Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that is the most common type of arthritis. Usually, it occurs among people of advanced age. But it can begin in middle age or even sooner, especially if theres been an injury to the joint.

While there are treatments available exercise, braces or canes, loss of excess weight, various pain relievers and anti-inflammatory medicines these are no cures, and none of the treatments are predictably effective. In fact, often they dont work at all, or help only a little. Injected steroids or synthetic lubricants can be tried as well. When all else fails, joint replacement surgery can be highly effective. In fact, about a million joint replacements (mostly knees and hips) are performed each year in the US.

So, its no surprise that people with osteoarthritis will try just about anything that seems reasonably safe if it might provide relief. My patients often ask about diet, including anti-inflammatory foods, antioxidants, low-gluten diets, and many others. Theres little evidence that most of these dietary approaches work. When there is evidence, it usually demonstrates no consistent or clear benefit.

Thats why a new study is noteworthy: it suggests that curcumin, a naturally occurring substance found in a common spice, might work for osteoarthritis.

In the study, researchers enrolled 139 people with symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. Their symptoms were at least moderately severe and required treatment with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). For one month, they were given the NSAID diclofenac (50 mg, twice daily) or curcumin (500 mg, three times daily).

Why curcumin? Its a naturally occurring substance, found in the spice turmeric, that has anti-inflammatory effects. Its use has been advocated for cardiovascular health, arthritis, and a host of other conditions. However, well-designed studies of its health benefits are limited.

Heres what this study found:

Not so fast. Its rare that a single study can change practice overnight, and this one is no exception. A number of factors give me pause:

Studies of this sort are vitally important in trying to understand whether dietary changes can be helpful for arthritis. While this new study provides support for curcumin as a treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee, Id like to see more and longer-term studies in osteoarthritis and other types of joint disease, as well as more extensive testing of its safety, before recommending it to my patients.

See the article here:
Curcumin for arthritis: Does it really work? - Harvard Health Blog - Harvard Health

JINJU, South Korea K-pop stars are loved, and even worshipped, around the world.

BTS fans, who are in their millions, call themselves the "Army" and once flooded a Korean restaurant with one-star Yelp reviews after its owner said another band was better.

Other hardcore K-pop fans also pool their money together to buy presents including billboard ads in Times Square for their idols in a practice based on the Korean word "jeogon," which means "tribute to the king."

EXO performs at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong in August 2019. Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

But behind the scenes, the reality is different.

Insider spoke to members of Great Guys, an up-and-coming boyband consisting of nine men in their 20s, after their performance at the Korea Drama Festival in Jinju in early October.

What they shared was a life of strict gym schedules, diets, and forced singledom far from the glitz and glam they show on stage.

"Gym, studio, bedroom that's my life circle," said Ho Ryeong, one of the band members. "We are now preparing for our new album and are actually quite busy."

"Honestly, we don't have much time for eating," he said. "Nor are we free to eat what we want."

Another member, Jae I, chimed in: "That's the hardest part. It's not easy to follow a diet, but [I suppose] it's not impossible either."

It's a testament to the pressures of maintaining the intense beauty standards of the K-pop industry: idols must look and stay beautiful, young, and in good physical shape. That usually ends up in severe diets and exercise regimes.

Great Guys at the Korea Drama Festival in Jinju, South Korea, in October 2019. Komeil Soheili/Insider

One famous K-pop diet, known as the "Paper Cup Diet," involves eating nine paper cups the size of the ones you'd find by water coolers worth of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables every day. Discussion of this diet is also popular among on pro-anorexia forums.

Way, a former member of K-pop band Crayon Pop, told Insider in a separate email: "We weren't allowed to eat midnight snacks. Other snacks like chips and candy weren't allowed, so we would sneak out and eat it."

"Since they kept telling us not to, that made us want to eat more. We would secretly buy it and eat it in the bathroom," she added, laughing.

