After youve recovered from the initial shock of a celiac disease diagnosis and started adapting to living gluten-free, youll probably begin noticing just how much your chronic illness shapes your everyday life. You might even find yourself feeling guilty for being so high maintenance because of the new precautions you have to take for celiac disease.

I want to kick that guilt to the curb. As soon as I readthis postabout seemingly high maintenance things people with chronic illnesses do, I knew I had to write a post from the perspective of someone with celiac disease. So whether you have celiac disease and want to stop feeling self-conscious orguilty for the gluten-free lifestyle you must follow, or you are a celiacs loved one and want to better understand what it takes to live with the disease, keep reading to discover 11 things people with celiac disease do that seem high maintenance but really arent.

Theres a running joke in my friend group and with my family that Im not high maintenance, except when it comes to food.Whenever Im traveling, I dont need to bring a lot of clothes or personal hygiene products, but I almost always have at least one bag or suitcase full of gluten-free food.

Thanks to the increase in popularity ofgluten-freefoods in recent years, it is easier to find celiac-safe food in more places. However, gluten-free products can vary greatly in prices between one place or another, and different locations of the same grocery store chain might not sell the same gluten free-products.

I typically follow the better safe than sorry mantra and often pack more food than I actually need. I imagine many celiacs (especially newly diagnosed celiacs still figuring out where they can safely shop for gluten-free food) adopt a similar strategy.So if our suitcases do feel heavier than the average bag, friends and family can rest assured there is some solid logic behind our food stash!

In my experience, the most challenging part of going gluten-free for celiac disease is avoiding cross-contamination. People with celiac disease can get sick from a crumb of wheat or someone using the same plate or utensils to make a gluten-filled and gluten-free meal. As a result, if someone with celiac disease is using a kitchen that also contains gluten, cleanliness is a super important ground rule to set.

Personally, I live alone in my own studio apartment during the school year, but when Im at home for the summer, my parents kitchen does have gluten. I feel bad at times that my family has to change their routine and be extra vigilant every time they pour gluten-filled cereal or make a sandwich on regular bread. However, I try to remind myself that it isnt my choice to need a gluten-free environment its a medical requirement. And if you have celiac disease or another medical reason to need a gluten-free diet, the same can be said about you.

I love eating out andthere are many safe gluten-free restaurants to choose fromnowadays. However, when you have celiac disease, talking to your waitress or asking to speak to the chef is a regular requirement.

Even if Ive eaten at a restaurant safely several times before, I always explain to my waiter that I have celiac disease and need a gluten-free meal free of cross-contamination. Sometimes, I even ask to speak to the chef or restaurant manager if the waiter doesnt seem to understand what a gluten-free diet really is.

Some celiacs even use special restaurant cards that explain the basics of celiac disease and the gluten-free diet. These can be especially helpful if youre traveling abroad. No matter how you explain your dietary limitations, however, it can take time and this process feels 1,000 times less stressful when your dining companions understand how important this conversation is to your own health and personal safety.

When you first learn you have celiac disease, you might not expectto have to buy your own toaster or keep your own gluten-free labeled peanut butter jar or butter container. However, cross-contamination can cause serious health issues in people with celiac disease, which means precautions like these are often necessary when youre sharing a kitchen with gluten-eaters.

How far you take the separate gluten-free theme in your kitchen depends on your own comfort level and your familys understanding of cross- contamination. For example, some celiacs also have their own separate pots, pans and utensils. Personally, I share most cooking equipment with the rest of my family but its always cleaned thoroughly and doesnt have any scratches where gluten could hide.

Eating a gluten-free diet while living with people who eat gluten can be challenging and requires a lot of open communication and compromises. However, your health should come first and your loved ones or roommates should hopefully understand that.

Just picture this: Youre at a neighborhood BBQ armed with your own safe gluten-free food. Then, a kind neighbor surprises you: She made gluten free brownies with you in mind! However, the more you talk to her, the more you realize she doesnt understand how sensitive celiacs are to cross- contamination. What do you do?

As awkward as it feels, I often end up politely turning down the food in these kinds of situations. When I cant be sure that the baking mix, spices, cooking utensils, etc. used in a gluten-free dish are actually celiac safe, being polite isnt worth getting glutened and feeling sick for at least a week.

Im sure this is frustrating to some people and they may think Im overly paranoid or a picky eater. But I shouldnt have to apologize for looking out for my health and you shouldnt either.

After I learned I have celiac disease, going out to eat became a lot more complicated. No longer could I just wander around town and eat at whatever restaurant sounded good. Now, I often relied on research done before I even left the house.

It can definitely feel frustrating to lose some of the spontaneity and flexibility you used to enjoy. Friends and family might also struggle with you not being able to go with the flow like you used to. However, if you explain that researching gluten-free options ahead of time makes your trip a lot less stressful and more enjoyable in the long run, Im sure most companions will appreciate your extra work.

Plus, you can try to make a list of several options for gluten-free food. That way, you can still have some in the moment freedom with choosing. Beyond handy-dandy Google, the Find Me Gluten Free app (and website) is my favorite research tool.

One of the celiac symptoms I wish my doctor had warned me about after my diagnosis is the isolation that can result from dietary restrictions. Like it or not, many social activities, especially in college or work, involve food.

When you cant eat the free pizza or your co-workers birthday cake like everyone else, social events can feel a little awkward and even less enjoyable at times. As a result, you may find yourself turning down social invitations where you know there will be tons of food and little people or activities you actually enjoy spending time with or on.

I certainly dont recommend avoiding every single social event that involves gluten. Ive gone to countless parties where I cant eat a thing. By eating ahead of time, bringing my own food or just enjoying the company instead of the food, Ive still had a blast. However, you also shouldnt feel guilty for saying no every once in awhile, whether its because of celiac disease complications or other reasons.

