After announcing on Instagram that 2020 would be her "Year of Health," actress Rebel Wilson is reportedly using the Mayr diet along with workouts and frequent walks to reach her goal weight of 165 pounds.

The Mayr diet has existed, in some form, for nearly 100 years. Initially developed by Franz Xaver Mayr in Austria in the 1920s, the diet focuses on gut health and mindfulness while eating.

Dr. Maximilian Schubert, the medical director of VivaMayr, an Austrian wellness facility that promotes the diet, said that while there have been some changes made in the past century, the Mayr diet still adheres to its roots.

"The main idea behind this if people have a healthy gut system and healthy digestive system, then they are going to have a holistic approach of health," Schubert explained.

Typically, people start the regimen by visiting the VivaMayr resort in Austria (there are two locations, the main center is in the Austrian Alps), where they meet with a doctor for an initial examination and a conversation about a patient's goals. However, those initial consults require travel to Austria and cost over $200; overnight stays at the resort, which are recommended, are even pricier.

"We have to find really an individual solution for everybody and that's the major approach at VivaMayr," Schubert said.

If you're looking to get started at home, Schubert recommends starting with some mild fasting.

"In general, the first step is always a monotone and restricted diet, to really calm down the body system, food-wise," he explained.

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The diet also involves doing a cleanse, and taking vitamins or supplements to prevent side effects associated with what Schubert called the "detoxification process." Potential side effects included headaches, nausea, stomach cramps and fatigue.

"Quite often, people will still have some headaches and mood changes in the first three or four days. Afterwards, they recover very well again," Schubert said.

Kirkpatrick warned that the cleanse is likely unnecessary, and should only be taken under medical supervision.

"The (VivaMyar detox) is in the medical facility, it's probably safe, but if you just look at the data, over a decade, we don't have research showing that those types of things detoxify the body," she said. "The body has this amazing organ called the liver, and one of the main purposes of the liver is to cleanse anything that comes in the body ... This whole concept of detoxifying is not really bound in science."

The diet starts with some fasting for a few days to help the body adjust. Once the fasting ends, Schubert said that the diet emphasizes not consuming cow's dairy, but using substitutes like vegetable creams or alternative milks. Otherwise, there are not many restrictions on what kinds of food can be eaten.

"It seems to be pretty healthy," said Kirkpatrick said of the diet plan. "It's not like you have to give up carbs or you can't eat certain amounts of food."

The diet also recommends eating foods that have a high alkaline content, like vegetables and fish.

Kirkpatrick said that there's little to no scientific evidence that shows high alkaline foods make a significant change in health or weight loss, but said that they are unlikely to do any harm.

"As long as the food is nutrient dense and healthy, go for it," she said.

Schubert said that one thing the diet avoids is focusing too much on calories, something Kirkpatrick also supported.

"We are not a big fan of measuring calories," he said. "I can give you a teaspoon or tablespoon of linseed oil, which is rich in omega-3 oils but has lots of calories, but you will never get fat out of that oil. Calories are not the ideal measurement for increasing or decreasing weight."

The diet also has a huge focus on lifestyle and behavior surrounding meals. One major feature is chewing a piece of food between 40 to 60 times before swallowing, and at VivaMayr, Schubert said staff use chewing trainers, a piece of slightly stale bread, to get people used to the practice.

Kirkpatrick said that there is some research that shows chewing a single bite multiple times can help with weight loss.

"I like the fact that it is tapping into this more intuitive eating approach, where you're being more mindful, where you're really kind of taking an extra step to number one appreciate food, but number two, to kind of slow down the rate of eating," she said. "I think that's important... I know from a weight loss perspective we actually have seen studies in the past decade that actually shows that kind of habit seems to work."

Other habits emphasized in the Mayr diet include "stopping when you are satisfied, drinking between meals and not with meals, (and) not eating after 4 or 5 p.m.," according to Schubert. He also said it's important to leave "four to five hours" between meals so you can "fully digest" your food.

Schubert also emphasized the role of exercise in the diet.

"Without exercise, you can't achieve any health goal," he said.

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Mayr method diet: What is the Viva Mayr diet plan? - TODAY

By the end of the weekend, the Instagram post was gone, with no explanation to the accounts two million followers. On Twitter, where DP has just under 9,000 followers, they posted an apology: The irony of a call out account getting called out. All the shade is well deserved. In a screenshot, they stated that our intention was to open up a conversation about what it means for a huge fashion corporation like Gap to be aligning with a figure like Kanye, whose divisive politics often take center stage, but that our intentions of using satire to do so fell flat. They said that they had missed the announcement of Ogunlesis appointment, which was not mentioned in Gaps initial announcement, and apologized to her.

