On the one-year anniversary of the first 737 MAX crash, senators and representatives grilled CEO Dennis Muilenburg for nine hours at public hearings on Capitol Hill about how Boeings mistakes contributed to 346 deaths. As they forced Muilenburg to concede to design and management errors, policymakers built a case for more regulation of Boeings advanced airplanes, not less.

Yet in the same month that Muilenburg appeared before Congress, Waymo began offering driverless car service to early adopters in Chandler, Arizona, without safety drivers on board. Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company held by Googles parent Alphabet, now carries passengers in potentially lethal vehicles on public roadways with zero government testing or certification of the safety or security of the robotic driver.

At a moment when public skepticism of big tech runs high and a bipartisan group of fifty state attorneys general has started an antitrust investigation of Google, it is hard to imagine that the safety of autonomous driving technology will remain exclusively in the hands of companies like Waymo. The implementation of automated systems and how humans interact with them lies at the heart of Boeings failures with the 737 MAX program. Robotic cars have already claimed at least one life. If that number grows, the traveling public and their elected leaders will eventually demand that some entity other than the company selling autonomous driving technology test its safety.

Yet policymakers must take care about which lessons they learn from Boeings failures. Notwithstanding the 737 MAX tragedies in Indonesia and Ethiopia, no one has died in the United States in a commercial airline crash in more than ten years. During that same period, nearly 350,000 people, equal to almost half the population of Seattle, were killed in car crashes in the United State. Over 25 million people in the United States went to the emergency room because of auto accidents in the same decade, a number that exceeds the entire population of Cascadia. Despite the recent loss of trust in Boeing, airplane travel remains much safer than auto travel.

If automated driving systems can reduce the death toll on our roadways as their advocates promise, policymakers should accelerate, not inhibit, their deployment. Yet they must also remain clear eyed about technology companies whose incentives dont always align with the public interest and find ways to create meaningful checks on bad corporate behavior.

In this article, I review Boeings mistakes with the 737 MAX and explore what worked and what didnt work in the FAAs regulatory approach to Boeing. I then look at the case for the light regulatory touch now adopted by many jurisdictions when it comes to autonomous vehicles. I wrap up with some recommendations on how local governments in Cascadia can take prudent steps towards deploying autonomous vehicles in ways that improve safety and build public trust.

Dominic Gates at the Seattle Times has done excellent, in-depth reporting on the 737 MAX that the publisher packaged into an interactive explainer of exactly what went wrong. Twelve problems with an automated control system caused it to errantly take control of the elevator trim in the tail section and fly the planes down to fatal crashes in spite of the pilots best efforts to reassert control. Factors that contributed to the faulty design included:

After the second crash, regulators and markets responded to Boeings mistakes:

Even though Boeing had strong business incentives to make the 737 MAX safe, competitive pressures from Airbus and a rush to market resulted in a flawed design. After the crashes, regulators asserted their authority and forced Boeing to fix the problem. Policymakers appear ready to strengthen the hand of the FAA in approving the 737 MAXs return to service and on future aircraft design.

When private companies compromise public safety, public regulators step in and make sure they do it right. Thats why the construction and operation of any vessel that moves peoplebe it an airplane, automobile, train, bus, passenger ship, or elevatormust meet requirements established by public regulators in the United States. A safety failure like that on the Boeing 737 MAX offers yet another proof point that private-sector enterprises may lack sufficient incentive to make safety a priority on their own.

The autonomous car industry desperately wants to avoid the regulatory regimes applied to airplanes and other transport modes, favoring instead the idea of a light regulatory touch. The industry strongly supported the AV Start Act in 2017 that would have allowed them to put tens of thousands of autonomous vehicles on the road without standards for self-driving safety. That effort stalled in the US Senate when safety advocates pushed back.

Industry supporters argue that a heavy-handed regulatory approach to self-driving technology will slow its deployment and delay its life-saving applications. With over 35,000 people killed per year on the nations highways, self-driving advocates promise a technological fix so long as regulators dont mess it up. Free market incentives will develop and deploy the technology faster, lowering the total number of deaths in the next two decades compared with a scenario where public regulators adopt a rigorous program of testing and validation before allowing self-driving cars on the road.

The autonomous vehicle industry also echoes the arguments by aviations experts about the limited technical expertise within regulatory agencies. Christopher Hart, a former NTSB chairman and pilot who chaired the Joint Authorities Technical Review (JATR), observed in testimony to the US Senate that the leading technologists are not going to be with the regulator they arent able to hire and retain the leading technologists theyre going to be with the company. The implication is that regulators wont know enough about how the technology works to judge its safety.

Though self-serving, the industrys arguments are hard to dismiss entirely. Regulation does slow things down and autonomous driving technology is advancing rapidly. The best practice of today may be obsolete tomorrow. Locking in standards too soon may hinder the advance of better and safer practices.

For the time being, policymakers and early adopters in Arizona have put their full faith in Waymo to do the right thing. Waymos engineers have convinced their lawyers that their technology is safe enough for the company to manage what liability will emerge from putting these vehicles into service. So long as there are no (or few) accidents, this experiment in laissez faire could continue for years.

The US approach to battery-powered e-cigarettes may offer some parallels. In the last decade, vaping grew into an $8 billion business with minimal regulation. Vaping is less harmful than cigarette smoking, and so its supporters argued against regulation since vaping could potentially save lives. After ten years of the hands-off approach, the growth of vaping among teenagers and a spate of vaping-related deaths finally prompted the FDA to act, starting with a proposed ban on certain flavorings for e-cigarettes. One could imagine a similar scenario unfolding with self-driving cars. Well-managed companies put safe products on the road, the market grows, and then something happens that forces the public sector to step in and start enforcing rules.