Way, a K-pop star formerly of Crayon Pop. WayLand/YouTube

Gym routines are also grueling. "We used to dance with 4 kg (8.8 lbs) of sandbags on our feet for several days," Way said. "Our teacher wanted us to get used to the sandbags, so without it our dances would look lighter [in the performance]."

It's worth noting that these beauty standards affect other industries in South Korea too: The country's flight attendants often turn to cosmetic surgery to be beautiful and thin, to increase their odds of securing jobs.

Last year, a news anchor made headlines for refusing to wear contact lenses and false lashes, and opting to present with her glasses on instead.

An ad in South Korea for cosmetic surgery. Getty Images

An unwritten rule in K-pop is that idols must also give up on having a love life if they want to be successful.

Being single makes them appear more accessible to their fans. This, the theory goes, means more devoted fans, which means more income for the group and record label.

This is also why K-pop groups are either all-male or all-female, too so fans don't suspect band members are dating each other.

"Before I made a name [for myself], I couldn't meet my family or friends," Way told Insider. "All our team members were living together in an apartment with a living room and two rooms, so all the time we would be available and at work."

"We even needed to give our phones to the [record] company," she said. "We could hardly meet even our close relatives."

Children practising choreographed K-pop dance moves in Seongsu-dong neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. Komeil Soheili/Insider

Donghwi, another member of Great Guys, also told Insider: "None of us are in a relationship."

When Insider asked him to clarify whether he and his bandmembers don't want partners or aren't allowed them, he said: "Both! We shouldn't, but also, we don't want to [date anyone]."

"We agreed not to have a girl in our lives, so we can focus more on our mission," he added. "We love our fans, that's enough for us."

"If things go well, we can stay like this forever. We are happy as long as we are doing what we love."

Great Guys seems to be enjoying their path to fame so far, which helps them bear the hard parts of their life. But not all K-pop stars have shared the same optimism.

K-pop star Sulli, who died in October 2019. Han Myung-Gu/WireImage/Getty Images

Less than three weeks ago, South Korean police announced that 25-year-old K-pop star Sulli was found dead in her home. Police are still investigating her cause of death, but are working on the assumption that she killed herself.

She was one of the few K-pop artists who had tried to deviate from the K-pop mold, and was chastized for it.

She made her relationship with her boyfriend public. She dared walk out of the house without a bra departing from K-pop's squeaky-clean image. She spoke openly about her mental health: in 2014, she put her career on hold after suffering physical and mental exhaustion.

In return, she got cyberbullies. In the wake of her death, one fan re-posted a video from Sulli's last Instagram Live, where she said: "I am not a bad person. I'm sorry. Why are you saying bad things about me? What did I do to deserve this?"

Fans and stars alike have urged K-pop record companies to take mental health more seriously, and treat it as less of a taboo.

Earlier this year BTS was allowed an "extended period of rest and relaxation" in the words of the wildly successful group's record label during which band members got to visit museums, go to concerts by other groups, and go fishing, Billboard reported.

Members of South Korean K Pop group BTS pose for photos during a press conference to introduce their new album "Map of the Soul: Persona" in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. Jo Soo-jung/Newsis via AP

Quitting K-pop isn't an option for many stars too record companies tend to have a financial hold on their stars.

A typical contract between record companies and their stars involves the company paying for the expenses of booking concert venues, traveling, and food, and expecting them to be offset by the earnings. But if the expenses end up being more than the earnings, then stars have to pay them back.

As Way explained: "Idols with the false hope of a bright future increasing their debt to the company until they eventually lose everything ... Once, I needed to sell my belongings, [including] my laptop and beloved piano, to survive."

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, K-pop is "shifting from 'potential' to 'power player'" in the global music industry. It is becoming more important than ever to protect its stars.

The rest is here:
Grueling gym routines, restrictive diets, and no dating: K-pop stars tell us about the dark side of their industry - INSIDER

American workers are increasingly strapped for sleep and the ones grappling with life-or-death decisions on the job might be most likely to get poor shut-eye, a recent study says.

