10 Foods that Are Health Horrors

Dietitians name their top nutritional nightmares.
By Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD/LD

Some foods are so bad for you, they qualify as a nutritionist's nightmare.

WebMD asked several registered dietitians and other food experts to nominate their favorite "food horrors". Their submissions ranged from empty-calorie foods masquerading as nutritious, to outlandish concoctions that tip the scales with obscene amounts of fat and calories. Have any of them ever lurked around your plate?

WebMD

Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape: 13 Surefire Tips

Posted on November 18th, 2006 in Discount Dental Plan by Dental Geek

So you spend all day confined in a dungeon in front of a couple glowing computer screens, coding C++ and eating McDonald’s for lunch? You definitely need to lose a few pounds and put on some muscle, but don’t know where to start? All of us computer geeks could stand some exercise. This guide will give you some practical tips on how to get started getting in shape!

1. Set Goals

Just as with anything else in life, you’ll go nowhere without goals. Set short-term, and long-term goals for yourself. Make them reasonable and attainable. Don’t get discouraged if you’re behind. Simply rededicate yourself to your goals and keep plugging away.

2. Get out of the office!

I know what it’s like sitting in front of a computer all day at work, then coming home and working on your own projects. Its hard to get away from it, but you need to make some time for yourself and get away from the computer and T.V.
You don’t necessarily need to go to the gym, just try to get 30 min of (strenuous) physical activity every day. Whether its power walking with your dog, or running on a treadmill, or lifting weights, get up and get moving!

I suggest doing something that you love for exercise. If you force yourself to start jogging or lifting weights and you hate it, you’ll quit within in weeks or months. Instead find something you like doing and force yourself to do it on a regular basis. (Sex doesn’t count. Come on, I know you’re not getting laid).

I’m a huge proponent of martial arts for getting in shape. Not only are they fun, they are great for burning calories, learning balance, self-discipline, etc. Boxing and kickboxing are great cardio workouts. You may also want to look at Kempo (Chinese Karate), Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Submission wrestling), or Tae-Kwon-Do (Korean Martial Art).

3. 20% exercise, 80% diet

You have to exercise to lose weight, so get over it. But let’s be clear about this: it is mostly about diet. If you’re not getting the results your looking for you have to adjust your diet.

I suggest seeing a dietitian and explaining your goals to them. Also you may want to check out eDiets. They put together a diet for you and give you a grocery list so you know what to buy.

4. Pack your lunch / cook

An easy way to start losing weight immediately is start packing your lunch. Fast-food is a big no-no. Start brown-bagging something everyday.

5. Get a partner

A good way to stay motivated, and to really push yourself is to find a workout and/ or diet partner. There is strength in numbers.

Don’t get a lazy workout buddy. That could backfire, because they drag you into their laziness.

6. Set a time that’s right for you

My philosophy is not to do anything out of the ordinary when starting a new workout program. If your new schedule change or workload is too radical you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Hence, don’t commit to wake up a 4:30 in the morning to workout because its not likely to happen. Make time during the day to workout. You don’t need to dedicate more than 30 – 40 minutes, but find sometime in your current day to get some exercise in! Try to be consistent and go at the same time everyday.
I already know what you’re thinking: “I’m too busy.” And I know that is just an excuse not to exercise. Make it a priority and make time to work out. I know your kids need your attention too, but they also want to see their parents live longer and with less stress, right?

7. No fad diets - EVER

I hate fad diets (Atkins, Southbeach, etc.). These may work temporarily, but they are not long term solutions!

The golden rule I use is: calories spent > calories taken in.

Burn more calories than you eat and you’ll be on your way to losing weight.

8. The right way and the wrong way

To safely lose weight and keep muscle you only want to lose 1-2 pounds per week. I know this doesn’t sound like a lot but it really is a much better way to lose weight. It also encourages continued success through a longer period of time, rather than not eating for a week, losing 10 pounds, and then putting it right back on.

For those who are more than 30 pounds over weight you may to consider somewhere around an 1800 calorie diet to get started. See a dietitian for a diet that suits your needs.

If you’re trying to bulk up you should increase your calories by about 500 a day in order to gain 1 – 2 pounds per week. Again, you don’t want to gain anymore than this because you’ll be gaining fat rather than muscle.

9. Drink lots of water throughout the day

You can burn calories just by drinking water. A Calorie is actually a measure of heat that your body uses. When you drink water your body heats the fluid up to 98.6 degrees, causing you to burn heat / calories.

10. Don’t eat before bed

This is another weight loss tip. When you go to sleep your body slows down metabolizing. If you eat right before bed this metabolic slowing may cause extra weight gain.

11. Don’t listen to your parents

I hated when my parents told me I couldn’t leave the table until i cleared my plate. Sure enough it came back to haunt me. Its a bad habit that most people have to this day. Eat only you are semi-full to full. Don’t gorge yourself and don’t feel like you have to finish everything on your plate. This can save your from eating many, many extra calories.

12. Do your homework

There are plenty of resources out there about diet and exercise. Educate yourself. Also remember to take everything you read or hear with a grain of salt. Just because somebody is a bodybuilder doesn’t mean they know what they are talking about, or that what they are doing will work for you.

13. Be committed

This is the toughest one by far. But remember nothing good comes without hard work. Commit yourself to your goals, and achieve them. I know you can do it.

(Bonus tip: I write my goal weight on a Post-It note and stick it on the bathroom mirror. That way achieving my goal is the first thing on my mind every day. )

More diet and exercise resources:

• http://bodybuilding.com/fun/index.html (Don’t be turned off by the name. This site has a lot of articles that apply to getting in shape not just bodybuilding.)

