#note i said this dieter and by that i mean particularly the dieter in YOUR big beautiful wrinkly brain

[ravensmadreads]

WHAT????

Hey I love you and I’m having thots about vampire!Dieter and his hedonistic lifestyle and his lavish parties at his estate and how he invites you up to show you his private rooms and he-

Oh, you mean like when he asks you about your--

Pairing: dieter bravo x f!reader

Warnings: flirting, a bit of blood, maybe dubcon due to The Thrall but i think it's safe to say we all want It from vampire!dieter, unbeta-ed because i needed to write something or someone was going to die

A/N: look at what you've done @sp00kymulderr you've gone and given a perfectly good fic LORE

“Theories.”

“What?” 

Dieter’s smirk pulls his mouth and his head towards the floor-to-ceiling windows. He rubs his fingers together, his wrist dangling over the edge of the deep-backed leather chair. The clean lines of his Armani pants and wing-tipped shoes give him the impression of leaning forward, as if he intended to tumble right through those windows and out into the party below. The music is muted, smothered, but the lights illuminate the sky like the sun beneath the waves. 

“Your theories. About all of this. About my dad, granddad. Everyone who’s ever walked in here – press or not –,” he lazily drags his gaze up from your ass to your tits for the third time that night, “– has had some wild theories that I just love to listen to. Little bedtime stories to put me to sleep. So let’s hear ‘em.”

You had doubts about this dress when you left your apartment but you have to dig your nails into your palms to keep from tugging it back down over your thighs because you know you have something every time Dieter looks at you. Maybe not for long, but you might be the first person in fifty years to walk out of here with something to say.

Your heart suddenly fluttering higher in your throat, you turn away towards the movie memorabilia lining the walls in glass shelves to give him the angle he’s been inching towards all night. Over your shoulder, you see his eyes drop – predictably. You let the line out a bit more and bend at the waist to examine the original glove from The Natural. 

“I’m sure you’ve heard them all, Mr. Bravo. The mystery around your family is nearly as old as Hollywood itself so I’m sure there’s nothing I can say that you haven’t heard before. Which reminds me . . .” You straighten up and, by some miracle, he meets your eyes, gaze no longer wandering. “Why me?” 

His mouth curls, but it’s the glint in his eyes that shows razor-sharp teeth. 

“I’ve always admired the brevity of wit, but you’re going to have to be more specific.”

Your jacket creaks when you cross your arms, eyebrow arched. “I’ve been with The Mezzanine for five years with half-a-dozen bylines under my belt. There’s a list of more experienced reporters a mile long. Why, after ignoring every press inquiry for the past twenty years, did you ask me to interview you? Oh, and consider this my first official question.” 

With an expansive inhale, Dieter draws himself to his feet. He takes a few steps towards the windows, just before the light catches the shine of his shoes. 

“Give me a theory and I’ll answer your question.”

You frown at his broad shoulders. Streaks of fuschia and green and gold tangle in his curls, setting the ends on fire. You think of those electric lamps under your grandfather’s porch that drew in moths with dust brown wings. Moths that ended up dead on the wooden floor. 

You find yourself inches from his left shoulder. 

“That’s not how these things usually go, Mr. Bravo.” 

“Humor the old hermit.” He grins and the smell of spice and smoke and lineage blooms in your nose. You school your face, swallowing down your beating heart. 

“The mob. So why me?”

Dieter chuckles. “The mob?”

“Happened to Frank Sinatra, didn’t it?”

“I don’t appreciate the comparison,” Dieter sneers. “Blue Eyes was an asshole and an idiot.”

You turn towards him, your turn to grin. “Speaking from personal experience?”

“Yes, actually.” 

“Unbelievable.” You roll your eyes and wander back towards the cabinet. It’s now you notice the odd placement of the couch and chairs in front of the memorabilia. As if hours were spent staring at them. “Do you have anything to drink?”

Dieter blinks at you. “Uh. No. Do you want me to call up for one?”

“No, Mr. Bravo, I want you to answer my question: why me?”

“Because you care.”

Dieter turns away from the lights, the music, the night and stares at you. The teasing sparkle, the sardonic grin – they’re gone. A different man stands before you – one with the same beautiful set of curls, with the same soft eyes. But you see something on his face you didn’t think was possible: yearning. 

“Everyone who ever came here only wanted a piece of me. Of this. Of my legacy. In fifty years, no one has ever wanted to know the magic in the movies. The magic of . . .” Dieter laughs quietly, joylessly. He looks around and runs his tongue against his upper teeth. “The mob? C’mon, you can do better than the mob.”

You take a step forward. Electric lamps be damned.

“I’m doing a terrible job of interviewing you.”

“Hardly.” His lips pout before pulling back into a grin. “We’re getting to know each other.”

Another step. 

“One for one?”

“Of course.”

“Then in debt to the US government for World War II propaganda. Why did your grandfather step out of the spotlight at the peak of his career?”

“Ford was as much a nazi as any of them and no Bravo would ever stoop so low, so no. And Grandpappy Bravo had health issues.”

“He was forty-five.”

“Forty-two, actually. The same age I am now.” He grins down at you and you find yourself staring up at him. Had his eyes always had that golden circle in the center?

“Give me another theory.”

“Drugs – boring but reliable. Why was your father so secretive about his role as a financial backer during the 60s movie revival?”

“He hated the attention, as much as a Bravo can. You’re getting closer.”

“It was drugs?” You tear your gaze that had somehow slipped to his lips back up to his eyes, but Dieter shakes his head.

“A drug of some kind, but not the kind you’re thinking of. A powerful drug. The most powerful.”

“Yeah? And what would that be?”

“Life itself.” Again, you see his teeth and without your control, your heart leaps into your throat. You narrow your eyes against the brilliant light of his mouth.

“Why do you care so much about my theories?”

“Because you’re not asking the right questions. You’re close, but not quite.” 

His hand floats against your jaw, fingertips crackling in the millimeter above your skin, and that spicy scent floods your brain in a sudden avalanche that makes your knees wobble. You huff, dizzy, a fog settling across your mind, and you put a hand against his chest to keep you from stumbling. His thumb drags against your bottom lip and that bright sensation becomes a focus point by which the entire universe revolves around. 

His eyes are entirely golden now.

“Ask the question you’ve been begging to, darling.”

You swallow through the haze, through the pounding of your heart, through the heaviness of your knees, and the wetness in your underwear. 

“No,” you mumble, “I . . . Dieter, you’ll laugh.”

“Try me, sweetheart.” His other hand joins his first, cradling your jaw, dragging you closer. “I want to hear it.”

“I think you’re a vampire.” The words dribble off your numb lips but even through the lag, you know you’ve screwed up. Something has gummed up the crevices of your brain, but that’s not the thing to say to the highly-eccentric social recluse you’ve put your career at risk to interview. 

“Dieter, I’m sorry – I-I-I didn’t mean–,”

But he laughs. Laughs and your moth wings get caught in the light of the white gleam of his fangs. His hand slips to your waist as his thumb brushes your cheek, golden eyes anything but angry.

“I knew you were clever.” 

Your nails dig into his jacket where you don’t feel a heartbeat. Your knees want you to fall forward into him, but your elbows struggle as the last shreds of a survival instinct. 

“Dieter–,”

“Shh, darling, you are smart. Too smart for your own good. You knew the truth the second you walked in here and you did it anyway. But that big brain won’t let you believe it until you see it, so breathe, darling. Breath and it will be over in a minute.”

He lowers his face, his cold breath against your neck cracking through the haze, icing your heart. You whimper, afraid –

Afraid he’s going to kill you.

Afraid that you’ll let him.

A warm tongue saturates the skin of your neck and you realize there are devil faces in the wood carving of the ceiling, your head tipped back and arms wrapped around his shoulders. 

“No crying. I will make this very good for you.” 

You blink and the ice in your heart melts out the corner of your eyes, tears running off your cheeks.

“Will I die?”

Dieter lets out a noise that’s a whine and a groan all at once. “No. We’re not nearly done having fun.”

And he bites you.

Euphoria erupts across your skin, an electric pulse waking up every sense still left in your control. You shudder, then draw him closer. He groans, not a single drop of blood escaping to the carpet or your shirt or his jacket. He eats well and clean and there’s a part of you that entertains the idea of him losing control. 

But as quickly as it comes on, everything fades. Blackness comes on, thick and fast, and you hear him pull off your neck more than you feel it and his tongue is the last sensation you feel. 

“No, darling, by the end of this, you’ll be begging me for more.”

His promise is the last thing you hear before the darkness closes in on you completely. 

+

[gutsby]

Cry, Baby

Pairing: Joel Miller x Reader

Summary: Joel fucks you to the point of tears. That’s all.

Warnings: 18+. Dacryphilia (kinda). Unprotected p-in-v. Girthy, unspecified age gap. Daddy kink. Jealous Joel.

Notes: Sorry for using pussy pronouns. It will happen again.

Joel Miller was a man of few words in most every place except the one where he found himself about to beat the brakes off your pussy. Then he never shut the fuck up.

“Uh-huh…just a little more…I know, sweet girl, I know.”

You had your hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel of his ‘71 Ford F-100, but rather than driving anywhere, your ass was comfortably parked on the front of his jeans—straddling his lap backwards while you rubbed your half-clad cunt over stonewashed denim. It was hell.

You’d been grinding against the bulge beneath those jeans so hard, and for so long, your white cotton undies had parted to the side, and your pleasure was nearly stretched commensurate with just how pathetic you felt.

Your head dropped between your two hands on the black molded plastic of the wheel, and you let out a whine.

“Joel—”

“Keep goin’.”

“This ain’t fair!”

Without hesitation, the hands that were holding your hips tightened their grip, and now Joel was raking your lower half over his. Rutting your core back and forth.

“You wanna know what ain’t fair?” he seethed.

He didn’t wait for you to answer.

“How much she’s been droolin’ over me all night.”

‘She’ meaning your unfucked cunt, of course.

Joel then punctuated his sentence with a particularly hard press of his palm—forcing you to lay flat on the steering wheel, hips tilted back to him. With just one callused finger of his other hand, he found you soaked between your folds. He dragged it from your clit to your aching hole, and you heard him sigh, as though sad.

“It’s a cryin’ shame,” Joel said. Lamenting.

You were almost lost to the sensation of his finger rubbing you up and down, but somehow, you managed, ‘W-W-What is, Joel?’ in between soft, plaintive sounds.

Sometimes you forgot how much older he was than you. Sometimes you said he was just like the boys your age. Other times he had you pinned like this, breaths calm and cruelly measured while you damn near came apart beneath his hand, and then you remembered everything.

“You just couldn’t wait ‘til we got home,” he grumbled.

Using the same hand he’d been stroking you with, Joel laid a quick slap to your cunt, and you jumped. Your head narrowly missed the roof of his truck; still, you groaned.

“‘M’sorry, Joel,” you keened.

You weren’t. The old man knew you weren’t.

The hand that had been splayed over your back sank in. The force of that push pressed your belly to the chipped Ford logo at the center of the steering wheel, and with the added pressure went the blare of the car’s horn.

The sound might’ve lasted two seconds before you scrambled back, desperate, into Joel’s broad chest. A couple old-timers making their way from the bar to their cars in the parking lot cocked their heads curiously in your direction a couple yards away. Seeing nothing of note, they lost interest just as quick and kept walking.

“Sorry for what?” Joel said.

At the moment, he didn’t seem to notice, or care, that his truck was parked a mere stone’s throw away from the Tipsy Bison, and bar-goers were milling freely between the building and the cars all around you. His belt unbuckled all the same, zip came down in a blink, and his thick, veiny, throbbing, and angry cock came to rest between your cheeks. He started to push you forward.

“Sorry for— for flirtin’ with Tommy,” you stammered, sucking in a breath when you felt him run the head of his cock between your lips. You could hear a soft squelch.

“And Lucien?”

“And Lucien.”

“And—”

“And Dieter, and Frankie, and Javi, and Marcus.”

