How to lose weight may well be an aim for a lot of people in January, especially after a period of indulgence, and there are certainly plenty of diets and diet plans to choose from to stimulate weight loss. During tonights instalment of Lose Weight and Get Fit with Tom Kerridge, Tom and his multiple volunteers take on the dreaded first weigh-in to see how they got on following Toms diet and exercise plan.

It's the first full week of the challenge and Tom is back in Gloucester, the city where he grew up, to exercise and cook alongside his diet and fitness gang.

Window cleaning brothers-in-law Dan, 37 and Alex, 34 volunteered for the challenge because of health concerns and a normal day sees them tucking into a big, calorific breakfast and grabbing fast food between jobs.

Dan commented: I wanted to lose weight and be healthier for my kids, I want to be able to have a run around in the park with my boy, too many times I go Im too tired, I cant do this, I cant do that.

Most days the mens' day begins with a trip to a drive-through, starting their day with a greasy and unhealthy breakfast.

READ MORE:Tom Watson: Former MP reveals secrets to 8 stone weight loss

I think the reason we have naughty breakfasts is that we enjoy the rubbish food, it tastes nice explained Alex.

Accessible and cheap, justified Dan.

Typically their day wouldnt have many exercises incorporated into it, but since joining the challenge the pair had made a promise to change.

What winter dieters miss most is comfort food, Tom explained. A small salad just doesnt cut it when its freezing cold and dieters really fancy a fry-up or a nice curry.

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As team chef, Tom wants to get his team off to a good start on calorie counting - and familiar, comforting dishes is the way to go.

Among his lower-calorie recipes this week are fish fingers with sweet potato wedges, red pepper, and spinach pasta bake and a bean stew with sausages, which he describes as one of the best inventions ever probably just behind the wheel.

Personal trainer, Adam, is working closely with Tom and his weight loss gang, and has created a simple stamina and strength workout that slimmers can follow at home.

Adams workout takes about 45minutes. Its half aerobics exercises for the heart and half resistance movements for strength, said Tom.

You dont have to do it all in one go. You can do half the exercises in the morning and half in the evening, added Tom.

So, how did they get on at the first-weigh in?

At the beginning of the weight loss challenge, both Alex and Dan were concerned with their weight and unhealthy eating habits.

But since following the diet and exercise plan, constructed by Tom Kerridge, the brothers-in-law have lost 17 pounds between them, thats 4kg each in just a week.

How did they manage to lose weight so quickly?

Tom revealed that as well as following the diet and fitness plan, the pair have ditched their morning drive through in favour of much healthier breakfast choices, which set them up for the rest of their day.

You dont have to ditch comfort food to count calories, but making small changes to your every day routine can improve your health before you know it, said Tom.

How did Tom Kerridge lose weight originally?

Over the last five years, Tom has gone through an incredible weight loss transformation and he revealed he lost 12 stone using a simple happy diet plan to shed the weight. What was the diet?

The 46-year-old celebrity chef has shed an incredible 12 stone and has transformed the way he eats with the dopamine diet - a diet he is famed for. What is the dopamine diet?

According to BBC Good Food, the dopamine diet encourages slimmers to lose weight, while simultaneously boosting mood too. It is often referred to as the Tom Kerridge diet, as he boosted the popularity of the diet, in recent years.

This diet is all about increasing levels of happy hormone dopamine in the brain at the same time as shedding pounds, the website said.

There are multiple versions of the diet, however, all are based around food that is thought to boost dopamine levels in slimmer.

These can include foods such as:

Dairy foods such as milk, cheese, and yogurt

Unprocessed meats such as beef, chicken, and turkey

Omega-3 rich fish such as salmon and mackerel

Eggs

Fruit and vegetables, in particular bananas

Nuts such as almonds and walnuts

Dark chocolate

Most versions of the diet recommend avoiding alcohol, caffeine and processed sugar, while some also recommend cutting out or severely restricting starchy carbohydrates.

See more here:
Lose Weight & Get Fit with Tom Kerridge: Brothers in-law lose 17lb in one week - how? - Express

A lorry driver who weighed almost 25 stone just over two years ago has lost nearly half his body weight after being told he was at risk of serious health problems.

Jason Dury, 47, who used to "snack on chocolates biscuits and anything that came with chips" decided to join a Slimming World group to fight the flab.

Two years later, after radical changes to his diet and exercise regime, he got his weight down to 14 stone and feels like a new man after his massive weight loss.

He said: "I'd been overweight for quite a while, but I always made excuses for not doing anything about it. I'd say 'I'll start on Monday' but Monday never came.

"I avoided parties because I felt out of place and the moment a camera came out, I disappeared. I just felt embarrassed of how I looked and would get breathless after walking a few hundred yards.

"I had a couple of wake up calls the led to my decision. One was a visit to my GP after having serious headaches. They found that my blood pressure was through the roof and I was told in no uncertain terms that if I didn't lose weight I was on course for a heart attack or stroke.

"The week after that I joined a Slimming World group in Cwmbran and within a few weeks the headaches had gone and I lost two stone really quickly."

Jason, who lives in Risca , added that he was determined to change after an embarrassing incident at Dublin airport.

"I was held back for a routine security check so I was the last one to board the flight," he recalled.

"I had to tell the air stewardess that the belt didn't fit around my waist and she said 'no problem I'll get you a belt extension'.

"I felt like the whole plane behind me fell silent and I could feel their eyes boring into the back of my head."

Jason was worried when he first joined Slimming World because he thought he would be the only man there and would be the largest person in the group.

He added: "It was very nerve-wracking when I first went because I was feeling very self-conscious about the way I looked.

"But everyone was really friendly and supportive and my circle of friends has grown because of going to Slimming World too.

"I was really surprised by my weight though, I hadn't properly weighed myself for years and thought I was at least four stone lighter than I really was."

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Jason soon started to shed the pounds - at a rate of about two and half pounds per week for the next 22 months - to get down from almost 25 stone to 14.

His family and friends even struggled to recognise him.

"I went to a family party and two of my cousins walked right past me and blanked me because they had no idea who I was," he laughed.

Although he sometimes had urges to eat the junk food he used to live on, Jason said he doesn't eat any less than he used to, he just replaced the biscuits and sweets with an apple or an orange and now eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.

