September is National Self Care Awareness Month, traditionally a time when "back to school"has always meant personal renewal, stretching yourself, and trying new things. Here's how to take care of yourself by eating a whole-food plant-based diet, according to Dr. Sari Eitches, an LA-based integrative internist whopromotes wellness through lifestyle choices and takes a holistic approach to personal health.

In an exclusive interview with The Beet, Dr. Eitches, a long-time vegan, talks about guiding her patients to a plant-based lifestyle, as well as what to look out for when transitioning to a vegan or plant-based approach to eating, and her love ofvegan cuisine from around the world. She leads by example and shows that a plant-based diet can optimize our bodys self-healing properties, by lowering inflammation and adding antioxidants to every meal.Lether advice will inspire you to nourish your body and start adding plants to your meals, and take care of you.

Dr. Eitches: I was just finishing my first year as a medical student and I was the least healthy I'd ever been. I was super addicted to caffeine and getting by with convenience food. One week, I signed up for a yoga retreat to reset and relax. The retreat center had a vegetarian dining hall and my teacher was a long-time raw vegan. I intended to eat a raw diet to cleanse at the week-long retreat, but I felt so incredible that I continued to follow the raw diet for two years and remain vegan 14+ years later.

Dr. Eitches: I was pretty fascinated by the vast data that the majority of chronic conditions that Americans suffer from can be controlled, prevented, or even reversed with lifestyle changes including a plant-based diet. We literally are what we eat. The food choices we make (or are made for us) can either cause inflammation and accelerate chronic disease or, if we choose whole food plant-based diet, for example, our foods can slow, reverse and prevent chronic diseases. I now see it in my office every day.

Dr. Eitches: I think of my role as a holistic approach to primary care. I get to learn about my patient's backgrounds, families, hobbies, and values. I understand their health goals and concerns in this context. I do have conventional training as a board-certified MD and run standard tests and prescribe medications when needed. I also have a board certification in integrative holistic medicine, which I lean into, to recommend supplements and refer to complementary healing modalities. With all of my patients, I always address optimizing nutrition, activity, sleep, and mental wellness.

Dr. Eitches: My nutrition plans are evidence-based and customized for each patient's preferences and underlying conditions. For instance, I recommend a plant-based diet for heart disease, diabetes and cancer, but a gluten-free diet for Hashimoto's, or a dairy-free diet for acne, or a low-FODMAP diet for IBS. In all of these cases, I recommend a three-month trial of the diet to see whether we see a difference in their symptoms or labs. I try to balance these recommendations by focusing on the healthful foods to include rather than on what to avoid. We need to be aware that restrictive diets can be isolating and triggering for some people, so there is no one-size-fits-all.

I do think that everybody should eat more greens and fruits and veggies and that nobody should consume dairy. There is great evidence that a whole-food, plant-based diet decreases cholesterol and blood sugar, decreases cancer risk, decreases inflammation and improves bowel regularity. When a patient is ready to try a plant-based lifestyle I am so excited to guide and encourage them on this journey.

Dr. Eitches: Start with adding plants to every meal. Think about the different types of plant foods: Fruits, veggies, greens, legumes, grains, and nuts, and explore all of them. Get excited about a recipe or a farm-share. Some non-vegan foods are simple to swap out such as dairy for plant-based milk and others can be slowly crowded off of the plate.

Dr. Eitches: I recommend that all vegans have their B12 and homocysteine levels checked yearly. Ideally, our B12 levels should be over 400, and homocysteine should be below 8. We should take a B12 supplement, such as a methylcobalamin lozenge or spray to get to these goals. B12 is hugely important for our energy levels, mood, and neurologic function. I often will check omega 3's, vitamin D and iodineas all of these levels tend to be lower in vegans.

Dr. Eitches: There is some meal planning that has to happen around traveling and events, but it's pretty easy to plan ahead. I do make sure to always have vegan cupcakes on hand, either as a mix or in the freezer, so that my kids never feel left out at a birthday party.

Dr. Eitches: I eat plenty of legumes, especially lentils, black beans and edamame. I sometimes add pea protein to my smoothies. I also love (sprouted, organic, non-GMO) tofu and seitan.

Dr. Eitches: I love food, so I can't pick just one. I do love to make a huge green salad and tofu scramble, which I have a few times a week. I live in LA, where it is easy to order amazing vegan food. Some of my favorites are Thai eggplant with brown rice or papaya salad, Ethiopian platters, Japanese ramen and veggie sushi, Indian bharta or bhindi, and Mexican fajitas or burritos.

Dr. Eiches: I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion and where it isnt, thats where my work lies. -- Ram Dass

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September is Self Care Month. Here's how to Eat for Wellness - The Beet

The internet is full of so-called superfoods and fad diets that are purported to have hugely beneficial properties, but popular wisdom states that a balanced diet is what's important, and that most things are fine in moderation. YouTuber Beau Miles threw that out the window in his recently documented dietary challenge, as he attempted to become a "human bean."

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Miles was inspired to take on the challenge by a memorable scene in the 1935 novel Tortilla Flat by American author John Steinbeck. In the book, struggling single mother Teresina Cortez feeds her nine children on nothing but beans. When the local school hears of this, they dispatch a doctor to investigate, and he finds (much to his surprise) that Teresina's children are in remarkably good health.

