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solsticexolos · 3 years

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Incubation Guide

Brought to you by Equinox Giants Farm

I am currently waiting for my latest hatch to finish, so I figured I’d write up a little incubation guide for anyone curious. I’ve only been hatching my own chicks since 2018, but have used both locally purchased eggs, shipped eggs, and eggs from my own flock and have learned a thing or two so far.

I’ll add more illustrations later!

This guide is specifically about artificial incubation, not natural incubation using a broody hen.

While broody hens seem to be the very best at hatching eggs successfully, there are several reasons why we instead use artificial incubators:

Cleanliness

No worrying about the hen/bedding passing any parasites or disease to the chicks as they hatch

Quantity

Hens are very limited in how many eggs they can set at a time, incubators can hold anywhere from 3 to 400, depending on the size/style.

More Eggs

When a hen is allowed to go broody she will stop laying. By collecting her eggs, we discourage her going broody which means she produces more, and doesn’t go through the labor of brooding.

Chick Safety

Not all hens that go broody will be good mothers. I’ve seen my fair share of very, very bad broodies who were inconsistent in their setting, or plain out killed their own chicks.

However, we’re not terribly good at replicating nature’s incubator even with all of our modern technology. A hen doesn’t need a thermometer, hydrometer, or turning rack because she has the necessary heat, humidity, and movement built-in already. So when we’re incubating artificially, we need these tools in order to attempt to mimic a broody hen as well as possible.

We know now that there are certain parameters that seem to be the best for encouraging good development and hatching:

Temperature: 99.5°F / 37.5°C Humidity: 40-55% for days 1-18 | 65-75% for days 19-21 (until everyone has hatched)

Temperature is simply warmth, without it the eggs fail to develop and the embryo dies. Too much heat will also kill the embryo. There’s a little wiggle room either way, but trying to maintain right around 99.5°F, only deviating around 0.5°F either way is important. A little too cool, and chicks will be slow to hatch and be mistakenly presumed dead. A little too hot, and chicks may hatch early and not have fully absorbed their yolk, often resulting in death.

Incubators achieve the proper temperature typically via a built-in thermostat set to 99.5°F, though some allow you to adjust this as some species of birds need slightly different temperatures. The heating element itself is hotter than that, because it needs to fill the entire space of the incubator with air warmed to 99.5°F. There are two different styles of heating in an incubator:

Still Air

Still air, as most cheap/older incubators are, simply heats. The heating element needs to get fairly hot to maintain the temperature in the incubator, and there are usually hot and cold spots throughout it.

Circulated Air

This is undoubtedly the superior incubator style. A fan is built in, which pushes the hot air from the heater around the entire incubator. This means it all stays one, consistent temperature.

When looking for an incubator, always try to go with one that circulates the air, as you’ll have more consistent, and better results than a still-air incubator.

Humidity is the relative, ambient humidity inside of the incubator- the amount of moisture in the air. Humidity is extremely important, as it needs to be low enough that moisture evaporates from within the egg. This allows the air-space in the egg to grow and fill with oxygen, so that when the chick is ready to hatch but not yet out of the egg, they have something to breath. If the humidity is too high, then the chick will drown before hatching. It also cannot be too low, as the chick needs plenty of room to move and grow in the egg, and it needs to have enough moisture to keep the membrane inside the egg from drying out and suffocating the chick.

When a hen is brooding, she periodically gets off of her nest to go eat and drink, maybe take a nice dirt bath, and this allows moisture to rapidly escape from the eggs before she gets back on. In an incubator we do things differently, and instead maintain a constant relative humidity until “lock down.”

The goal is for the egg to lose about 12% of its weight between day 0 and day 18. If you don’t have a hydrometer, then you can weigh the eggs once a week to make sure they’re losing weight (moisture!) appropriately. I also highly advise you buy a hydrometer, even if your incubator has one built in, to make sure it is correct.

Generally 40-50% humidity from day one until day 18 is right what the eggs need to lose the correct amount of moisture without losing too much.

After day 18 you need to raise the humidity to 65-75% humidity. This is important to allow chicks to hatch, it keeps the membranes in the egg wet enough that it’s flexible and easy for the chick to tear through. Too dry and they can’t tear it and end up “shrink-wrapped,” too wet and the chick can drown.

In incubators we control humidity via water. Most incubators have trays of some sort built in that you fill with water to increase humidity. It’s much easier to raise humidity in the incubator than lower it, generally. Lowering it involves opening pre-installed vents to allow more moisture to escape, or even siphoning water out of the incubator.

If the humidity won’t go high enough, then you may need to cover some vent holes, or add an additional cup of water/sponge to the incubator to increase it.

Some models make this easier than others, naturally. The higher-end incubators even have a built in water-pump that adds or removes water as needed to manage the humidity you set it to.

Some folks have success with a method they call dry incubating. This means they don’t add any water to the incubator, and instead just rely on the room’s ambient humidity, only increasing once it’s time for lock-down. Success with this method is highly variable based on your own environment. I had extremely poor luck with it, but it’s worth trying if you’re having issues.

Turning of the eggs is something that is, oddly, debated among poultry fanciers. Turning eggs keeps the embryo from sticking to the side of the egg, which could result in poor or failed development. It is also said to “exercise” the fetus, encouraging movement. Hens turn eggs whenever they adjust their position and wiggle. The fact that hens do this naturally is generally a good indication that it’s good and necessary for healthy embryo development.

Most modern incubators now come equipped with an automatic turner. I have one that turns every 6 hours, and the other turns every 2 hours. I haven’t noticed that either does better than the other in terms of how frequently eggs should be turned. Generally eggs that have been shipped does best with limited turning (4 times a day or so.)

If your incubator does not have a turner, then you’ll have to hand turn the eggs. This gets tedious fast, so I really advise going with an automatic turner. Last June I had to hand-turn a batch of turkey eggs for 26 days, and it was honestly annoying as heck, haha. When hand-turning you’ll want to write an “X” on one side so you can tell which eggs need to be turned. Try to turn them at least 4 times a day if you can.

The turning system, other than floor-space, is the main contributor to how many eggs an incubator can hold. Some have individual slots that one egg goes into, others have a row/rack that you line the eggs up in. Some rotate via tilting, some rotate the more natural way by rolling them. Companies claim that rolling is more natural and therefore a more successful method. I haven’t actually heard a difference in hatch rate or chick health with either method of turning.

On day 18 for chicks, or 25 for turkeys (etc), stop turning the eggs. Remove the turner if applicable. This is lock-down.

Lock-down is the term we use for the time period during which the fetuses are getting into position to hatch. This is when you can see the eggs wiggling on their own as the chick moves itself to prepare. Once in position, they usually stop moving, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t notice the eggs moving. We stop turning here so that the chicks can stay in the right position.

Once the chicks are in the right position, they will pierce the inner membrane in the egg, where the air-cell is. They will start breathing in this air, and you may start hearing very quiet peeping. This is called internal pipping. That little air cell is not very big, so they must rapidly start working to put a hole in the shell itself, called external pipping. This is a ridiculous amount of work for the tiny things, they have very limited space, and must pierce through a thick calcium structure while trying not to run out of air. Chicks are actually equipped with two important tools to do this: an egg tooth, which is an extra horny growth on the end of the beak that’s for breaking through the egg, and an extra neck muscle that allows them to use more force and rotate their neck in order to pip and unzip (hatch.)

Once pipped, the chick will take a long break. They have just used up a lot of energy in making that opening, and now they need to rest. They have not finished developing to hatch yet, so do NOT try to assist in hatching unless it’s been 48 hours since they initially pipped with no progress.

The egg yolk has not yet been fully absorbed by this point. See, the egg white provides most of the growing nutrients for young chicks, while the yolk gets absorbed into them later on when they need those nutrients to hatch and emerge, then be safe and wait for their siblings to finish hatching. If the yolk has not finished absorbing, they risk rupturing it and dying.

Anywhere from 10 minutes to 24+ hours after pipping the chick will begin to hatch. This process is called unzipping by many. They’ll move around the edge of the air-cell within the egg, going from the pip, around the egg, and back to the pip. Then they give a mighty push, and spring free of the egg.

Upon freshly hatching the chick will be pretty useless. They’ve never used legs before, are breathing air, seeing things, smelling things- it’s all very overwhelming! They’ll flail and flop around quite a bit, moving their legs and working blood into their limbs while they work on coordinating. They will likely roll onto their backs a few times, but don’t be alarmed by this, it’s all part of the process. You’ll probably notice a few things:

There is often a fresh poop in the egg, baby’s first poop, in fact!

There is a red spot that looks like a wound on the rump under the vent. This is the naval, where the yolk has been absorbed. Keep an eye on this area to make sure it doesn’t get pecked, and that it heals up cleanly in a few days.

The chick’s head may look a little lumpy and weird initially. Birth is weird. It should normalize in a few hours.

The chick will take several hours to fluff up. By the time they’re dry, they are usually running around a bit (mostly stumbling) and talking quite a bit, but mostly sleeping.

Wait until all of the chicks have hatched and are dried before opening the incubator. Opening it early can rapidly rob the incubator of moisture, and result in chicks trying to hatch getting stuck in their shells.

When everyone who is going to hatch has hatched and they are all dry, it’s time to move them into the pre-prepared brooder.

While day 21 is usually when chicks hatch, that’s the average and not the rule. Leave eggs until day 25 to be safe. After that you can toss them, though I suggest performing an egg necropsy first to see if you can identify what caused the problem.

