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To data there is no indication that the virus is more or less catchable depending on anything intrinsic about a person:

Ref public people with the COVID-19 disease [a very partial list]:Sophie Gregoire Trudeau [wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau], Boris Johnson [UK PM], Prince Charles [UK], Tom Hanks, Senator Rand Paul,Iraj Harirchi [Iranian Deputy Health Minister], Olga Kurylenko [French actress, starred in Bond movie Quantum of Solace],Michigan State Rep, Capt. Brett E. Crozier, USN [ex-Captain of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt], Sailor on USNS Comfort, Rita Wilson, Prince Albert II of Monaco,Matthew Hancock [Britain Health Secretary], Alister Jack [Scottish Secretary and member of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's cabinet],James Dolan [the executive chairman of the Madison Square Garden Company], Chris Cuomo [CNN anchor and a brother of the current New York state governor], Brooke Baldwin [Another CNN who works with Cuomo],Rudy Gobert [Utah Jazz player touched all the microphones], Donovan Mitchell [Utah Jazz teammate of Goberts], Kevin Durant [1 of 4 Brooklyn Nets players], Marcus Smart [Boston Celtics], Jason Collins [former NBA star],Dmitry Strakhov [cyclist at the UAE Tour],Turkish Boxing Federation [Serhat Guler national team member and trainer Seyfullah Dumlupinar], Sampdoria Italian football club [Five footballers along with the team's doctor], Dusan Vlahovic [Serbian striker for Fiorentina], Marouane Fellaini [former Manchester United footballer, currently plays for Chinese Super League], Callum Hudson-Odoi [player Chelsea Football Club], Colton Underwood [former lead of The Bachelor], Kristofer Hivju [played Tormund Giantsbane on HBO's Game of Thrones],Harvey Weinstein [film producer -- convicted of rape and other sex crimes], Jackson Browne [singer-songwriter], Slim Thug [Houston rapper],Daniel Dae Kim [South Korean-American actor from Hawaii Five-0], Placido Domingo [Spanish opera singer 73 years old -- one of the 3 Tenors], Luis Sepulveda [best-selling Chilean writer, lives in northern Spain, diagnosed after returning from a literary festival in Portugal], Michel Barnier [European Union's chief Brexit negotiator], Bento Albuquerque [Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister], Augusto Heleno [Brazil's national security adviser, 72 years old Army General ret.], Jeremy Issacharoff [Israel's ambassador to Germany], Friedrich Merz [64-year-old politician, campaigning to lead Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU)], Kozo Tashima [head of Japan's football association & deputy head of Japan's Olympic Committee], Nadine Dorries [Minister in UK's Health Department, the first British politician to test positive on March 10], Peter Dutton [Australian Home Affairs Minister], Massoumeh Ebtekar [Iranian Vice President], Begona Gomez [Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife], Quim Torra [The local leader Spains Catalonia region], Irene Montero [Spanish Minister & partner to Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias], Franck Riester [French Minister of Culture], Francis Suarez [Mayor of City of Miami], Fabio Wajngarten [Press Secretary for Brazilian President Bolsonaro], Michal Wos [Polish Environment Minister], Oumarou Idani [Burkina Faso Minister of Mines], Stanislas Ouaro [Burkina Faso Minister of Education]

and of course the President of Harvard and his wife

Famous people who died from COVID-19 and possibly other co-morbidities:

Not famous except as a recent person who died: Cashier at Market Basket

What do all these people have in common -- Not Age, Ethnicity, Sex, Race, Income, Location, Occupation, Travel or lack there of -- only two things bind all the COVID-19 patients:

So -- why do the homeless, and poor as well as "people of color" do less well on an average after they catch COVID-19. It mostly comes down to the so-called co-morbidity factors:

And finally while it doesn't make you more or less sick -- Close Proximity to people who might be transmitting the SARS-COV-2 virus by talking, breathing, coughing, spitting, etc.

For example the case of:

While some might catch the COVID-19 through contact with a door knob or a seat on a Subway Car and then wiping their face -- this is probably not the primary means of transmission.

Ultimately --- the Frequency and Exposure at close range which you have to infected people -- That's the primary aspect which makes you more likely to catch COVID-19

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Boston Medical Center ER doc: Most patients at hospital are now positive for coronavirus; minority communities seem to be getting hit harder -...

We can find one revealing answer in the darkest days of the 17th century. In 1629, the British historian Erin Maglaque noted recently, a fearsome plague swept into Italy. In Florence, officials in the local health board tried to cordon off their city, but the disease slipped in anyway.

By August 1630 Florence was burying its dead by the hundreds in broad and deep pits. By the following January, the city had ordered citizens locked in their homes for a 40-day quarantine and then gone about the business of delivering food to the tens of thousands of locked-down households.

The food the Florentine health board had delivered would be exceptionally varied and fine: bread and wine, sausage seasoned with fennel and rosemary, rice and cheese, salads of sweet and bitter herbs. The health board, historian Maglaque tells us, considered the citys enormous outlay for good food a necessary expense. The poor of Florence had been living, city health officials realized, on diets that left them especially vulnerable to infection.

Improving the well-being of the poor, the Florentine health board believed, would be a key to the citys recovery. But this idea of feeding the poor at a high-quality level appalled many of the citys wealthy. They worried, one observer would later write, that the quarantine would give the poor of Florence the opportunity to be lazy and lose the desire to work, having for forty days been provided abundantly for all theirneeds.

Other Italian cities rejected the Florentine health board lead. They refused to provide abundantly for the needs of their poor and paid a price. In Florence, the plague ended with 12 percent of the population dead. In Venice, the death rate ran nearly three times the Florentine rate, in Milan almost four times.

