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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The YASS Cat-apult.(Photo: ThinkGeek)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Bonkers New Coffee Has 300 Percent More Caffeine Than Your Morning Starbucks

The extended pop-up at Chefs Club Counter ran out of eggs in two hours.

Your food agenda for the month.

The owner says they were making his classy Italian spot feel like the local pizzeria.

Yes, you can buy them whether theyre legit is another question.

Owner Danone has to dump it in order to acquire WhiteWave Foods.

Test yourself.

This is a mai tai where all the attributes are cranked as hard as they can go

A Texas start-up is selling them in flavors like Texas BBQ and Sour Cream & Onion.

The traditional dishes are small in size, numerous in number, and best enjoyed with a glass of wine, or three, at the bar.

Find out where to eat in our weekly ranking of the citys most important restaurants.

Im getting my photo taken for this article at Pho Tan Hoa, my regular pho spot in the Tenderloin, so you might even call it a pho-to.

First it was ramen burgers, but this seems like it just goes too far.

Were assured these will be crime-free establishments.

Quarter Pounders will get fresh beef by mid 2018.

Smart move.

Stunt or no, the experience is surprisingly fun (and tasty).

In an unusual move, Tom Cat Bakery employees have taken the fight public.

The all-day restaurant opens tomorrow with flaxseed chilaquiles in the morning and pambazos for lunch.

Go here to read the rest:
Writer Rachel Khong Is 'Probably 50 Percent Pho' - Grub Street

Killer of the post-spring break bloat

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

These are supposed to be boyfriend jeans fml

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kissing away my food and my sanity like

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@tianathefirst

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

You probably know that Americans consume way too much salt, but a new U.S. government report points the finger at some surprising sources of salt in the diet.

The report said the top 5 culprits were:

Surprisingly, potato chips, pretzels and other obviously salty snacks didnt make it into the top five, though they did ring in at number 7.

Most Americans are consuming too much salt and its coming from a lot of commonly consumed foods about 25 foods contribute the majority of salt, said lead researcher Zerleen Quader. Shes an analyst from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Knowing which foods contribute the most salt is important for reducing your salt intake, she said.

Sodium is an essential mineral that helps the body maintain fluid balance, according to the American Heart Association. But, too much in the diet increases the risk for high blood pressure, which in turn boosts the risk for heart attack and stroke. Table salt contains about 40 percent sodium. One teaspoon of table salt has 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium, which is the maximum amount recommended by health experts.

The new CDC report found that in 2013-2014, Americans consumed about 3,400 mg of salt daily. That far exceeds the recommended amount, and is more than double the American Heart Associations ideal intake of 1,500 mg daily.

And, clearly, all that salt doesnt come from the salt shaker. Most comes from packaged, processed and restaurant foods, the report said.

Many of these foods contain moderate amounts of salt, but are eaten all day long, Quader said. Its not necessarily that foods such as bread are high in salt, but eating several slices a day quickly adds to the total amount of salt you consume.

One way to reduce salt is to pay attention to food labels when shopping and choose the lowest salt option, Quader suggested.

When cooking at home, use fresh herbs and other substitutes for salt. When eating out, you can ask for meals with lower salt, she added.

Quader said the food industry can help by lowering the amount of salt it adds to its products. Gradually reducing salt in foods can help prevent high blood pressure (hypertension) and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and wont even be noticed by consumers, she said.

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A new study finds that nearly 75 percent of pre-packaged meals and snacks for toddlers have too much salt. A big concern is children who eat a hi...

The CDC researchers found that 44 percent of the salt people eat comes from just 10 foods. These include bread made with yeast, pizza, sandwiches, cold cuts and cured meats, soups, burritos and tacos, salted snacks, chicken, cheese, eggs and omelets.

Seventy percent of salt in the diet is from 25 foods, the report said. Some of the foods included in the top 25 are bacon, salad dressing, French fries and cereal, the researchers found.

In addition, 61 percent of the salt consumed daily comes from store-prepared foods and restaurant meals. Restaurants have the saltiest foods, Quader said.

Processed foods not only raise blood pressure, but may also increase the risk for cancer, one nutritionist said.

Samantha Heller is a senior clinical nutritionist at New York University Medical Center in New York City.

Processed meats such as bologna, ham, bacon and sausage, and hot dogs have been classified as carcinogens by the World Health Organization, Heller said.

In addition, these and other highly processed foods are huge contributors to the excess salt in the Western diet.

Parents need to understand that feeding hot dogs, fries, and ham and cheese sandwiches to their kids (and themselves) is significantly increasing their risk for certain cancers, hypertension and heart disease, Heller said.

Lowering salt in your diet is as simple and as difficult as cooking at home and using fresh ingredients, as often as possible, she suggested.

This can save money and time in the long run, and certainly is better for our health, Heller said. It may take some time to re-pattern your shopping and eating habits, but your health is worth it.

The report was published March 31 in the CDCsMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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The top 5 sources of salt in US diet (potato chips didn't make the list) - CBS News