By Joe McCormack

If youre like most of us,you overindulged a bit too much in 2019. No, not on calories (well, maybe thosetoo!), but on noise. Thats the name for the dizzying onslaught ofinformation from work emails, app notifications, the 24/7 news cycle, socialmedia updates, and other forms of screen time that leaves us unable to focus,listen, or do deep work.

A smidgen of noise now andagain is okay. (We all have our guilty pleasures!) But consuming it mindlessly,all day long, is as bad as keeping a bag of chips, a monster-size soda, and acan of frosting at our desk and reaching for them every few minutes.

Too many empty braincalories wont make you fat but they will make you mentally anemic. Noise keepsyou in a constant state of distraction. And like actual junk food, a high-noisedigital diet is addictive, yet it never satisfies or nourishes you.

The real problem with givinginto noise temptation isnt what youre doing; its what youre not doing.Youre tuning out what really matters. Youre skimming the surface. When yourescrolling Facebook, for instance, you arent learning a new language, refiningthat career-changing presentation, or engaging with your kids in a meaningfulway.

The new year is the perfecttime to put yourself on a noise diet. To help with your calorie count, letstake a look at what noise junk food looks like:

The irritatingyetaddictiveparade of social media stock characters in your newsfeed. This bandof noisemakers assaults your brain with their cries for attention. Forinstance:

The humble bragger. Yourcollege rival who subtly slips into her post that she just got anotherpromotion at her swanky company. #blessed #gag

The cryptic drama-stirrer.That self-righteous friend who calls out people anonymously for perceivedslights or makes vague poor me pity posts. (Cue the wave of very concernedcommenters.)

The over-sharer. We dontneed a play-by-play of your colonoscopy. Thanks.

The drop-of-a-hat ranter. Whose day would be complete without a furiousrecounting of how the barista screwed up your nonfat, dairy-free, double-shot,decaf, extra-hot mochaccino with extra foam? The nerve!

The overly zealous kidpromoter. Yes, yes, we know Junior is the smartest, cutest, cleverest totaroundyour other 15 posts this week made that perfectly clear.

The amateur politicalpundit. Do not engagejust dont.

[emailprotected]$$ shows on TV. Youdont need to waste your precious attention span watching Jerry Springer,B-list celebrity lip-synch contests, or those morning talk shows.Substance-free television combined with the lure of a cozy couch can quicklyturn into a lost day or evening.

The 24/7 newscarousel-of-darkness. Sadly, most news is bad news, and during a controversialelection year it can also be fodder for controversy, vitriol, and the loss ofcivility with friends, family, and neighbors. (Hint: You dont need to totallydisengage, but its good to be discerning about what you let inand about howoften you engage in debates with the people in your life.)

Yourwork email. Your boss just had to email you at 9:30 p.m.again. The momentyou jump out of the bath to write back is the moment work email becomes yetanother source of noise.

Are you feeling that noise hangoversettle in? Dont worry, you can kick off the new year with a different kind ofdietone that cuts the empty brain calories of digital distraction and givesyou what youre really craving: a more intentional life. Join my Just Say Noto Noise Movement and tip the scales in the other direction. A fewsuggestions:

Try going a week withoutsocial media. (We promise, youll survive.) A short detox from social media isa pretty painless way to unplug and reclaim a lot of lost time. When the weekis over, you can see if you even want to go back to occasional scrolling.

Reduce temptation byhiding distracting devices from yourself. Okay, you probably cant hide yourcomputer but you can shut the office door. As for cell phones and tablets,treat them like what they are: gateways to digital distraction (and it is avery slippery slope). Find an out-of-the-way place to charge and store yourdevices so youre not constantly reaching for them.

Breakthe idiot-box background noise habit. Its easy to mindlessly turn on the TVwhen you get home. Problem is, its broadcasting nonstop noise into yourwork-free hours. Instead, plan a time to watch your favorite shows. Dailyexposure to the depressing litany of pain and conflict we call news isntmaking your life better. Neither is watching the Fatty McButterpants episodeof King of Queens for the 50th time. (Okay, we admit that one is pretty funny.)

Set some work/lifeboundaries with the 7-to-7 rule. The company wont crash if you stop answeringemails around the clock. After 7 p.m., put away your devices for the night.Dont pick them up again until 7 a.m.the next day.

Insist on phone-free familydinners Yes, the kids might whine at first, but soon enough theyll get usedto conversing with the out-of-touch Boomers and Karens at the table.

andscreen-free family fun days. For instance, make video games and TV completelyoff-limits every Wednesday and Friday. Yes, even if the kids swear they have nohomework. Instead, do something fun or productive as a family. Play a boardgame. Go bowling or skating. Cook a great meal together. Volunteer at the localanimal shelter. Heckmaybe even read.

