In Minshall’s heyday as a bandleader during the 1970s and 80s, Samuel enjoyed an exclusive reign as the masman’s king, dancing costumes such as The Sacred and the Profane, Devil’s Ray and Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright.

On that particular Sunday, though, Samuel did not visit Minshall’s home alone but led an entourage comprising acclaimed jazz musician Etienne Charles and a few of his friends.

Minshall had some inkling as to what the visit was about, s a y i n g “things get drawn to each-other by which way the wind blows.” At the time of the visit, however, Minshall said he was not “too happy” about a number of things taking place around the world but had found comfort in the chicken wire, glue and cloth he had before him.

“I thought, ‘This thing has such character (chicken wire, glue and cloth),’” he told Sunday Newsday during an interview on Wednesday.

The masman said Charles, too, was instantly inspired by the material.

“What happens to chicken wire and a certain glue when you use them with the idea of mas informing you from the tip of your toes to the top of your head, something magical can happen,” Minshall theorised.

Lo and behold, Minshall has joined forces with Charles and others to produce a Carnival band, which will hit the streets tomorrow and Tuesday.

The mas band, two inexorably linked presentations, is a manifestation of Charles’ Carnival – The Sound Of A People, a recent production which drew on his extensive research on musicians and masqueraders of traditional Carnival characters.

Tomorrow, they will portray We the People, a band featuring live musicians and singers.

Minshall said the words, We the People, will be emblazoned in red on T-shirts across the torso of the masqueraders. They also will wear a matching bright red beret to complete the look.

An internet profile of the band’s Monday presentation states: “Altogether, it is a joyful Monday celebration of the very best in us, with Etienne and Friends providing living proof that music is the highest form of human communication. The streets will jump for joy with We The People on Monday.” On Tuesday, Minshall’s talents will again be on display in a small, dystopian sailor mas, Spiritus Mundi (State of the World), accompanied on the road by the Exodus Steel Orchestra. He said the presentation was inspired by the poem, The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats (1865- 1939).

“On Tuesday is The Second Coming, Spiritus Mundi – a post nuclear sailor mas—-A classic robber mas and a classic sailor mas morphed as one to make an ominous, empty, vaporised future, appear before us as a passing parade in the present – Carnival 2017. You can’t play mas and ‘fraid powder,” the band’s internet profile said.

Minshall, who won the band of the year title eight times, said the band was essentially about Carnival and the happenings in society, the global challenges, including the fallout from Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States.

“It has also got a rich political vibrancy to it. I would say it is an odd partnership. The world certainly woke up to a different morning after the last US presidential election,” he said.

“On the Monday we will be playing Live and on Tuesday, Dead. Is mas we playing. It has really been brought into being by the times in which we live and mas, as with any other self-respecting artform, is able to comment lucidly on the times in which we live.” That the mas features a retro 1950s theme was “very deliberate,” Minshall said adding that much attention was paid to detail.

“The mas is made with chicken wire, cotton balls and glue by hand, beginning to end. And sewn by hand, beginning to end. I am proud to say that this little group of people, like any good mas coming down from the country, made big Trinidad,” he said.

For Minshall, the band is much more than mas.

“A whisper spoken with earnestness and a sense of truth can be more powerful than a loud explanation that has nothing at its centre nor soul.” He said, though, the time-frame within which he had to work did not allow for a large, elaborate production.

“Given the time that we had and the time required to fashion a single headpiece, I said this band could work with anything from 30 to 100. But you just need to see a small collection of these like strangers from some other time, which, of course, is projected as time in the future, a post nuclear fancy sailor mas.

“That means some 20, 30, 40, 50 years. But, what is wonderful about it is that almost consciously I was combining two of the greatest traditions in the mas – the sailor which was twin-birthed with pan and in the last 40s and early 50s and the robber which has been there since time immemorial.” Minshall said a mas band does not require 3,000 or more masqueraders to be successful.

“Strength is not in size. It is in heart and soul statements.

