Voting in the Republican primary for secretary of state comes down to a simple choice: Do you want the candidate who speaks seriously about using 30-foot-tall water slides to get commuters across the Columbia River? Or do you want the candidate who is the reasonable choice in the race, who has a strong set of germane policy ideas?

For the water slide folks, your candidate is Dave Stauffer, 70. The former analyst for the state of Oregon has run for governor before as a Democrat. Now hes running as Republican in this race. Frankly, he seems much more interested in chatting about things such as water slides than the more relevant issues for the office.

For everyone else, the person to vote for in this Republican primary is state Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer.

Thatcher, 55, served in the Legislature as a representative from 200-2014 and has been a member of the Senate since 2015. She has run a road construction business and also a business that rents out traffic safety devices, such as those electronic signs that let you know construction is ahead. Its that combination of business and legislative experience that make her a strong candidate.

When we were interviewing Thatcher, one thing that stood out is how powerfully she spoke of her commitment to keeping the Secretary of States Office nonpartisan. She said she wouldnt make decisions based on party or whether she agreed with a person or an idea.

The office must be run evenhandedly, she said. And she emphasized that she knows what it is like to be treated differently because of personal views.

She wants to ensure that it would not happen.

Thatcher, of course, knows small businesses are struggling in the COVID-19 pandemic. The secretary of states small business advocate can help.

Thatcher said she hoped to do what she could to support and reinforce that offices effort to help businesses navigate government and find the assistance that is out there.

The secretary of states offices audits division could play a valuable role in learning lessons from the response to the pandemic, Thatcher said. She stressed she isnt aiming to parcel out blame. The important thing will be to find out how Oregon can do better.

The key to successful audits, she said in part from her time on a state audits committee, is buy-in. The state department or program being evaluated needs to buy into the idea of an audit and also to the solutions.

And legislators need to buy into the idea of providing the tools departments and programs need to succeed.

In the Democratic primary, all the candidates are nearly uniform in support of some changes same-day voter registration, ranked-choice voting and some sort of campaign finance reform. Thatcher said her job as secretary of state would not be to establish those policies. Those would be decided by laws passed by the Legislature or perhaps ballot measures. She did point out, though, on the issue of same-day voter registration that the reason that was implemented had a lot to do with the cult set up by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in Wasco County.

The group tried to take over local government by busing in homeless people to vote. Because of that, voters passed the ballot initiative in 1986 to set the cut off for registration at 21 days.

Thatcher is clearly the best choice in the Republican primary.

Read more:
Editorial: Kim Thatcher for secretary of state in the Republican primary - Bend Bulletin

Finding new things to watch on Netflix can be a tough task. No matter how many new shows are added, you still sit and stare at your screen proclaiming there is absolutely nothing to watch. Rotten Tomatoes has released a ranking of the best Netflix Originals, which may just be the answer to all your troubles.

So if youre stuck trying to find something to watch here are the top 20 from the ranking, of the series which score the highest on the reviews site. Read this, then add every single one to your watch list.

2019 Netflix Original series, Russian Doll, has a rating of 97 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. The Netflix synopsis reads: Nadia keeps dying and reliving her 36th birthday party. Shes trapped in a surreal time loop and staring down the barrel of her own mortality.

2017 series Mindhunter is a chilling, crime mystery drama. It is based on the 1996 book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBIs Elite Serial Crime Unit, by former special agent John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. It has a ranking of 97 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

It follows two FBI agents who expand criminal science by looking into the psychology of murder. The agents are tasked with interviewing serial killers to solve other open cases after a new type of killer emerges one with no specific motive. This leaves a huge gap in investigations. In order to expand their knowledge of why killers do what they do, they have to speak to those who commit these crimes themselves.

Lovesick is a comedy released in 2015. The Netflix synopsis reads: In his quest for true love, Dylan found chlamydia. Joined by friends Evie and Luke, he relives past encounters as he notifies all his former partners.

This 2019 series is a cartoon about two birds, Tuca and Bertie, who are best friends navigating their way through life. This may sound a bit random and weird, but its got 98 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and the people are never wrong.

Wild Wild Country is one of the best Netflix Originals true crime documentaries, with a rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 98 per cent.

It is a six-part docuseries about the controversial Indian guru, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He bought a plot of land in the Oregon desert and attempted to build a utopian society in 1981. He had built brand new homes that could house over 7,000 residents and the plan was to develop a food supply, police and fire stations, restaurants and a small airport.

However, tension was created just a year into the build. According to Netflix: This conflict would become one of the wildest episodes in American history and feature heated debates over land use, electoral mayhem, voter suppression, biological warfare, assassination attempts, deportations, drugs, sex and more.

