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timesnew7 · 1 year ago

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Best Vegan Protein Powders for Muscle Growth and Digestion

In a world where fitness and well-being are finding due importance, protein intake is the buzzword. But what if you’re a vegan or lactose-intolerant, and traditional whey protein just doesn’t cut it for you? That’s where the best vegan protein powders come to the rescue. These plant-based options offer a sustainable and cruelty-free protein source without compromising on quality or taste.

What is vegan protein powder?

Vegan protein powder is a plant-based alternative to traditional whey protein. It is derived from sources such as peas, brown rice, soy and more. These powders provide a concentrated dose of protein, making them suitable for muscle recovery and growth, without the use of animal products.

Is vegan protein powder better than whey protein powder?

Both forms of protein powder do their basic job of providing protein. But vegan protein is cruelty-free, easily digestible, and often lower in calories and fat. Apart from vegans, they are also suitable for individuals with lactose intolerance.

Are there any negatives of vegan protein?

While vegan protein powders are an ideal choice for many, they may lack some of the amino acid profiles found in whey protein. It’s essential to choose high-quality vegan protein powders to ensure you get all the essential nutrients.Also read: Know the difference between protein intake from supplements and natural sources

Best vegan protein powders in India

Now that you got a little primer on vegan protein powders, let us tell you where to buy plant protein powders!We looked online for some of the best vegan protein powders, and have curated a list especially for our readers. Ingredients, quantity, quality, ratings and reviews have helped us narrow down these options from vegan protein powders in India. These not just deliver a protein punch but also cater to diverse preferences. From chocolate indulgence to butterscotch crunch, there’s something for everyone.Whether you’re a dedicated vegan or simply looking for a healthier and more ethical protein source, these options will have you covered.1. GNC AMP Plant IsolateGNC AMP Plant Isolate is made with pea protein isolate and brown rice protein extracts to give consumers a vegan and lactose-free option. Available in a tempting Chocolate Hazelnut flavour, this protein powerhouse is formulated to fuel your muscles and energy levels and boost digestion. With minimal carbohydrate content and no added sugars, it is also suitable for weight loss management.B0BRY9RQJ92. Amway Nutrilite All Plant Protein Powder (Butterscotch)We promised you a list with variety and flavour, didn’t we? Amway Nutrilite All Plant Protein Powder in Butterscotch flavour can be a treat for your taste buds. Packed with the triple power of soy protein isolate, wheat protein and pea protein content, it is ideal for those looking to maintain a lean physique. This easy to digest vegan protein powder gives you 8 gram of protein per 10 gram serving.B00I0WOI8A3. MuscleBlaze Plant ProteinWant to refuel after a gruelling fitness session? The MuscleBlaze Plant Protein in rich chocolate flavour can be your perfect post-workout vegan protein powder! It contains 9 amino acids, offering well-rounded muscle growth and strength support. With its green tea and vitamin C contents, this plant protein powder also boosts immunity and metabolism.B0B2RV8LH84. Mypro Sport Nutrition Plant Protein Powder Pea & Brown Rice ProteinMypro Sport Nutrition Plant Protein Powder offers a blend of pea and brown rice protein, providing a complete amino acid profile. It is low on carbs, sugar and calories. According to the brand, this vegan protein powder can help you build lean muscle, replenish nutrients, reduce soreness, is easy to digest and stimulant free. All this is packed within an irresistible chocolate flavour.B09GFYSXZX5. Carbamide Forte Vegan Protein PowderAdding lean muscle to your body may feel like a breeze with the Carbamide Forte Vegan Protein Powder. Derived from pea protein isolate and brown rice protein, it is a perfect protein powder option for after a vigorous workout session. A mix of amino acids, antioxidants, superfoods and essential vitamins and minerals targets multiple health benefits. It even claims to have superfoods and superseeds to support faster recovery and digestion, as well as improved skin health and immunity.B0BF6677NXA word of cautionConsult a nutritionist, fitness or medical expert before including protein powder in your diet. Excess consumption may have side effects. You must also remember that whole foods can be the best source of protein. However, if you need to supplement it in your diet, make the best choice as per your nutritional requirement and taste buds.(Disclaimer: This article was collaboratively written by the editorial team along with a creative AI tool. At Health Shots, we make a constant effort to break the clutter for our readers. All products listed are carefully curated by the editorial team. But their price and availability may differ from the time of publication. If you buy something using these links in the story, we may earn a commission.) Read the full article

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captainmdhridoyhossain-blog · 2 years ago

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[ad_1] Self-Care Made Simple: Quick Tips for Daily Bliss Introduction In today's fast-paced and hectic world, self-care has become increasingly important. Taking time for yourself and prioritizing your well-being can greatly improve your overall quality of life. But where do you start? How can you incorporate self-care into your daily routine without adding more stress? In this article, we will explore the concept of self-care and provide quick and simple tips for achieving daily bliss. Whether you are a busy professional, a student, or a stay-at-home parent, these self-care practices can easily be integrated into your daily life. Understanding the Importance of Self-Care Self-care is not just another buzzword; it is a fundamental aspect of maintaining a healthy mind, body, and spirit. It involves any activity that we do deliberately to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. Neglecting self-care can lead to burnout, increased stress levels, and ultimately, a decline in overall well-being. By prioritizing self-care, we can enhance our resilience, boost productivity, and cultivate a positive mindset. Perplexity and Burstiness in Self-Care Practices When it comes to self-care practices, it is essential to strike a balance between perplexity and burstiness in your approach. Perplexity, or the complexity of text, signifies the depth and intricacy of the self-care practices you engage in. On the other hand, burstiness compares the variations in the activities you choose, encompassing both shorter and longer, more intricate practices. Quick Tips for Daily Bliss 1. Mindful Meditation: Take a few minutes each day to practice mindful meditation. Find a quiet space, focus on your breath, and let thoughts come and go without judgment. This simple practice can help reduce stress, improve focus, and promote overall well-being. 2. Journaling: Grab a pen and paper and engage in reflective journaling. Write down your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Journaling helps release emotions, promote self-awareness, and enhance problem-solving skills. 3. Digital Detox: Disconnect from electronic devices for a set period each day. Engage in activities that do not involve screens, such as reading a book, taking a walk in nature, or indulging in a hobby. This break from technology can improve sleep quality, reduce eye strain, and foster deeper connections with yourself and others. 4. Physical Exercise: Engage in regular physical activities that you enjoy. Whether it's going for a run, taking a dance class, or practicing yoga, physical exercise releases endorphins, boosts energy levels, and improves cardiovascular health. 5. Nourishing Nutrition: Pay attention to your eating habits and prioritize nourishing foods. Fuel your body with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and plenty of water. A well-balanced diet can enhance your mood, improve digestion, and support overall health. 6. Creative Expression: Find a creative outlet that brings you joy. Whether it's painting, playing an instrument, or writing poetry, engaging in creative activities promotes self-expression, reduces stress, and enhances cognitive abilities. 7. Social Connection: Cultivate strong relationships with friends, family, and loved ones. Plan regular gatherings, share meals, or engage in meaningful conversations. Social connections provide emotional support, reduce feelings of loneliness, and foster a sense of belonging. FAQs Q: How frequently should I practice self-care? A: Self-care should be practiced daily in some form. Even dedicating a few minutes each day can make a significant difference in your overall well-being. Q: Can I practice self-care while having a busy schedule? A: Absolutely! Self-care doesn't have to be time-consuming. Incorporating small self-care practices throughout your day, such as deep breathing exercises or taking short breaks, can have a positive impact on your well-being. Q: How do I overcome guilt associated with self-care?