After hatching is complete, you must clean the incubator. Use a chlorine/bleach solution and let it air dry, then rinse with clean water and dry. Cleaning is extremely important in preventing bacterial infections in future hatches. In fact it is required by the NPIP Program in the USA.

This post is real long now, so I will end it here, but I’ll make a follow up about incubator errors, hatching errors, and so on! If you have any questions or additions, feel free to ask!

#chickenblr #birblr #petblr #farmblr #incubation #chickens #poultry #turkeys

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ortizrachel94 · 4 years

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How To Grow 2 Inches Taller Overnight Miraculous Unique Ideas

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#How To Grow 2 Inches Taller Overnight Miraculous Unique Ideas #How To Get Taller

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mensbodybuildingtips · 4 years

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Why Rapid Weight Loss Is Superior to `Slow Cutting` (And How to Do It Right)

Many individuals think that quick weight loss is undesirable, yet if done appropriately, it's far above 'reduce reducing' ...

When it concerns weight loss, we've all heard that "sluggish and also constant" is the means to go.

There's worth in this regulation of thumb as losing weight also quickly implies anguish, muscle mass loss, and also other maladies, however there's a kicker:

Losing fat too slowly is additionally non-optimum and also is usually not successful as well.

In fact, I would certainly state that even more people make the blunder of losing fat as well slowly than also rapidly as 'crash dieting' is ending up being less and much less popular these days.

Well, in this write-up I wish to damage down for you why I believe losing fat too gradually is a blunder and exactly what you must be going for instead. Allow's reach it.

Why Shedding Fat Fast is Far Better Than Slow

I have a straightforward objective when I'm seeking to shed fat: I wish to get it over with as rapidly as feasible, which implies I do every little thing I could to accelerate fat loss while protecting muscle.

While this could seem like an apparent option, there's a college of assumed in the globe of health and fitness that supports a 'slow-moving cutting' method to weight loss. That is, the usage of a light calorie shortage with low-to-moderate amounts of exercise to slowly decrease body fat mass throughout numerous months.

The 'marketing factors' of the sluggish cut mostly focus on maintaining optimum lean mass, eating extra on a day-to-day basis, and also doing much less exercise (and also much less cardio, particularly). These positives are commonly combined with exaggerated cases about exactly how you'll burn away all your muscle mass if you attempt to be as well aggressive with your weight loss.

Well, I strongly disagree with the 'slow cutting' technique because it offers just minor benefits but includes major downsides that stem from the physiological adjustments that take place when you restrict your calories to lose weight.

You see, the longer you stay in a calorie deficiency ...

1. The more your metabolic process reduces, which implies the much more you need to lower power consumption or rise output.

This is how 'metabolic adaptation,' as it's called, functions: your metabolic process adapts to the amount of power you feed your body with the goal of balancing energy consumption with output-a state of homeostasis.

When you restrict your calories and feed your body much less power compared to it burns, you shed body fat however your metabolic rate naturally starts reducing down ( burning less power). The longer you continue to be in a deficit, the a lot more your metabolic rate slows.

As your metabolic process decreases, what do you assume you need to do to keep a deficit and also keep dropping weight? That's right-you have to more minimize calorie intake or rise outcome (exercise). And also after that, a month or 2 later, you have to do it once again. As well as again.

This cycle continues until either you reach your goal or your metabolism has actually reduced down as well much and you after that need to abandon your search of weight loss and deal with speeding it back up.

This isn't completion of the globe ... yet it's unnecessary. By being extra aggressive with your calorie restriction, which we'll chat much more about soon, you could shed a fair bit more fat without shedding muscular tissue or experiencing any kind of added metabolic slowdown.

2. The even more time you're not developing muscle.

This perilous blunder that can really hurt your long-term results.

If you're also halfway well-informed in this area, you've heard that you can't build muscle mass and shed fat concurrently. This isn't always the case (newbies could), but it's usually real: a calorie deficiency hinders your body's capability to repair and build muscle healthy proteins sufficient to efficiently stop muscular tissue growth.

Thus, the trouble with slow reducing ends up being apparent: the longer you reduced, the longer you cannot build any kind of real muscle mass to speak of.

If you have actually primarily reached your genetic possibility in regards to muscular tissue development, you might not care regarding that. But if you're still functioning on your physique as well as should add even more muscle to reach your best goal, after that this comes to be really important.

I've seen people actually mess this up as well as acquire anywhere from 1/2 to also 1/3 the amount of muscle they can have over the training course of anywhere from 6 to Twelve Month by merely continuing to be in a moderate calorie deficiency for much as well long.

The profits is when it comes to developing muscular tissue as well as strength over the long-term, you wish to spend as little time in a calorie deficit as feasible, and 'slow-moving cutting' stops working in this regard.

3. The most likely you are to fall off the wagon and also quit early as you become physically and also mentally fatigued.

Let's face it: also when you're diet programs properly, remaining in a calorie deficit obtains old after a while.

Workouts get more challenging, power levels can flag, and also cravings as well as yearnings could become a lot more constant, and also we need to depend increasingly more on determination as well as self-control to remain the course.

I've seen this sometimes: the longer someone has to eliminate his or her body's need for more food, the most likely they is to go astray with bingeing and, inevitably, abandon the mission altogether.

An intriguing factor concerning this, too, is that you could be rather hostile with your calorie restriction without feeling much various compared to if you make use of a moderate deficiency. Generally speaking it requires a week or 2 of mild appetite and afterwards smooth sailing.

But Wait ... Won't Rapid Weight Loss Reason You to Lose a Great deal of Muscle?

This is one of the biggest weight loss is afraid around among us health and fitness individual, and also like much of the 'knowledge' in this world, it's just partially true.

The reality is indeed, also big of a calorie shortage will accelerate muscle mass loss as well as this is just one of the reasons 'collision diet programs' is so unhealthy.

But just how huge of a deficiency is also huge? And also how do points alter for sports types following a high-protein diet plan, as opposed to untrained, overweight people consuming also little protein?

Well, we could thank researchers at the University of Jyväskylä for an answer!

In a research study they conducted, they divided their subjects-20 to 35 year-old national as well as global degree track as well as field jumpers and sprinters with reduced levels of body fat (at or under 10%) -into two groups: a daily calorie deficiency of 300 calories (concerning 12% below their total daily power expenditure) as well as an everyday calorie deficiency of 750, with both groups following a high-protein diet.

After 4 weeks, the outcomes were unexpected: the athletes utilizing a 300-calorie shortage shed very little fat as well as muscular tissue while the team utilizing a 750-calorie deficit lost, typically, about 4 extra pounds of fat and also little muscle.

Remember, nonetheless, that the 750-calorie deficit group was not starving themselves by any type of means-they were consuming over 2,000 calories each day. Nevertheless, they were utilizing a very aggressive shortage of concerning 24% and also the results speak for themselves.

These searchings for entirely jive with my experience both with my body and also the thousands of people I've dealt with: moderate shortages can function if you're extremely overweight, yet as you obtain leaner, larger deficits become necessary and don't automatically create muscular tissue loss.

This is why my common calorie deficiency suggestions for weight loss are in between 20 as well as 25%.

So, as you can see, the ranges are tipped far as well greatly against sluggish cutting for it to be advisable.

If you have a considerable quantity of fat to go down, the best-case scenario is you shed it slowly but at expensive of a cost.

If you're relatively lean, you'll most likely never see single-digit body fat percents and also give up out of frustration.

Before I authorize off, I intend to show you how I make the most of weight loss when I cut and make it as quick as possible without giving up muscle mass or my sanity.

How I Shed Fat Fast While Maintaining Muscle mass and also Strength

Over the years, I've attempted various points with both my diet plan and training when cutting and have actually dialed in a very reliable as well as effective weight loss regimen.

With this program I have the ability to shed about a pound of fat each week, even when I'm beginning around 9 to 10% body fat (I lately reduced from 9 to 10% to 6% in about 7 weeks), without any kind of hunger or cravings to speak of. My power degrees remain high and my training is hardly impacted.

Here's the regimen:

I use an aggressive (yet not reckless) calorie deficit of 20 to 25%.

Like the professional athletes in the research study pointed out above, I additionally decrease my calorie consumption to about 75 to 80% of my TDEE as well as, like them, quickly begin seeing decreases in fat without any kind of recognizable muscle loss.

If you don't know ways to calculate your TDEE or exercise a calorie deficit, this write-up on correct meal planning breaks everything down.

I eat a high-protein, high-carbohydrate diet.

While the scientific search for the 'ideal diet' continues, there's one point we understand for sure: it's going to involve consuming plenty of healthy protein every day.

The lower line is research after research after study validate that high-protein dieting transcends, in every method, to low-protein diet programs. This is especially real when you're restricting calories for weight loss, as adequate protein intake plays a significant role in the preservation of lean mass.

Now, a lot of individuals understand that a high-protein diet is exceptional to low-protein, however numerous individuals aren't sure that a high-carbohydrate diet regimen is much above low-carb when it concerns weight loss and also calorie restrictions.

Why? Well, when you're limiting your calories ...

