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WESTBROOK, Maine, Aug. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Life science company ClearH2O has recently been named as one of the 2022 Best Places to Work in Maine. Known for its leadership and innovation in manufacturing essential animal nutrition supplements and diets, ClearH2O's products are used by veterinarians and animal care professionals around the world to advance animal health and welfare while improving medical research and livestock production.

Commenting on making the 2022 Best Places to Work in Maine list, the company's president, Kathie Dioli, states, 'I believe this award acknowledges the great work environment and team we have built at ClearH2O. The work we do is meaningful, having a direct impact on improving the lives of animals and mankind. We place a high standard on personal character, integrity, and performance expectations while offering a fast-paced, collaborative, and collegial work environment. We love what we do, knowing that we're making a difference in the world And, we have fun doing it, too', says Kathie.

The awards program was created in 2006 and is aproject ofthe Society for Human Resource Management - Maine State Council (MESHRM) and Best Companies Group. Partners endorsing the program include: Mainebiz, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and Maine HR Convention.

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Maine, benefiting the state's economy, its workforce and businesses. The 2022 Best Places to Work in Maine list is made up of 100 companies in three size categories: 34 small winners (15-49 U.S. employees), 45 medium winners (50-249 U.S. employees) and 21 large winners (250+ U.S. employees).

ClearH2O will be recognized in the October 17th edition of Mainebiz where the rankings will be revealed for the first time.

For more information on ClearH2O, visit http://www.clearh2o.com or contact William T. Thomas.

For more information on the Best Places to Work in Maine program, visit http://www.BestPlacestoWorkME.com or contact Jackie Miller at 717-323-5237.

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Its over a year since Janette Manrara announced she was leaving Strictly, after nearly a decade as a professional dancer on the hit BBC show and shes happy to admit her body changed as a result.

I fluctuate often I can tell when Ive not been dancing on tour, or Ive not been doing shows.

I noticed my body changed because I wasnt doing the physical activity I was doing every single day when I was dancing, explains the 38-year-old, who would previously be in the dance studio for up to 10 hours a day. I think I used to watch what I ate even less when I was dancing, but now I balance it out a bit more.

Ive started really getting into weight training. Im doing a bit of running, and I like to be at home and just do 25 minutes of body exercises, just here with my yoga mat, as much as I can. Thats helped me maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep an eye on my weight, because I did feel the difference, in my muscles especially, when I stopped Strictly.

Cuban-American Manrara who is married to fellow Strictly dancer Alja korjanec, and took over from Zoe Ball hosting Strictly spin-off series It Takes Two last June is keeping a level approach though, and steering clear of rigid diets.

At the moment, Im really allowing myself to just relax and enjoy the holidays and sunshine and spending time with loved ones. I think its important for our overall health and wellbeing to do that, and let go of that super-strict diet and enjoy the holiday and not feel guilty about it and having a few cocktails and a dessert at the end of the night.

Dont feel guilty about it, youre on holiday, this is good for you as well, she enthuses.

It Takes Two will return to screens soon, and right now Manrara says shes kind of in holiday mode Im working but Im holidaying a lot.

She adds: I just came back from Mykonos with my friend Ashley [Roberts], Alja and I went to visit our families, and I was in Ibiza with my brother, and in the midst of that Ive been doing bits and bobs of work.

Those 20-30 minute workouts I can squeeze in even when Im on holiday have been really helpful. I try and exercise at least three times a week, if Im really good then four times a week, even if its on my own in my hotel room if Im on holiday, or here at home, and be careful with what Im putting into my body. But not too careful either, because its good to relax and have a break.

Shes all about balance when it comes to what she eats. I wouldnt say I eat healthily, but I think Im very balanced with my food. If Ive been very good in the day, I allow myself a little treat in the evening, or if Ive been naughty in the day then I try to eat not too bad later. I also watch my portions I dont have big portions of anything.

But Im not a crazy fiend about eating super-healthy, I just try and keep my plate balanced, with a little bit of salad, a little bit of veggies, some protein and some carbs, and if I want a little treat afterwards, then a piece of chocolate or anything like that, she adds.

But Alja and I love a pizza or a burger, and this weekend we had friends over, so I didnt really look at what I ate and I enjoyed myself. But this week Ill be a little bit more conscious, because I ate a bit more relaxed at the weekend.

I dont think its about cutting things out completely, its just about balancing it out, and watching what you put into your body.

Manrara, who got a diploma in the science of wellbeing last summer, adds: Wellbeing is everything. Its about finding a way to be physically active and mentally stimulated and happy. There are so many different ways we can look after our mind and our body and put that into one.

Theres no one solution for anyone I learned that through my wellbeing courses. Its about finding that balance thats right for you, not trying fit an image, profile or a certain type. We all come in different shapes and sizes, and finding what works for you is what I think wellbeing is all about what makes you ultimately happy and feel good.

As for ageing, Manrara, who has become a brand ambassador for New Nordic Collagen Shot, says: Ive got nothing against Botox maybe one day I will do it, who knows but if I can find natural, easy ways to look after my skin and body, then Id rather do that now.