Some celiacs are fine using any hygiene products they find in their closet. Others, like me, prefer using only gluten-free products, especially if they run the risk of being accidentally ingested (as with lipstick and face wash). If you fall in the latter group, you might find yourself spending more money than you used to on beauty and hygiene products. Thats often just the reality of using high-quality, allergy-friendly makeup or cleansers.

Like with food, there are ways you can save money on gluten-free beauty products. Although I used to use Cleure (and still love their products), I eventually found gluten-free shampoo and conditioner for a fraction of the cost on Amazon. If you do splurge on gluten-free hygiene products though, know that doesnt automatically make you high maintenance or picky. Youre doing what you feel you need to do in order to live safely with celiac disease. And as long as you have room in your budget for these extra costs, that peace of mind is definitely priceless.

It happens. You might go weeks, months or even years eating gluten-free with no problem. And then youre having a bad day, you walk by your old favorite bagel place or you just wake up craving a real slice of pizza. And it hurts.

When those kind of moments happen, I encourage you to embrace those emotions and let yourself cry if you need to.You might feel silly for crying over a sandwich or pasta salad, but youre crying about much more than just food. Most likely, youre really upset about losing the freedom to eat whatever you want, not to mention the less complicated lifestyle you probably once had.

Times like these are when having a solid support system who understands (or at least tries to) can make a huge difference. I always feel fortunate that my mom went gluten-free with me. Although she doesnt have celiac disease, my moms gluten intolerance means she can understand the social isolation, cravings and sad days that can come from dietary restrictions, as well as the joy I feel when I find a new gluten-free food or recipe I love!

Its true that there appear to be more gluten-free options than ever, whether youre walking around the grocery store or looking for a nearby restaurant to dine at. However, gluten-free unfortunately does not mean celiac safe, and many restaurantsgluten-free options are cross- contaminated and therefore not appropriate for people with celiac disease.

As a result, eating out gluten-free can honestly feel a little scary. Even though we dont go into anaphylactic shock like someone with food allergies, eating gluten can majorly hurt people with celiac disease. Personally, I experience stomach issues, extreme fatigue, insomnia, brain fog and several other symptoms for at least a week after being glutened.

So once I do find a restaurant that can do gluten-free right, I often like to stick to that restaurant instead of trying new places and Ive heard from many other celiacs they feel the same way. This doesnt make us boring eaters or mean well never ever try new places. Its just a natural reaction to finding a safe gluten-free haven in a world full of gluten.

The last high maintenance trait Im talking about today refers to the time during which people with celiac are probably the most demanding: When weve been glutened.

Like I explained in the point above, accidentally ingesting gluten can cause major problems in people with celiac disease. Some celiacs even have to go to the hospital to receive fluids or other care after theyve been glutened.

So when a dietary mistake does happen, well probably need even more help than usual, whether its with small things like warming up some gluten-free soup or bigger chores like doing the laundry or grocery shopping. It can be easy to feel lazy or stupid when youre glutened and your brain and body isnt functioning properly. However, feeling guilty about asking for help wont make you heal any faster and I can say from personal experience that many family members and friends will do anything they can to help you feel better.

Once you do recover from being glutened, nothing says thank you more sweetly thanbaking some GF goodiesfor the friends and family who gave you a helping hand!

Even though its been five years since I received my celiac disease diagnosis, I still sometimes find myself apologizing for the quirks celiac disease gives me. I apologize to travel companions for always packing a ton of food; I apologize to friends for limiting our restaurant choices; and sometimes, I even find myself apologizing to waiters for my complex order.

But Im challenging myself to stop apologizing for traits or factors that are out of my control.If you find yourself saying Im sorry too often for celiac traits, I hope you join me on this challenge as well. After all, we did notchoose to have celiac disease and we did not choose to need to eat a gluten-free diet. Not to mention, celiac disease has actually given me several hidden blessings and Im guessing most celiacs can say the same thing.

So lets change the mindset around celiac disease (and other chronic illnesses) from high maintenance to worth the work. Because its worth the work of being gluten-free when it lets us thrive with celiac disease. And were worth the work others might have to do to have us in their lives.

Do you ever find yourself apologizing or feeling high maintenance for celiac-related obligations? Or how do you view your chronic disease with a positive mindset? Id love to hear your ideas in the comments!

An original version of this story first appeared at Casey the College Celiac.

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Read more here:
11 Things People With Celiac Disease Do That Seem 'High Maintenance,' but Actually Arent - Yahoo Lifestyle

The Boston Transportation Department has halted design work on a proposal to reduce Centre Street from the Holy Name Rotary to Spring Street in West Roxbury from four lanes to two and add pedestrian islands, bike lanes and new turn lanes so that it can study an alternative plan from a newly formed neighborhood group to keep four lanes but add pedestrian crossing lights at some intersections, re-stripe cross walks and step up police enforcement of traffic laws.

Interim BTD Commissioner Gregory Rooney told a packed meeting of the West Roxbury Safety Association at the Irish Social Club tonight the department should never have simply rolled out the proposed "road diet" plan at a June meeting without additional meetings with local residents and business owners. He said he now expects BTD to release a new proposal, or proposals, in January.

Residents who have been calling for increased enforcement are about to get a feel for that, good and hard. New E-5 Capt. Darrin Greeley, himself a West Roxbury resident, told the group he plans a traffic-safety crackdown along Centre Street - starting with all the double-parking residents and Uber Eats drivers who now infest the westbound side of Centre as they pick up food at the take-out places clustered along Manthorne Road. He said he knows only too well what happens between the Continental and Christo's from personal experience, because that was his route home from his previous job as a detective in the BPD homicide unit.

Greeley said he also plans to step up "Operation Crosswalk," in which officers will pull over drivers who blow through intersections without stopping for pedestrians there - and that he will bring in additional resources if necessary to get miscreants under control. He added, however, that, at least initially, most people will likely get warnings, rather than tickets. "We want to educate people," he said. "We don't want to fine people."

