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Sep 12

The mindset and 3 basic workout moves NBA star Zion Williamson used to stay fit during the pandemic – CNBC

Zion Williamson's rookie season with the NBA has been far from typical.

The New Orleans Pelicans star, who signed a $44 million contract with the team after being selected as the NBA's No. 1 overall draft pick in 2019, missed the first 43 games of the season after having knee surgery. Then Covid-19 hit and the NBAshut downto prevent the spread of the virus from March 11 to July 30.

But Williamson, 20, said, he got through it by learning "remain patient" and focus his energy on his long term goals: getting healthy and playing basketball again.

Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans goes up for a shot against Jakob Poeltl of the San Antonio Spurs during the second half at HP Field House at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 9, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Pool | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

"[M]y mom taught me growing up to be grateful for everything," Williamson told Men's Healthin a story published Wednesday."Even though I was hurt and not playing, the bigger picture was: I am going to play again."

With that in mind, while quarantining amid the pandemic, Williamson said he focused on simple workouts to keep himself in shape. "Believe it or not, pushups and sit ups," he told Men's Health. "And a lot of running."

Williamson also played basketball twice a day and didstrength, flexibility and conditioning work with a trainer.

As for diet, the 284-pound, 6-foot-6-inch tall star let his mom, Sharonda Sampson, handle that. Sampson adjusted her southern cooking style for her son by taking out all the bacon and sauces and including more salmon dishes, she told Men's Health.

The experience of Williamson's unusual season also made him think about his life's motto, which he got from fellow NBA star Lebron James: "Nothing is given. Everything is earned."

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What NFL MVP Lamar Jackson is doing to stay mentally tough during self-quarantine

Ex-NFL star Herschel Walker on what Donald Trump taught him during their 37-year friendship

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The mindset and 3 basic workout moves NBA star Zion Williamson used to stay fit during the pandemic - CNBC


Sep 9

Honey bee nutrition might be key to healthy populations | AgriLife Today – AgriLife Today

A newly funded Texas A&M AgriLife Research project seeks to slow population losses among more than 2.6 million managed honey bee colonies in the U.S.

Honey bees provide pollination services that uphold $16 billion in U.S. agricultural crops. However, managed colonies have seen annual declines. Those include a 40% decline as recently as 2018-2019, said Juliana Rangel, Ph.D, AgriLife Research honey bee scientist in the Department of Entomology, Bryan-College Station.

The declines are attributed to several general issues, including poor nutrition and susceptibility to pathogens and diseases, said Pierre Lau, AgriLife Research graduate assistant, and a Texas A&M University doctoral candidate in Rangels laboratory.

Lau is also the project leader. To prevent future managed colony losses, his team will look for ways to strengthen bee colony immunity to disease pathogens by feeding them more nutritious diets.

The project is supported by a U.S. Department of Agriculture pre-doctoral fellowship titled Optimizing Macronutrient Contents in the Honeybee Diet as a Mechanism for Pathogen Defense.

The research team includes Lau, Texas A&M graduate student Alexandria Payne, undergraduate students Cora Garcia and Jordan Gomez, along with Rangel. Spencer Behmer, Ph.D., AgriLife Research professor in the Texas A&M department of entomology, is also part of the team, as is his postdoctoral research associate Pierre Lesne, Ph.D.

Researchers will place heavy focus on macronutrients, which are those nutrients in the highest demand by a healthy body for proper metabolism and physiology, Lau said.

His teams work will be to first understand the varying amounts of proteins and lipids, or macronutrient ratios, present in bees diets. They will work to optimize an ideal diet with varying ratios of macronutrients, then they will observe physiological benefits to bees that receive increasingly nutritious dietary mixes.

Commercial honey bee colonies succumb especially to Nosema ceranae and deformed wing virus. Nosema ceranae, a fungal pathogen, causes a fatal intestinal disease, while deformed wing virus causes death due to developmental complications in heavily infected adults, particularly due to crumpled wings.

Besides pathogens and diseases, Lau said, honey bee declines within agroecosystems which describe most agricultural crop scenarios can also come from parasitization, poor queen health, pesticide exposure and landscape fragmentation.

As such, in addition to immunity, the researchers will investigate how nutritional changes affect expression of genes that mediate proper honey bee development and growth.

We know that pollen is the most important source of nourishment for bees, but as a field of research, we have a poor understanding of all the macronutrients that make up pollen, Lau said.

At the same time, Lau and collaborators, in an unpublished study, were able to determine the nutritional content of certain pollens. In the same study, they noted that honey bees preferred pollen with a lower ratio of protein to lipids, or P:L ratio, than what would be currently available in the beekeeping industry. Moreover, Lau said, existing research shows that organisms naturally seek out pathogen-fighting nutrients in their surroundings.