She says shes been taking the Collagen Shot sachets for about a year. Its such an easy way to look after yourself, without having to apply a thousand creams and everything else we try to do to look after our skin. I take a multi-vitamin for women in the morning, and that and my Collagen Shot are my two saving graces.

Whats her secret when it comes to working with her husband? korjanec announced his departure from Strictly earlier this year but the couples careers remain closely entwined.

All Alja and I have known since the day we met has been working together, she says. When were not together, thats when its more weird for us than when we are together, because its what were used to.

Theyve just recorded a really fun TV show that took them across the UK, and Manrara says it was great to work together on something non-dance related. Theyve also got a show coming out this winter that shes not allowed to say too much about although she does reveal shell be dancing with her husband on stage again.

When we worked on Strictly together, we rarely saw each other, she adds. It was nice oh, that sounds awful well, it was different, because wed come home and share each others experiences and talk about how the day went, and at the same time try not to talk about work too much. Because we both do the same job, itd be very easy to make our lives 24/7 about work.

I think its important, especially as a married couple, to always be very honest and communicate and discuss when lines are crossed, in the sense of weve been at work and rehearsing together all day lets not come home and spend the next three hours talking about work again, she adds. You have to disconnect and get your mind off it, and sometimes thats tough with Alja and I because were both passionate about what we do.

Are there any plans to start a family?

Manrara says theyre thinking of getting a puppy, although she adds wryly: A friend of mine said you should have a baby before you get a puppy.

Obviously, I dont want to say were planning for a family, all I want to say on that is I definitely want to be a mother, and we shall see what happens.

Janette Manrara is a brand ambassador for New Nordic Collagen Shot (newnordic.co.uk)

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If youre one of the nearly half of American adults with hypertensionor if you want to avoid becoming one of thema few dietary tweaks (plus regular exercise and shedding excess belly fat) could make a big difference.

One of the best ways to upgrade your diet is to add more plant-based foods, like fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and grains. A study review in the Journal of Hypertension showed that people who ate plant-rich diets, such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, Nordic diet, or Mediterranean diet, had lower blood pressures on average than those who didnt.

You can still eat animal foods like meat and dairythe idea is just to add more plants into the mix. Plant foods tend to be high in nutrients like potassium, magnesium, and others that help counterbalance sodium, a mineral many Americans overeat, to keep blood pressure in check.

Think of the relationship between sodium and these other minerals kind of like as a pulley system, says Roberta Anding, MS, RD/LD, a dietitian and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine. When you think about high-sodium foods, usually things that are really high in sodium are low in these other nutrients, and what you're trying to do is balance these out, so it's not like you can never have salt or anything that's got sodium in it, but the question is what is on the other side of the pulley system.

Follow the American Heart Associations guideline of less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. Then, add more of the following foods to your diet to help you keep your BP in the safe zone.

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Your favorite salads can help you lower your blood pressure and protect your heart, thanks in part to a compound called nitrate, which helps blood vessels open and close. In a study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, people who ate the most nitrate-rich vegetables had lower systolic blood pressures, by about three points on average, than people who ate the least. Then, over the following 23 years, people who consumed about 60 milligrams of nitrate from vegetables per day had a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those who ate less. Lettuce was the top nitrate-rich vegetable in participants diets. The researchers say about a cup of green leafy vegetables per day could be enough to reduce cardiovascular disease risk. Check out the easiest way to eat a whole day's worth of greens in one sittingand it's not a smoothie.

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Beet juice is Andings favorite BP-reducing food. The reason: Its rich in blood-vessel-friendly nitrates, and its easy to incorporate into your diet even if you hate the taste of vegetables. She has helped many collegiate and professional athletes keep their BPs in check by showing them how to work beet juice into their daily routines. You can down a one-ounce serving of beet juice like a shot or mix it into your favorite fruit or vegetable smoothie. If you like beets in their natural form, roast three to five beets as a side dish or accompaniment to your favorite salad.

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These green nuts could help you keep your BP in the clear. In a study review published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers found that regular pistachio consumption is associated with a systolic blood pressure reduction of about two points. Pistachios and other nuts are rich in magnesium, fats, fiber, and polyphenols that might all have beneficial effects on blood pressure, says Anding. She recommends crushing pistachios and using them in place of breadcrumbs or croutons. Those are probably the two ways I use it, as a coating for either chicken or fish or in salads, she says.

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Another nut worth cracking? The cashew. A study review published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine showed that people who regularly ate cashews had systolic blood pressures about three points lower than those who did not. The fatty acids in cashews might beneficially affect baroreflex sensitivity, one of your bodys mechanisms for regulating blood pressure, the researchers say. Cashews are also rich in arginine, which your body uses to make nitric oxide to expand and contract your blood vessels.

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Good old H2O can help you regulate your BP. In a study published in the journal Nutrients, healthy adults who drank an extra 550 milliliters of water in the morning and at bedtime reduced their systolic blood pressure by about six points within 12 weeks. The extra hydration might have helped study participants in multiple ways, such as improving their kidney function to help them clear excess sodium and water, changing their secretion of hormones involved in raising BP, or decreasing resistance in their circulatory system, the researchers say. (Check out this guideline for how much water you should be drinking in a day.)

