Marion Nestle has been thinking about the intersection between food, science, public health and politics for the last 20 years. In that time, she's produced some of the country's most authoritative books on how food ends up on the grocery shelf and the table.

Her new book, "Let's Ask Marion," boils some of the most profound food issues, such as whether food can be addictive, how to prevent food waste and whether to eat fake meat, into a simple question-and-answer format that can fit into a coat pocket.

In her book, the New York University professor says food is political and says the coronavirus pandemic proves to be a prime example.

Through President Trump invoking the Defense Production Act, meat-packing plant employees were forced to work even though they were getting sick with the coronavirus at high rates. For example, plants owned by JBS, the worlds biggest meatpacker, became epicenters of COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. and Brazil.

Suddenly, meat-packing workers became essential. But they also often arent paid well and arent offered sick leave or health care benefits, Nestle says.

The average wage of people in meatpacking plants is under $30,000 a year and they are working under really dangerous, crowded conditions. No wonder they get sick, she says. Nearly 60,000 meatpacking and farm workers have gotten sick so far that's a lot.

With millions out of work, food pantries across the country have struggled to keep up with the demand. And the pandemic is thought to have begun in Wuhan, China, in a wet market, where live animals are slaughtered and sold for food.

The most important issues in the world all connect to food in one way or another, she says. And I think the coronavirus pandemic is a perfect example of that.

On what makes a healthy diet

I think it's so simple that Michael Pollan can say it in seven words: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Really, that's all there is to it. And then these days, the concept of ultra-processed is a relatively new concept, and it means foods that are industrially produced with ingredients that you can't pronounce and that you don't have in your home kitchen. They have a lot of additives. It's a polite word for junk foods. If you avoid those, you will probably be eating fewer calories and eating much more healthfully.

On food and inequity

One of the absolute ironies of the food system is that over the last 30 years, the price of fruits and vegetables has increased much, much more than the price of sodas or fast food or junk foods in general. Well, that gets us right into the whole question of food policy and politics again. There are reasons why vegetables are more expensive. And when people say they can't afford them, I have a lot of sympathy for that. I think we need a food policy that makes healthy food affordable and available and accessible to everybody.

On how to make healthy food less expensive through policy

First of all, you decide that you want an agricultural system that's going to promote health and, I hope, sustainability. And you develop a whole series of policies in order to make it easy for farmers to grow vegetables. You subsidize land for them so that they can actually grow these things. You take the subsidies away from corn and soybeans and you put it into foods that are going to make people healthier.

My favorite example of the way government policies don't work has to do with marketing to children, which is something that particularly bothers me. Food companies spend billions of dollars marketing to children and every penny of that is deductible as a business expense. That's one of the first things I'd change.

On eating fake meat

I have a really complicated position about it because I don't know yet what the answers are to my questions about health and sustainability. I think everybody would be better off eating less meat because of the connection between high meat diets and various kinds of diseases and also the effects of meat production on the environment because that's the biggest food source of greenhouse gases.

But fake meats, which are ultra-processed foods, they have multiple ingredients that you can't find in home kitchens and it's not clear yet what their effect is on the environment or on health. They're trying to make their product appear to be neat and they do a pretty good job of that. I've eaten those products and they look like meat, they taste like meat. One big review just came out and it kind of says more research is needed. I'm always for more research.

On her stance on supplements

More than half of Americans take supplements of one kind or another, despite the fact that there's almost no evidence that they make healthy people healthier. They're probably not harmful. And if they're just expensive placebos and people feel better. These days, I'm for anything that makes people feel better.

On food waste and how agriculture contributes to global warming

The agricultural contribution worldwide to global warming is probably about a quarter of greenhouse gases. Climate change is making it really hard to grow crops the way we're used to. They're moving north. But the main harm from food in the United States is people eating too much of it. The too much is built into the system: We have about 4,000 calories available in the American food supply. That's less exports plus imports. We only need about half of that. And so waste is built into the system. And the estimate that I've seen is that about 70% of food waste comes at the production level, 10% comes at the retail level much less than I would have expected and then 20% what we do in our homes.

But the real problem is at the production level and it's really hard to deal with. The example that I like to give is I visited a farm in upstate New York and was told by the farmer, 'just go take anything you want out of the fields because we can't use it. It was the wrong size. We tried every food bank in upstate New York and nobody could come here. They don't have the trucks. They don't have the people to come and pick it up.' I mean, that's the kind of thing that breaks your heart. But it's very, very difficult to deal with.

On our changing relationship to food because of the pandemic

It's done just absolutely shocking things, and the most shocking was the discovery that there are two completely different food supply chains in the United States one for restaurants and other institutions like schools and one for retail. They don't interact at all. When restaurants and schools closed, all this food piled up and was being destroyed at the same time that people who were out of work were lining up at food banks to get handouts of food. We haven't seen anything like this since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

But what's happening on an individual basis is also quite mixed. Sales of processed foods are going up because they have a long shelf life and they're cheap. But at the same time, people bought more seeds. They were growing more of their own foods. You cannot buy a canning jar in upstate New York because everybody's dealing with the produce from all those seeds they planted. So that's a good sign. People are cooking more. That, it seems to me, is a real step forward and something that I hope will last beyond this.

Karyn Miller-Medzonproduced and edited this interview for broadcast withPeter O'Dowd.Serena McMahonadapted it for the web.

Introduction

When my book Food Politics first appeared in 2002, the immediate reaction to its title was What does politics have to do with food? Years later, I am still asked that question. This book aims to answer it. To begin with, the food we consume and enjoy every day is influenced, if not determined, by the power of food companies to sell products, no matter how those products might affect our health or that of our planet. We are obliged to eat in order to obtain the nutrients and energy we need to grow, reproduce, and survive. Here, I describe why and how a substance essential for our very existence has become a touchstone for political disputes about culture, identity, social class, inequity, and power, as well as arguments about what roles are appropriate for government, private enterprise, and civil society in twenty-first-century democratic societies.

