In the days before he led Armagh to an historic All-Ireland title, Kieran McGeeney was doing his media duty and all of 15 years ago, outlined his already circumscribed existence.

You just get into a pattern. Like, Im living in one of the best cities in Europe socially for the past four years and I honestly havent seen all that much of it. But I wouldnt swap it, really. You make your choices and Im happy with mine.

At the time he was working in the Irish Sports Council in Dublin, commuting relentlessly to training back in his home county with a dedication that struck a chord with his ISC colleague John Treacy, a man well drilled in the lonely protocols of distance running.

He just gives himself to it, he said to Keith Duggan in these pages, and is equally selfless in his work but his devotion to football is staggering.

Even in his much-publicised hobby, Brazilian ju-jitsu, which he has practised for several years in the Straight Blast Gym under the supervision of Conor McGregors trainer John Kavanagh, who described McGeeney as probably one of the most intense human beings Ive ever met, he registers the same impact.

Three years ago, when a selector with Armagh, he was asked to become involved with the Tipperary hurlers under Eamon OShea, as a performance coach. It didnt turn out to be a long-term association but Samus Callanan, short-listed for Hurler of the Year in each of the seasons since, spoke in 2015 about the influence.

He was a massive benefit to me and gave me great confidence and a great sense that I could work on my own visualisation and mentality towards whats going on. It was very, very helpful.

McGeeney returns to Croke Park on Saturday, probably the centre of attention because the team he manages, Armagh, face the county he used to manage, Kildare. He wont like any such fanfare and this season, having served a 12-week suspension uncharacteristic for someone who has a good disciplinary record going back to his playing days for verbally abusing a match official, McGeeney has been quiet, leaving interviews to his deputy Patrick McKeever.

There was always a contradiction about his dealings with the media. It was something that he always appeared to prefer avoiding but until now he rarely dodged the post-match rituals and when he spoke, he did so engagingly. Essentially though he is a private individual who sees football as primarily the business of those kicking the ball.

When he went to Kildare and there was a certain amount of adulation he would have been uneasy with that, says his predecessor as Armagh captain, Jarlath Burns.

I remember in a team talk, I said, lads out there, theres boys from all your clubs and all the townlands of Armagh. Boys from Armagh city, from Lurgan. Families from Portadown and Crossmaglen. Think of all those people. This is who were fighting for . . .

Afterwards when we were having a bite he sat down beside me and said, I thought your team talk was rubbish. The only people Im thinking about is the man right next to me, the man who if I drop the ball comes in and rescues it, or the man if someone hits me will fucking hit him. See the boy in Row Z with his popcorn and Diet Coke, Ive nothing in common with him.

You know, he was right. It is all about the man whos right beside you and running out beside you and wearing the orange jersey. Its not about the person in the stand; it never is.

Management looks as if it was his destiny given a playing career of dogged self-improvement, developing into leadership and captaincy but it wasnt always that straightforward.

He didnt really engage with anyone. I remember going on trips and he wouldnt have a drink with you. He didnt want to let anyone in on him, recalls Brian Canavan, who, as joint-manager with Brian McAlinden, appointed McGeeney.

He was young enough to become captain and had a few raw edges. The players really looked up to him. Sometimes I wondered, were they afraid of him because he really was driven but you have to be able to listen as well as lead. As the years went by he became more that type of person.

He needed to work on his game and he grew into that centre half back position just as he grew into being a captain. Its not just what you say but what you do that makes a captain, I think. That point he scored to put us ahead against Kerry two minutes into injury-time [2000 All-Ireland semi-final replay against Kerry] was the type of leadership we were looking for.

Just as he had to grow into both an outstanding player and a captain, he also became an exceptionally good international rules player despite misgivings that he lacked the essential mobility for the game. It was another triumph of self-improvement, according to Brian McEniff, who managed him at provincial level and in his time as coach of Irelands international rules team.

He was the most driven player I came across, says McEniff. I remember in 2001 when we were going to Australia he said he was going to America and I said, Kieran youll have no chance of making the squad if you go away. What you do is go off and learn how to kick with that left foot. By the time we got to Australia I can remember in the second Test he was pinging balls 40 yards with his left.

