The metabolic confusion diet is one of the latest fad diets to be blowing up on social media. Like many fad diets, it promises you can lose weight while still eating what you want.

Fans of the diet claim that by switching between very low calorie days and high calorie days, you can lose weight while simultaneously speeding up your metabolism. It may sound promising, but theres no research to back these claims.

The metabolic confusion diet is similar to intermittent fasting, but without the extremes of energy (calorie) restriction. A person on the diet might, for example, eat only 1,200 calories one day, then eat 2,000 calories the next. Although there hasnt been any research looking specifically at the metabolic confusion diet, we might compare it with a popular form of intermittent fasting: the 5:2 diet where you eat as usual for five days, then either fast for two days or only eat around 500 calories.

Despite being able to eat as much as you like on feed days, people may not feel more hungry and still end up eating less overall and even less on the feed days than they did before starting intermittent fasting. This supports the idea that intermittent fasting can lead to comparable weight loss as conventional diets, where you restrict calories daily.

But while these diets may be successful in getting people to eat less, they may actually reinforce bad eating habits and poor diet quality (such as consuming high-energy, highly-processed foods and drinks), as people may think they can treat themselves following low-calorie days. Indeed, research has shown people following these diets have a less nutritious diet than those following traditional calorie-controlled diets.

Other studies have shown that people following the 5:2 diet consume more calories before fast days unconsciously which could very well happen on the metabolic confusion diet, too.

The other reason for the metabolic confusion diets popularity is because fans of the diet claim that switching between low- and high-calorie days keeps your metabolism active, causing you to burn more calories as a result. Its also believed that this confusion will stop biological resistance such as an increase in appetite to the diet that may derail weight loss or cause you to regain any weight youve lost.

But when we lose weight, our body needs fewer calories to survive. These changes to our metabolic rate (the baseline amount of calories our body needs to function daily) can even be seen several years following weight loss. This is thought to be the result of body mechanisms that adjust the metabolic rate downwards through a special process (called adaptive thermogenesis). This process aims to stop energy from being wasted by preserving it in fat tissue and other fuel reserves. Increased appetite is another way the body tries to restore lost body weight.

The other key selling point of the metabolic confusion diet is that it prevents your metabolism from slowing as you lose weight. However, when we look at studies on intermittent fasting, we see the same reduction in resting metabolic rate as traditional calorie-restricted diets do.

The odd study that has suggested intermittent fasting raises your metabolic rate can often be explained by the inclusion of total fasting.

Fasting causes an acute metabolic starvation response, leading the body to burn through more of its reserved fuel for around 24-48 hours after a fast. All short-term emergency fuel management measures to glucose supply to the brain. But even in this case, any temporary increase in metabolism may be barely detectable. Also, some studies have actually shown greater reductions in metabolic rate with intermittent fasting.

The truth is that no matter how you lose weight, your metabolic rate will decrease. Even certain types of exercise, may not necessarily increase metabolism with studies on endurance training (such as long-distance running) showing that metabolic rate slows in order to use energy more efficiently during exercise. However, the body does burn more calories immediately after exercise to help muscles recover, especially after higher intensity exercise. Regular weight training could potentially lead to a higher metabolic rate.

But if the metabolic confusion diet functions similarly to intermittent fasting, it may have other benefits beyond just weight loss.

Intermittent periods of energy restriction have been shown to improve glucose (blood sugar) and lipid (fat) metabolism. This means the body is better able to deal with carbohydrate and fat from a meal. This makes the body better able to tolerate indulgent foods when we encounter them.

By this token intermittent fasting-type diets can improve your ability to manage fuels in the body known as metabolic flexibility. Metabolic flexibility means youre better at burning and storing carbohydrates when you need to, and equally better at managing the storage and release of fat from fat stores. This improves insulin sensitivity, which reduces overall risk from disease, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. All of this is independent of weight or weight loss.

Although the metabolic confusion diet may be just another fad diet, it may have benefits other than losing weight given its similarity to intermittent fasting. While it cant speed up your metabolism, diets that allow us to have more flexibility in the way we eat are more sustainable and easier to follow in the long run.

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Metabolic confusion diet won't boost metabolism but it could have other benefits - The Conversation UK

In industries such as aviation and transportation, evidence has suggested that the timing and composition of meals can impact individual performance, particular in overnight shift work. Those lessons, one expert believes, can be applied to medical residents working overnight shifts that can span up to 24 hours.

Nutrition affects our cognition, particularly when we are sleep deprived, said Maryam S. Makowski, PhD, a clinical assistant professor in Stanford Universitys psychiatry and behavioral sciences department and the WellMD & WellPhD Center.

