Chef's Choice: Korean chef likes healthy food options, says no to hot dogs

 In Chef's Choice, the Naperville Sun asks local chefs to share their culinary background and experiences and talk about a featured dish found on their menu.

This week, we speak with Youree Yu, 38, owner of Kogii Kogii Express at 1763 Freedom Drive, whose culinary experiences include working in her parents' Korean restaurant in Sydney, Australia, for seven years and at Sydney's Intercontinental Hotel, where she cooked and provided catering services. Yu also owns another Korean barbecue restaurant in Deerfield that opened in 2015.

Healthy food choices at your fingertips

Once exclusive to speciality health food stores, organic food is now a regular feature in most supermarkets, and in Dubai, you can shop for it from the comfort of your home in just four clicks. In November last year, Farmbox.ae started a subscription of organic fruits and veggies with home delivery all across the UAE.

How it works

Log onto the website and choose from three box options - fruit only, veggies only, and a mix of fruits and veggies. Upon selecting the desired product and box size, you can choose to have it delivered to you every week or every second week. Adding to convenience, the service accepts credit cards online, eliminating the hassle of handling cash on delivery.

Positive perspective on eating healthy food helps you lose weight

I've accepted that many people don't want to meet with a dietitian. It's assumed that we're going to suggest eating bland, healthy, nutritious food, and avoiding all the tasty treats. Quite frankly, sometimes a version of that is true, causing a vicious cycle to occur.

Clients are annoyed that they must give up the fun foods, and every follow-up appointment is a discussion about how they feel deprived and can't imagine another day without their drinks, sweets and fries.

Embracing the shift toward collective leadership

The following is an opinion article written by Rebecca Braitling, Poyee Chiu, and Suzanne Covelli-Buntley, founding partners at Inspirawork.

In this new era of digital transformation, we can all agree that change is the only constant. Organizations are facing new challenges as they continue to strive for growth and add value to their customers. We need to create a supportive work environment that is conducive to collective learning and growth, and transform leadership from an individual act into a collective process.

10 Ways Parents Can Teach Their Children To Be Leaders

All parents want their children to be successful. Parents naturally want kids to be viewed as courageous leaders, willing to take on any challenge. However, instilling leadership traits in children takes a lot of practice and patience.

We could probably debate all day on what it means for kids to reach their maximum potential, but there are a few things psychologists agree can set your child apart. I’ve listed 10 of these below to get the ball rolling. And who knows — maybe you could learn a thing or two as well! After all, isn’t that what parenting is all about?

1. Have Them Try Out Sports

Most parents would agree that having your kids do sports can teach them about teamwork, which is a significant component of leadership. However, according to the Washington Post, 70% of kids drop out of sports by age 13. This can be attributed to several factors, including a lack of interest, the prospects of not playing in college and discovering alternative sports such as skateboarding.

How To Get Glowing Skin, According To This Famous Beauty Blogger

“Natural beauty makes me feel just as glamorous as any other product, minus the unwanted and unnecessary ingredients.”

Cracking the code on beauty chemicals to avoid is a difficult one. The industry is deeply unregulated, meaning that most of the ingredients that go into your everyday beauty products rarely go through a pre-product approval process before they hit your home and are absorbed into your skin. If you’re someone who isn’t into reading ingredient labels, then you’re probably overlooking harmful chemicals like oxybenzone in your sunscreen that can cause endocrine disruption, or BHA in your perfume that can lead to liver damage.

Luckily, the natural beauty movement is one that is quickly gaining steam, especially from the advocacy of popular organic beauty and non-toxic blogger, Alba Ramos, or more commonly known as SunKissAlba. Her loyal following of 372K followers on Instagram have been with her on this journey of natural living, trusting her recommendations in leading a natural beauty lifestyle.
When we asked her why she made the switch to non-toxic, Alba said her “approach on beauty changed after being aware of the toxic exposure we deal with daily from our water, food, cleaning products, and more.” What started out as a small dive into clean products emerged into a movement for her and her audience, empowering them to make smart choices about what they’re using everyday.

12 ways to eat well in the summer. Who's Stopping You?

Before you reach for the Haagen Dazs, check your fridge for the following: soft fruits (like berries, nectarines or plums) and Greek yogurt. "By blending the two together with a dash of honey, you've made a healthy ice lolly mix - just pop into moulds and freeze," says Laura. If you fancy something sweeter and more of a 'treat', try Laura's banana lolly idea. "Slice a banana in half and pop it on a lolly stick, before dipping it in melted chocolate and nuts. Then freeze on a baking tray." The benefits? "They're much lower in sugar than regular lollies and full of vitamins and healthy fats (if you add nuts). And because frozen foods take longer to eat, you'll feel more satisfied, too."

The sun is finally shining and those BBQ invites keep rolling in. But if you're wary of falling off the healthy-eating bandwagon, help is at hand. From smart snacking to DIY drinks and healthy salad dressings, dietician Laura Tilt has helped us devise some foolproof tips to stay happy - and healthy – all summer long (and they're all tasty, too).

1. Go crazy for fruit and veg

During summer it's more important than ever to stay hydrated and the good news is, fruit and vegetables count towards our daily fluid intake. "Eating more fresh fruit and veg during summer is an easy way to increase our water intake thanks to their high water percentage," explains Laura. "As well as being hydrating, orange or red fruits also contain beta-carotenes which help to protect our skin from the sun – so get plenty of those. When it comes to veg, opt for brightly or darkly-coloured leaves - like watercress or rocket - which are full of antioxidants. It's also worth checking what's in season (Love British Food have a handy list). Not only is it better for the environment, but some studies have found more nutrients in produce bought seasonally."

2. Make your own ice lollies

Days before Chester Bennington’s death, Linkin Park shot ‘Carpool Karaoke’ episode

Just less than a week prior to Chester Bennington’s tragic death, Linkin Park shot an episode for the Apple spinoff of the popular “Carpool Karaoke” series.

A group photo featuring the lead singer, Joe Hahn, actor Ken Jeong, and Mike Shinoda was on the band’s Twitter account in July 15, 2017.

