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Noom shows theres science and plenty of help to aid in weight loss – BGR
Over the years, there have been plenty of fad diets that pop up and youll hear from a friend or two that you have to try it. Sure, some diets work for some people, but theres a lot more that goes into losing weight than just eating a particular type of food or slashing your food intake in general. Many people struggle with this and theres no shame in that. There are even more people who dont want to give up the foods they love altogether. With Noom, they arent here to tell you youre never allowed to eat your favorite sweets. They are focused on the bigger picture.
Noom is a program created for long-term results by teaching you better eating habits and changing your behaviors, not to tell you you cant have a piece of cake. Ive been using Noom for seven weeks now and have really been impressed by the experience. From the get-go, the process is very simple as you answer some initial questions about your eating habits, physical abilities, gender, and age. You even get to choose between a slow and fast dieting plan, in case you want to shed some weight quickly for a special occasion. You get to pick how long you want your plan to be and what you want your ultimate goals to be, whether you want to get fit or lose weight.
The day-to-day is very positive and reinforcing, as they use food science and psychology to better map out a weight loss plan for you. Nooms eating program is focused on caloric density, which boils down to which foods have higher nutrients to fill you up. The plan is broken down into three categories: green, yellow, or red foods. Green foods have the most nutrients and the least amount of calories to fill you up (like vegetables, fruits, whole grains), while yellow has more calories and fewer nutrients (like lean meats, legumes, and low-fat dairy). Red is the highest calorie foods with lower nutrients. The first thing that surprised me was foods that I didnt expect to be red were red, like cereal, but it makes sense because they arent overly filling.
Something that Ive found myself really doing more of is paying attention to serving size. I know thats a basic part of any weight loss plan, but its never something I did a lot of. Measuring out cups and tablespoons of ingredients helped me keep an eye on my caloric intake. Noom has you weigh yourself every morning and there are some wild swings day to day when it comes to weight, something I also never realized. Any time you eat anything, youre supposed to track it, which can feel like a chore, but it does help with mapping out your days eating. If you have some spare calories, you know you can fit dessert in later.
Each day has about 10 minutes or so of reading that helps explain healthy habits and how to change your overall behavior when it comes to eating. It comes in a checklist fashion, so once youve finished one, it moves you onto the next topic. But you can always revisit and even bookmark your favorite lessons. There are plenty of quizzes throughout the week as well, to make sure that youre doing the reading. While that may sound like homework, they are all informative and useful in your daily life.
There is support available to you throughout your time using Noom, as you are assigned a Goal Specialist right away who can talk through how the program is working for you. Your Goal Specialist will check in with you and answer questions you may have about the program, as well as continue to work with you through your plan. One thing that should be noted is that Goal Specialist arent really available to you 24/7, only during business hours, and they arent always the quickest at getting back to you. But after a few weeks of the program, you are placed into a support group with other Noom users and you can share whats been working for you and where you are struggling. There is a Group Coach who oversees the discussions and begins them each day. It can be a great place to see how other people are using the program and picking up helpful tips and tricks. Its there for positive reinforcement.
I found that tracking your food can be easy as well as difficult at times. You can scan the barcode of your food for it to come up in the food tracker but there have been numerous occasions where Ive scanned a barcode and Noom didnt have the food in their library. You can add the food to help Noom, but if you eat that food more than once in a few days, youll have to add it multiple times. But any recognized foods that you type in or scan will show up if its a green, yellow, or red food. Youll also be able to log your food in different measurements like tablespoons, cups, or ounces, or even handfuls for things like nuts or popcorn. If you are getting food from a restaurant, Noom does a good job of just having a general estimate of how much something like chicken marsala would register on the tracker, rather than breaking down each ingredient. You can also create custom dishes and save them, if they are going to be something you eat frequently, like a smoothie.
As the program progresses, Noom will also start offering exercises and activities you can do to help you stay fit. You can choose what kind of workout you want (cardio, weight training, etc.) and Noom will cater your workouts to your preference. Every day your steps will be tracked, made easier if you have the Noom app for your smartphone, as it will follow your literal footsteps. Being given different exercises is a nice perk, as many people dont want to have to pay for both a gym membership and a dieting program. Noom is offering a 14-day trial, which you can cancel at any time. If you want to keep using it after that, it is $59 a month or there are auto-recurring payments that you can opt-in for like an annual fee of $199.
While using Noom, Ive lost 17 pounds and am on my way to getting to my goals. Ive found that it has been helpful for me, especially when it comes to planning out my calories each day. It will not work for everyone, especially those who dont want to commit to keeping track of every meal of their life. But Ive seen improvements through my overall health and over 50 million users have as well. If youre looking for a new way to look at weight loss, Noom can be that fresh respective.
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Noom shows theres science and plenty of help to aid in weight loss - BGR
Could Intermittent Lockdown Save Us – and the Economy – From the Coronavirus? – Newswise
Newswise Think of dieting. You can fast for two months and lose weight, but you will probably die. Even if you survive, you will quickly gain weight again. Similarly, a two-month lockdown will suppress the coronavirus, but it will kill the economy. Lockdown will push hundreds of millions of people globally into unemployment and poverty. Many sectors of the economy will collapse. At the end of each lockdown, remaining patients will cause a resurge in the epidemic, forcing another lockdown.
