans have cultivated more than 6,000 different plant species. But over time, farmers gravitated toward planting those with the largest yields. Today, just three crops rice, wheat and corn provide nearly half of the worlds calories.

That reliance on a small number of crops has made agriculture vulnerable to pests, plant-borne diseases and soil erosion, which thrive on monoculture the practice of growing only one crop at a time. It has also meant losing out on the resilience other crops show in surviving drought and other natural disasters.

As the impacts of the climate crisis become starker, farmers across the world are rediscovering ancient crops and developing new hybrids that might prove more hardy in the face of drought or epidemics, while also offering important nutrients.

You hear all the statistics like, Weve lost 90% of our varieties. Its only recently that I realized the greatest sadness isnt that weve lost that diversity. Its that we dont even know that weve lost that diversity, says Chris Smith, founder of the Utopian Seed Project.

Heres a look at five crops, beyond rice, wheat and corn, that farmers across the world are now growing in hopes of feeding the planet as it warms:

From leaf to seed, the entirety of the amaranth plant is edible. Standing up to eight feet tall, amaranth stalks are topped off with red, orange or green seed-filled plumes. Across Africa and Asia, amaranth has long been eaten as a vegetable whereas Indigenous Americans also ate the plants seed: a pseudocereal like buckwheat or quinoa.

While amaranth leaves can be sauted or cooked into a stir-fry, the seed is commonly toasted and then eaten with honey or milk. A complete protein with all nine essential amino acids, amaranth is a good source of vitamins and antioxidants.

In the Americas, Spanish colonizers banned the Aztecs and Maya from growing amaranth when they arrived on the continent. However, the plant continued to grow as a weed and many farmers saved amaranth seeds, passing them down for generations, until their descendants were allowed to grow it again.

Today, Indigenous farmers in Guatemala, Mexico and the US are collaborating to grow this drought-resistant crop. Like fonio, an African grain, amaranth is not a new crop, but one that is experiencing a resurgence as communities adapt to the climate crisis. Everything thats new was old once, said Matthew Blair, a professor at Tennessee State University and co-president of the Amaranth Institute.

Amaranth has found its way into European kitchens, with Ukraine coming in as the crops largest producer on the continent.

For thousands of years, farmers across west Africa have cultivated fonio a kind of millet that tastes like a slightly nuttier couscous or quinoa. Historically, fonio is considered to be Africas oldest cultivated cereal and was regarded by some as the food of chiefs and kings. In countries such as Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali, fonio would be served on holy days, like at weddings and during the month of Ramadan.

Today, attention is increasingly focused on fonio for its resilience and health benefits. As the climate continues to change, fonios drought resistance and ability to grow in poor soil has made it a standout crop in water-scarce regions. It also has important nutritional value as a low glycemic, gluten-free grain making it a good source of amino acids for people with diabetes or gluten intolerance.

While Europeans once called fonio hungry rice, European companies are now manufacturing their own fonio. The Italian company Ob Food helped introduce fonio to the EU in December 2018. And in the US, the Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam sources fonio from the aid organization SOS Sahel for his brand Yoll, also the name of his cookbook celebrating west African cuisine.

In the 1940s, more than 5m acres of cowpeas were grown in the US the majority, as their name suggests, for hay to feed livestock. But long before cowpeas also called southern peas or black-eyed peas came to the Americas, they were grown for human consumption in west Africa. Although cowpea production has declined in the US in recent decades, the crop is hugely important in much of Africa. Nigeria is the worlds largest cowpea producer.

As scientists look for alternative crops, Blair said it was important to identify ones where the entire plant is edible. Although historically people have mostly eaten cowpeas seeds, the leaves and pods are also a good source of protein.

Because cowpeas are highly drought tolerant, theyre also a good candidate as the climate changes. At Tennessee State University, Blair is part of a team studying the introduction of cowpeas to Latin America, as an alternative to beans, like pinto and black beans, with similar flavor profiles that may soon become more difficult to grow.

In the tropics of south-east Asia and Polynesia, taro has long been grown as a root vegetable, not unlike the potato. But as rising temperatures threaten cultivation of the crop in its natural habitat, farmers in the continental US are trying to adapt the tropical perennial to grow as a temperate annual, because it cannot survive the cold of US winters.

At the Utopian Seed Project in North Carolina, founder Chris Smith and his team have been experimenting with tropical crops, looking for ways to help the plants survive the winter. Today, theyre growing eight varieties of taro, including ones sourced from Korea, the Philippines, Hawaii, China and Puerto Rico.

We want to introduce taro because we truly believe that that will give us a more secure food system, Smith says. But the beautiful byproduct is that that also allows us to engage with foods that are traditionally from either Indigenous or peasant farming communities. And I think it really gives those traditionally underserved populations an opportunity to engage with the food system that they dont usually get.

