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#the first time i played this i had only played k1 and k2

moophinz · 1 year

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How was your experience getting into this series? Did you find Majima's transition from 0 to Kiwami jarring or did you start somewhere else? And which game did you like the most and why?

Funny story really. My cousin had been telling me about the series for like a half year after a video they watched and had jumped into the franchise through it. I, on the other hand, kept trying to process these hyper realistic character models doing such absurd things. And I ESPECIALLY could NOT comprehend Majima in his entire design. Like imagine throwing this guy at a non-fan who’s only laid eyes on the series through miscellaneous meme images and gifs. Alongside my vague memory. Just me going “Oh god what the fuck is that???” Kaoru was right to ask what is he

It wasn’t until I went over to their brother’s place for almost 2 weeks in the summer two years ago that I truly experienced Yakuza for the first time with my own four eyes. Saw so many ridiculous but amazing videos and pictures and posts of all sorts in a short amount of time. I also watched my cousin play three or so of the games, saw some of the clips on YouTube, and something just immediately pulled me in. Really, the two things I saw story of where the ending of 2 and the start of 3. Crazy for me to still be here considering the ending of the second game. I really wanted to stay longer and watch all of 3 even though we got spoiled on that ending in the most overly comedic way. (the magic number in this paragraph is two)

Later that year, I wound up getting a PS4 and 0,K1, and K2 on physical CDs. Even bought the remastered collection thanks to a Christmas sale on the PS store. Through this and that, I already knew the plots of like half the games so I ended up playing them out of order. I think I played Kiwami or 3 first. Either way, the last game I completed was 5, and I still actually have a bit of 7 left. I’m not the best at picking favorites of any sort though. I really enjoyed 0, aspects of K1, 3, and 5 a lot. LAD of course has also been extremely fun. Haven’t played a lot of RPGs before, or at least it’s been years since I have so there was a bit of a curve for me in the switch from brawler to that. The characters really manage to pull you in the most with this franchise tbh

Answering this out of order, but since I was introduced to the series the way that I was, I didn’t have the same problem a lot of other people had with going from 0 to K1 and seeing Majima’s behavior. I managed to learn a lot about how different things are when you look at things through the lens of game order and chronologically starting from 0. It made everything about my experience change. Information about this and that and how the writing advanced over the years. I do, however, wish that his character merged better between the games. It’s the original Majima vs the Majima they decided on later who isn’t really like that. It gives a strange jump from one to the other, and really made me confused on what they were trying to go for altogether. But I guess Zhao is that character they were going for, more refined and polished in that field of pretend crazy guy who’s secretly a marshmallow

#yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #like a dragon #anon #I didn’t want to go into too much detail with the games section #it would have made this too long and I’m answering through my phone and we all know the app has its problems #it’s lagging so bad right now 💀

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alinktoana · 2 years

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thoughts on playable faves getting older, the people who make them and the people who play them

because comfy tracksuit slider dad kiryu is peak character design

spoilers for ps2 Y1/K1, Y5, assumptions about Y6 + Y7 + Y8 + Yakuza Gaiden

why is RGG so afraid of Kiryu getting older? I havent played Y6 yet but I have a feeling RGG is ok with Kiryu being middle aged. They did show some uncomfortable feelings about him being single in his 40s on Y5, but him behaving as a more mature individual is there, same as the rest of the cast (yes, even Majima, lmao).

And i wouldnt go into this tangent if they hadnt dropped that Y8 footage

(correct me if im wrong, lmao) but it’s not often that people get to play franchises that span through decades of people’s lives, like (you guessed it) Yakuza. I love that. I had been avoiding the newest RGG trailers, and I still havent fully watched The Summit™️, but I watch highlights a couple weeks ago, and it took me some more time to work on this puzzle. Most Japanese people (and other ethinicities, as far as i know) look youthful well into their 50s, when compared to white people (I’m Brazilian, so I see the ethnic mix and match everyday (on my own body lol) and how that affects people’s looks). Of course there’s levels of overall self-care, sun exposure, yadda yadda. I’m fairly certain Kiryu doesnt have a skin care routine other than washing his face everyday lmao but he takes care of himself, he exercises constantly (lol), so that helps. His face is fine, awesome beautiful skin (even though i much prefer the Y5 style, compared to dragon engine botching everyone*, but he looks great). If everything is fine and dandy. Why is that a thing?

Not only are they still bringing him for 8, and we dont fully know what that will be like, but 7 was already a cameo, so giving him more screentime on 8 doesnt make sense at all but go off, i guess. We will never fully understand why RGG has been saying goodbye to Kiryu for 6 games already and not fully letting him go. I say 6 games bc I’m considering the last 6 mainline games (6, 0, K1, K2, I’d say Y7, and apparently 8?). Gaiden and Ishin are fine, and I’m so happy about those decisions. I honestly think it’s a much better decision to keep them in spin offs if they still want bank on his brand, and give space to new characters and adventures in the mainline games (and judgement!). But then I look at that grey haired mess and im so puzzled.

And we’ve joked about him looking like a boyband member, whatever that is. *We still dont know if that’s a disguise or a midlife crisis. And if it is a midlife crisis, and they actually take that angle of him struggling with age, i’d give them all the kudos. That would actually be a bold, beautiful move.

Is milking Kiryu just a marketing tactic, or is it something deeper within RGG? Again, correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve speculated about this before, about them being uncomfortable with their character’s age. But are they also uncomfortable with handing the story over to new characters? Do they feel trapped with Kiryu being the (middle aged, totally not elder) face of the franchise?* Or maybe theyre afraid the franchise is not gonna be relevant anymore because it isnt full of lolis and shotas? When that’s never been their goal in the first place? Yakuza has always been about having fun well into your 40s, because life isnt over once you turn 30. And japanese people fully know that. The west is very anxious about the teenage dream, the live fast die young mentality. Majima has that underlying feeling, he has talked about it here and there. And I would love if they went in on that. It’s not like Y7 wasnt successful, it was the introduction to so many people to the franchise. We know it made bank. We know people love Ichiban + the new crew. We know RGG is moving on. The bat has exchanged hands already. So Kiryu being on Y8, looking like that, on promotional material? It’s such a step back…

As of 2022, Kiryu is 54 years old. Majima is 58. There’s only so much flashbacking RGG can do so they can hide their anxiety about their mascot almost being an elder. Are they afraid of growing old themselves? NPCs have been calling Kiryu an old men since yakuza 1, and that did bother me bc *I was just playing as this baby on Y0, how dare you call him old? he’s 30 D: And I’m almost 30, so I understand my own qualms, so I can only imagine what goes on on the majority of the 50 yo department heads on RGG. And for gods sake, we know they can model awesome older characters.

The most beautiful model Kashiwagi has ever had is his Y7 one* (Sources are kinda confusing because apparently he was born in 1948? So he’d be 71 in 2019? I mean, good for him if true!! lol) (also yes, this is the asterisc. As far as I’ve looked, Kashiwagi is by far the character who’s aged the most beautifully. I cant do anything but clap lmao) Kazama is also very handsome, and he was born in 1945, so he is 60 in Y1/K1. A more apt comparison would be Sera, who was in his 30s in Y0 and 49 on Y1. He has some streaks, you know. And then there’s Kiryu, botoxed to the gods at 51 on Y8.

We know they can do this. Majima talks about being an old man in Y5, and he was 40 then. If you wanna tell me Majima dyes his hair black because he doesnt wanna see his reflection greying, I’m 100% ok with that. But it’s about time. We’ve been playing those characters for almost 20 years, we have seen almost 40 years of their lives. These are conversations we* could be having at this point, even if it’s substories. But not all hope is lost though!

I dont know if it’s the lighting, but his model on Gaiden does have some some grayish bits. And that’s 2018 (before Y8 even but we can let that slide bc technology, lol they can retroactively grey him). And given that Gaiden seems to be a lot more personal and small, maybe we could have that age talk then. I can only hope. TLDR: RGG. Buddy (lol). We are still gonna love Kiryu even if he’s no longer young (he is still beautiful). Please recognize the fact that we are all aging up, our bodies and our skin. And so are the characters we play with. Kiryu isnt gonna stop being a good avatar because he’s older. And also, let go. Ichiban is the new avatar. And people love him. Move on. We all have. If you (as people who make the company) are uncomfortable about getting older, use that opportunity to talk about that aging anxiety. We (the fans) will need that when we get to that point (whether we’re pushing 20, 30, 40, 70, 80). Because that white haired monstrosity needs to mean something, you couldve gone without it. Pls. Dont let that be a hair disaster like Y4 Saejima. You had the ps3 excuse then, you dont have that now, you know how to do hair lmao. Pls lmao

TLDR2: All I’m saying is. That white hair on the Y8 raises way too many unnecessary questions but then again Gaiden looks fine? I’m lost&confused pls help lol PS: I've rewatched Our Flag Means Death 4 times now (lol) and gray hair as a topic was never something I really thought about in entertainment, but when we think about ageless character on animation/games, I dont know, it seems like a relevant topic. Because, again, we've known Kiryu + Majima + the gang for almost 20 years. We've seen 4 decades of their lives. This is a longer timespan than... I dont know, british soap operas that go on for ages lol.

edit: Anyway yeah lol thanks for reading this long ramble! let me know what you think bc yeah, loads to think about

#yakuza #rgg #kiryu kazuma #gray hair #aging #like a dragon #middle aged faves #ramble #what a great time to be a yakuza fan tho bless

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tonystarkbingo · 3 years

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TSB MIV Week 25 Roundup!

ONLY 6 MORE DAYS TO GO! Time to scramble! Finish up those last squares!

Title: fireworks Collaborator: Becca Card Number: 4029 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K1 - Image: Working on Bucky’s Arm Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Moodboard Summary: in which bucky subtly asks tony out on a date Word Count: N/A

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Title: Knitting Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S4 - Fabrication Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Knitting, extreme amounts of fluff thanks to Alpine ;) Summary: When Tony and Bucky moved in together, the most appreciative of Tony’s knitting habit was actually Alpine. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Love at first glance Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A3 - Free Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Love at first sight, Modern AU Summary: Inspired by this poem:I will look at youacrossany roomand thinkyou are the most beautiful person I'veever seenfor aslong as Ibreathe.a.r.asher Word Count: N/A

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Title: Cat Adoption Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S2 - Adopting a Pet Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Alpine, feral cat adoption Summary: Even though Alpine have been adopted a year ago, sometimes she still liked to draw blood. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Tech Support Collaborator: newnewyorker93 Card Number: 4042 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K4 - Image: So Smart Ship: Tony & Clint Rating: Gen Major Tags: Cross-stitch Summary: Cross-stitch of Tony and Clint from a scene in the Fraction/Aja Hawkeye comics. Word Count: N/A

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Title: You’re My Best Friend Collaborator: camichats Card Number: 4049 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - First Time Ship: M’Baku/Tony Stark Rating: Teen Major Tags: none Summary: M'Baku wants his first architect job to go well. As the one who commissioned the building design, his boyfriend Tony thinks he should relax a little. Word Count: 570

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Title: The Chametz Removal Squad Collaborator: newnewyorker93 Card Number: 4042 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Humour Ship: Tony & Pepper & Morgan, Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: fluff & humor, Passover, Jewish Stark family Summary: The Stark family prepares for Passover. Word Count: 1053

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Title: Tangled AU Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T2 - Improvised Weapons Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: cast iron pans are dangerous Summary: what it says on the tin - Poor Bucky gets conned into taking Tony to see the lanterns at the Capitol, where Bucky coincidentally is also wanted. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Prosthetic Arms and Impossible Things - Chapter 1: Spring Collaborator: rebelmeg Card Number: 4034 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Disability Fic Ship: Tony & Bucky & Sam Rating: Gen Major Tags: disability, recovery, friendship, supportive friends Summary: Sam and Bucky return from a trip to Wakanda with something for Tony. Word Count: 580

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Title: Equal Footing Collaborator: PoliZ Card Number: 4007 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R2 - Backrubs/Massages Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Iron Man 2 - Canon Divergence, POV Pepper Potts, flirty!Tony, Summary: Tony keeps offering to rub Pepper's feet and she keeps saying no - until she doesn't. Word Count: 879

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Title: P is for Pepper Collaborator: newnewyorker93 Card Number: 4042 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T3 - Bedtime Stories Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: Cross-stitch Summary: Cross-stitch of Pepper in the Rescue armor, styled like a page in a children’s alphabet book. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Part of the Family Collaborator: Gavilan Card Number: 4092 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R2 - Forcibly Adopted Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Gen Major Tags: Thanksgiving, food, images of food, moodboard Summary: Rhodey had told Tony he didn’t need to be nervous about coming with him for Thanksgiving. Sure enough, Mama Rhodes took one look at him and adopted him permanently. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Grand Prix de Monaco Historique Collaborator: Gottalovev Card Number: 4077 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R4 - Image: Driver’s Suit Ship: Suggested Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: The trip to Monaco wasn't supposed to turn out like this. Word Count: N/A

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Title: No Minions Allowed Collaborator: 27dragons Card Number: 4027 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 - Canon: Avengers Academy Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Established Relationship, injury, self-esteem issues Summary: Tony is determined to hide his injuries, but why? Word Count: 679

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Title: First Kiss Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T5 - Journalist Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: kiss in the rain Summary: Fanart for @anthonyed's story Word Count: N/A

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Title: My Love is Vengeance Collaborator: PoliZ Card Number: 4007 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - WinterIron Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: canon divergence, Winter Soldier POV, double agent, young!Tony. Summary: As he regains consciousness, a good chunk of Bucky’s memories return as well. Unfortunately, he and Tony are now prisoners and mostly likely on their way to Hydra’s headquarters. Word Count: 1211

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Title: Worth of an arm Collaborator: Sogana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A5 - Missing You Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Canonical Character Death, Fix-It Summary: So I was playing with an idea of EG!Bucky going back in time to make amends with Tony and save his life and then @rise have thrown this prompt into the WinterIron server, and I have decided to run with it.No one knows that Rocket got awfully attached to that weird human, you know, the one that was worth talking to? Tony something? No one except Bucky anyway, who knows exactly what that looks likeSo when Bucky decides that he isn't going to let Tony Stark stay dead, it's the weird space racoon that he goes to for help. He'll be down an arm if they succeed-the racoon knows how to negotiate-but that's just the cost of doing business. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Would Robot Eyes Rust If They Cried - Chapter 5 Collaborator: Jacaranda Card Number: 4064 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Polyamory/Open Relationship Ship: Stuckony Rating: E Major Tags: Established Relationship, Sexual Content, Angst, Robot Bodies Summary: Steve tries again with Tony. It doesn't go a whole lot better. Word Count: 2513

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Title: Shock of Waking Up Collaborator: periwinklepromise Card Number: 4053 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch Ship: Pietro Maximoff & Wanda Maximoff Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Steve froze, staring down at the young woman curled up in the crate. This day had gone from bad to worse, and he wanted just one moment to ponder on that. And then she woke up and started screaming. Word Count: 661

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Title: Creepy, Wiggly, Icky, Gross Collaborator: rebelmeg Card Number: 4034 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - Tentacles Ship: Tony & the Jarvises, Tony & Rhodey, Tony & Happy, Pepperony + Morgan Rating: Teen Major Tags: tentacles, crack and humor, tiny teaspoon of angst, brief mention of porn Summary: The five times Tony hated tentacles plus the one time he still hated tentacles (and you can't change his mind). Word Count: 2820

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Title: Always In My Mind Collaborator: Nicnac Card Number: 4048 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - Music Ship: Tony Stark x F!Reader Rating: Mature Major Tags: Suggestive Themes, Dancing, Feelings, Kissing, Touching, Music, Early Mornings, Lazy Mornings, Morning After, Developing Relationship Summary: Tony goes to the reader’s apartment and they decided not to go for a drive and stay at home and have a little fun instead. Word Count: 2099

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Title: Keep Us Flying Collaborator: camichats Card Number: 4049 Link: AO3 Square Filled: S3 - AU: Cyberpunk Ship: IronWidow Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Cap changes their flight plans, and it's up to Natasha to tell Tony-- Steve always makes her do it because he thinks them being married makes it easier. Word Count: 359

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Title: Experiment Collaborator: camichats Card Number: 4049 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - Free Space Ship: T’Challa/Tony Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Normally, T'challa would impress the cute guy in his class by being smart, but he didn't know what had gone wrong with their experiment. The fact that Tony had already loudly proclaimed to the professor that he didn't like group projects didn't help. Word Count: 1692

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Title: Basic Principles Collaborator: camichats Card Number: 4049 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R2 - Jealousy Ship: Johnny Storm/Tony Stark Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Johnny loves love. Hell, he's made a career out of helping other people find love, and he has no regrets. Then he meets Tony, who's absolutely perfect, but the problem is that Johnny doesn't like men. He's trying to help Clint get the woman of his dreams, so he doesn't have time to worry about whether or not he's as straight as he thought. (Hitch AU) Word Count: 6740

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Title: Dream Sharing Rec List Collaborator: SierraNovembr Card Number: 4033 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K1 - Dream Sharing Ship: WinterIron, Stony Rating: N/A Major Tags: N/A Summary: A rec list of my top five favorite Dream Sharing fics. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Honeymoon Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K3 - Marriage Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Honeymoon Summary: Even after 30 years of marriage, both look fondly of their honeymoon pictures. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Early mornings Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S5 - Art Format: Neutral Colours Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Early morning, sleepy Tony and Bucky Summary: Neither Tony or Bucky were morning people. Tony never woke up before the 3rd cup of coffee and Bucky liked to cuddle. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Throes of Heat Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - Kink: Pornstar/Rentboy/Sexworker Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Oral sex, Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics, Alpha Bucky, Omega Tony, Summary: While Tony had enjoyed the company of several Alpha heatworkers, Heatworker Bucky was exceptional even among them. Word Count: N/A

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Title: PoliZ’s Stuffed Marvels - Peter Quill/Starlord Collaborator: PoliZ Card Number: 4007 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R3 - Peter Quill/Starlord Ship: N/A Rating: Gen Major Tags: fanart, character sketch, Stuffed Marvels, Summary: Stuffed Marvels sketch of Peter Quill/Starlord - outfit based on the first film. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Returned to the Fold Collaborator: 27dragons Card Number: 4027 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - AU: Angels/Demons Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: Alternate Universe: Angels & Demons Summary: God had made it perfectly clear that any demon who wanted to return to the fold would be made welcome. All they had to do was ask for forgiveness. So it wasn’t that the Fallen weren’t able to return. It was just that none ever had. Word Count: 561

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Title: Skips a Beat Collaborator: periwinklepromise Card Number: 4053 Link: AO3 Square Filled: S2 - Missing Scene Ship: IronWidow Rating: teen Major Tags: None Summary: After the disastrous party, Natalie was the only one still there. Word Count: 374

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Title: Matchmaker Bots Collaborator: Sagana Rojana Olt Card Number: 4046 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - Matchmaker Bots Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Winter Soldier themed dildo Summary: Dum-E tries to matchmake. After some embarrassing and awkward explanations he succeeds. Word Count: 100

#tonystarkbingomarkiv #tsbmiv #tsb weekly roundup #tsb week 25

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lbibliophile-mcu · 4 years

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Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020 Masterpost

@buckybarnesbingo

Thanks to very last-minute (...last 4 hours, for about 7 new works) encouragement from @rebelmeg and the discord server, I’ve now completed a full blackout!! [Mods, you might want to remove my previous masterpost from the queue. And thankyou for all your hard work!]

Details and links are below the cut (all fills Gen/Teen).

Somebody’s Been Sleeping in MY Bed - ficlet Prompt: B1 Bed sharing Fill type: fanfic (259 words) Characters: Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Tags: Bodyswap Summary: First he notices that the temperature is wrong. Then he notices that the bed is wrong. Then, he notices that the problem is actually something rather more fundamental.

Heat-sensitive SHIELDRA Mug - Buy Now! Prompt: U1 Seeing red Fill type: graphic Characters: na Tags: Hydra, crack, merchandise Summary: Do you want to show off your loyalty to your organisation? Frustrated that undercover operation cramps your style? Worry no more!

BUCK-E’s Problem Prompt: C1 image of Tony working on Bucky’s arm with a cat in the background Fill type: fanart and drabble Characters: Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark Tags: DUM-E’s Drawings, Bucky Barnes’ metal arm, cats, mechanical repairs Summary: Hanging out in TON-E’s workshop, DUM-E collects the best stories. BUCK-E is not amused.

A Dead Man’s Face Prompt: K1 In memoriam Fill type: fanfic (530 words) Characters: Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Tags: Winter Soldier, brainwashing, partial amnesia Summary: The Winter Soldier knows that he was once called Bucky Barnes, and had a childhood friend called Steve Rogers. The Winter Soldier knows that Captain America is his enemy and the enemy of everything Hydra stands for. The Winter Soldier now knows that Captain America is the type of man - monster - who would use the face of Bucky’s dead friend as a weapon against him. But he will not falter; he has a mission.

Ice Bound - pt 1 Prompt: Y1 image of Steve an Bucky returning from Azzano Fill type: fanfic (620 words) Characters: Steve Rogers / Bucky Barnes Tags: assumed character death, soulmate AU, cryofreeze, CA:TFA Summary: Steve and Bucky are Bonded. From the day they first meet they are inseparable – best friends and brothers – hardly a day goes past without the other’s company. People say they are lucky, finding each other so young, so close, never having to search and wonder; they say that it is a sign of the strength of their bond. They will need that strength

Rest Your Head Prompt: B2 Didn’t know they were dating Fill type: Moodboard Characters: Bucky Barnes / Thor Tags: nightmares Summary: It’s hard not to feel safe, with the god of thunder himself there to guard your sleep.