This is the well-known yo-yo effect, with the number of coronavirus patients going up and down. At the same time, the global economy will be hit hard and hundreds of millions will go hungry. When the dust settles, more people will have died of hunger than of the coronavirus
Prof.Uri Alon and his graduate students Omer Karin andYael Korem-Kohanim, together with senior engineer Boaz Dudovich of Applied Materials, suggest,based on an epidemiological model they developed, a policy that effectively suppresses the coronavirus and, at the same time, allows sustainable, albeit reduced, economic activity. The model is based on intermittent lockdown: five days of lockdown and two days of work every week. In this way, the virus replication number (the number of people infected by each infectious person) drops below one the magic number that causes the epidemic to decline.
A four-day work/ten-day lockdown strategy is even better, allowing those infected at work to cease becoming infectious at home. Prof. Alon carefully suggests that, after several such cycles, the number of infected people will drop dramatically. The epidemic can thus be contained until sufficient testing, effective treatment, or a vaccine is developed, which will remove the need for a lockdown.
Intermittent lockdown may be the only viable option for countries that cant deploy sufficient testing in a timely manner. It allows millions to work two days a week, sustaining key economic sectors. People will hold a 40% position instead of being completely unemployed an economic and psychological game-changer.
Fixed workdays for everyone will allow workers and managers to plan ahead and stay productive. Our main message, says Prof. Alon, is to open up the discussion on lockdown and point out that a well-designed, smart lockdown strategy can suppress the epidemic and sustain the economy.
Prof. Uri Alons research is supported by the Jeanne and Joseph Nissim Center for Life Sciences Research; the Braginsky Center for the Interface between Science and the Humanities; the Kahn Family Research Center for Systems Biology of the Human Cell; the Sagol Institute for Longevity Research; the Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program; the Rising Tide Foundation; the Estate of Olga Klein Astrachan; the European Research Council (ERC); the ERC synergy program; and Cancer Research UK.Prof. Alon is the incumbent of the Abisch-Frenkel Professorial Chair.
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the worlds top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. The Institutes 3,800-strong scientific community engages in research addressing crucial problems in medicine and health, energy, technology, agriculture, and the environment. Outstanding young scientists from around the world pursue advanced degrees at the Weizmann Institutes Feinberg Graduate School. The discoveries and theories of Weizmann Institute scientists have had a major impact on the wider scientific community, as well as on the quality of life of millions of people worldwide.
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Could Intermittent Lockdown Save Us - and the Economy - From the Coronavirus? - Newswise
COPD Patients Who Have Never Smoked Could Be at Greater Risk of Developing Lung Cancer, Study Suggests – Newsweek
People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) appear to be at greater risk of developing lung cancer even if they have never smoked, according to a study.
COPD is the umbrella term for a group of diseases which prevents air from flowing through a person's airways and cause breathing-related problems, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In the early stages, symptoms may include a "nagging cough," shortness of breath, wheezing, and a tight chest. In more advanced cases, a person may have trouble catching their breath or talking and low oxygen levels in the blood may cause their lips and or fingernails may go blue or gray. They may also have problems with mental alertness, a very fast heartbeat, swollen feet and ankles, a lose weight The CDC states 15 million U.S. adults have the condition, with smoking being the leading cause.
To estimate rates of lung cancer in COPD patients who have never smoked, the authors of the paper published in the journal Thorax studied 338,548 people from South Korea from a nationally representative cohort aged between 40 to 84, with no history of lung cancer.
Lung cancer expert Dr.O-Jung Kwon of South Korea's Samsung Medical Center and colleagues followed up with the participants after seven years, on average, and found 1,834 had developed lung cancer. The respondents filled out a questionnaire where they noted whether they had "never" or "ever" smoked.
COPD patients who never smoked were found to have over 2.6 times the incidence of lung cancer compared with those without COPD who did not smoke. The researchers also found the risk of lung cancer in those who had never smoked was similar to those without COPD who smoked at some point in their lives.
According to research cited by the study authors, up to 39 percent of COPD patients have never smoked, and there is little evidence on the link between the condition and lung cancer.
The team acknowledged the study was limited because they did not know how severe COPD was in the participants, and didn't have information on environmental and occupational exposures or the severity of emphysema cases which could have put the participants at greater risk of lung cancer. COPD and lung cancer may have also have been misclassified in the data they used, the authors said.
The team concluded: "COPD was a strong independent risk factor for lung cancer incidence in never smokers. Furthermore, never smokers with COPD had a similar risk of lung cancer compared with ever smokers without COPD.
"Patients with COPD are at a high risk of lung cancer and future studies should evaluate whether COPD patients are candidates for lung cancer screening, irrespective of smoking status."
PT’s ways to banish cravings at home and they could help you lose weight fast – Daily Star
Thousands of us are now working from home due to the coronavirus outbreak in the UK.
Unfortunately, it seems that this has brought about a change in the way we eat and our waist measurements.
When working near to the fridge, or snack cupboard, its all too easy to graze away.
If this is the case for you, then dont worry.
There are ways to reduce, or curb, your appetite.
So you wont keep gaining weight over the next month or so.
Personal trainer Rachael Attard, from Sydney, said on her blog that a larger appetite is caused by two things.
Whether you dont eat enough fibre or if youre leptin resistant.
Rachael said: Having a big appetite can be very frustrating, especially if you're trying to cut back on your food intake and lose weight."
SO, what are her tricks for limiting your appetite if you fall into one of these two categories?
Dietary fibre, also known as roughage, is the part of a plant-based food which cant be fully broken down by the human digestive enzymes.
This type of material doesnt get absorbed in the small intestine like other foods and passes into the large bowel.
Fibre is found in foods like fruit and vegetables, pulses and wholemeal carbs.
Bupa reports that many Brits do not get the 30g of recommended daily fibre in their diets.
Rachael wrote: Fibre breaks down more slowly than other nutrients (even protein and fats).
