#support system and no transportation and having food delivered to me was my last possible option. otherwise. if I want something so bad

[vicislifeinbinary]

My take on the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic Last week, we all thought everything was going to be normal, we didn’t take the global virus seriously. I saw people at university booking flights (because the tickets were so cheap) and teachers planning the next week’s curriculum. Most people thought the virus was just like a normal flu.  I saw life go on as normal, but of course with people washing their hands more and keeping a bit more distance. People said “See you next week!” and I said “Well… Maybe… I hope so!” and we said our goodbyes.  Little did we know, that was only the eerie silence before the storm. Then, suddenly, on Wednesday evening of 11/3/2020, the prime minister of Denmark declared a shutdown of Denmark and afterwards people started hoarding food, sanitizing equipment and toilet paper. It was hard to realize what was happening, it felt like a movie. Still does.  I was planning on going to school, to work and taking my driver’s license test – it has all been cancelled/rethought/postponed.  My brother is working in the hospital and so is my mom’s boyfriend – I can’t believe how brave these people are in the midst of all this. Doctors will have to make some hardcore judgements in the next months. Entire countries are on lockdown and halting business. Closing their borders. All events are cancelled and so is work, school and social events. Stock market is plummeting and we will probably have a recession. It’s like a patient on life support and we’re just getting started, two weeks behind Italy.  New York Times has written that “...as of Tuesday evening, at least 7,866 people have died, more than half of them outside mainland China… infected people have been detected in at least 142 countries” and on 13/3/2020 WHO announced that Europe had become the new epicentre. Thanks to the heroic Dr. Li Wenliang, Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi for discussing the virus and warning the public about the communist party’s violent censorship (and then tragically dying and/or going missing). We have seen the virus overwhelm the healthcare system greatly in other countries like China, Italy, Iran, France, USA, Austria and it’s probably only gonna get worse.  What many people fail to understand is 1) You can have the virus without having symptoms, 2) It is very easy to spread and catch the virus and 3) The healthcare system does not have enough equipment, beds or staff if many people suddenly start getting seriously ill. I heard that Denmark only has like 1000 respirators in total, which is not enough, and I feel scared for the future, though I am not yet panicking. I’m trying to adjust to this new state in our dimension. Seems like this large scale containment has never been tried before. I look at people with great contempt when they go out to party, socialize, date, chill, act unhygienic etc. because they could be seriously harming others without realizing it – just because you can’t see the consequences immediately doesn't mean you’re not a catalyst.  We are all potential vessels for killing our sick and our elderly. And not only old people die, we have also seen people in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s die from this virus.  That person you talked to has talked to five other people and that item you touched has been touched by dozens. It’s just like that “burned matches” image people have been sharing, it’s so easy to understand. I honestly think a police enforced curfew will be implemented because some people do not listen to science at all.  BBC did a good experiment with mobile phones and GPSes in 2018 to see how fast illnesses could spread if every person could infect 2-3 people and just travel as usual – by the third day 85% of UK was infected.  Bill Gates warned us in 2015 that the world was not ready for the next pandemic, but that we could be, if we took big precautions and combined the military with the medical and biological measures. I do not think we are ready now even though we’ve been warned many times.  I used to play the game Plague Inc for years and was stunned by how quickly it spread and how realistic the outcomes were (curfews being implemented, airlines and harbours shutting down, economic market collapsing, politicians falling ill, more money given to research etc.) – I never thought I was going to live in such a scenario. It feels dream-like and very brutal and honest. I also saw this in the movies Contagion (2011) and Outbreak (1995) which fucked me up. Material things are fragile. Societal constructs are fragile. World economy is fragile. When shit hits the fan, people are not so kind, rational and civilized anymore. Also interesting to see the world act like introverts. What if the world was like this?  No need for anything, no buildings, no entertainment, no social life, nothing to buy or sell… Really scary to see, it looks like a Chernobyl ghost town. Such a strange social experiment to witness. It’s so devastating to all the business owners and to our culture. I do think some positive outcomes could come from this, though, such as: * More people working from home and having less unnecessary meetings and transportation time + generally getting a smaller public sector in Denmark  * More e-learning and web exams being had which could open up knowledge greatly (as YouTube already did many, many years ago) * More research being done before the next pandemic + people taking pathogens, hygiene, cooking and vaccines WAY more seriously  * Better safety nets being implemented for privately owned businesses and companies * Fewer working hours and shorter workweeks in general being had, as we find out what work is not truly needed/effective, so that we can have more quality time with families and loved ones instead of working all the time * More research going into growing/making cheaper food and better food preservatives  * Being less dependent on China, who has been the global production star for a long time now with terrible freedom of speech as well as human and animal rights + China banning the unhygienic wet markets (which are the culprit of several outbreaks) * People realizing how fragile many things and constructs are and coming together to fight one bad thing instead of fighting over politics, money, culture and religion * More research going into robots and AI which could help us deliver food and medicine (and maybe transport individual people too) I do not know what started this virus, if it was nature or some sort of bioterrorism, like Bill Gates mentioned as a possibility in 2015. It doesn’t matter right now, because we still have to deal with it either way.  All I know is to keep my distance and stay home. And I think you should too, even if “the weather is nice” and your friends are bored. The bubonic plague took 200 million lives, smallpox took 56 million lives and spanish flu around 50 million lives. Daily Mail writes “Scientists say the 'scale' and 'lethality' of the coronavirus is on the scale of the H1N1 influenza strain that sparked the Spanish flu pandemic over 100 years ago”. We need to take precautions before it’s all too late and we lose millions of lives. People have said “Acting extreme now will only be seen as inadequate later on” and Vox’ YouTube video brilliantly pointed out that “To slow the virus down, you need to act like you already have it”. We CAN prevent some of this. Act now – stay home, stay clean and stay distant.  Thank you for your time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . #coronavirus #coronavirusupdate #covid19 #pandemic #pandemia #covid19denmark #coronavirusdenmark #denmark #danmark #coronapocalypse #panicbuying #stayhome #staysafe #flattenthecurve #COVID2019 #virus #outbreak #CoronavirusOutbreak #plagueinc #bbc #billgates #socialexperiment #socialconstructs #healthcaresystem #lockdown #wetmarkets #socialdistancing #quarantine #contagion #SARSCoV2  (her: Copenhagen) https://www.instagram.com/p/B95eoSQBw0W/?igshid=4poeakul8sz1

[patalipat-blog]

#AdoptABoxOfHOPE: First Log

It’s April Fool’s! But no, this isn’t a foolish post.

Wow. It’s been just a week since #AdoptABox started.

#PisAYUDA: Siyensiya Para sa Bayan

On March 17, 2020, Luzon has been put under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) due to COVID-19. Allow me to devote a separate post about my ordeal days before that, when my sister was still trapped in Laguna.

Anyway, as the ECQ continued, Pisay could not help but move. On March 19, 2020, Sir Kevin Daga-as of PSHS-SOCCSKSARGEN Region Campus began 3D-printing frames for face shields at the school MakerSpace. This was quickly picked up by other PSHS Campuses and soon enough, 11 campuses including the Bicol Region Campus are mass producing face shields for healthcare facilities in our respective regions.

https://subselfie.com/2020/03/30/3d-printing-and-laser-cutters-philippine-science-hs-campuses-create-face-shields-for-covid-19-frontliners/

It probably was God’s blessing to the Filipinos that the PSHS System has actually been establishing MakerSpace (Fabrication Laboratories of FabLab) in its campuses. And since we have the means to help, many teachers have risen to the challenge. It is personally frightening to go out of one’s home because of the virus, but many Pisay teachers actually want to help (sometimes forgetting social distancing!). Some teachers directly help in the face shield fabrication and assembly, some teachers cook food for the working teachers, some coordinate with hospitals and suppliers, the dynamics is quite interesting. The ingenuity and willingness to help is evident. In fact, I have seen many other initiatives across PSHS campuses, including formulation of ethyl alcohol and disinfectants and fabrications of aerosol boxes. As for me? I am here at home. I still work on many academic tasks but I could not be of any help on the face shield fabrication except to pray for the working teachers’ safety!

To date, BRC has produced and delivered more than 1,000 face shields, the most number among all campuses. BRC branded its project, “PisaYUDA: Siyensiya Para Sa Bayan.” This was picked up by the Executive Director and since then became the banner name of the systemwide efforts to help combat COVID-19.

Photos (c) Ma’am Glaiza Reobilo

It indeed is rewarding to see the face shields being used by Bicolano doctors during their duty, as pictured below.

Photo (c) Ma’am Glaiza Reobilo

Alas, our MakerSpace facilities are originally intended for Research and Instructional purposes only. Hence, supplies are very limited. Soon, Pisay began searching for suppliers and donors of 3D printer filaments, acetates, and PVC covers.

https://www.rappler.com/move-ph/255772-philippine-science-high-school-appeals-help-produce-face-shield-3d-printers

#AdoptABox: The Beginning

I woke up just before lunch of March 25 and saw the Rappler article. I felt helpless; I wanted to help but I couldn’t do anything. At that moment, Sir Joseph also sent this photo to our school GC:

This is an aerosol box. It is used to cover a patient’s head during endotracheal intubation, protecting the doctor from the aerosol emanating from the patient’s oral cavity. Many doctors have been inflicted with COVID-19 due to lack of protection during intubation procedure.

A week before, Sir Gio and I have been talking about the face shields and the aerosol box, because well, we are Research teachers. At that time, all I could think of was Jeah Pauline Advertising (JPA), my last client when I was still in DOST-Camarines Sur. Through the project, DOST granted them technical assistance for manufacturing of acrylic/glass plaques and medals. Ma’am Jackie (the owner) did not just become my client but we became good friends.

That fateful lunchtime of March 25, Sir Joseph was asking if BRC could create this in our MakerSpace. The general consensus was that the school does not have acrylic sheet supply and laser cutting equipment to fabricate this. I thought of JPA again because they can surely do it. But then again, it’s impossible. We are on quarantine!

Minutes after, Ma’am Pat, my former boss in DOST-CamSur, sent me a similar photo. Unable to contain the itch, I asked Ma’am Pat if JPA could do it. Lo and behold, Ma’am Pat listened! In a few minutes, Ate Bit of DOST-CamSur was already in contact with the ever enthusiastic Ma’am Jackie who immediately said sure, they would immediately create a prototype. The glaring problem though was that Jeah Pauline Advertising is a fabricator - - they don’t have enough supplies. And all suppliers are closed! Another problem is that they’re an enterprise, therefore they need payment. They pledged to waive the labor cost, but still, they need payment!

I could not fund this on my own. Neither would BRC. The face shield and alcohol projects are already taking much effort from BRC and most of the supplies are donations magically sourced out by the Congeiality Queen, Ma’am Lorvi our Campus Director.

With my adrenaline pumping, I decided to message the Alumni Homecoming Core Committee of our high school batch: Mael, Zazza, Arvin, and Neil who are all in Metro Manila. Affirmative response! I also messaged the separate GC of the boys, who are often mum on batch activities. Apparently, now they also have suggestions! To unify the comments and suggestions, I quickly posted on our Batch FB Page and asked everyone to reply there.

Barely two hours after Sir Joseph’s photo message, the ball started rolling!

#AdoptABox: Baby Steps

As we waited for JPA’s prototype, we began looking for suppliers. Our batchmates Christian and Hansel began providing information on potential suppliers in Naga City.

We also began listing down target hospital recipients to determine how many aerosol boxes need to be fabricated and funded. Our batchmate Rogelio who is now a Medical Doctor volunteered to help as his father is the Director of one of the COVID-19 referral centers in the Bicol Region. So far we targeted four (4) major hospitals.

Everything happened so fast. Information was coming from all directions; DOST with the supplier and the fabricator, Batch 2009 also with the supplier, the funding, and the target hospitals, and BRC with the target hospitals. I started curated the developments through my post in our Batch FB Page.

At 3:00pm, the AH Committee officially decided to launch a donation drive to fund ten (10) aerosol boxes. The bank accounts originally intended for batch contributions for the AH were quickly delegated as donation channels. Is it serendipitous that Mael, Neil, and Arvin were locked in one house in Quezon City during the ECQ? It’s a blessing, Arvin immediately drafted the pubmats with comments from Neil while Mael drafted the text. Zazza and I looked for suppliers of acrylic sheets in Bicol and in Metro Manila.

At 07:45pm, JPA sent photos of the first prototype:

JPA gave the first quote per box. Arvin and I argued because Arvin wanted it cheaper. I banked on humanitarian reasons for the laborers while Arvin relied on the Engineering cut sheet. That’s when I realized that I really need to learn more about business, or else I’ll easily go bankrupt because of my feelings!

Anyway, the team ended the night with boosted morale. We never imagined that it really is possible to help our frontliners even from home!

#AdoptABox: Brisk Walk

I woke up at half past 11am of March 26 with a very good news: the pubmats were now ready! At 12:00nn, Mael posted it on Facebook and we shared as much as we can.

We still had problems with suppliers. JPA found a supplier in Naga (Comglasco) but both JPA and Comglasco could not go out because of the quarantine! JPA is in Pili, Camarines Sur while Comglasco is in Naga! Since this is a local concern, it was up to me to look for ways to secure passes across the border while the rest of the AH Committee looked for donors and encouraged the batch to share the post.

Thinking about connections, I quickly messaged some friends from the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines Alumni Community-Bikol Chapter. Some pledged donations, some provided links to suppliers and some provided links to key persons in LGU Pili and LGU Naga.

Soon, I was connected to officials from LGU Pili and LGU Naga. They had the same response: tell the enterprises to bring their business permit to the LGU and then the Mayor will decide if the travel is essential. This prompted us to quickly ask the two Directors to sign an endorsement letter for the transport of goods. Luckily, Ma’am Lorvi and Ma’am Pat are supportive!

So far so good. LGU Naga even wanted to personally go to our house to meet me and discuss the project. I was apprehensive because, well, social distancing. Fortunately, LGU Naga agreed to an online meeting.

We ended the day with even more high hopes. In just half day, we were able to raise donations and pledges enough to fund more than our target of 10 aerosol boxes!

#AdoptABox: Brisk Walk with Mini Heart Attacks

March 27 went by in breakneck speed, as we made calls and sent messages here and there. I waited for the online meeting with LGU Naga, but I understand they had many concerns. The representative just called me over the phone once, providing the contact details of a potential supplier and asking if we could prioritize healthcare facilities in Naga City for our project.

An unexpected hurdle sprang: Comglasco declared that they were out of stock. We direly needed to look for new suppliers! I tried messaging the contact given by LGU Naga. The contact gave me another contact, who turned out to be a supplier of PVC cover so I just turned the contact over to Ma’am Lorvi. TOSPAC-Bikol friends also helped connect me to enterprises in Bicol, but most of the suppliers given to me were acetate suppliers, so I just turned them all over to Ma’am Lorvi. I also got connected with some kindhearted persons in Metro Manila, but transportation of goods to the province was a major hurdle.

JPA was able to secure transport pass from LGU Pili, and in the afternoon, Ma’am Jackie was in Naga looking for suppliers. It was really difficult to find willing suppliers, especially the required specifications of acrylic sheet. We even tapped DTI through Ma’am Edna Tejada. We just held on to the adage that God will provide.

Many healthcare facilities messaged us to ask for help, and we compiled their contact details. We were resting throughout the night when suddenly, someone transferred a five-digit amount to our donation channel! The AH Committee went wild! We computed the total donations for the day and it turned out that the donations can already fund more than 22 aerosol boxes! Arvin and Neil immediately designed a Thank You note for all our donors.

To add to the excitement, Ma’am Lorvi also found a supplier of acrylic sheets in Legazpi City. The supply was originally intended for BRC but Ma’am Lorvi decided to give it to us because we already had the fund and also since BRC is also a partner.

#AdoptABox: A Little Wobble, But Still Stable

The excitement was put off by the news that three (3) COVID-19 patients have just been recorded in the Bicol Region; one in Camarines Sur, and two in Albay. We then quickly called the night off to check up on our family members.

#AdoptABox: Strut and Sashay

On March 28, we shared the good news that donations are continuously pouring in and that from 10 aerosol boxes, we are expanding our horizons to at least 30 aerosol boxes! Also, from four (4) target recipients, we are expanding to nine (9) healthcare facilities in the Bicol Region!

We also created a separate Task Force to oversee the coordination with the recipient hospitals. The group included Me (09), Mael (09), Hansel (09 and his Mom works at the Naga City Health Office), Rog (09 and Medical Doctor), Ate Bit (DOST-CamSur), and our school nurse Ma’am Sharon (BRC).

In selecting the recipients, we formulated a 5-Point Filter:

COVID-19 referral center

Patient traffic

Location (at least 1 per province)

Has ICU/ performs intubation procedure

Number aerosol boxes already existing in the facility

We also asked for the help of Rog and Sir Gio to create guidelines for the proper use and disinfection of the aerosol box, to be turned over also to the recipients.

#AdoptABoxOfHope: Bigger Strides

March 29 is a day of bigger dreams.

James joined the team as he volunteered to transport the acrylic sheets from Legazpi to Pili. The AH Committee also communicated constantly with Ma’am Lorvi, who committed that BRC will take charge of the delivery of our donations to the recipients.

Towards the end of the day, the donations hit the 6-digit mark! What a blessing! We then decided to stop the online campaign first to work on materializing the aerosol boxes first.

We did not want to produce more aerosol boxes though, as supplies of acrylic sheets are very scarce. In fact, we decided to produce maximum of 25 aerosol boxes.

We then decided to expand the campaign into #AdoptABoxOfHope, eyeing Personal Protective Equipment for our frontliners. Given our funds, we settled on face masks, planning to give at least two boxes (50 pcs each) per Rural Health Unit or Municipal Health Office. As much as possible, in this Wave 2 project, we’d like to target smaller health facilities in order to spread the coverage.

This day, Mael was also referred to a medical supplier that ships alcohol and other cleaning materials to Bicol three times a week! And Sir Sean, the owner, is a Bicolano! The stars are lining up!

Sir Sean agreed to our plea to have the face masks shipped. And since we still have funds, we also tossed in the idea of adding alcohol and disinfectant to our Wave 2 donations!

#AdoptABoxOfHope: Bigger Strides 2.0

March 30 is a day of purchase.

