John Karangis, the executive chef of Shake Shack, says he usually wakes up at 3:30 a.m. This is by choice. The 48-year-old isnt rising and grinding at an unseemly hour to cook, concoct, and taste-test chicken, burgers, hot dogs, fries, and milkshakesthose are tasks he saves for later in the day. The crack-of-dawn start-time is because he cant stop himself from competing in marathons and triathlonsboth of which require a fair amount of early-morning training.

Karangis began cooking at an early age, including (illegally) at a restaurant at 13. He went to culinary school and came into the orbit of Danny Meyer, the founder of Shake Shack, who helped him launch a career in fine dining. So when Meyer and company came calling again, Karangis jumped at the chance to team back up. And in October 2018, he transitioned to his decidedly less high-end but equally tasty current job.

Karangiss journey as an athlete is a little more recent: it started 16 years ago, he says, as a bucket list one-off marathon turned into a lifelong hobby. Then he added training for Ironman triathlons to his regimen in 2014. Both forms of exercise are a welcomed respite from the sometimes not-so-healthy rigors of Karangiss day job, which does indeed feature the ingestion of a whole bunch of burgers.

In an interview with GQ, Karangis explains how he and his colleagues in the Shake Shack Innovation Kitchen try to maintain a healthy diet, and he explains why he really, truly craves Shake Shack every year after running the New York City Marathon.

GQ: Can you walk me through a typical day for an executive chef of a fast-casual restaurant?

John Karangis: I wake up at 3:30 a.m., and Ill have maybe a banana, some cashew butter, a cup of coffee, and Ill hit the road. I train one or two disciplinesswimming, cycling, or running. I usually start my exercise at 4:45 and do that as long as my schedule dictates for the day. Ill shower at home or the gym, grab a small recovery breakfast, and go to work. Im usually at work by 8, and leave sometime around 5 or 6. I try to be in bed by 10 p.m.

How often are you eating Shake Shack for lunch?

Part of our role in the Innovation Kitchen is to develop new recipes for Shake Shacks all over the world. Were constantly cooking and having tastings. Throughout the day, as a chef, youre cooking and tasting enough to get a sense of what works, what doesnt, while also being mindful of what youre eating. I try to integrate a salad lunch into the mix, especially if Ive got a big tasting with a burger or shake that day. I want to make sure Ive also got some grains, quinoa, greens, and a little dressing. But Im active during the work day and it kind of goes by so quickly that my lunches can vary. There are definitely days where my lunch is bits and pieces of whatever Im eating in the Shack. When I get home, my wife is a great cook, and whatever shes making, Ill eat. Then I try to prep my breakfast for the next morning to make my morning a little lighter.

Im not super regimented, but I try to be mindful of what Im eating. Theres a team of three of us, so well divide those tasting tasks up to make sure we each live a balanced lifestyle and were not taking in a ton of calories. My colleagues and I look out for each other, to be honest. Well say, okay, theres a big tasting tomorrow, heres what we need to do. But its also important to sometimes put ourselves in the shoes of a guest and experience something with the intent that we want them to experience it.

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The Real-Life Diet of Shake Shacks Executive Chef, Who Taste-Tests Burgers Between Marathons - GQ

If you have ever tried to lose weight then you probably know that it is not an easy task. Apart from following a strict diet and an intense workout routine, there are a few other things that can accelerate your weight loss process. We all know drinking sufficient amount of water is essential for everyone to stay healthy and fit. It is even more essential when you are trying to lose weight. Water carries essential nutrients to different cells and flushes out toxins from the body. A recent study revealed that drinking two glasses of water before each meal can expedite your weight loss process. The study The study was carried by the researchers of the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. In the clinical trial, it was found that participants who drank two cups of water before each meal lost an average of 2 kilos or more weight in 12 weeks. The study was carried out on 48 adults in the age group of 55 to 75 years. They were randomly divided into two groups. Both the groups were on a calorie-controlled diet. However, one group drank two cups of water before every meal (three times a day) and the other group did not do it. The participants followed the same pattern for 12 weeks. After this period of time, it was found that people who drank two cups of water three times a day lost about extra 2 kilos of weight as compared to the other group who did not drank the water. Why drinking water helps When you drink water before the meal, you tend to eat less. You will automatically consume fewer calories and will lose more weight at the end of the day. The bottom line To reap maximum benefits and to lose weight quickly, you have to cut down on sugar and high-calorie drinks from your diet. However, drinking too much water can be dangerous for some people. In a rare but serious condition, it can lead to water intoxication.

