Mon - September 10, 2007

Rhomboid Major


As I reported on my Wiz staff blog, I wrenched my back in jujutsu. It's the rhomboid major muscle (check out this link indicating the muscle in red). It is so screwed up it is pressing on a nerve that is making the fingers on my right hand slightly numb.

So, I’ll be taking it easy the next 7-10 days; doctor's orders. Lot's of anti-inflamatories and ice, plus rest, should see me back in fighting trim soon enough. Luckily, I can still type :-).

In other news, I'm designing a web site to complement the upcoming publication of my Stardeep novel. It'll contain a few cool promotional bits, and point to promotional items on Wizards' book page as they come to light. The link is dead right now (or actually, probably points to the amazon page for the book), but once live, you'll be able to find the page at STARDEEP.NET. But, as I said, I'll let everyone know when that happens.


Posted at 12:02 PM      

Tue - August 7, 2007

Get Healthy Or Else?


Today Dee pointed me to a story about how an Indianapolis hospital chain will fine employees $10 per paycheck if their body mass index (BMI) is over 30 starting in 2009. Same goes for too high cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels. (BMI is a ratio of height to weight that measures body fat.)

Holy crap, I guess they decided to go for the stick instead of the carrot! Yeah, I know swelling health care costs are cutting into company bottom lines, but I hope something more pro-active becomes the norm instead of something this reactive.

Say, something like an extra 1% matched to 401k for participating in a company sponsored or subsidized exercise regimen. As a completely hypothetical example, something like Muay Thai kickboxing classes (Wizards, I think you know where I'm going with this).

Besides, BMI isn't terribly accurate. The only input to the fomrula is your height and weight, without regard for bone or muscle mass. I currently weigh 178. I'd have to lose another 5 pounds to have a BMI of 24.9, which would put me on the very outer edge of 'normal' weight. According to the formula, I'm overweight at 178. Perhaps I'm fooling myself (not impossible!), but I think an unbiased person would find that unlikely.


Posted at 04:22 PM      

Thu - May 24, 2007

Melamine in Human Food Supply?


David Goldstein points out recent tests of farmed cat fish from China show detectable levels of melamine... how widespread is the contamination, he wonders?


Posted at 08:56 AM      

Fri - April 13, 2007

Tanita Ironman Segmental Body Composition Monitor


My friend Josh brought his personal high-tech scale to work with him today. He let people try it out, and so I took advantage of the opportunity.

Man, that scale can determine a LOT of values, including BMR, water percentage, muscle weight, and yes, your actual weight.

For instance, I apparently have 10.5% body fat. Not bad!

The value that really made me smile however, was my Metabolic Age: 12.

I wonder how that compares to my brain age?


Posted at 03:46 PM      

Fri - March 30, 2007

Dang


So I've got a cold. I felt really tired yesterday after a sore throat kept me awake the previous night. Today, my nose is running, but otherwise I feel slightly better.

I stayed home today to keep my germs to myself. A good opportunity to work on a short story I have to get cracking on for Realms of War, right?

No, I feel too crappy. Dang it. For a bit I thought work from Wizards with a deadline of today would find me, which would be fine, 'cause then I would have been beholden to do it, regardless. But I've been assured that someone else will take up that task. So, really, all I have to do is sit around a feel sorry for myself. And run through a lot off Puffs-Plus tissue.

Blech.

Yeah I know, if this represents the height of my problems, what a lucky SOB I am. Still, I hate being sick.


Posted at 01:31 PM      

Tue - March 6, 2007

Tree Pollen Ambushes Me


Today was the first sunny warm day of the season here south of Seattle. So I went for a run outside. And the tree pollen, apparently waiting for just such a day to coordinate its massive air invasion, got me.

I'm at home now after sneezing non-stop for a half hour at work. Kind of spooked the co-workers I think. I took a Zyrtek and am feeling better. Time to make sure I'm topped off on my supply--I'm in for at least a week or two of it.

Ok, back to work--just because I'm home and medicated doesn't mean I can slough off the last two hours of the day. What was I working on? Oh yeah, monsters. Monsters... grrrr!


Posted at 03:42 PM      

Thu - August 10, 2006

Plan B Pitfalls


Via the Onion:



Posted at 10:09 AM      

Tue - July 18, 2006

My Diet Scheme--Now Backed By Science!


I have a terrible problem controlling the number of calories I consume each day. Luckily, I recognized this some time back, and came up with a fairly draconic method of dealing with this failing. Essentially, it comes down to this: If I don't have it, I can't eat it.

