The Good Place is full of morally questionable but relatable characters, and here are their Dungeons and Dragons alignments.

Eleanor Shellstrop lived a great life on Earth, full of nachos and Rihanna concerts...When she died, she discovered that the afterlife is real, and it's full of frozen yogurt.

RELATED:The Good Place: Every Main Character Ranked By Intelligence

This show asks the main characters to examine their choices, their motives, and the effects their actions have had on the world.Let's take a look at some of the moral alignments of the characters, and how the events of the show may have changed some of our favorites from selfish "ashholes" to upstanding citizens of this fine universe of NBC's The Good Placeto celebrate the conclusion of the show.

Mindy St Clairewhat else is there to say? Arguably the most eccentric character on the show, Mindy is the only person to be awarded her very own Medium Place. She helped her sister to start the world's largest relief fundbut why did she want to do it? We may never know.

Later, after her death, she helps Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, Janet, and Jason whenever any of the Cockroaches come knocking on her door. She hides them, helps them remember plans they've concocted in other timelines, and even agrees to let the team run their experiment in her Medium Place. However, she also filmed Chidi and Eleanor having sex without them being aware of itnot for blackmail, just for herself. This is True Neutral.

Simone is a tricky character to evaluate. She seems (on the surface) to be generally good. She's fun to be around. She brings cupcakes to work for her coworkers. She helps Chidi with his thesis. But when you dig deeper and look at her motives, and especially what she does when the chips are down, things begin to get dicey. Didn't she only buy those cupcakes because funding came through? (Even Eleanor comments on how she spent the funding on cupcakes.) And everything can be summed up in Simone's last actions during the experiment: she leaves Chidi to save Brent on his own so she could attempt to escape without them.

Michael starts the story as lawful evil. He wants to make the Bad Place better for all demons, make things more fun, and be a great Bad Place employee. Pretty quickly, his neighborhood turns him into an outcast, and he's forced to ally himself with Eleanor and the crew. After Chidi teaches him about mortality, Michael beginsto care about the humans around him. Eventually, he grows to consider himself a caretaker for the humans in his neighborhood, and furthera demon who is responsible for fixing the afterlife system. Michael is totally neutral good.

When we meet our Janet (not a girl), she's just like any other Good Place Janet: Lawful Good through and through. (Bad Place Janets are lawful evil, while Neutral Janets are quite obviously True Neutral.) After 800+ reboots, Janet begins to change.

RELATED:The Good Place: Janet's 10 Quirkiest Moments, Ranked

She stays loyal to Michael, her architect, throughout the entirety of the showbut her first season days of doing whatever she was told exactly how she was told to do it with no questions asked are over. Most infamously, Janet conspired against the judge with Michael and the Cockroaches to keep the humans safe. Whatever she does, she does it for good reasons, but she's not afraid to break the rules.

Vicky, Real Eleanor, or as Janet once drunkenly slurred, "Victoria," is one of the funniest characters on the show, if not the most dramatic. In season four, we saw her shine in her new role as a trainer in the new afterlife system. However, it's in this plotline that Vicky shows her true colors as lawful neutral. When we first meet the character, her only goal is to contribute to Michael's neighborhood and torture the four humans as well as she possibly can. But in season four,she flips sides immediately after hearing the afterlife system would be changing. This proves Vicky is in this for herself, and for whatever the people want. After all, she is a performer.

Chidi is so lawful good he might have a secret tattoo about it somewhere under his sweater vest. In season one, he agrees to help Eleanor before he knows her situationbut after he knows her situation he still helps her because he feels bound by the promise he had made to her.

RELATED:The Good Place: 10 Hidden Details About The Main Characters

Later, he refuses to lie, even if only to save his life from literal demons in the Bad Place. He's obsessed with doing the right thing to a literal fault. And in season four, we learn his greatest regret is accidentally moving with an overdue library bookand as a result, he put the library in his last will.

