Category Archives: Diet And Food

Precision nutrition is an emerging field that seeks to better tailor dietary recommendations and ... [+] nutritional guidelines to different peoples characteristics and circumstances. (Image: Getty)

Imagine being told that everyone needs to wear one specific pair of low-riding jeans at all times regardless of their age, body configuration, surroundings, or life situation. This could leave you with some images that you would want Brillo-padded from your mind. Also, youd probably argue that such a one-size-fits-all solution wouldnt work with clothes, that people and their circumstances are different and diverse. So why then would a one-size-fits-all approach work with diets?

Yet, how many times have you seen ads, books, podcasts, social media posts, TV and radio spots, and self-appointed nutrition gurus tell you that they have that one magical diet or that one superfood item that everyone should be consuming? Such folks have essentially been telling you what to eat when they dont even really know that much about you. Instead, wouldnt it make much more sense to take into account the great diversity that exists among different people and their situations? Well, precision nutrition would do precisely that. Precision nutrition is an emerging field that seeks to better tailor dietary recommendations and nutritional guidelines to different peoples characteristics and circumstances in a way that improves health.

Precision nutrition is part of a larger movement towards whats being called precision health. Over ... [+] the past decade, theres been growing acknowledgement that one-size-fits-all approaches dont work for health in general. (Image: Getty)

Precision nutrition is part of a larger movement towards whats being called precision health. Nutrition is certainly closely related to health because as the saying goes, you are what you eat. This doesnt mean that you will suddenly become a long, pink, cylindrical object immediately after consuming a hot dog. However, over time, your diet can greatly affect your health in many different ways. In fact, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), each year, more than a million Americans die from diet-related diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain forms of cancers. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates on its website that A healthy diet helps children grow and develop properly and reduces their risk of chronic diseases. Adults who eat a healthy diet live longer and have a lower risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. And even if you already have a chronic medical condition, the CDC emphasizes that healthy eating can still help you manage these conditions and avoid complications.

Over the past decade, theres been growing acknowledgement that one-size-fits-all approaches dont work for health in general. When then-U.S. President Barack Obama announced the launch of the Precision Medicine Initiative in 2015, the White House called precision medicine an innovative approach that takes into account individual differences in peoples genes, environments, and lifestyles. In other words, when people and their surroundings are comprised of complex systems, treatments must account for that complexity. Note that precision is not exactly the same thing as personalized. Precision simply means more accurate or better tailored. This doesnt necessarily mean custom-made for a specific person, such as a custom tailored pink velour track suit, which is implied by the word personalized. Personalized is a subset of precision. For example, personalized medicine would be a super-tailored version of precision medicine.

Precision medicine is part of the broader term precision health, since the latter includes precision medicine but also approaches that occur outside the setting of a doctors office or hospital, such as disease prevention and health promotion activities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. Unless you always dine on the examination table in your doctors office, the broader precision health term should include what you eat as well. With such increasing interest in better tailoring different health-related approaches to different people and their circumstances, it certainly makes sense to throw food and drink into this mix, so to speak. And that, kids, is how nutrition met precision health to form precision nutrition.

Your microbiome, that city of bacteria and other microbes in your gastrointestinal tract, changes ... [+] with what you are exposed to over time. (Image: Getty)

Speaking of kids, youd be kidding yourself if you believe that eating the exact same things throughout your entire life would be the way to go. You probably realize that you shouldnt feed a newborn a whole flank steak or expect the person you met on Tinder to be happy with an all-baby food first date dinner. But these are only two examples of how the right diet changes with age. In the words of that Keane song, everybody's changing. So much about your body and surroundings evolve with time. When you are in your 60s, for example, your metabolism is probably not the same as when you were in your early 20s and could eat an entire pizza as an hors d'oeuvre. The rate at which your stomach empties and your ability to recognize hunger or thirst may decrease with age as well. Theres also evidence that the your telomeres get shorter as you age and that your diet can affect this shortening rate. Your telomeres arent something that you can see in the mirror (at least, you shouldnt be able to see them) but are smaller-than-the-eye-can-see sequences of DNA located at the end of your chromosomes, protecting your genetic information (sort of how those plastic tips at the end of shoelaces keep the laces from fraying), facilitating the division of your cells, and potentially affecting your aging and your susceptibility to different diseases.

Then theres that city of bacteria and other microbes in your gastrointestinal tract called your microbiome. This city situation helps you digest, process, and absorb your food. Immediately after you are born, the reason why your poop dont stink is that your intestines havent yet been colonized with the bacteria that ends up giving your poop that oh-so-familiar odor. The composition of your microbiome continues to evolve depending on what you may consume and be exposed to over time.

