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There are alternatives to counting calories. (Photo: Getty)

When it comes to losing weight, many people swear by a simple trick: counting calories. After all, the human body only needs between 2,200 and 2,700 calories a day. And as numerous internet calorie calculators will tell you, all you need to do to lose weight is reduce your caloric intake, right? While that may be true to an extent, it doesnt always mean that its healthy to do this. While calorie counting can help some individuals kick off their weight loss journeys, its not a magic trick that will help anyone become healthier (or happier for that matter). Moreover, it can even have some consequences, say several experts.

Calorie counting can be a helpful tool when looking to eat healthy to reach specific weight goals, says Amy Carson, a registered dietitian based in Chicago. However, I don't recommend it for people who have a history of disordered eating or who become overwhelmed with being too specific.

Carson recommends other strategies for more healthful eating, including listening to their own hunger and fullness cues, and learning what portion sizes are needed for their particular bodies.

With my clients, I use a hunger scale to rate hunger from empty (1) to overly full (10). Typically, true hunger is a physical sensation instead of a mental one, says Carson, who also works as medical services coordinator for Fitness Formula Clubs.

Shes also a big proponent of sticking to meal plans in order to stave off ever-dreaded decision fatigue that often leaves many of us ordering take out for nights on end. But if you do end up being unable to avoid mindless eating from time to time, Carson says not to sweat it.

It's okay to eat sometimes out of boredom, stress, sadness and other feelings, but it's important to be mindful of when this is happening and have alternative strategies for coping with emotions, says Carson.

Overall, Carson says a whole-food-based approach is often best as it tends to result in less calories naturally without actually having to count every calorie. This style of eating is approached differently by everyone and there isnt one set of rules to follow, save that you should be opting for foods that stay as close to their original state as possible (hence the use of the word whole). Avoiding refined carbohydrates, added sugars and heavily processed foods seems to be key here.

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For those interested in a whole-foods based approach to eating, Carson recommends folks start small by "incorporating a fruit or vegetable with every meal and try to have at least 3 colors of produce each day.

When it comes to counting calories, many individuals lean heavily on the aid of calorie counting apps like MyFitnessPal and the LoseIt! app. Leah Hackney, a registered dietician who specializes in helping families raise intuitive eaters, also warns of the issues with these types of apps, despite the fact that they tend to be cheap and accessible ways of learning about nutrients in foods.

Everyone is different, and some people may not be phased by tracking their food or may attain some improved behavior changes when food journaling, says Hackney. However, without guidance from a doctor, dietitian or qualified coach, the calorie counting apps may not be appropriate for many people [as] some people may set their calories at an unsafe or unsustainable level.

She also emphasizes that these approaches and these apps may be an ill fit for those at risk for disordered eating, pointing to a small study in which 75 percent of people at an eating disorder treatment facility reported having used a calorie counting app, with 73 percent reporting they felt the app contributed to their disorders.

In terms of attaining improved health markers, research indicates that focusing on behavior change and health promoting behaviors is indicative of sustainable wellness, says Hackney. Among the changes she recommends are increasing physical activity, upping consumption of fruits and vegetables, reducing alcohol and smoking as well as simply eating when hungry and stopping when full.

While the classic move your body, eat your veggies, get sleep and drink water are very unsexy clichs, they hold true in leading to improvements on a persons long-term wellness, says Hackney.

Emma Heilbronner, an intuitive eating and wellness coach in the Boston area, is also against the idea of making calorie counting the basis of weight loss and/or health goals.

"A focus on calories disconnects us from our bodies and ultimately is not a healthy behavior because of the obsession it can cause and brain space it takes up, says Heilbronner. Instead, she recommends going down the intuitive eating route in order to maintain good mental health enjoy food, and not have to spend all of ones time counting calories.

Intuitive eating is a great choice for people who are sick and tired of diet culture ruling their lives (the second you become aware of diet culture, you'll start to see it everywhere) and for people who are interested in a life of food freedom and body peace, says Heilbronner. This particular way of eating has been lauded by celebrities like Demi Lovato for actually aiding in reducing disordered eating.

At the end of the day, experts seem united in understanding that while counting calories can be helpful for aiding weight loss for those who need it, its certainly not the only or even the main component for eating a healthful diet. To truly eat healthier, one needs to find a balance, lean heavily on vegetables and fruits, eat more mindfully, and when unsure of how to proceed, seek out help from trusted sources.

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Women are always watching their weight I can see it now, actually, right out there in front of me. So anxious are we about said muffin top, thunder thighs, cankles and thigh gap that we wont even cook with thick-bottomed saucepans. We eschew carbs with the same fervour wed avoid a plutonium-riddled Russian spy. Hell, Ive eaten so much salmon in my life, Im starting to get an irresistible urge to swim upstream and spawn.

As the average woman is more interested in brains than beauty, society doesnt put the same pressure on men not to exceed the feed limit. But with the knowledge that excess weight isa contributing factor to COVID-19 deaths, my middle-aged male friends have suddenly taken to dieting with evangelical fervour. Skinniness is now inniness for men, too.

Every woman I know is currently marooned in supermarket aisles, scrutinising the small print of ingredients, rejecting any packaging thats not calorie coded.Credit:iStock

I was at a barbecue recently with a group of intellectuals. While the women conversed about Proust and world peace, the male brainiacs were discussing the weighty issue of calorie intake. They spent more time chewing over the merits of each mouthful than actually masticating.

This unexpected male obsession with dieting is ruining marriages. My female friends complain of little else. Meal times are now rigidly scheduled, calories painstakingly counted, praise constantly demanded. A woman who drops a couple of kilos will quietly celebrate by wearing a smug smile with her skinny jeans. A man, however, will demand thunderous applause, loud-hailer announcements, ads in the paper nothing short of iridescent sky-writing. The weekly weigh-in is read aloud to the whole family with a reverence youd imagine exclusively reserved for, say, Moses stone tablets or the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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A mainstay of many healthy diets, yogurt is a dairy product made through the bacterial fermentation of milk. It's known for its beneficial impact on gut health and the many nutrients it contains, but yogurt can also contain a lot of sugar and fats, so it's important to be aware of what's actually in that cup when you eat yogurt every day.

Below we've listed seven things that could happen to your body if you eat yogurt every day, and for more healthy tips be sure to check out the 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now.