Although trained in basic science (my Berkeley doctorate was in molecular biology), I have spent most of my professional career as a public health nutritionist and food studies academic. From this perspective, todays greatest public health nutrition problemsthe Big Threeare hunger (affecting roughly a billion people globally), obesity (two billion and rising), and climate change (everybody). These share at least one cause in common: all are due in part to dysfunctional food systems, a term that encompasses everything that happens to a food from production to consumption. Food systems, in turn, depend on political and economic systems. If we want to eliminate hunger, prevent the health consequences of excessive weight gain, and protect the environment, we must understand, confront, and counter the political forces that created these problems and allow them to continue.

For decades, I have been thinking, writing, publishing, and teaching about how politics affects and distorts food systems. If anything has changed over these years, it is the explosion of public interest in the politics of food, and in advocating for food systems that better support health and the environment. The goal of much of my recent work has been to inspire not only voting with forks for healthier and more environmentally sustainable personal diets, but also voting with votes. By this I mean engaging in politics to advocate for food systems that make better food available and affordable to everyone, that adequately compensate everyone who works to produce, prepare, or serve food, and that deal with food in ways that conserve and sustain the environment.

Since 2002, I have written, edited, co-authored, or co-edited the books about the politics of food listed at the front of this book. These include hundreds of pages of detailed discussion, exhaustively referenced. Despite my best efforts to make my writing clear and accessible, my books must seem daunting, because I am often asked for a shorter summary of their principal points. I have resisted, not only because I want people to read my books, but also because I do not find short essays easy to write. From 2008 to 2013, I wrote a monthly column for the food section of the San Francisco Chronicle. These columns were supposed to respond to readers questions, but few readers asked any, which made writing them hard work.

In contrast, I very much enjoyed responding to questions from my friend Kerry Trueman, a dedicated environmental advocate who frequently blogged about food issues and occasionally asked my opinion about whatever she was writing about. At some point, she began asking more formal questions and posting our exchanges under the heading Lets Ask Marion. I co-posted these exchanges on the blog I have written since 2007 at http://www.foodpolitics.com.

Kerrys questions were sometimes about specific events in the news, sometimes about more general topics. What she asked reflected her highly informed concerns about the intersection of dietary choices and agricultural practices, and I appreciated her intuitive food-systems thinking. Her questions ranged from the personal to the political, from food production to consumption, and from the domestic to the international. They often challenged me to think about issues I might not otherwise have considered and were so much fun to deal with that I could quickly respond. In searching for a relatively uncomplicated way to write short accounts of my current thinking about food-system issues, I wondered whether Kerry would consider working with me to produce a book in a question-and-answer format. Happily, she agreed. This book is the result of our joint efforts and would not have been possible without her collaboration.

My overarching purpose in writing these short essays is to encourage advocacy for food systems that are healthier for people and the planet. Successful advocacy means engaging in politics to counter the actions of a food industry narrowly focused on profit, all too often at the expense of public health. In this book, I use food industry to refer to the companies that produce, prepare, serve, and sell food, beverages, and food products. Although this industry includes agricultural producers and restaurant companies, most of my discussion is about the companies that raise or make the foods and food products that we typically buy in supermarkets.

In the current political era, the methods used by the food industry to sell products, regardless of health consequences, are largely unchecked by government regulation. This is because the governments of many countries, including our own, have been strongly influencedcapturedby industry. Also, in many countries, civil society is too weak to effectively demand curbs on industry marketing practices. Advocacy means organizing civil society and pressing government to create healthier and more sustainable food systems. This means politics.

In trying to decide what this book should cover, Kerry and I thought the questions should address how politics affects personal dietary choices, the food environment in communities (in the United States and elsewhere), and the truly global nature of current food systems, and we organized the questions under those three categories. Within each category, we wanted to include the questions we hear most frequently, along with those that illustrate why and how food is political and what needs to be done to make foods systems better for everyone, poor as well as rich. Across the categories and questions, several themes come up repeatedly. Watch for these themes in particular.

Food is one of lifes greatest pleasures. I list this first because it underlies all of my thinking about food and food issues. Food is delicious as well as nourishing and is one of the supreme joys of human culture.

Food is political. Because everyone eats, everyone has a stake in the food system, but the principal stakeholdersfood producers, manufacturers, sellers, farm and restaurant workers, eatersdo not have the same agenda or power. We eaters want food to be available, affordable, culturally appropriate, healthy, and delicious; workers want to make a decent living; producers and other industry stakeholders want to make a profit. Such interests can and do conflict, especially when profits take precedence over social values of health, equity, and environmental protection.

Food system helps explain food issues. As noted earlier, this term refers to the totality of how a food is grown or raised, stored, transported, processed, prepared, sold, and consumed or wasted. Knowing how foods are produced explains much about their availability, cost, and health and environmental consequences. Food systems operate in the context of broader social, cultural, and economic systems; these too have political dimensions.

Ultraprocessed is a more precise term for junk foods. It refers specifically to products that are industrially produced, bear no resemblance to the foods from which they were extracted, and contain additives never found in home kitchens. Research increasingly links consumption of ultraprocessed foods to poor health.

The principles of healthful diets are well established. We can argue about the details, but diets that promote human health are largely (but not necessarily exclusively) plant-based, provide adequate but not excessive calories, and minimize or avoid ultraprocessed foods. Such diets are also better for the environment.

The food industry influences food choices. Cultural, social, and economic factors influence food choices, but so do food industry marketing and lobbying actions. The food industrys primary job is to sell products and return profits to stockholders; health and environmental considerations are decidedly secondary, if not irrelevant.

