<ul><li>It acknowledges that you are an individual. The food we need is unique, and there is little chance that the latest gimmicky diet is going to be the perfect fit for your body.</li><li>It leaves room for your needs to change over time. What our bodies want and need at age 18 is different from age 68, and may even differ from week to week.</li><li>You will focus on being attuned to your body and how foods make you feel. .</li><li>You will eat when you are hungry, which makes it easier to commit to. </li><li>It acknowledges that some bodies benefit from certain foods, while they are not healthy for others.</li><li>Intuitive eating may help yo<warningtag>u maintain a healthier weight long-term. </warningtag></li><li><warningtag>It defines “success” as progress over time. </warningtag></li></ul>

Pros of intuitive eating

<ul><li>It can take time to tune into your body and get the balance right. Sensing whether you are full or hungry requires tuning into your body’s signals; this can be very difficult for some people.</li><li>Engineered foods can fool our bodies into thinking we are hungry when we are not. </li><li>If you want to lose weight, you will need to include physical activity. Research shows that intuitive eating is good for maintaining your current weight, but intuitive eating alone probably won’t help you lose weight unless you pair it with an exercise regimen. </li><li>Some people simply prefer more structure. Intuitive eating may fe<warningtag>el too open-ended. </warningtag></li></ul>

Cons of intuitive eating

Having a good understanding of your overall nutrition needs can support intuitive eating. If you begin to eat intuitively, be sure that over time your dietary pattern includes plenty of nutrient-dense foods from all of the food groups, as well as any special nutrients that are particularly beneficial at your stage in life.

Intuitive eating & prioritizing recommended nutrients

An introduction to intuitive eating and how it can help you develop a positive relationship with food.

longevity

Longevity

food

Food

health

Health

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

A Guide on Intuitive Eating

Research shows that intuitive eating has some long-term benefits for most people, but it may not be the perfect fit for you.

Considering quitting diet culture and switching to intuitive eating? Dr. Kevin Duplechain shares the pros and cons of this mindful approach to food.

The Pros and Cons of Intuitive Eating

<ul><li>Before modern medicine, unexplained women's behaviors and illnesses were diagnosed as hysteria.</li><li>Symptoms of hysteria included fever and physical pain, as well as behaviors that didn't fit female stereotypes of passivity, feebleness, and fragility.</li><li>Mood swings, anxiety, and depression were all considered symptoms of hysteria.</li></ul>

Anorexia and Hysteria: A Shared History

<ul><li>Psychiatry asylums played a role in anorexia being recognized as its own medical condition separate from hysteria</li><li>At first, psychiatric institutions were places where people with mental illnesses were looked after, but not treated</li><li>This changed with a mental health reformation</li><li>People began to see mental illness as either curable or at least manageable through kindness and therapy</li><li>Psychiatric institutions began offering treatments and rehabilitation to the poor, and accountability came with it.</li></ul>

Separating Anorexia from Hysteria

<ul><li>Since the mid-1800s, we've gained a deeper understanding of why anorexia develops, but its early associations with hysteria have been difficult to escape</li><li>Anorexia and hysteria are not the same illness</li><li>In a 1982 Life Magazine article, it was claimed that "hysteria has almost disappeared, but if there is an equivalent today it is ANorexia, the psychosomatic disorder of young, middle-class women who won't eat."</li><li>A 1988 article from Harvard scientists still suggested that both illnesses were caused by female cultural stereotypes.</li></ul>

Modern Misconception

<ul><li>A psychosomatic disorder is a condition where observed physical symptoms don’t have medical explanations.</li><li>These symptoms are instead attributed to psychological things (e.g., stress, emotions, and personality).</li><li>Many times, we just haven't found medical explanations for them yet.</li><li>However, because we are beginning to find a medical explanation for why anorexia develops (particularly genetics and neurochemical dysfunction), we can't call it a purely psychosomatic condition.</li></ul>

Psychosomatic Disorder

<ul><li>Alexithymia is a personality trait that makes it difficult to identify our feelings, describe what other people are feeling, and to think imaginatively.</li><li>Illness denial is more difficult to find a medical explanation for, but emerging neurological explanations suggest that people with anorexia are not denying their illness out of stubbornness.</li></ul>

Medical Explanations for Psychosomatic Symptoms in Anorexia

Early links to hysteria have contributed to misconceptions about anorexia.

philosophy

Philosophy

mentalhealth

Mental Health

Where Did Anorexia Stereotypes Come From?