• http://www.thinkmuscle.com/articles/index.htm (Bryan Haycock does a great job of explaining diet and exercise in a scientific manner.)

• http://www.everydiet.org/ (Diet Encyclopedia)

• http://www.drgourmet.com/health/fastfood/ (Eating healthy at fast food restaurants)

Prescribing Prayer For Health Care

(AP)

Quote

"It's not a fringe thing. I think very mainstream Americans are using prayer in their daily lives."
Dr. Anne McCaffrey,
Harvard Medical School

---

(CBS) To treat her arthritis and her thyroid condition, 63-year-old Elizabeth Allendorf sees her doctor every few months, but she prays everyday.

"Without faith, without meditation, without God, I am telling you, it wouldn't be," says Allendorf. "It would be just awful, it would be just terrible."

It turns out, as CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin reports, a lot of people feel the same way when it comes to prescribing prayer for health care.

One-third of Americans are using prayer for healing.

Dr. Anne McCaffrey of the Harvard Medical School conducted the survey of 2,000 Americans and found that faith is a critical part of health care for many and something most doctors don't consider.

"It's not a fringe thing," she says. "I think very mainstream Americans are using prayer in their daily lives."

The survey found that of the one-third using prayer to address health concerns, 75 percent pray for general wellness, 22 percent pray for help with a specific medical condition like cancer and 69 percent said prayer was helpful.

There is no clinical evidence that prayer improves health, but that's not the point of the study, says McCaffrey. She's not advocating that doctors include prayer in practice, she just wants them to wake up to the reality that it's a big part of many patient's lives.

"Doctors need to realize that we don't have the market on what people are doing to make themselves feel better," she says.

Doctors now recognize that acupuncture, massage and even some herbal treatments can be useful when combined with traditional medicine. This survey suggests that prayer may be another powerful tool that can't be ignored.

Source

Friday, November 11, 2006

Got up 630a

breakfast
coffee
leftover noodles

500 mg calcium
1000 mg C
1 garlic capsule

snack
none

lunch
bowl of beef soup

snack
none

dinner
2 pieces chicken
2 bisquits
1/2 cup mashed potatoes
12 oz coke

30 mg Cymbalta (doctor increased dosage a bit, so let's see if I start feeling better.)

went to be 1230a

Some small improvement in irritability. One of my agents commented that it was good to hear me humming again. Of course, I was humming Re: Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton.

Thursday, November 9, 2006

Out of bed 630a

BP 118/80

Breakfast
2 mini bagels
coffee

500 mg calcium
1000 mg C
garlic capsule

snack
none

Lunch (1230p)
clam chowder
sourdough roll

400 mg ibuprofen
40 mg Cymbalta

snack
green tea

Dinner
chicken noodles

evening snack
nachoes
ice tea


Still feeling quite taut and hostile. Been going on all week. Thought maybe it was the election, but it has not eased up at all. Thought maybe it was because I had a couple of beers earlier in the week, but that should be out of my system by now. So I have no clue why I'm so angry and ready to cry.

Wednesday, November 8, 2005

Woke up 6a

Breakfast
two mini bagles
coffee

Snack
chocolate coin

Lunch
bowl of beef soup
sourdough roll
(walked to WHHS to help a friend)

Snack
1/4 sandwich
strawberry
2 olives
cauliflower floret

Dinner
Pork stirfry
3/4 wh rice

Bedtime 1030 BP 79/41

Very tense and angry. Difficult to relax or s

Sexual Orgasm Increases Longevity

Having regular (and enthusiastic) sex confers a host of measurable physiological advantages to both men and women.

In one of the most credible studies tracking overall health with sexual frequency, the mortality of roughly 1,000 middle-aged men was tracked over the course of a decade.

Men who reported the highest frequency of orgasm experienced half the death rate. Other studies have correlated frequency of sex with, among other benefits:

• An improved sense of smell
• A reduced risk of heart disease
• Weight loss and overall fitness
• Reduced depression
• Pain relief
• Less-frequent colds and flu
• Better bladder control

In physiological terms, women experience no possibility of "overdosing" and experience no dangers from too much sex. Men, however, can damage their penile tissue with too much rough or forceful sex, especially now that drugs such as Viagra and Levitra can allow for more staying power.

Sex And Death, Are They Related

Just Got More Tests Back

Just got some more of the test back that were run a month or so ago. Finally, a result that might help with a diagnosis. According to the blood test, I have an large excess of DHEA. (As in my blood reading was 1031 and normal is between 130 and 980. Below I have some information about excess DHEA.

Associated Conditions & Assay Application

In women and children, excess DHEA-SO₄ can indirectly lead to virilization and hirsutism, as it is metabolized into stronger androgens such as testosterone. DHEA-SO₄ measurements are important when investigating the source of excess androgens (hyperandrogenism) in cases of hirsutism, alopecia, infertility, and amenorrhea. It is also of value in the assessment of adrenarche and delayed puberty. High levels of DHEA-SO₄ are often encountered in polycystic ovary syndrome, adrenal hyperplasia and adrenal tumors.

DHEA

is the abbreviation for a hormone named DeHydroEpiAndrosterone. DHEA is the most abundant hormone in the blood. It is the hormone produced in the greatest quantity throughout adult life. DHEA declines with aging. Many students of the aging process perceive DHEA as an important BIOMARKER of aging. DHEA has effects on all the organ systems of the body. In appropriate concentration these effects are all beneficial; supporting optimal organ function or effect. DHEA is also a pre-hormone. It is transformed into other hormones in different parts of the body.