Waymo has done the most testing of self-driving technology and, with Alphabets backing, has the financial heft to become the market leader in offering automated transportation services. But like Boeing, Waymo feels pressure from financial markets to bring its new technology to market faster. In September 2019, the month before Waymo started service without safety drivers, Morgan Stanley slashed $70 billion from its valuation of Waymo because of delays in deploying service. The managers making the decisions to put the robots on the road have to balance their personal stake in the companys financial success with the safety of the traveling public.

Waymos competitors understand the risks to the industry of not establishing standards for the verification and validation of self-driving technology. In July 2019, Aptiv, Audi, Baidu, BMW, Continental, Daimler, Fiat Chrysler, Intel, and Volkswagen together published Safety First for Automated Driving as a work in progress to establish standard ways to prove that self-driving technology is safe. The same month, Uber separately released its Safety Case Framework in a similar effort to describe an approach to safety while avoiding fixed standards that could limit technology development.

Waymo has not yet joined these industry-wide efforts to build a consensus around a safety framework for testing and deploying autonomous vehicles. Perhaps because it has a head start and doesnt want to lose its competitive advantage waiting for the rest of the industry to catch up and adopt uniform standards.

Exactly how and when the industry and public sector will establish standards and regulations on self-driving technology remains to be seen. It seems inevitable that eventually some company will put vehicles into service that kill or injure enough people that regulators will have to respond. In the meantime, the autonomous vehicle companies would serve their and societys long-term interests if they pooled some of their massive investments to develop an independent drivers test for robots to keep the dangerous ones off the road.

The vision of widespread use of electric robo-taxi service holds tremendous promise for Cascadias cities. The technology could lower costs, reduce emissions, free up valuable real estate from parking, and improve safety. That bright future depends on full-size automated electric vehicles that can operate safely at highway speeds in all manner of traffic and weather conditions. Until those capabilities are proven, one way that cities can get themselves and their citizens ready is by exploiting advances in wireless bandwidth and artificial intelligence to robotize the repositioning of the new generation of micromobility services such as shared e-bikes and e-scooters.

Operators of these micromobility services could use remote operators using screens and joysticks and some artificial intelligence to move e-bikes and e-scooters at walking speeds along routes and at times of day when they would not interfere with other uses of rights of way. Such redistribution of lightweight devices will not hurt anybody; you cant run someone over at 5 mph. This slow start would allow operators to reposition vehicles that block sidewalks, to redeploy them to areas with high-demand, to send them to recharging stations, and to send them directly to people who request them.

The technology would make the services more convenient for users, address cities concerns about sidewalk clutter, and provide low-cost last-mile connections to transit stops. Slow-speed, self-driving bikes and scooters would also introduce autonomous technology to communities in a low-risk way that would build trust in the eventual deployment of larger and faster vehicles. The technology also puts local governments firmly in control of how the technology is deployed as they have clear jurisdiction over the operation of micromobiity services.

Segway Ninebot and Tortoise recently announced capabilities for the remote piloting of scooters and e-bikes. Segway Ninebot uses a three-wheeled scooter while Tortoise retrofits existing scooters and bikes with training wheels that drop down when remote operators reposition them. Tortoise will begin offering service with scooters in a suburb of Atlanta early next year.

The potential market for these services is huge. According to a 2017 travel survey by the Puget Sound Regional Council, over half of all the trips made in the four county region surrounding Seattle have a length of two miles or less, a distance travelers can cover on a bike or scooter in under 10 minutes. Cascadias cities, including Seattle, Bellevue, Portland, and Vancouver BC, have invested in protected bike lanes to make choosing these modes safer and more convenient.

Serving short-distance trips first with low-cost, light-weight electric vehicles that cant kill people when in autonomous mode is a low-risk way to introduce the technology. Customers, operators, and cities in Cascadia would gain confidence in how the autonomous systems work and could gradually add larger and faster vehicles as the technology companies and their regulators prove their safety. The fastest and safest path to our autonomous transportation future could be in the slow lane.

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The Boeing 737 MAX Fiasco and the Future of Autonomous Vehicles - Sightline Institute

In our latest issue, we give an overview of some of the key questions and topics currentlyaffecting the aerosols & sprays sector. Victoria Hattersley reports.

Plastic aerosols on the rise

When the average consumer thinks of aerosol cans, they probably think of aluminium or steel and its definitely the case that metals still make up the largest percentage of overall production. Were all pretty well-versed by now in the environmental benefits of metals. They are permanent materials that can be infinitely recycled without any loss of quality. Empty aerosols can then be safely recycled alongside other metal packaging. Simple, yes?

But its also the case that an increasing number of aerosols today are made from plastics, and this percentage is expected to rise. Its also worth bearing in mind that while metal is certainly endlessly recyclable the actual carbon footprint needed to produce it is higher than plastics something that should be taken into account when we are looking at overall life cycle analysis.

Plastic aerosols are becoming increasingly popular for several reasons, says Nadine DeBauche, business development manager, Strategic Initiatives, Graham Packaging. They will not rust on the bottom like metal spray cans and they are warmer to the touch. When exposed to high heat, pressurised metal aerosols can also be hazardous if not vented properly.

According to Ms DeBauche, plastics can also allow for greater flexibility in design, which helps to address the demand for more portable products. As the population ages, consumers are looking for products that have more ergonomic appeal and are easier to use. Our plastic aerosol solution allows us to produce container shapes that provide better ergonomics and more attractive designs than is possible with metal. Our new champagne-base, single-piece bottle has garnered a significant amount of shelf appeal. This container has also been beneficial from a cost perspective since the manufacturing process is reduced to one piece.

