10 reasons you should eat walnuts daily - IndiaTimes

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10 reasons you should eat walnuts daily  IndiaTimes
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10 reasons you should eat walnuts daily - IndiaTimes

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Grand Neptune Seafood is offering all-you-can-eat crab and lobster | Dished - Daily Hive

Feeling crabby? Maybe this all-you-can-eat crab and lobster deal will cheer you up.

From today until December 10, you can get this incredible deal at Grand Neptune Seafood Restaurant in Burnaby.

You can order this all-you-can-eat seafood feast from 3 pm until closing, but you have an hour-and-a-half time limit, so be sure to make the most of this epic deal.

It will cost you $88 for the AYCE crab and $98 for crab and lobster. Kids under three are able to eat for free, and those aged four to ten can enjoy it for just $49.

Grand Neptune also specializes in delectable dim sum and sizzling stir-fry creations alongside its impressive selection of live seafood. 

You can visit Grand Neptune daily from 9 am to 10 pm.

Grand Neptune Seafood Restaurant

Address: 4331 Dominion Street, Burnaby

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If an octopus is so smart, should you eat it? - The Washington Post

Octopuses can open jars, use tools, solve puzzles and even recognize individual human faces staring back at them through aquarium glass.

Should they serve as menu items, too?

Whether stuffed into sushi or draped over pasta, their savory tentacles have squirmed their way onto dinner plates around the world, serving as a staple of many East Asian and Mediterranean cuisines.

But a growing scientific understanding of the cognition of octopuses and other cephalopods is now calling into question the idea of eating these problem-solving sea creatures — as well as our notion of what exactly makes an animal “intelligent” in the first place.

“They have a kind of exploratory, inquisitive, interesting way of being in the world that I think is unexpected,” said Peter Godfrey-Smith, a philosopher at the University of Sydney and author of the book “Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness.”

Humanity’s relationship with octopuses is reaching an inflection point: Just as scientists begin to understand these animals’ brains, seafood companies are trying to farm them commercially.

Seafood purveyors say farming octopus will relieve pressure on wild populations and provide more of an increasingly popular low-fat, high-protein food. But proposals to open octopus farms are being met with opposition from environmentalists and animal welfare advocates worried about tormenting the intelligent invertebrates.

The U.S. government is now considering whether to ask for ethical reviews of scientific experiments on octopuses, just as it does for mammals such as monkeys and mice.

Adding to the sympathies for the squishy sea creature is the 2020 documentary “My Octopus Teacher.” Widely watched on Netflix during the coronavirus pandemic, diver Craig Foster’s documentary about his bond with a wild octopus won an Academy Award for best documentary feature.

Clever as an octopus

On the tree of life, octopuses sit about as far from humans as an animal can get. About 750 million years of evolution separate us and the eight-armed creatures, suggesting that the octopus evolved its mode of cognition all on its own.

“When we think about evolutionary questions, there’s this bias in neuroscience to think about everything leading to a human,” said Robyn Crook, a San Francisco State University neurobiologist. “Cephalopods are really the only other animal that have a complex brain but don’t share our evolutionary lineage.”

In a sense, octopuses don’t have just one brain but nine: A doughnut-shaped main brain plus another eight for each arm, controlling limb movement. The arms are able to communicate with one another, possibly without involving the central hub.

“The arm itself does a lot of processing,” Crook said. “It’s a little bit like our spinal cord. And so a lot of information that’s received in the arms never makes it to the brain.”

In experiments, the mollusks use their nine “brains” to squeeze through mazes and press buttons to escape enclosures. There is even some evidence they can dream.

In the wild, they can mimic their surroundings by changing their color and build dens by arranging stones, bottles and shells. Some have even been observed wielding the tentacles from a jellyfish-like animal called a Portuguese man o’ war as a makeshift weapon.

Many biologists used to assume that intelligence arose as animals formed social bonds. A herd of elephants or a pod of dolphins, for instance, needed enough brainpower to work together to find a watering hole or hunt for fish.

As a solitary creature, the octopus defies that story. The common octopus only lives for a year or two. Male octopuses die after mating while female octopuses cease hunting and waste away just after laying their eggs. Researchers have even recorded cephalopods eating each other in the wild.

“The word ‘intelligence’ is not the best word,” Godfrey-Smith said. “They do show sometimes a decent amount of intelligence, but it’s not the most natural way of describing what’s special about them.”

He contrasted octopuses with crows. When facing a puzzle, “sometimes a crow will just sit and look at it, and essentially think it through, because then on their first attempt, they’ll do something quite clever to solve the problem.”

But octopuses are more tactile when dealing with a problem. “They would just confront it with their bodies and manipulate it,” he said. “They don’t have that kind of sit-back-and-think intelligence so much.”

Under the sea in an octopus farm

For the Spanish seafood company Nueva Pescanova, their scientific breakthrough came four years ago. Researchers there announced that they had succeeded at raising baby octopuses outside their natural habitat and breeding those captive adults.

Now the seafood firm is rearing its fifth generation of octopuses and is preparing to open its first octopus farm in the Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa. Other “octoculture” research is underway in Portugal, Italy, Greece, Mexico, China and Japan.