Food systems affect the environment. A sustainable (or, in current terms, agroecological or regenerative) food system replaces the nutrients extracted from soil by food plants, and minimizes the damaging effects of animal and plant production on soil, water, and greenhouse gases.

Food systems generate and perpetuate inequities. An ideal food system makes healthy, sustainable, affordable, and culturally appropriate food available and affordable to everyone and enables everyone to have the power to choose such foods, regardless of income, class, race, gender, or age. It adequately compensates workers employed on farms and in meat-packing plants, food production facilities, and restaurants. The goals of food system advocacy are to achieve these ideals.

Kerry and I finished writing this book before the coronavirus-induced respiratory disease, Covid-19, devastated lives, livelihoods, and economies. In exposing the contradictions and inequities of profit-driven economic, health care, and food systems, this global pandemic illustrated our books themes. In the United States, Covid-19 proved most lethal to the poor, racial minorities, the elderly, and those with obesity-associated chronic diseases. Suddenly, low-wage slaughterhouse and grocery store workersoften migrants or immigrants, and many without sick leave or health care benefitswere deemed essential. Slaughterhouses, now viral epicenters, were forced to remain open. Farmers destroyed unsold animals and produce while the newly unemployed lined up at food banks. Corporations laid off workers but took millions in government bailouts and paid salaries and bonuses to executives. These events call for advocacy for strong democratic government and institutions, among them food systems that benefit all members of society, regardless of income, class, citizenship, race, ethnicity, gender, or age.

A Word about the Sources and Further Reading

Because my writings deal with controversial topics alas, not everyone agrees with my viewsI usually make sure to back up nearly every statement with extensive references. But for this book, which draws on so much of my own work, I instead include chapter-by-chapter lists of relevant books, reports, and articles, followed by a list of additional books and reports that have informed my work, some historical, some current. All of these references are meant as starting points for deeper investigation of the issues discussed here.

My hope is that this book succeeds in providing a brief overview of my thinking about food system issues, from the personal to the global. Even more, I hope that it inspires readers to take food politics seriously and to engage in advocacy for healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable food systems for current and future generations.

More:
Food 'Connects To Absolutely Everything': New Marion Nestle Book Dives Into Food Waste, Politics - Here And Now

In the US, nobody needs to be told about the risk of viruses entering a farm through feed. Years of research have proved this for swine producers. But what can be done? Scientists have investigated the effect of additives on mitigating the transmission of viral diseases through feed. It is exciting that producers and veterinarians now have options for use in a feed biosecurity programme.

Results from a new collaborative study have recently been published in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, in which 15 commercial additives were tested to evaluate their effect on mitigating Senecavirus A (SVA), Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv) and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRSv) in contaminated feed. A wide range of organic substances were tested, from essential oils and monovalent or multivalent organic acids to short, medium and long-chain fatty acid blends and formaldehyde-based products.

In the study 15 commercial additives were tested to evaluate their effect on mitigating SVA, PEDv and PRRSv in feed. - Photo: Hans Prinsen

In 14 of the 15 additives tested, pigs on the supplemented diets had significantly greater average daily weight gain, significantly lower clinical signs and infection levels, as well as numerically lower mortality rates compared to the control pigs, says Dr Scott Dee, director of applied research at Pipestone Veterinary Services in Pipestone, MN, United States. Dr Dee conducted the study with several colleagues at Pipestone, Dr Megan C. Niederwerder at Kansas State University and Dr Aaron Singrey and Dr Eric Nelson at South Dakota State University (Dee is also an adjunct faculty member there).

It is important to note that the products tested in this study do not yet have label approval claiming efficacy against viruses

We concluded that these additives mitigated the effects of the three viruses we investigated in contaminated feed, resulting in improved health and performance compared to pigs fed non-mitigated diets, says Dr Dee. It is exciting that producers and veterinarians now have options for use in a feed biosecurity programme. However, it is important to note that the products tested in this study do not yet have label approval claiming efficacy against viruses. Many companies are collaborating with the FDA to move this forward.

The effects of several of these feed additives in combating African Swine Fever virus (ASFv) are currently being carried out by Dr Niederwerder at her lab facility, which is certified to handle this virus.

This study builds on findings (from the same group of researchers and others) that have demonstrated that these same pig viruses can survive in feed. The capability of livestock feed to transmit viral diseases was first proven scientifically by Pipestone in 2014 during the PEDv epidemic in North America. Since that time, various feed additives have been evaluated in lab settings for their effect on viral viability and infectivity in contaminated feed using bioassay piglet models, Dr Dee explains.

However, studies that involve the real-world conditions of commercial swine production were needed, with larger populations of pigs, realistic volumes of contaminated feed supplemented with selected additives and natural feeding behaviours.

Dr Dee and his colleagues used a new research model called an ice block challenge to insert equal concentrations of SVA, PEDv and PRRSv into feed treated or not treated with additives. The ice blocks were then manually dropped into designated feed bins and the pigs were allowed to consume the feed naturally.

The ice block of viruses and water which will be added to the feed. - Photo: Dr Scott Dee

PEDv broke out in the US in 2013, and its movement into Canada in 2014 was traced back to a contaminated feed ingredient. In subsequent years, members of the Canadian Pork Council worked with staff at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to create national guidelines for the import and handling of feed ingredients that present high risks for viral diseases such as ASF, along with storage time and heat treatment recommendations for industry. Much of this was launched in the spring of 2019. Regarding what has been happening in this vein within the US, Dr Dee says the pork and feed industries there have worked very hard over the last few years and have been successful in making changes to biosecurity at feed mills.

There are strong industry programmes now in place, but I and others would like to see a national government-led pig virus disease prevention and control programme pertaining to feed, similar to what is happening in Canada, Dr Dee says. We need a national government-driven programme with additives approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and standard operating procedures for storage time, handling and so on.