We have ordered 20 boxes of face masks through Kuya Echo of Batch 2008. Their batch also has a donation drive of PPEs for Bicol hospitals.

We have also ordered 20 gallons of alcohol and 20 gallons of disinfectant from Sir Sean.

Also, JPA found more suppliers of acrylic sheets in Naga City. The supplies are actually more than enough to produce 25 aerosol boxes!

Towards the end of the day, DTI added me to a GC with a DTI employee and a fabricator. I discerned that they now plan to produce more aerosol boxes and they were asking me about the design. I sent them our references and I made it clear that I am not a fabricator, just a fund raiser. Nevertheless, I am happy that more people are getting their hands on the deck against COVID-19!

#AdoptABoxOfHope: In Transit

It is a relatively slow day. We just coordinated the transport of materials from Mael’s hideout to the shipper. The cargo of Batch 2008 and the 3D filaments donated by ITDI to BRC were also included in the shipment. Also, we added 20 more gallons of alcohol and 20 more gallons of disinfectant to the Wave 2 donations.

We expect the truck to arrive here at 09:00am tomorrow. I hope I am already awake by then, it’s almost 05:00am and I am still writing this hahaha!

Today also, we decided to pursue Wave 3 of the donations. James opened up the idea of producing hazmat suits for the frontliners as he himself set up a sewing facility for their workers. We agreed and already purchased 220 yards of tafetta fabric, good for around 88 suits! Our funds are not enough for this already, so tomorrow we shall be relaunching our campaign but this time with an Official Facebook Page!

#AdoptABoxOfHope: Looking Ahead

Arvin has already designed the logo and the banner for the Facebook Page. But we need a tagline. Suggestion was to make “HOPE” an acronym as in #AdoptABoxOfHOPE: ____________________________.

Then the tagline will be something like, Bridging Hope for the Bicolanos or Bridging Hope for the Filipinos, in general.

Some suggestions for the acronym are:

Help Offered through Pisayanos Everywhere

Happiness Outpoured through Pisayanos Everywhere

Humanitarian Outpour through Pisayanos Everywhere

We will decide tomorrow (or should I say in a few hours!)

#AdoptABoxOfHope: The Right Persons at the Right Moment

I am actually very excited! In just a week, we were able to pull of this project in two waves! I certainly could not believe that my three worlds actually merged for this wonderful project!

Really very thankful first and foremost to the AH Committee, for quickly responding to the call of the nation. For weeks, I have been very upset that those in power could not properly provide for the nation. But this is no time for spite. If this government will not take care of us, we need to take care of ourselves and of our brothers and sisters! I am really happy to have these longtime brothers and sisters who share the same passion and enthusiasm for the people!

Ma’am Pat, Ate Bit, and the whole DOST Family also are to be thanked, because it is from them that I learned that the government can actually function if the right people are put in position!

Ma’am Jackie is also worth thanking, because so far she and her husband are not just our fabricators, they have been our runners for suppliers and they really try their best and pour in their ingenuity for this cause!

Ma’am Lorvi is a visionary that continuously inspires us also. BRC would not have done all these very efficiently if not for her leadership. Her kind accommodation of the alumni brings us closer to home.

There is still much to look forward to for the #AdoptABoxOfHOPE! See you soon! Good night! :)

[officetime02-blog]

Why Your Vitamin E Supplement Could Be Harming You (& The “One Plant Wonder” Alternative That Could Be The Single Most Powerful Molecule If You’re Stranded On A Desert Island).

At the recent A4M conference in Vegas, I ran into intriguing research from Dr. Barrie Tan, a scientist with a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry. For the last 35 years, Barrie has immersed himself in the world of Vitamin E (particularly from annatto) and is considered one of the world’s foremost experts credited with discovering a molecule called “tocotrienol” from three major natural sources:

Palm: from his native Malaysia…

Rice: at the invitation of the Prince of Thailand…

Annatto: chance finding while in Ecuador searching for lutein…

It turned out that palm and rice lacked the potency as they contain too much tocopherol, so Barrie moved his research interest away briefly from tocotrienol when by serendipity he found the best-in-class tocotrienol in the annatto plant from the Amazon. Since then, Barrie’s relationship with annatto has spanned 20 years. Barrie has worked with the US Armed Forces on using tocotrienol on “radiation countermeasures” and pioneered the science behind the annatto working with the leading scientists in the world to prove the multiple benefits of tocotrienol.

Meanwhile, everyone (lay folk and nutritionist) is languishing with the lack-luster non-performing tocopherol, which Barrie calls the “wrong way to E.” Most tocopherol trials failed and did not deliver. But in multiple clinical trials spanning chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, osteopenia, and inflammation, tocotrienol from annatto has proven clinical benefits. Barrie is currently working on multiple cancer trials after preliminary success with end-stage patients.

This is because not all forms of Vitamin E are created equal…

…Vitamin E is not a single nutrient, but rather a complex made up of 8 distinct compounds: 4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols. These components have slightly different chemical structures, and these differences impart unique properties that influence their biochemical functions and their effects in the body. Most conventional supplements are typically rich in tocopherols—alpha-tocopherol, in particular—but the tocotrienol fractions have unique effects across a variety of tissues that make them desirable to supplement on their own, without tocopherols.

Tocotrienols, especially delta-tocotrienol as sourced from the annatto plant (bixa orellana), have shown impressive effects in supporting overall health. Tocotrienols are associated with significantly positive effects on cardiovascular health, particularly with regard to influencing healthy cholesterol and triglyceride levels. They may also be beneficial for a healthy inflammatory response, an important asset since chronic inflammation is a factor in damage to the cardiovascular system.

Having a positive influence on lipids (fats in the blood), tocotrienols may be beneficial for those with a buildup of fat in the liver, as well as those who need help managing blood sugar and insulin levels. Clinical research also suggests tocotrienols may be a valuable addition to the supplement regimens of those who need nutritional support for strong, healthy bones.

Here is a recent remark of Jonathan Lizotte, Designs for Health Founder and Board Chairman:

“The health benefits realized by annatto tocotrienol go beyond that of any other nutrient I know. It’s the one supplement I would want with me if I were stranded on a desert island! This is a change for me as after 35 years in this industry, my top desert island supplements have switched between magnesium and fish oil and now it stands firmly as annatto tocotrienol alone. A minimum of 150 mg per day is a must for every adult alive.”

Apart from tocotrienol, Barrie discovered and has extracted the first-in-class geranylgeraniol (GG), also from the annatto plant. GG has benefits as 1) testosterone and progesterone booster; 2) pain alleviation and; 3) sarcopenia, myopathy and muscle building from this endogenous nutrient. GG is the last common step between plant and mammal (has huge implications), and may possibly be the last frontier in anti-aging nutrients. Here are Dr. Tan’s two anti-aging bottom-line nutrients: tocotrienol (exogenous) will work from outside-in, and geranylgeraniol (endogenous) will work from inside-out.

During our discussion, you'll discover:

-How Dr. Tan discovered annatto and became interested in vitamin E…9:05

Began while an assistant prof at U of Mass in Amherst

Palm oil in his native Malaysia is orange; is bleached out when it's processed

Received grant from the Malaysian government to research

Research process on palm oil:

Remove all fats and oil

Remove all kerosene colors (orange)

25% of what was left was alpha-tocopherol, the most common variant of vitamin E

Remainder was tocotrienol

Led to research on different forms of lung cancer (stopped soon after)

Prince of Thailand hired him to research

Buddhists don't like anything mitochondrial related

Wanted plant-derived, not animal-derived research

Most beneficial results came from rice bran oil (contained tocotrienol)

Research funding slowed due to a slow economy in 1987

Needed a break in 1998 from studying tocotrienol; this led to studying treating macular degeneration

Vitamin E is made up of 8 different compounds

4 of them are tocopherols; 4 are tocotrienols

The most common are tocopherols, particularly alpha-tocopherols

Tocotrienols are less common and are the locus of Dr. Tan's research

Research on the efficacy of vitamin E as it pertains to exercise was primarily done on tocopherols

Vitamin E was discovered in 1922 at Berkeley

Was extracted from spinach

Assisted in bringing fetus to full-term

Alpha-tocopherol is the “currency” of vitamin E; all other strains (delta, gamma tocopherol) is converted into alpha during processing

Even “all-natural” alpha-tocopherol is partly synthetic

How to undo the damage from an alpha-tocopherol heavy supplement:

Best thing is to stop taking alpha-tocopherol supplement

Ideal intake of alpha-tocopherol is 15 mg per day, derived from natural foods

If you didn't get all that, get this… A vitamin E supplement is not derived from what we would find in nature. It is only a few strands of tocopherol, mostly alpha-tocopherol. The original use of alpha-tocopherol has long outlived its purpose. Dr. Tan advocates for the other strands, particularly tocotrienols for humans to derive the full benefits of vitamin E.

-The major differences between alpha-tocopherols and tocotrienols…30:55

Tri = 3; E = double bond

Tocopherol has a head with an OH group; tail is saturated

Tocotrienol tail has 3 double bonds, so it is unsaturated; head is smaller than tocopherol

Lipid antioxidants are the low-hanging fruit for our body to be oxidized

Astaxanthin is a powerful singlet antioxidant (efficacious in an environment that is oxygen-deficient)

>90% of antioxidants in the phospholipid cells are vitamin E molecules

Remaining ~10% are hydrocarbon caratonoids

Beta carotene and lycopene contain nothing else than hydrogen and carbon

1995 study by Dr. Lester Packer of UC Berkeley:

Used electron-resonance spectroscopy to compare alpha-tocopherol and tocotrienol

Concluded that both capture free radicals, to protect the lipid from oxidation

However, tocotrienol is 50 times more effective in protecting the cell

Comparison: Tocopherol is like municipal police within a small jurisdiction; tocotrienol is like a state trooper with far larger jurisdiction

Tocotrienol recruits to cancer cells 10X more than tocopherol

Critics say that only alpha-tocopherol is found in the blood; therefore all advocacy for tocotrienol is moot

Only alpha-tocopherol has a “transport protein”, which chaperones a particular molecule to a site of action

The transport protein ensures the conservation of alpha-tocopherol (which is why supplementation is bad news)

-Dr. Tan's discovery of the amazing annatto plant while living in South America…43:20

Went to find lutein and zeaxanthin

Discovered the annatto while searching for marigold flowers in Brazil

It was nicknamed the “lipstick plant” due to its intense red color on the inside

South Americans called it “achuite”; is used as a food coloring

Dr. Tan recognized the annatto to be a caratenoid:

Carotene in nature has to be protected by something due to its instability (plants changing color in the spring)

Because the annatto did not change color, he realized it was a potentially powerful antioxidant

Biggest surprise of his research:

Did not contain polyphenols, nor any type of tocopherol.

It contained primarily delta-tocotrienol, which had been shown to be the most potent form of vitamin E.

The plant is naturally free of any type of tocopherol

-How the annatto plant is used to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)…52:30

NAFLD is the new name for “metabolic syndrome”

20% of youth and 40% of adults in America are obese

3 of 5 risk markers:

Elevated triglycerides

Reduced HDL

Increased weight circumference

80-100 million Americans have NAFLD in some form

The liver is very intolerant of fat

Symptoms resemble those of alcoholics, hence the name “non-alcoholic”

Notable data from Dr. Tan's study:

Gave people 600 mg of tocotrienol vitamin E; 300 mg twice daily

70 patients; double-blind; placebo controlled

Did at the beginning, 3 months after, 6 months after

3 months: lost average of 10 pounds

6 months: lost average of 17 pounds

Waist circumference dropped 3 cm

Use caution when purchasing products using the words “liver support” in its packaging

-The other compound Dr. Tan found in the annatto plant in addition to tocotrienols…1:03:10

GG: geraniol geranial

It's an endogenous nutrient, naturally produced by the human body

Helps with the synthesis of testosterone

Older folks take it, not for the sex drive, but to have a zest for life

Required for the synthesis of caratenoid

GG is a prerequisite for the synthesis of CoQ10

GG is currently in development; not currently on the market

Its use as a pain management tool is complimentary, but not similar to, CBD

-And much more!

Resources from this episode:

–Designs For Health Annatto-E

–Book: Tocotrienols: Vitamin E Beyond Tocopherols

–Book (edition 2): Tocotrienols: Vitamin E Beyond Tocopherols, Second Edition

–Article: Annatto: Delivering tocotrienols from Amazonia

–Article: Vitamin E: A closer look at tocotrienols

Episode Sponsors:

–Kion: My personal playground for new supplement formulations. Ben Greenfield Fitness listeners receive a 10% discount off your entire order when you use discount code: BGF10.

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Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Barrie or me? Leave your comments below and one of us will reply!

Ask Ben a Podcast Question

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[j0sgomez-blog]

By Michael Lanza

Are you looking for great trip ideas for your personal “bucket list?” Well, you’ve clicked to the right place. This freshly updated list spotlights 10 of the best adventures in the U.S. and around the world—from Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Olympic, Sequoia, and other national parks to Alaska, the Alps and Norway (lead photo above)—all of them trips that belong on every serious outdoor adventurer’s bucket list. All of them are also trips that you must start planning for now to take them in 2019.

The 10 trips described below—each with an inspiring photo—all have links to stories at The Big Outside with many more images and info for each one. I update this list regularly to keep feeding you fresh ideas—and making your bucket list continually get longer rather than shorter.

I’d love to read any thoughts, personal experiences, or suggestions you want to share in the comments section at the bottom of this story.

  Todd Arndt on the summit of Mount Hoffmann, Yosemite National Park.

Take Yosemite’s Best Dayhikes and Backpacking Trips

Half Dome, the John Muir Trail, Tenaya Lake, Mount Hoffmann, the Mist Trail, Upper Yosemite Falls, Tuolumne Meadows, and the Cathedral Range, Cathedral Peak, and Cathedral Lakes—these names are nearly as famous as the park that harbors them: Yosemite.

But in numerous trips backpacking, dayhiking, and climbing here over the years, I’ve discovered that other corners of Yosemite are equally spectacular if not as well known, including the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, Clouds Rest, Red Peak Pass, Matterhorn Peak and Matterhorn Canyon, Burro Pass, Mule Pass, Benson Lake, and Dewey Point, among many. Ticking off some of this flagship park’s finest backpacking trips or dayhikes offers a varied sampler that awes you no matter how much time you have or how many times you’ve been there—and I speak from experience on that.

See my stories about backpacking trips through Yosemite’s two biggest chunks of wilderness: a 65-mile hike south of Tuolumne Meadows and an 87-mile hike north of Tuolumne. See also “The 10 Best Dayhikes in Yosemite,” “The Magic of Hiking to Yosemite’s Waterfalls,” “Ask Me: Where to Backpack First Time in Yosemite,” and all of my stories about Yosemite National Park at The Big Outside.

  Get my expert e-guides to three great backpacking trips in Yosemite now!

  Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside, which has made several top outdoors blog lists. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip. Click here to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Follow my adventures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

  My wife, Penny hiking the upper South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon.

Go Deep into the Grand Canyon

I think it’s fair to say that you cannot call yourself an accomplished backpacker or dayhiker until you’ve gone down into the Grand Canyon—and arguably multiple times—simply because it’s so geologically unique, challenging, and mind-boggling beautiful and vast. Every hike there has only fueled my appetite to explore more of the 1.2 million acres in America’s fourth-largest national park outside Alaska.

Even after numerous trips over the years, I returned twice again last year, backpacking the rugged and stunning, 25-mile Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop off the North Rim in May, and dayhiking rim-to-rim-to-rim across the canyon and back over two days last October; and I’m returning again to backpack off the South Rim this April and run rim-to-rim-to-rim in October (two trips you will read about eventually at The Big Outside) . The Grand Canyon can get addictive, but in a good way.

  Hike the canyon smartly and safely. Get my expert e-guide to backpacking the Grand Canyon rim to rim or my expert e-guide to dayhiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim.

  Apply for a popular Grand Canyon backpacking permit beginning on the first of the month four months prior to the month in which you want to start a trip—for example, by Dec. 1 for a trip in April or June 1 for a trip in October.

See my many stories about the Grand Canyon at The Big Outside, including my feature stories about dayhiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim and dayhiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim; backpacking the Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop; backpacking 29 miles from Grandview Point to the South Kaibab Trailhead; the 25-mile hike from Hermits Rest to the Bright Angel Trailhead; a rugged, 15-mile trek from the New Hance Trailhead to the Colorado River and up to Grandview Point; and backpacking the experts-only, 34.5-mile Royal Arch Loop.

  Backpackers on the Piegan Pass Trail in Glacier National Park.

Backpack Through Glacier National Park

Glacier ranks among the favorite national parks of backpackers, and little wonder: No place in the Lower 48 really compares with it. From its rivers of ice pouring off of craggy mountains and sheer cliffs that soar high above lushly green valleys, and over 760 lakes offering mirror reflections of it all, to megafauna like mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, and grizzly and black bears, these million acres in the rugged Northern Rockies simply deliver an experience you can’t find in any park outside Alaska.

I’ve backpacked multiple times all over Glacier, most recently last September, when three friends and I hiked 94 miles mostly on the Continental Divide Trail through the park—unquestionably one of the entire CDT’s best sections. The park’s more than 700 miles of trails enable trips of varying distances, from beginner-friendly to serious, remote adventures in deep wilderness. My e-guides to two long treks through Glacier (see links below) detail all you need to know to plan and execute those trips safely and describe shorter variations on those routes, while my blog stories (see below) provide more basic planning details.

See my stories “Wildness All Around You: Backpacking the CDT Through Glacier,” “Descending the Food Chain: Backpacking Glacier National Park’s Northern Loop,” and “Jagged Peaks and Wild Goats: Backpacking Glacier’s Gunsight Pass Trail,” and all of my stories about Glacier National Park at The Big Outside.

  Get my expert e-guides to backpacking Glacier’s Northern Loop and the CDT through Glacier.

  A backpacker on the Teton Crest Trail on Death Canyon Shelf in Grand Teton National Park.

Backpack the Teton Crest Trail

The Teton Crest Trail was one of my earliest, major backpacking trips, and is one I’ve returned to do multiple times since—and I’m just as excited to have a permit to do it again this summer as I was that first time more than 25 years ago. That’s because this traverse of Grand Teton National Park has everything: incredible views almost every step of the way, wildflowers, killer campsites, a good chance of wildlife sightings, and even a degree of solitude along some stretches.