British crime series, Happy Valley, has a Rotten Tomatoes ranking of 98 per cent. The show also won five BAFTAs. The Netflix synopsis says: Yorkshire police sergeant Catherine Cawood pursues the man who assaulted her late daughter, unaware he is now part of a secret kidnapping plot.

Unbelievable is another of the best true crime series on Netflix. It is a dramatised series, based on thetrue story of 18-year-old Marie Adler.Marie said she had been sexually assaulted at knife point in her apartment. Then she told police she had made the entire story up and was charged with a gross misdemeanour. She faced up to one year in jail.

Marie is played by Katilyn Dever in Netflixs eight-episode series Unbelievable. In the show she is asked to repeat the chilling story over and over again to police. Those closest to her and the police constantly doubted her story. The 2019 series has a score of 98 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

2017 series, American Vandal, is a true crime comedy satire. The synopsis reads: In the wake of their first documentarys success, Peter and Sam seek a new case and settle on a stomach-churning mystery at a Washington high school. It ranks at 98 per cent.

Alias Grace just missed top rankings, scoring 99 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. The crime dramas synopsis says: In 19th-century Canada, a psychiatrist weighs whether a murderess should be pardoned due to insanity. Based on Margaret Atwoods award winning novel.

One Day At A Time is a comedy-drama is inspired by Norman Lears 1975 series of the same name. It follows the life of a newly single Army veteran and her Cuban-American family. The synopsis says: In a reimagining of the TV classic, a newly single Latina mother raises her teen daughter and tween son with the help of her old-school mum. It has a rating of 99 per cent.

Just coming in the top 10 of the best Netflix Originals is Crazyhead, scoring the full score of 100 per cent. The British dark comedy is about an unlikely duo of demon hunters. It follows two women in their early 20s who defeat literal demons, as well as their inner demons too. It comes from the creator of Misfits.

2019 true crime series The Confession Killer also scores 100 per cent. The five-part series tells the story of Henry Lee Lucas. He was first put into prison for murdering his mother, and then for the murders of his girlfriend and landlord. However when he was in prison he started confessing to more and more killings. The number got up to 100, then 150, then 300 and it wasnt long before Lucas said he was responsible for over 600 deaths all over America.

In the documentary, the local police force seem overjoyed theyve solved hundreds of cases they never thought they would. It must have been Henry Lee Lucas he could take police to crime scenes, give details of evidence and in some cases even draw the victims.

But it wasnt all it seemed. It soon unravelled that him being responsible for all these crimes just wasnt possible. Aside from it being physically impossible for him to travel to all the different locations crimes took place in over the time they happened, evidence began to stack up that made his confessions clearly false.

Dirty Money is a Netflix Original series which tells stories of corporate corruption, securities fraud and creative accounting. Rotten Tomatoes describes it as a thrilling investigative series from Oscar Award-winning director Alex Gibney, which provides an up-close and personal view into untold stories of scandal and corruption in the world of business and it has a score of 100 per cent.

Giri/Haji is a soulful thriller set in Tokyo and London, exploring the butterfly effect of a single murder across two cities. It is described as a dark, witty and daring examination of morality and redemption. It has a top class rating of 100 per cent.

Ugly Delicious is a cooking show lovers dream. Award winning Chef, David Chang, travels the world to visit culinary hotspots. Each episodes focuses on a different dish or food concept, and focuses completely on flavour not always looks. Its like if The Voice was about food. It has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100 per cent.

Chewing Gum is a comedy series about Tracey Gordon, who is a religious, Beyonc-obsessed twenty-something who is fast finding out that the more she learns about the world, the less she understands. Its got a top score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Feel Good is a six-part semi-autobiographical sitcom by Canadian comedian Mae Martin. It centres around Mae and her relationship with new girlfriend George. It starts off with them in new relationship bliss before the realities of life start to kick in. George has never dated a woman before, and they actually know very little about each other. Because of Georges situation, shes frightened to introduce Mae to her family which causes even more rifts. We also learn that Mae is a recovering addict attending narcotics anonymous meetings.

It is available on 4OD in the UK and Netflix in the rest of the world.

This sci-fi comedy was first released on Netflix in 2018 and has a score of 100 per cent. The synopsis reads: The cult hit returns! Captured by mad scientists, new host Jonah survives a blitz of cheesy B movies by riffing on them with his funny robot pals.

Big Mouth is all about American teenagers going through puberty with a hormone monster. Which sounds weird, but its like a cartoon version of Sex Education on steroids. The series, which is rated at 100 percent, has a synopsis which says: Teenage friends find their lives upended by the wonders and horrors of puberty in this edgy comedy from real-life pals Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg.

