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“Renew your room in less than three hours.” That’s the tagline on the Smart Tiles website, where you can find their range of self-adhesive and removable tiles. I’m always wary of any promise of simplicity, as there are often a bunch of tools involved in a project — tools that I do not and will never own — or the project itself isn’t beginner-friendly.

But the Smart Tiles website promises their product can be installed without any mess or special tools, are easy to clean, and are resistant to the heat of stovetops and humidity of bathrooms. A quick search online also generated some positive reviews. As a renter, I found those all reaffirming, so I thought I’d give them a try.

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Joanna Gaines might have started out purely in the design world, but with the launch of her restaurant and first cookbook, Magnolia Table, she’s made the full transition to running a lifestyle empire. Her cookbook is full of recipes and the inevitable stories that accompany them. There’s the biscuit recipe that Chip can’t get enough of, and the casserole recipe that has a sneaky amount of vegetables that her kids don’t seem to notice.

My biggest question for someone who loves cooking is always the same: What’s your favorite grocery store? It’s so fun to watch as people’s eyes light up and they explain their shopping strategy. So, when I recently sat down with Gaines to talk about her new cookbook, I had to ask what her favorite grocery store in Texas is.

If you’ve ever been grocery shopping in Texas, the answer isn’t too surprising.

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Pasta is easy and versatile, and so is chicken — so put the two together and you know you’ve got a winning equation for weeknight dinner success. These simple recipes range from cheesy baked casseroles to creamy one-skillet meals and everything in between. Plan to slot them into your meal plan immediately.

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Hurray, hurray, grilling season is just around the corner! If you’re on the market for a new grill, the possibilities can seem just about endless. If you’re buying your very first grill, it can seem like a whole new language figuring out specs and sorting through what bells and whistles you really need. Get one you don’t like, though, and you’re kind of stuck with that expensive purchase for a while.

So before you shop, beware these mistakes to avoid when shopping for a new grill.

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If your meal planning goals include finding fuss-free dinners your kids will eat, it’s time to reach for your slow cooker. Here are 10 easy slow cooker recipes you can pull off with minimal prep and cleanup that, most importantly, your kids (and everyone else around the table) will actually devour.

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I’m obsessed with KIND bars. I’d rather have a Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt KIND bar than any other candy bar in the check-out aisle. They’re crunchy, salty, sweet, chocolatey, and savory, but they’re not too sticky-sweet or full of sugar. I’d even rather have them than the big boxes of fancy chocolates that tend to show up at candy-giving holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Sure, a big cardboard heart looks nice on Instagram, but I’d rather have the dark chocolate, nuts, and sea salt than a raspberry-filled truffle any day.

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Quick! What’s the appetizer with the best ratio of effort to pleasure? You could make an argument for a cheese board, or even seven-layer dip … but if you really want your guests to know you care, bust out a shrimp cocktail tray. Juicy shrimp paired with a tangy cocktail sauce makes for a simple yet delightful way to start an evening.

When it comes to buying those pre-made trays of happiness, most hosts grab the first one they see, at the first grocery store they visit. But you’re not most hosts, so you might be wondering: What’s the optimal price per shrimp? Does the type of shrimp matter? Is there a way to DIY that tray for less? Keep reading for all the answers to your crustacean questions.

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For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering questions from last week’s post on coffee and fasting. First, is cortisol a bad guy all the time? Next, what about non-dairy powdered creamers? Good, bad, breaking the fast? How does thyroid hormone replacement therapy affect the fast? Is a “tiny amount” of protein disastrous to a fast? Can you take BCAAs during a fast and maintain the benefits? Can I still drink Frappucinos? And what do I think of Dr. Panda’s take on coffee triggering the digestive system and thus negating the effects of a fast?

Let’s go:

So coffee increases cortisol. Is increasing cortisol a beneficial or detrimental thing to do during a fast? I speculate that it would add to stresses in the body but I suppose it matters how well a person manages cortisol.

Cortisol relays messages about the outside world to the cells, tissues, and organs inside you. If cortisol is high, your body receives an “alert” message. Things are happening. It’s dangerous out there. It’s dire. You need to move. You need to act. You need to be alert. You need all systems trained on getting you safely through the storm. Cortisol helps with that.

When cortisol spikes, you actually release more fat from body fat stores and, in concert with adrenaline, burn it. This is helpful during exercise or any other situation that demands extra fuel.

These effects are flipped in the presence of chronic levels of cortisol activation. Chronic cortisol leads to fat gain (especially belly fat), lower energy levels, depressed cognitive function. You can’t run at top speed forever. The wheels fall off.

It’s the classic acute vs chronic dichotomy we see in everything. 

