I have a desk job currently.. 8-5.. with an hour for lunch which means that I’m at my desk for 9 hours less 1.5 hrs for lunch and breaks (which we do go for daily walks to get out of the office.. thank god!). So there’s 7.5 hrs right there.. Lately, when I get home.. I’m touching up photos or off my feet for at least another 3-4 hours.. yikes!! that’s 10.5 to 11 hours of sitting on ass!!

Now I can’t see anything changing in the near future as unfortunately it’s a necessary evil. Computer work has to get done.. but now having said that, I’m currently writing this in my kitchen… standing up Yep, my bluetooth keyboard and my iPad and I are standing in the kitchen as I write this particular note (let’s see you do that with an htc virgin phone!). So maybe I can cut down a little of the time I’m sitting..

in the meantime, here’s the info graphic I spoke of earlier.. scary stuff!

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

I had no idea that multivitamins are generally unproven to help with the average person’s health, Consumer Reports tested 21 multivitamins made for seniors, children, and daily adult use, pulling from both the major brands used by survey correspondents and store brands. Their findings were conclusively similar:

Our tests of 21 multivitamins at two outside labs-including leading brands, five for seniors, and six for children-will allay some of those fears. All but one of the products we tested met their label claims for key essential vitamins and minerals, and none contained worrisome levels of contaminants such as arsenic or heavy metals. Most of the pills we tested also passed the U.S. Pharmacopeia‘s dissolution test, which involves immersing them in a simulated stomach-acid solution to determine whether they’ll dissolve properly in your body

But many people taking the pills don’t need to. Despite their popularity—Americans spent almost $4.7 billion on multivitamins in 2008, up from $3.7 billion in 2003—there’s virtually no evidence that they improve the average person’s health.

Well.. that’s interesting isn’t it? There’s one less thing I’m going to be buying again for sure. Hmm, perhaps I should buy some illegal steroids or perhaps testosterone supplements and really pump up the muscle mass instead.. LMAO! Ok not a chance. But after this bottle runs out.. see ya later vitamins!

Now it seems, after 8 years of getting up around 7AM every day, my body seems to think that it’s the normal routine and I have no problem getting up at that time.. *sigh* even on the weekends. This is horrible!! I am getting old!! Only old people get up earlier than noon on weekends right??

Ok maybe it’s not so bad, I did get a lot done today and relaxed quite a bit. Read part of a book (review coming later) and did ALL kinds of yard work including getting rid of the huge pile of gravel at the beginning of our driveway. Liz helped quite a bit after she got up and together we had a great day (not done yet though!).

I actually was backtracking through some Lifehacker.com articles and came across an interesting one for people struggling to get up and going in the morning. It’s located here but it points out 10 Ways to Upgrade Your Morning Routine:

10. Save the Morning for Thinking – as soon as you get out of your nice comfy massage table poly cotton sheets or whatever you have on your bed is the best time to do your best thinking. “”Think in the morning, act in the noon, read in the evening, and sleep at night.”

9. Track Your A.M. Habits

8. Put Your Kids on an Itinerary

7. Eat for Better Sleep

6. Choose Your Most Important Task Over Email

5. Trade Coffee Jolts for Smaller Perk-Ups

4. Wake Up Without Any Caffeine

3. Set a Morning Prep Reminder the Night Before

2. Crank Out Some Push-Ups

1. Know Your Peak Performance Times

Some good stuff so take a read over at Lifehacker’s top 10

However, for you contact wearers out there, have you ever purchased a lens case or noticed that the ones that come with the cases or you get with your contacts are getting larger? Adam Zuckerman did – and started doing some math on it, the results were quite surprising as I read at his post on the subject:

• The increase in case size from the smallest (4.5mL) to the largest (13 mL) is ~189%!
• This increase may account for ~$90 per year in additional solution purchases, per person.
• As an approximate 18,000,000 Americans wear soft lenses, this increase could (at its most severe) amount to ~$1,600,000,000 in unnecessary solution purchases.
• This tally equates 162,000,000 bottles of 12 ounce solution.  (That’s a lot of trash!)