We will hopefully be able to set short-, intermediate- and long-term goals to get a programme going

He adds, Weve had good leadership from industry, and we scientists are building a body of evidence on which a sound national programme can be based. A national Feed Risk Taskforce has been formed, and I sit on it with staff from the US Department of Agriculture; FDA; Swine Health Information Council; National Pork Producers Council; CFIA; members of the poultry, swine, cattle and feed industries, and others; and we are meeting this month (September 2020). We will hopefully be able to set short-, intermediate- and long-term goals to get a programme going and discuss future research directions.

Image showing ice block in feed (a tip is visible). - Photo: Dr Scott Dee

Dr Dee adds that, in the meantime, now that he and his colleagues have provided the industry with efficacy data, it is up to individual feed companies and producers to make mitigation decisions based on cost, mill specifications and so on. We have discovered there are lots of additive options for viruses of domestic interest, such as PRRSv, PEDv and SVA, he says, and we look forward to data from Dr Niederwerders lab regarding the effect of these products in combating foreign animal diseases.

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Working on feed biosecurity with the ice block challenge - Pig Progress

Drastically shifting agricultural production from animals to plant-sourced foods couldremove more than a decade of our carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere

Plant protein foodslike lentils, beans, and nutscan provide vital nutrients using a small fraction of the land required to produce meat and dairy. By shifting to these foods, much of the remaining land could support ecosystems that absorb CO2, according to a new study appearing in the journal Nature Sustainability.

In their study, the researchers analyzed and mapped areas where extensive production of animal-sourced food, which requires 83 percent of Earths agricultural land, suppresses native vegetation, including forests.

The study highlights places where changing what people grow and eat could free up space for ecosystems to regrow, offsetting our CO2 emissions in the process.

The greatest potential for forest regrowth, and the climate benefits it entails, exists in high- and upper-middle income countries, places where scaling back on land-hungry meat and dairy would have relatively minor impacts on food security, says Matthew Hayek, the principal author of the study and an assistant professor in New York Universitys Department of Environmental Studies.

Burning fossil fuels for energy emits CO2, warming the planet. When warming reaches 1.5 C (2.7 F) above pre-industrial levels, more severe impacts like droughts and sea level rise are expected. Scientists describe how much fossil fuel we can burn before hitting that limit using the global carbon budget.

According to the authors findings, vegetation regrowth could remove as much as nine to 16 years of global fossil fuel CO2 emissions, if demand for meat were to drastically plummet in the coming decades along with its massive land requirements. That much CO2 removal would effectively double Earths rapidly shrinking carbon budget.

We can think of shifting our eating habits toward land-friendly diets as a supplement to shifting energy, rather than a substitute, says Hayek. Restoring native forests could buy some much-needed time for countries to transition their energy grids to renewable, fossil-free infrastructure.

In their report, the authors emphasize that their findings are designed to assist locally tailored strategies for mitigating climate change. Although meat consumption in many countries today is excessive and continues to rise, raising animals remains critical in some places.

These considerations will be important as countries attempt to develop their economies sustainably, according to Colorado State Universitys Nathan Mueller, one of the studys co-authors.

Land use is all about tradeoffs, explains Mueller, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. While the potential for restoring ecosystems is substantial, extensive animal agriculture is culturally and economically important in many regions around the world. Ultimately, our findings can help target places where restoring ecosystems and halting ongoing deforestation would have the largest carbon benefits.

Recent proposals to cover much of Earths surface in forests have generated controversy as a climate solution. Physically planting upward of a trillion trees would require a substantial physical effort. Additionally, poor planning could encourage uniform tree plantations, limit biodiversity, or deplete dwindling water in dry areas. Lastly, challenges lie in finding enough land to keep trees safe from logging or burning in the future, releasing stored carbon back into the atmosphere as CO2.

However, the researchers kept these potential problems in mind when devising their study.

We only mapped areas where seeds could disperse naturally, growing and multiplying into dense, biodiverse forests and other ecosystems that work to remove CO2 for us, Hayek says. Our results revealed over 7 million square kilometers where forests would be wet enough to regrow and thrive naturally, collectively an area the size of Russia.

Technological fixes for climate change may soon be on the horizon, like machinery that removes CO2 directly from the atmosphere or power plant exhaust pipes. Placing too much confidence in these technologies could prove dangerous, however, according to study co-author Helen Harwatt, a fellow of the Harvard Law School.

Restoring native vegetation on large tracts of low yield agricultural land is currently our safest option for removing CO2, says Harwatt. Theres no need to bet our future solely on technologies that are still unproven at larger scales.

But the benefits of cutting back on meat and dairy reach far beyond addressing climate change.

Reduced meat production would also be beneficial for water quality and quantity, wildlife habitat, and biodiversity, notes William Ripple, a co-author on the study and a professor of ecology at Oregon State University.

Recent events have also shone a spotlight on the importance of healthy ecosystems in preventing pandemic diseases with animal origins, such as COVID-19.

We now know that intact, functioning ecosystems and appropriate wildlife habitat ranges help reduce the risk of pandemics, Harwatt adds. Our research shows that there is potential for giving large areas of land back to wildlife. Restoring native ecosystems not only helps the climate; when coupled with reduced livestock populations, restoration reduces disease transmission from wildlife to pigs, chickens, and cows, and ultimately to humans.

Continued here:
Changing What We Eat Could Offset Years of Climate-Warming Emissions - NYU News

Suffering from excessive hair loss? Try these expert diet tips to reduce hair fall and breakage  |  Photo Credit: iStock Images

New Delhi: Hair is the part of the body that enhances beauty. Nowadays, Hair Fall is a major problem that is being faced by many people, especially during monsoon. But Why? This is because of the lifestyle that we follow. Pollution, dust, improper diet, use of chemical products etc results in dry hair fall. Direct exposure of hair to the sun also makes your hair dry and weak.Also, people generally face dryness of tresses and scalp. For stopping rainfall, people visit doctors for transplant, medicine but we can prevent hair fall or reduce naturally by our meals. Eating healthy food reflects the health of hair.