Visions of Xmas Past, Present, Future Prompt: U2 Memes Fill type: moodboard and drabble Characters: Bucky Barnes / Sam Wilson Tags: A Christmas Carol remix, blood, future relationship Summary: Christmas Eve in his shity little apartment in in Bucharest, a recovering Bucky Barnes is granted a gift: a reminder of how far he has come, and how much more he still has to gain.

“Don’t You Dare...” Prompt:C2 “You know you love me” Fill type: moodboard and drabble Characters: Bucky Barnes / Tony Stark Tags: Insomnia, Midnight baking, Flour, Dub-con hug (friendly) Summary: Bucky looks at the kitchen, covered in flour. He looks at Tony, arms open for a hug, apron rather well camouflaged with said kitchen..."Don't you dare –”

Sleeping Bucky Prompt: K2 Handle with care Fill type: moodboard and drabble Characters: Steve Rogers / Bucky Barnes Tags: fairytale au, cryofreeze, amnesia Summary: They say that true love’s kiss can break a curse. But love is too vast and complex an emotion to be encompassed by a single kiss.

Dance of the Winter Soldier Prompt: Y2 Ballet Fill type: fancraft (costume) Characters: Bucky Barnes & Morgan Stark Tags: tinsel, costume Summary: Morgan decided to dress as her favourite uncle for her ballet recital.

Line-up Prompt: B3 Movie night Fill type: moodboard Characters: Avengers team Tags: Avengers movie night Summary: The greatest challenge at Avengers movie night: not agreeing on a movie, but finding the right remote.

Equivalent Exchange Prompt: U3 Ransom note Fill type: fancraft (staged photo) Characters: Bucky Barnes & Clint Barton Tags: hostage exchange, Bucky’s chocolate addiction, Clint’s joke arrows Summary: Bucky,Tell me where you hid my new glitter arrows, And I’ll tell you where I hid your super-choc biscuits. Wait too long, and the answer will be “in my stomach”.

Armed and Ready (Winter Soldier braid] Prompt: C3 free Fill type: fancraft and drabble Characters: Bucky Barnes Tags: tablet weaving, Bucky Barnes’ metal arm, Infinity War Summary: He looks at the open case; at the dark limb with its bright tracery. He should have known this was coming. He had known.

Diva Prompt: K3 Passing Notes Fill type: fanfic (460 words) Characters: Bucky Barnes & Clint Barton Tags: derogatory language, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes Summary: When it comes down to it, the Winter Soldier is a little diva.Yes, he is Hydra’s tool, but he is a highly skilled and extremely valuable tool, and he knows it. This makes adjusting to working with the Avengers… interesting.

Bucky’s Favourite Sundae Recipe Prompt: Y3 Alcohol Fill type: Fancraft (staged photo) Characters: Bucky Barnes Tags: Bucky Barnes’ chocolate addiction, ice-cream sundae Summary: Any guesses as to his favourite flavour?

Workout Prompt: B4 Showoff Fill type: moodboard Characters: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Tags: animal AU, dog!Steve Rogers and dog!Bucky Barnes, human!Tony Stark Summary: If there were such a thing as supersoldiers in dog form, Bucky and Steve would be it. Tony loves them, but their energy will be the death of him someday.

Trauma Bingo Prompt: U4 Occupational Hazard Fill type: fanfic (1120 words) Characters: Bucky Barnes & Avengers Team Tags: PTSD, therapy, crack, many traumatic topics touched on briefly and non-graphically - full list in AO3 tags Summary: SHIELD remembers that trauma therapy exists, and their sights are set on the Avengers. Aka. How many issues can you fit in one team, and can you also get them all in the same person. Succeeding at trauma bingo is not actually winning…

Play Nice Prompt: C4 Found family Fill type: drabble Characters: Avengers Team Tags: board games, ‘house rules’ getting out of hand Summary: Maybe board games wasn’t the best idea for a team bonding activity...

Preventative Measures Prompt: K4 Sticks and stones Fill type: moodboard/graphic Characters: Bucky Barnes Tags: self-mutilation, ear trauma, blood, Winter Soldier trigger words, CA:CW Summary: ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones...’ but words turn me into a mindless killing machine. So Bucky takes matters into his own hands.

Not in Accord Prompt: Y4 Running Away Fill type: Moodboard and drabble Characters: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes Tags: Captain America, Steve’s Bucky-centric morality Summary: He needs to remind them what Captain America truly stands for. He needs to find Bucky.

Convenient Camouflage Prompt: B5 Alpine Fill type: fanart Characters: Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers, Alpine Tags: malicious compliance Summary: Steve has dragged him along to art classes. “C’mon Buck, it’ll be just like old times.” Well, he still can’t say no to Steve’s sad-eyes, but he’ll draw his white cat.

Hunters and Haunted Prompt:U5 Rescue mission Fill type: moodboard (and pre-published drabble) Characters: Bucky Barnes & Natasha Romanoff Tags: nightmares, blood, guns Summary: Not all monsters can be fought with guns and steel. But a friend to guard your back is always invaluable.

Fri on the Wall Prompt: C5 Dialogue-only Fill type: Drabble sequence (600 word) Characters: Friday, Bucky Barnes / Tony Stark Tags: mutual pining, supportive Friday, 5+1 things, dialogue-only Summary: Friday watches her idiot, pining boys. Or, five times Friday tried to support their relationship, and one time she decided to take more drastic measures.

I am... Prompt: K5 Scars Fill type: image edit Characters: Bucky Barnes Tags: amnesia Summary: He tries to remember, but the details keep slipping away...

Somebody’s Been Sleeping in MY Bed - image edit Prompt: Y5 Bodysharing Fill type: image edit Characters: Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Tags: Bodyswap Summary: First he notices that the temperature is wrong. Then he notices that the bed is wrong. Then, he notices that the problem is actually something rather more fundamental.

#bbb2020 #masterpost #bucky barnes #bingo fill #blackout

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rebelmeg · 4 years

Text

TONY STARK BINGO MASTERPOST

I am PSYCHED because I managed a blackout again! And a Dum-E badge as well, with my adopted squares! HOLLA! Fills and info below the readmore.

S1 - Save Another Life (It Will Be Worth It) - Chapter 2: Helpless

Teen

Bucky & Tony & Bruce

James and his (somewhat stolen) son Tony have been living happy lives under the radar for the past five years. They move a lot, and leave a lot of friends behind, but then Tony meets a little boy named Bruce. In another world, James and Tony might move on, though it breaks their hearts to have to say goodbye to the scared, hurting little boy that is Tony's best friend. In this world, however... they don't say goodbye. AKA, Kid Bruce remix fic with Dad Bucky and Kid Tony

S2 - Iron OTP Cuties

Gen

Pepperony

Cross stitch Cuties Tony and Pepper wearing their suits

S3 - And Shawarma After

Gen

MIT Bros, referenced Brooklyn Brothers

The shawarma party is over, the Avengers are going their own separate ways, and Steve sticks around long enough to learn a little bit more about one of his teammates.

S4 - Science Field Trip

Gen

Tony & the Science Sons, T’Challa & Shuri

Tony takes the Science Sons on a field trip. And where else would he take them but the most awesome and scientifically advanced city ever?

S5 - I’m Sorry

Gen

Pepperony

Tony finds Pepper in an unexpected situation. Apologies are exchanged, tears are shed, and it happens with their arms around each other.

T1 - Got Your Nose!

Gen

Dum-E & Tony

Dum-E is intrigued by the game Ton-E is playing with the miscellaneous smol child that is hanging out with him in the workshop.

T2 - Ghost and the Machine - Angst with a Happy/Hopeful Ending

Teen

Bucky & Tony

The angst ending to The Ghost and The Machine!

T3 - Parent, Teacher, Cupid

Gen

Rhodey/May, May & Peter

Peter's third grade teacher, Mr. Rhodes, is awesome. And Aunt May is awesome too. Maybe, since Peter knows they like each other, he could help them...

T4 - Hot Mess Racecar Tony Cross Stitch Cutie

Gen

No pairing

Cross Stitch Cutie Tony

T5 - Every Surface in the House, AKA: Permanently Damaged Platypus

Teen

Pepperony, MIT Bros

Rhodey is scandalized, Tony is only slightly ashamed, Pepper isn't done with Tony, JARVIS is fond, FRIDAY is amused, and Natasha enjoyed the retelling.

A1 - Save Another Life (It Will Be Worth It) - Chapter 4: Turning Point

Teen

Bucky & Tony & Bruce

A2 - The Name You Gave Me - Chapter 16: A Secret Revealed

Mature

Bucky & Natasha & Tony, Howard Stark/Maria Stark

If you asked the Asset, he'd say it started with being given a name, something of his own. For the first time he had something for himself, and he became greedy. So she became his as well. If you asked the little Widow, she'd say, “It started with a brother. He was my brother and I wanted another.” If you asked Howard Stark, he'd say, “It started with the Serum, and it ended with a Serum.” But if you asked the youngest of them all, he'd answer, “It started like everything, an action was the catalyst for a chain reaction. I was just lucky to have a brother and a sister, a real father and another mother, through it all.” The moral of the story is that a true family always finds each other.

A3 - Tiny Tony Cross Stitch Cutie

Gen

No pairing

Itty bitty Cross Stitch Cutie Tony magnet

A4 - Tony & Morgan Plaid Cross Stitch Cuties

Gen

Tony & Morgan

Cross Stitch Cuties

A5 - The Ghost and The Machine - Chapter 17: I Can Live With This

Teen

Tony & Bucky

A slight problem on an op leaves CIA agent Bucky Barnes with something of a dilemma... a dilemma that never stops talking, floats in midair, and seems bound and determined to drive Bucky absolutely out of his mind with an endless barrage of questions. Tony really just thinks Bucky is being a drama queen, and honestly, he's a writer. Who could blame him for trying to conduct proper research, no matter if he's dead (is he?) or not?

R1 - POSTING SOON: The Name You Gave Me - Chapter 22

Mature

Bucky & Natasha & Tony

R2 - Poker Night at the Casino

Gen

Tony & Bucky

Poker moodboard

R3 - Ghost and the Machine - Ouch Ending

Teen

Bucky & Tony

The ouch ending to The Ghost and The Machine!

R4 - Rhodey Booty and College Anecdotes

Gen

MIT Bros, Tony & Avengers

A sleep deprived Rhodey is all kinds of fun, and Tony celebrates a birthday with his family.

R5 - Through A Child's Eyes, It's Different - Chapter 20: A Breakthrough

Teen

Pepperony, MIT Bros, Tony & Happy

The Accords debacle is long over, and the ex-Avengers have come home. Things are not going well, particularly when Tony gets kidnapped by the villain-of-the-week and ends up in the middle of a freak lab accident. Seeing things through the eyes of a child sounds kind of poetic, and in some cases, it is. But for the rogue Avengers, it's a shocking and harsh look at their past deeds, as well as a closer look at who Tony Stark really is when he doesn't have all his self-made masks up to protect him. With Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy there to keep him safe and love him, Tony navigates the weirdness his life has become, while Dr. Strange, Thor, and Dr. Foster work to figure out what happened to Tony and if the deaging can be reversed.

K1 - A Little Motherly Push

Gen

Rhodey & Mama Rhodes & the Stark Family

Mama Rhodes is not above a little bit of nagging and above-board manipulation to get what she wants.

K2 - Through A Child's Eyes, It's Different - Chapter 6: Very Familiar Eyes

Teen

Pepperony, MIT Bros

K3 - Bot Shaming - Part 1

Gen

Tony & Dum-E

Dum-E broke the fourth wall, and Dad is shaming him on social media. (Moodboard)

K4 - Pepperony Soulmates Moodboard

Gen

Pepperony

Tony has been interviewing for a PA all day, and he expects that he’ll be wasting the rest of his day the same way. Until Pepper Potts walks into his office, and words flower under their skin.

K5 - Morgan’s Valentines (Valentine’s Day fluff fic with Morgan making valentines)

Gen

Morgan & her family, Pepperony

Morgan makes a valentine for all the people, creatures, bots, and AI's in her life.

Adopted Squares

Sharon Carter: Rebelmeg Drabbles - Chapter 10: Stark Cousins Summer Camp

Gen

Tony & Sharon

Sharon blackmailed Tony into coming to summer camp with her as a counselor. She is beginning to regret it…

Iron Dad: Tony Stark, Doo Doo Doo-Doo Doo

Gen

Tony & Morgan, Pepperony, Tony & the MCU teens, MIT Bros

Tony has Dad Brain, Morgan is disinterested in her nap, FRIDAY is amused, and a whole pack of teenagers are watching it unfold from behind the couch.

Tony Stank: Stank Industries moodboard

Gen

MIT Bros

Rhodey has been wearing Stank Industries shirts for months. Tony finally notices.

#tonystarkbingo2020 #tsb2020 #rebelmeg #masterpost

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ebenpink · 5 years

Photo

Life In the Sanitized Bubble (Or Why Probiotics Are So Important) https://ift.tt/2LEFwLh

For the vast majority of human history (and prehistory), men, women, and children had near-constant contact with the natural world around them. They were walking on the ground. They were playing in the dirt. They were digging for roots and grubs. They were eating with their hands. They were field dressing animals and wiping their hands on the grass. Nothing was sterilized; the tools to sterilize the environment didn’t exist. You could boil water, but that was about it. Bacteria were everywhere, and humans were constantly ingesting it. Even as babies, preindustrial infants nursed for almost four years, so they were getting a steady source of breastmilk-based probiotic bacteria for a good portion of their early lives.

The Agricultural Age: Farms and Fermented Foods

After agriculture and animal husbandry hit the scene, human diets changed, but their environmental exposures didn’t so much. Every day they interacted closely with the soil and/or animals (and their respective bacteria). And they also continued ingesting probiotic bacteria on a regular basis through the use of fermented food—for at least the last 10,000 years. Honey into mead, grains into beer, fruit into wine, alcohol into vinegar.

We know that fermented dairy has been an integral part of any traditional dairy-eating culture because fermentation is the natural result of having milk around without refrigeration. You take raw milk and leave it out for a couple days at room temperature, and it will begin to separate and ferment. Introduce an animal stomach and you can make cheese. Introduce specific strains of bacteria, and you can make yogurt or kefir. But the point is that dairy fermentation—and, thus, the consumption of dairy-based probiotics—was unavoidable in pre-industrial dairy-eating societies.

In areas without (and some with) dairy consumption, they fermented plants. Kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, chutneys, soy sauce, miso, and natto are just several examples among hundreds.

Modern Diets, Modern Environments

Here’s my point to all this: probiotics in one form or another have been a constant input in the human experience… until today.

Today? We live sterilized lives.

We wipe everything down with anti-microbial agents.

We wash all our plates and eating utensils with ultra-hot water and powerful soaps.

We wear shoes.

We don’t touch (or see) dirt for days, weeks at a time.

We stay indoors most of the day.

We pasteurize our dairy. We render shelf-stable (and thus inert) our sauerkraut and pickles.

We sterilize our water.

We take antibiotics.

We eat processed, refined food that’s been treated with preservatives and anti-microbial additives designed to remove all traces of bacteria.

We employ tens of thousands of scientists, bureaucrats, and agents whose primary role is to ensure our food supply is as sterile as possible.

I get all that. There are good reasons for doing all these things, and on the balance I’d of course rather have clean water, clean food, and antibiotics than not, but there are also drawbacks and unintended consequences. We live in a sterile world, and our guts weren’t built for a sterile world. They’re meant to house a diverse array of bacteria.

What Are the Consequences Of Living a Sterile Life?

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, said that “all diseases originate in the gut.” The most obvious example, digestive issues, are some of the most common in the post-industrial world. Constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and general digestive distress affect tens of millions. Food intolerances and allergies, which also have a link to gut health, are rising.

Even conditions that aren’t intuitively linked to gut health, like autism or hay fever or even heart disease, may actually have a connection with the state of our guts or digestion.

At least since Biblical times (and probably earlier), humans have identified a connection between the gut and our emotions. “I’ve got a gut feeling…” or “I feel it in my gut.” Though it’s usually portrayed as “merely metaphor,” this connection isn’t spurious and can feel quite real. Remember when you held hands with that pretty girl or handsome guy for the first time? You felt those butterflies in your gut. Or how you had to rush to the bathroom before giving that big talk in front of your college class? You felt the nervousness and anxiety in your gut.

Evidence is accumulating that our gut bacteria can manufacture and synthesize neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA, and even sex hormones like testosterone. We’ve even identified a legitimate physiological pathway running from the gut to the brain and back again. Couple that with the fact that gut health seems to play a role in depression, anxiety, and other related conditions, and it starts looking like our lack of exposure to probiotic bacteria could be triggering (or at least exacerbating) the rise in mental health issues.

Supporting Our Guts In the Age of Sterility

The foundation of gut health has to be diet: 1) Eating fermented foods to provide probiotic bacteria and 2) eating plant and animal foods that provide prebiotic substrate to feed and nourish those bacteria. That’s been the way of humans for tens of thousands of years—from ingesting soil-based and animal-based bacteria on the food we ate as foragers to directly producing and consuming fermented food—and it should remain the primary mode of probiotic procurement.

But there’s also a place for probiotic supplementation. Food alone probably can’t atone for the sterile existence we’ve built for ourselves. Food alone can’t counteract the several years of breastfeeding you didn’t get, the dirt you didn’t play with, the antelope colons you didn’t handle with bare hands, the untreated water you didn’t drink. You may get it now, but what about ten years ago? What about when you were a kid?

Evolutionarily novel circumstances often require evolutionarily novel responses to restore balance.

And probiotics aren’t even that “novel.” We’re clearly designed to consume probiotics in the food we eat, and probiotic supplements utilize the same ingestion pathway, especially if you consume them with food. The dosages may sound high. Primal Probiotics, the one I make (and take), contains 5 billion colony forming units (cfu, a measure of bacteria that are able to survive digestion and establish colonies in the gut) of good bacteria per dose—but that’s right in line with (or even well under) the dose of probiotics found in common fermented foods.

A single milliliter of kefir can have up to 10 billion cfu.

A cup of yogurt can contain up to 500 billion cfu.

A tablespoon of sauerkraut juice can contain 1.5 trillion cfu. Kimchi is probably quite similar.

A single gram of soil can contain almost 10 trillion cfu. A gram of soil is easy to consume if you’re eating foods (and drink water) directly from the earth.

Now, Primal Probiotics isn’t the only option. It may not even be the best option if you have specific conditions that other strains are particularly adept at addressing. (I’ll cover this in a future post.) But the way I designed Primal Probiotics was to be a good general, all-purpose probiotic with particular applications for Primal, keto, and other ancestrally-minded people living their modern lives.

For instance, one of my favorite strains I’ve included is Bacillus subtilis, the very same bacterial strain that’s found in natto, the traditional Japanese fermented soybean. B. subtilis addresses many of the issues we face in the modern world. It helps break down phytase in the gut and turn it into inositol, an important nutrient for brain and mood and stress. It helps convert vitamin K1 (from plants) into vitamin K2 (the more potent animal form of the vitamin). It can even hydrolyze wheat and dairy proteins to make them less allergenic.

There’s also Bacillus clausii, an integral modulator of the innate immune system (PDF)—the part of the immune system that fights off pathogens, toxins, and other invading offenders. Innate immunity is ancient immunity; it’s the same system employed by lower organisms like animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. It’s the foundation of what we know as the immune response. What’s funny is that B. clausii has such a powerful effect on our innate immunity that one could argue B. clausii is an innate aspect of our gut community.

I’ve also included a small amount of prebiotic substrates in the latest iteration. I use raw potato starch (for resistant starch) and a blend of fructooligosaccharides and galactooligosaccharides. The prebiotic doses are low enough that they shouldn’t exacerbate any gut problems or FODMAPs intolerances and high enough to provide enough food for the probiotics to flourish.

Again, you don’t have to take Primal Probiotics. It’s my opinion that they provide the perfect combination of strains for most people’s needs, especially when combined with regular intakes of fermented veggies like sauerkraut and fermented dairy like yogurt, cheese, and kefir, but the actual strains themselves aren’t proprietary. You can find them elsewhere if you want to get individual probiotics. Hell, you may not even need a probiotic supplement. Depending on your personal health background, the level of sterility in your life history and current life (if you grew up on a farm drinking raw milk, for example), and the amount of fermented foods you currently consume, you may not need supplemental assistance.

But it’s sure nice to have around.

Anyway, that’s it for today.

How do you get your probiotics? Do you find them necessary for optimum health? What kind of benefits have you experienced from taking probiotics, either via food or supplementation?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care.

The post Life In the Sanitized Bubble (Or Why Probiotics Are So Important) appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

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#IFTTT #Blogger

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jesseneufeld · 5 years

Text

Life In the Sanitized Bubble (Or Why Probiotics Are So Important)

The Agricultural Age: Farms and Fermented Foods

In areas without (and some with) dairy consumption, they fermented plants. Kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, chutneys, soy sauce, miso, and natto are just several examples among hundreds.

Modern Diets, Modern Environments

Here’s my point to all this: probiotics in one form or another have been a constant input in the human experience… until today.

Today? We live sterilized lives.

We wipe everything down with anti-microbial agents.

We wash all our plates and eating utensils with ultra-hot water and powerful soaps.

We wear shoes.

We don’t touch (or see) dirt for days, weeks at a time.

We stay indoors most of the day.

We pasteurize our dairy. We render shelf-stable (and thus inert) our sauerkraut and pickles.

We sterilize our water.

We take antibiotics.

We eat processed, refined food that’s been treated with preservatives and anti-microbial additives designed to remove all traces of bacteria.

We employ tens of thousands of scientists, bureaucrats, and agents whose primary role is to ensure our food supply is as sterile as possible.

What Are the Consequences Of Living a Sterile Life?

Even conditions that aren’t intuitively linked to gut health, like autism or hay fever or even heart disease, may actually have a connection with the state of our guts or digestion.