Having studied performance nutrition for resident physicians working overnight shifts for over two yearsshe submitted a poster presentation on the topic at the recent AMA GME Innovations SummitMakowski offered these tips for residents wondering what to eat and when.

When to consume calories

Makowski said that you should eat a big meal (about 30% of your total caloric needs) before you begin an overnight shift. For example, if you begin at 5 p.m. during a night rotation, consume that meal at 3 p.m. and aim to have at least 50% of daily caloric needs ingested before midnight.

You can start with having a brunch type of meal after you wake up, Makowski said. That should be the largest meal of the day. Then its best to try to eat again early in your shift.

Learn about three things medical residents want after long shifts.

Dont eat when youd normally sleep

Though your optimal eating times can vary based on your chronotype (e.g. morning, day or night person) , theres a hard cut off as to when you should avoid eating during overnight shifts.

A majority of the studies showed that eating between midnight and 6 a.m. can result in poor cognitive performance, Makowski said. For example, simulation studies show that eating a meal after midnight during nightshifts result in more errors and sleepiness.

Though we dont want to eat, we do want to keep hydrated. Thats really important both for mood, cognition, and feeling energized, Makowski said.

Residents need to pay extra attention to their hydration status, she added, and said residents should take advantage of every single chance they get to take frequent sips of water, coffee, regular or herbal teas. The goal is to have a urine color that is like lemonade not apple juice or darker.

How carbs affect performance

Carbohydrates are important for learning and memory, so the idea that eliminating them from a diet will improve performance is unlikely to be true. The quality of the carbohydrates matter though Makowski said. And, in a hectic environment, Makowski has found that residents basically live off junk food. If you are going to have carbohydrates, try to avoid things like donuts, pastries and have more whole grain, whole fruit type of snacks, she added.

When it comes to protein, its possible that a meal that has a higher ratio of protein to carbohydrates could reduce sleepiness during overnight shifts.

Discover what to tell your patients about ketogenic diets.

Protected eating time

Residents are busy. Sometimes too busy to eat a meal, let alone a healthy one.

One thing we saw is that even when we gave people food, they didnt have time to eat it, Makowski said. They were being constantly interrupted. Sometimes, depending on specialty, it could take until 1 a.m. for them to have time to eat.

There is a need for some structural support for residents. They need access to healthy meals and breaks to actually eat them.

Visit link:
Resident physicians: Your diet can help you make it through the night - American Medical Association

Its easy to see the connection between an unhealthy diet and an expanding waistline. The connection between food and brain health can be harder to get your mind around.

But experts agree. Eating right is essential for brain health.

Of all the organs in our body, the brain is the one most easily damaged by a poor diet, said Dr. Lisa Mosconi, director of the Womens Brain Initiative and an associate professor of neuroscience in neurology and radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. From its very architecture to its ability to perform, every aspect of the brain calls for proper food.

Mosconi, who has written books about the science of food and the brain, said many people have misconceptions about what proper food might be. One of the biggest fallacies shes been hearing lately is the idea that a very high-fat diet is somehow helpful to the brain.

This is not what most research shows, she said.

Dietary supplements are another area where people get misled, said Dr. Kristine Yaffe, professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at the University of California-San Francisco. Except when someone is deficient in a specific nutrient, vitamin supplements dont seem to improve brain health, she said.

Similarly, supplements that contain omega-3 fatty acids and fish oil have gotten a lot of attention. But while they might help certain heart patients when prescribed by a physician, research has not confirmed benefits for brain health. There have been a number of trials, and they havent borne out, said Yaffe, who was a co-author on a 2017 American Heart Association advisory on brain health.

So, what does work?

We still have a lot to learn about that, Yaffe said. But certain foods do seem to help when theyre part of an entire dietary pattern. And that diet looks similar to the ones physicians recommend for heart health.

A Mediterranean-style diet heavy in fruits, vegetables, fish and nuts lowers stroke risk in women and may lead to better cognitive ability in old age, studies have found. A 2018 study Mosconi led estimated it provided 1.5 to 3.5 years of protection against the development of biomarkers for Alzheimers disease. Another science-backed eating plan that limits red meat, sodium and added sugars and sweets, called DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), may reduce stroke risk.

Mosconi highlighted some nutrients antioxidants, such as vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene, and anti-inflammatory B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids that she said are important for the health of neurons.

But neither Yaffe nor Mosconi is a fan of singling out something as the perfect brain food.

I dont believe in superfoods, or that any one food or food group is key to brain health, Mosconi said.

And not that theres anything wrong with blueberries, Yaffe said, but you wouldnt want to be thinking, If I only eat blueberries, thats going to do it.

