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If youre anything like me, youve probably gone through phases in your life where despite a reasonably healthy lifestyle you become frustrated with the diminishing returns on your diet and exercise plan.

For years, I was checking what I thought were all the appropriate boxes. I had eggs and fruit after my morning workout. I toted a packed salad to work. I ate a balanced dinner with my family at a reasonable hour. I regularly worked out, running four or five days per week. And if I noticed the number on the scale starting to creep up, for a day or two I would go cold turkey on all carbs, including fruit and vegetables, to stop the upward trend.

Looking back, however, I wasnt sleeping well. I was hungry (okay, hangry) most of the time. And I was discouraged about the number on the scale continuing to increase despite my best-laid plans. Through my network, I came to know Leslie Ann Quillen, a Durham-based personal trainer, nutrition coach for women and founder of FatLossLifestyleSchool.com.

While most would call her a gym nut, Quillen learned that theres more to changing bodies than pumping iron.

It has been six months since Quillen helped me switch up my workouts and meal plans. And Im happy to say, Im fuller, happier and less stressed. In fact, at my last physical, my cholesterol was down 60 points, my blood pressure at a steady rate, and the scale is at a steady spot Im happy with.

Her approach is to do what you need to do for you. Dont listen to the noise. Ignore trendy diets. Reduce stress, eat well and move your body so you can kill it both at home and at the office.

Stress and the gut

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Quillen believes that chronic stress is whats driving most of the problems that women face. By ignoring stress, it manifests in other ways. So many women come to me saying, Im bloated all the time. I think I might have Irritable Bowel Syndrome or a food allergy, said Quillen. That may be the case, but let's rule out the obvious stuff first, like stress. If you get your stress levels down and you are still dealing with digestive issues or other health concerns, then absolutely see a doctor.

As I learned from Quillen, or LAQ as her fans call her, in a sympathetic state, your autonomic nervous system prepares the body to react to stresses such as threat or injury. It causes muscles to contract and heart rate to increase, and digestion is not a priority if your body thinks its in danger. Instead, blood flow goes to big muscles like your arms and legs so you can run from tigers, your cranky two year old or demanding boss.

Meanwhile, your lunch is just sitting in the gut, not moving and you feel bloated. Slowing down and learning to manage stress is the key to a happy gut, she told me.

Its all about the protein

The No. 1 thing women tend to struggle with most is eating enough protein, said Quillen. They dont want to hear it, but its true. Granola bars and fruit smoothies arent the solution. They are cute packaging marketed to women.

Quillen credited a regimen of simple but tasty high-protein meals with a cup of vegetables at every meal (yes, even breakfast!) to help her clients achieve a fat loss lifestyle.

She added, It's not about going no carb or counting macros or intermittent fasting, it's about finding the right amount and type for you based on your goals. About what works for your body.

But what about counting calories?

If your goal is fat loss, you must be in a slight caloric deficit to lose fat, and it's not as much as most people think, said Quillen. She advised that eating real, whole nutrient-dense foods that you love will help you feel full and not be hungry. I dont count calories or macros and I don't teach my clients to either. We eat real food. We move our bodies. We stay consistent with the big rocks nutrition, movement and stress management and the results come in waves.

No longer hangry

With Quillens help, Ive switched up my diet and roll my eyes at the ladies in my office kitchen talking about their fasting intervals. I usually put a runny egg or two on reheated roasted vegetables from the previous nights dinner for breakfast, a salad with a LOT of protein for lunch, and a flavorful dinner comprised of meat and produce. My favorite late afternoon snack, the one that prevents my 4 p.m. meltdowns at the office and my 5:30 p.m. meltdown at home, is a half a can of tuna mashed with half an avocado and sprinkled with Trader Joes Everything but the Bagel Seasoning. Simple, flavor-forward whole foods to keep me happy, healthy, and wise.

Exercise change up

One of the most important lessons Ive learned from Quillen is that I needed to change up my approach to exercise. Sure, an hour-long slow jog is great for clearing the head occasionally, but all that was doing was revving up my appetite. Instead, she helped me create a workout plan five days per week for about 30 to 40 minutes a session.

No time for an hour-long gym session? No problem. A few days per week I lift heavy weights. The others I run sprints or do run-walk intervals. I dig in to the HIIT (high intensity interval training) videos for free on YouTube and Amazon Prime. And the real secret sauce? Adding a 30 minute leisure walk every single day, whether its a rest or a workout day, to move my body and lower my stress level.

The big takeaway for me was that the root cause of most of my health hiccups, from my expanding waistline to rising cholesterol levels, was stress. And without taming that beast, I would never have the energy I desired to keep up with my busy working mom life. And while well-intentioned, my daily static runs were leaving me starving. And, my four small meals a day were the wrong composition to grow lean muscle. Im down about 10 pounds, my clothes fit better, and I have hanger-free energy to get me through my entire day.

