Category Archives: Diet And Food

Labels, physical and social have become an integrated part of our identity as individuals as well as our identity within people groups. Why would this matter? What is the point?

For the past few years I have been working in a food distribution company marketing food to restaurateurs throughout Minnesota. In sales, our focus revolves around consumer trends. At least once per month we take time to discuss our consumer, what they think, how they buy and what matters to them. It is important to know our market. Our last discussion got me thinking ...

It seems that the consumer of today is continually seeking an identity surrounding the food they consume and how it makes them feel. As a farmer, consumer perception certainly drives out markets. The new need to identify oneself and how we choose to eat could potentially cripple our market if we dont pay attention to it. So, are you a carnivore, vegan, vegetarian or a flexitarian? And what diet do you adhere to? Keto, paleo, gluten free, dairy free? The list goes on and on.

Personally, I get frustrated and overwhelmed by the number of different labels that currently exist in relation to the food we eat. Please dont misunderstand me, in that I believe it to be beneficial to have an educated understanding of where your food comes from and how it is raised. But the labels of today are definitely next level. In addition, they are changing constantly. We have major corporate companies like mine investing time and money to better understand this.

I think it important for those of us in agriculture to take notice. Our livelihood, way of life and the food supply for the world depends upon how we as farmers approach the ever-changing opinions of our consumer. In the next several months, I am going to take time to discuss the current state of food identity in the United States and how it will affect the American farmer, what we grow and how we grow it.

For the moment, I would like to leave you contemplating what all this may mean for us. Better yet, what do you consider to be the most important issue facing agriculture when it comes to diets, labels and consumer perception?

Lawrence and her husband Bryan raise turf grass, alfalfa, corn and purebred Hereford cattle near Princeton, Minn. She works for the Minnesota Farm Bureau Foundation and is state coordinator for the Speak for Yourself program. Reach her at marytinathefarmerswife@gmail.com.

Read this article:
Food labels, diet labels and how they affect agriculture - AG Week

Editor's Note: Here at The Beet, we're looking at two weeks of working from home and waiting out the next phase of the new Coronavirus outbreak, when we are all being asked to practice social distancing and we're trying to keep calm in the face of uncertain events.

So we decided to share this "reboot" diet, just in time to eat healthier, feel stronger and stay well. We are launching Your Two Weeks of Clean Eating to help you be your healthiest now.

We don't want you to think of this time frame (during the weekswhen everyone is working from home) as a chance to go off the rails, eat chips for breakfast, and leftover pizza all day long. It's not a moment for "anything goes" but a time to "hit refresh" on your habits, and come out of thishopefully feeling healthier and stronger andhaving more energy and a fitter body, clearer skin, perhaps event having lost some weight... in other words, feeling better than you went in. Eating an orange for a snack (nature's fast food) and green tea for a beverage is always a good idea. Do it now and you feel like you've taken control of your health!

One note about the word "clean" or "cleanse" that we need to clarify. Here at The Beet, were staunchly anti extreme detox or juice fasting, since your body can detox of its own accord (thank you liver, kidneys, and other amazing organs that make this an organic and natural process). But there are some gentle tips and techniques you can boost your normal digestion and healthy metabolism after a slow and stressed-out winter.

This is where the foods you eat and the liquids your drink matter. Choose wisely and you will feel amazing. Choose poorly and you'll feel as fried as the bad guy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Energetically speaking, Spring is a time for rebirth and new growth, so take this moment to start swapping out winters starchy squashes, roasted root vegetables and heavier oils (which are good for rooted, grounded wintertime energy) in favor of lighter, fresher ingredients and preparations (think: steaming and lightly sauteing, adding baby greens andfresh fruit). Youll feel as if youve "Spring-cleaned" your body, no juice fast required.

Proper hydration is a year-round requirement for a healthy body, but starting your day with warm lemon water in the morningthis week can help rehydrate and energize you after a long nights sleep. Even better, lemon water can kickstart sluggish digestion first thing in the morningwithout the help of coffee.

Before you have yourfirst cup of joe, fill a mug with 8-12 ounces of hot water (near-boiling but not quite) and squeeze in the juice from half a lemon. Sip slowly. Warm water stimulates thegut and intestines, and lemon juice increases your natural stomach acid production, which helps you absorb more vitamins and minerals from food.

Intuitive eating is essentially all about tuning into your bodys needs. Practice mindfulness at every meal to learn to recognize the signs of hunger, fullness, and satiety. Setting aside proper time and space for your next meal without distraction (meaning no phones, computers, TV or eating on-the-go) can help you take note of how youre feeling in the moment. Think about the meal bite by bite, and savor the taste, texture, and increased feeling of fullness as you go.

Be sure to honor your hunger cues, and eat when youre truly hungry, but also recognize when youre eating simply because youre bored, angry, stressed or tired (we all do it!) or just because someone else opened a bag of chips (we are guilty of this too!). In those cases, remove yourself from the food source (either your kitchen, the work pantry, or your friend with the bag of chips) by taking a walk, whether it's around the block or a real hike in nature, or spend a couple of minutes journaling or doing gentle yoga and breathing, which can heal you more than junk food when you don't need it can do.

Now that the weathers warming up, raw foods can have more of a place on your plate than in the dead of Winter. In colder months, raw foods take longer to move through the digestive tract, requiring more energy to break down, which can actually leave you feeling fatigued rather than energized. In Spring and Summer, raw foods provide a cooling effect on the body, which is refreshing when the mercury rises, and they leave you feeling lighter and more energized. If you don't have one already, pick up a spiralizer or buy pre-spiralized zucchini, carrots, and squash, try your hand at pressed salads, or simply add more raw fruits and veggies to your snack rotation.