A: Self-care is not selfish; it is necessary for your overall health and happiness. Prioritizing self-care allows you to be more present and energized in other areas of your life. Remember that taking care of yourself is not a luxury, but a vital aspect of self-preservation. Conclusion Self-care doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. By incorporating these quick and simple tips into your daily routine, you can experience daily bliss and enhance your overall well-being. Remember to prioritize yourself and make self-care a non-negotiable part of your life. Invest in your own happiness, and watch how it positively impacts every aspect of your life. So, go ahead and make self-care a priority, one blissful day at a time. HTML Headings: - Introduction - Understanding the Importance of Self-Care - Perplexity and Burstiness in Self-Care Practices - Quick Tips for Daily Bliss - Mindful Meditation - Journaling - Digital Detox - Physical Exercise - Nourishing Nutrition - Creative Expression - Social Connection - FAQs - How frequently should I practice self-care? - Can I practice self-care while having a busy schedule? - How do I overcome guilt associated with self-care? - Conclusion [ad_2] #SelfCare #Simple #Quick #Tips #Daily #Bliss

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ask-a-vetblr · 4 years ago

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Hi vets! Can you please give me a veterinary perspective on "factory farms" [and if they deserve the negative reputation they get]?

vet-and-wild here.

Yes and no. I mean, everyone may have different opinions but here’s mine as a former farm laborer and Animal Science grad. Sorry this will be long, I have a whole lot of thoughts on this. “Factory farm” is honestly kind of a scary buzzword people use to describe any large farm, but a lot of times it’s just used as a blanket term for large scale farming rather than being owned by a company. The overwhelming majority of US farms are still family owned. Some of the really big farms have the newest technology to decrease their environmental impact and increase animal welfare (i.e. methane digesters, robotic milkers, etc) and end up being more efficient per pound of product produced. Some small farms have a handful of messy, stinky cows that only get seen by a vet when they’re already super sick. I’ve seen both. I’ve also seen small hobby farms where animals are treated like royalty and large scale farms that are messy and inefficient. BUT, doing anything large scale tends to lead to welfare issues (for both humans and animals) and sustainability issues. The state of animal agriculture in this country is a hot mess. Farmers have to produce massive quantities of cheap product to make a living. The problem isn’t that farmers are some evil animal haters that want to poison the planet, it’s that they literally can’t make a living without mass scale production. That needs to change. It’s bad for the farmers, their animals, and the environment. So go after legislators and corporations that allow this to happen, not poor farm laborers.

Animal welfare, particularly for production animals, was a huge part of my degree focus so that’s the area I’m most familiar with. There are obviously a whole bunch of other comments that can be made about environmental impact and human welfare conditions, but I’ll let someone who knows more than me talk about it. As part of my degree, veterinary training, animal welfare studies, and job experience, I’ve been on a lot of farms. Swine, poultry, dairy, beef, meat goat, dairy goat, meat sheep, dairy sheep, mink (fur), and camelid. I’ve been to organic, backyard, research, feedlots, tie-stall, free-stall, large scale, petting zoos, heritage breed, and every kind of imaginable in between privately owned farm. Even vegan farm animal sanctuaries. I’ve been in meat processing plants and have seen first hand what the processes is. So I’ve seen a lot. And you know what? They all have pros and cons. Back when I was in undergrad we were using the Five Freedoms of animal welfare to assess animals. The Five Freedoms are freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from fear and distress, freedom to express natural behaviors, freedom from pain/injury/disease, and freedom from discomfort. Farms of any scale can meet those requirements, or fail horribly. Personally, I think confinement housing fails horribly, and that’s a practice generally associated with large scale farming. There are actual benefits (i.e. less inter-animal aggression, tailored nutrition, easier monitoring), but you very much take away freedom to express natural behavior and I would argue freedom from discomfort as well. And you know what? I try to be objective, but my personal feelings are that an animal should have enough room to turn around and not stand in their own waste. I don’t think that should be controversial. Animal agriculture is (for the most part) failing horribly with enrichment and ability to express natural behaviors, and that happens to be very important to me as an animal owner so I know I project that onto agriculture. Some species industries are better than others (i.e. dairy), while some are so far behind (i.e. poultry and swine). I’m not vegan or vegetarian. I don’t have a problem with eating meat, but I think the system needs drastic improvements.

People honestly tend to focus on issues that are not really big issues because showing videos of an animal not being knocked insensible before slaughter is much more gut wrenching than a pig without enrichment. But you know what? There are multiple behavioral and welfare issues with pigs not being provided adequate stimulation, including increased tail chewing (which is why pigs are tail docked), aggression, and stereotypic behaviors. Whereas the rate of successful 1st time stunning in processing plants is actually extremely high, and needs to be to pass inspections. PETA shows a video of dead piglets and it makes people outraged, but the issue isn’t animal abuse, it’s poor biosecurity that caused an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus that has a near 100% mortality rate for young pigs. That is a real example. People should be upset. They should be upset that biosecurity protocols weren’t followed. But again, a video of a transport truck not being properly sanitized doesn’t really make for a good animal rights video. Public pressure is of course important for change, but people need to actually take the time to learn about what’s really an issue. Y’all can debate whether or not eating meat is ethical, but that’s not the question here, and it ignores the bigger picture. The fact is, there are animals alive right now and that will be born in the future that are harmed by a shitty system. Personally I’d rather focus on relevant welfare issues to improve their lives rather than comparing factory farming to genocide or whatever scare tactics animal rights groups are using nowadays.

Ferox here.

Following on from that note, comparing animal agriculture to genocide is a particular pet hate of mine. Genocide aims to kill and therefore eliminate a specific group of people, which animal agriculture has caused the populations of domestic animals to boom in far greater numbers than their wild counterparts. The goals are literally opposite.

As vet-and-wild was saying, using a blanket term like ‘factory farm’ isn’t super helpful when discussing animal welfare as it’s specific practices within each enterprise that need to be considered, eg dry sow stalls, debeaking, etc. Generally it’s animal density which concerns me, as the more animals you pack in together the more stress behaviours you see and the less natural behaviours, and chickens and pigs get the worst of this. But it’s hard to make a choice as a consumer purchasing food as you can’t backtrack that food from the supermarket to its origin easily so I can see why the discussion is often boiled down to ‘factory farm vs free range’ even if it’s really more nuanced than that.

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snkret-photography · 6 years ago

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Back to Me

Most people know that I follow an abridged variation of a Paleolithic/Ketogenic diet. It makes me feel the most optimal and reduces a lot of my inflammation and hormonal imbalances. Also I’ve never really been a big carb or grain persons so it was an easy transition mentally. This has just been what has worked for me to feel optimal. When I was younger, I ate whatever I wanted, when I wanted and proceeded to exercise like I was getting paid for it. I don’t have that time or energy anymore so my current lifestyle is well supported by my diet. And while I have a general label for how I eat so other people can easily digest it, I don’t particularly care to label it. I try to keep things paleo but Quest Bars are my crack, literally candy bars. I get one life and even if I reincarnate, the experiences in that lifetime won’t solidify my satisfaction in this one. So I still eat what I want, when I want but instead of focusing on the immediate satisfaction that it gives me, I focus on the long term gratification I can derive while still making sure I don’t feel deprived. It works for me and that’s all I worry about.