Maya Rudolph was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her role as Judge Gen in this show twice--and why wouldn't she be? Judge Gen is truly one of the most complicated characters to ever appear in a prime-time sitcom. Since the dawn of time, Judge Gen has the most important job in the universe: to weigh in on unresolved disputes in the afterlife, and to remain as impartial as possible during the process. While it's clear that the character outside of the job might want things (she's obsessed with Netflix and also Chidi) she remains neutral and impartial in her decisions and actions.

Jason Mendoza, the m0l0tov cocktail king, is a shining example of chaotic neutral. If he likes you, you're his people, just like Pillboi and Donkey Doug. If he doesn't like you, you're out, just like Sheila the black market alligator dealer with a pierced jawbone, who he framed for stealing boogie boards back when he was alive in Jacksonville, FL. He sold drugs to college students, but it was really oregano. He rescued Janet from the Bad Place fearlessly. But then a few episodes later he skips out on the work required to remake the afterlife system. In short: you never know what you're going to get when Jason's on the screen.

She raised billions of dollars for charity, but it was mostly so she could outdo her sister. She led a nonprofit that focused on producing self-help seminars and books... but all the while, her favorite thing in the world was the feeling she got when the flight attendant would close the curtain between first class and business plus.

After four seasons, Tahani is the character most likely to say something accidentally offensive. However, she's also the character who is most outside of her element. Until she gets a little more comfortable relating to other people, her actions will remain chaotic good.

Eleanor begins the story as a neutral evil character. Most tragically, she agrees to pet and house sit for a weekend, but when one of her mildly trashy friends invites her to a Rihanna concert in Vegas, Eleanor abandons the dog, leaving piles of food all around the kitchen and yelling at the dog to ration before leaving for the concert. When next we see the dog, it's so round that it's being carted around in a toy wagon, and Eleanor still doesn't apologize. But by the end of the story, Eleanor is offering to sacrifice herself to Shawn just to get the afterlife working a tiny bit better, making her truly neutral good.

NEXT:The Good Place: 10 Worst Tortures, Ranked

Next Underwater: The 10 Most Frightening Movie Monsters To Emerge From The Oceans, Ranked

Virginia Winters-Troche is a late twenties, early to rise New Englander who has watched and rewatched so many shows on Netflix, her neighbors wonder if she ever leaves the house. (She obviously does--that's how the snacks happen.) Specializing in shows where anyone could bite it at any moment, Virginia channels her constant urge to speak during movies into writing about them. When not watching Netflix, you may find her watching Hulu, HBO, Cable TV, or, rarely, sleeping.

The rest is here:
The Good Place: D&D Moral Alignments Of The Main Characters - Screen Rant

Theres a wealth of evidence to support the notion that spending time outdoors boosts your mental wellbeing. But before you say it, getting back into nature does not require weekend getaways or travelling outside the city, if thats where you live.

Rather, many Twitter responses involved simply paying attention, or getting involved. Observing the trees, flowers, the sky, looking for the first signs of spring, walking on the grass, watching the sunset, smelling the air, growing things from seed, listening to the rain from inside it seems that despite hundreds of years of urbanisation since the Industrial Revolution, we are all still creatures of the earth at heart.

Special shout out to Becca Caddy for this genius idea: I have an alert for when the ISS is passing overhead, and running outside to spot it always gives me a bit of perspective and wonder!

Here is the original post:
How to be happier: find the joy in simple, free things - Stylist Magazine

Tracey Thorn: I would never impose boredom on anyone. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer

Tracey Thorn began her career as a singer and musician, before becoming best known as half of Everything But the Girl, with her lifelong partner, Ben Watt. She then became a solo artist, and a writer of three bestselling books: her 2013 memoir Bedsit Disco Queen, 2016s Naked at the Albert Hall and Another Planet, published last year, which traces her years growing up in Londons suburbs, and is out in paperback on 6 February.

