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The actor Darren Criss, 32, has a lot to say about grooming, diet, fitness and, most important, sleep. Mr. Criss, a San Francisco native who lives in Los Angeles, is so obsessed with sleep that he times it to REM cycles. He has also started a mens grooming site, the Motley, with the siblings Matthew and Madison Ruggieri, and has just introduced a unisex skin care line called Onekind. Here, Mr. Criss, who is in the war drama Midway and is filming Hollywood, the new Ryan Murphy Netflix show scheduled for release next year, explains his personal care routine.

Fully Groomed

I have a lot of cleansers, but honestly, this is the one category where I feel like you just need to get your face clean. You use a bar of soap, and as long as it does the job, its O.K. Then I use Port Products Sol Defense SPF moisturizer. Then, morning and night, I put on Recipe for Men Under Eye Gel.

For night, Im biased toward my own products. I do the Onekind Midnight Magic serum theres retinol in there and I use that in tandem with Onekind Dream Cream. Every two days or so, I do the Urth Botanical Resurfacing Mask. I love a lot of their products. I also have the Urth Antioxidant Face Complex. Its like taking your face to the spa.

The Perfect Shave

I have to shave every day for Hollywood, the show Im on, and its really tough on the skin. I have to pay attention to the length of my stubble and the kind of blade I use. If I have a few days growth, I like the Executive blades from Dollar Shave Club.

But if its a days stubble, Im using a safety razor. Thats because razor burn comes from multiple blades and multiple tiny cuts. Im trying to minimize that by the number of the blades and also how big the blade is.

I use a hot towel to warm up the stubble. I also try to use really hot water to warm up the blade. Lock Stock & Barrel makes a really great shave oil.

One of the most important things, though, is the Urth Post Shave Elixir. I have buckets of it. If I dont have it, Im in a panic. I recommend it to anyone. I recommend it to my wife after she shaves her legs. I guarantee you maybe five people in the world care this much about shaving.

The Eastern Medicine Thing

I know its a hippie-dippy thing, but Im a fan of oil pulling. I take a big dip out of a jar of coconut oil and swish that around my mouth. It sounds gross, and it is kind of gross. Its supposed to pull bacteria out of my mouth.

I think its an Eastern medicine kind of thing lets face it, theyve been ahead of everything on this front for millenniums. Someone recommended it to me years ago, and then when I was doing Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway, I was literally making out with strangers every night. I did anything I could do to clean my mouth it was more for their benefit and less for mine.

Sleep King

Im really militant about sleeping for certain lengths of time. Ive been doing this for years and years: I make sure I sleep in increments of 90 minutes. It takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to fall asleep and then the 90 minutes to complete a good REM cycle. So, for example, Id rather get three hours of sleep than four hours.

You know those days when you wake up and you feel really good even though you didnt really get a lot of sleep? Thats hitting the REM cycle. Or you sleep for a long time, but you wake up in the middle of a REM cycle and your whole day feels awful? I avoid that like the plague. Of course, there are a lot of variables what you ate, how much you drank but I try to have my sleep evenly timed out.

A Timed Diet

Ive been into health and food ever since I was maybe 12 or 13. I was fascinated by the idea that food is fuel in this very nonintellectual way. You need carbs to do this and protein to do that. How its translated today is that you see that the digestive system is directly related to everything else. Its not a subsidiary component.

So I time the way I eat. I dont mean Im timing while Im eating, but you know how if you have dinner plans at 8 with friends? Well, then you dont eat as much during the day so youll have an appetite and enjoy a meal out. I take the same approach with every activity throughout the day.

If Im working, the snacks and the doughnuts are all lying around, and I have to be careful of that. Otherwise Ill feel strung out and tired. I try not to eat three hours before bed, but if Im hungry, I might have a low-glycemic snack. Im not going to have a carnitas burrito.

Then one of my biggest life hacks: Im a huge chia seed person. If chia seed was a brand, Id be repping them so hard. I soak chia seeds overnight and then do chia seeds and matcha in the morning. Theyre the ancient form of good things.

Becoming a Fitness Fiend

I got heavily into fitness in my late 20s. Now Im a certifiable fitness rat. I work out like I used to play video games. Its competitive and fun. Its also meditative. For me its really about the cardiovascular benefits and general well-being. If my body is a little more toned, thats a super-bonus.

When I first started, that entry point was hard to find. I was completely allergic to the bro-y gym culture. Get swoll, dude! The thing that changed my life was P90X. Ive never met him, but Tony Horton is the biggest dweeb in fitness.

I was too embarrassed to go to the gym, and I didnt want to work out in a public space, and here was a guy who was making the dumbest dad jokes. This guy was all right. I knew this guy from high school.

I now love the social aspect of working out. I have maybe six or seven friends on rotation, and instead of going out, we do a workout class together. It might be H.I.I.T., a Pilates reformer class or yoga. I try to change it up as much as possible. I want to confuse my muscles.

I also love Training Mate in Los Angeles. Its by these goofy Australians. Theyre super-fun and funny. When Im in New York, Refine is my jam. Fhitting Room is really great.

Making Time for Recovery

A lot of people dont know how to keep their muscles healthy. They need to do the recovery. Physical therapy is really nice, but its expensive. I believe in rolling out the muscles, and that just takes some time. Also, cryotherapy is incredible.

You can do other things, like an Epsom salt bath, and Im a big fan of the steam shower if you can get access to one. I do it at night too, as it helps me relax before going to sleep.

Go here to read the rest:
How Darren Criss Overcame His Fear of Gym Bros - The New York Times

Im not a stressed-out person. Now, dont get me wrongrunning a business is definitely a stressful endeavor. You have to ride an unpredictable roller coaster every single day, and your ups and downs are exponentially bigger swings. You could close your first million-dollar deal, and hours later your lead investor pulls out of a negotiation. Its a wild ride.

Thats why its critical for startup founders to establish tools for managing the highs and lows of a startup. That starts with understanding your own personal stressors. For me, I tend to get forgetful and scattered when Im stressed. Ill misplace my keys or my phone. I forget to eat lunch or look up at the clock and realize its 8 or 9 p.m. and I havent taken a break. Physically, my stress manifests as headaches. Ill get gentle nudges from time to time that remind me I havent had a glass of water in a while.

In the 10 years that Ive worked in startups, Ive figured out how to manage my stress and turn it into a strength rather than a weakness. Here are the biggest lessons that I learned.

While it seems counterintuitive, staying occupied can actually help manage stress. This is something I discovered as a kid, as I hopped around from ballet to tennis to softball to debate to violin practice on any given day. When your brain is active and learning something new, it can bring greater focus to daily tasks. Right now, I spend Sundays and occasional evenings evaluating companies to invest in for XFactor Ventures. It doesnt take too much time, but I get to see how other founders are running their business. This may lead to an investment, and it also makes me a better founder. I also read while I fly for work.

Balancing thinking and talking time can be a great way to manage stress. This is especially true for solo founders that dont have a business partner to lean on for advice. There are a lot of things I work out by myself, but there are other things I need help with. In those circumstances, working with my board, my team, my husband, or other founders is the better option. When Im stuck on something, I typically need a bit of alone time before I can work through it. When I need to lean on someone else, I always make a point to indicate whether I want to vent, or whether Im looking for feedback. There are so many occasions where talking something out helps unblock the issue, and I dont necessarily need any external inputs or opinions.