Excerpt from:
Weight loss: Drink 2 cups of water before every meal to lose extra kilos - Times of India

By Heather Cecilia Phanwar

If fitness is what you have in mind, then Kunal Mordani has all the answers to your queries. The director of Golds Gym, the worlds largest coed gym chain, says Shillong was an obvious choice as it is a sports and fitness loving city and people take to physical activities naturally. But the city lacked a world-class fitness stop and Golds Gym bridges the gap by providing complete fitness solutions with a scientific approach to health and fitness backed by the best certified trainers, physiotherapist and nutritionist. The gym has two nutritionists and physiotherapists each. The fitness destination here is the chains 123rd stop. It started here in 2017 and in these two years the response has been overwhelming. In an interview with Sunday Shillong, Mordani speaks about the gyms success story and fitness regime. Excerpts:

How many clients do you have? Do they complete the full membership period? Since inception, we have an average of over 600 regular members. Our retainership is almost 75 per cent as we keep our members motivated at all times and make fitness exciting with different variations of exercises.

Do dieticians have consultation sessions with clients before they start working out at the gym? Fitness assessment is the key for Golds Gym before starting the fitness journey for any of our member. A Body Composition Analysis is done as a client enrolls, which is later explained to the client. A complete fitness assessment questionnaire has to be answered by the member for effectively planning their exercise routine which also helps in knowing their medical history, drawing up a diet chart and apprising the clients on how to have a healthy lifestyle.

What kind of diet plan is given to the members? A balanced diet is an integral part for any individual who plans to stay fit. All the members who join our gym are given a basic diet regime according to their requirements. We also offer customised diet packages for a day-to-day diet plan at a nominal extra cost.

What kind of workouts do you offer? Do the clients choose what they want? Currently, we are offering a wide range of workouts While clients preferences are looked into its the trainers who have the final say. Workout in a gym is a serious business. It can have a negative effect on health if done without proper supervision and planning. The workout schedule is drawn up in a very scientific way after assessing the physical condition of the member and thorough consultation with the Golds Gym Team.

Do you assign trainer to each member? How long does one session last? We have dedicated zone-wise floor trainers who supervise all clients. We offer personal training programmes in which a dedicated trainer is appointed for a client for an hour to customise his workouts along with goal settings. The training session varies with different memberships and the workout schedule chosen.

Do your clients follow the diet that they are given? There are regular reviews of all the clients. Their progress is monitored every 45 days and if needed diet plans are re-evaluated. The clients are advised to follow the diet plan to get best results The dietician is always available for consultation.

How long does it take to become fit? How have your clients benefitted? Fitness is a never-ending journey A healthy lifestyle incorporates happiness and peace of mind. Regular exercise keeps a person in good stead but then there are clients who want to build a muscular body or someone who wants to shed kilos. A fit healthy body boosts ones confidence too. The results of our clients are spectacular We have clients who come to the gym for pain management and we are proud to share that we have helped them tremendously.

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'This is a fitness-loving city' The Shillong Times - The Shillong Times

American Heart Association "This was about breaking a family legacy of heartdiseaseand feeling good."

Michelle Emebo's doctor was just as shocked as she was to discover she had high blood pressure during her third trimester of pregnancy. Emebo says she was pretty healthy before becoming pregnant and had been exercising pretty regularly. She was motivated to prevent gestational diabetes and pass her glucose test at the end of her second trimester. However, once she passed the test, eating healthy became less of a priority.

