Following the outbreak of the coronavirus, sports in the USA and worldwide are quickly coming to a halt. It’s an important effort to preserve health, but one that can have disastrous financial consequences for the industry and all of its paid employees.

Following the news of their first coronavirus-positive player, the NBA became one of the first associations to suspend their season indefinitely to help stagnate the spread of the disease, protecting their players and everyone else. Then it was time to buckle down and figure out what to do about the crashing economy of the basketball industry…which will be no easy task.

But one player wasn’t willing to wait for the difficult task of repairing an entirely broken system.

Despite only being in his first season, Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans stepped right up and pledged to cover the salaries of the workers at his home stadium.

“My mother has always set an example for me about being respectful for others and being grateful for what we have, and so today I am pledging to cover the salaries for all of those Smoothie King Center workers for the next 30 days. These are the folks who make our games possible, creating the perfect environment for our fans and everyone involved in the organization,” Williamson wrote.

“This is a small way for me to express my support and appreciation for these wonderful people who have been so great to me and my teammates and hopefully we can all join together to relieve some of the stress and hardship caused by this national health crisis,” Williamson said in an Instagram post announcing the pledge. “This is an incredibly resilient city full of some of the most resilient people, but sometimes providing a little extra assistance can make things a little easier for the community.”

He is the kind of hero the world needs right now, and questions of responsibility are being made irrelevant in the face of people who need help.

Mike Hoss, the communications coordinator for ASM Global, commented: “We are thrilled with the generous offer from Zion Williamson to pay the Smoothie King Center’s part-time workers for the next 30 days. The New Orleans Pelicans and ASM Global had already been in discussions to look at possible alternatives to deal with this challenging situation and late this afternoon Zion stepped up to provide support to his new community.”

Other players have been stepping up to make a difference in the lives of their industry workers, as well. Blake Griffin, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Love, have all pledged to donate $100,000 to employees at their home arenas as well.

Always craving snacks but want to maintain your weight? There are some skinny foods that offer fewer calories and so, won’t affect your weight much. For example, eating a bowl of oatmeal isn’t the same as eating a piece of cake, as the latter will surely add to your weight. Learn about the foods that you can eat a lot of without gaining weight and indulge in guilt-free bingeing!

The ability of a food to reduce your calorie intake or hunger and to make you feel full is measured by its satiety index. Certain food items have a higher score on the satiety index because of a number of factors that make food filling.

For instance, food providing fewer calories for its weight (having low energy density), food with a high volume of fiber, food composed of a lot of air and water, and food rich in protein are typically more filling.

Oatmeal is a food containing high fiber, and it’s considered one of the best skinny foods. It’s a type of porridge and is usually eaten for breakfast. What makes this so the filling is its ability to soak water, which in turn increases its weight.

Furthermore, these offer a lot of beta-glucan, which reduces the absorption of carbohydrates and slows down digestion. These traits make oatmeal a filling meal. If eaten as breakfast, it’ll ensure that you eat less throughout the whole day.

Usually, people consider solid food to be more filling than liquid ones. However, recent studies revealed that some soups could be more filling than their solid counterparts. The research also published that soups ensure that you consume about 80% of the calories you would’ve otherwise.

However, it’s also recommended that you stick to broth-based soups. These soups come with fewer calories than the cream-based ones. Eating these will help you lose weight.

Eggs fall in the high protein food category. Previously, people used to consider eggs to be harmful to the body, but these ideas were proved to be wrong. In fact, eggs are considered to be one of the healthiest skinny foods right now.

What’s more, you’ll find all of the nine essential amino acids in this food. Studies have shown that consuming eggs for breakfast can reduce calorie consumption for the rest of the day.

If you want to lower your calorie intake, fish is one of the best foods to rely on. Fishes offer a good amount of omega-3 fatty acids – components that effectively reduce the satiety of a person. Then again, fish also packs quite a lot of protein, which makes the food filling.

Besides, it’s been found that the satiety of fish is even greater than meat. Surprisingly, the people who had fish consumed 11% less calories than the ones who had eaten beef.

Apples are not only one of the most nutritious foods, but they can also be a great addition to your diet. This is because these juicy, delicious fruits have a high score on the satiety index, which means that they can make you feel full.

Apples come with pectin – a fiber that slows digestion and is believed to be the component that makes apples so filling. Plus, they have a very high percentage of water, which also plays a role in making a food filling.

