Toll House Recalls Cookie Dough

Image courtesy of SuperFantastic

Image courtesy of SuperFantastic

Ok.  So.  This is a health and fitness blog for geeks, right?  The whole point of this thing is to promote lifestyle choices that will help you live longer and better lives.   That’s why we’re all here.  I get that.  I mean, considering the fact I’m one of the founders one would hope that I grasp the concept of the experiment.

I also understand, however, that there are times when all the good choices in the world get tossed aside and you just have to have something decadent.  Call it a mental health break if you will, but every once in a while even the strongest of us just have to be “bad”.  I get that, too.

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Your Computer Will Kill You!

Together In Electric Dreams!It is fairly safe to say that computers are not, inherently, conducive to healthy living.  Sitting in the same position for hours on end staring at a screen that is only a few feet from your face is not really the kind of activity that contributes to a robust and healthy lifestyle .   While there are tools available for your computer that can assist you with your health and fitness goals (like, oh, a certain web site I could name), generally speaking extended daily computer use is considered to be a very bad thing.

What you may not be aware of, though, is that the computer sitting on your desk might actually be dangerous.  I’m not talking about the kind of danger to your long term health that is the result of inactivity, and I’m not even talking about the potential of developing conditions like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome due to the repetitive motion of using a mouse.  No, my friends, I’m talking about the threat of real bodily harm that could send you to the emergency room.

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BBC Study Shows American Health Continues To Decline

Picard FacepalmI recently had the chance to catch Wall-E for the first time with Krystalle thanks to the magic of Netflix-On-Demand through the XBox 360.  It was an absolutely delightful film, but I walked away from it slighly troubled by one aspect of the film – The state of humanity thanks to technology.  I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but let’s just say that the advances in technology as depicted in the movie are not quite so beneficial to the overall health of mankind.  Wall-E was a very clear warning sign about the dangers of living a pleasure-based disposable lifestyle.

Unfortunately it appears in some ways as though the predictions made in the movie have the potential for coming true.

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How Big Is Too Big?

Question MarkOn Thursday, May 21st, authorities in Baltimore arrested Jerri Althea Gray and took her son, Alexander Deundray Draper, into protective custody. A warrant was issued for Mrs. Grays arrest in South Carloina on Tuesday after she failed to appear at a court ordered hearing. During that hearing the judge ordered that the boy should be taken into state custody due to medical neglect.

Alexander, you see, weighs 555 pounds.

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Different Strokes For Different Folks

Whatchoo Talkin' Bout Willis?We here at ShrinkGeek are not scientists.  We are not doctors.  The closest we come to being official “health experts” would be our resident personal trainer, Rob, and he is the first person who will point out he is not a dietician.  Much of the advice that we give here is based strictly on our own personal experience and the struggles we have had dealing with our own health and fitness issues.  Whether you agree with us or not I can promise that you’ll never see us make a claim or give advice that is in any way based on anything but what we truly believe is the healthiest option available.

Those humble statements aside, it’s really nice to have folks with fancy letters behind their names confirm one of your core beliefs.

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You Are What You Believe You Are

The Comic Book Store Guy - Not YOU!When you hear the term “Geek” what do you think of?  If you’re a self-proclaimed Geek perhaps you think of a highly intelligent person who enjoys some of the less mainstream entertainment in modern society.  Perhaps you think of someone who is good with computers or who always has the latest technology.  Maybe you just think of someone who likes to wear black t-shirts with sarcastic sayings on them.

If you’re not one of the Chosen, though, you might have a different view of our society.  You might see Geeks as being socially awkward, unwashed, and out of shape losers who live in their mothers basement and work in a comic book store.  Society, on the whole, doesn’t paint a very pretty picture of Geeks as a general rule.

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Video Games Don’t Make You Fat. Food Does.

THIS is why you're fat

America is, undeniably, getting larger around the waist line.  As a matter of fact obesity has become such a problem here that back in July of last year Senators Chris Dodd, Tom Harkin, and Jeff Bingaman introduced the Federal Obesity Prevention Act of 2008.  This bill was in response to what Dodd called “a medical emergency of hurricane-like proportions” in our country, and would have established a government strategy for preventing and reducing obesity.  This strategy would have included short- and long-term goals for childhood and adult obesity rates.

Which, in Orwellian terms, meant that the United States Government may have taken a direct interest in America’s waist line if this Bill had passed (it was referred to committee back in September of 2008 and has not been brought back up in the current session).