Rattling off the names of all the men you’d been flirting with at the bar to make Joel jealous and take you back home to fuck you became an embarrassing chant.

“And?”

“…and Mayor Garcia,” you completed, sheepishly.

Back in there, you hadn’t been too proud to stoop to a politician’s level, even. That was how needy you’d been to get attention, and now Joel was giving it to you.

As hard as he could—he didn’t wait for the ‘OK’ before seating you on his cock. You were simply pulled back from the wheel and into his lap, onto his stiff erection, and before you could steady yourself, he started drilling.

“Even through these panties—” Joel tugged at the cream-colored cotton he’d easily slipped past, “—even through that slutty little skirt, I could feel how wet she was.”

Your eyes squeezed shut, and your hands found purchase in the torn-up leather of the seat, fisting strings and patches of fabric in a helpless sort of plea as Joel took over. With the buttons of his dark green flannel searing a stripe down your spine and his grey-speckled chin coming to nudge between your neck and your shoulder as he fucked you, you felt content. Secure.

Spilling more for him, then. Seeping rivers down the length of his shaft as he breached your walls and made you his all over again. And again. Leaving trails of arousal with every thrust, and rolling your head, limply, into his.

“She cryin’ for me?” Joel breathed, “Or somebody else?”

As if on cue, his cock hit the most sensitive ridge inside you, and you felt yourself gush even more. Dripping now.

“You.” Your voice was raw.

“Me?” Joel’s degradingly sweet.

Before you could answer ‘you’ once more, the driver’s door cracked open beside you both. For one panicked, terrifying second, you thought someone from the bar might’ve caught you two—then you were stunned to look over and see it was Joel’s own tough, steel-toed boot that had propped the door open to the cool night air.

The truck was facing the bar’s front door, shielded only by some foliage and a hatchback car about half its size. Other than that, you were exposed to whoever happened to pass by the big, bay window and take a look inside.

Joel felt you tense, and he pressed a kiss to you neck. Then he slid you carefully, almost tenderly, to the left until you were perched over the side of the seat with your legs dangling out of the truck—still filled to the hilt with his cock and pressed tight to the front of his chest.

“Cry a little more,” he urged.

Then, when your pussy gave an involuntary clench and drenched him some more, he slipped a hand around your front and started toying with your clit. Your gaze was wide, almost frightened as you stared ahead at the bar and saw patrons making rounds about the tiny place, fearing one might see you and Joel, but it felt so good. And wrong. And reckless, having this man who was easily decades your senior bouncing you up and down on his cock and letting you soil the front of his Wranglers.

“Pussy’s fuckin’ soakin’ me, pretty girl,” Joel let out a chuckle and gave your shoulder a playful bite when you pulsed around him again, “Squeezin’ me real tight, too.”

It was like your body was beyond your own control. You scarcely even realized your cunt had him gripped with such force, much less made a mess of his old denim. He just held you to him and kept pressing rough, stubbled kisses to your shoulder, reminding you over and over how sweet you were, how well you were taking him, how nice and tight and goddamn pretty that pussy must’ve looked gushing around daddy’s cock—maybe we can fuck in front’a the mirror so we can see it later, huh, baby?

You would’ve said yes to anything he said, you reckoned.

Especially when his arms moved over your front and you felt him grin, and he hugged you while he fucked you—nobody made you feel quite as special while they were splitting you open. Nobody’s balls felt quite as heavy and firm and full while hitting your ass by turns, and certainly no one but Joel could make you cum just as quick when he leaned into your ear and said, ‘Let go for me, darlin’.’

You did, and you felt his warmth follow inside you with the friction of just two more thrusts. Your head fell back on his shoulder, a moan clawed out of your throat, and the warm, euphoric feeling of release washed over your senses in waves, one trembling sensation after the next. Joel’s groans were quick to spill into your own, and, likewise emptying himself, he held your hips to his and made sure every drop stayed right where he wanted it.

His spend was always heavy, but this load felt larger than usual—like he’d been aching to fuck you full of his cum. Just as you both were coming down from your highs, you couldn’t help but key in on that soft, sticky warmth, likely to come oozing as soon as Joel pulled out of you.

In fact, you got to be so focused that you jumped when you felt something press to your cheek a second later.

It took another moment to register it as a kiss from Joel.

Then his tongue, dragging softly up the side of your face.

You started to laugh, about to ask him what the hell he was doing, when you felt a tear slip out of your other eye. With the sudden, sharp influx of pleasure, the moisture had leaked out without you even feeling it. Joel grinned.

He gave your cheek a light squeeze, wiped the other tear with the pad of his thumb, and kissed you again before mumbling in your ear, almost teasing as he said it:

“Crybaby.”

[nerdieforpedro]

Remember Francisco~

Frankie "Catfish" Morales x plus size female reader

Fanfiction rating: 18+

Main Masterlist l Frankie Masterlist

Word Count: approx. 3k

Summary: You're Frankie's superior as he's working to get his pilot license back. You find that he listens and follows directions quite well. This pleases you greatly.

Warnings: power imbalance, the reader is a menace, hand jobs, teasing, edging, semi-public sex, Frankie being a polite sub, mentions of masterbation, random douche, oral sex (male receiving), cum eating

Notes: This wasn't beta read so all mistakes are my own. I read @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin Javier Pena/reader/Dieter Bravo sandwich last night was up past 2am contemplating my life choices. This was after almost being caught up on @frenchiereading Sky Drabbles as part of her cozy celebration so, the two melted in my mind and became this. It reads as stream of consciousness and switches POVs, I may write these two more when in the mood for filth which is most days of the week. We'll see.

The pilot’s cock is in your hand again. It’s usually while the others are at lunch. He’s so cute when he looks up at you, whimpering under his standard oil heating hat. You’d asked about it the first time you met him two months ago, he’d shrugged and said it was between him and his brothers. That was fine, you’d just been making conversation.

You’re griping him a little tighter, feeling him spurt out a bit more pre-cum for your hand to slick up and down his shaft. He’s not to touch you, he can watch as you lean against his desk and stroke him. Asking him if he’ll finish before the rest of the office comes back, if he can continue to keep quiet, if he knows that he bites his bottom lip and scrunches his nose when he’s close to his high, how his eyes light up when you first touch him and drink you in as he watches you stroke him.

It’s been a month of this, watching him walk around in those cargo pants, his little belly hanging over them slightly. You’d wanted to grab it and give it a good pinch before knocking that hat off and pushing him up against the wall. Crashing your lips against his. You never did. Instead, you pulled up a chair when he asked to learn more about these stupid spreadsheets for fuel inventory. Well, not stupid, but not as important as finding a way in those cargo pants.

You’re being professional, explaining things to him. Frankie, he does have a name. When you mess with him sometimes, you’d call him Franscico and he’d wince. He didn’t like it, that was something you’d remember. You may have tugged at the bottom of your v-neck sweater, exposing your breasts a bit more because he’s taller than you even sitting and he’d be looking down. Quite mean of you, but effective, his ears are red and he’s huffing. That was when your hand first touched his thigh. He didn’t move it so further you took it, until you’d unbuttoned his pants and had his thick cock in your hand, poking it with your finger. He became engorged quickly so you asked him if he wanted you to keep touching him. He replied yes and it’s continued during lunch time since then.

“Francisco, do you want me to put it in my mouth?”

He just stared at you, it felt like five minutes, but maybe it was just a full one and nodded. 

“You’ll have to earn that Frankie. For now, accept my hand.”

Morales’ hands are gripping the armrests on his chair, his hips are thrusting into your hand. His cock is looking particularly delicious this afternoon. It would make a perfect dessert after your lunch. “Francisco. Move back, I’m going to need room.” He is confused at your hand not moving but compiles and scoots his chair back. You take his jacket off the back of his chair and set it on the floor in front of you as you get on your knees.

“Wait, querida. I thought you said I had to earn it? I haven’t done anything yet.” His chest is heaving with his cock dripping but he still remembered what you told him at the start of the month. A smile drapes your lips, well trained already. 

“Did you not want me to suck your cock Frankie? You don’t think you’ve earned it?” Your hand returned to his cock, only this time you’re just holding it while looking up at the poor man. He’s tapping his foot wildly but still making good on not touching you. “I decide if you’ve earned it or not, don't I Francisco? Am I wrong?” You release his member and let it drop, making him flush in the chair from the loss of your hand and the sudden movement.

“N-No querida. You decide. I just listen. Please, did I earn it?” He licks the drool off that threatened to drip from the side of his mouth. Voices of the others are heard, it’s too late. They’ve come back early, unusual but not completely unexpected. You stand and straighten out your skirt, pick Frankie’s jacket up off the floor, walk over to him and place it on the back of his chair. Your hands move to his shoulders and push him and his chair back to his desk, giving him a kiss on his cheek before gingerly speaking in her ear, 

“We ran out of time Francisco. Seems like you talked yourself out of it. There will be another opportunity tomorrow.”

“T-Tomorrow? B-But, I’m sorry. I won’t interrupt you again. I promise querida.” You took your seat at your desk that was next to Frankie’s and licked your fingers off his pre-cum just as the others were filing back into the office. You then used some hand sanitizer and opened your email like it was a normal lunch. 

Throwing a knowing grin his way as he adjusted himself back into his pants and utter discomfort, “I’ll hold you to that Frankie.”

It had been a week since you’d almost sucked Frankie off in the office. Honestly, it’s been hell for him. He was able to get through the rest of that day just barely by making four different bathroom trips, each ten minutes, just to jerk off and clean up after himself. He told himself that this should have never happened. He should have asked to be re-assigned, but to where? It was part of getting his license back, this office work, so close to the helicopters that he flew and yet so far with all this damn paperwork. He didn’t remember it being this much. 

When he first came here two months ago, he was introduced to some old coger. He was supposed to be working with him, but then he had a heart attack. He made it, maybe? Frankie’s not really sure. What he does know is that you became his superior. You being a woman isn’t the issue, it’s that he finds you attractive and he knows you’re single. Apparently there was a bet to see if this one pilot John, James, whatever was actually going to ask you out. Frankie also doesn’t know if that guy ever did. What he does know is that you smell like vanilla, your voice sounds like honey and he shook your hands when he met you and noted how soft they were. Shaking hands is polite, but he shouldn’t think about your hands in his hair, on his chest, back or cock. He also looked too long at your full lips and thought about them when he went home at night.

Then you made your move, he should have said no. Maybe should have redirected it to a date, but he’s always had an issue with saying no. Saying no to Pope and that damn mission. Saying no to Tom during that mission and it got him killed. Saying no before the mission where he transported cocaine and got fucking caught and now he’s grounded. Your hand felt so good and he was able to watch your breasts bounce as you got him off. 

Frankie can say that he is good at listening. Been doing it the entire month. His friends asked how the assignment is going, he tells them fine. He’s aware no one can know about what you do with your hands and his dick. The no-touching you is extremely difficult. He wants to put his hands all over you, see what you look like getting off, if you’d ask, if you’d tell him to do it he would. You haven’t. Why haven’t you? But he’s scared that you won’t touch him again and not recommend him to get his license back. Is he only good for feeling his dick? Is that the only thing you like about him? Maybe all the other things, you just tell him to get him off, he has been able to just think of your voice and cover his hand in his own cum.

Morales is following you into the hanger.

Apparently, the two of you have been tasked with restocking supplies in the back of this helicopter. It’s for a trainee the work that you’re both doing, he sometimes wonders why you’re doing it though. He knows why he is, but he doesn’t believe you’ve messed up anything in your life professionally that he knows of. 

The bastard John is here, he’s asked to speak to you so you step out for a minute, there’s no way he’s not gonna eavesdrop. He might have worked up the nerve to ask you out.

This fucker, he did and you said no. Frankie is thankful, but John, will at the very least be having his tires cut before the pilot leaves this evening, tell you that you should be glad he asked you out anyway. It’s why your last boyfriend left you because he didn’t want a fat bitch anymore. Frankie was about to step off the helicopter when you asked John why has he been sniffing around you like a dog with a bone then? And also you’re aware his wife left him for her fencing instructor who apparently fucked her so well that she faked pulling her back at work at her desk job that you were dumb enough to believe. 