He said he couldn't have achieved his goal without the support of the leader of the Slimming World group at Hollybush Community Centre, Clare Lewis.

"Jason is the biggest weight loss of anyone who has been to my group in the five years I have been working with Slimming World.

"The change in him is unreal, he's so much more confident now.

"You see people come into their first meetings with their heads down sometimes and a lack of self confidence and esteem. But as time goes past they grow in confidence.

"It completely changes lives, it's changed my life too."

Clare lost four and a half stone herself before become a consultant at Slimming World and helps others to meet their weight loss goals.

Aside from changing what he eats, Jason is now a keen walker and hikes in the Brecon Beacons. Something he could "never have dreamed of doing" before losing weight.

Read the original:
This man lost almost half his body weight after tipping the scales at 24 stone - Wales Online

YOU don't need a calendar to know that it's time for New Year's resolutions.

Just swing by a gym this week and you'll see hoards of resolution-ready individuals lining up to use the treadmills and pump iron in a bid to lose weight.

1

However, setting a general goal to lose weight can feel daunting and sometimes even impossible - which it doesn't need to be.

Here, we have put together a list of 12 simple steps, backed by experts, to help you to blitz body fat and become the healthiest version of yourself in 2020...

If you want to consume less calories but still feel satisfied, you need to be smart with your food choices.

Opt for more filling foods rich in fibre and protein - both of which can help you feel fuller for longer.

In particular, whole grains have the added benefit of stopping fat from being stored around the stomach, by lowering the insulin and cortisol (the stress hormone) within your body.

They're also a great low-fat source of slow-release energy, which keeps you going throughout the day.

Adding more fruit and vegetables to your diet can provide you with speedy weight loss with results that are much more likely to last than fad diets.

Dietitian Melissa Meier urges slimmers to have five servings of vegetables a day - and mostly the non-starchy kind.

One serving is a cup (about 200g) of raw vegetables or half a cup (100g) of cooked veg.

A 2017 study found that a diet high in plant products is better for dropping kilos than other conventional diets.

It may seem a bit contradictory, but one of thebest ways to lose water weight is to actually drink more water.

That's because if you're constantly dehydrated, your body tends to retain more water in an attempt to prevent its water levels getting too low.

Water alsoboosts your metabolism, cleanses your body of waste and acts as an appetite suppressant, experts say.

You can usually use your urine colour as an indicator of hydration - if it's light yellow or fairly clear then you're well hydrated.

When it's dark yellow or amber then you need to be drinking more water.

OK, so some people swear by intermittent fasting - going long hours without eating anything.

But that doesn't work for everyone.

If you love food and you're a snacker, going cold turkey for 18 hours isn't realistic.

So you're best off setting yourself set times for eating smaller meals more regularly.

If you set out to have a 11am and 3pm snack in between your meals, then you won't be tempted to finish a whole bag of Maltesers at 11.30am having had no breakfast and no prospect of lunch any time soon.

Thisweight losstrick is so easy you can do it lying down.

Getting enough sleep helps blitz body fat - by curbing cravings, keeping your appetite in check and giving you the energy to move more.

A study by Columbia University found that when people are sleep-deprived they eat almost 300 calories more a day than when they have had adequate rest.

It is thought that this is because lack of sleep stimulates the production of our hunger hormone, ghrelin, while also lowering levels of leptin - the hormone that makes you feel full.

Most of us have grown up in households that demanded we eat everything on our plate.

As a result, as adults, we eat everything on our plates - regardless of how big they are.

Get yourself a slightly smaller plate or bowl and you'll be less tempted to overeat.

Don't believe us?

Two studiesrecently found that university students continuously ate smaller food portions when given a smaller portion control plate, compared to a larger, regular plate.

We all know that alcohol contains empty calories but it can be difficult to remember that when we're used to a glass or two after work.

But did you know that a standard glass of wine actually contains the same number of calories as a piece of chocolate?

While the odd glass won't do you any harm, over time it all adds up.

For more diet-friendly options, go for colourless drinks like vodka soda or G&T.

When it comes to healthy eating, most people find the biggest battle is avoiding treats.

But dietitian Terri-Ann Nunns firmly believes that life's too short to deny yourself a little treat every now and again.

And that includes allowing yourself to eat a small bar of chocolate or fries every now and then.

She says: "Banning foods completely will just make you want them more, and youll be more likely to binge.

"Enjoy a small bar of chocolate on a Saturday night or a glass of wine with a meal with friends.

"Many popular restaurants now offer meals for under 600 calories, so the idea that you cant eat out when youre dieting simply isnt true.

"Enjoy a treat lunch with your children or date night with your partner its important to reward yourself and it will make it much more likely that youll make your new diet a lifetime habit."

Many people skimp on calories when trying to lose weight and it just doesnt work.

Atkins recommend three meals with two between-meal snacks.

So your blood sugar levels stabilise and you never feel hungry.

Going to the gym can be a great way to boost weight loss as well as being good for your overall fitness and mental health.

However, the idea that spending hours in the gym is the best way to get into shape is not true.

Terri-Ann Nunns, founder of the Terri-Ann 123 Diet Plan, says: "When it comes to exercise, quality beats quantity.

"You can do a really great high intensity workout in half an hour which will be much better than slogging away for three hours on a bike.

"Think carefully about what extra activity you could do. Are you able to go to a gym class, or can you increase the amount you walk?

"When it comes to physical activity, every little helps."

To get results and to stay motivated you must see changes, which means you need to become more aware of them and start looking.

Take photos of your progress - even if you dont like the way you look.

Get your belly out and legs out if you want those areas to change and after a few weeks comparing you will be surprised what you can see.

Clothes are a great way to see changes - that dress that's sitting in your wardrobe, or your old jeans you want to get back into, the clothes dont lie and will quickly show change.

Stress can have a profound effect on metabolism and gut health.

Our bodies don't really know the difference between physical and mental stress; they'll handle work problems in the same way they would the threat of famine.

The more stressed out we are, the more the body clings to fat reserves and muscle mass.

If you really want to start shifting body fat, you need to get your body (and mind) to relax.

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That'll get it to release fat molecules, take the pressure off the gut, and allow muscles to grow.

And the best way to change your body composition is to increase the amount of lean muscle mass you have.

