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The 1066 diet: Normans passed on their love of pork, study suggests – The Guardian
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The Norman conquest led to far-reaching and long-lasting political change across England and new research suggests it also led to the English eating more pork and chicken.
Before 1066, beef, lamb, mutton and goat were among the meats most likely to be served in England, but a study of human and animal bones as well as fat residue found on fragments of cooking pots found that pork and possibly chicken became much more popular following the arrival of William the Conqueror.
Experts believe the Normans passed on their love of pork to local people, and pigs and chickens began to be farmed much more intensively.
The study also suggests there were food shortages for a few years after the Norman invasion, but supplies were soon restored and life returned to normal.
Richard Madgwick, an osteoarchaeologist at Cardiff Universitys school of history, archaeology and religion, said 1066 was arguably the most famous and important date in English history.
Its seen as a grand transition after which nothing was the same again. For the elite, the nobility, everything did change radically the administration of the country, legal frameworks, the organisation of the landscape. But at a lower level, people adapted to the new normal rapidly.
The research team used a range of bio-archaeological techniques to study human and animal bones recovered from sites across Oxford, along with fragments of ceramics used for cooking.
They found that pork and chicken became a more popular choice for the cooking pot at the expense of beef, lamb and mutton. Some things did not change, however: cabbage remained a staple.
Elizabeth Craig-Atkins, a senior lecturer in human osteology at the University of Sheffield, said: Examining archaeological evidence of the diet and health of ordinary people who lived during this time gives us a detailed picture of their everyday experiences and lifestyles.
There is certainly evidence that people experienced periods where food was scarce. But following this, an intensification in farming meant people generally had a more steady food supply and consistent diet.
The researchers used a technique called stable isotope analysis on bones to compare the diets of 36 men and women who lived between the 10th and 13th centuries, whose remains were found in various locations around Oxford, including at Oxford Castle.
They found there was not a huge difference between the health of the individuals, who were alive at different points before and after the conquest. Levels of protein and carbohydrate consumption were similar in the group and evidence of bone conditions related to poor diet such as rickets and scurvy were rare.
However, detailed analysis of teeth showed evidence of short-term changes in health and diet during the transitional phase after the invasion.
Isotope analysis was also used on 60 animals found at the same sites, to ascertain how they were raised. Studies of pig bones found their diets became more consistent and richer in animal protein after the conquest, suggesting pig farming was intensified under Norman rule. They were probably living in pig sties in towns and being fed scraps instead of being allowed to forage in the countryside.
Fragments of pottery were examined using a technique called organic residue analysis. When food is cooked in ceramic pots, fats are absorbed into the vessel. The 11th-century cook would sometimes roast pork or chicken but most often simply threw it into a pot and turned it into a stew.
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The 1066 diet: Normans passed on their love of pork, study suggests - The Guardian
COVID-19: To counter infections such as this, doctors stress the need for a balanced diet – The Hindu
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On July 6, 1885, when Louis Pasteur successfully administered the first vaccine against the Rabies virus, he brought into focus zoonotic diseases, or how animals can carry harmful germs that can spread to people and cause illnesses.
July 6 is celebrated as World Zoonoses Day.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, there is a renewed focus on ways to counter animal-transmitted diseases.
One of the reasons for the spread of zoonotic diseases is the destruction of animal habitat and their displacement. The Nipah outbreak was the result of disturbing the habitat of bats so that they invaded the human space, says Dr PK Sasidharan, retired Professor and Head of Medicine, Government Medical College, Kozhikode. He has spent three decades of working with infectious diseases, studying their causes, and treatment.
Dr. Neethu Susan Philip, microbiologist and Infection Control Officer, says that one of the challenges with COVID-19 is that we have not yet traced the origin of the virus correctly, though we know it started from a meat market in Wuhan.
To counter infections like COVID-19, a movement that stresses the need for a balanced, environmentally-friendly diet has begun across the world.
From Ebola to COVID-19, there is a connect between consumption of meat and disease. The animal-man connect is clear, say Parag Agarwal and Sethu Vaidyanathan, co-founders of Ahimsa Trust that runs the Plants Are Power campaign. It advocates the benefit of plant-based living for human, animal and environmental health.
They cite data from the American Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that 75% of new and emerging diseases are from animals.
Dr Susan John, Clinical Epidemiologist, Rajagiri Hospital, Kochi, also talks about the transmission of disease-producing organisms from animal to man. In the WHOs list of top 10 diseases, the majority are zoonotic. This is a major concern, says Susan.
The reasons for this animal-man transmission, she says, are due to deforestation, increased consumption of raw meats and mushrooming of urban settlements where people live in close proximity with domestic animals. In addition to these factors, increased air travel leads to its spread, she says.
In a 2019 research in the Department of Family Medicine at Government Medical College, Kozhikode, Sasidharan says that 98.5% people were not sure of what defined a balanced diet. Humans are the only animals who do not know what to eat, he says.
He has conceptualised the Social Health One Health Movement (SHOHM), based on the idea that human beings cannot be healthy unless the environment they live in (including plants and animal life) is healthy.
Launched during the lockdown, this movement aims at creating awareness on the environment. Started by a team of lawyers, doctors, architects and organic farming experts, it is led by Sasidharan.
The concept envisages a health pyramid in which every individual at the base has access to a balanced diet, safe drinking water, shelter with minimum comfort and good primary education.
The second component is a large body of family doctors. Eighty per cent of doctors should work as family doctors. Every family should have a friend-philosopher-guide doctor who will be responsible for providing continuous and comprehensive care, irrespective of age and gender and working for promoting health and wellness, says Sasidharan, adding that the third component is general hospitals. Specialist doctors and hospitals should be less than 20%.
