Category Archives: Diet And Food

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn discussed at length this spring the potential Yoan Moncada has to impact a game with his power, speed and athleticism.

But there was one thing left off of Hahns scouting report -- a dietary quirk that has been reported by the Tribune and various other news sources following the No. 2 overall prospects journey from Cuba to the Red Sox organization to the White Sox system over the last two years.

Moncada loves Twinkies.

That was news to me, Hahn said.

Miami restauranteur Jo Hastings, who with husband David helped Moncada make his transition to the United States out of Cuba, told the Tribunes David Haugh in December Moncada ate as many as 200 Twinkies a week when he first arrived.

Hahn doesnt flinch at such a food fascination, however, and heres why.

Even if Moncada were to continue consuming the Twinkies, it wouldnt be the most unusual diet the club has ever had to deal with. That honor would go to former Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez.

When we had his debut in Cleveland, his major-league debut, he pregamed with two Krispy Kremes with mayonnaise in between, Hahn said. He put them together and enjoyed that for his pregame meal. So we're not unaccustomed to the transition in his diet.

Hahn then laughed at the notion that the donuts had any effect on Ramirezs famously lanky figure.

As for Moncada, who looked more like he never touched junk food during spring training, the Sox wont be dealing with his diet at the major-league level for a little while. He is starting the year with Triple-A Charlotte, but Hahn said its not out of the question he could join the big-league club at some point this year.

The tools are as advertised, Hahn said. They jump out at you, the bat speed, the athleticism, the power. We want to get him as comfortable as possible at second base, with more repetition there. Wed like to see him against more Triple-A pitching, which unlike where he has been tends to be a little bit more breaking-ball heavy, a little more savvy-veteran heavy, and see how they work him over a little bit. But it's not going to surprise me if he forces the issue, and he's up here at some point this year.

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Fascinated by Yoan Moncada's Twinkies diet? Wait 'til you hear this old Alexei Ramirez tale - Chicago Tribune

You probably first came across it with a pale-looking colleague slumped over their office desk. Or with The Fast Diet author Michael Mosely speaking effusively about it on television. Fasting, theyd have told you, is a great way to lose weight. It makes sense: eat fewer calories a couple of days a week, and dont overeat on the others, and youll slim down. Whats less clear is the assumption that fasting from time to time can bring other benefits such as avoiding disease, keeping your brain sharp and even letting you live longer. With all this for the price of just a sprinkle of willpower though, surely its all too good to be true?

The answer is not straightforward. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the evidence is strongest with type 2 diabetes a disease often caused by overeating. The disease means that a person can no longer control their blood sugar levels. Once diagnosed they are left staring down the barrel of a lifetime on medication, unless, think researchers at Newcastle University, they begin to fast.

Theyve tested an extreme low-calorie diet a hunger-panging 600 calories a day for eight weeks in 11 people with type 2 diabetes: all were disease-free by the end of the fast; seven were still disease-free three months on. Later studies suggest that the sooner people fast, the better their chances of reversing their disease. Roy Taylor, who leads the group, thinks that fasting is beneficial because it gets rid of dangerous fat in and around your organs, including two that are important in sugar control the pancreas and the liver.

When an otherwise healthy persons blood sugars get too high, their pancreas makes a hormone called insulin that tells the liver to remove the sugar and store it safely. If you have fat around these organs it clogs up the way they work and your body cant control its blood sugars, says Taylor. After about 12 hours of fasting, he says, the body uses up all the glycogen in the liver, its go-to source of energy, and starts to dip into its fat deposits. The first type of fat to go is that dangerous fat around the organs, freeing them up to do their job properly. He stresses that people with diabetes should not fast without consulting their doctor a combination of insulin drugsandfasting can be lethal.

Taylor and his colleagues are now testing their fasting diet in around 300 people with type 2 diabetes. The results of that study will give a better idea of how beneficial the diet can be. The question is how much of the effect is down to fasting and how much is down to just the weight loss? Its almost certain that other forms of dieting will do the same, says Taylor. But this low-calorie diet is one that I was confident would let people lose the roughly two and a half stone, or a sixth of their body weight, that we werelooking for.

There is, though, reason to believe that fasting might have benefits over and above weight loss. Its down to what happens to all living organisms when they dont have food they begin to eat themselves. Gruesome, maybe, but its beneficial: it lets the body recycle energy and do some housekeeping the first cells to go are the faulty ones.

Valter Longo is a scientist at the University of Southern California who believes that, because of this process, periodic fasting can help people stay healthy. Faulty immune cells, for instance, could be pruned back so that when a person starts to feed again, new cells are spawned from only the strongest and the fittest.

In experiments in mouse models of multiple sclerosis, a disease in which rogue immune cells erroneously attack a persons nerve cells, hes seen that periodic, low-calorie fasting can slow down the destruction of cells and even lead to some regeneration. His preliminary work in people with the disease suggests it could improve their quality of life.

The potential reaches further. Fasting-mimicking diets can help people with cancer undergoing radiation chemotherapy, presumably by promoting the growth of healthy cells and restricting the growth of cancerous ones. Restricting the amount a mouse eats by about 30-40% can extend its lifespan by a third.

This year Longo showed that a fasting-mimicking diet could help mice with diabetes regain blood sugar control, not only those with type 2 but also those with type 1 diabetes, caused not by overeating but by a faulty immune system. The benefits, he says, were down to a reprogramming of beta cells, a type of cell in the pancreas that makes insulin. He also starved cells taken from people with type 1 diabetes and saw a similar reprogramming.