To find out whether there are any real-life health benefits to a bean-only diet as depicted by Steinbeck, Miles sets out to eat his bodyweight in nothing but tinned beans; that's around 187 pounds (and 191 cans) over the course of 40 days.

"My key litmus test for this experiment will be running," he explains. "How I feel when I run correlates to what I eat, which for my entire life has been eating everything. To see how this whole experiment pans out, in 40 days' time I will run a 50k ultra marathon in the mountains, eating my final tins during the race."

Within just one day of starting the challenge, Miles is already experiencing a lot of gas; a problem which will continue throughout the 40 days. And there are other side effects, too. "It's been a steady decline in mood, energy, and general life in the first 4 days," he says, although he puts this down at first to reducing his caffeine consumption during this restrictive diet. He also becomes increasingly irritable as the month progresses.

As far as his physical performance goes, Miles soon finds that his body isn't getting the fuel it needs to power through and make good times, but that he's still able to complete his runs. He describes his progress while training for the ultra marathon as distinctly average. "It's like you're running with a hangover, or no sleep," he says.

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By the day of the ultra marathon, Miles has lost 9 pounds, and completes the 50k run "slowly but surely." Ultimately, he says he found the experience to be a "profound" one, and learned a lot about his own relationship with food; namely, that eliminating variety and reducing his diet to just one item ended up having a serious emotional impact.

"Food makes me more creative, more energized, healthy," he says. "Eating beans only makes me healthy in one particular way, but deadens everything else."

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This Guy Ate Nothing But Tinned Beans for 40 Days. Heres What It Did to His Body. - menshealth.com

It seems fitting that a government lacking in substance is now urging the nation to lose some of its own. At the end of July it launched its anti-obesity strategy, boosted by evidence that Covid-19 hits overweight people hardest. Today saw a more targeted soup-and-shakes weight-loss plan aimed at people with type 2 diabetes.

Common to both initiatives is the advice to exercise more and eat less. It seems as pure and virtuous as Mom and apple pie (well, maybe minus the pie). But as a strategy for weight loss it has a basic and fatal flaw: it doesnt work.

I learned this through bitter experience. Several years ago I carefully cut back on my eating, and sure enough, the kilos fell away. So did my sanity. Feeling hungry most of the time had made me grumpy, irritable and obsessed by the next meal. I was leaner but meaner.

When I hit my target weight I was careful not to go back to old habits. So it was deeply disturbing when I could not stop my lost weight piling back on with a vengeance. Twelve months later I was at least as heavy as I had been before. Anecdote is not evidence, of course. But my case is an example of a well-established fact: the vast majority put back on all the weight they lose when dieting, or even more.

The reasons for this are complicated, but the basic principles are clear enough. The simple energy-in-energy-out model treats the body as though it were a machine, always burning its fuel in the exact same way. Instead, nature favours organisms that can adjust their energy expenditure in accordance with what is available.

The human body is such a homeostatic, self-regulating system. Deprive it of calories and it starts to burn fewer of them, and tries to horde away any excess as fat. So all the time the dieter is congratulating themselves on their weight loss, their body is wondering what the hell is going on, and doing all it can to reverse it.

Evidence is mounting that body weight is not determined purely by calorie intake. How we metabolise our food depends on what kind of food it is, not just how much energy it contains. We dont yet know exactly what makes a difference, but we have lots of evidence that people get fatter when they eat more highly processed foods, especially refined carbohydrates. They are also slimmer when they eat more home-cooked meals. So a serious anti-obesity strategy would require the government to take on the food industrys promotion of highly processed foods.

The apparent success of the soup-and-shakes strategy in trials is no vindication of old-school calorie-counting. Its not just that the trials were highly controlled and participants had serious health conditions and so were highly motivated. More importantly, the success heralded was in remission of type 2 diabetes, not weight loss. While 35.6% of participants were in remission after two years, only 11.4% had maintained a 15kg weight loss. Since the results after two years were significantly worse than those after one, we dont yet know whether even these gains are sustainable. The study is encouraging for diabetes treatment, but it is not even close to being evidence that sustainable weight loss is achievable for most people.

We should be less obsessed by weight in itself anyway. Ive seen meta-studies that suggest all-cause mortality is lowest in people who are actually slightly overweight. Even a recent Lancet study, which suggested the officially healthy body mass index of 25 was indeed optimal for health, still showed that increases in risk are minor for the moderately chubby.

Government calls to reduce our weight assume we can control what in reality we can merely influence. The most we can control is the kinds and amounts of food we eat, how much we exercise, whether we smoke and how heavily we drink. If you do that and are a little overweight, you are going to be much healthier than a couch potato who stays slim through endless cans of diet Coke and cigarettes.

If the government wants to help people to eat better, its main priority should be ending what is often called food poverty more accurately described as poverty, full stop. The poorer you are, the more likely you are to be overweight, almost certainly because of the way poverty limits your food choices. If people cannot afford good food, or the fuel to cook from scratch at home, telling them to eat less and better is pointless.