Beneficial Androgenic effects:

• Maintaining and increasing bone density

• Increasing Muscle Mass

• Inhibition of Mammary gland, (breast) activity/growth and by inference having a preventive effect for breast cancer

• Improving Sebaceous Gland functioning, thereby improving the skin dryness that accompanies aging skin

• Improving libido

Beneficial Estrogenic effects:

• Improvement in vaginal dryness

General Metabolic effect:
1. Improvement in Insulin Resistance, (pre diabetes)

Clinical Signs that may indicate DHEA Excess:

These are signs and symptoms that I look for to suggest that given dose of DHEA is excessive: greasy hair, greasy skin, acne, new facial and body hair growth in women, excess body odor.

As you can see, if you know me, I am definitely experiencing, and have always experienced except for small breasts, the advantages. ::grin:: I've also always had very oily skin and hair and an almost masculine body odor sometimes. I'm a little confused about it's effect on insulin, since I seem to be testing high for fasting sugar. Of course, I still maintain it's because I'm used to eating around 530a and these tests don't take place until 730a.

And, you will note that polycystic ovarian disease, something I have been repeatedly diagnosed with, is one of the negative side effect of excessive DHEA in females. Except that everything I read about PCOS claims that you suffer from lack of menstruation. Honey, LACK has NEVER been a problem with me. LOL Losing half my blood supply every four weeks has been a problem for me.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Woke up: 430a

Breakfast
coffee

Snack
chips

Lunch
Beef vegetable soup
Whole grain bread.

Snack
None

Dinner
Leg quarter BBQ chicken
1.5 cup pasta roni

Genes May Help Some People Bear Pain

(HealthDay News) -- People who tolerate pain better may just be blessed with better genes.

Scientists say levels of a molecule called BH4 -- required for the production of major neurotransmitter chemicals -- influence the body's sensitivity to pain.

The team of international researchers, based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, say BH4 levels might also determine a person's vulnerability to chronic pain.

Reporting in the November issue of Nature Medicine, they found that a certain set of variations in a gene that's involved in producing BH4 appear to reduce a person's pain sensitivity.

"This is the first evidence of a genetic contribution to the risk of developing neuropathic pain in humans. The pain-protective gene sequence, which is carried by about 25 percent of the population, appears to be a marker both for less pain sensitivity and a reduced risk for chronic pain," study senior author Dr. Clifford Woolf, director of the Neural Plasticity Research Group at MGH, said in prepared statement.

"Identifying those at greater risk of developing chronic pain in response to medical procedures, trauma or diseases could lead to new preventive strategies and potential treatments," Woolf said.

In research involving hundreds of volunteers, the scientists concluded that people with a protective GCH1 haplotype -- a set of variations in the gene that are inherited together -- were less sensitive to pain. This GCH1 haplotype reduces production of BH4.

"Our results tell us that BH4 is a key pain-producing molecule -- when it goes up, patients experience pain, and if it is not elevated, they will have less pain," Woolf said.

"The data also suggest that individuals who say they feel less pain are not just stoics but genuinely have inherited a molecular machinery that reduces their perception of pain. The difference results not from personality or culture, but real differences in the biology of the sensory nervous system."

Source

Very Ouchy

I'm terribly cranky and very easily irritated today. My mid back is very tight. I'm continuing the hyperness that started on Tuesday afternoon. Everything aches (and Coleen says I need to up my dose of Cymbalta, but the doctor is still out of town.) Just wanted to record this here so I can see if there is a pattern, as I suspect. I THINK I'm PMS. But I've stopped tracking all that.

::sigh:: Wouldn't it just have been easier for everyone, Mike, if you could have just spent a little time and energy on me. ::sob::

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Got up 6a
BP 124/72

Breakfast
Raisin Bran
1/2 c 1% milk
Coffee

Snack
Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch
Split Pea and Ham Soup
c raw veggies

Snack
none

Dinner
way to much junk

BP 164/72
Bedtime 10p

State of the Air 2006

How did your county do?

Healt Update 10 25 06

Still feeling pretty crummy. The doctor, who got called out of the country on a family emergency while I was having a drug withdrawal crisis, says I have "pre-diabetes". Not sure it's related. Basically pretty achey, not sleeping well, and cranky.

The problem with deciding if I'm sick is that so much of my life is spent while enduring what most folks consider crisis. That pretty much describes the last month or so. Crisis. I'm hoping the next little bit will settle down and let me get some breathing space.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Woke up around 7a. BP 105/55 (it was 116/72 when I went to bed)

Exercise
Mild stretches, walked to store

Breakfast
Half a bagel, a slice of ham and cream cheese
Large coffee

Snack
Low Fat Pumpkin Muffin, medium

Lunch
1 cup seafood salad

Snack
Bagel

Dinner
Pork kabobs
Broccoli

BP 124/74 8p
Bed 8p

Why phones, keyboards and mice make me sick

from Computer World

You've got antivirus software protecting your network, PCs and workstations. Nice going! But what about the "computer viruses" Norton can't help you with?

Don't look now, but your desk and everything on it (especially your keyboard) is a horrible science project; a thriving freak show of an ecosystem teaming with nasty, microbial sea monkeys. Your cell phone is even worse.