Recently, I started a new job, I’ll probably talk about that more in depth at some point, but it’s a very youthful workforce and the company operates in the ad tech space. Which means everyone is aware of diets based on the loose depictions they can find on Instagram; legit, no shade. I’ve been on my food protocol for about 2 years and over the past year have cut down to eating once a day, which I just prefer to be freshly made at home right before bed. This translates to me surviving the work day on coffee and water alone. Which translates to everyone having an opinion on their lack of willpower communicated through copious questions and declarations I’d rather not entertain. Like I said, it’s a new job. But whenever I glaze over the details of how I choose to eat, people immediately start throwing out buzzwords as if I remembered the definition and not the word itself. This is usually followed up with some variation of:

“They say that is/is not good for you because some bullshit study somewhere in some bullshit magazine somewhere else.”

I follow an eating protocol that works for me, my goals, and my overall health from both an internal feeling perspective and careful attention to medical markers. Added fact that I love biology which means I actually look at the basis of science studies to look at their original reasoning for deriving a hypothesis, the control of the study, who backed it, and the subsequent reporting along with the counter arguments. I.e. I look at the big picture and not just what “they say” as a basis for how I live my life and make decisions. How I eat works for me but it may not work for everyone else. I do a lot of people’s diet plans and I almost always start out with a list of carbs to intake. Just because I limit the type and amount of carbs I eat, doesn’t mean that everyone else would benefit from such. I may be an accountant but I am not a copy/paste formula. And “they” don’t know everything. Just because some people have made buckets of what Is and is not healthy does not mean that it is 100% accurate. They haven’t studied you and your bodies reaction to the blanket list that they’ve decided to impart on the public. And the public, being the public, has a low tolerance for research and assuming their own opinions; we all love when some stranger says something on the internet super convincingly and have broken it down in a manner in which we can regurgitate without much reference for what is actually said.

This isn’t a conversation about diets. And I’m no better for the flaw in which I’m pointing out. We all go to pseudo-authorities to help make formalized decisions for us on both short-term and long-term decisions. From what to eat, to figuring out our careers, choosing partners, relaxation methods, methods for creating happiness in our lives, and so much more. Consultation is one of the most common things we all do and we always tend to consult, directly or in-directly, those in which we believe have a stronger foundation in the topic than we do. You want career advice, you consult someone who has a career length or position in which you desire to. You want fitness or dieting advice, you consult the trainer or dietitian. More commonly you follow the person who competes on Instagram or ask your friend who’s always been skinny/buff, depending on your goals. You want to know how to navigate your relationship, you ask people who have relationships in which you aspire to. At least, in theory this is the manner in which people go about things. Everyone consults based on their immediate circle and the manners in which they trust other to help them navigate their problems. I don’t believe in monogamy, yet all of my friends in relationships consult me on how to secure their relationships and improve the quality of because they’re aware I'm going to advise them based on the value of our friendship and not my personal views on the matter. I know trainers that constantly tell their clients that to achieve their results, it require discipline and consistency yet their clients chief question, paraphrasing, is what they can buy to achieve that. So they in turn sell them accountability until the person can gain that for themselves and routines that are built around the person’s goals. At my gym there is a trainer who I’ve seen float the exact same workout to both men and women trying to achieve completely different goals, only changing the duration, intensity and repetition of the workout. That is so not how it works but that is how a lot of people work. “This worked for me or I have found x so it should work for you and anyone else who asks.”

This theme of listening to the “they” hit a real head recently. I greatly enjoy the role of devil’s advocate. No particular reason, it brings me joy and that’s all that matters. So going with the current is rather easy but personally, infuriating. I would go online to browse random sub-reddits and a bunch of jack-offs behind their keyboard were operating on a full level of knowledge, confidence and rudeness you could tell was in-organic. I would entertain a public discord on some newsworthy topic and was subsequently met with opinions that nobody could concretely defend. And all that diet shit I mentioned earlier. So when it was time to decide my next project, I didn’t even want to do one. I looked back on my recent projects and then broadened that to my entire works over the past year from the creation of this website to side projects I had picked up and was entirely confused. I had no idea what I didn’t like about everything as a package nor that impressed by individual projects. Even my posts were bugging me. So far from the course in which I originally set. And somewhere in reflecting on why people found it so appropriate to consult me on my own practices from an outside party in which neither of us ever regarded personally, something clicked. It’s been a very inauthentic experience. Sure I have some projects here that I absolutely adore. Yes, I have gotten to do something I love, work with people in the manner I desire, and develop my skills in a manner I never really thought I could before. Of course this has been a cathartic outlet with great growth and has had a visibly positive impact both in my and other’s lives. It has also just made me grow closer with a lot of people by opening up the realm of conversation. It’s dope. But something still wasn’t clicking. My writing was getting weaker and almost always derived from an emotional perspective. I kept trying to change my website and Instagram layout but could never figure out how to keep it in the manner I developed it. Photo-shoots had more to do with getting content out or making a quick buck on the side rather than developing an idea and creating a story from it.

I had developed a business and parts of my life on the advice and consultation of people who have no actual basis of authority. And doing things strictly to impress others or at the console of something others have an opinion on yet no tangible marker of authority is dissatisfying to say the least. I don’t like social media almost strictly based on not giving a fuck about the facade that people put on to have these amazing lives they don’t nor entertain the countless opinions of people who can’t keep that same energy. I originally designed my website in the taste of my ex-boyfriend who had never designed anything for public consumption or really taken any action on anything. Adjusting concepts and final visions on the advice of a person who just on-looks but doesn’t operate. Then I look at the approach I developed in writing to be more open in my communication about my emotions and life at the advice of all my friends who like to act like they have none, self explanatory why I should have not listened. Broaden the pattern, I had an abysmal living arrangement on the advice of people who suggested the money saved would be best long-term. In short, a bunch of opinions from people who have nothing to lose in the outcome. And it all just settled. I couldn’t take much pride in things when the outcome was based more on the advice of non-active participants than myself. Which was my own fault. I can consult the world but I don’t have to take the world’s advice. It was something I’ve always known and implemented in my life yet neglected in my business. Putting off projects because my consultants didn’t particularly like the idea or get it. Wondering if I needed to go back to the drawing board or if I wasn’t communicating it properly. But it’s not their project. They’re not putting their name on it and quite frankly, if they don’t like it then that is a miss for them. But if I put out a project I’m not invested in, then that is a lost for me that I will always have my name attached to.

So now, on the anniversary of my dive back into photography and writing, I’m going back to the original ideas. I will do things that I want to move in the direction I want. I will consult authorities and opinions alike but will make note of the differences and be sure I’m still just as invested at every step. There is no worse feeling than to have to live according to someone else’s version of happiness, success, and achievement. The manner in which other people live and operate are mere matters of comparison to derive what parts we identify with and which parts we don’t, constructing the best possible experience for ourselves. And I want to bring people the best that I have. I love what I’ve put out over this past year because no matter how good or bad something may be technically, personally, anecdotally, I have a record in which to document my growth. But what is the point of a goal if it is not consistently refined as you achieve it? So when I set out on the first year, I had a lot of goals with a lot of people who are no longer here. Now I have some goals for myself and at the forefront of them, and in the words of Megan Thee Stallion: What The Fuck I Want, When The Fuck I Want!

