May Xiao spends most of her time in her dorm room. When she leaves, which she only does to get food or take out her trash, she is surrounded by an empty, quiet Hill.

On Mattie Greens floor in Rieber Hall, only around four students remain, Green said.

Hasan Masud doesnt see many people either, other than the occasional meetup to stand in line to get food together, 6 feet apart.

Its lonely, said Xiao, a resident assistant for Rieber Hall and a second-year ecology, behavior and evolution student. All my friends are not here anymore.

Xiao, Green and Masud are part of the minority of students who opted to remain in residence halls. More than 80% canceled their housing contracts and left after classes moved online for spring quarter.

Many operations have been limited on the Hill in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and student life has changed as a result.

Among the changes, dining options have been limited to De Neve Residential Restaurant and Rendezvous, with Feast at Rieber to replace Rendezvous next week. All meals are takeout, and residents are instructed to stand 6 feet apart in line with a mask on as they wait for their food.

Rieber Hall has the only operating front desk on the Hill. However, the swipe system has remained the same, and vending machines still work.

Xiao said food options are lacking, especially for her vegetarian diet.

Theres no way to keep a healthy diet on the Hill right now, its been really bad, Xiao said. Im vegetarian and its really hard to get vegetables.

Green, a third-year mechanical engineering student, has had to supplement her diet with groceries while living on the Hill.

When I came back to the Hill and I tried to get food, I had a feeling of anxiety because there were just no vegetables anywhere, Green said. Before, I didnt really buy any food from the grocery store except for snacks, but I had to get myself some fresh produce that Ive been eating.

Lines for the grocery stores in Westwood are much longer than usual, and students must wear masks to enter.

When we went to Trader Joes, there was a huge line all across the parking lot, Xiao said. Theres no way we wanted to go in that line.

Many bathrooms on the Hill have been shut down as well. Five bathrooms were left open in all of Rieber Hall out of the total 25, Xiao said, making most residents have to take an elevator trip to use the bathroom. Rieber Hall bathrooms were left uncleaned for two days during spring break as well. UCLA Residential Life professional staff said housekeeping operations had been understaffed during that week in a recent Zoom town hall.

I had two residents complaining about the bathrooms not having been cleaned, Xiao said. Although they moved the bathrooms to one floor per building, it still takes them a long time to move throughout the Hill.

There has also been an increased amount of people experiencing homelessness staying on the Hill, with university police having received double the amount of calls to escort nonstudents off the Hill compared to last month, according to UCPD.

Xiao, as a Hill employee, encountered one woman experiencing homelessness who spent two days in the Rieber Hall 3 South lounge before being escorted off campus by UCPD. This was the second time she had been escorted off the hill in a week, Xiao said.

I saw her for like two days just sitting in the lounge. I was curious and asked if she is a resident but she said shes homeless because of the pandemic and had nowhere to go and that she wanted me to keep her as a secret, Xiao said. I feel so sorry about this but I had to report it and call my supervisor.

UCLA Housing has been working on consolidating residents into fewer buildings so that residents are not as spread out, with the goal of giving each resident their own room. Residents in De Neve residence halls were transferred completely to Sunset Village over the weekend.

This was done to make space for possible hospital overflow from patients as well as housing for doctors, according to ResLife professional staff in the Zoom town hall meeting.

Masud, a Dykstra Hall RA and fourth-year applied mathematics student, said that he and his residents were given notice Thursday that they had to be moved out by Sunday.

There was a lot of complication, Masud said. As an international student of four years, I have all my stuff with me, so it was a harrowing process to pack up. I almost got moved into a room that someone was already living in.

Masud said that residents now have single rooms and single or shared bathrooms after the move, which he thinks is beneficial for safety and made the move worth it.

UCLA Housing plans to continue consolidating all residents into Sunset Village, Rieber Terrace, Rieber Vista and Hedrick Summit in the following weekends.

Xiao and Masud, like many other international students, had little choice but to stay on the Hill.

Xiao is an international student from China and said that her reasons for staying are complex. Although she has the option to go home, flights are limited, and she would face a mandatory two-week quarantine once she returned.

A lot of new cases in China are found to be people coming back from foreign countries, Xiao said. I guess thats why a lot of us are scared to go home and part of the reason why a lot are staying.

Other residents have different reasons for choosing to stay. Green said that she returned to the Hill to better focus on her studies and have her own space.

