Category Archives: Diet And Food

A favourite among people trying to lose weight is the ketogenic diet which limits the intake of carbohydrates and concentrates on increasing intake of fats (mostly) and proteins. Like with all kinds of diet, the results begin to show only after a few months of diligent practice of the diet. It is mostly during this time that people often lose steam and begin cheating their diet.It is the same with the keto diet. Even though it might seem difficult and frustrating in the beginning, these five hacks might help you get through the initial phases of the diet and see more satisfactory results faster. These tips will also help you maintain your weight loss journey as you go ahead with your diet.Create a keto environmentPreparation is the key to success in everything you do. The same is with your diet. Creating a suitable environment for your diet will help you stick to it for longer. There is always a war between your emotional brain and your rational brain, especially when you are following a strict diet. It helps at this time to not give your mind any kind of stimulus that may trigger a wrong eating choice. Make your environment force you to make healthier food choices. Here are a few things you can do to change the food environment at home Stop storing carb-heavy and unhealthy food. If you have to keep such food at home, keep it at a place that is out of your reach and sight Keep all keto-friendly foods close at hand Reduce your portion size to make sure you eat only the amount that is essential Also, prepare for your sweet cravings. They are bound to happen and being prepared in advance will help you keep up your diet and fulfill your cravings. You can keep keto-friendly sweeteners and desserts ready for whenever you have those uncontrollable cravings.

Add friendly fat to your dietIt is proven that adding friendly fats or medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) is actually beneficial for people on a keto diet. These kinds of fats are easier to digest as compared to other forms of fat. Also, they go straight to the liver where they are converted to ketones. This helps you reach ketosis faster which is responsible for increased energy and feeling less hungry.

Read the original post:
5 tips to actually make your keto diet work - Times of India

You're trapped at home. The Coronaviruspandemic has the gym shut down, the Yoga studio closed and even the hiking trails are no fun if you have to wear a mask.

So you are stuck and while there may be a shortage of some items like disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers, there seems to be no shortage of food. So we eat out of boredom and when this medical crises is over, there may be more of us to love than there was before.

So in planning for the diet we will all surely need in a month or so, I found this from the Daily Mail.

A new study finds fad diets may come and go but they only work for about a year. McMaster University researchers analyzed 121 studies on 14 fad diets, including the Atkins and Paleo diets. They found across all diets, people following them managed to keep off 2.2 to 4.4 pounds over the course of 12 months.

The only diet that appeared to help people stay healthier a year later was the Mediterranean diet.

Study authors say various types of diet can cause moderate weight loss, reduce blood pressure and lower bad cholesterol but that weight loss and the benefits for blood pressure and cholesterol disappeared after a year.

They call it "unfortunate, but thats life. Plan B?

Excerpt from:
Study Finds That Fad Diets Only Work For A Year - newstalkkit.com

Photo (c) bit245 - Getty ImagesHealth experts constantly stress the importance of consumers getting enough fiber in their diet, and now a recent study is lending additional weight to that advice.

Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health recently compiled data from 20 separate observational studies with the goal of seeing how fiber affected the risk of breast cancer. They found that the dietary staple lowered the chance of developing the disease by 8 percent.

The team found that soluble fibers -- which can be found in oat bran seeds, beans, lentils, and some fruits and vegetables -- lowered the overall risk of breast cancer. Higher total fiber intake (both soluble and insoluble) lowered risk in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

"Our study contributes to the evidence that lifestyle factors, such as modifiable dietary practices, may affect breast cancer risk," said Dr. Farvid.

"Our findings provide research evidence supporting the American Cancer Society dietary guidelines, emphasizing the importance of a diet rich in fiber, including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains."

While optimizing your diet can help reduce the risk of breast cancer, researchers have also been hard at work trying to find ways to catch the disease at its earliest stages when it is most treatable. One research team from the National Cancer Research Institute recently announced that they were in the process of developing a blood test that could do just that.

The researchers said that initial trials of their blood test were successful because it allowed them to differentiate between participants who had breast cancer and those who didnt. They hope that continuing to work on the method will eventually give medical professionals another tool to fight disease.

These results are encouraging and indicate that its possible to detect a signal for early breast cancer. Once we have improved the accuracy of the test, then it opens the possibility of using a simple blood test to improve early detection of the disease, said researcher Daniyah Alfattani.

Here is the original post:
Diets high in fiber linked to reduced risk of breast cancer - ConsumerAffairs

By: Cormac Riordan, Staff Writer

Like a lot of us, one solace in this new era for me has been Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This peaceful world of foraging and animal pals is both escapist and rewarding, something that has united my recent film, music, and book selections. From the island paradise of Portrait of a Lady on Fire to the sense of community fostered by the March sisters in Little Women, my current media diet is not just calming visions but works that encourage a sense of community.