You know what the sad part was? I own a bunch of the ones that actually were the WORST for filling up.. and it’s easy to figure out – the more you fill them up – the more you’re going to spend on contact solution!

A few tips to reduce the amount we use when filling up the contact cases??

1. the little lines inside your contact case, just fill it up to the top of those, don’t fill it up all the way. That’s what those lines are for, it’s a "fill to here" line.
2. don’t boil the cases when replacing, but do so regularly – the cases originally come with a little layer of stuff that helps keep bacteria from growing in the case, over time it wears out and if you boil the case it completely gets rid of it, making the case a breeding ground for nastiness.
3. the ones that used the least amount of lens solution? Found here at amazon.com – get something similar likely in on sale at a dollar store or something
4. use the $90 or so on average you’ll save during the year and buy some new camera gear like a new Xlogic VD628 Camera Tripod which will come in handy on your next photo shoot. Ok, well maybe that tip is just for me.

Anyhow some food for thought and I wanted to pass along that tip.

Anyhow today – July 14th, I’m going to try to give up my morning coffee. There are a few reasons that I’m thinking about doing this but mainly it’s that I think it’s become a habit which I don’t really think is doing anything for me, and I think I could be consuming other things (water maybe?) that would be more beneficial.

Before I give up coffee however I did mention during one of my last posts that I was going to find out how much we pay for our morning coffee’s as opposed to buying one from Tim Hortons or Robins every morning. Well, it was June 21st when we bought and started using the can of Tim Hortons regular grind for our french press, we ran out on Monday – giving us a total of 3 weeks on one can. Of course I almost have to subtract a week there due to the fact that I was in Moncton and Liz was at the Cavendish Beach Music Festival so those were days that we weren’t able to consume any – Instead what I’ll do is just convert it to days and then cups. So 3 weeks is 21 days – multiply by two in order to serve us both with coffee is 42 cups – but then take away I’d say 8 days that we didn’t drink coffee (at least not from the french press).. so a semi-approximate number of cups from the can would be 34. The coffee costs about $6 to purchase… works out to paying about $0.17 a cup.

How’s that for a good money saver?

Ok, so back to the topic at hand. I finished reading a rather lengthy article on the effects of coffee (both good and bad) and it’s pretty much a known fact that after awhile coffee does nothing for you if you drink it every day. It just becomes habit – which I don’t like having, especially non-healthy ones. It’s also sort of a known fact that I will likely get a headache and experience withdrawal symptoms over the next 10 or so days if I don’t have any coffee as well – I’m not looking forward to this.

I started this afternoon, and instead of going and getting a coffee – I hoofed it down to the Clover Farm on my break and was a little surprised when I picked up 3 apples and went to the checkout – cost of $3.29 total! Ouch!! Maybe this isn’t such a great idea??? I actually put one back since I only had $3 on me – and I can tell you that it certainly didn’t last as long as a coffee either. Well, the good news is that apples are a natural fat burner, and obviously better for me than coffee. I will try to research some healthy alternatives – but in the meantime I’m not looking forward to the headaches that I may get while not drinking coffee.

I’ll tell you about my experience at the Health Within Holistic Center here in Charlottetown. First however, I think you should go read my post here about the incident leading up to the appointment, as I mention in that post – I am willing to try ANYTHING to rid me of this issue. I don’t know why myself and so many others I talk to just all of a sudden start getting allergies – but I can tell you that I’m not alone, and there there are MANY people that suffer from the same thing that I do, and a lot of them never had allergies as a kid either – what gives?

So heading to Health Within first thing Monday morning.. no coffee yet, not nothing. Feeling a bit uneasy and skeptical I headed in and was greeted quite promptly by a nice woman whom I was there to see. Firstly the shoes came off and the slippers went on (ok they were flip-flops), then back to the room I went with her. She explained a bit about what she as going to do, what she believes happens when an allergy all of a sudden or gradually appears. I do believe there is a lot of merit to what she said… it goes something like this:

“Say you’re eating lobster at home and the phone rings and you get some really horrible news.. you body remembers what you had in it at the time when you got really upset (on the phone).. a few months down the road you’re in a restaurant and you order lobster, you get home after the meal and you have a reaction.. your initial thought is that the lobster must have been bad. Then the next time it happens, you put two and two together and simply think.. “I’m allergic to lobster!”

