Won't somebody please think of the children!?

That's from The Simpsons, in case you don't recognize Helen Lovejoy's ubiquitous line.

The economic downturn is having an interesting effect on the nation's married couples, particularly because of falling real estate prices.

From the New York Times -

"In a normal economy, couples typically build equity in their homes, then divide that equity in a divorce, either after selling the house or with one partner buying out the other’s share. But after the recent boom-and-bust cycle, more couples own houses that neither spouse can afford to maintain, and that they cannot sell for what they owe. For couples already under stress, the family home has become a toxic asset."

The article contains a reference to one of my old favorites-

"'There’s an old joke,' said Randall M. Kessler, Ms. Needle’s lawyer. 'Why is a divorce so expensive? Because it’s worth it. Now it better really be worth it.'"

The Governator on 60 Minutes

Arnold has accomplished so much in his life and he has some interesting thoughts on goal setting at the conclusion of the interview. Well worth watching.

The Atkins Diet Is Stupid

Scientists from Tufts (so you know they're smart) say that eating low and no-carb diets makes you stupid. Duh, you're better off eating a balanced diet. I can't believe it. So they're telling us that you can't use some shortcut like eating nothing but steak to lose weight and be healthy? I mean, I'm as shocked as you are.

"The scientists behind the study believe that low-carb diets reduce the amount of glucose or blood sugar carried to the brain and used by nerve cells for energy."

Here's the link.

Mr. Madoff or: How I Learned to Stop Whining and Count My Blessings

I've been whining to people about how much I've lost in the stock market in the last six months, but wow, it could be so much worse. Even if you're having trouble paying for college or your kid's tuition, or even your mortgage, perhaps, it's not as bad as it could be. You could be one of the many who invested with Bernard Madoff.

There are people who, until today, thought they had millions upon millions of dollars invested with the (now infamous) Wall Street legend. Over night, that money has disappeared, as it turns out to have been one giant Ponzi scheme. The origins of that term are worth learning, in case you don't know the story.

This is not what Wall Street needs right now. From madoff.com -

"In an era of faceless organizations owned by other equally faceless organizations, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC harks back to an earlier era in the financial world: The owner's name is on the door. Clients know that Bernard Madoff has a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm's hallmark."

How ironic, indeed.

Hey, Big Spender

My friend Kim sent me an article about evolution playing a part in male spending. It's not a huge surprise that men spend money to attract mates, but it is fascinating to find that there is a direct correlation between the amount they spend as a percentage of income and how many sexual partners they have and desire in the future.

From a LiveScience article posted on Yahoo News -

"It is partially a result of our economic system and recent financial policies, but I really do think that our evolved mating strategies have an influence. Our competition for economic displays drives our consumer economy and culture of affluence.

"In terms of the current mortgage crisis, the findings suggest that one of the reasons why we overextend ourselves is that we're basically in a status race. We have expectations that spiral upward as people make more money, and everyone wants to show that they are better than average."

This is Timely

I take no satisfaction in reading this article, by which I mean, of course, that I was ecstatic on the inside but trying to show that I am not a bad person who is jealous of someone so rich, powerful and successful. Kind of like when management says that "So-and-so is our quarterback" or "so-and-so is our coach". Once you hear those words, you know you're canned. Not literally, of course. So, the point is that when you hear "I take no satisfaction" it means the exact opposite. Moving along...

I guess the acai berry thing hasn't worked out, because Oprah has just revealed (which I assume is no secret to people who actually watch her show) that her weight has climbed to 200 lbs. The reason for this is that Oprah tries to come up with gimmicky ways to lose weight and goes on diets. She needs to make a lifestyle change. That is the only way she will keep her weight at healthy levels. There is a notorious episode from 1988 when she paraded out on stage in size 10 jeans. To wit -

"When it came to slipping into those jeans, 'I had literally starved myself for four months [on a liquid-protein diet] – not a morsel of food,' Winfrey, an admitted food addict, said in 2005. 'Two hours after that show, I started eating to celebrate – of course, within two days those jeans no longer fit!'"

This is not just about looking good or fitting into a dress for Barack Obama's inauguration.

"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Winfrey's weight and height rank her as obese, with a body mass index of 31.8 – putting her at 'at higher risk for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol."

Dieting is Dumb

Earlier today I noticed a banner ad about "Oprah's New Acai Berry Diet!" or something like that. Are acai berries even something? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll go look it up. Stupid Internet. Here you go, I found it at some site that I don't feel like referencing -

"Nature's Energy Fruit: Acai Berry as seen on Oprah's Show! You've likely never even heard of Acai Berry but Oprah has just featured it on her show and it is one of the 10 superfoods promoted by Dr Perricone. Studies have shown that this little berry is one of the most nutritious and powerful foods in the world! Açaí (ah-sigh-ee) berries are the high-energy berry of a special Amazon palm tree. Harvested in the rainforests of Brazil, açaí berry tastes like a vibrant and yummy blend of berries and chocolate. Açaí berry is packed full of antioxidants, amino acids and essential fatty acids. Although açaí berry may not yet be available in your local supermarket, you can find it in several health food and gourmet stores."

At least I know how to pronounce it now. I read it as "a-kai". Boy would my face have been red if I happened to run into the big O at an Art Basel party or something.

The whole reason I am writing this is not to promote acai berries, but rather to point out how utterly ridiculous it is for women to follow Oprah's nutrition advice. Does it merit an explanation? Why would you take advice from someone whose weight fluctuates so dramatically? She obviously has no handle on how to take care of her body. It's a good thing she's so rich, because it must be really expensive to keep buying clothes every month to keep up with the different sizes she requires.

I guess it's kind of like how I'm getting so super jacked that my t-shirts get tighter and tighter, except that I don't buy larger sizes. So I guess it's not the same thing after all.

As I write this I am coming to the realization that it is likely that women like the fact that someone else who has so much trouble is trying to show them the way, and they therefore think that Oprah feels their pain, so that somehow makes her a better person to advise them. But that's like taking financial advice from Dick Fuld or getting help with your drug addiction from Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm assuming that there's a website that has photos of Oprah at all different weights, and I can also assume that she will have hilarious, varying hair styles (cough, wigs), kind of like you can look up all the different faces of Michael Jackson or Mickey Rourke (I put Rourke in there since this paragraph had taken a potentially dangerous turn towards a "race" thing).

It's taking too long, but I'm pretty sure that site exists or will exist in the near future.

My original reason for this post is not Oprah, rather it is an article in the New York Times about how Americans are the most informed people on the planet when it comes to nutrition and yet somehow manage to be the heaviest. Part of that phenomenon can be attributed to the "health halo". In New York City, Benevolent Dictator Michael Bloomberg long ago got the ban on trans fats through and now people think everything is healthier.

Here's some interesting information as well as some classic French condescension. You have to love that. If you read it with a silly French accent it's really funny. I now have to make sure I have the correct alternation of double and single quotation marks lest my brother Brendan berate me for bad grammar. I hope he appreciates that alliteration.

"'People who eat at McDonald’s know their sins,' Dr. Chandon said, 'but people at Subway think that a 1,000-calorie sandwich has only 500 calories.' His advice is not for people to avoid Subway or low-fat snacks, but to take health halos into account.