Like fonio, amaranth and cowpeas, taro isnt a new crop its just new to the US food system. Which is why the Utopian Seed Project isnt just learning how to grow taro, but also teaching people how to cook it. These crops are just foods that are embedded in cultures around the world in a way that theyre not embedded here, Smith said. It takes work to build that community and desire for that crop.

While many alternative crops are just plants that were grown somewhere else in the world generations ago, others have been cultivated specifically to withstand climate change.

In the 1980s, researchers at the Pennsylvania-based Rodale Institute identified a wheat-like grass called intermediate wheatgrass as a perennial cereal crop that could be developed as a substitute for annual grains like wheat. The goal was to minimize the environmental impacts of grain production.

In 2019, the Kansas-based Land Institute, a non-profit research organization focused on sustainable agriculture, introduced Kernza, a cereal crop developed from intermediate wheatgrass and trademarked to ensure farmers know theyve bought seeds from the official breeding program. Although researchers are still working to improve the grains yield, farmers in Minnesota, Kansas and Montana are today growing nearly 4,000 acres of Kernza.

Growers immediately understand the benefits of perennials on their landscapes, said Tessa Peters, director of crop stewardship at the Land Institute, and for those working in grain-producing areas, Kernza is very appealing.

The rest is here:
Diet for a hotter climate: five plants that could help feed the world - The Guardian

Do you want to increase your life expectancy by a decade? Leaving accidents and genetic or unavoidable diseases aside, if you follow these tips you will achieve it.

The United States is one of the few First World countries where life expectancy is declining. In part due to feeding. Its culinary culture is not the healthiest in the world, and the pandemic has increased the problems.

A study conducted in Norway and published in PLOS Medicine has detailed what foods we should eat to increase our life expectancy by a decade.

As explained by the health website VeryWellfit, this study has used a food model calculator that estimates life expectancy with a series of dietary options, to identify Foods that help lengthen the age.

The results are no surprise, especially for those of us who follow the Mediterranean diet. But it is worth remembering it, so that we do not forget what we must do.

According to the aforementioned study, the key to living 10 more years is to consume more legumes, more whole grains and more nuts, With Less red and processed meat.

Changes in diet can have a considerable impact, not only on health throughout life, but can also significantly increase lifespan, says the main researcher, Dr. Lars Fadnes, professor at the University of Bergen (Norway). Even for the elderly, the gains would be smaller but substantial.

Legumes provide soluble fiber, quality protein and micronutrients such as zinc, calcium and iron. They are also resistant starches, which help regulate blood sugar.

The study also recommends reduce sugar intake, exercise more, and eat more fruit.

In short, nothing we dont know. But that few people put into practice 100%. This Norwegian investigation not only reminds us, but also, calculates the increase in life expectancy: a decade. A good reason to start changing our habits!

Excerpt from:
These are the changes you have to make to your diet to live 10 more years - Gearrice

There are a lot of fad diets being thrown around these days, many with connections to the past. Theres the Paleo diet, drawn from the word paleolithic, which dictates people are supposed to only eat food consistent with the hunted or gathered food of Stone Age hominids. Then theres the peasant diet, which is plant-based, and usually seasonal and cheap only what a Medieval peasant might eat.

If either of these are of interest to you, you might consider that paleolithic men died out and peasants werent exactly known for their health and physique. Instead, why not try the diet of raiders who terrorized coastal cities across Europe for centuries: the Viking diet.

Not much is written about what exactly Vikings ate while on campaign, while sailing, or in a raiding party, but at least a handful of Viking sagsa do describe how the raiders managed to eat while out for a pillage: Eyrbyggernes saga from 11th century Iceland.

Aboard the Viking longboat, the members of a raiding party would draw lots for who had to cook for the rest of the crew, as there were no trained cooks among them. Every day, the Viking warriors would choose who would prepare that days food in this way.

A Viking warship did not have a dedicated galley, and thus had no means of creating a hot meal for the warriors who were sailing aboard, but some laws dictated how much each man would get and that the designated cook would go ashore three times a day to collect water and prepare the companys food while the rest of the crew took the ships bearing.

Vikings called the shipboard provisions nest, farnest or hafnest, and it was usually a kind of porridge made in a large, metal, riveted pot. Some of these pots have been found aboard recent Viking shipwrecks.

According to another saga, that of Magnus Erlingssn, the ships porridge was often made up of a kind of grain, flour, and butter. To bolster the porridge, Viking also might carry a supply of dried, fatty fish (like halibut or cod), and bread on board the ship. Meat was often rare and werent used in the ships food stores because vikings required permission to slaughter farm animals.

Viking law, according to Denmarks Viking Ship Museum, required the amount of food for 12 men over 14 days time to be one ships pound of barleymeal and a large box of butter, which equals roughly two pounds of flour and little more than a half pound of butter, more than two pounds of food per man.

Aboard ship, the men drank water, with each ship capable of carrying hundreds of liters of water, as the laws required enough water for four liters per person, per day, taken from a trough. The men would drink from the trough and when the trough was empty, it would be refilled by the barrels storing the ships water.