Its hard not to see the March sisters, and others like Marmee and Laurie, in the helpful and loving visages of your animal companions. Although when Louisa May Alcott wrote her magnum opus in 1868/9, I dont think digital frogs and bears were on her mind, both communities have similar ethea. The chapter in which the sisters desire a world where they can do as they please and ignore their chores strikes the most similarities. Their mother agrees and allows herself and the help to take care of the work around the house, only for the girls to realize that a balance of work and play is what makes the downtime special. New Horizons works in a similar way, combining tasks like cleaning up your island with a rewards system and an arrestingly adorable style. Just like how doing chores, more or less, in Animal Crossing becomes less chore-like and more rewarding, one can imagine having to work becomes much more pleasant when joined by Jo or Beth.

Sharing the island aesthetic with New Horizons and the bond between women of Little Women, Cline Sciammas newest feature, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, is now available on Hulu. I caught up with it last year, but have been waiting anxiously for it to be widely available to revisit. It packs just as much emotional punch the second time, the setting as lush and picturesque as my memory served. Theres so much to praise about Sciammas vision of two women finding each other in the late 1700s, from the incredibly sparse yet devastating diegetic score to way the cinematographer, Claire Mathon, captures the two leads surrounded by this natural beauty. But it is in those two lead performances that the movie stands almost completely. Nomie Merlant is wonderful as the hired portrait maker, quiet and subdued by never vage. Who really steals the show, however, is Adle Haenel as the woman Merlants character is hired to paint. Haenel is Sciammas ex, and that energy both informs and compliments the film. There is a final moment, quite literally the last shot of the film, that I wont spoil here, but I cant imagine anyone coming away from that long take on Haenel and be able to doubt her incredible talents.

Heaven/Heaven is a place/a place where nothing/nothing ever happens is a line David Byrne sings on a Talking Heads song called Heaven. The second song in the bands incomparable concert film Stop Making Sense, when I heard those lyrics early this week two things struck me. Firstly, how Byrnes words almost seem mocking right now, when we are all pretty much forced to do nothing. But secondly, how right he is about this idea of blissful emptiness, and how the film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the book Little Women, and the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons reflect that idea. All of these works have quiet, peaceful moments where little happens, but the audience understands the significance of moments like when the women in Portrait argue over a Greek myth or in Little Women when much is made about pickled limes. One could argue in the case of the whole Animal Crossing franchise, that nothing does ever happen. But isnt that kind of calming?

Excerpt from:
A Quarantine Media Diet - The Free Press of the University of Southern Maine

Websites are too damn big.

The average web page is about 2 megabytes, according to HTTP Archive, a site that tracks the performance of websites and the technologies they use. Sure you can download 2 megabytes in less than a second on a good 4G mobile connection. But todays web pages are problematic for people on slow connections or with small bandwidth caps. Not all that long ago, a complex game or software program fit on a 1.4-megabyte floppy disk.

There are many reasons todays web is so bloated, including the ads and tracking scripts that saddle so many pages. Another reason is that websites do much more than just display text and images. Many sites now look and feel like full-blown desktop applications.

To build these interactive sites, many web developers turn to open source packages that handle common tasks. These tools liberate programmers from a lot of grunt work, but they can add heft to a project. Facebook's popular open source React library for building user interfaces, for example, weighs in at 100 kilobytes. Throw in some other tools and graphics, and soon youre talking many megabytes.

The up and coming JavaScript framework Svelte, created by visual journalist and software developer Rich Harris, aims to make it easier to write faster, smaller interactive websites and applications. Web developer Shawn Wang says he cut the size of his personal website from 187 kilobytes to 9 kilobytes by switching from React to Svelte.

"It was a big 'wow' moment," Wang says. "I wasn't even trying to optimize for size and it just dropped."

Harris, a graphics editor for The New York Times, created and released the first version of Svelte in 2016 while working for The Guardian. Many of his projects involved interactive graphics and animations, but he worried that the graphics could take too long to load or would chew through users data limits.

Frameworks add heft to websites because they traditionally serve as a middle layer between an app's code and the user's browser. That means developers need to bundle the entire framework, in addition to their own code, with an app, even if they don't use all of the framework's features. Wang compares this to a rocket ship that needs massive fuel tanks to launch into space.

