Another Reason to Ditch Processed Foods

I say ditch them despite the new labels required by the FDA that spell out more realistic serving sizes and supposedly give a better breakdown on ingredients including added sugars because there is yet another health hazard hidden in processed foods. Maybe the fact that we can say we are trans-fat free leads to complacency, but don’t be fooled into more complacency by the new food labels. Nearly 500 food items found on grocery store shelves in the United States, including many labeled as "healthy," contain a potentially hazardous industrial plastics chemical, Azodicarbonamide, also known as ADA. ADA was found as an ingredient in breads, bagels, tortillas, hamburger and hot dog buns, pizza, pastries, and other food products. It is also found in yoga mats but as a food additive it’s been banned in many other countries. It gets into our food during the flour bleaching process and asthma related respiratory problems, skin irritation, or cancer can be a side effect. ADA also seems to be a staple in the fast food industry with the exception of Subway. Subway restaurants were apparently called out over ADA use because of their healthy image and to their credit have discontinued the use of bread containing the chemical. The Food and Drug Administration has been around a long time (early beginnings in the late 1800s to early 1900s). Maybe it needs revamping if it is going to continue to allow hazardous chemicals like ADA to be a part of our food supply. 

END IT Movement

After seeing a bunch of red Xs on hands on social media I decided to check MSN and some other news feeds to see if they had picked up on the END IT Movement. Putting a red X on your hand is what some call passive activism and is designed in this case to shine a light (promote awareness) on human trafficking and modern day slavery. I didn’t see the END IT Movement featured on MSN or my local feed from Jacksonville, FL which is according to this group one of the busiest ports for trafficking and slavery at least in my area. I was planning to write about potcakes and the stray dogs of Sochi noting how in many places strays are mistreated, but this issue of human trafficking and the idea that some think it is okay to own other people seemed more important. It is true that we see dogs as our loving pets and allow them to sleep in bed with us and treat them as family members, yet dogs are not necessarily thought of that way all around the world. It seems also that there is a basic lack of respect for the dignity of humans too. This issue may not seem as sensational or newsworthy as Celeb Winter Beach Cruising, the death of the Dating Game’s Jim Lange or the murder of a CIA mole by al-Qaida. And locally a FL State Representative’s house was being raided by federal agents and Universal Studios is following Disney’s lead and raising their admission prices. The news media isn't just putting out bad news these days, it’s devolving to tabloid levels. In any event if you see a red X on someone’s hand I hope it will inspire you to consider helping make a difference for the 27 million men, women, and children enslaved around our world each day. Find a nonprofit to support or an organization the helps victims recover. As they said on a video there is no right side to this issue, just wrong. 

Virtual 5Ks, 10Ks, Half Marathons, Marathons, and Triathalons

Of course I first heard about these virtual sport challenges on social media. I saw that a friend posted her finish photo of the marathon run with Donna (to finish breast cancer), virtually on Face Book. Then the same week I saw a flyer for a virtual half marathon on Andros that is a match for a half marathon in Tampa. I like the idea of these virtual runs because it seems like a good way to keep up and connect with running pals that have maybe moved or are for whatever reason separated by geographical distance. Might make running feel a little less solitary and focus the competition more on going for a personal best vs. keeping up with a bigger pack of runners. It might also be a good way to increase the number of runners willing to garner funds for a cause, like the fight against breast cancer. If your plans take you out of town you can still do the run, virtually, on a treadmill or outdoors at your own pace. You also get a bib (your race number) and certificate or whatever else goes with completing the race, maybe a t-shirt, medal, or ribbon. You can get a bunch of friends together and run too. There are lots of websites offering a variety of virtual races. I think my favorite as I browsed was Muffins to Marathons-Fit 4 Life. Right now I definitely fit in the muffin category but these virtual races leave virtually no excuse for not changing that.

