Life is Healthy

I rarely read the Life section of The Globe and Mail. In the mornings, I tend to skim the front section over breakfast and then get the rest of my news from the radio and online. However, today, as I was waiting for something on the stove, I grabbed the Life section and found several articles to be of interest.

I didn't know about modern Superheroes, who don costumes to patrol the streets or do good works. These guys are proud of who they are and they think they're pretty cool, too. "I'm not a fat kid in someone's basement or some geek living out a fantasy," says a caped crusader based in Vancouver, who calls himself 'Thanatos'. Dunno. Seems a little odd to me.

I am now worried about the fact Bhisphenol A can be absorbed through cash register receipts and water pipes as well as through food.

I have seen evidence of knitted graffiti in my own city but had no idea it had become a world wide phenomenon until my Danish friend M. sent me a link to an article about "craftivists" in Copenhagen. Now I can't help wondering, if it's in the Life Section of the Globe, is it still subversive?

I learned that men undergoing vasectomies can sometimes see a puff of smoke coming from their groin area during the procedure. What would make that happen?

I was reminded that yoga will enhance my cardio performance and that exercise can help stave off diabetes and heart disease. What I didn't know that short, intense burst can be especially beneficial. Now that got my wheels turning.

And I was moved to tears as I read how one woman lost her precious son to suicide at the age of 17. My spouse and I have both struggled with depression at various points in our lives, as have family members. I do worry about my boys. I want to protect them from everything. Hopefully, love, patience and all the right kinds of support (along with a generous dose of luck) will lead them to live happy and healthy lives.

What did you learn in the news today?

It’s Friday which means I’ve drawn a winner of “Joy’s LIFE Diet” book. Congratulations, Donna! You’re the winner! Please send me an email with your address and I’ll get it out to you right away.

Thank you everyone for posting a comment to try and win. I like giving stuff away, so hopefully I’ll get the chance again real soon.

Also, a big thank you to all of you for lending such supportive advice about my website being linked on a fake weight-loss blogger’s site (or as Crabby McSlacker put it, I have “colonic cleansing cooties!”). I’m taking advantage of the free advertising (let the fakers cough up the advertising bucks!). When people click on my site from the fake site, they are greeted with a “I don’t endorse berry or colon cleansing diets...but welcome to my site…” note and hopefully they’ll be encouraged to do safe and healthy weight loss rather than a quick fix.

Speaking of winners…

As part of my resolution to try a new recipe every week, I made Spicy Peanut Slaw Wednesday night and thought I’d pass it on. I found the recipe on Bell Plantation’s website (they make my beloved PB2, powdered peanut butter) and it was contributed by Kristina Landgraf.

I’d dragged my feet for months with making this. For some reason the ingredients didn’t seem like they’d go together. But I was really in the mood for something spicy and Asian, so I figured I’d give it a try and it would be cheap to throw together. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t feel guilty throwing it away.

However…not only did I like it, my husband liked it, and I couldn’t wait to get up Thursday morning and eat the leftovers for breakfast! A heads up, though. This is best served within a few hours of making it. It was OK the next day, but a little runny.

Spicy Peanut Slaw

1 1/2 tbsp. PB2 (just the powder; don’t mix it with water)
1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger (I used ¼ tsp ground ginger from a jar)
1 chopped green onion
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. sour cream (I used fat-free)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1- 2 packets Splenda (I used a packet of stevia which is about ½ tsp.)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (I used 1/8 tsp.)
3 cups shredded coleslaw/carrot mix (I used broccoli slaw)
1 tbsp. chopped peanuts

Wisk first eight ingredients together in large bowl. Add slaw, mix well, and top with peanuts. Put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. If you like it a little sweeter, add more sweetener. More sour? Less sweetener.

Here’s the Points low-down. Making it like I did with fat-free sour cream, the entire salad is 3 Points or 1 Point divided into three servings. By omitting the chopped peanuts, the entire salad is 2 points or 0 points divided into 3 servings.

Happy Friday! See ya’ll again in a few days.