So once you've got to grips with your home workout, it might be time to get yourself into the weights room down the gym.

Read the original:
The 12 best ways to blitz belly fat and lose weight from NOT starving yourself to eating fries - The Irish Sun

About half of all Americans are trying to lose weight, and with the weight loss service industry being worth billions of dollars some estimates put it at over seventybillion dollars there are a lot of hucksters and well-intentioned-yet-misinformed people trying to cash in.

There are a lot, a lot, a lot of myths out there about the best way to lose weight and about nutrition in general: which macronutrients are worse (is it fat this year, or carbs?) and whether you can supercharge your liver with a detox tea. Trainer and big-time-Instagram-guy Jordan Syattsat down with us to run over the worst myths in nutrition that need to die. Lets get started.

Editors note: The content on BarBend is meant to be informative in nature, but it shouldnt take the place of advice and/or supervision from a medical professional. The opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. Speak with your physician if you have any concerns.

You dont need to count your calories if you want to lose weight, says Syatt. But regardless of whether or not youre counting calories, your calories always count.

No matter what, your body obeys the laws of thermodynamics and it runs on energy. Energy comes into the body by way of food and is often stored in the form of fat or carbohydrates (glycogen).

There are a lot of ways to control your calorie intake: maybe increase your fiber, increase your protein, lower your fat intake, all of these can work without an individual counting their calories. But they work because they (can) lead you to consumer fewer calories, which is what controls your waistline.

It doesnt matter if you dont look at your bank account, says Syatt. If youre spending all the money, its gonna drain.If youre putting a bunch of money in, youre going to save it up, regardless of whether or not youre tracking it. This is whats really important to remember about calories.

The composition of calories changes, of course. If youre comparing a 500-calorie salad with a 500-calorie cheeseburger, the salad probably has more fiber, vitamins, and minerals, its probably more filling, and all of this can contribute to better health and weight management. Just remember that even healthy foods contain calories.

[Related: Check out our podcast with Jordan Syatt]

Yes, your body weight is a matter of energy balance. If you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight, in a calorie surplus youll gain weight.

But quality and quantity matter here.As mentioned above, different foods have different effects on your appetite, but its also important to note that your balance of protein, carbs, and fat will affect what kind of weight you lose or gain.

If youre doing a smart workout program, youll lose more fat and retain more muscle in a deficit and gain more muscle and less fat in a surplus if youre making sure that enough of your calories come from protein usually 0.6 to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is recommended.(1)

Furthermore even if you hit the precise macro balanceyoure aiming for to but youre eating most of your calories from junk food and youre not eating fruits and vegetables, youll run low on important nutrients like magnesium, zinc, B-vitamins, and plenty of others. If youre low on these nutrients (or others) then performance in the gym can suffer, sleep can suffer, inflammation can increase, recovery can be impeded, focus takes a dive, immunity is compromised the list goes on. (And on.) All of these can negatively impact your physique.

Quality and quantity matter when it comes to nutrition, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. You can find room for junk food in your calories and still lose fat or gain muscle, but be mindful of your nutrients, macro and micro.

[Related: The Right Macros for Fat Loss vs Muscle Gain]

When people do keto they tend to lose weight faster, especially initially, because nearly eliminating carbohydrates causes the body to lose a lot of water weight, says Syatt. So they see very radical weight loss at the beginning, but then thats why they have a plateau almost equally as quickly a few weeks later. Because theyre not just losing water weight, they have to lose fat now.

The reality is that if youre not in a calorie deficit, you wont lose fat. Many keto proponents claim that keto causes the body to burn more fat for fuel, and while this may be true, this doesnt seem to promote more weight loss when calories are controlled, according to ameta-analysis of thirty-two trials that compared carbohydrate intake.(2)

The reality is you can do keto and see great progress, or you can not do keto and see great progress, says Syatt. As long as your calories are in check, youre going to lose fat over time.

For those who arent controlling calories, there is some evidence that keto can potentially be useful for managing hunger, which would result in weight loss. But again, thats because there are fewer calories being consumed, not because keto is anything magical in that regard. And importantly, whether or not keto works or feels good or results in fewer calories being consumed really depends on the individual.

This is a little related to keto, but irrespective of fat intake, many try to limit carbohydrates in general (bunless burgers, riceless burritos, etc.) because of a fear that carbs lead to fat gain.

Now, if youre cutting carbs and not replacing them with anything else, then youll be consuming fewer calories and thatll lead to weight loss, all else being equal. But for many people, dropping carbs means dropping fiber (perhaps the best natural appetite suppressant there is) and they can wind up eating more calories as a result.

Plus, carbs are often great sources of nutrients! Fiber, again, is great, with links not only to weight loss but also to lower risks of bowel cancer, Alzheimers disease, and more.(3)(4) But legumes, whole grains, and fruit are also jam packed with vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants that may lower the risk of practically every disease there is. So there are plenty of reasons to limit refinedcarbs like sugar and white flour theyre not filling and very low in fiber and nutrients butits really important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to carbohydrates.

This idea that fat makes you fat is bullshit, says Syatt. And we know it because there are many people eating very high fat diets, like the ketogenic diet, and losing fat. If fat made you fat then anyone doing keto would immediately be obese. Im not against keto, Im just forwhatever works for you.

Keto isnt inherently bad for you. Carbs arent inherently bad for you. Fat doesnt make you fat. Eating too many calories makes you fat, end of story.

There is a little caveat here: fat has more than twice the calories of protein or carbs, with nine calories per gram versus four calories per gram. So ten grams of fat will make you fatter than ten grams of chicken breast, if youre already eating over your daily calorie burn.

But that doesnt mean you should eliminate fat: it serves really essential functions like maintaining hormonal health and improving your absorption of important nutrients, like Vitamin D. If you have a diet without any fat at all, you wont last long, and if you have a diet thats deliberately, extremely low in fat, then important hormones like testosterone will take a hit.

[Related: The Best Natural Ways to Increase Testosterone]

Youre looking for a shortcut? You got it! Just grab a fat burner and your six pack will be waiting for you at the end of the bottle.

Were kidding. Thats not how they work.