About 50% of protective-service workers such as police officers, firefighters and correctional officers and military workers reported short sleep duration in 2018, the highest prevalence among occupation groups, according to the study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Community Health. The study defined short sleep duration as sleeping less than seven hours.

Health-care support workers a group that includes home health aides, psychiatric aides and nursing assistants, according to the Department of Labor werent far behind, at 45%. Workers in transport and material moving (for example, air traffic controllers, truck drivers and railroad workers) and production (for example, quality-control inspectors, food-and-tobacco processing workers and power-plant operators) had the next-highest levels of short sleep duration, both at 41%.

The findings are disconcerting, the authors wrote, because many of these occupations are related to population health, well-being, and safety services.

Workers in the law-enforcement and health-care fields in particular are always living in hyperactivity mode, said lead study author Jagdish Khubchandani, a professor of health science at Ball State University. They deal with a lot of health and safety of people; life and death, he told MarketWatch. Its hard to unwind when you see suicide and shootings [and] bloodshed.

Previous research has highlighted the perils of sleep deprivation among law-enforcement and health-care workers. One 2011 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for example, found that sleep disorders among American and Canadian law-enforcement officers were common and significantly linked to a heightened risk of negative health, safety and performance outcomes.

Another 2014 study in the Journal of Nursing Administration found that night-shift nurses who were more sleep-deprived made more errors in patient care.

There are guidelines and recommendations on shift work and number of working hours that have been prescribed for these professions to improve worker safety and occupational health, the present studys author wrote.

Their study, funded by a grant from Merck Research Laboratories, analyzed data from 158,468 working adults who participated in the Census Bureau-administered National Health Interview Survey from 2010 to 2018. The prevalence of professionals getting insufficient sleep rose substantially over the study period, from nearly 31% in 2010 to almost 36% in 2018.

Other groups at increased risk for short sleep duration included racial and ethnic minorities, workers who were less educated, and those who lived alone, the study found.

Khubchandani and his co-author, James Price of the University of Toledo, suggest that working Americans short sleep duration might be related to changing workplaces, greater access and use of technology and electronic devices, progressive escalation in workplace stress in the U.S., [and] rising prevalence of multiple chronic conditions.

Prior research by the same authors also highlighted the high prevalence of job insecurity and workplace harassment in the American workforce two factors linked with poor sleep, among other negative outcomes.

The National Sleep Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, recommends that adults aged 26 to 64 get seven to nine hours of sleep but one in three U.S. adults in a nationally representative 2018 study said they got less than six hours a night. A 2018 survey by the foundation also found that one in 10 U.S. adults prioritize sleep over other factors like work, fitness and nutrition, hobbies and social life.

Insufficient sleep is associated with conditions like obesity, depression, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How can those working in high-stress jobs with life-or-death stakes or anyone starved for Zs, for that matter get better sleep? Think about how you can reduce your technology use, Khubchandani said. Find a creative way to manage your stress, and exercise more. Stress reduction and exercise generally promote good sleep, as does a healthy diet. MarketWatch previously spoke with four sleep experts about their own personal strategies for getting better sleep.

Employers also play a role in keeping workers healthy, Khubchandani said, whether its through stress-management programs; smoking-cessation programs; or resources promoting good sleep hygiene, healthy diet and exercise.

Employers that are willing to help employees develop adequate sleep times may increase the probability of workplace productivity, reduction in employee health-care costs, and improving workplace safety and health, the authors wrote. Sleep hygiene education may be one method to help employees optimize their levels of sleep and reduce a significant form of preventable harm.

See the article here:
These are the most sleep-deprived professions in America - MarketWatch

Im not a stressed-out person. Now, dont get me wrongrunning a business is definitely a stressful endeavor. You have to ride an unpredictable roller coaster every single day, and your ups and downs are exponentially bigger swings. You could close your first million-dollar deal, and hours later your lead investor pulls out of a negotiation. Its a wild ride.