Experiments in mice suggest that fasting could slow the onset of brain diseases such Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease

These results are surprising and completely new territory, warns Gordon Weir, a diabetes researcher at Harvard Medical School. Id be cautious about assuming that fasting will help people with type 1 diabetes until the mouse studies are replicated in other laboratories and it has gone on to be shown to work in human beings, not just in human cells.

Longo, too, is wary of giving false hope but is bullish about the potential of fasting. In research over 25 years weve seen it in E coli bacteria, in yeast, in human cells, and in mice, he says. The foundations are so deep that its as old as life itself, but we have to respect the complexity a yeast is a yeast, a mouse is a mouse, and a person is a person.

The difficulty in transferring a theory from mouse to man is that people live much longer than mice. At middle age we are much farther from when our stem cells, the type of cells that make other cells, are most active, so our ability to generate new cells might not be as strong.

We dont have conclusive data that any of this works in humans, Longo says, but we do have some promising data. Hes referring to a study of 100 generally healthy people given a fasting-mimicking diet low in calories, sugars and protein but high in unsaturated fats. Despite only a minor reduction in weight loss, he says, risk factors for ageing, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke were all improved. Hes planning a bigger trial in 250 people to confirm these findings and to figure out which benefits are the result purely of the act of fasting and not just the result of weight loss.

Other tests will take a little longer. Whether fasting will ever make us live longer, given the time needed to prove it, will be for only Dracula and Dorian Gray to know. What could be more compelling is the idea that fasting can keep us in better mental shape.

When the body metabolises its fat deposits during fasting, says Mark Mattson, a neuroscientist at the US National Institute on Ageing and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, it produces acids called ketones, a source of food for brain cells. Ketones also trigger the production of a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which encourages the brain to make newconnections.

Its not an entirely new concept; in fact, the ancient Romans stumbled across it. Roman doctors found that by locking epileptics in a room with no food for a few days they could cure them of their disease. They thought they were causing demons to go away but really these peoples ketones were increasing and suppressing their seizures, says Mattson. Today, ketogenic diets that increase ketones by mimicking fasting are increasingly prescribed to people with epilepsy to help them control their seizures.

Mattsons experiments in mice suggest that fasting could slow the onset of brain diseases such Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease. Weve also got evidence in mice that fasting reduces anxiety and depression, he says.

So far so good, but mouse does not equal man. The way you test anxiety or depression in a mouse is by chucking it into a beaker of water or dangling it by its tail. While we can all empathise with how that mouse might feel, the relevance of these studies to us with our more complicated lives and more complicated brains remains to be seen. Still, these are the same tests drug companies use to find promising antidepressants, so there might be something in it.

That fasting might have a beneficial effect on our brain makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. If our caveman ancestors hadnt eaten for a few days it would make sense for them to do something about it. This ketone signal tells the brain hey, brain, you better figure out how to get some food because if you dont theres going to be a problem soon, says Mattson. Now were eating three meals a day plus snacks so were never going to raise our ketones. If we fast from time to time, maybe we can take advantage of this evolutionary adaptation to help us in modern life.

Like most people, if Im going to skip a sandwich to help my inner caveman, I want him to be as pumped up and raring to go as Rocky at the end of a training montage. The problem is that nobody knows exactly how youd do that.

Simply too few studies have been done to know the long-term effects in people, says Susan Jebb, a nutrition scientist at the University of Oxford. Theres clearly something about not putting food in your system thats beneficial, especially for diabetes, but how close to fasting do we need to get? Is it the 5:2 diet or is it long periods of a low-calorie intake? Do we need to eat only 600 calories or can we get away with 1,200?

One reason for the paucity of studies is the lack of money to be made. With no drugs to sell, drug companies are not testing it. Nobody is suggesting they are sitting on data or getting skinny professors whacked, its just that its not their responsibility. Pharmaceutical companies are there to make useful drugs and to turn a profit, says Taylor. Its as simple as that.

In lieu of evidence that periodic fasting is beneficial, we should consider the potential harms which are few for overweight people. People with medical conditions, especially diabetes, should consult their doctor first. People should not do water-only fasts, which cause your body to start breaking down its own proteins. Messaging needs to be careful not to condone eating disorders such asanorexia.

With so much unknown about the relationship between fasting and health, Jebb urges that we dont lose sight of the basics. We know that if youre overweight, losing weight will reduce your risk of disease, she says. For many people an intermittent fasting diet will help them lose weight, for others eating a few less biscuits every day will be better. The trick is to find the diet that works for you and go for it.

Fast habit, free A no-nonsense stopwatch app. Tell it how many hours you want to fast for then press a button to start. It tracks your fasting over time and, helpfully, lets you edit your record in case you forget to log a fast.

Zero Fasting Tracker, free Zero has two predefined fasting plans: 5:2 and another one based on work done by US researchers that suggests fasting has added benefits if done at night. It uses your phones location to remind you when the sun will set. You can download your data to a spreadsheet and geek out over long-term performance analyses.

5:2 Diet TrackMyFast, 99p Despite having 5:2 its title, this app has other plans including alternate day fasts and the frankly weirdly named Johnson Up Day Down Day Diet. The usual weight and fasting tracking functions are supplemented with recipe ideas, which you can contribute to and share with otherusers.

5:2 Diet Complete Meal Planner, 1.99 This app is just a collection of recipes within different calorie brackets. Useful, but its tough to justify the price given that lots of recipes are available for free online. Warning: the recipes look incredible but when you make them they come out tiny.