If you already have hypertension and take medicine to control it, talk with your doctor before changing your fluid intake. This is especially important if you take a diuretic, which works by helping your body clear out excess water and sodium, says Anding.

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Sipping tea could help you calm your mind and tame your blood pressure. A study review published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine suggests that drinking about three to four cups of tea daily, especially green tea, could reduce systolic blood pressure by about 3.5 points and diastolic blood pressure by about a point. Antioxidants in tea might lower blood pressure in many ways, such as increasing the bioavailability of nitric oxide to dilate blood vessels, suppressing a hormone system known to trigger blood pressure increases, and reducing inflammation, the researchers say.

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You can upgrade your daily breakfast with less than a half cup of hot cereal. In a study published in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, people with hypertension who consumed 30 grams of fiber-rich oat bran daily reduced their systolic blood pressure by an average of 15 points and their diastolic blood pressure by an average of 10 points within 30 days. The bran eaters then needed less BP-lowering medication than people in the control group. One reason: The bran diet induced a beneficial shift in gut bacteria toward species that produce short-chain fatty acids that might activate receptors in the kidneys and blood vessels in a way that benefits blood pressure regulation.

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Beans are sometimes lauded as magical foods, and heres another reason to believe. In a study published in the journal Nutrients, people who ate 55 to 70 grams of legumes (about one-third of a cup of cooked lentils or beans) per day were 43 percent less likely to develop hypertension over nearly four years than people who ate less. Legumes tend to be high in potassium plus filling fiber and protein, says Anding. Pair them with other BP-reducing foods for a healthy meal; for example, you can add nuts to lentil curries for creaminess and crunch, she recommends.

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In a study published in the journal Nutrients, people who added 1,000 milligrams of potassium per day from baked or boiled potatoes (thats about a potato and a half) to their daily diets reduced their systolic blood pressure by about three more points than people on a control diet within just 17 days. Potatoes are rich in potassium and may help reduce sodium retention, the researchers say. Sadly, people fed French Fries didnt reap the same benefits. Check out other ways potatoes are great for you here.

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Fatty fish like salmon are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which help transfer sodium, potassium, phosphorus, and fluids into your cells and aid your bodys regulation of an important hormone. Omega-3 sensitizes your body to your own insulin, says Anding. When you make your own insulin in the right amount, things go well; when you make too much insulin, you can have the retention of fluid and sodium, which contribute to high blood pressure. The American Heart Association recommends eating two servings of fish, such as salmon, tuna, or cod, per week.

Julie Stewart is a writer and content strategist whose work has also appeared in Health, and Womens Health, Everyday Health, Vice, and Shape.

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10 Foods That Lower Your Blood Pressure - Men's Health

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Overall health has always been a hot topic of conversation, and inevitably talk of weight issues takes center stage. But even if your goal is not to lose weight, weight loss apps can be a great way for you to maintain your current weight, gain weight, track workouts, log hydration levels, introduce healthier foods into your diet or just monitor your overall health. With so many downloadable weight loss apps available, it can be exasperating to figure out which one is the best one for you.

The best weight loss apps will teach you sustainable healthy eating habits, educate you on portion control and promote balanced meals, says Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN, CSO, CDN, NASM-CPT, Deputy Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab. Hydration, sleep, activity, mental health and so much more play into the holistic health equation, arguably far more so than weight. Apps that provide support in those areas in addition to encouraging healthy food choices are ideal.

The registered dietitians at the Good Housekeeping Institute are here to help you navigate this crowded field and find the app that will help you achieve your goals. Please note that weight loss, health and body image are complex subjects before deciding to go on a diet, consider visiting our article that investigates the hazards of diet culture.

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Our registered dietitians took the following factors into consideration when reviewing and choosing these apps: Range of features, ease of use, cost, community and social networking opportunities, dietary preferences, and ability to log fitness, sleep and hydration. We also looked for apps that encouraged mindfulness and relaxation techniques and ones that were rated the highest among users on both Android and iOS.

When selecting the ideal weight loss app, you'll want to consider the following:

Meeting your wellness targets: Not all apps are created equal, so its important to find one that is tailored to your needs and lifestyle. If you travel a lot maybe you may want choose an app that has a large database and contains both local and international brands. If you cook at home, look for an app that welcomes a variety of ways to track such as with photographs or by entering recipes. Apps that provides healthy recipe ideas and substitutions may also be a great choice if you need guidance with meal prep.

Affordability: Most apps offer some sort of free trial, so you can give it a road test before committing to the full month or year subscription. Our experts say its important to carefully compare advantages of both short term and longer term commitments. The great thing about apps is that you can figure out if it's going to work for you after a few tries, so feel free to experiment and test it out for a month or two before you make a major commitment.

Community: If you are motivated by the shared experiences of others, look for an app with larger membership numbers and greater social opportunities, such as Facebook groups. Check out the activity and quality of interactions on the apps social media platforms before committing.

The experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab stress that these apps are not regulated and many are not formulated with dietary or medical experts. In addition, these apps require some work on your part, so it depends on how much time and effort you can commit to logging your daily foods. For many people, these systems work well because they hold them accountable for the foods they eat, although research is mixed on the effectiveness of apps. The concept is akin to a financial budget, which works only if you accurately track of your spending. When you are logging everything that you consume, you might be surprised at how many calories you are taking in, and that could encourage you to make different choices. As a bonus, these apps can help to keep you on track with staying properly hydrated and maintaining physical activity. Basically, its up to you to get the most benefit out of these apps.