In an email interview with GQ, Schuyler and Liu wrote, Were still trying to think of a more meaningful way to address it on our Instagram. We all know how the typical Instagram apologies go theyre pretty worthless to an audience thats already made up their mind. Theres a tendency for people and brands to be too reactionary in their apologies and we could all benefit from taking the time to process and learn.

For many industry insiders and observers, the Twitter apology was not enoughand Diet Pradas stumbling coverage of the news about West, Clemens, and Ogunlesi was representative of a larger, longer-term issue with the callout-and-cancel approach to fashion and pop culture that the account helped pioneer in the first place. Some fashion insiders say that, in searching for the inflammatory angle instead of working towards a cohesive platform for a reformed fashion industry, the account often misses the mark. As Sabino wrote to GQ by email earlier this week, They [have] especially talked about Kanye and Virgil Abloh in ways that at times felt like they were overdoing it a little, adding that although West remains a controversial figure for his support of Donald Trump, putting a budding young, black, female designer at the head of a massive collaboration is a big deal no matter who pulls it off. Gregory wrote to GQ that Diet Prada is no longer relevant: We've moved past Diet Prada because no one holds Diet Prada accountable. DP is able to have Black Lives Matter in their bio and at the same time uphold tokenism in the industry. You cant do both. Where is the credibility in that? A handful of other fashion industry insiders told me that they dont follow Diet Prada: I pay them no mind, one said. Their militant and uncompromising tone can seem out of step with the industrys current mores: Abolish the police also means diet prada, joked (or not!) another person on Twitter.

So has the great canceler become the canceled? The answer isnt quite so simple.

Fashion, it seems, is moving towards a more nuanced court of public opinion, where consumers and employees are pushing for systemic change at every level instead of the mere removal of figureheads. Cancelling people doesnt give them the opportunity to fix what they did wrong; it deprives someone of full accountability, says fashion influencer Bryan Yambao, aka Bryanboy. And new industry efforts to challenge racism in fashion that have emerged over the past several weeks push that idea into actionable territory. Aurora Jamess Fifteen Percent Pledge is an initiative to diversify consumers spending habits. After the Council of Fashion Designers of America announced a new slate of diversity actions, the Kelly Initiative formed to demand more radical systemic change. Last week, Teen Vogue editor Lindsay Peoples Wagner and publicist Sandrine Charles announced the Black In Fashion Council, an organization of more than 400 fashion professionals that will create a Quality Index Score to work with emerging and established fashion brands and media organizations to diversify staff and provide mentorship and support. In an interview with the Business of Fashion, Peoples Wagner said that she wanted to move away from cancel culture towards accountability culture, adding, We want to allow people to rise to the occasion of changing.

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Diet Prada: Who Will Cancel the Cancelers? - GQ

A few years ago, Jenni Murray was out walking with her son and dogs when she saw a potential vision of her future. While she was strolling painfully around the park, stopping to rest at benches where she could, a woman not much larger than Murray passed them on a mobility scooter, her own dogs leads attached to the handlebars. If Murray at 24 stone (152kg) didnt do something about her weight, her concerned son said, that might be her before long. How did she feel about herself at that point?

Extremely obese, she says. I was not the fit, active person that I wanted to be. I just lumbered everywhere. Id had breast cancer and a double hip replacement in my 50s, but it was the obesity that was going to kill me. It was the final push Murray needed, after a lifetime of dieting, and a warning from her doctor that she was on the way to developing type 2 diabetes. I thought, Ive got to do something about it, Im 64 and Im not going to make it to 70. She adds, triumph in her voice, And I did make it to 70! She reached the milestone birthday in May.

In 2014, Murray had bariatric surgery and lost eight stone in a year. The broadcaster has written about her lifelong attempts, and failures, to keep her weight to a healthier level in a new book, Fat Cow, Fat Chance. The punchy title was deliberate she says, on the phone from her home in London, with the washing machine whirring in the background. Her warm voice if you have listened to her for much of the 33 years she has been presenting Womans Hour on Radio 4 is perhaps as familiar to you as your mothers.

Ive been angry most of my life about having to deal with this weight problem, she says and about dealing with the fat-shaming that comes with it. When she went to a conference and heard a young doctor speaking, it was the moment the lightbulb goes on in your head. [He said:] Isnt it curious that so many things are included in hate crime, but whats the one thing thats not? Obesity. And I thought, God, the number of times when Ive been sitting in my car about to pull away at the lights, or Ive been out on my bike, or walking my dog, and some bloke its always a bloke just walked past and said: Fat cow. Or another C-word. So many of us will have had that expression thrown at us and yet nobody thinks its hateful. Fat-shaming should, she says, be classed as hate speech.