Steve Morris, who helped form the safety association, said the group agrees with proponents of the road-diet plan that the end goal is to make Centre Street safer, but that members felt the road-diet plan would only force drivers onto side streets. And citing what they said were stats from other cities, members said the plan would actually lead to increased pedestrian and bicyclist deaths, that the plan would put residents of the neighborhood's seven nursing homes at risk because it would slow first responders and that it would drive businesses out of the neighborhood. And besides, hardly anybody rides bicycles on Centre Street, they said.

Morris and other members conducted "audits" of all the intersections along Centre from the rotary to Spring Street and while he acknowledged they were not traffic engineers, he said they had something valuable - common sense. And that common sense led them to believe that the answer to greater pedestrian safety was to install pedestrian-crossing traffic signals that would only activate when a pedestrian pressed a button at certain intersections. such as at Hastings Street, where Marilyn Wentworth died in February and another pedestrian suffered a traumatic brain injury when it by a car a few years ago.

The group also called for replacement of the brick crosswalks Tom Menino was enamored of with more traditional and easier to spot striped crosswalks - something BTD crews recently have begun doing. And despite their disdain for the members of an alleged "bicycle lobby," they said they support signs along the road alerting drivers that they have to share the lane closest to the curb with bicyclists.

Although the group's founders spoke calmly and said they wanted to engage in dialog with both BTD and road-diet supporters, once they turned the room's microphones over to the audience, the anger spilled out towards bicyclists, people not from West Roxbury and the federal government, all of whom they accused of foisting the road-diet idea on West Roxbury for reasons that some said were quite sinister indeed.

The very first resident to get a mic said the city doesn't give a damn about safety and that the road diet is part of a plot to reduce Boston's carbon footprint. He accused the city of installing Blue Bikes stations along Centre Street - and even down by the Star Market on Spring Street - as part of this plot.

To applause, he said it's time to license and fine bicyclists who "cut cars off, they drive down the sidewalk and they hit people."

He was followed by the owner of a Centre Street business who said the road diet would drive her out of business. Besides, she yelled, "This isn't Amsterdam!"

Another resident said bike lanes on Washington Street in Roslindale and Beacon Street downtown have turned those roads into gridlocked hellscapes.

City Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain), was booed when he said there are parts of the road-diet proposal he thinks are good, but that he wants to hear other proposals, too. "You're tap dancing, Matt!" one resident jumped up to yell at him. The resident then accused O'Malley of acting like a socialist whenever he's in the Jamaica Plain end of the district.

Nobody mentioned that the road-diet idea sprang from a study by a civil-engineering team at Northeastern University about Centre Street two years ago - which started when a graduate student from West Roxbury complained to her professor about Centre Street safety - and which basically gathered dust on a shelf somewhere until a February meeting at the Elks Club at which Wentworth's husband and son pleaded for the city to do something so that nobody would ever again have to go through what they did.

A Roslindale resident, who first joked he wasn't sure if he would make it out of the room alive, was, in fact, booed into sitting down when he explained how he thought the road diet would improve safety by forcing motorists to slow down and how the ultimate answer was to get more people onto public transit.

A West Roxbury resident essentially told bicyclists they can just shut up until they start paying taxes for roads. After asking car owners to raise their hands, he said, "These are our roads!"

One West Roxbury resident did rise to support the road-diet proposal, saying he owns both a car and a bicycle and that he and his wife both "drive all over the place." He said his top concern are crashes in which one driver stops for a pedestrian and a second one then plows into the person.

He tried to rebuke the notion of some "Bicycle Lobby" sinisterly pulling strings to destroy West Roxbury.

"We're people just advocating for safety," he said. "I"m a dad, a brother, a husband and a son, I'm not just a [bicyclist]."

Morris, who had earlier called the road diet "a stupid idea," said his group's plans would reduce such crashes through better sight lines - in part by having police deal with the issue of double parkers. And he said he and other founders felt "bushwacked" at the July meeting, when he said it seemed like outside bicyclists and other non-local agitators had had a series of secret meetings to prepare.

One mother of two young children, who live up at Lagrange and Keith streets, said she wasn't even sure what the fuss was about - she walks up and down Centre with her kids in a double-wide stroller and finds it "extremely safe." But if people don't agree, "why can't we put it on a ballot?" she asked.

The rest is here:
City will study other possible ways to keep pedestrians from getting mowed down on West Roxbury's Centre Street besides reducing lanes - Universal Hub

Coca-Cola is offering designated drivers free parking spots and two free Coca-Cola drinks on nights out over Christmas.

The soft drink giant has teamed up with the Road Safety Authority to encourage Irish people to stay sober so they can drive themselves and their pals home safely.

And to make sure they can still enjoy the festive fun, designated drivers can get two free soft drinks from the Coca-Cola HBC range throughout the month of December.

Drivers simply need to make themselves known to bar staff at participating venues to get their free drinks.

They can choose from a range of drinks including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Fanta, Sprite, Deep RiverRock, Fruice and Appletiser.

In addition to this, Coca-Cola will also reward designated drivers by providing three allocated parking spots at the St Stephens Green Q-Park in Dublin and Victoria Square in Belfast each weekend in December.

Designated drivers simply need to present themselves to security hubs at the Q-Park stations to benefit from free parking.

Well-known influencer and TV presenter James Kavanagh has teamed up with Coca-Cola to promote the campaign.

James revealed he will be acting as a designated driver for his friends over the Christmas period.

He said: Im thrilled to be on board to help spread the word about the 2019 Coca-Cola Designated Driver campaign.

"Anyone who knows me, knows that I live for Christmas nights out, but dont always feel like drinking.

"Thanks to both my newly acquired full drivers licence and Coca-Cola, this Christmas Ill be able to buzz my mates to and from a night out and get my fave Coca-Cola drinks for free its a no-brainer!

Miles Karemacher, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Irelands General Managersaid: At Coca-Cola HBC, we are passionate about playing a value-adding role in communities across the island.

"For 15 years, we have taken immense pride in supporting and celebrating designated drivers throughout the Christmas season, and this year will be no different."