Dont get us wrong: We love the intense flavor and sweetness brought about by roasting a tray of veggies in the oven. But the beauty of steaming is that the veg retains most of its nutrient content and stays super hydrated, which means more benefits for your body. Break out that bamboo steamer basket or the under-appreciated stainless steel steamer basket and start steaming your broccoli before topping it off with a little furikake. Youll never look back.

Kvass is like kombuchas sassy older sistera bit earthier and saltier, but still bubbly and bright. Beet kvass is a traditional Lacto-fermented beverage with major probiotic benefits, and you can make it right on your countertop. Beets are incredibly liver-supportive and fermenting them provides a food form of probiotic bacteria that can help aid digestion. Its a great springtime sip to mix with a little sparkling water whenever you need a pick-me-upand thanks to its lack of sugar and caffeine, it is actually a bit higher on the health spectrum than most bottled kombuchas.

The ultimate fast food, smoothies are packed full of fiber, healthy fats, antioxidants, and plant proteinif you make them properly. To use a smoothie as a meal replacement, make sure to check all the boxes: Aim for just one to two cup servings of fruit, toss in some seeds (hemp, chia, flax), pick a veg (frozen cauliflower or zucchini work well, as do baby leafy greens), and choose an alt-milk (oat, almond, coconut). Add a plant-based protein powder of your choosing, and drizzle in vanilla, maple or other sweeteners to taste. Find a formula you love, then make it for breakfastitll hold you over till lunch, no 11 am snack cravings insight.

We could wax on about the myriad benefits of drinking dandelion root tea: everything from protecting the liver to stimulating more bile flow from the gallbladder to help with fatty acid breakdown to balancing blood sugar. Try a cup of dandelion tea after dinneror even in place of your morning beverage (after lemon water, ofc). There are several great herbal coffee alternatives out therewe love Rasa, which combines dandelion with other herbs and spices for a warming and health-supporting morning drink without the jitters.

Read the original post:
The Best 7 Ways to Reboot Your Diet to Stay Healthy and Spring Clean Your Body - The Beet

MANSFIELD Work, travel, eat, work out, sleep. Thats what Strive to Thrive contestant Chuck Keesees weekly schedule since joining the contest.

Keesee has traveled anywhere from Alaska to Hawaii every week due to his job as a district manager for Gorman Rupp.

You can't outwork a bad diet, Ive learned, Keesee said.

Married to his high school sweetheart and with three kids, Keesee has to also find time to balance his home life with everything else.

Although concerns with the coronavirus have kept people from traveling, Keesee is not one of them. This week hes in Las Vegas for a trade show, and then hell go to Texas for more work-related commitments. After that he plans on taking his family on a vacation to St. George, Utah and San Diego, Calif.

He also recently traveled to Columbus for the Arnold Sports Festival, which he participated in as a white belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu.

Chuck Keesee, 43, is a district manager in training. Hes originally from Bristol, Tenn. and moved to Mansfield to be closer to family. As a hobby, he participates in martial arts at theWolverine Stevens Mixed Martial Arts and Fitness centerhere in Mansfield.

Keesee cant meal prep due to airplane restrictions, which can sometimes give him the temptation to eat out when hes tired and spending two days out of the week in the airport. Finding time to work out has also been a struggle.

For most people that are overweight, food is their comfort, Keesee said. So when hes tired he, wants to go and just get something really greasy and fattening to make (himself) feel better. However, in the back of his mind, he knows he cant give in and settles for yogurt or fruit.

Since beginning the contest, the easiest part for Keesee has been the diet portion due to the fact that hes competing against others and thinking twice about going overboard with his meals.

Just going to drink water, those sorts of things are a challenge, but if it wasnt for this competition, I wouldnt be doing it, he said.

Keesee has tried to focus a lot on a variety of different exercises with every trainer at the Ohio Health Ontario Health & Fitness Center.

Keesee currently stands in second place and hopes to reach second by the end of the Strive to Thrive competition.

Every one of them (the trainers) has a different thing that they like to do, so Im kind of taking all of those things and applying depending on where Im at and what options I have, Keesee said. Now Ive got this huge repertoire of options to go after.

Keesee currently stands in fourth place after losing 4.55% of body fat so far. Because of his busy schedule and heavy traveling, hes not aiming for first place and hopes someone else will win the grand prize of a free gym membership at the OhioHealth Fitness Centers in Mansfield.

Im just thankful for this opportunity, Keesee said. Its been fun, its been educational and theres just a lot of things Ive got going on in my life, and this adds a whole other complexity to it. But if its comfortable, youre not growing, so I figure the challenges are just going to work out better for me in the long run.

Sign up for the weekly thrive newsletter and get local inspiration delivered to your inbox every Monday.

Read the rest here:
Learning to balance work, travel, family time and fitness keeps Strive to Thrive contestant busy - Richland Source

March is National Nutrition Month. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer with the University of Minnesota talks about what healthy eating habits are, what parents can do to encourage their kids to have healthy eating habits and more.

Her research focuses on a broad spectrum of eating and weight-related outcomes including eating disorders, unhealthy weight control behaviors, body image, dietary intake, weight stigmatization and obesity.

Q: What are healthy eating habits?

Neumark-Sztainer: Healthy eating habits involve a combination of things. One is enjoyable eating, such as eating family meals or eating at a social event. Another is intuitive eating or paying attention to our bodys cues (e.g. when your body tells you youre full to stop eating). We can also engage in mindful eating when we pay attention to what we are eating and more fully enjoy the food that we are eating. Finally, it is important to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, choose nutrient-dense foods, and avoid foods that are high in calories and low in nutrients.

Q: What are things parents can do to encourage healthy eating habits?