Fun day with @kenjeong @CarpoolKaraoke @AppleMusic – stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/v8tSBG1cwF


— LINKIN PARK (@linkinpark) July 14, 2017
Lin-Ken Park. https://t.co/R3bYFDcECG


http://entertainment.inquirer.net/235832/days-chester-benningtons-death-linkin-park-shot-carpool-karaoke-episode

Samal Summer Break 2017

Who's Stopping You: 4 Signs You're Becoming Spiritually Mature

There’s a passage in Ephesians that is basically a job description for pastors and ministry leaders. It applies to a long list of leaders in the church, and the end goal is undeniably clear:

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13

Like verse 13 says, the goal is to be spiritually mature in the Lord. When I think about what that verse says, an image comes to mind of an empty outline of a person that is increasingly filled with vibrant color as they grow, develop their faith, are poured into by other believers, and are filled by God’s Word. I imagine that measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ would mean that person is completely filled to the brim with knowledge, light, beauty and wisdom that radiates outward for the glory of God. I think it’s a beautiful picture, and one we should take to heart as we seek to disciple other believers and become increasingly more like Christ.

Kent Hughes recently wrote an article for Ligonier Ministries on “4 Essentials for Spiritual Maturity” where he speaks directly to pastors and elders about the crucial elements of shepherding believers into that fullness in Christ. I think his advice can apply to all of us, though, regardless of whether we are leading a congregation of believers or raising a family or teaching a small group Bible study. I believe all of us as followers of Christ have a role to play in helping bring others closer to the cross, and all of us are on journeys toward more complete maturity in our faith together, too.

Hughes shares these four essentials:

1. “Preaching the mystery of Christ.” Colossians 1:25-28 is a key verse here-- the goal, Paul writes, is “to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to the saints… the mystery, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.” We must use our words, our platforms, and our times together with others to share the full gospel of Jesus Christ and point others directly back to him.
2. “Preachers must also struggle in preaching the mystery.” We often don’t like to admit our own struggles or shortcomings to others, but being honest and vulnerable about even the hard things in life and faith is essential to showing others the fullness of the Gospel message. Paul wrote this in Colossians 1:29: “We tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.” He is real about the fact that there will be struggles along the way in our ministry, but he reminds us that Christ is our strength in times of weakness.
3. “The believing community [must] be ‘knit together in love.’” In Colossians 2:1-3, Paul prays that the hearts of those he is writing to may “be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”  We cannot come to fully know or understand God solely on our own. When we remember the imagery of the body of Christ from 1 Corinthians 12, we are reminded that each of us are different and essential parts of the full body of Christ in the church-- we need all parts to function at our fullest and best. We can learn so much from each other, be encouraged by one another, be challenged by one another, and sharpen each other in our faith.
4. “Those who shepherd the church must be mature in Christ and demonstrate it in community.” Communities of believers shepherded by strong, mature, God-glorifying leaders will themselves grow into strong, mature, God-glorifying communities… and that’s the beauty of it all. “Over a period of time,” Hughes writes, “a congregation will often come to resemble and imitate its leaders. This is especially true where hardships are met with mature leaders whose hearts are informed and enriched with the full canonical mystery of Christ, who toil and struggle with the energy that God supplies, who minister with a steadfast love and commitment to the body of Christ, and who model maturity in Christ.”

Wherever you are in your personal spiritual journey, whoever you find yourself leading and shepherding, I hope and pray these essentials become increasingly more present and perfect in your lives and your faith. May we all remember in every step of the way that, like 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, that God’s grace is sufficient for us, that his power is made perfect in our weakness. May we boast all the more gladly about our weaknesses, knowing without a doubt that Christ’s power rests on us. 

Source: http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/christian-trends/4-signs-you-re-becoming-spiritually-mature.html

Who's stopping you: DevOps requires dumping old IT leadership ideas

What does leading in the DevOps era mean? One CIO's take

Some IT leaders see DevOps and agile practices simply as a way to run their software projects. If you look at DevOps in this narrow way, you miss the deep implications for the way IT should be managed and led. Make no mistake: DevOps represents a different way of thinking about IT – and requires a different leadership model.

As noted in my new book A Seat at the Table: IT Leadership in the Age of Agility, four big concerns of the CIO—governance, risk management, build versus buy decisions, and enterprise architecture, get turned upside down in the DevOps and agile world. While the waterfall development world was about IT control of project delivery, the DevOps world is about collaboration across the business organization to achieve business objectives, using cross-functional teams with both business and technology skills.

[Dive deeper on DevOps leadership, culture, and metrics. See our related article, 10 DevOps must-reads.]

Rather than passing requirements and product back and forth between IT and the rest of the business, these teams can take ownership of strategic goals and work together to accomplish them, sharing accountability for outcomes. They can try out different approaches, test hypotheses, and innovate new ways of doing things. DevOps makes it possible for teams to try experiments and quickly receive feedback, and to mold their plans based on actual results. The team can be charged with an outcome rather than given a set of requirements and a deadline.

When you look at typical CIO concerns through an DevOps lens, you find that many of them appear upside down - and require new thinking. Consider these four examples:

• Build versus buy: The conventional wisdom says that buying off the shelf is preferred when possible. But in many cases, building will allow for a more user-centric, fast-feedback, incremental delivery process.
• Enterprise architecture: The traditional role of Enterprise Architecture is to standardize and constrain. But in an agile world, where architectures evolve through the work of empowered teams, EA should play a hands-on role, facilitating reuse and guiding the enterprise to a flexible, agile architecture.
• Governance: Companies often make governance decisions at the granularity of projects or programs. But now that we can execute at the level of single piece flow – essentially fulfilling one requirement at a time – are programs and projects still the right granularity for governance decisions? And when development and maintenance can no longer be clearly distinguished, what does it mean to “complete” an initiative?
• Risk: We have always thought of risk as something to be eliminated, or at least mitigated. Is it perhaps more productive to think of it as something that is to be accepted and acknowledged, with an eye toward earning a risk-based return?

The consequences of agile and DevOps thinking for IT leadership are significant. IT leaders can no longer be passive recipients of business requirements, but instead must take responsibility for business outcomes.

