Robinhood Markets Inc. accidentally sold short on a small stock as it went on a meme-like ride in December, costing the trading app more than the stock’s current market capitalization, executives disclosed Wednesday.
In an earnings call, Robinhood Chief Executive Vlad Tenev noted a “processing error on a corporate action” that was “really disappointing,” leaving Chief Financial Officer Jason Warnick to spell it out.
“A processing error caused us to sell shares short into the market, and although it was detected quickly, it resulted in a loss of $57 million as we bought back these shares against a rising stock price,” Warnick said.
When Cosmos Health effected a 1-for-25 reverse stock split that Friday morning in December, just hours after announcing its intentions, trading portals did not appear prepared. As MarketWatch reported on the day, TD Ameritrade publicly told Twitter users that the company had not received the newly issued shares to dole out to their clients as the stock spiked. A Charles Schwab Corp. SCHW, -0.71%
spokesperson emailed MarketWatch the next week to say that the distributions were all taken care of as of the end of the next business day, a Monday.
The stock gains didn’t last through that Monday, though — after reaching as high as $23.84 on the day that Robinhood was apparently buying, they lost it all in after-hours trading and headed even lower after Cosmos Health announced an equity offering.
Shares closed Wednesday at $5.04, which gives Cosmos Health a market cap of about $53 million, according to FactSet — less than Robinhood executives said they lost on the Dec. 16 trades.
Trader Joe’s asked its customers a simple question: If you were to spend the rest of your life on a deserted island, which nine Trader Joe’s products would you take with you?
More than 18,000 customers responded to its 14th annual survey ranking the grocery store’s most popular items in nine different categories.
There were some caveats this year: Gone from the running were five products that have won many times in the past (think Mandarin Orange Chicken and dark chocolate peanut butter cups), and instead are featured in its Product Hall of Fame.
The first Trader Joe’s opened in Pasadena, California, in 1967. Its founder Joe Coulombe (yes, Joe was a real guy), was a convenience store owner who wanted to open a grocery chain to appeal to a niche market of well-educated, well-traveled consumers. The idea led him to create a cult-favorite grocery empire.
Here are the products customers voted their favorites, in categories from cheese to entrees.
Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Tortilla Chips, spicy corn chips, swept the competition this year, taking home the top prize. Runners-up included the hash browns, chicken soup dumplings, Everything but the Bagel sesame seasoning blend, and chocolate croissants.
The chips also won in the poll’s favorite snack category. Customers were also fans of the Organic Elote Corn Chip Dippers, Organic Corn Chip Dippers, World’s Puffiest White Cheddar Corn Puffs and Crunchy Curls, which were all among the top vote-getters.
The Sparkling Honeycrisp Apple Juice was the fans’ favorite beverage, though it is seasonal. The canned drink is a simple three-ingredient blend of apple juice, water and bubbles.
Following is the Triple Ginger Brew, Sparkling Peach Black Tea with peach juice, Sparkling Cranberry & Ginger Beverage and the Non-Dairy Brown Sugar Oat Creamer.
Now that Hall of Famer Unexpected Cheddar is no longer an option in the poll, the store’s cheddar cheese with caramelized onions took home top accolades.
Runners-up included Syrah Soaked Toscano, seasonal Baked Lemon Ricotta, Blueberry & Vanilla Chèvre and its various bries.
Replacing the longtime Mandarin Orange Chicken is Trader Joe’s Butter Chicken – spiced chicken in a tomato and cream sauce with basmati rice.
Indian is popular with Trader Joe’s customers. Second runner-up was Chicken Tikka Masala, followed by Kung Pao Chicken, Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese and BBQ Teriyaki Chicken.
Seasonal candles won out in this category. Its seasonal scents include Peony Blossom, Cedar Balsam, Honeycrisp Apple and Vanilla Pumpkin.
Runners-up: Daily Facial Sunscreen, Ultra-Moisturizing Hand Cream, Tea Tree Tingle Shampoo & Conditioner, and Shea Butter & Coconut Oil Hair Mask.
Unsurprisingly, customers voted bananas as their top choice. The chain is known for its 25-cent organic bananas and 19-cent regular bananas. Following choices were Teeny Tiny Avocados, Honeycrisp Apples, Brussels Sprouts and Organic Carrots of Many Colors.
The tiny and crunchy Hold the Cone! Mini Ice Cream Cones won top dessert, followed by Danish Kringle, Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches, Chocolate Lava Cakes and Brookie.
Among its many vegan and vegetarian options, the Vegan Kale, Cashew & Basil Pesto came out on top. Vegetable Fried Rice, Beefless Bulgogi, Palak Paneer, Cauliflower Gnocchi followed.
Editor’s Note: Seek advice from a health care provider if you have chronic sleep loss and also prior to starting a workout program.
CNN
—
It’s the end of another long day at the office after a poor night’s sleep. As usual, you’re exhausted, yet you want to stop at the gym on the way home to get the exercise you need to stay healthy.
Should you work out when you are suffering from chronic sleep loss?
This conundrum is a widespread problem, considering 1 in 3 Americans are sleep deprived, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It is definitely a bidirectional relationship, not one or the other,” said Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
“First, there is clear data to show that regular exercise improves sleep quality — moderate exercise in the morning, afternoon or very early evening can improve deep sleep,” Zee said.
Deep sleep is the healing stage in which your body repairs and restores itself. Also called “slow wave” sleep, it can only be achieved if your sleep quality is good, with few to no nighttime interruptions.
“Research also shows that if you sleep better, you’re more likely to be able to engage in exercise and your physical activity levels are going to be higher,” Zee said.
“So I would say that even if you have had a bad night’s sleep, you should maintain your physical activity.”
To be healthy, the body needs to move through four stages of sleep several times each night. During the first and second stages, the body starts to decrease its rhythms. Doing so prepares us for the third stage — a deep, slow-wave sleep where the body is literally restoring itself on a cellular level, fixing damage from the day’s wear and tear and consolidating memories into long-term storage.
Rapid eye movement sleep, called REM, is the final stage in which we dream. Studies have shown that missing REM sleep may lead to memory deficit and poor cognitive outcomes as well as heart and other chronic diseases and an early death.
On the flip side, years of research has found sleep, especially the deepest, most healing kind, boosts immune functioning.
Since each sleep cycle is roughly 90 minutes long, most adults need seven to eight hours of relatively uninterrupted slumber to achieve restorative sleep and be healthy, according to the CDC. Sleep debt, along with irregular sleep duration, has been linked to an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, dementia and mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.
One night of poor sleepshouldn’t have to impact your workout routine, but chronic sleep deprivation leading to multiple days of exhaustion is another matter, experts say.
It may not be wise to hit the gym or play a sport when you’re barely putting one foot in front of the other, said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.
“Without sleep, your muscles can’t recover from the stress you put them through during workouts. It doesn’t do you much good to keep breaking down your muscles without giving them time to recover and grow stronger,” Dasgupta said.
In addition, you’re more likely to suffer an injury when you’re exhausted, he explained, due to slowed reaction times from your tired brain working to make decisions during the workout or sport.
“Poor sleep can also affect your motivation to exercise in the first place. You might find yourself dreading your normal workouts and hating every minute in the gym, which is not good for long-term adherence to a fitness plan,” Dasgupta said.
In addition, sleep deprivation can lead you to make poor food choices, which affect your fitness and physical performance, he said.
So it’s not a good idea to work out while extremely tired, but you will also sleep better and get more out of exercise if you do. What’s the answer?
Use common sense, Zee said. “If you’re not sleeping well, don’t go for that intense workout, right? Walk or do yoga instead, but certainly maintain an exercise or physical activity regimen at the regular time of the day that you normally would be doing it.”
If you’re pressed for time, consider fitting in several short bouts of exercise throughout your day.
“Everything counts,” Dasgupta said. “Do anything that makes you feel happy and refreshed. This is about hitting the reset button for yourself, not doing some form of exercise because you feel obligated to.”
You’ve come to the right place, because this is what we do!
This guide covers the exact weight gain strategies I’ve used to go from my “before” (on the left above) to reach my “after” (on the right above). Believe it or not, that “before” photo is me after a DECADE of strength training and trying to get bigger.
It’s the stuff in this guide that finally allowed me to actually get results (the after).
It’s also exactly how we help our online coaching clients: nutritional guidance and workout plans that line up with their goals.
Oh, and if you sign up in any of the yellow email boxes throughout, you can download our “Gain Weight and Build Muscle” Shopping List and Cheat Sheet to hang on your fridge!
Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!
Enter your email below to download now
The Nerd Fitness “Get Bigger” Shopping List
Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger
Let’s start putting on weight right NOW.
These are the 12 lessons I wish I knew when I started trying to get bigger (click to jump right to that lesson):
“If you’re not gaining weight, you’re not eating enough food.”
