Its not hard to find food and drinks in the grocery store as being touted as rich in antioxidants. Blueberries, green tea, you know the drill. The underlying message is clear: foods containing antioxidants are better for your overall health. Even red wine and chocolate are sometimes touted for this supposed nutritional benefit. But what are antioxidants, exactly? And do they actually make wine good for you?

At the most basic level, antioxidants are tiny chemical compounds that neutralize free radicals, unstable molecules produced within the body that can damage cells. Free radicals are thought to play a role in several chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. A wide variety of vitamins, minerals, and other substancesincluding C and E, zinc, selenium, beta-carotenes, lutein, and moreserve as antioxidants, and are routinely highlighted on food packaging and hawked as supplements. A diet rich in antioxidants, therefore, should help delay or even prevent disease. Right?

Well, before you start guzzling chocolate syrup and housing vitamin E pills, here are some antioxidant basics to consider.

The Radical Truth

The 1990s were wild times: Flannel was high fashion and antioxidants suddenly got sexy. The main reason comes back to the relationship between antioxidants and free radicals. Free radicals are oxygen-containing molecules that are formed during natural processes: The body produces them as it converts food into energy. You also produce them during exercise as well as a result of environmental exposure to things like sunlight and tobacco smoke.

The radical refers to the basic chemistry of these moleculesfree radicals are unstable because they have an uneven number of electrons. Through oxidation, free radicals react with other molecules in the body by stealing their electrons. For the most part, this is normal, and even beneficial in some circumstances. (For instance, free radicals are generated by the immune system as it begins to fight invaders help destroy viruses.)

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Too many free radicals in the body, however, lead to a state oxidative stress. Left unchecked, free radicals will chew up proteins, lipids, pieces of DNA, cell membranespretty much anything that ensures the bodys cells are healthy and performing adequately. If youre looking for the appropriate metaphor, bite into an apple and let it sit in the sun for a few minutes: The insides of that juicy Golden Delicious will undoubtedly oxidize and turn an unappetizing brown color. Now imagine that happening inside your body.

Enter the humble antioxidant. We extract these from foods, and theyre powerful free-radical fighters because they willingly surrender some of their own electrons to free radicals. A balance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body keeps oxidative stress in check. During the Clinton years, scientists began to link free-radical damage to the initial stages of atherosclerosis and a few other chronic diseases. Some studies showed that people who ate fewer antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables were at a greater risk of developing these diseases. Subsequently there was a push to not only better understand antioxidants, but also to figure out whether supplemental forms of antioxidants would stave off chronic disease.

Supplement Your Diet (But Not With Supplements)

A bunch of studies measuring the effects of antioxidants delivered via supplement delivered, well, mixed results. Clinical trials of beta-carotenes sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and completed in the 1990s showed no protection against heart disease or cancer. Another, later study, this time of vitamins E and C, found no reduction in major cardiovascular events like heart attack or stroke in 14,000 physicians aged 50 and older. (The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health has a good rundown of all the studies and what they found.)

So what gives? Its important to note that the term antioxidant, as the Harvard Medical School points out, reflects a chemical property rather than a specific nutritional property. They act as electron donors in their quest to neutralize free radicals. In other words, you cant gorge yourself on the things. And products labeled as antioxidant-rich, as if antioxidants are some specific nutrient that were added to them, are misleading at best.

But many foods contain the antioxidantsthe vitamins, zinc, beta-carotenes, flavonoids, and other substancesthat are beneficial to your health. So instead of popping milligrams upon milligrams of supplements, prioritize eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Broccoli and leafy greens are good sources of vitamin C. Chicken has lots of zinc. Almonds and avocado provide vitamin E, while, yes, berries and green tea contain polyphenolsa fancy word for plant chemicalsthat act as antioxidants.

It's kind of a boring answer, but like so many nutritional questions, eating a varied diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein is ultimately your best source of antioxidant protection. Chocolate and pinot noir in moderation never killed anyone, but don't go looking for any nutritional bonus points.

How to Overhaul Your Diet With Intermittent Fasting

It's the hottest diet around right nowbut know the science behind it isn't a slam dunk.

Originally Appeared on GQ

Read the rest here:
Here's the Best Way to Get More Antioxidants Into Your Diet - Yahoo Lifestyle

Absolutely. China has so much to offerI didnt even fully appreciate that as a Chinese person until I started studying, and now the more I study, the more Im just fascinated. Like, 80 percent of trendy superfoods have roots in Chinese culture.

China invented everything!

Kombucha: Everybody drinks it, and it was invented in China! I get goose bumps when I think about the potential of wellness culture in China. China is not very good at letting other people know what we have, which is such a shame to me.

TCM here is honestly very whitewashed. TCM is actually very creativeits an art or philosophy, but thats hard to convey, because the entire logic behind it is built upon the Chinese language, and you know how intricate the language is. So Ive just been trying to be the translator.

And not just language, but an entire worldview

Oh, absolutely. You know the Chinese nutritional concept of heating and cooling? For a Chinese person, its in our language, we automatically understand it. But I realized a lot of Americans have no idea what this meansWhat do you mean Im heated?

When did you make the transition from learning for yourself to coming up with a business concept for sharing your knowledge with everybody else?

About two years ago, when I started hosting dinners in my apartment. The first dinner was for my friends, and the second meal I advertised on Instagram, so that was the first time I got paid. From the dinners, and continuing to post content, brands started approaching me for consulting and promotions, and it got bigger.

It sounds very organic, as if you didnt set out to capital-B Build a Brand.

I probably should have been more intentional about building a brand, but thats just not megrowing organically feels better. And since Im passionate about education, my company, Five Seasons TCM, continues to offer a lot of free resources. My goals are simple: to make people feel more joy around food, to make them feel more knowledgeable around healthy eating, and to show the beauty of China.

Ever since you started posting the seasonal points on your Instagram, Ive paid more attention to the outside world and to my body. I think living in America, I had lost those instincts. Following your seasonal eating guide has made me realize how much better I feel going into this winter, but also how much of that philosophy my family followed without even thinking about it. It turns out that Chinese cuisine is already built around the seasonal points!

Exactly! Especially holiday foods, which are always seasonal. And thats true here too. For example, with Thanksgiving, you have pumpkin and warming spices, which are seasonally appropriate. But aside from holidays, eating is so nonseasonal here. Many of my consulting clients ate the same thing every daythey want three vegetables they can eat all year. Dieting takes peoples attention away from the natural world and puts the focus on food groups.

Actually, a lot of my followers are Chinese Americans. As you said, they tell me they know their roots a little better through me.

You must also get a lot of thirstiness from the mainstream wellness space. I feel like a lot of companies see someone doing something interesting and authentic, and they try to turn it into a trend.