I didnt feel like I could be in a school mindset at home, Green said. My family is six people, which is a lot for a house. I needed my own space, and I wanted to be closer to my friends.

Student employment on the Hill has also been affected by the pandemic. Many RAs have resigned and moved home, and other students in ResLife positions have been given the option to either work remotely or receive three weeks of paid administrative leave.

Some RAs are frustrated with swiftly changing protocols, Masud said.

We just keep getting these update emails that are confusing, contradict themselves and go back on things, Masud said. I think were asking questions that they still dont know the answers to, and thats why we dont have the information. Its not like theyre withholding information, its that they genuinely do not know. I think we can give them the benefit of the doubt. This is a situation that no one has ever had to deal with.

Masuds advice for everyone still on the Hill like him is to be understanding in this time of unprecedented circumstances.

Its easy to get frustrated, but just understand that everyone is trying to deal with it, Masud said. We just have to get on with it and try and do our best.

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Still on the Hill, students face loneliness and lack of vegetables - Daily Bruin

Adam Shell, Special to USA TODAY Published 6:01 a.m. ET April 15, 2020 | Updated 8:01 a.m. ET April 15, 2020

Debt is a financial drag. But digging out from a blizzard of bills requires a plan no matter whats happening in your life. The good news isthe money you owe doesnt have to be paid back overnight.

One debt-reduction strategy worth considering is the debt-snowball method made popular by personal finance expert Dave Ramsey.

How does it work? You pay off debt in order of smallest to largest, no matter what the interest rateowed on the cards.

So, if you have a Visa with a $150 balance, a Mastercard with a $285 balance and a Home Depot with $415, youll tackle the lower-balance Visa debt first. Just pay the minimum payment on the other cards until the Visas paid in full.

Its a good strategy for the type of person that wants to see some type of progress, says Daniel Milan, managing partner at Cornerstone Financial Services.

When you knock out your smallest bill, then move on to the card with the next biggest balance. The idea is just as a snowball rolled down a hill gains momentum, so will your bill-paying.

One debt-reduction strategy worth considering is the debt-snowball method made popular by personal finance expert Dave Ramsey.(Photo: AP)

If youre in debt now, or fear you will be, youre not alone.

U.S. household debt, including money owed on mortgages, was $14.15 trillion at the end of 2019, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Money owed on plastic was $930 billion. Last year, the average American household carried a credit card balance of $6,194, according to credit bureau Experian.

Staying cool amid debt woes is key. Executing the debt snowball plan has five key benefits:

1. Its motivational

Just like success on the job or the golf coursecan incentivize you to keep improving, so can paying off a bill even a tiny one using the debt snowball approach.

(It) gives you motivation, and motivation is the secret sauce, Ramsey explains on his web site. When you pay off that smallest debt first, you get a taste of victory. And that feeling of success is the momentum you need to tackle the next debt with vengeance.

2. Provides psychological boost

Winning boosts morale. Even knocking out a small bill is good for the psyche, says Chrisanna Elser, a financial planner and founder of personal finance site ThefinU.

Elser says the debt snowball approach is the most accepted (debt-reduction) method by psychologists because it rewards you for terminating one debt at a time in its entirety. The idea is that the little wins will keep you focused on your goal of reducing debt.

3. Delivers quicker results

Paying off a small debt likely will take less time than if you target a bigger debt, or one that carries a high interest rate.

The snowball method is like the Keto diet, Elser says, referring to the low-carb, high-fat diet that trims fat fast. The reward center of the brain sees quick results in debt reduction, so youre more likely to stick with the program.

4. Creates accountability

Ignoring debt isnt a plan. Warming up to the debt-snowball approach is a way to stay focused on the task at hand. And to lower your odds of falling off the debt-paydown wagon, says Elser.

The importance is in the execution and accountability, she says. Much like posing a picture of a bikini on the fridge to prevent binge eating, posting your debt repayment schedule in a commonly viewed place, like the laptop you use for Amazon binges, is very helpful.

5. Begets behavior change

Paying off any debt, even a small one, will get you out of a rut.

Those in heaps of debt typically are depressed about it and feel there is no way forward, says Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. By starting with small balances, the individual begins to feel the rewards of debt reduction, (and) is behaviorally more motivated to keep trying to payoff money they owe.

Whats the key to success?

Sticking to the plan, says Bryson Roof, investment advisor at Roof Advisory Group, a division of Fort Pitt Capital Group. And that means, if at possible, try not to take on fresh debt.

