Home Posts tagged "Metabolic Cookbook"

Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 11/14/16

It's been a crazy weekend of travel, as we wrapped up this year's Area Code Training Camps tour with events in Oakland and Los Angeles on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. I'm sorry to say that things were a bit too crazy to get a new blog posted last week, but we'll make up for it with some new content this week. With that said, let's start off with some recommended reading to kick off the week:

#30DaysOfArmCare - This is a new series I just started up now that the MLB offseason is in full swing. Starting today,  I'll be posting a new arm care video tutorial each day for the next month. You can follow along using this hashtag on either Twitter or Instagram

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6 Tips for Writing Better Conditioning Programs - This post from Mike Robertson is pure gold - and I love the fact that Mike isn't shy about reflecting on his previous mistakes and what he learned from them.

Metabolic Cooking - I've long been a fan of this great cookbook from Dave Ruel, and it's currently on sale at an all-time low price of $10. That's an unreal price to get a bunch of recipes you'll use for many years to come.

Top Tweet of the Week

Top Instagram Post of the Week

 

535x3 isn't a PR, but I feel like every deadlift video helps to drown out the political posts on social media. #cspfamily

A video posted by Eric Cressey (@ericcressey) on

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Pumpkin Protein Pancakes: A Healthy Recipe for the Fall

It seems that every single week, at least one Cressey Performance client asks me if I have a good protein pancake recipe. And, with it being fall, they want to get pumpkin included in the recipe.  Luckily, CP office manager Brittany Breault is a healthy cooking aficionado, and kindly offered to share her recipe with all of you.  She calls them "Spring into Fall Pumpkin Protein Pancakes."

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You'll only need seven ingredients to pull together this tasty recipe:

Directions:

1. Put the ingredients into blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

2. Heat up a skillet or pan and spray with non-stick spray. Pour the batter onto skillet, and cook!

This recipe makes 2-3 normal sized pancakes, so you can double the quantities listed above if you'd like to make a larger batch. You can also add some carob chips if you'd like to sweeten up the taste a little bit, or even plug in some raisins if you're an athlete looking for extra calories.

Of course, use moderation with syrup, or opt for a sugar-free option or different topping.  Enjoy!

Looking for other healthy recipes?  I'd highly recommend Dave Ruel's Metabolic Cooking, a resource consisting of over 250 awesome recipes for eating healthy.

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Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 50

Today marks the 50th installment of this series; not too shabby! We want to quickly say thank you to everyone who has been following along. We have received plenty of messages, and many an in-person “thank yous” for the information passed along; we really appreciate your support. With that in mind, we (Greg and Eric) have decided to collaborate on this “momentous” 50th installment to make it extra memorable.  Enjoy!

1. Consider doing more “core” work at the beginning of your training sessions.

Usually, we save direct, or less-indirect, core stability exercises for the latter portions of a strength training program. There is nothing wrong with this approach, and if you look at many of our programs at Cressey Performance, that’s still largely how we operate.

More recently, however, we are also including more of these core stability exercises early on. Here are a few scenarios where it makes sense:

The warm-up: Low-level core stability exercises should definitely be included in your warm-ups. They fit nicely into the theme of working from proximal to distal. In other words, you work at the trunk, thoracic spine, and pelvis before moving out to the extremities. Furthermore, hitting them early on will get athletes and clients “using” their core more appropriately before their training session.

With more hypermobile populations: These folks need to train for stability all the time. That training should be centered on the trunk first. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to include core stability exercises throughout their program, and expose them to those demands more times than just at the bottom end.   To determine how hypermobile a client is, run them through the Beighton Hypermobility Test, which Eric discussed recently here.

