Do you often find yourself feeling bloated and uncomfortable and sometimes you don’t even know why? It’s a common issue that many people face, but the good news is, I know how to beat the bloat!
Let’s dive into why you might be experiencing bloating + how you can get rid of it so you can feel snatched all the time!
5 Reasons WHY Your Bloated
1. Eating Too Quickly
One of the main reasons why you might be feeling bloated is because you’re eating too quickly. When you eat too fast, you’re more likely to swallow air, which can lead to bloating and gas. Try to slow down during meals and chew your food thoroughly to prevent bloating.
2. Consuming Carbonated Drinks
Carbonated drinks like soda and sparkling water can also contribute to bloating. The bubbles in these drinks can get trapped in your digestive system, causing discomfort and bloating. Opt for still water or herbal tea instead to help reduce bloating.
3. High Sodium Intake
Consuming too much sodium can lead to water retention, which can make you feel bloated. Be mindful of your salt intake and try to limit processed foods, which are often high in sodium. Adding more potassium-rich foods like bananas and sweet potatoes to your diet can help balance out sodium levels and reduce bloating.
4. Lack of Fiber
If you’re not getting enough fiber in your diet, you may experience bloating and constipation. Fiber helps to regulate digestion and keep things moving smoothly in your digestive tract. Make sure to include plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes in your meals to increase your fiber intake and reduce bloating.
5. Stress and Anxiety
Stress and anxiety can have a major impact on your digestive system, leading to bloating and discomfort. Practice stress-reducing techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or yoga to help calm your mind and improve your digestion.
Belly Fat vs. Belly Bloat
It’s important to differentiate between belly fat and belly bloat. Belly fat is excess fat stored around your midsection, while belly bloat is temporary and often caused by factors like diet and digestion.
Our Bloat Be Gone pills target bloating specifically, helping you achieve a flatter stomach and improved digestion.
To get rid of belly fat, I would recommend adding 3 things into your daily routine:
Adding my Bloat Be Gone Capsules into your daily routine
How to Get Rid of Bloating
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The tense exchange took place June 11 as Bessent was being grilled about a number of things concerning America’s economic status.
U.S. Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) took the time to remind Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that she is not like her other colleagues and will not be interrupted during a House committee hearing.
The tense exchange took place June 11 as Bessent was being grilled about a number of things concerning America’s economic status. When Plaskett noted how the stock market has dropped since President Donald Trump took over the Oval Office, the treasury secretary interrupted with claims that her reporting was “incorrect” — but he learned not to do it again. “Let me get something straight with you first here. I’ve seen you interrupt everyone,” Plaskett said.
“When you come to someone’s house, you respect their rules, and in this house, we don’t interrupt individuals, and you’re not going to interrupt my time.”
Plaskett to Bessent: “Excuse me. Let me get something straight with you. I’ve seen you interrupt everyone. When you come to someone’s house, you respect their rules. And in this house, we don’t interrupt individuals. And you’re not going to interrupt my time.” pic.twitter.com/ZfO8JtrYds
As Bessent seemed to be taking her stance as a joke, cleaning his glasses as she scolded him, Plaskett gave him some advice on what he could do in the meantime. “I’m going to give you time to respond. You may want to jot down some notes about things that you don’t agree with me on so you can respond to them at that time,” she continued.
“But while I am speaking as the person holding this time, you will refrain from speaking, sir, until I am done, and then I will give you time to speak, okay?”
Bessent responded, saying, “I look forward to the facts.”
According to NJ.com, the Treasury leader claims the stock market has been up since the first day of 2025, with reference to the S&P 500 index. When Trump took office on Jan. 20, the S&P 500 closed at $6,049.24 just one day later. As of June 11, it closed at $6,038.81. He blamed a staffer who may have presented incorrect information, resulting in the exchange. “Well, first of all, I would fire the staffer who did that chart because it stopped in February 2025, and prices are down substantially since then. But that’s an inconvenient truth,” he said.
“Secondly, the S&P, if the congresswoman would care to check Bloomberg, the stock market as judged by the S&P, which is the most widely held index by Americans’ 401(k)s, is up on the year.”
As the video went viral on social media, Plaskett was met with misogynistic comments, claiming her “PMS cycle” may have been synced. However, like the exchange, she took the time to respond, saying the cabinet member was out of control.
Excuse you!! This twat, cunt, pum pum whatever you want to call it represents an organ that gives LIFE and is resilienr so thanks for the compliment. I can take one interruption but Bessent was out of control. And…. I know I look good for my age but baby I’m post menopausal and… https://t.co/04jSJPVknP
— Rep. Stacey Plaskett (@StaceyPlaskett) June 11, 2025
Bessent responded to the clip on X stating, “This is the People’s House. And the people deserve to hear the facts.” And the facts are, according to a report released by the Labor Department, that prices for consumers went up by 2.4% in May 2025 in comparison to May 2024.
The Department of Health and Human Services notified 400 laid off CDC workers on Wednesday that their reduction in force had been “revoked.”
Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Federal officials on Wednesday appear to have “revoked” the layoffs of more than 400 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who had been abruptly dismissed months ago, which may reinstate the entire staff of a laboratory that tracks viral hepatitis and most employees in one of the CDC’s environmental health divisions.
The workers were among thousands that the Department of Health and Human Services laid off on April 1 as part of a reduction in force at the agency, most of whom are still out of work.
Employees of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention accounted for 214 of the staff “expected to receive the rescission of RIF notifications,” according to an email to the group from its acting director, Dr. Renáta Ellington, that was reviewed by NPR. The division’s two laboratories that dealt with viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases had been shuttered completely, despite the fact that some of those scientists performed disease surveillance work unlike any other labs in the world.
More than 150 people who worked for the National Center for Environmental Health were also among the reinstated workers, according to three CDC employees familiar with the cuts. The center’s Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, which includes employees based in Atlanta who work on asthma and air quality, environmental emergencies and lead poisoning prevention, may be almost entirely reinstated, two division employees told NPR.
At least 95 workers from other CDC divisions account for the rest of the employees who were notified on June 11, according to two CDC workers familiar with the cuts.
HHS notified CDC employees on Wednesday afternoon by email, copies of which were obtained by NPR. The email said the agency had “revoked” the “upcoming reduction in force” notices the workers had previously received. It did not explain the reason that HHS appeared to be reinstating hundreds of workers more than two months after it told many of them in another email that their jobs were “either unnecessary or virtually identical to duties being performed elsewhere in the agency.”
