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There are so many kinds of diets you read about nowadays, while some could sound utterly bizarre, some may actually make your life a whole lot easier. Think diet, and you are bound to imagine all kinds of restrictions. But, you would be glad to know that there are some diets, which can accommodate your tastes and preferences and not be so overwhelming for you. For instance, if you happen to be drawing towards plant-based foods, but think you cannot stop eating meat overnight- you could try the flexitarian diet. Yes, you heard us.

The flexitarian diet is a style of eating that encourages mostly plant-based foods but also allows small portions of meat. If you are trying to transition into meat-free foods, you can try this diet and test the waters, and then slowly adapt to the plant-based diet, if you feel like.

(Also Read:Weight Loss: Add These Protein-Rich Snacks To Your Plant-Based Diet)

While there has been a surge in mock-meats and meat alternatives, there are plenty of people who are not up for the idea of going cold turkey, and would still prefer to eat real meat. Flexitarian diet allows you to eat meat in moderation. Being a flexitarian is more of a lifestyle change than following a traditional diet with clear-cut rules and calorie recommendations. So, make sure you do not use it as an excuse to eat whatever you want and that too without portion control. Eating processed meat has been proven to be harmful for heart health in the longer run; it has also been linked to obesity. Therefore, if you are eating real meat, make sure you are wise about your choices. Try sticking to lean meat.

(Also Read:Healthy Diet: How Much Protein Is Enough? Celeb Nutritionist Rashi Chowdhary Reveals All About Protein)

A 2017 study also found that people who were on a semi-vegetarian diet had lower body-weight as well as lower risk of type 2 diabetes as compared to those who were regular meat-eaters.

(This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.)

About Sushmita SenguptaSharing a strong penchant for food, Sushmita loves all things good, cheesy and greasy. Her other favourite pastime activities other than discussing food includes, reading, watching movies and binge-watching TV shows.

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Watch: Wanting To Go Vegetarian But Cannot Give Up On Meat? This Diet Is Meant For You! - NDTV Food

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Shared widely on Facebook, a postwith the headingGOODBYE CORONA VIRUS prescribesa daily regimen of vitamin C, vitamin E, exposure to sunlight, rest,drinking1.5 liters of water, and consumingeggs and alkaline foodsas a cure for COVID-19( here ; here ).The information in thispost is false.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), No specific treatment for COVID-19 is currently FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approved( here ).

Reuters recently debunked the claim that Vitamin C alone could cureor treat COVID-19, visible here .While the immune-boosting properties of Vitamin C might helppeoplesbodies respond to infections and illness, to claim Vitamin C alone can cure or treat COVID-19 is medically unfounded. Studies on its effect on respiratory infectionssimilar toCOVID-19 are still under way.

In addition to itsuseas an antioxidant, vitamin E is involved in immune function, according to theNational Institutes for Health (NIH)( here ). However,Reuters could not corroboratethe claimthat Vitamin E was being administered or recommended to COVID-19patients.

The postsrecommendation that those recovering from COVID-19 expose themselves to sunlight for 15 to 20 minutes daily suggests that eitherheat orvitamin Dhelps the body fight the novel coronavirus.Reuters FactCheckhasdebunkedthe claim that heat kills the virus here .

Vitamin Ddoes play a role in immune function, according to the NIH ( here )butReuters could not confirm that healthcare providers were administering doses of Vitamin D to COVID-19 patients.

Reuters could not corroborate that physicians were advising COVID-19 patients to consume eggs.Harvard Medical Schoolsayseggs contain many healthy nutrients: lutein and zeaxanthin, which are good for the eyes; choline, which is good for the brain and nerves; and various vitamins (A, B, and D). In fact, just one large egg contains 270 international units (IU) of vitamin A and 41 IU of vitamin D. One large egg also contains about 6 g of protein and 72 calories ( here ).

According toWebMD, Even when you arent sick, you need proteinto keep your body strong. Your body uses it to build strength and keep what you already have. Lean meat, poultry, fish, legumes, dairy,eggs, nuts, and seeds are good sourcesFoods that have [protein] provide nutrients like vitamins B6 and B12, both of which keep your immune system working like it should ( here ).

Getting plenty ofrestissoundadvice.According to Healthline,sleeping when youre sick is essential. Its one way your body tells you to slow down and rest, so you can get healthy ( here ).The Mayo Clinic says that lack of sleep can affect your immune system,and that studies show that people who don't get quality sleep or enough sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus, such as a common cold virus. Lack of sleep can also affect how fast you recover if you do get sick ( here ).

It is true that it is important to drink liquids when you are sick in order to replenish lost water. According to WebMD, When you're sick, it's easy to get dehydrated( here ).

The Reuters Fact Check Team has debunked the claim thatdrinking waterrepels the new coronavirus here .In March 2020,Reuters spoke with Dr. Thomas Nash, an internist, pulmonologist, and infectious disease specialist at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, who said, drinking excessive amounts of water does not repel germs( here ).With the major site of COVID-19 contraction being the nasopharyngeal area, or the nose and sinuses, drinking water has no impact. Nash advised to drink water if youre thirsty, but emphasized that it doesnt have anything to do with boosting your immune system.

As stated in a Reuters fact check article inMarch,neither drinking hot liquids nor eating cold foods will have a bearing on the bodys core temperature, so eating warm foods would not affect ones chances of fighting off the virus ( here ).

The Reuters FactCheck Teamhasdebunked the claim that an alkaline diet helps prevent coronavirus infection here .

The post provides a list of alkaline foods that arein factacidic,notalkaline.

With the exception ofturmeric,the pH levelsgiven for the listed foods are inaccurate. Lemonis acidic, with a pH level of 2.00-2.60, not 9.9; lime is acidic, with a pH level of 2.00-2.80, not 8.2;mango is acidic, with a pH level of 5.80-6.00, not 8.7; pineapple is acidic, with a pH level of 3.20-4.00, not 12.7; garlic is acidic, with a pH level of5.80, not 13.2; orange is acidic, with a pH level of3.69-4.34, not 9.2; tangerine is acidic, with a pH level of3.32 - 4.48, not 8.5.ThepH of avocado is6.27-6.58 (slightly acidic)( here ; here ).The pH level given for dandelion, 22.7is impossible(the highest number on the pH scale is 14).

Thehealth benefits of turmeric are undetermined. As per the NIH, Claims that curcuminoids found in turmeric help to reduce inflammation arent supported by strong studies.Preliminary studies found that curcuminoids mayreduce the number of heart attacks bypass patients had after surgery, control knee pain from osteoarthritis as well as ibuprofen did, and reduce the skin irritation that often occurs after radiation treatments for breast cancer( here ).

While some of these tips mightcontribute toa healthy lifestyle and help the immune system, there is currently no knowncure forCOVID-19.