Road Safety Authority CEO Moyagh Murdock said: Drink driving is still a factor in three-quarters of road deaths between the hours of 10pm and 6am.

"Thats why, unfortunately, initiatives like Coca-Colas Designated Driver campaign are still required.

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"The designated driver campaign celebrates and rewards responsible, sober drivers, but most importantly it reinforces the importance of keeping our roads alcohol-free at this high-risk time of year.

"Take precautions on the roads this Christmas, and never, ever drink and drive.

In the Republic of Ireland, the Designated Driver campaign is supported by An Garda Sochna, the Road Safety Authority and Drinkaware.

It is also backed by the Licensed Vintners Association, the Vintners Federation of Ireland, the Restaurants Association of Ireland, and the Irish Hotels Federation. In Northern Ireland, the campaign is supported by the PSNI, Hospitality Ulster and the NI Hotel Federation.

A full list of participating venues can be found at http://www.coke.ie/designateddriver.

Read more here:
Coca-Cola to offer free soft drinks and parking spots to designated drivers - Irish Mirror

Remember cholera

Its easy to forget that, not very long ago and even in developed countries with abundant clean water, cholera was a real and present threat to human lives. Go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Yemen, and youll see that when sanitation breaks down its still a very pressing concern today. Millions of people are infected with cholera from dirty water each year and tens of thousands die because of it.

As far as trends go, therefore, the new found craving for the supposed benefits of raw water is one to be particularly wary of. Rather than drink tap water, or filtered bottled water, proponents suggest drinking water straight from the source. An utterly terrible idea.

Yes, chlorinated tap water contains completely harmless, trace amounts of, say, shampoo or even some over-the-counter medicines. But more importantly, there is a distinct lack of cholera among those who drink it.

What about fluoride, which occurs completely naturally in water in low concentrations? Theres a reason it is added to many brands of toothpaste. Among the 5.8 million people in the UK whose tap water has been bolstered with a little extra fluoride, a 2014 report detailed a 21% reduction in dental cavities in permanent teeth and 11% fewer 12 years olds with tooth decay.

Pesticides and preservatives in food are another common cause of fear and avoidance, yet legislation ensures that food companies must adhere to strict limits on the traces of pesticides present in edible products. Those levels are demonstrably safe for human consumption. The risk from pesticides and preservatives is incredibly low. Far safer than the alternative, which is food spoilage, or loss of harvests.

Consider, for a moment, the effect that urine from rats and mice might have on food safety, or the toxic spores of fungi and moulds. The diseases wrought by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum as rare as it is cause deadly food poisoning, fatal in up to 5-10% of cases. The mycotoxins produced by fungi are something best avoided.

Then there is the threat of food waste, in a world in which 820 million are hungry globally. In developing nations, where hunger is most prevalent, food losses during storage can be as high as 50-60%. Chemical fumigation is very effective in preventing these losses.

Headlines this year cite ultra-processed foods as being linked to earlier death. This link is neither causal, nor can it wholly explain the issue, which is perhaps largely to do a more robust link between eating ultra-processed food and generally poor socioeconomic circumstances. Even if it does turn out to be the cause, as this well rounded article suggests, the risk of eating nothing but processed foods is most definitely not the preservatives that keep them safe to eat in the short term but more likely a lack of a balanced diet.

Pesticides are potentially toxic to people. That should go without saying: their raison dtre is to kill harmful microorganisms, insects, rats, weeds, and the like. But they are only harmful to people if they are used incorrectly, which is why a variety of legislative bodies exist to keep that from happening, and to keep our food and water safe.

Pesticides are far from perfect. The drawbacks are clear and potentially devastating to ecosystems, especially if they are misused indiscriminately on a large scale. On the other hand, food production is also heavily reliant on the protection that they give us from pests, weeds and disease. Where food production and wild ecosystems both rely on each other yet come into significant conflict pollinators and pests theres an excruciatingly difficult balance to strike.

This year, reports have been rife of several synthetic pesticides being banned in the EU, including the most used fungicide in the UK and the USA, chlorothalonil. Neonicotinoids have also been dropped entirely in France due to their purported role in the decline of wild bee populations across Europe (alongside other probable contributing factors, such as the long-term decline of native habitats and wildflower meadows, climate change, and disease).

Farmers were quick to point out that alternatives must be sought, for fear of emerging threats to crops by insect pests. Its a fair point. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that 20-40% of global crop production is lost each year due to pests, with plant diseases costing the global economy $220 billion. Thats a serious dent to food security and the livelihoods of farmers.

Its important that we tackle the issues associated with pesticides, such as off-target toxicity and the plummeting populations of insects globally. However, its equally important that we challenge the many falsehoods and misunderstandings surrounding their application and safety.

One such case is with the notorious herbicide glyphosate, which is widely used in a combined approach with GMO plants resistant to it. So effective is this weed killing solution, the global glyphosate market is expected to reach $12.54 billion by 2024. Herbicides are so essential to ensuring food security that even an organic advocate has recently promoted the use of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

The WHO lists glyphosate as a probable carcinogen (along with coffee), which has led to thousands of criminal cases being brought against Monsanto, with lawsuits totaling billions of dollars. This listing is based on a 2015 review by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which cites its own limitations.

One major limitation of that is that the IARC review was based on cherry picked studies which ignored conflicting evidence. A much larger and comprehensive 2017 study looked at 44932 applicators of glyphosate (with 4582 incident cancer cases) along with 20 different cancers and could not find a causal link between glyphosate and cancer (although there was a weak, however statistically insignificant, link with acute myeloid leukemia) backing up decades of global consensus on the issue.

A can of worms was once again thrown up earlier this year, when an article in the Guardian written by the Research Director of anti-biotechnology organization US Right to Know reported a 41% increase in risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma due to glyphosate. A stern examination by epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat suggests the paper from which this figure was drawn is flawed in many aspects, including the cherry picking of junk datasets and an inability to adjust for confounding factors. An article in Forbes concludes the same.

