The Pizza Diet, Size Issues, and Making a Change

It has come to our attention that supplies of cynicism are at an all-time low in many states around the country, and countries around the world. So this seems like a good time to run these studies past you. Besides, the really Deep & Serious post I was working on has gotten too deep and too serious. Thursdays require some levity.

The Red Wine & Pizza Diet

I'd hate for this to be the only blog that doesn't mention this new study.

A team of scientists at the University of Louis Pasteur claim to have discovered a drug SIRT1 that counteracts "some effects of a high-calorie diet." Chemically related to components found in red wine, this drug shifts the metabolism to "fat-burning mode" without side effects.

In mice, at any rate, it can prevent weight gain and improve blood sugar tolerance as well as insulin sensitivity. In other words, these mice can pig out on the Red-Wine-and-Pizza-Palooza diet without gaining weight.

Photo: Lulu

Is it too late to change my species to Mouse?

Who says size doesn't matter?

In a study of 7,000 women carried out by the University of Hawaii and published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 92 per cent of those who were overweight had slept with a man, as compared to 87 per cent of women of "normal" size.

Is that the truth? The whole Truth? Nothing but the truth?

Honestly, if some researcher came up to me and asked about my sex life, regardless of what size I was, I'd want to know either a)what she was smokin' or b)what she intended to pay me to talk about something that's none of her business. I certainly wouldn't feel it was my duty to tell her the absolute, strict, hand-on-the-Bible truth. Plus, being easily distracted/amused, I was distracted and amused by the fact that the main researcher's first name was 'Bliss.' (Never said I was deep & profound, okay?)

Okay, any parents out there, listen up. Be aware that what you name your child may affect her or his career decades later.

Want to make a difference? Register and maybe save a life

On a much more serious note, if you’re feeling altruistic you should know that November is Marrow Awareness Month in America. Anyone who donates at the National Marrow Donor Program can do so for free.

Apparently in many other countries, registration is free. In America it usually costs about $50. (The cost is to cover the process of tissue typing your sample.) To register as a bone marrow donor, you need to fill out a questionnaire, swab your cheek with a cotton swab, and mail the swab in to the donor program. (They provide a kit for swabbing.)

Being a bone marrow donor can save the life of someone suffering from leukemia and similar ailments. A lot of people are talking about Change right now. If you want to make a change, that's one way to do it. I'm going for it.

Do you see any reason not to become a bone marrow donor? Or are you still mulling over the wine-and-pizza diet, and the women of varying sizes?