John left with a red face as you stood still, hands tightened into fists. Frankie jumped off the helicopter and stood beside you. “Quierda, can I hug you? Please?” He was so thankful when you told him yes, he was aware you were sad, but thankfully not crying. God you’re so soft and feel so warm against his chest, Frankie rocks you back and forth as you murmur something. He asked what you said.

“Back inside now.” A command, but Frankie made sure to ask before touching you and you’d said yes. It should be fine, it has to be. Back inside the helicopter, you tell him to sit in the pilot’s seat. He does, but he’s nervous. He hasn’t earned this seat back yet, he was going to ask why you asked him to sit here when your lips touched his neck, moaning ‘Francisco.” Normally he prefers Frankie, but he’d let you call him Bob at the point because you’re touching him, fuck you’re kissing his neck, licking it. He wants to grab those wide hips of your and set you on the control panel so he can see your face, if it’s hungry like he knows his is, but he remembers. You leave his neck with a bite and run your hand across his chest.

“Frankie. I’m going to treat that fat cock of yours real nice. Watch me and paint my throat.” Morales watches you start to move down and he stands, apologizing. He goes to the back of the helicopter to grab a life fest, it’s got some foam so it should be good to kneel on. You looked confused for a moment, but kissed his cheek when he came back and as you settled between his legs took his hands and kissed the back of each of his hands. Looking up at him and hearing you utter the words, “You’re such a good man Frankie.” He nearly soaked his cargo pants. Call him good anything: good shot, good pilot, good man, good father, good boy, the list can go on.

“P-Permission to touch you again quierda?” You look up at him again, pressing your tongue to the tip of his cock, he finally feels your warm tongue on the head. “Please, for fuck’s sake…” His hands were an inch away from your cheek, almost touching you, but he still remembered.

“Not yet Francisco. Continue to be good for me. I’m looking forward to this too, sweetheart.” He felt your run from the head of his length to his base, seeing part your round face covered by the dark bush he had. Frankie’s a whimpering mess and he’s unsure what to do with his hands, where to put them. His foot was tapping hard again as your teeth nibbled gently at his velvet skin working your way back up. It was then that you truly took him in your mouth a third of the way and he bucked his hips once. The look on your face was stern at first, then softened, what did that mean?

The groan that he unleashed as your tongue swirled around the head of cock, his precum coating your lips. He felt you take him deeper, more of your throat was available to him as he thrusted again, unable to control himself. He reached for your face again, but hands on his thighs grounded him and made him remember what you’d told him. He opted to hold onto the bottom of the pilot’s seat as he bucked, seeing your face come closer to the base of his cock and loving every second of it. He was sure he heard you moan as well, he wanted to hear it unmuffled. You’re nearly back within his coarse curls when he feels his throbbing increase, he’s close so damn close. “Quierda I-It’s…” Your fingers press into his thighs as you continue to hollow your cheeks.

Frankie knows that you know him well. At least, his dick well. You’ve made him reach his peak most days at work, those few were when you two were interrupted. You’d always toyed with him, teased him, told him what he can and can’t do. Now you’re moved one of your hands to cup the wrinkled skin of his balls and are massaging them between those damn hands of yours, while he hears you audibly whimpering while swallowing his cock. Your head is even turned at an angle so you can breathe slightly easier, not by much. The small lights he sees near your eyes are from your tears and how hard you’ve been working for him. He tried to hold on as long as he could but he can’t and he’ll never forget this image because Frankie remembers.

His head swings back at first, knocking his standard oil heating cap off and then snapped his neck back down. His cock is pulsing in your mouth and with your head still at an angle he can see you gulping his spend down with only a few drops landing on the tops of your breasts. It’s a large load, he only masturbated once last night before passing out from having gone out with Benny and Will for drinks. Your hand that had been on his thigh reached near the base of the pilot’s chair and touched his hand, your fingers making a circle on the top of his hand. After the last of his seed drips into your mouth Frankie feels his body relaxing as he muttered his nickname for you. “Quierda, that was…damn I’m glad I listened this time…”

Slowly you withdrew him from your mouth, your tongue rolling against the bottom of his shaft once more, until you reached the head of his cock again. He hissed as you removed him finally from your warm mouth and kissed his tip. His softened length dropped against his boxers and cargo pants. With a final swallow of what was left in your mouth, you purred, “Yes you did Frankie. You listened well.” You motioned for him to help you up which he did and you sat in the co-pilot’s chair. Your chest was heaving as you finally caught your breath, your head back against the top of the chair, you looked over at Frankie, smiling. “I think I may be addicted to your dick Frankie now that I’ve had a taste. We may have to start taking this outside of work.” Your hand started at your breasts as you curled a finger to scoop up his cum that dripped and brought it to your lips. You didn’t swallow it though, instead he watched as you applied it like a balm to your lips and stood up, leaning over him after grabbing his shoulders.

“Taste yourself on my lips Frankie.” The pilot didn’t move because he recalled you hadn't given him permission to touch you yet. Being the smart woman you are, you remembered too and straddled him, bringing your full weight on him, thick thighs, belly pressing against him and your breasts nearly in his face. His hands touched your back, cupping your love handles. Your fingers cupped his face as he looked up at you and he dove his head forward crashing into your lips, starting tentatively before licking and having his own musk in his mouth, he then was able to grasp the flavor or your mouth mixed with him. His tongue fought with yours, winning due his skill and desperation. Your hips grinded on him and he felt it, the moisture between your thighs. When you drew back from him, he had a small smirk on his face.

“Hermosa let me drink you in. I’ll do a good job.” Frankie placed a kiss atop your breasts before you stood back up, pulling your skirt down. He felt a peck to his forehead as his hands remained on your back, though they had traveled lower. 

“Not yet. We need to finish here before they get suspicious.” You pressed your thumb against his bottom lip, he wanted to press the issue of having you right now, fuck everyone and everything else. “I think I should savor you elsewhere. Where we won’t be bothered and I can hear more than your whimpers, no matter how delightful I find them.” 

Frankie watched you walk away and pick up some package to place it in the back of the helicopter. He had forgotten that’s what he was supposed to be doing. He looked forward to the day he’d have you all to himself without interruption. 

The pilot fixed himself back in his pants and stood, exhaling before joining you to finish the assigned task. One day soon he'll be able to say he remembers your taste in his mouth instead of his own.

The Catfish Bowl: @yorksgirl @megamindsecretlair @guelyury @innerpersonunknown @legendary-pink-dot @saturn-rings-writes @angelofsmalldeath-codeine @fhatbhabie @moralesispunk @morallyinept @linzels-blog @@maggiemayhemnj @secretelephanttattoo @goodwithcheese @trulybetty @readingiskeepingmegoing @perotovar @seratuyo @sp00kymulderr @for-a-longlongtime @musings-of-a-rose @missladym1981 @alltheglitterandtheroar @tinytinymenace @magpiepillsjunior @rhoorl @joelslegalwhre @joels-shitty-puns @dameron-grant-spector @covetyou @pedritapascal @handspunyarns @linzels-blog @beefros-sin-bin @javierpena-inatacvest @sin-djarin @gwendibleywrites @nissaimmortal @pascalsanctuary @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @undercoverpena @beefrobeefcal

[for-a-longlongtime]

I loved the first part of Nothing That I Didn't Know, but wondered who your ideal sandwich pairing is? 🥪

Santi x Frankie x Reader

Javi x Tim x Reader

Or maybe something else?

Or is there another one lurking in there?

I've been saving this one for a rainy day, @linzels-blog <3

SUCH DIFFICULT CHOICES.

Okay let me start by saying that, unfortunately for her, Javi x Tim x reader isn't even my ideal sandwich for that WIP. (That's not to say I don't love those three together though!) To me, this is the real MVP sandwich of that fic:

Tim Rockford x Javier Peña x Marcus Pike. I mean, I hope you're ready...

Then sometime in May next year, there's a Frankie Morales x Benny Miller x reader sandwich coming up for @rhoorl (which I think I mentioned here the other day? but my memory is shit so maybe I only mentioned it in a spiral squad evening on Discord, haha).

At some point I'll also get to writing a Javier Peña x Judy Moncada x reader sandwich one shot (first FFM fic, yay!). I'm looking forward to that one because that should be a trip - and yes, it's definitely going to be part hate fucking. (And lucky for me, I know that this one is definitely NOT gonna be more than just a one shot - unlike several WIPs that totally escalated) Thanks for the hyping on this one @legendary-pink-dot <3

I haven't taken any official notes for this yet, but I am planning a Dieter Bravo x Javier Gutierrez fic which I suspect may end up becoming more than just a one shot (hopefully it'll stay contained as a very short series, we'll see what happens). In that case, I'm pretty sure that there will also be a Dieter x Javi G x male original character or male!reader chapter (👀 @sin-djarin I know I haven't said anything about this yet because it was just a passing thought, but the vague idea for it *exists*)

But honestly?

Yeah, Santi x Frankie x reader is hands down my absolute favorite sandwich. For SO many reasons. It's how they actually pushed Tim x Javi aside, because they wanted to be the first fic I posted. What can I say - I have a really big soft spot for all three of them. Plus, y'know - Santi and Frankie, that's pretty much canon IMO, just look at Triple Frontier. <3

Thank you for asking and letting me yap about my sandwich love! Honestly, it's not like I only like threesome fics, or even that I intend to only write those (for example, there definitely is an Ezra x Marcus Pike WIP outline! And there's not going to be a sandwich pairing in there) - but, you know. There are so many fucking fantastic writers out there who write all kinds of pairings so beautifully, and I totally love that. I want to add something of myself and the things I care about to that.

Personally I'm a sucker for representation because I think it's super important for everybody to be able to see themselves reflected in fic, and even to just see the diversity of gender, sexuality, intimacy and all kinds of relationships. So bi, gay, lesbian and queer characters, as well as polyamorous relationships, really have been part of my fic ideas from the beginning - particularly because there are a lot fewer of those than straight male x female couple fics in the Pedro verse. I’m glad that you and others are here for that sandwich love ❤️🥪

[nehetisingsforhekate]

Epithets: Ephthisikere

Destroying Death

Betz doesn’t translate this, keeping it as a voces magicae. That said, the LSJ gives us Ephthio which suggests ‘to destroy, consume, kill, wane, dwindle’. Of course, kere means ‘death or destruction’ often suggesting the Keres themselves, which can be understood as Gods of Death.

As a barbarous word, a voces magicae, it appears repeatedly in the PGM. It forms part of the incantation for the Sword of Dardanos (PGM IV.1716-1870), a love spell full of references to Angels. I personally see some of the Chaldean Hekate’s description here, but one can also understand it as an appeal to the Abrahamic God. Even so, this piece refers to fiery elements, calling the deity in question some of the following Hekatean phrases:

“whose light is darkness” “clandestine one who secretly inhabit every soul.” “torch-bearer” “night-shining, night rejoicing, night-engendering”

It then refers to the voces magicae.

EREKISITHPHE ARARACHARARA EPHTHISIKERE IABEZEBYTH IT, you in the depth, BERIAMBO BERIAMBEBO, you in the sea…

In PGM II.64-184, we find Ephthisikere in a spell dedicated to Apollon, Pan, and Helios alongside the Moirae. It is a prime example of the complexity of the spells found in the PGM, complicated, syncretic, and requiring extensive time and materials in order to complete the process. There are elements of many different Gods included, but the passage with our epithet is focused on Apollon and the Fates:

O scepter-bearing leader of the Muses Giver of life, come now to me, come quickly To earth, Ieios, hair wreathed with ivy. And, Phoibos, with ambrosian mouth give voice To song. Hail, fire’s guard, /ARARACHCHARA EPHTHISIKERE, and hail, Moirai three, Klotho and Atropos and Lachis too. I call you, who are great in heav’n, airlike, Supreme ruler, you whom all nature serves…

Though the spell makes references to fire, and dragons, along with a few other traits that are sometimes associated with Hekate, this particular spell does not connect with Her.