Learn to save yourappetite for the stuff that really matters Your appetite is really your attentionspan, and its your most precious resource. Filling up on headlines, emails,and social media means theres little left over for doing the deep andmeaningful work that helps you reach big goals at work and in your personallife. Before you cozy into an hour of lurking on your exs Facebook page, closethe laptop and find something productive to do.

and choose somemeaningful goals to pursue. When you are able to sharpen and aim your focus,you can do some pretty impressive &%$#. Want to start a website? Get abetter job? Learn to code? These North Star goals are the best incentive torethink your relationship with noise and see how your life changes.

We dont realize that veryoften our addiction to information is the thing holding us back from getting ahuge promotion, becoming valedictorian, or training for a marathon, but thatsexactly what happens as time passes. Once you think of it this way, its somuch easier to put yourself on a noise diet. Make this the year you take backyour time and use it to do something that matters.

Joseph McCormack is theauthor of NOISE: Living and Leading When Nobody Can Focus. He is passionateabout helping people gain clarity when there is so much competing for ourattention. He is a successful marketer, entrepreneur, and author. His firstbook, BRIEF: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less (Wiley, 2014), sets thestandard for concise communication.

Joe is the founder andmanaging director of The BRIEF Lab, an organization dedicated to teachingprofessionals, military leaders, and entrepreneurs how to think and communicateclearly. His clients include Boeing, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, Mastercard,DuPont, and select military units and government agencies. He publishes aweekly podcast called Just Saying that helps people master the elusive skillsof focus and brevity.

To learn more, visitwww.noisethebook.com.

Read this article:
Guest Op-Ed: The New Year's Noise Diet: Why You Should Cut the Empty 'Brain Calories' in 2020 - Revere Journal

While whole, fresh foods are an essential part of a healthy diet, it can be difficult to get all the nutrition you need if youre always busy and on the go. Step in supplements, which can do just that: supplement your diet. One of the most popular supplements is protein powder, which can help meet your daily needs in a quick and easy way. But is it healthy and is it for everyone?

Before we explore the best ways to use protein powder, familiarise yourself with four ways in which protein helps in your diet.

Meet gym goals

Feeling weak during your workouts? No matter if youre in the gym to lift weights, go for a run or for a high-intensity conditioning session, protein not only builds muscle, it also helps build strength. Protein is essential when it comes to recovery and reducing muscle fatigue, which can help increase your strength and endurance during workouts. In one study, it was shown that a group given 27.5 grams of protein for 12 weeks before sleeping experienced increases in muscle strength and muscle size after resistance exercise training to a significantly greater extent than the group who received a non-caloric placebo. Consuming a protein shake before bed will help to stimulate your recovery.

Maintain a lean, trim body

Protein is the foundation of building lean mass. If youre following a diet that is low in protein, you will have a hard time keeping a lean look. Low-protein diets will have you looking skinny-fat instead of trim and muscular. In the muscles, certain amino acids and the level of aminos available ensures that the pathways of protein synthesis or muscle building, are able to happen. If your goal is to build even a little bit of muscle or maintain your lean mass, you will need to eat protein. Eating at least 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per half kilogram of body weight per day is a good starting point. This should translate into about 40 per cent of your macronutrients as protein, which is enough to make a full recovery in the gym and stimulate muscle growth. Eat protein from sources such as chicken, lean red meat, whole eggs and egg whites, whey protein, fish and low-fat dairy. You can also include vegan sources of protein such as soy, lentils, legumes, peas, brown rice and quinoa.

Speed up the metabolism

A high-protein diet can result in two to three times quicker weight loss versus diets that are high in carbohydrates and of the same caloric value. Protein also helps increase lean muscle mass, which can have a direct effect on your metabolism. Basically the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism. Additionally, high-protein foods have a thermic effect. Protein takes more energy to burn off versus other foods, including carbs. Be sure youre following a diet that has a calorie deficit and uses a macro breakdown that is at least 40 per cent protein, about 30 per cent or less carbs and 30 per cent or less fat. This balance is enough to help ensure you get enough protein, while also getting enough of the other macronutrients.

Cut hunger pangs

If youre feeling hungry between meals and craving sugar, you could be experiencing a protein shortage. Protein is a highly satiating ingredient; it has been shown to blunt appetite between meals and reduce food intake. In one study, an increase in protein from 15 to 30 per cent of energy intake produced a sustained decrease in free calorie intake. Its been suggested that this is the result of increased leptin sensitivity in the central nervous system, which can also result in significant weight loss. Leptin is a key hormonal regulator of hunger. To keep hunger reduced, be sure to eat protein with every meal. A small serving of 20 to 30 grams depending on your needs is plenty to keep the appetite satiated.

So we all need protein, not only fitness-minded gym-goers. While it is essential when it comes to building muscle, thats not all it does. It also helps to maintain, build and recover the body, not simply from workouts, but also in everyday life. Further, its a critical component of the hair, skin and nails. Metabolically it helps drive the transport of nutrients and gives our cells structure and shape.