Building the circular economy

The current Aerosol Dispenser Directive (ADD) was written in 1975, at a time when only brittle plastics were available, meaning they were treated in the same way as coated glass containers. The market has moved on since then, and PET is now an increasingly viable aerosol material. In 2020, an updated ADD could allow plastic aerosols beyond the current 220ml restriction in Europe. This would greatly expand their market reach, so if it comes to pass the amendment would be a significant development for companies such as Graham.

It is owing to this potential growth in the volume of plastic aerosol packages that in 2018 Petcore Europe founded, along with the FEA, the Plastic Aerosol Recycling Special Industry Group (SiG). Its aim is to enhance the value and sustainable growth of the PET value chain in Europe as well as growing the volume of recycled PET.

Among other things, this is a conscious effort on the part of the industry to address one of the biggest challenges of using plastic aerosols the low recycling rates and the negative perceptions of the material this elicits. In part, according to Petcore, this comes down to a focus on the design of the valve area to avoid any contamination (e.g. metal) to the PET recycling stream. This is an issue that still needs some exploration by the SiG.

Alain DHaese, Secretary General of FEA, the European Aerosol Federation, highlights that several valve companies are already developing PET valves.

If we want to be serious about plastic recycling, he says, there is a need to establish a constructive dialogue within the PET value chain. The aerosol industry is already well-advanced on the recycling of metal aerosols. Obviously, there is more work to do for the plastic stream because the topic is more recent. I think this is an opportunity to provide a good story on plastics.

Is the future air-powered?

Its long been considered common knowledge that aerosols as in the sprays themselves, rather than the container can be damaging to the environment. I dont need to give a history lesson here the industrys voluntary move away from CFCs to alternative propellants such as liquid flammable gases in 1989 is well known but even so, it could be said that many of the propellants in use today are still damaging.

Some have argued that air-powered aerosols, as opposed to the use of liquids, are the future of sustainability. One such company is Netherlands-based Airopack, which is an innovator in the area of air-powered solutions indeed, it advocates for a ban on liquid propellants altogether, as well as the use of aerosols in-house.

Airopack is not really an aerosol at all as it contains no harmful propellants but only pure air, says Olivier Overweg, executive vice-president, sales, at Airopack. In fact, I would opt for rephrasing to air-powered pressurised containers. In addition to the sustainability benefits, he explains that some of the other advantages of such a solution include: Transparency of the bottle with less risk of flammability; pressure control device to ensure smooth, uninterrupted flow and giving complete evacuation.

What are we breathing in?

Aside from environmental concerns, there are also the health implications. As consumers become more aware of the ingredients in their products, they are demanding alternatives to propellants using potentially harmful ingredients.

We need to show the big picture on both carbon footprint and direct health threats when using packaging materials, says Mr Overweg. Not only the packaging material itself but also what happens when you dispense or spray. What is the impact on health when dispensing or spraying?

No single fit-for-all solution

One thing we have learned when it comes to packaging is that there is no perfect solution and while the above may make it seem as though air-powered aerosols are the clear choice, it is, alas, not so simple.

Technically, air is an aerosol propellant like any other, says Alain DHaese, Secretary General of FEA. It will be a compressed gas (like nitrogen or carbon dioxide) not a liquefied gas. However, in some aerosol products it is not yet technically or economically possible to replace the liquefied propellant whilst retaining product performance. Other options also exist to improve products. I do not think there is and will be a single fit-for-all solution to make aerosol dispensers more sustainable.

In short, while there is great potential for air-powered aerosols this does not mean that we can dispense with more traditional propellants altogether. But the industry is more conscious than ever of the need to mitigate their impact.

Sustainable innovation: Tubex

Unilevers Dove Men & Care recently received the German Packaging Prize 2019 in the economic efficiency category. The can, manufactured by German company Tubex, uses a new patented alloy for slugs a joint development between Tubex and slug supplier Neuman Aluminium. According to the company, the advantage of this patented slugs design is that it is ready to use real postconsumer recycled scrap up to 25 per cent and more which it says is of real significance.

Another achievement of this new can is the weight reduction up to 20 per cent less than the previous standard can. Tubex achieved this by reducing the wall thickness and slightly modifying the shape of the shoulder.

But reduction of the wall thickness in turn creates its own problem: it makes the cans more susceptible to dents during packing and transport. To minimise this, Tubex has invested in a new packing technique, layer wide packaging, through which the cans are placed on pallets by robots instead of being packed in bundles.

The real advantage of this packing is that 15 per cent more cans fit onto the pallet and fifteen per cent more pallets fit onto a truck, says managing director Leo Werdich. This also means fifteen per cent less warehouse space / pallets are needed.

Design spotlight: Ball Packaging

Reaching the consumer through on-shelf differentiation is a constant challenge for brand owners. Add to this the increased consumer demand for sustainable solutions, combined with functionality and personalisation, and its clear to see this puts an awful lot of pressure on aerosol manufacturers to come up with ever-more innovative solutions.

One big design story of the past year was Ball Packagings 360 can, which pairs graphics expertise with innovative shaping in order to be visually engaging from every angle. 360 brings can design to the next level, as varied shaping is available around the entire circumference of the can, says Jason Galley, global director Innovations and Business Development. Artwork oriented to the recessed area complements the shaping and allows for dynamic detail. For brands that embrace a clean and simple aesthetic, this new dimension can add drama without clutter.

There are also ergonomic benefits. The shaped recessed area can be designed in such a way that it provides easy grip a feature that is useful for products where slippage can be a usability concern.

What does sustainable mean for aerosols?

In the midst of the ongoing climate crisis, the word sustainable is used so often that sometimes it can seem to lose all meaning and it can mean different things to different people, depending on their priorities or which part of the value chain they operate in. We asked our various interviewees what the word means to them within their own segment.

Olivier Overweg, Airopack: It means being as transparent as you can be. Show customers and consumers the real end-to-end comparison of the carbon footprint. For instance: what is the comparison of energy needed to recycle aluminium, plastics or metal?

