A new study has found that a plant-based diet plays a role in preventing cognitive decline. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looks at how diet affects risk of cognitive impairment in Chinese adults. Alzheimers disease and dementia plague 5 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As the population continues to age, this number will grow. Lifestyle factors including diet, exercise, drugs and alcohol play a role in determining health. This new study suggests that a plant-based diet, meaning one low in animal-products and high in fruits, whole grains and vegetables lowers the risk of cognitive decline. In the study, some participants followed the healthful plant-based diet index, along with five other healthy diets.Research found that those that followed one of the five prescribed diets were 18-33% less likely to develop cognitive issues. Professor Koh Woon Puay, of National University of Singapores (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and the Duke-NUS Medical School, was the principal on the study. Professor Puay said of the findings, Our study suggests that maintaining a [healthful] dietary pattern is important for the prevention of onset and delay of cognitive impairment. Such a pattern is not about the restriction of a single food item but the composition of an overall pattern that recommends cutting back on red meats, especially if they are processed, and including lots of plant-based foods (vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans, whole grains) and fish. Plant-based diets are known to help chronic inflammation, heart health, allergies, gut health and more! For those of you interested in eating more plant-based, wehighly recommend downloading theFood Monster App with over 15,000 delicious recipes it is the largest meatless, plant-based, vegan and allergy-friendly recipe resource to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy! And, while you are at it, we encourage you to also learn about theenvironmentalandhealth benefitsof aplant-based diet. Check out the following resources and dont forget to check out our plant-basedhealth,foodandrecipesarchives for our latest content: For more Animal, Earth, Life, Vegan Food, Health, and Recipe content published daily, subscribe to the One Green Planet Newsletter! Lastly, being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!

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Plant-Based Diet Linked to Improved Cognitive Health - Market Research Feed

Bernard Tyson, who headed up the giant healthcare organization, Kaiser Permanente, died in his sleep not long after our fascinating, inspiring and educational conversation. He had had heart problems in the past, but his sudden passing at age 60 was still a profound and immensely saddening shock.

As you will conclude from this two-part series, Tysons death leaves an enormous void. He acutely recognized and analyzed the problems with todays healthcare system, and he was pushing forward pioneering programs to not only rectify those problems but also profoundly and sweepingly improve the system. In this first part Tyson was vibrant, stirring and optimistic as he described how he got into the field and the innovative and sweeping measures he was enacting. In the second part, next week, we go into more detail on the things he was pursuing. He was, indeed, a joyful and engaging leader.

Tyson, who had spent his career with Kaiser Permanente, recognized that direct healthcare didnt have the biggest impact on the total health of an individual; it was the environment in which a person lived, his diet, exercise, the stresses he experienced in his everyday life, as well as other factors that were crucially important. He called our system today the fix-me system, which pushes volumetests, exams, surgical proceduresover value. He chafed at the stovepipes or silos that characterize most institutions, where labs, X-rays, specialists, etc. never seem to communicate. Tysons agenda included the creation of a truly integrated healthcare system, where information flows freely, breaking down internal barriers.

Bernard Tyson speaking about implementing innovations to improve healthcare.

He pushed community initiatives to make preventive practices a reality for more and more people. He believed in helpful follow-through when patients are discharged from the hospital.

Tyson was also adamant about removing the stigma that is still attached to mental health. Its time, he said, to reconnect the head to the body, and he enacted reforms to do just that.

The system Tyson headed is immense, with over 12 million insured members, more than 200,000 employees and $80 billion-plus in revenues.

But, as you will hear, Tyson learned early on that numbers represent unique individuals. His mission was leading the way to equity of care.

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TimelyAnd Highly RelevantInsights From Healthcare Innovator And Leader: The Late Bernard Tyson - Forbes

Last year, Americans borrowed more than $88 billion to pay for health care. One in four Americans skipped medical appointments because of concern about cost. Medical debt is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. These statistics reflect a trend of increasing costs and declining health outcomes that has been plaguing America for decades.

Back in 1970, the U.S. spent $74.6 billion on health care, but by 2017 that figure had skyrocketed to more than $3.5 trillion. And yet, despite this explosion in health care spending, American life expectancies declined for the first time in 2015, and again in 2016.

Paying for health care has defined much of the political conversation over the past several years, but is our spending making us healthier?

Almost everyone alive has some concern about dying. Mostly, we are worried about the loud killers: Will we die from a catastrophic accident such as a car collision or plane crash, or perhaps as the result of some violent crime? Yet it is the silent killers that ultimately cause the vast majority of deaths in this country heart disease, cancer and stroke.

And then there are the other silent killers obesity linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, as well as habits such as substance abuse and cigarette smoking. Despite the trillions of dollars being spent on health care each year, these killers remain difficult to stop. Some of it has to do with awareness. Americans are not being educated by the health care system about these dangers in time for them to make preventative lifestyle choices that can extend their lifespans and the amount of time that they enjoy good health.