Now that you know why protein is so important, consider how protein powder can help supplement your diet for maximum results. Protein powder is usually extracted from dairy (whey, milk and casein) or plant (soy, pea, brown rice) sources. Other sources may come from eggs or beef. Protein powders can also be organic.

Protein powders are helpful for meeting your daily needs by providing a quick and easy source of protein on the go. They can be incorporated into your favourite recipes to up the protein content; think smoothies, overnight oats, protein bites, bars and even pancakes. Protein shakes can provide between 20 and 30 grams of protein per scoop depending on their content. This is equivalent to the amount in a chicken breast or a small piece of steak. If youre trying to gain and maintain your muscles, protein powder is a great option.

When purchasing a protein powder, you want a product thats clean and free from impurities. One way to ensure this is to check if the product is produced in a certified GMP (good manufacturing process) facility. Another common certification for a manufacturing facility is ISO. The product should also undergo third-party quality testing. This checks the content of the product and ensures it is free from contaminants, completely independent of the manufacturer. The quality of the ingredients in the product is also important; protein from organic plant sources will ensure fewer or no pesticides or toxins, while organic dairy protein should be grass-fed and hormone-free.

Lauren Jacobsen is the nutrition director at KCal and specialises in sports nutrition and supplementation

Updated: January 6, 2020 08:29 AM

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The low-down on protein: should we all be taking supplements? - The National

If you're considering going vegan in 2020, you're in good company. Theres growing interest in going vegan: the number of people following a vegan diet in Great Britain quadrupled between 2014 and 2019, according to Ipsos Mori surveys commissioned by The Vegan Society, and The Food & You surveys by the Food Standards Agency and the National Centre for Social Science Research. Nearly half of UK vegans (42%) had made the change in the past 12 months, a 2018 study by GlobalData revealed.

But whether your motivation is animal welfare, environmental, health driven, dietary, or a combination of these and other factors, what do you need to know to become vegan, and whats the easiest way to go about it? We have the answers.

Find recipes and more foodie know how in our dedicated hub.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

A vegan diet is plant based. So, thats yes to eating beans, pulses, nuts, grains, seeds, vegetables and fruit. Out are meat, fish, shellfish, insects (no, us neither, but they have been proposed as a way to satisfy the needs of a growing world population).

Other foodstuffs on the list to avoid for vegans are dairy products like milk and cheese, eggs, and also honey.

You can swap to a vegan diet between one day and another if you get your kitchen organised. However, it can be easier to make the change more gradually, giving you time to try out ingredients and recipes and find new favourites.

Many of the foods we eat every day arent plant based, and unless you are going to radically alter your diet so you dont add anything to tea, put a spread on your bread and so on, youll need to plan in swaps for these.

There are vegan alternatives for milk, butter, and cheese with plant milks, non-dairy spreads and vegan cheese now widely available. It may take a bit of experimentation to find out which soya or nut milks are your preference. Likewise, finding cheese substitutes that please your palate, and work for sandwiches, as a garnish, and for cooking could involve some trial and error.

Eggs might seem challenging to replace. For recipes, aquafaba the water in which legumes like chickpeas have been cooked can replace egg whites so you can whip up a meringue or mousse. For baking, some supermarkets plus Amazon offer Orgran No Egg or Free & Easy Egg Replacer. Meanwhile, if the idea of giving up scrambled eggs and omelettes is getting you down, you can check out Follow Your Heart VeganEgg from Amazon and other stores. It can be used in baking, too.

If you still like the idea of the flavour and texture of meat, there are plenty of substitutes in high street supermarkets that seek to taste like the real thing. Want an authentic appearance? The Beyond Burger at Tesco even bleeds although its actually beetroot juice that creates the effect.

One of the biggest concerns for many people contemplating going vegan is whether their new diet will contain enough protein. Sources of plant-based protein include beans, chickpeas, lentils, quinoa, tofu, and nuts and seeds. A serving of protein in most meals is suggested.

A non-dairy diet doesnt include calcium from this source, although you can still obtain it from dark, leafy greens, of course. Look out, though, for calcium-fortified vegan products such as soya milk, orange juice, and tofu to meet daily requirements.

You can find detailed nutritional advice from dieticians plus books via The Vegan Society.

Being vegan used to mean scrutinising food labels for animal-based ingredients even when a product appeared to be free of them, but times have changed. Prompted by the growth of interest in veganism as well as the demand for plant-based meals from non-vegans who want to reduce meat consumption, the supermarkets have launched plentiful plant-based ranges including both individual products like vegan pies, sausages, burgers, mince and so on, as well as ready meals.

The ranges offer an amazing choice and make life easy when youre busy, but do be aware that prepared vegan food could still result in the consumption of more salt, sugar and fat than is healthy. The lesson? You do need to check the labels to be health aware.