*And I’m still at the mall with your motherfuckin’ daddy, eh

#Blog #Work #Diet #Advice #Projects #Social Media #Content #Growth #Development #Goals #Relationship

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stdio2020 · 3 years ago

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The other night I made a work which mimcked the notorious ‘instagram infographic’. The Instagram infographic was a viral listicle format which used soft imagery and surface level analysis to adress a myriad of social issues. Because they were so easy to digest and so easily transmittable they had a really high share value. In sharing on of these you could virtue signal your awareness and concern for the troubles of the world by breaking character and sharing these. Brad Troemel notes that they share a lot of aesthetic qualities with another neoliberal propogandist tool, the corperate memphis design style used by companies such as facebook, google, and dropbox, depicting amorphous, multicoloured humanoid figures working in comfortable voids among musical instruments and potted plants. The idea behind my infographic was that the narrator was frustrated and slightly conspiratorial about the love heart symbol, simply not knowing what it means. I appropriated the kind of naiive style of the infographics as a means to communicate a kind of charming ombliviousness as we realise that the real question is not what does the shape literally refer to but what is that feeling supposed to feel like.

And because that symbol is so synonymous with ‘love’ we understand this question quite clearly. The character is kept up late by love, you can’t rationalise it or confuse it with sex, there seems to be this cultish cultural preoccupation with such a mercurial feeling.

Troemel frequently parodies the canabalistic pollitics of these infographics by jumbling pollitical discourse buzzwords like ‘unpacking, unlearning, amplifying’. I didn’t so much want to criticise the genre or the pollitics, but I think my use of the aesthetic and design style alone successfully communicates the naivete I received a surprisingly good response to this work. I think because it was disguised as a peice of pure internet content. people were telling me that they thought it was real. They were surprised to know that I hadn’t just shared it but actually made it. It was also, fairly widely shared by people that either thought it was genuinely helpful or by people that thought it was funny. particularly the last slide folds in this kind of dark internet humour ‘Someone tell me what this means before i do something extreme’ is obviously very ominous.

In all i’m really happy with this work despite it being a bit crude and ‘un art-like’

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somethingpoetry · 7 years ago

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Fake Deep

[Originally posted on Deviantart on February 11, 2018]

like a tennis ball smacked on the court arms reach out rubbing off it's bounce but is as hollow as wind baby, you're a firework i'm also a dark horse you're broke now I'm woke take better thoughts read it and weep no more aware than when you're asleep this is fake deep Ham fisted cram your message in a visage that can be easily digested spam it to the masses damn dismissive as an adage like a buzzword making characters out of stupid slurs forward slash and hashtag with as much depth as the pixels retake black culture on the back of a vulture I've indentured to sack as curs when you think about it you let sink no thoughts than what can be easily sought underneath the drought this is fake deep Ham fisted cram your message in a visage that can be easily digested spam it to the masses damn dismissive as an adage nothing past the earth but the crust we can scrape for the oils and curds make it give more meaning swallow it like tallow take it as endearing OJ is a victim OK, on a whim drink that koolaid like fresh orange juice skull thick to reap the rewards so sleek put that head to sleep can't really think deep but act so deep but like a tennis ball like a buzzword surface level thin empty on the in this is fake deep like a glass of air holds the contents in enough inches but some see through the nothing in it's glow like a statement blasted on repeat sounds good to say but not to follow through just platitudes and semantics ham fisted cram your message in a visage that can be easily digested spam it to the masses damn dismissive as an adage you'll miss it if it was truly deserving of it it's why it's easily digested we were kings and shit wearing bling and blitz the man makes us rich and makes us bitch come to think of it haven't sink it in pay no mind to challenge remind them of the adage ham fist it with baggage shallow pond made into a ocean swallow pods to clean your scent rest your weary head and take sleep best not to dread being fake deep drape the deep and scrape the deep and rape the deep and take the deep and fake the deep this is fake deep as wide as a ocean but a puddle deep bounce like a tennis ball hollow insides you reap buzzwords copied on a spreadsheet pixels as pronouncements to your peeps glasses filled with sentiment drink air to help one sleep this isn't genuine it's pretentious it's fake deep.

#Fake #Deep #Lance #Hammond #poetry #poem #emotional #concrete #pretentious #message #somethingguy912 #something #guy #912 #somethingpeotry #literature #digested #cram #ham #fisted

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theliterateape · 4 years ago

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Grappling with Postmodernism in a Post-Trump America

by Don Hall

“...modernism is the assertion that truth can be known definitively. Postmodernism is the assertion that truth can never be known definitively; it can only be guessed at and approximated, at best.” - Mark Manson

Remember, back in the good old days before the country elected the most improbably unelectable bully with the propensity to lie about, well, fucking everything, when Stephen Colbert made the satirical argument about “truthiness”? How we all laughed?

Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.

At the time this was Colbert’s comic take on postmodernism. It is now not quite so funny because those on the fringes of our body politic are full-on postmodernists without the wink of isn’t this kind of ridiculous?

The entire Trump strategy of contesting the election is postmodernist. “We believe there was voter fraud so it must be there.” Never mind a lack of evidence. That predisposed intuition is enough to launch investigations and lawsuits and, whether any evidence is found, the gut assertion will be embedded.

Modernism came around during the Enlightenment. Modernists argued that our understanding of reality could be improved upon through experimentation, observation, and reason. It arose as a response to the superstitions and control of the Church and placed science and quantifiable data as a replacement for faith.

Postmodernism was faith fighting back. Absent of a tether to a god or religious dogma, it simply posited that nothing was really true and that science is merely a tool for subjective focus. Tear down science and collected data and all you have left is faith.

The 75 million plus who voted Blue in this election are socialist.

The 71 million plus who voted Red in this election are racist.

Joe Biden is a Trojan horse for the Extreme Left.

Donald Trump was a dictator.

Zoomers just live in their parents’ basements and loot at any chance.

Boomers are greedy, angry supporters of caging immigrant children.

All white people are racist.

All black people are violent.

All men are fundamentally misogynist.

All women are fundamentally misandrist.

Twitter is an accurate reflection of the vast plurality of opinions.

None of these statements is rooted in fact. All smack of ‘truthiness.’

The #NotAll_____ responses to postmodern hashtags are not an agreement to the contrary but a another way of saying Generalizations are mostly bullshit.

In a recent Literate ApeCast, with guest Peter Kremidas, the question was whether or not politics are fundamentally emotional. Of course, I argued that it should not be but failed to recognize that, in a postmodernist view, politics has to be based upon emotion and lived experience. In a postmodernist worldview, emotion and political activism are irrevocably intertwined.

Donald Trump should’ve been repudiated but he most certainly was not. He lost the election but by a slim margin (four million votes equals a whopping 1.25% of the population which ain’t much no matter how you slice it and definitely not a repudiation). Trumpism is still alive and well and the only aspect of our cultural and political climate equal in postmodern practice to that is the Woke Cult. Both truck in ‘lived experience,’ anecdotal evidence over data, and a belief that their belief is enough to be their truth as opposed to the truth.

Both rely almost entirely in suspension of rationality for the raw emotion so easily fooled.

“Stop the count except for the states I’m ahead in” is only slightly different logic than “White people who deny their racism are too fragile to acknowledge it.”

Sure, social media has exacerbated this postmodern truthiness but we’re mostly grown ass adults and are wholly responsible for our own perspectives.

I remember in the early days of the pandemic (what was that — last week?) when those predisposed to believe the whole thing was a hoax and eagerly lapping up the cat vomit of faux scientists claiming it to be so. When asked why I thought it was real, I always answered exactly the same way: “I listen to the consensus of credible scientists on the matter. That consensus of credible scientists indicates the pandemic is real and will have real consequences should we ignore it.”