Strength is in communication,” he .said. “It could be three people. But if it is profound, like last year, two of the most heartfelt experiences I have had in the entirety of my life in the mas, is the one that started it all – From the Land of the Hummingbird and the one that took flight and landed, last year, the Dying Swan.” From the Land of the Hummingbird was Minshall’s breakout costume – one he created for his adopted sister, Sherry-Ann Guy Coelho, in Carnival 1974. It marked a signal moment in the iconic masman’s career.

Coelho also went on to become Queen of Carnival on a few occasions.

Minshall once said in an interview that the costume took “five weeks, 12 people, 104 feathers, each one made of 150 different pieces of fabric.” He said then, it was designed to allow the masquerader “total mobility and was an immediate sensation.” Minshall maintains similar reverence for his controversial 2016 costume The Dying Swan, Ras Nijinsky in Drag as Pavlova, which broke his ten-year hiatus from mas.

The costume had placed third in the King of Carnival competition but was heavily criticised as a “minimalistic design.” Minshall stands fearlessly by his portrayal.

On Wednesday, Minshall likened Spiritus Mundi to From the Land of the Hummingbird and The Dying Swan, largely because of their profoundness.

“From the Hummingbird to the Swan. Those two, when you are nervous about something, when you are scared. When you realise it will run against the grain of everything else that people are putting out there,” he said “When you realise that deep in your heart, that this is what the playing of the mas is about, in the same way, this little group of post-nuclear fancy sailors is quite apart from anything else is going to make a lot of old folk feel very good inside with a sort of satisfying sigh. Ah, yes, well at least I see that again before I dead, including me.” Minshall said the presentation was really about the era of the 1950s and had nothing to do with “mode or fashion and gowns and dresses.” “Whether it is imported with a few feathers added and then we put the label Trinidad on it. No, no, no, no, no.” Asked if the band signalled his official return to mas, Minshall said: “I have never left. I have, perhaps, not participated as much as I used to because I began to feel uncomfortable with a sense of unbelonging.” Minshall regarded the presentation as a breath of fresh air, given what he feels, has been passed for mas within the last two decades.

“Let me say that fashion, as currently happens, is not mas.

What people wore 100 years ago, though, could be brought back today in a spectacular historical pageant.

“But to mix up what people are wearing today with what people are supposed to wear on the street is really to get into rather sweet-smelling dirty water. That is my feeling.” Masqueraders are expected to gather at 2 pm tomorrow outside of the Police Mounted Branch on Long Circular Road, St James.

On Tuesday, the band will assemble from 8 am, outside of the Twin Towers, southern side of the Brian Lara Promenade, Port-of- Spain.

So meh plan is to sing soca until meh dead.

Woi yoi ..woi yoi x 3

Is Soca or Die – Calypso by GBM Nutron

For years he wrote and produced songs for other artistes, eventually transitioning to singing his own music. This year, Jason Carter’s personal voice rang a little clearer when his song, Calypso, made it to the finals of the Lotto Plus International Soca Monarch competition.

Better known as GBM Nutron, 30-year-old Carter has been in the music business for over ten years. His first professional opportunity came at the age of 18, when a mutual friend paved the way for him to produce and write the song Fever, featuring Assassin for Vincentian soca artiste, Kevin Lyttle. That collaboration led to a meeting with Kenwyn “God Bless” Holder (GB), and through GB, Machel Montano, the original “M” in GBM.

However, Carter’s introduction to music came from a very young age.

His father was legendary bass player Ancil “Perez” Ford who was part of bands such as Sound Revolution and Shandileer, and he produced many hits for Carl and Carol Jacobs, calypsonian Crazy and others.

In addition, Carter said the members of his family were always into the arts, performing parang, dancing at Best Village for years, and generally dabbling in the creative arts.

At the age of ten, his family moved to New York and, as he grew older, he became interested in studying art.

He said his first love was painting but later he went into fashion design and began to study the subject after completing high school.

“At that point in time I bounced up with a clip of fellas who were into hip hop. They were making their own music and I became interested in how they were doing it. I started experimenting with the production software and I dropped everything else,” he said.

Therefore, at age 17, he stopped school and soon began making beats, which is what led him to working with Lyttle less than a year later. Around that time, he visited a radio station which hosted a Caribbean programme.