In his travels around the globe, Dr. Weston Price found that the most robust groups were often those who had access to marine and freshwater foods. For example, Polynesian groups had a tooth decay prevalence as low as 0.6% of teeth. That's roughly one in 5 people with even a single cavity, in a population that doesn't brush its teeth, drink fluoridated water or go to the dentist. These individuals had broad dental arches, straight teeth, and fully erupted wisdom teeth as well.

As soon as they adopted white flour and sugar as dietary staples, the tooth decay prevalence of Polynesian groups went as high as 33.4% of teeth, or about 11 cavities per person. This represents a 5,600% increase in the prevalence of tooth decay. The next generation to be born also suffered from characteristic facial and skeletal abnormalities that are common in modern societies to varying degrees.

This leads me to ask the question, what is unique about seafood that allows it to support excellent development and maintenance of the human body? Seafood has a lot of advantages. It tends to be very rich in minerals, particularly iodine which can be lacking in land foods. It's also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids and low but adequate in linoleic acid (omega-6). This impacts development and maintenance in a number of ways, from fat mass to dental health.

As I wrote in the last post and others, I believe that one of the major determinants of proper development and continued health is the diet's content of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and K2. K2 in particular is rare in the modern diet. We're also deficient in vitamin D because of our indoor lifestyles and use of sunscreen. Polynesians didn't have to worry about vitamin D because they spent much of the day outside half naked.

How about K2? Is seafood a good source? At first glance, it doesn't appear to be. Mackerel is the best source I came across on NutritionData, with one serving delivering 5.6 micrograms of vitamin K. It wasn't specified, but only a portion of that will be vitamin K2 MK-4, with the majority probably coming from K1. Most other types of fish have very low levels of vitamin K.

But we have to probe deeper. Nutrition information for fish refers to muscle tissue. Muscle is a poor source of K2 in mammals, could that be the case in fish as well? It turns out, the organs are the best source of K2 MK-4 in fish, just as they are in mammals. It's most concentrated in the liver, kidneys, heart and gonads. This loosely resembles the situation in mammals, which also retain MK-4 in their kidneys and gonads (along with pancreas, salivary glands, and brain).

I don't know how frequently traditional non-industrial cultures ate fish organs. My guess is they discarded most of them as do modern cultures, because they smell funny and putrefy rapidly. There are some exceptions, however. Certain traditional cultures ate fish livers, cod for example. Price described a dish eaten by a healthy, isolated Gaelic group in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration:

An important and highly relished article of diet has been baked cod's head stuffed with chopped cod's liver and oatmeal.

The blend of courages, minds clarity and continuity of Action , sooner or later surely produce success.

Whenever I have bloodwork done before chemo, the nurse will flush out my port with saline. I always get a salty taste in my mouth and in the back of my throat.

Lately, I have been getting that taste when I am out walking my dogs in the city. I have a lot of winters under my belt but this is the first time I have noticed this. I don't know whether there is more salt on the streets this year or if more of it is being churned up by the extra traffic (there certainly more, along with more pollution from exhaust since the bus trike started five weeks ago). It freaks me out a little.

A couple of week ends ago, I woke up to find out that the power was out in half the house. The living room had no power, the dining room was fine. Our bedroom had no power. The other upstairs rooms were OK. The furnace worked (thank goodness) but the hot water heater did not. The fridge was working fine but the microwave was not. The strangest part was that half the stove was working (three of the elements and the oven were working. The display panel and a fourth element were not) The breadmaker, which was plugged into the stove, was chugging away.

We dithered a bit about what to do until I insisted that we call an electrician (it was a Saturday morning). Three hundred dollars later, he told us that the problem was around a little box outside the house (I believe it's called a "crimp"). If the issue was on one side of the box, Hydro (the electric company) would have to fix it, if it was on the either side than it would be "very, very expensive."

So, after torturing ourselves with some worse-case scenarios, we called Hydro.

Then the power came back on.

Hydro came a couple of hours later and narrowed down the likely problem to some wires that had been corroded by salt (I should point out that we live on the corner of a very busy thoroughfare). They fixed the wires closest to the house but were called away before they could fix the ones by the box on the street (don't you all love my technical expertise in these matters?) they were called to a fire.

The power went off again a couple of hours later.