MyFitness Pal Calorie Counter, free Not a fasting tracker per se but contains a massive database of foods more than 4m can be scanned by barcode to help you manage your calorie intake.

See more here:
Is fasting a free health fix or is it just a fad? - The Guardian

Ben Franklin quipped: In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes; whereas todays polymaths might shudder in attempts to explain modern politics, interest abounds in current efforts that are starting to move the needle on lifespan. Modern medicine and public health practices have contributed an increase in life expectancy of >2-fold in the United States since Franklins era, as well as an increase of 8 y in the past 50 y and a 44% increase in the number of U.S. centenarians from 2000 to 2014 [1]. Can specific interventions that target aging push this progress even further?

Insights from biomedical research as to the molecular basis of aging have been used to generate treatments designed to slow aging or increase healthspan (i.e., healthy golden years). For example, clinical trials of nicotinamide mononucleotide are underway [2], and metformin, used to treat diabetes, is being tested in the Targeting Aging with Metformin study [3]. CR as an anti-aging intervention predates testing of these compounds and has been studied extensively in rodents and other model organisms. Clinical studies are in progress [4], but the jury is still out as to whether CR might be effective for humans.

The featured paper (Tryptophan restriction arrests B cell development and enhances microbial diversity in WT and prematurely aging Ercc1/7 mice) by van Beek et al. [5] reduces the complexity of CR interventions by feeding mice a diet only lacking Trp, as TR also delays aging of mice. This study breaks

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Editorial: No Trp, no B: surprising connectivity of diet, microbiome, aging, and adaptive immunity - Journal of Leukocyte Biology (subscription)

The Queen is in fantastic shape for 90-years-old and a lot of that can be attributed to how well she eats.

A recent interview with former Royal Chef, Darren McGrady, sheds some light on what the Queen dines on. According to McGrady, unless The Queen is at a state dinner she has a no starch rule which means no pasta or potatoes.

The Queen prefers a dinner of grilled fish or chicken with a side salad or two different steamed vegetables. She is also very keen on fresh fruit, and adoreshome grown peaches.

Not surprisingly with the number of people she meets and talks too each day, The Queen must not have garlic or too many onions. While all meat, including beef, but be cooked well done.

If The Queen has one indulgence is that she loves chocolate biscuit cake that is made by her chefs. Though she keeps her portions very small but will request it daily until the cake is gone, she is even known to have a piece taken with her on travels. McGrady toldThe Sun,The Chocolate Biscuit Cake is the only cake that goes back again and again and again every day until its all gone.

Shell take a small slice every day until eventually there is only one tiny piece, but you have to send that up, she wants to finish the whole of that cake.

More:
The Queen's chef spills the beans on her fabulous diet - Starts at 60

Finally, the big reveal on "Mama June: From Not to Hot" is here and it didn't disappoint. Former "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" star June Shannon dropped jaws with a 300-lb weight-loss. The reality television diva flaunted her new size 4 after tummy tuck, veneers, breast implants and skin removal plastic surgery. But there's more to Mama June's makeover than a "revenge body." Inquiring minds want to know how that love life upgrade is going for Shannon?

WEtv promised to take Shannon "From Not to Hot" on the eponymous reality TV show. June says she started her journey at 460 pounds and underwent bariatric surgery in 2015 when diet and exercise alone weren't working. But even gastric bypass surgery wasn't enough. The show "Botched" denied Shannon chin removal and a tummy tuck because she hadn't lost enough weight. After help from person trainer Kenya and encouragement from daughters Honey Boo Boo (Alana Thompson) and "Pumpkin" Lauryn Shannon, she dropped down to around 199 pounds. This enabled her to get skin removal plastic surgery safely.

The reality television star opted for breast augmentation to highlight her smaller waist after tummy tuck. But, the boob job (up to size DD) and other cosmetic surgery couldn't fix June's notoriously bad teeth. So she had "veneers" placed in her mouth to correct dental imperfections and whiten her smile. At first it looked like she had "flippers" which are fake adult teeth used in child pageant shows like "Toddlers & Tiaras." That's where daughter Honey Boo Boo first brought the family to fame.

Shannon tearfully opened up on obesity and the man troubles behind it. June faults her ex and dad of Honey Boo Boo, "Sugar Bear" Mike Thompson. But folks recall another toxic relationship with convicted child molester Mark McDaniel. And weight-loss didn't lose June's ability to attract creeps. At an ice cream parlor, one guy told her he was only interested in her chest size despite the fact that it was a boob job. Another walked out on their first date. Of course, June did pop the sex question almost immediately. But the "From Not to Hot" star promised viewers that she was changing old behaviors along with her new wardrobe. #HoneyBooBoo #MamaJune #Weightloss

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'Honey Boo Boo' Mama June wows in size 4, 300-lb weight-loss, plastic surgery - Blasting News

April Fools Day is an annual tradition, but where did it begin? Buzz60's Amanda Kabbabe (@kabbaber) investigates. Buzz60

The T-Mobile ONEsie.(Photo: T-Mobile)

April Fools' Day is Saturday. It'sthe day of the year where it becomes nearly impossible to trust anything you read online.

It also means the Internet's got jokes. Lots of jokes. Some are pretty good, others we are really wishing were real.

A few companies already have their pranks out the door. Let's break them down:

This is certainly one way to guarantee yourself complete coverage from your wireless carrier. It's made with 4G LTE nano-fibers and is available in Sport and Work (basically a magenta suit) models. It also supports Bluetooth. It also boasts "Thermanetic Charging" to recharge your onesie using motion and body heat.

