Category Archives: Diet And Food

The SQA will aim to get results out by August 4.

THE Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is aiming to certify pupil's grades and results by August 4, the chief examiner has revealed.

Fiona Robertson said the SQA is working on an alternative certification model so pupils are recognised for the work that they have done despite the cancellation of this year's exams in response to the coronavirus situation.

The news comes a day after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said schools will close on Friday.

Ms Roberston said: "This is an unprecedented situation, and the closure of schools for an extended period will affect almost every family across Scotland.

"The Scottish Qualifications Authority has recently been working through a range of scenarios in relation to the exam diet, including disruption and postponement.

"However, as the Deputy First Minister has outlined in parliament today, the exam diet in 2020 cannot go ahead and I have been asked by the Deputy First Minister to develop an alternative certification model.

"That work has started, at pace, and I will say more on that as soon as I can. What I can say now is that we want to ensure that we have as much information on the achievements of learners as possible.

"We will work to ensure that learners receive their results no later than August 4, as planned. We are considering more fully the impact this decision will have on our exceptional circumstances and post-results services.

"I fully appreciate that this will be an uncertain time for learners who have worked hard throughout the year and will now, with their families, be worried about what this means for them."

She added that schools and colleges have been asked to continue to work with young people to ensure that any units and coursework are completed and "estimated grades are provided by teachers, drawing on the available evidence gathered throughout the year".

Related article: Scottish Government confirms school exams scrapped in wake of coronavirus

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SQA aims to issue results to pupils by August 4 despite exams being cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak - Strathspey Herald

The right kind of inflammation is essential to your body's healing system. But chronic inflammation can be a problem.

Published: April, 2020

The saying "too much of a good thing" applies to much of life, but especially to inflammation.

"People think inflammation needs to be stomped out at all times, but it plays an essential role in healing and injury repair to keep your body safe and healthy," says Dr. Robert H. Shmerling, medical editor of Understanding Inflammation from Harvard Health Publishing and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Some inflammation is good. Too much is often bad. The goal is to recognize when inflammation is simply doing its job, and when it can potentially cause problems."

Signs of inflammation are like a car's dashboard engine light. It tells you that something is wrong. But your response is not to take out the bulb, because that's not the problem. Instead, you look at what caused the light to turn on. "It's the same with inflammation," says Dr. Shmerling. "It's telling you that something bigger is going on that requires attention."

There are two types of inflammation: acute and chronic. People are most familiar with acute inflammation. This is the redness, warmth, swelling, and pain around tissues and joints that occurs in response to an injury, like when you cut yourself. When the body is injured, your immune system releases white blood cells to surround and protect the area.

"Acute inflammation is how your body fights infections and helps speed up the healing process," says Dr. Shmerling. "In this way, inflammation is good because it protects the body." This process works the same if you have a virus like a cold or the flu.

In contrast, when inflammation gets turned up too high and lingers for a long time, and the immune system continues to pump out white blood cells and chemical messengers that prolong the process, that's known as chronic inflammation. "From the body's perspective, it's under consistent attack, so the immune system keeps fighting indefinitely," says Dr. Shmerling.

When this happens, white blood cells may end up attacking nearby healthy tissues and organs. For example, if you are overweight and have more visceral fat cells the deep type of fat that surrounds your organs the immune system may see those cells as a threat and attack them with white blood cells. The longer you are overweight, the longer your body can remain in a state of inflammation.

Research has shown that chronic inflammation is associated with heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Yet, because chronic inflammation can continue for a long time, it's not easy to know its exact impact. "It's a chicken-and-egg scenario," says Dr. Shmerling. "Does chronic inflammation increase the risk of these ailments, or is it a byproduct? It is not always clear."

Here are some other steps you can take to prevent and reduce chronic inflammation:

Most of the time, you don't need to worry too much about acute inflammation, says Dr. Shmerling. You can take an over-the-counter pain reliever to help relieve symptoms, or apply cold compresses to reduce swelling. "Otherwise, it is usually best to let the inflammation do its work to help with healing," says Dr. Shmerling.

Of course, the cause of acute inflammation may need treatment. For example, a bacterial infection may require antibiotics, so if you have a fever or significant symptoms such as severe pain or shortness of breath see your doctor.

Chronic inflammation is trickier to deal with. The problem is that chronic inflammation is often "invisible," since it does not show telltale physical signs the way acute inflammation does.

So how can you prevent or reduce inflammation you cannot necessarily see or feel?

The only way to detect chronic inflammation is to have an evaluation by your doctor. He or she will review your symptoms, perform a physical exam, and perhaps check your blood for signs of inflammation. (See "A test for inflammation.")

