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Another year, another skirmish in the culture war. The launch of Greggs latest offering, a plant-based steak bake, has revived the kerfuffle that surrounded the bakery chains vegan sausage roll. Amid a flurry of hot takes and taste tests, up popped Piers Morgan to complain: A meatless steak is not a bloody steak.

Meanwhile, some vegans have been complaining about KFC and Burger King adding plant-based burgers to their menus. One animal rights activist told the Guardian last week: Theyre trying to buy us off with these products, and pretending theyre our friends. Happy Veganuary, everyone.

This may seem a peculiarly modern obsession can science produce something that has a similar taste, appearance and texture to meat, but isnt meat? but it has been simmering for over a millennium. As early as 965, the frugal-minded Chinese magistrate Shi Ji was promoting tofu as mock lamb chops, according to William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagis study, History of Meat Alternatives.

The Chinese often used tofu (made from soya) and seitan (from wheat gluten) because of their availability and physical properties. You can manufacture them into squishy, lightly fibrous substances, says Malte Rdl, a research associate at the University of Manchesters Sustainable Consumption Institute. By the 1620s, the process was so advanced that Buddhist monks at a banquet had to be reassured: This is vegetarian food made to look like meat.

In Victorian Britain, where the first vegetarians were motivated by health concerns as well as a belief that eating animals was immoral, meat, though expensive, was central to an aspirational diet. So early vegetarian propaganda emphasised the poor quality of most cheap meat, as well as the virtues of self-denial and thrift not so different from the modern fixation with wellness and minimalism. The debate among vegetarians over how much to sacrifice their ideals in order to appeal to those still eating a mixed diet is also reminiscent of the current scepticism about fast food chains.

The Victorian vegetarians were very concerned with not wanting to be like meat-eaters, says Rdl. Some people say: We shouldnt give in, but then other people say: We need to become more popular.

But the repetitiveness and simplicity of a diet of mostly vegetables hamstrung the efforts of reformers, with the Daily News reporting in 1897 that the vegetarian movement had yet to make their fare appetising. And so, from the late 19th century, meat substitutes started to emerge, made from nuts, seeds or grains.

Many came via the Seventh Day Adventist church in the US. As director of the churchs Battle Creek Sanatarium in Michigan, Dr John Harvey Kellogg pioneered several meat substitutes, among them protose, a nut-cereal preparation which, he said, resembled meat to a considerable degree having a slight fibre like potted meat.

But in general throughout history, meat substitutes have suffered from the curse of comparison to the real thing, says Rdl as though there were even one single thing to aim for. All meat tastes differently depending on how it is cured, who manufactured it, what spices are added, he points out. There might be some meat that you like, or dont like, but you wouldnt say its not meat, because its from an animal but for meat alternatives, that argument doesnt work.

If people dont like it, theyll say its not like meat, therefore its not good. As soon as you know its not an animal that youre eating, you are immediately more critical.

The idea of meat alternatives as a second-rate option was reinforced during wartime, when consumption of less meat was either encouraged or mandated through rationing. During the first world war, nut meat was advertised in national newspapers, and even wholegrain bread was marketed as a meat alternative, on the strength of having a higher protein content than white bread. These meatless and less-meat diets predictably receded in peacetime.

During the second world war, soya was used to replace or fortify products though not very palatably. Soya was left with an image problem that persisted until the 1960s, when the US company Archer Daniels Midland developed the meal extender textured vegetable protein (TVP), offering all the protein but less of the unpleasant aftertaste.

In 1971, Frances Moore Lapps bestseller Diet for a Small Planet was credited with making vegetarianism fashionable in the US. Seth Tibbott, then a college student in Ohio, was among those to convert, although plant-based products were not widely available at the time. He recalls eating soy grit burgers: ground-up soya beans combined with wheat flour and fried: They tasted horrible, but they digested worse. I was very keen to find a soy product that digested well and tasted good.

In the 1980s, he went into business producing tempeh, made from fermented soya beans. It wasnt very profitable, he admits. It was way before there was any interest in plant-based foods, thats for sure.

Then, in 1995, spotting a gap in the market for Thanksgiving, he created a turkey substitute from wheat protein and tofu and named it Tofurky. It really hit a chord, he says. No meat alternative had caught fire in the way Tofurky did then, and in the way that Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger are catching fire now. It just became part of American culture.

But the potential of soya, and TVP in particular, was viewed with scepticism in the UK. A 1975 Guardian editorial headlined A soya point arched an eyebrow at the faux-bacon, ham and sausages on sale in the US, noting: No one has yet managed to produce a meat flavour which is totally convincing, particularly beef.