Some experts worry that octopuses are particularly ill-suited for farms. The animals, they say, are too asocial and neurologically sophisticated to pen up together. Unlike cows or pigs, octopuses are carnivorous, meaning its meals must be fished from the ocean in a potentially unsustainable way. To boot, farming octopuses comes with the gory risk of cannibalism in captivity.

“These animals are just too curious, too sophisticated to be subject to mass production,” said Jennifer Jacquet, who led an influential essay against octopus farming an assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University.

Nueva Pescanova said that its farmed octopuses have not been aggressive toward one another and that its researchers are working on ways to painlessly stun the animals. Its feed will be made up in part of existing byproducts from fishing operations.

Cephalopods, the company added, aren’t any smarter than traditional barnyard animals. Pigs, studies have shown, seem to be pretty smart, capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors and playing computer games.

“There is no scientific evidence as to whether they are more intelligent or sensitive than other species that are also raised for human consumption,” Nueva Pescanova said in a statement.

But Crook’s research strongly suggests that octopuses feel pain, just like cows and pigs. Unlike those farm-raised animals, for which there are standardized ways to minimize pain during slaughter, there is no known way of killing cephalopods humanely, she said.

Recognizing that capacity for pain, the National Institutes of Health is considering granting cephalopods used in research some of the same protections given to monkeys, mice and other vertebrates.

Under the proposal, U.S. scientists would need the approval of an ethics board before experimenting on octopuses to minimize discomfort and ensure they are well-cared for. Similar animal welfare measures are already in place in Europe and Canada. The agency is asking for feedback on the guidance until Dec. 22.

“The question is, should we cross that backbone barrier and start protecting cephalopods?” Crook said. “It’s an arbitrary division, right? Having an ossified backbone has nothing to do with whether or not you’re capable of pain and suffering, or feeling happy or feeling sad.”

Off the menu

If and when it hits store shelves, farmed octopus would arrive at a time of growing demand for the seafood. The market for octopus meat is expected to grow by more than 20 percent by 2028, according to Nueva Pescanova.

For sushi chef Bun Lai, it wasn’t an easy decision to stop serving octopus. “It’s an essential ingredient to Japanese cuisine,” he said. “One of the most celebrated ingredients out of the Japan Sea is octopus.”

But the restaurateur took it off the menu of Miya’s, his sushi place in New Haven, Conn., because it was difficult to tell if the octopus he was buying was fished sustainably.

For Godfrey-Smith, the philosopher, his decision to forgo eating octopus is a “sentimental” one. “I have too much affection for them to treat them as food,” he said.

But he doesn’t think eating octopus is a “particularly problematic choice” given that the common octopus is not endangered and — at least today — not farmed. Eating pigs or chickens raised in crowded factory farms, he said, is ethically worse.

“I think of those as really probably the worst choices from a welfare point of view,” he said.

This article is part of Animalia, a column exploring the strange and fascinating world of animals and the ways in which we appreciate, imperil and depend on them.

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UN report condemning America's 'over-consumption' of meat is rejected by X users: 'Eating more meat now' - Fox News

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Social media users took to X this week to let the United Nations know what they thought about its upcoming report that will critique America and other western countries for eating too much meat. 

X users rejected the imminent report, telling the international political body to "go away" with its plan to lecture westerners about meat "over-consumption" contributing to climate change.

Bloomberg News recently reported that The UN's Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) will unveil its so-called global food systems’ road map during the COP28 climate summit in Dubai this year. The document will recommend nations that "over-consume meat" to limit their consumption as part of a broader effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

DARK MONEY FUND POURED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO ECO ACTIVIST GROUPS BLOCKING HIGHWAYS, DESTROYING FAMOUS ART

X users ripped an upcoming U.N. roadmap that will reportedly lecture the U.S. and other western nations for eating too much meat.  (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)

The report has been designed to guide policy on lowering the climate impact of the global agriculture industry, and in addition to issuing guidelines for reducing meat consumption in the West, is expected to highlight how farmers should adapt to "erratic weather" and tackle their emissions produced from food waste and use of fertilizer, the outlet added.

"Food system emissions deserve a place at the top of the table, alongside energy and transport, as they represent an estimated third of greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of methane," said Jeremy Coller, the chair and founder of the FAIRR Initiative, an investor network that works with financial institutions to promote climate-friendly agriculture worldwide.

In his statement, Coller noted that leading meat and dairy companies have been failing to reduce emissions. He expressed his belief that the incoming U.N. road map will lower greenhouse admissions and lead to a "more sustainable food system."

Even if the recommendations are adopted at the COP28 summit, they are reportedly not binding, though X users still rejected the idea in strong terms on the social media platform. 

BIDEN ADMIN QUIETLY DEVELOPING SETTLEMENT WITH GROUPS SEEKING TO TEAR DOWN KEY POWER SOURCE

X users blasted the U.N. after hearing about the body's plan to guide western nations from over-consuming red meat. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Country music star John Rich posted, "I'd like to see one of those blue helmets try to pull a Ribeye off my Green Egg."

Libs of TikTok account owner Chaya Raichik posted, "Go away. You guys are annoying."

Celebrity Chef Andrew Gruel posted a take-down of the plan, writing, "This is up there in the pantheon of grandest lies ‘meat consumption hurts the environment’. If they promoted regenerative agriculture, cattle farming would actually enrich the environment AND people would eat healthier meat. But they don’t want solutions, they want a sick, depressed populace."