Neumark-Sztainer: The four cornerstones I focus on in my book Im, Like, SO Fat! Helping Your Teen Make Healthy Choices about Eating and Exercise in a Weight-Obsessed World are the following:

Model healthy behaviors: Avoid dieting; avoid making weight-related comments; engage in regular physical activity that you enjoy; and model healthy but not perfect eating patterns and food choices.

Make it easy for your children to make healthy choices: Make healthy food choices readily available; establish family meal norms that work for your family; make physical activity the norm in your family; limit TV watching; and support your childs efforts to get involved in physical activity.

Focus less on weight and more on behaviors and overall health: Encourage your child to adopt healthy behavior without focusing on weight loss; help your child develop an identity that goes beyond physical appearance; and establish a zero tolerance policy for weight teasing in your home.

Be available to talk with and listen to your child: Listen and provide support when your child discusses weight concerns; when your child talks about dieting, find out whats really going on; keep the lines of communication open no matter what; provide unconditional love, not based on weight, and let your child know how you feel.

Q: What are signs that someone may not have healthy eating habits?

Neumark-Sztainer: Unhealthy eating habits may include under- or over-eating, not consuming enough healthy food each day, or consuming too much of one type of food or drink. There may also be a change in ones attitudes toward eating, such as not enjoying eating, fearing eating, avoiding eating with others or using food as a coping mechanism.

Think about whether there has been a change in your childs behavior (e.g., eating, level of activity, social interactions), mood (e.g., becoming more socially withdrawn) or physical appearance (e.g., weight change). As a parent, it is not your place to decide whether your child has an eating disorder that is for a professional. It is within your role as a parent to identify any possible problems; open doors for communication with your child; get your child to professional help for diagnosis as early as possible; and work as a collaborative player with members of the health care team if they decide treatment would be helpful.

Q: What should people do if they believe a loved one may have an eating disorder?

Neumark-Sztainer: The chance for recovery increases the earlier an eating disorder is detected. Talk to the person in a manner that shows a great deal of caring, concern about specific behaviors and firmness about the need for help. Make sure to prepare for your conversation up front, write down what you want to say and practice on someone else.

Q: What are you doing to advance research on healthy eating habits?

Neumark-Sztainer: At the University of Minnesota, we are conducting one of largest and most comprehensive studies on eating and weight in adolescents, young adults and families called Project EAT. The project involves the long-term study of two large cohorts of adolescents from the Twin Cities as they progress from adolescence through adulthood.

I currently have funding from the National Institutes of Health to learn more about how best to work with young people and families dealing with challenging life circumstances such as poverty, racism and exposure to stressful life events. We need to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our most vulnerable populations, because we are witnessing growing disparities and inequities in eating and weight-related problems. It is now clear that eating disorders influence young people from different social and ethnic/racial backgrounds and we need to learn more about how to ensure that the needs of all youth are being met.

A newer area of research that I am engaged in involves the study of yoga and how this practice can help with issues of body image, eating practices, and other measures of well-being. This interest stems from my own yoga practice and in-depth study of this practice.

Dianne Neumark-Sztainer is a professor and head of the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Read more:
Nutrition expert talks healthy eating habits | Opinion - Southernminn.com

Kate Nye knew for a long time that she wanted to be an Olympian. Growing up a gymnast, she said, she naturally had "this fascination about the Olympic Games." At age 15, though, injury and surgery led her to give up on gymnastics and fall into a self-described athletic limbo. "I didn't really know where I fit in since that was the only sport I did for so long."

Nye started doing CrossFit to stay in shape, and her coach nudged her into competitive weightlifting. In her first national competition, the Youth Nationals in 2016, Nye ended up earning a bronze. "That's when I kind of realized," Nye said: though she enjoyed CrossFit, she knew she was more "messing around" with it. "I had an actual talent in weightlifting." She started competing seriously and ended up falling head over heels. "I fell in love with the training and competing, and it was the best decision I've ever made."

That's no exaggeration. Nye holds all of the American records at her 71-kilogram weight class and is a 2019 world champion in both types of Olympic lifts, snatch and clean & jerk, as well as total, which is derived by combining a lifter's successful lifts in a single competition. In 2019, she also became the first American to be named the Best Woman Lifter of 2019 by the International Weightlifting Federation.

Now, Nye has her sights set on making the 2020 Olympic weightlifting team, which means she needs to up her game even more. Literally: Nye's normal 71 kg division isn't offered at the Olympics. Instead she'll be going up to the 76 kg class, which means she's working to gain weight through her diet while keeping up her strength in training. Nye talked to POPSUGAR about what that looks like, from the gym to the kitchen, and how she's staying focused on making it to Tokyo in a few short months.

Nye works out six to eight times a week in a combination of three different kinds of workouts: strength, technique, and accessory lifts. Strength-wise, she works on getting stronger through squats, deadlifts, and pressing. "We're usually doing a cycle of squats," Nye explained. "Maybe front squats, maybe back squats, maybe high-volume, maybe low-volume. The core of it is the strength aspect." (The "front" and "back" refer to where you hold the barbell: with front squats, the barbell is across your chest; during back squats, you hold it behind your head and across your shoulders.)

For technique work, Nye finesses her form in the two competitive lifts: the snatch and the clean & jerk. The snatch requires the lifter to heave the barbell up from the ground and over their head in a single motion, starting in a squat and coming to a stand. (Watch Kate set a junior world record in the snatch here.) In the clean & jerk, lifters use two motions to get the bar over their head, first lifting the bar from the floor to a front-racked squat and stand ("the clean") and then shifting the bar overhead ("the jerk"). Here's what a clean & jerk looks like. Still with us? "We're doing usually tons of variations to fix technique problems I have" in both lifts, Kate explained.