How does writing about the 1970s world of Another Planet feel now? My own kids cant imagine how we ever survived when I tell them about staying in all evening waiting for a phone call from someone, who youd then arrange to meet under a clock tower in a nearby town, only to have the bus cancelled and not be able to get there. The thing that strikes me now is how locally rooted our lives were. Without the internet, we had no access to other people in other places, so we did a lot of dreaming and a lot of fantasising. The rest of the time, we just tried to avoid dying of boredom.

Your diaries fill the book. Theyre hilariously unpoetic: about clothes you failed to buy, Coronation Street episodes, unsuitable boys. What surprised you about them? How dishonest they are in places. Given that I was only writing them for myself, I didnt often take the opportunity to express my true feelings. Instead, I lied, and put on a brave face. Never fancied him anyway, Id write when a boy dumped me. Id leave out things that had gone wrong, or been difficult. I think it was partly an exercise in defiance, a refusal to be defeated by lifes adversities. So in that sense, my diary was a bit of a self-help manual, written by me, for me.

So often the story of rocknroll is told from a male perspective

The book is also about your parents, and how wildly their lives and expectations differed from yours. You mention your father saying I never knew Tracey was so into music after you wrote your first memoir Bedsit Disco Queen. What was it like to trawl those memories? My dad barely features in my diaries, as I think we were quite distant at that time, which perhaps goes some way to explaining how little he knew or understood me. We werent connecting, and I think he lost sight of who I really was. As for my mum, we had been very close, and then fell out badly when I rebelled against all the rules and conventions. Some of the diary entries I found very painful to read. Accounts of ugly rows. Tears and shouting. The casual way in which I mention that she has been put on Valium by the doctor.

Another Planet celebrates female musicians that offered you a way out of ordinary life. How have the memoirs of several you mention like Viv Albertine and Chrissie Hynde inspired you? Its been fantastic to hear the true life stories from those women. So often the story of rocknroll is told from a male perspective. So often it feels like men own music. And I still get as angry and frustrated about that as I ever did. Reading those womens accounts of their lives has reminded me how much they paved the way back then. And history too often erases the women, in all art forms. Every single published story of a female artist goes a small way towards redressing the balance, and is another one saved from the fire.

You write about pop stars that emerged from the boredom of suburbia, like David Bowie and Siouxsie Sioux. Do we need more boredom? No, I would never impose boredom on anyone. Life is short and its a shame to spend some of it feeling trapped and thwarted. I know that it can be an inspiration to some people, and spur you on to make things happen, but at the same time it can also just drag you down. Sometimes it crushed our imaginative spirit. Sometimes it made us reckless, and for young girls that was risky. Wed do anything to escape being bored, and that wasnt always good for us.

Has your songwriting changed as youve written your memoirs? My last album [2018s Record] definitely has a memoir-ish vibe to it. Its a record of a womans life, detailing the things that often get glossed over in songs - things like body image, and going on the pill, and the realities of being up all night feeding babies, and the fact that even once youre older, and a mum, and supposedly the embodiment of everything thats safe and cosy, you dont lose your desire for excitement and euphoria, which for me is often to be found on the dance floor with a glass in my hand.

Which books about suburbia have you enjoyed? Hanif Kureishis The Buddha of Suburbia is amazing. Also, when I had just finished writing Another Planet a book was published by John Grindrod called Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt. I panicked and asked my publisher to read it for me, fearing that the book I had just written was going to be an exact copy of this one. Luckily it isnt, although I have only recently dared to look at it. It is very worth reading.

Which writers did you like when were young that have stayed with you? My reading habits as a teenager were a bit skewed by trying to impress, if Im being honest, boys. So I went through a phase of carrying Camus and Sartre under my arm, thinking that would be irresistible. I also fell hard for Kerouacs On the Road, which spoke to my yearning for freedom and travel and drugs and sex and all the rest of it. I darent read it again now in case I dont like it any more. The writer I loved as a teen who has most stayed with me is George Orwell.