Indeed, the strongest connection between Ephthisikere and Hekate is found in PGM IV.2785-2890, which is epithet laden and dedicated to Selene, the Moirai, Persephone, Artemis, and, most emphatically, Hekate.

ARARACHARA/RA EPHTHISIKERE Hail, goddess, and attend your epithets, I burn for you this spice, O child of Zeus, Dart-shooter, heav’nly one, goddess of harbors, Who roam the mountains, goddess of crossroads, O nether and nocturnal, and infernal, Goddess of dark, quiet and frightful one…

Lastly, we see the epithet in the badly fragmented PGM LXVII.1-24, amongst numerous voces magicae. Here we see the words being used in some kind of necromantic practice, but the spell is so badly fragmented, it is difficult to speculate on the purpose.

You’ll note Ephthisikere usually comes with Ararachara/ra, a phrase which hasn’t been translated so far. A lot of the voces magicae aren’t meant to be words, per se. Instead, they are akin to a magical glossolalia. There are numerous examples, and one of the identifying traits of the itinerant magician was the use of such unintelligible incantations, thus scholars today sometimes call them barbarous words. In spite of being able to recognize the roots of Ephthisikere, in fact, most scholars don’t translate it, but choose to leave it as another of these non-sensible babbles.

But we do understand the roots of the word, if not necessarily the reference and how it applies as an epithet for a God. To destroy death could be taken several ways. Does it suggest immortality, that central trait that defines the divine? Is it a reference to the Mysteries, which historically offered  immortality or at least a better afterlife? Is it appropriate to apply this epithet to Hekate? Or does it more properly belong to the Moirai? And if it does belong with the Fates, perhaps we should remember Rohde’s insight as far as the connection between them and Hekate?

I am personally uncertain of how to apply it to Hekate’s nature. It easily could fit Her in multiple dimensions. I am, believe it or not, cautious with phrases that I haven’t fully understood, particularly in the context of witchcraft. Because of this, as well as the fact that there are other epithets that can serve to emphasize Hekate’s immortality, Her association with the Fates, and the Mysteries that were once practiced in Her names, I admit I haven’t used Ephthisikere in a ritual.

If I were to do so, my intuition says that it would have to be a special circumstance, as I think it would best fit into a large working, over the span of days, to serve some greater Theurgic process. Think Greater Mystery rather than simple working.

 Sources:

Lsj.gr

Betz, Hans Dieter. The Greek Magical Papyri in translation: including the Demotic Spells, Univ. Chicago, 1996.

Faraone, Christopher. Magika Hiera, Oxford, 1997.

Ronan, Stephen. The Goddess Hekate, Chthonios, 1992.

Images:

Gatteaux, Jacques-Edouard. “La Victoire,” after Jean-Pierre Cortot, now in the Louvre. Photo by Nathanael Burton, 2014. Via wikicommons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_Victoire,_dite_aussi_l%27Immortalit%C3%A9_(Louvre,_RF_85).jpg

[anarchistettin]

[c&vd from behind the paywall]: The lockdown has produced a disparity between the old script of grievance and a sickness that can wreak destruction on anyone.

By

MATTHEW SITMAN

May 21, 2020

Last week, First Things editor R.R. Reno, a prominent Catholic intellectual who backed Donald Trump for president, let the world know he’d had enough of the effete conformists following public-health guidelines in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Sharing a photo on Twitter of Trump saluting World War II veterans, none of them wearing masks, he declared, “They’re men, not cowards. Masks=enforced cowardice.”

The reaction from critics was swift and punishing, as they noted the emerging wisdom that masks may be one of the most effective measures in preventing the spread of Covid-19. But Reno decided to tweet through it in a typo-laden tirade. “The mask culture if fear driven. Masks+cowardice,” he wrote. “It’s a regime dominate by fear of infection and fear of causing of infection. Both are species of cowardice.” Other, similarly garbled tweets followed, but one of them serves as an especially telling summary of his position: “Now we know who want to cower in place. By all means rage against those who want to live.”

The outburst was no aberration. Since March, he’s produced a string of commentary doubting the severity of the pandemic and lamenting the measures taken to combat it—particularly the temporary closures of churches. It’s not as deadly as we feared, he’s said, and for those under 35, perhaps little more worrisome than the flu—a statement that blithely ignores all that we still don’t know about Covid-19, from the long-term effects it might cause in even healthy young adults to the sudden spike in a Kawasaki-like disease in children. No matter. Reno renders his verdict: “The science increasingly shows that the measures we have taken in the last few weeks have been both harmful—with freedoms lost, money spent, livelihoods destroyed—and pointless,” he wrote.

It’s not just that Reno can sound at times like a coronavirus truther. He is also convinced that our pandemic response stems from a deeper civilizational malaise, one that prioritizes the fleeting material world over the everlasting life that awaits our souls after death. In a missive published in March, Reno declared, “There are many things more precious than life,” and castigated political leaders, especially New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, for leading “an ill-conceived crusade against human finitude and the dolorous reality of death.”

Reno is not alone on the Christian intellectual right in framing the shutdown as part of a grand narrative of spiritual decay. His colleague Matthew Schmitz wrote that, in valuing “health above all, we subordinate the spiritual to the temporal,” adding, “Unless religious leaders reopen the churches, they will appear to value earthly above eternal life.” National Review writer Alexandra DeSanctis caught flak on Twitter for writing, “It’s fascinating to see how the cultural loss of belief in God and eternity so often manifests in an outsized fear of death as the ultimate evil. Human life is beautiful and precious and good, but life on earth isn’t our ultimate end.”

The latter prompted a lot of jokes about the literal death cults forming on the right, but there is something more at work here. Writing in Providence magazine, Jason E. Vickers described this death-embracing cohort as possessing a “bitter remnant mindset,” and acting “as though they are the last Christians in America.” It’s a worldview shot through with grievances against the corrupt, decadent societies of the West, and it’s shared by otherwise very different factions on the right. Followers of Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option might seek to build intentional communities and withdraw from modern society, while Christian nationalists long for the political power to defeat it—but they have the same enemies.

For all Reno’s paeans to courage, the pandemic has shown us, in starker terms than before, the extent to which modern conservatism is driven by resentment of a seemingly hostile, terrifying world. Not all conservatives have succumbed to this impulse during the pandemic, of course. But those who have reveal the ways in which the pandemic is being shoehorned into a familiar culture war.

Let’s return to the example of Reno, since he manages to encompass both the raging id of the anti-lockdown protesters and the philosophical justifications of their actions that have appeared in the conservative press. One of his “Coronavirus Diary” entries begins with him visiting an emergency room in an outer-borough hospital. He can’t say more, though, because “the present conditions of public health hysteria” mean his host “might lose his job if higher-ups found out I penetrated the ‘no visitors’ cordon sanitaire.” Reno notes that, after cases of COVID-19 flooded the hospital in late March and early April, the doctor says they had since plummeted—a development Reno passes over as a happy mystery, never connecting it to the stay-at-home orders and economic shutdown that he has called “pointless” and “cowering.”

Reno also mentions that he’s been worshipping at an “underground” church, borrowing the language Christians have used for those persecuted by Communist regimes in China or, during the Cold War, behind the Iron Curtain. A sense of persecution hangs heavy over the article, as does the characterization of himself as a righteous dissenter.

Then the diary entry becomes surreal. Reno describes a long bike ride on a recent weekend, during which a Dunkin Donuts worker refuses to serve him because he isn’t wearing a mask. He ends up on Staten Island, and needs to take the ferry back—which also requires a mask. “Providentially,” he writes, “I found a mask in a gutter just before reaching the Staten Island Ferry, allowing me to board and steam back to Manhattan.”

What comes next comes as no surprise: Reno takes an antibody test, and the results show he had contracted the virus. Like the ending of certain novels, it transforms all that came before it. Was he wearing a mask in the hospital, or at his “underground” church? He doesn’t say. Reno doesn’t seem troubled that, even if he never had significant symptoms, he could have been spreading the virus to others. He doesn’t realize that wearing a mask is not a commentary on his own courage or virility, but a simple way to show concern and care for others who might be especially vulnerable to the ravages of Covid-19.

There’s little point in looking for sense or reason in Reno’s ramblings. The language of courage and cowardice can’t really be debated—it is pure emotion. The point is not to grapple with the reality of a complex, overwhelming situation that changes every day, about which there can be genuine debates, but to reinscribe it in affective terms. What becomes decisive is not the cogency or persuasiveness of a policy response to a public-health crisis, but whether or not you’re cowering in fear or bravely resisting the conformity imposed by dreaded, elite experts. Wearing a mask, or not, floats up to the realm of the purely symbolic. It is a way of brushing aside difficult questions for dramatic rhetoric about civilizational decline.

If Reno and others make this sort of argument in a religious key, others on the right render it in supposedly class terms. Patrick Deneen took to Twitter last month to say that the divide over the shutdown did not simply reflect your position on Trump, but might reveal “more fundamental differences between elites and masses,” sharing Christopher Lasch’s observation in Revolt of the Elites that “young professionals” are health-obsessed exercisers and dieters attempting to attain eternal beauty and live forever, while “ordinary people” just “accept the body’s decay.”

More recently, The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan, citing no evidence, regretted the “class divide between those who are hard-line on lockdowns and those who are pushing back.” The former consist of the professionals who make up the “overclass,” with the latter are “normal people” who are fatalistic about life, and therefore itching to open up the economy—a “generalization” she offers “based on a lifetime of experience and observation.”

Once again, all this only serves to twist debates over when and how to reopen the economy into a battle between supposed elites and ordinary folks who have not only been ignored and left behind, but also ridiculed. This just hasn’t been the case so far, and Reno, Deneen, and Noonan are making it up as they go along. The latest polling continues to find, as described in a recent Washington Post article, “that there just aren’t meaningful divisions along class or education lines on these questions.” There certainly isn’t a rugged, death-defying, God-fearing working class straining against the complacency of prissy white-collar overlords. Imagining that’s the case, however, is less challenging than talking about what actually will help workers: hazard pay, paycheck protections, paid medical leave, proper safety equipment, and robust testing. It’s grievance-mongering all the way down.

The writer Sam Adler-Bell has described the ��mutable dynamism” of conservative politics, a term that captures the way the search for fresh enemies can stoke these passions. It explains why conservatives respond to novel situations with a tried-and-true mash-up of elite bashing and performative victimhood. But Americans’ reserve of patience and good will so far shows the glaring mismatch between the old script of grievance and a sickness that can wreak destruction on anyone.

Reno’s embarrassing pandemic punditry is finally the predictable consequence of the way he compromised himself by endorsing Trump, then taking up the mantle of “national conservatism.” G.K. Chesterton, a writer well-known to First Things editors, once wrote, “When a man concludes that any stick is good enough to beat his foe with—that is when he picks up a boomerang.” To view Trump as a useful wrecking ball, or a flawed vessel for an otherwise sound nationalism, with his critics being the real problem, is to be set adrift morally and intellectually. You take your bearings less from what you believe than what you oppose; if it provokes cosmopolitan elites, then there must be some value to it.

On Monday, after having deleted both his tweets about masks and his Twitter account, Reno published an apology at First Things. “I used over-heated rhetoric and false analogies,” he wrote. “It was wrong for me to impugn the intentions and motives of others, for which I apologize.” He should be taken at his word—but what the episode reveals about the intellectual right isn’t limited to a few late-night tweets.

Matthew Sitman is an editor at Commonweal.

@MatthewSitman 

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/low-carb-low-fat-what-the-latest-dieting-studies-tell-us/

Low carb? Low fat? What the latest dieting studies tell us

NEW YORK — Bacon and black coffee for breakfast, or oatmeal and bananas?

If you’re planning to try to lose weight in 2019, you’re sure to find a fierce debate online and among friends and family about how best to do it. It seems like everyone has an opinion, and new fads emerge every year.