Today, nearly four centuries later, Senator Lindsey Graham and his Republican Senate colleagues are marching right in the footsteps of those 17th-century Italians who found the prospect of anything close to abundance for the poor so scandalous.

This bill pays you more not to work than if you were working, Graham harrumphedbefore the Senate vote on his benefit-cutback amendment to the corona relief legislation.

What connects our affluent today to the wealthy elites of old Italy? The unnerving impact of inequality on the psyches of the privileged. The more wealth the wealthy of any epoch accumulate, the less they value those without wealth.

In deeply unequal societies, those who hold grand private fortunes must sooner or later come to grips with the vast gap that separates them from everyone else. Why do I have so much, becomes the unspoken question, while so many have so little?

The easiest answer: I must deserve my good fortune. I must be worthy. And if I owe my good fortune to my worthiness, then those without fortune must owe their sad circumstances to their unworthiness. They must be dumb or lazy or profligate or worse. These undesirables, this perspective plays out, do not deserve our generosity. Any generosity toward them would only open up, as Lindsey Graham puts it, a Pandoras box.

So assumed the rich of Florence so many generations ago. So assume their counterparts today. Then as now, that amounts to a deadly assumption.

More here:
No Fennel in the Sausage, No $600 for the Jobless - CounterPunch

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Almost nine out of 10 (87%) employees fear for their health because of the Covid-19 outbreak, with many feeling isolated, lonely and finding it difficult to sleep.

According to a survey of 2,008 workers by jobs platform TotalJobs, two-thirds (64%) of the employees now working from home think their wellbeing has been affected by the changes brought about by government restrictions.

More than half (52%) said their sleep had been affected; 54% were less active than before the outbreak; 45% found their new home workspace uncomfortable; and 58% had been eating more than they would normally.

Employees were also worried about their colleagues health and wellbeing. Eighty-six per cent were concerned about co-workers health, which prompted 81% to make more of an effort to reach out to one another.

Almost three-quarters (73%) agreed that they appreciated their colleagues more than they had before the pandemic.

Dr Aaron Balick of the Department for Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex said: Its a paradox that in a time of social distancing people are more aware than ever of their relational needs. In missing our usual workplace banter and support, we are seeking new ways of achieving it, being more conscious about how we reach out to others, and finding out the social pleasures we had in the workplace but were somehow unaware of before.

Working from home can increase worry, stress, and loneliness for many people. Levels of anxiety are increasing with people concerned about their health, job security, and health of their colleagues and loved ones. This means that working from home should be more about work, and become another opportunity to seek and provide comradeship and support during challenging times for all of us.

TotalJobs head of marketing Lynn Cahillane said: Against the backdrop of a constantly changing environment, employers need to remain mindful about the potential unease among their team, and encourage support and awareness, not only for the sake of staffs physical welfare but for any increased mental stress people may be experiencing as a result.

Working from home can increase worry, stress, and loneliness for many people. Levels of anxiety are increasing with people concerned about their health, job security, and health of their colleagues and loved ones, Dr Aaron Balick, University of Essex

Teams should be encouraged to share their worries with line managers, who themselves have an important role to play in ensuring vulnerable employees are supported at this time.

Meanwhile, a separate survey by the Institute for Employment Studies discovered many employees now working from home were struggling with musculoskeletal pain, diet, sleep and their mental health.

More than half (58%) experienced pain in the neck, shoulder (56%) and back (55%), compared to their normal physical condition.

Many were not maintaining a balanced diet and healthy exercise regime; 20% admitted to an increase in alcohol consumption, 33% were eating a less healthy diet, and 60% were exercising less than they would usually acknowledging that they are exercising less.

Sixty-four per cent were losing sleep because of worry, while 50% reported not being happy with their current work-life balance. A third said they frequently felt isolated.

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Coronavirus: nearly nine in 10 fear for their health - Personnel Today

Viral threat Its unclear why two similar people who become infected with COVID-19 can have very different outcomes: One may

Viral threat

Its unclear why two similar people who become infected with COVID-19 can have very different outcomes: One may develop severe disease while the other becomes only mildly ill. Its a very difficult question to answer, says David Topham, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

But for some people, a weakened immune system can leave them more vulnerable to infections ranging from the new coronavirus to the common cold (which is often caused by less deadly types of coronavirus). And there are a number of factors known to undermine immune function. Understanding and addressing those can help fortify your bodys defenses.

Medical conditions

Your health status can make a big difference in how well you can fend off viruses and other infections. Certain underlying conditions are well-known to result in an overall weakened immune system, notes Dr. Ingrid Mayer, a professor of medicine and cancer research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Those pre-existing conditions include diabetes, malnutrition and untreated HIV, according to Mayer, as well as some cancers such as leukemia or multiple myeloma.

Separately, autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis actually cause the immune system to attack healthy cells, and weaken the bodys response to real threats. And although theres buzz around the drug hydroxychloroquine (used for lupus, arthritis and malaria) as a possible treatment for COVID-19, it remains unproven for this purpose.

Medications

Various types of medications can impact our ability to fight off infections. Drugs used to treat autoimmune disorders by suppressing the immune system are just one example.

Chemotherapy drugs can also lower immunity, Mayer says, as can steroids, which are used to treat inflammation caused by arthritis and other conditions.

So ask your doctor about all your medication options. And discuss how to treat or mitigate immune-compromising side effects if there are no safe, effective alternatives available.

Smoking

Lighting up is not only dangerous by itself it can also weaken the immune system. In particular, smoking can decrease your ability to fight off diseases that affect the lungs, like COVID-19.

It affects your airways ability to clear infection, says Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Although its still not clear why men appear to be more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection than women, some experts theorize that smoking could be a factor, since men are likelier than women to be smokers, Doron says.