When Joe Kernan took over as Armagh manager for 2002, the meeting of minds with McGeeney was a keystone of the All-Ireland success, but relations cooled in later years when Kernan famously replaced his captain in the closing minutes of the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone. In his first year as Armagh manager, McGeeney caused controversy when allowing Kernans son Aaron to walk away from the county panel.

The episode with Aaron wouldnt have helped Kieran so early in his management, says Canavan. He was probably Armaghs best player when he was let go.

Another thing that hasnt helped is that his success with Kildare perhaps inflated expectations in his own county. That six-year term saw Kildare reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time and keep returning until his last championship making the last four in 2010 when they lost narrowly to Down.

It was also a tenure with plenty of controversy, not all of it by any means McGeeneys fault. There were refereeing decisions that individually were at least debatable and cumulatively constituted sufficient misfortune to interest Thomas Hardy; the resignation of a county chair, Pdraig Ashe, with whom the manager had clashed; and the attempt to acquire Cavan forward Sen Johnston, which ran like a situation comedy through the summer of 2012.

The final controversy came in 2013 when McGeeney walked away after failing to secure what he felt was adequate backing from the county board.

Despite this, one of his predecessors as Kildare manager, Pdraig Nolan, says that the period in question is very fondly remembered in the county.

There were five summers of getting to quarter-finals, which was unheard of, so McGeeneys years would be very fondly remembered and theyd be fairly close to being viewed in the same category as Mick ODwyers years, in the sense that there was excitement every summer. Leinster might have been a disappointment but we got through the qualifiers every year and there was the buzz of all that.

He believes that personality conflict was at the root of most of the problems, including the resignation of Pdraig Ashe and the rows about club access to county players.

That happened at the end but the funny thing is that the template Kildare are using now is the same as was in place under McGeeney. I think the end came because of personalities. He didnt make friends for the sake of making friends and that told in the end.

If the chairman resigns, its hard to blame the manager.

To sum it up, you couldnt but give him credit. He did a very good job with a very workmanlike team. How I compare it is that Johnny Doyle was the only player on that team who you would have said would get on the top teams, whereas with the present team you pick out three or four players who would be competing for a place on any of the top teams.

The consensus is that he has an even less imposing hand in Armagh and in his third year, the county are still in Division Three and again fell at the championships first hurdle but the qualifiers have produced three straight wins and a return to Croke Park for the first time in three years.

Saturdays outcome will determine perceptions as to whether progress is being made with the team but Jarlath Burns points out that Kieran McGeeney has always gained the approbation of any managers primary audience.

The first people you look in relation to that are the players. Ive never heard any player come even close to dissidence and when they were beaten by Down the feeling in the dressingroom was, we let Geezer down. Not everyone has the ability to get that level of loyalty.

He would keep his cards close to his chest. Not many really know him. Hes a very private person but with that, hes a very genuine fella and very generous too.

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Kieran McGeeney and the triumph of self-improvement - Irish Times

By Loretta LaRocheMore Content Now

My grandmother was a square, stout little woman. She wasn't obese, she wasn't even really fat. But she was soft. Every now and then she might have gotten on the scale and she'd say "Ahh! How'd those five pounds get there?" But that didn't change the way she felt about herself. She kept going, and she made her macaroni, and stuffed everything in sight including peas. Maybe she'd eat a little less to make up for those five pounds. But she felt good about who she was and her place in the world. Five extra pounds on the scale was not a life or death issue.

It's hard to believe, but her world was so different. Yes, that's a big DUH! She did not aspire to look like anyone else since movies, magazines and television were not yet a huge part of the culture. She and her immediate community of friends and family were not barraged with constant information that led them to believe something was wrong with them. They weren't assaulted with marketing techniques that made them feel deformed for having a little cellulite, or that they should check into therapy if they felt like having fried eggs for breakfast.

Now we are given the hardcore facts behind everything. We can find out what our body-fat ratio ought to be, we can discover what disorders we might be prone to, and we have gadgets that can inform us of every bodily function. Virtually every message sent to us by the media and by the marketing of almost every product for sale in America is that "you can improve yourself."

Many people, in their quest for self-improvement, have become so dreadfully serious and stressed out and dull that they're losing what's most important about life. Fun! Connection! Pleasure! Excitement! How many times have you heard people go on and on about what they ate today? The fat police: "I ate a slice of pizza at lunch, I just can't believe it!"