With people who lack anterior core strength: We see a lot of grossly extended individuals walk through our doors. These clients need more exposure to core stability type drills, as well as more repetition in feeling what correct positions are. With that in mind, they are another population that can benefit from core-based drills littered between their more typical upfront exercise selections.  Here are a few examples:

Additionally, keep in mind that just because an exercise doesn’t seem to be core-intensive at first doesn’t mean that you can’t make it that way.  As an example, this drill is largely geared toward improving length in the lats and long head of the triceps while improving thoracic spine extension, but the anterior core should be braced to maintain the lumbar spine in neutral.  At the bottom position, we cue the athlete to exhale fully to get some extra anterior core recruitment.

(For more details on anterior core training progressions, check out Eric’s presentation on the topic HERE)

2. Prevent compensation patterns when you clean up a movement.

Building on our discussion of anterior core control from point #1, athletes in extension will always find ways to shift their weight anteriorly, whether it’s via a heavily lordotic lumbar spine, anterior pelvic tilt, scapular depression, humeral anterior glide (elbows will often be behind the body at rest), forward head posture, or plantarflexion. 

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If you correct one, they’ll often try to go to one of the others to make up the difference.  A good example would be the forward head posture that might kick in when you correct an anterior pelvic tilt and excessive lordosis on the previously featured back-to-wall shoulder flexion.  As has often been said, the best athletes are the best compensators, so you need to make sure you don't let them just shift their postural dysfunction up or down a joint or two.

3. Use chia seeds in your shakes.

Chia seeds, in the opinion of many, are one of those super foods that are nearly impossible toeat. These little guys pack a ton of healthy fats, including a great amount of alpha linolenic acid (ALA), but they don’t taste so great out in the raw. However, they will make a welcomed addition to your smoothies. Along with boasting a very positive nutrient profile, chia seeds also become gelatinous when wet. That gelatinous consistency does wonders for your stomach, as well as for thickening up the consistency of your smoothie! Give them a try next time you're blending it up!

4. Improve your diet by planning ahead.

We have been big supporters of Precision Nutrition for many years now. Since the start, they have always placed a huge focus on meal planning. This habit is crucial to anyone’s success in developing better nutrition. The key word here is MEAL. Nobody likes to shop for macronutrients, or raw food items. However, that’s how many so called “healthy” people shop. A much better approach is to plan the week’s food intake based around a few recipes. From there, you can shop for the meals, not just for food.

Doing so will hold you accountable to actually cooking, and cooking tasty meals at that. This will help you develop a much better relationship with food. Additionally, as you continue to learn recipes and cook meals, you will have an arsenal of healthy eats in your pocket.

A little extra work up front will have a payoff down the road. As an action item, explore some recipes yourself, jot down a grocery list based off the ingredients and head to the grocery store this week with a plan! If you are looking for some good recipes, check out Metabolic Cooking, a great online cookbook full of delicious healthy food options.

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5. Have you kids take an active role in your nutritional approach.

To piggyback off my last point, I (Greg) recently learned a lesson from one of my online nutrition clients. One of our goals over the past few weeks was the inclusion of meal planning out of a cookbook. Each week, he has been using the recipes to make at least three meals per week. Slowly, he is amassing the experience to cook and shop for healthy meals with ease.

He described to me that his go-to process in selecting the meals is laying the cookbook out, and having his daughter select two recipes. When I heard this I was blown away! What an easy way to get kids involved with the process.

His daughter was excited to eat the meals she selected – and these were often meals that she normally wouldn’t touch if her parents made them without her help. I have interacted with many parents who struggle with eating healthy and feeding their kids. They lean on their kids’ distaste for the new healthier foods as an excuse to be lax in their own efforts. If you are one of these people, or just want a great way to get your kids involved in better nutrition, give this a try right away!

Wrap-up

If you enjoyed the first 50 installments of this series, we'd love your feedback in the comments section below.  Are there particular areas you'd like to see us touch upon with our weekly tips?  If so, please let us know!  Thanks for your continued support.