"'People need to look up calorie information, and this information needs to be clearly available on the menu or on the front of packages,' Dr. Chandon said. 'If no information is available, people should say to themselves: "This restaurant or this brand claims to be healthy in general. Let’s see if I can come up with two reasons why this claim would not apply to this particular food." When we asked people to follow this "consider the opposite" strategy, it completely eliminated health halos.'

"More generally, Dr. Chandon advises American consumers, food companies and public officials to spend less time obsessing about 'good' versus 'bad' food.

"'Being French, I don’t have any problem with people enjoying lots of foods,' he said. 'Europeans obsess less about nutrition but know what a reasonable portion size is and when they have had too much food, so they’re not as biased by food and diet fads and are healthier. Too many Americans believe that to lose weight, what you eat matters more than how much you eat. It’s the country where people are the best informed about food and enjoy it the least.'"

Boohoob Tube

I think that's one of my most clever titles yet. Don't mind if I pat myself on the back.

TV might make you sad. Or maybe if you're sad you just watch more tv. It's probably one of those vicious circles. That's my guess. Those are the worst. Well, maybe when people say "equally as" or "myself" (when they mean "I"). Those are worse. Or when people put celery in tuna salad. I hate that.

TV provides an escape from reality and if you're not so crazy about your reality, a pretty quick and easy way out is to dive into the glamorous lifestyle of someone whose job or adventures are something about which you would only dream. You know, like Ocean's 11 or James Bond.

If you're stressed out about something, you might put it off to be entertained by a comedian who makes you laugh and forget about your worries. Well, when the show's over you have the same problem, but instead of doing something about it, you've put it off and not taken any steps to correct it. We're all guilty of this from time to time, but there are definitely people out there who need to snap themselves out of it and live.

This is bumming me out. I'm going to go watch the Ricky Gervais special that I dvr-ed on Saturday night.

From MSN Health & Fitness -

Short-term pleasure, long-term malaise

"These conflicting data suggest that TV may provide viewers with short-run pleasure, but at the expense of long-term malaise," said researcher John Robinson, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, College Park.

In this scenario, even the happiest campers could turn into Debbie-downers if they continue to stare at the boob-tube. The researchers suggest that over time, television-viewing could push out other activities that do have more lasting benefits. Exercise and sex come to mind, as do parties and other forms of socialization known to have psychological benefits.

Get a Job

Monster has some tips for how to land one during a recession. Hopefully we aren't in the throes of a depression. I might have to post something else in that case.

Eight Tips for Job Hunting During the Recession

I can say that after receiving hundreds of applications for a job I posted, and then interviewing about 8 of those people, that the suggestions made in the Monster article would have helped some of the applicants a great deal.

I like this one, in particular -

Stay Positive

The most important thing when searching for a job in tough economic times is to retain a positive attitude, says Carol Vecchio, founder and executive director of Centerpoint Institute for Life and Career Renewal in Seattle. “Even in a job market with 10 percent unemployment, there’s 90 percent employment,” she says. “There is an average of over 3 million jobs available in the US per month -- and each job seeker is looking for one. Those are pretty good odds.”

HSA 2009

These are the new minimum deductibles and annual contribution limits for Health Savings Accounts in 2009.

Minimum Deductible -

Individual $1,150
Family $2,300

Annual Contribution Limit -

Individual $3,000
Family $5,950

If you're 55 or older, there's an additional $1,000 catch up contribution you can make to your HSA.

The maximum out-of-pocket amounts have been increased to $5,800 and $11,600. That's the entire in-network exposure you can have in a health insurance policy that is HSA-qualified.

You're Covered

^{This is a fairly recent Florida Statute that you should know about. Dependents are now covered until age 25 (and possibly extended to age 30), as long as they meet the requirements that historically have applied to university students.}

¹627.6562 Dependent coverage.--

(1) If an insurer offers coverage under a group, blanket, or franchise health insurance policy that insures dependent children of the policyholder or certificateholder, the policy must insure a dependent child of the policyholder or certificateholder at least until the end of the calendar year in which the child reaches the age of 25, if the child meets all of the following...

Read the entire statute here.

Super Stretch

I'm amazed that the most popular article on the New York Times website is not about Obama. It's about stretching. I learned back when I was playing squash in college that "static stretching" was considered no good anymore by those in the sports medicine world. Things like touching your toes and pulling your leg behind your butt.

But most people do not know that. You should really only stretch after sports. Beforehand you need to warm up your muscles and tendons. This is a great article and has some examples of "dynamic stretching", the kind you should be doing. Silly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?em

It'd Be A Good Start...

From Wall Street Journal's Health Blog -

"In a comment published online by the Lancet today, four physicians with the American Academy of Family Physicians argue that more attention should be paid to the dwindling ranks of primary-care docs. They write:

Our system is riddled with unconscionable disparities–geographical, socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial–in health care and health status, which could all be mitigated by consistent access to a medical home. A medical home is a health-care setting that facilitates partnerships between individual patients and their physicians. So, what we really need in this country is universal access to primary care.

Wake Up, Little Snoozy

There is so much helpful information on Men's Health's website that it's hard to read just one article and get back to work. I found this list of suggestions quite informative on reasons for sluggishness throughout the day along with ways to combat it.

In the morning, have some oatmeal.

For lunch, go easy on the carbs because they cause an insulin spike that tires you out.

In the afternoon, have some fruit as a snack.

Before your evening workout, drink Gatorade.

Don't lie down when watching TV and don't read in bed.

The suggestions all support the point that you need to develop a rhythm to your sleep and eating patterns to keep your energy levels up. Please read the full article here. I find it a little patronizing that Men's Health feels the need to publish so many articles as lists, but I guess that's what's happened to our collective attention span.

Turning Japanese

A study at Osaka University has concluded that people who eat quickly and until they feel full are much more likely to be overweight or obese. This comes from Japan, a country that has one of the lowest obesity rates in the developed world. Japan's obesity rate is around 3% to the USA's 30%. They are doing something better than we are and some of it is diet, some of it is custom.

Aside from eating lots of fish and cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli and cabbage), there is a Japanese custom embodied in the phrase "hara hachi bunme". It means "eat until 80% full". I've lived in Japan and it really seems like everyone there is thin.

From MSN Health & Fitness -

"Until recently, most adults didn't have the opportunity to consume enough energy to enable the body to store fat, according to background information in the study. But eating behaviors have changed due to increased availability of inexpensive food in larger portions, fast food, fewer families eating together, and eating while distracted (such as watching TV)."

I grew up having dinner with my parents and three brothers. I don't know how a family spends time together and family members know what's going on in every one else's life if not at dinner time. It's not going to happen sitting in front of the boob tube, that's for sure.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

This is fascinating -

"Whether the current economic slump will take a toll on your own health depends, in part, on your health habits when times are good. And economic studies suggest that people tend not to take care of themselves in boom times — drinking too much (especially before driving), dining on fat-laden restaurant meals and skipping exercise and doctors’ appointments because of work-related time commitments."

"Are Bad Times Healthy?" asks some good questions and weighs the health benefits of an economic downturn against the obvious downsides.