You might not do snatches or clean & jerks in your everyday weights workout (although they probably sound familiar if you're a CrossFitter). The accessory work that Nye does to "strengthen the little muscles," though, will sound familiar: Romanian deadlifts, single leg squats, and overhead presses.

Last but not least: core work. "Since I was a gymnast, I know every ab exercise ever made," Nye joked. Her current favorite is the dead bug, a move that targets the full core and works on stabilization at the same time. "They're kind of fun and not very intense, which is good for me."

Diet-wise, Nye focuses on eating intuitively. "I don't track anything. I eat what I need as an athlete." She gets six to eight ounces of protein in every meal, usually ground beef, chicken thighs, and sausage. "I eat protein that has more fat in it, since I'm not cutting weight," Nye explained. She'll add a couple cups of carbs as well as veggies. Well, "We try to do veggies. We need to work on that!" she said. For a healthy fat, Nye said guacamole is her go-to. She avoids protein powder and said she tries to keep her diet "as whole as possible."

From diet to training to her mental health, all of Nye's focus is on making it to the 2020 Summer Olympics. In order to get there, she said, "you've got to do the work to max potential. I think that's the best way to put it. You've got to keep striving for that next kilogram on the barbell."

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, visit teamusa.org. The Tokyo Olympics begin July 24 on NBC, and the Tokyo Paralympics begin Aug. 23 on NBC.

Read more:
The Workout Routine and Intuitive Diet of a CrossFitter Turned World Champ Weightlifter - POPSUGAR

COVID-19 is harming public health, clearly affecting those who have tested positive. But its reach is much more widespread.

I've seen an uptick in stress, a drop of physical activity, and dip in social interactions. The fallout is likely to exceed the direct harms of COVID-19, but worsening health and well-being also makes us more susceptible to the novel coronavirus and its complications.

It's a good time to take both a break from the news and a few deep, meditative breaths. One place to start is giving yourselftime and compassion around learning new social-distancing habits.

Behavior change can be frustratingly difficult and only happens slowly. In my clinic, I've found it hard to overcome my reflexive habit of greeting patients with a handshake. It has taken several weeks to switch to a reverential, hand-at-my-heart bow that I hope conveys at least as much respect and good will.

Among the most important behaviors to gradually learn or relearn: diligent and frequent hand washing, refraining from handshakes, avoiding touching your face, coughing or sneezing into a tissue or handkerchief, avoiding individuals showing signs of illness, and steering clear of crowded locations.

Many of these "new" practices are not at all new; they're just good advice for preventing typical viral infections that we should have taken more seriously in the past. For now, for most of us (and I recognize this could change), the risk of influenza exceeds the risk of COVID-19. Over the last decade, the CDC estimates that influenza kills between12,000 and 61,000Americans each flu season, compared to less than50 U.S. COVID-19 deaths and less than 5,000 worldwide.

It is critical to be physically active, possibly in new ways.

Regular exercise is an effective stress management tool. Maintaining or improving your fitness level can also reduce the risk of viral infection and even the chances of severe COVID-19 complications. Low intensity physical activities, such as walking, are helpful, especially for older people and those with existing chronic conditions. If you can, try to achieve the recommended goal of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week.

Given that Americans made6 billion visits to gyms or studios in 2018, keeping active may require new strategies. This includes digital technologies that allow you to be active in your home rather than at the gym, yoga studio, or dancing venue. Many great online resources are available.

In this distressing time, maintaining or adopting stress reduction strategies is part of keeping healthy. Chronic stress can make us more susceptible to viral infections. Figure out what works for you. I find meditation, yoga, walking, strenuous exercise, relaxing with my partner, being in nature, and creative activities all to be calming and reinvigorating.

If you or a loved one needs more help, reach out to your health care provider or therapist for depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns.

Social isolation is bad for your immune system and health, so we need to find new ways to maintain our connections to others, whether at work or in our communities. Connecting over Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat often isn't enough.

For me, video conferencing is more effective, but only when everyone uses the camera. To get the most of video work meetings, it's important to devote time to catching up on personal lives, so that the interactions aren't just about business. Try out innovative ideas: if you're hesitant to meet someone for coffee, plan a digital date instead.

Beyond remaining physically active, mentally calm (or aiming for it), and socially connected, pay attention to other health behaviors. Make sure you obtain seven or more hours of high quality sleep each night. Eat a heart-healthy, plant-predominant diet that emphasizes fibrous vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. Say no to that extra cookie.

COVID-19 has spawned unprecedented uncertainty, but it's also created new opportunities.

Be inventive and take advantage of new possibilities generated by the pandemic. Instead of eating out, for example, get back to cooking healthier meals for yourself and family. While working from home, take the chance to interact more with your partner, children and/or pets. If you're no longer commuting, use the extra time to schedule daytime exercise while you're at home.

Don't let protecting yourself against coronavirus cause your health to take a plunge. While it is important to keept the pandemic in perspective while taking it seriously, the usual strategies for keeping yourself healthy are themselves important precautions against COVID-19.

Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, is a professor of medicine at Stanford and practices primary care internal medicine. His research focuses on chronic disease prevention and treatment, but he also has broad experience in public health and infectious disease epidemiology.

Image by Shutterstock

Original post:
Even if you are virus-free, COVID-19 is affecting your health. Here's what to do - Scope

Keith Phaneuf

Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano threw the governors words about a debt diet back at him Wednesday.

Updated at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday with final vote on state bond package.

The Democrat-controlled legislature is expected to approve a two-year, $4.7 billion bond package Wednesday that shatters Gov. Ned Lamonts planned debt diet for state borrowing by more than $1.1 billion.