Otherwise, the best approach is to prevent conditions related to chronic inflammation. "It goes back to the basics: maintaining a healthy weight, choosing a good diet, getting plenty of sleep, and exercising regularly," says Dr. Shmerling.

How do you know if you have chronic inflammation? A blood test measures a protein produced by the liver, C-reactive protein (CRP), which rises in response to inflammation. A CRP level between 1 and 3 milligrams per liter of blood often signals a low, yet chronic, level of inflammation. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate is another blood test for inflammation. It is used for people with inflammatory conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis.

Diet and exercise have an especially strong impact on managing chronic inflammation since they both also can help control weight and improve sleep.

The evidence is not clear that a specific type of diet can prevent chronic inflammation. However, certain foods are associated with either promoting or inhibiting the inflammatory response. These foods also are linked to a lower risk of problems related to chronic inflammation, such as heart disease, weight gain, and cancer.

For instance, cut back or eliminate foods high in simple sugars like soda, fruit juices with added sugars, sports drinks, processed meat, and refined carbs like white bread and pasta. "These foods can spike blood sugar levels, which can lead to overeating and weight gain," says Dr. Shmerling.

Also, eat more foods high in the antioxidants known as polyphenols, which can lower inflammation. Examples include all types of berries, cherries, plums, red grapes, onions, turmeric, green tea, and dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale.

Regular exercise can help protect against conditions linked with chronic inflammation, especially heart disease and obesity. A 2017 study in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity found that just 20 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (in this case, walking on a treadmill) can have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Image: Mingirov/Getty Images

Disclaimer:As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

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Understanding acute and chronic inflammation - Harvard Health

In 1979, Willie Stargell won the MVP award for the season, the MVP award for the National League Championship Series, and the MVP award for the World Series. Since Stargell was 39 years old in 1979, he became the oldest player to win the MVP award for the season, and at the end of that year, the Associated Press named him Male Athlete of the Year.

Stargell also holds the record for hitting the longest home runs in three different major league ballparks: Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. During the 1970s, he hit 296 home runs, the most of any other major leaguer during that decade. Stargell was inducted into the Major League Hall of Fame, featured on a postage stamp and honored by having a statue of him erected outside the Pirates baseball stadium.

After playing for the Chiefs in 1960, Stargell was promoted, in 1961, to Asheville, a Class A team in the South Atlantic League, along with his best friend, Gene Alley, and his other two outfield teammates, Rex Johnston and Reg Grenald. Now confident that he was a legitimate professional baseball player, and having added several more pounds of muscle, he became a highly regarded power hitter. Fans gave him the nickname On the Hill Will because of the long homers he hit onto a hillside far beyond the right-field fence.

During the season, Stargell hit 22 home runs, batted .289 and his team won the league championship. In 1962, he was promoted to Columbus, the Pirates' AAA franchise in the International League, along with Alley and Johnston. After hitting 27 home runs and batting .276 in 138 games, he was promoted to the Pittsburgh Pirates in mid-September.

On Sept. 16, Stargell played in his first major league game, and for the remainder of the season, he batted .290 in 31 times at bat. The Pirates' manager, Danny Murtaugh, was very impressed with Stargell and kept him on the roster as a reserve outfielder when the 1963 season began.

Soon after the start of the season, it became apparent that Murtaughs young outfielder could become an everyday player. On May 23, the Pirates traded their regular left fielder, Bob Skinner, to the Cincinnati Reds, and Stargell became his primary replacement. Pitchers later began to identify some of his weaknesses as a hitter, and his batting average slumped as the season progressed. He ended the season batting only .243, with 11 home runs in 108 games.

Superstar Roberto Clemente, Stargells fellow outfielder with the Pirates, became his mentor and worked with Stargell to become more aggressive, yet remain selective of the pitches he would swing at. Stargell asserted himself the following season (1964), raising his average 30 points, blasting 21 home runs, and appearing as a pinch-hitter in his first of seven All-Star Games.

The 1965 and 1966 seasons were good examples of the kind of player Stargell was becoming. In 1965, he hit 27 home runs, drove in 107 runs and hit for a .272 average. In 1966, he hit 33 home runs, drove in 102 runs and batted .315.

However, over the winter he put on 20 pounds more than what was considered his ideal 215-pound playing weight, and his manager put him on a crash diet that sapped him of much of his strength. Stargells statistics dropped to 20 home runs, 73 runs batted in and a batting average of .271. Perhaps because of the confusion as to what his weight should be, Stargells batting average dipped to .237 in 1968.