Hmm, this might offend some of my readers -

Health Revolution

Revolution Health, founded by AOL's Steve Case, has just merged with an ever-growing Waterfront Media. There's lots of good stuff on those sites.

In international news, here's some coming out of Europe that is disheartening. In Greece, 75% of adults are now overweight or obese. This New York Times article laments the waning popularity of the Mediterranean diet.

"Compared to traditional American menu — high in red meat and in butter and other dairy products — the Mediterranean diet is lower in saturated fat, more varied and often more satisfying."

Mamma Mia!

Health = Wealth

Today's Nightingale-Conant quote of the day -

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."

Mahatma Gandhi

And this comes from Men's Health -

"Be as Healthy as the Wealthy"

The Costco Effect

I've often wondered, as I think many people do, whether or not one actually saves money by shopping at a place like Costco.

From Wall Street Journal Personal Finance -

"People are often price-sensitive about an initial purchase. But after the money has been spent, there's a tendency to view the stash -- be it a pile of bagels or imported stout -- as manna from heaven."

This was a great point (and something about which to be cautious)-

"Costco, in particular, specializes in stocking unexpected gourmet food and luxury items that spur impulse buys. It isn't hard to drop $300 or $400. Even if you're getting a deal, that's a lot of money."

Chopin for the Soul

Lucky, I Guess

Today's WSJ has an article called Secrets of the "Wellderly" (thanks Dad) in which the author profiles a bunch of centenarians and describes the unhealthy lifestyle choices many of them have made during their unusually long lives.

It turns out there are some lucky people out there who can do whatever they want and get away with it. There is a Brazilian woman who is 106 and has been smoking for 91 years. Many of them had periods of obesity and none was a vegetarian.

[Of course, I don't think vegetarianism is healthy, as I tell many people. As an exercise, think of the people you know who are vegetarians. Are they robust, healthy people? Are they fit? Conversely, think of the really healthy, strong people you know. Do they eat meat?]

So, some people just have better genes than others and researchers are looking for ways to alter genes to increase longevity in humans. It's probably really easy to do.

The article does point out, however, that even if you're unlikely to make it to 100, whether you have healthy habits or not, you do stand to significantly lengthen your life expectancy by doing certain things -

"Earlier this year, researchers at the U.K.'s University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council reported that people who exercise regularly, don't smoke, limit their alcohol intake and eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day live, on average, 14 years longer than people who didn't."

Man you keep eating those - you’re going to turn into a chicken...

There's an article in the last SparkPeople newsletter about the healthy choices you can make when dining at a fast food restaurant.

As I opened the email, I thought to myself "it's just going to be the grilled chicken menu items".

Uh, that's all it was. A list of grilled chicken sandwiches (hold the mayo!) and salads. If you don't get it from what you just read, feel free to spend more time learning this here.

Everything in Moderation

Doctors are reticent when it comes to recommending that their patients consume alcohol regularly, worrying that it could lead to substance abuse. However, study after study shows that men should be drinking 2 alcoholic drinks per day and women should be drinking 1.

From those wicked smaht guys in Cambridge, Mass. -

"A study by Harvard University researchers suggests that... even among men who are models of health, moderate drinking was associated with a lower risk of heart attack. Those who had one-half to two drinks a day had the lowest heart attack risk -- 40 percent to 60 percent lower than healthy men who didn't drink. And that was true no matter whether they were drinking beer, wine or liquor."

"'These results tend to refute the oft-quoted hypothesis that lower coronary heart disease seen among moderate drinkers is due to their associated healthy lifestyle habits, and not to their alcohol consumption,' wrote Dr. R. Curtis Ellison, director of the Institute on Lifestyle and Health at Boston University School of Medicine, and co-author of a critique of the study." Read the article on MSN Health & Fitness.

Money Can Buy Happiness (sort of)

"10 Secrets That Millionaires Keep"

"Concomitantly, rates of depression are lower among the wealthy, according to the Wharton study, and the rich tend to have better health than the rest of the population, says James Smith, senior labor economist at the Rand Corporation. In fact, health and happiness are as closely correlated as wealth and happiness, Smith says."

"The wealthy even seem to smile and laugh more often, according to the Wharton study, to say nothing of getting treated with more respect and eating better food."

Practice Pooches

Hmmm, the reader and veterinarian's comments suggest that this is not good for the dogs, but it's an interesting phenomenon. People are beginning to share dog ownership (not so bad) and there are services that have sprung up that allow members to rent dogs (that one's tough on the doggies). People are doing it because they want to enjoy the companionship of a dog, but are unable or unwilling to care for one all the time. One interviewee puts it this way -

"It's sanity time. It's very relaxing. It energizes you."

Here's the article from the Chicago-area Daily Herald.

Mmm, Deep-Fried Southern Favorites...

"Alabama, pushed to second in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat."

State employees will begin paying $25/month for their health insurance if their BMIs are at or above 35 (which would put them well into the "obese" category that starts at 30). There are problems with the BMI as a measuring tool, since the only components are weight and height, and just because you're thin does not mean you're healthy. Anyway, it's an interesting trend and one to watch for in other states and nations (and I guess nation states).

Here's the article, by the way. I, like, totally almost forgot.

Donorcycles (Revisited)

I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news comes from an article that discusses the decrease in car crash fatalities in 2007. There were 1,000 fewer than in 2006, when they had actually gone up from the previous year. Read the article here if you like.

The bad news is this -

"Motorcycle deaths increased for the 10th straight year. There were 5,154 motorcycle deaths last year, compared with 4,837 in 2006."

Please, please, please don't ride a motorcycle. If you must, then wear a helmet. You look way cooler when your head's connected to your body and your brain's inside your skull.

Coffee Time

As tends to be the case in the world of nutrition, you have likely heard arguments for and against the consumption of coffee over the years. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (they published that list of "X-treme Meals" you should avoid) has made public a recent study of the long term effects of coffee, and they're almost all beneficial.

From what I've read over the past couple of years, it's good for you to drink up to three cups of coffee a day. It's a hell of a lot better for you than drinking sodas (even diet ones!) all day, that's for sure. You can find the New York Times Health article here.

You Don't Want This 'F' on Your Report Card

From Time.com -

"...[A]re parents really failing to notice their little angels piling on the pounds? Yes, says the U.K.'s Department of Health. 'Today, when more children are overweight compared with previous generations, it can be harder for parents to objectively identify if their child is overweight,' says a spokeswoman from the Department of Health. 'Research shows that most parents of overweight or obese children think that their child is a healthy weight. Some research showed that only 10% of parents with overweight or obese children described their child as overweight.'"

The article discusses the fact that parents of U.K. students will be notified by schools of their children's weight, whether it be normal, underweight, overweight, or worse. Some schools in the U.S. already note students' weights on report cards. The reason the 10% statistic is so alarming is that more than 3 times that amount are actually overweight or obese.

Look out Australia, Here We Come!

Hey all you Aussies, we're the U.S.A. We don't like being #2 at anything.

And I don't like using stuff posted on Drudge, since I figure everyone reads it already anyway, but this is such an alarming finding, that I feel that I must share it with my faithful readers -

"All U.S. Adults Could Be Overweight in 40 Years"

78% of African American women are already categorized as overweight or obese, so for some segments of the population, it's not really a big stretch to get to 100%.