Does this mean that honey bees can alter their macronutrient intake to self-medicate and increase their tolerance to a pathogen, given the availability? Lau said. It could also be that the role of lipids is more significant than we understand.

Additionally, Rangel said, honey bees need certain plants in the vicinity to help them with physiological processes. Those include metabolizing certain macro and micronutrients. What if those plants are not available in a crop system?

We know that honey bees need variety in their diet, Rangel said. But, to what extent are certain nutrients required, or even sought after, by the bees for proper nourishment?

Can we introduce supplemental macronutrients that allow honey bees to self-medicate in the presence of pathogen infections? Lau added. This will be our focus for the next two years.

Read more about the Texas A&M Honey Bee Research Program online, and follow Rangels lab on Facebook.

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Honey bee nutrition might be key to healthy populations | AgriLife Today - AgriLife Today


Sep 9

Diet by DNA: How tech is changing what it means to eat healthy – The Globe and Mail

As Marina Giokas sails the Strait of Georgia off the southwestern coast of B.C., her phone rings. Despite being on the high seas, the West Vancouver communications and finance consultants cell signal is clear as a bell.

Youve got to love technology, she quips.

Giokas means that in more ways than one. Since 2018, Giokas has depended on nutrigenomics the way genes interact with different foods and nutrients to personalize her diet.

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Since taking a DNA test through Vancouver company dnaPower Inc., Giokas has been using the companys resulting personalized report to discover the best diet for her genetic makeup.

It goes deep, she says of the service. Its about what your body does not tolerate and what it needs more of.

Marina Giokas, pictured here with her boat in West Vancouver, uses a personalized nutrigenomics report to guide her diet choices.

Darryl Dyck / THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Giokas now eats more fruit and vegetables, washing them thoroughly to remove any pesticides or chemicals. And shes said goodbye to supplements. Instead, Giokas has replaced them with the B vitamins the report said she needed.

After a tough year of treatment for breast cancer in 2017/2018, shes hoping these simple changes to her diet and exercise regime will keep her feeling healthier.

Personalized diet and wellness plans based on DNA have grown in popularity in recent years as Canadians look for new, tech-savvy ways to improve their health. According to Statistics Canada, 63.1 per cent of Canadians are now considered either overweight or obese.

Health experts have long known that a one-size-fits-all approach to diet doesnt work. One person might drop 20 pounds on a high fat diet or low carb diet, while the scales needle doesnt budge for someone else who eats the same foods. So how can we know in advance which side of the equation someone will land on?

Clients of dnaPower Inc. receive a swab to collect their DNA, then send it back through the mail.

Darryl Dyck / THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Lois Nahirney, president and founder of dnaPower, says she gets asked that question all the time, particularly in relation to the popular low-carb, high-fat Ketogenic diet. When people ask her if its right for them, she responds, It depends.

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Im looking at a report right now that shows this person has a problem with dietary saturated fats. Thats someone who would have some challenges on a Keto diet, she explains. Based on this persons DNA, the company would likely recommend eating unsaturated fats found in flaxseed oil, hemp seed and walnuts. Leafy greens would get a thumbs up too, while dairy and fatty meats would go on the no-no list.

The idea behind nutrigenomics is that by understanding your unique DNA, you can match your diet choices to how your body processes nutrients. For example, research has linked specific genes, or groups of genes, to conditions like lactose sensitivity, food allergies, gluten intolerance and caffeine sensitivity. Nutrigenomics may reveal that someone should stay away from too much coffee, eat more healthy fats or specific vitamin-rich foods, for example.

Taking a DNA test is as easy as sticking a swab in your cheek and then mailing it back, says Nahirney. Results still come back within two to six weeks, and clients then can go over the results with a dnaPower dietitian. The cost is $299. (DNA-based reports addressing other wellness areas like exercise and brain health are also available for an added fee.)

Lois Nahirney, founder and CEO of dnaPOWER, at her home office in Vancouver.

Darryl Dyck / THE GLOBE AND MAIL

dnaPower is only one of many companies using biometric readings to create targeted health and diet plans. Theres DNAfit from the U.K. which provides everything from sleep and stress reports to personalized diets and meal plans. Milwaukee, WI-based GenoPalate offers personalized recipes built from clients genetic results, and Torontos Nutrigenomix promises a way to eat according to your genes.

But the question for most potential clients might be: Does it work?

Kristin Kirkpatrick, a registered dietitian and wellness manager for the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, says she has seen firsthand how personalized nutrigenomic testing has helped patients commit to their diet once they understand which diets and exercise programs may work best for them. Some have switched from a Keto diet to a Mediterranean-based one. Others have swapped resistance training for more aerobic exercise.