Beer aboard ships was also rare, as it was reserved for those of nobility, most usually the king. When sailing too far from land to go ashore and refill stores, Vikings had supply ships sail with them in their raiding fleets.

If two pounds of barleymeal and butter was good enough for the Vikings to loot and plunder everywhere from the North of England to the Middle East, then its good enough to compliment your post-workout nutrition in American Midwest.

Read more here:
How Vikings ate while they sailed to plunder European villages - We Are The Mighty

Animal care

The study followed all procedures approved by the University of Florida Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Protocol #201810218) and all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. This manuscript is reported in accordance with ARRIVE guidelines.

The experiment was conducted at North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC), from University of Florida, located in Marianna, FL (3052N, 8511 W, 35m a.s.l.) in a pasture of Pensacola bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flgg). The soil at the experimental site is classified as an Orangeburg loamy sand (fine-loamy-kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kandiudults), with an average pH of 6.5. Average Mehlich-I extractable P, K, Mg, and Ca concentrations were 13, 45, 31, and 245mgkg1, respectively. Soil organic matter was 6.3gkg1, and the estimated cation-exchange capacity was 2.8meq 100g1. The study was carried out for two experimental periods of 32days each, separated by a 15-day interval (Period 1: from 06/08/2018 to 07/10/2018; Period 2: from 07/25/2018 to 08/27/2018). The average, maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall for the experimental periods are represented in Fig.5.

Marianna (FL) station of the Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) data of (a) weekly rainfall and temperature data from two experimental periods and (b) accumulated monthly rainfall (mm) and average temperature (C). Period 1: from 06/08/2018 to 07/10/2018; Period 2: from 07/25/2018 to 08/27/2018.

Fifteen BrahmanAngus crossbred steers [Period 1: 32426kg initial body weight (BW); Period 2: 33630kg BW] were randomly distributed into three experimental diets: 0, 50, or 100% (as fed) inclusion of AU Grazer sericea lespedeza hay [SL; Lespedeza cuneata (Dum. Cours.) G. Don] into Tifton 85 bermudagrass hay (BG; Cynodon spp.) diets (Table 3) and used as donors of excreta (urine and feces). Steers were fed for 21days for two feeding periods in a concomitant study17 and excreta used in the current study was collected in the last two experimental days of each. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

Emissions of GHG were evaluated using the static chamber (non-steady state) technique14. Chambers were circular with 30cm radius and made of a base and a lid, both built out of PVC47. The lids were wrapped with reflective tape to provide insulation and a rubber septum was added for gas sampling48. The base was fitted with a 10-cm length copper venting tube to ensure adequate air pressure inside the chamber during measurements49,50. Lids and bases were kept closed for gas sampling by fitting a bicycle tire inner tube that tightly sealed the parts together.

Bases of chambers were installed in the non-grazed pasture of bahiagrass twoweeks prior to excreta application to avoid any effect of soil disturbance on GHG emissions51. Bases were installed at 8-cm depth, with 5cm extending above ground level. Depth for installation was determined based on Clough et al.48. Chamber tops were 22cm height, which when summed with 5cm of base totaled 27cm, in agreement with the indication of40cm of chamber height per hour of deployment48. New bases were installed in a near location of the same pasture for the second experimental period, also twoweeks prior to starting new gas sampling.

Treatments applied to the chambers consisted of either feces or urine within one of the three levels of inclusion of SL hay fed to the beef steers and were distributed as a complete randomized block design. Urine and feces were collected directly from each animal by spontaneous or stimulated urinations and defecations and applied at a rate of 2 L of urine and 2kg of feces, as typical amounts excreted by cattle for the area of the chamber5,52. To obtain quantities required of excreta, sampling occurred twice a day (700 and 1500h) and samples were kept refrigerated at 4C until next morning (day 0 of gas sampling). Samples of each excreta type were composited across all five animals within each SL diet resulting in three final subsamples (urine and feces from each of three SL diets). Excreta samples were kept at room temperature 2h prior to application to the chambers and their chemical composition is described on Table 1.

Application of excreta to the chambers was made one time in each experimental period on the soil surface inside the area determined by the base of the chamber (0.28 m253). Grass inside the chamber area was cut at ground level before each sampling day, when appropriate. Gas sampling occurred between 0900 and 1100h, when temperature is considered more representative of the daily average47 on days 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 18, 25, and 32 after excreta application for both experimental periods. One subsample was taken per deployment time per chamber, separated by 15-min intervals (T0, T15, and T30). At T0, a sample was collected from the area directly above the soil surface54. Immediately thereafter, chambers were tightly closed by fitting the lid to the base with the bicycle inner tube, followed by the next sample deployment times. All samples were collected with the use of a 60-mL syringe and immediately flushed into a pre-vacuumed 30-mL glass vial. The vial was equipped with a butyl rubber stopper and sealed with an aluminum septum. Samples were analyzed immediately after finishing each experimental period.

