Here They Go Again…
It was only a week ago that we were celebrating “Drink Wine Day” and its health benefits. And then this morning I heard about another study with negative conclusions attributed to drinking alcohol. Don’t you wish those scientists would get their stories straight?
It was reported on this morning’s “Today Show” that the results of a British study show a correlation between women drinking alcohol and their increased risk for breast, rectal and liver cancer. That’s not to say that the good benefits of wine, reducing heart attacks and strokes in women, have been challenged. And, in fact, the risk of renal, thyroid, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are decreased.
So what’s a girl to do? To drink, or not to drink – to misquote a beloved bard – is the question of the day. Is it better to reduce our chances of developing breast and other cancers, or to minimize our chances of developing heart disease and strokes? I suppose the most important lesson from today’s news is that if you were a person who drank for merely “medicinal” purposes, it’s probably not a prescription you should continue to follow.
Personally, I will continue to drink alcohol in moderation. For generations many older people have imbibed wine with dinner or beers at a picnic and have lived to a ripe old age. I enjoy wine, an occasional cocktail, or shot of whiskey, and I’m not going to become a prohibitionist just because of another piece of scientifically contradictory information. I believe that despite these studies, there’s more at work than meets the eye. And I believe our scientists are still limited in their understanding of how our bodies work as a whole.
The Worst Food Gets a Little Better
You won’t find a photo for today’s post because we don’t keep the worst food in this house, except on rare occasions. It’s also because it’s a manufactured food, and I don’t want to pick on any one brand. If you haven’t guessed what the worst food is, I’ll tell you. It’s soda. Any kind of soda. Regular or diet. Empty calories. Artificial colors and sweeteners. Highly addictive. No nutrition. At all. Chemicals that are counter productive to the absorption of nutrients. If you don’t believe me, read this article I found at Beachbody.com that explains the evils of soda in detail.
So how can soda get a little better? Apparently some soft drink manufacturers are responding to growing consumer awareness of the evils of high fructose corn syrup, which in recent years has become the whipping boy of diet scientists as being one of the root causes of disease and obesity. Snapple, Pepsi, and Mountain Dew are all removing high fructose corn syrup, at least for a trial period, and replacing it with sugar.
Now I’m not saying that too much sugar is great for us, either. But at least it’s a natural product, and not designed to enter our blood streams faster than the speed of light. The calorie count for the soft drinks will be reduced slightly. And the taste will change to a fuller bodied flavor, according to Snapple. Snapple will be making the change permanent and the other companies, I suppose, will be waiting for consumer feedback before deciding to make permanent this change for the better.
And for the record, we consume soft drinks on occasion when we’re eating out or at a party. I don’t believe in rigid food rules, but it’s easier to stick with good intentions when the offender isn’t sitting in the fridge. And now that these companies have improved their formulas, they will become my soft drink of choice when we do choose to indulge.
The Consolation Prize for Carrying a Few Extra Pounds
This lunch can make me look younger - but only if I ate the whole thing! I chose healthier, and ate half, instead.
We should always start off a new week by looking for a silver lining to our problems. This morning I found mine in this week’s issue of “Time” magazine. In a health article title “How to Look Young: Eat More” they discuss a study of twins that was just published in the journal “Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery”. In this study a panel of judges looked at identical twins and guessed their ages by looking at photos.
Among the younger twins, the heavier ones were perceived as older than the thinner twin. But in comparisons of twins older than age 40, the heavier twin was guesstimated to be significantly younger. Other lifestyle differences changed these results, particularly whether one twin smoked and the other didn’t, or the difference in sun exposure, both factors contributing to a more aged appearance.
I guess the extra pounds are nature’s little collagen treatment on our faces. If we keep them plumped with our own fat, we may not need to visit the dermatologist. The question we should ask ourselves, however, is whether it’s more important to feel marvelous and be healthy or to look marvelous and have underlying, weight related health problems? I’m still trying to feel marvelous and be healthy, but at least I know that the price of failure will save me a few collagen treatments as I age.