It can be very superficial enthusiasm, like OMG!!! but without really trying to understand or learn these ingredients, this philosophy, and it shows when some of the collaboration requests I get are so off base from what I believe in. I also personally hate start-up culturepitch decks, seed roundsit drives me crazy. Its so much more about the numbers and the fundraising than actually what youre doing.

Originally posted here:
Zoey Gong Wants to Bring Joy and Connection Back to Our Diets With Traditional Chinese Medicine - Bon Appetit

Dr. Mike Molloy is a nutrition coach who has worked with professional athletes including Icelandic weightlifter and CrossFit athlete Sara Sigmundsdottir, CrossFitter and UK's fittest man Zack George, Brazilian goalkeeper Aline Reis, world judo champion An Changrim, 4th fittest woman on earth Haley Adams, and more.

From weight lifters to wake surfers and freeskiers to footballers, Molloy has helped a wide variety of professional athletes nail their nutrition so they can perform at their peak but also enjoy their lifestyle.

Many of the principles used by elite athletes apply just as much to the rest of us, and by learning from the pros we can all develop healthier eating practices and mindsets around food.

Many people presume elite athletes consume all sorts of supplements and follow peculiar food rules, but this isn't generally the case.

For the most part, athletes are focused on doing the basics really well: eating a high quality, balanced diet, consuming enough protein, and staying hydrated.

Read more: The UK's fittest man eats 4,000 calories a day. Here's what his diet looks like.

According to Molloy, it's a misconception that all professional athletes have private chefs (only the biggest stars do), so they're focused on complementing their training by minimizing processed foods, drinking lots of water, and sleeping well.

"Sleep and hydration might seem tangential to nutrition, but they are incredibly important for driving good nutritional behaviors," Molloy told Insider.

The difference between athletes and the average person is that their livelihood depends on their physical performance, and although that can be a motivator to eat well, we can all approach our diets that way.

Athletes are focused on eating for performance, rather than aesthetics.

"They aren't sitting there thinking, 'How can I be lighter and leaner?' they're focused on fueling their life, which is driven by performance," Molloy said.

Dr. Mike Molloy is is the founder of nutrition coaching business M2 Performance Nutrition. Dr Mike Molloy

And this mindset is a critical component for eating well.

"It's not restriction-based, it's goal-oriented. Not 'How can I eat as little as possible?' but 'How can I eat the right amount to fuel my training so that I'm energized throughout the day, not feeling sluggish, and I'm not hangry?'"

Depending on the athlete and the event, Molloy might ask one of his clients to really dial in their nutrition in the few weeks leading up to a competition, but the rest of the time, there are no foods off the table.

So yes, that means athletes eat pizza and ice cream too. And critically, they don't freak out about it, feel guilty afterwards, and fall into a binge-restrict cycle.

A post shared by Sara Sigmundsdottir (@sarasigmunds)

"It's not about never going out for dinner or never eating chocolate, we just build it into their routine," Molloy said."As serious as they are as athletes, it's not about being perfect."

He continued: "Maybe two months before their real peak of their season, that's when we start to really dial in as much as possible. Maybe the ice cream gets replaced with white rice or oats."

Read more: The 5 principles that helped Tia-Clair Toomey become the fittest woman in the world and how she trains to stay there

The approach taken by Molloy and these athletes is about creating long-term plans that work for their life, so no one is ever told they can't have pizza.

"If elite athletes are doing this and still able to perform at their best and train at their best, it's the same for the average person," said Molloy. "It's not about perfection, it's about progress."

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The 3 nutrition rules professional athletes swear by that we can all use to eat healthier - Insider - Insider

If you want to eat to be heart healthier, starting today, stock these foods and eat them daily, since each one has provenbenefits thatwhenadded into a whole-foods, plant-based diet and eaten regularly over timewill help lower your cholesterol,reduce chronic inflammation on a cellular level, and increase your energy, by delivering nutrients in a fiber-filled package.

When you eat a mostly whole-food, plant-based diet, your body begins to run more smoothly, burn fat faster, and feel less sluggish than if you eat a diet high in animal fat, processed food, and simple sugars. To be heart healthy in the future and feel great now, add these 8 foods to your daily diet, according to Dr. Loretta T. Friedman,founder ofSynergy Health Associates.

Dr. Loretta, as she asks her patients to call her,has been in clinical practice for over 25 years, having once served as a nurse in a transplant center and later opening her chiropractic practice in 1994. She has a masters degree in nutrition and is an expert in womens health. Dr. Lorettatreats patients seeking help with metabolic detoxification, anti-aging, and lymphatic drainage. In an interview with The Beet last fall, Dr. Loretta explained that her inspiration for helping people improve their dietsstarted when she was a nurse andshe witnessed first-hand whatcleaning up one's diet can do to overall health and wellbeing.

When she was an OR nurse, workingin cardiothoracic surgery, open-heart surgery, and kidney transplants out at UCSF San Francisco, she witnessed the dramatic health changes that occurred when patients drastically changed their diets.Cleaning up your diet, before you get sick is the best form of medicine since an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Here are Dr. Loretta's top 8 foods to eat to be heart-healthy now and later.

Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries are jam-packed with important antioxidants that play a central role in heart health.

Blueberriesare also rich in nutrients likeVitamin K, which is also great for prostate health,

Raspberries are full of fiber. A quartercup of organic raspberries has the equivalent amount of fiber as 6 bran muffins, which helpsto reduce cholesterol. Berries as a whole protect against the oxidative stress and inflammation that contribute to the development of heart disease

Leafy green vegetables, like organic spinach, kale, and collard greens are well-known for their wealth of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Their phytochemicals are linked with cardiovascular benefits.

High levels of Vitamin K in green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale is good for heart health. A study hasshown that deficient amounts of Vitamin K can lead to a condition called left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH), which is an enlargement of the left ventricle of the heart, even among young people, putting them at increased risk of heart disease.

Common types of whole grains include quinoa and kaniwa which are low on the inflammation scale, meaning eating them actually helps fight chronic inflammation in the body, which occurs on a cellular level, making it a silent symptom that can lead to high blood pressure and other diseases.

All other (non-whole) grains are high on the inflammatory scale, so don't confuse quinoa or brown rice with cereals that use the word "grains" on the box, but are overly processed and full of added sugars.

Some people stay away from avocados because they're high in fat, but in fact, avocadosare an excellent source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, which have been linked to reduced levels of cholesterol and a lower risk of heart disease. Eating an avocado a day may even help your body burn fat as fuel. (Fats can be confusing, since saturated fat, found in animal products like meat and dairy, is unhealthy and is the precursor to high cholesterol, and clogging of the arteries (or plaque blockages.) The opposite is true of many plant-based fats, which are either mono- or poly-unsaturated fats, and which offer your body healthy calories and fuel without sticking to the inside of your blood vessels. So enjoy avocados, nuts, olives, and seeds, all of which contain healthy fats.