RELATED CONTENT

• Target CIO explains how DevOps took root inside the retail giant
• DevOps success: A new team model emerges

Governance is no longer just a formal process of approving or prioritizing project proposals, but an active process of generating initiatives to accomplish specific business goals. Providing customer service to the business is no longer the CIO’s goal, but rather working with other parts of the business to accomplish objectives. Instead of focusing on reducing risk of project delivery and production outages, the CIO should actively determine the appropriate level of risk and boldly target that level. It is not farfetched to think that in a digital world, it is as much the role of IT to provide requirements to the rest of the business as it used to be the role of IT to accept requirements.

DevOps, rightly understood, is an approach where cross-functional teams use a process that harnesses fast-feedback loops and constant adjustment to accomplish the company’s goals. For IT leadership, this means that the technical folks are part of a business team, a team that is together on a journey of discovery, trying to find the best ways to meet business needs. The idea that IT is merely responsible for “delivering” what the business says it wants or needs is an outdated one. Instead, the CIO must step up, and courageously take responsibility for driving corporate outcomes.

Who's Stopping You: 3 Signs You Are A Counterfeit Bold Leader And How To Improve

After writing several articles about the benefits and positive impact of bold leaders, I received pushback from a number of people who had observed bold leaders that did not create the same positive impression. These leaders were perceived as being bold but created dissatisfaction and frustration within their organizations.

Shutterstock

While on the surface these leaders may appear to be bold, I identified three characteristics commonly found among bold leader counterfeits:

1. Aggressive leaders are hyper focused on their own needs and successes. They take extraordinary steps to make themselves look good, often at the expense of others. They will look for ways to blame others and are unwilling to accept responsibility for errors.

2. Autocratic leaders rarely ask for input or advice from others, desiring to make all the decisions alone. They prioritize maintaining control over providing opportunities for others to grow. They expect orders to be followed and no one is allowed to question the decision or solution.

3. Arrogant leaders are always “right.” They are not teachable and believe that others’ decisions and solutions are inferior to their own. Because they resist feedback from others, they become defensive when challenged. Their business decisions are often centered in ego and personal agenda.

Leaders who engage in these behaviors have the façade of being bold, but truly lack the many positive benefits of genuine bold leadership.

In analyzing data from over 50,000 leaders, my colleague Jack Zenger and I discovered that genuine bold leaders were rated as more effective, had more positive performance reviews, and were more likely to be a high potential leader. They also had significantly more satisfied direct reports who were not likely to think about quitting their jobs. Overall, these leaders were very effective, well liked, and generated engagement across the organization.

The reason some leaders utilize the counterfeit bold behaviors of aggression, an autocratic style, or arrogance, is that in the short term these behaviors generate results. However, employees end up being motivated out of fear rather than respect or inspiration and will abandon ship as soon as possible. What we have found in our research is that it is possible for leaders to develop a genuinely bold style, but only if they avoid these three destructive leadership behaviors.

Genuine Bold Leadership

Through our firm’s ongoing leadership research, we came to a consensus that a series of seven behaviors effectively described the characteristics of a genuinely bold leader. The seven behaviors are:

1. Challenges standard approaches.

2. Creates an atmosphere of continual improvement.

3. Does everything possible to achieve goals.

4. Gets others to go beyond what they originally thought possible.

5. Energizes others to take on challenging goals.

6. Quickly recognizes situations where change is needed.

7. Has the courage to make needed changes.

In a further look at our data, we identified the leaders who were in the top 10% in terms of their boldness as rated by these seven behaviors. We then compared the results for these leaders against all other leaders in our database to understand what was different about their behavior. We found that they were rated significantly more positive on the following characteristics:

• Persuaded, instead of demanded, others to stretch.

• Constructively challenged rather than aggressively challenged.

• Inspired and energized others rather than expecting others would accomplish difficult tasks simply because they were assigned.

• Helped others understand rather than simply telling people what to do.

• Found ways to improve others’ new ideas rather than forcing their ideas on others.

Developing genuine boldness is a worthy goal for any leader. It can inspire others to peak performance, invite innovation, and spark new growth for organizations. By carefully assessing if behaviors could be perceived as aggressive, autocratic, and/or arrogant, you will easily be able to identify if a leader, or your own style, is counterfeiting bold leadership. If you are curious about your preferences around bold leadership behaviors, I invite you to take a quick self-survey by clicking here.

Information about Joe Folkman’s new book, “Speed: How Leaders Accelerate Successful Execution” is available here.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2017/07/20/3-signs-you-are-a-counterfeit-bold-leader-and-how-to-improve/#3ef490885b98

Who's stopping you: The Secret to Raising a Healthy Eater? Start Early!

Early life nutrition may be the key to successful eating habits later in life. Starting in the womb, infants begin to develop flavor preferences. From gestation to the first two years of life, an important “window of opportunity” is presented: shaping a newborn’s food preferences.

Although we are all born with an innate preference for sweet (candy) and rejection of bitter (vegetables), taste preferences can be learned through repeated exposure. Skillfully introducing new foods can set infants up for dietary success and better health outcomes. However, feeding babies healthy foods isn’t as simple as putting a piece of broccoli in front of them. Introducing foods takes time, patience, and a whole lot of work.

Start early to help shape your baby’s taste for nutritious foods.  Mom’s diet during pregnancy is crucial for not only helping the fetus develop optimally, but also for priming taste preferences. Research shows that mothers who consume fruits and vegetables during pregnancy and lactation had babies that were more willing to accept these foods. After birth, the current World Health Organization recommendation is to exclusively breastfeed children for the first 6 months of life. Around 6 months, breast milk is no longer able to supply all of the vitamin D and iron needed to meet the baby’s requirement, so solid foods are introduced. Check out our Starting Solids factsheet for more info on when and how to safely introduce solid foods.

For adults, eating is an experience that utilizes all of the senses. The same goes for babies. Babies enjoy exploring new foods with all their senses, which means that sometimes most of it can end up on the floor. Don’t despair–research shows that it can take anywhere from 6-35 times of serving the same fruit or vegetable for an infant to try it. This is where the patience comes in. Serving a variety of fruit and vegetables increases the chance the baby will eat the new vegetable. Also, preparing foods in different ways reveals new food textures that help transition babies from eating pureed food all the way to soft, solid foods. By age 2, children are ready to join the family dinner table, so serving family meals centered around vegetables, whole grains, lean protein sources, and fruit is key to support healthy habits.

