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Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
This article was originally published in Knowable Magazine.
As governments drag their feet in responding to climate change, many concerned people are looking for actions that they can take as individualsand eating less meat is an obvious place to start. Livestock today account for about 14.5 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
Those numbers are daunting, but the situation could grow even worse: Our appetite for meat is increasing. The United Nations forecasts that the world will be eating 14 percent more of it by 2030, especially as middle-income countries become wealthier. That means more demand for pasture and feed crops, more deforestation, and more climate problems. For people alarmed about climate change, giving up meat altogether can seem like the only option.
But is it? A growing body of research suggests that the world could, in fact, raise enough beef, pork, chicken, and other meat to let anyone who wants to eat a modest portion of meat a few times a weekand do so sustainably. Indeed, it turns out that a world with some animal agriculture might have a smaller environmental footprint than an entirely vegan world. The catch is that hitting the environmental sweet spot would require big changes in the way we raise livestockand, for most of us in the wealthy West, a diet with considerably less meat than we eat today.
The future that sounds sustainable to me is one where we have livestock, but its a very different scale, says Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, a food-systems-sustainability researcher at Tufts University in Boston. I think the livestock industrys going to have to look different.
One big reason for meats outsized environmental impact is that its more efficient for people to eat plants directly than to feed them to livestock. Chickens need almost two pounds of feed to produce each pound of weight gain, pigs need three to five pounds, and cattle need six to 10and a lot of that weight gain is bones, skin, and guts, not meat. As a result, about 40 percent of the worlds arable land is used to grow animal feed, with all the attendant environmental costs related to factors such as deforestation, water use, fertilizer runoff, pesticides, and fossil-fuel use.
But its not inevitable for livestock to compete with people for crops. Ruminantsthat is, grazing animals with multiple stomachs, such as cattle, sheep, and goatscan digest the cellulose in grass, straw, and other fibrous plant material that humans cant eat, converting it into animal protein that we can. And two-thirds of the worlds agricultural lands are grazing lands, many of which are too steep, arid, or marginal to be suitable for crops. That land cannot be used for any other food-growing purpose other than the use of ruminant livestock, says Frank Mitloehner, an animal scientist at UC Davis.
Read: Your diet is cooking the planet
Of course, those grazing lands could revert to natural forest or grassland vegetation, taking up atmospheric carbon in the process. This carbon-capturing regrowth could be a major contributor to global climate-mitigation strategies aimed at net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions, researchers say. But thats not necessarily incompatible with moderate levels of grazing. For example, some research suggests that replacing croplands with well-managed grazing lands in the southeastern U.S. could capture far more carbon from the atmosphere (although grazing lands also require far more overall area than croplands).
Livestock can also use crop wastes such as the bran and germ left over when wheat is milled to white flour, or the soy meal left over after pressing the beans for oil. Thats a big reason 20 percent of the U.S. dairy herd is in Californias Central Valley, where cows feed partly on wastes from fruits, nuts, and other specialty crops, Mitloehner says. Even pigs and chickens, which cant digest cellulose, could be fed other wastes such as fallen fruit, discarded food scraps, and insects, which most people wouldnt eat.
The upshot is that a world entirely without meat would require about one-third more croplandand, therefore, more energy-intensive fertilizer, pesticides, and tractor fuelto feed everyone, says Hannah van Zanten, a sustainable-food-systems researcher at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands. But thats only if were talking about meat raised the right way and in the right amounts.
Livestock also bring other benefits. Meat provides balanced protein and other nutrients, such as iron and vitamin B12, that are more difficult to get from a vegan diet, especially for poorer people who cant always afford a variety of fresh vegetables and other nutritious foods, says Matin Qaim, an agricultural economist at the University of Bonn in Germany, who co-authored a paper in the 2022 Annual Review of Resource Economics on the sustainability of meat consumption. Livestock, he notes, are a source of wealth for many otherwise poor people in traditional pastoral cultures. And on small, mixed farms, animals that graze widely and then deposit their manure in the farmyard can help concentrate nutrients for use as fertilizer in the familys garden.
Moreover, many of the worlds natural grasslands have evolved in the presence of grazers, which play a key role in ecosystem function. Where those native grazersthe vanished bison from the American prairies, for exampleno longer dominate, domestic livestock can fill the same role. Grasslands are disturbance dependent, says Sasha Gennet, a sustainable-grazing expert at the Nature Conservancy. Most of these systems evolved and adapted with grazing animals and fire. They can benefit from good livestock-management practices. If youre doing it right, and youre doing it in the right places, you can have good outcomes for conservation.
For all these reasons, some experts say, the world is better off with some meat and dairy than it would be with none at allthough clearly, a sustainable livestock system would have to be much different, and smaller, than the one we have today. But suppose we did it right? How much meat could the world eat sustainably? The answer, most studies suggest, may be enough to give meat-eaters some hope.
Vaclav Smil, an interdisciplinary researcher at the University of Manitoba, got the ball rolling in 2013 with a back-of-the-envelope calculation published in his book Should We Eat Meat? Lets assume, he reasoned, that we stop clearing forests for new pastureland, let 25 percent of existing pastures revert to forest or other natural vegetation, and feed livestock as much as possible on forage, crop residues, and other leftovers. After making those concessions to sustainability, Smils best guesstimate was that this rational meat production could yield about two-thirds as much meat as the world was producing at the time. Subsequent studies suggest that the real number might be a bit lower, but still enough to promise a significant place for meat on the worlds plate, even as the population continues to grow.
If so, there are several surprising implications. For one thing, the total amount of meat or dairy that could be produced in this way depends strongly on what else is on peoples plates, van Zanten says. If people eat a healthy, whole-grain diet, for example, they leave fewer milling residues than they would on a diet heavy in refined grainsso a world full of healthy eaters can support fewer livestock on its leftovers. And small choices matter a lot: If people get most of their cooking oil from canola, for example, they leave less nutritious meal for feed after pressing out the oil than if they get their oil from soy.