If you don't eat fish because you are taking a fully plant-based approach, then you can still get your Omega-3 Fatty Acids from flax seeds, which areloaded with omega-3 fatty acids. There is a mountain of research showing that Omega-3 helps counter-balance the junk food and chemicals that get broken down into Omega 6s in the body.

So while you need a range of healthy fats, the one you're least likely to already be getting from food is Omega-3, which has beencredited as reducinginflammation and helping boost brain health

Walnuts are a great source of fiber and micronutrients like magnesium, copper, and manganese, which help your body function at its optimal level. Walnuts alsocontain Omega-3, a natural anti-inflammatory in the body. Research shows that incorporating a few servings of walnuts in your diet can help protect against heart disease.

In a large study on nuts and health, researchers looked at the dietary habits of 210,000 health professionals and found that people who ate one ounce of nuts five or more times a week had a 20% lower risk of coronary heart disease. Walnuts are also good for brain health.

Multiple studies have also found that eating beans can reduce risk factors for heart disease. Beans contain resistant starch, which resists digestion and is fermented by the beneficial bacteria in your gut. According to some animal studies, resistant starch can improve heart health by decreasing blood levels of triglycerides and cholesterol.

Alllegumes reduce the risk for heart disease and high blood pressure, according to areviewpublished inAdvances in Nutrition. People who ate the mostbeans orlegumeshad 10 percent lower rates ofheart disease compared to those whoate the least amount of beans.

Dark Chocolate is rich in antioxidants, especially flavonoids, which can help boost heart health. Eating a little bit of dark chocolate a day appears to reduce blood pressure, according to the Cleveland Clinic. And one study out of Finlandshows that dark chocolate may reduce strokes, while anotherDutch study found that eating 6 ounces of dar cocoa powder a week lowered the risk of irregular heartbeat. So, finish your meal with a small square or two of the purest dark chocolate you can find.

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The 8 Foods to Eat to Prevent Heart Disease According to a Doctor - The Beet

Back in 2014, questions were being asked about just how long then-37-year-old Tom Brady could carry on playing pro football and the quarterback wasnt happy. When I suck, Ill retire, he said. [But] I dont plan on sucking for a long time.

Nearly seven years on and Tom Brady will, on Sunday evening, attempt to break his own record as the oldest QB ever to win a Super Bowl when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the reigning champs, the Kansas City Chiefs, on the Bucs home turf.

Suffice to say, Brady is one of a kind, a phenomenon who shows no sign of slowing down any time soon in a sport where longevity is rare. Thats why he landed a two-year, $50 million deal with Tampa last March, making it likely hell still be playing when hes 45.

Put simply, Brady is an obsessive a man with a plan and the determination (and money) to execute it, as John Burns, CEO of Bradys TB12 health and wellness organization, explains.

Toms sustained success over the past 20-plus years is a testament to his incredible drive and his meticulous approach to everything he does. Burns said. Its that mindset that allows him to keep going.

When Brady in 2002 won the first of his record six Super Bowls, George W. Bush was president, Justin Timberlake was still a member of NSYNC, and Chiefs MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes was 6 years old.

But nearly two decades later, Brady is still there, doing what he does better than pretty much anyone else at a remarkable 43 years old.

Heres how he does it.

Its been said that trainer Alex Guerrero knows Tom Bradys body better than the QBs wife, Gisele Bndchen. As well as being his business partner in the TB12 health-and-wellness brand including a chain of fitness centers that they plan to expand across the US Guerrero has been described by Brady as his body engineer.

Hes micromanaged the athletes training schedule months and even years in advance.An average day will begin early with a pre-workout deep force massage session with Guerrero. It only lasts four minutes but targets 20 muscle groups for around 20 seconds each. It helps prepare Bradys body for an intense workout, beginning with 40 minutes of resistance bands, to make muscles more pliable, soft and resilient.

As the quarterback has aged, he works out less with weights, which could leave him prone to muscle tears. Now its all about planks, lunges and squats, followed by more pliability exercises, such as doing crunches with a vibrating roller beneath his back.

After, theres another massage, this time with the focus of flushing out the lactic acid that builds up during exercise, to help improve muscle recovery time.

During the NFL season, hell work out with teammates in the afternoon. Off season, he might get in some surfing. Theres also another pliability session, to improve muscle recovery time, before bed.

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Thousands of off-roading enthusiasts and rock climbers are defying lockdown...

While theres no denying that Bradys spartan diet has played a major part in prolonging his playing career, some of his former New England Patriots teammates thought it obsessive and unappetizing or as one put it, that birdseed st.

Caffeine is off the table. So is white flour, white sugar, dairy products and anything with gluten. He steers clear of veggies tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, mushrooms that could cause inflammation. Everything has to be organic. Brady each day tries to drink a couple of hundred ounces of water, usually enhanced with electrolytes. (He sells those, along with various nutritional supplements, through his TB12 site.)

Allen Campbell was Bradys personal chef from 2013 to 2016 and helped him to create the TB12 Nutrition Manual, published in 2017. He told The Post that, at this time of year, We focused on dark leafy greens, some grass-fed animal protein as well as legumes and whole grains.

But thats not what Brady will eat before the Super Bowl. His game-day meals are even more basic: a smoothie and a sandwich of almond butter and jelly.

Its all a far cry from his rookie season in 2000; Brady admitted that his pregame snack used to be nachos while his default lunch was ham-and-cheese subs with onion rings and a large orange soda.

So does he ever cheat on his diet now?

If Im craving bacon, I have a piece, he told Mens Health last year. Same goes for pizza. Whats changed as Ive gotten older is now if I want pizza, I want the best pizza, Brady added. I dont eat a slice that tastes like shit and then wonder, Why am I eating st pizza?

Tom talks often of his love for a good burger and dark chocolate, Campbell told The Post. Specifically, the QB has said hes into Unreal Chocolate, a brand of vegan, gluten-free, low-sugar candies.

Brady sticks to an 80/20 (plant-based/animal protein) diet. Even his favorite ice cream is plant-based, made from avocado with a little cacao mixed in so it tastes like chocolate.

Besides having worked with a life coach in the past, Brady practices transcendental meditation, striving to become what Guerrero has described as emotionally stable and spiritually nourished.

Hes also had neuroscans so he can better understand the way his brain processes information and create strategies to improve that.

Brady exercises his brain using apps such as BrainHQ. Although the app was designed to help those with brain conditions such as cognitive damage or memory loss, Brady has used it to sharpen his reactions working his way through two dozen brain games or more each day.

Tom explained it like this, said Henry Mahncke, CEO of the apps creators, Posit Science. When he gets the [ball], he remembers the play, then he has to scan the field, locate the receivers, figure out which ones are on their routes and which are open, and make the pass. All in about three seconds.