GB, the DJ of that programme as well as the road manager for Montano in North America, was impressed with Nutron’s work, both with Lyttle and the beats he produced.

So, at 19 he was asked by Montano to join and tour with his band and Nutron did so for four to five years, writing and producing songs, and as the band programmer. He also became an official member of GBM Productions, producing hit songs for artistes such as Montano, Shal Marshall, his older brother Kevon Carter, Destra, Kes The Band, Ravi B, and others.

Carter explained that GBM was a brand and Nutron, a long-standing nickname. He placed GBM in front of his name in order to support the brand.

However, as Montano separated from the company, GMB underwent several incarnations, including the name Great Brooklyn Movement. He said over the years the brand expanded beyond Brooklyn and was now simply GBM.

Carter told Sunday Newsday the move to singing was a natural one, part of his growth process after gaining success as a writer, producer, and sound engineer.

He recalled he and Kevon had “dabbled” in music together, even forming a boy band in their younger days, before he settled on painting and fashion.

“Eventually, going through the motions, producing and writing for other artists, demo- ing the songs for other artists to learn, playing around so much with music, it became a natural transition where the closer I got to music the more it became part of me.

“There were things that I wanted to say that I would not put on record for someone else to sing. They were my feelings and thoughts, my expressions, this is how I would do it, this is what my voice could do,” he said.

Carter noted it was four years ago that he finally made the move to sing. He said GB had presented the song Bend Over to Montano, but Carter felt an affinity to the song, he “felt” it, and so decided to give singing a try with the song Bubblin.

Now, with the song Calypso, Carter again found his voice, describing the song as one of his rawest, realist contributions.

He said he loved the response the song was getting from audiences as the aim was to evoke emotions. “Calypso is a song that I put my true, honest thoughts and self into. I didn’t try to cater to the season, the genre, anything. I was just being myself within the zone of calypso and soca,” he said.

This was one of the reasons Carter was excited about Calypso making it to the Soca Monarch finals. He said it was not a typical Soca Monarch song as it was neither a power nor groovy.

He said he also appreciated that the Soca Monarch audience was different as it was not just a fete but patrons were actually interested in the performances, showcasing what a song meant to an artiste.

He believed the competition would give the GBM brand more exposure, which was timely as, this year, he planed to release a digital album called Calypso: The Unsung Legacy.

The album would have 15 songs – seven which he already released for the 2017 Carnival season and eight new songs. Carter said he would not categorise it as a soca album as it had elements of soca, calypso, hip hop, dance hall, and pop music.

He will also be performing at the annual GBM Showcase in New York on March 19.

Carter revealed he had recently been working with live musicians and otherwise experimenting with his music as he wanted people who were not fans of soca to “sit up and pay attention.” “I am interested in placing soca on the mantle with world class music. If you really investigate some of the biggest songs throughout history, they weren’t specifically any one genre, they were just great songs.

“I want to continue being able to become an honest artiste. I’m just trying to express myself, not compete with anyone. I really hope to be able to make some leaps and bounds for the artform,” he said.

I paint stories. My energy is in sync with the energy of these islands.” These are the words of artist Gail Pantin, who proves her statement in the third instalment of the exhibition series Pan, Rhythm and People which opened on February 23 and will run until March 4 at the Art Society headquarters, corner of Jamaica Boulevard and St Vincent Avenue, Federation Park.

“This rhythm, this life, this blood. This is my father’s country, this is my country. This is where I want to die. I choose to be here,” exclaimed Pantin.

The exhibition contains over 70 pieces of local people and scenes, ranging in size from six inches to four feet. They are sketches and paintings in watercolours, acrylics, oil pencil, Japanese brush pen, and mixed media, depending on the feeling she wanted to convey. The images include scenes of the Botanical Gardens, Queen’s Park Savannah, and Tobago, as well as Carnival-inspired pieces highlighting individual pan players and vendors who come out during this time.

“I don’t do one style. I am an artist who has always done and enjoyed various themes and subjects in multiple styles. When I think of rhythm I don’t think of just one swaying movement. I think of every pace of rhythm,” she said. Pantin stressed her focus is on the life, the business, and the personality of the individuals rather than not generic players or vendors. “Everybody is doing masqueraders and maybe the Kings and Queens but you’re not seeing pan paintings like this, individual panmen, real people.