Already mastered the basics of Starting Solids? Below are some tips to help even the pickiest eaters adapt to a variety of nutritious foods:

1.  Meal Plans: not just for grown-ups!

• Make a list of soft fruits and vegetables, such as avocado, bananas, and cooked sweet potatoes and green beans.
• Then, decide how to prepare each food (i.e. mashed sweet potatoes, small pieces of avocado, etc.).
• After, sort each food into a meal for the week (i.e. bananas as part of Monday breakfast, mashed sweet potatoes as part of Monday lunch, etc.).
• When the day arrives, record how your child responded to the food (i.e. she appeared to like the bananas and ate it all, he refused to eat the green beans, etc.). This will help track when each new healthy food was introduced and how your child accepted the food.

2. Mix it Up: Prepare healthy food in different ways to introduce new textures. Start out with pureed foods, then move to mashed, then to lumpy, and finally to small pieces of soft, solid foods by the time your child reaches age 2.

3.  Monkey See, Monkey Do: Model healthy behaviors for your child. Sit down at meal times together and if you’re feeding your child bananas, try some too. Children are more likely to eat a food when they see an adult eating it as well.

Who and What's stopping: Hip-Hop Reacts to Death of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington

The music community lost another one of its stars as news broke today (July 20) that Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington committed suicide.

TMZ first reported that the Grammy Award-winning rock singer committed suicide by hanging himself inside a Los Angeles residence. Bennington’s band mate, Mike Shinoda, confirmed the sad news on social media, writing on Twitter, “Shocked and heartbroken, but it’s true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one.”

Although not rappers themselves, Bennington and Linkin Park were frequent collaborators with some of hip-hop’s biggest names over the years. In 2004, the band spearheaded the new millennium rap/rock movement by joining forces with JAY-Z for the collaborative EP Collision Course. Though at the time it seemed like it came from left field, the project spawned the hit single “Numb/Encore,” which peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, proving that Linkin Park’s alternative metal sound could have a place in the rap world. More recently, the band had tapped Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly for their world tour.

Bennington, 41, leaves behind six children between two wives. While the music industry mourns the loss of Bennington, members of the hip-hop community are sharing their condolences online. Check out how rhymers like Chance The Rapper, Lupe Fiasco, Lil Uzi Vert and more are reacting to the death of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington.

R.I.P. to a rock star and musical innovator.


Read More: Hip-Hop Responds to Death of Linkin Park's Chester Bennington - XXL |

The Law of Love and Man’s Freedom of Choice. Who's stopping you?

By: Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy

The law of love doesn’t take away our freedom of choice. In fact, it enhances our freedom to choose. It is where our independence from the jurisdiction of the Almighty Father comes from, and where we become real human beings after His own image. That is also where the danger comes from, because we might be able to choose that which is not the Will of the Father and we become devils in the flesh.

The essence of democracy
The Law of Love doesn’t bind you not to be able to make any other choices. In fact, the Law of Love enhances your freedom of choice and the Father is not vindictive and is not someone who dictates upon your choices. He is someone who lets you choose and that is the beauty of being created after His own image.

We either enjoy or suffer the consequences of our decisions. This is the essence of democracy. Democracy means you can choose and you can use your discernment to choose without any pressure at all in your choices. I can be a friend to all, I can be a brother to all, I can be a man who is able to embrace all but that doesn’t take away from me my discernment and my independent choices of the option that were brought in front of me. In the end of the bottom line is I would be the one to balance all of these, I’ll be the one to weigh all of these as I did in Kitbog. I was there, bombarded by the forces of the enemy, but I did not run away from the forces of the enemy. In fact, I was made to listen to them. Only the Father sharpened my discernment in knowing that, that’s the end.

He also sharpened my discernment in knowing that it was His voice talking to me, so I was able to become spiritually mature, especially when I was in Tamayong. It was in Tamayong that I was able to discern between the real genuine good that comes from the Almighty Father and the seemingly good that is sugarcoated good but inside is not the Will of God.

Real genuine good
I was able to discern all of that and at the end, I independently made the final choice on what course to follow and what choices to make. I’m speaking for my self. I might not be speaking for others because many others are sometimes pressurized to make decisions out of consideration of many other things but I am quite different from that. I am very independent when I make decisions. You can be my friend, I can talk with you, I can walk with you, I can sleep with you, I can pray with you but in the end, I have to be the one to make decisions. Exactly, that is the Law of Love.

The Law of Love doesn’t bind you into one particular setting of a paradigm imposed unto you that you cannot think of any other but just go to that because of the pressure given to you, that is not the Law of Love. When something is binding you and you cannot exercise your freedom of choice and then you make a choice sometimes out of ignorance, hidden motives or consideration of other people, then you are not within the bounds and limits of the Law of Love.

The Law of Love will release you totally free, make you stand and make your own judgment and decision on what to do in any given circumstance, in any given event, and that is what I would like everyone who is born in the spirit to know.

The Law of Love releases people into doing things. They only have to be guided. They only have to know what is evil and what is good. They have to be guided by the Will of Father. The Father’s Will is what ultimately happens. The Father’s Will is ultimately followed.

As the Appointed Son of God, I am always dedicated to the Will of the Father. I cannot dictate upon the Will of the Father being the Son.

He dictates upon the Son and later on, as I get mature in the spirit, the Will of the Father begins to homogenize within me. The Father’s Will and I become one. The Father’s Will becomes my blood, it becomes my mind, and it becomes the essence of my very being without any bitterness, without any rancor and without anything that would make me resent anything you do because you made a choice.

The love of the Father doesn’t bind you to Him,
you bind yourself to Him, because
you choose to be bound to Him.
But it doesn’t bind you automatically and
take away your choice because
He knows what is good for you. He doesn’t do that.

I will respect your choice whether to become a devil or to become an angel, that’s your choice. I will not interfere in your choice. I will not get angry with you but I will just tell you, I will not get angry. For example, if your choice is to become a devil, I would look at you with pity. I would look at you with eyes of compassion because you have made that choice. And probably you know that, that choice is not God’s choice but you made it anyway. There is no angel in heaven that would stop you from doing that but I, as the Appointed Son, would look at you and say, “I’ll pray for you but I’ll not get angry with you. I’ll not resent because you did not choose me.”