This means that youll feel fuller, for longer, than when eating other foods.
Feeling satiated means youre less likely to pick at snacks and treats throughout the day.
Rachael said that when she first began counting calories and macros thats the amount of carbs versus fat and protein she followed a low-carb, high protein and fat diet.
The 31-year-old mentions that she didnt even consider her fibre intake.
She added: I was hitting my macros, but I was absolutely starving.
Rachael explains that she was only eating around 10g of fibre a day.
Women should eat a minimum of 22g per day.
When she upped her intake to between 25g an 30g per day, she felt less hungry and stopped snacking on high calorie foods.
If you have a big appetite and rarely feel full, Racahel recommends tracking your fibre intake for a week to see where youre at.
If youre getting less than 22g, increase the amount of lentils, beans, oats, wholemeal carbs or fruit in your diet and see if it makes a change.
Note that blending, or juicing, fruit and veg can eliminate the fibre in it because the blender has essentially broken it down.
Much of the fibre is found in the skin of certain fruits like apples and pears.
Leptin is a hormone which tells you when you feel full and how full you are.
Normally, when you eat the production of this hormone tells the brain when you are full, and then you stop eating.
If youre resistant to this hormone your body and brain no longer reacts to it correctly.
Rachael wrote: As a result, you may never actually feel full and will be hungry all the time.
To fix this resistance you need to up your protein and fibre.
You also need to reduce the amount of processed carbs and sugar in your diet.
Finally, try to lower your stress levels and focus on relaxation try mindfulness or yoga.
Rachael added: Get good quality sleep and make sure you get eight hours per night.
To help regulate your appetite overall, she recommends trying pro- and pre-biotins to keep your gut bacteria healthy.
Foods which are full of pre-biotins include fermented foods like kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, or kombucha as well a lentils, garlic, artichokes and watermelon.
Rachael said: Eat larger meals, less frequently and avoid snacking in between those meals.
The break in between meals gives your leptin and insulin levels a chance to decrease.
Another option is to try intermittent fasting so you can lose weight.
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PT's ways to banish cravings at home and they could help you lose weight fast - Daily Star
50 Free Ways To Lose Weight And Improve Your Health – Lifehacker Australia
The winter hibernation period is about to end, which means we'll soon have an extra layer of fleshy insulation to shed. One solution is to blow a small fortune on a personal trainer. Alternatively, here are 50 ways to fast track your health that won't cost you anything (and will make you a happier person in the process).
Between gym memberships, protein powders and fitness trackers, the cost of staying in shape can quickly reach eye-watering amounts. But not if you're smart about it. As the following infographic from NetCredit points out, there are numerous ways to improve your health and fitness levels without spending a cent.
Handily, the graphic doesn't neglect the mental side of keeping healthy either - there are some great tips here even if you have no interest in becoming physically fit. It also explains the health mistakes you're probably making right now, like eating meat every day, working through lunch and staying up late.
Without further ado, here are 50 inexpensive things you can do today to be healthier with minimal effort.
[Via NetCredit]
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50 Free Ways To Lose Weight And Improve Your Health - Lifehacker Australia
Can turmeric help you lose weight? – The Indian Express
By: Lifestyle Desk | Published: April 1, 2020 10:00:03 am Turmeric is known to have a lot of health benefits. (Source: Getty Images)
Researchers have long studied the benefits of turmeric, including whether it helps induce weight loss. As per studies, it is curcumin a yellow plant-based polyphenol with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties found in turmeric which benefits our health in many ways.
What studies say
A 2019 study published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology found that curcumin intake resulted in a significant reduction in body mass index (BMI), weight, waist circumference, and leptin (a hormone which plays a role in obesity), and a significant increase in adiponectin levels, but did not effect hip ratio in people with metabolic syndrome and related disorders.
In another 2015 study published in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences, researchers found curcumin to increase weight loss from 1.88 to 4.91 per cent, enhance reduction of body fat from 0.70 to 8.43 per cent and that of BMI from 2.10 to 6.43 per cent, in a group of overweight people.
Read| 5 reasons why you should add turmeric to your diet
How does that happen?
Inflammation plays an important role in obesity, as in many other chronic diseases. Obesity is marked by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines that lead to chronic inflammation. Curcumin in turmeric suppresses particular inflammatory markers, suggests research. It also helps suppress fat tissue growth, argued a 2009 study conducted by Tufts University, promoting weight loss.
A 2017 report in Foods, however, suggested that the properties of curcumin are not activated well if ingested by itself due to poor absorption, rapid metabolism, and rapid elimination unless some other ingredients are added to it. One of them is black pepper, which activates curcumin the body by 2000 per cent.
Read| Haldi doodh: What type of turmeric and milk should you use?
Seema Singh, chief clinical nutritionist & HOD, Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, told indianexpress.com, Besides reducing inflammation associated with obesity, consumption of turmeric increases the metabolic rate which helps burn calories faster in the body. Turmeric water or turmeric tea can help you reduce belly fat. Half teaspoon of turmeric, raw or in the powder form, can be added to warm water and consumed.
Inconclusive research
Some studies, however, have not been able to conclusively say that curcumin in turmeric can induce weight loss. A 2018 study in the journal of the Canadian Medical Association said they found no evidence that curcumin affected inflammatory response. Minal Shah, senior nutrition therapist, Fortis Hospital Mulund, added, There have been studies in the past but there is no solid proof to show that turmeric would help in reducing weight. We still need further evidence to confirm the same.
