Grab Bag Sugar Blues:

Now…. about all that Easter candy….. Don’t shoot me… I’m only the messenger. Check out this blurb taken from New Beauty Magazine Online:

How Sugar Ages You

Posted Wednesday, March 30, 2011 by NewBeauty Staff

We all know about sugar’s link to diabetes and weight gain, but it may surprise you to know that it can also contribute to how old you look.

According to Meriden, CT, dermatologist Dr. Nicholas Perricone, MD, processed and refined sugars play a pretty significant role in inflammation and advanced aging. “Glycation is the long-term effect that sugar has on the body,” he says. “High-glycemic foods are loaded with sugars that, when released, bind to proteins in the cells and to collagen in the skin. This sugar-protein bond also produces free radicals, which drive the production of inflammation. This glycation makes it difficult for cells to function properly, resulting in destructions to all organ systems, including the skin.”

Even though it’s hard to omit sugar entirely from your diet, natural sugars are thought to not cause a quick spike in blood sugar (since they help the body absorb sugar) like refined and processed sugars can, although any amount of sugar can cause it to climb somewhat.

Grab Bag Cute Stuff:

Not often that you see THESE two species rubbing noses:

Grab Bag Take Charge Health Tips:

Battling heart disease is not easy in today’s world… a world that, for many, is filled with stress, lack of exercise and poor diet, just to name a few contributing issues.

Ironically, to care for our cars, we are usually told clearly and specifically to use a certain grade of oil, to have regular service inspections, and we know that if lights go on in the dash, we need to get things checked.

So what about our own bodily engine under our hood? Must we always wait until things go south and our “mechanic” hands us a prescription to “clean things up”?  

The following guidelines and suggestions are offered by Dr. Ladd McNamara, an MD who is committed to encouraging patients to do all they can to optimize their cardiovascular health so they can hopefully avoid statin drugs. While I am not endorsing him personally, I feel the suggestions below can have merit, as well as low risk. Try getting to know the following levels in your own test results, and discover what you can do about them:

What Can You Do?

1. Know, and lower your high-sensitivity CRP levels
     a. CRP less than 1.0 mg/L = Low Risk for CardioVascular Disease (CVD)
     b. CRP of 1.0 – 2.9 mg/L = Moderate Risk for CVD
     c. CRP greater than 3.0 = High Risk for CVD
2. Know, and lower your Homocysteine levels:
     a. Homocysteine less than 6.5 = Low Risk for CVD
     b. Homocysteine 6.6 to 8.0 = Low-Moderate Risk for CVD
     c. Homocyseine 8.1 to 10.4 = Moderate-High Risk for CVD
     d. Homocysteine greater than 10.4 = High Risk for CVD
3. Know, and lower your Lipid Peroxides
     a. This test is not commonly performed by most labs, but can be obtained.
     b. Keep Lipid Peroxidation low (according to print out on lab results)

How You Can Lower CRP, Homocysteine, and Lipid Peroxidation to Reduce Heart Attack & Stroke:

1. Statin Drugs: expensive; dangerous and sometimes deadly side-effects.
     a. Acquaint yourself with possible side-effects.

OR, …. even BETTER:

2. Lifestyle Changes: inexpensive, non-dangerous, …and it promotes health!
     a. Maintain a Healthy Weight
     b. Maintain a Low-Glycemic Diet (plenty of vegetables)
     c. Exercise
     d. Don’t Smoke
     e. Reduce Stress
     f. Adequate Sleep
     g. Drink Plenty of Pure Water
     h. Maintain Gum Health (brush, floss, and use Co-Q10)
     i. Use Full-Range Vitamins, Minerals, Antioxidants, and Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids: (a few examples of many vitamins and antioxidants are shown below, though I [Dr. McNamara] personally recommend a full-range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids):

Vitamin C 2000 mg/day (McNamara says vitamin C alone reduces CRP similar to statins)
B Complex Vitamins
Fish Oil (4000 mg per day)
Vitamin D (1000 to 5000 IU/day)
Turmeric Extract (400 to 800 mg/day)
Olive Extract (75 to 200 mg/day)
Grape Seed Extract and Resveratrol (200 to 400 mg/day)
Co-Enzyme Q10 (200 to 400 mg/day)
Betaine (TMG) (1800 to 3000 mg/day)
Magnesium (400 mg/day)

Grab Bag Print the Web:

(And save the world, pages of paper at a time)

Printing information from the web is often a challenge because websites are plastered with sidebars, images, advertisements, and other unprintable elements.

What makes a website look fantastic is a real drag when printing because all of these items waste precious ink and paper. Unfortunately, those sites that need a printable version most, notoriously don’t offer it. 

Rather than just printing everything or using copy & paste to create a custom document for printing, you can be smart and use the bookmarklet tool introduced below.

Bookmarklets work in any browser. Typically, you drag and drop it from a button on a website into your bookmarks bar.

PrintFriendly

PrintFriendly is a very user-friendly solution because it allows a good deal of editing and customizing. Click on the above link to get the bookmarklet for your browser toolbar (instructions are REALLY simple).

To see it in action, scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the new “Print & PDF” button. This will connect you to a “Print Friendly” version  of this web page that can be edited to just what you want to print or save as a PDF file.

Check this video to be convinced why this can be a really valuable tool. 

Grab Bag Brain Game:

For all those who love popping bubble wrap, here’s the virtual version:

POPPIT STRESS BUSTER

Grab Bag Double Funny Stuff:

This Roomba thing has been marketed as an automatic vacuum cleaner, but in reality, it’s a KDD – Kitten Distribution Device.

And this video shows that even dogs can rat out their buddies: