If social networks have been of any use in recent years, that has undoubtedly been so that experts in all kinds of fields can deny the hoaxes that have been distributed over time over their respective areas of influence. In this sense, nutritionists have a lot to say. It is not strange that we have agreed, for example, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day when it comes to losing weight or fruit at night makes you fat.

Nutrition specialists ensure that the most important thing of all when it comes to losing weight is that we are clear that there are no magic recipes. The only thing that can or should be done is to try to fall into a caloric deficit: that is, ingest fewer calories than are expended. Like now We are in a period of confinement that is forcing us to stay indoors. It is essential that we compensate in some way for the lack of this physical exercise.

In this sense, nutritionists assure that one of the things that can be done to lose weight is to prepare a dinner based on fruit and vegetables. And if there is a fruit that (despite its elaborate price) is in fashion, that is undoubtedly the avocado. A salad with this fruit can be, in fact, a great idea for a healthy, easy and fast dinner at least three times a week.

The salad is very easy to make. Open the avocado, remove the pip and cut it into pieces (you have to take into account that it is a fruit that rusts very easily so you must be more than quick when it comes to making it). At the same time, chop an onion and open a can of tuna or canned salmon. Put everything in the same bowl, add a little salt (remember that it is not necessary to consume too much) and a little olive oil.

Mix everything and enjoy. If you also combine this dinner with a dessert that is also based on fruit, such as strawberries or a tangerine (there is less and less in the supermarket so it is still difficult for you), you are going to get a more than balanced dinner. The real food movement that fights for the consumption of real food is increasingly common on social networks and tries to avoid the problems associated with poor diet.

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Weight loss tricks: The dinner you should eat three times a week to lose weight effortlessly - Explica

Photo credit: Ashley Tappana

From Women's Health

My name is Ashley Tappana (@ww_ashwantssmallerpants). Im from Salt Lake City, Utah, but I currently live in Fort Worth, Texas. Im 37 and a stay-at-home mom of four children. After steadily gaining weight over 11 years and through four pregnancies, I decided to lose weight for good.

I never really struggled with my weight until I got married. Then, the weight slowly started creeping up on me. Before I knew it, my pants didnt fit. So I bought the next size up...and before I knew it, those didnt fit anymore either. Pretty soon, I was having to shop in the plus-size section.

I hated going shopping with my friends. Most of the stores my friends shopped at didnt carry my size, and Id just stand there awkwardly looking at all the cute clothes surrounding me, knowing theyd never fit. I was the fat friend, and I felt so much embarrassment even suggesting we go browse in a store with clothing in my size.

When my husband and I started having babies, I started gaining even more weight, and before I knew it, I had gained over 120 pounds in 11 years of marriage. My pregnancies became more high risk. I had a doctor mention to me how women of my size had more complications with pregnancies, and theyd have to monitor me more closely, which meant more appointments.

Story continues

I also had issues with my knees and feet hurting all the time, and I had high blood pressure. After having my fourth baby, I weighed well over 300 pounds. And this was when I reached my turning point on October 27, 2016, when I was 33.

However, it wasnt until about a month and a half later that I became determined. I had gone into my favorite clothing store to buy a new pair of jeans, and went into the dressing room to try them on. They were a size 24, the size I had worn before I got pregnant with my fourth child, and I figured they would fit. You can imagine my embarrassment when I couldnt even pull them up. I literally sat down and started crying right there in the dressing room.

As I sat there crying, I realized I was out of every single excuse I had ever made. I no longer wanted to be over 300 pounds. I did not want to be the curvy wife, the chubby mom, and the fat friend anymore. I sat in that dressing room for a long while before I finally dried my tears, bought the size 26 jeans and left the store with a newfound determination I had never felt before.

Id sign up but then not put in the effort. But I was absolutely ready this time. I followed a whole bunch of WW Instagram accounts and felt so inspired by these women who were just like me.

I love the versatility of WW. I love that its not a diet. I love that I havent had to give up anything that I love to lose weight. I love that its a lifestyle thats sustainable and that I can easily do for the rest of my life. I also love the community and the friendships Ive made. It truly is an incredible program that inspires and empowers.

Breakfast: Mostly fruit, like a banana or a bowl of strawberries.

Lunch: Mediterranean bowls with brown rice, grilled chicken, homemade tzatziki sauce, and reduced-fat feta cheese. I also slice up some Mediterranean pickles to add to it. I love to make two-ingredient dough pretzels and cheesy stuffed peppers as well.

Snacks: Popcorn, string cheese, unsweetened applesauce, pickles, celery with a Laughing Cow cheese wedge, pretzels, deviled eggs, and cucumbers.

Dinner: Chickpea pasta with marinara sauce and a vegetable is easy. Stuffed baked potatoes and taco salads or burrito bowls are also some of my favorites.

Dessert: Sugar-free JELLO with whipped cream or sugar-free fudge popsicles.

I first started by going on long walks through my neighborhood. Then I started doing The Fitness Marshall dance workout videos on YouTube at home several days a week. After several months of that, I had a friend introduce me to High Fitness dance workouts, and I fell in love with them. The classes are so much fun!