It’s science and thermodynamics.
Allow me to explain: depending on your current size and level of activity, your body burns 1200-2500+ calories every day just doing all of its daily processes:
Breathing.
Keeping your heart beating.
Powering your liver, kidneys, and brain.
Powering your movement.
Rebuilding muscle.
And dozens of other things. We burn a lot of calories just keeping the lights turned on.
Here’s the problem: because your body efficiently uses up all of the calories you consume every day, there are no calories left over to build muscle (or get stored as fat).
Note: we have used The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to create this calculator![1]
Hooray! You now know estimates of your Basal Metabolic Rate (calories you burn existing) and TDEE (calories you burn while moving throughout the day)![2]
So, in order to get bigger, you need to eat ABOVE this TDEE number consistently.
Although there is SOME variation regarding metabolism variability, it’s insignificant when compared to the effect of the more important part of the equation:
We overestimate how many calories we’re eating each day, we don’t account for the calories we burn through movement or exercise, and there aren’t enough calories left over to create a “caloric surplus.”
And without that surplus, we’ll never gain weight or get bigger.
MY STORY: I had been training in a gym for 6 years without gaining size.
It comes down to your personal preference. You might struggle to eat 3000 calories in 3 meals, so having 6 500-calorie meals throughout the day might make you feel less bloated and full.
Your results may vary!
See the next section for tips and tricks on WHAT foods you should eat to gain weight.
If you want somebody to help keep you accountable and help you actually bulk up safely and quickly, we have a pretty great online coaching program that has helped people reach their weight gain goals safely and quickly.
If you want to build muscle, target whole foods that come from high-quality, high-calorie sources whenever possible.
Sure, you could obtain 3500 calories eating Taco Bell, Twinkies, candy, and Mountain Dew. However, this isn’t a good long-term solution to gaining weight and building a good physique (goodbye health).
Trust me, I know. I put on 18 pounds in 30 days by eating meatball subs from Subway, drinking whole milk, eating McDonald’s, and drinking weight gainer shakes.
I certainly wasn’t healthy, and today I’m much more intelligent and knowledgeable about how to bulk up safely.
Consume at least 1-1.5g per pound (2.2-3.3g per kg) of body weight in protein daily.
Consume .25-.4g per pound (.5-.8g per kg) of body weight in fat daily.
Consume the rest of your calorie goals from healthy carbs.
Eat vegetables so that your body can process all the extra food.
If you are not gaining weight, add more carbs and/or fats to your meal.
We’re going to start building a Balanced Plate, like so:
The most important macro we’re going to focus on is protein.[6]. Studies show you’re more likely to put on the right kind of weight with a high-protein diet compared to a low-protein diet.
So that’s where we’ll start.
FOOD PRIORITY #1: PROTEIN
Protein can come from any number of sources, including:
As you can see, you can eat an extra 500 calories of “healthy fats” by eating lots of “heart-healthy” fats like nuts or adding more olive oil to your meals.
PRIORITY #4: VEGETABLES!
Last but not least, you need vegetables in your diet.
If you start to eat a lot more food, your “indoor plumbing” is going to really benefit from eating some high-fiber veggies with each meal:
A serving of veggies is about the size of your fist:
Here’s a quick, non-complete list of veggies that you can choose:
Broccoli
Broccolini
Cauliflower
Spinach
Kale
Spaghetti squash
Brussels sprouts
Zucchini
Cucumber
Carrots
Onion
Asparagus
“BUT STEVE, I REALLY STRUGGLE TO EAT ENOUGH CALORIES FROM WHOLE FOODS EVERY DAY!“
I do as well. It’s why I consume a good portion of liquid calories every day too.
It’s a surefire way to make sure you hit your calorie goals.
As I lay out in our massive Protein Shake Guide, creating high-calorie protein shakes to eat between meals can be the game changer:
Also, download our Skinny Guy Guide which has both lessons and a shopping list you can use to prioritize eating the right high calorie, high-quality foods!
Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!
Enter your email below to download now
The Nerd Fitness “Get Bigger” Shopping List
Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger
If you’re of healthy weight, active, and wish to build muscle, aim for 1 g/lb (2.2 g/kg).
If you’re going to be strength training while getting bigger, intakes up to 1.50 g/lb (3.3 g/kg) may help you minimize fat gain.[13]
Let me simplify it for you:target at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (2.2 grams per kg).
Provided you’re a healthy individual with a healthy liver, you don’t need to worry about eating too much protein[14] – you should be more concerned with eating too little protein.
Long story short: studies suggest you will not put on the right kind of weight without consuming enough protein!
Okay, so let’s talk portions. Here’s how much protein is in a palm-sized serving of food:
4 oz (113 g) of chicken has around 30 g of protein.
4 oz (113 g) of salmon has 23 g of protein
4 oz (113 g) of steak has 28 g of protein.
EXAMPLE TIME!
Let’s say you weigh 150 pounds (68 kg).
That would mean a day of eating could be:
1 serving of protein with breakfast: protein shake (30g).
2 servings of protein with lunch: 2 chicken breasts (60g).
2 servings of protein with dinner: 2 portions of steak (56g).
Creating a high-calorie protein shake with foods like frozen fruit, oats, milk, and a scoop of protein can be huge.
It’s how I hit my goals every day!
MY STORY: I am currently bulking up, and according to my online coach, I need to eat 3200 calories with 240g of protein on workout days (I weigh 172 pounds).
Target 2 portions of carbs, and 2 portions of fat in your meals.
Remember, our portions look like so:
If you’re not gaining weight, increase those numbers even more.
This is all about math! Not getting bigger = need MOAR food.
What about other foods like pizza, pasta, candy soda? Sure, you can get away with consuming less healthy things ON OCCASION (pizza, subs, etc.) but avoid fueling yourself with ONLY junk food.
If you’re not sure specifically what you should be eating for protein, carbs, and fats, download our “Get Bigger” Shopping List by putting your email in the box below:
Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!
Enter your email below to download now
The Nerd Fitness “Get Bigger” Shopping List
Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger
My advice: Rather than chasing massive weight gain over a month, you’d be much better off gaining .5-1.5 lbs. (.25-.75 kg) a week, every week, for six months…and keeping the weight on!
So, how do you know if your efforts are working? Simple.
If the scale is moving UP, keep doing what you’re doing.
If the scale is NOT moving: EAT MORE.
If you’re ever unsure if you’ve eaten enough that day, eat more.
Once you start to get a good feel for how many calories you eat each day, try to eat the same meals to keep it easy.
Still convinced you can’t gain weight even after tracking things? Let us help. I too was convinced that it was my “fast metabolism,” until I learned from my personal trainer that I simply wasn’t eating enough.
As we lay out in our “Beginner Strength Workouts” guide, these are the BEST exercises you can do to gain weight:
Get as strong as possible with these exercises while eating enough calories and protein, and you will gain the right kind of weight! It’s how I bulked up correctly:)
Here are some resources to help make heads or tails of the above:
Important point: don’t worry about isolation exercises like triceps extensions, shoulder shrugs, bicep curls, or crunches.
You can certainly do them, but only AFTER you’ve done your heavy lifts for the day!
All of the compound exercises listed here use every muscle in your body, and when you overload your body with calories and protein, those muscles will grow.
Want more workouts to follow? Read through our Strength Training 101 series that will answer all your questions!
Terrified to even step foot into a gym? We understand! Check out our Beginner’s Guide to the Gym article for some basic strategies and workouts.
Want somebody to tell you EXACTLY how to exercise and how to eat? Check out our 1-on-1 Coaching Program.
So how do you progressively overload your muscles?
Lift more weight than last time.
Do more sets or reps than last time.
Wait less time between sets than last time.
Do a more difficult movement or variation.
If you did 3 sets of 5 reps of squats at 95 pounds last week, go for 3 sets of 5 reps at 100 pounds this week!
Did knee push-ups last month?
Great, try to do regular push-ups this month.
Coach Jim breaks down the ins and outs of progressive overload for you in this video:
The trick with progressive overload is to continuously increase the challenge, and the best way to do that is by tracking your workouts!
Write down how you train, so that way you know exactly how to get stronger next time. I use Evernote on my phone, but you can use an old school notebook or whatever floats your boat.
Write down exactly:
And then next time?
Pick up more.
In addition to the protein shakes mentioned back in Rule #3, consider a creatine supplement – it allows your muscles to store more water – which will both help you potentially lift heavier and improve your performance in the gym!
If you don’t want to build your own workout routine, or you’re not sure how and when to scale up your workouts for the best results, let us build a routine for you!
Our coaches will build a workout program for your goals, and every day you can check your coaching app and know exactly what to do:
Muscles are made in the kitchen and while sleeping, NOT in the gym.
When you train, you are essentially ripping apart and breaking down your muscles.