Thats why its critical for startup founders to establish tools for managing the highs and lows of a startup. That starts with understanding your own personal stressors. For me, I tend to get forgetful and scattered when Im stressed. Ill misplace my keys or my phone. I forget to eat lunch or look up at the clock and realize its 8 or 9 p.m. and I havent taken a break. Physically, my stress manifests as headaches. Ill get gentle nudges from time to time that remind me I havent had a glass of water in a while.

In the 10 years that Ive worked in startups, Ive figured out how to manage my stress and turn it into a strength rather than a weakness. Here are the biggest lessons that I learned.

While it seems counterintuitive, staying occupied can actually help manage stress. This is something I discovered as a kid, as I hopped around from ballet to tennis to softball to debate to violin practice on any given day. When your brain is active and learning something new, it can bring greater focus to daily tasks. Right now, I spend Sundays and occasional evenings evaluating companies to invest in for XFactor Ventures. It doesnt take too much time, but I get to see how other founders are running their business. This may lead to an investment, and it also makes me a better founder. I also read while I fly for work.

Balancing thinking and talking time can be a great way to manage stress. This is especially true for solo founders that dont have a business partner to lean on for advice. There are a lot of things I work out by myself, but there are other things I need help with. In those circumstances, working with my board, my team, my husband, or other founders is the better option. When Im stuck on something, I typically need a bit of alone time before I can work through it. When I need to lean on someone else, I always make a point to indicate whether I want to vent, or whether Im looking for feedback. There are so many occasions where talking something out helps unblock the issue, and I dont necessarily need any external inputs or opinions.

As a busy startup founder, its easy to put fitness and health on the back burner. Last year, I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), a hormonal disorder that affects diet, energy levels, stress levels, anxiety, and a number of other things. In December, I worked to completely overhaul my diet and started working with a personal trainer. I now work out six days per week, even when Im on the road.

Many founders find themselves on the road a lot. Pitching, speaking, meeting clients, attending events, and visiting customers. Traveling is the easiest way to get out of a routine and disrupt well-being. Introducing a few simple products and habits into your routine while on the road can make a big difference. Before bed, I wash my face, make a cup of tea, and put on a face mask while answering the final emails of the day. In the morning, I work out before any meetings. Im also an aggressive disinfectant user on airplanes. That, in addition to an Emergen-C every morning on the road, has prevented me from getting sick despite all the flying.

Every once in a while, its good to hit reset and get away from the business. I knowit sounds scary for founders. However, its often the best way to get back into a productive mindset. Ive got a bunch of things I do to get out of my head. My husband and I like to choose a show and watch an episode or two during the week (right now were watching old episodes of Castle). I love cooking and baking, so I try new recipes. I spend time with family or friends. Its not possible to do all of these things, but its good to set aside some time when you need it to reset.

At the end of the day, stress affects everyone differently. So its important to understand your own triggers, and experiment with different ways to combat them or use it to your advantage. Building a startup is one of the most rewarding jobs imaginable. You just have to make sure that you take care of yourself in the process.

Allison Kopf is the CEO of Artemis.

See the original post:
5 things that every founder needs to learn about managing stress - Fast Company

Kimbal Musk meets with Square Root farmers at the company's Brooklyn headquarters, home to farms housed in shipping containers.

Mary Stevens | CNBC

One-third of the world's food supply is wasted, according to research from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Now a start-up called Square Roots, co-founded by Kimbal Musk (Elon Musk's brother) and Tobias Peggs, wants to reduce that waste by growing food as close as possible to the point of use.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Square Roots has developed and installs "modules" hydroponic farms in reclaimed shipping containers that can grow certain non-GMO vegetables around the clock and without pesticides. Today they are producing mint, basil, other herbs and leafy greens. The company made CNBC's 2019 Upstart 100 list, released Tuesday.