Ellington, the director of the group most affected by the HHS backtrack, told her staff that she herself did not know “what factored into the decision or why certain staff received the notification,” and advised the employees that the information might not be final.
HHS did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment regarding the reason that it revoked the employees’ notices. In April, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged that about a fifth of the cuts at HHS were made unintentionally and some people would be offered their jobs back.
By May, Kennedy announced that 328 formerly laid off workers at another division of the CDC, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, had been reinstated.
Reactions to the news from workers at the CDC were mixed. Some scientists told NPR they would be excited to do their jobs again. Other workers said they were confused about the meaning of the emails and apprehensive about the consequences of the decision.
“I think people are very tacitly hopeful that this means they can get their jobs back and continue serving in ways that they love,” said Kathryn Sisler, a health scientist at the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice who received the email on Wednesday. “But there has been so much instability and chaos that I think a lot of people would hesitate to say it is good news.”
Before Sisler was laid off in April, she worked with communities in several states to help people affected by the results of climate change, like increased heat. The turmoil that HHS had caused by shuttering her department two months ago already disrupted those efforts, she said.
“Some states and localities decided to already start laying people off because they weren’t sure if the grants were going to continue,” Sisler said. “Really just a lot of valuable data and information that was getting lost and not being utilized, especially as we look towards the heat season right now, which starts to get pretty deadly.”
Reversing the layoffs would also bring logistical challenges for some affected employees, Sisler said. She and some other members of the division already moved away from Atlanta, where they had lived to be close to their jobs at the CDC’s headquarters, she mentioned. Other employees had taken other jobs or had been offered them.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t feel like a victory that is on solid ground,” said Sisler.
Staff at the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention confirmed that the lapse in activity while employees were not working in April and May had also caused damage in some of their labs. At least one machine would need repairs, two CDC employees told NPR, and some disease outbreaks had not been properly tracked. Since late April, without help from the CDC’s hepatitis lab, health workers in Florida had not been able to confirm any additional cases as part of an ongoing hepatitis C outbreak in that state, said another worker at the CDC. The employees asked not to be identified because they said they fear retaliation.
Public health experts echoed the mixed sentiments of the employees.
“It’s great to see that there is some recognition of the importance of these workers and that being in those positions is critical for the public health of America and that they are being reinstated in order to continue their important work,” said Carmen Marsit, an environmental health researcher and professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
But “there’s still a lot of people that are not being reinstated,” he added. “And so I think there are still concerns about what is being missed.”
Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, a group that works closely with some of the labs that were previously shuttered, said he was “happily flabbergasted” to learn of the HHS emails.
“I am concerned about how many of the people have already moved on or might move on and the trauma that they really must be going through with the uncertainty,” said Beckler. “But all in all, it’s good news and I’ll take it.”
Yuki Noguchi and Selena Simmons-Duffin contributed to this report.
If you have information about health projects that have been halted or any other story tips, you can send an email to the reporter of this article at [email protected]. You can also send an encrypted text message on signal to the reporter’s username: ceis.78.
Who else remembers the episode of Friends where they’re trying to move a couch around a tight corner on a staircase, and Ross starts yelling “Pivot!”
That pretty much sums up how a lot of businesses are feeling these days.
There’s plenty of uncertainty to go around, and there are plenty of questions about what lies ahead — and what the impact will be on businesses across the country.
If only we had a crystal ball that actually worked. Until then, the best thing businesses can do is prepare and plan ahead, which is the crux of risk management.
Not sure how to handle monitoring and risk-proofing all the different aspects of your organization? Good news: Digital risk management tools take the guesswork out of risk management and make it easy to identify, assess, and respond to threats.
So, since uncertainty has become a buzzword, and our “unprecedented times” have become a lot more precedented, we thought this would be an ideal time to look at digital risk management tools and how they can help businesses mitigate threats before they turn into problems. We’ll also keep looking for a working crystal ball.
We’ve all heard the cyber horror stories of hackers and other threat actors using AI tools to conduct more sophisticated cyberattacks. But, on the flip side, AI is also helping companies to “supercharge their defensive capabilities.” And that’s a trend we can all get behind.
There have been a lot of headlines lately about CrowdStrike’s fast-growing Falcon Exposure Management offering. If you’re unsure about what’s been going on or looking for a rundown of just the highlights, this article covers the latest.
Heightened risks around the economy, geopolitics, and climate change are leading business leaders to develop new frameworks for managing global supply chains. TL;DR: We weren’t kidding about there being lots of uncertainty to go around.
Cybersecurity assessment platforms
No one wants an unwanted visitor to crash a party. Now, let’s translate that to businesses and the digital world. Preventing unwanted guests (hackers) is where cybersecurity assessment platforms come in.
Cybersecurity assessment platforms are designed to help companies check how secure their digital information is — and then suggest ways to make it even safer. These tools can thoroughly analyze a company’s cybersecurity policies, regulatory compliance, and vulnerabilities, like setting the network password to “password123,” so businesses can remediate digital weaknesses. It’s all about making sure no one can sneak in through an unlocked side door and wreak havoc.
Examples include:
Bitsight: With more than 3,300 customers and 65,000 users, Bitsight provides real-time visibility into cyber risk and threat exposure, which can enable teams to quickly identify weak spots, detect threats, prioritize actions, and mitigate risk. Bitsight says its security ratings solution helps companies understand their own security performance and that of their vendors, clients, and other third parties.
SecurityScorecard: Recognized as a trusted resource by the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, SecurityScorecard delivers end-to-end supply chain cybersecurity to safeguard business continuity. SecurityScorecard created Supply Chain Detection and Response, which helps security teams actively prevent third-party breaches by enhancing the security preparedness of their organization and suppliers.
UpGuard: Helping businesses manage cybersecurity risks across their supply chains, UpGuard’s integrated risk platform provides businesses with a comprehensive view of their risk. Using proprietary security ratings, data leak detection capabilities, and remediation workflows, UpGuard helps organizations of all sizes proactively identify security vulnerabilities.
Software to keep your business running
Business continuity planning tools can save the day when a curveball is thrown your way — whether that’s a minor inconvenience or a major disaster.
These tools facilitate developing, documenting, and managing business continuity plans, ensuring operations can continue during and after a crisis. Designed to automate business continuity management processes, business continuity planning software helps organizations minimize downtime, protect assets, and ensure a swift recovery when disaster strikes.
Examples include:
Archer: Used by customers in 48 countries, Archer helps organizations transform risk management into business-enabling strategies. Archer offers a scalable approach that allows businesses to proactively prepare for and protect against potentially devastating disruptions. With Archer, businesses can identify and catalog critical processes and systems to develop business continuity and disaster recovery plans to safeguard operations.
Fusion: Fusion helps businesses build proactive continuity and resiliency strategies. The Fusion Framework System provides interactive ways to analyze all business aspects to identify risks, points of failure, and the appropriate response to mitigate damages. Fusion recently launched BC Plan inFusion, which lets customers upload static business continuity plans to have the information converted into usable data in just a few minutes.
Supply chain risk management tools
Supply chain risk management tools, unsurprisingly, help keep a company’s supply chain running smoothly. They help businesses identify, assess, and mitigate potential problems, such as supplier reliability, political issues, natural disasters, or sudden market changes.
By using these tools, businesses can stay ahead of challenges and reduce supply chain vulnerabilities and disruptions, which is increasingly critical in today’s interconnected business environment.
Examples include:
interos.ai: Described as the world’s first and only automated supplier intelligence platform, interos.ai offers lifecycle supply chain risk management to help mitigate hidden threats. The company uses AI to continuously map and monitor millions of suppliers and billions of relationships to protect organizations from various weak points for a comprehensive view of risk across physical and digital supply chains.
Resilinc: Resilinc’s supplier-customer collaboration platform integrates comprehensive data analytics, real-time risk event monitoring, mapping, and AI-powered predictive insights to give businesses an understanding of their multi-tier supply chain. Resilinc’s AI-powered platform can help organizations anticipate, mitigate, and respond to disruptions. Companies can track and analyze a variety of supply chain data points and potential risks.
Compliance management systems
Compliance regulations are constantly changing, and keeping up can feel like a challenging and never-ending game of catch-up. And the stakes are high since failing to meet regulatory requirements can lead to hefty financial penalties.
Compliance management systems are tools and controls that automate and streamline compliance monitoring, managing, and reporting processes, reducing the risk of violations and penalties. A compliance management system can include anything from risk assessments to compliance training.
Examples include:
LogicGate: A cloud-based platform, LogicGate says its goal is to make governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) processes easier for all businesses. LogicGate’s no-code app builder and pre-built templates let organizations adjust processes and workflows as needed and automate their own GRC tasks. LogicGate recently launched its Value Realization Tool, which provides insight into the financial value of GRC programs.
MetricStream: With over a million global users, MetricStream offers integrated risk management and GRC solutions that enable companies to transform risk into a strategic advantage. MetricStream’s platform promotes a holistic and collaborative approach to enterprise-wide GRC activities. According to MetricStream, its customers, on average, see a 90% reduction in time managing compliance activities.
Employee security training platforms
Think of employee security training platforms as a cybersecurity boot camp for your team -– but fun and without any of the militaristic intensity. These platforms teach employees how to spot cyber threats in the workplace, which is increasingly important since 95% of data breaches are tied to human error.
With employee security training, companies can promote a culture of cybersecurity awareness and empower employees to act as the first line of defense against cyber risks.
Examples include:
Infosec IQ: Infosec says its mission is to put people at the center of cybersecurity by providing knowledge and skills to help employees stay cyber-secure at work and home. Infosec IQ’s industry- and role-based cybersecurity training personalizes education so that it is relevant to an employee’s role and the cyber threats they’re most likely to encounter.
KnowBe4: KnowBe4’s HRM+ platform includes security awareness and compliance training, cloud email security, anti-phishing, real-time coaching, and more. KnowBe4 says it uses personalized and relevant content, tools, and techniques to “mobilize workforces to transform from the largest attack surface to an organization’s biggest asset.”
Employee training tools
Employee training tools are designed to promote a positive and collaborative workplace environment. Basically, they help get everyone on the same page with the company culture.
The tools can cover things like company policies, improving communication and teamwork, and even training for job-specific skills. The benefit of using employee training tools is more than just compliance — they can help boost employee morale, which is a definite bonus for recruitment and retention.
Examples include:
Emtrain: Emtrain’s solutions help develop inclusion, ethics, and respect as professional competencies. Emtrain partners with industry experts and uses current events to create video-based training on topics such as unconscious bias and respect. With Emtrain, companies can benchmark their corporate culture against the global community to identify issues before they become problems.
Traliant: Traliant offers tailored, interactive, story-based online training designed to engage employees. An in-house legal team ensures that the courses offered are continuously compliant. Traliant’s library of courses, including training on inclusion and code of conduct, can help broaden perspectives, achieve compliance, and elevate workplace culture.
ExceleratorConsulting: Excelerator delivers custom programs focused on achieving measurable workplace improvements in areas like compliance training, leadership consulting, and HR functions. Their Excelerator HR Essentials option gives clients access to a dedicated virtual advisor, a mini HR audit, and an extensive document library.
The wait is over! Embroker’s 2024 Business Insurance Index: Tech Sector is here. Our detailed analysis reveals how tech companies are navigating business insurance decisions in the evolving risk landscape. One surprising trend: Tech companies with $25M+ in funding are increasingly opting for lower D&O limits.
We’re thrilled to welcome Stephen Easley to the Embroker team as the new Vice President of Underwriting. With more than 25 years of specialty underwriting expertise, Stephen brings a wealth of knowledge that will help expand our underwriting capabilities and refine our specialty insurance products. Check out this recent blog post to learn more about Stephen’s experience and vision for Embroker’s future.
Embroker’s Head of Claims, Corrie Hurm, was recently interviewed for a business.com article regarding the importance of employment practices liability insurance for small businesses. This quote highlights the issue perfectly: “What is particularly troubling is that many organizations don’t recognize the need for EPLI until they are already facing a claim.”
Younger Americans have relatively low levels of debt, but high levels of debt stress. This is evidenced by the high rates of serious delinquency for younger holders of credit cards and car loans[6].
Consumer Debt by Ethnicity
American households of all ethnic backgrounds carry debt. Black and Native American households are likely to owe more relative to their household assets and to carry higher-interest debt[7].
Black and Hispanic households carry higher levels of credit card debt than white households.
Black and Hispanic households tend to have lower levels of credit card debt than white households. They also typically have lower incomes, which leaves fewer resources available to pay these debts.
💳 Read more: Master your finances with our guide on how to use credit cards wisely, featuring 11 essential rules to follow.
The median mortgage amount is $130,000 for white and Hispanic borrowers and $116,000 for Black borrowers. However, focusing solely on the median amount masks a deeper issue: Black, Hispanic, and Native American homeowners often face higher-cost and riskier mortgages compared to white borrowers[5].