Then, during the next 48 hours, as you are eating a caloric surplus and recovering, your muscles get rebuilt bigger and stronger.
For this reason, never exercise the same muscle before it’s ready.
In other words, try not to exercise the same muscle on two consecutive days.
Here are the best common practices for weight gain: Do a gym workout 3-4 days a week with a day off in between each (while consuming plenty of calories). This is plenty of training to promote muscle growth and weight gain.
Long story short: pick up a heavy weight in the gym 3-4 days a week for an hour.
“Inadequate sleep impairs maximal muscle strength in compound movements when performed without specific interventions designed to increase motivation.”
Think of it this way:
Building muscle is hard work, your body can use all the help (and calories) it can get. Your body is doing nothing but lying there and building muscle while you’re sleeping. [19]
If you are only getting 6 hours or less, you’re not going to get all the benefits of your exercising and diet, and not giving yourself the best chance to gain weight and grow bigger.
We often spend quite a bit of time with our coaching clients working with them on their sleep and environmental habits! From turning off the TV an hour earlier to even becoming a morning person, we build fun missions and challenges for our clients around stuff like this to get results.
Depending on how you currently feel about running, this next sentence will either make you happy or miserable:
“Running might work against your efforts to gain weight and build muscle.”
When you run, your body uses up calories to fuel your runs. This leaves fewer calories left over to build muscle.
Now, nobody will refute the benefits of improved cardiovascular health, nor would I EVER tell you to not do an exercise that you find fun.
In addition, a 2016 study[20] showed that doing endurance training AND strength training actually created larger muscle hypertrophy in untrained subjects than just resistance training alone.
What this means:
If you’re somebody that runs and enjoys it, great!
If you’re trying to get bigger, here’s what I would recommend:
Find a way to increase your food intake, and still know that you might be building muscle slightly slower than if you ONLY did strength training.
Cut back on running until you reach your goal weight/size, and then introduce it back into your routine.
Is your SOLE focus on getting bigger? Do 3 things:
Eat (a lot).
Lift (heavier).
Sleep (a lot).
Interested in giving your heart a workout without steady cardio?:
Want to incorporate cardio the RIGHT way into your life, along with strength training, to start gaining weight?
Our coaching program builds custom programs to help people just like you reach your goals.
With all of this eating, you will probably put on some fat along with your muscle.
That’s okay!
You might even be skinny enough that a bit of extra “cushion” on you is a good thing!
If you are trying to put on MOSTLY muscle and minimal fat gain:
Target at least 1.5g of protein per pound of body weight (3.3g per kg).
Eat a caloric surplus that is 250cal over your current TDEE.
And then fine-tune it from there:
You’re trying to thread the needle of “only build muscle, don’t add fat” which is fairly advanced and challenging.
As this 2017 study points out[21], “Protein overfeeding or the consumption of a high protein diet may not result in a gain in body weight or fat mass despite consuming calories that exceed one’s normal or habitual intake.”
This is incredibly challenging, and you do run the risk of not eating enough to build muscle. In addition, you might build less muscle than had you consumed a larger surplus of calories.
Now, what if you’re “skinny fat?”
What if you have a gut/belly, and thin arms?
IF YOU ARE “SKINNY FAT”:
Then, once you get to a low enough body fat percentage that you can see some abdominal muscle definition, you can get back to bulking up.
It’s important to build a system that sets you up for weight gain success.
It comes down to two things:
Don’t miss workouts.
Don’t miss meals.
So do whatever you need to do to make those things happen!
Here’s my final piece of advice: If you want permanent success, stop thinking in terms of “How fast can I gain weight?” and instead think:
“What can I do today that feels sustainable enough that I can stick with it for a year?”
This is how I get results, and how you can use the tools and tips in this article to get results too. Build small habits that become permanent parts of your life, and the results you’ll get will be permanent too.
Now, if you’re somebody that wants even MORE guidance, and specific instructions to follow, I got you:
1) Our 1-on-1 online coaching program, work with a member of Team Nerd Fitness that gets to know you and your situation. We’ll provide expert guidance and accountability, a custom workout, and regular ongoing support:
2) Exercising at home and need a plan to follow? Check out Nerd Fitness Journey!
Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
3) Sign up for our free email list, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion! Join a few hundred thousand rebels just like you and I’ll send you a bunch of free guides too. I’m nice like that.
Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!
Enter your email below to download now
The Nerd Fitness “Get Bigger” Shopping List
Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger
To recap our full article, here are the “12 Rules To Gain Weight Quickly”:
Jan. 13, 2023 – A new study that shows the harm to the liver of eating fast food might provide people with motivation to eat less of it in the new year.
The study found that eating at least 20% of total daily calories from fast food can increase the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a potentially life-threatening condition where fat builds up in the liver. The disease can lead to cirrhosis and its complications, including liver failure and liver cancer.
People with obesity or diabetes are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of fast food on the liver, although the general population is not immune to the harm.
“My hope is that this study encourages people to seek out more nutritious, healthy food options,” says lead investigator Ani Kardashian, MD, with Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California.
“At a policy level, public health efforts are needed to improve access to affordable, healthy, and nutritious food options across the U.S. This is especially important as more people have turned to fast foods during the pandemic and as the price of food as risen dramatically over the past year due to food inflation,” she says.
The researchers analyzed data on diet and fatty liver measurements for nearly 4,000 adults.
Nearly 30% of them got 20% or more of their total daily calories from fast food, such as burgers, fries, pizza, and the like.
They found that people with obesity or diabetes who take in one-fifth or more of their daily calories from fast food had severely high levels of fat in their liver, compared with those who eat less or no fast food.
The general population had moderate increases in liver fat when one-fifth or more of their diet was made up of fast food.
The findings are particularly “alarming” given the increase in fast-food consumption over the past 50 years, regardless of socioeconomic status, Kardashian says.
“If people eat one meal a day at a fast-food restaurant, they may think they aren’t doing harm. However, if that one meal equals at least one-fifth of their daily calories, they are putting their livers at risk,” she says.
For people who have limited options and need to eat fast food, “there are healthy choices at most restaurants; you just need to be smart about reading labels, watching calories, and ordering the healthier options,” says Nancy Reau, MD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who wasn’t involved in the study.
Lisa Ganjhu, DO, with NYU Langone Health in New York City, agrees.
“I am a firm believer that fast food can cause fatty liver. It goes hand in hand, and I counsel and coach my patients on healthy diet and exercise, and I’ve been pretty successful,” she says.
“If my patient is eating at McDonald’s a lot, I basically walk through the menu with them and help them find something healthy. When patients see the benefits of cutting out fat and reducing carbohydrate, they are more apt to continue,.”
Jan. 3, 2022 – It’s officially 2023, and if history repeats, millions of Americans are likely vowing that this year will be one when they drop those unwanted pounds for good. After all, weight loss usually lands one of the top spots on New Year’s resolution surveys.
And just in time, there’s guidance to pick the best plan. Released today are U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of the best diet plans.
Once again, the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, olive oil, and fish, got the top spot, as best diet overall. It’s the sixth consecutive year for that win. But many other diets got top marks as well.
This year, U.S. News, with the help of more than 30 nutritionists, doctors, and epidemiologists, ranked 24 diets in several categories to help people find a plan that meets their goals, whether it’s finding the best weight loss diet, easiest one to follow, or plans for other goals, such as managing diabetes or heart disease. Two new categories were added: Best Diets for Bone & Joint Health and Best Family-Friendly Diets.
In previous years, the publication ranked 40 diets. Even if a diet is no longer ranked, its profile with detailed information remains on the site.
“Each year we ask ourselves what we can do better or differently next time,” says Gretel Schueller, managing editor of health for U.S. News. When the publication got feedback from their experts this year, they had requests to consider sustainability of diets and whether they meet a busy family’s needs, in addition to considering many other factors.
This year’s report ranks plans in 11 categories.
The winners and the categories:
Best Diets Overall
After the Mediterranean diet, two others tied for second place:
DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, which fights high blood pressure and emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy.
Flexitarian diet, which focuses on fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods but also allows occasional meat.
Best Weight Loss Diets
WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers, got first place. The plan emphasizes not only weight loss but healthier eating and regular activity. The Points program, which assigns specific points to foods, with a daily Points budget, is more personalized than in the past.
DASH got second place.
Mayo Clinic Diet and TLC diet tied for third place. The Mayo Clinic Diet focuses on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It helps people improve their eating habits. The TLC diet (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes) focuses on vegetables, fruit, lean protein, and reducing cholesterol levels.
