Basic Pursuits

Apparently, Australia is passing the U.S. as the world's fattest nation.

The headlines are raging about the dangers of tomatoes. A bacterial infection has sickened about 100 people and the FDA is frantically auditing the nation's tomatoes.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans continue to gorge on food that will eventually kill them after a long and expensive illness. Why aren't the dangers of sugar-coated doughnuts in the headlines?
Most people with a bacterial stomach infection will recover in a couple of days.

My man, Gaines Adams, is a defensive lineman drafted in the first round by Tampa Bay last year. He had an ok first year, and knows he can do better. According to this article from the St. Pete Times, he's put better eating at the top of his ways-to-improve list.

Men's Health, declaring that, "the U.S. food industry has declared war on your waistline," posted 20 entrees that people serious about their health should avoid.

The Journal of Clinical Nutrition this month published a long article on the "Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease."

The conclusion

I'm going to leave aside the discussion about drinking caffeine. Hell, I know I drink too much on some days. Maybe I did today. This is my second post of the day; I'm zoomin'.

If you are a successful caffeine quitter, no offense and more power to you

This is about the best way and the worst way to get your caffeine. You might be surprised.

I think that the word diet ought to be expunged from the language when referring to a way to lose weight. Nevertheless, it still is in mass usage and as deceptive as ever.

It's deceptive because it gives the impression that a temporary adjustment in eating habits, "going on a diet," will solve a weight problem. When the diet is over, most people go right back to doing what they were doing. Same unhappy results.

The permanent answer is to learn how to eat well and making a lifelong habit of it.

Sodas make you fat and put you at greater risk for heart disease. A recent study showed that it doesn't matter if you drink regular or diet soft drinks.

The Water for Life blog lists eight more good reasons to avoid the fizz. Although some of the claims here are not as substantiated as in the the heart study above, there's plenty here to encourage people here to drink water.

This recent article from ScienceDaily reports on a study that correlates drinking as little as one soda a day with increased risk of heart decease.