A high-carb diet plan causes much less anxiety and also fatigue compared to low-carb

A low-carb diet doesn't result in any kind of more fat loss than high-carb

A high-carb diet plan is much far better for preserving efficiency and also lean mass compared to low-carb

It's much easier to eat way too much on a low-carb diet compared to high-carb

This suggestion comes as a shock to many individuals, however believe me: if you usually use low-carb weight loss when you wish to shed fat, try a higher carbohydrate method following time (regarding 40% of your day-to-day calories from carbohydrate) as well as you'll be astonished at just how much simpler and also enjoyable it is.

I usage supplements verified to speed up fat loss.

If you're hesitant of supplements ... I comprehend. The market is rife with defrauders and even worse and also most of right stuff marketed in your regional GNC is essentially worthless.

That said, there are all-natural substances that could aid you construct muscle mass and also lose fat.

Creatine is an excellent instance of the previous, as well as there are numerous supplements confirmed to assist with fat loss like caffeine, eco-friendly tea essence, yohimbine, and more. I have actually cut both with as well as without using these supplements and locate that it's noticeably much faster with them.

I lift heavy weights.

Heavy training will certainly not only assist you keep your lean mass while reducing, it can in fact aid you melt much more fat.

A study released by Greek sporting activities researchers discovered that males that trained with hefty weights (80-85% of their one-rep max, or "1RM") increased their metabolic rates over the adhering to three days, burning hundreds more calories compared to the men that trained with lighter weights (45-65% of their 1RM).

So struck the weights as well as hit them hard if you want to jack up your metabolic rate and in turn, speed up your fat loss.

And if you intend to score extra points, emphasis on substance lifts like squats and also deadlifts, because these are the types that melt one of the most post-workout calories.

I do HIIT cardio.

If you're familiar with my job, you know that when it comes to cardio, I'm a large follower of high-intensity period training.

Studies such as those carried out by Laval College, East Tennessee State University, Baylor University of Medicine, and the College of New South Wales have conclusively verified that shorter sessions of high-intensity cardio cause greater weight loss with time than longer, low-intensity sessions.

In reality, a study carried out by The College of Western Ontario revealed that doing simply 4 - 6 30-second sprints burns extra fat in time compared to 60 minutes of incline treadmill walking (among the staples of "bodybuilding cardio").

Furthermore, maintaining your cardio sessions shorter methods you better protect your muscular tissue and strength.

#body building #bodybuilding #exercise #fitness #health #health and fitness #weight #workout

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childgrowthsupplement-blog · 4 years

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Tips on How to Feed a Child That Refuses to Eat

Parents worry too much about feeding their children especially new parents. Sometimes a child refuses to eat and there is no power in heaven that will make him eat. Some toddlers refuse to eat at meal times even if you have not given them any snacks in between. Parents worry about the child's health and want to force feed them. We all wish that our toddlers would eat everything we place on their plates, but this is not going to happen. Children can be very stubborn and they have more patience than we do, they have a long life ahead of them and have the time to wait us out, we don't. It is normal for them not to want to eat sometimes, as long as this does not affect their growth or health it is okay. Try to give them as little liquids as possible before meals because this will fill them up and they will refuse to eat. A toddler's growth slows down between the ages of one to three. During the first year their growth rate is enormous and fast, they require a lot of energy and food to keep up. Once it slows down they will eat less. Toddlers are also moving around all the time, they are very active so they do not have much time to stop and eat. Eating is also boring for them so it must be done as quickly as possible. Snaking healthy food during the day may help you solve this problem and keep your child healthy. Toddler portions should be small, about one forth of an adult serving is enough for them. If they are still hungry add some more vegetables or healthy food. Twenty four ounces of milk is plenty of milk during the day, do not give him more than that because he will need room to place food in. Milk tends to fill them up so they refuse to eat when the time comes. Food must not be substituted by milk either; they contain different nutrients and elements the child needs. He must have both, balanced throughout the day. Try to vary his menu to keep him interested and tasting different flavors and foods.You have just about any inquiries relating to where by and the best way to employ セノッピー, you'll be able to e mail us with our webpage. Toddlers are picky about their food and many other things too. Some children will fall in love with one type of food and eat it for several days in a row. Their preferences and tastes change constantly, they are experimenting and learning new things so be patient. One day they may eat all day and the next they won't touch a bite, this is the way they are and it is okay. Do not worry too much about this, just make sure there is balance in his diet and that he is eating what he needs all week. Try to average the week to make sure he has received all the necessary nutrition, trying to do it on a day to day basis is a waste of time and you will end up frustrated. Try to feed your child natural food all the time; any processed food contains preservatives and other substances which are not good for him. Avoid these as much as possible, if you want to give him mashed apples, just grab a couple at the grocery store and throw them in the blender. This will be a healthy natural snack for him. Most children do not need vitamin supplements, but if you believe your child does do not buy them of the counter. Ask your pediatrician if he considers them to be necessary and if he does he will advice on what to give your child. Most of them do not need vitamins or any other type of supplement but to stay on the safe side, your doctor should decide which and when to give them to him.

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livingcorner · 3 years

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How to Trim Basil for Big, Bushy Plants and Larger Yields

One of the secrets to producing big, bushy basil plants is trimming. Many gardeners are shy about harvesting from their herbs. They don’t want to cut them back in case it damages the plants or reduces yield. I’m the opposite, constantly trimming herbs like basil to use fresh, or preserve by drying or freezing. Are you ready to learn how to trim your basil plants for maximum production?

When it comes to pruning basil, it doesn’t matter if you’re growing basil in containers or garden beds. It doesn’t matter if you’re growing Genovese basil, lemon basil or Thai basil. All types of basil benefit from regular clipping. It’s a quick and easy garden task that pays off big time!

You're reading: How to Trim Basil for Big, Bushy Plants and Larger Yields

Whether you’re growing your own basil from seed or picking up transplants, pinch back young plants to encourage branching and larger plants.

Why you need to know how to trim basil

There are plenty of great reasons for pruning back basil plants. Here are my top three:

To harvest. This is the best reason to trim your basil! I can’t get enough of the basil harvest and clip branches for cooking almost daily in the summer. We make pesto, chop the leaves for sprinkling over pasta and pizza, toss them in green salads, and add citrusy basils like lemon basil to fruits salads.

To stimulate growth. I know, I know, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to remove part of a plant to make it grow, but trust me, this is the best way to force your basil to grow big and bushy. When you clip basil stems back to a fresh set of leaves, you force those leaves to grow, doubling the basil produced on that stem. And as those stems grow, you can pinch them back and double their production – it’s exponential!

To remove flowers. Eventually most basil plants produce flowers. The flowers are very attractive to bees but basil plants that are allowed to flower slow down their vegetative growth. That means fewer leaves. A sneaky way to get around early-bolting basil is to grow a variety that is slow to go to flower. Everleaf is one of my favorite basils and flowers up to eight weeks later than other varieties. Emerald Towers is also very slow to flower. Or, you can plant a variety like Pesto Perpetuo which is sterile and doesn’t produce flowers at all.

Take a peek where the arrow is pointing… this basil plant was trimmed a few days before the photo was taken. You can see the stub where I removed the central stem and the two sideshoots which are quickly filling out.

When to trim basil

Timing, as they say is everything. And when trimming basil it’s best to start early when the seedlings are about six to eight inches tall and have three to four sets of leaves. At that point, each plant is likely a single stem. I like to pinch that main stem back to a strong set of side shoots, removing about one-third of the plant. This simple trimming DOUBLES your basil harvest by turning single stemmed plants into double stemmed plants. How easy is that?

Once the initial trimming is done, you’ve got a few weeks before you’ll need to pick up your snips again. I prune my basil plants every two weeks or so during the summer to stimulate plenty of growth.

How NOT to trim basil

Before I get into the ‘do’s’ of how to trim basil, I think I should first share a ‘don’t’. When harvesting, don’t just pluck off individual leaves. This doesn’t promote new growth. Instead, when you trim, you should be removing top sections of stems. Read on to learn more.

Read more: The Number 1 Way to Get Rid of Foxes for Good!

The first cut: pruning basil seedlings

In the above paragraphs I outlined how to trim back basil seedlings for the first time to stimulate growth. But what if you’re not growing your own seedlings? What if you bought basil transplants from the garden centre and they’re already bigger than six to eight inches tall? Don’t worry! You can still trim these back to thicken up the plants and encourage growth. If you can, separate store bought basil into individual plants (there’s often a handful of plants grouped together in the pot). Then, trim the plants back by about one-third, clipping just above a set of side shoots.

Now that your young basil plants have been given their first haircut, let them have a few weeks to grow. The first harvest usually comes about a month after planting when small shoots can be removed. This serves a dual purpose: 1) you get to eat some of your homegrown basil! And 2) you can use this opportunity to stimulate EVEN MORE growth.

When trimming Greek-type basils, like Spicy Globe, you can use your fingers or herb snips to cut back to a healthy set of leaf buds.

How to trim basil plants to harvest or stimulate growth

To trim basil for harvesting or to promote growth, you can use your fingers, hand pruners, or herb snips. (These compact, lightweight snips are ideal for cutting herbs back). I often use my fingers for pinching flowerbuds or trimming top shoots of basil, but if you’re cutting the plants back hard, you may need sharp pruners as you don’t want to tear the stems. This can damage the plant and introduce disease pathogens into the tissues.

Before you start clipping or pinching, take a close look at the plant. You want to cut central stems back to a lower set of leaves where two tiny leaf buds emerge from the leaf axil. They’re pretty easy to spot. Once you decide where you’re going to trim, cut the main stem about a quarter inch above the leaf buds. You can remove just a few stems to flavor your dinner or cut the plant back by a third to gather enough basil to make pesto or to preserve.

When clipping back basil for harvesting or to stimulate growth, cut the stems back to a healthy set of leaf buds.

How to pinch out basil flowers

As noted above, another reason to learn how to trim basil is to remove flowers. Stressed out basil plants begin to flower sooner than those given plenty of sunshine, well-drained soil, and consistent moisture. Therefore, aim to keep your basil happy so that it keeps producing leaves, not flowers. But for most types of basil, it’s inevitable that you’ll see flower buds forming by mid summer.

Removing basil flowers as they form re-directs energy into vegetative growth and can result in a bigger harvest.

How to remove flowers on Genovese basil plants

It’s easy to spot flowerbuds on Genovese basil plants. They emerge at the tip of the shoots and look like a dense cluster of tiny leaves. As they grow, the flowerbuds elongate and tiny white flowers emerge (or purple flowers on Thai basil). I like to pinch the buds as soon as I notice them forming. That way, the plant doesn’t expend unnecessary energy on those buds.

You can use your fingers to trim off flowerbuds or you can use garden snips. Whatever you find most comfortable. After that initial flower pinching, you’ll need to check every week or so for new flowerbuds and remove those as they appear.

Trimming basil flowers on Greek basil plants

Greek basil plants form tight, tidy balls that grow up to a foot wide and tall. They have many small leaves with flowerbuds forming at the tips of each shoot. Hand pinching buds or flowers from these plants takes some time so I cheat a bit by using my mini herb snips or even garden shears. Just shear the flowers off like you would shape a boxwood hedge. The plants respond to this type of trimming by continuing to pump out more foliage.

Finally, as you pinch basil flowerbuds, don’t toss them in the compost, instead use them in the kitchen. They have a wonderful basil flavor and can be used in pesto or sprinkled on salads, dressings, pastas, and pizza.

Read more: Herb Garden – Growing Herbs | Gardener’s Supply

Thai basil, which produces such long purple flower stalks can also be trimmed back to increase yield.

Watch Niki prune her basil in this video:

How to preserve basil

Now that you’ve trimmed back your basil plants, you’ll need to use that delicious bounty ASAP or preserve it for future meals. Basil leaves can be dried or frozen.

Drying basil leaves – Drying basil is a quick and easy way to preserve basil. That said, I don’t find dried basil retains the intense basil flavor as well as freezing. But if you wish to dry basil, you can use a dehydrator or gather stems in small bundles, tie them with twine, and hang them in a warm room away from direct sunlight. After a week or two, they will be completely dry and can be crumbled into jars. You can also use an herb drying rack if you have one.

Freezing basil leaves – This is my go-to method of preserving my homegrown basil and I freeze basil every week or two from mid-summer to frost. First, I gather the basil shoots, cutting back to a set of side shoots (so I get MORE basil in the subsequent weeks). I then remove the leaves and add them to the bowl of my food processor. Once full, I add a drizzle of olive oil and pulse until the leaves are coarsely chopped. This fragrant mixture is then scooped into freezer bags and labelled. I like to flatten the mixture in the bags so they lay flat in my freezer and it’s easy to break off a chunk in mid-winter when I need a flavor blast of basil in my cooking. You can also use ice cube trays to freeze basil (or pesto) in handy cubes.

Of course you can also make pesto with your basil, pureeing pine nuts (or walnuts or almonds), parmesan cheese, and garlic with your basil harvest. Here is a great pesto recipe.

For more information on growing basil, check out these articles:

Learn how to grow basil plants from cuttings

Types of basil to grow in gardens and containers

Learn how to grow great basil

Do you trim your basil plants regularly?

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/how-to-trim-basil-for-big-bushy-plants-and-larger-yields/

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transitional-care-services-blogs · 3 years

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Sleep Tips for Seniors Living with Insomnia

Changes in the sleeping pattern are a common sign of old age. Experiencing less deep sleep, waking up in the wee hours, and feeling sleepy earlier are a few changes. However, what’s not typical is waking up tired every morning and experiencing disturbed sleep. These are signs of insomnia in the elderly.

As when you were younger, good quality of sleep is key to your emotional and physical health. An adequate sleep strengthens your immune system, repairs cell damage, improves memory function and concentration power, to name a few. Therefore, we have compiled the best sleep tips for seniors in this blog post to help you eliminate insomnia.

How Much Sleep is Good Sleep?

Even though it varies with individuals, most people need 7-9 hours of sleep every night. To figure out the correct number of hours, you need to observe how you feel after waking up in the morning. Do you feel tired or rested enough? If you feel tired waking up, you’re not getting proper sleep.

Insufficient sleep is associated with breast cancer, weight problems, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other serious health problems. It may also lead to excessive daytime sleepiness, memory problems, attention problems, or depression. Hence, one of the most crucial sleep tips for seniors is a minimum of 7-hour sleep at night.

What Causes Insomnia in the Elderly?

A decreased level of growth hormone in old age is behind insomnia in the elderly. For this reason, deep sleep or slow-wave is difficult to achieve during the night. As a result, seniors do not feel refreshed after waking up. Due to less melatonin, they wake up frequently through the night and experience more fragmented sleep.

“Light sleepers,” as we call them, make up for the fragmented sleep by taking daytime naps. In most cases, this may not be indicative of an underlying problem.

However, the following signs and symptoms would indicate sleep problems in the elderly:

Increased reliance on sleeping pills.

Overindulgence in alcohol to get back to sleep.

Feel irritable and tired during the day.

Trouble managing emotions.

Difficulty driving, watching television, or sitting still.

Lack of focus and concentration during the day

When awakened, trouble getting back to bed.

Besides the natural decline in growth hormone, sleep problems in the elderly can also sign an underlying problem. Some of them are stress, traumatic experience, depression, health problems, or even side effects of certain medications.

The other causes of insomnia in seniors include:

Medical conditions: Millions of seniors in the U.S. live with various chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, etc. They feel the need to urinate and experience heartburn during the night frequently. That makes sleeping extremely difficult. If that’s the case, you should consult your doctor to lessen the symptoms and achieve a night of deep sleep.

Menopause: Women experience night sweats and hot flashes after menopause that interrupt their deep sleep. Improving certain lifestyle aspects such as exercise and diet is excellent to resolve sleep problems over 50 years of age in women.

Sleep disorders: Older adults are prone to experiencing sleep disorders such as sleep apnea that causes breathing problems, and Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) that causes an involuntary urge to move their legs. These conditions can leave them uncomfortable and tired and should necessitate medical attention.

Inadequate social engagement: Activities such as volunteering and engaging with your community are essential to get a good night’s sleep. They keep you moving and interactive, thereby leaving you tired by the end of the day. Joining a seniors’ group or volunteering can be an excellent yet understated sleep tip for seniors.

Lack of sunlight: Melatonin, a hormone released by the pineal gland, regulates our sleep-wake cycles. Sunlight is a natural source that helps regulate melatonin. For this reason, it’s vital to get a minimum of 20 minutes of sunlight every day to improve your sleep.

Stress: This is one of the most common causes of sleep problems in the elderly. Certain life-altering events such as the death of a close friend/family member, retirement, or changing family home can trigger stress. In such a scenario, it’s important to talk face-to-face with someone who can improve your mood and enhance sleep quality.

Medications: This could be a reason behind sleep problems over 50. Unlike children and younger people, seniors take more drugs to treat their conditions. An unlikely combination of drugs can, however, impair sleep. Therefore, you must consult your doctor, who can change your medications thus allowing you to undergo deep sleep.

Lack of exercise: A sedentary lifestyle is not considered suitable for rest. Activity has been deemed necessary for good quality of sleep by several studies. Being physically active is essential to maintain healthy serotonin levels, improving your sleep cycles, mood, and appetite.

Poor sleep habits: Watching late-night shows on television or other devices could contribute to poor sleep quality. Moreover, it’s not advised to consume alcohol before going to bed. Your room needs to be quiet, dark, and comfortable, which is conducive to sleep.

Sleep Tips for Seniors

Choosing a healthier lifestyle, improving the sleep environment, and addressing emotional issues can help you significantly improve your sleep. That said, you may need some time to find out what works best for you.

These are the best natural sleep aid for the elderly:

Use low-wattage bulbs: As we established earlier, melatonin makes you sleepy. However, its production can be hampered due to artificial lights at night. It’s better to turn on the low-wattage bulbs before bedtime. Also, it would help if you closed your computer and TV at least an hour prior.

Don’t use backlit devices: Many of you may like to read from backlit electronic devices such as tablets or phones at night. However, they don’t bode well for your sleep. Instead, you can switch to eReaders, for which you need an additional source of light.

Ensure your bedroom is quiet: Apart from lighting, you also need to take care of your noise environment. With age, the sensitivity to noise increases. If you can’t eliminate the noise and light source, you can use earplugs and a sleep mask to solve this problem.

Remove bedroom clocks: Watching the clock ticking does not help with insomnia. Move the clocks out of your bedroom and place them somewhere else.

Don’t use the bedroom for work/study/entertainment: Your mind should associate sleep with the bedroom. Every other activity like using a computer, watching TV, etc. can be restricted to other areas of your home.

Maintain a schedule: If you follow previously mentioned sleep tips for seniors, this step will automatically become more accessible. Even on weekends, you should not disrupt your schedule because it’s challenging to get back on track for the rest of the week.