Brady loves sleeping. Before his first Super Bowl in 2002, he even took a nap in the locker room only to be woken up with just 12 minutes left before the Patriots were due on the field.

These days, he hits the hay at 8:30 each night and wakes at 5:30 a.m. But everything has to be right. From sleeping on a mattress with a layer of diamond memory foam to setting the bedroom thermostat to between 60 and 65 degrees and shutting down all digital distractions at least 30 minutes before he retires, Brady is as obsessive about sleep as he is about, well, everything else in his life.

And then theres his magic pajamas: bioceramic-infused sleepwear made by Under Armourto increase energy, promote recovery and improve performance. And you can, too, can sleep like Tom, although a complete set will set you back nearly $200.

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Everything we know about Tom Brady's extreme diet and fitness routines - New York Post

February is heart disease month in the US,and if you're not living in a bubble, you hearover and over againthat nearly half of all Americans are suffering from some type of heart disease, be it high cholesterol, plaque blockages in their arteries, high blood pressure, oran elevated risk ofheart attack or store.

That's not you? Awesome. But you should still care about heart disease anyway, and here's why: It happens early, it takes a long time to show up, but what you eat now and how active you are day-to-day, affects your chances of developing some kind of heart disease later. We hear a lot about "gut health," and the microbiome, but it turns out we really should be obsessing over "vascular health" and the endothelial cells that line all of our blood vessels, from the arteries that move blood in and out of the heart and lungs, down to the capillaries that keep our skin flush and clear, our fingers from freezing on a chairlift, and our muscles oxygenated during a tough spin class.

That's the message of Dr. John Cooke, who isChairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at Houston Methodist Research Institute, part ofthe Texas Medical Center, as well asProfessor of Cardiovascular Sciences, and Member of the Academic Institute Director of theCenter for Cardiovascular Regeneration. Dr. Cooke explains that the endothelial cells should be as much a part of our vernacular as the "microbiome" is for gut health. These endothelial cells form a single cell layer of coating, that lines all the blood vessels of the body and regulates exchanges between the bloodstream and the surrounding tissues. When your blood is healthy the coating acts like Teflon to smoothly carry blood to where it needs to go (the muscles, or skin, say) and when it is unhealthy, because of your diet or another inflammatory event (an injury or disease) the endothelial cells become like velcro, and catch substances that lead to the formation of plaque, blockages, high blood pressure and heart disease.

The connection between gut health and heart health happens in the way your body carries nutrients to your cells -- meaning in your vascular system. Eat plant-based foods and the gut bacteria signals the body to keep that Teflon nice and smooth. Eat junk food and high-animal-fat foods and your blood vessels react by constricting, and the endothelial cells become sticky, catching fat and other cells that lead to plaque -- and in the years to come you'll see stroke risk and heart attack risk go up, along with dementia, cancer and other diseases that result from not eating healthy now.

Dr. Cooke tells us that even if we don't have heart disease, it can be present early on in sneaky ways like fat streaks that show up in the blood vessels of teenagers and young adults who eat a daily diet of junk food, high-fat foods that are derived from animal products, and don't eat enough vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. In other words, what we eat in the first half of our life determines how healthy we are in our second half. That does not mean it's ever too late to start to eat healthily, but it does mean that the sooner you switch to a mostly plant-based diet and avoid the junk food, the healthier your endothelial cells, and the rest of you, will be.

The fact that heart disease kills Americans at a rate like no other disease, and affects 48 percent of us,and kills 650,000 Americans a year (if you include stroke), does not even make a dent in the consciousness ofsomeone under the age of 30.Or even in some cases,under the age of 40. Yet if doctors who treat cardiovascular disease are to be heeded, more of us are walking around with the early stages of heart disease and we just don't even know it. Even teenagers can have the beginnings of symptoms if you look at what's happening in their blood vessels, their blood lipids and their overall inflammation, and early marker of heart disease. So while half of Americans sounds high it does not even begin to describe the grim reality that two-thirds of Americans likely have some form of early or later stage heart disease or lack of heart health. It's just that many of us don't know it yet.

That's where Dr. Cooke comes in. If it were up to him, Americans would be as obsessed about their vascular health as we are our gut health. In short: What happens in the blood vessels does not stay in the blood vessels. It actually determines everything related to blood flow and oxygen delivery to the cells, from your athletic stamina and endurance to your ability to get oxygen to the brain, and sustain your focus, to the ability of your skin to stay clear and young-looking. It also determines whether or not your body starts to build up plaque in the blood vessels (one of the harbingers of heart disease) or stays clean and smooth, relaxed, and healthy, with your blood flowing in a healthy, low-blood-pressure state.

Blood Vessels are lined with a single cell coating, which acts like Teflon, called the endothelium, but which, if there is inflammation, infection, injury, or a chronic state of unhealthy food coming into the body, starts to act more like velcro, Dr. Cooke explains. That's when things don't flow smoothly and the blood vessels get sticky, essentially, and hold onto the fat flowing through them, creating plaque, and ultimately blockages, that eventually lead to a heart attack or stroke. This doesn't happen quickly but over time, so what shows up in your 40s, 50s, 60s or 70s started way back when you were in high school and grabbed a bag of chips.

Dr. Cooke:The blood vessels are absolutely critical because they supply the nutrients and oxygen for all the organs in the body. If you were to -- I should say the lining of the blood vessel is also very important. Something Ive been studying for over 30 years. The lining of the blood vessels called the endothelium. That tissue is just a single cell layer thick. You cant see it with your naked eye. Its just a single cell thickness. And it is this film of tissue that is very delicate but it exerts tremendous control over your blood vessels and you need to keep that healthy--that endothelium-- and we can talk about that.

Athletes, especially endurance athletes, talk about their VO2 max and how much blood-oxygen you can deliver to your muscles in the middle of a workout. And then theres obviouslythose patients who have cardiovascular disease, who have either blockages or high cholesterol. I think we should speak to both, and everyone in the middle. So, we at The Beet espouse a plant-based or mostly plant-based diet or eating heavily plant-based as a way of eating for heart health. How would eating plant-based foods help your blood vessels and that endothelium stay healthy?

Dr. Cooke: Well they do: plant foods help your blood vessels stay healthy. What we are talking about is important for everybody. Even if you are super fit, or you are healthy, or you are not. Because the lining of your blood vessels is the Teflon coating of your blood vessels. It allows the blood to flow smoothly. It causes the relaxation of your blood vessels, so they are wide open. It also prevents things from sticking--it truly is the Teflon coating of the blood vessels. It prevents platelets from sticking, white blood cells from sticking. It prevents blood clots. It prevents inflammation because inflammation starts with the white blood cells adhering to the endothelium, the lining of the blood vessel.