If you want to cook from scratch some or all of the time, there are plenty of great resources online including our recipe pages. These are our favourites:

There are over 50 pages of vegan recipe books from the UK alone on Amazon.

If you dont already have a slow cooker, think about investing in one of these as an easy way to produce tasty vegan meals.

Being Vegan | 12.99 on My Favourite Magazines

Whether you are trying to cut down on meat, or are a vegan looking for fresh dinner ideas, here you will find over 30 recipes to try in Being Vegan from Future Plc.View Deal

Although diet is a major part of veganism, embracing it fully also means avoiding materials derived from animals leather, for example products tested on animals, and also places that use animals for entertainment, think horse racing, or zoos, for example.

Link:
How to be vegan - Real Homes

Vicky Pattison said she is looking forward to a healthier life after being told that her previous lifestyle could have impacted on her fertility.

The reality TV star and former Geordie Shore cast member, who has been signed up as an ambassador for WW, formerly Weight Watchers, said her new role is "starting at the perfect time" after a particularly difficult period in her life and because of her past unhealthy relationship with food.

She joins fellow celebrity ambassadors Robbie Williams, Curtis Pritchard and Alison Hammond.

Pattison, 32, said: "My WW journey is starting at the perfect time and I'm hoping that it will give me the fresh start that I need.

"I was recently told that my previous lifestyle was not actually healthy for me and was shocked to learn it was having an impact on my fertility.

"For me, joining WW is not just about being a certain size, but it's about being healthy and giving my body a fighting chance so I can hopefully have kids one day."

Last year, Pattison opened up about her struggle to conceive after years of "prolific partying" in an Instagram post.

She said she had never considered the ramifications of her lifestyle, which played out in front of the nation on MTV show Geordie Shore, and that motherhood had not been "a role" she had wanted to play when she was younger.

Pattison, who won I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2015, also said that she has "always loved food in a big way", adding: "But it hasn't been the healthiest of relationships and I have a tendency to overindulge when I am not feeling confident or happy.

"Other times, I have really restricted myself and worried about my food choices - I can't remember the last time I went to a restaurant and selected what I wanted from the menu.

"I don't want to have this unhealthy mindset anymore - life is for living and the reason I've joined the WW programme is because it's not super restrictive, so it means I don't need to give up things I love."

Looking for the latest news in your postcode? We have launched a brand new website InYourArea.co.uk allowing you to stay up to date with what's happening near you.

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Pattison, who will follow the WW programme with her mother Carroll, said: "Women have to stop being made to feel that they hate their bodies because they aren't a certain size.

"This negative cycle has to end somewhere, and I want to inspire other women to shift their thinking away from a negative body image and towards creating a positive and loving relationship with their bodies."

Jemma Banks, marketing director, WW, said: "We are delighted to welcome Vicky and Caroll Pattison to the family and know that their combined positive energy and mindsets will inspire others.

"We're really pleased Vicky is able to work towards her goals alongside her biggest support, her Mum.

"We hope to show how you can be better together when embarking on a wellness journey with the support of someone you love, and ultimately inspire and motivate people to lose weight and get healthier."

Read more from the original source:
Vicky Pattison signs up to Weight Watchers after being told diet could impact fertility - Chronicle Live

This month, millions of Americans will kick off 2020 with a diet reset. The healthier and leaner version of ourselves will be achieved only by controlling our eating habits, especially around carbs and sugar. Or so we believe.

But a radical new approach to health has also been gaining traction. Its called intuitive eating. Hang on to your green smoothie, because it contradicts everything weve learned about health and weight loss. And its the antithesis of wellness programs from keto to intermittent fasting to eating clean.

Intuitive eating posits that the very best diet is no diet at all. Instead of strict food rules, we should tune into our natural-born urges to eat what we want, when we want. While it sounds like a crazy fad diet, research is mounting to support its merits.

For one thing, diets definitively do not work: 95 percent of people who lose weight on a diet regain it within five years. An exhaustive study of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey published in November 2019 found that although more Americans are trying to lose weight mainly by controlling food consumption, body mass indexes and obesity rates continue to climb.

But the problems go beyond traditional weight loss programs. Chasing the perfect diet is, itself, a potential health risk. Clean eating, for example, emphasizes local, organic, non-GMO, unprocessed and plant-based food. But fixating on avocados, coconut oil and quinoa while demonizing processed foods takes eating healthy to a dangerous extreme. According to a June 2019 study in the Journal of Eating Disorders, the popularity of clean eating among college students belies its potential for disordered eating, or orthorexia nervosa.

As a food magazine editor in the mid-2000s, Christy Harrison wrote about the gluten-free and low-carb lifestyle, believing she was promoting healthy food choices. But at home, she binged. Id have an ungodly number of rice cakes to try to get the satisfaction I would have gotten if I had just allowed myself to have a sandwich on bread, she told HuffPost.