Conservative radio host Dana Loesch wrote, "[In] return, Americans call on the United Nations to shut up."

Podcast host Michael Quinn Sullivan asked, "How about we just get rid of the UN, instead? They can go eat all the bugs they want in their rat-hole countries."

The Blaze host Sara Gonzales replied, "Literally eating more meat now."

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Fox News Digital's Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.

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Eat Less Meat Is Message for Rich World in Food's First Net Zero Plan - Bloomberg

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Eat Less Meat Is Message for Rich World in Food's First Net Zero Plan  Bloomberg
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How Long Can You Eat Thanksgiving Leftovers? - Delish

Apart from family and friends, the best part of Thanksgiving is the food—especially the leftovers. But just how long can you safely eat all that turkey and mashed potatoes?

According to the USDA, leftovers should be frozen or eaten within four days, which means the Monday after Thanksgiving is your last day to safely eat leftovers. Starting Tuesday, they should be in the freezer or tossed. Frozen leftovers can be safe indefinitely, although the USDA notes that quality will diminish over time.

Still want to push the four-day rule? Janilyn Hutchings, food scientist at StateFoodSafety and a Certified Professional in Food Safety, said that if stores properly, leftovers can be eaten within seven days of being cooked or opened. This doesn't include cooked meat or poultry or salads with macaroni, egg, ham, tuna, or chicken—all of which should be eaten in three to five days.

More From Delish

 

So what does properly-stored leftovers look like? Hutchings said that foods should be refrigerated within two hours of cooking or being taken out of the fridge. You can learn more about storing leftovers here.

So unless you froze your leftovers on Monday, it's best not to dig into that turkey and stuffing, at least according to the USDA. But if you haven't had your Turkey Day fill, here are some Thanksgiving recipes, from appetizers to pies.

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Eat Less Meat Is Message for Rich World in Food’s First Net Zero Plan - Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- The world’s most-developed nations will be told to curb their excessive appetite for meat as part of the first comprehensive plan to bring the global agrifood industry into line with the Paris climate agreement.

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The global food systems’ road map to 1.5C is expected to be published by the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization during the COP28 summit next month. Nations that over-consume meat will be advised to limit their intake, while developing countries — where under-consumption of meat adds to a prevalent nutrition challenge — will need to improve their livestock farming, according to the FAO.

From farm to fork, food systems account for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and much of that footprint is linked to livestock farming — a major source of methane, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Although non-binding, the FAO’s plan is expected to inform policy and investment decisions and give a push to the food industry’s climate transition which has lagged other sectors in commitments.

The guidance on meat is intended to send a clear message to governments. But politicians in richer nations typically shy away from policies aimed at influencing consumer behavior, especially where it involves cutting consumption of everyday items.

“Livestock is politically sensitive, but we need to deal with sensitive issues to solve the problem,” said Dhanush Dinesh, the founder of Clim-Eat, which works to accelerate climate action in food systems. “If we don’t tackle the livestock problem, we are not going to solve climate change. The key problem is overconsumption.”

The average American consumes about 127 kilograms of meat a year compared with 7 kilograms in Nigeria and just 3 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the FAO data. The Eat-Lancet Commission recommends people consume no more than 15.7 kilograms of meat a year.

Read: Rising Livestock Emissions Undermine World’s Climate Fight

The Rome-based UN agency, tasked with improving the agricultural sector and nutrition, is seeking to strike a balance between the climate transition and ensuring food security for the growing global population. So as well as calling for less meat consumption for the world’s well fed, the plan would also encourage farmers in developing countries to bolster productivity of their livestock and supply more sustainably.

Other recommendations will cover issues from how farmers adapt to an increasingly erratic weather to tackling key sources of emissions like food waste and post-harvest loss or fertilizer use, according to the FAO. The plan will be rolled out in three parts over the next few years to eventually include country-specific recommendations.

The road map has the potential to offer a “shared direction of travel” for livestock companies and their investors, mirroring the role of the International Energy Agency’s net zero document for the energy sector, according to FAIRR Initiative, an investor network focused on intensive animal production.

“This road map is needed to bring clarity to both companies and investors so that they can plan for the transition,” said Sofía Condés, head of investor outreach at FAIRR. “The longer companies wait to act, the more drastic and potentially disruptive the transition.”

The FAO’s work is one of several food-focused announcements and pledges that are expected to come out of the COP28 summit in Dubai. While climate summits have tended to steer away from agrifood issues largely due to sensitivities over food security, this year’s organizers are trying to push through a number of initiatives outside the formal talks, said Clim-Eat’s Dinesh.

Read: How to Tell If a Climate Deal Will Succeed or Fail

“I see more people coming, more events, more activities around food systems,” he said.

The United Arab Emirates have called on governments to sign a declaration committing to include food transformation into their national reduction and adaptation plans. The COP28 summit will have a Food, Agriculture and Water Day on Dec. 10, a first-ever day dedicated to food systems, which encompass anything from how food is grown, processed, distributed, consumed or thrown away. Catering for the summit will be two-thirds plant-based.

