World Water Day: 2021 Valuing Water (Quiz your Water Knowledge)

It’s World Water Day, March 22, 2021 (www.WorldWaterDay.org).  

Time to test your water knowledge with a World Water Day Quiz. 

Some days we wish it would rain. Some days, we wish it would stop. But every day, not just March 22, we should stop and appreciate the importance of water. How important it is to out our being, to our lives, to our living and to our existence.

That soda will kill ya!

Sodas will kill you, it seems. Sugar, hfcs, or artificial sweerners, all will shorten your life.!
This massive study in Europe followed almost a half million people for an average of 16 years, analyzing death rates. Drinking two or more sodas was correlated to many types of fatal illnesses.

Other studies have shown links to cancers and other ails.

Doctors recommend water instead.

Meanwhile, drinking a glass of beer or wine increases your life and (generally) improves your heath.

https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20190903/once-again-soda-tied-to-higher-risk-of-early-death

Mind that matters, misleading AARP... take it or leave it list

The quick lists of 5 things to do and 5 things not to do often provide inaccurate or even misleading information. AARP usually provides a nice sound bite of information about various things. Mental health comes up every year with a interesting brain health infographic in October 2016 (discover, connect, move, nourish, and relax). The December 2017 edition of AARP had a big section on brain health and avoiding Alzheimer’s disease. (Also see risk factors related to Alzheimer’s.) The Guard Your Mental Health section by Marty Munson offered a “take it” or “leave it” for several items. The thumbs up items were exercise, friends+family, manage blood pressure, and nutrition (Mediterranean diet as an example). Evidence shows that stimulating your brain met with mixed results; the way how you stimulate your brain is important so some things – even listening to music – work better than others.

The last three items really were surprising, and questionable.  Don’t sweat the aluminum in your antiperspirant since there is no evidence to link the trace aluminum from deodorants to mental health issues. (The lack of friends because you don’t use deodorants might also be a factor in the use-vs-don’t-use antiperspirant decision.) This is interesting, and it appears to be accurate. Trace amounts of aluminum should not be a big issue; aluminum is a very common element and we are continually exposed to it.

The idea to leave Ginseng was intriguing. It does not appear to help significantly with brain function; and, as with many supplements, there could be side-effects, especially for people with other health factors like diabetes. This sent me to look at the Shaklee product, MindWorks®, and the active ingredients that are rather strongly promoted with positive research. The ingredients in MindWorks all show pretty strong evidence to support a healthier body and brain: chardonnay grape seed extract, Guarana extract, blueberries, and green coffee bean extract. These ingredients have been shown to reduce cholesterol, improve blood flow, offer anti-oxidation, and improve cognitive function.

True, Ginseng has very little evidence to contribute to brain health (and reduced Alzheimer’s), but many other supplements do. Shaklee provides one of the best overviews on the subject of Alzheimer’s. Of course, general health, is critical. Anti-oxidants like B, E, and C are critical. There is a lot of support showing benefits from Gingko. So “leave it” related to Ginseng, seems accurate, but highly misleading, because it implies that there are no natural health remedies.

The really big erroneous and misleading factor; however, is the “leave it” for supplements. Not to fault Munson, specifically, there are several studies that show that people who take supplements are no more healthy than those who don’t take any supplements. However, the biggest landmark study on the issue compared people who took multiple Shaklee supplements (not just a multivitamin) with those who did not take any supplements at all. This landmark study (Block, et al., 2007) was conducted in 2007, but ongoing research continues to support its accuracy. The people who took the multiple vitamins were far healthier, even compared to people taking only a single multivitamin. Being general healthier is also directly correlated to brain health.

Shaklee recommends that people have an active and healthy lifestyle. If you don’t consistently eat well, then you should take supplements. For people worried about aging well, Shaklee offers a trifecta of products: MindWorks® as discussed above; Vivix® which is a patented resveratrol blend that is 13x more effective than resveratrol alone (vs gallons of red wine daily); and OmegaGuard® which provides a pharmaceutical grade omega-3 that helps to improve heart health. 

You will notice that many of the labels on Shaklee supplements are unique. The DTX Liver Health® does not say “active ingredient” it actually says “medicinal” information! They can only say that with actual clinical support. MindWorks™ says “Helps improve mental sharpness & focus and protect against age-related mental decline.**”.