Diet is good for hair and prevents hair fall. Also, it provides growth and volume to the tresses.

Nutrients like vitamin A, C, D, E, protein, zinc, iron etc are healthy for hair. These nutrients make hair strong, shiny and promote growth. Many people apply ingredients like egg, yoghurt, aloe vera etc on their scalp and tresses, this is good to some extent. But, if you don't have healthy meals(nutrients), applying things won't work on the health of hair.Pooja Banga, Director and Nutritionist at Cultivating health, suggests some foodsthat one should include in their diet for healthy hair:

To prevent hair fall or dryness of hair, you should eat these food items. Lack of nutrients like vitamins, zinc, protein, iron etc, makes hair dull and weak. Try to avoid junk food as it is not healthy for hair and skin as well. A healthy diet is really important for strong, shiny and voluminous hair. If you think you are lacking these nutrients, start taking them and feel the change in your hair strength. Take care of your hair and stay beautiful!

Disclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purpose only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor or a dietician before starting any fitness programme or making any changes to your diet.

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Suffering from excessive hair loss? Try these expert diet tips to reduce hair fall and breakage - Times Now

CAMPBELL Coming off a big one-point win over Southern last week in their season opener, the Leetonia Bears faced first-year member Valley Christian in an important Eastern Ohio Athletic contest Saturday. The Bears responded with a 32-14 win at John Kapnick Field.

Once again, the Bears were powered by the strong running of tailback Marco Ferry, who ran for 174 yards, one touchdown and four two-point conversions. The Bears churned out a total of 329 yards on the ground in the game.

Leetonia improves to 2-0 and is tied with United for the EOAC lead.

It was turnovers that gave the Eagles all the momentum early in the contest. The Bears coughed the ball up twice in the first quarter which the Eagles were able to take advantage of.

The Eagles pounced on a fumble at the Bears 33 which Raquan Bell returned for a touchdown that was negated by a penalty. But that didnt seem to affect the Eagles as Cameron Davenport ran in from 15 yards out with 1:41 remaining in the first quarter to stake the Eagles to a 7-0 lead.

The Eagles again capitalized on a Bears fumble on the first play of the second quarter as Davenport ran in from just 1-yard out to make it 14-0. The score was set up by a sack and fumble of the Bears quarterback.

We get frustrated, but we went on to the next play, Bears senior lineman Gannon Shepard said. Its all about the next play and try to fix what we messed up.

We made some errors and put our defense in a bad spot a couple of times, Leetonia coach Paul Hulea said. But our kids just kept playing. Thats the key with high school athletics. Just keep playing.

However, the Bears kept their cool and mounted a 10-play, 37-yard drive just before the half to cut into the Eagles lead. Jacob McCool scored the first of three touchdowns on the night with only 35 seconds remaining before halftime to make it 14-8.

We never really gave up. We play all four quarters, Bears senior lineman Mason Mellinger said. No matter what the score we always play our hardest. Defense and offense.

The Bears recovered an on-side kick to start the second half and quickly converted the opportunity with McCool blasting in from 3 yards out. The touchdown at the 8:32 mark gave the Bears a 16-14 advantage.

They added two more touchdowns, one by Ferry from 7 yards and McCools third on the night from 3 yards. McCool finished with 36 yards rushing.

Its nice having such good backs in the backfield, fullback, and tailbacks, Mellinger said.

While the Bears ate the clock away with a steady diet of running the ball, it was their defense that really shined in the contest. They held the Eagles to 42 total yards, just 16 on the ground.

We played so well, Hulea praised his defense. Coach ware should be very proud of his team. He really has their program going and does a nice job with his kids. They play hard and they have a belief in what they are doing. They are well coached.

The Bears will look to keep their early-season winning streak rolling when they host rival Lisbon on Friday. The Eagles will travel to Columbiana on Friday as they face the Clippers for the first time in their history.

LEETONIA: 0-8-16-832

VALLEY CHRISTIAN: 7-7-0-014

SCORING

VCameron Davenport 15 run (Aiden Lambert kick)

VDavenport 1 run (Lambert kick)

LJacob McCool 1 run (Marco Ferry run)

LMcCool 3 run (Ferry run)

LFerry 7 run (Ferry run)

LMcCool 3 run (Ferry run)

L V

First downs132

Total Yards34342

Rushes-yards55-32916-16

Passing1426

Comp-Att-Int2-4-03-8-1

Punts 3-33.72-30

Fumbles-Lost3-23-3

Penalties-Yards2-1510-65

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHINGLeetonia, Marco Ferry 35-174, Jacob McCool 11-36, Dylan Durick 5-18; Valley, Cameron Davenport 7-41.

PASSINGLeetonia, Dylan Lennon 2-4-14-0-0; Valley, Joey Battisa 2-7-21-0-1, Izaiah McKinely 1-1-5-0-0.

RECEIVINGLeetonia, Jordan Baker 1-13, Dylan Durick 1-3; Valley, Vershawn Gurley 1-22, Tyrone Lindsey 2-4.

INTERCEPTIONSLeetonia, Marco Ferry.

FUMBLESLeetonia, Dylan Durick 2; Valley, Raquan Bell, Nasir Long.

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Bears off to 2-0 start | News, Sports, Jobs - Morning Journal News

From left:: Dr. Dana Hawkinson, University of Kansas Health Center medical director of infection prevention and control; Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer; and Dr. Selina Gierer, specialist in allergy, immunology and rheumatology medicine. Image courtesy Hays Post

By CRISTINA JANNEYHays Post

Is that runny nose and cough COVID or just your run-of-the-mill seasonal allergies?