Thats just one more reason, in a long list, to never start smoking or quit if you do.

Stress

Constantly being in fight-or-flight mode is taxing on the body. The strain can be felt in many ways, ranging from raised blood pressure to headaches. Too much work stress can even increase the chances youll need to take a sick day.

For anybody, stress is a big factor that can weaken the immune system, Topham emphasizes. Stress can not only increase your vulnerability to infection but it can hamper your recovery time. While theres no way to avoid all stress or anxiety, managing it by taking mental breaks during the day or trying everything from breathing exercises and meditation to yoga can make all the difference.

Sleep problems

Getting too little sleep or poor quality sleep that leaves you feeling tired throughout your day can also undercut your bodys defenses.

About 1 in every 3 adults doesnt even get seven hours of nightly shut-eye, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the minimum amount recommended. Many others suffer from disorders like sleep apnea that even after spending a lot of time in bed leave people feeling groggy in the morning.

With many people working at home during the coronavirus pandemic, that could mean some opportunity to rest more no need to get up earlier for the work commute, for example. Maybe people are sleeping in and catching up on their sleep, Topham says. On the other hand, juggling home and work obligations could mean working at all hours and getting less zzzs. Whatever the case, its critical that you get adequate, restorative rest and treat sleep disorders, experts say, so your bodys defense system is able to function optimally.

Isolation

Social distancing also now referred to as physical distancing can make it hard to connect with others. That, in turn, can put a person at higher risk for mental health challenges, like depression.

In addition, social isolation has been shown to increase stress in animals and people, which is directly linked with a decreased immune response.

For that reason, using all safe options to connect via video chat or a simple phone call is as important now as ever, experts say.

Poor diet

The traditional Western diet high in fat, sugar and processed foods isnt exactly an exemplary eating pattern. Not only can it raise the risk of things like heart disease, but it may also inhibit your bodys ability to fight disease.

Bad luck, poor diet, poor sleep habits, tons of stress all of those things can be associated with not having optimal immune function, Doron says.

Although you cant control certain pieces of your immunity puzzle, such as genetics, you can control your diet. So doing what you can to bolster immune function may include bucking unhealthy trends at the dinner table. Aim to follow a plant-based diet high in fruits, vegetables, nuts and lean proteins akin to, for example, a Mediterranean diet.

Sedentary lifestyle

You could be forgiven for planting yourself on the couch and endlessly scrolling through news updates in the midst of a pandemic. But inactivity and obesity are linked with decreased immunity.

Being sedentary and not exercising leads to less efficient heart function, Topham says. And he notes there are cases where COVID-19 causes cardiovascular injury that can lead to a form of heart failure thats been deadly in some people with the virus. Obesity can also contribute to heart problems and immune suppression, rendering the body less able to battle viral infections.

Research indicates that regular exercise, on the other hand, boosts immunity and can make you less susceptible to disease, including viruses. Physical activity also helps people manage chronic diseases like diabetes that can otherwise undermine the bodys defenses against COVID-19.

Things that can weaken the immune system

Medical conditions.

Medications.

Smoking.

Stress.

Sleep problems.

Isolation.

Poor diet.

Sedentary lifestyle.

More from U.S. News

Workers on the Front Lines Fighting the Coronavirus

Myths About Your Immune System

Foods That Can Support Your Immunity

What Weakens the Immune System? originally appeared on usnews.com

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What Weakens the Immune System? - WTOP

You're trapped at home. The Coronaviruspandemic has the gym shut down, the Yoga studio closed and even the hiking trails are no fun if you have to wear a mask.

So you are stuck and while there may be a shortage of some items like disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers, there seems to be no shortage of food. So we eat out of boredom and when this medical crises is over, there may be more of us to love than there was before.

So in planning for the diet we will all surely need in a month or so, I found this from the Daily Mail.

A new study finds fad diets may come and go but they only work for about a year. McMaster University researchers analyzed 121 studies on 14 fad diets, including the Atkins and Paleo diets. They found across all diets, people following them managed to keep off 2.2 to 4.4 pounds over the course of 12 months.

The only diet that appeared to help people stay healthier a year later was the Mediterranean diet.

Study authors say various types of diet can cause moderate weight loss, reduce blood pressure and lower bad cholesterol but that weight loss and the benefits for blood pressure and cholesterol disappeared after a year.

They call it "unfortunate, but thats life. Plan B?

Read more here:
Study Finds That Fad Diets Only Work For A Year - newstalkkit.com

Websites are too damn big.

The average web page is about 2 megabytes, according to HTTP Archive, a site that tracks the performance of websites and the technologies they use. Sure you can download 2 megabytes in less than a second on a good 4G mobile connection. But todays web pages are problematic for people on slow connections or with small bandwidth caps. Not all that long ago, a complex game or software program fit on a 1.4-megabyte floppy disk.

There are many reasons todays web is so bloated, including the ads and tracking scripts that saddle so many pages. Another reason is that websites do much more than just display text and images. Many sites now look and feel like full-blown desktop applications.

To build these interactive sites, many web developers turn to open source packages that handle common tasks. These tools liberate programmers from a lot of grunt work, but they can add heft to a project. Facebook's popular open source React library for building user interfaces, for example, weighs in at 100 kilobytes. Throw in some other tools and graphics, and soon youre talking many megabytes.

The up and coming JavaScript framework Svelte, created by visual journalist and software developer Rich Harris, aims to make it easier to write faster, smaller interactive websites and applications. Web developer Shawn Wang says he cut the size of his personal website from 187 kilobytes to 9 kilobytes by switching from React to Svelte.

"It was a big 'wow' moment," Wang says. "I wasn't even trying to optimize for size and it just dropped."