Supporting Our Guts In the Age of Sterility

Evolutionarily novel circumstances often require evolutionarily novel responses to restore balance.

A single milliliter of kefir can have up to 10 billion cfu.

A cup of yogurt can contain up to 500 billion cfu.

A tablespoon of sauerkraut juice can contain 1.5 trillion cfu. Kimchi is probably quite similar.

A single gram of soil can contain almost 10 trillion cfu. A gram of soil is easy to consume if you’re eating foods (and drink water) directly from the earth.

But it’s sure nice to have around.

Anyway, that’s it for today.

How do you get your probiotics? Do you find them necessary for optimum health? What kind of benefits have you experienced from taking probiotics, either via food or supplementation?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care.

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window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '62346' });}

The post Life In the Sanitized Bubble (Or Why Probiotics Are So Important) appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Life In the Sanitized Bubble (Or Why Probiotics Are So Important) published first on https://drugaddictionsrehab.tumblr.com/

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lauramalchowblog · 5 years

Text

Life In the Sanitized Bubble (Or Why Probiotics Are So Important)

The Agricultural Age: Farms and Fermented Foods

In areas without (and some with) dairy consumption, they fermented plants. Kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, chutneys, soy sauce, miso, and natto are just several examples among hundreds.

Modern Diets, Modern Environments

Here’s my point to all this: probiotics in one form or another have been a constant input in the human experience… until today.

Today? We live sterilized lives.

We wipe everything down with anti-microbial agents.

We wash all our plates and eating utensils with ultra-hot water and powerful soaps.

We wear shoes.

We don’t touch (or see) dirt for days, weeks at a time.

We stay indoors most of the day.

We pasteurize our dairy. We render shelf-stable (and thus inert) our sauerkraut and pickles.

We sterilize our water.

We take antibiotics.

We eat processed, refined food that’s been treated with preservatives and anti-microbial additives designed to remove all traces of bacteria.

We employ tens of thousands of scientists, bureaucrats, and agents whose primary role is to ensure our food supply is as sterile as possible.

What Are the Consequences Of Living a Sterile Life?

Even conditions that aren’t intuitively linked to gut health, like autism or hay fever or even heart disease, may actually have a connection with the state of our guts or digestion.

Supporting Our Guts In the Age of Sterility

Evolutionarily novel circumstances often require evolutionarily novel responses to restore balance.

A single milliliter of kefir can have up to 10 billion cfu.

A cup of yogurt can contain up to 500 billion cfu.

A tablespoon of sauerkraut juice can contain 1.5 trillion cfu. Kimchi is probably quite similar.

A single gram of soil can contain almost 10 trillion cfu. A gram of soil is easy to consume if you’re eating foods (and drink water) directly from the earth.

But it’s sure nice to have around.

Anyway, that’s it for today.

How do you get your probiotics? Do you find them necessary for optimum health? What kind of benefits have you experienced from taking probiotics, either via food or supplementation?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care.

(function($) { $("#dfbO9ef").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=958&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfbO9ef" ); })( jQuery );

window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '62346' });}

The post Life In the Sanitized Bubble (Or Why Probiotics Are So Important) appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Life In the Sanitized Bubble (Or Why Probiotics Are So Important) published first on https://venabeahan.tumblr.com

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buckybarnesbingo · 4 years

Photo

BBB Week 23 Roundup!

We have exactly 450 fills so far in this round of the BBB, which is just AMAZING! Make sure to leave some love for our wonderful participants!

Title: Guarding You - Chapter 8: Guardian Angel Collaborator: Fighting_for_Creativity, Purple_ducky00 Link: AO3 Square Filled: B5 - Letting go (for Ducky) Ship: WinterIronHusband Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Shooting, Violence, AU Bodyguard, AU College/University, College Student Tony Stark, College Student Rhodey, Bodyguard Bucky Barnes, Fluff, Angst, Happy Ending, Dorks in love, Falling In Love, Fade to black sex, slices of life, Mention of alcohol, creep tries to creep on Tony, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Pining, Minor Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau/Nick Fury, mentioned dog, betrayal, Violence, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Injury Recovery, Clint Barton Trolls People Summary: Though he was fired, Bucky saves Tony's life. Word Count: 12,353

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Title: Laying in wait Collaborator: kalee60 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y4 - First Time Ship: Stucky Rating: Teen Major Tags: Alternate Universe, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, First Time, Getting Together, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, Implied Sexual Content, Puns & Word Play, Light Pining Summary: When Bucky’s sister gets engaged and has a destination party, he’d never imagined that they’d overbook the hotel and he’d be stuck sharing a bed with his best friend. Which of course wouldn’t have been an issue, not at all, except that pesky part where Bucky had been in love with Steve his whole life. But maybe, just maybe this rooming oversight might just be the push he needed to see what was right in front of him the whole time. Word Count: 1599

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Title: You better make sure you put me in my place Collaborator: call-me-kayyyyy Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U3 - Till Death Do Us Part Ship: Stucky Rating: Mature Major Tags: art, no serum bucky, no serum steve, wedding Summary: No-Serum AU where long-haired mechanic!Bucky and skinny artist!Steve tie the knot. ❤️

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Title: Here come the champs Collaborator: abitnotgoodiebag Link: Tumblr Square Filled: C1 - Paintball Ship: BuckySam Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: Paintball isn’t just recreation for these two, it’s a lifestyle.

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Title: Perfect Soldiers Collaborator: phoenixgryphon Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U3 - BAMF Bucky Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: art, Jurassic Park AU Summary: A Jurassic World crossover; Russians had interest in purchasing the Indoraptor, what if those Russians were the Russian branch of Hydra? Hydra took immediate interest in the specimen, it was strong, fast had no metal arm and deadly, making for a fine counterpart to work alongside their existing Asset. Of course there was the whole issue of making it comply, but to Hydra that’s nothing a little programming can’t fix.aka you don’t get any more bamf than TWS working with a dinosaur.

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Title: Guarding You - Chapter 9: Guarding You Collaborator: Fighting_for_Creativity, Purple_ducky00 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Forgiveness, Ducky Y3 - Take the Shot, J_Gun_I Ship: WinterIronWar Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Shooting, Violence, AU Bodyguard, AU College/University, College Student Tony Stark, College Student Rhodey, Bodyguard Bucky Barnes, Fluff, Angst, Happy Ending, Dorks in love, Falling In Love, Fade to black sex, slices of life, Mention of alcohol, creep tries to creep on Tony, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Pining, Minor Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau/Nick Fury, mentioned dog, betrayal, Violence, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Injury Recovery, Clint Barton Trolls People Summary: The boys do what they have failed to to so far, talking it out. Word Count: 13,650

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Title: gentle and soft Collaborator: plutosrose Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y4 - Kink: Gentle Sex Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Bucky Barnes Recovering, Gentle Sex, slightly pwp, Established Relationship Summary: Bucky tries to understand why he wants Steve to be so gentle with him. Word Count: 1288

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Title: Missed Dance- Second Chance Collaborator: fightingforcreativity Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y4 - Surprise Dancing Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Soft, Fluff, Angst, Bucky Barnes Feels, Soft Tony Stark Summary: A mission delayed Bucky's plan to go out with his boyfriend. Thankfully said boyfriend was nothing if not resourceful. Word Count: 980

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Title: I Thought You Were Smaller Collaborator: ariasfandom Link: Tumblr Square Filled: C3 - Free Square Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Smut, WWII era Stucky, dirty talk, size kink Summary: It’s the first night Steve and Bucky are together since Bucky was shipped out months ago, and Bucky wants to make up for lost time, and show him how much he loves his partner and his new body. Word Count: 1975

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Title: Kill List Collaborator: shadow-ravin Link: AO3 Square Filled: B1 - Kill List Ship: Bucky & Steve, Bucky & Natasha Rating: Mature Major Tags: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, 5+1 Things, Friendship, Killing, Character Death, But only bad guys die, Torture, Revenge, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary: 5 times Bucky killed someone and one time he didn’t have to. Word Count: 805

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Title: Snowed In Collaborator: steves-on-a-plane Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U2 - Sharing Body Heat Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Gen Major Tags: not listed Summary: The last person that Reader wanted to be paired up with on a mission is the quiet and elusive Bucky Barnes. When the pair get snowed in together during a mission they have no choice but to warm up to each other. figuratively and literally. Word Count: 1373

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Title: bruises make for better conversation Collaborator: nightwideopen Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - AU: Supernatural Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: Blood/Gore, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comics/Movie Crossover, Supernatural Elements, Vampire Clint Barton, Pain Kink, Lovers to Lovers Summary: “Jesus Christ, Barnes, what the hell is that?” Bucky let Clint feed off of him last night, and it got kind of… intense. To say the least. But he can’t exactly tell Tony that because he doesn’t know where Clint’s at with their whole… sexual blood sucking thing. Also, no one knows that Clint is a vampire. Word Count: 4331

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Title: Speed Dating Collaborator: arrowsandmixtapes Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Y5 - Speed Dating Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: A few poorly placed easter eggs. Summary: Your desperation pays off when you meet a handsome man at a speed dating event. Word Count: 820

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Title: Vacation Gone Wrong Collaborator: jurassicworjd Link: AO3 Square Filled: K3 - Going On Vacation Together Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Teen Major Tags: swearing Summary: Marvel meets Jurassic World. Bucky knew from the beginning it was going to go wrong when Clint told them that he bought tickets to the famous Jurassic World theme park. Yet somehow, he allows his boyfriend to drag him out there anyways. Word Count: 3183

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Title: You Alone Collaborator: 27dragons Link: AO3 Squares Filled: Chapter 1: C2 - IMG: Tony working on Bucky’s arm Chapter 2: U4 - Take the Shot Chapter 3: U5 - Abandonment Issues Chapter 4: Y2 - Kink: BDSM Chapter 5: Y3 - Last TImes/Farewells Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - No Powers, single parent tony stark, Omega Tony Stark, Alpha Bucky Barnes, War Veteran Bucky Barnes, Protective Harley Keener, Meddling Kids, First Dates, First Kiss, Past Tony Stark/Tiberius Stone, Panic Attacks, Sex, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Anal Sex, Light BDSM, Multiple Orgasms, Knotting, Weddings Summary: Life as a single parent isn’t easy, but Tony is proud of what he’s accomplished over the last fifteen years. He has his own electronics repair shop and has managed to keep his son Harley away from his toxic ex. So what if every alpha he sees puts him on edge? Most of his customers are omegas, anyway, and he’s content never to date again if it means never again having to go through the shit that Harley’s sire put him through. Bucky is more than intrigued by the smart and beautiful omega who’s repairing his arm, but Tony smells like fear, and Bucky doesn’t want to make things worse. He has to put a lot of effort into making sure not to trip Tony’s triggers -- made doubly hard by the fact that Tony doesn’t want to talk about them -- but he thinks it could be well worth the effort in the end. Word Count: 14,938

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Title: The Red Star Collaborator: startrekkingaroundasgard Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U5 - AU:Pirate Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Explicit Major Tags: m/f explicit smut, choking, public sex, exhibitionism, prostitution, name calling Summary: Pirate captain Barnes of The Red Star makes port and goes directly to the reader, his favourite prostitute, for some release. Word Count: 1305

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Title: (my hair) Through your fingertips Collaborator: darter_blue Link: AO3 Square Filled: C5 - “Kiss me.” Ship: Stucky Rating: Mature Major Tags: emotional hurt/comfort, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Canon Divergence - post Captain America: The Winter Soldier, hair washing, first kiss Summary: The asset left Steve by the river. Damaged. Broken.The asset himself is both of those things. But Steve should be neither.The asset needs to find Steve to makes sure he’s okay. Needs to right his wrong (just one of so many). And he needs to find Steve because he WANTS to, though he may not fully understand what wanting even means.Something inside him feels peace at the memory of Steve’s face (the only memory the asset can hold onto) and he maybe just wants to FEEL things again. Or for the first time…He just can’t remember… Word Count: 3651

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Title: Between a Rock and a Hard Place Collaborator: queen-of-the-avengers Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U4 - Rebecca Barnes Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: minor angst, crack fic, fluff and implied smut at the end Summary: ou and your two best friends are fighting, and you’re caught in the middle of it. The only person who will listen to you is your boyfriend, Bucky. Word Count: 1.1k

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Title: Aria in B♭ - Chapter 8 Collaborator: 27dragons Link: AO3 Square Filled: B4 - Alcohol Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Historical, opera singer Bucky Barnes, nobleman Tony Stark, Prostitution, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Dubious Consent, Pining, Dueling, Gambling Summary: Lord Stark has his faults -- a bit too fond of a drink, a little too reckless at cards, and entirely too happy to flout his good fortune in his rivals’ faces. But a man as wealthy and powerful as Tony Stark is bound to have a few peccadillos. What he is not, is the sort of man who would force himself upon another unwilling, unlike Lord Killian, who seems to have taken a particular shine to an opera singer in the troupe Killian is hosting. Tony rescues Mr. Barnes from Killian’s untender mercies, moves the troupe into his own home, and takes Mr. Barnes as his bed companion for the season. The arrangement provides protection for Bucky and the troupe from Killian’s spite, and tweaks Killian at the same time -- a win all around, as far as Tony is concerned. He wasn’t counting on Bucky being so utterly charming and wonderful, or for the possibility that he might actually, after so many years a bachelor, fall in love. Word Count: 28,643

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Title: Siren - Chapter 3: Roundtable Rival Collaborator: Writing_mermaid Link: AO3 Square Filled: B5 - language Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Mature Major Tags: Language, mention of injuries, Steve is an asshole Summary: Y/N is a mutant, a Siren, the last of her kind, with deadly dangerous powers and a hidden past. If most of the Avengers likes and get along with her, Steve doesn’t, and it’s getting worse when Y/N and Bucky become close. After all what can bring two broken souls together if it’s not a dark past. Word Count: 5564

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Title: Obnoxiously Perfect Collaborator: plutosrose Link: AO3 Square Filled: B2 - Alpine Ship: Stucky Rating: Mature Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Alternate Universe - College/University, Developing Relationship, Coffee Date, Brief Mentions of Grief, Self-Esteem, Finding Your Crush and His Ex on Social Media, Brief Mention of Past Sharon Carter/Natasha Romanov Summary: After hooking up with Steve at a faculty reception, Bucky consults Alpine for advice. Word Count: 2899

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Title: It's Only a Paper Moon - Chapter 1 Collaborator: SierraNovembr Link: AO3 Square Filled: B3 - Bucky/Tony Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Depiction of a mental asylum, established relationship, Edwin Jarvis Summary: Fighting aliens alongside Captain America? A loving, supportive fiancé who overlooks the many flaws of Tony Stark? Tony often thought his life was too amazing to be real. He might just be right about that. Word Count: 831

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Title: We Shall Be Monsters - Chapter 2: Dead All Day Collaborator: tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y1 - Hallucinations Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: mentioned torture, Frankenstein inspired, reincarnation, rise from the dead, gross, dead bodies Summary: This is your 6:30am Rise from the Dead call... Word Count: 1370

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Title: Worth It Collaborator: darter-blue Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y4 - Pet rock Ship: Stucky Rating: Mature Major Tags: Modern Bucky Barnes, Fluff, Romance, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting Summary: Bucky is not having a great time here, speed dating was not the ‘opportunity to meet someone great’ he had been promised. This was just a faster, more efficient way for Bucky to get dumped. Until someone new sits down gracefully into the seat opposite him. Bucky’s looking up from where tight blue jeans around thick thighs have slid into the seat, up to a broad chest in a t-shirt that has to be two sizes too small, up to shoulders so wide they could carry a bus, and up, up, up to the most beautiful face Bucky has ever seen in real life. And he’s smiling. A real, enthusiastic smile.At Bucky. Word Count: 2051

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Title: Moments with You (Part 2 of 5) Collaborator: shield-agent78 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U1 - Confessions Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Mature Major Tags: angst, anxiety, stress Summary: Both you and Scott Summers yearn for a beautiful remembrance that cannot be reached. Scott, in the form of Jean Gray, and you in wanting Scott to move on with his life and realize that love can be found again. Word Count: 1285

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Title: 5 Times Bucky and Winter Courted Tony, and 1 Time Tony Realized He Was Courting Back Collaborator: newtypeshadow Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Steve Rogers Ship: Tony/Bucky/Winter Rating: Mature Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Domestic Avengers, Avengers Tower, 5+1 Things, Flerkin Shifter Tony Stark, Wolf Shifter Bucky Barnes, Symbiote Winter, Bucky Barnes & Winter Soldier are Different Personalities, Courtship, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Tony Stark, Kidnapping, Rescue Missions, Canon-Typical Violence, Dead animals, fresh meat, Cannibalism, technically, flerkins and symbiotes don't understand why eating delicious human meat is bad, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, murder fluff, Crack Treated Seriously, Getting Together, First Kiss, Aliens, Alien Cultural Differences, Polyamory, Flerkin Tony Stark, Cat Tony Stark Summary: There's a dead bird next to Tony's coffee maker. Gross. Except when Tony shifts into a flerkin. Then it's a delicious gift. Doesn't explain why Bucky and his symbiote, Winter, left it in Tony's kitchen though. Word Count: 10,630

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Title: They Never Went Further, They Never Went Back Collaborator: eachpeachpearplum Link: AO3 Squares Filled: Y2 - rescue mission (chapter one) C3 - free space (chapter two) C1 - recovering Bucky (chapter four) U4 - shoot first, ask later (chapter five) Y1 - hurt/comfort (chapter seven) Ship: Stuckony Rating: Teen Major Tags: identity porn, vigilante Iron Man, polyamory negotiations, asexual Bucky Summary: Steve and Bucky’s truck breaks down while they’re out searching for the vigilante Iron Man. Fortunately, mechanic Tony is willing to offer them a place to stay for a few nights. Word Count: 26,893

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Title: Hallucinations Collaborator: ShakespeareanQueer Link: Tumblr Square Filled: B2 - Hallucinations Ship: Stucky Rating: Teen Major Tags: Induced hallucinations, angst Summary: When Steve doesn’t make it back on the time travel platform, Bucky asks Wanda for a weird favor. Word Count: 3223

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Title: Better the Devil you know Collaborator: Kalee60 Link: AO3 Square Filled: C4 - Wings Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Explicit Sexual Content, Falling In Love, Bottom Bucky Barnes, POV Bucky Barnes, Idiots in Love, Light Dom/sub, they should really just talk..., Demon Bucky Barnes, Angel Steve Rogers, Denial of Feelings, Misunderstandings Summary: Attending work conferences was never Bucky's idea of a 'good time' - especially when the rival company was Heaven and he happened to be a demon from Hell. Even more unbearable, he'd been tasked to present a seminar (against his will) - Bucky was more about doling out punishments, less about educating his peers.So of course, while Bucky is already down, Steve Rogers turns up, an angel Bucky had been trying desperately to forget for the last millenia… for an array of reasons. Bucky now finds himself in close quarters with his feathery nemesis, and after living multiple lifetimes, was maybe finally learning that there really was a fine line between hate and lust, and an even finer one tethering it all to love? Word Count: 19,912

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Title: Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself Collaborator: rebelmeg Link: AO3 Square Filled: B1 - Mexican standoff Ship: Bucky & Winter Rating: Mature Major Tags: blood and violence, Winter is a separate personality, graphic depiction of violence Summary: The fight between Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier might happen in his head, but that doesn't make it any less real. Word Count: 771

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Title: Unshackled - Chapter 2 Collaborator: LiraelClayr007 Link: AO3 Square Filled: C1 - through a scope Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Amnesia, (of the short term), Sharing a Bed, Fluff, Angst, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Deaf Clint Barton, Hurt Clint Barton, Hydra (Marvel), Slow Burn. Will add more tags and characters as they come up, Escape Summary: Nausea roils in Clint’s stomach, and he’s suddenly glad there’s no food in his stomach. Mind control. HYDRA’s perfected brainwashing and mind control. He needs to get out of here, he needs to tell… But of course it doesn’t matter. Because he’s shackled to the wall across from the fucking Winter Soldier, deep within who knows where surrounded by who knows how many HYDRA goons, and he hasn’t eaten for...how many days now? Even if he could get to his bow, he’s not sure he’d have the strength to draw it.In other words, he’s well and truly fucked. Word Count: 5970

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Title: Aria in B♭ - Chapter 9 Collaborator: tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: I3 - Disability Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Historical, opera singer Bucky Barnes, nobleman Tony Stark, Prostitution, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Dubious Consent, Pining, Dueling, Gambling Summary: Lord Stark has his faults -- a bit too fond of a drink, a little too reckless at cards, and entirely too happy to flout his good fortune in his rivals’ faces. But a man as wealthy and powerful as Tony Stark is bound to have a few peccadillos. What he is not, is the sort of man who would force himself upon another unwilling, unlike Lord Killian, who seems to have taken a particular shine to an opera singer in the troupe Killian is hosting. Tony rescues Mr. Barnes from Killian’s untender mercies, moves the troupe into his own home, and takes Mr. Barnes as his bed companion for the season. The arrangement provides protection for Bucky and the troupe from Killian’s spite, and tweaks Killian at the same time -- a win all around, as far as Tony is concerned. He wasn’t counting on Bucky being so utterly charming and wonderful, or for the possibility that he might actually, after so many years a bachelor, fall in love. Word Count:31,979

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Title: [Art] Bingo Clusterfuck - Chapter 11: come on with it, come on Collaborator: call-me-kayyyyy Link: AO3 Square Filled: B5 - Kink: Vibes in Public Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: art, semi-public sex, bottom bucky, top steve, fun-ishment Summary: Steve was done. He was absolutely sick and tired of Bucky riling him up on purpose in front of their tower-mates. Bucky loved making him blush with dirty comments during Avenger's meetings. Flustering him by "accidentally" brushing against his crotch in the community kitchen. Steve had had enough and it was time to teach Bucky a lesson. He sees his moment while their making out like teenagers in front of the big open windows in their apartment. "You like everyone watching Buck? You like it when I get all flushed and hard in front of our friends?" Bucky whined and kissed Steve harder. "Well lets see how you like it, huh sweetie? I'm gonna take you apart, right here where anyone can watch," he growled into Bucky's ear. "Rub your sweet spot till you beg for my cock. Let all of New York see how much you love being on all fours for me." Bucky was gonna learn his lesson alright, maybe twice.

