From Men's Health

DIETING IS FOR losers. Keto, Paelo, Whole 30: America loves itself a fad diet, and some of them may even help you lose weight. Except that weight loss is only one of many reasons to eat a healthy diet.

The other reasons include fighting disease-stoking inflammation, keeping your cholesterol in check, fortifying your immunity, staving off (or blunting the effects of) diabetes, nourishing your brain, elevating your energy, and building strength.

For people who are serious about getting in shape and building muscle, that last word is critical.Diet is a key piece of building strength, says Brian St. Pierre, C.S.C.S., R.D., director of nutrition at Precision Nutrition, a company whose clients include the Carolina Panthers and the San Antonio Spurs.

Without adequate calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients, you will not be able to maximize strength, adequately recover, or perform at your peak," St. Pierre says.

And that kind of strength doesnt just apply to your workouts but to everything in between: at work, with your family, during downtime.

Will you likely lose weight on this program, too? For sure.

Will you gain muscle? Absolutelyalthough a strength diet considers not just mass but other factors in overall health.

The true strength of the Strength Diet, devised with the guidance of St. Pierre, is less about what you lose and more about what you gain: vitality, longevity, and simplicity.

Okay, this involves (a very little bit of) math. But the rest is way, way more delicious. Promise.

If you want to maintain your current bodyweight but add strength, your total daily caloric goal should be about 15 times your current bodyweight. So if you weigh 150 pounds, thats 2,250 calories daily (150 x 15).

This essential nutrient builds muscle and fills you up. The oft-cited target of eating about 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is the gold standard. So if you weigh 150, thats 150 grams of protein, spread throughout the day. Target zoonutrients, such as creatine, that occur only in animal foods, to further stoke muscle power and strength.

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You need at least 20 percent of your calories to come from fats in order to maintain your hormone levels, says St. Pierre. And prize healthy fats. They lower inflammation, improve immunity, and boost your health. (So you never miss a workout.)

Start with a base of 20 percent. Pierre recommends diversifying the carbs you eat, making sure to include phytonutrients (nutrients that occur only in plant foods, with distinct colors signifying different types, to boost health and manage) and myconutrients (nutrients that occur only in mushrooms and other fungi, to avoid deficiencies that hamper physical function and strength).

You may want to tinker with this percentage as you adapt the diet to suit your tastes and needs.

Youll notice you have some calories left over, about 750. From here, how you allocate those nutrients is up to you. St. Pierre says to play around with adding more fat or more carbs until you find a balance that satisfies your stomach and your taste buds.

(If youre not sure where to start, split the remaining calories into carbs and fat and see how that feels.)

Use Precision Nutrition's calculator to do the work. Just plug in your data and choose Body Recomposition as your goal. Select your eating style and customize your macros (balanced, low-carb, low-fat, etc.). The formula will spit out a plan to maximize your strength.

How you choose to enjoy your Strength Diet is up to you. But heres roughly what a typical day might look like for that soon-to-be-strong-as-hell 150-pound guy.

Savory Oatmeal Bowl

2 soft-boiled eggs; 2 cups sauteed spinach; 4 cremini mushrooms (quartered); and 2 slices torn prosciutto (sizzled) over 1 cup cooked oatmeal, drizzled with olive oil and topped with freshly ground black pepper.

Nutrition: 449 calories, 30g protein, 38g carbs (7g fiber), 21g fat

3 large pieces beef jerky

Nutrition: 246 calories, 20g protein, 7g carbs (1g fiber), 15g fat

Salmon Burger with Wasabi Mayo

4 oz cooked salmon tucked inside a whole-grain burger bun and loaded up with 1 cup pea shoots, 1/2 avocado (sliced), and 1 Tbsp mayo mixed with 1/2 tsp wasabi powder. Serve with a ripe Asian pear.

