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Ever since the 2011 documentary Forks Over Knives put plant-based eating in the spotlight, the popularity of veggie-forward diets has only increased over the years.

According to Nielsen, nearly 40% of Americans are now "actively trying to eat more plant-based foods". While a staggering 94% of Americans are willing to eat more plant-forward meals, states a recent report published by the Earth Day Network and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Today, over 40% of U.S. households are consuming plant-based milk while 14% of households are eating plant-based meats, notes the Good Food Institute (GFI).

However, as plant-based diets become more mainstream, misconceptions that surround veggie-forward eating have also multiplied.

Here, four nutrition experts debunk some of the most prevalent myths about plant-based eating:

Myth 1# Plant-based eating is the same as veganism and vegetarianism. "A vegan diet completely excludes all animal products in the diet and often lifestyle, including dairy, eggs and meat," tells Alexis Joseph, Columbus-based nutritionist and founder of Hummusapien. While "a vegetarian diet includes eggs and dairy but does not include meat, poultry and fish," she explains. Plant-based eating, however, means adopting a diet that prioritizes whole plant foods. "But It doesnt have to mean eliminating any nutrient or food group altogether," notes Jaclyn London, registered dietitian and head of nutrition and wellness at WW (Weight Watchers). "Theres more than one way to adopt a more plant-based style of eating, but the keyword there is 'more'more vegetables, more fruit, more whole-grains plus nuts, seeds, legumes and plant-derived oils," adds the nutritionist.

Myth 2# It's hard to get enough protein on a plant-based diet. "Protein needs are grossly overstated in America, which is fueled largely by the diet industry," says Joseph. "Eating less meat doesn't mean you're going to suffer from protein deficiency," tells the registered dietitian. "Protein is found in all foods. It's impossible not to get enough protein if you're eating a balanced diet," she points out. "Even foods like oats, whole-grain pasta, vegetables and fruit of all types will provide some amount of protein, even if nominal," adds London. To up your protein intake, load up on beans, legumes, peanut butter, soy milk, tofu, tempeh, nuts and seeds to your daily diet, suggests Claire Power, plant-based nutritionist and founder of Healthy French Wife. Power also suggests trying vegan protein powders made of pea, hemp or brown rice protein.

Myth 3# Plant-forward eating is expensive. If your diet predominantly consists of unprocessed plant protein foods like beans, lentils, nuts and seeds then a plant-based diet can actually be cheaper than a typical meat-heavy diet, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, registered dietitian nutritionist and author of Superfood Swap and The Flexitarian Diet. To make your meals more budget-friendly, stock up on seasonal produce and indulge in expensive plant-based foodslike vegan cheeses, yogurts, faux meat and burgersonly occasionally and in small amounts. "It will not only keep the costs down but will also help you focus more on getting nutrients from natural plant-based foods," tells Blatner.

Myth 4# All plant-based foods are healthy. Just because something is plant-based doesn't mean it's automatically healthy. "There are vegan versions of almost everything these days, but vegan isn't synonymous with healthy," says Joseph. "Those foods are fun and I enjoy them too, but they shouldn't make up the bulk of your diet," she tells. The best strategy to eat healthy on a plant-based diet is to focus more on whole foods, tells Blatner. "If something comes in a package, read the ingredient list to see if it contains items that you would use in your own kitchen," suggests the nutritionist. "The more C.R.A.P. (chemicals, refined sugar/flour, artificial additives and preservatives) it contains, the more processed and less healthful food is," she points out. A healthy plant-based diet is one that is both balanced and diverse, says Power. Ideally, it should be high in whole-grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, fruits and veggies and very limited in processed foods," she adds.

Myth 5# Plant-based meals are not very filling. On the contrary, "many people feel less hungry on a whole-food plant-based diet than they do on a typical American diet, which tends to be low in fiber and high in sugar," states SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. A plant-based meal can be very satisfying provided its well-balanced. "Plant proteins are very filling. In fact, they may keep you more full than animal protein because, in addition to the staying power of protein, they also have filling fiber," tells Blatner.

Myth 6# Going plant-based means swearing off meat forever. "A plant-based diet is mostly plants, but theres still room for foods like meat, poultry, eggs, cheese, yogurt and fish," tells Blatner. In fact, "research suggests that following a flexitarian dietincreasing plant-based foods and reducing, but not eliminating, animal foodsyields similar health benefits as a vegetarian diet, like reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes," says Joseph. Meaning, indulging in cheese or some chicken here and there isn't going to make or break your health, assuming you don't have an extreme medical condition that requires giving up a particular food group altogether.

Myth 7# Plant-based diets are very restrictive. "The definition of 'plant-based' is often misinterpreted and in some cases, can be extremely misapplied," says London. Plant-forward diet involves making more of your meals veggie-based and eating more natural plant-based foods in general. "Anything that feels restrictive wont benefit you in the long-run, so if trying a more plant-forward style of eating makes you feel limited, then you may want to reassess your approach," suggests London.

Myth 8# Plant-based diets aren't suitable for children.

Yes, they are, says Power. However, it's important to ensure that the bulk of their diet is made of natural plant-based foods like fruits veggies, whole-grains, seeds and nuts, notes the nutritionist. Also, "parents need to be mindful that their kids get enough calcium, protein, zinc, iodine and iron from food sources as well as supplement their diet with a Vitamin B12 supplement," she adds.

Why plant-forward eating is good for you?

Adopting a diet rich in natural plant-based foods has an array of benefits for your health as well as the environment. "Regularly consuming foods high in plant proteins (like beans, legumes and tofu) versus animal protein can help prevent and reverse a slew of chronic conditions, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease," says Joseph. Additionally, "these nutrients also help support healthy cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels," notes the nutrition expert. Research also suggests that a healthy plant-based diet may help prolong the lives of those living with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Moreover, "plant-based foods are packed with fiber and phytonutrients that support immunity, combat inflammation and feed the healthy bacteria in your gut," says Joseph. And as an added bonus, "plant proteins are far more affordable and far better for the planet than animal proteins," she points out. Eating more whole plant foods reduces your carbon footprint, lowers habitat destruction and saves water. "Twenty servings of vegetables have fewer greenhouse emissions than one serving of meat, with beef and lamb having the highest emissions," tells Joseph.