Pie Traynor, a former Pirates shortstop of the 1920s and '30s, said to the press that the manager needed to stop worrying about Stargells weight and leave him alone, and word got back to the manager, who took his advice. Another bit of valuable advice came from Clemente, Stargells mentor, who encouraged him to use a heavier bat.

On Aug. 5, 1969, in Los Angeles, Stargell hit the ball 507 feet, becoming the first player to ever hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium, and he batted .307 for the season.

In the midseason of 1970, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh became the new ballpark for the Pirates. The stadium was a much better fit for Stargell since the outfield fences were not as distant from home plate as they had been in Forbes Field, the previous ballpark. On Aug. 1, two weeks after Three Rivers Stadium opened, Stargell tied a major league record when he had five extra-base hits in a single game. He had three doubles and two home runs that day.

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Another incentive for Stargell that year was the return of Murtaugh as his manager. In 1971, his first full season in the new home park, Stargell began the season by hitting 11 home runs in the month of April, tying a National League record. On June 25, his home run off of Philadelphias pitcher, Jim Bunning, became the longest home run ever hit at Veterans Stadium. Stargell ended the regular season leading the National League in home runs with 48 and he also drove in 125 runs. The Pirates repeated as National League champions, but unlike 1970, they went on to win the World Series.

During the early 1970s, Stargell became one of the most feared hitters in baseball, but in 1975, he broke his ribs and it caused him great pain to swing the bat. Then in 1976, his wife, Delores, was stricken with a brain aneurysm and spent six weeks in a coma. Stargell said, I couldnt concentrate. I could only see Delores with all this equipment strapped on her and my mind drifted quite a bit.

Because of a nagging elbow injury, Stargell only played in 63 games in 1977. Primarily because of these circumstances, Stargell was unable to play as well during those three seasons.

In 1978, Stargell revived his career, batting .295 with 28 home runs and 97 runs batted in, and he was named National League Comeback Player of the Year. Stargell had become the motivational leader for the Pirates and his teammates began calling him Pops. He brought the team together with the cohesive song, We Are Family.

Because of his leadership and hitting, Stargell won MVP co-honors with Keith Hernandez in 1979 as the Pirates won the National League East Championship. In a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, they won the National League Championship with Stargell hitting .455, and he was named MVP. Then, in a seven-game World Series against the Baltimore Orioles, Stargell collected 25 total bases, a World Series record. The Pirates won the series, and Stargell was again named MVP.

Stargell played for three more years with the Pirates, but because of recurring injuries, he was never able to be an everyday ballplayer. He retired after the 1982 season and became a coach for the Atlanta Braves, and as his health began to decline, he served as a roving minor league batting instructor for the Braves. In 1988, in his first year of eligibility, Stargell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and he was also the only player elected that year.

After a number of years of suffering from serious health issues, Wilver Donnel Stargell died on April 9, 2001. Days before his death in 2001, a 12-foot, 1-ton bronze statue in Stargells likeness was unveiled near the left field entrance to PNC Park, the new ballpark for the Pirates.

In May 2012, the U.S. Postal Service announced that, in July, they would begin selling All-Stars Forever stamps featuring major league baseball greats Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Larry Doby and Willie Stargell. At that time, they also launched a pre-order stamp competition to see which player would generate the most orders. Stargell came out on top with 8,220,355 total orders, a fitting testimony of how much Americans appreciated Willie Stargell.

Did You Know That is written by Curt Eriksmoen and edited by Jan Eriksmoen of Fargo. Send your comments, corrections, or suggestions for columns to the Eriksmoens at cjeriksmoen@cableone.net.

Curt Eriksmoen, Did You Know That? columnist

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Eriksmoen: The only MLB player to win 3 MVPs in one season previously played for a North Dakota team - Grand Forks Herald

Deanna Harder, a CSEP (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology) certified personal trainer in Edmonton poses for a picture at Custom Fit Training in Edmonton on March 18, 2020. Derek Van Diest / Postmedia

It is being called the Quarantine 15 in social media circles: the weight some are expecting to gain during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With gyms and leisure centres throughout Edmonton closed, there is concern self-isolation will be detrimental to an active lifestyle.

According to some fitness experts, however, that doesnt have to be the case, with numerous types of home workouts available.

I want to let everybody know that your body isnt made or broken in a few weeks or a few months, said Deanna Harder, a CSEP (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology) certified personal trainer in the city. So just like building muscle takes years and years and years, atrophy in muscle is going to take a little bit of time. Its not going to happen overnight.