Each individual pan player has their own rhythm – slow and relaxed or fast and exciting – it’s colourful and really loud.

“All of the panmen have a different rhythm, whether it’s their face, their motion, their style, the energy and excitement they put out. Trinidad and Tobago is like that. Tobago has this soothing, peaceful, down deep rhythm while Trinidad has this exciting feel,” she explained.

Therefore, she also created several “slower” pieces showcasing life in Tobago including a street artist working on a sketch, a bird perched on a fishing boat, or people playing a make-shift game at the side of the road. There are also images of landscapes, flowers and trees, including the tree under which the body of murdered Japanese pan player, Asami Nagakiya, was found.

Pantin told Sunday Newsday she always wanted to be an artist.

She clearly recalled that, when she was five she spent most of her time with old people and children, and decided she did not want anyone to teach her to paint, but would practise and gain experience like her older friends.

“I realised for me to be a painter I had to have experience so I always said that when I was 50, that is when I would have enough experience to be called an artist,” she said.

Initially, Pantin wanted to use her creative ability for medical purposes, particularly prosthetics. However, when her father died at age 14 and her mother and siblings moved to Canada, she decided to focus on commercial art in order to make a living.

While in Canada she worked in the commercial field and had very little time for painting. However, she always had an interest in Asian culture and decided to visit for a year. While in Singapore, she got a job as an art teacher and stayed therefore 20 years teaching, doing community work with the government and travelling the continent. She also worked with children of varying economic backgrounds and social challenge, and developed a passion for improving the lives of children through art.

Again, Pantin was so busy she had no time to paint. However, she decided that if she wanted to call herself an artist, she should put aside at least ten minutes per day to paint. Therefore, twice per day for 14 years she spent five minutes creating a portrait.

“I was doing the commercial art hoping I could be an artist one day but I got so carried away with it that I decided if I can not make five minutes a day to do a painting then I should not be working in the business of being an artist,” she said.

Pantin said she does not believe she is a natural artist, but she persisted and continues to work hard at it. “You can only get better at something of you think there is a way to improve but if you think you’re good at it, there’s nowhere to go… It took a long time to call myself an artist. This is the first show in which I really feel I’m an artist because of the intensity and complete focus involved – I paint and I sleep,” she said.

Two or three years ago (she admits she is “really bad” with time), Pantin returned to TT with the aim of “capturing the essence of the country” and to work with communities, especially children, to give them a medium to express themselves.

“One day I woke up and said I want to come back home, work and make a difference here. I want to use art socially, not so much to breed artists, but to build confidence and to have it as a subject to make people get in touch with something within them,” she said.

Pantin said she already started when she ran the Art Society’s children’s workshop last August, and hopes to continue by working with Holy Name Convent, her alma mater, in the near future.

She is also in the midst of another project, 100 portraits, in which she uses Japanese pen to draw portraits of people. The portraits are purposefully black and white so that skin colour or tone does not distract from the features.

A few of these portraits are featured in the exhibition.

Quinton de Kock’s 178 – an innings that kick-started South Africa’s 5-0 whitewash against Australia at home – was named the ODI batting performance of the year.

South Africa were the opposition that Sunil Narine destroyed on his comeback, with 6 for 27 in Guyana, which was voted the ODI bowling performance of the year.

The ESPNcricinfo awards honour the best batting and bowling performances across the international formats of the game in the preceding calendar year. The jury for this year’s awards included Ian Chappell, Mahela Jayawardene, Courtney Walsh, Mark Butcher, Ramiz Raja, and ESPNcricinfo’s senior writers and editors.

On the night when Brathwaite hit four consecutive sixes to give the West Indies men their second World T20 title, 18-year-old Matthews made her maiden T20I half-century – the highest score in a Women’s World T20 final – and was instrumental in West Indies winning their first global title after failing to qualify for the final on three previous occasions.

New Zealand offspinner Leigh Kasperek won the women’s T20 bowling award for her 3 for 13 in a six-wicket win in a World T20 group game against Australia in Nagpur.