The top rated, and therefore best, of all the Netflix Originals according to Rotten Tomatoes ratings is Master of None. This comedy features Aziz Ansari and was first released in 2015. It follows the personal and professional challenges that face a 30-year-old New York actor, whose trials range from the immigrant experience to what pasta he should eat for dinner.

See the full ranking of the best Netflix Originals according to Rotten Tomatoes here.

For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memeslike The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

You can only call yourself a real Netflix addict if you get 10/13 on this quiz

These 15 Netflix shows are perfect to watch whilst mostly looking at your phone

These 15 Netflix horror films are not for the faint hearted

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Best Netflix Originals series ranked by their Rotten Tomatoes rating - The Tab

Filiz Mustafa Staff Writer

Filiz is a film and TV journalist with a flair for everything related to reality soaps and showbiz. When she's not busy creating entertainment news content she loves spending time in nature, reading non-fiction books, eating comfort food and travelling.

Documentary shows have become very popular on Netflix now. From Tiger King to How to Fix a Drug Scandal, the streaming giant has added many docuseries to its growing collection.

The latest hit is Wild Wild Country, the gripping series about Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his assistant Ma Anand Sheela.

Netflix dropped the documentary back in 2018, but its trending on the streaming service again as many viewers search for quality and long-form TV content.

Heres everything you need to know about Ma Anand Sheela from the Netflix documentary.

Sheela from Wild Wild Country

Ma Anand Sheela was born in 1949 in Baroda, India. The 70-year-old served as a personal assistant to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the Rajneesh movement.

In 1981, Sheela moved to Wasco County, Oregon, where she continued to practice and spread the beliefs of the movement. There, Sheela was in charge of the so-called Rajneesh Foundation International, looking after business matters with Rajneesh and working as the spokesperson of the group.

However, a few years later Sheela was convicted for the attempted murder of 751 residents in Oregon which was also known as the Rajneeshee bioterror attack in 1984. At the time of writing, this remains the biggest ever biological attack in the US.

In 1986, Sheela pleaded guilty and received a 20-year-sentence. However, she spent only 3 years in prison and was released for good behaviour.

Sheela in Wild Wild Country

As revealed in the Netflix documentary, Sheela has lived in Switzerland for more than 20 years now.

After moving to Switzerland, Sheela married a Swiss man called Urs Birnsteil, whos a Rajneesh follower himself.

Sheela now lives in the countryside near Basel where she runs two nursing homes for old and disabled people with age-related diseases.

Its safe to say that after the likes of Tiger King, Wild Wild Country has become another favourite documentary for Netflix fans.

Some have claimed that they binge-watched the entire series and we can understand why.

@bigjimmurray skipped over Tiger King went right to Wild Wild Country.BLOWN AWAY by that entire series especially with the amount of footage they had from all the sides involved. The interviews were so good too & that Sheela is something else, great recommendation

licone (@aelicone) April 4, 2020

Im obsessed with Sheela. Anyone else?? (If you know, you know). *cough* WILD WILD COUNTRY*cough*

Yamile (@YamileSMendez) April 3, 2020

WATCH WILD WILD COUNTRY ON NETFLIX NOW

AND GET FREAKY WITH US ONINSTAGRAMANDFACEBOOK

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Sheela from Netflixs Wild Wild Country: Where is she now? - Reality Titbit - Celebrity TV News

The key to living longer could be to eat a healthy, balanced diet - including at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day - as well as regular exercise. But you could boost your life expectancy by adopting a low-fat weight loss diet, it's been claimed.

You can slash your risk of an early death by eating a healthy, balanced diet, according to the NHS.

Regular exercise is also crucial to maintaining a healthy body weight, it added.

If youre a smoker, quitting smoking could cut your risk of dying early, while taking a daily multivitamin may boost your life expectancy.

Making small lifestyle changes could help you to live longer. One of the key aspects to your longevity is your weight.

READ MORE: How to live longer - add one spice to your cooking to extend your life

Weight-reducing diets, usually low in fat and low saturated fat, with or without exercise, may reduce premature all-cause mortality in adults who are obese, said the scientists.

By implication, our data supports public health measures to prevent weight gain and facilitate weight loss using these types of diet, they added.

Eating a healthy, reduced-calorie diet is the best way to reduce your risk of obesity, said the NHS.

But, it's also crucial that you include regular exercise into your daily routine.

Everyone should aim to do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity every week.

Meanwhile, Joining a local weight loss group, or taking up social exercise classes may help you to lose weight.

Eating a diet rich in whole grains, vegetables and fruits could also help you to live longer, according to Harvard Medical School.

A strong social network is also important to boost life expectancy, it added.

