Impossible Food's "bleeding" fake burger is joined by a plant-based pork product this year.

Impossible Burgermade waves at CES last year, andImpossible PorkandSausage were the buzz ofCES 2020last week. ButImpossible Foodsis just one in a wave of plant-based "meat" producers, includingBeyond Meat andIncogmeatofrom Kellogg's Morningstar Farms, that feed a consumer frenzy for animal-free alternatives. Some eaters are scarfing down these new fake meats for the possible health benefits of a plant-based diet. For others, it's a desire to cut back their personal contribution to ourenvironmental doom.

But the demand for these fake meats is almost entirely driven by people who chow down on animals too.NPDGroup found 90% of plant-based-meat eaters also eat real meat on the regular, according to its study late last year.

Fake meat has long been associated with vegetarians, who don't eat animals, and vegans, who also nix other animal-derived items like dairy, eggs and honey. And fake meats likeImpossible BurgerandPorkpitch themselves as kosher and halal too -- religious diets that forbid eating pig and, in kosher's case, combinations of dairy and meat, which make real cheeseburgers out of the question.

But rather than tapping into a pent-up demand for these foods among vegetarian, halal and kosher eaters, those groups' aversions to eating these animals means they're pretty weirded out by the hyper-realistic fake stuff too.

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That's all good with Impossible Foods. The Silicon Valley-based startup wants to eliminate the need for animals in the food supply by 2035. That may seem like a long time, but a baby born when Impossible Burger 2.0 launched would barely qualify for a driver's license at the point the world could give up eating animals for good, if Impossible Foods meets its goal.

People are flocking to these faux "bleeding" burgers or sham hams. Burger King just had its best quarter of sales growth in four years thanks to the Impossible Whopper, its parent company said in October. (Burger King will test an Impossible Croissan'wich with pig-free sausage next.) Financial services firmUBS projects the plant-based meat market will grow to $85 billion in 2030. That's trifling compared with Barclays' projection of a $140 billion market within the next decade.

But so far, fake meat doesn't appear to be displacing animals from Americans' diets.

"The country is not becoming more vegetarian or vegan," Darren Siefer, food and beverage industry analyst with NPD, said in an interview last week. "We see meat eaters saying, 'Hey, how else can I get protein in my diet without necessarily adding more meat?'"

As much as these fake meats are associated with vegetarians and vegans, and as often as plant-based alternatives are touted as kosher and halal, people who follow those dietary traditions don't have a gravitational pull to the fake versions of foods they're purposely rejecting.

My colleague Abrar Al-Heeti, a practicing Muslim who has never eaten pig (at least, not intentionally), was one of the first people to taste Impossible Pork before it debuted at CES. "This feels so wrong," she said of the experience, which made her feel queasy for hours.

I had a similar sensation eating Impossible Burger when it was unveiled last year at CES. I ate fake beef tartare in front of the chef who prepared it, who was innocently curious about my reaction while I tried to hide my rising revulsion. Standing face-to-face with him was the main thing that stopped me from spitting out the gooey, pink mass.

Since then, I've found I really enjoy the Impossible Burger served as an actual burger, but now that I can buy it in grocery stores, the raw "meat" still freaks me the hell out. I can't touch it or smell it without triggering an internal siren screaming at me to run away from this pile of dead animal tissue, even though it's mostly a heap of soy.

Impossible Burger sparked intense interest among kosher consumers when it launched last year, according to Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher, the world's largest kosher certification agency.

Apart from interest based on health, environmental or animal welfare reasons, kosher Jews seemed attracted to Impossible Burger for two reasons particular to their community, he said. First, the cost is attractive compared to kosher cow meat, which is often expensive because of the complexity of butchering and preparing it. Second, its plant-based nature meant Impossible Burger is exempt from rules against eating meat and dairy together, which extends to having to wait six hours after eating meat before eating dairy.

Impossible Pork is the latest plant-based meat from the company, unveiled at CES 2020.