I think, after staring in awe at what I used to label mouthbreathing stupidity, I understand the rise of this adherence to postmodern thought: it feels like religion without a deity. One can feel virtuous, understood, and supported by a community of like-minded believers by buying into the self affirmation that one need not listen to expertise but ‘go with your gut’ and let the chips fall.

The postmodernist wants to believe that a Trump voter is racist and sexist. A modernist looks at the data, sees that prior to the 2016 election four million manufacturing jobs were eliminated in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan to be replaced by industrial automation. And those voters cast their ballots for the candidate who want to “Make America Great” rather than the one who told them “America is already great.”

A postmodernist boils whole systems and groups into easily digestible categories. A modernist understands how complicated people are and does some research to find context. Context is the garlic to the postmodernist vampire.

I know our education system needs attention and so many of us are reticent to do any sort of homework but in a media landscape where one can type in “Weight Loss Techniques” into a search field and receive hundreds of thousands of conflicting, contradictory ideas, maybe some homework is exactly what is necessary.

A couple of rules of thumb I’ve learned to follow in the past four or five years:

If I read it on social media, best to assume it’s bullshit.

If the belief is not backed up by data, it’s bullshit.

If a politician says it without supporting evidence, it’s bullshit.

If it’s full of ‘buzzwords’ (intersectionality, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, TERF, fragility), it’s bullshit.

Anything boiled down to a hashtag carries sacks of bullshit in it’s wake.

Example: This week Secretary of State Pompeo was asked about the transition from Trump to Biden. His exact words were:

‘There Will Be a Smooth Transition…to a Second Trump Administration’

Of course, the media went apeshit. It was another example of corruption, of evil, of obstruction. So I went and watched the video. He was obviously making a joke. Not a great joke given the circumstances but it’s very apparent his comment was tongue-in-cheek.

I’m a modernist. Why not join me and stop being lead by your emotional need for faith? To grapple with postmodernism one must acknowledge what a crock of bullshit it is and then recognize the signs that you are following that perspective like the lunatic fringe.

Then do some fucking research. Christ, we have the most sophisticated information technology in history, so you have no excuse.

#modern vs postmodern #postmodernist thought is trumpism #culture of postmodern information

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dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram · 7 years ago

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louis has made a few mild comments in interviews to suggest being a chav is a negative thing. ("It was a good day, not too many chavs about" etc.). Since he is now calling himself a chav I guess it makes it ok for him to do so. it's such an obvious buzzword for him only as of these past few months that it makes me think it's not true that it's an identity and stereotype that he has personally faced and identified with. And I do think we have seen and know enough to state that. (1)

Despite his controlled image we actually have seen a LOT of candid moments and heard a lot of candid and self-deprecating comments from louis over the years and i don't think we have ever heard him refer to himself as a chav. I think if it was something he had experienced and personally faced it would have come up in a passing comment at least before now. Maybe he is just using it as a catch-all term to encompass his working class background and make it easily digestible for the masses. (2)

Hi anon, thanks for your message.

I think my question about the mild comments in interviews that suggest being a ‘chav’ is a bad thing - is whether they actually do have the effect of promoting negative ideas about ‘chavs’. It’s something I’m still pondering. I don’t agree with the general proposition that if you identify with an identity, but are not currently affected by negative stereotypes about this identity that it’s OK to perpetuate those stereotypes.

But I don’t think put any weight on the fact that this sort of image wasn’t part of One Direction. One Direction were very much presented as compliant working-class boys - cheeky, but compliant. They will answer your questions and dress up nicely and perform for you. They were not dangerous unruly working-class boys (of which there was a particularly high level of fear in the immediately after-math of the riots). A large part of their media training would have been ensuring that they did not call themselves ‘chavs’ or do anything to make a middle-class audience think they were ‘chavs’.

His solo artist image as working-class and unruly rather than working-class and compliant is as much a conscious decision of positioning as the One Direction marketing. And both are images that wouldn’t encompass the complexity of any person.

#I don't think 'chav' functions quite the way you suggest in this ask anon #but I couldn't figure out exactly what it was that made me feel like that #Anonymous

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csprousedaily · 8 years ago

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COLE SPROUSE | THE LAST MAGAZINE (30/1/2017).

When Riverdale, Greg Berlanti’s dark, contemporary take on the Archie comics, premiered on the CW last week, it marked the return of the actor Cole Sprouse to television in a project worlds away from the one that first brought him to prominence as a teenager. Sprouse and his twin brother Dylan are still best known for playing the titular brothers on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and its follow-up The Suite Life on Deck, which took place, respectively, in a hotel and on a cruise ship and made the Sprouses the most famous television twins since Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Broadly humorous, loudly acted, and, as Sprouse politely puts it, “boisterous,” the shows fit neatly in the Disney stable alongside Hannah Montana, which starred a young Miley Cyrus, and Wizards of Waverly Place, which introduced Selena Gomez to the world. And just as Cyrus and Gomez have successfully managed to move beyond their child-actor days and reinvent themselves in recent years as international pop stars, Sprouse sees Riverdale as a chance to prove that his Disney phase is behind him. “I think while it’s easy to group us all into a similar category, all of our paths have remained unique,” he explains. “We end up having to show the same maturation, just in different ways. We’re consistently trying to prove our humanity to a group of people that has a really hard time believing it.”

Born in Italy, the Sprouse twins began acting as babies to help their mother pay the bills. They appeared in films like Big Daddy with Adam Sandler and as Ross’s son on Friends, and were tapped by Disney in 2005 to headline The Suite Life, which would go on to run for four years before spinning off as The Suite Life on Deck. “The show gave me a profound work ethic,” Sprouse says. “I never missed a day of work in the eight years I was there, and it really taught me to push myself and drive myself. But the danger of being on a show like that for eight years is that you lose purpose. Continuing the show is oftentimes the most dangerous thing to do as an actor because purpose is the currency for quality work as an actor.”

Besides the increasing monotony of playing Cody, Sprouse now says that he is still trying to sort out what being so closely linked to a fictional persona throughout his teenage years has meant for his personal development. “When you’re a child and you’re growing up and you’re mimicking a certain character or you’re trying to live and breathe a certain character on set for eight years that are also your formative years, you oftentimes take a lot of who you’re playing into your real life and kind of become that thing,” he explains. “You end up having to figure out where you separate from the thing you’ve played for eight years when you leave it.”

Sprouse, now twenty-four, says that the unique strictures and tone of the Disney studio also may have served to sharpen some of the developmental struggles its actors had to endure, due to the contrast between the roles they were playing onscreen and the people they were still in the process of become themselves. “Disney acting as a style is very large. It’s designed to capture the attention of children, so it often comes off as immature and youthful,” he says. “That gets complicated when you’re starting to develop personally and sexually through puberty and you’re starting to have these opposing ideas of yourself as a young person. Oftentimes that leads to some form of cognitive dissonance where you are being sold as something you truly don’t identify with and you have this rebellion that takes place.”

Having successfully made the transition from child star to grown-up actor without scandal, Sprouse is nonetheless quick to come to the defense of his peers who have had rockier paths, heightened by the intense scrutiny of the public eye. “It’s one of those things that gets written off as humorous when you watch a child entertainer try to redefine themselves, but it can be an intense identity crisis,” he says. “I think in our modern society we have a much greater understanding of the importance of personal identity and how we see ourselves and I’m hoping that over time people latch onto the fact that this hurts people and they have a little more respect for something like that.”