The good news is that, in the past two years, new products have emerged that do for phones, keyboards and mice what antivirus software does for your operating system. The bad news is that you're probably not using any of them.

As an IT professional, your chances of infection -- and spreading the infection within your office -- are alarmingly high.

It's especially alarming this time of year. Flu season is upon us. Flu, or influenza, is caused by RNA viruses from the Orthomyxoviridae family. Between 5% and 20% of the U.S. population catches the flu every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flu sufferers usually feel fatigue and soreness in the throat, head and elsewhere and get sick for a week or two. Most survive, but it's not fun. Some aren't so lucky. Influenza kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide each year unless there is a pandemic, when millions are killed. Even vaccination is no guarantee that you'll be protected.

You don't get the flu or other infections randomly. You get sick when germs enter your body -- usually through your mouth or nose, and those germs usually are delivered there by your hands.

Germs can spread through the inhalation of infected airborne sneeze droplets or through direct contact, such as by shaking hands. But some 80% of flu cases are contracted by touching an infected object.

Most germs, including the influenza virus, can survive for only about five minutes on your hands, but they can live for up to two days on phones, keyboards, mice and other surfaces.

Most people fear germs from shaking hands, flying in airplanes or touching bathroom doorknobs. But the dirtiest objects for office workers are phones, desks, keyboards and mice, which have orders of magnitude more germs than anything else you're likely to come in contact with at work.

Several studies conducted in the past few years at the University of Arizona found that telephones are the most germ-infected objects in our lives, followed by desktops, water fountain handles, microwave door handles, keyboards and mice. (Famously, these studies, headed by microbiologist Charles Gerba, revealed that keyboards have 400 times more bacteria than an average toilet seat.) Here are the relative germ densities of frequently touched office equipment:

• Phone: 25,127 germs per square inch
• Desktop surface: 20,961 germs per square inch
• Keyboard: 3,295 germs per square inch
• Mouse: 1,676 germs per square inch
• Fax machine: 301 germs per square inch
• Copy machine: 69 germs per square inch
• Toilet seat: 49 germs per square inch.

As you can see, the easiest way to get sick in a public restroom is to use your cell phone in there.

Why phones, keyboards and mice are so dirty

The bacteria crawling all over your phone, keyboard and mouse right now may include hundreds of different types, including E. coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, streptococcus, salmonella and staphyloccus aureus (a.k.a. "staph").

Staph can cause anything from pimples, boils and cellulitis, a bacterial infection of the skin, to fatal diseases like pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis and toxic shock syndrome. Gerba tested 25 cell phones and found staph on almost half of them. Cell phones are extra infected because we hold them against our faces, breathe on them, touch them with our filthy mitts and keep them nice and warm in our pockets.

Keyboards and mice are disgusting mainly because we eat and drink at our desks. All that food feeds and nurtures colonies of bacteria and fungi.

Making matters worse, we move our hands from keyboard, to mouse to phone and back to keyboard all day. It's the microbial circle of life.

If you're the kind of person who reads Computerworld, you're touching phones, keyboards and mice all day. Worse, as an IT professional, you're probably using multiple keyboards and mice used by others. Not only are you more exposed to bugs, but you may be one of the main spreaders of these germs in your office.

So, Typhoid Mary, what are you going to do about it?

How to protect yourself

Sure, you can clean your phone, desk, keyboard and mouse with disinfectant once in a while (don't spray anything directly on the keyboard -- use wipes), but you're likely to forget, and most disinfectant products are mildly toxic anyway. You can also buy special condoms for your cell phone, but people will talk.

A better approach is to take advantage of a new and growing mini-industry of antimicrobial phones, keyboards and mice. Most of these new gadgets are coated with material that includes modified silver, which you'll see described as "nano sliver" or "silver ion."

(One company called Unotron bucks the antimicrobial coating trend by simply making their keyboards and mice washable.

Silver has been known for millennia for its antiseptic action. The Romans used silver to keep water and food from spoiling. Today, the water tanks of ships, airplanes and spacecraft are often coated with silver to keep the water potable for months.

(Note that the use of "colloidal silver," taken internally as an "alternative medicine" and claimed by proponents as a cure for diseases like AIDS, can be dangerous, leading to argyria, or silver poisoning, and other illnesses.)

Very recently, researchers have learned how to break silver down into smaller-than-natural particles. These nano silver particles can more easily connect with and penetrate germs. Scientists have in recent years learned to fine-tune the size and concentration of silver nano particles to more effectively kill bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Unlike antibiotics, silver doesn't promote the formation of resistant superbugs. Resistance is futile.

Antimicrobial silver is increasingly used in a wide range of products, from athletic gear to food containers to underwear to hospital bed sheets.

Silver sounds expensive. But you don't have to be Howard Hughes to afford -- or want, for that matter -- silver-based germ-killing gadgets. Here are the antimicrobial cell phones, keyboards and mice, designed for consumer or business office markets, that kill germs:

Cell Phones

Samsung SGH-E620, SGH-E640, SCH-S140, SCH-869

These phones have a finish that includes nano silver.

Motorola i870

The phone uses a silver-based AgION antimicrobial coating. AgION is the brand of AgION Technologies, which makes coatings for a wide variety of products.

LG F2300

LG claims that 99.9% of all bacteria that makes contact with the phone's silver-based coating is killed within three hours.

Keyboards

Genius SlimStar 310

This keyboard is waterproof and has been dipped in an antibacterial solution and the keys are electroplated in a silver coating.