But pork is likely to be different, Genack said in an interview last week. In the past when OU certified fake versions of a forbidden meat -- like fake shellfish made from fish or fake bacon -- the products tended to spark initial interest from kosher consumers that gave way to resistance. "It's not just a religious thing, it's a cultural thing," he said.

"We've been inculcated for millennia" against eating pigs, Genack added. "This is something that's been verboten and that we don't eat. It takes time for the person to absorb that this is synthetic, (that) it's not real pig."

It makes sense that 90% of people eating plant-based meats also eat animals, since it basically mirrors the dietary demographics of the US at large. It might seem startling to think the overwhelming majority of people eating plant-based alternatives are carnivorous, but unabashed meat eaters make up about 90% of the US population, according to Siefer's research. Only about 3% of the US is vegetarian or vegan, and another 7% to 8% say they're flexible or "flexitarian," eating meat sometimes and abstaining other times, he said.

Other studies indicate those numbers aren't changing much even as fake meat gains in popularity. Gallup stats show the percentage ofUS vegetariansand vegans has hardly moved over the last seven years. The number of Americans who say they'revegetarian has held unchanged at 5% from 2012 through the end of last year, according to Gallup, while 3% report being vegans, a barely-there increase from 2% in 2012.

Impossible Foodsitself says 95% of people who ate Impossible Burger last year had also eaten meat from an animal in the previous month. But NDP's and Gallup's research suggests fake meats aren't making progress yet to Impossible Foods' goals of reducing animal-meat consumption.

"It doesn't help the world for us to create pork product for someone who isn't going to eat pork from a pig anyway," Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown said at the unveiling of Impossible Pork at CES in Las Vegas last week. "It's important to realize what our mission is: A sale for us only counts if it comes at the expense of the animal-based food production industry."

But the company commissioned its own research last year indicating plant-based alternatives are taking root more among younger consumers. While only two out of 10 US baby boomers (age 55 and older) eat plant-based meat at least once a month, more than half of Gen Z consumers (age 18 to 24) do, according to the Impossible study in the second quarter of 2019.

And it suggested millennial parents (age 25 to 39) are introducing more plant-based foods to their families, according to the company: 72% of millennials with kids are eating plant-based meat more often than the previous year, versus 60% of millennials without kids.

That's still a long way from completely liberating animals from our dinner plates. But, hey, maybe the tides turn when decent fake bacon arrives.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

Read more:
Impossible Burger's biggest eaters aren't the people you think - CNET

Comments about being bad and taking leftover dessert or eating another portion, or claims about having to make it up later with exercise just grate on me," she says.

"I usually just respond with a shrug and a food has no moral value, but it depends on the day. Sometimes Im just so tired of it that it seems pointless to even try.

While many dread returning to work after the holiday season, other peoples New Year's resolutions can add another layer of anxiety. Common resolutions are weight or health-based join a gym, diet and, although not harmful in and of themselves, the way they are brought into the workplace can be.

Dieting and body image talk are triggering for people who have had or who have an eating disorder they may trigger a relapse into eating and/or weight and shape preoccupations and behaviours such as binge eating, fasting or purging," says Professor Phillipa Hay, foundation chair of mental health at Western Sydney University.

Michelle Sperling, the Butterfly Foundations national manager of treatment and support, notes the issues that can arise from diet and negative body image talk in the workplace.

Negative comparison between colleagues regarding weight, shape, appearance or even the meals they are eating is something that can occur as a result of such conversations in an office environment," Sperling says.

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"We know that when people make negative comparisons as such, they are more likely to engage in dangerous eating and exercise behaviours.

Allison, who works in the legal industry, has been questioned about why she is eating something weird at lunch so many times that she usually opts to eat at her desk instead, a move Sperling says isn't uncommon.

People isolate themselves at mealtimes from colleagues or they avoid work events so they arent left feeling uncomfortable.

Jasmine, who works in the financial services industry, has a colleague who opts to not eat lunch at all, but still joins her coworkers in the break room to talk to them about how bad their food is and why she cant eat it. So many people complained that HR eventually intervened, but the negative diet talk has continued.

