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Software Development Lead (Cape Town)

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Recruit Digital

Recruit Digital; leading recruitment agency for the Digital, Media, IT & Advertising sectors in South Africa.

Covering both Cape Town and JHB roles, Recruit Digital provides staff for Media firms, Digital Agencies, Corporates, Startups, E-commerce retailers, and all other Internet related businesses.

Recruit Digital fills vacancies within Client Services, Creative & Design, Development & Technology, Sales, Copy-writing, Social Media, SEO, Planning & Strategy, Marketing, Senior Management & Executive positions.

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This Diet Is All Over Reddit—But Here’s What It Gets Wrong

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Take a deep-dive into the weight-loss forums on Reddit and you’re bound to come across the CICO diet.

One user who had been following CICO for two months and shed 20 pounds wrote, “For years I actually thought that [losing weight] required vigorous exercise, and eating nothing but tilapia, broccoli, and spinach. How wrong I was.”

In a separate thread, another user shared, “CICO will work regardless of what you’re eating. Junk food, healthy food, fancy food, cheap food. It doesn’t matter. CICO is essentially the only thing that matters when it comes to weight loss.”

But many experts have a different take on the eating strategy, and argue that CICO is just another name for a weight-loss myth that refuses to die.
 

So what is the CICO diet?

The acronym stands for “calories in, calories out”; and the underlying theory—which is by no means a new concept—is that to lose weight, you simply need to consume fewer calories than you expend each day on physical activity and vital functions (such as breathing and keeping warm). Proponents of CICO argue that it doesn’t necessarily matter what you eat, as long as you create a daily calorie deficit.

“At the core of it, it’s true that calories will rule things when it comes to weight loss,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RDN, author of The Superfood Swap. “If you’re eating just a ton, you’re not aware of calories, you will not be successful. That is true in the most crude, raw possible way.” But, she adds, calorie counting is only a tiny piece of a much bigger picture.

RELATED: The 50 Best Weight Loss Foods of All Time

What CICO gets wrong

The problem with the CICO mentality is that it reduces weight loss to a calorie equation, when not all calories are created equal.

“We now know that the quality of the calories you consume—as well as the macronutrient balance and timing—all impact metabolism, satiety, and how your body utilizes calories,” explains Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, Health‘s contributing nutrition editor. For example, 300 calories from a blueberry muffin made with refined flour and sugar does not affect your body the same way that 300 calories from cooked oats topped with almonds and blueberries do. “[CICO] is an outdated way of thinking,” Sass says.

You also have to consider how food choices affect your body beyond weight loss. “Eating all junk, but keeping it low-calorie, will still wreak havoc on things like your skin, your mood, your gastrointestinal functions,” Blatner says.

Mira Ilic, a clinical dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic, adds that certain macronutrients are important for things like tissue repair, and muscle recovery and growth. “If you’re doing strength training and other physical activity as part of your healthy routine—which also boosts your metabolism and helps with weight loss—you’re doing yourself a disservice by not thinking about the food you’re putting on your plate,” she says.

So can you lose weight just by keeping CICO in mind? “Sure, it’s possible,” Ilic says. “But would I recommend this to my patients? Definitely not.”

Sass adds that she has seen clients lose weight after increasing their total calorie intake—or break through a weight-loss plateau by altering the quality, balance, or timing of their calories, without reducing the total amount. To sum up: “It’s not as simple as a math equation,” she says.

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A better way to watch your calories

For the average woman who wants to lose weight, Blatner suggests aiming to consume roughly 1,500 calories a day: “That number might be a little bit up or down, depending on whether you’re taller or shorter, or how much you exercise,” she explains, “but 1,500 calories is a great starting point.”

However, instead of tallying up the calories from every single food you eat, Blatner recommends practicing “calorie consciousness.” Look at your plate and ask yourself, Do I have a smart carb, protein, healthy fat, and vegetables? Then ask yourself, Do the portions of each look reasonable? And do vegetables take up the majority of the plate?