Plus, your nutritional requirements may change rather substantially with different life events. For example, when you are pregnant, chances are youll eventually notice. Thats because your body and its functioning changes in many different ways. Not only might you start craving certain foods like pickles wrapped in prosciutto and prosciutto wrapped in pickles, you will likely have an increased need for more calories, micronutrients, and macronutrients. You are right when you tell your significant other that you are complex, you are a complex biological system.

Even though some frustrated folks may say that all men are the same or all women are the same after a series of unsuccessful Tinder dates, they really arent. Your digestion, your microbiome, your absorption of nutrients, your processing of these nutrients, your metabolism, and many of your other biological can differ significantly from those of other people. Birth is not like a photocopy machine run. Not everyone starts off the same. And over time, what you do and what you are exposed to can in turn affect whats inside you.

Your sleep patterns can affect what you eat and how your body handles food. (Photo: Getty)

In fact, its a very vicey-versa situation: not only can what you do every day affect your biological systems, your biological systems can affect what you do every day. What you eat can in turn affect how your body handles food. And its not just what you eat but when and how you eat it. For example, eating a pizza at 12 noon may not be quite the same as eating one at 3 am. Eating a pizza over the course of an hour may not be the same as eating it over the course of a couple minutes.

Plus, you presumably do other things besides eat. Your physical activity level, your sleep schedule, your stress level, and the other things that you put into your body such as medications, supplements, and tobacco products can affect how your body works as well. In fact, your eating behaviors and physical activity levels can affect your microbiome and your sleep patterns. Your sleep patterns and physical activity levels can affect your stress levels. Your sleep patterns and eating behaviors can affect your physical activity levels. Your stress levels can affect your eating behaviors. In fact, all of these may affect each other in different ways and can in turn affect your metabolism, which can as a result affect what you do already. Simple, right? Well, this is only the tip of the iceberg lettuce when it comes to the complex systems involved.

People are interconnected with each other in complex systems and affect each others' diets and ... [+] habits in many different ways. (Image: Getty)

And if you think that you arent affected by whats around you, youve got another thing coming, in the words of the hard rock group Judas Priest. Its been said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Well, the same thing may apply to your diet. Think of your family, friends, and co-workers as walking, talking, and burping food items as they can influence what you eat. If everyone around you is eating chicken wings, take a wild guess as to what you may be more likely to eat. Its probably not just vegetables unless you bring a fanny pack of kale to wing night. The people around you can affect many other things as well such as your stress levels, your sleep patterns, and your physical activity levels, which in turn can affect your metabolism and so forth.

You are where you eat, meaning that you are more likely to eat what's immediately around you. ... [+] (Photo: Getty)

Then theres your environment and the complex systems that comprise your environment. This includes both the built environment, which is basically every human-made or human-modified structure around you, and the natural environment, which is essentially everything else surrounding you. Both environments can affect what you eat, how much physical activity you get, how much sleep you get, and a whole host of other behaviors. For example, its much harder to eat an all-kale lunch if none of the stores or restaurants even carry kale.

Economics matter too. Its not as if you can walk into the local organic grocery market, grab whatever you want, point to some random dude, and say, put it on that dudes tab, before making off with the food items. What you can afford affects what you eat and do. There are also cultural and political systems at play. Again, its a complex system of systems.

A complex system of factor affect the relationships between nutrition and short-term and long-term ... [+] health outcomes. (Image: Getty)

Ultimately, everything that you consume and how they are processed can affect your health in the short term as well as the long term. What makes it an even more complex system is the delay between your dietary intake and the health consequences. You are not like a giant latte machine where you can put in ingredients and churn out a health outcome relatively quickly. You are also not like a car where gasoline is the food and you can get a certain mileage as a result of guzzling it, meaning the food and not gas. Instead, lots of other things comprising a complex system can affect your health as well such as your genetics, your biology, your surroundings, and your other habits. For example, a smoker may have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease than a non-smoker, even though they have identical diets.

As you can see, things can get freaking complex. Too complex to be figured by just some dude hocking a diet on a YouTube channel by showing some supposed before and after pictures that look suspiciously like pictures of two different people. Or some dudette who happens to have written a book based on what she fed herself and her roommate for 30 days. Even some more established so-called diet gurus out there may not have done the work to elucidate all of the complexities.

In fact, many of the scientific studies to date havent been able to fully separate out the mechanisms involved. For example, theres only so much you can get out of a large observational cohort study, you know the kind that follows thousands of people and compares what happened to people who had regular eaten or drunk something versus people who didnt. Ive covered previously for Forbes such studies that have led some people to prematurely conclude that coffee drinking may help you live longer. Alone such studies can only show some general possible associations and not prove cause-and-effect. And such associations or correlations can instead just be coincidences with many confounding factors. For example, you can draw a correlation between the decreasing number of pirates over the years and increases in global temperatures. But arrghh, that doesnt necessarily mean that training more pirates would be the key to combatting climate change. Therefore, there is a need for more and a greater variety of scientific studies to better guide precision nutrition.