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5 reasons why the snowball strategy for paying off credit cards works - USA TODAY

EDEN HAZARD admits he is finding it hard to resist pigging out on buns during isolation.

The Real Madrid forward is working with an online physio to strengthen the ankle that has ruled him out of 17 games this season.

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But the Belgian - who was blasted for being overweight after sealing his 150million move from Chelsea last summer - did not hide the fact he is also battling the urge to snack on buns at home.

He told RTBF: "It's complicated for me. I'm trying not to eat a lot.

"I'm trying not to go into the pantry to eat a lot of buns, but it's not easy."

The 28-year-old has managed just one goal in his 15 appearances this season, and missed the start of the season with a hamstring problem.

Hazard had returned to the squad briefly in February before missing another three games with a second ankle fracture picked up against Levante.

But despite football coming to a halt amid the coronavirus pandemic, the winger continues his road to recovery through home therapy.

Hazard added: "I'm working with the physio online.

"He can't come here anymore because he fell ill and has to stay at home.

"We started ten days ago, but he sends me videos from home.

"I'm working to strengthen my ankle and I'm doing what I can from home."

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Eden Hazard admits he is struggling with diet and weight with Real Madrid star tempted to pig out on buns at - The Sun

Kelly was obsessed with junk food and cola (Picture: Triangle News)

A mum who was obsessed with food and drank five litres of cola a day has lost more than a third of her body weight after doctors told her diet or die.

Kelly McCracken reached a size 28 and weighed 20 stone after getting hooked on drinking Coke and eating junk food for most meals.

She spent most of her time in bed and was eventually hospitalised with diabetes and high blood pressure because of her unhealthy lifestyle.

There, the doctor told Kelly that she wouldnt make it to Christmas unless she lost weight.

So Kelly embarked on a healthier lifestyle, since losing seven stone in ten months.

Kelly, of Hull, said: My little boy used to go to school and tell his teacher he was scared Mummy might not pick him up because she might die.

He knew his mummy was bigger than the other mummies. I found out at a parents evening and I just broke down.

The truth was I was obsessed with food and couldnt stop. I even thought I was happy but I obviously wasnt

We used to go out as a family to all you can eat restaurants and I would tell myself I have had enough now for the day but by the time I got home I would be eating crisps.

Kellys weight spiralled after giving birth to Curtis her sixth child.

She says she never realised how big she had become because she only looked at her face in the mirror.

I look at photos now and cant believe I was that big, Kelly said.

I was comfortable with family life and just oblivious to what I was doing to my body.

She says her partner of 22 years, Steven Hall, 51, had to become her carer, even though he has a full-time job as an accountant.

He had to help her get dressed and bathe her as she was too big to do it herself.

Kellys daily diet consisted of a 12 inch vegetarian pizza and fries, cakes, two family-sized chocolate boxes of mini Daim bars and boxes of celebrations or heroes along with crisp sandwiches.

She says she could barely walk and would often have conversations with Steven about changing her life.

But I was obsessed with food and loved it so much, she said. I kept telling him I would start tomorrow but tomorrow never came.

He used to say I was the queen of excuses because I always had one.

I would have sausage and chips for tea with the kids as normal but when Steven came home from work I would pretend I hadnt and would get a pizza takeaway.

One Friday night in March last year Kelly went to bed early after telling Steven she felt ill.

Her eyesight had been blurry all week and her whole body was shaking.

Kelly woke up in the early hours in a panic with chest pains before an ambulance was called.

She was rushed to the Hull Royal Infirmary and it took lying in a hospital bed to make Kelly realise something needed to change.

The mum-of-six said: The doctor told me I would die and would not make it to Christmas if I didnt do something about my weight.

I felt sick and was terrified I wouldnt see my boy grow up. I vowed to diet and I havent touched coke or junk food since.

It was the wake up call I needed.

I was lying in the hospital bed and I made Steven sign me up online to Weight Watchers and that was the day my life changed.

Kelly started attending her weekly WW classes, recording her daily diet in a food diary, and going on little walks.

Before:

After:

After losing three stone, Kellys partner bought her a little sausage dog called Frankfurter to keep her motivated and get her out for a walk twice a day.

On 25 January Kelly reached her target weight of 13 stone and seven pounds. Shes now a size 14 and feels so much better, despite finding ditching takeaways a challenge.