In lieu of “We Can’t Stop” or Spring Breakers, Sprouse turned to school. After taking a year off after The Suite Life, he enrolled at NYU at nineteen and eventually decided to major in archeology. Fascinated by the earth sciences since childhood thanks to a geologist grandfather, Sprouse jokes that he wanted to live out “tales of adventure,” which he was able to do after he was accepted into an exclusive program to work on an excavation site in France. He moved decisively away from acting during his four years as an undergraduate, and admits that he very seriously considered the possibility of never coming back. “When we were younger, it was a business choice for us and I realized that I couldn’t live like that anymore and there was no fulfillment in that sort of acting,” he explains. “I needed to take a break and reassess, and I did. My brother and I had sort of reached a plateau and there was nothing we could really do there so we chose to go into education and embrace an interdisciplinary world of knowledge.”

Faced with the choice between (expensive) graduate school and (relatively lucrative) television work, Sprouse says he decided last year to take a shot at pilot week, the annual busy period when studios and networks cast many of the new television shows they want to try out. “I was planning on continuing with archaeology, but when I auditioned and I got the part and we did that pilot, I had a lot of fun,” he recalls. “I didn’t really think of it, but it felt fulfilling again, which is really the only thing you should honestly pursue in art. And as long as it feels fulfilling, I’ll continue.”

Having just come off a Twilight Zone binge, Sprouse says he was immediately attracted to the role of Jughead, Archie’s best friend who also takes on a voiceover role in Riverdale that is reminiscent of Rod Serling’s narration for his influential television series. Full of sex, scandal, and the sort of heightened drama common to most shows about teenagers, Riverdale will come as a surprise to most people who know Archie only as a cheerful, lighthearted slice of midcentury small-town American life. The series opens with a death, Archie sleeps with his music teacher, and Veronica comes to town disgraced after her family loses all its wealth when her father is jailed for financial misdeeds. There are notes of Twin Peaks—although Sprouse is loathe to compare anything to David Lynch—and Brick, the 2006 Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie which took a film noir sensibility to high school life.

Sprouse himself admits to having been put off by the initial descriptions of the show, but says that further reading helped him understand that Riverdale fits easily into the world of Archie, as the new leadership at Archie Comics has pushed in new and surprising directions to make the brand relevant again today. “When I first heard the abstract, it kind of put a sour taste in my mouth,” he says. “I come from a comic background—I worked at a comic shop—and when you hear about a dark and gritty take on an otherwise beloved franchise, that’s all the wrong buzzwords for the right project. Nothing really dubious happens in the original Archie Digests, but as I started to do more research, I realized the universe of Archie is really wide open. The Punisher comes to Archie, Archie dies when he gets shot trying to protect his friend, and in the new comics, zombies come to Archie. So it seemed like the road had been paved for a while for something like this. My knowledge now is that the Archie universe is wide enough for something like this to take place.”

In refashioning an idyllic American icon for a confusing and complicated new world, Riverdale is also, Sprouse contends, a tacit reflection of today’s political climate. “We live in a society right now that’s obsessed with this golden-age America mentality,” he explains. “Trump’s whole campaign was built around ‘Make America Great Again,’ which essentially is a play towards the same era that Archie arose out of that is this golden, perfect world. I don’t mind how we may be tampering with this idea of a golden age because of my personal political stance. I don’t think that ‘everything is perfect and jolly’ is a perspective that makes any sense. Our society is either primed perfectly for a more contemporary view of this classic American property or they’re going to rebel against it. It’s the same political division within our society right now.”

Currently based in Vancouver shooting Riverdale, Sprouse is also continuing to pursue a photography career on the side. He’s been commissioned by Condé Nast Traveler and shot a story for Teen Vogue earlier this month, and says that what began as a hobby has quickly turned into a passionate vocation. He finds that the travel photography, especially, has been helpful in shaping his perspective. “Travel photography is difficult in that you’re very reliant upon the place you’re going to be a sort of beautiful that can sell,” he explains. “You end up having to be really critical and quite aware at all points of your environment. It’s a very different way of looking at the world, but you end up internalizing a lot of that way of seeing. Most of us were quite nomadic through human history, and I think that part of us still very much exists in a yearning for adventure and worldliness. What travel photography is aiming to do is to inspire a love of something different than yourself.”

And though they require work on different sides of the camera, what connects Sprouse’s acting and his photography is that he plans to continue both as long as they remain “fulfilling.” With over two decades of experience under his belt, he knows what he wants and he knows when it’s time to move on. “Riverdale is a much more human project than the last one and I realize now that though I’ve had enough time to step away and to take a breather, my main challenge if I’m going to continue acting is to discern the things that were valuable about my childhood and the skills I acquired as a child and the things to keep and the things to let go,” he says. “It’s more real, and I don’t think just because it’s on the forefront of pop culture that it should be treated any less than something very ‘noble.’ I’m going to try and do that and see how it ends up.”

#cole sprouse #jughead jones #jughead #riverdale

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travisbsny091-blog · 5 years ago

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Buzzwords, De-buzzed: 10 Other Ways to Say kosgeb destekleri 2020

Health care is one of those fields of work which are in good demands nowadays. One of the most respected positions in health care system is a medical assistant's position. Many clinical and administrative works are performed by them to keep the office working smoothly and effectively in the right direction. Podiatrists, chiropractors or physicians are those people for whom the medical assistants work for.

To become a good medical assistant, the major thing required is to have training in medical assistance which provides you with a separate and a higher level of competence and knowledge. For becoming a medical assistant one can enroll for a one year course at vocational school, or obtain an associate's degree in medical assistance after a span of two years. Online programs for medical assistance are also available for the people who require flexibility in the timings that they devote to the work. Also, distance learning is the way for all those who don't have any fixed timings for the class. What you need to do is log into the classroom from your home and study according to your comfort. A medical assistant usually gets a high salary per annum.

Following are the steps that need to be followed to obtain a medical assistance certification:-

1. You should have completed your high school. If you haven't, then you can never be a medical assistant. Once you have your high school diploma you are eligible for being a medical assistant. Besides getting the knowledge regarding being a perfect medical assistant you should also try to master in other skills that you will need in your office such as typing or taking certain math, science or health classes.

2. Now, when you have obtained the above qualification, you should enroll for a training program. These programs can easily be found to be taught in community colleges or in vocational schools. Topics that are taught while you are in the learning process will include physiology, anatomy, medical terminology, accounting, keyboarding and others. You can enroll for a one year course and get certified or you can opt for a two year course and get an associate's degree.

3. Once in this business, you should always try to be well groomed and neatly dressed. Though it is not an official compulsion but you can make a good impression on others simply by your physical appearance. Your employer would always require you to be neat and well groomed since you will be dealing with general public. Your physical appearance can also add to convincing power in your words.

4. Try getting your certification from American Association of Medical Assistants, though it's not a compulsion but a few medical assistants ask for it so it's better to have that particular requirement rather than not having it.

Anxiety is the number one mental health condition among American adults. Although the National Institute of Mental Health reports that about 18% of adults in the US have an anxiety disorder, it is widely believed that the actual percentage is closer to 30%. This is due to the fact that many anxiety sufferers do not seek professional help or report their anxiety to a doctor. Successfully managing anxiety is an ongoing challenge. Adding a weighted blanket to your anxiety fighting arsenal is an option anyone with anxiety should explore.

What is a weighted blanket?