Gas sample analyses were conducted using a gas chromatograph (Trace 1310 Gas Chromatograph, Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA). For N2O, an electron capture detector (350C) and a capillary column (J&W GC packed column in stainless steel tubing, length 6.56 ft (2M), 1/8 in. OD, 2mm ID, Hayesep D packing, mesh size 80/100, pre-conditioned, Agilent Technologies) were used. Methane was analyzed using a flame ionization detector (250C) and a capillary column (J&W PoraBOND Q GC Column, Agilent Technologies). For CO2, a thermal conductivity detector (200C) and capillary column [J&W GC packed column in stainless steel tubing, length 7 ft (2.13M), 1/8 in. OD, 2mm ID, Haysep N packing, mesh size 60/80, pre-conditioned, Agilent Technologies] were used. Temperature of the injector and columns were 80 and 200C, respectively.

The hourly gases fluxes (mg of N2O or CH4 or CO2 per m2h1) were calculated according to Cardoso et al.55:

$${text{F}}_{{{text{GHG}}}} = left( {updelta {text{C }}/ updelta {text{t}}} right) , times , left( {{text{V}}/{text{A}}} right) , times , left( {{text{M}}/{text{Vm}}} right),$$

where C/t is the change in gas concentration in the chamber during the deployment time; V and A are the chamber volume and soil area covered by the chamber, respectively; M is the molecular weight of the gas; and Vm is the molecular volume of gas. The Vm parameter was corrected to the standard conditions of temperature and pressure as Vm=0.02241(273.15+Tc/273.15)p0/p1, where 0.02241 is the molar volume (m3), Tc is the chamber headspace temperature at sampling time (C), p0 is the air pressure at sea level, and p1 is the local pressure calculated using the barometric equation. The minimal detectable flux was 0.012ppbmin1 for N2O, 0.004ppmmin1 for CH4, and 1.40ppmmin1 for CO2.

Daily N2O, CO2, and CH4 emissions were calculated by multiplying the fluxes by 24h and cumulative emissions were estimated by integrating the fluxes over each day (area under the curve) and averaged per period. The fraction of N applied in the excreta lost as N2O, named as emission factor (EF), was calculated according to the equation:

$${text{EF}}_{{{text{N}}_{{2}} {text{O}}}} left( % right) , = , left[ {left( {{text{N}}_{{2}} {text{O}} - {text{N}}_{{{text{emitted}}}} } right) , - , left( {{text{N}}_{{2}} {text{O}} - {text{N}}_{{{text{blank}}}} } right)} right]/{text{N}}_{{{text{applied}}}} times { 1}00,$$

where ({text{EF}}_{{{text{N}}_{{2}} {text{O}}}}) is the emission factor of N2O; N2O-Nemitted is the cumulative N2O-N emissions from the chamber with excreta (mgm2); N2O-Nblank is the cumulative N2O-N emissions from the blanks (chamber with no excreta deposited; mgm2); and Napplied is the urine or feces N application rate (mgm2).

A subsample (12ml) of the collected gas was transferred to evacuated exetainers (Labco, UK). Exetainers were pierced with a double needle and flushed with an ultrapure stream of He (12mLmin1) for 6min using an autosampler (Gilson GX-271, Gilson Inc, WI). During flushing, samples were transferred to a preconcentration unit (Trace Gas, Hanau, Germany) equipped with glass traps (OD 10mm, length 20cm) filled with Ascarite, Sofnocat and Mg(ClO4)2to scavenge CO2, CO, and water, respectively. Remaining N2O was cryo-focused on a capillary column submerged in liquid nitrogen for 12min and transferred to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IsoPrime 100, IsoPrime, Manchester, UK) for 15N analysis, using He (2mlmin1)as a carrier. The isotope ratio for 15N/14N was calculated as:

$$updelta^{{{15}}} {text{N }} = , left( {^{{{15}}} {text{N}}/^{{{14}}} {text{N}}_{{{text{sample}}}} -^{{{15}}} {text{N}}/^{{{14}}} {text{N}}_{{{text{reference}}}} } right)/left( {^{{{15}}} {text{N}}/^{{{14}}} {text{N}}_{{{text{reference}}}} times { 1}000} right),$$

where 15N is the N isotope ratio of the sample relative to atmospheric nitrogen, 15N/14Nsample is the N isotope ratio of the sample, and 15N/14Nreference is the N isotope ratio of atmospheric N (standard). The stable isotopic composition of nitrogen was reported using the conventional delta per mill notation. 15N values are expressed relative to the international standard (AIR-N2).