It’s challenging but not severely difficult (we took our kids when they were in grade school), and delivers a truly unique adventure in one of America’s most spectacular mountain ranges. This is, of course, a popular trip, so reserve a backcountry permit months in advance if you can. But the park does set aside two-thirds of available backcountry campsites for backpackers seeking to obtain a first-come (or walk-in) permit no more than one day in advance of a trip’s start date—so it’s possible to get a permit without an advance reservation.

See my stories “American Classic: The Teton Crest Trail,” and “Walking Familiar Ground: Reliving Old Memories and Making New Ones on the Teton Crest Trail,” about backpacking the TCT with my family, as well as my numerous posts about the Teton Crest Trail and Grand Teton National Park, with photos and tips on backpacking there.

  Dying to backpack in the Tetons? See my expert e-guides to the Teton Crest Trail and the best beginner-friendly backpacking trip there.

  Hiking toward Courmayeur, Italy, on the Tour du Mont Blanc.

Trek Around Mont Blanc

Think about this for a moment: Walking a trail around “The Monarch of the Alps,” 15,771-foot Mont Blanc. Spending nine to 12 days hiking through three Alpine nations—France, Italy, and Switzerland—and your nights in high mountain huts with knock-your-socks-off views of crack-riddled glaciers pouring off rocky peaks. Or staying in comfortable lodging in iconic mountain towns like Chamonix and Courmayeur, and quieter villages with incredible views as well. Eating some of the best food of your life and washing it down with regional wine and beer.

Widely considered one of the world’s great treks, the Tour du Mont Blanc is as much a rich cultural experience as a one-of-a-kind scenic hike. Bonus: Abundant public transportation allows you to customize your hike to suit your stamina level and abilities.

See my story “Hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc at an 80-Year-Old Snail’s Pace.”

  Save yourself a lot of time. Get my e-guide “The Perfect, Flexible Plan for Hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc.”

  The Big Outside is proud to partner with sponsor Switzerland Tourism, who supported this trip and this story about trekking the Tour du Mont Blanc. Click on the Switzerland logo to find out more about traveling in that beautiful country.

  A backpacker in the Wall Street section of Zion’s Narrows.

Explore Zion National Park

Tick off the best dayhikes and backpacking trips in Zion—Angels Landing, The Narrows, The Subway, the West Rim Trail, the Kolob Canyons—and you’ve named some of the most scenic pieces of wild real estate in the entire National Park System. I’ve been there several times and still have adventures on my to-do list for that park. And like other popular parks, a trip to Zion requires planning months in advance to get local lodging and any other needed reservations—as in, start right now for next spring.

See all of my stories about Zion, including “Insider Tips: The 10 Best Hikes in Zion National Park” and “How to Avoid the Crowds When Hiking in Zion;” plus my feature stories about a family backpacking trip in the Kolob Canyons and West Rim Trail, hiking The Subway, and backpacking The Narrows at The Big Outside.

See also my story “The 10 Best Hikes in Utah’s National Parks.”

  Click here now to get my e-guide “The Complete Guide to Backpacking Zion’s Narrows”.

  My son, Nate, backpacking the southern coast of Olympic National Park.

Backpack the Wild Olympic Coast

Hiking and camping on miles and miles of wilderness beach. Stone pinnacles rising out of the pounding surf. Sightings of seals, sea otters, bald eagles, and blue whales. Climbing and descending rope ladders in dense rainforest, where giant Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, and western red cedar grow to 150 or 200 feet tall, some with diameters up to 15 feet wide.

Those are just some of the many highlights of a three-day, 17.5-mile hike of the southern stretch of the coast of Olympic National Park—truly one of the best backpacking trips in America, and one suitable for a family with young kids (ours were nine and seven when we took them).

See my story “The Wildest Shore: Backpacking the Southern Olympic Coast.”

  Read any story linked here. Subscribe now for access to ALL stories at The Big Outside, plus a FREE e-guide!

Dusk alpenglow at Precipice Lake in Sequoia National Park.

Backpack Sequoia National Park

With some of the highest mountains in the Lower 48 and a constellation of stunning backcountry lakes, California’s southern High Sierra belong on any list of top backpacking destinations in America. On a six-day, 40-mile backpacking trip in Sequoia National Park, my family hiked through a quiet, backcountry grove of giant Sequoias, and over 10,000-foot and 11,000-foot passes at the foot of 12,000-foot, granite peaks, and camped at two lakes that earned spots on my list of 25 favorite backcountry campsites.

While many backpackers zero in on Yosemite and the John Muir Trail—creating enormous demand for those backcountry permits—far fewer set their sights on areas of Sequoia like the trip my family took. That means it’s an easier permit to get, and the scenery rivals anywhere in the Sierra. I still consider it one of the most photogenic places I’ve ever hiked.

See my story “Heavy Lifting: Backpacking Sequoia National Park,” about my family’s six-day, 40-mile loop hike there, and all of my stories about Sequoia National Park at The Big Outside.

  Find your next adventure in your Inbox. Sign up for my FREE email newsletter now.

  Besseggen Ridge, Jotunheimen

Trek Norway’s Jotunheimen National Park

An Arctic-looking landscape vibrantly colorful with shrubs, mosses, and wildflowers. Cliffs and mountains that look like they were chopped from the earth with an axe. Thick, crack-riddled glaciers pouring off mountains like pancake batter that needs more water. Braided rivers meandering down mostly treeless valleys, and reindeer roaming wild. Summit views of a sea of snowy, glacier-clad peaks rolling away to far horizons. The world’s most comfortable huts and excellent food.

That describes my family’s weeklong, roughly 60-mile, hut-to-hut trek through Norway’s Jotunheimen National Park—whose name means the “Home of the Giants.”

Read “Walking Among Giants: A Three-Generation Hut Trek in Norway’s Jotunheimen National Park.”

  I can help you plan the best backpacking, hiking, or family adventure of your life. Find out more here.

  Sea kayakers in Johns Hopkins Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park.

Sea Kayak Alaska’s Glacier Bay

See seals, brown bears, mountain goats, humpback whales, bald eagles and a huge variety of large birds, and 2,000-pound Steller sea lions. Hear and watch bus-sized chunks of ice calve explosively from a glacier whose snout spans a mile across and rises a sheer 300 feet out of the sea. Camp on wilderness beaches with views of peaks soaring to over 15,000 feet just miles from the ocean.

A multi-day sea-kayaking trip in Glacier Bay offers a glimpse of what the world was like 10,000 years ago, as the last Ice Age drew to a close. This adventure remains one of the very best my family or I have ever taken.

Read my story “Back to the Ice Age: Sea Kayaking Glacier Bay.”

  Tell me what you think.

I spent a lot of time writing this story, so if you enjoyed it, please consider giving it a share using one of the buttons below, and leave a comment or question at the bottom of this story. I’d really appreciate it.

  You’ll also find ideas and inspiration at my All Trips page, which has menus of all stories at this blog, in my Ask Me posts, and in “My Top 10 Adventure Trips” and “My Top 10 Family Adventures.”

  Let The Big Outside help you find the best adventure trips. Get full access to ALL stories. Subscribe now!

[ntrending]

Flint residents are using fruits and vegetables to combat lead poisoning

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/flint-residents-are-using-fruits-and-vegetables-to-combat-lead-poisoning/

Flint residents are using fruits and vegetables to combat lead poisoning

The poisoning of Flint is a tragedy without end. Five years after learning their water supply was laced with lead, the residents of this Michigan town 66 miles northwest of Detroit are still reeling. And they may be doing so for a long time.

“We were and remain in deep trauma… grasping for hope,” says Bob Brown, a community activist who chairs WOW Outreach, a community-based organization dedicated to eliminating inter-person violence in Flint. “We are very resilient in Flint, but the trauma of what was done to us will take a long time to get over.”

Brown is among those in the Flint community working with Laura Schmit Olabisi, an associate professor of community sustainability and environmental science and policy at Michigan State University, to help locals cope with the ongoing health effects of lead poisoning. Her focus is on nutrition, trying to find ways to improve their access to healthy food. When people don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables — and fail to consume nutrients like calcium and iron — the impact of heavy metals in the body is exacerbated.

Olabisi describes, for example, how Brown tearfully told of how he unknowingly served lead-tainted Kool-Aid to his young son and his son’s friends, and the woman who described how she miscarried midway through her pregnancy, certain that lead was responsible. “It made me angry,” Olabisi says of the anguish she heard during a church-based listening session where people shared their stories.

Lead exposure is extremely dangerous, especially for young children. It can stunt mental and physical growth, including lowering intelligence, and — among other things — can cause kidney and central nervous system damage. It affects every system in the body. It can be found in bones and in blood. Lead can sometimes be removed, but the damage it causes can’t be reversed. Moreover, it can take decades for lead to leave the body, if it ever leaves at all.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that at least 4 million American households with children currently are being exposed to unacceptably high lead levels, including a half-million children younger than five. The nutrients in healthy food, especially calcium and iron, can prevent the body from absorbing it.

“We want to keep it from interacting with brain chemistry, and the way you do that is through proper nutrition, so [the lead] stays locked away in the bones and doesn’t reach the brain,” Olabisi says. “If it’s going to be a lifelong thing, you have to manage it, and nutrition helps you manage it.”

The history of Flint belies its bleak present. It was once a thriving city, buoyed by the auto industry boom, a leading manufacturer of cars and parts, second only to Detroit. But when the auto industry began to suffer, and General Motors began shutting down its Flint plants during the 1980s, the city’s fortunes plummeted, bringing social and economic chaos.

“In the 1960s, Flint was a very wealthy city,” Olabisi says. “The food system was local and healthy. You could get good food from your local mom and pop stores. Then things started to go downhill as the auto industry began declining and local businesses began closing. That’s when fast food places and dollar stores started moving in. Today, the businesses are not locally owned. There are big box supermarkets outside the city, but they aren’t accessible unless you have a car.”

Brown agrees. “When I go grocery shopping, I drive several miles out to the suburbs, buy my food, drive home, and unload multiple food bags from the car,” he says. “I would challenge anyone to do this via public transportation. Yet this is the challenge that many residents face.”

“Flint is a community that suffers under food apartheid,” he adds. “Over the last decade, all the major grocery stores have pulled out of Flint. Even when they were here, chain grocery stores in Flint had less variety than the same stores in the suburbs. The further out you went, the better the variety. Now many people in Flint only have access to convenience stores that sell alcohol and processed foods high in salt and sugar. These stores have very little foods high in vitamin C, calcium, and iron, the lead-mitigating champions.”

Increasing residents’ access to fresh produce and other healthy foods is a direct result of the lack of economic investment in Flint, Brown and others say. The residents, who are predominantly black, have had to deal with the same challenges facing many other communities of color, namely limited job opportunities and high levels of pollution. “The economy really fell out, and the water crisis made things even worse,” Olabisi says.

In 2014, as a cost-saving measure, Flint’s water source changed from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River, where lead escaping from pipes — and inadequate water treatment — heavily contaminated the water supply. Flint residents drank the water, cooked with it and bathed in it. One recent study of Flint showed that lead in children’s blood doubled after the switch, a rise researchers did not find in areas outside of the city. Another study found a decrease in fertility rates, and a higher rate of miscarriage.

“This is a community that has been traumatized and hurt in a way that didn’t have to happen,” Olabisi says. “These people were treated callously. They will be dealing with this for the rest of their lives.”

Olabisi had been working with Flint residents on nutritional issues before the water crisis began unfolding, and after it struck, she intensified her efforts. “A suboptimal diet has many health effects, including higher rates of obesity and diabetes, so it’s not just about the lead,” she says. “Food is an important part of the whole health system. A poor diet can also be linked to poor emotional regulation, which encourages violence. It just touches so many aspects of peoples’ lives that it’s important to get it right.”

She and her colleagues have a federal grant for a four-year program to examine Flint’s food system and develop ways to improve it. “Our [community] partners are still frustrated by the low level of healthy food access in Flint,” Olabisi says. “We have little pockets of success here and there, but the whole city is still underserved. We are trying to analyze the food system, including looking at Flint’s history and the root causes of its problems, to see if we can shift some of those levers.”

Some of these initiatives include the North Flint Food Market, a local food cooperative, and FlintFresh, a program that delivers boxes of fruits and vegetables directly to homes, businesses, restaurants and mobile markets. The food delivery is funded by community groups and foundations, and Olabisi says residents can use their food assistance benefits at some of the mobile markets to buy healthy produce.

Other ideas include promoting community gardens, linking local farmers to mobile markets and finding ways to coordinate transportation to enable people to reach grocery store locations where they can more easily buy fresh food, Olabisi says, adding that the project is trying to involve as much community input as possible.

“Flint residents have heard that organizations inside and outside of the community [are] working toward improving circumstances, but it will take time to earn back their trust,” says Lottie Ferguson, director of grants and development for the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce. “The project will have to be sensitive to [their] needs… and allow them to have a seat at the table, [and confirm] their voices will be heard.” The project “should tell us what ‘levers’ we can adjust to improve access to nutrition for Flint families,” Ferguson adds.

Education also is a critical component, Olabisi says. The idea is to support residents to make healthy food choices, and encourage them to cook fresh, healthy meals from scratch.

Ultimately, “we’re hoping something better can be built, a better system so that something like this can never happen elsewhere.”

Marlene Cimons writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture.

Written By Marlene Cimons

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Finding The Right NutriSystem Program For You

When it comes to monetary stability, Nutrisystem has its personal share of ups and downs. Some users may favor a simpler dieting plan that merely entails a pill or capsule that is taken once each day. If The Absolute Lowest Price For Nutrisystem Is Your Only Objective, Take A Look At The Flex Program: If all you care about is getting the lowest backside line value, then the most cost effective month-to-month program out there's the flex program. Saving Money By Rigorously Choosing A Nutrisystem Package deal And Then Capitalizing On Coupons: I do know that persons are reluctant to make a big dedication when they are not sure concerning the weight loss plan. They instructed me to just preserve doing what I'was doing and ensure I obtained in all of the meals required on the plan. If this occurs, then it might be a lot harder so that you can preserve Nutrisystem. New kinds of the 5-Day Nutrisystem equipment and the wildly profitable Fast 5+ package, along with a half dozen new individual merchandise, shall be on cabinets in stores nationwide in time for Eating regimen Season. It might be exhausting to eat Nutrisystem food, and only Nutrisystem meals, for the remainder of your life. You order straight from the official web site, or choose up a starter kit at some massive retailers. The more usually you monitor, the extra doubtless you are to stay to the plan lengthy-term. Pre N.S. food regimen was pretty healthy, no packaged meals, principally home made, simply responsible of overeating and consuming late. This system offers a protracted checklist of fruits, greens, nuts, recent meat and dairy, and different meals that you could eat along along with your Nutrisystem meals. In reality, it's almost inconceivable to locate a completely unbiased examine specific to Nutrisystem.