Thumb War and Longevity

Yep, being a winner at 1, 2, 3, 4, I declare thumb war can indicate a better chance at longevity! Who’d a thunk it? Here I had ample opportunity to play this past week and weekend with some grandsons and all I did was chase them around on scooters over numerous sets of railroad tracks, bowl, and take in the Lego Movie. Not that even if I did happen to challenge them to thumb war I’d win necessarily. The key to thumb war and longevity is quick reaction time. Winning at thumb war is just one example of that. A study was done over 15 years with 5,000+ participants that showed a link between reaction time and longevity. At first I thought that was a lot of thumb war but after further reading I found that the participants’ reaction times were tested via computer. Each participant between the ages of 20 and 59 took the test 50 times. When the researchers ran the numbers for all these and adjusted for age, sex, and ethnic minority status, the people who had slower and more variable reaction times on the test had a higher likelihood of both all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality. So I read on and found that reaction time is like genetics, something you can’t do much to change. This is where other healthy activities take up the slack. My grandkids did keep me outside and on the go last week so much so that I decided I deserved a nap after they got on the road yesterday. I’m just happy that spending time with grandkids and thumb war are good for my heart. 

Let's Go LEGO

This is not to be confused with leggo as in my Eggo. The LEGO I am referring to here has been around a long time (at least 42 years, the age of our number one son) and they are still going strong. My most vivid memory from back then is of stepping on and errant LEGO with my bare feet, OUCH! I also distinctly remember directing the boys to clean them up (pick them up off the floor of their rooms) each night before bedtime in case the house caught on fire and they needed to be rescued by the fire department. A carpet of LEGOs is an obstacle course in the daylight and might be much harder to negotiate in the dark. Somehow the boys managed to navigate through them on nightly trips for a drink of water or a trip to the bathroom. To this day I’m not sure how. Of course they were kids and weren't even fazed when our pet hamster took up residence in one of their sneakers, so a few zillion LEGOs lying around was no problem. Fast forward to the present and you find that LEGOs have their own theme park, LEGO Land, and I had a very popular and generous supply of LEGO kits in my science lab complete with little motors. There are computer games with LEGO characters these days too. I've played the STARWARS version and a couple of the rescue games too. There may even be LEGO cartoons, since I have stopped watching Saturday morning cartoons, I have no idea. I am however, going to see the LEGO Movie today with my two youngest grandsons and I have heard only good reviews about it. Perfect activity for a rainy day! Better than riding scooters in the house anyway. About the movie, I’ll keep you posted! 

Olympic Proportions

With the Olympics not quite ready to wind down there is trouble and unrest in the neighboring country of Ukraine. Dogs of Sochi have been in the news too. Hate crimes exist and intolerance persists. There is despite all Putin’s window dressing an ugly underside to his little piece of the world as can be found most anywhere these days. The need for the ring of steel to protect the games from terrorism is another sad indicator but I for one am happy that it has worked and hope that it continues to do so. The reporters continue to report that they feel safe at the Olympic venues and that is a good thing too. It has been interesting to learn about the rich and varied culture of the Olympic host country from my perspective, as a student that went through the under the desk drills during the cold war. Then there is the whole business about why Russians don’t seem to smile very much. Apparently they have considered the American smile, especially smiles found on posters and propaganda, to be too superficial. The Russian smile is purportedly more sincere. I have noted the Russian’s victory smiles as they garner gold medals in the Olympics and they look like everyone else’s to me. I’m glad they have something to smile about and hope that in time they discover that we aren't much different from them. I hope for an end to unrest and the beginnings of tolerance in their lands and lives so they can find more reasons to smile. 

Obesity in $$$

As if being fat isn't bad enough now it’s costing you (or in my case – me) more money! I’m not just talking about the price of fast food either. Health care costs for things associated with fat are on the increase. Fat increases your blood pressure, cholesterol, and can cause apnea. Drug costs for all these heart related conditions increased from $59 to $225. Diabetes and metabolic disease medications associated with extra weight increased from $31 to $364. Belly fat is the culprit or at least one of the biggest contributors to all these issues so getting rid of the belly fat that is toxic and builds up around the internal organs is the place to begin with in the big fat scheme of things. The bad part for me is that although I do not love my obesity, I am comfortable in my own skin, at least until I have to squeeze into an airplane seat or stand on the scale after my bags are weighed so I can be seated properly for the plane to fly safely. The numbers don’t face the others in line so there is no embarrassing reveal, it’s just uncomfortable. I don’t figure it’s nearly as uncomfortable for the skinny people getting on the flight. If they did this with the bigger airlines’ airplanes I can imagine the fuss might be bigger and the lines longer than they are now too. That said as much as I’d like to save money on my power bill I wish I was as dedicated to saving on my obesity bill. 