Two major studies last year provided more fuel for a particularly polarizing topic — the role carbs play in making us fat. The studies gave scientists some clues, but, like other nutrition studies, they can’t say which diet — if any — is best for everyone.

That’s not going to satisfy people who want black-and-white answers, but nutrition research is extremely difficult and even the most respected studies come with big caveats. People are so different that it’s all but impossible to conduct studies that show what really works over long periods of time.

Before embarking on a weight loss plan for the new year, here’s a look at some of what was learned last year.

FEWER CARBS, FEWER POUNDS?

It’s no longer called the Atkins Diet, but the low-carb school of dieting has been enjoying a comeback. The idea is that the refined carbohydrates in foods like white bread are quickly converted into sugar in our bodies, leading to energy swings and hunger.

By cutting carbs, the claim is that weight loss will be easier because your body will instead burn fat for fuel while feeling less hungry. A recent study seems to offer more support for low-carb proponents. But, like many studies, it tried to understand just one sliver of how the body works.

The study , co-led by an author of books promoting low-carb diets, looked at whether varying carb levels might affect how the body uses energy. Among 164 participants, it found those on low-carb diets burned more total calories than those on high-carb diets.

The study did not say people lost more weight on a low-carb diet — and didn’t try to measure that. Meals and snacks were tightly controlled and continually adjusted so everyone’s weights stayed stable.

David Ludwig, a lead author of the paper and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, said it suggests limiting carbs could make it easier for people to keep weight off once they’ve lost it. He said the approach might work best for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Ludwig noted the study wasn’t intended to test long-term health effects or real-world scenarios where people make their own food. The findings also need to be replicated to be validated, he said.

Caroline Apovian of Boston University’s School of Medicine said the findings are interesting fodder for the scientific community, but that they shouldn’t be taken as advice for the average person looking to lose weight.

DO I AVOID FAT TO BE SKINNY?

For years people were advised to curb fats , which are found in foods including meat, nuts, eggs, butter and oil. Cutting fat was seen as a way to control weight, since a gram of fat has twice as many calories than the same amount of carbs or protein.

Many say the advice had the opposite effect by inadvertently giving us license to gobble up fat-free cookies, cakes and other foods that were instead full of the refined carbs and sugars now blamed for our wider waistlines.

Nutrition experts gradually moved away from blanket recommendations to limit fats for weight loss. Fats are necessary for absorbing important nutrients and can help us feel full. That doesn’t mean you have to subsist on steak drizzled in butter to be healthy.

Bruce Y. Lee, a professor of international health at Johns Hopkins, said the lessons learned from the anti-fat fad should be applied to the anti-carb fad: don’t oversimplify advice.

“There’s a constant look for an easy way out,” Lee said.

Another big study this past year found low-carb diets and low-fat diets were about equally as effective for weight loss. Results varied by individual, but after a year, people in both groups shed an average of 12 to 13 pounds.

The author noted the findings don’t contradict Ludwig’s low-carb study. Instead, they suggest there may be some flexibility in the ways we can lose weight. Participants in both groups were encouraged to focus on minimally processed foods like produce and meat prepared at home. Everyone was advised to limit added sugar and refined flour.

“If you got that foundation right, for many, that would be an enormous change,” said Christopher Gardner of Stanford University and one of the study’s authors.

Limiting processed foods could improve most diets by cutting down overall calories, while still leaving wiggle room for people’s preferences. That’s important, because for a diet to be effective, a person has to be able to stick to it. A breakfast of fruit and oatmeal may be filling for one person, but leave another hungry soon after.

Gardner notes the study had its limitations, too. Participants’ diets weren’t controlled. People were instead instructed on how to achieve eating a low-carb or low-fat in regular meetings with dietitians, which may have provided a support network most dieters don’t have.

In the short term you can probably lose weight by eating only raw foods, or going vegan, or cutting out gluten, or following another diet plan that catches your eye. But what will work for you over the long term is a different question.

Zhaoping Li, director of clinical nutrition division at the University of California, Los Angeles, says there is no single set of guidelines that help everyone lose weight and keep it off. It’s why diets often fail — they don’t factor into account the many factors that drive us to eat what we do.

To help people lose weight, Li examines her patients’ eating and physical activity routines to identify improvements people will be able to live with.

“What sticks is what matters,” Li said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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[thomasedward236-blog]

Is keto diet really work ?

The latest diet craze among celebrities promises weight loss without sacrificing bacon.

The keto diet, short for "ketogenic," involves eating a high amount of fat, a moderate amount of protein and very few carbs — even fruit is off the table. As with any fad diet, adherents tout weight loss, increased energy and greater mental clarity among the benefits. But is the keto diet all it's cracked up to be?

Not precisely, nutritionists and dietitians say. Low-carb diets like the keto do appear to lead to some short-term weight loss, but they're not significantly more effective than any other commercial or self-help diet. And they don't appear to improve athletic performance. "Depending on your approach, [keto diets] can contribute to significant lean body mass loss along with fat loss," said Melinda Manore, a professor of nutrition at Oregon State University. (Typically, dieters want to shed only fat, not lean body mass, which includes muscle.) And as with other fad diets, people typically regain the weight once they go off the diet.

So, what is the keto diet?

The keto diet was originally designed not for weight loss, but for epilepsy. In the 1920s, doctors realized that keeping their patients on low-carb diets forced their bodies to use fat as the first-line source of fuel, instead of the usual glucose. When only fat is available for the body to burn, the body converts the fats into fatty acids, and then into compounds called ketones, which can be taken up and used to fuel the body's cells. keto budget meal plan http://www.ketogasmic.com/keto-budget-meal-plan-a-handy-guide-for-beginners

For reasons not entirely understood even today, fueling the body on primarily ketones reduces seizures. However, with the development of anti-seizure medications, few people with epilepsy rely on ketogenic diets today, according to a 2008 paper in the journal Current Treatment Options in Neurology, but some people who don't respond to medications can still benefit.

For weight loss, today's keto diets are the descendants of low-carb diets like the Atkins diet, which peaked in popularity in the early 2000s. Both types of diets reject carbs in favor of meatier meals. There is no single blueprint for the keto diet, but plans usually call for eating fewer than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day. (Wheat bread contains about 16 grams of carbohydrates per ounce, according to the USDA.) Celebrity adherents to the diet include Halle Berry and Kourtney Kardashian.

A keto diet forces the body into a state called ketosis, meaning that the body's cells depend largely on ketones for energy. It's not entirely clear why that leads to weight loss, said Jo Ann Carson, a professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center and the chair of the American Heart Association's (AHA) Nutrition Committee, but ketosis seems to blunt the appetite and may affect hormones like insulin that regulate hunger. Fats and proteins may also keep people fuller than carbohydrates, leading to lower calorie intake overall, Carson told Live Science.

Diets, head-to-head

Still, studies of low-carb diets don't paint them in a particularly revolutionary light. When researchers pit branded diets head-to-head in studies, they find that no particular diet, be it low-carb or low-fat, stands out as a winner. Keto Egg Recipes For Breakfast http://www.ketogasmic.com/top-10-keto-egg-recipes-for-breakfast

In one head-to-head comparison published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2014, researchers analyzed 48 separate diet experiments in which participants were randomly assigned to one of several popular diets. The diets included the low-carb Atkins, South Beach and Zone diets as well as low-fat diets like the Ornish diet and portion-control diets like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers.

They found that any diet resulted in more weight loss than no diet at all after six months. Low-fat and low-carb diets were pretty much indistinguishable, with low-carb dieters losing 19 pounds (8.73 kilograms), on average, and low-fat dieters losing an average of 17.6 pounds (7.99 kg), both compared to non-dieters. At 12 months, the benefits showed signs of leveling off for both types of diets, with both low-fat and low-carb dieters reporting being 16 pounds (7.27 kg) lighter, on average, than non-dieters.

"Weight loss differences between individual named diets were small," the researchers concluded. "This supports the practice of recommending any diet that a patient will adhere to in order to lose weight."

Another analysis of popular diets published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in April 2015 found the Atkins diet to result in more weight loss than simply educating people on portion control, but also noted that most of the studies of this low-carb diet involved registered dieticians helping participants make food choices, rather than the self-directed process by which most people pick up the diets. That's true of many diet studies, the researchers noted, so study results likely look rosier than weight loss in the real world.

Finally, a direct comparison of low-fat and low-carb dieting, published in February in the journal JAMA, found that over a year, there was no statistically significant difference in the amount of weight dropped. Low-fat dieters lost 11.7 pounds (5.3 kg), on average, and low-carb dieters lost 13 pounds (6 kg), on average.

Keto diets "can help us lose weight, but compared to other diet strategies, they're not more helpful," said Melissa Majumdar, a dietitian at the Brigham and Women's Center for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Much of the weight lost in the initial stages of a keto diet is water weight, because carbohydrate stores in the body carry water molecules with them, Majumdar told Live Science. That can move the scale an exciting amount initially, but weight loss inevitably slows with time.

Proceed with care

Unfortunately, keto diets are probably more prone than many others to end with weight regain because they can be hard to stick to in the long run, Carson said. And being in ketosis for more than a few weeks might not be best for overall health, she said.

What's more, "there is concern about [levels of] saturated fat and cholesterol" in the diet, she said. Some of this is genetically determined: The extent to which dietary fats and cholesterol translate to increased levels of blood cholesterol (which are associated with heart disease) is partly individual, Carson said.

"It probably is particularly important if you're going to try something like a ketogenic diet is to really check with your physician [and] get lab work done to make sure you're not doing extreme harm," she said. Ketogenic diets also tend to cause more calcium to be lost in the urine, Carson said, which can lead to a decrease in bone density over time and increase the risk of osteoporosis.

"Another overall issue is that when you're following a ketogenic diet, you're probably not eating as much regular fruits and vegetables as a heart-healthy diet pattern would have," Carson said. Keto Egg Recipes http://www.ketogasmic.com/top-10-keto-egg-recipes-for-breakfast

The AHA recommends eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, skinless poultry and non-fried fish, nuts and legumes, and limiting red meat, saturated fat and sweets for a heart-healthy diet.

"I do not promote the ketogenic diet for patients, because it's generally not sustainable, and anytime we're taking out whole food groups we're missing whole nutrients," Majumdar said. In the case of keto diets, putting the kibosh on fruits, many veggies and whole grains means that people don't end up consuming much fiber.

The AHA also recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week for heart health. Weight loss and maintenance might take a lot more exercise than that, Carson said, which could be a problem for those on ketogenic diets.

[marilynngmesalo]

DIET TRENDS: Low carb? Low fat? What the latest dieting studies tell us

DIET TRENDS: Low carb? Low fat? What the latest dieting studies tell us DIET TRENDS: Low carb? Low fat? What the latest dieting studies tell us https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

NEW YORK — Bacon and black coffee for breakfast, or oatmeal and bananas?

If you’re planning to try to lose weight in 2019, you’re sure to find a fierce debate online and among friends and family about how best to do it. It seems like everyone has an opinion, and new fads emerge every year.

Two major studies last year provided more fuel for a particularly polarizing topic — the role carbs play in making us fat. The studies gave scientists some clues, but, like other nutrition studies, they can’t say which diet — if any — is best for everyone.

That’s not going to satisfy people who want black-and-white answers, but nutrition research is extremely difficult and even the most respected studies come with big caveats. People are so different that it’s all but impossible to conduct studies that show what really works over long periods of time.

Before embarking on a weight loss plan for the new year, here’s a look at some of what was learned last year.

FEWER CARBS, FEWER POUNDS?

It’s no longer called the Atkins Diet, but the low-carb school of dieting has been enjoying a comeback. The idea is that the refined carbohydrates in foods like white bread are quickly converted into sugar in our bodies, leading to energy swings and hunger.

By cutting carbs, the claim is that weight loss will be easier because your body will instead burn fat for fuel while feeling less hungry. A recent study seems to offer more support for low-carb proponents. But, like many studies, it tried to understand just one sliver of how the body works.

