Photo of the Week – 2/24/10 – Patiently Waiting for Spring
Once the Peeps show up in the stores, spring can’t be far behind.
Vitamin D Supplements, Cure, Curse, or Worthless?
I really hope I don’t live to regret this. Last month I had a general physical, my first one in about 5 years. I’m usually leery about going to the doctor when I’m feeling well, because they just have to find something wrong with you, don’t they? And then you get involved with prescriptions and procedures that make you feel worse than when you started. At least that’s what I suspect. But, as a woman of a certain age, I felt it was in my family’s best interest that I get checked out.
So the only thing the doc managed to come up with is that my Vitamin D is low, quite low. In case you haven’t been to the doctor recently, the newest thing they’re testing for is your Vitamin D level. They’re blaming a whole slew of ailments on Vitamin D deficiency including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and low levels of good cholesterol. If you have high levels of Vitamin D in your blood, your rate of illness and death is low. Bad news for me.
But is taking Vitamin D supplements the answer as suggested by most doctors? I’m not so sure. Few clinical trials have shown a strong correlation between Vitamin D supplements and curing these risks. As I reported last year, scientists have found that Vitamin D supplements can cause problems for those with autoimmune problems (I have vitiligo which is a minor autoimmune disease). It would be nice if I could up my intake of a particular food to improve my Vitamin D levels, but there really aren’t any that are potent enough to accomplish what I need.
What I really need is more time in the sun, to build up my levels the old fashioned way. But until sun can be found in these parts, I guess I’ll try the supplements and hope for the best. What would you do?
Health Food vs. Mass Market Food, Which Will They Choose?
Don't feed me any of that healthy, flaxseed, chicory root slop!
Ever since we’ve had our cats, I’ve gone out of my way to purchase the healthiest food I can for them. Originally I purchased the healthiest food available in Pet Smart, at the recommendation of Linda who runs the cat shelter from which we adopted several of our cats. When we adopted our fifth, most recent cat she changed her cat food recommendation to a high protein brand that was supposed to be nutritionally superior. I followed her recommendation, but it disturbed the digestion of our original cat. We switched to a different brand of high protein food recommended by the small, non-chain pet store where we now shop. All was good, for a while.
One day I decided to try them on the “light” variation of the food since the cat shown in this post was packing on the pounds. A major boycott ensued and it didn’t appear that any of the cats touched the food for days. I grew concerned and switched them back to the regular, high protein food. The cats seemed as happy as you might expect for a diet of dry food without access to the tasty meats we enjoy.
But lately I noticed there was a growing boycott in the food bowls again. This time we decided to try a premium variety of mass market cat food since,if we were switching, I wanted something that didn’t require an extra trip to purchase. As you might expect, it was a hit. For the past few days I’ve been mixing it with the other food, but they’ve been gobbling it all up at double the normal level.
Which goes to prove that mass marketers know equally well how to sell junk food to cats, as well as to humans. And that living beings have a predisposition to like the food that’s less healthy for them. That leaves the choice in our hands – what will we choose for ourselves, and to a lesser degree for our pets? Food that tastes better, but makes us overeat, and possibly cuts our lives shorter in the long run? Or boring food that we’ll only want to eat in moderation over the course of a potentially longer life? It’s a tough question that I ponder nearly every day for myself.