Studies will also need to use more systems approaches that account for and better elucidate the real systems at work. Too many studies to date have been like searching for someone on Tinder, focusing on superficial characteristics such as physical appearance rather than digging deeper to see whats really affecting nutrition and health. For example, two people of different races or ethnicities can in actuality be a lot more similar than two people of the same race or ethnicity.

Nutrition recommendations and dietary guidelines should account for the diversity that exists among ... [+] people. And this doesn't simply mean looking just at superficial characteristics such as appearance. (Photo: Getty)

Thats why the National Institutes of Health (NIH) held a Precision Nutrition: Research Gaps and Opportunities Workshop on January 11 and 12, 2021, to review whats known about the complex system of factors affecting nutrition and health and what the current research gaps are. Thats also why the NIH launched the Nutrition for Precision Health (NPH) research program earlier this year. Its stated goal is to develop algorithms that predict individual responses to food and dietary patterns. The NPH research program is not only using traditional nutrition research methods but also incorporating new ones such as artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology-enabled approaches.

Ultimately, the goal is to generate diets and nutrition recommendations that better fit you and your particular situations. Some day you will be able to get much more precise recommendations regarding what you should eat and when, based on specifics about your biology, your history, your behaviors, your social situation, your environment, your economic situation, and, importantly, your preferences. This could help you better adhere to a healthy diet and manage your health than a situation where people are saying, yeah, were going to ignore all those things and who you are and push this one diet anyway. Precision nutrition can also help decision makers at all levels make changes in the various systems that affect nutrition and health. For example, it can help food manufacturers and retailers offer more appropriate and healthier food. And it can help inform the design of towns and cities to improve access to healthier foods. The positive impact on society could be huge since so many non-communicable diseases, which have become the leading killer around the world, are nutrition-related.

Keep in mind that any precision nutrition research and resulting dietary and policy approaches should take systems approaches to be truly successful. This means that they will have to account for all of the complex systems that affect nutrition and link nutrition with health. With both nutrition and health being affected by and affecting such complex systems, its going to take time and much more research to achieve true precision nutrition rather than well-call-it-precision-nutrition-but-it-will-just-be-more-of-the-same. Trying to rush the work or coming up with some half-baked solutions could do more harm than good. It would result in overly-simplistic approaches to nutrition, which precisely has been the problem all these years.

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What Is Precision Nutrition? How It Can Transform Your Diet And Health - Forbes

For those who starve themselves to cut calories but still dont see results youre not alone.

Researchers at the University of Ottawa have identified a separate group of obese people who are especially resistant to losing weight through dietary changes alone, according to a report published on Wednesday in The Lancets eBioMedicine journal.

The findings contradict a long-held belief that diet alone is enough to bring about significant weight loss, with exercise added as a supplemental treatment to help boost the benefits of healthy eating.

If you look at a large group of people who are overweight and trying to lose weight, they dont respond to exercise very much. But now weve found that people in this [diet-resistant] obesity phenotype really do, said endocrinologist Dr. Robert Dent, who collaborated with Ottawa colleagues Drs. Mary-Ellen Harper, Chantal Pileggi and Ruth McPhereson on the study.

What the findings are telling us is that when we see individuals with obesity who dont respond to dietary restriction, they should be shunted over to physical activity, Dent explained in a statement for the universitys newsroom.

Those considered to have diet-resistant obesity fall in the bottom 20% for the rate of weight loss while following a low-calorie diet. Those are the folks for whom exercise should be prioritized, the doctors argue.

Based on clinical records from more than 5,000 patients, 20 such women were asked to participate in a workout regimen designed to analyze changes in skeletal muscle metabolism one critical indicator of health in metabolic patients.

Fat metabolism in the skeletal muscle is regulated by the mitochondria, and those with diet-resistant obesity show lower mitochondrial activity in their bones than those with diet-sensitive obesity, according to the researchers.

Participants were put through a total of 18 workout sessions, three times a week for six weeks, involving treadmills and weightlifting.

For the group already at a mitochondrial disadvantage, exercise was shown to boost activity in the skeletal muscle, while those with comparably higher mitochondrial activity at the start of the experiment saw no added benefits in that regard.

For decades, diet-resistant patients have been accused of failing to adhere to a low-calorie meal plan, based on a lack of pounds shed. Now, researchers hope their new approach will lead to more tailored care.

Its exciting and important work. These findings have clinical implications and reveal molecular mechanisms that will drive research for many years to come, said Harper, whose team hopes to soon relaunch their study with an even larger cohort.

Obesity has been called an epidemic here in the US, where more than a third of adults (41.9%) age 20 and older weigh too much, according to Centers for Disease Control statistics. Add overweight adults who fall just short of clinical obesity and the percentage rises to a staggering three-quarters (73.6%).

