The last time any food passed Phil Libins lips was a day ago, when he ate yakitori at a restaurant in San Franciscos Mission district. Hell next eat in three days time on Thursday evening, when he has a reservation at one of the fanciest sushi restaurants in town. In the intervening four days its just water, coffee and black tea.

Over the last eight months the former CEO of Evernote and current CEO of AI studio All Turtles has shunned food for stretches of between two and eight days, interspersed with similar periods of eating. Hes lost almost 90lbs and describes getting into fasting as transformative.

Theres a mild euphoria. Im in a much better mood, my focus is better, and theres a constant supply of energy. I just feel a lot healthier. Its helping me be a better CEO, he said over a cup of black coffee one of many that day at All Turtles Soma office. Getting into fasting is definitely one of the top two or three most important things Ive done in my life.

Libin is one of a growing number of Silicon Valley types experimenting with extended periods of fasting, claiming benefits including weight loss, fewer mood swings and improved productivity.

Intermittent fasting gained popularity with the 5:2 diet, where people eat normally for five days a week and eat a dramatically reduced number of calories (around 500) on the remaining two days. However, Libin and others like him are pushing that idea further and with a focus on performance over weight loss.

Proponents combine fasting with obsessive tracking of vitals including body composition, blood glucose and and ketones compounds produced when the body raids its own fat stores, rather than relying on ingested carbohydrates, for energy.

This, they insist, is not dieting. Its biohacking.

Getting into fasting is definitely one of the top two or three most important things Ive done in my life

Geoffrey Woo, CEO of biohacking and nootropics company HVMN (pronounced human), led a seven-day fast at his company at the start of 2017, along with more than 100 members of WeFast, a community he founded dedicated to intermittent fasting.

Some participants wore continuous glucose monitors, usually worn by diabetics, to check blood glucose levels in realtime using pinprick probes inserted into the skin. They also measured blood elevated ketones, to check that their body was indeed using fat as fuel, a metabolic state known as ketosis.

Ketones are a super-fuel for the brain, said Woo. So a lot of the subjective benefits to fasting, including mental clarity, are down to the rise in ketones in the system.

Woo and others in the company wanted to quantify the impact of fasting on productivity, so they combined the physiological tracking (of ketones and blood sugar) with a piece of software called Rescue Time that measures how productive individuals are at work.

You would think that after seven days of not eating you would be totally distracted and hunting for food, but at around the two or three day mark hunger tapers off as ketone levels are elevating. You are feeding your brain and body with an alternative fuel source. Woo said.

At 511 and 165lbs, Woo doesnt need to lose weight, although he did drop 12lbs over the week. Im focused on longevity and cognitive performance.

Woo now does a weekly 36-hour fast and a quarterly three-day fast. Its given him a better grasp of his own sense of hunger.

We conflate the need to eat with the need to socialize, walk around, take a break and mull on things, he said.

Libin shares his experiences with a WhatsApp group, called Fast Club, made up of around 20 other CEOs and investors in the Bay Area. He would only mention members who had already outed themselves as fasters: Startup investor Y Combinator partner Daniel Gross and Loic Le Meur, cofounder of LeWeb tech conference and founder of Leade.rs, a startup that connects conference organisers with speakers.

It was Le Meur who introduced Libin to fasting over coffee in December 2016. At the time Libin weighed around 260lbs, the heaviest hed ever been, and Le Meur was two-and-a-half days into a fast.

It sounded crazy, said Libin. So I went home and Googled and read a bunch about it because I wanted to prove to him why he was wrong. But I did the research and it seemed plausible.

So he gave it a try.

The first day I felt so hungry I was going to die. The second day I was starving. But I woke up on the third day feeling better than I had in 20 years, he said.

There is a mounting body of scientific research exploring the effects of fasting on the body. Each year dozens of papers are published showing how fasting can help boost the immune system, fight prediabetes and even, at least in mice, slow aging.

However there is also evidence that fasting can be dangerous if not carefully supervised, risking heart failure if supplements of essential minerals like sodium, magnesium and potassium arent ingested. Extended fasting can also increase peoples susceptibility to infection and worsen already damaged kidneys.

San Francisco-based eating disorder specialist Shrein Bahrami was concerned that extended fasting was another fad that could be used as a cover for not eating.

The hyper focus on tracking vital signs and food has become normalized, so its difficult to know when its become obsessive, she said, but people with eating disorders typically feel a lot of shame and other negative emotions around food and body image, which doesnt tally with the experience of people like Libin and Woo.