Which genres do you particularly enjoy reading that might surprise us? Are there any you avoid? Quite recently I discovered Lee Childs Jack Reacher books and I have become a complete addict. I read the first four in what seems like a few fevered days, and I am looking forward to reading them all. Absolutely adore the economy, and the plotting, and the sheer sense of energy that runs through them.

Whats the last really great book you read? Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen, which is the third part of her Copenhagen Trilogy. She was born in 1917, a working-class girl in Copenhagen, and grew up longing to be a writer. These books tell the story of how she made that happen, but also her struggle with drugs and alcohol. Her writing is incredible, so focused and clear. Not a word that doesnt need to be there.

What do you plan to read next? Ive got a to read pile in the kitchen, and on it at the moment are Funny Weather by Olivia Laing, The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd, and The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante.

And what book would you give to a teenager? Ive never liked being prescriptive with any of my kids. They should read whatever they fancy. Having said that, I just gave our 18-year-old Kevin Barrys Night Boat to Tangier and hes really enjoying it.

Another Planet by Tracey Thorn is published by Canongate (9.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over 15

Go here to see the original:
Tracey Thorn: I went through a phase of carrying Camus under my arm - The Guardian

Over the years they've been in existence, the Airdrie and District Victims Assistance Society has been a great, silent partner in the community, but this year they plan to make some noise.

Faced with growing caseloads of victims of crime and tragedy in the area, and less and less sustainable funding, ADVAS will be focusing more on raising funds to help them continue the great work they're doing.

Fund Developer Conor Tapp said the 1:1 campaign held in December proved to him, and others in the organization, that if they get the word out, they will receive supports.

"The community was very generous to us. We set an ambitious goal but it would have included some government support and big corporate support. In terms of individual support we received above our target from individuals in Airdrie and district and we're very appreciative of that."

Tapp said because of stable funding for ADVAS in the past, they were content to work in the background and accept the fact that people didn't need to know they were there. That has changed and now ADVAS will work harder to get the word out about the things they are doing in the community.

According to Tapp, ADVAS's programs will not change but the Board of Directors and Executive Director will be looking at how they're spending their money, as well as raising more. Tapp said they run their programs in a very lean way but want to see if there are other ways to save. However, fundraising will become more of a necessity in the future.

Tapp sais they're reaching out to all levels of government to make them aware of the work of ADVAS. They will continue to seek out supportive members of the community, both individuals and the businesses. Right now, the two Boston Pizza locations in the city are holding their Heart Campaigns which run until Valentine's Day. The money this year will benefit ADVAS. Tapp is hoping that more of the business community will catch the vision of the restaurants.

"It's so important for any non-profit or charity to have the support of the business community. This (the Heart Campaign) is perfect for ADVAS because we are grassroots, we are community. We need those businesses who are engaging with the community and really being a true partner to us and helping to tell our story."

Tapp said the 1:1 campaign was a great start to show the community what ADVAS does to help the victims of crime and tragedy, now they hope to build on that.

"You'll hear us talking more about how we can support one another. That includes self-care but also how can we respond to our friends and family members who might be hurting because they were a victim."

Comments? Questions? Story ideas? Email [emailprotected]

"

Read the original here:
ADVAS to focus on raising funds to help meet increasing caseloads in 2020 - DiscoverAirdrie.com

James Martin will often appear on the small screen to share his cooking tips with Britons. In the past, the chef has been open about his incredible weight loss journey. What did he do to slim down?

The TV chef recently shared snaps online showing his ten year transformation.

He has dramatically slimmed down during his career and most recently showcased a 1st 7lb weight loss in May 2018.

Speaking at the time, he revealed his TV appearances motivated him to make a change.

James told Mail Online: You kind of watch and go, 'oh God there's a bit of chin happening there'. And everybody's TVs are bigger now.

READ MORE: Weight loss diet: One drink can help burn fat fast - how much should you have?

Before you used to watch TV on a small one and now they're massive."

Working in the public eye, he revealed negative comments persuaded him to change his lifestyle.