As a busy startup founder, its easy to put fitness and health on the back burner. Last year, I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), a hormonal disorder that affects diet, energy levels, stress levels, anxiety, and a number of other things. In December, I worked to completely overhaul my diet and started working with a personal trainer. I now work out six days per week, even when Im on the road.

Many founders find themselves on the road a lot. Pitching, speaking, meeting clients, attending events, and visiting customers. Traveling is the easiest way to get out of a routine and disrupt well-being. Introducing a few simple products and habits into your routine while on the road can make a big difference. Before bed, I wash my face, make a cup of tea, and put on a face mask while answering the final emails of the day. In the morning, I work out before any meetings. Im also an aggressive disinfectant user on airplanes. That, in addition to an Emergen-C every morning on the road, has prevented me from getting sick despite all the flying.

Every once in a while, its good to hit reset and get away from the business. I knowit sounds scary for founders. However, its often the best way to get back into a productive mindset. Ive got a bunch of things I do to get out of my head. My husband and I like to choose a show and watch an episode or two during the week (right now were watching old episodes of Castle). I love cooking and baking, so I try new recipes. I spend time with family or friends. Its not possible to do all of these things, but its good to set aside some time when you need it to reset.

At the end of the day, stress affects everyone differently. So its important to understand your own triggers, and experiment with different ways to combat them or use it to your advantage. Building a startup is one of the most rewarding jobs imaginable. You just have to make sure that you take care of yourself in the process.

Allison Kopf is the CEO of Artemis.

Continued here:
5 things that every founder needs to learn about managing stress - Fast Company

via Ross Dellenger

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. Some recognize him in time for a photo or handshake, maybe for a youre doing a great job or a Roll Tide, GB! Others recognize him too late, and as he whisks by, theyll whisper to a companion, I think that was the athletic director, and the other replies, Whats he doing up here with us? Up here is Section LL and KK in the upper reaches of Bryant-Denny Stadium. On this chilly Saturday afternoon, there you will find Greg Byrne, glad-handing and picture-taking with befuddled Alabama ticket holders wondering why the leader of their athletic department is interacting with the commoners in the nosebleeds and not the dignitaries on the field.

Before he climbs steps and crosses ramps to get way up here, Byrne marched the one-third of a mile from his office to the stadium. He sidled up to fans at crosswalks, high-fived students and directed game-goers to their appropriate gates. He fist bumped stadium entry workers, encouraged game security officers and even greeted visiting fans with a hearty Welcome to Alabama! All of this came after he met in his office with millionaire boosters and before he socializes on the field with some of the nations best high school football players. Amid this all, hes making time to spend with family members, occasionally checking Twitter and feverishly texting as part of daylong conversations with operations officials.

Meanwhile, the man hired to protect him during these maddening long game days is just trying to keep up. Mike Harris sometimes loses the man hes tasked to guard amid a sea of Crimson and White. Byrne is known as a fast-walker, his long-legged strides covering what seems like twice the ground of a normal man. His traditional pre-game march in and around Bryant-Denny Stadium sometimes traverses five miles in a matter of less than two hours, and hell politely remind those in his wake that theyd better keep up. You look up and hes gone, says Harris, a 17-year member of the Alabama State Troopers assigned to Byrne. Good thing hes 6 foot 6. He towers over everyone.

Welcome to life as a major college athletic director on football game day. Sports Illustrated requested and was granted access to follow Byrneand his security guardfor more than eight hours Saturday, as they weaved through crowds much larger than normal. Alabama hosted LSU in a showdown between top-three, unbeaten SEC western division rivals in an event dubbed as the biggest regular season college football game since the two met in 2011. There was something else: U.S. president Donald Trump attended the game. While Alabama appreciated the visit, it added an additional layer of anxiety to an already encumbered game-day operations crew. Despite all of this, Byrne kept mostly to the same routine. In fact, he was busy enough on Saturday that he didn't even get to see the President. After all, why hang out with the leader of the free world when you can rub elbows with fans in the nosebleeds, some of whom refer to you by role and not by name. You see that man, says one Alabama fan to his young son, gesturing toward Byrne, thats Coach Sabans boss.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne speaks to a police officer ahead of Alabama's game against LSU. U.S. president Donald Trump's visit to Tuscaloosa went off without a hitch.

via Ross Dellenger

Greg Byrne hasnt eaten anything in about 15 hours. This is how he likes it. He subscribes to a diet that calls for fasting from 8 p.m. to noon the next day. In six months, hes lost 10 pounds. But on this busy Saturday morning, Byrne is breaking his diet, eating a small peanut butter-flavored energy bar about 90 minutes before noon. He apologizes for this, which is incredibly unnecessary, but thats his style. Later in the day, someone asks him the secret to being a successful athletic director and he dispenses three words that youd expect from a man who apologizes to a virtual stranger for breaking his own diet. Treat people right, Byrne tells the person.

Byrne, 48, is on his third stop as a major college athletic director, a once-rising star in the college sports world who has expectedly risen, a path taking him from Mississippi State to Arizona to now Alabama, where hes the boss of one of the games best coaches ever and the captain of the fifth-richest athletic department in the country. Though hes over the proverbial hill, Byrne is one of the new athletic directors in college sportsfor his approach, not his age. The athletic director role has evolved over the years from the gruff ex-football coach to the invisible businessman to the savvy fundraiser to, now, the tweeting, fan-friendly marketer. Not only are these new ADs active on social mediaone even accepts all direct messagesbut they are comfortable from behind the podium and they work a crowd like a campaigning politician. They are the face of a program, someone who communicates with a legion of fans, whether through social media or pregame visits to the far reaches of Bryant-Denny Stadium. I think everything evolves. College sports is no different, Byrne says. I think its important for me that in my leadership style that they dont view me as locked away in some tower. I enjoy interacting with our student athletes and fans.

In many places, long gone are the days of athletic directors you never saw, those buried in an office and shielded from the public. Nothing wrong with the coach and ex-coach or a traditional candidate, Texas AD Chris Del Conte says, but the profession has become more professionalized. Del Conte and Byrne are not the only administrators subscribing to this new athletic director model. In fact, Byrne and Del Conte lead a group of ADs who have for the past few years met annually in a type of summit. The participants of this summit are kept somewhat secret, but at least two other members are known: Florida AD Scott Stricklin and Virginia Techs Whit Babcock. Babcock says Byrne initiated the first of these meetings about five years ago in Chicago. Its a chance to let your hair down a little bit and talk to people who walk in your shoes, Babcock says.

Byrne is one of the more aggressive administrators in the industry. He is the son to longtime college athletic director Bill Byrne, who some herald as bringing Oregon athletics out of the dark ages, says former Ducks football coach Rich Brooks. Greg Byrne served as Brookss ball boy at age 12, turned down small-college basketball scholarship offers at 18 to attend Oregon and, at one point, served as a valet and bellman at a Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix before joining his fathers line of work. He was meant for this. In fact, in his office in Tuscaloosa hangs on the wall a framed research project that Greg produced in the fourth grade titled Athletic directors and assistant athletic directors, his name below it in the kind of penmanship youd expect from a 9-year-old. He received an A on the project, and now four decades later, hes the AD at Alabama. I planned this a long time ago, laughs Bill Byrne, in town to watch Alabama play LSU from his sons suite in the press box, but really, its part of the family business.