The House of Representatives approved the borrowing plan 126-20 following a one-hour, early-afternoon debate. The Senate approved it 31-5 at 6:40 p.m., following a two-hour debate.

And while Democrats insisted the bond package they negotiated with the governor would advance economic development, affordable housing, municipal aid, transportation and other priorities, Republicans countered Lamonts reversal would weaken Connecticuts standing on Wall Street.

More than half of the Republicans in both chambers voted for the bill. But Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R- North Haven, said that was because the package included three overdue state grants to cities and towns that are paid for using bonded dollars, adding that many legislators were worried that would face criticism back home if they voted no on Wednesday.

Governor Lamont has repeatedly told the public that he was committed to limiting bonding to the core functions of government, Fasano said. He has blasted his predecessors for overusing the states credit card. He told credit rating agencies, investors, businesses and taxpayers that he would be different. But today he is going back on that promise.

The governor and his fellow Democrats in the legislatures majority agreed on $2.3 billion in new borrowing for the current fiscal year, and $2.4 billion in 2020-21.

In addition, legislators already have approved $322 million in borrowing for this year and $351 million for next for capital projects at public colleges and universities and for the states bioscience and defense-related economic development programs.

Couple all of that with another $706 million in transportation-related borrowing approved previously for this fiscal year, and the total, potential hit to Connecticuts credit card exceeds $6 billion over the two fiscal years combined.

Lamont, who took office in January 2019, pledged to curb this borrowing, and particularly to clamp down on the single-largest category general obligation borrowing.

General obligation borrowing bonds that will be repaid over many years with resources from the budgets General Fund should be limited to just under $1 billion per year, Lamont said. Thats in addition to the G.O. bonding used for higher education and special economic development programs.

But the bond package adopted Wednesday includes $1.4 billion in general obligation bonds for this fiscal year, and $1.64 billion in 2020-21.

Fasano, who held a late morning press conference in the Legislative Office Building, stood before a poster board containing a series of quotes from Lamont and state Treasurer Shawn Wooden hailing the debt diet during his first months in office.

The credit rating agencies, investors, businesses around the globe and our taxpayers are watching what we do and have responded positively so far, Lamont said last July. As we move forward we cannot let them down by returning to old, bad habits and hoping for a different result.

Fasano noted the average annual borrowing in the latest bond packagenearly matches the heaviest level of borrowing during Gov. Dannel P. Malloys administration. Annual state bonding exploded dramatically under Malloy, who served from 2011 2018. Connecticut struggled during this period with a very sluggish recovery from the great recession and frequently used its credit card to ease pressure on the state budget.

Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, and Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, discuss the proposed bond package.

But Max Reiss, the governors communications director, countered that the debt diet is not over.

Thats because legislative approval is just the first stage in a multi-step borrowing process. The State Bond Commission must approve any legislative authorization before any borrowed funds can be spent.

As governor, Lamont chairs the 10-member bond commission and his budget office sets its agenda.

Reiss noted that under Lamonts leadership, the commission has allocated about half of what the prior administration averaged while simultaneously making the necessary and needed investments we were able to under existing authorizations.

Reiss added that this is not a time for baseless allegations and finger-pointing, but it is time for effective governance of this great state and its finances, which will always be measured and balanced with making appropriate investments in Connecticuts future.

And the top Democrat in the Senate said the package recognizes critical needs in education, transportation, social services, economic development and housing, and would have tremendous long-term benefits.

This is a capital bill that does meet the needs of the state of Connecticut in so many different respects, said Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, who called it a reasonable, responsible level of capital borrowing.

Wednesdays action ended a yearlong stalemate between the governor and his fellow Democrats in the legislature over borrowing and tolls.

Connecticut ranks among the most indebted states, per capita, in the nation, and debt service costs consume more than 10% of the annual budget, a problem that prompted Lamont to press for his debt diet immediately upon taking office.

But the governor also had been urging lawmakers to curb their borrowing as part of a larger plans that also involved tolls and the state budgets Special Transportation Fund.

Connecticut borrows just under $800 million per year for transportation work, pairing that with about $750 million in federal grants to support highway, bridge and rail upgrades. The STF covers the annual payments on that borrowing, buttransportation officials say the aging, overcrowded infrastructure is overdue for a major rebuild and more resources are needed.

Lamont wanted tolls first on cars and trucks and later on trucks only to bolster the STF and, in turn, enable more transportation borrowing. And he frequently warned lawmakers that he couldnt approve a bond package until tolls were resolved because absent toll receipts he would need to shift existing bonding away from non-transportation programs and into highway, bridge and rail work.

The governor finally conceded in February that lawmakers wouldnt approve tolls and the new bond package does add $200 million in annual borrowing to be repaid out of the budgets General Fund to complement the existing $780 million per year in bonding supported by the Special Transportation Fund.

The bonding bill not only ends the standoff between Lamont and legislators but also releases three non-education grants for cities and towns that had been held up by this process.

The state will borrow $166 million per year for communities, including:

Municipal advocates have argued for months that the delayed road grant is particularly problematic for local budgets.

Half of the $60 million TAR grant normally is given to communities shortly after the fiscal year begins on July 1 to help pay for summer road repaving and fall tree-clearing work. The second half goes out in early January to help fund snow plowing.

Both payments have been held up because there has been no bond package.

Mark Pazniokas :: ctmirror.org

Gov. Ned Lamont, center right, reached a deal on bonding with top Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney (right) and House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz.

But Lamont has said once a bond bill is sent to his desk, he will hold a bond commission meeting soon to expedite release of the local aid.

These are ways Connecticut is a partner for our municipality, Looney said. While most other states have counties that assist their municipalities, Connecticut lacks this third level of government, he noted, adding that makes state assistance even more critical.

The bonding deal includes many other components besides municipal aid.

