Posts (page 2)

Every day, we are bombarded with junk science.  The latest comes from a University of Michigan Obesity researcher named MaryFran Sowers.  Ms. Sowers published a study in which she claims that 1/2 of overweight people are "Heart Healthy", whatever that means.

She defines "Heart Healthy" as having normal blood pressure and cholesterol.  Is that how you define healthy?  I doubt it.  I think of healthy in two ways.  1) Having an absence of disease or infirmities and 2) Having ample energy and strength.  So what does this have to do with cholesterol and blood pressure? 

I think I see what she is trying to say.  There is a strong connection between high levels of cholesterol and heart disease.  There is also a strong connection between high blood pressure and heart disease.  So MaryFran is telling us that we shouldn't link all heavy weight people to these two factors that are tied to heart disease.  I get her point, but she is wrong.

This study is garbage and of little value to someone who truly cares about their heart.  Sure you can be 30 years old, obese and have a strong heart, but can you manage that at 45 years old and beyond?  The answer is NO, you probably can not.  The truth of the matter is that you can get away with a lot of abuse to your body when you  are young.  You can eat saturated fats, not exercise, skip sleep and drink too much.  When you are young, these things probably won't show up as big problems.

The problem comes when you get older.  Eating junk food full of saturated fats and transfats will, over time, tend to fill your arteries with cholesterol which will tend to clog up your arteries and cause you high blood pressure and eventual heart disease.  Can we all agree with that?  Eating junk food and not getting the proper nutrition and exercise your body needs will probably lead to excess weight and perhaps even obesity. 

Furthermore, being overweight is definitely not good for your energy and strength.  Being fit is much more fun.  You can do so many more things and always have plenty of energy to be with the ones you love and enjoy the activities that bring you joy in life.  Life is more than just cholesterol and blood pressure.

Now forget these silly studies that are designed to get publicity.  Eat properly, exercise, don't stress and get plenty of sleep.  That's all you need to know.

While the wife and kids were in France, I decided to clean up my garage.  One thing led to another and after about 120 hours of effort I ended up with a nice new shiny garage you see pictured on the left.

The system consists of PVC slatboards and accessories from Garage Tek.  Their website is not very good at showing the details of their products.  It's really better seen in person than in photos.

Basically, they company came for two days and installed the PVC walls, flooring and the cabinets and accessories.  Then it was my turn to toss out the old junk, gather everything remaining into logical groupings and then find places for the remaining stuff.

During the process, my help and I wiped down everything from all the accumulated dust and labeled all the cabinets.  Sound compulsive?  Actually, I think it is perfect.  Now I can easily find everything I need and the garage doubles as a multi-use room where the kids can play, I can do my weight training, and my wife can park the car.

I love it.  Let's hope it stays organized.

On Wednesday, July 16th, my cousin Steve and I drove up to Sanford, Florida (just north of Orlando) and took the auto train.  Normally, I fly when I travel hundreds of miles; but this time Steve needed to bring his car up to Montreal so it was either take the auto train or drive all the way to Montreal.  I remember the auto train from 20 or 30 years ago when they used to advertise it on TV and the radio.  Apparently, it is still very popular despite the total lack of advertising today.

Here's how it went.  First we got to the Sanford station around 2:30 in the afternoon.  The rules state that you must get there by 3:00 to be allowed to board.  I went in to get our tickets and select a dinner time slot.  Seeing as we were one of the latest to arrive, the 7:00 dinner seating was full so I ended up choosing the 5:00 seating.  I'm glad we did.

We boarded around 3:15 and the staff proceeded to assemble all the train cars together before we took off.  Finally, we left the station around 4:00.  It was great watching Central Florida as we rolled by.  I had no idea how beautiful our state was until riding through the hills and through the farm lands. 

At 5:00, we went to the dining car for dinner.  The tables seat 4 people so they sat us with another couple.  Amtrak had a great selection of meals ranging from vegie lasagna to surf and turf.  I chose the lasagna and enjoyed it.

We finished around 6:15 and headed back to our roomette where we waited until 7:00 for the movie to begin.  The movie was showing in the lounge.  Unfortunately, seating for the movie is very bad.  There is no central screen and many of the seets don't face a monitor.  Fortunately, Steve and I arrived early and chose the best seats for the movie, "Crazy Money."

The movie ended around 9:00 and we returned to the room where we read a little bit before retiring for the evening.  Now, you may think that sleeping on a train would be difficult.  Actually, it wasn't so bad.  Our seats converted into flat cots with one about 3 feet above the other.  I chose the top one because it was above the window and I figured it would be darker there.  The only problem with it was it was only about two feet from the ceiling so I couldn't sit up.  Nonetheless. the bed was quite comfortable and I wore earplugs so it didn't take me long to fall asleep.

By the time I woke up, we were about three hours from our destination in Lorton, VA.  Steve and I headed for breakfast in the dining car and had some cereal.  Afterwards, we washed up and changed clothing.  And before you know it, we were approaching Lorton.

Upon arrival, we gathered our belongings and headed out to wait for our car.  Fortunately, our car came out in the first third and we were soon on our way.