Still, while DNA testing for wellness offers the potential for addressing more serious health conditions in the future, theres more research to be done first, she says.

Though DNA-based diets are trending and gaining valuable evidence through studies, we are not ready for prime time quite yet for recommending to all populations, she says, mentioning that people may also be unable to afford genetic testing since it is not typically covered by insurance.

But Giokas is glad she took the plunge and shelled out for the test, even if she falls off the wagon from time to time, tempted by cheese and popcorn. Having her DNA-based health plan gives her the motivation to get back on track.

Im amazed just how simple it is to take control of your health once you have the information, she says.

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Diet by DNA: How tech is changing what it means to eat healthy - The Globe and Mail


Sep 9

Tim Tebow Started the Keto Diet After Seeing His NFL Teammates Become Freaks of Nature – Sportscasting

Fans must wonder if there is anything Tim Tebow cant do? Hes played in both the NFL and MLB. Somehow, hes managed to find the time to write a few NYT bestselling books, run his nonprofit, and get married. Tebow is also a fitness celebrity and a strong advocate of the keto diet, with his hashtag #GoKetoWithTebow.

RELATED: Peyton Manning Kept Tim Tebow From Being a Successful NFL QB

In an interview with WebMDs Coronavirus in Context series, Tebow shared that hes been living the keto lifestyle since late 2011. He was first introduced to the strict diet by his fellow NFL players. He saw what it did for them, calling these guys freaks in a good way and noting their lifting, and running, and strength. Tebow started following the now-popular high-fat, low-carb diet and hasnt looked back.

While Tebow may have started keto for athletic reasons, hes stayed on it because of personal ones his family. In the same interview, Tebow explained, I want to be around one day to have grandkids, and go out in the yard and play ball with them.

While there are no little Tebows yet, fans are no doubt eager for Tim and his wife, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, a former Miss Universe and Miss South Africa, to start a family. The couple got married in January 2020 in Nel-Peters native South Africa.

The timing of their wedding meant that they spent their first few months of as newlyweds in quarantine. Its been like a prolonged honeymoon, joked Tebow when the couple spoke with E! Online.

His dad, Bob, is another reason he wants to stay and adheres to the keto diet. In a 2016 People interview, Tebow revealed that his father has Parkinsons disease. The diagnosis was difficult for Tebow, and he tries to spend as much time as he can with his dad. The two are close, with Tebow saying, I love being around him. Despite his diagnosis, Bob is still active with the charity he founded, Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association.

In his WebMD interview, Tebow also shared what he discovered about Parkinsons disease and eating a high-fat, low-carb diet:

There are so many correlations[,] what I was doing with keto, and what was bad for Parkinsons[.] Too many carbohydrates are just poison for you, and how your brain, it so wants to have good fats I said, You know what, this isnt just something I want to do for sports. Its something I want to do for a lifestyle.'

RELATED: Tom Bradys Diet Would Be a Disaster for Regular People

Tebow isnt the only retired NFL player to go low-carb. Former Cleveland Brown Joe Thomas credits keto, along with intermittent fasting, with staying fit after retirement. So how exactly does the keto diet work?

Harvard Medical School reports that for followers of the keto diet, approximately 80% of their calories come from fat, 10% from carbohydrates, and 10% from protein. For many people, this means their carb intake is strictly limited, between 20 and 50 grams daily. When carbs arent available to burn as fuel, the body begins burning fat in a state called ketosis.

Keto isnt the only specialty diet that current and retired NFL players adhere to stay fit year-round. Tom Brady follows the TB12, avoiding gluten, caffeine, sugars, and dairy. Former tight end Tony Gonzalez also foregoes dairy and most red meat, opting for a diet rich in fish, chicken, and fruits and vegetables.

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Tim Tebow Started the Keto Diet After Seeing His NFL Teammates Become Freaks of Nature - Sportscasting


Sep 9

Rachel Hollis Diet Is All About Intuitive Eating And Staying Energized – Women’s Health

ICYMI, best-selling author, podcast host, and entrepreneur Rachel Hollis has a lot of fans. Like, we're talking 1.8 million Instagram followers. Casual.

Unsurprisingly, Rachel is busy. (Did I mention she just launched an appcalled The RISE Apptoo?) Her secret to staying energized through it all? Good food, of course!

I want to eat foods that bless my body, Rachel tells Women's Health. Saying it like this helped me to get out of the way I was raised, which was thinking of food as good or bad and punishing myself if I ate something bad.

Basically, this means that Rachel tries to eat intuitively, opting for whatever she feels will give her the strength she needs to carry about her day. Growing up, I developed really unhealthy approaches to food, like emotional eating and binge-eating, and no consciousness about the way food affected our bodies," she says. Now, I try to pay attention. I ask: How does this food make me feel? Does it give me energy?