The experiment was analyzed as a completely randomized block design, with feces and urine data computed separately due to differences in the magnitude of responses53. There were three replicates (chamber) of each treatment, and day was considered the repeated measurement for all variables. Glimmix procedure of SAS (SAS Inst., Inc., Cary, NC, version 9.4) was used, in which the chamber was considered the experimental unit. Graphs were drawn using Microsoft Excel (version 16.61). Normality of distribution and homogeneity of variances were evaluated using the Univariate procedure of SAS. Covariance structures were based upon the smallest Akaike Information Criterion value. The model included the fixed effect of level of SL inclusion and day after excreta application and their interaction, and the random effects of block, period, and their interactions. Means were compared using the PDIFF adjusted by Tukeys test at 5% significance.

See more here:
Inclusion of a tannin-rich legume in the diet of beef steers reduces greenhouse gas emissions from their excreta | Scientific Reports - Nature.com

Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian had a good run. The two were head over heels for each other. For the nine months they were together, they made a lot of headlines and were the couple everyone was talking about. But fast-forward to the present, it has all come to an end for the former SNL member and the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star. But that is not something one of them is sad about. Apparently, Pete Davidson had had enough of Kim K consistently pestering him for his diet that is.

Pete Davidson had been with Kim Kardashian for less than a year. But that period was enough for him to get an idea of how a relationship with her could turn out to be. According to insider reports, he had gotten an idea of how trying a relationship with her would have been for him, with her consistently obsessing (and trying to gain control) over different aspects of his life.

This has most fervently manifested itself in her obsession with Davidsons diet. Kim K is known for following rather intense weight loss methods. If a woman says that shell eat p**p to stay fit, then we can all estimate how persistent shell be when it comes to her partners health.

The insider said, He (Davidson) had to keep up with her weight loss regime get in shape, stay off the junk food and look the part of her future husband.

This constant obsession meant that Pete Davidson had grown weary of their relationship. His time with her was enough and as time progressed, Davidson wanted to bring things to a close. And he was soon presented with the perfect opportunity to do so.

Davidson had to shoot in Australia for his upcoming project Wizards! And it couldnt have come at a better time for him.

The insider also said, By the time the Australia shoot came up, Pete was thrilled to be away from all Kims diet and exercise obsessing, but he still had to contend with her being on his case 24/7 about what he was up to.

No doubt, the two ending things would have directly worked in his favor. But Kim K has plenty of dating options left.

Also Read: After Breaking Pete Davidsons Heart, Kim Kardashian Sparks New Relationship Rumour With Orlando Bloom, Spotted Intensely Chatting Him Up

Source: GeoTV

Excerpt from:
Get in Shape, Stay off the Junk Food: Pete Davidson Was Tired of Kim Kardashians Obsession as Kim Allegedly Forced Him to Lose Weight and Follow Her...

Several media outlets reported on a new study from Cornell University this month research that looked at the consequences for wide adoption of plant-based beef alternatives across the U.S.

The stories reported alarming meat industry job losses. Yahoo News warned that beef alternatives could cost 440,000 jobs in the UK. The Hill reported how plant-based beef helps climate change but hurts jobs. The Express used the title vegan beef threatens 1.5 million farming jobs as woke ditch meat to save planet.

The problem is all of these stories got the numbers wrong. What the study authors actually found is that a more plant-based food system would create more than enough jobs to offset beef industry losses. Worse, the media coverage ignored the disastrous working conditions and human rights abuses that workers face in the current meat-centered food system.

Using a national model for analysis, the study authors found that a shift to plant-based beef alternatives could reduce the number of cows raised for beef by up to 12 million animals and the carbon footprint of food production in the U.S. by as much as 13.5 percent. Thats consistent with the latest recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), which called for a global shift to more plant-rich diets to slash emissions from food production and animal agriculture in particular. The food system contributes up to 37 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

The authors estimate that more than 1.5 million people employed in beef value chains in the U.S. could lose their jobs due to the shift to a more plant-based food system. However, they also expect that these job losses will be offset by growth in other sectors, including flour milling, maize processing and oilseed farming. Yet those critical offsets were left out of virtually all news reports on the research.

According to study author Mario Herrero, there are good reasons for regulators and policymakers to encourage these up-and-coming technologies.

Herrero also urges politicians to remain aware of unintended negative consequences and commit to supporting disadvantaged workers and hard-hit local communities and small producers.

A joint study by the International Labour Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank in 2020 looked at how to achieve a just transition climate action that centers workers and frontline communities and found that a shift to plant-based diets could result in a loss of 4.3 million jobs, but a potential gain of 19 million jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition to omitting the positive effects a new food system would have on jobs, no outlet mentioned the biggest population who would be impacted by this move animals.

The study itself did consider the potential of plant-based alternatives to reduce the total number of animals raised for meat. However, the authors only cautioned that taking beef off the menu could result in more chickens and pigs being farmed, species that are more often raised in confined feeding operations.

That the media failed to take into account how food system change would impact animals is not surprising. But outlets also failed to fully consider the impacts on the human species.