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Elon Musk Wants to Have His Cake and Eat It Too - The New Republic

Elon Musk’s business empire has been built with government money. His spacecraft manufacturing and launching company, SpaceX, exists largely as a conduit for government contracts, having inked $15.3 billion worth of them since 2003, with another $1.2 billion reportedly in the works. Tesla, meanwhile, received a critical $465 million loan guarantee via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2010. The company has also dropped the price of its cars, very likely so that they can qualify for the tax breaks offered by the Inflation Reduction Act. Its extensive charging network—dominating the market in this country—will benefit from both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the state-backed expansion of electric vehicles. And, like any other business, Tesla also depends on the public sector in more quotidian ways: the roads planned and paved by the government, for instance.

This week, Tesla finally admitted just how critical government services and workers are to its operations. It did so by suing the government of Sweden.

On Monday, Tesla’s Swedish subsidiary sued the country’s Transport Agency over the postal workers’ union’s refusal to deliver mail—including license plates—to Tesla facilities. Postal workers’ Tesla boycott is part of a solidarity action with Tesla mechanics in Sweden who’ve opted to join the metalworkers’ union, IF Metall. Tesla mechanics who’ve joined IF Metall began striking last month over the company’s long-standing refusal to negotiate the kind of collective bargaining agreement standard for companies that do business there. Sectoral standards for wages, time off, and pensions in Sweden are largely brokered through such agreements, which cover some 90 percent of workers.

Tesla has just about 130 employees in Sweden and does not produce cars there. Yet a growing number of unions have joined the effort to uphold the country’s muscular, hard-fought labor market norms against the U.S. manufacturer’s attempts to evade them. Many fear Tesla, if unchallenged, could set a worrying precedent for foreign firms similarly looking to skirt labor norms. Dockworkers, therefore, have refused to unload Teslas at Swedish ports. Painters have refused to paint Teslas at 53 car-painting companies throughout the country. Unionized employees of the Norwegian company Hydro’s Swedish subsidiary, which has a plant in Southern Sweden, have stopped making parts for Tesla products. On November 20, the postal workers joined in.

Tesla argues that Sweden’s Transport Agency—which makes license plates—has “a constitutional obligation to provide license plates to vehicle owners.” The government, according to Tesla, should allow Tesla to access the plates despite PostNord employees’ refusal to deliver them. The transport agency in turn argued that the plates could only be delivered via PostNord. On Monday, a district court in Norrköping sided with the company, issuing a temporary injunction to require that the agency find another means of getting the plates to Tesla within seven days while the case is being considered. A district court in Solda said on Tuesday that it will take up a separate case filed by Tesla against the postal service. While the court ordered PostNord to respond to Tesla within two weeks, it has denied Tesla’s request to immediately obtain license plates already in PostNord’s possession.

Elon Musk would like to have his cake and eat it too: To benefit from state largesse and ignore how those states tend to operate. In the U.S., he’s more or less gotten a free pass to do that: While the White House has condemned Musk’s embrace of antisemitic conspiracy theories, SpaceX still receives lucrative defense contracts. Tesla has taken for granted the ability to find cheap, nonunion workers to build its cars. Swedish unions likely won’t be the last ones to challenge that: German workers at Tesla’s Gigafactory outside Berlin have been joining IG Metall, the powerful union representing that country’s auto sector. (IG Metall and IF Metall are separate unions.) In the U.S, the United Auto Workers has set its sights on Tesla plants on the heels of its successful strike against the Big Three traditional automakers. So-called “secondary strikes” of the sort happening in Sweden now are illegal in the U.S. At home and abroad, though, Elon Musk is learning that he can’t keep taking the work that keeps his companies going for granted.

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IKEA is doing an all-you-can-eat Swedish holiday buffet in Toronto - blogTO

Prepare to be knee-deep in Swedish meatballs as IKEA is hosting an all-you-can-eat holiday buffet in stores across Toronto. 

For the ticket price of $24.99 for adults and $14.99 for kids, IKEA locations in Etobicoke and North York will offer endless favourites like marinated salmon, crispbread, cheese and, yes, their iconic Swedish meatballs at the annual Julbord buffet.

Tickets can only be purchased in-store at the IKEA Swedish Restaurant, and they're going fast. The event is already sold out in North York, with limited spots available in Etobicoke.

If dinner isn't your vibe, Julbord isn't the only holiday food event to be offered by IKEA in Toronto this winter: they're also hosting a breakfast with Santa buffet in select stores on December 9th, and there are still tickets available.

The Downtown Toronto and Scarborough Town Centre locations have been left out of the festivities this time around, but if an endless stream of Swedish meatballs is at the top of your Christmas list (as it should be), be sure to pick up your ticket soon.

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Doctor Warns Parents Of Dangers When Kids Eat THC Edibles - TODAY

An emergency room pediatrician is seeing an uptick in children consuming pot-laced edibles that often look and taste like regular candy — and these kids get more than a sugar high.

“Some kids come in and they’re really drowsy, and some are unresponsive," Dr. Meghan Martin tells TODAY.com. "Both scenarios are terrifying for the families, and it's becoming more and more common."

In a recent TikTok video, Martin, known as @beachgem10 to her followers, shared a story about a little boy, who was brought to the ER by his non-English speaking parents. Martin noted that the family was from out of town and staying at an Airbnb in Florida.