She no longer drinks any fizzy drinks, just sticking to water, and avoids junk food.

It has all been worth it, she said I can finally be a mum to my boy. He deserves having his mummy able to move around with him.

Life is so different I feel like I have a new one. I can wear clothes that would never have fit before and I have become a gym bunny.

I go four times a week and do legs, the treadmill, exercise bikes, resistance band training and tyres and it is really helping.

I even go to the shops and buy clothes I want rather than ones I can find that fit.

I dont recognise myself when I look in the mirror and I feel independent again.

But the magical thing about this journey is my son now puts his arms around me for a hug and says Look how thin you are mummy.

I was too big for him to fit his arms around me before.

Im now always on the school run and have no shame about the way I look.

Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

MORE: Coronavirus seemed a million miles away, until it took my mum

MORE: Doctors get married at work as colleagues set up makeshift wedding in hospital

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Mum who drank five litres of cola a day loses more than a third of body weight - Metro.co.uk

One thing I know a lot of us are being challenged with right now in the midst of all these quarantines is how to stay in shape, and how to control what you're eating and drinking. It's even more of a challenge with our gyms being shut down, and spending more time at home close to the refrigerator.

I've always worked out, but I also like to joke that, as acombat veteran,I suffer from Post Deployment Celebration Disorder.I end up eating or drinking too much, especially after getting home from a deployment. Thankfully, I've figured out how to shed that post deployment weight gain, and how to keep it off- so I thought I would just share a few things that seem to be working for me in the middle of these quarantines (although I gotta admit it is definitely more of a struggle for all of us in this quarantine).

That's just a few things that have been working for me. What's been working for you? Any apps you'd recommend? Shoot me a note aaron(at)montanatalks.com

And, if you just need a good laugh (and missed my previous post)...check out Tim Montana's "Quarantine" song with Black Rifle Coffee's Mat Best:

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How I'm Staying in Shape from Home Here in Montana - newstalk955.com

GEMMA Collins says she's "working on her summer body" by plugging the controversial weight loss injections.

The reality star, 38, plugged the 250 injections - which claims to suppress the appetite and helps the body turn stored fat into energy - on Instagram.

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After uploading a video of her riding a bike up a hill, Gemma then filmed herself opening the packet.

She wrote: "So working on my summer body while in isolation and this really helps me. There are a lot of take offs of this pen.

"This is what you get when you order off SkinnyJab. It does help. It really does help. Yeah, cannot wait to be out of lockdown in a nice summer dress in summer."

Gemma has previously said the injections "changed her life" after losing two stone using them.

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The star told her followers in February: "Everyone has been asking 'how the hell have you lost weight, GC?'.

"Well, it's all all down to Skinny Jabs and the amazing team there.

"They have transformed my whole life with regards to dieting."

Insisting her fans can help transform their bodies and lose weight just like she did, the Diva on Lockdown star added: "It's something you can do too.

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"It's so fantastic. Summer's not going to be too far away and you can lose two stone just like me."

The official website states that SkinnyJab "removes hunger from the equation", also reassuring that the suppressant used in the the plan regulates blood glucose levels that allows the body to turn stored fat into energy.

It boasts that the plan is suitable for anyone aged between 18 and 76 and the first programme last three weeks, costing 250.

Repeat jabs are 135 a pop and last two to four weeks.

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Dr Sarah Jarvis, clinical director at patient.info, told The Sun Online: "It should only be used by people who are obese, or who are significantly overweight and also have other medical conditions.

"In studies, the average amount of weight lost by people taking this drug for weight loss was about 4-6kg over a year, and about 4.6kg over 3 years.

"Some people will lose more, some people less. But it clearly is not a miracle cure there really is no side-effect free miracle solution for obesity.

"This injection should only be used under close medical supervision, in addition to effective diet and lifestyle changes.

"Like any other licensed drug, it has side effects among the most common are feeling sick or being sick and diarrhoea."

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Gemma Collins says shes working on her summer body by promoting controversial weight loss injections - The Sun

WACO, TX Freedom Nutrition in Waco had their grand opening just two months ago. Little did they know getting their business off the grown will be harder than anticipated.

As they opened their doors, COVID-19 hit Central Texas and their planned business model took a turn. Although they could close up shop, they're choosing to push through.

"If we close the doors now that's a failure for us. So for us right now it's just focusing on solutions, not getting caught up in all the negativity," owner, Caleb Klous said.