Alain DHaese, FEA: The concept focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Life-Cycle Assessment is the only tool to make relevant environmental assessments, but it is complex and costly, and the results depend on the data which are used and assumptions which are included. Aerosol packaging is only a part of the product impact.

Nadine DeBauche, Graham Packaging: Graham has committed to the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment for all plastic packaging to be reused or recycled by 2025. In addition, were currently focused on three primary goals that directly impact our customers: increasing post-consumer resin content in our bottles, improving recyclability in all categories and decreasing our carbon footprint.

Jason Galley, Ball Packaging: Public debate often focuses on the first-time production of aluminium, plastic or other packaging materials. This is outdated, linear economy thinking and neglects, for example, the 95 per cent energy savings that are achieved through the recycling of aluminium. Balls development of ReAL, the worlds first lighter weight aluminium aerosol can, expresses our commitment to innovation and sustainability.

Europes aerosol industry: At a glance*

*Taken from the FEA Statistics report 2017

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Aerosols: Innovation, design and recycling - Packaging Europe

FORMER deputy Labour leader Tom Watson looked unrecognisable at Glastonbury 2019, compared to the images that surfaced of him way back in 2017.

Back then, he weighed a hefty 22st and was living with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

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But in just over a year, Tom managed to shed a whopping 7st - andreversed his disease.

How? By ditching sugar and going keto.

The 52-year-old, who has now quit his role as deputy Labour leader, calls himself a "sugar addict" who forced himself to cut out all refined sugar.

He binned any processed foods in his cupboards that might have hidden sugar in them.

He told The Guardian that he does still eat brown rice and pasta when he's dining out and allows himself a little dark chocolate if he needs a fix.

Within just one month, his blood glucose levels were within a normal range and within a year, he was off his meds.

There's no specific "diabetes diet" and as with any kind of weight loss, what works for one person might not suit another.

But some people who have put their diabetes into remission have done so following the Mediterranean diet or by following a low-carb approach.

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Losing as little as 5 per cent of your body weight, or 15kg, can have a massive impact on the condition.

So here's how to lose weight and reverse type 2 diabetes like Tom:

TheMediterranean dietis one that has existed for centuries.

It's how the Italians and Greeks eat - whole grains, oily fish, olive oil, lots of fresh fruit and veg and very little processed grub.

Although diabetes is a disease concerning blood sugar, it's not just sugar we should be concerned about.

You want to be eating to bring down blood pressure and cholesterol too - and the Mediterranean diet has been proven to be one of the most heart-healthy ways of eating out there.

Areview of 17 studies found that a Mediterranean-style diet was found to improve fasted glucose levels for people with type 2 diabetes far more than a low-fat diet.

A2008 study found that people who eat a Mediterranean diet have an 83 per cent lower chance of developing diabetes.

Two trialsconcluded that eating like the Italians reduced cardiovascular issues and risk of early death.

How to eat like an Italian

Even without counting calories, there are huge benefits to eating a more Mediterranean diet.

You want to be focusing on whole foods - avoiding anything processed or pre-packaged.

Load up on good fats and lean proteins, chow down on fresh fruit and veg and make sure that when you are having carbs, you're choosing whole grains.

Good fats:

Proteins:

Carbs:

A low-carb Med diet (where half of daily calories come from fats like avocados, hummus, olive oil, cheese), has been found to have an even greater benefit than a higher carb one.

For some people, it might be easier just to ditch the carbs completely for a while, to kick-start their weight loss.

Reversing diabetes is a long-term project - and hopefully, a lifetime result.

So, by all means, start off with something dramatic but bear in mind that you'll have to transition to something sustainable.

Theketo diethas been proven to decrease blood glucose levels.

A 24-week study looked at the effect of a low-carb diet on type 2 diabetics.

Scientists found that by the end, the patients had seen massive improvements to their glycemic control and medication reduction compared to others.

And a2017 studyfound that the keto diet outperformed a conventional, low-fat diabetes diet over 32 weeks when it came to weight loss and glucose levels.

Keto may also work for women who have developed diabetes as aresult of havingpolycystic ovarian syndrome.

PCOS survivors have a heightened risk of the condition due to the fact that up to 80 per cent of them have some kind of insulin resistance.

How to do 'lazy keto'

You don't have to track calories or macros to go keto.

Concentrate on making sure that your plate ratio looks balanced.

A general rule of thumb make sure:

Ketodoesn'tmean going without fruit and veg - that's a common misconception.

"Low carb/keto done correctly should be full of good gut boosting foods, including fibre from the vegetables," nutritionist Sarah Flowerpreviously told The Sun.

If you are going to cut out grains, then it's absolutely crucial to make sure that you're getting at least five portions of veg a day.

If you'd rather not think aboutwhatyoueat rather thanwhenyoueat, fasting might be a good option.

The 16:8 fast (where you eat all your food within an eight-hour window) has been proven to be a good way of lowering blood glucose and shifting body fat

A recent study found that fasting from 2pmimproved insulin sensitivityin a group of pre-diabetic males.

And that could be down to the fact that we're better able toregulate blood glucose levels effectively in the morning,due to daily variations in metabolism.

So having hearty meals during the day and skipping dinner could be key.

Another small studylooked at three type 2 diabetic men.

REALITY CHEQUE Rich Kid who spends 400 a month on COFFEE in tears after visiting food bank

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WRAP STAR Mum covers walls in Xmas wrapping paper & people can't decide if its tacky or not

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NOT ALL WHITE PLT shopper felt sick after finding white stain in the crotch of her trousers

Two were asked to fast for 24 hours every other day and one was told to fast for three days a week.

At the end of the 10-month trial, they had all lost weight, lowered their blood glucose and had been able to stop using insulin after a month.