I looked on social media and every comment was about me being fat, he told The Sun.

So I lost a stone-and-a-half. And no doubt Ill lose another stone on this tour.

DON'T MISS

It is reported he cut back on butter and foods high in fat to help him get into shape.

However, he has admitted he will use lashings of fatty foods when cooking on his show.

He said: If you want to do Weight Watchers this show probably isnt for you!

I have double cream, full fat milk, cheese and butter and thats just for one of the side orders on this tour.

But I like food. Ive always been surrounded by food. I was brought up on a farm, I worked on a farm producing pigs.

You have to understand food and I am seriously passionate about ingredients.

On social media, the popular chef will often share posts of healthy meals he has cooked.

However, it was exercising that first helped him lose a staggering amount of weight.

Previously weighing in at 19st 7lb, James lost a huge amount of weight when he competed in the reality dance show, Strictly Come Dancing in 2005.

While on the show, contestants will follow an intense training regime and James managed to dance off an impressive five stone.

Opening up on the training routine, he said he eventually trained seven days a week for 10 hours.

The routine helped him kick start his weight loss journey.

See more here:
James Martin weight loss: TV chef used this trick to shed a whopping six stone - Express

ARKPORT This time of year, were all looking for a fast and easy way to lose weight and theres no shortage of suspicious claims out there.

Fad diets create a buzz because they often promise just that. But anyone who is serious about losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle shouldnt be fooled. Katie Ferraro, MPH, RDN, CDE, nutrition expert for TOPS Club Inc. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), the nonprofit weight-loss support organization, provides five sound reasons to avoid the fad diets and eat sensibly instead.

Water Weight Is Not Fat Loss: The initial weight loss with most fad diets is water weight. It is easily gained back and then some when normal eating resumes.

Carbs Are Still King: Glucose is the preferred energy source for your body and brain. Healthy sources of carbohydrates, like fruits, vegetables and whole grains, are optimal to fuel your body. Keep in mind: Nobody ever gained weight from eating raw veggies.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race: Research indicates that 1 to 2 pounds per week is the ideal rate for sustainable weight loss. Your friends may be losing over 5 pounds per week, but they will likely regain that and more.

Your Diet Shouldnt Deprive You: To truly follow some of the craziest fad diets out there, you would never be able to eat at a restaurant or enjoy food at a social event. The way you choose to craft a healthy diet should fit into your real life rather than being a barrier to living a full life.

The Scale Isnt All That Matters: When you eat healthy foods and exercise more, not only does your weight drop, but other metabolic measurements, such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood sugar, will improve. A fad diet might help you shed pounds quickly, but if its raising your cholesterol and stressing you out, the weight loss isnt worth it.

TOPS Club Inc. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) is the original weight-loss support and wellness education organization. Founded more than 70 years ago, TOPS is the only nonprofit, noncommercial weight-loss organization of its kind. TOPS promotes successful weight management with a Real People. Real Weight Loss. philosophy that combines support from others at weekly chapter meetings, healthy eating, regular exercise and wellness information. TOPS has members male and female, age 7 and older in thousands of chapters throughout the United States and Canada.

Visitors are welcome to attend their first TOPS meeting free of charge. Membership is $32 per year in the U.S. plus nominal chapter fees.

Local chapters meet in Arkport, Hornell, Canisteo, Dansville, Wellsville and Bath.

To find a local chapter, visit http://www.tops.org or call (800) 932-8677.

Read more:
Local TOPS Club offers five reasons to forgo fad diets - Hornell Evening Tribune

Eric Gorder, For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 9:18 a.m. CT Jan. 24, 2020

Heart healthy foods include berries, avocado, whole grains and leafy greens.(Photo: Alicia Devine/Democrat)

As we burn through January at warp speed, we will soon embark on February, American Heart Month a month of focus on heart disease prevention.