More than $850 million over this fiscal year and next combined would be borrowed to support municipal school construction and renovation projects and another $84 million for improvements to municipal water treatment plants.

Lawmakers included $200 million for urban economic development initiatives statewide, $90 million for development of Connecticuts deep water ports, and $30 million in economic assistance grants for small towns.

The package also includes $45 million for a new transit-oriented, quasi-public development agency and$65 million to renovate the XL Center in Hartford.

More than $200 million over this fiscal year and next combined would be authorized for affordable housing program. The bulk of those funds, $175 million, would be dedicated for theFlexible Housing Program, which provides grants and loans for the development of affordable housing projects.

Community-based, nonprofit social service agencies were winners in the bond package, receiving $50 million in total across this fiscal year in next to help cover capital expenses.

Nonprofits, who provide the bulk of state-sponsored social services for the disabled, mentally ill, abused children, drug addicts and others, also have been seeking additional operating funds in the state budget. Leaders of these nonprofits say state funding has not kept pace with the cost of inflation for nearly two decades, forcing agencies to reduce or eliminate programs and cut staff.

Lamont has not supported that request for additional funds in the operating budget to date.

Legislators also included $5 million in bond package to support various efforts to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus across Connecticut.

Other components of the package include:

Not all Republicans saw the bond package as negatively as Fasano did, and that town aid played a key role.

In the House, a little more than half of the GOP minority voted for the bond package. And while the same was true in the Senate, some House Republicans publicly praised the bill.

Rep. Livvy Floren of Greenwich, ranking House Republican on the legislatures bonding subcommittee, went so far as to say it adheres to the debt diet without imposing starvation.

Floren later modified her description, saying it might better be compared to intermittent fasting.

Both Rep. Chris Davis of Ellington, ranking House Republican on the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, and House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, said they voted for the deal to secure overdue aid for towns and additional funding for transportation work.

But Davis and Klarides both said the bond package was too large, and urged Lamont to use the bond commission to restrain actual borrowing.

We absolutely are 100% behind the municipal aid and the transportation funding, Klarides said. But youre forced to vote for things you dont like to get the things you do like.

Klarides noted her caucus offered an amendment to cut more than $380 million in proposed borrowing out of the bond package, but House Democrats rejected it with a party-line vote.

But House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, said the House Republican support shows Fasano is more concerned with partisan politics than with the education, economic development, transportation, and other priorities the bond package supports.

Ive been saying for months now we have to put an end to this political division thats ruling this state, the speaker said.

More:
Legislators to break Lamonts debt diet by more than $1B - The CT Mirror

NewsEnvironmentMadeleine Cuff meets the individuals rationing everything from showers to sausages to meet strict, self-imposed carbon budgets

Friday, 13th March 2020, 8:45 pm

After speaking to them all I decided I had to give a carbon diet a go. I start out with the aim of targeting the one tonne a year, which gives me a daily budget of 2.74kg of carbon to play with.

But I quickly realised Ive blown my days budget just going into the office. The return journey, which involves a train and tube ride each way, adds up to about 3.6kg of emissions. Add my morning shower into the mix, which is about six minutes long and 180g of carbon, and Ive already overshot by an entire kilo.

Thats just the start. As a journalist, I spend most of my day firing off emails, talking on the phone, and researching stories on the web. All that data use adds up to just over 1kg of carbon. Im vegetarian, so breakfast, lunch and dinner only add up to about 1.3kg of carbon. It could go a bit lower without the cheese, but not by much.

At home, I have a renewable electricity supply. But my gas heating is coming on for about three hours a day at this time of year, clocking up 1.8kg of carbon, and washing up after dinner eats up another 540g.

Could you live on a low carbon diet?

All in all, I blow way past the 2.7kg target, hitting 8.5kg for the day. That doesnt even include regular tasks like running a load of laundry. And the strange thing is that the things I counted as green, like using a reusable coffee cup, actually have very little impact on my carbon footprint. If I want to go ultra low carbon, it will take more than avoiding plastic waste.

The next day I try again. I turn off the heating and survive with just a hot water bottle. I trim my shower down to three minutes. But Im too scared to cycle through London traffic to work so I still get the train, and I still have to do my job, so my data use stays the same.

Still, I shave about 1kg off my daily total. If I replicated that for the whole year, Id be living a 2.7 tonne lifestyle. Not bad.

But if I adopted a long-term carbon diet I would quickly run into some polluting problems. Although I have cut down on how much I fly, I still do jet off a few times a year for work and holidays. That would have to go.

Meanwhile, my parents live down in Cornwall, so I criss-cross the country quite a bit on trains to stay in touch. Those visits would be tricky, even on a 2.5 tonne budget for the year. But if Im honest, Im not sure if I would ever be willing to give them up.

Living on a carbon diet shows that personal choices like how much heating you use, what you eat, and how you travel, are a major factor in how large your carbon footprint gets. But its also a reminder that for most people, the carbon impact of going to work or heating their home is beyond their control. To go ultra low carbon, well need to change systems like what powers our buses and trains, as well as our lifestyles.

Meet the carbon dieters

Rosalind Readhead, climate activist and independent London Mayoral candidate, London

Living on one tonne of carbon for the year, starting September 2019

Six months ago I started an experiment to live on one tonne of carbon for the year, the amount experts think should be the global per person average from 2050. That breaks down to a daily carbon budget of about 2.7kg a day.

What really surprised me was the carbon impact of public transport. I live in London, and going to Oxford Street and back on the tube is 900g. That is really taking up a hefty amount of my daily budget. So Ive been walking and cycling a lot more.

When I started the lifestyle in the autumn it was great because it was harvest time. I was eating virtually all plant-based food and having really good food. But as it got into winter the tomatoes go, the peppers go, and it became more stressful.