Why can't they believe it? Did they somehow suffer amnesia immediately after they swallowed their last bite? Then they have to tell you they're going to have to work out twice as hard to rid themselves of the pizza slice. PLEASE! Just stop! I often want to respond by saying " I ate everything in site and it made me so happy!"

We all have faults, neuroses, physical imperfections and psychological quirks. That's what makes you unique. If you want to change, try to consider that changing behaviors involves complex interactions between genes, chemistry and lifestyle. Self-improvement should not be a prison sentence, but one that builds toward a happier, healthy life. And please don't become overly serious about it. Do it with a sense of humor and above all try to make it fun.

- Author, humorist, PBS star and Fortune 500 trainer Loretta LaRoche lives in Plymouth. To share your pet peeves, questions or comments, write to The Humor Potential, 50 Court St., Plymouth, MA 02360. Visit her website at stressed.com.

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GET A LIFE: Quest for self-improvement shouldn't be stressful - Wicked Local Mattapoisett

By the time I finally fell asleep that night, I had completed the initial branches in the Dutch course tree. I could read useful phrases like Goedemorgen, hoe gaat het? (Good morning, how are you?) and useless ones like De neushoorn heeft een hoorn en een staart (The rhinoceros has a horn and a tail). The next day, I caught myself wading through the spiteful comments on a gossip blog and stopped to practice Dutch plurals instead.

The app eventually became a type of productive therapy, replacing other time-wasters in my life. Cant sleep? Lets learn more Dutch. In the mood to text an ex? Maybe I should start the Danish course instead. Fighting the urge to tweet that ill-thought-out opinion on current events? Youll feel so much better reviewing Dutch prepositions.

I liked how structured it was, that I could measure my progress in terms of winning points and completing levels and outdoing my friends. I am a frustratingly left-brained person: I take comfort in things that can be quantified. But more than that, though the points gave me a sort of rush similar to getting a stack of Instagram likes, it never felt like an empty thrill. I had finally committed to a self-improvement project, and every time I leveled up in a language, I felt I was one step closer to fluency. I became obsessed.

Six months later, I was at a street festival in Toronto. I walked by a booth where a woman was selling stroopwafels, and I overheard what I hadnt yet heard outside Duolingo: Dutch. I was only a few lessons away from finishing my course. I approached the booth, eager to try out what Id learned. Hoe gaat het? I said, suddenly aware of my heavy Canadian accent warping the words. She just stared straight back at me and said: Excuse me? I quickly shuffled away.

Learning a language to fluency requires discipline, frequent practice, ideally immersion much more than a simple language-learning game can offer. Thats fine, though. Fluency stopped being my goal a while ago, when I realized that trying to master several different foreign languages in the span of a few months would only be another stress-inducing, insurmountable project, exactly the sort of thing that led me to seek distractions in the first place. More than anything, though, Duolingo made me confident in my decision-making I had good taste in bad ways to spend my time.

Any online time-waster offers an escape from the world, often by preying on your worst instincts: envy, pettiness, poor impulse control. But Duolingo offered an escape that made me feel connected to the better parts of the world, and of myself. I may not have become a globe-trotting polyglot, but language learning did trigger a curiosity into other lives lived. My phone hadnt made me a better person, exactly, but at least it didnt make me worse.

It took me about two weeks to make it through the Swedish course earlier this year helped, of course, by never having to speak it out loud. To celebrate, I found a stream of The Devils Eye, the film by Ingmar Bergman. Five minutes in, I realized I couldnt understand a word they were saying. I turned on English subtitles and watched the rest of the movie, phone comfortably in hand.

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Letter of Recommendation: Duolingo - New York Times

A local company known for its banana soft serve is being recognized by PETA.

The animal rights group recently announced its top 10 picks for vegan ice cream sundaes in the U.S., and Banan scooped up a spot with its papaya bowls.

We love Banans papaya boat, said Marissa Price, PETA. Its dishware that you can eat and use to either help feed local pigs or generate compost for local gardens and farms, so you really cant get better than that.

The local chain uses only fruits and veggies to create its ice creams, and offers toppings such as puffed quinoa, granola, and coconut.