618 calories, 37g protein, 47g carbs (14g fiber), 33g fat

2 scoops protein powder in water

220 calories, 48g protein, 4g carbs (0g fiber), 1g fat

Apricot Pork Chop with Kale-Cherry-Quinoa Salad

4 oz pork chop seared with 1/2 red onion (quartered) and 3 apricots (pitted and quartered). Serve with 1 cup cooked quinoa mixed with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 cup kale (finely chopped), 1 Tbsp apple-cider vinegar, 1/2 cup cherries (pitted and halved), and salt and pepper to taste.

653 calories, 39g protein, 76g carbs (11g fiber), 23g fat

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Fuel Up, Slim Down, and Build Massive Muscle With the New Mens Health Strength Diet - Yahoo Lifestyle

Mike Maser, a serial entrepreneur, has been focused on longevity since well before being diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma more than five years ago. But he understandably took much greater interest in the potential role of fasting as a life-extending measure when he was convinced by friends to try it while undergoing cancer treatments.

While his care team "wasn't so excited about it," Maser recalls now, he was relatively young at the time, he hadn't lost a lot of weight as do some people when battling cancer, and to him, fasting made more sense than taking an experimental drug, so he tried it. He liked it, too. Indeed, while he largely credits an autologous bone marrow transplant for saving his life, he has become a student of -- and advocate for -- intermittent fasting in the ensuing years.

Perhaps it's no surprise that Maser, who earlier sold a coaching app called Fitstar to Fitbit for around $25 million, would ultimately end up overseeing a fasting app that he says is now growing at an accelerated clip. Called Zero, he acquired it from designer and friend Kevin Rose in 2018, a hand-off that we discussed with Rose last week.

Between Maser's track record and the world's growing interest in fasting, it's also no surprise that investors would want to get involved with him. In fact, today, his Montana-based startup, Big Sky Health -- it oversees Zero, along with a mediation app also acquired from Rose calledOak and months-old app called Less that helps users track their alcohol consumption -- is announcing it has raised $8 million in Series A funding.

Greycroft led the round, with participation from earlier investors, including True Ventures and Trinity Ventures. The company has now raised $12.2 million altogether.

Certainly, Big Sky Health seems positioned well for the times. Not only is fasting taking off -- Zero sees roughly 25,000 new downloads a day, says Maser -- but more people are trying to meditate their way through pandemic-related anxiety.

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They're also drinking a lot -- so much so that the World Health Organization has begun warning against alcohol altogether, cautioning that individuals cut back or else risk undermining their own immune systems.

Now, Big Sky -- which employs just 15 people and whose team has been fully distributed from its founding days two years ago -- just needs to keep its momentum going.

Toward that end, it has created a premium offering of Zero called Zero Plus, which provides custom fasting plans and what it describes as "science-backed content to help guide users on their health journeys." (The non-premium offering has more of a choose-your-own adventure vibe.)

"We kept hearing that users want more guidance," said Maser in a call yesterday. The premium offering will "adapt to you based on your own personal journey," including taking into account whether a user is new to intermittent fasting.

Big Sky's team is also creating a roadmap of what's next, which includes more social features for Zero. "We already have 800,000 people fasting together each night on the app, and users have a strong desire to encourage and interact with each other."

As for Oak and Less, they are also getting more attention. Though Less is "not about going sober, it's more about being mindful about how much you're drinking," says Maser, one can imagine it focusing increasingly on alcohol's effects on the body and mind as Big Sky builds its wellness empire.

As for Oak, one need only to look at bigger rivals Calm and Headspace to appreciate the size of the opportunity. Calm has so far raised at least $143 million from investors to date, shows Crunchbase. Headspace has raised at least $168.2 million. What investors are betting on? It's more Americans practicing meditation. Two years ago, for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 14.2% of U.S. adults said they had practiced meditation at least once in the previous year. In 2012, just 4.1% of adults said they practiced meditation.