During patient intake, the mom and dad explained that earlier that day, they went shopping and left their son with his 17-year-old brother. 

“Big brother fed little brother a McDonald’s hamburger and a chocolate bar and put him to bed at noon time,” Martin said in the clip. “Family gets home at five o’clock and this kid is out cold. They cannot wake him up.” 

Martin recognized the signs of cannabis poisoning and suspected that the little boy had accidentally ingested a marijuana product. Martin’s intern suggested that he was showing signs of a stroke or diabetic distress.

“I was like, ‘I guess we’ll see,” Martin recalled.

After the little boy’s labs and CT scan came back normal, Martin ordered a urine drug screen.

Lo and behold, the test came back positive for THC, the chemical in a cannabis plant that produces a high. At this point, Martin asked the family to tell her more about the chocolate bar that the little boy had eaten earlier that day. The older brother replied that he found the treat under a bed in the Airbnb they were renting.

“It was like a cookies and cream chocolate bar that was 500 milligrams of THC, and the kid had eaten about three-fourths of it," Martin said. (For reference, a standard unit of THC is 5mg, according to the National Institutes of Health.)

“So sufficiently wasted. Totally stoned,” she added.

A study published earlier this year in the journal Pediatrics found that calls to poison control centers for kids younger than 6 consuming cannabis-infused goodies rose from 207 in 2017 to 3,054 in 2021. Roughly 97% of the children discovered the edibles at home, per the report.

While chatting with TODAY.com Martin said the most common symptoms of accidental marijuana poisonings in children, include balance issues, vomiting and excessive sleepiness. She notes that the effects of an edible can last up to 12 hours.

“There have also been deaths reported from too much THC exposure,” Martin warns, noting that infants and toddlers are at risk for developing breathing disorder called respiratory depression, which can cause brain injury and even death.

The Poison Control website states that some patients may require admission to the Intensive Care Unit.

“But generally, we wouldn’t anticipate any long-term consequences after the effects of the medication have worn off,” Martin says.

If you suspect your child has consumed an edible, Martin says to first call Poison Control.

Unfortunately, edibles resemble regular candy and the packaging is very poorly labeled."

Dr. Meghan martin

“There are some situations where you may be able to ride it out at home,” she says. “But if your child is symptomatic, come to the emergency department immediately so we can monitor their breathing.” 

Martin recommends treating edibles like you would prescription medications. They should be kept out of reach of children and stored in a lockbox.

"Unfortunately, edibles resemble regular candy and the packaging is very poorly labeled," she says.

In 2021, a Florida mom wrote a Facebook post urging for changes in how marijuana products are packaged after her 6-year-old daughter was hospitalized overnight after accidentally consuming a marijuana-infused gummy that she mistook for candy.

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Vegetarian party food: My company's holiday party is at a steakhouse, but I don't eat meat. What should I do? - Slate

Few people are as knee-deep in our work-related anxieties and sticky office politics as Alison Green, who has been fielding workplace questions for a decade now on her website Ask a Manager. In this week’s Direct Report, she answers readers’ questions about holidays at work.

Dear Direct Report,

Every year, except during a break for the pandemic, my company does a really nice holiday dinner for employees, with plus-ones. In the past, we’ve usually gone to fancy places with lots of options, and everyone has enjoyed themselves. This year, the dinner is going to be at a steakhouse. I’m vegetarian, for both health and ethical reasons. I figured, no problem—steakhouses usually have really good sides I can eat. So, I got online and looked at their menu … they do not. It’s all meat. Even the sides have meat in them.

I would just skip it, except that my boss is really big on everyone showing up to work events like this. It’s not officially mandatory, but I’ve seen him give a hard time to people who didn’t attend in the past. And hey, if it were a party where I could briefly circulate and then leave, I would. But this is a sit-down dinner that will last for several hours, and everyone else will be eating. I guess I’ll just … sit there? Can I get out of this?

—Left Out

Dear Left Out, 

It’s amazing that in the year of our Lord 2023, companies are still arranging work meals without bothering to ensure that employees with dietary restrictions will be able to eat. Dietary restrictions aren’t a new or rare thing! And you’re probably not the only one who’s less than thrilled with the menu; if your company has more than a handful of employees, chances are high that you have co-workers who are also vegetarian or who keep kosher or halal or don’t eat red meat for health reasons. It’s a particularly bizarre choice because workplace holiday meals are meant to be morale boosters—carelessly excluding people accomplishes the opposite of that.

As for what to do, any chance you could call the restaurant ahead of time and ask if they can arrange to serve you something vegetarian? Some restaurants are willing to do that. If they tell you no, see if the event organizer will request it, since they might get more traction.

But otherwise, it’s not reasonable for your boss to expect you to sit at a table for several hours while everyone around you eats and you’re confined to the drinks menu. You’d be on solid ground saying to your boss, “I checked with the restaurant to see if they can serve anything vegetarian, but they can’t, and they confirmed there will be literally nothing on the menu I can eat. So, unfortunately I’ve got to sit it out, but I hope everyone has a great time.”

Also, while it’s probably too late to get the plans changed for this year, you should talk to whoever organizes these about ensuring that future events take a variety of dietary needs into account.