Some of the vegans have really come down hard on me because Im not completely vegan. But I had to have some cheese in my life. I have worked out that 25g of cheese, if the rest of my meal is plant-based, is doable. And Ive my milk consumption down from four pints to two pints a week.

After a month or so of researching you get an instinct for judging how many grams of carbon something is. Its a bit like calorie counting. And anything you can pick is a carbon freebie. I have a quince tree in the garden which did quite well this year, and every quince I pick off that tree is a carbon freebie.

Im halfway through the experiment and Ive been through quite a long winter. If I was to do this project for the long term, I would need to upgrade my heating system, as I cant really use it at the moment. Im using the showers at my local lido to wash three times a week, and limiting how much heating I use to do the washing up.

The first thing I will want to do at the end of the year is get out of London. I might have to break my budget because I think it will be really hard to spend the whole year here. I want to go to the beach in Devon this summer. I can get there by public transport, but I worked out that getting there is about 12 or 13 days of my budget. We really need to decarbonise public transport.

Lloyd Alter, Design editor of Treehugger.com, Toronto, Canada

Living on an annual carbon budget of 2.5 tonnes since January 2020

A lot of people say personal actions doesn't matter because it's all the big corporations, the electrical companies, giant conglomerates that are putting out all the carbon. But we are their customers! We are buying what they are selling.

For my low-carbon year I very quickly decided that I wouldnt count every cup of tea and every latte. All of those things are really rounding errors.They dont ultimately make a huge amount of difference

The three big items are housing, food and travel. A few years ago I downsized significantly, I cut my house into a duplex and I live in the ground floor and rent out the upper floors. I cycle almost everywhere, and hardly ever eat red meat - although my son is a cheesemonger so that makes cutting out cheese tricky.

My big lesson from my first month of doing this was that its a bit elitist. You can only do this kind of thing if you are lucky enough that you can work from home. That you are rich enough that you can buy a nice e-bike like I did. If I had a normal job downtown, it would be impossible for me to do.

But it hasnt all gone to plan. I had to fly to New York last month to meet the new owners of the website where I work. Basically it was equivalent to 31 days of my carbon budget. And last week my daughter had a birthday party and her husband cooked steak. I havent had steak for months, and just that meal blew two days worth of carbon budget. These are really hard choices that we all have to make.

I couldnt even possibly get close to doing one tonne. Ive picked a target at 2.5 tonnes, that basically if you dont drive, you dont fly, you dont eat red meat, and you dont live in a vast house in the suburbs, then you can actually accomplish it.

Peter Kalmus, climate scientist, California

Living on two tonnes a year

In 2009 I looked at my own emissions. Before I sat down and ran the numbers I had no idea that flying was going to be the dominant source of my emissions. I was flying a lot because I was a scientist and was going to lots of conferences and meetings, and it added up to 75 per cent of my emissions.

Back then my annual emissions added up to about 20 metric tonnes. Im now living on two tonnes a year of emissions.

The main change for me was to stop flying. My last flight was in 2012. I got on the plane and it felt really wrong, I felt like I was stealing from my kids. But if there were carbon free planes I would definitely start flying again

The second biggest change was to switch from a regular diet to a plant-based diet, which I did in stages. That was pretty easy for me.

And I dont drive in fossil fuel cars anymore because it feels really gross to me. But thats easy now because electric cars are available. We have a Tesla and a Nissan Leaf at home.

We use 100 per cent renewable electricity, which just means that our electricity bill is a little higher every month. We do still use natural gas. Thats something that I havent managed to fix yet, although I have plans for using heat pumps which run on electricity.

The further down you go the harder it gets. I have found it quite easy to go to two tonnes per year. To cut that in half again would be very difficult. You could do it, but you're going to be in your own little world and other people are going to think that you are a bit of a nutter, and they wont follow you. So I dont advocate for people to go crazy to try to go down to one metric tonne a year or even lower than that.

You can get obsessed about this. The point is that we need systems change. We need collective change. By reducing our own footprint we express emergency, and that I think helps push for collective change that we need.

More here:
Carbon diets: Meet the people living ultra low-carbon lifestyles and cutting down emissions - inews

Lately, Ive been reframing the unique features of my body as gifts from generations before me. I imagine my smile as belonging to my ancestors who found reasons to smile despite great adversities. I wonder if my back that allows me to stand tall belonged to men who refused to cower in fear. Did my hips belong to women who found rhythm in the crashing waves of the Caribbean Sea?

I wonder when I started to hate these gifts, when I started to pick them apart full of resentment. Maybe it was in my preteen years, when I was bombarded with ideal images of women with thigh gaps. Or maybe when I tried my first fad diets. I am not exactly sure where it started, but it has left me with a complicated understanding of food and weight that has followed me to this campus. However, my understanding of my body has changed after I recently ended a phase of dieting.

As I have built a new relationship with my body, I have started to notice difficult trends in the way we might speak about our bodies and perpetuate fatphobia and diet culture on this campus.

The most difficult part of diet culture that I have confronted is food. Last semester, my favorite dining hall was Hewitt. I loved the variety of food and staff; however, more cynically, I also loved that every dish had a calorie label attached to it. This helped feed my obsessive need to calculate every calorie I ate, which is a toxic part of diet culture.

We clearly delineate between the good and bad food on this campus. JJs with its burgers, pancakes, and sweet treats is where the bad foods live. Ferris salad lines and John Jays grain bowls and smoothies are where I can pat myself on the back for choosing a good food. However, this notion of good and bad is complicated by the fact that the first time I had access to three actual meals a day is when I attended Columbia.