Jennifer Folsom is vice president of client delivery at Washington, D.C.-based management consulting firm RIVA Solutions Inc. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband Ben and three sons, 17-year-old twins Josh and Will, and 12-year-old Anderson. Her practical guide to modern working motherhood, "The Ringmaster," will be out Jan. 7, 2020

Link:
My journey to ditch the fad diets and lower my stress this is what worked - NBC News

Does dieting at different times of the day affect your health? Find out.

As with everything else in life, timing is also important when it comes to having your meals and staying healthy. It is also important to keep in mind that it helps to align our meals with our natural circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is a natural physiological system that coordinates our sleep-wake cycle and balances all the hormones and metabolic processes related to it. If you plan your meals according to your bodys natural activities, it will help you function better and improve your health by leaps and bounds.

When we say breakfast, we mean having a heavy breakfast that constitutes of all food groups. Weight loss becomes easier if you eat a big breakfast as you stay full for long hours and dont feel tempted by unhealthy snacking.

Eating a big breakfast early in the morning may also improve your triglyceride levels, cholesterol levels and insulin levels throughout the day. If you continue this practice for a long time, this will result in a significantly lower risk of health problems. You are also less likely to fall prey to chronic illnesses such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome and heart disease.

When preparing your dinner, go for the lightest dishes in your recipe book. Eat frugally and eat early at night. You need to give your body a few hours of time for digesting the last meal you have before going to bed.

Eating late and going to bed right away means your system is busy digesting late at night which also disrupts the body processes that happen as we sleep. This may lead to hormone disturbances, midnight snacking and weight gain. Eating light and early in the night can keep you away from such health disorders.

Big breakfast eaters are more likely to lose weight than those who eat big dinners late at night. Morning dieters also have balanced triglyceride levels, cholesterol levels and blood sugar levels throughout the day.

Our bodies tend to function better when we eat a big breakfast and helps us maintain body weight, hormone regulation and other metabolic activities!

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Morning Vs Night Diet: The BEST way to plan your meals to stay healthy - PINKVILLA

Food is nourishment, culture, pleasure, tradition, sociability, and identity. Food plays a vital role in peoples well-being, health, and longevityand has a powerful preventive function. Food accompanies us throughout our lives and is an element that defines us in both the private and social dimensions.

The impact of food on the environment is increasingly at the center of the international debate: producing food requires land and natural resources such as water and nutrients, and contributes to the release of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere.

Overall, global food production and consumption system contributes 21 percent to 37 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and has now become a fundamental focus of action aimed at mitigating global warming.

In many countries of the world, excessive amounts of processed and unhealthy foods are consumedwe consume large quantities of meat (especially red meat), refined sugars, fats, and salt. In recent decades there has been a decline in adherence to healthy diets, such as the Mediterranean diet, and overweight and obesity have become the main risk factors for developing diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impacts that contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable, nutritionally adequate, safe, and healthy, while optimizing natural and human resources.

In line with this definition, a number of actions can be taken to make the global diet more sustainable, to benefit human health and the environment.

Preference should be given to plant-based foods such as whole grains, legumes, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. The daily diet should include at least 400 grams of fruit and vegetables, while meat and dairy products should be consumed in moderation. The right amount of protein, iron, and calcium can be consumed by consuming plant-based foods such as legumes and nuts. In addition to benefiting human health, plant-based foods have, on average, a significantly lower environmental impact than animal source foods, according to Clark et al., among others.

By choosing local and seasonal food, eaters can maximize the nutrient content of foodvitamins, mineral salts, and phytochemical compoundshelping promote better health, while also helping to preserve agrobiodiversity, and supporting local economies.

The increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods in diets has been identified as one of the causes of unhealthy diets and overweight as well as increasing GHG emissions. A diet that respects the planet prevents food waste, which currently accounts for about 20 percent of food produced in the European Union, with a cost of EU143 billion. In Italy, about 65 kilograms of food per person per year is wasted, mainly in the areas in the home and at restaurants.

Drinking tap water can also help the environment. Bottling 1.5 liters of water surprisingly requires 1.9 of water for bottling, packaging, and transport, says Nicolucci et al. In many EU countries, the amount of plastic that gets recycled is still less than 50 percent of total production. Moreover, reducing disposables, recycling and reusing materials, and choosing foods with less packagingfood packaging accounts for 25 percent of plastic materials that end up in the environmentall contribute to environmental sustainability.

When making more conscious eating choices becomes a collective commitment, it has the power to preserve and protect the planets resources. On October 10th, 14 global cities in the C40 network signed the Good Food Cities Declaration. The C40 mayors are committed to promoting healthy and sustainable diets, cutting food waste in half, and implementing green procurement policies, to protect the health of their 64 million citizens while respecting their cultures and traditions.

Continue reading here:
Opinion | Sustainable Diets for the Future - Food Tank

It was a landmark report, meant to recast the way we think about humankinds approach to foodaddressing global nutrition deficits and the agricultural impacts of climate change alike.

But when the 49-page, Harvard University-backed EAT-Lancet report and its planetary health diet was finally released to the public, it landed with a thud.