I began at about 210 kilos and I was a size sixteen and as we speak I'm about 162 kilos and a size 10. The plan works however the situation is that some people do not perceive it's not just about the meals. On common, Nutrisystem runs about $11 per day whereas Medifast runs about $10 per day. Uniquely Yours Plan - An additional 150 meals accessible (choose your own - together with frozen foods). Do not belief any food regimen that promises results without train and/or adjustments in eating habits. Nutrisystem is a meal-delivery system that takes the difficulty and work out of cooking well being meals and tracking macronutrients like carbohydrates, protein and fat. You can also save fifteen percent on the costs if you happen to go for the auto shipment/auto selection option on your plan meals. We have written about one NutriSystem success story , someone from the PEERtrainer community who shared their story. Value of dropping 20 pounds: About $706 for eight weeks of meals on the standard plan. This can help you keep things contemporary and fun which might make it simpler to stay to the food plan plan long-time period. Their purchasers have lost upwards to a hundred kilos although on their eating regimen plan plans and many have been in a position to preserve off the weight upon completion. Upon inspection of the meals labels, I didn't see any distinction nutritionally between Nutrisystem and Nutrisystem D, with carbohydrate content material or in any other case. You simply have to pick the plan from the multisystem,Once you resolve the plan, the corporate sends you the plan. A 2007 research of a hundred and sixty people within the Journal of American Medical Affiliation found the Zone weight loss plan helped people achieve modest weight loss after one year, comparable with these on the Atkins , Weight Watchers and Ornish diets, and improved cardiac risk elements. Whilst the Nutrisystem program does present assist via the transition again to normal meals, it may still be troublesome to adapt again to meals that aren't ready for the dieter. In short, Nutrisystem lets you choose your personal menu from quite a lot of meals, all of that are correctly portion managed. I've been on this eating regimen for two weeks, have lost 3 lbs'the food is so stuffed with bread, pasta, sodium, and a lot of processed food'At the moment I brought one of many soups for lunch and was shocked'ramen noodles. I still went out to dinner and lunch once per week and because of WW I knew how you can order so I didn't blow the Nutrisystem diet. Sure: For a meal-delivery weight loss program system, Nutrisystem is more economical than Jenny Craig. If I had been planning to proceed with the NutriSystem plan, I do not suppose I might purchase the soup once more, just because I can purchase a single serving can of Campbell's on the grocery store for a fraction of the price. Promotional objects, savings plans, discounted objects and computerized reorder are great approaches to help save money on Nutrisystem. In the first month that I've been on this system I've dropped 24.2 lbs doing some extra exercise on the side which is really helpful however not required for success. I believe those two words summed up the week - weight loss plan meals, which you can have a look at as a professional or a con. There isn't any face-to-face help, but you get help through on-line message boards and a mentor program that connects newbies with an skilled member. From the research, the distinction between the 2 teams on a daily food plan wasn't vital. Jenny Craig encourages interpersonal involvement through telephone calls and consulting sessions with program representatives at their center; therefore, the dieter doesn't want many pc expertise, however would profit from being geographically near one of the facilities. Last year I did a 1200 cal weight loss program and lost 10lbs in 1 month alone, however it concerned hours of determining what 3oz of hen seemed like and and so forth. I had two challenges for my food plan this weekend when I went to a Church meeting on Saturday where lunch was provided and at a Super Bowl celebration on Sunday. Not solely is that this program about $one hundred cheaper than the common program (only about $230 earlier than coupons,) however you are additionally allowed to take two days off every seven days. Right now they're providing $a hundred off the first month of the program which is a reasonably respectable low cost- we try to maintain that web page up to date. The food plan can also be supposed to help retrain your metabolism to work extra efficiently. To date I am more than happy with the plan and contemplating ordering it to take to the ski hill with me within the winter where employees accommodation rooms mean a shared fridge and range which could be troublesome to get entry and area in. This would be so nice to keep in a closet! Yes, the food from nutrisystem is extra bland than a steak dinner from Outback (oh dear GOD, i wager a few of you're already enthusiastic about how terrible Outback is instead of understanding my level).. however it baffles me that these people truly expect hand-delivered, sizzling, contemporary nutrisystem discount gourmet meals. The other day, I acquired an electronic mail from somebody who asked if shopping for frozen meals like lean cuisine or smart ones on the grocery store would yield the same weight reduction results as the Nutrisystem eating regimen. General, the meals supplied by Nutrisystem are of fairly good high quality, so far as frozen, prepackaged meals go; nevertheless, one shouldn't expect gourmand meals. He believed me this time and even made a option to eating regimen with me. He wanted to be supportive. I usually get emails asking me to clarify how many energy are consumed or taken in each day on NutriSystem. So, it is back to the drafting board for me. I believe I'll return to the Nutrisystem diet, which I found to be a much more sustainable (if a bit costlier) weight loss plan. I learn a few reviews on another website saying that users felt always hungry with the portion sizes, however I now really feel that they most likelye did not take the time or recommendation of NS to complement their meals with fresh greens, veggies, and fruit Thank you again for your great article! To transition off of Nutrisystem, I wanted to learn to use my very own foods to my food regimen which can be equal to Nutrisystem meals. We admire the customer testimonials and Nutrisystem before and after photographs of people who have used the meal supply weight-reduction plan. Walgreen, the biggest U.S. drugstore chain, will retail NutriSystem D weight-loss program, which caters to people with type 2 diabetes who need to shed weight, NutriSystem said in an announcement on Monday. NutriSystem was one of the first to offer this handy service, transport a month's worth of meals plus snacks and eliminating the necessity to grocery shop and do prep work. For the reason that majority of meals eaten will probably be their meals, this makes this a really limited food regimen. To successfully keep weight off, one should stick with the diet plan that assisted them to scale back the pounds to begin with. I've heard that its important to stay to your weight loss plan as best you possibly can without dishonest but the temptation could be very sturdy, especially for the fried foods that I like. Was up late one night time and saw Marie who seemed super-so this fat boomer determined to present the program a attempt. However, you'll discover a couple of eating regimen packages that not merely have a verity of tasty food, but in addition will deliver this stuff to your door, saving you time and rigidity. But, as of this writing, right here is the menu that is supplied on the essential nutrisystem plan. After being on Nutrisystem for 6 months, I made a decision to alter my plan to the weekends by myself plan, also referred to as weekends off. Hello there, I was on the fence about whether to strive Nutrisystem to lose some weight but could not find any actually helpful info online. Please get on a food plan and buy contemporary groceries it's so less expensive, higher tasting and more healthy. I neededa program that was ready for me, that had no various selections and was rigid and attractive enough to fulfill me. It was better than a self-sustained program 6 , stated a customer. I used to be moody and never losing a pound yet continued to analysis the Nutrisystem blogs to see if I was doing something fallacious! I'm James Meastas a professional health trainer and working on the diet options. The auto-delivery program is great for people who desire a low-effort weight loss plan program, but it's easy to neglect to cancel this system when it's now not needed. This is not a highly restrictive weight loss plan so you don't need a prescription and docs aren't the middle man. The one time I've ever been able to try this was after I decided to get on the Nutrisystem eating regimen. One survey involving 9,600 Nutrisystem dieters confirmed that about eighty% of them said that their starvation was glad. The Medifast shakes are the mainstay of the program and, luckily, I found all of the shakes to be pretty good as well, but they do are inclined to have a faint soy aftertaste. However, in order to provide you with an thought of the kinds and high quality of meals obtainable, I'll checklist three pattern nutrisystem menus under. There are a number of guides and ideas that include the initial cargo and since I chose the custom meal plan I was allowed to pick some frozen meal and snack options. The most well-liked weight loss program selection for males is the great old low-carb/excessive-protein Atkins strategy. Many individuals are pleasantly shocked to seek out that the stability isn't as nice as they thought it would be. Most clients work it out to find that this system actually costs lower than what they normally spend on the food that made them acquire weight! It surpassed other business weight loss plan plans in multiple areas, together with short- and long-term weight reduction and the way straightforward it is to observe. I eat my small nutrisystem breakfast before going and have the smartcarb and Powerfuel snack when i get again, then lunch an hour later. In some instances you might discover that your plan can go as much as 4 hundred dollars per week. Nutrisystem takes the guess work away; no counting calories, simply open the food and enjoy! The three important meals and at the least one or more of the snacks are prepared Nutrisystem meals. Nutrisystem affords a 14-day free trial whereby the shopper can cancel and obtain a refund (less shipping costs). Per week, in keeping with Free Weight-reduction plan and Greatest Eating regimen for Me. Medifast also gives plans for diabetics. In the event you will not go to conferences, the best online-solely deal is the three-month $65 plan (with computerized month-to-month renewal at $sixteen.ninety five thereafter). Various behavioral supplies have been developed for the Nutrisystem for Teens program. That is among the explanation why there are lots of people who are into Nutrisystem.

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Tempeh Tacos with Raw Cashew Queso

I have to start by saying how incredibly moved I was by the comments on the last post, and the emails I received from you guys – a deep, heartfelt thank you. I knew that opening myself up would spark a lot of conversation, but I never imagined the impact it would have, not only in regards to the incredible outpouring of support, but for sharing your own stories and struggles. Time and time again I am reminded of the power in vulnerability and open communication. I feel truly blessed to have a community of conscious and loving readers, and that we can all share our journey with one another. That is what makes us stronger, and certainly healthier human beings in every sense of the word.

Before I dig deeper into what I’ve been doing to eat for balancing my hormones, I’d like to just follow-up with the topic of orthorexia. Many of you expressed surprise at my struggles, thinking that because I do what I do, I must have had it all together. The truth is I thought that I did have it all together for a very long time, and creating My New Roots has been the most powerful catalyst in my healing. For the last decade, I’ve felt very grounded in my choices and excited to celebrate them with you. But like I mentioned in the last post, the experience of changing my diet has brought back many of the challenges, dark thoughts and feelings that I had convinced myself were gone forever. Putting new restrictions on myself made me to put food into “good” and “bad” categories. This probably doesn’t sound so terrible, but like I said before, this is a slippery slope into full-blown disordered eating for me. I see now that there is an incredibly fine line between caring about what I eat and caring too much. I believe that my relationship to food is something that I may have to keep in check for the rest of my life, or at least as long as I choose to use it as a tool to become a healthier person (so, like, forever).

In the last four months of tuning into what I need right now, and eating more consciously, I’ve really experienced a positive difference in how I feel, which is the biggest reward anyone could ask for! But I’ve also had bad days where I wasn’t prepared, and suddenly being at a wedding or a birthday party, or out for dinner with friends without much to eat in the “good” category, wasn’t so rad. My blood sugar would crash, I’d feel desperate, totally out of control and the voices would come back. What I’ve learned from these experiences is that I need to be as prepared as possible in these situations, but if I can’t, I simply have to let go. I cannot control everything and I cannot always be prepared, but that in order to move forward, I have to maintain flexibility, and stop being so darn hard on myself! I firmly believe that there is more strength in being fluid and forgiving, than rigid and judgmental. I am just a person, after all.

Since many of you were curious about the connection between food and hormone balance, I’d like to discuss it in more detail, and share what I’ve been doing to keep these miraculous chemicals in check, and keep them working for me, not against me!

Upping my fat and protein intake – but especially fat Fats are an essential part of a healthy, well-balanced diet, and they are especially important for hormone balance. Fats actually create the structural components of hormones, and cholesterol specifically is responsible for our reproductive hormones; estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

The type of fat you choose however, is critical to achieving a positive effect, as the ones you consume become the building blocks for your hormones. Saturated fats like coconut oil, butter and ghee, and monounsaturated fats like olive oil, nuts, eggs, and avocados are excellent choices and should be consumed responsibly every day. Cut back on or eliminate corn, canola, sunflower, safflower and soybean oils, and replace them with the aforementioned instead.

I’ve also increased my protein intake, and consciously replacing more high-carbohydrate foods with more protein-rich foods such as tempeh, hemp, sprouts, activated nuts, eggs, and quality protein powder has really made a difference in stabilizing my energy levels and appetite. Getting enough protein on a vegetarian diet is totally possible, but I find that if I’m not really paying attention, I can dip below the ideal 45 grams a day. Loosely (not obsessively) keeping track of my daily intake of protein has helped me feel my best.

Keeping my blood sugar stable It may seem totally unrelated, but blood sugar and hormones are in fact inextricably linked. One of the main functions of the endocrine system (the system that creates and transports hormones in your body) is delivering glucose to your brain, muscles, and heart. So if anything in that process isn’t working properly, than mismanaged blood sugar is the inevitable result. But what’s worse is that it creates a cascade effect whereby none of the other parts of your endocrine system will work either. Sheesh!

Walking the line between high and low blood sugar is something that I’ve really been focusing on lately, and it’s working well, but it is an ongoing process that takes some getting used to. Including more fat and protein in my diet has been a game-changer for me, since those macronutrients digest slower than carbohydrates – even the complex ones from things like sweet potatoes, quinoa, and chickpeas.

I try to eat a large and protein-rich breakfast within an hour of waking up (after the lemon water, of course!). Lunch is where I get the majority of my calories since that is when I need the most energy. I like eating roasted vegetables, avocado, eggs, and sprouted pseudo-grains like quinoa and buckwheat. I snack in between meals when I’m hungry, but instead of reaching for a slice of rye bread or a rice cake, I’ll have veggies with a high-fat dip, or a handful of my Maple Cinnamon Grain-free Granola. Dinner is mostly grain-free these days and I stick to salads, soups and stews. I go to bed no longer than four hours after dinner so that I’m not hungry right before I hit the pillow. Then I like to have a break of about 14 hours between dinner and breakfast the next day, as my digestion does well on the rhythm of intermittent fasting.

Eating more vegetables (and less bread a.k.a. DUH) I almost always had a couple slices of rye bread at lunch. Not that there is anything “wrong” with doing so, but I’ll admit to feeling pretty foggy-headed afterwards. And because it filled me up so much, I had less room for veggies. Now I’m prepping raw and cooked vegetables ahead of time and keeping them on hand specifically for my big lunches. Some favourites to roast in the oven are cauliflower, sweet potato, pumpkin, red onion, zucchini, tomatoes, and broccoli. I’ve also started cutting up a big plate of veggie sticks in the early afternoon, before I even get hungry, so that it is there and waiting for me – no excuses. Right before diving in I douse it in freshly squeezed lemon juice, Maldon salt and Aleppo pepper. It’s honestly delicious.

I don’t have to tell you that vegetables are full of filling fiber, replenishing phytonutrients, and yes, protein. Especially dem green ones. Eat more plants.

Habits + meal prep I think this was the other big hurdle for me when it came to changing things up with my eating habits. I knew that if I was going to start eating food differently, I’d have to start preparing food differently too – and a lot more often. I already spend a lot of time in the kitchen (obvi) and I love it, but I am also a person who likes to spend her non-work hours away from the cutting board. Eating this way admittedly does take more time, and makes it more challenging to eat out, or just grab something on the go. Coming to terms with this was challenging, but I’ve realized that I have to dedicate more time to my diet if I want to be successful. No matter how you slice it, meal preparation is a very big part of sticking to your goals, whatever they may be. Of course there are times when it’s just not possible to do, and divergent days are fine, but the majority of your food you’re should fall into the category that helps you feel your best, however you define that.

Instead of prepping one day a week, which I know a lot of people like to do, I actually prefer to pepper it throughout the week in a way that is a little more fluid for me. If the Life-Changing Loaf of Bread is in the oven for instance, I’ll chop up a bunch of veggies, and put them in too. If I’m washing greens for a salad, I’ll do all of them so that they’re ready to chuck into a smoothie on a whim. Lee from America’s Fat Balls have also been a super snack these days. And like I mentioned before, having fresh veggies washed and sliced up for afternoon cravings is very helpful. I can prepare two or three day’s worth at a time and keep them in the fridge.

Mindset Instead of looking at food in terms of “good” and “bad” which I think is a dangerously judgemental way to categorize what we’re eating, I like to say “yes” to certain things, and the others fall into the “not-right-now” basket. For instance, I love brown rice to the ends of the earth and back, but I’m not eating it right now since it doesn’t make me feel all that great. And just because I’m not eating brown rice these days doesn’t mean I’ll never eat it again! This leaves room for flexibility and creates a far more sustainable way to look at one’s diet. Isn’t it relieving to know that if you are out for dinner and there’s only rice for example, that you could potentially eat it and not beat yourself up? Ahhhh…did you feel that?! What a relief, eh? Tomorrow you’ll get back on the horse, no big deal at all. Making changes should be fun, and keep those labels for tin cans! You’re a fluid being, ever-changing, so make space for that in your meal planning too.

Self-care routine, stress-reduction, exercise, and sleep I used to see self-care as something that only “people with time” have. Well, after totally hitting the wall a while ago, I realized that it just has to be a priority, respected as a part of a holistic approach to health, and something to actually schedule in the calendar. Staying active, sleeping, and treating myself to some yummy stress-reducing activities like spending time in nature, bodywork, and cooking (go figure) keeps me feeling happy and relaxed. Squelching stress doesn’t happen by accident: it is truly a daily practice and something to be mindful of. Listen to yourself. How can this moment be juicier and more relaxing? It’s fun to love yourself!

Keeping stress levels low means that your body will be relaxed and not producing hormones that should only be reserved for emergency situations. Cortisol is a stress hormone released by the adrenal glands. Every time we experience a stressful situation we secrete this hormone into the blood stream so that our bodies can deal with the stressor at hand. Although cortisol is our friend in acute situations, our systems aren’t designed to be pumping it out ‘round the clock as we juggle and struggle with backlogged emails, fussy kids, and traffic jams. This is why chronic stress is so detrimental to our bodies: prolonged, elevated cortisol levels wreak all kinds of wrong inside of us, raising our blood pressure, causing unwanted weight gain, exhaustion, anxiety, impaired brain function, and weakening the immune response. All the more reason to take self-care seriously, and do the things you love more often. It’s actually healthy.

Sleeping 7-9 hours a night is another non-negotiable. Getting enough sleep helps us to control our cortisol production, balance our blood sugar, and put us back in line with our natural circadian rhythm. Turning screens off an hour before bedtime will help signal to your body that it is in fact, night time. Create a relaxed, cozy environment and spend the last hour before bed reading, stretching, or meditating. I still struggle with this one, as I love looking at Instagram right before turning out the light, but I’m becoming more mindful and doing my best.

Required Reading There are a few really amazing books out there that I recommend every woman reads, whether or not you’re seeking advice on a particular health issue. Understanding our bodies and cycles is the first step in helping ourselves become healthier, stronger, more connected women. Woman Code by Alisa Vitti has been hugely educational and supportive for me. Her book is a guide to figuring out what the heck is going on inside you, and how to correct it through diet and lifestyle. I appreciate her easy-to-understand language and humour in this book, because let’s face it: nothing is very funny when you’re hormones are raging! The Complete Natural Medicine Guide to Women’s Health by Dr. Sat Dharam Kaur has been and continues to be another excellent resource for me. This book is more of an all-round toolkit for lifelong health and healing, than specifically about hormone balance. I love the holistic approach to all conditions, and inspiring programs to get us back in touch with our natural cycles in connection to the earth. The third book I recommend is Hormone Balance by Carolyn Dean. Dean is a naturopathic doctor that utilizes both traditional and alternative solutions to help readers rebalance their hormone levels. Her writing is engaging and inspiring, and this book is full of ways for women to achieve greater overall health.

Oh man, I haven’t even talked about the tacos yet! So. I got the idea for these this past summer when I was chopping up tempeh to replace ground beef with in a tomato sauce for pasta. It turned out so meaty, satisfying, and delish that I thought I could perhaps take that same idea, spice it up a little differently, and serve them in a taco. Woot! I knew that grilled veggies and red cabbage would help cut the richness, but that I would also need a boss sauce to put them over the top. During one of my retreats I made a raw queso in our cooking class and everyone went wild for it. It seemed like a natural fit! Topped with some lime, avo, pickled red onions, and cilantro these were the best tacos I’ve ever had. Ever. Ever. And I’ve had a lot of tacos.

I know some of you are going to ask about the corn tortillas and probably remind me that corn is a “grain”. Yes, I am aware of that, and I’ll remind you that I am not grain-free, just cutting way back. I stick mostly to pseudo-grains and make sure they are soaked prior to cooking, and enjoy a treat like this once in a while. I only purchase tortillas made with sprouted corn, or from corn that has been nixtalmized (that topic is a whole other blog post!). I buy my corn tortillas from Hija de Sanchez here in Copenhagen. Their tortillas are made fresh daily using nixtamalized corn imported from Mexico, so they taste unbelievably good. Of course taco fillings are important to a good taco, but the tortilla quality should not be overlooked! It makes the dish. Go find the good ones.

    Print recipe    

Tempeh Tacos with Raw Cashew Queso Serves 3-4

Tempeh Taco “Meat” 250g / 8.8oz organic, non-GMO tempeh 1 medium red onion 4 cloves garlic 1 Tbsp. coconut oil or ghee 1 tsp. ground cumin ½ – 1 tsp. chipotle or smoked hot paprika, to taste 2 Tbsp. tamari 2-5 Tbsp. water, as needed

Grilled vegetables 1 medium zucchini 1 medium red onion 1 red bell pepper ½ tsp. fine sea salt 1 tsp. ground cumin a couple pinches of cayenne, if desired

12 small corn tortillas (try to find organic, non-GMO if possible) 1 batch Raw Cashew Queso, recipe below

Optional add-ins: 1 ripe avocado 1 small bunch cilantro pickled red onion or thinly sliced red onion shredded red cabbage tossed with a little salt and lime juice limes for serving hot sauce

Cooking and assembly: 1. Start by making the Raw Cashew Queso (see recipe below).