Advocate MR Rajendran, President of SHOHM Trust, has undertaken the distribution of balanced diet kits to families in Ernakulam. The kits consist of rice, legumes, leafy vegetables and fruits. We have identified children in 10-12 BPL families. Our objectives are to create awareness on the principle of one health of humans, plants, trees, animals and the environment, says Rajendran.
An endorsement for their work recently came from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who after meeting them, declared at a press conference the need for people to consume a diet that builds immunity against disease.
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COVID-19: To counter infections such as this, doctors stress the need for a balanced diet - The Hindu
Stop pretending that you need to be rich to enjoy a healthy diet – Telegraph.co.uk
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But this report seems to have fallen prey to the same cultural cringe that has beleaguered all such efforts in the past an overpowering reluctance to tell people that it is possible to eat healthily for not too much money, for fear of it being dismissed as yet more overprivileged, middle-class lecturing. When, in 2013, Jamie Oliver expressed bewilderment that poorer Britons might choose to eat cheap fast food while sitting in a room with a massive f------ TV, and that we could learn a lot from places like Spain when it came to eating well and cheaply, he was dismissed by the chattering classes as just another TV celeb, ignorant of how poor people live. Far be it for the likes of Oliver to point out that a bag of carrots, an onion and a stock cube, at a collective cost of about 1, might be a good way of providing dinner, or for the Lords and Ladies to acknowledge as even NHS analysis does that direct calorie comparison may not be the best way to approach the final cost of food.
Of course there are lots of reasons why people are unlikely to eat healthily in this country, and theres no silver bullet that will magically deal with the problem. Processed food is aggressively marketed (and the companies involved pay too much tax for the Government to really take them on); sugary snacks and drinks are ubiquitous. Two working parents means theres less time to plan and prepare meals. We dont learn to cook properly at school any more, which means we dont learn basic home economics how much a bag of porridge oats costs in comparison with a box of cereal. Tackling all these barriers takes effort and, more importantly, money all schoolchildren learn that they should be eating five a day, but showing them practically how to turn those five into healthy meals is a lot pricier.
Yet openly discussing this is seemingly taboo. When, a few years ago, Baroness Jenkin said that poorer people were going hungry because they didnt know how to cook, she was monstered for it.
She shouldnt have been. If we really want to tackle the issue of bad eating in this country, we need to stop being so embarrassed about discussing the reasons why whether were peers of the realm or not.
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Stop pretending that you need to be rich to enjoy a healthy diet - Telegraph.co.uk
Diet Soft Drink Market Analysis With Key Players, Applications, Trends And Forecasts To 2026 – Apsters News
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The Global Diet Soft Drink Market analysis report published on IndustryGrowthInsights.com is a detailed study of market size, share and dynamics covered in XX pages and is an illustrative sample demonstrating market trends. This is a latest report, covering the current COVID-19 impact on the market. The pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected every aspect of life globally. This has brought along several changes in market conditions. The rapidly changing market scenario and initial and future assessment of the impact is covered in the report. It covers the entire market with an in-depth study on revenue growth and profitability. The report also delivers on key players along with strategic standpoint pertaining to price and promotion.
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The Global Diet Soft Drink Market report entails a comprehensive database on future market estimation based on historical data analysis. It enables the clients with quantified data for current market perusal. It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and regional analysis. Listed out are key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with upcoming and trending innovation. Business policies are reviewed from the techno-commercial perspective demonstrating better results. The report contains granular information & analysis pertaining to the Global Diet Soft Drink Market size, share, growth, trends, segment and forecasts from 2020-2026.
With an all-round approach for data accumulation, the market scenarios comprise major players, cost and pricing operating in the specific geography/ies. Statistical surveying used are SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, predictive analysis, and real-time analytics. Graphs are clearly used to support the data format for clear understanding of facts and figures.
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Global Diet Soft Drink Market Size & Share, by ProductsLow CalorieZero Calorie
Global Diet Soft Drink Market Size & Share, ApplicationsSupermarketConvenience StoreRetail StoresOther
Key PlayersCoca ColaPepsiCoKeurig Dr PepperNestleCott CorporationPolar BeveragesUnilever
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Read More..Vitamin B12 deficiency warning – the common sign that you may not be noticing – Express.co.uk
Diet Comments Off on Vitamin B12 deficiency warning – the common sign that you may not be noticing – Express.co.uk
People with undiagnosed symptoms should consider that they may have a vitamin B12 deficiency.
While it's unlikely that your symptoms are caused by the condition, there are still many people that have a lack of B12.
A quick blood test could reveal whether you should be adding more B12 to your diet.
One of the more common signs of a deficiency is frequently feeling dizzy, it's been claimed.
READ MORE: Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms - the sign in your fingernails
"Unfortunately, symptoms of a vitamin B12 deficiency can take years to show up, and diagnosing it can be complex," it said.
"If you become anaemic due to a B12 deficiency, you may feel short of breath and a bit dizzy, especially when you exert yourself.
"This is because your body lacks the red blood cells it needs to get enough oxygen to your bodys cells.
"However, these symptoms can have many causes, so if you notice that you are unusually breathless, you should speak to your doctor to investigate the cause."
But just because you suddenly feel dizzy, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Dizziness is a very common symptom, and is usually nothing to be worried about.
If you develop dizziness, you should lie down until it passes, and drink plenty of fluids.
You should, however, speak to a doctor if your dizziness if accompanied by fainting, headaches, or nausea.
More common warning signs of a vitamin B12 deficiency include tiredness, jaundice, and feeling dizzy.
You should speak to a doctor if youre worried about vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms.
But you can top up on the vitamin by eating certain foods.
The best sources of vitamin B12 include beef, liver, dairy foods, eggs, and salmon.