I want young women who are brave about their obesity to understand what its like in your 60s when you cant get around

Murray knows the narrative around people who have reached the stage of obesity. Were considered to be lazy, lacking in moral fibre, we eat too much, we dont exercise enough. Its so much more complicated and it just makes me so mad that the whole thing is so grossly misunderstood. Her book takes in research in genetics, our gut microbiome, hormones, the environment, the food industry and psychology. And how, once you reach a certain weight, the idea that you can simply eat less and move more and that you can be shamed into doing this is simply not true for a lot of people. I do call obesity a disease and were only now beginning to understand how wide the number of reasons are for it.

She thinks about her two obese grandmothers and a genetic propensity for weight gain that stretches back long before them, and the fraught relationship with her mother, who was both horrified that her daughter could become fat but also insistent that she always finish everything on her plate.

Murray grew up in Barnsley, the only child of Win, who had given up her job in the civil service once she became a mother, and Alvin, an electrical engineer. Food was central from the potatoes and raspberries grown on her grandfathers allotment to her grandmothers fry-up, cooked on an open fire, and her mothers apple pie. They had come out of wartime rationing, and suddenly, Oh my goodness, we can create pleasure again. Because thats the other important thing food is not just about sustenance, its about pleasure. My granny and my mother were suddenly in a position to make beautiful chocolate cakes, wonderful treacle sponge puddings, fantastic pies. It was an expression of their love. And, of course, to refuse it was an insult.

When Murray put on weight while at the University of Hull she was the first of her family to go to university, where she studied French and drama, with the ambition of becoming an actor her mother told her she looked like a baby elephant. Murray was determined that the next time she saw her mother, she would have lost weight. A university doctor prescribed pills, which turned out to be amphetamines. Her tutor, worried about her diminishing appearance and strange behaviour, intervened. She went from 11 to seven stone, mainly by eating one boiled egg and a tomato for every meal a diet she had read about in a magazine. I didnt feel good about myself, she says. I felt ill.

For a while her weight was fairly stable she joined the BBC in her 20s, first as a local radio assistant on BBC Bristol, then wangling her way in front of the microphone, and later becoming a presenter on Womans Hour, Radio 4s long-running programme, in 1987 (she was made a dame in 2011). But in the mid-90s, with her weight going up, she embarked on the eating regime that was popular then the Atkins diet.

You do it and you lose loads of weight and you think, Oh well, Ive done that, I can start eating normally again now, and you are ravenously hungry. What you dont understand when you go on a diet like that is your hormonal system is responding by sending messages to your brain saying, Whoa, shes losing too much weight, shes starving, make her eat. More diets followed, as well as trying antidepressants, CBT and therapy and there were the half-hearted attempts at the cabbage-soup diet, and the Atkins-like Dukan diet. Why did she keep falling for them? I have asked myself that question over and over again, she says with a laugh. You just think every time, Maybe this is the answer. Instead, the crash-dieting wreaked havoc on her metabolism.

Since she was her familys main earner, Murray would spend four days a week in London for work, while her husband David looked after their two sons in the countryside. Unhappy at being away from her family, while also trying to look after her two elderly parents, Murray lived on takeaways, microwaved ready meals and too much wine. She ate for comfort.

She writes that she tried to be happy with her shape but that her cheeriness was an Oscar-winning performance put on in public, but in private I lived with a growing sense of fear and misery. What does she make of the body-positive movement, where (mostly) women, sick of being criticised for their size, choose to celebrate it instead? I wish I could be completely supportive of them, because I hate fat-shaming, she says. But I know in the long run how dangerous being desperately obese can be. I want those young women who are very brave about their obesity to understand what its like when you get to your early 60s and you cant get around, and you get type 2 diabetes.

But she also writes that she wonders whether becoming fatter was an expression of her feminism and two fingers up to a society that expects women to be thin. It was an idea she got from the psychotherapist Susie Orbachs book, Fat Is a Feminist Issue, though she says now: I dont think in my case that was it, because I hated being fat.

Will thinness ever not be the goal for women? Instead of one physical ideal, she says she wishes we could get to a point where we accept that healthy body shapes can vary she likes to draw the parallel with her three chihuahuas, all different sizes. And she is scathing about the diet industry. I hate it, she says. Its caused me more misery than any other part of my life. Yes, some people will be successful on a strict diet, but it will become a daily obsession. They will somehow cope with hormones going up to the brain saying, Youre starving, youre hungry, eat, eat, eat.