As undercover investigators, human rights organizations and psychologists have pointed out, again and again, the human costs of animal agriculture are devastating. Reporting on the future of food should include these costs along with the bare job numbers.

Most news reports also failed to mention that the shift to a more sustainable food system is absolutely necessary to prevent the climate crisis from devastating economies worldwide. The ILO and IDB study estimates that 2.5 million jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean could be lost to heat stress alone by 2030, affecting farm workers and other outdoor workers, and that damages caused by the climate crisis could cost the region $100 billion (in USD) yearly.

When reporting on meat processing and packing workers, journalists should know that turning animals into food is one of the most demanding jobs in existence. Workers typically stand shoulder to shoulder in cold and dark spaces surrounded by knives, saws, grinders and other dangerous machines. In the U.S., meat workers have the highest workplace injury rates in all manufacturing industries, and are three times more likely to experience severe injuries, such as burns and amputations, than the average worker.

Hearing loss caused by extreme noise, hypothermia, musculoskeletal disorders and exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and viruses are also factors that add to the physical stress experienced by meat workers.

Beyond the physical harm, many workers report the most challenging physical aspect is the act of killing the animals. Meat workers on the kill floor kill hundreds to thousands of animals daily, most of whom are young, in poor physical condition and, in some cases, even pregnant. This kind of work takes its toll on the psyche of slaughterhouse workers.

A 2021 review of 14 studies found that meat workers have a higher rate of mental health issues, especially depression and anxiety. Further, slaughterhouse work is associated with traumatic disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and perpetrator-induced traumatic stress (PITS) syndrome, which leads to PTSD symptoms in individuals who participated in causing a traumatic situation.

Some psychologists point out that slaughterhouse worker trauma is the result of company policies and public demand for meat, preferring to characterize their experiences as participation-induced trauma (also abbreviated PITS) instead. The disorder can manifest as depression, hostility, panic, paranoia, psychosis and violent dreams.

Despite the highly demanding work conditions, meat packers around the world receive low wages. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, slaughterers and meat packers received a mean hourly wage of $15.53 per hour in 2021. In the European Union, meat companies often avoid legal liability by hiring workers through intermediaries, a Guardian investigation revealed last year. Another Guardian report found that migrant workers in the Netherlands meat sector often face underpayment, long working hours and poor housing.

Unsurprisingly, as fewer people are willing to work in slaughterhouses, the meat industry has begun to lament labor shortages in recent years. Meat companies are more likely to recruit members of vulnerable communities, including undocumented immigrants and prisoners, to fill these positions.

More than half 51.5 percent of frontline meatpacking workers in the U.S. are immigrants, 25.2 percent are Black, 44.4 percent Hispanic, with nearly half living in families who are below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, according to a report by The Center for Economic and Policy Research.

In the E.U., the situation is similar, with a large proportion of slaughterhouse workers coming from migrant communities. This year, after Russias invasion of Ukraine, German pork producer Tnnies sent employees to the Polish-Ukrainian border to offer refugees a ride to Germany if they agreed to work for the company.

The production of plant-based ingredients eliminates the most physically and emotionally grueling elements of meat production dissecting animal bodies and taking their lives. Workers employed by plant-based producers create food products by mixing ingredients together or overseeing other steps of the production process, such as forming, breading and packaging.

Its unlikely that everyone currently working in the meat industry will find a new job in a plant-based food system, however. Retraining might not be an option for everyone, and some workers may want to pursue jobs outside of the agriculture industry entirely. Also, experts point out that the production of plant-based alternatives may be more automated than meat processing, resulting in fewer factory jobs for human employees. Workers in a plant-based system would also not be immune from many other workplace challenges, as a shift in ingredients does not necessarily improve management.

Yet all of these constraints should not stand in the way of climate action that reduces food system emissions, avoids animal slaughter and creates jobs where workers dont have to engage in traumatic activities on a daily basis. Considering the trauma and damage caused by slaughterhouse work, fewer jobs in that industry are hardly bad news.

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No, Shifting to Plant-Based Diets Will Not Cause Massive Job Cuts - Sentient Media

Similarly to replacing your favorite candy with fruit, nixing your favorite soda and replacing it with water is another step toward a healthier diet. Healthline explains that of all the things you can drink, sugary beverages are by far the worst. These drinks contain added sugars, which have been linked to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. They can also lead you to consume excess calories, as the calories from the sugar do not satiate the same way calories from food do. The plus side is that if flat water doesn't excite you, there are plenty of alternatives you can incorporate into your diet to quench your thirst. For example, sparkling water provides the fizziness you'd get from soda, and if you add natural fruit juices like lemon or lime, you get additional flavor as well.

However, experts at Eat This, Not That! suggest staying away from diet sodas, as they may contain carcinogens, and can actually lead to weight gain. Registered dietitian Miriam Jacobson, spoke to the site and explained, "Even though diet drinks are calorie-free, they cause insulin to be released in your gut because their artificial sweeteners are sweet like sugar. Insulin is your body's primary fat-storage hormone, so consuming it will cause the body to hold onto any extra fat."