Dear Direct Report, 

Some of my co-workers have suggested doing a Secret Santa for anyone who wants to participate. One person loudly proclaimed that they will not be able to buy anything for their assigned person but would love to receive presents anyway—what?! This person keeps bringing up Secret Santa as though it is definitely happening and is making things even weirder. I was interested in taking part, but I would feel bitter if I got assigned this person and bought them gifts while they bought me nothing, especially since I’m not rolling in cash. Should I just refuse to take part or say something?

—That’s Not How This Works

Dear That’s Not How This Works, 

Indeed, that is not how this works.

Ideally, this would be solved by whoever coordinates the Secret Santa making the rules of participation clear: If you sign up, you must buy your assigned partner gifts! (Ideally they’d also give a general expected dollar range so that one person isn’t buying their partner a cashmere throw and then receiving a $5 mug in return.)

At a minimum, since your co-worker has already gone on record as saying that’s not how they intend to play, whoever coordinates the exchange should address that with them directly: “You do need to buy your partner gifts if you sign up. Please don’t sign up if you can’t commit to doing that.”

If both those things aren’t already happening, it’s reasonable for you to ask that they do before you sign up.

Dear Direct Report,

My manager sent an email to our department asking for volunteers to sing holiday carols at some of our clients’ homes. I didn’t volunteer, mostly because I’m Jewish (which she knows). Now she’s frustrated that only one person has signed up, and she’s pressuring people to participate and leaning on people to be “team players.” To me, being a team player would be pitching in when we have a tight deadline, not giving up a free evening to sing Christmas songs when I don’t celebrate Christmas. How do I stick to my “no” when she’s framing this as a referendum on my team engagement level?

—Not Caroling

Dear Not Caroling,

Pressuring employees to participate in a religious activity is wildly out of line. I suspect that your boss is thinking of Christmas caroling as being almost secular—since you’re not engaging in active worship—but it’s not. It’s really, really not.

Anyone on your team should be able to opt out of religiously tinged activities without pressure, regardless of their religious faith or lack thereof, but it’s particularly objectionable for your boss to pressure someone who she knows has a different faith tradition.

Say this to your manager: “I’m happy to be a team player in nonreligious ways, but I’m not able to join in on a religious activity. It’s not an option for me.” If she continues pushing, or if she seems to be penalizing you (even subtly) for not participating, this warrants talking to HR, who—given the legal liability for the company—will almost certainly set her straight.

Dear Direct Report,

I work for a small company (10 full-time employees) and I consider myself well paid. Every year, I make a point to bake some sweet holiday treats for everyone in the company.

And every year, the partners who run the business give me holiday gifts that are so generous that I’m embarrassed by the discrepancy—think several hundred dollars’ worth vs. a few tins of holiday cookies from me. Should I be giving the business partners more? I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.

—Feeling Awkward

Dear Feeling Awkward,

This is how it’s supposed to work! The etiquette rule is that gifts at work should flow downward (from your bosses to you), never upward (from you to your bosses). Employees should never feel pressured to give gifts to the people who control their paychecks.

Managers aren’t required to give gifts to their employees, but it’s a lovely, gracious gesture when they choose to. Their doing so doesn’t incur any obligation on your side to match that, let alone match their level of spending. In fact, it would be unseemly for them to accept any significant gift from you because of the power dynamics in play. Instead, something small, like homemade baked goods, is perfect. Keep doing what you’re doing!

Dear Direct Report, 

I have worked at a few companies that did group gift exchanges around the holidays. At both companies, upward of 90 percent of the gifts were bottles of wine. I’ve also had a manager give a bottle of wine to each employee as a holiday gift.

I don’t drink alcohol, so when I end up with wine as a gift, I usually give it to a friend or regift it, but I always feel a little awkward when I receive it. Is alcohol appropriate for a gift exchange when you don’t know if the recipient drinks? Is it typical for work gift exchanges to be nearly 100 percent alcoholic gifts, or am I just unlucky? Most of my co-workers know I don’t drink, but not all of them do.

—I’m Not the Only Teetotaler

Dear Teetotaler,

Alcohol is a really popular workplace gift—although it’s unusual to have so many gift exchanges be nearly 100 percent alcohol! It’s a tricky gift for exactly the reason you name: Tons of people don’t drink, whether for religious or health reasons, or because they’re in recovery, or because they just prefer not to.

While there’s no single gift that will please everyone, there are a few big categories that are off-limits to enough people that workplaces should be more thoughtful about them. These include alcohol and meat (like workplaces that give out holiday turkeys or hams without considering their vegetarian, Jewish, and Muslim employees).

How you should handle it depends on whether it’s a one-on-one gift exchange with co-workers or a corporate gift, where the company gives everyone the same item. With the former, I’m more inclined to cut your colleagues some slack, especially if you’re not particularly close and they don’t realize or remember that you don’t drink—it can be hard to find work-appropriate gifts, and a lot of people see alcohol as an easy go-to. But if the company is giving everyone alcohol, it’s worth pointing out that not everyone drinks and suggesting that more variety would be appreciated.

Dear Direct Report, 

My manager, “Rose,” is wonderful. She teaches me how to improve when I mess up, she’s kind and understanding when I need help, and so much more. Before now, every other manager I’d ever had was terrible.