But no one has ever explained to me how inflammation leads to disease. They just say oh inflammation its involved with all major lifestyle diseases but nobodys ever explained how.

Dr. Cooke: Blood cells are circulating through our blood vessels all the time and they are surveilling for problems. And if there is a problem, then the endothelium is what signals to them to come to that particular site in the tissue [to start to repair it]. All of our tissues have blood vessels running through them.

The blood vessels are the conduits not only for nutrition and oxygen, but they are also the conduits for white blood cells to get to where they need to go. So, if you have a foreign body or a cut in your skin and you see a little inflammation, it starts off with the endothelium in that area expressing adhesion molecules, meaning it gets sticky. The endothelium becomes more like velcro. Then the white blood cells begin to stick and they can enter the tissue at that site. The endothelium cells present a doormat for white blood cells. They say "Come in here! This is where you need to come because weve got something bad going on here. Weve got a foreign body, pathogens, a problem, youve got to help."

The Beet: So, if that like a cut on your finger thats fine because that inflammation brings all that healing, the platelets, all the good stuff to help your body repair that tissue. But if its chronic, what Ive heard, thats what leads to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Cooke:Yes, absolutely. If you have chronic alterations of the function of this lining of the blood vessel it causes all types of problems. The chronic alterations occur, and you convert it from Teflon to being more like velcro, it causes inflammation, which causes blood clots to form, it can even cause insulin resistance, which is basically diabetes.

The endothelium can actually cause metabolic problems, it can cause diabetes, type II diabetes. The endothelium is absolutely critical for the functioning of our bodies. You mentioned brain function. Absolutely. the function of your skeletal muscle. Your ability to run, jump, play. Mental and physical functioning is dependant on your blood vessels, and this lining of the blood vessels: the endothelium.

We showed quite a few years ago if you feed fatty foods to mice it makes them not able to fun as far on a treadmill. We were putting mice on treadmills in the lab, and they were happily running along on the treadmills. And mice can go pretty far on a treadmill.But if you gave them a high cholesterol diet, then they couldnt run as far, they couldnt run as fast and we traced it to an endothelia problem. The endothelium started to make less nitrox oxide, which is a gas that causes the blood vessels to relax. It is one of the molecules that the endothelium makes that causes blood vessels to relax. It provides that Teflon characteristic of the endothelium.

The Beet: The endothelium makes nitrox oxide?

I thought nitrox oxide helped your blood vessels open. But I didnt know it was actually created by the endothelium.

Dr. Cooke:Yes, its created by the endothelium. Thats why this lining, this film of tissue, is so important because it makes a wide-range of factors. Its a virtual factory, influencing the underlying smooth muscle of the vessel, affecting the circulating blood. One of those factors--and I would say possibly the most important factor--in maintaining health, vascular health is nitrox oxide. The ability of the endothelium to make nitrox oxide relaxes the blood vessel, prevents platelets from sticking. It is very important.

The Beet: Thats amazing. So nitrox oxide is this miracle gas that keeps everything going along. But I want to bring it back to diet because I think a lot of people feel like they work out and they go to the gym and then afterward they want to go eat protein, and the perception is that they should go eat a steak. Why is that not actually the case?lI want to connect that back to this picture of food and the relationship between food and heart health.

Dr. Cooke: Well we showed if you feed healthy mice a high cholesterol diet, they cant run as far. So, your functioning will be adversely affected if your endothelium isnt treated correctly. And the endothelium likes a plant-based diet. We didnt show that. Others have shown that a plant-based diet is better for endothelial health than a burger king diet.

The Beet: Weve done stories on nitrox oxide. A lot of the same things that are good for your heart are good for that. Ive heard so many people talk about their gut microbiome. I wish that we could get America to talk about their blood vessel health, their endothelium health. The idea is that there is a connection between gut health and blood vessel health is interesting to me since everyone loves to think about gut health. If you are interested in gut health then the reason is because of what happens in your blood vessels when you eat probiotics, prebiotics, and plant-based foods. Is that a fair way to put this?

Dr. Cooke:Yeah. the microbiome does influence what kind of nutrients get into your circulation. And those nutrients affect your blood vessels. The scary thing is that for people with heart diseaseor coronary artery disease that could cause a heart attack orcarotid artery disease that could cause a strokeit's so important that vascular function is healthy in those individuals.

I want people to know how important improving vascular function is for those individuals, but most of those diseasestake a long time to show up and they happen over a period of decades, so if you are not taking care of yourself now, you will have coronary disease in the future. In fact, we know this to be true because there have been large studies showing that even young people-like teenagers-start to have evidence of problems in their blood vessels. Early on they get these fatty streaks in their blood vessels. And if you eat a high cholesterol diet you have more of these fatty streaks. And those are the things that grow into plaque that will ultimately obstruct your blood vessel.

I happen to think that high-fat diets can be progenitors of these high lipid, high fatty streaks that lead to the blockages that lead to all sorts of heart disease. We are advocates for plant-based eating, or at least eating more plant-based foods. Is it fair to say that a high-fat diet of animal fats like bacon (key to a keto diet) is not a great idea when talking about heart health?

Dr. Cooke: A high-fat diet,of animal fat, is a terrible idea for your blood vessels. It's going to lead to problems in your heart arteries, your brain arteries. One of the most common causes of dementia is vascular dementia. So Alzheimer's is the number one cause of dementia, but vascular dementia is number two.

With aging, we see a normal decline in your cognitive function, but that can be accelerated by not taking care of your blood vessels. And it can be decelerated, meaning you can avoid cognitive problems f you take care of your blood vessels.

Heart disease and caring about your blood vessel health isimportant at any age. So in your 30s, 40s, 50sis when all this starts to develop. It's much harder to reverse the damage than it is to prevent it, right? So what would you tell somebody right now if they wanted to take good care of their blood vessels?

Dr. Cooke: Alot of what youve been telling people, that a plant-based diet is really good for your blood vessels, is great.I, myself, like a Mediterranean diet, because it's appealing and a little bit easier for people and it's good for your blood vessels. There are a lot of plants, fruits, and vegetables in the diet but there's also some fish. You can get your Omega-3 fatty acids from fish or if you want to be purely plant-based you can also get it from flaxseed oil. I like to mix flaxseed oil with balsamic vinegar on my salad. Thats a nice way to get the flaxseed oil that delivers Omega-3s

The Beet: I have nothing against the Meditteranean diet,since it's a really good step toward being your healthiest, compared to the traditional American diet. Weve talked to doctors who say the same thing as you do, which is that plant-based is best but that the Mediterranean diet is much easier and more sustainable for most people.

Dr. Cooke: Eating more plants is better for us and better for the world. It's better for the environment.

What does it do to your blood vessels when you feel that stress or when you are in that chronic stress mode?