I feel fine," she says of the comments. "But some people felt uncomfortable, so now they just dont go into the break room as much.

Given the ubiquity of New Years resolutions, what can be done to avoid the negative impact of diet talk in the workplace?

Professor Hay suggests information on eating disorders and potential negative impacts of diet and body image talk in the workplace should be included in workplace safety training for all staff, given at least one in 20 Australians will deal with an eating disorder in their lifetime.

Professor Hay also suggested workplaces where there may be a higher risk of disordered eating, such as dance companies, undergo eating disorder and mental health first aid training.

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For Sperling, it is managers who should be creating a culture where employees aren't talking about weight, shape or appearance, and instead focus more on how a person is feeling.

Sperling also stressed the importance of fostering a body neutral environment, which could include putting up signs in the office that promote body acceptance, hosting events that celebrate body positivity, and holding workshops for staff regarding the impact of negative diet and body image talk in the workplace.

*surnames withheld

Butterfly Foundation National Helpline 1800 33 4673.

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The problem with talking about your 'naughty' afternoon snack at work - The Age

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why should people avoid restrictive diets in January?

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

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

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

Why do people fail at New Year's diets?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are you favourite ingredients for healthy eating?

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

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

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

Do you follow a flexitarian diet yourself?

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

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

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

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

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

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

See the original post:
Food: Joe Wicks on why you shouldn't try restrictive dieting this January - The National

WHAT did you have for breakfast this morning? Did you opt for a slice of sourdough with some mashed avocado and a sprinkling of seeds? Or did you plump for two slices of bacon and a fried egg? Given its mid-January, when most of us are still nobly vowing to eat more healthily or lose weight, Id imagine a fair few of you went for the avocado option, even if youd rather have had the bacon one.

A new book suggests you made the wrong choice. Yes, its January, and yes, its another diet book, but author Graeme Tomlinson also known as @thefitnesschef insists his is different.

Pretty much all the other books out there impose their own methods and their own ways of dieting on people, and thats unnecessary, he says. It can be extreme and lead people down a path of extreme eating. My aim is to empower people by showing them that they already have a diet that can work for them, which can include the foods they enjoy.

The book is called Eat What You Like & Lose Weight For Life. Thats an appealing proposition and, according to Graeme, its not a complicated one. He believes you can forget intermittent fasting, slimming clubs, paleo, alkaline, Atkins, low carb, juicing, 5:2 and any number of weight-loss plans that promise the pounds will fall off. According to him, all you have to do is eat less and/or move more. Yup, thats it no carefully timed meals, no excluding entire food groups, just eating fewer calories than your body needs to do what it does on a daily basis, aka a calorie deficit.

I know, I know! Ive thought for years that all calories are not created equal, that if you starve yourself, your body holds on to the calories you consume and that calorie counting was an outdated way of eating. Not so, says Graeme (pictured below), who insists its actually the only thing that works.

Pretty much every diet people get weight-loss results from is a calorie deficit dressed up as something else, he says. Thats not to say other things arent important or dont have a role to play but the single most important thing you need to know is that to lose weight, you need to have a calorie deficit.

He points out that to be healthy, you probably shouldnt take in all your calories in the form of chocolate bars (although that would work as long as you were still using more calories than you consumed) and that decent amounts of protein and whole foods, which help us feel full, should form the backbone of what we eat.

But the bulk of the book is dedicated to busting myths (for example, you only burn more fat than normal on a keto diet because youre eating more fat; your body doesnt go into starvation mode when you cut your calorie intake) and to brilliant infographics that show just how easy it is to tweak your existing diet so you lose weight. There are also ideas for meals and snacks, as well as suggestions for some easy swaps you can make.

So what makes this man such an expert? After years spent training to be a professional cricketer, Graeme became a personal trainer and nutrition coach, then started to get sick of the misinformation he saw on Instagram. He says he gets his answers the old-fashioned way.