The consequences of carrying too much weight are high with an increased risk for developing deadly and debilitating diseases across the board, including diabetes, heart disease, musculoskeletal disorders and several types of cancer. The condition is also known to weaken the immune system, which makes overweight people more susceptible to illnesses, such as COVID-19.

For those individuals who have obesity and whove had enormous difficulty losing weight, the message for them is: You are in a group of individuals for whom exercise is particularly important, McPhereson added. And thats really going to help you lose weight.

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Can't lose weight by dieting alone? Researchers have bad news for you - New York Post

When it comes to losing weight, a key factor in that process is to reduce the amount of calories consumed and increase the amount of physical activity that is done. If people ingest fewer calories than they need to, the body then looks for energy from its fat reserves, thus promoting fat burning.

According to Healthline, a deficit of around 500 calories is "healthy, effective, and sustainable."

But for those wanting a quick fix, or to drastically lose weight and then keep it off, its not just a numbers game.

There are many fad diets out there that can encourage followers to try calorie deficits that aren't feasible to stick to, and also don't guide them on what essential nutrients the body still needs to consume to function effectively.

So while calorie counting has long been an essential aspect of a weight loss programme, Dr Aleksandra Zajc revealed it "isn't always important".

READ MORE:Diet: Expert warns against common mistake

Their maintenance calorie calculator allows people to calculate how many calories their body needs to maintain their current weight.

From this, a person is able to work out how many they need to be eating in order to lose or gain a few pounds.

It also helps distribute these calories healthily throughout a diet plan, with carb, protein and fat intake calculators available to users.

It's important for people to know their maintenance calories so that they can make conscious food choices, ensuring they consume enough of each macronutrient, and know their baseline if they want to reduce or gain some body mass.

By understanding the body's needs, people are then able to plan their weight loss at a healthy pace and still provide the body with the energy that it needs.

The calorie counting tool has a rating of 4.3/5 from 659 users and is available to try today.

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Dieting technique that 'controls overeating' - and it will help 'achieve goals' quicker - Express

Let's lean into eating a little bit. What are you on now?

I've tried a lot of different diets and I sort of float in and out of different ones. I truly do believe certain people's bodies work better on different foods. From my experience, I really do believe there's something behind the blood type diet. I'm blood type A, and so I'm supposed to be more vegetarian-based, maybe a little bit of fish, but yeah: more of a plant-based diet. And when I've done that, I've probably felt my most efficient with my digestion, elimination, all that kind of thing. I think it really suits me.

My girlfriend and I are working with this doctor and nutritionist who, before we do anything, we go and get a huge blood panel on food allergy tests done, and then build our diet around that. She and I try to stick to that, but it's not necessarily plant-based or carnivore or vegan or any of that. Were trying to figure out the best way to eliminate the foods that we react to. And I noticed that when I eat a lot of wheat or a couple of different foods that I'm allergic to, either mildly or incredibly allergic to, and so I definitely noticed a difference when I've cut those out.

You pay attention. You're an intuitive eater.

Yeah, yeah! You gotta know, when you lay down in bed, how you felt. How was your sleep cycle after you ate certain foods? Did you get tired after eating proteins or carbs? All those kinds of things. I think it's really good to be aware of, read as much as you can from various different sources, even if you don't agree with them and see if some of it resonates with you.

Whats your perfect breakfast?

My favorite breakfast is just making a big healthy smoothie, some fresh fruit and some protein powders and some little health remedies that I throw in there.

Or I'd start with some warm lemon water, maybe some ginger, and kind of let that just cleanse me out first. Then have some fruit and then, like said, I'm not a vegan at this point, so I might have some eggs or some kind of a cooked breakfast. But I generally would start out with fruit or with chia in the smoothies to get the fiber and omega-3s.

What's that supplement routine? Are there any specific supplements that you've seen that have made you feel better, whether it's more plant-oriented ones, spirulina or chlorella or whatever?

Gosh, I have to look at all of them, but I take them in the morning before I eat, and then I take another set right before I eat because that helps with my digestion. Those are a bunch of different enzymes. And I take... all the different vitamin lettersCOQ10, GABA and 5-HTP. Natural stuff, as plant-based as possibleI think that's a key thing. There's a lot of fake supplements out there that are synthetic and basically useless unless a plant uptakes that and makes it bioavailable to your body. Youre just eating a rock: Your body didn't really know how to use it and you just poop it out, so it's important to try to get plant-derived mineral supplements, and then just get as close to nature as possible. You know, as real and raw as you can.

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Kelly Slater Thinks Everyone Should Be in Therapy - GQ

As the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears, Justin Fields joins the roster of professional plant-based athletes who swear that avoiding meat and dairy and loading up on plant-based proteins helps improve performance, and makes him lighter and faster.