Plant-forward eating tips for beginners

If you're considering switching to a plant-based diet, try these nutritionist-backed tips to ease into the habit effectively:

Last but not the least, speak with a registered dietitian or nutritionist before starting any new diet. "There is nothing more personalized than health," says Joseph. Anyone with a history of disordered eating should proceed with extreme caution when following a diet, especially one that eliminates or limits intake of particular food groups, she adds.

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The Biggest Plant-Based Eating Myths That Nutritionists Want You To Stop Believing - Forbes

This is a editorial from KETV president and General Manager Ariel Roblin The spread of Covid-19 in meat packing plants have been making headlines all week. Some workers are afraid to go to work, ranchers are concerned they will be forced to euthanize their livestock, and consumers are even hoarding meat in their freezer. Nebraska Governor Ricketts warns of civil unrest if we lose access to meat and says it is an important part of a healthy diet. While the vast majority eat it daily, its not the only way to get protein. We should be willing to adapt, even just temporarily, to adding a few plant or fish-based meals in our diets. Science has long supported the idea that more plant-based food is healthy and strengthens your immune system to fight illnesses. That's something everyone of us needs right now. Plant-based diets also support lower risks of heart disease, certain cancers, type two diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. You can also easily buy plant-based protein on line: Peanut butter, almonds, quinoa, lentils, and protein supplements can be shipped to your door. A careful approach to processing meat can provide a safe environment for workers, and build a stronger food supply chain. That should be enough of an incentive to try something new. I realize an editorial in Omaha Nebraska about the benefits of eating less meat is probably not going to go over very well I get it, but we're talking about risking human life in fear of an outraged community because they won't try another source of protein. We're better than that.

Opinion

Editorial: COVID-19 Protein and Diet

The spread of Covid-19 in meat packing plants have been making headlines all week. Some workers are afraid to go to work, ranchers are concerned they will be forced to euthanize their livestock, and consumers are even hoarding meat in their freezer.

Updated: 10:49 AM CDT May 1, 2020

The spread of Covid-19 in meat packing plants have been making headlines all week. Some workers are afraid to go to work, ranchers are concerned they will be forced to euthanize their livestock, and consumers are even hoarding meat in their freezer.Nebraska Governor Ricketts warns of civil unrest if we lose access to meat and says it is an important part of a healthy diet. While the vast majority eat it daily, its not the only way to get protein. We should be willing to adapt, even just temporarily, to adding a few plant or fish-based meals in our diets.Science has long supported the idea that more plant-based food is healthy and strengthens your immune system to fight illnesses. That's something everyone of us needs right now. Plant-based diets also support lower risks of heart disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. You can also easily buy plant-based protein on line: Peanut butter, almonds, quinoa, lentils, and protein supplements can be shipped to your door.A careful approach to processing meat can provide a safe environment for workers, and build a stronger food supply chain. That should be enough of an incentive to try something new.I realize an editorial in Omaha Nebraska about the benefits of eating less meat is probably not going to go over very well. I get it, but we're talking about risking human life in fear of an outraged community because they won't try another source of protein. We're better than that.

The spread of Covid-19 in meat packing plants have been making headlines all week. Some workers are afraid to go to work, ranchers are concerned they will be forced to euthanize their livestock, and consumers are even hoarding meat in their freezer.

Nebraska Governor Ricketts warns of civil unrest if we lose access to meat and says it is an important part of a healthy diet. While the vast majority eat it daily, its not the only way to get protein. We should be willing to adapt, even just temporarily, to adding a few plant or fish-based meals in our diets.

Science has long supported the idea that more plant-based food is healthy and strengthens your immune system to fight illnesses. That's something everyone of us needs right now. Plant-based diets also support lower risks of heart disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. You can also easily buy plant-based protein on line: Peanut butter, almonds, quinoa, lentils, and protein supplements can be shipped to your door.

A careful approach to processing meat can provide a safe environment for workers, and build a stronger food supply chain. That should be enough of an incentive to try something new.

I realize an editorial in Omaha Nebraska about the benefits of eating less meat is probably not going to go over very well. I get it, but we're talking about risking human life in fear of an outraged community because they won't try another source of protein. We're better than that.

See the article here:
Editorial: COVID-19 Protein and Diet - KETV Omaha

Comfort food was made for times like these. Gained a pound or two? Dont be hard on yourself; after all, theres a pandemic going on. Shamelessly sinking into a big bowl of macaroni and cheese (the boxed variety, of course) is one of the few pleasures we have left.This train of thought might sound familiar to you. The coronavirus pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives, including our eating habits. The healthy-food trend that took root in recent years is reversing, at least for the time being. Shopping habits have shifted in favor of old processed favorites like frozen pizza, toaster waffles and canned spaghetti convenience foods with long shelf lives that are designed to deliver pleasure.

No judgment here. Money is tight in many households, and busy parents are putting breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table in between video-conference meetings. And, admittedly, many convenience foods taste good on some level, and they makes us feel good (at least in the short term).

But you might want to save room for something green on your plate, if you can find it at the store. Thats because a growing body of research is showing that our food choices dont just affect our waistlines. What we eat also may affect our mood and behavior and not in the I cant believe I ate a dozen cookies in one sitting sort of way. Rather, there may be something in the food were eating (or not eating) thats influencing our state of mind.

The emerging field of nutritional psychology contends that modern Western diets have contributed to increased rates of mental illness, particularly depression. Diets that follow a Mediterranean pattern of eating or a lot of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, beans, fish and olive oil have been linked with lower rates of depression. A diet change of just a few weeks has been found to lift moods.

As a third of all Americans are reporting that the coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on their mental health, we might need nutritious food more than ever.

There are many unanswered questions when it comes to how food affects mental health. But its clear that our stomachs do more than digest.

The stomach is sometimes referred to as the second brain because it is home to the little-known enteric nervous system (ENS), a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system that reigns over our gastrointestinal system. But the ENS might also play a hand in how we feel.

The brain in our gut is connected to the brain in our head through millions of nerves, namely the vagus nerve. Researchers think the trillions of bacteria that make up the gut microbiome might influence the communication that happens between our gut and brain. The food we eat shapes our microbes and their ability to produce hormones and neurotransmitters such as GABA, dopamine and serotonin. Around 95 percent of serotonin which plays a role in everything from appetite to mood is produced and stored in the gut.

Microbes that arent getting fed enough nutrient-dense foods also might trigger an inflammatory immune response, a factor that has been linked with depression.