TheWorld Health Organization (WHO)explains on itswebsite:"While some western, traditional or home remedies may provide comfort and alleviate symptoms of COVID-19, there is no evidence that current medicine can prevent or cure the disease.WHOdoes notrecommend self-medication with any medicines, including antibiotics, as a prevention or cure for COVID-19.However, there are several ongoing clinical trials that include bothwestern and traditional medicines. WHO will continue to provide updated information as soon as clinicalfindings are available." ( here )

False:Whilesome ofthese tips might provide immune-boosting properties, this is not a medically approvedcureforCOVID-19

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact checking work here .

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False claim: Say goodbye to coronavirus with a daily regimen of vitamins C and E, sunlight, resting, drinking water, an egg, and an alkaline diet -...

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One of the most popular Netflix original series is the hit showGrace and Frankie. This show follows the friendship that forms between two elderly women after they find out that their husbands have secretly been having an affair for years. The show is wildly funny with a dynamic cast of characters.

RELATED:Grace & Frankie: 5 Reasons Grace And Nick Work (& 5 Reasons They Dont)

The show is 6 seasons so far with different plot twists fans never saw coming. It is clear the writers work hard to balance the sincerity and the humor of the show. With so much focus on maintaining this balance, it seems a few things were overlooked as there are some aspects of the show that lack continuity or seem too bizarre to be true, even for a television show.

WhileGrace and Frankie were hurt by their husbands' affair, it doesn't take very long for them to forgive them and welcome them back into their lives. While it's true they have had a long relationship, it seems odd to think that this group could remain friends. In fact, once the affair is outed it seems this group is closer than ever before. It's hard to believe these characters would forgive and forget so quickly, especially Grace. Grace and Robert's relationship was contentious and Grace abandoned many of her earlier friendships in season of the show. So why then remain friends with Sol and Robert?

Grace and Frankie are brought together when they both flee their homes and head to the beach house to get away from their cheating spouses. They are both frustrated to find one another there and harass each other to leave. Both Grace and Frankie say they have no choice but to stay because they have nowhere else to go and they don't want to see their husband. Meanwhile, Robert and Sol are staying together in one of their houses. It is unclear why Grace and Frankie felt like they had nowhere to go when there is a third house being unused. They had three houses at this point so why not have Sol and Robert stay together at one, Grace in another, and Frankie in the last?

Frankie's diet is the most inconsistent thing on the show. There are several lines about Frankie being either a vegan or vegetarianbut she is seen eating a host of things that does not line up with either of these diets. Some examples are her eating shrimp or marshmallows. It seems like the writers throw in lines about being vegan or vegetarian due to Frankie's style and not because it is a genuine aspect of her personality. Little mistakes like this shouldn't happen as it is so easy to avoid.

While trying to gain success for their vibrator, Frankie tweets about giving away free products to anyone who shares the tweet. This tweet ends up going viral with many more people sharing the tweet than they could have ever imagined. Frankie does her best to honor as many of these tweets as possible.

RELATED:Grace and Frankie: 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Episodes According To IMDb

In reality, something like this would totally kill a business. While successful, they are still a repetitively young business and shouldn't have the inventory or the money to make this work. Customers would also not be so willing to forgive a company that promised to deliver something and then didn't immediately hold up their end of the bargain.

When Coyote buys a tiny house, he needs some place to park it. Naturally, he decides to park the car on the street in front of Mallory's house. The show acts as though this is okay because Mallory gives him permission, however, in reality this would not fly. Most owners of tiny homes keep their tiny houses in lots. Neighbors in Mallory's suburban town in California would surely begin to complain and Coyote would be forced to find a new place to park his house.

When Mallory is first introduced in the show, she is married with four children. Her relationship with her husband falls apart and they end up getting divorced. Mallory's husband and children were regularly featured on the show but when they get divorced all of that changes. Right after the divorce, Mallory talked a bit about struggling to raise the children without support but her children quickly fade from the picture.

RELATED:10 Strong Female Moments In Grace & Frankie

While there can sometimes be challenges with using young actors as they age so quickly, these children are barely even mentioned any more. The scenes that contain them are few and far between and Mallory seems to always be free to go out with friends or rush over to her parents' homes without her kids in toe. It's jarring to see characters that were so important to Mallory's central plot-line suddenly seem almost non-existent.

One of the few times Mallory's children are mentioned is when Mallory needs to go to the school because one of her children has gotten into trouble. When she arrives at the school she meets the principal, Dan. Dan almost immediately begins hitting on her and the two go out on a date. It's ludicrous to believe that a principal would blatantly hit on a parent under these circumstances. Being a principal is a tough job and they need to remain controlled and professional at all times. His behavior on the date is even more bizarre, with him exercising little to no control which seems odd for someone who works in such a high-pressure job. In real like, Dan would no longer be a principal after this.

When Grace confides in Frankie about Phil, the one who got away, Frankie is determined to help her. In no time at all, Frankie has tracked down Phil on the computer and is encouraging Grace to reach out to him. But wait, Frankie sucks with technology! She can barely figure out how to turn a computer on without assistance and is regularly making errors such as sending incoherent text messages. There is even a long drawn out gag about Frankie's relationship with a tech support agent. So how is Frankie able to so quickly navigate the internet to find Phil? This just doesn't seem believable in the slightest.

Characters are constantly teasing Coyote for his job as a substitute teacher, a job he really loves. Coyote obtained this job when he was fired from the university he worked at for getting cocaine from a student. Although Coyote is now a recovering addict working hard to move forward, there is no way any school would allow a man with his history to work at their school, even as a substitute. Substitute teachers are held to extremely strict standards and California holds some of the strictest standards for these professionals.

One of Sol and Robert's most difficult aspect of the relationship is their disagreements over money. Both successful lawyers, they save up and decide to retire. After this retirement, many arguments about how to spend money and when ensue. Meanwhile, Grace and Frankie never seem worried about money. They spend quite a bit of money on items that are not needed and don't seem to plan too carefully. While they probably got a nice chunk of money in the divorce and they have some income of their own due to their businesses, it seems odd that Sol and Robert would feel so pressed for money while Grace and Frankie frivolously spend.

NEXT:10 Reasons Why Grace And Frankie Dont Need Men In Their Lives

NextSurvivor: 10 Of The Worst Losers Ever, Ranked

Brittany Fischer is a freelance writer who enjoys writing about a variety of television shows and movies. She is a lover of musicals, thrillers, mysteries, superhero films, and action movies. She also enjoys casually watching reality television and home renovation shows. In her free time she enjoys traveling, singing, and acting.

Originally posted here:
10 Things That Make No Sense About Grace And Frankie | ScreenRant - Screen Rant

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According to Dr MichaelMosley, creator of the 5:2 Diet,the recent outbreak of the coronavirus has shown us just how vulnerable we are to the emergence of new infectious diseases: The spread of this novel virus is a particular problem becausecurrentlywe have no reliable drugs to combat it and no vaccine, he says, so currently one of our best forms of defence, alongside following government advice on social distancing and hand washing, is a fully active immune system.

Your immune system is a complex army of cells, says DrMosley, which are there to identify and destroy any potentially dangerous invaders. But to do this effectively the army needs to be in the best possible condition for combat.