Freedom Nutrition is a place where you can eat healthy while satisfying their sweet tooth. Selling protein-packed, nutrient-dense shakes. Flavors range from fruity to chocolaty and everything in between.

"We can actually help you dial in control your weight, your health, your immunity," Klous said.

Jena McCann is an avid shake drinker. She used to not eat very healthy, wasn't happy with her weight and just had no energy throughout the day.

Thanks to Freedom Nutrition shakes she's been able to get to a goal she's happy with.

"I got down to 115 pounds and now I'm working on gaining muscle because my butt went away when all the fat went away and it's just a consistent journey," McCann said.

She works as a supervisor at Freedom Nutrition and now she's helping others get to their goals as well. Offering wellness evaluations, they work to find a diet that is best for you.

"We look at your daily diet as an overview, we look at your metabolism analysis. We also do body composition tracking and then we customize a personal nutrition plan," Klous said.

As we are stuck inside, it's easy to grab that sweet treat and McCann says eating healthy is more important now than ever.

"You don't want to give up on it just because we're bored dealing with the quarantine 15," McCann said.

The shakes are designed to keep you full and avoid cravings.

"Our large shake is going to keep you full for a about three hours and it's going to taste like ice cream," Klous said.

Freedom Nutrition is open Monday Through Saturday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information visit their Facebook page.

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We're Open Freedom nutrition struggles as they just opened their doors before the pandemic hit - KXXV News Channel 25

Microbes Gone Missing

In the early 20th century, biologists began to uncover fascinating relationships between complex organisms and their microbes: in tubeworms that had no mouth, anus or gut; in termites that fed on tough, woody plants; in cows whose grassy diet significantly lacked protein. Such observations generated excitement and prompted follow-up experiments. In those years, the absence of microbial helpers in an animal wasnt considered particularly surprising or interesting, and it often received little more than a passing nod in the literature. Even when it was thought to merit more than that as in a 1978 report in Science that tiny wood-eating crustaceans, unlike termites, had no stable population of gut bacteria it ended up flying under the radar.

And so expectations quietly began to shift to a new norm, that every animal had a relationship with bacteria without which it would perish. A few voices protested this oversimplification: As early as 1953, Paul Buchner, one of the founders of symbiosis research, wrote with exasperation about the notion that obligate, fixed and functional symbioses were universal. Again and again there have been authors who insist that endosymbiosis is an elementary principle of all organisms, he seethed. But counterexamples drowned in the flood of studies on the importance of host-microbe symbioses, especially those that drew connections between human health and our own microbiome.

The human microbiome has completely driven a lot of our thinking about how microbes work, said Tobin Hammer, a postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Texas, Austin. And we often project from ourselves outwards.

But the human example is not a good model for whats going on in a diverse range of species, from caterpillars and butterflies to sawflies and shrimp, to some birds and bats (and perhaps even some pandas). In these animals, the microbes are sparser, more transient or unpredictable and they dont necessarily contribute much, if anything, to their host. The story is more complex, said Sarah Hird, an evolutionary biologist and microbial ecologist at the University of Connecticut, more fuzzy.

A transient, almost nonexistent relationship with bacteria was what Sanders saw in his tropical ants. He brought his samples back to his lab (then at Harvard University, although he is now at Cornell), where he sequenced the insects bacterial DNA and quantified how many microbes were present. The ant species with dense, specialized microbiomes had approximately 10,000 times more bacteria in their guts than Sanders found in the many other species he had captured. Put another way, Sanders said, if the ants were scaled to human size, some would carry a pound of microbes within them (similar to what humans harbor), others a mere coffee beans worth. Its really a profound difference.

That difference, reported in Integrative & Comparative Biology in 2017, seemed to be associated with diet: Strictly herbivorous tree-dwelling ants were more likely to have an abundant microbiome, perhaps to make up for their protein-deficient diet; omnivorous and carnivorous ground-dwelling ants consumed more balanced meals and had negligible amounts of bacteria in their gut. Still, this pattern was inconsistent. Some of the herbivorous ants also lacked a microbiome. And the ants that did have one didnt seem to have widespread, predictable associations with particular species of bacteria (although some sets of microbes were common to individual genera of the insects). That result marked a clear departure from mammalian microbiomes like our own, which tend to be very specific to their hosts.

The reasons why would become clearer as case studies of other organisms started to trickle in.