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Vitamin B12 deficiency warning - the common sign that you may not be noticing - Express.co.uk
Arthritis pain – the best spices to add to your diet to protect against joint pain – Express
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Arthritis pain can lead to a number of debilitating symptoms that patients will want to try and avoid.
The condition can make life more difficult when carrying out simply, everyday tasks.
But, just some simple lifestyle changes could go a long way in helping to prevent arthritis symptoms from flaring up.
Eating more ginger or turmeric could help relieve your arthritis pain, it's been revealed.
READ MORE: Arthritis pain - breakfast swap that could lower your risk of symptoms
"Food is medicine. If youre struggling with pain from arthritis, eating foods that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties along with any drugs or other treatments your doctor recommends may help," it said.
"Thanks to the chemicals in these plants, ginger and turmeric are also known to have anti-inflammatory properties. Both are widely used in Chinese and Indian cuisine.
"The scientific data on recommended daily or weekly intakes of ginger or turmeric are mainly with supplemented doses, but a healthy sprinkling of these spices on foods or in beverages could bring limited health benefits.
"Theyll even add a little kick to your favourite dishes. Moreover, small amounts of ginger can help settle an upset stomach."
Meanwhile, you could also protect against arthritis symptoms by eating more nuts.
Nuts are one of the best snacks for arthritis patients, due to their anti-inflammatory properties.
They contain a number of nutrients that protect against inflammation, including fibre, zinc, and magnesium.
Nuts also play a crucial role in protecting your heart, which is particularly important for people with arthritis.
Common arthritis symptoms include joint pain, inflammation, and restricted movement.
There are two key types of arthritis in the UK; osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis to be diagnosed in the UK - around nine million people are believed to have osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis, meanwhile, is an auto-immune disease that has been diagnosed in about 400,000 individuals.
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Arthritis pain - the best spices to add to your diet to protect against joint pain - Express
Diet Food & Beverages Market Growth By Manufacturers, Type And Application, Forecast To 2026 – 3rd Watch News
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New Jersey, United States,- Market Research Intellect sheds light on the market scope, potential, and performance perspective of the Global Diet Food & Beverages Market by carrying out an extensive market analysis. Pivotal market aspects like market trends, the shift in customer preferences, fluctuating consumption, cost volatility, the product range available in the market, growth rate, drivers and constraints, financial standing, and challenges existing in the market are comprehensively evaluated to deduce their impact on the growth of the market in the coming years. The report also gives an industry-wide competitive analysis, highlighting the different market segments, individual market share of leading players, and the contemporary market scenario and the most vital elements to study while assessing the global Diet Food & Beverages market.
The research study includes the latest updates about the COVID-19 impact on the Diet Food & Beverages sector. The outbreak has broadly influenced the global economic landscape. The report contains a complete breakdown of the current situation in the ever-evolving business sector and estimates the aftereffects of the outbreak on the overall economy.
Leading Diet Food & Beverages manufacturers/companies operating at both regional and global levels:
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The Diet Food & Beverages market report provides successfully marked contemplated policy changes, favorable circumstances, industry news, developments, and trends. This information can help readers fortify their market position. It packs various parts of information gathered from secondary sources, including press releases, web, magazines, and journals as numbers, tables, pie-charts, and graphs. The information is verified and validated through primary interviews and questionnaires. The data on growth and trends focuses on new technologies, market capacities, raw materials, CAPEX cycle, and the dynamic structure of the Diet Food & Beverages market.
This study analyzes the growth of Diet Food & Beverages based on the present, past and futuristic data and will render complete information about the Diet Food & Beverages industry to the market-leading industry players that will guide the direction of the Diet Food & Beverages market through the forecast period. All of these players are analyzed in detail so as to get details concerning their recent announcements and partnerships, product/services, and investment strategies, among others.
Sales Forecast:
The report contains historical revenue and volume that backing information about the market capacity, and it helps to evaluate conjecture numbers for key areas in the Diet Food & Beverages market. Additionally, it includes a share of each segment of the Diet Food & Beverages market, giving methodical information about types and applications of the market.
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It assists in making informed business decisions by performing a pin-point analysis of market segments and by having complete insights of the Diet Food & Beverages market.
This report helps the readers understand key product segments and their future.
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In the end, the Diet Food & Beverages market is analyzed for revenue, sales, price, and gross margin. These points are examined for companies, types, applications, and regions.
To summarize, the global Diet Food & Beverages market report studies the contemporary market to forecast the growth prospects, challenges, opportunities, risks, threats, and the trends observed in the market that can either propel or curtail the growth rate of the industry. The market factors impacting the global sector also include provincial trade policies, international trade disputes, entry barriers, and other regulatory restrictions.
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Diet Food & Beverages Market Growth By Manufacturers, Type And Application, Forecast To 2026 - 3rd Watch News
Dietary Supplements Market is Poised to Register 9.1% Growth by the End of 2020 – Jewish Life News
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Increase in consumer interest in healthy diet has led to higher consumption of food and food ingredients with potential health benefits. Of late, consumers have become more conscious of their diet. According to a survey conducted by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) in 2014, majority of adults in the U.S. took dietary. According to the same survey, around 68% of adults in the U.S. use dietary supplements; of these, around 50% are regular users. Around 83% of adults in the U.S. expressed overall confidence in the quality, effectiveness, and safety of dietary supplements. People across various age groups consume dietary supplements to meet their recommended dietary allowances.
Dietary supplements are available in different forms, such tablets, pills, powders, capsules, gel caps, and liquids. Dietary supplements such as vitamin, botanical, mineral, and fatty acid help consumers stay healthy and prevent nutritional deficiency diseases. Rising aging population, increasing lifestyle diseases and increasing healthcare cost are some of the important factors driving growth of the dietary supplements market. The major factor driving the cost of healthcare is lengthy and costly R&D conducted by pharmaceutical companies.