I called Hydro again but since we still had heat, we weren't at the top of their emergency list.

Hydro came back the next morning, by which time the power was on again.

The guys (the same ones as the day before) fixed the street end of the wires and we have not had a problem since.

And yes, T., we should have called Hydro in the first place.

It's made me wonder, though, about all the salt we must be breathing in (along with all the other pollutants from cars and other things). It can't be good for you.

I'd ask Mr. Internet but I'm too scared.

And it occurs to me that I didn't even think about pollution (let alone salt) when we bought the house more than 10 years ago.

(I'm sharing an email I received from my very informed, and socially active friend, who makes it his business to tell the good, bad, and ugly like it is to his network. Let this story serve as a reminder that ignorance is still around, and we must do our part to ensure that we don't fuel it with our hard-earned dollars. Please pass this link around to your friends, family, foes, and co-workers. This is the new age boycott, and now it's your turn.)

Monday January 26, 2009

The combination of being freelance (not wanting to spend my fluctuating income on luxuries such as new clothes) working from home (where every day is a dressing-down day and some are even dressing-gown days), and having a small child (often no room to wash and dry my own unfashionable clothes, necessitating wearing even older garments from the back of the wardrobe which then also invariably get smeared with food/snot, sometimes not even mine) means that normal standards of dress have been slipping for a while.

To save time in the morning, this look is often combined with my face being in the follicular hinterland between “hasn’t shaved” and “has grown a beard”. This state isn’t helped by the fact that although I have reasonably hirsute sideburns, moustache and chin area, my cheeks always look like they’ve been defoliated with Agent Orange, sporting as they do more bald patches than a monastery.

It was in this state that I went to the corner shop to buy some bread.

On the way I passed a hunched old man looking even scruffier and more stained than I was, shuffling along in flip-flops despite the cold weather. I asked him if he was OK, and he asked me the way to the corner shop. I told him he was going the wrong way and pointed the way he should be going. He looked confused. I pointed again. He looked more confused. After several more points/confused looks I realised that he was blind.

I offered him my arm as I was going that way, and we shuffled along together. He told me that he needed to pop into the greengrocer’s first as he needed to borrow some money from him, so we manoeuvred our way in through the crates of fruit and veg.

Unfortunately, only the greengrocer’s wife was in and she wasn’t going to be lending money to anyone. The blind man pleaded, but she was adamant. He told her that her husband often lent him a few pounds, but she was having none of it.

As the conversation wore on I looked up at the convex mirror that the greengrocer uses to monitor his shop instead of CCTV. In it I saw, to my horror, exactly what we looked like: two tramps begging for money.

I was in yet another socially awkward situation. I wished to help the man, and I didn’t mind being known as artistically, perhaps even eccentrically dressed by my near neighbours. But there is a fine line between “shabby chic” and “hobo” and I had to concede that this line was so far in the rear-view mirror as to be hidden by the curvature of the earth.

So, as the blind man continued his pleas I started trying to convey to the woman, using only facial expressions and my left hand, that I was in fact a middle-class, well-educated professional who was just having a bit of a bad beard day, and that I was not actually with this man. This was despite the fact that we had come in together and he was still holding on to my arm.

Neither of us were successful and we found ourselves back on the pavement, empty-handed. So I offered to buy the man’s groceries for him, and then we began the slow shuffle back to his house. I resisted the urge to casually mention that I was clean-shaven and wearing a pin-striped suit. Instead I listened to his sad story – about the wife in long-term care, the drug-addict son, the loss of his sight. I promised to phone social services on his behalf and tell them exactly about the help that he needed as soon as I got home.

I did, but first I shaved and went and explained a few things to the greengrocer’s wife.

The multi-center, randomized clinical trial was conducted at UCSF, Brown University and the University of Alabama in Birmingham. The results support the inclusion of weight reduction as a first-line treatment for incontinence for overweight and obese women, according to Leslee L. Subak, MD, lead author on the study and associate professor in the obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences; urology, and epidemiology and biostatistics departments at UCSF.

“It has been well documented that behavioral weight-loss interventions decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, improve control of high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and improve mood and quality of life,” Subak said. “Our results suggest that a decrease in urinary incontinence can now be added to the extensive list of health benefits associated with weight loss.”