Harris, a graphics editor for The New York Times, created and released the first version of Svelte in 2016 while working for The Guardian. Many of his projects involved interactive graphics and animations, but he worried that the graphics could take too long to load or would chew through users data limits.

Frameworks add heft to websites because they traditionally serve as a middle layer between an app's code and the user's browser. That means developers need to bundle the entire framework, in addition to their own code, with an app, even if they don't use all of the framework's features. Wang compares this to a rocket ship that needs massive fuel tanks to launch into space.

Harris took a different approach. Svelte performs its middle-layer work before a developer uploads code to a web server, well before a user ever downloads it. This makes it possible to remove unnecessary features, shrinking the resulting app. It also reduces the number of moving parts when a user runs the app, which can make Svelte apps faster and more efficient. Svelte is like a space elevator, Wang says. The framework was tricky to create, but advocates say it makes it easier for developers to build efficient apps.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Linux, GNU, and how big companies are making money off of free, collaboration-based software.

Wang says he likes to use Svelte for web pages, but he still uses React for larger applications, including his professional work. For one thing, the larger an app, the more likely a developer will use all of React's features. That makes it less wasteful. In fact, some Svelte apps are bigger than apps made with React or similar tools. And theres much greater demand for React developers than Svelte developers.

In the State of JavaScript 2019 survey of more than 21,000 developers, 88 percent of respondents who had used Svelte said they were satisfied with it, giving it the second-highest satisfaction rating in the survey, just behind Reacts 89 percent satisfaction rate. But only 7.8 percent of respondents had used Svelte, and 24.7 percent had never heard of it. Meanwhile, 80.3 percent had used React.

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The JavaScript Framework That Puts Web Pages on a Diet - WIRED

Just because youre stuck inside these days doesnt mean you cant eat well. But coming up with healthy meal ideas daily and actually having the ingredients you need can be a challenge.

Thats where healthy meal delivery services come in. There are so many options out there right now that can you pick one that meets pretty much any dietary need. There are meal delivery services designed for overall healthy eating, as well as ones created for people following diets that are gluten-free, all organic, Paleo and even vegan.

Theres even variety with the meal delivery services themselves. Some offer meal kits with recipes and ingredients that are already portioned out; others will send you meals that are already created. Some even feature everything you need to make smoothies at home.

Of course, there are a lot of options out there to choose from. Not sure where to start? Check these healthy meal delivery services.

Sakara Life sends users 1oo percent plant-based, organic ready-to-eat meals. The company has a slew of different options, ranging from getting breakfast, lunch and dinner delivered two days a week for $169, up to five days a week for $420. Sakaras meals come from a set weekly menu that rotates weekly and seasonally. Dishes include things like a sweet potato Thai burger, strawberry maca shortcake and lentil bowl with beets and macadamia feta.

Freshly send you healthy meals that you can heat in two minutes. Freshly customers simply choose their lunch and/or dinner from the companys weekly menu offering, and its delivered on the day of your choosing. Meal options include herbed chicken romesco, super pesto and sausage fusilli and slow-cooked beef chili. Meals show up fully cooled and all you have to do is heat them up. Freshly service will cost you anywhere from $46 a week for four meals to $96 a week for 12 meals.

Hungryroot takes a slightly different spin on meal delivery services. The company lets you choose how much food you want to receive 11 items for $69, 16 items for $99 and 21 items for $129. Its basically like a really nice grocery service that gives you the tools you need to make delicious, healthy food. Items include things like shaved Brussels sprouts, rainbow veggie mix, Beyond burgers and ancient grain pancake mix.

Daily Harvest has a thing for stuff that comes in cups. The company focuses on serving up soups, smoothies, chia parfaits, oats, harvest bowls and lattes. Some dishes are gluten-free, vegan or keto-friendly, and Daily Harvest lets you pick and choose what will be delivered to your door. The company offers up both weekly and monthly plans that run from $48 for six cups to $168 for 24 cups.

Sun Basket serves up organic, non-GMO and sustainable meals that can meet the dietary needs of vegetarians, as well as those who are gluten-free or on a Paleo diet. the foods include things that have simple cooking instructions, as well as ones that you just have to heat up. Sample dishes include things like a southwestern turkey and sweet potato skillet, quinoa black bean tacos and butter chicken with basmati rice. The brand offers up different plan options, but four recipes a week for two servings each will cost about $88.

Factor75 sends prepped meals your way. All you have to do is heat them up in the microwave or oven. Dishes include Italian roasted pork, Paleo BBQ salmon and jerk jackfruit on coconut rice. Prices range from $60 for four meals a week to $198 for 18 meals a week.

Snap Kitchen sends you ready-to-eat meals that are healthy and delicious. Each meal comes in microwave- and oven-safe containers, so no need to dirty up dishes. Meals can be personalized to fit your dietary needs and include dishes like almond butter pancakes, cauliflower satay bowl, and chicken piccata. Plan options include your choice of six meals for $70 a week and 12 meals for $115 a week.

Cooking for kids can be a challenge, and thats where Yumble comes in. The meal delivery service is specifically geared toward kids (who are notoriously picky eaters) and serves up a range of fun, healthy meals that are fully cooked and ready to heat. Dishes include things like savory meatballs and veggies, pizza pockets with broccoli parmesan and gluten-free mac n cheese and veggie-packed nuggets. Prices range from $48 for six meals a week to $72 for 12 meals a week.

Veestros meals are 100 percent plant-based and organic, and theyre preservative-free. The meals arrive frozen just heat them up, and youre good to go. Entrees include options like carrot Osso Bucco, golden chickpea stew and Asian noodle salad. Plans include 10 meals for $117, 20 meals for $216 and 30 meals for $297.

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9 Of The Best Healthy Meal Delivery Services - Trailwatch

As we all step away from our shopping routines, people want to know what to stock during the shutdown. If you can only shop once a week or every other week, what should you get?