For Rachel, this means a happier, healthier relationship with foodand all of the benefits that go along with it.

I hate diets because diets are all about restrictions, she explains. I think the easiest thing that you can do if youre trying to make a change in your nutrition or health is to add something, not subtract it.

Feelin inspired? Heres what a typical day of Rachels eatsfrom breakfast to dessertlooks like.

Rachel is the definition of an early-riser. She gets up at 4:30 a.m. in the morning so that she can read, have her coffee, and journal before the kiddos wake. Around 6:30 or 7 a.m., she drinks some natural pre-workout (she loves a brand called Natural Force) and then gets in a sweat, which usually involves a run.

Then, an hour or two later, after showering and checking on her kids, its time for breakfast. Its always a green smoothie with almond milk, hemp, flax, natural almond butter, collagen protein powder, and spinach. Rachel says. Yum!

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Recently, Rachel has gone the grazing route, opting for a few hearty snacks throughout the day instead of one big lunch.

My favorite snacks are green apples, almonds, and almond butter. Ive got Justins nut butters in just about every flavor, she says. I also love RXBARs. (She digs their simple, transparent ingredients.)

Another favorite: protein overnight oats with berries.

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She also munches on tons of veggies, and she says she feels best when she eats raw foods.

Rachels other staple throughout the day is hydration. I drink water like it's my job, she says. Im a long-distance runner, and its 100 degrees in Texas, so I have to make sure Im hydrating. To give her H2O a boost, Rachel adds sugar-free electrolytes called LYTEshow, which she says give her water a yummy lemon-y flavor.

Organic Apple Ginger Pre-Workout

$39.99

Chocolate Sea Salt Protein Bar

RXBARamazon.com

Classic Peanut Butter

$5.94

Sugar-Free Electrolytes

$19.95

Come dinnertime, Rachel likes to sip on a lil cocktail (her fave is vodka in La Croix) while she cooks. Im not going to pretend that I dont have cocktails, she says. Straight whiskey, vodka, and tequila are my only go-tos, though. I really tried to get on the White Claw bandwagon, but my body cant do it.

What exactly dinner looks like, though, varies depending on whether Rachel has kiddos to feed (they live with her for half of each week). When shes solo, she keeps it super simple with a protein like steak, chicken, and fish with a side of veggies. If her children are with her, though, she makes the same thing, plus some sort of carb (like pasta), too.

They had spaghetti last night, so I had spaghetti too, she explains. I dont want my kids to see me prepare a full meal for them while I eat something different, she says. I think that sort-of says that theres something wrong with what theyre eating.

Whether Rachel is eating out or at home, her love for sweets is strong.

Baked goods are my favorite, she says. I love cake. I love cookies.

Though she also loves dairy-based treats, too, she doesnt stomach them too well anymore. I love things like ice cream and banana pudding, but they dont end well for anybody. So, to save her tum, she limits these to special occasions. Same, girl. Same.

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Rachel Hollis Diet Is All About Intuitive Eating And Staying Energized - Women's Health


Sep 9

Consumers Turn to Plant-Based Foods During the Pandemic – The Beet

As we round the corner on month seven of life during a pandemic, a few lasting truths appear to be emerging: One is that we need to adopt better hygiene, since frequent hand-washing and wearing masks can stop the spread of the virus. The other is that we need to eat better, and if the industry forecasters are correct, American consumers are vastly embracingmore plant-based foods and leaving animal products out of their carts, as awareness about where our food comes from has grown. Americans are choosing healthier food, as well as that which won't impact the planet, and they care more about the way their food is processed.

This new plant-based food trend is driven by flexitarians more than strictly vegan approach since more people are adding plants to their plate than swearing off all animal products. But sales of plant-based foods have outpaced other categories by more than five to one and sales of meatless meat rose 35 percent since the pandemic buying spree began.

If there is a small silver lining to this lastinghealth crisis, it's that we are taking better care of our health by eating fewer animal products and choosing more plant-based options. Since the start of the pandemic, 23 percent more Americans are consuming more plant-based foods, and the sales of plant-based meats is expected to top $1 billion for the first time ever this year, according to the Good Food Institute which reports on trends of plant-based eating. Meanwhile, sales of meat and poultry are down for the first time in six years.

That kind of consumer awareness could just lead to longer life spans in this country, as a shift toward a more plant-based diet is known to be healthier, linked to lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity (and related diseases), hypertension, and cancer.A plant-based diet has also been shown to be helpful in losing unwanted weight.