I look at systematic reviews and meta-analysis of data, he says. Anyone can access that information, you just need to be able to interpret it.

He believes strongly that lasting change doesnt happen overnight. Its about working out what your calorie intake currently is (his website fitnesschef.uk has a tool that can help) and then cutting about 15 per cent of those calories out. A few months later, when your weight plateaus, you cut another 15 per cent and so on until you reach your target weight.

The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to do it gradually while not depriving yourself of the foods you enjoy, he says. Yes, it requires some effort and it wont happen magically, but I think theres a way to enjoy food while doing it.

Dont weigh yourself daily. Take progress photos once a week instead and weigh yourself monthly that will give you a better idea of whether or not youre on track

Forget good and bad snacks a crumpet with 5g of butter has fewer calories than a rice cake and 25g of peanut butter; avocado on toast can have more calories than jam on toast

Count calories over a week rather than daily that allows space for real life. If you have a blowout one night, you can cut back on the subsequent days and still be on track

The Fitness Chef: Eat What You Like & Lose Weight For Life (Ebury) is out now

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Trends: How to lose weight AND eat what you want - Metro Newspaper UK

Horse dung may pose a potential risk of phosphorus run-off into the environment if not properly managed, according to researchers.

Horses excrete most of their surplus phosphorus through their dung, with only 1% or so being passed through urine.

Phosphorus from animal manure runs the risk of getting into waterways, harming the environment. Indeed, several studies have indicated that leaching of phosphorus from horse paddocks and pastures are hotspots for high leaching losses.

Yet horses can suffer problems if deficient in the macro-mineral, given its important role in bone formation, and in energy and fat metabolism.

Three researchers in Finland, Markku Saastamoinen, Susanna Srkijrvi and Elisa Valtonen, set out to learn more about phosphorus use in horses and its excretion in manure when typical feeds and forage-based diets are fed.

They hypothesised that feeding regimes might influence phosphorus digestibility and excretion in feces, and therefore the environmental impact of horse husbandry.

They also studied the nutrient digestibilities of the diets, as well as the proportion of the soluble fraction of the total phosphorus.

Their experiment involved six horses fed six forage-based diets. The study involved a total collection of all horse dung produced.

The diets were 100% hay; 100% haylage; 80% hay with the rest in whole oats; 65% hay with the rest in whole oats; 80% hay with the rest in a commercial pelleted feed; and 65% hay with the rest in a commercial pelleted feed.

All diets, except those including the complete pelleted feed, were balanced with a mineral mixture inwhich the phosphorus component was monocalcium phosphate.

All studied diets resulted in a positive phosphorus balance.

They found that digestibility of phosphorus varied from 2.7% to 11.1%. Supplementing forage-diets with concentrates slightly improved phosphorus digestibility. It also improved the digestibilities of crude protein and organic matter.

The horses excreted an average of 20.9 grams of phosphorus per day in their feces, 1.4 grams.

Excretion was smallest, 20 grams, in horses on a hay-only diet.

The average daily phosphorus excretion amounted to 7.6 kg in a year.

The soluble part of the total phosphorus in feces accounted for about 88%. This portion, they say, is vulnerable to runoff losses and may leach into waters.

Thus, horse dung may pose a potential risk of phosphorus leaching into the environment if not properly managed, and is not less harmful to the environment than that from other farm animals, the trio reported in the open-access journal Animals.

They say that supplementation with inorganic phosphorus should be controlled in the diets of mature horses in light work to decrease the excretion of the mineral in feces.

More research, especially into cost-effective feeding strategies and their applications for horses, is essential, they say, focusing on diet composition and ingredients, to reduce the horse industrys potential impact on water quality.

Discussing their findings, the researchers say phosphorus excretion in horses is linearly related to its intake, and the intake increases with the increasing concentrate in the diet.

It is impossible to conclude how polluting the horse industry is compared with other forms of animal production, they said.

However, in another study, the high proportion of inorganic phosphorus in horse feces indicated that overfeeding the mineral to horses might be more harmful to the environment than overfeeding it in dairy cows.