How are we to know?

Eating habits are as personal as they get. Thats even before you get to vegetarian and vegan preferences, and diets that restrict gluten and dairy.

TO OUR READERS: This content is being provided for free as a public service during the coronavirus outbreak. Sign up for our daily or breaking newsletters to stay informed. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Providence Journal.

Ive been reading plenty of pantry-stocking stories. Most of them are just not helpful. I just read one that said to get rid of out-of-season food.

Why?

I have cranberry sauce, the can that my husband craves for Thanksgiving, and a bag of herb stuffing and my emergency jar of Better Than Bouillon, Turkey Base. None of it has expired.

So I bought a turkey breast, and thats what Im making for Easter dinner.

The moral of the story is, to thy own self be true.

I dont care if CookingMatters.org says Fill your pantry with whole grain pasta, brown rice, barely, rolled oats and other favorites.

Those are not ingredients I use normally. Im not going to introduce them when the stress level is on the high side. The right thing for me and my family is comfort food, and by that I mean their favorite dishes.

My husband needs a protein, veggie and rice on every dinner plate. My daughter is a white eater. Chicken and potatoes, and more chicken and potatoes. I can eat goat cheese and charcuterie for dinner, or any kind of pasta.

I love to bake. Thats my entertainment at the end of the day.

The few times Ive gone shopping, I bought the items we eat (and Peeps, because Easter is coming). I got in and out in short time.

I saw people wandering aimlessly among the canned vegetables. If you dont buy them normally, then dont.

Me? I prefer frozen vegetables. So thats what I bought.

If you like beans and legumes, and cook with them, buy them. For me its yes to chickpeas, no to lentils. Yes to snacking nuts, no to granola bars.

Want to stock your pantry? Think of two weeks of meals you want to make. I know its hard, but once you sit with a pen and paper, you can do it.

Then think of staples such as coffee, eggs and breakfast items, soups for lunch, or sandwich ideas. Create a list of ingredients.

It can be that simple. I bet you are all doing this anyway.

Grocery stores are not going to close. They are restocking constantly to meet demand. Smile at all those heroes working to make that all happen. They look exhausted.

When you need to go shopping, put on your gloves and your homemade mask. Get in and get out.

Or do delivery if you want and if you can. If youve been reading The Journal food stories, you know there are many new local choices. I just got my box of chocolates from Sweenors in the mail.

We are going to get through the horrid economics, the togetherness, the dinner challenges and the dark days of sickness. We will come out the other side.

In the meantime, stop with the crazed pantry stories. Or you are liable to read things like this: Coconut water can be used as blood plasma.

Please, people -- just lets dont.

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Stock your coronavirus crisis pantry with what you want to eat - The Providence Journal

Weight loss at home or perhaps more accurately, avoiding weight gain at home is suddenly a big deal for a lot of us. A few weeks into self isolation and/or social distancing and you start noticing something peculiar: although you are not eating more, your favourite jogging pants feel a bit tighter than they used to. That's because you do less physical activity than before; but even that is the case, with our handy tips, you'll see that it is not all that difficult to avoid weight gain in isolation.

Managing your weight is beneficial for both your physical and mental wellbeing. With a few simple tricks and lifestyle adjustments, you can make sure the pounds stay off and who knows, you might even shed a few kilos in the process. The fact is, the best way to lose weight fast is to pay close attention to your diet. Not surprisingly, the best way to get a six pack is to eat right (and, to some degree, to work out).

The tips below can be used on their own or you can even combine them as you see fit. Very important, however, is not to overdo it and do vigorous exercising while not eating much at all. That is just plain dangerous and can get you injured in no time. Be sensible and if you had any issues with obesity before or are really unfit, consider talking to a health professional before you implement any drastic changes in your lifestyle.

(Image credit: The Protein Works)

It's really not rocket science: if you don't want to out on weight, you have to stop eating more than your body needs. Even if before the mandatory isolation you have been living a relative sedentary lifestyle, being indoors for 99% of time means you are burning less calories than you used to. And this means you should eat less to adjust to this new lifestyle.

Of course, you can offset the lack of outdoor exercising with indoor exercising but there are other ways to keep the waist slim that doesn't involve gruelling physical activity. And the best of them all is to be more mindful about how and what you eat.

Without trying to convert anybody to mindfulness and being present, try stopping for a second anytime before you raid your cupboard for some food. Ask yourself the question: am I hungry or just bored? Was there anything I was supposed to do before I decided to eat? Something I had to deal with? Unhealthy eating habits often stem from procrastination and us not wanting to deal with the task at hand.

If you are a big fan of fried food, one obvious way to reduce calorie and fat intake is to get one a best air fryer. Air fried food isn't necessarily as delicious as deep- or even shallow-fried, but it does retain a fried/roasted taste and mouth-feel whilst using as little as a tenth of the fat of frying or roasting. We know they're in demand right now, cos they keep selling out.

Tefal Actifry Genius 2in1 Air Fryer | Sale price 270 | Was 300| Save 30 at AmazonThis air fryer is also a slow cooker and casserole/curry maker, with a robotic stirring paddle doing all the actual work for you while you work out. With a 1.2 kg capacity, it's very family friendly, and that dome on top is actually see-through, so you can view your dinner as it cooks.View Deal

Tefal Optigrill | Sale price 120 | Was 170 | Save 50 at VeryJust like a George Foreman grill, but without the George Foreman element, this has presets for cooking burgers, chicken, bacon, sausage, 'red meat' and fish, with a further setting for cooking food from frozen. There's 600 square centimetres of non-stick, die-cast aluminium cooking surface, and a large juice tray to catch all that fat you are now not consuming. Serves 2-4.View Deal

Another way to to eat less is to face how much we eat in general. Considering the amount of processed food we eat, it's easy to count the amount of caloriesand macronutrients (lipids[fat]/carbs/protein) we consume by using apps that scan barcodes of food items and does the adding up for us.