Dr. Cooke: Stress impairs the endothelium. It impairs the relaxation of the blood vessels. You have an increase of circulating factors that cause your vessels to constrict, like adrenaline. So, these thingslike noradrenalineincrease the heart rate and the workload on the heart and those are important things when you need to run away from a lion. When you're in danger, you need that physical response. However, if you are sitting in a chair stressing over some work that you need to get done, you are driving your heart rate up, and you are also narrowing your blood vessels, constricting your blood vessels. That impairs the function of the endothelium lining. Stress has been shown to impair the endothelium rather dramatically and rather quickly. You can take a person and put them in a mental arithmetic test, and you will see their vessels constrict. Blood flow in a finger will dramatically shows an immediate decline. So any amount of stress will cause your blood vessels to constrict.

So bottom line: eat a mostly plant-based diet, and stop stressing! When you feel a stressful moment coming on: Breathe!

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Why You Need to Care About Heart Disease, Even If You're Healthy - The Beet

Plenty of attention has been given to probiotics, and for good reasonthe beneficial bacteria in your gut has been linked to a range of benefits, from better immunity to deeper sleep to a sunnier mood. But increasingly, theres growing awareness that those good bugs can work even harder if theyre fed properly.

Enter prebiotics.

We spoke with Mary Purdy, R.D.N., dietitian and author of The Microbiome Reset Diet, and Sarah Berry, Ph.D., senior lecturer in the department of nutrition sciences at Kings College London, to find out what prebiotics are, how they can help with your running performance, and what the best sources are.

Prebiotics are plant fibers that arent digested by the body, so instead, they travel to your lower digestive tract, where they form a tasty buffet for your healthy bacteria, according Purdy. That makes your good bugs thrive and get stronger, as well as multiply, she says.

When that happens, those bacteria are better at digesting and breaking down food to make it usable as fuel for our bodies, she says. When certain bacteria consume the undigestible parts of the food we eatincluding prebioticsthey produce lactic acid, which supports digestion, and short-chain fatty acids, a substance needed by the cells lining your colon.

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If youre skimping on the healthy foods and not getting enough prebiotic material, it can lead to whats called dysbiosis, which is an imbalance in your gut microbiome. Short-term, that can kick off uncomfortable gastrointestinal issues, but longer-term, it might become chronic and lead to more serious issues like inflammatory bowel diseases, according to Purdy.

Dysbiosis can also have a ripple effect. Since gut health is crucial for your overall healthsuch as immunity, heart function, and brain healthbeing unbalanced for too long could lead to conditions like autoimmune disorders, obesity, depression, dementia, and type 2 diabetes.

Although regular exercise can help mitigate these risks to some degree, dysbiosis is likely to have a profound effect on athletic performance over time, Purdy says, since a diverse microbiome and an effective metabolism share a well-established link.

Individuals with a less diverse microbiome also tend to have more systemic inflammation, which and be linked to heart and joint issues, as well as insulin resistance and high cholesterol, Purdy says.

She added that the gut microbiome is also responsible for the synthesis of vitamins, such as biotin, B12, folic acid, thiamine, and vitamin K, which all play important roles in energy production, nerve function, and bone health. Without them, runners might find themselves feeling fatigued more quickly, experiencing more muscle pain, and dealing with joint issues, she says.

Its important to give your beneficial bacteria the best possible environment to thriveand thats where increased prebiotics come in.

Much like probiotics, you can find prebiotics in some supplement formations, but its best to get them from foods, Purdy suggests. That way, you can take advantage of the vitamins, minerals, and fiber that go along with whole-food options, as well as polyphenols (micronutrients in plant-based options that have antioxidants linked to an array of health benefits.)

Top choices for prebiotics:

If youre branching out into the less-familiar parts of the produce section, prebiotics are also abundant in Jerusalem artichokes, chicory root, dandelion greens, burdock root, jicama, and seaweed.

Playing around with a breadth of prebiotic options is useful for figuring out which options make the most sense for you, Berry says, since some of these foods can cause bloating and gas, or, more positively, can give you more energy and better bowel health.

The microbiome is unique to each individual, Berry says. Due to the personalized nature of your gut bacteria, a personalized approach to what you eat is the best way to positively impact your health.

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For maximum gut health, Purdy suggests adding choices that also take advantage of the other two bioticsprobiotics and postbiotics.

As the good bacteria in charge of balancing gut floraand reducing GI symptoms in marathon runners along the wayprobiotics are found in fermented foods like sauerkraut, miso, tempeh, kefir, and yogurt.

Enlightened Gingerade Kombucha

Probiotic Drinkable Yogurt

Skyr Icelandic Plain Yogurt

When youve got your mix of prebiotics and probiotics right (when you have a happy gut), youll achieve a good blend of postbiotics, which include any material left over after the bacteria use what they need. Much like the other biotics, postbiotics play a significant role in supporting a healthy digestive system and enabling the microbiome to thrive.

You can increase postbiotics with the same type of foods used for probiotics, which means boosting your consumption of fermented options can be even more powerful.

In general, Purdy suggests, variety is key. Youd get bored eating the same meals all the time, and your gut bacteria are no different. They thrive with novelty, especially if fiber is involved.

Dont get too stuck on only one type of vegetable, one kind of nut, or one class of grains, Purdy says. Diversity of diet equals diversity of microbiome, which equals a happier, healthier you. Shoot for an array of color and texture and a mixture of foods each day that provide both fiber and a plethora of polyphenols, and your bugs will likely sing.

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What Are Prebiotics? Benefits of Prebiotics - Runner's World

Carrying too much body weight can lead to various health issues, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.

A recent study examined how measuring an individuals BMI over time might help estimate their risk of disease and mortality later in life.

The scientists published their findings in the Annals of Epidemiology.

The impact of weight gain on mortality is complex. It depends on both the timing and the magnitude of weight gain and where BMI started, says Dr. Hui Zheng, the studys lead author and an associate professor of sociology at The Ohio State University in Columbus.

For the study, the researchers analyzed medical history data from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), in which scientists tracked the health of three generations.

Removing the FHS participants with incomplete data left the team with 4,576 individuals from the original FHS cohort and 3,753 of the participants in the offspring cohort. The researchers further restricted their analysis to include only the individuals who were at least 31 years of age at the start of the study.

By 2011, 3,913 individuals from the original cohort and 967 individuals from the offspring cohort had died.

The researchers controlled for a variety of factors known to influence mortality, including smoking, education level, and sex.

After analyzing how the BMI of the participants evolved over the years, the researchers found that the older participants generally fell into one of seven BMI trajectories.

Among the second generation, however, there were just six BMI trajectories because few members of this group lost weight over the course of their life.

The researchers found that in both generations, those who had a healthy BMI early in adulthood and then gradually gained weight as they aged tended to live longer. However, this was only the case if they did not develop obesity.