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The rules of thumb of compensatory gain – Farm Weekly
WHETHER or not compensatory gain can be relied on comes down to the balance of things like time of calving, how the season is playing out and what markets are being targeted.
However, there are some rules of thumb that research and experience has turned up every producer should know.
At current market and commodity prices, advisors say there is a demonstrable benefit to providing sufficient supplementary feed to steers from weaning to sale at a feeder weight.
Veterinarian consultant at the Mackinnon Project Ben Linn gave a comprehensive overview of production and maintenance feeding of weaners at a Meat & Livestock Australia webinar this month.
The research he presented showed that in many instances, producers who finish their own animals don't need to push them to maintain high average daily gain post-weaning during the dry season as they will catch up in the finishing phase.
But for steers marketed earlier as weaners or vealers, supplementary feeding is critical, as there is insufficient time for any reduced growth rate to be caught up and compensated.
Given current commodity prices, a strong case can be made for supplementary feeding now.
Compensatory growth is a complex but important concept to understand because maintaining a consistent growth rate is difficult in grazing situations, whether it's the wet and dry season in the north or the late winter-spring flush of green feed then dry conditions in summer, Dr Linn explained.
"What we see is if we have a nutritional restriction period there is a rebound effect where the live weight gain is faster than expected - that's compensatory gain," he said.
That begs the question should a producer provide supplementary feed to keep weaners going at a high growth rate or accept slower growth rate and then catch up.
The challenge is that feeding too hard in summer may effectively be money down the drain. Subsequent compensatory growth of the restricted cattle may erode any benefits of supplementation on top of the significant feeding expenses.
The degree of animal maturity at the start of feed restriction is a big player, Dr Linn said.
The older the animal when limited feed comes in, the faster the rate of compensatory gain.
Rule of thumb number one: The earlier the restriction, the more difficult it is to fully compensate.
Dr Linn said on average cattle exposed to a feed restriction at less than six months required 14 to 18 months to compensate to 70 to 80 per cent of their liveweight.
Cattle exposed at more than six months needed only 4 to 7 months.
Rule of thumb number two: Nutritional restriction pre-weaning is not good.
This was where principles of early weaning apply during drought, Dr Linn said.
Heifers need to hit targets of critical mating weights. A 500 kilogram mature cow would need to be at 300kg at joining.
"So in a scenario where we wean at 120kg at four months, to hit that target, the heifer would need to grow at .54kg/day," Dr Linn said.
"However, we don't need to follow a steady curve for growth - it can be restricted earlier then sped up."
Rule of thumb three: Let heifers cruise along. As long as they still maintain some growth post-weaning, heifers do not require the same level of supplementary feeding as steers. Should a spring flush (south) or wet season (north) not occur, supplementary feeding will need to be considered at a later time to ensure heifers reach critical mating weights.
Post weaning setbacks in growth do not tend to compromise reproductive performance, Dr Linn said.
"Some growth is still necessary because age at puberty is strongly dependent on body weight," he said.
"But prioritise feeding steers above heifers."
Target market is critical when weighing up the costs and benefits of feeding steers.
Steers sold as feeders, or those being finished on pasture, have time for compensatory gain to occur but weaners and vealers don't.
He presented research from Beef CRC in Rockhampton into the effect of different post weaning growth paths on long-term weight gain.
In this work, steers were split into three groups - rapid gain, slow and weight loss.
The results were average daily gain was not different for the entire trial period, however cattle in the weight loss group were 50kg lighter than the rapid cattle at finishing.
At a market price of 650 cents per kilogram carcase weight, at 51pc dressing, that is $165 less per head.
Rule of thumb number four: Do the maths. There is a need to weigh up the sale price per kilo against the cost of supplementary feeding.
"Depending on commodity prices, it can be profitable to feed at a high rate when the sale price is high, however you can save yourself money holding stock for an extra period," Dr Linn said.
It also doesn't have to be all or nothing, he said. Consider supplementary feeding the lighter portion of a mob.
If spring calving and selling weaners or vealers, don't look to utilise compensatory gain as you can't let them lose weight because they'll be sold before you get any compensatory gain.
If selling feeders or finishing, there is potential to utilise to achieve higher margins due to lower cost of production.
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The rules of thumb of compensatory gain - Farm Weekly
Cycle computers everything you need to know – road.cc
A cycle computer provides a range of information about your ride, from basics like speed and distance to time to your destination, bragging-rights fodder like maximum speed and even the time of sunset. And cyclists love numbers weights, wheel sizes, frame geometries so a cycle computer can add a useful extra dimension to your riding. Here's a look at what a bike computer can do for you.
The way a cycle computer works is simple. Each time a magnet on the wheel passes a sensor on the fork a signal is generated. The bike computer measures the time between those signals and works out how fast you're going, based on the wheel dimension you gave it on initial set up.
From that measurement the computer can also work out a whole range of information including distance, average speed, ride time and maximum speed. Depending on the designer's choices it may also have features like auto on/off pausing the stopwatch when you're stationary and different types of timing and average speed. You may get average speed only when you're moving, or for the whole ride, and likewise for time.
More sophisticated cycle computers may also be able to warn you if you drop below a target average speed, say, or provide an estimate of how long it'll take to arrive at your destination.
Some bike computers can measure your heart rate by picking up signals from a sensor strapped to your chest. Heart rate is a useful indicator of how hard you're working if you're riding for fitness or, say, to lose weight.
Some cycle computers with heart rate function will also provide an estimate of how many Calories you've burned. With rare exceptions, these should be taken with more than a pinch of salt. They are useful for comparing one ride with another, but don't hit McDonald's hard just because a computer says you've burned off the equivalent of three Big Macs.