Read more on UCSF News Office

Venom Hyperdrive 3.0, marketed by California-based Applied Lifescience Research Industries Inc., contains sibutramine, a chemical that can put people at risk for addiction and can increase peoples blood pressure and heart rate, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the FDA. Consumers who have the product should stop taking it immediately and contact their doctor if they are experiencing any adverse health effects, the agency said. Applied Lifescience Research initiated a recall of the product in late December after the FDA said the dietary supplement contained sibutramine, according to the agency's press release.


The FDA's announcement comes about a month after the agency said more than 60 weight-loss products were tainted with powerful ingredients, including those used in antiseizure medications and some chemicals suspected to cause cancer.

Venom Hyperdrive 3.0 comes in red plastic bottles and can be found in retail stores in the U.S., as well as in Canada, Poland, Sweden, Hungary, South Africa, the Netherlands, Australia, France and the United Kingdom.

Applied Lifescience Research's Web site says only "trace" amounts of sibutramine can be found in the product, the FDA said, but the agency's analysis showed Venom Hyperdrive contains a significant amount.

"Nowhere do we state that Venom Hyperdrive contained trace amounts of subutramine," said Charles Weller, general counsel for Applied Lifescience Research. He added that the company's Web site only mentioned that trace amounts of sibutramine weren't harmful, not that trace amounts were in the product.

Mr. Weller said the company had begun replacing Venom Hyperdrive 3.0 about six months ago with a newer version. He said the company isn't certain how the sibutramine got into the original product, but said he believes it was contaminated by raw-material suppliers in China.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

I did not fear if i have to make a mistake. Although actually, I really hate to make mistakes.
Indeed, the mistakes is to guide me trying to become more wise.
I am always afraid if i can't be responsible for any mistakes i have made. Although it turns out, my responsibility is never be able to clear the mistakes.
In fact, if i can be more responsible for any mistakes, I become more noble.

Made mistakes then be responsible.
Made no mistakes still be responsible.

I have been feeling kind of blue these last few days.

I'm always relieved after I get good scan results but a feeling of let-down seems to follow almost every time and I find myself, once again, channelling Peggy Lee and asking "Is that all there is?"

I just finished the latest round of edits on my book (coming out this spring with Women's Press!) and I have been left wondering, 'so, what's next?'

I haven't looked at the outline for my novel since I submitted it for my writing course on December 31st. The course is over and I am feeling kind of daunted. I've been asking myself, "Can I do this?" and "What purpose would it serve?"

This morning, I had an appointment with my wonderful oncologist who confirmed my CT results. He also referred to my "normal" life.

I told him that I have been feeling kind of "ground down" by the emotional wear and tear of treatment, as much as the buildup of toxins.

He gently reminded me that I need to think of myself as having a chronic illness, "like diabetes", that needs to be managed but that doesn't stop me from living my life.

I told him that I know how lucky I am and that I am very grateful not to be dead (at which point he rolled his eyes) and that I've been doing other things to keep my life full and interesting (like writing) but that I miss the more fast-paced, structured work environment.

My oncologist was sympathetic but said that we are working at keeping treatment "as innocuous as possible." I only go for treatment every four weeks and I phone in for every other appointment with him. And he's right.

The truth is that I couldn't go back to the kind of long hours that I worked before cancer. Even if I could miss three or four days on treatment weeks, my body couldn't tolerate the stress or long hours. And I am not sure that I really want that back or if I am just missing the sense of identity that I got from my job.

My oncologist suggested that I skip a cycle over the summer and I'll do that. I'll also keep working at doing the things that make me happy.

I have the chance to work at making art (and writing is art). I have to embrace this rare privilege, not feel guilty about it or self-censuring and just see what happens.

Some days are easier than others.

I asked my oncologist whether there were any restrictions on my activities. He said, "No." He added that there were also "No restrictions on lifestyle" - this is the same oncologist who suggested that dope would help me to cope with the side effects of chemo (it did!) and who routinely suggests I go out for a drink to celebrate any kind of news (wine for good news, scotch for bad) - "The liver is healthy. So you can party."