Growing up, the expectation was to eat what was available, which was mostly school lunches and snacks from the corner store, so I never really learned about a balanced diet. Since coming to college, I have had the freedom to develop my own personal eating habits for the first time in my life. In the beginning, I latched onto notions of good and bad food, thinking that my prior diet was all bad. It has taken me a while to recognize good and bad food as just food. I am allowing myself to go to JJs and not feel guilty for indulging in fries, ice cream, and chicken wings, while also enjoying peaches and broccoli.

Growing up in the food deserts of North Miami, my diet rarely included nutritious and balanced meals. As I adapted to the differences in eating culture on college campuses, I also had to confront my own understanding of diet culture. As I balanced my classes and new experiences with the plentiful access to food, I naturally gained weight. With little understanding of what a balanced diet should look like, I easily fell into the cycle of binge eating and guilt followed by sometimes extreme eating restrictions in an attempt to lose weight.

Sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldnt, but either way, I was in an endless cycle of dieting. It felt like the number on the scale reflected my self-worth as I grappled with the changes in my body. However, as I began to explore my body, especially with the help of amazing digital communities like @theunplugcollective, I started to re-evaluate these concepts of diet culture. I realized that as I was growing and changing, so was my body, and sometimes that meant tighter jeans or looser fitting shirts. And that was okay.

As spring break approaches and people swarm to Dodge Fitness Center for last minute workouts, conversations about body image may arise. I hope we remember that we are more than the five pounds we lose, and the slice of cake we indulge in after a tough midterm. As Ketogenic, Paleolithic, and fasting diets bombard our social media feed, I hope we remember that fad diets will not make up for our unbalanced understanding of our bodies. It is your body that allows you to share a smile and laugh with your friends, that helps you navigate through the difficult city of New York, and enjoy the warmth of the sun. The dimples, love-handles, cellulite, and freckles once belonged to someone before you, and I hope you cherish those family heirlooms.

When Kwolanne isnt balancing the sophomore year workload, student council, research, and sleep she loves engaging with new people. Dont be shy, for questions, concerns, or just a cup of coffee you can email her at k.felix@columbia.edu or shoot her a DM on Instagram @Kwolanne. You can take a sip of Intersectionali-Tea on alternate Tuesdays.

To respond to this op-ed, or to submit an op-ed, contact opinion@columbiaspectator.com.

See original here:
Inheriting your body: coming to terms with changes - CU Columbia Spectator

New York, March 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Ketogenic Diet Market: Global Industry Analysis, Trends, Market Size, and Forecasts up to 2025" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05874283/?utm_source=GNW 4% over the forecast period from 2019-2025. The study on ketogenic diet market covers the analysis of the leading geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW for the period of 2017 to 2025.

The report on ketogenic diet market is a comprehensive study and presentation of drivers, restraints, opportunities, demand factors, market size, forecasts, and trends in the global ketogenic diet market over the period of 2017 to 2025. Moreover, the report is a collective presentation of primary and secondary research findings.

Porters five forces model in the report provides insights into the competitive rivalry, supplier and buyer positions in the market and opportunities for the new entrants in the global ketogenic diet market over the period of 2017 to 2025. Further, IGR- Growth Matrix gave in the report brings an insight into the investment areas that existing or new market players can consider.

Report Findings1) Drivers The rising number of obese people worldwide The growing number of health-conscious people Diverse health benefits associated with the ketogenic diet2) Restraints The ketogenic diet has side effects like muscle cramps, nausea, and others3) Opportunities Various innovative new product launches in keto diet products

Research Methodology

A) Primary ResearchOur primary research involves extensive interviews and analysis of the opinions provided by the primary respondents. The primary research starts with identifying and approaching the primary respondents, the primary respondents are approached include1. Key Opinion Leaders associated with Infinium Global Research2. Internal and External subject matter experts3. Professionals and participants from the industry

Our primary research respondents typically include1. Executives working with leading companies in the market under review2. Product/brand/marketing managers3. CXO level executives4. Regional/zonal/ country managers5. Vice President level executives.

B) Secondary ResearchSecondary research involves extensive exploring through the secondary sources of information available in both the public domain and paid sources. At Infinium Global Research, each research study is based on over 500 hours of secondary research accompanied by primary research. The information obtained through the secondary sources is validated through the crosscheck on various data sources.

The secondary sources of the data typically include1. Company reports and publications2. Government/institutional publications3. Trade and associations journals4. Databases such as WTO, OECD, World Bank, and among others.5. Websites and publications by research agencies

Segment CoveredThe global ketogenic diet market is segmented on the basis of product type, and distribution channel.

The Global Ketogenic Diet Market by Product Type Fruits and Vegetables Beverages Nuts and Seeds Poultry and Eggs Meat Seafood Other Products

The Global Ketogenic Diet Market by Distribution Channel Online Channels Retailers Supermarkets and Hypermarkets

Company Profiles Ample Foods Inc. Danone S.A. Keto and Company Ancient Nutrition Abbott Nestle S.A. Love Good Fats Perfect Keto Zenwise Health Pruvit Ventures, Inc. Other Companies

What does this report deliver?1. Comprehensive analysis of the global as well as regional markets of the ketogenic diet market.2. Complete coverage of all the segments in the ketogenic diet market to analyze the trends, developments in the global market and forecast of market size up to 2025.3. Comprehensive analysis of the companies operating in the global ketogenic diet market. The company profile includes analysis of product portfolio, revenue, SWOT analysis and latest developments of the company.4. IGR-Growth Matrix presents an analysis of the product segments and geographies that market players should focus to invest, consolidate, expand and/or diversify.Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05874283/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

__________________________

More here:
Global ketogenic diet market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 5.4% over the forecast period from 2019-2025 - GlobeNewswire