Take note: For individuals with a history of disordered eating, logging calories could be associated with unhealthy dieting practices. In this instance, the use of weight loss apps should be avoided or monitored closely by a healthcare provider.

Weight loss apps arent for everyone, but they can be a useful tool to help to educate you about your diet and to teach you how to make healthier choices. It is always important to remember that there are many factors that go into successful weight loss including setting a realistic weight range that works for you and that you can maintain without feeling restricted. Genetics, life stage and overall health can also play a role.

Remember that there is no magic pill for weight loss; the goal should always be to improve your overall health and to learn how to make better choices when it comes to food and nutrition.

A well-balanced diet should consist of plenty of nonstarchy vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, whole grains, nuts, seeds and fruit. If you can use these apps to help you add more vegetables to your meals and to eliminate sugary foods and beverages while becoming more aware of what you consume, then it's a win.

As a registered dietitian, Amy Fischer has worked with thousands of patients to improve their overall health through a whole foods and nutritious diet. Amy believes that food is to be enjoyed even on a weight loss journey and that while calories count, the focus should be on health, eating and living better and not just losing weight.

Having been through her own weight loss journey and providing nutrition counseling to patients and clients for the past eight years, Stefani Sassos, registered dietitian and Deputy Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab, is passionate about sustainable weight management and healthy eating practices. Shes extremely well versed in the current health and wellness app space and leads category testing efforts for Good Housekeeping.

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11 Best Weight Loss Apps of 2022, According to Registered Dietitians - Good Housekeeping

I have huge admiration for George Monbiot, a columnist of this newspaper. His work has highlighted the urgent need to reduce our CO2 emissions and switch to greener energy. He has also shown intensive farmings role in the dramatic levels of species decline and biodiversity loss. Much of what he writes I wholeheartedly agree with but when it comes to the solutions we need to change our farming and food systems, we have radically different takes.

It is indisputable that the farming revolution of the 1950s, with its widespread use of ammonia fertilisers and herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, has waged war on nature. These intensive, monocultural ways of producing food are not only contaminating our land and waterways, but are heating up our planet and contributing to a crisis in human health (more people die of diet-related disease globally than smoking, according to a study published in the Lancet). The animals in factory farms dont have a great time either. The decline of insect life is incredibly worrying: without the earthworm, beetle and bee, life as we know it could cease. Topsoils, which we use to grow 95% of the worlds food, are depleting at an astonishing rate. We need to change the way we eat and produce food, and we need to do it quickly.

Thus far Monbiot and I agree. But in a recent article, he wrote that organic, pasture-fed beef and lamb are the worlds most damaging farm products. He criticises chefs and foodies like me for focusing on regenerative grazing, which he calls rebranded ranching. His alternative vision includes a revolution in creating food through precision fermentation: growing food in labs from microbes and water. Before long, most of our food will come neither from animals nor plants, but from unicellular life, he wrote in this paper in 2020.

Although not averse to the idea of lab-grown food, I am much more for small-scale, community-driven farming because I believe in the potential of food to be a force for good, for human and environmental health. The methods that regenerative farmers such as the writer Gabe Brown propose have shown how non-intensive livestock, when managed well, can increase topsoil more than previously thought, which can then accumulate biomass (carbon) and retain precious rainwater. The argument put forward by Monbiot that it is not possible to produce enough food this way is often used to decry better food systems, yet according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, small-scale farmers currently produce about a third of our food.

Monbiots enthusiasm for precision fermentation worries me greatly. Just about all of this new food technology is heavily funded by tech oligarchs, venture capitalists or the occasional celebrity, writes the retail podcaster Errol Schweizer in Forbes. Precision fermentation claims to get us off our destructive addiction to cheap meat, but not without potential downsides. These inventions are heavily patented, pushing the future of our food supply further into the hands of an increasingly small and powerful collection of multinational food players..

There is very little transparency about the amount of energy and materials needed to build the system of factories that would be needed to adopt these foods to the degree that their proponents would like. How fossil-fuel dependent are they? How many other chemicals and compounds are needed to make them, and where will we get them from and how? In our race to look for better systems of food production it is tempting to look for magic bullets, but we cannot afford to ignore the risks.

Ultra-processed foods make up half of the UKs calories, and their health impact gets very little attention from the government or in medical schools. We know that other ultra-processed foods even some plant-based meat alternatives are high in protein but can also be very high in salt and fat.

Companies that practise regenerative farming, such as Hodmedods in the UK, are producing affordable pulses and grains that are rich in protein and fibre, through a cooperative of small-scale farms that almost all use some grazing animals in their systems to aid the nutrient cycle in their soil. In these types of farms, small herds of cattle or sheep graze diverse cover crops, boosting the biodiversity on their land, not reducing it (as Monbiot claimed in his article). The cover crops build back goodness in the soil and remove the need to use pesticides. The presence of livestock adds nutrients through their muck and saliva. They also add the nutrients to our diets: animal fats from grass-fed animals are hard to replace in human diets. Plus, the livestock adds an extra revenue stream for the farmers, making them more resilient.