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Due to increasing costs of healthcare, people are turning towards dietary supplements to help them stay healthy. These supplements provide various health benefits such as strengthening the immune system, protection from cold and flu, prevention of migraine headaches, treat of arthritis, rheumatic diseases, allergies, lower cholesterol, triglyceride levels and blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, and cognitive diseases at lower costs.
Asia Pacific was the largest market for dietary supplements in 2013, accounting for 31.2% of the global market share, followed by Europe and North America with market share of 30.1% and 25.4% respectively. From 20142020 the Asia Pacific dietary supplements market is expected to grow at a CAGR 9.1%, driven by populous countries such as India and China. Consumer awareness about the benefits of dietary supplements and wide product availability are the major drivers for the market in the region. Increase in disposable income allows customers to spend more on healthy food items. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, annual per capita disposable income of urban households in China increased from USD 2,271.0 in 2008 to USD 3408.5 in 2012. The overall annual disposable income in India increased from USD 1,366.2 billion in 2010 to USD 1,587.6 billion in 2013.
Under the product segment, botanical supplements (the largest segment in 2013) increased by a CAGR of 6.6% during 20102013 to reach USD 54.6 billion in 2013. Under the application segment, the pharmaceutical sector (the largest sector in 2013) increased by a CAGR of 6.4% during 20102013 to reach USD 52.1 billion in 2013. Under regional segment, the Asia Pacific dietary supplements market (largest market in 2013) increased by 8.2% CAGR during 2010-2013 to reach USD 34.2 billion in 2013.
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Some of the major companies operating in the global dietary supplements market:
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Dietary Supplements Market is Poised to Register 9.1% Growth by the End of 2020 - Jewish Life News
The 15 Best Expert Tips to Succeed at Your Plant-Based Diet – The Beet
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Expert Tip 1. Shop and Meal Prep in Advance.
The first day on the diet you are so excited to get started, finally lose weight and keep it off. But before you hit go, it helps to do a little meal prep. It's so much easier to succeed if you set yourself up in advance. The easiest way for Is to meal prep on Sunday. Only focus on making your Monday through Wednesday lunches and dinners, since breakfasts and snacks you can make the same day.
Most diets fail, we know, but by being held accountable to a partner or group can help you reach, and exceed, your goals. By being accountable to a partner or group, you raise the success of your diet and exercise program to over 95 percent. If no one is around as you embark on this healthy weight loss journey, join a community. The Beet's The VegStart Diet group lets you check-in, compare successes or struggles, and get support. So join The VegStart Diet FB group and success is in the bag.
This meal plan will provide you with a sufficient amount of nutrients, both macros and micros, which is awesome! Still, most people would benefit from taking avitamin D and vitamin B12, since those are harder to get from diet alone. I recommend picking up a Vitamin D3 (1000 to 2000 IU) + a B12 (500-to 1000 mcg). These are two nutrients that you will most often have to supplement on any plant-based diet.
We know that dieting is easier during the week and a little harder on weekends. That's why we built in some wiggle room, so you can be stricter on yourself on weekdays and let out the leash a bit for social events like a Friday dinner, Saturday picnic or Sunday BBQ. But remember: Consistency wins. If every time there is a birthday or holiday or occasion you take it upon yourself to "go for it," you can undo all the hard work you've already put in. A study in Obesity found that losing weight and keeping it off depends on changing the way you eat and sticking with it, daily, and not drastically losing weight quickly since it will make you want to cheat more. For long-term loss stay consistent and eat healthily day after day.
We all have a tendency to stay glued to technology while eating. This leads to more focus on whats happening on the screen rather than the food we are eating. Try to eat attentively during every meal to cut down on overeating or snacking. A study found that mindful eating influences how much you eat during and between meals. The more you are aware of your meals, the more you will enjoy every bite and feel satisfied after meals. Make your technology-free.
For some people going for a walk in nature helps their stress levels, or taking a luxurious bubble bath. Others enjoy reality TV or reading a good book. Whatever makes you laugh, breathe deeply, and relax will lower your stress hormones and help your body let go of stubborn fat. The ancient fight-or-flight response means that stress signals the brain's hormones to hold onto fat, in case you need fuel to fight for your own survival. Unwind this process by meditating, breathing deeply twice a day and focus on positive thoughts. Take a quiet moment to reassure yourself that you are safe: "Life is good, everything is going to be okay."
Stay away from processed foods because they're filled with sodium, sugar, hydrogenated fats and preservatives. They can also be loaded with chemicals such as food coloring, and have been engineered to make you eat more. A recent study found that participants who loaded up on processed foods ate an average of 500 more calories a day than those who stuck to whole foods, which will keep you fuller longer because they're full of nutrients that fill you up, like protein and fiber.
Share your photos of your meals with us, and with your community. Sign up and join the VegStart Diet page on The Beets Facebook account. Make it a party when youre cooking. This doesnt have to be gloomy and un-enjoyable process. Everyone wants to eat healthy, and sharing the recipes is a way of spreading the word about this new plan.. Tell your friends to try it. Hashtag #VegStartDiet and let others know how doable this diet is!
When you practice mindful eating, before you reach for food, first assess if you are truly hungry or bored or stressed or upset over something. Ask yourself: What do I really want? A new job? A more loving relationship? It may have nothing to do with hunger. If youre bored, go for a walk, or listen to a podcast. Cant stay away from the fridge or snack cabinet? Prepare yourself a satisfying snack from the VegStart Diet for a little energy jolt. Look for a new activity. Soon youll get out of the habit of using food to prop up your mood.