A second surprise is the nature of the meat itself. Sustainability experts typically encourage people to eat less beef and more pork and chicken, because the latter are more efficient at converting feed into animal protein. But in the livestock on leftovers scenario, the amount of pork and chicken that can be raised is limited by the availability of milling residues, food scraps, and other food wastes. In contrast, cattle can graze on pastures, which shifts the livestock balance back somewhat toward beef, mutton, and dairy products.
Read: Here comes the meat tax
Much would have to change to make such a world possible, van Zanten notes. To maximize the flow of food wastes to pigs and chickens, for example, cities would need systems for collecting household wastes, sterilizing them, and processing them for feed. Some Asian countries are well ahead on this already. They have this whole infrastructure ready, van Zanten says. In Europe, we dont. And much of our current animal agriculture, which is based on grain-fed livestock in feedlots, would have to be abandoned, causing significant economic disruption.
Moreover, people in wealthy countries would have to get used to eating less meat than they currently do. If no human-edible crops were fed to livestock, van Zanten and her colleagues calculated, the world could, at the high end, produce only enough meat and dairy for everyone to eat about 20 grams of animal protein per dayenough for about a three-ounce piece of meat or cheese (about the size of a deck of cards). By comparison, the average North American currently chows down on about 70 grams of animal protein a daywell above their protein requirementand the average European on 51.
Thats a hefty reduction in meatbut it would bring significant environmental benefits. Because livestock would no longer eat feed crops, the world would need about a quarter less cropland than it uses today. That surplus cropland could be allowed to regrow into forest or other natural habitat, benefiting both biodiversity and carbon balance.
Theres another dimension to meats sustainability, though. The gut microbes that let grazing animals digest grasses and other human-inedible forage release methane in the processand methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Indeed, methane from ruminants accounts for about 40 percent of all livestock-related greenhouse-gas emissions. Animal scientists are working on ways to reduce the amount of methane produced by grazers. At present, however, it remains a serious problem.
Paradoxically, raising cattle on grassbetter for other dimensions of sustainability makes this problem worse, because grass-fed cattle grow more slowly. Grass-fed Brazilian cattle, for example, take three to four years to reach slaughter weight, compared to 18 months for US cattle finished on grain in feedlots. And thats not all: Because the grain-fed animals eat less roughage, their microbes also produce less methane each day. As a result, grass-fed cattleoften viewed as the greener optionactually emit more methane, says Jason Clay, the senior vice president of markets for the World Wildlife Fund-U.S.
Even so, raising livestock on leftovers and marginal grazing lands not suitable for crops eliminates the need to grow feed crops, with all their associated emissions, and there will be fewer livestock overall. As a result, greenhouse-gas emissions may end up lower than they are today. For Europe, for example, van Zanten and her colleagues compared expected emissions from livestock raised on leftovers and marginal lands with those from animals fed a conventional grain-based diet. Livestock on leftovers would produce up to 31 percent fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than the conventional approach, they calculated.
Some sustainability experts also argue that as long as grazing herds arent increasing, methane may be less of a worry than previously thought. Molecule for molecule, methane contributes about 80 times more warming than carbon dioxide does in the short term. However, CO persists in the atmosphere for centuries, so newly emitted CO always makes the climate crisis worse by adding to the atmospheres stock of CO. In contrast, methane lasts only a decade or so in the atmosphere. If livestock levels remain constant over the span of decades, then the rate at which old methane washes out of the atmosphere will be approximately equal to the rate at which new methane is emitted, so there would be no additional burden on climate, Qaim says.
But with climate experts warning that the world may be fast approaching a climate tipping point, some experts say theres good reason to reduce meat consumption well below whats sustainable. Completely eliminating livestock, for example, would allow some of the land now devoted to feed crops and pastures to revert to native vegetation. Over 25 to 30 years of regrowth, this would tie up enough atmospheric CO to completely offset a decades worth of global fossil-fuel emissions, Matthew Hayek, an environmental scientist at New York University, and his colleagues reported in 2020. Add to that the rapid reduction in methane no longer emitted by livestock, and the gains become even more attractive.
We need to be moving in the opposite direction than we are now, Hayek says. The things that are going to do that are aggressive, experimental, bold policiesnot ones that try to marginally reduce meat consumption by 20 or even 50 percent.
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Veganism Might Not Be the Most Sustainable Diet - The Atlantic
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
Fans generally have a lot of questions. Do the athletes, such as baseball players, even eat during the day? Even if they do, what do they eat that helps them stay in shape and also helps in the game to remain energized?Fans like to follow their legends, even their diet plans.New York Yankees legend Alex Rodriguez once shared his secret diet and routine during a match day.
From waking up in the morning to lying down in bed to sleep at night, A-Rod shared everything he used to do on a match day.
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Before telling about his routine and diet for the match, he started with a little motivation. He said,The more consistent you can be with your approach,the better youre going to be out on the field.
He continued by stating that he wakes up at 9 a.m. and then,have some egg whites, and some oatmeal,followed by gym for about an hour.
Talking about coming back, he said,Im probably there for about an hour, come back, I have a shake, a protein shake, nutrition is very important.
After taking in the nutrition that his body needed, A-Rod used to have a nap for an hour or an hour and a half. Followed by which he used to have his lunch, whose contents were not revealed by him.
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From there on, he went to the ballpark to prep for that days game, and after coming back from the field at around 5:30, he used to have either chicken breast with brown rice or sweet potato and then the game starts.
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As soon as the match was over, he used to have another shake for the day. This gave him about another hour till he gets home for dinner. A-Rods dinner routine was no special either. He used to have his dinner out of the refrigerator, popped it in the microwave, eat it, and after doing some work, went to sleep.
Watch this story: Heres a quick look at five things legendary Alex A-Rod Rodriguez cant live without
Originally posted here:
Dive Deeper into Alex Rodriguezs Diet Plan That Took Him to Legend Status With Yankees: The More Consistent You Can Be With Your Approach.. -...