Fellowes Microban Keyboards

A wide variety of household and industrial products are coated with Microban's antimicrobial polymers. Microban is a brand of antibacterial coating based on Triclosan, rather than silver.

Although Microban has been around for decades and is used in hundreds of products, Fellowes may be the only PC peripheral maker that uses it.

Mice

Iogear Germ Free Wireless Laser Mouse

Iogear uses a titanium dioxide (TiO2) and silver (Ag) nano-particle compound to kill a broad spectrum of nasty germs.

Fellowes Microban Mice

Like Fellowes Microban-coated keyboards, their mice are dipped in the stuff. The company even sells antimicrobial mouse pads.

Elecom Corporation "M-ABUR" series USB mouse

The M-ABUR mouse may be available only in Japan.

Still Feeling Crappy

Still feeling WAY below good. Symptoms are diminishing (twitching brain, pulsing eyes, and auditory hallucenations stopped sometime during a very sleepless night), but I'm still voraciously hungry, disoriented to the point I cannot multi-task at all, and have difficulty finishing thoughts and sentences. A bit of difficulty getting what I am thinking out verbally. Sometimes I've had to totally stop talking and work my way back through what I was trying to convey. This does not seem to be affecting this form of communication. Interesting.

Found an article about Reasons to Have Sex that I thought was interesting. One of the reasons supports what I have claimed all along, that sex--specifically intercourse--helps me moderate my moods. LOL You know, they just need to stop wasting money on studies and come and ask me what *I* think. ::giggle::

Tests Are Coming Back

Well, bugger. LOL Things are not as they have seemed. Oh, I'm healthy. No problem there. Mammogram came back fine. (I keep telling them my mom had breast cancer and I have taken a vow NEVER to have anything she has had--hence having fibromyaliga or some sort of enviro sensitivity for three years.

Not sure what the doctor is up to. She has ordered a lot of tests and thinks I might be "pre-diabetic". She also wants to see about my having too much testosterone -- something I have joked about for years. I'm one of the best men I know, on some levels. LOL

Okay, feeling to crappy to continue this right now. Took a break to work on the house and it involved going into the garage and opening old boxes. Found some COOL stuff, but between the increasingly bad withdrawal symptoms (YES, I'm still dealing with that), moving the cubical walls yesterday, the last few days of an astonishingly easy but still there period and who knows what else, I am in pretty bad shape. Jenni said "come play our cows". So that is what I am doing.

OWIE!

Just got bitten by a spider. Argggh. It hurts. But it looks like a pretty standard spider bite--ie, not like the black widow bite I got a decade ago that made me so sick. I DO NOT need to feel crummy right now.

Food And Exercise 10.6.6

Better Today

I lay in the middle of the empty master suite, just getting the feel of it, arranging things in my mind. Wouldn't mind doing something really radical, but will probably stick with the bed between the windows. Ironic that I have one of the biggest beds you can get and I use less than a single bed's worth of space. But that could work out. LOL If I decide to cam a lot, I can set the cam to only see the side of the bed I don't use. It will look like I make the bed.

Anyway, while laying there I decided to do a bit of stretching. Ended up with 20 leg lifts, 10 each side leg lifts and a variety of stretches and yoga positions. I hope I can keep the furniture to a minimum so I have room to do this every morning. Just feel better when I start the day with some floor exercise.

Breakfast: 730a
Jack's Sausage and Egg Bisquit

Snack:
Large Coffee and flirts

Lunch:
Subway Italian BMT, 6"

Dinner:
3 pieces chicken
1/4 cup collard greens
2 Tbs mashed potato/gravy
12 oz cola

Oh, Weight Last Night

was 310. The same weight I was when I got married. So I need to lose 60 pounds to get down to my low weight since I've been here, before I got fibro

Food And Exercise for 10.5.06

Not one of my best days:

No exercise.

Breakfast
Coffee

Snack 9a
Coffee
Low Fat Berry Peach Scone

Lunch 11a
sausage
serving Lay's chips

Snack
Fish sandwich

Dinner
Baked potato with cheese, sour cream and chicken
1/2 cup pasta
sm apple

Gained a Pound

But it's Jenni's fault. I was going to skip dinner, since I had a sandwich at 2p, but when I came home she had these huge baked potatoes ready to eat with shredded chicken, monterey jack cheese, sour cream . . .mmmmmmmmm. ::SIGH::

The TOPS meeting was awesome. It was the first time Michelle heard about Mike and Kathleen moving out, so she had to have the details. I have tried to be fuzzy on the details. She was immediately scandalized that Mike and Kathleen might be having an affair. I hastened to assure her that was not the reason they were sent away. That it was because I was being ignored. We talk quite a bit while waiting for the meeting to start. At one point I told her how I would go in and tell Mike I was tired, I was going to bed. . .and that he said he could never figure out how that was an invitation to join me. She was speechless. She could not believe that an intelligent man didn't recognize a come on like that. Which made me feel better. I kept thinking I was being unreasonable.

After the meeting Pam gave me her usual hug. Then she grabbed me again and held me tight and told me she loved me and she was so glad I was back and how much she needed me. ::sniffle:: I just need to get over whatever dysfunction *I* have that keeps me trying to make unworkable relationships succeed. I am surrounded by people who have shown their love and support for me in the past few weeks and I've wasted five years trying to get Mike to love me.

Going to try using this blog as a food journal/exercise journal. See next entry.

Moving All My Health Related Posts From My Hidden Personal Blog

Yeah, so much of what happens to me affects my health, I thought I should include some of that here so that maybe some day I can look back and say OH, NOW I UNDERSTAND.

