Odds and Ends

well okay. This is not one of the odds and ends, but I just gotta say that I am reading this article about tobacco and heart disease which was sent to me by the MD who wrote it, and my brain is damn full. I feel like I need a medical degree or at least more biology classes, to understand what the heck I am reading - but I am determined to understand. WHY? To convince smokers that tobacco really IS killing them.........

J&J - kicking back - no not relaxing because they had a good year, but giving kick backs, it is alleged. The company and some of its subsidiaries are accused of being quite aggressive in efforts to get a certain pharmacy to prescribe certain drugs. The worst part is the drugs and the patients involved. Psychotropic Risperdal, pain meds Duragesic and Ultram and an antibiotic Levaquin. Because of the push, it is said that hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on these drugs from 1994-2004. These drugs come with such risk and to think that the push was towards nursing home and thus frail elderly persons is an outrage. I KNOW I was there starting in 2000 and a lot of times Nursing Homes did want the patient I was trying to get admitted to be placed on Risperdal. I am glad this issue is in the press and that Charles Grassley may do something about it. Over medication is a PROBLEM in this country. (story is in numerous outlets, NY Times, USA Today, NPR)

Walking the Dog -OK, there is probably a good explanation for this. One that will lead to my embarrassment once it's found out, but initially - I saw this and went NUTs. What in the hell is the matter with people? I was sitting in my Mom's house and out the window I saw a golf cart go by. Well , ok, we live in Florida and it was a complex and that is how people get around sometimes... any hoo.... the cart goes by the window and there along side on a long leash is this little dog, running to keep up. WHAT?! You cannot WALK your dog? Which reminded me of something that happened a week or two ago.....

Skateboarding: I had a skateboard when I was a kid, but skateboarding wasn't as popular as it became in say the 1990s. I am a supporter of skateboarding and skate parks (as long as the kids were protective equipment of course!). I am not a supporter of lazy skateboarders. I was running one recent evening and behind me came a skateboarder, except he wasn't really. He was ON a skate board but it was MOTORIZED, it had a little engine. It wasn't enough that the kid almost ran me over, he also left me breathing his toxic carbon monoxide. Me and the environment. But the worst part was how lazy it was........ I feel the same about electric bicycles....

Pepsi - You guys should have gathered by now that I like pro football. Well, no cheers this week. Instead of the NFL Play 60 ad, I got to see, not for the first time, the new ad from Pepsi. The marketing company is trying to latch on to the whole retro thing by calling it Pepsi throw back - the original Pepsi, and what does the original have?? REAL Sugar. Yeah, lets not make that cool, okay.

Protein -I reviewed an article today regarding whether or not one could change the PH balance of their body by consuming foods high or low in acid or alkaline. You cannot so don't get caught in the hoopla. The body has to regulate PH, if it is not "normal" you will get sick and die. Anyways, in the article I was reading, written by a Gabe Mirkin Md, he did note a theory, one which he didn't denounce, that people who consume excess protein may have lower bone mass. This is because the excess protein leads to increased blood acidity and calcium is released from the bones to correct that.

Consistency - I had some notes about this somewhere, but they are not in my lap as I type. Oh Yes, I remember. On Facebook this week someone made a comment about my being too disciplined. In the same stream, someone said my arms were buff and that I looked 'great' ALREADY. Now that is certainly subjective, and I, like many of you, do not see myself looking "great". But the point is, IF my arms are toned and IF I look fit and trim, it is precisely because I AM disciplined or consistent, not in spite of it. I know, I am rigid, I have disclosed that to you already. But when I see my friends going on diets and expressing guilt and malaise over indulgences, followed by the temporary ban of dessert, coffee, and alcohol and the need to increase sleep - I think , you know, my body seems a lot more content with its consistency.