Its hard to believe that were recognized outside of Hawaii, and to be recognized by something national like PETA, we certainly feel incredibly grateful for it, said Banan co-owner Matt Hong. Its a pretty popular vegan recipe. None of us were vegan at the time, but we were so blown away by the simplicity of ingredients, and when we realized that we could use tons of Hawaii local produce, it was just a no-brainer of hey, we can go investigate agriculture back home and work together.

Banan has three locations on Oahu: a storefront on University Avenue, a beach shack on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki, and a food truck on Monsarrat Avenue near Diamond Head.

Click here for more information.

Rounding out PETAs list is the iconic Sublime Restaurant and Bar in Fort Lauderdale and Christophers Kitchen in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; Crossroads and KindKreme in Los Angeles; Sweet Ritual in Austin, Texas; Bostons Veggie Galaxy; Virtuous Pie in Portland, Oregon; Denvers SNOWLAB; and The Cookie Counter in Seattle.

Learn more about PETAs picks here.

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Local eatery considered one of PETA's top vegan sundae spots - KHON2

If Wes Anderson and Babe were to have a lovechild, it would probably look something likeOkja. The latest Netflix Original movie from South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho has softened audiences around the world with its stylish and endearing satire on environmentalism, the cattle industry, and companionship.

(via giphy)

The movie sees an alternate near-future in which a 'super-pig,' the eponymous Okja, is raised in blissful harmony in the mountains, forming a solid friendship with young girl Mija.

However, when the laboratories that birthed Okja shatter the mirror with the harsh and here farcical realities of GMOs and necessary food consumption, the movie sees its stakes rise and fairytale hit home.

Boasting Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal,Giancarlo Espositoand Paul Dano in brave and original roles,Okja has tapped into a niche by harnessing clean style and savoring its affluent pop culture framework to actually convey a stronger message on the ethical dilemma of the cattle industry.

Audiences around the world are raving about its fiction and taking its messages into their realities, many vowing to stop eating meat after witnessing the more graphic and potentially triggering slaughterhouse scenes.

Okja builds a near dystopian reality while honing in on very real and current issues with considerable impact.However, its post-credit sequence begs the question wouldn't it have been better off as a TV series?

As a productof fiction with a very real message, at times Okja feels like it could benefit with more breathing space. The movie has exciting and enigmatic characters as well as a clean and addictive style why not extend it to its full potential?

There is clearly room and potential for a sequel, but were it to be a TV series it would be able to tackle its various characters and themes in a clear, well-timed and caring manner in order to educate and entertain viewers regularly.

The recent success is somewhat reminiscent of the patron of environmentalist/pro-vegan films,Cowspiracy. The 2014 documentary shed light on the environmental impact of meat consumption and has been labeled as life-changing by many viewers and is still feared by meat lovers today.

However,Cowspiracy also faces a problem in its format.

The documentary takes viewers on an educational journey as the narrator learns about the environmental impact of meat consumption, beef in particular, with some eye-opening statistics and spliced graphic images of animal violence.

What begins as a well-measured and reasonable film prioritizing the environment becomes a more spiritually-focused and emotional imploration in its last 10 minutes, by shifting focus to the ethical benefits of switching to a fully plant-powered diet.

The problem then comes from the overload of information and all of its various sources, leading to a superficial education on every problem related to animal agriculture, without actually providing as much detail on all areas.

If the documentary had adopted an episodic format, the structure could have allowed a greater understanding of each area discussed. The inquisitive timelapsesof bustling cities could be replaced with a week-long break between each episode tackling a different area of the industry.

Both Okja andCowspiracy in their differing formats do offer a form of education on the dilemmas of GMO consumption and animal agriculture more broadly. The former uses farcical satire and well-crafted fiction to give viewers a ripe wake-up call, while the latter digs up a deeper controversy to shed light on hidden facts.

But if they were both to adopt and inspire a new generation of TV series tackling these issues, their impact could be tenfold.

In an era where viewers choose to watch 15 hours of TV in a row rather than one individual film on Netflix, environmentalist and educational art could see a much greater impact on the platform which thrives from binging.

The likes of Making A MurderandAmerican Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson garnered and maintained a fervent fanbase from their developed episodic depth. In order to further a contemporary audience's education while maintaining their interest, perhaps it may be time to adapt.

Veganism is growing and the impact of a plant-powered lifestyle is gaining more respect and momentum. While these documentaries have seen influence, there could always be more. What if the secret to convincing people to go vegan was to just make more TV?