As we get older our immune system tends to get weaker and less effective, but there are things we can all do to keep ours in good shape and ready to take on all comers. One way is to bolster your microbiome, the microbes that live in your gut. They are central to our health, our mood, better sleep, allergy prevention, and importantly at the moment, immunity. Along with the guts ability to help manage a healthy weight, its clear that for long-term health, we need to start from the inside.

The microbiome is a community of trillions of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes that live mainly in the large intestine or colon. Our personal microbiome is shaped by our genetics, but it is also strongly affected by what we eat, how we exercise and how we live day-to-day.

As we get older, having lots of good bacteria living in our gut is increasingly important because they help us fight infection and prevent the onset of diseases like type 2 diabetes, says DrMosley. One of the best ways to improve the good microbes that live in our guts is through eating a Mediterranean diet because the high fibre content is a great way to supercharge your microbiome. The diet is widely seen as the healthiest, most nutrient-rich on the planet, and contains lots of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, spices and olive oil, as well as some oily fish, cheese and full fat yoghurt.

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Dr Michael Mosley on how improving your gut health in lockdown will boost immunity - Telegraph.co.uk

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By now everybody knows about the threat the coronavirus poses to our physical health, and, indeed to the economy. But perhaps there is one threat that many of us are overlooking: loneliness.

With the UK entering its fifth week of lockdown, insurer Cigna Europe is highlighting the issue noting that more than nine million people regularly experienced loneliness even before the pandemic began.

COVID-19 is not only a life-threatening global health crisis - for many societies, its also becoming a major social crisis, said Dr Peter Mills. The pandemic is unprecedented for the entire world, and is having a tremendous impact on healthcare professionals, businesses, and above all, individual people.Were having to adjust to dealing with uncertainty, working differently, having to home school children, and trying to make sure that everybody stays healthy, safe, and is physically active.

Feelings of loneliness can happen because of many factors, however in this current period of social isolation, it most frequently arises because of the forced separation from those we love, or due to the lack of social connections with other people, added Dr Inge Schrever. For this reason, its important to bear in mind that, despite the fact that it is a temporary phenomenon, solitude during the isolation period can, without question, significantly reduce our quality of life, negatively impacting our health and well-being, especially among the most vulnerable groups. Although the seriousness of the situation is undeniable, the good news is that, by applying certain guidelines, we can help curb the feeling of loneliness, so that our health and wellbeing are not affected during this period.

With this in mind, the insurer is offering eight top tips that it believes can help keep your mental health on track at this time.

Read more here:
Cigna shines spotlight on the 'other' great COVID-19 threat - Insurance Business UK

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Let us step away from the dreaded C word that has engulfed us and focus on how one can focus on ones well-being and how Mother Nature provides both the means and the solutions to balance ones life. Both an art and a science, one of mankinds oldest forms of plant-based wellness and healing methodology from India, which dates back more than 5,000 years, is Ayurveda (translated as the science of life in Sanskrit), also referred to as Mother of All Healing.

Ayurveda finds mention in the ancient Vedic culture, and its knowledge was passed down orally from the gurus (masters or teachers) to their disciples for many thousands of years. This practice of wellness places emphasis on prevention and encourages the maintenance of health through close attention to balance in ones life, right thinking, diet, lifestyle, and the use of herbs.

It is said that knowledge of Ayurveda enables one to understand how to create this balance of body, mind, and consciousness according to ones own individual constitution and how to make lifestyle changes to bring about and maintain this balance.

Like many beliefs from India, where energy fields are at the focal point, Ayurveda also says that each person has a particular energy pattern a unique combination of physical, mental, and emotional characteristics that comprise their own constitution. This constitution is determined at conception by a number of factors and remains the same throughout ones life.

Many factors, both internal and external, act upon us to disturb this balance and are reflected as a change in ones constitution from the balanced state. Examples of these emotional and physical stresses include ones emotional state, diet and food choices, seasons and weather, physical trauma, and work and family relationships. Once these factors are understood, one can take appropriate actions to nullify or minimise their effects or eliminate the causes of imbalance and re-establish ones original constitution. Balance is the natural order; imbalance is disorder. Health is order; disease is disorder. Within the body, there is constant interaction between order and disorder. When one understands the nature and structure of disorder, one can re-establish order.

In Ayurveda, body, mind, and consciousness work together in maintaining balance. They are simply viewed as different facets of ones being. Ayurveda identifies three basic types of energy, or functional principles, that are present in everyone and everything. Since there are no single words in English that convey these concepts, we use the original Sanskrit words vata, pitta, and kapha. These principles can be related to the basic biology of the body. Vata is the energy of movement, pitta is the energy of digestion or metabolism, and kapha is the energy of lubrication and structure.

All people have the qualities of vata, pitta, and kapha, but one is usually primary, one is secondary, and the third is usually least prominent. The cause of diseases, according to Ayurveda, is a lack of proper cellular function due to an excess or deficiency of vata, pitta, or kapha. Disease can also be caused by the presence of toxins. According to Ayurvedic philosophy, the entire cosmos is an interplay of the energies of the five great elements space, air, fire, water, and earth.

Vata, pitta, and kapha are combinations and permutations of these five elements that manifest as patterns present in all creation. In the physical body, vata is the subtle energy of movement, pitta is the energy of digestion and metabolism, and kapha is the energy that forms the bodys structure. To learn how to balance the body, mind, and consciousness requires an understanding of how vata, pitta, and kapha work together. Diet and lifestyle appropriate to ones individual constitution strengthen the body, mind, and consciousness.

Western allopathic medicine currently tends to focus on symptomatology and disease and primarily uses drugs and surgery to rid the body of pathogens or diseased tissue. However, drugs, because of their toxicity, often weaken the body. Ayurveda does not focus on disease. Ayurveda maintains that all life must be supported by energy in balance. When there is minimal stress and the flow of energy within a person is balanced, the bodys natural defence systems will be strong and can more easily defend against disease.

It must be emphasised that Ayurveda is not a substitute for Western allopathic medicine. There are many instances when the disease process and acute conditions can best be treated with drugs or surgery. Ayurveda can be used in conjunction with Western medicine to make a person stronger and less likely to be afflicted with disease and/or to rebuild the body after it is treated with drugs or surgery.

Ayurveda encompasses various techniques for assessing health. Basic techniques such as taking the pulse; observing the tongue, eyes, and physical form; and listening to the tone of the voice are employed during an assessment.

Palliative and cleansing measures are used to help eliminate an imbalance, along with managing the causes of the imbalance. This includes the implementation of lifestyle changes, starting and maintaining a suggested diet, and the use of herbs. In some cases, participating in a cleansing program, called panchakarma, is suggested to help the body rid itself of accumulated toxins to gain more benefit from the various suggested measures of treatment.