Ryan Andrews, MS, RD, Principal Nutritionist and Advisor for Precision Nutrition, and author of Drop the Fat and Live Lean, A Guide to Plant-Based Eatingwho works to coach clients on how to switch to healthier habits and adopt plant-based nutrition, has seen a shift in awareness among consumers about where their food comes from, and a desire to eat cleaner, leaner and have less impact on the environment with the choices they make.

"There has been a big shift, especially since the pandemic, in how people are eating," Andrews said when I interviewed him on the topic ofnutrition choices during a pandemic. "People are starting to think about where their food comes from. And if you think about where food comes from, it's going to lead you to a more plant-based diet. Because animal productsare terrible for you, terrible for the planet, and terrible for animals."

Andrewsadds that more people now "have the bandwidth' to pay attention to where their food originates, or is processed, and how that affects their health and the planet. This was due in large part to the myriadstories about thousands of meat plant workers who in May and June were getting sick from COVID-19, in hotspots across 39 states, that forcedthe closure of meat plants. Consumers reacted by turning away from animal products to try plant-based meats instead.

"This has been a pivotal moment and a chance for people to start to think about where their food is coming from," says Andrews. That might only go as far as: 'I wonder who is touching my food?' and 'Is it going to make me sick?' and 'Could I get coronavirus from my food?' " (A recent study found that coronavirus can live for up to three weeks frozen on meat, but so far no confirmed incidents of coronavirus being spread on food have been reported.)

"Different people and different groups are coming at it from different angles," Andrews continues. "To say people are thinking about farms and animals is a stretch, so it's not about that necessarily. But anything that gets people thinking about food and where it comes is a positive thing."

During the pandemic, celebrities have expressed the importance of plant-based eating for the sake of human health and the planetas well as to put an end to animal crueltyand Lewis Hamilton, the Formula 1 driver who is an outspoken advocate of plant-based eating, just announced he will be racing in a new series of cross countryraces in a partnership with Electronic E, the sustainable electric car company, on terrain that has been most dramatically affected by climate change, to raise awareness of what people can do to help slow or turn back the global warming and climate change crisis.

"It's interesting that now, months after the pandemic first hit, there is definitely a higher level of awareness about what is happening on the planet and how our diets connect to that," says Andrews. In his book he said there were more people who believe they've seen signs of alien life in the universe than have chosen to eat a strictly vegan diet. So the growth is not about pure veganism as a way of life, but about adding plant-based foods for health and the planet.

'I'll do an informal survey when I speak to a group about nutrition and ask: Who cares about the animals? And 100 percent say they do. But when it comes to investigating where their food comes from, and the impact their food choices have on their health and the planet,it's a smaller group since they are aware of the impact food has on animals and the planet but they are not all ready to give up all their favorite foods. It's easier to add plant-based foods instead, so that's where I encourage people to begin," he adds.

"Theylove the idea of just adding more and more plant-based foods to their diet, and eventually that leads to less and less animal products. I call itPositive Dietary Displacement."

This may not be popular in the vegan community, but more consumers want to eat more plant-based foods without swearing off all meat and dairy, he says, and that's what he sees when he coaches people who want to eat better. "To me, it's not a binary issue, of animal products versus no animal products.People just want to eat better to be healthy."

Some people might think, 'I need meat to be strong or healthy.' and since I don't want to dismiss anybody from the start and say that is false and it's a myth, instead I will work with them to help them understand that you can get protein from plants and you can get calcium, iron, magnesium, and all your vitamins and nutrients without needing to eat animal product. But it's an educationwhen I start working with people, and individuals come with a set idea of what they need.

"Everything from genetics to digestion to food preference comes to play. Individuals walk in with their own preconceived ideas of what they want or need to eat, and there is nuance to helping them give up foods they are used to eating. Maybe some people need one thing or another [to start]. Then they learn about how plant-based eating is healthier and they are ready to move more in that direction," he adds.

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Consumers Turn to Plant-Based Foods During the Pandemic - The Beet


Sep 9

Neman: Where I stopped reading the email – STLtoday.com

Where I stopped reading the email:

In these unprecedented times, we are all feeling additional stress, from concerns about catching a frightening disease to wondering how we are going to educate our children as we work from home. And that is why it is especially important now, more than ever, to look after ourselves, slow down and take the time to think about artichokes

How was your weekend? I hope you are staying healthy!

It is a difficult time for us all. Studies show that Americans have gained an average of 16 pounds since the beginning of the COVID-19 virus. But our scientists at Nosuch Laboratories have been working hard on developing healthy and nutritious ways to satisfy our anxious cravings with foods that are healthy and nutritious.

