Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
"Johanna Quaas, 86, isn't taking old age lying down," writes the Huffington Post. "Instead, she's taking it spinning, jumping and twirling - on the parallel bars, no less." A late starter, she only picked up the sport in her thirties, but has more than kept pace with the pack over the years. She boasts 11 goal medals from her senior gymnastics competitions across the globe.
Perhaps more impressive still, is that with her geriatric tricks, she manages to diminish even Stephen Colbert's usually GROSSLY OVER-INFLATED EGO.
Awww, look on the bright side, Stephen: all that ice cream you're binging on is loaded with calcium - a nutrient that's proven beneficial to both the formation and maintenance of bones. Strong bones = age-defying octogenarian status. Granted there are better food sources for calcium than ice cream. Leafy greens, soy products (tofu), low fat dairy, calcium-fortified orange juice and cereals all comprise grub that packs the mineral punch without the caloric paunch. But baby steps, you're in the right food group of dairy, haha.
For more information on Osteoporosis, check out the International Osteoporosis Foundation's website.
Perhaps more impressive still, is that with her geriatric tricks, she manages to diminish even Stephen Colbert's usually GROSSLY OVER-INFLATED EGO.
Calcium is important for bone health, hormone secretion, normal blood clotting, and a healthy heart beat. Aim to get 1200 mg of calcium per day, ideally from your diet, but if you are supplementing with pills, remember that your body can't absorb more than 500-600 mg at a time. Think about taking a pill in the morning and another at night (instead of two 600 mg pills at once).
Vitamin D is a mineral that helps to absorb calcium. The recommended intake is 600-800 IU per day. Some of that you'll get from being out in the sun, but it's better to not count on that for your full supply. Search out foods like salmon, tuna, catfish, eggs, fortified milk and fortified cereal.
A diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, along with regular weight-bearing exercise can help prevent osteoporosis. Bone is living tissue. That means it's constantly being absorbed and replaced. Osteoporosis happens when your body removes more old bone than it creates new bone. So to make sure that doesn't happen, and to make sure we can be as active as Johanna well into our old age, it's important to keep our body stocked with the mineral building blocks it needs to make a strong supporting structure of bones!
Vitamin D is a mineral that helps to absorb calcium. The recommended intake is 600-800 IU per day. Some of that you'll get from being out in the sun, but it's better to not count on that for your full supply. Search out foods like salmon, tuna, catfish, eggs, fortified milk and fortified cereal.For more information on Osteoporosis, check out the International Osteoporosis Foundation's website.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Now follow the yellow brick road. And by road, I mean text. And by brick, I mean linked. And by yellow, I mean clickable.
For those who watch FX's comedy series, Archer, Sterling Archer needs no introduction. For the rest of you, just picture a narcissistic jackass 007-type spy whose antics undeniably entertain. The kind of guy who, in season 2 episode 9, believes he's badass enough to undergo chemo without the hindrance of side effects, only to be blindsided when his agency's doctor informs him that his meds are phony; he has in fact been popping mere sugar pills and intravenously injecting Zima. Worse, his fellow cancer-stricken friend, Ruth? Similarly duped, now dead (she was a frail elderly lady aka plotline sympathy sponge). Cue revenge rampage where Archer takes down the entire Irish mob behind the malpractice.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be playing the part of the "Irish mob." Dr. Burzynski, a medical doctor and ph.D biochemist, will be playing the part of "Archer," fighting for justice on behalf of the "cancer-stricken patients," who will be played by ... cancer-stricken patients.
Basically in 1967, Burzynski discovered a naturally occurring compound, antineoplastins, present in the bodies of healthy individuals and lacking in cancer patients. Realizing the potential for a genetic mechanism to reverse tumor growth, he patented the treatment. He has been curing even the most aggressive forms of cancer with remarkable success rates since then. But as explained in the Los Angeles Times, "Burzynski's Antineoplastons, with their high success rate AND lack of side effects, pose a significant threat to the trillion-dollar industry of treating cancer with the traditional methods of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy." And as Dr. Li-Chuan Chen, former National Cancer Insitute Researcher, says in the film, "under the capitalist sun, there is nothing sacred. Money talks."
And so the documentary charts the 14 year-long litany of legal battles waged over the rights to administer antineoplastins. The film's "a dramatic expose of the FDA and its incestuous relationship with Big Pharma as it seeks to first discredit, then co-opt Burzynski's discovery," writes Variety. The FDA went as far as raiding Burzynski's private practice, confiscating medical records, hauling him to grand jury after grand jury trying to make indictments stick, and ultimately trying to send him to jail so that he couldn't fight the criminal theft of his invention! From what I can tell, he's still tied up in legal battles and the FDA has yet to cease and desist.
And so the documentary charts the 14 year-long litany of legal battles waged over the rights to administer antineoplastins. The film's "a dramatic expose of the FDA and its incestuous relationship with Big Pharma as it seeks to first discredit, then co-opt Burzynski's discovery," writes Variety. The FDA went as far as raiding Burzynski's private practice, confiscating medical records, hauling him to grand jury after grand jury trying to make indictments stick, and ultimately trying to send him to jail so that he couldn't fight the criminal theft of his invention! From what I can tell, he's still tied up in legal battles and the FDA has yet to cease and desist.
Patent fraud, government harassment, and scientific sabotage. And all because "when Antineoplastons are approved for public use, it will allow a single scientist to hold an exclusive right to manufacture and sell these medicines on the open market—leaving the pharmaceutical industry absent in profiting from the most effective gene-targeted cancer treatment the world has ever seen. Oh what would Archer have to say about all this?
Saturday, April 7, 2012
I'm on a job quest (Yep, quest. More exciting than job search). An ideal position would allow me to communicate health/nutrition information to people (e.g. health writer/blogger, wellness coach, public health policy advocate, pr/marketing for food brand/product). I'm also geared to design programs for communities/corporations/universities that encourage healthy eating and exercise, and offer services to promote wellness. Resume below. If you know of any openings, get in touch.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Pink slime: It's gelatinous, it's ammonia-treated, and it's what's for dinner. This meat used to be either discarded or deemed good enough only for dog food, but currently is used as the filler for 70% of supermarket ground beef. According to The Daily, the US Department of Agriculture buys 7 million pounds of it annually to put in school lunches. Cue the American Public's outrage, and pepper it with Stephen Colbert's comedic take on the matter.
The Beefstate Governorswww.colbertnation.com
So. Is this another case of media sensationalism? Is pink slime worthy of such uproar? After all, it's just lean finely textured beef trimmings, centrifuged to separate the beef from the fat, and then treated with non-toxic levels of ammonium hydroxide to make sure it's free of e.coli or harmful bacteria. "Pink slime" isn't any worse than the stuff you'd find in "yellow nuggets, brown breakfast sausage patties, or any number of mystery meat products," writes The Atlantic. The American Meat Industry, as reported in The Week, maintains that it's an efficient use of lean meat from the cattle they raise, and using it keeps production costs down, which keeps supermarket costs down, and more Americans well fed. The Beefstate Governorswww.colbertnation.com
Maybe we can just say, "if you're weirded out, you don't have to eat it." Unfortunately, it's not listed as an ingredient in foods. We have no way of knowing if it's in the food we're eating. This is where I take issue, and Colbert shares my sentiments; he's advocating the beef industry proclaim loud and proud, "Bro, it's slime!"
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