My conclusion is that the auto train is much better way to travel the east coast.  When you consider the cost of a hotel and gas, the trip is about a wash.  However, the best part is that we avoided hundreds of miles of driving at night in the rain and were able to sleep on the train.  Personally, I think it is a much more stress free way to travel. 

I went to the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway yesterday.  By the looks of it, many people are concerned about Warren Buffet's health.  Unfortunately, given Mr. Buffets comments about health, it looks as if neither he nor Charlie Munger will maximize their potential lifespans.

Mr. Buffet indicated that he works out 3 times a day.  That's good for him and excellent advice for all of us.  He said he doesn't like working out, but feels as if it is a good idea.

On the nutrition side, he makes no efforts to eat healthy.  He recommended everyone eat See's candy, Wrigley's Gum and Coke products.  Of course he was kidding a little bit, but then his partner, Charlie Munger added to this.  Charlie indicated that neither him nor Warren Buffet make any efforts to watch what they eat.  Charlie, 84 years old, thinks everything has worked out great for him.

Wrong, both men are overweight and Charlie is probably obese.  This puts both of them at increased risks for diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and other health problems.  Now, you may be saying the man is 84 years old, give him a break.  But I believe either of them could live past 100 years old if they made some additional efforts.

Later, in the meeting, Mr. Buffet missed a key opportunity to educate the world.  A seven year old boy asked him what advice he'd give to someone his age.  Mr. Buffet told him to take care of his mind and body.  He elaborated on how to read and constantly keep learning.  He also made an analogy about maintaining your car.  Too bad, Mr. Buffet just doesn't get it.  This is probably because Omaha is a Nutritional Wasteland, but it's just too bad, he missed such an important opportunity to educate the world.

I hope he is healthy enough to make next years meeting.  Hopefully, by then, he'll get the message.

Yesterday, I attended the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway.  BH is headed by the richest man in the world, Warren Buffet and one of the other richest men in the world, vice chairman, Charlie Munger.  The annual meeting is quite a spectacle.  There were over 31,000 people in attendance at the Quest Center in Omaha, Nebraska.  Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and former richest man in the world, is a member of the board of directors and was in attendance at the meeting.

My impression of Warren is very favorable.  He is 77 years old and extremely likable.  The meeting started with a company movie featuring all the company brands.  It was followed by a Q&A session with Warren Buffet.  During the Q&A, it was easy to get a feel from what kind of person Mr. Buffet is.  His answers were always insightful and thoughtful even when the questions from the audience were in poor taste or designed to embarrass him.

Two examples stood out.  First, a group of native American Indians were upset about a dam on the Klamath river.  They were very persistent in their beliefs that the dam must be removed and blamed BH for excessive pollution and toxins in the lake.  The Indians hung banners inside the arena and staged several rude protests during the event.  They managed to ask about four questions related to the dam and made long winded speeches every time.  Despite this, Warren treated them with respect and answered all their questions as best he could.

The second example was when a fundamentalist right wing religious fanatic asked Warren Buffet if he accepted Jesus Christ as his lord and saviour.  Despite the inappropriateness of the question, Warren answered that he was an agnostic.  He simply doesn't know who created life on earth and doesn't have an opinion as to which religion, if any is correct.

I've been in Omaha, Nebraska now for three days.  After having eight meals here, I must declare this place to be a nutritional wasteland.  As some of you know, I've been seeing a nutritionalist for the past few months now.  As a result, I've developed a new sensibility about proper nutrition.  For example, I've learned to eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts and less meat. 

Unfortunately, I have found that to be virtually impossible here in Omaha. For the past three days, I've been a guest of EO Nebraska and they have planned our meals.  The choices here have been meat, meat, or more meat.  Every single meal consists mostly of meat and starches.  Granted, I happen to love meat and starches, however, this is not the way I wish to live anymore.  Luckily, I've managed to find ways around this.

On Friday evening, we had dinner at a catered event.  They featured meats from four different countries, chicken from India, Schnitzel from Germany, burgers and ribs from the US and meat from Australia.  After much searching, I found some lentils at the Mexican station and I also found a tray of raw vegetables in the middle of the American station.  The vegetables were completely untouched and ignored by the other guests --  probably because it was hidden behind all the meat.  Nonetheless, I felt compelled to load up.  So I ate as much broccoli, cauliflower, celery, carrots and cucumbers I could manage and I had a meat free evening.

The next evening, we attended another catered affair that featured... you guessed it, more meat.  This time, I convinced some of my fellow guests to duck out and get a proper dinner.  So we took a taxi downtown and found a French restaurant.  I ordered minestrone soup (basically veggies and pasta) and a dinner salad.

Therefore, I managed to keep to my desired meal plan of only having meat for one meal a day.  It wasn't easy, but I did it.