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Metabolic Cooking Recipe: Asian Turkey Burger

As I've written in previous blog posts, I'm a big fan of Metabolic Cooking, a healthy cookbook that offers recipes for 249 healthy food options, many of which my wife and I cook on a regular basis.  This week, the authors, Dave Ruel and Karine Losier, have put the resource on sale for more than 50% off.  And, more specific to today's post, they told me it'd be cool to post a sample recipe for those who may be interested in learning more about what to expect from this cookbook.

Recipe: Asian Turkey Burger

Makes 3 Servings (3 Burgers)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• ¼ cup minced onion
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons minced green bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl.
2. With clean hands, squeeze it together until it’s very well combined.
3. Divide into three equal portions and form into burgers about ¾ inch (2 cm) thick.
4. Spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray.
5. Place over medium-high heat.
6. Cook the burgers for about 5 minutes per side until cooked through.

Nutritional Facts (per serving):

Calories: 184
Protein: 33g
Carbohydrates: 4g
Fat: 4g

turkey burgers

For more great recipes like this, check out Metabolic Cooking and take advantage of this week's great discount.

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6 Ways to Get More Protein in Your Diet

Today's guest post comes from Chris Howard. In addition to being a strength and conditioning coach, Chris handles nutrition consultations for all the clients at Cressey Performance.

In my work with clients at Cressey Performance I have noticed that people need to get more protein in their diets. Most of us are so carbohydrate focused, making sure that we get the Food Guide Pyramid’s recommended 6-11 servings of grains a day, that we neglect to get enough protein. This is unfortunate, not only because people are still using the Food Guide Pyramid for advice, but also because protein is such an important and essential nutrient. I find this is particularly true in our female clients, with whom I am always discussing ways to get more protein in their diets, as many tend not to be huge consumers of meat and animal products. In addition, I find that many of our high school kids who are looking to gain weight can benefit from eating more protein. Here are some of the tips that have really helped our clients.

1. Eat more eggs!

Eggs are a simple way to include more protein in your diet, particularly at breakfast. A large egg has 6 grams of protein in it. Adding a few of these in throughout the day can go a long way toward helping you achieve a protein consumption in grams equal to your body weight in pounds. As a bonus, there are numerous ways to cook eggs, so there is likely a method you will like even if you are not an egg person – scrambled, poached, hard-boiled, baked, fried, and many others. Add some veggies and spices for a more complete meal.

2. Switch to Greek yogurt.

Most of our clients eat yogurt frequently, but unfortunately most of it is the processed, sugar-added garbage that the commercials are telling them will help them lose weight. My suggestion for higher protein intake and a healthier body is to switch to Greek-style yogurt. Greek yogurt has over twice the protein of even plain traditional yogurt at 23 grams versus 10 grams per cup. Add some berries and flax or chia seed to your Greek yogurt for a healthy breakfast or snack idea.

3. Make a smoothie!

I think smoothies are a great option no matter what your nutritional goals are. You can easily incorporate additional vegetables as I mentioned previously. In this case, smoothies are a great way to up your protein intake by adding protein powder, greek yogurt, almond milk, or even egg whites. A lot of people don’t necessarily like the taste of protein powders or greek yogurt, so smoothies make for a more palatable way to incorporate these foods into your nutrition plan. Here is a great article by the folks at Precision Nutrition to get you started on your smoothie-making journey.

4. Increase your portion size.

I know this one sounds strange, especially to the fat-loss community. Think about it, though. If you are having chicken for dinner and want to increase your protein intake, just eat more chicken. Hey, no one said this was rocket-science. For most of our clients, I recommend aiming for 1-2 palm sized portions of protein at each meal, which will usually get them into the range of 1g/lb body weight. When I look at the portion sizes of many of our skinny high school kids and our adult fat-loss clients, they simply are not eating a large enough portion size of protein. Speaking of chicken, here is a dynamite recipe for chicken fingers from Metabolic Cooking. Add some vegetables for a complete meal.