Of course we should all try to take responsibility for our own health. But we can be responsible only for what we have the power to do. That is limited not just by basic biology, but by what is on our shop shelves and in our wallets. Tackling those problems requires controls on business and greater redistribution of wealth. The government rejects both on ideologic grounds, and instead promotes dieting and personal responsibility, preferring flawed common sense to the evidence.

Julian Baggini is a writer and philosopher

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It'll take more than a soup-and-shakes diet plan to tackle obesity in the UK - The Guardian

Stocking your fridge with colorful fruits and veggies and fish high in omega-3s is a great step toward following an anti-inflammatory diet but don't forget to survey your spice cabinet. According to Krista King, RDN, adding turmeric a spice and medicinal herb originating in Southeast Asia, and what gives curry its yellow color to your meals can come with anti-inflammatory bonuses, too.

"Curcumin is the bioactive compound found in turmeric and is best known for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties," King told POPSUGAR. "This means it can help to reduce inflammation and scavenges free radicals that can damage cells."

While King noted that turmeric is well-tolerated by most and is generally safe to consume especially in food form it may not be advised for everyone. King suggests anyone with the following health concerns to check in with a doctor before adding turmeric to their diet: bile-duct obstruction or gallstones, bleeding disorders, diabetes, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), hormone-sensitive cancers and conditions, iron deficiency, pregnancy and breastfeeding, and infertility. Though, as a general rule of thumb, you should always check in with your doctor before making any changes to your diet.

Turmeric comes in different forms and its form also depends on its potency. For example, King said that one teaspoon of ground turmeric contains about 200 milligrams of curcumin, though it can vary, while the nutrients found in fresh turmeric root will be more easily absorbed and usable by the body. One downside, though, is that fresh turmeric root obviously has a shorter shelf life than the ground spice.

King said that 500 milligrams of curcumin per day is a general recommendation but again, you'll want to get personalized advice from your doctor.

"It's important to note that the curcumin in turmeric is not absorbed well in the bloodstream, but pairing turmeric with black pepper will help increase absorption due to a compound in black pepper called piperine," King said.

This tip will come in handy when trying some of King's easy turmeric-enhanced meal ideas! During breakfast, King suggests adding turmeric to oatmeal or chia pudding, or you could make golden milk using a teaspoon of turmeric, a sprinkle of black pepper, and your favorite iced or heated milk.

King noted that a turmeric anti-inflammatory smoothie can be mixed up with banana, coconut milk, your favorite protein powder (King suggests vanilla!), and a dash of black pepper.

For lunch or dinner, try coconut curry: add your favorite veggies, protein (King recommends tofu or chicken), canned coconut milk, fresh ginger, turmeric, and black pepper, and serve with rice, cauliflower rice, or quinoa. King also suggests sprinkling turmeric on roasted veggies with black pepper another idea perfect for lunch or dinner.

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Give Your Breakfast an Anti-Inflammatory Boost With Turmeric - POPSUGAR

September through December is the best time to fertilize a cool-season lawn, research has shown.

Not sure if you have cool-season grass? The answer is simple. If it stays green all winter, then it is cool-season. If it turns brown in the fall, assuming it is healthy, it is a warm-season lawn.

This only applies to grass. Most perennial plants, like trees and shrubs, should not be fertilized from August until the end of October. Fertilize an azalea now and it may start growing instead of entering dormancy like it is supposed to in the fall. Summer annuals can be fed as long as they are growing.

Lawns can be fed in the spring but only with light applications. Too much nitrogen can lead to summer disease problems. Most cases of brown-patch disease happen when too much nitrogen was applied in March or April.

What should the lawn be fertilized with? For decades most people used the good old stand-by: 10-10-10. They figured if it was good enough for the farmers crops, it was good enough for their lawn. There are two problems with that. The fertilizers used by farmers are formulated to be applied to agricultural crops. They do not work as well in landscapes.

The other problem occurred in recent years. About five or so years ago most, if no all, states passed laws that said phosphorous cannot be used in lawn maintenance fertilizers unless there is a recent soil test that states it is needed. The middle 10 in 10-10-10 says that the fertilizer is 10% phosphorous by weight. Therefore, 10-10-10 will be illegal to use on lawns in most cases. You can still use it to establish a new lawn, but there are better products.

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IN THE YARD: Getting a lawn into a proper diet is important to its health and growth - GoDanRiver.com

Norah Nabkey has always been more nervous than her two older siblings.

Living in a global pandemic, however, has further heightened the 7-year-olds anxiety levels. Its made her fear leaving the house or visiting her grandparents. She has asked her mother, What happens if I get sick? Am I going to die?

Its so hard to drive home caution without instilling fear in your kids, said Brooke Nabkey, a mother of three in Ada Township. She was already an anxious kid to begin with and weve sort of created a monster.

This summer, she just crumbled.

Across the state in Grand Blanc, Michelle Counts has grappled with finding balance between keeping her three sons vigilant and aware of the dangers of the virus that has hospitalized multiple family members and friends, while not overwhelming them.

I wouldnt say depression but the majority of kids have dealt with fear surrounding things, Counts said. Both my little ones have voiced being scared, I dont want to go back to school, get corona and die ... they miss being with their friends but they dont want to lose their life or spread it.