Accepting our mortality helps us let go of busyness and focus on what’s most important to us in order to live a happier, more meaningful life.
The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly finite. If you’re lucky and you live to 80, you will have lived about 4,000 weeks. This truth, which most of us ignore most of the time, is something to wrestle with if we want to spend our limited time on this earth well.

Limited Time On This Planet

Time management, broadly defined, should be everyone’s chief concern. Yet the modern discipline of time management (or productivity) is depressingly narrow-minded, focused on devising the perfect morning routine or trying to crank through as many tasks as possible, while investing all your energy on reaching some later state of well-being and accomplishment.
It ignores the fact that the world is bursting with wonder — and that experiencing more of that wonder may come at the cost of productivity.

The Value Of Time

Part of that embrace of limitation involves facing the anxiety that comes with acknowledging mortality. When we recognize the shortness of life — and accept the fact that some things have to be left unaccomplished, whether we like it or not — we are freer to focus on what matters. 
Rather than succumbing to the mentality of “better, faster, more,” we can embrace being imperfect, and be happier for it.

Embracing The Limitation

We all need to make tough choices about what we can realistically get done, so that we can prioritize the activities that matter most, instead of reacting to a constant barrage of demands.One way is to keep two to-do lists — one for everything on your plate, and one for the 10 or fewer things that you’re currently working on. Fill up the 10 slots on the second list with items from the first, then set to work. The rule is not to move any further items from the first list onto the second until you’ve freed up a slot by finishing one of the 10 items.

A Fixed-Volume Approach To Productivity

Focus only on one big project at a time. Though it’s alluring to try to alleviate the anxiety of having too many responsibilities or ambitions by getting started on them all at once, you’ll make little progress that way.
Multitasking rarely works well — and you’ll soon find that serializing helps you to complete more projects anyway, thereby helping relieve your anxiety.

Serialize

You’ll inevitably underachieve at something, simply because your time and energy are finite. But strategic underachievement — nominating in advance the areas of your life in which you won’t expect excellence — helps you focus your time and energy more effectively.To live this way is to replace the high-pressure quest for work-life balance with something more reasonable — a deliberate kind of imbalance.

Fail In A Planned Way

Since the quest to get everything done is interminable by definition, it’s easy to grow despondent and self-reproachful when you can’t get through your whole to-do list. 
One counter-strategy is to keep a “done list,” which starts empty first thing in the morning, but which you can gradually fill in throughout the day as you get things done. It’s a cheering reminder that you could have spent the day doing nothing remotely constructive … yet you didn’t.

Focus On What You Have Completed

Social media is a giant machine for getting you to spend your time caring about the wrong things — and too many of them at once. We’re exposed to an unending stream of atrocities and injustices, each of which might have a legitimate claim on our time and our charitable donations, but which add up to something no human could ever effectively address comprehensively.Once you grasp that fact fully, it’s good to consciously pick your battles in charity, activism, and politics — and devote your s

Limit What You Care About

Digital distractions allow us to escape to a realm where painful human limitations don’t seem to apply — scrolling idly around online, you need never feel bored or constrained in your freedom of action, which isn’t the case when it comes to doing work that matters.You can combat this by making your devices as boring as possible, removing social media apps and, if you dare, email. It’s also helpful to choose devices with only one purpose, such as the Kindle reader. Otherwise, temptations will be only a swipe away, and you’ll feel the urge to check your screens anytime you’re bored.

Make Your Device Boring

Time seems to speed up as we age, likely because our brains encode the passage of years based on how much information we process in any given interval. While children have many novel experiences and time seems slower to them, the routinization of older people’s lives means that time seems to pass at an ever-increasing rate.The standard advice is to combat this by cramming more novel experiences into your life. That can help, but it’s not always practical.An alternative is to pay more attention to every moment, however mundane — to find novelty by plunging more deeply into your present life.

Find Novelty In Everyday Stuff

The desire to feel in control of our limited time causes numerous problems in relationships, resulting not only in controlling behaviour, but also commitment-phobia, the inability to listen, boredom, and missing out on the richness of communal experiences with others.When faced with a challenging or boring moment in a relationship, try being curious about the person you’re with, rather than controlling. Curiosity is a stance well-suited to the inherent unpredictability of life with others, because it can be satisfied by their behaving in ways you like or dislike.