I hope youre already aiming for 10,000 steps a day. Taking an early morning walk or after-dinner stroll is a great way to destress and burn calories. But the fun thing about trying a new diet is to challenge yourself to reach a loftier goal, so why not add in trying a new type of movement too? Make it something you dont do often or have never tried. Maybe thats a HIIT workout (High-Intensity Interval Training) which burns an insane amount of calories, or starting a running program, which also burns fat fast. Trying something new and energizing is the name of the game.
A good way to help stay accountable is to keep a journal or log detailing your personal goals, and track your progress. It also serves as a nice reminder of how far youve come. A study on goal-setting showed that if you write down your goals youre much more likely to achieve them. Check out the log in the back of this VegStart Diet book for a great way to start.
Sleep is the unsung hero of your diet. When you sleep the hormones that regulate hungerghrelin and leptinare impacted. Ghrelin is the gremlin, since it drives appetite up. Leptin is the hero, as an appetite queller, it calms hunger down. When youre sleep-deprived, ghrelin spikes, while leptin levels dip, so you feel hungrier the next day. Move your bedtime to before midnight, even if it means waking up earlier for a few days as you reset your clock. Youll have diet success and get your beauty sleep.
Omega 3 fatty acids, typically sourced from fish oil, can also be found in vegan sources such as walnuts and algae. Your body does not produce this fatty acid on its own, so find a vegan source of it that you like. In one study, researchers found evidence that Omega-3s helped to speed up the bodys own tendency to burn body fat. Now, go get those Omegas.
Youve probably heard the phrase a thousand times over, but drinking enough water is crucial if youre looking to lose weight. It helps in three ways, by suppressing your appetite, increasing your body's metabolic rate and increase your energy expenditure. To figure out how much water you should be drinking, multiply your weight in pounds by two-thirds or 67 percent. Then, take this number in ounces, and that's how much water you should shoot to drink. For example, if you weigh 140 pounds, multiply by two-thirds to get 94. So at 140, shoot to drink 94 ounces of water per day.
No one likes to count calories, and in fact, you don't need to when you're doing the VegStart Diet. It's much more productive to track things like fiber and protein, and just be sure you are in a calorie deficit for the day, which you will be if you eat according to the plan and get exercise every day.
Get More Fiber. The more fiber you add to your diet, the better. Studies show that 30 grams of fiber in your diet daily will help you lose weight and lower your blood pressure. According to the USDA: Women should aim for a minimum of 25 grams of fiber and men should shoot for 38 grams of fiber per day.
Hit Your Proteins. A high-protein diet has been linked to weight loss. You burn more calories when digesting and metabolizing protein because it requires more work to do so. Protein also leaves you feeling full, helps curb your appetite and is the building block of muscle. Aim for 20 to 30 grams of protein each meal, which for most people is optimal.
Get Into a Calorie Deficit. Everyone hates counting calories and so do we but you should have a general idea of what you're eating. The key is to choose nutrient-dense foods that are lower in calories per nutrient. The opposite, choose calorie-dense foods like sweets, should be avoided.
The VegStart Diet keeps your daily calorie intake to 1500 or so. Going below that can be counter-productive for long-term weight loss since youll slow your metabolism and make it harder to sustain weight loss longterm. If like most successful dieters, youre burning calories as well as counting them, you can probably afford to take in 250 more for every hour of intense exercise or working out you do per day.
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How NFL offensive linemen escape the 5,000-calorie lunch and transform in retirement – ESPN
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Emily KaplanESPN
It's 3 p.m., and Joe Thomas needs to eat. He's driving with his family but is getting hungry. Is it really hunger? He doesn't know. Throughout his entire NFL career as an offensive tackle with the Cleveland Browns, Thomas was conditioned to eat every two hours, because his job literally depended on it.
Thomas finds a McDonald's on the GPS. It will be quick -- just a bit of fuel between lunch and dinner. He orders two double cheeseburgers, two McChickens, a double quarter-pounder with cheese, one large order of fries and a large Dr. Pepper.
"Or another sugary drink," he said recently. "Just to add 500 calories, the easy way."
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It wasn't easy playing 10,000 consecutive snaps or fending off football's most explosive pass-rushers. But it was just as hard for Thomas to maintain a 300-plus-pound frame. He had to consume an insatiable amount of food. Here's a potential day in the life:
Think breakfast: four pieces of bacon, four sausage links, eight eggs, three pancakes and oatmeal with peanut butter, followed by a midmorning protein shake.
Lunch? Perhaps pasta, meatballs, cookies "and maybe a salad, great, whatever" from the team cafeteria.
For dinner, Thomas could devour an entire Detroit-style pizza himself, and then follow it with a sleeve of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies and a bowl of ice cream. And finally, he would slurp down another protein shake before getting into bed.
"If I went two hours without eating, I literally would have cut your arm off and started eating it," the former offensive lineman said. "I felt if I missed a meal after two hours, I was going to lose weight, and I was going to get in trouble. That was the mindset I had. We got weighed in on Mondays, and if I lost 5 pounds, my coach was going to give me hell."
Eating in excess isn't as glamorous as it sounds. In fact, laborious might be the better word. Throughout his career, Thomas woke up in the middle of the night and "crushed Tums." He relied on pain medications and anti-inflammatories, and he had constant heartburn.
Then Thomas retired in 2018. "When you start eating and exercising like a normal human being," Thomas said, "the health benefits are amazing." He not only threw away the over-the-counter meds, but his skin cleared up, his yoga practice improved and he felt less bloated. Within six months, 60 pounds melted off from his 325-pound playing weight. By September 2019, TMZ picked up Thomas' transformation, headlining an article: "Ex-NFL Fat Guy ... LOOKS LIKE A CHISELED GREEK GOD."
"I just had a great laugh," Thomas said. "Isn't that the typical lineman life? Eleven years in the NFL, and all I'm known as now is ex-NFL fat guy."