To address the challenges of food security, nutrition, and sustainability, the reports authorsprominent researchers from institutions across the globecalled for big changes. Britons were urged to cut their beef intake to one burger every two weeks. Much of the western hemisphere was urged to rely more on plant-based foods.

There were criticisms: The report omitted the role food technology companies might have in building a sustainable future. And scientists have questioned whether, if followed, the dietary guidelines would actually make food unaffordable for more than 1 billion people.

Amidst all the discussion, though, one subset of people was especially vocal: meat eaters.

According to an analysis by researchers at Stockholm University and published in The Lancet, a group of meat-eating proponents started the hashtag #yes2meat up to a week before the report was published on January 17, 2019. Many of those responses were critical of the report, and some of them were defamatory, according to the researchers. (The group includes Victor Galaz, deputy director at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, which is a scientific partner of the EAT Foundationthough the researchers state they were not funded by EAT.) Some of the negative posts accused the EAT-Lancet report of being part of a larger vegan agenda. Others went straight for the reports lead author, Harvard professor Walter Willett, accusing him of having conflicts of interest.

By analyzing Twitter data encompassing 4,278 users and 8.5 million tweets, the researchers dissected how the movement built steam and shaped discussion of the report. By actively promoting #yes2meat right before, during, and after the EAT-Lancet Commission launch, this counter movement was approximately ten times more likely to be negative about the Commission than positive or neutral, the researchers wrote.

Most of the interactions were by actual skeptical humans, as opposed to bots, according to the analysis. Among the critics were proponents of the fat-heavy keto diet and the Nutrition Coalition, a group affiliated with Nina Teicholz, an author who has criticized nutrition movements that suggest eating less meat.

That kind of infighting isnt new, and it isnt over either. In September, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggested the health benefits of cutting out meat were minimal, sparking afierce rebuke from Willetts colleagues at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Those findings, too, have been accused of falling prey to the influence of corporate funding.

This new analysis shows that social media can have a significant effect on public perception of these scientific spats. Ostensibly, there were three groups of people chattering online about the report: those promoting it, those skeptical of it, and a third, ambivalent group that was found to have grown more skeptical over time as more and more interactions about the report were negative. Of the tweets mentioning EAT-Lancet, the researchers found 29% were positive, 32% were negative, and 38% were neutral. The combined audience was about 60 million people.

The finding raises important questions about how to communicate scientific findings in a world increasingly connected by social media. Given the difficulty in designing definitive nutrition studies and tabulating lifetime environmental impacts, the debate over the medical and environmental health of meat consumption is far from over.

More:
How social media scrambled the rollout of the EAT-Lancet report - Quartz

Thanksgiving dinner (Flickr)

Thanksgiving means time with family and friends.

Well, its also perhaps a time to break a diet and theres plenty of opportunities for that.

Its a day of celebration, something you do once a year with loved ones, said Allie Mitchell, clinical director and certified health coach with The Nutrition and Wellness Center in Williamsburg. Never let food hold you back from being completely present with friends and family.

Each year, tables are set with turkeys, stuffing and pies but that doesnt have to terrify those trying to stick to a healthy meal plan.

Sentara Healthcare suggests heading into the holiday with a mind toward respecting the body while still including plenty of seasonal produce. The autumn season is one that provides various opportunities for nourishing meals with winter squashes, vegetables and apples that contain different disease-fighting ingredients:

With winter squashes, a number of Thanksgiving items can be made. While the classic pumpkin pie is always a good choice, Sentara recommends adding a variety of winter squash, such as butternut squash and acorn squash, to homemade soup with broth and aromatic spices such as garlic and ginger.

Vegetables are also a good way to fit in a healthy meal. In the winter, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts can be enhanced with a drizzle of maple syrup and balsamic vinegar.

Apples of all varieties can also enhance any bowl of oatmeal by adding the fruit and a little cinnamon. Chopped apples can also add a different texture to favorite fall salads. In addition, there are a variety of pies that shine when baked with apples.

Sentara recommends shopping at local farmers markets for holiday produce, because it provides shoppers with the opportunity to learn more about fresh foods and preparing their produce.

But not everyone can control what food is being served at the Thanksgiving table and temptations are tricky.

If you eat something more than you should, forgive yourself and move on, Mitchell said. You have a brand new day on Friday and you wont lose any of your progress.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends coming to the table ready with a plan.

First, those wanting to stick to a diet should avoid skipping meals or varying from typical eating times because then it will be easier to overeat come Thanksgiving dinner.

In addition, if the dinner is hosted by someone else, a good idea might be to bring a healthy dish for the table. For those who have a sweet tooth, the CDC recommends eating less carbs with other food, like potatoes and bread, so the dessert can be fully enjoyed without guilt.

The Thanksgiving dinner table can be spread as an all-you-can-eat buffet in some homes. When thats the case, diners will want to have a small plate of foods they like best to practice portion control. Starting with vegetables and eating slowly can help to take the edge off an appetite.

Mitchell recommends always having the healthy snacks in an easily reachable location and putting the less-healthy options a bit farther away.

