Most Shocking Healthy Foods – This Is Why We Are An Overweight Nation

Macaroni Grill’s Parmesan-Crusted Sole

Yahoo Health published an article yesterday titled ‘The Most Shocking “Healthy” Foods! (And What You Should Eat Instead!)‘. It’s totally worth a glance.

These are some signature dishes at famous restaurant chains. According to the article, the worst of them was Macaroni Grill’s Parmesan-Crusted Sole (see picture): 2,190 calories; 141 g fat (58 g saturated); 2,980 mg sodium; 145 g carbs.

That’s your entire day’s allowance for calories. Enjoy.

Bee Gees ‘Staying Alive’ Helps People Stay Alive

For years, we were told that resuscitating an individual through CPR meant performing a combination of chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth. The problem was that would-be-helpers who had no formal CPR training (and even the ones who did and had forgotten the technique) were afraid of administering CPR. It was too complicated to remember how many compressions to execute before administering breaths, the number of which was also too hard to remember.

Well, fear no more. A new guideline has made CPR much simpler. It has been discovered that compression-only CPR may work just as well as compression/breathing technique. → source

Dr. MIchael Sayre, an emergency medicine professor at Ohio State University who headed the committee that made the recommendation said it best:

“You only have to do two things. Call 911 and push hard and fast on the middle of the person’s chest”

The only other thing to remember is this. You should administer compressions at a rate of 100 per minute. Don’t bother getting your stop watch out, and don’t count. There’s an easier way.

Remember the Bee Gees’ Staying Alive song? It turns out that it has 103 beats per minute, which means it’s perfect for CPR. Just sing it to yourself as you’re doing chest compressions.

Saturday Night Fever and John Travolta save the day.

Preventing Swine Flu In Afghanistan: Quarantine The ONLY Pig

How do you prevent Swine Flu from reaching Afghanistan? Simple! You quarantine the pig. Yes, the one and only single lonely pig in Kabul’s zoo. → source

Here’s my question. When parents play “this little piggy” with their children, how many little piggies do they count? There’s only one little piggy in the entire country, so I imagine it goes something like this:

This little piggy went to the market. The same little piggy went home. The same little piggy had roast beef. The same little piggy . . .

You get the picture.

No Vaccination = No Autism, New Study Suggests

I have a 2 year-old. She’s my first and (I’m going to go out of my way and guess and hope that she’s my) only child.

I’m usually a very relaxed parent:

• Food on the floor? No big deal, she’ll live.
• No coat when it’s a little chilly outside? I’m not worried. It’ll make her stronger.
• Going to bed hungry because she protested her food? She has enough reserves. She’ll eat her food tomorrow, and always does.
• Tasting dog food? So what? Now she knows it doesn’t taste good.

But she’s my little baby and I worry about her well-being – a lot. I recently came across this headline:  Children Who Are Not Vaccinated Never Get Autism!

My daughter has no signs of autism. I have read a great deal about autism and have spoken with many parents with autistic kids. One common message that has come through is about vaccination. Quite often, the story begins with a child under the age of 2 who receives some vaccination. Several days later, the parents notice changes that become permanent markers of autism.

I’m also aware of many research studies that completely debunk those stories as myths. I don’t know which side is right. Quite frankly, it doesn’t really matter. It is likely that there is NO right answer. The only answer that matters is the answer that YOU believe is right.

The right answer for me was to wait until she almost reached the age of 2 for heavy-duty vaccines. Why? I don’t recall hearing any stories of vaccination-autism link that involved children over the age of 2. 

I can’t be the only parent who has taken this approach. Have you?

Super Slow Motion Sneezing – Yuck

The Government of South Australia (I didn’t know there was a divide!) has released a video in an effort to convince people to get flu shots.

Just a couple of observations:

• I wonder if the cameraman has had his flu shot already. I feel bad for the poor bastard.
• I didn’t need a super slow motion video to prove to me that a bucket-full of undesirable fluids shoot out when people sneeze. I have a two year-old. I’m quite familiar with the drill.
• I hate to say it, but up to the first 45 second mark, they all looked like they were about to have . . . um, an orgasm.

(Eye Of) Newt Eyes Healthcare Reform

To say that Newt Gingrich, former Congressman and potential 2012 Presidential candidate, has lots of ideas for America is a monumental understatement.

Some of Newt’s ideas are refreshingly radical and yet suspiciously alarming at the same time. He would like to require exercise for school children, extend tax breaks to grocery stores that open in the inner city, give bonuses to food stamp recipients who buy fruits and vegetables, make students walk to school if they live close enough, and lots more. → source

Wow, for a die-hard Republican, he certainly walks a thin tight rope of socialism. Government mandates? Really? I wonder what Boss Limbaugh thinks of all this. Gee, I sure hope Newt doesn’t have to apologize!