This is from the Reuters Health article -

"'Genetically and physiologically, it should be impossible' for all U.S. adults to become overweight, said Dr. Lan Liang of the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, one of the researchers on the study."

"However, she told Reuters Health, the data suggest that if the trends of the past 30 years persist, 'that is the direction we're going'."

I believe Scooby Doo's reaction to this would be "rut row".

Food Deserts (Revisited)

LA has instituted a moratorium on new fast food restaurants. Read the Associated Press article here.

"The moratorium, which can be extended up to a year, only affects standalone restaurants, not eateries located in malls or strip shopping centers. It defines fast-food restaurants as those that do not offer table service and provide a limited menu of pre-prepared or quickly heated food in disposable wrapping."

"The definition exempts "fast-food casual" restaurants such as El Pollo Loco, Subway and Pastagina, which do not have drive-through windows or heat lamps and prepare fresh food to order."


Consider the obesity problem solved! Psst, I've been telling people for years that this kind of thing was coming. California has now banned the use of trans fats statewide, by the way.

Top Ten Things About Which to Stop Whining

People are so wound up about things these days. It's a relief that a guy over at the New York Times, whose chosen profession's motto is "if it bleeds, it leads", has decided to publish a list of stuff you can pretty much stop worrying about -

10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List

I think he gets a little off topic with his "wormhole" line, since quantum physics aren't really an average dude's concern, but I especially like the one about food shipments and plastic bags.

I Can't Hear You...

Sorry, here's another article from Drudge. According to Dr. Yuri Agrawal of Johns Hopkins University -

"The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is predicted to rise significantly because of an aging population and the growing use of personal listening devices. Indeed, there is concern that we may be facing an epidemic of hearing impairment."

I worry, in particular, about my friends who live in New York and listen to their iPods when they travel on the subway and walk through the streets. Manhattan is already so loud, that to hear your music you have to turn the volume up to damaging levels to overcome all that commotion.

My paternal grandparents, who have lived well into their late 80s (grandmother's still with us), and spent their adulthood mostly in undeveloped countries, suffered almost no hearing loss during their lives. On the other hand, my Italian great aunts, who lived most of their lives in New York, almost all went nearly deaf, though almost all of them also lived into their 90s. Not bad.

Anyway, it's something to keep in mind. Read the article here on Yahoo News.

Block It Up

Poor John McCain has been suffering from various forms of skin cancer for 15 years. He just had a biopsy done by his dermatologist. That's when they cut a chunk of your flesh out. Not such a pleasant thought, eh? This article was the headline on Drudge.

"'I want to again urge all Americans to wear sunscreen, particularly this summer, to stay out of the sun as much as possible,' he said, with his wife Cindy standing next to him."

"Remember a lot of the damage that people receive from the sun when they're young sometimes comes back later in life."

Land of the Free and Home of Toothpaste and Dental Floss

Thanks to my brother, who found the Tyrese Gibson version of the national anthem that I wanted to post last Thursday. Please try not to get too, too fired up when the English fans start booing the Star Spangled Banner. After all, they did give us the best language in the world and our system for a bicameral legislative branch of government.

How Can Ya Have Eny Pudding If Ya Doon't Eat Yer Beets?

My brother loooooooves beets. Loves 'em. He thinks it's particularly hilarious that they make your poo poo purple. He's actually really mature in most other ways.

Well, he sent me an article from the NYT that lists "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating". In his case, he's eating several of them. But most people don't eat beets, cabbage, swiss chard, cinnamon (not often, at least), pomegranate juice, prunes, pumpkin seeds, sardines, turmeric, frozen blueberries, and canned pumpkin on a regular basis.

Blueberries are great to throw in a protein shake. Cinnamon is good in your coffee (thanks sis), pomegranate juice tastes like death (oh well), prunes are like giant raisins (yum), pumpkin is so associated with Thanksgiving that it's tough to imagine eating during the rest of the year, but it really is tasty (like in ravioli, mmm), sardines are an acquired taste, but also delish, and turmeric is a spice but I forget what it's like. Look it up. That's what the internet's for. Looking stuff up like "what's turmeric?". Or "how do you spell tumeric?" See, it was close, and the internet would figure that out in all it's awesome intelligentness. Swiss chard. Look that one up, too.

Happy Independence Day! Larry Kudlow kept saying all day today that this is "the greatest country in the history of history". I agree. I wanted to post Tyrese's stirring rendition of the Star Bangled Banner from the Mayweather - Hatton fight, but it's nowhere to be found. Here's Carrie Underwood. I'm kind of in love with her and this is a pretty good version. It's from Super Bowl something something. I don't know. The one with the Seahawks.

Be Careful What You Wish For

This is a timely topic, what with the presidential campaign ongoing and all. In a recent opinion piece in Investor's Business Daily, David Gratzer, senior fellow at think tank The Manhattan Institute, discusses the fact that the guy who started nationalized health care in Canada, Claude Castonguay, is now trying to save his country from the failings of a system known to be worse at taking care of its people than its pets.

"What would drive a man like Castonguay to reconsider his long-held beliefs? Try a health care system so overburdened that hundreds of thousands in need of medical attention wait for care, any care; a system where people in towns like Norwalk, Ontario, participate in lotteries to win appointments with the local family doctor."

Canadian Health Care We So Envy Lies In Ruins, Its Architect Admits

Ow ow OWOOOOOOOO

Does that read like a wolf howling? It does? Sweet.

I always forget about this. How ironic. The Wolfsonian is a wonderful museum on South Beach's Washington Avenue.

DON'T FORGET...FREE FRIDAYS AT THE WOLF

Free admission begins at 6pm. Join us for a guided tour at 6pm, and innovative programming at 7pm. Galleries remain open until 9pm. Sponsored by

Oh there's a big surprise! That's an incredible - I think I'm going to have a heart attack and die of not surprise! - Iago (from Aladdin)

From the Washington Post article, "How Rich People Spend Their Time" -

"People who make less than $20,000 a year, for example, told [Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economist] Kahneman and his colleagues that they spend more than a third of their time in passive leisure -- watching television, for example. Those making more than $100,000 spent less than one-fifth of their time in this way -- putting their legs up and relaxing. Rich people spent much more time commuting and engaging in activities that were required as opposed to optional. The richest people spent nearly twice as much time as the poorest people in leisure activities that were active, structured and often stressful -- shopping, child care and exercise."

I wouldn't say that I "hate" people who watch a lot of TV, but it sort of disgusts me. Maybe that's putting it a little strongly. Hate the sin, love the sinner. Some smart dude said that once. I feel sorry for them, really. George Carlin, the late comedian, said this in an Esquire article once - "I wish that we could measure how much the potential of the mind to expand has been stunted by television." So do I, George. So. Do. I.

Men's Whealth

Well, well, well. Men's Health now has a section called "Men's Wealth". I know, they totally forgot the "h" in "whealth". Also called "Fit Investor", the section has everyday personal finance tips. I think it's new, but I haven't checked the site in a while.