Keep the finger foods light and healthy for those to reach and then youll have to make more of an effort to get to the foods you like, she said. Its easier to pick up a healthy snack when its right in front of you.

When planning your plate of small foods, the CDC said to pick the selections that bring the most joy. Its okay to enjoy a treat, especially when its special to the holiday.

The CDC also suggests people find ways to stay active during the holiday. Being active is a good way to make up for any extra eating as well as reduce stress. This can be done in simple ways, such as taking a family walk after dinner.

While the Thanksgiving Day spread might seem like treacherous territory for anyone on a diet, there are easy ways to eat healthy through the holiday.

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Here's how you can stick to a diet when faced with Thanksgiving dinner - Southside Daily

If youve been told by your doctor to decrease your intake of red meat and shift to a more plant-based diet, youre not alone.

At any age, but especially as we get older, eating more fruits and vegetables lowers the risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, says Dr. William Li, a physician, researcher and author ofEat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself.

Catering to the popularity of this diet shift, one of the biggest food trends of 2019 has been the rise of plant-based meats. These contain no animal products and are instead produced with plant-based ingredients such as soy, providing similar protein content to real meat.

Two leading makers of these products,Impossible FoodsandBeyond Meat, have taken the food world by storm, winning over meat lovers with burgers and other products that have a taste and texture surprisingly similar to real beef.

You can now buy Impossible and Beyond meat-substitute products in many grocery stores and restaurants across the U.S. For example, Burger King now has an Impossible Whopper and Subway has a Beyond Meat meatball sandwich.

If you really love the taste of a burger, the new trend of plant-based meats may help you satisfy your cravings while sticking with a plant-based plan, says Li.

But while these products do have some nutritional merits, there is debate over how healthy they truly are, and if they could potentially cause more harm than good. Before you swap in plant-based patties for your beef burgers, heres what to know:

While you may think youd be eating virtuously by choosing one of these alternatives to meat, biting into an Impossible or Beyond burger is a far cry from eating a plate full of greens.

The marketing teams behind these plant-based meats make the food sound enticing. But in reality, these products are highly engineered plant protein sources made from soy or pea protein isolate, says Maura Rodgers, a registered dietitian with her own practice in San Francisco. Theyre not made out of vegetables; theyre made from processed soy, she adds.

Also, marketing for these products often implies they are healthy choices, but that depends on how you define healthy. Some brands use nonorganic ingredients that may have been exposed to chemicals or that may be genetically modified (for example, more than90% of soy in the U.S. is genetically modified, according to the Agriculture Department).

If you look at the ingredient list for a Dr. Praegers veggie burger or other popular brands like Boca and Morningstar, which have been around for decades, youll see fresh plants: carrots, onions, string beans, zucchini and broccoli.

Plant-based meats such as the products made by Impossible Foods, however, are different. Theyre doing serious food science and drastically changing the [whole food ingredients], Rodgers says.

For example, while the process may have started with soy, in the final product, its been converted into a soy protein concentrate made by removing the soluble carbohydrates from soy flakes.

In my opinion, this style of eating soy is so young, and we dont have a lot of studies to assure us that these textured vegetable proteins and soy protein isolates are not creating adverse long- or short-term detriments, Rodgers says.

Its worth noting these new plant-based meats dont come cheap, either, says Li. At about $9 per pound, theyre about 50% more expensive than traditional veggie burgers.

Its important for older adults to consume enough protein tohelp prevent muscle lossandmaintain metabolism, says Samantha Presicci, lead registered dietitian at Snap Kitchen, a service that delivers ready-made meals in several U.S. cities.

At first glance, Impossible and Beyond products seem like smart choices for this reason, boasting 19 and 20 grams of protein per serving, respectively. The issue, however, is that plant-based proteins, such as the ones found in some plant-based meats, are not complete proteins, except for soy (a complete protein means it contains all essential amino acids).

Real meat offers highly bioavailable protein, which means that the protein and micronutrients in meat are more easily absorbed by our bodies compared with plant foods, says Presicci.

Instead of plant-based meats, I would recommend consuming more highly bioavailable protein, especially for adults over 55, in the form of responsibly raised meats and seafood, she adds.

Related: Why some restaurants are turning up their noses at Beyond Meat

If you are vegetarian or vegan, you can include complete proteins in your diet byeating a variety of plant foods, like legumes, lentils, nuts and whole grains, daily, said Rachel Stockle, a licensed dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic, in an article on the clinics website.

Its also worth noting that the Impossible Burger contains 8 grams of saturated fat per 4-ounce serving due to the addition of coconut oil and sunflower oil, which help make beef patties sizzle when grilled. Beyond Meat has six grams of saturated fat per serving, containing refined coconut oil and expeller-pressed canola oil.

In general, we know that too much saturated fat found primarily in animal sources is harmful to our health, associated with heart attacks and inflammation in the body, says Rodgers.

Theres still a debate in the medical community over whether coconut oil, the non-animal source outlier, provides more value than detriment. Rodgers says aging adults especially should proceed with caution when consuming products with coconut oil.