Read this article:
How to live longer - the weight loss diet that could lower your risk of early death - Express

The situation we all find ourselves in, whether at home trying to keep the children entertained or as one of the essential service workers keeping us all supplied and protected, could be stressful.

Fresh columnist and naturopath Dee Copland has this advice.

While some stress enables us to achieve things, occasionally the pressure and tension can build up to the point where the stress in your life starts to negatively affect your physical and/or emotional wellbeing.

Prolonged stress is associated with alterations in brain neurotransmitters including the monoamines, noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin.

Dysfunction of these due to prolonged stressful conditions has been associated with a wide range of central and peripheral disorders such as anxiety, depression, drug abuse, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating and sleeping disorders, hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar levels) and decreased immune response (frequent colds and flus).

Stress can also be a contributing factor in conditions such as peptic ulcers, headaches, migraines, asthma, fatigue and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

What can we do about it?

A healthy diet will ensure you have all the essential vitamins and minerals you need to help your body cope with stress.

A multivitamin and mineral supplement can also be beneficial.

Be sure to include lots of green vegetables (raw and cooked), coloured vegetables, protein and good fats with each main meal.

Good fats such as avocado, raw nuts and seeds and coconut oil with meals help you to feel satisfied and keep blood sugar levels stable, reducing mood swings.

An example of a great meal might be the likes of a frittata with roast vegetables, served with raw baby spinach and avocado.

Frittatas are great, as they keep for a few days in the fridge and can be used for breakfast, lunch or dinner and eaten hot or cold.

Traditionally, many cultures have used tai chi, yoga and meditation to nourish the nervous system.

These can be done at home or in classes.

Deep, slow, nasal breathing is a wonderful technique for telling the body to slow down and we can do this at any time.

Exercise: Love it or hate it, there is no denying exercise benefits our health in many ways.

Just 30 minutes a day of movement increases the production of endorphins, our happy brain chemicals, which can help you to feel more positive and energetic.

The advice contained in this column is not intended to be a substitute for direct, personalised advice from a health professional.

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Healthy diet and exercise helps to relieve stress - Otago Daily Times

Rest as soon as you notice any symptoms (posed by model). Photograph: PeopleImages/Getty Images

You will already be regularly washing your hands and social distancing, but many of us are still likely to become infected with coronavirus. Doing what you can now to improve your health and boost your immune system will help your body cope. Thankfully, the majority of cases are mild and you should recover within a week, though if your symptoms are persistent it is vital to seek medical advice from NHS 111 rather than try to continue to manage at home. With that in mind, heres what you can do to put yourself in the best position to help your recovery.

Tom Wingfield, a physician and clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, says you should avoid anything that damages your lungs stop smoking, and dont expose others to secondhand smoke. Open fires are not great, and if you have allergies that irritate your lungs, avoid what you can. One upside of the lockdown is that air pollution has decreased. And, says Wingfield, [general aerobic] exercise will help your lungs.

There is no magic supplement. The advice is as its always been: reduce your alcohol consumption, exercise, sleep well and reduce stress. A varied, balanced diet, with lots of vegetables and fruit, is important, but there is little evidence for most vitamin and mineral supplements.

Getting out in the sun each day can also be beneficial, says the GP Amir Khan. The majority of people have low vitamin D because we dont have enough sunlight in the UK, and we are coming out of winter. Vitamin D levels will be depleted, so theres no harm in taking a vitamin D tablet.

Many people who are suspected of having had the virus report at least one day of fatigue. Now is not the time to try to tough things out. Your body is using all its energy to fight a virus that is infecting cell after cell, says Khan. Even with mild symptoms, youll have some days when you feel fine and other days when you are tired and achey. You can potter around the house and make food if you need to, but you shouldnt be doing any more than that and, where possible, you should be on the sofa or in bed.

Once you develop a fever, he says, your body is starting to use energy to raise your core body temperature to make it an unfavourable environment for the virus to reproduce. You shouldnt wait until you feel tired [to rest], because by then youve expended too much energy already.

Khan says: Everybody should be sticking to two to three litres of fluid a day as normal. When you have a fever, says Saira Ghafur, an honorary respiratory consultant at St Marys hospital in London, you can become dehydrated, so you need to make sure that even if you dont feel like it, youre drinking as much as possible. If you feel youre not peeing very much, thats another sign youre very dehydrated and should seek medical advice.

Take paracetamol, rather than ibuprofen. There has been concern that ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory, could reduce immune function and make coronavirus symptoms worse, but there is not enough evidence to confirm this. Still, the advice is to take paracetamol for fever and muscle pain instead. If you have been prescribed ibuprofen and develop symptoms of Covid-19 then discuss that with your medical practitioner, says Wingfield.