"Once the test was over, my diet just went down the gutter," Emebo says. "I was eating Starbucks breakfast sandwiches on the way to work and then just kept eating once I got to work. I work at an academic center where there is always some kind of celebration, so it would be a donut here, a cupcake there." Emebo said she gained a healthy 10 pounds during her first two trimesters but put on almost 15 pounds in a matter of weeks leading up to her high blood pressure diagnosis. (FYI, healthy weight gain during pregnancy is typically between 25 and 35 lbs, but every woman is different.)

Emebo says her doctor was reassuring that her blood pressure would go back down to the 120/80 she was used to having after giving birth. She tried to cut back on the sweets, but between anxiety at work preparing for maternity leave, moving into a new home and her husband finishing residency, there was a lot of stress going on in her life that continued to impact her health. She said all she had the energy to focus on at the time was delivering a healthy baby and making sure her blood pressure didn't continue to trend upwards.

Turns out, Emebo's blood pressure didn't go down after giving birth or after breastfeeding. Her doctor put her on blood pressure medication after several months, but that didn't seem to have much of an impact.

"That's when I realized I'd had enough, that I was going to have to do something as far as exercise and diet," Emebo says. "I knew it was possible for me to get back to normal since I was there before pregnancy. Finally, a year and a half later, I started making a change."

Taking Control of Her Health

Emebo was a collegiate athlete and the natural first step towards a healthier lifestyle was bringing exercise back into her routine. The local mom's group she's a part of had a meetup at OrangeTheory Fitness one day, and she knew she needed to come back for more.

"I got my butt kicked that first class, but I thought, 'I need to be in here' and signed up for a membership that day," she says.

Changing her diet wasn't as simple, however. Emebo was attempting to eat the way she did when trying to lose weight for her wedding several years prior, and her methods just weren't working for her. She had her doctor refer her to a nutrition professional.

Emebo admits that nutrition was the hardest part for her. She says, "You don't realize how much convenience food is a part of your life when you have to change your schedule to cook and grocery shop."

As difficult as it was to start cooking more often, she says this is when she saw the biggest change in her healthand blood pressure. Emebo says her dietitian played an important role in teaching her portion control, cutting back on added sugar and sodium and learning new cooking methods. She started using spices and DASH seasonings to bring flavor to her meals without salt, and learned to caramelize sweet potatoes, so she no longer needed brown sugar to enjoy them.

Choosing a Lifestyle Over a Diet

Emebo was able to normalize her blood pressure and lose 20 pounds within six months, which inspired her to keep going. She lost 75 pounds and has kept it off after three years. Emebo says that while she could have lost weight faster, she was pursuing a healthy lifestylenot a restrictive diet or a number on a scale.

"I didn't have a goal weight," Emebo says. "Everyone would ask what size I wanted to be, but it wasn't about that. I would tell them 'whatever weight gets me off my medications and keeps me healthy.'"

Emebo continued to dial back on sodium and added sugar while increasing her intake of vegetables and other high-fiber foods. She also began meeting with a trainer to help her meal plan around her workouts as she was growing stronger in the gym.

"I never felt deprived in that year and a half, and that's probably why it took me a little longer to get to where I needed to be," Emebo says. "I enjoyed birthdays, holidays and my family's favorite foods, but if I could stick to healthy eating 80% of the week, I could feel good."

Video: 7 incredible results you'll get from walking 30 minutes a day (Courtesy: Prevention)

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Both of Emebo's parents have struggled with high blood pressure and survived strokes, so she knows her family history of cardiovascular disease puts her at increased risk.

'I really wanted it to be about my health, and not just physical health but mental healththis was about breaking a family legacy of heart disease and feeling good," she says.

Emebo also cut back on alcohol after participating in Dry January in 2018. She now reserves imbibing for special occasions and feels more energized than ever.

"I don't have anything against [alcohol], but I began to notice drinking a glass of wine at night made me sleepy in the morning and hungrier during the day. Once I cut out my glass of wine or two each week, it helped me get up in the morning and I wasn't having food cravings at night anymore."