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Tips To Help You Move Toward A Healthier Diet - Health Digest

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If you know anything about healthy eating, you've probably heard that the benefits of Mediterranean-style eating are as clear as the crystal sea at a Greek island getaway.

But for someone just testing the waters of heart-healthy eating, the specifics of such a diet can get a little murky. That's because its definition can vary.

Mediterranean-style eating is not necessarily about eating so many servings of a particular food at each meal, said Catherine M. Champagne, professor of nutritional epidemiology and dietary assessment and nutrition counseling at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. "It's more of a pattern."

In general, that pattern includes:

Fresh fruits and vegetables.

Nuts, beans and whole grains.

Olive oil as the principal source of fats, as opposed to butter or margarine.

Fish and other seafood.

Limiting consumption of red and processed meat, sugary sweets, processed foods and some dairy.

It's an eating pattern rooted in the traditional habits of people in countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, where rates of heart disease tend to be lower and life expectancies after age 45 have been among the highest in the world.

The details of what makes a Mediterranean diet can shift from country to country, Champagne said. But repeated studies have linked it to lower cardiovascular risk. One study, published in 2018 in JAMA Network Open, found that among nearly 26,000 U.S. women followed for up to 12 years, adherence to such a diet was associated with a one-quarter lower risk of any of four cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke.

Mediterranean-style eating was incorporated into the recent update of an American Heart Association tool for evaluating heart health. The tool, Life's Essential 8, produces a score based on eight easily measured assessments: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep health, body weight, blood lipids (cholesterol and other fats), blood glucose and blood pressure. easily measured assessments: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep health, body weight, blood lipids (cholesterol and other fats), blood glucose and blood pressure.

The experts behind Life's Essential 8 supported both Mediterranean-style eating patterns and DASH, or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, which have many similar components. In individuals, Life's Essential 8 rates diet based on a screening tool for what's called the Mediterranean Eating Pattern for Americans.

Christy Tangney, a professor of clinical nutrition and preventive medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, helped create that 16-question screening tool.

One of the hallmarks of Mediterranean-style eating is its flexibility, she said. Research done in Spain on Mediterranean eating, for example, includes sofrito, a sauce made of olive oil and vegetables commonly eaten there. Tangney's "Americanized" screener leaves sofrito out, because it's rarely seen in U.S. diets, but adds berries.

Mediterranean-style eating works, Champagne said, in part because of how it affects cholesterol in the bloodstream. The Mediterranean diet lowers "bad" LDL cholesterol, and research suggests it either doesn't affect "good" HDL or slightly increases it, she said.

The bottom line, Champagne said, is simply: "We've seen lots of heart health benefits with a Mediterranean diet."

That does not mean it's perfect. People trying to lose weight will still need to cut back on calories. And Tangney said it can be a challenge for Americans to embrace whole grains, walk away from processed foods and ease up on dairy products such as cheese.

Also, access to the fresh fruits, vegetables and other foods in a Mediterranean eating pattern can be a challenge for people with low incomes, said Dr. Annabelle Santos Volgman, a professor of medicine at Rush University Medical Center and medical director of the Rush Heart Center for Women.

Understanding the role of wine can also be tricky. Moderate wine drinking one to two drinks a day has been considered part of the diet. But Volgman, who worked with Tangney to develop the screening tool, said the possible benefits from wine are outweighed by the potential harms. Federal guidelines recommend that people who don't drink alcohol should not start, and for those who do drink, less is better for health.

Such caveats aside, adopting aspects of Mediterranean eating can be easy.

Embracing extra virgin olive oil for cooking or in salad dressings is one place to start, Tangney said. Eat leafy greens daily. "When you look at your plate, the largest part of your plate should be vegetables," she said.

For protein, a Mediterranean eating plan would have you cut back on red meat, so try fatty fish such as anchovies, salmon, mackerel, tuna or sardines once or twice a week. Beans are also a good protein source; Tangney suggests having them three times a week. Eat nuts or fresh fruit instead of sweets for dessert.

Champagne said breakfast could include an olive oil spread on whole-wheat toast, and possibly an egg. A dinner of salmon with pilaf and a large portion of stir-fried vegetables could work, she said. Pastas should be whole grain. And people who don't enjoy lots of olive oil can find healthy fats in nuts or avocados instead.

Diet isn't the only part of Mediterranean living that's important for heart health. The eating pattern is historically associated with lifestyles that include exercise and social activity.

But the flexibility that makes Mediterranean-style eating hard to define can make it easy to embrace.

"People love choice," Tangney said. "Nobody wants to be dictated to."

If you have questions or comments about this American Heart Association News story, please email [emailprotected].