Plant- and animal-based treatments in Ayurveda may be derived from roots, leaves, fruits, bark, seeds such as cardamom and cinnamon, and milk. In addition, fats are prescribed both for consumption and for external use. Ayurveda also uses alcoholic beverages, which are said to adjust the doshas. The sedative and pain-relieving properties of opium are also used in Ayurveda.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises Ayurveda, among other complementary health systems. It is also a part of the 2013 WHO-WIPO-WTO TRIPS study on health innovation and access to medicines. The WTO mentions Ayurveda in its intellectual property strategy. Although Ayurveda originated in India, it has now become a common heritage of mankind, and millions of people around the world use its principles and techniques to lead a healthy life.

According to some sources, up to 80 per cent of people in India use some form of traditional medicine for personal wellness. The Indian government has a Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha Medicine and Homeopathy (AYUSH) for the development of Ayurveda in India.

In essence, Ayurveda touches all facets the body, mind, and spirit and also recognises that each of us is unique, each responds differently to the many aspects of life, each possesses different strengths and weaknesses.

This ancient system of Indian medicine presents a vast wealth of information on the relationships between causes and their effects, both immediate and subtle, for unique individual that is in us.

As for coronavirus, it shall pass, but it will present us with a new normal, whatever that may be the key, as this ancient system of wellness promotes will be to strike the equilibrium between the mind, body and spirit. Right now, we need all the positive affirmations, however diverse we may be as humans, let us spread positive energies and help to heal each other.

Background information courtesy of the High Commission of India in Jamaica. amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com.

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The art and science of Ayurveda | Art & Leisure - Jamaica Gleaner

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Updated April 20, 2020 09:23:27

Some of the early failures in Australia's management of the novel coronavirus pandemic this year could have been avoided if all levels of Government had been trained using simulated exercises, leading health planners have told the ABC.

Australia has not run a large-scale national pandemic exercise since 2008: Kevin Rudd was serving his first year as prime minister and the first iPhone entered the market and changed the way people communicate.

The experts say failure to continue pandemic practice exercises may have contributed to confusion in the early days of Australia's response to COVID-19, including contradictory public messaging from national and local leaders and delays in launching communication tools.

"One of the big examples, which would be at the forefront of many people's minds, [is] the Ruby Princess," said Sydney University health security expert Adam Kamradt-Scott, who was involved in a 2008 pandemic exercise.

"The fact that there was an element of confusion as to who may have had responsibility for making the final decision, I think sort of points to the lack of preparedness that, in the event we were having these exercises more regularly, some of these errors may not have occurred."

The remarks by Prime Minister Scott Morrison about going to the football, and about shaking hands by Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy, could have also been avoided through more emergency exercising, says associate professor Kamradt-Scott.

"It's all very good if [pandemic plans] are thought through and written down," says long-serving federal health department secretary Jane Halton, who now chairs a global body financing and coordinating infectious disease vaccines.

"But what you actually also need to do is you need to practice.

"You need to run some exercises where people play themselves including involving prime ministers, ministers, the bureaucracy, the medical officers."

Australia was a world leader in pandemic preparation in the 2000s, and that work culminated in two huge national training programs Exercise Cumpston in 2006 and Exercise Sustain in 2008.

The national health exercises were designed to help prepare the nation for a crippling global virus.

Exercise Cumpston simulated the arrival of an international flight carrying sick passengers from an Asian country, which led to the spread of a pandemic virus into the community.

The exercise, overseen by then-health minister Tony Abbott, tested the health system's capacity to manage the response.

Exercise Sustain continued the work of Cumpston and examined whole of government efforts to mitigate the explosion of global pandemic into the Australia community.

Despite universal recommendations that similar exercises be held every few years, to date, another has not been held.

The Federal Government has run smaller workshops and federal-only exercises, but nothing on the level of Cumpston and Sustain.

"Unfortunately, what we've seen happen since 2008 has been a series of events which have contributed to those pandemic plans going on the backburner," said associate professor Adam Kamradt-Scott, who helped run Sustain while a public servant.

That failure was largely a result of governments around the world being distracted by the global financial crisis, as well as a growing view among the bureaucracy that pandemics were not as dangerous as the experts claimed.

That view was particularly strong after what was perceived to be the relative minor impacts of 2009's swine flu, also known as H1N1.

"I think one of the dynamics which arose at the end of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic was a phenomenon that we saw across the international community and it's been described as pandemic fatigue, which is shorthand for saying that whenever you mentioned the word pandemic, people's eyes started to glaze over," associate professor Kamradt-Scott said.

"They would start shuffling papers [and say], 'We've dealt with that, haven't we?'

"So, it was very difficult, even internationally, to get people to pay attention to the need to focus on pandemic preparedness in the wake of a pandemic it's a great irony really."

He also noted recent exercises could have meant new technologies could have been incorporated into the COVID-19 response much earlier.

"A good example of that is the WhatsApp messaging that the government has initiated. Singapore launched their WhatsApp tool to communicate directly with the public at the end of January, whereas Australia only introduced it at the end of March," he said.

"I think the technology and the changes in Australian society if we were exercising more regularly, we would have seen perhaps a much better, more efficient response."

He also said public discussion about the privacy implications of tracking apps should have occurred as a result of exercising, not during the middle of a crisis.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told the ABC that Australia is in a good position compared to other nations.

He pointed to Australia's low rates of infection and death about 6,600 infections and 71 deaths as of late Sunday.

By comparison, Sweden a nation with a population less than half of Australia's has seen almost 13,000 infections and more than 1,500 deaths.

"I think where we are and I'm sure most people would agree is in a much better position than we thought we would be at this point," he said.

Professor Kelly said the work done in the 2000s left Australia in a position where it did not require more national exercises of the level of Cumpston and Sustain.

"Could we have done more exercising? Could that have been at a higher level of preparedness? Possibly. But let's look at what happened over the last few weeks," he said.

The pandemic planners and former senior officials the ABC spoke to acknowledged that the Australian Government has performed well during the COVID-19 epidemic.

"At the end of the day, we've done well and the preparation we put in place [in the 2000s] is so important," Ms Halton told the ABC.

"We have a fraction of the cases and the deaths, even if you take it on a per population basis, of the United States, of Britain, of Italy, of France."

As head of Australia's federal health department between 2002 and 2014, Ms Halton helped oversee the creation of Australia's first influenza pandemic plan, a national medical stockpile and a national incident room designed for public health emergencies.

She considers exercises Cumpston and Sustain to be the culmination of all of that work: "What you do on a day-by-day basis is, you actually make sure that you are doing as you would do in the real world, the actions that are necessary to deal with the situation."

Associate professor Kamradt-Scott said while he agreed Australia had thus far done well in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, national exercises should have continued.

"One of the strong recommendations of the World Health Organisation was that countries not only develop pandemic plans, but also exercise those plans to try and identify gaps and weaknesses in the event of an actual crisis," he said.

Former senior defence and foreign affairs official Allan Behm reviewed Exercise Sustain in 2008 for the Government.

He recommended that similar national exercises should be conducted every two years.