It was after presenting Womans Hour one morning that she asked one of her guests, a doctor specialising in childhood obesity, what she could finally do about her weight. He suggested bariatric surgery, and recommended she see the surgeon and renowned diabetes researcher Francesco Rubino. The minute I met him, and I began to understand what the gastric sleeve would do for me, I couldnt get there fast enough, she says.

Rubino did not blame her for her size. I cant begin to tell you how my spirits were lifted by this warm, gentle, knowledgeable scientist telling me I was not greedy or lazy, but I had a problem with my metabolism, Murray writes. She says she knows some people will think she took the easy option, but bariatric surgery (Murray, like her surgeon, prefers to call it metabolic surgery) never sounded easy with 80% of her stomach removed, it is irreversible and will restrict what she can eat for the rest of her life. She says she was deeply excited at the thought that it might work in the way that I wanted it to but also absolutely terrified. For her, it was life-changing. I can eat whatever I like, but I only eat when Im hungry, which was certainly not the case in the past, and when Im full, I stop, she says.

Has it brought her peace with her body? Ill never have peace with my body, she shoots back with a laugh, as if its a ridiculous concept. Of course not. Am I happy with my body? I cant say that. Maybe Im just not a happy sort of person. I dont know. She doesnt want to lose any more weight, at least.

During this focus on looks, I ask what has disappointed her in terms of feminisms progress. I have so many friends who have daughters who are posting themselves up on Instagram or Twitter or wherever and want to look like She reaches for the words. Porn stars? Kardashians? I look at them and think, Come on, go and do your homework, for goodness sake. Im not sure if she means homework in an academic and career-minded sense, or the history of feminism probably both. In so many ways, we seem to have gone backwards and I can only blame social media for that. I get really sad when I see how much pain is caused by the way we look.

Many women dont really get what feminism is all about until they have their first baby, and then they get it big time

A few years ago, Murray was cheered by how fervently younger women had embraced feminism, but she sounds more downbeat now. I still think were at a stage where many women dont really get what feminism is all about until they have their first baby, and then they get it big time, she says.

As for the current divisions in feminism over transgender issues, Murray is not going there whenever the subject comes up on Womans Hour, as it did a couple of weeks ago in light of the row over JK Rowlings comments, Murray is conspicuously absent. In 2017, she wrote an article, calling for a debate about, among other things, trans womens access to single-sex spaces, which brought a wave of protest (and some support) and a warning about impartiality from the BBC. But with the fault lines so deep, where does feminism go from here? She speaks very carefully. There has to be, at some point, a sensible, thoughtful, considerate discussion about it so that people understand each other. We all need to be able to talk about these things. What I hate is the idea that debate is shut down.

Murray should have been going on a speaking tour to promote her book, but it had to be cancelled because of the pandemic. She remained in London during the lockdown and only recently met up with her husband, who lives in their house on the south coast, for the first time since March. Lockdown wasnt too bad, she says being an only child, and knowing how to entertain herself, had prepared her for it. There was a practice run recording Womans Hour from her kitchen table but it didnt work, and the BBC allowed her to keep going to the studio, she says, with a smile in her voice, even though she turned 70 during lockdown. Its hard to imagine her anywhere else. Retirement, she says, as far as Im concerned is an extremely dirty word.

Fat Cow, Fat Chance by Jenni Murray is published by Doubleday on 16 July (RRP 16.99). Buy a copy for 13.59 at guardianbookshop.com

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Jenni Murray: I hate the diet industry. Its caused me misery - The Guardian

By now, most of us are familiar with Blue Zones, a term that first appeared in a National Geographic story, in which Dan Buettner identified communities around the world where people routinely live long, healthy lives.

In the story, and in subsequent books, the journalist outlined core lifestyle habitswhat he called Power of 9 principlespresent among the people in the five places.

The concept evolved into the Blue Zones Project, with Buettner providing a template that towns, businesses and individuals could follow to implement the principlesfrom eating more veggies to cultivating friendships. Naples joined the cause in 2015, when NCH Healthcare System launched the Blue Zones Project of Southwest Florida and commited to create an environment that supports the balanced lifestyle.

Although the project isnt all about diet, Buettner recognizes food has a lot to do with how we feel and function. For most Americans, an entrance ramp for a new lifestyle change is through their mouth, he says.