Its also important to think of foods that are potentially harmful to brain health, Mosconi said. Saturated fat, especially from animal sources, is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, she said. And some research also shows it increases the risk of cognitive problems.

When we eat a fatty, sugary meal and experience symptoms like sluggishness, brain fog and drowsiness these symptoms originate not in the stomach but in the brain, Mosconi said.

And the effects arent necessarily temporary.

Research indicates a poor diet may cause the loss of key structural and functional elements in the brain, she said, along with a higher vulnerability to brain aging and dementia.

A 2018 report from the Global Council on Brain Health, an independent group convened by the AARP, noted that foods and diets that are good for heart health are also good for brain health.

Yaffe, a member of that brain health council, said the mechanisms of the brain are complex, but it stands to reason that if youre eating a dietary pattern that is heart-healthy, its probably also healthy (for) the vessels in the brain.

She acknowledged that some people have a hard time seeing the connections between brain health and their diet or with other activities such as smoking, sleep and exercise.

Mosconi, also a member of the AARP brain health council, put it this way: Day after day, the foods we eat are broken down into nutrients, taken up into the bloodstream, and carried up into the brain. Once there, they replenish depleted storage, activate cellular reactions and, finally, become the very fabric of our brains.

Consider that the next time you reach for a brownie. Its ingredients will actually become part of your brain.

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Brain power: The best foods for brain health - Newton Kansan

Should there even be any holiday eating rules? Maybe. But this year I say NO. This year I think we should have a pass and get to eat anything we want. We deserve it; it's been quite a year. I'm gonna enjoy my faves this year like eggnog, cookies and chips salsa. Of course in moderation along with exercise. I may throw in a healthy salad just for kicks and so I can feel better about all the eating I am going to do.

Well check this out. According tohuffpost,com, some "food rules" are actually just diets.

Theres nothing wrong with taking an everything in moderation approach at the dinner table, but other rules we establish for ourselves around the holidays can actually hinder rather than help our overall health. Think Ill work out extra hard so I can earn my holiday meal, or I want to eat clean this holiday, so Ill skip the pie.

You can read about those rules here.

What's one thing you love that you WILL be eating this year?

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Holiday Food Rules That Are Actually Just Diets - witl.com

You do everything you can to avoid catching the coronavirus: Social distancing, mask wearing and hand washing till you never want to hear HBD in your head again. But sometimes luck doesn't roll your way and despite all your precautions, someone you've been around texts you and tells you they have the virus. Ugh. Now what? We asked doctors for their best advice, and here, along with quarantining to not potentially spread the coronavirus (since even if you're asymptomatic, you could harbor and spread it to others) doctors advise that you eat a plant-based diet. Not because it prevents you from getting COVID-19, but because it can help you be healthier and that's the best way to avoid the worst symptoms if you do fall ill.

First, we would be remiss if we didn't state the obvious: Isolate yourself. The recent changes in the requirement that you quarantine for 14 days now urges you to quarantine for 7 days if you get a test three days after exposure (since it can take that long for the virus to show up in your system) and quarantine for ten days without a test. This is because why it's possible to be 14 days away from exposure and then come down with COVID-19 the more average cases show up within the first four or five days, or even a week. That said if you have symptoms the CDC warns that you should assume you have COVID-19 and not go to a place such as doctor's office where you can expose others but instead stay home unless you have trouble breathing or your symptoms get worse.

But the part of protecting yourself that the CDC doesn't tell you, but that doctor after doctor have recommended to patients and told to The Beet, is to switch to a plant-based diet full of vegetables and fruit, nuts and seeds, legumes and whole grains, and eat as little meat and dairy as possible, since studies show these can lead to inflammation in the body, and in the case of COVID-19, inflammation is what can lead to the worst symptoms that require treatment and hospitalization.

Here is what doctors have to say about going plant-based to lessen your chance of have a bad case of COVID-19. To be clear, no one isguaranteeing that eating plant-based will keep you from getting the virus (the roll of diet has yet to be researched) but it may help you skate through with fewer symptoms, and at the end of the day that is the ultimate goal: To return to full health as quickly and completely as possible.

As weve reported before, doctors tell their patients that although a plant-based diet wont prevent you from contracting COVID-19, it might prevent you from suffering from the viruss most deadly symptoms. Studies have shown time and time again that a plant-based diet can reduce levels of inflammation in the body. A plant-based diets ability to reduce inflammation is the reason doctors recommend it to treat conditions caused by inflammationheart disease, diabetes, and asthmaand why it might safeguard you from deadly complications. Conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and asthma put an individual at the most risk of death. These doctors agree that by adopting a plant-based diet now, youll keep your inflammation low and immune system high, preventing COVID-19s most deadly symptoms, or even reversing a condition caused by inflammation entirely.