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
Mens Open standout Brett Wilkin is attacking his off-season with a chip on his shoulder. In a recent YouTube video, The Butcher walked his followers through a 6,000-calorie bulking diet and his full off-season supplement stack.
To become an elite Open class competitor, bodybuilders have to adhere to a strict diet, training regimen, and supplementation. This is the case for Brett Wilkin, who continues to show promise in the IFBB Pro League. Despite having less experience than some of his competition, Brett has proven he has the tools to stand against the best.
Last year, he placed second at the 2021 Chicago Pro contest behind champion Hunter Labrada. Many were taken aback by Bretts performance as he brought a seasoned and conditioned package to the stage. However, there were fans who thought his size was holding him back. Nevertheless, Wilkin prepared diligently to take on all comers at the 2022 Arnold Classic back in March, though finished the show in sixth place.
Instead of continuing to grind at various IFBB Pro League shows like Justin Rodriguez did this year, Wilkin took a step back and refocused his efforts on building an improved physique in the off-season.
Thus far, Brett has trained back alongside three-time Classic Physique Olympia Chris Bumstead and most recently smashed a high-volume shoulder workout with fellow RAW athlete Charles Griffen. Wilkin walked his fans through a day in the life of his bulking diet, which amounts to a staggering 6,000 calories.
Check Out this: Calorie Calculator: Find Your Daily Calorie Intake for Reaching Your Ideal Weight
With his first meal of the day, Brett makes sure to consume two oz of lemon juice with REVIVEs GI plus and greens powder because hes not eating vegetables during this stage of his off-season. In addition, he adds REVIVE collagen powder for skin and bone/joint health as well as EAS and REVIVE fiber to his morning shake.
Its vital to make sure everything is point with the stomach and the GI tract. Brett Wilkin said. I always do extra fiber in the morning to get things kicked off.
He ingested supplements to aid with liver and kidney function, like K2 and D3, vitamin C, and an immune mutli-vitamin.
After finishing with some product meetings, Wilkin shares his pre workout meal.
I want to carb-load and more protein during the workout because Im going to digest that faster. Im not doing any fats right now. Im not against fats. You can add fat to your pre workout. It kind of slows down the digestion through the workout.
Wilkin explained what his plan has been for this years off-season.
Ive been doing this all off-season. My pre workout and post workout consist of just protein and carbs so I can burn through those really quick and get on to those bigger meals.
Before, during, and after training sessions, Brett prioritizes carb and protein intake so his body can digest the nutrients faster than consuming foods that are rich in fats.
I want to mainly get protein and carbs here around the workout. This one is going to be another blaster of carbs and protein. Wilkin shared. Honestly, its probably going to be 125 grams of carbs, 130 and then 50 grams of protein. I want to get that down immediately post workout, within 30 minutes to an hour.
The Butcher proceeds with his fourth meal of rice and beef, which happens to be his favorite because its so easy to get down. He opts to enjoy his food without peppers and onions.
Were looking at about 130 grams of total carbs. Looking at about 50-60 grams of protein with the beef and then probably 14 or 15 grams of fat from the beef as well. says Wilkin.
Wilkins fifth meal consisted of another MegaFit meal prep option, this time he went with the sweet and sour chicken course.
Ive been loving this stuff. Wilkin said. I was able to just ship it here to Dallas. So, when I got here, it was already at the hotel.
Wilkin said MegaFit meal prep options have made it easier this off-season to keep his weight really high.
This is going to be about 100 grams worth of carbs and rice. Its going to be about 8oz of chicken. They add pineapple in there too and a little sweet and spicy seasoning on that chicken.
For his last meal of the day, Brett attended a party at his friends house. His plate showed chicken, orange salmon and a couple pieces of bread.
So, Ill show you, were doing kind of a free meal every other night right now anyway. So, this will be perfect to show you five base meals with the cheat meal at the end. Wilkin shared. Orange salmon is on the menu here. I just went with the chicken and the bread because we ate last tonight, so there wasnt too many options.
In addition to Wilkin, fellow Open class standout William Bonac recently shared his bulking diet. After a runner-up finish at the 2022 Arnold Classic, Bonac hopes his demanding diet will help him add extra mass to combat other top athletes at Olympia.
As of this writing, Brett Wilkin has yet to qualify for 2022 Mr. Olympia. Should he win a pro show and punch his ticket to the event, it will be his first time competing in the contest. The marquee show is scheduled to take place from December 15th to 18th later this year.
RELATED: Bodybuilder Brett Wilkin Shares a Gains-Unlocking Chest and Shoulders Workout
Wilkin hasnt committed to any shows this year, but if that changes, Fitness Volt will keep you updated on his next move. Given his whopping 6,000-calorie diet, Brett will be a force to be reckoned with at his next contest.
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Brett Wilkin Shares Massive Off-Season 6000-Calorie Bulking Diet and Full Supplement Stack Fitness Volt - Fitness Volt
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
If you're a long-distance runner, it's safe to say you have a zest for pounding the pavement and going strong for miles. But before you lace up your sneakers and get in those strides, it's crucial to know the food choices that will enhance your absolute finest performance. We have some expert input on the matter, so read on to learn about the best diet for long-distance runners. And next up, don't miss The 6 Best Exercises for Strong and Toned Arms in 2022, Trainer Says.
We chatted with Melissa Pfeister, founder of the health and wellness brand Stripped with Melissa and a member of the ETNT Medical Expert Board, who explains, "Food is the most crucial element to getting the energy we need." It's important that your food choices are the right ones, though. Following the wrong diet and eating bad food items will not provide you with the energy you need to optimize your performance and help you achieve your workout goals.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e
So without further delay, let's get into what Pfeister has to say about the best diet for long-distance runners.
Related: These Are the Best Foods for Running Stamina, Says Dietitian
Pfeister tells us that lean protein is crucial. It's truly a number one choice for long-distance running. She says, "Protein is so beneficial for many reasons; it supplies the amino acids your body needs to build and repair your muscles."