2. Heat your grill or barbecue to medium-high. If not using a grill, simply cook everything in a skillet on the stove.

3. Finely chop or crumble tempeh into whatever size appeals to you (mine were rather small to mimic ground beef). Set aside. Mince red onion and garlic. Set aside.

4. Soak wooden skewers in water while you prepare the vegetables, or longer if you remember. If using metal skewers, skip this step.

5. Wash and cut the zucchini and onion into rings, the peppers into chunks. Place in a large bowl and toss with the salt and spices.

6. Skewer the vegetables so that their largest surface will lay flat on the grill (see photo). Alternate veggies until you’ve used them all. Place on the grill and cook until stating to char on the underside, anywhere from 5-10 minutes, depending on your cooking method. Flip and cook on the other side.

7. While the vegetables are grilling, cook the tempeh. Heat your cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and a few pinches of salt. Cook until starting to brown, about 7-10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant. Add crumbled tempeh, cumin, chipotle, and stir well to incorporate. Pour in the tamari, followed by a couple tablespoons of water. Stir well and add water as needed – you’re after a moist mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Cook for a total of 10 minutes. The mixture should be golden brown, hot and delicious!

8. Warm the tortilla shells on the grill or in a pan over medium-high heat.

9. Spoon the desired amount of tempeh into each tortilla shell. Followed by the roasted veggies, avocado, cabbage, cilantro and pour on the Raw Cashew Queso. Enjoy!

Raw Cashew Queso Makes about 2 cups / 500ml

Ingredients: 1 cup / 150g cashews, soaked for 4-8 hours or overnight 1 red bell pepper ½ tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast 2-3 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste ½ clove garlic 1 small piece fresh turmeric ground cayenne, to taste ½ cup / 125ml water

Directions: 1. Drain and rinse the cashews.

2. Put all ingredients, except water, in a high-speed blender or food processor and blend, adding water one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached. If you want a thick cream, use less water, for a thinner sauce, use more. (You will not achieve a perfectly smooth sauce with a food processor, but it is still delicious!).

Before I go I just want to reiterate how wonderful it felt to be met with such open arms after the last post. I wish I could write back to every single one of you who shared their story with me, and everyone else here, but I simply couldn’t get to them all. I am moved beyond words that so many of you felt open and supported in this space too, and I will urge you to seek out help if you need it. And if you know someone who you think may struggle with disordered eating, reach out and help them in a loving, and non-judgmental way. We are all in this together.

In love and light, Sarah B

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

http://www.goldencircleretreats.com/portugal/index.html Dear friends! I am thrilled to share the location for my next wellness retreat in magical Comporta, Portugal, November 5-11, 2017. Join Mikkala Marilyn Kissi and I at Sublime Comporta for seven days of luxurious living, divinely delicious meals, inspiring cooking classes and nutrition seminars, yoga, Pilates, meditation, and breath work. Come press the reset button with me! Ride horses on the beach, dance under the stars, and cozy up by the fire. This will be a week to remember. I can’t wait to see you there! Click here for more info and tickets.

Source: https://www.mynewroots.org/site/2017/09/tempeh-tacos-with-raw-cashew-queso/

[cathrynstreich]

Full Speed Ahead

The CENTURY 21® Brand’s Forward-Thinking Approach Editor’s Note: This is the cover story in the August 2020 issue of RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine. Subscribe today. Two years ago, Century 21 Real Estate made a series of bold decisions to differentiate themselves from the “sea of sameness” in the market. First, they completely overhauled one of the world’s most recognizable icons. Second, the CENTURY 21® System challenged the existing conventions of complacency and mediocrity in an industry vulnerable to consumer distrust and indifference. Third, the global franchisor set out to transform the industry from transactional alone to experiential, recognizing that a holistic approach to providing an experience consumers demand—and deserve—from their real estate company and agent of choice was the best way to enhance its 50-year legacy as the “gold standard” in real estate. The market reaction, from industry professionals and consumers alike, has been nothing short of extraordinary as the CENTURY 21 brand realizes significant market growth and adds the very “best of the best” companies and industry professionals to its fold (see sidebar).

“Innovation doesn’t just happen in the form of technology,” explains Michael Miedler, president and chief executive officer, Century 21 Real Estate LLC. “It’s also about starting each day with a foundation of exceptional fundamentals and delivering elements of surprise or additional value at certain touchpoints or pain points in the process that create unique and personalized experiences. We are convinced that we are better positioned, by far, for our broker franchise network and their relentless sales professionals to win in our industry over all the competition—no matter the circumstances.”

During the first four months of 2020, in the face of COVID-19 and market uncertainties, the CENTURY 21 System added 10 new companies and renewed 38 franchisees, including the renewal of its eighth, 10th and 11th largest companies, respectively: CENTURY 21 Scheetz, CENTURY 21 Real Estate Alliance and CENTURY 21 Beggins Enterprises. Overwhelmingly, owners at these companies cited the CENTURY 21 brand’s leading quality service ratings, agile productivity platform and the continued relevance with consumers as the primary reasons for choosing Century 21 Real Estate as the best growth option for their affiliated agents and best experience for their home-buying and -selling clients.

“It’s all about having a consumer mindset and delivering the best agent technology, learning and marketing programs so they, in turn, can go above and beyond in helping their clients achieve the best outcomes possible, whether they are buying, selling or investing in real estate,” explains Craig Beggins, whose company has eight offices and more than 400 relentless sales professionals in Tampa and throughout Southwestern Florida. “We have strong relationships and deep roots in the communities we serve. The thousands of individuals and families we have served trust and rely on us for our local market expertise and the empathy we bring to each one of their experiences.”

In addition to industry-leading companies choosing to be a part of the CENTURY 21 family, the brand’s overall mission to defy mediocrity and deliver extraordinary experiences is also resonating with some of the very best professionals in the business. A recent case in point is the announcement that the No. 1 agent in transaction volume in the country, Kyle Seyboth, chose to affiliate with Century 21 Real Estate and is now operating in Southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island as CENTURY 21 The Seyboth Team (see sidebar). Seyboth intends to leverage the people, the culture and the platform behind the CENTURY 21 System.

“What sold me on the CENTURY 21 brand is the senior management team, and the understanding and entrepreneurial mindset they have for this business, which starts at the top with Mike. He is all about having his team deliver the best technology, learning and marketing programs to my affiliated agents so they, in turn, can go above and beyond to help their clients,” explains Seyboth, who, unsurprisingly, was courted by most, if not all, major real estate brands and franchises. “We have worked hard to develop strong relationships and deep roots in our communities, and this new affiliation ensures that our homebuyer, home seller and investor friends will be able to continue to trust and rely on us to assist with the best real estate outcomes possible.”

With Century 21 Real Estate committed to being the most sought-after brand in real estate, and its devotion to delivering experiences rather than transactions, the CENTURY 21 brand sits among the top overall customer-centric brands. According to the 2019 KANTAR Ad Tracking Study, Century 21 Real Estate is the most recognized company in brand awareness (coincidentally, for 21 consecutive years), the most recognized name in real estate and the most respected brand in the real estate industry. Plus, and more importantly to the CENTURY 21 brand in its efforts to perfect the real estate experience, homebuyers and home sellers in the last six months have given the System’s relentless sales professionals quality service scores of 97 percent in overall satisfaction and a recommendation rating of 98 percent on their RealSatisfied QSS (quality service surveys) ratings.

“We believe that the path to extraordinary requires giving 121 percent, and consumer ratings like these are definite market differentiators,” explains Miedler, who notes that agents who deliver extraordinary experiences and have enough transactions to meet the minimum QSS award threshold generate 22 percent more in commission than agents who don’t earn the award. “While others might be concerned with fees and splits, many of today’s top real estate agents understand that these are the most valuable figures to their overall long-term business growth and ability to build lifelong relationships with clients.”

Another step in the 20-year history of the CENTURY 21 brand’s focus on QSS was the introduction in 2018 of the CENTURY 21 Relentless Agent Awards (RAA). The RAA highlights groups of agents who have gone “above and beyond” for their clients, like Kathy Dipp of CENTURY 21 Redwood Realty, who knowing full well a landscaped lawn would show better, brought over her very own tools, mulch, flowers, etc., and did the landscaping herself on the listing property. Or, Misty Dowling of CENTURY 21 Broughton Team, who, after learning that a young, recently-separated single mother and homeowner could possibly lose her home to foreclosure, went above and beyond with the lien-holder, government agency and title company involved to save the homeowner’s credit and sell the home to another single mom. RAA winners, like Dipp and Dowling and many more, receive specially crafted trophies and have their stories showcased via a dedicated microsite, custom social media content, and national and local media outreach. Each was celebrated with their very own extraordinary experience like a trip to the ESPYs, the NCAA Final Four Tournament, the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament and even Broadway’s hottest show.

“We know full well that agent expectations will continue to evolve,” says Miedler. “Looking forward, we promise agility and speed, and a continued focus on delivering the extraordinary to cement in the future our status today as an early adopter of perfecting the home-buying and -selling experience. That way, the CENTURY 21 brand will remain in the hearts and minds of consumers when the real estate decision-making process begins in earnest.”

Founded by industry trailblazers Art Bartlett and Marsh Fisher in 1971, Century 21 Real Estate was created for the sole purpose of galvanizing entrepreneurs, challenging the status quo of real estate and enabling broker independence to achieve unprecedented success. Not only were Bartlett and Fisher the first to introduce the franchise system and a focus on consumer ratings to grow and stand out from the competition, they also understood the importance and value of giving back to people and communities. It’s this corporate social-responsibility culture that is baked into the CENTURY 21 DNA.

“Our people are ‘go-givers’ as well as ‘go-getters,'” says Miedler, highlighting the brand’s 41-year history with its philanthropic partner, Easterseals. In that time, the C21® System has raised in excess of $126 million for the organization, which speaks volumes about the brand’s commitment to the community. “My team’s primary goal is to ensure that each C21 professional feels 100 percent included and 100 percent empowered to deliver the extraordinary, no matter the circumstances.”

As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19, CENTURY 21 System brokers and agents are continuing to touch countless thousands of lives with local fundraisers, food deliveries from local restaurants to area first responders and even a first-time homebuyer wedding ceremony at one of its offices to help the couple secure a mortgage loan.

One such act of community support earned special media recognition. Thomas McGowan, of CENTURY 21 New Millennium, Fredericksburg, Va., was honored as a HomeGROWn Hero by CNBC for volunteering to serve as an EMT in Queens, N.Y., one of the hardest-hit districts during the pandemic. As a Lieutenant at Virginia-based LifeCare Medical Transports, McGowan and his team deployed to New York with eight ambulances and 16 fellow EMTs as he led a strike team that, when called upon to relieve overworked EMS employees with 911 calls and medical transports, provided advanced and basic life support, and they did so working 12-hour shifts with their own PPE. And yes, in true relentless fashion, McGowan stayed in touch with his sphere of influence and went “above and beyond” for his real estate clients as well.

“Our people never feel alone,” explains Miedler, noting that even in a pandemic, his team is able to ensure that CENTURY 21’s relentless sales professionals are equipped to always elevate and go above and beyond for their clients. “We are a family, and we will get through this. Together, the CENTURY 21 System will come out of this stronger and better than ever as we look ahead to the next 50 years as a brand.”

Excitement will continue to build for the CENTURY 21 brand in the coming months and years ahead. In 2021, the global franchisor will celebrate its 50th anniversary—a “golden” time for the original innovators of the real estate franchise model. While the brand promises some typical “pomp and circumstance” to commemorate the milestone, how it evolves, adapts and transforms its customer-experience vision, leverages data-driven customer journeys and creates an emotional bond with property sellers, buyers and investors will help to ensure that the CENTURY 21 brand will reach the century mark as the leader in real estate franchising that it is today.

If the past few years are any indication, and if COVID reminded the industry of anything, with a new brand identity, aggressive senior leadership team, and the very “best of the best” companies and agents continuing to affiliate with Century 21 Real Estate, the CENTURY 21 System will continue to consist of relentless “go-givers” who together are stronger no matter the circumstances. They’re not just working to transform the industry from transactional to experiential—they’re better as a whole because they’re in it together, giving 121 percent to their clients.

CENTURY 21® Relentless Agent Award Winners

The future at Century 21 Real Estate is so bright, the CENTURY 21 family and their clients will need to wear shades (thanks to Timbuk3 for the song and the reference).

To learn more about the CENTURY 21 value proposition, or to join the ranks of the relentless, please go to www.century21.com/about-us/contact.

*According to The 2020 REAL Trends and Tom Ferry The Thousand ranking July 6, 2020.

Paige Tepping is RISMedia’s managing editor. Email her your real estate news ideas to paige@rismedia.com.

The post Full Speed Ahead appeared first on RISMedia.

Full Speed Ahead published first on https://thegardenresidences.tumblr.com/

[savanahdppadillaim10insuran-blog]

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[toomanysinks]

Hola Code tackles the real migration crisis

Tamara Davison Contributor

Share on Twitter

Tamara Davison is a British journalist reporting from Mexico. She has written for The i Newspaper and Entrepreneur as well as many regional newspapers worldwide, and she is the current editor of Aztec Reports.

After spending eight months in an immigration facility in the United States, Abimael Hernandez made the tough decision to return to Mexico.

He had spent 14 years in Florida and was leaving behind his wife and three children to return to Mexico so he could go through the process of returning to the United States legally.

Hernandez didn’t want to live in fear of being pulled over by police; he longed to own a car in his name and he didn’t want his immigration status to be illegal any longer.  

Upon his return to Mexico, Hernandez had worked in construction, call centers and sold CDs before finally being given an opportunity that made a return to the United States less appealing. Hernandez now works as a software developer at Ignite Commerce in Mexico and has integrated well into the country that he at first struggled to identify as home.

Hernandez’s struggle to adjust and adapt to life in a new country mirrors that of other migrants who are returning to Mexico. And ongoing U.S. government attempts to put an end to the DACA program instituted under President Barack Obama, an initiative which protected as many as 800,000 unauthorized migrants that had come to the United States as children, are pushing many others along the same path.

For the people facing an increasingly hostile environment for migrants who choose — or are forced — to return to Latin America, little support awaits.

What tends to lie in store for these deportees and returnees in Mexico is usually low-paying service employment. For those with an undocumented status especially, no collateral in Mexico leads to problems in accessing finances, whilst having spent the majority of their lives in the United States, barriers in the Spanish language mean some returnees fail to be accepted into the Mexican education system. 

Though there are some government initiatives aimed at supporting deportees by providing shelter and food, this usually bilingual cohort is prone to unemployment, as well as the mental struggle assigned to the frustrations of reintegrating into a country with which many can’t identify.

It is the hardship of reintegration that inspired the foundation of Hola Code, the only Mexican startup of its kind that currently runs in the country. Founded by CEO Marcela Torres just last year, Hola Code is coined as hackers without borders and is a startup that offers a coding bootcamp for migrants, ensuring that this young generation, new to Mexico, does not slip under the radar.

Geared at supporting the integration of deportees, the startup is prepping Mexicans to enter into a high-demand sector through an intensive five-month software development training program that gives the students qualification, even though many have started from scratch.

‘‘We don’t know of any social enterprises or even regular startups that are actually tackling migration in Mexico,’’ Torres recently told TechCrunch. Although migration and deportations continue to make headlines, it appears that Hola Code might be the only Mexican startup trying to do anything about it.

Backed by San Francisco-based Hack Reactor, the Mexican organization costs nothing until graduates have secured a full-time job, and pays their students a monthly stipend without any bureaucratic red tape.

Collectively venturing into Mexican society with peers in a similar position, most Hola Code students also don’t plan to return to the United States and want to use their skill set in the ever-growing Mexican tech ecosystems. For former student Hernandez, he remains grateful for the support network that Hola Code became for him.

‘‘If Mexico had more opportunities like Hola Code I think returnees would definitely think about not going back to the United States and other countries,’’ he said.

The question now remains as to how international policies will continue to affect Latin American families in the future.

‘‘You create the program in the hopes that one day that you will run out of work,’’ CEO and co-founder Marcela Torres ambitiously explained.

MISSION, TX – JUNE 12: A Central American immigrant stands at the U.S.-Mexico border fence after crossing into Texas on June 12, 2018 near Mission, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is executing the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants’ country of origin would no longer qualify them for political-asylum status. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The bittersweet reality is that Hola Code has, in fact, blossomed within the past year, with now more than 400 monthly applications from Mexicans and Central American migrants that are seeking refuge in the country. Although the organization celebrates the achievements of their alumni, who tend to quickly ascend into well-paid tech jobs across Mexico, the coding bootcamp is never short of work, and is now looking to open an office in Tijuana to be closer to the border.

The journey for the startup’s female founder, one of a small number of women in Mexican tech leadership, has also not been an easy feat.

‘‘It’s very difficult for a woman that has designed a business plan and has ideas to be taken seriously,’’ Torres explains. ‘‘It took me a long time to find the original investors that would believe in my idea and in my capacity, as well, to run the organization because this is the first startup that I have executed.’’

The cultural burdens that still exist in Mexico is a reality that deters many women from entering into the entrepreneurial scene within the country. From finding investors to promoting an idea, it is the issue of being taken seriously that is most effective at stalling Mexico’s female entrepreneurs.

‘‘I think that it’s important for younger women to start seeing us out there trying to take risks and thinking that they can do it as well. Even if they’re not successful, that it’s something that is available and achievable for them.’’

Confronted by her own hurdles in becoming the tech leader of Hola Code today, however, her organization does much more than just in-depth coding. From encouraging young Mexican women to leap into business and tech, to helping each student find a job, Torres speaks of the hope, security and routine that every Hola Coder gathers as they become immersed in Mexican life through this community.

‘‘Helping them navigate the expectations of how to start a career in tech is one of the things that we work on and therefore it means that they develop the right skill set, and once they finish the program, to be able to successfully jump into big areas such as banking.’’