Google goes big on April Fools' Day once again, this time with a smart home speaker for your backyard. The Google Gnome will turn on your hose, offer weather forecasts, and answer the important question: can I eat this? Just don't make any indoor requests. That's what you have Google Home for, duh.

Google also had fun with its Maps service, turning it into a giant game of Ms. Pac Man.

If you ever wonder why a very fancy cat condo is at your door step, blame Alexa. Amazon rolled out a feature called Petlexa, which lets your pets communicate with the digital voice assistant through an Echo device. They can launch playlists, enable smart toys and place orders. This could get expensive.

There are driving pet peeves that are difficult to comprehend, but perhaps none is worse than the person who insists on driving slowly in the left lane. Enter the 2018 Lexus LC with Lane Valet. Let's say you are stuck behind a slow driver in the left lane. Lane Valet is described as "passing-lane-assistance technology" capable to moving that car into the next lane over so you can pass safely. Seriously, if Lexus made this, I would likely buy that car tomorrow. But remember to heed Lexus' warning: "Imaginary technology. Do not attempt. Duh."

The YASS Cat-apult.(Photo: ThinkGeek)

Google gets a lot of credit for their April Fools' showing, but ThinkGeek always wins the award for "fake products we really wish we could own." There's the YASS Cat-apult, where you can sling a cat screaming "YASS!" with a slingshot. Don't worry, the cat is plush, not real. Other highlights include:

Hot Pocket Sleeping Bag. It features a Microwaav insulation system and its own crisping sleeve to make sure you stay extra warm. Plus, it looks like a Hot Pocket.

Tentacuddle Wrap. You know the sleeping bag tails for kids resembling sharks or other animals? It's like that, but you look like Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Cool.

Bicycle Horn of Gondor. Good for battling Orcs, or just trying to pass a slow dog walker on the sidewalk.

Not sure what to eat while watching your favorite TV shows? Roku to the rescue. They revealed a new feature called SnackSuggest, which will recommend foods based on what you are watching. Enter data including height, weight and diet preferences, and Roku will advise you on snacks to eat. Watching The Vampire Diaries? Perhaps you should eat some garlic fries. (Groan).

Roku's SnackSuggest, which recommends snacks based on what you watch.(Photo: Roku)

Quilted Northern's uSit wearable for tracking your bathroom habits.(Photo: Quilted Northern)

The uSit from toilet paper maker Quilted Northern is a wearable for those moments you're sitting on your porcelain throne. It fits around your waist like a belt, and measures information such as duration and exertion. You can also win badges like "Speed Demon," because sharing bathroom habits with friends in no way falls under the category "TMI."

Remember Harambe, the really popular meme spawned from the shooting of a gorilla after a 3-year-old child fell into an exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo? You can honor the primate's memory with a Harambed, available in twin, queen or King Kong size from Lucid Mattress. It's made with 100% faux fur and 10 inches of "meme-ory" form. But, sorry, those gorilla arms for snuggling are a little creepy.

Definitely great if you like making guacamole (or you're one of the cool kids who puts avocado on toast). These avocados from online grocery shopping service FreshDirect have no pits. "If you're still buying avocados with pits, avocadon't do it any more!" Ummm, sure.

If rapid charging works for your smartphone, why not the human body? OnePlus has apparently converted its Dash Charge technology, used to fully recharge its phones in 30 minutes, into an energy drink Dash Energy they claim will replace the need for sleep. So I should probably cancel my Harambed order?

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2nHfBHS

Continued here:
Google Gnomes and Alexa for pets: the best of April Fools' pranks - USA TODAY

Baton Rouge, La (LOCAL 33) - A tiger is housed at a truck stop, in Iberville Parish but its future there is the subject of litigation again.

'Tony' the tiger has been there 17 years and the Owner of Tiger Truck Stop, Michael Sandlin, is using every penny to keep him.

"I've spent $700,000 so far fighting to keep him safely home,"said Sandlin.

Because animal activist feel Tony should not be at the truck-stop.

"It's a truck-stop at a major intersection, he has to deal with gasoline smells and a lot of road noise," said Attorney Tony Eliseuson, with Animal Legal Defense Fund.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund said the Louisiana Legislature passed a special exemption for Tony's owner.

"For this one tiger and private owner you can keep your tiger," said Eliseuson.

Eliseuson said that is unconstitutional, and this week the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a petition in court.

"Louisiana Constitution, doesn't allow the Legislature to allow special laws that are designed to benefit a special individual," said Eliseuson.

"My response to that is there was a animal sanctuary in North Louisiana called Yogi and Friends," said Eliseuson

Sandlin said he feels they would have been exempt too, if the legislation was left in its original form. He also said Tony is well taken care of and fed well.

"50 percent beef, 50 percent horse meat, it's a diet even some zoo's can't afford," said Sandlin.

No matter how much diesel he has to sell, Sandlin said Tony won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"As long as god gives me breathe and as long as he provides the means for me to keep fighting I will," said Sandlin.

See more here:
More Legal Troubles for 'Tony' the Truck-Stop Tiger - http://www.brproud.com

Killer of the post-spring break bloat

I dont know how I managed to spend a lifetime in Los Angeles without doing a juice cleanse, but after spending a raucous, fried foodilled spring break in New Orleans, I decided that now was as a good a time as any to formally and fully induct myself into the most basic elements of Angeleno culture.