Excellent sources of proteins include lean pork and beef, turkey and chicken, eggs, low-fat dairy items, nuts, and beans.
Related: The Beginner's Guide To Training For Long-Distance Running
Another food item that's an amazing choice is Greek yogurt. In fact, Pfeister calls it a "rockstar" for runners! She explains, "Not only does it supply you with protein for your muscles and carbs for energy, but it also provides an amazing amount of essential vitamins and minerals and [is] easy to digest."
The best part about yogurt is the fact that it's portable. It's so easy to put it in a container along with some other goodness like fresh fruitspecifically, berries, which are another winning item for runners!and granola. Pfeister adds, "Out the door you go, all while enjoying a quick and easy meal before or post-run!"
Carbs are really important to eat as wellespecially if you're running for one to three hours on any given day. When you're training vigorously, the majority of your diet should consist of carbs. Mayo Clinic recommends 2.7 to 4. 5 g of carbs for each pound you weigh, every day. That being said, a runner who weighs 135 pounds should consume between 365 and 670 grams of carbs every dayand we're not just referring to any carbs, they should be "high-quality." Examples include pasta, rice, cereals, and whole-grain bread, in addition to fruit, starchy vegetables, low-fat yogurt, and low-fat milk.
Healthy fats are also an integral part of a runner's diet. Examples of good healthy fat choices are avocado, seeds, nuts, nut butter, and olive oil.
Alexa Mellardo
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This Is the Best Diet for Long-distance Runners, Expert Says Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
Over the course of human history, scientists believe that humans have cultivated more than 6,000 different plant species. But over time, farmers gravitated toward planting those with the largest yields. Today, just three crops rice, wheat and corn provide nearly half of the worlds calories.
That reliance on a small number of crops has made agriculture vulnerable to pests, plant-borne diseases and soil erosion, which thrive on monoculture the practice of growing only one crop at a time. It has also meant losing out on the resilience other crops show in surviving drought and other natural disasters.
As the impacts of the climate crisis become starker, farmers across the world are rediscovering ancient crops and developing new hybrids that might prove more hardy in the face of drought or epidemics, while also offering important nutrients.
You hear all the statistics like, Weve lost 90% of our varieties. Its only recently that I realized the greatest sadness isnt that weve lost that diversity. Its that we dont even know that weve lost that diversity, says Chris Smith, founder of the Utopian Seed Project.
Heres a look at five crops, beyond rice, wheat and corn, that farmers across the world are now growing in hopes of feeding the planet as it warms:
From leaf to seed, the entirety of the amaranth plant is edible. Standing up to eight feet tall, amaranth stalks are topped off with red, orange or green seed-filled plumes. Across Africa and Asia, amaranth has long been eaten as a vegetable whereas Indigenous Americans also ate the plants seed: a pseudocereal like buckwheat or quinoa.
While amaranth leaves can be sauted or cooked into a stir-fry, the seed is commonly toasted and then eaten with honey or milk. A complete protein with all nine essential amino acids, amaranth is a good source of vitamins and antioxidants.
In the Americas, Spanish colonizers banned the Aztecs and Maya from growing amaranth when they arrived on the continent. However, the plant continued to grow as a weed and many farmers saved amaranth seeds, passing them down for generations, until their descendants were allowed to grow it again.
Today, Indigenous farmers in Guatemala, Mexico and the US are collaborating to grow this drought-resistant crop. Like fonio, an African grain, amaranth is not a new crop, but one that is experiencing a resurgence as communities adapt to the climate crisis. Everything thats new was old once, said Matthew Blair, a professor at Tennessee State University and co-president of the Amaranth Institute.
Amaranth has found its way into European kitchens, with Ukraine coming in as the crops largest producer on the continent.
For thousands of years, farmers across west Africa have cultivated fonio a kind of millet that tastes like a slightly nuttier couscous or quinoa. Historically, fonio is considered to be Africas oldest cultivated cereal and was regarded by some as the food of chiefs and kings. In countries such as Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali, fonio would be served on holy days, like at weddings and during the month of Ramadan.
Today, attention is increasingly focused on fonio for its resilience and health benefits. As the climate continues to change, fonios drought resistance and ability to grow in poor soil has made it a standout crop in water-scarce regions. It also has important nutritional value as a low glycemic, gluten-free grain making it a good source of amino acids for people with diabetes or gluten intolerance.
While Europeans once called fonio hungry rice, European companies are now manufacturing their own fonio. The Italian company Ob Food helped introduce fonio to the EU in December 2018. And in the US, the Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam sources fonio from the aid organization SOS Sahel for his brand Yoll, also the name of his cookbook celebrating west African cuisine.
In the 1940s, more than 5m acres of cowpeas were grown in the US the majority, as their name suggests, for hay to feed livestock. But long before cowpeas also called southern peas or black-eyed peas came to the Americas, they were grown for human consumption in west Africa. Although cowpea production has declined in the US in recent decades, the crop is hugely important in much of Africa. Nigeria is the worlds largest cowpea producer.
As scientists look for alternative crops, Blair said it was important to identify ones where the entire plant is edible. Although historically people have mostly eaten cowpeas seeds, the leaves and pods are also a good source of protein.
Because cowpeas are highly drought tolerant, theyre also a good candidate as the climate changes. At Tennessee State University, Blair is part of a team studying the introduction of cowpeas to Latin America, as an alternative to beans, like pinto and black beans, with similar flavor profiles that may soon become more difficult to grow.
In the tropics of south-east Asia and Polynesia, taro has long been grown as a root vegetable, not unlike the potato. But as rising temperatures threaten cultivation of the crop in its natural habitat, farmers in the continental US are trying to adapt the tropical perennial to grow as a temperate annual, because it cannot survive the cold of US winters.
At the Utopian Seed Project in North Carolina, founder Chris Smith and his team have been experimenting with tropical crops, looking for ways to help the plants survive the winter. Today, theyre growing eight varieties of taro, including ones sourced from Korea, the Philippines, Hawaii, China and Puerto Rico.