In one case, the person stopped having to use medication after justfive days.

"This present case series showed that 24-hour fasting regimens can significantly reverse or eliminate the need for diabetic medication," concluded the authors.

Health benefits of fasting

Aside from weight loss, fasting is believed to have a number of health benefits.

They include:

There's no getting away from it - exercise is key in reversing type 2 diabetes.

Tom Watson puts his reversal largely down to rediscovering a love of cycling.

Last year, he also joined a gym and started weight training.

He now runs 5km twice a week, lifts weights twice a week and makes sure that he always does his 10,000 steps.

Being sedentary is known to be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes so you've got to get moving.

You don't have to be an athlete to get started.

"Eating healthily and doing regular physical activity like running can help you manage your weight and ultimately lower your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes," Douglas Twenefour, Deputy Head of Care at Diabetes UK, told The Sun.

"Nobody is expecting you to become a marathon runner overnight but running regularly benefits the body in a number of ways which will ultimately help prevent or manage the condition.

Why not follow our 12 easy tips to start running?They include power walking and treating yourself, so there's no excuse not to lace up and get out of your door!

Diabetes - the facts

Diabetes UK estimates that more than half of all cases of type 2 diabetes could have been prevented or delayed, with obesity being responsible for up to 85 per cent of someone's risk of developing the condition.

So an obvious solution is to change the way you eat and move.

The experts at Diabetes UK don't call it "reversal" because there's no guarantee that once your blood sugars have stabilised, they'll stay like that forever.

But they say that it's certainly possible to put your diabetes into remission - meaning that your blood sugar levels are below the diabetes range and you no longer need to take your medications.

4.7 million Brits currently live with diabetes - 90 per cent of which have the type 2 version of the disease.

More people than ever are at risk of developing type 2 and if nothing changes, over 5 million of us will have it by 2025.

That's terrifying, given that every week, more than 500 people die prematurely as a result of their condition.

Every single week in the UK, diabetes causes:

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes can include:

Douglas explains why running is so good:

Using insulin more effectivelyWhen youre living with type 2 diabetes, the insulin your body produces can be less effective at processing the glucose in your blood, which can lead to glucose building up in your bloodstream.

Running can help your body use the insulin it produces more efficiently, meaning your body becomes more effective at processing the glucose in your blood.

This helps keep blood glucose levels in the short-term healthy range (4-7 millimoles per litre).

Lowering short-term glucose level

Exercise like running can increase the amount of glucose your bodys muscles use for energy, which in turn can help to lower blood glucose levels in the short-term.

This is important because a short-term rise in blood glucose levels can lead to symptoms such as the need to urinate more; thirstiness; and tiredness.

Maintaining a short-term blood glucose level of 4-7 millimoles per litre lowers the risk of developing such symptoms.

However, different people could be given different blood glucose targets depending on how their diabetes is treated and their personal circumstance.

Lowering long-term glucose levels

Running not only helps keep glucose levels low in the short-term.

More effective processing of the glucose in your blood helps it stay within the healthy long-term range too.

Having high long-term blood glucose levels (HbA1c) of more than 48 millimoles per moles over time has been associated with life-changing complications of diabetes such as sight loss, kidney disease and amputations.

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Tom Watson weight loss how to lose weight and reverse type 2 diabetes like the former deputy Labour leader - The Sun

You may have made the decision to lose weight, but it can be difficult to find the right diet for you.

There are countless diet plans which claim you can lose weight, but they may not be the right one for you.

LighterLife combines mindfulness and a very low-calorie diet which they believe make the approach so affective.

The LighterLife Xpress weight loss and management programmes have helped more than 400,000 lose weight.

They believe losing weight isnt just about what you eat, but your relationship with food.

Losing weight and learning how to keep it off is a skill that has to be worked at.

LighterLife is a slimming club which is straightforward to follow no point system, no calorie counting and no hassle.

The way it helps you to lose weight is with its total dietary replacement (TDR) Foodpacks.

They are high in protein, and have you covered in terms of vitamins, minerals, fibre and essential fats and carbs.

Research published in The Lancet from the Diabetes UK-funded DiRECT trial, showed that after losing weight on a TDR plan such as LighterLife, almost half of the people who took part with type 2 diabetes went into remission.

Study co-lead Professor Mike Lean said: Formula diets have proved extremely safe and effective in helping people to lose substantial amounts of weight. TDR VLCDs are the only treatments currently available that can reliably achieve 15kg weight loss and consequently diabetes remission.

LighterLife also offer guided CBT mindfulness sessions in free weekly Xpress meetings.

There are three different plans to choose from Total, FlexiFasting and Management.

Total is the brands premium very-low--calorie diet (VLCD) TDR plan which helps people lose a stone in a month by replacing all food with the Foodpacks.

The low-calorie diet plan consists of just 600 to 800 calories, but with all the great taste and convenience to keep you motivated.

FlexiFasting combines conventional food with the TDR Foodpacks.

People can expect to lose 1-2lb a week using this plan.

Management is the plan for people to use once they have reached their goal so they can maintain.

LighterLife Xpress member Samantha said: I lost 8lb in my first week. I couldnt believe it!

And I went on to lose my first stone in about 4 weeks. The rate of weight loss kept me coming back each week and I always felt confident going for my weigh-in.

I always stayed for the whole meeting because I loved how the room was filled with so much positivity and camaraderie.

When youve been dieting so long you think you can do it alone but without my Xpress group I wouldnt be four stone lighter!

You can read more about the LighterLife diet from the LighterLife website.

Keep in mind, the NHS recommends to follow VLCD under medical supervision for a maximum of 12 weeks continuously.

Their warning continues: Most people who want to lose weight do not need to follow a very low calorie diet.