These are supposed to be boyfriend jeans fml

Juice cleanses touted by the likes of Bella Hadid often costupwards of $200. Given that I aimed to break my bloat and not the bank, I turned to the queen: Beyonc. Back in 2006, Bey made headlines for reportedlylosing 20 pounds on the so-called lemonade diet in preparation for Dreamgirls. Modified versions of the decades-old Master Cleanse allow you to consume the all-liquid diet for just three days.

The lemonade diet has two relatively unbeatable assets going for it. Comprised solely of water, lemon juice, real maple syrup and cayenne pepper, the Master Cleanse is cheap and easy to make and, most importantly, tastes delicious.

I usually eat two carb or meat-based meals a day and work out three days a week. Im not exactly peak-clean living, and coming from a week of 4 am beignets and daily Bloody Marys, I figured that the cleanse would be a struggle.

Nutritionists primarily criticize the weight loss of the lemonade diet because it comes from muscle loss rather than fat loss. So, rather than focus on weight loss, I decided to focus on bringing my now-25 inch waist back down to its normal 24 inches. I also resolved to do some moderate weight training while on the diet so I would lose fatinstead of muscle.

Due toreservations at The Nice Guy on Tuesday evening that I couldnt back out of, I started the diet on Wednesday, spending Monday and Tuesday weaning myself off of my vacation diet and mentally preparing for the days to come.

Last solid food consumed on Tuesday: 9p.m.

Kissing away my food and my sanity like

I started my first morning with my only modification to the diet: a cup of green tea to avoid a caffeine withdrawal headache. I then headed out of the house with two liters of my homemade lemonade.

Drinking the concoctionthroughout the day, I never actually found myself hungry. The maple syrup actually provided around 700 calories for the day, and the cayenne pepper kept the drink interesting enough that I actually enjoyed it. However, by the end of the day, my friends who agreed to try it out with me had already indulged in some fat Chipotle burritos. I was in this alone.

I may have almost died at the gym, but I finally have abs again!

I usually walk around five to six miles a day. I was fine doing this, but after trying to run on the elliptical, I actually thought that I was going to die.Five minutes into what are usually 35 minute runs, my heart felt like it was going to collapse in on my chest. Suffocating, I forced myself to walk the rest of my time on the elliptical, gradually returning to a state of (some degree of) normalcy.

I did some weight lifting and felt fine, but by the end of the day, I had to crash by 11. I was beat.

My lips were on fire from consuming teaspoons over cayenne pepper. My body craved cheese. The end was near, thank God.

We were celebrating my friends 22nd birthday that night, so I knew that I would have to eat something before I drank unless I wanted to pass out after a single gin and tonic. Around 6 pm on Friday, I ate pasta. Actually, I ate a few pieces of pasta. I was stuffed immediately.

Going out that night actually wasnt terrible. I didnt crave anything more flashy or complicated than a Heineken or a G&T. This brings us to the ease-out.

In the days following the cleanse, everything smelled amazing, and I wanted to consume almost none of it. The cleanse essentially reset my appetite, successfully purging out a week of deep fried Creole and Cajun anything. I could once again see my abs, and my waist returned to its normal size. I even lost a few pounds, but more importantly, I felt infinitely better.

For the Master Cleanse to have lasting impact, you have to take advantage of this dietary reset rather than treat it as a mass starvation. I didnt fullyexpect to see the diet through to Friday night, but if I, a pasta-obsessed and diet-phobic carnivore, could make it through the 70 hours, I believe anyone else with enough resolve could. There are no shortcuts to completing it, as drinking less lemonade to consume fewer calories just ups the odds of quitting altogether, butif you give it a good college try, you truly will reap what you sow.

@tianathefirst

Read more from the original source:
I tried Beyonc's strangest diet trick and it actually kind of worked - The Tab

At Pho Tan Hoa in San Francisco. Photo: Sheila McLaughlin

In the coming months, Rachel Khong has not one but two books hitting stores first, on April 4, All About Eggs, a collaboration with the editors of Lucky Peach (where she worked as the managing and then executive editor for five years); and then, in July, Goodbye, Vitamin, her first novel. She spent the past week, in her home in San Francisco, cooking a Turkish poached-egg dish called ilbir, and eating several servings of chicken katsu and all kinds of pho (even egg-drop soup made with leftover pho broth). Read all about it in this weeks Grub Street Diet.

Thursday, March 23Thursday starts with me running to my car in my pajamas because I forgot it was street-cleaning day. Im hoping for a miracle. No miracles today, only heartbreak. I owe the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency $71 and am sad.

Last night, I posted to my @all_about_eggs Instagram account a picture of beautiful, fluffy scrambled eggs, with the caption, Dreaming of breakfast. (At one point, while working on the book, I started an all-eggs Instagram account, and now its basically my job.) But I do not eat scrambled eggs for breakfast. Instead, I have a roasted Japanese sweet potato the kind with purple skin and yellow flesh, like the emoji with butter and flaky salt. I eat it, skin and all. To be clear, I eat these sweet potatoes because I love them, but also because Im trying to get out of the house to start writing ASAP. Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work is something Flaubert said. Sometimes, its good to think about that while youre feeling undignified, scarfing down a sweet potato.

At Charlies Cafe, my office for the morning, I drink a mug of Obama blend, a bean mix of one-third Kenya, one-third Indonesia, and one-third Kona. I make pitiful progress on my new long thing (a novel I cant jinx yet by calling a novel) because its hard not to think about my parking ticket or self-worth.

