Fasting for Shardiya Navratri has started today (September 26) and will end with Kanya Pujan on Navami on October 4. Many followers of Durga fast during the whole nine-day Hindu festival, while others only do so on the first two and last two days. There are no set guidelines for how to celebrate Navratri, and the ceremonies vary slightly depending on the state.As far as Navratri fasting is concerned, those who practise it adhere to a "falahaari" diet that can include Samvat ke chawal (banyard millet), kuttu ka aata (buckwheat flour), sabudana or sago, rajgira, singhare ka aata (water chestnut flour), potatoes, sweet potatoes, bottle gourd (lauki), arbi, pumpkin The following foods are forbidden during the Navratri fast: wheat, rice, semolina, maida, corn flour, legumes, and pulses. The number of fasting days, the length of the fast throughout the day, and the kinds of foods consumed and abstained from during fasts all vary widely. Some people only drink water, some practise intermittent fasting, some eat one meal a day, and some only consume fruits and milk.Lets talk about the fruit diet and everything you should know about it.

A fruit diet requires that you consume at least 50% of your calories from fresh fruit, such as bananas, papayas, grapes, apples, and berries. The remaining 25% to 50% of calories are often found in whole grains, nuts, seeds, and vegetables. However, strict fruitarians may consume up to 90% fruit and only 10% of nuts and seeds.

These six fruit categories make up the bulk of the fruitarian diet:

Citrus, cranberries, and pineapples are acidic fruits

Fruits that are sour: Sweet cherries, raspberries, and figs

Bananas, grapes, melons, and other sweet fruits

Olives, avocados, and other fatty fruits

Nuts: Almonds, pistachios, cashews, hazelnuts, and walnuts

Sunflower, pumpkin, and squash seeds

The fruitarian diet has certain nutritional advantages, but it also has some very major disadvantages.

You can have a lot of fruit for comparatively few calories because fruits are frequently low-fat and high in water. In order to consume enough calories on a fruit-based diet, you would have to eat a lot of food, which would effectively encourage fullness.

Fruits are packed with nutrients, but they don't have all you need for a balanced, nutritious diet. The fruitarian way of eating is rather limited. Fruit-only or fruit-heavy diets may grow monotonous and trigger desires for other foods.

The rest is here:
Going on a fruit diet this Navratri? Things to keep in mind - Zoom TV

Only a few topics are as contentious as our diet and food choices particularly the vegan vs. meat eater debate. While we like to think that everyones dietary preferences are valid, tensions inevitably arise when people who choose different paths have to live together under one roof. And the issue becomes even more magnified when they try to force their personal beliefs onto others.

This story shared with the AITA community gives us insight into precisely such a situation. It comes from a dad whose daughter, a 14-year-old teen, decided to go vegan. While the couple jumped at the chance to show support with open minds and full hearts, the situation changed once she started criticizing how her parents run their lives in their own house.

And it all started with a pan. She saw me cook bacon in a pan, and then I rinsed it out to load in the dishwasher. She exploded in anger, the user wrote, detailing how things only escalated from there. Scroll down to read the story in full, as well as the reactions that followed. Be sure to decide for yourself where you land on the matter, and then weigh in on the discussion in the comments below!

Image credits: Malte Helmhold

Image credits: Andrew Ridley

Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio

Image credits: frustratingbaconeate

Every family has their stories about conflict at the dinner table. But as the author notes in his story, people must learn to adapt and live side by side under one roof. While denying her demands to remove all foods which dont accommodate her diet from the kitchen caused tension in the family dynamics, many readers found that to be a wise move. The vast majority of Redditors deemed the dad has every right to eat what he wants in his own home, and that the daughter should stop forcing her lifestyle on others.

With more and more young people around the world adopting healthier and more mindful lifestyle choices, these family conundrums may be more common than we think. According to Plant Proteins sources, 6% of US consumers are vegan. Whether for health reasons, climate change, animal welfare, or to satisfy the curiosity of what the buzz is all about, vegan statistics show the plant-based population continues to spike. In fact, compared to previous years, its now spreading like wildfire. The vegan market has boomed, and restaurants and fast-food chains are starting to accommodate people with plant-based options.

When it comes to a vegan diet, the conversation has as much to do with the life philosophy and ethical commitments as with whats on the plate. Sometimes emotions get heated and tensions arise, but clear communication and a sense of empathy from both sides can go a long way. To find a way out of this situation, family members need to sit down, have a conversation, and figure out what to do next so everyone can live in harmony.