Saastamoinen and Srkijrvi are with the Natural Resources Institute Finland; and Valtonen is with the University of Helsinki.

Saastamoinen, M.; Srkijrvi, S.; Valtonen, E. The Effect of Diet Composition on the Digestibility and Fecal Excretion of Phosphorus in Horses: A Potential Risk of P Leaching? Animals 2020, 10, 140.

The study, published under a Creative Commons License, can be read here.

See original here:
Another reason to properly manage horse dung: Phosphorus runoff - Horsetalk

Dr Michael Mosley shares his four top tips on the no sugar diet

Its a familiar scene: the empty chocolate box, the litter of sweet-wrappers, the feelings of never-again, tinged with an underlying desire for more. We dont need the scientists to tell us how addictive sugar is.

But there are ways to crack the sugar habit and stick to a no sugar diet, says Dr Michael Mosley, creator of the Fast800 programme.

Here are four easy to remember tips from him and his medical team to help beat the sugar cravings and stick to a no sugar diet

It doesnt have to be difficult, just follow these quick and easy rules to help avoid the sweet stuff and keep sugar cravings at bay.

Always chose the full-fat option low fat generally means all the good stuff has been removed and has been replaced with sugar and additives. Full-fat products will keep you feeling fuller for longer and are great for a no sugar diet.

Soft drinks and fruit juices contain a large amount of sugar. If you feel like mixing it up, try sparkling water with a wedge of lemon and some cucumber.

There are many sources of hidden sugars and its important to check the label to see just how much sugar youre consuming. You may be surprised about what you cant eat on a no sugar diet, even staples like bread often have sugar in them.

If you cook it yourself you can be 100% certain you arent consuming sugar. We recommend batch cooking and freezing so that its not tempting to cheat when your tired at the end of a day.

Visit http://www.thefast800.com and find more no sugar diet tips and sugar-free recipes to help you counter sugar addiction, lose weight, improve mood, reduce blood pressure, inflammation and improve blood sugar levels.

The key to stoping cravings and being successful on a no sugar diet is to understand how sugar addiction works. From the first bite, consuming sugary food triggers a cascade of neural events that leads to a powerful urge to keep eating.

After eating sugar, dopamine, one of the neurotransmiters responsible for feelings of happiness, is released in the midbrain. We feel good and our desire to consume more sugar kicks in.

Studies have proven that the neural chains transmitting pleasure from eating sugar are very similar to those activated by cocaine and heroin. Neuroimaging has shown structural similarities between the brains of obese people and those with established hard-drug addictions. And studies on rats have found that when rodents are denied sugar after a long period of dependency, they exhibit symptoms similar to opiate withdrawal, such as teeth-chattering, head tremor and forepaw shakes. Yikes!

Conventional diets often drive us to crave sugar. They lock you into a state of hunger, switching your attention towards, rather than away from, high-calorie, sugar loaded foods. For many breaking the diet becomes inevitable, and their sugar addiction worsens.

A growing dependency on sugary food presents an insulin overload effect.

If we consume sugar constantly, the body has to release insulin constantly, in order to transport glucose into cell walls. But our insulin receptors are not designed to work continuously. In order to remain sufficiently primed for an insulin signal, they need downtime.

Without it, they gradually become desensitized, and so cells struggle to take up glucose. This is why when youre overweight, even a normal-sized portion of sugary food fails to satisfy, driving you to eat more and more.

View original post here:
4 simple ways to suceed on the no sugar diet - woman&home

During the last Alzheimers disease support meeting I attended at my mothers assisted living center, I sheepishly asked if anyone else was worried about their own risk for the disease.

A lot of hands went up.

At age 65, your risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimers is 2% a year. If you have a parent with Alzheimers disease, thatrisk goes up by 30%, to 2.6% a year, according to the Harvard Mens Health Watch.

However, thats still a relatively small increase. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found92% of us fear developing a degenerative brain diseaselike dementia or Alzheimers and 28% arent sure we can do anything about it.