Consumer Debt by Family Structure
A study conducted by credit reporting agency Experian revealed that U.S. consumers with children carry 14% to 51% more total debt than the national average[9].
Debt balances for credit cards and personal loans increased significantly with the number of children. Student loan balances remained relatively constant, suggesting that most individuals have completed their education and student loan payments by the time they start having children.
The average credit scores of parents fall slightly below the national average, suggesting that families are paying average or above-average interest rates.
👉 Learn more: Unveil the most effective credit building tools in our latest guide, designed to help you establish strong credit in 2025.
Consumer Debt by State
Debt levels vary significantly from state to state. California is the most indebted state with the average resident carrying $84,050 in debt.
State
Total Debt per Capita
AZ
$70,350
CA
$84,050
FL
$58,610
IL
$53,730
MI
$46,680
NJ
$64,820
NV
$69,290
NY
$57,560
OH
$44,610
PA
$48,030
TX
$56,610
There are several notable trends and reasons behind the geographical variations of consumer debt in the US.
Regional Variations in Income Distribution
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in the United States in 2021 was $70,784. This figure remained relatively stable compared to the 2020 median household income of $71,186[9].
Median incomes varied across the four major regions of the United States. The West and Northeast regions had the highest median household incomes in 2021, with $79,430 and $77,472, respectively. The Midwest followed with $71,129, and the South had the lowest median household income at $63,368[9].
The difference in median household incomes between the Northeast and the West in 2021 was not statistically significant. This indicates that the income levels in these two regions were relatively similar. Additionally, none of the four regions experienced a statistically significant change in median household income between 2020 and 2021[9].
The variations in median household income across regions reflect underlying economic and demographic factors. Factors such as educational attainment, employment opportunities, and industrial composition can contribute to income disparities. Understanding these regional differences is crucial for policymakers in addressing economic inequality and promoting inclusive growth.
Cost of Living and Job Market Stability
Hawaii for example claimed the top spot as the most expensive state in terms of cost of living[10]. This high cost of living is contributing to high levels of consumer debt.
While New York had the fifth-highest cost of living nationwide, its residents held the most disposable income.
States with more stable job markets and lower unemployment rates, such as those in the Midwest and Plains regions, tend to have lower levels of consumer debt.
During the last 31+ years, AFPA has certified over 130,000 health, nutrition, and fitness professionals. We regularly feature distinguished and new graduates who are using what they have learned to inspire others and make a difference.
Meet AFPA Graduate Dr. Nikki LeToya White, M.S.Ed-TL, Ph.D., RHN
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Dr. Nikki LeToya White, and I wear many hats—trucker wife, proud mom of four, and a devoted advocate for women in recovery.
I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Health Service Administration, a Master’s in Education (Teaching and Learning), and a Doctorate in Christian Counseling.
As a Trauma-Informed Nutritionist, Herbalist, and Recovery Coach, I specialize in helping high-achieving women navigate the complex intersection of emotional trauma, addiction recovery, and wellness.
My team and I provide personalized support that addresses addiction triggers, builds sustainable coping mechanisms, and empowers women to reclaim their lives after years of navigating unresolved emotional wounds like abandonment and childhood neglect.
My approach is both holistic and trauma-informed, blending evidence-based methods like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and somatic therapy to guide women through their healing journeys.
How did you first become interested in health and wellness?
My journey into health and wellness began during one of the most vulnerable seasons of my life. As a new trucker wife and mother, I felt lost and overwhelmed, struggling with mom-shaming, isolation, and debilitating panic attacks. Five visits to the ER later, I took the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) study and discovered that my separation anxiety had triggered an old abandonment wound from childhood—a wound caused by my mother leaving me to be raised by my great-grandmother while she pursued her career. The physician’s words were life-changing: unresolved childhood trauma was fueling my current anxiety and binge eating disorder.
Unfortunately, my first therapy experience wasn’t successful, leaving me to navigate this overwhelming emotional terrain alone. I started blogging about my struggles as a trucker wife, which led to coaching other women in similar situations and writing The Loner Wife Diaries series.
My healing took a transformative turn when I was introduced to a life coach and Hoodoo practitioner with decades of sobriety experience. Her wisdom and guidance taught me how to lay the foundation for my recovery. But healing is rarely linear, and life brought new challenges—a relapse in my binge eating disorder, digestive issues, and hormonal imbalances stemming from low estrogen levels after my third and fourth cesareans. Diagnosed with vaginal atrophy at just 28 years old, I faced surgeries and chronic pain that left me saying, “Enough is enough.”
I decided to educate myself, stumbled upon the AFPA Holistic Nutritionist Program, and enrolled to learn how to use food as medicine. The knowledge I gained was life-changing. I healed my digestive issues, managed my hormonal imbalances, reversed my binge eating relapse, and even lost thirty pounds unintentionally.
Which AFPA certification have you earned, and why did you choose that certification program?
I’m currently preparing to take the AFPA Gut Health Nutrition Specialist Certificate to deepen my expertise in healing the gut-brain connection—a critical aspect of emotional and physical recovery for my clients, this will put me on track on becoming a Master Nutrition Consultant.
Become an Expert Nutrition Coach at Your Own Pace
Download your free guide now.
Tell us about your business and how you serve people.
My passion is taking everything I learned and sharing it with women who seek to make their self care and sobritey a top piority. The most profound lesson I learned is that health and lifestyle are deeply interconnected—you cannot separate mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
My studies gave me a holistic perspective on the body and its relationship with trauma, addiction, and nutrition. I learned that unresolved emotional pain—especially from abandonment and childhood neglect—often manifests as addictions like binge eating, sugar dependency, or substance abuse.
These behaviors not only impact emotional health but can also lead to chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation. This understanding has shaped my work, allowing me to bridge the wellness, mental health, and substance abuse industries. With the right education and personal experience, I’ve been able to guide women toward healing on all levels—body, mind, and spirit.
Many of my clients struggle with emotional eating, sugar addiction, anxiety, and women’s health concerns, all stemming from deep emotional wounds. By combining nutrition, herbal wellness, and emotional support, I empower my clients to break free from harmful coping mechanisms and build sustainable lives in recovery. This approach has not only helped me celebrate 8 years of full remission but also enabled my clients to thrive as they heal.
How has becoming certified with AFPA impacted your life?