Thomas is the latest example of an offensive lineman who, after retiring, recommitted to a normalized, healthy lifestyle after overeating and over-medicating during his NFL career. His journey might seem dramatic, but it's not uncommon.
Longtime San Francisco 49ers tackle Joe Staley, who played in the most recent Super Bowl, has already donated five garbage bags of clothing and bought all new belts since his waist slimmed from 40 to 36 inches and he lost 50 pounds. Former Baltimore Ravens guard Marshal Yanda dropped 60 pounds in three months by going from 6,000 calories per day to 2,000. Nick Hardwick, Jeff Saturday, Alan Faneca and Matt Birk are all former big guys who now look like shells of themselves, which generated tabloid-like attention. The list continues on and on.
So how'd they pull it off? We interviewed nine retired offensive linemen about the lengths they went to in bulking up and their secrets to slimming down after hanging up their cleats. The players were candid about body image insecurities, outrageous diets, struggles with eating disorders and the short- and long-term health ramifications of maintaining their playing weights for so many years.
Former offensive tackle Jordan Gross started 167 games over 11 seasons for the Carolina Panthers. He was a Pro Bowler three times, made the All-Rookie team in 2003 and started at right tackle for the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Then he retired in 2014 and lost 70 pounds within six months.
"Fans know me more for losing weight than they do for anything I did in my entire career," Gross said.
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Although that kind of weight loss can be inspiring, it also points to the unhealthy relationship with food many offensive linemen develop, usually dating back to college. Faneca, a first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1998 who went on to 201 career starts with three teams, recalls his position coach at LSU chastising the entire offensive line once for "looking like a bunch of stuffed sausages," challenging them to lose a pound a day. Later, he was told he had to gain more.
Thomas puts it bluntly: "You're training yourself to have an eating disorder the way you view food when you're in the NFL, and to try to deprogram that is a real challenge." Body image and self-esteem issues can fester, as these athletes are told their worth can essentially be measured in calories and pounds.
"I always had this insecurity of being big when it came to dating life, talking to women and going out being a 300-pound man," said former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons center/guard Joe Hawley. "I didn't want to be that big, but I had to because I loved football and that was my job."
A lot of the weight is artificial to begin with. As Gross points out, "not many people are naturally that big," but bulking up was essential to playing at the highest level and making millions of dollars. Gross, for example, ingested an enormous amount of protein each day while playing, including six pieces of bacon, six scrambled eggs, two 50-gram protein shakes, four hard-boiled eggs and two chicken breasts -- all before 2 p.m. in the afternoon.
It's a somewhat new phenomenon, according to Dr. Archie Roberts, a 1965 draft pick of the Jets who went on to become a cardiac surgeon. In 2001, Roberts co-founded the Living Heart Foundation, which annually conducts health screenings for retired football players. "In the 1990s, there was a push that suggested to some people that putting on more weight might make it a more effective and exciting game," Roberts said. "Because the bigger offensive linemen could hold off the defensive rush for a longer time so that the quarterback could throw the ball down the field, leading to more spectacular passing plays."
Playing weights began ballooning across the league, especially on the line. According to Elias Sports Bureau research, the average weight of starting offensive linemen was 254.3 pounds in 1970. It jumped to 276.9 by 1990, but the largest increase in poundage would come in the following 10 years. A decade later, the average O-line starter checked in at 309.4 pounds. Today the number stands at 315, more than 60 pounds heavier than 50 years ago.
Hawley typically played between 295 and 300 pounds, but during his fifth year in the league, he adopted the paleo diet and ate clean. He lost 10 to 15 pounds and played the following season at 285. "It was hard to keep weight on eating clean like that, but I felt so much better," Hawley said. "I had so much energy; I wasn't as lethargic."
Then, he re-signed in Tampa Bay.
"Because I was getting pushed around a little bit playing on the offensive line that way, they told me I needed to gain weight," Hawley said. "So I went to a more unhealthy diet, which made me feel, well, not as good. But it's what I had to do to play."
"Being skinny as a lineman wouldn't be helpful, because you would have to create more force to stop those big guys," Thomas said. "Inertia becomes an issue. I'm a big, fat guy, you're running at me, you don't have to create as much force because I'm just heavier, fatter and have more mass."
Although that mass helps on the field, health complications can follow. In May, USA Today ran an entire column wondering if offensive linemen were more susceptible to severe complications from COVID-19 because of their size. Roberts warns that massive weight gain can also lead to obesity. "Which then affects their heart, lungs, kidney and their minds," Roberts said. "It's not proven, but it also may be associated with Alzheimer's disease and possibly traumatic brain injury."
Once playing careers wind down, many players must assess whether it's worth it to carry the extra pounds. Many have decided to downsize.
Faneca, the longtime Steelers guard, remembers the day he hit a milestone of losing 30 pounds. He was playing on the floor with his daughter and he got up without having to "do the old-man grunt." "I just stood up, no problem," Faneca said. "And I was like, 'Wow, this is nice.'"
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Thomas said when he was 300 pounds, his body would ache if he had to stand for a few minutes. Gross said he hated the sweating. "I would just sweat profusely all the time," he lamented. "My wife would have hypothermia from me having the room so cold all the time."
Hardwick, a center with the then-San Diego Chargers who maxed out at 308, said his initial motivation to lose weight was to relieve pressure from his body. (According to the April issue of the Harvard Medical School newsletter, each additional pound you carry places about 4 pounds of stress on the knee joints.)
"But then there's this material aspect to it," Hardwick said. "You want to be able to wear cooler clothes, and go into stores and start shopping off the rack. And that's alluring for a while. Then that wears off, and you settle in, and people stop freaking out every time they see you. And you just become comfortable once again in your own skin."
Staley, albeit sheepishly, admits he likes the fact that his muscles are getting defined.