Hanging in Greg Byrne's office at Alabama is a research paper he wrote as a fourth-grader. It is titled "athletic directors and assistant athletic directors."

via Ross Dellenger

Byrnes oldest son Nick, in fact, is already working in athletics as a development coordinator with Mississippi State. Greg left the family business for nearly two years in 2005 to become a salesman for a technology company, a fathers attempt to have weekends free while he and wife Regina raised two young boys. He didnt have the passion for it, says Marilyn Byrne, his mother. The passion returned long ago, as seen in his game-day schedule. Before his walk to the stadium, Greg grabs an outfit accessory off the hanger, a Crimson plaid sports coat. It is subtle yet stylish, and its stripes match his Navy blue pants. The ensemble is topped off by a hounds-tooth tie and blue Nikes? I wear tennis shoes on game days, he says. Greg puts in roughly 18,000 steps on a normal home game day. Thats about eight miles. Moments before heading out, Greg cranks the volume up on a television set showing ESPN College GameDay, broadcasting live from Alabamas campus. He wants to hear the picks of the broadcast team. As soon as Lee Corso pulls a hidden Tiger head from beneath the desk, Greg flips off the television and strides toward the door. OK! he exclaims. Lets go!

--

Nick Saban isnt the only savvy recruiter on Alabamas campus. Greg Byrne isnt too far behind. This is part of his home game-day schedule, schmoozing with both prospective football and basketball players on the field just before kickoff. Weve got 90 recruits here with offers, an Alabama staff member says. Ive selected three for him to speak with. One of the three just so happens to be South Carolina defensive end Jordan Burch, the No. 2-ranked overall prospect in the 2020 class.

Byrnes pitch to recruits is pretty simple. Come to Alabama and well develop you in the three most important areas of life: academically, athletically and personally. At some point ball is going to end, OK? he tells one. Byrne is attentive enough at the recruiting aspect of his job that he assembled his office strictly for hosting prospects, he admits. Maybe theres a reason these two guysSaban and Byrneget along so well. I tell people that its a partnership, Byrne says. Hes been awesome. Saban is 68 going on 50, Byrne likes to say. He watches Saban coach during practice from his second-floor office window and is left scratching his head. How does he have so much energy? In the fall, the two men meet each Sunday afternoon. They are somewhat opposites in how they express their emotions. Saban is known for his explosive anger, at times using profane language. And Byrne? If you hear a Gosh darn it, youre in trouble, smiles Jeff Purinton, Alabamas executive associate athletic director.

On this Saturday before these two titans meet, Byrne displays all of the characteristics of the new athletic director in college sports. Hes not stuck in his suit, not boozing with donors in some fancy club level, but hes out with the people, parading around the stadium like a politician running for re-electionright down to knowing everyones name. Thats the hardest part of the transition to a new school. Sure, youve got to learn the customs and traditions but try memorizing thousands of names. Just as hes describing that challenge, up walks a man, Hey Greg! Byrne doesnt miss a beat, Hey, Hunter!

Moments later, Byrne is at the highest possible point in Bryant-Denny Stadium, the west side upper deck. He began the pregame and sometimes in-game tradition of visiting random parts of the stadium during his first AD role at Mississippi State. He even takes the custom on the road, milling about among traveling Alabama fans from the visiting section. The only thing that changes is our attire, says Mike Harris, the 39-year-old Alabama trooper whos spent every season since Byrne arrived in 2017 assigned to him on game days. Byrne and Harris are in short-sleeve collar shirts on those sticky September and October days in the south. And even then, they do enough walking that Harris sometimes must change shirts halfway through the day. This Saturday is cool, the temperature barely cracking into the 60s and the sun shining brightly.

Its a big game, sure, but Byrne above anything else is more nervous about a tradition he plans to bring back: playing country music hit Dixieland Delight during the third quarter. Vulgar chants from students during the rendition of the song led Byrne to shorten it or completely stop it from being played. He took some heat for it, so there is a new plan: infuse white noise to drown out the obscenities. Just before the song booms over Bryant-Denny Stadium, Byrne alerts everyone in his suite to listen. He hopesno, praysthat enough white noise has been added. After all, this a nationally televised game on CBS and his parentshis parents!are sitting right next to him. Two minutes later, he and Purinton exchange high-fivesthe song was a success.

And so too was Donald Trumps visit to Tuscaloosa. The president arrived just before kickoff and left at some point in the third quarter. Trump occupied a suite near the 50-yard line belonging to an Alabama booster who donated heavily to his campaign. Byrne was the first person at Alabama athletics to learn of Trumps plans to attend the game. He received two calls at 6:30 a.m. Sunday from an unknown number, ignoring them both, because weekend mornings are his only real downtime during the week. I got a text after the second call, Byrne says. He called the number back and got the news. The president plans to attend the game. He told Saban that afternoon. There were no real issues during the visit. Some private planes carrying donors had to land in Birmingham or Columbus, Mississippi, instead of Tuscaloosa. Many fans adhered to the schools warnings and arrived early. Secret Service agents were in town as early as Monday, five full days before kickoff, and the U.S. government brought metal detectors to station at each gate. The government first proposed to bring 60 metal detectors. The school convinced officials to more than double that. Thankfully, Byrne says, they brought 150.

*****

At an Alabama home game last year, Greg Byrne noticed his Twitter notifications dinging more than normal. He scrolled through them to learn that toilets in one particular bathroom of Bryant-Denny Stadium were clogged and overflowing. Within seconds, he alerted attendants. Toilets were unclogged. The mess was cleaned up. Problem solved. You cant manage by Twitter, but you can get a feel of the common themes, Byrne says. I dont sit and read all my mentions, but I do look at them occasionally to try to help get a feel for any trending things.

Byrne says he gets about 75% of his news from the social media site these days, and hes recently taught his father Bill to tweet. Greg has embraced Twitter, just like dozens of athletic directors across the nation. Among his close-knit group of colleagues, Scott Stricklin at Florida and Texass Chris Del Conte are most active. Some topics are too nuanced for 240 characters, says Stricklin. I have some unofficial rules. If someone uses an alias or profanity, Im not going to respond to them. Del Conte takes a different approach. He has open direct messages. Greg and Stricklin were doing social first, Del Conte says. I was like That makes me nervous. I started looking at it. I spend a lot of time worrying about donors and stuff, but I think social for me is communicating constantly with our fans about their program. I opened it up to everybody. My wife will say What are you doing? The idea is youre taking the mystique out of the office. Our main job is to support you. Were all in this together. Their voice matters.

Social media has impacted some programs more than others. At UCF, athletic director Danny White attributes the Golden Knights success to the athletic departments aggressive push on social. I dont think we would have accomplished what we accomplished here the last few years without social, he says. Weve doubled our donor base in three years, doubled our season-ticket base. Whit Babcock at Virginia Tech calls his social media game a work in progress. He is far less active than his colleagues, but one tweet he posted in August became somewhat of a viral sensation. A North Carolina radio station posted a tweet rhetorically asking if Tech coach Justin Fuentes job was in danger. Babcock, not mentioned or tagged in the stations tweet, replied to the post with one word: No. I need to have a burner account, he laughs. I think of funny things that I want to say but I enjoy when you take a little heat and then come back to win the game. Social is a necessary part of the game and theres no manual on how to do it.

Byrne used social media to cap the day, firing off a post about two hours after the game that featured a dozen game day workers

LSU eventually won Saturdays game, 46-41, over the Crimson Tide. Byrne watched the Tigers secure the victory by snaring an onside kick in the final seconds. Outside of the result, things went off without a hitch. He received no wild Twitter notifications of clogged toilets. The presidents visit sailed smoothly in and out. Byrne even got to meet a pair of NFL celebrities, Terrell Owens and Ray Lewis, both in attendance watching the game from the sideline. After the game, he visited the Alabama locker room before conducting a meeting on the field with operations officials, and then it was off to home where he planned to eat pizzaas long as it was before 8 p.m.

Excerpt from:
From Greeting Fans to Recruiting, Alabama's AD May Be the Busiest Man on Game Day - Sports Illustrated

Thanks to a growing interest in all things fermented, sourdough is more popular than everand for good reason. The perfect piece of sourdough is chewy and distinctively tangy, more complex in flavor than white bread, and healthier, too.

Raw sourdough is home to the same bacteria that are in yogurt, Lactobacilli, which consumes the flour in the same way as yeast, breaking down some of the gluten proteins while the bread rises. Because of this, some people who struggle to digest gluten find that they can tolerate sourdough bread. The longer the bread rises, the lower the gluten content will be. (That said,store-bought sourdough typically still contains plenty of gluten.)

Fermentation helps lower the breads phytic-acid content, explains Lori Nedescu, a registered dietitian and professional cyclist. Phytic acid is an antinutrient that inhibits the bodys ability to absorb minerals by bonding to them, and its present in most flours. Ultrarunner and registered dietitian Kylee Van Horn explains that phytic acid binds to iron, zinc, and calcium, which can be a concern for those eating a lot of seeds, grains, and legumes at each meal.Lessening the phytic-acid content in a food can help increase absorption of these essential minerals, she says. And athletes, especially those eating vegetarian or vegan diets, are particularly at risk for developing deficiencies.

Research also shows that the carbohydrates in sourdough digest slower, which means you wont get a blood-sugar spike or the subsequent crash. Keeping your blood sugar stable will not only help your energy levels and mood throughout the day, but it can help prevent cravings from happening, says Van Horn. Simple carbohydratesrefined sugars, white flour, white ricecan cause a quick burst of energy for the body, but the body simultaneously releases a burst of insulin, which utilizes those sugars quickly. This causes a quick blood-sugar drop, which leads to hunger, jitteriness, trouble concentrating, and a dropin energy.

Good sourdoughwhich will be more rustic and less processedis my first choice when it comes to bread, Nedescu says.Opt for homemade or bakery-fresh loaves, Van Horn adds.Commercial companies typically use a small amount of starter but then add commercial yeast and other flavors, like vinegar, to give it a sour taste, she says. The very short leavening process means it doesnt have the same health benefits.

Learning to bake sourdough is a great at-home projectfor athletes and foodies alike, but it does take time to perfect the process. It seems simpleall you need is a starter, flour, salt, and waterbut the process is trickier than you might expectand requires patience to get right. Baking is a chemistry experiment, and sourdough is one of the hardest types of bread to perfect, since its yeast-free rising can be influenced by temperature, altitude, and the quality of ingredients, among other factors. Read on to learn how to start your own sourdough journey.

(Photo: Ina Peters/Stocksy)

The first thing youll need is a sourdough starter, which replaces the yeast you would add to typical bread dough. It looks a little like yogurt, but its just flour, water, and salt that has been left at the right temperature to encourage the wild yeast found naturally on flour to ferment. Precise measurements are key with sourdough baking, so youll also want to buy a food scale to measure your ingredients in grams. (You can find one for under $10 here.)

Most bakeries will give you a small sourdough starter if you askas will sourdough-baking friendsor you canbuy one on Amazon. Its easy to do it yourself, too. In a one-quart mason jar, combine 60 grams of whole-grain flour and 30 millilitersof warm water, and let it sit at room temperature, with the lid loose. After two days, stir in 40 millilitersof warm water and 40 grams of flour to feedit, says baker and bikepacker Karlee Gendron, who teaches a sourdough cooking class at Fort Whyte Farms in Alberta.

Thencontinue to feed it with 40 millilitersof water and 40 grams of flourdaily, which is a standard feeding schedule for any starter kept at room temperature.Youll notice it bubblingthat means its beginning to ferment! Ataround seven days (or by the time your starter is bubbling consistently), its ready to use in baking.

Outgrowing your mason jar? Skip to the sourdough pancake recipe below or discard some of the starter, but dont stop feeding it.Each day before feeding, I recommend discarding about two tablespoons of starter in the jar, or you will eventually run out of room, Gendron warns. Oryou could take it out and use that for something like pancakes, or give it to a friend to start their starter.

You can slow the fermentation process by storing your starter in the fridge and feeding it only once per week. But be sure to take your starter out of the fridge at least two days prior to baking. Youll want to feed it twice a day and wait until its actively bubbling again before beginning the baking process, Gendron says.

Baking sourdough takes a couple of days, though your actual time in the kitchen will be minimal. Youll need a Dutch oven: these heavy cast-iron pots hold in heat and trap steam for the perfect baking environment for bread. If you dont have one, you can use any ovenproof heavy pot with a tight-fitting lidor a baking stone with an inverted roasting pan (as a makeshift lid), but cast-iron does make a difference.

Below, Gendron shares her favorite way to turn a sourdough starter into an edible loaf of bread. She has perfected her recipe after years of trial and errorand emphasizes that baking sourdough is hard to get right. Expect a few imperfect loaves before you nail it.

Ingredients

Directions

Day One:

Mix leaven: Add 200 milliliterswarm water (roughly 80 degrees), 200 grams flour,and 50 grams starter to a container and stir. Cover with cling wrap or a tea towel, and let sit approximately 12 hours.

Day Two:

Add 250grams of the leaven to a large mixing bowl. Pour in 700 millilitersof warm water, and mix with your hands until the leaven is dispersed. Add one kiloof flour and mix with your hands until combinedand no dry flour is left. Cover your bowl with a towel or cling wrap, and let it sit for 45 minutes in a warm spot to rise. Mix 20 grams salt with50 millilitersof warm water, dissolving the salt. Pour this over top of the dough, and squeeze the dough with your hands to incorporate the salt water throughout. Cover for 30 minutes, then fold the dough every 30 to 45 minutes, repeating four times (this step takes around three hours). Then let it rest one to two hours untouched and covered. Lightly sprinkle flour on the counter, and cut the dough into two equal halves. With lightly floured hands, shape each half into a loose boule, and let them rest on the counter, covered with a tea towel, for30 minutes. Place into heavily floured bowls, and leave the dough covered in the fridge overnight.

Day Three:

Place the Dutch oven (lined withparchment paper if so desired) in the oven,and heat to 500 degrees. Place the bread into the Dutch oven by flipping the bowl over atop it, notingthat the side of bread facing up in the bowl will be the bottom of the bread in your Dutch oven. Score the top of the bread in the Dutch oven by making two slashes, then cover it with the lid. Bake for 25 minutes with the lid on, then reduce the temperature to 475degrees and bake for 20 minutes with the lid off. (If using a thermometer, the bread should reach 200 degrees.) Cool for one hour, and enjoy!

Use the same first steps in the bread recipe, but instead of putting the bread in the Dutch oven on day three, grab your favorite pizza sauce and toppings, then follow these steps:

Once the final shaping is finished, divide the dough into rounded one-pound pieces, cover,and let them rest on the counter for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees, placing a pizza stone in the oven to heat up at the same time. Dust a cutting board with cornmeal and flour, and press the dough rounds flat until theyre a half-inch thick.Pick up the dough and stretch it using the back of your knuckles, rotating the discaround your hands.Once the dough is at your preferred thickness for a pizza crust, lay it back on the flour-and-cornmeal-dusted cutting board, and assemble your desired toppings.Slide the dough onto the hot pizza stone and bake for about eight minutes, turning the pizza 90 degrees about four minutes in.Cut and serve.

That extra starter can make delicious pancakes, with the perfect amount of tartness to cut through the sweet berries or maple syrup that you put on top.

Ingredients

Directions

Combine the starter, egg, and sweetener (if using). Add the flour and milk as needed to achieve your desired consistencythicker batter makes thicker pancakes. Heat a griddle overmedium heat, and pour the batter in three-inch circles, flipping them when theybeginto bubble. Serve with berries, syrup, or Greek yogurt for a breakfast protein boost.

As you prepareyour first few loaves, you might make some common mistakes that lead to dough that doesnt rise or bread thats too dense. Here, Gendron explains some easy fixes for the most frequent sourdough mishaps:

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Everything You Need to Know About Sourdough Bread - Outside Magazine

There are many athletes who work hard on their sport.

Then theres Ian Roach.

From reading books, getting private lessons, analyzing video of his swing, staying after practice daily, hitting the weight room and more, the Putnam County senior does whatever it takes to improve his golf game.

Ive studied (golf) like Im studying for a masters degree almost, Roach said.

The many hours spend studied the game and working on his swing has paid off for Roach.

He led the area in average by two strokes with a 36.8, won the Kewanee and Rock Falls invitationals, placed third in the Tri-County Conference Meet, won the Class 1A St. Bede Regional with a 75, finished second in the Aquin Sectional with a 76 and placed fourth at the state meet with a two-day score of 147.

For all he accomplished this fall, Roach is the NewsTribune Boys Golfer of the Year for the second season in a row.

He set really high goals for himself and came really close to getting exactly where he wanted to be, PC coach Chelsi Straughn-Niewinski said. He wanted to contend for a state championship, and he ended up in fourth place so he did pretty well for himself. He worked really hard and spent a lot of time on the golf course all summer and all fall. He definitely earned it.

Hes said it so many times that theres nothing in this world he loves more than golf, so he just wants to be the best he can be at it. He enjoys it so spending hour upon hour on it doesnt bother him. He can play all day and be happy. He has a strong desire to succeed at it so he just works and works and works.

His work has helped Roach come a long way when he started in the backyard with his dad coaching him.

He gave me the baseball grip just thumb over thumb, Roach said. He told me to keep my head down on the ball. Those were my main swing thoughts.

Since he really enjoyed the game, Roach wanted more than that.

At age 10, at the urging of former PC girls golf coach Eric Ciucci, he started golfing in more competitive tournaments.

Roach read Tiger Woods book, taking lessons from the golf legend and adapting them to fit himself.

He gave tips about his diet and tips about how to practice, what not to eat during practice and all that, Roach said. I took notes from that and was creative with it for myself. I wanted to make sure I was not just trying to emulate Tiger but trying to be me, see what worked for me and just get confident with it.

Roach, who hits the weight room hard in the offseason, follows a certain diet - not super strict - that consists of plenty of lean chicken and pork along with drinking plenty of water while e avoiding drinking anything with too much sugar while on the course.

As a freshman, Roach started seeing Butch Haverland, the director of golf at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill, the site of the John Deere Classic.

I was a mid-80s golfer when I met him and at the end of the year I credit my regional and sectional scores to him because my short game and swing was so much better, Roach said. Hes definitely the reason why my mental game is better. Ive learned so much from him that I can do things without him and just look myself and know that Butch would want me to do that.

With all of his research on diet, swing speed and body rotation along with the lessons learned from Haverland, Roach spent hours on the course fixing his own swing.

It was just getting comfortable, Roach said. There were a lot of times wed get done with practice and I would play well, but there were some shots where I thought, I just cant have those. I didnt want those shots in the tournament. Sometimes Id get stumped and stay because I really cared about the tournaments. I didnt want to have an elongated period of not knowing what Im doing then go to a tournament and try to figure out what Im doing.

So after practice, Roach would set up his phone in the umbrella holder of his push cart, take a swing then watch it back and repeat as many times as necessary.

I do what feels best first then go off of how it looks, Roach said. If it feels good but it doesnt look good on the plane all those things for consistency I know about I have to change it.

I would say looking at my swing definitely helped out with 90 percent of what I did along with a tip from my friend (and teammate) Ben (Cyr) or a tip from my coach.

But no matter what fixes Roach makes to his swing or how much he improves, hes never satisfied, and he plans to keep working as he continues his career at IVCC before pursuing a career in golf.

The thing about golf is you can get so much satisfaction from the work you do, Roach said. You can always get better. I look at my rounds and think, I could have taken three shots off. Even after Kewanee (when I shot a 67) I thought of strokes I could have taken off.

BOYS ALL-AREA TEAM

Kevin Chlum can be reached at 220-6939, or at kchlum@shawmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @NT_SportsEditor.

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2019 Boys Golfer of the Year - LaSalle News Tribune

The Warriors Insider Podcast

LOS ANGELES --The history of Warriors basketball in the Bay Area is rife with throwaway seasons, including two in which they posted 17 wins and two more with 19 wins. Not once in those 57 years, though, have they lost more than 80 percent of their games.

That inglorious standard is within stumbling distance this season. At 2-9, the Warriors are on pace to finish 15-67. Thats not to say they will. With enough progress and development, they could push their win total deep into the 20s.

That requires a significant upgrade from the pillow-soft defense theyve exhibited thus far.

We just havent found an identity defensively, coach Steve Kerr said Tuesday. We dont expect to be the best defensive team in the league, but I dont think we should be the worst.

The Warriors are, 11 games into this transitional season, the worst defensive team in the NBA. In a 30-team league, they are No. 30.

As they stroll into Staples Center to face the Lakers on Wednesday night, the Warriors rank dead last in defensive rating (117.0), in defensive efficiency (1.136), in field goals made per game by opponents (44.7) and in largest average deficit over the course of a game (19.5 points).

Theyre No. 29 in effective-field-goal defense (56.4 percent), just ahead of the last-place Kings.

The lapses and indifference cant be hidden, and they are spotlighted in team video sessions. Its a team game, particularly on defense, but the Warriors wont get much better on that end unless point guard DAngelo Russell and primary center Willie Cauley-Stein are appreciably more effective.

For us to be the team that we need to be, weve got to be super pesky, super aggressive, out in passing lanes, Cauley-Stein said. Our defensive mistakes need to be being aggressive and not just not knowing where to go.

When I asked Cauley-Stein about his thought process when Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell drove in for a soaring dunk off a halfcourt set Monday night, the 7-footers reply was try to just put a body in front of him and make him miss it.

Thats not what happened. Cauley-Stein stood flat-footed and watched Mitchells highlight. In fairness to Cauley-Stein, he was nudged toward the baseline by Utah big man Rudy Gobert. But there was no aggressive effort to defend what should be his domain.

Asked, also, there was no indication that Cauley-Stein felt his domain was violated by Mitchell.

Theres no comeback, he said. Its a play-on. Theres probably 200 plays that happen in a game. Its not a touchdown. Its two points. You probably go down and probably score a 3-pointer right afterward.

Its one of them things like, yeah, you want to protect the paint but were also fouling too much. Guys are getting downhill. We have to figure out a way to play without our hands and just being in the way and making dudes miss. Thats where were trying to go to now, is making it extremely difficult.

Though Cauley-Stein looks and runs the part of a rim protector, his resume protests otherwise. In 199 games over four seasons in Sacramento, he totaled 228 blocks. For perspective, Andrew Bogut, who considered the paint his domain, had 227 blocks in 137 games in his last two full seasons as a Warrior.

Understand, blocks are not the only stat, or even the primary stat, that matters. The key is presence, which is best built by consistent assertiveness, a level of resistance that discourages driving.

Cauley-Stein arrived with the reputation of being relatively soft in the paint, uninclined to consistently make others feel his presence. If this continues, so will the dunks.

Willies added quite a bit since his return from injury, Kerr said. Just the size, the rebounding, the ability to change shots at the rim is really important for us.

But this is a teamwide exercise, all five guys being on the same page. Being aggressive, taking teams out of their comfort zone. I dont really look at it as one position. Its all five guys communicating, talking, playing with aggression, playing with force and doing it as a unit.

Which brings us to D-Lo, whose apathetic defense is attracting such derisive nicknames as Angelo and Lo --as in no D.

In his first four NBA seasons, Russell was hounded by coaches and teammates --including as a rookie by Kobe Bryant when the two were Lakers --to work harder on defense. Show more fight. Be more engaged. Take pride. And there were stretches in Russells past, with the Lakers and the Nets, when he played respectable defense.

Indeed, his 110.2 rating last season in Brooklyn was superior to Dennis Schroder (110.3) and Mike Conley (110.8), to players generally considered solid defenders.

Russell now is in his fifth NBA season and first as a Warrior, and both the eye test (indifference and/or immobility) and sheer statistics (119.0 defensive rating) point to steep regression. Only two rotation players in the league, Collin Sexton (121.0) and Jordan Clarkson (119.5), both Cavaliers, finished last season with a worse rating.

After the loss to the Jazz the other night, Draymond Green, general of defense for the Warriors, was probed for his thoughts on fixing the defense.

That all starts at the point of attack, he said. One thing weve been good at over the years is guarding the pick-and-roll with two guys. If you can guard the pick-and-roll with two guys, maybe two-and-a-half guys, you give yourself a lot better chance at taking the 3 out of the game, and also dunks out of the game.

Its not one person in particulars fault. Its just something that weve got to continue to get better at as a team.

The Warriors team defense is so incredibly poor that their players are saddled with the seven worst defensive ratings in the league. Rookies Eric Paschall and Jordan Poole are at 119.4. Veteran wing Glenn Robinson III, cooked repeatedly by Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins despite everyone in the league knowing he always goes right, is at 118.9. Rookie Ky Bowman is at 118.5, two-way guard Damion Lee and veteran wing Alec Burks are both at 117.8

Why is Russell, who made his first All-Star team last season, defending at the level of rookies learning the ways of the NBA and guys trying to prove they can contribute in the league?

Perhaps because hes focused on scoring, especially now, with StephCurry and Klay Thompson out for at least a few months. His scoring is needed to keep the Warriors in games, and its conceivable that he simply lacks thejuice to contribute at both ends. An old quote might provide a clue.

I wanted to play defense in L.A.," Russell told ESPN in August 2017, shortly after being traded to the Nets. "But I felt like I had to score every chance I got for us to be relevant."

[RELATED:How Russell is back to torching opponents in mid-range game]

Can he be blamed if he feels that way with this group of Warriors?

The outlook, then, is grim. The Warriors want no part of being the worst team in franchise history. If they cant do better on defense, they invite that possibility.

Go here to see the original:
Warriors must fix ugly defense to avoid hitting rock bottom - NBCSports.com

Twenty years ago, I wrote my first book about why women cant have it all, or at least all at once, despite what the culture tells them. (Hint: Its because no one, male or female, can perform two full-time jobs simultaneously without the bottom falling out.)

At the time, the so-called Mommy Wars were raging. Women everywhere whod been sold a bill of goods by their feminist mothers and mentors were either lamenting the futility of being able to successfully work full-time outside the home while maintaining a healthy marriage and family life, or they were defending their choice to work full-time by insisting children do fine in round-the-clock substitute care.

Since then, the messages to women about how to have a happy lifeas it relates to love and sex, work and familyhave merely served to make women miserable. Not only are they unhappier than their mothers and grandmothers ever were, theyre significantly more stressed out; much more so than men.

None of this has done anything to help men and women find their way to one another. Dating in America is all but dead, and marriage is at an all-time low. While theres more than one reason for this sad state of affairs, at the heart of it are the lies feminists have been telling for years. Here are four, in no particular order.

It started with a seemingly comical phrase Gloria Steinem didnt coin but repeatedly used during the height of the 1960s feminist movement: A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Its still alive and well today, whether its Jennifer Aniston talking about how women dont have to fiddle with a man to have that child or Emma Watson talking about self-partnering. Over time, as women began to make their own money and take advantage of the newfound birth control pill, they came to believe that women dont need men.

They were wrong. Biologically, women are wired to depend on menregardless of much life has changed. Most women still want to be mothers, and when they do they become vulnerable. Even today, women know instinctively that they will ultimately need a man if they want to have a family and if they want the option of being home at all, if only for a period of time.

Indeed, research shows that what matters most to womeneven to those who are economically independentis knowing they have a man on whom they can rely. Its the feeling of being safe and in good handsyes, even financiallythat matters most. That is whats known as hypergamy, and it is alive and well in 2019.

The precise moment in history when the relationship between the sexes took a nosedive is when women began to have sex like a mancasually, with no strings attachedunder the guise that women are no different from men and are thus just as capable of having casual sex. Consider this ridiculous Bustle article asserting, based on a dubious study, that men and women are now equally likely to pursue a hookup if approached the right way.

From college campuses to our nations boardrooms, many women today have learned to pursue sex the way men often do: no commitment necessary. And theyre getting burned.

If theres anything that proves this in spades, its the so-called campus rape crisis and the excesses of Me Too. For if it were true that women are just like men in their ability to disentangle sex and emotion, why would campus flings and office dalliances become a cause for the courts rather than a welcome ride?

Its not just our sexuality that confirms the disparate natures of women and men. Parenting proves it in spades. Once a baby arrives, a womans nurturing gene almost always kicks in. Providing for her child emotionally is her first instinct, which is why going back to work so soon is heart-wrenching for mothers.

A fathers reaction is different: his first instinct is to support the family financially. It is not his sole contribution, but its first on his list. Simply put, that men and women may both becapableof performing identical tasks doesnt mean they want to do them with equal fervor. Desire matters.

The biological clock may be politically inconvenient, but that doesnt make it any less real. The ideal age for a woman to get pregnant is 25, noted Gillian Lockwood, medical director at the Midland Fertility Clinic in the U.K., recently: The bleak reality is that the chance of IVF working with your own eggs once you are 40 is absolutely abysmalIn what other branch of medicine would we let, yet alone encourage, patients to pay for an elective operation with a less than five percent chance of working?

Because of this, it stands to reason that men can postpone marriage longer than women can. But we dont tell women this. Instead, we pretend they can map out their lives with career at the center, as men do, as though they wont hit a point in which their ability to conceive will invariably clash with a career. Articles abound with the goal to obscure the biological reality that its easier for women to have babies in their twenties and early thirties.

We lie to women, in other words, to further a political agenda. In doing so, feminists get what they wantfor women to reject maternal desire and to instead produce in the marketplacebut women dont.

Indeed, after decades of following the cultural script, women can often no longer find husbands. Or they cant have babies. Or if they do get married and have babies, they cant stay home with them because they mapped out a life that supported an entirely different goal.

Of all the lies feminists tell, the idea that career success is more fulfilling than marriage and family is by far the greatest. It is almost impossible to convey the depth of this lie, for it too began in the 1960s, this time with Betty Friedans insistence that being a wife and mother is akin to being in a comfortable concentration camp. Since that time, American women have been walloped with a steady diet of words and images that drive Friedans argument home.

Humans are pack animals: we need to feel part of the group to feel good about ourselves. Some of us are content to stand apart from the crowd, but most are not. Ergo, cultural messages matter.

Women are surprised to discover that work isnt nearly as satisfying as they were led to believe.

Since mothering is no longer revered or understood to be something a woman would want to do, let alone should do, women are surprised to discover how heart-wrenching it is to leave their babies and return to work. Theyre surprised to discover that work isnt nearly as satisfying as they were led to believe.

This same sense of unease is felt by single women who cant find a man with whom to settle down. Careers arent fulfilling at all, it turns out, if you wind up in bed at night alone.

Too many women map out their lives with work at the center and eventually wish they hadnt. Sadly, my inbox is loaded with emails from women who tell me they wished someone had told them this sooner.

So, here I am saying it as loudly as I can. Women have been lied to for years, and thats why theyre so unhappy. There is only one solution. Flip your prioritiesput love and family, not work, at the centerand you will win in the game of life. Thats what I did, and it made all the difference.

Read more here:
4 Feminist Lies That Are Making Women Miserable - The Federalist

Spring is the season of new life, milder days and stronger rays of sunshine.

Its also that time of the year marked by an influx of pollen; when trees, grasses and weeds release these tiny grains into the air to fertilise other plants. For people who suffer from hay fever (also known as seasonal allergic rhinitis) spring can ignite a pollen allergy. It can cause a runny nose, watery or itchy eyes, poor sleep and a decline in general health.

According to the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, allergic rhinitis which includes hay fever and other non-seasonal reactions affects almost two in every 10 people living in Australia and New Zealand.

Apples alsocontain the antioxidant quercetin, natures anti-histamine, which has been shown to have an anti-allergy effect particularly against hay fever.

Theres currently no cure for hay fever so it's advised to seek medical advice on how best to manage your individual case of hay fever to reduce the severity of symptoms.

However, if youre looking for a 'cause no harm' method to improve your hay fever management, then eating foods containing natural anti-histamines and anti-inflammatory agents might be a reasonable thing to try.In addition to a medically advised treatment plan, a balanced diet featuring the following foods may help to prevent or reduce hay fever symptoms in some people - all things remaining equal.

While we all know an apple a day keeps the doctor away, an apple a day can also help keep hay fever at bay, head of Nutrition and Dietetic Medicine at Endeavour College of Natural Health, Jaime Doumas, tells SBS.

Apples also contain the antioxidant quercetin, natures anti-histamine, which has been shown to have an anti-allergy effect particularly against hay fever.

A study from Czech Republic, published in the journal Molecules in 2016, confirms that quercetin yields an anti-allergic immune response. The research suggests that quercetin can inhibit histamine release, decrease a pro-inflammatory response and suppress inflammatory mediators. These effects can assist with calming the symptoms of hay fever or seasonal allergic rhinitis, as well as other allergic responses.

Onions also contain quercetin, which makes it an ideal food to incorporate into soups, tarts, salads and other meals, as part of a balanced diet.

The reason onions help mitigate hay fever is because they contain quercetin, a water-soluble flavonoid that contains antihistamine and anti-inflammatory qualities,says qualified nutritionist, Adele Hamilton ofAnima Balance tells SBS.

Onion also features in homoeopathy an alternative medical system founded by German physician Samuel Hahnemann around 200 years ago as a food that can help relieve the symptoms of hay fever.

The reason onions help mitigate hay fever is because they contain quercetin, a water-soluble flavonoid that contains anti-histamine and anti-inflammatory qualities.

The homoeopathic remedy, Allium Cepa, is derived from red onion. Hamilton, who is also a homoeopath, says that Allium Cepa (potentised red onion)is often used in homoeopathy to reduce common symptoms like irritable and watery eyes, and burning discharge from the eyes and nose.

As is the age-old belief in homoeopathy, like is meant to treat like. So onions which make you cry and irritate both the eyes and the nose are used by homoeopaths to battle hay fever.

However, there is little clinical evidence to suggest that the homoeopathic remedy is effective in treating all people for the symptoms of hay fever.

So it might be an idea to consult a doctor before commencing a course of homeopathic treatment or just consume a quercetin-rich red onion as you would normally as part of a balanced diet.

Doumas explains that vitamin C is another natural antihistamine.

Vitamin Cmay potentially reduce the severity of allergic reactions and decrease your histamine production, slowing down your body's overreaction to environmental triggers like pollen.

Its good to eat plenty of vitamin C rich foods such as kiwi fruits, broccoli and strawberries, which work to support the bodys immune system and reduce the symptoms of hay fever, explains Doumas.

A diet high in omega-3 can also help reduce the effects of inflammation, so be sure to include lots of oily fish, such as salmon and sardines in your diet, Doumas says.

For a plant-based source, eat a handful of nuts and seeds each day and include walnuts and almonds.

Green tea may provide some relief of hay fever.A Japanese study from 2002identified a potent compound in green tea that blocks a key cell receptor involved in producing an allergic response.

The researchers say the compound, methylated epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), could block the production of histamine and immunoglobulin E (IgE) that are responsible for triggering and sustaining an allergic reaction.

The effect was demonstrated on human blood cells.However, more research is needed to demonstrate how much green tea people need to drink to create this effect.

Originally posted here:
What to eat to tackle hay fever symptoms - SBS

JINJU, South Korea K-pop stars are loved, and even worshipped, around the world.

BTS fans, who are in their millions, call themselves the "Army" and once flooded a Korean restaurant with one-star Yelp reviews after its owner said another band was better.

Other hardcore K-pop fans also pool their money together to buy presents including billboard ads in Times Square for their idols in a practice based on the Korean word "jeogon," which means "tribute to the king."

EXO performs at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong in August 2019. Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

But behind the scenes, the reality is different.

Insider spoke to members of Great Guys, an up-and-coming boyband consisting of nine men in their 20s, after their performance at the Korea Drama Festival in Jinju in early October.

What they shared was a life of strict gym schedules, diets, and forced singledom far from the glitz and glam they show on stage.

"Gym, studio, bedroom that's my life circle," said Ho Ryeong, one of the band members. "We are now preparing for our new album and are actually quite busy."

"Honestly, we don't have much time for eating," he said. "Nor are we free to eat what we want."

Another member, Jae I, chimed in: "That's the hardest part. It's not easy to follow a diet, but [I suppose] it's not impossible either."

It's a testament to the pressures of maintaining the intense beauty standards of the K-pop industry: idols must look and stay beautiful, young, and in good physical shape. That usually ends up in severe diets and exercise regimes.

Great Guys at the Korea Drama Festival in Jinju, South Korea, in October 2019. Komeil Soheili/Insider

One famous K-pop diet, known as the "Paper Cup Diet," involves eating nine paper cups the size of the ones you'd find by water coolers worth of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables every day. Discussion of this diet is also popular among on pro-anorexia forums.

Way, a former member of K-pop band Crayon Pop, told Insider in a separate email: "We weren't allowed to eat midnight snacks. Other snacks like chips and candy weren't allowed, so we would sneak out and eat it."

"Since they kept telling us not to, that made us want to eat more. We would secretly buy it and eat it in the bathroom," she added, laughing.

Way, a K-pop star formerly of Crayon Pop. WayLand/YouTube

Gym routines are also grueling. "We used to dance with 4 kg (8.8 lbs) of sandbags on our feet for several days," Way said. "Our teacher wanted us to get used to the sandbags, so without it our dances would look lighter [in the performance]."

It's worth noting that these beauty standards affect other industries in South Korea too: The country's flight attendants often turn to cosmetic surgery to be beautiful and thin, to increase their odds of securing jobs.

Last year, a news anchor made headlines for refusing to wear contact lenses and false lashes, and opting to present with her glasses on instead.

An ad in South Korea for cosmetic surgery. Getty Images

An unwritten rule in K-pop is that idols must also give up on having a love life if they want to be successful.

Being single makes them appear more accessible to their fans. This, the theory goes, means more devoted fans, which means more income for the group and record label.

This is also why K-pop groups are either all-male or all-female, too so fans don't suspect band members are dating each other.

"Before I made a name [for myself], I couldn't meet my family or friends," Way told Insider. "All our team members were living together in an apartment with a living room and two rooms, so all the time we would be available and at work."

"We even needed to give our phones to the [record] company," she said. "We could hardly meet even our close relatives."

Children practising choreographed K-pop dance moves in Seongsu-dong neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. Komeil Soheili/Insider

Donghwi, another member of Great Guys, also told Insider: "None of us are in a relationship."

When Insider asked him to clarify whether he and his bandmembers don't want partners or aren't allowed them, he said: "Both! We shouldn't, but also, we don't want to [date anyone]."

"We agreed not to have a girl in our lives, so we can focus more on our mission," he added. "We love our fans, that's enough for us."

"If things go well, we can stay like this forever. We are happy as long as we are doing what we love."

Great Guys seems to be enjoying their path to fame so far, which helps them bear the hard parts of their life. But not all K-pop stars have shared the same optimism.

K-pop star Sulli, who died in October 2019. Han Myung-Gu/WireImage/Getty Images

Less than three weeks ago, South Korean police announced that 25-year-old K-pop star Sulli was found dead in her home. Police are still investigating her cause of death, but are working on the assumption that she killed herself.

She was one of the few K-pop artists who had tried to deviate from the K-pop mold, and was chastized for it.

She made her relationship with her boyfriend public. She dared walk out of the house without a bra departing from K-pop's squeaky-clean image. She spoke openly about her mental health: in 2014, she put her career on hold after suffering physical and mental exhaustion.

In return, she got cyberbullies. In the wake of her death, one fan re-posted a video from Sulli's last Instagram Live, where she said: "I am not a bad person. I'm sorry. Why are you saying bad things about me? What did I do to deserve this?"

Fans and stars alike have urged K-pop record companies to take mental health more seriously, and treat it as less of a taboo.

Earlier this year BTS was allowed an "extended period of rest and relaxation" in the words of the wildly successful group's record label during which band members got to visit museums, go to concerts by other groups, and go fishing, Billboard reported.

Members of South Korean K Pop group BTS pose for photos during a press conference to introduce their new album "Map of the Soul: Persona" in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. Jo Soo-jung/Newsis via AP

Quitting K-pop isn't an option for many stars too record companies tend to have a financial hold on their stars.

A typical contract between record companies and their stars involves the company paying for the expenses of booking concert venues, traveling, and food, and expecting them to be offset by the earnings. But if the expenses end up being more than the earnings, then stars have to pay them back.

As Way explained: "Idols with the false hope of a bright future increasing their debt to the company until they eventually lose everything ... Once, I needed to sell my belongings, [including] my laptop and beloved piano, to survive."

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, K-pop is "shifting from 'potential' to 'power player'" in the global music industry. It is becoming more important than ever to protect its stars.

See more here:
Grueling gym routines, restrictive diets, and no dating: K-pop stars tell us about the dark side of their industry - INSIDER

Jennifer Lopez is mostly known as an actress, dancer, and singer. But if youve followed her closely throughout her decades-long career, you know that shes a bit of a foodie, too.

Though she tends to follow a strict diet, the Goin In singer will occasionally pig out on a variety of foods. She eats everything from pizza and steak to octopus and less popular fruits. But, like everyone, J. Lo has her limits.

Heres the one food youll never catch Lopez eating.

In a 2013 interview with CBS News, the Get Right singer told host Gayle King that she cant stand exotic foods. These are usually unusual or taboo meats, vegetables, fruits, or spices.

I dont like the exotic kinds of food like snake like venison and things like that, Lopez said. It gets too weird.

But Lopez reportedly has some weird food habits herself. According to multiple reports, she has to have her coffee stirred counterclockwise. Its unclear why she allegedly has to have it this way, but if its not, she reportedly wont drink it.

Lopez follows a clean diet complete with plenty of protein, fruits, and vegetables. She tends to eat chicken, fish, smoothies, oatmeal, salads, and eggs.

I have her eating very clean because she needs really good fuel for all the things that shes doing, her trainer, Tracy Anderson, previously toldPeople. Its all organic and its all very well thought out, with the balance of very high quality proteins and a lot of nutrient-dense food everything is fresh.

Lopez steers clear of alcohol and caffeine. But on the rare occasion that she does want coffee, she always reaches for decaf (before stirring it counterclockwise).

Though she generally follows a strict food regimen, the Im Real singer doesnt totally deprive herself of her favorite foods.

Throughout the years Ive learned the importance of maintaining a healthier [] diet, shepreviously told People. I still eat some of the foods I love, but in moderation. I dont deprive myself.

When shes ready to pig out, Lopez loves Puerto Rican food and chocolate chip cookies.

I happen to know a woman that loves cookies and I meanloves,her fianc, Alex A-Rod Rodriguez, revealed in a November 2018 episode of Shark Tank. Jennifer eats a cookie every night before she goes to bed.

Rodriguez also said during a 2017 appearance on The View that Lopezs other guilty pleasure is chocolate chip ice cream.

Speaking of Rodriguez, he and Lopez often do diets and cleanses together. In February of 2019, the couple went on a 10-day, no-sugar, no-carb detox. After completing the challenge, they celebrated by having a feast.

According to People, they chowed down on fried and sweet plantains, pizza, fries, veggies, and more.

But they didnt waste any time getting back in the gym to work it off. Learn more about Lopezs workout routine here.

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The 1 Food Jennifer Lopez Will Never Eat - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

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