Block out snoring: Use separate bedrooms, a white-noise machine, or earplugs to block out snoring that may be hampering your sleep.

Develop a bedtime ritual: You can follow specific steps just before bedtime to facilitate sleep. That includes deep breathing exercises, mindfulness meditation, muscle relaxation, playing music, or bathing. You would need to experiment to understand what works best for you.

Limit sleeping pills: This may seem counterintuitive. However, relying on sleeping pills for long-term use is not suitable for your health. They have specific side effects that can prolong the condition and worsen your problems in the long run.

Combine sleep with intimacy: If possible, try physical intimacy with your partner. Combining rest with physical intimacy acts like hugging and sex will contribute to restful sleep.

How to Nap Properly

There’s a debate whether you need daytime naps. However, it greatly depends on the individual. If you feel a lack of focus or concentration, a daytime nap should give you much-needed energy. However, if you overdo it, you risk falling asleep late into the night. This is something you want to avoid.

Here are some tips for napping:

Nap early during the day: Early afternoon is probably the best time for seniors to take a nap. This way, you won’t disrupt your nighttime sleeping routine.

Keep it short: A 15–45-minute nap should suffice for the remainder of your day. However, if you are still unable to concentrate or feel groggy, you can take a relatively longer nap keeping in mind that it shouldn’t delay your bedtime.

Be in a comfortable environment: Just like your nighttime sleep, your bedroom should have little noise and light during the daytime nap as well.

Diet Tips to Improve Sleep in the Elderly

One of the reasons why the elderly can’t sleep at night is problems with their diet. These habits have a profound impact on your sleep quality. Mainly, what you eat before your bedtime determines how well you’ll sleep during the night.

For this reason, we have dedicated a separate section to address this problem. First things first, you need to have a sleep-friendly diet.

Some of the tips include:

Cut down on sugar: Did you know that refined carbs and sugar can cause wakefulness in late hours? Food such as French fries, pasta, white rice, and white bread can adversely affect your sleep cycle. They can hinder the treatment, deep stages of sleep. If necessary, you can consume these foods earlier during the day.

Limit liquid intake before bed: Seniors have the frequent urge to urinate. Drinking plenty of fluids just before bedtime doesn’t help the situation. Drink your water at least an hour before you go to sleep.

Don’t go hungry into bed: You won’t be able to sleep peacefully if your stomach is growling with hunger. It’s advised to take warm milk, yogurt, or low-sugar cereal two hours before bed since they are conducive to sleep.

Avoid spicy meals: Spicy meals or too large a meal can contribute to discomfort or indigestion when you’re trying to sleep. It’s recommended to have your dinner 3 hours before bedtime and keep it modest-sized.

Say no to alcohol: If you’re living with a chronic illness, alcohol consumption is harmful any time of the day. However, you must especially refrain from it if you’ve been facing trouble while sleeping. This is arguably one of the most crucial sleep tips for seniors since it concerns a critical lifestyle aspect.

Exercise Tips to Induce Deep Sleep in Seniors

Even though exercise is necessary for everyone, it becomes indispensable for seniors with mobility issues. Aerobic exercises are known to enhance sleep quality and reduce fatigue. It would help if you experienced a more restful sleep by embarking on a fitness program involving aerobic exercises.

However, if you have a medical condition, always consult your doctor before doing so. Some of the examples include golfing, cycling, and swimming – depending on what your health permits. Even a 30-minute walk and light exercise should keep you going and enhance your sleep quality.

Seniors who exercise regularly report less daytime sleepiness, more vitality, and fewer depressive symptoms.

Alleviate Your Mental Stress

If you’ve anxiety and stress built up in your mind, you’re likely to experience fragmented sleep. When you’re finally on your bed, try not to think about stressful situations.

Here are some tips that might help you:

Read a book to relax your mind.

Listen to calming music.

List your goals for tomorrow.

Keep a journal.

Get a massage from your partner or friend.

Talk to your loved one during the day about what worries you.

When Should You Consult a Doctor?

If the sleep tips for seniors laid out in this blog post are unsuccessful, it’s time to seek medical advice. Please keep track of your recent stresses, lifestyle changes, exercise routine, and medications, as well as nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol intake to share with your doctor.

This would help them figure out what’s wrong and help you get rid of insomnia. They may also suggest cognitive behavioral therapy if necessary.

#Home Health Care Services in Canoga Park California Preventive Care Management Care Management Chronic Care Management Annual Wellness visit

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greatarttechnologysalad · 3 years

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Successful Tips For Weight Loss After forty

Now that you are over 40 years old, you may have noticed that you seem to maintain the extra weight more than when you were younger, and you haven’t changed anything. You eat the same meals and stay as active as always. Then, how is it viable to gain weight if nothing has changed?

While on the outside things may not have modified, inside your body there are significant changes taking place that affect your body’s energy levels and your ability to lose weight. To understand how to lose weight effectively and keep it off, you need to know how you gained weight to understand what you can do to combat it.

Reasons for Weight Gain and How To Combat Them

Biological changes that usually occur after 40 often result in weight gain. Once you are aware of the ones changes, you may develop a plan to fight them. You can also deal with any medical issues that may be causing weight gain with your doctor. For those changes that are a regular part of aging, you can frequently make small changes in your daily life to balance the scales a little more comfortable.

Metabolism Slows

After forty, Neil Osterweil of WebMD writes that your metabolic rate or the calories your body burn while at rest, begins to slow about 5 percent per decade over age 40. This translates to your body burning about 100 fewer calories per day. That doesn’t sound like much, however 100 calories per day over a year equals 10 pounds, according to senior editor, Melanie Haiken.

To tackle your decreased metabolism, you can increase your caloric expenditure 100 calories per day or reduce back on calories to perform the same results. To shed pounds, rather than maintain your weight, further increase your activity levels, cut carbs, and practice portion control. Small adjustments can go a long way, however changes won’t happen overnight.

Muscle Loss

As we age, we turn out to be less active, and our testosterone and estrogen levels drop, reducing the amount of muscle we have. Muscles growth our metabolic rate because they burn more calories at rest than fat. It is essential to include strength training exercises, which also help prevent osteoporosis, in your fitness routine to increase the calories your body is burning naturally.

Eat a well-balanced food regimen with no sweets and eat plenty of vegetables, which are full of vitamins, and will boost your overall health. Other metabolisms boosting meals include eggs, beans, whole grains, and lean meats, which are full of protein and other essential nutrients for muscle development.

Hormonal Changes

Hormonal modifications wreak havoc on our bodies as early as our 40s. Everyone is aware of women go through menopause and suffer hot flashes and mood swings, but did you know that men also go through hormonal changes? Men over age 30 start losing testosterone, but around 40, it becomes most noticeable. Symptoms include fatigue, loss of energy, depression, and a reduced intercourse drive.

Whether you're a man or woman, hormone changes reason us to have less energy and gain weight. Women, especially, should also have their thyroid glands checked. An underactive thyroid generally rears its ugly head after 40. About 20 percentage of all adults over 40 have thyroid issues, and 80 percent of those are women.

If you experience gradual and are gaining weight, ask your doctor to check your hormonal levels on your next visit. Most hormonal imbalances can be stepped forward with the help of your doctor and can significantly help with weight loss.

Side Effects of Medications

Unfortunately, using and abusing our bodies over the years does causes wear-and-tear on our joints and organs. Medications that deal with many medical conditions come with side effects such as fatigue and weight gain. Corticosteroids for arthritis and inflammatory diseases, in addition to blood pressure medications, are notorious for inflicting fatigue and weight gain.

Small Changes Can Mean Success

Small changes to your diet and activity levels can make a massive difference over time. Don’t fall for fad diets, take the healthful route and increase your physical activity levels and manage your meals. You can still eat the ingredients you love if you control your portions and encompass healthy foods

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rdclsuperfoods · 3 years

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Last week the internet mob turned its eye on an unsuspecting subject: oat milk. It started with Twitter user Katherine Champagne, who wrote in a tweet on April 5: “I’m still in awe that Oatly created super sugar grain juice, cut it with canola oil, and then successfully used (amazing) marketing to convince everyone that no, this is Good.” Attached was a screenshot from “Oatly: The New Coke,” an August 2020 story written by Nat Eliason that ran in the Almanack business newsletter. A business writer and digital entrepreneur, Eliason sought to expose Oatly, a wildly popular milk substitute made primarily from oats, for what he claims it really is: junk food.

Predictably, nutrition Twitter went nuts. Plenty of the responses were along the lines of: How dare they market this glorified sugar syrup as healthy! Others were more critical, pointing out that oat milk is far from a “super sugar grain juice” and that most consumers aren’t guzzling the stuff in the quantities (a cup and a half at a time) that Eliason—who has no nutritional education or credentials—suggested in his article. To be honest, after writing about nutrition for a decade, the only thing that surprises me about the controversy is that anyone finds the fact that Oatly is mostly marketing surprising at all.

Eliason’s newsletter story starts by chronicling the long history of brands using misleading health claims to posit that products are better for you than they actually are. He uses the sugar industry, the tobacco industry, and Coca-Cola as examples of this kind of marketing. Then he argues that Oatly is doing the same thing. The article suggests that, like Coke, Oatly is nothing more than a sugar-laden processed drink that has tricked consumers into believing it should be a staple in their diet. He’s right in some ways (more on that later), but there’s a pretty glaring flaw in his argument.