The monetary incentive for doctors and health care professionals to keep people well pales in comparison to that of treating sick people. After all, the cost of prevention is often a fraction of the price of the cure for a malady. But we have proven that, as a society, we could easily go bankrupt trying to cure diseases once theyve reached a critical stage. Our money and focus are far better spent on the activities we can control to keep illnesses from becoming so deadly in the first place.

It is difficult to have conversations about these issues when most of us receive our health care from either the government bureaucracy, which sees us as just a number, or a private health system that sees us as just another dollar. Real health care transcends economics and delves into the social and community realms. It is only when we have long-term relationships with our doctors and medical professionals that real progress begins to take place.

Consumers also need to start asking better questions. Rather than asking how we can cure what ails us, we need to ask how we can maintain our health. What steps can we take, in terms of our lifestyle and behaviors, that help keep us healthy so we dont end up relying on cutting-edge, expensive medical procedures and pharmaceuticals after one of the silent killers has struck?

Luckily, the answers are out there. Health comes from eating a good diet, exercising regularly, getting good sleep and maintaining good relationships and from avoiding harmful behaviors such as smoking and abusing drugs. Avoiding chronic stress is important, too. Prayer and contemplation can reduce stress and build emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

These answers are not hard to conceptualize, but these simple, effective habits may be difficult for many people to implement because of the stresses of modern life and cultural factors. We could learn a lot from other parts of the world where prevention may be the only option. In many countries, the lions share of health care spending is on primary care. This has proven to be a far more efficient and effective use of resources than a misplaced emphasis on emergency care.

While the silent killers may be responsible for many of the bad health outcomes Americans experience, it may be silence itself that ultimately kills us. Among men especially, there is a hesitancy to speak up about problems until they reach the point where we cannot help but scream. Many of us dont get regular screenings for common diseases as we age; we may assume that if we dont know about it, then it doesnt exist.

This plainly does not work. We need to become more vocal about what ails us, and begin to speak up and make ourselves heard before it is too late.

Armstrong Williams (@ARightSide) is the owner and manager of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the Year. He is the author of Reawakening Virtues.

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Curing the silent killers: Speak up and ask the right questions | TheHill - The Hill

What does loneliness sound like? I asked this question on Twitter recently. You might expect that people would say silence, but they didnt. Their answers included:

The wind whistling in my chimney, because I only ever hear it when Im alone.

The hubbub of a pub heard when the door opens to the street.

The sound of a clicking radiator as it comes on or off.

The terrible din of early morning birds in suburban trees.

I suspect everyone has a sound associated with loneliness and personal alienation. Mine is the honk of Canadian geese, which takes me back to life as a 20-year-old student, living in halls after a break-up.

These sounds highlight that the experience of loneliness varies from person to personsomething that is not often recognized in our modern panic. We are in an epidemic; a mental health crisis. In 2018 the British government was so concerned that it created a Minister for Loneliness. Countries like Germany and Switzerland may follow suit. This language imagines that loneliness is a single, universal stateit is not. Loneliness is an emotion clusterit can be made up of a number of feelings, such as anger, shame, sadness, jealousy, and grief.

The loneliness of a single mother on the breadline, for example, is very different to that of an elderly man whose peers have died, or a teenager who is connected online but lacks offline friendships. And rural loneliness is different to urban loneliness.

By talking about loneliness as a virus or an epidemic, we medicalize it and seek simple, even pharmacological treatments. This year researchers announced that a loneliness pill is in the works. This move is part of a broader treatment of emotions as mental health problems, with interventions focusing on symptoms not causes.

But loneliness is physical as well as psychological. Its language and experience also changes over time.

Before 1800, the word loneliness was not particularly emotional: it simply connoted the state of being alone. The lexicographer Thomas Blounts Glossographia (1656) defined loneliness as one; an oneliness, or loneliness, a single or singleness. Loneliness usually denoted places rather than people: a lonely castle, a lonely tree, or wandering lonely as a cloud in Wordsworths poem of 1802.

In this period, oneliness was seldom negative. It allowed communion with God, as when Jesus withdrew to lonely places and prayed (Luke 5:16). For many of the Romantics, nature served the same, quasi-religious or deistic function. Even without the presence of God, nature provided inspiration and health, themes that continue in some 21st-century environmentalism.

Critically, this interconnectedness between self and world (or God-in-world) was also found in medicine. There was no division of the mind and body, as exists today. Between the 2nd and the 18th centuries, medicine defined health depending on four humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Emotions depended on the balance of those humors, which were influenced by age, gender, and environment, including diet, exercise, sleep, and the quality of the air. Too much solitude, like too much hare meat, could be damaging. But that was a physical as well as a mental problem.

This holism between mental and physical healthby which one could target the body to treat the mindwas lost with the rise of 19th-century scientific medicine. The body and mind were separated into different systems and specialisms: psychology and psychiatry for the mind, cardiology for the heart.

