November 17, 2020

FAIRMONT Commissioners here continue to take steps to address flooding in town, with the decision being made Tuesday to proceed with applying for a $2 million grant to fund improvements to a sewer pump system on Brown Street.

During the Board of Commissioners meeting, a public hearing was held on the towns plan to apply for up to $2 million in Community Development Block Grant-Infrastructure funding from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. If awarded, the funding will cover the cost of repairs to the Brown Street sewer pump station.

Fairmont residents can be assured that they will not be asked to vacate their homes during the project, said Bill Lester, a principal engineer at LKC Engineering.

We absolutely will not be displacing anyone, Lester said.

The engineering firm will continue to help the town apply for funding for other projects, he said.

This project usually runs a 24- to 30-month course, Lester said.

We wouldnt get to construction until more than a year from now, he added.

Commissioner Terry Evans said infrastructure improvements are key to maintaining a town and the health and well-being of its residents.

A lot of this town beneath us is crumbling, he said.

The town has been approved to receive a $60,000 Community Development Block Grant Recovery grant, said Ricky Harris, interim town manager. The money will be used to help it clean out the canal near the Old Field area, if one more hurdle can be cleared.

We cant even do the canal until we get the permit, Harris said.

The engineers must get a permit from the state to move forward on that project, he said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be working in other towns in the county soon, and reached out to Fairmont for any needs it had related to flooding, Harris said. He submitted the canal area for the Corps review.

Commissioner Monte McCallum said the project to clear the canal needs to move forward soon. He said he has seen photos of homeowners bathtubs filled with sewage overflow.

Fairmont Public Works Director Ronnie Seals told commissioners that repairs must be made soon in some areas of town because of damages from the 9 inches of rain the town received Thursday.

Some areas of the town that did not flood during hurricanes Matthew and Florence did on Thursday, he said. Some residents had to access their homes via temporary roads made by the towns Public Works department.

An area on Taylor Street washed out, a pump at the towns wastewater treatment plant is no longer operational and the wastewater treatment plant access road is under water, Seals said.

We had to use tractors to get in and out, he said.

Commissioner Felecia McLean-Kesler commended Seals for his hard work to repair damages to the water and sewer systems.

Ronnie, I know your hands are full, but keep persevering, keep pressing forward, she said.

McLean-Kesler also asked town residents to be patient as the town works to repair its water and wastewater systems.

In other business, Town Attorney Jessica Scott said the town is working toward abatement of a property at 201 Pine St.

Its just taking some time to get that process started, she said.

She will continue to follow the necessary legal steps required in the process, Scott said.

Its such a significant deprival of the property, she said of securing the home from its owners.

Evans expressed interest in buying the property.

Scott said she has sent a letter to owners of a property on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive for which the Medicaid lien has been released. She asked the owners to clean up the lot, and told commissioners if the property owners refuse, the town will have to decide whether it wishes to pursue abatement of the property.

In other matters, Commissioner McCallum offered an explanation for his decision not to stand during the pledge at town meetings since May. McCallum said he is doing so to protest systemic racism and the death of George Floyd, who died in May after being restrained by a Minneapolis police officer. Floyd died after the officers knee remained on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

Every board meeting for 8 months is my protest towards that, McCallum said.

Theres no disrespect, he added. Thats just my silent protest.

Commissioner Evans said he has sat by McCallum each time in protest of racial injustices that continue in America. Evans and McCallum both served their country as members of the U.S. Army.

Also on Tuesday, Commissioner Charles Kemp asked interim Town Manager Harris to write a letter to state representatives requesting their assistance in finding grants to help pay for renovations to the towns youth center.

The next board meeting is scheduled for Dec. 15.

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Correction - The Robesonian

Update: SpaceXsuccessfully rocketed the four Crew-1 astronautsinto orbit.

NASA has given SpaceX the go-ahead to launch its first full crew of four astronauts toward the International Space Station (ISS).

If all goes according to plan, the company's Falcon 9 rocket will roar off its historic launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday night, careen through Earth's atmosphere, and jettison a Crew Dragon spaceship into orbit with the astronauts tucked inside.

"All systems are go for tonight's launch at 7:27 p.m. EST of Crew Dragon's first operational mission," SpaceX tweeted on Sunday morning.

After 27 hours of flying around Earth, the spaceship is scheduled to sync up with the ISS on Monday and dock to the facility at 11 p.m. ET. "Resilience," as astronauts named their ship, will stay for six months while the crew lives and works in orbit.

The planned flight would constitute NASA's longest human spaceflight ever as the $150 billion, football field-size laboratory enters its 20th year of continuous human habitation.

"This is the culmination of years of work and effort from a lot of people, and a lot of time, and we have built I think what I would call is one of the safest ... launch vehicles and spacecraft ever," Benji Reed, SpaceX's director of crew mission management, said during a Friday press briefing.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon "Endeavour" spaceship photographed by astronauts Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy while performing a spacewalk on July 1, 2020. NASA

The mission, called Crew-1, is the first of six round trips that the agency has contracted from SpaceX. NASA tapped astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi to carry out the historic flight.