According to an article on Live Strong, its important to consider family meals that work for everyone. While this will be hard, there are plenty of food choices to give you a variety of dishes to choose from. My biggest tip for these families is to prepare meals that can be easily customized, Paige Foote, RD, said. Dishes like burrito bowls and stir-fries are great because they use the same base ingredients of starch, protein, and vegetables.

Depending on your family, everyone can prepare two or more variations of those base ingredients, she added. Most veggies should work for any diet, although its important to keep in mind how theyre prepared. And if youre concerned about cross-contamination, consider buying separate dishware or washing the existing equipment and utensils thoroughly.

Let us know your thoughts about this story down below. Do you think the dad is right to refuse his daughters request and draw the line? What would you personally do in this situation? Be sure to share your takes with us below, and if you have any tips for handling these situations better, feel free to tell us all about them in the comments!

Original post:
Vegan Teen Expects Everyone To Accommodate Her New Diet And Stop Eating Meat At Home, Dad Disagrees - Bored Panda

In my recent article, the headline mistakenly said we can use more protein in our diet. However, as the article stated, almost all Americans have adequate protein or much more than they need in their diet.

Protein is an essential nutrient, meaning it is essential to human health. Together with carbohydrate and fat, protein is one of the three nutrients that supply calories in the human diet. Protein serves many other functions as well, including those that make up skin, hair, muscle and bone, and those that act as enzymes to facilitate chemical reactions in the body.

More necessary proteins are manufactured by the human body using amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Nine of the amino acids are called essential because they cant be manufactured and must come from the diet. A complete dietary protein is one in which all the essential amino acids are found, mostly foods from animal sources such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products.

Others are incomplete, lacking one or more of the nine essential amino acids. Plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds are generally incomplete.

Amino acids in rice and beans "complete" each other.

However, we can eat foods in which the amino acids complement each other. When you eat these foods together, they provide all the essential amino acids. Examples are bread with peanut butter, rice and beans, corn and beans, bean soup and crackers, hummus (chickpeas and tahini, or sesame seed paste).

In general, combining grains with legumes or nuts with seeds yields complete protein.

Most people in western countries consume much more protein than they need, usually from animal foods. Vegans, who avoid all foods from animal sources, need to be a bit more aware of the quality of protein in the foods they eat so they will have all the complete protein needed for health.

Edamame, a popular form of soy.

Even if you arent vegan, it can be a good idea to add protein from plant foods, which contain less fat and saturated fat, as well as a variety of other nutrients, than animal foods. Soy is one plant protein that is complete and is also a good source of healthy fats and phytochemicals (plant chemicals that may be good for you). It's usually served as tempeh or tofu, and soy milk is a popular replacement for milk. Edamame, a green soybean usually served in its pod, is another popular form of soy. Less well-known vegetable sources of complete protein include amaranth, quinoa, hemp seed, and chia.

Ellen Glovsky is a Key Biscayne resident, published author and Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Coach. Her work focuses on helping people explore and enhance their relationship with food, using a Health At Every Size approach. She is also involved in the island community with her work on KBCFs Womens Giving Circle.If you have questions you would like answered, you can reach her atellen@nutrition-coach.com.To learn more, visitnutrition-coach.com

Excerpt from:
Most Americans have adequate protein in their diet - Islander News.com

Under this plan, Jericho found himself striving to make his daily big meal or, in this case, a quasi-big eight-ounce meal which would be followed by one or two more snacks later in the day.

"And that would be it," he added. "Like any other dietbecause I've been on a few of themonce you get into the hang of it, it's really not so bad."

Jericho preferred this approach to intermittent fasting, which he denounced as "the biggest scam in dieting." He also noted that this diet has him drinking roughly 100 ounces of water daily, which is a new experience for him.

"I was never much of a water drinker, but now I'm pounding water," he said. "Like, boom, I'll drink 34 ouncesglug, glug, glug. You just gotta retrain your body, and once you're able to do that, it isn't so bad. I can still have a drink. I have my little shot glass for a little vodka, and it's fine."

Jericho is also keeping an eye on his weight to ensure he doesn't balloon up again.