While most everyone is still focused on their New Years resolutions, this is a great time to start thinking about and changing the foods you are putting into your bodies. Many articles will come out in February pertaining to what the top five, 10 or 15 foods are to strengthen and protect your heart. I thought it would be interesting and fun to take it a step further with those popular heart healthy foods and tell you why they are important for you.

Leafy greens are high in minerals, antioxidants and vitamins, especially vitamin K, which helps protect arteries.

Whole grains are high in fiber, which is strongly linked to reducing bad cholesterol (LDL), and helps reduce inflammation.

Berries are super high in antioxidants, reducing oxidative stress and inflammation which contribute to heart disease.

Avocados are a great source of monounsaturated fats, which also help lower bad LDL cholesterol. They are also super high in potassium aiding in cholesterol management.

Walnuts are another super food in that the high amount of monounsaturated fats help lower your bad LDL cholesterol.

Careful with this one! Dark chocolate is high in flavonoids, which help boost heart health, but only in small amounts and it needs to be 70% or higher in cocoa.

Tomatoes are another superfood in that they contain a powerful antioxidant called lycopene that promotes HDL, good, cholesterol.

Seeds are surprisingly high in fiber. They also have omega-3 fatty acids which help control blood pressure and cholesterol.

Like dark chocolate, edamame are high in flavonoids which help to control overall cholesterol levels.

Known for its ability to increase fat burning and improve insulin sensitivity, green tea is also very high in polyphenols and catechins, helping to prevent cell damage and reduce inflammation.

Notice, all of these foods are whole, unprocessed and available year-round. There is also a common theme of high fiber, omega 3 fatty acids and plenty of phytochemicals that help balance your LDL and HDL for a healthier total cholesterol. Most are very impactful in small amounts and combined with moderate exercise and a complete diet low in sugar will help protect your heart, control your weight and have you bragging all the way home from your most recent health checkup.

Do yourself a favor and incorporate these foods into your daily meal plans. Youll set a great example for your family and bulletproof yourself from the leading cause of death in the United States heart disease.

Eric Gorder is the senior healthy living director for Greater Green Bay YMCA and a certified corrective exercise specialist. Reach him at 920-436-9667 or eric.gorder@greenbayymca.org.

Read or Share this story: https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/life/2020/01/24/why-you-need-include-these-heart-healthy-foods-your-diet/4558148002/

Here is the original post:
Why you need to include these heart healthy foods in your diet - Green Bay Press Gazette

Endurance training while consuming a diet low in carbohydrates has garnered much interest lately. But is this the right approach for everyone and how does it impact protein requirements and performance?

Assistant Professor Jenna Gillen and Associate Professor Daniel Mooreof the University of Torontos Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) recently wrote anarticle for the Sports Medicine Bulletin of the American College of Sports Medicine in which they discussed the findings of their recentresearch study, published in the November 2019 issue of the journalMedicine & Science in Sports & Exercise,that investigated the relationship between training on alow-carb dietand the dietary protein requirements of endurance athletes.

KPE writer Jelena Damjanovic recently sat down with Gillen and Moore to find out more about their research and what it means for training regimens.

Jenna Gillen(left) and Daniel Moore(right) are both researchers in U of Ts Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (photos courtesy of KPE)

How would you define a low-carb/high-fat diet vs. a high-carb/low-fat diet?

Gillen: A high-carb/low-fat diet typically involves consuming 50 to 65 per cent or more of daily calorie intake as carbohydrates and 20 to 35 per cent as fat. Alternatively, a low-carb/high-fat diet consists of less than 25 per cent of your daily calorie needs from carbohydrates and greater than 60 per cent coming from fat. Protein intake isnt specifically increased or decreased with either approach, and is generally similar with both dietary strategies.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of following a low-carb/high-fat diet for endurance athletes? How does it influence performance?