Best Fast Weight Loss Diets
The keto diet got first place. It’s a high-fat, low-carb diet that aims to achieve weight loss through fat burning. Four others tied for second place:
Atkins, a diet created by the cardiologist Robert Atkins, which begins with very few carbs and then recommends progressively eating more until the weight loss goal is achieved
Nutrisystem, a commercial program that includes prepackaged meals and focuses on high-protein, lower-glycemic foods to stabilize blood sugar levels
Optavia, a plan focused on low-carb, low-calorie foods and including fortified meal replacements
SlimFast Diet, a plan of shakes, smoothies, and meal bars to replace two of three meals a day
Best Diets for Healthy Eating
Mediterranean
DASH
Flexitarian
Best Heart-Healthy Diets
DASH
Mediterranean
Flexitarian and Ornish tied for third. The Ornish Diet focuses on plant-based and whole foods and limiting animal products. It recommends daily exercise and stress reduction.
Best Diets for Diabetes
DASH
Mediterranean
Flexitarian
Best Diets for Bone and Joint Health
DASH and Mediterranean are in a first-place tie, followed by the flexitarian diet.
Best Family-Friendly Diets
This category has a three-way tie: the flexitarian, Mediterranean, and TLC diets.
Best Plant-Based Diets
Mediterranean was first, then flexitarian and the MIND diet. The MIND diet combines the DASH and Mediterranean diets and focuses on “brain-healthy” foods.
Easiest Diets to Follow
Flexitarian and TLC tied for first, followed by a tie between DASH and Mediterranean.
Best Diet Programs (formerly called commercial plans)
WW
There was a tie for second place between Jenny Craig and Noom, the latter of which focuses on low-calorie foods, with personalized calorie ranges and coaching to help meet goals.
Methodology
A variety of factors were considered, such as whether a diet includes all food groups, how easy it is to follow, whether it can be customized to meet cultural and personal preferences, and if it has a realistic timeline for weight loss.
Response from Diet Plans
Representatives from two plans that received mixed reviews in the rankings responded.
Jenny Craig was ranked second for best diet program but much lower for family-friendly, landing at 22nd place of 24.
“Our program is designed to address the needs of the individual through personalized experiences,” Jenny Craig CEO Mandy Dowson says. “We have many families that participate in our program together but are still evaluated separately to determine appropriate individual goals.”
Its high ranking for best diet program reflects feedback from satisfied members, she says. Among advances will be the new Jenny Fresh program, a line of entrées prepared fresh and delivered to customers’ doors.
Atkins got second place for best fast weight loss but ranked near the bottom for best overall, best weight loss, diabetes, healthy eating, and heart health. In response, Colette Heimowitz, vice president of nutrition and education for Simply Good Foods, which makes Atkins’s food products, says that low-carb eating approaches are a viable option for anyone today.
“There are more than 130 independent, peer-reviewed published studies that show the efficacy and safety of low-carb eating,” she says. “The studies have been conducted for several decades and counting.”
Expert Perspective
Samantha Cassetty, a registered dietitian, nutritionist, and wellness expert in New York City and author of Sugar Shock, reviewed the report for WebMD. She was not involved in the rankings.
“I think what this shows you is, the best diet overall is also the best for various conditions,” she says. For instance, the Mediterranean, the number one overall, also got high ranking for diabetes, heart health, and bone and joint health, she points out.
For consumers trying to lose weight: “If you see fast weight loss, that should be a red flag. A healthy diet for weight loss is one you can sustain,” she says.
She’s not a fan of the programs with prepackaged foods. “It takes the guesswork out, but the portion sizes tend to be unsatisfying. They don’t teach you how to deal with some of the challenges [such as realizing an ‘ideal’ portion size].”
How to Use the Report
Schueller’s advice: “Recognize that no diet fits everyone.” When considering which plan to choose, she suggests thinking long-term.
“Whatever we choose has to work in the long run,” she says.
Consumers should consider expenses, meal prep time, and whether the diet fits their lifestyle.
Ideally, she says, the best diet “teaches you smart food preparation and how to make healthy choices, allows the flexibility to be social and eat with groups, whether family or friends.”
Before choosing a diet to follow, consult a medical professional for input on the decision, U.S. News cautions.
This month, Google released its annual “Year in Search” list to show which terms saw the highest spikes over the past year. The roundup offers some insight into what internet users around the world cared about, were curious about and concerned about in 2022.
One big topic is noticeably absent this year: Covid-19. Last year, vaccination and preventing infection were of great interest, but this year saw no mention of coronavirus in the top health and wellness searches.
Instead, this year’s searches focused on physical and mental recovery — how to get stronger physically and how to cope with issues like anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Here’s a breakdown of 2022 in Google searches and some ways to address these topics going into 2023.
Workouts were a big focus of conversation this year: “Body weight workouts,” “weekly workouts,” “exercising for mental health,” and “core workouts at the gym” all were among the popular health searches.
Body-weight workouts are a good access point for exercise because you don’t need expensive equipment, and you can build a foundation for eventual weight training, said Dana Santas, CNN fitness expert and a mind-body coach in pro sports, in a previous story.
If you are looking to go further and build a regular exercise routine, a 2021 megastudy found that the keys are to make a plan, build in reminders and reward yourself for sticking to it.
Google users asked “how to handle stress,” “how to stop a panic attack,” “how to cure depression” and “focus with ADHD.” They also looked up good mental health practices for little ones, with searches for breathing exercises for kids.
It might not be surprising that many people were focused on coping and stress, especially in light of an ongoing global pandemic, economic concerns, and the adjustments associated with returning to school and workplaces.
While stress is a normal physiological reaction that all people experience, it can slide into a severe condition like anxiety or depression if left unchecked. One thing to look for is whether the feeling goes away after a stressful event has ended, said Dr. Gail Saltz, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.
Stress can also exacerbate mental conditions like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Saltz said in a 2021 interview with CNN.
If you suspect you might have chronic stress or another mental health disorder, you should talk to a trusted friend or family member to see whether they have noticed differences and reach out to a mental health professional, said Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, psychologist and founder of the AAKOMA Project, a youth mental health nonprofit, in a 2021 story.
The quest for better mental and physical health didn’t stop at a quick internet search, according to the data.
Among the popular terms were searches for more resources on mental health, like books, podcasts and journaling techniques aimed at improving wellness.
“Expressive writing works for a number of reasons,” said James Pennebaker, a psychologist, researcher and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Acknowledging an upsetting event has value, he added in a previous CNN story. “And writing about it also helps the person find meaning or understand it.”
There are also guided and formatted journals to help keep you going.
Those numerals were among the health-related searches that saw a surge this year.
The dialing code is available across the United States and is meant to be easier to access for people in mental health crises, similar to 911.
“One of the goals of 988 is to ensure that people get the help they need when they need it, where they need it. And so, when a person calls 988, they can expect to have a conversation with a trained, compassionate crisis counselor who will talk with them about what they’re experiencing,” said Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, the administrator of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in an interview with CNN in July.
“If it’s the case that they need further intervention, then likely the crisis counselor will connect them with a local mobile crisis team,” she added.
Dec 15, 2022 – Some people with type 2 diabetes may be able to lose weight, lower their blood sugar, and stop taking diabetes drugs, if they follow anintermittent fasting diet for 3 months, new research suggests.
Intermittent fasting – such as the 5:2 diet, which consists of eating few calories for 2 days followed by eating normally for 5 days – has led to weight loss in previous studies.
But it hasn’t been clear whether intermittent fasting might lower HbA1c levels – a measure of a person’s average blood sugar levels over the past 2 to 3 months.
And specifically, it was not known if intermittent fasting could let people revert to a non-diabetic state, known as diabetes remission – defined as having a blood sugar level below 6.5% for at least 3 months after stopping all diabetes medications.
This new study in 72 patients with type 2 diabetes in China showed that indeed, the 36 patients in the intermittent fasting group lost roughly 13 pounds and maintained this weight loss for 1 year, and close to half achieved diabetes remission. This compared with barely any weight loss for the 36 patients in the control group, of whom just 3% achieved remission.
The results show that “type 2 diabetes is not necessarily a permanent, lifelong disease,” senior author Dongbo Liu, PhD, from the Hunan Agricultural University in China, said in a news release. “Diabetes remission is possible if patients lose weight by changing their diet and exercise habits.”
“The large amount of weight reduction is key to continuing to achieve diabetes remission,” Amy E. Rothberg, MD, PhD, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan, said in an interview. Rothberg was not involved with this study.
The bottom line is that “lifestyle changes work,” she says.
Although these findings are specific for an Asian population, they suggest that a similar approach could be tailored to other populations.
People with type 2 diabetes who would like to try intermittent fasting need guidance from a dietitian, Rothberg says, to make sure their diet includes all the necessary micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals on fasting days. They also need to maintain a relatively balanced diet and not gorge themselves on feast days.
She also advises patients: “Try to reduce your calories by a method that you find sustainable, so that you can lose weight and maintain that reduced weight.”