In 1960s Britain, meat alternatives had been mostly associated with the hippy movement, and the macrobiotic food trend from Japan. Gregory Sams, who is credited with inventing the veggie burger, fashioned a patty from seitan at his London restaurant Seed, which was frequented by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Later, in 1983, Sams sesame- and soya-based VegeBurger got a commercial release; an Observer report remarked on its pleasant texture and agreeable, if a little bland taste.

Then, in 1985, along came an undisputed hit in the form of Quorn, a low-cost meat substitute based on a microorganism in the fungi family and a process of fermentation. It had been 20 years in the making one decade in development, another awaiting food safety approval. Key to its popularity were the meat-free mince, sausages, patties and even pepperoni and nuggets that could be seamlessly subbed in for meat products. Today it features in Greggs sausage roll and steak bake. Rdl says people are far more receptive to plant-based proxies for processed meats than they are to, say, a soya steak (although, he adds, there are now really nice ones available).

Where we started with the Quorn pieces and vegetable pie, we now have over 120 products in the UK market, says spokesman Alex Glen. This makes it very easy for people to replicate their animal diets. Yet, until relatively recently, Quorn was mostly targeted at vegetarians and vegans, rather than meat reducers: people who have no intention of giving up meat altogether but want to eat less, typically for health reasons. That market emerged in the 1990s, says Tony Watson, who in 2012 founded the soya-based brand Meat the Alternative.

The former butcher saw the writing on the wall and switched to working on improving meat analogue technologies for the DuPont organisation. Those technologies have not changed much in the past 15 years, says Watson pea is increasingly being used as a meat substitute, but still has a long way to go with regards to texture but the market has, with phenomenal growth in the number of consumers eating less meat in the past two years.

YouGov research carried out for Waitrose last year found that a third of Britons were eating less meat and fish than two years ago, with 32% planning to reduce their consumption even further. Just about every high-street chain, including Pret a Manger and Wetherspoons, is increasing their meat-free offerings as result.

But Watson says it is frustrating to see many companies throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, being overly led by the tiny but vocal vegan community (less than 1% of the British population, he points out) and producing poor-quality products not suitable for meat-reducers. He expects many small meat-proxy producers to be driven out of business by rivals with bigger budgets for product development or marketing.

Among the biggest are Impossible Foods and Beyond Burger (which became a publicly listed company last year), both offering plant-based patties that are sweeping fast-food menus in the US and UK for their similarity to beef down to the blood. Their success and the momentum it is creating for meat alternatives has great impact for sustainability, says Rdl.

But it also highlights a strange paradox underpinning the centuries-long pursuit of the perfect meat proxy: by trying to seamlessly remove meat from our diets, we are actually reinforcing its importance. Theres this kind of association of meat and the good life a bit of luxury, a nutritious diet that means people want to replicate it in vegetarian terms, says Rdl. Because meat is so entangled with how we understand diets historically, its really hard to imagine ways outside of it.

He points to a vegetarian sausage producer he interviewed for his PhD thesis on meat alternatives. She had no desire to replicate the texture or flavour of meat in her vegetable-only products but nonetheless spoke with pride of the traditional springiness of the casing. In other words, she was congratulating herself on enveloping her meat-free product with something modelled on animal intestine.

When we successfully replace meat with a meat-free substitute, we overlook the possibility of a diet that is free of it altogether. It just kind of keeps this idea of meat-eating as the centrepiece, says Rdl of food culture, if not our diet. Counterintuitively, the strange and storied history of the hunt for the perfect proxy really proves the point: We dont have an exit strategy from meat.

Seth Tibbotts memoir, Search for the Wild Tofurky, will be published in April.

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From tofu lamb chops to vegan steak bakes: the 1,000-year history of fake meat - The Guardian

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Fitness guru Joe Wicks talks to Liz Connor about why so many New Year diets fail - and how we can create a healthy new mindset in 2020 instead.

January usually happens like clockwork: a slew of new self-help books, articles and slimming blogs encourage you to 'be your best self', often by adopting a radical new diet that promises to blitz those spare inches around your waist for good.

The problem is, many crash diets encourage periods of miserable fasting and cutting out sometimes entire good groups overnight, and demonise food to the point where you're whole relationship with eating can be under threat.

According to fitness guru Joe Wicks - who has successfully helped thousands of people to lose weight - staying on these restrictive diets for a long period of time is often unrealistic and unhealthy. Even if you do lose weight initially, it's not unusual to gain it again (plus even more, in some cases) before the spring comes around.

Thankfully, attitudes around diet culture are changing. A new survey commissioned by recipe box company Gousto (gousto.co.uk) has found two-thirds (68%) of UK adults believe the one-size-fits-all model just doesn't work.

So, how can you shed those excess pounds in a safe and effective way? We asked Wicks to give us some quick tips...

Why should people avoid restrictive diets in January?