Perking up from the husband and his gf moving out this past weekend. Thought for a brief time that I was relapsing into fibro. Between the cubicle walls we moved in from the old office and all the boxes they openned to sort from the last place in Denver (which was a hell hole . . don't get me started about the Danes and their filth.), I have had some muscular pain and a serious sinus infection.

But that is clearing up. Also had a sort of breakthrough the other morning when I was chatting with an old lover. He always tells me about all the sex he is having and sends me pics of the women he is doing. I'm not one, because he has a "no germ" policy and I have herpes (thanks all you scum who are positive and don't bother taking care). Every time he does this I've sunk into a depression. A year since I contracted herpes and, even though the husband is positive he doesn't want to risk having an "outbreak" if he touches me, I have only had a couple of brief, unsatisfying encounters with the now gone husband.

This have been very traumatic for me. First, because I worked SO hard to get over the rape and abuse of my childhood and first marriage. In the mid-80s I could not even bear to stand next to a man without shaking and I once fainted when I was kneeling between two men in the Temple. But I went through therapy and did a lot of dream and vision work to overcome this aversion. Once I was able participate enthusiastically in sex, I found it was a good therapy for depression. I oftened joked that I self-medicated for depression with caffeine and sex.

Of course, no sex during the last year means that the depression and self-loathing of the last year as I came to grip with being "diseased" and the pain and depression of suffering from chronic pain had the added strain of being undesirable and getting no hits of "oxytocin". To say nothing of the RAGE that the person I should most be able to count on refusing to do more than occassionally agree to talk about my needs, IF I staged a crisis.

The need to BEG for attention was so humiliating . . .I got so depressed and ended up totally absorbed in World of Warcraft. Which was totally sedentary and kept me closed up inside all the time on top of everything else.

Anyway, back to the breakthrough. I've decided to just accept the end of my sexuality. It still causes me to choke up a bit and get tears in the back of my eyes. But I have to be realistic. I prefer men and men are nothing but a pain in the ass. So I started my new path to sexless living by asking my former lover not to send me pictures or tell me about his sex life. I was very nice, I took the blame for it and asked him, as my friend, not to make it more difficult on me. He replied that he would be happy to do that.

Whew. Now, to find other outlets for the sexual energy. In the past when I have been hungry for touch I have eaten food. (In fact, I've been doing some thinking and realized that weight gain often follows "settling" into new relationship--ie, when the sex goes away, I eat more. Like to see one of the weight loss support groups address THIS. LOL I can't be the only one.) I am going to try to increase my exercise, although I know from experience that increased exercise means increased body awareness and increased sex drive.

Not sure what I will do, but I will figure it out.

Gaultier swaps Size O models for 'Size 20'

Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier found his own way to comment on the 'size zero' debate - by putting a larger model down the catwalk to show off his clothes.

Dressed in a daring black corsetry, the plus-sized model dwarfed her fellow waif-like catwalk queens.

Clearly more of a size 20 than the controversial model Size 0, this voluptuous woman proved big is beautiful as she strutted down the runway at Gaultier's 30th anniversary show yesterday during fashion week in Paris.

Super TB 'now endemic' in KZN

Johannesburg, South Africa
11 September 2006 11:42
Extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has become endemic in KwaZulu-Natal, the Mercury reported on Monday.

Dr Tony Moll, principal medical officer at the Church of Scotland hospital in Tugela Ferry, said doctors in his area had been identifying new XDR-TB patients every month since January last year.

"Since March we have identified 10 new patients. The situation seems to be simmering, it's a bad sign," he said.

"What's more worrying is that this has spread across the province and has become endemic to the province."

The outbreak in Tugela Ferry had killed 60 people since January 2005, including eight admitted to hospital with XDR-TB between March and August this year.

XDR-TB is a virulent form of TB which is resistant to the two drugs used to treat multi-drug resistant TB, and to which people with HIV/Aids are particularly susceptible.

Moll said 44 people out of the 53 who had died between January 2005 and March had been HIV-positive.

"It [the 60 people killed thus far] is a very big number, even one is a big number," he said.

"Between 2002 and 2004, 347 patients throughout the world were identified with XDR-TB, and for us in a small rural area to have 60 die is very significant." - Sapa

Source

Fresh Fruits, Veggies Can Trigger Allergy

SUNDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Does your mouth get itchy after you eat fresh fruits or vegetables at this time of year? You may have oral allergy syndrome, say experts at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

OAS, also called pollen-food syndrome, is caused by allergens such as ragweed, which begins to bloom in mid-August.

"The pollen released from ragweed is the airborne allergen most responsible for the onslaught of allergy symptoms at this time of year. In addition to sneezing and itchy, water eyes, and symptoms of OAS, ragweed allergies can take a heavy toll on the allergy sufferer's quality of life," Dr. Suzanne S. Teuber, chair of the AAAAI's Adverse Reactions to Foods Committee, said in a prepared statement.

OAS symptoms are the result of a "cross-reactivity reaction" between allergy antibodies directed toward target pollen proteins with similar proteins found in other parts of plants. Common symptoms of OAS included an itchy mouth and throat with mild swelling immediately after eating fresh fruits or vegetables.

People with ragweed allergies can experience OAS symptoms when they consume bananas, cucumbers, melon, zucchini, sunflower seeds, chamomile tea or echinacea.

OAS can also occur in people with birch tree allergy symptoms when they eat peaches, apples, pears, cherries, carrots, hazelnuts, kiwis, and almonds, the AAAAI said.