For some, the desire to lose weight can have people turning to every sort of option. Whether it's getting religiously into exercise or monitoring what you eat, or usually a combo of these things. In terms of eating healthier, it can be helpful to eat yogurt every day for weight loss as well.

"Regular intake of healthy bacteria, such as the kind from yogurt, has been shown to have positive effects on weight management and the GI tract," says Morgyn Clair, RD. "Eating yogurt daily can help you reach a healthy weight while still providing a satisfying snack."

Here are the 25 Best Yogurts for Weight Loss, According to Nutritionists.

Gut health might not be something you think about all of the time, but it's something that's very necessary to maintain in order to keep an overall healthy lifestyle. Our gut is responsible for digesting food and absorbing nutrients, so it's of the utmost importance to have it running smoothlyone thing that can help in that process is yogurt.

"Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that are used in the yogurt-making process," says Melissa Schuster, RD and owner of Schuster Nutrition. "These bacteria help sustain a healthy gut microbiome, which is important in digesting fiber into short-chain fatty acids and synthesizing vitamins. A healthy gut microbiome can reduce inflammation."

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While yogurt can be beneficial for gut health, it can also harm more sensitive stomachs. If you have problems with lactose, or if dairy makes you sick, steer clear of yogurt, which is produced through the bacterial fermentation of milk, although there are yogurt alternatives for those who are dairy-free or lactose intolerant. Yogurt may also contribute to a condition called small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), according to Melanie Keller, a naturopathic doctor and an expert in gut health.

"The probiotics in yogurt may be too much for someone and contribute to a condition called small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)," Keller says. "The sugar and/or sugar substitutes in yogurt can feed the bacteria and make the overgrowth worse."

Heal your gut with these 20 Best Foods for Gut Health.

Your mom always told you to drink milk because it would build strong bones, and unlike some other things your mom always said, this one was true, but maybe she forgot to say that yogurt could build strong bones as well. Dairy products, including yogurt, are great sources of calcium, which is the main mineral in bones. Health expert Amber O'Brien, of the Mango Clinic, also said yogurt is beneficial for those who suffer from osteoporosis.

"Yogurt helps you in maintaining your bone health because of the important nutrients it contains," O'Brien says. "Consuming dairy foods including yogurt preserves the bone mass of people suffering from osteoporosis."

Between the pandemic, work stress, and any other thing that could bring someone down it's easy to find yourself down in the dumps from time to time. There are the classic ways to improve your mood that you've been told dozens of timesworking out, sleeping more, volunteeringbut eating yogurt is a surprising mood-booster that might be the simplest of all to try.

"Eating yogurt for breakfast improves mood because yogurt maintains the microbiome which in turn sends good signals to the brain," says nutritionist Hiba Batool from Marham.

Looking for even more mood boosters? Check out our list of13 Mood-Boosting Snacks to Make Your Day Better.

In this day and age, it's more important than ever to have an effective immune system to fight off diseases and infections, and one of the ways to boost an immune system is by eating the probiotics that are found in yogurt.

"Yogurt is full of probiotics, which are bacteria that improve our gut health," says Megan Byrd, RD from The Oregon Dietitian. "By eating yogurt every day, you continue to supply your GI tract with healthy bacteria. These healthy bacteria prevent 'bad' bacteria from taking over, which leads to improved gut and immune health."

Although Batool said that people with an already weakened immune system, including those who have received organ transplants or have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, might react poorly to yogurt because of the bacteria. She added that this would only happen when large quantities of yogurt are consumed.

One of the downsides of store-bought yogurt is that certain brands are jam-packed with sugar, which is included in the flavorings and syrups added to create a wide range of flavors for different brands.

"Always buy plain yogurt and add in your own fruits to minimize the risk of taking in hidden sugars," says Dr. Amy Lee, who serves as the chief medical officer for more than 30 nutrition clinics.

Don't know what to buy? Check out our list of The 20 Best and Worst Greek Yogurts, According to Nutritionists.

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Kosher and halal diets are two common eating patterns based on the principles of Jewish and Islamic laws, respectively.

Both kosher and halal diets set strict guidelines regarding which foods are allowed and restricted based on religious teachings.

However, many people are unsure about how exactly these two diets differ from each other.

This article takes a closer look at some of the key similarities and differences between halal and kosher diets.

Kosher is a term used to describe foods prepared in accordance with traditional Jewish dietary laws.

Several specific food combinations are prohibited on a kosher diet, and only certain animal products may be eaten (1).

On the other hand, the term halal is used to describe foods that are permitted under Islamic law as defined by the Quran, which is the religious text of Islam.

Halal diets set strict guidelines regarding how livestock is raised, slaughtered, and prepared prior to consumption (2).

Some foods are labeled as certified kosher or certified halal, which means that they adhere to the rules set by each diet.

Kosher foods are prepared in accordance with traditional Jewish laws. Halal foods are ingredients permitted under Islamic law, as defined by the Quran.

On a kosher diet, foods are grouped into three categories: meat (fleishig), dairy products (milchig), and pareve, which refers to ingredients without meat or dairy.

Under kosher guidelines, any foods classified as meat cannot be consumed at the same meal as foods classified as dairy (3).

Furthermore, utensils and cooking equipment used to prepare meat and dairy should be kept separate.

Halal diets, on the other hand, do not have any rules or regulations regarding food combinations.

On a kosher diet, foods classified as meat cannot be served at the same meal as foods classified as dairy. Halal diets dont have any rules regarding food pairings.

Certain foods are off-limits on both halal and kosher diets.

Halal diets prohibit foods that contain blood, alcohol and foods prepared with it, and certain types of meat, including pork, most reptiles, birds of prey, and carnivorous animals (2).

Similarly, certain types of meat are restricted on a kosher diet, including meat from pigs, horses, rabbits, kangaroos, camels, and squirrels.

Fish without fins and scales, such as shellfish, and predatory or scavenger birds like hawks and eagles are also off-limits.

Additionally, the hindquarters of cattle are often not considered kosher. That includes certain cuts of beef like the flank, sirloin, round, and shank steaks (4).

Halal diets restrict alcohol, pork, foods that contain blood, and meat from certain types of animals. Kosher diets also limit pork, shellfish, and meat from specific animals and animal parts.

Both halal and kosher diets have guidelines regarding how meat should be slaughtered prior to consumption.

For meat to be considered kosher, it must be butchered by a shohet, which is a person trained to slaughter animals in accordance with Jewish laws.