The majority of nutrition studies come with a caveat. Typically, they find association, not causation, between a food and a health impact or change. There have been a couple of randomized controlled trials considered the gold standard in medical research that do point to a cause-and-effect relationship between diet quality and depression.One of the studies, published in 2019, involved a group of 76 college students who ate poorly and had moderate to severe depression. A group of students was switched to a Mediterranean-style diet for three weeks, and their symptoms of depression subsequently improved. Among this group, depression scores generally returned to the normal range, and their anxiety levels improved. But depression scores remained in the moderate to severe range for the control group those students who continued to eat a poor diet.

However, the study was met with skepticism from some scientists not associated with the work. The healthy-eating group received more support and attention from researchers, and participants were aware they were making positive changes to their diet things that could add up to feeling less depressed.

Nonetheless, the results of the study are in line with the SMILES trial from 2017, another randomized and controlled study that followed 166 depressed adults for 12 weeks. Participants who ate a Mediterranean diet experienced greater improvements to their depression than participants who were only enrolled in a support group.

Despite coping with depression, participants were able to stay motivated and follow through with diet changes, the researchers wrote in the study. And the improvements to depression symptoms were independent of factors like losing weight.

Similar results have been echoed in other studies. A 2013 meta-analysis of 22 studies found that the Mediterranean diet was linked with a lower risk of depression. Another meta-analysis published in 2017 found diets rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fish, olive oil and low-fat dairy were associated with a lower risk of depression. The opposite was found for diets heavy in red meat, refined carbohydrates, sweets and high-fat dairy.

Although many of these studies have looked at the Mediterranean-pattern diet, the SMILES study noted that every culture has its own version of healthful eating. The take-home message is that plant-based diets that incorporate healthy sources of fats, like fish, are linked with lower rates of depression.

But many questions remain. To state the obvious, mental illnesses are complex conditions to treat, and its unclear how far diet can go in helping people feel better, especially over the long term. At the very least, it might be that a healthier diet is a helpful addition to medication and a therapy treatment plan.

Future studies will need to address how specific foods or combinations of foods help with mental illness, how much people should eat, how long the effects last, and the conditions and populations of people who are most affected by diet changes.

Until then, as we deal with the challenges of the pandemic, eating as much nutritious, whole foods as your budget and store availability allows might not be a bad idea. Youll likely feel better, and also be doing your immune system a favor.

Read more:

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The Pandemic Is Making Us Depressed and Anxious. Can Healthy Food Provide Relief? - Discover Magazine

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

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Strategy uses particles to target gene in specific immune cells

Using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry to identify fat (white) in the body, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found excessive fat in a mouse that had consumed a high-fat diet for six weeks (left). The mouse on the right ate the same diet, but the researchers blocked the activity of a gene in specific immune cells, resulting in that mouse not becoming obese.

Disabling a gene in specific mouse cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have prevented mice from becoming obese, even after the animals had been fed a high-fat diet.

The researchers blocked the activity of a gene in immune cells. Because these immune cells called macrophages are key inflammatory cells and because obesity is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation, the researchers believe that reducing inflammation may help regulate weight gain and obesity.

The study is published May 1 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Weve developed a proof of concept here that you can regulate weight gain by modulating the activity of these inflammatory cells, said principal investigator Steven L. Teitelbaum, MD, the Wilma and Roswell Messing Professor of Pathology & Immunology. It might work in a number of ways, but we believe it may be possible to control obesity and the complications of obesity by better regulating inflammation.

When people are obese, they burn fewer calories than those who are not obese. The same is true for mice. But according to co-first author Wei Zou, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of pathology & immunology, the researchers found that obese mice maintained the same level of calorie burning as mice that were not obese after the research team deleted the ASXL2 gene in the macrophages of the obese mice and, in a second set of experiments, after they injected the animals with nanoparticles that interfere with the genes activity.

Despite high-fat diets, the treated animals burned 45% more calories than their obese littermates with a functioning gene in macrophages.

Exactly why this prevented obesity in the mice isnt clear. Co-first author Nidhi Rohatgi, PhD, an instructor in pathology, said it appears to involve getting white fat cells which store the fat that makes us obese to behave more like brown fat cells which help to burn stored fat. The strategy is a long way from becoming a therapy, but it has the potential to help obese people burn fat at rates similar to rates seen in lean people.

A large percentage of Americans now have fatty livers, and one reason is that their fat depots cannot take up the fat they eat, so it has to go someplace else, Teitelbaum said. These mice consumed high-fat diets, but they didnt get fatty livers. They dont get type 2 diabetes. It seems that limiting the inflammatory effects of their macrophages allows them to burn more fat, which keeps them leaner and healthier.

Zou W, et al. Myeloid-specific Axsl2 deletion limits diet-induced obesity by regulating energy expenditure. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, May 1, 2020.

This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Grant numbers HL1388163, AR064755, AR068972, AR070975, HL38180, DK56260, P30 DK52574, P41 EB025815, HL073646, DK102691, AI019653, DK109668, DK056341, AR046523, DK111389 and P30 AR074992. Additional funding from the Physician-Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine and the Childrens Discovery Institute.

Washington University School of Medicines 1,500 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, ranking among the top 10 medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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Obesity prevented in mice treated with gene-disabling nanoparticles - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

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The meat industry is buckling under the coronavirus. In early April, Smithfield Foods in South Dakota one of the nations largest pork-processing plants shut down after becoming thecountryslargest coronaviruscluster, with more than 700 workers infected. Many other factories followed suit, sparking concern that a meat shortage is on the near horizon. In fact, it reached such a crisis point that, earlier this week, Donald Trump signed an executive order classifying meat-processing plants as critical infrastructure, forcing them to reopen their doors. Meanwhile, some companies are facing backlogs of animals that were bred for meat and are resorting to mass slaughter.

But what if, instead of fighting to keep this gargantuan industry afloat, we took this opportunity to reevaluate our relationship with eating meat? The list of reasons to cut back on meat consumption is varied and long and, once you look at it, difficult to ignore. If cutting meat completely out of your diet sounds daunting, why not rethink its role perhaps treat it less as a staple and more as a treat? Below, a few compelling arguments to make you reconsider your meat consumption.

Animals are smart!Were all familiar with this argument: Think about the cute cow that had to die for your hamburger. But have you really meditated on how smart some of these animals are? Pigs, for example, may be sensitive to emotional contagion, which is believed to be the basis for empathy. Cows have best friends. Chickenshave been shown to possess self-control. Sure, animals may not possess as many cognitive abilities as humans, but they have inner lives.