Weighted blankets are constructed of soft blanket material and quilted sections filled with plastic pellets and polyfill. These pellets add evenly distributed weight to the user harnessing the therapeutic power of Deep Pressure Touch (DPT). DPT works to calm the nervous system by administering a firm touch equally across the body.

When your nervous system is over excited you are operating in your sympathetic nervous system. This system is responsible for the "fight or flight" reaction to stress. DPT activates your body's parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for "rest and digest" following a stressful experience. Cortisol levels decrease and serotonin levels increase. The result is a more relaxed and calm state of mind.

The benefits of DPT are behind the time honored tradition of swaddling infants to soothe them to sleep and the wildly successful Thundershirt that eases dog anxiety by wrapping them up tight. A weighted blanket is a comfortable, easy way to self administer DPT during times of heightened anxiety.

Anxiety Symptoms Relieved kosgeb destekleri 2020 by a Weighted Blanket

Anxiety symptoms vary by individual but there are some common ones that most people with anxiety feel to some degree or another. Anxiety can take the form of worry. With good reason, we all worry about things from time to time. Those of us with anxiety feel worried about things for no good reason. Things that most people would consider "no big deal" are a really big deal to those with anxiety.

This constant worry makes it hard to concentrate and accomplish everyday tasks. This inability to focus is another common symptom. Anxiety often goes hand in hand with insomnia, too. You can't sleep because you are worried and overstimulated. You worry and become overstimulated because you can't sleep. It's a vicious cycle.

Another close companion of anxiety is muscle tension. This is another example of a cycle and professionals are not clear on which comes first, the anxiety or the tension. Muscle tension leads to pain. The ongoing pain of tense muscles can feed irritability and make it harder to get through a productive day.

Fatigue is common in people with anxiety. With insomnia, muscle tension, and constant worry on the shoulders of those with anxiety, it is no wonder fatigue shortly follows. For anyone who experiences any combination of these symptoms, a weighted blanket can provide much needed relief.

Weighted blankets calm the body and the mind. A pilot study tested the efficacy of using a comfort room equipped with a weighted blanket on reducing anxiety on psychiatric patients. They found that the weighted blankets were "particularly useful" at lowering clinician rated anxiety. Another study showed that using a weighted blanket helped insomnia sufferers sleep better. Objectively, the participants had less movements and less frequent wakings. Subjectively, they felt like they slept more securely and comfortably. Weighted blankets are an excellent addition to any anti-anxiety toolbox.

How does a weighted blanket compare to other treatment options?

Anxiety disorders are often treated with a combination of medication and cognitive behavior therapy. There are many drawbacks to prescription anti-anxiety medications that many people simply can't swallow. Headache, sexual dysfunction, nausea, dizziness, and insomnia are documented side effects. For those who cannot tolerate these side effects or just want to try natural remedies, a weighted blanket is an excellent choice. Of course, you and your health care professional will come up with a treatment plan that is right for you that may include pharmaceuticals. A weighted blanket can complement that approach as well.

Choosing the Best Weighted Blanket for You

The most important decision when choosing a weighted blanket is the weight itself. Weighted blankets for adults range from 7-25 pounds. Talking with Laura Lemond, owner of Mosaic Weighted Blankets, "It is typically recommended that adults use a weighted blanket that weighs 10% of their ideal body weight." For example, an adult weighing 200 pounds would use a 20 pound weighted blanket. This formula works for many people but if you are seeing a professional for support with your anxiety, consult with them about what weight is recommended before placing an order. Some weighted blankets are custom made to order so you'll want to ensure you've requested the appropriate weight.

You will want to consider how you will be using the weighted blanket. If you plan to sleep under it most nights you will want to get one big enough to cover your entire body or even your entire bed. Some people only use their blanket over their legs or around their shoulders while still more find it comforting to simply lay one across their lap. In these cases, a smaller blanket will suit your needs perfectly.

Relief of common anxiety symptoms is ready and waiting to wrap itself around you. If you suffer from anxiety, give a weighted blanket a try and see how deep pressure touch can calm and soothe a stimulated mind.

#2020 kosgeb destekleri

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daddyslittlejuliet · 6 years ago

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Decoding Dog Food Lingo

The post Decoding Dog Food Lingo by Elizabeth Anderson Lopez appeared first on Dogster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren’t considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.

Certain words sound promising when it comes to canine nutrition, but some of them don’t deliver exactly what you may think. “Artisanal” might bring to mind a hipster Afghan Hound with a man bun, and “gourmet” may have you picturing a fancy chef preparing a meal for a foufy French Bulldog couple. But do you know the actual meaning of these terms when it comes to the dog food world?

“A lot of these claims do not guarantee a minimum standard quality because one doesn’t exist for many of these terms,” says Melanie Glass, DVM, with the ASPCA Animal Hospital in New York, New York. “The confusion and difficulty of selecting healthy food for ourselves and our pets is compounded by difficult-to-understand labels and adept marketing tools that make appealing claims not necessarily based on science.”

Common terms explained

Confused on dog food lingo? Let us explain! Photography ©Quirex | Getty Images.

According to Debbie Phillips-Donaldson, editor-in-chief of pet industry magazine Petfood Industry and the event Petfood Forum, some terms are considered marketing buzzwords like artisanal and gourmet, while others are “not consistently or fully defined (sustainable, locally sourced, transparency). None of them are regulated.”

This means dog lovers should read up on these terms and do some research on the products. Reach out and ask the companies more about the product to see if your understanding of the term is the same as theirs.

Artisanal

This is a popular term in both the human and pet world. We’ll use the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition. Artisanal means “produced in limited quantities by an artisan through the use of traditional methods — artisanal bread, cheese or wine. Also: creating a product in limited quantities by traditional methods.”

If a company says the food is artisanal, check out the website or email the company to find out exactly what that means in regard to its product.

Freeze-dried

Dr. Glass describes freeze-dried as “a specific food preparation that removes moisture content of food and can make it very shelf stable. This type of food often appears to be more expensive with no scientific evidence that it provides any additional nutritional benefits.”

“When applied to animal products, this typically means that the products are ‘raw’ and were not cooked to a safe temperature prior to being freeze-dried,” says Cailin Heinze, VMD, DACVN, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton, Massachusetts. “These products are thus at high risk of bacterial contamination with dangerous pathogens. Some freeze-dried meats are cooked first, but you can’t tell by looking at them — you would have to ask the manufacturer about each product.

Gourmet

Once again, we have to head to the Merriam-Webster dictionary for an authoritative definition: “Of, relating to, or being high quality, expensive or specialty food typically requiring elaborate and expert preparation.”

Usually gourmet food is a little higher priced, but this is not a regulated term. Again, if a company says the food is gourmet, check out the website or email the company to find out exactly what that means.

Grain free

“Unfortunately, consumers have the perception that grain-free foods are healthier than grain-based foods,” says Trumbull, Connecticut-based Ryan Yamka, PhD, board-certified in companion animal nutrition by the American College of Animal Sciences and a fellow with the American College of Nutrition. “Most will … say it’s because they are lower in carbohydrates, as well; however, this is simply not true. Most grain-based products will utilize whole grains. Most grain-free foods will use refined or purified starches like tapioca starch, potato starch and pea starch (sometimes all three in the top seven ingredients).”

Dr. Glass adds further insight: “There is no scientific evidence that demonstrates grain in pet food is harmful,” she says. “Whole grain can provide an excellent source of easily digestible protein, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Substitutes can actually have fewer nutrients and be more difficult for dogs to digest.” Dr. Glass adds that most dogs do not require a minimal carbohydrate diet to be healthy.