You can maintain your body fitness by body-weight exercise or light dumbbell work and just by keeping your stress low and managing your nutrition. You dont need to be going hard every day. I like to tell people, youre not going to make or break your body in a few weeks of not hitting the gym hard. In fact, your body may welcome the change of pace and the change of stimulus. Your gains are not going to be lost in a couple of weeks of staying home.

Harder understands these are stressful times for everyone with the uncertainty ahead due to the world-wide pandemic. Physical activity helps alleviate stress at the best of times and when it is taken away in the form of facility closures, it may only add to anxiety.

The thing is, the first couple days, you might want to eat a little bit of extra chocolate and sugar because youre stressed out and because its like a snow day, Harder said. You can treat it as a little bit of a holiday, a little bit of a staycation, but then weve got to get some structure in our day, like having a healthy breakfast and getting into a regular routine; your showering routine, put on your makeup, put on your clothes, make yourself feel better, your self-esteem will really appreciate that.

And then add in a structured workout starting as soon as you feel good again. There might be a few days where, like my myself, Ive stocked up on a few bottles of wine and some dark chocolate because I also know that comfort is something we all need right now and this isnt going to last forever. If we cant be out in the in the world working on our fitness at a big global gym, why not take this time to focus on nutrition and focus on eating healthier.

Jeff Woods, owner of Custom Fit Training in Edmonton poses for a photo on March 18, 2020. Derek Van Diest / Postmedia

A key issue with self-isolation at home is the access to food at all times. Maintaining a healthy diet is key to fighting off the Quarantine 15. It is fine to stock up on chips and frozen pizza, but as is the case under regular circumstances, moderation is important when trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Whether youre exercising or not, if youre being rational about your intake of calories, youre not going to put on copious amounts of weight, said Jeff Woods, owner of Custom Fit Training. Obviously, we still want people to exercise and you can do that going outside not being in highly populated situations. Be one with nature; that still works.

You can do bodyweight training programs, you can look at virtual options, go online, theres a million options on YouTube. I hate to sort of pass the buck, and as a professional trainer we can certainly pass on good information to people online as well, but there are some really incredible home programs that you can you can pick up the internet, and itll work just fine.

Custom Fit is a small gym catering to clients interested in one-one-one personal training. They, too, will be hit hard financially as the province attempts to get through the outbreak by practicing social distancing.

If there are any positives to be taken out of self-isolation, it may be an opportunity to change a fitness routine. Gains are often difficult to make if a routine becomes too repetitive.

Elite-level athletes work on what we call a periodization model, Woods said. Theyll work for a period of time like a six-week training block and then theyll take structured time off. They might take a week off, so that they give their body a chance to recover and actually adapt to the exercise stress, so that they get stronger.

If you keep on working out all the time and there is no structured recovery time or rest period, you can actually go the other way. If you overtrain, you can actually impede or inhibit your immune systems function. You need to exercise but in times like this, too, you want to do it in a balanced manner, because over-exercising or overtraining can have a negative effect on immunity.

No one is certain how long the self-isolation period will last, but the goal for most is to come out of it in similar condition as they went into it.

People shouldnt worry so much about body change right now, Id worry about more about maintaining your body, just maintain where youre at, Harder said. Dont worry about cutting or gaining at this point because why add extra stress to yourself? Just moderation of all foods, try to focus on maintaining your fitness and your body weight and not worry so much about losing or gaining, just living in maintenance for a minute.

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COVID-19: Fitness experts offer advice for fighting off the Quarantine 15 - Peace River Record Gazette

An elimination diet can be helpful for identifying potentially problematic foods.

If you've ever done the Whole30 diet or the Clean Program, then guess what -- you've done an elimination diet. Elimination diets have been repopularized in recent years, but they've been around for a long time. Even though they're rebranded again and again in various programs (including Whole 30), there's a reason why people use them to help them feel better and why doctors turn to them again and again. They are considered the gold standard for identifying food intolerances and related health symptoms that can stem from consuming foods that are not well tolerated over periods of time.

Even though the word "diet" is involved, elimination diets aren't intended for weight loss -- though you might end up losing a few pounds. Elimination diets involve removing foods from your diet that are commonly linked to food allergies or other inflammation-related health conditions such as autoimmune diseases, migraines or fatigue.

They were created by a doctor in 1926 in an effort to help identify food allergies in patients. To this day, they are considered the gold standard of identifying food allergies, food intolerance or sensitivities, and helping resolve other food-related health issues in the functional medicine world and beyond.

If you're curious about how elimination diets work and what they are used for, keep reading for more information.

An elimination diet involves taking out foods that could be a problem for your health -- like processed foods and refined sugars.