The study was published Dec. 14 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Dec. 14, 2022 — Forget about counting calories. People with type 2 diabetes can lose weight and keep their blood sugar under control by eating a low-carb, high fat diet.
This is according to a new study that found this type of diet did more to help patients with type 2 diabetes than a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. And this was true no matter how many calories the person ate.
These findings were based on a randomized, controlled trial, and the results were published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine this week.
The trial looked at 185 patients with type 2 diabetes, for whom low-calorie diets are often recommended to help people lose weight and improve glycemic control, a medical term referring to the typical levels of sugar in a person’s blood.
The trouble with this common recommendation, the investigators wrote, is that it often leads to hunger, so few patients stick to it.
“Therefore, calorie-unrestricted diets may be a better alternative to achieve long-term maintenance,” wrote study author Camilla Dalby Hansen, MD, of the University of Southern Denmark, and colleagues.
Study Methods and Results
In the new study, the participants were randomly assigned to one of two diet-based groups. Twice as many participants were put into a group that ate the low-carb, high-fat diet and the other participants were assigned to the high-carb, low-fat diet for 6 months. No calorie restrictions were placed on either group.
Patients’ weight, blood sugar control, and other health measures based on lab tests were evaluated at the beginning of the study, at 3 months, at 6 months. The final analysis included 165 patients.
While patients in both groups lost weight, those in the low-carb, high fat group lost, on average, about 8 pounds more than those in the other group.
The low-carb, high fat diet was linked to improved blood sugar control, but it also led to slightly higher LDL, or what doctors consider to be bad cholesterol levels.
“I believe we have sufficient data to include [low-carb, high-fat] as one of the diet options for people with type 2 diabetes,” Hansen said in a written comment.
But she predicted that some patients would still struggle to stay on it in the real world.
“The LCHF diet can be difficult for some people to follow,” Hansen said. “It is a bit more expensive, and it can be difficult to comply to in social gatherings simply because our society is not suited for this type of diet.”
The Magic of Unrestricted Calories
Jay H. Shubrook, DO, a diabetologist and professor at Touro University California, offered a similar view.
“When you start to fiddle with the diet, it affects not only the person, but all the people they eat with, because eating is a communal experience,” Shubrook said in an interview.
“What’s magic about this study is because it wasn’t calorie restricted, I think it made it a little bit more flexible for people to continue,” Shubrook said.
He said he thinks patients will need a fair amount of coaching and education about food choices in order to lose weight on a diet without calorie restrictions.
A slew of problems have stalled the growth of Beyond Meat, once a darling of Wall Street whose top product became synonymous with plant-based burgers.
Sales have been declining, sliding 22.5% in the third quarter compared to the previous year, and the company has laid off over 20% of its global staff since August. After an extremely successful market debut in 2019, Beyond Meat
(BYND) has lost favor with investors. The stock dropped about 77% so far this year.
Some of the problems can be attributed to broader industry challenges. In the grocery store, interest in plant-based meats has waned as consumers, faced with inflation, focus on shopping for affordable basics.
The company recently parted ways with three members of its C-suite, one of whom allegedly bit someone’s nose. A recent LA Times report called into question the hygiene of a Beyond Meat facility in Pennsylvania, though the company stands by the cleanliness of the plant, saying that its “food safety protocols go above industry and regulatory standards.”
Also, a promising partnership with McDonald’s
(MCD) has stalled in the United States. And fierce competition is squeezing sales, including in frozen, plant-based chicken, a category that is growing while refrigerated plant-based meat sales falter.
The company’s plan is to focus on cash flow and profitability rather than growth, and become more strategic in its restaurant and marketing initiatives, among other things.
“Despite the current headwinds facing our business and category, we remain confident in our ability to deliver on the long-term growth and impact expected from our global brand,” a Beyond Meat spokesperson told CNN Business in response to a request for comment.
“They’ve got a big task ahead of them,” said Peter Saleh, restaurant analyst atfinancial services firm BTIG. Next year will be about “trying to get their financials in order to a place where they can sustain themselves,” he added. “It’s a tall order.”
Since then, the McPlant has been added to the McDonald’s menu permanently in some European markets.
In the US, McDonald’s
(MCD) tested out the burger in some locations. But it hasn’t added the item to the menu, and it’s not clear if or when that will happen.
“I don’t think it’s totally off the table, but I’m not sure that it’s going to be [Beyond’s] saving grace at this point,” said Saleh.
Beyond still has plenty of partnerships with restaurants, but many of them are limited-time tests.
“In the last 12 months, we have had 25 trials for permanent menu launches with nine distinct products,” said Beyond CEO Ethan Brown during a November analyst call discussing the company’s third-quarter results.
Brown positioned the launches as long-term investments, saying they won’t generate big sales in the short term but should pay off eventually. But getting a permanent menu spot might be challenging, noted Kathryn Fenner, principal at foodservice consulting firm Technomic.
“Even if they sell, say 30 to 40 of these plant-based burgers a day … that still pales in comparison to their traditional proteins,” she said, speaking about plant-based burgers in general. And these days, making a limited-time offer permanent is a tough sell because operators have been slimming down their menus, she noted.
Meanwhile, Burger King continues to sell the Impossible Whopper nationally. “We haven’t been experiencing what Beyond Meat and some of the other brands in the space have reported,” said Impossible foods spokesperson Keely Sulprizio. Impossible is private and is not required to share its sales data publicly.
In the grocery store, Beyond is facing a swell of competition.
Beyond has embraced competition in the past. But now, rivals are interfering with its bottom line.
“We believe that healthy competition within plant-based meat is a good thing as it brings investment in marketing to the category,” said Brown during the November analyst call.
“However, in the current environment, we are not seeing this benefit,” he said. “Instead, more companies are pursuing the same or fewer consumers.” Brown said Beyond is the leader in refrigerated plant-based meat, and that he expects some brands to pull back or consolidate in the future.
It’s true that the plant-based meat pie is smaller these days. Retail sales of meat alternatives fell about 12% in the year through November 6, according to data from IRI. Ground plant-based meat fell about 19%, and patties were down 30% in that period.
But frozen chicken alternatives are growing. Strips and cutlets sales increased about 16% and nuggets jumped nearly 28%.
“Frozen plant-based chicken is the largest single subcategory in all of plant-based meats and continues to grow at a double-digit pace,” said Brown during the analyst call. “So we are pleased to be expanding our presence of additional chicken items.”
Beyond Meat introduced plant-based chicken strips in retail in 2014, but pulled the product in 2019. It launched a retooled version, Beyond Chicken Tenders, in stores in 2021, and has built its plant-based chicken portfolio since then.
But in the few years Beyond’s product was off the market, new entrants rushed into the space.
Nuggs, a plant-based chicken nugget made by startup Simulate, has made a splash online thanks to its bold packaging over the last few years and has been expanding in retail.
Daring, another plant-based chicken company, launched its product in the US in 2020. Daring’s chicken alternative became available at Whole Foods last year. Impossible and other legacy brands have offerings, as well.
“Plant-based chicken is a good growth category,” said Saleh. “I would have liked to have seen [Beyond] double down.”
In 2015, the same year Apple introduced its smartwatch, a Kickstarter campaign launched for a very different kind of wearable device: a wellness-tracking ring called the Oura.
Seven years later, the Apple Watch is the most popular wearable device while other similar products fromGoogle and Samsung alsodominate the wearables market. But something notable is underway: products like Oura, which look and sometimes function markedly different from more mainstream wearables, are gaining renewed traction.
The Oura ring ($399) experienced a spike in sales during the pandemic, and has seen continued momentum this holiday season, CEO Tom Hale told CNN Business.It provides sleep tracking data without needing to wear a smartwatch to bed and can detect subtle changes in body temperature. It also has no screen. Earlier this year, the company announced it had receiveda $2.55 billion valuation and has since rolled out partnerships with Gucci, Strava and other brands.
The ring is among a small but increasingly buzzy group of alternative wearable devices that people are gravitating toward right now, including a fitness band tracker with no screen and headphones that don’t need to be put in the ear.Some of the demand stems from shifts during the pandemic, as consumer interest in health monitoring surged. People turned to activity trackers, smartwatches and other devices to keep tabs on their steps, vital statistics and more. Many were also willing to experiment with different form factors, as long as they provided accurate data and were still comfortable – a trend that continues today.
“The funny thing is that most of these devices have been around for a while but have slowly built a name for themselves in recent quarters,” said Ramon Llamas, a research director at IDC Research. “But it takes time for word of mouth to spread.”
The devices may also tap into a desire to get the benefits of wearable trackers without necessarily having a screen or device on their body at all times.
Take the WHOOP band, a health tracker without a screen that first came out in 2015. It has a very specific focus on workout recovery, resting time, training and coaching. Founder and CEO Will Ahmed told CNN Business this year’s Cyber Monday was its largest sales day ever.