--Dr. Millard D.Collins,Interim Chair and Associate Professor of Family & Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, the nation's oldest historically Black academic health science institution. Dr. Collins spoke to The Beet to stress the importance of eating healthy, especially among African American patients, to avoid conditions that often co-exist with the worst cases of COVID-19, such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. He adds:

"We can adopt this lifestyle as a means to improve the co-morbid conditions that may already be present in patientsheart disease, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancerthus strengthening ones immune system and chances of survival in the event that a person becomes infected.

"It is always challenging to adopt something new and make it sustainable. Articles such as this are a great first step. The adoption of a plant-based diet can do wonders to boost the immune system, improve energy, and improve chronic diseases. Thus, it can save lives. But it is critical to not confine a healthyapproach just in response to COVID-19. Health outcomes of African Americans need attention, and we must not miss this teaching moment the pandemic has provided to promote this strategy to our people. It can mean the difference between life and death.

"It is well documented the impact of a plant-based diet on obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and more, which all can lead to cardiovascular (heart) and cerebrovascular (brain) compromise. And we know how healthy plant-based eating can positively affect the body. Adopting a lifestyle such as [a healthy plant-based approach] can be truly lifesaving.

--Monica Aggarwal, M.D, director of Integrative Cardiology and Prevention at the University of Florida, Gainesville.Shewas interviewed in June for a story on The Beet,To Lower Complications of COVID-19 and Lose Weight, Eat Plant-Based,by Karen Asp. She added:

Lets make clear, nobodys saying that if you eat a plant-based diet you wont get COVID-19, yet eating a plant-based diet can help decrease your risk for these factors that increase your risk for COVID-19.

She cites a study that found the most common underlying health conditions among patients who suffer the worst, most serious symptoms of COVID-19 are: High blood pressure (affecting 57% of patients with COVID-19), obesity (affecting 42% of patients), and diabetes (affecting 34% of patients). .

--Vanita Rahman, M.D., an internal medicinedoctor with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, PCRM, which advocates a plant-based diet for optimal health. She also was interviewedin Junefor the story on The Beet:To Lower Complications of COVID-19 and Lose Weight, Eat Plant-Based, by Karen Asp.

People who eat a mostly plant-based diet have a lower body mass index (BMI) than those who eat a meat-filled diet, and the more animal foodsin your diet, the higheryour BMI is likely to be, according to this studyof different types of vegetarian diets and their impact on weight.

--T. Collin Campbell, renowned biochemist and co-author of The China Study, and a plant-based advocatefor health and founder of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. Campbell was quoted in a podcast where he explained the importance of a whole food, plant-based diet to help strengthen the body's immune system and create antibodies.

Campbell hasstudied the roll of diet on the formation of antibodies to the Hepatitis B virus, and explains that while all viruses are different the way the body responds is essentially the same, since the creation of antibodies is the way we fight infection from invaders. Earlier this year Campbell said: "Diet plays a direct roll in how this plays out [your response to virus], since the healthier you eat the better.

Now not all viruses are the same," Campbellexplained, "but viruses, in terms of their infectivity, have some common features. When a virus enters the body and begins to do its dirty work," Campbell explains. "The body tries to create antibodies, which may or may not work. At that point, it is essentially a race: Can the body create effective antibodies quickly enough and in large enough quantities to fight off the virus before the virus ravages the cells and creates devastating outcomes? Diet plays a direct roll in how this plays out, since the healthier you eat, the better. And his book, The China Study, looked at populations in different areas of China, the Philippines and Japan, and found that plant-based eating lowered risk of heart disease, cancer and morbidity.

Eating a plant-based diet "would affect those people who test positive for the virus," Campbell has said." They would be affected less," in all probability, he adds, since a healthy diet is one way to bolster immunity. "If they do get the symptoms,it would be much less problematic."

In an articleby that title Susan Levin, RD, writes: My advice remains the same as always: Remember to eat as many fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans ... as circumstances allow to help boost immunity and reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and asthmaconditions which now put tens of millions of Americans at greater risk for COVID-19 complications.

-- Susan Levin, MS, RD with Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

While many factors can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease, research shows that a plant-based diet can help lower the risk of these conditions, which is why a diet focused on plant foods is more crucial now than ever.

Fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans are also loaded with nutrientslike beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and zincthat can boost immune function, something we should all be trying to do right now. While a plant-based diet cant prevent COVID-19, it can treat the underlying conditions that can exacerbate its severity.