In a final launch-readiness review on Friday, NASA gave SpaceX its official blessing for Sunday's liftoff.

The launch had been scheduled for Saturday evening, but mission managers decided to delay the flight. NASA cited "onshore winds" and "first-stage booster recovery readiness" as the reasons the latter refers to the Falcon 9 rocket's booster, which is programmed to land itself on a ship at sea after it releases the Crew Dragon into orbit. The booster can be reused in future launches, including crewed flights.

This is the fourth time NASA has pushed back the launch of Crew-1 due to numerous hiccups. The mission was originally scheduled to fly in late September.

"We're ready to go," Norm Knight, a flight operations manager for NASA, said during the briefing. "The journey to get here is one of resilience, and it was a hard journey with a lot of stuff going on and COVID affecting the teams."

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spaceship stand ready to launch NASA's Crew-1 from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 12, 2020. SpaceX

With the review complete, SpaceX will carry out its final preparations and keep a close eye on the weather. Rain, high winds, or too many puffy clouds could make conditions unsafe for launch. The skies and seas must also be clear at potential splashdown sites across the Atlantic Ocean, in case the rocket malfunctions and the Crew Dragon has to speed away.

As of Sunday morning, the Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron projected a 50% chance of poor weather delaying launch. NASA and SpaceX are due to meet for a weather briefing around 3 p.m. ET, during which they'll decide to press on or try again a few days later, on Wednesday night.

The Crew Dragon Resilience and its Falcon 9 rocket in the SpaceX hangar at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 9, 2020, SpaceX

Technical issues could abort the mission at the last moment. That happened to a Falcon 9 launch on October 2: Just a few seconds before liftoff an automated flight computer shut everything down.

It turned out that lacquer from a corrosion-resistance treatment had clogged a tiny bore hole on a relief valve for one of the engines. This could have resulted in too much fuel entering the engines at the wrong time, caused an uncontrolled explosion, and damaged the engines, similar to a car backfiring though with much more power and potential consequences.

SpaceX says it has examined the entire rocket for Crew-1 to make sure no small crevices were clogged with lacquer.

Sunday's launch is the fruit of a decade-long effort to restore NASA's human spaceflight abilities, which have lain dormant since the Space Shuttles were retired in 2011. Through the Commercial Crew Program, NASA funded the development of the Crew Dragon to meet its requirements for flying astronauts.

On Tuesday the agency finally awarded SpaceX its human-spaceflight certification, making the Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 the first commercial launch system to receive the designation.

"Thank you to NASA for their continued support of SpaceX and partnership in achieving this goal," Elon Musk, SpaceX founder and CEO, said in a statement on the certification. "This is a great honor that inspires confidence in our endeavor to return to the moon, travel to Mars, and ultimately help humanity become multi-planetary."

SpaceX's Demo-2 mission, launched with a Falcon 9 rocket, lifts off with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley inside a Crew Dragon spaceship. SpaceX

SpaceX proved its ability to safely fly humans and return them to Earth with a demonstration flight, called Demo-2, that launched this summer.

That mission launched NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the world's first commercial human spaceflight. The men spent two months on the ISS before climbing back into the Crew Dragon, screaming through Earth's atmosphere, and parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico.

Astronauts Bob Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley wish their families goodnight from inside the Crew Dragon capsule after launch, May 30, 2020. Screenshot via SpaceX/YouTube

The Crew-1 astronauts are about to weather the same ordeal, with a full-length ISS shift of half a year.

"The nerves start to really pile on as you get closer to launch," Hopkins told reporters in a call on Monday.

But the astronauts are busy with final preparations at NASA's facilities in Cape Canaveral, Florida. They completed a dress rehearsal on Thursday, putting on their spacesuits, driving out to the launchpad, and boarding the Crew Dragon to practice for launch day.

The Crew-1 astronauts sit inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft during training. SpaceX via NASA

"I think that helps keep the nerves down a little bit," Hopkins said of the week's preparations. "Because you're just kind of going like clockwork through the procedure and the timeline."

Michael Lopez-Alegria, a retired astronaut who's flown to space four times and is slated to command SpaceX's first all-private flight next year for Axiom Space, said he had "no concerns" about the crew or ship ahead of launch.

"I have become inured, almost, to SpaceX launches," Lopez-Alegria told Business Insider. "They just continue to make incredible things look routine. ... But our mission, AX-1 one is going to fly with the same capsule that's going to be on Crew-1. So we'll be definitely paying attention and wishing the crew and teams from NASA and SpaceX all the best."

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NASA gives SpaceX the 'go' to launch 4 astronauts on Sunday - Business Insider - Business Insider

There are some eating plans that have been controversial from the get-go, like the ketogenic diet, Whole30, and intermittent fasting. But the Mediterranean dietan eating plan that advocates for lean proteins, whole grains, seafood, and plenty of vegetables along with the occasional glass of winehas long been the least problematic of any eating plan, quick to be endorsed by doctors, dietitians, and other healthy eating experts.