Lunch is at Rintaro, a Japanese izakaya that recently started serving lunch. I get a hojicha. I try my friend Cassandras melon creamy soda, a drink thats crazy green and tastes compellingly like candy. We order two teishoku lunches to share: A tuna don with shredded egg that comes with freshly grated wasabi on a shiso leaf; and their pork katsu, which I always get because its out-of-control good layers of pork, breaded and fried, and topped with black-hatch miso sauce, alongside a mound of thinly sliced cabbage and watermelon radish. The side dishes are delightful: miso soup with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms; green onion and vegetably stalks; and a Tokyo turnip-wedge koji pickle; crab and cucumber sunomono; and an innocent little fried smelt thats the perfect bite.

At home, more work, and its accompanying snacks: first, two tangerines. Then, a couple hours later, Castelvetrano olives and prosciutto draped directly into my mouth. The olives and prosciutto are from Luccas Ravioli, an old-timey Italian grocery store in my neighborhood that I particularly love. They sell housemade ravioli, yes, but also fancy tuna and not-fancy wine, obscure pasta shapes, and all manner of cured meat your heart could desire.

My friend Sandra is having a dress pop-up on the other side of town. Shes come from Nairobi, so the least I can do is travel to Presidio Heights. I have a glass of wine there, and ooh and aah over everyone trying out dresses. I cant buy any because I already own three, including one with eggs on it that Im planning to wear on my book tour next week. Sandra explains that theres a feminist message to my dress: There are the eggs and hens, but also roosters, which are decapitated. I love this dress.

Back at home, I drape more prosciutto into my mouth while prepping leftover chicken pho. Yesterday, I made the Classic Chicken Pho recipe from Andrea Nguyens new pho cookbook, aptly titled The Pho Cookbook. The recipe says its eight servings of pho, but it looks like it will be four servings for me. Humans are 60 percent water. Im probably 50 percent pho.

Friday, March 24 I wake up beside a bodylike mound of books. Theyve replaced my roommate, Eli, who left me for New York on Monday, to work on season two of the podcast Homecoming. (Tony Danza drinks Metamucil, and I endorse Homecoming from Gimlet Media.) Its a wonderful show! Eli and I just got married at City Hall, so I still feel weird about calling him my husband. My training wheels are spouse. The judge said, I now pronounce you spouses. Anyway, thats a disclaimer for why I will be the way I will be this week. Not getting a separate bowl for my olive pits, et cetera. Just throw your pits in the same bowl where your olives are hanging out, and save a dish!

Its raining, which is enough to make me want to stay home this morning. I brew some coffee, and toast a fat slice of Tartine country loaf. I cook a half-recipe of ilbir, a Turkish egg dish the writer Laura Goodman turned me onto, which is now in my regular breakfast rotation. The recipe is in All About Eggs (page 102), so you can make it, too! Ill tell you how to do it anyway: Basically, you pound a tiny clove of garlic in a mortar with some salt, then mix yogurt into that. Poach two eggs (I do it the Jacques Ppin way). Melt a couple tablespoons of butter with a few shakes of paprika and a pinch of chili flakes. Put the yogurt in a plate, slide the eggs on, drizzle with the hot chili-butter, and garnish with mint leaves, if you have them. On my egg Instagram, I keep using the hashtag #cilbir like its going to catch on. Maybe this is how it happens via Grub Street. The bread is important for sopping up the yogurt mingled with yolk mingled with butter. Its such a good breakfast! It fuels a solid morning of writing. Then the UPS guy comes while Im in a phone meeting. Its boxes of finished copies of All About Eggs, and Im so happy. Eggstatic even.

I have some chicken-pho broth left, so I make a quick egg-drop soup, loosely based on the stracciatella recipe in All About Eggs: Italian egg-drop soup with spinach and cheese except with thinly sliced Chinese broccoli instead of spinach, and chicken instead of cheese. It surprises me by being really good. Pho-broth egg-drop soup! You heard it here first, folks. I refrigerate the rest because I have to run out for a meeting at Sightglass Coffee. There, I have some of what they have already brewed: something delicious from Colombia.

Old friends from college are coming over for dinner. I drink some also-old Zinfandel (old vine and old because I opened it Monday!) while cooking a roughly Marcella Hazanesque chicken cacciatore with capers and olives. I serve it with rice, alongside a green-leaf lettuce and arugula salad with grana padano that was on sale at Luccas, and lemony roasted broccoli. Dessert is a blood-orange cake thats a Paul Bertolli recipe from Cooking by Hand, a perfect cookbook. The recipe intrigued me because its called bitter orange cake, and involves blending whole blood oranges peel, pith, and all. Just how bitter, Paul Bertolli? I mutter to myself while baking it, all alone at home. Each slice gets served with a compote made of orange peel, sugar, and segments of blood orange all the syrupy stuff soaks lusciously in. It seems bonkers, but the cake is edible! And not only edible, but a hit! As it turns out, everyone can have this superpower to eat whole oranges disguised as delicious cake.

Over the course of dinner, we somehow get onto the topic of mukbang, the YouTube videos of Korean women eating alone. I guess the idea is, you watch these videos when youre eating alone, so you feel less alone. After everyone leaves, I watch a few: riveted, aghast, then riveted again.

Saturday, March 25 Breakfast is Sightglass coffee from Rwanda, which is acidic and perfect with leftover cake and compote nuked for 45 seconds in the microwave. The cake might be even better today. Then I head to the Alemany farmers market, my favorite farmers market in the city because its huge and festive and glorious. I try slices of a few different kinds of grapefruits and oranges. Honestly, today Im here for the butt-shaped kiwis, which I buy from this one farm that seems to only grow kiwis not all of them butt-shaped. I seek those out.