Oatly Is Not Coke

Before we talk about Oatly’s (admittedly sneaky) marketing strategy, let’s get something straight: Oatly oat milk is not nutritionally equivalent to Coke. An eight-ounce serving of Oatly contains 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbohydrates (including 7 grams of added sugar), and 3 grams of protein. A 12-ounce can of Coke has a similar number of calories (140), but they come entirely from 38 grams of sugar. Those numbers aren’t even close to equal. Even 12 ounces of Oatly—which Eliason assumes is the amount people put in their morning coffee—contains 24 grams of carbs and 11 grams of sugar. That’s still less than one-third of the sugar in Coke. Saying that the two are equivalent is absurd.

Compare Oatly with 2 percent dairy milk, which has 122 calories, 5 grams of fat, 12 grams of carbs (all from naturally occurring sugar), and 8 grams of protein in an eight-ounce serving. Oatly has less than half the protein of regular milk, about 30 percent more carbs, and a similar amount of fat and calories. And although dairy milk has almost twice as much sugar as Oatly, Eliason claims that the sugar in Oatly—maltose—is significantly worse for you than the sugar in dairy—lactose—because it has a higher glycemic load. “You’re spiking your blood sugar every time you add it to your coffee,” he says.

Just like the marketing tactics that Eliason calls out, the glycemic-load argument falls into the category of true but misleading statements. First, if you’re putting a couple ounces of Oatly in your coffee, you’re only consuming a few grams of sugar and won’t experience any drastic effects. Second, any protein-, fat-, or fiber-containing food will slow the absorption of this sugar. So if you put some oat milk in the coffee that you drink alongside your breakfast, the whole “spiking your blood sugar” thing is a moot point. And to reiterate, even drinking a whole glass of Oatly on an empty stomach wouldn’t have nearly as big an effect on your blood sugar as drinking a can of Coke.

Misleading Marketing Is Nothing New

Oatly may not be Coca-Cola, but it is true that its marketing makes suspect health claims. In 2020, the company tried (and failed) to trademark the phrase “It’s like milk but made for humans” from a campaign designed to convince people that cow’s milk is made for baby calves, and therefore not meant for human consumption. Mothers of many species produce milk specifically to feed their infants. But that doesn’t mean it can’t provide nutrition for other species, too. There is a huge body of evidence supporting cow’s milk for human health, and, most important, unless you’re lactose intolerant, it’s certainly not going to hurt you.

The brand also goes hard on the fact that its product contains fiber, calling it “the most amazing fiber in the drinkable world.” But Oatly only contains two grams of fiber per serving, about 8 percent of what’s recommended daily for women and 5 percent of what’s recommended for men. That’s nothing to get excited over. Oatly also emphasizes the whole “No GMO” thing, although both the World Health Organization and the Food and Drug Administration have repeatedly confirmed the safety of the GMOs available for consumption.

Oatly isn’t the first health-food company or trade organization to cherry-pick facts in its marketing. Marketers for milk have been doing the same thing for decades; the “Got Milk?” campaign implies that dairy consumption is essential for healthy human growth. In reality, there’s nothing magic about dairy milk; it’s a good source of calcium and vitamin D (which is added during processing), but a person can get these nutrients in other ways: Oatly and other plant-based milks are fortified with both nutrients, for example. Plus, many large studies on dairy consumption are funded at least in part by the dairy industry.

Even fruits and vegetables are marketed with vague and misleading claims. The California Avocado Commission runs ads with slogans like “No wonder it’s good for pregnancy” (because avocados contain folate) and “No wonder it’s good for the eyes” (because avocados contain lutein, a carotenoid that’s linked to improved eye health). Yes, these important nutrients are present in avocados, but they’re also found in similar levels in many other foods.

“Superfoods are often designated as such because of high levels of micronutrients, antioxidants, or other arbitrary characteristics,” says Cara Harbstreet, a registered dietitian and owner of Street Smart Nutrition. That’s what the avocado folks are trying to do. But there’s no clearly defined criteria—like nutrient density or bioavailability—that determines which foods qualify for that label, Harbstreet explains. It’s just good marketing.

So, yes, Oatly markets itself as a super nutritious and game-changing beverage, when actually it’s just another drink. But it’s patently unfair to proclaim that Oatly is the same as Coke. “A statement like this carries similar energy as the statement ‘Sugar is as addicting as cocaine,’” Harbstreet says. Yes, the two substances light up the same pleasure centers in your brain, but so do sex, music, and cute baby animals. And sugar doesn’t meet other addiction criteria, like obsessive substance seeking and increased tolerance. “Both statements sound sensational, elicit fear or mistrust of a product, and make you question what you knew or believed to be true,” says Harbstreet. They’re also both based on half-truths.

It’s All Just Food

Oatly has taken a page out of the age-old food-marketing book by making its product sound more nutritious than it really is. This is a little devious, for sure, but it’s nothing new or unique. It’s how marketers trick us into thinking that certain processed foods should be central to a healthy diet, or that some whole foods are superfoods and thus much better for us than other whole foods. Oatly is no superfood, but it’s also not horribly unhealthy. Nutritionally, it’s fairly similar to dairy milk, and actually has more calcium and vitamin D per cup than the real stuff. For people who choose plant-based diets, that’s pretty great.

At the end of the day, there’s truth on every side of the Oatly argument, but there’s also a whole lot of spin. Your best bet, as always, is to eat a variety of nutritious foods (and some of the not so nutritious ones that you love, too!) and pay as little attention as possible to the way they’re marketed.

via Outside Magazine: Nutrition

#IFTTT #Outside Magazine: Nutrition

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the-expert-zone · 3 years

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The A-Z of Intermittent Fasting: Everything You Need to Know

Intermittent fasting (IF) is one of the simplest, healthiest lifestyle changes available to most people.

It costs nothing, it actually saves time rather than occupying your day, and it offers a wide variety of benefits for health, fitness, and body composition.

However, there are many different ways to fast, and not all of them are appropriate for everyone (especially not if you’re a beginner).

Additionally, the science of how fasting actually works can be overwhelming for lay people. While you don’t have to understand every nuance of IF science, a basic grasp can be helpful for optimizing your fasting results.

In this article, you’ll learn:

We’ll also cover more in-depth areas like how to combine ketosis and IF, some of the most effective forms of intermittent fasting, a closer look at IF science and benefits, and more.

The Science of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating schedule that alternates between fasting and feeding. You set a time window for eating, eat only within that window, and fast the rest of the time.

For example, you might eat only between the hours of 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM (a pattern called 16/8 fasting).

IF is not a diet in the conventional sense, but rather, an ancient pattern of eating.

Historically, during hunter-gatherer days and even earlier, our ancestors were often in a natural fasting state while seeking food[*].

Modern industrial agriculture may have eliminated hunger for most people, but the widespread availability of packaged, processed food has also led to many new diseases stemming from obesity and high blood sugar[*].

Essentially, it turns out that having food available all the time is unnatural, and modern approaches to fasting work by reintroducing periods of scarcity for health purposes.

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For most people today, fasting is a voluntary act, whether undertaken for health or religious reasons.

The health benefits of fasting relate to cellular pathways that remain inactive or minimally active when you’re fully fed, such as[*]:

Autophagy

AMPK

Fat oxidation

Growth hormone release

Lipolysis

In a nutshell, avoiding food intake while fasting enables your body to naturally cleanse, repair and regenerate cells and tissues for optimal function[*].

Fasting also works incredibly well for fat loss because it allows you to eat fewer overall calories and burn more fat with less hunger[*].

Added bonus benefits include better cognition, brighter mood, and greater energy levels[*].

Not coincidentally, many of the benefits of fasting overlap with those of ketosis, which we’ll cover more later in this article.

But first, keep reading to learn whether fasting is a good idea for you or not.

Is Intermittent Fasting Right for You?

Fasting can work for most people, and its plethora of benefits offer something for nearly everyone.

However, if you struggle with disordered eating, or have in the past, intermittent fasting may not be advisable for you. Fasting and skipping meals may make your condition worse, or trigger it to return.

To work correctly, fasting needs to be part of a healthy, balanced, and well-rounded approach to eating. If you’re not sure whether it would be a good idea, speak to a doctor, therapist, or counselor who is qualified to help you decide.

Most types of fasting may also be risky during pregnancy or breastfeeding. You can still ask your doctor, but there’s not much data at this point, so it’s probably better not to take the risk.

Likewise, here are some conditions that can make fasting risky:

Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)

Type 1 diabetes

Medication-controlled type 2 diabetes

Very low body weight or body mass index (BMI)

While it may still be possible to fast, the safest approach is to ask your doctor first if you have a medical condition.

Also, some medications can make fasting riskier, especially blood pressure medications that may result in electrolyte imbalances. Talk to your doctor before you try fasting if you take prescription medication.

Beyond any medical risks, some people simply do better with fasting than others.

For example, if you struggle with hunger or get “hangry,” you may need to ease into intermittent fasting or fix your metabolism first.

You also need to have a clear understanding of your goals to decide which type of fasting is right for you, which we’ll cover below.

For Beginners: How to Begin Intermittent Fasting Today

Step 1: Define Your Goals

The vast number of different fasting methods can seem overwhelming, but there’s a solution: start by thinking about your goals first.

When you begin with a clear picture of your goals in mind, getting started with IF is much simpler:

Weight loss is one of the best-known benefits of fasting, but not everyone wants to lose weight. Your approach to fasting will vary depending on whether or not you want to get leaner or shed fat. (Fasting less frequently, rather than daily, might be the best choice if you prefer not to lose weight.)