The way it works is actually quite simple. I bring a Cliff bar to work with me. I eat half of it at noon, and the other half at 3 PM. I've already had a banana/orange/strawberry smoothy for breakfast, and I can eat a regular meal for supper. Most days I deal with hunger pangs, but this method, along with regular exercise, has worked very well for me, especially over the last 3 years.

Now, according to Retrospectacle, research at Cornell has vindicated my scheme!

Out of sight, while not out of mind, at least provides that little extra bit of willpower necessary to stave off mindless munching.

If I ever win lotto, lose my office job, or otherwise find myself at home with a fully stocked pantry every day (instead of merely 2 days a week), I can imagine things spiraling quickly out of control :-).


Posted at 05:16 PM      

Mon - July 10, 2006

Organic Choice Teas


My wife told me about an article she read describing a local tea company's newest purchase. Choice Organic had purchased a machine to tie string to tea bags instead of using staples. Apparently this substitution will keep 400 miles of staple wire a year from winding up in a landfill (here is the article). As it happens, I was hankering for some green tea and put in an order. The company allowed me to write a gift message, so I wrote something along the lines of, "Dee, thanks for telling me about the company that ties its tea bags instead of stapling them."

A day or so later I got a call from Tambri at Organic Choice thanking me for the order and letting me know the machine had been purchased so recently that the teas I had ordered would still be stapled; they didn't want me to be disappointed when my order arrived.

How's that for service? Pretty swell, I think.

My order arrived today, along with 2 or 3 samples of other teas (like Moroccan mint green tea). The tea is excellent.

-http://www.choiceorganicteas.com


Posted at 09:21 PM      

Thu - July 6, 2006

More Bad News on Acetaminophen


I read something awhile back that put me off acetaminophen, though in all honesty I can't recall what that was. Today I see another study indicates the drug that is the active ingredient in Tylenol (among other brands) is implicated in causing liver damage when taken at the top end of the recommended dose for even 2 weeks.

Because I am paranoid, I wonder if 2 weeks can cause liver damage, what about 1 week? What about 1 day? Are there thresholds for this effect under which there is no damage, or does each instance cause some additive amount of damage? This study doesn't say, but it is sufficient for me to confirm my earlier disdain for acetaminophen-containing pain killers.

Your milage may vary, but I'd consider thinking twice before taking acetaminophen, especially if for more than a few days in a row.

Not that I take pain medication on a daily basis and rarely at the maximum recommended dosage, though I take the occasional aspirin or ibuprofen when sore muscles keep me awake at night after a particularly grueling period of exercise that day.


Posted at 04:11 PM      

Tue - June 13, 2006

Why Fast Foods are Bad, Even in Moderation


"Eating a diet consisting largely of fast food could cause your waistline to bulge more than eating the same amount of fat from healthier sources," plus lead to insulin resistance, an early indicator of diabetes, as described in this recent study.

Some of you know I've been warning against a diet high in trans fat (trans fat is a product of hydrogenated oils) for 15 years, since I first learned how much it predominates the food supply, with most people completely ignorant of its presence or effects.


Posted at 10:39 AM      

Tue - June 6, 2006

All Monkey-Chow Diet




Posted at 10:46 AM      

Wed - January 18, 2006

0 Trans Fat?


My old friend Jeff Quick emailed me today to ask about trans fatty acid. He remembered how I used to evangelize the health risks of consuming hydrogenated oils, and told me he now stayed well clear of it. Well, it's been over a decade since I began that crusade, and it looks as if in the last few years that my voice and many others have had a positive effect--I'm not the crazy lone doomsayer. Now, for instance, you'll regularly see packaging claiming the food inside contains "0 Trans Fat."

Thus Jeff's question: "I see a lot of labels nowadays crowing about 0 grams of transfat, but they still have hydrogenated oils in their ingredients list. What is your opinion on this turn of events?"

I told him my guess was food manufacturers could legally get away with claiming 0 trans fat if the amount contained was under a certain threshold. Well, by pure happenstance, it looks as if I didn't lead him wrong.

According to David L. Katz, M.D, a professor at Yale author of Flavor Point Diet:

"[Under FDA rules, food manufacturers are] required to post just how much of the artery clogger (trans fatty acid) is in the food--unless there's less than .5 grams per serving, in which case they can say 'zero trans fat.' The problem is 'one serving' can be misleadingly small--seven or eight 'free' cookies could sneak in 3 or more grams of trans fat."

There it is--if you see hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredient list, stay clear.


Posted at 10:04 PM      

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