The Nabkeys and Counts arent alone. Over the last five months, mental health experts across the state have noted elevated levels of stress, anxiety and depression among people of all ages, including children and teens.

The pandemic, along with attempts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in communities, have altered routines, isolated youths from their friends, teachers and coaches, and raised concerns over the threat of the virus itself.

In some cases, youth have been further affected by seeing loved ones get sick or die from the virus that has killed more than 6,400 Michiganders since mid-March. Others have had their home life impacted by a parents loss of income due to the associated economic recession.

Across the state and the nation, weve seen an increase in anxiety and trauma symptoms, said Lauren Kazee, a social worker whose career has focused on the mental health and wellness of youth. It has impacted different people in different ways.

Michigan has not yet compiled data on the mental health impact of the coronavirus pandemic. But the state is working in partnership with school leaders and mental health experts to prepare for the fallout by providing schools and parents with additional resources.

In April, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the state would provide funding to make a program known as Michigan Cares free to children, teachers and parents for the 2020-21 school year. The program, presented by the non-profit Michigan Virtual, provides free digital lessons focused on developing social, emotional and mental well-being skills.

Hindering the states response is an already apparent shortage in access to mental health services, Kazee noted.

We were already looking at such a huge need, a huge gap in service provisions and providers around mental health and to compound it with a pandemic has exponentially increased the need for these services, Kazee said.

Elevated risk of trauma, suicide

In June, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services in West Michigan published a report forecasting the profound impact that the COVID-19 crisis would have on the mental health of Michiganders.

Due to the emergence of the disease and its impact on our lives and economy, many of the conditions that are known to increase risk for suicide are now in place in Michigan, reads an executive summary of the report.

The report includes children and adolescents among the groups who are especially at risk for a behavioral health crisis. They are at a higher risk for trauma and suicide due to being isolated from positive external supports, witnessing increasingly stressed family members and may be experiencing a lack of parental engagement as families try to balance work, homeschooling and childcare.

The economy could also play a role. In July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Michigans unemployment rate at 8.7% -- a drop from Junes 14.9%.

Heightened unemployment rates suggest a potential for increased child abuse and neglect instances as well, according to the Pine Rest report. Individuals who are victims of child abuse and neglect have three to five times greater odds of suicide than others.

For teens, the impact of social distancing may be particularly difficult, and teens who are experiencing social isolation are two times more likely to attempt suicide, the report states.

Among the recommendations called for by Pine Rest is for Michigan to continue to scale up teletherapy and telepsychiatry, and to urgently address shortages in the mental health workforce by retraining those whose jobs have been eliminated to work in entry level positions in the mental health field.

How to address the news with your children

Brooke Nabkey has taken differing approaches to keeping her children informed with the coronavirus based on what they can each handle. She lets her 12-year-old son Simon watch the news with her and they discuss it.

But for Norah, its better to filter the news.

With my son, Im showing him the world, she said. But for Norah, Im keeping the world away because thats what she can handle. When we watch the news or read an article, we can set it aside. But as a 7-year-old, everything she has stays right there in front of her.

Michelle Counts said her family initially kept a close eye on news related to the pandemic, but as things became too sad she limited her sons viewing and began coming up with activities to distract them like projector movies in the yard or making crafts on the weekends.

We decided lets not drown ourselves, she said. We know its out there, but lets not be so into it that were not living.

Bob Sheehan, executive director of the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan, noted that children start to make sense of the world around them around ages 5-7 years old. Youth 6-12 years old are more likely to ask questions and talk to their parents than older teens, who tend to rely more on discussions with their peers than their parents.

When it comes to informing your kids about the pandemic, he recommends finding a middle ground between scaring them into complying with safety guidelines and keeping them informed on how to minimize the risk of catching the virus.

You can tell them we wear masks to protect ourselves like we wear mittens in the winter, or wash our hands after going to the bathroom, or look both ways before we cross the street, he said. We dont show our kids horrendous crashes to teach them, we just say look both ways before crossing and alert them to the danger.

Sheehan recommends putting your kids on a news diet. Too much can be overwhelming, but not enough could leave them only learning from their peers. He noted that some kids will link the pictures and headlines of civil unrest related to police brutality with the pandemic, if the fact that theyre separate issues isnt explained to them.

Returning to schools

As students begin returning to school, both virtual and in-person, Kazee said its going to be just as vital for teachers to address their students emotional and social health as it is to get them back on track in math and science.

I think itll be important for us to really go slow, for schools to have permission to not push academics first and really attune to social and emotional needs of their students, Kazee said. Were coming into a unique situation we havent faced before.

To help schools prepare to welcome back students, both virtually and in-person, The Michigan Department of Education partnered with School Based Mental Health Professionals Coalition to create a pandemic return to school toolkit.

The toolkit provides resources for administrators and teachers, as well as parents and students. It focuses on disease prevention, but also addresses the underlying long-term effects of the pandemic, including the impact of collective trauma on students and their families.

Theres been a lot of focus on how to check in with kids as they come back, Kazee said. Thats the focus of meetings Ive been in.

If schools and mental health providers are able to bring in protective factors to offset the impacts of the pandemic, Kazee anticipates that theyll be able to build resilience in students and prevent lasting negative impacts down the line.