"It's the time of year now where everyone wants to make changes to their life, whether that's with exercise or food, but the last thing you want to do - especially if you're someone who really loves food - is to go on a low-calorie diet," says Wicks, 33.

"Sure, it will work in the short-term and you'll probably lose weight on the scales, but emotionally it's going to absolutely ruin you. You're going to be so exhausted, you won't enjoy it and it's not going to be a sustainable approach.

"Try to think about a long-term vision, as opposed to a quick crash diet. Incorporate it with exercise and cooking with fresh ingredients at home; you're much more likely to succeed throughout the year."

Why do people fail at New Year's diets?

"Because they're awful, aren't they? Dieting is normally all about how little you can eat and how much exercise you can do. When you combine those two things, it effects your sleep, your mood and your energy levels.

"If I could give you one tip, it's to focus on getting yourself moving instead. I always tell people to start with 15-20 minutes a day of exercise at home; this will get your energy levels up and your self-esteem boosted. Exercising is going to have a massive effect on your food choices and your ability to go into the kitchen and cook yourself something healthy.

"Trying to do everything all at once is a bit much," he adds. "Focus on fitness first, and the rest will hopefully follow."

What other tips do you have for those looking to lose weight this year?

"Have a look at your portion control. I'm not saying to count calories, but to keep your plate to a healthy size. The good thing about exercise is that it elevates your mental health and your mood so much that you don't want to go and put junk food in your body afterwards.

"Meal prepping is one of the best things you can do too. If you leave the house without food, you're going to grab options on-the-go, which will likely be unhealthy convenience food.

"That's fine to do once or twice a week, but if you're doing it a lot, you're never going to truly know exactly how much you're consuming. The simple act of making some overnight oats for breakfast, or a salad for lunch can make a huge difference over time when it comes to staying lean."

What are you favourite ingredients for healthy eating?

"I really think it's great to have chopped tomatoes, coconut milk, curry powder, spices and tins of lentils, pulses, grains and beans in your cupboard. With these key ingredients, you can make really amazing veggie curries, or you could throw some chicken in there for some extra protein. Rice is also a great staple for making quick stir-fries after work.

"There's no magic fat-loss food; it's all about getting a good balance of everything and getting lots of fruits and veg in your diet.

"It's good to be a bit intuitive with it - ask yourself what foods make you feel energised and healthy? Don't think you have to jump onto a certain diet because everyone else is doing it."

Do you follow a flexitarian diet yourself?

"Yes. I eat a lot of veggie meals and with Gousto, I get four recipe boxes delivered per week that I can make at home. Three of those will be vegetarian and one will be meat-based.

"That's a massive step for me. During the process of researching and writing my veggie cookbook, Veggie Lean in 15 (16.99, Pan Macmillan), I realised that you can get really amazing food as a vegetarian. I'm still not fully committed to going hardcore vegan though."

Many people feel like they don't have time to cook healthily, do you think that's untrue?

"I really think you have to remove that time barrier from your mind. We know full well that we can smash a Netflix series in a couple of days or watch our soaps, so we can all find half an hour to exercise or cook well - if we prioritise it.

"It doesn't need to be hours in the kitchen either. My whole philosophy with my Lean in 15 series is that you can make a really healthy and nutritious meal in just 15 minutes, and have some leftover for lunch the next day.

"It's that kind of mentality of prepping in advanced and being organised that works in the long-run."

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Food: Joe Wicks on why you shouldn't try restrictive dieting this January - HeraldScotland

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Oprah Winfrey is more than happy to help fans find weight loss success just like she did. The media executive has been working on her fitness for decades and had plenty of ups and downs along the way. But the whole time shes been relentlessly honest about the struggle, documenting her greatest challenges and successes. She even wrote a cookbook to help fans follow along meal by meal.

Winfrey admitted that she doesnt have all the answers for totaldiet success. But she did come up with quite a few simpletricks for healthy recipes that shes picked up along the years. She sharedthese in her book, Food, Health, and Happiness, which was published in2017.

Anyone embracing a low-carb lifestyle knows the popular trick that involves swapping cauliflower in for just about anything, especially potatoes. Long grain rice is abandoned in favor of cauliflower rice. And mashed potatoes are subbed with mashed cauliflower instead.

But as Oprah explainsin her cookbook, mashed cauliflower doesnt taste that great without thisone important addition. Everybodyalways says thatwhipped cauliflowertastes just like mashed potatoes. Well, guess what?Whipped cauliflower tastes just likewhipped cauliflower, shewrote in her book (viaDelish).

Instead of just using veggies, Oprahrecommends adding two real potatoes to the dish to make it taste creamier.You know, like real mashed potatoes.

Broccoli and cheddar soup is popular because it tastes so good on a cold day. But instead of wasting so many calories on this appetizer, Oprah recommends subbing her simple and delicious two-ingredient soup.