Doctors at the University of Kansas Health System tried to give viewers tips on how to distinguish between the two during their daily news briefing Wednesday.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer, and Dr.Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, were joined byDr. Selina Gierer, specialist inallergy, immunology and rheumatology medicine, andear, nose and throat surgeon Dr. Keith Sale.

Gierer said Kansas has reached its peak allergy season. Children are also returning to school and can be exposed to viral infections.

"It is always a challenge when we go back to school when kids get any viral infection on top of season allergies trying to pick a part what's an illness and what is an allergy symptom," she said.

Itchy and water eyes as well as sneezing are common symptoms of allergies, but not of COVID-19.

Then there is an overlap zone for both allergies and COVID,Gierer said.

These include cough, fatigue, headache, sore throat, shortness of breath and runny nose.

"Ultimately, if you are having fever, if your symptoms are not typical for your allergy symptoms,"Gierer said, "perhaps this is not a typical allergy season for you.

"If you are having cough, if you are having congestion and you are having change in your sense of smell, it's time for you to be thinking about contacting your doctor to get tested for coronavirus."

She suggested keeping control of your allergy symptoms and avoiding people who are sick.

Monitor your triggers, such as dust, mold, pollen or animals. Monitor the local pollen count. Stay on your allergy medications.

"If you know you are going to be doing yard work, and the next day you feel itchy and drippy and sneezy, you can probably attribute that to your allergies and not an acute onset of coronavirus,"Gierer said.

Asthma is an underlying medical condition that increases the likelihood of complications from coronavirus. However, it is on the lower end of the range of complicating factors.

Asthma is much less common to cause complications than obesity and hypertension,Gierer said.

However, one of the biggest triggers of asthma is a viral infection. She said it is also important to keep your asthma under control by staying on medications, avoiding triggers and keeping a 30-day supply of medication on hand.

Sale saw a patient in his clinic who was having typical symptoms for allergies, such as a runny nose, but was not getting better on her normal medications.

She thought she had a sinus infection or something else. A friend from out of town had visited the week before. She was tested for COVID and was surprised with a positive COVID test, Sale said.

Sale said his office is taking COVID precautions, including using PPE, hand sanitizing between patients and patients wearing masks unless their nose or mouth is being examined.

Gierer said allergy medication or a rescue inhaler will probably not help with COVID-19 symptoms.

Sale said fatigue may be common to both allergies and COVID, but the persistence of the symptom may be a sign of the later.

Gierer said, "If the allergy medications are not working, that might trigger you to think there is something else going on."

Hawkinson said scientists are working to combine testing for flu and COVID-19. He said if a patient has a nasal swab for COVID-19, a lab could use that same sample to test for flu and RSV.

RSV, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults, according the Centers for Disease Control.

The flu season is in full swing in South Africa and Australia and has been lighter this year there than in years past,Hawkinson said. He said that could be in part to mask use and increased hand washing.

KU Med is working on mass flu vaccination at this time.

Gierer urged members of the public to get flu vaccines. That is usually recommended starting in October.

The doctors also gave tips on staying in good general health.

You can naturally boost your immune system by getting adequate sleep, eating a healthy diet, as well as hand washing and staying away from people who are sick.

Those tips can help with COVID-19, flu or RSV.

Sale also said caring for your mental health can have an effect on maintaining physical health, which includes socializing in a safe way.

Read the rest here:
Allergies vs. COVID: KU doctors give tips on knowing the difference - Salina Post

Everyone has their own reason for eating a plant-based diet.

For Robin Beltrn and her husband, it was purely a medical decision. After surviving an attempted robbery in 2014, Manuel went through a dozen abdominal surgeries. After several years, they finally had to accept that his stomach could no longer process meat or dairy.

The only problem was: She had no idea how to prepare meat-free foods. "I knew no vegans," she says.

They had two young children, and Robin decided the whole family would become vegan to support Manuel. People who have been through trauma already feel excluded and isolated, she says, and for him to be able to eat well and eat what the whole family was eating became her primary focus.

"Instead of cooking these separate meals for him, we wanted to do this together," she says.

She spent hours a day researching new-to-her ingredients and recipes. She started adding turmeric and paprika to her food to help relieve his inflammation. They switched to Himalayan sea salt, which is packed with minerals and tastes saltier than table salt, and that inspired them to use less salt.

"We didnt have much money, but instead of spending more money on a prescription we couldnt afford, we spent what we could on food," she says.

Her daughter was just an infant, and her son was at that "snacky 2 to 3" phrase, so she started replacing her kids favorite yogurts, milks and ice creams with plant milk-based products. She started using coconut milk in her coffee.

They both started doing yoga, and Manuels PTSD subsided. Shed been dealing with hair loss, but her hair grew back, and she lost a substantial amount of weight, but more importantly, their whole outlook on life changed. Outside their immediate family, however, Robin, who is Black, and Manuel, who is Hispanic, found themselves having to explain their dietary decisions, over and over again.

"When I finally told my family, they didnt really get it, but I told them, Im trying to save my husband and my hair is growing and I feel happy," she says.

The fog lifted

One of their friends, Rolando Rodriguez, had noticed those not-so-subtle improvements to their life.

The longtime friends grew up in Houston. Beltrn had long called Austin home, and Rodriguez was still in Houston, where they had recently been dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. "My body wasnt able to keep up with the physical work that needed to be done," Rodriguez says.

The Beltrns started hosting a Sunday dinner once a month, which is where Rodriguez first realized that vegan food wasnt all "mystery meat" and boring salads.

Rodriguez says he grew up watching family members struggle with diabetes, including losing limbs to the disease. "I had been trained to believe that the disease was hereditary, which it is, but food habits are also hereditary. The way we eat is passed down to us," he says.