Trust the Process

Today, Michelle is eating more carbs and calories to keep up with her workouts, while still being mindful of her intake of salt and added sugars. She says this health journey has really turned into a way of life for her and her family and has left her feeling empowered.

"There was a time where I didn't know what I needed to do to get healthy," Emebo says. "It wasn't until I realized i had to take control of my healthand it had to start today that I was able to realize it was possible to get healthy and that I really could do this. I've never been as fit as I am now since being a student athlete."

Emebo says she is surprised by how many people say they don't like their doctor, as finding the right provider who can encourage you in the right direction is extremely important for getting healthy. If you don't know your numbers, ask about your cholesterol, glucose and blood sugar levels and other metrics to figure out a game plan. She says if you don't start knowing where you are, you won't be able to move forward. She also says to be patient, as a health journey should be just thata journey.

"It's not an overnight thingespecially if you're a new mom trying to figure your job, marriage and parenting out," Emebo says. "A lot of people do not believe them when I say there was no secret potion. I just ate healthy food and did the exercises. Slow progress is still progress and that's what matters."

Michelle Emebo is part of The American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Movement.

Slideshow: Shannon lost 85 lbs. in 10 months with barely any exercise (Courtesy: PopSugar)

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This Woman Lost 75 Pounds and Got Off Her Blood Pressure Medication by Curbing Salt and Sugar - msnNOW

While you harp on metabolism all your life, there is also catabolism that we need to worry about (especially women once they touch 40s). As we age, the lean muscle and bone density in the body starts decreasing this process is called catabolism. Because of the decreased muscle mass, metabolism goes down too. In your 40s, you cannot get away with eating and working out the same way as you did in your 20s and 30s. The main goal in this decade is to reverse the catabolic process and make it anabolic, wherein you start building bone density and muscle mass instead of losing it. How? Eat right. The biggest misconception people have is that they need to starve or give up sugar to look good in their 40s. Quality is the keyword here. Instead of a commercial chocolate bar, look for high quality sweets like homemade halva, laddoos or kheer. Theyre made with whole grains and contain nourishers like ghee and dry fruits that make them a much healthier option than anything store-bought. Dont be fearful of food, at the same time, exercise portion control and dont go overboard. Eat till satisfied, but avoid bingeing. DONTS - Crash diet plans: While they may make you look slimmer in the short term, they will make you lose muscle mass and bone density, which just increases the problem. - Packaged snacks: They come with hidden sugars, salt and chemical compounds that your body finds difficult to break down. Instead of buying a jar of ghee or a pack of milk from the store, look for a sustainable farm that gives you high-quality products. - Breakfast cereals: We have a culture of eating hot breakfast, which is very satisfying. When we eat Western breakfast of cold cereal and milk, we dont get satisfaction, because of which we end up looking for a cigarette, coffee, or a muffin when we reach work. - Overeating: I always advise people to eat five spoons less than what they would have. Eat till you are satisfied, not stuffed and full. - Exercise: A combination of strength training and yoga is good as it will help to increase lean muscle mass and also accelerate fat loss. DOS - Stop dividing food into groups like fat, protein, carbs. Eat wholesome, home-cooked meals instead. - To reverse the process of catabolism, you need calcium as it is important for bone density, along with iron, protein and vitamin D. - Ghee, seasonal greens, whole grains like millets and single polished rice, sesame seeds, fresh vegetables and farm fresh dairy are all important. Munmun Ganeriwal, nutritionist and lifestyle consultant

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Manage your 40s - Times of India

The rugby league diet is our new feature where we give you an insight in to the eating habits of your favourite professional players, in partnership with Heaven N Health.

Heaven N Health co-owner and nutrition expertJosh Adamsonis our latest guest

When purchasing supplements ensure each of them have the tested for athletes logo on the packaging.

Multi-vitamins

Multi-vitamins are essential for anyone really, but a rugby players body probably needs them more so. They can be bought in capsule form and they contribute to the normal function of the immune system during and after intense exercise. They assist a healthy nervous system as well.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is a must for rugby players. It promotes the health of the circulatory and nervous systems and contributes energy to the body. It can also help prevent a type of anemia that makes people feel tired and weak.