Be Curious In Relationships, Not Demanding Or Controlling

Whenever a generous impulse arises in your mind, give in to it right away rather than putting it off. 
Don’t wait to figure out if the recipient deserves your generosity or if you really have the time to be generous right now (with all of the work you have left to do!). Just do it. The rewards are immediate, too, because generous action reliably makes you feel much happier.

Cultivate Instantaneous Generosity

When it comes to the challenge of using your 4,000 weeks well, the capacity to do nothing is indispensable, because if you can’t bear the discomfort of not acting, you’re far more likely to make poor choices with your time, such as attempting to hurry activities that can’t be rushed or feeling you ought to spend every moment being “productive,” regardless of whether the tasks in question really matter.You can try the “do-nothing” meditation, where you set a timer for 5-10 minutes and then try doing nothing.

Practice Doing Nothing

The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly finite. If you’re lucky and you live to 80, you will have lived about 4,000 weeks. Here's some advice to help you learn how to use that time well, from writer Oliver Burkeman.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

habits

Habits

timemanagement

Time Management

10 ways to get the most out of your time on this planet

<ul><li>Developed by Dr. Michael Mosley</li><li>The diet claims to potentially cut the risk type two diabetes, heart disease, and cancer</li><li>There are two stages to this diet. Stage 1 requires the person to undergo a very low-calorie diet (VLCD) of 800 calories per day. Stage 2 then involves the progression of the daily 800 calories from 7 days a week to only twice a week, and the remaining 5 days they will be on the Mediterranean diet.</li></ul>

The Fast 800 Diet 

There are two stages to this diet regimen:<ul><li>Stage 1 - targets the metabolically active abdominal fat. It aims to normalize the liver and pancreas fat and help promoted regular insulin response and blood glucose management.</li><li>Stage 2 - is gradual weight loss that includes intermittent fasting and a change to the Mediterrenean diet.</li></ul>To those who would want to adopt this diet, they should be aware that this is profoundly affect their bodies and side effects such as headaches, tiredness, and constipation may occur. It is also recommended that they take vitamin and mineral supplements.

How The Fast 800 Diet Works

The Fast 800 is a diet that is mainly recommended to those who have an obesity-related complication that would benefit from rapid weight loss. This type of regimen should be followed under the supervision of a healthcare expert.It is NOT recommended for those who are: under the age of 18, the elderly, those who have pre-existing medical conditions and are undergoing medication, those who have an eating disorder, and to anyone participating in endurance exercises.

The Safeness of the Fast 800 Diet

If you've ever considered following a weight loss diet make sure you have all the facts first. Our nutritionist takes a look at the Fast 800 diet.

What is the Fast 800 diet?

There's much confusion about if going gluten-free is a good option or an unfounded fad.
Gluten is a type of protein. It is naturally found in wheat, barley, rye, and triticale. As an additive, it can bind food together, which means you can find it in products like salad dressing or vitamins.

Understanding gluten

There is a perception that gluten is harmful to everyone and should be avoided. But research does not support this. Long-term studies found no association between long-term dietary gluten consumption and the risk of heart disease or inflammation of the colon lining. Some people do have medical conditions that make them unable to tolerate gluten, such as celiac disease or an autoimmune disorder.
You can go gluten-free as long as you consume nutrient-rich whole food sources of carbohydrates.

The bad reputation of gluten

<ul>
<li>Some medical conditions require strict gluten avoidance, such as celiac disease.</li>
<li>Some practitioners recommend people with autoimmune disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, psoriasis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, avoid gluten.</li>
<li>People with non-celiac gluten sensitivity can have side effects from consuming gluten, such as flu-like feelings, bloating, mental fogginess, and fatigue.</li>
<li>Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is a skin rash that results from eating gluten.</li>
</ul>

Why people go on a gluten-free diet

Gluten-free foods can also be highly processed and lack nutrients. The gluten-free craze has caused a boom in highly processed foods made with refined gluten-free grains, such as white rice. The fact that a product is gluten-free does not mean it is automatically healthy.
Gluten-free whole grains full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre, include brown rice and quinoa. Gluten-free, carb-rich foods include sweet potatoes and fruit.