Through the work we do at the charity Chefs in Schools, I have seen first-hand how it is possible to feed people food that is high in fibre and in flavour, and that costs less than the ultra-processed food children were being fed before. With the right political will (60% of secondary schools are currently failing school food standards and food plays no role in actual Ofsted ratings), we can feed people on all incomes a better diet, not just through schools but also in hospitals, prisons and social canteens. If we continue to go down the ultra-processed route then food may well continue to make people sick, which, according to Henry Dimblebys National Food Plan, costs the economy an estimated 74bn.

I love doughnuts and crisps, but we cant live on these alone. I am open to plant-based foods if we can move away from making them with the mono-crops that are so destructive to animal life and soils. And I am all for technology, but as long as it works with nature, not against it. We need better funding for soil science and for feeding proper food to people on lower incomes.

We need to change our diets. We do have to eat significantly less meat. But the evidence of the past 70 years suggests that when we replace natures complex biology with a tunnel-visioned look at certain aspects of chemistry and ignore others, it has profoundly negative and often unforeseen consequences. In nature the animal and vegetable worlds are never separate we should learn something from that.

Thomasina Miers is a cook, writer and restaurateur

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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Eating meat isnt a crime against the planet if its done right - The Guardian

New research in Zambia highlights the high volumes collected of a wide range of wild foods from insects to freshwater fish to leafy greens and tubers in rural areas across all of the countrys agroecological zones. Across Zambia, many types of wild food were collected by every rural household surveyed, except one, and in substantial amounts, said Ashley Steel, a forest officer with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and lead author of the paper, which was published this month in People and Nature.

The study provided methods to quantify the amounts collected of these wild foods, and presents data to show how much wild food rural Zambians are collecting. It highlighted the need to acknowledge this resource in forest management policies to ensure that these foods remain available, particularly in the face of challenges such as climate change and deforestation. The work suggested that accurate and local data can help policy makers design effective forest management policies and ensure community access to forests.

Wild food collection from forests, even degraded forests, appears to be ubiquitous in rural areas, said Steel. Forest loss and degradation are, therefore, national concerns that have food security and social implications in addition to environmental impacts.

Globally, government policies rarely pay enough attention to the importance of wild foods such as wild fish, small animals, and plants used in traditional medicines in part, because use of these products has been difficult to quantify. As a case in point, this data is thought to be some of the first to quantify the volume of wild forest foods collected across Zambia. To do so, the scientists measured how much of these foods is collected, and what types in which areas. The research, which formed part of a pilot project that has informed a larger survey of wild food collection in Zambia, involved 209 households across 14 villages covering all agroecological zones in the country. Sixty vendors in five large markets were also surveyed.

Fruit was the most common product collected across regions and households, with at least 90 percent of households saying they gathered fruit. About 76 percent of households collected green leafy vegetables, and 73 percent collected mushrooms. Twenty-seven to 75 percent of households across the five sites said they collected medicinal and aromatic plants, and 10 to 68 percent of households collected honey. There was high variation across agroecological regions in the quantity of insects, tubers, nuts, wild meat, wild fish, and aquatic plants gathered, pointing to the importance of data that can be disaggregated to the local level.

The authors used the findings to extrapolate that rural households in Zambia collect 380,000 cubic meters of wild foods annually thats about 12 million large (20-litre) collection buckets! About 88 percent of the volume of wild foods collected in the study was gathered directly from forests, indicating that wild foods from forests can be important to building the resilience of households in the face of crises such as climate change or pandemics.

Wild foods can also make a significant impact on dietary diversity, said paper co-author and principal investigator for the project, Amy Ickowitz, who is a scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)World Agroforestry Center (CIFOR-ICRAF). These nutrient-rich wild foods are particularly important in Zambia, where maize-based staple foods are the base of diets which lack diversity, she said; wild foods can provide an important nutritional supplement to diets, increasing their diversity and nutrient content.

Although the most food-insecure households collected high volumes of wild food, the correlation between food security and wild food collection wasnt strong. Evidence was also mixed on whether wealth was a predictor of wild food collection, and other factors such as proximity to forests were also likely important.

The goal of the methodological design and awareness-raising provided by the new research is to improve global data on collection of wild foods from forests. Wild foods are not only important in Zambia: 15 of 71 non-OECD countries surveyed reported regular use of wild foods by the majority of their populations, according to a 2019 FAO report.

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Wild foods found to be widely collected across all agro-ecological zones of Zambia - CIFOR Forests News - Forests News, Center for International...

Several media outlets reported on a new study from Cornell University this month research that looked at the consequences for wide adoption of plant-based beef alternatives across the U.S.

The stories reported alarming meat industry job losses. Yahoo News warned that beef alternatives could cost 440,000 jobs in the UK. The Hill reported how plant-based beef helps climate change but hurts jobs. The Express used the title vegan beef threatens 1.5 million farming jobs as woke ditch meat to save planet.