"I'm that guy that carries a scale with me everywhere," he said. "If I'm over 210, I pull back. If it's under 210, well, then I'll have a cheeseburger. If it's 205, then I'll have a cheeseburger and a pizza. If it's 215, then I'll be strict on the diet for a couple days. Once you get there and maintain it, it's okay. You just have to know where you're at."

Excerpt from:
Chris Jericho Details The Diet That Led To His Body Transformation - Wrestling Inc.

Copper naturally occurs in many foods and is essential to helping your body function properly. You can find it in certain meats, fruits, and vegetables. Its even in some drinking water. Copper enables you to produce energy, maintain strong blood vessels, and stay healthy with a functioning immune system. You can take copper as a supplement or take a multivitamin with the amount you need daily.

Copper is an essential mineral. Your body needs small amounts of copper every day to process cholesterol and stay healthy. Copper is part of how you get healthy bones, red blood cells, and needed tissue connecting bones. You also need copper for enzymes, and, for pregnant women, copper keeps your growing baby healthy, too. Since the body cannot create copper on its own, you must find copper from vitamins or food sources.

How much copper you need depends on a few factors. If youre a grown man aged 20 and older, you should get 1,400 mcg of copper every day. That amount goes down to 1,100 mcg for women and children. If youre pregnant or breastfeeding, be sure to talk to your doctor. But typically, you should get more copper, between 1 and 1.3 mg daily.

Fortunately, most healthy bodies will simply excrete any copper you dont need, so its rare to overdose on copper. However, please see a doctor if you get stomach aches, dry mouth, or diarrhea.

Since your body cannot manufacture copper on its own, eating a balanced diet with enough copper is essential. Thats the best way to get copper into your system. The older you get, the more copper you need. Heres why:

Without a healthy immune system, your body wont be able to defend itself against diseases or illnesses. Copper also serves as an antioxidant. This means that copper binds itself to free radicals in your body and protects healthy cells from being harmed. Too many free radicals can speed up the aging process, which worsens if you dont exercise enough. Antioxidants like copper help lower those amounts, and with them, the risk of arthritis, diabetes, and heart ailments goes down.

Your body needs connective tissue so that your tendons, ligaments, and heart function properly. This requires specific kinds of enzymes. The same enzymes also work hard within your circulatory system strengthening blood vessels and the structures they use to get around. You also use enzymes when building strong bones.

No organ in your body uses as much copper as your brain. Its a required mineral for your neurological functioning to work the way its supposed to. For example, high levels of copper in your brain ensure oxygen is received, and free radicals do less damage. Thanks to how copper interacts with your cognitive development, youll enjoy a healthier nervous system and more energy. You also react better to stress.

Organ meats such as beef livercontain more copper than any other kind of food. You can braise or fry liver; either is effective at maintaining the copper levels, and enjoy about 16,070 mcg per 4-ounce serving. This is almost 20 times your daily recommended value. So only eat beef liver for dinner once a week.

You can also eat chicken liver for a bit less copper. However, at 566 mcg, its still around 62% of your daily value.

A popular way to eat liver is with onions and ketchup. You can also cook it with mushrooms, burgers, or as an ingredient in chili or stews. Keep in mind that liver comes with a high amount of vitamin A, and too much can harm unborn babies.

Wheat-bran cereals come fortified with copper and can supplement your diet if you dont eat liver. This is especially helpful for vegetarians or vegans. These cereals also contain a good amount of fiber, which makes your stool bulkier and easier to pass. This will help you avoid being constipated and enjoy better digestive health in general.

Additionally, you can enjoy wheat-bran cereals with regular milk and almond or oat milk to aid digestion and feel less bloating or discomfort. Finally, chop up bananas for added flavor and as an additional source of copper.

Keep an eye on sugar and calories when it comes to chocolate, but dark chocolate has some health benefits. One great advantage is that it comes packed with copper. A bar containing about 70-85% dark chocolate will give you 1,766 mcg of copper. Bars with only 60-69% dark chocolate have less copper at 1,248 mcg. The darker, the better.

Lemons contain a lot of copper and fiber, vitamin C, and other health benefits. Adding lemons to waterand other drinks, as well as certain meals or desserts, may also make you feel fuller than usual, and therefore you may eat less. Enjoy less risk of heart disease, fewer kidney stones, improved digestion, and some protection against cancer.