Harris took a different approach. Svelte performs its middle-layer work before a developer uploads code to a web server, well before a user ever downloads it. This makes it possible to remove unnecessary features, shrinking the resulting app. It also reduces the number of moving parts when a user runs the app, which can make Svelte apps faster and more efficient. Svelte is like a space elevator, Wang says. The framework was tricky to create, but advocates say it makes it easier for developers to build efficient apps.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Linux, GNU, and how big companies are making money off of free, collaboration-based software.

Wang says he likes to use Svelte for web pages, but he still uses React for larger applications, including his professional work. For one thing, the larger an app, the more likely a developer will use all of React's features. That makes it less wasteful. In fact, some Svelte apps are bigger than apps made with React or similar tools. And theres much greater demand for React developers than Svelte developers.

In the State of JavaScript 2019 survey of more than 21,000 developers, 88 percent of respondents who had used Svelte said they were satisfied with it, giving it the second-highest satisfaction rating in the survey, just behind Reacts 89 percent satisfaction rate. But only 7.8 percent of respondents had used Svelte, and 24.7 percent had never heard of it. Meanwhile, 80.3 percent had used React.

Read the original post:
The JavaScript Framework That Puts Web Pages on a Diet - WIRED

A friend of mine takes a statin medication each day to lower his cholesterol. More than once Ive heard him say I ate too much! Im going to have to take an extra pill.

Never mind that it doesnt work that way a single additional statin pill wont make much difference to his cholesterol or his health. And never mind that you shouldnt self-adjust the dose of your medications (talk to your doctor before making any changes in medication dosing).

But my friends overindulging does bring up the question of whether starting medications for conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol might lead people to pay less attention to healthy lifestyle choices. Would my friend have been as likely to overeat before he was started on a statin?

The thinking might go like this. If your cholesterol or blood pressure is not ideal, your doctor will likely recommend changes in your diet, regular exercise, and loss of excess weight, as these measures will lower cholesterol and blood pressure in many people. But if that doesnt work well enough, a medication may be prescribed. Once the medicine is doing its job, it may seem like its not so important to continue with the diet and exercise routine.

A new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that this way of thinking might be widespread: people with hypertension (high blood pressure) or high cholesterol seem to let their healthy habits slide once they start taking medications.

Researchers collected data on weight, smoking, physical activity, and alcohol use among more than 40,000 adults with no history of cardiovascular disease. Compared with people who were not prescribed medications for high cholesterol or high blood pressure, those who were prescribed medications

The news wasnt all bad. Those starting medications tended to drink less alcohol and to quit smoking more often than those not taking medicines.

These results can be interpreted in a number of ways. Perhaps people who start taking medications assume they no longer need to be as careful with how they eat or other lifestyle choices. Its also possible that people who ultimately needed medications were less careful with following a healthy lifestyle even before medications were prescribed and that may explain, at least in part, why they needed medications in the first place. Or, it could be that those destined to require medication therapy inherited more high-risk genes for future obesity.

Whatever the explanation, people with high blood pressure or high cholesterol should maintain a healthy weight and get regular physical activity, regardless of whether medications are prescribed. In fact, it may be even more important for those who were prescribed medications, because if their conditions were severe enough to warrant a prescription, they may be at higher risk for complications (such as heart attack or stroke) than those able to avoid medications.

For many conditions, a medication can only do so much. Healthy lifestyle habits can improve the chances that a medication will be effective.

For people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and many other conditions, medications should be in addition to lifestyle changes, not instead of them. Not only will these lifestyle choices improve the chances your medicines will work to lower blood pressure or improve cholesterol, they come with a long list of other health benefits, such as improved mood, a reduced risk of diabetes, and a lower risk of certain cancers. And if you stick with the lifestyle changes, theres a chance you will be able to stop the medication in the future.

If youve been prescribed a medication after trying diet, exercise, or other lifestyle changes, ask your doctor whether its still important to focus on these lifestyle factors. And dont be surprised if the answer is yes.

Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling

Link:
Lifestyle changes are important even if you take medications - Harvard Health Blog - Harvard Health

Weight loss at home or perhaps more accurately, avoiding weight gain at home is suddenly a big deal for a lot of us. A few weeks into self isolation and/or social distancing and you start noticing something peculiar: although you are not eating more, your favourite jogging pants feel a bit tighter than they used to. That's because you do less physical activity than before; but even that is the case, with our handy tips, you'll see that it is not all that difficult to avoid weight gain in isolation.

Managing your weight is beneficial for both your physical and mental wellbeing. With a few simple tricks and lifestyle adjustments, you can make sure the pounds stay off and who knows, you might even shed a few kilos in the process. The fact is, the best way to lose weight fast is to pay close attention to your diet. Not surprisingly, the best way to get a six pack is to eat right (and, to some degree, to work out).