While working on the blueprint for the project, Buettner revisited the original communities and walked away with the idea for a cookbook that goes beyond recipes. In The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100, the author pulls back the curtain to reveal the people and places that inspired his work. I wanted to harness the culinary genius of the Blue Zones and let people taste what its like to live in these places. The result? A robust roadmap for balanced eating and an assortment of recipes that prove eating well doesnt have to mean compromising on flavor.

Waking up at dawn, men in Nicoya, Costa Rica, ride their horses to work in the verdant mountains of the Costa Rican peninsula, where they spend days tending to crops and livestock. To fuel up for the hard days work, they start the morning with a hefty serving of protein-packed gallo pinto (rice and beans), alongside a basket of from-scratch tortillas and a steaming cup of black coffee.

Buettner found a bustling, family-owned cafe in the mountains that served the traditional breakfast to locals for less than $5 per serving. In his book, he describes it as the worlds healthiest breakfast.

Thats because the author found that an ideal breakfast consists of protein (which repairs and rebuilds tissues and makes you feel full), complex carbs (for energy) and antioxidants (to protect your cells from disease).

While you might not be scaling mountains, youll find that a breakfast with those three components will sustain you throughout the day.

Not ready for beans in the morning? You can find a good source of protein and complex carbs in Ezekiel bread, which is made with four types of sprouted grains that provide all nine essential amino acids, which makes it a complete protein. Combine with antioxidant-rich blueberries.

In the remote island Ikaria, locals embrace a Mediterranean diet, relying on herbs like thyme and oregano to ramp up the flavor of foods like chickpeas, which are packed with nutrients but low on flavor. Were pretty good at putting chickpeas into hummus, but beyond that, people often dont know what to do with them, Buettner says.

Meanwhile, on the Greek island, he saw the possibilities were endless. He met one woman who crafted a pastry with a filling that he describes as transcendent, with chickpeas cooked in a broth with sage, rosemary and caramelized onionsall freshly picked.

Ikarians act as hunters and gatherers, searching the sides of the roads for herbs like fennel, parsley and chicory, and gathering sea salt from the coastal rocks. They also tend seasonal gardens for items, such as lemon and tomatoes.

The perks: Not only does gardening and foraging provide a good mental and physical boost, but most of the herbs, spices and veggies found in a Mediterranean diet also have anti-inflammatory benefits. Some also target other issues, such as digestion (rosemary) and stress (oregano).

Though it wouldnt hurt to start your own herb garden, stocking up on these prevalent foods is as easy as walking into your local grocery store.

If youre eating a standard American diet, its probably shaving about six to 10 years off of your life expectancy, Buettner says, adding that the problem is that in the U.S., the food thats most accessible is typically prepackaged and processed. Those meals are packed with added sugar and preservatives that wreak havoc on our health.

In Loma Linda, California, he met a close-knit community of Seventh-day Adventists who follow the Old Testaments teachings that say people should avoid animal products deemed unclean. Instead, they stick to whole plant foods, including vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and seeds.

In most Blue Zones, meat is eaten in small amounts and typically reserved for special occasions, if its consumed at all. Buettner found that in Loma Linda, the Adventists who completely abstain from meat, tend to live longer and weigh about 20 pounds less than their Adventist peers who eat meat on occasion.

Skimping on meat doesnt have to equate to a radical change on the dishes you eat. In fact, Loma Linda dinner tables look a lot like many other Americans, with vegetarian twists on classic dishes, like No-Meat Balls and Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers. Even if youre having an animal-based meal, you can just add some of these things like fresh vegetables and beans onto your plateits a transition, says Deb Logan, the executive director of the Blue Zones Project of Southwest Florida.

Every Friday generations of Sardinian women gather in a small neighborhood house dedicated to making bread. The eldest brings the starter dough, which has been in her family for hundreds of years, and together the women make loaves of bread and pasta to bring home for their families. They spend the afternoon socializing around this great activity, the whole time theyre talking and relieving stress, Buettner says.

The community focuses specifically on sourdough, which the author recognized as a staple in diets across the five Blue Zones. That may be because its unique fermentation process makes it more nutritious and digestible than other breads. Plus, its said to have a lower glycemic index.

Another constant across the board? In every place, people gather to eat together.

In the States, Blue Zones fans have started creating Moais, a concept borrowed from Okinawaa Blue Zone in Japan. There, locals belong to these moais, or social support groups, which are formed at a young age and endure for life.