Bananas benefit your diet for many reasons, including adding potassium, copper, and iron. People can treat anemia, cramps in their feet, and other ailments. Simply add bananas to smoothies, cereals, and peanut butter sandwiches, or eat them plain. By increasing your copper intake, you increase red blood cells. This also prevents anemia and improves circulation.

Do you enjoy oysters and lobster? Good news! Steamed or smoked oysters contain a whopping 4,800 mcg per 100-gram serving. Lobsters, big shellfish creatures that live on the seabed floor, also have a high amount of copper.

Most seafood will give you a good amount of copper, but shellfish has more. For example, the cooked crab has around 663 mcg, and smoked salmon will add 228 mcg of copper to your diet.

If your diet needs more copper and you cant eat shellfish and dont enjoy liver, then grab a handful of nuts, like cashews, and get close to what you need for the whole day. You can eat cashews raw for about 622 mcg per ounce. Add them to trail mix, recipes or use them as a base for certain cheeses, dips, or spreads. They also add a ton of flavor to bread and casseroles.

This meal can convert even the most anti-liver eater into a believer. With just this meal, youll satisfy more than the copper you need for several days.

The ingredients include:

Instructions

Serve with steamed shiitake mushrooms for a delicious, copper-filled side dish. Enjoy!

Go here to see the original:
7 amazing foods high in copper that will boost your immune system in cold season - The Manual

AARON JUDGE has a strict diet plan to keep him fueled in his quest for history.

The New York Yankees star is after the home run record this season.

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The two-meter tall baseball player also tips the scale at 280lbs.

And he places a huge focus on staying his nutrition to stay energized.

Judge spoke to muscleandfitness.com about his workout and diet plan.

He explained: "The biggest thing is veggies for me eating your greens.

"I focus on getting a large portion of greens with every meal, no matter what it is.

"In the morning, if Im eating an omelet, I like to get some spinach and other vegetables in it.

"Salads are big for me, and I always like to have chicken and rice."

Judge's meals differ on a daily basis, but the idea of eating clean remains the same.

He also avoids pasta before games as he feels that weighs him down.

Judge added: "I like to get a bunch of different fruits and some spinach, some protein, and almond butter.

"Ill put it all in a smoothie and drink a big one, because itll fill me up, but it wont sit in my stomach too heavy.

"Thats something I do every day before the game.

"It helps me maintain that energy and feel full, but without making me feel heavy and slow throughout the game."

But the 30-year-old is only human and enjoys a cheat meal on occasion.

Judge said: "I like pizza. Especially being in New York, you can find some good pizza spots.

"If its not pizza, its chicken parm or something like that. Thats my go-to."

Read more:
Inside Aaron Judges diet and meal plan including his favorite New York-themed cheat dish... - The US Sun

You are what you eat.

Its difficult to disagree with that clich. Put a lot of garbage down your gullet foods that are highly processed with loads of sugar and salt and devoid of fiber and nutrients and youll likely find that, over time, your body will turn to trash as well.

The phrase does, however, lose its luster a bit when you consider who popularized it. Victor Lindlahr was a nutritionist, author, and practitioner of osteopathic medicine in the disciplines pseudoscientific days. Considered one of the earliest proponents of fad diets, he wrote the book You Are What You Eat: How to win and keep health with diet, which was published in 1942. The book, which sold over half a million copies, asked odd questions like, Can certain foods aid in correcting unpleasant breath? and, What foods are of value in relieving bleeding gums?

Influential nutritionist Fredrick J. Stare, who founded the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health and advocated prudence and moderation as the key to healthy eating, called Lindlahrs book quackery. Nevertheless, Lindlahrs signature phrase, You are what you eat, became ingrained in the public consciousness.

Beyond its sketchy origins, You are what you eat takes a bigger hit when one considers the phrase more literally.

What it suggests is that our health is rigidly determined by the specific foods and nutrients we put in our bodies. It says that if two people put the same foods in their body, they will have the same level of health, sports nutritionist Matt Fitzgerald wrote in his 2014 book Diet Cults, in which he berated many popular diet trends for being unscientific and ultimately ineffective. The healthy-diet cults unanimously subscribe to this principle After all, the diet cults are in business to convince us that we can attain maximum health only if we eat what they tell us to eat.

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Science has revealed a more nuanced truth, Fitzgerald says. We are what our bodies do with what we eat, he clarified.