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FDA Advises Public To Stop Using Hydroxycut

Mr. Yuk Says "Liver Damage is Bad!"

Mr. Yuk Says "Liver Damage is Bad!"

On Friday, May 1st, the Food and Drug Administration released a statement advising the public to discontinue the use of the popular weight loss supplement Hydroxycut immediately.  According to the statement there are at least three 23 cases of Hydroxycut users suffering serious liver damage and at least one death back in 2007.

What’s particularly alarming about this announcement is that the people who were injured were taking Hydroxycut in the regular dose as recommended from the manufacturer.

The manufacturer of Hydroxycut, Health Sciences, Inc., is participating fully with the FDA on this voluntary recall and has replaced the Hydroxycut home page with information on the recall and advice on how refunds can be obtained.  The list of products in the recall includes :

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Experts Argue For National Sugary Drink Tax

Image by whalesalad

Image by whalesalad

I wrote here a few months ago about how Governor David Patterson of New York was pushing for a 15% obesity tax on sugary drinks (and about how I personally thought that was a pretty lame idea).  In a follow-up to that proposal Kelly Brown of Yale University and New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden have made the case for a national sales tax on sugared drinks in an article written for the New England Journal of Medicine.

If implemented as proposed in their article, the tax would increase the cost of sugared drinks by 1 cent per fluid ounce, which doesn’t sound so bad until you realize that a standard can of soda is 12 fluid ounces.  12 cents per can turns into an additional $1.44 in taxes on a 12 pack of soda!

According to the article, adolescents consume 10 to 15 percent of their calories in the beverages they drink.  The authors, in proposing the national tax, believe that the higher costs of sugary drinks due to the tax will not only cut down on those numbers but will also raise additional money that can be used to battle the costs of healthcare attributed to our expanding national waist line.

I can’t really argue with the logic here.  I personally can attest that cutting sugared soda out of my life was probably one of the largest contributors to my weight loss, and we wouldn’t be writing for this site if it weren’t for the fact that there’s a large number of people out there who want to lose weight.  I also recognize, from first hand experience, that higher taxes can be a deterrent to unhealthy activities.  Krystalle and I recently quit smoking as a result of the federal sales tax increases that pushed the cost of cigarettes here in Florida over $5 per pack.

I get the motivation behind it.  I really do.

However…

I really do have a problem with the mentality that in order for people to make healthy choices about their lives we need to tax the hell out of anything that is bad for them. Personally?  I’d rather see the Government be proactive in regards to healthy living.  Say, for example, by closing the loopholes that allow broadcasters to get away with putting all the Public Service Announcements they are required to run on the air when nobody is watching.  Or how about tax incentives to companies who manufacture healthy foods that would lower the cost of those foods and make them more accessible to lower income individuals?  Let’s actively educate and make it attractive to people to make better choices in regards to health instead of simply trying to tax them out of it.

Frankly, in the final analysis, if you don’t teach people how to live better they are just going to find ways to work those higher taxes into their budgets and all you’re going to end up doing is adding yet another source of income to the government coffers.

Unfortunately, that might be the point.

NY Governor Proposes 15% “Obesity Tax” On Soda

Image by sallyvan

Image by sallyvan

One of the biggest obstacles that many of us in the geek subculture have to overcome when trying to be healthy is our love of caffeinated beverages.  While many a light night gaming session has been powered by a case of Jolt Cola, the “empty calories” in those jittery all-nighters are brutal on the waist line.  One can of Mountain Dew has 110 calories alone!

Well, residents of New York will soon have more motivation to cut a few extra cans out of their diet.  Governor David Patterson has added an item to the 2009 state budget that would add a 15% “obesity tax” on non-diet sodas.  According to the New York Daily News this plan will raise an estimated $404 million dollars a year for the State of New York.  Unlike similar tax increases on luxury items such as cigarettes and alcohol, the money raised by these taxes do not appear to be earmarked for heatlh care purposes.  In fact, Governor Davis is reportedly proposing a $3.5 billion cut in health care spending.

On the whole we could all probably stand to have a few less sodas in our lives, but whether or not a tax increase will have a noticeable impact on sugary cola consumption remains to be seen.  The $404 million dollar number seems like it is based on current soda purchases, so if Governor Davis is counting on those dollars it doesn’t seem very likely that he believes the new tax is going to be much of a deterrent either.  Sadly, it appears as though he is counting on the soda drinkers in New York to continue their sugary ways.