Author: tourist_yp6g7u

Social media frequently touts weight loss trends and solutions. However, there’s another aspect to healthy eating that’s underappreciated but critical for overall wellness—gut health. 

The body contains approximately 40 trillion bacteria, most of which are found in your gut, according to “Molecular Science.” The right balance of these bacteria is the key to good gut health. 

Keeping your digestive system on track is important in your overall well-being, including immune and mental health, according to “Clinical Practice.” When there is a gut bacteria imbalance, many people experience discomfort or digestive issues. 

To help improve and maintain gut health—and your overall wellness—consider these tips from Mia Syn, M.S., RDN, and Chobani:

1. Get a dose of probiotics. Probiotics are live microorganisms that provide health benefits when consumed. They aid digestion and help maintain a healthy balance between good and bad bacteria. 

2. Focus on fiber. Fiber helps keep digestion running smoothly. One type of fiber, prebiotics, may be especially beneficial because they help nourish and support the growth of good gut bacteria to create a balanced and healthy microbiome. 

3. Power up with protein. While protein is not directly involved in nourishing gut bacteria, it provides essential amino acids and other nutrients that contribute to a healthy gut and overall digestive function. Protein is essential for the repair and maintenance of the gut lining, digestive enzyme production, efficient gut motility, and more.

Options like Chobani Zero Sugar Drinks (not a low-calorie food) provide 10 grams of protein per 7-ounce serving, plus billions of probiotics. Available in four flavors—Mixed Berry, Peaches & Cream, Strawberry Cheesecake and Milk & Cookies—the drinks are perfect while on the go or can be used as an ingredient in recipes like this Protein-Powered Chia Pudding 4 Ways. Sweetened with only natural sugar alternatives, free of lactose and preservatives, these drinks contain 0 grams of total sugar, are 50 calories, and are made using only natural, non-GMO ingredients. 

Find more recipes and solutions to support gut health at chobani.com. 

Protein-Powered Chia Pudding 4 Ways

Prep time: 15 minutes

Servings: 1 per flavor

Mixed Berry Blast:

1 Chobani Zero Sugar Mixed Berry Drink 

3 tablespoons chia seeds 

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup 

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or chopped strawberries)

Peaches and Cream Dream:

1 Chobani Zero Sugar Peaches & Cream Drink 

3 tablespoons chia seeds 

2 teaspoons manuka honey 

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 peach, chopped

1 tablespoon sliced almonds 

Strawberry Cheesecake Delight:

1 Chobani Zero Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Drink 

3 tablespoons chia seeds 

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup 

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup chopped strawberries

2 tablespoons low-sugar granola

Milk and Cookies Madness:

1Chobani Zero Sugar Milk & Cookies Drink 

3 tablespoons chia seeds 

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup 

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cacao nibs

2 teaspoons chopped hazelnuts

To make Mixed Berry Blast: In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk the mixed berry drink, chia seeds, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to thicken, then stir to distribute seeds. Stir in 1/2 cup berries and transfer to serving glass. Top with remaining berries.

To make Peaches and Cream Dream: In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk peaches and cream drink, chia seeds, honey, and vanilla extract. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to thicken, then stir to distribute seeds. Stir in half the peaches and transfer to a serving glass. Top with remaining peaches and sliced almonds. 

To make Strawberry Cheesecake Delight: In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk strawberry cheesecake drink, chia seeds, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes to thicken, then stir to distribute seeds. Stir in 1/2 cup strawberries and transfer to a serving glass. Top with remaining strawberries and granola.

To make Milk and Cookies Madness: In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk milk and cookies drink, chia seeds, maple syrup, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract. Let tehe mixture sit for 10 minutes to thicken, then stir to distribute seeds. Transfer to serving glass and top with cacao nibs and chopped hazelnuts.

The post Getting to the Gut of It: Dietitian-approved tips for overall wellness appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

At Kingston Fashions, located at 3984 White Plains Road in the Bronx, their recent opening day celebration was a fabulous splash of hip-hop and Caribbean music, Harley Davidson motorcycles, and high-fashioned menswear. Once inside the well-designed shop, which offers two floors of menswear and a small baby line, you can feel the elegance while browsing through the latest styles from top designer fashion brands. Nice to find top quality, fashionable menswear uptown! Stop in and experience friendly, personable professionals who will help you find your best styles for every occasion.    