The two great pillars of a healthy body are diet and exercise, and both affect physical functioning. You are what you eat ignores the fact that what we do with our bodies may be just as important as what we put in them.

If the bodys basic metabolism zeroes out small to moderate differences in diet, exercise neutralizes moderate to large differences. It is like a great sculptor who can fashion the same beautiful form of various materials, including some of indifferent quality, Fitzgerald wrote.

Fitzgerald cautions that one cannot simply eat whatever one wants. Candy for every meal will not provide the nutrients that the body needs. But one also doesnt have to eat a perfect diet all the time to maximize health and longevity.

As the century-long Longevity Project, a study which followed long-lived individuals, has shown, there are numerous aspects of a persons life equally or more important than diet that dictate health and lifespan. Simply being ambitious, productive, and engaged while avoiding destructive behaviors like smoking, drinking to excess, abusing drugs, or driving too fast prolongs life and keeps us in good shape.

So yes, we are much, much more than what we eat.

Read the original:
You are not what you eat. It's time to dispel this diet clich - Big Think

On a rainswept drive home from her new restaurant job, Uniyah Gollett begged her boss to pull over.

From the passenger seat, she had been watching homeless people sitting by the roadside, unsheltered from the storm, and it had brought her to tears. Gollett who was raised in Broward Countys foster-care system most of her life felt like she was looking in a mirror.

The 23-year-old talked her supervisor, Jake Miller, into an impromptu shopping spree. They pulled into a Dollar General and stuffed deodorant, sunscreen, feminine hygiene products and toiletries into 20 plastic bags. At stoplights, Gollett and Miller handed out care packages to every homeless person they saw.

I was one of them, Gollett says. I know what its like to be a woman on the street with your cycle on. Theyre still people. They deserve a chance like everyone else.

Perhaps it was her new server position at the Sunrise eatery, FK Your Diet, but Gollett felt light-years away from her recent past.

The rainbow-colored diner opened in August on Commercial Boulevard with an ambitious premise: pairing heartwarming good deeds with ridiculously over-the-top breakfast foods.

The FK in the name is not an expletive. It stands for foster kids.

Roughly 30% of FK Your Diets employees are former foster kids. A few are former convicted felons and recovering drug addicts.

Owner Jake Miller hugs a client during breakfast service on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2022, at the new FK Your Diet in Sunrise. (Joe Cavaretta/Joe Cavaretta)

The restaurant which provides second chances showed up exactly when Gollett needed one. She had just aged out of the foster-care system on July 22, her 23rd birthday, when her temp agency job expired. A social worker told her that FK Your Diet was hiring.

I didnt know where to go, I didnt have anyone to call, and God brought me to Mr. Jake, she says.

Mr. Jake is Miller, the 24-year-old owner of Sunrises FK Your Diet and himself the son of a former foster kid.

During the job interview, Miller says, he heard Gollett describe a lifetime of foster-care hardship. She said shed worked at Chipotle, McDonalds, The Cheesecake Factory at Sawgrass Mills. Shed even graduated from culinary school.

He hired her on the spot.

When Gollett admitted she didnt have transportation, Miller offered to drive her to and from work. But Miller says he was astounded when Gollett proposed care packages for the homeless last weekend.

I was like, This is a great idea. Why didnt I think of that? Miller says. Shes worked here, what, three weeks? Shes already phenomenal.

Now Miller is training Gollett to one day replace him.

Shes got a great attitude, he says. My dream, I told her, is to help teach her how to run a restaurant, become a general manager, and then own this place.

FK Your Diet Sunrise owner Jake Miller, left, cooks a 5-pound breakfast burrito as Uniyah Gollett, right, watches from the sidelines. (Joe Cavaretta/Joe Cavaretta)

Born in Pompano Beach, Gollett says she lived with biological parents who kept her out of school and abused her in ways she prefers to forget. By age 7, she says, the states foster-care system intervened.

Her guardian ad litem at the time, Beverly Russell, taught me how to read and write, and instilled in me that education is power, and made me into the woman I am today, Gollett says.

Over the next 11 hardscrabble years, Gollett bounced around 15 shelters, foster and group homes, sometimes out of state, including in New York and North Carolina.

It was like a box of chocolates, she recalls. A lot of the homes I was in, I was neglected and abused. But I can honestly say the bad always outweighed the good.