Its easy to see why. The Mediterranean diet is the most studied eating plan in the world, backed by decades of robust clinical research. Hundreds of studies have found it to be beneficial in many ways, from supporting brain and heart health to reducing inflammation and keeping the gut healthy. All these reasons and more are why U.S. News and World Report has named the Mediterranean diet the best eating plan three years in a row. These benefits are also why the eating plan has been extensively covered by Well+Good.

But theres a blaring problem with the Mediterranean diet that many have failed to see, including the editors and writers of this publication. The Mediterranean diet is an eating plan that was created by Westerners, studied by Westerners, and is recommended to everyone, says Gerry Bodeker, PhD, who has researched and taught in medical sciences at Oxford University for two decades and is an adjunct professor of epidemiology at Columbia University.

Dr. Bodeker works with private sectors, governments, and United Nations organizations, currently serving as senior advisor to a UN University project on Asian traditions of nutrition. He says that recommending the Mediterranean diet to all people not only ignores the foods and eating patterns of different cultural traditions but can also work against people nutritionally. If youre going to have a global health message, you need to make sure it fits every single culture, Dr. Bodeker says. The Mediterranean diet, for all of its benefits, does not quite fit the bill.

The very first Mediterranean diet study was published in 1958 by an American physiologist named Ancel Keys. He called it the seven countries study. The study (which only included men) focused on the connection between dietary habits and heart disease rates in Greece, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Japan, and Finland. His study found that rates of heart disease were lowest in Greece, Italy, and Spainregions bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean diet, as identified by this study, sparked decades of additional research into the lifestyles benefits for all aspects of health.

What has remained consistent in the following seven decades is how scientific researchers, doctors, and nutrition experts talk about the Mediterranean diet. While the plans benefits largely come from the consumption of specific nutrients (a specific balance of protein, healthy fats, fiber, and complex carbohydrates), the foods often recommended for achieving said benefits typically come from a list of foods (like olives, fish, and feta) traditionally eaten in Greece, Italy, and Spainthe three countries that were the focus of Keyss research all those years ago.

The wide body of research on the Med diet has been used to support its preeminence in the health world. Yet here lies one of the biggest problems with the Med diet: The majority of researchers are white, and the studies they conduct are primarily on white people. Despite Congress passing the Revitalization Act in 1993, requiring the inclusion of women and people of color in federally funded studies, fewer than 6 percent of all clinical trialsare funded by the National Institute of Health (the government body that provides billions of dollars in research grants each year)meaning that many more studies (including those researching the Mediterranean diet) arent incentivized to include Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in their research. It also means that many conclusions drawn about the Mediterranean diet may not apply to BIPOC communities, since they are largely left out of studies.

Dr. Bodeker says the lack of racial diversity in Med diet studies is a huge shortcoming. This the nutritional equivalent of white entitlement, Dr. Bodeker says. Its the dominant group recommending their way to the world sending the message of our way is the best way. Its the same colonial messaging based on lack of interest and knowledge of history and suitability for other cultures.

Using primarily white participants in Med diet studies also reveals an extremely selective view of what it means to be from the Mediterranean. The region doesnt just consist ofGreece and Italy; it also includes Tunisia, Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon. Yet these communities and their cuisines are typically not included in the research on the Mediterranean diets benefits.

In an effort to make the eating plan more inclusive, proponents of the Mediterranean diet often say that its macronutrient proportions, not the specific foods, explain the diets superior health and longevity benefits compared to all other plans. But thats not necessarily true either. Dr. Bodeker says the Okinawa diet (which comes from the Blue Zone community of Okinawa, Japan) contrasts with the Mediterranean diet in several key ways, including higher carb consumption, more mono/polyunsaturated fats, fewer saturated fats, and zero dairy consumption. Yet despite these major differences in diet, Okinawans regularly live to be over 100 in good health.

Its not that one diet is better or worse than the otherits that the Mediterranean diet, for all its merit, isnt the only way to eat healthily, nor is it necessarily beneficial for all peoples. [A large percentage] of the Mediterranean diet is cheese and yogurt, but 60 percent of East Asians are lactose intolerant, Dr. Bodeker says as an example. If people who are lactose intolerant eat dairy, it will have an inflammatory reaction in the gut.

Global health dietitian Megan Faletra, RDN, says that many cultures, in fact, have naturally healthy ways of eating that were fundamentally altered by European colonialism. We dont have a strong food culture here in the U.S., so we try to commodify, or white-wash, many global food cultures, she says. For example, traditional Mexican food consists of plant-based staples, such as corn, beans, and rice. Our Indigenous ancestors didnt drink milk or consume dairy, and they werent necessarily vegan, but they didnt eat as much animal products as is in our diets now, food activist and Food Empowerment Project founder Lauren Ornelas previously told Well+Good. It was European influence that led to the rise in cattle herding across Latin America, which changed meat from a special occasion food to one that one served at every meal. Yet another example is Samoans living in Hawaii. They traditionally ate fish, fruit, and vegetables, Dr. Bodeker says. White settlers later introduced meat, flour, sugar, and alcohol into their lives. Now, they are 80 percent more likely to be obese than white Americans.