Community Grids

Wind Turbine at AUTEC

Here is an idea to replace the aging electrical infrastructure that supplies our power needs at the flick of a switch that is simply called the grid. Parts of the grid are over a century old and well past their expiration date. It is still too expensive and unreliable for most folks to live off the grid but community grids that rely mostly on local energy sources and storage is an option receiving some serious consideration. Community grids would tap into renewable energy like roof top solar panels and micro wind turbines. These grids would only buy energy from the larger national grid when necessary and in return feed excess renewable energy into the national pot. This type of system is already working in some places like remote Alaskan villages where it is too costly to attach to the grid, and on some military bases, university campuses, and jails. Electric cars can also be enables to supply energy to the grid as well as take it and in this way help provide the grid with a backup supply and put money in their owner’s pockets. The US utility trade association isn’t so sure that these micro grids would be the best though because the rise of a distributed electricity generation could threaten industry profits. I get that. But change is definitely in the wind.

Fish Oil Actually Comes from Algae

Fish oil is not my favorite but I take three capsules a day upon the recommendation of my doctor in hopes of lowering my cholesterol. I can tell you that I have had the rather unpleasant fishy aftertaste too so the idea that fish oil actually originates in algae makes me wonder what an algae aftertaste might be like. The omega-3 fatty acid fish oil (that I buy in fish oil capsules) that was produced by grinding up fish caught in the wild actually comes from algae. It gets into the flesh of oily fish through the food chain as they eat smaller fish that have eaten the algae containing the omega-3 fatty acids. The algae are in fact the only organisms that make EPA and DHA in appreciable amounts and approximately a million tons of it that’s extracted from fish is a supply that’s limited and unsustainable, especially if people follow the World Health Organization’s recommended daily intake. Some research colleagues in the UK have created an alternative source of EPA and DHA by taking 7 genes that algae use to produce the fatty acids and inserting them into the genome of another plant. If all goes according to plan the plant oil (with EPA and DHA like fish oil) could be available in about ten years. It could then begin to take pressure off the fish and make it possible for more people to have access to the recommended daily amounts EPA and DHA. I just hope they substitute the fishy aftertaste for some other plant aftertaste, maybe like… garlic?

Sometimes You Need to Make a Mess to Clean Up a Mess

This is what I used to conclude at the beginning and end of every school year when I would tackle my classroom closets. In order to make order I first had to make a mess by pulling everything out, and then cull and reorganize as I put everything back, swearing that I wouldn't let the closets get this messy again next school year. But no matter the promises, I could never keep those closets neat. Maybe the key to my closet problem was that I didn’t cull enough, or fully embrace the concept that in the case of my classroom closets, less is more. So when I saw an article in my favorite magazine about how paradoxically our strengths are revealed by making things better by first making them worse, I knew I’d be turning the pages because this would be something to which I could relate. The first thing the author wrote about was how sometimes in sports the underdog inexplicably triumphs and how there might be more to this phenomena than luck or greater resolve on the parts of the players or underdogs. I knew there was a reason I like to root for the underdogs. Next the author mentioned the emerging science of networks which might provide answers for the question of why some systems perform better in disadvantageous conditions, like a team that becomes the underdogs when they lose their star player yet against the odds pulls off a win. Physicists and mathematicians embraced these notions and are coming up with interesting (and by some traditional standards radical) ways to improve transport networks, biologic and metabolic networks, and fight diseases, that go against the odds and prove that what is currently thought to be the best is not always best. One example given dealt with adding more routes to make traffic flow better and found that with traffic having fewer routes was more efficient for traffic flow. In terms of traffic flow less was more and flow improved.

And those closets? I've retired from the classroom so they aren't something I have to deal with anymore, but I still like the idea that less is sometimes more. Maybe I can use that strategy on my closets at home.