The owners, Mr. & Mrs. Blakk Hyenaz, recently purchased the store—originally established in 1978—while keeping the store’s original name. “My mom used to bring me to this Kingston Fashions store for shoes when I was a boy,” recalled Blakk. “It was always my dream to own and operate a store on White Plains Road of my own.” So when the former owner was ready to retire and sell, he was eager to step up and take over the space. “It was a dream come true,” he said. Blakk Hyenaz has also introduced its own brand, PB3, which includes some infant wear and sportswear in black and white on the second floor of the shop. There’s also a Harley Davidson motorcycle in the center of the shop; riding this motorcycle was another one of Blaykk’s dreams.

With COVID now relatively manageable and the vast change in the neighborhood, bringing new buildings, more businesses and a younger generation, Kingston Fashion can live on and serve the community, as well as folks from all over the world. Shoppers will recognize the brands of top designer names like Yves St. Laurent, Clark, Ferragano, Dolce Gabanna, and Clarks, just to name a few. The collection includes luxurious dinner jackets, suits, ties, jewelry, footwear, shirts, T-shirts, hats, belts, and pants. Available in all sizes, these clothes are all impeccably tailored in the finest fabrics, and you’ll find colors, as well as unusual prints. 

Store hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Saturday. Stop in, and tell them you read about Kingston Fashions in the New York Amsterdam News!

Follow on IG at @blakk.hyenaz.

The post The BX welcomes Kingston Fashions for men appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams stated that the Big Apple has already spent over 3 billion dollars to provide shelter, food, medical care, and social services for some 100,000 immigrant asylum-seekers who have so far arrived in the city from the U.S.’ southern border.

He further explained that for each family seeking asylum, the city spends an average of $383 per night. With more than 57,300 individuals currently in the care of NYC to date, that total is now $9.8 million a day, almost $300 million a month, and nearly $3.6 billion a year.

Adams has said that if the number rises to 100,000 asylum-seekers by the end of June 2025, the cost will skyrocket to $6.1 billion in taxpayer dollars. That means over the course of three fiscal years, the city could spend more than $12 billion.

The other nightmarish reality is that if the federal government does not keep pitching in, New Yorkers could be left with a $12 billion bill. 

Yet the mayor remains adamant that “New York City will not abandon our brothers and sisters seeking the American dream.”  His comments come even as many migrants were recently forced to sleep on the streets outside the Roosevelt Hotel because the city’s shelter system was full to capacity. 

As an immigrant and one who was previously undocumented, I admire the mayor’s commitment to helping brothers and sisters seek a better life in America. 

But I am also very aware of the years that could go by waiting for a work permit and green card because of processing times and backlogs. According to Title 8 of the United States Code, which governs immigration law, asylum seekers may receive authorization to work as soon as 180 days after filing an asylum application. 

However, the asylum system is currently heavily backlogged, and it can take an average of four years for a case to be adjudicated. During this time, asylum seekers are protected from deportation but otherwise lack status or access to most federal benefits. This will leave many migrants with no means to support themselves and largely fully dependent on the city. 

The question that Mayor Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and members of the New York City Congressional Delegation, as well as advocates, need to answer is: “Are they willing to support these immigrants for as long as it takes to get working papers—even if it means years from now?”

That is the harsh reality these asylum seekers face based on U.S. immigration law and, worst yet, in a backlogged system. Sorry, Mr. Mayor, but the current immigration plan is completely unsustainable, especially as taxpaying New Yorkers themselves battle inflation and rising rents. It is time to face reality and paraphrase Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by saying to the buses, the city is closed. Redirect to the White House! 

The writer is publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com – The Black Immigrant Daily News. She can be reached at felicia@caribpr.com. 

The post Sorry Mayor Adams, but the current immigration plan is unsustainable appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

From the moment a bagpipe brigade led the procession into the service of Renewal & Healing at Union Baptist Church in Harlem on Saturday during a Harlem Week celebration, it signaled a special occasion. Clergy leader Rev. Jacques A. DeGraff made it clear in his opening remarks, telling the congregation that they were about to witness “powerful preaching and soul-stirring gospel,” and the words were hardly out of his mouth when the Coaxner Ensemble lived up to that promise.