I am so thankful to Rose for all she’s done to help and support me, and I want to express that to her in a way that will be meaningful. I know you’ve said the rule is that gifts shouldn’t flow upward, and I’m not sure some store-bought trinket would really convey my appreciation anyway. However, I do very much want to express my gratitude. What can I do to communicate to Rose how impactful she has been for me?

—Grateful

Dear Grateful,

Write her a note about how much you appreciate her and why! Managing can be a thankless job, and hearing sincere appreciation for someone—especially with specifics about what you appreciate—can be incredibly meaningful and is more likely to resonate with her than anything you could buy. I’ve kept notes like that from past employees for years and still have most of them, whereas I don’t think I still have a single other workplace gift around.

Frankly, I’m convinced notes of genuine appreciation can be one of the best gifts to colleagues generally—you can see above how much angst the topic can otherwise cause—but it should always be your go-to for a good boss.

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Vegetarian party food: My company's holiday party is at a steakhouse, but I don't eat meat. What should I do? - Slate
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Why potatoes are our new carb heroes – and how to eat them healthily - The Telegraph

Spud lovers rejoice! Once the mascot of the anti-carbs brigade, blamed for everything from weight gain to Alzheimer’s, potatoes are being allowed off the nutritional naughty step. 

Scientists from Montefiore Medical Center in New York have investigated starchy carbohydrates – rice, bread and potatoes – to get to the bottom of widespread carb confusion. Amid concern that consumers are lumping all starchy carbs in the same basket in the belief they’re similarly unhealthy, researchers analysed the impact this has had on the nutritiousness of their diets.

By analysing typical American meals, they found that opting for rice or bread instead of potatoes could deprive people of key nutrients. In fact, researchers discovered that choosing potatoes over bread and rice twice a day could boost potassium intake by 21 per cent, vitamin B6 by 17 per cent, vitamin C by 11 per cent and fibre by 10 per cent.

The potential benefits of this are significant. For example, eating more fibre – few of us consume enough – is known to reduce the risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer.

“The humble potato has been given a bad rap,” says Dr Duane Mellor, a senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School in Birmingham. White potatoes have been an affordable staple for hundreds of years, yet in recent times they’ve fallen out of favour amid the trend for low-carb diets and earned a reputation for being unhealthy. “The truth is that potatoes contain a lot of vitamins and other nutrients that are important for good health,” Dr Mellor says.

Jacket potatoes include choline, which improves memory, mood, muscle control, and other functions Credit: Getty Images

They’re particularly good sources of vitamin C, vitamin B6 and potassium, as well as a less talk-about nutrient called choline, which Dr Mellor says is vital for a healthy brain, nerves and muscles and especially important for pregnant women. 

For genetic reasons, some of us don’t make as much choline as others, so it’s important to eat foods rich in the compound. Potatoes contain the second highest levels of choline after protein-rich foods such as meat and soya. “A jacket potato contains around 10 per cent of a person’s daily choline requirements,” Dr Mellor says.

Spuds also contain fibre, including the type known as resistant starch, which is formed when they’re cooked and then allowed to cool. Resistant starch can’t be digested in the small intestine, so it passes into the large intestine, where it ferments and produces compounds called short-chain fatty acids. These feed the gut bacteria known for having a wide range of health benefits, and also help lower our blood fat and blood sugar levels.

So, if potatoes are so good for us, why don’t they count towards our five-a-day? “In the UK, we don’t count potatoes as vegetables,” says Dr Mellor. Instead, they’re categorised as a starch. In contrast, they count as vegetables in Australia, where dietary guidelines recommend seven-a-day (five vegetables plus two fruit). 

“This leaves space for potatoes alongside other vegetables, allowing for plenty of variety,” says Dr Mellor. In the US, potatoes are classed as starchy vegetables, and it’s recommended that while adults should consume two to three cups of vegetables a day, starchy vegetables should be limited to four to six cups per week. 

Of course, the latest US research doesn’t give the green light to binge on crisps; the extent to which spuds are good for us largely depends on how they’re cooked. Given the British penchant for chips, we’re not exactly making the most of their nutritional potential. “Frying potatoes as either crisps or chips can increase their calorie content as well as their fat content by around 300 per cent,” Dr Mellor says. 

Potatoes are good sources of vitamin C, vitamin B6 and potassium Credit: iStockPhoto

Both the skin and the flesh of potatoes are good for us, which is why eating both is the healthiest way. “The skin is a great source of fibre, whereas most of the vitamins and minerals are found in the flesh,” Dr Mellor says. Overcooking potatoes (or storing them for a long time ) can lead to loss of vitamin C. “And chopping or dicing potatoes up small and boiling them in water can mean that they leach or lose minerals to the water, especially potassium,” he says.

The healthiest way to cook potatoes is to boil or bake them in their skins, says registered nutritionist Kerry Torrens, but there are pros and cons to both. “Boiled ones lose some of their potassium content in the cooking water and baked ones have a higher GI (glycaemic index).” 

