With travel out of the question due to the coronavirus pandemic, you can still have that gastronomic trip delivered to your home. Buzz60

Dairy is wiped out. There are two packages of chicken left. The vegetables are mostly gone.

These are the sights that have met Americans in grocery stores across the country as fears about the coronavirus pandemic have led to panic shopping. The absence of staple food products like bread, eggs and chicken is stressful for everyone, but particularly hard on those people who follow specialdiets for medical reasons or personal preferences.

When canned beans or pasta aren't options for you, it may seem like getting through a long stretch of social distancing might be impossible. But there are ways for those who follow vegan, gluten-free or keto dietsto make it through with substitutes, home cooking and a lot of patience.

More: I tried weight-loss app Noom for three monthshere's what happened

You won't find shelves this full anywhere during the coronavirus pandemic.(Photo: Getty Images)

Go for long-lasting produce.Root vegetables, cabbage, squash, apples and citrus fruits will stay ripe longerthan many greens and berries.

Make your own nut butters and milks.Whizzing nuts in a high-powered blender or food processor can replace almond butter from a jar.

Embrace vegan baking.Cookies made withaquafaba (aka, the liquid leftover from a can of chickpeas or other legumes), vinegar instead of eggs and butter in cakes, coconut oil instead of butter or lard in pastry many vegan baking tricks are more shelf stable than their traditional counterparts.

Many bread recipes are gluten-free.(Photo: Stephen Barnes / Getty Images)

The good news for those who must avoid gluten is that gluten-free products are less in demand than the regular wheat varieties, so you may not be facing shortages at your local store. But if you are, here are a few tricks.

Try veggie substitutes.If there is no gluten-free pasta at your store, grab some zucchini and make zoodles (with a spiralizer, oruse a vegetable peeler to make long strips that resemble fettuccine) with your favorite pasta sauce. An eggplant or portobello mushroom can be a burger bun.

Try gluten-free baking, but don't stress.There are hundreds of gluten-free baking recipes online, but many require specialty ingredients. But you can make simple edible cookie dough by grinding nuts in a food processor to use as flour, for instance; see more baking substitutes here. Sourdough breadscan be easier for people with gluten sensitivities to eat.

Recipes: Easy breadsyou can make during the coronavirus quarantine even if you're out of yeast, milk or butter

Foods often found on the ketogenic diet include fish, berries, nuts, eggs, cheese and avocado.(Photo: ThitareeSarmkasat / Getty Images)

In addition to being a popular diet for weight loss, people follow the ketogenic diet for a number of medical conditions, including epilepsy, diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome. The extremely low-carbohydrate diet relies mostly on meat, dairy, non-root vegetables and some nuts and seeds. Dairy in particular has been hard to acquire in manystores. Here are a few tips.

Pick long-lasting vegetables that are keto-friendly.Eggplant, spaghetti squash, cabbage and cauliflower are all low in carbohydrates and last for weeks when stored correctly.

There are some shelf-stable keto products.Coconut milk and cream, plain nuts and seeds, canned vegetables, chicken and beef broth, low-carb protein powder (great for making low-carb bread substitutes), canned pumpkin, ghee, coconut oil and pork rinds are among products worth investigating. Full-fat coconut milk can be used to replace dairy products in most recipes.

Make cheese or yogurt at home.If some dairy is available and some isn't, grabbing milk, heavy cream and live culture yogurt can set you up to create other dairy products at home. To make ricotta or paneer cheese, you need only distilled white vinegar or lemon juice, whole milk, heavy cream and salt. Milk and a little yogurt (with live cultures) can make much more yogurt (very easily if you have an electric pressure cooker).

Try new meat, or new ways of preparing it.Meat is disappearing from shelves, so now is the time to be creative. If ground meat is sold out, try grinding chicken thighs or a cut of beef in a food processor (freeze the meat for 15 minutes first, to help prevent the meat from getting mushy). Tinned chicken, meat and fish can be brought back to life with the proper recipes (chicken salad, fried canned meat, Caesar salad dressing).

Add more fat to your meals to make them more filling.Coconut oil, butter, mayonnaise and other fatty condiments can make a keto meal more filling without requiring another trip to the store for more chicken. Adding butter or coconut oil to coffee has long been a filling keto trick.

More: WW (formerly Weight Watchers) and Noom make losing weight easierwhich is right for you?

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Try smaller, independent grocers.Asian and Latin markets, bodegas and other stores that aren't national chains may have a larger selection of products right now. Online markets that sell specialty ingredients are also viable.