5. Don’t forget cheese.

While I tend not to eat a ton of dairy food and a lot of people are switching to more paleo-style diets, let’s not forget about cheese. It can be used as an excellent source of not only protein, but also calories for those of you looking to gain weight. Now, I am certainly not suggesting that you sit around eating a block of your favorite cheddar every day, but I’m not opposed to throwing a little on an omelet in the morning or having some fresh mozzarella with your chicken and asparagus at dinner.

6. Look to your fat source for some extra protein.

Nuts and seeds are a great addition to any diet, mainly for the healthy fats they contain. However, nuts and seeds have the added benefit of providing some much needed protein. An ounce of almonds has 6 grams of protein, which when added to a snack of greek yogurt with blueberries can make for a significant protein punch. Both cacao nibs and chia seeds will provide an additional 4 grams per ounce. Two tablespoons of peanut butter with provide an additional 8 grams. While nuts and seeds won’t compare to chicken or beef in terms of the protein they contain, nuts and seeds provide the benefit of being portable raw food options that work well for snacks between main meals.

Wrap-up

In closing, give some or all of these ideas a try when you are planning out your next meal. I’ve heard countless clients talk about how much more energy they have and how much better they feel after increasing their protein intake. Please remember, you don’t ever need to completely overhaul your diet, but rather make small changes each day or week that will lead to large changes over time.

About the Author

Christopher Howard received his his Bachelor’s of Science in Exercise Science and Masters of Science in Nutrition Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo. In addition, Chris is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength & Conditioning Association, a Licensed Massage Therapist in the state of Massachusetts, and a Level 1 Certified Precision Nutrition Coach. Chris has been a strength coach at Cressey Performance since 2010. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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The Best of 2011: Product Reviews

I've already featured the top articles at EricCressey.com from 2011, and now it's time to highlight the top product reviews I did at this site in the last year. 1. Metabolic Cooking - This was the most popular product review I did on the year for a very simple reason: everybody needs to eat!  And, the folks reading this site prefer to eat "clean" - and Dave Ruel did a great job of making this easier and tastier with an outstanding recipe book to which I still refer every week.  I made two posts about the product: Metabolic Cooking: Making it Easier to Eat Clean with Healthy Food Options A Must-Try Recipe - and My Chubby 4th Grade Pics! (this is the best chicken fingers recipe in history; try it!)

2. Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body - This was the sequel to the popular lower-body product that was released by Rick Kaselj et al. in 2010.  I went through and highlighted each presenters contributions to the product via four posts: Muscle Imbalances Revealed Review - Upper: Part 1 (Dean Somerset) Muscle Imbalances Revealed Review - Upper: Part 2 (Dr. Jeff Cubos) Muscle Imbalances Revealed Review - Upper: Part 3 (Tony Gentilcore and Rick Kaselj)

3. Lean Hybrid Muscle - As the review below will demonstrate, this program offered me a nice change of pace from my "normal" training when I needed to shake things up earlier this year.  It's a nice follow-up to Show and Go.  Here's my review: How I'm Breaking Out of My Training Rut: The Lean Hybrid Muscle Strength and Conditioning Program

4. Post-Rehab Essentials - Based on the fact that Dean Somerset has now gotten two shout-outs in my top product reviews of 2011, you might think that I have somewhat of a man-crush on him.  The truth is that I think Dean relates complex terms in simple terms and "teaches" about as well as anyone in the fitness industry.  Check out this post that touches on why his product has merit: 4 Reasons You Must Understand Corrective Exercise and Post-Rehab Training

There were certainly some other great products I encountered this year, but these four reviews proved to be the most popular with my readers, based on hosting statistics. We'll be back soon with the top features of 2011. Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
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Healthy Food Options: Cashew-Crusted Chicken…Yum!

My wife cooked up some cashew-crusted chicken the other night, and it was spectacular.

These suckers were almost as good as the chicken fingers recipe I posted a few months ago - and serve as yet another example of how awesome Dave Ruel's Metabolic Cooking is.  If you haven't picked up a copy already, do so; you won't regret it!