Something I read today was a piece urging people to trade in their debit cards for ATM cards that don't have the debit capability. The author makes the point that you should really just use cash or a credit card, and I agree. The risks of fraud and transaction fees are too great. Read that article here, if you like.

Consumer Value Stores and the New Whealthwatchers.com

That's what "CVS" stands for. Bet you didn't know that.

I bet you also didn't know that CVS now marks with an "F" each item on your receipt that is HSA or FSA eligible. That is to say, it's tax-deductible if you own a Health Savings Account. I didn't know that either, until I received an excited phonecall about it from my future sister-in-law. I did know the CVS thing, though. I win.

Here's an article about it.

Oh, don't get confused by the fact that Publix puts an "F" next to all the food items on your grocery receipt.

Also, check out the new look of whealthwatchers.com. It's under construction, but it looks pretty awesome.

We're Number 2! We're Number 2!

Australia has actually beaten us at something other than croc wrestling and boomerang making -

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23893557-662,00.html

Thank You for Flying and Not Smoking

My brother, his fiancee and I flew from New York to Miami yesterday. One of their suitcases was weighed down with loot from her wedding shower, and after throwing it on the scale, it was determined by the airline dude that there would be an additional charge of $50 since the bag weighed more than 50 pounds.

Well, they took some stuff out of that bag and put it in a lighter one, but as we walked away, my brother said "well, I weigh a lot less than many of the passengers on this plane". That's a very good point, and as I have said for years, that is exactly the kind of thing people should expect (along with lawsuits against fast food restaurants for serving unhealthy food, or denying entrance to those restaurants for the obese) And it's already being considered by the airlines. Pretty hard to imagine weighing the passengers at check-in though, isn't it? Or is it (they did it in the 1970s)? This is all related as the nation and world struggle to balance growing prosperity and consumption with diminishing resources and new challenges in our global marketplace.

Here's an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about some of the anti-smoking policies employers are enacting. In the past few years, employers have tried to encourage employees not to smoke with positive incentives, but in many cases those have turned to punitive measures. In a case mentioned in the article, an employer even told employees they had to stop smoking or they would be fired. He enforces that policy by having their blood tested at random. He has even gone so far as to monitor their spouses, as well.

Woof Woof Makes for Less Wah Wah

Today I was thinking about how great it makes me feel to see my brother's and fiancee's dog, Charlie, and how that reinforced the fact that I think everyone should have a pet. This is from the heading above the video on WebMD that I watched -

"From easing depression to lowering triglycerides, spending time with a pet can boost physical and emotional health."

http://www.webmd.com/video/pets-health-see-spot-feel-happy

So, you don't even need to own one if you can get to spend regular time with someone else's pet. That's like being an uncle. It's a pretty sweet gig, let me tell you.

By the way, triglycerides are basically fat, in chemical form, in your plasma. Excessive amounts affect your heart in similar ways as cholesterol (the bad kind). Please correct me, if I'm wrong, all you people who read this wonderful blog.

Red Bull Gives You Pvoblems

The Health & Science section of the International Herald Tribune has another example of a correlation that doesn't necessarily suggest a cause and effect relationship. However, if you are a parent, you should know that if your kid drinks Red Bull, he's probably doing a lot of stuff he's not supposed to.

"Energy Drinks Linked to Risky Behavior Among Teenagers"

"In March, The Journal of American College Health published a report on the link between energy drinks, athletics and risky behavior. The study's author, Kathleen Miller, an addiction researcher at the University of Buffalo, says it suggests that high consumption of energy drinks is associated with 'toxic jock' behavior, a constellation of risky and aggressive behaviors including unprotected sex, substance abuse and violence."

The Most Important Meal of the Day (Revisited, Again)

ThirdAge has some ideas for a healthy breakfast -

• A bowl of steel-cut oatmeal topped with fruit and walnuts.
• A bowl of high-fiber, whole-grain cereal such as Fiber One, Shredded Wheat, or Cheerios with milk and sliced banana, strawberries, blueberries or other fruit.
• Six or 8 ounces of 1 percent yogurt with blueberries and sunflower seeds.
• A whole-grain English muffin with peanut butter.
• A one egg plus one egg white or egg substitute omelet with whole-grain toast and orange slices.

I guess it's important to cut your oatmeal with steel, so if you do it yourself, check your tools. I'm weird and just buy Quaker Oats at the supermarket. Thanks to the internet, I just looked up what "steel-cut oats" are -

What are Steel Cut Oats and how are they different from other types of Quaker® Oats?

Steel Cut Oats are whole oats that have not been rolled into flakes. Instead, they are cut approximately into thirds. Cooking time is 30 minutes and the texture is heartier than rolled oats. Steel Cut Oats are also known as Scotch Oats, Pinhead Oats (in Great Britain because they resemble the size and shape of the head of large pin) and Irish Oats.

Quaker® Old Fashioned Oats are whole oats that have been rolled to flatten them. Quick Quaker® Oats and Quaker® Instant Oats are made from Steel Cut Oats that have been rolled a little thinner than Old Fashioned Oats so they cook faster.

All forms of Quaker® Oats, including Steel Cut, Old Fashioned, Quick, and Instant Oats are whole grains. That means they are equally nutritious because they supply all parts of the oat grain including the bran, endosperm and germ. The different size and shape of the oats only affects the cooking time and texture.

Ma Ma Se, Ma Ma Sa, Ma Ma Coo Sa, You're a Vegetable

There's a great article in today's New York Times about how to best prepare different vegetables to optimize their healthfulness. They discuss the fact that it's important to make sure that the vegetables taste good, since the taste is a major deterrent to eating them for many people. A little salt and pepper, some oil and vinegar, etc. can even make broccoli haters happy. I've witnessed the phenomenon with my own eyes.

This is an important point -

"'There is a misperception that raw foods are always going to be better,' says Steven K. Clinton, a nutrition researcher and professor of internal medicine in the medical oncology division at Ohio State University. 'For fruits and vegetables, a lot of times a little bit of cooking and a little bit of processing actually can be helpful.'"

If They're Banning It in Turkey...

Smoking, that is. From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune -

"Citing the burden they place on taxpayers who pay for government workers' health insurance, Sarasota County officials announced Monday that they no longer will hire smokers."

They are coming down hard, even banning smoking on public beaches.

It is legal in Florida to refuse to hire someone who smokes.

POTUS HSA

Thanks to our friend Dr. Eiber for the heads-up.

President Bush has a Health Savings Account -

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/05/show-me-the-mon.html

The Science of Sleep

Very interesting stuff on Time.com. People who sleep too little (fewer than 6 hours/night) or too much (more than 9 hours) are less healthy than people who sleep juuuuuust the right amount (7 to 8). Normal sleepers drink and smoke less, are of healthier weight and have lower rates of depression. As usual, there is no proof of a cause-and-effect relationship, but it's good to know this stuff if you're trying to take control of your life and move in a better direction.

Columbia University sleep researcher, James Gangwisch -

"We're getting to the point that they may start recommending getting enough sleep as a standard approach to weight loss and the prevention of obesity."

As my brother Mark says, "if you're not exercising or getting enough sleep, then you have your priorities screwed up". Which reminds me that I read in Forbes last night that the average American household watches 8 hours of TV a day! That horrifies me.

