November 16, 2007

Friday Menu Special: Plenty of Bologna!

Ever Notice? Everything Just Tastes Better on a Tray!

Actually, it's "Bologna Lite" this week (did you know it even comes Fat Free?).

Unfortunately, Crabby is finding that Real Life Responsibilities are interfering with her compulsive web surfing scholarly research on Health Issues. Will she get back on track or is she heading down the slippery slope of Blog Slackitude? Only one way to find out--stay tuned to Cranky Fitness over the weeks and months to come! In the meantime, here's the usual Friday Fare, with far fewer calories but packed with tons of healthy preservatives.

Nitrites and Nitrates: Our new Best Friends?
Hidden within an article with the innocent title "Eating Your Greens Could Prove Life-Saving If A Heart Attack Strikes," was some news that Crabby found totally freaky. This study (which involved administering nitrite to mice) apparently suggested "that the chemical nitrite, found in many vegetables, could be the secret ingredient in the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet."

What?

Isn't nitrite (and nitrates, which are some sort of precursor or something) supposed to be really Evil and Carcinogenic and a good reason to either avoid processed meats or seek out special fancy expensive brands that don't have any?

The article went on to quote the researcher, Dr. Lefer as saying: "recent research has found no convincing evidence that nitrite and nitrate pose a cancer risk." He also noted that Europeans consume nearly 100 times the amount of nitrite and nitrate daily because they eat so many more vegetables. "This large intake of nitrite and nitrate poses no known risks and could certainly help explain why the Mediterranean diet is heart-healthy despite its relatively high fat content," he says. (Lefer hails from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University; Crabby has no idea if that's impressive or not, not being much of an Einstein herself).

Crabby actually ran into this issue before, when she reviewed some tasty nitrite-free lunch meat. She was sure there would be a ton of recent research saying nitrites were evil, but couldn't find much. She just put it down to her lack of Google skills. Still--seems best to take the "eat more vegetables" part to heart and don't go racing out to load up on lunch-meats. For whatever reasons, heavy consumption of red and processed meats is still thought to raise cancer risk.

Got Milk Thistle?
According to a recent study, silibinin, a compound found in milk thistle, may reduce cancer cell proliferation and help kill off cancer cells. Milk thistle is already a widely used folk remedy used for liver disease. But, well, what does it taste like in coffee?

Something They Don't Show Nearly Enough of On Grey's Anatomy:
The shows self-absorbed doctors-in-training very rarely accidentally poke themselves with needles--but real residents apparently do it all the time. Problem is, they're not reporting it. A survey by researchers at Johns Hopkins found that "99 percent of surgeons-in-training suffered an average of eight needle-stick injuries in their first five years. Of these surgeons, only 49 percent reported the injuries. “We know also that many residents resist reporting because the training culture suggests that needle sticks ‘go with the territory’ and reporting them may lower peer esteem,” said one of the authors. (Via That'sFit).

And so on to Randomness... after only three items of actual Health Research? Yeah, well, Crabby got distracted the pictures of Tree Root Man, which seem to be both disturbing and authentic. Next time you find yourself complaining about your stiff joints... a little perspective.

Hide the Falafel...
So Mary at the always-amusing Sheesh alerted Crabby to this bizarre FBI scheme to catch terrorists by tracking their tahini. According to Jeff Stein of the Congressional Quarterly, "the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists... The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area."

And What the F*ck, More Research on Swearing! You can also thank Mary for finding us a high-brow article in The New Republic, revealing everything one needs to know about cursing, including how the interplay between the neocortex and the limbic system make it particularly effective! As it happens, obscenity is one of Crabby's favorite hobbies, so this was an excellent find.

Perhaps Not as Highbrow...
But not to be missed: Amy's hilarious illustrated account of social discomfort at the gym.

An Exercise Video with No Animals In It?
Crabby tried hard to find some animal fitness footage, but too many of the possibilities this week either seemed (a) boring or (b) a little cruel. So instead of animals, she'll direct you to this strange but amusing competition . And yes, it is Japanese, how did you guess?

Oh Wait, Do These Count?
If you have gotten this far down and are still sampling links, you might be goofy enough to appreciate this bit of cow weirdness. Or you could always take your cursor on a walk with a feisty little dog.

And sadly, that's all for this Friday, but notice how energetic you feel when your not totally stuffed? Anyway, enjoy your nitrites and have a great weekend!

18 comments:

  1. Thistle be quick because I'm in a hurry. Fun post as always, but I'll have to be back after dark to check out your always-interesting links. Please don't charge me the nitrate. ;)

    Yup.. comments are working.

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  2. Reporting a needle stick makes the other doctors think less of you? WTF? Isn't not reporting it kind of irresponsible?

    It's good to know the people who are responsible for my health are so concerned with safety, eh? :p

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  3. thanks Hilary, you've certainly preserved your reputation for being quick with the puns! I'd falafel if you ever stopped visiting.

    And Chicken Girl--yeah, wouldn't want doctors to spoil their tough image by reporting possible transmission of dangerous diseases!

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  4. Hey, Crabby - the Bag Lady had to do her chores this morning...cows had to fed. The computer trouble didn't help, either. She thinks there are a few folks away from their accustomed places today...your comment section will probably fill up as it always does!

    Really wanted to see the cow link, but, alas, it wouldn't work for the Bag Lady. Perchance she hasn't quite worked out all the bugs (throwing it against the wall might have had something to do with it, too...)
    One wonders if the FBI also keeps tabs on the sale of Chow Mein when they fear terrorists from Red China? (oh, oops, did that sound rascist? The Bag Lady didn't mean to offend anyone...)
    What, no word verification to make the Bag Lady giggle?

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  5. 'Mornin' Bag Lady--what, feeding cows instead of watching them on the internet? What kind of priorities have you got there!

    I deleted my earlier comment regarding possible technical difficulties, as it seems everything is working.

    Will have to check the cow link though!

    And yeah, thought i'd try to take of the word verification & see if spammers return.

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  6. What they do show on Greys Anatomy is a kid getting a pencil shoved in his eye and then footage of his brain squishing out of his head. EEWWW!

    C'MON. Get back to the steamy elevator scenes or I'm changing the channel! Mirada actually had the nerve to say that from now on the on call rooms are to be used for sleeping and nothing that required a locked door. Sheesh! What's that show coming to?

    p.s. sorry if I ruined anything for all of those TiVo'ers out there!

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  7. Sheesh, damn cows! Actually, with the little dusting of snow (did you read my post yesterday?) we had, the spoiled brats think they should have food brought to them!

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  8. Thanks for the linkage, Crabby!

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  9. Holly--
    Actually, I do record Grey's, but thanks for the warning about the pencil grossness. I'd really rather skip that, thank you!

    And cows sure are beginning to sound more and more like cats to me, Bag Lady. If my cat could arrange for breakfast in bed she certainly would.

    Amy, you're welcome--(and I plan on stealing your illustration technique sometime in the future after everyone's forgotten where I swiped it from).

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  10. What about that soy stuff. That CAN'T be good for us.
    And yet, it's not half bad.

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  11. I would really have loved to be in the room with the Japanese producers when they make up the premise for these shows. "...and THEN, we'll have a big SAND pit that they fall into..."

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  12. Crabby, you find the best things to link to. I have to admit I played with the dog, maybe a bit too long.

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  13. I think that I just sent everyone I know the link to the cow. Soooo funny....

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  14. Good morning Crabby,

    I read this yesterday and immediately went out and bought a pound of Boars Head bologna.

    Of course I ate it with lettuce!

    Nitrate--nitrite, to may toe--to mah toe. Whatever!

    Terrie

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  15. It's very hard to maintain my ornery mood when you post things like the cow link!

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  16. Sheesh - the one here that actually has cows can't even get the cow link to work!! Damn dial-up!!

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  17. No offense, but I did a double take at the "tray" photo, looks like a happy meal with Hitler Youth... khakis and ties... and where are the parents??? What the heck is up with that???! LOL!
    (Not that Hitler per se was EVER funny...)

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  18. Thanks all, for dropping by and adding your great comments to the Friday silliness!

    I'd try to have something coherent to say down here but I just exhausted myself responding to Teen Sex Comments above -- somehow the leap from teen fwomping to Nazi Youth to Japanese game shows to bologna to Cow Abductions is too much for my tiny brain to handle on a Sunday morning! So I'll just leave it at thanks!

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