They delivered a rousing chorus to the event’s theme, Choose Healthy Life (CHL), setting a musical interlude for a message from Grace C. Bonilla, president and CEO of United Way of New York City. She began by stating how proud she was of the accomplishments made by her organization and the “unique partnership of United Way in addressing the New York City health disparities,” saying they’ve reached over 50,000 New Yorkers.

Underscoring the theme of healing, the Rev. Dr. Demetrius S. Carolina of the First Central Baptist Church of Staten Island chose as his text Jesus’s healing of a blind man at Bethsaida. He recited some passages from Mark noting how Jesus spat upon the blind man’s eyes twice and, on the second time, asked him, “What do you see?” 

“I see everything,” the man said. “Today, we need more healing than ever,” Carolina said. He was perhaps referring to Jesus’s method when he said, “There is a process by which you can be healed.”

Jesus not only made the blind man see, but he also calmed the storm, said Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York.  “Jesus, wake up. We are perishing,” Sullivan repeated in a call and response with the audience.  What Jesus had miraculously done in the past was needed now, the prelate begged in the wake of Covid-19. “Our children need a parachute,” he said. His plea was given additional ballast when the ensemble sang “Mary Don’t You Weep,” and it also served as a spirited segue to Debra Fraser-Howze’s scripture from Mark, where Jesus frees a girl from a demon. Frazer-Howze, the founder and president of Choose Healthy Life, gave Jesus’s miracle an updated version in her own way of bringing calm to a person in need.

She stated that Jesus knew his purposes, and Fraser-Howze knows hers, especially in her capacity at the helm of CHL, as she noted in the program handout with heartfelt praise for the late Rev. Calvin Butts III: “He moved mountains with a single touch and the community is safer because he lived,” she wrote. “While his presence and leadership are sorely missed …his service continues to be an inspiration for all of us.”

The Rev. Lawrence Aker III of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn rocked the joint, much in the manner of the Hip Hop referenced, saluting their 50th anniversary. His text was taken from Mark and his account of Jesus walking on water.  He, like the previous ministers — and those who followed him — connected the past with the present conditions plaguing Black America, particularly, as he observed, “in our battle against racism.”

His energetic sermon was matched by Rev. Dr. Travis Boyd of Canaan Baptist Church and often brought members of the audience to their feet with resounding applause.  He is a pastor who knows how to take the passage from Mark and make it tangible for us today, citing Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed. “Justice is not served,” he said, alluding to the uprising on Jan. 6.  And he concluded his stirring address by declaring, “The God I serve makes a way out of no way!”

When Rev. Brian D. Scott, the pastor of Union Baptist, made his Altar Call, nearly everyone in the church assembled, and he continued in words that he had possibly heard from the choir’s version of “I’m Willing to Wait.” Among those gathered at the altar were a number of police officers, members of the Fire Department, and a host of first responders. The relative calm that had settled in the church was aroused when Elder Michael Adolphus of Amen Ministries, Inc. was at the podium, though it was hardly a place where he was anchored during his exhortation. His leading piece of scripture came from Luke, where Jesus heals ten lepers. We can’t be sure what remedy Jesus used to heal them, but Rev. Adolphus insisted that we “deal with the source of the sickness rather than the symptoms,” and there was an inference that this process was applicable to all our illnesses, be they biological or social.  

The church, which I had not attended since my former student, the Rev. Ollie Wells, presided, was lifted by Rev. Adolphus and soared even higher when a vocalist from the choir presented a sustained version of “Never Grow Old,” and there was little left to do after this but take a deep breath and here the benediction from Rev. DeGraff.  He ended the event or service in the same insightful way he began, once again offering a salutation to Fraser-Howze and her unwavering dedication to CHL, saying, “We cannot return to yesterday’s ‘normal,’ we died in ‘normal.’ We see and are working towards the bright sunshine of a new day of wellness and equality in the land.”

The post “Choose Healthy Life,” is the best choice! appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here