Interestingly, both of these cultures follow similar basic macronutrient principles as the Mediterranean dieta focus on vegetables and fruit and lean animal proteins. Yet only one cultural-specific way of eating has been celebrated in the health world as the end-all, be-all of nutrition: the Euro-centric Mediterranean diet.

To be perfectly clear, the Mediterranean diet isnt unhealthy. The health benefits researchers have found are realat least when applied to the people included in their studies. The Mediterranean diet offers a healthy eating model that promotes variety, moderation, and predominance of plant foods over animal foodsAs a proponent of the Mediterranean diet, I advocate its core principles to my patients and community, says Shahzadi Devje, RD, a registered dietitian who has written about race discrimination in nutrition. However, the challenge lies in translating these principles into specific foods and meals that are culturally appropriate. It is not a simple plug and play modelneither should it be.

Championing one cultures way of eating over all others isnt just a matter of semantics; it has consequences for the health of BIPOC communities who arent part of that specific cultural tradition. Devje says trying to impose the Mediterranean diet on everyone can create a barrier for some people to live their healthiest lives. The selective foods characteristic of traditional Mediterranean diets such as nuts, fruits, bread, olive oil, and wine are not staples in other cultures. At least not in mine, she says. Requiring someone to adopt those foods in order to be healthy might make it harder for them to comply with the eating plan.

Building cultural competence is vital in supporting dietary change for patients and communities alike, Devje adds. Our nutritional recommendations must not conflict with cultural values. Rather, they must be culturally compatible. Only then will they be practical, sustainable, and enjoyable.

Expecting a healthy diet to look like the Mediterranean diet also ignores the many systemic reasons that impact what and how people eat, adds Devje.People from ethnic minorities struggle with many standard measures of health and quality of life: financial means, satisfactory living environment, sense of independence, health, education, and support, she saysall of which impact their overall health and well-being, including their ability to eat healthfully. The relationship between food systems, race, and health is complicated, she says, and we need a new model to better reflect the needs of the communities most at risk of diet-related diseases.

The reality is, the mainstream dietary messages we see endorsed in public health policy, research, guidelines, and media target affluent white consumersundeniably excluding ethnic groups, who do not identify with such narratives. Why are we surprised then by the state of health disparities, Devje says.

Faletra adds that when doctors and dietitians talk about the Mediterranean diet, they often focus solely on its nutritional qualities, removing the cultural aspects such as physical activity and spending time with loved ones that also contribute to the health and longevity of Mediterranean peoples. Its important to look at eating in the context of culture, she says. Who are you enjoying the food with? What is the lifestyle like? But she says those critical questions are often ignored in mainstream discussions about the Mediterranean diets benefits.

While its important that doctors and dietitians keep their patients and clients cultures in mind when recommending healthy eating plans, many Americans heritage consists of numerous cultures, not just one. Beyond that, being inspired by foods from a wide range of cultures makes meals more enjoyable. These factors are also important to consider.

One question I often recommend dietitians ask clients is, What foods make you feel good?' Faletra says. She agrees with Devje that its important to think about what foods are accessible to a person as well as what foods are native to the region someone lives. This will ensure that the recommended food choices are sustainable, too.

Faletra adds that unprocessed whole foods were originally the staples of nearly every single food culture around the globe. The specific types of whole foods may differ depending on where youre from, but its a commonality that spans eating cultures around the globe. Guiding people to help figure out the whole foods that make them feel good is one way to make healthy eating more intuitive and fun, Faletra says, while making room for the foods important to ones cultural background and context.

Devje says its also important that there are more communities equitably represented in policy, education, and research to make nutritional recommendations truly appropriate for all people, not just some. We must also tackle race discrimination by engaging with people from ethnic minorities to understand the factors that influence people of color differently and disproportionately. They must have a voice and be represented at all levels, she says. Only then, she says, will health providers and researchers be able to truly understand the cultural influences on patient values and behaviors.

It bears repeating that the Mediterranean diet can be a healthy eating plan; its just not the only one. We need way more cultural competency and inclusivity in the way that we talk about food and health, Faletra says. Thats the only way were going to serve more people and enable them to be seen.

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The Mediterranean Diet Is a Healthy Eating PlanBut Its Far From Universal - Well+Good

We need to focus on loving and listening to our bodies when it comes to our diet

In the U.S., diet culture began in the early 1900s and has since accumulated an exhaustive list of different dieting fads for people to attemptcleanses, low-carb, ketogenic, paleo, etc. Companies like Atkins and Weight Watchers have made a profit by supporting the narrative that people need to lose weight in order to love themselves and to be considered healthy. Although these programs are not as popular as they once were, new diet trends that engender the same narrative have taken their place.