Fields fuels up with plant-based protein the same way tennis greatNovak Djokovicand a growing number of other plant-basedathletes do, includingVenus Williams, NBA superstar Chris Paul, and 7-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady. Every day it seems more athletes are choosing to skip meat and dairy and rely on plant foods for their winning nutrition.

Fields went vegan back in May of 2020 when he was quarantined with his family and they set out to eat plant-based as a one-month challenge. By the time the month was over, he was the only one who continuedon the diet. "I really liked the way it made my body feel," Fields recalls. So while the rest of his family went back to eating meat and dairy, Fieldsis stillgoing strong.

Drafted as the Bears' number one choice last year out of Ohio State, Fields has already had a stellar first season behind him. He chalked up seven passing TDs and two rushing TDs and credits his new plant-based diet with feeling "lighter and faster."

In an exclusive email interview with The Beet,Fields shares why he initially made the decision to go vegan, how it makes him feel, and everything he eats in a day, including what he eatsto fuel up for a game and his favorite vegan recipe that you can create at home.

Justin Fields:I started during quarantine as a one-month challenge with my family going into my last season at Ohio State. Once I did it for a few weeks I actually really liked the way it made my body feel. The rest of my family stopped once the challenge was over, and I just kept doing it.

Justin Fields:It's changed the way I feel and the way I perform dramatically. I just feel so much lighter and faster. Football as a sport is so hard on your body so I just want to do anything I can to have the longest career possible.

Justin Fields: I normally start off my day by drinking some coffee, lots of water, and eating some fruit. I keep breakfast pretty light compared to my other meals because my days start really early with training right now.

For lunch, I will typically try to eat some vegan chicken nuggets or maybe a vegan burger. I try to get carbs in either potatoes or rice for energy.

My dinner is also pretty similar to my lunch, and at this point in the day, I try to make an effort to get more greens in.

At the end of the day, I always get myself a chocolate Pro Elite OWYN shake to finish off my day and up my protein intake.

Justin Fields:Before a game, I don't eat too much as I don't want to upset my stomach, but after the game, I almost always grab an OWYN shake for recovery. Not only do I like the way the OWYN shakes make me feel but I really enjoy them almost like a dessert.

Justin Fields:My favorite plant-based recipe to make isfalafel burgers. I normally eat those a couple of times a week. I personally dont feel like they taste any different than normal burgers and they have a lot of added benefits, so I love eating those. As a side, Ill normally do sweet potato fries too.

For more exclusive content on vegan athletes, check out our column.

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NFL Rookie Justin Fields Shares What He Eats on His Vegan Diet - The Beet

Were living the dream, right? Who wouldnt be happy living in the nature of this gorgeous island?

And everywhere you look, there are beautiful people; t, tanned and living the beach-island dream. But what happens when youre brand new and nothing is as you know it?

Moving to a new country includes uprooting, leaving your old life, and nding a new norm for you and your family. This is a huge change for all.

Lets cut to the chase; expat life isnt as easy as most people think it is. Am I right? Perhaps you jumped right on board with the idea of living in a new country, or maybe you needed a little bit more convincing, but what draws many is the feeling that, ultimately, expat life will be what it appears to be on the surface.

Whats not to like about the prospect of a nice salary, having many living expenses paid for, and perhaps not needing to work at all? New experiences, new food, new people, and not to mention a great learning opportunity for you and your kids!

Plus, there is bound to be plenty to keep you busy, right? Surely this and everything else will mean happy relationships, happy kids, and a happy expat life. Right?

Unfortunately, a few important things are innocently overlooked, and many of them take a toll on your health and body.

The novelty and holiday feeling consistently spills over into your lifestyle choices. Invitations to events, sunset drinks, and business dinners seem never-ending.

Homesickness impacts your diet as comfort food becomes a way to reconnect with what you miss. Dierent avours and eating times result in snacking on tasty and familiar treats a little bit too regularly. Eating and drinking to reduce feelings of boredom and isolation? That was an unexpected one!

Many people think its just a case of making a few adjustments, but we know its not that simple. Its scary enough being an expat, but undertaking that journey in an unfamiliar country takes an extreme level of bravery and courage.

Plus, as the years go by we get busier; we work more, have families and try to see friends. Its easy for exercise to get put on the back burner. Being an adult with all these responsibilities is hard. Being too busy has sadly become the norm. Especially jumping to another country where everything is dierent and youre adjusting to a new culture, food, and uncertainties.

So, how do we take care of all our responsibilities of adapting to our new home and our physical health at the same time?

Well, thats the key right there. Understanding that your health is one of your responsibilities and making sure its a priority. Getting into a healthy routine is important for your lifestyle no matter where you are.

Below is a list of easy habits you can make in order to start seeing the changes you want and make sure looking after yourself stays top of the list.