Now a registered dietitian with the popular Food Psych podcast, Harrison is leading a counter-revolution against diet culture. Her new book, Anti-Diet, is a takedown of the $60 billion weight loss industry along with celebrity-endorsed detoxes and well-intentioned environmental food rules she calls sneaky forms of dieting.

Based on deprivation, diets not only lead to food obsessions and binging but take a bigger toll. You start to see that its not actually giving you what you want, she said, and is taking away a lot of important aspects of your life your time and money, your well-being, your happiness.

According to Harrison and a growing chorus of holistic health practitioners, the antidote is intuitive eating.

The brainchild of registered dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in the mid-1990s, the 10 principles of intuitive eating are designed to heal our relationship with food and our bodies. The journey to intuitive eating is like taking a cross-country hiking trip, the authors write in Intuitive Eating. Unlike dieting, the process is nonlinear and personalized with a nonjudgmental focus on wellness, not weight loss.

The concept has resonated with the body positivity movement, including the movement Health at Every Size, and lately has sparked a new brand of Instagrammers like @erinliveswhole and @olive.eeeats showcasing the anti-diet way of life.

But lets back up. If intuitive eating is based on internal eating cues, can we really trust ourselves?

Eating is fundamental to human survival, journalist Virginia Sole-Smith told HuffPost. The author of The Eating Instinct found convincing evidence that we are all born with a set of instincts to eat and self-regulate our food intake. Even toddlers do it. The trouble starts when we grow up in a culture that replaces comfort and pleasure around food with guilt, shame and fear. Were so convinced that eating the wrong things will make us fat, she said.

You can blame the diet industry, but Sole-Smith, along with Harrison, lays equal blame on the natural food movement. For 20 years, the efforts to call out environmental, social and racial injustices in the food system have also demonized industrialized food as bad and dirty. And if we choose to eat them, we are unhealthy by association.

While living on chia yogurt bowls and turmeric chickpea curry sounds good, its not sustainable for most people. I think the pressure to eat as clean and whole and natural as possible is wearing people out, Sole-Smith said.

Sure, its a scary idea to trust our own eating instincts. Were afraid of losing control, but Sole-Smith said, Youre not going to want to eat doughnuts day in, day out because after a while your body will crave something different.

The research backs her up. Ohio State University body image and eating behavior researcher Tracy L. Tylka has conducted large-scale studies to assess three main elements of intuitive eating: eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, unconditional permission to eat, and reliance on hunger and satiety cues. She concludes that intuitive eaters are aware of and trust their bodys internal hunger and satiety cues and use these cues to determine when and how much to eat.

Current research indicates that intuitive eaters are less prone to binge, have lower BMIs and have less disordered eating. They also experience more body appreciation, self-compassion and optimism as well as higher self-esteem.

It appears, after all, that you are not what you eat. For people like me who have lived by clean eating, its hard to let go of long-held ideas of good and bad food. But has all the food shaming benefited anyone?

For everyone ready for dramatic change in the next decade, Sole-Smith offers a simple anti-diet challenge: Dare to enjoy your food.

She added: You really cant have a healthy relationship with food if you cant take pleasure in food.

Originally posted here:
Intuitive Eating: What It Is, And Why It Could Work For You - HuffPost

Nutrition expert, best-selling author and Milk. Love What's Real spokesperson shares top ways to modify elimination diets for success

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans' New Year's resolutions are in full swing, and 71% of resolutions are health or diet-related1. However, those doing an elimination diet may want to rethink their resolutions. Experts warn that many of the most popular diets this year, like the keto and paleo diets, may not be as good for you as your news feed makes them appear. When you cut out entire food groups, you can fall short on nutrients you need.

Instead of jumping on restrictive diet bandwagons, experts recommend focusing on consuming wholesome foods, like fruits, vegetables and real dairy milk, that are enjoyable and deliver benefits backed by decades of research. Real milk is a nutrient powerhouse, delivering 9 nutrients including 8 grams of high quality protein in every 8 oz. serving.

"I always remind clients that trendy diets that cut out entire food groups can do more harm than good," said Manuel Villacorta, registered dietitian and founder of the Whole Body Reboot. "For example, many cut out dairy, but real dairy milk is one of the beverages I recommend most because it's naturally nutrient rich, offering a unique package that is difficult to match in a single food or beverage."

If you're set on trying one of this year's fads, consider modifying some of the extreme requirements to better suit your lifestyle and what your body needs to be its best. Manuel Villacorta shares his top three tips for making some of this year's top diets work for you:

"Ultimately, if you want to stick with something you need to enjoy it. That's why I don't want people to chase diet trends or ditch whole food groups like dairy in the new year," shares Manuel Villacorata. "After 18 years of helping thousands of people lose weight in my private practice, my big secret is to simply eat a balanced diet to accomplish your goals."