MCALLEN, TX – JUNE 12: Central American asylum seekers wait for transport while being detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. The group of women and children had rafted across the Rio Grande from Mexico and were detained before being sent to a processing center for possible separation. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is executing the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants’ country of origin would no longer qualify them for political asylum status. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Former student Miriam Alvarez is now a software engineer for SegundaMano. Growing up in the United States, Mexican Universities did not accept her U.S. documents and she too began working in a call center before hearing about the project, applying just days before the application deadline. ‘‘It’s OK to not know everything, but you should always be open to trying new things and learning something new,’’ Alvarez said, speaking of the broader messages that Hola Code delivers.

The overwhelming lessons that all Hola Code’s alumni praise is how the bootcamp delivers more than just coding, but also important life skills that allow for the transition to Mexico to be easier. Through reasoning and problem solving, many are grateful for the structure and direction that Hola Code provides Mexicans new to the country.

Though many of their students had joined Hola Code feeling “American,” the values that the group provides adds to the larger picture of Mexico’s growing tech scenes.

‘‘The biggest challenge for the tech sector in the country is access to human capital and the second one is retaining the talent.’’ By fine-tuning the country’s coding talent pools with bicultural young developers that speak English, Spanish and also JavaScript, the organization contributes to growing tech hubs such as Tijuana, Guadalajara and Mexico City, which are increasingly gaining global attention.

Hola Code is one of just a few life-changing organizations filling the gap in an immigration story that is seldom covered by the media.

Providing social mobility to people that have been forced to return through education, employment and exposure to tech pioneers, Hola Code’s alumni are spreading the message of integration through education far and wide across the globe.

As long as the fragility of migration continues to be tested, however, Torres and her team have work to do in their mission to produce Mexico’s next pioneering coding generation.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/hola-code-tackles-the-real-migration-crisis/

[fmservers]

Hola Code tackles the real migration crisis

Tamara Davison Contributor

Share on Twitter

Tamara Davison is a British journalist reporting from Mexico. She has written for The i Newspaper and Entrepreneur as well as many regional newspapers worldwide, and she is the current editor of Aztec Reports.

After spending eight months in an immigration facility in the United States, Abimael Hernandez made the tough decision to return to Mexico.

He had spent 14 years in Florida and was leaving behind his wife and three children to return to Mexico so that he could go through the process of returning to the United States legally.

Hernandez didn’t want to live in fear of being pulled over by police, he longed to own a car in his name and he didn’t want his immigration status to be illegal any longer.  

Upon his return to Mexico, Hernandez had worked in construction, call centers and sold CDs before finally being given an opportunity that made a return to the United States less appealing. Hernandez now works as a software developer at Ignite Commerce in Mexico and has integrated well into the country that he at first struggled to identify as home.

Hernandez’s struggle to adjust and adapt to life in a new country mirrors that of other migrants who are returning to Mexico. And ongoing U.S. government attempts to put an end to the DACA program instituted under President Barack Obama, an initiative which protected as many as 800,000 unauthorized migrants that had come to the United States as children,are pushing many others along the same path.

For the people facing an increasingly hostile environment for migrants who choose — or are forced — to return to Latin America, little support awaits.

What tends to lie in store for these deportees and returnees in Mexico is usually low paying service employment. For those with an undocumented status especially, no collateral in Mexico leads to problems in accessing finances, whilst having spent the majority of their lives in the United States, barriers in the Spanish language mean some returnees fail to be accepted into the Mexican education system. 

Though there are some government initiatives aimed at supporting deportees by providing shelter and food, this usually bilingual cohort is prone to unemployment, as well as the mental struggle assigned to the frustrations of reintegrating into a country that many can’t identify with.

It is the hardship of reintegration that inspired the foundation of Hola Code, the only Mexican startup of its kind that currently runs in the country. Founded by CEO Marcela Torres just last year, Hola Code is coined as hackers without borders and is a startup that offers a coding boot camp for migrants, ensuring that this young generation, new to Mexico, does not slip under the radar.

Geared at supporting the integration of deportees, the startup is prepping Mexicans to enter into a high-demand sector through an intensive five-month software development training programme that gives the students qualification, even though many have started from scratch.

‘‘We don’t know of any social enterprises or even regular startups that are actually tackling migration in Mexico,’’ Torres recently told TechCrunch. Although migration and deportations continue to make headlines, it appears that Hola Code might be the only Mexican startup trying to do anything about it.

Backed by San Francisco-based Hack Reactor, the Mexican organization costs nothing until graduates have secured a full-time job, and pays their students a monthly stipend without any bureaucratic red tape.

Collectively venturing into Mexican society with peers in a similar position, most Hola Code students also don’t plan to return to the United States and want to use their skill set in the ever-growing Mexican tech ecosystems. For former student Hernandez, he remains grateful for the support network that Hola Code became for him.

‘‘If Mexico had more opportunities like Hola Code I think returnees would definitely think about not going back to the United States and other countries,’’ he said.

The question now remains as to how international policies will continue to affect Latin American families in the future.

‘‘You create the program in the hopes that one day that you will run out of work,’’ CEO and co-founder Marcela Torres ambitiously explained.

MISSION, TX – JUNE 12: A Central American immigrant stands at the U.S.-Mexico border fence after crossing into Texas on June 12, 2018 near Mission, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is executing the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants’ country of origin would no longer qualify them for political-asylum status. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The bittersweet reality is that Hola Code has, in fact, blossomed within the past year with now over 400 monthly applications from Mexicans and also Central American migrants that are seeking refuge in the country. Although the organisation celebrates the achievements of their alumni, who tend to quickly ascend into well-paid tech jobs across Mexico, the coding boot camp is never short of work and is now looking to open an office in Tijuana to be closer to the border.

The journey for the startup’s female founder, one of a small number of women in Mexican tech leadership, has also not been an easy feat.

‘‘It’s very difficult for a woman that has designed a business plan and has ideas to be taken seriously,’’ Torres explains. ‘’It took me a long time to find the original investors that would believe in my idea and in my capacity, as well, to run the organization because this is the first startup that I have executed.’’

The cultural burdens that still exist in Mexico is a reality that deters many women from entering into the entrepreneurial scene within the country. From finding investors to promoting an idea, it is the issue of being taken seriously which is most effective at stalling Mexico’s female entrepreneurs.

‘‘I think that it’s important for younger women to start seeing us out there trying to take risks and thinking that they can do it as well. Even if they’re not successful, that it’s something that is available and achievable for them.’’

Confronted by her own hurdles in becoming the tech leader of Hola Code today, however, her organization does much more than just in-depth coding. From encouraging young Mexican women to leap into business and tech, to helping each student find a job, Torres speaks of the hope, security, and routine that every Hola Coder gathers as they become immersed in Mexican life through this community.

‘‘Helping them navigate the expectations of  how to start a career in tech is one of the things that we work on and therefore it means that they develop the right skill set, and once they finish the program, to be able to successfully jump into big areas such as banking.’’

MCALLEN, TX – JUNE 12: Central American asylum seekers wait for transport while being detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. The group of women and children had rafted across the Rio Grande from Mexico and were detained before being sent to a processing center for possible separation. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is executing the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy towards undocumented immigrants. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also said that domestic and gang violence in immigrants’ country of origin would no longer qualify them for political asylum status. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Former student Miriam Alvarez is now a software engineer for SegundaMano. Growing up in the United States, Mexican Universities did not accept her US documents and she too began working in a call centre before hearing about the project, applying just days before the application deadline. ‘‘It’s ok to not know everything, but you should always be open to trying new things and learning something new,’’ Alvarez said, speaking of the broader messages that Hola Code delivers.

The overwhelming lessons that all Hola Code’s alumni praise is how the boot camp delivers more than just coding, but also important life skills that allow for the transition to Mexico to be easier. Through reasoning and problem solving, many are grateful for the structure and direction that Hola Code provides Mexicans new to the country.

Though many of their students had joined Hola Code feeling ‘American,’ the values that the group provides adds to the larger picture of Mexico’s growing tech scenes.

‘‘The biggest challenge for the tech sector in the country is access to human capital and the second one is retaining the talent.’’  By fine tuning the country’s coding talent pools with bicultural young developers that speak English, Spanish and also JavaScript, the organisation contributes to growing tech hubs such as Tijuana, Guadalajara and Mexico City which are increasingly gaining global attention.

Hola Code is one of just a few life-changing organisations filling the gap in an immigration story that is seldom covered by the media.

Providing social mobility to people that have been forced to return through education, employment and exposure to tech pioneers, Hola Code’s alumni are spreading the message of integration through education far and wide across the globe.

As long as the fragility of migration continues to be tested, however,  Torres and her team have work to do in their mission to produce Mexico’s next pioneering coding generation.

Via Jonathan Shieber https://techcrunch.com

[sizzlingcrusadebouquetfan-blog]

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"state farm insurance quote near my location 92069

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state farm insurance quote near my location 92069

Where can i find a cheap auto insurance in los angeles for a 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX?

I own a 2004 Subaru Impreza Wrx (sedan). Vehicle has a clean title, not salvage, and payed off. I'm looking for the basic (state law requirement) type of auto insurance. I am also 19 years old with a clean record - no tickets, no accidents, etc. *I called a few insurances and so far Inifnity Auto Insurance $182 while Titan Auto Insurance $111.00*""

Debit prepaid insurance or prepaid expense?

dec 2. issued check no. 1103 for $2270.00 to miami insurance company for the premium on a 30,000 policy for the year beginning dec 1. would it be: debit Prepaid Insurance 2270 cedit Cash 2270 ??? thanks!""

How much is car insurance?

My mom said she would buy me a car, as long as i payed for the insurance. Im thinking about getting an SUV if that matters. Also I'm Terrell Owens so money is not an issue.""

What car insurance can i get with no down payment?

What car insurance can i get with no down payment?

""What's the most affordable auto insurance in Norfolk, Virginia?""

please, serious answers only.""

How would car insurance companies benefit if the driving age was raised to 18?

And would insurance cost less? please show sources if you can

How can i get health insurance?

Hello I am 18yrs old and i am trying to get health insurance. I am a full time student. My mom is does not have health insurance either, Her income is really low and i dont have any income coming in.. Is there a health insurance that is right for me? Please answer""

Can I put a car and insurance on a car if i have unpaid parking tickets from 4 years ago?

Can I put a car and insurance on a car if i have unpaid parking tickets from 4 years ago?

Military Out of state insurance?

Im a Texas resident but was stationed in Florida. My car was bought and registered in Florida, and I have my car insured in Florida . I am now stationed in las vegas and if i change the location my car insurance will double. Somebody informed me since im military i can have out of state insurance as long as its from where the car is registered? Is this correct? Does anyone know if im technically still covered or must i switch my car insurance?""

Help me with car insurance quotes?

Ive been doing quite alot of online quotes with comparison websites lately and I have noticed some of the insurers with the cheapest prices have disappeared... is this because I have done this loads of times? Or am I blacklisted. Im just worried as my insurance this year was 2300 and I will not be able to afford that again! It is only this high due the age of being 19. And also I have tried to go onto elepahant, admiral and even diamond to do quotes on there websites but i got a message appear saying I had to ring them as they were unable to do a quote for me online""

Cheap car insurance for a new driver?

like the title say do ya know a car insurance that is real cheap for new drivers got my license this month and my car and now i just have to register it and get insurance and i got a job and i just want to know how im going to budget stuff and how much you expect i should pay a moth

Florida Home insurance help?

I was recently dropped from my insurance company.My credit is bad so no one will cover me what should I do? I will also need flood insurance.

What are best and/or most affordable insurance companies?

In Oregon. And does anyone know the minimum if I am 21 and have had one accident? For 1996 Ford Taurus car Thanks

Whish insurance compay should i go to (auto)?

i just bought a 2000 Toyota camry Ve last night and i have never had any insurance before because i havent need it , i am 23 years old and i am looking for insurance some people told me go to Gieco has good prices""

Who are the best car insurance companies?

Im 17 ears of age livin in the UK. I really NEED to know te best car insurance companies. Ive not passed yet but i will have soon, il only be drivin an old punto or clio or summat. ideas please people! thanks""

Insurance and child support?

So my daughters father put our daughter on his insurance .. Which when she was born I put her on Medicaid now her insurance is all messed up because the fact that he did that. child support sent him a court oder for them to actually get everything fixed. Which he saying he doesn't know why child support sending him that..? has anyone gone threw this. Im confused.

My car was registered to an insurance company?

I bought a car about 2 years ago from a private owner. I just stumbled onto a free VIN report and it says the car was leased then titled to insurance co. No accidents though. Does this merely mean repossession or possible accident?

Whats the insurance cost for a 17 year old?

Hey, I am 17 and i am wondering what car I should buy, my parents said that I can have any car over 10 years so I was thinking about what the insurance would be on Mercedes-Benz E class, 2.2 diesel 2000reg, please help? Thank you for every answer:D""

Will medical insurance l be Mandatory in usa?

will medical insurance l be Mandatory in usa ?

Cheapest car insurance for female 37 on provisional?

Just bought a car Citroen c2 having real trouble getting insurance quotes under 600....HELP!!

For a 17 year old - how much does a car cost to run each month?

when i pass my test, i don't know whether to a actually buy a car. i'm 17 and if i bought a car, how much would it roughly cost to run including the insurance, maintenance, mot, and everything except for the petrol/diesel. the only problem is, i don't think i actually need the car as i'm at college with a bus pass, but in the summer i want to drive lots of places with friends like go camping etc with a car. i was interesested in renting one as it seems ideal for my wants, but you need to be like 22 to rent. is this true? to anyone who is driving at 17 in the uk - is it worth it or is it too expensive?""

Health Insurance- Test Result Privacy?

I am curious as to how much information my insurance company (through an employer) has access to. For example, can they view the results of my blood tests done via Labcorp/Quest if they payed for them? Also, what about a test such as an EMG and Nerve Conduction study. Do they receive a copy of the final report? I know a copy is sent to my physician and that I personally have the right to a copy. But are results also sent to my insurance company? For what it's worth I have BCBS. Any input would be greatly appreciated.""

What's the criteria on whether or not car insurance is high?

I'm 17, looking for my first car, and I want something that won't cost my parents a fortune on car insurance. But how can I tell if insurance is going to be high? Would 2003 Acura RSX give high insurance? I've completed a Drivers Education course too, if that counts for anything?""

If men have to pay more for car insurance then why aren't women paying more for health insurance?

You can use the same exact argument they use against men to increase their car insurance. http://www.jfponline.com/purls/Pages.asp?AID=2450 From the departments of Family and Community Medicine (K.D.B., E.J.C.) and Internal Medicine (J.A.R.) University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento; and the Division of Statistics (R.A.) and the Department of Economics (L.J.H.), University of California, Davis, Davis. Reprint requests should be addressed to Klea D. Bertakis, MD, MPH, Department of Family and Community Medicine, 4860 Y Street, Suite 2300, Sacramento, CA 95817. E-mail: kdbertakis@ucdavis.edu. BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that women use more health care services than men. We used important independent variables, such as patient sociodemographics and health status, to investigate gender differences in the use and costs of these services. METHODS: New adult patients (N = 509) were randomly assigned to primary care physicians at a university medical center. Their use of health care services and associated charges were monitored for 1 year of care. Self-reported health status was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36). We controlled for health status, sociodemographic information, and primary care physician specialty in the statistical analyses. RESULTS: Women had significantly lower self-reported health status and lower mean education and income than men. Women had a significantly higher mean number of visits to their primary care clinic and diagnostic services than men. Mean charges for primary care, specialty care, emergency treatment, diagnostic services, and annual total charges were all significantly higher for women than men; however, there were no differences for mean hospitalizations or hospital charges. After controlling for health status, sociodemographics, and clinic assignment, women still had higher medical charges for all categories of charges except hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS: Women have higher medical care service utilization and higher associated charges than men. Although the appropriateness of these differences was not determined, these findings have implications for health care.""

How much would car insurance cost for a 17 year old from allstate in california?

does it also matter what kind of a car it is? I have a 1999 chevy malibu

state farm insurance quote near my location 92069

state farm insurance quote near my location 92069

What's the cheapest new car in terms of insurance?

Strictly in terms of insuring the vehicle, which new vehicle would be the cheapest? Preferably an SUV, but a sedan would do as well.""

When will the health care insurance take effect?

When does the doctor start charging more if you don't have health care insurance?

Cheap car insurance for 28 yr old?

I have a 2003 Grand Am. I've had it for a year. Until recently I had it in my mothers insurance policy. But hers has expired now and I would like to have it put under my own policy. I've had my license since I was 20. I've never had any violations, not even a speeding ticket. What are some cheap car insurance for my situation. I live in Kentucky.""

17 year old car insurance?

Ive got a car and should (hopefully!) be passing my test soon but for reasons to complicated to list here lol I will only be able to drive it 2 weeks in easter time, 2 weeks in christmas time, 5 weeks around august and 4 days every 5 weeks, so by my bad maths thats just over 100 days. Are there any insurance companies for a 17 year old that you can get a fixed amount of days insurance, it seems such a waste to pay for 365 days if im only going to be able to use it for just under a third of the time. I read about some companies doing 60 or 90 days for young drivers but that might have been me mis-reading it, anyone hear about anything like that? Ive tried lowering the amount of miles on quotes but that hasnt reduced the price by much at all. I was hoping for quite a substantial saving. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.""

Can insurance change term suddenly without tell me?

Can health insurance stop cover my medicine suddenly? I have used this medicine for 6 months and now I refill it,( I have 12 months refill) my phymesist told me that the health insurance changed code and stoped cover it. Can insurance do that suddenly? What can i do to fight with them? thanks.""

Help on AT&T insurance?

Okay so when I got my upgrade I got the htc one x with insurance . A month later my friend traded me a galaxy nite for my htc one x . And now my galaxy note doesn't want to work will the insurance cover the note?

""So what would you suggest for my 1st car? has 2 b 5 door,cheap 2 run yet reliable & cheap on insurance??""

So what would you suggest for my 1st car? has 2 b 5 door,cheap 2 run yet reliable & cheap on insurance??""

EX(executive) class model car insurance?

Is it true EX class model car have higher insurance rate? I want to buy an honda accord 2000 EX.

Cheapest car under 1000 to insure?

I'm 17, male and want the cheapest insurance possible.""

""Can i make a car insurance in my name, if my girlfriend owns the car?""

I had some problems with DVLA some time ago becose i didn t SORN a car in time. Now i want to buy a car and make the papers on my girlfriend name becose of that...she dosen t have a driving license and the car is for me, so i want to make the insurance in my name....is that possible, will the insurance coste more becose i m not the owner??""