Its not that fat burners are ineffective, exactly. There are some studies that have found that cayenne pepper, for instance, which is in just about every fat loss product out there, does increase the amount of calories you burn. But a lot of studies put it in the area of 5 to 10 calories, and some research shows no effect at all.(5)(6)(7)(8)

Some studies put it higher, at 50 calories, but thats still just half a tablespoon of peanut butter not actually that much in the grand scheme of things.(9)

Now for some people, that still matters a lot. Lets say youre a bodybuilder, you need to have 1,900 calories, but you just cannot have less than 2,000 calories without feeling extremely deprived. Popping a fat burner might be useful in that instance, as there are plenty of fat burners that probably burn around one to two hundred calories.

But you have to remember:

The reality is if your training isnt in check and your nutrition isnt in check and your sleep isnt in check, you have no reason to buy fat burners, says Syatt.

Do detoxes cleanse your system and wash out all the dirty toxins you have?

The reality is this: detoxes and cleanses dont do anything for you, says Syatt. Theres zero research to support it whatsoever.A very simple question to ask people trying to sell you detoxes and cleanses is which toxins are these cleaning out, specifically? Theyre always at a loss for words.

When people claim detoxes are scientifically backed, its usually because

Some studies have found that people who are hospitalized with liver issues might experience a slight improvement in some symptoms in conjunction with other treatment methods when theyre supplementing with a little milk thistle.(10) Marketers will see studies like that, conclude that milk thistle helps your liver work, your liver helps you filter waste, therefore milk thistle detoxes you. Theres no evidence for this for people with a healthy liver.

If your liver isnt functioning properly, you should see a fucking doctor! says Syatt. Not a fake a detox tea from someone selling diarrhea nonsense on Instagram. Dont trust the influencer, go to a doctor if your liver isnt working properly.

Theres no good evidence for this. Some older studies from the 1980s found that eating more protein resulted in more waste filtration from the kidneys, so they thought the kidneys were undergoing unnecessary stress.(11) But later studies found that wasnt the case for healthy kidneys, and some research has even looked specifically atathletes consuming well over a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, and didnt find signs of kidney issues.(12)(13)(14)(15)

Sometimes, people with kidney problems are often advised to go on low protein diets, yes.(16) But people with broken legs are also advised not to run marathons. If youre healthy then evidence suggests high protein diets are fine.

[Related: Our full article on protein intake and kidney function]

Fortunately, this isnt true.

I love eating before bed, I eat a lot of food at night, and one of the easiest ways to dispel this myth is to look at all the research surrounding intermittent fasting, says Syatt. People basically save the vast majority of their calories before they go to bed, and what weve consistently found and it sounds boring and obnoxious, but its true as long as youre in a calorie deficit, youll lose fat.

Thats the reality.A calorie is a calorie at 8am and 8pm, it doesnt matter what time youre eating, it matters how much youre eating. Thats it.

If you read muscle mags in the 90s, theres a good chance you heard that eating six small meals a day boosts your metabolism and makes you burn more fat. Or conversely, that not eating frequently say, skipping breakfast causes you to gain fat.

Not true. Skipping a meal or two isnt going to slow down your metabolism or cause you to burn less fat.

A lot of people will tell you that because fasting increases the amount of growth hormone in the body, fasting helps you to build muscle. Its true that fasting has been seen to up your growth hormone, but this hormone really is more about preserving muscle it means that if you skip a meal or two, your body wont start eating all its muscle in some kind of starvation mode.(17)(18)(19) You can eat when you want. If youprefersix meals a day, thats fine. If youd rather save your calories for the end of the day, it doesnt look like itll make much of a difference.

OK, maybe if youre trying to win the Mr. Olympia competition, youd rather have ten meals to keep muscle protein synthesis as consistent as possible. But for the average person, even the one with a six pack, meal timing has no real, practical benefit. A 2016 study had a great example:when comparing people trying to lose weight over a period of eight weeks, people eating every day lost as much weight as people eating everyotherday when the calories were the same.(20)

If fasting helps you control your calories better, or ifnotfasting helps you control your calories better, then do what works for you! Neither is really that superior; it comes down to individual preference.

I think its a really important thing for people to take home, says Syatt. Were not saying that fasting is better for you or worse for you, were saying that whatever you choose to do fasting, keto, Paleo, Weight Watchers, whatever it is do what you enjoy and what you can do consistently.And if someones trying to sell you something and shove one method down your throat and say everything else doesnt work, dont listen to them.Because what were trying to say is that everything works, as long as you can do it consistently and your calories are in check.

1.Rodriguez NR, et al. Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and athletic performance. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009 Mar;109(3):509-27.2.Hall KD, et al. Obesity Energetics: Body Weight Regulation and the Effects of Diet Composition. Gastroenterology. 2017 May;152(7):1718-1727.e3.3.Aune D, et al. Dietary fibre, whole grains, and risk of colorectal cancer: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. BMJ. 2011 Nov 10;343:d6617.4.Cremonini AL, et al. Nutrients in the Prevention of Alzheimers Disease. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2019 Sep 4;2019:9874159.5.Chaiyata P, et al. Effect of chili pepper (Capsicum frutescens) ingestion on plasma glucose response and metabolic rate in Thai women. J Med Assoc Thai. 2003 Sep;86(9):854-60.6.Snitker S, et al. Effects of novel capsinoid treatment on fatness and energy metabolism in humans: possible pharmacogenetic implications. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jan;89(1):45-50.7.Smeets AJ, et al. The acute effects of a lunch containing capsaicin on energy and substrate utilisation, hormones, and satiety. Eur J Nutr. 2009 Jun;48(4):229-34.8.Galgani JE, et al. Effect of capsinoids on energy metabolism in human subjects. Br J Nutr. 2010 Jan;103(1):38-42.9.Galgani JE, et al. Effect of dihydrocapsiate on resting metabolic rate in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Nov;92(5):1089-93.10.Saller R, et al. An updated systematic review with meta-analysis for the clinical evidence of silymarin. Forsch Komplementmed. 2008 Feb;15(1):9-20.11. von Herrath D, et al. Glomerular filtration rate in response to an acute protein load. Blood Purif. 1988;6(4):264-8.12. Knight EL, et al. The impact of protein intake on renal function decline in women with normal renal function or mild renal insufficiency. Ann Intern Med. 2003 Mar 18;138(6):460-7.13. Beasley JM, et al. Higher biomarker-calibrated protein intake is not associated with impaired renal function in postmenopausal women. J Nutr. 2011 Aug;141(8):1502-7.14. Antonio J, et al. A High Protein Diet Has No Harmful Effects: A One-Year Crossover Study in Resistance-Trained Males. J Nutr Metab. 2016;2016:9104792.15. Poortmans JR, et al. Do regular high protein diets have potential health risks on kidney function in athletes? Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2000 Mar;10(1):28-38.16. Levey AS, et al. Effects of dietary protein restriction on the progression of advanced renal disease in the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study. Am J Kidney Dis. 1996 May;27(5):652-63.17.Moller L, et al. Impact of fasting on growth hormone signaling and action in muscle and fat. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Mar;94(3):965-72.18.Vendelbo MH, et al. Exercise and fasting activate growth hormone-dependent myocellular signal transducer and activator of transcription-5b phosphorylation and insulin-like growth factor-I messenger ribonucleic acid expression in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Sep;95(9):E64-8.19.Lanzi R, et al. Elevated insulin levels contribute to the reduced growth hormone (GH) response to GH-releasing hormone in obese subjects. Metabolism. 1999 Sep;48(9):1152-6.20.Catenacci VA, et al. A randomized pilot study comparing zero-calorie alternate-day fasting to daily caloric restriction in adults with obesity. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2016 Sep;24(9):1874-83.