We want to introduce taro because we truly believe that that will give us a more secure food system, Smith says. But the beautiful byproduct is that that also allows us to engage with foods that are traditionally from either Indigenous or peasant farming communities. And I think it really gives those traditionally underserved populations an opportunity to engage with the food system that they dont usually get.
Like fonio, amaranth and cowpeas, taro isnt a new crop its just new to the US food system. Which is why the Utopian Seed Project isnt just learning how to grow taro, but also teaching people how to cook it. These crops are just foods that are embedded in cultures around the world in a way that theyre not embedded here, Smith said. It takes work to build that community and desire for that crop.
While many alternative crops are just plants that were grown somewhere else in the world generations ago, others have been cultivated specifically to withstand climate change.
In the 1980s, researchers at the Pennsylvania-based Rodale Institute identified a wheat-like grass called intermediate wheatgrass as a perennial cereal crop that could be developed as a substitute for annual grains like wheat. The goal was to minimize the environmental impacts of grain production.
In 2019, the Kansas-based Land Institute, a non-profit research organization focused on sustainable agriculture, introduced Kernza, a cereal crop developed from intermediate wheatgrass and trademarked to ensure farmers know theyve bought seeds from the official breeding program. Although researchers are still working to improve the grains yield, farmers in Minnesota, Kansas and Montana are today growing nearly 4,000 acres of Kernza.
Growers immediately understand the benefits of perennials on their landscapes, said Tessa Peters, director of crop stewardship at the Land Institute, and for those working in grain-producing areas, Kernza is very appealing.
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Diet for a hotter climate: five plants that could help feed the world - The Guardian
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
Do you want to increase your life expectancy by a decade? Leaving accidents and genetic or unavoidable diseases aside, if you follow these tips you will achieve it.
The United States is one of the few First World countries where life expectancy is declining. In part due to feeding. Its culinary culture is not the healthiest in the world, and the pandemic has increased the problems.
A study conducted in Norway and published in PLOS Medicine has detailed what foods we should eat to increase our life expectancy by a decade.
As explained by the health website VeryWellfit, this study has used a food model calculator that estimates life expectancy with a series of dietary options, to identify Foods that help lengthen the age.
The results are no surprise, especially for those of us who follow the Mediterranean diet. But it is worth remembering it, so that we do not forget what we must do.
According to the aforementioned study, the key to living 10 more years is to consume more legumes, more whole grains and more nuts, With Less red and processed meat.
Changes in diet can have a considerable impact, not only on health throughout life, but can also significantly increase lifespan, says the main researcher, Dr. Lars Fadnes, professor at the University of Bergen (Norway). Even for the elderly, the gains would be smaller but substantial.
Legumes provide soluble fiber, quality protein and micronutrients such as zinc, calcium and iron. They are also resistant starches, which help regulate blood sugar.
The study also recommends reduce sugar intake, exercise more, and eat more fruit.
In short, nothing we dont know. But that few people put into practice 100%. This Norwegian investigation not only reminds us, but also, calculates the increase in life expectancy: a decade. A good reason to start changing our habits!
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These are the changes you have to make to your diet to live 10 more years - Gearrice
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
There are a lot of fad diets being thrown around these days, many with connections to the past. Theres the Paleo diet, drawn from the word paleolithic, which dictates people are supposed to only eat food consistent with the hunted or gathered food of Stone Age hominids. Then theres the peasant diet, which is plant-based, and usually seasonal and cheap only what a Medieval peasant might eat.
If either of these are of interest to you, you might consider that paleolithic men died out and peasants werent exactly known for their health and physique. Instead, why not try the diet of raiders who terrorized coastal cities across Europe for centuries: the Viking diet.
Not much is written about what exactly Vikings ate while on campaign, while sailing, or in a raiding party, but at least a handful of Viking sagsa do describe how the raiders managed to eat while out for a pillage: Eyrbyggernes saga from 11th century Iceland.
Aboard the Viking longboat, the members of a raiding party would draw lots for who had to cook for the rest of the crew, as there were no trained cooks among them. Every day, the Viking warriors would choose who would prepare that days food in this way.
A Viking warship did not have a dedicated galley, and thus had no means of creating a hot meal for the warriors who were sailing aboard, but some laws dictated how much each man would get and that the designated cook would go ashore three times a day to collect water and prepare the companys food while the rest of the crew took the ships bearing.
Vikings called the shipboard provisions nest, farnest or hafnest, and it was usually a kind of porridge made in a large, metal, riveted pot. Some of these pots have been found aboard recent Viking shipwrecks.
According to another saga, that of Magnus Erlingssn, the ships porridge was often made up of a kind of grain, flour, and butter. To bolster the porridge, Viking also might carry a supply of dried, fatty fish (like halibut or cod), and bread on board the ship. Meat was often rare and werent used in the ships food stores because vikings required permission to slaughter farm animals.
Viking law, according to Denmarks Viking Ship Museum, required the amount of food for 12 men over 14 days time to be one ships pound of barleymeal and a large box of butter, which equals roughly two pounds of flour and little more than a half pound of butter, more than two pounds of food per man.
Aboard ship, the men drank water, with each ship capable of carrying hundreds of liters of water, as the laws required enough water for four liters per person, per day, taken from a trough. The men would drink from the trough and when the trough was empty, it would be refilled by the barrels storing the ships water.
Beer aboard ships was also rare, as it was reserved for those of nobility, most usually the king. When sailing too far from land to go ashore and refill stores, Vikings had supply ships sail with them in their raiding fleets.
If two pounds of barleymeal and butter was good enough for the Vikings to loot and plunder everywhere from the North of England to the Middle East, then its good enough to compliment your post-workout nutrition in American Midwest.
Read more here:
How Vikings ate while they sailed to plunder European villages - We Are The Mighty
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
Animal care
The study followed all procedures approved by the University of Florida Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Protocol #201810218) and all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. This manuscript is reported in accordance with ARRIVE guidelines.