As mentioned earlier, the knowledge I gained was life-changing. I healed my digestive issues, managed my hormonal imbalances, reversed my binge eating relapse, and even lost thirty pounds unintentionally. What started as a personal pursuit turned into a calling as others began reaching out to me for advice. I realized that rebranding my private practice to focus on women in recovery aligned perfectly with my purpose. Today, I continue to navigate my own sobriety while empowering women to do the same. None of this would have been possible without the education and tools I gained through my holistic nutrition studies.
What advice would you give others considering getting certified through AFPA?
If you’re thinking about becoming certified with AFPA, I wholeheartedly encourage you to take the leap. AFPA’s programs are not just about gaining knowledge; they’re about transforming your own life while equipping you to help others do the same. My journey began with a desire to heal myself from binge eating, anxiety, and unresolved trauma.
Through AFPA, I gained a deeper understanding of holistic wellness, nutrition, and the mind-body connection. The courses are comprehensive, easy to follow, and rooted in practical tools that allow you to create real change—for yourself and your clients. The most rewarding part is being able to combine your passion for health with a purposeful career. Whether you want to improve your own well-being or help others navigate their healing journeys, AFPA gives you the foundation to make a meaningful impact. Trust the process, invest in yourself, and let this certification change your life.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Every basketball player dreams of making it to the NBA — but for most, that dream goes unrealized.
“When you stop playing, a part of your identity as a basketball player fades,” says Scotty Weaver, a former college hooper turned basketball content creator. “It’s always that feeling of never making it.”
While playing overseas or in semi-pro leagues is still an option, it rarely comes with the recognition that the NBA offers. With The Next Chapter, Weaver is aiming to change that.
Co-founded with fellow basketball creator D’Vonte Friga, The Next Chapter (TNC) is a premier 1v1 basketball league spotlighting some of the most dynamic streetballers in the game. Players go head-to-head for cash prizes in a format reminiscent of cage fighting.
Weaver was in the streetball content world long before TNC, starting out working with BallisLife doing content with their East Coast squad, where he met standout player Isaiah Hodge, aka Slim Reaper. They left Ballislife and started making their own street ball content with a group called The Wild Hunt. Weaver would bring his Wild Hunt team to local parks and film five-on-five basketball videos.
“We had a bunch of guys who were characters,” Weaver says. “Slam dunkers, guys doing creative dribbling, big talkers. Everyone brought their own personality and energy.”
The five-on-five format helped draw big crowds, but it made it tough for Weaver to pay the players involved consistently.
“To help pay the team, we asked after the event if they wanted to run some one-on-ones with people at the park,” he explains. “When that video comes out, we’ll post it as the next chapter — and whatever it generates will be how we pay you. So your ability to earn is directly tied to your performance in the video.”
That model incentivized players to talk trash, play flashy and stand out, turning the games into even better content.
They started featuring one of their players, Lah Moon, in a one-on-one after every park run, challenging the best and bravest from the crowd. After a string of undefeated performances, Moon finally met his match in former college hooper Nasir Core, whose dominant showing made him a standout in the community.
Sensing they were onto something, Weaver brought Core in as another featured one-on-one player, laying the groundwork for what would eventually become The Next Chapter. Season One featured seven players, each compensated based on how well their videos performed. They shot all seven episodes in a single day and posted them over several months.
“Season one did great,” Weaver says. “Players started to see how much money they could make on this.”
What began as a way for players to make some extra money has unexpectedly evolved into a potential career path for streetball creators.
“We just paid attention to what people wanted to watch,” Weaver says. “What we’re building is a basketball league — whether it’s one-on-ones, two-on-twos, three-on-threes, or five-on-fives. Right now, we’re focused on ones because they’re far more marketable. But we never want to close ourselves off to the idea of doing it all.”
TNC’s marketing strategy channels the spirit of Vince McMahon and Dana White, building stars by spotlighting unique personalities and skill sets. YouTube phenom Devonte Friga knows this process well, having grown his personal channel to over a million followers.
“We’re trying to build the UFC of one-on-one basketball,” Friga says.
He points to one of TNC’s standout players, J Lew, whom the marketing team cleverly labeled “the internet’s shiftiest hooper.”
“There are so many players like that — each with small, unique parts of their game that define who they are. Take NAS, for example. Online, he’s dominant. He doesn’t just win — he wins big — and makes sure everyone knows it. Then there’s Moon, whose unorthodox one-on-one style is so distinctive that NBA 2K flew him out to capture his crossover move, even though he’s not an NBA player. It’s those little things — the way a player stands out — that turn them into a star.”
The next chapter for The Next Chapter
Although most TNC players are streetballers, the league is experimenting with a new format on June 6: a one-on-one showdown between former NBA players Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley, with $100,000 at stake.
The matchup will serve as the finale of Season 2, which featured 20 episodes of the two pros coaching opposing squads, building anticipation for their long-awaited faceoff. The event will be available via pay-per-view, a bold move for a league whose audience is accustomed to free content.
“I think it’s about proving to your audience that when you ask them to spend their money, there has to be a clear sense of value — like, wow, I actually got something great in return — rather than, this just feels like the same thing I was getting for free, but now I have to pay for it.”
While some details are still being finalized, Weaver estimates that moving forward, about 95% of TNC content will remain free, with roughly 5% behind a paywall.
While others — like former NBA star Tracy McGrady with his OBL league — have explored the 1v1 basketball space, The Next Chapter is carving its path from the ground up.
“Unlike Tracy’s league, we don’t need to be something big right away,” says Friga. “What we’re building is completely different, and I believe it has the potential to become a billion-dollar industry.”
Awards under $100,000 are not shown. Amounts shown are for the most recent fiscal year.
In his first months in office, President Trump has slashed funding for medical research, threatening a longstanding alliance between the federal government and universities that helped make the United States the world leader in medical science.
Some changes have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye, a New York Times analysis found. To understand the cuts, The Times trawled through detailed grant data from the National Institutes of Health, interviewed dozens of affected researchers and spoke to agency insiders who said that their government jobs have become unrecognizable.
In all, the N.I.H., the world’s premier public funder of medical research, has ended 1,389 awards and delayed sending funding to more than 1,000 additional projects, The Times found. From the day Mr. Trump was inaugurated through April, the agency awarded $1.6 billion less compared with the same period last year, a reduction of one-fifth. (N.I.H. records for May are not yet comparable.)
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Scale is larger than in previous graphic.
“I think people should know that research that they probably would support is being canceled,” said Eden Tanner, a chemist at the University of Mississippi, who had been working with a colleague at Ohio State University to develop a novel approach for treating glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Their grant had been awarded through a program designed to diversify the biomedical workforce; in April, they were notified that it was being terminated.
