Grab Bag Mainstream Media Catch Up:

Once again, the mainstream media cherry picks this blog and reports on health news found here months earlier 🙂 In all seriousness, for those who thought my rantings on the importance of Vitamin D supplementation were out-there, crazy ideas I found hanging on to the fringes of common sense, I present just one of a gazillion reports this summer profiling the urgent need to address our collective vitamin D issues (sorry for the brief ad that comes first… can’t do anything about that). Click on Diane’s pic below to see the video:

For my overview of the issue and specific suggestions, see the Grab Bag Vitamin D post HERE.

Grab Bag Nutrition Seafood Selectors:

OK…. Wow….. seafood, what’s in it and how it gets to our table has become a really big issue. We really have no idea what is going on out there: the pollution risks, methods of over-fishing, transportation problems… we just want our crab cakes, right? But I encourage all you smart readers to delve into this subject a tiny bit deeper than deciding if we want our salmon grilled or baked.

Way back when this blog was a mere weekly email to a few dozen friends, I mentioned this great tool Roxie S. had sent to me called SEAFOOD WATCH, run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My sis Tally D. just reminded me of it again, and it deserves a second mention.

It is a constantly updated database of 100’s of kinds of seafood, dropped into categorical columns:

“Best Choices”

“Good Alternatives”

“Avoid”

Its main goal is to encourage people to consume sustainable seafood and to avoid seafood that is dangerously depleted. You can view the database as a whole or search by region. You can also download a pocket version to take along when you shop. At the very least, I suggest you bookmark it, and peruse it frequently for the seafood you eat most often to make sure you are making the healthiest choices for the planet.

SEAFOOD WATCH

In addition, the Environmental Defense Fund runs their own seafood database with a section focused on safe consumption specifically for your health. It includes THEIR recommendations of how many times per month you can safely consume various types of seafood, depending on the level of contaminants. Comes in a mobile app for phones as well:

SEAFOOD SELECTOR

I emphasized THEIR suggestions, because the official US governmental recommendations have a conflicting counterpart from the National Institute on Health (NIH). In 2007, British medical journal The Lancet published a landmark study showing that only limited consumption of  seafood  was detrimental to child development. The NIH has embraced that study and based its recommendations from it. Newsweek covered the report and the ensuing controversy here:

A new study suggests that a federal advisory urging pregnant women to restrict their seafood intake could do more harm than good. But what about the risks of fish-borne mercury? – Newsweek

And for the Sushi lovers – now there is no excuse for “not knowing” which are the healthiest and most sustainable chopstick jockeys (I think I just coined a phrase there :-)). Here is the EDF’s sushi guide, also downloadable in pocket size for the wallet, as well as an app for the mobile phone:

SUSHI SELECTOR

Bottom line… choose your seafood with knowledge, and perhaps up your intake. Of course, for those who don’t like fish anyway, take your 2 grams (1 morning, 1 evening) of Fish Oil supplements (I prefer Krill Oil) a day and call it good. But you may be missing some additional benefits from the real thing. Have I confused you yet?? 🙂

Grab Bag Nutrition Correction:

Last week I reported on Dr. Andrew Weil’s recommendations, which included safflower oil as an oil to be avoided. I’m not 100% behind that recommendation at the moment, as there is some compelling information on safflower oil that may set it apart from other omega-6 fats that we need avoid. If you currently use safflower oil, make sure it states “cold expeller-pressed”. There will be more info on this in the future. For now, safflower is a “maybe good” in my book.

Grab Bag Back Pain Coach:

If you suffer from back pain or you want to avoid it, check out these assessment tests and recommendations from RealAge:

WORRIED ABOUT YOUR BACK?

Grab Bag Amazing Moments:

Take a look at these two videos on Kevin Richardson, lion expert extraordinaire. The second video is perhaps even more amazing the first. Many thanks to me madre for sending this along:

Grab Bag Cute Stuff:

Not only can this baby sing “Hey Jude”, he can speak Korean… amazing

“Remember to ret him into your heart….”

Grab Bag Brain Game:

I thought I was pretty good at this, but this one is tough… find the differences between the two works of art within the allotted time… it really tunes up your awareness for detail…

FindTheArt

Grab Bag Funny Stuff:

Animals or Babies Talking…. Doesn’t Get Better Than That

Thanks to my spawn, Ali, for showing me this: