January 2012

Pills or Diet for Recovery from Diabetes?

Paula Deen, the likeable down-home cook with the big personality on the Food network, has a lethal addiction: sugar. Anyone who's watched her cooking shows knows that she gleefully uses an excessive amount of butter and sugar, smiling and moaning while she eats huge servings of cakes, pies, and cookies.

Seriously, she made sugar-based diets seem like the life!

But, it all was a lie. Turns out for the last three years, she's had diabetes. Sugar was not as fun and great as Paula Deen made it look. While type 1 diabetes is genetic, type 2 diabetes is triggered by diet. The body often stops making enough insulin to convert all the sugar being sent to the bloodstream. High blood sugar can lead to coma, poor blood circulation, and amputation. Overweight people -- you know the folks who eat as Paula Deen suggests on her shows -- are at higher risk for developing diabetes. Read more about Pills or Diet for Recovery from Diabetes?

Can Giving Alcoholics free drinks be an effective form of therapy?

As counter-intuitive as it sounds, a group in Canada is experimenting with having lounges especially for alcoholics where servers would offer free, high-quality alcoholic spirits -- along with a side of counseling. The theory is that alcoholics stop abusing alcohol best not by going cold-turkey and abstaining completely, but by reducing consumption and increasing quality. Hmm.

I think I like the principles behind this therapy for recovering alcoholics. First, this “free alcohol” therapy practiced in the setting of a carded members’ club shifts the image of an alcoholic from someone who sneaks around in shame drinking the cheapest liquor on sale from the corner store via a brown paper bag to an image much more dignified. Partaking of notable refreshments while socializing with other recovering alcoholics in comfy chairs in a supportive environment should greatly restore self-esteem and allow one to develop the will to upgrade himself, I would imagine. Read more about Can Giving Alcoholics free drinks be an effective form of therapy?

Human Appendix May Not Be So Vestigial

It turns out that the eppendix may not be an evolutionary left-over like we previously thought.

Vestigial organs are those parts of our body that evolution has rendered obsolete. In other words, they’re hangers on in our genetic code from a previous era where we actually needed them. An example of this would be the human appendix. Scientists long believed that the appendix was a vestigial organ, a part of the digestive tract that helped to secrete special enzymes that broke down high-cellulose food (plants). However, when we first tied rocks to sticks and started hunting, our diet became more diverse, and the appendix was eventually phased out. However, new evidence shows that the appendix may not be as vestigial as we once thought. Read more about Human Appendix May Not Be So Vestigial

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Pills or Diet for Recovery from Diabetes?

Can Giving Alcoholics free drinks be an effective form of therapy?

Human Appendix May Not Be So Vestigial