Khan has seen advice online about taking vitamin C to treat coronavirus but that doesnt mean you should be trying this at home. It has been used intravenously in very, very high doses in hospitals in China. Thats a big difference to what you get in a tablet. The jury is still very much out in terms of using intravenous vitamin C for coronavirus.

Taking a vitamin C tablet from the chemist or supermarket wont stop you getting an infection and it wont help treat the infection, says Khan. And certainly dont try to take very high doses.

Dont pin your hopes on superfoods or the social media posts about alkaline foods (a virus doesnt have a pH level, and you cant change the bodys pH level through diet). What about garlic? It may help reduce the length of things like a cold, but wont prevent it, says Khan. And theres no evidence it has any effect on coronavirus.

Its far from clear. On Monday, the author JK Rowling shared a video of Sarfaraz Munshi, the head of urgent care at Queens hospital in Romford, London, demonstrating breathing techniques that he said could relieve symptoms and prevent someone developing a secondary pneumonia infection. People with asthma and those recovering from pneumonia are often helped by respiratory physiotherapists, says Wingfield, who can help support your breathing with exercises. The main thing you are trying to do is make patients lungs open as much as they can and try and get rid of some of the fluid and inflammatory material.

Coronavirus, says Khan, causes inflammation around the alveoli, the air sacs at the peripheries of the lungs, and it can damage them. It reduces your lung capacity. If you are safely managing your condition at home [on advice from a doctor or the NHS 111 service], then breathing exercises might help.

What youre really doing there is forcing air into the alveoli by taking big breaths in and holding the alveoli open, and that will help clear any excess mucus, pathogens, as well as stop them from becoming hardened, which can happen. This is with the caveat that you are safe to stay at home and you dont need to be in hospital. If theres any chance of pneumonia, you should be in hospital.

However, Laura Breach, a spokeswoman for the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care (ACPRC), says while the exercises should be harmless for healthy individuals, she would not advise them, adding that they could make symptoms worse in someone suffering breathlessness. Although Munshis video was well-intentioned, the ACPRC says the techniques are not correct (it is preparing its own video). If you did try the exercise, you only need to take three or four breaths so as not to hyperventilate and become dizzy, and if you have coronavirus symptoms, there is no need to make yourself cough as part of the exercise. We would always encourage nose-breathing rather than mouth-breathing, because your nose is really important in humidifying the air that you breathe in and catching any particles in the air, says Breach.

There is no evidence these exercises will help healthy people prepare for the illness, she says. There are patients with longer-term respiratory conditions and we do teach them techniques to give them a better starting point. If its something you should be doing then your healthcare professional will have already advised that. Instead, the ACPRC says: Propping yourself up with pillows, or leaning forward onto the back of a chair can be beneficial to breathlessness.

Wingfield also questions whether the exercises can aid recovery from coronavirus its a slightly evidence-free zone and says if you are having trouble breathing, you should seek medical help rather than simply try to follow breathing exercises at home. But they can keep your lungs moving, and some people might find these exercises meditative and stress-relieving, says Wingfield. Ghafur agrees: None of this is evidence-based.

One of the big things in intensive care that were seeing with a lot of patients, says Ghafur, is you have to put them on a ventilator in what we call a prone position, which basically means youre lying on your front. Its not in any recommended guidance for patients who are not in intensive care, but if youre able to lie on your front for a while that can help breathing. Theres no harm in trying it, she says, but only if youre generally fit and healthy. Do not try to lie on your front if you are older, infirm, have mobility problems or are pregnant.

Lying continuously on your back is not ideal. If you can sit and take deep breaths in and out, that will help any respiratory condition youre taking in a bigger lungful of air and that will help remove any mucus. However, she adds that there is no evidence that this will improve your recovery.

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Do breathing exercises really work? UK doctors on how to protect against coronavirus and manage symptoms - The Guardian

Serotonin is often referred to as the happy chemical because it is believed to play a key role in maintaining mood balance. Mainly found in the brain, bowels and blood platelets, serotonin is used to transmit messages between nerve cells but its crowning glory is that it is believed to contribute to wellbeing and happiness.

Its also believed that people with depression may have low levels of the neurotransmitter. Im beginning to wonder if Im getting too much. Increasing levels of the wonder chemical include diet, exercise, exposure to light, and mood induction. Well, lets see; I exercise often outside and at the same time my now-overabundance of serotonin levels increase, making me want food. So I may have to cut back on the first three.