In Broward, about 2.5 out of every 1,000 children enter the states child welfare system monthly, while that number is 1.73 out of every 1,000 children in Palm Beach County, according to a Florida Department of Children and Families report published in October 2021. That number is higher statewide: 2.92 out of every 1,000 children.

In Florida, foster children age out of the program at 18. After that, they become eligible for after care programs until their 23rd birthday, provided they meet certain criteria, such as finishing high school or being employed at least 80 hours per month.

Uniyah Gollett wipes down prep tables during the busy breakfast rush on Sunday, Sept. 19, at the new FK Your Diet in Sunrise. (Joe Cavaretta/Joe Cavaretta)

For Gollett, the stability of home life constantly eluded her. By the time she turned 11, she lived exclusively in group homes with 15 or more children, most of them even younger. Foster parents who worked all day left them unsupervised, sometimes without meals. By necessity, she taught herself to cook. Gollett boiled rice and scrambled eggs at least three times a week for younger kids in the group home. She baked biscuits from scratch by reading back-of-the-box instructions. She grew to love honey so much she drizzled it over everything, especially fried chicken.

Gollett even acquired a new nickname around the neighborhood Pooh because, like Winnie the cartoon bear, her love of honey was insatiable, outmatched only by her joy of cooking.

When she turned 18, Gollett aged out of foster care, but she discovered an organization, Fort Lauderdales FLITE Center, that helped her learn self-sufficiency, like filling out job applications, and found her transitional housing. She enrolled in the culinary program at Coconut Creeks Atlantic Technical College and graduated in May.

A criminal background check for Gollett reveals some significant charges, including two felonies and a 2019 stint in a Broward County jail. Gollett does not dispute this, adding that she was young and had no guidance, and that her new employer does not judge her past mistakes.

Being incarcerated was a wake-up call for me and a blessing, because I know now what not to do, Gollett says. But I havent been in any trouble the past few years. FK cares about the now, not my past, and Im grateful for the opportunity.

People make mistakes, Miller says. I mean, were dealing with the foster-kid system here. What guidance did they ever have not to do the right thing? To me, it makes Poohs story that much cooler. It shows that shes really turned her life around.

Once she landed the server job three weeks ago, Miller insisted Gollett have breakfast on the house. She declined out of modesty but they were serious, like, Take the meal, take the meal, " Gollett says, with a laugh. I had some very amazing shrimp and grits with biscuits and lots of honey on my very first day, and it was really good.

People like Mr. Jake are supposed to live forever, she adds. This job is more than a job. This place makes sure that you always have a huge quantity of food.

Picture hamburgers sandwiched between deep-fried doughnut buns, 5-pound belly buster breakfast burritos as fat as footballs, maple bacon-flavored milkshakes and Southern-fried chicken eggs benedict.

FK Your Diet Sunrises indulgent menu is the brainchild of Millers father, Doug, who was raised in Ohios foster-care system.

Doug Miller and his wife, Amy Eldridge, opened the diners flagship location in Fort Myers in 2018, later adding outposts in Orlando and Cape Coral. He says he created FK Your Diet to help foster kids overcome the fears that had defined his childhood. One solution: a comfort-food menu overstuffed with cheat meals.

FK Your Diet's 5-pound "belly buster" breakfast burrito, roughly the size of a rolled-up gym towel, is loaded with fried potatoes, eggs, bacon and veggies. (Joe Cavaretta/Joe Cavaretta)

You never know where your next meal is coming from, says Doug Miller, who lives in Fort Myers. So we give you so much food that you dont know what to do with it. Were pushing all this food so maybe, if youre in foster care, youll worry less.

He remembers the bitter spitefulness he felt toward foster parents who abused and neglected me as he bounced around more than a dozen foster and group homes. His guardians would put padlocks on the refrigerators, he says. One foster mom served him nothing but cake for three consecutive months. Other times, public-school lunch was the only meal he ate in a day.

[RELATED: South Florida restaurants now open: Maris Kitchen inside Fort Lauderdales Sistrunk Marketplace, plus Bokampers is back in Miramar]

I didnt feel empathy toward my foster families then, but I do now, he says. Its not easy being one of those parents. The burnout rate is high. I learned to cook all these recipes from kind foster moms. Our cooking is not fancy, nor is it exotic. Its how you would cook at home if you knew how to cook.