The experiment was conducted at North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC), from University of Florida, located in Marianna, FL (3052N, 8511 W, 35m a.s.l.) in a pasture of Pensacola bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flgg). The soil at the experimental site is classified as an Orangeburg loamy sand (fine-loamy-kaolinitic, thermic Typic Kandiudults), with an average pH of 6.5. Average Mehlich-I extractable P, K, Mg, and Ca concentrations were 13, 45, 31, and 245mgkg1, respectively. Soil organic matter was 6.3gkg1, and the estimated cation-exchange capacity was 2.8meq 100g1. The study was carried out for two experimental periods of 32days each, separated by a 15-day interval (Period 1: from 06/08/2018 to 07/10/2018; Period 2: from 07/25/2018 to 08/27/2018). The average, maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall for the experimental periods are represented in Fig.5.
Marianna (FL) station of the Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) data of (a) weekly rainfall and temperature data from two experimental periods and (b) accumulated monthly rainfall (mm) and average temperature (C). Period 1: from 06/08/2018 to 07/10/2018; Period 2: from 07/25/2018 to 08/27/2018.
Fifteen BrahmanAngus crossbred steers [Period 1: 32426kg initial body weight (BW); Period 2: 33630kg BW] were randomly distributed into three experimental diets: 0, 50, or 100% (as fed) inclusion of AU Grazer sericea lespedeza hay [SL; Lespedeza cuneata (Dum. Cours.) G. Don] into Tifton 85 bermudagrass hay (BG; Cynodon spp.) diets (Table 3) and used as donors of excreta (urine and feces). Steers were fed for 21days for two feeding periods in a concomitant study17 and excreta used in the current study was collected in the last two experimental days of each. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
Emissions of GHG were evaluated using the static chamber (non-steady state) technique14. Chambers were circular with 30cm radius and made of a base and a lid, both built out of PVC47. The lids were wrapped with reflective tape to provide insulation and a rubber septum was added for gas sampling48. The base was fitted with a 10-cm length copper venting tube to ensure adequate air pressure inside the chamber during measurements49,50. Lids and bases were kept closed for gas sampling by fitting a bicycle tire inner tube that tightly sealed the parts together.
Bases of chambers were installed in the non-grazed pasture of bahiagrass twoweeks prior to excreta application to avoid any effect of soil disturbance on GHG emissions51. Bases were installed at 8-cm depth, with 5cm extending above ground level. Depth for installation was determined based on Clough et al.48. Chamber tops were 22cm height, which when summed with 5cm of base totaled 27cm, in agreement with the indication of40cm of chamber height per hour of deployment48. New bases were installed in a near location of the same pasture for the second experimental period, also twoweeks prior to starting new gas sampling.
Treatments applied to the chambers consisted of either feces or urine within one of the three levels of inclusion of SL hay fed to the beef steers and were distributed as a complete randomized block design. Urine and feces were collected directly from each animal by spontaneous or stimulated urinations and defecations and applied at a rate of 2 L of urine and 2kg of feces, as typical amounts excreted by cattle for the area of the chamber5,52. To obtain quantities required of excreta, sampling occurred twice a day (700 and 1500h) and samples were kept refrigerated at 4C until next morning (day 0 of gas sampling). Samples of each excreta type were composited across all five animals within each SL diet resulting in three final subsamples (urine and feces from each of three SL diets). Excreta samples were kept at room temperature 2h prior to application to the chambers and their chemical composition is described on Table 1.
Application of excreta to the chambers was made one time in each experimental period on the soil surface inside the area determined by the base of the chamber (0.28 m253). Grass inside the chamber area was cut at ground level before each sampling day, when appropriate. Gas sampling occurred between 0900 and 1100h, when temperature is considered more representative of the daily average47 on days 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 18, 25, and 32 after excreta application for both experimental periods. One subsample was taken per deployment time per chamber, separated by 15-min intervals (T0, T15, and T30). At T0, a sample was collected from the area directly above the soil surface54. Immediately thereafter, chambers were tightly closed by fitting the lid to the base with the bicycle inner tube, followed by the next sample deployment times. All samples were collected with the use of a 60-mL syringe and immediately flushed into a pre-vacuumed 30-mL glass vial. The vial was equipped with a butyl rubber stopper and sealed with an aluminum septum. Samples were analyzed immediately after finishing each experimental period.
Gas sample analyses were conducted using a gas chromatograph (Trace 1310 Gas Chromatograph, Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA). For N2O, an electron capture detector (350C) and a capillary column (J&W GC packed column in stainless steel tubing, length 6.56 ft (2M), 1/8 in. OD, 2mm ID, Hayesep D packing, mesh size 80/100, pre-conditioned, Agilent Technologies) were used. Methane was analyzed using a flame ionization detector (250C) and a capillary column (J&W PoraBOND Q GC Column, Agilent Technologies). For CO2, a thermal conductivity detector (200C) and capillary column [J&W GC packed column in stainless steel tubing, length 7 ft (2.13M), 1/8 in. OD, 2mm ID, Haysep N packing, mesh size 60/80, pre-conditioned, Agilent Technologies] were used. Temperature of the injector and columns were 80 and 200C, respectively.
The hourly gases fluxes (mg of N2O or CH4 or CO2 per m2h1) were calculated according to Cardoso et al.55:
$${text{F}}_{{{text{GHG}}}} = left( {updelta {text{C }}/ updelta {text{t}}} right) , times , left( {{text{V}}/{text{A}}} right) , times , left( {{text{M}}/{text{Vm}}} right),$$
where C/t is the change in gas concentration in the chamber during the deployment time; V and A are the chamber volume and soil area covered by the chamber, respectively; M is the molecular weight of the gas; and Vm is the molecular volume of gas. The Vm parameter was corrected to the standard conditions of temperature and pressure as Vm=0.02241(273.15+Tc/273.15)p0/p1, where 0.02241 is the molar volume (m3), Tc is the chamber headspace temperature at sampling time (C), p0 is the air pressure at sea level, and p1 is the local pressure calculated using the barometric equation. The minimal detectable flux was 0.012ppbmin1 for N2O, 0.004ppmmin1 for CH4, and 1.40ppmmin1 for CO2.