Everybody loves chocolate, right? Youre probably familiar with carob, the natural chocolate substitute. Now were happy to announce the introduction of CARE-OB, a new healthy alternative to carob

Good morning! In these unprecedented times, we are all finding ways to eat right and stay healthy. Fiber is beneficial to us all, and is an important part of any diet. That is why I am superexcited to introduce our new line of cabbage-based liqueurs

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Neman: Where I stopped reading the email - STLtoday.com


Sep 9

I Had a Heart Attack at 49, Went Vegan, and It Saved my Life – The Beet

Doug Schmidt loved to eat meat and ate it every day, until at the age of 49,out of the blue, he suffered his first heart attack. "No one expects to have a heart attack at age 49," he said. In the hospital, near his home in Rochester, NY, he made the decision to follow the American Heart Association's dietary guidelines and cut way back on meat and dairy and switch to amore whole-foodplant-baseddiet. Then, just a few months later, he was sent back to the hospital barely able to breathe, and the doctors told him he could have another heart attack any minute.

After getting through that ordeal, Doug knew it was time to take matters into his own hands and not trust that the AHA had the right approach. He and his wife started doing more research while he was recuperating and found out that a plant-based dietbased on whole foods and zerooil was the healthiest way to go for someone in Doug's position: No meat, no dairy, no animal fat whatsoever. "She wanted to keep me around," he recalls. Eventually, he adopted a completely vegan diet which ended up saving his life. Within weeks of going full-on vegan, he started losing weight and his blood work improved. Every three months he checked in with his doctor and within 3 years he was completely back to normal healthy levels of cholesterol and other markers for cardiovascular disease.

All in all, changing to an oil-free whole food plant-based approachhelpedDoug lose sixty pounds and change his entire life, including changing his career path (he is still working as a school teacher) to focus more on educating others about how to start a plant-based diet of their own, for whatever their reason may be. The Beet chatted with Doug on Zoom andhe sharedhis entire journey over the past 9 years since he got healthy, including the challenges, the rewards, the motivations, theexact foods he ate to get healthy, and what inspired him along the way. Here is his play-book including the helpful movies to watch, books to read, and more.

DS:"I had a heart attack at 49, and nobody expects to get a heart attack at 49. All the research showed that if I didn't change my eating habits, I would have another heart attack within five years. Initially, I found Dr. Caldwell Esselstyns work on preventing and reversing heart disease, and at first, I said 'Thats too extreme, I'm not going to do that.'

"So the first year I followed the American Heart Association guidelines, which said I could have a little meat, I could have dairy, I could have eggs, and I ended up in the emergency room with a threat of another heart attack. After that health scare, I took things more seriously but still, the switch didnt happen overnight. It took us about three years to get fully on board. I switched my diet to save my life, but you know that there has been the added bonus of helping the environment and helping the animals, so its allowed me to walk a little softer."

DS:"Once we [my wife Shari and I] made that full conversion over to a whole-foods plant-based with no oil once we did that, all my blood work numbers came in line.

"My total cholesterol dropped down to under 150. My blood sugars all dropped in line. I lost 60 pounds, I went from 225 to 165 pounds. Once the weight started dropping off,as I consistently ate clean plant-based foods, the better my numbers got.

"I had a great doctor, who would take blood work every 3 months and he could tell if I was staying on track with my diet.My doctor would know if I hadnt lost weight, hed know if my cholesterol was still high. And as soon as I started eating properly, all those numbers came down and came in line. So it really was miraculous, once that started happening. With those health benefits, that was sort of all the encouragement I needed to keep going."

DS:"I had my heart attack just before we met, so she wanted to keep me around. So she was very instrumentalin my making theswitch. She took the E-Cornell plant-based nutrition course and she would read andsay to me:"Oh, we got to stop eating this! Oh, weve got to stop eating oil!" And I replied "Really?" But she helped me transition the most, because we did it together. She also had all the same health benefits as mI had. She lost 30 lbs and her numbers also all came in line and she felt healthier."

DS:"We really didn't see a lot of the weight loss until we hit that no oil phase. In the first week of not eating oil, she lost 5 pounds. Then it just started dropping off after that"

DS:"Pretty much every day. Dairy was definitely all throughout our diet.Pecorino Romano went into just about everything I made. Actually, when I had the heart attack, we moved to an 8-acre farm, and we decided we were going to grow a lot of our own food or as much as possible. That included raising chickens, not for the meat, but for the eggs. When we made that transition over, now we had chickens, but we werent eating the eggs. We werent going to just give those chickens away, but we weren't going to eat them either.

"So they just lived out their lives on the farm, being chickens. It was interesting to interact with them, they were great creatures to interact with. We now laugh, when we look at our pantry right now and see that it doesnt look like what it did ten years ago. The things that are in there are like, My gosh! How 'Hippy-eating, Kombucha-drinking' our pantry looks now. We just laugh."