A-list celebrities, popular magazines and social media influencers are at the top of the list for promoting these diet trends. By just posting pictures of their meals or grocery hauls, they influence thousands of people to start a diet they know nothing about. I, myself, have fallen into this trap before, just to quickly find out that I do not have the resources nor the education to be making these decisions about the food I eat.

More importantly, what works for one person, doesnt always work for everyone else. All bodies are different and therefore require different foods and methods for losing weight. Consequently, most diets arent tailored to individual needsa potential reason why some people see progress and others do not while on the same diet.

Generally, people arent quick to share the negative outcomes or hardships we experience day-to-day. Instead, we tend to use social media to highlight the favorable and positive aspects of our lives. In regards to dieting, its more pleasing to show the successful results rather than the struggles and lack of progress. Sadly, this generates the idea that certain diets are easy and accessible for everyone.

Self-control and deprivation are the two pillars of dieting. Diets require you to exercise self-control in order to deprive yourself of certain foods, and thereby satisfaction, depending on the rules of your diet. In reality, not all days can be good ones, and a quick mood fixing solution is the comfort food that tends to exist outside the bounds of our diet. Thus, the purpose of a cheat day. The name itself, however, carries a negative connotation thats intended to make us feel guilty for defying the rules of our diet. Its inherently dangerous to not only deprive ourselves of the foods we may actually need, but also to deprive ourselves of something that may bring us happiness.

Although weight loss goals originally intended to motivate us to stay on track with our diet, setting them poses a threat to our well-being. Setting unrealistic and unattainable goals leads to disappointment and, more dangerously, unhealthy eating habits. Losing weight does not happen overnight, making it hard to stay inspired. As a consequence, people may lose hope and develop disordered eating habits.

This does not mean dieting is always ineffective and bad. In fact, many people have success stories. But its important to note that dieting and depriving yourself of certain foods is not the only way to become healthy. Listening to your body, tuning in to your emotions and being rational about the food you eat is a much more substantial way to live. Intuitive eating is not a diet plan, rather it pushes you to reject the diet mentality altogether.

For far too long, diet culture has convinced us that our bodies arent good enough or that we need to change ourselves to appease societys unrealistic standards. Rather than measuring our self-worth against the superficial wellness represented in movies, television and on social media, the focus needs to be switched from losing weight to loving and listening to our bodies.

Written by: Kacey Cain klcain@ucdavis.edu

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie

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Strict diets can deprive us of our happiness and health - The Aggie

Mila Clarke Buckleylived with atype 2 diabetes diagnosisfor four years before learning in August 2020 that she actually had another type of diabetes: latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). She wants people to know that adiabetes-friendly dietdoesnt have to be boring or leave one feeling hangry(a state of irritability that can result from a dip in blood glucose).

Thats why she shares such delectable images with her 37,000Instagramfollowers and visitors to her Hangry Woman blog. Her recipe posts forgrilled fish tacosandJamaican jerk chicken wingsare accompanied by mouthwatering photos.

Type 2 diabetes results when the body cannot properly processinsulin, causingblood sugar (glucose) to rise too high. LADA, on the other hand, is an autoimmune disease that is similar totype 1 diabetes, in which the bodys immune system attacks and destroys the cells that make insulin which is why its also known astype 1.5 diabetes. LADA tends to happen later in life and much more gradually than type 1 diabetes.

People with any form of diabetes can experience blood sugar dips that produce that hangry feeling, also known ashypoglycemia. But rather than coming off as irritable, Buckley, a Houston resident, has a gregarious persona to match her blogs mission, which she says is to help people with diabetes feel less alone in their managementbut to alsoshow them that you can live a happy,healthy life with diabetes and enjoyyour favorite foods.

She says her new diagnosis wont change that mission. I lived with a type 2diabetes diagnosisfor four years that includes the feeling of shame, stigma, and being judged for what other people deemed my fault, and lack of access to the tools that would help me manage diabetes best. Although my [diagnosis] changed, it doesnt take away any of those experiences, and it doesnt mean that I experience them less. To me, it means having the opportunity to bridge the gap a bit more, and help all people with diabetes understand each other.

Buckley includes recipes for those who follow aketogenic or keto diet, but before you try them, check with your doctor to make sure the regimen is right for you. If you takeoral diabetes medication, the diet may increase yourrisk of hypoglycemia, andthis high-fat, low-carb diet can pose other health risksto some. Plus, more studies are needed before keto can be recommended for everyone with type 2 diabetes.

Buckleys personal favorite blog post is titled, Diabetes Is Not a Joke, and it takes aim at the stigma that can be attached to the disease because of its link to diet. People often think diabetes deserves to be a punch line, but its more serious than the jokes it often sets off, she says.

RELATED:What People With Type 2 Diabetes Must Know About the Keto Diet

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6 Black Influencers to Follow for Healthy Eating Inspiration Free Press of Jacksonville - Jacksonville Free Press

A new study published in Science offers a stark warning about the climate crisis: Even if we completely halted fossil fuel use in the near term, we would still blow through the carbon budget needed to avoid catastrophic climate change unless we change the trajectory of emissions from the global food sector. Although many have warned about the climate impact of modern food production and land use, this new science is soberingly clear, and it has garnered attention around the world.