The problem is all of these stories got the numbers wrong. What the study authors actually found is that a more plant-based food system would create more than enough jobs to offset beef industry losses. Worse, the media coverage ignored the disastrous working conditions and human rights abuses that workers face in the current meat-centered food system.

Using a national model for analysis, the study authors found that a shift to plant-based beef alternatives could reduce the number of cows raised for beef by up to 12 million animals and the carbon footprint of food production in the U.S. by as much as 13.5 percent. Thats consistent with the latest recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), which called for a global shift to more plant-rich diets to slash emissions from food production and animal agriculture in particular. The food system contributes up to 37 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

The authors estimate that more than 1.5 million people employed in beef value chains in the U.S. could lose their jobs due to the shift to a more plant-based food system. However, they also expect that these job losses will be offset by growth in other sectors, including flour milling, maize processing and oilseed farming. Yet those critical offsets were left out of virtually all news reports on the research.

According to study author Mario Herrero, there are good reasons for regulators and policymakers to encourage these up-and-coming technologies.

Herrero also urges politicians to remain aware of unintended negative consequences and commit to supporting disadvantaged workers and hard-hit local communities and small producers.

A joint study by the International Labour Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank in 2020 looked at how to achieve a just transition climate action that centers workers and frontline communities and found that a shift to plant-based diets could result in a loss of 4.3 million jobs, but a potential gain of 19 million jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition to omitting the positive effects a new food system would have on jobs, no outlet mentioned the biggest population who would be impacted by this move animals.

The study itself did consider the potential of plant-based alternatives to reduce the total number of animals raised for meat. However, the authors only cautioned that taking beef off the menu could result in more chickens and pigs being farmed, species that are more often raised in confined feeding operations.

That the media failed to take into account how food system change would impact animals is not surprising. But outlets also failed to fully consider the impacts on the human species.

As undercover investigators, human rights organizations and psychologists have pointed out, again and again, the human costs of animal agriculture are devastating. Reporting on the future of food should include these costs along with the bare job numbers.

Most news reports also failed to mention that the shift to a more sustainable food system is absolutely necessary to prevent the climate crisis from devastating economies worldwide. The ILO and IDB study estimates that 2.5 million jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean could be lost to heat stress alone by 2030, affecting farm workers and other outdoor workers, and that damages caused by the climate crisis could cost the region $100 billion (in USD) yearly.

When reporting on meat processing and packing workers, journalists should know that turning animals into food is one of the most demanding jobs in existence. Workers typically stand shoulder to shoulder in cold and dark spaces surrounded by knives, saws, grinders and other dangerous machines. In the U.S., meat workers have the highest workplace injury rates in all manufacturing industries, and are three times more likely to experience severe injuries, such as burns and amputations, than the average worker.

Hearing loss caused by extreme noise, hypothermia, musculoskeletal disorders and exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and viruses are also factors that add to the physical stress experienced by meat workers.

Beyond the physical harm, many workers report the most challenging physical aspect is the act of killing the animals. Meat workers on the kill floor kill hundreds to thousands of animals daily, most of whom are young, in poor physical condition and, in some cases, even pregnant. This kind of work takes its toll on the psyche of slaughterhouse workers.

A 2021 review of 14 studies found that meat workers have a higher rate of mental health issues, especially depression and anxiety. Further, slaughterhouse work is associated with traumatic disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and perpetrator-induced traumatic stress (PITS) syndrome, which leads to PTSD symptoms in individuals who participated in causing a traumatic situation.

Some psychologists point out that slaughterhouse worker trauma is the result of company policies and public demand for meat, preferring to characterize their experiences as participation-induced trauma (also abbreviated PITS) instead. The disorder can manifest as depression, hostility, panic, paranoia, psychosis and violent dreams.

Despite the highly demanding work conditions, meat packers around the world receive low wages. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, slaughterers and meat packers received a mean hourly wage of $15.53 per hour in 2021. In the European Union, meat companies often avoid legal liability by hiring workers through intermediaries, a Guardian investigation revealed last year. Another Guardian report found that migrant workers in the Netherlands meat sector often face underpayment, long working hours and poor housing.

Unsurprisingly, as fewer people are willing to work in slaughterhouses, the meat industry has begun to lament labor shortages in recent years. Meat companies are more likely to recruit members of vulnerable communities, including undocumented immigrants and prisoners, to fill these positions.

More than half 51.5 percent of frontline meatpacking workers in the U.S. are immigrants, 25.2 percent are Black, 44.4 percent Hispanic, with nearly half living in families who are below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, according to a report by The Center for Economic and Policy Research.

In the E.U., the situation is similar, with a large proportion of slaughterhouse workers coming from migrant communities. This year, after Russias invasion of Ukraine, German pork producer Tnnies sent employees to the Polish-Ukrainian border to offer refugees a ride to Germany if they agreed to work for the company.

The production of plant-based ingredients eliminates the most physically and emotionally grueling elements of meat production dissecting animal bodies and taking their lives. Workers employed by plant-based producers create food products by mixing ingredients together or overseeing other steps of the production process, such as forming, breading and packaging.

Its unlikely that everyone currently working in the meat industry will find a new job in a plant-based food system, however. Retraining might not be an option for everyone, and some workers may want to pursue jobs outside of the agriculture industry entirely. Also, experts point out that the production of plant-based alternatives may be more automated than meat processing, resulting in fewer factory jobs for human employees. Workers in a plant-based system would also not be immune from many other workplace challenges, as a shift in ingredients does not necessarily improve management.

Yet all of these constraints should not stand in the way of climate action that reduces food system emissions, avoids animal slaughter and creates jobs where workers dont have to engage in traumatic activities on a daily basis. Considering the trauma and damage caused by slaughterhouse work, fewer jobs in that industry are hardly bad news.

Read More

New Study Confirms Again Plant-Based Is Better for the Planet

How the U.S. Poultry Industry Is Crushing Contract Chicken Farmers

From Livestock to Plants: Why Some Farmers Are Making the Switch to More Sustainable Agriculture

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No, Shifting to Plant-Based Diets Will Not Cause Massive Job Cuts - Sentient Media

Similarly to replacing your favorite candy with fruit, nixing your favorite soda and replacing it with water is another step toward a healthier diet. Healthline explains that of all the things you can drink, sugary beverages are by far the worst. These drinks contain added sugars, which have been linked to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. They can also lead you to consume excess calories, as the calories from the sugar do not satiate the same way calories from food do. The plus side is that if flat water doesn't excite you, there are plenty of alternatives you can incorporate into your diet to quench your thirst. For example, sparkling water provides the fizziness you'd get from soda, and if you add natural fruit juices like lemon or lime, you get additional flavor as well.

However, experts at Eat This, Not That! suggest staying away from diet sodas, as they may contain carcinogens, and can actually lead to weight gain. Registered dietitian Miriam Jacobson, spoke to the site and explained, "Even though diet drinks are calorie-free, they cause insulin to be released in your gut because their artificial sweeteners are sweet like sugar. Insulin is your body's primary fat-storage hormone, so consuming it will cause the body to hold onto any extra fat."

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Tips To Help You Move Toward A Healthier Diet - Health Digest

Research finds that eating grapes regularly leads to unique gene expression patterns, reduces fatty liver, and extends the lifespan of mice consuming a high-fat western-style diet.

In comprehensive studies published recently in the journal Foods, it was reported that the long-term addition of grapes to the diet of mice leads to unique gene expression patterns, reduces fatty liver, and extends the lifespan of animals consuming a high-fat western style diet. The research team was led by Dr. John Pezzuto of Western New England University.

Pezzuto, who is an author of over 600 papers in the scientific literature, said he was especially amazed by these results. We have all heard the saying you are what you eat which is obviously true since we all start out as a fetus and end up being an adult by eating food. But these studies add an entirely new dimension to that old saying. Not only is food converted to our body parts, but as shown by our work with dietary grapes, it actually changes our genetic expression. That is truly remarkable.

What is the effect of this alteration of gene expression? As shown in this paper, fatty liver is prevented or delayed. Fatty liver is a condition that affects around 25% of the worlds population and can eventually lead to untoward effects, including liver cancer. The genes responsible for the development of fatty liver were altered in a beneficial way by consuming grapes. In ancillary work, not only is the expression of genes altered, but metabolism is also changed by dietary grapes. This study was recently published by a collaborative team led by Dr. Jeffrey Idle in the journal Food & Function.

Studies of grapes add an entirely new dimension to the saying you are what you eat.

In addition to genes related to fatty liver, the work found that the grape-supplemented diets increased levels of antioxidant genes. According to Pezzuto, Many people think about taking dietary supplements that boast high antioxidant activity. In actual fact, though, you cannot consume enough of an antioxidant to make a big difference. But if you change the level of antioxidant gene expression, as we observed with grapes added to the diet, the result is a catalytic response that can make a real difference.

Another remarkable effect demonstrated in this research was the ability of grapes to extend the lifespan of mice given a high-fat western pattern diet. The high-fat western pattern diet is known to be associated with adverse conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cancer, and Alzheimers disease. Adding grapes to the diet, which did not affect the rate of consumption or body weight, delayed natural death. Although translating years of lifespan from a mouse to a human is not an exact science, Pezzuto notes that his best estimate is the change observed in the study would correspond to an additional 4-5 years in the life of a human.

Precisely how all of this relates to humans remains to be seen, but it is clear that adding grapes to the diet changes gene expression in more than just the liver. In studies recently published in the journal Antioxidants by Pezzuto and his team of researchers, it was found that grape consumption alters gene expression in the brain. At the same time, grape consumption had positive effects on behavior and cognition that were impaired by a high-fat diet, suggesting that the alteration of gene expression was what produced this beneficial response. More studies are needed, but it is notable that a team led by Silverman at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) reported that the daily administration of grapes had a protective effect on brain metabolism. This new research indicates that this is due to alteration of gene expression.