Make smaller meals for the people in your family with dietary restrictions.If everyone usually eats gluten-free, but only one family member has celiac, try saving the gluten-free products specifically for that person, and let the rest of the family go through the pasta.

Lean on your spice drawer.If you can't vary your meals too much (they only had rice so you're eating a lot of rice now), vary meals with different spice combinations. Ingredients like soy sauce, anchovies and Worcestershire sauce can be added to many recipes to increase savory, umami flavor (anchovies in pasta sauce, it's not crazy).

Ferment everything!Kombucha, pickles, peppers, onions fermentation will help keep your food good for longer. It's also a fun hobby you might keep long after social distancing is gone.

Make big batches, freeze leftovers.Doubling a casserole and freezing the extra portions will give you easy, microwavable meals later.

Keep it simple and low waste.Rely on meals that are easy to prepare and don't create much waste. Save meat bones and vegetable scraps for making stock later. Use up vegetables in a frittata or soup before they go bad, fruit in a smoothie or dessert. You can even plant vegetable scraps if you have a backyard.

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Sources: Bon Appetit, The Kitchn, The Pioneer Woman, Healthline andUSA TODAY research

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/food-dining/2020/03/27/coronavirus-quarantine-how-stick-with-gluten-free-keto-vegan-diet/2919594001/

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What to do during the coronavirus quarantine if you're on a diet - USA TODAY

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The new study analyses for the first time the diet of the only fossil remains of this primate with the analysis of buccal dental microwear. According to the conclusions, the eating pattern of this guenon -the most abundant in the fossil records from the African Pleistocene- would be different than the one in the baboonTheropithecus gelada-the phylogenetically closest species living in Semien Mountains, northern Ethiopia, at the current moment-, which usually eats herbs and stalks.

The study, led by the lecturers Laura Martnez and Alejandro Prez-Prez, from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona (UB), counts on the participation of experts from the Faculty of Earth Sciences and the Faculty of Psychology of the UB as well as members from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Alicante, the Museum of Orce Prehistory and Palaeontology (Granada) and the George Washington University (United States).

Cueva Victoria: the long journey of the African baboonTheropithecus oswaldi

The genreTheropithecusspread over the Sahara Desert, from east to north and south in the African continent. Its evolutionary lineage, also present in some European and Asian areas, reached its limit of disappearance about 500,000 years ago. Today, it would be only represented by the speciesTheropithecus gelada, a baboon which only eats plants and shows an ecological profile more similar to herbivore animals rather than primates.

Cueva Victoria provided with fossil remains of about a hundred species of vertebrates and it is one of the few European sites of the early Pleistocene with remains of human species. Credit Universidad de Barcelona

In 1990, the excavation campaign led by the palaeontologist Josep Gibert found the first fossil remain -a tooth- ofTheropithecus oswald(Journal of Human Evolution, 1995). This cave -an old manganese mine- provided with fossil remains of about a hundred species of vertebrates and it is one of the few European sites of the early Pleistocene with remains of human species. Outside the African continent, the fossil records of this baboon is scarce and researchers have only found other remains in Ubeidiya (Israel) and Minzapur (India).

The new fossil evidence ofT. oswaldi-which date back to 900,000 and 850,000 million years ago- were recovered by a team led by the lecturers Carles Ferrndez-Caadell and Llus Gibert, from the Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Applied Geology of the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the UB. The presence of this African guenon in the south-eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula strengthens the hypothesis of the animal dispersal models going from the African continent to Europe during the Pleistocene through the Strait of Gibraltar.

What was the fossil baboon diet like in the south of the Iberian Peninsula?

The analysis of the produced buccal-dental stretch marks due to food intake reveal theT. oswaldispecimens in Cueva Victoria would have a more abrasive diet compared to the currentT. gelada, and more similar to the diet of other primates such as mangabeys i(Cercocebus sp) and mandrylles (Mandrillys sphinx), which eat fruits and seeds in forested and semiopen ecosystems, notes Laura Martnez, lecturer at the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Biology and first author of the study.

Other recent studies based on the observation ofT. geladain the area of Guassa, Ethiopia, describe a more diverse diet, with rhizome and tubers over the most unfavourable season. The difference betweenT. oswaldi andT. gelada-continues the researcher- shows that the observed specialization in the current baboon could be a derived specialization which did not exist in the fossils of its lineage. This could respond to a regression in its ecological niche as an adaptation to anthropically altered ecosystems or as a result from climate change.