One last thing. "The Science of Sleep" is a great movie. Especially if you like weird European movies that employ several languages at the same time (English, Spanish, French, in this case).

Cinco de Mayo

It's approaching fast, mis amigos. In honor of the Mexican holiday that is only really celebrated in the US, I am posting Five Things Happy People Do from Oprah.com and WebMD. We all know how much I love WebMD. And everybody likes Oprah.

I especially liked the following one, which reminded me of how often I heard "must be nice" when working construction. I also hear that a lot from anchors on CNBC who probably make a pretty good living, but are always talking about billionaires, and feel relatively poor in comparison.

"They avoid 'if only' fantasies."

"If only I get a better job -- find a man -- lose the weight -- life will be perfect. Happy people don't buy into this kind of thinking."

"The latest research shows that we're surprisingly bad at predicting what will make us happy. People also tend to misjudge their contentment when zeroing in on a single aspect of their lives -- it's called the focusing illusion. In one study, single subjects were asked, 'How happy are you with your life in general?' and 'How many dates did you have last month?' When the dating question was asked first, their romantic lives weighed more heavily into how they rated their overall happiness than when the questions were reversed."

"The other argument against 'if only' fantasies has to do with 'hedonic adaptation' -- the brain's natural dimming effect, which guarantees that a new house won't generate the same pleasure a year after its purchase and the thrill of having a boyfriend will ebb as you get used to being part of a couple. Happy people are wise to this, which is why they keep their lives full of novelty, even if it's just trying a new activity (diving, yoga) or putting a new spin on an old favorite (kundalini instead of vinyasa)."

This Sucks

I'm only posting this because I thought that my title was a funny, albeit obvious, one.

Breast-feeding rates are at their highest in the last 20 years. That's good news for babies. But not for daddies : ( ...kidding of course! I'm just full of them today.

"Experts attributed the rise to education campaigns that emphasize that breast milk is better than formula at protecting babies against disease and childhood obesity. A changing culture that accommodates nursing mothers may also be a factor."


Here's an Associated Press article about it.

NYT Health

There's a great article in today's New York Times on the wide range of health benefits you get from regular exercise -

You Name It, and Exercise Helps It

The article points out how great it makes you feel to exercise, and I suspect that people who do not, think that exercising is really unpleasant. I always say that the hardest part about going to the gym is the trip over there. The actual working out is enjoyable. Afterward, you feel like a million bucks.

Besides the misconception that working out is unenjoyable (yes, that's a word), many people say they don't have time. Well, if you watch 3 hours of television a night, then you're lying.

Health = Wealth

"It's the health-care version of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer."

Holding My Breath

Though HR 5719 will likely pass the Senate.

I like to consider myself an independent/libertarian, but I get so pissed off at Democrats that I am clearly a Republican. To add insult to injury, my congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R], has voted in favor of HR 5719, sponsored by the traitorous Charles "Charlie" Rangel [D]. See, he calls himself "Charlie" so he seems more folksy. It's like he's just one of your buddies, you know? He's not some b.s. artist who lives in a mansion in DC, or anything.

I hope she appreciates my voting for her in the last election. It won't happen again. If you'd like to see how your congressperson voted, check out GovTrack.

Stop HR 5719!

Check out this website. If you have any interest in keeping Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) around, you should call your congressperson and urge him or her to vote against HR 5719, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee last week and is going to a full House vote tomorrow. Basically, a company called Evolution Benefits lobbied to have a provision sneaked into the bill that would require substantiation of claims (proof that HSA dollars are spent on authorized products and services) at the risk of being fined by the tax man. It will cost HSA administrators tons of money and ruin HSAs.

The reason that Evolution Benefits did so is that they have a patented system that rejects unauthorized purchases for Flexible Spending Accounts (far inferior cousins of HSAs) and they have argued that HSA owners are making lots of unauthorized purchases with their cards which don't require substantiation. Account holders already must hold onto receipts in case they are audited and already must file with the IRS to show where their HSA dollars are being spent.

So, it comes as no surprise that some greedy businessmen are trying to get the government to shove more regulation down our throats so they can make a buck. Please call your congressperson and ask him or her to vote no on 5719! If you don't know who your congressperson is, shame on you, first of all, but you may find out at http://whoismyrepresentative.com/. Isn't the internet great? Also, feel free to call Evolution Benefits at 860-678-3400/5560 and tell them to go to hell.

I've also just learned that the White House might actually veto something if this passes the House. You may call the White House Comment Line at 202-456-1111 and ask that President Bush support the health of HSAs and does indeed veto it, should it pass.

What a great country.

Vroom Vroom, Beep Beep

This article was just posted on AOL, but the information is rather dated, it seems. Since engines and motor oil are better made than they were in the past, it turns out you don't need to change it every 3,000 miles, as was long the case. Now, every 7,500 miles will suffice. According to AOL Autos contributor, Tom Torbjornsen -

"Ford Motor Company has followed GM into the extended oil change interval march. Four months ago (March of this year) Ford announced that they are revising engine oil change intervals to every 7500 miles. The reason? Quoting the article from the Associated Press dated March 22nd, 2007:

'Not only are modern oils better, modern engines are also better. You don't have carburetors metering poorly on winter mornings, tolerances are a lot tighter, and operating temperatures are typically a little hotter, helping to cook off the junk that accumulates in the oil. Ford contends that its customers prefer a set amount of miles between changes. The automaker also cites the environmental benefits that come from less waste oil, monetary savings, as well as extensive tests as positive aspects of the new recommendation.'"

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

This comes from an article that my brother sent me over a year ago, and that I've just read. He sends me a lot of emails. I've mentioned this before.

Richard Carlson, who has a website called Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, makes an excellent point about happiness. He uses the following metaphor -

"Here's a good way to look at it. Suppose you live in Miami and you wanted to take a road trip to New York. So you get in the car and head West. The question is, where would you end up? The answer, of course, is that you could end up in many locations depending on how far you drove, but by no means would you end up in New York! You're going the wrong way!"

So, if you are surrounded by things (and thoughts) that make you unhappy, then you probably aren't going to be happy. I guess if you started out by driving west and then hit the Pacific, you could turn around and eventually make it to New York, but it would take a lot longer than first identifying the direction in which you should head and then going there.

This post is kind of cheesy. Sorry. To make up for it, I will say that the aforementioned website reminds me of those Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey that they used to have on SNL. What ever happened to those? Here are some of my favorites -

"You know one thing that will really make a woman mad? Just run up and kick her in the butt. (P.S. This also works with men.)"

"How come the dove gets to be the peace symbol? How about the pillow? It has more feathers than the dove, and it doesn't have that dangerous beak."

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it."

Almost forgot my all-time fave-

"Whether they ever find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be considered an enemy planet."

MQOTD

"The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."

-Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

Has anyone else ever heard his middle name? Weird. I'll have to look that up now.
He seems to have been pretty ahead of his time on this point. I don't know if he really did anything about it, but I suppose he wasn't a physician so it wasn't really up to him.

On a somewhat unrelated note, there's a statue of Edison in downtown Brockton, MA where it looks like he's giving you the finger. It's pretty hilarious.