The modules, which employ software-controlled LED lighting and irrigation systems, can be set up in the parking lot of a grocery store or even inside a large warehouse or industrial building, enabling a food maker to access fresh ingredients locally for use in their dishes or packaged products.

According to CEO Peggs, raising at least some crops close to where they will be eaten helps reduce the food damage and spoilage that occurs during shipping from a point of harvest to a faraway destination.

Growing food in a tightly controlled microclimate also means those crops can have better flavor and yield than counterparts that are grown in traditional farms, said Peggs, who added that in the great but unpredictable outdoors, everything from changes in soil acidity to humidity can harm crops.

Square Roots CEO Tobias Peggs is redefining urban farming.

Square Roots

Those who buy Square Roots produce can scan a QR code on the packaging to read a "transparency timeline," with details about their fresh food, like the identity of the farmers who grew it and when it was harvested and delivered to the store.

One day Square Roots aims for its technology to work off-world. Kimbal Musk, who is Square Roots' executive chairman and also holds board seats at SpaceX and Tesla, said: "I'm focused on bringing real food to everyone (on Earth), but the farming technology we are building at Square Roots can and will be used on Mars."

Peggs, who has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from Cardiff University, has a history of building businesses with Kimbal Musk. Peggs was the CEO of a social media analytics firm called OneRiot, which Musk co-founded. They sold it to Walmart in the fall of 2011.

Peggs and other OneRiot employees joined Walmart Labs, and helped the retail giant roll out mobile apps and analytics in international markets. That was when Peggs became intrigued with the potential for software to help feed the world.

More from Upstart 100:Ant colonies inspire the new warehouse design of the futureIsraeli start-up is using military-grade tech to fight fake newsAmazon has triggered an arms race in this technology

Square Roots faces significant competition in what's known as indoor ag or sunless farming, including venture-backed competitors Bowery Farming, Plenty, Freight Farms, Gotham Greens and AeroFarms, among others. Their potential to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture is yet to be determined.

Modern agriculture accounts for 24% of greenhouse gases and is the No. 1 source of pollution on the planet, according to environmental researcher Paul Hawken, the founder of Project Drawdown, a nonprofit that points to ways global warming can be reversed.

Hawken told CNBC, "Indoor ag may or might not pencil out with respect to sustainability when all the energy and inputs are totaled." That's because indoor farming requires more human-made energy but less transport and distribution energy.

Square Roots container farms can grow fresh mint and basil, year-round, in Brooklyn.

https://squarerootsgrow.com/

Moreover, crops from indoor farms might not match the nutrition of soil-grown crops, because the medium the plants are grown in is either hydroponic or assembled substrates. Hawken wrote:

"What makes plants superfoods and nutritious is stress, not 'perfect' temperature-controlled growing environments. Phytonutrients that are vital to human health do not develop to the same extent indoors. Sun, UV radiation, insects, dryness, competition, wind and wide temperature variations ultimately make plants strong, delicious and nutritious."

But it will bring locally grown, organic produce part of a healthy diet to markets that may not have much of it otherwise, he said.

Square Roots is aiming to work with partners that use renewable energy as much as possible to power their modular farms, said Peggs. One recent example is Square Roots' partnership with Gordon Food Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which runs its business partly on wind power.

The company has agreed to roll out Square Roots modular farms across their network of hundreds of retail stores and food production and distribution facilities in the U.S. in coming years.

Rather than a plant factory, where you'd spend tens of millions to build an industrial-scale facility that could take two to three years, we pop up in a new city in a matter of weeks.

Tobias Peggs

Square Roots co-founder

Another objective of Square Roots is to inspire more people to become farmers. Wherever it installs its modules, crops are grown and systems are managed by employees who have enrolled in Square Roots' Next-Gen Farmer Training Program. Throughout the year, the trainees get to learn about everything from plant science to computer science from Square Roots, while also earning a salary and health benefits which aren't always available from similar internships and apprenticeships.