Without radically reducing emissions from agriculture, the research shows we wont meet the Paris Agreements goal to limit average warming to 1.5C 2C degrees. And yet, even those targets still position us to face some pretty extreme climate impacts.

Civil Eats talked with Michael Clark, a researcher at the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford and one of the lead authors on the study, about the findings, what they teach us about collective action to move the needle on climate, and how we might build the political will to do so.

Why does the food system have such a big climate toll?

One of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions from food systems is meat, and within that red meat from ruminants: beef, sheep, goats, andto a lesser extentother livestock like pork. The reason why ruminants have a relatively large impact is two-fold: Theyre particularly inefficient at converting grass into things we can eat; or, if theyre not being fed grass, converting soy or other feed into food for humans. This matters because you have to include the climate impacts of producing the feed we then give to cows and other ruminants. Another reason why ruminants are particularly high emitters is because during their digestive process, they convert their food into methane, a potent greenhouse gas that they then burp.

The other large source of emissions within food systems is from fertilizer usefrom how it is processed to emissions from application. Nitrogen naturally converts into nitrous oxide, which is one of the other very potent greenhouse gases.

This I think has been a blind spot. Weve disrupted the carbon cycle, but weve disrupted the nitrogen cycle, too.Exactly. Estimates are that humans have doubled the amount of reactive nitrogen in the worldthat is human sources of reactive nitrogen are at least as large as the amount of reactive nitrogen that is naturally available. Not ideal.

Your findings paint a picture based on current trends. What trends did you track?

Very broadly speaking, emissions from the food system are a function of what we eat, how its produced, and the size of the population. We looked at these three factors and trends to date and projected out if these patterns continue over the next several decades.

What we found at a global scale is that the most important driver is changes in dietary habits; populations eating more food and eating a larger proportion of that food from animal sources, either meat, dairy, or eggs. Population growth is an important driver, but its not as important as dietary habit change. And while changes in food productionlike having better management techniques and reducing emissions per unit of foodcould counter those shifts, it would not be by a huge amount.

Now, all this is at a global scale; for any single country, that global pattern may not match up. Diets are changing, but not uniformly. For instance, diets are not changing by a huge amount in the United States, but if you go to a place like China or Brazil, countries experiencing large economic transitions, there are massive dietary shifts happening and with them those emissions are going to be driven up.

Do you feel the story of food systems emissions has been late to the game in climate change?

Rightfully, a lot of the effort, focus, and political will has targeted emissions abatement through fossil fuels. That makes a huge amount of sense. But were getting better knowledge about the impact food has had on the environmentand the trajectory of emissionsand starting to see, thankfully, food becoming a bigger part of the conversation.

Talk about some of the main levers for change. First, plant-rich diets: Lets get into what you mean by that and why this diet shift makes a difference.

We mean a reduction in meat, dairy, and eggs and an increase in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and so on. Whats critical here is that while the endpoint is similar for everyone in the world, the direction you might need to go to get there will be really different. In the United States, for instance, this shift in diets might mean a typical person eating much less meat and much more fruits and vegetables. The second thing I really want to stress is that these plant-rich diets are associated with pretty large increases in health outcomes. While for this paper we focused on climate, plant-rich diets have enormous co-benefits.

Lets talk about another lever for reducing food system emissions; what you and your co-authors call healthy calories.

Approximately half the global adult population is eating too much or not enough. In certain countries the figures are even more extreme. For my co-authors and me, the healthy diet lever meansindependent of a plant-rich dietwhat proportion of calories are coming from fruit, vegetables, and other healthy sources of calories. We know that so many people are not getting the right amounts of food for a healthy diet. Similar to the plant-rich lever, this means in some places, eating a lot less, in other places, it will mean people eating more [healthy foods].

Food waste has gotten a lot more attention in the past few yearsin part, I think, because the percent of food that is wasted is so high and because addressing food waste feels so doable.

Yes, its pretty shocking: About one-third of all food that is produced remains uneaten, ether because its thrown away, rots, or otherwise doesnt get to the people who want to eat it. The sources differ widely by country, sometimes its a lack of refrigeration, lack of storage, grain silos, and so on. In the United States, a family of four wastes on average $1,600 worth of produce a year. Thats a pretty big incentive to act.

It always surprises people that if the emissions associated with food loss were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world.

Lets talk about what you are seeing in terms of policy responses.

One of the joys and complications of working on a global study is that the policy responses are going to look very different wherever you are. We talked earlier about the climate impacts of nitrogen fertilizer use. One policy that has really been effective has been the 1991 European Union Nitrates Directive. Now, when it was passed, it was designed to reduce nitrogen runoff because agricultural sources of runoff were one of the main causes of water pollution in Europe. Since then, fertilizer applications per hectare have decreased by about half, yet crop yields have continued to increase as they were before. Its just one example of a relatively large geographically scaled policy that is working. While it wasnt specifically designed to address emissions, it most certainly has had emissions benefits.