She cites a CDCstudy that concludes that eating a plant-based diet can lower the incidents of diseases like high blood pressure that often coincide with the worst cases of COVID-19. Meanwhile another study found that eating a plant-based diet has been shown to improve asthma symptoms, which can cause complications for patients with COVID-19, whileeating processed food, dairy, and meat can lead to inflammation and worsen asthma symptoms.

--Dr. Baxter Montgomeryrecentlymade this point when talking with Chuck Carroll on The Exam Room podcast, produced for PCRM.Montgomery, a Board Certified Cardiologist and founder of The Montgomery Heart & Wellness Center in Houston, Texas.On the podcast he details "the remarkable recovery of one particular patient who developed double pneumonia during their bout with the coronavirus and has already laced up their sneakers to resume running."

--Dr. Kim Williams,former president of the American College of Cardiology. Speaking on MedPage Today withAndrew Perry, MD, he explained that going vegan or plant-based can make you feel protected but you still need to take precautions. He adds:

I'm speaking to the people who are interested in plant-based nutrition who are all pretty much feeling well and feeling like they are sort of immune from it.I would just say that please still do the very wise: Cut down unnecessary travel, wash the hands very frequently, look at all the surfaces and clean them as much as you can because we do have a very big difference in the plant-based community. We don't get as sick.

"But guess what? Just like with the flu, we can become asymptomatic carriers. Just because we don't get sick doesn't mean that we haven't been infected. I would encourage everybody who's feeling good about the fact that they get less ill than they did 10 years ago when they weren't vegan, it's true, at least in my experience, and everyone around me who's plant-based is so much better off than they were before. But still be careful. Still use those precautions, because we don't want to become the vegan asymptomatic carriers that are helping to spread the disease around.

He cites a study that found that eating awhole food plant-baseddiet resulted in better treatment outcomes for high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and more.

At The Beet we are advocates of eating more plant-based foods for health and wellbeing, but if you want to also supplement with vitamin C, zinc and D, especially after being exposed to the virus, those vitamins have been shown to be beneficial, but just don't overdo it. In a recent paper, doctors wrote up patients who were coming into the hospital with kidney stones and even kidney failure after overdosing on vitamin D to fight the virus. So while a healthy amount can be beneficial too much D can cause complications.

Meanwhile advice given to one of our editors (who did get coronavirus early on in the pandemic) was to make sure to hydrate, and drink plenty of fluids, since the virus takes a toll on the body and you make not realize you are dehydrated.

As with colds and flu, drinking plenty of fluids can help your body flush out toxins, especially if you are supplementing with vitamins C, D and zinc, drink plenty of water. For the right amount of vitamin D to take, see this story, which cites a study that shows taking a recommended amount of D (between 600 to 800 IUs a day, but not more than that) can be protective against the most serious symptoms of COVID-19. But as always, before you self-treat talk to your doctor since he or she should be your first line of information when faced with this or any other illness.

Read more here:
If You're Exposed to COVID-19, Doctors Say Here's What to Do Next - The Beet

Often confused, veganism largely differs from vegetarianism. While a vegetarian diet does not allow the intake of eggs, meat, and seafood, it does accept diary and other by-products. Veganism, on the other hand, takes this idea to the next level, avoiding all animal products and is entirely plant-based. Recent years have seen veganism go from a trend to a way of life with several people across the world, including celebrities and even athletes adopting a vegan diet.

A vegan lifestyle offers a plethora of benefits be it maintaining a healthy immune system or avoiding the implications of consuming meat, a vegan diet has become an ideal choice for many. However, there are certain drawbacks to veganism. It is easy to overlook some aspects and since the food consumed in a vegan diet is so selective, people often miss out on important nutrients. Entre, vegan supplements. Proper nutrient supply is required to ensure that we do not become victims of our busy lifestyles. On that note, here are some vital nutrients to include in your diet that are available as supplements. (Image: Canva)

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Supplementing vegan diet with the right nutrients - Times of India

For years, my husband and I have toyed with the idea of opening a retail store in McCook with the business divided into two distinct sides.

One half would feature all our favorite junk foods, using machines we have accumulated over the years. Reminiscent of the county fair or childhood summers, the store would feature cotton candy in every flavor and color imaginable, funnel cakes piled high with fruit toppings, and popcorn covered in so many different seasonings, your head would spin. And of course, there would be chocolate because how can you have a store of favorites without chocolates in every form and style possible.

If you notice, there is little redeeming nutritional value in any of these items, with the exception of the fruit toppings but even that would be mostly sugar.