Most of our meat comes from factory farms, which are rife with animal cruelty.While the U.S. has started to shift away from factory farming, industrialized facilities still supply around99 percentof our meat. (Globally, its around 90 percent.) Conditions in these factories are known to be abusive: miserable animals crammed together in tiny, unsanitary cages, where they suffer until theyre slaughtered. In Teen Vogue, a former investigative reporter describes a horrifying scene at a factory farm in Iowa, where she witnessed baby pigs get their tails and testicles chopped off without any anesthetic.

Eating meat contributes to climate change.In August 2019, the U.N.sIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a landmark report, compiled by 100 scientists from 52 countries, on how to mitigate our global climate catastrophe. One of the most effective ways to fight climate change, the report says, is to reduce meat consumption. Consider beef, which has one of the highest negative impacts on the environment. (The higher the demand for beef, the more forests get converted into agricultural lands for grazing; when trees in these areas are chopped down, they release a significant amount of carbon dioxide.) Producing beef emits 20 times the emissionsas growing beans or lentils, according to a 2016 paper published by the World Resources Institute. Chicken and pork are more resource efficient than beef, but, per the report, they still emit three times more greenhouse gas than beans.

The meat industry is notorious for horrific treatment of workers.It isnt just the animals. Workers employed by the U.S. meat and poultry industry who are largely nonwhite, and many of whom are immigrants are also subjected to hazardous conditions. According to the Human Rights Watch, the meat industry reports more severe injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) than industries like the sawmills sector and gas-well drilling. Per the OSHA data, approximately every other day between 2015 and 2018, a worker in the meat and poultry industry was either sent to the hospital or lost a body part. Additionally, the HRW reports that workers are often forced to work long hours without breaks and denied adequate access to sanitation. On average, these undervalued workers earn less than $15 an hour.

Mistreatment extends beyond the walls of factory farms. Many major agribusinesses also trap farmers theyve contracted to raise animals in an endless cycle of debt; per the The Atlantic, nearly three-quarters of contract growers live below thepoverty line as a result.

Also, cooking meat is a pain!If nothing else will sway you, at least think about all the effort that goes into preparing meat. If you froze your raw meat, you have to remember hours ahead of time to defrost it. When youre preparing meat, you have to wash your hands and cutting board a million times while youre switching between chopping vegetables and seasoning steaks. When its cooking, you have to make sure that it reaches the minimum safe internal temperature which, by the way, varies between meats. Then, once you remove the meat from your oven or grill, you have to let it rest for a certain amount of time to allow the juices to redistribute. And, at this point, you might not even know yet that you overcooked it! Now, take a moment to consider the humble bean, or even a nice lentil curry.

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Now Might Be a Good Time to Eat Less Meat - The Cut

This story was originally published 2020/03/25 8:30am PDTon Mar 25, 2020 and last updated 2020/04/30 12:56pm PDTApr 30, 2020.

Spending more time at home can mean you're less active, but it could also lead to less than healthy changes to your diet (we aren't judging). Although there's nothing wrong with treating yourself, takeout every night may be sustainable for your waistline in the long run. Because we care about your health and well-being (and you should too!), we've put together a list of apps that can help you maintain a healthy diet and even provide meal recommendations.

We often don't realize the number of calories we're eating versus how many we need to sustain our weight. Thankfully, this app helps you get the right amount in by calculating the number of calories you need based on your weight and goals. This is particularly helpful considering most of us are stuck at home without moving.You do have you to record everything you're eating, but there's a vast database that makes it easy to find the right items. You can also scan barcodes to automatically add food to your diary, making the overall process a lot faster.

Lose It is an alternative that's quite similar to MyFitnessPal but offers a more intuitive interface, in my opinion. It doesn't sync with as many apps, but has a more visual interface and is easier to use. Most importantly, it lets you take a picture of your food to automatically recognize what you're eating, which takes away the painstaking logging process. The app also comes with added features such as built-in recipes and workout guides, as well as insights on your eating patterns.

If counting macros is essential to you, Runtastic Balance makes this easier, as it displays them directly in your diary, without having to access a specific page. The interface is also quite intuitive, and there's a bunch of free plans you can pick from based on your goals. If you use other Runtastic apps, you'll be able to sync your activity automatically, but it's a bit disappointing there's no option to connect to more services.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2i7ZgVvRdI&feature=youtu.be

Tracking your diet can be a complicated task if you don't know what you're supposed to eat. Thankfully, Lifesum provides complete meal plans and healthy recipes to help you create a balanced diet. It also offers a built-in calorie tracker with a sleek UI and lets you view macros and calories at a glance. Unfortunately, you'll need a paid subscription to sync with third-party services, which can be a roadblock for some.

We've been quarantined with my partner for about ten days, and every morning we're wondering what to eat for lunch and dinner. Mealime makes the overall process a breeze by offering recipes that match your goals, but also your taste. Thanks to an advanced search engine, you can filter results based on calories, allergies, ingredients, and much more. Once you've decided what you want to cook, the app automatically creates a categorized grocery list, which makes it so much easier to get what you need from the store. There's even a paid subscription that brings advanced features such as detailed nutritional information, meal plan tracking, and exclusive recipes.

Freeletics is popular for its bodyweight training app, and has more recently released a nutrition one to help you reach your goals, whether it's losing weight, maintaining your current one, or gaining mass. It comes with built-in recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so you can use them as inspiration if you're struggling to find ideas. Freeletics Nutrition also learns to adapt to your dietary requirements, and is a great option for vegetarians, vegans, or pescatarians. Some people may not appreciate the fact that Freeletics Nutrition's philosophy is not to count calorie, but that's also a good way of forgetting about numbers and focusing on results and pleasure instead. Lastly, you can also get a customized nutritional coach with a paid subscription, which can be handy if you have more specific goals.

If you'd like an app to help you start an intermittent fasting program, BodyFast is worth considering. It's relevant for both beginners and experienced fasters alike and can create a weekly personal plan for you. It features a built-in fasting tracker and timer, as well as a weight and body measurement log to follow your progress. You can also take the experience further by signing up for coach, which can help you get customized recommendations.

If you're more into ketogenic diets, you should give Senza a try. It helps you with keto-specific tracking, as well as macros, and can also handle intermittent fasting. It comes with built-in guides for beginners, keto-specific recipes, and restaurant menus, and can provide daily recommendations for you. It also has advanced features like potassium, sodium, magnesium, glucose, and ketone intakes. Lastly, instead of getting a virtual coach, you can even speak with live nutritionists for advanced support.