The Most Important Meal of the Day (Revisited)

More news on the health benefits (and healthy correlation) of eating breakfast. The New York Times recently published an article about the fact that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight. I think this is due to the fact that those are often people who lead more disciplined lives, getting up earlier and making better food choices and finding time for daily exercise. I have pointed out before that sumo wrestlers eat only two meals a day, and many nutritionists recommend that you eat many, smaller meals throughout the day.

I'd also like to point a site that has some great, quick pointers. Men's Health has a video segment called MH Minute.

More Belly News

The word "belly" is funny, isn't it? Well, bellies are no laughing matter, and research continues to support the fact that it's unhealthy to sport one, even if they make you look jolly.

There is research from Kaiser Permanente that suggests a link between bellies during a person's middle age and a later Alzheimer's risk. There has already been a link established between belly size and increased coronary heart disease risk.

Drudge linked to the Associated Press article on My Way News.

MQOTD

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

-Helen Keller

Tax Time!

If you're using TurboTax to file your taxes this year, be aware that it has become a little more difficult to deduct Health Savings Account contributions from your gross income on Form 1040.

This comes from Inside Consumer-Directed Care, via AIS Health.com -

"Searching TurboTax’s help files, consultant and former White House health policy advisor Roy Ramthun found the answer — HSAs are addressed under 'misc. income' rather than 'misc. deductions.' 'I’m not sure why TurboTax would put it this way,' says Ramthun, of Silver Spring, Md.-based HSA Consulting Services. 'I would think it would be more obvious that it is ‘misc. deductions.'"

Worst...Food...Ever

If you eat healthy most of the time, then you are allowed to go out and have an awful(ly delicious) meal once in a while at a place like Chili's or The Cheesecake Factory. But don't do it often if you want to be thin and healthy. The meals at such restaurants have high fat and calorie content, as well as unhealthy levels of sodium. That's why the food tastes so good.

So, Men's Health has a new list of specific foods to avoid at popular American eateries. It's called The 20 Worst Foods in America. It helps to keep in mind, before ordering the Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing, that they contain 2,900 calories and 182 grams of fat. Ha ha! 182 grams of fat??? Do you realize how much that is? A Whopper with Cheese has 64 grams, so the Aussie Cheese Fries have practically three times that amount. And 2,900 calories is way more than a whole day's worth of calories that you should consume. How about this for a thought? You'd have to run a marathon to burn off that number.

Now, the best part about this list is that Men's Health mentions a healthier alternative. It's part of their "Eat This, Not This" series.

I Hope This Doesn't Affect Their Delicious Cream Pies...

From today's Boston Globe -

Boston Trans Fat Ban Receives Final Approval

Ah, Push It

It's nice to see that this is the most popular article on the New York Times' website.

"Based on national averages, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the age of 60, those numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for women. Those numbers are just slightly less than what is required of Army soldiers who are subjected to regular push-up tests."

I Think This Is Campaign Issue #2 (After Iraq)

From Fortune Magazine -

Why McCain Has the Best Health-care Plan

"Here's where [McCain's plan] gets interesting. Employers would no longer be able to buy more health care with $9,000 of their employees' money than the workers could buy on their own. The raison d'être for corporate health benefits would vanish. Employers have another compelling reason to pass the ball to the employee: While wages are rising around 3% ayear, their health-care costs are growing at three times that rate. 'I predict that most companies would stop paying for health care in three to four years,' says Robert Laszewski, a consultant who works with corporate benefits managers. Hence, an employer that pays $9,000 for your benefits would simply pack an extra $9,000 a year into your paycheck. (Why? Because in a competitive labor market, companies would have to hand over that cash to employees or risk losing them.) So you'd have $6,000 after tax, plus the $5,000 family credit, to buy insurance. That's $11,000 in new cash that employees can set aside for health care."

"The [Democrat] standard benefits package isn't just a bad idea because it will substantially raise the cost to taxpayers. It will also make it virtually impossible for Americans to buy insurance tailored to their needs. Suppose you're one of those 25-year-olds. You probably don't want to spring for a full-blown plan that covers old-age diseases like Alzheimer's and would rather save some money and go with a low-premium, high-deductible plan. But the Democrat approach requires that any competing plans be "actuarily equivalent" (Clinton's term) to the federal employee plan - which translates as a generous minimum standard for health insurance. 'With that mandate, you rule out high-deductible plans,' says Gruber. 'It would make it very difficult to design one that would qualify.'"

"The Democrat proposals have some additional drawbacks. First, the Dems want to heavily regulate the insurance industry by limiting everything from profits to marketing expenses. If the earning power of insurers is determined by federal regulators, their pricing will be too, and thus they will evolve into the equivalent of public utilities. Would you rather have medical prices set by fiat or by nationwide market competition?"

"Second, the Democrat plan exacerbates the fundamental problem in the American health-care system, which is that no one has any incentive to care about price. (How much is that MRI center charging for your ankle scan? Who cares? Just hand over the $50 co-pay and never you mind.) Creating a huge new medical superstructure would shift far more spending to third-party providers, chiefly the federal government, giving consumers even less incentive to concern themselves with the price of an MRI - or any other service, from an elective wart-removal procedure to a life-saving heart bypass. 'The Clinton and Obama plans would enormously increase total health-care spending, but disguise the extra costs by shifting them to taxpayers,' says John Sheils of the Lewin Group, a research firm that does statistical modeling for health-care plans."

Live to Be 100

Sounds good to me.

Fat on the Inside

I've been thinking a lot about this since attending a talk on childhood obesity at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and professor at Harvard Medical School, as well as the author of "Ending the Food Fight: Guide Your Child to a Healthy Weight in a Fast Food/Fake Food World", discussed the fact that doctors and scientists are now finding fat around internal organs, like the liver, and that this will be a serious health problem in the near future. It was the first I'd heard of it, but it wouldn't have been if I'd read an article that my brother sent me back in May (he sends me a lot of articles).

Futurist Ray Kurzweil publishes a newsletter that has all kinds of cutting edge information, and in his May 14th issue, he includes an article called "Thin People Can Be Fat on the Inside". This basically says it all -

"According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. “The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined,” said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain’s Medical Research Council."

I watched an episode of Penn & Teller's show on Showtime recently; one in which they sought to disprove the obesity epidemic. The argument they proposed did not convince me, and one of the main reasons for that was a physical fitness test they conducted in which the control was a very obviously out of shape guy, but one who happened to be thin(ish). He didn't win a single event. Wow, Penn, you're some sort of scientist. The obvious fact is that the guy didn't exercise, so someone who had a little more heft to him, but who was in better physical shape, beat him in various foot races and other events.

The point is that you need a proper diet and regular exercise to be healthy. We'll just keep beating that drum.

HSAs

Sharon Alt, whose radio show I listen to from time to time, has written a good article on the evolution of consumer directed health plans and health/medical savings accounts. They've been around for about 4 years, and legislation has been enacted to better them several times. They seem to be just about there.

The main issues are to get the premiums down even more to justify the high deductibles, while considering the likelihood of consumers to get better deals when shopping for care, and allowing coverage for medication to treat chronic diseases (classifying it as "preventive"). The main objection I hear about these plans is from people who have expensive medication that would eat up the deductible (and therefore, the HSA money) and likely make the plan more expensive for the insured.