To which my spouse replied, "As if she needs any encouragement."

However, given the fact that I have gained 30 pounds since I was first diagnosed (10 of those in the last two months), I think I'll be living a more ascetic existence for a while.

Cross-posted to Mothers With Cancer.

For some reason, I'm feeling queasy and not really very well. I also feel headachy and bloated. Blah, blah, blah. I'm tired of feeling crappy.

My diet has been going OK, but I am bloated. I don't know why.

I'm still day dreaming about another life. I want to figure out how to make my dreams come true.

The weather is still crappy and sloppy.

Mexico awaits me.

Thank you to all of you who entered a comment to win “Half-Assed: A Weigh-Loss Memoir” by Jennette Fulda. While I wish I could give all of you a copy, the winner is Stacey! Congrats, Stacey. (Note to Stacey: Please send me an email with your address so I can contact the publisher who will send you your book.)

Now go out and buy “Half-Assed” because it’s good J //word

Reminder: You have until Friday to enter a comment in my blog entry Blogcleaning: Follow-Up, Book Review/Giveaway, and Smoothies! to win Joy Bauer’s new book, “Joy’s LIFE Diet.”

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Now, on to my dilemma.

I was first alerted to diet scammers/fake bloggers when I read PastaQueen’s blog entry: My Four Year Fativersary and A Warning About Scammers. I had no idea so many fake sites were out there selling those stupid acai berry/colon cleanse diets. (For a comprehensive list, go to the site Jennette linked to: Weight Loss Weapons.Com: Arming You One Post at a Time.)

Now I find myself LINKED on a fake diet blog site! My original website, the one I used as a journal while losing weight, Lynn’s Journey, is listed on the fake website Helen’s Diet. I get dozens of hits a day from it, too, which has me concerned that people coming to my site from the fake site might think I endorse berry/colon diets.

I feel like I’m in a catch-22. If I post something on Lynn’s Journey about not endorsing acai berry diets or colon cleanse diets (in fact, I find them reprehensible), thus trying to defend my good name, will it encourage people to seek out such diets?

Jennette was kind enough to help me with an html script I can add to my site that will tell people who find my site via the b-word Helen that I do not endorse such diets, but I’m wondering if I need to make some kind of short announcement on the home page, too.

I don’t know what to do, folks. Any advice?

Another scam that Cranky Fitness wrote about a few weeks ago was the One Rule for a Flat Stomach scam. Read Cranky’s blog entry here so you won’t be tempted to click on that ad when you see it.

Thanks for your help!

Latte's are so 5 minutes ago...LUSH Emotibombs are the latest innovation in $4 day-starters! Confused? This little miracle product works like an Alka-seltzer for your shower. Just start your water, place the "Up You Gets" Emotibomb in the bottom of your shower (or on a rack), and let the lemon-lime-grapefruit steaming sensation begin. All of your senses will be awakened, and trust me, you won't want to get out! Head to LUSH for other scents like ginger (to stimulate your erogenous zones), and mint (to cure a hangover). LOVE IT!!!

Ps. Shouts to my girl Kenecia for putting me on!

Professor James Timmons worked with a team of researchers from Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland, to investigate the effect of 'high-intensity interval training' (HIT) on the metabolic prowess of sixteen sedentary male volunteers. He said, "The risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type two diabetes is substantially reduced through regular physical activity.

Unfortunately, many people feel they simply don't have the time to follow current exercise guidelines. What we have found is that doing a few intense muscle exercises, each lasting only about 30 seconds, dramatically improves your metabolism in just two weeks."

Current exercise guidelines suggest that people should perform moderate to vigorous aerobic and resistance exercise for several hours per week. While these guidelines are very worthwhile in principle, Timmons suggests that a lack of compliance indicates the need for an alternative, "Current guidelines, with regards to designing exercise regimes to yield the best health outcomes, may not be optimal and certainly require further discussion. The low volume, high intensity training utilized in our study substantially improved both insulin action and glucose clearance in otherwise sedentary young males and this indicates that we do not yet fully appreciate the traditional connection between exercise and diabetes".