When it comes to toxicity to humans, glyphosate is incredibly low on the list. In fact, glyphosate has lower acute toxicity to humans than 94% of all herbicides and even common kitchen chemicals such as vinegar and table salt. Unanimous to every regulatory body involved in the (incredibly skewed) debate is that glyphosate unequivocally does not pose any harm to consumers in the trace residues in which it is present in food.

Of course, there are issues associated with using herbicides, and in particular on relying overly on one type of pesticide. Glyphosate is so ubiquitous that there are many weeds that have become resistant to it, meaning that we must apply harsher chemicals to kill those left behind.

A recent study has also investigated the effect of glyphosate on bees, showing an alteration in the bacterial microbiota that bees rely on in much the same way that our gut bacteria help us. It was shown that exposure to glyphosate increased the susceptibility of bees to a common pathogen, therefore affecting bee health. As pointed out by Dr Oliver Jones of RMIT University in Australia, however, the paper shows a potential effect, but not necessarily an environmentally relevant one.

An interesting environmental curveball, however, is that glyphosate is often the only tool in the armory for those fighting the fight against invasive species, including the hellishly persistent Japanese Knotweed and phragmites grass, which pose a severe threat to native wildlife. Once again, this stresses that it is how we use the tools at our disposal which should be at the forefront of objective discussion.

It would be an ideal world in which we could produce food in abundance without having to resort to using potentially harmful sprays. Were not there yet, but we are searching for ways to get us as close as possible.

Along with our knowledge, techniques for controlling pests are constantly improving, and where one product fails, a better one can likely step into the breach. For all that GMOs are maligned, between 1996 and 2016 they were responsible for increasing yields by 72% while reducing pesticide usage by 583.5 million kilograms.

It is likely that, with our increasing ability to harness techniques such as gene editing, we will soon see synthetic biology solutions that can reduce this figure yet further. Insect pheromones, for example, are an emerging and increasingly successful prospect, if recent trials of Pheronyms nematode bioremediation solution are anything to go by.

What is for certain is that, whether we like it or not, we must resort to killing pests if we are to live long, healthy and well-nourished lives. As much as it would harm me greatly to drink a cup full of pure chlorine, I am very happy that it is present in low amounts in my tap water. As much as pesticides are a threat to certain ecosystems, theyre also responsible for providing the planet with food in abundance.

As long as we are objective about the costs, as well as the benefits, we can keep moving as far towards that ideal world as we possibly can.

Acknowledgement: Thank you to Peter Bickerton for additional research and reporting in this post. Im the founder of SynBioBeta, and some of the companies that I write about are sponsors of the SynBioBeta conference (click here for a full list of sponsors).

View post:
Sick Of Pesticides? Remember Death In The Time Of Cholera. - SynBioBeta

Pixabay Paleo diet focuses on meat, vegetables and nuts but low intake of fruit.

One of the main reasons many people have been on a modern-day diet is easier access to food. You can fulfill your cravings quick and even get the taste that suits your taste buds.

However, health experts have been encouraging people to look back to the past and try the food that human ancestors ate. That is because of the growing link between modern style of eating and diseases.

Experts believe the effects of ancestral diet could help reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. Such conditions have been affecting millions of people in the U.S. and other countries across the world.

To date, estimates show that six in 10 adults in the U.S. have a chronic disease, while four in 10 Americans are living with two or more chronic conditions, according to ChrisKresser.com. However, our ancestors didnt suffer from such diseases.

That could be due to their diets that focused on nutrient-dense, whole foods. Another potential evidence that food played a role in their health is that todays huntergatherers also have low rates of chronic diseases.

For example, there are no Hadza adults diagnosed with diabetes in Tanzania, while the Tsiman people in Bolivia have an 80 percent lower rate of atherosclerosis compared to people in the U.S. The Maasai community in Kenya that relies on red meat, blood and milk is also known for little to none cardiovascular diseases.

Our ancestors and modern-day hunter-gatherers eat more animal-based foods, which contain good amounts of high-quality protein, calcium, iron, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins B12 and K2. Such nutrients are commonly found in seafood, red meat, pastured eggs and liver.

Surprisingly, some hunters also loved vegetables. Some benefits of the ancestral diet come from plant-based foods.

Vegetables are not as calorie-dense as animal-based products. But they contain high amounts of vitamin C, carotenoids, flavonoids and prebiotic fibers, among other essential nutrients.

Vegetables are known for helping maintain healthy microbiome and digestion. The ancestral diet also include grains and legumes, fruit, nuts and seeds.

Lack Of Refined Sugar, Flour And Seed Oils

Another reason to try ancestral diet is the absence of refined sugar, flour and seed oils. Such food products have been linked to overeating and inflammation that contribute to modern diseases.

To date, 36 percent of the standard American diet include vegetable oils and sugar.

Ancestral Diet Health Benefits

Longer Life

Studies suggested that Paleolithic ancestors lived only until age 30. But researchers focused on rates of infant mortality.

However, anthropologists said that if modern huntergatherers survive childhood, they could live for an average of 68 to 78 years. And because of their lower risk of chronic disease, their elderly people might have better quality of life compared to people of the same age in urban areas.

Following an ancestral diet and combining it with modern medicine may lead to lower health risks and longer lifespan.

Gut Health

Studies showed that the ancestral populations that eat animal and plant foods have better microbial diversity than people on industrialized diet. One research found that people in urban areas who had diverse microbiome because of Paleo diets had health as good as traditional populations, the Inuit, Hadza and Matses.

Decreased Inflammation

Ancestral diet removes refined sugar, grains and seed oils from ones daily meals. Avoiding these modern products helps reduce markers of inflammation, leading to improvements in blood pressure, waist circumference and lipid profiles.

Weight Loss

One study showed that people who consumed less added sugar, refined grains and processed foods could significantly reduce weight in 12 months. The ancestral diets provide foods that are more satiating, which help people consume fewer calories.