The study , co-led by an author of books promoting low-carb diets, looked at whether varying carb levels might affect how the body uses energy. Among 164 participants, it found those on low-carb diets burned more total calories than those on high-carb diets.

The study did not say people lost more weight on a low-carb diet — and didn’t try to measure that. Meals and snacks were tightly controlled and continually adjusted so everyone’s weights stayed stable.

David Ludwig, a lead author of the paper and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, said it suggests limiting carbs could make it easier for people to keep weight off once they’ve lost it. He said the approach might work best for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Ludwig noted the study wasn’t intended to test long-term health effects or real-world scenarios where people make their own food. The findings also need to be replicated to be validated, he said.

Caroline Apovian of Boston University’s School of Medicine said the findings are interesting fodder for the scientific community, but that they shouldn’t be taken as advice for the average person looking to lose weight.

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "zs64Zu0jtjs", "pn_video_395849", "", "", {"controls":1,"autoplay":0,"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]>

DO I AVOID FAT TO BE SKINNY?

For years people were advised to curb fats , which are found in foods including meat, nuts, eggs, butter and oil. Cutting fat was seen as a way to control weight, since a gram of fat has twice as many calories than the same amount of carbs or protein.

Many say the advice had the opposite effect by inadvertently giving us license to gobble up fat-free cookies, cakes and other foods that were instead full of the refined carbs and sugars now blamed for our wider waistlines.

Nutrition experts gradually moved away from blanket recommendations to limit fats for weight loss. Fats are necessary for absorbing important nutrients and can help us feel full. That doesn’t mean you have to subsist on steak drizzled in butter to be healthy.

Bruce Y. Lee, a professor of international health at Johns Hopkins, said the lessons learned from the anti-fat fad should be applied to the anti-carb fad: don’t oversimplify advice.

“There’s a constant look for an easy way out,” Lee said.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Another big study this past year found low-carb diets and low-fat diets were about equally as effective for weight loss. Results varied by individual, but after a year, people in both groups shed an average of 12 to 13 pounds.

The author noted the findings don’t contradict Ludwig’s low-carb study. Instead, they suggest there may be some flexibility in the ways we can lose weight. Participants in both groups were encouraged to focus on minimally processed foods like produce and meat prepared at home. Everyone was advised to limit added sugar and refined flour.

“If you got that foundation right, for many, that would be an enormous change,” said Christopher Gardner of Stanford University and one of the study’s authors.

Limiting processed foods could improve most diets by cutting down overall calories, while still leaving wiggle room for people’s preferences. That’s important, because for a diet to be effective, a person has to be able to stick to it. A breakfast of fruit and oatmeal may be filling for one person, but leave another hungry soon after.

Gardner notes the study had its limitations, too. Participants’ diets weren’t controlled. People were instead instructed on how to achieve eating a low-carb or low-fat in regular meetings with dietitians, which may have provided a support network most dieters don’t have.

SO, WHAT WORKS?

In the short term you can probably lose weight by eating only raw foods, or going vegan, or cutting out gluten, or following another diet plan that catches your eye. But what will work for you over the long term is a different question.

Zhaoping Li, director of clinical nutrition division at the University of California, Los Angeles, says there is no single set of guidelines that help everyone lose weight and keep it off. It’s why diets often fail — they don’t factor into account the many factors that drive us to eat what we do.

To help people lose weight, Li examines her patients’ eating and physical activity routines to identify improvements people will be able to live with.

“What sticks is what matters,” Li said.

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "K_9KjUVt0qs", "pn_video_485740", "", "", {"controls":1,"autoplay":0,"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]> Click for update news Bangla news http://bit.ly/2s3wRZl world news

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Low carb? Low fat? Here’s what the latest dieting studies tell us

NEW YORK — Bacon and black coffee for breakfast, or oatmeal and bananas?

If you’re planning to try to lose weight in 2019, you’re sure to find a fierce debate online and among friends and family about how best to do it. It seems like everyone has an opinion, and new fads emerge every year.

Two major studies last year provided more fuel for a particularly polarizing topic — the role carbs play in making us fat. The studies gave scientists some clues, but, like other nutrition studies, they can’t say which diet — if any — is best for everyone.

That’s not going to satisfy people who want black-and-white answers, but nutrition research is extremely difficult and even the most respected studies come with big caveats. People are so different that it’s all but impossible to conduct studies that show what really works over long periods of time.

Before embarking on a weight loss plan for the new year, here’s a look at some of what was learned last year.

Fewer carbs, fewer pounds?

It’s no longer called the Atkins Diet, but the low-carb school of dieting has been enjoying a comeback. The idea is that the refined carbohydrates in foods like white bread are quickly converted into sugar in our bodies, leading to energy swings and hunger.

By cutting carbs, the claim is that weight loss will be easier because your body will instead burn fat for fuel while feeling less hungry. A recent study seems to offer more support for low-carb proponents. But, like many studies, it tried to understand just one sliver of how the body works.

The study , co-led by an author of books promoting low-carb diets, looked at whether varying carb levels might affect how the body uses energy. Among 164 participants, it found those on low-carb diets burned more total calories than those on high-carb diets.

The study did not say people lost more weight on a low-carb diet — and didn’t try to measure that. Meals and snacks were tightly controlled and continually adjusted so everyone’s weights stayed stable.

David Ludwig, a lead author of the paper and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, said it suggests limiting carbs could make it easier for people to keep weight off once they’ve lost it. He said the approach might work best for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Ludwig noted the study wasn’t intended to test long-term health effects or real-world scenarios where people make their own food. The findings also need to be replicated to be validated, he said.

Caroline Apovian of Boston University’s School of Medicine said the findings are interesting fodder for the scientific community, but that they shouldn’t be taken as advice for the average person looking to lose weight.

Do I avoid fat to be skinny?

For years people were advised to curb fats, which are found in foods including meat, nuts, eggs, butter and oil. Cutting fat was seen as a way to control weight, since a gram of fat has twice as many calories than the same amount of carbs or protein.

Many say the advice had the opposite effect by inadvertently giving us license to gobble up fat-free cookies, cakes and other foods that were instead full of the refined carbs and sugars now blamed for our wider waistlines.

Nutrition experts gradually moved away from blanket recommendations to limit fats for weight loss. Fats are necessary for absorbing important nutrients and can help us feel full. That doesn’t mean you have to subsist on steak drizzled in butter to be healthy.

Bruce Y. Lee, a professor of international health at Johns Hopkins, said the lessons learned from the anti-fat fad should be applied to the anti-carb fad: don’t oversimplify advice.

“There’s a constant look for an easy way out,” Lee said.

So which is better?

Another big study this past year found low-carb diets and low-fat diets were about equally as effective for weight loss. Results varied by individual, but after a year, people in both groups shed an average of 12 to 13 pounds.

The author noted the findings don’t contradict Ludwig’s low-carb study. Instead, they suggest there may be some flexibility in the ways we can lose weight. Participants in both groups were encouraged to focus on minimally processed foods like produce and meat prepared at home. Everyone was advised to limit added sugar and refined flour.

“If you got that foundation right, for many, that would be an enormous change,” said Christopher Gardner of Stanford University and one of the study’s authors.

Limiting processed foods could improve most diets by cutting down overall calories, while still leaving wiggle room for people’s preferences. That’s important, because for a diet to be effective, a person has to be able to stick to it. A breakfast of fruit and oatmeal may be filling for one person, but leave another hungry soon after.

Gardner notes the study had its limitations, too. Participants’ diets weren’t controlled. People were instead instructed on how to achieve eating a low-carb or low-fat in regular meetings with dietitians, which may have provided a support network most dieters don’t have.

So what works?

In the short term you can probably lose weight by eating only raw foods, or going vegan, or cutting out gluten, or following another diet plan that catches your eye. But what will work for you over the long term is a different question.

Zhaoping Li, director of clinical nutrition division at the University of California, Los Angeles, says there is no single set of guidelines that help everyone lose weight and keep it off. It’s why diets often fail — they don’t factor into account the many factors that drive us to eat what we do.

To help people lose weight, Li examines her patients’ eating and physical activity routines to identify improvements people will be able to live with.

“What sticks is what matters,” Li said.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/01/01/low-carb-low-fat-heres-what-the-latest-dieting-studies-tell-us/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/low-carb-low-fat-heres-what-the-latest-dieting-studies-tell-us/

[artsoccupychi]

Why Ketosis Diets Will Fail: The Paleo and Keto Manifesto

The most disturbing trend in Wellness these days is that most people have no idea what to eat.

When choices were fewer, 100 years ago, how to eat for good health was so much clearer.

Americans have been so steeped in the diet fads, that they’re now thoroughly confused about food.

Recently, I mentioned to a Millennial that when I was a kid, we didn’t have bottled water, and she said, with a shocked look on her face, “Then how did you get any water to drink?!”

Similarly, modern people think that in order to eat, you have to follow one of the diet fads. A strange feature of life in 2018 is the need to align with a programmed “food cult,” as I call them.

Thanks to some strange cultural and market forces I do not believe to be particularly helpful to our overall health, food has become much like religion:

Many don’t know how to eat outside of what their food tribe, congregation, or pastor tells them, and every few years, many people convert to the new cult.

“I’m Paleo,” people say–as if identifying with a coat of arms.

I’ve been asked countless times: “What diet do you eat?”

Ketosis Diet Fads

Several years ago, I wrote a detailed blog post on why the Paleo Diet was a fad, wouldn’t last, and why it would eventually be supplanted by a new fad aggrandizing fat rather than protein.

Paleo followers wrote murderous emails and comments.

Now those same people, it seems, are rabidly promoting the Ketogenic Diet.

I felt I was fair to the Paleo Diet. We were friends, to a point. At least the Paleo cult banned processed food, even while glorifying animal flesh foods and strangely vilifying entire classes of foods that hominids and humans have eaten for 3.4 million years:

Legumes. Grains. Fruits.

Now, it seems, we’ve gone from the proverbial frying pan to the fire.

Over-eating fats, glorifying the state of “ketosis,” and inventing many new “[Insert Diet Fad Name]- Approved” packaged foods will not serve us well.

As I predicted would happen from many live stages on my lecture tours earlier in this decade, the new “golden child” in the diet industry is, predictably, fats.

(It turns out over-eating protein saved us from exactly nothing. Following historical trends, then, a new diet fad must be born, to instruct the Western world how to eat.)

(And, fat isn’t really a “new” golden child. It’s a recycled golden child, since Atkins already did it, and the Ketogenic Diet isn’t a lot different from that diet that many published studies showed were not beneficial to our health.)

I’m sure I’ll get hate mail by going on record for this, too:

Over-eating fats, glorifying the state of “ketosis,” and inventing many new “[Insert Diet Fad Name]- Approved” packaged foods will not serve us well, will not reverse the obesity epidemic, and will not reduce the many disease epidemics either.

The least profitable foods—the ones that grow in the ground and on trees—are the least likely to get any significant attention from the food cults.

The most profitable foods, those in packages, made with “proprietary processes” and stamped with “Paleo Friendly” or “Keto Approved,” also have the lowest vibrational energy, the lowest micronutrient levels, and lowest fiber, and the least ability to prevent disease.

I’ve invited some of my friends–medical doctors, researchers, and authors who have watched the diet industry’s chokehold on the American diet with growing alarm–to weigh in on the latest fad now often called “Keto.” Their quotes are included in this blog post.

I believe this latest ketosis diet will be chased off the stage by both research that was already done and published at the end of the reign of the Atkins diet fad–plus additional research that will come–showing how negative the health effects are of overeating animal products, fats in general, and repeatedly manipulating the body into a state of “ketosis.”

I also predict that five years from now, the same people advocating the “ketogenic diet” currently will be onto a new fad, promoting it, instead.

Here’s the thing: the diet industry is big business. Tens of billions of dollars a year. It’s in collusion with the packaged food industry.

These wealthy industries aren’t going anywhere. And they are a treadmill, needing a new fad every few years, to replace “Paleo Approved” products with “Keto Approved” products.

Why Are There so Many Diet Plans?