In cheaper bike computers the sensor and handlebar unit are connected with a wire; more expensive computers use a wireless transmitter in the sensor. Wired cycle computers only have one battery to run down, but make your bike look untidy and the wires can get damaged. Wireless bike computers need a battery in the transmitter as well as the head unit, but are tidier and have no wires to snag.
If you're going to use a computer with a turbo trainer, the magnet and sensor need to read from the rear wheel. Some wired cycle computers won't reach far enough and (more rarely) some wireless units have sensors that won't fit the chainstays.
Cycle computers will usually keep out heavy rain, but experience shows the level of water resistance varies. In particular, models with altitude functions should not be immersed in water. They need a vent in the case for the altimeter to work, which can let water in.
The level of water resistance is indicated by the IP Code, which shows the level of vulnerability to dust and water ingress. Not all manufacturers provide it, but it's a useful guide if they do.
You'll find these features on bike computers priced between about 10 and 40. More expensive units in this price range have bigger screens so they can display more information at once. Some have extra features such as the ability to switch between preset wheel sizes so you can switch them between bikes.
Speed How fast you're going.Average speed Can be measured only when the computer detects movement or for the whole period between starting and stopping the timer.Maximum speed For gravity-assisted bragging rights.Cadence How quickly your legs are turning. Needs an extra magnet and sensor on the crank.Average cadenceMaximum cadence For 'how fast can you spin' contests in bike shops on rainy Wednesday afternoons.Ride time Can be measured only when the computer detects movement ('moving time') or for the whole period between starting and stopping the timer.Time of day For people who still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.Over/under average speedRide/trip distance How far you've been on this ride.Odometer How far you've ridden. Some cycle computers allow you to set an initial value so you can carry your records over from a previous unit. Or cheat.
From about 50 and up you get extra features such as heart rate detection, altitude and the ability to add even more features by pairing with your smartphone.
Heart rate How fast your heart's beating. Requires monitor strap round your chest.Average heart rate Indicates how hard you have worked over a whole ride.Maximum heart rate The biggest effort you've put in.Altitude Height above sea level. The unit measures atmospheric pressure and extrapolates your altitude from that.Maximum altitude The highest point you reached.Total ascent Bragging rights for Alpine pass-storming. Less useful in Cambridgeshire.Total descent What goes up must come down.Temperature Often comes with altitude as it's needed to interpret the pressure sensor data.
Different computers will have different sets of secondary functions that rely on these. These include heart rate zones and targets for training, elevation profile, lap timers, averages and maximums per lap and so on. You may also be able to download ride data from the computer to analyse later.
The latest generation of cycle computers come with apps that wirelessly connect the head unit and your phone. That means as well as its built-in functions, the computer can access your phone's sensors to provide functions such as using Global Position System (GPS, the basis of satellite navigation) to record where you've been.
Why not just use an app on your phone? The main advantage of a phone/app combination is battery life. A phone running GPS and screen will drain its battery in a matter of hours. Turning the screen off increases the run time.
Another advantage is that instead of being perched on your handlebar, your expensive phone is safely tucked away in a pocket or bag.
Bike computers with smartphone pairing also record data from your ride for later analysis.
Computers that pair with smartphones cost about 100.
As mentioned above, if you have a smartphone, the cheapest way to get GPS recording is to get a computer that will talk to it. If you prefer to have everything in one box, then you'll need a GPS-enabled computer.
Cheaper models use GPS to record where you've been and may have minimal navigation functions, but if you want full sat-nav capability you'll need a more expensive model with a screen large enough to display a map.
Basic GPS-enabled computers can be had from around 80, while a unit with maps and sat-nav functions will cost from 140.
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Cycle computers everything you need to know - road.cc
Obesity and Dieting: Diet Plan to Overcome Obesity – Krishi Jagran
These days many people are looking for ways to reduce obesity and belly fat. In today's world people are busy in earning money and are not careful about their eating habits. You will be surprised to know that diet has the biggest contribution in the process of reducing obesity. It doesn't matter how many hours people sweat in the gym, if their diet is not proper. Many people choose dieting and fasting to reduce weight and Muscle Gain but let me tell you that those people are wrong and have misunderstood dieting. For many people dieting means eating less food, but they can't see that in this way their body becomes weaker day by day.
In the course of dieting, quitting food is absolutely wrong. If you are serious towards your goal then first calculate your body's mass index by Body mass index calculator and then body's calories by calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
Different ranges of BMI are :-
If you're in the underweight range then BMI will be below 18.5.
If you're in the healthy weight range then BMI will be between 18.5 and 24.9 .
If you're in the overweight range then BMI will be between 25 and 29.9.
If you're in the obese range then BMI will be between 30 and 39.9.
Your obesity will reduce soon, if you follow a diet plan. The best thing about diet plan is that you do not have to be hungry, all you have to eat nutritious food every two hours. Many people around us have this misconception that if they eat less their weight will be reduced but its not true. By eating less, you will never become thin, instead you will become weak.
Diet plan to reduce your weight and overcome obesity :-
First of all you have to consume lukewarm water as soon as you wake up in the morning on an empty stomach. You can add honey and lemon if you want to reduce your weight faster and this drink will eliminate your body fat and will also help in removing the body's toxic substance.
After one hour of drinking water eat a rich protein breakfast like eggs, protein shake, brown bread, oats/ poha, roti and sprouts. But avoid fried or oily food.
Then again after two hours of breakfast, you eat a bowl of fresh fruit or eat avocado because they actually increase the rate of burning fat.