Like for example, there are many who would come to our Thanksgiving and Worship Presentation every Sunday and many thought that they would one day soon become Kingdom citizens and would accept the message of the Appointed Son. Did we pressurize them in doing it? We didn’t. If they won’t ask us to pray for them, we’ll not pray for them. If they won’t ask us to lay our hands on them, we will not do that.

My rights end where your choices begin
We will preach the message, we will tell everyone about the message but pressuring them into accepting that message is out of my area of responsibility. That is their area of responsibility. My area of responsibility is to preach the message, lay down the message and it’s up to the people to make a choice without me pressurizing them. Their choice would either make them happy or make them sad but I won’t resent any choices they make.

If their choice after the worship is not to accept my message and go against the Will of the Father, I will not resent their choice, I will not be bitter. I will not include them in my choice because that is their own choice. Each one of us has our own choices. Your rights end where my choices begin, and my rights end where your choices begin.

This is how we practice the Law of Love here in the Kingdom. Kingdom citizens and workers know that. When you are no longer happy in the Kingdom, although I have been with you for many, many years, you may decide to go out of the Kingdom and many of those that have done that signified that they wanted to come out of full-time ministry, that is their right; that is their choice. It is their right to choose either to stay in the Kingdom or go out of the Kingdom. When they make a decision, we have to respect that decision, we won’t be probably happy in their choices but that is their choice anyway.

If we know that they are going to the wrong way, we cannot do anything but pray for them, not hate them, not be bitter against them, not resent their decision, that is their decision and we respect that decision. That is how we operate in the Law of Love.

The Law of Love gives you the right to choose to become either a devil or an angel, to become a Son of God or a son of the devil. The Father will not resent any choices you make as long as you know the message. My right stops or ends, where your choices begin. When you begin to make a choice, I will not influence you, I will not stop you from doing it, I will not be there to always look at you, and say, “You are an ingrate, why are you doing this, I fed you here for five years, and in the end you will leave me, what are you? You are a devil!” I won’t say that to you. The only thing that I will tell you is: Is that your final choice? If that is so, then I will respect that choice. The door is wide open for you to make your own choices.”

Goes Beyond Our Knowledge
The love of the Father doesn’t bind you to Him, you bind yourself to Him, because you choose to be bound to Him. But it doesn’t bind you automatically and take away your choice because He knows what is good for you. He doesn’t do that. The Father won’t say, “I know what’s good for you, don’t exercise your choice, I’ll be the one to hold you and if you want to get out of My hands, then I’ll be bitter against you.” He is not like that. He will let you make a choice.

The love of the Father doesn’t bind you to Him,
you bind yourself to Him, because
you choose to be bound to Him.
But it doesn’t bind you automatically and
take away your choice because
He knows what is good for you. He doesn’t do that.

The Law of Love goes beyond our knowledge of what the denomination teaches.

It is written in Matthew 5:44-48, “But I say unto you, love your enemy, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.”

That was the Lord Jesus Christ talking. The Law of Love goes beyond the physical. You cannot tell everybody to love you. If I have loved you and you don’t love me in return, that’s not my business, that’s your choice. It’s your choice to hate me. It is my choice to bless you. If you curse me, it’s my choice to bless you. It is my choice to be good to you even if you hate me. There is a command that says, “Be good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

It is other people’s choice to hate us, persecute us, and call us names, but it is our choice to love them. We don’t interfere and say why are you doing that? I am the Son of God, why do you hate me, why are you persecuting me, why are you doing this to me? That’s their choice but what is my choice? My choice is always to follow the Will of the Father, which is the Law of Love.

That’s why I can sit with anyone, I can talk to anyone, I can be friend to anyone; I can be a brother and a sister to anyone. I can sleep with you, pray with you and fellowship with you all night and all day but it does not take away from me the maturity of making my self that choice. It doesn’t take away from me my choices. It doesn’t take away from me the independence of my choice. Just because you are my friend doesn’t automatically say that I would follow what you do or I will follow what you suggest. It is the same thing with you to me.

John 15: 13 also talks about the Law of Love. Greater love hath no man than this that a man will lay down his life for his friends.

It is my choice to lay down my life for you. It is my choice to accept you. It is my choice to love you. What are my other choices? I can sit with somebody who does not believe in my message, I can even sit with the devil here, I can even talk to him, I can even eat with him, but it does not take away from me my choice of following the Will of the Father. Just because I sat with the devil doesn’t mean that I am following the choices of the devil. It was his choice to become the devil. It is my choice to become the Son of God, and it doesn’t mean that the devil can get angry with me just because I did not follow his will. The devil will not say, “Why did you fellowship with me?” That’s dictatorship!

The right to choose
The Almighty Father who created us is not a dictator. Once your freedom of choice is taken away from you, then you are under a dictatorship and these people who are calling me a cult do not even understand who I am that’s why the Father keeps on blessing me. Just because it is my choice to follow the Will of the Father no matter what doesn’t mean I can dictate upon you and say do as I do or else, I will hate you. It doesn’t go like that. I will ask you, what is your choice? I am your Model, I follow the Father through my own choice. What’s your choice? If your choice is to become like me, welcome to the Kingdom. If your choice is not to follow, then make your own choice, we might not be together but at least you made a choice.

See, I have many friends outside of the Kingdom, who are very close to me. But I did not hate them just because they did not accept my message and they have been my friends for years. Did I hate them for that? Did I say, why are you like that? Why didn’t you follow? No. that is his choice, I made my choice. When we stand in judgment, then probably he might learn that he had made a mistake and he would come to me, why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you let me repent? I preached my message, and you did not accept it, that’s your choice. That is maturity and that is why I want every leader of this country, whether religious or political leaders to be as mature as what I am saying here.

Like for example, the Kingdom Nation had been asking me for guidance, I did not impose that on you, that is ask- ing me for a guidance who to vote for, I gave you the guidance without being pressured. You followed that guidance because it was your choice.

Isn’t it the choice of all of us, to follow the Will of the Father? Anyone here whose choice is not to follow the Will of the Father, you are welcome to separate and you are welcome go out, don’t worry about us. We will not hate you, we will not persecute you, we will not kill you, we will not assassinate you with words, we will not resent choices, we will respect your choices, as I respect your choices.