(via tumblr)

Read More ->Here's Why A Pretty Face Won't Get You Very Far In Hollywood Anymore

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Netflix Has The Power Of Convincing People To Go Vegan, But Isn't Doing It Right - Konbini US

The future of food is plant-based!Thanks to growing consumer demand for cleaner,environmentally friendly, and animal-free sources of protein, we have seen an increase in the number of plant-based meat substitutes on the market and apparently, in 2016 there was a90 percentincrease in the amount of Google searches for the word vegan. According to some estimates, the plant-based meat market is set to reach$5.2 billion by 2020and could make upone-third of the market by 2050. And now we have more exciting news to share!

Soy milk based non-dairy cheese takes the lead with a predicted 54.3 percent of the market share by 2017. MRF also notes that Europe is the leader in the non-dairy cheese sector, with estimates that the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.9 percent, led by Germany, which is responsible for 25.78 percent of the market proportion of the industry. Whoa!

The non-dairy cheese market has been increasing due to globalization and changing consumption patterns, increasing awareness about lactose intolerance, and rising number of vegan consumers, the report states.

With concerns over allergens as well as antibiotic and hormone use, and animal welfare concerns not to mention the rising environmental concerns associated with dairy consumption, its no surprise that overone-third of consumersprefer dairy-free milks andU.S. milk consumption has declined. In tandem, a number of new vegan cheese products have recently hit the market, making the decision to choose a better choice for animals, the environment, and your own health very simple.

Looking for some delicious vegan cheese recipes? Look no further! If youre interested in learning more about trends in the plant-based food space, check out One Green Planets Future of Food.

Lead image source:Roasted Garlic and Fresh Herb Cream Cheez

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Vegan Cheese is Taking Over! Industry is Set to be Worth $3.5 Billion by 2023 - One Green Planet

Mildly repetitive adventure that adopts unique personality-based alignment scale.

Game:Star Story: The Horizon Escape

Developer: EvilCoGames

Publisher: EvilCoGames

Reviewed: PC

Im a sucker for anything to do with space, so EvilCoGames cartoonish adventure about a space archaeologist battling space shrimps sounded too weird to resist.Star Story: The Horizon Escapeisnt spectacularly engrossing by any stretch of the imagination, but does manage to find its rhythm after a sluggish beginning. Its purely mouse-based gameplay that mostly consists ofturn-based battles, slightly too linear exploration, and crafting resources into weapons, bandages and so on. The story itself is a bitclichyour spaceship crash landed on an unknown planet, forcing you (and your AI buddyV3R-DaNA) to survive seemingly insurmountable odds and escape in one piece. Fortunately, a refreshing twist exists within the combat department. Rather than using levelling up to propel progression like the typical RPG or MMO,Star Story: The Horizon Escapeuses a personality alignment scale that affects your characters resolve, insight or goodwill depending on how you handle situations, and that does help break the linearity. Its tied to higher level skill and weapon tiers, which are unlockable if you gather sufficient resources like iron, copper and irridium, so the game loop sits tightly in place.

Combat offers a nice repertoire of weapons includingbare fists, smoke, a Blaster UX-n7 Minor andcorrosion grenades, but tends to betooeasy in the beginning. Since HP regenerates after you nap in your spaceship (accessible after any battle/puzzle solving encounter) its hard to enter a fight wildly unprepared, but beyond that, the aliens I was facing felt consistently underpowered. I was glad to see the difficulty level ramp up with later battles, not just because it better emphasises the importance of crafting and gathering resources, but because ultimately this is what grindy RPGs rely on to keep them interesting increasingly powerful enemies that sometimes give you a run for your money. Visually, the aliens (called shrimps in the game) aregrotesque and awesome-looking, and thats true for the art direction as a whole. The backgrounds burst with colour and detail, and the music is smooth, atmospheric and creates a relaxing aura as you chew through those long passages of text.

There are many opportunities to solve puzzles, too, but like combat, theyre a bit on the easy side. Failing a puzzle three times can result in damage, which creates some tension and excitement initially. However, in my playthrough I encountered one particular puzzle repeated a couple of times with almost identical decoding methods, which made things feel predictable rather than enjoyable.Star Story: The Horizon Escapeis mostly glitch-free, barringan isolated issue usually youre meant to be able to click on items in the environment to unearth hidden resources, but in my first run, clicking on them didnt reveal anything; this problem didnt manifest again but does require you to restart the game, which is no problem since the loading times are lightning-fast.