The diet authors and processed food industries pivot, pose, and preen–based on whatever is popular. Not, you should understand, what’s actually good for you.

Elimination diets. The bone broth diet. The coffee-and-butter diet. The cabbage soup diet. The green smoothies diet. The werewolf (lunar) diet. The grapefruit diet. The tapeworm diet. The blood type diet. The apple cider vinegar diet. The cotton ball diet.

The authors of some of these books are friends of mine. Good people.

And I’m not innocent. I wrote The Green Smoothies Diet, after all. (I threw that in, to be fair. Someone would have brought it up.) And I’m willing to throw my own book on the pileup, to make an important point.

(As a sidenote, though, may I share why I wrote that book? What I actually wrote wasn’t a “diet” at all. It was about how throwing lots of superfoods and greens in a blender is an answer to our nutrient insufficiency, in an age where we want all our food to be “fast.” But the publisher insisted on naming it The Green Smoothies Diet. “Write whatever you want,” they said—”but we WILL call it a ‘diet,’ and if you refuse, we’ll find another author to write it.” That book has sold more copies than my other 14 books combined. Which already makes one of my points: diet books sell.)

So, aggrandizing one food class, or one food, as if it has magical properties that will save everyone from every disease, is good for business.

Vilifying a class of foods, and teaching people how to avoid them, is big business, too, and fundamental to the diet industry.

(To do either of these things, you generally have to cherry-pick data, ignoring a great deal of evidence to the contrary.)

I play tennis competitively, and on the court recently, one of my tennis teammates was doubled over. It was only 9 am, so I asked:

“You seem really tired, what’s wrong?”

She said, “I’m on the ketogenic diet, and I’m exhausted. My husband just got really ‘shredded’ on it, but I don’t feel good at all.”

You can lose weight in countless ways. Atkins, Ketogenic, you name it, they’re banning whole categories of foods, and they’ve all been shown, in studies tracking what the dieter actually eats, to be clever forms of calorie restriction.

(Many evaluations of the popular diets since Atkins have shown that since no one wants to eat unlimited protein, or unlimited fats, dieters end up eating fewer calories.)

Vilifying Carbs

But your body has used carbohydrates–70 percent carbohydrates, on average–since the dawn of time. It’s the food your liver requires.

Carbohydrates aren’t bad, just by virtue of being carbohydrates.

The talk about “carbs” is virtually meaningless, since most foods are high in carbohydrates.

You’ve got simple and complex carbs, whole-food carbs and refined-food carbs. You’ve got “carb” foods full of important soluble or insoluble fiber–or both. You’ve got wonderful “carb” foods that are extremely high in micronutrients (hundreds of different vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytonutrients)–and others that are worthless, and harmful, with virtually no micronutrients.

(In fact, it should be noted that “proteins” and “fats” as classes of foods, while they have important properties needed for health, are almost always foods with little or no dietary fiber, and very little micronutrient density as well. Since our gastrointestinal cancers epidemic is largely due to lack of fiber, and lack of micronutrients, in the “standard American diet,” eliminating carbs seems a terrible idea, for cancer prevention, cancer treatment, and especially related to colorectal cancers.)

Truly, lumping all the foods containing “carbohydrate” into a single class makes little sense.

Because even if we narrow it down and look at two foods high in simple sugars as an example, a bagel and a banana are very different foods.

Comparing Carbs: a Banana vs a Bagel…

The bagel is Roundup-sprayed (twice!), stripped of fiber and lacking any real micronutrients, gluey, and will slow your digestion. It has nothing to offer you besides a gluten reaction and a blood-sugar and insulin spike.

A banana, though, has soluble fiber and dozens of nutrients, including potassium and magnesium. It is a high-vibration food that contributes to longevity.

Calling both of these foods “carbs” is misleading—virtually useless, in fact.

Eliminating or severely restricting carbohydrates from the diet as both the Paleo and Keto diets do is especially problematic since foods considered “carbs” are the foods highest in fiber and micronutrients, which are linked, in thousands of studies, to reduced disease risk.

Fasting

Fasting is part of the ketogenic diet, and fasting is a great idea.

(However, to put the logical fallacy to rest, just because fasting is part of the ketogenic diet, and fasting is good for you, does not mean the ketogenic diet is a healthy, sustainable way to live, or even a good way to lose weight.)

Fasting is research- and time-tested. Many cultures of the world have engaged in periods of not eating, for physical purification as well as spiritual benefits, and many research studies show fasting to be beneficial for human health.

But the benefits of fasting aren’t necessarily related to the state of “ketosis,” where starvation supposedly forces fat burn. (See Dr. Alan Christianson’s quote, below, about whether “ketosis” is even what the Keto diet claims it is.)

I’m far more interested in the induced state of autophagy from a 12-hour fast, or for a longer fast lasting several days.

I’ve water-fasted (no food, only water) for 7 days, 9 days, and 12 days, in the past two years.

Why? Because in autophagy, when the body has no food, it scavenges aberrant cells, and immune function goes into high gear, gobbling up cancer cells, yeast, mold, byproducts of metabolism—generally and specifically cleaning house.

I believe fasting is one of the most powerful things you can do for longevity and to avoid chronic disease. Thomas Lodi, M.D., a Columbia-trained medical doctor, presents all his patients with information on water fasting, and tells them it’s the single most powerful thing they can do, in their cancer treatment.

Compare that to the ketogenic diet plan, where you may be advised to drink acidic coffee full of butter, and a plate of bacon–which is unsustainable, unpalatable long-term, and artery-clogging, as well as devastatingly low in chlorophyll, oxygen, raw enzymes, phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

Are Low Carb Diets Good For You?

Let’s take a look at some of the myths around the diet industry’s concept that carbs make you tired, sick, and fat.

Ari Whitten and Wade Smith, MD’s book, The Low Carb Myth, says this:

“The Carbohydrate Theory of Obesity [an attempt to blame fat gain on carbohydrates and sugars] is based on numerous scientific inaccuracies, omissions of data, and countless instances of data cherry-picking.”

One study showed the Paleo Diet to be most essentially defined, by its followers, as eating more vegetables. If that’s the case, we’re all friends here.

The Paleo diet did ban white flour, processed sugar, and chemicals in your food.

Unfortunately, most people embracing it eat even more animal products (protein and fat) than the average American does, and that is an important note, in pointing out the problems with the Paleo diet.

Legumes, fruits, and unprocessed grains have been part of healthy diets worldwide since the dawn of man 3.4 million years ago, as shown by recent research on early hominids at the University of Utah.

If you don’t want to eat legumes and whole grains, or if you’re reactive to legumes due to a damaged microbiome–fine, you can probably also stay healthy eating really clean forms of animal protein.

But keep in mind that it generally takes 20 pounds of plants to bring 1 pound of animal food to market.

If vegetarians and vegans make you angry (both Paleo and Keto diet proponents tend to be rather anti-vegan), check your thinking—because while vegans may be dogmatic, while you may not like their style in promoting their diet–their diet is using 5 percent of the Earth’s resources to sustain themselves, compared to someone eating the 30 to 60 percent animal proteins of the Paleo and Keto diets.

The healthy ones, the ones who eat whole foods—I’m not talking about the junk food vegans—they’re living with far less impact on the planet.

Maybe we should all thank a vegetarian today, even if you’re personally choosing to eat meat. The direction we’re driving the diet bus, these days, with so many packaged foods and animal foods, isn’t sustainable ecologically.

Why The Keto Diet is Doomed

We can all be friends, and I love the Paleo diet getting people off processed food.

But Paleo’s new, sexy sibling, the Ketogenic diet? It’s just bad news. It’s lipstick on a pig.

(Let the hate mail begin.)

And the worst of the bad are these people selling toxic jugs of “ketones.” Please don’t drink this plastic, petroleum-product garbage. It’s pure marketing, it’s not food, and it’s not good for you.

The Ketogenic diet will get run out of town by scientific studies of long-term results, eventually. Like all the others have. (Eat Right for Your Blood Type, Atkins, and Paleo come to mind.)

And in fact, the ketogenic diet is so similar to Atkins, that many experts have written entire books warning America that the excesses of animal products and the strange “ketones” phenomenon represent a serious threat to public health, based on volumes of published research.

Use your critical thinking skills rather than sign on as a human guinea pig every time the diet and food-manufacturing industries put a new spin on a tired, old debunked concept in front of you.

We already know what people eat who lose weight and keep it off. High-fat, bacon-and-eggs meals with coffee, that’s not it.

Cancer survivor and nutrition researcher Chris Wark says, “The ketogenic diet is like fasting, only with none of the health benefits.”

In effect, the Keto marketers have brought one of the worst, but most popular, diets in the history of diets (Atkins!), back to life. With a twist. (It’s still bacon and coffee for breakfast. But….there’s fasting!)

With the ketogenic diet’s new obsession with “fasting”—diet marketers have taken something good, and made it into something commercial and less than helpful.

(Also, how is not eating from early dinner to late breakfast ‘fasting?’ I was raised in a religious tradition, along with millions of others, where we fasted for 24 hours, once a month. Every child over 8 was encouraged to do this. It’s good for the body and spirit.)

In effect, the Keto marketers have brought one of the worst, but most popular, diets in the history of diets (Atkins!), back to life.

With a twist. (It’s still bacon and coffee for breakfast. But….there’s fasting!)

Haven’t we evolved past this? Eat for ‘ketosis’ and plan to have constipation, bad breath, yo-yo weight loss and gain, and your liver breaking down, just like happened for millions of Atkins suffers. (And Dr. Robert Atkins himself suffered from heart disease and overweight.)

We already learned with the Atkins Diet that bouncing in and out of ‘ketosis’ is a great way to end up heavier than you started, and possibly with diabetes.

Experts Challenge Ketogenic Myths

Ari Whitten and Wade Smith, MD, said, in their book, The Low-Carb Myth:

“….the notion of everyone eating diets of essentially nothing but fat and protein with only a tiny amount of carbohydrate as a widespread initiative to combat obesity is laughable, since any dietary pattern so extreme as to jettison an entire macronutrient (and simultaneously limit another one) is simply unsustainable for the majority of people.”

My friend, the filmmaker Harry Massey, was convinced by a mutual friend of ours, one of the diet-book authors, to try the new fad, and this is what he told me:

“I went on the ketogenic diet, I felt like crap, and three months later I was diabetic.”

Dr. Alan Christianson, NMD, NYT bestselling author, challenges the entire foundation of the diet:

“The ketogenic diet is a legitimate tool for helping reduce seizures among epileptic children who did not respond to medication. We may learn more in the coming years about benefits to other conditions, but most think of it as an easy path to weight loss.

“The underlying assumption people make is that the ketogenic diet makes them better at burning fat. Sadly, it does the exact opposite, and the confusion comes about from using the phrase ‘burning fat’ in two different contexts. Using fat for fuel is called beta-oxidation. Breaking down body fat is called lipolysis. Ketosis is the state in which your liver cannot burn fat for fuel. It can burn fat for fuel only when carbohydrate and protein are also present.

“A ketogenic diet only leads to lipolysis when it contains fewer calories than is needed. This is true of any diet. When a ketogenic diet has more calories than is needed, the extra dietary fat that is initially converted to ketones gets turned into triglycerides and stored as body fat.

“In a controlled human study comparing a ketogenic diet against a high carb, high-sugar diet with the same number of calories, the high-carb diet led to more fat loss than the ketogenic diet.

“Besides the lack of efficacy for weight loss, the ketogenic diet has risks to consider for those seeking to improve their health. The evidence supporting the benefits of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals, is undeniable. The ketogenic diet is devoid of fiber, and low in vitamins and minerals.

“Along with a myriad of side effects like fatigue, diarrhea, muscle cramps, and headaches, people on ketogenic diets also run the risks of:

hypothyroidism

impaired athletic performance

“We may find more medical applications of the ketogenic diet and more ways to mitigate some of the inherent risks and deficiencies it creates. However, ketones are not the ‘preferred’ source of fuel for the human body, nor are they effective hacks for weight loss.”