Same Old Story

"Health Data Shows Most Employees Are Overweight"

Most people are overweight or obese, so it stands to reason that most of the ones who are employed are also overweight or obese. The headline should really read "Data Show", but that seems to be something of a grammatical anachronism these days. Oh well.

From an article about a Kronos Optimal Health study in Employee Benefit News -

"The findings show 77% of men and 65% of women aged 40 and older are overweight or obese. Among those younger than 40, almost 68% of men and 52% of women are overweight or obese. The high number of obese employees means many employees are living with elevated health risks like heart attack, stroke and diabetes. "

So, keep in mind as you age that most people gain a couple of pounds per year, and 40 years into your adult life, you're likely 50 or more pounds overweight.

Does the name "Kronos" make anyone else think of Kang and Kodos from the Simpsons?

It's Aliiiive! It's Aliiiiiiiive!

The American Dream, that is. A guy named Adam Shepard was on the Today Show today, talking about his book Scratch Beginnings, in which he recounts his social experiment to prove that it's still possible. There's an article on MSNBC.com that includes video of the interview that aired today. Wow, that internet sure is great.

Mess with Texas

You might already know that Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured in the country (25%). That rate is a bit inflated because it counts many illegal immigrants, but that's the reality of the situation (and one shared by many border states). It affects hospital emergency rooms and the insurance premiums that Texans pay. It affects how long you will wait in an emergency room if you need urgent care.

The Austin American-Statesman has a pretty recent article about the plight of several Texans who are without health insurance or have gone without it for some time and suffered financial and/or health-related hardship because of it. It's pretty easy to imagine this happening to a friend or relative.

Whatever you think of the politics of the situation, you'd better protect yourself. Health insurance is not a luxury. It should be as much of a priority as keeping the lights on in your house and food in the fridge. You should not have leather seats in your car or a DVD player or expensive new jeans but no health insurance.

Something has to change in the Lone Star State.

Google Continues Its Plans to Take Over the World

Google has just entered into an agreement with the Cleveland Clinic to develop its personal health record (PHR) platform.

I haven't completely made up my mind, but if we're pushing for portability and independence, then I think that is probably better than having what's also known as an electronic health record (EHR) with one's insurer.

Aetna has a seemingly comprehensive (and I believe the first of such depth) personal health record system that Aetna members may use, and to which their health care activity is automatically added. Members may supplement that with their own entries about family medical history and other pertinent information.

But what if you want to change insurers? If you keep it on Google with your photos and email and other stuff, then it's probably worth the extra work of putting the information in yourself. You may read an article here about Google's plans with the Cleveland Clinic or check out Aetna's PHR here.

Usual and Customary

How do you like the banner ad above this post? Ha ha.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, as well as subpoenaed the other major insurers in the Empire State regarding pricing practices. When an insured person goes to a health care provider outside of his or her network, reimbursement is based on what are called "usual and customary" rates. Well, there is an obvious conflict of interest if the company that calculates those figures is owned by UnitedHealth.

From the New York Times -

"Citing an example of what he said was a pattern of underpaying for care, Mr. Cuomo said his office had compared the prevailing market rate for a doctor visit to the amount Ingenix had calculated as usual and customary. While doctors in the metropolitan New York City area typically charged $200 for an office visit, he said, Ingenix calculated the rate at only $77. Under a typical plan, the insurer would pay 8o percent of the $77, or only $62. The patient was responsible for covering the remaining $138 balance."

This is a very good reason to get to know the details of your health insurance plane. Once you have an emergency, it's often too late to figure it out until after the bill arrives. That is one of the reasons consumer-directed health plans are effective. They get people thinking about these potential problems before they occur.

Not Just for the Tast of It

Remember that great ad campaign?



"Researchers have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and metabolic syndrome — the collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes that include abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and blood glucose levels, and elevated blood pressure."

This is likely to be another one of those correlations that is not causal. Read the article in the New York Times.

Gastroeconomic Expansion

This is a very interesting past article in the Washington Post -

"Why America Has to Be Fat"

If you take the time to read it, you'll find some startling statistics. You'll also learn that because of how well our economy provides for so many, we now consume more calories than we expend. As the author puts it, "we use[sic] to be paid to exercise at work, now we pay to exercise after work".

So, since we don't exercise at work and we have lots of cheap, high-calorie food around, I guess we have to pay to exercise during our free time. That's just the way it is. There's no miracle gimmick that will let us out of that reality.

Can You Hear Them Now?

From Reuters -

"Heavy Cell Phone Use Tied to Poorer Sperm Quality"

There hasn't been a cause-and-effect relationship determined by the study done by Cleveland Clinic researchers, but I think there just has to be something bad going on with cell phones next to our brains or in our pockets next to our other ones. I don't know what to tell you about how to avoid this. I keep my phone on my desk when I'm at work, rather than in my pocket. I've also tried to replace talking with sending text messages (the verb "texting" sounds awkward to me).

Maybe it's just that nature made dorky people like that Verizon guy with low sperm counts and they happen to spend more time on the phone than having face-to-face conversations.

Writing It Down

From a Good Housekeeping article posted on WebMD -

"When researchers from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research followed more than 2,000 dieters who were encouraged to record meals and snacks, they found that the single best predictor of whether a participant would drop weight was whether the person kept a food diary. It trumped exercise habits, age, and body mass index. The number of pounds people lost was directly related to the number of days they wrote in their log. (It's no coincidence that Weight Watchers, one of the most successful diet programs, asks participants to track what they eat.)"

Calorie Counting

New York City's Board of Health is pushing for restaurants with 15 or more locations to display the caloric content of menu items. The reason is that most people have no idea how many calories are in many of the things they regularly eat.

Restaurants associations, of course, don't want people to eat less. They don't want people to be dissuaded from eating rich, salty, mmm rich and salty, where was I? Oh yeah, restaurants and their associations would rather people be kept in the dark and continue to eat regularly meals that they should have only once in a while. I've mentioned Cheesecake Factory as a prime offender, where single menu items often contain an entire day's worth of calories and even more fat, and whose management refuses to list nutritional information for the food it serves.

"'Most people underestimate calorie content by a lot,' said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner, adding that he considered the rules a potent weapon in the crusade against rising obesity rates. 'Even dietitians get a lot of it wrong.'"

Ten Commandments of Personal Finance

I thought this was a concise list of some basic rules to follow.

1. Create a Savings Plan
2. Do Not Spend More Than You Make
3. Do Not Try to Keep up with the Joneses
4. Limit the Amount of Debt on Your Credit Card Bills
5. Pay Monthly Bills on Time
6. Avoid Get Rich Quick Schemes
7. Protect Yourself Against Risk
8. Teach Your Children to Handle Money Wisely
9. Plan for Retirement
10. Legally Protect Yourself and Your Family

Check out the entire article here.

Whealth

"If you have not consciously made the decision to be rich, excellent, and healthy, then you have unconsciously made the decision to be poor, mediocre, and unhealthy."

-Wallace D. Wattles, self-help author

One of the things I like about HSAs and high deductible health plans is that they make consumers more conscious of health care issues and spending.