If you are going to do an extended fast, which I recommend against, then consult a doctor, she added.

Eight months in and Libin finds fasting easy and frequently attends nice dinners with friends where he will only drink water.

We conflate the need to eat with the need to socialize, walk around, take a break and mull on things

People think its torture but its actually really pleasant. I get the social interaction, I can see the food and smell it. All of those things are pleasant, he said. I usually leave a dinner where I eat nothing feeling kind of full.

Does he still have to split the bill? I have done that, yes.

Woos WeFast community now has more than 6,000 members across a Facebook page and Slack channel. Participants discuss the latest research on fasting and share tips and results. WeFast also convenes offline: theres a monthly meet-up in San Francisco where members break fast at a restaurant.

The membership skews, said Woo, towards Silicon Valley engineering types in their twenties and thirties.

In Silicon Valley and other competitive global markets more people are looking at any technique to gain productivity, he added.

We all know that eating a big unhealthy lunch can lead to an afternoon productivity slump, but when people with an engineering mindset start digging into the science of why such carb comas happen they can start to control it.

Instead of hacking computer chips, they can hack their own bodies, he said.

For Libin, fasting is another Silicon Valley trend in the same vein as meditation, which gained popularity a few years ago with the creation of apps such as Headspace.

Theres a general culture here where people believe all problems are solvable, said Libin. You want less stress and anxiety? Theres meditation. You want to live 40 years longer? You can probably do that with fasting.

Around 80% of what people do here turns out to be nonsense but theres a lot of willingness to try.

Now the self-described foodie saves himself for gourmet dining rather than swiftly snaffled sandwiches. I dont have any boring meals any more. Every time I put food in my mouth its unique and special.

So hell eat processed carbohydrates like bagels, but only in New York (the bagels in San Francisco suck) and ramen when hes in Tokyo.

Since coming out as a faster earlier this year, Libin has been inundated with requests from people seeking his advice on how to get started, but he doesnt think it will ever be mainstream in the way meditation has become.

It seems way too extreme, he said. No-one grew up being told that meditation was super bad for you. Everyone grew up hearing fasting was dangerous and super-difficult.

Furthermore, no one makes money when people dont eat.

In this society usually things that work against every entrenched economic interest are hard to take off. said Libin.

You need to be a weirdo like me to get into this.

Read more:
The Silicon Valley execs who don't eat for days: 'It's not dieting, it's biohacking' - The Guardian

September 4 marks the day that Beyonc was born -- 36 years ago.

The pop superstar is likely somewhere opening gifts from her rapper husband, JAY-Z, and her singer sister, Solange. As she should! Beyonc has been giving all of us regular gifts of her own from the very first day she busted onto the music scene in 1997 with her girl group, Destiny's Child.

From words and phrases that seemingly describe everything we're going through, to weight loss regimens that actually work, Queen Bey has blessed us.

On her 36th birthday, we've listed the nine (3 + 6 = 9!) best pop culture gifts Beyonc has given the world, in no particular order:

1. "Boy Bye"

Admit it. You've likely uttered the coupled words, "boy bye," ever since Beyonc defiantly said them in her recent single, "Sorry." The song is from her latest surprise visual album, "Lemonade," which made headlines around the world for the deeply personal topics it explores. It also helps that in the music video for Sorry, Bey was seen with her friend, tennis superstar Serena Williams, dancing to the song, which is centered on a woman moving on after being cheated on.

2. Speaking of Surprise

Bey is the queen of the unexpected. She made "surprise albums" a regular part of the music industry zeitgeist ever since she released her first visual album, "Beyonc," on Dec. 13, 2013 without advanced notice. This was during a time when singers would embark on a worldwide press tour before letting fans hear new music. Since then, Beyonc has continuously surprised fans with her music offerings, including "Lemonade." The move even influenced her husband, JAY-Z, who surprised his fans with his latest album, "4:44," on June 30.

3. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

OK, so to be fair, Beyonc didn't really gift us Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Literary insiders and booklovers had long heard the name before Beyonc took the writer's TED Talk and placed in the middle of her hit song, "Flawless." But the majority of us were introduced to the Nigerian-born feminist thought leader thanks to Bey. In "Flawless," you can hear Ngozi Adichie say: "We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls: 'You can have ambition, but not too much.The speech hit a nerve with many fans.