The tips below can be used on their own or you can even combine them as you see fit. Very important, however, is not to overdo it and do vigorous exercising while not eating much at all. That is just plain dangerous and can get you injured in no time. Be sensible and if you had any issues with obesity before or really unfit, consider talking to a health professional first before you implement any drastic changes in your lifestyle.

(Image credit: The Protein Works)

It's really not rocket science: if you don't want to out on weight, you have to stop eating more than your body needs. Even if before the mandatory isolation you have been living a relative sedentary lifestyle, being indoors for 99% of time means you are burning less calories than you used to. And this means you should eat less to adjust to this new lifestyle.

Of course, you can offset the lack of outdoor exercising with indoor exercising but there are other ways to keep the waist slim that doesn't involve gruelling physical activity. And the best of them all is to be more mindful about how and what you eat.

Without trying to convert anybody to mindfulness and being present, try stopping for a second anytime before you raid your cupboard for some food. Ask yourself the question: am I hungry or just bored? Was there anything I was supposed to do before I decided to eat? Something I had to deal with? Unhealthy eating habits often stem from procrastination and us not wanting to deal with the task at hand.

If you are a big fan of fried food, one obvious way to reduce calorie and fat intake is to get one a best air fryer. Air fried food isn't necessarily as delicious as deep- or even shallow-fried, but it does retain a fried/roasted taste and mouth-feel whilst using as little as a tenth of the fat of frying or roasting. We know they're in demand right now, cos they keep selling out.

Tefal Actifry Genius 2in1 Air Fryer | Sale price 270 | Was 300| Save 30 at AmazonThis air fryer is also a slow cooker and casserole/curry maker, with a robotic stirring paddle doing all the actual work for you while you work out. With a 1.2 kg capacity, it's very family friendly, and that dome on top is actually see-through, so you can view your dinner as it cooks.View Deal

Tefal Optigrill | Sale price 120 | Was 170 | Save 50 at VeryJust like a George Foreman grill, but without the George Foreman element, this has presets for cooking burgers, chicken, bacon, sausage, 'red meat' and fish, with a further setting for cooking food from frozen. There's 600 square centimetres of non-stick, die-cast aluminium cooking surface, and a large juice tray to catch all that fat you are now not consuming. Serves 2-4.View Deal

Another way to to eat less is to face how much we eat in general. Considering the amount of processed food we eat, it's easy to count the amount of caloriesand macronutrients (lipids[fat]/carbs/protein) we consume by using apps that scan barcodes of food items and does the adding up for us.

The best known of these apps is MyFitnessPal, but there are many other apps that can do the same thing. Garmin watches can integrate with it o you can see calories consumed vs calories burned on your wrist. Fitbit does a similar thing with its Fitbit Premium service. You can currently grab a free, three-month trial of Fitbit Premium, which should hopefully belong enough

By realising just how many calories are in certain food items we eat, we can make more educated decisions about snacking in the future. Can you eat a box of Jaffa cakes in one sitting? That's 450 'bad' calories consumed and to burn it off, you would have to do an hour of HIIT workouts. Which you probably won't.

Fitbit Versa 2 | Sale price 159.99 | Was 199.99 | Save 40 at AmazonThe Fitbit Versa 2 is always getting price cuts and is currently 40 off at Amazon UK. See below for the best prices in your country. The stylish Versa 2 features advanced cardio tracking as well as step and sleep tracking, and has Alexa built in. It's not got GPS but, of course, you don't need that indoors anywayView Deal

Fitbit Charge 3 | was 149.99 | now 89.99 at AmazonThe new Fitbit Charge 4 with GPS will be on sale shortly but as we noted, if you are concerned with activity and avoiding weight gain at home, that is less useful. So why not try to snap up one of the remaining stocks of the Charge 3 at a knockdown price instead? If you're outside the UK, see below for the best prices for Fitbits near you!View Deal

Today's best Fitbit prices in your location

Fitbit FB507BKBK Versa 2,...

Fitbit Versa Special Edition...

Fitbit FB507RGNV Versa 2 SE,...

Fitbit Charge 3 Advanced...

Fitbit Inspire Heart Rate...

Fitbit Inspire Fitness...

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Even if you don't want to swap out Mars bars for kale and broccoli, you can drastically reduce calorie consumption by only eating in a certain time-window a day. Probably the most popular way is to do intermittent fasting. There are two ways to go about it: either the 5:2 diet or the 16:8 fast diet.