Vitamin C (5g a day)

Vitamin C is one of the most important in a healthy, balanced lifestyle. It is necessary for growth and it contributes to the repair of all body tissues. It helps wound healing and the general maintenance of cartilage, bones and teeth. Basically, its just a very good antioxidant.

Omega-3s (4 a day)

Fish oils contribute to normal brain and eye development. If you dont eat much fish then fish oil supplements are a great alternative. Humans are incapable of synthesising Omega-3, so we need to consume then through dietary sources. The good fats in fish oils help to stimulate muscle protein growth and improve muscle mass, which is ultimately what a rugby player wants to do.

Aloe vera juice

Aloe vera is a rich source of antioxidants and vitamins that help protect your skin. It is also the perfect way to prevent or treat dehydration. Aloe vera juice is also full of good nutrients like vitamins B, C, E and folic acid. Another positive about aloe vera juice is that it helps your digestion run smoothly.

Heaven N Health is run by rugby league professionals the Adamson brothers, and provides healthy meals for players and supporters all over the UK. For more information, visitwww.heaven-n-health.co.uk.

Follow Heaven N Health onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.

Use coupon code LOVERUGBY for 10% discount at Heaven N Health.

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The RL diet: The five vitamins that are important to a rugby player - Love Rugby League

A student has described how an obsessive healthy eating disorder known as orthorexia nearly ruined her life and warned that is it dangerously common.

Sophie Smith, 21, from Perth in Western Australia, recalled how her obsession with size began when was just 15, after she was weighed as part of a biannual fitness test in her physical education class in high school.

Feeling less confident as her weight was slightly higher than the other girls, British born Sophie who moved to Australia when she was 10 - said she began actively researching ways to lose weight and eat healthy.

The science and arts student said over the next few years she soon spiralled into a dangerous obsession with food and exercise and said that the stress and pressure of trying to be 100 per cent healthy all the time turned her into not a very nice person.

The young woman said it got to the point where her mood would determine on how much she weighed each morning while she also weighed most of her foods and tracked every single calorie.

She never ate any type of bad foods and even forced herself to work out every single morning, even when sick.

Sophie added that she became scared and anxious going on family holidays, and never enjoyed celebrating Christmas or birthdays, because she was so worried about gaining weight.

More on 7NEWS.com.au

And as she always avoided going to social events due to having no control over the food, it was difficult for her to form and maintain solid friendships or have any type of social life.

She said: Growing up, I always felt good about myself and had a positive relationship with food.

My obsession with being healthy started when I was about 15. I went to an all-girls private school and part of our fitness class was to be weighed.

I was scared of knowing the number on the scale during the fitness test and I knew everyone was probably comparing their weights. I felt alone, like I was the only girl gaining weight.

I was scared to go on family holidays because I wouldnt have control of the food or exercise.

Thats when I decided to start doing things about my weight. Id look up top tips about how to avoid getting fat and I made up a list of all these foods that were bad for me.

Id weigh myself every day and none of my family ever knew. It was very compulsive, and my mood depended on how much I weighed that day.

I told myself to get down to a certain weight. I wanted to be the lowest range of healthy as I could be on the BMI scale.

Id be very strict in following all the rules. Id have to exercise everyday even if I was sick.

Sophie said she would not go to social events and rearrange plan to avoid meeting at cafes and restaurants.

I was scared to go on family holidays because I wouldnt have control of the food or exercise. Id terrified the whole time that Id gain all this weight, she said.

It was really damaging to my life, but I just couldnt see it at the time.

At 16, Sophie was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis - inflammatory bowel disease - which she believes could have stemmed from her eating disorder and the amount of stress and pressure she put on herself to be healthy.

I think more people have orthorexia than they realise.

Although she never got down to a dangerously unhealthy weight, she said she did lose around 20 per cent of her body weight while going through her struggles with orthorexia.