There is no one way to do an elimination diet, although there are standard guidelines that many practitioners will recommend that you follow. It's important to keep in mind that there are different types of elimination diets, like the autoimmune paleo protocol, which is specialized for people with autoimmune conditions. If you do an elimination diet based on a doctor or nutritionist's advice, they can help customize your diet based on your symptoms.

These are common food groups elimination diets cut out:

These particular foods are avoided because they are either a common food allergen, you can have an intolerance to them, or you can become sensitive to them, which cancause symptoms like migraines, bloating or nausea.

This list of foods may seem long and intimidating, but you're not supposed to get rid of them forever. The idea is to remove all of the foods for a short period of time, and then slowly reintroduce them one at time to identify potential triggers for adverse symptoms.

You can think of an elimination diet as a food investigation in which you're the detective, trying to pinpoint any foods that could be giving you problems. While removing certain foods is sometimes not the only thing that will help you feel better, knowing which foods cause unwanted symptoms is really useful for doctors or other practitioners to help you with your health condition.

When you start an elimination diet you'll remove all of the potentially problematic foods entirely from your diet for a few weeks or about a month. If you're looking at the food list and it feels super daunting, you can talk to a nutritionist or health coach who can help you come up with meal ideas. This phase is often called the elimination phase.

The second phase of most elimination diets is called the reintroduction phase. This is when you slowly reintroduce the eliminated foods back into your diet, one at a time. This requires some patience if you're trying to pinpoint an allergy. If you reintroduce multiple food groups at once and experience a reaction, you won't know what the exact culprit is. But if you experience an adverse reaction to a specific food, you can identify an intolerance or sensitivity.

Once you're able to pinpoint foods that may not work for you, or just generally make you feel worse, you can then come up with a food plan that makes you feel your best. Or if you're working with a doctor or nutritionist on a specific health condition, you can work together to come up with an eating plan that works for your specific condition.

A doctor can test you for food allergies or you can do a test at home.

A lot of people do elimination diets or programs like the Whole30 to identify possible food sensitivities. Food sensitivities are different from allergies in that the side effects from a sensitivity are not as severe or life-threatening, but can still make you feel sick.

There are a variety of food sensitivity tests out there -- you can get them from your doctor or through at-home test companies like EverlyWell. The evidence on how effective and accurate these tests are is really mixed, but you may be wondering why someone would put themselves through a highly restrictive diet for a month instead of doing a simple test.

There are several reasons, among them that testing is expensive, but also some practitioners say they can't rely on the results as much as if someone tests removing foods on their own. It's one thing to read a test result, and another to experience something first-hand. And a list of foods can't tell you which symptoms they may trigger -- you can only figure that out with an elimination diet and reintroduction phase.

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The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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Elimination diets: What they are and who they're for - CNET

The spread of the new coronavirus is likely to further delay any talks on constitutional revision in the Diet.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party remains eager to amend the Constitution, but the issue has been put on the back burner as the government strives to bring the outbreak under control.

The prospect of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolving the Lower House for a snap election to build momentum toward constitutional revision is also losing steam.

We aim to amend the Constitution to fulfill our responsibility for future nation-building, the LDP said in its campaign platform for the year, adopted at a meeting of its members in both chambers of the Diet on Tuesday.

But Abe spent most of his speech at the meeting on measures to deal with the viral outbreak. On constitutional amendment, Abe said only, We should unite and do our best, based on the campaign platform.

LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai told reporters that issues about the Constitution should be discussed after the coronavirus pandemic settles down.

Also behind the stagnating talks on constitutional revision are government calls for restraint on large events to prevent the spread of the virus.

The LDP has decided to cancel a local policy meeting aimed at increasing momentum for revision, which had been slated for March 30 in Shizuoka. The partys constitutional revision promotion panel has also been forced to suspend its local campaign tours.

Now that the governments fiscal 2020 budget is set to be enacted by March 31, the end of the fiscal 2019, the LDP seems ready to pass a bill to make it easier for people to vote on any referendum on constitutional amendment in the future.

On Wednesday, LDP Diet affairs chief Hiroshi Moriyama asked Jun Azumi, his counterpart from the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, to agree to a meeting of senior members of the Lower House panel on issues related to the Constitution at an early date.

But Azumi turned down the request, noting that now is the time to concentrate on the efforts to contain the virus outbreak.

Since December, Abe has repeatedly said he will decide to dissolve the Lower House without hesitation once he judges the time has come to seek a public mandate.

The remark caused some to speculate that the prime minister may seek to break the impasse on constitutional revision talks by dissolving the Lower House.