Lisa Gruenloh, director of development for NCH Healthcare Systems Center for Philanthropy, participated in a local Potluck Moai last summer, with about 100 other people who experimented with the recipes ahead of Buettners book release. Some of them stuck with it, branching out into smaller groups and checking in with each other periodically. A huge part of a Moai is to get people together, Gruenloh says. Its easier to stick with things when youre doing it with someone.

Link:
Journey to the Blue Zones - Gulfshore Life

As an equine nutritionist I often find myself counseling owners on how to manage overweight horses. The advice comes quite easily, because weight loss results from consuming fewer calories than are being burned. Therefore, feed fewer calories, work the horse harder, or do both. What I learned recently is this is much harder than you might think.

About six weeks ago, my daughters large pony moved out of his stall to live 24/7 in a sparse grass pasture. Now I know that grass being short doesnt mean there is nothing there. Plus, being a pony, hes pretty motivated to make the most of even the shortest blades of grass. Because this pasture offers more what I would call mental health grazing than nutrition, he has continued to receive his regular morning and evening hay meals.

About a month ago I stood back and thought I could see some extra condition on his body. I ran my hand over him, and he definitely had a layer of fat over his ribsnothing major, but fat nonetheless. His crest, which I always watch closely, had gained a little softness but not much more than normal. For his conformation type I actually thought he looked good but acknowledged he didnt need to gain any more weight.

I contemplated whether we needed to make dietary changes, but it was early May in Phoenix, and the weather was about to hit continuous triple digits. Our summers are a little like winters elsewhere in that horses here can lose weight in the summer the way horses lose weight during cold winters. Its so hot that they might not be inclined to eat a lot of forage, and the weather can be stressful. Because this pony was new to us this past winter, I had no way of knowing how he would handle the heat. With a 10-day forecast predicting every day over 105oF and several days over 110oF, I decided to maintain the status quo, thinking he would lose weight due to the heat. If not, I would reassess.

A few weeks went by and his pasture was flood irrigated, so he moved to a larger pasture that had itself been irrigated and then opened for grazing. Compared to pastures I experienced in England, this pasture still had very little grass. However, it is twice the size of the initial pasture and had more growth on it. Which brings us to last week.

I shared a photo of the pony wearing a new saddle with a close friend, who said, your pony is rotund. I argued, No the saddle is just small. But the next day at the barn I again stood back and looked at him and had to admit that fat pad at the end of his ribs had not been there a month ago. Sometimes when you see horses every day you dont notice changes. Clearly the he will lose weight in the heat plan had not worked.

I realized it was time to take action. I thought about his diet. He gets about 15 pounds (three flakes of a three-string bale) of Bermuda grass hay and 7 pounds (1 flake of a three-string bale) of alfalfa, a ration balancer, high-omega-3 oil, liquid vitamin E, salt and electrolytes, and an allergy supplement each day. The ration balancer and other supplements needed to stay, because they offer sources of essential nutrients his forage cant provide. This left me looking at the forage.

Im a big believer in feeding as much forage as possible, so I hate to reduce forage unless really necessary. However, the pony was now able to graze pasture, albeit short, whenever he wanted. Still, I wasnt ready to cut an entire 6-7-pound flake of hay out of his diet, because I didnt feel he needed that significant a calorie reductionat least not to start with. Reducing by half a flake would have been a good option, but I typically find that people struggle to feed half a flake, especially if the hay isnt being weighed daily. This left me with one option: Replace the alfalfa with another flake of grass hay. This would result in a slight but hopefully adequate calorie reduction.

Now, let me tell you how much this pony loves that one flake of alfalfa. He will eat it over anything else weve offered him. He is almost drooling while he eats it. You can imagine his horror the first night when he received two flakes of grass hay and no alfalfa.

My daughter feeds at the barn on Saturday and Sunday nights, and this weekend was our first time feeding without his alfalfa. After several days of no alfalfa, the ponys conviction that we had made an error was still strong. He nickered longingly at us as we approached with his hay. We dropped it in his feeder. He put his head in and looked at us in disbelief: Not you as well! he seemed to say. He walked around for a while ignoring the perfectly good grass hay. He nickered again. He looked longingly at the horses in the next paddock and what they were eating.

This is when I felt it. That pang. The sense of guilt. The nutritionist and scientist in me was gone. I was standing there as a defenseless owner looking at this cute face and hearing these loving nickers, and I thought, What harm could it possibly do to give him half a flake of alfalfa? And then I caught myself having this thought. I reminded myself what can happen if he did in fact become obese, especially as a pony. The risk of equine metabolic syndrome, the low-grade systemic inflammation, and the potential for laminitis and how cruel that condition is. I looked at him, his eyes twinkling at me, and I said, Im sorry but I cant. And I walked away.