With the 5:2 diet, you restrict calorie intake for two days a week, down to 700-800 calories, while for the rest of the weeks you eat normally. The 16:8 diet is a daily fast, where you eat only in an 8-hour window. With the latter, the most convenient way is to fast while you sleep: have your last meal at around 8 pm, and have the next one at 12 pm the next day. This way, you sleep through most of the fats, making it super easy to do so. Well, somewhat easier anyway.

Wild West Original Jerky, 12 x 35g bags | 21 at AmazonFor a calorie-dense but nutritious snack, nothing beats jerky or biltong cured meat snacks high in protein. This Wild West Original comes in handy 35g bags, to keep yourself fuller for longer. It's packed full of protein to help build muscle after a workout (13.2g per pack, to be precise), and is gluten free.View Deal

Today'a best protein snack deals

Barebells Protein Bar, 55 g,...

(Image credit: Sundried)

Drinking more water is beneficial for a lot of reasons and now that we are all grounded in our homes, people can't really use the usual excuse not to drink more, which is "I'll need to go to the toilet more often", since the loo is really always available at home (we hope so anyway).

Drinking plenty of water can help metabolism and, most importantly, it can also help you feel fuller for longer. The best combination is eating more fibrous food more vegetables, mainly and drinking plenty of water. Cold-pressed bars are okay as a snack too with lots of water, although they are by nature quite high in sugar.

Low-sugar protein bars and savoury snacks like beef or vegan jerky are a great alternative to chocolate bars as a mid-afternoon snack. Nuts are okay although they are very energy dense (high in good fats) so you should only eat a small portion at the time.

Today's best gym water bottle deals

ion8 Slim Bottle 500 ml,...

Sundried BPA Free Leakproof...

Takeya Australia Takeya...

(Image credit: Fitbit)

Although we are stuck indoors, having a fitness tracker or running watch around your wrist can still be beneficial. One of the more casual feature of these fitness wearables is the 'movement reminder' that prompts you, once every hour, to get up and walk for a bit. Now, being in isolation doesn't help but getting off from the sofa periodically can be beneficial for your overall wellbeing nevertheless, even if it is just to have a stretch or to put away some washing.

Fitness trackers and running watches also measure calories burned so you it can adjust your calorie consumption to your calorie expenditure. These devices are not ultra precise but they will give you a good estimate nevertheless.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music 249 | Was 349 at Wiggle | Save 100|Not the best Forerunner watch perhaps, but the 645 Music is an excellent deal at this price. Offering advanced calorie tracking as well as expert analysis of your steps, cardio, running, cycling and sleep, this Garmin watch has long battery life and looks great. It also doubles as a smartwatch, with alerts for messages, calendar appointments etc.View Deal

Today's best prices on Garmin Forerunner watches

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music,...

Garmin Forerunner 945 GPS...

Garmin Forerunner 245 Music,...

Today's best prices on the best current Fitbit fitness trackers in our order of preference

Fitbit FB507BKBK Versa 2,...

Fitbit Versa Special Edition...

Fitbit Charge 3 Advanced...

Fitbit Ionic Smart Fitness...

Fitbit Inspire Heart Rate...

Fitbit Inspire Fitness...

(Image credit: Sixpad)

SIXPAD Abs Fit 2 | Buy it for 222 at AmazonAs used by Cristiano Ronaldo, no less, this is certainly not going to help you avoid weight gain on its own, but it could help add the finishing touches to your six-pack, if your home weight-loss drive is really successful. Amazon also sells all manner of abs belts by brands we have never heard of, for about 20. Needless to say we dont recommend these.View Deal

(Image credit: Tanita)

Just like fitness trackers, bathroom scales the smart scale variety can also measure energy expenditure and tell you how many calories you burn, as well as other deets about your body, like bone/muscle mass and, most importantly, body fat percentage. They don't even cost the earth either: the Tanita BC-401 body composition monitor is less than 80 and measures 10 different body metrics. Cheaper than getting a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro, for sure, although the Tanita BC-401 won't be that much of a help when it comes to navigating forest trails, unlike the Garmin's offline topographic maps.

Today's best Tanita scales deals

Tanita RD-953 InnerScan...

TANITA [Japan domestic...

(Image credit: Fitbit)

HIIT workouts have never really gone out of fashion but they are definitely 'in' at the moment, mainly because they are an effective way to burn calories and can be done indoors, using your bodyweight only, a kettlebell, dumbbells, treadmills, exercise bikes, rowing machines and basically everything you can think off. We have seen a gym water bottle tabata workout before, too.