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Big Sky Health raises $8 million to nurture its intermittent fasting, meditation, and alcohol consumption apps - Yahoo Lifestyle

Photo credit: Vesna Jovanovic / EyeEm - Getty Images

From Good Housekeeping

Believe it or not, there is quite a bit of science behind stress eating. Stress and weight gain have been studied for many years, especially the link between stress and the obesity epidemic. According to this Global Emotions Report from Gallup, stress levels for Americans are significantly higher than the global average. And with updated government reports showing that more than 40% of people in the United States are obese, there very well could be a connection between this and our stress levels.

Stress eating, often synonymous with emotional eating, is the act of eating food in response to feelings. This typically occurs when you may not even be truly hungry, but some sort of emotion triggers you to eat more. When we feel stressed (be it physical or psychological), our body releases a steroid hormone known as cortisol. This hormone has several roles in the body, including helping to control blood sugar levels and regulate metabolism. A short-term activation of your stress system is fine and can actually suppress your appetite. But chronic stress (think financial issues, constant bickering with a spouse or friend, or work pressure) can lead to high levels of cortisol that stay elevated, which subsequently increases blood sugar and appetite. This in turn can make you crave sugary foods or even fatty/greasy foods, which both tend to be very high calorically and can lead to excess weight gain, as well as a negative relationship with food.

Boredom: We all have different definitions of boredom, but it usually focuses around having nothing to do or the task we are doing just seems pointless. This can leave us searching for something to pass the time by, enticing us to eat and potentially leading to emotional eating.

Old habits: Maybe your work colleagues would order fast food for the office for lunch every day, and even though you're in a new job now, you still find yourself ordering fast food several times a day. I always say that habits are learned, which means they can be unlearned and replaced with a new, healthier habit.

Finances, work stress, and social interactions: Too much or too little social interaction can influence our cravings. If you're pent up with your spouse or roommates, and they tend to eat a lot of junk food, you may be tempted to do so as well. Maybe after a big blowout fight you feel the need to eat lots of sugar, or perhaps you just feel lonely and a warm cookie feels like a big hug at the end of the stressful work day. This is all fine if you truly listen to your body, honor your cravings, and feel in control. But if stress seems to be leading your emotions to get the best of you and resulting in poor food choices over and over again, it may be time to make a change. Food is food; it's not your best friend and it's not your worst enemy. If you're looking to food to solve your problems, you'll quickly realize it won't.

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I like to look at cravings by whether they are coming from above the neck or below the neck. Above the neck cravings are emotional, often come on suddenly and aren't satisfied even after a full meal. If you give in to above the neck cravings, they may sometimes trigger feelings of shame and guilt, and you may feel like you have absolutely no control over your food choices.

Below the neck cravings are not emotional, but rather a sign of physical hunger. It builds gradually and many food options sound appealing. Once you're sensibly full, the cravings go away. Below the neck cravings aren't associated with any feelings of guilt or anger, but rather you feel satisfied and maybe relieved after eating that particular food or meal.

Sometimes, these cravings may be hard to distinguish between. Has overeating sugary foods at night become a habit or does your body really crave them? Have you been training your body by giving in to those above the neck cravings every night to expect a surge of sugary foods, only to create almost a dependency and need for the food at a certain time of the day? Think back to when this habit started and try to practice mindful eating to be more in tune with your body and its true physical hunger needs.

The key to getting rid of emotional eating is to slow down, identify what's causing the craving, and make gradual changes. Try to keep those "temptation foods" in the back of the pantry where you can see them, and bring the healthy items front and center. You know your body and mind better than anyone else, so maybe that "out of sight, out of mind" mentality works best for you and keeping junk food out of the house is best. Make sure to eat three balanced meals daily and avoid skipping meals, as this can lead to overeating later on in the day. When it comes to any habit, it's hard to quit something cold turkey and not replace it with another action. Find something else to do that's more productive and can foster the creation of new healthy habits, like:

Going for a walk

Having a warm cup of tea

Reading a book

Watching a comedy show

Journaling daily

Snuggling with your pet

Playing music and dancing

Crafting, coloring, drawing, or painting

Brushing your teeth

Chewing a piece of gum

Drinking a tall glass of water or naturally flavored seltzer

Going to sleep (a lot of emotional eating happens at night when we really should be getting ready for bed!)