Resveratrol (Shaklee’s Vivix®) is the one supplement you should take for age-related protection. There are literally thousands of studies showing the health and age-protection associated with resveratrol. You could drink a dozen or so glasses of Muscatine wine (or juice) each day which, arguably, might have its own set of side-effects; or you could take Vivix. With Vivix being magnitudes (13x) more effective than the available resveratrol alternatives, it seems like the best available alternative, even if it is a little pricy.

While we are on the miracle of Vivix, there are two new categories of products from Shaklee: Youth™ for rejuvenation of skin care which actually rebuilds the collagen layer of the skin (without Botox surgery); and treatment for eye health where age-related macular degeneration is actually reversed/improved.

Of  course, changes in unhealthy lifestyle should come first, and foremost. Quitting smoking, for example, will start saving money instantly, and extend your life dramatically.

Okay, okay. This looks like it is an advert for Shaklee. A place that is usually great for unbiased information is Wikipedia. But several entries on the Great Wiki in the sky are not only misleading, they are inaccurate. Look at the health benefit for resveratrol. Cancer is one sentence that says that resveratrol won’t cure cancer. HUH!?? That may, or may not be true, but what about the hundreds of studies that show it will lower the risks of you getting cancer in the first place… One sentence that misrepresents a single study in 2011 (Fernandez & Fraga) to say there is no evidence in any way related to longevity in humans. There is evidence in mammals, according to their review of available research, and further research in humans will likely find similar support (which this study didn’t find because they apparently weren’t looking very hard).

[At some point, I expect to come back to Wikipedia to fix some of these entries, it is in everyone’s best interest to have accurate and factual info there; unfortunately, the resveratrol “article” requires a total rewrite.]

So, yes, I trust the Shaklee information as a great place to start, and a trustworthy source of nutritional information. They are in the business of selling products too, but a well-educated, health and wellness conscious consumer/distributor is critical to Shaklee’s mission and ongoing success. Shaklee has been producing vitamins/supplement organically for decades, environmentally friendly household products for about a century and has operated at a zero carbon footprint since Y2K.

Shaklee is a nice picture of sustainability. Living healthier and longer, sounds good too.

We at SustainZine would like to wish you a healthy, wealthy and happy 2018.

References

Agustín F. Fernández & Mario F. Fraga (2011) The effects of the dietary polyphenol resveratrol on human healthy aging and lifespan, Epigenetics, 6:7, 870-874, doi: 10.4161/epi.6.7.16499

Block, G., Jensen, C. D., Norkus, E. P., Dalvi, T. B., Wong, L. G., McManus, J. F., & Hudes, M. L. (2007). Usage patterns, health, and nutritional status of long-term multiple dietary supplement users: a cross-sectional study. Nutrition Journal, 6(1). doi:10.1186/1475-2891-6-30

Coconut oil isn't healthy. It's never been healthy.

Coconut oil isn't healthy. It's never been healthy.:
by Ashley May.
*** See our update pertaining to this article. It seems like Ms May, may have overstated her case against the coconut. See the update here... okay-coconut-oil-really-is-good-for-you. ***

Like many such as the poor egg with its off-the-charts level of cholesterol, several foods have gotten a bad rap.

Coconut oil got a bad rap, then got a good rap, and now it's bad again.
*** I'm sooo confused !!!! ***

I have a Coconut book Bible on all the healthy benefits of coconuts and coconut oils, Coconut oil for health: 100 amazing and unexpected uses for coconut oil, by Brett Brandon, 2015.

So coconut oil for weight loss is apparently not true. Like that's never happened before!

Related to the health benefits, it's all about saturated fats. High levels of saturated fats can, and will, kill you.

So aiming for uses of coconut oil outside your body, seems like a good thing. But ingesting it, not so much so.

Honey might be a better homeopathic remedy for antibiotic, antiseptic cures and also allergies (local raw honey). Studies on honey curing allergies are inconclusive.

Glad to clear this all up, like the Mississippi River during floodwaters,

Well, gotta go put coconut oil on the scar on my knee that I'm trying to clear up.