Everyone, as they age, faces changes in brain function just like any other part of the body, our brains age, says Dr. Marc Agronin, senior vice president of Behavioral Health and chief medical officer for the MIND Institute at Miami Jewish Health and author of The Dementia Caregiver: A Guide to Caring for Someone with Alzheimers Disease and Other Neurocognitive Disorders.

We know living a healthy lifestyle is key to preventing chronic illness and conditions like diabetes and heart disease. But now, research finds that living a brain-healthy lifestyle may reduce your risk for Alzheimers disease, dementia and other cognitive decline.

The research on cognitive health and disease has homed in on seven pillars for living a brain-healthy lifestyle, which may in combination, slash your risk for brain-degenerative diseases.

Just keep in mind, however, that even if you performed all these pillars perfectly, it doesnt mean you wont get Alzheimers disease. Other factors, such as genetics, additional medical conditions that affect the brain and accidents, cant always be controlled.

The mind-blowing research on exercise alone should get you moving.

A 44-year Swedish study that separated midlife women exercisers into low, moderate and high fitness levels found that women at the lowest fitness level were45% less likely to develop dementia, while women in the top fitness level were 88% less likely.

It seems exercise reduces chronic inflammation and increases the release of a protein thats good for brain cells. Plus, it improves your overall health, so youre reducing cardiovascular dysfunction, your risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are all bad for your brain, explains Dr. Yuko Hara, who leads the Aging and Alzheimers Prevention team at theAlzheimers Drug Discovery Foundation.

Researchers recommend 30 minutes of moderate exercise walking, riding a stationary bicycle or whatever you love to do so youll stick with it three to five times a week to gain the benefit.

The only diet that really has robust evidence showing risk reduction for dementia is whats called the MIND diet, Agronin says. It is a combination of theMediterranean dietand whats called theDASH diet, which is a low salt, healthy diet (MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay).

The MIND diet includes loads of fruits and vegetables, fish, legumes, poultry, olive oil and one glass of wine (if you drink alcohol), while reducing processed foods, sugar, whole-fat dairy and red meat.

See: The No. 1 best diet for 2020, according to a panel of 25 health professionals

A healthy dietproduces more brain tissue volume, more gray matter, a larger hippocampus (which controls memory) and lessens your risk of developing dementia, according to a study published in 2018 and conducted by researchers at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

We may not know all the mechanisms of why a healthy diet is protective for brain health, Hara says. But the MIND diet is filled with antioxidants and polyphenols from fruits and veggies, anti-inflammatory properties like omega 3 fatty acids from fish, and reduces your risk for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol all associated with dementia.

Learning builds cognitive reserves, which is thecapacity of your brain to function optimallydespite the changes that occur as we age. Learning also helps the brain resist cognitive decline.

Research suggests mid- and late-life cognitive activity, especially, is linked to delayed onset of cognitive decline, Hara says. Lifelong learning is fundamental to improved brain health, higher levels of cognitive activity and staving off Alzheimers disease and dementia.

Read: The scary reason you shouldnt put off getting a hearing aid

So, sign up. Pick anything that interests you. Learn an instrument, take up a language or join some kind of class. If youre working, try to learn something new every week on the job. Read, take an online course, teach yourself the Latin names for the plants in your garden or anything else you want to know. Then, keep learning.

Scientists have found people with few social contacts and who feel lonely or isolated have a26% increase in dementia and mild cognitive decline. Some studies also suggest lonely people have higher amyloid and tau in the brain, biological telltale markers for Alzheimers disease. The connection between loneliness and dementia is still unclear, but it may have to do with depression or lack of stimulation.

If you are geographically apart from family, have lost a spouse or tend to isolate with fewer social contacts as you age,step up your social game. Phone or video-message with faraway family and friends regularly or participate in groups like walking and museumgoers. Establish or maintain strong connections with a neighbor, friend or childhood bestie. Talk, visit and interact with others. Your brain depends on it.