The foods we eat are constantly changing, and this may not necessarily be such a great thing.  First of all, keep in mind that humans have been modifying foods for about 10,000 years.  No kidding.  I read an article in Wikipedia that says farmers have been cross pollinating plants and selectively breeding them for some time.  They've done this for:

1. Increased quality and yield of the crop
2. Increased tolerance of environmental pressures (salinity, extreme temperature, drought)
3. Resistance to viruses, fungi and bacteria
4. Increased tolerance to insect pests
5. Increased tolerance of herbicides

 But apparently, they haven't done this to increase nutrition.  A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition in 2004, entitled Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999, compared nutritional analysis of vegetables done in 1950 and in 1999, and found substantial decreases in six of 13 nutrients measured, including 6% of protein and 38% of riboflavin. Reductions in calcium, phosphorus, iron and ascorbic acid were also found. The study, conducted at the Biochemical Institute, University of Texas at Austin, concluded in summary: "We suggest that any real declines are generally most easily explained by changes in cultivated varieties between 1950 and 1999, in which there may be trade-offs between yield and nutrient content.^[1]"

So basically, our farmers appear to be more focused on running profitable businesses than they are in making us healthy.  This should come as no surprise as most farms are, in fact, profit seeking ventures and not public services.  So it's up to us to try and reverse this trend.  That means we need to purchase healthier foods at the grocery store.  Once the farmers see that there is no money in producing fatty nutrient deficient foods, they'll immediately start producing healthier fare.  Ha, Ha, you innocent child.

The odds of the American public getting a clue about nutrition is virtually nil.  I was watching the academy awards tonight and saw a commercial for fried chicken that claimed to be healthy because it had no preservatives or trans-fat.  You've got to be kidding me.  They didn't mention saturated fat or cholesterol at all.  Unfortunately, most Americans get the majority of their nutritional information from TV commercials and product packages.  Anything with a health claim must be good, right?

Wake up and smell the GMO modified coffee.  Most farmers are not looking out for your best interests.

I recently read an article in Consumer Reports about the new flex fuel vehicle, the Chevrolet Tahoe FFV.  This new vehicle burns either regular fuel or E85 fuel.  E85 is 85% regular fuel and 15% Ethanol.  To the layman, this sounds like a good thing.  15% Ethanol sounds as if it would reduce our dependancy on foreign oil by 15%.  Who wouldn't be for that?  But wait, there's a catch.

Consumer reports tested the fuel efficiency of this vehicle running both fuels and found a 27% decrease in fuel economy when running on E85.  It went from 14 mpg to 10 mpg.  So you could drive 140 miles on regular fuel compared to 100 miles for E85 on 10 gallons of fuel.  Let me put this another way.

Let's say you had to visit your grandmother who lives 200 miles away.  If you used regular fuel, it would consume 14.3 gallons of regular fuel.  If you used E85 on the way back, it would consume 20 gallons of fuel for the same trip.  Because E85 is 85% gas and 15% Ethanol, it means you would burn 17 gallons of regular fuel plus the 3 gallons of Ethanol.

In other words, you would burn more regular fuel if you used the E85 plus burn polluting ethanol as well.  This means if everyone switches to E85, we'll have to import more foreign oil plus pay farmers to grow useless ethanol.  BTW, ethanol is more corrosive on your engine as well so your car won't last as long.  You might as well mix your fuel with water.

Who wants this?  The big oil companies are delighted by this because they sell more oil.  The farmers are happy because they sell their corn plus the corn prices rise with higher demand.  Finally, the car dealers are happy because they sell more cars and trucks with the reduced life and the politicians are happy because they get reelected with the help of the lobbyists and the hoodwinked public who think they are helping the environment.

What a scam.  When will we wake up and take charge of our futures?  The only sustainable sources of power are solar, wind, tides and currents.   The more time we waste  on other forms of energy, the longer it will take us to get to sustainable power.

Why do Internet Retailers ask us for our phone numbers when they have no intention of calling?  A couple weeks ago, I was running out of toothpaste so I went to Luckyvitamin.com to reorder.  At this point, most of you are thinking.  Why the heck is this guy ordering toothpaste off the internet rather than simply waltzing into the nearest grocery or convenience store and purchasing it there?  Well, the reason is that I'm a complicated person.  I'm allergic to Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) and every time I brush my teeth with regular toothpaste, I get mouth sores.  Hence the need for SLS free toothpaste.

Now, I've ordered from Lucky Vitamin two times before with no problem so I figured I'd have no problem this time.  Wrong.  About 10 days after placing my order, I decided to call them to get a status.  After waiting on hold for 30 minutes just to speak to someone, I finally got a rep to tell me that they were out of stock on this particular brand of toothpaste and that they decided to cancel my order.  No apology, no suggestion for an alternative SLS free product, nothing.  Simply, too bad for me.

I find this amazing.  Why wouldn't they call me to ask me if I wanted to wait longer until it is in stock again or even switch me to an alternative.  No, not Luckyvitamin.com.  They can't be bothered with all that.  It's far easier to simply cancel the order and not bother wasting time with the customer.  Who cares if they run out of toothpaste?  Who cares if they never purchase from the store again?  And who cares if they write a blog entry about what a crappy company they are?

A couple of days after I submitted web request for more info on the order, I got an e-mail informing me that they canceled the order and sent me an e-mail.  However, I am diligent about checking my e-mail and can assure you that no e-mail was received. 

So the lesson of the day is this.  If you care about good customer service, don't order from LuckyVitamin.com