If you’re like most people, plenty of energy and mental clarity would be a welcome benefit from fasting. Shorter fasts tend to boost energy and focus immediately, while longer fasts may have the opposite result.

Immune function and cellular health are benefits nearly everyone could use, but the extent to which you want to focus on them is a personal decision. Longer fasts could have additional health benefits compared to shorter ones.

Plenty of people could also benefit from decreasing inflammation, which is another potential outcome of fasting. Again, longer fasts may work better for this health benefit.

If you’re an athlete or train hard, add faster recovery and optimal performance to the list. Fasting might benefit recovery by decreasing inflammation, but longer fasts could slow recovery due to a lack of protein and other nutrients.

Last but not least, longevity is one of the most coveted benefits of fasting. While the long-term nature of measuring this outcome in human beings makes it difficult to predict at this time, animal lifespan studies are promising[*].

Now that you’ve got a clear idea of what you want from fasting, it’s time to think about what goes into choosing a fasting method.

Step 2: Choose the Right Fasting Method for Your Body and Goals

When you’re deciding how to begin fasting, your unique psychology, metabolism, and physiology each play a role:

If you’re the type of person who prefers to jump in with both feet, you may find the challenge of extended or more difficult fasting patterns rewarding.

If you’re feeling a bit uncertain about fasting, or aren’t sure how your body will respond to fasting, ease in instead.

People who struggle with hunger or get “hangry” should start with a minimal fasting approach (modified fat fasting, skipping one meal daily, or skipping a meal once per several days).

Anecdotally, men may have an easier time with prolonged fasts, while women may need to adjust their fasting strategy at different times of their cycles.

Before you choose a fasting strategy, be sure to think about the ways your mindset and your body may affect your fasting experience.

Most people should probably start with 16/8 (which we’ll discuss more below) or another less-challenging approach like non-daily fasting, but there’s no one-size-fits-all recommendation for fasting.

Broadly speaking, here’s how your goal choice may affect your intermittent fasting approach and duration:

For weight loss, the simplest, easiest form of fasting for your body is often the best. Skipping a meal daily, 16/8 style, or using fast-mimicking techniques (like fat fasting, covered below) is probably easiest and likely works as well as any other method for fat loss. Extended fasts are more difficult and, for most people, don’t add much in the way of weight loss benefits.

When it comes to immune function, cell health, and decreasing inflammation, any fasting method is beneficial. However, some research indicates that occasional longer fast periods of several days may offer added benefits in this regard[*]. You can mix and match long and short fast periods for the best of both worlds.

Athletes and others who value physical performance can also benefit from fasting, but too much fasting is likely to reduce recovery and performance[*][*]. If you’re an athlete, you’ll need to balance your other fasting goals against these limitations and be sure to measure its effects on your progress in the training room and on the field.

Due to a lack of human longevity trials, the best fasting method for living longer is currently unknown. But some animal evidence suggests that prolonged fasts boost longevity benefits, so you may want to incorporate extended fasting if your goal is to live into the triple digits[*].

Step 3: Intermittent Fasting Checklist

Before you try out intermittent fasting, use this checklist to make sure you’re ready.

Are you eating a healthy, well-rounded diet (whether keto, low-carb, or other)? If not, fix your diet before you attempt to incorporate fasting.

Are you 100% prepared to stick with your chosen fasting schedule? Forming new habits isn’t instantaneous, so consider setting daily alarms or other reminders to keep track of fasting windows and eating periods.

Do you know which foods and beverages break a fast, and the best ways to end a fast for your goals? Make sure to educate yourself and have a gameplan for how to ensure you stay fasted as long as you intend and break each fast in a healthy way.

Have you stocked up on fasting supplements? Most people should take electrolytes to stay hydrated during extended fasts, and MCT oil or BHB ketones are good choices for fat fasting.

Studies show support for a healthy lifestyle and diet can increase your odds of success, so you may want to enlist friends or family members to lean on during your fasting journey–especially if they’re also interested to begin fasting[*].

In the next section, you’ll learn more details about the most popular and effective intermittent fasting methods.

The Types of Intermittent Fasting

In total, there are at least seven types of intermittent fasting you can follow. The best way to incorporate fasting is to experiment with a few types, as needed, to find out which works for you.

For simplicity, here are the five most popular types to get you started:

#1: 16/8 (16 Hours Fasting, 8 Hours Eating) Fasting

This is the most common and arguably simplest and easiest method of IF, where you eat for a period of eight hours and fast for 16 hours. You either eat later in the day, skipping breakfast, or eat an early dinner and not eat again until breakfast the next day.

IF veterans may reduce the eating window to less than 8 hours. When you read about 23/1 or 20/4 splits, this terminology refers to only eating within a window of 1 or 4 hours during the day.

Advantages of daily IF approaches like 16/8 include:

Simplicity

Ease of use

Flexibility for individual preferences (you can skip breakfast or dinner, and easily adjust your fasting window as desired)

Terminology note: fasting for 20 hours or more each day is also known as The Warrior Diet.

#2: Alternate Day Fasting or ADF (24-Hour or 36-Hour Fasting)

Alternate-day fasting, also known as Eat-Stop-Eat and the Up-Day, Down-Day diet, involves fasting on alternating days of the week and eating unrestricted the other days.

As an example, if Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun are your eating days, then Tue-Thurs-Sat would each be fasting days. (This schedule could stay the same each week, or it could “flip” week to week for a true alternate day schedule.)

Staying with the above example, your last meal on Monday would be at dinner time, and then you wouldn’t eat again until Tuesday dinner or Wednesday breakfast.

Choosing a true 24 hour fast would generally involve fasting from dinner one day to dinner 24 hours later, the next day.

On the other hand, some people prefer to use an even more aggressive 36 hour fasting window, prolonging the fast from dinner one night to breakfast time, the day after next.

Although the prolonged fast periods of ADF may be harder for some people compared to daily IF fast windows, ADF offers the following unique advantages:

The longer fast periods allow people to implement fewer restrictions on food intake during eating periods

Longer fasting windows may offer increased health benefits

For athletes or people who train intensively, a full day of eating may also help fuel performance and recovery

For many people, ADF isn’t the ideal starting point, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give it a try. If you’re drawn to alternate-day fasts but aren’t sure whether they’re a good idea yet, consider using another fasting method with shorter fasting periods first for 4-12 weeks, then switch over to ADF.

#3: 5/2 Fasting (5 Days Eating, 2 Days Fasting)

With 5/2 fasting, you choose two days of the week where you reduce your caloric intake to a quarter or less of your usual daily intake.

For example, someone who typically eats 2000 calories would instead consume 0-500 calories for two days per week. If you prefer not to count calories, it’s okay to estimate–just eat nothing on fast days, or at most a quarter of what you normally eat in a day.

5/2 fasting offers some of the same advantages as alternate-day fasting, such as prolonged fasts and full-day eating windows, but with added flexibility and less difficulty since there are fewer fast periods each week.

#4: Water Fasting

Water fasting is a prolonged form of fasting that involves consuming no food, only water, for a few days or longer.

While there’s probably no added fat loss advantage over basic methods like 16/8, extended water fasts may offer additional benefits for cellular health and longevity.

For someone who doesn’t already follow the keto diet, ketosis occurs by the second or third day of a water fast, when your body turns to stored fats for energy[*].

Most people don’t use prolonged fasts as their main strategy, but rather augment their core fasting approach with periodic extended water fasts.

However, if you’ve never fasted before, beginning with water fasts lasting longer than a day or so would be unwise.

Potential downsides include excessive hunger, lethargy, lack of focus, and electrolyte depletion.

#5: Fat Fasting (Fast Mimicking)

True to its name, the fast mimicking diet attempts to mimic a fast– particularly the effects of a water fast–but unlike a “true” fast, you eat healthy fats and sometimes other nutrient-dense foods during the fast (hence the name “fat fasting”).

Advocates say that your body doesn’t distinguish dietary fat from stored fat, and therefore remains in something close to a natural fasted state.

In theory, this approach gives you at least some of the benefits of fasting while still allowing you to consume the macro- and micronutrients your body needs to sustain itself[*].

Fast mimicking or fat fasts are excellent choices for people who have difficulty with true intermittent fasting, or who can’t fast for whatever reason. However, you should still speak to your doctor first if you have a medical condition or take prescription medication.

8 Scientific Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

In case you’re still on the fence about fasting or aren’t sure whether it’s worthwhile, here are the most important benefits associated with fasting:

Below, you’ll find more details about the current science supporting intermittent fasting.

Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss

Not unlike ketosis, intermittent fasting helps your body become better adapted to oxidizing (burning) fat for energy.

Because of the decreased window of time for eating, insulin levels are lower, allowing adipocytes (fat cells) to release fatty acids[*].

The lower levels of glucose and glycogen encourage the body to use these fatty acids to generate energy for the body and brain rather than store fatty acids in fat cells.

In other words, while fasting, you use up fat instead of storing it–and soon burn what you’ve already stored.

A recent study showed that increasing the nightly fasting duration to greater than 14 hours led to a significant decrease in caloric intake and weight with improvements to:

Energy levels

Sleep satisfaction

Satiety at bedtime[*]

Intermittent fasting also reduces nighttime eating, which contributes to poor sleep quality and reduced sleep duration leading to insulin resistance and increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer[*][*][*][*].