Practicing relaxation techniques like meditating, stretching, yoga, or taking a bath

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13 Healthy Habits That Can Help Prevent Stress Eating at Home - Yahoo Lifestyle

How many of us started lockdown swearing we would come out the other end half the size? Social media influencers have been passing around the message that we all need to achieve something during lockdown, and many of us decided to work for our dream beach bodies. Brits are two months into lockdown, and the initial spark of motivation to stick to a healthy lifestyle has dwindled into boredom eating and sitting on the sofa, for some. Working out with a partner could be the motivation you need to kickstart your transformation.Express.co.ukchatted to personal trainer, and chartered physiotherapist Sammy Margo to find out why you should work out in a pair.

Sammy said: One study found that 95 percent of those who started a weight-loss programme with a friend completed the programme.

"This study recruited 166 participants either alone or with three friends or family members and then randomly assigned them to a standard.

Lockdown offers a great opportunity to get fit, inside or outside.

All exercise, if done safely and appropriately, is good for fitness and works if we stick to it. But sticking to it can be a problem.

We often do better exercising with others as it can be hard to gain the motivation to do it on your own.

Many of us are in lockdown with partners and family so this is a great time to get fit together and improve family or household relationships at the same time.

You could work out with a friend, partner, or family member. This could include a teenage son or daughter, and even friends and family in other households if you do it by zoom.

Sammy told us five reasons why you should consider working out with someone else. Read on to find out what they are.

READ MORE- How to get motivated to exercise

If you struggle to force yourself out of bed an hour early, working out with someone else will do the trick. It holds you accountable.

Sammy explained: Working out with a friend, partner, or family member helps you get motivated, keep motivated and stick to it!

If you have an appointment with someone or more than one to do a workout at a set time, you are more likely to get started as you wont want to lose face.

Others in your household working out with you may generate and share new ideas for work outs from social media/Youtube. Get any youngsters researching.

Variety in exercises really helps to keep you all motivated.

Working out under someone elses watchful eye is much safer than tackling heavy weights alone.

Sammy said: Working out with others is safer. Someone else can spot if you are handling weights inappropriately or if you appear to be hurting somewhere and they will tell you to top.

Keep on top of sprains and pain niggles. Be sure to warm up before you start your work out.

Working out with others will remind you to take safety procedures, such as applying Deep Heat before you start.

Sammy advised: Use Deep Heat Muscle Massage Roll-on Lotion as part of your warm up to increase the circulation to the muscles instead of loosen and soften muscles so they move more easily.

It ticks all the boxes for me as it provides heat and massage therapy together plus it is a great rehab for soft tissue; helps reduce muscle tightness and eases and releases knots in shoulders and backs so you are more comfortable. And it has a pleasant herbal fragrance.

Theres nothing like a bit of competition to encourage you to work as hard as you can.

Sammy said: Working out with someone else helps you to achieve your best, especially if you are competitive!

You want to be the one who loses most weight or improves your heart rate or blood pressure to the greatest extent. You dont want to be the weakest link.

One study asked participants perform a series of planks both alone and with a partner (whose performance was manipulated to always be better than the participants).

"They found was that working with a partner produced more motivation that allowed the participants to hold their planks for a longer period of time.

"In fact, those who exercised with a more-capable partner increased their plank time by 24 percent."

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If youre looking to shed those extra quarantine pounds, working out with others is the way to speed up the process.

Sammy explained: Working out with others can help you get fitter/lose more weight than working out on your own.

Try to include friends in your work-outs. If you live on your own you should consider working out with friends online who are setting out to achieve similar goals or are already on the road to achieving fitness/weight loss goals.