DS:"I was a baker in a previous life. I used to be a bakery trainer for a major supermarket chain, Wegmans, before I became a teacher. So I can bake anything, from Croissants to Danish to Cakes, and I also have a sweet tooth. So that was sort of hard. I asked myself "how do you make a dessert without all that added sugar, without all the added fat or the eggs, or the dairy"? Especially because the cornerstone of most pastry is eggs, as well as butter, and dairy. So it was tough to make that change.

"Probably the hardest thing to give up was the cheese. The meat wasn't too hard, but you know, the cheese, which we used to put on everything. Andthen we had to figure out ways to get away from that taste addiction."

DS:"Oh, yes, Im still baking. For eggs and dairy, I don't think of it as substituting eggs and dairy because they serve as a certain component. Whether its eggs for a binder or for a lift in a product orfor addingfat. So, I look at things I can use instead, for fat, for binders, and for leavening. So for instance instead of fat, a lot of it now comesfrom using nuts.

"I used to make a French Pear Tart that was totally decadent, and it contained a lot of eggs, butter, and dairy in it. I make that same tart now with crushed nuts, oats, and a little maple syrup for the crust. For the filling, I use flax meal to make the typical flax egg, and thats enough to act as the binder. So I do things like that.

"I look at ways of incorporating beans to give a creaminess, not just black beans but white beans, to give creaminess in a filling. Also using those old skills and substituting non-dairy milk, I can make a simple custard that tastes just as good as the old one, but without any of the animal products. I found some workarounds for most of these things."

DS: "It hasnt changed too much. Typically I have an oat-bowl in the morning, with lots of fresh berries strawberries, blueberries, raspberriessome flaxseed, Lately, weve added [plant-based] yogurt to our breakfast mix that we make in our instant pot. For the base, we start with a soy-based yogurt as the culture, and we just use soy milk and put it in the instant-pot overnight, and the next day when you wake up, you have about 4, 5 cups of fresh yogurt. Then we also have a bowl of steamed kale with some balsamic vinegar on the side and thats breakfastand thats also basically lunch. We eat two meals a day. For dinner, it's whatever we're creating at the moment. A lot of bowls, stir-fries, soups, and salads, depending on what we're in the mood for. Right now we're preppingour second cookbook, so it's whatever we're cooking for the cookbook is what's typically for dinner."

DS:"Our first cookbook is called Eat Plants, Love: Recipes for a Good Life, and the second one that will be coming out this fall is called Eat More Plants, Recipes from the Good Life Challenge and we had some of the people who took our 10-day challenge contribute recipes to it."

DS:"Right now, were taking Complement, which is done by the guys from Plant-Based Athlete. It gives us our B-12, our D3, and also K2, which is for heart health, specifically for me. It has all the stuff we need, and it also has magnesium and other essentials. Initially, we were taking K2, D3, and B1 separately, but we figured we might as well get it all in one package."

DS:" I always tell people it is going to be hard, because you're giving up a lifetime of eating habits, so take it a bit at a time if that's the kind of person you are. Or you can just go all in. You know the first thing we tell people is that dairy is probably the most addictive and is what most people strugglewith.

"But you'll also immediately see results. We do our 10-day challenge, in which we say just do it in ten days because you can do anything for 10 days. That really gets people clean in 5 or 6 days, they feel the results. We tell people going 75%plant-based isnot giving you 100% of results. The only way you really see results is going all in.

"We also tell people,youre going to struggle, relapse, or fall off the wagon, as some people say, but it's okay, you have a chance at the next meal to eat healthily. Just keep working at it, its like any habit, you have to practice it to make it easier. And the longer you do it, the easier it gets."

DS:"One that really hit home was The Game Changers. And,Forks Over Knives of course is a good one. The one that actually made me go vegan was the one Joaquin Phoneix narrates, Earthlings. Its the movies opening with the definition of Earthlings that really made me stop and think. Its saying that it's humans arrogance to think that we're the only sentient beings on Earth.

"Any creature that lives on this Earth is a sentient being, they are all earthlings, which really hit home to me. You can't go back [to eating animal product] if you're true to your morals about animal welfare. I don't know how people can revert back."

DS:"It's that I walk a little bit more softly on the earth. Whether that's in my interactions with people or interactions with animals, I know that eating this way helps everything and everyone. It helps the environment, it helps the animals, and I know I'm not hurting anyone.

"That next step for me is to be gentle, generous, and kind, and giving that to the humans I interact with. So it is to walk softly on the earth, or gently. That sort of encompasses everything. My wife and I talk every once in a while, and we ask each other: Would you ever go back to eating certain things. For instance, I loved eggs. I loved meat, but when you think about where these things came from, and those abuses that those animals go through, you cant let go of that idea. For me, that mantra is walk softly on the earth."