Because Square Roots is supplying fresh-grown herbs to more than 70 stores in New York City, that means a significant number of its next-gen farmers are city dwellers who never expected to be working in agriculture.

Peggs said he's betting on modular farms over other indoor agriculture approaches precisely because of their flexibility. "Rather than a plant factory, where you'd spend tens of millions to build an industrial-scale facility that could take two to three years, we pop up in a new city in a matter of weeks."

Read more:
Kimbal Musk's Square Roots is on a mission to feed the world and eventually astronauts on Mars - CNBC

Being an entrepreneur means doing things differently: Creating new products and services. Finding new ways to solve old problems. To paraphrase Steve Jobs, being just crazy enough to changethings.

If you think some of those habits sound extreme, you're right. Just because something is good,supersizing isn't automatically better. Plus, any habit taken to an extreme is really hard to stick with.

Like eating 5 cans of sardines every day.

That's just one of the things serial entrepreneur andVC Craig Cooper recommends. According to Cooper, "Sardines are the #1 superfood... they're a powerhouse of nutrition, so I'm kind of an evangelist for sardines amongst everyone I meet."

Granted, sardines are good for you.One serving of sardines contains 17 grams of protein,half the recommended daily amount of calcium... and are rich inomega-3 fatty acids, a substancethat can lower bllood pressure, lower cholesterol, and increase the production of red blood cells.

But there's no scientific evidence that taking in 300 percent of the daily recommended amount of omega-3 acids is better than consuming, say, 100 to 150 percent. The same is true for vitamin B12, another nutrient that keeps nerve and blood cells healthy; just because you consume 1,500 percent of the daily requirement doesn't mean your body needs it -- or can absorb it. (Like a friend says about certain supplements, "At some point,you're just creating expensive urine.")

Of course that's not all Cooper does. He loves a 22-minute power nap. He claims he naturally falls asleep at 10:24 p.m. every night.

He lifts heavy, since lifting weights helps fight off the affects of aging. As researchers say,"It seems as if the decline in the cellular health of muscles associated with aging was 'corrected' with exercise, especially if it was intense. In fact, older people's cells responded more robustly to intense exercise than the cells of the young."

He's into intermittent fasting, monitors his blood sugar levels on a daily basis, eats lots of healthy fats, and avoids commercial skin care products since they "suck your man-force out of you."

Some of that sounds great. Some sounds alittle odd.

Cooper has clearly found habits and routines he feels work for him.And that's what matters -- to him, and also to you.

You already try to optimize the outcome of everyevery aspect of your professional life: To be as efficient, effective, and productive as you can possibly be.

The same should apply to health and fitness.

Staying fit andhealthy even more important ifyour work meanssitting at your desk all day -- and, ifyou're anentrepreneur launching astartup,all night, too.

That's why routines matter. That's why developing consistent habits matters.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Cooper's five cans of sardines perday regimen. It's not like he's eating five bags of chips. Sardinesare good for you.

The same thing is true if you make it a habit to eat a chicken breast and salad for lunch every day. Or if you make it a habit to take a 30-minute walk every day. Or if you go on adopamine fast every week or two (since a dopamine fast is really just taking a break from a mindlesspursuit of fleeting stimulation.)

The key is to find thingsthat are good for you, turn them intohabits, and make them automatic.

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes,the ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things.

They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Consideredthat way...maybe buying sardines by the casefull isn't so odd after all.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

The rest is here:
Why Does This Successful Entrepreneur Eat 5 Cans of Sardines Every Day? - Inc.

Mark Cuban knows what makes a product successful. As a top shark on ABCs Shark Tank, Cuban has personally invested millions of dollars into up-and-coming entrepreneurs. One of his latest ventures includes a business that tested Cuban in one notable way.

As the owner of the Mavericks basketball team (he bought the team in 2000), Cuban keeps a fit lifestyle. Though, Cuban previously said his way of thinking goes against his better instincts.