Ive also discovered a love for running, which is something I never thought Id say. Going from not having the energy to do anything, to having the energy to run three miles without stopping is one of the best feelings in the world.

Change one: I made this a lifestyle change. Choosing to make my health and wellness a priority every single day has completely changed my life. I wake up every morning with a plan and a purpose. I dont always stay on track, but even when I fall off for a couple days or weeks...because Ive made the lifestyle change, its *so* much easier to get right back on track again.

Change two: I made self-care a priority. Whether its taking the time to go for a run, or sitting down to read a book...when I put in the effort to care for myself, it helps me to be more present for my family. When I take care of my physical and emotional needs, Im happier, healthier, and am a much better version of myself for those I love the most.

Change three: I started making goals and celebrating every single victory. Making goals helped keep me accountable, and watching myself crush each goal made me more determined. And even if it was just a pound, I celebrated the loss of that pound.

Since then, Ive lost an additional 15 pounds, making my total almost 140 pounds lost. I had started and stopped my weight-loss journey so many times before, but it wasnt until I realized that I was worth the amount of effort and struggle it was going to take that I really became determined.

Im just your everyday, average wife and mom of four that finally made myself a priority. And by doing that, I ended up giving my family the best gift I could have ever given them, and that gift was a healthier, happier, and more present version of myself. I allowed myself mistakes. I allowed myself to have bad days. But, I did not allow myself to give up.

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'High Fitness Dance Workout Videos Are The Most Fun I've Ever Had ExercisingAnd I've Lost 137 Lbs.' - Yahoo Lifestyle

The new coronavirus has robbed Americans of plenty, from graduations and proms to baseball games and concerts to the most heartbreaking thing of all: the final goodbyes with loved ones who die from COVID-19.

The next possible casualty?

Americans' faith their vote will be counted if they can vote at all.

This year, election officials across the country are bracing for a crush of mail-in ballots from voters who may not be willing to risk in-person voting during a health crisis.

Voting by mail faces two big problems: a U.S. Postal Service that could be severely slashed by November and, if it survives intact, the cost states would incur from an expected huge influx of people mailing their ballots.

Nothing about the runup to the Nov. 3 presidential election has been normal. The boisterous rallies to get voters fired up about their candidates have not happened. Primary elections have been postponed or switched to vote-by-mail contests.

And now the post office is going broke more broke than it was before the pandemic caused a dramatic drop in revenue from first-class and direct-marketing mail.

No one thinks the Postal Service will go away completely.

But limiting delivery to a few days a week or slowing the movement of mail would hamper the ability of states that already vote exclusively by mail Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington and would cripple other states, already financially strapped, where mail-in ballots supplement in-person voting, according to those who favor lending the agency money.

President Donald Trump has warned that he won't allow the Postal Service to receive any loans unless it cranks up prices dramatically, putting its abilities in jeopardy ahead of the election.

"The impact of the loss of the U.S. Postal Service in this fall's election would be devastating for our democracy," Washington state Secretary of State Kim Wyman said this week on a conference call with reporters. "The United States Postal Service is integral in our success as a country, ensuring everyone can vote in arguably the most important election in 100 years."

The Postal Service has faced almost no criticism over the years for its delivery of absentee and vote-by-mail ballots and their return to election offices for counting.

But that could change.

Wyman, a Republican, and Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, a Democrat, are leading a call by the National Association of Secretaries of State for Congress to give the Postal Service a no-strings-attached $10 billion loan to nudge the post office toward solvency and ensure it maintains its full capabilities at least through the November election.

"Do we really want people to have to put their health and safety at risk in order to use what is a constitutional right?" Condos asked.

Election officials want to avoid what happened in April when Wisconsin went ahead with in-person voting in its primary. Lines backed up for hours as voters maintained social distancing. Poll workers were in short supply. Only a fraction of the polling places were open.

At least 52 confirmed coronavirus illness cases are directly linked to the election, according to Wisconsin health officials.

Americans have consistently found the Postal Service the most trusted among 13 agencies, according to Gallup polls.

But politicians are putting their own stamp on the value of the Postal Service.

The most recent stimulus bill authorized a $10 billion loan to the Postal Service, but the Treasury has yet to approve it. And without steep rate increase, Trump told reporters at an April 23 signing ceremony, he won't allow the loan.

"The Postal Service is a joke because they're handing out packages for Amazon and other internet companies, and every time they put out a package, they lose money on it. So Amazon and other internet companies and delivery companies are dropping all of their not all of them, but a big portion of packages into a post office, and the post office is supposed to deliver the packages, and they lose a lot of money."

Companies such as Amazon use the post office's priority flat rate that allows them to ship packages, regardless of weight, to anywhere in the country for $8.30. The rate increase Trump wants would raise the cost to ship those packages to at least $41.50, said American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein, who joined Wyman and Condos on the call.

Analysts say the Amazons of the world actually help the Postal Service's finances. Package delivery is one area in which the Postal Service makes money, and rate hikes would wipe out any financial incentive that internet shipping companies have to send their packages through the U.S. mail and worsen the Postal Service's debt spiral.

Trump is conflating his criticism of the post office and a bailout with his opposition to voting by mail. He said last month on Twitter that "Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting."

"Democrats are clamoring for it," he wrote. "Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn't work out well for Republicans."

Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie took a similar doomsday approach, saying on Twitter that "universal vote by mail would be the end of our republic as we know it." The speaker of the Georgia House, also a Republican, said it would be "extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia." Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said vote-by-mail "raises the potential for voter fraud."

Not all Republicans agree with Trump. And neither do the best studies on voter fraud, which find it to be minuscule.

In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, both Republicans, are vote-by-mail advocates. Rather than postpone the state's primary election, Ohio put expanded mail-in voting to a test Tuesday after approval by the Republican-led legislature.

Ohio is a no-excuse absentee voting state, which means voters don't have to give a reason for wanting to put their ballots in the mail, and it also allows early voting. A statement from LaRose's office said the state's history showed that "Ohioans can be confident that their vote-by-mail ballots are as safe and secure as the votes cast on Election Day."

Provisions for voters to cast mail-in ballots are universal in the United States, but 16 states require a lawful excuse, such as travel or a disability, according to the National Vote at Home Institute. As the coronavirus threatens the safety of elections, five states West Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Delaware and Massachusetts have set those restrictions aside. Four of those states have Republican governors.

Trump and other Republicans' public crusade against vote-by-mail elections may have minimal effect. Six swing states Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin already offer no-excuse absentee voting.

Support for elections by mail is rising amid the pandemic, though deep partisan divides show Trump's public campaign against it may be working. A recent poll by The Associated Press and the NORC-Center for Public Affairs shows the idea is favored by 47 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of Republicans.

Voter fraud is practically nonexistent in the states that conduct elections exclusively by mail and elsewhere, according to a database of national election fraud since 2000.

Constructed as part of a national investigative reporting project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the main finding is this: The nation has had 2,068 cases of alleged election fraud since 2000, which included five presidential elections.

Of those election fraud allegations in the past decade, 491 involved absentee ballot fraud in races where billions of votes were cast. Eighty of those allegations were in the five states voting exclusively by mail, leading the investigators to conclude fraudulent votes are a tiny fraction of 1 percent of all votes cast. A wealth of other studies have debunked the myth of voter fraud.

One of the most prominent recent cases of voter fraud involved a Republican operative in North Carolina in the 2018 midterm election. The state's Board of Elections ordered a new election in the 9th Congressional District after finding compelling evidence the operative had arranged to destroy and alter absentee ballots cast.

Congress has set aside $10 billion to loan to the Postal Service, but it needs approval from the Treasury Department, which won't dole out the money unless conditions are met. Those conditions have some people fuming.

Trump instructed the Treasury not to approve the loan unless the cost of mailing packages is raised dramatically.

That's one issue that could hamper mail-in voting.

The other problem is the cost to states.

Congress allocated $400 million in election aid to the states but let it go through only after Democrats agreed to the 20 percent match at the insistence of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, another fierce vote-by-mail opponent, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a former presidential candidate, told The Washington Post.

Condos and Wyman said the match requirements put the relief out of reach for some states, including those spending every spare dollar on the coronavirus and others that can't accept the money without the approval of state legislatures that aren't in session, they said.

"State revenues are plummeting across the country, and this means some states will not be able to utilize that money," Condos said.

Besides, he said, "I don't see a 20 percent match for the business community, so I'm not sure why all of a sudden we have to have a 20 percent match."

The relief package fell far short of the meeting the $2 billion Democrats estimated would be required to prepare for an onslaught of mail-in ballots, and it also didn't require states to make the option available to all registered voters when elections occur in national emergencies.

U.S. military personnel have voted by mail since the Civil War without the political rancor defining this year's voting debate on Capitol Hill, Condos said, noting that both "blue states and red states rely on the Postal Service as an essential service vital to our democracy."

While Trump sees "tremendous potential for voter fraud" with vote-by-mail elections, Condos and other Democrats see an effort to suppress the vote without it.

"Many disenfranchised Americans have fought tirelessly for, and in some cases are still fighting for, national standards" with uniform vote-by-mail provisions, he said.

Dimondstein, the postal union president, said it's "shameful" to exploit the health crisis to "undermine and destroy the post office," calling it "the most devastating, full-blown attack for voter suppression since the 1965 Civil Rights Act."

And it's chock full of irony, he noted.

Trump himself uses the post office to deliver his ballots.

"He trusted us to do that," Dimondstein said. "We were proud to move the president's ballot, and we look forward to doing that on a nonpartisan basis in the days to come."

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How The Coronavirus Could Deny You The Right To Vote Safely - Patch.com

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, its that people have the capacity to change entrenched behaviors when the stakes are high enough. Who among us declared that 2020 would be the year for us to perfect the practice of physical distancing? Although we were clueless about pandemic practices a mere three months ago, weve adopted this new habit to avoid getting or spreading the virus. But what about other unhealthy behaviors that have the potential to shorten life spans across the US? On January 1, 2020, some of us made New Years resolutions aimed at improving our health: to eat less, lose weight, exercise more, drink less alcohol, stop using tobacco, get more sleep, start meditating regularly, schedule that colonoscopy, and so on. Might there be hope for gaining traction with one or more of these healthy behaviors, too?