What to eat for lunch
Then the main part comes that is lunch. Many people make mistake on this stage.
Keep one thing in mind you have to eat lunch two o'clock because discipline plays an vital role in reducing weight.
I would recommend you to have pulse, simple vegetable, two flour rotis, one cucumber raita and salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and onions ) because they contain more fiber, which gives the body energy.
Consuming above food will give you around 400 calories.
You can drink green tea one hour after lunch because it will help you to digest your food.
what to eat for dinner
This is the last meal of the day, many people quit/ skip this meal. But let me tell you skipping a meal are absolutely the wrong way.
You should have dinner by 8 o'clock.
I would recommend you to have two flour rotis with simple vegetable.
You can have vegetable soup in the dinner too.
The most important thing to remember is that do not sleep immediately after eating because this causes obesity.
Tips to lose weight:-
You need to Discipline, if you want to reduce your weight.
Avoid fry and oily products.
Eat Balance diet.
Workout regularly.
Keep one day as a cheat day in a month in which you can eat whatever you want to.
Eat avocado regularly.
Stay positive.
Early to bed and early to rise.
Have green tea once a day (you can avoid it on cheat days).
Keep a track of your weight (on monthly basis).
Avoid sugar.
Avoid high Carb diet.
Eat food that is high in fibers.
Avoid cold drinks & Alcohol
Quit smoking.
Continued here:
Obesity and Dieting: Diet Plan to Overcome Obesity - Krishi Jagran
The Rise of the Retreat – VICE
Last summer, it seemed like everyone I knew was going on a retreat. One friend had just returned from a retreat called Radiantly Alive, which sounded fun, if maybe a bit embarrassing. Another friend had signed up for a mother-daughter retreat for herself and her pre-teen; they would be doing yoga together, eating healthy and learning to maintain more open lines of communication with each other. My upstairs neighbor left town to meditate in silence for 10 days. Someone I had just met began aggressively promoting a retreat she was leading, spamming my social media feeds with heartfelt calls to action about taking time for myself.
Meanwhile, celebrities were at it too. Jack Dorsey meditated in silence in Myanmar just over a year ago, and Elizabeth Gilbert has been taking her Big Magic awaken-your-creativity show on the road to retreats all over the world. Gwyneth is hosting a Goop retreat, onboard a cruise ship in August that costs over $5,000 per person. (Its sold out.)
Somethings up with retreats, I thought. Isnt this supposed to be the age of burnout? Dont people deny themselves vacation days and spend all their leisure time working on their side-hustles? How, I wondered, are retreats so popular when regular, no-frills relaxation is elusive for so many people? Maybe retreats are the future of vacations, I thought. Maybe theyre what my life has been missing.
When I booked my very first wellness retreat, at the New Life Hiking Spa in Vermont, it was the first time in years that Id traveled aloneno kids, no husband. New Life is one of the most affordable wellness retreats on the market, and it operates more on principles of suggestion than doctrine. The meals are healthy and simple, and if youre in the mood for a burger, you can grab a bite down the road at the pub and without ruffling any feathers. There are several hikes planned for each day, but nothing is mandatory. Many people go to New Life to lose weight but peoples motivations vary. A surprising number of people I met at New Life were repeat visitors; for many of them, its an annual tradition akin to healthy summer camp for adults.
On my first night there, I hastened to my hotel room after our healthy group dinner and took a running leap onto the Best Western duvet. (Like many retreats, New Life isnt a permanent installationit operates during the summer off-season at the base of Killington Mountain ski resort in Vermont, and is housed in the mountain-side Best Western.)
Mixed in with my excitement at being all by myself with no housework or care-giving to do was a nagging worry that I would let this golden opportunity for pure, uncut relaxation go to waste. I should do all the relaxing things at once, but also slowly, with great intention: take a hot shower, watch Bravo shows, luxuriate in bed, eat the chocolate I had smuggled into my room. Worrying about getting the most out of your relaxation-time, to the extent that you may be sabotaging your very ability to relax, feels like a richly contemporary flavor of self-defeating behavior, and this worry flooded my brain within minutes of my arrival at New Life. Its exactly the sort of maddening circular thinking that makes spending a grand on a retreat seem not only appealing, but essential.
A woman sitting on a rock on the cliffs overlooking an ocean playing a wooden flute at the Esalen Institute in 1987. Photo by Matthew Naythons/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty.
New Life is one of the older wellness retreats currently in operation; it calls itself "America's original wellness retreat," and was founded in the 1970s by Jimmy LeSage, who still runs it, along with his wife Kathleen. New Life is not a luxury experience, nor is it sexily, interestingly spartan, like a fasting retreat. The menus have a homely Moosewood Cookbook qualitycooked veg, a starch, a plastic bowl of tomato soup. At any given time, there are about 50 people doing retreats at New Life, ranging in age from teens to people in their 80s.
New Life has changed remarkably little since its founding. Although it has updated its menu and programming slightly over the years, many regulars return year after year because of its comforting consistency. Meanwhile, in the decades since New Life started, the wellness retreats industry has exploded.
Turns out, it wasnt a coincidence that so many people I know have been going on retreats lately: Retreats are big business. According to the Global Wellness Institute, a nonprofit that works to support the wellness industry internationally, wellness tourism grew by 6.5 percent annually from 2015-2017, twice as fast as global tourism overall. Wellness retreats were once a tourism niche, an alternative to more mainstream options like cruises or all-inclusive vacations. Today, cruises and all-inclusives are rebranding themselves as retreats, broadening their appeal to people across class and cultural spectrums.