The men’s T20 International bowling award went to Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman, who took five New Zealand wickets for 22 runs with his cutters in a World T20 game in Kolkata.

Last year Mustafizur was named the debutant of the year – a category voted on by ESPNcricinfo’s users, in addition to the jury. This year that honour went to another young Bangladesh bowler – Mehedi Hasan, who took a record 19 wickets in his debut Test series, against England.

Broad, who won last year for his phenomenal 8 for 15 in the Trent Bridge Ashes Test, took home the award this year for his series-sealing spell of 6 for 17, which razed South Africa for 83 runs in Johannesburg.

Afghanistan dominated the nominations in the Associates categories and bagged both batting and bowling awards. Opener Mohammad Shahzad for his 118 in an 81-run win against Zimbabwe in Sharjah; it was not only Afghanistan’s first T20I century but also the highest score by a player from an Associate nation against a Full Member. And offspinner Mohammad Nabi for a miserly 2 for 16 (including three maidens) off ten overs in a two-wicket win against Bangladesh in an ODI in Mirpur.

Virat Kohli was named captain of the year, for India’s unbeaten run in Tests in 2016, including a series win in the West Indies and a 4-0 win over England at home. Out of 12 Tests last year, India won nine and drew three. Kohli’s personal batting form remained exceptional all through; he averaged nearly 76 in the 12 Tests and scored three double-hundreds.

“The ESPNcricinfo Awards are about meaning and context,” Sambit Bal, editor-in-chief of ESPNcricinfo, said, “so we are chuffed a ten-ball innings sits beside a score of 258 in the list of winners.

There is delight and irony in the fact that these two performances belong to Carlos Brathwaite and Ben Stokes, whose names will be forever entwined for those dramatic four balls in the World T20 final.

It’s also our great pleasure to introduce winners from women and Associates cricket in the tenth year of the awards. We should have had them earlier, but it’s not too late to make amends.”

Ramon Maldonado fired Mexico in front in the 2nd minute after collecting a pass from Angel Rodriguez unmarked in front goal. It was 2-0 in the 10th when Cesar Saldivar nodded in a long throw past TT goalie Zane Coker after some more poor defensive work from the TT unit.

But the red, white and black managed to pull one back, Ryan Augustine running on to a flicked pass from Chad Appoo and volleyed home with his left foot in the 24th. But any hope of a comeback was soon diminished when Angel Rodriguez drilled a low right footer into the back of the net in the 27th minute. And from a narrow angle in the 33rd, Maldonado got his second of the evening after bursting down the right and squeezing his shot through the TT ‘keeper’s legs. It was another 5-1 whipping for TT when Diego Rodriguez converted the simple tap in after some good work by Angel Rodriguez to lure Coker out of his goal.

The young Trinis, playing with their backs against the wall and needing victory to have a chance to qualify, took a 47th minute lead when skipper Jabari Mitchell took a pass near the edge of the penalty area, dribbled past one defender and smashed a left-footed shot past the El Salvador goalkeeper.

But a goal by the El Salvadoreans temporarily dampened the TT boys spirits.

They however rejuvenated themselves and Kathon St Hillaire was sent through the El Salvador defence in the 72nd and he drilled a first time right footer past the ‘keeper.

Despite their victory which put them on four points, TT were made to wait on the result of the game between hosts Costa Rica and Bermuda.

A draw or a win for Bermuda would have sent TT through along with El Salvador (six points) who topped the group. But Costa Rica, who found themselves trailing 0-1 early in the first half, drew level before the break and got the go-ahead goal after the interval to squak through 2-1.

TT drew their opening game with Bermuda 1-1 before losing 1-0 to Costa Rica on Thursday.

“This was by far our most positive game and result in the tournament so far and I am very pleased for the entire squad. They worked very hard for it and they went into this match with the right mindset and it showed out there on the pitch. They gave everything and got the just reward with the victory,” Head coach Brian Williams told TTFA Media.

“Now it’s for us to see if Bermuda can put on a strong performance and cause the upset against Costa Rica in the second match,” he added after TT’s match.