The restaurants locations partner with area foster charities to host Thanksgiving feasts and Christmas gift giveaways in the dining room.

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Although its only been open a month, FK Your Diet Sunrise has already begun working with Broward nonprofit organizations that support foster kids, such as 4KIDS, The Hands and Feet, Jewish Adoption and Family Care Options and Flite Center, Jake Miller says. FK Your Diets menu also includes so-called Meal Deals that benefit local foster kids, ranging from $12.50 for single meals to $500 for multiple pairs of Nike sneakers.

Tracie Catalano of Mary Ann's Closet and her foster kids enjoy breakfast at FK Your Diet. (Joe Cavaretta/Joe Cavaretta)

During her shifts at FK Your Diet, Gollett is fast and intuitive.

Bacon smells ready! she calls to a line cook on her way to bus tables in the dining room. She loves the slogan that is written on a rainbow mural in the dining room, which reads: Be the rainbow in someone elses cloud.

I love seeing that, Gollett says. You dont know what a human being has endured when they come to the restaurant. Their cloud can be stormy, but whats important is you make them feel happy.

[RELATED: New South Florida restaurants coming soon: Duck Donuts in Miramar, Blackbird in Jupiter]

Last week, she says one of her former caseworkers surprised her with a visit to the restaurant.

She told me she was proud of me, said God has a plan for me, and shes proud of the woman Ive become, Gollett says. I may be a foster kid, but that doesnt mean Im going to fail. Theres room to prosper and elevate.

FK Your Diet is at 9210 Commercial Blvd., Sunrise. Visit FKYourDiet.com or call 954-832-7102.

Excerpt from:
FK Your Diet: The new Sunrise restaurant with the provocative name has a heart of gold and a mission - South Florida Sun Sentinel

Everyone knows that Alaskan brown bears are big. Still, different brown bear populations survive on varying diets, so how do these populations achieve similar body weights despite various diets? A team of researchers led by North Carolina State University studied 51 bears in 3 Alaskan National Parks, and found that the secret may lie in the bears gut microbiome.

We think of bears as having simple digestive tracts, so its easy to slip into thinking that they therefore have simple gut microbiomes, said co-author Erin McKenney. But this study shows there can be tremendous diversity in the gut microbiomes between individual bears, and that this variation can be very important to the physical condition of these animals.

For example, the amount of fat that bears are able to store is absolutely critical to the health of wild populations, said study co-author Grant Hilderbrand. If female bears are able to reach levels where 19-20% of their body mass in the autumn is fat, theyll reproduce. And knowing that they can take different dietary paths to reach those fat levels is a valuable insight.

The fact that these populations have distinct diets is valuable, because it allows us to understand the role that the gut microbiome plays in helping bears extract nutrition from very different food sources, explained study co-author Sarah Trujillo.

We found that bears benefit from having diverse dietary niches, and the gut microbiome does play a role in extracting nutrition from those diets. Ultimately, that means that the bears in these parks were able to achieve very similar body conditions, despite eating very different things.

The information gathered from this study is crucial for brown bear preservation. According to Diana Lafferty, the findings can serve as a baseline for future research.

This study is also important because it gives us a snapshot of bears and their diet in these parks, said Hilderbrand. Knowing what bears are eating, and that these diverse diets can all be used to reach similar body conditions, can help us spot emerging challenges for these animals. It can also help us understand how many bears these ecosystems are capable of supporting, even as those ecosystems change.

In short, this study has given us significant insights into both the park ecosystems that these bears inhabit, and the microbial ecosystems that help these bears thrive, said McKenney.

The research is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

By Erin Moody , Earth.com Staff Writer

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Gut microbes help bears gain weight regardless of diet - Earth.com

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 Understanding the frustrations that diabetes patients as well as caregivers go through in preparing suitable daily meals, the For Your Sweetheart campaign has commissioned Nik Michael Imran of 2011 Masterchef Malaysia fame to create a series of recipes, ranging from fusion to local cuisines that can be prepared in less than 20 minutes.

The recipes were developed in consultation with Poh Kai Ling in her capacity as a council member of Diabetes Malaysia (DM), as well as a former committee member of the Malaysian Diabetes Educators Society (MDES).