My hope is we want kids to have some type of routine and progress academically but we cant do it without addressing the social and emotional impacts of all of this, she said.

Michelle Counts youngest sons, Caden, 14, and Jordan, 11, will be starting the school year with remote learning through Grand Blanc Community Schools. To combat distractions from learning at home, shes setting up a phone- and video-game free area of her house with desks for completing school work.

Im nervous about that, she said. Its so easy to get distracted and I dont want them falling behind. I work from home but my job can be so demanding. I worry that a bunch of kids may struggle.

New counseling services emerge

Between January and June 2020, Michigan saw a 33.7% decline in the use of its mental health services for kids 17 and younger. Utilization declined each month from January through April, likely due in-part to the governors stay-home order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

That doesnt mean the need for those services declined though.

Its like after a car wreck, you see people walking around before they realize they broke their arm, Sheehan said. Thats what were seeing. Then there comes a wave of calls, people not taking their medications, and a rise in anxiety.

In May and June, Michigan reported a rise in mental health service use from the prior months, though with a notable difference in service type. While face-to-face contacts dropped significantly, virtual and phone-based counseling services grew exponentially.

Michigan has seen a significant increase in virtual forms of mental health services since the beginning of the year, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic. (Courtesy | MDHHS)

Kazee called the growth in telehealth and teletherapy a silver lining for the pandemic. She said youth have shown in many cases that they feel more comfortable and are more honest during these sessions. She also noted that some providers are experimenting with text-based services as well.

Im hoping it will increase accessibility for those services, Kazee said. Were trying to think outside the box.

That doesnt mean tele-medicine is right for everyone. Brooke Nabkey said shes tried it with her daughter Norah, but its harder for her to focus than during in-person sessions.

Nabkey has seen improvements in her daughters anxiety levels since she began speaking with a therapist and taking lexipro, a medication that helps to restore balance of serotonin in the brain. Shes using virtual counseling in the short-term, but is looking forward to a return to normal.

As weeks of the pandemic have turned to months, Nabkey said she and her husband have gotten better at helping Norah through her anxiety. The therapy and medication have helped her to verbalize her feelings, Nabkey said.

Last week for the first time we took her to a restaurant again; we sat outside and she was OK as long as we explained the safety measures, like a constant reassurance of how were going to stay safe, she said.

We try to be patient but its hard to rally understanding for it if you dont suffer from it. Its trying to be logical and anxiety isnt logical.

For more information, visit the states mental health resources website, here. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions also has resources available, here.

COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS:

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued executive orders requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nosewhile in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces. See an explanation of what that means here.

Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

For more data on COVID-19 in Michigan, visit https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/data/.

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Wednesday, Aug. 26, coronavirus data by Michigan county: See counties with highest, lower infection rates

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Put your kids on a news diet and other tips to coping with anxiety during a pandemic - mlive.com

Virtuous chefs are forever trying to convince us that a healthy diet can still be rich in voluptuous flavors.

The meat-and-potatoes crowd those who enjoy their steaks, buttery casseroles, cream sauces and whove never met a macaroni and cheese they didnt like dont buy it.

But with Good for You: Bold Flavors With Benefits, chef Akhtar Nawab makes a persuasive case that gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian and vegan diets can be as intensely flavored and satisfying as any other. Fully versed in Indian, Mexican, Italian and Southern cuisines, Nawab doesnt just practice a healthful-eating lifestyle, hes the living proof it works.

Recipe: Gazpacho with Poached Shrimp

The first-generation son of Indian parents, Nawab grew up in 1970s Louisville, Ky., marked by white bread and The Brady Bunch, he writes in Good for You. He was a chubby kid his Muslim Indian mother was an accomplished home cook who gained even more weight his first year in college, eventually topping 250 pounds.

After dropping out of college, he returned home and went on a joyless diet working with a nutritionist. Combined with exercise, he was able to lose weight. After culinary school in California in 1994, he went to work in the Bay Area, which led to working under superchef Tom Colicchio at Gramercy Tavern, Craft and Craftbar in New York. Today, Nawab who says hes not vegan but calls his diet plant forward and mostly gluten-free owns Alta Calidad in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Otra Vez in New Orleans.

Good for You:

Bold Flavors With Benefits

By Akhtar Nawab

Chronicle Books

224 pages, $29.95

Recipe: Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Tamarind and Cashews

Good for You synthesizes Nawabs secrets for making healthful food taste like not-so-healthful food. He accomplishes this by building flavor using spices, roasted chiles, herbs, aromatic brines, spiced marinades, seeds and nuts.

Flavor, he emphasizes, doesnt always have to employ fats. Instead, his recipes benefit from concentrated tomato paste, romesco sauce, cashew pure and a vegan soubise that makes dishes taste like they are full of butter and cream. He developed the recipes for these building-block sauces and marinades by making full-fat recipes and then stripping away the unnecessary.

From there, I replaced whatever I thought was missing with something that would add a nutritional benefit and amplify flavor, he writes.

Seeing is believing: The cookbooks photographs for dishes such as bison burger with paleo Thousand Island dressing; gluten-free bread (made with almond flour and ground flaxseed); pumpkin pancakes dripping with maple syrup; meatballs with cremini mushroom sauce; and turkey lasagna show that clean eating can be good eating.