Yuka is slightly different than the rest of apps, as it's built to help you understand the impact of various products on your health. You can scanfood & personal care products to understand their ingredients and whether they're good for you thanks to a simple color code. If you happen to scan a product that could be harmful for you, Yuka will recommend a item product that's better for your health. Although it's not necessarily at helping you lose or maintain weight, it's a great way to better understand what's going into your body, and it can be a fun game to play while quarantined.

Noom is more complete than a simple calorie tracker. It offers a uniquepsychology-based approach to identify why you're eating and helps you build a plan to become more healthy. It's probably well-adapted to the current situation, in which most of us are just a few feet away from the kitchen, and therefore temptation. Like most apps, there's also a built-in weight and food tracker, so you'll also be able to keep on eye on your progress. If you're allowed to go out or are lucky enough to have a yard, there's also a built-in pedometer to automatically log your steps.

We need to stay home as much as possible and limit our grocery shopping. Some of these apps are great for preparing nice recipes based on what you already have at home, while others can help you identify the ingredients you need, to avoid returning to the store too often. It's also important to stay active, even if it means exercising at home. Make sure you also check out our selection of apps that can help you work out at home to start preparing your summer body, even if you're confined at home.

The rest is here:
The best Android apps to track nutrition, calories, and weight - Android Police

LANCASTER, England Peaches, a brown-and-white Jersey cow weighing 1,200 pounds, was amiably following Edward Towers through a barn on a sunny March morning when the 6-year-old dug in her front hooves.

Mr. Towers, a 28-year-old-farmer whose family owns Brades Farm, near Britains rugged Lake District, slapped Peaches gently to move her along. She didnt budge. Already muddy from a morning herding hundreds of cows to a milking session, Mr. Towers leaned all his weight into Peaches ample backside, until she finally stepped through a metal gate that would hold her head still for an exam.

Deepashree Kand, a scientist studying animal nutrition, stepped forward with a device about the size of a grocery-store scanner. As David Bowies Changes played on a radio, Ms. Kand pointed a green laser at the cows nostril and waited for Peaches to belch.

Ms. Kands employer, a Swiss company called Mootral, is studying whether an altered diet can make cattle burp and fart less methane one of the most harmful greenhouse gases and a major contributor to climate change. If they were a country, cows would rank as the worlds sixth-largest emitter, ahead of Brazil, Japan and Germany, according to data compiled by Rhodium Group, a research firm.

It is a well-known problem that has had few promising solutions. But in the last five years, a collection of companies and scientists has been getting closer to what would be an ecological and financial breakthrough: an edible product that would change cows digestive chemistry and reduce their emission of methane.

Several companies are pursuing a seaweed-based compound, and a Dutch firm, DSM, is testing a chemical supplement with promising results. Mootral is one of the furthest along. By mixing compounds from garlic, citrus and other additives into a pellet thats mixed with a cows regular diet, the start-up has surprised scientists by significantly and consistently cutting the toxic output of animals like Peaches.

At Brades Farm, Ms. Kand kept her laser steady. Changes in the light beam would measure the methane in Peaches burps, which she produced about once every four minutes. Soon, there was a subtle flex in the cows neck, and Ms. Kands device put out a few readings: 32 to 38 parts per million.

Thats good, Ms. Kand said. A reduction of about 30 percent.

The drop was consistent with the findings of several peer-reviewed studies of Mootrals food supplement. Additional trials are underway in the United States and Europe. The product is being tested at dairy and meat farms, including a Dutch farm used by McDonalds for studying new techniques in its supply chain. The venture capitalist Chris Sacca, who became a billionaire with early bets on Uber and Twitter, has invested.

Many questions of viability remain. Mootral must prove that its product works on different breeds of cows and in different climates. It has had success in areas with mild weather, like Northern Europe, but is now conducting experiments in hotter locations.

Most urgent, the company must find its place in the coronavirus economy. An investment round that was scheduled to close in March fell apart because of the crisis. The start-ups business model depends on convincing typically conservative livestock and dairy companies that they will receive credits they can sell in the unpredictable and largely unregulated carbon-offset market for using what is basically Gas-X for cows.

But if Mootral or one of its competitors can withstand the challenges of the coronavirus era and hold up at scale, the result could be one of the simplest and fastest ways to cut a major source of greenhouse-gas emissions.

It is something, to be honest, that I never expected, said Gerhard Breves, a longtime livestock researcher in Germany who performed one of the first independent tests of Mootrals product and is now an unpaid member of its advisory board.

Cows are a digestive miracle. Inside their stomach is an oxygen-free environment with a steady temperature, similar to the fermentation tanks used to make beer. Microbes decompose and ferment materials like cellulose, starch and sugars. Cows can eat just about anything grass, hay, cornstalks, rapeseed and turn it into energy for producing milk and meat.

They could live on wood, said Mootrals director of science, Oliver Riede, a molecular biologist who started his career studying vaccines and infection management.

But just as a midnight pizza can come with a gaseous cost, a cows digestive system has a way of retaliating. Methane is a main byproduct of the enzymes that help break down the food. The gas cant be turned into energy, so as it builds up, a cow must burp, sending little puffs of pollution into the atmosphere. (A small amount is released by farting.) Up to 12 percent of a cows energy intake from food is lost this way.

There are about 1.4 billion cattle globally, each emitting the equivalent of 1.5 to 2.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, roughly half the output of an average American car.

As awareness of cattles environmental impact has reached the mainstream, thanks to compelling media campaigns by environmentalists and Netflix documentaries, the meat and dairy industries have felt the effects. Sales of alternative milks and meat substitutes have soared. Vegetarianism and veganism have spread.

This is an existential threat, said Joe Towers, Edward Towerss older brother, who also works at Brades Farm. Farmers are keen to improve and show they arent the bad guys.

Mootrals main research lab is at the base of a lush valley, in a former coal-mining region of Wales. The companys work on cows dates to 2010, when a group of researchers participated in a European Union research effort to explore ways to reduce methane from cattle.

The team, working for a company called Neem Biotech, had studied garlics antimicrobial properties in humans. In lab trials, the scientists found that it also reduced methane in cows thanks to allicin, the same strong-smelling compound thats produced when a garlic clove is cut with a knife. But the company was small and didnt see a business case for the finding, so the work didnt go any further.

In 2012, Neem was sold to a life sciences company, Zaluvida, that developed over-the-counter diet and allergy supplements. One product, derived from compounds found in prickly pears, gave people the sensation of feeling full. Another helped with digestion.