“I would like to cure brain cancer,” Dr. Tanner said. “I think that’s not particularly controversial.”
Mr. Trump’s campaign against medical research has been carried out without congressional approval, and the legality is unclear. Lawsuits have challenged the slashing or delaying of funding.
Federal officials, who have accused the N.I.H. of wasteful spending, have attributed the cuts to changing scientific priorities.
The N.I.H. “regularly examines its research portfolio” to determine which projects are “the most meritorious,” Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email. “Regular reviews of ongoing activities will help us determine the most strategic balance of projects to support and the best way to manage them going forward, especially as we need to be responsive to the often-changing nature of biomedical scientific progress.”
Scientists fear that the sweeping cuts could do long-term damage to U.S. scientific research, which has long driven medical and financial progress for the nation. “The country is going to be mourning the loss of this enterprise for decades,” said Dr. Harold Varmus, a Nobel Prize-winning cancer biologist who served as the director of the N.I.H. during the Clinton administration and the director of the National Cancer Institute under President Barack Obama.
Publicly announced cancellations
The federal government has announced the termination of 1,389 awards, with more than $820 million in recent funding.
N.I.H. grants, awarded in a competitive process, are typically paid out in installments. A researcher with a $1 million four-year grant, for instance, will get about $250,000 a year. Scientists can use this money to buy equipment and supplies and to pay the salaries of the researchers who work in their labs, among other things.
From 2015 to 2024, there have been fewer than 20 terminations a year, on average, according to Jeremy M. Berg, former director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the N.I.H. from 2003 to 2011. They were generally for extenuating circumstances, such as illness or research misconduct.
But since late February, the government has publicly announced the cancellation of 1,389 N.I.H. awards. The agency scoured grants for key words and phrases like “transgender,” “misinformation,” “vaccine hesitancy” and “equity,” ending those focused on certain topics or populations, according to a current N.I.H. program officer, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.
Studies focused on sexual and gender minority groups were among the first on the chopping block.
Katherine Bogen, a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, had been studying post-traumatic stress, alcohol use and intimate partner violence against bisexual women. The termination notice she received assailed studies “based primarily on artificial and nonscientific categories,” calling such research “antithetical to the scientific inquiry” and alleging that it was “often used to support unlawful discrimination on the basis of race and other protected characteristics, which harms the health of Americans.”
The language was “very insulting,” she said. “I get this letter that tells me, ‘Your research is not science. Not only is it ascientific, it’s a useless drain on resources, and, in fact, your research could be used to discriminate against ‘actual’ Americans or ‘regular’ Americans,’ or whatever they mean.”
The cuts spread to grants on health equity and racial and ethnic groups. Affected projects sought to improve access to mental health care for Latino, low-income and rural communities; to reduce maternal mortality among Black women; and to prevent gun violence in Asian American communities.
Tsu-Yin Wu, a researcher at Eastern Michigan University who led the gun violence project, said that community leaders and study participants were “greatly disappointed” by the grant cancellation. “Some felt betrayed that their voices and engagement no longer matter.”
The agency cut grants for research on vaccine hesitancy, disinformation and misinformation, including a Northeastern University study on cancer misinformation on social media.
It also axed research on Covid-19, including studies that could have helped the nation respond to many infectious disease threats. Among them: a grant to Emory University and Georgia State University, where researchers had developed three potential drugs that showed promise against many RNA-based viruses, including coronaviruses, Ebola, avian influenza and measles, said George Painter, a pharmacologist at Emory who was co-leading the research.
In April, the agency terminated, in part or in whole, more than 350 grants meant to support students, early-career scientists or researchers from groups underrepresented in science. Among these terminations were F31 diversity grants, awarded to Ph.D. students who were members of certain racial or ethnic groups, disabled or from disadvantaged backgrounds.
At the University of Pittsburgh, Luzmariel Medina-Sanchez, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and Sierra Wilson, a first-generation college student from Utah, both had their grants canceled. “It’s not even about the work I’m doing,” said Ms. Wilson, who studies how liver cells respond to drug overdoses. “It feels like it’s about me.”
Ms. Medina-Sanchez, who studies how a microbe can help treat celiac disease, said she may leave science altogether. “I feel racially targeted,” she said. “I feel like I’m not going to be a professional in the field of science in America, because obviously my name is Luzmariel.”
(Ms. Wilson and Ms. Medina-Sanchez stressed that they spoke only for themselves and not for the university.)
Delayed funding
In addition to publicly announced cancellations, these are the nearly 1,100 grants that have been delayed, with nearly $740 million in funding.
Awards under $100,000 are not shown.
Besides outright canceling projects, N.I.H. failed to distribute annual payments to more than 1,000 grants, The Times found.
The delays have stifled research on drug discovery, blood vessel health and injury response. In some cases, scientists have cut staff, paused hiring, trimmed back supplies or delayed experiments. Health officials have not explained which projects have been held up, why or for how long.
The Times compiled a list of the delayed grants by searching N.I.H. databases as of June 2 for ones that were funded in 2024 and expected to last beyond 2025, but have not gotten disbursements on schedule.
In the past, annual renewals were routine. Scientists submitted progress reports; the N.I.H. reviewed them and usually continued funding them, occasionally with a week or two of delays. But longer delays have become much more common since Mr. Trump took office.
Joshua Kritzer, a professor of chemistry at Tufts University, investigates the basic science behind potential drug candidates, laying the groundwork for future medications. Most of his lab work is supported by a five-year N.I.H. grant that received $1.4 million over the past two years. But since February, he had been waiting for the third year of expected funding to come in. He slashed purchases of essential supplies and contemplated laying off crucial researchers on his team.
On Tuesday, Kritzer finally received word that his funding had been released, several days after The Times asked federal officials about his and other delayed awards.
“Every week that’s delayed, it’s easily probably three to four weeks to get that research back to where it was,” said Dr. Kritzer, who noted that he was speaking for himself and not for his institution.
Mr. Nixon, the Department of Health spokesman, said that the agency would not discuss deliberations about specific awards but encouraged grant recipients to “speak with the designated N.I.H. officials on their award notice when questions arise.”
In some cases, delays have lasted so long that scientists wondered whether their grants were subject to a “shadow termination.”
The delays stem in part from additional screening for whether the grants align with Trump administration priorities, N.I.H. officials said. Other renewals have been delayed as overstretched N.I.H. staff members work through backlogs in funding. And political appointees are now vetting some projects, too, slowing the process further.