Debunking The Diabetes Diet Myths

It is important to understand the facts about diabetes, so that both patients and caregivers can make informed decisions about dietary requirements. Some popular myths, especially for newly diagnosed patients and caregivers, include skipping meals to manage fluctuating blood sugar levels, consuming sugar free or sugar-substituted products freely, and avoiding eating potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and corn.

Skipping meals or eating less does not help to reduce sugar intake. It is advisable to follow the hunger cues, eat when the body needs. Ignoring hunger cues tend to create craving issues, making it hard for the person to control food intake in the subsequent meals. It is also important to read food labels to understand nutrition contents better, as not all sugar-free products are carbohydrate-free, Poh said.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and corn are all part of the carbohydrate food group. It is true that carbohydrate intake will increase blood sugar levels.

However, these starchy vegetables are highly nutritious, and contain various vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre, which are essential to our bodies. One should never avoid these foods. The key is to control the portion sizes.

So What Can Diabetes Patients Eat?

According to Poh, a diabetes-friendly diet does not need to be restrictive, boring, and hard to swallow. Having diabetes does not have to limit a persons meal choices. Healthy eating for people with diabetes is no different than for everyone else.

What is important is to eat a controlled amount and serve a portion of carbohydrate rich food. One of the ways is to take note of the Glycemic Index (GI) of the foods. GI is a value to measure the rate of how quickly carbohydrate in food raises the blood glucose. To put it simply, foods that are low GI (between 0-55) are considered good carbs and high GI (70-100) foods are considered bad carbs. The higher the GI value, the greater the effect on blood sugar levels. Understanding the GI of foods can help us in controlling diabetes along with carbohydrate counting, she said.

The collaboration between Nik Michael and Poh in developing the recipes in the Simple Healthy Cooking e-book ensured that the meals are not only enjoyable with a wide variety for different tastes, but also simple, easy to prepare, and appropriate for people with diabetes. The result is a variety of win-win recipes delicious restaurant-style meals that are also healthy and GI-appropriate.

Ive tried all 10 recipes and I must say they are really delicious. Kudos to Chef Nik! My personal favourites are Brown Pasta Alla Puttanesca, Coconut Crepes and Tenzaru Soba, said Poh.

Sharing his experience in developing the recipes for this campaign, Nik Michael said: It has been a meaningful journey for me personally. My dad, who was a chef and loves good food too, was recently diagnosed with diabetes. I understand the heart of caregivers in wanting to give the best to their loved ones who are living with diabetes.

That was what drove my inspiration in developing these ten recipes. I aim to retain amazing flavour while modifying their nutrient intake without making patients feel like they dont have a choice regarding their diet. I hope many people will give these recipes a try and enjoy some special moments with their loved ones while doing it, he added.

Research shows that one in five adults in the country is living with diabetes, a long-term chronic illness which requires prolonged caregiving and long-term management.

Unhealthy levels of glucose in the blood can lead to long and short-term health complications, particularly affecting the heart and kidney.

This is why Poh is on a quest to educate and debunk the myths, because eating right can help in reducing the risk of diabetes-related complications such as heart and kidney diseases.

The Possibilities: A Diabetes-Free Malaysia?

Malaysia currently has the highest rate of diabetes in Asia at 17.5 per cent, with over 3.5 million Malaysians living with the condition. The Diabetes Education Manual 2020 published by MDES reported that based on current trends, an estimated seven million Malaysian adults are likely to develop diabetes by 2025.

Looking at the statistics, the dream of a diabetes-free Malaysia seems far-fetched. But, it is this very trend that spurs the For Your Sweetheart campaign to keep doing what it has been doing for the past three years.

Any effort to slow down the trend is better than none. The campaign encourages all Malaysians to Think Diabetes, Think Heart, and one of the initiatives is through early detection.

In encouraging Malaysians who may be at risk of developing diabetes or have a family history of diabetes to take tests for early detection, the For Your Sweetheart campaign will be having free diabetes HbA1c screenings at participating clinics nationwide.

The free diabetes screening effort is supported by Boehringer Ingelheim, in partnership with MDES, Malaysian Endocrine and Metabolic Society (MEMS), and Persatuan Diabetes Malaysia (PDM).

Click here to register for your free screening today. the For Your Sweetheart screening campaign is ongoing until December 31, 2022. Nik Michaels recipes for the For Your Sweetheart campaign can be downloaded here.

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Diabetes Diet: The Myths, The Truths, And The Possibilities - CodeBlue