Living Well

Portion sizes have changed

There's a great article on Divine Caroline that compares portion sizes from 20 years ago to today. She compares everything from pizza slices to coffee to plates with nice pictures to really show you. For example:

         

Cocaine vaccine coming soon

Researchers are working on a vaccine to cocaine.  After receiving the vaccine, people woould no longer respond to cocaine. "The antibodies bind to the cocaine and prevent it from reaching the brain, where it normally would generate the highs that are so addictive." 

10 fun ways to live longer

10 fun ways to live longer from sex to chocolate to wine.

Being overweight makes you less likely to wear your seatbelt

The more overweight you are, the less likely you are to wear your seatbelt, putting you more at risk if you get in an accident.

What's causing our kids to become autistic, fat, near-sighted and sleep deprived?

TV!  This latest study found that watching TV lowers melatonin levels which can create all sorts of nasty side effects in children.  This study (as others) linked TV watching in kids to:

• autism
• obesity
• trouble sleeping
• eye problems
• lower melatonin levels
• early puberty

In adults, "the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease increases with each extra daily hour of television viewing among people aged 20 to 60."

Watching TV must give people immense pleasure ... otherwise I can't imagine why they would expose themselves and their kids to so much of it. We spend nine months of pregnancy trying to eat right, drink no alcohol, get all sorts of prenatal tests and then we plop our toddlers down in front of another round of SpongeBob or Thomas the Tank Engine without a second thought.