We can look at farmers choosing different production pathways. Like in some cases adding more crop rotations into their planning or using agroecological approaches, such as planting hedgerows, agroforestry, and more. Honestly, there really is a huge amount that can be done. But its important to stress that no single action is going to solve the problem.

One of the big food-climate debates is about soil carbon sequestration and livestock. What do you think about those who argue for livestocks ability to rehabilitate soils?

We know for sure we can be doing a lot better in terms of soil carbon storage. And we are seeing incredible results from a range of strategies, like some I mentioned: planting cover crops, intercropping, and silvopasture, planting hedges between fields that can prevent soil lossand more. All of these can help sequester more carbon in the soil, but I think the key message should be: Soil carbon sequestration is part of the solution, but it isnt the only solution.

Now, for the debate about cows! The instances where Ive seen cows or other ruminants potential to be net negative in terms of greenhouse gas emissionsafter accounting for methane emissionsis over short timescales, in certain conditions, on previously degraded land. So, yes, it may be possible for cows to play a helpful role, but in a limited way. How the cows are raised matters; but how many cows youre raising matters more.

Do you feel like any parts of your paper have been misunderstood as this complex story gets translated for the general public?

I actually think the coverage has been good. There are basically three main points and I think the media has been capturing them well: One, food matters to climate and if we continue eating the way we are, it will result in catastrophic climate change; two, there is a lot we can do; third, everyone has a role to playconsumers, businesses, food processors, everyone.

I know one question those who work on climate often gets asked is, Are you optimistic or pessimistic?but, I feel I should ask the same of you.

Im laughing because its an uncomfortable question to answer. We are starting to move in the right direction, but honestly, were not moving anywhere close to as fast as we need to. We need to start acting now. It would have been great to have made these changes years ago, but we didnt.

Right. As they say, the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The second best time is today.

Exactly.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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New Research Confirms What We Eat Is Central to the Climate Crisis - Civil Eats

The facts are clear: our food system isnt working as well as it should be for people or planet.

Too many people are going hungry whilst too much food is going to waste. Too many of us are not consuming a balanced diet and too much of the food we eat contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. When I look to the future challenges our children will be facing, it brings it home how much we need to do together to lead for change.

We all know the global food system is unsustainable and unless the average persons diet changes drastically by 2050, we are in danger of depleting the planet. The statistics are sobering: one billion people around the worldare hungry;two billion are obese or overweight; one third of all food produced is thrown away and animal agriculture is the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

We need to move even faster as an industry to build a system which recognises a better for you, better for the planet approach. As part of our new global food strategy, Future Foods, we have two clear objectives: to help people move towards healthier diets and to reduce the environmental impact of our global food chain. We are actioning this by setting ourselves a 1bn sales target for plant-based meat and dairy alternatives in the next five to seven years, raising nutritional standards across our brands and halving food waste in our direct operations by 2025.

These ambitions are grounded in the ethos of our business. In the UK we already have ambitious shared commitments on food waste and carbon reduction as part of the 2025 Courtauld Commitments. Weve also been expanding our plant-based meat and dairy alternatives business for several years, as well as increasing vegan alternatives from our brands.

As a responsible manufacturer, its not only about reducing our impact on the planet and tackling food waste, its about driving healthier choices for people. We understand the urgency with which we need to tackle these issues, and while we cant tell people what to eat, we can offer tastier, healthier and more sustainable foods to choose from.

We are committed to reformulating our products to reduce sugar, salt and calories, as well as reducing portion sizes and creating healthier options. However, its not just about the products we sell, its the way we market them which will help us with this ambition. Simply put, shoppers need to learn about healthier options through advertising and promotions. Thats why we have committed that before the end of 2021 we will also include the healthier version of our core product alongside the core in all of our food and refreshment advertising here in the UK. Were all creatures of habit and we need to be able to inspire and engage in order to get people to try something new.

We absolutely share the governments ambition to tackle the obesity crisis. There is of course a role for regulation, but it needs to be evidence-based, proportionate and have a demonstrable impact on positive outcomes for consumers. Crucially, it needs to provide incentives for manufacturers to invest resources into innovation at a time when this is more important than ever. This incentive is removed if were unable to advertise and promote the vast majority of our reformulated or healthier products, which are included in the governments proposed ban on online advertising and in-store promotions of high fat, salt and sugar foods.

Innovation and renovation is the life-blood of our industry and is fundamental to the positive changes we, as manufacturers, can all lead for. We want to continue to make improvements to our products, tell people about those products and empower people to make responsible choices. We want to use our world-class insight and understanding of our consumers to drive positive behaviour change and encourage people to eat healthier diets.

But more broadly, we want to work hand in hand with retailers, manufacturers, NGOs and government to ensure the UK food ecosystem is more sustainable. We hope these stretching global targets mean Unilever can play a meaningful part in making that happen.