The best known of these apps is MyFitnessPal, but there are many other apps that can do the same thing. Garmin watches can integrate with it o you can see calories consumed vs calories burned on your wrist. Fitbit does a similar thing with its Fitbit Premium service. You can currently grab a free, three-month trial of Fitbit Premium, which should hopefully belong enough

By realising just how many calories are in certain food items we eat, we can make more educated decisions about snacking in the future. Can you eat a box of Jaffa cakes in one sitting? That's 450 'bad' calories consumed and to burn it off, you would have to do an hour of HIIT workouts. Which you probably won't.

Fitbit Versa 2 | Sale price 159.99 | Was 199.99 | Save 40 at AmazonThe Fitbit Versa 2 is always getting price cuts and is currently 40 off at Amazon UK. See below for the best prices in your country. The stylish Versa 2 features advanced cardio tracking as well as step and sleep tracking, and has Alexa built in. It's not got GPS but, of course, you don't need that indoors anywayView Deal

Fitbit Charge 3 | was 149.99 | now 89.99 at AmazonThe new Fitbit Charge 4 with GPS will be on sale shortly but as we noted, if you are concerned with activity and avoiding weight gain at home, that is less useful. So why not try to snap up one of the remaining stocks of the Charge 3 at a knockdown price instead? If you're outside the UK, see below for the best prices for Fitbits near you!View Deal

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Even if you don't want to swap out Mars bars for kale and broccoli, you can drastically reduce calorie consumption by only eating in a certain time-window a day. Probably the most popular way is to do intermittent fasting. There are two ways to go about it: either the 5:2 diet or the 16:8 fast diet.

With the 5:2 diet, you restrict calorie intake for two days a week, down to 700-800 calories, while for the rest of the weeks you eat normally. The 16:8 diet is a daily fast, where you eat only in an 8-hour window. With the latter, the most convenient way is to fast while you sleep: have your last meal at around 8 pm, and have the next one at 12 pm the next day. This way, you sleep through most of the fats, making it super easy to do so. Well, somewhat easier anyway.

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Drinking more water is beneficial for a lot of reasons and now that we are all grounded in our homes, people can't really use the usual excuse not to drink more, which is "I'll need to go to the toilet more often", since the loo is really always available at home (we hope so anyway).

Drinking plenty of water can help metabolism and, most importantly, it can also help you feel fuller for longer. The best combination is eating more fibrous food more vegetables, mainly and drinking plenty of water. Cold-pressed bars are okay as a snack too with lots of water, although they are by nature quite high in sugar.

Low-sugar protein bars and savoury snacks like beef or vegan jerky are a great alternative to chocolate bars as a mid-afternoon snack. Nuts are okay although they are very energy dense (high in good fats) so you should only eat a small portion at the time.

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Although we are stuck indoors, having a fitness tracker or running watch around your wrist can still be beneficial. One of the more casual feature of these fitness wearables is the 'movement reminder' that prompts you, once every hour, to get up and walk for a bit. Now, being in isolation doesn't help but getting off from the sofa periodically can be beneficial for your overall wellbeing nevertheless, even if it is just to have a stretch or to put away some washing.

Fitness trackers and running watches also measure calories burned so you it can adjust your calorie consumption to your calorie expenditure. These devices are not ultra precise but they will give you a good estimate nevertheless.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music 249 | Was 349 at Wiggle | Save 100|Not the best Forerunner watch perhaps, but the 645 Music is an excellent deal at this price. Offering advanced calorie tracking as well as expert analysis of your steps, cardio, running, cycling and sleep, this Garmin watch has long battery life and looks great. It also doubles as a smartwatch, with alerts for messages, calendar appointments etc.View Deal

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SIXPAD Abs Fit 2 | Buy it for 222 at AmazonAs used by Cristiano Ronaldo, no less, this is certainly not going to help you avoid weight gain on its own, but it could help add the finishing touches to your six-pack, if your home weight-loss drive is really successful. Amazon also sells all manner of abs belts by brands we have never heard of, for about 20. Needless to say we dont recommend these.View Deal

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Just like fitness trackers, bathroom scales the smart scale variety can also measure energy expenditure and tell you how many calories you burn, as well as other deets about your body, like bone/muscle mass and, most importantly, body fat percentage. They don't even cost the earth either: the Tanita BC-401 body composition monitor is less than 80 and measures 10 different body metrics. Cheaper than getting a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro, for sure, although the Tanita BC-401 won't be that much of a help when it comes to navigating forest trails, unlike the Garmin's offline topographic maps.

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HIIT workouts have never really gone out of fashion but they are definitely 'in' at the moment, mainly because they are an effective way to burn calories and can be done indoors, using your bodyweight only, a kettlebell, dumbbells, treadmills, exercise bikes, rowing machines and basically everything you can think off. We have seen a gym water bottle tabata workout before, too.

Should you be considering doing HIIT workouts, we have an article about why should you try HIIT and also an ever expanding list of free apps and online workouts that can help you get started. Or you can follow along Joe Wicks' daily HIIT workouts for kids on Youtube as well.

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Best way to motivate yourself to move more and therefore to burn more calories more efficiently is set up a challenge for yourself. Although you can't leave the house for leisure activities but you still have plenty of options. How about a 30-day push up challenge? Start with doing one on day one and adding one more every day and see if you can keep up with the pace.