So, I get it, I truly do. I understand how hard it is to do the right thing, but I encourage everyone to routinely step back and look at your horse, run your hand over him, perform a condition score to estimate his weight, and conduct an objective assessment of his condition over time. Ask a knowledgeable horse person (e.g., your trainer, farrier, massage therapist, etc.) for a potentially more objective opinion about your horses condition. If his condition isnt ideal or heading in the wrong direction, whether thats too fat or too thin, take action sooner rather than later. Our pony is already looking trimmer after only a week sans alfalfa. Dont fall for the guilt, those eyes, the soft nickers. Be strong and stay true to your convictions and what you know is right. If you are unsure of the right thing to do, talk to your veterinarian or a nutritionist and have them help you make a plan. Finally, if you are feeling bad about the tough love, find someone to talk to who can empathize and help keep you accountable.

Continued here:
When the Nutritionist's Pony Needs a Diet The Horse - TheHorse.com

The supermassive black hole dubbed J2157 is only one step short of the largest black hole in the universe Abell 85 which has a mass of 40 billion suns.

If the Milky Ways black hole wanted to grow that fat, it would have to swallow two-thirds of all the stars in our galaxy, quipped Christopher Onker, the lead author of the study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

According to him, how much a black hole can eat depends a lot on how big they already are. In this case, the black hole is already so huge to begin with, which is why it can sustain the diet of one sun a day. The analysis shows that the black hole is growing by 1% every one million years.

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Wolf believes that if this black hole was at the centre of the Milky Way, it would appear in Earths skies 10 times brighter than a full moon. It would appear as an incredibly bright pin-point star that would almost wash out all of the stars in the sky, he said.

It would make life nearly impossible on Earth with the huge amounts of X-rays that emanate from the massive black hole.

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Supermassive black holes grew from mysterious seeds that are yet to be found

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The fastest-growing black hole in the universe eats one sun a day doubling its diet from just a month ago - Business Insider India

Christina Anstead is getting back to work. The Christina on the Coast star revealed that shell soon return to filming her HGTV show. Plus, she announced a premiere date for additional season 2 episodes of her reality series, which focuses on her Southern California design business and life with her three children and husband Ant Anstead.

RELATED: HGTVs Christina Anstead Shares What Keeps Her On Track With Diet and Exercise During Quarantine

Christina on the Coast premiered in May 2019 and has become a hit for HGTV. Season 2 of the Flip or Flop stars solo show premiered in January 2020. Now, a third season is in the works.

I officially start filming for Season 3 this month, Anstead wrote in her July 1 Instagram announcement. Fans can expect 13 new episodes to air sometime in 2021, the 36-year-old revealed.

Anstead who was formerly married to her Flip or Flop co-star Tarek El Moussa had some additional good news for fans. More season 2 episodes of Christina on the Coast are set to air in August.

SO happy to announce the next 5 episodes of #christinaonthecoast will air on @hgtv August 6th and they are now all 1-hour episodes, she wrote.

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It may appear that we are social distancing but we actually prefer to stand 10 feet apart! . For the last episode of season 9, I had a goal to find the nastiest, most disgusting house I could possibly find. . Based on her face, I accomplished my goal! This house has feces, urine, rats, mice, flys, nats, termites, cockroaches and a few dead birds. . As you can see, shes standing in the original pink carpet that has been covered with furniture for 30 years. . My favorite part about flipping a disgusting house like this is the horrific look on Christinas face!!. . Are you ready to see the all new season of Flip or Flop coming out October 2020??

A post shared by Tarek El Moussa (@therealtarekelmoussa) on Jun 26, 2020 at 6:31pm PDT

RELATED: Christina Anstead and Her Ex Tarek El Moussa Come Together to Support Their Daughter in the Sweetest Way

Though Anstead and El Moussa split in 2016, they continue to collaborate professionally (and co-parent their two kids). HGTV viewers can see them in action on the upcoming season of Flip or Flop. New episodes begin airing October 15. From the sound of things, the flips will be wilder than ever.

This season has 2 of the most disgusting homes Ive ever walked and if you have seen the turkey episode, thats saying a lot, Anstead shared on Instagram. (In the turkey episode, Anstead and El Moussa bought a house where someone had left a raw turkey out on the kitchen counter for months, leading to some pretty disgusting smells.)

El Moussa confirmed that for the last house of the new season, his goal was to find the nastiest, most disgusting house. He shared a series of photos from the property on Instagram, and it looks like he hit the mark.