For this diet hack, Oprah boilsbroccoli in chicken broth instead of water and then purees it in a food processor.Her cookbook includes a version of this with a few more ingredients, but eitherway, its worth trying.

Most people cant detect a huge difference in taste between ground turkey and ground beef, especially in dishes like chili or lasagna. And turkey is leaner meat thats also cheaper.

Oprah suggests this smart swap in her cookbook and also recommends making your own ground turkey for an even better taste.

At breakfast, Oprah makes herown version of quinoa thats cooked with apples and cinnamon. As she explainedin her cookbook, Its a great source of fiber, its gluten-free, and itsa complete protein.

Oprah doesnt believe in skippingdessert instead, she lightens up her after-dinner reward by opting for sorbetinstead of ice cream, which has fewer calories and more healthy fruit in it.

Instead of store-bought options, Oprah said she makes her own at home with her beloved sorbet maker. I put it right up there with the fork and dish towel on my list of kitchen essentials, she wrote in her cookbook, speaking about the kitchen gadget.

Read more here:
Oprah Reveals Her 5 Best Diet Hacks Including 2 Ingredient Soup to Blow Your Mind - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

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Healthy New Years resolutions can be challenging to keep, especially through the full year. For many, committing to a resolution means setting health goals, such as getting into an exercise routine, losing weight or adopting a healthier diet.

Lifestyle Medicine physician Melissa Mondala, MD, is challenging people to take on a workplace challenge for their New Years resolutions. She is encouraging people to eat a purely plant-based diet for one month, following the UK-based campaign called Veganuary that encourages people worldwide to follow a vegan diet for the month of January.

Since 2014, Veganuary has inspired and supported more than half a million people in 178 countries. A vegan diet helps combat weight gain and provides multiple health benefits, including increased energy levels, elevated mood, lower cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure, Mondala says.

While many people stick to a vegan diet to keep their bodies healthy, Mondala says plant-based meals can keep your mind healthy as well. Several studies have shown a whole food, plant-based vegan diet has benefits that help to prevent and even reverse major depression symptoms and improve mental health when compared to a diet that includes meat and dairy.

If thats not enough motivation, a vegan diet is also the most environmentally friendly diet available. Eating animals is the most significant contributing factor in habitat loss and extinction, with millions of acres of forest felled each year to make way for livestock production.

Its been calculated that if you stick to a vegan diet for one month, youll be responsible for saving 33,000 gallons of water, 904 square feet of forest and 602 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a study recently published in the journal Climate Change, Mondala says. Thats better than giving up your car for a month!

Change is difficult, but theres comfort in the company. Mondala suggests connecting with a friend, spouse or family member to take this challenge with you. This is a great way to get more involved in your health and nutrition, and it can be a fun bonding experience, she says.

If you want to try a vegan diet, but you dont know where to start, try the Veganuary Challenge for January. Upon signing up, youll be sent a free 2019 Veganuary Celebrity Cookbook to download. Youll also receive 31 days of support emails to inspire, motivate and help you through your vegan month with everything from recipes and meal plans to tips on where to get your nutrients and how to stock your cupboards.

Consider alifestyle visitconsultation with one of our Lifestyle Medicine physicians at the Center for Health Promotion. They will work closely with yourprimary carephysician to improve your overall health and wellbeing. Please call theCenter for Health Promotionat909-558-4594to make your Lifestyle Consultation visit today.

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Can you be plant-powered for a month? - Loma Linda University Health

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By Shelly Leachman for UCSB | January 12, 2020 | 3:20 p.m.

How did people interact with plants in the past? And how did they use food as an expression of their identities? Such questions are the central research focus of paleoethnobotanist Emily Johnson.

I am particularly interested in understanding the ways that this identity and the role of food production was negotiated as societies become increasingly hierarchical, and politically and economically complex, said Johnson, a doctoral student in anthropology at UC Santa Barbara.

The increased reliance on a few staple crops, such as maize, that often occur with this shift can be detrimental unless adaptations are made to the diet, she said.

Those adaptations include nixtamalization, a production process for maize known to play a significant role for thousands of years in the foodways of indigenous communities throughout North America, yet never explicitly affirmed in the archaeological record. Until now.

Johnson, based in the Integrative Subsistence Laboratory of her advisor, Professor Amber VanDerwarker, has developed the first direct method to identify nixtamalization in the past. Her research is published in the top-ranked Journal of Archaeological Science.

Prior to this paper, it was not possible to directly identify the process of nixtamalization in the archaeological record it could only be hypothesized to occur at sites with proxy evidence such as grinding stones and ceramic griddles, Johnson said.

However, these items can also be used for a variety of other processing activities distinct from nixtamalization. Now, archaeologists can better understand the inception and spread of this significant cooking practice throughout time and space, she said.