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Is Ancestral Diet Still Healthy Today? - msnNOW

Eating healthy is hard. Choosing a diet to follow can feel like starring on The Bachelorette. Keto or intermittent fasting? Atkins or the blood type diet? Which one is your perfect match?

And for those that take on the challenge of eating not only a healthy diet, but also a sustainable one, the choice becomes even more difficult. Just one YouTube video or two showing the way livestock animals are treated can be enough to make you feel like food is inescapably cruel and we should all become breathatarians, surviving on the air we breathe alone (please dont try that).

But do not fear: Science may have found the answer to your prayers. Turns out just a single change to your diet addresses all of your environmental, ethical, and health concerns, according to a new study. Its a win-win-win situation.

To bag this triple win, diets have to change in one key way: strongly reducing consumption of meat and other animal products, the study found. But before you go all in and renounce cow products for good, for example, its not so simple as just ditching beef. The benefits of cutting meat, eggs, fish and dairy out vary depending on what kinds of foods you reduce, and how much.

The findings were published this week in One Earth.

Laura Scherer, assistant professor at University of Colorado, Denver and lead author on the study tells Inverse that eating less meat doesnt necessarily mean youre helping animals lead better lives. For example, eating less beef but more eggs may benefit the environment especially when it comes to climate change but it isnt so great for animal welfare.

Only by cutting down on animal products as a whole can people meet all three goals at once, the study suggests. But how, exactly, one does this isnt always clear. Not all national dietary guidelines include suggestions on how to do this, and best practices can vary depending on where you live. The new results could offer a roadmap, Scherer says.

The study gives a broad picture of the impacts of diets and can guide decision-makers in revising dietary guidelines, she says.

Among the countries getting it right is Brazil, which already has dietary guidelines that benefit human health, animal welfare, and the environment, the study found.

But other countries miss the mark. And at least one misses all of them: Oddly, South Koreans would negatively affect their health, the environment, and animal welfare if they would follow their national dietary guidelines, Scherer says.

One of the most difficult things to pin down when trying to eat sustainably is how food choices affect animal welfare but increasing numbers of people want to know, Scherer says.

Since there can be trade-offs between animal welfare and other aspects of sustainability, such as the nutritional value and the environment, we analyzed them together, she says.

Two other considerations when it comes to animal welfare and the climate are land and water use. Take almonds. A 2019 study conducted in Australia found the delicious nuts were among the most water-intensive foods in peoples diets.

Thats not exactly news (remember Chidis almond milk guilt in The Good Place?). But more surprising is the high water footprint of wine, potato chips, cake, and cookies you know, health foods.

Cutting back on these discretionary foods, which many countries national dietary guidelines recommend eating sparingly for health reasons, is also a good way to eat more sustainably, those researchers suggest.

This new study jibes with that suggestion: It offers ways to improve diets all-around not only for us, but also for the animals and environment we rely on for food, healthy and not.

The next step is to get people to make changes countries also need to update their guidelines. But that could be tough. Hesitation to change what they already do can often hold people back from making the right choices, Scherer says.

People are generally resistant to change their diets because it requires breaking long-standing habits, and that is not always easy, she says.

Convenience is a factor, too limited access to plant-based options can make changing long-held habits even harder.

A third factor is education and thats where the study comes in. Sometimes, people also mistakenly believe that we need animal products in our diets to stay healthy and get sufficient proteins, Scherer says. But a vegan diet can be healthier and better for the environment and animals, she says. In this, force of habit can play a more positive role.

To overcome such barriers, it may help to educate people about nutrition and to offer much more plant-based meals in canteens to familiarize people with new food, she says.

Abstract:

Sustainable food systems are essential for meeting nutritional requirements, limiting environmental impacts, and reducing animal welfare loss. Although current dietary trends in many regions rather go in the opposite direction, the adequacy of dietary guidelines is unknown, and the three sustainability dimensions are generally not assessed simultaneously. Here, we assessed nation-specific recommended diets for these impacts compared with the average diet. We assessed the trade-offs between nutritional quality, environmental sustainability (carbon, land, and water footprints), and animal welfare. Most countries reduce their animal product consumption in terms of food calories when switching to the nationally recommended diet. Recommended diets have the potential for win-win-wins in all three categories when compared with the current average diet, such as that shown in Brazil. However, South Korea loses in all three regards, and many other countries face trade-offs. This highlights the scope for the optimization of dietary guidelines to minimize such trade-offs.

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Making just one change to your diet benefits you, animals, and the planet - Inverse

Thanksgiving dinner doesnt have to be something to dread for those on a diet. (WYDaily file photo/Courtesy of Pexels)

Thanksgiving means time with family and friends.

Well, its also perhaps a time to break a diet and theres plenty of opportunities for that.

Its a day of celebration, something you do once a year with loved ones, said Allie Mitchell, clinical director and certified health coach with The Nutrition and Wellness Center in Williamsburg. Never let food hold you back from being completely present with friends and family.

Each year, tables are set with turkeys, stuffing and pies but that doesnt have to terrify those trying to stick to a healthy meal plan.

Sentara Healthcare suggests heading into the holiday with a mind toward respecting the body while still including plenty of seasonal produce. The autumn season is one that provides various opportunities for nourishing meals with winter squashes, vegetables and apples that contain different disease-fighting ingredients:

With winter squashes, a number of Thanksgiving items can be made. While the classic pumpkin pie is always a good choice, Sentara recommends adding a variety of winter squash, such as butternut squash and acorn squash, to homemade soup with broth and aromatic spices such as garlic and ginger.

Vegetables are also a good way to fit in a healthy meal. In the winter, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts can be enhanced with a drizzle of maple syrup and balsamic vinegar.

Apples of all varieties can also enhance any bowl of oatmeal by adding the fruit and a little cinnamon. Chopped apples can also add a different texture to favorite fall salads. In addition, there are a variety of pies that shine when baked with apples.