I think more people have orthorexia than they realise. It is so hard to recognise as from the outside, there is nothing bad about being healthy, Sophie said.

But when that stats negatively impacting your mental health and life, thats when it becomes dangerous.

It was not until a family holiday to Melbourne in September 2017 with her mum Clare and identical twin sister Eloise that she realised how much her obsession with being healthy impacted her life.

Instead of enjoying her holiday, Sophie said she was constantly anxious that she was not getting enough exercise and was stressed that she could not eat her usual healthy diet.

The turning point was when I realised things were getting out of control and I wasnt enjoying myself anymore, she said.

What should have been great family holidays became sources of stress and anxiety. I could never enjoy myself or fully let go and be in the moment.

I just felt so much guilt and shame all the time. If I ate one tiny chocolate, Id feel bad all day.

Over the next two years, Sophie saw a psychologist and a dietitian to help overcome her eating disorder and to restore a healthy relationship with food.

She also began taking care of her mental health by unfollowing toxic diet culture accounts on social media and focused on body positivity.

Sophie said she feels she has recovered from orthorexia and no longer feels obsessed with healthy eating but instead, allows herself to eat whatever she feels like and do exercise she enjoys, while also taking rest days.

Now the inspirational young woman is raising awareness about this relatively unknown eating disorder, as she believes it is far more common than what people realise.

My life is so much better now. Im not weighed down by any mental baggage and I feel free and happy, she said.

- Caters

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Perth woman Sophie Smith reveals how obsession with being healthy ruined her life - 7NEWS.com.au

Saturday February 29 2020

I feel lighter. Writer Stella Adi after undergoing a 30-day vegan diet. PHOTO | COURTESY

Are you thinking about ditching meat and dairy products from your diet? It was quite the rollercoaster.

You need to be on top of this diet or else the convenience of eating something non-vegan will overwhelm you. Plan, plan, plan and have an accountability person.

When you drastically change your diet, you are bound to feel horrible for a few days before your system can come to terms with whats happening.

First, a round of applause to me, a meat-lover who completed the entire 30 days - no meat, no fish, no dairy (actually, I slipped with this. Ill explain) and no eggs. No eggs! And another round for pulling it off while the rest of my household continued to pander to their carnivorous ways.

After hearing some pretty big claims on the wonders of living on a plant-based diet, from reducing ones risk of high blood pressure and heart disease to the more vain reports of radiant skin and healthier hair, I was sold.

I chose January because I figured, heck this is resolution month; the one time of the year universally accepted as the new year, new you season. It was also a welcome time to detox after a particularly self-indulgent December.

Armed with my research and a fortified fridge and pantry filled with my staples for the next 30 days; packets of almond milk, mushrooms, and a wide array of fruits, vegetables, legumes and pulses (some of which I hadnt eaten in years), I was ready.

It was quite the rollercoaster. I had read somewhere that the best way to successfully go through a restrictive dietary change, is to make sure you have enough of the right foods lying around to ward off temptation. Thankfully, I already had a soft spot for some vegetables (courgettes remain a struggle).

Since the rest of my household had no intention of joining me, I had to learn how to deal with the occasional aromas of cooked meat or fried eggs or sausages or bacon oh bacon! Giving up my morning cereal didnt help either (the plant-based milk didnt taste right).

Week two came with some weird mood swings. Id go from euphoric and crave-free one day to unmotivated and defeated the next. Happily, this got much better. This was the week I learned to appreciate the wonderful joys of snacking. Ive never been much of a nibbler. I was used to two or three big meals a day but now Id pepper my day with a serving of peanuts or almonds, a small cob of boiled maize or if Im in the mood, a bowl of popcorn. I realised that having fruit salad was a great way of adding more fresh fruit to my diet. One significant change I noticed is that my, errrm, movements were much more regular and the experience more pleasant. This I would attest to the uptake of fibre in my diet.