Health psychologists and addiction medicine professionals like me use a standard model of behavioral change to understand how people move from a mindset of cluelessness to one of action. Predictably, we pass through the following six stages of change:

The empty streets of New York and many other major US cities bear witness to the fact that with regard to social distancing, large numbers of Americans have moved rapidly from precontemplation to maintenance. Because we have embraced this dramatic change and the mortality curve is being flattened in some parts of the US, the actual death toll from COVID-19 is likely to be a fraction of what it would have been if we had stayed put, mired in precontemplation or contemplation.

But wait a second. Dont lifestyle blights like obesity, hypertension, addiction, and violence exact a far greater human toll from us than COVID-19? And arent these biopsychosocial maladies correlated with low socioeconomic status? And arent COVID-19 fatalities particularly high in disadvantaged people who suffer from one or more chronic illnesses?

A quick look at US death rates and life expectancy on a state-by-state basis suggests, sadly, that the answer to all three questions is yes. The impact of lifestyle health and socioeconomic status on life expectancy is very high: residents of Marin County, California can expect to live a dozen or more years longer than residents of Harlan County, Kentucky!

What enables us to change our social behaviors so rapidly to combat a viral adversary, while, relatively speaking, we are losing the war against lifestyle and socioeconomic enemies like obesity, addiction, and violence? Perhaps this has to do with the fact that when it comes to the latter, the famous words of Walt Kellys Pogo apply: We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Human nature is complex. Compared with seemingly intractable lifestyle afflictions, which may be determined or amplified by socioeconomic factors, a coronavirus represents a more tractable adversary. Its possible that the scientific, medical, and technological expertise of our hyperconnected global brain trust might ably defeat it. But individually as well as collectively, we seem to be less proficient when it comes to taking on and defeating the lifestyle enemies that are us. We stay mired in precontemplation and contemplation until it is too late. Why do so many smokers opt to quit only after a diagnosis of lung cancer? Why is it that some alcoholics do not stop drinking until the onset of jaundice caused by end-stage alcoholic liver disease? How many more shrines shall we erect to the victims of senseless violence directed to the self or others, pledging now to wake up and make a difference?

Just as our society has rallied to take on a wily viral adversary like COVID-19, starting right now it is just as important for us to focus attention on addressing, curing, and better yet preventing lifestyle afflictions like obesity, addiction, and violence. We can start small during this time of sheltering in place, by combating couch-potato tendencies with daily exercise, avoiding the temptation to get buzzed, and keeping the Healthy Eating Plate in mind as we wrestle with the temptation to manage stress by consuming unhealthy comfort food.

Together as individuals, families, communities, and a society we should resolve to take action to promote health. Our successes battling this viral pandemic should inspire us to combat every serious adversary that threatens our well-being, not merely those that pose a sudden, immediate, and frightening threat.

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Looking past the pandemic: Could building on our willingness to change translate to healthier lives? - Harvard Health Blog - Harvard Health

The news is terrible, but Wall Street had its best month in decades.

Stocks fell on Thursday, giving up some of their gains from the day before, after reports that showed millions more Americans applied for weekly unemployment benefits and consumer spending collapsed.

The S&P 500 closed down nearly 1 percent, but it was a small retreat in an otherwise strong month for Wall Street. Even with the decline on Thursday factored in, the S&P 500 had its best month since January 1987, a gain that came even as it became increasingly clear that the coronavirus crisis was pushing the United States into a dire economic downturn.

The nearly 13 percent gain this month means the S&P 500 is now up roughly 30 percent from its March 23 low. Its a rally that has surprised even the most ardent bulls.

Frankly, Im shocked by the speed of the rally, said Julian Emanuel, chief equity and derivatives strategist at the brokerage firm BTIG, who has been expecting a rebound since before the rally began.

The rally, even in the face of crushing economic data, highlights investors confidence that things will return to normal sooner than they thought when stocks were collapsing in late February and early March.

Both the Federal government and the central bank have pumped trillions of dollars into the economy and financial markets, lockdown measures appear to be having some success in reducing rates of infection, and some states are laying out the conditions for reopening.

That does not mean the economy is suddenly going to be back on track.

Markets tend to rebound long before any actual improvement in economic fundamentals is apparent, as investors buy shares based on expectations for what will happen later in the year, rather than the current climate. During the last recession, the stock market bottomed in March 2009. But the unemployment rate didnt begin to drop until October of that year.

Top Wall Street economists expect the second-quarter economic data to look, well, cataclysmic. J.P. Morgan economists, for example, believe the American economy will shrink at a previously unthinkable 40 percent annual rate in the second quarter. The Congressional Budget Office thinks unemployment could hit 16 percent by the third quarter.

Its also important to recognize that the current rally has been relatively narrow, with an outsize part of the gains for the S&P 500 index attributable to a handful of giant technology companies Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook. In April, these companies grew to account for roughly 20 percent of the total value of the S&P.

The rebound in shares of technology companies in part because their businesses are seen as benefiting in various ways from stay-at-home orders has been most evident in the Nasdaq composite, which has nearly erased all of its losses for 2020.

Apple and Amazon report higher sales as consumers turn to tech.

With most of the nation on lockdown, technology companies like Amazon and Apple benefited as consumers found other ways to spend their money.