Gillen: The rationale for athletes following a low-carb/high-fat diet is that it can increase our muscles ability to use fat as an energy source during exercise, which is a fuel source that we have an abundant supply of compared to our more limited reserves of carbohydrate. However, this adaptation comes at a cost as there is also a decrease in muscles ability to use carbohydrates during exercise. From a performance standpoint, this isnt optimal because carbohydrates are a more efficient energy source than fat they produce more energy per litre of oxygen consumed and we rely almost exclusively on carbohydrate to support high-intensity exercise. As a result, eating a low-carb/high-fat diet can actually compromise an athletes overall performance and ability to perform high-intensity exercise during a race or sporting event.

Are there other ways that carbohydrate availability can be manipulated to improve endurance performance?

Gillen: Instead of following a low-carb/high-fat diet, athletes may choose to perform some of their endurance training sessions under conditions of low-carbohydrate availability. With this approach, athletes still consume high amounts of carbohydrate daily, for example 50 to 65 per cent of energy needs, or six to 10 grams ofcarbohydrate per kilogram body weight, but perform select training sessions at times when liver and muscle carbohydrate stores (glycogen) are lower. Examples would be performing exercise following an overnight fast and/or in close proximity to an earlier high-intensity exercise session. This type of carbohydrate periodization throughout training has been shown to increase energy-producing mitochondria in muscle and improve endurance performance.

What are the current recommendations for daily carbs, fat and protein intake among endurance athletes?

Moore: Recommended carbohydrates vary depending on the volume of training an athlete is doing. However, if they want to make sure their training is high quality, which would be fueled by carbohydrates because they are a faster, more efficient energy source, then theyd likely be in the range of sixto 10 g/kg/d. We speculate that protein requirements scale with training volume, but if theyre running more than 50 kilometres per week, that requirement would be around 1.6 to 1.8 g/kg/d and perhaps more with higher volumes. However, provided they are meeting their energy requirements, most endurance athletes consume sufficient protein. Fat generally just makes up the balance of the energy unless athletes are specifically eating low-carbohydrate diets. This is not suggested if their goal is to train or compete as fast as they can, as fat cant provide energy as quickly as carbohydrates.

Does following a low-carb diet increase dietary protein requirements of endurance athletes? How much more?

Moore: Our research would suggest requirements may indeed be elevated, at least during the initial adaptation to a low-carb diet. This is because amino acids provide a greater percentage of energy when exercise is performed with low-carbohydrate availability, such as before a meal and with low muscle and liver glycogen (the bodys carbohydrate stores). However, as mentioned, this is not recommended if theirgoal is to train or compete at a high intensity or perform a personal best. As for how much more protein is required, research has not addressed this question yet. Our study did suggest that just periodizing carbohydrate intake so that exercise is performed with low liver or muscle glycogen may increase protein requirements by about 10 per cent with only a short 10-kilometre run.

Why is it important to make that adjustment in protein intake (if on a low carb diet) and how best to do it?

Moore: It is important to increase your protein intake if you are training with low-carbohydrate availability as the extra amino acids that are used as energy must be replaced through the diet. This can be accomplished by modestly increasing the protein content of your post-workout meal or including an extra protein-containing snack throughout the day.

View post:
Training on a low-carb diet boosts protein needs for endurance athletes: U of T researchers - News@UofT

Jessica Simpson is not holding back in her new memoir, Open Book. The 39-year-old singer just revealed that she took diet pills for 20 years after she was told to lose weight as a teenager, per People.

She says it all started after she auditioned for Tommy Mottola at Columbia Records on her 17th birthday. After belting Amazing Grace, the music executive offered her a contract, but under one condition: You gotta lose 15 pounds. Thats what it will take to be Jessica Simpson, he said.

Simpson, who weighed 118 pounds at the time, immediately went on an extremely strict diet and started taking diet pills, which she would take for the next 20 years. I started to hear voices when I was alone at night, waiting for the sleeping pill to kick in Do more sit-ups, fat ass.

The pressure only continued to grow as she became more successful in her career. We all see our flaws, and mine were just there for the world to rip apart. They werent even flaws! They were made into flaws that I didnt even know I had, Simpson told People. Its insane what can make a headline.