Apparently playing in the dirt can boost your mood. A study has claimed soil microbes have been found to have similar effects on the brain as prozac, without the negative side effects. The study showed injections of soil bacteria produce serotonin (and happiness) in mice. In humans with lung cancer where the killed bacterium was injected, the patients reported better quality of life and less nausea and pain. The treatment has also been shown ease skin allergies. The results of the study also suggest merely walking a outside and inhaling the bacteria can give you a dose of happiness. I think I might spend more time in the garden this year.

You know what could even be better than chemicals, dirt, exercise, diet or any other fandangle method? Its when someone takes a minute out of his or her busy life to say hello, or good job, or just simply thanks. In the workplace, a 2016 Gallup poll revealed that only one in three workers in the U.S. strongly agree that they received recognition or praise for doing good work in the past seven days, a factor, the poll says, that directly impacts productivity, turnover rate and employee engagement.On a broader scale we can look to the annual HomeTown Chamber Banquet. Each year in March the board recognizes the doers and dreamers of the county. Its a huge affair that sells out in days.

Our county is brimming with fine people who deserve to be recognized. They may not always like it or may even feel embarrassed over the hoopla, but thats ok. Its a small token of appreciation, a show of gratitude, can it can make a huge difference in a persons life. Thanks to all who were recognized during the annual HomeTown Chamber Award Banquet. Well, deserved winners in their own right!

Your feedback is always welcome. Readers are encouraged to email us at news@kingstreenews.com or write with your feedback, ideas, or questions.

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Dirt and happy microbes | Opinion - Kingstree News

Lisa Riley, is best known for playing Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale as a guest appearance on the show in 1995 and joined the regular cast permanently in 1996. She left in 2001, however later returned in 2019. She has recently opened up about her battle with her weight and confidence. Lisa - who has gone from a dress size 28 to a size 14 - has been showing off her weight loss on social media and it hasnt gone unnoticed by fans, with many flooding her Instagram photos with comments.

The Emmerdale star said she now looks at old photos of herself and asks whos that girl as she no longer recognises her old self.

Lisa slimmed down after giving up alcohol and junk food in 2012, but was left with a huge amount of excess skin.

The actress relied on a simple trick to slim down. At the beginning of her weight loss journey, Lisa watched her portion sizes and has now added a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day to her lifestyle.

Opening up about her decision to lose weight, Lisa told the Mirror: I started thinking about my own health.

READ MORE:Catherine Tyldesley weight loss: How the Coronation Street star lost huge amount of weight

People forget how gigantic I was. With the skin removal I lost 12 stone, one pound.

The surgeon chopped off one stone, four pounds. Since then my weight has more or less stayed the same.

Commenting on her new diet, Lisa added: Now, for lunch I eat either a bowl of soup or a plain jacket potato. Im never going to be a size 28 again.

The actress is known for playing Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale, but the soap has been suspended temporarily because of the coronavirus outbreak and Lisa is currently self-isolating at home.

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Over the weekend, Lisa shared a selfie, encouraging her followers to stay at home.

The sun is shining but I beg you PLEASE stay inside and respect the lives of EVERYONE.

Last year she shared a clip of her workout routine on a cruise with Strictly Come Dancing.

She captioned the video, which showed her sweating as she worked out on a machine: So here I am doing what I do best working out HARD.

Fans soon commented on the Instagram video as they encouraged her on her fitness journey.

You really are enjoying exercise, one comment read.

Wow you are so beautiful. A second added.

In 2012, the soap star shared her secret to maintaining her new weight loss.

I was the classic over-eater but I have completely changed my attitude towards food, said Lisa, whose favourite foods were crisps, crumpets, white bread and pasta.

I used to go out for a meal and have a starter, main and pudding. No wonder I was gaining weight.

Lisa Rileys Honesty Diet book was released last year and retails at 16.99. The diet plan came out on top five weeks running as the cheapest way to lose weight on ITVs Save Money: Lose Weight - costing just 11.79 for every pound lost.

Lisas Honesty Diet focuses on eating lots of fresh food and working out, with the focus on enjoying what youre eating and being as inexpensive as possible.

In 2017 she filmed a documentary detailing her weight loss titled Lisas Baggy Body Club.

Speaking in the film, she said: I feel like a balloon thats had all its helium taken out.

This encouraged her to open up about the battle on her ITV documentary. The actress underwent a tummy tuck, surgery to remove the loose skin from her thighs and the removal of excess skin on her arms.

Despite the tummy luck leaving scars behind, Lisa shared that it was worth it to get rid of the saggy skin.