This is why we view our emotions as situated in the brain. But in doing so, we often ignore the physical and lived experiences of emotion. This includes not only sound, but also touch, smell, and taste.

Studies of care homes suggest that lonely people get attached to material objects, even when they live with dementia and cant verbally express loneliness. Lonely people also benefit from physical interactions with pets. The heartbeats of dogs have even been found to synchronize with human owners; anxious hearts are calmed and happy hormones produced.

Providing spaces for people to eat socially has, as well as music, dance, and massage therapies, been found to reduce loneliness, even among people with PTSD. Working through the senses gives physical connectedness and belonging to people starved of social contact and companionable touch.

Terms like warm-hearted describe these social interactions. They come from historic ideas that connected a persons emotions and sociability to their physical organs. These heat-based metaphors are still used to describe emotions. And lonely people seem to crave hot baths and drinks, as though this physical warmth stands in for social warmth. Being conscious of language and material culture use, then, might help us assess if othersor weare lonely.

Until we tend to the physical as well as the psychological causes and signs of loneliness, we are unlikely to find a cure for a modern epidemic. Because this separation between mind and body reflects a broader division that has emerged between the individual and society, self, and world.

Many of the processes of modernity are predicated on individualism; on the conviction that we are distinct, entirely separate beings. At the same time as medical science parcelled up the body into different specialisms and divisions, the social and economic changes brought by modernityindustrialization, urbanization, individualismtransformed patterns of work, life, and leisure, creating secular alternatives to the God-in-world idea.

These transformations were justified by secularism. Physical and earthly bodies were redefined as material rather than spiritual: as resources that could be consumed. Narratives of evolution were adapted by social Darwinists who claimed that competitive individualism was not only justifiable, but inevitable. Classifications and divisions were the order of the day: between mind and body, nature and culture, self and others. Gone was the 18th-century sense of sociability in which, as Alexander Pope put it, self love and social be the same.

Little wonder then, that the language of loneliness has increased in the 21st century. Privatization, deregulation, and austerity have continued the forces of liberalization. And languages of loneliness thrive in the gaps created by the meaninglessness and powerlessness identified by Karl Marx and sociologist Emile Durkheim as synonymous with the post-industrial age.

Of course loneliness is not only about material want. Billionaires are lonely too. Poverty might increase loneliness linked to social isolation, but wealth is no buffer against the absence of meaning in the modern age. Nor is it useful in navigating the proliferation of 21st-century communities that exist (online and off) that lack the mutual obligation assured by earlier definitions of community as a source of common good.

I am not suggesting a return to the humors, or some fictitious, pre-industrial Arcadia. But I do think that more attention needs to be paid to lonelinesss complex history. In the context of this history, knee-jerk claims of an epidemic are revealed to be unhelpful. Instead, we must address what community means in the present, and acknowledge the myriad kinds of loneliness (positive and negative) that exist under modern individualism.

To do this we must tend to the body, for that is how we connect to the world, and each other, as sensory, physical beings.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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A pill for loneliness isn't the answer to our modern "epidemic" - Quartz

Get Healthy Rushcliffe is launching a new exercise on referral programme to help residents of Rushcliffe with long term health conditions become more physically active.

Exercise is a critical component of achieving a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Get Healthy Rushcliffe aims to make that as easy and as accessible as possible to those living in Rushcliffe.

By being more active, you can help reduce the likelihood of developing long term healthconditions such as heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes and high blood pressure.

Mark Lambourne, Managing Director of Parkwood Healthcare, the organisation behind theGet Healthy Rushcliffe project said that This is a fantastic opportunity for us to work with our partners at Lex Leisure and the wider health and social care community to help embed physical activity within the community of Rushcliffe.

The new 8 to 12 week programme allows residents of Rushcliffe who have been referredby their GP to engage in a personalised and safe exercise programme on a one to onebasis with a qualified instructor.

The programme offers expert advice in relation to health conditions and exercise. Our instructors are highly trained in planning and delivering programmes tailored to the needs and goals of the individual participants.

As part of the programme, participants are able to access the fantastic facilities at Bingham Leisure Centre, Cotgrave Leisure Centre, Keyworth Leisure Centre and Rushcliffe Arena at a discounted rate to enable them to take up more physical activity.

Rushcliffe Borough Councils Executive Manager for Communities Dave Mitchell said:Were delighted to support Get Healthy Rushcliffe at our leisure centres, building on theBoroughs great sport, lifestyle and place.

Encouraging those with health conditions to continue to be active is vital, whether in a role to assist recuperation or to make a significant difference in wider physical and mental wellbeing.

As well as an Exercise on Referral scheme, Get Healthy Rushcliffe also offers residents of Rushcliffe an online resource through which they can access advice, guidance and resources on how to stop smoking, eat a healthier diet, be more physically active, drinkless alcohol and maintain a healthier weight.