No more yo-yo dieting. We are meant to enjoy. Within reason! And Bali has it all. How can you enjoy and still hit your goals? Say goodbye to restrictive diets. These diets are limiting and not sustainable. Once you go o these miracle weight loss diets, you quickly gain back the weight you lost. Choose healthy, clean foods 80 percent of the time. They are in abundance here! Enjoy the fresh foods in markets all over the island! Then, you can indulge in a few not-so-great choices 20 percent of the time.

The prettiest gym or most popular gym is not always the right choice. Unless it has a speciality that no one else oers, its denitely not the right choice. So where do you go? The absolute closest gym to you! Having your gym next door helps with avoidance and creating excuses during those rainy Bali days when you dont want to get in a car and travel in trac 20-30 minutes just to even arrive! No excuses. Keep your gym close and youll get there way more often.

Not a gym person but want to live a long, t life? I hope so! The easiest way to get in a great workout day-to-day without the stress of trac or time crunches is having a set (ideally two sets) of dumbbells and then you can smash out a workout in 20-30 minutes.

Community is essential for life and your tness. We crave human connection and the best friends you could have are those with similar interests to you and your lifestyle. There are online groups all over the island supporting people in tness, charity, foodies, and the works. Find your tribe and give your soul the much-needed love and care that we miss from back home. Yes, we need this!

Relax, take it easy! We all need time-outs. No, you dont have to sit in the corner and think about what youve done. Use the surroundings you have. Go for a long walk on the beach, in the jungle, sit in the sand and admire the views around you Meditate or just do some light breath work outside, in nature, and relax into yourself. Its cool to be chill. Get your Bali zen on!

Sadly, not sugary drinks or alcohol, but water and lots of it. The human body is about 60-70 percent water. Muscles alone are 70 percent water. Your bodys ability to digest, transport, and absorb nutrients relies on proper uid intake. Its important to stay hydrated, especially in the tropics.

Go loco. Oh sorry, I mean go local. Try new things, embrace the culture and live on island time. It may not be as ecient in some ways and the day-to-day interactions and denitely not home. But if they were, what fun would that be?!

Kara Wutzke is giving away her book for free to all our Indonesia Expat readers! Head to the website to get yours now.

Kara Wutzke is a TEDx Speaker, Body Transformation Expert, Podcaster, Physique Champion, Mum, Philanthropist, Cancer-beater, Beer Lover and an Expat living abroad for over 22 years.

She launched the Ultimate YOU 10-week Challenge in 2012 to help people transform bodies, minds and lives.

After helping over 6,000 people worldwide, she has come up with the easiest way to getYOUin the best shape of your life. Her coaching program is designed specically for the everyday real person that wants the key to tness results.

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Juggling Life and Staying Fit in Bali - Indonesia Expat

Theres a new trend brewing on TikTok. Its called proffee and the hashtag #proffee has already received nearly 10 million views on the social media platform.

In the TikTok world, where proffee has taken off, this usually means a protein shake poured over a cold brew or iced coffee, but in actuality, it can be any type of coffee with protein added, says Carolyn Cohen, an integrative nutritionist, functional medicine health coach, and host of the podcast Wellness While Walking.

The dramatic slow-motion videos, which end with a creamy beverage in a glass jar, make it look fun and delicious. And some TikTok users are swearing by its benefits, including weight loss. But do the health claims really shake out?

Experts spilled on what you need to know before trying this made-for-social-media beverage.

Some of the most popular purported benefits of proffee swirling around include:

But experts offer mixed reviews on these claims.

Noah Quezada, RDN, says that proffee can be energizing and improve focus and performance because of the caffeine content.

A small 2017 study of seven males who underwent a cycling-based exercise test suggested that caffeine increased time to exhaustion by 12 percent. Another study from 2016 of 12 males indicated that moderate caffeine consumption before and during a round of golf improved subjective energy levels and performance while lowering fatigue.

That said, its important to note that these studies were not done on proffee itself.

Dan Gallagher, a registered dietitian with Aegle Nutrition, says there are better ways to get a jolt.

Healthier sources of caffeine would be black or green tea or simply a cup of coffee, Gallagher says.

A 2019 study suggested that protein intake could boost metabolic health and longevity.

Patricia Kolesa, MS, RDN of Hackensack Meridian Health notes that the recommended dietary intake is 0.8g/kg of body weight per day. In other words, a 150-pound person would need about 120 grams of protein per day. For context, one piece of chicken weighing 174 grams (6.13 oz.) contains about 55 grams of protein.

Kolesa says the protein in shakes can contribute to this protein intake but notes that most people can get enough protein from food. And Gallagher says food is a better protein source.

Protein is healthiest when its sourced from whole ingredients like seafood, lean beef, beans, eggs, or milk, Gallagher says. Maintaining a balanced diet will give all the advertised benefits and more.