Sentara recommends shopping at local farmers markets for holiday produce, because it provides shoppers with the opportunity to learn more about fresh foods and preparing their produce.

But not everyone can control what food is being served at the Thanksgiving table and temptations are tricky.

If you eat something more than you should, forgive yourself and move on, Mitchell said. You have a brand new day on Friday and you wont lose any of your progress.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends coming to the table ready with a plan.

First, those wanting to stick to a diet should avoid skipping meals or varying from typical eating times because then it will be easier to overeat come Thanksgiving dinner.

In addition, if the dinner is hosted by someone else, a good idea might be to bring a healthy dish for the table. For those who have a sweet tooth, the CDC recommends eating less carbs with other food, like potatoes and bread, so the dessert can be fully enjoyed without guilt.

The Thanksgiving dinner table can be spread as an all-you-can-eat buffet in some homes. When thats the case, diners will want to have a small plate of foods they like best to practice portion control. Starting with vegetables and eating slowly can help to take the edge off an appetite.

Mitchell recommends always having the healthy snacks in an easily reachable location and putting the less-healthy options a bit farther away.

Keep the finger foods light and healthy for those to reach and then youll have to make more of an effort to get to the foods you like, she said. Its easier to pick up a healthy snack when its right in front of you.

When planning your plate of small foods, the CDC said to pick the selections that bring the most joy. Its okay to enjoy a treat, especially when its special to the holiday.

The CDC also suggests people find ways to stay active during the holiday. Being active is a good way to make up for any extra eating as well as reduce stress. This can be done in simple ways, such as taking a family walk after dinner.

While the Thanksgiving Day spread might seem like treacherous territory for anyone on a diet, there are easy ways to eat healthy through the holiday.

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Here's how you can stick to a diet when faced with Thanksgiving dinner - Williamsburg Yorktown Daily

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Cosby Stone, Vanderbilt University

(THE CONVERSATION) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced a preliminary finding that implicates a vitamin E additive as the potential cause of lung injury from THC vaping.

The agency examined fluid samples from the lungs of 29 patients with vaping-related illness and found vitamin E acetate in all 29 samples. This is a major development in the search for answers, and it was of great interest to me generally as a public health researcher.

Even more, it was of special interest to me because I previously researched vitamin Es role in lung health and development. For three years, as a post-doctoral research fellow, I studied the role of vitamin Es typical role in lung health, lung development and the epidemiology of childhood lung diseases when it is absorbed from our diet.

Free radical fighter

Vitamin E comes from oily foods in our diet. It has also long been known to be important for child development, especially in the womb, where it contributes to healthy lung and nervous system growth, among other things. Vitamin E has eight different isoforms, or types, and each may do slightly different things in our bodies. The kind of vitamin E you get from your diet can therefore vary widely based upon the types of oily foods that you eat.

When we eat vitamin E, it is absorbed by our gastrointestinal tract along with fats. It then travels throughout our bloodstream in the fatty molecules called cholesterol. Finally, it is taken up into our bodys fatty tissues and cellular membranes.

Once incorporated into the body, vitamin E serves as an antioxidant, protecting us from some of the harmful effects of our metabolism and respiration. Antioxidants stabilize what are called free radicals, unstable and highly chemically reactive compounds with extra electrons generated by our metabolism. Free radicals, when left unchecked, can destabilize other molecules around them and cause cellular damage.

When vitamin E comes into contact with certain kinds of free radicals, it transfers that instability onto itself and neutralizes those free radicals.

So, in the aftermath of the vaping illnesses and deaths, an important question emerges: What happens if, instead of eating vitamin E in your diet, you inhale vitamin E, along with a vaporized solution of THC?

I have no idea.

There are only a tiny handful of studies in which someone tried to nebulize, or vaporize, vitamin E in experiments related to lung health. All were animal studies with a small sample size, and none were combined with a THC vaping fluid.

Its also not clear in this case why vitamin E acetate was added to the vaping fluid, but reports suggest it is used as a cutting agent to make the THC oils less thick. Perhaps someone thought it was safe to do this in an inhaled product because vitamin E was a natural vitamin. Importantly, however, many substances that are helpful when taken orally can be harmful when inhaled.

No place for oily molecules

The fact that vitamin E typically has to travel in fat-soluble lipids may perhaps provide a clue as to the harms vitamin E acetate can cause when vaped. Physicians have long known that inhaling oils and other lipids can lead to the deposition of oily droplets in the lungs. They also know that this deposition can in turn can lead to inflammation and the potential for permanent lung scarring, respiratory failure or death. Its not a good idea to consistently inhale particles like small solids or oily liquid drops into your very delicate lungs.

We all know what it feels like to choke on something large enough to block our windpipe. But a small, inhaled particle can go past the large airways and lodge in the tiniest airways and the alveoli that transfer oxygen into our bloodstream, causing damage to these fragile structures.

We may not notice right away that we are being harmed. Only tiny segments of the lung are affected, and our lungs are designed to have some reserve capacity.

But over time, as these small injuries add up, more and more lung tissue becomes involved, and symptoms develop. Such injuries can become fatal. For example, think of the diseases caused by asbestos, silica from sand blasting, coal dust and tobacco smoke.

So, perhaps a vitamin E additive could cause damage in a similar way in this context.

A bigger issue

In addition, I believe this is actually a symptom of a broader problem, brought about in part by the 1994 law that allows dietary supplements and some devices to go to market without meeting stringent safety and efficacy standards. Supplement makers dont have to provide evidence that their products work, and the FDA allows them to monitor the safety features themselves.

Its a good business for the manufacturers; dietary supplements sales are estimated to be worth about US$120 billion by 2020. But it may not be good for the American public. By taking untested products, or by using products that are safe in one context but not studied in another, consumers end up participating in millions of uncontrolled experiments in which safety data are frequently absent. There is minimal quality control, minimal oversight and minimal knowledge of what might happen.