It brought with it a tedium with repetitive foodstuff. Up to this point my diet consisted of the same types of food and the humdrum was getting to me. I was especially craving soup but since I was too lazy to make one myself - off to the supermarket I went and stocked up on lentil, vegetable and mushroom soups. A few packs down I realised that they all contained egg, milk and other dairy extracts! Nope, not vegan! To be honest they werent very good either. They have loads of chemicals in them and sadly I admitted that I was better off just making the soups from scratch myself.

This was a good week. I felt lighter and overall more energetic which felt so amazing! I could get used to this.

I felt better than ever. Honestly. I was alert, energetic and seldom tired or lethargic. I was likewise feeling very in tune with myself. I started feeling more mentally clear and positive. The feeling only grew stronger week after week.

My skin was visibly clearer and smoother but between you and me, I was hoping for more dramatic results. Still, the new glow was enough for my friends to notice so a definite plus. At the back of my mind however, lay the fact that this was week four and I wont lieI was fantasising about what I wanted to do to a juicy beef burger with a side of cheesy fries. I wanted the week to end already!

Looking back though, I have a few regrets. For one, the next time I try this and there will be a next time I will pick something like fish or chicken or even eggs as my first non-vegan meal. I was so bloated after my meatballs and sausage breakfast that I couldnt eat anything else for the rest of the day. Another is throughout the month I was so focused on the 30 days that I often forgot to relax and really enjoy my food. I also wish I dared to be more creative with vegan food.

Vegan food is so tasty! I dare say it can oftentimes be tastier than meaty meals even (meat-lovers please dont come for me).

Its pocket friendly. Unless you eat very few to no vegetables or legumes in your day-to-day life, this is one diet that you can pull off by simply taking away without necessarily adding too much more. I didnt purchase any fancy shmancy vegan substitutes. I kept it simple and stuck with foods I know.

You can lose weight! I never imagined a diet heavy on rice, pasta and bread would result in weight-loss, but this was a delightful surprise. I lost about four kilos in all. I turned up the volume with my exercise which was more regular now.

What I wish someone told me

You need to be on top of this diet or else the convenience of eating something non-vegan will overwhelm you. Plan, plan, plan and have an accountability person.

When you drastically change your diet, you are bound to feel horrible for a few days before your system can come to terms with whats happening. This is completely normal.

Eating out (or ordering in) will be a challenge. Your options will be very limited. Fill up on something at home before leaving for a social call with friends.

You. Will. Be. Gassy. A lot.

These tips will make your transition to a plant-based diet easier.

Come up with a timetable in advance. I did this weekly. Trust me, youll thank me later.

Keep a food diary. This not only helped me keep track of what I was eating, I would easily see if I was eating too much of the same thing.

Try not to go it alone. My friend Annemarie and her husband took up the diet too. Wed share pics of our meals, exchange recipes and articles and encourage one another when the cravings came knocking.

Technology is your friend. I used an app called VegMenu which came in handy for when I was feeling less than creative and got tired of the same old meals.

If you decide to go on a vegan diet on a long-term basis, consult your doctor to ensure youre not deficient on any essential nutrients such as vitamin B12 which we get from animal products.

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I went 30 days on a vegan diet and this is what I learned - Daily Nation

That technological sophistication starts at the top. A few months ago, in an exclusive interview, Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri described himself as the companys Pied Piper of ML for his passionate advocacy about a technology that he believes will be even more disruptive than the cloud.

In his own understated but high-impact way, Workday cofounder and CEO Aneel Bhusri has become one of the worlds most-bullish evangelists for the extraordinary power and potential of machine learning.

Weve always talked about predictive analytics but theyre now a realityand its really a reality, Bhusri said in a recent exclusive interview.

Its what weve dreamed about for a long time. But we never actually got there because the technologies werent therebut now theyre here.

And Bhusri is making sure that Workdaywhich is on the verge of posting its first billion-dollar quarteris at the forefront in giving corporate customers the full benefits of MLs transformative capabilities.

Machine learning is just so profound, right? Its impacting all of our lives in so many ways, Bhusri said when I brought up his comment that ML will be even more disruptive than the cloud.