Apple said on Thursday that its revenue grew by nearly 1 percent in the first three months of the year as the company was able to make up for sales declines in China, which was locked down for much of the quarter because of the coronavirus.

The companys income was bolstered by surging sales of its internet services and the Apple Watch and AirPods.

Apple typically forecasts its sales for the next quarter but declined to do so on Thursday. Analysts expect the current quarter to be much uglier because of virus-related shutdowns around the world.

Apple showed confidence in its financial footing though by announcing another $50 billion in stock buybacks.

The spread of the coronavirus played right into the hands of Amazons core businesses, as consumers shopped more online and companies spent more on cloud computing. Those two pillars of Amazons business drove sales to their highest on record outside of the holiday shopping season, the company said on Thursday.

Amazon reported that it had $75.5 billion in sales in the latest quarter, up 26 percent from a year earlier, surpassing analyst expectations. Profit fell about 29 percent, to $2.5 billion, because it cost more to meet the increased customer demand.

Amazons chief executive, Jeff Bezos, signaled that profit may continue to fall in the near future. The company would typically expect to make around $4 billion in operating profit in the next quarter, but we expect to spend the entirety of that $4 billion, and perhaps a bit more, on Covid-related expenses getting products to customers and keeping employees safe, he said in a statement.

City officials in Worcester, Mass., ordered the closure of a local Walmart store on Wednesday after it was discovered that a number of the workers had tested positive for the virus.

The city said Walmart was complying with the order. The store cannot reopen until all 400 of the workers have been tested and the citys medical director reviews the results.

It is the second Walmart to be closed in less than a week. On Friday, a Walmart store in Aurora, Colo., was ordered closed by local health officials after employees and shoppers complained of a lack of social distancing, crowding and employees not wearing face masks.

One employee of the store, an employees family member and a third-party contractor had died of the virus, according to the Tri-County Health Department in Colorado. Eleven additional confirmed cases were linked to the outbreak at the store.

The store was reopened on Sunday after a deep cleaning. The agency said Walmart had enhanced metering of shoppers into the store and employee screening for illness, using tools supplied by the health department.

Social networks leave up Trumps comments on disinfectants.

Mark Zuckerberg said last month that it would remove posts promoting bleach as a cure for the coronavirus, and Twitter last month announced it would delete virus tweets that could potentially cause harm. But Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have declined to remove statements by President Trump suggesting disinfectants and ultraviolet light as possible treatments.

By Friday, the day after Mr. Trumps comments at a White House briefing, mentions of a disinfectant cure on social media and television broadcasts surged to 1.2 million, up from roughly 400,000 on Thursday, according to Zignal Labs, a media insights company. A New York Times analysis found 768 Facebook groups, 277 Facebook pages, nine Instagram accounts and thousands of tweets pushing UV light therapies that were posted after Mr. Trumps comments and that remained on the sites as of Wednesday.

The social media companies have always tread delicately when it comes to Mr. Trump. Yet their inaction on posts echoing his remarks on UV lights and disinfectants stands out because the companies have said for weeks that they would not permit false information about the coronavirus to proliferate.

Most of the tech companies developed health misinformation policies with the expectation that there would be a competent government and reputable health authority to point to, said Renee DiResta, a technical research manager who studies misinformation at the Stanford Internet Observatory. Given that false information is coming from the White House, the companies have been thrown for a loop, she said.

YouTube said Mr. Trumps comments did not violate its misinformation policy. Twitter said satire and discussions of Mr. Trumps remarks that do not include a call to action, as well as Mr. Trumps comments themselves, did not violate its policies. Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Justice Department is looking to root out fraud in the Trump administrations signature economic rescue program, the Paycheck Protection Program, and has requested access to data from the Small Business Administration and more than a dozen of the largest lenders, the department said Thursday.

The $660 billion program, which provides forgivable loans for small businesses that meet certain requirements, has been riddled with problems from its inception, as the government tried to quickly funnel billions of dollars to small businesses through banks.

The program is supposed to help small businesses with fewer than 500 employees keep workers on the payroll, but big companies, including some publicly traded firms, have received loans. Some, including restaurant chains like Ruths Chris and Shake Shack, agreed to return their loans after a public outcry.

The Treasury Department, which is overseeing terms of the program, has vowed to recoup money from companies and has threatened to hold firms that did not meet the programs criteria criminally liable.

The Justice Department hopes to use data analytics to identify unusual behavior that could possibly indicate fraudulent applications. The effort is modeled after the type of data analytics work that the department already uses to crack down on health care fraud. Prosecutors have long monitored health data, like billing receipts, to root out potential Medicare fraud.

News of the Justice Departments efforts was first reported by Bloomberg News.

The American economy continues to stagger under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic, with another 3.8 million workers filing for unemployment benefits last week.

The figures announced Thursday by the Labor Department bring the number of workers joining the official jobless ranks in the last six weeks to more than 30 million, and underscore just how dire economic conditions remain.

Many state agencies still find themselves overwhelmed by the flood of claims, leaving perhaps millions with dwindling resources to pay the rent or put food on the table.