Click here to check out my full review of the product and see a bunch of other stuff we've cooked from this great resource.

 

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An Awesome Resource for Healthy Food Options

Based on the overwhelmingly positive response to my two blogs on Metabolic Cooking recently (you can find them HERE and HERE), I thought I'd do my best to incorporate a little more nutrition flavor (no pun intended) to this blog. Fortunately for me, Cara Lyons is a Cressey Performance client who just so happens to write a fantastic blog on healthy food options: Cara's Cravings. She also just had a recipe for Banana Curry Chicken Foil Packets with Cashew Raisin Quinoa featured in Clean Eating Magazine. Check out her site; you'll find a lot of tasty (and free) recipes to make summer eating healthier. Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a deadlift technique tutorial!
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A Must-Try Recipe – and My Chubby 4th Grade Pics!

When I was in fourth grade, I loved two things: sports and chicken fingers.

When I was about 8, I went on a 4-5 day trip to Gettysburg with my grandparents, and to this day, my grandmother jokes about how I ordered chicken fingers for every single lunch and dinner for the entire trip.  Likewise, Tuesdays at the Sea Road School cafeteria was affectionately known as “nug-nug” days for the chicken nuggets my friends and I couldn’t wait to dominate each week.

Little did we know (at the time, at least) that we were really just eating a load of “mechanically separated chicken parts,” sugar, bread crumbs, corn starch, vegetable oil, and “leavening” and “anti-foaming” additives.  In spite of my crazy activity level, it’s these stellar ingredients (and surely some of the other garbage I was eating) that were responsible for my remarkable transformation between my third and fourth grade school pictures.

Whoever said that you can’t gain “baby fat” in 4th grade never watched me crush nug-nugs.

Kidding aside (kind of), it should come as no surprise that I love to eat; at heart, I’m still a chubby kid who wants his chicken fingers.  However, I fight my inner demons and stick to the healthy stuff.  I’m proud to say that I was “chicken finger sober” for 16 years, but that streak ended on Monday night.  Fortunately, I was working off a great recipe I picked up from Dave Ruel’s Metabolic Cooking e-book, one of my favorite resources of all time.

These fingers were “to die for,” so I thought I’d reach out to Dave to see if he’d be okay with me reprinting his Metabolic "Fried" Chicken Fingers recipe for my loyal readers.  Knowing the joy that chicken fingers has brought to mankind for centuries, he kindly obliged – and here it is:

"INGREDIENTS (RECIPE MAKES 4 SERVINGS/16 FINGERS)

• 4 cooked chicken breasts (4oz each)
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• ½ cup bran buds
• ½ cup oatmeal
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare baking sheet by coating the coconut oil. Cut chicken breasts into four equal strips (you should have 16 strips total). Set aside. Grind oatmeal and bran buds in a food processor (or blender). Next, combine all dry ingredients in a large container with a tightly fitting lid. Shake well. This is your coating mixture.

2. Add egg whites in a medium bowl. Dip each strip in the egg whites. Then dip each strip (finger) in the coating mixture. Make sure each piece is well coated.

3. Place on the baking sheet. When all of your chicken has been coated and your baking sheet is full, place in the oven and bake for 10 mins or until golden. Then turn the fingers and bake for an additional 5-6 minutes."

Here's how ours turned out (and I can assure you that they tasted even better than they looked; I was more concerned with wolfing them down than I was with tastefully presenting them for the camera):

For more awesome recipes like this, be sure to check out Metabolic Cooking, a great resource to which you'll be referring for years to come. It (as well as its sister resource, Anabolic Cooking) is on sale for just $10 through the end of the day today

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Metabolic Cooking: Making it Easier to Eat Clean with Healthy Food Options

A lot of people know me as a guy with incredible willpower when it comes to eating; I’m not a guy who eats pizza, desserts, or really anything kind of junk.  However, a lot of people take that to mean that I don’t enjoy food – but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  I love to eat – but I prefer it to be healthy food options; give me a good steak and some fresh vegetables and I’ll be much happier than if I’d just spent some quality time with Ben and Jerry.