Internally I described my role to the company as the pied piper of machine learning, he said with a chuckle.And I asked every employee in the company to buy the bookPrediction Machinesand charge it back to Workday because we all have to get comfortable with this new world and be able to succeed in it and be able to talk to our customers about it.

It looks like one of the ways Bhusri is helping Workdays entire workforce to get comfortable with this new world is by letting them know that hes driving the conversation for that conversion.

For me theres actually something very gratifying when I can say, okay, not going to try to get the engineers to work on five different things, says Bhusri, who refers to himself self-effacingly as a products guy.

So every time I see one of our engineers or developers, I ask, what are you doing on machine learning? Or what do you think about machine learning? And what should we be doing with machine learning?

Pretty soon theyre all saying, Okay, before I meet with Aneel, I know hes going to ask about machine learning so I should have my act together, Bhusri said.It gets everybody on the same pagepeople are excited.

At least so far, Workdays customers have been eager to share that excitement and allow Workday to help them build their digital futures.

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Workday, Machine Learning, and the Future of Enterprise Applications - Cloud Wars

Fans of games like Dungeons & Dragons know that the fun comes, in part, from a creative Dungeon Masteran all-powerful narrator who follows a storyline but has free rein to improvise in response to players actions and the fate of the dice.

This kind of spontaneous yet coherent storytelling is extremely difficult for artificial intelligence, even as AI has mastered more constrained board games such as chess and Go. The best text-generating AI programs too often produce confused and disjointed prose. So some researchers view spontaneous storytelling as a good test of progress toward more intelligent machines.

An attempt to build an artificial Dungeon Master offers hope that machines able to improvise a good storyline might be built. In 2018, Lara Martin, a graduate student at Georgia Tech, was seeking a way for AI and a human to work together to develop a narrative and suggested Dungeons & Dragons as a vehicle for the challenge. After a while, it hit me, she says. I go up to my adviser and say We're basically proposing a Dungeon Master, aren't we? He paused for a bit, and said Yeah, I guess we are!

Narratives produced by artificial intelligence offer a guide to where we are in the quest to create machines that are as clever as us. Martin says this would be more challenging than mastering a game like Go or poker because just about anything that can be imagined can happen in a game.

Since 2018, Martin has published work that outlines progress towards the goal of making an AI Dungeon Master. Her approach combines state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms with more old-fashioned rule-based features. Together this lets an AI system dream up different narratives while following the thread of a story consistently.

Martins latest work, presented at a conference held this month by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, describes a way for an algorithm to use the concept of events, consisting of a subject, verb, object, and other elements, in a coherent narrative. She trained the system on the storyline of such science fiction shows as Doctor Who, Futurama, and The X-Files. Then, when fed a snippet of text, it will identify events, and use them to shape a continuation of the plot churned out by a neural network. In another project, completed last year, Martin developed a way to guide a language model towards a particular event, such as two characters getting married.

Unfortunately, these systems still often get confused, and Martin doesnt think they would make a good DM. We're nowhere close to this being a reality yet, she says.

Noah Smith, a professor at the University of Washington who specializes in AI and language, says Martins work reflects a growing interest in combining two different approaches to AI: machine learning and rule-based programs. And although hes never played Dungeons & Dragons himself, Smith says creating a convincing Dungeon Master seems like a worthwhile challenge.

Sometimes grand challenge goals are helpful in getting a lot of researchers moving in a single direction, Smith says. And some of what spins out is also useful in more practical applications.

Maintaining a convincing narrative remains a fundamental and vexing problem with existing language algorithms.

Large neural networks trained to find statistical patterns in vast quantities of text scraped from the web have recently proven capable of generating convincing looking snippets of text. In February 2019, the AI company OpenAI developed a tool called GPT-2 capable of generating narratives in response to a short prompt. The output of GPT-2 could sometimes seem startlingly coherent and creative, but it also would inevitably produce weird gibberish.

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Forget Chessthe Real Challenge Is Teaching AI to Play D&D - WIRED