"If they'd actually had a couple of national exercises recently [they] would have been less, shall we say, hesitant," said Mr Behm, who now runs the international and security affairs program at the Australia Institute.

"That's really what the exercises are for."

When the ABC contacted Mr Behm this month, he was surprised to discover that the Government had not held a similar national exercise.

"I am surprised because these exercises are less a test of professional competence, they're much more of a rolling of the lolly around the mouth, so that the major national decisionmakers are prepared for the complexity of the problems they have to deal with."

Topics:covid-19,diseases-and-disorders,disease-outbreak,disease-control,infectious-diseases-other,respiratory-diseases,epidemics-and-pandemics,health,government-and-politics,health-policy,australia,brisbane-4000,sydney-2000,canberra-2600,melbourne-3000

First posted April 20, 2020 05:11:06

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Australia ran its last national pandemic drill the year the iPhone launched. Did that harm our coronavirus response? - ABC News

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The levels of creativity for West Greene football player Corey Wise and Canon-McMillans Ryan Angott vary.

Wise is battling for a starting spot and trying to fill the void in the Pioneers backfield with the graduation of Army recruit Ben Jackson and productive Kolin Walker. Wise was second on West Greenes defense with 69 tackles from his linebacker spot last year.

A second-team all-conference running back in Class 6A last year, Angott is trying to build off a strong season.

Entering their junior seasons with aspirations of eventually playing college football, Wise and Angott know how important the upcoming year could be in achieving that goal.

And not only has the coronavirus pandemic prematurely ended sports seasons, it has also interrupted offseason workouts for local athletes at school facilities, public gyms and other go-to workout spots.

Being creative isnt a luxury these days, its a necessity.

Its hard on us, Wise said. Out here, we really dont have all that kind of stuff. We have to improvise with what we got.

What Wise had in the family garage was four old tires, a metal bar that had no current use and some duct tape. Just like that, he had a deadlift station to go with the agility work hes done by running around rural Greene County and the tricep curls hes done with cinder blocks.

Im not really much of a creative person, Wise said. I figured to try it and see if it worked. We have a football chat group on Facebook and workouts are posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Most of it is agility stuff. The junior year is the year you prove yourself. I have to work on getting faster and stronger.

Angott, also a running back, has a bench press and dumbbells in his basement, but that didnt stop him from using his natural creativity. For a full-body workout, Angott straps himself to a harness that is connected to a 910-pound lawn roller that he pulls around his familys 13-acre property.

Whatever burns the muscles, Angott said. The first time I tried to pull it I couldnt. Ive been working out more than I usually do and have eventually gotten the point of jogging and running with it.

Angott eclipsed 1,000 all-purpose yards for Canon-McMillan last season and was a big reason the Big Macs made the postseason for the second consecutive year.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Canon-McMillan football coach Mike Evans invested in an app called TeamBuildr, a strength and conditioning software program that can be used with a cell phone. He recently sent out a Google survey to evaluate what equipment his players had available to help design workouts to both meet their needs and understand the current limitations.

What we are trying to do is get the most out of their capability, Evans said. We have kids who have everything, kids that have some stuff and others that dont have much. We are just trying to give our kids the best opportunities.

Tires and chains

Mac Church was not caught flat-footed.

In his basement is all the workout equipment he requires to stay strong. He would prefer to have some company but understands the restrictions required because of the pandemic.

Church has built a reputation as a workout warrior and pound for pound is one of the strongest on Waynesburgs wrestling team, despite his freshman status.

I have these lifting tapes that I do, I run all the time and I do these shadow drills by myself because I dont have a (workout) partner, said Church, going over his daily routine. In the summer, I go lift with Jimmy on more Olympic training stuff. He gets his lifting workouts from an Ohio State lifting guy.

The Jimmy he is referring to is Waynesburgs assistant wrestling coach Jimmy Howard. If you have ever been to one of the Raiders dual meets, he is the one with arms as thick as sequoias. The offseason workout program is in his hands.

The biggest hurdle right now?

Being together. A lot of the kids have equipment at their house, Howard said. The season just finished so were not in a strict program yet. The kids are just using what they have at home for lifting until were able to get together again.

Under circumstances like the pandemic, the wrestlers have to improvise.

We used tires tractor tires, said Howard. I got this chain from a mine a couple years ago and if you ever saw them, one link weighs about 17 pounds. A (weighted) wheelbarrel will give you a good workout. I have a farm so we do things like carrying posts and bale hay.

Howard said the offseason lifting program runs from mid-April until November, the start of the wrestling season.

You can see its paying off, he said. You can see its working.

Howard said the emphasis is sometimes on building bulk with the weightlifting and at other times building strength. The program he uses can be tweaked or altered to fit a wrestlers needs. Howard is always looking for different ways and different things to incorporate into the program.

Hes even gotten some help from one of his teammates in high school at Jefferson-Morgan: Cary Kolat, who recently hired as the wrestling coach at the Naval Academy.

Nutrition and training

Whether or not a pandemic rages through the country, Donovan McMillon of Peters Township consumes nutritious meals as part of his preparation for the football season.

Noting his mother, Shelley, always makes him a big breakfast, McMillon gulps down six pieces of French toast. She makes the best, he said, then quickly adds of course maple syrup is an essential condiment.

Lunch on this day is a croissant with bacon coupled with a dish of apple sauce and a peach.

Dinner could be fish, maybe, cauliflower and broccoli for vegetables and as many as six biscuits.

Then there are snacks. A bunch, McMillon said with a large laugh. I eat a ton of calories.

McMillon after all is a growing teen. The 6-2, 185-pound junior is also a 4-star safety. He already has 49 major Division I scholarship offers.

While the coronavirus crisis is putting a damper on the recruiting process and his ability to visit college campuses, it has not hindered his training.

Though he is unable to practice with teammates or visit the high school to use the extensive array of equipment and weights, McMillon has gotten creative with his workouts. He fills a duffle bag with books and does curls and pulls. He attaches 14.3-pound weights to an old plastic broom that he uses as a barbell.

Trust me, Im doing everything imaginable, he said.

McMillon does 500 situps a day in sets of 50 to 75. He sets up cones outside and works on his footwork. He even employs his siblings, Darius, 13, Dane, 10, and Davin, 7.

We are having fun with it, McMillon said of his attempts to cover his brothers during defensive back drills. Theres nothing like running around chasing them. We are making it so that its fun.

In reality, though, McMillon said, Im trying to stay as sharp as possible.

McMillon attempts to make his workouts interesting by varying his training. He said that he does something different every day, including running or sprinting. He spends approximately three hours outside and does push-ups throughout the day.

Theres no specific time and its not just one thing, he said. It varies.

Concrete blocks and yard signs

When McGuffey High School was closed last month, for what began as two weeks and became the remainder of the school year, Evan Wright and his younger brother, Tyler, kicked their worrying minds into overdrive.

How were the Wright Brothers, both members of the Highlanders football team, expected to stay in shape if they couldnt use McGuffeys weight room? After all, the saying goes that teams get better during the season but players get better in the offseason. And high school football players are smack in the middle of their offseason training.