The authors speculate that having a modest amount of extra body weight in old age may provide protection against issues such as nutritional deficiencies and loss of muscle and bone density due to chronic diseases.

Participants whose weight remained in the healthy range throughout their life had the second lowest mortality risk, followed by those who had overweight but stayed at that same weight over the course of their life. Next, came people with underweight and then, in the older generation, those who had overweight initially but lost weight as they aged.

The least likely to survive were people who had obesity in early adulthood and continued to gain weight.

The main message is that for those who start at a normal weight in early adulthood, gaining a modest amount of weight throughout life and entering the overweight category in later adulthood can actually increase the probability of survival, says Dr. Zheng.

The researchers found that the second generation developed overweight and obesity earlier in life than their parents.

The higher BMI trajectories in the younger generation tend to shift upward at earlier ages relative to their parents, Dr. Zheng says.

Due to medical advancements, the studys authors explain, people with obesity are more likely to survive now than they were in earlier decades.

However, Dr. Zheng cautions that this trend still has ramifications for society:

Even though the mortality risks associated with obesity trajectories have decreased across the generations, their contributions to population deaths increased from 5.4% in the original cohort to 6.4% in the offspring cohort.

The study supports the findings of a 2013 study by Dr. Zheng and others, which found that people who had overweight in their 50s but kept their weight relatively stable over the years were more likely to survive the next 19 years.

Now, with this study, Dr. Zheng says, we know more about weight trends earlier in life and how they are related to mortality.

Continued here:
How weight gain over time may predict mortality - Medical News Today

Sirin Kale wrote about her 27-year addiction to fizzy drinks this week. When we asked readers to tell us about their own experiences of soft drink addiction, there was a huge response here are some of the replies

Working in a Coca-Cola factory means that most Coke brands are freely available to employees. Im on my feet a lot and work up quite a thirst. The fridges on site are stocked up with everything from Fanta and Sprite to Coke and its many variants. It is totally normal for me to grab a bottle of Diet Coke at the start of a 6am shift. On a hot day I could get through five or six 500ml bottles. Lately, Ive tried hard to replace Diet Coke with water, but I just find it so boring! Lockdown was a big help: since Ive been shielding at home I dont have easy access to such a large supply. Nowadays Ill get through a couple of two-litre bottles a week. The caffeine in Diet Coke started to badly affect my stress and anxiety levels. Ive since switched to caffeine-free Diet Coke and feel a lot better. Anonymous, Coca-Cola factory worker, London

We always had cheap cordials when I was growing up, as Ribena was so expensive. When I left home, I started treating myself to Ribena. I would get through the large bottles of it within a few days and refused to drink anything else. I dont think I realised how bad my addiction was until the young people in the youth centre where I work hid it and it caused me so much anxiety I couldnt leave the centre until I found it. I no longer drink Ribena the only way I could stop was to go cold turkey. I travelled to New Zealand and naively thought Id be able to get it over there the shock when I couldnt was overwhelming. I had no choice, I had to drink something else. Nina, youth worker, Bristol

I started with Tab the forerunner of Diet Coke, which I then moved on to when it became available. I dont drink tea, coffee or alcohol and it gives me a boost. I have known I am addicted for as long as I can remember. As far as I can tell, the only side-effect has been the impact on my teeth. However, I have wondered about donating my body to medical science so that a lifetime of Diet Coke addiction can be assessed! I like to say that this addiction is the only thing I have in common with Donald Trump. Occasionally I have managed to go without Diet Coke but can only do it on non-working days as I get a headache and become irritable. It also makes me prone to falling asleep whenever I sit down. But nothing healthier really appeals as a replacement, so it is hard to abstain indefinitely. Anonymous, healthcare worker, London

In my early 20s, I could drink six to eight cans of Red Bull a day. When I got pregnant at 30, I stopped; but when my daughter was born she never slept, so I started drinking it again. About five years later, I managed to stop again but instead drank two to three bottles of Lucozade a day. When I started getting palpitations, I decided to switch to Coca-Cola; now my daughter is seven and I just drink one can of Diet Coke a day.

It has been a long journey and a very slow process of weaning myself off caffeine. I dont drink tea or coffee, so felt I needed to get that pick-me-up from somewhere. At my worst, I would get about three hours sleep a night, drink fizzy drinks all day, then struggle to sleep again at night. Michelle, receptionist, Mansfield

I remember drinking cans of Coke and Lilt often as a child, but by age 12 I was drinking about a litre of Coke every day. At 14, I switched to Pepsi Max because of tooth decay caused by the sugar. From 16 onwards, I was drinking at least two litres of Pepsi Max a day, with slower tooth erosion but still some decay. Altogether, it has cost me 14 teeth. I realised the amount I was drinking was excessive a long time ago. From the age of 20 onwards, I was drinking two to six litres a day. Id often get out of bed in the middle of the night due to cravings and walk miles to the nearest 24-hour supermarket just to buy some. The uncomfortable bloating, concerns over possible bone loss, and considerable expense (6 a day is a lot on low income) finally got me to stop. I quit six months ago after going cold turkey. The cravings and the headaches were strong and every time I had a meal it would trigger the craving. Every time I walked past a drinks chiller Id be so close to saying sod it, but I knew one sip would inevitably become a can, and then a bottle. Now I no longer crave Pepsi Max at all. Barry, carer, Dundee

I grew up in the 70s when people were not so aware of how bad sugar and fizzy drinks are for ones health. The tropical weather in the country where I grew up also contributed to consumption of cold drinks, mainly Coke. I got into the habit of drinking a fizzy drink with every meal and, even after moving to England more than 20 years ago, its very hard for me to get rid of this habit. There was a time when I drank two cans of Diet Coke a day and believed it to be fine because they dont contain sugar. For 10 years, Ive been trying to avoid any sort of fizzy drink, diet or not. Sometimes I succeed and may go a few months replacing them with coconut water, but the craving, especially at meal times, never leaves me. Irene, health professional, London

In the moment, you never consider whether an extra can is one too many. I dont think I realised the amount of Irn-Bru I was drinking was excessive until I stopped. I have now managed to quit altogether. This was due to the drinks maker AG Barrs response to the sugar tax; the company changed the formula and taste of the drink rendering it far less appealing and with an odd aftertaste. Now Fanta is my soft drink of choice. Michael, student, Glasgow

I have always been a big fan of Diet Coke when the beast from the east hit and I only had a few cans left in the fridge, I was panicking! While others were desperate to stock up on bread and milk, I went straight for the Diet Coke aisle. I cant go anywhere without a bottle or a can if I go somewhere for dinner and they say: We have Diet Pepsi, will that do? I think, no, sorry, that wont do! Nothing tastes the same.