After trying Robins food and seeing the positive changes in their whole family, he decided he wanted to start changing those habits.

"Over two years, Im watching my friends go through this dramatic change, mentally and physically. I said, I want to partake in that," he says.

Rodriguez had struggled for years with anxiety and depression, and he thought those were just normal things he was going to have to deal with as an adult. But he quit meat "cold turkey," and he started to experience some of the same physical and mental benefits. "The fog lifted and I was able to concentrate," he says.

Rodriguez and Beltrn started talking about what it would look like if they started a company to share what they were learning with other people.

They sent a batch of Beltrns five-alarm chili to their friend and fellow Houston native Nicole Valadez, who was living in Washington, D.C. "I ate the entire batch," she says. "I saw Rolando slimming up and feeling better and decided I wanted to make the switch, too."

Going vegan herself was easy, she says, but it was telling her family in Houston that she knew would be the hardest part. "Its so important for us to have our family traditions," Valadez says, so she started thinking about ways she could make vegan tamales at Christmas by using jackfruit instead of pork and what egg substitute she could use VeganEgg is her favorite so her mom still could make her breakfast tacos on the mornings when she visits.

"It was important to make culturally relevant dishes that are meaningful to me so we could make them vegan and not miss out on dinners with my family," she says.

Breakfast tacos are a particularly meaningful dish for Rodriguez, too. "To give up the idea of breakfast tacos on a Saturday morning, thats stripping away an incredible tradition for me," he says. "What is my grandmother going to say or think about me if I tell her I cant eat them? There are familiar consequences to changing your diet in our communities."

But when you find an alternative that everyone can eat like a ground beef or chorizo substitute, jackfruit or hearts of palm instead of pulled chicken or pork or that VeganEgg it allows people who are eating a plant-based diet to maintain those close bonds with their loved ones.

"These are very real positive consequences about how we live our lives and interact with our families," he says.

Empathy and eating together

Opening peoples eyes to the possibilities of vegan eating while taking into account very real cultural needs is what drives everything about the Black Vegan Company, from the online cooking classes and virtual and in-person grocery store tours that Beltrn hosts to the new products that the rest of the team members are hoping to sell in grocery stores soon. They also have a cookbook in production.

Plant-based eating has grown immensely in the past decade. Some people are drawn to it because of health and medical reasons, and others feel compelled to avoid meat and dairy products because of ethics or the environmental effects.

But no matter why, when or how someone eats a plant-based diet, there are nutritional, culinary, cultural and relationship factors at play.

The Black Vegan Company wants to help people address all of those by encouraging people to ask deeper questions about what role food plays in the home and how a plant-based diet can fit within a familys time and financial budget. What culturally relevant foods are important to the extended family, and how can a wider social group have healthier conversations about what we eat and why? How can we teach and lean on each other without judging others food choices?

When veganism is presented as trading something "regular" for something "weird," that can be the root of many problems, Beltrn says. Its important to normalize plant-based eating and have empathy for the transitional issues that come when making a big dietary change.

Food is how we show love to each other, Rodriguez says, and its not uncommon for a parent who is used to showing love to their kids through food to go through a mourning period when they cant or dont want to serve the kinds of food they used to.

Valadez, who now also works with the Black Vegan Company, wrote about her family going through all five stages of grief when she told them about her transition to veganism ahead of Thanksgiving one year. "They were angry, they were in denial, they tried to bargain, all of it," she says. "Eventually, they got to acceptance," but it remains an ongoing and profound conversation about cultural values, as well as health and wellness.

"We want to show people how to talk to their brothers and sisters who are going to give you a hard time at the holidays," Rodriguez says. "One way is to remind them, This isnt about you. I need your empathy.

"Were striving for more civil discourse, and its a marathon, not a sprint. Both sides can be less judgy of each other. Vegans feel judged for trying something new, and vegans judge the nonvegans for not adopting their way of eating."

Making it a family affair

Beltrn says she tells clients to be realistic about expectations that they can relearn entirely how to grocery shop and cook in just a day or two.

When a family first starts this transition, Beltrn asks them to list what foods they like to eat and what are their must-haves in order to survive, the gotta-have pantry and fridge staples. Then, start looking for good plant-based alternatives for each one, maybe starting with a single product each week, say, yogurt or milk. Buy a few brands, but not the original product youre used to buying, and see which one gets the most votes in a family taste test. (To find out more about their services, go to theblackvegancompany.com.)

"There are definitely different stages of veganism," she says. There might be a stage when youre upset or your kid is mad that they cant have what they want, but that desire to re-create some of those favorite textures and tastes will drive your familys discoveries, both in the kitchen and in the grocery store.

This is about learning together and bending together. "If your kid wanted to play basketball, youd put a goal out there and get a ball and support them on their journey," Beltrn says. Its OK if not everyone eats the same all the time, but its also important to make sure that everyone feels like they are included at the family table.

Eating meatless meals a few days a week is one way to ease into it, Beltrn says, and its important to have the whole family involved in picking some of these new dishes to try, such as cauliflower buffalo "wings" or barbecue sliders made from jackfruit.

"Then it becomes a family activity and something you are doing together, even if you arent doing it seven days a week," Beltrn says.

She also encourages people not to get frustrated if they try a new product or a new recipe and dont like it. There are hundreds of products on the market, and one persons way of cooking meat-free foods might not be aligned with the kind of foods you like. Try out new sources for recipes until you find someone whose tastes "fit" with yours.

"Dairy is the part that freaks everybody out," she says, but vegan substitutes have improved so much over the past 10 years that there are plenty of options sold in mainstream grocery stores that satisfy even the most fervent cheese- and ice cream-lovers. Beltrns favorites are Daiya, which makes a cheeselike product that shreds and melts, and Chao from Field Roast.