For lunch, Im meeting my friend Vicki at Souvla, a Greek spot that does good souvlaki and these fries soaked in chicken fat that I totally forget to order. We split a pork gyro and a lamb gyro cut them right down their centers with butter knives a foolhardy but ultimately prudent decision. The pitas are fluffy and perfect, like pot holders but bread. In a good way! We get back in line to get a cup of frozen Greek yogurt with Cretan honey and share that, too.

Cut to: the afternoon. Sometimes in the Mission, where I live, theres a white van parked on 22nd Street that opens its (car) doors to vend snacks, like fruit in quart containers or cut-to-order coconuts. I notice the vans doors are open and ask for a coconut. Usually, its a guy van-manning, but today its a lady van-womanning. She has long, bright orange nails. With a cleaver, she hacks the coconut deftly. Im humbled and charmed. She hands the coconut juice to me in a zip-top baggy with a straw, and the flesh in a separate baggy, mixed with salt, lemon, chili, and hot sauce. The chili-covered coconut pieces are good weirdly reminiscent of Micheladas.

Dinner is leftovers: stewy chicken, rice, stracciatella. I also steam a bundle of asparagus from the farmers market, and season it simply with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I put a pat of butter on my asparagus and watch it melt. All in all, a wild Saturday night! I eat the asparagus like fries, and wind up eating all of it, also like fries. For dessert, a butt-shaped kiwi. Naturally, its juicy.

Sunday, March 26 What would a Californian Grub Street Diet be without avocado toast? My favorite trick is to rub a clove of garlic over the hard toasts surface, which sucks up the garlic somehow (really scientific terminology Im using here!). Then I smush avocado on (correct ratio is one avo to one big piece of toast), and drizzle with olive oil, salt, black pepper, and chili flakes. Today, I top the whole thing with a poached egg. It isnt pretty to eat, but it is good and hearty.

Im getting my photo taken for this article at Pho Tan Hoa, my regular pho spot in the Tenderloin. You might even call it a pho-to. (Sorry.) I pose with my regular pho order, the No. 12, rare-beef pho, and an iced coffee. I suck down all the condensed coffee, and after the photographer leaves, I eat the room-temperature prop because thats how my mama raised me.

Lunch is at my friend and former Lucky Peach co-worker Chris Yings house. I left the magazine just this past fall, after five years of living and breathing Lucky Peach. The news of its shuttering is something that, yes, Im feeling pretty emotionally weird about, but that Ive compartmentalized just like Ive compartmentalized the fact were all going to die someday. Anyway! Chris has made katsu don! Eggy katsu and katsu with sauce for dipping, perfect donabe-cooked rice, cabbage lightly dressed with Meyer lemon, and miso soup. We wash it all down with ros. (Inadvertently, Im having a double-katsu, multi-pho week.) Chriss daughter Ruby tries to eat my book, a very good sign.

A couple hours later, were back together: Aralyn Beaumont (also a friend and former co-worker, also in attendance at lunch), Chris, and I have tickets to a Filipino pop-up a kamayan meal well be eating entirely using our hands. Were seated at a long table covered in banana leaves. The rice gets placed down the middle, like an enormous line of cocaine for a giant with a car tiresize nostril. The rice line is adorned with bok choy and shrimp and mangoes and chicken thighs. We convey all the food to our mouths using only our hands. The dinner is BYOB and we BYOed ros. My wine glass, which Ive been pawing at with my food-covered hand, is not surprisingly covered in food. Our friendship has been forged in the fire of magazine deadlines. Now, better slept (well, except for Chris, who has a baby), we polish off two bottles and have a good time. Dessert is a pleasant little Manila-mango tartlet with a peanut crust.

Monday, March 27 Its two regular and orderly butt kiwis for me this morning, then to the caf! Eating two butt kiwis is sort of like eating four normal kiwis because you get two for the price of one (not literally; obviously, theyre sold by the pound). My regular method of peeling kiwis is to cut off both ends and run a spoon around the fruit, where the flesh meets the skin. But its a challenge when theyre butt shaped. I have to peel them over the sink, but the skin comes off in patches. My spouse typically laughs at the wreckage because it looks like a raccoon got into some trash. Thats generally how I eat things, like a raccoon attacking trash.

I have a cup of black coffee at Borderlands, a caf I like for its lack of music, while I type some words. By 11 a.m., Im hungry. At home, I scarf more snacks: prosciutto and olives.

Guess what lunch is? Its pho! Back when we were a gang, the San Francisco Lucky Peach staff religiously went out for pho every Friday, which we staunchly still call Pho-riday. We always went to Pho Tan Hoa, and we still go for old times sake. Last Friday, Aralyn was vacationing in Thailand, so today is a Monday thats an honorary Pho-riday. I cant bring myself to order another beef pho, after the one I ate yesterday: I get seafood, plus a salted plum soda. Theres always a small part of me that wants a No. 41, vermicelli with barbecued pork and nuoc cham, which I could drink daily and never get sick of. So another regular thing is, I force us to share a No. 41. Chris orders it for the table like a dad buying us toys. Our server calls him big guy.

I drink a bottle of stout while Im cooking dinner: fried rice to use up all the languishing things in the fridge. First, I crisp up some garlic and ginger in vegetable oil, so its crispy bits and nice-smelling oil. Then, I fry old rice with kale and herbs and two egg whites leftover from making Paul Bertollis cake. Last, I fry two eggs in butter. The eggs go on the fried rice, and the garlic-ginger-bits oil goes all over. On the side, some steamed Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and that same garlic-ginger stuff.