Can someone give me advice on good health insurance that offers maternity coverage??

I am looking into individual health insurance because my hubby and I are trying to conceive and I don't have any. I know I need to have it BEFORE i become pregnant. I don't know a thing about insurance and can't seem to find any insurance companies that offer maternity coverage.......I work for a temp agency and have worked for them for a year and a half and their insurance is astronomical so I'm looking on my own. My hubby doesn't have insurance where he works as a mechanic so i can't get it through his insurance. Any advice would help!!!!

Insurance Costs for a P Plate Hyundai Tiburon?

I live in Melbourne and want to get an idea on the insurance? (I already know its a lot) Thanks

No insurance ticket?

I got a ticket today for no insurance. I know I can go to court and show proof of insurance and just pay court costs. After I show the court my insurance card, are they going to contact the insurance company to make sure it is valid? I'm sure you know why I am asking.""

""Car insurance, they didn't take payment, was I insured?""

I have a classic car insurance policy with two cars on it, the policy started on one car but I later added a second. I have just taken the second car off the policy but it turns out ...show more""

16 and my parents don't have car insurance!?

hi there! I need some help! :( I am sixteen, g1 and next year i am planning on getting my own car.. thing is, i am under 18 so i cannot get my own car insurance. So to get my own car before i am 18.. how can i get insurance if my parents do not have any insurance policies to put on me. They do not drive, or even have their licence, and all of my family live in different cities hours away, and my sister does not drive. So i have no one to put my insurance under. Any options or advice, how do i go about getting my car insured by next year! :) Thank you!""

What is the average teen male's car insurance cost??

What is the average teen male's car insurance cost??

""If you buy a refurbished phone from at&t, can you get insurance on it?""

I am wanting to get the black blackjack II, and I was also wondering if it would be worth it to get insurance, since its only $60.""

Can a part time student get health insurance at a discount?

I am 30 years old, diabetic, currently living in South Korea as an English teacher. I am considering returning to America, becoming a part time student, and getting a part time job teaching ESL in California. Can I get discounted insurance at age 30 for being a part time student?""

How much will my insurance increase?

I'm a young driver (20) and my car insurance it's currently 3000 a year which I paid in full (lv) Now I had an accident 4 days ago and I scraped someone's car when reversing so as I worked with his girlfriend we started settling it outside work but he's giving me quotes for 1000 and I only scraped it. So settlin it is out of the question, I've only been driving since October and this insurance company I've only been with for 2 months, how much approx will insurance premium go up?""

Car insurance for a 17year old girl..please help?

so im just trying to find out an estimate of how much it would cost to get insurance on a 2005 Ford Mustang. Im 17 years old and i have very good grades....my parents are freaking out saying it would be too much money. can someone help me out in price ranges please?! thanks

How much does car insurance cost with a DUI?

I have an impaired charge, how much will basic insurance cost for me knowing I havens DUI? if you happen to know what it would be in Alberta, that would be great help.""

What is The Best Life Insurance Policy?

What is The Best Life Insurance Policy? I am Looking For the Best Life Insurance Policy We are having another child and I have to do something about not having any life insurance Can I get A free Online Life Insurance Policy Quote somewhere. Thanks for your time

Will a cell phone ticket effect my car insurance rate?

I got a cell phone ticket that might go on my driving record. Wil it effect my insurance rate? I have 21 century with a great low rate. Will that change?

Someone hit my totalled car what will their insurance do to figure out how much to give me?

Someone hit my totalled car what will their insurance do to figure out how much to give me?

Does anyone know how much car insurance will be on a 2003 ford focus svt 2 door?

im thinking about buying a ford focus svt i just need to no around how much car insurance might be if any one knows

state farm insurance quote near my location 92069

state farm insurance quote near my location 92069

Do you have health insurance?

if so, how much is it per month? How old are you? What kind of deductable do you have? Feel free to answer also if you do not have insurance and also do you support Obamacare?""

Why the heck is insurance so high?

So I'm 17 trying to get insured on any car from a 1-1.2L DIESEL. I've tried practically everything and it's so expensive. I get quoted 15,000 for a MINI COOPER S and 12,000 for a corsa. The area I live in insurance is low. I passed in july and I really need a car. Any suggestions for cars or insurance?""

Funtions of home insurance?

what are functions of home insurance?

I'm getting my licence next week and I was wondering how much insurance cost for teens.?

I'm getting my licence next week and I was wondering how much insurance cost for teens.?

WHERE I CAN FIND A CHEAP CAR INSURANCE IN LONDON?

WHERE I CAN FIND A CHEAP CAR INSURANCE IN LONDON?

Is insurance cheaper if you have had experience on the road?

I am 16 driving a moped I'm looking to get a car when I'm 17, will insurance be cheaper for me because I drive a moped?""

Quick insurance quote for a 2006 range rover sport hse?

i am 16 and found a 2006 range rover hse sport for only 10 grand. the car is immaculate and freaking loaded to the top with upgrades. i know you are all thinking WTH? but the car is not salvaged and runs perfectly. i can afford the payments for the loan i am getting, but what insurance company would charge the least amount of money with decent coverage, cause liability aint covering the rover. thanks for all ure help, P.S. how much would registration be?""

Insurance?

isnt an insurance company suppose to cover your car regradless the person driving it? well my boyfriend was driving my car-just bought-brand new car- and got into an accident. Now my insurance company denied my claim cause they say he wasnt under the insurance. but should my car be cover regradless if the person driving wasnt? I mean I pay monthly payments and then they are just gonna deny me after an accident. could anyone help me? any advice?

What is the best motorcycle towing insurance to have?

I have a Yamaha 650 V-Star with spoke wheels and I tend to go on several hundred mile road trips. I did not had a flat in 6,000 miles of riding last year, but I want to be prepared.""

""Insurers are anticipating large health insurance price increases next year due to Obamacare, how will libs try to spin it into a positive?

http://news.yahoo.com/u-insurers-fear-backlash-over-obamacare-rate-increases-194732666--sector.html

I need help with car insurance.?

I am saving up for a car but I don't wan't the car to be a sports car because the insurance would cost to much. Could you tell me which cars are not sports cars. 1967 chevy impala 1969 chevy nova 1969 plymouth Barracuda 1995 chevy camaro 1970 AMC Javelin Ford thunderbird ford firebird Thanks!

Driving without insurance?

My mom has insurance in her name for her car. I passed my road test yesterday and got my license. Can i legally drive the car with her INSIDE of the car? I'm not listed on her insurance? If i get pulled over do i legally have insurance? What will happen?

Can you get a car insurance quote If you can't drive at first?

I am only currently doing driving lesson's and don't own a car but am I able to get a quote if I can provide the detail's on what car I want roughly?

Car insurance!?

I have recently bought a new car but im 21 years old. the car is in my name but i want the main driver to be my dad and then me as an additional driver. is there any cheap insurance companies that will allow that. or has any1 aged 21 that has been driving for 2.5years got cheap insurance thanks

18 year old and car insurance...help please?

I've been saving up the past 3 years to buy myself a car. I've saved about 18K for a new car, so my price range is from about 18-24K for a car, new or used. Some cars that I'm interested in are: In Order: 1. 2004 BMW 530i 2. 2004 Infiniti G35 3. 2005 Mercedes C230 4. 2004 Acura TL or RSX 5. 2005 BMW 325i My problem isn't whether I can afford the car and the maintenance fees, its the insurance. I would be under my fathers insurance. He's 55, no accidents or tickets, been driving since 16. He would be the primary and I would be the secondary. I go to college, have a 3.8 GPA, work part-time, have been driving since 16, no accidents or tickets, and the car would be parked in a garage. I also wouldn't be driving much, just to and from school (less than 7500 miles a year). How much would basic insurance be? I hate getting online quotes because its time consuming and I hate getting spam emails and phone calls. I'm thinking of buying the car soon, so please help. THANKS!""

How much would my usaa insurance be?

I was pulled over for 3 violations (no license, insurance, and running a red light) and next year it will be 3 years. The court said they gave me 1 point on my license (I paid off my ticket because I couldn't go to traffic school). I read that insurance companies could see up to 5 years of your driving history. I plan on completing an online course to be certified. I've had my license for over a year. I'm a female in california, currently 19. I was wondering how much my insurance would be (I'll be under my parents usaa insurance) if I complete the course and wait until the 3 years are up. Serious answers only please. Thanks!""

Where can I get insurance in New York City?

Hi everyone and thanks for reading, I know it's probably a stupid couple questions but I'm trying to figure this out, perhaps i'm not looking in the right places. Anyway I need to know a couple things: 1) Where can I get health insurance in NEW YORK CITY for my employees? 2) Where can I get insurance again in NYC for my company? Thanks everyone!""

Car insurance help!? please...?

Somebody hit my car and possibly totaled it. If it is totaled would their insurance just pay off my car, just give me a check for what its worth or both??""

How long do you have to get insurance on a car after loaning?

A relative of mine wants to take over notes to my current car. I'm waiting for papers to come back to approve her and get the title in her name. The note was too high anyways but I have to pay for the note ($375) and insurance ($251) until everything is situated. Well I found a cheaper car for 6,000 and I'll be paying a little more than $100 each month. I want to hurry and get this car because I really like it and if I wait too long then it would be gone. Do I have to get insurance on it right away. I won't be driving it until I get insurance. Would they come and repo it if I don't have insurance but paying the note? I can't afford two notes and two insurances. So that's why I wanted to wait until I got rid of my first car to get insurance.""

Is there an insurance company that offers ONLY liability insurance for your home?

I am looking to buy liability insurance for my home property, not insurance for the replacement value. Is that possible? Has anyone done it? What insurance companies might offer it? thank you.""

Cost of Insurance for Nissan 350Z?

I am 18 years old (about to turn 19) and gonna buy a 350Z (well my parents are). I have always wanted one and I am getting it for looks and commuting only. But to be safe, I will buy a police radar and install a kill switch as soon as I get it. My question is how much would insurance be for a 2004-2005 Nissan 350Z? Would it be better to buy the Z in my parents' name under my parents' insurance? Also, I am curious of how much do any of you pay for a car like a 350Z.""

Auto insurance for a Ford Mustang vs. Honda Accord?

I am a 16 year-old female who currently has a 4.4 GPA. I took drivers ed when I was 15 to get my license. I heard that cars are ridiculous to insure for young drivers, especially ...show more""

""If you crashed your car into someones, how much would insurance pay out?""

Assuming the cost is 18,000, most of it being for injuries the other party claims to have (<1000 bucks in damage). How much would insurance pay and how much would i have to pay? No damage to my own car. No need for insurance after this because I dont think im going to drive again after hearing the cost. I cant call the insurance company unforunately. Do you think I would have to pay all of it? I had full coverage.""

What car insurance is cheap for young people?

What car insurance is cheap for young people?

Why insurance co. do so much not to pay out a fair claim?

Insurance co. will do anything to deny your claim. They make billions a year to pay out on fair claims but never do. It is ridiculious how they have charge people all this money for coverage that they dont even provide when it is needed. They will try every trick in the book to not pay out. They also ask you roundabout questions, than have there co. take it apart word by word than deny the claim. Have any one ever think about how they have very strict laws on people commiting fraud, but shouldnt they set laws for insurance commiting fraud to? They rip off people day after day that is a sort of fraud as well. Insurance co. have been getting away with this for many years it is time that this is stopped. Funny this is we cant live without them. If you have a car you HAVE to have insurance its a must. But you dont have to have it for a home if it is all paid for. but who want to lose on investment of their home in a case of a fire. Shouldnt congress or lawmakers set some rules?""

state farm insurance quote near my location 92069

state farm insurance quote near my location 92069

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/affordable-auto-insurancecom-jayden-tucker/"

[numberonesongdreamer-blog]

Atkins Is actually Safe For Your Kidneys.

This is actually the first ever LADA Recognition Week, arranged by Diabetes mellitus Present Groundwork and dLife LADA represents Latent Autoimmune Diabetic issues in Grownups. There are actually defeinlty times when I perform think that it all forms as well as various other times where nothing at all goes baseding upon program. Your body system has actually had it is actually dietary have to preserve this's inner functionalities satisfied, due to the meals you consumed, but that shedding efficiently, considering that the exercise has actually triggered your metabolish to increase and also work out uses up calories too, the body needs even more fats compared to you taken in. I'm really pushed to eventually be actually an ACE Qualified Personal Fitness instructor and also my plan is to deliver online services to my audiences.

I have applied a handful of extra pounds yet I have made plans to getting back to by doing this from consuming. If you have a good meal the night before have this for supper or freeze it for another time, for some reason all meals on this website flavor much better the upcoming day! After restraining my weight on diets for so long, my body typically gained weight when I stopped weight loss as well as started to eat commonly (yep, that can happen). In 2010, Jared admitted to getting back body weight, which was covered through a heavy winter coating in one commercial, yet he promptly leapt back on the Train diet. Our experts like making ice teas in the summer and generating different blends to cool us below pepper mint tea along with lemon, green herbal tea along with ginger as well as fresh mint, as well as obviously hibiscus herbal tea. The grapefruit diet works merely because of fat restriction as well as doesn't have a lot to a lot to carry out with the grapefruit on its own. When several resources are actually being taken into consideration and a few select diet regimens seem to be to always keep turning up on top, there is actually probably an excellent explanation for that. Select wisely this year. This implies you'll have to take thyroid bodily hormone supplements orally, usually the dependable type T4 (Levaxin), which your medical professional could recommend for you. However if you have the ability to comply with the plan you can easily assume to drop weight as well as experience far better health and wellness. The Dukan Diet plan may come with threats, possible side effects, and also wouldn't be an ideal weight loss prepare for everyone. The remainder of the time, you absolutely intend to get inside those healthy and balanced body fats as well as thread, however pre and also article, fat and fiber decrease the transportation of nutrients with the stomach, postponing the benefits from your food. If your medical facility body weight control clinic/physician deals a VLCD, do not be frightened due to the accounts from slowing down metabolic process, slim body system mass reduction, as well as weight/fat regain/rebound. With over 13,000 Twitter followers, Freedhoff produces a very big sprinkle on the planet from dynamic weight-loss advice as well as experience. Previous investigation has connected specific food items colourings as well as chemicals to ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER signs and symptoms. Low carbohydrate diet regimens commonly produce AMAZING temporary (1 year or even a lot less) outcomes including every one of the things that you have actually discussed as a result of a sizable rise in tension hormonal agents (others as well as catecholamines). So as to get the weight off, you have to burn more fats than you take in, and also will call for some kind of healthy and balanced consuming/ working out approach. That seems fine due to the fact that our hands are actually made to suit us," claimed our resident nourishment professional, Mary Hartley, RD For every dish, those on the diet regimen are inquired to choose a low-fat healthy protein as well as carb. Transforming the diet regimen must of course be actually a way of life not a 5-7 time since folks reside in such bad shape from the beginning switching to a complete on healthy and balanced diet regimen will certainly make all of them think much better, as well as ideally make all of them think about eating better at all times. After that, when you are actually carried out taste testing, return right here as well as give my Diet regimen Mixed Berry Smoothie a go. I strongly believe that the very best clinical documentation our company possess demonstrates that it is a lasting well-balanced way of life that leads to lasting health renovations, whether or not a person drops weight. http://utiledelabeaute.info/testo-ultra-test-et-de-lexperience/ is specifically the scenario in boys, along with greater than 8.5% from people very worried regarding their body shape From this team, over 7.6% of teenagers and also boys were taking likely dangerous" products on a monthly basis to gain weight. Howevered, Paleo is actually a pricey, pork wealthy, dairy absent diet regimen that is actually hardly a neighborhood large remedy to the current excessive weight wide-ranging. I have aimed to reduce weight for the final 3 years because i got 30lbs for no main reason over a 2 month duration. The diet plan platform, for all its own negative features, may in fact be very supporting. Values were likewise measured 2 and also four years after baseline, yet results are not easy to sum up, and also I don't offer excessive support to a diet regimen customization purported to last that lengthy. A latest research compared low-carb to low-fat diet programs over Twelve Month and also really discovered far better enhancements in heart disease risk aspects on the low-carb diet plan (maximum of 40 grams a day). Either the food has to be actually modified or even medication transformed if blood stream glucose climbs by more than 10 mg/dl (0.56 mmol/l) after a meal. Again, if you consider the literary works in overweight females or individuals along with heart disease, once again these studies carry out reveal that you can easily receive some weight reduction, however not much more than any other diet regimen that restricts your fats. Modification is of any type of kind can be hard, whether you desire to slim down or even believe just plain and wonderful zing evaluate every day - yet this's much worse when you haven't even started but. Review below as well as distinguish me exactly what you prefer to be actually measured by other than your weight. I believe experiencing that I am doing not have in self-constraint has restrained my understanding of my own body weight problems and also viewing over weight patients as noncompliant has actually filled in the means from the medical community offering this health care trouble severe medical attention. Basing diet plan or exercise on lifting HGH is actually not likely to offer any type of true benefits and will possibly diminish sticking to sturdy, proof located nutrition guidelines. Each diet program is, of course, specific as well as one size does not suit almost ... LCHF is actually a superb location for most of us to begin. I've also neglected a time of certainly not taking it as well as I failed to possess need to over indulge with the food items.

[lodelcar]

FROM CIRCULAR ECONOMY TO INTERNET OF THINGS: NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Picture: Restaurant with recycled furniture and decoration in old malt factory in Boortmeerbeek (Belgium)

The dichotomy between generations

I went recently to the presentation of a new strategic plan for several Balkan countries close to the Adriatic. It is hopeful and fascinating that EU-members are involving the Western Balkan countries into a supranational approach for regional development. It is also surprising that the drivers for this the supranational strategy are cities and provinces alongside the Adriatic sea[1], and not national governments. However, parts of  the proposed strategy seemed old school to me, insisting on agricultural, aquacultural and touristic collaboration. The strategy insists upon capacity building and research, and development of SMEs hoping for a transfer of knowhow between old and new Europe.

What stroke me, during my trips to Eastern Europe, but also to the rest of the world, is the fact that in certain disciplines there is no need for capacity building or for transfer of knowhow. The young generation wherever in the world, that grew up in this new and fascinating world, is eager for all novelties and technological developments, and only needs ideas and opportunities to show their acquired interest and capacities.