Cottage cheese is a common diet food for those who want to lose weight. This food offers high protein but, at the same time, very low calories. This makes the food very filling but doesn’t increase your weight.

Then again, cottage cheese offers a lot of health benefits, as it includes calcium, vitamin B, Selenium, and phosphorus. Recent studies revealed that the fullness from cottage cheese is similar to that of eggs.

Although oranges are mostly known for their richness in vitamin C, they offer a lot of other components that are often overlooked. First of all, oranges are very low in calories. If you eat a medium-sized orange, you only gain around 80 calories.

Then again, pith, the white part on the flesh of oranges, offers a high level of fiber. This helps in maintaining low blood sugar and low cholesterol level.

Legumes are a great source of protein and fiber – two of the nutrients that make a food filling. Then again, these also offer low energy density, which is another factor that makes a food filling. As you can tell, legumes are not only filling but may also promote weight loss.

On top of that, since this food is rich in carbohydrates, legumes offer energy. This is why many people eat legumes as a substitute for meat, especially for keto-based diets.

Zucchini is a widely used vegetable for making salads. A serving of this vegetable provides calories as low as 42 calories. Besides that, Zucchini can help you maintain a favorable salt-to-water ratio. This, in turn, improves the intestinal functions of your body by improving digestion.

Zucchini also offers a variety of minerals. Eating zucchini can decrease the energy output of the food eaten afterward, which makes it one of the best food items for losing or maintaining weight.

Did you know that strawberries offer a higher volume of vitamin C than oranges? Well, not a single strawberry, but a single serving of strawberries may offer a lot more than a single orange. These are also rich in antioxidants known as polyphenols.

Strawberries offer fiber and potassium too. Since these are also low energy foods, a cup of strawberries will provide only 50 calories. On top of that, this food is free from cholesterol, sodium, and fat.

If you love to eat meat but want to maintain your weight at the same time, you can get away with lean meats. Lean meats score very high on the satiety index, which makes them a good option among skinny foods.

Studies show that people who ate lean meats for one meal consumed around 12% less food in the next meal. This is how lean meats, food comprising high protein and low calories, lead you to take fewer calories throughout the day.

Unlike other popular snacks, popcorn is a whole grain, and it offers a high amount of fibers, which is a major factor that makes a food filling. Then again, popcorn is a high-volume food that takes up a lot of space.

The best part about popcorn is that it doesn’t offer a lot of calories either. However, if you’re dousing your popcorns in molten butter, then it wouldn’t be quite as effective as a diet-friendly food item.

Potatoes come with a high amount of carb, which is why a lot of people avoid them. However, potatoes can be very helpful in maintaining or losing weight. How? Well, other than carbs, potato offers fibers, vitamins, and a special type of starch.

This is known as resistant starch. Unlike regular starch that contains four calories per gram, resistant starches contain only two calories per gram. This makes potatoes a suitable food for losing weight.

Did you know that eggplants are low-calorie foods as well? A serving of eggplants baked without oil can be very filling. Not only that, each serving offers only 24 calories. Eggplant is also a great source of antioxidants.

It provides vitamins and minerals such as thiamine, niacin, manganese, phosphorus, vitamin C, K, and B6, and more. The high volume of fiber in eggplants help in digestion, which also contributes to maintaining weight.

About 92% of a watermelon is water, which makes it a great fruit for the summer. Not only that, but these are very low energy foods as well. Each serving of watermelon (about 100 grams) provides only 30 calories.

Then again, as these are comprised mostly of water, watermelons can be very filling. Plus, watermelons provide a healthy amount of vitamins and minerals. They also contain an amino acid known as arginine, which can help the body burn fat easily.

It’s true that lettuce won’t add much protein to your diet, and these are low in fiber as well. However, lettuce offers a variety of vitamins and nutrients, including folate, Vitamin A and C, and iron. Plus, lettuce is a very low energy food.

Each serving offers only around 10 to 20 calories, depending on whether it’s romaine or iceberg lettuce. Besides, 92% of romaine lettuce is water, which, coupled with its low energy sensitivity, makes it a very filling food.

The word “algae” might paint a gross green image in your head, but this seaweed-like food is actually pretty great for weight loss. Firstly, Algae are very low energy density foods, rich in iodine. Iodine keeps your hormone levels stable, which, in turn, allows the thyroid glands to function normally.

If you want to keep your weight in check, the fiber content in algae can help you out. Alongside that, you’ll also get a healthy dose of iron, magnesium, protein, and potassium.