That’s why I’m always psyched when I get healthy recipes thrown my way.  As much as I like healthy food, it’s easy to get stuck in ruts with the same things over and over again.  Taking it a step further, now that I’m living with a wife, I have to keep in mind that she doesn’t tolerate a bland diet as easily as I could – and since she likes to cook, new recipes are pretty clutch for my marriage!

As such, I was really fired up when I read through Dave Ruel’s Metabolic Cooking, a resource consisting of over 250 awesome recipes for eating healthy.  If you like John Berardi’s stuff in this regard, you’ll also love Dave’s.

Metabolic Cooking is a really expansive product, as it provides recipes for breakfasts, chicken/poultry, fish/seafood, red meat, pork, sides, smoothies, snacks, and vegetarian options.  There were several things that really stood out for me about this fantastic resource.

The first thing I really took away from this resource was how to use different spices in cooking.  You’ll get a kick out of this, but the ONLY thing I added to our wedding registry last year was a spice rack, as I wanted to use more herbs and spices in our cooking.  I received it – but it’s been sitting idle in our kitchen since October simply because I didn’t know when to use things like thyme, sage, and rosemary.  Sure enough, Dave includes a lot of these in his recipes – and they’ve been delicious additions to meat and vegetables.  Check out the herbed green beans I made the other night.

He does some equally creative stuff with healthy salad dressings, too.

Second, Dave “convinced” me to start eating some pork again.  I never really resisted including pork in my diet like a lot of people do nowadays (because they think it’s unhealthy), but I didn’t really have any good recipes that made me want to go out and buy some.  That changed last week when I made some slow cooker chili pork the other night.

Third, Dave gave me something to do with the coconuts and fresh pineapples in our front yard during our honeymoon in Costa Rica.  Check out this pina colada smoothie (yes, I even hacked up the coconut and pineapple myself).  Before and afters:

Fourth, my wife and I eat a fair amount of ground turkey, which almost always comes in one-pound packages.  The problem is that 16 oz of meat cooks up to 12oz of meat – and I’ll eat 7-8oz and my wife will eat 4-5oz.  In other words, there are zero leftovers after we have dinner – and I get "hangry" (a combination of hungry and angry) when there’s nothing kicking around the next day for me to take to work.  Dave’s got a great recipe called “Mexi Turkey-Eggs Skillet” that adds eggs (and some vegetables) to the ground turkey, which thickens it up and ensures that you’ll have some leftovers.

When all was said and done, my wife and I both had our dinners – and then had enough for lunch for both of us to take to work the next day.  And I wasn’t hangry at all.

Fifth, on the logistical side of things, Dave has a cool feature in his e-book that allows you to easily navigate back and forth from the individual recipes to the table of contents (and vice versa).  I hadn’t seen this before in an e-book and I absolutely love it (so much, in fact, that I plan to incorporate something similar where appropriate in my future products).

For those looking to lean out (or gain muscle, for that matter), Dave provides nutritional facts for each recipe and advice on whether to include it as a protein and fat, protein and carb, or “mixed” meal.  So, it’s not just recipes; it’s very useful advice as well.

In case you couldn’t tell by now, I give this product about 47 thumbs up, as evidenced by the fact that all I’ve been doing is eating healthy food (and a lot of it) ever since it arrived.  I mean, can you argue with this Lemon Herb Mustard Chicken?  Not bad for a meathead strength coach, huh?

Trust me: this is a resource you will use for years to come.  Pick up a copy and you won’t be disappointed: Metabolic Cooking. As an added bonus, it's on sale for 67% off this week - along with its "sister resource," Anabolic Cooking, which is also awesome. You can get them both for just $20 right now...pretty sweet deal.

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