As you get older, you are at a higher risk for chronic disease, she explains, so while it may be time to re-evaluate how much meat youre consuming and transition to a more plant-based diet, simply swapping your beef burger for a plant-based one isnt necessarily the answer.

Most plant-based meats provide roughly the same amount of calories as regular meat, and a lot more sodium.

For older adults trying to limit their sodium intake to reduce risk of high blood pressure and heart disease plant-based meats may not be a better option, says Megan Wong, a registered dietitian who works with AlgaeCal, a calcium supplement company in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Also read: The No. 1 reason to become a vegan its not about your health

The Impossible Burger, for example, contains 370 milligrams of sodium per 4-ounce patty. However, theres a silver lining; it also contains 610 milligrams of potassium (thats about 200 milligrams more than a banana), which helps your body get rid of excess sodium, Wong says.

Plant-based meats can also provide more iron than the average beef patty, Wong says. This can be helpful for older adults who dont consume enough iron and are at risk of, or have been diagnosed with, iron-deficiency anemia, she says.

A deficiency in the B vitamins B12 and folate can lead to anemia, which becomes more common as we age and the Impossible Burger is high in both. Additionally, the Beyond Meat burger is a good source of calcium, providing 80 milligrams per serving (about as much as one serving of almonds), which can help older adults reach therecommended amount of calcium 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams per day after age 50.

Looking beyond the health element, plant-based meats are becoming more popular for their reduced impact on the environment.

For example, a 2018 study commissioned by Beyond Meat with the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan found that a plant-based burger generates90% less greenhouse gas emissions, requires 46% less energy to produce and has 93% less impact on land use than a traditional U.S. beef burger.

Plant-based meats are not only for the vegetarians and vegans of the world. In an unofficial taste test of side-by-side sliders one beef and one plant-based this writer can say it is hard to distinguish the difference.

Even reviewers at Food & Wine magazine described the Impossible Burger asalmost identical to beef.

Thats exactly what the companies producing these products are going for, replicating the same meaty texture and juiciness of ground beef without the actual meat. The Impossible Burger has even been genetically engineered with hemoglobin, a plant version of the protein that makes blood red, to look like it bleeds when you cook it, Li says.

While plant-based meats can help older adults reach their daily recommendations for protein, iron, B vitamins and calcium, theyre still highly processed. In principle, Li says he thinks theyre superior to red meat, but that its still too early to know for sure about the health effects of plant-based burgers.

If you want to try incorporating plant-based meats like the Impossible or Beyond burgers into your diet, first make sure your diet is mostly made up ofwhole foodsrather than ultra-processed foods, Li says.

Then, consider if plant-based burgers fit your budget, if youre allergic to soy or other plant proteins and if you enjoy the taste, he says. If all systems are a go, then by all means, dive in and enjoy one but only in moderation.

See more here:
What nutrition experts are saying about imitation meats in your diet - MarketWatch

Personalised nutrition startup Atlas Biomed claims to be the only company in the world offering both DNA and microbiome testing kits for a holistic picture of health and now it is launching a phone app allowing people to discover what foods will best improve their gut health with the simple snap of the camera.

Sergey Musienko, bioinformatician andfounder of the UK-based firm launched in 2014, says the app differs from all other diet apps on the market as it will allow customers to genuinely learn how to modulate their microbiomes through their diet choices by teaching them about diet variety and fibre intake.

He tells NutraIngredients: Itallows the customer to take a photo of their meal and the special algorithm allows us to identify the specific ingredients in the meal and based on their latest microbiome test results the app provides a scoring system for each ingredient, showing how beneficial they are to the users microbiome composition.

The whole idea behind this is to help people gamify the process and better understand what ingredients can be harmful or beneficial to their gut bacteria.

The entrepreneur points out that research has shown that the majority of the population in Europe and the US are not eating enough fibre - a nutrient essential for a healthy microbial diversity.

He points out that therecommended daily intake is 30 grams but according to the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, UK adults are only eating around 18 grams per day.

He says people should ideally be eating at least 30 different sources of fibre each week in order to keep their microbial diversity up and the app helps people achieve this.

Believe me, its harder than you would imagine to reach this number. I think when I first checked I was getting maybe 20 on a good week.

There are a lot of apps out there that help people track their calories or their macros but this is the first to concentrate of fibre as well as some vitamins, polyphenols and sugar which also have an impact on microbiome composition.

This will help people to discover the best fibre sources for them and it will help people to diversify their diets. We really want to help people to live healthy lives for longer and as soon as you have a basic understanding its quite easy to stay on track its like learning to ride a bike!

Musienko graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology before going on to join theSilicon Valley think tank, at Singularity UniversityCaliforniain 2011,where they train entrepreneurial minds on how to apply technology into projects that can improve the lives of people around the world.

There I had a chance to meet lots of visionaries and entrepreneurs around health technology."Musienko explains, "I spoke to lots of researchers and shared ideas with them and discussed whats the future of preventative medicine. Thats when I had the idea which would lay the foundation for Atlas Biomed taking a personalised proactive approach to health care by predicting conditions and doing everything we can to prevent them.