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We need to work together to drive healthier food choices for people and the planet - The Grocer

Despite the fact that women tend to outlive men in almost all societies, they experience more sickness along the way. This so-called gender-health paradox has long puzzled researchers. Biological differences between the sexes females higher body fat percentage, for example are often presumed to be the reason women are subject to a higher burden of chronic disease. But, as COVID-19s disproportionate effect on womens employment and productivity has made plain, women experience different and often compounding stressors, which can contribute to poorer health.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points to gender norms as a primary cause of health disparities between men and women. Researchers working among the Mosuo, a minority society in Southwest China, compared communities with two different sets of expectations for household membership and inheritance (called kinship norms).

Siobhn Mattison, assistant professor of Anthropology at The University of New Mexico and director of the Human Family and Evolutionary Demography Lab is the research team leader and has been working in China with the Mosuo since 2016.

Evolutionary Anthropology graduate student Adam Reynolds is the first author of this study, participated in fieldwork in China, and has led numerous analyses, including for this study, to understand how kinship systems affect social and well-being outcomes.

Matrilineal Mosuo typically pass land, home, and wealth from mothers to daughters, who form the backbone of society, with men in more peripheral roles. Patrilineal Mosuo typically pass inheritance from fathers to sons. Because of this, in matrilineal Mosuo communities, women tend to have more autonomy and control of resources. Language, religion, and other cultural beliefs and practices are largely similar across matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo communities, which makes these factors unlikely explanations of observed differences in health between these communities.

Our work shows that in cultures with norms that favor men, women may have worse health because they experience more stress or adversity than men do.

- Adam Reynolds, Evolutionary Anthropology graduate student

As part of a larger National Science Foundation-funded project, the research brought together an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists, biologists, and demographers from US and Chinese universities to study the impacts of economic change on health and well-being. During two years of data collection, the researchers visited hundreds of Mosuo households in Yunnan Province, interviewing people about their socio-economic circumstances and using blood drawn from finger-pricks as a minimally-invasive method to study participants health.

The researchers leveraged their interdisciplinary expertise to test an old, but under-tested hypothesis that women experience improved health in cultures where they enjoy higher status and empowerment. When the research team, including first author Reynolds, a graduate student of the University of New Mexicos Human Family and Evolutionary Demography Lab, compared matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo, the difference was striking: women had higher rates of hypertension and inflammation than men in patrilineal communities, but lower rates than men in matrilineal communities.

This is to our knowledge the first time that a complete reversal in markers of chronic disease for men and women has been observed, says Mattison. It suggests that the mainstream biomedical understanding of gender disparities in health may discount the contributions of prevailing gender norms that favor men in most societies. Because there are both matrilineal and patrilineal communities of Mosuo, this unique population provides a kind of natural experiment for testing the effects of fundamental cultural features, such as gender norms, on biology and health, tests that are difficult to perform in most populations studied by biomedical researchers.

The reversal in health disparities was driven by differences in womens health: mens health was roughly similar across the two communities, but women had lower rates of hypertension and inflammation in the matrilineal community. Although the researchers cant pinpoint exactly how differences in gender norms affect health, their analysis suggests that a combination of factors, including better access to resources and kin support for women may be important. This is consistent with work suggesting that empowering women within households and communities improves womens health.

Weve long known that stress is an important factor in health and disease. However, when it comes to gender disparities in health, the common assumption is that hormones and sex chromosomes are the primary culprits, says Reynolds. Our work shows that in cultures with norms that favor men, women may have worse health because they experience more stress or adversity than men do.

People in both patrilineal and matrilineal communities consume rice, pork, and yak butter regularly. Both women and men contribute to agricultural labor. Given the similarities in diet and lifestyle, we were able to isolate kinship norms as our primary unit of comparison," says Chun-Yi Sum, lecturer of social sciences at Boston University, fieldwork team leader, and co-author on the study.

Over their fifteen years of research with the Mosuo, the research team has seen rapid economic development in the region, due primarily to rapidly growing ethnic tourism in the area. Like many other cultures globally, as Mosuo diets and lifestyles change, they are at increasing risk for chronic diseases such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. Increasing tourism has led to an influx of wealth, more processed foods in the diet, and sedentary lifestyles that together increase chronic disease risk, says co-author Katherine Wander, assistant professor of anthropology at Binghamton University. As chronic diseases continue to increase in prevalence around the world, our work suggests that women will continue to be disproportionately affected, not because they are inherently more vulnerable, but because gender and kinship norms often disadvantage them.

The authors hope this work will inspire broader thinking about womens health: Even though women live longer lives than men, they dont live healthier lives. Overall, women tend to have higher rates of chronic disease. Our research suggests that this inequality isnt going to be solved purely by biomedicine or typical public health interventions. There is no way to solve these problems without considering the cultural systems that constrain or empower people, Mattison concluded.

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UNM researchers show gender norms that favor women reverse gender disparities in health - UNM Newsroom