4. Yellow

It's clear that yellow is Beyonc's color of the moment. Not only did she name her most recent album, "Lemonade," but in one of the most striking visuals from her album, she's seen floating through the streets wearing a bright yellow dress, while swinging a baseball bat no less. It's prompted many fast fashion retailers to stock up on yellow clothes, and even lemon-printed dresses.

5. Embrace Your Belly

Beyonc loves a maternity photo shoot. Fans suspect that she's particularly fond of showing off her pregnancy through photography after a hurtful rumor spread that she faked her pregnancy with 5-year-old daughter Blue Ivy. "That was crazy," Bey told People magazine in 2012 of the fake pregnancy rumors. "It wasnt hurtful, it was just crazy. [I thought] 'Where did they come up with this?'"

6. Double Tap Your Love

The notoriously private singer doesn't do much social media. She's largely mum on Twitter. (Beyonc hasn't tweeted since June 30, and before that she hadn't tweeted since April 2016.) And her Facebook feed appears to be run by a professional, and not the woman herself. Still, Instagram is a platform where Beyonc seemingly gets personal. She definitely uses the photo-sharing social media network more often than any other, often showcasing her fashion choices and behind the scenes photos of her family. It's also the place where Bey announced her pregnancy with twins, Rumi and Sir Carter, who she welcomed to the world back in June.

7. The 22-Day Revolution

Thanks to Beyonc, many slimmed down a bit after she introduced her plant-based diet, "The 22-Day Revolution," which was detailed in exercise physiologist Marco Borges' book. "I am not naturally the thinnest woman," she said on "Good Morning America. "And I have struggled since a young age with diets. And finding something that actually works and actually keeps the weight off has been difficult for me. The plan is based on the theory that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. It advises people to go vegan and avoid gluten, alcohol and soy for 22 days.

8. Youngest Rapper Alive

Beyonc and JAY-Z are also responsible for bringing us the youngest rapper alive -- their 5-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy. The tot debuted her first song, "Blue's Freestyle/We Family," on her father's latest album, "4:44." It's a no brainer that a love of music runs in this family.

9. "Put A Ring On It"

To be fair, the phrase "put a ring on it" definitely existed before Beyonc. But thanks to her 2008 hit, "Single Ladies," it returned in full force to pop culture, reminding men (and women) that if they "like it" they should go ahead and "put a ring on it." The song and it's subsequent Bob Fosse-inspired music video not only prompted many Halloween costumes, but also became a staple at any wedding that year, and still today. Not to mention, the song was covered by many, including "The Chipettes."

Read more:
Beyonce turns 36: 9 pop culture gifts she's given us - ABC News

VERONA When Samantha Willcutt was an undergrad student at Mississippi State University, she waited tables at an upscale restaurant called The Veranda, eventually working her way up to manager.

She saw how really good food made people happy, but she wanted a more intimate setting, so after graduation, she went to work for Zoes Kitchen, which specialized in made-from-scratch, fresh, healthy Mediterranean-type fare.

I traveled around the country, opening new restaurants and managing them for a while, said Willcutt, 37. I was reading about nutrition all the time and what food was doing to my body and other peoples bodies. I wanted to push myself to learn more.

So, after 10 years in the restaurant business, Willcutt headed back to MSU and earned a masters degree in nutrition in 2016.

While I was getting my masters, I did a graduate assistantship in the Office of Nutrition Education at MSU Extension, she said. It was a nice combination of learning about nutrition and helping people. Thats when I said, Yep, this is for me.

In October 2016, Willcutt became one of three regional dietitians Extension hired to help in the fight against obesity and chronic disease in Mississippi.

The state has the second highest adult obesity rate in the nation, according to "The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America" released in August 2017. Mississippi's adult obesity rate is currently 37.3 percent, up from 23.7 percent in 2000 and from 15 percent in 1990.

Willcutt oversees the northeast region of the state. Two others came on board this summer: Kaitlin DeWitt oversees the southeast region and Juaqula Madkin manages the southwest region. The northwest position hasnt been filled yet.

Through the Office of Nutrition Education, they oversee Extensions Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, or SNAP-Ed. They work with SNAP-Ed nutrition educators in county offices to help coordinate efforts to teach low-resource families ways to improve their diets, increase physical activity and manage their food resources.

When Sylvia Byrd was hired as the director in 2015, she brought a new attitude to the SNAP-Ed program, said Willcutt, a Starkville native. She didnt just want us focused on education. She wanted to expand the efforts and implemented PSE policy, systems and environment all moving parts that work together. Policy influences the system, which changes the environment.