But the magnitude of the coronavirus crisis is now leading many to believe that an early breakup of the lower chamber is impossible. Holding a Lower House election would be difficult unless the outbreak subsides, an LDP former Cabinet minister said.

Meanwhile, LDP members eager to revise the supreme law are increasingly complaining about the situation. Yoshitaka Shindo has said he wants to lodge a protest at the CDPs rejection of the LDP proposal.

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Virus brings Japan's debate on constitutional revision to a standstill - The Japan Times

When trying to figure out what being plant-based looks like in your own life, youll likely want to turn to the experts, both online and in books. Its hard to deny that theres an explosionof diet books on the market, and weeding through all the possibilities may leave your head spinning or worse throwing in the towel on plant-based eating before youve even begun.

But dont sweat it weve done the hard work for you with this reading list, filled with experts who have made the switch themselves plus experts who break down the more complex science behind the benefits of a plant-based diet. And because theres no hard and fast rule about how to live a plant-based life, this list is made up of plant-based diet books that take a variety of approaches of what defines a plant-based lifestyle so that you can find the best route to more greens and less meat for you.

One of the most fun parts of reading new cookbooks and diet books is learning about the people behind them. Whats their story? How did they make the shift to eat more intentionally? If youre someone whos curious about the larger story behind your meal, youll enjoy this plant-based diet book by Yotam Ottolenghi, restaurant owner and columnist of The New Vegetarian for The Guardian.

The follow up to Eat to Live, this book by a leading doctor and author on the plant-based front, explains that this way of eating can not only make you feel better but also prevent and even reverse disease. Furhman includes case studies of people who have lost weight and reversed disease symptoms by switching to a plant-based diet. His advice: choose foods with the highest nutrition per calories you can, and that means vegetables. He includes recipes to make eating this way easy and delicious. If your goal isliving well and living longer, this book will be your guide.

Though there is no one reason to pursue a plant-based diet, some plant-based diet books have more of a focus on the mental health aspect of shifting your diet to prioritize plants. Here, Thomas focuses less on ideas like weight-loss and zeros in on creativity, connection to life, empathy, and a renewed relationship with the environment through plant-based eating. If youre interested in how going plant-based can help you get more in touch with your creative, sustainable side, this book is for you.

Although this book is geared towards vegetarians, vegans can still reap tons of inspirationfor recipes from The Mindful Kitchen, and, using a few handy swaps, can vegan-ize these gorgeous dishes.

A must-read for the skeptics, Hard isnt interested in talking you into buying fancy kitchen gadgets or reorganizing your entire refrigerator. Instead, shes passionate about helping you figure out how to use what you already have in your kitchen live a more plant-based life.

If you are someone who often struggles to find the information you need to understand the relationship between food and the body, this is a strong starting point from the perspective of a Mr. Michael Greger M.D., who is vegan himself. Here youll learn how our diets are connected to certain diseases, and the power food can have to our overall health.

Going plant-based means one obvious thing: Figuring out how to enjoy eating plants, and how to enjoy eating a lot of plants. Many of us fall into routines with our meals, which is doable if you have a massive variety of foods to turn to. But when you switch to eating primarily plant-based, you might feel like youre hitting a wall and running out of ideas. Luckily, Mangini knows how to get creative, and with this book you receive over 350 pages of brilliant and unexpected ways to make vegetables in exciting and new ways, keeping your plant-based diet anything but bland.

This book doesnt just provide plant-based recipes, but contextualizes them, providing readers with stories and experiences attached to each meal. Eating plant-based is a journey, not a one-size-fits-all plan and Kuruvita makes it an enjoyable one to be on.

Dr. John McDougall (who is featured in the documentary Forks Over Knives that put plant-based and vegan eating in the spotlight) discusses the benefits of plant-based diets by comparing it to other fad diets, breaking down what it means to eat a diet rich in plants, and less meat and carbohydrates.

Throughout thepages, youll learn how what we eat influences not just our bodies and how we age, but the world around us. If you want to focus on your head to toe health and transform your eating habits for good, this book is a good starting point.

And one diet book that we at The Beet are obsessed with, even though it does not only talk about plant-based eating is Life in the Fasting Lane,How to Make Intermittent Fasting a LifestyleReap the Benefits or Weight Loss and Better Health.by Dr. Jason Fung, Eve Mayer and Megan Ramos The authors teach us how to eat in time windows, and not eat for 14 or 16 or 18 hours at a time, several days a week. (The exact amount of time or frequency you fast is up to you.)