Anyone who is a resident of Rushcliffe is welcome to register at

http://www.gethealthyrushcliffe.co.uk to access the range of services that are available. If you would like more information please do not hesitate to contact us on 0115 784 5690, PARKWOOD.gethealthyrushcliffe@nhs.net or visit the website on http://www.gethealthyrushcliffe.co.uk

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New GP Exercise on Referral scheme to launch in Rushcliffe - West Bridgford Wire

Within minutes this week, two articles crossed my Twitter feed, both telling me how difficult it is to study some very important things.

One was on diet (Why Diet Research Is So Spectacularly Thin, by David S. Ludwig and Steven B. Heymsfield) and the other was on teaching writing (Scientific Evidence on How to Teach Writing Is Slim, by Jill Barshay).

The similarities beyond the headlines ("Thin"/"Slim") are striking. Both articles focus on the lack of high-quality research in their respective areas.

Conducting research on the effectiveness of diets is apparently quite difficult. While we may think that theres an easy metric against which were measuring (weight loss), the confounding variables make it very difficult to attribute any single outcome to a change. As the authors say, High quality trials are hard to do because diets, and the behavior of humans who consume them, are so complicated.

Diet interventions that may work in the short term may do long-term harm. Contestants on the reality show The Biggest Loser lost hundreds of pounds in a matter of months, but many of them quickly gained the weight back, sometimes surpassing their previous levels.

The extreme amounts of exercise and highly restricted diets are not sustainable. Theyre probably not healthy, either. Conflating weight loss with increasing health is probably a category-error mistake to begin with.

The authors close with a call for a Manhattan Project to find definitive answers to epidemics of diet-related disease. They want the research to have the same quality and rigor as pharmaceutical research that is meant to treat disease, rather than prevent it, as good diet can.

Im not in medicine, but I am a researcher. I wonder about that last bit, but lets table it while we look at the article on the research on teaching writing.

Jill Barshay quotes Robert Slavin of the Center for Research and Reform of Education at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, saying, Theres remarkably very little high-quality evidence of what works in writing.

The research problems in measuring writing are similar to dieting. It is difficult to find a true control group. And unlike diets, where we at least have weight loss (as problematic as that may be as our criteria), evaluating writing is inherently subjective.

Tested methodologies for writing show mixed and/or inconclusive results. What works in one group may not in another.

The commonality that Slavin did find is that Motivation seems to be the key: If students love to write, because their peers as well as their teachers are eager to see what they have to say, then they will write with energy and pleasure.

The research shows that the atmosphere in which students are learning makes a difference. What they are doing and who they are doing it for goes a long way to helping students write better because theyre more engaged to write more.

As to the lack of high-quality research, Im wondering if this is truly the problem we should be tackling or rather if we should expand our notion of what high-quality research looks like in these sorts of complicated human endeavors.

Isnt it possible, even likely, that in realms where human variability is at play, we are unlikely to find a single common approach that works best for all, or even most? As anyone who has tried diet and/or exercise has experienced, the chief problem is not necessarily whether or not the diet works -- the principle of taking in fewer calories than your body burns is pretty rock solid -- but whether or not the person can maintain the program itself.

The limiting factor on the success of a diet is not the quality of the diet, but the attitudes and experiences of the person.

The same is true, in my view, of writing. The key to improving as a writer is persistence. Good writers simply keep writing, and anything that keeps one writing is good. Trying to design experiments around these complicated things that meet these "high-quality" standards often involves moving the participants further and further away from the genuine, organic behaviors that attach to these activities in the real world. The diet or writing method that seems to work in the controlled lab experiment may not translate to the wider world. This is the exact problem with the highly prescriptive practice surrounding the use of the five-paragraph essay. Training students to pass the assessment that has become privileged has made them less capable as writers in general, while killing their spirits to boot.

Now that my own approach to teaching writing is out in the world, as embodied in Why They Cant Write and The Writers Practice, I am confronted with questions about how I know if my approach works.

I mean, I know it works. Ive refined it over years of working with students through a continuous process of qualitative research. Because it is not generalizable, qualitative research is not considered high quality, but this does not mean it is inherently low quality. When were looking at these complicated things where solutions are unlikely to be wholly generalizable, it is, in fact, invaluable.

One of the ways I measure the effectiveness of my approach is to ask students whether or not they think theyre learning. I find this to be meaningful data.

Another method I use is to ask students how they would approach an unfamiliar writing task. Here I am assessing the development of the writing practices, the skills, attitudes, knowledge and habits of mind of writers. If they can articulate an approach to a new writing problem, I know that eventually, through practice, the written artifact itself will become better and better.

I want to know how students feel about their writing abilities, whether or not they perceive an increase in their writing power. If I were a nutritionist, I would also want to know how my patients feel when on my program of diet and exercise. If they feel like crap and the experience is miserable, how could I ever expect them to persist?