Anyway, Newt has a fabulously unbelievable – and to some extent deliciously unthinkable – idea for reforming health care. He believes it’s time to consider paying teenage girls not to get pregnant. → same source as above

Yes, you read right! Pay teenagers to not get pregnant. Ironically, his plan does not include paying teenagers to not have sex. That would be too logical – and admittedly difficult to verify without a chastity belt. Just pay them for not getting pregnant . . . while they inevitably engage in sex.

Forgive my ignorance, but isn’t that what Republicans typify as socialism? Isn’t it an example of government hand-out? Can it not be construed as a type of affirmative action? Doesn’t it circumvent personal responsibility without incentivising by the government? Will it require a bail-out at the end?

Newt also believes that states should consider paying teenage girls who become pregnant to take prenatal vitamins to forestall paying additional health expenses for neonatal care down the road. → same source as above

Pay careful attention to the above paragraph: states should consider . . . Some one please leave me a comment and explain conservatism idea of less government to me. How do we the people end up with less government in our lives if, at the end, we shift regulations and mandates from the federal government to the states?

Do Not Commit A Mistake In China. It Can Cost You Your Life.

Talk about a tough judicial system. 

Remember the melamine-in-milk problem in China last year? It killed 6 babies and sickened almost 300,00.

China has now sentenced two people to death (Yes! death) for negligence. These guys are serious.

Minnesota Woman Is The Coldest ‘Living-Again’ Person

Those Minnesotans! They sure are a tough bunch.

Case in point: A 64 year-old Minnesota woman recently fell and spent four hours in the snow and ice. She was discovered and brought in an emergency room in Duluth. The ER doctors measured her internal body temperature. Are you ready for this? Her core body temperature was in the 70s and dropping. Her heart had stopped beating. Wow, talk about a cold-blooded mammal!

After an hour of chest compressions and running her blood through a warming machine and pumping it back into her body, they were able to revive her.

Here’s an audio version of the story from NPR.

Obama’s Smoking Pictures From College

Obama Smoking

I just discovered this story. It’s a bit late, but I like it nevertheless.

You may have noticed that some old pictures of Barack Obama have recently surfaced. These were taken when Barack was  a student at Occidental College in California by a friend. Not surprisingly, Fox News could not wait to jump on this story.

On December 19 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson said:

“There are some very intriguing pictures of Barack Obama photos. Look at this one. This one has him smoking a cigarette which we have not seen. Would have served any purpose to release these photos before the election?” → source

Seriously Gretchen? You didn’t know that Obama smoked? Are you truly this uninformed? The rest of us who are not even journalists know that he quit smoking early during his Presidential campaign.

Another notable Fox News personality, Sean Hannity, said during his radio show: “Where were these pictures during the campaign? Just take a look at this. Barack Obama has a hat, you know, pulling a drag on a cigarette.”

Oh, yes, that’s right! Only if America knew about these pictures earlier . . . only if the American people knew that Obama used to smoke and that, at one point in his life, he owned a hat . . . only if we knew! We would have united as a nation in our opposition to “hat wearing smokers from Hawaii running for President” and had voted for the other guy. Only if we knew this prior to the election! That darn media kept these picture from the public until after the election. Gee, if this isn’t a media conspiracy, I don’t know what is.

According to the photographer, Lisa Jack, she had placed these photos in a safe deposit box until after the election. She was concerned that they may be used for “gotcha” purposes.

Grow up Sean. Grow up Gretchen. Move on Fox News. Give me news, not childish garbage. I turn on Fox News to learn, not to see you folks dwell over how the media might have won the election for Obama.

Oh, and apparently Obama’s past smoking (and hat wearing) is a much bigger sin than President Bush’s past drinking. Very fair and balanced, Fox News!

By the way, that thing Obama is smoking looks like a joint to me.

A New Hazard: Third-Hand Smoke? Come On!

By now, we are all familiar with dangers of smoking. No mystery there.

We then learned about the risk of second-hand smoke (also known as passive smoke) which, according to Wikipedia, is defined as “when tobacco smoke permeates any environment, causing its inhalation by all people within that environment.” OK, great. That bit of information was also good to know. That is precisely one of the primary reasons for the no smoking policies at restaurants, businesses and stores.

But it couldn’t end there, could it? Smoking-related news has been in hibernation recently. Here’s something new to worry about: the threat of third-hand smoke. Yes, you read it right! According to a New York Times article, the term third-hand smoke is used to “describe the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers’ hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after smoke has cleared from a room.” The article goes on to say that “third-hand smoke is what one smells when a smoker gets in an elevator after going outside for a cigarette.”

Haven’t we gone a little too far? How is third-hand smoke any different from its predecessor, second-hand smoke which is described as when tobacco smoke permeate any environment? Weren’t scientists aware of the smell-of-smoke-in-elevator-effect in the 80s? Did they just learn about that? The “environment” in the definition of second-hand smoke surely applies to hair, clothing, etc. What is the point of this research?