–Alan Christianson, NMD

In fact, when U.S. News and World Report ranked diets for nutrition and successful weight loss, the Paleo Diet ranked 36th out of 40!

One of the most troubling aspects to the new diet fad is the claim that it will cure cancer.

When Dr. Charles Majors first began claiming that the ketogenic diet cures cancer, many experts demanded any longitudinal study with evidence of this. Not only did Dr. Majors fail to produce any, he also recently passed away. Of cancer.

As a counterpoint, the Gerson therapy as a nutritional regimen for cancer, has reversed tens of thousands of cancer patients’ Stage IV cancer for 100 years now, and while it’s not a miracle cure, in this age of toxicity and far more virulent forms of cancer, it is based on far more legitimate concepts.

First, more than 10 glasses a day of fresh pressed green and vegetable juice floods the body with nutrients and oxygen to detoxify and rebuild immune function. (The ketogenic diet is high in fats, but very low in both fiber and micronutrients, as Dr. Christianson pointed out, in the quote above.)

Second, Gerson uses efficacious, non-toxic methods of breaking down and eliminating tumor tissue. (That’s glucose plus oxygen in the cells, using organic plant material in “carbohydrate” foods rich in every known anti-cancer nutrient: the effect is alkalizing and cancer destroying.)

Reconsider Diet Fad-Hopping

I hope you’ll reconsider jumping on every bandwagon, each time a new fad diet comes out.

The “diet before diets” was heavily plant based–rich in greens, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

The “diet before diets” was heavily plant based (as opposed to vegetarian or vegan, which implies no animal products, ever) rich in greens, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Healthy people from all over the world, as documented best in the Blue Zones research, ate quite widely varying diets based on what was available in specific geographic areas.

Here’s another quote by cardiologist Dr. Joel Kahn, MD, Wayne State Clinical Professor of Medicine:

“While ketogenic diets prompt the production of ketone bodies as fuel and are of proven value in rare cases of refractory epilepsy, they are also associated with data in several studies suggesting they boost long term risk of premature death. I would not advise the daily use of a long term ketogenic strategy based on animal product consumption.”

If we must attach a name to the “diet” associated with health and longevity, the plant-based and Mediterranean diets are the only ones that consistently show long-term positive outcomes, across thousands of published studies. The 2013 Yale meta study under the direction of David Katz, MD, reviewed over 10,000 published studies in the field of nutrition over the course of the past decade, and concluded that the most consistent finding is that eating more plants prevents disease.

(Both the Paleo and Keto diets, the way that most people follow them, have people eating even more animal foods than in the Standard American Diet.)

Primarily plant-based diets are what the vast majority of people ate before there were “diets.” (Notice that said “primarily plant-based,” which is different than “vegetarian” or “vegan.”)

Of course there has been wide variety in the specific foods eaten by various peoples, based on their availability, for 3.4 million years of human history.

But degenerative disease was rare in cultures eating whole foods, including mostly carbohydrates, for the entire history of humans, until 100 years ago when the processed food industry was born and the diet industry followed, right behind it.

  Robyn Openshaw, MSW

Robyn is the founder of GreenSmoothieGirl.com and the bestselling author of The Green Smoothies Diet, 12 Steps to Whole Foods, and Vibe: Unlock the Energetic Frequencies of Limitless Health, Love & Success. Her video masterclass on how she lost 70 pounds, got off 5 prescription drugs, and eliminated 21 diagnosed diseases, eating whole foods (and not dieting), is a free gift to you.

    Disclosure: Affiliate links in the post above help support the GSG mission without costing you extra. I recommend only companies and products that I use myself.

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Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia

Garcinia Cambogia is a popular weight-loss supplement ingredient that comes to us from the tropics. This interesting fruit is said to restrict the body’s ability to produce fat and suppress appetite, as well as lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Although promising, it has also been accused of producing underwhelming results every time it is tested on humans, leaving many dieters wondering whether it’s worth trying at all.

Below we take an in-depth look into Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia, to see whether this mix of garcinia cambogia and potassium can deliver the weight-loss results dieters are looking for.

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Pros

Ingredient quantities clearly listed

No major side effects

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Cons

Product’s main ingredient is not thought to be particularly effective

More expensive than some other comparable products

Manufacturer has no money-back guarantee or returns policy of any kind

Watchdog Rejected Diet Pills

WATCHDOG TIP: Consider using the consumer #1 rated weight loss product – CLICK HERE

What You Need To Know About Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia is a weight-loss product that claims to boost mood and help dieters achieve their goals. It uses an ingredient that was once popularised by noted TV celebrity, Dr Oz, although its usage has attracted more controversy in recent years. With 100 capsules per pack, this product contains a 25-day supply of garcinia cambogia.

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia is manufactured by Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, a US-based supplement store based in the USA. Hi-Tech Pharma (as they are often called) are known mainly for their extraordinary history of litigation, having fought long and protracted legal battles with the FTC, FDA, respected university professors, medical authorities and rival companies. The company is currently fighting to overturn the FDA’s existing ban on the dangerous stimulant DMAA, and continues to sell DMAA-based products until the legal point is clarified. The company is also associated with its selling of a useless form of ephedra and other products that attempt to mimic and impersonate illegal steroids.

What Are The Side Effects Of Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia?

Garcinia cambogia is not associated with major side effects, although it can occasionally cause nausea, stomach pains and headaches. It has only ever been studied on a short-term basis of 3 months or less, and so may come with long-term side effects that are currently unknown.

How Much Does Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Cost?

Hi-Tech Pharma’s Garcinia Cambogia product is more expensive than several competitors, although it can be found for a reasonable(ish) price from some retailers. A 100-capsule bottle can be purchased for $13.95 from DPS Nutrition and for $14.95 from A1 Supplements. It is also available to purchase from iHerb, Best Price Nutrition, and My Supplement store for the standard price of $17.95. The most expensive prices we found were $24.95 (on www.illpumpyouup.com) and $29.95 (on the Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals official webstore).

Our Verdict On Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia

Garcinia Cambogia is generally thought to be an inconsistent and weak weight-loss aid. Although largely free of major side effects, this fruit extract has been found in multiple studies to either have no effect on weight-loss or can deliver only tiny effects (such as 2kg over months). Readers looking to use this or any other garcinia cambogia-based product should know to expect only slight results at best.

Unfortunately, Hi-Tech Pharma’s Garcinia Cambogia product is also rather expensive when compared to others. The company hugely overcharges customers on its official website (although the product can be found for cheaper elsewhere), and they continue to offer no money-back guarantee to protect customers. Though said to be more bioavailable, there is no real reason to believe that this version of garcinia cambogia is superior to any other on the market.

We do not recommend Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia to our readers.

The most popular consumer choice in 2017 is Phentaslim.

With a combination of proven ingredients, superb customer service and a 60-day money-back guarantee, Phentaslim is making big waves in the diet world.

Find out why thousands of people are choosing Phentaslim to achieve their weight loss goals, and why it's also the editor's top selection.

Read the Watchdog Phentaslim review here.

Key Features

Ingredients

Side Effects

Testimonials

Guarantee

Where to Buy

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Review

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia is a weight-loss product that contains a simple mix of potassium and garcinia cambogia. The garcinia cambogia found in this product is a standardized form that contains 50-60% HCA (the main weight loss compound found in the fruit) and uses a small quantity of potassium to make the overall mix more “bioavailable”.

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Facts

Manufactured by Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals

Contains 100 capsules per bottle

Single-ingredient weight-loss supplement

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia is produced and sold by Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, an American manufacturer of various sports, weight loss and sexual enhancement supplements. Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals’ website is surprisingly poorly written and hard to understand for an English-speaking company, giving an unprofessional appearance that fails to inspire confidence in the quality of the products. As of 2017, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals is far more well-known for its legal battles with American authorities and university professors than for its effective and high-quality supplements. The company can be contacted via the contact details provided on the website.

How to Take Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia

The directions for use are as follows:

Take 2 capsules 2 times per day before meals.

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Concerns:

No money-back guarantee

Main ingredient has been shown to be generally ineffective

Manufacturer is known for using misleading advertising and dangerous ingredients

What Does Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Claim To Do?

As with many single-ingredient supplements, the list of effects that this product claims to have is rather short. Garcinia Cambogia is said to support weight-loss efforts through the use of what the manufacturer calls “multi-pathways” (this statement is never explained further). Hi-Tech Pharma also claims that this product can help to boost mood.

One distinguishing feature of this product is that it uses a specialised form of garcinia cambogia that the manufacturer refers to as Citrin K. This simply means that the extract has been mixed with potassium to make it more bioavailable, meaning that it can be absorbed more easily in the digestive system.

Does Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Work?

As a weight-loss ingredient, garcinia cambogia has an extremely poor reputation. Unfortunately, numerous studies seem to indicate that it simply doesn’t work.

One study that is frequently quoted by supplement manufacturers actually shows most convincingly that the fruit fails to help with weight-loss. Although the participants taking garcinia cambogia managed to lose weight in this study, a placebo group that took nothing managed to lose far more weight by comparison! Other studies indicate that garcinia cambogia was unable to impact metabolism, appetite or overall weight-loss.

Garcinia cambogia could still help some dieters to lose weight, but its effects are extremely unpredictable and poorly understood. Even when effective, garcinia cambogia is not thought to produce hugely significant results.

What Are The Ingredients of Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia?

The ingredients found in Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia are listed below. The quantities listed are correct for 2 capsules.

Potassium 99mg: This mineral has been added so as to make the garcinia cambogia more bioavailable, helping relatively more of the powder to be absorbed in the body.

Garcinia Cambogia Extract (Standardized to 50%-60% hydroxycitric acid (HCA)) (fruit rind) as Citrin K 1500mg: Test tube and animal research suggests that HCA, an active compound in Garcinia Cambogia, may be helpful in weight loss because of its effects on metabolism. However, numerous studies in humans have found it has no effect upon either appetite or metabolic rate. There is no evidence to suggest that Garcinia Cambogia works as a carb blocker either. Source: http://ift.tt/2csYhS3

Does Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Have Any Side Effects?

Garcinia Cambogia can cause some side effects including nausea, digestive tract discomfort, and headache. Its long-term safety is unknown, as clinical studies typically focus upon short-term use of up to 12 weeks.

Caution: Not suitable for pregnant or breastfeeding women. Not suitable for anyone under the age of 18. If you are taking any medications or are unsure about the suitability of this supplement for you, consult your doctor before purchase.

Are There Any Customer Reviews For Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia?

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia has not received that much attention or reviews online. Many of those that have commented have not tried the product for a significant amount of time, and those that have typically offer mixed comments. As with most garcinia cambogia-based products, the overall reception is a mixture of people claiming it works and others claiming it doesn’t!

I have yet to see any results, slightly disappointed

Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals Garcinia Cambogia Curbs appetite, too soon to comment on weight loss yet. Will try for another month.

What I noticed about the supplement, it suppresses the hunger almost immediately, whether it promotes the weight loss, it’s too early to say. But the experience been very positive so far. I definitely would recommend this product

I tried this and noticed every week inch off from your waist, hips. thigh. I said “wow” this is amazing. I shared my experience to some of my co-workers and it help them too.

Does Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia Offer a Money-Back Guarantee?

On the official Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals website, no mention is made of a money-back guarantee or a returns policy of any kind.

Where Can I Buy Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia?

Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia can be purchased from a number of independent online retailers (although Hi-Tech Pharma products have long been discontinued on more mainstream outlets like Amazon and Walmart, mainly due to the manufacturer’s unfortunate reputation for churning out unsafe products). The price for a 100-capsule bottle is highest on the official Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals website ($29.95), so savvy buyers may wish to look elsewhere.

This product can be found for the reasonable price of $14-$15 on DPS Nutrition and A1 Supplements. The standard $18 price is available from most retailers (including Best Price Nutrition, iHerb, and My Supplement Store), although some online stores (such as www.illpumpyouup.com) charge as much as $24.95.

The post Hi-Tech Pharma Garcinia Cambogia appeared first on Diet Pills Watchdog.

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