Should you be considering doing HIIT workouts, we have an article about why should you try HIIT and also an ever expanding list of free apps and online workouts that can help you get started. Or you can follow along Joe Wicks' daily HIIT workouts for kids on Youtube as well.

Today's best gym & fitness deals - stock checked every 30 minutes

Gaiam Yoga Straps, Natural

Infinity Yoga Strap for...

Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro...

SKLZ COREwheels COREwheels, 2...

See.Sense ICON Rear Light

dhb Aeron Speed Women's Bib...

Theragun liv Percussive...

(Image credit: Vivobarefoot)

Best way to motivate yourself to move more and therefore to burn more calories more efficiently is set up a challenge for yourself. Although you can't leave the house for leisure activities but you still have plenty of options. How about a 30-day push up challenge? Start with doing one on day one and adding one more every day and see if you can keep up with the pace.

Have you got a pull up bar? How about learning how to do pull ups properly? Or mastering chin ups. Don't know what the difference is? Here is a handy article on the subject: chin up vs pull up which one is better for you? If you have an ab wheel knocking about somewhere in the house, you can challenge yourself to actually learn how to use roller properly.

Maybe you can improve your mobility? Improving hamstring flexibility can be quite challenging for some but being more flexible can improve your general comfort levels significantly. Shoulder mobility is also a massive issue among the adult population: get some resistance bands and do two-arm shoulder circles.

How about making your feet more flexible? Having flexible toes can improve balance and alleviate some back problems too. There is an excellent article on the subject at Vivobarefoot: engage your feet with a spot of toega (as in toe-yoga). While you are at it, get a pair of their shoes too, they are light and super responsive too.

Link:
How to lose weight at home and avoid weight gain: our 7 best tips for home weight loss - T3

There could be something about turmeric thats beneficial, but its not curcumin, she says. Plus, if turmeric is cooked as part of a meal, she says, its added alongside other foods, and heated up, so its chemical components change.

There might be something else in turmeric worth looking at, but not curcumin, and it might not be one thing. It might need to be chemically modified or added to something to be beneficial.

She says consuming lots of turmeric isnt harmful, but she wouldnt advise using it as self-medication.

Correlation vs causation

Chilli and turmeric have been widely studied, but most trials have only compared data on consumption and different health outcomes, which doesnt separate cause from effect. And research done in labs doesnt necessarily translate to the human body.

And as is true for so many nutritional studies, its difficult to tease out correlation versus causation.

Take the 2019 Italian study finding that there was a lower risk of death associated with chilli consumption. It was observational, so its impossible to know whether eating chilli made people live longer, whether already healthy people tend to consume more chilli, or if something else is at work.

One clue could, however, lie in how chillies are consumed by Italians and other Mediterranean cultures, says the studys author Marialaura Bonaccio, epidemiologist at Italy's Mediterranean Neurological Institute.

Chilli is common in Mediterranean countries, says Bonaccio. Its mostly eaten with pasta and legumes or vegetables.

Excerpt from:
Are there benefits to eating turmeric and other spices? - BBC News

Some new beginnings are so promising, it feels like youve somehow landed yourself in a real-life fairy tale. When I moved to France for my first job after earning my bachelors degree, I felt that way, and for good reason -- my newly adopted hometown, Versailles, was once inhabited by actual royalty. For a girl whod grown up on a steady diet of princess movies, living within walking distance of a world-famous palace was nothing short of a dream come true.

Before long, though, a string of real-world hassles and minor humiliations -- from scrambling to acquire basic necessities for my unfurnished apartment to enduring the embarrassment of having my French grammar corrected by a 5-year-old -- brought me back to reality. Suddenly, life in Versailles was no fairy tale. One night, after a particularly challenging encounter with the French bureaucracy, I broke down in tears while on the phone with my parents, questioning whether my decision to move to France had been a terrible mistake.

Spoiler alert: I hadnt made a mistake. I was going through the early stages of culture shock. And in time, I came to understand my feelings of infatuation with the local environment/culture, followed by waves of angst, uncertainty and frustration, were completely normal way posts on the path to adapting to life in a new country. By the time I returned to the United States at the end of my one-year contract, some of my most exasperating early experiences in France had become some of my best stories.

We can expect to encounter culture shock when tackling major life changes, like moving abroad. But culture shock can also sneak up on us when we dont anticipate it -- as in times of career transition. Sometimes even seemingly minor professional moves can leave us feeling as if weve teleported to a foreign land. I learned this lesson the hard way years later, when I took on a new role at the same university where I had been working for nearly 10 years. Adjusting to the implicit attitudes, assumptions, expectations and rhythms of my new department was every bit as challenging, if not more so, as learning how to navigate the expectations of the job itself.