If you don’t want to be interfered when you have made a choice, please exercise that attitude towards others also. Everything we do is a choice and nobody can interfere with our choices. That is why there is peace in the Kingdom. I made my choices long time ago, my choices are solely mine and I want every Filipino to exercise their own choices without being pressured from the outside.

Be fearless when you make a choice. When you know that you are doing the right thing and you are doing the Will of the Father, nobody should interfere with you.

As I told you I can sit with the devil everyday. But at the end, I had made my choice already. I will only follow the Will of the Father no matter what. The devil had visited me in Tamayong for five years. In fact, it had become very ordinary for me to see him. What did he do for five years? He had tried to weaken my resolve. But I told him, “You cannot do that, I made my choice already, I will follow the Will of the Father no matter what.

Be fearless when you make a choice.
When you know that you are doing the right thing
and you are doing the Will of the Father,
nobody should interfere with you.

He didn’t give up. He still tried to court me. He would offer me different things every year. He tried to bribe me with wealth, women, flesh, power, and popularity. He even tried to bribe my ego just so I could go with me him. I told the devil, “I have told you from the beginning. If I would eat grass, I am prepared to do that but I will follow the Will of the Father, no matter what.” That was my choice, and even the devil cannot interfere with that choice. Your freedom of choice is your sole given right by the Almighty Father. That is the image of God in you. And when are you exercising that? When you have learned to exercise the Law of Love. Let the law of love prevail in the Philippines. Let the Law of Love rule the world.

Love: Fulfillment of the law
When you have become mature in exercising your freedom of choice, you will always choose to do what is right. You will always choose to be strong. But when you become weak in your choices, it is also your choice. Weakening your will to follow the Father is also a choice. You chose to be weak, you chose to be fearful. I chose to be strong and I chose to be firm.

Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”

Let love be without dissimulation. Do you know what dissimulation means? Let love be without interference in your choices because it ceases to be love when your choices are being interfered upon. If I chose to love the devil, God who is love, will not come down and say; “You are making the wrong choice. I will hate you for that”. That is no longer love.

The Father will gently tell me; “Son this is my Will and you know it. Is that your final choice?” Love is without dissimulation. There is no interference in your freedom of choice. But if your freedom of choice is being interfered upon, it ceases to be the Law of Love. It is the law of dictatorship and the Father did not make us human beings, designed to have dictators upon us. We were designed to have our own choices, that’s why we need to become mature and discerning.

“…Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” So He will only let you know His Will. That’s why I always use divine guidance in the decisions I make everyday, especially in life-changing decisions that I make. I always consider the Will of the Father in whatever I do. I would like everyone to respect that and I would also respect your choices.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10) Just because you have loved, you cease to make a choice. Love is not blind, love has bright eyes in making its own choice and that is the Law of Love.

Source: https://kingdomofjesuschrist.org/the-law-of-love-and-mans-freedom-of-choice/

Yes, Dads Give Kids Less-Healthy Food: Here's Why

Hey, Dads!

It's a childhood memory that many people may have: When Mom isn't home for dinner, Dad takes charge … and orders pizza. Or throws some hot dogs in the microwave. Either way, it's not a choice Mom approves of.

Now, a small new study shows that dads really do make less-healthy choices when feeding the family — and this can take a toll on moms.

Study author Priya Fielding-Singh, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Stanford University in California, said she was not surprised that the fathers in the study did less housework, including both "food work" and childcare, than mothers — indeed, national data has previously shown this unequal division of labor is common. But what was surprising in the new study was that dads' lack of involvement in feeding the family can really take a toll on moms, Fielding-Singh said. [10 Ways to Promote Kids' Healthy Eating Habits]

"Many dads are less invested in some of the healthy-eating priorities that moms really hold dear," and that can lead to more work, and more stress, for moms, Fielding-Singh told Live Science. And teens take note of these family dynamics, she added.

In the study, published online in June in the journal Appetite, Fielding-Singh interviewed 42 moms, 14 dads and 53 teens from more than 40 families in the San Francisco Bay Area and asked about family responsibilities when it came to family meals. All of the families were middle class or upper-middle class.

Fielding-Singh found that in 41 of the 44 families included in the study, the family members agreed that Dad's eating habits were less healthy than Mom's. It wasn't just that the moms considered themselves healthier than their husbands, Fielding-Singh noted: The dads agreed.

Set dynamics?

Though some of the moms in the study said they were happy to do most of the work required to feed the family, other moms said they wanted the dads to do more, such as grocery shopping and cooking, Fielding-Singh said.

But there was a catch: Moms felt that if they let dads do these tasks, the food would end up being less healthy, Fielding-Singh said. So, by letting dads more to do, moms felt like they were being worse caregivers to their children. This, in turn, made moms feel guilty — so they kept doing most of the tasks themselves, instead of delegating them to dads.

"Even though some moms were unhappy with it, few saw that there could be an alternative," Fielding-Singh said. "There was definitely a resignation" on the part of moms, she added.

Some of that resignation may stem from deeply embedded gender roles.

"Feeding families is very central to motherhood," she said. "We hold mothers accountable for the foods that families eat." Mothers often judge themselves, and other moms, by how well they feed their families, she noted.

Dads, on the other hand, aren't usually seen as being responsible for feeding the family, Fielding-Singh said. Instead, fathers have typically been judged by how well they support their families financially and more recently, how involved they are in children's lives. But getting kids to eat healthy? That didn't factor in as an important part of being a father, she said. [History's 12 Most Doting Dads]

"It's not that the husbands were trying to be unfair to their wives" by not taking on the responsibilities of food work, she said. Dads weren't trying to hurt their kids diets or make the moms' lives harder, for example. "They simply didn't see it as their responsibility to be making sure that kids were eating healthy — they saw it as Mom's responsibility." And moms, she added, also saw it as Mom's responsibility.

But it's possible that this division of labor between husbands and wives wasn't always present in the couples' relationship. As a part of her interviews, Fielding-Singh said that she asked parents what changed about the way they approached food once they had kids. "What was striking," she said, was that "almost every mother" said things changed after she had kids, but the responses were more mixed among dads. In other words, many women seemed to become more concerned about the healthiness of food, rather than the men getting less concerned.