Being a rural school, the high school becomes a hub of the community because the players dont have easy access to gyms as they would in the city, McGuffey coach Ed Dalton is quick to say. Two days after classes were stopped, we had 25 to 30 kids show up at the school to work out. Thats not good for social distancing. We had to stop that.

So whats a rural kid supposed to do?

The Wrights decided to go on a bit of a scavenger hunt at home, looking for anything that could be used for weight training or spark a creative idea. It didnt take long before finding some things on the family farm: a digging post, some concrete blocks, a tractor and yard signs, to name a few. The first three, it was decided, can be used as weightlifting equipment.

We found a five-foot digging bar in a shed, said Evan Wright, who will be a senior guard and nose tackle next fall. Its used to dig around fence posts so they go in the ground easier. We also recently built a building and had some concrete blocks left over from that. My brother and I thought they would make good weights to put on the bar.

Alex and Tyler, the latter a rising sophomore center and defensive tackle, were on to something.

We were able to make a mini-gym in our pavilion, Alex said.

There was one problem, he said.

The digging bar was wasnt long enough to do squats with, he explained. But we were able to find a seven-foot fence post and we use that for squats. We use the tractor to rest the posts on when doing squats.

That was good for weightlifting but what about cardio work?

We have a gas well road that runs through our property. We can run on the road for about a mile and a half, so that covers the cardio work, Alex Wright said.

The yard signs? No, they werent used to advertise the new-style lifting program. The Wrights used them as part of an agility ladder.

Dalton and his coaching staff make sure the players who dont have access to home gyms can do workouts that are less involved than what the Wrights are doing. McGuffey also uses TeamBuildr to send workouts to each player.

Two days each week the workouts are lifting and three days they are running, Alex Wright said. The lifting workouts are bodyweight exercises. I definitely think what were doing is helping. Were able to do more every week.

This group has embraced training more than any Ive seen, Dalton added.

Tennis balls and water jugs

Charley Rossi doesnt play tennis but the rising South Fayette senior is using that sports equipment to make a racket on the football field this fall.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Rossi, like most of his teammates and opponents, have been confined by Gov. Tom Wolfs stay-at-home orders and the PIAAs restrictions to not allow formal workouts until at least July 1. Hence, Rossi has resorted to some homespun training methods.

For example, there is the tennis drill. While balancing himself on an exercise balance saucer, Rossi catches tennis balls shot from an apparatus much like a pitching machine.

Its to improve hand/eye coordination, explained Rossi.

The machine is usually housed at the school but because his father, Joe, is the football coach as well as an educator in the school district, he brought it home where it sits in the garage. Rossi says he has used it every day. While his workouts vary, Rossi estimated his minutes have increased exponentially because he has so much free time to train now that hes not in school.

Rossi led the Lions to an eighth straight undefeated conference title, an 11-2 overall record and an appearance in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals in 2019. He had the game-winning TD reception in South Fayettes 31-24 win over Thomas Jefferson as a sophomore in the 2018 WPIAL championship game at Heinz Field.

So Rossi is hard at work on his training for his senior season. He is doing plenty of running. He had that already factored into his plans as he would have competed in track this spring. He looked to lower his 40-yard dash speed to 4.5 by racing in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes as well as relays.

That would have been beneficial to me, he said.

Alas, the PIAA canceled spring sports.

In addition to his sprint workouts, Rossi does endurance running around the steep hills near his home.

Because we have no access to weight rooms and the track at the school, its hard, Rossi said. So Im doing all sorts of things to maintain agility and quickness.

Rossi lunges up hills, utilizes resistance bands and belts in his speed training and he performs change-of-direction drills to replicate the short movements he is required to make on the field. While Rossi has a set of weights with a few dumbbells, he sometimes fills jugs of water for lifting.

There are ways to improvise, he said. Kids are getting creative everywhere so there is no reason to make excuses or drop off with workouts. We are all in the same situation. So we have to focus on the positive.

O-R sports editor Chris Dugan, assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano and The Alamnac sports editor Eleanor Bailey contributed to this story.

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The trouble with training: Pandemic forces athletes to get creative with workouts - Observer-Reporter

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Coronavirus lockdown means that population are only allowed out for one hour of exercise each day. This can prove difficult to stay in shape while being confined indoors.

Intermittent fasting is an umbrella term for various meal timing schedules between voluntary fasting (or reduced calories intake) and non-fasting over a given period.

According to Healthline, this method of dieting is one of the worlds most popular tricks used to lose weight quickly.

There are three methods of intermittent fasting:

READ MORE:Weight loss: Man shed one stone in just 12 weeks with this home workout plan

Alternate day fasting involves eating 25 percent less than your normal daily intake followed by a 24 feast day.

On the day of fast, calorie-free beverages are allowed such as water, black or green tea and coffee.

On the day of feast, you can consume whatever food and drink you like.

Periodic fasting involves a period of consecutive fasting of more than 24 hours, it is also known as the 5:2 diet where there are one or two days where there are one or two fast days per week.

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During the fasting days consumption of around 500-700 calories or about 25 percent of regular daily calorie intake may be allowed instead of complete fasting.

Daily timed restricted diet is one of the most common methods of intermittent fasting.

It permits eating only during a certain number of hours each day.

Usually it follows a 16 hour period of fasting, followed by an eight hour window of non fasting.

This is usually done by eating from midday until eight oclock at night.

During these hours, you can return to usual eating.

According to a recent survey by International Food Information Council Foundation, intermittent fasting proved to be one of the most popular diets to follow with many benefits including weight loss.

Between meals, as long as there is no snacking involved, insulin levels will drop and fat cells will release their stored sugar to be used as energy.

Weight loss occurs when insulin levels drop.

The idea of intermittent fasting is to allow insulin levels to go down far enough and for long enough that fat can be burnt off.

This type of dieting has shown many benefits including improving metabolic health and protecting against disease.

Exercise is still advised to produce best results with any diet and many home workouts are now online during this lockdown.

Although this method can have many benefits, it may not be for everyone and it is best to follow a diet that works for you.

Dietician Dr Linia Patel says that: Mood swings caused by a change in insulin levels can be a consequence of fasting, depending on what you are used to eating.

If you have a diet that is very high in refined carbohydrates and you snack a lot, of course fasting is going to mean that you will be irritable.

However this simple diet is easy to follow and can help weight loss if followed correctly and maintaining a healthy balanced diet whilst doing so.

Read more here:
How to lose weight even in lockdown - these tips could help you control snacking - Express

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Want to know how to lose belly fat fast? Well you can't. But there are ways to torch fat, shed the dreaded visceral fat and maybe even reveal your abs. During lockdown it's a problem a lot of us are facing although you could do worse than starting your week days with Joe Wicks PE lesson. Yes we know it's meant to be for kids but it's by no means child's play.It's a very intense tabata HIIT workout, when you get down to it. And wearing a frog costume can really make you sweat.