'via Blog this'

Why science is so hard to believe... It's in the Kool-Aid - The Washington Post

Why science is so hard to believe - The Washington Post:

Joel Achenbach hit the nail on the head with this article.

Ever wonder why you can talk with otherwise intelligent people and you suddenly drop into the twilight zone.  They suddenly are totally convinced that the earth is flat, and there's no arguing with them.Or they are totally convinced the fluoride in water is a horrible government conspiracy to ... 

It is in the water. Or the Kool-Aid. Each group, tribe if you will, is drinking a different flavor. And you drink enough of it, the facts get a little wacky.!!!

This is a wonderful opinion letter. 

Here also is a great article as well on the distrust of science by Americans. It includes Pew Research on the topic. 

Hmmm....

Achenback argues against the idea of scientist taking a more proactive stance. He argues that when scientist step off of the ivory tower to wrestle in the mud of politics and public policy they get dirty-ugly like the rest of us. (Well, something kind of like that argument anyway.)

So, it appears, that many people only want to hear what they want to hear. If it doesn't match with their world view, then they switch to a channel that matches...

And so we have the world's most information rich environment, with exponentially more information available each decade, yet ignorance runs rampant. It is almost impossible to believe that such is possible. But it is.

For several years now I keep returning to the wise axioms of Rotary International. In the 4-way test, of all we say and do... "First, is it the truth?" 

Ignoring the truth (ignoring the facts) has a nasty way of coming back around and biting you in the butt if/when you get it wrong.

We like to focus on sustainability. Things that are sustainable rather easy to view mathematically. Eating 4,000 calories per day, and burn only 2000, you are apt to gain weight. Burn 9m barrels of oil per day (42 gals each) pumping the hydro & carbons into the atmosphere and you are changing all kinds of things in the atmosphere (and environment). [These carbons have been sequestered in the earth for some 5 to 50 million years.] The resulting imbalances  will have effects and side-effects. Guaranteed. Predicting them accurately may not be easy. Assuming that doing non-sustainable things won't cause a problem because they never caused a problem before, has some very serious logic flaws. 

So, let's all move away from the flavored waters and start seeking out the crystal clear true of the facts and the issues. We'll all have a healthier outlook, and healthier teeth as well.

'via Blog this'

Can jaw-dropping visuals on CO2. BIG smokes vs. BIG OIL | GreenBiz.com

Can jaw-dropping visuals change the climate conversation? | GreenBiz.com:

This week in the news we wave the merger of BIG tobacco. Lorillard Brands if getting bought out by Reynolds; that is, the Newport brands are getting married to a camel. This will make a formidable competitor to Altria's Marlboro man. (I still love the genius of changing your name from  Philip Morris USA to "Altria", it makes the company sound so Alteristic!:-)

So these are products, when used as directed will either kill you, or cause you to die younger... i.e., kill you.

The big difference between pollution into the atmosphere is that it is generally not the smoker (and their family it seems with 2nd hand-me-downs) that dies, it is everyone in the vicinity, down wind, and down stream.

The problems with burning fossil fuels, in addition to any other pollution that pollute in the traditional science, they create vast amounts more Carbon Dioxide (CO2) for the atmosphere than what the earth systems have become accustomed to dealing with. If 60% goes into the oceans, that causes increased acidification; what remains in the atmosphere, hangs around for about 100 years -- a deadly experiment that we are just beginning to see the effects of.

At least with tobacco, people enter into the deadly agreement under their own free will. The externalities of the well documented costs in life, income and economic product is largely offset by massive taxes. And it is really other countries that have fast increases in smoking while we in the USA have a rapidly dwindling market. (You could say that the market is dying off, if you wanted to add pun to death and sickness.) Although, electronic cigs are growing rapidly.

But, the BIG producers of fossil fuels, have it rather sweet. They tap a natural resource, like an oil reservoir, pump it dry, sell into energy markets and have no responsibility as to the costs of the use of their products. The jaw dropping visuals from the main article here, show the billions (with a B) of tonnes of CO2 created from/by the BIGgest oil producing companies.

The oil company pays some taxes to the country where it permanently depleted a natural resource. That seems only fair. The health costs of burning coal, direct pollution, are huge but generally not covered by the companies the produce and use it. Countries have taxes on transport fuel, to offset some of the costs of the vehicles. But nobody really pays the costs of the CO2 externalities. Or at least very little is done in that directly.