Zaluvidas founder, Thomas Hafner, bought Neem intending to work on drugs for people, but during a review of past research, a colleague found the methane work in a computer file named Mootral. It explained how allicin interacted with microbes inside a cows stomach.

After becoming rich by manipulating the human digestive tract he sold the supplements business for about $150 million in 2014 Mr. Hafner saw an opportunity in doing the same with cows. By 2016, he put a team of scientists to work testing different combinations of garlic extracts.

The challenge, they learned, was finding the right balance between delivering the maximum amount of allicin without triggering adverse effects. The chemical targets enzymes in the cows gut that create methane. Too much could harm the cows ability to process food, or give the milk and meat a garlic flavor.

The first thing the farmer will ask is, What will this do to my animal? said Mr. Riede, the Mootral science director.

Allicin is volatile, and the team struggled at first to come up with a consistent blend that would work across members of a herd of cattle. In the lab, researchers used bacteria from the stomachs of sheep members, like cows, of the ruminant family to see how certain combinations would change methane levels.

Theyre still tweaking the formula. Every few weeks, Daniel Neef, a biochemist, travels to a nearby butcher in Wales to buy a stomach from a freshly slaughtered sheep. He cuts it open to extract a wet, tangled ball of grass and other feed. He squeezes the substance through cheesecloth to extract a liquid that he puts in glass milk jars making what looks like a green vegetable drink available at Whole Foods.

Want to smell it? Mr. Neef asked one day at the Mootral lab, opening the lid. It smells like fart.

The juice was filled with scores of different kinds of bacteria, which interact in ways we dont fully understand. At one point, Mootrals scientists improved results by adding a trace amount of citrus from Spanish oranges. New additives like seaweed and other different kinds of garlic are being tested.

Mr. Neef combined the bacterial juice with droplets of extracts in medical vials, which he then moved to a machine that sucked out the oxygen and reported how much methane was produced.

You overlook plants and think they are quite simple, said Robert Saunders, a Mootral scientist whom colleagues call Mr. Garlic, but when you realize the complexity going on inside them, you can exploit them and make products from this.

He added: Were not just buying garlic and putting it in a pellet. Chemistry is at the center of it.

Mootral leases farmland in Chinas Gansu and Shandong Provinces, where garlic is picked by laborers, stuffed in bags and stored in a warehouse. It is peeled, dried and milled into a fine powder at a plant in China before being sent via train to Germany and trucked to Wales, where it is mixed with other food extracts. The company recently installed a shower at the facility so staff dont have to go home reeking of garlic.

By 2017, Mootral was confident enough in its work to ask outside scientists to perform their own trials. That year, researchers in Denmark and Germany published findings saying the company had reduced cows methane emissions more than 50 percent in lab simulations. In Mootrals first tests in dairy cows on a fully functioning farm, Brades, methane emissions fell 38 percent. A California study found a reduction of about 20 percent in meat cattle.

Sixteen tests and studies are scheduled once work stoppages from the coronavirus lifts, including at Purdue University and the University of California, Davis, Mr. Hafner said. The Swiss and Irish governments are funding Mootral research. In one testing technique, the cow is put inside a tent a little like the ones that pro football players enter when injured that is outfitted with methane-detecting sensors.

There have been unexpected results. Researchers have shown an increase in milk production, possibly because cows that expend less energy expelling methane produce more dairy. The farmers at Brades said flies werent bothering their cows as much, perhaps as a result of garlic breath.

I was skeptical when we started, said Professor Breves, director of the Physiological Institute of the Veterinary University of Hannover, who has spent three decades studying livestock biology and emissions. I do not remember any other compounds having such a pronounced and significant effect without any negative effects.

Many scientists need more convincing. Hanne Hansen, who performed an early lab test on Mootral and is an associate professor at the University of Copenhagens department of veterinary and animal sciences, said more published research was needed to prove the food additive would work on different breeds and in various climates. Much of the research, she said, has been performed in labs that only simulate the chemistry of a cow. Mootral also hasnt been tested on cows at large industrial farms, like those in the United States, which are notorious hubs for methane emissions.

What happens in the laboratory is not always what happens in real life, Professor Hansen said. Mootral has potential, but we need to see more proof.

Mr. Hafner, who is German and has a buttoned-up manner that is more boardroom than barn, puts an optimistic spin on Mootrals prospects. If the world economy opens up in the coming months, he expects to have roughly 300,000 cows taking its supplements by next year, and 7.5 million by 2024.

Yet he is realistic about the challenges. In March, agreements with several investors were put on hold as the coronavirus spread. One group had pledged to put in 6.5 million euros (about $7 million) and another 6.5 million if certain scientific targets were met.

Has that put us in a pickle? Of course, Mr. Hafner said recently by phone from Austria, where he owns a home and spent parts of March and April recovering from what was diagnosed by a doctor as coronavirus. (He did not receive a test.) Having already put more than $20 million of his own money into the business, he added, We have a plan to weather the storm and come out the other end.

Eventually, Mootrals plan is to sell its food additive for about 50 per year per cow. Mr. Hafner, whose first job after dropping out of college was at Burger King, said it would add only a few pennies to the cost of meat or dairy. He figures that grocery stores, restaurant chains, and large milk and livestock companies will be willing to bear the cost because they are under increasing pressure to appeal to eco-minded customers and satisfy sustainability mandates from investors and governments. If Mr. Hafner hits his 2024 goal, he will have annual revenue of 375 million.

An important financial incentive for companies to use Mootral are the carbon credits it would generate. The credits could offset the companies own emissions levels or be sold to others that have pledged to cut theirs. In December, the manager of the worlds largest voluntary carbon offset program, Verra, said Mootral would be the first company able to sell credits for reducing methane from cows.

The approval means a grocery chain or fast-food brand could require meat producers in its supply chain to use Mootral, then use the resulting carbon credits to meet its corporate sustainability goals. The credits could also be sold to companies, such as Microsoft, Royal Dutch Shell and Delta Air Lines, that have pledged to buy credits to offset their carbon footprint.

The problem is that carbon markets are still voluntary in most industries, and the systems credibility has been hampered by concerns that many offsets are tied to projects that dont have a measurable effect on climate change. In 2018, the entire voluntary carbon market was about $300 million, according to Forest Trends, a research group.