Meats must also be soaked to ensure that all blood is removed before cooking (5).

Under halal guidelines, animals must be healthy at the time of slaughter and killed using a specific method, which involves cutting the jugular vein.

At the time of slaughter, the name of Allah must also be invoked for a meat to be considered halal (2, 6).

In some cases, kosher-certified meat may be accepted as halal due to the similarities in slaughtering practices.

Kosher meat must be butchered by a shohet and soaked before cooking. Halal meat must be butchered in a specific way and healthy at the time of slaughter. The name of Allah must also be invoked for meat to be considered halal.

Kosher and halal diets set strict guidelines regarding which foods are permitted in accordance with Jewish and Islamic laws, respectively.

Both diets have specific rules regarding the slaughtering of animals, and both also restrict certain types of meat.

However, halal diets prohibit other foods, including foods that contain alcohol or blood, while kosher diets limit specific food pairings.

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Losing weight may seem like a daunting process that requires long workouts and carefully planned meals. Although those things certainly play a big role in the process, there are many small changes to your lifestyle that can help you shed pounds.

To find out the little things you can do each day to lose weight, we spoke with three registered dietitians who offered 18 tips.

When you don't drink enough water, your body can confuse hunger with thirst. This is why "upping the water intake can have a huge impact on how much you eat during the day," says Lisa Moskovitz, RD, CEO and founder of the NY Nutrition Group.

If you have trouble drinking enough water throughout the day, there are a couple of ways you can remind yourself. First, carry a water bottle so you always have a physical reminder to drink.

Second, set goals for yourself throughout the day. Moskovitz recommends starting the day with a glass of water and having at least two cups before each meal or snack. "Not only will that help curb your appetite a little bit right before you eat, but it's a good way to remember to drink first," she says.

While fats are often a feared food group, they can actually increase satiety and prevent bingeing later, says Whitney Stuart, RD, the owner of Whitness Nutrition.

Of course, some fats are healthier than others, so when adding fat to your diet, Stuart said it's best to go for nutrient-rich unsaturated fats. These fats, known as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat, can be found in avocados, olives, nuts, and fatty fish like salmon.

General advice: Try to limit your intake of saturated fats like red meat, whole milk, and butter. Instead, replace them with unsaturated fats like salmon, avocado, and olive oil.

If you've ever found yourself at the bottom of a pint of ice cream, you're not alone. In fact, ice cream is one of the easiest foods to overeat because of its soft texture.

"One reason why things like ice cream or mashed potatoes are easy to overdo is because the texture is such that it's very easy to just keep eating spoonful after spoonful," says Andy Bellatti, RD, the strategic director of Dietitians for Professional Integrity. "Whereas, if you eat raw vegetables, you have to chew them longer."

That's not to say that you can't enjoy foods like ice cream or mashed potatoes, but it's important to be mindful while you're eating them. It's a good idea to measure out your portions beforehand to avoid overeating.

Not getting enough sleep can raise your stress levels, which can increase the likelihood of weight gain.

"When you don't get enough sleep, your levels of the stress hormone cortisol rise," Stuart says.

Stuart adds that a lack of sleep can also get in the way of weight loss because the less you sleep, the longer you're awake, and the more time there is to eat. She recommends getting at least seven hours of sleep each night.

You don't have to go to bars or restaurants with friends to have a good time. There are plenty of other ways you can be social and burn calories at the same time, such as:

Breakfast is dubbed the most important meal of the day for a reason. Some research has found that skipping breakfast is associated with a greater risk for obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol whereas breakfast eaters are often able to maintain a healthier weight.

Stuart says that she often sees clients who skip breakfast because they're pressed for time. She pointed out that breakfast doesn't have to be time-consuming, especially if you prepare something ahead of time.

"I'm a big promoter of making your meals on Sunday and having a nice breakfast casserole or breakfast frittata ready to go that you can eat," Stuart says. Egg-based recipes stocked with vegetables are filling, protein-rich, and last all week. Plus, they can be whipped up in as little as 15 minutes, Stuart says.

Eating lots of fiber can help you feel full for longer. To get more fiber, Bellatti recommends eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans, and legumes.

Some examples of healthy, fiber-rich snacks include:

Shayanne Gal/Insider

Although some oils, like avocado or sunflower oil, are healthier than others, Bellatti says they are calorically the same as others. Certain oils can be a great source of healthy fats, but Bellatti recommends getting your fats from whole foods instead.

"Adding half an avocado to a meal gives you the healthy fats but also fiber," he says. "Whereas cooking with avocado oil, while it's healthier from a fat perspective, doesn't really have anything that fills you up."

Filling the majority of your plate with vegetables is one of the easiest ways to cut down on calories without changing how much you eat.

That said, it's important to load up on the right kind of vegetables. Starchy fare like sweet potatoes and butternut squash are nutritious but they contain more calories than water-heavy veggies such as zucchini and cauliflower, Stuart says.

Some simple ways to incorporate zucchini or cauliflower into your regular diet could be:

In a large 2008 study, researchers found that those who kept daily food records of what they were eating lost twice as much weight as those who didn't keep any record. "Food records can be really helpful to write down what you're eating and really examine it," Stuart says.

And if keeping a journal seems like too much, there are also many weight loss apps that can help keep track of what you're eating and stick to a plan that meets your goals.

It can be tempting to eat lunch at your desk while you power through work, but it's important to take a break from what you're doing so you can focus your full attention on eating.

"When people are on their laptop working on something, there can be a lot of mindless eating because you're focused on the task at hand," Bellatti says.

General advice: To avoid mindless eating, Bellatti recommends stepping away from your desk, turning off the TV, and sitting down to eat in another room.

Exercise is one of the most important aspects of healthy weight loss, but it's often only effective if you find workouts that you enjoy doing and will stick to regularly. And it doesn't have to be running or weight lifting.

There are many different types of exercise that can support your weight loss goals and you should try a few of them until you find something you like. For example, consider the following workouts:

Even if you've worked hard to eat healthy all day, a couple of drinks at happy hour can easily set you back hundreds of calories. Here's how alcoholic beverages stack up to common snacks:

Skye Gould/Samantha Lee/Insider

Although you won't "miss" these calories, you might feel that you're missing out on social situations when you're not drinking. To get around this, Stuart suggests the following:

"With YouTube, there are so many videos where you don't need any equipment," Bellatti says. "You can type in pretty much any time interval and you'll find a guided workout."