Olympic Hopefuls Carry Weird Stuff

I've tuned into the Olympics a couple of times since there is so much coverage it is hard to avoid. And I almost hate to admit this, but I like the figure skating. I have noticed that the commentators seem far less critical as far as their remarks during the scoring parts after the performances than it seems they've been in past Olympic coverage. If it was me I think I’d be yelling about some scores like I do at the bowling alley over the din when a single pin is left standing- You were robbed! There have been some reports of weird things some Olympic Hopefuls are carrying on their persons out on the slopes and ice too. One skier was carrying a raw egg which after the fall he took could no longer be considered lucky, more likely just messy. Another Luger is has some of her late father’s ashes along for the ride. That I can understand a little better than the egg. But mostly all the Olympic athletes carry the hopes and pride of their countries, and that isn't weird at all.

Lincoln

Yesterday was Lincoln’s birthday and even though I was looking quite Lincolnesque sporting my beard etc. I am as usual a day late on the topic. I am not worried about this though because celebrating Lincoln and Washington has been lumped into a President Day midway betwixt the twos birthdays and I figure that gives me free reign to celebrate whenever I want to. So here are a couple of interesting known facts about our 16^th president.

Abraham Lincoln didn’t drink or smoke.

He liked cats and he let his cat eat at the White House table.

Abraham Lincoln has no direct living descendants today.

He was the first president born outside the 13 original colonies.

Abraham Lincoln was the first president with a beard.

So Belated Happy Birthday, President Lincoln! My beard hat’s off to you!

Life-Changing Stuff

Me with a beard on Lincoln's Birthday!

I woke up early today and I came across two life-changing topics, 12 life-changing chocolate cakes and 25 life-changing secrets to happiness. First thing I wondered was whether or not these life-changing strategies were connected. In my mind I definitely relate chocolate and happiness and it seems like to me they should be connected. But no, the biggest connection between chocolate and happiness was that they were on the same page on MSN this morning. The cake recipes read like the menu at a coffee shop, including mocha, grasshopper (complete with thin mint Girl Scout cookies), and German chocolate to name a few. In the happiness piece the focus included connecting with friends and loved ones, unplugging, meditation, and getting outdoors over the gym. The one tip I really liked was to create a happiness kit to get out when you need cheering up. Everyone could use one at some point in their lives. It might include photos of happy times that make you smile or motivational sayings. Mine of course will include chocolate!

Op-Eds Online

There have been a bunch art of Op-Eds written by world leaders online lately. Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote about Syria in the New York Times on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and drew a scathing rebuttal from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in Russian online newspaper Pravda.ru. And Iranian President Hassan Rouhani set out his apparently moderate agenda in an op-ed in the Washington Post. Our President Obama and France’s President Francois Hollande have penned an Op-Ed together too about how their two countries are on the same page as far as international cooperation goes. There are Op-Eds written about a myriad of issues from climate change to nuclear weapons and détente.

An Op-Ed is an opinion piece and usually seen as a chance for the authors to garner some publicity and to perhaps sway public opinion about an issue. Op-Eds are often longer than a regular letter to the editor. The word Op-Ed defined means printed on the page opposite the editorial page in a newspaper, the page usually devoted to commentary, feature articles, and you guessed it, Op-Eds.

I’m thinking Op-Eds are like opinions which are like...you know, and everybody has them, yep, politicians especially. 

Little People in Dog Suits

This is how my late father-in-law and his son, my husband, have always referred to our dogs because they, like the researchers that have recently discovered this too, knew that dogs really are just little people in dog suits. If it isn't obvious by your dog’s behavior we now have a study of dogs’ MRIs that show a striking similarity between dogs and humans in both the structure and function of a key brain region: the caudate nucleus. For people this area of the brain plays a key role in the anticipation of things we enjoy, such as food, love, music, and money. In the dogs in this study the same area of the brain was activated by the smells of familiar humans and signals for food. Does this study prove that dogs love us? Nope, but many of the same things that activate the human caudate, which are associated with positive emotions, also activate the dog caudate. The study that concluded that dogs just might have the ability to experience positive emotions, like love and attachment, and this indicates that dogs have a level of sentience comparable to that of a human child. It was conducted by Gregory Berns, a professor of neuroeconomics and his friend Mark Spivak, a dog trainer that helped train volunteer dogs to go into the MRI without anesthesia.