Recipe: Cauliflower Rice Biryani

greg.morago@chron.com

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How one chef builds flavor without the fat - Houston Chronicle

From social media influencers to great aunt Bess, everyone has an opinions about the best habits for a healthy lifestyle. But whether youve gone all-in on apple cider vinegar or think the latest health fads are all hype, the choices you make can have long-term health consequences.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services.Policy

Healthy lifestyle habits can slow or even reverse the damage from high cholesterol or high blood sugar, says lifestyle medicine specialist Mladen Golubic, MD, PhD. You can reverse diabetes, obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol and heart disease.

Here, he sifts through the noise to help you choose the best lifestyle habits to prevent chronic diseases.

The leading causes of death worldwide are chronic diseases, Dr. Golubic says. And they include the usual suspects:

But you can prevent many of these chronic conditions by addressing their root cause: daily habits. About 80% of chronic diseases are driven by lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise, he says.

To prevent chronic disease, Dr. Golubic recommends adjusting your habits in these five areas:

His advice is straightforward: Eat plants that are whole, unrefined and minimally processed. Eating plant-based foods helps reduce diabetes, heart disease and cancer risk.

There is evidence that the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. This diet is rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains fish, olive oil and nuts.

Other evidence suggests that consuming a fully plant-based diet can even reverse chronic, diet-related conditions, including advanced heart disease. This diet eliminates meat, dairy and eggs and includes whole foods such as vegetables, whole grains, legumes and fruits. It is the most compassionate and the most sustainable diet, Dr. Golubic says, and the one he recommends most.

I suggest you experiment. You dont have to go fully vegan tomorrow, he says.

Avoid refined and processed plant foods. Start by preparing one new plant-based meal a week.

Moving helps all your bodys systems. Experts recommend 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week.

If that seems daunting, Dr. Golubic recommends starting small. Most of us can walk. So start with a 10-minute walk. Repeat this two or three times a day, he says. Then try to walk faster, have a minute of more intense walking or climb a flight of stairs. If walking is not an option, any physical activity will do. Simply move more and sit less.

Shoot for seven to nine hours of restful sleep each night. But if you just cant help burning the midnight oil, try to:

Chronic stress is not your immune systems friend. Try mindfulness, meditation and gratitude to relieve stress and improve your physical and mental health.

We tend to self-medicate with food, but there are healthier ways to relieve our stress, worries and concerns, Dr. Golubic says.

Mindfulness: Mindfulness is the state of being more present and aware of what you sense, feel and experience. Its a great way to cope with stress and relax.

Dr. Golubic suggests two ways to master mindfulness:

Meditation: If youre new to the practice, 44 breathing, or box breathing, is a great place to start. Heres how it works:

Do this for five minutes three times a week, building up to 20 minutes a day.

Gratitude: Practicing gratitude is a good antidote for stress as well. In studies, burned-out healthcare workers who performed acts of gratitude such as remembering three good things or writing gratitude letters reported positive effects on their well-being after a few weeks.

Throughout our days we tend to notice more things that are not going well and pay little attention to positive moments, Dr. Golubic says. We are likely to feel better when, in the midst of a hectic day, we recognize and remind ourselves about all the gifts we have in life.

Social connectedness, or loving people, keeps you emotionally and physically healthy. Even when physical distancing is the norm, virtual connections can be transformative.

We have tremendous access to technology to help us avoid social isolation, Dr. Golubic says. Almost everybody has a cell phone, so you can be in touch with people and tell them how you feel about them. Even work emails signed, I hope youre OK, or, stay well, make a difference.

There are a few reasons it can be hard to get a handle on our habits, including:

To make healthy habits stick, Dr. Golubic suggests you:

Excerpt from:
5 Healthy Habits That Prevent Chronic Disease Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic

Students on campus at the University of Georgia in Athens. Elissa Nadworny/NPR hide caption

Students on campus at the University of Georgia in Athens.

As the fall semester gets underway, college students are reuniting with their friends, getting (re)acquainted with campus and doing what college students often do: partying. But in the time of the coronavirus, as more parties surface university administrators have been quick to condemn and even berate the behavior of students.

"Be better. Be adults. Think of someone other than yourself," pleaded a letter to students at Syracuse University following a large gathering on campus.

"We are terribly disappointed," leaders at the College of Holy Cross wrote to students before remote classes had even started.

"This is the kind of reckless behavior that will put an end to our in-person semester, and it must stop," wrote the president of St. Olaf College, a small school in Minnesota after an off-campus party.

For many students, this scolding feels like a bait and switch: Didn't those university administrators, many of whom brought students back to campus knowing full well the challenges, share in some of that poor decision-making?

Students at The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, shared their thoughts about this when we visited their newsroom a week after that university moved its semester online, citing coronavirus clusters seeded by student parties.

"If the success of your plan relies on 18- to 24-year-olds being responsible, then maybe it's not a very good plan," says Anna Pogarcic, a senior at UNC and the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper. "The power dynamics of an 18-year-old versus this big university with its million-dollar endowment, you can't argue with that."