At around the same time that Sanders was examining ants in Peru, Hammer was in Costa Rica on an independent search for a microbiome in caterpillars. (What better insect to have obligate relationships with bacteria than these cows of the insect world? Sanders commented.) But try as he might, Hammer couldnt find much bacterial DNA in the gut and fecal samples he collected. Something really weird was going on, he said.

When, after months of frustrating lab work, he realized that the animals might simply not have a stable microbiome, it was a shift in thinking for me that was not expected at all. He and his colleagues ultimately found that, like so many of Sanders ants, caterpillars had much, much lower quantities of microbes than was considered the norm. Moreover, those microbes were simply a subset of the ones found in the animals plant diet which supports the idea that theyre transiently passing through and some of them are getting digested, essentially, Hammer said. Theyre not establishing stable populations within the gut.

To determine whether those transient bacteria benefited the caterpillars, the researchers eliminated them with antibiotics. In other insects and animals, such a treatment tends to stunt development or kill the host outright. But it had no effect whatsoever on Hammers caterpillars.

Deepa Agashe, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India, saw something similar in insects that her team collected from several locations near the greenery of their campus. The microbes they found in dragonflies and butterflies strongly correlated with the insects diets rather than with a particular insect species or developmental stage. The vast majority of the dragonflies bacterial communities seemed to have come together by chance. Most of the bacteria were just there because they got there, Agashe said. The insects do not seem to be selecting for particular species of bacteria or a particular kind of bacteria.

Repeated experiments that disrupted the butterflies microbial populations yielded no effect on the hosts growth or development. Neither did reintroducing the bacteria to their guts. Really, Agashe said, they dont seem to care about their microbes at all even though the butterflies feed on toxic plants and seem like perfect candidates for a full-fledged, functional microbiome that could detoxify their meals.

Like Hammer and Sanders, initially we were scratching our heads, Agashe said. It was a surprising result, and actually it took us a while to wrap our heads around it.

But maybe it shouldnt be so surprising. As the scientists realized, when microbiomes are present, theyre often found in specific tissues and they involve specific bacteria that influence specific traits at specific times. The bobtail squid, for example, has a symbiosis thats limited to one species of luminous bacteria, which is sequestered in a single light-producing organ while the squids gut and skin remain microbe-free. Adult honeybees have important relationships with their bacteria, but the larvae dont.

So its not such a leap to think there could be animals that dont have such relationships at all, or that have relationships that play by different rules. I think theres now an increasing realization that theres this whole spectrum of kinds of associations that you might find, Agashe said.

Hammer agreed. Were just getting a glimpse at the tip of the iceberg, he said.

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Why Is the Microbiome Important in Some Animals but Not Others? - Quanta Magazine

Today, nearly all of us are in enforced home confinement due to an invisible foe, the coronavirus. So, how do we amuse ourselves? Some pick up books theyve always wanted to read. Others get household chores done. But how about some of us losing weight? If typical busy schedules have interfered with your efforts in the past, could the current context support a concentrated effort on fasting to shed pounds? And what are the best ways to fast?

Fasting diets have generated considerable buzz among diet gurus in the media, not only as an approach to weight loss but also as a way to improve overall health. But do facts back it up?

Researchers say that animals and humans share some comment elements in the evolutionary process. One of these is that neither animals nor humans have always had the good fortune of enjoying three meals a day. Over long eras when our ancestors needed to scrounge for food, humans developed physiology capable of enduring periods without food. So the question arises, is it possible that the occasional fast might be good for us?

That seems to be true for animals. Studies show that fasting produces health benefits in laboratory animals. For instance, restrictive diet experiments involving rats and mice have delayed the progression of chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and neurological disorders.

Research suggests humans derive benefits too. For example, many studies look at the health impact of fasting by large numbers of people during Ramadan. Results show a reduction in inflammation biomarkers, and this in turn can help prevent a wide range of illness, including neurodegenerative conditions. Other benefits include reduced coronary artery disease and a lower risk of diabetes. Several studies have demonstrated that fasting can decrease blood sugar levels, improve blood sugar control, and reduce insulin resistance, facilitating efforts by those with diabetes to keep levels steady and prevent spikes and crashes.