Read more:
Lisa Riley weight loss: Emmerdale stars strict diet that led to losing 12 stone - Express.co.uk

A favourite among people trying to lose weight is the ketogenic diet which limits the intake of carbohydrates and concentrates on increasing intake of fats (mostly) and proteins. Like with all kinds of diet, the results begin to show only after a few months of diligent practice of the diet. It is mostly during this time that people often lose steam and begin cheating their diet. It is the same with the keto diet. Even though it might seem difficult and frustrating in the beginning, these five hacks might help you get through the initial phases of the diet and see more satisfactory results faster. These tips will also help you maintain your weight loss journey as you go ahead with your diet. Create a keto environment Preparation is the key to success in everything you do. The same is with your diet. Creating a suitable environment for your diet will help you stick to it for longer. There is always a war between your emotional brain and your rational brain, especially when you are following a strict diet. It helps at this time to not give your mind any kind of stimulus that may trigger a wrong eating choice. Make your environment force you to make healthier food choices. Here are a few things you can do to change the food environment at home Stop storing carb-heavy and unhealthy food. If you have to keep such food at home, keep it at a place that is out of your reach and sight Keep all keto-friendly foods close at hand Reduce your portion size to make sure you eat only the amount that is essential Also, prepare for your sweet cravings. They are bound to happen and being prepared in advance will help you keep up your diet and fulfill your cravings. You can keep keto-friendly sweeteners and desserts ready for whenever you have those uncontrollable cravings.

Add friendly fat to your diet It is proven that adding friendly fats or medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) is actually beneficial for people on a keto diet. These kinds of fats are easier to digest as compared to other forms of fat. Also, they go straight to the liver where they are converted to ketones. This helps you reach ketosis faster which is responsible for increased energy and feeling less hungry.

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5 tips to actually make your keto diet work - Times of India

If I've learned anything about the coronavirus these past few weeks it's that it's remarkably easy to sink in the couch and waste away when you can't leave the house.

Experts have pretty much all hailed the importance of exercise during this time of self-isolation. It will help you feel better about your situation, regulate your mood, and so on.

I consider myself a relatively active guy who could lose 10 poundspossibly a bit more now because of a quarantine diet. In The Before Time, most of my exercise came from a mixture of rock climbing and gym workouts (each 2 to 3 times a week).

Without a wall to climb or a bench press to chuck weight to the sky I decided to workout at home and booted up the ol' internet to see what was on offer.

I found an almost intimidating number of home workouts online. So many, in fact, that people may need a hero to rise up and sort the good from the bad. And who better to be that hero than a mildly out of shape guy who has way too much time on his hands? So, utilizing my time stuck inside for the good of humanity, I tried out seven workoutssome pretty useful, some involving dancing or a catand did my best to give them a rating for my kind, sweet readers.

Duration: 20 minutes

What a better place to start than with a workout specifically aimed at people stuck at home because of the coronavirus? This one, taught by Jeff Nippard, has been viewed over a million and a half times on YouTube.

"First of all, there is no need to panic about losing your gains," Nippard reassures me at the start.

Thanks, Jeff! Nippard's exercises are pretty basic, and include a lot of furniture: your couch or coffee table to do inverted push-ups, elevated sit ups, and a variety of lunges. He instructs us to pick four and do a full-body workout.

This was a fine workout. Because it was the first leg workout in a while it left me rather sore the next day. Very middle of the road and shows you what you can do in your living space if you have enough room.

Rating: 6/10

Duration: 40 minutes

I am the typical white man who cant dance worth shit.

I only really dance when Im a very particular drunk (a certain mix of the right setting, booze, and people). The last time I went out dancing with da boys, in 2016, I hurt myself cutting a rug to Talking Heads.

Despite my ineptitude, my editors wanted me to do some dance workouts for this story, I think mainly to watch me dance. They are bad people, but they are my bosses. So I danced.

One of my editors sent me a link to a live class by Debbie Allen, a choreographer whom Ive never heard of but is well-respected in the musical theatre community (she won an Emmy for Fame in the 80s.) I wasnt able to film this one because it was shown on Instagram Live and I had to watch it on my phone (my primary quarantine camera).

It was pretty fun, actually, even though I sucked mightily at it. On one hand, Im sure I looked like a complete ass to the person whom I caught watching me from the sidewalk, and on the other, Allen is pretty killer at keeping you pumped up and going.

But while I did enjoy her telling me to "hug the world" (a particular dance move where you extend your arms and, uh, hug the world) I didn't get that much of a sweat on.

Overall if youre bored, and enjoy moving about and dancing to 80s music, you might as well try this. But if youre looking for a good workout I dunno if this is for you.

Rating: 6/10

Duration: as long as your cat will put up with your shit (AND NOT A SECOND LONGER)

I have a remarkably chill cat, Poe, who is super stoked Im home so much, so I thought I would find a workout we could do together.

Unfortunately, the video that promised me how to do it was just an annoyingly handsome man lifting his cat in the air while doing different exercises. It was a joke but I did not care.