“It wasn’t that long ago that people only wore a health monitor if something was wrong. Now, we’re seeing people take a much more proactive approach to their health,” he said. “This trend has continued even as the pandemic subsides.”
Like Oura, the WHOOP isa subscription-based device and targeting a more niche audience.It’s pricy, too: $480, including a two-year subscription plan.
“The challenge is that most of these devices are vying for single-digit market share behind the market leaders, [such as Apple and Samsung],” Llamas said. “That’s why it is key to have a well-differentiated segment that you can serve almost exclusively. Companies like WHOOP have been successful because they focus on athlete rest and recovery so well, and those are key factors for many athletes today.”
Ahmed said the product is evolving to support this growing interest in health by adding new features related to pregnancy, stress and deeper biometric monitoring.In August, WHOOP announced it raised $200 million in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, giving the company a valuation of $3.6 billion.
Health tracking devices continue to take on new shapes and sizes, too, including some that don’t require being worn at all. In September, Amazon showed off a non-wearable sleep tracking monitor, Halo Rise, which sits on a nightstand and tracks breathing patterns while the user is asleep. Meanwhile, some companies like Withings let users slip sensors under the mattress to collect sleep data.
There’s also a shift in demand for what is arguablyone of the original wearables: headphones.
Bone conduction headphones, which like the Oura have been around for years, are also “having a moment,” according to Steve Konig, head of the research department at the Consumer Electronics Association. Rather than sitting inside or on top of the ear canal, bone conduction headphones rest in front of the ear, leaving it uncovered. They transmit audio along the user’s bones and jaw to the ears instead of directly into the ear canal. The headphones also feature a soft band that runs behind the upper portion of the neck to secure it in place and minimize sound distortions.
At the same time, the exposed ear allows users to pick up on sounds and the environment around them, crucial for safety when doing activities such as riding a bike or jogging. Unlike earbuds, there’s also less concern about it popping out of your ears.
Shokz ($125) pioneered bone conduction headphones, but the market has since expanded with other brands offering similar designs. Open earbuds – such as ones designed by Sony and Bose – feature a similar design that leaves the ear canals completely open so that the user can hear the outer noise. But some audiophiles say the sound quality on bone conduction headphones and open earbuds is less than stellar.
“In the past 10 years, audio innovation in general has soared because of the introduction of new features, such as noise cancellation technology, built-in wireless capabilities and more,” Konig said. “Now, people own multiple pairs of personal listening products for different locations and use cases; some leave them at the office, others prefer bigger, beefier ones on airplanes. They also make a great holiday gift because, in the grand scheme of gift giving, they’re fairly reasonable to buy.”
Celebrity personal trainer Eric Fleishman has died at the age of 53.
The fitness personality, known as “Eric the Trainer,” died suddenly at his home in Glendale, California on Thanksgiving, his family announced Sunday in a post shared on his verified Instagram page.
“We are heartbroken to share that Eric Phillip Fleishman passed away unexpectedly on the morning of November 24, 2022. His wife Alysia, son, parents, and close friends/family are deeply saddened by this event,” the statement read.
The post remembered Fleishman as someone who “touched many lives for the better” and was “a beacon of light, hope, and love.”
Fans were encouraged to celebrate his life by sending their “experiences, memories, and tributes” to a designated email address.
“Our hope is to assemble these contributions for a Celebration of Life ceremony in the near term. The date and time of this event will be forthcoming shortly,” the post said.
The message, shared alongside a carousel of images of Fleishman, concluded: “This loss is devastating, and we appreciate your thoughts and prayers.”
No further details surrounding his death have been made public.
Fleishman made a name for himself by training a slew of celebrity clients. According to his website, these included boy band Big Time Rush, Ethan Suplee, Kirstie Alley, Michelle Branch and Max Martini.
Tributes poured in from fans and celebrities following news of his death. “90210” actor Matt Lanter wrote: “Crushed. Eric made such an impact on my life and I don’t think he even knew it. I’m just shocked.”
Patrick Schwarzenegger wrote, “So sad. Rip Eric. Will miss you 🙌❤️.”
“Karate Kid” star Martin Kove shared a series of pictures of the pair together on Twitter, along with the caption: “RIP my friend and brother.”
Nov. 28, 2022 – Simply limiting shakes of salt at the table may help lower the risk of heart disease, new research suggests.
Using less added salt appeared to have the biggest effect on two common kinds of heart disease: heart failure and ischemic heart disease, also known as hardening of the arteries, which slows blood flow to the heart. But the research found that putting such limits on salt did not affect the risk of having a stroke.
The new research, from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, was published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“Overall, we found that people who don’t shake on a little additional salt to their foods very often had a much lower risk of heart disease events, regardless of lifestyle factors and pre-existing disease,” says co-author Lu Qi, MD, PhD, a professor at Tulane.
You Don’t Have to Eliminate It Altogether
That’s good news, because it suggests that just adding less salt to food – not removing it entirely – can make a difference without too big a sacrifice, Qi said in a statement.
Even those who followed a DASH-style diet to lower their blood pressure further reduced their heart disease risk when they held back the salt at the table, the researchers found.
DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and people following it focus on foods rich in protein, calcium, potassium, fiber, and magnesium and avoid foods high in sodium, added sugar, and saturated fat.
People who didn’t add salt at the table very often and also followed the DASH diet had the lowest heart disease risk of the people studied, the researchers say.
The researchers found there was an even stronger link between adding salt to foods and heart disease risk when people were current smokers or had a lower social and economic status.
Conflicting Results
There’s already lots of evidence linking high sodium to high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. But studies looking at the link have had conflicting results because it’s been hard for researchers to find out how much salt people consume over many years.
A previous study by the same research team reported that people who added salt to foods more often had a higher risk of dying early from any cause and a lower life expectancy. This study builds on that and focuses on how more added salt over the long term affects heart disease risk.
For the study, researchers surveyed 176,570 people from the United Kingdom Biobank database who did not have cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. They were asked about how often they added salt to their food, not including salt used in cooking. They could answer never/rarely; sometimes; usually; or always.
They also were asked if they had made major changes to their diet in the last 5 years and were asked to recall what they ate and drank over the last 24 hours.
The researchers analyzed heart disease events through medical histories, data on hospital admissions, answers on questionnaires, and death register data.
Sara Ghoneim, MD, a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, wrote in an editorial that this study is promising for people in both high- and low-income countries.
“The economic burden of CVD [cardiovascular disease] is considerable and continues to increase in prevalence,” she wrote.
Ghoneim pointed out that a drawback of the study is that people were asked to report their own level of salt use and that they came from the database in the United Kingdom, so it’s uncertain whether other populations would have the same results.
Stone Age cooks were surprisingly sophisticated, combining an array ofingredients and using different techniques to prepare and flavor their meals, analysis of some the earliest charred food remains has suggested.
Wild nuts, peas, vetch, a legume which had edible seed pods, and grasses were often combined with pulseslike beans or lentils, the most commonly identified ingredient, and at times, wild mustard. To make the plants more palatable, pulses, which have a naturally bitter taste, were soaked, coarsely ground or pounded with stones to remove their husk.
At Shanidar Cave, the researchers studied plant remains from 70,000 years ago, when the spacewas inhabited by Neanderthals, an extinct species of human, and 40,000 years ago, when it was home to early modern humans (Homo sapiens).
The charred food remains from Franchthi Cave dated from 12,000 years ago, when it was also occupied by hunter-gatherer Homo sapiens.
Despite the distance in time and space, similar plants and cooking techniques were identified at both sites — possiblysuggesting a shared culinary tradition, said the study’s lead author Dr. Ceren Kabukcu, an archaeobotanical scientist at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
Based on the food remains researchers analyzed, Neanderthals, the heavy-browed hominins who disappeared about 40,000 years ago, and Homo sapiens appeared to use similar ingredients and techniques, she added, although wild mustard was only found at Shanidar Cave dating back to when it wasoccupied by Homo sapiens.
A breadlike substance was found at the Greek cave, although it wasn’t clear what it was made from. The evidence that ancient humans pounded and soaked pulses at Shanidar Cave 70,000 years ago is the earliest direct evidence outside Africa of the processing of plants for food, according to Kabukcu.
Kabukcusaid she was surprised to find that prehistoric people were combining plant ingredients in this way, an indication that flavor was clearly important. She had expected to find only starchy plants like roots and tubers, which on face value appear to be more nutritious and are easier to prepare.
Much research on prehistoric diets has focused on whether early humans were predominantly meat eaters, but Kabukcu said it was clear they weren’t just chomping on woolly mammoth steaks. Our ancient ancestors ate a varied diet depending on where they lived, and this likely included a wide range of plants.
Such creative cooking techniques wereonce thought to have emerged onlywith the shift from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to humans’ focus on agriculture — known as the Neolithic transition — that took place between 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.