Hence, the reason for the other half of the store. To balance out the lack of nutrition on one side and to assuage our guilt over such indulgent offerings, the other side would essentially be a health food store featuring foods we all know we should eat, but struggle to get enough of in our diets.

Whole-grain foods, fruits and vegetables, vitamins, smoothies, even kombucha which people may claim to like but no one does really. But lets be honest ... we know which side is going to be busier and more profitable: the junk food side.

While junk food is okay in moderation, it cannot be the sole basis of a diet. As we told our kids when they were little, there are sometimes food and often food. We learned early on that anytime you labeled something a never food, it became irresistible with wrappers hidden under the mattress.

There needs to be a variety of foods from both sides of the aisle, or in this case, both sides of the store.

The same concept holds true for our news and entertainment consumption. We cannot subsist on just junk news or junk entertainment. We need to make the conscious step of adding a variety of healthy, informative news to our information diet.

Yes, there are times when I want to watch a mindless TV show or binge-watch an entire series with no redeeming quality, just so I can have a giant bowl of popcorn.

But on the flip side, I regularly listen to news programs, subscribe to several newspapers, download innumerable podcasts and am mid-way through multiple books on my nightstand.

Think of learning and reading and researching as healthy food. You need it to keep your mind functioning, to have intelligent conversations, to open yourself up to the possibility that not only do you not know something, but also that you might be wrong.

And perhaps even more importantly, it is not just one news program or news outlet; it is not just one podcast, one author or one journalist. Just like our diets, our minds need variety.

If we want to have intelligent and meaningful conversations, we need to have a variety of healthy information. If we are going to move our community forward and to be able to work together, we need to have a variety of sources to make fact-based decisions.

While it may be easier to rely on junk food or junk information, we need to make the effort to make ourselves healthier - both physically and mentally - if we want our community to come together and make it an even better place to call home.

More here:
Food or news, it can't all be junk - McCook Daily Gazette

My mom is my biggest motivator, she always used to inspire me and boost my spirits. You need to have a strong support system rather than relying on any other thing.

Whenever I feel demotivated, I usually go through my old photos where I look unhealthy. That motivates me to keep working on myself.

How do you ensure you dont lose focus?

If you are too passionate about your goal, your mind will never waver. Yes, everyone loses focus momentarily, but it's important to stay determined in your life. That will only happen when you enjoy the process whole-heartedly.

I have also added in yoga and meditation to my fitness regime, which has been a ray of sunshine and achieved the next level of fitness.

What the most difficult part of being overweight?

When you are overweight, it lowers down your confidence, vital health markers and ruins body posture. I couldn't play my favourite sports and tired easily. Buying big sized clothes was something I didn't really like. My body strength and stamina levels were also not upto the mark while doing simple activities like walking.

What shape do you see yourself 10 years down the line?

I want to achieve a fit and effective body, which inspires everyone and exudes confidence.

Read more here:
Weight loss story: "I had green tea, almonds and oats every morning" - Times of India

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RALEIGH, NC (December 9, 2020) Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler announced the addition of three new members to the N.C. Agricultural Hall of Fame John Holman Cyrus of Raleigh, Fred N. Colvard of Jefferson and Marshall W. Grant of Garysburg.

Established in 1953, the Agricultural Hall of Fame posthumously recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to agriculture in the state and beyond. All three men had broad agricultural backgrounds and have made lasting contributions to the industry.

North Carolinas agricultural roots run deep and our state has been looked to as a model for others because of a long history of outstanding leadership, Troxler said. The scope of contributions all three of these men have made is truly impressive, and it is an honor to recognize them.

Fred N. ColvardFred Colvard was a progressive and entrepreneurial farmer who helped develop crops suited to the North Carolina mountain areas. He was one of the first to commit 40 to 50 acres of land to growing Christmas trees in the area, ushering in a new crop on a commercial scale. He also was among the first to use irrigation in the area to ensure high quality crops.

But Colvard was better known for developing the blight-resistant Sequoia potato, which is credited with ending a potato famine in Peru.

In nominating Colvard, Sam Shumate wrote, when I decided to write an article on Colvard Farms for a monthly series, my research revealed a progressive farmer far ahead of his time.

In developing the potato, Colvard leased an island off the coast of Florida where he planted the potatoes. The sub-tropical climate there allowed him to plant two crops of potatoes in a season, cutting his experiment time in half.

When potato blight threatened a variety that was significant part of Peruvian diets, an agricultural delegation from the country went to the Colvard Farm to see more about his work with a blight-resistant potato. The delegation returned to Peru with some of the newly developed seed potatoes, leading to the end of the famine.