Laid atop an established pattern of chronic stress and cortisol activation, coffee during a fast could makes things worse. But if you’re chronically stressed, you probably should take care of that before you get deep into intermittent fasting.

If you’re fasting on purpose, if you’ve decided to incorporate fasting into your healthy lifestyle and you’re sleeping well, you’re eating well (when you’re not fasting), you’re training regularly, the effects change. A little cortisol isn’t anything to worry about.

Can someone explain how non-dairy powdered creamers play into this?

I assume because it’s processed it must be bad, but what impact does it have in our diets and especially with fasting?

Many non-dairy powdered creamers are awful, made from hydrogenated vegetable oil. Avoid those.

I’m a big fan of powdered MCT oil. You can whisk that into some milk or directly in your coffee for a great “cream” effect. The brand I use just has some soluble corn fiber, sunflower lecithin (choline source), sodium caseinate, and sodium dioxide to enhance the creaminess.

In case you’re unaware, MCTs are medium chain triglycerides, a class of fatty acids that convert more readily into ketone bodies than other fats. They can really help beginners extend and tolerate the fast.

They do “break” the fast, however.

What about prescription medications and autophagy? I take daily thyroid meds in the morning on an empty stomach. Since I fast til lunch, I can push this forward until 9 or 10 am, keeping it within an overall 10 hour window (eating in just 6 hours). Sometimes I think it would be good to fast 36-72 hours to really amp up autophagy, but is that a waste of time if I still take the meds?

I can’t speak to meds in general, but thyroid hormone is actually a major player in the regulation of autophagy, particularly in the liver, where it upregulates autophagy and preserves mitochondrial function, enhances mitochondrial turnover and protects against carcinogenesis.

Meanwhile, low levels of thyroid hormone increase thyroid stimulating hormone, which leads to depressed autophagy and increased cell death.

This is endogenous thyroid hormone, not prescription. The effects may differ when you’re taking it in a pill, but since those pills are meant to emulate our natural production of thyroid hormone, I don’t think it’ll differ very much.

In the tea post, would you please clarify effects of mixing even tiny amounts of protein with green tea? I read that it reduces the beneficial effects of fat burning.

Adding tiny amounts of protein will likely inhibit autophagy (cellular cleanup and maintenance) but won’t affect fat burning much at all.

Hi Mark, what about taking some BCAA’s during the fast to spare muscles? I’m trying to gain muscle and do my fasted workouts with some BCAA’s in my water bottle. Does this limit the fast? Thanks!

Depends how you’re scheduling your fasts.

If you’re doing a full-on 24 hour+ fast once a week or so, skip the BCAAs. You’re eating plenty of protein the rest of the week and a day without any coming in will be fine. Might even be optimal.

If you’re doing more of a Leangains-style compressed eating window every day, BCAAs aren’t as much of a big deal. They’ll still “break the fast,” but since you’re going to be working out right after and eating shortly, it’s mostly a wash. Martin Berkhan was a big fan of BCAAs before fasted workouts.

Frappuccino? would that break a fast?

Those things have enough sugar and calories to break several fasts.

I’m glad you mentioned Dr. Panda. I was wondering the same thing. From what I understand, anything beyond water triggers the enzymes that would prevent a autophagy. Is that incorrect?

My understanding is that anything beyond water triggers the digestive enzymes and starts the “digestive day.” Digestion, like everything else, has a circadian rhythm. Whenever you eat your first meal of the day, your body gears up for a solid 8-10 hours of eating. By the time you’re breaking your fast, the digestive day is winding down and your body isn’t as efficient at handling food.

I don’t think it has anything to do with autophagy.

If you don’t seem to tolerate food very well after a fast, try skipping the coffee.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading and be sure to help out down below with any further questions, answers, or clarifications.

Take care!

The post Dear Mark: Coffee Questions appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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In a recent interview with Business Insider, foodborne-illness attorney and food-poisoning expert Bill Marler talked about the five foods he’ll never order at a restaurant. Although you might’ve expected to see rare cheeseburgers and those germ parades known as buffets on his list, the first item might seem like a surprising one — or at least it might’ve seemed surprising a couple of weeks ago.

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When I was growing up, the only brand of pasta you’d find in our pantry was that blue box that starts with a B. The frequent commercials showed images of Italians in Italy eating it, so it must’ve been the best, right?

Then I actually went to Italy, to study abroad and then later for grad school. While I found boxes of my tried-and-true pasta at the neighborhood grocery stores, there was another blue box that squeezed up against them on the shelf. I’d seen this brand in the States, but hadn’t paid much attention it.

After making friends with locals, learning the language, and cooking a whole lot of pasta, I learned one very important thing: I’d been buying the wrong pasta my whole life. Turns out, the Italians buy the other blue box.

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