A generalizable, quantifiable measurement simply doesnt apply here. It is a mismatch between desired information and methodology. The problem were studying is too complex, and what happens when it comes to writing and developing as a writer is a little different inside everyone.

I suspect this is why the available research finds that the writing atmosphere is important seem to be the most promising. Inside a good atmosphere, different students can travel different paths toward similar (yet still different in important ways) destinations.

As to the evidence I look for to see if The Writers Practice is working as I hoped, Im feeling pretty good about this.

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When "High-Quality" Evidence Maybe Shouldn't Be the Goal | Just Visiting - Inside Higher Ed

Share on PinterestKendrick James Farris at the weightlifting event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Getty Images

Packed with record-setting athletes displaying cut physiques and explosive power, The Game Changers, a new documentary on Netflix, has a clear message: Vegan is best.

The film aims to make the case that a vegan diet isnt only the most advantageous diet for long-term health, but for an athletic edge as well.

From Olympic weightlifter Kendrick Farris and cycling champion Dotsie Bausch to top distance runner Scott Jurek and Arnold Schwarzenegger (a producer of the film), the documentary chronicles several professional athletes who attribute getting faster and stronger, and recovering from injury more quickly, to adopting a plant-based diet specifically vegan.

Vegans dont eat meat or products derived from animals, like eggs or milk.

While theres not much data to back a trend of professional athletes going vegan or vegetarian, Barbara Lewin, RDN, CSSD, LDN, a sports nutritionist who works with professional athletes, including Olympic athletes and members of the NHL and NBA, certainly sees her pro-athlete clients embracing a plant-based diet.

My clients see so many benefits to eating a plant-based diet that postseason, they dont go back to eating as an omnivore or a carnivore, Lewin noted.

Healthline asked that question to David C. Nieman, DrPH, FACSM, a professor of health and exercise science and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, where he studies athletes and diet.

Nieman is a vegetarian and marathon runner who sees many reasons someone would want to become vegan. Still, he had a clear answer: No.

The only possible way it [a vegan diet] may help some people is if theyre involved in a sport that takes more than an hour, Nieman stated.

And thats only if they were on a low carb, high fat diet and switched to a vegan diet, which would mean theyd be taking in more carbs. Those people would see improvement in endurance not sports skill, he said.

Studies on the correlation between performance and vegan, vegetarian, and meat-eating diets are rather limited.

One recent study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition tracked the maximum exercise capacity of 76 recreational runners, 18 to 35 years old, for 6 months. Of the group, 26 followed a diet that included meat and plants, 26 ate a vegetarian diet, and 24 ate a vegan diet.

The results suggest that there are no differences in exercise capacity between vegan, lacto-ovo-vegetarians and omnivorous recreational runners, the studys authors wrote.

The bottom line: All kinds of diets are compatible with performance, Nieman said.

Thats if you make healthy choices compatible with whatever diet you want to follow.

Lewin agrees that any diet needs to include wise choices if youre eating for health or performance.

If youre living on crackers, vegan cheese, and other processed foods, its not a good choice. For a vegan diet to be healthy and to work for the elite athlete, it has to have a strong foundation in vegetables and fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, she told Healthline.

The Game Changers shares stories of both long-term health on a vegan diet and immediate improvements in performance. Bouncing back quickly between workouts is also important for professional athletes and many more casual athletes too.

According to Nieman, youve got to look at nutritions effect on three areas to get an overall sense of how diets affect athletes: long-term, acute, and post-workout recovery.

Long-term health is important for athletes. Plant-based dietary choices are at the heart of all healthy eating patterns, Nieman explained, whether your diet of choice be vegetarian, Mediterranean, or DASH, for example.

The 3-day period before a sports event matters a lot. Athletes should eat a high carb diet, with most carbs coming from grains and dried fruit.

What you eat every day counts towards your health and overall performance. However, the pre-workout or prerace meal is extremely important, Lewin said.

A high fat meal can leave you feeling sluggish and is not a good fuel for the muscles, whereas a meal with the right balance of carbohydrate and protein will digest efficiently and provide good energy, she said.

Finally, Nieman points to an area of study called metabolic recovery, or bouncing back to normal after a race or workout.

This area of study has discovered what you eat can improve your return to homeostasis. The simplest snack? Fruit. Niemans research has found bananas, pears, and blueberries all support your bodys recovery after exercise.

Fans of the vegan diet claim that if you eat vegan, its easier to bounce back between workouts with plant protein since its less inflammatory.

Nieman, whos currently studying athletic recovery after 90 minutes of hard exercise when someone eats pea vs. whey (dairy) protein post-workout, strongly disagrees.

Its nonsense that plant protein will help you recover any differently, he said.

But Lewin believes the anti-inflammatory effect of plant foods help with recovery.

With higher levels of exercise intensity you produce more free radicals and byproducts that can cause inflammation in the body. A vegan, plant-based diet rich in antioxidants can have an enormous impact on reducing inflammation, she said.