Contrary to what a lot of websites will tell you, directly targeting 'belly fat' is largely impossible outside of surgical procedures. It's more of a matter of knowing how to lose weight in general some of which will be around your belly. It can also be useful to work on your abdominal muscles, so that when the fat is finally gone, your stomach will be properly flat, not fat. Although there's no magic bullet to slay belly fat, there are ways to burn visceral fat or belly fat that are tried, trusted and true.

And, as you have probably guessed, we have a list of them. So if you want to burn belly fat and get fit, this is our 'six-pack' of tips, cheats, technologies and strategies. Oh and if you want to round it up to a lucky 7 tips, try this one blindingly obvious way to avoid lockdown weight gain.

Important note here, everyone: Belly fat these days is often referred to as visceral fat because that sounds scarier. If you really need to shed visceral fat because it's endangering your life, that is an area where you should probably be seeking medical advice, if that is at all possible. But while this guide is more about slimming down a bit, or avoiding ballooning during lockdown, belly fat loss also has an element of visceral fat loss.

Our lose belly fat tips aren't necessarily quick, and this is not about telling you how to get six pack abs although we have plenty of guides to that, too. No, this is just a 'six pack' do you see what we did, there? of tips to getting a healthier life and feeling comfortable with the girth of your mid-riff. We're not looking to fat shame anyone here or totally bro out, we're just offering advice.

We've got some great tips, a few cheeky shortcuts and key strategies to lose belly fat quickly, healthily and sustainably. As we just said, there are no quick fixes here; we want you to develop habits that ensure you'll stay trim for good.Weve also got the lowdown on the best exercises to lose belly fat, and all the gear youll need to get started although, of course, the most important 'gear' is the bit between your ears.

There's no hard-and-fast rule for slim-down success: the best way to lose belly fat is the way that works around your lifestyle. If you follow an unsustainable plan, you won't last: it's as simple as that. In this article we lay out six principles that are applicable to everyone, whether you're a total beginner starting your weight-loss journey or a seasoned pro who fell off the wagon over Christmas.

These guiding lights will keep you on the straight and narrow, whether you've got time to hit the gym every day or a shift worker looking to manage your schedule. Dont try to take on more than you can reasonably fit into one day. And, despite the name of this feature, don't fixate on 'belly fat'. It's important to reduce visceral fat, which does tend to lurk around the belly area, but that is best achieved by trying to slim down and tune up overall.

Here are six strategies to help you start losing weight.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The short answer to the question of how to lose belly fat is to burn more calories than you consume on a regular basis. In the fitness world, this is known as achieving a "calorie deficit".

If this sounds like a waking nightmare, there's a trick to it: what you need to do is ensure youre eating the correct kind of food to make sure you feel full and sated, even when consuming fewer calories than you're burning off. Certain foods are "empty calories" while others release energy slowly, keeping you fuller for longer.

But before that, you'll need to find a good way to track your calories burned and calories taken in. The free MyFitnessPal app is one of the best ways to record your calorie intake, but to track your calories burned, you'll need a dedicated fitness tracker. If you already own a smartwatch, most will offer calorie tracking as standard, but for those yet to make the plunge, the Fitbit Versa Lite is the best activity tracker you can buy right now. Check out the deal below.

Oh, and staying hydrated is crucial, as well

Fitbit Versa 2 | was 199.99 | now 184 at AmazonThe Fitbit Versa 2 is getting regular price cuts in 2020 and is currently 22 off at Amazon and various other fine online retailers. The Versa 2 features advanced cardio tracking as well as the usual steps and sleep stuff, and has Alexa built in. It's also unusually stylish for a Fitbit.View Deal

Fitbit Versa Lite | was 149.99 | now 114 at AmazonThe Fitbit Versa Lite is the best affordable fitness tracker or smartwatch you can buy.It tracks deep and light sleep, steps, distance and calories, but that is barely scraping the surface of its capabilities. Via Fitbit's excellently presented app and sprawling ecosystem, you can use it as the basis of a complete fitness and diet programme. You can also enter your meals to log calories consumed, so you can have all your dietary data in one place.View Deal

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S'Well Marble Drinking Water Bottle | now 25.00 at John LewisIn this case beauty is more than skin deep. This bottle is vacuum sealed, which means it should be able to keep liquids warm for 12 hours and cold for 24 hours. Its stainless steel, has a capacity of 500ml and requires handwashing, and its definitely one for one-upping your co-workers boring flasks and supermarket specials.View Deal

Wild West Original Jerky, 12 x 35g bags | now 18.00 on AmazonLooking for a calorie-dense but highly nutritional snack? Swap your bag of crisps or chocolate bar for jerky or biltong, a cured meat snack high in protein. This Wild West Original comes in handy 35g bags, to keep yourself fuller for longer. It's packed full of protein to help build muscle after a workout (13.2g per pack, to be precise), and is even gluten free too.View Deal

Intermittent fasting is becoming more and more popular. It involves significantly cutting calories or abstaining from food altogether for a portion of the day or week, and then cramming all your calories into a much shorter time window.

The best-known intermittent fasting plan is the 5:2 diet, where you eat as you normally would (although hopefully a bit healthier) for five days a week, then scoff no more than 600 calories two days a week.There are also variants of this diet where you consume almost no calories, two days per week. This is much more doable than it sounds, so long as you are in good general health, but it's not exactly fun.

However, for trainees who are serious but not that serious, there's the 16:8 diet. With this diet you have only 8 hours a day to fit all your meals in, but can only drink water (and maybe some black coffee, if you're feeling naughty) within a 16 hour fasting period outside of those 8 hours. Most choose to eat from 10am to 6pm, but as long as you stay within an eight hour window, you can start and finish at any time of the day. This isHugh Jackman's strategy, so if you have ever wanted to be in Wolverine shape

Why try fasting, though? Well, during the fasting period the body will run out of sugar to run on, and so will start eating up the bodys fat stores. The big negative is the adjustment period: if you're used to a big breakfast or an early dinner, a 16-hour fast feels tough at first, especially if you're exercising. You're going to get seriously cranky.

Soylent Nutrition Shake, Cacao (Chocolate), 12 Pack | now 35.00 on AmazonMarketed as a 'complete meal in a bottle' soylent is a perfect on-the-go quick feed for breakfast or lunch. With 20g of plant protein - to keep you going and slow-burning carbs to help you stay full, Soylent is vegan, gluten free, nut free, dairy free and low GI. At under 3 a shake, it's an ideal replacement to your usual hurried, bland supermarket meal deal.View Deal

Weight training is a great way to tip your muscle-fat ratio the right way

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Dead set on having chips? An air fryer can deliver a lot of the delicious taste with less of the not-quite-so-delicious oil

(Image credit: Future)

If you eat fried food all the time, switching to an air fryer will definitely cause you to lose weight unless buying one causes you to start eating loads of chocolate because you've reduced your fat intake. No, it doesn't taste as delicious as proper fried food of course not but it turns out meals with a good fried/roasted taste, but with up to 80% lower fat content.