To really feel the burn, HIIT workouts are a great place to start. They don't require any equipment, are relatively short, and can be done in a small space.

Protein, especially lean protein, is an essential part of any diet. It fills you up and helps you build and maintain muscle mass, Moskovitz says. Some of the best sources of lean protein include:

The recommended amount of protein, or dietary reference intake (DRI), is 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight, according to the Food and Nutrition Center of the United States Department of Agriculture.

This chart can help you figure out how much protein you need:

Granola bars can be great options for a quick meal or snack if you're on the go, but they can also quickly pack on hundreds of calories in just a few bites.

"Very few nutrition bars are balanced and most of them are very concentrated," Stuart says. "They're smaller than your palm so they don't provide a huge amount of satiety and many of them have lots of added sugars or poor sources of protein."

The only way to know for sure what you're eating is to read the label. Bars shouldn't contain added sugar or more than 2.6 grams of saturated fat and should contain around five grams each of fiber, protein, and fat. Stuart also recommends opting for kid-sized bars that contain fewer calories.

You don't have to complete a full workout to burn calories. Changing your habits to take the stairs more often or walk instead of driving can have a big impact on your weight over time.

"If you've been sitting at your desk for more than two hours, take a brisk walk to get your body moving," Stuart says. Breaking up your day with short walks not only burns calories but could also lessen your risk of developing heart disease and other health problems associated with sitting for long periods of time.

Listening to your body and individual needs is the most important way to stay on top of a healthy weight loss plan. "I don't like the idea that there is one-size-fits-all," Bellatti says. "Part of the success is not eating by the clock, or not eating by rules."

Paying attention to your hunger cues can help you eat more intuitively and make healthy eating a lifestyle that not only helps you lose weight but also keeps it off.

"Some days you might want a large dinner and other days you might just want a bowl of soup," Bellatti says. "As long as you're honoring your hunger, meaning that you're not just having a bowl of soup because you think you look bloated and you want to lose five pounds overnight."

Weight loss is a journey. While it can seem difficult, it may be helpful for you to think about how all the little changes can really add up.

Overall, finding small ways everyday to eat healthy foods, exercise, drink more water, and get enough sleep might end up making a big difference.

For more personalized recommendations to lose weight, you should consult with your doctor, who can help you develop an individual plan for your health needs.

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Supermodel Gigi Hadid said she doesn't feel pressure to lose weight quickly after giving birth to her and Zayn Malik's daughter Khai.

The 25-year-old spoke about the changes her body has undergone in the four months since delivering her baby in a Vogue profile published Thursday.

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Months before Hadid gave birth to Khai, the model told fans that her cheeks became rounder during her pregnancy.

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She continued, "Especially fashion month, when I was already, like, a few months preggo."

A post shared by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid)

"Most of it is just nonsense. But it can still hurt," she said.

Hadid said that people thought she "gave in" to the modeling industry by slimming down. However, she said it naturally happened because she wasn't playing volleyball or horseback riding nearly as much.

"If I could choose, I would have my a-- back and I would have the tits I had a few years ago. But, honestly, we can't look back with regret," she said.

Hadid added, "I loved my body then, and I love my body now."

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Kyle was trying to be honest about when his body image issues started, but he also wanted to be polite. My mom is in the room, so I dont want to say anything offensive, the 16-year-old California high schooler told me in an interview in January. But I dont know a single member of my family over 40 who hasnt been on Weight Watchers.

Early on at about 12 years old Kyle became anxious about his weight. With this history of diabetes and hereditary obesity, I was pretty certain that I needed to eat healthy, he said. Thats when he started to jog every morning. For lunch, he had a salad without dressing every day.

By 15, he was cramming hours of physical activity into each day, without eating much. I would leave the house at about 5:50 a.m., then run to the gym, work out for an hour, go to school for eight hours. Then I would go to dance rehearsals for four hours, and not make it home until about 10 p.m., Kyle said. Not only was I overtaxing my body and mind and everything, but I didnt eat any carbs. I was vegan. Pretty much tofu and lettuce, thats all I ate.

Kyle attributed some of his body insecurity to what he was reading and seeing in culture, notably in Harry Potter. Teenagers are supposed to shoot straight up, especially teenage boys. I mean, in Harry Potter, they talk about how without any work, Harry just shot up. And it made me realize a lot of my friends were that stereotypical teenage boy who had just grown 6 inches over the summer. And that wasnt happening with me, Kyle said. And that was very disappointing when I was getting messages from real life and the media that my body didn't fit into any of those ideal paradigms.

Kyles parents noticed that he had lost a significant amount of weight rapidly and started researching whether this could be a problem. Meanwhile, the teen thought the weight loss was evidence that he was on the right path. I thought losing weight was just a sign of a healthy diet and exercise, he said. So when he sat across from a panel of specialists a doctor, a dietician, and a psychotherapist and was given an atypical anorexia diagnosis, he was taken aback.

He was only half-listening when the specialists said he had to go to the hospital. I was like, OK, thats cool. I have a couple of tests this week. Can I go to the hospital next week or next month or something? No, they told him. They said, You have about an hour to pack, and we want you at the hospital by dinner.

When Kyle checked into the eating disorder ward at a California hospital, his heart rate was in the low 30s. (A normal resting heart rate is somewhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute.) I was so close to dying. My heart was beating once every two seconds, he told me. He spent two weeks in the hospital, on strict bed rest They wheel you everywhere. You cant walk. They dont want you exerting any energy whatsoever, he said before starting a therapy program.

Kyle is lucky on multiple fronts. Anorexia can be deadly the illness has a death rate as high as 10%. Even when it doesnt kill, the effects on the body are brutal: Your body enters a starvation state and begins to shut down. Essential organs like the liver and the kidneys begin to fail, then eventually, the heart and the brain. Luckier still: Kyles mother told me getting her son into the clinic that diagnosed him was not an easy feat; it took months. When Kyle got his diagnosis, he said he felt like his masculinity was stripped away.

During the two weeks Kyle spent in the eating disorder ward, he was surprised that he felt relief. Finally someone was seeing the pain that I was going through, saying this isnt healthy and I need to stop it. No one was applauding me for cutting out carbs, he said. Among the dozen patients in the ward, Kyle met two other men. It was the first time I realized: Hey, other boys go through this. One was a student at an amazing university; the other was looking at colleges. There were really smart, really strong boys who also got eating disorders.