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Title: Dog Days of Summer Collaborator: hddnone Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K5 - “Oh, hell no” Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: temperature play with ice Summary: Summer was the worst season to have a metal arm.Fortunately Bucky had a boyfriend who would fix that for him. Word Count: 997

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Title: something like home Collaborator: nightwideopen Link: AO3 Square Filled: C4 - Canon Divergence Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: Graphic description of injury, mentions of brainwashing Summary: After the fall of the Triskelion, Clint retreats to his last refuge, the farm house in Iowa that he grew up in. On the way there, he finds an injured dog on the road leading to the Barton farm. Spoiler alert: it's not a dog.It's Bucky Barnes. Word Count: 13,048

#buckybarnesbingo2020 #bbb2020 #weekly roundup #bbb week 23 #bbb weekly roundup

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tonystarkbingo · 5 years

Photo

TSB Week 4 Roundup! First, the badges awarded to our participants last week. The following earned their participation badge!

HogwartsToAlexandria buying_the_space_farm Becca Eirlyssa feignedsobriquet Scriptatur Jacaranda

Congratulations to you! And now, the awesome creations we got this week! Go give these lovely peeps some love!

Title: Iron Skins and Tender Hearts Collaborator: dixiehellcat Link: AO3 Square Filled: S1 - Crossover Ship: Pepperony Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Two fathers from two different universes find they have a lot in common. Word Count: 5756 ——————————————

Title: N/A Collaborator: newnewyorker93 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S5 - Gamora Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: I had a Gamora square on two different bingo boards so I decided to try making a pair of felt figures, one for each! I especially liked doing the braids on young Gamora :) Word Count: N/A

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Title: N/A Collaborator: Nasha Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K2 - Carnival Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: After defeating Thanos, which was an undeniable near death experience, that needed a proper recovery time and lots of care from his family, Tony takes his kids out to enjoy themselves and celebrate it all ended well, that he’ll be able to see Harley and Peter go to college and give him even more gray hairs alongside Morgan’s, all the things he never dared before but now he cant live without and as proven, he’ll defend with his life. This kids are the future and it looks brighter than the carnival lights surrounding them. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Name the time and the place and the function Collaborator: feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - Abandonment Issues Ship: Starker Rating: Explicit Major Tags: None Summary: It’s Tony’s pride in Peter for getting into MIT that makes the decision for him and sends Peter away from the city, to Cambridge. It’s Peter’s pride, and Oscorp, that bring him back. Now if only he knew how to tell that to Mr. Stark. Word Count: 4600

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Title: Put Me In Coach, I’m Ready to Play Collaborator: ceelaina Link: AO3 Square Filled: K3 - Remote Control Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content Summary: Sometimes being happily married means finding unique and special ways of driving each other crazy. Word Count: 5827

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Title: let the soft animal of your body love what it loves - Chapter 4: iv. Collaborator: deathsweetqueen Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Teammates Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Time Travel, Endgame Steve goes back in time to be with Post AOU Tony, Explicit Sexual Content, Dirty Talk, Past Domestic Violence, Post AOU AU, Breaking Up and Making Up, Marriage Counselling, Superfamily, Team Iron Man, but not Steve unfriendly, he’s just a moron, a lot of fighting and arguments, Dubious Consent due to Identity Issues Summary: In 2023, Steve Rogers, after burning his husband’s body, goes through the timelines to return each of the Infinity Stones. Word Count: 22,264

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Title: DUM-E’s revenge Collaborator: lbibliophile-mcu Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Adopted - Sunset Bain Ship: past Tony Stark/Sunset Bain Rating: Gen Major Tags: Dum-E hates Sunset Summary: DUM-E really doesn’t like people who hurt his TON-E.

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Title: let the soft animal of your body love what it loves - Chapter 5: v. Author: deathsweetqueen Link: AO3 Square Filled: A1 - Shapeshifters Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: Explicit Warnings: Time Travel, Endgame Steve goes back in time to be with Post AOU Tony, Explicit Sexual Content, Dirty Talk, Past Domestic Violence, Post AOU AU, Breaking Up and Making Up, Marriage Counselling, Superfamily, Team Iron Man, but not Steve unfriendly, he’s just a moron, a lot of fighting and arguments, Dubious Consent due to Identity Issues Summary: In 2023, Steve Rogers, after burning his husband’s body, goes through the timelines to return each of the Infinity Stones. In 2015, Tony Stark’s husband returns to him and for the first time in years, he has hope for his marriage. Word Count: 22,264

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Title: You, Me, and Bambino Makes Three Author: monobuu Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Doctor’s Appointment Ship: Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes Rating: Teen Major Tags: Genderswap, Pregnancy, Swearing, Miscommunication, Not Steve Rogers Friendly Summary: Toni has a perfectly functional booty-call/fuckbuddie relationship going on with the love of her life, it’s totally fine, nothing could possibly go wrong. Word Count: 5153

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Title: Arboreal: Anima moodboard Collaborator: Menatiera Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T4 - Mad science Ship: WinterIron Rating: G (both fic and moodboard) Major Tags: Fluff, Magical realism, Modern!Bucky, Alternate universe, matchmaker!Dum-E, moodboard Summary: Moodboard for the fic Anima by Arboreal. Fic summary: Bucky had always been able to hear the voices of the things around him.

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Title: The Morning (Evening?) After Collaborator: turtlesse Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - image of Stark Tower Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: none Summary: Bucky promised a dinner, after all… Word Count: 1932

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Title: Iron OTP Cuties Collaborator: rebelmeg Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S2 - victorious Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: fandom craft, cross stitch Summary: Cross stitch Cuties Tony and Pepper wearing their suits

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Title: or to try Collaborator: mitochondrials Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - Handle with Care Ship: Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Tony doesn’t enjoy the reminder that Steve is perfect in every way. Most of all, he doesn’t enjoy the constant, self-induced reminder of how beautiful Steve’s wings are. Steve decides to comfort him by revealing just how imperfect Captain America really is. Word Count: 1190

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Title: Flickered Upon Ocean’s Insanity Collaborator: tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - Soulbound Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Dubious Consent Summary: Tony is the youngest Guide ever… problem? He doesn’t want to be one.Hydra has the perfect solution. Word Count: 3023

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Title: When in Vegas Collaborator: katling Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Waking Up Married Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Tony’s birthday celebrations take a turn he never expected. He’s not complaining though. Word Count: 1414

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Title: Hello, Gorgeous Collaborator: katling Link: AO3 Square Filled: A1 - Tony Stark/Natasha Romanoff Ship: IronWidow Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Tony Stark, meet Natasha Romanoff. Natasha Romanoff, meet Tony Stark. This is the start of a beautiful relationship. Word Count: 2939

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Title: Change Comes to All Collaborator: katling Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - Captivity Ship: IronWidow Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Combining a secret relationship with being a spy isn’t the easiest of things but Natasha and Tony make it work. Then comes a trip to Afghanistan and everything changes. Word Count: 3007

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Title: Open Your Mind Collaborator: katling Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - Grief Ship: Tony Stark & Vision Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: In the wake of the Ultron mess, Vision comes by to asks some questions and offer some revelations of his own. They take Tony down and entirely unexpected path. Word Count: 2542

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Title: The Value of Cats Collaborator: katling Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - Bonded Animals Ship: None Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: Bonded animals had always existed but Tony didn’t get his until he was lying on the floor of a bunker in Siberia. It was a gift he was never going to be disappointed by. Word Count: 1757

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Title: From the Ashes Collaborator: katling Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - Endgame Fix-it Ship: Pepperony Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: In the aftermath of the defeat of Thanos, Stephen wishes he’d found another way. Or Tony had found another way. But the thing is, Stephen never really looked beyond them winning or losing and sometimes the only way to win is to lose. Word Count: 1637

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Title: Presti-Stimulation Collaborator: politzania Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Kink: Sex Magic Ship: IronStrange Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content Summary: Stephen suggests using a bit of magic to please his lover in a very specific way; Tony is up for it (in more ways than one). Word Count: 1146

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Title: In Deeper Collaborator: RoseRose Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - Kink: Begging Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Consensual Non-Consent, explicit sexual content, BDSM Summary: After the Avengers Assemble episode “In Deep”, Steve and Tony spend some time alone together. Tony found Steve as villain very, very hot, so roleplay sex happens. Word Count: 2548

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Title: Accidental Amnesia Collaborator: Sabriel_4Ever Link: AO3 Squares Filled: Chapter 1 - Never Meant to Hurt You: T3 - Never Meant to Hurt You Chapter 2: K1 - Amnesia Chapter 3: A1 - Thor Chapter 4: T5 - Dream Sharing Chapter 5: K2 - Never Again Ship: FrostIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Past Child Death Summary: When Tony Stark’s told his husband is trying to take over the world, what else is he supposed to do, except use the magic said husband had taught him to use in situations like this, to bring him back. What happens when, against all odds, instead of actually helping his husband, he winds up giving him amnesia? How can he possibly fix this? Word Count: 3178

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Title: An Educational Outing Collaborator: 27dragons Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - AU: Hogwarts Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: In which Professor Stark takes his Muggle Studies students on a field trip, with Professor Barnes’ help, and it does not go quite as planned. Word Count: 1435

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Title: The One where Tony… Collaborator: HogwartsToAlexandria Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - cuddling Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: magic/supernatural elements, trans character Summary: ….reads minds and his fiancé can shield his own. Word Count: 582

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Title: Employee of the Year Collaborator: lbibliophile-mcu Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K1 - Obadiah Stane Ship: Pepperony Rating: Unrated Major Tags: gifset Summary: “I do anything and everything Mr Stark requires. Including, occasionally, taking out the trash.” She was expecting the scheduling, and the fetching and carrying, and even escorting out his overnight ‘guests’. She was not prepared for literally replacing her boss’ heart, hacking into their own company, or killing the CEO gone rouge. But she is Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts; whatever Tony Stark needs, she will make it happen.

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Title: sketch Collaborator: hereandnowwearealive Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T4 - art format: sketch Ship: none Rating: G Major Tags: art Summary: black and white drawing of IM1 Tony staring off into the distance

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Title: Forging Bonds Collaborator: Huntress79 Link: AO3 Square Filled: S2 - fluff Ship: Stuckony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Fluff, with a pinch of Angst, Secret Baby, Peter Parker is Tony Stark’s Biological Child, Protective Bucky, Protective Steve, Avengers as Family, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, War Veterans Bucky and Steve, background pairings Clint/Phil (aka Bowtie) and Pepper/Nat Summary: Just when Tony thought that his relationship with Steve and Bucky is safe and stable, he learns of a son he apparently has. How will “his” soldiers react to the sudden addition to the household? Word Count: 1720

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Title: DUM-E the Fire(extinguisher) Breathing Dragon! Collaborator: journeythroughtherain Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S3 - dragon Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: fandom craft Summary: DUM-E is dressed up and ready for next Halloween!

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Title: Letters to Tony Stark Collaborator: Tonks22 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - I Love You 3000 Ship: Tony & Morgan Rating: Gen Major Tags: Tony Stark is still dead Summary: A look at Morgan’s life through letters written to her dad. Word Count: Unknown

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Title: Don’t Know What Hit Me Collaborator: tisfan Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A4 - Canon: Avengers Academy Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: “Roses are red, violets are blue, all I want for this V-Day is to do you!” Avengers Academy AU Word Count: 770

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Title: kiss me, kiss me, kiss me Collaborator: only_more_love Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - Writing Format: Past Tense Ship: Stony Rating: Mature Major Tags: None Summary: Tony wakes after spending his first night with Steve. Word Count: 1490

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Title: Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Finest Collaborator: dracusfyre Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Undercover in a Gay Bar Ship: WinterIron Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: Accidentally High Summary: James, Tony, and Natasha go on an undercover mission in a nightclub to catch a crime ring and Tony makes a confession while under the influence. Word Count: 3088

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Title: What We Owe to Each Other Collaborator: cadmvs Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - Last Chance Ship: Starker Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Tony dies and goes to the Good Place. Word Count: 3358

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Title: I Need a Superman to Sweep Me off My Feet Collaborator: ceealaina Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - [Image] Iron Patriot Ship: IronHusbands/Iron Bros (read it how you will) Rating: Teen Major Tags: none Summary: When Tony gets stuck up a tree, who’s he gonna call? Iron Patriot! Word Count: 1485

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Title: Stark Cousins Summer Camp Collaborator: rebelmeg Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Sharon Carter Ship: Tony & Sharon Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard, drabble Summary: Sharon blackmailed Tony into coming to summer camp with her as a counselor. She is beginning to regret it… Word Count: 100

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Title: Local Criptids Collaborator: Trashcanakin Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A3 - FREE Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: [Fanart] Mothman!Bucky x Tony (but also Mothra!Bucky x Godzilla!Tony)

#tonystarkbingo2020 #tsb2020 #weekly roundup #week 4 roundup #week 4 #tsb week 4 #weekly badges

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lbibliophile-mcu · 4 years

Text

Tony Stark Bingo 2020 Masterpost - 3096

The @tonystarkbingo is complete! Thank you to the mods and other participants for making it so much fun.

With the new system of adopting less popular prompts, I have a blackout!

This round saw a lot more art fills than previously:

10 moodboard/gifset/graphic

6 fanfic (325-1200 words)

5 fanart (4 DUM-E’s Drawings and one actual sketch-set)

5 drabble/ficlet (3 with moodboard)

2 poem

1 craft

Fill links and details under the cut

Duckling Therapy II

S1 – stay still Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: drabble (100 words) Characters: Tony Stark & Bucky Barnes Tags: ducklings! Summary: This was not how Tony expected to finally catch up to Barnes.

Conduction

T1 – fireplace Link/s: AO3 Fill type: fanfic (970 words) Characters: Tony Stark & Bucky Barnes Tags: Touch-starved, Bucky Barnes needs a hug Summary: Conduction n, the transfer of heat energy via contact. It is a small thing that makes him notice. A simple clap on the shoulder, emphasis for whatever point he is making. But when he moves to take his hand away, Bucky follows, just for a moment, prolonging the contact.

Situational Analysis

A1 – kidnapped Link/s: AO3 Fill type: fanfic (1200 words) Characters: Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes Tags: Tony Stark has terrible coping mechanisms, sleep deprivation, headaches, kidnapping? Summary: As awareness gradually seeps back in, the first thing Tony notices is the headache. Not that this is exactly an uncommon state of affairs; but depending on the reason for the headache, his day will have drastically different outcomes. Aka, is he waking up to a mild annoyance, or a rather unpleasant morning, or an increasingly miserable however long until he manages to get himself back home?

Employee of the Year

K1 – Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: gifset Characters: Pepper Potts Tags: Pepper Potts appreciation, down to murder for her boss Summary: “I do anything and everything Mr Stark requires. Including, occasionally, taking out the trash.” She was expecting the scheduling, and the fetching and carrying, and even escorting out his overnight ‘guests’. She was not prepared for literally replacing her boss’ heart, hacking into their own company, or killing the CEO gone rouge. But she is Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts; whatever Tony Stark needs, she will make it happen.

Moodboard for Status Report

S2 – major injuries Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: moodboard Characters: Tony Stark, JARVIS Tags: Heavy angst, Major character death, AVALON protocol, self-sacrifice Summary: Iron Man is a superhero, but Tony Stark is only human. And sometimes, what is asked of a superhero is more than a human can give. So Tony makes contingency plans. He makes the AVALON protocol. He makes sure that Iron Man is able to help the Avengers even when human Tony Stark… can’t.

One

T2 – time travel (to the future) Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: moodboard and ficlet (170 words) Characters: Tony Stark & Morgan Stark Tags: Major character death, angst, time travel Summary: Time travel is real, and Tony has to make a choice: to ignore this chance to restore the Dusted, or to risk all he has gained since. Strange had told him that there is only one future in which they succeed; he needs to know if this is that one. But… he has a time machine.

Iron Man is Red

A2 – cliche Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: fanart [DUM-E’s Drawings] Characters: Tony Stark, DUM-E, U Tags: DUM-E’s Drawings, Valentines day, Roses are red Summary: Valentine’s Day again, and DUM-E talks U into helping with TON-E’s card.

Go the Fuck to Medical

R2 – day-in-the-life Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: poem (200 words) Characters: Phil Coulson & Avengers Team Tags: Hiding medical issues, Language (as per title), Avengers family, Phil Coulson has the patience of a saint - and this is his breaking point Summary: Phil Coulson likes the Avengers, likes working with them. But when it comes to convincing them to seek necessary medical attention... the next person to complain is getting dragged there by their ear!

What Matters

K2 – image [comics old!Tony] Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: moodboard/graphic Characters: Tony Stark & Morgan Stark Tags: Tony’s masks Summary: Tony has played many roles in his life, each famous in their way. But he is never more proud of a title he’s earned than when Morgan calls him “Daddy”.

Love is Comfortable

S3 – limping Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: moodboard Characters: Pepper Potts / Natasha Romanoff Tags: Fluffy socks Summary: As a woman, being beautiful is painful. So when they're together, they prefer to be comfortable.

Just Apply STE-V

T3 – matchmaker Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: fanfic (425 words) Characters: Tony Stark/Steve Rogers, DUM-E Tags: Mutual pining, developing relationship, DUM-E ships it Summary: When TON-E is sad, DUM-E finds ways to cheer him up. When TON-E is pining, DUM-E finds him STE-V. (Steve would rather prefer to have been consulted on this before being ‘delivered’.)

On Being Tony Stark’s Friend

A3 – free Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: drabble (100 words) Characters: Tony Stark & James Rhodes Tags: non-codependent friendship Summary: To be Tony’s friend, Rhodey had to learn to step back. They must complement each other, not complete.

Trauma Bingo (the Avengers need ALL the therapy)

R3 – shared trauma Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: fanfic (1180 words) Characters: Bucky Barnes & Avengers Team Tags: Angst and humour, PTSD (many traumatic topics mentioned briefly - see fic tags) Summary: SHIELD remembers that trauma therapy exists, and their sights are set on the Avengers. Aka. How many issues can you fit in one team, and can you also get them all in the same person. Succeeding at trauma bingo is not actually winning…

DUM-E Draws a Bath

K3 – miscommunication Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: fanart [DUM-E’s Drawings] Characters: Tony Stark & DUM-E Tags: DUM-E’s Drawings, literal interpretation, DUM-E is a disaster bot Summary: DUM-E tries to be helpful, but interpreting English is hard.

Gift of the Universe

S4 – resurrection Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: moodboard and ficlet (150 words) Characters: Tony Stark & infinity stones Tags: Sentient infinity stones, resurrection Summary: Tony Stark. We see you, we know you. Everything comes with a price, but you – our champion – have paid enough. Accept our gift, and wake!

Brooklyn Boy

T4 – Writing format: non-prose Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: poem (350 words) Characters: Tony Stark / Steve Rogers Tags: Filk, Pining, Happy ending Summary: It’s just not fair that Steve is so perfect... How could Tony not love him?

Cleaning up the Evidence

R4 – writing format: dialogue only Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: moodboard and drabble (100 words) Characters: Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers Tags: De-aging, Parent Tony Stark, Bubble-bath Summary: Tony discovers the unexpected pitfalls of an artistic toddler

TON-E and PET-R; or I-N Man and SPID-R Man

S5 – Peter Parker / Spiderman Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: fanart [DUM-E’s Drawings] Characters: Tony Stark & Peter Parker, DUM-E Tags: DUM-E’s Drawings, puns Summary: DUM-E meets PET-R, TON-E’s new young friend, and has fun with their superhero names. He also discovers how to improvise a ruler.

With me or Against me

T5 – angst Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: moodboard Characters: Tony Stark &Steve Rogers Tags: Betrayal, Sokovia Accords Summary: He and Steve have always had their disagreements, but he’d thought that being Avengers together meant something. Apparently not.

Storyboard for Define Winning

A5 – Writing format: missing scene/epilogue/coda Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: graphic/storyboard Characters: Stephen Strange Tags: Time stone / Eye of Agamotto, Mapping the future, Infinity War Summary: When fighting against impossible odds, you need to know exactly what you are trying to achieve; what is the one battle you cannot lose. Sometimes, success all comes down to asking the right question.

Surprise Superpowers: the Good, the Bad and the Awkward

R5 – supersoldier serum Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: fanfic (1020 words) Characters: Tony Stark Tags: Extremis!Tony Stark Summary: When Tony injected himself with a modified Extremis, it was supposed to keep him alive long enough for the arc reactor to be removed, then quietly fade away. It was not supposed to be this strong. It was not supposed to stick around. And it was not supposed to combine with Dr Cho's Cradle and the suit implants to create some really weird side-effects. Tony's not sure what to think about these new superpowers, so he decides to write it all out.

Learning Curve

K5 – image [DUM-E] Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: fanfic (325 words) Characters: Tony Stark & DUM-E Tags: MIT era, DUM-E is born, DUM-E is a disaster bot Summary: Tony never intended to create an AI as uniquely special as DUM-E, but he recognises it instantly when he does.

DUM-E’s Revenge

Adopted (January) – Sunset Bain Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: fanart [DUM-E’s Drawings] Characters: DUM-E, Sunset Bain (past Tony Stark/Sunset Bain) Tags: DUM-E’s Drawings, Vicarious revenge Summary: DUM-E really doesn’t like people who hurt his TON-E.

Copybot

Adopted (March) – facial-hair bros Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: craft Characters: DUM-E Tags: Dum-e is a disaster bot, Tony’s goatee Summary: DUM-E likes TON-E’s goatee, and U is an enabler.

DUM-E plays dress-ups

Adopted (June) – KINK: role-playing Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: fanart Characters: DUM-E Tags: Dum-e is a disaster bot, dress-ups Summary: The Avengers are some of DUM-E’s favourite people, so he tries to copy them. With varying degrees of success.

#tsb2020 #masterpost

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tiozambia · 5 years

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The commuters’ nightmare in Lusaka

By Elarm Chalusa Commuting in Lusaka has become something of a nightmare. This in spite of the preponderance of transport. The current situation is reminiscent of places where there is an acute shortage of transport and relative lawlessness. The following facts will attest to this assertion. Overloading The Hiace minibuses, earmarked to carry 12 people inclusive of the driver and conductor happen to carry as many as 20 people. How? If there is space for 2 passengers next to the driver, plus 4 passengers in each of the four rows behind with the conductor hovering above the heads of passengers closer to the exit door – that is 2+4x4 = 20. Passengers are made to pay for the space between seats because there are four people where there should be three. Secondly, the row just before the driver’s seat meant to strictly accommodate two people takes four – never mind how they either squeeze with half the body only supported on the little space accessible or an improvised seat in form of a tin or stool. The number reduces to 19 if there is one passenger seat next to the driver’s seat. This problem is compounded by the miniature size of these mini buses. Besides, some of them have such low roofs that one has to bow while sitting. This is dangerous when a minibus bumps over a hump or pothole. The overloading is so acute that some passengers have to exit the bus in most instances to give way to those alighting. Thumbs up to Flush bus drivers that are largely exempt from this misdemeanour because of their wide buses and general discipline to refrain from overloading. Overloading versus check point In case you are wondering how this kind of overloading is possible when Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) is so ‘present’. Let me give you a route where police are ever present – the Airport Road. Drivers of minibuses leaving Chelstone for Airport or Meanwood Ndeke have a strategy. When approaching the check point, the conductor simply squats so that the officer at the check point cannot notice him. Shortly after passing the check point, he towers up. The other way of circumventing this is to collect money from passengers before the bus leaves Chelstone thereby waiving the need for a conductor in a way. In such a case, passengers and driver could be 19 or 18 on a Hiace as alluded to above. Emergency With the kind of packing of passengers as described above, what chance exists for passengers to escape in case of an emergency? First of all, partly because of the same overloading, most doors are damaged to such an extent that for some of them, it is the driver who has to come out and open the door from outside so that the conductor and passengers can come out! In other instances, the door only opens with a wire which often requires familiarity. There is very little chance for passengers to escape in case of an emergency! No hygiene no privacy The closeness in the sitting arrangement poses a health hazard especially at the back of most of these buses which do not even have windows. May be the Ministry of Health can highlight more on this and make recommendations. One worries about the likelihood of airborne diseases being enhanced in such enclosures. What about any regard for our women, not to talk about our young ones. The kind of squeezing which takes place is dishonourable to say the least – almost inhumane. Loud vulgar music It’s not uncommon to be subjected to not only loud but excessively vulgar music in all sorts of dialects. Sometimes you have to shout to draw the attention of the conductor in such little space. As passengers, we are often afraid of taking on the conductor and driver for fear of humiliation – buy your car, use a taxi etc. Drunk driving or drinking while driving Watch the exchange of an Appy Apple drink bottle and only smell the content emanating from there. You soon realise its not what it looks like. Even the manner of passing the drink is suspicious. Some of these conductors and drivers drink while driving. Some are so drunk that they play very loud music, drive erratically and at dangerous speeds. Stopping at bus stops like bus stations It is now common practice for a number of busses to be lined up waiting for travellers at some bus stops (such as at Northmead, Manda Hill, Arcades, UNZA and Hybrid) instead of just dropping and picking people they find there. Bus stops have become bus stations too. See the effect that this has on the flow of traffic on the road. One can’t imagine how much commuters are delayed to reach their destinations (including work places) because some of these buses have to be filled every time someone drops. Picking everywhere but only dropping where they choose Minibuses can stop just about anywhere including at circles to pick people while they refuse to drop them where they choose. What is worse is refusal to take people to the destinations they have paid for. For instance, in Meanwood Ndeke, minibuses typically pick people from Kampasa ‘Station’ to take them to Chelstone. However, when coming from Chelstone to Kampasa, minibus drivers and their conductors refuse to take people all the way to Kampasa saying that it is too far, or 'pa wire epa station' etc. This is most problematic at night especially In the wake of spate of attacks on residents in that area. Some drivers and conductors simply ignore the risks faced by their passengers and drop them at the ‘wire’ which is about 2 km away from Kampasa. Similarly, when one has boarded a bus from any point to Kulima Tower at night, in most instances, the buses simply stop at Stanley saying Kulima Tower is only a stone throw away. Moreover, in several parts of the city; during the day, one can be picked from just about anywhere. However, when one asks to stop at a position of their choice, they will be told the reason for refusal is simple, ‘ba RTSA ba ma gwila apa'. Again from Meanwood Ndeke to Chelstone, some bus drivers pretend their buses have developed problems and stop so that the passengers are forced to board another bus which drops them at Chelston and takes the bulk who would be proceeding to town. Just recently this happened just before the Chelstone bus stop but passengers refused to board the second minibus while the cheating driver looked on. It was the second time he was doing that. Next time I will take note of his bus details. New form of levy – entrenched Is the council aware of a new form of levy exacted on bus conductors commensurate to the number of passengers a ‘call boy’ lures to the bus? I find this strange for two reasons. First, we are all able to ask a conductor on our own to tell us whether his bus is going our way or not. Therefore, what is the role of these ‘call boys’? Secondly, is it legal for them to exact the levy on the conductors? May be some conductors and drivers benefit from this but more often than not fierce battles have ensued between these ‘call boys’ and the conductors as a result of disagreement on the payment. Sometimes there is a gang of these ‘call boys’ demanding payment because each of them would have played a part in bringing passengers to the buses. The fights that ensue are a disturbance to the peace. Banging on doors The ‘call boys’ repeatedly bang on the buses to notify the driver that another client is coming so do not go. The banging is so loud and unpleasant – disturbing. Sometimes more than one person does the banging. The commuter really is at the mercy of these crews. There is need for the authorities that be to return sanity to our commuter services. Touching commuters Some conductors have this habit of touching commuters while ushering them into the buses. This is an example of invasion of privacy and highly disrespectful especially of our womenfolk. Short changing commuters Many comnuters will attest to the fact they have left K1 or K2 simply because the conductor had run out of coins or K2 notes. This is not fair because one might end up getting stranded. Suffice to note that occasionally, some conductors accept short payments. Recommendations Demand that each minibus for public transport has a high roof, is wide enough to accommodate four passengers per row otherwise, each should strictly accommodate only three passengers per row. Ensure that each minibus has windows at the back which can open and close. Each minibus should have a working door which can open from inside as well a from outside. As for the Meanwood Ndeke area, introduce two routes being Meanwood Wire and Meanwood Kampasa. Let passengers board buses that will take them to their destinations. Each conductor should have a seat and not hover above the heads of passengers. Make it illegal for any form of music to be played on public transport. Or regulate this accordingly to the advantage of the travellers. Road worthiness tests should be strict on the condition of the doors as these could help with emergency exit from the bus. No bus should be allowed to park and start loading at a bus stop in the middle of a road as if they were at a bus station. Deploy law enforcement and introduce severe fines for defaulters to serve as deterrents. Minibuses should not be allowed to pick people between bus stops as this delays travellers unnecessarily. Minibuses should not be allowed to wait for passengers who are not already waiting to be picked at the bus stops. Minibuses should be given only a limited time of stoppage at a bus stop otherwise risk incurring prohibitive fines or face prosecution. Forbid any form of banging on doors. Forbid the role of ‘call boys’. Having them around is not a way of creating employment but promoting organised ‘chaos’. RATSA and the police plus the council should act promptly to deal with complaints of this nature. This will make the public feel empowered and safe. Instruct all Minibuses to be fitted with buzzers, which the conductor should use to notify the driver that the bus has to stop at the next bus stop. Infact, there could be several of these on each bus so that passengers who are sure of where they want to stop – sound the buzzer themselves. This would be better than the current trend where conductors also have to bang the roof of the bus although gentler. Educate the drivers and conductors on etiquette and the need to respect the comnuters - keeping the distance and putting them first. This is not the smartest road map to addressing the concerns raised in this submission, but perhaps could serve as a starting point to once again make our commuting a pleasant experience. Read the full article

#Commuters

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kristinsimmons · 6 years

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Vitamin K2 Foods: Top Choices for Healthy Teeth

Maintaining healthy, cavity-free teeth requires a careful balancing act of several factors. You must use proper brushing technique and floss daily, but eating a diet that supports remineralization and balances the oral microbiome is even more important. And vitamin K2 foods are the foundation of that diet.

In 1939, dentist Weston K. Price published a body of research that provided the foundational basis for the future of preventive dental care. After years of studying native cultures around the world, Price discovered that those who hadn’t been exposed to modern, Western culture enjoyed long lifespans, few occurrences of disease, and rare instances of cavities or gum disease.

Price attributed these health disparities to traditional diets—namely the fact that the diets of native cultures commonly included foods high in a compound he referred to as “Activator X.” (1) While no one is completely sure what nutrient(s) are included in Price’s “Activator X”, researchers now believe that it was most likely vitamin K2.

Now that we understand how important vitamin K2 is for oral and dental health—particularly as it works synergistically with vitamins A and D3—we have to make sure that we’re getting enough of it on a daily basis.

Although vitamin K2 is a naturally-occurring nutrient made in the gut, the process of converting vitamin K1 to K2 isn’t efficient in humans. It’s only possible, in fact, in a very healthy gut, which few of us have. On the other hand, animals like cows and chickens have an enzyme that easily converts the K1 that they consume from grass and other leafy greens and converts it to K2.

For this reason, I recommend consuming ample amounts of vitamin K2 foods, liked pastured meats, to keep K2 levels high.

This article will highlight the best vitamin K2 foods so you can ensure that you’re getting enough of this all-important nutrient to support oral and dental health. But before we get to that, let’s take a closer look at vitamin K2 and its benefits.

What is Vitamin K2?

Vitamin K2 is a fat-soluble vitamin that is produced in small amounts by healthy intestinal bacteria but must be gained primarily from the diet.

Although both are forms are of vitamin K, it wasn’t until the 1970s when Harvard researchers realized vitamin K2 wasn’t just a different form of vitamin K1 with the same benefits. They came to this realization through the discovery of osteocalcin, a vitamin K2-dependent protein that the body needs in order to pull calcium from the bloodstream so it can be redirected to teeth and bones. (2) Without vitamin K2 (and even in the presence of vitamin K1), osteocalcin cannot do its job.

Naturopathic doctor Kate Rheaume-Bleue describes the role of vitamin K2 succinctly in her book, Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: (3)

“Vitamin K2 funnels calcium into bones to strengthen mineral density and fight fractures while it prevents and even removes dangerous arterial calcification. Along the way it has beneficial effects for almost every major health concern of our time, including diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, infertility, tooth decay and growing healthy children.”

The principles outlined in Rheaume-Bleue’s book, along with the discoveries of Weston A. Price and a growing body of modern research into the benefits of vitamin K2, show how vital this nutrient is for oral and dental health.

While vitamin D transports invaluable calcium from the bloodstream, it has no ability to decide where it will be deposited. That function is the responsibility of the matrix gla protein (MGP). MGP and osteocalcin, both K2-dependent proteins, locate calcium in soft tissues (including arteries and veins) and distributes them to teeth and bones.

Yet, despite vitamin K2’s significant role in overall health, scientists discovered that most people in modern society are deficient in this nutrient. (4) We simply aren’t eating vitamin K2 foods as often as we should be.

But food sources aren’t the only way to get more of this nutrient into your body. Vitamin K2 exists in both synthetic and naturally-occurring forms, with the most commonly studied form being the synthetic MK4. I don’t recommend supplementing with MK4, however, because It has a short half-life and must be taken three times throughout the day to reap full benefits.

MK7, on the other hand, has a longer shelf and is my go-to for K2 supplements. I also recommend supplementing with MK7 because MK4 is easy to get from pastured poultry and eggs. (3)

Vitamin K2 Foods for Dental Health

Adding more vitamin K2 foods to your diet can benefit your oral and dental health, in the following ways:

1. Builds New Dentin

K2 activates osteocalcin, which then encourages new dentin (the calcified tissue under the tooth’s enamel) to grow. (5) Working synergistically with vitamins A and D, this creation of dentin results in fewer cavities. (6, 7, 8)

2. Slows Tooth Degradation

Because it directs calcium where it’s supposed to go—out of the bloodstream and into the teeth and bones—most experts agree that K2 can slow down the loss of tooth and bone mass that usually comes with age. In fact, vitamin K2 can actually increase bone mass. (9)

3. Leads to Normal Facial Structure

As first documented by Price, vitamin K2 may be particularly important for the development of the bones and structure of the face. Although the severe version of this, known as maxillonasal dysplasia or “Binder’s syndrome,” is rare, mild versions of it began to appear in Price’s patients once they were exposed to Western diets. (10, 1)

Echoing Price’s findings, I believe it’s the lack of K2 in most mothers’ diets that have led to more frequent needs for braces and other oral interventions. Rheaume-Bleue says it well: “Ensuring activation of all the K2-dependent proteins might be the most important step we can take to safeguard the smiles of our children and grandchildren.” (3)

4. Kills Cavity-Causing Bacteria

The salivary glands are the third-largest storage space for vitamin K2 in the body, after the bones and pancreas. (3) To illustrate this, Price developed an experiment that he repeatedly conducted during his travels. He found that prescribing butter oil, rich in Activator X (believed to be vitamin K2), could eliminate oral bacteria by up to 95 percent and, on occasion, eliminate it altogether. (1)

So what does this mean for you?

Disruptions in the oral microbiome play a major part in cavity formation, so keeping bad bacteria in check by ensuring adequate K2 consumption may be one reason Price’s patients had so few cavities. This was the case even though his patients hadn’t been exposed to modern dental hygiene and, in many case, had never used a toothbrush.

5. Supports Total Body Health

I am a firm believer that what happens in the mouth happens in the body, and Price’s research proved this to be true. It’s not surprising, then, that vitamin K2 isn’t just good for your teeth—it can support health and wellness throughout the body.

Research has documented vitamin K2’s role in treating or preventing the following conditions:

Heart disease (vitamin K2 is the only nutrient that not only protects from heart disease but can actually reverse the buildup of arterial plaque buildup) (11)

Osteoporosis (12)

Alzheimer’s (13)

Diabetes (14)

Varicose veins/thrombosis (4)

Rheumatoid arthritis (15, 16)

Cancer (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)

Kidney disease (22)

Infertility (4)

K2 Deficiency Signs and Symptoms

Although K2-specific blood tests are not yet available in most medical practices, there are some common signs and symptoms that may point to a vitamin K2 deficiency.

These include: (23)

Are vegan and don’t eat natto or other vitamin K2 foods

Experience plaque buildup in arteries

Develop kidney stones

Frequently get cavities

Required braces as a child

Are insulin resistant

Often break or fracture your bones

Have varicose veins

While there’s no definitive way to uncover a K2 deficiency without the proper tests, there is no harm in supplementing and/or increasing your intake of vitamin K2 foods. Unlike the restrictions on vitamin K1, there is no known upper limit for K2. In fact, the nutrient-dense vitamin K2 foods below can only aid your health.

Top Vitamin K2 Foods

By consuming the following vitamin K2 foods, you can easily increase your levels of this important nutrient and better support tooth remineralization, while also preventing cavities. In 3.5-ounce portions, the highest vitamin K2 foods are: (3)

Natto—1103.4 micrograms

Goose liver pate—369 micrograms

Hard cheeses—76.3 micrograms

Soft cheeses—56.5 micrograms

Goose leg—31 micrograms

Egg yolk—15.5 micrograms

Butter—15 micrograms

Chicken liver (raw)—14.1 micrograms

Chicken liver (pan-fried)—12.6 micrograms

Cheddar cheese—10.2 micrograms

While meat and dairy products are typically good sources of vitamin K2, products from factory-farmed animals have significantly lower amounts. These animals aren’t exposed to chlorophyll (from grass-feeding) and, in turn, don’t have ample amounts of K1 to convert to K2.

For vegans who want more K2, the only food source is the best source—natto. This slimy, stinky fermented soy product takes some effort to learn to love, but Rheaume-Bleue shares evidence that eating natto even once every few weeks can provide noticeable benefits for overall health. (4) Natto is certainly an acquired taste, but even if you are willing to give it a try, it’s nearly impossible to find in the US.

With that in mind, you may also want to consider taking a vitamin K2 supplement. I suggest the MK7 type, since it only needs to be taken once a day and in much smaller quantities than its counterpart, MK4. Most K2 supplements suggest a serving between 90-120 micrograms per day.

Also, for people on medications such as warfarin, who typically have to avoid excess vitamin K, vitamin K2 doesn’t fall under those restrictions. Taking up to 50 micrograms of vitamin K2 in MK7 form has been shown to counteract the medication’s side effects without minimizing its effectiveness. (24)

My Favorite Vitamin K2 Recipes

Ready to jump in your kitchen and get more vitamin K2 foods in your diet? Try these three recipes:

Warm Smoked Gouda and Spinach Dip

Certain cheeses like gouda and brie offer a healthy dose of vitamin K2 because of the bacteria used to culture them. There are other fermented foods like the Japanese soybean dish, natto that contains the highest amount of K2 than any other food. Feel free to try it if you are adventurous (it’s known to be a little slimy), or you can stick with more standard ways to make sure your little ones get their K2. This gouda dip is a delicious kid-friendly dip for celery, carrots or apple slices. If you’re lucky enough to come across goat gouda cheese, you’ll be getting extra K2 in because goats are already raised on vitamin K rich grass diets.

Servings1 serving (small bowl)

Prep Time7 minutes

Cook Time8-10 minutes

Passive TimeN/A

Ingredients

2tbsp Buttergrass-fed, divided

1/4cup Onionchopped (or better a leek)

1dash Black Pepper

1/2cup Spinachfinely chopped

1/2cup Milkgrass-fed, whole

1tbsp Arrowroot Powder

1tbsp Water

1/4lb Gouda Cheesesmoked, shredded

2tsp Salsa Verdeoptional, as hot as you can stand

Instructions

On medium-low heat melt 1 teaspoon of the butter and add the onions and salt, cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add rest of butter and stir in spinach, cooking another minute until spinach is wilted.

Stir in milk and heat for another 2 minutes.

Meanwhile whisk the arrowroot powder into the water.

Stir into the milk mixture and add the gouda.

Stir in the salsa verde and heat until cheese is melted and sauce is thickened, stirring frequently.

Poached Eggs

Pasture-raised eggs are another delicious and kid-friendly food high in vitamin K2. Poaching offers a perfect way to prepare an egg, where you can cook the whites while leaving the yolk runny. It’s not only delicious but it preserves vital nutrients like cholesterol and omega-3 fatty acids intact. Encourage your kids to eat egg yolks early on by mixing them into all sorts of delicious foods like sweet potatoes, squash, avocado, sautéed greens, cauliflower or mashed potatoes. If they just aren’t into having their yolks on the runny side, don’t fret, they’ll still get their vitamin K2 in scrambled or hard-boiled eggs.

Servings1

Prep Time5 minutes

Cook Time7 minutes

Passive TimeN/A

Ingredients

1whole Eggpasture-raised, cracked and placed in a small dish

1dash Vinegar(this helps keep the egg white together)

Instructions

Bring a saucepan to a rolling simmer and add vinegar.

Create a gentle whirlpool in the pan of water with the end of a large wooden spoon.

Carefully place the egg in and cook for 3 minutes.

Remove with a slotted spoon and serve immediately.

Spiced Cinnamon Buttered Popcorn

Here’s a fun and delicious way to get your kids to eat more vitamin K2 grass-fed butter while avoiding the chemicals of microwave popcorn. Plus, introducing herbs and spices like turmeric and cinnamon into your kid’s diet early on expands their palate as they grow, and adds to the diversity and health of their microbiome. This popcorn is mildly spiced, so feel free to add more if they like it! Follow these directions to make perfect stovetop popcorn, or use a popcorn maker.

Servings4 - 6 servings

Prep Time5 minutes

Cook Time8-10 minutes

Passive TimeN/A

Ingredients

3tbsp grass-fed butter

1/4tsp Turmeric

1/4tsp Nutmeg

1/2tsp Cinnamon

3tbsp Coconut Oil

1/2cup organic popcorn

3tbsp Sea Salt

Instructions

Melt the butter on low in a small pan.

Once butter is melted, stir in the turmeric, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Heat a 3-quart saucepan to medium-high heat, add coconut oil.

When oil is hot, add a few popcorn kernels and cover.

Once those have popped, add the rest of the kernels in an even layer.

Remove from the heat for 30 seconds and return the pot back to the heat.

When the popcorn starts to pop, slightly open the lid to let the steam escape and gently move the pan back and forth on the burner to prevent burning.

Once the pops slow to a few seconds in between, remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl big enough to stir the butter on the popcorn.

Season with spiced butter and salt.

Final Thoughts

Healthy teeth should be a high priority for people of all ages. And thanks to research by Dr. Weston A. Price in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as studies in the 1970s, 2007 and beyond, we have discovered that vitamin K2 can help with that.

In conjunction with vitamins D3 and A, as well as calcium, K2 can help build new dentin in teeth, slow tooth degradation, lead to more normal facial and jaw structure, and kill cavity-causing bacteria.

As an added bonus, it may also prevent heart disease, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, and infertility. Although it is a fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin K2 carries no toxicity concerns, so I typically recommend 90-120 micrograms daily without concern for an upper limit.