Major improvements also have been made to meat substitutes, such as those from Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, but as a health and wellness coach, Beltrn explains that processed foods are processed foods and they should often be consumed in moderation.

She usually uses mushrooms and jackfruit to provide a hearty base for a dish that might otherwise be based on meat. When she does use a meat substitute, she adds extra layers of fresh ingredients to add the fiber and nutrients that a body naturally craves.

Beltrn uses JustEgg, another vegan egg substitute, when she makes her fried "chicken" with breadcrumbs and mushrooms, and she uses vegan grounds to make lasagna, spaghetti and chili. (Gardein and Quora are two popular brands, and you also can cook lentils to make a from-scratch version.)

At Thanksgiving, Beltrn makes her familys sweet potato pie using coconut milk instead, and "it is better than the original recipe." That was one way she started to break down the stereotype that vegan dishes were somehow less than nonvegan food.

"The most encouraging thing was when my mom went shopping at the grocery store and came home with all these blueberry dairy-free yogurts. It was the only (vegan) thing in her fridge, but she tried."

Today, her mom is 70% vegan, and she served vegan burgers on the Fourth of July. Thats the kind of small win that Rodriguez says families should celebrate.

"Robins got something special," Rodriguez says. "Heres this Black woman in this very Mexican mans kitchen helping to start this journey together because of a thing that were all too familiar with." But the love of food and people coming together around food, which is also something they are all so familiar with, is also undeniably there.

"These difficult stories, these problems, they can become the beginning of a great story," he says. "For me, it was like what Tupac said (in the song Changes): If you change the way you eat, youll change the way you think and the way you treat each other."

Fried "Chicken" Shrooms

Want that fried chicken taste and crunch without the guilt? Try this fried mushroom recipe to satisfy your craving. Use these bites in poboys, fried "chicken" dinner with mashed potatoes or "chicken" nuggets with ketchup and french fries. Instead of a commercial egg substitute, you can use chickpea water, which is called aquafaba. If you dont want to fry these in oil, use an air fryer set to 375 degrees.

Robin Beltrn

18 to 20 shiitake mushrooms (or oyster mushrooms or black pearl mushrooms)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup fresh dill

2 cups panko breadcrumbs

2 cups flour

2 cups egg replacement (Just Egg or aquafaba)

3 cups olive oil (or use an air fryer)

Cut the stems off mushrooms and wash well to remove any dirt. Completely dry them and slice into rounds of desired thickness (we slice about 1/4-inch rounds).

In a bowl, combine salt, dill, breadcrumbs and flour. Mix thoroughly.

Dip the mushrooms in the "egg" wash. Immediately after, dip them in the breadcrumb mixture. For best results, dip/coat one slice at a time. Place the dipped/coated mushrooms to the side on a plate.

Once youve finished dipping/coating all the mushrooms, add 3 cups of olive oil to a deep fryer or skillet. (You can use an air fryer instead for a lower-calorie dish.)

Set oil to medium-high heat on the stove or 375 degrees in the deep fryer. (You can also use 375 degrees in the air fryer.)

Fry mushrooms until golden brown (2 to 4 minutes total). If frying in pan, flip mushrooms to fry on both sides. Place fried mushrooms on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb excess oil.

Allow mushrooms to cool for 3 to 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh dill (optional). Serves 4.

Robin Beltrn

Jalapeo Aioli

1/3 cup vegan sour cream or mayo

1 tablespoon fresh dill

1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt

1 lemon, squeezed

1/2 to 1 teaspoon chopped jalapeo (optional)

To a bowl, add the sour cream (or mayo), dill, salt, lemon juice and jalapeo, if using. Mix thoroughly. Serve with fried "chicken" mushrooms.

Robin Beltrn

Guajillo Jackfruit "Pork"

Whenever I prepare a dish that my nonvegan family says tastes as good as stuff with meat in it, I do a little happy dance. I love exposing them to new, healthy ways of consuming our favorite classics and reprogramming what they think about veganism. During one holiday season, the recipe that knocked it out of the park was a vegan take on pork tamales. In order to mimic pork for this recipe, we used jackfruit. Jackfruit is a large fruit grown in tropical regions of the world. I like cooking with it because it looks like and has the consistency of shredded beef or pork. This makes it the perfect meat substitute for dishes that require a shredded, meaty texture, like pork tamales or pulled pork sandwiches. I like to use the Jackfruit Companys lightly seasoned frozen jackfruit. This quantity of guajillo sauce and filling will make about 10 dozen tamales, but you can reduce the quantity by half if you want to make a smaller batch or use the filling in another way. The technique of cooking the jackfruit could be adapted for making barbecue-style sandwiches.

Nicole Valadez

For the guajillo sauce:

15 guajillo chiles

3 ancho chiles

6 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 onion, halved

2 teaspoon salt

For the jackfruit "pork":

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup diced onion

6 1/2 cups jackfruit

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons brown sugar

Salt, to taste

To make the sauce: Fill a large pot with water and set on high heat. While you wait for the water to boil, remove the stems from the guajillo and ancho chiles. Slice each chile in half and remove the seeds. Once the water is at a rolling boil, add the chiles, garlic and onion. Boil until the peppers are soft, about 30 minutes.

Transfer peppers, garlic and onion to a blender and add salt. Blend until smooth and add salt to taste, as needed. The sauce should be well salted, smooth and not very thick. Add a bit of water and blend if too thick. Set aside.

For the jackfruit, set a large pan to medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil and diced onion. Saut onions until they are a bit translucent, about 3 minutes. Lower heat slightly if onion begins to brown.

Add jackfruit to the pan and mash it to break up the large pieces. Once fully mashed, the jackfruit should resemble shredded beef.

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For the Black Vegan Company, plant-based eating is a family affair that requires empathy, breakfast tacos - austin360