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10 Nutrition Myths That Need to Die (With Jordan Syatt) - BarBend

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By Dr. Charles Herrick, Chair of Psychiatry, Nuvance Health

Newswise Summary:

Do you feel excited about making a New Years resolution on January 1 each year, but find yourself losing enthusiasm as the weeks go by only to give up entirely by late February or March? If so, youre not alone.

Research shows that as many as 50 percent of adults in the United States make New Years resolutions, but fewer than 10 percent actually keep them for more than a few months. But why?

Whether your goal is to lose weight, get more exercise, quit smoking, save money, or something else entirely, the truth is that there are some common psychology-based reasons why New Years resolutions fall flat. But before you put your goals on the shelf until next year, heres what you need to know about why we make and break New Years resolutions as well as a tips you can use to give yourself the best chance of making your resolution stick.

Why do people make New Years resolutions?

Its human nature to set goals at the start of something new, making the start of the New Year a popular time to set new goals and expectations for the year ahead.

Why do I break my New Years resolutions?

There are many reasons why people may not keep New Years resolutions, but instances of New Years resolution burnout can be narrowed down to three psychology-related issues: difficulty breaking old habits, focusing on specific outcomes, and problems with purpose.

Difficulty breaking old habits

Meeting new goals usually requires creating new habits and breaking old ones and old habits are hard to break. For example, quitting smoking will require you to eliminate smoking from your daily activities, and losing weight will require you to change your diet and exercise routine.

Our habits are ingrained and embedded in our implicit memory, which is also called our automatic memory or unconscious memory. Implicit memory uses our past experiences to help us remember things without actively thinking about them, making it easy for us to stick to similar routines and challenging for us to make changes.

Habits are also multi-faceted, meaning that many elements reinforce our habits and make them more challenging to break. For example, a smoking habit may be influenced by your lifestyle, the places you go, the people you interact with when you smoke, physical sensations associated with smoking, and other rituals. Your feelings, thoughts, and emotions related to smoking can also contribute to making the habit satisfying even before you actually smoke.

Focusing on specific outcomes

Another reason people have trouble keeping New Years resolutions is that they focus on a specific outcome, such as reaching a certain body weight. Focusing on a specific outcome can be defeating if you dont achieve your goal quickly. In most cases, it takes time to achieve a specific outcome, and many people become frustrated and eventually give up before reaching their goal.

Problems with purpose

If youre like most people, youre busy and you probably dont have a lot of time left over at the end of the day to devote to accomplishing things that arent interesting or important to you. If you dont feel connected to your resolution, it isnt meaningful to you, or you arent motivated to make the changes required to achieve your goals, you will be more likely to give up.

How can I keep my New Years resolution?

Developing a new habit as part of your New Years resolution means that you will need to consciously think about the changes you need to make, at least until the new habit becomes embedded in your implicit memory. The process of developing a new habit uses a lot of declarative, or episodic, memory and working memory and requires a lot more mental effort.

To make it easier to keep your New Years resolution, you need to take a multi-faceted approach. Here are a few tips that may help:

1: Find your purpose, but avoid focusing on a specific outcome

If you want to lose weight, for example, avoid focusing on achieving a specific weight. Instead, ask yourself why you want to lose weight and use that as the basis for your goal. Asking why will help you find your real purpose, which will help to improve your motivation. Setting a goal of achieving better health so you can have more energy for your hobbies, for example, takes the focus off of a specific outcome, such as getting to 150 pounds.

Also, its important to remember that early success will motivate you to do more, and better health and an increase in energy is an outcome you will likely be able to achieve quickly by being more active or eating a healthier diet.

By focusing on being healthier rather than achieving a specific weight, you will also be more likely to maintain your healthy habits. If you set a goal of getting to 150 pounds and achieve it, you may be more likely to eventually fall back into old habits and not sustain long-term weight loss.

2: Break your goal into components, and set realistic and achievable process goals

If your goal is to achieve better health, you need to figure out exactly what you need to change to make it happen. For example, you might identify two components that will help you achieve your goal: more exercise and a healthier diet.

Identifying the components is just the first step. You must also set realistic and achievable process goals for each component that make you feel excited and motivated. The more excited you are about your process goals, the more likely you will be to find the time to focus on achieving them. Some examples of process goals include:

These goals shouldnt require a huge sacrifice, and they shouldnt make you feel deprived. However, they should require some effort you want to feel good when you achieve them, after all.

3: Make a public commitment

Human beings are inherently social, and we want to connect with and feel accepted by others. We also want to avoid experiencing feelings of shame and embarrassment that can sometimes be associated with letting people down.

Making a public commitment to achieving your goal can help you hold yourself accountable and ultimately follow through. Many people find that their desire to avoid letting people down and thereby avoid feelings of shame and embarrassment is a powerful motivator to help them deliver on their commitment.

Examples of making a public commitment include telling family or friends about your goal, signing up for a weight loss program, or joining a fitness program with a group of co-workers.