These modern-day wellness retreats have their roots in the 19th century sanatoriums that offered fresh air, curative water, and medical care for people suffering from tuberculosis, asthma, and many other respiratory illnesses. Some experimented in therapies that were then considered alternative, like electro-shock therapy and hypnosis.
Many of these were basically long-term care facilities, and they varied from luxurious resorts for the wealthy, like the Battle Creek Sanatorium in Michigan, to the dozens of small, threadbare curative-hotels for lower-class visitors that were once scattered throughout New Mexico and Arizona, as Richard Melzer outlined in his 2014 book Sanatoriums of New Mexico.
As the retreat concept has extended its goal-driven structure into our precious remaining leisure and vacation time, we are clearly leaning away, and even afraid to engage with, any activity that is simply supposed to be fun and pointless, an end in and of itself.
With the discovery of penicillin and other antibiotics in the early 20th century, many illnesses that had been linked to retreats began to be treated medically. By World War II, Melzer explains, health-care sanatoriums all but vanished from the landscape. But with the growing interest in alternative wellness modalities in the 1970s, a new kind of sanatorium emerged: the holistic retreat. The Esalen Institute, founded in 1962, was at the vanguard of this movement, and now stands as one of the most renownedand most expensivewellness retreats in America.
Esalen is located in Big Sur, on the site of hot springs where visitors can bathe overlooking magnificent Pacific shoreline cliffs. It was founded by Dick Price and Michael Murphy, two young Stanford graduates from wealthy families. In a recent article about Esalen in The New Yorker, Murphy (now 88) told journalist Andrew Marantz, Our whole intention was, and still is, to allow people to get out of their inherited orthodoxies and into the business of discovering truth.
Esalen remains at the forefront of the wellness movement, incorporating programming that critically engages with technology use and progress. But this level of discourse isnt for everyoneretreats at Esalen start at around $400 for a weekend (if you bring your own sleeping bag), and range up to around $10,000 for a week.
As the wellness trend has migrated from its crunchy-granola origins to the mainstream, retreats have reoriented themselves toward todays over-extended, overworked, anxiously entrepreneurial middle class. Their organizers are starting to promise much more than just relaxationthey are promising to help you unlock your hidden potential.
There are retreats about stepping into your power. Of slowing down and moving the fire within us. You can connect with nature in one of the most sought-after regions in the country. You can fall in love with yourself and life through the guided removal of fear-based thoughts. You can detoxify the body, mind and spirit. You can re-set, re-group, and start anew. Or journey into a life well-lived. A service called Retreatify helps companies plan meaningful retreats for their employees.
Its hard to argue with the stated goals of retreats; they all sound like noble endeavors. But as the retreat concept has extended its goal-driven structure into our precious remaining leisure and vacation time, we are clearly leaning away, and even afraid to engage with, any activity that is simply supposed to be fun and pointless, an end in and of itself. As we continuously work on ourselves, that has left very little room for us to attend to our own humanity outside of the confines of the marketplace. The retreat industry promises to give us the tools to liberate ourselves from the cages of stress and burnout that define post-capitalist life. But it operates based on the same logic of experience-consumption and self-optimization that, many argue, form the very root of our discomfort.
New Life Hiking Spa guests take on an intermediate trail, one of 21 different hikes the spa offers. Photo by Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty.
On my first morning at New Life, over eggs on supermarket whole wheat toast, coffee with milk (but no sugar) and oranges, I met a birdlike woman in her 60s from Princeton, New Jersey, who comes every summer for a few days of hiking by herself. I love to be out in nature, but I have a terrible sense of direction, and Im a total klutz, she said. My husband does not participate in this kind of activity. So I come by myself. I love it.
About half the people I met at mealtimes (which are taken communally, like at summer camp) were traveling solo, and two women were retreat veterans. Ive tried them all, said Sue, a 50 year old woman from Canada. I dont like the calorie-restricted places, but I like spending my vacation time doing something healthy.
Retreats are an appealing vacation option for unattached people, particularly women, who have disposable income and demanding jobs. As younger generations put off marriage until later in life (or forever), a growing number of adults are going on vacation alone. Retreats are appealing because they offer low-pressure opportunities for meeting people, and a structured schedule that takes the pressure off the traveler to fill the day with activities.
Allison Hunter, a literary agent, went solo to a wellness retreat called Miraval in Arizona last year, and loved it.
Originally I thought I would go somewhere warm and be chilling on the beach, but I really liked Miraval because it felt like a very normal place to travel alone. It was a way to go by myself and meet people and not be alone the whole time.
Allison found the retreat transformative in part because it forced her to change her habits. I felt relaxed like I have never felt before. And part of that, honestly, was that they have a no-cellphones policy. It's a digital detox I feel like I always have to be available for work. I will go on vacation, but I am very rarely off the gridif ever. It would have been impossible for me to unplug unless it had been imposed on me, she said.
Anne Helen Petersen, a senior culture writer for BuzzFeed who is working on a book about millennial burnout, remarked that for young professionals working in todays highly competitive job market, retreats offer a structure to vacation that can make them easier to justify.
With retreats, youre very formally spending time on yourself. For a lot of people, you have to force yourself to take time off, and retreats can operate like that. It can be helpful if theyre extreme in some wayif theres a detox element, or a challenge of some kind.
Conventional wisdom maintains that vacation is a time to cease working. But increasingly, people use vacations as an opportunity to work on themselves.
Among people for whom taking time off is hard, retreats can assuage guilt. Retreats, even when theyre really relaxing, can make you feel that youre being productive in some way, said Petersen.