Despite its more redeeming qualities, Star Story: The Horizon Escape feels too easy. Its a fun game to relax with, especially if you want something thats sci-fi themed and has interesting, often funny dialogue, but it needs greater diversity in puzzle design and more engaging combat to capture player interest over a longer period of time.

Interested players can get stuck intoStar Story: The Horizon Escapetoday for $9.99 USD (PC, Mac).

A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

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Star Story: The Horizon Escape ImpressionsDecent Spacefaring - Gameranx (blog)

Amazons acquisition of Whole Foods, the grocer that brought pricey organic food to the masses, comes during a time of turmoil in the organic industry: The Department of Agriculture is continuing to investigate the importation of millions of pounds of phony organic grains. The move is in response to a lengthy Washington Post expos published in May that tracked shipments of corn and soybeans from Turkey, Romania, and Ukraine that were labeled organic but were not (I wrote about it here).

The Post reported that the fraudulent imports were large enough to constitute a meaningful proportion of the U.S. supply of those commodities, a troubling development that should raise serious questions about the veracity of the organic label, since these grains are mostly being used as livestock feed to meet National Organic Programs (NOP) standards. Organic meat and dairy products must be sourced from animals fed only organic grains; this has led to an enormous surge in imports over the past few years, since nearly all the corn and soybeans grown here are from genetically modified seeds, verboten in organic production. Organic soybean imports have jumped sixfold from 2011, and organic corn imports have quadrupled since 2013; Turkey is now the largest exporter of both crops to the U.S.

A USDA spokeswoman confirmed to me that an investigation is ongoing and said the agency has already revoked the license of one Turkish handler. (Organic verification is done by an outside party, not by the USDA directly; 82 certifiers oversee 31,000 organic farms and businesses in 111 countries and the U.S.) The spokeswoman also said the agency is currently investigating other evidence related to shipments of soybeans and corn. These investigations will continue in the coming weeks, and NOP will issue additional notices and notifications if there is clear evidence of violations. The USDA cannot suspend imports from these countries as the investigation proceeds, but it has notified importers about the fraudulent grains.

But this problem extends far beyond a few shady international grain dealers. Organic companies have used these non-organic grains in their products and either knowingly or unwittingly sold those goods as certified organic. The Organic Foods Production Act does not authorize recalls of organic products, but the USDA can revoke a companys organic certification and levy a fine of up to $11,000 per violation. It will be interesting to see if the USDA penalizes any domestic producers for knowingly using phony grains.

While the Post exposed only three shipments of fake grains, its safe to assume this has been going on for some time, with perhaps a wink and a nod from folks throughout the organic supply chain. No one questioned how Turkey suddenly became our leading supplier of organic corn and soybeans when those imports were nonexistent just a few years ago? This is more than someone just being asleep at the switch; this is selective ignorance on a large scale.

All of this finally prompted the nations largest organic lobbying group, the Organic Trade Association (OTA), to take action. Last month, the group formed a Global Organic Supply Chain Integrity Task Force to develop a best practices guide to use in managing and verifying global organic supply chain integrity to help brands and traders manage and mitigate the risk and occurrence of organic fraud. This might be long overdue, since organic-goods imports are skyrocketing. According to OTA estimates, organic-corn imports more than quadrupled between 2013 and 2016, while organic-soybean imports more than doubled.

OTA spokeswoman Maggie McNeil told me that the groups top priority is to protect the integrity of organic. We support strong and robust oversight and enforcement of organic certification practices and standards both inside and outside of the U.S. The group will ask for more money in the 2018 farm bill, including a 10 percent annual increase in the NOPs budget and $5 million to upgrade technology systems for international trade-tracking systems and data collection.

But until the USDA concludes its investigation and all responsible parties are held accountable for this massive fraud in our food supply, no additional tax money should go to fund the NOP. Indeed, Congress should reconsider whether the NOP, which is designed as a marketing program, should be under the federal governments purview at all. Meghan Cline, a spokeswoman for the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, told me that the committee will be taking a close look at the NOP as part of the upcoming Farm Bill reauthorization process.