“If you look at your plate and you have what you can guesstimate is a half-cup of a grain, that’s going to be roughly 150 calories; if you see a reasonably sized piece of protein, it’s likely about 3 ounces, or about 150 calories,” Blatner says. “And if you see a lot of vegetables, topped with just a little bit of fat, like a drizzle of olive oil, you’re probably adding up to about a 400 to 450 calorie meal.” Developing this kind of calorie awareness can help you get a good balance of nutrients to nourish your body, while still staying on track to lose weight that stays off.

Quinoa Rancheros Bowl

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Step 1

Place quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve; rinse thoroughly under cool water. Warm 1/2 tablespoon oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add quinoa and cook, stirring, until water has evaporated and quinoa begins to toast, about 1 minute. Add 1 cup water, a few pinches of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 15 minutes. Gently tilt pan to make sure water has absorbed (if not, cover again and cook for 2 minutes longer). Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff quinoa with a fork.

Step 2

Warm remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Crack eggs into skillet; season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover pan and cook until whites are set and yolks have reached desired doneness, 5 to 6 minutes.

Step 3

Place 1/2 cup cooked quinoa in each of 2 bowls. (Cover and refrigerate remaining quinoa for another use.) Divide salsa, radish, and avocado between bowls. Top each with 1 egg, sprinkle with cheese, season with additional pepper, and serve.

Duty Manager (somerset West)

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DUTY MANAGER (SOMERSET WEST) in Western Cape | Other Tourism/Hospitality | Job Mail | 4099191

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DUTY MANAGER REQUIRED IN SOMERSET WEST Requirements: Degree/ Diploma in the Hospitality Industry 3 years’ Experience as a Duty Manager/ Restaurant Manger Strong Food and Beverage Background Excellent managerial Skills Great Customer Skills Ability to work under pressure Computer Literate Excellent Written and Verbal Communication skills Applicants must reside in SOMERSET WEST or surrounding area. Please take note: if you have not been contacted within 14 days, please consider your application unsuccessful. Interested? Please visit our website www.mprtc.co.za to submit your CV or for more information.

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News24.com | ‘I’m not corrupt and I don’t loot’ – Dlamini-Zuma

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Cape Town – ANC presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Thursday evening rejected public speculation that she was corrupt, saying that she never accepted any money from cigarette smugglers.

Her comments follow a Sunday Times report, which alleged that her presidential campaign received a financial contribution from self-confessed tobacco smuggler, Adriano Mazzotti.

In a series of tweets, the former African Union (AU) chairperson said she has never been involved in corruption.

“People can accuse me of many things, but not corruption. I’m not corrupt and I don’t loot,” Dlamini-Zuma tweeted.

Asked by Ben Pooler (@benpooler) whether she had accepted money from cigarette smugglers, Dlamini-Zuma responded with a simple “no”.

Photos

Her spokesperson Vukani Mthintso told News24 that Dlamini-Zuma has no “substantive relations” with Mazzotti.

“She has never approached him for any assistance, nor has he approached her and offered assistance with her campaign,” Mthintso said.

Asked how photos of Dlamini-Zuma and Mazzotti surfaced online, Mthintso said: “Thousands of people post photos taken with her and she is no position to respond as to why each individual posts such photos.”

In the series of tweets, Dlamini-Zuma also said she believes that land reform should take place “legally”.

“[It should] not create another crisis. It must benefit the landless majority,” she said.

Twitter users, however, replied to Dlamini-Zuma that she was compromised by the people she surrounds herself with.

@Pheli7812 tweeted “: As long as you are friends with your ex-husband’s crooked friends, we can’t trust you. You’ll owe them and have to defend them the same way he does.”

Koketso Rantlhwatlhw (@KRantlhwatlhw) said Dlamini-Zuma will eventually be corrupted.

“The only reason they are pushing you to become the ANC leader is merely to loot, nothing else,” Rantlhwatlhw said.

Sport24.co.za | Boks: Keep subs’ limbs loose, Allister!

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Cape Town – Hopefully Allister Coetzee will be primed to give “decorum” over the use of his Springbok bench a reasonably wide berth if necessary against Ireland on Saturday.

Generally, it is still seen by onlookers as something not far off humiliation if a starting player, not impeded by injury, is yanked off before, say, the 45-minute mark, and it still doesn’t happen too often in Test matches.