So I got Poe and started with the squats.

Then some curls.

Finally, a modified bench to work on my lats.

Then Poe got fed up, wanted to be put down and I, as I always do, did as he wanted. Not only did I feel like I was being a jerk to my cat I also didnt get that sick pump Ive been seeking.

Would not recommend it.

Rating: 2/10

Duration: 40 minutes

After not getting footage of myself dancing, my editors sent me another dancing video. This one was a hip hop routine taught by So You Think You Can Dances tWitch, and set to Good Kid, M.A.A.D City by Kendrick Lamar. I like the song so I thought I would enjoy this and that it would be like the other dance where I would feel goofy but would have fun.

This was so much of a confidence destroyer that I didnt even have fun.

The routine was so far above my skill level it wasnt even close. It was like my editors gave me one taekwondo class and made me go fight 1980s Jean-Claude Van Damme. I could barely follow along for the most basic steps and when they were strung together, I got lost and my body kinda just gave up.

In terms of a workout, it would be OK if you could keep up but if you can't you just feel bad about yourself.

Rating: 7/10 if you can dance, 0/10 if youre me.

Duration: 9 minutes to 20 minutes

I'm a good farm boy who misses the NHL season something fierce, so I decided to see if I could use a hockey stick to work off my sorrow.

First I found a video that mixes stickhandling with a core workout a minute of stickhandling followed by a minute of crunches or sit ups. Pretty straightforward stuff.

It wasnt too bad but I didnt get the full-body burn I was hoping for. It was short, very specific and just kinda felt like you should just use it to supplement a full workout.

So I busted out my duct tape, hockey stick, and a couple of free weights. I taped some weights to the bottom of the hockey stick, grabbed a tennis ball, and did some stickhandling. It worked out my triceps but not much else, so I decided to try and turn my hockey stick, chair, couch, and two more weights into a modified bench press.

That was stupid, wasnt it? Dont do this.

Rating of my official video: 4/10

Rating of my modified workout: 1/10

Duration: 20 minutes

If you've compared your self-isolation to prison, you're in luck: There are quite a few prison-style workouts online. After going through the options, almost all taught by massive tattooed men who could turn me into mush with a single glance, I decided to go with Mike Gunzs video because Id love to be a shredded boy.

Now, Gunz is an intimidating fellow. He runs the channel Felony Muscles, and is a bodybuilder and apparently an ex-con.

Gunz explains he used to do this workout in his cell. It starts with four sets of 20 push-ups, 15 squats, and 15 burpees. Then you do three sets of lunges (10 each leg) and sprints. Following that are three sets of pushups. Then some chin-ups (I dont have a bunk to rip chinnies on so I did some crunches, tricep dips, and pushups instead.

I was murdered at the end of this one.

This was a hell of a workout especially after the hockey and the dancing. It feels like it wont be a lot when you start it but at the end of the fourth of exercises, set you feel destroyed and then you have to just keep going cause you dont want Mr. Gunz to get mad at you.

Gunz is also actually pretty entertaining. He does a voiceover over footage of himself working out. He shit talks himself for getting tired early, complains about how some people don't believe he does the full sets, and ruminates on how defined his back looks during chin-ups. I wasnt able to find out why Gunz went to prison but I hope its nothing too bad cause I kinda like the guy.

Rating: 8/10

Duration: 30 minutes

Lets switch gears in grand style, from a prison workout to an at-home phys-ed workout for kids. Joe Wicks runs a YouTube channel called Body Coach TV and has 3.2 million followers on Instagram. He was due to start a tour of U.K. schools to promote fitness, but it got cancelled because of the coronavirus. So he decided to livestream PE classes every weekday at 9 a.m. local time for kids whose schools have closed.

I decided to use a video from his first livestream on March 23.

Oddly, the workout is not all that far off from Gunzs prison workoutbut less intense and with a far less terrifying backstory. We do some high-intensity interval training involving jumping jacks, shadow boxing, squats, and running on the spot.

I know this is for kids but I was sweating pretty good at the end of this one.

Honestly, this would be boring but Wicks is so goddamn likeable and upbeat. At the start of the class he said he always wanted to be a PE teacher and now he kinda feels like he is. He talks to you so much that the half-hour workout moves quickly and his conversational style kinda kills the loneliness of workouts at home.

Probably going to continue doing this one as quarantine drags out.

Rating: 8/10

Just do whatever workout you want. This is a stressful time and you shouldnt add to your stress with the burden of forcing yourself to exercise.

That said if you are looking for something, a mix of Joe Wicks and Mike Gunz might do ya right.

Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter .

Originally posted here:
Which Home Workout Is the Best? Not the One Involving Your Cat - VICE