"As an offensive lineman, you're always known as this big, humongous, unathletic blob," Staley said. "Offensive linemen get casted in a movie, and they're always 500 pounds. Then you get the opportunity to be healthy again, and all of the effort you used to put into football, you put into that. It gives you a focus once you retire. It's a little bit vain, but I'm starting to see abs that I've always wanted. And it's kind of exciting."
There are two types of offensive linemen: those who must artificially add the pounds on, and those who are naturally big.
"I'm the latter," said Damien Woody, a longtime NFL lineman and current ESPN analyst. "I could literally breathe and inhale and gain 5 pounds." During a summer growth spurt after his sophomore year of high school, Woody grew 6 inches and gained 70 pounds. By the time he got to Boston College, he already weighed 300. "It was never a problem for me to put weight on," he said.
The other group? Gaining weight can become an all-consuming sport, which often begins in the collegiate years. Consider Hardwick, who wrestled in the 171-pound weight class in high school. He enrolled at Purdue on a ROTC scholarship, got a tryout for the football team and ballooned to 295 by slathering 2 pounds of ground beef on multiple tortillas at dinner. Hardwick also downed a 600- or 700-calorie protein shake before bed and set his alarm to drink a similar one at 3 a.m.
At this year's NFL combine, Ben Bartch was a topic of conversation after talking about his go-to smoothie: seven scrambled eggs, "a big tub" of cottage cheese, grits, peanut butter, a banana and Gatorade. A daily dose of that concoction added 59 pounds to Bartch's 6-foot-6 frame, helping him morph from a third-string Division III tight end at St. John's (Minnesota) to a fourth-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars as an offensive lineman.
"I would just throw it all in and then plug my nose," Bartch said. "In the dark. I would gag sometimes. That's what you have to do sometimes."
Chris Bober, a former New York Giants and Kansas City Chiefs lineman, showed up at the University of Nebraska-Omaha at 225 pounds, which was too small. He ate everything he could get his hands on, which was difficult as a college student "who was pretty broke." It was especially challenging over the summers, when he inherently burned calories at his construction job. If Bober went to Subway, he wouldn't just buy one foot-long sub -- he'd get two. At Taco John's, his order was a 12-pack of tacos and a pound of potato oles, which adds up to a nearly 5,000-calorie lunch.
When Thomas was at Wisconsin, any player trying to gain weight could grab a 10-ounce to-go carton of heavy whipping cream with added sugars and whey protein after a workout. He surmises the dairy-forward drink went for about 1,000 calories a pop -- and he chased it with a 50-gram protein shake on his way to class.
Like Hardwick, Staley -- who went from 215 pounds to 295 at Central Michigan, as he transitioned from tight end to the offensive line -- used to set an alarm for himself every day at 2 a.m. "I had these premade weight-gainer shakes; they were probably 2,000 calories each," Staley said. "I'd wake myself up in the middle of the night, down that, go back to bed."
Although Staley worked with his college strength coach to make sure he was putting on "good weight" -- gaining muscle without unnecessary body fat -- the unnatural eating habits took a toll. "I was bloated for four years straight," Staley said. "You know when you overeat after a really nice dinner at an Italian restaurant, you just eat all these courses and leave feeling gross? That's how I felt the entire time in college."
Staley no longer fit into the clothes he arrived at Central Michigan with but couldn't afford to buy new ones, so he was constantly borrowing from teammates. Most offensive linemen admit they pretty much lived in team-issued sweats. "I'm lucky, in the late 1990s, early 2000s, everything baggy was in style," Gross said. "So from 250 to 300, it wasn't a massive wardrobe change. The waist got big, but elastic drawstrings were my best friend."
The habits continue in the NFL. Many older players credit the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, which banned training camp two-a-days, as a turning point. Before then, it felt like their college days. "If I was doing two-a-days, in the summer in South Carolina, going up against Julius Peppers, I was for sure burning 10,000 calories," Gross said.
So at the end of each day in training camp at Wofford College, Gross counted to 15 one-thousands on the soft-serve machine, then blended that with four cups of whole milk, plus three homemade chocolate cookies (which Gross believes were about 850 calories each) and Hershey's chocolate syrup. "That's all inflammatory foods, like sugar and dairy," he said, "I'm not going to say it's horrible; it was pretty awesome to eat that stuff. But you're putting so much demand on your digestive system. I always had gas. I always had to use the bathroom. I was bloated because I was so full all the time."
There's a common refrain among offensive linemen: If you don't lose weight in your first year out of the league, you're probably not going to lose it.
Four years after retiring, Woody weighed 388 pounds and agreed to appear on NBC's "The Biggest Loser." Instead of heavy lifting and concentrating on explosive bursts, Woody was asked to do longer cardio and train for endurance. "It was totally different from what I had learned to do and had trained to do my entire life," Woody said. "And it was hard. Like, man, it was really tough."
Woody lost 100 pounds on the show -- then gained it all back.
So he just accepted his weight, until this past year, when the 42-year-old renovated his basement into an exercise room. "I wanted to lose weight the right way," Woody said. "In a sustainable way."
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Woody lured in his wife and kids to join his mission. On Sunday nights, they meal prep. And every day Woody goes down to the basement to stay active. His prefers the Peloton bike -- "I hit that hard," he said -- but also uses the row machine, and does "all different types of exercises so I don't get bored." While he still lifts weights, he focuses on lighter options and higher reps. "I'm not putting any weight on my back anymore; I'm not lifting excessive weight to potentially hurt myself," Woody said. "Because that's not the point anymore."
On June 14, Woody tweeted that he was down 50 pounds since March 23 "and my joints are already jumping for joy."
It isn't easy. And for many years, players have felt like they're on their own in their weight-loss journey.