During one of our hikes, a woman from Houston who was at New Life with her childhood best friend told me they try to take a trip together every few years, but planning a vacation by oneself can be a lot of workand then, what if it ends up being a bust? Theres a lot of pressure. We want to go somewhere and basically not have to think, at all, she said.
Some people go on retreats to structure their time off, or to create a sense of accomplishment that they feel they need in order to justify their vacation time. On the other side of this coin are the people who go on retreats because they have run out of ways to cope with the demands of their lives.
Janet Nicol is a yoga and movement teacher who leads retreats all over the world. The people that I meet most often on the retreats I lead are women who are exhausted from worrying and care-giving, she said. They are just completely spent when they arrive. Often youll see amazing transformations happen to people. After a retreat they look different. They sound different.
My friend Joseph has attended two meditation retreats, which he sees as a rare opportunity to explore new terrain within himself that his regular schedule simply would never allow him to do. On a recent meditation retreat, however, he noticed that some of his fellow attendees kept falling asleep during meditation. They let us recline during meditation, and the snoring drove me nuts for the first few days, he said. It seemed like what people were really doing all week was catching up on sleep. (Of course, theres a retreat for that.)
In each of these cases, the rigors of daily life seem to make it impossible for people to take unstructured, un-defined time off from work. Either people work so hard that they have to be forced by a set of hierarchically enforced house rules to stop workinga weeks silent meditation, say, or a phone-free facilityor they arrive at their vacation so spent from working and giving care that they are unable to plan and enjoy time off without the facilitation (and cost) of a third party. In all three cases, the rigors of daily life are pushing people to the point where regular time off is not enough to facilitate rest and relaxation.
Conventional wisdom maintains that vacation is a time to cease working. But increasingly, people use vacations as an opportunity to work on themselves. Life lived outside of a goal orientation is hard for some of us to imagine. Even rest itself has been reframed as a skillsomething to practice and develop based on a set of ground rules and principles. Restthe very antithesis of workcan be optimized, and transformed into a goal to be accomplished or fallen short of. The growth of retreats has happened alongside this growing obsession with optimization.
Time off is never just time off; in a capitalist social order, its empty space to be filled with the best possible consumer experience we can afford. Millennials, but also younger people, have this tendency toward optimization, said Anne Helen Petersen. On vacations its this hope that youve picked the right thingand then feeling, while youre doing it, some sort of regret: Oh, I didnt pick that thing.
I enjoyed my time at the New Life Hiking Spa. I cant say that I left more relaxed than when I arrived, but I was pleased with having taken a break from unhealthy food and alcohol, and it felt good to spend most of every day outside.
Everyone I met at New Life had modest goals for their stay: To get back on track with healthy eating, or to get moving after a period of hard work during which they sat at a desk too long. Some people were there to lose a particular number of pounds, like a mother-daughter duo from Texas. In the van on the way to a daily hike I sat next to a woman traveling solo. The mother of two teenage sons, she was treating herself to some quiet, healthy time where she could enjoy nature without having to cater to her familys needs (and I dont have to listen to them complain constantly, because theyre not here, she added). A retreat was a structured excuse to take a vacation without her family.
New Life is unusual in its resistance to self-optimization. All you need for wellness is to feel comfortable and be relaxed. That doesnt really sound sexy I guess, said Kathleen LeSage, who manages New Lifes marketing. People come here, they dont wear makeup, and they just enjoy nature. Jimmys never been one to chase after the latest trend. We dont give things the latest buzzy name.
Unlike many wellness retreats, it exists more or less outside the totalizing sphere of social media. Besides the hikes themselves, which take place along the nearby Appalachian Trail, the spa is not photogenic. People do not go there to burnish their personal brands; its not the kind of place youd boast about.
What I found most appealing about New Life was the frankness with which my fellow retreaters spoke about their own frailty, and about their vulnerability in a world that challenges our willpower at every moment of the day. When, during our hike, a 65-year-old man cheerfully told me that he returned to the spa every summer, lost weight during his eight days of hiking, and then gradually regained it all until returning the following summer, it felt like a rare and radical truth-telling.
The struggle to cope with the stress of everyday life is one of the great ironies of life during our era of post-capitalist plenty. For many people whose basic needs are fully met, its still hard to feel at peace, though the concept that anything could really calm the endless restlessness of the human condition is one that retreats capitalize on as well. And as we each feel more stressed, we become less available to bear the burden of others everyday struggles. Social interdependencethe free, flawed, yet existentially essential emotional mycelium that runs throughout a healthy societyis eroded in a social order that emphasizes hard work and self-optimization over everything else.
Retreats give us a short break from the impossible lives weve built for ourselves, but its very hard to bring the lessons we learn at retreats back home with usjust ask the man who gains back his weight every year. If it were easier to enact retreat-life at home, retreats would become obsolete. In the meantime, we use our vacation days to recover from work in structured environments where our anxious and unhealthy habits are eased into submission by professionals.
I had a long talk with a woman around my age as we hiked back down toward the trailhead. Like many other people I met at New Life, she was a veteran of many retreats. Every one had its strengths and weaknesses; she rattled them off to me like an old hand. But they all serve the same fundamental purpose, she admitted. Some have amenities, some take away your phone, some encourage you to take part in sharing circles, others leave you alone to watch TV in your room if you so desire. The main thing is, you dont have to think, she said. You dont have to figure out what to eat, what to do, when to do it. Its all decided for you. Its a huge relief. Im just likeplease, put me in your hands. Im exhausted, and planning a vacation is so much work.
Follow Kathryn Jezer-Morton on Twitter.
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The Rise of the Retreat - VICE