Around that time, a potato that was a significant part of Peruvian diets was blighting. A Peruvian agriculture delegation was sent to the Colvard farm.

John Holman CyrusJohn Holman Cyrus was a pivotal figure with regards to the states tobacco industry, serving for 37 years with the N.C. Department of Agriculture in various capacities, including Tobacco Program Administrator. During his tenure, tobacco was the states top commodity and top crop grown by thousands of farmers statewide. The industrys influence stretched well beyond the farms and rural communities to larger cities where tobacco manufacturing and warehouses employed many workers and supported hospitals, universities and cultural programs.

In the early 1950s, Cyrus established an annual comprehensive tobacco market report. Later, he planned and developed a service program focused on improving quality and marketing practices. That program also encouraged closer cooperation and understanding between tobacco growers, warehousemen, dealers and manufacturers.

In nominating Cyrus, N.C. State Grange President Jimmy Gentry noted that he helped facilitate change in the growing and marketing of tobacco, working with growers to keep lower stalk leaf off the market to improve prices, and in the transition from selling tied tobacco to loose leaf tobacco. The loose-leaf system lead to innovative handling and packaging practices at the warehouse.Following his retirement from NCDA, Cyrus continued his work on behalf of the industry, serving with the Tobacco Advisory Council, the Tobacco Tax Council and N.C. State University Tobacco Foundation. He also served as a lobbyist and consultant on tobacco issues for the N.C. State Grange for over 20 years.

Marshall W. GrantMarshall W. Grants name will likely forever be linked to cotton, thanks to his vision, drive and leadership in helping establish the Boll Weevil Eradication Program, a voluntary assessment program for cotton farmers which continues today.

In nominating Grant, David Parrish, chief operating officer of the N.C. Cotton Producers Association, credits Grants work to leading to the eradication of the most destructive pest in the history of cotton, thereby restoring the economic viability of cotton production for generations of farmers in North Carolina and across the Cotton Belt.

By the late 1970s, North Carolina had seen cotton production drop from a high of almost 2 million acres to around 40,000 acres because of the destruction by the boll weevil.

Grant organized a group to hire cotton scouts and began regional control efforts, but soon realized that to be effective these efforts would need to be broader to keep the boll weevils from migrating to nearby fields, other regions and other states.

When the National Cotton Council decided to proceed with a full-scale boll weevil eradication trial, Grant volunteered for North Carolina to be a trial location and then traveled extensively across the state helping organize eradication committees and educating producers on the programs importance and the need for grower funding.

That early trial helped establish the foundation and structure for the Boll Weevil Eradication Program that exists today. In 1985, North Carolina declared the state boll weevil free and cotton production today has returned to a 500,000-acre level. Today monitoring and trapping of cotton fields continue to ensure any re-emergence of the destructive pest is dealt with quickly.

The economic benefits of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program to producers are estimated at $644 million annually. It is also estimated that 10 million pounds fewer insecticides are used to produce the U.S. cotton crop.

All three nominations received unanimous approval from the Hall of Fame Board of Directors. A ceremony honoring the three will be held at a later date.

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Three to join the N.C. Agricultural Hall of Fame - Caldwell Journal

Stu Wall is a technology executive and entrepreneur who founded Signpost, a cloud-based customer communication platform that helps small businesses scale.

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated Americas addiction to technology, and its making us sad, anxious and unproductive.

Companies like Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat earn more advertising revenue the more frequently we use their products. These firms use push notifications and personalized feeds to capture our attention, manipulate our emotions and influence our actions.

Business is good. Americans now spend more than five hours each day on their devices.

So what? As discussed in Netflixs The Social Dilemma, tech firms will continue to follow their profit motive to capture our attention. Governments are no more likely to help manage unhealthy tech consumption than consumption of sugar or illegal drugs. We need to take control.

My perspective is as a former tech CEO and technology addict. The marketing platform I founded raised over $100 million, grew to 350 employees and sold to a private equity firm last year. Along the way I picked up some terrible tech habits; I checked email constantly and allowed push notifications to interrupt every in-person interaction.

My tech use hit rock bottom last year on a visit with family. I resolved to put down my phone and garden with my mom, who has advanced Parkinsons and moves slowly and with intention.

I felt like an addict in withdrawal. My phone was like a magnet pulling me to check for missed work emails or breaking news. Tech overuse had rewired my brain, lowered the quality of everyday consciousness and prevented me from being present.

I stepped down as CEO of my company earlier this year. Ive spent my time off learning about mindfulness, neuroplasticity and technology addiction. Most importantly, I developed a strategy for managing my tech use thats made me happier and more productive.

Heres what I learned.