The subjects in this trial used exercise bikes to perform a quick sprint at their highest possible intensity. In principle, however, any highly vigorous activity carried out a few days per week should achieve the same protective metabolic improvements. Timmons added, "This novel approach may help people to lead a healthier life, improve the future health of the population and save the health service millions of pounds simply by making it easier for people to find the time to exercise".

Source: Medical News Today

One of the things Dr. Weston Price noticed about healthy traditional cultures worldwide is their characteristically broad faces, broad dental arches and wide nostrils. Due to the breadth of their dental arches, they invariably had straight teeth and enough room for wisdom teeth. As soon as these same groups adopted white flour and sugar, the next generation to be born grew up with narrow faces, narrow dental arches, crowded teeth, pinched nostrils and a characteristic underdevelopment of the middle third of the face.

Here's an excerpt from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, about traditional and modernized Swiss groups. Keep in mind these are Europeans we're talking about (although he found the same thing in all the races he studied):

The reader will scarcely believe it possible that such marked differences in facial form, in the shape of the dental arches, and in the health condition of the teeth as are to be noted when passing from the highly modernized lower valleys and plains country in Switzerland to the isolated high valleys can exist. Fig. 3 shows four girls with typically broad dental arches and regular arrangement of the teeth. They have been born and raised in the Loetschental Valley or other isolated valleys of Switzerland which provide the excellent nutrition that we have been reviewing.

Another change that is seen in passing from the isolated groups with their more nearly normal facial developments, to the groups of the lower valleys, is the marked irregularity of the teeth with narrowing of the arches and other facial features... While in the isolated groups not a single case of a typical mouth breather was found, many were seen among the children of the lower-plains group. The children studied were from ten to sixteen years of age.

The essential features of maxillo-nasal dysplasia were initially described by Noyes in 1939, although it was Binder who first defined it as a distinct clinical syndrome. He reported on three cases and recorded six specific characteristics:⁵

• Arhinoid face.
  
• Abnormal position of nasal bones.
  
• Inter-maxillary hypoplasia with associated malocclusion.
  
• Reduced or absent anterior nasal spine.
  
• Atrophy of nasal mucosa.
  
• Absence of frontal sinus (not obligatory).
  

Individuals with Binder's syndrome have a characteristic appearance that is easily recognizable.⁶ The mid-face profile is hypoplastic, the nose is flattened, the upper lip is convex with a broad philtrum, the nostrils are typically crescent or semi-lunar in shape due to the short collumela, and a deep fold or fossa occurs between the upper lip and the nose, resulting in an acute nasolabial angle.

The warfarin-treated rats developed a marked maxillonasal hypoplasia associated with a 11-13% reduction in the length of the nasal bones compared with controls... It is proposed that (1) the facial features of the human warfarin embryopathy are caused by reduced growth of the embryonic nasal septum, and (2) the septal growth retardation occurs because the warfarin-induced extrahepatic vitamin K deficiency prevents the normal formation of the vitamin K-dependent matrix gla protein in the embryo.

The normal vitamin K status of the human embryo appears to be close to deficiency [I would argue in most cases the embryo is actually deficient, as are most adults in industrial societies]. Maternal dietary deficiency or use of a number of therapeutic drugs during pregnancy, may result in frank vitamin K deficiency in the embryo. First trimester deficiency results in maxillonasal hypoplasia in the neonate with subsequent facial and orthodontic implications. A rat model of the vitamin K deficiency embryopathy shows that the facial dysmorphology is preceded by uncontrolled calcification in the normally uncalcified nasal septal cartilage, and decreased longitudinal growth of the cartilage, resulting in maxillonasal hypoplasia. The developing septal cartilage is normally rich in the vitamin K-dependent protein matrix gla protein (MGP). It is proposed that functional MGP is necessary to maintain growing cartilage in a non-calcified state. Developing teeth contain both MGP and a second vitamin K-dependent protein, bone gla protein (BGP). It has been postulated that these proteins have a functional role in tooth mineralization. As yet this function has not been established and abnormalities in tooth formation have not been observed under conditions where BGP and MGP should be formed in a non-functional form.