The more traditional “avalanche” of changes, if you like, tends to come on the hour or thereabouts as some legs and lungs recede in their effectiveness at the outset of the key final quarter.

Substitutions during the first half itself?

Not entirely unheard of: then-Bok coach Rudolf Straeuli once ruffled feathers, inevitably involving transformation-linked sensitivities as well, when he hauled off starting prop Lawrence Sephaka just before the half-hour point in a 2002 Test against New Zealand in Wellington.

It was clear that the admittedly struggling, then fairly rookie loose-head – replaced by Ollie le Roux – wasn’t crocked, and it was later explained as a “tactical” subbing; the Boks ended up crashing 41-20 anyway.

But the current Springboks, who revealed their match-day 23 for Saturday’s Aviva Stadium showdown on Thursday, are in a situation where several positions are unusually closely contested – a hallmark that is obviously healthy in some instances – and hotly debated.

Coetzee dropped few bombshells, considering the overall resources at his disposal on tour, with his selection, involving just three changes to his starting XV – one enforced by midfielder Jan Serfontein’s absence from the trip – from the line-up which put up such a plucky showing before being pipped by one point by the All Blacks at Newlands a month ago.

But there were some desperately close, contentious calls in some areas, and most notably at prop where changes are made on both sides of the boiler room.

Now there is a forceful case for saying that, on a day when the Bok pack did a lot more than just hold its own against the world champions in a widely-acclaimed thriller, the two props who most excelled for the home cause were Steven Kitshoff, finally earning his first start, and debutant sub Wilco Louw, who got a maiden cap in the 50th minute.

Yet neither starts in Dublin, and there is something just a little jarring about that.

Kitshoff was firm at scrum-time and thunderous in open play for a generous 78 minutes on that prior occasion, whilst Louw looked anything but overawed when he assumed the anchor-man role from penalty-prone (and now slipping on the pecking order) Ruan Dreyer at tighthead for the last half an hour of the breathless duel.

The WP strongman then also produced a gargantuan Currie Cup final, playing a major role with his set-piece power in the mildly upset triumph by the away team over the Sharks in Durban.

Still, at least for time being, and rightly or wrongly depending on your point of view, Coetzee has restored to his “first team” the two props who were unavailable at Newlands: veteran Tendai Mtawarira and Coenie Oosthuizen.

In his defence – and it isn’t a bad one, either – both the “Beast” and Big Coenie had previously been pulling their weight commendably in 2017, Mtawarira not taking noticeable backward steps in the scrums and Oosthuizen confirming that he is really learning the ropes much better now since his permanent conversion from loose-head to the tricky, demanding No 3 spot.

The last-named player will also come in handy in mauling initiatives and with his potential for rib-shaking hits on enemy ball-carriers, where he puts his 130kg frame to great use – an attribute especially handy on the slow pitches of Europe where close quarters is where so many games are won at.

All that said, Coetzee may wish to drum into his starting props that it will be no disgrace if they go more or less “fifty-fifty” on Saturday with the hungry young Kitshoff and Louw for game-time.

It would be particularly understandable if Oosthuizen got just the first half or only a fraction more, as he has not started a rugby match of any kind for more than two months since his broken-arm mishap in the Rugby Championship stalemate with Australia in Perth – in the interim, the equally strapping Louw has found possibly the form of his life.

Then again, both starting props knowing that there is such quality breathing down their necks from the “splinters” ought to also serve as extra motivation to put themselves about vigorously in whatever time they do eventually get against the combative, slight-favourite Irish.

Two others who will be feeling additional heat in Dublin, given the eagerness of Rudy Paige and Handre Pollard to enter the fray as subs, are the initial pairing at nine and ten of Ross Cronje and Elton Jantjies; the Lions duo are yet to persuade all observers that they are the longer-term real deal for the Boks in their critical berths.

Just for example, if the Boks happen to be under the cosh and the gifted but hard-to-predict Jantjies is struggling to impose himself, perhaps taking the ball too deep in the pocket and broadly having one of his “uncertain” days, coach Coetzee should not be shy to change up his battle-plan significantly and bring the more direct qualities of Pollard into operation with some swiftness and decisiveness.