I consider myself as someone who lives to eat, he said. Unfortunately, I find myself thinking more about when I can eat again, than what I will be eating.

Cubans workout routine involves a lot of elliptical training, stair-stepping, and basketball playing. He said the key is keeping his diet to around 2500 calories or less, then burning at least 450 calories by working out.

His typical diet consists of Alyssas cookies (which he also invested in), fish, and salad. He might add in tomato soup, mashed potatoes or green beans from time to time, but overall, he keeps things light.

As for indulgences, the shark he admits to snacking on Skinny Pop popcorn or whipped cream.

Ill walk around squirting whipped cream in my mouth. Hey! Its low carb, haha, he said.

If hes out and about, Cuban confessed to ordering a chocolate-dipped soft serve from McDonalds.

Without question my favorite guilty pleasure, he said. If Im stressed, Ill drive around till I finish the first and get a second.

During the Nov. 10 episode of Shark Tank, husband-and-wife team Logan and Chelsea Green came on asking the sharks for a $400,000 investment in their franchise locations for The Yard Milkshake Bar.

The business model is just as it sounds: a buffet-style milkshake bar where customers can concoct the most social-media-worthy ice cream creations. Cuban volunteered to test the product claiming its the one thing hell go hard for, but probably shouldnt, according to Cuban himself.

Considering his usual diet, an over-the-top ice cream treat is likely on his occasional indulgence list. Cubans reaction to the dessert proves why the business has already found success.

We knew people would love our milkshakes, but we didnt think people would line around the block to wait for one, said the owners.

The store has four locations, but their investment request doesnt include the existing stores. This news threw some of the sharks off but Cuban steps up to the plate, offering close to the owners request.

I want you guys to use the $400,000 to open up units and I want 25 percent, not of the existing units, but of the new business, he said.

The couple countered with 20 percent and Cuban came back with 22 percent and a deal was made.

Even though health is a priority, some of Cubans food-related investments include Tom + Chee, a tomato soup and grilled cheese restaurant, Nut N More, a selection of high protein nut butters, and Plated, a food subscription delivery service.

If Cuban invests in something, itll likely hit the big numbers. Plus, anything that looks good enough to photograph like those decadent milkshakes cant be a bad thing.

Original post:
'Shark Tank': Here's the 1 Thing Mark Cuban Goes 'Hard' For, But Probably Shouldn't - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Twenty years ago, I wrote my first book about why women cant have it all, or at least all at once, despite what the culture tells them. (Hint: Its because no one, male or female, can perform two full-time jobs simultaneously without the bottom falling out.)

At the time, the so-called Mommy Wars were raging. Women everywhere whod been sold a bill of goods by their feminist mothers and mentors were either lamenting the futility of being able to successfully work full-time outside the home while maintaining a healthy marriage and family life, or they were defending their choice to work full-time by insisting children do fine in round-the-clock substitute care.

Since then, the messages to women about how to have a happy lifeas it relates to love and sex, work and familyhave merely served to make women miserable. Not only are they unhappier than their mothers and grandmothers ever were, theyre significantly more stressed out; much more so than men.

None of this has done anything to help men and women find their way to one another. Dating in America is all but dead, and marriage is at an all-time low. While theres more than one reason for this sad state of affairs, at the heart of it are the lies feminists have been telling for years. Here are four, in no particular order.

It started with a seemingly comical phrase Gloria Steinem didnt coin but repeatedly used during the height of the 1960s feminist movement: A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Its still alive and well today, whether its Jennifer Aniston talking about how women dont have to fiddle with a man to have that child or Emma Watson talking about self-partnering. Over time, as women began to make their own money and take advantage of the newfound birth control pill, they came to believe that women dont need men.

They were wrong. Biologically, women are wired to depend on menregardless of much life has changed. Most women still want to be mothers, and when they do they become vulnerable. Even today, women know instinctively that they will ultimately need a man if they want to have a family and if they want the option of being home at all, if only for a period of time.