Finally, if you want to increase your K2 levels with your diet (which is what I recommend), try vitamin K2 foods like natto (the only vegan option), goose liver pate, hard and soft cheeses, goose leg, egg yolks, butter, chicken liver, and cheddar cheese.

read next: The Mouth-Body Connection: 6 Ways Oral Health Impacts Overall Health

The post Vitamin K2 Foods: Top Choices for Healthy Teeth appeared first on Ask the Dentist.

Vitamin K2 Foods: Top Choices for Healthy Teeth published first on https://wittooth.tumblr.com/

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dentalinfotoday · 6 years

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Now that we understand how important Vitamin K2 is for oral and dental health—particularly as it works synergistically with vitamins A and D3—we have to make sure that we’re getting enough of it on a daily basis.

Although Vitamin K2 is a naturally-occurring nutrient made in the gut, the process of converting vitamin K1 to K2 isn’t efficient in humans. It’s only possible, in fact, in a very healthy gut, which few of us have. On the other hand, animals like cows and chickens have an enzyme that easily converts the K1 that they consume from grass and other leafy greens and converts it to K2.

For this reason, I recommend consuming ample amounts of Vitamin K2 foods, liked pastured meats, to keep K2 levels high.

This article will highlight the best Vitamin K2 foods so you can ensure that you’re getting enough of this all-important nutrient to support oral and dental health. But before we get to that, let’s take a closer look at Vitamin K2 and its benefits.

What is Vitamin K2?

Vitamin K2 is a fat-soluble vitamin that is produced in small amounts by healthy intestinal bacteria but must be gained primarily from the diet.

Although both are forms are of Vitamin K, it wasn’t until the 1970s when Harvard researchers realized Vitamin K2 wasn’t just a different form of Vitamin K1 with the same benefits. They came to this realization through the discovery of osteocalcin, a Vitamin K2-dependent protein that the body needs in order to pull calcium from the bloodstream so it can be redirected to teeth and bones. (2) Without Vitamin K2 (and even in the presence of Vitamin K1), osteocalcin cannot do its job.

Naturopathic doctor Kate Rheaume-Bleue describes the role of Vitamin K2 succinctly in her book, Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: (3)

The principles outlined in Rheaume-Bleue’s book, along with the discoveries of Weston A. Price and a growing body of modern research into the benefits of Vitamin K2, show how vital this nutrient is for oral and dental health.

Yet, despite Vitamin K2’s significant role in overall health, scientists discovered that most people in modern society are deficient in this nutrient. (4) We simply aren’t eating Vitamin K2 foods as often as we should be.

MK7, on the other hand, has a longer shelf and is my go-to for K2 supplements. I also recommend supplementing with MK7 because MK4 is easy to get from pastured poultry and eggs. (3)

Vitamin K2 Foods for Dental Health

Adding more vitamin K2 foods to your diet can benefit your oral and dental health, in the following ways:

1. Builds New Dentin

2. Slows Tooth Degradation

3. Leads to Normal Facial Structure

As first documented by Price, Vitamin K2 may be particularly important for the development of the bones and structure of the face. Although the severe version of this, known as maxillonasal dysplasia or “Binder’s syndrome,” is rare, mild versions of it began to appear in Price’s patients once they were exposed to Western diets. (10, 1)

4. Kills Cavity-Causing Bacteria

The salivary glands are the third-largest storage space for Vitamin K2 in the body, after the bones and pancreas. (3) To illustrate this, Price developed an experiment that he repeatedly conducted during his travels. He found that prescribing butter oil, rich in Activator X (believed to be Vitamin K2), could eliminate oral bacteria by up to 95 percent and, on occasion, eliminate it altogether. (1)

So what does this mean for you?

5. Supports Total Body Health

I am a firm believer that what happens in the mouth happens in the body, and Price’s research proved this to be true. It’s not surprising, then, that Vitamin K2 isn’t just good for your teeth—it can support health and wellness throughout the body.

Research has documented Vitamin K2’s role in treating or preventing the following conditions:

Heart disease (Vitamin K2 is the only nutrient that not only protects from heart disease but can actually reverse the buildup of arterial plaque buildup) (11)

Osteoporosis (12)

Alzheimer’s (13)

Diabetes (14)

Varicose veins/thrombosis (4)

Rheumatoid arthritis (15, 16)

Cancer (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)

Kidney disease (22)

Infertility (4)

K2 Deficiency Signs and Symptoms

Although K2-specific blood tests are not yet available in most medical practices, there are some common signs and symptoms that may point to a Vitamin K2 deficiency.

These include: (23)

Are vegan and don’t eat natto or other Vitamin K2 foods

Experience plaque buildup in arteries

Develop kidney stones

Frequently get cavities

Required braces as a child

Are insulin resistant

Often break or fracture your bones

Have varicose veins

While there’s no definitive way to uncover a K2 deficiency without the proper tests, there is no harm in supplementing and/or increasing your intake of foods rich in Vitamin K2. Unlike the restrictions on vitamin K1, there is no known upper limit for K2. In fact, the nutrient-dense Vitamin K2 foods below can only aid your health.

Top Vitamin K2 Foods

By consuming the following Vitamin K2 foods, you can easily increase your levels of Vitamin K2 and better support tooth remineralization, while also preventing cavities. In 3.5-ounce portions, the highest Vitamin K2 foods are: (3)

Natto—1103.4 micrograms

Goose liver pate—369 micrograms

Hard cheeses—76.3 micrograms

Soft cheeses—56.5 micrograms

Goose leg—31 micrograms

Egg yolk—15.5 micrograms

Butter—15 micrograms

Chicken liver (raw)—14.1 micrograms

Chicken liver (pan-fried)—12.6 micrograms

Cheddar cheese—10.2 micrograms

While meat and dairy products are typically good sources of Vitamin K2, products from factory-farmed animals have significantly lower amounts. These animals aren’t exposed to chlorophyll (from grass-feeding) and, in turn, don’t have ample amounts of K1 to convert to K2.

With that in mind, you may also want to consider taking a Vitamin K2 supplement. I suggest the MK7 type, since it only needs to be taken once a day and in much smaller quantities than its counterpart, MK4. Most K2 supplements suggest a serving between 90-120 micrograms per day.

Also, for people on medications such as warfarin, who typically have to avoid excess vitamin K, Vitamin K2 doesn’t fall under those restrictions. Taking up to 50 micrograms of Vitamin K2 in MK7 form has been shown to counteract the medication’s side effects without minimizing its effectiveness. (24)

My Favorite Vitamin K2 Recipes

Ready to jump in your kitchen and get more vitamin K2 foods in your diet? Try these three recipes:

Warm Smoked Gouda and Spinach Dip

Servings1 serving (small bowl)

Prep Time7 minutes

Cook Time8-10 minutes

Passive TimeN/A

Ingredients

2tbsp Buttergrass-fed, divided

1/4cup Onionchopped (or better a leek)

1dash Black Pepper

1/2cup Spinachfinely chopped

1/2cup Milkgrass-fed, whole

1tbsp Arrowroot Powder

1tbsp Water

1/4lb Gouda Cheesesmoked, shredded

2tsp Salsa Verdeoptional, as hot as you can stand

Instructions

On medium-low heat melt 1 teaspoon of the butter and add the onions and salt, cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add rest of butter and stir in spinach, cooking another minute until spinach is wilted.

Stir in milk and heat for another 2 minutes.

Meanwhile whisk the arrowroot powder into the water.

Stir into the milk mixture and add the gouda.

Stir in the salsa verde and heat until cheese is melted and sauce is thickened, stirring frequently.

Poached Eggs

Servings1

Prep Time5 minutes

Cook Time7 minutes

Passive TimeN/A

Ingredients

1whole Eggpasture-raised, cracked and placed in a small dish

1dash Vinegar(this helps keep the egg white together)

Instructions

Bring a saucepan to a rolling simmer and add vinegar.

Create a gentle whirlpool in the pan of water with the end of a large wooden spoon.

Carefully place the egg in and cook for 3 minutes.

Remove with a slotted spoon and serve immediately.

Spiced Cinnamon Buttered Popcorn

Servings4 - 6 servings

Prep Time5 minutes

Cook Time8-10 minutes

Passive TimeN/A

Ingredients

3tbsp grass-fed butter

1/4tsp Turmeric

1/4tsp Nutmeg

1/2tsp Cinnamon

3tbsp Coconut Oil

1/2cup organic popcorn

3tbsp Sea Salt

Instructions

Melt the butter on low in a small pan.

Once butter is melted, stir in the turmeric, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Heat a 3-quart saucepan to medium-high heat, add coconut oil.

When oil is hot, add a few popcorn kernels and cover.

Once those have popped, add the rest of the kernels in an even layer.

Remove from the heat for 30 seconds and return the pot back to the heat.

When the popcorn starts to pop, slightly open the lid to let the steam escape and gently move the pan back and forth on the burner to prevent burning.

Once the pops slow to a few seconds in between, remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl big enough to stir the butter on the popcorn.

Season with spiced butter and salt.

Final Thoughts

As an added bonus, it may also prevent heart disease, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, and infertility. Although it is a fat-soluble vitamin, Vitamin K2 carries no toxicity concerns, so I typically recommend 90-120 micrograms daily without concern for an upper limit.

Finally, if you want to increase your K2 levels with your diet (which is what I recommend), try Vitamin K2 foods like natto (the only vegan option), goose liver pate, hard and soft cheeses, goose leg, egg yolks, butter, chicken liver, and cheddar cheese.

read next: The Mouth-Body Connection: 6 Ways Oral Health Impacts Overall Health

The post Top Vitamin K2 Foods for Healthy Teeth appeared first on Ask the Dentist.

from Ask the Dentist https://askthedentist.com/top-vitamin-k2-foods/

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lesaadams · 6 years

Text

Episode 6: Safe Supplements

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This Podcast is brought to you by the new Super Berry flavoured Amino BCAA Fuel. This is the ideal workout companion to support your muscle growth and repair. Delivers the perfect combination of amino aids, electrolytes and vitamins your body needs for energy and hydration, to build muscle, boost recovery and prevent muscle loss while dieting. And what’s even better every batch is tested for purity by Australia’s largest independent sports drug testing laboratory HASTA.

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Show Notes

WEBSITES LINKS: https://www.asada.gov.au https://www.globaldro.com https://www.bodyscience.com.au/drugtest

THE ASADA CLEAN SPORT APP IS AVAILABLE ON ITUNES & GOOGLE PLAY: https://itunes.apple.com/eg/app/asada-clean-sport/id1360121308?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.gov.asada.supplementchecker

REPORTS: WADA 2016 Anti-Doping Report ASADA Annual Report FY17 Upper limit of the doping risk linked to sports supplements Report

Podcast Transcript

Greg: Today Kenny Wallace, three times Olympic medalist, Jane Smithers, scientist from human and supplement testing Australia join us to discuss drugs in sport. Every month, at least one Australian athlete tests positive from a supplement contaminated with a prohibited substance. Now that’s a stat from ASADA this year, the Australian Sports Anti Doping Authority. Let’s chat.

[intro] Welcome to the Body Science podcast, bringing you everything you need, want, and should know about health, fitness, nutrition, and training. As always, the information contained in this podcast is for information purposes only and is not designed to diagnose or be prescripted to treat, prevent, or manage any injury, disease, or other health related condition. All information provided in the podcast is the opinion of the individual and other contributors and does not represent the policy, procedure or opinion of any other corporate entity or third party. Warning — these Body Science podcasts occasionally contain strong language which may be unsuitable for children, unusual humor which may be unsuitable for some adults and advanced science which may be unsuitable for bro science majors. Stay tuned. The Body Science podcast is about to start.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by the new super berry flavored Amino BCAA fuel. This is the ideal workout companion to support your muscle growth and repair. Delivers the perfect combination of amino acids, electrolytes, and vitamins your body needs for energy and hydration to build muscle, boost recovery, and prevent muscle loss while dieting. And what’s even better, every batch is tested for purity by Australia’s largest independent sports drug testing laboratory HASTA.

Greg: We’re at Body Science headquarters day for another fit happy, healthy episode of the Body Science podcast. Today, we’ve got some exciting people on board. Got Dr. Mac, worst Instagram account in fitness still. Next to him is a great mate of ours. Been with the brand a long time and we’ll hit up on when that is later, Kenny Wallace, OAM, three times Olympic medalist. I have to read this guys, sorry, it takes while — One goal, Beijing K1 500, one bronze, Beijing and K1 1000, London fourth K2 1000, one bronze Rio K2 1000, fourth in the K4 that year in the thousand. Seven times world champion.

I’m taking a breath, Kenny, and coming back in.

Interesting fact — stood on the podium from 2012 to 2016, 17 times more than any other athlete in an international event, so clapping that one in mate. That’s a big effort and I’m sure there’s a few little wee tests amongst all that.

On the other side of the table is a good friend of ours now. Shouldn’t say that because she’s an independent third party tester. But we love what she’s brought to Australia. The fact that she’s from HASTA, which is Human And Supplementation Australia, and the “she” I’m talking about, I apologize for calling you a “she,” is Jane Smithers, one of the scientists.

Look, Jane brought HASTA to Australia to supplement companies to be able to test supplements and that’s a massive thing for us. We launched back in 2011 with informed sport before that. It’s great that Australia has a recognised drug testing lab. And you can talk more about that because you talk way better than I do on that.

Mac: Maybe she’ll be able to talk during the podcast.

Greg: Yeah. I’ve clocked up more words today than I have in every podcast.

Jane: It’s a record.

Greg: Yeah I know. And it probably will sound terrible, but let’s move on.

But one of the big things here is with the “buts” and the “ums” is, Dr Macca helped me set up my second drug testing program we had. The first one we had was, I used to ring people like Kenny and go — How are you mate? What’s happening? Being drug tested? Oh yeah. — then I’d document that he’d been drug tested and what supplements we used and we didn’t change manufacturers. And we stayed creating brand for years and years and we didn’t fall into the trap of — oh, that was $2 cheaper this month and we’re going through a ton of it, let’s do that. And that’s how we ran our drug testing.

I went to Dr Mac and I said, mate, this is really hard and it’s getting serious. We had like 47 elite teams or something on our books at this stage and there was nothing around. So I engage Mac to go and find out what is the best option for us. And at the time — I’ll let you tell the story, mate, you might want to jump in.

Mac: Yeah. It was uncharted territory, mate. 2010 was the initial conversations and the initial foray into having a structured in-house testing scheme in place for Body Science products. And so I did exactly that. I went to what I thought would be the places to go here in Australia — various government and independent labs. And there was no capacity to do it whatsoever.

So we ended up with HFL labs in the UK. And as you know, we ended up a bundling up individual batches of products, a full range of products across the Body Science range, which is pretty big at the time.

Greg: Was.

Mac: I think at one time, you had 100 products didn’t you?

Greg: We were doing a lot of testing.

Mac: Yeah. We were doing a lot of testing and bundling them up, sending him to the UK, and waiting for those to come back, batch by batch, flavor by flavor, the usual routine.

Greg: We were doing a lot of raw material testing, too.

Mac: A lot of raw material testing…

Greg: Once you start that program, you start creating new formula as well, when you use new suppliers.

Jane: Testing ingredients.

Greg: Yeah. And the number of positive ones we got was actually scary.

Mac: Yeah. There were a few came back with a few alarm bells with various ingredients. I can’t remember what they were.

Greg: Supply channels…

Mac: The supply channels were the issue. Absolutely. But it was uncharted territory. And it’s evolved significantly in the last eight years or so since then. But time flies.

Greg: Thankfully. It’s good to go to sleep at night these days.

Mac: Absolutely.

Greg: So, Jane, let’s start with you. Tell us all about HASTA. Like why would people care that HASTA does what it does?

Jane: Well if we just backtrack for a minute to what you were saying before… As I was saying a minute ago, there wasn’t an option in Australia to test supplements. So HASTA was incorporated into a large drug testing lab to meet that need in Australia. So there was definitely a gap in the market. So HASTA is part of Racing Analytical Services, and we’re the largest sports drug testing laboratory in Australia. We’re an independent drug testing lab. So that’s the right sort of lab to do this sort of testing.

And that’s the same background as you were talking about with informed sport and HFL in the UK. They’re a drug testing in sport laboratory that’s now specialised in supplements. So that’s different from the labs that actually test the athletes, because they’re WADA accredited labs that just test athletes. Whereas we do predominantly racing testing. So for horses and dogs, we did more than 50,000 samples per annum, and that’s where our expertise comes from.

So for us to then move into supplements, we don’t have a conflict of interest and we can bring that drug testing expertise to testing your supplements.

Greg: OK.

Jane: Why is it important? Well, it protects your competing athletes. So it’s really important that athletes understand what they’re taking, but there are opportunities where they want to try something or they think this looks okay or they hadn’t read the label properly where they may end up ingesting something that they shouldn’t and have adverse finding. The other thing as you said, is you have legitimate manufacturers like yourself, who have a problem with their supply chain and they find there’s a contaminant in their product which you don’t expect to be there, and can then ruin both your reputation and your sponsored athletes. So it’s really about protecting both the athlete and your brand and your reputation.

Greg: True.

Kenny, how many drug tests have you done?

Kenny: Well, this week? Last week? [laughter] Hundreds if not, close to thousands. It’s amazing. And when it rains it pours. We might not get tested for six weeks, a couple of months and then we’ll get tested three times within two weeks. I think the most I’ve been tested is literally twice within like an 18 hour period — that’s probably the most. Rio Olympics I got tested three times within the week.

Greg: Wow.

Kenny: I don’t know what difference they’re going to find between the first and the last one, but… It’s amazing though, they do it and it’s good that it’s random. We don’t know when it’s coming.

For me… A lot of athletes find it really annoying to get drug tested because it takes time, and they turn up unannounced. Nobody knows that they’re coming, but I’d rather get tested every day of the year to show that you can do sport clean, and you can still compete at the highest level.

So for the sake of — sometimes it might be 10 minutes, if you need to go to the bathroom or, or take blood. Other times it’s hours. Because we been training for so long we are dehydrated. As much as we try to drink during training, you just get dehydrated. So it does take time, but I’d rather get tested every day.

Greg: So, Jane, do you want to tell us some of the stats in relation to what’s found from the testing process and what you actually test for and what you do?

Jane: So we test for over 200 WADA banned substances in every supplement we test. And that’s across a broad range of different WADA banned group. So the WADA code is actually really complex and there’s different groups of drugs that are banned both in and out of competition.

So to Ken’s point, the reason they test more when you’re, say, at the Olympics or in competition is because there’s a much broader range of drugs that you can be tested for — in competition testing, out of competition testing.

Kenny: In competition testing. Out of competition testing.

Greg: Wow.

Jane: So there’s a much broader range of drugs that you’re tested for in competition. And that’s why they do more testing at that time. So for us as a drug testing lab, we’re trying to cover the broadest range of drugs, that if they were in a supplement would cause an athlete problems both in and out of competition.

So in that way we have to take what’s — basically, suddenly, your protein powders, or everything form protein powders to vitamins and minerals, and get them to an extract that we can test. And then it goes through a series of different screens. It’s in a big chemistry labs, so it’s GCMS and LCMS technology. It’s very sensitive. We get down to parts per billion and we’re looking for traces of those drugs that are banned in sport.

So it might be, you know, screens for anabolic steroids. There’s a different screen again for diuretics and stimulants. And we’re one of the few labs who contests for peptides. We have a research lab that’s done a lot of work in doping in sport in horses and dogs looking for APO and performance enhancing peptides. And we bring that skill to our supplement testing as well.

Greg: There’s no peptides in sport. Is there Mac?

Mac: I don’t think so.

Greg: I didn’t think there was either.

[laughter]

Greg: Thanks for all your input here Mac.

Mac: I’m listening.

Greg: You’ve been unreal. [laughs]

Mac: I’m fine. I’m sitting back. I’m normally doing all the talking. I’m listening.

Greg: I’m quite happy for you to jump in too. You’ve got some good stories to tell.

Mac: No. That’s all good.

Greg: So Ken, you head overseas to Poland.

Kenny: Yeah. Poland. Hungary. Any. We do a lot of time through Europe, generally between three to four months a year. Because that’s where most of our racing is. All our world cups, all our world championships. Some of the places that we go through Europe are some of the most picturesque places that we’ve ever trained at. And other places are — we’re out in the slums for some of it.

So for us to find… We’re training on water ten sessions a week, we’re doing three to four gym sessions a week. We’re riding a bike to and from training. It might only be a few K, but it adds up when you’re doing three and four sessions a day.

So for us to get the nutrients out of our food that we need, we need to take supplements to supplement our food intake, because we are training so much. It’s funny and it’s kind of the opposite to what a lot of people are — we’re trying to actually keep weight on because we can’t… We’re trying so much. Even though we’re doing gym and everything, we’re actually still trying to keep weight on and for our muscles to not eat away at themselves, basically.

So we’d spend a lot of time in Europe, basically.

Greg: So, as a team, how do you guys handle the food side, the supplements side, the…

Since the darkest day in Australian sport or whatever it was called — it was a dark day for us, I know that — it’s become such a… Everyone talks about it. Like…

Mac: You’re not talking about the sand paper are you?

Greg: No.

Mac: You’re talking about the other darkest day.

Greg: Wow.

Mac: Is that right?

Greg: He’s a good friend of ours, too, that guy. [laughs]

Mac: Oh, right. Sorry.

[laughter]

Mac: I was trying to contribute.

Greg: No. That was really good.

Mac: Wow.

Greg: So, from a perspective of travel and going to another country, you’ve got major issues, like I’m talking to a lot of dietitians these days, and they’re testing — they want protein bars tested, they want everything tested, not sure the lolly bars and all the confectionary companies are doing drug testing — but from an athlete point of view and an overseas base, how do you guys prepare for this and how do you guys sit yourself up? What’s it look like from a perspective of you go away for up to months at a time?