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What goes into a Mediterranean diet, and how to get started - American Heart Association News

Research finds that eating grapes regularly leads to unique gene expression patterns, reduces fatty liver, and extends the lifespan of mice consuming a high-fat western-style diet.

In comprehensive studies published recently in the journal Foods, it was reported that the long-term addition of grapes to the diet of mice leads to unique gene expression patterns, reduces fatty liver, and extends the lifespan of animals consuming a high-fat western style diet. The research team was led by Dr. John Pezzuto of Western New England University.

Pezzuto, who is an author of over 600 papers in the scientific literature, said he was especially amazed by these results. We have all heard the saying you are what you eat which is obviously true since we all start out as a fetus and end up being an adult by eating food. But these studies add an entirely new dimension to that old saying. Not only is food converted to our body parts, but as shown by our work with dietary grapes, it actually changes our genetic expression. That is truly remarkable.

What is the effect of this alteration of gene expression? As shown in this paper, fatty liver is prevented or delayed. Fatty liver is a condition that affects around 25% of the worlds population and can eventually lead to untoward effects, including liver cancer. The genes responsible for the development of fatty liver were altered in a beneficial way by consuming grapes. In ancillary work, not only is the expression of genes altered, but metabolism is also changed by dietary grapes. This study was recently published by a collaborative team led by Dr. Jeffrey Idle in the journal Food & Function.

Studies of grapes add an entirely new dimension to the saying you are what you eat.

In addition to genes related to fatty liver, the work found that the grape-supplemented diets increased levels of antioxidant genes. According to Pezzuto, Many people think about taking dietary supplements that boast high antioxidant activity. In actual fact, though, you cannot consume enough of an antioxidant to make a big difference. But if you change the level of antioxidant gene expression, as we observed with grapes added to the diet, the result is a catalytic response that can make a real difference.

Another remarkable effect demonstrated in this research was the ability of grapes to extend the lifespan of mice given a high-fat western pattern diet. The high-fat western pattern diet is known to be associated with adverse conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cancer, and Alzheimers disease. Adding grapes to the diet, which did not affect the rate of consumption or body weight, delayed natural death. Although translating years of lifespan from a mouse to a human is not an exact science, Pezzuto notes that his best estimate is the change observed in the study would correspond to an additional 4-5 years in the life of a human.

Precisely how all of this relates to humans remains to be seen, but it is clear that adding grapes to the diet changes gene expression in more than just the liver. In studies recently published in the journal Antioxidants by Pezzuto and his team of researchers, it was found that grape consumption alters gene expression in the brain. At the same time, grape consumption had positive effects on behavior and cognition that were impaired by a high-fat diet, suggesting that the alteration of gene expression was what produced this beneficial response. More studies are needed, but it is notable that a team led by Silverman at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) reported that the daily administration of grapes had a protective effect on brain metabolism. This new research indicates that this is due to alteration of gene expression.

References:

Consumption of Grapes Modulates Gene Expression, Reduces Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, and Extends Longevity in Female C57BL/6J Mice Provided with a High-Fat Western-Pattern Diet by Asim Dave, Eun-Jung Park, Avinash Kumar, Falguni Parande, Diren Beyolu, Jeffrey R. Idle and John M. Pezzuto, 5 July 2022, Foods.DOI: 10.3390/foods11131984

Addition of grapes to both a standard and a high-fat Western pattern diet modifies hepatic and urinary metabolite profiles in the mouse by Diren Beyolu, Eun-Jung Park, Adolfo Quiones-Lombraa, Asim Dave, Falguni Parande, John M. Pezzuto and Jeffrey R. Idle, 20 July 2022, Food & Function.DOI: 10.1039/D2FO00961G

Effect of Dietary Grapes on Female C57BL6/J Mice Consuming a High-Fat Diet: Behavioral and Genetic Changes by Falguni Parande, Asim Dave, Eun-Jung Park, Christopher McAllister and John M. Pezzuto, 18 February 2022, Antioxidants.DOI: 10.3390/antiox11020414

The grapes used in these studies were provided by the California Table Grape Commission, who partially supported the work as well. Kathleen Nave, president of the commission, noted that the grape growers of California are proud to have supported grape research at over 70 institutions throughout the US and the world for over 20 years. She stated that Grape growers in California have had the privilege of supporting scores of projects over the years. Some studies have shown positive effects on health, and others have not been as promising. The results reported by John Pezzuto and his team are exciting and rewarding on many levels. The potential for improvements in human health is significant as is the strength of the data which logically supports the need for follow-up work in human clinical trials. All of this is rewarding to the growers who have funded research year after year with the sole objective of following the science and learning what we could from high caliber peer-reviewed research. Studies like the ones reported here are not only rewarding to grape growers and of interest to the scientific community, but are of value to everyone who wants to optimize their health and understands that what we eat matters. We cant ask for more than that.

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Research Shows Remarkable Impacts of Grape Consumption on Health and Lifespans - SciTechDaily