4: Engage with likeminded people

People tend to be more successful at achieving their goals when they connect with other likeminded people. Also, we tend to model the behavior of the people we like and admire, so its important to surround yourself with people who reinforce habits that will help you achieve your goals.

Finding a group of likeminded people who you admire will help you stay motivated especially during the cold, dark months of January, February, and March, when New Years resolutions often hit the skids. Some people may find success and accountability by being part of a larger group, while others may prefer to pair up or join a smaller group. Whatever size group you choose and whether its in-person or online, engaging with others will keep you connected to your goals and make you more likely to be successful.

The bottom line: Finding your purpose, changing your focus, setting the right goals, making a public commitment, and engaging with likeminded people can help you achieve your New Years resolutions.

Dr. Charles Herrick is a board certified psychiatrist, and the chair of psychiatry at Nuvance Healths Danbury Hospital and Norwalk Hospital.

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Why We Make (and Break) New Years Resolutions, and 4 Tips to Help You Achieve Your Goals - Newswise

JENNIFER Aniston is doing a 'five day fast' ahead of her reunion with her ex Brad Pitt at the SAG Awards.

The 50-year-old actress is nominated for an award and is likely to bump into her ex after they enjoyed a reunion at the Golden Globes.

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Ahead of the Screen Actors' Guild Awards, Jennifer has been spotted sipping from a bottle of hibiscus tea - which is part of a Hollywood diet plan that sees you consume just 800 calories a day.

The ProLon diet was devised by Dr Valter Longo PhD, an American biogerontologist and is designed to work on the body the same way an intermittent fast would.

Followers of the diet are sent soup packets, nut bars, seaweed crackers, herbal teas and the exact water bottle Jen is holding in these pictures, to kickstart their weight loss.

The plan costs 225 for five days and is designed to shed a few pounds quickly - or just in time for an upcoming awards show.

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Jennifer is nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her role on the The Morning Show while Brad is nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Brad and Jennifer have been "inseparable" for months, with it all coming to a head at the Golden Globes.

On the red carpet, Brad referred to his ex as a "good friend", with fans spotting Jen cheering and beaming when he won the Best Supporting Actor gong.

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Later, they attended two after parties together, although they left separately, and Jennifer was even spotted wearing a strikingly similar ring to the $500k sparkler Brad proposed to her with in 1999.

The pair were married between 2000 and 2005, suffering a bitter split after Brad fell for Angelina Jolie while they were filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

He was with Angelina until 2016, with Jennifer marrying Justin Theroux in 2015 before an amicable break-up two years later.

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Following Brad's split from Ang, he and Jen have slowly grown closer, with Brad splashing out on a secret gift for the beauty's 50th birthday, and the exes spotted hugging and chatting at her celebration last year.

The rumour mill then went into overdrive last month when Brad paid a visit to Jen's home for her Christmas party.

He spent four hours at the star-studded get together and was the second from last person to leave just before 11pm.

Read more here:
Jennifer Aniston doing five day 800 calories a day fast ahead of reunion with ex Brad Pitt at SAG Awards - The Sun

captionReplacing simple starches with resistant starches can have positive health effects.sourceMatthew J Thomas/Shutterstock

Experts often recommend cutting down on starchy foods for people who are trying to lose weight or who have diabetes. But recent research has found that not all starch is created equal.

Resistant starch, for example, is a type of starch that breaks down slowly like fiber and can have positive health effects. So if you are looking to lose weight and boost your digestive health, you dont necessarily need to cut carbs altogether. Instead, consider replacing some of the more simple starches with resistant starches in your diet.

All starches are a type of carbohydrate that breaks down into a form of sugar called glucose during digestion.

Now, some starch like the kind in a pile of steaming mashed potatoes breaks down quickly. On the one hand, this gives your body a nice boost in energy, but if glucose is absorbed into your bloodstream too rapidly, too often, then over time it can cause health problems such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Thats where resistant starches can help. They get their name from how they resist digestion.

Resistant starch is digested in the same way as other starch, just more slowly, says Joshua Lambert, a food science professor at Penn State University.

Your body digests these starches more slowly because of their molecular structure. Resistant starches exist naturally in foods like grains, beans, and legumes. But they can also form in foods like pasta and potatoes by cooking and then letting them cool.

For example, when you cook a starchy food like pasta, the starch molecules relax and spread further apart, making the food easier to break down and digest, which can cause a spike in blood sugar.

But just as cooking causes the starch molecules to relax, this same process reverses as the food cools, basically snapping back into place like a stretched rubber band thats been released. The starch molecules pack together more densely and become harder to break down, slowing the digestion process and maintaining more stable blood sugar levels.

If you are disappointed by the idea of having to eat cold pasta, there may be an added bonus. According to a small, preliminary experiment by the BBC team who runs Trust Me, Im A Doctor if you reheat your pasta after letting it cool, the starches become even more resistant to digestion. Another 2016 study in the journal Food Chemistry found that chilled potatoes had more resistant starch than reheated potatoes, though both had more than hot potatoes.

There are several different types of resistant starches that can show up in food:

If you are on a diet, replacing simple starches with resistant starches may help you lose weight. The slower digestion process can make you feel more full, which may curb unnecessary snacking. Moreover, when you eat resistant starch, your body wont absorb as many calories as it normally would from starchy food.

Because resistant starch can pass through your entire digestive tract without breaking down, it can reach your large intestine or colon largely intact. When this happens, the starch will ferment instead of being converted to glucose. This fermentation process provides food for the good bacteria in your intestines that help with digestion. This promotes colon health, Lambert says.

In fact, experts are in the early stages of investigating whether resistant starches could play a role in preventing colon cancer.

Though resistant starches offer some health benefits, you dont have to focus on them exclusively. For a healthy person, eating other forms of carbohydrates, such as fruit, can provide a helpful energy boost to the body.

Lambert says that while resistant starch is an important part of the diet, it is not a cure-all. Like anything else, it is important to keep it in the context of a healthy diet. Lots of extra resistant starch isnt going to make up for an unhealthy overall diet.

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What is resistant starch and why its healthier than simple starch - Business Insider

Carlo Allegri / Reuters

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, exits a hotel in New York City, Feb. 19, 2019.