Kenny: Well, for us, the biggest preparation that we have is we’ve got to box it all up, and then we turn up to the airport hangar, and smile really nicely at the girl checking us in or the guy checking us in, and go — we got a few extra kilos. And we take our supplements with us.

I’m sure there’s companies overseas, and through Europe that are fine and a third party test as well. But — we trust the brand here and we trust that it’s been tested third party. Everything else.

So at the first steps we take our supplements with us. We don’t risk it. We have a zero tolerance for risk in any way. We try to minimise that.

Greg: So are you walking into a shop and buying a Muesli bar? Or…

Kenny: No, not really.

Greg: You’re not doing anything like that.

Kenny: No.

There’s cafes out there that are doing protein shakes or they’re adding all these things into these… They look beautiful to drink, but we don’t. We don’t touch any of that. We can’t. Yeah. Zero risk. Even with bottles, the normal drink bottle. Everything is sealed.

We’re educated so when we are young in our sporting career to start looking for these types of things that, the older you get, we just take it for granted. Like even now it’s — everything’s sealed bottles. It sounds bad to not reuse some things, but for us, it’s a zero risk policy.

Where we train, there’s a place in Hungary, which is fine, I’m sure. We’re surrounded by nice people, but we don’t take any risk. We put locks on our fridges. All our bottles are sealed. We don’t fill our drink bottle containers up out of the tap anymore. We don’t do anything. The waters there, probably fine. 99.9% of the time, it’s fine. But we have that zero risk policy that — we just take everything with us or it’s sealed bottles. Or…

Mac: Strength and conditioning-wise, that has two effects. Certainly, from any doping perspective. So, at the elite level, medicos, nutritionists will go ahead often, go and head a team that’s as much about planning the logistics of travel and ensuring that the quality of food is good as well as the doping risk associated with it. So from a performance perspective, it’s made sure that you’ve got what you need nutrition-wise and perhaps equally as important, but perhaps a consequence of that is making sure that there’s no risk of inadvertent findings with contaminant in, it could be anything — with respect to supplements, it could be meat, could be anything that’s sourced locally. Particularly overseas.

Ken has a good point. My experience is more so in a national football codes here in Australia, and each one of those has their own anti-doping policy — not “doping policy.” Faux pas.

But fundamentally it’s about education. And Ken makes a great point as well. When you’ve got athletes that are maybe living at home with mum and dad, or not cooking for themselves or having things organized for them, then…

What I’m saying is, you can only control what happens when they are under your care.

Greg: Yeah. Totally.

Jane: Yeah.

Mac: Once they leave and they drop in to the servo on the way home and they purchase whatever, you can do nothing about that. So it’s an education process, and it’s not about scaring the heck out of anybody, but it’s about awareness, and it’s about being informed.

The fundamental policy with any team I’ve ever worked with is, not every team can afford to give all their athletes supplements obviously — different budgets and different levels. So in many cases, athletes are buying their own products.

So where do they source those? So you can certainly make some recommendations. You got to stay off the Internet. I mean, fundamentally, we tell athletes, don’t buy anything that’s manufactured overseas. End of story. Mainly around the anti-doping risk. And equally as much, there’s absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that the active ingredients in a product are even in there. So it’s as much around the quality of the product as it is about an adverse finding within an anti-doping test.

So there’s a lot of working parts to this whole system of nutrition, supplementation, anti-doping. It all comes under one umbrella, really. But it’s complicated.

Jane: And even just defining a supplement. You said. When you take supplements. And people ring us up all the time. “We got a supplement we want to test.” It’s such a broad term. There’s not a definition that fits all the things that are now being counted as supplements.

So if you look at the fruit stand. You’ve got formulated supplementary sports foods, which is where a lot of your products sit. And they’ve got a very defined characteristic and we understand what we’re working with and you can identify that as a supplement.

But from there you go through a whole lot of complimentary medicines, which increasingly, there’s a lot of interesting — everything from Turmeric to fish oil to those sorts of things. Are they a supplement? Are they a complimentary medicine? And then right through to your bars. I mean you get straight Muesli bars and then you get a protein bar. They send this protein bars for testing but not the Muesli bars.

So finding that line, I think it’s really difficult for athletes as well to say — what are the things they should be declaring and talking to their dietitian and coaches and strength and conditioning coaches about?

So it’s a whole range of things that we’re taking.

Kenny: Yes, well, when we say we have zero risk policy, there’s always going to be a risk. It’s just a matter of minimising that risk. So you go to the companies that you trust, you go to Australian made you go to… There’s a checklist of so many things that you can do to try and minimise that risk. Zero risk — but that zero risk comes onto the athletes responsibility as well.

And if you’re still living at home and still with the parents, there’s a responsibility for the parents to help that — no parent of a child that does sport, wants to make them inadvertently go positive on a drug test.

Jane: On a drug test. Yeah.

Kenny: So, there’s a responsibility for the parents. There’s a responsibility for the coaches. There is responsibility for the team. It fans out massively. But ultimately, the athletes educated on what goes into your body is your own responsibility.

Mac: That’s a really good point, mate.

Kenny: Ultimately at the end of the day, we are the ones responsible. So we have to… I look at the drink bottles and I see all that, or I’m not going to go down and buy a protein bar from somewhere else that hasn’t been tested. Or I’m not going to go down to the cafe. Like every cafe down the road’s doing a healthy protein shake. So yeah, it’s something called that and they look beautiful. Some of the other ingredients that you see going in it, but you just don’t know where it’s come from.

Jane: Yeah.

Mac: The accountability to what goes in your mouth is fundamental to the whole thing and that’s where we’ve had cases in this country where they have been…

We talked about the darkest day in Australian sport.

Greg: That’s the first one, not the second.

Mac: The first one. Yeah.

So, that’s not an example of inadvertent doping. I wouldn’t suggest it. That’s a different kettle of fish.

But fundamentally it makes the point. Be that as it may, every individual within any organisation, if you’re subject to testing with WADA or ASADA, you’re responsible. So education is key and it’s about information. Information is power. And just awareness. And the information sources, you have to rely on.

If you’re playing for a team or if you’re under IOS umbrella or whatever it might be, then you need to be conscious as an athlete that you’re asking the right questions of the right people, and getting your information from that reputable source rather than Dr Google

Greg: How much education is there out there for you? I know like there’s just the ASADA has just launched their app, which is great.

Jane: App. Yeah. Which is great.

Kenny: We’ve been educated about it since the moment I stepped foot into our sport and the moment I stepped foot into a national organisation. And originally, when you’re younger, you kind of just go — yeah, whatever, drugs in sport — you don’t really think too much about it. And then you start to see the headlines of athletes, Olympian or Olympic gold medalists or comm games gold medalists. Whatever they are, footy stars, all these people. And their reputation. And everything’s just squashed in the moment that they go positive for a test.

Now that’s not to say every athlete or every footy player, or everyone that’s been done for a positive test has deliberately taken a performance enhancing drug. As we were talking before about the percentage of performance enhancing drugs that aren’t maybe criminally recognise drugs. There’s some of these drugs are something like that you can buy over the counter at chemists. These are something that you can get at the cafe.

Greg: They’re not traditionally illegal.

Kenny: A lot of people think a drug in sport, they think of a needle going into an arm and then that’s it. It’s not. I guess my struggle is now are something that you would take orally inadvertently.

Greg: Especially brands country to country, too, you know, formulas change for different countries.

Mac: Cold-flu medications, simple cough syrups, things like that.

Kenny: Yeah. It’s everything. So for us as an athlete, when we travel, we take everything that we have bought here in Australia. We don’t take anything out overseas, we take big medical bags and our sport takes big medical bags with everything in it that we could — everything down to the cough and flu tablets, the whole lot, the nose sprays to try and clear us out after we’ve traveled for a long period of time. Everything’s done a shine.

But we also check, there are websites available on in there. One’s called, and ASADA uses, globaldro.

Jane: GlobalDRO. Yeah.

Greg: What was that again? Can you say again?

Kenny: “Global Dro”

Jane: Global-D-R-O.

Kenny: Yeah, so every parent, everyone that… Everything that I do now, even if I get told — OK, this is OK to take — I go through this globaldro website, check it, put the name of it in, it comes up, yep, sweat done. And it will come up. Whether it’s in-competition or out-of-competition testing.

Jane: Yeah.

Kenny: You get to the little green ticks. Sorted. Sweet. I can take that. Even if I’m out of competition and see something there, I don’t risk it. It’s… I don’t want to know about it.

Greg: I think when you analyze down to the actual performance benefit of a lot of these things, it’s mental.

Kenny: It’s not worth it.

Jane: Well there’s… If you look at the in-competition versus out-of-competition drugs that they look for, the main out-of-competition drugs that therefore they’re saying have effect long-term are things like your steroids. So your anabolic. So they’re saying this is banned all the time because you’re going to take it and it’s having an effect that builds and is over time and gives you that edge.

Most of the ones that have been in-competition are shorter acting. So again that comes to your point about being tested more often. So they are the stimulants. They are the things that are around the amphetamines group. So some of those, as you say — cold and Flu Medication? It’s got pseudoephedrine in it. That’s an example. Another one that you see often in the WADA list is methylphenidate, which is Ritalin. So that’s a prescription medication that people abuse in sport to give them that edge.

So you’ve got a whole lot of medication that’s actually legal but not legal for use as a performance enhancing agent. And maldonium was a good example of that. They said we think this is being misused. So when they started testing athletes and had it on the watch list and saw it coming up, then they banned it and then there were 500 or more in doping violations.

Kenny: So you’re talking about like a steroid there. Now, at the moment, if somebody goes down for steroids, they’re banned for four years?

Jane: Yeah.

Kenny: — now. What are the effects of… So I raced a lot of guys that have been done for a drug, or used to race, a lot of guys that had been done for a drug, and they may have been on a steroid, went ten years ago. They had had that doping ban, that got done for four years, but they may have been on the steroid for two years. So how has that developed their body? They’ve gotten stronger, quicker, faster, everything when they’re younger. They’ve served their ban. And now, I’m still OK to race these guys? But even though they’re…

Greg: That’s probably one for you, Mac. Let’s be honest.

Kenny: Like, it’s…

Mac: Oh, there’s no question. The long-term benefits remain, perhaps not to the same degree. But as that scenario that Ken mentioned, the residual effect or the long-term effect of the increase in muscle mass, etc remains.

So I think there’s a long discussion around, I suppose, the ethical component of that. And, does that make it a fair playing field after four years?

Kenny: Does that mean people should get lifetime bans? If they get done for a steroid?

Greg: He’s not going anywhere near that. [laughs]

Mac: I mean, my opinion doesn’t really matter. But the answer to the question “is there a residual effect?” and the answer is, yeah. Absolutely there is.

Kenny: Yeah.

Mac: I don’t have the answer to your question, but it’s a good question.

Kenny: And I don’t think anyone will have the answer to that question, because everyone would have an opinion on this.

Greg: If you ask me. That’s not a hard question. That’s not a hard question to answer I think.

Kenny: If you get done for this drug — OK, you’re a lifetime ban, sorry, you have deliberately taken this drug to better perform, sorry, that’s not good enough, lifetime ban — done. No argument.

Jane: So if you get inadvertent contamination…

Kenny: Yeah. So this is the…

Jane: — talking earlier. They do tend to have a lower period of suspension. If they can prove. So it comes back to them saying — I took this inadvertently, here are all my records, I knew what I was taking, this is what we thought was under control and then turns out not to have been — and you see cases where they’ve been reduced their ban to sometimes less than 12 months.

Now, that’s also then becomes a reputational risk for some of the suppliers because, are we having athletes who immediately say, oh, it must be the supplements.

So one of the reasons that it’s good for us to test for legitimate manufacturers is we’re protecting the brand as well. So they’ve got a record of testing. They know what’s gone into their product. They’re taking that extra step of testing their product to safeguard both the athletes using their products and also their own reputation.

Greg: And it’s massive for us.

Jane: It’s a really big commitment.

Kenny: To me as an athlete, it’s…

Jane, I see you as the insurance policy.

Jane: [laughs]

Kenny: This is what I…

Greg: I’m sure your boss likes that statement.

[laughter]

Kenny: I’ve been with body science since 2001. I’m actually part of the furniture in here.

Jane: The original family. [laughs]

Kenny: Oh yeah.

I’ve been tested hundreds and hundreds of times whilst using my Body Science supplements. So I trust the brand. I trust the processes that they’ve gone through. They understand the risks, that I’m taking that, every athlete’s taking using any supplement.

So to go that extra step…

Jane: Yeah. It’s really important.

Kenny: It’s really important. And for me it’s just a massive ticking the box there.

Jane: It’s interesting that ASADA has officially recognised that now. Because if you look at a lot of their work in the past, they’ve said to athletes — just don’t take them.

Kenny: Yeah. “Don’t take any supplements.”

Jane: Don’t take any supplements at all. Right?

And there’s a change in their language now to say — we still don’t recommend you take supplements, but if you do take a supplement, take a tested supplement — and then within then developing this app, what they’re giving you access to, a bit like your GlobalDRO, is the supplement checker which says which of these have actually been independently tested.

So to your point, they’re saying, there’s a risk but these are the lowest risk, and that’s the people we want to work with because we want to show that their products are low risk.

Kenny: Again. Minimising the risk.

Jane: You’re minimising the risk. So it’s about good records, good reputation, really ticking all those boxes before you take something.

Greg: People aren’t going to like what I’m about to say, but I think anyone who’s in formulated sports foods or supplements should be tested. Like if you want to be in that category and play in that world, just to make life easy, you got to pay for testing. That’s just the bottom line. If people invest, the athlete wins.

Jane: And it is complex and it is expensive testing.

Greg: Oh, it is.

Jane: — there’s no two ways about that, because you’re looking for so many different drugs. So you can’t just run one test through one machine and say, yep, it’s all good. You’re actually doing multiple extracts and looking for all of those different drugs, and that takes time and it takes expertise to make sure that they’re not there.

Kenny: It’s not cheap for a company to do.

Jane: No.

Greg: It’s not just the cost of the actual testing though, I mean, we can’t sell our product until you say yes.

Jane: That’s right.

Greg: And occasionally that can cause headaches. But… Big headaches. But…

People don’t even know that, you know? And it takes about 14 days on a good day to test the product?

Jane: Yeah. Ten working days. And more if we have any issues with… Often it’s the actual complexity of the product. Because as we were saying, you’re not dealing with like urine and blood, which are nice consistent matrices to work with in a laboratory. You’re dealing with everything from Muesli bars to whey protein, to fish oil, to all of those things. So you have to have a whole series of methods that allow you to extract the drugs from those products. And that’s where our expertise comes in.

Mac: In the industry, that trickles down to the end user of the supplement. For example, anyone can start a supplement company.

Greg: Absolutely.

Mac: I mean, how many supplement companies are there even in Australia. It’s an incredibly saturated market. We could do it right now, probably in five minutes. We can set up a company, we can find a manufacturer down the road, and we could probably have a product on the shelf in five minutes. You know, it’s not a difficult process to do.

Certainly there are sports that are subject to testing, and then there are the other end user who is not subject to testing, and perhaps it’s not a priority in their life whether or not a product is or isn’t got a contaminated substance in it. So I think it just becomes very complicated then for companies who are trying to do the right thing, or more correctly, are doing the right thing, versus those that say, well, you know what, that’s only a market, don’t really care, we’re not going to worry about it. And I think there’s a lot of that going on.

I don’t know how many you know, have the stats on the number of supplement companies in this country who are participating in testing with an organisation like yourself. I would expect it’s pretty low. I would expect it to really low.

Jane: It is. Yeah.

Mac: But I think, leading off from your point, if you want to be a provider to the athletic industry, the sports industry, then I think testing should be mandatory.

Greg: We’re not the ones who said we’re a formulated sports food. That’s a government body, and if you want to play in that game, you should play in the game.

Mac: That’s right. Exactly. Yeah. Because at the moment I don’t think the education has trickled down as well as it could. I think the education policies by the professional sporting leagues like the AFLs and the NRLs, they have great education processes in place for grassroots, right through, and they should be commended for that. They do a really good job of it.

But again, I come back to the industry that is not necessarily afforded that education, don’t know really where to get good information, and so they might go — well, you know, product A, it’s a little bit cheaper, I’m going to go with that one.

Greg: Protein’s just protein.

Mac: — protein’s just protein — and protein is not just protein. Just like a calorie is not a calorie. You know.

It’s complicated. And so, as I say, I keep coming back to this. It’s a complicated story, but I think the more good information, sound information, reputable information that can be provided, the better.

Greg: I don’t think people actually understand how high level risk it actually is.

Jane: So there’s very different stats. If you look at testing what we would consider high risk supplements, like just going on the Internet. When we first set up in 2015, we did a big survey and we got 16, 20 percent positive if we just bought supplements online.

Greg: 20 percent positive.

Jane: — and off the shelf. And the more —

Mac: I remember the study. There was a study.

Jane: — yeah. The more extreme the name is, I’d have to say, the more likely it is to come up positive. So that’s one of our tips.

And there was a really good Dutch study. And they just looked, they said — look, we run a scheme like HASTA and like Inform Sport — where we test for legitimate manufacturers, and we have a really low hit rate. And we’ve got a similar experience if we’re dealing with legitimate manufacturer is the contamination rate.

So you’re looking at supply chain breakdowns or contaminated brew ingredient that never then gets to the athlete — and it’s less than one percent. Certainly less than five percent over time.

If you go out and buy things just straight off the shelf, particularly in groups like pre-workouts, testosterone boosters, all of those sorts of things, you get positive rates that just go up over 20 percent.

Greg: — all the test-boosters on the market

Jane: There are two very different markets. And I think, to your point, because it’s such a growth industry and there’s this big crossover now between sport and health and fitness —

Greg: And diet.

Jane: — and diet, and… If you look one of the most popular drugs still and that people get pinged for his clenbuterol. Well it’s very popular in gyms and shredding, and that whole market.

Greg: You guys would be good at testing for that too, wouldn’t you? You’d be good at testing for that, wouldn’t you? What’s its true use?

Jane: It’s a non-anabolic steroid.

Mac: So Jane, what are you seeing in terms of some of the stats around different sports and what different products? What are some of the common substances that are coming up?

Jane: Well, if we look at Australia last year — and ASADA put out a specific warning about this — the two things that they saw a particular growth in that athletes felt were coming from supplements were higenamine, and DMBA.

DMBA is a stimulant, like DMAA. It’s now actually banned in Australia. The TGAs made it an illegal substance, but it was coming through in a lot of supplements, particularly, as we were saying before, pre-workouts as a stimulant.

Mac: Yep.

Jane: Now that’s not inadvertent contamination, that’s a manufacturer putting something in that they think that their users want and want that edge. And then drug-tested athletes are taking that without understanding what it says on the label.

And some of that is the use of terms that people think sound natural. So DMBA has often been shown as pouchong tea extract. It’s not pouchong tea extract. It’s a synthetic stimulant.

Kenny: Does it sound bad that I have no idea what you’re talking about? That the names of the these drugs, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Because as an athlete, we don’t even get to that part.

Jane: Yeah.

Kenny: If you’re…

Greg: Yeah, but you need to understand, like, an athlete walks into a store and goes — I want your best pre-workout.

Kenny: Like just a simple line, and that’s where that type of thing comes across?

Greg: Yeah. So…

Jane: And it says pouchong tea extract, and you go — oh, that must be alright.

Greg: Tea.

Kenny: Yeah. It’s tea. It might be alright.

Jane: That’s alright. It’s green tea. That’s all popular. That’ll be fine.

Greg: That tea.

Jane: — but actually it’s a high level stimulant.

Mac: You know what. That’s interesting, Kenny. But the market that I deal with, the physique industry, they are all over it. So they know exactly what it is. And they look for it. They look for it.

And with some of the DM-double-As and some of those stimulants, they were in a lot of products at a time when they weren’t banned.

Jane: That’s right.

Mac: And so…

Jane: And they’ve had to be taken off the market.

Mac: And that’s great. Yeah. And so it’s an evolving landscape.

Jane: Yeah. So that’s a risk — not reading the label properly or not understanding what’s on the label — because they do try and disguise some of those.

The other thing that we see is actual inadvertent contamination, and that’s where you have a supply chain break down. Now, those tend to be much less interesting stimulants like ephedrine or pseudoephedrine that might come through a herbal mix, particularly with some of those — the complimentary medicines that sit alongside that whole supplement market. So you might get a contaminated raw material that comes through with those. That’s a lower level stimulant, but it’s still going to get an athlete into trouble.

And that’s the sort of thing that you’d see in a legitimate manufacturer who’s actually had something come through inadvertently in a raw material and we stop that before it’s released to an athlete.

The ones with high levels of things like higenamine or DMAA, they were supplements that were built that way for a particular market.

So again, in terms of an athlete, it’s actually knowing where you sit and knowing what to check, and that’s why having tested supplements and things like the ASADA app that now allows you to check for those should actually help reduce your risk.

Greg: You can actually check a batch on that, which is great. That’s what it’s all about. It’s not just what’s in the ingredient panel, it’s down to batch level.

Mac: Yeah.

Kenny: But, at the moment, now, any supplement that we take, everyone’s got to find these days. I take a photo of it. Take the photo of the batch number. Done. And it’s in there. I don’t think twice about it anymore.

Jane: Yeah.

Kenny: I see that it’s HASTA-tested. Great. Take the supplement. But I’ve always got it on record…

Greg: Absolutely.

Kenny: — what the name of it is…

Greg: OSI Number

Kenny: — the batch number that it is. Again, the athlete responsibility.

Greg: What are some of the biggest sports that are in trouble these days with doping? And we’re working off an official list here, aren’t we?

Jane: [laughs] Yeah.

Greg: Yeah, it’s not like we made this up to sound good.