The research is significant, noted VanDerwarker, because it allows a path forward for archaeologists to identify when maize-growing groups throughout North and Central America adopted the technology of nixtamalization. We know that native groups adopted this technology before European contact, but until now it has been impossible to identify directly when this transition occurred archaeologically.

The process in which maize is cooked in an alkaline solution, VanDerwarker explained, dramatically improves the nutritional content of maize, which is deficient in various amino acids, vitamins and minerals. In so doing, it helps to prevent severe malnutrition in populations dependent on maize as a staple food source.

Emilys work has been able to demonstrate that maize starch grain morphology changes during this process, and the starches from before versus after nixtamalization are highly diagnostic, she said. Now that this new method has been established, archaeologists throughout the Americas will try and determine the timing of this transition in their respective regions; this will be a highly cited and impactful publication.

For her research, Johnson replicated the nixtamalization of maize in an effort to understand whether the damage from cooking impacted the starch granules the primary component of maize in significant and identifiable ways.

By identifying these changes, nixtamalization could then be directly identified in the archaeological record by recovering the damaged starch granules from objects such as cooking and serving vessels and ground stone used to process the maize.

While some studies have looked at how processes such as grinding, roasting and boiling have affected starch granules, no one has previously looked at how nixtamalization affects starch granules, Johnson said. Unique to this region, nixtamalization has become a way to not only boost the nutritional profile of maize, but a cultural element in its own right.

"The first step in the process of turning maize into masa for tortillas, tamales and more, it is clear that this cooking technique is still relevant to the health and cultures of people today.

The next step in continuing this line of research, Johnson said, is to identify these modified starch granules in the archaeological record. She and VanDerwarker already have identified sites in the Southern Gulf lowlands in Mexico with long occupation histories and existing evidence of maize-dominated diets that would be ideal for investigating when, where and how this process began.

Co-authored with her undergraduate advisor, John Marston of Boston University, Johnsons paper is the outcome of her senior thesis research at BU, where she won the Michael A. Sassano III and Christopher M. Sassano Award for Writing Excellence in the Social Sciences.

Shelly Leachman for UCSB.

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Cooking And Culture: Food as an Expression of Identity in Societies - Noozhawk

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Somehow we all relate weight loss with fancy meals like salads and juices, but thats not always the case. It might sound boring and extreme but even eating the same food every day can also help you lose weight. Yes, you read that right. If you trying to shed those extra kilos, read this.The diet includes eating the same thing for breakfast, dinner and lunch every day and has become a trend among weight watchers.The dietAccording to experts, it might sound boring to eat the same food every day, but the trick can really do wonders for your weight loss. When you eat the same food every day, it leads to the bodys decreased response of stimulus, which can be a tool for tackling obesity.

Also, research has shown that more dietary variety is associated with fat and increased body weight. This is surely true for people who have an assortment of snacks instead of just one. Also, research shows that different tastes and textures can encourage overeating. When people are giving limited options to eat, they tend to eat less.

Also, if you eat the same meals every day, you actually dont need a lot of planning. No hauling the recipe books and no panic attack at lunch about what you will eat at dinner. All this saves your time.

When the choices are limited, its easy for you to pay attention to your body signals and know when you are full. Not understanding when you are full and overeating is one of the causes of extra weight gain.

Cons of same meal diet

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Can eating the same food everyday help you lose weight? - Times of India

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We may be in the middle of the bleak mid winter, but soon enough it will be summer again and we'll all be eager to wear as few clothes as possible. Which means digging around in your drawers to retrieve long-lost shorts and strap-tops. But if you, like so many others, have insecurities about your arms, you might be keen on toning your arms as a focus at the gym this year.

With so many possible ways to do it, we asked a handful of the best personal trainers and fitness experts to share their favoured arm toning exercise. Take notes, folks...

"To tone the arms, there isnt one single most effective exercise because the arm is primarily made up of two antagonists muscles: biceps and triceps. To tone your arms effectively you would need to work both. For biceps, try pull ups (any variation, as long as its adapted to the fitness level of the user), and for triceps go with push ups (once again, any variation, as long as its adapted to the fitness level of the user). For both its important to respect progression (i.e. going with a lighter elastic band, or adding weights for pull ups, or going from knee to regular push ups or adopting a more advanced variation for push ups if youre an avid exerciser)."

- Dr Thomas Falda, a Training Specialist and PT at fitness app Freeletics

"A correctly executed Chaturanga Dandasana Yoga pose does wonders for toning, strengthening and sculpting the arms. In Chaturanga, you are bending your arms which causes the engagement in your muscles to be stronger than in other poses such as plank which require straight arms. Its great for targeting the triceps and lower arm muscles and if you try yoga you will do this pose multiple times in one class!