Indeed, research shows that what matters most to womeneven to those who are economically independentis knowing they have a man on whom they can rely. Its the feeling of being safe and in good handsyes, even financiallythat matters most. That is whats known as hypergamy, and it is alive and well in 2019.

The precise moment in history when the relationship between the sexes took a nosedive is when women began to have sex like a mancasually, with no strings attachedunder the guise that women are no different from men and are thus just as capable of having casual sex. Consider this ridiculous Bustle article asserting, based on a dubious study, that men and women are now equally likely to pursue a hookup if approached the right way.

From college campuses to our nations boardrooms, many women today have learned to pursue sex the way men often do: no commitment necessary. And theyre getting burned.

If theres anything that proves this in spades, its the so-called campus rape crisis and the excesses of Me Too. For if it were true that women are just like men in their ability to disentangle sex and emotion, why would campus flings and office dalliances become a cause for the courts rather than a welcome ride?

Its not just our sexuality that confirms the disparate natures of women and men. Parenting proves it in spades. Once a baby arrives, a womans nurturing gene almost always kicks in. Providing for her child emotionally is her first instinct, which is why going back to work so soon is heart-wrenching for mothers.

A fathers reaction is different: his first instinct is to support the family financially. It is not his sole contribution, but its first on his list. Simply put, that men and women may both becapableof performing identical tasks doesnt mean they want to do them with equal fervor. Desire matters.

The biological clock may be politically inconvenient, but that doesnt make it any less real. The ideal age for a woman to get pregnant is 25, noted Gillian Lockwood, medical director at the Midland Fertility Clinic in the U.K., recently: The bleak reality is that the chance of IVF working with your own eggs once you are 40 is absolutely abysmalIn what other branch of medicine would we let, yet alone encourage, patients to pay for an elective operation with a less than five percent chance of working?

Because of this, it stands to reason that men can postpone marriage longer than women can. But we dont tell women this. Instead, we pretend they can map out their lives with career at the center, as men do, as though they wont hit a point in which their ability to conceive will invariably clash with a career. Articles abound with the goal to obscure the biological reality that its easier for women to have babies in their twenties and early thirties.

We lie to women, in other words, to further a political agenda. In doing so, feminists get what they wantfor women to reject maternal desire and to instead produce in the marketplacebut women dont.

Indeed, after decades of following the cultural script, women can often no longer find husbands. Or they cant have babies. Or if they do get married and have babies, they cant stay home with them because they mapped out a life that supported an entirely different goal.

Of all the lies feminists tell, the idea that career success is more fulfilling than marriage and family is by far the greatest. It is almost impossible to convey the depth of this lie, for it too began in the 1960s, this time with Betty Friedans insistence that being a wife and mother is akin to being in a comfortable concentration camp. Since that time, American women have been walloped with a steady diet of words and images that drive Friedans argument home.

Humans are pack animals: we need to feel part of the group to feel good about ourselves. Some of us are content to stand apart from the crowd, but most are not. Ergo, cultural messages matter.

Women are surprised to discover that work isnt nearly as satisfying as they were led to believe.

Since mothering is no longer revered or understood to be something a woman would want to do, let alone should do, women are surprised to discover how heart-wrenching it is to leave their babies and return to work. Theyre surprised to discover that work isnt nearly as satisfying as they were led to believe.

This same sense of unease is felt by single women who cant find a man with whom to settle down. Careers arent fulfilling at all, it turns out, if you wind up in bed at night alone.

Too many women map out their lives with work at the center and eventually wish they hadnt. Sadly, my inbox is loaded with emails from women who tell me they wished someone had told them this sooner.

So, here I am saying it as loudly as I can. Women have been lied to for years, and thats why theyre so unhappy. There is only one solution. Flip your prioritiesput love and family, not work, at the centerand you will win in the game of life. Thats what I did, and it made all the difference.

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4 Feminist Lies That Are Making Women Miserable - The Federalist