Working out with people who could help you to achieve your goals could be instrumental in helping you get fitter and lose weight. Put simply youll work harder.

This is also important if people in your household are not fit, but like you, want to do better.

If you work out with people on great work-outs, research shows that many of us do gravitate towards these people.

Unsurprisingly, working out with your loved ones can boost your mood.

Sammy said: Working out with others can improve mental health. It is fun and youll have less reason to quit!

Any great work out causes release of endorphins, which are mood boosting chemicals.

However, working out with others can cause further increase in endorphins as you motivate each other and work together.

Working out together will likely also make you laugh more and smile more so improving mental health and relationships with people you work out with.

Fancy working out with someone else but not sure what moves to try?

Here are five exercise to do with a partner. And dont forget, always warm-up and cool down before any exercise.

Sammy said: Push-ups dont take up much space so you can do them together on the floor in a small living room.

If space is a problem, take it in turns and cheer each other on!

If you are beginners start in the kitchen, stand next to each other and push at kitchen counter height.

Then work your way to a desk, a chair, the floor with bent knees, and, finally, the floor on your toes. You can also do press-ups on the stairs.

If you want to work on those glutes, you should squat in a pair.

Sammy explained: Squats are a great move to do together and in time with each other, maybe even to some favourite music at the pace for what you want to achieve.

The knee should remain over the ankle as much as possible.

Think of how you sit down in a chair, only the chair's not there start by working on getting in and out of a real chair properly.

You will have calves of steel if you try this one with your buddy.

Sammy said: Go up and down on your tip toes either on one leg or both legs.

Try two sets of 15 repetitions with a 15 second rest period.

Calf raisers are helpful for strengthening your calves and Achilles tendons if you jog /run.

Remind each other to repeat this twice or three times a day.

Bridging can assist with hip stability and lower back niggles.

Sammy said: With this exercise, you can take it in turns, making sure that whoever is not doing the exercise, they over-see the other person making sure they are doing this exercise correctly.

So, lying on your back, again this can be done in a small room, bend your knees.

Then aim to lift your hips and bottom off the ground with your heels dug into the ground.

For those of you who are a little more advanced in strength, lift up one leg half-way into the air.

The challenge is to do two sets of 10-15 repetitions, progressing as you become stronger and more advanced.

Take it in turns to sprint on the stairs. Sprint up the stairs as fast you can.Sammy warned: If you are a beginner take care not to fall so hold the handrail.

She said: Rest at the bottom while your partner repeats the exercise.Both of you repeat this exercise 5/6 times in fast succession to get some high intensity exercise.

Continued here:
Partner workout ideas: is it better to workout with a partner? Why? - Express

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove hit out at the EU over a lack of progress in post-Brexit trade deal negotiations. (PA)

British consumers could face price hikes for European foods and cars next year, with post-Brexit trade talks at a stalemate despite a looming deadline for a UK-EU deal.

Britain and the EU are likely to slap new tariffs on some of each others goods and services if no deal can be reached before the Brexit transition period ends in 2021. The UK government signalled on Tuesday EU cars and agricultural goods would be among those facing import taxes, in a move designed to protect UK manufacturers and farmers.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove made no mention of any progress in a statement about negotiations with Brussels in the Commons on Tuesday, saying only that ongoing talks were constructive. Labour had demanded the update ahead of the governments own June deadline for securing the broad outline for a deal.

Gove criticised the EU and accused it of an ideological approach to talks, admitting progress would be difficult unless the EU caved in on its demands.

READ MORE: UK government threatens to walk away from EU trade talks if no deal reached by June

He highlighted differences of principle, but told MPs there was still enough time to secure a deal. The government has previously said the broad outline of a deal needs to be agreed by June to be ready for 2021.