Lewin and Nieman agree on one point, though: Its not at all necessary to consume animal products to excel in pro sports.

Whether youre biking or training for a Tough Mudder, weekend warriors can experiment with vegan meals thatll fuel your body.

The prerace meal needs to be high in carbohydrate, low in fat and fiber (which both slow down the digestive process), and can contain moderate amounts of protein, according to Lewin.

Try:

A game-changing takeaway from the film? Its not at all necessary to consume animal products to excel in pro sports.

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Elite Athletes Are Going Vegan. Will It Help You? - Healthline

spukkato/Getty Images A healthy diet, more exercise, more sleep, and better stress management are often the keys to weight loss. But what if youre doing all that and not seeing a difference? Unfortunately, theres no magical weight loss pill that will help you keep pounds off forever, but there may be one out there to give your body the jumpstart it needs.

After appropriate nutrition and physical activity, drug therapy to promote weight loss in patients who are overweight or obese can often improve a patients metabolic healthas proven by controlled, randomized, clinical trials, says Harold Bays, M.D., F.O.M.A., F.T.O.S., F.A.C.C., F.A.C.E., F.N.L.A., medical director and president of Louisville Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research Center and chief science officer for the Obesity Medical Association. What is perhaps most exciting is the number of investigational anti-obesity agents in development. The prescription medications mentioned below are all FDA-approved, but they can come with side effects and arent right for everyone so youll want to discuss your unique situation with a physician who specializes in weight loss to figure out the best weight loss plan for you.

Liraglutide

This drug is actually an injection, not a pill. However, patients using liraglutide (Saxenda) may lose 5-10% of their bodyweight. Its also available in a lower dose (Victoza) to treat type 2 diabetes.

Lorcaserin

Lorcaserin (Belviq) acts on the serotonin receptors in your brain to trick you into feeling fuller than you normally would after eating smaller servings. The medication can help patients lose 5-10% of their bodyweight.

Naltrexone-bupropion

A mix of these two drugs (available as Contrave) may curb hunger and help you feel full. Traditionally, naltrexone is used to treat drug addictions and bupropion is used for depression and smoking cessation. Patients taking a naltrexone-bupropion prescription may shed 5-10% of their bodyweight.

Orlistat

Available in a higher dose as a prescription (Xenical) as well as over-the-counter in a lower dose (Alli), orlistat is a lipase inhibitor that helps reduce the amount of fat your body absorbs from food. Some people lose about 5% of their bodyweight while taking orlistat.

Phentermine

Phentermine is a stimulant that helps suppress your appetite and could lead to a drop of about 5% of your bodyweight. However, its only approved for short-term use (up to 12 weeks). Phentermine is also part of a combination drug called Qsymia that contains topiramate (which is used to treat migraines and seizures). That formulation can help some patients lose 5-10% of their bodyweight.

Most supplements that tout weight-loss benefits dont have enough robust research on humans to support their claims. The FDA also considers supplements (which can be formulations of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, or amino acids, or ingredients derived from herbs or botanicals) more like foods than drugs so theres no regulation. That means its up to individual manufacturers to make sure their products live up to the claims on their labels.

If youre interested in taking a supplement to boost your weight loss efforts, make sure you talk to your doctor first, especially because some can interact with medications you may already be taking. Below, weve compiled a list of popular ones.

Caffeine

We all love coffee because of the way it energizes us. The same way coffee stimulates our central nervous system, caffeine as a supplement can also kick our fat oxidation process into gear. Studies are mixed, but it may have a small effect on bodyweight and help prevent weight gain in the long run. Youll just want to be on the lookout for nervousness, vomiting, and a rapid heart rate.

Chitosan

Derived from the exoskeletons of crustaceans and arthropods, chitosan is a starch that binds fat in the digestive tract. Some small, poor-quality clinical trials show minimal effect on bodyweight, and side effects can include indigestion, bloating, and constipation.

Conjugated linoleic acid

Some clinical trials show that conjugated linoleic acid may work on a number of bodily processes including lipolysis, lipogenesis, and apoptosis to cause small reductions in bodyweight and body fat, but results are mixed. Unfortunately, it can cause quite a few digestive issues and throw off your glucose homeostasis.

Forskolin

Extracted from a plant in the mint family, forskolin is said to reduce a persons appetite. The problem is that it hasnt been studied very much on humans so its hard to say if it actually works. Side effects may also include indigestion, hypotension, blurred vision, pale skin, and fatigue.

Garcinia Cambogia

This is an extract from a tropical fruit that contains hydroxycitric acid. While some research has found it might promote small amounts of weight loss in the short term, side effects can include nausea as well as liver toxicity in rare cases.

Glucomannan

Glucomannan is an ingredient extracted from the roots of the elephant yam. Older studies suggest that taking glucomannan with meals may help keep you fuller longer to help you lose weight. However, more recent research shows that it doesnt really help with weight loss. Not only that, it can leave you with bloating, gas, and soft stools.