Generally, cooking foods will eliminate an OAS reaction, according to the AAAAI.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about allergies.

Two and a Half Pounds This Week

Went to TOPS last night and I lost 2.5 pounds this week. I put it down, partly, to my hour plus long house cleaning session to Dirty Dancing. :) Continuing to pare down the girth . . a total of six inches off my waist since July.

Are sugar substitutes bad for you?

Busting the health myths surrounding artificial sweeteners

By Herb Weisbaum

MSNBC contributor

Millions of Americans are trying to cut back on sugar by using artificial sweeteners. Sales of these sugar substitutes are soaring, and yet, some people worry about using them.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about how the sweeteners aspartame and sucralose are really bad for you. Is this true?
-Amber W., Cincinnati, Ohio

No, it’s not true. Some people remain suspicious of all artificial sweeteners, even though extensive research has not found any significant health concerns.

Aspartame, sold under the brand names Equal and NutraSweet, is one of the most tested substances ever allowed in our food supply. It’s also approved for use in more than 100 other countries.

There’s no reason to believe any of the “warnings” flying around the Internet that claim aspartame causes Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, brain damage, or any other serious disease. And the latest research shows there’s no need to be concerned about cancer.

Last April, the National Cancer Institute released the results of a huge federal study involving more than a half million adults 50 to 69 years old. Based on that research, the Institute concluded there is “no evidence” any artificial sweetener on the market in the U.S. today is “related to cancer risk in humans.”

OK, so you don’t trust the government. Then consider this: The Center for Science in the Public Interest, the consumer group that has questioned the safety of aspartame for almost 30 years, praised this study, saying it “significantly allays concerns” about cancer.

“The bottom line is that aspartame is probably safe,” the center says on its Web site.

Products containing aspartame can be harmful to people with phenylketonuria or PKU, a rare genetic disease, so products with aspartame carry a PKU warning. For everyone else, there’s nothing to worry about.

Sucralose, sold under the brand name Splenda, is made from sugar that has been chemically engineered to pass through your body without being digested. That’s why it tastes like sugar but is calorie free.

Splenda is now the number one sugar substitute on the market, found in salad dressing, cereal and beverages, as well as those little yellow packets.
“Sucralose has been studied for a long time,” says Dr. John Swartzberg, head of the editorial board at the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, “and there is no evidence of any harm to human beings.”

Does sucralose (Splenda) show up on a diabetic’s blood test?
-Patrick B., Mason, Mich.

According to the American Diabetes Association, artificial sweeteners such as Saccharin (Sweet ‘N Low, Sugar Twin), Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal), Acesulfame K (Sweet One, Sunett), and Sucralose (Splenda) are “free foods” because they do not have any calories and do not raise blood glucose levels. “They do not count as a carbohydrate, a fat, or any other exchange,” the ADA says, so they can be “added to your meal plan instead of substituted.”

Why don’t you see more xylitol used as a sugar substitute? What makes it any different than sucralose? It’s supposed to be good for your teeth. Is it?
-K.N., Seattle.

Xylitol is a natural sweetener made from corn stalks in the U.S. and birch chips in Europe. Xylitol is used in sugarless gums, candies, ice cream, and many diabetic foods.

It’s low-calorie, not no-calorie. While sucralose is calorie-free, xylitol has about 2.4 calories per gram.

Here’s why you don’t find it in more foods. Eating too much xylitol in one day can cause intestinal problems, such as gas, bloating and diarrhea. Sucralose does not cause this GI distress.

You’re right; xylitol is good for your teeth. Studies have shown it can prevent new cavities and help slow or reverse the decay taking place in existing cavities.

How much xylitol do you need to get this beneficial effect? The American Dental Association says more testing needs to be done before a “daily dose” can be set. A study done by the University of Michigan in 1993 found that xylitol-sweetened gum had to be chewed “for at least five minutes, three to five times a day” to be effective.

I always wondered how much less caffeine there is in decaffeinated coffee than regular. -Joe Hoffman, Minneapolis, Minn.

An 8 ounce cup of brewed coffee has about 135 milligrams of caffeine. The same amount of brewed decaf has about 5 mg. There are ways to have real coffee and cut your caffeine intake. You’ll get about 95 mg of caffeine in 8 ounces of instant coffee. A 1 ounce shot of espresso only has 30 to 50 mg. So a single-shot latte has significantly less caffeine than a cup of regular drip coffee. For comparison, a 12 ounce Diet Coke has 47 mg of caffeine.

Health experts at the Mayo Clinic say moderate doses of caffeine (200 to 300 mg a day) are not harmful for most people. But more than 500 mg a day, they say, “can cause irritability, nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, headaches and diarrhea.”

We need you to settle an argument between spouses. How long can raw meat or poultry be stored in the freezer before deteriorating and possibly causing food poisoning vs. cooked meat or poultry stored in the freezer?
-Laura H., Berkeley, Calif.

Meat and poultry, whether raw or cooked, are safe in the freezer “indefinitely,” according to the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline. The problem with keeping any food frozen too long is quality – it may develop freezer burn. It’s still safe to eat; it just might not look or taste as good. It can also develop an odor.

When it comes to safe storage in the refrigerator the clock is ticking, because refrigeration does not stop bacteria growth; it only slows it.
USDA food safety guidelines say to cook raw chicken within 1 to 2 days of purchase. Raw meat will keep fresh for 3 to 4 days. Cooked chicken or meat will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

© 2006 MSNBC Interactive

Body acceptance tied to healthy eating

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who accept their bodies, flaws and all, are more likely to eat healthily or intuitively, new research shows. This suggests that women's typical reasons for dieting -- dissatisfaction with their bodies -- may backfire.