Gluten-free foods

<ul>
<li>Many people say they eat gluten-free, but they've just eliminated wheat-based foods like bread, pasta, and bagels. Wheat is only one source of gluten.</li>
<li>Some people think gluten is found in every type of grain. Gluten-free grains include rice, corn, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, sorghum, teff, and oats.</li>
<li>Some people think all carb-rich foods contain gluten. The truth is that most whole foods are naturally gluten-free, except for a handful of grains.</li>
</ul>

Beware of gluten myths

What gluten is, why eliminating it from your diet may be necessary, and common pitfalls to avoid if you decide to go gluten-free.

The Label 'Gluten-Free' Is Everywhere-But Should You Actually Eliminate It From Your Diet?

We don't only cry when we experience feelings of sorrow or unhappiness. We also shed tears to express positive states of love or joy.
A recent survey found that 68 per cent of respondents reported crying from a positive experience at least once a month.

Sad and happy tears

<ul>
<li>Achievement tears occur when someone shows extraordinary skill, achieves well-deserved success or overcomes a big obstacle—for example, winning an Olympic medal or recovering from a severe illness.</li>
<li>Affectionate tears occur when someone experiences a unique sense of closeness or communality. An example is holding your newborn baby for the first time.</li>
<li>Beauty tears are shed when people spot magnificence in nature or the arts, and it creates a feeling of awe.</li>
<li>Amusement tears happen when something is so funny that you cry with laughter.</li>
</ul>

Happy tears categories

One explanation for crying is that it is a social signal. It expresses to someone how you are feeling. Negative tears may be a signal for help. Happy tears may indicate that a person is eager to be close to others and have no mean intent.
How you express happy tears depends on who you are. An extrovert more often will experience beauty tears. Empathetic individuals cry affectionate tears more frequently, and liberal people are prone to shed beauty tears.

Why people shed tears at all

Happy tears are often neglected in emotion research. But there are many types, and they have an important function

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

There’s something in my eye: why we happy-cry and what it does for us | Psyche Ideas

If you're a total beginner at exercising, you may see other people doing things that may never seem possible for you. But that's not true. Everybody has to start somewhere. Even experienced exercisers feel that they want to be further along than they are now. 
When you start, you only need to do what you can. If you can't run, you can walk and build from there.

Start where you are at

<ul>
<li>Sit in a chair, then stand back up.</li>
<li>Lean you back against a wall and slide down until you're in a sitting position. </li>
<li>Hold onto a countertop or the back of a chair while you do a squat.</li>
</ul>
Don't worry if you can't squat all the way to parallel. You can work on going lower over time.

If you can't squat

Pushups are easier the higher your hands are and harder the higher your feet are.
For the easiest beginner version, put your hands on a wall about shoulder height. Lean into the wall, and push yourself back to a standing position. When you can do that, find a lower surface, like a table, then a chair, etc.

If you can't do pushups

It's okay to do weight workouts without weights. Make your hands into fists and go through the motions. 
From there, you can use half-litre water bottles, a can of soup or a book. After that, one- and two-pound dumbbells can come in handy.

If you can't pick up weights

Find a video that seems like fun but is just out of your reach. You will find that even if you modify it or rest when needed, you'll come back a little bit better every time.
Remember that your goal should be to do a workout starting at your current level of fitness, not to complete a specific number of reps. Do what you can and rest for the remainder of the time.

If you aren't ready to follow a video

You've got your bike, you can pedal, but you get out of breath and feel like you can't keep going.
Adjust your workout. Pay attention to the instructor's voice and facial expressions and ignore any specific numbers. If the instructor is talking and seems to be on an easy bike ride, adjust your resistance so you are on an easy bike ride. If she's working hard, change your resistance so you are working hard.

If you aren't ready to do a cycling workout

Then walk. Walk across a room, down the block, walk a mile at your speed. Eventually, you'll find yourself walking further and faster. In time you may want to start running. If you hate running, swap it out for something else.