Part of the issue is that protein shakes can have added sugars or low quality, processed proteins that dont measure up to the natural proteins found in foods.

Any health benefits of adding protein to coffee can be quickly undone by the window-dressing the devil is in the details when it comes to proffee, Cohen says.

Weight loss is one of the most commonly discussed benefits of proffee. Quezada encourages people to proceed with caution.

Proffee is not a miracle weight-loss drink, Quezada says.

That said, Quezada notes that some evidence suggests that caffeine and protein can aid some people in weight management.

For example, a 2019 meta-analysis of 12 studies indicated that drinking coffee reduced body fat, especially in male participants. A 2020 study suggested it could lower body fat in women.

Another 2020 study indicated that adhering to a high protein diet could be an effective way to lose weight and prevent obesity.

But Kolesa stresses that there are no studies on proffee itself.

It is not a guarantee that the protein coffee itself will help someone lose weight, she says.

And she adds pouring in high fat milk, creamers and sugary syrups can negate any benefits from the beverages protein and caffeine.

Ultimately, Quezada stresses that meeting weekly exercise requirements and following a nutritious diet of lean animal and plant-based protein, produce, and complex carbohydrates are more proven ways for individuals to get the benefits of proffee.

Kolesa says going this route can help people avoid some cons of drinking proffee, including:

The exact number of cups of coffee a person can handle isnt an exact science it will vary based on the individual. If you notice you are jittery or having trouble sleeping, consider reducing the amount.

But Kolesa says the FDA reports that most healthy adults can consume 400 mg. of caffeine daily or four to five cups of coffee. However, she says pregnant and lactating people should consume less.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggests individuals limit caffeine intake to 200 mg., or one 12-oz. cup of coffee, per day during pregnancy.

The CDC notes that a small amount of caffeine passes through breastmilk but says adverse effects, such as poor sleep and irritability, are not typically seen if the lactating person consumes 300 mg. of caffeine, or two to three cups of coffee, daily.

The syrups and high fat milk and creamers some TikTokers are putting in their beverages may not be best for people with diabetes, high cholesterol, or heart conditions.

You could try using low sugar syrups or protein shakes/powders, Kolesa suggests. You can also try low fat creamers and milk.

An older 2013 study suggested that consuming caffeine six hours before bedtime could disrupt sleep.

Kolesa also suggests reading the labels of protein shakes to ensure you are not allergic to any ingredients. Other ingredients may not trigger allergic reactions but could lead to GI issues, like stomach aches. If you notice youre having those issues, stop using the shake.

Gallagher says proffee isnt off the table, but it shouldnt be considered a meal replacement or your primary source of protein or caffeine.

If youre looking for something tasty, this is probably worth drinking, but I would look at it essentially as a blended drink from Starbucks, Gallagher says. Its probably not something to have daily.

And he stresses its essential to rely on advice from healthcare providers and peer-reviewed studies, not TikTokers, for dietary advice.

I would approach nutrition and wellness trends on TikTok with a healthy dose of skepticism, Gallagher says. Research, but be wary of what sites are advertising benefits. Its good to question what biases sites might have, and when in doubt, research scientific studies or medical organizations specifically.

See the rest here:
Proffee (Protein & Coffee): The New Health Trend Brewing on TikTok - Healthline

Chaffee Department of Human Services (DHS) Executive Director Dave Henson has died. The Chaffee County Staff was informed of Hensons unexpected death Monday afternoon, Aug. 15, and Chaffee Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) Chair Greg Felt announced during the Aug. 16 BoCC meeting. No further details are available at this time.

This is a shock, said Felt, urging staff and the public to think of Hensons wife Robin, and two children. I want to convey to his children what a special and effective person he was, and make sure they understand the energy and commitment he put into the job. If youve ever sat in on one of our board social services meetings, youd have to concur that there are a lot of people in Chaffee County that Dave touched with his work.

Blue pinwheels honor National Child Abuse Prevention Month at Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) office, 139 West 3rd Street in Salida. Merrell Bergin photo

That covers it, said Commissioner Rusty Granzell. I put my whole trust in Dave, Everything he did was for Chaffee County.

In the interim, Chaffee Director of General Administration Bob Christensen will assume the leadership of the countys DHS operations, leading the countys dedicated human services staff in a role that was his original county position.

I worked on human services here and at CCI, and Dave and I worked together a lot on the legislative agenda. Its hard to understand unless you worked with him he really did care what the legislation did for Chaffee County and for the whole state, said Commissioner Keith Baker.He looked downstream, to see the long-term impact. Hed been in human services a long time, and he was realistic but not jaded in so doing he had a deep caring for his people in the Department of Human Services.

The programs under Hensons oversight were major, including the countys fostercare program, SNAP food assistance, the WIC nutrition program, the National Child Abuse Prevention month, and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) that helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans, including elderly people, to name only a few.