If you decide to fast during home confinement, how should you do it? Some diets involve a complete fast, allowing only water for a period of time. But many people prefer intermittent fasting. This involves eating at only certain times of the day and fasting the rest of the day. Still other fasts involve drastically reducing food intake for two or three days of the week. Remember, fasting is about calorie restriction, and this is only advantageous if there is no overeating when breaking the fast.

Dr. Sai Krupa Das of the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging says, In terms of weight loss and improvement on body composition, intermittent fasting can work, but there is not sufficient evidence to say it is superior to overall calorie restriction. In fact, the two methods appear to be pretty comparable.

A report in the journal Aging Research Reviews looked at various forms of calorie restriction. Researchers concluded that all forms of calorie restriction in overweight human subjects have shown improvement in multiple health indicators.

But Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, Dean of Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, has sound advice. He says, Avoiding refined starches, grains, avoiding added sugars and other hyper-processed foods, and eating plenty of minimally processed foods such as nuts, seeds, beans, fruits, vegetables, fish, yogurt, healthy fats, and plant oils activates many natural weight controlling pathways.

The bottom line is to eat and diet in a way that works for you. Many complicated factors, including inherited genetics and socioeconomic context, make it difficult for some of us to maintain a healthy weight. But for too many of us, the problem is not genetic or societal. It is a lack of individual will and poor lifestyle choices that result in overconsumption of too many calories. This, combined with not enough exercise and confinement at home, is a recipe for trouble.

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones can be reached at info@docgiff.com.

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Health: Is home confinement a good time to try fasting? - Red Deer Advocate

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What are some activities you can do, no sweat, thanks to muscle memory? I can dribble a soccer ball, weave a lanyard into a staircase pattern, and summon lyrics to any Top 40 song post-1995.

Alison Bries recall includes jumping from the high corner ropes of a wrestling ring, her body in a horizontal plane, and landing crosswise on the body of another human as they fall in perfect coordination to the ground (a crossbody). She can also hurl herselfagain horizontallyonto someones back and hold on while that person spins (a crucifix). Not only that; she knows how to hold her frame upside down, legs straight up toward the heavens, while supporting herself by grasping the torso of the human below her (a 12 oclock suplex). This is how I find her on a Sunday in February, in a wrestling ring with pink ropes, her body upturned on pro wrestler Chavo Guerrero Juniors and pointing to the sky.

It really does come back pretty quickly, says Alison, stretching afterward, as if she is referencing a golf swing or how to French-braid. By season four of GLOW, we have the muscle memory. The thing to relearn is the fearlessness and commitment. You cant do any of the moves halfway.

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The Netflix series about the 80s TV show Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling is entering its fourth and final season, and it has changed a lot for the 37-year-old. It marked the first project for which she was number one on the call sheet, and the first (and, she imagines, only) time shell be in a show requiring dramatic acting, broad comedy chops, and major physicality. Since GLOW debuted in 2017, Alison has been vocal about how it seismically changed her. It helped with my relationship to my body times a million, she says. Before, I always felt at odds with it; I wanted it to be something it wasnt. But I didnt have the tools to do that in a healthy way.

Now, after four seasons, Alison has a confidence that stems in part from seeing her body as useful rather than merely aesthetic. Even Alisons stuntwoman has noticed the shift in her as she learns to trust herself more: Alisons training on GLOW has made her more comfortable doing her own small stunts in other projects, says Helena Barrett. Shes gotten through four years of a highly physical role with zero injuries, echoes her trainer, Jason Walsh, CEO of Rise Nation. Shes doing the jumps, the flips, the lands. Thats typically not what actors do.

"I like to lead the charge against people thinking that strength training makes women bulky."

Alison says she used to approach fitness all wrong. Everything was cardio, cardio, cardio. Nine years ago she started working with Walsh, mostly out of a sense of obligation. I thought, Im in my late 20s, I should probably start doing some strength training. What she did with Walsh changed when she started preparing for GLOW.

It took the motivation out of being skinny for Hollywood standards and made it about being strong for lifting other women, literally. There was a real goal. Because of that, Walsh has Alison focus on primitive movementswarming up by crawling or rolling, then pushing and pulling a heavy sled, performing trap bar deadlifts, and doing squats, presses, or lunges with a FitFighter (a handheld steel hose).

I mention that after she entered the GLOW ring, it looked to me as if her body shrank as she got stronger. Im glad you said that, actually, because being small was a side effect of being super fit and muscular, Alison replies without missing a beat. I like to lead the charge against people thinking that strength training makes women bulky. Jason uses my body as an example at the gym, because I can lift more than a lot of people. You can pack a lot of muscle into a lean little body.