This really could be one of those days where imaginative use of the entire 23, rather than just start-out 15, holds the key to a precious Bok triumph in their game-one toughie …

 *Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing

News24.com | Truth will prevail – Gordhan says at Pauw book launch

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Pretoria – Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan on Thursday evening said that while it was not up to him to test the veracity of the allegations in Jacques Pauw’s book The President’s Keepers, the truth would prevail.

Speaking at the launch of the book in Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria, Gordhan said South Africa needed more people like Pauw to show the minority of people bringing the country to its knees, that the majority would not allow that.

“It’s not my job to say whether the facts are true or not. At the end of the day, all of us know that the truth will prevail,” said Gordhan.

ALSO READ: Power outage during Jacques Pauw’s book launch being investigated – Exclusive Books

He had also commented on the book when honoured by the Business Ethics Network of Africa (BEN-Africa) at its ethics and energy conference in Stellenbosch earlier on Thursday.

At that event, Gordhan had described Pauw’s book as “a brilliant and courageous effort to connect a million dots to see who played what role,” Gordhan told Fin24.

“The question is if law enforcement agencies will do their work. There is no shortage of information,” Gordhan was quoted as saying.

Gordhan, who was axed as finance minister by President Jacob Zuma, has been outspoken about state capture and the president.

Possibility of approaching ConCourt

Pauw told a packed audience on Thursday evening that he would be consulting his defence team to prepare a bail application, in the event that he is arrested.

“I can’t see how they can charge me for publishing false information because I haven’t broken the law.”

ALSO READ: Jacques Pauw ‘potential’ SSA witness

He said charging him would mean they were confirming the contents of his book were true.

Pauw also spoke about the possibility of approaching the Constitutional Court in order to force the president and other government officials to make their tax affairs public while in office.

Former South African Revenue Services deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay was also at the Pretoria launch.

eNCA | The Race: Race relations in the WCape in the spotlight

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JOHANNESBURG – A new poll is exploring race relations in the Western Cape.

Researchers from MarkData polled hundreds of people over the past two months.

The survey is collecting data ahead of the ANC’s elective conference.

White people are in the minority in the Western Cape, but the provincial leader is white.

To many, this might seem like a throwback to the Apartheid era.

But, new data on the perceptions of racial relations is far more complex.

etv commissioned a survey in the build-up to the ANC’s elective conference.

The researchers from MarkData interviewed nearly 180 ANC voters.

They also polled about 260 people who are supporters of other parties.

One of the questions deals with race relations in the Western Cape.

Respondents were asked if relations had improved or worsened in recent times.

43% of non-ANC voters see a positive change – 30% say relations are getting worse.  

Interestingly, ANC voters are more bullish – more than half of the respondents polled say relations are improving.

But, there are some who are concerned.

Over 30% say there’s been no improvement – while nearly 12% think race relations are getting worse.

The governing party will elect its new leader next month.

eNCA

eNCA | WATCH: Trevor Manuel predicts December ANC conference will collapse

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JOHANNESBURG – Former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel believes there’s a strong chance the ANC might lose the 2019 elections.

He was speaking after the Eric Molobi memorial lecture at the University of Johannesburg, during which he said the party is in trouble.

Former Finance Minister Manuel says, “We lived with the slogan “ANC lives, ANC leads”. At the moment I don’t think that’s in evidence. The fortunes as represented by the 2016 local government elections shown an 8% drop.”

READ: Zuma the worst leader ANC has ever had: SACP

“Now I know we can’t always use that as a proxy. I also know that once the ANC is in trouble, other political parties still have a long way to reach the fortunes. But I have said before that the trend line looks as though it will be coalition politics beyond the 2019 elections.”

Manuel reiterated that not all the blame can be placed on Zuma as there are people who have been acting on his behalf. He says that notable in the ANC NEC that just do what they are told, without questioning. 

He added that the capabilities of the Hawks, the NPA, the public protector and the public protector need to be questioned. As upholders of the law he says that these state bodies need to not only serve the interest of the ruling elite but also the common man.

eNCA