A daily limit of 800kcal is about a third of the average energy needs for a man (2,500kcal) and half needed for a woman (2,000kcal).

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How to lose weight fast and reduce risk of type 2 diabetes with the LighterLife diet - Daily Star

Intermittent fasting is quickly becoming a popular dieting trend. You can't really call it a diet though, because it's not, it's more of a lifestyle or an eating pattern. Diets like low carb, paleo or weight watchers will tell you what to eat, whereas intermittent fasting does not. The only restriction that intermittent fasting places on you is when you can eat.

Intermittent fasting involves restricting eating from anywhere between 12 hours to 36 hours in a row. There are a few methods but the most popular intermittent fasting patterns are the 16/8 method and the 5:2 method. The 16/8 method means that you fast for 16 hours a day and eat for 8 of them. If you have your first meal at 11 am, you should eat your last meal no later than 7 pm. If you have your first meal at 8 am, you should eat your last meal no later than 4 pm. The 5:2 involves fasting for 24 consecutive hours on 2 non-consecutive days each week. This allows you to eat normally the other 5 days of the week. When fasting during the 2 nonconsecutive days, you can eat something, but it's recommended that you stay under 500 calories is you're a woman and 600 calories if you're a man.

Another method of intermittent fasting, the eat-stop-eat is similar to the 5:2 method but dictates that you only need to fast for one day per week rather than 2. The more intense methods are the alternative-day-fasting method where you fast every other day and the warrior diet where you eat raw fruits and vegetables throughout the day and eat a huge meal at night. When following the warrior diet, eating is typically restricted to a 4-hour window of time. While fasting you can drink as much water as you want. You can also drink things like coffee, tea or any other beverage as long as they're not sweetened and has zero calories.

So now that you know what it is, you're probably wondering is it effective and what are some of the benefits? Proponents of intermittent fasting say that the benefits are numerous. The first benefit that is usually what makes people consider it in the first place is the possibility of weight loss. One of the main reasons it is believed that people lose weight while following this regimen is simply because you're not eating as much. If you're only eating for 8 hours in a day or drastically restricting calories one or two days a week, you're greatly reducing your caloric intake.

Assuming you're not binge eating or making up for lost time when you can eat, the calories saved from these missed meals may be all that you need to kick start weight loss. You may experience slower weight loss when intermittent fasting than with weight loss diets that are geared towards fast results but if you're able to make it into a lifestyle, you may experience long-term weight loss and maintenance rather than the roller coaster weight loss that most fad dieters experience.

PREVIOUSLY:After Her 3-Year-Old Called Her Fat, This Mom Took It Upon Herself To Lose 138 Pounds

Intermittent fasting also has many health benefits including reducing the risk of Type 2 diabetes. One of the highest risk factors of diabetes is being overweight. Since intermittent fasting can help with weight loss, it can help to reduce the chances of getting Type 2 diabetes or reverse the effects of the disease. Intermittent fasting has been said to help with heart health as well. It has also helped in the reduction of blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides (a type of fat that increases the chances of certain types of heart disease) and heart rate in both animals and humans.

Intermittent fasting has been linked to improved brain health and studies performed on animals have shown that intermittent fasting may lead to better learning and memory capabilities in mice. Other studies have shown that intermittent fasting can help to suppress inflammation to the brain which can help prevent certain neurological disorders like Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and strokes. Intermittent fasting has also been linked to reduced risks of cancer but more research needs to be done with humans before researchers, scientists and medical professionals can confidently speak to these benefits.

You can technically eat anything that you want when intermittent fasting BUT if you're looking to reap some of these benefits and get the most of it, experts advice that you eat a healthy well-balanced diet. People who love intermittent fasting love it because its easy to do. There's no list of foods to buy nor is there a laundry list of no-no food items to avoid. People who have been successful with intermittent fasting also like it because you can tailor and tweak it to fit your lifestyle.

If you know that you get hangry first thing in the morning, you can choose to have breakfast first thing in the morning and start your eating countdown from there. If on the other hand, you know that you won't be able to sleep when your stomach is grumbling, you can opt to skip breakfast and schedule your eating time span to include dinner. If you lead a high energy lifestyle and fear the effect that fasting will have on your ability to get through the day, you can choose to follow the method where you restrict your calories one or two days a week.

READ NEXT: As 'Dieting' Becomes More Taboo, Weight Watchers Is Changing Its Name

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Intermittent Fasting: Everything You Want To Know | Moms.com - Moms

That belly fat is giving you problems. You struggle to fit into your favorite pair of jeans and it makes you more likely to develop cardiovascular conditions and type 2 diabetes.

Having a belly fat that measures more than 40 inches or 102 cm in men and 35 inches or 88 cm in women can be considered as abdominal obesity. Getting rid of that excess fat in the abdominal area will not only make you look better but also make you feel better about your health.

There are several ways to lose belly fat. Health experts recommend a combination of exercise and diet to speed up fat loss.

But you can speed up the process by adding certain drinks to your diet. These drinks promise to improve metabolism and burn fat fast, especially when consumed before bedtime.

Weight Loss Drinks Before Sleep

Cucumber, Lemon and Parsley Combo Drink

This beverage can easily be done in the kitchen. It does not require any special ingredients and everything you would need may already be in your refrigerator.

Cucumber is known for being low in calories and having zero fat. It provides good amounts of fiber, which could help reduce bloating, according to Times Of India.

Another important ingredient in your weight loss drink is parsley. This natural diuretic contains vitamins A, B, C and K and helps manage water weight and retention during sleep.

Complete your drink with lemon for additional taste. It could also help improve gut health by supporting functions of the digestive system.

To create your weight loss drink, simply mix lemon juice with water, diced cucumber and a bunch of parsley. Blend the ingredients and drink the juice after your dinner.