In the meantime, consumers of the $47 billion organic market who pay a premium for organic food should take a hard look at what theyre paying for. Folks buy organic because visions of a local farmer growing crops and feeding them carefully to his animals dance in their heads. Now that we know this is patently false, and that most of the organic foodstuff in our supply is shipped here from other countries, maybe its time to reconsider paying double for that quart of organic milk. Especially since its likely the cow is being fed phony grains from Turkey.

READ MORE: When Organic Food Isnt How College Students Are Being Misled About Sustainable Agriculture Is $13.7 Billon a Good Price for Whole Foods?

Julie Kelly is a writer from Orland Park, Ill.

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The Organic Industry Is in Turmoil - National Review

AURORA, Colo. Grocery shopping can be a big pain, especially when you don't have the time in the day to get it done. More companies in Colorado are working to make your life easier through produce delivery services.

Denver7 connected with a few local produce delivery companies. With "Door to Door Organics"you choose your produce box and then its delivered right to your doorstep. "Colorado Fresh Produce boxes up fruits and veggies and delivers them to locations for discounted group rates. Another option is "5280 Produce", offeringsmall and large produce boxes available for pickup.

For customers like Kristen Strait in Aurora, the produce delivery option is important for her schedule.

"I work two jobs and basically getting to the store or other farmers markets can get difficult," said Strait. It's time-consuming, costs money and costs gas."

Strait orders two boxes a week from ColoradoFresh Produce. Pricing for the boxes starts at $30,but she says its worth it.

That right there cuts out all of your time of walking through the store, figuring out what you want," said Strait.

At Door to Door Organics, for a family of three or more, youre looking at around $30 to $40 a week depending on the box size and your location. With Door to Door you can customize your box straight from your phone or computer.

Youre not paying for all of the different markups that are going to come with stores, youre getting it straight from the farmers market; straight from your farmers out here and youre supporting something thats here in Colorado," said Strait.

Founder of UGrocery app Eva Fry shared that the organic foods market sits at $50 billion right now with a 15 percent growth rate expected through 2021. Fry sourced her information from the Organic Trade Association.

Businesses like these could see an increase in demand with the rise in interest for organic food.

Link:

Produce delivery companies aiming to save you time and money - The Denver Channel

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A new research project is encouraging people with dementia to take up tai chi.

The project, called The TACIT Trial: Tai ChI for people with demenTia, aims to test whether tai chi is of benefit to people with dementia, and of benefit for their carers.

Dr Samuel Nyman, a NIHR Career Development Fellow at Bournemouth University, is leading the study. He said, For those taking part in the TACIT Trial, they will be helping with an exciting research area; this is the first trial of Tai Chi with people with dementia in the UK. It is also the first trial in the world to include assessments to see how Tai Chi might help with people with dementias balance and help prevent them from falling.

The trial is now recruiting, looking for people with dementia and their carers to sign up to further research, and to reap the health benefits that tai chi can provide.

Dr Nyman continues, Tai Chi is something a few years ago people may not have heard anything about. Tai Chi is particularly suited for people with dementia given it is highly accessible anyone can do it! Because it is very slow, gentle, and repetitive, people of all shapes and sizes and different abilities can do it. Even just by doing the very easy warm-up moves you can benefit from it.

From a pilot study we did in 2016, participants were telling us they felt stronger and more confident to go out of the house on their own or to do gardening, feeling better from having done exercise, and a sense of achievement of having learnt something new.

The aim is for researchers to better understand the benefits that tai chi can bring. Participants will be asked to undertake a 20 week tai chi exercise programme under the watch of Bournemouth Universitys research team, while others, part of a control group, will be asked to continue with their normal NHS treatment. Participants will then be compared to see if tai chi can have positive effects for people with dementia.

Dr Nyman concludes, It is a very slow, gentle, calming form of exercise. By slowing down moving slowly and taking slightly longer breaths it is very relaxing and a real de-stressor. It also helps build up strength and coordination that we lose over the years. The course is very easy to follow with lots of repetition. In fact thats why we called it TACIT; were building on peoples tacit memory things you learn by repetition and then do automatically and people with dementia tend to retain this ability very well despite difficulties with other types of memory.

Classes will be held across the south from Dorset and Southampton to Eastleigh and Portsmouth.

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tai-chi

Link:
Tai Chi for people with dementia - European Pharmaceutical Review