Although the show started about 45 minutes late, the officials kept bands moving so there was a swift flow, allowing for a few unregistered bands to cross the stage as well. A few bands simply walked on and off without really performing for the judges while Carnival Babie TT and Majestic Kidz performed choreographed dances for the judges and Maraval RC School performed a minstrel song.

There were many depictions of African mas, China and sea-related costumes that had very similar elements. However many of the individual costumes were interesting including the king from the band Boissiere Village Children, and miniature replicas of Tantan and Saga Boy from Kalifa Williams and Associates.

One of the bands that made the biggest impressions was Carnival Players Ltd with its presentation Sailing Down Memory Lane with Cito Geraldo, Austin, and Senior Gomez. The masqueraders were energetic as they crossed the stage, jumping us and wining in their fancy sailor costumes complete with sailor hats or headpieces and canes. The bright and colourful trimmings stood out against the mostly white base costumes and some headpieces included bees, fish, steel pans, butterflies, and dolphins.

The last section, which was a simple, green sailor costume, became the highlight as the audience noticed one girl lagging behind.

She was physically handicapped, slowly walking and winning her way across the stage with the aid of her crutches. She was obviously enjoying herself and the crowd loved it, giving her a round of applause as she left the stage.

Other presentations stood out because of the cuteness of the children in the costumes, the design or execution of the costumes, and their individuality.

These included Colour My World With by the mini band Rose Mary Perkins which showed the children dressed as crayons and paint tubes.

My Favourite Things by Kiddy Care Early Learning Centre had sections such as Popping Popcorn, Dandy Cotton Candy and Creamy Cupcake, the costumes which were colourful, imaginative and well put together.

Paramin RC School was one of the few bands that focussed on technology in their presentation App-ee Carnival. The costumes depicted digital games with sections such as Kandy Krush, Pharm Ville, Fruit Ninga, and Phlappy Bird, which was amused and impressed to those who actually knew the games.

Small band St Margaret’s Boys’ Anglican School also impressed with the presentation Reminiscence, a simple collection of traditional mas characters including Midnight Robber, Dame Lorraine, Minstrels and Clowns.

Mini band, Little Giant School of Arts, was the only band to include the traditional mas character, the moko jumbie, in their presentation Raving Colours. The audience gave them a round of applause as the masqueraders chipped, danced on one leg, or leaned back and wined on the high stilts.

The children also delighted onlookers along the streets as the parade began at South Quay with the masqueraders dancing up Frederick Street to the savannah.

Antibiotics have had a major and substantial impact on the preservation and longevity of human life since they were first discovered. That is not what we take issue with – but rather the over use and prevalence of antibiotics as a cure all. And no sooner would you have finished playing mas than you would find yourself rushing to the doctor for a flu or stomach bug that would lead to a course of this stuff.

Antibiotics in all forms existed as far back as Ancient Greece, India, and Babylonia where sour milks, molds and even moldy breads were used to treat infections. The discovery of antibiotics in their refined form today (a result of a succession of smaller discoveries between 1640 and 1932) is the most significant event in Western medical history. But today, over two million people annually are infected by antibiotic resistant bacteria and as many as 23,000 people die as a result of these infections.

So you think to yourself “Well, I will limit my use of these potent drugs and I’ll be fine.”

Michael Pollan, author of four New York Times bestsellers: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2010); In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008); The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006) and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001) had his gut microbiome sequenced before and after one course of antibiotics from his dentist and noted this: “One of the more striking results from the sequencing of my microbiome was the impact of a single course of antibiotics on my gut community. My dentist had put me on a course of Amoxicillin as a precaution before oral surgery. (Without prophylactic antibiotics, of course, surgery would be considerably more dangerous.) Within a week, my impressively non- Western “alpha diversity” — a measure of the microbial diversity in my gut — had plummeted and come to look very much like the American average. My (possibly) healthy levels of prevotella had also disappeared, to be replaced by a spike in bacteroides (much more common in the West) and an alarming bloom of proteobacteria, a phylum that includes a great many weedy and pathogenic characters, including E. coli and salmonella. What had appeared to be a pretty healthy, diversified gut was now raising expressions of concern among the microbiologists who looked at my data.”