Green coffee bean extract

This extract may work by preventing the accumulation of fat and regulating the metabolism of glucose. Some research points to small amounts of weight loss, but few high-quality clinical trials have been completed. Headaches and urinary tract infections have been reported as side effects.

Green tea extract

Theres not enough research to say green tea definitely helps you lose weight, but some studies say it may help by boosting calorie burn and fat oxidation and lowering fat absorption. The bad news is it theres the potential for unpleasant side effects like constipation, nausea, high blood pressure, and liver damage.

Hoodia gordonii

This succulent from Africa is said to reduce appetite, but theres very little published research on humans and it can trigger higher blood pressure and a faster pulse.

Irvingia gabonensis

Irvingia gabonensis comes from the seed of an African mango tree. Its purported to interfere with adipogenesis and help reduce leptin, a hormone associated with obesity, but few clinical trials have been done. It can also cause gas, headache, and sleep disturbances.

Raspberry ketones

As you probably suspect, raspberry ketones come from raspberries. Some studies point to various raspberry components as helpful weight-loss aids, but there is very limited research specific to how raspberry ketones work on the human body, and some of it is funded by the National Processed Raspberry Council. While theres potential for success, a lot is unknown.

Steer clear of any supplements containing these ingredients, which can pose serious health risks:

Gallery: These 40 fit celebrities over 40 will inspire you to hit the gym

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Attaining abs is a science, which Olivia Culpo walked HollywoodLife via. The mannequin spilled on what has performed an enormous half in reaching her toned midsection, along with explaining her day by day meals and favourite exercise applications.

With three consecutiveSports Illustrated Swimsuit Difficultyphotograph shoots below her belt, Olivia Culpo is an knowledgeable as regards to bikini our bodies! One of many 27-year-old mannequin and former Miss Universe winners finest equipment are her rock-hard abs, and HollywoodLife caught up with the wonder for an EXCLUSIVE interview on how you can also obtain such a toned midsection. I attempt to keep a wholesome life-style thats sustainable so I can keep away from having to crash food plan or really feel tremendous sluggish [or] off form. For me, its all about feeling wholesome from the within out, Olivia instructed us. While you eat effectively and exercise, youre feeling wonderful, so finally thats at all times my objective. What works for me is a low carb, excessive protein and fiber food plan. For exercises I like energy coaching/circuit coaching, barre, pilates, biking, and working. Its actually essential for me to change up my exercises. Thats only a transient overview of the well being routine Olivia follows. She proceeded to dive into the specifics of her exercises and food plan, so get able to take notes!

Starting with Olivias food plan, the I Really feel Fairly star laid out her go-to three meals of the day. For breakfast, she normally has half an avocado, two eggs and turkey bacon with both GG crackers or a coconut wrap. When lunch time rolls round, Olivia likes to go for a salad of some sort with rooster. And for dinner, shes most probably to have greens and a lean protein. Olivia additionally grazes all through the day on snacks like a yogurt, apple, smoothie and almonds.

Olivia went much more in-depth into her exercise routine, a routine that she is especially strict about. I attempt to exercise as many instances every week as I can. Ideally, I exercise 5 instances every week however once Im touring for work or on set for 12 hour days, its harder to carve out time, she instructed HollywoodLife. Whereas Olivia targets her complete physique, she revealed whats her No. 1 secret for abs. Cardio is a big a part of getting abs! When Im working often, I can truly obtain abs corresponding to when Im doing common ab workout routines, Olivia dished. Moving into the science of cardiovascular exercise, she added, Cardio helps hold your BMI low and in addition stimulates your metabolism so it stays at the next price all through all the day. So your physique is in fats burning mode for for much longer, its just like the reward that retains on giving.

Olivia was feeling beneficiant. Outdoors of abs, the mannequin additionally spilled on her three favourite exercises for reaching her lengthy, lean legs and arms! Barre, Pvolve and Pilates are nice for getting lengthy lean muscle, Olivia instructed us. And should youre into weight coaching, Olivia confused the significance of stretching and never solely due to lurking cramps. Once Im working so much or energy coaching with heavier weight, I at all times be sure that to stretch and foam roll a ton. This may hold your muscle tissues from bulking up and changing into tremendous dense, Olivia defined, emphasizing that stretching is SO essential!

From cardio to barre, how do you mix all the following pointers? Olivia walked us via that as effectively! I actually like to change up my exercises and its essential for me to include some type of cardio. Id say an excellent exercise combo for me could be Pilates/barre/Pvolve and working, Olivia instructed us, revealing her favourite exercise routine. She shies away from stressing out her joints, including, Low affect precision workout routines are superior for core, flexibility and lengthy lean muscle, and working is my favourite type of cardio.

With Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah approaching and with that, stuffing, sugar cookies and extra items that dont cater to a low BMI Olivia admitted that she doesnt solely indulge in the course of the vacation season! I indulge often which I feel is a very essential a part of making a wholesome life-style, versus randomly binging for intervals of time. I feel should you discover a system that works for you, you possibly can nonetheless get pleasure from your favourite issues on a considerably common foundation so long as you get again to your wholesome life-style after, she defined. For those who want one thing extra concrete to comply with, Olivia even offered percentages!

The 80/20 rule is an effective guideline. Eighty % of the time be actually good, and 20 % of the time give your self some room to splurge, the mannequin and actress instructed HollywoodLife. Particularly on the holidaysmy mother is the very best prepare dinner and she is going to make 10 completely different type of vacation cookies. Theyre scrumptious. So sure, you possibly can munch on that gingerbread man and nonetheless sport a six-pack like Olivias!

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Olivia Culpo Reveals Her Diet & Fitness Secrets To Help You Obtain Rock Hard Abs Just Like Hers - Sunriseread

The health of individuals represents their overall physical condition. Barbadians should see this as different from wellness which holds a key to comfortable living regardless of whether a person is afflicted by an ailment or not.

While someone may have limited control over a diagnosed illness, all factors of wellness are accessible at any time and full use of these practices not only make living with sickness easier but also helps stave off disease for the uninfected.

This is the message to diabetics, persons with other non-communicable diseases, sufferers of different illnesses, and those without any afflictions, passed on by University of the West Indies lecturer in Social Psychological Research, Dr Dwayne Devonish.

Health is the state of being, but wellness is the active process of becoming healthy, he said Tuesday, and went on to explain that the usefulness of wellness becomes evident following a doctors diagnosis of many ailments in a patient, things that you probably consider a death sentence.

He said it is at this stage that the resources of wellness can come into play. You make a choice in terms of your health. You decide to cut back on what you eat, form relationships with people who support you in terms of your journey towards becoming healthy.

You take on particular actions and you make decisions, positive thought patterns and attitude towards your health. While your health may be compromised based on what the doctor told you, you are on a path called wellness.

Persons should use wellness resources across the board permanently but Dr Devonishs message was aimed at diabetics, other NCD sufferers, their relatives and close friends because he was delivering the Diabetes Association of Barbadoss Third John Grace Memorial Lecture at Solidarity House, Harmony Hall, St Michael.

Dr Devonish, the lead author of a government-endorsed National Policy for Workplace Wellness 2019 for Barbados, defined wellness as an active process of becoming aware of making choices about/towards living a healthy and fulfilling life.

So whether you have diabetes or not, the start is now. You can make a change in the way that you eat, relate to people, interact with food, engage with physical activity or the lack thereof. There is always an opportunity to change what youre doing.

He told the audience that persons who invoke wellness practices should not despair after an illness diagnosis because there are perfectly healthy individuals out there with no wellness habits who would appear worse for wear than the truly sick.

In other words, you can go to work with as many conditions as you have and still be productive and well because somebody else without any condition, any physical illness, they may be physically healthy but they may be unwell, because it is what you actively do with your life. That is the difference between wellness and health.

He noted, however, that usually wellness is addressed in its physical dimensions, largely the eating part: diet, nutrition, then the physical activity, but the National Workplace Wellness Policy added eight other dimensions important for the person with NCD or the caregiver in Barbados.

Following are the nine dimensions with abbreviated explanations:

1) Physical Wellness diet, activity.

2) Psychological and Mental Wellness focusses on a persons emotions and thought patterns attended to daily. Diabetes affects the physical and mental state. A persons life could begin deteriorating after a diagnosis of diabetes. Worrying about the diagnosis induces stress that also affects blood sugar levels. It is not only what you eat.

3) Environmental Wellness speaks to how people take care of their physical environment, recognising that it affects their state of health. There are environmental stressors that induce mental consequences on your health whether you have NCDs or not.

4) Social Wellness your social network influences your lifestyle habits. Oftentimes the people who we relate to or keep company with, the extent to which they encourage us to lead a healthy life, or ones that encourage us to take an unhealthy life [are key]. This matters just as much for children. When children drink sweet drinks, it is not just about the physical and psychological. Children operate within a network.

5) Intellectual Wellness speaks to how active mentally we are or in terms of what we do. Reading or not reading books is an example. Retirees must find ways to keep mentally active to stave off intellectual decline.

6) Occupational Wellness those chosen careers, do they benefit you your wellness?

7) Spiritual Wellness looks at how every individual searches for deeper meaning, not necessarily in religion but other value systems.

8) Cultural Wellness understanding how our own culture affects what we do, how we take action and make choices about our health.

9) Financial Wellness an individuals full awareness and knowledge, control over effective management of finances, and how the ineffective management of those finances can have a domino effect with negative consequences.

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More than diet and exercise . . . Wellness supports good health - Barbados Today