So the two, or three, questions for government: Should government shut down BIG tobacco? Or tax it more? Or allow it to move closer to a duopoly where they can keep raising prices to consumers and have them pay through the nose?

And the questions for government: Should government shut down BIG tobacco? Or tax it more? Or move to cap-n-trade? Or subsidize renewables?

The one that seems to work best, and economists all like best, is a direct tax. The tax increases need to gradually escalate, at least at the rate of inflation. This, of course is political suicide. So the tax is out, and no addressable solution is in.

This is a supply and demand world. In fossil fuels you have the BIG consumers, namely China and the USA, and the BIG producer companies. Both are to blame if what they sell/buy kills people. Right?

The sinful problems associated with the dirty companies go on.. and they keep getting BIGger.

'via Blog this'

Nordic Poles Boost Artery-Disease Patients' Walking - WSJ

Nordic Poles Boost Artery-Disease Patients' Walking - WSJ:

Lots of studies show that simply getting up and about several times a week can be really, really good for you.

This is pretty cool. The use of Nordic poles significantly helped patents go longer... Okay, that's pretty obvious...

BUT it also worked the body 23% harder than normal walking.

The prob with walking (and running) is that you don't really work the upper body, so it might be aerobic but not a full-body exercise.

Pretty cool.

PLUS it can be great training for your upcoming Snow Ski adventures!

'via Blog this'

Shhh!!! Don't tell anyone it is healthy(er). With low(er) Salt.

Food Makers' Secret Ingredient: Less Salt http://online.wsj.com/articles/food-companies-quietly-cut-salt-fat-from-recipes-1403566403

Thanks. But it is too bad it has to be a secret.

It is interesting how taistless and healthy seems to be synonimous to many people.

In the meanwhile, there is so much salt in things like soup, that even then "low salt" soups are 25 to 50% of US Daily recommended. And they are still not edible for those of us who have adjusted our salt pallet. You find yourself drinking gallons of water (or, worse, sodas) for the rest of the day.

Oh and Campbells slips in High Fructos sugar into all of the tomato soups we own as about the second ingredient. What is with that? Tomatoes are already sweet.

Enriched flower.

Of the Three Deadly White foods, sugar, salt and white flower, Campbells tomato soups seemed to have all three in the top 5 ingredients. Tomatos weren't even the first ingredient in the regular tomato, paste was second!

Now we'll see about donating these soups... And being even more careful with our food shopping.

BioLite BaseCamp Stove | Turn Fire into Electricity by BioLite. Saving lives, one stove at a time. Kickstarter Funded project.

Repost from IPzine...
BioLite BaseCamp Stove | Turn Fire into Electricity by BioLite — Kickstarter:

I love it. But only 62 hours to get in on the KickStarter offer. They are at twice goal with $800k+ and 3,000 backers.

Yes, it was DARK in Miami, when Hurricane Andrew came through South Miami/Homestead on August 24, 1992. Well, afterwards really. It would be weeks before most of us would get power. So bar-b-q grilling was the norm. That was not quite as much fun after a week or two without baths and without air conditioning. Little or no ice and warm drinks. Muggy and humid.

You did want to cook, obviously, but all the heat from the grill was the last thing we needed.

But a really cool cooking stove popped up in New York. A tiny stove the burned wood (or charcoal) and produced focused head for cooking. No need to cook the cook too.


This technology works wonders in countries where there is little or no electricity, and wood is often scarce, and the smoke from open cooking causes some of the world's worst health issues (probably only exceeded by water/sanitation).
You gotta see how far the technology has come. This is a BIG stove, relatively, that generates electricity (USB power) and has battery. It has an internal fan, to fan the fire so it can produce some serious heat possibilities -- especially given the ability to focus the flame.

This version comes with an LED light so you can see what's cooking at night.

As they say, this is the first version of the BaseCamp that is crowd designed. When you jump in on the crowd funding at KickStarter (BaseCamp) you will get a free carrying case.

You also get the warm-fuzzy feeling of knowing that this technology will save millions and millions of lives in energy starved countries.

All very very cool.