"I will give students a smidgen of the blame, just a smidgen of it," says Brandon Standley, a senior and managing editor at The Daily Tar Heel. "I think that the university gets the most blame, because they brought back thousands of students."

"No one should be surprised," says Maydha Devarajan, a junior at UNC who spent the summer editing stories that challenged the university's plan to bring students to campus and hold in-person classes. "We've known this would happen all summer."

According to a UNC survey from early summer, 28% of undergrads said they were "extremely or somewhat likely to go to parties or other large campus gatherings." And colleges have been openly anticipating it. In July, the dean of students at Tulane University sent an email to students about behavior. In the third paragraph, in boldface and all caps it said: "DO NOT HOST PARTIES OR GATHERINGS WITH MORE THAN 15 PEOPLE, INCLUDING THE HOST. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL FACE SUSPENSION OR EXPULSION FROM THE UNIVERSITY."

Fast-forward to late August, when many students returned to campus: Those parties and large gatherings happened, as expected. Across the country, from Tuscaloosa to Iowa City, students socialized indoors with lots of people without masks helped in part by many campuses' active Greek life.

"It breaks my heart to see this," says Anna Song, an assistant professor of health psychology at the University of California, Merced who studies decision-making by young adults. "It's like asking people to go on a diet. Putting them in a candy store and saying, good luck. And then if they break that diet, we say, 'Why'd you break the diet? And, you know, we're going to punish you for it.' "

Many college students still have developing brains, so it's not that they aren't informed or that they don't understand the risks it's that they're wired differently. "Peer networks and having connection with other people is absolutely critical in terms of development for young people," Song says. "There is a lot going on in the brain to reward those kinds of interactions."

Of course, not all students are partying. Many are following the rules and encouraging others to do the same. "I'm not the only person that's frustrated," says Reagan Griffin Jr., a sophomore at the University of Southern California. He moved from Tennessee to Los Angeles to be closer to campus, despite the fact all his classes are online. He says he's been hunkered down, even though many of his fellow Trojans haven't been. USC reported an "alarming increase" in COVID-19 cases last week. "Clearly, other people have faulty priorities," he says. The case increases are "the fault of people who either don't know or don't care, and neither of those things are excusable."

Unlike other types of public health issues, the coronavirus is highly contagious, so the actions of a few can affect an entire campus. "With this kind of virus, you can't have 60% compliance and be like, 'Hey, we did a great job!' " says Song. "You need to have near complete compliance for this to work."

She adds that university leaders must recognize what's driving behavior among their students. "You can't deny that the pull for social interaction is incredibly strong for this group; it's formative for them," Song says. "So asking them to deny that is a Herculean challenge."

In June, she raised an important question about asking students to refrain from partying when they head back to college: "Are we asking them to do something that is almost near impossible?" Now, she thinks the answer to that question is yes. "I do believe it's not fair to ask them to do this," she said this week.

With desperate pleas and social contracts failing to curb these events, some schools have turned to punitive measures. At several campuses, including Syracuse University in New York and Purdue University in Indiana, students have been suspended for attending and hosting large gatherings. In Chapel Hill, town officials charged students with misdemeanors in connection with off-campus parties at UNC. At the University of Connecticut, students were kicked out of on-campus housing for hosting a party in their dorm room.

But will this harsher approach work? Public health experts aren't convinced.

"We know shaming and blaming people for public health interventions doesn't work, whether you're talking about sexually transmitted diseases or you're talking about drug use and drinking," explains Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease physician and public health expert. "You never want to do something that will drive behavior underground and make it more risky."

Song agrees. "My first thought was I bet what some students will think is 'Well, then I just can't get caught,' " she says. "So it becomes a game."

She's hopeful that enforcement from other students might be more successful than punitive messaging, since young adults value peer connection.

"The best hope is that the students are vigilant with each other," she says, "because it's coming from a peer who's saying, 'You are hurting me, you are hurting our community and as a member, as your peer, as a person in your social network, I am not standing for that.' And I think that probably weighs more than everything else."

Alternative options

Another important aspect of regulating behavior is providing alternative programming. "We have to figure out how to help students meet some of those socialization needs, but in a safe way," Song says. Offering outdoor, socially distant activities, she says, will help schools "fare way better than just to say, 'Hey, just don't party.' "

Figuring out what a social life looks like on a college campus is Connie Carson's job at Furman University, a liberal arts college in Greenville, S.C. As the school's vice president for student life, she has leaned heavily on student organizations during the coronavirus pandemic.

"They are the lifeblood of any campus," she says. "Students are so much more creative, honestly, than we are." She points to a recent outdoor movie shown on the Furman campus, where students used hula hoops to enforce social distancing.

The school is working on ways to use outdoor venues to have "appropriate gatherings" such as trivia nights or dance parties to keep students on the grounds, rather than having them tempted to head off-campus, to downtown Greenville.

This responsibility sits firmly on the shoulders of the college, not the students, says David Paltiel, a professor at Yale who studies public health policy. "As the university, you've got the responsibility to provide students with imaginative, compassionate, realistic, low-risk options for staying socially connected," he says. Administrators need to be upfront with students about the challenge they're facing with enforcing student behavior, he says, and some infractions may be worse than others.