Any type of minimally regulated product that we inhale into our lungs on a regular basis clearly deserves a special level of scrutiny before use. I would argue that any inhaled product should have to demonstrate significant safety data prior to being allowed on the consumer market. Do these products even work? How do they work? If they do work, whats the right dose so that its safe, but still effective? How long can you safely use it? Without that knowledge, we are sailing in dangerous waters with no map.

So, until the day that our poorly regulated, uncontrolled market of self experimentation in lung health comes to an end, I will share a motto that experiments and experience have equally proven to be true. If you want your lungs to outlast your hair, please dont inhale anything but air.

[ Youre smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversations authors and editors. You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter. ]

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/vitamin-e-and-vaping-injuries-whats-safe-in-your-diet-is-rarely-safe-in-your-lungs-126909.

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Vitamin E and vaping injuries: What's safe in your diet is rarely safe in your lungs - Thehour.com

By ERIC FREEDMANCapital News Service

LANSING Households that eat family-style meals together at the table with the TV off may have healthier diets than families who dont.

And that has implications for benefits such as lower risk of obesity, greater diet quality and healthier eating habits, according to researchers from the University of Michigan and their collaborators.

Identifying which components of family meals to promote may improve child nutrition, they said in a recent study.

The researchers measured mealtime characteristics associated with the healthfulness of young childrens meals.

The study involved 272 preschoolers from about 300 low-income families in Southeast and South-Central Michigan. The children were enrolled in Head Start programs when the study began, and their parents or other caregivers video-recorded 757 mealtimes during the study period.

The study used the U.S. Department of Agricultures Healthy Meal Index to explore whether family meals improve overall dietary quality and weight status because parents serve food items that are healthier and more consistent with dietary guidelines.

It used U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans to categorize foods such as desserts, dairy products, produce, grains, types of protein and products with high levels of saturated and trans fats.

The authors found a correlation between health benefits and three factors: family-style meals where adults and children choose their own servings rather than everyone getting the same standard portion, dining at a table and shutting off the TV at mealtime. However, there was no statistically significant connection between health benefits and whether a parent ate at the same time as the rest of the family.

The study cautioned that those characteristics alone arent enough to ensure that young children eat healthy meals: Sitting at a table, eating without television viewing, serving meals family-style or the presence of a parent cannot directly change the healthiness of foods served at the meal.

Dawn Earnesty, a community nutrition evaluation specialist for Michigan State University Extension, said 15% of state residents are food insecure, while 6% have only limited access to healthy foods.

Among children 5 and younger, 23.9% statewide are in the Food Assistance Program, according to the 2019 Kids Count report. Lake County has the second-highest rate at 40.2%, slightly better than Wayne County with the highest rate. Clare and Gogebic counties are also among the 10 counties with the largest proportion of young children in the program, while Livingston and Leelanau counties have the lowest proportion.

In addition to food insecurity, Earnesty said that lack of convenient access to affordable fruits and vegetables, and/or safe places to be physically active are common barriers to people who need healthy diets in rural and urban areas.

Other factors matter too, including a familys socioeconomic status, according to Kelsey Perdue, the director of the Kids Count Project at the Michigan League for Public Policy. Healthy meals at home are only part of childhood nutrition challenges.

We also know that food insecurity is connected to housing insecurity, Perdue said. When families are struggling to make ends meet and we know 43% of them do throughout the state parents will wisely prioritize paying rent and then may be forced to choose cheaper, less nutritional food.

The league, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, has called for state funding of healthy food programs in schools and for families that get food assistance.

The league conducted focus groups on the issue last year and heard directly that families need help putting healthy food on the table, so we recommend strengthening these programs and connecting them with our strong agricultural system as much as we can, she said.

Our government should expand programs that facilitate healthy school lunches and help families stretch their dollars to buy more food and vegetables, Perdue said. Having nutritional meals at home and school is essential to the development and success of children of all ages.

Earnesty said nutrition educators can use the results of the new study and similar research to emphasize the importance of family meals, along with information about food preparation, budgeting and planning and budgeting.

The U-M study appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

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What makes a healthy diet? A table, no TV and fresh food - Spartan Newsroom

Theres a new Netflix documentary called The Game Changers and its so persuasive, viewers are saying theyre going vegan after watching it.

The documentary makes a lot of claims about the benefits of following a plant-based diet. It features interviews with experts and athletes about their diets.

Since its release Twitter has gone into meltdown. Viewers have been saying theyre changing their diets and never looking back. Heres everything you need to know about the Netflix vegan documentary, and what people are saying about it.

The Game Changers is a documentary that explores the benefits of a vegan diet. The Netflix synopsis for the show reads: Meeting visionary scientists and top athletes, a UFC fighter embarks on a quest to find the optimal diet for human performance and health.

The one hour 52 minute documentary follows British UFC fighter James Wilks as he travels around the world, particularly looking at the benefits of a plant based diet.

The documentary is produced by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, and James Cameron. It features Schwarzenegger, UFC fighter James Wilks, tennis player Novak Djokovic and racing driver Lewis Hamilton, who are vegan. It also features expert interviews.

Netflix

The Game Changers makes some pretty big claims, suggesting that a plant-based diet is actually better for improving performance and strength than eating meat.

It also claims a vegan diet can boost erections, the protein you gets from eating a steak or a burger are actually from the plants the animal ate and people who get their protein strictly from plants reduce their risk of heart disease by 55 per cent.

Those are just a taster of some of the things the documentary says about vegan diets.

Yes, people are actually changing their diet because The Game Changers documentary has persuaded them to. One tweet says: Ive been cutting down eating meat a lot recently, and often go days full vegan, but after watching The Game Changers on Netflix I am completely sold. Another added: Watched The Game Changers on Netflix yesterday it was a game changer. Todays viewing is What The Health. Bye bye meat!

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Netflix doc 'The Game Changers' is so persuasive viewers are turning vegan - The Tab