This refers to how quickly food affects your blood sugar level as spikes in blood sugar over the long term can potentially cause inflammation and metabolic disorders. If Torrens had to choose the best way to eat potatoes, it would be boiled in their skins and left to cool, in order to benefit from the resistant starch. “As long as you don’t coat the cooled potatoes in mayo, this way of eating them is good news for your waistline, blood sugar levels and gut health,” she says. 

Is there any truth in the widely held belief that eating potatoes causes weight gain? It’s not altogether true, at least not according to some studies. In 2016, scientists at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark found no “convincing evidence” to link obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease with mashed, boiled or baked potatoes.

Unsurprisingly, they did find that French fries “may be associated” with an increased risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, but added that further research would be needed.

Some research even suggests that eating potatoes can help with weight management. A study published last year in the Journal of Medicinal Food found that boiled potatoes are more filling than other starchy foods such as bread and rice and may actually be helpful in maintaining a healthy weight. 

The bottom line is that potatoes contain nutrients that are good for us, and they can be enjoyed as part of a healthy diet. But remember to eat lots of other vegetables, too. “It’s always best to have a variety of plant-based foods, including starch rich foods such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, pasta and cereals,” Dr Mellor says. 

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Why potatoes are our new carb heroes – and how to eat them healthily - The Telegraph
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Hate salad or veggies? Just keep eating them. Here's how our tastebuds adapt to what we eat - ABC News

Some of us find vegetables very bitter.(Unsplash: Nadine Primeau)

Do you hate salad? It's OK if you do, there are plenty of foods in the world, and lots of different ways to prepare them.

But given almost all of us don't eat enough vegetables, even though most of us (81 per cent) know eating more vegetables is a simple way to improve our health, you might want to try.

If this idea makes you miserable, fear not, with time and a little effort you can make friends with salad.

Why don't I like salads?

It's an unfortunate quirk of evolution that vegetables are so good for us but they aren't all immediately tasty to all of us. We have evolved to enjoy the sweet or umami (savoury) taste of higher energy foods, because starvation is a more immediate risk than long-term health.

Vegetables aren't particularly high energy but they are jam-packed with dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals, and health-promoting compounds called bioactives.

Those bioactives are part of the reason vegetables taste bitter. Plant bioactives, also called phytonutrients, are made by plants to protect themselves against environmental stress and predators. The very things that make plant foods bitter, are the things that make them good for us.

Unfortunately, bitter taste evolved to protect us from poisons, and possibly from over-eating one single plant food. So in a way, plant foods can taste like poison.

For some of us, this bitter sensing is particularly acute, and for others it isn't so bad. This is partly due to our genes. Humans have at least 25 different receptors that detect bitterness, and we each have our own genetic combinations. So some people really, really taste some bitter compounds while others can barely detect them.

This means we don't all have the same starting point when it comes to interacting with salads and veggies. So be patient with yourself. But the steps toward learning to like salads and veggies are the same regardless of your starting point.

It takes time

We can train our tastes because our genes and our receptors aren't the end of the story. Repeat exposures to bitter foods can help us adapt over time. Repeat exposures help our brain learn that bitter vegetables aren't poisons.

Vegetables are good for us, but we need to be patient and kind with ourselves when we start trying to eat more.(Unsplash: Anna Pelzer)

And as we change what we eat, the enzymes and other proteins in our saliva change too. This changes how different compounds in food are broken down and detected by our taste buds. How exactly this works isn't clear, but it's similar to other behavioural cognitive training.

Add masking ingredients

The good news is we can use lots of great strategies to mask the bitterness of vegetables, and this positively reinforces our taste training.

Salt and fat can reduce the perception of bitterness, so adding seasoning and dressing can help make salads taste better instantly. You are probably thinking, "but don't we need to reduce our salt and fat intake?" — yes, but you will get more nutritional bang-for-buck by reducing those in discretionary foods like cakes, biscuits, chips and desserts, not by trying to avoid them with your vegetables.

Adding heat with chillies or pepper can also help by acting as a decoy to the bitterness. Adding fruits to salads adds sweetness and juiciness, this can help improve the overall flavour and texture balance, increasing enjoyment.

The options for salads are almost endless, if you don't like the standard garden salad you were raised on, that's OK, keep experimenting.(Unsplash: Heather Ford)

Pairing foods you are learning to like with foods you already like can also help.

The options for salads are almost endless, if you don't like the standard garden salad you were raised on, that's OK, keep experimenting.

Experimenting with texture (for example chopping vegetables smaller or chunkier) can also help in finding your salad loves.

Challenge your biases

Challenging your biases can also help the salad situation. A phenomenon called the "unhealthy-tasty intuition" makes us assume tasty foods aren't good for us, and that healthy foods will taste bad. Shaking that assumption off can help you enjoy your vegetables more.

When researchers labelled vegetables with taste-focused labels, priming subjects for an enjoyable taste, they were more likely to enjoy them compared to when they were told how healthy they were.

The bottom line

Vegetables are good for us, but we need to be patient and kind with ourselves when we start trying to eat more.

Try working biology and brain, and not against them.

And hold back from judging yourself or other people if they don't like the salads you do. We are all on a different point of our taste-training journey.

Emma Beckett is a senior lecturer (food science and human nutrition) in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle. This piece first appeared on The Conversation.

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Hate salad or veggies? Just keep eating them. Here's how our tastebuds adapt to what we eat - ABC News
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