The weather here is really bad and threatening to get worse. I hate winter. Slipping and sliding around is not my idea of a good time. I've never even thought I would enjoy skiing. Strapping a couple of waxed up boards to your feet and sliding down the side of a mountain--seriously? I wish I were in Mexico. I may try to figure out how to make a quick trip around April.

My mood remains spirited--despite not making it out of the house. I may try to take some photos of the mess outside later. The diet continues to go well. I'm going to try to slip in some exercise in a little while.

I'll try to write more later.

Older, yes.

And definitely wiser.

But better, too.

With every passing year.

And every gray hair.

I love you.

First of all, a big hello and welcome to new readers and delurkers who posted comments and sent emails regarding my recent blog post A Q&A With “Half-Assed” Author Jennette Fulda. You still have until Wednesday to leave a comment to win a copy of “Half-Assed.” The book is good stuff, I promise! (For the record, I corrected the misspelling in the original blog post title. I spelled “With” as “Wtih.” Talk about half-assed…)

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Thanks, also, for the ideas and links about how to exercise for the greater good (see post Exercise and the “Greater Good”).

Carla suggested people who eat right and exercise serve the greater good by not costing the National Health Service (Carla’s from the UK) a fortune on obesity/sedentary-lifestyle-related illnesses. The costs are staggering. A USA Today article quoted a Centers For Disease Control statistic that reported “Americans racked up about $75 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2003.” And that was six years ago. I can only imagine what that number is now.

Carla also doesn’t own a car and walks wherever she can.

Several of you mentioned playing with children. Definitely exercise for the greater good! Not only in terms of the emotional outlet and bonding fun, but modeling active behavior for children in this age of little or no recess or gym classes is vital.

Thanks, Zentient, for the link to Keep It Simple Bike-Blended Soap. The soap is literally made by people peddling a bike. I’d work for them for free!

Pamela shared a Mother Earth News story about how Ed Begley, Jr. uses a bike to generate energy around his house, like 10 minutes of peddling for a piece of toast. The caloric trade off would mean you could add some jelly or sugar and cinnamon! There are links in this article to other pedal-energy sites as well.

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Next, if you happen to walk past a book store any time soon, go in and find Joy Bauer’s new book, “Joy’s LIFE Diet,” and turn to page 240. I think you’ll recognize the face J. I’m one of several people who have lost more than 100 pounds through diet and exercise Joy has featured throughout the book. Most of the people have been inducted into the Today show’s “Joy Fit Club,” and while I was asked to become a “member,” we haven’t been able to find a time that works for Today or me just yet. Stay tuned. I’ll let you know if/when that happens.

(As a side, one of the women who was on Oprah with me, Mandy Tidwell, is featured on page 234. Small world. Mandy lost 232 pounds and is a hardcore fitness guru. Very inspiring.)

LIFE stands for Look Incredible, Feel Extraordinary. Joy offers sound advice on eating and exercise. Pretty standard stuff. Nothing scary. It is definitely a diet I would have followed while losing. She also includes several tasty-looking recipes (I plan on trying the stuffed Portobello mushroom caps this week).

If you’re looking for a no-nonsense plan or just a slight change of pace from what you’re already doing, pick up a copy of “Joy’s LIFE Diet.” If anything, the stories will inspire you. I mean, 232 pounds? Holy wow. And there are several people like that in the book.

Leave a comment and win a copy of Joy’s book. I’ll announce a winner on Friday.

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Finally, smoothie love. My husband bought me a Cuisinart Hand Blender for Christmas, and I’ve been in smoothie heaven almost every morning.

Well, this weekend was certainly interesting, if nothing else. It started out bad, but got better. I now have a plan for my future. I'm going to live in Mexico. How am I going to do that? You ask. I'm going to work as a caretaker for rich people. All I have to do is live in their house and get paid for it. I can spend the remaining time doing freelance writing, maybe photography.

OK. This isn't something I can just pack up and go do tomorrow. I have several things to work out. My niece will live in my house here and take care of it. That's about all I have worked out for now. But hey, it's a start. I'm hoping to get most stuff figured out in the next year, and then it's, "adios."