This does make some sense to me whether that’s what happens or not.

She then went out and took a swab of my car… yes.. that’s what I thought too.. my car?? Then she proceed to the next thing which was a little test I think she called a muscle resistance test or something. At this point she took a number of viles out of what looked like large DVD boxes and got me to hold them in one hand, while she pushed down at my outstretched other arm. The point of this exercise was to see if I had any reaction or if my body “resisted” to what I was holding in my hand. Ok, this is that part I found hokey. Why? Well, to me.. it just felt like she was pushing harder when certain ones were in my hand.. can I prove it? No. Keep reading.

So after that test was done she put the ones which I had the biggest resistance to (turned out to be eggs and wheat .. go figure) and then put them in a little bag along with the “napkin car swab” and something else. I then held that in my other hand and relaxed on the patient bed. She gave me what I would call a cross between acupuncture and a massage.. nothing too serious.. but at this point I was almost asleep anyhow (yes.. 9am on a Monday will do this to me).

So once that was done, the session was pretty much over. She told me that it should help and I walked out very skeptical. I went to work and didn’t think twice about it, a lot of people asking me about it lately – so I figured I’d write this post. Here’s what the results were..

I don’t know how to explain it, but my ‘hay fever’ is gone. I’ve walked through fields while walking the dogs and I’ve looked for the red spots on my legs and they are no longer there when I come out. Now I don’t know if it was the therapy, but I’ve not had a problem with hay or fields since (and I’ve both done some golfing and walked the dogs in some pretty long grass which would previously affect me). My allergies however, are not completely gone.. I’ve been waking up pretty much every morning lately with a pretty good sniffling going on however I don’t think that’s hay fever – I don’t know what it is mind you, but I don’t think it’s hay fever.I wonder if there’s a naturopathic cure for hair loss? Not that I have to worry about it just yet, but I know lots of people who do!!

So in summary, I think there is certainly some validity in it. I think it did help. I do not think that it ‘cured’ me so to speak, but I can’t argue the fact that I’ve not had an allergy problem after my usual morning bout of sniffles since I went there last Monday. If I were to give some advice to someone – I would say “give it a shot, but keep an open mind”, cuz if you can’t do that.. well.. you may as well keep taking the Claritins.

Yes, I can take an allergy test (did you see my post before about not having a doctor?) – but I’m going to try something different. I’m going to go to a naturopathic doctor for treatment. Liz made me an appointment for tomorrow (since I’m sure I’d put it off forever), and I’m very much looking forward to it.

I ‘believe’ that I’m allergic to ‘hay’ – as every time I walk though a field of hay with the hounds by the time I’m out – I have red dots all over my ankles and then the eyes get itchy, then the nose runs.. then the throat gets sore.. my god it just absolutely sucks. Does anyone else out there have allergies similar to that?

I know Claritin and Benadryl Allergy have done nothing (I took 2 of each on Saturday and they didn’t help one little bit) – hence why I’m excited to perhaps get to the root of the problem. Apparently they can do great things for people whom developed allergies as opposed to ones that people grew into.. we’ll see tomorrow – I will be for sure returning and letting people know if it’s working or not.

When we moved to the Island back in 1991, my Mom did get a family doctor in town (I’m not going to start naming names or anything) – and I’m sure there is some sort of record there for me, but certainly nothing recent.

I should also know that I am lucky enough to have the best nurse that’s ever been created in my mother. So if I’ve ever been sick, needed something, had to go to the emergency room – my Mom has always been there as my #1 consultant on all things health. This, I find is an absolute privilege which I must admit I take for granted.

Lately however, I’ve decided that I need a doctor to consult, the sad part is that I have no idea how to go about getting one. I’m sure there are waiting lists and all that fun stuff – or is there? Again, I have no idea!!