In their quest for our attention, some tech firms target the oldest parts of our brain, what UCLA psychiatrist Daniel Siegel calls the downstairs brain. The downstairs brain includes your brainstem and limbic regions, which control innate reactions and impulses (fight or flight) and strong emotion (like anger and fear). In contrast, your upstairs brain, including your cerebral cortex, is where intricate mental processes take place, like thinking, imagining and planning.

The downstairs brain is reactive. Its designed to protect us in emergencies; it can make quick judgements, hijack our consciousness and drive action through strong emotion. The downstairs brain is what is targeted by attention-seeking products. Headlines that make us feel outraged and TikTok notifications that make us feel reactive appeal to our downstairs brain.

Our brains change with training. Research has shown that our brains are reprogrammed with the firing patterns of neurons. Our nervous system can be rewired and transformed through repetitive, focused attention or activity in a process called neuroplasticity.

Repetitive device usage is a perfect example of neuroplasticity at work. The more time we spend responding to push notifications, watching videos in infinite scroll or looking for social validation from social media, the more our brains will rewire to want the same.

While many tech firms acknowledge problems from overusing their products, none will make radical changes needed to decrease their share of the attention profit pool. If they did, someone else would eat their lunch.

These firms are selling us sugary drinks. The taste is improving exponentially and the sweetest drinks havent been invented yet. The more we drink, the harder it gets to stop. We need to take control of our consumption and habits we need to follow a technology diet or we will suffer the mental equivalent of morbid obesity.

If we think of technology consumption as an analog to food consumption, tech products fall into four food groups based on the quality of information and method of delivery. Content quality is important: Some content is valuable (e.g., MITs online courseware) or critical (work email), while most is not useful (TikTok) .

The delivery model is also important. Healthy platforms give agency to the user and allow us to pull content thats useful when we need it. Conversely, harmful platforms often rely on push, sending us information thats often not useful at a time when were doing something else. Based on my experience, here are three steps we can take to implement a tech diet:

Willpower is finite. If we dont want sugary drinks, dont keep them in the house. We keep the most distracting applications ever developed within arms reach at all times. These applications prey on our downstairs brain, which hijacks our better intentions and delivers negative value for most people. I believe our best defense is abstinence; we shouldnt use these apps.

Tip: I use Apples Content Restrictions on the iPhone and MacBook. I added the obvious offenders: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and some specific to me, which includes Zillow, StreetEasy and NYPost. My spouse has the override code. I can break it if needed, but the process is hard enough that it doesnt enter everyday consciousness.

Good content expands our knowledge and skills and may contribute to rewiring our upstairs brain in a way that adds to our empathy, imagination and mindfulness.

Consuming good content is rewarding but effortful. It requires uninterrupted focus. Unlike sugary beverages, which were wired to consume subconsciously, leafy greens have to be consumed intentionally.

Tip: Make a list of your favorite leafy greens. For me, this includes Kindle, Feedly, tech periodicals and my favorite curation platforms: HackerNews and Product Hunt. Calm, one of several booming mindfulness apps, also makes the list. These are the only apps on my home screen, which encourages me to use them more often. Like a food diet, I set attainable goals for good consumption and monitor my progress.

I recommend fasting on technology periodically; I leave my phone at home for walks with my son and dinner with friends. I also recommend nontech activities that promote upstairs brain rewiring like an outdoor hike or learning to play an instrument.

Email is required for most people. It has the potential to make us productive. But the average message quality is low, and the always-on, high frequency, push-by-default design prevents us from doing our best work.

Tip: Ive turned off notifications on everything thats not meant for urgent or timely messages (e.g., texts, Lyft, Tovala oven). Boomerangs Chrome Extensioncan be set up to deliver all of your emails every hour on the hour. Batch processing email every hour dramatically reduces the volume of interruption without impacting my responsiveness.

We live in relative abundance, with food, goods and security that would make even our recent ancestors envious. But abundance doesnt make us happy; were the least happy on record. We seem to be living in a collective state of downstairs brain, a continuous adult temper tantrum focused on strong feelings, emotion and impulsiveness.

But theres hope.

As individuals, I found that even a few months of technology dieting helped me become less impulsive and more mindful. As employees, we can stop working for companies that profit from the attention economy. As managers, we can insist that our teams turn off their devices at night, turn off their Slack notifications and take real vacations. As parents, we can help our children develop healthy consumption patterns.

Collective action and rewiring of our brains could change the course of our politics and our ability to collaborate and solve the most important challenges of the 21st century.

American innovation dominates the attention economy. Its time for American innovation to dominate the way we use technology.

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COVID-19 made our tech addiction worse: Its time to do something about it - TechCrunch