'via Blog this'

The Hidden Essentials to Losing Weight - Developing Healthy Habits | Developing Healthy Habits, LLC

The Hidden Essentials to Losing Weight - Developing Healthy Habits | Developing Healthy Habits, LLC:

This relates to sustainability because it pertains to the healthy balance of one's body.

When your body is working well (correctly) then losing weight or gaining weight should typically not be much of a problem. (And a kabillion studies show that the off-and-on fasting is rarely effective and often downright dangerous.)

This is a very readable article about covers the basics of carbs, proteins and fats (including the essential fats, EFAs). She talks about the balance of omega-6 to omega-3 (which should be about 4 to 1, not the typical 20 to 1 for highly processed foods in a typical American diet).

Good bacteria in the intestines should be about 80% with no more that 15% bad for healthy gastro tract.

Having these things in stable balance should result in very stable energy, lubricated joints, stabilized insulin and blood sugar levels.

She argues that you should do these things long before trying to take other measures to weight management (losing extra pounds).

She will also tell you more about why eating fat is good for your health.

keywords: health, wellness, intestines, fat, diet, weight loss, sustainable living

'via Blog this'

Chia... The super healthy alternative to ... The Costco Connection - July 2013 - Page 47

The Costco Connection - July 2013 - Page 47:

Really cool about Chia.

We knew about the tea and the drinks, but who knew about all the other uses of Chia.

Substitute for eggs.

Even tells a little history. Short article is jam-packed as is the little Chia seed.

'via Blog this'

How much should a hip replacement cost? CBS News

How much should a hip replacement cost? Study raises more questions than answers - CBS News:

Paying cash for a procedure can get wild in terms of the prices. (They did this for a similar ailment and got similar results.)

Offering to pay cash, and pay up front will result in serious discounts, say 70%.

But this is still a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad world of medicine.

What's missing is transparency. If you can't figure out how much something is going to cost, how can you plan for it.

Oh, and here is a case in point on the Hip-to-be-squared problem. If hip is a pre-exiting condition, then you have to pay out-of-pocket. But, if you let your insurance laps, then you can not be denied... BUT in next year, 2014, more of Obamacare will kick in and then it's no worries (maybe?).

This whole area of healthcare is fuzzy and morphing, so it really is not sane to try to make rational decisions.

Maybe the best idea is to go an medical tourism vacation. Trip it up to Canada, down to Costa Rica or drink it up in Spain. It seems that the pain before and after surgery, just might, kinda put a damper on the whole vacation thing though. But the $50-100,000 would be a nice incentive to enjoy the trip.

It's going to be hard to bring healthcare costs under control when the mess in pricing and the lack of transparency is out of control.


It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World of medicine.


'via Blog this'

Fracking is unearthing surprise bacteria | Health, Medical, and Science Updates

Fracking is unearthing surprise bacteria | Health, Medical, and Science Updates:

Hmmm....

I'm not sure that many of us have been thinking about this? What is living in the oil and gas before we extract it from the wells?

This study starts to bring that to the (fore)ground. It is interesting that some of these guys do better, much better, related to the fracking process and/or being brought to the surface.

Hmmm... And I always thought the the main risks from fracking were: water contamination and possibly the increased chance for earthquakes.?


'via Blog this'

Earth Day Number 1 (of 4) Wellness... Gleaning feeds the needy | Highlands Today

Gleaning feeds the needy | Highlands Today: "Gleaning feeds the needy"

Earth Day... Basic four things to do. Right now.

Number 1. Health and wellness. People can’t be healthy, and they certainly can’t be productive, if they don’t have the basics of health and living conditions. Just drinkable water and basic sanitation is a critical issue. This combined with the lack of basic nutrition results in major health and wellness issues for approximately 2 billion of the world’s population.

ToDo: One of the things that can be done here is to go on missions to developing countries to help them learn and develop the sanitary and development skills. You will want to develop your own survival skills first in a programs such as the HEART program at Warner University.

ToDo: Consider helping with composting, urban gardens and gleaning projects. Gleaning, as mentioned in the bible, is where volunteers are allowed to go through the fields after they have been harvested to pick the edible -- but not necessarily pretty -- fruit and vegetables. (See Gleaning For The World (www.GFTW.org), End Hunger (www.EndHunger.org), gleaning in Florida (this article). 

'via Blog this'