Ginger Tea

If you prefer a warm drink before sleep, you can try ginger tea. One hot cup per night could help improve digestion, reduce bloating and fix other stomach issues.

Having a good digestive health may help speed up weight loss since the body eliminates more toxins and absorbs essential nutrients.

Drinks To Avoid To Lose Belly Fat

For faster fat loss, you should avoid drinking products with high amounts of sugar. Added sugar is unhealthy and contributes to excess fat in the belly and liver, according to Healthline.

Studies showed that sugar-sweetened beverages could increase childrens risk of obesity by 60 percent. Avoid soft drinks, fruit juices and high-sugar sports drinks.

Ginger has compounds called gingerols and shogaols that support stomach contractions and emptying. Pixabay

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Weight Loss Tip: Consume These Drinks Before Sleeping To Eliminate Belly Fat - Medical Daily

7 natural home remedies for weight loss that actually work  |  Photo Credit: Getty Images

In this era of zero figureand well looked-after body, every individualwants to achieve a great physique. There is a reason why each and every area in your locality has uncountable gyms and people are working their hearts out there. Every person wants to look beautiful and fit but at times, we can not achieve it owing to certain reasons. Earlier people maintained a different lifestyle and generally followed healthy food habits. Urbanisation has totally affected our lives as well as our eating habits as well.

Certain factors that contribute to a persons weight include family history and genetics, behaviour or habits, metabolism, and body mass index (BMI) rate. Maintaining a healthy weight can help you prevent and control many diseases and conditions. Overweight causes a serious risk of developing other diseases like obesity and high blood pressure. You also need to keep a check on the activity level if you are overweight. Here are some suggestions that will help you maintain a healthy weight.

Disclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purposes only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor or a professional healthcare provider if you have any specific questions about any medical matter.

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Want to lose weight? Heres what you can do to lose belly fat easily in 2 weeks - Times Now

As it turns out, not that likely.

Ever heard of kummerspeck? Kummerspeck is the word for the German concept of gaining weight due to emotional eating. Literally translated, kummerspeck means grief bacon.

We all know that sometimes people use food to cope with negative emotions. Emotional eating comforts us; it temporarily makes us feel better and even distracts us from the sadness or grief, but emotional eating leads to unhealthy eating habits, health problems if were not careful, and of course weight gain.

Relationship breakups are a common source of negative emotions and emotional eating (weve all heard the cliche about grabbing a pint of ice cream after a breakup some of us have been that cliche), and so researchers from Penn State and Albright College dove into the concept of kummerspeck to find out if people are more likely to gain weight after a relationship breakup.

Turns out, theyre not.

However, it should be noted that in the second survey, a small number of women who reported having a tendency to emotionally eat did also report having gained weight after a breakup.

So, unless you already have a bad habit of emotionally eating, its probably safe to say youre not at major risk for weight gain or other health problems if you reach for that bag of chips or box of chocolate or even make a fast food run or two in the couple of days following a breakup. Most likely, kummerspeck wont get its claws in you.

Out of curiosity, lets conduct our own mini survey.

Talk to me! Whats been your experience with weight gain (or loss) after a breakup? Or, emotional eating in general? How do you combat the urge, or get yourself back on track with healthy foods?

Photo by Lesha on Reshot.

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Broken Hearts and Grief Bacon: How Likely Are You to Gain Weight After a Breakup? - PsychCentral.com

Weve all read and heard that we are what we eat, but can just transforming your eating habits help you lose weight? According to 27-year-old Nimit Agarwal, not only can healthy eating habits kick-start your weight loss journey but it can also effectively reduce your bodys stress levels.

In April 2017, I fainted in my office and was forced to visit a doctor by my colleagues. The doc checked my bodys vitals, and was shocked. I weighed 84 kgs, my BMI was at 32 and my blood pressure was touching 160. I also had high sugar and very high cholesterol. The doc told me that these elevated symptoms are very similar are commonly found in the reports of an unhealthy 60-year-old man and not someone who's in their 20s, he says.

This statement shocked and surprised me! The doc also told me that if I didn't start taking care of my health soon, I'd be preparing my own death bed," he adds. "This one day changed my life. I knew I had to do whatever I could to get fit.

During this time, I was working 14 hours a day, neither did I have the time to workout nor the energy, so to lose weight, I focussed on the one thing I couldeating healthy. In a years time, by sticking to the below weight loss plan, I trimmed from 84 kgs to 65 kgs."

To start eating healthier, I made the below four changes in my regular diet and indulged in zero cheat meals. During this phase, I also rarely exercised. My weight loss was only a result of sticking to my four self-imposed changes.

1. Always have breakfast on time. This breakfast has to comprise more protein and less carbs (always).

2. Completely cut sugar from your meals, including refined sugars, in the form of sweets, beverages and chocolates.

3. Say no to fried food (I gave up on samosas and kachoris, which I used to like and savour the most).

4. Have an early, light dinner. Id have my last meal 4 hours before I went to sleep. This meal only included vegetables, dal and a bowl of yogurt (no roti or rice at all).

QUICK READ: 10 superfoods to include in your weight loss diet

Notably, its been one and a half years since I lost the 19 kgs, and I have been able to maintain my weight at 65 kgs by indulging in the below exercise routine and diet plan:

- 2 days of strength training (HIIT for 60 mins focusing on complete body workouts without any external weights)

- 1 day of Yoga (For stretching the body and relaxing the muscles from long workouts)

- I also make it a point to go swimming or cycling once a week.

- 3-4 days of running (One fast running session for almost 45 minutes on a medium pace for 2 days. On the third day, I run for 60 mins, I also go for one long distance run for about 2-3 hours on weekends)

Since Ive been running for almost 18 months now regularly, it has helped me morph into a long distance runner. And, so far, I have completed 11 half marathons including one of India's highest and most challenging one in Ladakh.