I am no researcher so I didn’t need a study to prove that dogs have emotions. I've always known dogs were just little people in dog suits.

Wear Red the Day After, (for me) and CVS Nixes Tobacco Products

Better a day late than never I figure. Yesterday was Wear Red Day, a day to focus on heart issues for women and Yay!! for CVS, for getting rid of cigarettes. This is an idea that actually makes good sense. These two go together because smoking cessation is one big thing women can do for better heart health. I did read online in the comments following CVS’ announcement the usual smoker’s excuses about how smoking is a choice that adults can legally make and others that think unless CVS stops selling alcoholic beverages too, they are hypocrites. Both points are valid and alcohol is legal for adults to purchase also but neither the use of alcohol or tobacco are healthy choices. There’s an argument for the freedom to choose to use these but the freedom to stop their use is for many not so easy. I am impressed that CVS is willing to get out of the multi-billion dollar tobacco selling business despite the new health care law incentives because whatever their reasoning, it is the right thing to do, and I hope that other drugstore chains soon follow suit.

Mobile Epilepsy Diagnosing with Smartphones

As if phones aren't already smart enough a team of researchers are using them to help diagnose epilepsy in poor countries where the disorder is often poorly understood and treatments are scarce. In these places epilepsy untreated can be deadly. The portable brain scanner developed by Jacob Eg Larsen and Arkadiusz Stopczynski at the Technical University of Denmark only needs a smart phone and an electrode skullcap. They are doing clinical trials in Boston and Copenhagen now to calibrate the scanners. These will be especially beneficial for school aged children that may be having petit mal seizures that are more like staring spells. These kids often appear to be inattentive when they are actually having a seizure and thus their epilepsy goes undiagnosed and untreated. I can relate to this because in my years of teaching in this country, this is a condition sometimes in our youngsters goes undiagnosed. I could write right here- What will they think of next? Because I am sure someone is already thinking and developing other innovative uses for smartphone technology that will benefit us in our ever changing world. 

Cryoseisms

Bahamian Snow Photo by Shannon!

There was a frost quake (that’s what a cryoseism is) on my birthday this year. These are rare natural phenomena (like I only turn 62 once in my lifetime?) that occur when moisture in the ground suddenly freezes and expands (think cracks in the sidewalk).The one that occurred on my birthday was in Wisconsin and left a fissure in some guy’s driveway that was an inch wide and 8 to 10 inches deep. I saw a photo of him measuring it online with a meter stick, but I think it would have been just as much fun to take photos of it with Lego men rescuing a fallen fellow from the crevasse. Anyway these frost quakes can be accompanied by booming noises and earthquake type rumbles even though they happen so close to the earth’s surface that are undetectable by actual earthquake seismological tools. The temperature swings have been abrupt enough this winter to cause these cryoseisms to occur in a bunch of places this winter in Canada, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

So there was this frost quake on my birthday this year, but I missed it because I was in the Bahamas.

World Cancer Day

As usual I’m a day late, yesterday (Feb. 4) was World Cancer Day, a day to raise awareness about cancer in its many forms and recognize cancer survivors. In my family we have had and still have quite a few. As a matter of fact, I have participated in so many relays for life and other fundraisers for cancer research for so many years that it seems like the cure for cancer might as well be pie in the sky. Cancer has been around for a long time. In my reading (New Scientist Magazine, my favorite) I came across some interesting information about metastasizing cancer cells that makes me hopeful about the possibility of a cure or at least a way to improve the odds against cancers that manifest as brain tumors. The news that any kind of cancer has metastasized or spread to other organs in the body is never good and can happen even after some cancers have been in remission for years. The news is especially devastating if the cancer has metastasized to the brain. Once the cells begin to grow in the brain survival rates go into a tailspin. Only one fifth of the folks with brain cancers survive longer than a year from diagnosis. Breast cancer cells have been known to invade the brain by posing as neurons. Rahul Jandial, a neurosurgeon at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California, found this out when he decided to explore how breast cancer cells are able to cross the blood-brain barrier to enter the brain and how they then avoid destruction by the immune system. Knowing that the cancer cells can disguise themselves to avoid destruction is something researchers hope to use in order to find new ways to combat these brain tumors. I can only continue to help support research and hope that more strides can be made against this deadly disease in my lifetime.