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Given the ways her physical self has changed over the past four years, I ask Alison if she still grapples with body dysmorphia, something Id read affected her, growing up in L.A. Oh, definitely. Still do! she says, matter-of-factly. In the past, she felt it had a hold on her. I go back to red carpet photos where I thought I looked so horrible, and there are some where I now think, God, I looked beautiful. And Ill remember: An hour before that I was in tears; I thought I was so disgusting. I think its something Ill probably be working through my whole life. And depression too.

Mental illness runs in Alisons family; her maternal grandmother had schizophrenia and went through periods of homelessness. The rest of my family then dealt with the trickle-down effects of trauma, she says. And that meant depression more than anything. The issue traces a line on both sides of Alisons genealogy and occasionally comes out of nowhere and really blindsides me. While some of her loved ones have benefited from anti-depressants, Alison says being active is her way of combating the condition. When Ive been in a really serious depression, Ill drag myself to a yoga classeven if I dont want to be around peopletears streaming down my face. But, Get in class, get out of your head, get blood flowing. It ends up helping eventually.

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Working out six days a week (three days with Walsh, three days of activities like hikes and riding her Peloton) is one way Alison maintains her mental wellness. She also credits open communication as something that helps. Im so lucky Im married to a really wonderful, open person, she says of her husband, actor Dave Franco. We have great lines of communication, and I can talk often about my feelings. Dave gave her perspective when she was in the depths of self-loathing about her body. Its been funny talking to him about it. He said, Before I knew you, Im not sure I believed body dysmorphia was a real thing. Its so interesting to me what you seeand what Im seeing when Im looking at youand the frank discussions we have about it.

A streamlined diet is another thing that keeps Alisons mental state balanced. I used to feel more out of control with it, she says, describing how intense sugar cravings would lead to unhealthy choices and spin her into sadness about her body. Being more diligent has been helpful for me mentally.

You wouldnt believe how diligent. As Alison gets closer to shooting a season of GLOW, she ups her lean protein intake, removes sugar, and doesnt eat carbohydrates after 4 p.m. For breakfast, she has oatmeal with protein powder, then she works out and has a post-sweat chocolate and sea salt Aprs vegan protein shake. A few hours later shell make a tuna salad with spinach and whatever she has on handolives, avocado, cucumber. For dinner, she whips up ground-turkey stir-fries; one from a Gwyneth Paltrow cookbook calls for eggplant, and another she makes with onion, ginger, garlic, and low-sodium tamari sauce. When shes not prepping or shooting, she tends to eat vegan or vegetarian.

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Nutrition is just part of the logistics shes navigating as she preps for the Netflix series and shoots Happiest Seasona rom-com led by Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis about a gay couple who go home for the holidays and have to pretend to be straight. Shes been flying back and forth between Pittsburgh and L.A. and exercising in apartments and trailers. I have workouts for any type of situation, she says. Her routines from Walsh are heavy on calisthenics done at a slow tempo, like pushups and Bulgarian split squats. She also uses the PulseTread app for intervals on the treadmill. For recovery, she is loyal to foam rollers, her Theragun, and Epsom salt baths after ingesting a few drops of CBD oil.

A car is idling outside, ready to take Alison to a flight back to Pittsburgh for Happiest Season. (Shell also appear in this springs Promising Young Woman, a chilling #MeToo revenge thriller.) In a week, shell be back in the ring, rehearsing with all the women of GLOW. Its exciting! she says. My chance to rebond with all the girls. Does it feel as if youre on a team more than a cast, I ask, knowing that Alison was a full-fledged theater nerd and unlikely to have soccer in her muscle memory. One hundred percent, she says, beaming. And I feel like the captain. I want to motivate everyone. Shes going to miss her character, Ruthmullet perm and allwhen she has to say goodbye, but shes taking wrestling, and all its lessons, with her. Its part of me forever.

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Photographed by Aingeru Zorita Fashion director Kristen Saladino Hair Mark Townsend for Dove Hair Makeup: Molly R. Stern using Armani Beauty Manicure: Emi Kudo at Opus Beauty using Chanel Le Vernis.

This article appears in the May 2020 issue of Womens Health, available April 21. Subscribe now.

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Alison Brie Can Lift Another HumanAnd Not Just On TV - Women's Health