Adherence is another important aspect for IF as a tool for weight loss.

Some researchers suggest that compared to conventional dieting that relies on calorie restriction, calorie reduction, or “continuous energy restriction,” intermittent fasting may be easier to stick with long-term, and thus may work better[*].

Intermittent Fasting for Self-Image and Willpower

One recent study found that women who practiced intermittent fasting had positive experiences related to willpower and associated with increased sense of achievement, pride, reward and control[*].

Willpower influences your sense of accomplishment and self-esteem through being able to exhibit self-control, which can help you feel better and reach your goals more effectively[*].

Intermittent Fasting for Disease States

Recent studies support the use of intermittent fasting as a means of lowering blood glucose in people with diabetes and leading to overall improved health outcomes[*].

In particular, one study published in the World Journal of Diabetes found that subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus implementing short-term daily IF significantly reduced body weight, fasting glucose and improved post meal glucose variability[*].

IF has been shown to:

Improve markers of stress resistance

Lower inflammation and blood pressure

Improve glucose circulation and lipid levels, leading to a lower risk for cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders (such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s) and cancer[*][*][*].

Beyond its application for diabetes management and reducing the risk of other diseases, IF is also proven to be as effective as some approved drugs for reducing some types of seizures and seizure-related brain damage and for addressing symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis[*][*][*].

Additionally, research is beginning to emerge showing positive effects of alternate day fasting on reducing the toxic effects of chemotherapy and decreasing morbidity rates associated with cancer[*].

Intermittent Fasting for Healthy Aging

Fasting is one of the biological stressors that triggers autophagy – a process where your body clears out dead or underperforming cells and regenerates and recycles damaged proteins[*].

Autophagy is extremely important and a natural process that plays a significant role in preventing diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, diabetes, cardiomyopathy, autoimmune diseases, liver disease and much more.

Regular fasting also puts an adaptive cellular stress on the body which in turn allows your body to cope with more severe stressors that may occur and thus protect against potential disease progressions[*][*].

This concept is known as hormesis – when an exposure to a mild stress causes cells in your body to become more resilient against other, more severe stressors.

Many of the benefits of fasting are due to these essential physiological processes.

Similar to ketosis, IF’s positive effects on aging are coming to light as more studies show that it has a profound ability to decrease blood pressure, reduce oxidative damage, improve insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake, and decrease fat mass – all factors that contribute to enhancing health and longevity[*].

Intermittent Fasting for Superior Mental Performance

At least in some promising animal studies, intermittent fasting improves cognitive function and helps boost brain power[*].

As mentioned earlier, IF induces autophagy. This includes neuronal autophagy in your brain and central nervous system, which allows your brain cells to recycle and repair themselves for optimal function[*].

Studies suggest that disruption of neuronal autophagy can lead to neurodegeneration, causing your brain to function insufficiently and prevent you from performing at your full potential[*].

In contrast, the absence of food during fast periods promotes neuronal autophagy, leading to better cognitive outcomes.

Intermittent fasting also increases a protein in the brain called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

This protein interacts with the parts of your brain that control learning, memory and cognitive function. Animal studies suggest BDNF helps protect brain cells and even stimulates the growth of new ones[*]

IF also triggers ketogenesis or ketosis, where your body turns to fat for energy, metabolizing fat into ketones[*]. Ketones easily cross the blood-brain-barrier, feeding your brain and resulting in better mental acuity, energy, and productivity.

Combined with a well-formulated whole-foods diet, IF avoids the blood sugar spikes caused by a high carb diet, which leads to brain fog and low mood issues like depression.

Intermittent Fasting for Better Physical Fitness

Research into the effects of fasting on fitness is early but promising.

In one study, scientists tested the VO2 max levels of a fasted group (no breakfast) and a fed group (one hour after a cereal breakfast)[*]. (VO2 max is a marker of aerobic capacity and maximal exercise performance, which directly affects athletic performance.)

Both groups had starting VO2 levels of around 3.5 liters per minute (L/min), which is close to standards for regular, untrained individuals. The study participants underwent endurance cycle ergometer training and had the following change in VO2 max:

In short, the fasted group increased their VO2max significantly more than those who were fed breakfast, which equates to a promising result for athletes and people who need aerobic fitness.

Intermittent Fasting for Male Hormonal Benefits

The benefits of fasting aren’t confined to one gender, but here are the findings on its effects on male hormone levels:

In one study, fasting increased luteinizing hormone levels by 67% and testosterone by 180%[*]

In a separate study, a 24-hr fast elevated GH (growth hormone) levels by up to 2000%[*].

GH and testosterone are intertwined, supporting each other and supporting male health in a variety of ways[*][*][*].

As we’ve already discussed, fasting burns body fat. And as an added bonus, the less body fat a man has, the more testosterone he can produce and utilize[*].

However, for that reason, the above effects on GH, LH and T levels were observed in non-obese men[*]. The same way you can’t expect to see sculpted muscle before you lose fat, it’s unrealistic to count on increased testosterone before you lose any extra fat in your body first.

How to Combine Ketosis and Intermittent Fasting

In a nutshell, ketosis (from following the keto diet) and IF are extremely complementary, but if you’re new to both, you should probably start with one or the other.

Good news first: people who follow the keto diet can become fat adapted, which can make fasting much easier.

However, the potential for problems exists when people who’ve never tried a very low carb diet or fasted before combine the two strategies.

Issues like keto flu or trouble dialing in your keto diet can be made much worse by fasting, and the brain fog and lethargy some people experience early on during fasting can contribute to feeling worse on keto.

We recommend that you go keto first, allow your body to adapt to a healthy low-carb diet and produce ketones for at least a month or two, and incorporate fasting only after you’ve got a handle on the keto diet.

Done correctly, fasting on keto can help you break through weight loss plateaus along with all the other many health benefits mentioned previously in this article.

On the other hand, if you’ve already been fasting for several weeks or months but aren’t keto yet, you can consider adopting a ketogenic diet if fasting is comfortable for you.

But if you’re not fully comfortable fasting yet, you’d be better served by holding off on going keto until your body adapts to fasting.

Although going keto is beyond the scope of this article about fasting, don’t miss the important insights about keto vs. fasting in the following sections.

Fasting vs. Keto: Similarities and Differences

Intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet have overlapping benefits because they both lead to ketosis, the metabolic state of producing ketones due to burning fat instead of glucose.

Your body gets “lazy” at this healthy natural process when you keep it regularly supplied with carbs.

But when you fast, you force your body to burn stored fat because there’s no readily available glucose from eating carbohydrates.

Fasting triggers several desirable bodily processes, including:

ketosis

lipolysis

autophagy

You get into ketosis faster through fasting than you would by slowly transitioning to a fat-adapted state.

Intermittent Fasting and Keto Combined

Fasting helps you get into ketosis, and being in ketosis also helps you fast.

Along with achieving the typical benefits of fasting, a lot of keto diet followers fast regularly because it helps them break through weight loss plateaus, and it’s an easy way to further limit calorie intake if necessary.

And a ketogenic diet also helps with longer periods of fasting. The benefits and easier transition are mutual:

Following the ketogenic diet macro portions (high fat, moderate protein, low carb) helps you transition to fasting easier. In a ketogenic, fat-adapted state, your body is already accustomed to tapping into your fat stores for energy instead of relying on carbs for glucose.

On the other hand, experience with fasting helps you avoid the keto flu if you begin the keto diet as an experienced faster.

A fat-adapted or ketogenic state also prevents similar symptoms that can occur when you first begin fasting.

Protection Against Muscle Loss

A high fat diet like the ketogenic diet also makes sure your body has a source of fat and uses it during your fast, instead of breaking down muscle protein for energy. For this reason, keto diet followers who fast for the day sometimes drink black coffee with either heavy, full-fat cream, butter, ghee or MCT oil or powder.

Exogenous Ketones for Intermittent Fasting

During a prolonged fast, your body runs out of stored glycogen (glucose) as an immediate energy supply, so it turns to stored fat and converts it into fuel. One form of metabolic fuel, created during fat-burning in a process called ketosis, is ketones.

Exogenous ketones are ketones available in supplement form.

Your body produces and utilizes ketones while in ketosis. And when you take exogenous ketones, you add more ketones for your body to use.

Will exogenous ketones break you out of a fast? No.

Rather, ketones feed your brain with minimal impact on the fasting state or its benefits.

Final Thoughts

For most people, choosing the correct intermittent fasting plan can assist with fat loss, disease prevention, and possibly even aid longevity and increase lifespan–all with minimal side effects.

But remember: fasting is an eating pattern, not a complete solution to your dietary needs. Regardless of which form of intermittent fasting you choose, you still need healthy foods to stay healthy.

Fortunately, intermittent fasting is complementary to the keto diet. When incorporated correctly, ketosis and fasting each enhance one another’s effects.

But if you’ve never fasted or eaten a keto diet before, choose one or the other and allow your body to adapt before adopting the other.

While fasting is very natural and is safe for most people, it’s probably not suitable for people with eating disorders. Likewise, people with medical conditions or who take prescription medication should ask their doctor before fasting.

Side effects dieting calorie intake muscle mass eating disorders eating pattern hour window live longer intermittent fasting plan form of intermittent fasting healthy foods lifespan.

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You can click the LINK to start creating your 8-week plan. Simply follow the plan to achieve a successful keto diet.

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