If anything, according to many economists, the job losses may be far worse than government figures indicate. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that roughly 50 percent more people than counted as filing claims in a recent four-week period may have qualified for benefits but were stymied in applying or did not even try because they found the process too formidable.

The problem is even bigger than the data suggest, said Elise Gould, a senior economist with the institute, a left-leaning research group. Were undercounting the economic pain.

American Airlines takes a $2.2 billion loss, and other earnings reports.

American Airlines reported a loss of $2.2 billion in the first quarter of the year, a damaging but expected blow in an industry rocked by the pandemic. The company ended the quarter with $6.8 billion in cash on hand and planned to increase that to $11 billion by the end of June, a recognition that the downturn will be prolonged.

Never before has our airline, or our industry, faced such a significant challenge, the companys chief executive, Doug Parker, said in a statement.

Here are the other big companies that reported earnings on Thursday:

Twitter said it had an unprofitable quarter for the first time in more than two years, even as more users rushed to the platform. The company lost $8.3 million in the first quarter, breaking a profitability streak that started at the end of 2017. Advertising revenue dropped by 27 percent from March 11 to March 31.

ConocoPhillips said it was cutting production by 35 percent after posting $1.7 billion loss in the first quarter. The company, the largest independent producer of oil and natural gas in the United States, generated $1.6 billion in cash from its operations in the quarter and was in better financial shape than other oil companies.

Comcast saw its biggest jump in broadband subscribers and now has nearly 27 million internet customers. But it also saw one of its biggest declines in video, with more than 388,000 people cutting their TV subscriptions. Advertising, which includes its NBCUniversal division, dropped more than 2 percent, and its theme parks business plummeted 27 percent.

Kraft Heinz, which has struggled in recent years as consumers steered clear of its packaged foods, reported on Thursday that first-quarter sales surged 3.3 percent to $6.2 billion as shoppers stocked up on Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Heinz ketchup and Planters nuts.

The maker of Lysol, Reckitt Benckiser, reported a surge in sales for the first quarter of 2020. Revenue was up 13 percent over the period a year earlier. The company also said it saw strong demand for its Mucinex and Norofen cold and pain relief medicines.

Dunkin Brands, one of the worlds largest fast-food restaurant companies, reported that sales plunged 19 percent at Dunkin Donuts and 23 percent at Baskin-Robbins in the last three weeks of March.

Royal Dutch Shell, Europes largest oil company, said on Thursday that it would cut its dividend for the first time since World War II as the company reported a loss of $24 million for the quarter compared with $6 billion in profit in the period a year earlier.

Macys, one of the biggest department store chains in the United States, announced a plan on Thursday to reopen all of its 775 locations, including Bloomingdales and Bluemercury, in the next six to eight weeks, the latest sign of how eager the nations largest retailers are to return to business.

Boeing said on Thursday that it had raised $25 billion in a bond offering in an effort to inject liquidity into its business. As a result, the aerospace giant said, it would not seek additional funding through capital markets or aid from the federal government.

United Airlines reported a net loss of $1.7 billion in the first quarter and said it had about $9.6 billion in cash on hand to weather the crisis. The airline expects to burn through cash in the second quarter at an average daily rate of $40 to $45 million, on par with its peers.

Tapestry, the company that owns the brands Coach and Kate Spade, said it would open about 40 of its stores in North America on Friday for contactless curbside or storefront pickup.

Reporting was contributed by Sheera Frenkel, Davey Alba, Gregory Schmidt, Michael Corkery, Karen Weise, Jack Nicas, Clifford Krauss, Jack Ewing, Stanley Reed, Kate Conger, Ben Dooley, Nelson D. Schwartz, Alexandra Stevenson, Sapna Maheshwari, David McCabe, Edmund Lee, Mohammed Hadi, Matt Phillips, Ben Casselman, Jason Karaian, Niraj Chokshi, Neal E. Boudette, Steve Lohr and Mike Isaac.

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U.S. Stocks Have Their Best Month Since 1987 - The New York Times

One of the biggest mysteries in physics, dubbed the Hubble tension, might finally get solved by a lost type of dark matter. The Hubble tension refers to an extended contradiction in physics: The Universe is developing, but some measurements offer different results for exactly how fast is happening.

Physicists detail the expansion rate with a number, dubbed the Hubble constant (H0). H0 describes an engine of sorts thats tearing things apart over extended lengths across the Universe. According to Hubbles Law, the farther away an item is from us, the faster is traveling.

And there are two types of calculations for H0. You can examine the galaxies and stars, or measure directly how quickly theyre moving. Or you can explore the cosmic microwave background and afterglow of the Big Bang that covers the whole Universe, and other essential data about its development. Recently, however, a team of physicists succeeded in shedding light on the long mystery of Hubble tension.

A team of physicists is now claiming that the Universe might have evolved a lot between the period after the Big Bang and today. If an early type of dark matter destroyed the existence, that loss would have turned the mass of the Universe, and with less weight, there would result in a less gravity keeping the Universe together. It would have also influenced the velocity at which the Universe evolves. Then, it would lead to the contradiction between the CMB and the direct calculations of the Universes development rate.

A lost dark matters volume would have represented an essential part of the entire mass of the Universe when it existed. It would also lead to a different development range when the CMB evolved right after the Big Bang.