The most important part of the science behind Intermittent Fasting is to train your body to use fat as fuel, so when you eat you try to keep sugar and simple carbs to a minimum. It works just as well (or better) for those on a plant-based diet. While sitting at your desk working, you feel back in control of your weight loss journey and your diet choices. Try it and let us know what you think!

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The 8 Most Helpful Books to Help You Get Started on Your Plant-Based Journey - The Beet

There are no miracle ingredients that can prevent coronavirus(Photo: Adobe. Do not use without permission|)

There is no diet that can prevent coronavirus, the British Dietetic Association (BDA) has said.

The organization, which represents dietitians across the UK, is asking people to stop spreading 'nutrition pseudoscience' about 'miracle supplements and foods that prevent infection'.

The Association reiterates that good hygiene practice remains the best means of avoiding infection.

The organization is concerned that people may be less likely to take proper precautions when it comes to distancing and hygiene if they keep hearing misinformation around nutrition.

The BDA says 'no specific food or supplement will prevent you catching COVID-19 / Coronavirus'. It adds that no individual nutrient, food or supplement is going to 'boost' your immune system beyond normal levels, though it confirms that 'eating a well-balanced diet can help ensure the normal functioning of the immune system'.

Those who are self-isolating - especially those showing symptoms - should try to maintain good nutrition and hydration, eating and drinking regularly, even if you have low appetite, and following the dietary recommendations made by your dietitian or other healthcare professional if you have specific nutrition needs.

Good nutrition and hydration are key for those self-isolating (Photo: Adobe. Do not use without permission)

"People sharing unevidenced nutrition solutions to COVID-19 may increase the risk that someone doesnt take proper hygiene and social distancing precautions. Its vital that we stop spreading this misinformation," Andy Burman, BDA CEO, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.

"Our dietitians, like all health care staff, are working tirelessly at the moment to support the growing number of COVID-19 hospital admissions. Proper nutrition can support improved outcomes for patients in ICU, where we know those COVID-19 patients with the most acute need will be.

"As our members are preparing with their colleagues to support the coronavirus effort in any way they can, including re-deployment into the areas where support is most needed, they are also working hard out of hours to make sure the public has access to good nutritional advice and guidance.

"In these extraordinary times, when it may be more difficult for people with less-serious conditions to access direct dietetic help, we want to reach as many people as we can. Our public advice is here to support anyone who does not need to go into hospital or work directly with a clinician."

The BDA has created a comprehensive hub of nutrition information relating to the coronavirus pandemic. You can find it here

The rest is here:
There Is No Diet That Prevents Coronavirus, Warns British Dietetic Association - Plant Based News

Start your Sunday with yummy protein items at breakfast. Keep your stomach full of healthy items with this diet plan.

I posted a diet plan Yesterday to let you follow today. Now, start preparing your schedule for Sunday with this diet plan.

You can add/omit any item if you like, but make sure meals you choose should be healthy ones.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is difficult for everyone. It is because we need to follow a strict diet plan to cut off stubborn fats from the body. A diet plan must compose of all the essential nutrients a body requires in a balanced proportion.

An international health magazine recently posted a weekly diet plan for weight loss. Unlike the others, this 7-day chart seems quite satisfying and reliable. I am here posting a diet plan for Sunday (Tomorrow). Keep following BOL News to find plans of the rest of the days.

Sunday

Breakfast:

Snack:

Lunch:

Snack:

Dinner:

Follow this link:
Diet Plan Day 2-Have some meat and nuts on Sunday - BOL News

One of the groups that might hesitate to go plant-based or vegan, due to their usual training routines, are hard-core athletes. Yet with a little knowledge, it turns out that what they thinkwill be the most significant challengeswhen they start following a vegan or plant-based diet are actually notobstacles at all. (One such perceived challenge is where do you get your protein, or how do you eat enough calcium, minerals and healthy calories to sustain an athlete's workout schedule?) These so-called challenges are easily met, with planning.

Athletes, as it turns out, tend to be great at planning, and are often obsessive about their training regimens. Any athlete, whether a marathoner, a yoga devotee or an exercise-class junkie, knows that an important component of reachingone's physical goalsis sticking toa clean, nutrient-dense diet plan.

So if youve been thinking about your nutritional needs with respect to your training for the past few months or years, and you want to bring your fitness and health to the next level, you could be ready to take the leap to a vegan diet. It just takes some strategic planning.

So many athletes have watched The Game Changers, the documentary about pro and elite athletes who are plant-based, from Novak Djokovic to Olympians, Strongman Champions and Venus Williams, all of whom attest to the fact that plant-based eating helps them recover faster and play at the top of their game.