"The NFL doesn't give you any guidance on how to do it," Bober said. "They're just like, 'OK, see ya!' You need to take it upon yourself to figure it out. And as I've gotten older and older, I've noticed it does become more and more difficult to manage if you haven't lost it right away."
Shortly after the last CBA in 2011, the NFL Players Association launched "The Trust," which interim executive director Kelly Mehrtens describes as a VIP concierge service of benefits players can take advantage of as they transition outside of the league. As part of a holistic approach, the Trust invites players to Exos (where they can train, get physical therapy and undergo a nutrition consultation), offers them YMCA memberships and arranges physicals and consultations with specialists at hospitals across the country.
The Trust, Mehrtens explains, is all about figuring out why certain guys transition to their post-playing lives more successfully than others, and how they could help bridge the gap. "These are earned benefits," Mehrtens said. "So we want to make sure guys take advantage of something they've already earned."
Dr. Roberts' Living Heart Foundation, a partner of the NFLPA, does health screenings for former players three times per year. Anyone with a BMI of 35 or over is invited to join a six-month program called The Biggest Loser (although this one isn't televised). So far, roughly 50 players have gone through it. Most are in their 40s, with the oldest participant 80 years old. "It just shows it's never too late to find motivation to reach your goals," lead trainer Erik Beshore said.
Beshore said most who enrolled in The Biggest Loser program are diabetic or pre-diabetic. However, after six months, as they commit to sustainable lifestyle changes, many have gone off their insulin, eliminated their blood pressure medication, gotten better sleep and reported overall better moods.
"It's amazing how many of them can lose the weight all these years later," Roberts said. "But in terms of if they can reverse the damage that may have occurred in the interim period form when they played football at large size to years later, it's hard to quantitate because we don't have long-term data yet."
To slim down, Staley cut out most carbs, besides vegetables. He purged his house of his favorite vice, chips and salsa, and now snacks on raw broccoli and Bitchin' Sauce -- an almond-based vegan dip. Staley said he now eats with purpose and moderation. "In the NFL, I always ate when I was hungry and whatever was available," he said. "If it was salmon, great. If it was frozen pizza, I'd eat that too."
Hawley, who retired in 2018, donated most of his material possessions to charity and has been living out of a van and Airbnb's across the country. He said it was all about reconditioning his brain to eat only until he feels full, and not eating until he can't eat anymore. Intermittent fasting has been a huge tool for the 6-foot-3 Hawley, who is down 60 pounds to 240. He rarely eats breakfast and tries to do one 24-hour fast per week -- eating dinner at 6 or 7 p.m., and then not eating at all until 6 or 7 p.m. the following night. Sometimes he even challenges himself to a 36-hour fast.
Hawley has connected with other ex-big guys, such as Hardwick, whom he met at "Bridge to Success," a NFL-run transition program for retired players.
"But it's not as big of a community as I would like," Hawley said. "I'm actually working on creating an online community for guys. That's one thing I've been missing. I went through my whole life being part of a locker room with a team, and then you get into the real world at 30, and nobody really knows what that experience is like."
Hardwick said he's working on an e-book with a blueprint of his diet plan for people who want to lose weight quickly and keep it off.
Many players interviewed for this story said while they do feel better and like the way they look, rapid weight loss has led to unsightly stretch marks and excess, saggy skin (which one player, wishing to stay anonymous, said he had cosmetically removed). Hardwick and Gross also warn of something that happened to them: They got so obsessed with losing the weight that it went too far.
Hardwick remembers weighing himself after a hot yoga class in January 2015. The scale read 202 pounds. "Great," he thought to himself. "Another 3 pounds, and it will be 199." But then he got a glance of his profile in the mirror, and he didn't recognize himself.
"If the apocalypse came, there was no way I could defend me or my family," he said. Hardwick went home and started binge eating to overcorrect. He has hovered between 220 and 230 since, which he thinks is a healthy weight for him.
Gross experimented for a while. He was vegetarian for a year and then tried the paleo diet. "You don't have any wiggle room when you're playing -- you just have to eat to keep the weight on," he said. "So I thought it was exciting to try different things." Once Gross got down to 250, he noticed an immense pain relief in his feet and ankles, which were swollen his last few years in the league -- but due to weight, not injury.
When Gross began his transformation, he went to Old Navy and bought three pairs of shorts and two polo shirts. He didn't know where his weight loss would lead him, and he didn't want to waste money. Gross got all the way down to 225, but restricting himself to under 2,500 calories a day didn't feel like a sustainable lifestyle. "That was too much," he said. As he gets ready to turn 40 this summer, Gross eats about 3,200 calories a day and is back to lifting weights. He now happily hovers around 240 pounds.
As for Thomas? As his career wound down, he began consulting with Katy Meassick, the Browns' nutritionist, who began educating him on healthier habits. They came up with a post-retirement plan, which Thomas describes as "low-carb or keto diet, with intermittent fasting." He added swimming and biking as cardio, along with yoga.
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Thomas, too, had to recondition his brain to stop eating when he was full. Throughout his football career, he had taught his subconscious to go beyond that point and keep stuffing his face with family-size McDonald's orders and sugary drinks. It's a new kind of discipline. Now every Monday, Thomas and his wife, Annie, will try to fast for 24 hours. Because of his previous line of work, it's not such a hard transition.
"As an offensive lineman, you just do the grunt work forever and you do the crap nobody wants to do -- our position is the Mushroom Club. We're used to being s--- on a truck in a dark room, and everyone expects us to go out and perform for no glory whatsoever," Thomas said.
"And you almost miss that misery. It's almost a weird thing to say, but getting into the fasting world and trying to discipline yourself and do something that is hard, in a weird, sick way, [that's something] I think a lot of offensive linemen get."
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How NFL offensive linemen escape the 5,000-calorie lunch and transform in retirement - ESPN