Back then, in 2011, companies were offering affordable genomics tests but these tests were in their really early days and there was a lot of criticism that they couldnt tell you in a precise way whats likely to happen to the persons health. Of course with all these common but complex issues, like chrones disease, diabetes, obesity, lifestyle has a huge impact as well as genes.

I realised if we want to personalise healthcare or nutrition in an accurate manner it has to be a combination of different factors and thats how we came up with the concept of multiple tests a saliva test for genes and a stool sample test for the microbiome which covers changes in diet and lifestyle.

The company launched its DNA and microbiome tests commercially in Europe in 2017 and since then it has quickly expanded with sales in 17 countries across Europe as well as Canada with hopes to establish itself in the US soon.

See the original post:
Startup 'gamifies' gut health with diet app aimed at long-term change - NutraIngredients.com

After reading recent articles, I am wondering about whether vegans can get enough vitamin B12 and enough choline, and if there are other elements that are problematic for them. I have an adult child who has become vegan after years of being vegetarian. He does not cook much and eats a lot of prepared foods, which is not the best anyway, but now I wonder about these issues. I hope you can offer some advice. Thank you, Carolynn.

Dear Carolynn,

By definition, vegan diets exclude all animal foods, including eggs and dairy products. Honey (because it comes from bees) is also a no-no to some vegans.

The latest position paper on this topic by the US Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics assures us that A well-planned vegetarian diet containing vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, legumes, nuts and seeds can provide adequate nutrition.

The key phrase here is well-planned. Whether or not your adult child is getting the most benefit from becoming vegan depends like it does for all eating styles on the nutrient balance in the foods he chooses to eat.

Vitamin B12 has always been a concern in vegan diets as this vital nutrient is not found in plant foods.

And vital means essential; a deficiency of vitamin B12 can cause fatigue, tingling in the fingers or toes, poor digestion and mental symptoms that mimic dementia.

Studies have shown that fermented foods (such as tempeh), nori, spirulina, chlorella algae and unfortified nutritional yeast cannot be relied upon as adequate or practical sources of vitamin B12.

Nutrition experts therefore recommend that, in addition to a supplement that contains vitamin B12, vegans should consume foods fortified with this vitamin at least twice a day. (Many breakfast cereals and other grain-based foods are fortified with B12; check the label.)

Choline is an essential nutrient that helps preserve the structure of all our bodys cells.

In addition, choline helps form neurotransmitters that keep our memory, mood, muscle control and other important functions up to par.

Animal-based foods are the best sources of choline, but this nutrient is also found in plant foods such as cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and wholegrains.

An added bonus: our bodies can manufacture some choline in the liver.

Surprising to some, protein needs can usually be met in vegan diets with the regular consumption of legumes and soy-based foods.

An exception is the fruitarian vegan diet, which is limited to fruits, and possibly some nuts and seeds. These diets typically supply inadequate amounts of protein.

So there you have it.

Since vegan diets restrict readily-available sources of some key nutrients, your son needs to understand how to plan his meals so as to avoid any nutritional deficiencies.

A registered dietician nutritionist can help. The Monterey County Herald/Tribune News Service

Barbara Quinn is a registered dietician nutritionist and certified diabetes educator in the United States.

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Going on a vegan diet? Plan it properly to avoid nutritional deficiencies - The Star Online

Eating healthy is hard. Choosing a diet to follow can feel like starring on The Bachelorette. Keto or intermittent fasting? Atkins or the blood type diet? Which one is your perfect match?

And for those that take on the challenge of eating not only a healthy diet, but also a sustainable one, the choice becomes even more difficult. Just one YouTube video or two showing the way livestock animals are treated can be enough to make you feel like food is inescapably cruel and we should all become breathatarians, surviving on the air we breathe alone (please dont try that).

But do not fear: Science may have found the answer to your prayers. Turns out just a single change to your diet addresses all of your environmental, ethical, and health concerns, according to a new study. Its a win-win-win situation.

To bag this triple win, diets have to change in one key way: strongly reducing consumption of meat and other animal products, the study found. But before you go all in and renounce cow products for good, for example, its not so simple as just ditching beef. The benefits of cutting meat, eggs, fish and dairy out vary depending on what kinds of foods you reduce, and how much.

The findings were published this week in One Earth.

Laura Scherer, assistant professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands and lead author on the study tells Inverse that eating less meat doesnt necessarily mean youre helping animals lead better lives. For example, eating less beef but more eggs may benefit the environment especially when it comes to climate change but it isnt so great for animal welfare.

Only by cutting down on animal products as a whole can people meet all three goals at once, the study suggests. But how, exactly, one does this isnt always clear. Not all national dietary guidelines include suggestions on how to do this, and best practices can vary depending on where you live. The new results could offer a roadmap, Scherer says.

The study gives a broad picture of the impacts of diets and can guide decision-makers in revising dietary guidelines, she says.

Among the countries getting it right is Brazil, which already has dietary guidelines that benefit human health, animal welfare, and the environment, the study found.