It was a declaration of independence that left the royal family reeling. On January 8, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, posted on Instagram about their plans to relinquish their positions as senior members of the British royal family, split their time between North America and the UK, and establish financial independence. The suddenness of the announcement was surprising it was reportedly released in a rush to beat a potential leak to the press, and seemed to catch Buckingham Palace unprepared but the move itself was not entirely unexpected, particularly to those whove been following the young couples saga in dealing with the (often racist and sexist) media coverage of Meghan.

While Queen Elizabeth has since said in a statement on Monday that shes entirely supportive of Prince Harry and Meghans decision, she also made clear, with unusually personal language, that she would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family. Their departure is a loss to the Windsor family during a turbulent time (see: Brexit, the scandal of Prince Andrew's friendship with and defense of Jeffrey Epstein, and the Duke of Edinburghs waning health), as well as to the monarchy as an institution. After all, Harry is the second-most popular royal, after the 93-year-old Queen. Meanwhile, as the lone woman of color to ever be a senior royal in modern society, Meghan Markle has become something of a global icon herself.

And yet, while Meghan enjoys worldwide popularity, the British press has been consistently, intensely critical of her. The Megxit narrative has been an occasion to recycle a lot of the same labels and accusations it has already deployed: that she is ungrateful and selfish for breaking up the royal family.

Its worth keeping things in perspective, however. The Sussexes havent renounced the royal family on an ideological level (their website details the couples plans to continue to serve the monarchy and strengthen the Commonwealth). The move to be financially independent from the Sovereign Grant, which opens up the possibility of Harry and Meghan earning incomes in other careers, could raise questions (Might this be an option for more royal family members, particularly those far down the line in succession?). But its unlikely to have immediate, ruinous effects on an institution that has always had a knack for durability. As Peter Morgan, creator of The Crown, once described the British royals: Theyre survival organisms, like a mutating virus.

At this rate, it seems more likely that if anything is to destroy the monarchy, it will be the British royals themselves. It is a tenacious institution. But by not enforcing or understanding the need to protect Meghan from vicious, racist press coverage in a more deliberate way, they are losing her and what she had to offer: a new, modern, more progressive image to associate with the monarchy a brand that is ultimately rooted in appearances.

Meghan reacts during a visit to Canada House in London with thanks for the warm Canadian hospitality and support she had received in Canada recently, Jan. 7.

Meghan Markle has been accused of destroying her husbands life and painted as a palace-wrecker whos putting the future of the monarchy particularly postQueen Elizabeth in peril. (Granted, some of these declarations are made gleefully by anti-monarchists, wanting to burn it all down.) Shes also been called a modern-day Yoko Ono on social media, a comparison that stirs up some interesting connotations.

These tweets have primarily been made in jest, some affectionate and some less so. But other likenings have been less lighthearted, with one tweet claiming that, like Ono, Meghan is trampling on tradition, causing chaos, ruining everything and then runs and hides.

By not enforcing or understanding the need to protect Meghan from vicious, racist press coverage in a more deliberate way, the royal family is losing her and what she had to offer.

Ono is a complicated and certainly not faultless public figure, but the widespread cultural narrative around her as the woman who broke up the Beatles is clearly misguided and misogynist. As a 1994 New York Times interview with Ono established, her public reputation was one of a woman whose greatest achievement, it would seem, came from brainwashing that third husband into marrying her in the first place. He was, in the end, a god. She was, all along, the Devil. And Ono has become the namesake of a tired, untrue trope that suggests women are often a (if not the) problem, seducing and bewitching men into misfortune and bad decisions. The so-called Yoko Effect is a fallacy, not an actual phenomenon.

But there are some notable parallels between Meghan and Ono, as two women who stand accused of breaking up historic and beloved British institutions. Maybe most important to keep in mind is that the distrust and demonization they face is, at least in part, rooted in their race.

Every time we saw her, we shouted awful things, a fervent Beatles fan recalled about Ono in Philip Normans book Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation. Yellow! Chink! Subtle things like that Once, outside Abbey Road, wed got this bunch of yellow roses to give Yoko. We handed them to her thorns first. Yoko took them and backed all the way down the stairs, thanking us. She hadnt realized they were meant to be an insult. Nor did John. He turned back and said, Well, its about time someone did something decent to her.

Meanwhile, Meghan consistently attracts racist news coverage from the British press, teeming with coded language and dog whistles. Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine claimed the Sussexes engagement photo gave her a niggling worry, while other Daily Mail pieces have mentioned Meghans rich and exotic DNA and (inaccurately) invoked her upbringing in a gang-scarred LA neighborhood.

Even when the tabloids dont use race-baiting language, Meghan is targeted in ways that are disproportionate to the typically harsh, often absurd criticism all royal family members get. While Meghans wedding florals nearly murdered Princess Charlotte, Kate Middletons choice of the same flowers was elegant and understated. When Kate eats an avocado, its a cure for morning sickness, but when Meghan eats one? A source of human rights abuse and environmental devastation, naturally. Time and time again, Meghan has been portrayed in a villainous light.

I think what Meghan Markles experience has shown me is that when you put a woman of color into that space, which has always been abusive, there are particular issues, said British journalist and author Afua Hirsch in a BBC interview on Monday. Shes more vulnerable because shes visibly different. The level of hostility both Ono and Meghan have faced is proof of how significant it is that they are occupying spaces where they are othered, spaces not constructed for them. And yet, when theyve made efforts to change that space, or to find a more protected and sustainable role within it, they get the blame.

Another implication of the Yoko Effect (or rather, Yoko Myth) is that it assigns no power, responsibility, or culpability to a man in such a relationship a fact thats pretty rich considering the level of fame, privilege, and influence held by John Lennon and Prince Harry. Even the term Megxit in itself, while quippy, puts the onus of the duke and duchesss joint decision on Meghan.

Like Lennon who was, to be clear, the sole instigator of the Beatles breakup Prince Harry has been known to be outspoken, a bit stubborn, with a rebellious streak. And based on his past comments, it doesnt seem all that likely he was strong-armed by his wife into defecting from the royal family. Hes spoken of having wanted out before, as well as his desire for a semblance of regular life. My mother took a huge part in showing me an ordinary life, the prince told Newsweek in 2017. I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too.