Both sides say they want a comprehensive free trade deal, but the UK government is resisting EU pressure to pledge alignment with EU standards on workers rights, tax, the environment and state aid. EU negotiators fear the bloc will be undercut if Britain de-regulates in such areas.

The EU essentially wants us to obey the rules of their club even though were no longer members, and they want the same access to our fishing grounds as they currently enjoy, while restricting our access to their markets, said Gove.

International trade minister Liz Truss also published the governments post-Brexit tariff policy on Tuesday. Brexit allows the UK to set its trade policy independently of the EU for the first time in decades.

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READ MORE: UK unveils new post-Brexit tariff regime

Business leaders said there would be winners and losers from the new policies, with higher tariffs typically protecting UK firms but lower tariffs bringing down prices for consumers.

The government will retain the same worldwide tariffs on agriculture, cars and fish that Britain had as a member of the EU. The move is aimed at insulating UK businesses from competition, but global trade rules mean the tariffs must also be applied to the EU itself if no trade deal is reached.

Such new tariffs on EU goods and services would mark a significant rupture to many UK firms supply chains across the bloc, reversing decades of increased ties. It would raise the cost of importing many common agricultural products and popular European cars, most likely pushing up prices for UK consumers.

Carmakers may welcome reduced global competition, but also fear UK tariffs could push up the cost of imported parts from the EU. Meanwhile retaliatory EU tariffs could make their cars uncompetitive in Europe. The government said on Tuesday respondents to its consultation had warned tariffs would hugely impact UK competitiveness, and that the UK could not produce its own replacements for currently imported parts.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) also warned on Tuesday that families were likely to face higher food costs without an essential EU deal.

UK consumers have become accustomed to a huge variety of affordable food thanks, in part, to tariff-free imports from the EU, she said.

Dickinson added that trade talks needed to conclude soon to give retailers and border staff time to prepare, warning of disruption to food imports without sufficient preparation.

READ MORE: Ex-minister warns swift immigration crackdown risks frontline worker shortages

The potential tariff barriers come on top of so-called non-tariff barriers such as increased paperwork and goods checks, which are all but certain to come into force. Prime minister Boris Johnsons government has effectively accepted higher costs and bureaucracy for EU trade are the price to pay for more freedom striking global trade deals.

But the government said on Tuesday the cost of many food imports from outside the EU would fall under its post-Brexit tariff plans. Duties will be slashed on around 62bn ($75bn) of imports, according to the department for international trade.

Products likely to see tariffs slashed on non-EU products include biscuits, waffles, pizzas, confectionery, spreads, cocoa and baking powder.

The department said 60% of imports would be tariff-free under the plans, though did not say what proportion is currently tariff-free. It added that an EU free trade deal could push this up to 87% of imports.

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Brexit: Fears of food and car price hikes amid UK-EU deadlock - Yahoo Lifestyle

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From Esquire

President Thomas Whitmore's climactic address in Independence Day is one of the most famous movie speeches in history. It's also deeply jingoistic, so it's not hard to imagine why some MAGA-head decided to devote their time to editing the iconic scene to superimpose Donald Trump's face on Whitmore actor Bill Pullman's body and populate the crowd of onlookers with the likes of Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson. On Saturday, President Trump decided to share the resulting horror show on Twitterand Pullman doesn't seem to be a fan.

"My voice belongs to no one but me, and Im not running for presidentthis year," Pullman told the Hollywood Reporter in response to the Trump video.

In the movie, President Whitmore gives the speech before the final battle against earth's alien foes. "We cant be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps its fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom," said Pullman in the film. "Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist."

Trump doesn't seem to see the irony in much, but the fact that the guy who refused to take the steps necessary to protect against preventable American deaths, called concerns about the coronavirus pandemic a "hoax," and urged premature reopening efforts that endanger countless lives sees himself on the side of those fighting for their right to exist is truly rich.

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Trump Hijacked the Iconic 'Independence Day' Speech, and Bill Pullman Does Not Approve - Yahoo Lifestyle