Original post:
I Had a Heart Attack at 49, Went Vegan, and It Saved my Life - The Beet


Sep 9

What you need to know about grain-free dog food and possible connection to fatal heart disease – CBS17.com

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) Theres an old expression that you are what you eat, and in the case of your dogwhat he or she eats may be causing them to develop a fatal disease.

When it comes to dogs, grain-free diets are a big thing, but there are real concerns about grain-free dog diets.

Grain-Free its a market that food makers are capitalizing on. It includes food as well as treats as owners try and keep their pets away from grain believing its a healthier lifestyle for their canine friend.

But, the FDA says it is seeing a worrying connection between grain-free dog food and deadly heart disease.

The FDA has noted an association or correlation between dogs on a grain-free diet and a particular kind of disease called Dilated Cardiomyopathy, said Dr. Charles Livaudais, a veterinarian at Harmony Animal Hospital in Apex.

The disease literally causes the heart muscle in a dog to become thin and weak making the heart pump inefficiently.

Livaudais said, signs of it include exercise intolerance, lethargy, increased breathing rates, panting and weight loss.

Although more research needs to be done, the working theory is that the potatoes, peas, lentils, and other legumes, the grain-free dog food might be stripping away a dogs ability to absorb Taurinean amino acid that helps build muscles. Since the heart is a muscle, its affected.

Livaudais says the damage caused by grain free diets might not be permanent.

When it comes to grain-free diets and the association there, if it is caught in time, the damage seems to be reversible if we take the dog off the grain-free diet, he said.

However, he said, the reversal has varied from dog to dog, but it would seem to take weeks to several months.

Whether its 100 percent reversible is a fair question, said Livaudais. We dont know that.

Veterinarians recommend your dogs food contain a protein source be it beef or chicken as well as traditional ingredients.

It probably makes sense to utilize a diet that has more standard carbohydrates that include grains at this point, said Livaudais.

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What you need to know about grain-free dog food and possible connection to fatal heart disease - CBS17.com


Sep 9

All You Need To Know About Ketogenic Tablets And Their Benefits – South Florida Reporter

The Keto lifestyle. Its the new celebrity in the world of diet and weight loss plans. This low-carb diet that turned heads when it announced thats also high-fat (for quicker fat burning and weight shedding), everyone joined the bandwagon almost immediately.

But did you know that Ketogenic tablets are a great source of that extra push your body will need to really get rid of fat? Well-known in India, and now a growing phenomenon across the globe, here are some benefits of Ketogenic Tablets.

Benefits Of Ketogenic Tablets Keto Guru

Amino acid L-Glutamine, also known as Glutamine for short, is responsible for keeping your digestive tract at its healthiest. This is due to the fact that it is able to support the intestinal walls and strengthen them.

When this occurs, irritated tissues are pieced back together so that digestion becomes smoother and on track. As a result, food breakdown will be more efficient and fat storage decreased.

Glutamine is whats called protein building blocks. They are the very core components that allow proteins to strengthen and, as the phrase goes, build your muscles. If your goal is to say goodbye to fats, bank on protein.

Why? Because muscles are what cause fat burning. When your muscle mass and muscle tissues are in excellent condition, and fat have become glucose, the higher the chances that your body will be able to break them down and set them on fire, so to speak.

This is something we all want to hear, isnt it? How to make our bodies metabolism work faster than they are at the moment. Well, theres a natural booster to assist your dieting and exercising for a higher metabolism speed the Keto diet and Ketogenic pills.

Through protein reinforcement, your bodys TEF or Thermic Effect of Food increases as well. TEF is the manner in which calories are utilized as food is processed and nutrients are absorbed. Thus, an enhanced acceleration in metabolism takes place.

The healthy kind of appetite suppression, of course. One of the reasons why you constantly snack is because you often feel those hunger pangs kick in every now and then. By the way, the irony is that the more you eat unhealthy food, the hungrier youll get.

If youre the type who constantly loves grabbing something to munch on while working at the office or chilling at home, then Ketogenic Tablets from Keto Guru are going to be your BFFs. Theyll aid in suppression appetite and leave you feeling full from one regular meal to the next.

Another benefit of Ketogenic supplements is that theyre great for stabilizing blood pressure. Protein can help in reducing excess insulin that your systems dont really need, and accordingly, blood pressure will lower to its normal. Or as close to the normal rate as possible.Remember, the higher your insulin levels, the greater the risk of incurring high blood pressure. So keep it at a minimum with these supplements.

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All You Need To Know About Ketogenic Tablets And Their Benefits - South Florida Reporter



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