The published study inJournal of Human Evolutionwhich analyses dental and cranial adaptions of primates from the tribe papionine as the analogue model to the evolution of the hominini lineage -which shared a common geographical space in similar datings. The new study on dental microwear counted on the support from the Spanish Ministry for Research, Development and Innovation, the Catalan Government and La Caixa Foundation.

Universidad de Barcelona

Header Image Credit Nanosanchez

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Study reveals the diet of the fossil primate 'Theropithecus oswaldi' found in the site of Cueva Victoria in Spain - HeritageDaily

Austin Ekeler has nearly 25 million reasons to stay in peak shape for his fourth year in the NFL. Coming off a breakout season in which he recorded 92 receptions (second behind only Carolina Panthers star Christian McCaffrey among running backs), he signed a four-year, $24.5 million deal to return to the San Diego Los Angeles Chargers. With former top backfield option Melvin Gordon off to the Denver Broncos, and longtime quarterback Phillip Rivers headed to the Indianapolis Colts, Ekeler is about to become a focal pointif not the focal pointof a revamped offense.

Ekeler was already planning on a weight room-heavy offseason, and hes had to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic. Here, he explains his unorthodox workout regimen, streaming his workouts like a gamer, and how he's training for an NFL season in a moment of social distancing.

GQ: There are obviously far more pressing matters with this outbreak, but for NFL players, how are COVID-19 and social distancing affecting the offseason?

Austin Ekeler: Right around this time is when Pro Days would be going on, and a lot of under-the-radar players would be getting the opportunity to show their skills. I was one of these players. I needed the Pro Day to show to scouts that I could play.

How are you managing to get your workouts in now?

Finding a gym is nearly impossible. I can run, but I need to keep up my weightnot through eating, but by lifting. I have some small weights at home. Its not the type of training Id like to be doing, but Im still engaging my muscles.

I saw youve been live-streaming your home workouts on Twitch. What was behind that idea?

I actually started my Twitch stream a while back to make people aware that Im also a gamer. But more recently I wanted to stream the workouts to have a different interaction with fans and people around the world. My game of choice is League of Legends. I dont play sports games or shooters, although I may try a shooter game if this quarantine lasts a few more weeks.

Whats one exercise an NFL running back would recommend to esports players?

Run [laughs]. Id say run just because youre sitting down so much, and that will engage your entire body. I wouldnt say lifting would be absolutely necessary. I would think youd need more aerobic-type activities.

Take us through one of your workouts.

My girlfriend Taylor [Frick] is a personal trainer, and shes been coming up with these aerobic, full-body workouts, using lots of core holds and different athletic movements. We did one the other day, and my legs were like Jell-O. Youre pushing it the entire time. When I got done I was dripping in sweat.

We did burpees, different types of lunges, pushups, and engaged our core, all for 30-second intervals. She also loves to do different types of jumpsstar jumps, some twist jumps. Those are good, functional workouts that will get your heart rate up after about 30 seconds. They kind of fit into the aerobic type of movements I should be doing as a football player.

Is it true you like to wing it when you hit the gym?

I have a loose plan about what the days workout will be. Like, I know if my workout is going to be lower-body, but thats it until I get to the gym. Ill switch it up, shock the body in different ways. For example, Ive recently been working with a trainer on lower-body workouts. Hes a CrossFit guy, so well incorporate lots of volume. But I wont know the exact movements until Im at the gym. Ill set up different equipment, try different things to keep my body guessing, kind of like simulating the uncertainty on the football field. Its a unique way of working out, but its something Ive always done.

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The Real-Life Diet of the L.A. Chargers' Austin Ekeler, Whos Streaming His Workouts Like a Gamer - GQ

Plants rich in starch helped early humans to thrive even at the height of the last Ice Age, researchers say.

While the evidence around meat eating is clear, the role of plant foods is less understood. Animal bones can last millions of years and still show cuts made by human butchering tools, whereas almost all plant remains disintegrate.

But new studies into the remains of plants that do exist are uncovering why and how our ancestors ate them.

Plants were the staples. They were the foods that formed the basis of our calories in most environments, said Dr Amanda Henry, a paleobiologist and associate professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Tubers and cereals are full of starch making them good sources of glucose, which is important for brain growth as well as energy, says DrHenry. She leads a project called HARVESTwhich is studying the diets of early human species and the role of plants as food. Tubers are organs where plants store nutrients modern examples include potatoes and yams.