Have you got a pull up bar? How about learning how to do pull ups properly? Or mastering chin ups. Don't know what the difference is? Here is a handy article on the subject: chin up vs pull up which one is better for you? If you have an ab wheel knocking about somewhere in the house, you can challenge yourself to actually learn how to use roller properly.

Maybe you can improve your mobility? Improving hamstring flexibility can be quite challenging for some but being more flexible can improve your general comfort levels significantly. Shoulder mobility is also a massive issue among the adult population: get some resistance bands and do two-arm shoulder circles.

How about making your feet more flexible? Having flexible toes can improve balance and alleviate some back problems too. There is an excellent article on the subject at Vivobarefoot: engage your feet with a spot of toega (as in toe-yoga). While you are at it, get a pair of their shoes too, they are light and super responsive too.

Link:
How to lose weight at home and avoid weight gain: 7 tips and essential equipment for home weight loss - T3

Until recently, being catapulted into a health crisis was typically a solitary affair. Even if you had the privilege ofgreatsupport and help, you still got sick on your own. You searched for a treatment plan on your own. You kept all the other plates in your life spinning on your own. Now, of course, we're all a facingcatastrophicillness together, learning what it feels like when the ground gives way under our feet. Which is why we can learn a few things from those who've been there.

"The prologue is typical of women like me," author and musician Sarah Ramey writes in her new memoir. "A simple and innocuous medical event often with a gyro or gastro tilt that should have resolved simply, but didn't." Foryearsafter a seemingly minor infection and procedure for it,Ramey was living inside the identity of a chronically ill woman one for whom doctors had no answers, except that perhaps her symptoms were psychological in their roots.

"The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness"is Ramey's account of her quest for answers in a healthcare system that is often antagonistic to patients, especially female ones. She chronicles the wearying toll of pain andthe frustration of trying to get a test deemed "an indulgence."And she also explores the meteoric rise in "unnamed" conditions that affect millions of women searching for causes and possible solutions. Salon spoke to Ramey recently about her decade-long odyssey, and her hopes for the post-pandemic healthcare landscape.

Tell me about how you became a full-time patient.

The way it began with me was with a botched surgery that set off two major problems. One was a mechanical problem from the botching of the surgery. The other was the true mystery part of it: being extremely tired, muscles aching all the time, digestive system shutting down. I had been completely healthy and really active prior to this,and then all of a sudden just extremely sick for no clear reason.

My parents are both physicians, so for the firstyear I was ferried around to the best possible minds to evaluate what was going on. "Why is she in so much pain? Why is she sick all the time?" In the beginning, everybody took it quite seriously. A lot of them knew me. They knew that I wasa normal, active young lady, and all of a sudden I was very sick. Of course, something had to be very wrong.

But as they ran all the tests and looked foreverything any smart physician could think of and everything came back negative, a new diagnosis started to emerge. One urologist who had just performed this really horrible procedure took me into his office with my parents. Instead of talking to me, he looks at my parents and says, "You know, this test was negative. What I really think is going on here, like so many other young women her age, is this problem is psychological."

That was the first time that that happened. Then that would happen hundreds of times after that. In the absence of being able to understand what was going on, it became everyone's easiest way to think about it it must be some sort of psychosomatic issue. This is extremely common; I would say default.It's not that women come in and arealways dismissed out of hand. It's that when the tests come back negative, then the default in my experience and the hundreds of women that I've interviewed is, "If we can't figure it out with the tests that we have available, then it must be psychological."

This started for me in 2003. I was completely unaware thatwas a phenomenon. I really trusted medicine. I really felt very safe in the medical world. But then about two years into it I metsomebody like me.I callpeople like us WOMIs "a woman with a mysterious illness."

She was telling me the story of her experience in the medical world, and it was a carbon copy of mine. I felt like, this is a miracle.After that, I started to meet so many women. Thesymptoms are not always the same. But the story is exactly the same. Once they're not able to figure it out and usually it's in the same family of neuroendocrine immune problems then the assumption is that it's psychosomatic.

There's a phrase you use "the marginalization of mystery illness." It becomes, "We can't figure it out, so you're wrong. The disappointment is not on us, it's on you."

Yes. And this is such a strange moment to be talking aboutanything wrong with medicine or with doctors, because right now doctors are doing the thing that we all love and revere and respect about doctors. I really appreciate everything that doctors do. But there are some real problems in the system that I do think have to do with the unconscious biases a lot of physicians have towards,probably any marginalized person, but definitely women. I think both men and women, male and female physicians,learn that women are these nervous Nellies. It's important to understand that's a problem in the psyche of the physician; it's not a problem in the psyche of the patient. The power dynamic is so unbalanced. That's a really difficult position to be in, because you don't have the ability to make them not think that and make them treat you appropriately and make them fund the study of your disease.

The inherent patriarchal nature of medicine is certainly not new. Our American healthcare system was designed to treat male patients. The male body is the default. Yetnow there is this explosion of women reporting similarsymptoms. It isverymuch a younger female issue. What do you think isat the root of that?

The first thingis that nobody can say because so little research has been put into studying those problems. They don't get studied as physiologic, biomedical problems. There's no data. That's why they're mysterious. It's not because they are impossible to understand; it's because they haven't been studied almost at all.

I do think of the people that have been looking at this and have been taking this seriously for a long time, there are two camps that have a lot of overlap. Personally, I think the best theory is that we've made a lot of changes to our everyday lives. We have really changed our diets. We take so many antibiotics and then eat a diet that inherently imbalances our microbiome. We know that has real neuro inflammatory effects. It can inflame what's called the microglia, which is part of the central nervous system. They think that is part of what is driving some of these neuro and endocrine problems in people like me. But it's complicated.

It's sort of the opposite of a virus that comes in out of nowhere. It's instead what happens when you really disrupt the foundations of everyday, likewhen you disrupt the diet and how much you move around and how much social connection you have and how much you sleep. All things that we think of as soft and unimportant or whatever,actually really do have cumulative effects.