He is now trying to come to grips with the lifelong consequences of his eating disorder. This is probably my biggest regret from all of this: If you see my growth chart, the day I started dieting, very soon after, I stopped growing and didnt realize it, Kyle said. Right now Im 58, and I was expected to be at least 510. Now Im done growing, and Ill never get those two or more inches back. And it was all because of a flawed body image and a flawed body perception.

That it took a hospitalization for Kyle to learn that other men have eating disorders is not a surprise. Studies suggest that men make up roughly 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 cases of eating disorders. But according to Dr. Blake Woodside, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto who is also medical director emeritus of Toronto General Hospital's program for eating disorders, in treatment settings, men are more like 1 in 20. Theres a lot of guys out there with eating disorders who never end up in treatment centers. Woodside stressed the importance of seeking help early. If youre concerned that you have an eating disorder, you want to treat that like youre concerned you have prostate cancer. So you wanna get it checked out.

Kyles name and identifying information, and the identifying information for most of the men we spoke to for this piece, have been changed. Nearly all of them expressed reticence being identified because they said they felt shame for being a man who has an eating disorder, a type of illness they once falsely understood was associated with women.

Jason Nagata, a physician and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, is working on changing how we talk about eating disorders and men. He said that even the field of research is only beginning to address that men get eating disorders. The clinical guidelines that we have from the medical field are really based mostly on girls and women, Nagata said. As a result, a lot of boys and men go unrecognized and they have delays in getting care.

It used to be that to get a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, one of the criteria was that you had to miss periods, said Nagata, whose interest in researching eating disorders came from wanting to help more men. There are still guidelines in place today that just dont apply to men, he said. He added that the vast majority of eating disorder research has been done on women, and is based on the assumption that the person youre trying to diagnose is trying to lose weight. So the diagnostic questions end up missing worrying signs of disordered behavior. Many guys with eating disorders or with body image issues, theyre not trying to lose weight. Theyre actually trying to bulk up and be muscular.

Many guys with eating disorders or with body image issues, theyre not trying to lose weight. Theyre actually trying to bulk up and be muscular."

Between the rise of Instagram and TikTok, and the supremacy of the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the last two decades have seen an acceleration in media and technological forces that distort mens body images. Now, young men are inundated with the pressure to have Captain Americas washboard abs and bodies devoid of an ounce of body fat. The v-shape broad shoulders, six-pack abs, smaller waist has become the male body ideal. Even men who are famous for their ripped physiques arent immune from the shaming that comes with those pressures.

But while men navigate these body image issues, theres a dearth of shared language and stories of the way they impact men. Many men starve themselves, or spend hours at the gym overexercising, or restrict their food intake, but theres still a stigma around how they talk about their relationships with their bodies.

James, a 29-year-old who lives in the UK, just finished seeing a therapist after getting a bulimia diagnosis back in 2010. He said his therapist saw 2030 patients a week, and I was the only man that he was seeing in the entire clinic. An eating disorder diagnosis is already a lonely and stigmatizing experience, but being the only man receiving therapy deepened the feeling of isolation and shame.

But it also made him realize how many men just arent getting the help they need. James had always been a swimmer, and when he arrived at an elite UK university in 2009, he started swimming with the schools team. Obviously, starting at university, the academic workload increases exponentially, he said.

As a competitive swimmer, James said he had a fixation on weight. With the pressures of maintaining a certain weight to perform at a competitive level, he found himself looking for something to control. I was focusing on food as a way to say, Oh, if I can control how much I eat, everythings kind of even-keeled.

After going home for the holidays at the end of the first semester, it flipped the other way, James said. All the big holidays, surrounded by food, can be difficult, with eating so often. And about a week later was the first time I would make myself sick.

What followed next is a cycle that would become familiar to James. I immediately felt much better about what I was stressed about. My feelings about my weight and emotion felt a bit better, he said. But that high is not the right word, but emotional release or whatever is temporary. Its pretty much always followed by lots of negative emotions and shame and disgust and disappointment.

It didnt take long for James to realize he had a problem. Just five weeks after he started making himself throw up, he remembered having a particularly bad day. I think I made myself sick like four times that day, James recalled. And I knocked on my neighbors door and had a chat about it. He encouraged me to email my parents, because I was very emotional at the time.

Immediately, Jamess parents sprang to action, consulting doctors. We spoke to my GP, and they referred me to the first place I received treatment. So its actually a very quick turnaround, he added. Im glad about this, because even with me receiving treatment so quickly, Im still dealing with the same issues long term. These could be very difficult, deep-rooted issues to work your way out of.

Ten years after his bulimia diagnosis, James feels that he is just now in a position to start pushing toward recovery. He started working with a therapist in 2015 and recently completed the therapy program. My therapist and I think we have the tools for me to continue my treatment by myself and recover, James said.

James is still trying to untangle the lingering effects of weighing yourself constantly and measuring yourself against other high-level athletes. Compared to the general population, I was exceptional. But in the pool of exceptional, I was at the bottom, he said. And this had immediate consequences. Swimming performance would equate the time the coaches would spend on you and your social status within the club hierarchy.

He expressed his frustration that for elite-level athletes, theres no thought of aftercare, for when someone leaves the sport. There are few resources to help athletes adjust how they eat or organize their life and free time as they transition from competing at a high level to being out of the sport altogether.

On top of that, comparison can exacerbate the impact of eating disorders. James is determined to let others know, however good a swimmer you are, or if you make that cut, it doesnt reflect on your worth as a person or your ability to be a good human being or have an impact on peoples lives. Hes also worried about how social media is affecting the generation of young boys coming up behind him: If you look at TV shows, the teenagers on them men and women are played by 25-, 26-year-olds in an incredible shape that, realistically, a 14-year-old isnt incapable of, he said.

James said hes now on the lookout for men who may be struggling. Im always hyperaware that just because someone looks fine, looks healthy, or average, you dont necessarily assume theres not anything difficult going on with them. On multiple occasions, he has tried to send a general signal to a person he suspects is having a hard time. I say, You can always talk to me if you want to, and try to leave the door open.

Leaving the door open is key. James said he doesnt start conversations about his eating disorder with friends, but will happily talk about it if they bring it up.