How to do it:

- Mercedes Schindler, former professional ballerina and Founder of PHYSIQUE fitness studio.

"Press ups require stability and strength through the entire arm. When performed correctly they deliver fantastic results and toning of the arms, shoulders and core. I cant recommend an easier way of targeting the arms without needing equipment or high levels of skill."

- Marvin Burton, personal trainer at Anytime Fitness

"Arm toning, or improving your muscle definition is best achieved by using weights. Many women think that by lifting weights theyre going to become bulky, but thats not necessarily the case. By lifting weights, you are essentially increasing the amount of muscle you have compared to everything else that holds your arm together (i.e. bone, fat, connective tissue). Lifting weights for your upper body can also be a great way to help increase your strength and improve your posture."

- Kelsey Wells, Sweat trainer and creator of the PWR Workout programs

"Dumbbell shoulder presses will target the triceps as well, so it will help not only tighten up the top of the arm (giving it that teardrop shape) but it will help get rid of the jiggly bits on the back of the arm as well."

- Vero Walker, trainer at Orangetheory Fitness

"People describe wanting toned arms, but what we all refer to as toned or ripped is essentially just lean muscle mass. Therefore, the answer to this is two-fold: firstly, by increasing muscle mass of the biceps and triceps (achieved through sufficient resistance training and protein intake) the arms will have more shape. Secondly, through a consistent calorie deficit your body fat on your arms should lower. Note here that fat loss cannot be isolated, and therefore excessively exercising your arms will not lead to fat loss on the arms, but instead by achieving overall fat loss, the arms will become more toned."

- Harry Grosvenor, Head Coach at Virgin Active

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The best arm toning exercises according to experts - cosmopolitan.com

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Rebels fans were impressed (Picture: Mega/PA/Instagram)

Rebel Wilson has continued to show off her weight loss and the hard work of her exercise regime and it seems her fans are pretty impressed.

The 39-year-old took to Instagram with a snap of herself donning a red top paired with shades, while her hair was styled in a half-up, half-down hairstyle.

And fans couldnt help but compliment the actress on her look, after she declared 2020 her year of health.

How did you lose weight? You look amazing, one wrote as another added: You look awesome, youve done amazingly in such a short space of time.

And others agreed, adding: You look gorgeous! Please help me get motivated! I would love to get healthy this year.

You getting slimmer and slimmer. Whats your secret? one fan questioned.

Rebel has been working hard to keep healthy after she enlisted the help of personal trainer Gunnar Peterson last year, and she recently revealed how she aims to cut down on junk food over the next 12 months.

View this post on Instagram

??

A post shared by Rebel Wilson (@rebelwilson) on Jan 11, 2020 at 3:31am PST

Sharing a series of photos of herself posing on the beach, she told her Instagram followers: Okay so for me, 2020 is going to be called The Year Of Health.

So I put on the athleisure and went out for a walk, deliberately hydrating on the couch right now and trying to avoid the sugar and junk food which is going to be hard after the holidays Ive just had but Im going to do it!

Reaching out to her fans, Rebel added: Whos with me in making some positive changes this year?

View this post on Instagram

Okay so for me 2020 is going to be called “The Year of Health” - so I put on the athleisure and went out for a walk, deliberately hydrating on the couch right now and trying to avoid the sugar and junk food which is going to be hard after the holidays I’ve just had but I’m going to do it! Who’s with me in making some positive changes this year?

A post shared by Rebel Wilson (@rebelwilson) on Jan 2, 2020 at 12:43am PST

The Cats star previously revealed that when she first moved to the US in 2010, she was living on tortilla chips and guacamole as she only had $60 (46) to spend per week.

Speaking on 2Day FMs Grant, Ed and Ash, Rebel explained: When I first moved to the States, I had to sell everything that I owned: my car, my computer, my apartment, everything. And I came with one suitcase, a doona [duvet] and a pillow.

And I actually lived on well I pad for a furnished apartment so I had somewhere to stay, but I lived on $60 a week, which is not much.

Id go to this supermarket called Trader Joes and get corn chips and stuff and I was surviving on corn chips and guacamole.

Tasty, but not exactly healthy.

If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you.

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Rebel Wilson shows off weight loss: ' 2020 is year of health' - Metro.co.uk

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The air is thick as I sit in the gynecologists dimly lit waiting room. Im anxiously scrolling through Instagram, waiting for my name to be called. Its hard not to be afraid when youre not sure what kind of experience or bedside manner youll be greeted with.

While going to the doctor can be distressing for most people, it can become significantly more harrowing when youre fat. I should know Ive experienced it firsthand.

As I sit face-to-face with my gynecologist, I share the most intimate details of my prolonged menstrual cycle. Rather than talk potential treatments with me, which I was expecting, she stares at me point-blank and asks, Have you tried losing weight?