The mother of three also revealed in her memoir that she suffered from sexual abuse as a child, which she kept to herself for years. Simpson developed anxiety from the trauma and began to self-medicate with alcohol and stimulants. I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills, she wrote.

In 2017, she had a wake-up call and immediately became sober. The star hasnt had a sip of alcohol since. When I finally said I needed help, it was like I was that little girl that found her calling again in life, she told People. I found direction and that was to walk straight ahead with no fear.

Jessica Simpson Opens About Battle With Addiction

Today, she uses exercise as a way to cope with stress. When I work out, a lot of it is to release anxietythats one of my tools for sobriety, she told the outlet. Just going walking and talking with my husband.

I just thank God that times are changing and people are standing up for themselves and not making it about body image, she added. I hope I can be part of that change and that my daughters will grow up in a world where they can accept themselves at any size.

Like what you just read? Youll love our magazine! Go here to subscribe. Dont miss a thing by downloading Apple News here and following Prevention. Oh, and were on Instagram too.

See original here:
Jessica Simpson Took Diet Pills for 20 Years After Being Told to Lose Weight As a Teen - Prevention.com

Forty-three volunteers with high blood pressure completed the one-year trial. To measure the effects, the researchers gave their subjects questionnaires to gauge how well they identified and controlled their emotions as well as tests to assess their ability to pay attention to a task before the program began and again three months, six months and 12 months after it ended. The study also evaluated its subjects physical-activity level, diet, body mass index, perceived stress, alcohol consumption, medication adherence and blood pressure. Those who werent following official guidelines on heart health at the outset all showed improvements when it came to physical activity, diet and alcohol consumption; all participants reported lower stress. On average, a year later, the study participants had lowered their systolic blood pressure by six points and their diastolic pressure by an average of one point, a significant overall improvement.

But the study also illustrates the difficulties inherent in trying to judge the health effects of any psychological intervention. The scientific method, in comparison, is well suited to testing drugs like blood-pressure medications: One group of trial subjects gets the medication, another gets a placebo and neither the researchers nor the participants know who gets what until the clinical trial is over, eliminating the possibility that their expectations about the drugs effectiveness influence the results. In other words, the conditions for each group are exactly the same, except for the chemical makeup of the pill they are ingesting. In theory, then, any difference in health outcomes between the groups must be a result of that difference in chemicals.

It is impossible, though, for persons practicing mindfulness not to know whether or not they are doing it, so how do you create a placebo for a control group? Louckss study compared participants with themselves before and after the mindfulness training, but its impossible to be certain whether the training itself caused the observed changes. It could be that simply meeting in a group for two hours a week (or 10 minutes a week, for that matter) improves health. To find out, you would need to convene such a gathering for the same length of time as the mindfulness training group and then give them something to do, Loucks says. What is that content? taking a health class? and is it messing with our question? To put it another way, can you say what the precise difference is between the mindfulness training and that health class, which is the behavioral equivalent of the chemical difference between a drug and its placebo, that accounts for a difference in outcomes?

That difference, the aspect of mindfulness that impacts health, may become clearer as researchers develop increasingly specific mindfulness-training programs and test them on larger, more diverse groups of people. In Louckss study, as in many mindfulness studies, most of the participants who responded to advertisements seeking volunteers were white, college-educated and by definition interested in trying the practice, so its not clear if the results apply more widely. Loucks is currently running a randomized trial of his mindfulness-based blood-pressure program with 200 volunteers; those in the control group work with a physician to manage their blood pressure and receive a blood-pressure monitor to keep at home along with training on its use, which has been shown to improve how well patients manage their condition. (Not having all the answers yet doesnt mean we shouldnt act; health officials approve many drugs without knowing for whom they will work best, at what dose and why, or what their long-term effects might be, variables that even the most rigorous trials cant always determine.)

View original post here:
Can Mindfulness Evolve From Wellness Pursuit to Medical Treatment? - The New York Times