Little things that I’d like to get checked up like an allergy test (which I’ve never had done). Every Summer on the golf course I get a serious case of the itches and if I’m wearing shorts and head into the rough (this happens more than one may realize), I come out with itchy red spots on my legs – hay fever maybe? Who can say for sure if I don’t get a bloody test!

I think I also need some sort of eczema treatment on my hands but again – finding out would be nice.

In fact, after watching “Super Size Me” and noticing what they were able to tell him about his blood results (like cholesterol levels, etc), I think that’s something that I would like to have done as well!

Ok – so if you have ANY SUGGESTIONS or anything, please let me know. I’d love to have this dealt with sooner than later…

Oh, I should also mention that I feel that I’m absolutely find and get lots of exercise with no problems related to health at all (other than maybe I don’t remember much after a long night of drinking.. but you know how that goes..)

Anyhow, this is going to be the first of two VERY awesome food tips that I have for you this week. So if you were one of the three people in Charlottetown that DIDN’T go to DQ last week to the big buy-one-get-one-for-$0.25 deal (yes.. myself and Liz did indulge in a medium each.. don’t judge), then I have a treat for you.

I’ve been meaning to try this for quite some time, but never got the opportunity to do so until last night. I made my own Chocolate Brownie Blizzard!!

“But Len, how could you do something like that??? Tell us now please!!”

Patience.. I will get to that.

I have my awesome sister in-law to thank for this recipe which I read – and just as quickly forgot about a few years ago. I also have Liz to thank for making the awesome brownies for dessert when my folks came over on Wednesday – you’ll see why in a minute.

Ok.. here’s what you need to replicate what I did (per person):

1 c. Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
1/4 c. Milk
Chocolate Brownie Leftovers (awesome job Liz!)
extra: Chocolate Milk Syrup

1. take a glass or ceramic bowl (I had ceramic) and put it into the freezer… for about 30 minutes, but I just threw it in there while I was making dinner.
2. when it’s dessert time – take out the bowl and put in the ice cream – put all the other ingredients in and and mix it around until it’s got the consistency of a blizzard.

Enjoy.

How easy is that?? We threw ours in some bowls – tasted it, and then looked at each other like we just discovered the meaning of life… perhaps we did. It’s also pretty easy to determine that for the price of two actual Blizzards.. you could purchase a smaller tub of frozen yogurt and everything else and have dessert for a week!

And of course as far as health goes – obviously Frozen Yogurt is healthier than Ice Cream, I don’t think anyone will try to dispute this. It’s not as healthy as regular yogurt, but it’s much better for you then Ice Cream. So if you can have a great tasting Blizzard-type treat and not have to think about the 50 km’s you’ll have to do on the treadmill to burn it off.. why not?! I’m actually starting to salivate over the prospects of a chocolate chip cookie dough homemade blizzard.. or perhaps just chocolate chips, smarties.. hmm.. the possibilites are endless!

Stumbled on the following information over at a German site and thankfully it’s in English

German scientists have discovered that a small piece of chocolate daily can greatly reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes, but warned in a study released this week that moderation is key.

A team of researchers at the German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE) in Potsdam proved that six grammes of dark chocolate per day brought blood pressure down within two to three days, the study published in “European Heart Journal” said.

Compared to people who consumed little or no chocolate, the risk for heart attack and stroke was reduced by 39 percent for cocoa lovers.

The scientists in Potsdam believe that the positive effects were derived from Flavanols contained in cocoa, which increase Nitric oxide in the blood, in turn relaxing arteries and lowering blood pressure, the study said.

But the scientists warned chocoholics that too much of the sweet stuff can lead to obesity and increased risk of heart disease.

“Rather eat one piece of chocolate and abstain from snacks in between,” study author Brian Buijsse said.

The analysis of some 19,300 men and women between 35 and 65-years-olds began in 1994. Every two to three years the subjects answered questions about their health and diet.

Better start stocking up on those acne products you had as a teenager, unfortunately they don’t tell you that your face will look like that Asdoiurwefnlkcbojla;fj;alsio Volcano that erupted in Iceland.. heh heh.