What’s more, she said, the research suggested life in the Stone Age was not just a brutal fight to survive, at least at these two sites, and that prehistoric humans selectively foraged a variety of different plants and understood their different flavor profiles.
John McNabb, a professor at the Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins at the University of Southampton in the UK said that scientific understanding of the Neanderthal diet has changed significantly “as we move away from the idea of them just consuming huge quantities of hunted game meat.”
“More data is needed from Shanidar, but if these results are supported then Neanderthals were eating pulses and some species from the grass family that required careful preparation before consumption. Sophisticated techniques of food preparation had a much deeper history than previously thought,” McNabb, who wasn’t involved in the research, said via email.
“Even more intriguing is the possibility that they did not deliberately extract all the unpalatable toxins. Some were left in the food, as the presence of seed coatings suggests — that part of the seed where the bitterness is especially located. A Neanderthal flavor of choice.”
A separate study into prehistoric diets that also published Tuesday analyzed ancient humans’oral microbiome — fungi, bacteria and viruses that reside in the mouth — by using ancient DNA from dental plaque.
Researchers led by Andrea Quagliariello, a postdoctoral research fellow in comparative biomedicine and food atthe University of Padua in Italy, examined the oral microbiomes of 76 individuals who lived in prehistoric Italy over a period of 30,000 years, as well as microscopic food remains found in calcified plaque.
Quagliariello and his team were able to identify trends in diet and cooking techniques, such as the introduction of fermentation and milk, and a shift to a greater reliance on carbohydrates associated with an agriculture-based diet.
McNabb said it was impressive that researchers had been able chart changes over such a long period of time.
“What the study also does is support the growing idea that the Neolithic was not the sudden arrival of new subsistence practices and new cultures as it was once thought to be. It appears to be a slower transition,” McNabb, who wasn’t involved in the study, said via email.
Six supplements that people commonly take for heart health don’t help lower “bad” cholesterol or improve cardiovascular health, according to a study published Sunday, but statins did.
Some people believe that common dietary supplements – fish oil, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, plant sterols and red yeast rice – will lower their “bad” cholesterol. “Bad” cholesterol, known in the medical community as low-density lipoproteins or LDL, can cause the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries. The fatty deposits can block the flow of oxygen and blood that the heart needs to work and the blockage can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
For this study, which was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2022 and simultaneously published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers compared the impact of these particular supplements to the impact of a low dose of a statin – a cholesterol-lowering medication – or a placebo, which does nothing.
Researchers made this comparison in a randomized, single-blind clinical trial that involved 190 adults with no prior history of cardiovascular disease. Study participants were ages 40 to 75, and different groups got a low-dose statin called rosuvastatin, a placebo, fish oil, cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, plant sterols or red yeast rice for 28 days.
The statin had the greatest impact and significantly lowered LDL compared with the supplements and placebo.
The average LDL reduction after 28 days on a statin was nearly 40%. The statin also had the added benefit on total cholesterol, which dropped on average by 24%, and on blood triglycerides, which dropped 19%.
None of the people who took the supplements saw any significant decrease in LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol or blood triglycerides, and their results were similar to those of people who took a placebo. While there were similar adverse events in all the groups, there were a numerically higher number of problems among those who took the plant sterols or red yeast rice.
“We designed this study because many of us have had the same experience of trying to recommend evidence-based therapies that reduce cardiovascular risks to patients and then having them say ‘no thanks, I’ll just try this supplement,’ ” said study co-author Dr. Karol Watson, professor of medicine/cardiology and co-director, UCLA Program in Preventive Cardiology. “We wanted to design a very rigid, randomized, controlled trial study to prove what we already knew and show it in a rigorous way.”
Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic and a co-author on the study, said that patients often don’t know that dietary supplements aren’t tested in clinical trials. He calls these supplements “21st century snake oil.”
In the United States, the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act of 1994 sharply limited the US Food and Drug Administration’s ability to regulate supplements. Unlike pharmaceutical products that have to be proven safe and effective for their intended use before a company can market them, the FDA doesn’t have to approve dietary supplements before they can be sold. It is only after they are on the market and are proven to be unsafe that the FDA can step in to regulate them.
“Patients believe studies have been done and that they are as effective as statins and can save them because they’re natural, but natural doesn’t mean safe and it doesn’t mean they’re effective,” Nissen said.
The study was funded via an unrestricted grant from AstraZeneca, which makes rosuvastatin. The company did not have any input on the methodology, data analysis and discussion of the clinical implications, according to the study.
The researchers acknowledged some limitations, including the study’s small sample size, and that its 28-study period might not capture the effect of supplements when used for a longer duration.
In a statement on Sunday, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association for the dietary supplement industry, said “supplements are not intended to replace medications or other medical treatments.”
“Dietary supplements are not intended to be quick fixes and their effects may not be revealed during the course of a study that only spans four weeks,” Andrea Wong, the group’s senior vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
Dr. James Cireddu, an invasive cardiologist and medical director of University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute at University Hospitals Bedford Medical Center, said the work is going to be helpful.
“They did a nice job collecting data and looking at the outcomes,” said Cireddu, who did not work on the study. “It will probably resonate with patients. I get asked about supplements all the time. I think this does a nice job of providing evidence.”
Dr. Amit Khera, chair of the AHA Scientific Sessions programming committee, did not work on the research, but said he thought this was an important study to include in the presentations this year.
“I take care of patients every day with these exact questions. Patients always ask about the supplements in lieu of or in addition to statins,” said Khera, who is a professor and director of preventive cardiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “I think if you have high quality evidence and a well done study it is really critical to help inform patients about the value, or in this case the lack of value, for some of these supplements for cholesterol lowering.”
Statins have been around for more than 30 years and they’ve been studied in over 170,000 people, he said. Consistently, studies show that statins lower risk.
“The good news, we know statins work,” Khera said. “That does not mean they’re perfect. That doesn’t mean everyone needs one, but for those at higher risk, we know they work and that’s well proven. If you’re going to do something different you have to make sure it works.”
With supplements, he said he often sees misinformation online.
“I think that people are always looking for something ‘natural’ but you know there’s a lot of issues with that terminology and most important we should ask do they work? That’s what this study does,” Khera adds. “It’s important to ask, are you taking something that is proven, and if you’re doing that and it’s not, is that in lieu of proven treatment. It’s a real concern.”
“In a weird way, I feel like it is a time capsule of things – a period of my life where I look back, and I actually feel bad for that version of myself,” Gomez told Entertainment Tonight. “I think that it was good for me to see how I was responding to my body, the way that I was acting and the way it was so irrational in moments, and I think it was really healing for me to see that and get it out.”
When asked if she had any advice for her younger self, Gomez said she wished she took a break when she needed it.
“I think my advice is to not be afraid. I never actually was afraid to tell people that I wanna take time for myself. I never thought that was a bad thing,” she said. “So, to be sharing something honest and say, ‘Hey, I’m taking a break because I need it?’ I’m being honest, and I think that’s just who I am.”
The documentary covers Gomez’s health and personal life, along with her online mental health platform, Wondermind.
Gomez also currently stars in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.”
As much as we look forward to holiday parties and dinners, many of us suspect we’ll overindulge and gain weight.
Indeed, the average American eats and drinks 4,500 calories and 229 grams fat (as much as in 3 sticks of butter) on a traditional Thanksgiving day? Studies show that the average American gains 1 pound during the winter holiday season. Year after year, they can add up, and contribute to overweight or obesity later in life.
Although we may not all gain weight over the holidays, there is no question we tend to eat and drink more — and exercise less. With the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, parties and festive traditions, healthy eating and exercise are usually the first things to go.
No one wants to be on a strict diet during the holidays. We want to enjoy the bounty of traditional favorite foods. How can you enjoy the holidays without gaining weight? Dietitians say it’s not so hard, with a little planning.
First, change your mindset. If you’ve been trying to lose weight, when mid-November rolls around, shift your focus from weight loss to weight maintenance. “The holiday season is tough enough to just maintain your weight let alone try to lose weight. So do yourself a favor,” says Joan Salge Blake, MS, RD, Boston University clinical assistant professor. “Allow yourself a few treats and set your goal on weight maintenance so you can enjoy the holiday foods and wait until the New Year to get back on your weight loss plan.”
Second, get strategic with calories. If you are the host of dinners and parties, trim calories wherever you can without compromising tradition or flavor. You’ll help everyone enjoy the bountiful food without unneeded calories. Keep in mind that it is much harder to lose weight than it is not to gain it in the first place.
Here are 10 tips to lighten up your holiday meals.
1. Shop Smart for Healthy Holidays
Plan your menu to include plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, seafood, whole grains, and low-fat dairy.
Consult the nutrition label to choose foods rich in nutrients but lower in fat, calories, and sugar.