Sports dietitian Torey Armul, MS, RDN, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, has counseled pro athletes, weekend warriors, and marathoners on how to reach their goals with the help of sound sports nutrition. I've always been very interested in the performance side of nutrition, as an athlete in college and later as a marathoner, she says. She has found that plant-based eating and training, go hand in hand.

I think people who are vegetarianor vegan tend to be somewhat more health-conscious and they've done some researchso they often have a leg up on understanding nutrition, Armul says. For vegan athletes, [training hard and eating healthfuly] can certainly be accomplished but the program has to be done well, to optimize performance and keep that person healthy as an athlete and an individual.

Here are the so-called challenges that vegan athletes face, and the tools to overcome them

Were not going to sugar coat this for you: Being a vegan athlete is challenging at first, and it does take some discipline and planning to get used to eating a new way. Armul recommends working with a registered dietician, especially at the beginning of your program, just to get yourself set up properly. Youll have to focus on your diet as an important part of the training, she says. But once you get the hang of it, eating legumes, grains, vegetables and nuts and seeds and getting your protein from tofu, tempeh, soybeans and other plant-based sources, becomes as natural as lacing up your sneakers in the morning.

In addition to training meals, youll need to plan out your pre-race nutrition and post-race meals, especially during events that offer fuel you have never tried before. You won't want to just grab any old electrolyte gel or sportsbeans mid-run to replace your electrolytes and energy. Check the labels to make sure they're vegan and dont contain gelatin or honey. When you're exercising, you want a simple carb because that's what your muscles are utilizing, says Armul. Make sure you have that readily available throughoutyour training. Stick with your own plant-based snacks like fruit, pretzels, crackers, and even almond butterand carry your own fuelthe race so you can eat what you're familiar with throughout the event.

A vegetarian athlete can take in dairy products and eggs as sources of protein to fuel their workouts. Vegans need to pick plant-based sources like beans, legumes and nut butter. Look to grains, says Armul. People are surprised that rice, grains, and flour have protein. You can also rely on nuts, peas, amaranth, quinoa, seeds, and soy products for protein. And while you can supplement with plant-based protein powders, which contain vitamins and minerals, keep in mind when it comes to food versus supplementation, food is always better, says Armul. Dont let supplementation be your crutch for when you dont feel like making healthy vegan meals.

This important vitamin is often found in meat and animal products and is also added to many foods that we may not be eating, so its one supplement that vegan athletes need toconsider adding to their diet. Vitamin B12 is vital in making red blood cells, which transport oxygen throughout the body, as well as DNA synthesis and helping with neurological functions.

It's very important for runners especially, (who are more likely to have borderline anemia) to have enough vitamin B12 in their system in order to help replenish their cellular health, says Armul. You can find vitamin B12 supplements in foods like soymilk, grains, and some cereals. If you're not seeing supplementation in your foods, then Id recommend a vitamin B12 supplement to help reach the recommended daily allowance of 2.4mcg, Armul says.

Youve probably heard of vitamin D referred to as the sunshine vitamin, as we synthesize vitamin D after exposure to sunlight. But vitamin D is also found in animal products and fortified foods. Its an important vitamin for calcium absorption in the body and bone health. Research published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that vitamin D combined with vitamin K may help exercisers with recovery. Vegans can find vitamin D in fortified cereals and orange juice. If youre concerned that youre not getting enough D in your diet, consider adding a daily supplement. Its recommended adults get 600 IU vitamin D daily.

Creatine is an amino acid found in foods such as meat, fish, and poultry. Your body converts this amino acid into something called phosphocreatine, which is stored in the muscles and used for energy, Amul explains.

It's clear in research that people who eat vegan and vegetarian diets tend to be low in creatine, says Armul. We also know that creatine has performance-enhancing benefits. It can help with short-term, high-intensity exercise, with strength, and it helps with muscle rebuilding and repair. So if you have performance goals as a vegan athlete, it may make sense to look into creatine supplementation.

If you're a serious athlete, you're working hard, and you're an otherwise healthy vegan, it doesn't hurt to add a supplement to make sure you have that safety net available since creatine is so important for exercise, says Armul. Creatine supplements can be taken as pills or powders, just read the label carefully to make sure its a vegan creatine source.

When it comes to fueling up before, during and after their training, vegan athletes can never just assume it'll work out with respect to finding quality food options.Just as they never train without thinking ahead, Armul says, they need to think about their diet as well. Being a vegan athlete requires preparation and planning ahead, but it is doable. And we would add, worth it.

Go here to see the original:
How to Workout and Train on a Vegan Diet - The Beet