N.I.H. officials said they feared being fired if they processed a grant renewal that the administration disfavored.
In early May, Jon Lorsch, a longtime N.I.H. institute director who was recently promoted to acting deputy director of the agency’s external funding arm, emailed staff members denouncing the renewal of grants “that focused on topics that are not supported under N.I.H./H.H.S.’s priorities,” according to a copy of the email seen by The Times.
“The consequences of approving an award that should not have been approved could be very serious,” he wrote.
But Courtney Griffin, who leads a lab at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and studies blood vessel development and disease, including complications due to diabetes, expressed confusion as to why her expected funding is not coming through. She and her colleagues were making contingency plans and looking for other sources of funding.
“It’s, ironically, a really inefficient use of people’s time to be in this guessing game,” she said, adding that the time could be better spent on biomedical research.
Months-long delays are also affecting new grants that were being vetted when the Trump administration cracked down on grant reviews.
A number of major Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers, some of which have operated for decades, have waited months for the Trump administration to decide whether to award them fresh five-year grants. The funding gaps have set back ongoing studies and curtailed efforts to take images of patients’ brains, though the N.I.H. has recently told some centers that they would soon receive funding.
“These centers have become a safety valve for people who can’t get a neurology appointment at a private center,” said Dr. Ann Cohen, a co-director of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s center. Now, she said, things have changed. “There are fewer clinic appointments, fewer opportunities for these individuals to get brain imaging.”
The N.I.H. has also said that it will no longer fund projects in which U.S. researchers distribute some of their money to international partners, throwing the future of many global health projects into question and creating funding delays for ongoing research.
Beyond the disruption of individual projects, other proposed changes could undermine scientific research across the board, experts said. One would sharply curb funding for indirect research costs, such as building maintenance and administrative staff. And then there is Mr. Trump’s proposal to slash the N.I.H.’s total budget by about $18 billion, a cut of almost 40 percent.
A budget cut of that scale would be “truly draconian,” said Dr. Varmus, the former N.I.H. director, who said he hoped Congress would not approve such a sharp reduction. It could leave the agency without enough money to fund promising new work, drive some scientists overseas and prompt some up-and-coming researchers to leave science altogether, he said. “You can completely destroy the system in just a couple of years,” Dr. Varmus said.
Methodology
The Times’s analysis of cancellations is based on the list of terminated grant awards published by the Department of Health and Human Services as of May 30, 2025, and on records from RePORT, the National Institutes of Health’s registry of grants and projects, as of June 2, 2025.
Each circle in the graphics represents a grant award. The circles are sized by the total funding that N.I.H. authorized for each award. H.H.S.’s list of terminations includes a mix of main grant awards, supplements and amendments. The list also indicates a “total amount obligated,” but that figure generally is the total amount awarded to a grant over its lifetime, including any supplements and amendments, rather than the amount for the specific award terminated. The Times’s analysis above uses only the amount authorized for the specific award listed. In some cases, scientists had already spent much of the money they had been awarded before their grants were cancelled, but in others, they lost out on their entire awards. Award amounts and totals — including the year-to-year funding shortfall calculated by The Times — do not include N.I.H. grants administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, because their funding amounts are not available in RePORT.
The Times examined cancellations of grants intended to train and support research by groups underrepresented in science. These include the R25 education program; the T32 and T34 training programs; F31 diversity grants; R01 research grants under funding opportunity number PAR-22-241 and research supplements under funding opportunity number PA-23-189, both of which are specifically intended to promote diversity among grant recipients.
To identify grants with delayed funding, Times journalists used information about each grant’s planned duration and prior awards, focusing on those that were eligible for continuation or noncompeting renewal. To account for reporting lags in the RePORTER database, The Times limited this analysis to a time period from Jan. 20 to April 30. The Times excluded grants that appear on H.H.S.’s public list of terminations and grants that have been marked in RePORTER as terminated. Based on interviews and an analysis of historical renewal data, The Times found such grants typically receive a notice of award at roughly the same time each year. Each circle representing a delayed grant is sized by the amount its main award received in fiscal year 2024. This list may include a small number of grants whose renewals are not yet recorded in N.I.H. databases, and others whose renewals are expected to be delayed, because of conversion of grant status for an investigator changing roles or institutions.
To classify each grant’s area of research, The Times extracted the title, the public health relevance statement and the abstract from the N.I.H.’s RePORTER database and ExPORTER files. These fields were used as input for a series of automated prompts to a large language model.
The model generated a brief description of the grant’s research objective. The model also determined if grants were related to research in areas like chronic diseases, vaccines, pandemic preparedness, misinformation, sexual and gender identity, health disparities and certain ethnic and racial groups, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and then assigned categories.
Times journalists read the projects’ public health relevance statements and abstracts, and they checked the assigned categories for accuracy. They also checked hundreds of grant descriptions and edited them for accuracy and clarity. Only the project descriptions that have been edited by Times journalists are displayed in the article.
Now that the Women’s College World Series is over after Texas beat Texas Tech in a thrilling three-game series, many key players from the eight teams that made the trip to Oklahoma City have decided to look for greener pastures. As evidenced by their performances this past season, these are players that could help their new teams win a whole lot of games and make deep runs into the postseason.
These are the best players in the transfer portal from the softball teams that played in the World Series this year:
Kaitlyn Terry — Pitcher/Utility, UCLA
The Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2024, Terry had another strong campaign for UCLA as a sophomore as she became the first Bruins’ pitcher since Rachel Garcia to open her career with back-to-back 20-win seasons. In addition to posting a 2.64 ERA with 172 strikeouts, Terry had a decent season at the plate too with 35 hits and 30 runs scored. Terry, a lefthander, was 11th nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio with a 5.06 mark.
Mia Williams — Second Base, Florida
The daughter of former Florida basketball player and NBA champion Jason Williams, the sophomore infielder was a crucial part of the Gators’ success this season and earned All-SEC and All-American honors. Williams posted a 1.144 OPS, 61 hits, 52 runs, 19 homers and 44 RBI.
Addisen Fisher — Pitcher, UCLA
The right-hander from Bend, Oregon, had a standout season for the Bruins as arguably their second-best pitcher, piling up a 16-2 record, 100 strikeouts and a 2.59 ERA in 113 innings of work. Fisher was named a First Team Freshman All-American by D1 Softball and was a finalist for NFCA Freshman of the Year. She was ranked as the No. 1 recruit in 2024 by Softball America.