To learn more about how real dairy milk can be a part of your diet and to find recipe inspiration and nutrition information, visit MilkLife.com

About MilkPEPThe Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), Washington, D.C., is funded by the nation's milk companies, who are committed to increasing fluid milk consumption. The MilkPEP Board runs the Milk. Love What's Real campaign, a multi-faceted campaign designed to educate consumers about the powerful nutritional benefits of milk with 9 essential nutrients, including high-quality protein, in each 8 ounce glass. For more information, go to milklife.com. Campbell Ewald is creative agency for the Milk Life campaign from America's milk companies.

1"10 Top New Year's Resolutions for Success and Happiness in 2019," Inc.com, Jan. 1, 2019, https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/10-top-new-years-resolutions-for-success-happiness-in-2019.html.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/this-new-year-skip-restrictive-diets-and-opt-to-eat-more-of-the-foods-that-give-your-body-nutrients-it-needs-300981796.html

SOURCE Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP)

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This New Year, Skip Restrictive Diets and Opt to Eat More of the Foods That Give Your Body Nutrients it Needs - Yahoo Finance

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Promiti Debi | Staff Illustrator

Promiti Debi | Staff Illustrator

Promiti Debi | Staff Illustrator

There are a lot of things I want to talk about in 2020 books, writing and cumin, to name a few. There are also a few things I dont want to talk about this year. Mainly, weight loss and dieting.

If your New Years resolution is to fit into a smaller pair of jeans or to cut carbohydrates, then thats your personal choice. Talking about it over a cup of coffee with a friend, or mentioning it to the grocery store cashier may seem like casual conversation, but diet talk is not only unnecessary, but often harmful to the people around us. Dieting isnt effective or emotionally healthy for many people, and since everyones body is different, what is healthy for one person often isnt healthy for everyone else. We would all benefit from cutting discussion surrounding diet and weight from conversation.

While its always present, every New Year, diet culture infiltrates the media with Twitter ads for intermittent fasting and celebrities pledging to lose a certain amount of weight by December. Diet culture, according to dietician Christy Harrison, is a system of beliefs that worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue and promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, which means you feel compelled to spend a massive amount of time, energy and money trying to shrink your body.

People choose to pursue weight loss for various reasons. Its not up to me, or to anyone else, to decide whether or not that reason is valid. But what is healthy mentally, physically and emotionally for one person isnt always healthy for everyone else.

Take for example, the Whole30 a detox diet which prohibits consumption of all added sugars, grains, alcohol, legumes, MSG and baked goods for 30 days. It has become a popular diet for the month of January, though a strict detox and food rules can be quite harmful for some people, as Colleen Reichman, a doctor of psychology and nutrition explains.

I know [the founder of the Whole30] markets [the Whole30] as a way to find food freedom, Reichman wrote on Instagram. Yes, I know some people have discovered food sensitivities through doing it. I am speaking to the risk factor that comes with this diet if that hasnt been your experience, that is totally ok too! Just know that there are many people who have developed disordered eating through doing this I am speaking to that population and attempting to provide a warning about the fact that this may happen.

Its true that diets with strict rules like the Whole30 or keto, which eliminates carbohydrates and focuses heavily on increasing fat and protein intake often catalyze disordered eating. Researchers estimate that about 35% of normal dieters eventually become disordered eaters which means they experience heightened anxiety around food, ingredients and weight. About 25% of these people will eventually meet the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder.

Biologically speaking, some people are more prone to developing eating disorders than others. Which is to say, while some people can handle dieting without becoming obsessive and transitioning into disordered eating, other people cant. People in active recovery from disordered eating are often acutely sensitive to conversation surrounding weight loss and dieting, and since eating disorders, like all mental illnesses, come in many different shapes and sizes, we can never be sure who these people are.

And even if your audience doesnt seem to be affected, talking about dieting and weight loss sets a harmful example for those around you regardless of age. This is particularly dangerous for children and young adults who are navigating major life changes like puberty or moving away from home.

Its worth bearing in mind that kids are like sponges when it comes to taking in things, plus they look up to adults, so you might be teaching your kids to grow up self conscious about their bodies, Gillian McConnell, a registered dietician, writes. When kids hear us complaining about lumpy legs or cellulite-y thighs, legs transform from being what theyre actually needed for which is walking, running, jumping and dancing to being a body part that needs [to be scrutinized for appearance]. When kids hear a certain food being criticised as being bad or that it will make us fat, this may instigate food restriction or guilt over eating that food.

Nobodys body is exactly the same, either. A 2019 study done by Kings College in London tracked over a thousand U.S. and U.K. adults eating the same common foods. Researchers measured and tracked participants glucose levels frequently and found that every single individual in the study had a different bodily reaction to the food. This suggests that there is no perfect, one-size-fits-all diet.