"If you have to turn a blind eye to a game of beer pong that is happening on the quad or in a driveway, that's well worth it," says Paltiel. "What you're trying to prevent is the superspreader event where 150 unmasked kids get way too close to each other in the basement of some frat house with no windows open. That's what you're trying to prevent."

Paltiel isn't expecting administrators to actually know what's cool; that's why he says involving students, especially those involved with fraternities and sororities, is essential. He suggests this script for administrators, who are being upfront with students: " 'Here's the money. Here's the party tent. Here are the outdoor space heaters. Here's the pigs in a blanket. Here's the keg. What I can't have you doing is having these things indoors, unmasked. I can't have too many people in a single space.'"

And remember, he says, what schools are asking students to do is hard, so a bit of empathy and compassion can go a long way. It hasn't been easy for many adults either.

Follow this link:
Playing The Blame Game: The Uphill Battle To Prevent College Partying - NPR

Eleanor Frederick / For The Times-News| Times-News

Ready to enjoy a way of eating that is great tasting and good for you? Then the simple, delicious and satisfying Mediterranean way of eating may be right for you.

Created by N.C. State Extension and the Community and Clinical Connections for Prevention and Health Branch of the North Carolina Division of Public Health, MedInsteadofMeds.com is filled with recipes and resources that make Med Month a great time of year to start eating the Med way.

The Med way reects a way of eating that is traditional in the countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea and includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, nuts, seeds, and olive oil and limits highly processed foods and added sugar. This approach to eating has been extensively studied and is associated with promoting health and decreasing the risk of many chronic diseases including some forms of cancer, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

As such, the Mediterranean way of eating is recommended around the world, including in the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

In 2019, the Mediterranean diet won the gold as 2019's best overall diet in rankings announced recently by US News and World Report. The analysis of 41 eating plans also gave the Mediterranean diet the top spot in several subcategories: best diet for healthy eating, best plant-based diet, best diet for diabetes and easiest diet to follow.

More: Lighten up your favorite comfort foods

Fortunately, the Med Instead of Meds program isnt all about pasta and olive oil (although theres nothing wrong with those tasty ingredients!) The program also lends itself to creative and delicious uses for much of the fresh harvest available in fall.

Wild mushrooms and barley risotto

Serves 6

Barley is a great grain with lots of nutty flavor and a nice bite. We often see barley in soup, but it can be used for many dishes. This risotto takes advantage of this grains great taste and creamy texture when cooked using this method. Risotto is often thought of as a dish made with rice, but it is actually a cooking method. It seems hard at first, but it is not difficult. Just get a glass of your favorite beverage, stand and stir and contemplate life for a few minutes. The extra effort is worth the trouble. This dish is a great example of adding lots of vegetables in a grain dish to decrease calories and boost fiber.

Ingredients:

6 cups mushroom, vegetable, or chicken broth

1 cups water

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup minced onion

cup red wine

3 cups sliced or coarse chopped mushrooms, any variety or combination

1 cups uncooked barley, rinsed (do not use quick cooking)

6 cups baby spinach or Swiss chard (chopped)

cup grated parmesan cheese (omit to make this dish vegan)

1 tablespoon butter (omit to make this dish vegan)

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring broth and water to a simmer.

2. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or large chefs pan. Add onion and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add red wine and cook until almost evaporated.

4. Add the mushrooms and cook stirring often until they begin to release their juices.

5. Add barley and cook for 1 minute.

6. Add 1 cup of warm broth and stir continuously until almost all of the liquid is absorbed.

7. Continue adding broth 1 cup at a time while stirring. Keep adding broth until barley is cooked through and tender (about 35-45 minutes). Add a bit more broth. Dish should be a bit loose at this point as it will continue to thicken.

8. Stir in spinach and allow to wilt.

9. Add more broth if the dish is too stiff.

10. Stir in balsamic vinegar, cheese and butter if using.

11. Taste and add pepper and adjust seasoning if needed.

Apple cucumber slaw

Serves 2

Dont just pickle those end of the season cucumbers. Combine them with crisp apples and other veggies that have a crunch for a light and easy fall salad.

Ingredients:

1 apple, cut into matchsticks (use a sweet apple such as Red Delicious, or a tart apple such as Granny Smith)

English cucumber or garden cucumber, chopped,

sweet onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped fine

cup white wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Serve immediately, or chill in refrigerator until serving.

Microwaved baked apples

Serves 2

This is a super easy and super delicious dessert or snack. Any apple will work, but firm apples such as Fuji, Gala, or Braeburn work best. You can change it up with different spices to suit your tastes.

Ingredients:

2 apples

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Core the apple, leaving the bottom intact.

2. In a bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon the sugar mixture into the apples.

3. Place the apples in a deep casserole dish and cover with the lid.

4. Microwave for 3-4 minutes or until tender.

5. Let the apples sit for 2 minutes before serving.

Eleanor Frederick is the family and consumer sciences agent for the Alamance County Cooperative Extension Service.

The following story appears in the Sept. 2020 edition of Alamance Living magazine. If you want to read more stories like this, pick up a copy of the magazine at various locations in Alamance County, or call 336-227-0131 to subscribe so issues will be mailed to your home.

See the rest here:
Enjoy Autumns bounty the Mediterranean way - Burlington Times News