If you aren't ready to run

exerciseandfitness

Exercise & Fitness

How to Make Any Exercise Easier If You’re a Beginner

There is nothing like a bowl of cherry Jell-O topped with a fluffy raft of faux whipped cream on a hot night. Both foodstuffs can be credited to William A. Mitchell.
<ul>
<li>Mitchell was born in Minnesota in 1911. He got a degree in chemistry at the University of Nebraska and worked at General Foods at the start of World War II. There, he developed a substitute for tapioca, which was in short supply.</li>
<li>In 1957, Mitchel developed a powdered fruit-flavored vitamin-enhanced drink mix named Tang Flavor Crystals. In 1962, NASA sent Tang into space to disguise the water&#39;s metallic taste onboard the spaceship.</li>
<li>In 1956, Mitchell attempted to create instantly self-carbonating soda. It resulted in the candy known as Pop Rocks, which was patented in 1961.</li>
<li>In 1957, Mitchell patented a powdered gelatin dessert that could be set with cold water. It paved the way for quick-set Jell-O.</li>
<li>Mitchell introduced the faux whipped cream called Cool Whip in the same year.</li>
</ul>
Mitchell received about 70 patents over his career.

William A. Mitchell's Inventions

Not all of Mitchell&#39;s inventions were successful. Failed inventions included Dacopa, a coffee substitute made from roasted dahlia tubers, and the &quot;dessert-on-the-stick,&quot; a thick starch-based dessert. His patented carbonated ice never became a thing.
Though some of Mitchell&#39;s inventions are still popular, his style of science foods has fallen out of favor and organic, slow food trends are taking its place.

William A. Mitchell's Unsuccessful Inventions

William A. Mitchell invented Cool Whip, Pop Rocks, Tang and other 20th-century treats

history

History

The Scientist Behind Some of Our Favorite Junk Foods 

Food provides the cells in our bodies with their fuel: glucose. Our bodies release a certain amount of glucose into the blood and store the rest as glycogen, releasing it as needed. Once that supply is used up – after at least 12 hours without food – our fat stores are called upon.
Burning of fats actually makes the body less hungry, something which is being researched by dieticians studying metabolism. It is also observed that fasting dampens certain types of hormones, reducing the risk of breast cancer.

The Body On Fasting

Restricting one’s food intake forces the body to start burning stored fat, but complete fasting is not recommended by Scientists, who advise on intermittent fasting, where only 500 to 800 calories are consumed for 2 days in a week, with the rest of the days on a normal diet.
Fasting for longer periods is not recommended without medical supervision.

Fasting And Losing Weight

The mind, as well as our gut bacteria, are positively affected by fasting. The mind is protected by reduction of amyloid proteins during fasting. 
The gut bacteria or the microbiome is benefited by the many new species that start to proliferate inside our stomach.

Unexpected Health Benefits Of Fasting

Is fasting good for you? - BBC Science Focus Magazine

<ul>
<li>Scientists study activity in the brain with a tool called electroencephalography ( EEG), that measures electrical signals coming from neurons.</li>
<li>The brain is not turned off while you sleep - there is a lot of activity going on, even if you’re not aware of it. You cycle through four different sleep stages, and each shows up as a different pattern on the EEG.</li>
<li>Each sleep stage is also associated with different patterns of chemicals in your brain (neurochemicals - the way brain cells use to communicate with each other).</li>
</ul>

How Scientists Study Brain Activity

<ul>
<li>One of the systems in the brain that wakes us up is the reticular activating system (RAS) - a part of your brain located just above your spinal column that acts like a gatekeeper or filter for your brain, making sure it doesn’t have to deal with more information than it can handle.</li>
<li>The RAS can sense important information and create neurochemicals that wake up other parts of the brain. It also keeps you awake throughout the day.</li>
<li>Once the RAS switch turns on, it can take some time for your whole brain and body to wake up. This is because it takes a few minutes to clear all the “sleepy” neurochemicals from your brain, which is why you may feel groggy when an alarm clock wakes you up.</li>
</ul>

How Our Brains Wake Us Up

When your brain is asleep, it shifts between deep and light stages. If your alarm clock goes off during a deeper stage of sleep, it takes longer for all the parts of your brain to wake up.

Why We Feel More Groggy On Some Days

The mystery of how the brain creates consciousness still puzzles scientists, but the mechanics of waking up are starting to be understood.

The Pros and Cons of Intuitive Eating

Where Did Anorexia Stereotypes Come From?

10 ways to get the most out of your time on this planet

What is the Fast 800 diet?

The Label 'Gluten-Free' Is Everywhere-But Should You Actually Eliminate It From Your Diet?

Rachel P.