The ideal male body didnt always look like Chris Evans as Captain America. Harrison Ford didnt need abs to electrify audiences, and neither did Bruce Willis. They looked fit, sure, but part of the appeal was that they also looked like regular guys. But in 2021, being a teenage boy means having endured a dozen years of Marvel movie box office dominance, with an array of ripped superheroes serving as the most popular form of entertainment on the planet.

Its probably not an accident that the Marvel movies explosion of popularity coincided with an acute rise in body image anxiety in men. The superhero of the 21st century is bulkier and more buff and has overwhelming muscle definition basically everywhere.

Kyle told me he was taken aback by the news of John Krasinskis recent transformation. I know him from The Office as the sort of affable, friendly, not-super-ripped guy. And he went through this huge body transformation, and hell possibly play a superhero in a movie he said. I remember thinking: If youre a superhero and you have superpowers, whats the point of having six-pack abs?

There is some pushback against this ubiquitous ideal. Robert Pattinson refused to change his body to play Batman. He told GQ, if youre working out all the time, youre a part of the problem. Its a break from his ancestral Batmen Ben Affleck bulked up to play the role, and Christian Bale built up so much muscle, he couldnt fit into the Batsuit. Pattinson is having none of it. No one was doing this in the 70s, he said. He has a point: even in the 90s, Michael Keaton didnt need the big muscular look to don the suit.

Left: Michael Keaton in Batman (1989). Right: Ben Affleck in Justice League (2017).

Within the Marvel universe, the conversation is evolving. The movies will not suddenly withdraw from the unrealistic body image they helped advance, but at least when comedian Kumail Nanjiani revealed his body transformation to star in the upcoming Eternals, he made sure to note that it takes an extraordinary amount of resources to get there. I would not have been able to do this if I didnt have a full year with the best trainers and nutritionists paid for by the biggest studio in the world, he said. Im glad I look like this, but I also understand why I never did before. It would have been impossible without these resources and time.

While the ripped bodies dominate social media and movies, Dr. Nagata said we need new diagnoses to be more gender inclusive ones that cover the men who are preoccupied or obsessed with spending time at the gym, who may actually be objectively muscular, but they just dont see themselves that way. His research encourages rethinking our understanding of eating disorders. In the title, it implies its eating-related, but really, a lot of these guys are just excessively, compulsively exercising, Nagata said. We sometimes have people going to the gym, I kid you not, for 10 hours a day.

That type of overexercising can be dangerous, even if it flies under the radar. Even if guys are eating normal amounts of food, if theyre exercising for 10 hours a day, youre still going to get into a huge energy deficit, Nagata said. Your body can still get into starvation mode, and still have your heart shut down, or liver shut down, and all these dangerous things, even if youre not restricting food.

Jamal, in his late thirties, said the gym is a huge presence in my life. The business owner based in the Midwest estimates that he spends a good three hours a day at the gym. Most of it is spent on cardio. If Im not working out a certain amount of time, I dont eat, he said.

I know objectively and intellectually that weight can fluctuate for a lot of reasons that dont relate to actual weight gain or fat. I know about water retention and salt, all those things, Jamal told me. But I really dont leave the gym until I see a number on the scale that Im a little happier with. Sometimes that means two or three hours at the gym, sometimes it means a little bit longer, or sometimes it means multiple visits to the gym during the day.

Jamal recalls growing up pretty overweight, but losing a significant amount of weight when he got to college. The weight loss came with an unexpected downside: People are effusively complimentary when youre losing weight. And thats great to hear. It gives you an adrenaline boost, that sort of jolt of positivity. And you start to need it.

If Im not working out a certain amount of time, I dont eat."

Because of his fixation with people giving positive feedback, Jamal directed his energy toward managing the number on the scale. If Im really thirsty at night, I will resist any urge to have a glass of water. Objectively, obviously, I know water is good for you. Its not a bad thing to be drinking water. But I know that having that glass of water is going to result in my weight being up this many ounces or 1.2 pounds the next day. So I will decline to do it. He said that based on the number on the scale, he adjusts how many sips of coffee he drinks.

Jamal was seeing a therapist regularly. Though his reasons for going werent specifically about his relationship with food, that was a topic that came up a lot. But when the pandemic began and his therapist went virtual, he stopped. For whatever reason, the efficacy wasnt there. I wasnt able to feel the connection. It just got too removed through Zoom, he said.

Nagata was careful to note that while not all behaviors and diets and practices are disordered per se, the tipping point is when these behaviors to control your weight or appearance really start to become an obsession, or youre really preoccupied about them, and youre not getting enjoyment out of food or exercise, and its really becoming a compulsion.

Nagata worries about the ways social media compounds the problem. A lot of boys and men now more than ever have their bodies on display for social media, he told me. You can get lots of followers on Instagram or TikTok, and theres this whole new phenomenon of shirtless guys who are getting lots of likes through that.

I pushed back on this I grew up with Ushers abs on TV. How is this any different? I asked. Nagata offered that the music videos were something older generations watched, but it wasnt really something you participated in. And therein lies the difference: 10, 20 years ago, it was a little bit harder to produce your own content.

The way social media creates enormous pressure to adhere to unrealistic body standards is familiar stuff to Sam. The 27-year-old grew up in Connecticut and now lives in Haifa, Israel. By age 17, Sam said he knew he was gay. The gay world, and society as a whole, has what I would consider to be a damaging portrayal of what the gay stereotypical man should look like buff and ripped and blonde and super-high cheekbones, just the whole package, Sam said. Sam was born in Colombia and adopted as a baby by white parents. He added, Im shorter with darker features and thin, and getting that exposure to what the gay world looked like, knowing it wouldnt be something I could ever obtain, I started to think that maybe there is something I can obtain that is still desirable. And that, to me, was to be thin.

By the time he got to college, he was running 3540 miles a week and biking 2025 miles. He was also restricting food more and more. Sam described to me how this worked: I didnt feel pain to say, I can skip the dining hall today, and then, Oh wait, we can just skip lunch altogether. Or you can make excuses, like, Oh, I have class. The dining hall will be closed by the time I finish. He added, People with eating disorders are masters at justification. We can justify just about anything.

The justification extended to Sam hiding evidence that anything was wrong from his parents, even hiding a particularly worrying health development. After a routine physical, some of Sams blood results had come back obscure, and so his doctor ordered a brain MRI.