Locally sourced

Dr. Glass cites difficulty in defining this term. “How far away is too far to be considered local? Is it locally sourced if all of the animals were raised near the manufacturer or only some? Is it local if the animals were raised far away but the manufacturer is in your town?” she questions. “Again, this does not necessarily imply any environmental benefit and certainly does not clarify any nutritional quality to a dog food.”

Dr. Heinze agrees. “You can have great or poor quality ingredients sourced locally or distantly — e.g., you could get excellent lamb from New Zealand but poor quality chicken from your neighbor’s backyard.”

Sustainable

“Sustainability in its purest form is how a company creates positive impact for the communities and environments where they do business,” according to Dr. Yamka. “When looking at companies that claim to be sustainable, you should investigate how they purchase ingredients (i.e., part of the marine sustainability coalition), how they manufacture (i.e., do they use solar energy) down to their packaging (i.e., do they recycle or partner with people who can). Lastly, most companies focusing on sustainability practices are part of the Pet Sustainability Coalition or will be a Certified B Corporation.”

See if a company is part of the PSC or a Certified B corporation at these websites: petsustainability.org and bcorporation.net.

Transparency

“In its purest form, transparency should include ingredient sourcing, where your product is made, does it include processing aids or hidden ingredients and how the food actually benefits the animal,” Dr. Yamka says. “If a company claims to be transparent, see if it meets these factors.”

Again, regulatory agencies do not define transparency for pet food claims, but Dr. Heinze does. “To a veterinary nutritionist, it means being able and willing to answer our questions about nutrient levels, calories, ingredient sourcing, where the food is made and by whom, who designed the recipes and their credentials, etc.,” she adds. “In my 10 years of calling pet food companies, I can tell you this is often the exception rather than the rule!”

What do you feed?

Pet owners want to feed their dogs the best food they can afford. Some of these marketing buzzwords encourage dog owners to pay higher prices for lower quality.

“I have clients all the time apologetically tell me that they are feeding various diets that aren’t considered to be as ‘classy’ or ‘high quality’ as some of the more heavily hyped/marketed/trendy diets,” Dr. Heinze says. “Meanwhile, many of these diets are better in the really important things than the really trendy diets they feel bad about not feeding! I’ve also had clients refuse to feed therapeutic diets that could have a dramatic effect on their dog’s health because the diet doesn’t fit their picture of a ‘high-quality’ diet, which is often shaped by this kind of terminology and marketing.” When it comes to selecting the right food for your dog, focus on the actual ingredients instead of glowing terms.

When in doubt, research the product including reaching out to the manufacturer, ask your veterinarian, or consider Dr. Heinze’s approach. “My rule of thumb for selecting pet foods (and for the most part for my own diet as well) is to avoid things that are trendy in favor of tried and true. I would rather that my pets not be the guinea pigs for some colorful marketing term or new ingredient or process that may not have been thoroughly tested. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

All about AAFCO

According to the FDA’s website, the FDA ensures that the ingredients used in pet food are safe and have an appropriate function in the pet food. Equally important but lesser known is the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

“AAFCO standards are the agreed-upon nutritional requirements for a dog’s health made through years of clinical trials by veterinary nutritionists. This means that the foods meet specific standards that are accepted to adequately provide nutrition for your dog,” says Melanie Glass, DVM, who practices at the ASPCA Animal Hospital in New York.

“If a pet food does not say they are ‘AAFCO tested’ or at a minimum ‘formulated to meet AAFCO standards,’ I recommend owners stay clear of those foods, no matter what claims they may advertise,” Dr. Glass says. “Nutrition is a very challenging field, and formulating diets properly is difficult so as a veterinarian, the most important component of diet for me is that a company wants to ensure a science-based nutritional profile that was created by independent experts in the field.”

Visit talkspetfood.aafco.org for more details on AAFCO and how they define “natural,” “organic” and “human grade.”

About the author

Elizabeth Anderson Lopez is an award-winning writer based in Lake Forest, California. She and her husband have many pets, including two English Bull Terrier rescues named Dexter and Maybelene. You can contact her at fromconcepttocontent.com.

Editor’s note: This article appeared in Dogster magazine. Have you seen the new Dogster print magazine in stores? Or in the waiting room of your vet’s office? Subscribe now to get Dogster magazine delivered straight to you!

Read more about dog food on Dogster.com:

Using Coconut Oil for a Dog’s Itchy Skin

Can Dogs Eat Carrots? If So, Are Carrots Good for Dogs?

Dog Digestive System Basics — How Long Does it Take for a Dog to Digest Food?

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stiles-wtf · 6 years ago

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Decoding Dog Food Lingo

Common terms explained

Artisanal

If a company says the food is artisanal, check out the website or email the company to find out exactly what that means in regard to its product.

Freeze-dried

Gourmet

Grain free

Locally sourced

Sustainable

See if a company is part of the PSC or a Certified B corporation at these websites: petsustainability.org and bcorporation.net.

Transparency

What do you feed?

Pet owners want to feed their dogs the best food they can afford. Some of these marketing buzzwords encourage dog owners to pay higher prices for lower quality.

All about AAFCO

Visit talkspetfood.aafco.org for more details on AAFCO and how they define “natural,” “organic” and “human grade.”

About the author

Read more about dog food on Dogster.com:

Using Coconut Oil for a Dog’s Itchy Skin

Can Dogs Eat Carrots? If So, Are Carrots Good for Dogs?

Dog Digestive System Basics — How Long Does it Take for a Dog to Digest Food?

0 notes

buynewsoul · 6 years ago

Text

Decoding Dog Food Lingo

Common terms explained

Artisanal

If a company says the food is artisanal, check out the website or email the company to find out exactly what that means in regard to its product.

Freeze-dried

Gourmet

Grain free

Locally sourced

Sustainable

See if a company is part of the PSC or a Certified B corporation at these websites: petsustainability.org and bcorporation.net.

Transparency

What do you feed?

Pet owners want to feed their dogs the best food they can afford. Some of these marketing buzzwords encourage dog owners to pay higher prices for lower quality.

All about AAFCO

Visit talkspetfood.aafco.org for more details on AAFCO and how they define “natural,” “organic” and “human grade.”

About the author

Read more about dog food on Dogster.com:

Using Coconut Oil for a Dog’s Itchy Skin

Can Dogs Eat Carrots? If So, Are Carrots Good for Dogs?

Dog Digestive System Basics — How Long Does it Take for a Dog to Digest Food?

0 notes

jeffreyrwelch · 6 years ago

Text

Decoding Dog Food Lingo

Common terms explained

Artisanal

If a company says the food is artisanal, check out the website or email the company to find out exactly what that means in regard to its product.

Freeze-dried

Gourmet

Grain free

Locally sourced

Sustainable

See if a company is part of the PSC or a Certified B corporation at these websites: petsustainability.org and bcorporation.net.

Transparency

What do you feed?

Pet owners want to feed their dogs the best food they can afford. Some of these marketing buzzwords encourage dog owners to pay higher prices for lower quality.

All about AAFCO

Visit talkspetfood.aafco.org for more details on AAFCO and how they define “natural,” “organic” and “human grade.”

About the author

Read more about dog food on Dogster.com:

Using Coconut Oil for a Dog’s Itchy Skin

Can Dogs Eat Carrots? If So, Are Carrots Good for Dogs?

Dog Digestive System Basics — How Long Does it Take for a Dog to Digest Food?

0 notes