For graduate students, potential culture shock-inducing career transitions are as varied as they are numerous. They can be either academic (switching advisers, shifting focus within your area of research, transitioning from coursework to thesis/dissertation writing) or professional (transitioning from a part-time graduate teaching assistant position to a full-time faculty role, moving from academe to industry, or vice versa) in nature. In recent weeks, many graduate students have taken on the unexpected challenge of migrating from on-campus to online learning and work environments in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Whatever type of career transition you find yourself facing -- expected or unexpected, academic or professional, big or small -- here are five strategies to help you navigate any feelings of culture shock you may encounter along the way.

No.1: Recognize and understand the stages of culture shock. Culture shock doesnt always look like we think it will -- especially in the beginning. If you walk away from your first day at a new job raving about how perfect everything is (the people are so friendly, the cafeteria food is so delicious, your supervisor is so supportive!), chances are you may be experiencing the first stage of culture shock: the honeymoon stage.

Alas, honeymoons are temporary, and soon you may begin to notice attitudes and behaviors in your new professional environment that confuse or even irk you. (Why does everyone always seem to be working through lunch? And why are meetings called to resolve issues that could be handled by email?) Welcome to the frustration stage.

In most cases, frustration fades over time as you adapt to and eventually come to accept the culture of your new academic/professional environment. In the meantime, simply recognizing and understanding the stages of culture shock can be of great value as you work to navigate through your new reality.

No.2: Build relationships in your new environment and ask questions. While theres no magic fast-forward button you can hit to skip over culture shocks more challenging moments, making connections and building relationships with your new colleagues are great ways to help accelerate the process. After all, who better to help you navigate the implicit attitudes, values and beliefs of your new professional environment than a local guide (or two or three?) If youre part of a team, start by getting to know the people youll be working with closely. Both long-term veterans of the team and those who have recently transitioned into their role can offer valuable insights into spoken and unspoken organizational/team expectations. To broaden your professional network, consider asking your supervisor who they think you should meet outside of your immediate team, or inquire into potential opportunities for mentorship. (Get more strategies for building relationships and networking with co-workers here.)

Having colleagues whom you feel comfortable reaching out to can be especially helpful when the frustration stage strikes. Particularly in collaborative/team environments, those you work with will often have an incentive to help you succeed, as well. If youre struggling to make sense of your new academic/professional culture, dont be afraid to ask questions, especially in the early days of a new position. As a graduate student, youve been trained to be an expert in your field of study, but no one is expected to have mastered every detail of their new role during their first days on the job. Posing questions born of genuine, judgment-free curiosity and an open mind can not only help you decode your new workplace culture (and your role within it), it can also inspire conversations and connections that can help form the foundation for long-term professional relationships that will enhance your network for years to come.

No.3: Prioritize your well-being and actively engage in self-care. Academic and professional transitions can be mentally and physically draining, especially if youre struggling to adjust to a new workplace culture. For this reason, its important to focus on nurturing yourself as well as your career during this time of adjustment. Make it a priority to actively engage in self-care strategies that work for you. Dont neglect the basics -- sleep, diet, exercise, social interactions (in person or online) and time alone to recharge are all vital. Taking steps early on to prioritize your own well-being, even as you seek to acclimate yourself to the rhythms and expectations of your new professional environment, is essential to establishing a healthy work-life balance. After all, surviving workplace culture shock is no great achievement if it comes at the expense of your physical or mental health.

No.4: Establish realistic expectations. Speaking of your mental health, periods of change can be especially emotionally taxing if, like many graduate students, you struggle with perfectionism or feel compelled to do it all. To lessen the mental load, remember that this is a time of transition, and dont demand perfection of yourself. Trust that your best is good enough and that you will continue to learn and grow in your new role/environment over time. Easier said than done, I know, but the value of giving yourself permission to do less during challenging career transitions cannot be overstated.

No.5: Remember you have options. While it takes time to work through the phases of culture shock, and I certainly would not recommend running for the door the first time frustration strikes, you may ultimately find yourself in a situation that isnt healthy or simply isnt the right fit for you. In a worst-case scenario, remember that a job choice is not permanent. If your work environment is toxic and/or your position doesnt mesh with your core values, you can and should make a new plan.

Even if your new environment is healthy over all and aligns well with your values and goals, keeping your mind open to alternatives can still be helpful during those inevitable times when the going gets tough. During my most challenging moments in France, I told myself that I could always break my temporary employment contract and go home early if I wanted -- only to realize thats not what I wanted at all. Sometimes, simply reminding yourself that you have other options is all thats needed to reaffirm youre exactly where you need to be.