But other countries miss the mark. And at least one misses all of them: Oddly, South Koreans would negatively affect their health, the environment, and animal welfare if they would follow their national dietary guidelines, Scherer says.

One of the most difficult things to pin down when trying to eat sustainably is how food choices affect animal welfare but increasing numbers of people want to know, Scherer says.

Since there can be trade-offs between animal welfare and other aspects of sustainability, such as the nutritional value and the environment, we analyzed them together, she says.

Two other considerations when it comes to animal welfare and the climate are land and water use. Take almonds. A 2019 study conducted in Australia found the delicious nuts were among the most water-intensive foods in peoples diets.

Thats not exactly news (remember Chidis almond milk guilt in The Good Place?). But more surprising is the high water footprint of wine, potato chips, cake, and cookies you know, health foods.

Cutting back on these discretionary foods, which many countries national dietary guidelines recommend eating sparingly for health reasons, is also a good way to eat more sustainably, those researchers suggest.

This new study jibes with that suggestion: It offers ways to improve diets all-around not only for us, but also for the animals and environment we rely on for food, healthy and not.

The next step is to get people to make changes countries also need to update their guidelines. But that could be tough. Hesitation to change what they already do can often hold people back from making the right choices, Scherer says.

People are generally resistant to change their diets because it requires breaking long-standing habits, and that is not always easy, she says.

Convenience is a factor, too limited access to plant-based options can make changing long-held habits even harder.

A third factor is education and thats where the study comes in. Sometimes, people also mistakenly believe that we need animal products in our diets to stay healthy and get sufficient proteins, Scherer says. But a vegan diet can be healthier and better for the environment and animals, she says. In this, force of habit can play a more positive role.

To overcome such barriers, it may help to educate people about nutrition and to offer much more plant-based meals in canteens to familiarize people with new food, she says.

Abstract:

Sustainable food systems are essential for meeting nutritional requirements, limiting environmental impacts, and reducing animal welfare loss. Although current dietary trends in many regions rather go in the opposite direction, the adequacy of dietary guidelines is unknown, and the three sustainability dimensions are generally not assessed simultaneously. Here, we assessed nation-specific recommended diets for these impacts compared with the average diet. We assessed the trade-offs between nutritional quality, environmental sustainability (carbon, land, and water footprints), and animal welfare. Most countries reduce their animal product consumption in terms of food calories when switching to the nationally recommended diet. Recommended diets have the potential for win-win-wins in all three categories when compared with the current average diet, such as that shown in Brazil. However, South Korea loses in all three regards, and many other countries face trade-offs. This highlights the scope for the optimization of dietary guidelines to minimize such trade-offs.

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Making just one change to your diet benefits you, animals, and the planet - Inverse

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For breast cancer awareness month, Anna Jones prepared salmon and asparagus foil packets and red cabbage and apple slaw.(Photo: Tori Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

I have been teaching from a non-diet, weight-inclusive point of view for a long time but discovered through learning more about intuitive eating that I'm not the only health care practitioner who teaches this way.

Not only are there many dietitians and therapists who are trained and certified to teach from this same perspective, it is also strongly supported by scientific research.

Intuitive eating has been around for years. If the term is new to you, intuitive eating was created by two dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995, so it's not actually a new concept, but one that has sort of caught on lately.

The authors define intuitive eating as "an approach that teaches you how to create a healthy relationship with your food, mind, and body where you ultimately become the expert of your own body."

It is a weight-neutral, evidence-based model (meaning there is scientific evidence, not just opinion, to support it) with a validated assessment scale. There are around 100 studies supporting its efficacy to date. It is a non-diet approach that emphasizes internal cues and listening and paying attention to our bodies over external diet rules.

The non-diet part of intuitive eating refers to taking the focus offthe scale and other rules and restrictions and putting it on health promoting behaviors, improving body image, and finding peace and enjoyment with food.

It is a process or framework that teaches a different approach to eating and our bodies than the typical weight-centered approach that many of us turn to over and over without success.

In the diet culture,eating is viewed as a moral statement with many labels on foods such as "good" and "bad." Certain foods choices and ways of eating are demonized while others are praised and deemed right and acceptable. Thinness is viewed as the only acceptable body type regardless of genetics and weight loss is promoted at all cost.

In contrast, with intuitive eating and weight-inclusivity the focus is shifted to honoring health, not just our physical health, but also our emotional and mental health. Food and our choices are not viewed from an ethical, right or wrong, perspective, but instead are based on choice, preference, and enjoyment.

With this shift choices are guided by internal awareness, non-diet nutrition knowledge, and movement for wellness, not based on counting calories or points, diet rules and restrictions, and guilt. All body types are viewed as not only acceptable but respected and treated with compassion and care.

We are all born intuitive eaters. As babies and kids, we have the innate ability to listen to our bodys cues and eat what our bodies need. When a baby is hungry, they will let you know and when they are full they have the instinctual ability to stop eating.

Over time though many factors such as family upbringing, genetics, environment, and exposure to diet culture beliefs and rules can confuse or disrupt our ability to trust ourselves.