Daily N2O, CO2, and CH4 emissions were calculated by multiplying the fluxes by 24h and cumulative emissions were estimated by integrating the fluxes over each day (area under the curve) and averaged per period. The fraction of N applied in the excreta lost as N2O, named as emission factor (EF), was calculated according to the equation:
$${text{EF}}_{{{text{N}}_{{2}} {text{O}}}} left( % right) , = , left[ {left( {{text{N}}_{{2}} {text{O}} - {text{N}}_{{{text{emitted}}}} } right) , - , left( {{text{N}}_{{2}} {text{O}} - {text{N}}_{{{text{blank}}}} } right)} right]/{text{N}}_{{{text{applied}}}} times { 1}00,$$
where ({text{EF}}_{{{text{N}}_{{2}} {text{O}}}}) is the emission factor of N2O; N2O-Nemitted is the cumulative N2O-N emissions from the chamber with excreta (mgm2); N2O-Nblank is the cumulative N2O-N emissions from the blanks (chamber with no excreta deposited; mgm2); and Napplied is the urine or feces N application rate (mgm2).
A subsample (12ml) of the collected gas was transferred to evacuated exetainers (Labco, UK). Exetainers were pierced with a double needle and flushed with an ultrapure stream of He (12mLmin1) for 6min using an autosampler (Gilson GX-271, Gilson Inc, WI). During flushing, samples were transferred to a preconcentration unit (Trace Gas, Hanau, Germany) equipped with glass traps (OD 10mm, length 20cm) filled with Ascarite, Sofnocat and Mg(ClO4)2to scavenge CO2, CO, and water, respectively. Remaining N2O was cryo-focused on a capillary column submerged in liquid nitrogen for 12min and transferred to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IsoPrime 100, IsoPrime, Manchester, UK) for 15N analysis, using He (2mlmin1)as a carrier. The isotope ratio for 15N/14N was calculated as:
$$updelta^{{{15}}} {text{N }} = , left( {^{{{15}}} {text{N}}/^{{{14}}} {text{N}}_{{{text{sample}}}} -^{{{15}}} {text{N}}/^{{{14}}} {text{N}}_{{{text{reference}}}} } right)/left( {^{{{15}}} {text{N}}/^{{{14}}} {text{N}}_{{{text{reference}}}} times { 1}000} right),$$
where 15N is the N isotope ratio of the sample relative to atmospheric nitrogen, 15N/14Nsample is the N isotope ratio of the sample, and 15N/14Nreference is the N isotope ratio of atmospheric N (standard). The stable isotopic composition of nitrogen was reported using the conventional delta per mill notation. 15N values are expressed relative to the international standard (AIR-N2).
The experiment was analyzed as a completely randomized block design, with feces and urine data computed separately due to differences in the magnitude of responses53. There were three replicates (chamber) of each treatment, and day was considered the repeated measurement for all variables. Glimmix procedure of SAS (SAS Inst., Inc., Cary, NC, version 9.4) was used, in which the chamber was considered the experimental unit. Graphs were drawn using Microsoft Excel (version 16.61). Normality of distribution and homogeneity of variances were evaluated using the Univariate procedure of SAS. Covariance structures were based upon the smallest Akaike Information Criterion value. The model included the fixed effect of level of SL inclusion and day after excreta application and their interaction, and the random effects of block, period, and their interactions. Means were compared using the PDIFF adjusted by Tukeys test at 5% significance.
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:10 am
Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian had a good run. The two were head over heels for each other. For the nine months they were together, they made a lot of headlines and were the couple everyone was talking about. But fast-forward to the present, it has all come to an end for the former SNL member and the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star. But that is not something one of them is sad about. Apparently, Pete Davidson had had enough of Kim K consistently pestering him for his diet that is.
Pete Davidson had been with Kim Kardashian for less than a year. But that period was enough for him to get an idea of how a relationship with her could turn out to be. According to insider reports, he had gotten an idea of how trying a relationship with her would have been for him, with her consistently obsessing (and trying to gain control) over different aspects of his life.
This has most fervently manifested itself in her obsession with Davidsons diet. Kim K is known for following rather intense weight loss methods. If a woman says that shell eat p**p to stay fit, then we can all estimate how persistent shell be when it comes to her partners health.
The insider said, He (Davidson) had to keep up with her weight loss regime get in shape, stay off the junk food and look the part of her future husband.
This constant obsession meant that Pete Davidson had grown weary of their relationship. His time with her was enough and as time progressed, Davidson wanted to bring things to a close. And he was soon presented with the perfect opportunity to do so.
Davidson had to shoot in Australia for his upcoming project Wizards! And it couldnt have come at a better time for him.
The insider also said, By the time the Australia shoot came up, Pete was thrilled to be away from all Kims diet and exercise obsessing, but he still had to contend with her being on his case 24/7 about what he was up to.
No doubt, the two ending things would have directly worked in his favor. But Kim K has plenty of dating options left.
Also Read: After Breaking Pete Davidsons Heart, Kim Kardashian Sparks New Relationship Rumour With Orlando Bloom, Spotted Intensely Chatting Him Up
Source: GeoTV
Posted: August 25, 2022 at 2:09 am
Several media outlets reported on a new study from Cornell University this month research that looked at the consequences for wide adoption of plant-based beef alternatives across the U.S.
The stories reported alarming meat industry job losses. Yahoo News warned that beef alternatives could cost 440,000 jobs in the UK. The Hill reported how plant-based beef helps climate change but hurts jobs. The Express used the title vegan beef threatens 1.5 million farming jobs as woke ditch meat to save planet.
The problem is all of these stories got the numbers wrong. What the study authors actually found is that a more plant-based food system would create more than enough jobs to offset beef industry losses. Worse, the media coverage ignored the disastrous working conditions and human rights abuses that workers face in the current meat-centered food system.