For example, Willcutt said, if a school has a rule that says students cant bring sugary treats to school for parties, thats a policy. So the school has to have a plan to implement the policy, which affects the system. In turn, the students are offered healthier snacks at parties, which makes a healthier environment.

Fighting obesity is probably the hardest thing this state is going to have to do, Willcutt said. The problem isnt going to be solved tomorrow, or next year or even five years from now. In my opinion, it may be 20 years away. In the South, food is how you show love, and thats usually high-fat, high-calorie comfort food. That mindset is hard to change.

One way SNAP-Ed is hoping to make a difference is by partnering with the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, which uses strategies to increase school lunch participation, improve consumption of healthy food and reduce food waste.

It uses behavioral economics, Willcutt said. You take the healthiest food and put it at the front of the lunch line, make it first, front and center. You make it appealing. You have posters in the lunchroom with pictures of fruits and vegetables. Children still get to make choices, but youre just nudging them toward a healthier choice.

This fall, SNAP-Ed hopes to offer a free six-week program for adults called Cooking Matters, where limited-resource participants will learn to navigate a grocery store and to cook easy, healthful, low-cost meals.

This is a full-on fight at every corner at every level, Willcutt said. Our logic model is to get the kids when theyre young mostly in elementary schools but we hope to expand and work with them as they grow. Were not just going after elementary students, but their parents and caregivers, too. It wont work if the adults dont buy in.

Continued here:
Dietitian hopes to help lower state's obesity rate - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

Asthey say, old habits die-hard. Unless you have chosen to follow an eating planthat you can see yourself following forever more, you are likely to retire toyour old ways when the expiry date on your diet is reached.

Aspredictable as it may sound, you want to start a diet that isnt really a dietat all, but rather a lifestyle change.

Weight-loss, when it is happening, is very exciting and motivating, butonce you get to weight maintenance often the hard work needs to begin andreality sinks in that the changes that were made to your eating habits now needto become your forever.

The weight that youve lost is only viewed assuccessful, once you have kept it off for an entire year.

1.How do people do it?

TheNational Weight Control Registryis a long-term study which currently observes over 10 000 people who have lost a significant amount of weight and managed to keep it off.

The following arethe research findings that have helped them keep on the straight and narrow:

2.Are you eating to fight disease, orfeed it?

Mostof your food should be minimally processed, eaten as it is found in nature, andis mostly plant based.

3.Does it pinch your pocket?

Believeit or not, healthy can actually be cost-effective. To save on your food bill try focusing lesson grass-fed, organic and free from foods (free from gluten/wheat/lactose etc),and rather include minimally processed whole foods that are seasonal, that canbe bought in bulk (and shared), and plant yourself a vegetable garden.

Once you are aware of them, small changes inyour shopping list can have a significant effect on the weight of yourwallet. Take for example swapping yourfillet of salmon, for a few pilchards (of which the omega-3 content is similar) your per portion cost drops from approximately R40 to R3.50.

A similarly easy swap with very little impacton health outcome is swapping your olive oil (approx. R150/L) for canola oil (approx.R22/L).

4.Does following it make you a hermit?

Isyour diet one that can only be followed if you dedicate all your time topreparing your intricate meals? Issocializing difficult to do because of all your restrictions? Although you may be able to follow this for ashort period of time, eventually the natural need to socialize and be withothers will take over and adherence to your diet will wane.

Find a way of eating that doesnt just suityou, but also your family, and allows you the flexibility to still enjoy eatingmeals out with others.

5.Is it a miracle-worker?

Ifthe new diet you have decided to embark on has one or more of the followingcharacteristics you may be chasing a fad diet which is both unsafe andunsustainable:

Image credit: iStock

This article is provided through asponsorship from Pfizer in the interests of continuousmedical education. NotwithstandingPfizer's sponsorship of this publication, neither Pfizernor its subsidiary or affiliatedcompanies shall be liable for any damages, claims, liabilities,costs or obligations arising from themisuse of the information provided in this publication.Readers are advised to consult theirhealth care practitioner for specific information onpersonal health matters as this is notthe intention or purpose of the publication. Specificmedical advice or recommendations onthe clinical management of patients will not beprovided by Pfizer. In this regardPfizer does not support the use of products for off abelindications, nor dosing which fallsoutside the approved label ecommendations and readersmust refer to the Package Insert ofany product for full prescribing guidelines

Follow this link:
5 Things to consider when choosing a diet - Health24