If you don't eat fried food all the time but like to treat yourself now and then, switching to an air fryer could still help with you to lose weight. Even with a solid balanced diet and a good workout ethic, there will come a time when your willpower will falter and you'll want to fall back on your old favourites, like fried chicken, fish, chips and all the other foods you love normally dripping with grease. If you schedule in cheat days and do this in a controlled way, it's good to know you're cooking these foods in a way that still helps you hit your goals.

Enter the air fryer. The best air fryers are revolutionary pieces of kit that use hot air combined with a teaspoon of oil (as opposed to the gallons of oil found in the deep-fat variety) to cook your crispy favourites. If kitchen space and budget is no object, you can cook a whole chicken in the Philips Airfryer XXL, but if you're after something a little more economical, Ninjas AF100UK Air Fryer is lightweight, compact and versatile, perfect for portion control. It also seems to usually be sold out all the time at present, so perhaps everyone has already taken our advice, here.

This is just one way to have your (fried) cake and eat it too. Swapping high-calorie pints of ice cream to the low-calorie versions like Halo Top or Oppo, or switching out cholesterol-laden butter for a healthier olive spread, are other easy ways you can make relatively simple lifestyle choices and still keep weight off.

There are two main types of exercise: cardio training and weights, otherwise known as resistance training.Although cardio burns a lot of calories while you do it, weight training builds muscle which burns more than fat as you go about your day. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you'll burn even when not working out.

Resistance training may seem scary if you're doing it for the first time, especially in the gym when the area's dominated by serious lifters, but you dont have to start adding big plates to the bar right now. There's plenty of ways to get started at home with smaller weights such as dumbbells, kettlebells and even medicine balls.

Were not going to list every single lifting exercise, so why not pick the body part you want to start toning up and check out some of our muscle-building how-tos. One you've done that, grab one of the best dumbbell sets on the market. They're not just for arms: you can use a dumbbell to work your core, shoulders, and even your legs with combination movements. The only issue you will find right now is that most of them are sold out, but this store still has home gym equipment for online delivery.

BodyPower 20 kg Cast Iron Spinlock Dumbbell set | was 59.99 | now 39.99 from Fitness SuperstoreYou just can't beat a good old pair of cast iron weights, and a testament to this is the fact they can be found under the beds of dads and granddads up and down the country. Get your own and they will last a lifetime and for all of their noisy, palm-chafing downsides, there is a kind of nostalgic loveliness to the spin collar set-up.View Deal

All of this aside, dont neglect cardio, as regular cardio workouts are important for fitness and stamina.

Electric Muscle Stimulation can help your muscles recover faster

(Image credit: PowerDot)

It may seem gimmicky when you unwrap your new six-pack vibrating belt, complete with a picture of Ronaldo on the box, but don't roll your eyes just yet. While you can't just sit there eating crisps and expect to get ripped, Electric Muscle Stimulators can help as part of a controlled dietary and exercise plan.

EMS can cause the muscles to contract, essentially tensing and untensing rapidly. During downtime post-workout, you can continue to encourage muscle growth with EMS, while the right bit of kit can also encourage faster recovery, allowing you to get back in the gym all the quicker. According to the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, EMS stimulates the muscle in the same way as a massage, prepping it for the next go-round.

It's not a bona fide shortcut to a six-pack, but it can speed up the muscle-building process with regular use.

(Image credit: Sixpad)

Our top choice is always SIXPAD as used by Cristiano Ronaldo, a man who takes great pride in his body. Perhaps a little too much pride, the unkind or jealous might say. Amazon also sells all manner of abs belts by brands we have never heard of, for about 20. Needless to say we dont recommend these.

PowerDot 2.0 - Smart Electric Muscle Stimulator | now 185 at AmazonAlternatively, the PowerDot 2.0 is a smartphone-controlled muscle stimulating monster.This neat muscle stimulator works from your phone, allowing you to control intensity, stimulation and goal. Reduce your recovery time and increase muscular performance, as the PowerDot working to support your gym schedule. This model has two stimulators, but you can scale up to four for 325View Deal

Planks are a tough abs workout and a great end-of-workout finisher

(Image credit: Taco Fleur from Pixabay)

As well doing both muscle-building and cardio exercises, if you want to lose belly fat its also important to switch up the pace of your workout.

Every time you workout, you should exercise using both steady state (working hard but not at max capacity, such as during brisk jog) and high intensity (going flat out, like sprinting) to torch your abdominal fat.

Steady state or aerobic exercises include cycling, running or uphill hiking.Its a crucial part of losing belly fat because it burns through your fat stores. However, it also uses your sugar stores for energy first, so you need to do steady-state for long enough to use up all that sugar before it eats into your fat reserves.

High intensity workouts use mainly sugar for fuel, so they don't hit the fat right away, but it does help in building muscle, which will help you torch fat even on days you're not exercising. Explosive weight lifting, sprinting and HIIT-friendly exercises like mountain climbers are all great high-intensity exercises.

A good fitness tracker will help you to gauge the intensity of your workout by monitoring your heart rate. For overall fitness trackers, check out the Fitbit Versa Lite above, but for a dedicated running watch, you can't beat the Garmin Forerunner 645, the best on the market right now.

Find out more about heart rate zone training

Garmin Forerunner 645 | now 279.57 at AmazonGarmin dominates the running/fitness watch category so totally, it's almost embarrassing for the competition. The most recent addition to their premium line, the Garmin 645, incorporates GPS and wrist heart-rate tracking, which is good for monitoring your resting and all-day rates. The 645 crunches a lot of data to suggest recovery times, make a decent stab at estimating your VO2 Max, tell you how optimal your training load and lots, lots more.View Deal

FitBit Aria 2 smart bathroom scale | now 111.72 on AmazonThis clever scaletells you your weight, BMI and body fat percentage which is all a lot of people want. It then reports this to your Fitbit account, so you can monitor your weight trends and use it alongside your Fitbit wearable's daily calorie-burn estimates. Add MyFitnessPal or Fitbit's own dietary features and you can then sync your meal-plans, daily calories consumed and weight goals, if you want.View Deal

The most important thing to bear in mind is this: losing weight takes time. You'll have setbacks and slip-ups, but if you stay committed to your goal, you'll be fitter and healthier in 2020, building up great habits for many years ahead.

Need some help to get started? Check out all the latest deals on the kit you'll need to get fit in 2020.To start with, you'll need a killer playlist and a good set of workout headphones to listen to it on:

Beats By Dre Powerbeats Pro | now 206 on AmazonPowerbeats Pro are a 'game changer' for Beats; the quality of them is over and above anything the brand has produced before. Designed for workouts and running, the clever design of these true wireless buds means they stay still in your ears during even the most arduous physical jerks. Battery life is way better than most true wireless buds at 8-9 hours and they recharge incredibly fast.View Deal

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How to lose belly fat fast: don't get the lockdown weight-gain blues, try this six pack of tips - T3

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