Just because some diet or recommendation is out there doesnt mean that you fit it, Tim Spector, the epidemiologist and professor who led the study, said.

Not everyone can diet healthfully, and not everyone should. Its a personal choice, and one that benefits nobody when brought up in conversation. Talking about dieting and weight loss in casual conversation is not only harmful and unnecessary, but its also just not interesting. Im sorry, but someone had to say it. So please, along with the old texts from your ex, procrastination and vaping, lets leave diet talk in 2019.

Leah writes primarily about mental health, books, essays and the spices of the world. Write to Leah at LEM140@pitt.edu.

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Opinion | Cutting down on diet talk - University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

Though plenty of vegetarian and vegan diets dont include anything made to imitate meat, meatless meat and plant-based protein are nothing new. Ask anyone whos ordered mock duck (aka seitan) in their pad Thai. Cartoonist Maki Naro outlined the history of mock meat for The Nib, from tofu in ancient China to the peanut-butter-and-seitan mix Protose, developed by John Harvey Kellogg (yes, the Kellogg of cereal-brand fame) in the early 1900s. But in the past few decades, as Naro points out, meatless meat has gotten a boost from unabashed capitalists, who sensed a growing interest in eating less meat and flexitarian diets and decided the existing beans and lentils and seitan werent enough.

Hence the rise of plant-based meat substitutes, which promise to mimic the texture, and even the bleeding, of real meat for those who cant do without those specific oral sensations. In the public imagination, the term came to the forefront mostly where applied to fast-food patties, with Impossible Whoppers and Impossible White Castle sliders, Dunkin Beyond sausage breakfast sandwiches and KFC plant-based fried chicken. A decade ago, a meatless burger patty would have been advertised as vegetarian or vegan cuisine, but now, its all plant-based. And that has turned it into a phrase that means everything and nothing.

Usage of plant-based is now expanding from shorthand for meat substitute to refer to just about everything, including products that were already vegan or vegetarian (aka, made of plants) to begin with. Case in point: a PR email I got from Ancient Harvest about its line of plant-based pasta. Pasta is traditionally made from wheat flour. And in case you havent cast your gaze upon a golden field lately, wheat is a plant. All pasta is plant-based. The company specifies that its POW! Pasta brand is made from other plants chickpeas and lentils so that it is both gluten-free and full of protein. Which is great! But plant-based as a descriptor of ingredients doesnt technically differentiate it from any other pasta.

Instead, plant-based contains within it a host of other implications, whether its that the food in question is full of protein or is low-carb or uses healthier ingredients. Take the emergence of plant butter, aka margarine, an emulsion of plant oil and water thats been around (and much maligned) since the 1950s. Plant butter is only new in that now it more often uses olive oil than vegetable oil, but mostly its a rebranding to obscure a product with which customers may have negative associations. By futzing with the assumed connotations of plant-based (i.e., a meat substitute made from plants), brands can use the buzzword to their advantage, and stretch it to cover almost anything but meat. But describing a product as specifically plant-based when the product its riffing on is also plant-based is redundant at best and cynical at worst, an attempt to sell customers something new thats not really that new. Or just confusing to someone like me, who is left wondering why some plants dont count as plant-based.

Though meat-free eating has been common in numerous cultures, labels and identities began to harden in the 20th century. The phrase vegan was coined in 1944 to stand for non-dairy vegetarian, and the Vegan Society soon declared that it opposed the use of any animal products in any capacity, not just in food. As Ethan Varian recently wrote for the New York Times, the word vegan has an inherently political connotation. To identify as vegan is to concern oneself with animal rights, with the conditions of slaughterhouse workers, and with the environment. It is not inherently healthier (as endless op-eds about Impossible Burger being no better for you than beef will point out), but health isnt the point; harm reduction is.

The term plant-based was coined in 1980 by biochemist Thomas Colin Campbell, who employed it to present his research on a non-animal-product diet in a way that he felt wouldnt be clouded by politics. He went on to advocate a diet of whole foods, though not everyone who eats a plant-based diet focuses on unprocessed and nutritious food. Instead of a collective ethical movement, the phrase has come to signal health and the individual, factors which, according to Naro, are why most people give up meat. Of course, thats a veneer a bowl of mashed potatoes or a bag of Takis technically qualifies as plant-based, though these items probably arent what people think of when they think healthy. But the term doesnt come with the baggage of vegan. Using plant-based allows people to feel theyre not joining a specific group for eating a specific way, says Varian.

Marketers have seized upon eaters desire to appear healthy but relaxed by capitalizing on that buzzword. A Google search brings up plant-based celery juice, pumpkin seeds, tofu, oatmeal, and black beans, all of which espouse their plant base or plant-based protein, and all of which have always been made from plants (or are plants outright). The carton of almond milk in my fridge says its plant-based, even though by purchasing almond milk, I presumably know its not dairy. In fact, saying plant-based instead of vegan sometimes obscures things while a vegan product would not contain dairy or animal products, plant-based allows for the possibility that there could be other things on top of that base.