Weight discrimination is a widespread problem in America, including in healthcare. Many medical professionals some of whom have told the media that obesity is the biggest threat to the health of our nation vilify fat people for their bodies and dismiss their medical histories without considering anything other than weight.

They tell their fat patients to lose weight, to diet, selling them a bill of goods, and because of this, peoples lives have been put on the line.

Although doctors use data every day in their profession, they receive no education in medical school on the topic of weight bias and stigma. In 2018, the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics researched how many first year medical students had negative attitudes about obesity and fat patients. The results? 70 percent of the respondents had a preference for thinner bodies and showcased anti-fat attitudes.

Medical schools devote relatively little attention to the subject of obesity, let alone weight bias, says Rebecca Puhl, PhD, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut, in an interview with the BC Centres for Excellence in Eating Disorders.

This lack of education can turn bias and stigma into harm from physicians or anxieties in patients trying to access care.

Vicky Borgia, MD, of Radiance Medical Group, notes that patients may avoid going to medical appointments because of these anxieties. She acknowledges that weight biases are reinforced all around her: Were living in this society where people come into med school and they have their own biases. But were also taught different biases in school and during training. Its hard to shake.

On November 7, Twitter user @upupdowndown posted about how his 30-year-old Black female coworker had visited the doctor with medical concerns and been told to lose weight. A few days later, she suffered a heart attack.

Doctors not listening to their patients has become a huge problem. It has put the burden on fat patients to advocate for themselves, to ensure that their voices are heard and their health is looked after.

Even though its very uncomfortable to realize that everything that we may have learned in school is wrong, we either need to change our values or we need to change our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings, says Whitney Catalano, RDN, host of the Trust Your Body podcast.

As a result, Borgia has taken to practicing from a Health at Every Size (HAES) perspective in her office. Her patients, who wish to remain anonymous, have shared that a body-positive and HAES approach has been different and affirming. One told her It was great to have weight talk avoided and to see someone who wasnt judging my health.

HAES is an alternative approach to the public health perspective on weight- and size-based issues. According to this philosophy, people of all sizes deserve respect and good health, and size does not determine health. It asks those medical professionals or anyone, for that matter to act as weight-neutral as possible.

However, HAES can be difficult for medical providers to get on board with.

The reason why doctors and health professionals, in general, have such a hard time coming to Health at Every Size is that they may have to confront the fact that they have potentially caused harm by recommending weight loss to fat patients, says Catalano. For health providers, thats really unsettling and really uncomfortable. No one wants to admit that theyve caused harm or perpetuated weight stigma.

But stories like the one shared on Twitter are not uncommon. Linda Dianne, a creative executive from Los Angeles, California, remembers hers vividly.

Dianne recalls a stomach issue she contracted while living in Central America for 3 years, explaining that the pain was so bad it rendered her unable to walk or talk. When she finally worked up the courage to get to the emergency room, the very first thing the doctor told her was that she needed to lose weight.

At this point, Dianne says, I had just come back from Central America and was maybe 80 pounds lighter than Ive ever been in my life. Was I still a large person? Yes. But this was unusual for me and my body, and I knew something was up.

It took nearly 15 more doctor visits until someone finally decided to take her seriously and sent her for a colonoscopy. Maybe they dont give a shit about my personal history or, you know, anything else for that matter, Dianne says.

When doctors focus on weight loss or other health behaviors, it puts the burden on the individual. Doctors are often incentivized for procedures and incentivized to prescribe medicine, says Borgia. Were incentivized to see as many people as possible in a day so its all challenging.

Thats one of the small reasons Borgia decided to open her own practice, as she wanted to feel more connected to patients, giving them more time to speak and providing them with a safe, comfortable experience that put the patient first.

You dont have to look too far. There are two websites listing medical professionals across North America and the world: Find A HAES® Expert and the Health at Every Size community registry. But its not as easy as scrolling through a list.

Jude Valentine, the Latinx content creator of Mermaid Queen Jude, explains that, for them, choosing a medical provider is a matter of who will accept their Medicaid.

I dont really get to be picky Its a whole battle of who will take my insurance, who is gonna make you pay money, and really just bracing myself when Im going in to see a provider.

And Valentines hesitation is valid. There is a certain amount of privilege that you need to have in order to even just navigate our healthcare system, says Catalano.

Society has by and large deemed fat folks unacceptable and cast us aside. In 2013, bioethicist Daniel Callahan argued for more social pressure against fat people. Researchers have also found that healthcare avoidance for fat folks is correlated with weight stigma, along with increased body shame and rising healthcare stress.

The entire weight loss industry which, TIME Magazine reports, is worth $66.3 billion is built on fear and stigma. It sells everything from diet pills to meal plans to fancy gym memberships, and for what? We now know that BMI is not a perfect assessment of health and that being overweight spoiler alert doesnt guarantee being unhealthy in any way.