Using a national model for analysis, the study authors found that a shift to plant-based beef alternatives could reduce the number of cows raised for beef by up to 12 million animals and the carbon footprint of food production in the U.S. by as much as 13.5 percent. Thats consistent with the latest recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), which called for a global shift to more plant-rich diets to slash emissions from food production and animal agriculture in particular. The food system contributes up to 37 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
The authors estimate that more than 1.5 million people employed in beef value chains in the U.S. could lose their jobs due to the shift to a more plant-based food system. However, they also expect that these job losses will be offset by growth in other sectors, including flour milling, maize processing and oilseed farming. Yet those critical offsets were left out of virtually all news reports on the research.
According to study author Mario Herrero, there are good reasons for regulators and policymakers to encourage these up-and-coming technologies.
Herrero also urges politicians to remain aware of unintended negative consequences and commit to supporting disadvantaged workers and hard-hit local communities and small producers.
A joint study by the International Labour Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank in 2020 looked at how to achieve a just transition climate action that centers workers and frontline communities and found that a shift to plant-based diets could result in a loss of 4.3 million jobs, but a potential gain of 19 million jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In addition to omitting the positive effects a new food system would have on jobs, no outlet mentioned the biggest population who would be impacted by this move animals.
The study itself did consider the potential of plant-based alternatives to reduce the total number of animals raised for meat. However, the authors only cautioned that taking beef off the menu could result in more chickens and pigs being farmed, species that are more often raised in confined feeding operations.
That the media failed to take into account how food system change would impact animals is not surprising. But outlets also failed to fully consider the impacts on the human species.
As undercover investigators, human rights organizations and psychologists have pointed out, again and again, the human costs of animal agriculture are devastating. Reporting on the future of food should include these costs along with the bare job numbers.
Most news reports also failed to mention that the shift to a more sustainable food system is absolutely necessary to prevent the climate crisis from devastating economies worldwide. The ILO and IDB study estimates that 2.5 million jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean could be lost to heat stress alone by 2030, affecting farm workers and other outdoor workers, and that damages caused by the climate crisis could cost the region $100 billion (in USD) yearly.
When reporting on meat processing and packing workers, journalists should know that turning animals into food is one of the most demanding jobs in existence. Workers typically stand shoulder to shoulder in cold and dark spaces surrounded by knives, saws, grinders and other dangerous machines. In the U.S., meat workers have the highest workplace injury rates in all manufacturing industries, and are three times more likely to experience severe injuries, such as burns and amputations, than the average worker.
Hearing loss caused by extreme noise, hypothermia, musculoskeletal disorders and exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and viruses are also factors that add to the physical stress experienced by meat workers.
Beyond the physical harm, many workers report the most challenging physical aspect is the act of killing the animals. Meat workers on the kill floor kill hundreds to thousands of animals daily, most of whom are young, in poor physical condition and, in some cases, even pregnant. This kind of work takes its toll on the psyche of slaughterhouse workers.
A 2021 review of 14 studies found that meat workers have a higher rate of mental health issues, especially depression and anxiety. Further, slaughterhouse work is associated with traumatic disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and perpetrator-induced traumatic stress (PITS) syndrome, which leads to PTSD symptoms in individuals who participated in causing a traumatic situation.
Some psychologists point out that slaughterhouse worker trauma is the result of company policies and public demand for meat, preferring to characterize their experiences as participation-induced trauma (also abbreviated PITS) instead. The disorder can manifest as depression, hostility, panic, paranoia, psychosis and violent dreams.
Despite the highly demanding work conditions, meat packers around the world receive low wages. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, slaughterers and meat packers received a mean hourly wage of $15.53 per hour in 2021. In the European Union, meat companies often avoid legal liability by hiring workers through intermediaries, a Guardian investigation revealed last year. Another Guardian report found that migrant workers in the Netherlands meat sector often face underpayment, long working hours and poor housing.
Unsurprisingly, as fewer people are willing to work in slaughterhouses, the meat industry has begun to lament labor shortages in recent years. Meat companies are more likely to recruit members of vulnerable communities, including undocumented immigrants and prisoners, to fill these positions.
More than half 51.5 percent of frontline meatpacking workers in the U.S. are immigrants, 25.2 percent are Black, 44.4 percent Hispanic, with nearly half living in families who are below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, according to a report by The Center for Economic and Policy Research.
In the E.U., the situation is similar, with a large proportion of slaughterhouse workers coming from migrant communities. This year, after Russias invasion of Ukraine, German pork producer Tnnies sent employees to the Polish-Ukrainian border to offer refugees a ride to Germany if they agreed to work for the company.
The production of plant-based ingredients eliminates the most physically and emotionally grueling elements of meat production dissecting animal bodies and taking their lives. Workers employed by plant-based producers create food products by mixing ingredients together or overseeing other steps of the production process, such as forming, breading and packaging.
Its unlikely that everyone currently working in the meat industry will find a new job in a plant-based food system, however. Retraining might not be an option for everyone, and some workers may want to pursue jobs outside of the agriculture industry entirely. Also, experts point out that the production of plant-based alternatives may be more automated than meat processing, resulting in fewer factory jobs for human employees. Workers in a plant-based system would also not be immune from many other workplace challenges, as a shift in ingredients does not necessarily improve management.
Yet all of these constraints should not stand in the way of climate action that reduces food system emissions, avoids animal slaughter and creates jobs where workers dont have to engage in traumatic activities on a daily basis. Considering the trauma and damage caused by slaughterhouse work, fewer jobs in that industry are hardly bad news.
Read More
New Study Confirms Again Plant-Based Is Better for the Planet
How the U.S. Poultry Industry Is Crushing Contract Chicken Farmers
From Livestock to Plants: Why Some Farmers Are Making the Switch to More Sustainable Agriculture
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No, Shifting to Plant-Based Diets Will Not Cause Massive Job Cuts - Sentient Media