That means that it's possible things were more equal before kids came into the picture, Fielding-Singh said. But "because feeding is so gendered, it's almost as if this dynamic was created whereby mothers instantly cared more" once they had children.

Teens take note

The division of labor between Mom and Dad didn't just affect their own relationships; these differences in approaches to feeding the family also stood out to parents' teenage children, the study found. [10 Facts Every Parent Should Know About Their Teen's Brain]

The teens interviewed "very clearly understood and articulated that their parents had different priorities around healthy eating," Fielding-Singh said.

This divided approach is notable because kids could view their parents as a united front or solid unit, Fielding-Singh said. For example, teens might say, "my parents"care about my education — but this is not the case with food. Instead, teens might say, "my mom" cares about eating healthy, but "my dad" doesn't.

One of the reasons this matters, Fielding-Singh noted, is that teens observe their parents, and they learn how to behave, in part, from what they see their parents do. And in the study, many daughters watched their moms do the food work and the health work, and many sons watched their dads, and saw that their dads left the work to their moms, she said.

The fact that teens picked up on this "so clearly" means that "there's a real possibility that this one of the ways gender norms are transmitted," Fielding-Singh said.

Source: https://www.livescience.com/59868-moms-dads-feeding-families.html

Who's Stopping you: A sweet life no more for soft drink junkies

PROPOSED EXCISE TAX ON SUGAR-SWEETENED DRINKS

GROWING UP, Judah dela Cruz’s mom would send him to the nearest sari-sari store every now and then where he could buy a liter of soft drink for P20 to P27.

But with the proposed excise tax on sweetened beverages, this could shoot up to P37 per liter, according to the Philippine Association of Stores and Carinderia Owners, Inc. (Pasco).

The proposal would slap a P10-a-liter excise tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, a measure which the House ways and means committee has included in its revised substitute bill containing the first package of the Duterte administration’s comprehensive tax reform program.

Aside from soft drinks, the excise tax was also seen to increase the prices of three-in-coffee from P5 per sachet to P8 per sachet and powdered juices from P9 per one-liter sachet to P20 per one-liter sachet, Pasco said.

The move, authored by Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita Suansing, has gained support from the Department of Health (DOH) and National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) as it will not only generate additional revenues but also make Filipinos healthier, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

Finance Undersecretary Kendrick Chua, in earlier reports, said the proposed measure “should be viewed mainly as a health measure that is meant to discourage the consumption of high-sugar beverages, while encouraging industry players to develop healthier alternatives.”

For Dela Cruz, a 23-year-old graphic designer from Cebu City, wanting to stem illness related to unhealthy diets is admirable.
“But if the government really wants to address Filipino health problems, then they should pass affordable universal healthcare, especially for the poor,” he said in a Facebook post.

He said that many people are predisposed to diabetes even without sugar-filled diets, adding that even starch that is converted to sugar in the body can put them in danger.
“Of what use would this tax be if even simple medical procedures cost enough to completely ruin the average workers’ finances?” he posited.

Dela Cruz shares the same sentiment with 23-year-old IELTS (International English Language Testing System) training specialist Althea Ramos, who said that while the government might have good intentions with the proposed bill, it might not yield the results they hope for.

“People will still buy sweetened drinks because they won’t have many options left. Because sugar is an ingredient that is almost always present in beverages today, it is not very common to find a wide variety of drinks sans sugar. While there are sugar-free drinks for sale, these drinks are sometimes more expensive than the drinks with natural sugar,” she told Cebu Daily News.
In her case, she said she does not have problems with the excise tax on soft drinks, mainly because she hasn’t been drinking soda in the last five years. But what concerns her is how this will affect milk for children.

Ramos said it is already hard enough for most parents to buy milk for their children, how much more with the proposed excise tax.
“As for coffee, the excise tax won’t stop me from drinking it. Perhaps I’ll start taking my coffee black. Or add in the sugar myself,” she said.
The proposed measure also has Liza Tesaluna, a 42-year-old sari-sari store manager from Lapu-Lapu City, worried.

Tesaluna said their business will be affected because most of their customers are those who earn below minimum wage.

“They will find it difficult to afford the products that are affected by the tax and so, our business will also be affected,” she said in a text message.

She said sugary drinks sell fast, but because bigger supermarkets have opened in the vicinity, not so many buy from their sari-sari store nowadays compared to the time when they did not have that many competitors.

Robert Go, president of the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) in Cebu, said the proposed excise tax on sugary drinks will affect many sari-sari stores since the measure will tremendously increase the prices of these products.

“Most of the affected items are sold by sari-sari stores and even small groceries in rural areas and mountain barangays. Supermarket-based convenience stores are also included, but that is only a small fraction of what big supermarkets sell,” he said.

Go said the proposal will also affect manufacturers as this could translate to a drop in sales.

The PRA Cebu president said he hoped the proposal can still be lowered so as not to “dig too deep into the pockets of poor people who are big fans of these products.”

Based on the DOF’s preliminary estimates, if the House-approved substitute bill would be implemented next year, additional revenues could reach only P16.8 billion. But the complementary measures that would slap tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, among others, would raise the revenue take to P82.7 billion.


Read more: http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/140324/sweet-life-no-soft-drink-junkies#ixzz4nS9bfdgU
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Who's Stopping You: Trump made the same mistake as Obama on health care, former Reagan aide says

President Donald Trump made the same mistake as his predecessor by not being more involved in the details of health-care legislation, a former assistant Commerce secretary told CNBC on Thursday.

Trump and then-President Barack Obama should have been more engaged in the legislative process, said Mary Jo Jacobi, a former aide to President Ronald Reagan and a member of the George H.W. Bush administration.

"He just left it to the House and Senate," she said, referring to Obama. "President Trump has made a similar mistake with what may or may not be 'Trumpcare' leaving it to the House and Senate."

Referring to Congress, she said: "They've had 7½ years to come up with a replacement once they repeal. Now they haven't repealed, they haven't replaced and it doesn't look like they're going to do either."

Obama signed an overly complex bill that was likely to be unworkable in the real world, but at least he got a bill, Jacobi later added.