QUICK READ: The highs and lows of running your first marathon, by the numbers

"Also, now, I have relaxed the food restrictions I placed on my diet during my weight loss regime. But, I am still very conscious of what I eat. For example, I don't eat any sugar at all. I also drink a lot of water and ensure my food is rich in protein, good carbs and fibers."

Breakfast: An omelette made from 4 egg whites + sprouts + upma/porridge/poha

Lunch: A bowl of dal + two types of green vegetables + a bowl of curd + a small portion of brown rice + 2 egg whites

Dinner: A bowl of dal + one bowl of green vegetables + 1 bowl of curd + 1 chapati

QUICK READ: This is how eating eggs daily will help you lose weight without compromising on flavour

"I learned six very important lessons while trying to lose weight, I think they may be able to help you too:

1. Be selfish - Health is the only thing that you should be selfish about. It should be prioritised over everything else. You are at the center of your universe and everybody else in your life is a planet revolving around you. If the center of the universe is not stable or healthy, no matter how much you try to shine or hold the planets together, the universe will collapse.

2. It's not about weight loss - There is no direct correlation between weight and health. You can have a person with perfectly normal weight who is in bad health and vice versa. So don't only think about losing weight, think about good health. Healthy life is a continuous, non-stop process which needs to be practiced equally by everyone, irrespective of their weight or age.

3. Don't wait - Don't wait for a signal. You won't always be as lucky as I was to get a warning. There is no right age or time to start working on your health.

4. Have patience - I didn't do anything extreme; I took one step at a time and kept on adding over these steps. This is a marathon not a sprint. Marathoners run till the age of 60; sprinters cannot run after 30. Don't overdo anything. Start with the thing which is easiest for you. The thumb rule is to ask yourself if you can do it for 12 months?

5. Make process goals and not outcome goals - One common mistake we all make is set 'outcome goals surrounding our weight, tummy size, bicep size, six packs, blood pressure, sugar, etc. I made the same mistake but was quick to realise that it has two problems. First, it is very difficult to achieve constant progression and keep yourself motivated to achieve these goals. For example, you may not lose weight everyday as it is the result of a lot of different things (some of which you cannot even control). So, as soon as we start seeing a dip in progression, we will feel sad and disappointed, leading to a complete stop. Secondly, once we achieve 'outcome goals', we tend to stop. Like I explained earlier, leading a healthy life is a lifelong process and it cannot just be a phase. That's why you should have process goals that are long term.

- You should be able to track these goals regularly

- You cannot have any negative progression until you stop doing it

- Push your limits. The time frame to achieve your goals should be infinite

6. Make noise - Create a sense of peer pressure around you by sharing your goals and the whole journey with your friends, family members or even the outside world using social media.

Disclaimer: The diet and workout routines shared by the respondents may or may not be approved by diet and fitness experts. GQ India doesn't encourage or endorse the weight loss tips & tricks shared by the person in the article. Please consult an authorised medical professional before following any specific diet or workout routine mentioned above.

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How to lose weight like this guy who lost 19 kgs by making these 4 minor adjustments in his diet - GQ India - What a man's got to do

A mum who once spent 1,000 a month on takeaways and fancy meals has unveiled her incredible weight loss journey after shedding 3st in just 14 weeks.

Corrie DSilva started to pile on the pounds in September 2016 after getting married and recovering from a severe back injury.

The 40-year-olds frame rose to a size 16, where she tipped the scales at 13st 5lbs before her transformation.

She was on medication after the back surgery and doctors told her she would never be able to train at the gym again.

But Corrie, from Cheshire, completely transformed her lifestyle by swapping her fast food and restaurant habits for healthy homemade meals.

Combined with a mixture of strength and cardio training, the mum-of-two saw her weight drop by 3st in just three months to weigh 10st 2lbs.

The company director said: Back then, I really lacked confidence and my back injury became an excuse not to exercise.

After surgery, I suffered from horrific pain and doctors told me to take it easy, meaning I could no longer train and could only go swimming and do yoga.

The turning point for me was when we moved house in May 2019 I realised I was so busy with the children and my business that I had picked up lots of bad habits.

I was doing damage to myself by snacking on crisps and sausage rolls and drinking a full bottle of wine to myself every night and felt exhausted when I should have been enjoying my new house.

My husband Nick and I liked to socialise a lot and would probably spend the best part of 1,000 a month just on eating out and drinking, along with buying takeaways.

Corrie began to make a change in May 2019, where she began to eat healthier and got a personal trainer despite being told to not train.

She started training twice a week at Ultimate Performance in Cheshire, completing strength workouts including shoulder presses and sled drags.

The mum also gave up drinking for the 14-week programme and scrapped takeaways in favour of healthy options like vegetable soup for lunch and salmon for dinner.

She added: At the end of my transformation, I felt like the person I always wanted to be, it was amazing to get myself back and I felt mentally better too.

Its been a life-changing experience for me and I felt like my PT wrapped me up in cotton wool for three months and genuinely cared about my progress.

My fitness venture has rubbed off on my children and husband too it feels great to be able to get out more and be active with them, and its given me a different lease of life.

Corries diet before:

Breakfast: Skipped

Lunch: Sandwich or panini with crisps

Dinner: Ready meals or pizza/Thai takeaways or meals out

Snacks: Crisps and sausage rolls

Corries diet after:

Breakfast: High protein scrambled eggs with bacon/on bagel or oats

Lunch: Chicken with vegetable soup or salad

Dinner: Salmon with lots of vegetables (sometimes with rice or potatoes)

Snacks: Yoghurt or fruit

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Mum who spent 1k a month on junk food shares incredible weight loss in 14 weeks - Daily Star