I talk about something called functional medicine. Functional medicine really talks about how we've changed our diet, the amount that we move around, our social connection, these things that really have an impact. Also the amount of chemicals that we use in an everyday way, and in an acute way.

Over the course of time, it does appear these things that we've changed measurably, radically in the last 60, 70 yearsare having an effect on our health. We can see it clearly with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, the metabolic diseases. That's much more visible. But over on what I would call the neuroendocrine immune branch of the chronic illness tree that we're growing autoimmunity, all these gut problems, irritable bowel, endocrine problems, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and all of the neuro inflammatory problems like chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgiathose I think are also growing out into the same underlying problem of disrupting the microbiome, of changing the diet, etc.

These neuroendocrine immune problems, one theory is that it has so much to do with how all these things are stressing the body. And one major difference between the male body and the female body is the stress response. It's different. The female stress response is more sensitive to some of these more subtle changes in the environment, probably having to do with, if you're the body that has to carry new life into the world, you need to be sensitive to the environment around you. That's one theory about this, and you can't brush it all off because it's going toaffect this super fragile, new life in your body. The theory is that the female is sort of the canary in the coal mine here that's responding to all of these changes that we've made.

The problem is because the female is responding first and we don't study or particularly care about the female response, that it's just being ignored. It's allowing this huge problem to balloon. It's going completely unstudied and and dismissed, even though there are so many people that are suffering and dealing with all of these problems.

It's very clear that just in the past couple of years a community has arisen over these symptoms. Yet there is a lot of false information out there, a lot of misinformation,a lot of snake oil. There is hope for the medical community, but in the meantime, what would you say to women who are experiencing these mysterious illnesses?

This is a very imperfect suggestion, but there is almost no help for people like this in conventional medicine.You will just be treated really poorly if you try to go from doctor to doctor to doctor waiting for someone to take you seriously and help you. I wish it wasn't true, but thatreally is true. So what happens is you have to defect outside of conventional medicine into quote, "alternative medicine," which is just a jungle. [There are] so many differentmodalities, and everyone telling you that they can cure you and help you and heal you. So what I always recommend to people is at least starting with and reading aboutfunctional medicine.

The reason is that I think functional medicine is the group of practitioners in alternative medicine who have shifted through all the bulls**t, and have left the most evidence based and the most clinically evidentthings that peopleare seeing are working for the largest number of people. It's like a filter for all of the nonsense. It's not a perfect filter, but it's one filter. Functional medicine practitioners, I think, are offering currently some of the best therapies. Just asa baseline, they are going to look at what's going on in your gut, which I personally think is very important. They are going to help use what's available to modulate the gut microbiome, which is a diet and sometimes herbs and things like that.

It may be in a couple of years that conventional medicine is just going to give you a fecal transplant and that's it. But right now we don't have that. So you have some of these more quote "alternative" ways of manipulating the gut microbe, That's why I would start with functional medicine. If you have really severe chronic fatigue syndrome or really severe mystery illness or really severe Lyme, there are some centers like the Center for Complex Diseases, the Bateman Horne Center. Stanford has a myalgic encephalomyelitis, which is the other name for chronic fatigue syndrome, [initiative]. Those are also worth looking at.

It's just thatthere are millions of us. That's why I don't usually recommend like specific centers. Functional medicine is more widely available.The problem is you can't guarantee the quality of a functional medicine doctor. You don't know if they're going to be a Yahoo or not. I do think that this is like the best of a really imperfect, cobbled together system that is doing its best to try to help people like us. But it's better than being told that you're crazy and it's better than saying, "Oh you're severely ill. Let me just put some crystals on your forehead and I'll give you some lavender oil." That just drives me crazy, when somebody is really sick and somebody that's gone to a training over the weekend is advertising that they can help you. The reason I suggest functional medicine is, I think out of all of it, it's doing the best to sift through the wheat from the chaff.

What is it like for someone like you right now living through this pandemic? There isan increasingly large population of people who are going to get this virus. We certainly see here in New York city that thepeople who are becoming infected and becoming very sick are young. Surprisingly young. I am curious what it feels like to you and to the people that you've been talking to, watching this, and what you're doing to cope.

I am going to give you an honest answer here, which is that I think everybody in this community and people like me feels very similarly to everybody else. This isa catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in every direction. And it's just horrifying. A lot of people in the chronic illness community are doing wonderful things tohelp other people cope with being homebound suddenly and learning to live the way that we've done for a long time.I really admire that. But I feel that it is very difficult.

When I was homebound or bedridden for long periods of time, there were a lot of people in my life who said me, "You are so lucky. I wish I could work from home. It's just so hard being out in the world and being so busy all of the time. Lucky you." Or when I when I wasn't able to work, people would just say, "Oh, you'll find something. It's fine. Just look on the bright side. Everything will be fine."

To watch so many people struggling with being homebound, watching their job go up in smoke, suddenly feelingon the the brink of economic ruin and watching the government not doing enough, not having enough tests, having no tests, all of these things are the things that people in my community have been suffering with for decades, and being told that we're making it up, that it's just a hallucination. It's wild to watch suddenly everyone having almost a carbon copy experience of how horrifying it is. It's just what everybody is describing, as a tsunami that'sgenuinely threatening to sweep your whole life away, and how horrifying that is.

I hope this shared experience of how bad that actually iscan open up, after all of this is done, a better conversation about the lives of people in my community that have been dealing with a lot of these same components for a really long time. And maybe allow people to be a little bit more empathetic and helpful as we move forward.

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Mystery illnesses are on the rise with women, whom doctors are dismissing as "nervous Nellies" - Salon

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