Wrong! Martin Blaser, a physician and microbiologist at New York University speaks with alarm on the damage that antibiotics is doing to our bodies, even in small doses. “Farmers have been performing a great experiment for more than 60 years,” Blaser says, “by giving sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to their animals to make them gain weight.” The unfortunate aspect of this is that scientists have found antibiotic residues in meat, milk and surface water as a result of this.

Carnival fetes and the road, as well as all the training and dieting you did to look good in your costume puts extreme demands on our bodies from a physical, mental, and energy standpoint.

For many, the recovery process from Carnival is a serious issue. Simply put, it’s an endurance challenge in the hot sun during the dry season with little or no protection from the elements.

Then we add the alcohol, lack or proper sleep from the days and nights of feteing.

Because the body goes through a grueling experience during Carnival it’s important to provide the necessary nutritional support through supplementation. Vitamins and minerals, amino acids, and macro nutritients make up the formula for a successful recovery from the debilitating effects.

I’ve compiled a list of recovery and immune health boosters to keep you looking your best during and after the festivities end.

Creatine monohydrate Creatine supplementation has been shown to decrease recovery time during repeated intervals, and increase power output at lactate threshold. Improvements in speed, power, and running economy during your training sessions translates to better race-day performance.

Recommended dose: 3-5 grams per day. Skip over the traditional loading phase often used with creatine supplementation. The initial weight gain, which is caused by an increase in total body water, may slow down performance.

Caffeine Endurance athletes use caffeine to boost performance. Not only does it provide a quick pickme- up for those early morning training sessions, but caffeine’s ability to reduce perception of effort and help delay fatigue can make those longer workouts and feteing more bearable..

Since caffeine reaches its highest blood concentration in about an hour, we suggest taking it about 60 minutes before a race so it can help you power through. There are many options of caffeine-infused beverages served on the road during the season so everyone is quite familiar. However, pay attention to the recommended dose: 1.3 – 2.7 milligrams per pound of body weight (200-400 milligrams for a 150-pound individual) 60 minutes prior to exercise.

Beta Alanine Supplementation of beta alanine has been shown to improve performance and delay fatigue during high-intensity activity. It is an amino acid. During highly intense training sessions, your body accumulates hydrogen ions. These hydrogen ions contribute to lowering pH, which ultimately results in fatigue.

Recommended dose: 3-6 grams per day, taken in 800 milligram doses throughout the day to reduce the effects of paresthesia, a temporary tingling or numbness akin to when a limb falls asleep.

Sodium phosphate Commonly used as a preservative for meats and other foods like red mangoes and plum, sodium phosphate can now add “performance booster” to its resume. Sodium phosphate loading has been shown to increase aerobic capacity and time to exhaustion by enhancing the ability of red blood cells to deliver oxygen to active muscles.

Recommended dose: 3-5 grams per day, taken in single gram doses for 3-6 days before an endurance event or Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

BCAAs I highly recommend daily use of BCAAs, which has been shown to reduce lactic acid build up thus, potentially increasing your endurance exercise capacity during exercise.

Substantial evidence also suggests BCAAs can reduce skeletal muscle protein breakdown and promote recovery and immune response from experiences like Carnival.

Recommended dose: 3-6 grams before or during exercise. A ratio of 2:1:1 leucine:isoleucine:valine appears to be most beneficial.

Protein Protein is essential for the repair, construction, and maintenance of your muscle mass.

Additionally, when you exercise for prolonged periods of time, your body turns to protein as an additional source of energy, making it even more important to consume adequate protein so that you don’t sacri_ ce your muscle tissue. Your body won’t look as toned in pics as it did initially because you may have missed meals during the last week of partying.

During periods of high-volume or intense training, consider increasing your protein intake to 0.9 grams per pound of body weight to help with maintenance and repair of lean body mass.

Glutamine This is the most abundant amino acid found in the body, so why do you need to supplement with it? Intense physical activity can actually drain glutamine stores faster than your body can replenish them, which can unfortunately cause your body to break down its own muscle, leaving you in a catabolic state. Low levels of glutamine can also compromise your immune system, increasing your risk for infections.