Based on [Ansteads] face, I accomplished my goal! This house has feces, urine, rats, mice, flies, gnats, termites, cockroaches and a few dead birds, he wrote. As you can see, shes standing in the original pink carpet that has been covered with furniture for 30 years. My favorite part about flipping a disgusting house like this is the horrific look on Christinas face!!

In addition to her work as a designer and television personality, Anstead is now a published author. Her first book, The Wellness Remodel, was co-written with nutritionist Cara Clark and focuses on rebooting your life by changing your approach to diet, exercise, and mindfulness. Its inspired by Ansteads own efforts to remake her life after she faced a series of health problems and personal struggles. She hopes it helps other people learn to listen to their bodies, she told Parade.

If your instinct is telling you that something is off, thats when its probably time to try to figure it out, she said. I hope our book will offer some strategies to help you reset a bit!

See more here:
Christina Anstead Reveals She's Getting Back to Work on Her HGTV Show - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Photo credit: Megan Faraday

From Delish

My name is Megan Faraday (@meggsmetamorphosis), and I'm 25 years old. I'm from Ontario, Canada, and I own a sign post installation company. After struggling with my weight and self-esteem for years, I decided to try a version of low-carb dieting called "lazy keto." I've now lost 107 pounds.

I struggled with my weight my whole life. I remember my mom putting me on diets from as early as 10 years old. I was constantly trying to lose weight with no success. I had gotten my weight down in high school for a short period of time but gained it back shortly after. No healthy plan ever stuck, and my weight held me back from experiencing a lot of things in life.

My weight had the biggest effect on me mentally. I had absolutely no self-esteem and had uncontrollable social anxiety. I just felt uncomfortable in my skin 24/7. I would make decisions based on my weight and what people would think of me. People made negative comments to me about my weight my whole life, and it really affected every aspect of my life and the choices I made.

In addition, I really had no energy or desire to do any sort of physical activity and knew that something had to change. Just walking up the stairs would get me winded, and I just thought: Enough is enough. My heaviest weight was 265 pounds at the age of 23. I was ready for a better life.

Story continues

I started that day and never gave up. I had said that same thing to myself a million times over and tried to do it in a million different ways, but something just *felt* different this time. They say that you have to truly want something for yourself first before you can put in the work to get it, and I can tell you that this is 100 percent true.

I decided that I would try something similar by tracking calories and cutting carbs. I started by eating 25 grams of net carbs per day and a calorie count that works for me.

I would make a lot of keto recipes, but I did not follow the standard keto diet exactly to the planI did more of a "lazy keto" diet. I've now started to reintroduce carbohydrates back into my diet, aiming for 75 to 100 grams of carbs per day. This works for me because I am still losing weight, but in a way that I will be able to sustain for the rest of my life.

I was too nervous to go into a gym in the beginning, but my friend Sarah had encouraged me to join her gym, and I started to go with her. Eventually I found the courage to go alone.

I started working out three to five times a week in the gym, doing a mixture of cardio and weight training. I still work out three to five times a week but I am able to do so much more. I can run faster and longer, and I even go for runs outside. This is something I never had the confidence to do in the past.

Exercise is also such a great way to see my progress. It's so motivating and it feels amazing to see myself progressing and conquering personal bests.

Change one: I stopped expecting the scale to go down every week. The first few times I saw the scale at a stand still or even spike up, I panicked. But that is all part of the process! Continue on and stay dedicated to your plan, and it will move.

Change two: I started drinking lots of water. Everyone goes on and on about getting your water in, but it has truly made all the difference on my journey. I drink 100 ounces of water a day, and on the days I don't, I really can feel a negative difference.

Change three: I weighed my food with a food scale. I began using a food scale instead of measuring spoons and cups, and it is so much more accurate when youre tracking. It's so easy to over-scoop and go overboard on portions in the beginning while you're learning portion sizes, so it was really helpful for me to weigh my food. I've been on this journey for 1.5 years and I still do it.

Losing the weight was one of the hardest things I have done and definitely one of my biggest accomplishments. Every hard day that got me to this point was worth it, though. The confidence that I have gained is incredible. My weight no longer holds me back from doing fun things with my family and friends.

I wish I could go back to the woman I was before this journey and tell her to love herself more, wear the cute clothes, and not to miss out on fun things just because of her size. It took me losing over 100 pounds to learn that, but that's okay too! Sometimes we need to do these things for ourselves to appreciate who we are inside and out.

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'I've Been On My Weight Loss Journey For 1.5 Years, And Using A Food Scale Still Helps Me A Ton' - Yahoo Lifestyle