Nowadays, after billions of years, it wouldnt exist. And all the galaxies and stars we can examine would be moving away from us at a velocity determined by the Universes actual mass. Most attempts to solve the Hubble tension include tweaking Lambda-CDM (Cold Dark Matter) in a way. Some scientists suggested there may be issues with the actual measurements of the local Universe.

The recent study doesnt indicate what particles the lost dark matter might contain. Still, it strongly proposes that warm dark matter might have been made of sterile neutrinos some particles that other scientists also think are likely out there. Whatever it is, it could have changed into something more feebly and different interacting when it collapsed. If that something else was divided differently in the Universe or interacted strangely with other particles in the Universe. And then it would modify how the Universe evolved.

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Lost Type of Dark Matter Might Solve The Hubble Tension Mystery - Webby Feed

In recent times, Jaden Smith, who is already at the head of a pretty fortune, a lot of talk of him. And for good reason, people are convinced that he is in a relationship with Tyler, The Creator. But this is not the only reason he has been at the centre of the news. In September 2019, his parents Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have confessed to being concerned for his health. The reason for this ? Its weight loss skyrocketed after becoming a vegetarian. At the time, the mother of the rapper had told on his show The Red Table Talk his fear of seeing his son lose weight fast because of a diet poor in nutrients. But the fans be reassured, the young man is doing better and he proves it.

As you can see above, Jada Pinkett Smith recently shared a video in his story Instagram in which we discover the new, muscular sheet metal of Jaden Smith. Completely transformed, the interpreter of Icon displays with pride the abdominals more drawn than ever. Thats what happens when your son comes home can you hear the mother of the singer say. To which he responds : See mom. You know what it is. A physical transformation unexpected that, in addition to ignite the net, is a pleasure to see ! And for still more info, we suggest you focus on the love life of Jaden Smith.

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Jaden Smith in the best shape since his weight loss alarming, its new silhouette, panic the Canvas - D1SoftballNews.com

During times of crisis such as the COVID-19 outbreak, citizens often rely on first responders to ensure their daily living remains largely unaffected. However, behind the scenes, people serving in high-stress occupations (i.e. soldiers, police officers, nurses, firefighters, etc.) are often plagued with lack of sleep, shift work, poor eating habits and lack of access to nutrient dense foods, psychological stress (i.e. post-traumatic stress disorder), and minimal time for exercise. Over time, chronic exposure to these stressors can result in depression, weight gain, and the eventual development of heart disease. In fact, more firefighters die fromheart disease related eventsthan from actually fighting fires, and bothpolice personnelandmilitary soldiershave recently been documented as being too overweight to adequately perform their jobs. Given the abnormal work cycles of these high-stress occupations, an intervention flexible enough to accommodate the most hectic schedules, could prove to have life-saving implications.

Time-restricted eating is a nutrition intervention which alternates between a period of fasting (12 16 hours) followed by a period of eating (8 12 hours). Unlike other diets, which focus on the caloric content of a meal orwhichfoods you should eat, time-restricted eating focuses exclusively onwhenyou eat by compressing and standardizing the feeding window each day. In turn, people following this type of eating pattern naturally enter a state of caloric deficit.

A common counterpoint from critics is, why not just reduce daily caloric intake? Although people who extend their fasting window are likely to consume fewer calories,the consumptionof ultra-processed foods is likely itself the key driver to weight gain and obesity. These ultra-processed foods can serve astrigger foods, which can lead to overeating and overallpoor adherenceto following a diet pattern simply focused on reducing caloric content. Moreover, ultra-processed foods are generally the foods available to nurses working nightshifts, firefighters returning to their department after a call, police officers patrolling neighborhoods, or military soldiers during field-exercises. Thus, time-restricted eating removes the added stress of what to eat, and serves as a practical intervention conducive to the schedules of many people.

If you are not yet convinced of the practicality of implementing time-restricted eating into your daily routine, reading about the health benefits of time-restricted eating might influence you to give it a try. Time-restricted eating has been shown to lower circulating insulin, blood pressure, body fat and overall body weight, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

Can someone following time-restricted eating still obtain health benefits, regardless of whether or not they lose weight? What about regardless of whether they restrict their caloric content during the eating window? Heres the good news. One recentstudywhich split college-aged males into two time-restricted eating groups showed that simply confining those calories to a specified eating window resulted in improvements to body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol, and anti-inflammatory markers. Further, a separatestudydemonstrated that overweight men following time-restricted eating improved their blood pressure profile and insulin levels regardless of weight loss at the end of the study. Bottom line: change how you eat, and you could prevent the need for blood pressure medications down the road.

So, if you are interested in implementing time-restricted eating, where do you begin? Simple: choose an eating window (8 12 hours) that fits into your daily routine and one that you can consistently maintain day-to-day. Consistency is the key. When the feeding window has closed, maintain your fast until the next feeding window becomes available. For example, if you are following a 16/8 (hours fasting/hours feeding) cycle, and have your first meal at 8:00 a.m., your feeding window would end at 4:00 p.m. You would then fast, having only non-caloric beverages until 8:00 a.m. the next morning.