Corri Hicks — Catcher, Oklahoma
Hicks didn’t play all that much as a freshman this past season for the Sooners, but showed flashes of the potential that made her a top 15 recruit in the 2024 class, like when she hit a walk-off home run against Boston University in the regional stage of the NCAA Tournament. In 23 at-bats this season, Hicks had six hits, three of which were dingers. She posted an OPS of 1.045.
Raegan Jennings — Infielder, Texas Tech
Jennings led the Red Raiders’ bench with 35 hits and 20 runs scored in 88 plate appearances. Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco called her an “All-American-type pinch hitter” after she came up with a big single and scored a run in the Red Raiders’ Game 2 World Series win over Texas. She’s a sophomore who hits left-handed and had a .398 batting average this year.
The annual Accenture Tech Vision report has always been a beacon for the future of technology. Now in its 25th year, this year’s report AI: A Declaration of autonomy highlights four key trends that are set to reshape the tech landscape – 1) The Binary Big Bang, 2) Your Face in the Future 3) When LLMs get their Bodies and 4) The New Learning Loop. I am going to zone in on “The Binary Big Bang”, the generation-defining moment of AI transition, as a transformative force for the insurance industry. The trend name really reflects the next great evolution in AI, particularly generative AI. The Binary Big Bang tracks the emergence of agentic systems,and how they challenge conventions around software development and the cost of building digital ecosystems. It dives into a major change underway in how software is designed, what we need from it, and who uses it. And it sets the stage for always-there AI, which will be rich with autonomous agents defined by rapidly expanding digital ecosystems.
Cracking the natural language barrier
When foundation models cracked the natural language barrier, they started pushing the limits of software and programming, multiplying companies’ digital output and vastly accelerating innovation. As AI expands exponentially, this trend underscores how AI/generative AI (gen AI) is not just an add-on to existing processes but a fundamental shift in how technology is integrated into the core of insurance operations. AI models and agents are becoming integral parts of the insurance enterprise infrastructure, influencing everything from customer service and risk assessment to underwriting and claims processing. To fully harness the potential of these technologies, insurance companies need to rethink their approach to technology. Executives are in effect building AI ‘cognitive digital brains’ where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. AI is not just about automating existing processes; it’s about creating new processes, workflows, and software that can drive innovation and efficiency.
How insurers can capitalize on agentic frameworks
So what exactly are AI agents? They are goal-oriented, autonomous systems that reason through problems, make decisions, leverage tools, and take actions on their own. AI agents are based on multimodal foundation models and can access external tools and data. With the evolution of GenAI towards agentic frameworks, insurers can go to market faster by breaking down the technology development lifecycle and delegating it towards agents:
The requirement managing agent : Bringing the industry knowledge along with best practices to effectively analyze the requirements and manage the progress, prioritization and completion.
The Code development agent : Breaking down the code creation into logical components to have a structured, function-oriented code that can be traced back towards requirements.
The testing agent : Agents programmed to perform various levels of testing mimicking the end user for accurate sampling and effective testing iterations.
Deployment and support agent : Agents that can help push the code to production and provide post-production fixes specific to environment.
Three key benefits of AI model and agent integration
Powered by intelligent data analytics, AI copilots, and sustainable AI, the integration of AI is causing three pillars of technology to emerge, each hugely beneficial to insurers: Abundance, Abstraction, and Autonomy.
Abundance: The rising costs of legacy technology mean that insurers can no longer afford to delay modernization efforts. AI and gen AI are accelerating code generation, enabling everything from legacy code reverse engineering to reducing tech debt and eliminating obsolete code. For instance, 78% of insurance executives agree that AI agents will reinvent how their organizations build digital systems. This modernization is crucial to remain competitive. The shift will enable insurers to launch new products and services more quickly, with 62% of executives ranking this as a top priority if they had unlimited software engineering resources. An equal percentage prioritize adding new features to existing products and services.
Abstraction: Gen AI is simplifying complex tasks and making them more manageable. This abstraction can lead to more efficient workflows and better user experiences for both insurance employees and customers. For example, generative AI and panoptic coaching can aid underwriting and claims decision-making, while agentic AI can drive personalization and enhance customer experiences. By creating simpler, more intuitive interfaces, AI can streamline processes and improve overall efficiency.
Autonomy: AI systems are becoming increasingly capable of making decisions and performing tasks with minimal human intervention. This leads to faster and more consistent service, reducing the potential for human error and freeing up staff to focus on more strategic tasks. Once data integration is advanced within what we are calling the ‘cognitive digital brain,’ insurers can hard-code workflows, institutional knowledge, value chains, and social interactions into a system that operates at a higher level.
AI makes the best use of data
In addition, AI is revolutionizing how insurers use data. It aids in decision-making, identifies trends, uncovers unknown facts, and provides the right data at the right time. This not only enhances efficiency but also reduces underwriting and claim costs with increased accuracy. AI and gen AI enable:
Generation of documentation, use cases, data dictionaries, and user stories
Automated configuration into new modern platforms
Rewriting for the new modern tech stack
Reimagining requirements earlier in the lifecycle
Presentation of test cases for the entire application to the business prior to new build
AI-powered underwriting pioneers
Exemplifying all of the above is QBE Insurance Group, a multinational insurance company headquartered in Sydney. To help make faster, more accurate decisions across multiple lines of business, QBE is scaling industry-leading, AI-powered underwriting solutions co-developed with Accenture. A series of learning sessions helped drive the design and build of the solutions that are now used to analyze new business submissions for completeness, appetite check and risk evaluation insights. As a result, for the product lines with solutions in production, QBE can now process 100% of the submissions they receive from brokers, greatly accelerating market response time. Through this collaboration, QBE will be able to identify and select risks more effectively, improve broker and customer experience and support growth.
Swiss Re is also working with Yukka lab to transform reinsurance underwriting by providing each of their underwriters with an AI assistant that aggregates and pre-assesses the world’s news in real time to facilitate better and faster decision-making. The goal is to reduce the underwriting cycle, improve the cost ratio and finally, reduce claims.
A paradigm shift in how insurance companies operate
The Binary Big Bang is more than just a technological shift; it’s a paradigm shift in how insurance companies operate. By integrating AI and gen AI into their core operations, insurers can achieve greater flexibility, faster development times, and enhanced innovation. The benefits of abundance, abstraction and autonomy are clear, and the industry is poised for an AI tipping point where these changes are embraced with enthusiasm. As AI continues to evolve, the insurance industry will become more efficient, more responsive, and more customer-centric, setting the stage for a new era of growth and innovation.