I haven't been this happy or excited in a long time. I have nothing holding me here so there's no reason to stick around. And I don't want to spend my life being tortured doing some day-to-day unrewarding job. While I was married, I lived a routine life. After Al died, I kind of curled up and lived life in a fetal position. I can't do it anymore. Now, I need something more than a job I have to go to every morning. I'm 50. I still have 20 to 30 years left of this life. I don't want to be on my death bed saying, "I wish I had. . . ." Sometimes you've got to do your dreams.

I made it to the gym this morning. The diet is going OK. I feel good. It was actually easier than it's been in a couple of months to get up this morning. I felt more energized while I was working out. Having something to look forward to has done a strange thing to me.

A smile will never be able to thrill and arouse feelings of someone, if covered by attendance without sincerity. Because a smile is only in contact with the material, while the depth of sincerity vibrant pink hearts.
'Smile is a magic that Halal'. I found this in the book Light of Zaman of Dr. Aidh Al-Qarni.
Aidh Al-Qarni, in any posts do not break down how he uses the word magic. But I can catch the meaning of what he would like to submit.
A smile of sincerity is covered by means of conquering hatred, anger conquer, and a coral of malice.
A smile of sincerity is covered by the media to show attention, the love and affection, offering value of friendship.

Previous studies have shown that chickens and mice infected with the bug put on weight more quickly than uninfected animals - even when they do not eat more.
Now human studies show that almost a third of obese adults carry the virus compared with 11 per cent of lean men and women. Professor Nikhil Dhurandhar, who led the research, said the bug continues to add weight gain long after those infected recover from their cough or cold. He told BBC2's Horizon programme, to be shown at 9pm tonight: 'This virus goes to the lungs and spreads through the body.

'It goes to various organs and tissues such as the liver, kidney, brain and fat tissue.'When this virus goes to fat tissue it replicates, making more copies of itself and in the process increases the number of new fat cells, which may explain why the fat tissue expands and why people get fat when they are infected with this virus.' The professor, from Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana, said victims could remain infectious for up to three months. 'But people could be fat for reasons other than viral infections so it's really pointless to try to avoid fat people to avoid infection,' he said.

Learning more about adenovirus's role in weight gain could speed the development of an antiobesity vaccine, or drugs to tackle the condition. British obesity experts, however, dismissed evidence of a link with adenovirus as 'sparse'. Tam Fry, of the Child Growth Foundation, said: 'You are much more likely to pick up the flu than obesity. In general, obesity is down to eating more than you need and not exercising as much as you should.'

Dr. Ian Campbell, a GP and medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said: 'A virus will never be the reason for why we have an obesity epidemic. 'There are far too many other factors, starting with our calorie intake exceeding our expenditure, and that's because we live such sedentary lives. 'Our dietary habits have changed beyond belief and I don't believe that's the effect of a viral infection - it is the fault of the commercial expansion of companies making unhealthy foods.' Professor Colin Waine, past president of the National Obesity Forum, said: 'What we don't want to lose sight of is that if people can lose 5 to 10 per cent of their weight, the benefits on health are disproportionately good.'

A documentary also features research which could explain why dieters feel permanently hungry and often regain the weight they have lost. Dr Rudy Leibel, from Columbia University in New York, said individuals have a ' natural body weight' to which they are programmed to return after dieting. So naturally overweight people who diet will always suffer hunger pangs, even if they become lean and healthy. 'Individuals have a biology which determines how tall or short they will be and how skinny or fat they will be, and wishing it one way or the other really cannot change it that much.'

Source: DailyMail.co.uk

“I haven't had sex in eight months. To be honest, I now prefer to go bowling.” ~ Lil' Kim

I have lifted this from Sassymonkey who stole got it from Kailana, who got it from Booklogged's blog.

It's Entertainment Weekly's "New Classics" List. It's an interesting list, sure. I have read 20 of the books on the list (crossed out below) and loved them all except The Da Vinci Code (meh) and The Corrections, which I couldn't finish.

I have also bolded the ones I have in my house (via my spouse, gift, long term loan or my own purchase) that I haven't read yet. There are quite a few of those too. I'm happy to see several graphic novels on the list.

What do you think?

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1996)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1999)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996) (The first one..)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (199
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1999)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1989)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)