Good reads, good TV, generally interesting stuff
It seems I've been running across some really interesting reading in the blogosphere lately and I decided it was time to post about some of these.
First, I ran across this article yesterday on Starling Fitness. Seems that vegans and vegetarians have to be careful to get enough B12 or their brain will shrink. I've always found the arguments for vegetarianism interesting. It's one thing if you don't like meat, I know a few people like that. But to actively avoid it for supposed health reasons just cracks me up. First off if you look at our teeth you will quickly realize we were made to eat meat and veggies. We have the front teeth that rip and the rear teeth that grind. That allows us to eat both meat and veggies. Secondly, look at our intestines. Cows, who eat only veggies, have very long intestines while dogs, who eat mostly meat, have short intestines. Humans have mid-length intestines because we are made to eat both meat and veggies. Finally, humans as a species made the leap from animals to humans when we started eating protein, namely meat. Protein allowed our brains to grow and our intellectual and cognitive abilities to develop. This never would have happened without us consuming meat. Anyway, I just found this study interesting.
Then this morning I read the post by Michele on a scale rant. She makes some very good points and it's very well written. I myself have a pretty good relationship with the scale now, though I didn't used to. I have a Tanita at home but I rarely use it. I tend to rely on the WW weigh-in. But there was a time when I weighed myself every single day. I did it specifically to get over my obsession with the scale. I found myself checking my weight at 2-3 day intervals and getting crazy over what the numbers said. So for about 30-60 days I weighed myself every day at the same time and charted the numbers I got. I found that my weight can fluctuate as much as 4 lbs for no apparent reason. By weighing everyday I could see the pattern and it really did break me of my obsession. Now I don't put a lot of weight in what the numbers say, I really do rely more on other factors. It's a good post and you all should read it.
Last night I was watching TV, for the first time all weekend, and I saw a commercial for high fructose corn syrup. It was saying how HFCS is made from corn and has the same amount of calories as sugar. It's natural and not bad at all in moderation. I nearly fell off the couch. Talk about a publicity campaign to make a sow's ear into a silk purse. I quickly made a note to myself that I would have to post about this, it was too good to let it just go by. So as I'm reading blogs this morning I discover that The Diet Blog has beat me to the punch. Since they quote studies and cite references, I decided you should just read them. It's a great post and they're right, I'm pretty sure moderation isn't 78 lbs a year.
Finally, a couple of weeks ago I caught the end of a story on 20/20. It was about people obsessed with eating healthy and tracking their food and such. It really peaked my interest as I'm kind of into that right now. Since I missed most of the story I've been meaning to look it up and just haven't gotten around to it. Well, I just went over and read the story on the 20/20 website. Turns out I don't have anything to worry about as these folks were obsessed with eating healthy food. I'm not that obsessed. I will eat junk just not so much of it. Anyway, it's interesting and it just goes to show that anything, good or bad, can be taken too far.
Okay, I've now caught up on all the stuff I wanted to say. It's amazing the information that is out there and how it all relates. Good stuff this Internet thingee......
First, I ran across this article yesterday on Starling Fitness. Seems that vegans and vegetarians have to be careful to get enough B12 or their brain will shrink. I've always found the arguments for vegetarianism interesting. It's one thing if you don't like meat, I know a few people like that. But to actively avoid it for supposed health reasons just cracks me up. First off if you look at our teeth you will quickly realize we were made to eat meat and veggies. We have the front teeth that rip and the rear teeth that grind. That allows us to eat both meat and veggies. Secondly, look at our intestines. Cows, who eat only veggies, have very long intestines while dogs, who eat mostly meat, have short intestines. Humans have mid-length intestines because we are made to eat both meat and veggies. Finally, humans as a species made the leap from animals to humans when we started eating protein, namely meat. Protein allowed our brains to grow and our intellectual and cognitive abilities to develop. This never would have happened without us consuming meat. Anyway, I just found this study interesting.
Then this morning I read the post by Michele on a scale rant. She makes some very good points and it's very well written. I myself have a pretty good relationship with the scale now, though I didn't used to. I have a Tanita at home but I rarely use it. I tend to rely on the WW weigh-in. But there was a time when I weighed myself every single day. I did it specifically to get over my obsession with the scale. I found myself checking my weight at 2-3 day intervals and getting crazy over what the numbers said. So for about 30-60 days I weighed myself every day at the same time and charted the numbers I got. I found that my weight can fluctuate as much as 4 lbs for no apparent reason. By weighing everyday I could see the pattern and it really did break me of my obsession. Now I don't put a lot of weight in what the numbers say, I really do rely more on other factors. It's a good post and you all should read it.
Last night I was watching TV, for the first time all weekend, and I saw a commercial for high fructose corn syrup. It was saying how HFCS is made from corn and has the same amount of calories as sugar. It's natural and not bad at all in moderation. I nearly fell off the couch. Talk about a publicity campaign to make a sow's ear into a silk purse. I quickly made a note to myself that I would have to post about this, it was too good to let it just go by. So as I'm reading blogs this morning I discover that The Diet Blog has beat me to the punch. Since they quote studies and cite references, I decided you should just read them. It's a great post and they're right, I'm pretty sure moderation isn't 78 lbs a year.
Finally, a couple of weeks ago I caught the end of a story on 20/20. It was about people obsessed with eating healthy and tracking their food and such. It really peaked my interest as I'm kind of into that right now. Since I missed most of the story I've been meaning to look it up and just haven't gotten around to it. Well, I just went over and read the story on the 20/20 website. Turns out I don't have anything to worry about as these folks were obsessed with eating healthy food. I'm not that obsessed. I will eat junk just not so much of it. Anyway, it's interesting and it just goes to show that anything, good or bad, can be taken too far.
Okay, I've now caught up on all the stuff I wanted to say. It's amazing the information that is out there and how it all relates. Good stuff this Internet thingee......
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