"The lesson is that the executive and legislative branches need to work together on big affairs of state to ensure protection of the public interest and a workable outcome," Jacobi said in an email.

The president has been trying to salvage health-care reform after the Senate bill collapsed earlier this week due to a lack of support. Trump took to Twitter, telling senators they must keep their promise to America to fix health care.

On Wednesday, he told GOP senators they should stay in Washington during their August recess to work on health care.

Sen. John McCain's diagnosis of brain cancer has created more problems for Republicans in their bid to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, according to James Pethokoukis, an economic policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.

"They were already having trouble coming up with 50 votes and now that just got a lot harder," the analyst told CNBC.

"At this point, I think the most likely scenario is they don't have enough votes for either and Obamacare stays."

Pethokoukis says many Republicans want to move on from health care to tax reform, but he warns this will not be easy.

"What I think happens there is they don't get massive tax reform, they don't massive tax cuts. They'll get a tax cut, it'll be a temporary tax cut, (which is) probably not the best thing for economic growth," he said.

Unpredictable Trump?

Jacobi said Trump's short attention span was a problem for the administration.

"He'll do something really good and then step all over the message on Twitter," she told CNBC.

"My advice to him would be to keep his promises and then have miles to go before he tweets, paraphrasing an old American poem. He just can't get it together and because he can't get it together, the White House and the Cabinet agencies can't get it together either. They're always catching up."

Jacobi also criticized Trump's unpredictability, which makes it harder for businesses to plan.

"He changes his mind, he changes his position. He's changed his mind on health care three times in the last 18 hours," she said.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/20/trump-made-same-mistake-as-obama-on-health-care-former-reagan-aide-says.html

Who's Stopping You: Sugar substitutes associated with weight gain and health problems, study says

You’ve been watching your sugar intake lately, so you select a diet soft drink from the office pop machine for a cool, refreshing pick-me-up. It’s sugar-free and has no calories. About as harmless as water, right?

Not so, says a new study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Nonnutritive sweeteners such as those used in diet pop were associated with weight gain, a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes and other health problems, according to researchers from the University of Manitoba’s George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation.

The study involved a systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 studies dating back to the early 1980s and involving more than 400,000 participants.

Considering the potential risks, lead author Meghan Azad says it’s not a bad idea to avoid products containing nonnutritive sweeteners – including artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose and stevioside, a natural sweetener derived from stevia plants – until researchers know more about their long-term effects. However, other experts say there’s not enough evidence to recommend abstaining from these sugar substitutes, noting they’re approved by Health Canada.

Read more: Four ways to give water a flavour boost, without added sugar

Gut check: Why and how I worked off my belly

“I think a lot of people consuming them kind of assume they’re harmless because they contain zero calories. But what the evidence is suggesting is maybe there’s more to the story than that,” said Dr. Azad, an assistant professor of pediatrics and child health at the University of Manitoba.

Interest in the health effects of nonnutritive sweetners has grown over the years as public consumption of them has increased. Jane Shearer, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Calgary who is studying these sweeteners, notes the number of products that contain sugar substitutes has grown significantly in Canada in the past five years, with energy drinks, no-sugar-added ice creams, yogurt and even some bread products.

Dr. Shearer, who was not involved in the CMAJ study, says the findings from the Manitoba researchers add to mounting evidence against nonnutritive sweeteners. Her own work on animals has shown these sweeteners can alter the composition of gut microbiota, which she says could play a role in long-term changes in metabolism.

Other hypotheses suggest they promote a preference for sweetness, leading to further consumption of sweet foods and beverages, or may lead people to indulge in other ways. If you choose a no-sugar-added ice cream, for instance, you may eat more of it.

Nonnutritive sweeteners may also alter the body’s response to sweetness over time, changing the way it metabolizes actual sugar, says Susan Swithers, a professor in the department of psychological sciences at Purdue University in Indiana. Dr. Swithers, who studies the health impact of nonnutritive sweeteners, suggests that for this reason, all sweeteners are problematic.

But surely a diet pop is a wiser choice than regular pop? Do the potential risks of sweeteners outweigh the risks of sugar itself?

It’s a tough question, Dr. Swithers says, in part because people who report they drink diet pop tend to be heavier and are more likely to have a family history of health problems than those who drink regular pop.

These differences also make it hard to say definitively whether nonnutritive sweeteners are bad for you. Dr. Swithers notes that those who are skeptical of the potential harms of nonnutritive sweeteners tend to point to the lack of causal evidence.

Dr. Shearer adds there’s a large industry of diet and sugar-free products that has an interest in discrediting any findings of possible health risks.

In the CMAJ study, the researchers examined seven randomized control trials, which followed participants for an average of six months. The rest were larger observational studies that examined participants over an average of 10 years.

The researchers found the randomized control trials suggest sugar substitutes don’t help with weight management. Furthermore, over the long term, the observational studies indicated the sweeteners were not only associated with weight gain, they were also linked to diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease.

In nine studies, participants who consumed the greatest amount of nonnutritive sweeteners had a 14-per-cent higher risk of Type 2 diabetes than those who consumed the least. And in five studies, those who consumed the greatest amount of nonnutritive sweeteners had a 31-per-cent higher risk of having metabolic syndrome – a cluster of conditions that includes higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels – than those who consumed the least.

“The message is there isn’t strong evidence for a benefit from these products – and there’s potential evidence for harm,” Dr. Azad said.

Diabetes Canada includes nonnutritive sweeteners in its guidelines, citing Health Canada’s acceptable daily intake values. (The organization has received funding from companies that use nonnutritive sweeteners, though it says no company or representative has any influence in the development of its recommendations.)

Seema Nagpal, an epidemiologist and a senior leader on Diabetes Canada’s government relations and public policy team, said the CMAJ study points to the need for more research, but the “data aren’t sufficient at this point to cause alarm or to recommend avoidance. … When used in moderation, these products can be used as part of a healthy and well-balanced diet.”

Dr. Azad, however, says it’s likely safer to steer clear of nonnutritive sweeteners in general. She offered this advice: “I’m going to say that you should drink water.”

Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/sugar-substitutes-linked-to-weight-gain-and-health-problems-study-says/article35704562/