Above all, be patient with yourself and just keep swimming. Periods of transition are, by nature, temporary. Eventually, you will adjust to the cultural waters of your new academic/professional environment -- and with any luck, you may find that you are a stronger swimmer on the other side.

Read more:
Five strategies to help you navigate career transitions (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed

AMHERST Throughout his life, David Julian McClements has devoured meat, gone veggie, retreated back to animal products and finally, settled on a vegetarian diet.

Now the University of Massachusetts at Amherst professor is working on research to expand the variety of tasty, nutritious plant-based products that provide protein and other ingredients necessary for a healthy diet.

"There are so many advantages to plant-based foods. They are ethical as well as environmental, with better use of our land and water and reduction of greenhouse gases,'' McClements said.

McClements team at UMass will be bolstered by a grant of $200,000 over two years by the Good Food Institute to create tasty, plant-based, protein-rich food thats similar in texture to whole chicken, pork or beef.

His own dietary evolution speaks to changing customs, advanced learning and ultimately, personal choice.

"I grew up in England. My grandmother would make delicious roast beef, roast pork and lamb,'' McClements said.

"Then I took a food science the University of Leeds, and people from the meat industry showed us pictures (of the process) that were just horrific. I became a vegetarian, but there was nothing good to eat.

"About five years ago, my daughter became a vegetarian, so I returned to plant-based diet as well.

The research project is not a coronavirus story, but like all else in American life these days, the pandemic has had its effect.

"I have 20 to 25 students involved, and our lab has been shut down. We did have a lab meeting on Zoom, but no students can go in the lab, which is devastating. All of them are anxious to get back,'' McClements said.

Even though plant-based food research is not a direct result of the coronavirus crisis, healthy practices are dramatically front and center these days. Other types of disease such as swine flu or avian influena (bird flu) have links to animal proximity, McClements said, and plant-based products would reduce those risks.

He said the reasons to promote plant-based foods goes behind communicable diseases. Pork products are rejected not just for reasons of health but, for many people, on religious or ethical grounds. Treatment and slaughter of animals, in both method and number, is a far more sensitive and debated topic than was once true.

Plant-based products with a meaty taste surged into the popular culture with Burger Kings Impossible Whopper, which was advertised as 0 percent meat. There was some controversy (and at least one court case) attached; some strict vegans and vegetarians objected to the chains use of the same grills to produce both meat and meatless burgers, which they said soiled the purity of the meatless brand.

McClements sees truth in the objection, but there was value to the news generated by Burger King and other outlets that introducedso-called meatless meat. Not only were vegetarians interested, but meat eaters were curious to try them, creating a potentially expanded interest in plant-based alternatives.

McClements is convinced the market will only continue to grow.

"Our work is to make plant-based foods healthier, safer and more convenient to consumers,'' he said.

The grant will help this work with chicken, beef and pork products. Other areas of food and nutrition also have the interest of researchers.

Dairy products have already seen alternative advances such as almond, soy or coconut milk. McClements thinks more advancement is attainable. A more long-range interest is what he calls test tube meat, a result of cellular agriculture where meat substitutes are grown in fermentation with the goal of reproducing the necessary dietary ingredients in safe, healthy form.

Creating plant-based alternatives is not that easy.

"Some of the essential amino acids and minerals are hard to get from plants. Were working to make the next generation of foods with all the vitamins and nutrients (from meat), McClements said.

Is there a market? Theres no question about that.

In 2003, a California judge rejected a vegans objection to a turberculosis test by saying the class of strict ethical vegans was too small. He referred to their reactions a "rare, idiosyncratic, hypersensitive, or unusual.

Those days are gone. Recent court rulings show acceptance of vegans. Grand View Research predicts the vegan market will grow at a compounded rate of 9.6 percent over the next six years.

In 2018, a Gallup survey said 3 percent of Americans, or 7.6 percent, were vegan - a dietary regimen with even stricter restrictions than those of vegetarians.

McClements is convinced that once Americans stop assuming plant-based protein products offer nothing good to eat, as he once did, more will join.

"People who dont want to kill animals will be interested in plant-based, cultivated or cultured meat. I think that includes people of all ages,'' he said.

"Vegans are vegetarians are generally just healthier people. Along with the ethical and environmental advantages this brings, this is creating a big push in this direction>

Read more:
UMass-Amherst professor researching expanded plant-based food choices - MassLive.com