Mr. Hafner is convinced demand will grow as more governments mandate reductions, particularly to meet the targets of the international Paris climate agreement. In Europe, countries have pledged to cut greenhouse gas emission levels from 1990 by 40 percent by 2030 commitments that will affect every industry, including agriculture.

We are working from the assumption that down the line every cow will be regulated to be on a methane reducer, Mr. Hafner, 56, said over a steak dinner in Wales in early March. This is going to come.

That is a risky bet. Meat consumption continues to rise globally as a result of an emerging middle class in countries like China. And national leaders have been reluctant to impose tough rules on politically influential agriculture and farming industries. Many fear climate change will take a back seat to getting the global economy back on track after the coronavirus pandemic.

Are we going to offset our way out of the problem? No, said David Antonioli, the chief executive of Verra, referring to climate change. If we all continue to eat as much meat as we do, no matter what we do with Mootral or other products, we are probably not going to address the problem.

Mr. Hafner is frustrated that Mootral and its competitors have products that could help address sea-level rise and other perils but are hamstrung by financial and political constraints.

There isnt enough urgency, he said. The scale of Covid is nothing like the climate crisis.

In Britain, Brades Farm has seen hard times before. Five years ago, it nearly closed after milk prices collapsed. Documentaries detailing the environmental harm of cattle farming like Cowspiracy, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio didnt help. At one point, the Towers brothers got so desperate that in a bid for attention, Edward became a contestant on a dating show, Love in the Countryside.

We didnt sell any milk, Edward Towers said of the experience, but Ive been with my girlfriend for three years.

Mootral provided a lifeline. Marketing its cows as low methane, Brades Farm has found a niche selling climate-friendly milk to cafes and artisanal baristas around Britain, in bottles labeled Less COW Burps.

In March, behind the barn where the cows eat and rest, the smell of garlic wafted from piles of Mootral feed. Twice a day, it is mixed with grass, maize, wholecrop and rapeseed. The additive accounts for about 1 percent of the 75 to 110 pounds of food a cow eats every day.

Just feeding this to 400 cows isnt going to change the world, but by setting an example, and being first, that can have an impact, Mr. Towers said. Thats whats cool about our little farm.

Read more:
The Business of Burps: Scientists Smell Profit in Cow Emissions - The New York Times

For my parents generation, catering for vegetarians was certainly not the norm. In fact, vegetarian wasnt a recognised term like it is today plenty of people had never met a vegetarian before, and to embrace that title was to identify yourself as completely outside of the mainstream. Since then, social stigma has greatly improved and its rare to not find mushroom risotto on a restaurant menu, let alone expect a look of confusion or even repulsion from friends or family as a free side-dish accompanying their order.

Veganism is also gradually being accepted. Whilst its rare for someone to say they are vegan without being scrutinised for their dietary choices or posited counter-arguments, the situation has swiftly improved as it becomes more accepted and options like cheese alternatives and egg substitutions become available. I distinctly recall one particular lunchtime in year 10 when my best friend had mince thrown in her face and plate by a boy shouting various abusive terms; she had just turned vegan and was the first in our entire school. At the time, no one questioned his actions, and I was told off for demanding his apology. This all followed an ordeal with the catering staff who tried to serve her bacon-wrapped chicken with gravy. Even after repeating that no, she really didnt eat meat, they offered a plate of chicken without the bacon, and for about a month she made herself content with oily chips.

That was four years ago. Now, most people would (hopefully!) not tolerate such actions, let alone perform them, and would respect my friend for her choices regardless of their own beliefs. Figures from a survey by The Vegan Society indicates veganism is also gaining popularity, with approximately 600,000 vegans in the UK in 2018 just over 1% of the population[1].

But in the background is another diet that receives less attention: raw foodism.

I have to admit that I was completely ignorant of what a raw food diet actually meant before writing this article. What follows is a disclaimer: having never actually met anyone who follows this diet, Google quickly became my best friend.

BBC Good Food seemed the most logical place to start. Here I learnt that a raw diet consists of unprocessed, untreated and unrefined foods that have not been cooked more precisely, never heated above 48C (although figures vary between sources). Apparently it all began in the late 1800s after a doctor named Maximilian Bircher-Benner cured his jaundice by eating raw apples, stimulating a series of experiments into the effect raw foods have on human health. Few people follow a 100% raw diet, and it ranges from raw vegans to raw omnivores who eat uncooked or dried meat, unprocessed dairy products and even raw eggs. Generally speaking, however, dieters avoid pasta, bread, pastries, alcohol (maybe this explains why Im yet to meet a raw student?), chips and table salt (which rules out Hassans perhaps another reason), refined sugars and flours, pasteurized dairy the list goes on. Not even coffee or tea are permitted. Ovens, microwaves, hobs, barbeques are all ruled out and replaced instead with juicers, blenders and dehydrators.

So to summarise, raw foodism is based on a principle of eating unprocessed and uncooked foods. So what do people like Woody Harrelson actually eat?

Depending on how strict you are, the list includes fresh fruits and raw vegetables, dried fruits, nuts, seeds, raw nut butters, nut milk, coconut milk, coconut oils, fermented foods like sauerkraut, seaweed, (for some) raw fish like sushi and raw or dried meats, and soaked and sprouted beans, legumes and grains (for easier digestion).

Placed in context, here are a few examples of what a day could look like eating only raw foods:

Now for the critical question: what are the benefits, if any?

As it turns out, the benefits are few and far-fetching. Supporters argue that raw foods have higher nutritional values as some minerals and vitamins are destroyed during the cooking process, in particular the water-soluble ones like vitamin B and vitamin C. For example, tomatoes lose approximately 10% of their vitamin C content when heated above 57C for just two minutes. However, other fruit and vegetables benefit from cooking by breaking down the cell wall, making nutrients easier to be digested and absorbed, such as beta-carotene found in carrots and sweet potatoes (a compound converted to vitamin A in the body). Likewise, bonds in the tertiary structure of starch and protein are broken into smaller and easier to digest chains.

It is also argued that vital enzymes needed for digestion which are found in our food are denatured during cooking when heat breaks the bonds holding together the polypeptide chains that maintain an enzymes shape. Im no scientist, but doesnt our body produce its own enzymes for digestion? Besides, enzymes found in food are denatured in the acidic environment of the stomach, so scientists believe this argument is fairly weak.