Tuesday, March 28 Breakfast is a regular and orderly piece of toast topped with a very ripe avocado that needed to be eaten, and a cup of Sightglass Rwandan coffee.

Im meeting my friend Kate for lunch at the Alamo Drafthouse, the Texan import to San Francisco, because were also watching Beauty and the Beast. Efficiency! Im tempted to order a boozy milkshake, but I havent done enough work today to deserve it. I definitely deserve a beer, though, so I get a HenHouse Saison to go with a Cobb salad because, as Kate correctly puts it, All the other salads seem to be missing one thing. We also share a giant mixing bowl of kimchee-dust popcorn. As for Beauty and the Beast, Im disappointed they dont show Gaston eating five dozen eggs (every morning to help him get large). For dessert, a slice of scone loaf baked by Aralyn a Molly Yeh recipe.

Dinner I have to work for: Im shadowing a class at 18 Reasons called Poories & Punjabistyle curries because I might be teaching one on eggs. Teachers Simran and Stacie teach us to make poories, magical bread that puffs into balloons when you deep-fry it, and an aloo sabzi (tomatoey potato curry), and chana masala (chickpea curry darkened with steeped tea). At the end of class, we eat all our handiwork, plus wine. Everything is spicy, so I eat lots of it. I realize its not a great idea; its just, somehow, what happens. For dessert, carrot halwa with ice cream and chai tea.

Now, Im home, feeling defeated, full, and in mild gastrointestinal pain, nursing a quart container of water. Theres one last butt-shaped kiwi left, and its beckoning me to eat it. Im gonna make some tea, eat my last kiwi. Lets just call that my nightcap.

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How many times have you bought into a fad diet, remedy or product touted as revolutionary, and later found that it is now discredited?

Remember the Atkins and Scarsdale diets? Today, there is the paleo diet. We are meant to eat as our Palaeolithic ancestors did: lots of nuts, berries and meat; very little dairy or carbohydrates. Never mind that we dont know if, in fact, they did eat this way, whether they were healthier as a result or whether we will be healthier for eating like they supposedly did. If its ancient, it must be better!

People have gone gluten free, yet when asked, most couldnt even tell you what gluten is, or why they are now avoiding it. Carbohydrates have been a big no-no, but now we read that avoiding them can be harmful.

What about the high-tech and athletic running shoes, all with incredible space-age soles, supports and other gimmicks (remember the Pump basketball shoe by Reebok?). It seems that todays incredible shoes arent good for us after all! Now, its minimalistic, rubber gloves for our feet. No arch supports or spongy soles, just the barest covering so we can run like our ancestors. Of course, our ancestors didnt have to run on pavement with bits of broken glass or metal rubbish to contend with. Plus, they probably weighed far less than we do and their feet were under less stress. Never mind, if it was good for them it must be good for us. Until now, that is, for the manufacturers of these rubber foot gloves have just settled a class action suit with a few million dollars payout. It seems that the benefits claimed in their ads were not achieved in reality.

Natural cures and therapies have been around for years and continue to be popular, but we have learned recently that they offer no benefit whatsoever. Vitamins, too, have been shown to be of dubious benefit, for we obtain our nutrients best through the foods we eat, yet we keep swallowing them.

Early last century the inventor of Kelloggs Corn Flakes recommend regular enemas as a way of maintaining intestinal health. Today there are juice cleanses to rid our bodies of toxins, even though doctors tell us our kidneys, livers and intestines have been doing a fine job of this already for hundreds of thousands of years.

We are told we are an increasingly obese society. How many bizarre exercise machines and programs did we buy which are now gathering dust under our beds? On the other hand, were told we should accept ourselves for how we are, and that we can be fat and still fit and healthy. Oh really?

Remember Earth Shoes? They were meant to mimic the way our bare feet walked in wet sand. They worked as well as they looked! Or water beds? I got seasick on one once. Copper bracelets turned my skin green. Then we were told we should drink eight glasses of water per day despite the evidence that we get most of our fluids in the solid foods we eat, along with the occasional coffee or tea, not to mention that too much water can be harmful.

Of course, our bodies are our own business and we can consume or wear whatever we choose. Many do just that, despite the objective evidence which debunks these alternative, natural, or just cool lifestyle choices. While ours is the generation of If it feels good, do it, you would think that with the internet we would not be so easily taken in by fads anymore. But the internet is both a blessing and a curse. Once a product would be hyped with As seen on TV!. Now, any product, diet or therapy can be promoted over the internet, and buying into it, not to mention actually buying it, is but a click or keystroke away.

Many of our generation are sceptical and demand hard evidence, having succumbed to one fad or the other when we were younger. I once bought a 10-dollar green felt-tipped pen (worth no more than a dollar, probably!) and coloured the edges of my CDs. This was meant to improve the sound quality. Guess what?

I am over fads, but now I worry for our grandkids. They will be bombarded with infinitely more claims of this or that in their lives than we ever were, which will do no good for anyone, other than making a buck for whoever is peddling it. Will they be able to tell a fad from fact?

Have you fallen for a fad diet only for it not to deliver on results?

To write for Starts at 60 and potentially win a $20 voucher, send your articles to our Community Editor here.

This article was written by Zvi Civins

Zvi is a 62 year old retired educator who is now enjoying the time to read, garden, exercise, volunteer and travel. He is looking forward to sharing his stories with the Starts at Sixty community and all of the discussions around them.

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Diet craze or crazy? - Starts at 60