Glutamine supplementation has been shown to aid in recovery, in addition to boosting immune function following exhaustive exercise experiences.

A recent study suggests that glutamine supplementation may reduce your vulnerability to infections after prolonged exercise, helping you to train hard and recover fast.

Recommended dose: 20 grams per day, I do it every day it really works.

It is advisable to consult your doctor before taking any supplements. Have a safe Carnival and a speedy recovery!

The Girlfriends weigh in.

Katherine: Morning folks, I have no prob with the woman proposing except she now have to give herself the ring…awkward!

Staci: So if she proposed she shouldn’t she give him a ring?

Katherine: She should but she needs a ring too not so?

Lis: I feel she proposed to herself and tell him say yes. It’s a make-for-Facebook proposal.

Mel: Nah nah nah! Tradition is tradition. No man saying no anyways. Men need to be men. That’s what’s wrong with society.

Staci: So that’s not one of the things we should do? I mean considering women can do anything a man can do…Isn’t that the premise of equality of the sexes?

Kimba: I’m not sure I know many men who would like to be proposed to…It may be something they always wanted to do …tradition as well as personal reasons.

Mel: I think it’s a man thing, like making babies is a woman thing or like father’s giving away the bride. Why not mothers? Why doesn’t a mother walk her son down the aisle?

Elli: I agree. Leave it to the man to propose, unless he did before and you said no, lol.

Mel: Hahahaha, A rebound proposal, Oh gosh baby ah sorry, marry yuh girl nah.

Lis: Mothers do walk sons down the aisle…I walked my brother for his wedding in lieu of my mother who passed away. Personally, I would propose but I not giving myself a ring. My proposal though, would be like: I think is time we get married eh…ah tired of this shi.

Mel: I don’t even wear my ring. Smallest handcuff in the world

Rors: While there are certain rights I wish to fight for as a woman, being courted remains something I expect from a man. The fact is that no matter how much we throw around the term “equality” there are some inclinations that are naturally not the same between the two genders. However, if in your particular case you want to propose to him, I can’t fault you for that. But at the same time know that if you’re doing it because you know he never will, chances are you’re setting yourself up for heartbreak or disappointment. Don’t propose out of desperation to get married. On the other hand, sometimes the woman has been effing up and he’s started taking a backseat in the relationship. She may come to a realisation that she real in love and wants to show him, so she proposes.

Ronz: I still feel like proper proposals with ring and bent knee is the responsibility of men. If a woman wants to propose then more power to her, you hadda know your relationship and whether or not that would be well received by your boyfriend.

I’m certainly not proposing to any man and I think in the fight for equality there are still some things women don’t need to feel any pressure to start doing…Cause how does that even work? Did we discuss it first? Do I buy him an engagement ring? (If I hadda buy my own ring then why am I proposing to a man?). It all seems very unromantic and strange – which I suppose is to be expected as it’s not common for women to propose. I second Rors’ concerns about why I hadda propose in d first place. The more I think about this question the more ridiculous the idea of women proposing becomes…

Tamz: I don’t see anything wrong with proposing… I’ll get a ring and go down on one knee and everything… but I’ll be expecting ring from him soon cause I won’t be buying mine too.

Ronz: Bottom line for me and women proposing is to each their own. If that seems like the right thing for you and your man then great. All I know is men better not start feeling like they can rock back and wait for women to propose.

Rors: I’m mostly just against the idea of proposing to people we already have to do most of the work for.

Ronz: Exactly!

Rors: In fact your proposal should be so great as to make me WANT to commit to maintaining your whooooole life from a morning, from a yard cause that story is probably the best thing I gonna have to hold on to. Like I can hear the convo in my head…

“Why she does take he boring jokes?”

“Well gyoll, if you did see d ring and wedding reception!”

“Ohhhhh” …

So please don’t rob me of my one chance to feel like a princess. Even penguins go the distance to give her the right heart stone.

Lis: Lol, girl it’s 2017, I lost my penguin gene long time! I don’t even care for a diamond ring. Pay my bills with the cost of that diamond and I happy