Two common questions are: Can I drink coffee and tea during my fast, and 2) Does it matter the duration of my fasting window? Regarding the first question, research is not conclusive about caffeine, antioxidants, polyphenols, and other compounds found in these beverages and how it interacts with the fasting phase. Regardless, until evidence is found that these ingredients significantly impact the fasting window, feel free to consume these, making sure to forgo any sweeteners. As for the fasting duration, there does seem to be a dose-response relationship, meaning the further the fasting window is extended, the greater the health benefits obtained on average. With this said, do keep in mind that there is a point of diminishing returnnot to mention the longer the fasting window is extended, the less likely someone will be able to adhere to this type of eating.

Overall, time-restricted eating is a strategy meant to alleviate some of the stresses of everyday life by providing a practical alternative to traditional dieting techniques. Customize the fasting/feeding windows to fit your lifestyle, and in doing so, potentially extend your own life.

Featured Image Credit: Intermittent fasting via Wikimedia Commons

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Intermittent fasting can help people in high-stress jobs - OUPblog

This dudes weight loss journey is amazing

Being overweight has become a stress factor for many because of the societys conditioning to body shame or because of health reasons. It is no news that overweight people grow up listening to humiliating insults, insensitive jokes and absurd nicknames hurled at them. However, when someone takes actions about the bullying, in whatever form they feel safe and comfortable doing, thats laudable. Something similar happened with this student from Lahore.

He was a student of O Level when Hasnain decided to completely change what he saw in the mirror.

They say youre just one decision away from completely changing your life; and, perhaps this befits the situation completely. We reached out to Hasnain and he told us that on October 17, 2017, he ate a lot of food, much more than he wanted to. And, that was his way to bid food goodbye. Weighing 120 kg with 58 height, on October 18, 2017, Hasnain completely made his mind to lose all the extra weight and that there was no going back.

Especially to be noted, just three days after Hasnain started his weight loss journey, he met with an accident and was not allowed to go to the gym. He was, however, unstoppable and used to go for walk for three hours each day.

All the students can completely relate to what a stressful time is around the final O level/Matric examinations. Hasnain, too, was juggling between his O levels last year, his socializing and now his determination to workout. He shared that he was so resolute in losing weight that for the first month in his weight loss journey, he only consumed 300-400 calories per day when an average person should take up to 2000 calories each day. He soon realized that he needs to have a healthy balance.

Hasnain shared that he was so impulsive to lose weight that he went to unhealthy lengths to do that, which shouldnt be the case. After one month of irrational schedule, he finally sat down to make a routine with healthy eating and exercising. Heres what his food chart looked like:

What to avoid: Soft drinks, oil, white rice, fast food.

Hasnain mentioned that every Saturday he would have a cheat meal to balance the nutrition intake. He would workout three hours per day with 1.5 hours for gym, 45 minutes for swimming and 1 hour for walk at night. After six months into his weight loss journey, he included some supplements such as protein shake, multivitamins, fish oil and black coffee in his regime.

In the amidst of finals approaching and growing academic pressure, it only took Hasnain a moment of realization to make a life altering decision. While talking to us, Hasnain shared that he constantly thought that something lacked, as if something was just missing from his personality. Being an obese child, he was always subjected to body-shaming and mocking. He would sometimes engage in a fight with strangers who made fun of his weight, but would be forced to remain silent when people close to him did so. Hasnain shared that no matter how much he denied, he did feel the need to look presentable so he thought to give it a shot. With a mindset that theres no turning back, off he went on his weight loss journey. He also said that once you start seeing the results, you automatically feel the need to be consistent.

Hasnain shared that every Saturday he would have a cheat meal to balance the nutrition intake. After reaching 70 kg, he gained a few kilos to suit his body type. His goal was to maintain 75 kg and to achieve that, he would workout three hours per day with 1.5 hours for gym, 45 minutes for swimming and 1 hour for walk at night. After six months into his weight loss journey, he included some supplements such as protein shake, multivitamins, fish oil and black coffee in his regime.

Hasnain shared with MangoBaaz that the key that kept him going was consistency. He shared that the answer to lose weight and then to keep maintaining is consistency. He also told that due to his busy schedule, he had to cut down on socializing. whenever he had to attend a birthday party, he would already had his healthy meal prepared in car, to avoid any junk eating. This is the consistency level that he had achieved. He did not even compromise his routine during his O level exams and went to gym before taking the exam.

Hasnain Sheikh from Lahore said he knew what he was fighting against his biggest challenge was his habit of smoking. He said his habit was too strong to let go of. Due to excessive smoking, he had no stamina for workout. Hence, he took the tough decision to quit smoking. He made his health his first priority and did not touch a cigarette until he had lost 40 kg. Another great challenge was the hectic routine and last year of O levels. However, nothing could stand in front of his motivation.

Hasnains story is a true inspiration and a hope for everyone out there trying to lose weight. It took him 9 months of hard work to reach where he ultimately did.

They key that Hasnain kept repeating is consistency and not losing your faith on your journey with setbacks that you may face even if you do not see the results right away, hang in there and keep working towards your goal.

Cover image via: Hasnain Sheikh

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How This Lahori Guy's Weight Loss Journey Of 50 Kg In 9 Months Is Inspiring Others To Do The Same - MangoBaaz