Mac: [laughs]

Jane: In Australia… I’ll put the drugs internationally, but the Australian ones in terms of…

Mac: By way of just a general comment, I think that while the risk is there, if you’re following a food-first policy, with some supplemental products, proteins and that sort of thing, I think you risk… By going with a reputable brands, like the Body Science brand, I think your risk is incredibly low.

If you want to go off the reservation — and that’s I think when we see a lot of the positive doping findings we’ve seen… Certainly I’ve worked with teams that have had athletes that have had adverse findings. They’ve gone off the reservation, they’ve gone outside of the scope or outside of the recommendations of the organisation and they’ve made some decisions off their own bat on what they think they can perhaps do, they want to push the envelope, and they usually, the cases that I’ve seen have been, they’d received poor information from non-reputable sources that thought they would get a quick fix, maybe coming back from an injury, or performance enhancing, whatever it might be, and it’s been on bad information.

And Ken makes a good point with the photographing of a product and the batch number. I do the same thing. As a strength conditioning coach, certainly keep meticulous records and photographic evidence and so on and so forth.

I know if I’ve got a squad of 48 players, and one player has a positive outcome, and he or she turned around and says, oh, it was in the protein — I know it’s garbage, from the minute that that comes to light. Because I know, well, 47 other people took it, they were all tested and they’re all fine.

So it’s about risk mitigation for the company. It’s about risk mitigation for the organisation, the strength conditioning, the athlete, and downstream from there. There will always be people who want to push the envelope. And it’s a bit about having your ducks in a row to try to become that really.

Jane: Certainly those sports were weight and muscle is important, are still the ones that you see coming up more often. So they’re the ones where you’re more likely to see use of steroids, anabolic or non-anabolic, like clenbuterol ostarine, we’re seeing more of.

So those sports where that real muscle building and they’re trying to get an edge, or as you say maybe someone’s had an injury and then coming back and trying to get back quickly, and because it’s banned in and out of competition and it has that longterm effect we talked about before, those sports certainly seem to be overrepresented in terms of positive doping offenses.

Mac: I think with a potential risk in the mainstream, I think it’s pretty hard to have an accidental positive doping test for an anabolic, or an androgen. It’s pretty hard to have a positive test for testosterone or stanozolol or any of those products.

Let’s be serious. I mean, stimulants that might appear in pre-workouts and thermogenics — absolutely, I can see where there could be capacity for some error there. But it’s pretty hard to have an accidental test for — if you’ve got 20 times the level of testosterone in your system, that’s an awful lot of contaminated something from somewhere.

Jane: Yeah.

Greg: It’s a big drink. [laughs]

Mac: That’s a lot of contaminated lean pork from somewhere. Yeah — I don’t know. But, sorry, I interrupted, Jane. But I agree. I think where muscle mass is a key, where body composition is an issue, where force, power, high speed, explosiveness, endurance — those upper ends of the spectrum in terms of performance capabilities — there’s always going to be. And big bucks. We’re talking, big careers, big bucks. And we’re seeing this filter into some of the less orthodox sports, into the crossfits of the world, and we’ve seen some positive findings there — I don’t think I’m dropping any bombs there — at the racing and crossfit games in the US there was a…

Greg: Good on them for testing.

Mac: Absolutely. Fantastic that they’re really conscious about it. It’s become a massive phenomenon and there’s big dollars on the line, and a credit to them for having a policy in place.

Greg: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Wow, silence. That’s really good.

Mac: No. Silence is bad.

The travel’s a big one, international travel. Kenny, I’m sure there’s been places in Poland and probably Belgium and everywhere that — you probably got to put padlocks on the system, and on the fridges and all that sort of stuff as you go around the place.

Kenny: Within the sporting community. It’s funny, everyone knows somebody that we think that that person might be on drugs, or we think that that person, because you can see that how they’ve progressed through their sporting career, their — haven’t really performed, haven’t really performed — the next year they’re massive and they all of a sudden win medals, so you kind of go…

Jane: Yeah — what happened there?

Kenny: Where, something’s happened somewhere, in and around there.

And we always hear stories of people putting something else in somebody’s drink bottle and…

Jane: Yeah. Tampering. What do you think the actual incidence of tampering is? Because that’s often used as a defense. They say it must’ve been tampering. [inaudible]

Kenny: Must’ve been tampered with. Somebody just put something in my drink bottle.

Mac: Do you have an opinion? What do you think, Kenny?

Kenny: Wherever it can happen.

Mac: No, no, no, I know it can happen. I’m interested in, do we think it happens much?

Kenny: There was a case in Japan just recently where I know about it because it was within my sport. Another paddler put something else and he admitted to it — put something else into another person’s drink bottle or food. And then that person tested positive. In the end, this other guy admitted to it saying, yeah, so it was me.

Now, this made national news. There was Japanese TV stations ringing me up here in Australia trying to get a comment for it. To me, I don’t want to know about it. I do not want to know about the drugs testing. I want to line up on the start line and then go, you know what? Everyone here, they’ve done the hard work. They’ve trained as hard as they can and let’s just race. As long as it’s fair and clean, I don’t care. Let’s just see who can get there fast down the end.

If I get beaten by somebody that’s taken drugs, it’s a nothing race. It’s let down.

Greg: Yeah. Absolutely.

Kenny: And the hard part is we might not find that out for…

Jane: Two years. Yeah.

Kenny: Or the next eight years, because they now hold onto our samples, our urine and blood samples for 10 years. So shared talent. Four years later.

A race walker got silver in London at the time, got silver in London in 2015-16. They announced him as the Olympic gold medalist.

Greg: Yeah. It’s a tough gig

Kenny: Because you get the recognition that the Olympics. Well, the athletes might not go, oh, I’ve missed out on that recognition. It’s the — I’ve raced a drug cheat.

Jane: Yeah.

Kenny: And I’m sure within his sport that — yeah, that’s just one story. I’m sure there’s hundreds of stories.

Greg: So let’s, off athletes, let’s talk about just standard workplace testing.

Jane: Oh, we do workplace testing as well. We don’t do athletes, as I said before — that’s done by the WADA lab in each country. But we certainly do workplace testing because that’s another area where people have the accountability. And different workplaces have different requirements. It’s a bit like football teams, different workplaces have different doping policies.

So we certainly do drug testing of urine and oral fluid predominantly for workplaces. It’s high risk workplaces where you can’t be on stimulants or alcohol or other drugs can affect your performance.

Kenny: Operating big machinery.

Jane: Machinery, construction, pilots. Obviously there’s different professions where they’ve got a no-drugs policy particularly for elicit. So if you think of customs or federal police, people who could be compromised.

So across Australia there’s a lot of workplace drug testing that’s done as well, so it’s not just the athletes who have to line up and give your urine sample, it’s lots of workplaces that have a doping policy as well.

And we certainly see changes in that profile as well, because obviously it’s fairly well known that there’s an increase in amphetamine and ice usage and probably we see a decrease in THC or cannabis. Changing the balance. And codeine is interesting now because codeine has now become prescription-only in Australia. So there’s a lot of codeine use in Australia. That’s one of the reasons they felt it was overused here. And we’re seeing a shift now. So it’ll be interesting to see how normal, workplace drug testing is, because that’s one of the things that picks up is codeine, and people have usually said, oh, I’ve just had a cold and flu tablet. So now that will be, in effect, the workplace equivalent of a therapeutic use exemption is to say “I have a prescription for this medication.”

So yeah, it is important to drug tests, not just in sport but across a range of different professions.

Greg: So this could be a really silly question, but I’ve got heaps of them.

Say, codeine suddenly come up on the list of things you need to look for. What does that mean for your organization? As far as timing to come to market standards, testing, equipment?

Jane: If we add in a drug, to like, so if they say —

Greg: Yeah. Something new.

Jane: — some new supplements.

Well, meldonium was a good example of that. So for us it’s a matter of making sure we’ve got the right drug standard and then validating that for our method. So in chemistry, it’s all about validating the methods that you’re using and being able to provide the data to an assessor to show that your method works.

So say we take your protein powder. The first time we test that, we quite literally put all 200 and something drugs in little standards into that product and make sure we can get them out again.

Greg: for the market, mate.

Jane: Sometimes… [laughs]

Jane: Yeah. So, because you’ve got to show…

Greg: So, all 288 of them.

Jane: Yeah. Because what happens is, sometimes you get something in the product that suppresses our ability to extract that drug again. So not every supplement is actually suitable for this sort of drug testing. Or it’s really difficult to get all of those drugs out. So we put them in and we make sure that we can see those standards come back out again.

And then when we run your products, we know that if something comes up as a peak that, that it’s real. So it’s all about validation and data and having that data set that supports your certificate. So that certificate, which says, “not detected,” there’s a lot of work that goes in behind it.

Greg: Absolutely.

Kenny: It’s a big process.

Jane: And we review those. So, WADA publishes their new list in September each year. And so they say, this is the list for next year, effective January 1. And they also publish a list of major modifications. And that’s a really useful guide to what’s changed, why they’re interpreted things differently, some things that they’ve set levels for that there might be changing.

So we really need to review that on an annual basis and let people like yourself, our good clients know what’s changed. If something comes onto the list that wasn’t there before, we need to make sure that we’ve got a standard for that and then we can detect it and make sure we can pick it up in product.

Greg: Incredible.

Jane: So, that set process.

Greg: Massive.

We actually, for those people don’t know, we do put our certificates up on our website, bodyscience.com.au/drugtest. If it’s not that, it will be that tomorrow. [laughter] So you can actually look at the batch on your label and you can print out the — what do you call it?

Jane: Certificate of analysis. Drug Testing Certificate.

Greg: Thank you.

Jane: And they’re also on our website. So HASTA has got the products that are certified. We list them with the flavor and batch and expiry date on our website. We do independent testing as well for people who don’t certify a product. So maybe that’s a distinction that you need to understand.

Greg: We do two types with you.

Jane: Yeah.

Greg: We have our batch. Every batch is tested. Then we have our products we make that we think athletes won’t be into. And when you launch them, you find out you’re very incorrect in your market research into athletes want to use. So we have a lot of random programs going on. We’ve got a flavor of a product tested at all times. You just don’t get to pick your flavor.

Jane: So if a company certifies a product, it’s a big commitment on their part. So to certify a product, it’s not just tested. We look at where it’s manufactured. We make sure that we verify the controls are in place in that manufacturing plant. We review the formulation. Then we do extra work in terms of validating the product, and then we make them test every single batch.

So a certified product is actually a much more stringent set of criteria, and every batch is then tested and that’s when they can use the logo on pack.

Batch testing means that someone sent us a sample from a batch. Still a good thing, but not the same as that whole more controlled process of certifying.

And what we find increasingly is manufacturers, and you say, have a product that they really don’t feel is targeted at that elite market and is a mass production product, which is going to send them broken down to test every batch, so they might just test a particular flavor and supply that to a team.

And we also see more often now, in fact, we do a lot of independent testing for teams and clubs and sporting bodies who want to supply to their team that’s not tested. So they’ll then send us a batch and say, alright, we’d like to use this without our team. It’s not tested by the manufacturer. Can you test this batch?

Greg: We do that with a lot of teams, actually, with you. And I appreciate that. You get somebody who wants a special fiber protein bar who’s an elite athlete, so they have to test the whole batch.

There is a lot of teams that do test.

Jane: And we see an increasing range of products coming through. And again, that whole market around complimentary medicines and where that sits in terms of supplements, so not your standard formula and supplementary sports foods, but capsules and tablets and other things. And some of those we have real difficulties testing. We might not be able to get all the steroids out of some of those really oily products. And that’s what we’ll tell the team or the dietitian or the strength and conditioning coaches go — we’ve tested this but we can’t get every drug that we would like to, to extract out of it. So you still have an element of risk.

Greg: It’s been an eyeopener for us. Like, our multivitamin, for example, was tested and then we had a batch that actually said no. So we couldn’t sell that batch. And it takes months to make that vitamin tablet, just so you know. But then we had the process of actually trying to break down what was it that caused it. It was massive for us.

So now that product is tested batch by batch. We test it, if you say it passed, it passed, if it doesn’t…

Jane: It doesn’t…

Greg: — that’s what we tell people. We actually took the HASTA logo off that product.

Jane: And I think you’ll find if you go through the ASADA supplement checker, it’s got a little quiz which says these are the things you should look for. And one of them is products with a lot of ingredients. Because the more ingredients you have, the more potential supply chain issues you have. And the more herbal products, which again, hard to verify the come from multiple sources offshore. So that raw ingredient risk is there.

Greg: Supply chain was just…

Jane: — in terms of those things.

Mac: Proprietary blends.

Jane: — proprietary blends can be an issue.

Greg: Massive fan of those. Big fan of proprietary blends.

Mac: Tongue in cheek.

Greg: [laughs] You won’t see one on our product.

Mac: No. I don’t think you should be allowed to do it. I think that you shouldn’t have to list the ingredients and the amounts of each ingredient. But it’s commonplace.

Greg: Well it’s different manufacturing standards from different countries, so that’s what it is.

Jane: Well in the US, supplements are not counted as either a food or medicine. So the FDA has drugs, food, dietary supplements. So they actually come under a different regulatory authority or part of that regulatory authority. Whereas here they’re either a food or medicine. And they regulated either by food standards code or TGA. So our regulations here on both those categories are actually stricter.

Greg: We run both types too. It’s quite difficult times.

Jane: Yeah, it is.

Greg: But the multivitamin, stepping back to that, that was a headache. It was a massive headache and that’s where we said to ourself, do we stop making our multivitamins? Because we didn’t release that batch. We destroyed it. The one that got the test. Because our program at the time was to — it’s either yes or no. So that’s what where we sat down and we had a good chat on it, and the theory was it’s just too hard.

So we still want to bring a multi out, so we test it before we release it. And then if that says yes, we’ll tell people they can check this out on the web. The next batch is no guarantee, and people need to be really aware of that.

That’s like when every time athletes walk in, our team is trying to go — you’re an athlete, aren’t you?

So we asked the second question ourself. That’s a big thing.

Kenny: What are some of the side effects of performance enhancing drugs that, people think — oh, OK, well I’m in a sport that doesn’t get tested, it’s OK, I’ll just buy whatever supplement off the internet because it’s cheaper.

What are the benefits of people actually going to a supplement that is third party tested? Because what are some of the side effects of some performance enhancing drugs?

Mac: Oh, mate, that’s as a big question. Well, I think when it comes to the sort of products that would bring about a positive doping test, with anything, with any drug — all drugs, whether it’s across the androgen spectrum, anabolics, whatever — there are clinical uses for all of those substances.

So I look at it as use, misuse and abuse, in terms of the categorization of that.

Liken it, if you abuse alcohol for your entire life, you will end up most likely with a liver problem. Nicotine, over the counter drugs, whatever — long term misuse of products will result in a whole range of adverse health outcomes. There’s no question, there are products that are banned substances, and I’m talking about anabolics here and testosterones, and all these sorts of things, have genuine use from a hormone replacement perspective for men and women.

Jane: Therapeutic use.

Mac: I’m talking clean. Absolutely there’s uses. And used correctly, the side effects are minimized. Absolutely, categorically.

If you go off the reservation and you want to take triple the amount or ten times the amount, well there’ll be a knock on effect to that.

So side effects-wise, I think… Well, my opinion is from a clinical perspective, I think there’s a lot of hysteria around the use of — for example, testosterone — I think low testosterone in men is a massive clinical condition in this country and around the world, for particularly men over 40 years of age who don’t know they have testosterone levels through the floor.

The risk of actually having poorer outcomes from a cardiovascular perspective with low testosterone, equal — and I’m on a bit of a rant — but parallel issues with high cholesterol and all of these other things we all know about it. And most men walk around, don’t even know they’ve got low testosterone in their forties and fifties. But they’re not subject to sport testing.

Kenny: But this is something where they’ll go to their GP

Mac: Well, GPs may or may not be much use to them. They’ll probably have to go to someone who specialises in hormones, an endocrinologist or someone.

Kenny: OK.

Mac: But the side effects can be dire. In terms of quantified research that absolutely slam dunks the adverse health risks to the longterm use, it’s actually pretty slim. There’s a lot of what we call anecdotal, urban myth perhaps, around what it could do.

If you think about the fact that these products have to metabolise by the liver, then the liver is going to cop it ultimately. So the risk of increased liver functions and poorer outcomes, long term, fatty liver disease, and a whole lot of things — absolutely.

So the side effects can be significant on health. But it’s hard to say. Certainly you can’t say — if you take a course of this product, you might end up with this outcome. It’s really broad. And it depends a lot on what the product is.

Kenny: I guess at the end of the day, somebody that’s — not even in a sport — somebody that’s feeling a bit down, they go to work every day, they work long hours. They probably don’t eat much during lunch breaks or they don’t eat enough, they’re still better off with a tested supplement.

Mac: Yeah, no question.

Kenny: — than not. Instead of just going on the Internet, I’ll buy the cheaper one — let’s get the one that’s third-party tested, or a reputable brand, they’re still better off with that than probably something …

Mac: Oh, no question. Because I think one lends itself to the other around the quality of the ingredients. I think that the companies who are diligent with respect to the testing for the doping, are the types of companies who are going to be diligent around the ingredients that are in their products.

So it goes hand in hand in terms of those quality ingredients. You want good quality ingredients in your products. Who do I go to? I go to a company that has a policy and is diligent around supply chains and the quality of my ingredients. At least it’s the ingredients on the label.

Jane: Correct ones. No made up names. [laughs] Yeah.

Mac: Absolutely.

— and no proprietary blends.

For those that are listening that maybe don’t know what that is, there are companies that, on the label, it will just say —

Greg: 5,000 milligrams.

Mac: — 5,000 milligrams of “Billy’s Thermogenic Mix” or something like that.

Jane: Yeah.

Mac: And then it’ll have —

Jane: Proprietary blend.

Mac: Proprietary blend underneath it.

So what it doesn’t tell you is that nuts and bolts of every single product that’s in there and the amounts of those. That lends itself to a conversation around clinical dose, clinically effective dose.

Greg: Absolutely.

Mac: — around, particularly, beta-alanines, and some of those where — there might be a small amount of these products in the ingredients in the product, but nowhere near enough to have any benefit. So it’s kind of like, oh, we’ll sprinkle it in — because the person reads the label —

Jane: And it sounds good, and… Yeah.

Mac: Sounds great. And they go — has it got this in it? — check, check, check. Oh, yeah, but it’s one tenth of what would have a benefit. So there’s a lot of that going on.

But your answer’s correct, basically.

Kenny: I guess the point that I was getting to, is, you don’t have to be Olympic standard athlete, you don’t have to be a high performance athlete to want to take…

Jane: It’s safer.

Kenny: — the safer supplement.

Mac: Oh, absolutely.

Jane: One of the reasons the TGA banned it, is because in high doses, it’s led to cardiac arrest and death. So there’s your side effect — death.

So probably not what you want from a pre-workout. So that whole class has been banned on health reasons. And that was definitely, when the withdrawal notices, there was a number of products that were readily available in Australia that had that chemical in them. So that’s been withdrawn for health reasons.

Kenny: So again, don’t have to be an athlete.

Jane: Nope.

Kenny: Don’t have to be competing or training every day. You can be a Joe Blow that turns up to work every day and works his long hours.

Jane: Works out regularly, and wants to have that good workout stimulant.

Kenny: — and just needs the good zone.

Jane: Yep. There’s something in there that’s actually quite detrimental to your health.

Greg: Or your employment, like you were saying.

Jane: Or your employment. Well, employee drugs are generally around elicit drugs, and all prescription medication that can affect your performance. So it’s a much more limited list. Athletes got to deal with this huge WADA list of hundreds and hundreds of drugs. Workplaces generally have a much more defined list. So yeah, it’s not as tricky, but it’s still something you’ve got to be very careful of.

Greg: Absolutely.

Well Jane, thank you very much for coming out today. We appreciate that.

Jane: Thank you.

Greg: You guys out in the supplement world that need to certify your products, HASTA is the answer.

Kenny. It’s always fun. Have you got any last words on how you go so fast?

Kenny: I stick to the left hand lane first and then I go to the right one and then I’ll go to the left one again and then I’ll try to do that continually or longer, harder, faster strokes, more persistent.

Greg: I like that. You’d like that as a coach, Mac?

Mac: Yeah. I reckon that would be handy. But the left one in first, then the right one.

Jane: Right one.

Mac: And do it more often and harder than the next person.

Kenny: Yeah. Longer, harder, faster, and more consistently.

Mac: — than the person next to you.

Kenny: Yeah.

Greg: I would hate to be in like a K2 or K4 with you. I don’t think it would be fun at all.

Kenny: [laughs]

Mac: I’d be too scared to fall in the water. They’re not real big. The seats aren’t real big. Right? There’s not a lot of room to move?

Kenny: No. There’s not. They’re as skinny as my hips. I’m like a size 32 at the moment. So…

Greg: I don’t know if Kenny remembers this. He came around one day and he brought it round. And he stood up on the seat, and said, here you go, jump in, I sat on it and went straight in.

Kenny: over the edge.

Mac: Yeah.

Kenny: Yeah, I remember. [laughs]

Greg: I was actually doing a lot of pedaling at that time.

Kenny: For some people, we need like a shoehorn to get them into the seat

It is fun.

Greg: So guys. Thanks for coming along. That’s the last of this. Let’s knock it off.

Mac: Awesome.

Kenny: Thank you.

Jane: Thank you.

Greg: Today’s podcast was brought to you by the new Super Berry Amino BSAA fuel. Stock that in Mr Supplement, Vitamin Empire, Rock Hard supplements. ISN nationally, Sporties Warehouse, or find a retailer at bodyscience.com.au/retailers — with an S.

Episode 6: Safe Supplements syndicated from http://www.bodyscience.com.au/

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