And those new trends are not aquaculture, agriculture or tourism. They are to be situated in the digital world, the renewable energy world, the circular economy world and the sharing economy world. Moreover, creativity in these disciplines does not necessarily need huge investments to be successful. And it can be applied to regional markets that can immediately benefit from local innovation.

So let us try to develop some ideas for the future, applicable by young entrepreneurs in the Balkans and other upcoming economies.

The digital economy: a worldwide phenomenon

The digital economy goes in many directions. Some are applicable worldwide, like Facebook or Twitter. Some are applicable locally, such as the payment app for toll booths on Romanian motorways, or even the health control bracelet for elderly people in their home linking them to local healthcare centres and keeping them at home for a longer period of time.

But this digital economy creates new jobs, for young developers, young installers, young service providers. We can find applications already in the following sectors: buildings, energy, consumer & home, healthcare & life science, industries, transportation & mobility, retail shops, security and public safety and of course IT & networks.  It appeals to 28 application groups and in 29 different types of locations. These strategies are to be developed in a close collaboration between local and regional authorities as drivers, local technical schools and universities as inspirers and local companies and start-ups as executors. And supranational, national and private funding as financial source. We are talking about applications for internet of things, applications in the sharing economy, developments in 3D-printing[2] and developments in artificial intelligence and robotisation. All this knowhow is present in many countries. Conditions, such as 4G technology are also available in European countries. But this requires local interest from town halls and regional administrations and local strategies. Because in many cases these new technologies can provide a stunning progress in public service to the population, and therefore be a proof for a well functioning local public authorities.

The circular economy: an economic opportunities or for idealists and lunatics?

The definition of the circular economy refers to the more efficient use of raw materials, existing materials, energy, water, space and food  by smartly closing usage cycles. A distinction is made between biological material and technical material. In the first one, the use of farm waste for energy purposes and others is at stake, whereas in the other one the principles of recycling, refurbishing, remanufacturing, reuse and maintenance are the principal characteristics.

Circular economy is a mind-set though, in the first place. It invites the public opinion to embrace the principle of not exhausting the planet, to go for sustainability, for reuse of materials and garbage and for avoiding waste by making the effort of re-entering used products in the consumption chain. Literally this means that people enjoy shopping in vintage clothes shops, enjoy sitting on remanufactured second hand tables in restaurants and enjoy having meetings at work in refurbished seats. It is the young generation, that loves this mind-set; that loves technical innovation in a sustainable context.

Once this mind-set is adopted by a sufficient number of inhabitants, it becomes a market. A market interested in product design innovation from existing products or even waste. A market for manufacturing and producing home made products. This provides opportunities for entrepreneurs willing to collaborate, making standard screws and nuts that can be reused, standard metal supports designed for modular applications which can be rearranged to create different configurations and variants. A market for repairing old furniture, which is dismantled and new shaped, starting a new life cycle. A market for circular shops, to which people bring in their old washing machines, that are repaired and resold at cheap(er) conditions. A market for reusing old stone benches on public sidewalks, dismantle them and brushing stones around it, creating a very modern public space.

The business opportunities in the circular economy are numerous:

·         Recycling: convert waste into a reusable material

·         Repair: Bringing the product back to the original state

·         Upgrade: improving the product with a better functionality

·         Modularity: design a product into easily detachable components

·         Durability: design longer lasting products

·         Resource trade: waste from one company serves as a resource for another company

The sharing economy: the next step in a sustainable world

The sharing economy is of all times. Public libraries are a typical example of it, existing since hundreds of years. They were created out of concern of local authorities to enable people to acquire knowledge and affordable intelligent entertainment. “Popular elevation” it was called at the end of the nineteenth century.  Several principles of rental were installed, each time there was a market: agricultural machinery rental, car rental, garden machinery rental, video rental, bed & breakfast. The principle was identical: sharing a product with others for the life cycle of the product.

Once apps were available, the principle of rental received a whole new content. Peer-to-peer accommodation enables home owners to propose a room to people, promoting it only in an app, AirBNB. Uber offers a private individual to use his own car as a taxi and to receive orders without doing promotion. The driverless car makes companies dream of car fleets that are shared among users that only order a car when they need to use one. The same can be done by companies who need personnel on a temporary basis, and that are unwilling to fill in the necessary paperwork. Online staffing applications offer companies the possibility to share staff.  The same principle is offered to restaurants who make lunches that are not consumed in their restaurant, but in the customer’s home. Delivered by bikers, in special containers. The bikers are able to pass through heavy traffic and deliver hot meals within minutes. The same bikers deliver also parcels in the framework of e-commerce.

Elderly care at home

A specific niche, requiring a thorough collaboration between public and private sector, is the sector of the elderly care. The more we travel to the east, the greater the unwillingness to put someone’s parents in elderly homes. In the first place because of the inexistence of decent and affordable facilities, in the second place because of the century-old tradition that children take care of their parents.

But the reality of the twenty-first century complicates things enormously. The younger generation works in the city, lives in an apartment, and is therefore unable to take retired parents in their homes. Or they even live abroad, send monthly money to the retired parents, but have to take care of them from a distance, through skype.

Developments of remote health control and intervention assurance are thought over and installed. Lunches are distributed, the cleaning of the house is organized. The remote control system is again an internet application. It can perfectly be installed thanks to a bracelet at the older parent’s wrist. It triggers a warning system in a control room, provided there are abnormalities or if the parent pushes the button. The lead time for the intervention should be very limited. It is up to the authorities to take initiatives and to control the quality and the price of these systems. The private sector can organise this, make a business out of it.  It requires IT-knowhow, well trained and dedicated personnel, transportation means (depending on traffic density). We are sure there is a market.

The role of the local authorities

As I mentioned, Europe is promoting the role of local and regional authorities in economic and social development. They can more easily work together, provided there is a willingness to do so and not to fight politically between regions for ideological reasons.

In the first place local authorities inspire and bring partners together from the business world, from universities and technical schools and stimulate start-ups. They fill in a strategy for internet of things applications and also offer (shop) space & look for partners in civil society for pilot projects such as FabLabs or Circular shops.  One of the crucial roles of local or regional authorities is the organisation of (separate) waste collection but not to put it afterwards in a dump but to take initiatives to reuse a large part of it. This requires a market, which does not yet exist. But local authorities can collaborate and take initiatives to create partial markets in order to stimulate circular economy. They can invite business people to invest in plastic bags recycling factories or make deals with electronic device recycling factories. They can stimulate the reuse of debris as a bottom for new roads.  Local authorities could also stimulate elements of the share economy by putting in place rules and regulations and control mechanisms. And they definitely are to examine the organisation of remote elderly care, if there is a need and a demand.  

Louis Delcart, board member European Academy of the Regions, www.ear-aer.eu

[1] http://www.adriatic-ionian.eu/

[2] We visited a nice example of 3D applications : Techno park Tbilisi https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tech-Park/925174827530434

[watsonhealthproject]

Travel, Transition, Translation, and More

Greetings from Guatemala! This last week has been equal parts difficult and rewarding. Details below!

Airport Adventures

I left my apartment in Quito just after 3am on October 28th. I had made the very smart decision of not sleeping because I figured that it would allow me to sleep on my flights. In retrospect, it was a very bad decision. I didn’t realize that I had left behind my glasses until we were in the vicinity of the airport but thank god for my particularly ugly emergency pair. They have allowed me to see the beauty of Guatemala with full clarity. I don’t know what I would have done if I did not have an emergency pair because I actually have very bad eyesight and depend on my glasses. My hosts from Quito are planning on mailing my glasses to Argentina although part of me wants to invest in a new pair. It’s about time because I have had those glasses since high school. Maybe a christmas present to myself?

My time in the airport and on my two flights was not particularly eventful. However, I got to Guatemala City at about 12:30 only to learn that the taxi I thought I had reserved was not there because the company could not confirm the trip since I have an American phone number. This wouldn’t have been a big problem if I was staying in Guatemala City. However, because I was traveling 3+ hours away (”+” because traffic in the city is worse than it is in NYC). After a moment of panic and several deep breaths, I tried to figure out my options. I could take two buses and risk that I would not make the second one but save a significant amount of money or pay twice as much as I was expecting for a private taxi direct to my destination. In the end, I decided that I would pay for the taxi because I was exhausted and just needed to arrive. Long story short, I wasn’t a big fan of my driver but thank god, I made it safely to my destination at 6:30pm (basically a million hours later). In case you are curious:

Memorable taxi moments- driver assuming I would cover all of his expenses during the trip without asking and in the end not even saying thank you. Almost driving off a cliff (not even joking!) because there was no sign or railing plus it was dark and there was a lingering fog. Almost getting stranded in a random corner of town at night with all my luggage, no phone signal, and zero idea where to go because the only road to my new apartment seemed to be closed.

The Transition

My apartment is really cute, homey, and peaceful. It is away from the main part of town which I like because at the end of a long day, it allows me to retreat to my own space, away from all the noise. It was a similar situation in Quito with regard to the place where my apartment was located. I chose to rent an apartment rather than stay with a host family for the same reasons as before and will likely do so throughout my entire Watson journey.

I won’t lie, I was on the verge of tears on multiple occasions early in the week, trying to make sense of the very drastic and quick transition from Quito to Panajachel. What makes the transition feel so drastic? Here are two of the biggest factors for me:

Big city to small town: Quito felt full of possibility and even after 3 months, it still felt really new, like there were new spaces and places to discover. Like any major city, there were a million and one things going on most of the time that I could take advantage of. In contrast, Panajachel is a very small town. Some locals would likely disagree but that is how it feels to me. I was able to explore all the main streets of town in one afternoon and I am not particularly inspired to do it many times over. I definitely want to visit some restaurants that everyone swears by and buy a few gifts for friends and family abroad but that is it. Lake Aitilan is beautiful and grand. It makes up for all of the things the town does not have. There are different towns that everyone says I should visit but again, I do not feel particularly inspired to do so. I will say that I really want to take a boat ride around the lake. I just love boats and being on the water so that would be a real treat. I am probably going to do that on one of the last weekends here, as my schedule, including weekends, is full of Watson question related activities.

Feeling comfortable and then suddenly very uncomfortable: Arriving in a new place all alone and having to figure out how things work and where you fit in is hard but more than anything, it is uncomfortable. It means taking a lot of deep breaths and doing things that feel very intimidating the first time around. This includes simple things like leaving the house for the first time and navigating town, taking public transportation, meeting new folks at the organizations I have gotten involved with, etc. As i write it I realize how silly it sounds but honestly, if you knew how many laps I took before venturing into town for the first time, you would laugh at me. Of course Quito was like this at the beginning but after a while, I got comfortable navigating the city, I made new friends, and I had managed to piece together a meaningful routine. Now, I am working to do the same thing, from scratch, in a very different kind of environment. 

There are other things of course, but they can all be tied back to the above mentioned themes: discomfort and small town living.

I am happy to say that I think the worst of the transition is over. I am meeting people, my schedule is full with activities that feel meaningful, and I am generally a lot more comfortable with where I am at on my Watson journey. That is not to say that it is smooth sailing from here but I am taking it one step at a time and feel good about that.

Translation Galore

One of the organizations I am working with is called Mayan Families. They are based in Panajachel and have a mix of foreign and local staff. I imagined that the organization was relatively small but it is actually massive compared to what I was expecting. What do they do? The tenants of their work are “educate” “feed” “shelter” and “heal” which means that they have several large operations from preschools in neighboring towns to an accessible clinic. I will refer you to their website for more specific details on their organization. I was intrigued by their work mostly because they provide health services to the indigenous community. In planning my trip to Guatemala, I figured it would not only be a good place to get a better understanding of the healthcare system in Guatemala but also, the challenges that indigenous communities face in accessing services.  

My time there so far has taken a shape I did not expect but that I am surprisingly happy with. I have been translating a whole host of documents between English and Spanish.

I enjoy translating a lot more than I would have imagined. I think more than anything, I love it because it is giving me the opportunity to increase my vocabulary and reading and writing fluency in Spanish. Improving my Spanish is extremely important to me, as I hope to work with the Latino community as a future medical professional.

The value of the things I am translating also adds to the satisfaction. First I translated the stories of women who had received micro-loans for their businesses. Then I was translating medical records from english to Spanish. Being able to learn more about the lives of the people in this community as well as the kinds of medical issues that they commonly face has been a real treat even though I don’t necessarily get to meet them.

Fun fact: I am considering taking a medical translator course and becoming officially certified. 

I got to ride in the back of a pick up truck as we delivered food to schools that work with Mayan Families. If you’re wondering where I am in this picture....we were traversing a massive corn field. I’ve driven past corn fields but I don’t know if I have ever driven through one. I have definitely not walked through one until now.

Proyecto Salud Y Paz + Medical Trip to Cunén

The other organization I am working with is called Project Salud Y Paz and it is based in Camanchaj, a town that is about an hour north of where I am staying. Some of the employees live in Pana and carpool together each morning so it makes getting to the org really easy and convenient. My favorite thing about the organization is that it feels so welcoming and the staff is so kind and open to my presence. This means a lot to me!

On Friday morning I headed out with a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, and human resources professional to a clinic owned by the organization. This clinic opens its doors for two days each month in a tiny town called Cunen. I got to observe consultations with the doctor and listen to patient’s stories. 

Here are two exemplary cases that stood out to me:

An elderly man comes into the consultation alone. He is hard of hearing. While it is not certain, he seems a but forgetful and slightly disoriented. It turns out that he has an eye infection as well as an ear infection. The doctor prescribes two types of drops and emphasizes that it is very important he not confuse the two. Normally this would not be a big issue but we learn that the patient can’t read. This will not only affect his ability to distinguish the medicines but also, to read the relevant instructions. The patient told the doctor that he has a son who can read for him but his hesitation did not convince me that he had the support he needed. This patient taught me a few things:

There is an assumption we make when we give patients written instructions that they will be able to read and understand it but when working in communities like this, I don’t believe that should be the working assumption. I don’t even know if it should be the working assumption in the US. I know some illiterate adults. I personally believe it is important to make a habit of asking if a person can read. Perhaps there will be a bit of awkwardness in the moment but even if only 1 in every X number of people say they can’t read, at least you can help that one person achieve better health by crafting an appropriate plan that is accessible to them. The next question is of course, how does a medical professional make sure that a patient can access their instructions after an appointment outside of a written medium? Yes, most people know someone else who can read but a patient who has agency over their health is a lot more likely to follow advice than someone who has to depend on someone else and might be hesitant to ask for help often.

A patient in his 50s came in with an irrationally high blood pressure. When the doctor asked if he was taking the medicine, the patient responded no because he did not feel any pain. It was very clear that the patient did not understand the gravity of his exceptionally high blood pressure, as he was laughing and smiling when talking about stopping his drug regime. This patient brings to the forefront another consideration when seeing patients: Health Literacy

In addition to the general illiteracy I mention above, one also has to recognize that a lack of health literacy can also negatively affect a patient’s ability to follow through on medical advice and therefore contributes to negative outcomes. What exactly is health literacy? I will refer you to this very useful fact sheet for the sake of not writing a novel. In this particular case, the patient did not adequately understand the relationship between their lifestyle choices and their bodily function and as a result, made the very poor decision to stop taking their medication.

Tying these two cases and their corresponding reflections back to the larger picture: There is no doubt that lots of people still need better access to doctors. Importantly, access is not fully achieved when a patient is seen. Access to health information is just as important because it is what allows a patient to maintain their wellbeing between doctor visits. Sometimes it is hard for me to understand that access to health information is such a big problem because most answers are a google search away. However, I have to remind myself that not all people have access to internet. Not all people can read. For a million different reasons and in a million different ways, not all people have a means to get the information they need, when they need it. Even if they do have it, there is no guarantee that they will be able to digest and apply it appropriately. 

Taken half way to Cunén, which is almost four hours away from where I am staying. Not pictured: the anxiety of driving on horrible narrow roads up mountains with falling rocks and very loose earth (i.e. risk for mud slides).

After the first day at the clinic, we decided to roam around town only to learn that there was a circus and they had set up a mini arcade of sorts next door. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun playing foosball. This is a candid shot after scoring a goal.

The clinic team after a successful two day trip.

Thoughts on Moving Forward:

Guatemala: I will only be in Guatemala for the month of November so I am working hard to make the most of my time here. Surgery week is coming up at Salud y Paz and a bunch of Canadian doctors will be in town. That should be an interesting time. I don’t know what other projects I will be working on at Mayan Families but I am sure they will be great learning experiences. I will probably stop by another organization or two while here to get some other opinions on the health situation here. Overall, there is a lot to do and things are looking up. When I am busy, I am happy!

Upcoming Holidays - I am not sure why but I am hyper aware of the fact that the holidays are coming. I feel this overwhelming need to fill that time with meaning, especially since I have chosen to be so far from home. I don’t know how I will do so. This whole situation makes me think about the fourth of July in India last summer. At most, the 4th has always been an excuse to gather for a BBQ or some kind of outdoor adventure with family and friends. When I was in India, it felt so different and meant so much more. I don’t know if it was because I missed home or if it was because I was hyper-aware of my American-ness while I was there. Regardless of the reason, I have never felt more American in my life than on the 4th in India, making burgers with a fellow American. I was lucky to have people to share that day with because I think I would have felt really sad otherwise. I hope I can share these upcoming holidays with new friends and find a sense of joy and peace among them.

Mincing beef in small town India to make burgers and celebrate the 4th of July circa 2016. This was a good day and very easily the only 4th of July I remember in detail.

Argentina- I have a place to stay once I arrive but I am still in the process of figuring out what I will do to learn more about health in the country. I have a few ideas and a connection, I just have to reach out. I am not dancing now because there are no opportunities to do so in town. That said, I am really looking forward to getting involved at another dance school in the city. I already have one in mind and it seems like a really awesome place. I looked more closely into the details of my flights after receiving a notification that there has been a change in my itinerary. The baggage rules seem to be even stricter than they were to get to Guatemala so I am already panicking 3+ weeks in advance.

There could not possibly be a better reminder during this time of transition than this. It feels like this quote was written just for me at this moment in my Watson journey:

“Honor the space between no longer and not yet”- Nancy Levin 

[ourdarktyrantcollector-blog]

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