And plant-based is also getting political. At last nights Golden Globes, organizers served an entirely plant-based dinner to attendees as a way to draw attention to climate change, not just for the health of its stars. More plant-based products are including gestures toward sustainability and the environment in their marketing. And with interest in a plant-based diet steadily growing, it behooves any plant product to advertise itself as such, even if thinking about it for two seconds would probably remind you that pasta or chips or beans are and always have been plant-based.

What we eat has as much to do with global supply chains and tradition and economics and ethics as it does our own bodies, and side-stepping serious thought about where ones choices fit into that web makes less sense than ever. Plant-based could become the new vegan, or it could wind up diluting a message of collective action in favor of individual choice under capitalism. It remains to be seen what plant-based will become. But rest assured that in a few years, a different vague term will probably take its place.

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The Plant-Based Diet: What Is It? - Eater

According to the campaign group Veganuary, more than 300,000 thousand of us will begin the year by trying out a vegan diet. Considering there are only 600,000 vegans in Britain to begin with, that's an awful lot of new converts. But one man who won't be adopting a vegan diet this month is podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan, who has decided to stick two figures up at the whole idea and instead will be celebrating World Carnivore Month by eating nothing but meat and eggs for the whole 31 days.

Writing on Instagram, Rogan revealed that he would be following the carnivore diet, which, like its name suggests, requires its devotees to eat all animal, all of the time. "As an experiment for the entire month of January, Im not eating anything but meat and eggs," wrote Rogan.

Rogan's version of the diet will include lean wild game, eggs and fattier cuts of meat like bison ribeye steaks. And what will the diet do for him? Well, so far, so good according to the Joe Rogan Experience host who has claimed that after just five days on the diet he has already noticed himself becoming leaner, while his energy levels have also received a boost. Still, to make sure that his initial findings on the diet aren't a mistake or down to the placebo effect, Rogan will be comparing samples of his blood from the beginning and end of the month.

But what can Rogan expect to find when he gets his results back? Well, at best, the carnivore diet is an extremely restrictive diet that may lead to some weightloss because it excludes foods that are low in beneficial nutrients but high in calories. More likely though, Rogan will have, for one month, followed a diet that is high in fat, cholesterol and sodium that doesn't provide fibre and also lacks necessary micronutrients and beneficial plant compounds.

Still, research on the carnivore diet is limited so we'll be waiting to see the results of Rogan's month-long carnivore experiment like the rest of his audience.

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Joe Rogan Reveals He Will Be Following an All-meat Diet this January - Men's health UK

A new small-scale European study has found that a mans diet could affect his sperm quality in less than two weeks.

The study, by researchers at Linkping University in Sweden, looked at 15 healthy, non-smoking young men aged 20 to 27 years old, with a normal body mass index (BMI).

The participants were asked to follow a diet set by the researchers for a two-week period.

During the first week, they were provided meals based on the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, which encourages a diet high in cereals, bread, potatoes, fruits and vegetables, and low in fats and sweets, and includes a moderate amount of dairy, meat, fish, eggs and beans.

During the second week, the participants consumed a high amount of sugar in addition to the diet 375 grammes of sugar per day, equal to around 3.5 litres of soda or 450g of candy.

The team measured the participants sperm quality and other health factors at the start of the study, after the first week of eating a healthy diet, and after the second week of eating a high-sugar diet.

The findings, published online in PLOS Biology, showed that one-third of the participants had low sperm motility the sperms ability to move, which influences sperm quality at the start of the study.

However, the team were surprised to find that by the end of the study, the sperm motility of all participants had become normal, with the most pronounced improvement becoming apparent after the first week.

We see that diet influences the motility of the sperm, and we can link the changes to specific molecules in them.

Our study has revealed rapid effects that are noticeable after one to two weeks, said study head Anita st.

The researchers added that though it is hard to pinpoint whether the effect was due to the healthy diet or the high sugar intake, the increase of sperm motility might have been a direct result of the healthy diet, which could have persisted into the second week when participants were also eating more sugar.

The team also looked at small RNA (ribonucleic acid) fragments, which are found in sperm and play an important role in the growth of a cell, as well as being linked to motility, finding that these also changed following the two weeks.

The study shows that sperm motility can be changed in a short period, and seems to be closely coupled to diet. This has important clinical implications.

But we cant say whether it was the sugar that caused the effect, since it may be a component of the basic healthy diet that has a positive effect on the sperm, said st.

The team noted that sperm quality can be negatively affected by several environmental and lifestyle factors; for instance, obesity and obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, are well-known risk factors for poor sperm quality. AFP Relaxnews

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The quality of your sperm is affected by your diet, study shows - The Star Online