"There is a lot of negative body talk among women; women think that they can best lose weight and feel better if they are first dissatisfied with their bodies," Dr. Tracy Tylka told Reuters Health. "Rather, this research shows that adopting a positive body image is more likely to be associated with intuitive eating."

Intuitive eaters don't diet -- they recognize and respond to internal hunger and fullness cues to regulate what and how much they eat, Tylka explained. Intuitive eating has three components: "unconditional permission to eat when hungry and whatever food is desired; eating for physical rather than emotional reasons; and reliance on internal hunger/fullness cues."

Tylka, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Marion campus has conducted several studies on the concept of intuitive eating. In one study published in April involving 199 college-aged women, Tylka found that women who followed intuitive eating principles had a slightly lower body weight than women who did not.

"Intuitive eating was negatively associated with body mass, such that people who ate intuitively weighed less than people who dieted," she said.

In her latest studies presented this month at the American Psychological Association meeting, Tylka and her colleagues examined who was most likely to follow intuitive eating principles.

They found, among nearly 600 college women, that those with higher levels of appreciation and acceptance for their body were more likely to be intuitive eaters.

Intuitive eaters spend less time thinking about how their body appears to others and more time considering how their body feels and functions, Tylka observed. They "perceive the body as an agent of action rather than an object of attraction...focusing on how the body functions rather than its appearance," Tylka told Reuters Health.

Intuitive eating, Tylka's found, is "positively associated with psychological well-being, such as self-esteem, positive emotions, adaptive coping, self-acceptance, optimism, and resilience in the face of stress."

Intuitive eaters also reported receiving more positive messages from parents and others regarding their bodies.

Original Article

Update

Still waiting to get some pics. But I have lost 6 inches off my waist over the last two months.

Study: Surroundings play key role in diet

By MALCOLM RITTER

NEW YORK - How many M&MS are enough? It depends on how big the candy scoop is. At least that's a key factor, says a study that offers new evidence that people take cues from their surroundings in deciding how much to eat.

It explains why, for example, people who used to be satisfied by a 12-ounce can of soda may now feel that a 20-ounce bottle is just right.

It's "unit bias," the tendency to think that a single unit of food — a bottle, a can, a plateful, or some more subtle measure — is the right amount to eat or drink, researchers propose.

"Whatever size a banana is, that's what you eat, a small banana or a big banana," says Andrew Geier of the University of Pennsylvania. And "whatever's served on your plate, it just seems locked in our heads: that's a meal."

The overall idea is hardly new to diet experts. They point to the supersizing of fast food and restaurant portions as one reason for the surge of obesity in recent decades. They sometimes suggest that dieters use smaller plates to reduce the amount of food that looks like a meal.

But in the June issue of the journal Psychological Science, Geier and colleagues dig into why people are so swayed by this unit idea when they decide how much to eat.

Geier, a Ph.D. candidate who works with people who are overweight or who have eating disorders, figures people learn how big an appropriate food unit is from their cultures. For example, yogurt containers in French supermarkets are a bit more than half the size of their American counterparts. Yet French shoppers don't make up the difference by eating more containers of the stuff, he noted.

He and the other researchers tried a series of experiments using environmental cues to manipulate people's ideas of how big a food unit is.

In one, they put a large bowl with a pound of M&Ms in the lobby of an upscale apartment building with a sign: "Eat Your Fill ... please use the spoon to serve yourself." The candy was left out through the day for 10 days, sometimes with a spoon that held a quarter-cup, and other times with a tablespoon.

Sure enough, people consistently took more M&Ms on days when the bigger scoop was provided, about two-thirds more on average than when the spoon was present.

In another experiment, a snacking area in an apartment building contained a bowl with either 80 small Tootsie Rolls or 20 big ones, four times as large. Over 10 working days, the bowl was filled with the same overall weight of candy each day. But people consistently removed more, by weight, when it was offered in the larger packages.

In those experiments, as well as a similar one with pretzels, "unit bias" wasn't the only thing that produced the differences in consumption levels, but it had an influence, Geier and colleagues concluded.

Brian Wansink, director of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab and author of the forthcoming book "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," called the new paper an impressive demonstration of the effect in a real-world setting. He has done similar work but didn't participate in Geier's research.

So can all this help dieters?

Some food companies are introducing products in 100-calorie packages, and Geier thinks that could help hold down a person's consumption. He also suspects companies could help by displaying the number of servings per container more prominently on their packaging.

As for what dieters can do on their own, Geier said one of his overweight patients offered a suggestion for restaurant visits: Request that the meal be split in two in the kitchen, with half on the plate and the other half packaged to take home.

In any case, an earlier experiment of Geier's shows that the unit bias effect has its limits.

He had one dining hall at his university provide 10-ounce glasses for soda, and a second provide 16-ounce glasses. He predicted that students at the first hall would drink less soda. In fact, they drank more.

Only later did he find out what went wrong.

"They were taking two glasses at a time," he said. "I guess I went below what is culturally construed as a unit of soda."

Still Getting Organized

Need to get some pictures taken and measurements, so I can get rolling on this. In the meantime, I have an article.

My Weight Loss Journal

Pictures coming soon. But I've lost 12 pounds without really trying, so now I'm going to try.