The reason why Harry would want to put more distance between his family and the British press is a no-brainer. Hes always blamed the media for the death of his mother and when the paparazzi began to report on Meghan as they were dating, he was quick to call the press out for hounding her. In an unprecedented statement from Kensington Palace in 2016, he condemned the tabloids coverage as racist and sexist: Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markles safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her.

The reason why Harry would want to put more distance between his family and the British press is a no-brainer.

"I will always protect my family, and now I have a family to protect, Harry told journalist Tom Bradby when the couple was touring southern Africa in October 2019. Everything that [my mother] went through and what happened to her is incredibly real every single day. And that's not just me being paranoid that's just me not wanting a repeat of the past. And if anybody else knew what I knew be it a father, be it a husband, be it anyone you'd probably be doing exactly what I'm doing as well."

The Sussexes infant son, Archie, is no doubt a key factor in their decision to distance themselves from the monarchy and all the attention that comes with it. If they had hoped that their child would be spared from the realities of being a biracial royal, that hope was quickly quashed; days after Meghan gave birth, a BBC broadcaster likened the couples newborn to a well-dressed chimpanzee. To face racism, even as a child, is to live with a chronic, damaging stressor one that afflicts both the mind and body. If casual, constant racism and the denial of ones humanity is part and parcel of a publicly funded royal life which, based on Meghans experience so far, it seems to be then that royal life itself has become a clear threat to Harrys family.

Queen Elizabeth II sits and laughs with Meghan during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Cheshire, England, June 14, 2018.

Since Harry and Meghan announced they were dating, the Queen has made active efforts to ensure that Meghan feels welcome and accepted in the royal family. And in the Windsors defense, its essentially a royal tradition to endure bad press, to keep calm and carry on. Plus, given the overwhelming whiteness of the monarchy, its not surprising they arent cognizant of a crucial factor in being an active ally: stepping up and speaking out (much like Harry has done through his warnings to the press, frank interviews, and pending lawsuits). Its not a matter of coddling, but a gesture of care and consideration. If you want growth and evolution that is, if the monarchy wants to modernize emotional inertia cant be an option.

Its a common phenomenon: Historically white businesses and brands claim they want to diversify, but they fail to do the work to nurture and support newcomers. You cant expect to benefit from the perks, PR, and fanfare of having a biracial princess if she isnt given the space to feel empowered, heard, and accepted. The family spends millions on palace guards and security a means to protect their physical bodies but the notion of humanity doesnt seem to be given the same weight or value. The racism Meghan has experienced is treated as benign, when in reality it chips away and infects, as evidenced by her emotional, viral interview with ITV in October.

And when royals lead pampered, sheltered lives lives that provide little experience in resisting the prejudice baked into British and Western society its not surprising they dont (at least yet) understand this. The same seems true of many others, in the media and beyond. Only the two panelists of color on last Thursdays episode of BBCs Question Time were willing to suggest that Meghans unfair treatment may be tied to the way she looks. (For the record, when the moderator asked whether anyone in the audience thought Harry and Meghan had made a bad decision, not one hand was raised.)

Meanwhile, on BBCs Newsnight that same evening, singer Jamelia who is a black woman shared that she too had been a victim of covert racism living in the UK and it pales in comparison to what Ive seen happen to Meghan Markle Its not just social media; its not. Its mainstream media; its tabloid media. In response, author and historian Robert Lacey (a white man) was skeptical: Id like to see the evidence of that. Piers Morgan is another example of someone who repeatedly squawks at black women for evidence and then balks when its offered.

Harry and Meghans decision to quit senior royal life and spend time outside of the UK is not a symbol of defeat: It is an act of self-respect and self-preservation.

On Monday, Phillip Schofield, co-host of This Morning, also requested examples of racism that Meghan has endured, to which guest Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a black lawyer and activist, responded: It makes me question where have you been the last two years Let me explain what racism looks like from the lens of white privilege. White privilege whitewashes racist and inflammatory language as unconscious bias. It perpetuates the bigotry of intolerant white people as ignorant. It defends and protects their private views once spoken as misspeak, and then camouflages racist behavior as error of judgment.

The persistent demand for proof of racism during the Megxit news cycle has become at best exhausting and at worst triggering. I dont find it surprising that Meghan herself, who was in Canada as the Sandringham summit occurred, felt it wasnt necessary to be physically present for the talks between Prince Harry, Prince William, Prince Charles, and the Queen. Its tiring to ask that your humanity be acknowledged only for your mistreatment to be downplayed or denied, over and over again.

Its possible that Harry and Meghans decision and the dialogue its creating could help push both the monarchy and British media to evolve into something thats not just more diverse and inclusive, but more self-aware (whether it be in revisiting and reframing old myths or simply setting the tone for the future). Still, its not the responsibility of black people or other minorities to teach Racism 101 to their white peers, not through interviews and certainly not through their lives. Meghan may have married someone whose family comes with a lot of baggage, but she didnt sign up to be a case study.

Harry and Meghans decision to quit senior royal life and spend time outside of the UK is not a symbol of defeat: It is an act of self-respect and self-preservation. The move has been and will no doubt continue to be painted by critics as a selfish shirking of responsibilities, but its more of a shifting. Its not a question of whether the Sussexes are dutiful or not, but to whom.

In a 2015 essay for Elle, before becoming a duchess was even on her radar, Meghan recalled an especially formative memory: I was home in LA on a college break when my mom was called the 'N' word. We were leaving a concert and she wasn't pulling out of a parking space quickly enough for another driver. My skin rushed with heat as I looked to my mom. Her eyes welling with hateful tears, I could only breathe out a whisper of words, so hushed they were barely audible: 'It's OK, Mommy.' I was trying to temper the rage-filled air permeating our small silver Volvo.

Even then, Meghan knew that some fights just arent worth picking, not when your adversary doesnt deserve your time or energy, not when your familys well-being is at stake. As they drove out of the parking lot, Meghan sat with a simple reason for their disengagement: I shared my moms heartache, but I wanted us to be safe.

Sandi Rankaduwa is a Sri Lankan Canadian writer, comedian, and filmmaker whos written for the Believer, Rolling Stone, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Exclaim!, and the Coast. She splits her time between Brooklyn and Halifax.

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The British Royal Family Has More To Lose Than Harry And Meghan Do - BuzzFeed News