Some of the earliest evidence she found of eating tubers and cereals dates back 40,000 years, to the Paleolithic era. Neanderthal remains discovered in caves in Iraq and Belgium show that our cousins likely ate water lily tubers, and grains from relatives of wheat and barley grasses.

Innovation

But unlocking the energy in them required innovation. The grains may have been eaten green when they are easier to digest, but many tubers are toxic raw, says Dr Henry.

They are likely to have cooked them, said DrHenry. This not only releases energy but also makes tubers safe to eat.

(Weve found) evidence of heating food in the presence of water which suggests they were boiling them, said DrHenry. Changes in the starch granules which suggests this type of cooking were found on the dental calculus (tartar).

The Neanderthal remains indicate they ate a wide variety of plant foods. This throws doubt on a theory that they died out because they had a narrower diet than our direct ancestors, DrHenry says.

Other researchers have found earlier evidence of cooked tubers from South Africa in a fireplace dating back more than 100,000 years.

During the last glacial period when ice caps expanded to cover much of northern Europe, there was an explosion of a new technology driven by the need for processing new sources of plant food: the ground stone.

It was a major evolutionary success, dating back about 30,000 years, says Dr Emanuela Cristiani, associate professor in prehistoric archaeology at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Hunter-gatherers primarily used knapped tools, made from big pieces of stone, says DrCristiani. At a certain point another technology appears like a boom which is the ground stone technology (It was) not used to cut or scrape or pierce, but to grind material, she said.

It means people were looking for new ways to eat during this dramatic climatic period, she said.

A lot of Paleo diets talk about health, but by this they mean weight loss. And I cant think of a single human ancestor who wanted to lose weight.

Amanda Henry, Leiden University, the Netherlands

Through a project called HIDDEN FOODS, DrCristiani is studying diets of humans in southeastern Europe from the late Paleolithic era when they were hunter-gathers to the Neolithic era, when there is the first evidence of farming in the region about 8,500 years ago. She is also exploring the evolution of plant food processing technologies.

Flour

Grinding meant people could make flour, which is another way of unlocking the energy in plants. The team found evidence in ground stones and plant remains in dental calculus that hunter-gatherers in the central Balkans ate a lot of wild oats, legumes and acorn flour, says DrCristiani.

The earliest evidence of flour dates back 30,000 years and was found in Russia, the Czech Republic and Italy.

It is likely that hunter-gatherers at the team's Italian research site ate cattail plants, which are abundant in a nearby river.

We think they used mostly roots. The plants root is very rich in starch and once its dried, you can make it into flour, said DrCristiani. The flour makes a sweet-tasting bread, she adds.

Paleolithic

The average Paleolithic person who survived infancy seems to have lived to age 50 or 60. It wasnt a life of luxury, it was probably a lot of work and generally cold, requiring quite a bit of effort, said DrHenry.

These early humans are likely to have died primarily from a combination of infections, parasites and physical trauma, she says.

Once people started settling and rearing animals and crops, disease levels rose mainly because they jumped from animals to humans and life expectancy appears to have fallen. That being said, agriculture is associated with increase in population size. Youre not living as long, but youre having more kids, said DrHenry.

Today, some people seeking a healthy alternative to modern industrialised diets look to the eating styles of our hunter-gatherer ancestors for inspiration.

The so-called Paleo diet eschews cereals, recommends few carbs and promotes meat and vegetables. But archaeologists say it does not represent the full diet of hunter-gatherers who ate cereals and relied on carbohydrates.

HIDDEN FOODS researchers found remains of legumes, oats and acorns in 10,000-year-old teeth from the last hunter-gatherer groups who built villages along the Danube river. This shows our idea of a Paleo diet as primarily based on protein intake is completely wrong, said DrCristiani.

Its important to understand for real what the (ancient) Paleolithic diet was. It was a very balanced way of eating, she said.

Hunter-gatherers were looking for calories, so carbohydrates in tubers and cereals would have been important.

A lot of Paleo diets talk about health, but by this they mean weight loss. And I cant think of a single human ancestor who wanted to lose weight, said DrHenry.

Diversity was integral to peoples diets, as was their ability to move to new regions. Plant foods vary a lot between environments. So, every time a human went to a new place, they had to learn what was edible, what was going to kill them and what was medicine, she said. There is no one size fits all diet. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something.

The research in this article was funded by the EU's European Research Council. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.

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How Stone Age humans unlocked the glucose in plants - Horizon magazine