Cucumbers are mostly made of water, which makes them very hydrating as well as a great food for the summer. People usually peel off the skin of cucumbers, but nutritionists recommend having the skin too since it hold most of the nutrients.

Cucumber is also a very low energy density food. Each serving offers only 16 calories. Cucumber’s peel and seeds contain a lot of fibers, which makes it very filling. If you’re planning on losing weight, cucumber can be a good addition to your diet.

Honeydew melon isn’t exactly the best low energy-dense fruit, but it can help you with weight loss. Each serving of honeydew melon offers around 78 calories. This calorie content would’ve been a bit lower if honeydew melon wasn’t so rich in natural sugar.

However, the best part about honeydew melon is that a single serving provides you with more than half of the daily vitamin C intake requirement, which also makes it great for your skin.

Beetroot is not only a filling food, but it’s low in calories as well. An average serving of beetroot comes with only 40 calories, which makes it a low energy density food – suitable for high intake.

Another characteristic of beetroot is that it helps burn fat, which makes it a great addition to your diet if you want to lose weight. Beetroot also helps in muscle growth and regulating blood sugar.

Blackberries are low energy density fruits that are rich in bioflavonoids, which is an antioxidant that promotes natural body processes such as circulation and digestion. A single serving of blackberries offers around 60 calories.

It also offers a variety of health benefits, such as younger-looking skin with tighter tissue and enhanced cognitive functions. This fruit is also quite high in fiber, making it a perfect ingredient to add to your morning oatmeal.

If you were wondering why kale is so popular in Hollywood, here’s what you need to know: kale is a vegetable that’s rich in protein and fiber, and at the same time, it’s a low energy density food. So, kale is one of the most filling food items.

A cup of raw kale will provide you with only 33 calories. What’s more, you also get 3 grams of protein and 2.5 grams of fiber from the same amount.

Tomatoes are considered as versatile vegetables. However, tomatoes offer much more than versatility only. Tomatoes are rich in vitamin A and C. Plus, they offer fiber, folate, potassium, and chromium. Besides, tomatoes are also rich in lycopene.

Lycopene is a carotenoid that gives tomato it’s red in color and helps us fight against a lot of diseases. Besides, the fiber content in tomato makes it a filling vegetable.

Blueberries are not only great diet foods, but they come with a wide variety of antioxidants as well. This fruit may have a high energy-dense, a cup of blueberries providing 85 calories, but a good thing about blueberries is that they offer a great deal of fiber.

A single serving can cover up to 14% of the fiber intake you require in a day. On top of that, studies show that having blueberries can actually promote fat burning.

Another diet food popular in Hollywood, Grapefruits offer a high amount of fiber, which is a major reason why it’s so filling. These also help in reducing blood sugar levels. Not only that, but grapefruits are also low-calorie fruits.

An entire grapefruit provides only 100 calories. It also contains potassium and magnesium, along with a high volume of vitamin c content, which amounts to around 60% if the daily intake requirement.

Cantaloupe is a diet-friendly fruit with a lot of health benefits. Water makes up 95% of the fruit, which gives this fruit the ability to make you feel full. Plus, you get only 55 calories in each serving of cantaloupe.

Cantaloupe contains beta carotene, which is great for eye health. This is because a cup of cantaloupe offers the required amount of vitamin A and C for the entire day, and it comes with a good amount of potassium too.

Broccoli is definitely one of the most nutritious diet foods. You can get the most out of broccoli if you have it raw or steamed. Broccoli contains an anticarcinogen known as sulforaphane. Sulforaphane can destroy chemicals that may cause cancer.

Other than that, it also provides vitamins A, C, E, and K. If you have steamed broccoli, you’ll get 20% of your daily fiber requirements. In each serving of broccoli, you’ll get 31 calories.

Cauliflower can also be a good addition to your diet if you want to lose weight. Not only is it one of the tastiest vegetables, but it also offers a variety of health benefits. A single serving of cauliflower offers only 25 calories.

This low energy-density vegetable offers an array of phytochemicals and antioxidants that can help you stay protected from diseases. It’s also a great source of Vitamin C and K, folate, and fiber.

Celery is a great diet food as it offers low calories, but, at the same time, it’s quite filling. Celery is a vegetable that’s 95% water. This is the reason why many people think that celery offers no health benefits, but that’s a wrong assumption.

Celery provides potassium, vitamin A, K, and C, fiber, as well as folate. A single serving of celery provides only six calories. What’s more, celery can also reduce bloating since it contains a lot of electrolytes.