During the pandemic, he worked with the Chaffee Office of Housing to get funds to families in danger of not being able to pay their rent due to workplace closures, to remain in housing saying, Housing continues to be an area of great need for the families and kids we serve through DHS.

In 2019 when emergency food programs were in jeopardy, Henson was a major catalyst behind family relief saying, Our biggest concern at this point is around food security for the clients we serve in this county. He explained to Ark Valley Voice, the emergency food assistance program is the one at our Salida Community Center. People count on that.

Henson had concern for the people in his department, aware that compassion fatigue can set in. The challenge of that line of work, day after day, and seeing the same problems, perhaps different people. but Dave gave top priority to caring about his people, said Baker. It resonated with them and us. He knew if he took care of them, they would take care of the clients. He will be missed.

The county will plan a memorial gathering to honor Henson but no details have been organized as yet.

Many of us dont live in circumstances that bring us into contact with the DHS, but the public should know that it is a tremendously important department, and Dave navigated that, added Felt. Were all going to miss Dave very much, and hope to be able to share those feelings in a more intentional setting in the weeks ahead.

Read more:
Chaffee DHS Executive Director Henson has Died - by Jan Wondra - The Ark Valley Voice

Data: Census Bureau; Chart: Jacque Schrag/Axios

Until recently, soaring rent prices were mainly a Big City problem. Now, rents are an everywhere problem.

Why it matters: Skyrocketing rents, coming at the same time housing prices are at historic highs, make it hard for people to afford to live. At the lower end of the income spectrum, higher rents put more people at risk for homelessness.

By the numbers: Asking rents in the second quarter were 23% higher nationwide compared to the same period in 2019, according to Census data released earlier this month.

Zoom out: On a macro level, soaring rents contribute to inflation causing the Fed to raise rates and put the brakes on the economy. That puts the country closer to the possibility of a recession.

The terrible catch: A recession wouldn't bring much relief for renters. When the economy slows down, rents don't fall (take a look at that chart) but people do lose their jobs.

What's happening: Landlords are passing on their rising costs to renters.

Rent growth has slowed down a bit this summer, as the economy slowed, but prices are still climbing in strong job markets, Redfin reported recently.

Our friends at Axios Today asked listeners, especially those outside the big coastal cities, to text their experiences with this growing rent crisis.

Go deeper: Listen to the Axios Today episode

Continue reading here:
Rent increases 2022: Why it is so expensive to rent - Axios

Dogs provide a much better model for studying human aging. They are unique in sharing our environment. Pet dogs live in our homes with us, breathe the same air we do, and often share our exercise routines, to some degree. Theyre eating our food, theyre walking on our lawns with pesticide, theyre drinking whatever is in our water, says Elaine Ostrander, who leads a team studying human and dog genetics at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

They also develop many of the same age-related diseases that we do. Technically, most pet dogs die as a result of euthanasia. But in most of these cases, the animals have cancer, says Kaeberlein. Dogs can also develop heart disease in later life, just like humans. There are some differencesdog brains arent the same as human ones, although the animals do seem to develop a form of dementia. And dogs dont tend to develop vascular diseases as humans do.

But there are plenty of similarities. Both dogs and people experience aging of the immune system and an increased risk of kidney disease as they get older, says Kaeberlein. It seems like at the level of individual age-related diseases, its very, very similar, he says.

One main difference is that aging is a much quicker process in dogsit happens around seven times faster than in humans, though small dogs generally live longer than larger ones. (Its not quite the case that one year of dog life is equivalent to seven human years, however. Dogs seem to age more rapidly than humans do in their first years of life, and the pace slows as they get older.)

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: MS TECH | ENVATO, GETTY. NYPL, NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

While this can be devastating for devoted owners, it is useful for researchers, who are able to study the effects of potential anti-aging drugs over the entire life spansomething that is much more difficult to achieve in people.

Another unique feature of dogs is their incredible diversity. Only in dogs do we see such extreme differences in size and appearance within a single species. A Great Dane is around 20 times heavier than a Chihuahua, for example. A Pomeranian looks nothing like a Staffordshire bull terrier.

This variation makes the animals particularly fascinating to geneticists like Ostrander. Dogs were only domesticated around 30,000 years ago, and most breeds have only been around since the Victorian times, she says. It was around the mid-1800s that modern dog breeding took off, and owners bred dogs for aspects of their appearance, such as a curly coat or a flat face. Breeders essentially selected dogs with genes for these features.

Because many such modifications only occurred in the last hundred or so years, genetic differences between todays dog breeds are likely to have a significant impact on these traitsand on the risks of certain diseases that vary between breeds.

Link:
These scientists are working to extend the life span of pet dogsand their owners - MIT Technology Review