I drink about two litres a day and have tried to quit several times. The only times I have been successful was when I was pregnant. I actually dont know how to get it out of my life its the first thing I drink in the morning and last thing I drink at night. It makes me anxious if Im running low. The long-term effects cant be good and, as a nurse, I should know better. Lindsay Young, nurse, Renfrewshire

My addiction to Coke Zero developed during my undergraduate studies when I needed a pick-me-up but was spending too much money on coffee. I thought it would be a slightly cheaper alternative. But I ended up drinking more Coke Zero than I ever did coffee, so it was pointless. I have tried cutting down but struggle as I feel groggy if I dont have any. I have to make sure I dont drink it too late in the day or I struggle sleeping. Anonymous, Glasgow

I started drinking full-fat Coke in sixth form because I was too busy with extracurricular responsibilities and lessons to eat properly. The caffeine and sugar kept me going. When I tried to wean myself off it, I switched to Diet Coke. Ive always hated still or sparkling water and I found that any sweetener other than aspartame tastes horrid most diet drinks use sucralose. A few years ago I gave up drinking Diet Coke for February as a charity fundraiser, but since then my intake has increased and I drink between six and eight cans a day. I make special trips to buy them in bulk as it works out cheaper. I can tell when a can is getting near its best-before date as the taste changes and I can also tell the difference between Coke and Diet Coke just by smell. We visited World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta for my 29th birthday and my kitchen is decorated in Coca-Cola colours. Is it addictive? I wouldnt say so. Its just a preference. The difficulty is retraining your palate to enjoy different flavours, and finding another drink that has the same ease of access. Frances, teacher, Surrey

My family are avid Dr Pepper drinkers so there was always soda in the house but I didnt really drink a worrying amount until sophomore year of high school, when I started taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses and working 30 hours a week. I did not like coffee or tea, but did not have enough energy to do everything I needed to and felt crushed by pressure. I probably drank an average of six cans a day and it worked! I graduated top of my class from high school and maintained good grades at the University of Oklahoma while working 35 to 45 hours a week. Im not healthy, mind you in particular, my acne is pretty bad and although I have tried to quit numerous times, it was not until about a week ago that I went cold turkey. I was diagnosed with Covid and have been able to utilise the fact that everything tastes awful to implement my own personal Garcia effect (AKA, conditioned taste aversion) on Dr Pepper. Anonymous, student, Oklahoma City

As a child, I was allowed one glass of Coke on Sundays, as a treat. By the time we were teenagers, my brother and I had persuaded our parents to add Coke (or Tab Clear) to our grocery list. At some stage it was decided that calorie-free Diet Coke was the better way to go. Fast forward 20 years and I would drink four to six cans a day. I knew it was excessive because everyone told me so. On a couple of occasions when I quit, my skin would change colour very slightly (I am quite pale but the Coke gave me a bit of a yellow-brown undertone). I quit Diet Coke entirely at the beginning of 2020 but replaced it with Fever Tree tonic, which has sugar in it. So I quit Fever Tree at the beginning of 2021. One month in and Im now addicted to Red Bull. Fresh drinking water is available so I dont know whats wrong with me. Anonymous, data analyst, Dorset

I have loved drinking Coke since I was young, probably aged 11. Once I got through university, I realised I was gaining weight so I switched to Coke Zero. I can easily have a Coke with every meal and go through two to three litres a day. I realise its not the best, but I dont drink alcohol, smoke or do drugs, so it feels like a relatively harmless vice.

Before lockdown, I had some success in cutting down I stopped drinking Coke Zero for breakfast and switched to juice, then forced myself to drink more water during the day but I struggle to eat a full meal with just water to drink. Coke somehow washes down certain foods quite nicely. Sebastian Groth, auditor, London

When I was 14 or 15, I spent my lunch money on Coca-Cola but I couldnt tell you why it became so excessive. I remember there was a deal at the time: two 500ml bottles for 1.70. That would lead me to drink six bottles on some days. Six! I remember once forgetting to bring money for lunch and so I went without my caffeine fix all day, and threw up by the time I got home. Thats when I knew it was out of control. Yet Coke was just a gateway to Monster I drank up to three cans a day at university. I had a bit of a ritual: I would have a Monster by my bed waiting for me, then I would wake up, drink it in the shower, get the train to uni and drink another one before I went to the library. At the beginning of 2020, I vowed to give it up then the pandemic hit and buying cans of Monster became a weekly ritual. I still drink Monster today, although a lot less. Ill have one can a day, sometimes two if I have a lot to do.

Ive become known as the Monster boy to my friends. Someone got me a Monster beanie for Secret Santa and, for my lockdown birthday, my friends all drank cans of Monster with me over Zoom to celebrate. I know that people are really disgusted by my habit. I do not like to drink it in public. I feel like Ill be judged. William, London

Doing my food shop one day, I just picked up Pink Lucozade Zero and became instantly hooked. It was on Valentines Day last year that I realised how excessive my habit had become: my boyfriend bought me nine bottles (one litre each), and in the space of about two days I had finished them. My addiction was also highlighted during the first lockdown as I used my daily exercise to walk to the shop to pick up a litre bottle of Lucozade. Even if it was pouring with rain, Id still go. I spent about 400 a year on my addiction, meaning that in total Ive probably spent more than 1,200 on Lucozade. Change came during the summer when, sitting at the table with my boyfriends family, they all had glasses of water and I had a one-litre bottle of Lucozade it was embarrassing. Over the past two months, Ive managed to quit completely. Kayley Cornelius, student, Manchester

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'It has cost me 14 teeth': Readers on soft drink addiction and how to beat it - The Guardian

My trainer said the meals would be good for someone like me who exercises four to five times a week. The Good Kitchen

Molloy told me that it was good the meals all contained at least 30 grams of protein, which research has shown is "critical for lean muscle mass growth."

"As you can imagine, lean muscle is very important for most sports, and also is one of the best predictors of longevity as well," he added.

Molloy was also pleasantly surprised to see "complete protein sources" in the meals, rather than an emphasis on plant-based proteins.

"I do like the minimalist ingredients used in the meals," he added. "In general, unprocessed foods provide better satiety cues and control appetite substantially better than refined and processed foods. This is great for people who are looking to drop weight, but for athletes, it's a double-edged sword. Some processed foods such as rice, oats and other whole grains can provide added easy energy for training and competition."

Molloy did find that while the meals are a great option for the average person, an athlete would need to "eat substantially more food overall to support their athletic endeavors."

My trainer, Mike Michalski of Variant Fitness, agreed that the meals would be good for someone like me who exercises four to five times a week but isn't doing rigorous training.

"Quick meals, with great ingredients, and with a proper macronutrient profile are not easy for everyone to prepare and fit into their diets on a regular basis," Michalski said. "These meals certainly help to make that process that much easier."

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I tried eating like Tom Brady for a week, and it required a lot of extra hot sauce - Insider - Insider