I came across one raw food advocate called Fully Raw Kristina who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes aged 16, and decided two years later to convert to a completely raw food diet. She ate peaches for two weeks straight when I began, and two years later she no longer diabetic. Since then, she started a business entailing a YouTube channel, recipe books and FullyRaw Retreats in Bali and St. Lucia. But and heres where the numbers really crunch to benefit from her recipes, answers to FAQs, meal plans and shopping lists, you have to join the Inner Circle costing $47/month. This subscription roughly equates to 38/month, adding up to a grand total of 450/year. Now also seems an appropriate time to say that there is limited scientific evidence that support the claim of preventing or controlling diabetes.

A raw diet does make the national five-a-day goal seem like a walk in the park meaning individuals benefit from a higher intake of minerals, vitamins and fibre. It also means you avoid processed foods containing chemical food additives to lengthen shelf life and added sugars and saturated fats to cater for the sweeter tooth of modern ages both have long been associated with negative health impacts. Studies note that raw food diets seem to lower blood cholesterol, as well as lowering the number of carcinogens consumed which increase cancer risk. A raw diet is also effective for people trying to lose weight, although some doctors online have said the demands and restrictions of the diet make it hard to maintain in the long run which can lead to more weight gain after coming off. More importantly, one group of researchers found that about 30% of women under 45 developed amenorrhea, a term for when menstrual periods stop due to insufficient calories.

There are, in fact, plenty of health concerns, especially in those following the diet strictly or over a long time period. For starters, without taking supplements, individuals have a lower intake of vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron and calcium. And whilst omnivores obtain their protein from meat and fish, vegetarians from eggs and vegans from legumes like lentils, chickpeas and beans, raw foodists mostly rely on nuts. Furthermore, there is a significant danger of food poisoning from Salmonella bacteria for those that eat raw eggs and meat, as well as from Listeria bacteria in unpasteurised milk.

Other drawbacks include the expenses. Organic ingredients are usually more costly and some people may be required to travel much further afield to find a grocery or speciality store that stocks a wide range of raw and organic products. Then there are the appliances: from blenders to juicers to dehydrators to food processors for slicing, grating and shredding, a quick search on Amazon indicated these run from 80 well into the hundreds.

Food preparation is also more time consuming, accounting for the time spent sprouting seeds, germinating nuts, dehydrating foods and juicing and blending. One online recipe for raw granola takes three-days with steps like soaking raisins and dehydrating the entire mix.

Above all else, the diet strikes me as very isolating. Its hard to eat out unless you can find a speciality restaurant because even a salad may have a dressing which contains ingredients that arent raw or natural. Staying around a friend or relatives house would likely be very challenging for them to cater for you unless they too were raw foodists, so it would be easy to find yourself feeling guilty or even cancelling plans due to your inconvenient dietary choice. Dont get me wrong there seems to be an entire online community supporting one another, but as the diet is far more limiting than vegetarianism and veganism its not nearly as popular and so chances are you wont have an immediate social network of raw foodists.

It would seem that the negatives far outweigh the benefits, some of which lack strong scientific evidence. This doesnt discount the diet entirely as we could probably all benefit from eating a few more vegetables and fruits, but balance is key. Raw foodism is an overarching concept interpreted differently depending on the dieter, with the degree of strictness varying between individual. But there is clearly a reason why doctors ask pregnant women, young children and seniors, people with weaker immune systems and chronic medical conditions like kidney disease to avoid this diet, and why many dont recommend to anyone. Raw foodism seems to me to be an example of where too much of a good thing isnt good anymore.

[1] https://www.vegansociety.com/about-us/further-information/key-facts

Image Credit: Sasha Gill

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The Raw Revolution - Oxford Student

There are two main ways to improve the state of the microbiome in your gut. You can add more bacteria into it and you can look after the bacteria that are there already.

How do you do that? By eating and drinking the right kind of stuff. We spoke to Jo Travers, a dietitian working with the campaign Love Your Gut Week, to find out what kind of stuff that is.

You need to have a balanced approach. You cant just add in something good like a probiotic and expect all your problems to go away. Your starting point should be, have I got enough energy, enough protein, enough fresh fruit and veg? The latter is where were getting the fibre, vitamins and minerals from.

I always say the first thing to do is think about your plate split into three. You have half your plate filled with veg, or a mixture of fruit and veg, a quarter of protein and a quarter of carbohydrates. If you do that the chances of getting everything you need and not too much of what you dont need are really high. From that point you can start to fine-tune it, but unless youve got those basics in place the fine-tuning isnt going to make any difference.

Its a balance. By all means having some probiotic foods is brilliant. When you introduce friendly or useful bacteria into your system, the bacteria that already live there can make use of that as well because bacteria can swap genes with each other. Thats a good thing to do.

Once youve got useful bacteria there the key is to maintain it. When we take a probiotic product were generally just taking one or a few different strains of bacteria, but there are a great deal more than that already living in there, and each bacteria thrives on a different type of fibre. The more variety in the types of fibre you eat, the more likely it is youre going to be able to sustain the bacteria that are living there.

We call these fibres prebiotics. Probiotics are the ones you add into your system, and prebiotics feed the bacteria already living there.

Probiotics are things like yogurt, which is a fermented food, and kefir and kombucha. All of those naturally fermented foods will contain some probiotics. Traditionally fermented soy sauce will contain probiotics, but generally the stuff we get from the supermarket isnt traditionally fermented and theres not a great deal of probiotic in there. Its a similar story with tofu, which is quite highly processed, but the more traditional form of soy protein tempeh has lots of probiotics in it.

With prebiotics its anything with fibre in it. So fruit, veg, nuts, seeds and wholegrains are the staple prebiotics in our diet.

Yes. There was a study done fairly recently that found people who ate 30 or more different plant foods in a week had a much more varied gut microbiota in their digestive system compared with those who only ate ten or fewer different plant foods a week.

Different colours, different types it all counts. If youre having a salad, you could just have your lettuce, cucumber and tomato salad, but actually what I do is add things like jars of roasted vegetables, olives, pine nuts and seeds to my salad. Not only do you get something that tastes really nice without really doing any extra work because youre just adding it from a packet, you also get all those other different kinds of fibres, as well as the vitamins and minerals that come with those foods.

Exactly. Just think what can I add to this to make it even better? So if youre making pasta with tomato sauce, for example, adding in a couple of handfuls of frozen spinach adds nutrition, and youre also adding a different type of fibre as well without much extra work. Remember, all plant foods count: dried, canned, frozen, fresh and wholegrains.

Follow this link:
Improve Your Diet With These Foods That Are Good For Your Gut - Coach

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