Poor sleep is also connected to Alzheimers disease and an increase in the presence of amyloid and tau. However, we dont really know if poor sleep causes Alzheimers disease or Alzheimers disease causes poor sleep, Hara says.

Despite this chicken-or-egg riddle, experts recommend seven to eight hours of sleep a night.Practice good sleep hygiene,like avoiding caffeine and alcohol before bed. If you have a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea or insomnia, talk to your doctor and get it treated. Disorders like sleep apnea deprive the brain of oxygen during sleep, which impairs its function over time.

Dont just resort to taking sleeping pills, since they also have beenassociated with dementia, Agronin says.

High levels of stress are linked tomemory problems and smaller brain volume. Whats more, the hormone cortisol, produced when youre stressed out, may damage cells needed for learning and memory, Agronin says.

When youre under stress, you need to learn ways to cope. Practice whatever works best for you, which could be: yoga, meditation, taking a walk, playing with a pet, listening to music, knitting, reading a novel, tinkering in the garage or anything else you find enjoyable and relaxing.

The illnesses most related to brain health include Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. For example, people with diabetes have a twofold higher risk of developing a type of dementia called vascular dementia, and a 73% increase risk of any dementia, including Alzheimers disease, Hara says.

Depression is another risk factor for dementia and Alzheimers disease.

Also read: 5 things you probably didnt know about Medicare

Taking care of your overall medical andmental healthplays a critical role in living a brain-healthy lifestyle. You should see your doctor regularly, get annual screenings and manage any chronic illnesses you have.

Agronin also recommends keeping a positive attitude toward aging and fostering a strong sense of purpose. Volunteering, focusing on relationships and having an interest in civic, religious or spiritual associations can have a powerful impact on living a brain-healthy lifestyle.

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7 rules to reduce your risk of Alzheimer's and keep your brain healthy - MarketWatch

Consuming too much protein is associated with few side effects

Protein should be an essential part of your diet. Many add more protein to their diet for weight loss. High protein diet has gained huge popularity when it comes to weight loss. Protein boosts metabolism which helps in better weight loss. Protein can also keep you full for longer and make you eat less. Further contributes to weight loss. Protein is the building block of the body that helps you build muscles. Most fitness enthusiasts consume protein daily in huge quantities. But sometimes end up consuming more than required. Too much consumption of protein is also bad for your health in various ways. Here are some side effects of consuming too much protein.

Protein, when consumed in the right quantity with the right exercises helps in weight loss. But when consumed in excess protein can even contribute to weight gain. You need to be very careful about the portion size if you want to lose weight. High protein diets help in weight loss when consumed in the right way.

If you want to lose weight you must consume protein in limited quantityPhoto Credit: iStock

Consuming too much protein can also contribute to digestive issues. One can experience constipation or may feel bloated. You must consume protein in limited quantity to avoid any kind of digestive issues. Protein makes your meal heavy which can also become hard to digest.

Also read:Weight Loss: Try These High Protein Breakfast Options Which Can Help You Lose Weight

More protein intake can lead to dehydration. You may experience increased thirst. To avoid extreme dehydration you must drink more water.

You may experience dehydration due to high protein consumptionPhoto Credit: iStock

Too much protein can affect your kidneys as well. It can make your kidneys work extra hard to get rid of excess nitrogen and other waste produced. If you are already suffering from kidney diseases then you must strictly avoid too much consumption of protein.

Also read:Weight Loss Tips: Top 5 High Protein Vegetables That Should Be A Part Of Your Weight Loss Diet

Yes! Consumption of too much protein can affect your bone health. Diets rich in protein can cause calcium loss which is associated with bone-related issues like osteoporosis or poor bone health. Further studies are required to specify the effect of protein on calcium and bone health.

Also read:Weight Loss: Protein-Rich Pulses Can Help You Lose Weight, Here's How; Know Other Health Benefits

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.

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Are You On A High Protein Diet? Here Are Few Side Effects Of Consuming Too Much Protein - NDTV News