Turbulence

So keep your seat belt buckled.., I’m paraphrasing Anya from my last time I flew the short hop over the Atlantic from West Palm Beach to Andros with her and thinking to myself, Get ready for it, because the skies are becoming more turbulent and the rides bumpier. Global warming is the reason the skies are becoming more turbulent for fliers and because I am a fairly frequent one I am already figuring this out first hand. It can be tricky to crochet too, especially at lower elevations (especially near landing). Turbulence develops when air at one altitude is travelling faster than the air below. Scientists using climate models figure that the amount of turbulence in the future will increase as carbon dioxide levels increase and the jet stream will migrate slightly northward into the path of many flights now. This increase in turbulence will have more effect than just a queasy stomach or a dropped stitch for passengers like me. It will also cause more wear and tear on the aircraft itself and that will cost the aviation industry. Those costs will more than likely trickle down to us too. Still I am looking forward to my next jaunt over to the island.

Squirrels, a Sure Sign of Spring

The Super Bowl is over and the groundhogs have had their say and this morning I had several close calls with an abundance of squirrels busily chasing across the quiet roadways in St. Marys. None of them were flattened by my wheels but it almost seemed like it wasn't for the lack of trying. This spring looks to be shaping up as a very good start for the bushy tailed rats, as some like to call them. Squirrels close cousins, regular rats, are also good climbers, though they prefer the nighttime hours and sadly are not (to me at least) as cute or entertaining as squirrels. Squirrels seem to have the desire to attract my attention with their death defying leaps high in the tree tops, sometimes resulting in a carefully aimed pine cone plunking me on my head. This usually happens when I’m hanging linens on my clothesline, another sign that spring is on its way. At other times, like this morning after the fog burned off, the squirrels in my neighborhood seem to have a death wish as they wait patiently on the shoulder of the road until my car gets in range and then suddenly with a twitch of the tail take off in a sprint right in front of me. And the noisy chattering of squirrels is one of the sounds of spring’s return, along with the return birdsong at dawn. I like the sound of spring in the south too. 

Happy Groundhog’s Day!

If you live in the northern climes this blog’s title salutation may seem a bit sarcastic since the great weather prognosticating groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, did see his shadow and therefore predicts six more weeks of winter. This prediction appears to eerily match the weather channel’s forecast of more wintry weather for those same parts of our nation. On the other hand, we have a conflicting report from General Beauregard Lee, Atlanta’s (and the South’s) prognosticating groundhog. General Lee did not see his shadow on this foggy morning (and for that matter neither did I) and he predicts an early spring. I am hoping he has it right and I don’t see why not. We can easily have an earlier spring than our neighbors to the north as evidenced by the last frost dates in many an Old Farmer’s Almanac. In the meantime while I wait and wonder if the General’s prediction will come to fruition, I think I’ll finish planning my spring garden and get those snow pea seeds soaking. That’s the only kind of snow I’m considering starting today!

White and Aviation Orange

This is my new favorite color combination. Orange has always been a favorite of mine and I like Aviation Orange too. Every time I pass by the aviation orange and white checked water tower here in St. Marys I am reminded of another on Andros. When I visit there that white and aviation orange checkerboard painted water tower is the landmark that I use to find my way back whenever I’m out walking with a pup named Sailor, not that there is anywhere too distant on the base there. The color scheme on water towers has more to do with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations rather than the military though. Water towers are usually deemed hazards to aviation and required to have the paint scheme or an expensive electronic navigation obstruction aid and paint seems like the easiest way to go as far as maintenance and expense is concerned. Apparently these checkerboard water towers can be found in other places around the USA. I plan to be on the lookout for them in my travels.