We get so discombobulated that we get to a point where we dont think we can function without someone else telling us what, when, and how often to eat.

In todays diet focused world many of us areused to turning to the next book or new plan or fad diet to find health, but with intuitive eating you are the expert of your health and your body, as you should be.

Of course, there is room for learning and gaining new information and ways to care for yourself in regard to nutrition, movement, stress reduction and sleep.

The beauty of intuitive eating is that there is no pass or fail or good or bad. Those ideas and notions only make eating and food stressful and set us up to feel like a failure. How often do you start a diet, eat the wrong thing, feel like youve failed and go off the diet?

I was talking with a new client the other day who had this exact experience. She had started Whole30 and stayed with it for two weeks and then had a wedding to go to and didnt want to miss out on all the yummy food so went off her diet and didnt start it back after that weekend.

When I asked her why she didnt restart after the wedding she said with Whole30 once you go off you have to start all over again and she just didnt feel like dealing with it. So, basically your punishment with that plan iswell you screwed up, despite all your hard work, go back to the beginning. So annoying and frustrating.

Ive talked to countless clients and friends who have experienced this same scenario and instead of directing their frustration at the diets and diet industry, they blame themselves. With intuitive eating you learn to let go of the regret, guilt, and shame associated with eating and start to listen to your bodys innate cues for hunger, fullness, satisfaction, and pleasure to better meet your physical and psychological needs.

It really is a whole different way of approaching food and taking care of our bodies and minds. It is a process but is well worth the time and effort.

The positive benefits of intuitive eating are seemingly endless. Here is a list of just a few benefits that have been identified in the many studies done on intuitive eating.

Higher HDL (good) cholesterol

Lower triglycerides

Lower rates of emotional eating

Lower rates of disordered eating and eating disorders

Higher self-esteem

Better body image

More satisfaction with life and less preoccupation with diets and your body

A sense of optimism and well-being

Proactive coping skills

Higher likelihood to exercise because it feels good

The intuitive eating assessment is a good place to start to get an idea where you stand on whether or not you are an intuitive eater. You can find a quick assessment on my website AnnaJonesRD.com under the Intuitive Eating tab to see where you stand.

These are some signs though that may indicate that you are NOT an intuitive eater:

You often label foods as good and bad

You get mad at yourself or feel guilty for eating something unhealthy

You follow strict rules that dictate what/when/how much to eat

You eat when you are stressed, bored, lonely, anxious, depressed, or stressed

You often use food to help you soothe negative emotions

You dont trust yourself to know what, when, and how much to eat

You weigh and measure your food

You count calories, carbs, protein, fat, or points

The framework of Intuitive Eating is based on 10 guiding principles. They are not rules, but instead basic principles that you can incorporate at your own pace. Each one builds on the other in helping people change their perspective on eating and build a healthier relationship with food.

Reject the diet mentality

Honor your hunger

Make peace with food

Challenge the food police

Respect your fullness

Discover the satisfaction factor

Honor your feelings without using food

Respect your body

Exercise feel the difference

Honor your health with gentle nutrition

The best resource for learning more about becoming an intuitive eater is the book by Tribole and Resch, "Intuitive Eating." There is also "The Intuitive Eating Workbook" that can be really helpful in personalizing and individualizing the concepts, beliefs and ideas.

I recently added to my credentials and became a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. With this certification I have even more skills and knowledge to help clients have a healthy relationship with food, get off the diet roller coaster, and tune into their body's own wisdom to help guide them.

As a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, I work with clients to process through and unlearn old diet mentality thinking and relearn the freeing and empowering concepts of intuitive eating to ultimately find peace with food and their bodies.

Its one thing to conceptually understand intuitive eating, but it is a process to put it into practice and having an expert guide can be helpful.

I have also become a huge fan of podcasts, specifically ones about intuitive eating. I like to listen to them when I am driving. I share them often with clients too. One client that I recommended podcasts to decided to start with episode 1 of the Body Kindness podcast and listen to all the episodes and has been loving them.

If you are like so many others and are just exhausted from dieting, restriction, deprivation and worrying about your weight, maybe consider what it would be like to stop the madness and try something new.

Food is meant to be savored and enjoyed and our bodies are amazing and deserve respect and love. It is possible to enjoy food and respect our bodies and actually be healthier for it.

Anna Jones(Photo: Anna Jones)

Anna Jones is a registered dietitian. Visit her website atannajonesrd.com.

Podcasts are a great way to hear an introduction to the concept of intuitive eating and see if it resonates with you. A few that I would highly recommend with some specific episodes that I think are fantastic:

RD Real Talk with Heather Caplan

Episode #86: Wait, but what IS Intuitive Eating? with coauthor, Evelyn Tribole

Food Psych with Christy Harrison

Episode #157: The Truth About Weight Science

You Can Eat With Us with Cara Harbstreet

Episode #2: Rachael Hartley & an Intro to Intuitive Eating

Body Kindness with Rebecca Scritchfield

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Intuitive eating takes fresh approach to healthy relationship with food - Tallahassee Democrat

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