To shave calories, go easy when adding nuts, cheese, cream sauces, gravy, butter, and whipped cream.
2. Start the Party Light
Most appetizers tend to be loaded with calories. And it is so easy to overeat them before the meal.
Make it easier on your guests by offering light and satisfying appetizers. For delicious yet healthy appetizers, serve shrimp cocktails, whole-grain crackers with reduced-fat cheese, vegetables with a low-fat yogurt dip, or fresh fruit skewers.
3. Harness the Diet Power of Produce
Add more simple vegetable and fruit dishes to your menu instead of heavy dishes with sauces. Your guests will fill up on healthy fiber without lots of extra calories.
For example, green bean almandine with a squeeze of lemon is healthier than traditional green bean casserole. Simple peas or corn are healthier than creamed peas or corn. But if you must have casserole, use low-fat soup, increase the veggies, and top it with a crunchy whole-grain cereal instead of fried onions.
4. Go Frozen in Winter
Fresh is usually the best when fruits and vegetables are in season. But when prices are higher in winter, head to the frozen food aisle.
“Frozen fruits and vegetables are usually less expensive and can be more nutritious because they are picked at their peak ripeness and frozen immediately” says Sarah Krieger, RD. Buy frozen produce in bags, use only what you need, and save more by not wasting spoiled produce.
Canned foods can also be a healthy option. Read the nutrition labels to find fruits and vegetables with less added sodium and sugar, Krieger says. Reduce the sodium and sugar solutions even more by rinsing the vegetable or fruit under cold water before you cook.
5. Respect Special Requests
As you plan your holiday menu, ask if guests have any food preferences or intolerances. For example, a dear friend may be lactose intolerant. A favorite cousin may have cut red meat from his diet.
You can’t please everyone. But you can include a wide variety of healthy foods. Then, your guests can pick and choose, filling their plate with a satisfying meal no matter their food issue.
6. Shave Calories With Simple Swaps
Create healthier versions of your holiday favorites by shaving calories wherever you can.
“Simple swaps of lower-fat ingredients are easy ways to save calories — and no one will even notice the difference” says Cheryl Forberg, RD.
Use chicken stock, fat-free yogurt, light cream cheese, and low-fat milk in place of high-fat ingredients. Substitute non-fat yogurt or applesauce for oil in baked goods.
7. Roast or Grill for Rich Flavor With Fewer Calories
Roasting or grilling meat, seafood, vegetables, and potatoes, is a simple, low-calorie cooking style that brings out the natural sweetness and flavor in foods.
Roasted sweet potatoes with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and a spritz of butter spray are delicious substitutes for the traditional calorie-laden casserole.
Grilled pork chops served with a mango salsa are great to replace pork chops slathered in mushroom cream.
8. Serve Healthier Desserts
For dessert, try chocolate-dipped strawberries for a colorful and delicious finale.
If you want to offer pie, choose the healthier pumpkin pie. Make it with non-fat evaporated milk. Top it with fat-free whipped topping.
9. Spritz Your Drinks
Eggnog and other holiday beverages can add a huge number of calories. Offer your guests plenty of low-cal beverages such as diet soda, sparkling water, or a low-calorie punch.
Alcohol releases inhibitions and can increase hunger. That’s a combination that can lead to eating more than you planned. So do yourself and guests a favor: Offer simple alcohol choices such as wine and beer without the heavy cocktail mixers. And make sure you have mocktails or other no-alcohol options for those who don’t drink.
10. Plan and Scan to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
“In anticipation that you will be eating and drinking more than usual, try to trim your calories and make sure you fit in fitness everyday so you can enjoy a ‘controlled’ feast without the guilt” says Joan Salge Blake, MS, RD, clinical assistant professor at Boston University.
“Scan the buffet and fill your plate with foods that are simply prepared, without sauces or fried, sit down and take your time to taste and savor every bite,” she says. Resist the urge to go back for more by waiting at least 20 minutes for your brain to register that you are comfortably full. If you are still hungry, eat more vegetables and drink water.
Remember, the holidays are marked with many traditions, but the real meaning is about spending time with family and friends.
If you keep these tips in mind, you’ll get through the holidays without gaining a pound. And if you do splurge, just get right back to normal eating and exercising, and try to do make better choices at the next party.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
My mother is the most amazing cook I know. Whether she’s frying, grilling, stirring, flipping or baking, anything and everything that comes out of her kitchen is incredible. So when my mom told me how obsessed she was with Dalci’s lemon coconut blondie, I knew it had to be incredible. And as someone who is pre-diabetic and watching what she eats, my mother is very particular about reading what’s on the label and what she puts into her mouth.
Katelyn PerryNajwa Khan, founder and CEO of Dalci
“During the pandemic, I found myself making compromises to my health by trying to eat convenient, on-the-go treats. I couldn’t find clean desserts in the marketplace,” says Najwa Khan, founder and CEO of Dalci “I was tired of bars and “gut healthy’ snacks made with chemical alternatives, natural flavors, bad oils and sugar alcohols. That’s when I founded Dalci, to create brownies that are real, delicious and always clean.”
The idea of “clean eating” is prevalent on social media now, but it was originally made popular by Canadian fitness model Tosca Reno with her book The Eat-Clean Diet. With clean eating, you focus on a natural form of nutrition. Pure, fresh and unprocessed foods; cutting out artificial preservatives, colors and flavorings and sweeteners and names of ingredients you can’t even pronounce. Although many of us aspire to eat a more healthful diet, it’s not always the easiest or most convenient option.
According to a recent NPR survey, 75% of Americans say they eat healthy. Yet the statistics reveal otherwise: Many of us tend to overeat refined grains and sugars and don’t control our portion sizes. Before the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that about 40% of Americans qualified as obese. According to a new study, 61% of adults experienced undesired weight changes during the pandemic due to stress, not eating healthfully and having a less active lifestyle.
Enter Dalci. The bars are individually packaged and portioned. You can warm them up in the microwave to get that gooey, fresh-baked brownie experience. You can also freeze them and eat them later. They are easy to toss in your bag and have as an on-the-go snack. Flavors include dark chocolate brownie, almond butter dark chocolate blondie, and my mom’s favorite, lemon coconut blondie. They’re gluten-, dairy-, grain-, soy-, refined-sugar, sugar-alcohol, lecithin-, natural-flavor, and preservative-free.
Image Credit: Birdhill Studios
“I believe Dalci is in a category of its own,” Khan says. “Our first product line, the brownies and blondies, are true desserts that are disrupting the sweet category. Ultimately, we want our customers to say, ‘Hell yes, I can have a brownie anytime I want!’”
In her previous roles as a product manager, Khan learned how to pilot, test and try ideas and quickly pivot when needed. She credits those early years in her career with teaching her how to be nimble. “I allowed pre-sales for Dalci even before I knew how the product would be manufactured and shipped to customers,” she says. “Some might think that was crazy, but I was confident I needed to test the viability of the business before attempting to accelerate growth.”
Khan says that her ability to launch before everything was perfect has been critical to the brand‘s success. It was the best way for her to learn how to improve Dalci’s recipes and messaging. It also helped Khan continue to find and build relationships with her customer base and be strategic about how she wanted to build out her product lines.
Kahn launched Dalci during the pandemic. She wasn’t working full-time, and she found herself disinterested in jobs she was finding in the marketplace. With only a trademark and an idea, she bought the domain dalci.com, built a cheap website, spun up an Instagram and decided to see if people wanted indulgent-tasting, clean brownies. Khan’s husband helped her bake, pack and fill orders in the evenings. “I went ahead and self-funded and skipped over the steps most commonly taken by CPG brands,” Khan says. “I loved the grind. I learned so much about food science, production, supply chain issues, and branding and marketing early on.”
Image Credit: Birdhill Studios
Despite her early success, Khan regrets not building a team from the get-go. “One person alone cannot build a business. A team is so critical,” she says. “I know I took the risk to start Dalci, but I did it with guardrails where I kept telling myself 2020 was a ‘test.’ That limiting belief prevented me from building a team at the very beginning.”
The name Dalci is derived from dalchini, the word for cinnamon in Bengali. Khan spent countless hours cooking South Asian treats with her family on weekends when she was growing up. Dalci is a reflection of her upbringing, representing home, love and the importance of treating yourself.
Khan is proud to be a woman of color founder. And on her journey to build her business, some have said to her, “You should use the fact that you are a woman of color to get that investor check.” Khan’s response is clear: I am not a diversity quota.
Image Credit: Katelyn Perry
“Raising money is tough, with less than 3% of venture capital funding going to women of color founders,” Khan says. “That has to change. And I just want to be me, Najwa. I want allies who sign on with me for all of the right reasons. Because they ultimately believe in me and Dalci and how we are on a mission to ignite change.”