The good news is that some doctors are finding a way to treat patients either from a HAES approach or with a relationship of dignity and respect. To find these doctors, the internet is usually the first place to turn.

Borgia suggests being up front and asking questions, via e-mail or on the phone, about body diversity specifically the doctors policies on being weighed and what type of patient advocacy they provide. But the most important question?

Ask if they have practiced from a Health at Every Size perspective, and if they say, I dont even know what youre talking about, you probably dont want to proceed with them.

Catalano agrees with trying to speak with your doctor ahead of time as well as providing resources for your first appointment on how they can or would provide weight-neutral care.

One of the big problems with fatphobia in medical institutions and in doctors offices is that it does create a high degree of stress for the patient. When people go into doctors, the communication is really low, and often patients dont feel comfortable with their doctors thats a problem. It means that patients are not being forthcoming and that doctors are not being able to provide care.

Every single day, fat people are subjected to fatphobia and weight stigma. But no matter the size of our bodies, we are worthy of basic human decency and medical care. This issue is complex, but it shouldnt be up to fat people to fight negative stereotypes.

Oddly enough, social media has been a big platform for fighting stigma and educating against weight bias.

Even though we all have a love/hate relationship with social media, it can be so helpful, says Borgia. She believes joining groups and reading their experiences can help you gauge whether a medical professional might be a good fit for you.

As for me, I wouldnt have learned about the fat-positive doctors in my city, or the boundaries to set with future medical professionals, if it werent for the many fat-positive Facebook groups or the body-positive Instagram accounts I now follow.

Although Ive always thought I could advocate for myself in these situations, I realized there was still so much for me to learn.

Being able to share candidly with other plus-size individuals about the problematic and anxiety-inducing situations in the medical industry was empowering. It gave me the courage to stop being so afraid to access the care I need and to fight for others to be able to access quality care as well.

Support in the right direction

Ama Scriver is a freelance journalist best known for being fat, loud, and shouty on the internet. You can follow her on Instagram.

Read the original post:
Body-Positive Doctors Exist Its Called Practicing HAES - Greatist

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Adele may have dubious views on tax, but one thing is for certain: the rest of her resume is nearly flawless. Her first album, some of which she wrote at age 16, went platinum 11 times an achievement surpassed by her second album. She is the only artist in Grammy history to have taken home the three biggest awards in one night, not once but twice. And lets not forget the time she accepted her album of the year award while calling out the establishment for not giving it to Beyonc.

Adele achieved all of these things while being criticized for being too fat. In a blow to health gurus everywhere, she even did it while smoking 25 cigarettes and drinking 10 sugary cups of tea a day. But she has now lost some weight paparazzi pictures taken this week while she was on holiday made it clear and is now celebrated and criticised for it (women cant win, remember?).

How predictable. Instead, may I suggest that Adele should be celebrated for her seemingly healthy relationship to fame. Since becoming famous, she has gone through at least one album-worthy breakup and a divorce. She has had a child, gone through post-partum depression, and has gotten over being a massive drinker. She did so with grace and an insistence on keeping strong boundaries around her private life (she intentionally gives very few interviews).

And yet, she hasnt said too many stupid things in the media (outside her aforementioned tax comments) and appears largely unconcerned with the rumor mill. She has escaped many of the toxicities of fame: she hasnt paid for sex, struggled with hard drugs, or had to take a break from social media.

In short, Adele seems to handle life better than I do when I forget to have breakfast. She has made hundreds, probably thousands of healthy choices in the last few years. So why focus on her weight loss? Arent there ample other things to applaud?

Of course, we shouldnt berate women for weight loss either (or weight gain, for that matter). It is an incredibly personal achievement, and there still is huge pressure for women to be slim. Sometimes weight loss is about health benefits, confidence, ill health or all three. Sometimes, its not even a decision. Any or none of these things may be why Adele lost weight.

But significant weight loss does not come without restriction. Ordinarily, a person has to cut out at least 500 calories a day to lose 1lb a week thats a quarter of a womans daily diet. Some people say that exercising is a healthier way to lose weight, but the average US woman would need to run over 21 miles a week to achieve that calorie deficit.

Sure, applaud the willpower, but lets be clear: there is no miracle diet, no special hypnotherapy or diet pill that achieves weight-loss. There is surgery, but lets not pretend thats pain-free.

Id rather celebrate Adele for other things. Like the way she handles her divorce with humor; tells a crowd of famous actors that shes just at the Golden Globes for a night out; and managed to pen an entire album about an ex without ever publicly dragging his name through the mud. Those things are proof of character her weight, at best, is incidental.

Read more here:
Instead of celebrating Adele's weight loss, may I suggest something else? - The Guardian

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