References:

Consumption of Grapes Modulates Gene Expression, Reduces Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, and Extends Longevity in Female C57BL/6J Mice Provided with a High-Fat Western-Pattern Diet by Asim Dave, Eun-Jung Park, Avinash Kumar, Falguni Parande, Diren Beyolu, Jeffrey R. Idle and John M. Pezzuto, 5 July 2022, Foods.DOI: 10.3390/foods11131984

Addition of grapes to both a standard and a high-fat Western pattern diet modifies hepatic and urinary metabolite profiles in the mouse by Diren Beyolu, Eun-Jung Park, Adolfo Quiones-Lombraa, Asim Dave, Falguni Parande, John M. Pezzuto and Jeffrey R. Idle, 20 July 2022, Food & Function.DOI: 10.1039/D2FO00961G

Effect of Dietary Grapes on Female C57BL6/J Mice Consuming a High-Fat Diet: Behavioral and Genetic Changes by Falguni Parande, Asim Dave, Eun-Jung Park, Christopher McAllister and John M. Pezzuto, 18 February 2022, Antioxidants.DOI: 10.3390/antiox11020414

The grapes used in these studies were provided by the California Table Grape Commission, who partially supported the work as well. Kathleen Nave, president of the commission, noted that the grape growers of California are proud to have supported grape research at over 70 institutions throughout the US and the world for over 20 years. She stated that Grape growers in California have had the privilege of supporting scores of projects over the years. Some studies have shown positive effects on health, and others have not been as promising. The results reported by John Pezzuto and his team are exciting and rewarding on many levels. The potential for improvements in human health is significant as is the strength of the data which logically supports the need for follow-up work in human clinical trials. All of this is rewarding to the growers who have funded research year after year with the sole objective of following the science and learning what we could from high caliber peer-reviewed research. Studies like the ones reported here are not only rewarding to grape growers and of interest to the scientific community, but are of value to everyone who wants to optimize their health and understands that what we eat matters. We cant ask for more than that.

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Research Shows Remarkable Impacts of Grape Consumption on Health and Lifespans - SciTechDaily

HelloFresh launches special diet Green Chef brand in the Netherlands where 35% of consumers follow a nutrition rule

Meal kit provider HelloFreshhas launched its special diet Green Chef brand in the Netherlands after spotting strong interest in special diets among consumers in the country.

The Berlin-based business operates in the UK, US, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Australia, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Franceand Denmark. Its weekly meal kits come with pre-packaged fresh ingredients and cooking instructions and take typically 30 minutes to prepare.

Green Chef, which plans meals to fit around customers healthy eating goals, was founded in the US and later acquired by HelloFresh in early 2018. It has since been scaled up.

Following Green Chef's success in the US, and a successfulexpansion to the United Kingdomin 2021, the company is now introducing the brand for health-conscious customers to the Netherlands.

Green Chefs value proposition provides the perfect opportunity to target distinct customer segments, said HelloFresh. For this purpose HelloFresh has tailored the brand and product proposition to a health-savvy Dutch consumer. Green Chef will offer a variety of plans to cater to different lifestyles and dietary preferences, such as vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, flexitarian, lower carb and keto. All of Green Chef's recipes are created by a team of certified dieticians with a big focus on flavour, quality ingredients and variety to create inspiration for every dish. Their work will offer health conscious consumers greater convenience, and peace of mind while following their preferred diet.

Green Chef Netherlands offers six popular diets: keto, vegan, vegetarian, lower carb, flexitarian and pescatarian.

Having been active in the Netherlands for more than ten years, HelloFresh said it wasdetermined that it was missing out on a very attractive customer segment which cares deeply about their food and dietary choices and frequently cooks at home. Sticking to healthy eating goals can be seen as restrictive and even confusing, leaving people feeling overwhelmed and despondent, it said. Researching recipes, shopping, and reading labels to find the ideal ingredients takes a lot of time. That is why people either dont even try or quit, while trying to achieve their health goals. Green Chef is the perfect solution for these customers and the 35% of Dutch consumers who follow at least one nutrition rule in their daily life.

HelloFresh added this latest launch is consistent with its growth strategy. It announced: It will help cement the companys market dominance in the Dutch meal kit sector through appealing to an even wider pool of prospective customers and to reach those in the Netherlands who are currently not catered for through HelloFreshs current offering. It will also help HelloFresh to reach its ambition to scale its business significantly over the next few years.

A spokesperson added:We are very excited to bring Green Chef to the Netherlands following the brands success in the US and the UK. As a business, we remain in a period of high-growth, and it is essential that we are continually diversifying our offer to bring new and exciting choices to both our existing customer base and those who are yet to experience what meal kits have to offer.

To date, the health and diet conscious segment of the market, such as those following keto, lower carb or vegan diets, have been underserved by the food and drink industry. Thats why we are especially pleased to be launching Green Chef in the Netherlands, and which we are sure will bring greater convenience, peace of mind, and variety to these customers.

The move is also part of HelloFreshs plan to become world-leading food solutions group.

Its second-quarter results released last week revealed that while earnings dropped as expected in the inflation-mired period, the company's active customer base increased by 4.1% year-on-year to eight million in the second quarter, while the average order value increased by 11% year-on-year on a constant currency basis. "Our product offering continues to come at an attractive and competitive pricing and brings additional benefits to our customers, such as having fresh food delivered to their homes, reducing food waste and taking away the hassle of having to think about what to shop and cook, said HelloFresh CEO Dominik Richter.

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'Keto and lower carb diets have been underserved by the food and drink industry': HelloFresh launches special diet brand in the Netherlands where '35%...

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