Health | Ain't Complicated

Eeeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo

How do you spell all those words?! 😯

Whatever. This story is more important:

There is a horrifying slippery slope here. Where do we draw the line? Again, these babies did not have a debilitating lifelong malady. All they had was a chance of developing an illness. What’s next? Poor eyesight or hearing? How about food allergies?

Better yet, why stop at abnormalities? How about insisting they be taller than average, or have superior abilities? While you’re at it, why not also select the eye color and hair color? Don’t just fertilize eleven eggs. Fertilize a hundred, choose the single best one, and destroy the rest.

[…]

We are in an era where science enables us to do wonderful things, but also terrible things. Our public policy must protect life, especially the lives of innocent, unborn children.

And we must never deceive ourselves that we do children a favor by ending their lives as they begin.

PS: If you like to read bumper stickers, check out this one. 🙂

Six Healthy-Sounding Foods

That Really Aren’t

Many foods have been heavily promoted as being healthy. But not all of them are. Here are some foods which are far less “good for you” than most people believe.

Energy bars

Energy bars usually contain protein and fiber, but they may also be loaded with calories. That’s fine if you occasionally make one a meal, but most people eat them as snacks.

Granola

Granola sounds healthy. But it’s often high in fat, sugar and calories. Don’t be fooled by a seemingly low calorie count; the portion sizes on the label are usually tiny.

Salad Toppings

The pecans and Gorgonzola cheese on Panera Bread’s Fuji Apple Chicken Salad propel it into double-cheeseburger territory. Before ordering a salad, check its nutrition information.

Smoothies

Added sugars can make some smoothies the equivalent of drinking fruit pie filling. The smallest serving of Jamba Juice’s Orange Dream Machine has 340 calories and an astonishing 69 grams of sugars.

Sushi Rolls

Sushi rolls vary, and the fried bits and mayonnaise in some can really jack up the calories.

Yogurts

The “fruit” in yogurt is really jam (that is to say, mostly sugar).

My wife makes some really good granola. Where can I take it to have it evaluated? 🙄

If It Feels Good

Flip-Flop Flaws

Summer is when the rubber hits the road. […] Back in 2005 some members of the Northwestern University national champion women’s lacrosse team drew flack for wearing flip-flops when they met with President Bush at the White House.

Questions of etiquette aside, flip-flops may not be the best choice for health reasons. In a study presented last week at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, researchers at Auburn University found that flip-flops actually alter the way wearers walk. That change in gait can cause persistent foot and ankle pain—the kinds of problems usually associated with a fondness for Manolos and Jimmy Choos.

Justin Shroyer, a doctoral student in biomechanics at Auburn, and Dr. Wendi Weimar, the director of Auburn’s biomechanics laboratory, were tossing around ideas for a research project when they hit upon a subject that seemed ripe for exploration. “We’re biomechanists,” explains Shroyer. “We can’t go anywhere without analyzing the way someone walks.” They noticed that when students came back from summer vacation they often complained of pain in their feet, ankles and lower legs. The same students were also likely to be flip-flop fans (as is Shroyer, as a matter of fact). Could there be a connection?

[…]

After digitizing all these images and analyzing the data, Shroyer came up with some disturbing conclusions for those of us who treasure the freedom of flip-flops. He found that flip-flop wearers take shorter steps. The result is more stress on the body because you have to move more to go the same distance as people wearing other kinds of shoes. That could mean a higher risk of muscle and joint pain in the legs.

Toes are another problem area.

So there you are.

Can You Hear Me?

At least my teenagers aren’t Australians:

More than 70 percent of young Australians show early signs of hearing loss, with loud music played through headphones believed to be a major cause, a survey released Tuesday showed.

The Australian Hearing survey found that tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, was more prevalent among 18 to 34-year-olds than elderly people, even though it is seen as one of the first signs of hearing loss.

[…]

It found that while the elderly were the most likely to experience hearing loss, the next most vulnerable group was teenagers.

Australian Hearing spokesman John D’Arcy said there were responsible steps people could take to minimise the risk of going deaf from loud music.

“Set the volume of your MP3 player at a level that allows you to hear someone at arm’s length without them having to shout,” he said.

Besides our three teenagers, we have four other older children. Including our son-in-law, whose mother is Australian.

To all seven of you (only one of whom reads this blog), take heed!

And to all the rest of you who use headphones, take heed as well.

(You’re welcome.)

Updates on Previous Posts

Flushing the Mission

Toilet troubles on the International Space Station (ISS) could force Russian cosmonauts to return to Earth early, a Russian official told Interfax news agency Tuesday.

“It’s true, we have a problem with the flushing system. This is a serious matter,” warned Vladimir Solovyov, chief ground control official for the Russian section of the ISS. “In such circumstances there’s even the possibility of an emergency departure from the station.”

The main ISS toilet broke down last week, forcing the crew, two Russians and one American, to use back-up facilities.

The US shuttle Discovery delivered spare parts Monday, as well as an extra seven astronauts. Repairs are scheduled on Thursday and Friday, Solovyov said, Interfax reported.

Just so the facilities don’t back up. 🙄

And I would expect faster service from the plumbers if the parts arrived on Monday! 😯

Especially if the number of tenants went from three to ten.

But maybe the plumbers are out and about on other service calls.

I suppose, though, that the same folks who delivered the parts also brought along ~~a PortaPotty~~ their own facilities to share with the ISS crew.

Polygamist sect clarifies marriage policy

“The church is clarifying its policy on marriage,” said Willie Jessop, a spokesman for the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He told reporters the church would advise FLDS families “neither request nor consent” to the marriage of underage girls, though he stopped short of saying the church ever violated the law.

“In the FLDS church, all marriages are consensual. The church insists on appropriate consent,” he said.

The change in policy comes after a Texas judge issued an order Monday allowing parents of hundreds of children seized from the sect to begin picking up their kids.

[…]

The logistics of retrieving the remaining children may not be so simple, though, since some parents have children at different facilities across the state.

Under the judge’s order, the Department of Family and Protective Services will still have the right to visit and interview the children.

These unannounced visits could entail medical, psychological and psychiatric examinations, and the parents must not intervene.

Also under the order, the parents must attend and complete parenting classes. The families must remain in the state of Texas and notify the department within 48 hours of any trips more than 100 miles from their homes.

Sad Memorial Day Lesson

That is, for the living.

Like me.

Driver Had Been Warned

Gig Harbor police say a woman who died in a crash on State Route 16 had been asked not to drive after an earlier crash.

[…]

Schierman said she was only tired, so Busey says she was advised to call someone for a ride and she said that’s what she would do.

Eight minutes later, Schierman was fatally injured. Her 1996 Ford Explorer veered across the westbound lanes of State Route 16, went through a cable barrier, overturned several times and wound up in the eastbound lanes.

OK, Mark

“OK, Mark,” he whispered intracranially, “you should quit for the day. Just go to bed now.”

“Just let me do a little bit more,” he muttered back.

Now you know ~~the rest~~ more of the story.

I read this somewhere:

“Late to bed and early to rise,
Makes a man baggy under the eyes.”

Fine.