Domestic Geek

So, Mike has rib contusions I think he said. He's on Vicodin and acting rather goofy. I wonder if I was acting that weird when I was on it. I know I certainly didn't like the feeling. He and Marcus stopped by for a short bit to bring me my nuggets and to get his credit card so they could go buy stuff. I know they're going to Oak Express and CompUsa.

I hope he heals up soon. They've got a Pikes Peak hike scheduled for August 11th.

One of my online friends, Bug from An Indian Summer, is currently hosting a few of hours of Blogathon radio over at KMRL Mojo Radio. There's a link to the player on the left sidebar of the KMRL Mojo Radio blogathon blog. If you see me dancing or singing in the cam, that's what I'm listening to.

She's blogging for the American Cancer Society. Head over to her blog to sponser her if you're so inclined.

We live in interesting times, for sure. We've got the benefits from so many cool technological advances. It's hard to believe that just a few short years ago we didn't have the Internet, yet now just about everybody I know functions both at work and home in some capacity by using computers and the Internet (mail, surfing, etc). Then there are big screen TVs that turn your home into a movie theater and video game systems and all of it leads to us spending quite a bit of time on our butts.

We also live in dangerous times. Parents don't dare turn their kids out into the streets to play unsupervised. I remember as a child leaving the house in the morning and wandering around to different neighbor kids' houses. Except for a couple of meal breaks, we stayed outside playing until it got too dark to see.

It's definitely having negative effects on our health.

This is going to be a little quick post because I'm getting a little behind reading all the health related information sites while researching my topics. I had really intended to get this all researched in advance, but stupid work and RSS feed problems got in my way this week. I'm also trying to see what some of the other bloggers are up to. That was the good thing about blogging on the B schedule last year. I cruised around all the other sites and then concentrated on my own blogging later.

Mike and Marcus are usually off mountain biking together but last Saturday Mike took a pretty bad tumble and screwed up his ribs or something. They're having lunch at McDonalds and are supposed to bring me back some nuggets. Not a great lunch since I've been talking about eating healthier, but hey, if you're watching my cam, you'll see I just ate an apple.

Mmmmm...nuggets.

I've been reading that average Americans consume over 100 pounds of sugars a year. The problem is that most of these sugars are processed or refined sugars, not naturally occurring ones such as those in fresh fruits and juices.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact damage that a diet with too much sugar causes as many other poor dietary problems usually accompany the sugar indulgence. We do know for sure that it causes all sorts of dental problems (as I can attest) and diabetes as well as being a contributing factor to heart disease, arteriosclerosis, mental illness, depression, senility, hypertension and cancer.

This article outlined some of the other undesirable effects of sugar on the body:

~ Increases overgrowth of candida yeast organism
~ Increases chronic fatigue
~ Can trigger binge eating in those with bulima
~ Increases PMS symptoms
~ Increases hyperactivity in about 50% of children
~ Increases tooth decay
~ Increases anxiety and irritability
~ Can increase or intensify symptoms of anxiety and panic in susceptible women
~ Can make it difficult to lose weight because of constantly high insulin levels, which causes the body to store excess carbs as fat

I remember watching the Dr. Phil show a couple of years ago where his wife, Robin, talked about how she's totally gotten sugar out of her diet and the amazing effects it had on her health (specifically menopause related symptoms).