The doctor calls me, and he says, Well, we have good news and some not good news. Because of the results in your blood test, we had concerns that your body was throwing signals of a brain tumor. The good news is you dont have a brain tumor. The alternative is your body is throwing the signals because its starting to shut your organs down because you are so malnourished.

People with eating disorders are masters at justification. We can justify just about anything.

Sam remembered figuring out a way not to tell his parents the serious news hed just heard. I think all I shared was the fact that I dont have a brain tumor and left it at that, he told me. Even by the time Sam started therapy, he wasnt planning on changing how he was living. In my head, I had envisioned going for like a month to dot the is, and cross the ts, and say I did it and move on, he said. But thats not how it went. Finally, after so many years of running and depriving and staying away and not touching, the time and space to open up and to understand and fix, or maybe not fix, but reconcile all of the things that got me to the point of on the road to organ failure.

But even with therapy, Sam said he was stubborn. Even though I was getting professional help, I was also hell-bent on retaining the same build and physique that I had maintained at the peak times in my eating disorder. It took time and developing routines and strategies in therapy to begin to release those habits.

Its not a journey thats ever finished. But you can have good days. Sam cautions others who suspect theyre dealing with an eating disorder: If you think youre going to be able to dig your way out of it in a little bit of time, you wont. You just wont. Thats something I wish someone had told me. He added, Just start talking.

If youre dealing with an eating disorder and need someone to talk to, the National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text NEDA to 741741.

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The local fitness group Urban Athletic Club will have to pay $10,000 to the city of DC due to allegations that it violated Covid-19 public health emergency orders. The Office of the Attorney General announced the settlement in a press statement Thursday.

DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed a complaint against the group in December. It alleged that Urban Athletic Club did not follow guidelines regarding social distancing, mask-use, and the correct spacing and sanitation of equipment and workout stations. Per Mayor Muriel Bowsers phase two restrictions on gyms and fitness, clients must be masked while entering and leaving the gym, as well as while working out, if safe to do so. Additionally, clients must be six-feet-apart, equipment must be cleaned between sessions, and workout stations must have 10 feet of space around them.

After the suit was filed, Urban Athletic Club agreed to follow Mayor Bowsers public health orders while the case progressed.

According to the lawsuit, a DC resident reported in September that employees and clients at the Shaw gym were not practicing social distancing or appropriately wearing masks. The attorney generals office alerted the gym of the report, and owner Graham King acknowledged that patrons hadnt been complying with the mandate.

In several subsequent visits by an investigator, clients were seen entering and exiting the studio mask-less, according to the lawsuit, as well as working out on the sidewalk in front of the gym without masks or adequate social distancing. Additionally, the lawsuit says the gym erected an outdoor tent that did not provide proper social distancing from passersby walking down the street, and that equipment in the tent was not cleaned between uses. When an investigator entered the gym, the front desk employee was mask-less, says the lawsuit, as were some people working out indoors.

The lawsuit also includes screenshots of posts fromUrban Athletic Clubs public Instagram page, which are used as evidence that the group was not adhering to guidelines.

While the reports outlined in the lawsuit all took place at Urban Athletic Clubs Shaw location, the group operates spots at the Line Hotel, the Kimpton Glover Park Hotel, and the Watergate office building.

Per the settlement, the group must pay $5,000 to the city within a week, and then pay the additional $5,000 within the next six months. Urban Athletic Club will also have to abide by all city-wide Covid-19 precautions or risk paying another $10,000 penalty.

At the time of publication, Urban Athletic Club had not responded to requests for comment.

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Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. Her work has appeared in Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Petworth.

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I resisted SoulCycle, the trendy boutique fitness chain, for years. My last indoor cycling experience had been in the 1990s, when spinning was Spinning, and my most vivid memories were bruises from the bike seat and an instructor who looked as if hed forgotten to shed his Lance Armstrong Halloween costume. But in 2011, I was too hugely pregnant to run or dance. One day a friend who worked at Soul, as acolytes called it, invited me along.

The class felt less morning-at-the-gym than night-on-the-town: its pounding music, synchronized movement and semidarkness afforded both a sense of security and the thrill of belonging among beautiful people. The experience was orchestrated by the instructor, a title that didnt do justice to the radiant woman calling out inspirational phrases from her own bike atop a stage illuminated by candles. I didnt know her, but after 45 minutes, I wanted to hug her. Maybe I wanted to be her. You did amazing, Natalia, she told me. I booked another class.

The ritual became intoxicating. But the same aura that makes these experiences so enticing can also have a dark side.

The fact that brands built on inspiration, authenticity and wellness can foster such unhealthy behavior shows how easily our instinct to confer positivity on the pursuit of health, and the people who help us achieve it, can be exploited. Allegations checker the industry, from Bikram Yoga (a charismatic leader was accused of sexual harassment and rape) to CrossFit (the chief executive was accused of sexual harassment and racist remarks). Like so many community institutions the Boy Scouts, churches, college campuses the spaces where we gather to sweat can sanction abuse as easily as inspiration.

Ive seen this firsthand, as a student and a teacher of group fitness classes. In the early aughts, I found a workout class that supplanted destructive diet talk with affirmations of strength and courage, reinforcing what Id loved about exercise but lacked language to articulate.

If this sounds trite today, in 2005 it felt like liberation. After a year of crisscrossing New York City to take multiple classes a day from its founder, I got certified as a leader. My students asked me why I was so positive, and I told them that since Id been sidelined in sports, teaching fitness sorry, wellness made me feel invincible. But this all-consuming culture occasionally gave me pause, like when a thin, wide-eyed young woman told me shed given up therapy my class was all she needed.

I had a front-row seat to a transformation in the role of exercise in American life. As one fitness entrepreneur told me, after 9/11 a new wave of fitness businesses started selling workout as wellness, taking holistic health from the hairy armpit set to the mainstream. Exercise had evolved from a purely physical routine that might occupy a few plodding hours a week to an all-encompassing pursuit. Instructors far more popular than I were its vanguards.

It became a clich to describe these figures as having a cult following: They became therapists, fashion icons, D.J.s, nutrition experts, spiritual teachers and sex symbols. The over-the-top motivation (IMPOSSIBLE SPELLS IM POSSIBLE!), steep price tags ($42 a class!) and obsessive fan base made boutique fitness easy fodder for ridicule. But the classes kept selling out.

In the pandemic, those collective exercise experiences can feel like an artifact, our own speakeasy or sock hop. After all, nearly 60 percent of Americans exercising at home say theyll never return to the gym. And that doesnt account for boutique fitness, where the sweaty, see-and-be-seen intimacy of crowded classes a memory that makes me both nostalgic and reaching for my face mask is partly the point.

But even as many studios sit shuttered, the appetite for instructors whose incandescence can both reduce riders to tears and build them up to superheroes is still very much with us.

Thanks to the intense connections these instructors cultivate, since the pandemic began students have followed them online and into parking lots, sometimes even joining in lockdown protests. Peloton, the digital home fitness platform, has flourished in the last year in part thanks to its larger-than-life instructors, who minister to hundreds of thousands, including the president. And various other remote fitness instructors have achieved stardom during the pandemic. This phenomenon is not going away, so we have a responsibility to understand it.

For an affluent clientele that operates in offices regulated by human resources departments and social circles governed by polite restraint, an exercise class can be as much a thrilling transgression of this disciplined sensibility as an extension of it. Why else pay to be sprayed with water at the climax of an intense bike ride to nowhere; to sweat under the red lights of a bordello-inspired boot camp; or to be gruffly led through a prison workout by an actual ex-con?

Ive experienced all these environments. Usually Ive found them more anthropologically interesting than offensive. But the dynamic is ripe for boundary-crossing.

After one session, I texted a friend that Id unwittingly gotten a spin class lap dance. Even at the gym, where the usual constraints on complimenting and touching each others bodies can be more relaxed, I was taken aback by the male instructor gyrating on my handlebars. The room full of riders squealed, though, with apparent delight.

I composed myself and simply didnt return. Yet when the backdrop to such behaviors is no longer the insular realm of a studio packed with adoring fans, but an industry facing serious allegations of abuse, the interaction lands differently.

Most instructors handle their power responsibly, and an instructor who understands her purpose as more than helping her students squeeze into skinny jeans can positively change lives. But this expansive role has not been accompanied by more rigorous certification, codes of conduct or even much reflection. (Or pay: Many of the more than 300,000 fitness instructors are members of the precariat, only just beginning to organize.)

With some exceptions, instructors aspiring to such celebrity and the businesses that profit from it have only pumped up the cults of personality instead of questioning them. Unless we change that, our sprawling fitness industry and the culture it reflects will remain as capable of perpetuating harm as promoting health.

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela (@nataliapetrzela) is an associate professor of History at the New School, host of the podcast Welcome to Your Fantasy and is writing a book about American fitness culture.

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MILITARY HEALTH SYSTEM --

Service members personal beliefs and practices help strengthen their ties to hope, meaning, and purpose. Such ideological and spiritual forces play an extremely important role inTotal Force Fitnessand the ability to persist when confronting adverse situations.

The existence of spiritual strength and faith, whatever that is for the individual, provides the gasoline for the engine, to keep people moving forward in the fight, said Navy Capt. Raymond Houk, chaplain for Navy Medicine.

In other words, its that tenacity, that grit that keeps people engaged and moving forward, Houk said. In Defense Health Agency terms, its what keeps them taking care of their patients and keeping themselves ready should they be called upon to go to war.

Army Lt. Col. Linda Lesane, chief of the Department of Ministry and Pastoral Care at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, explained that every element of a service members life is in some way influenced by faith or spirituality.

Spirituality impacts all areas of Total Force Fitness. It affects how people relate to and interact with one another in social and familial environments, Lesane said. Even how you manage your financial resources and obligations can be a spiritual matter. Its all interrelated.

Houk added that, in his view, a sense of service is something being in the military, being part of the medical community, and spirituality all have in common.

I think the sense of continuing to serve is a theme that covers both serving your country, serving your patients and serving a higher power, whatever that may be, Houk said.

A sense of working for a greater good and something bigger than yourself is something people may need to be reminded of when they are feeling down.

Its our job, its what we get paid to do, and yet people wont do it for very long if theyre burned out, Houk said. People may have the tendency to be disgruntled unless theres some other intrinsic, internal motivation, and I think thats where faith, spirituality, wanting to make a difference, and wanting to serve goes beyond a contract and beyond a paycheck. People joined an organization because they wanted to make a difference in the lives of our warriors and their family members.

In a potentially stressful work environment, challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have added an additional layer of complexity in the medical field.

I think the stressors that are on our health care workers, front-line providers, our medical personnel and their families are challenging, both when they have to work from homeandwhen they have to leave loved ones to go in physically to see patients, do surgeries, or encounter them in other ways, especially when they might risk exposure, Houk said.

The pandemic may have even led to more spiritual resiliency, as Lesane put it, in that individuals have had more time to focus on how they practice their faith on a personal level rather than being part of a group.

Houk furthered that the supportive role of chaplains doesnt necessarily have to be as a religious confidant who shares the same faith. They are also present as someone to talk to and as an alternative to formal counseling or going to your chain of command. Chaplains can assist and provide support with making ethical and moral decisions outside of traditional channels.

Chaplains bring the presence of faith into the workplace so that they can encourage those on medical teams, for example, Houk said. Chaplains can also advise commanders, not only regarding the overall welfare of the crew, but also the impact of religion, ethical, and moral issues on operations. Chaplains can provide professional and personal advice. Everyone needs someone to talk to, and chaplains can be that impartial, supportive person.

Chaplains can provide encouragement in dealing with internal and external battles.

To stay in the fight could mean a fight against cancer or another physical ailment, the spiritual struggle that comes along with that, whether that be grief or loss, or operationally in a combat zone, Houk said.

Preparing for different situations and scenarios, he explained, is no different than it is with any other aspect of military service or operations, mentally or physically.

We train like we fight in the military, so in the teaching hospitals and the military treatment facilities where were training those doctors, nurses, and corpsmen to take care of patients and take care of one another, we carry those same skills forward, he said, and part of that skill is to be spiritually resilient.

Sometimes, just the presence of a chaplain in a combat situation can encourage warfighters to keep going, to go that extra step in taking care of their buddies or going out on another patrol, Houk said. Faith adds strength and value to peoples lives and allows them to continue on through difficult situations.

He added that the Chaplain Corps is always looking for all the help it can get.

The Chaplain Corps is always recruiting, and wed be delighted to have qualified people apply, he said.

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