Disc golfing for exercise

Over a year ago I discovered disc golfing at a local park here in Bloomington and have been impressed by the sport. It's much more physical than golf, getting one out and walking in a park or down hiking trails, and it's much more eco-friendly in that the playing course does not need watering and much extra care. In comparison to the golf, it is much more of a working-class sport - the very opposite of uppity. The only cost is that of the discs; most of the courses, around 87% says Wikipedia, are free. Even better, the courses use the natural environment for obstacles and don't look so aesthetically false like in golf.

Here are some related links to the sport:
Wikipedia Entry

The picture above is a course I found difficult in Eureka, Illinois, which on many fairways was like throwing down a forested hiking trail. The courses here Bloomington, while having trees, are more open.

Sugar is the main culprit

A recent study, published in our local paper the Pantagraph, supports Gary Taubes' contention that sugar is a major culprit for hypertension. It focuses on this link only, not purporting to support Taubes' other claims that sugar is the cause of higher cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, possibly Alzheimer's, or as Taubes puts it, practically all the major diseases of modern civilization.

Nutrition websites

Every time I want to look up information on the nutritional value of a food, a quick search results in a website that provides such information on every food imaginable. Recently, because I have to justify adding radishes to my salad (being not that fond of them), I found comprehensive information on this vegetable on the website NutritionData.com. I thought that a worthwhile project would be to investigate these websites, their pros and cons, and see which ones I prefer and which ones might be good to avoid. Below is a list of such sites; in the future I'll include reviews.

Nutrition Data

Winter is over and allergies begin again

I hate winter cold, but the one benefit winter brings to my life is a long break from allergies. Yesterday, being the first nice day of March, my wife and I did some yard work, and today my allergies are back with a vengeance. Awhile back I bought masks to wear during yardwork, but I'm sceptical they actually will do some good and so have failed to wear them most times. Well, today I'm convinced that I need to do something about these allergies! In the future I'll be doing some experimenting with wearing the mask and will report on my blog what I find out. Another strategy I have, and didn't follow yesterday, is taking a shower immediately after yard work to remove dirt and pollen from your hair and body.

Dr. Gabor Mate

I watched Amy Goodman interview Dr. Gabor Mate yesterday (2/3/2001) and was very impressed by Dr. Mate's analysis of addiction and other "disorders" of the mind as environmentally induced. His book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts is most definitely on my reading list.

Is diet soda bad for you?

This question has been on my mind for awhile now. Searching the web for an answer, I easily found this typical response of the "experts", this one written by Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., that says 1 to 2 cans of diet drink a day shouldn't harm most people. Immediately after, though, she further qualifies her position, relating that some studies are suggesting that diet drinks increase your risk of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. Huh? She then say it is preferable to go with healthier alternatives. Why?...If the diet drinks aren't that harmful?

Searching a myriad of other websites, skeptics counter with possible problems with diet drinks: the possible effect of sweeteners on our metabolism, bringing us to eat more sweets and food in general; studies that have linked aspartame to cancer in lab rats; the acid in diet drinks harms are teeth; and drinking too much diet drink crowds out water intake.

My own position on the issue is expressed best by Wes Jackson's idea that we adopt "an ignorance-based worldview." Jackson argues that we should always assume that we are more ignorant than knowledgeable on an issue, which would lead me to suppose that we might not know the negative effects of aspartame and other sweeteners because they haven't yet been discovered by scientists. Mainstream doctors and nutritionists always declare the safety of engineered chemicals because studies haven't found problems with them. But I think we should assume these chemicals are problematic, especially if they are ultimately unnecessary and don't have any positive health benefits.

I admit that have consumed diet drinks, recently drinking 1 per day or two. For the reasons enumerated above, it is definitely time that I quit. Above all, companies such as Coke and Pepsi contribute to environmental unsustainability and have a long history of oppressing workers. In Colombia, Coke has been in league with death squads. If not for my own health, I should quit drinking diet drinks for the health of others.

Long winter illnesses

It seems like I get sick at least once a month in the winter. Recuperating from my most recent illness, I listed a number of questions regarding the common cold that I've had for some time, including:
Can a person be sick too frequently? What would be abnormal in terms of illness frequency?
Why do my colds last a full week, sometimes two weeks, when as a child they lasted a day?
How long should a person stay away from work when sick?

In doing some casual research on WebMD, I did find that an answer to the question regarding children. It happens to be the case that children suffer illness for much shorter durations. And their sicknesses tend to be much less severe, which means that they tend to not stay home and end up spreading illness. I found this claim to confirm with my own experience in childhood and adulthood. As a child, my illness rarely lasted two days, most often they ran their course in a day. Now, when I get a cold, I'm sick for at least 4 days, most often for a week, and sometimes for two weeks. These longer illnesses in adulthood have caused me to be extremely careful to not contract illnesses, almost paranoid. Perhaps working in a school is the culprit!

Health care insurance is a racket

I have health insurance through my employer, a benefit that is supposed to help me when I have legitimate reasons to see a health care provider. Well, just this past fall I had issues with a rotator cuff injury that I'm just getting over. I saw a physical therapist for the injury, thinking that the expert advice he could offer would be worth the visit. Now that I've been to the therapist, a ***** from Healthcare Recoveries, a subsidiary of Trovers Inc., insists that I call her to speak of my treatment. From my brief time researching online, I determined that Trovers is in the business of getting back money for the health insurance companies, in my case, Blue Cross Blue Shield. Some of what they do is try to get the auto insurance companies, in case of auto accidents, or workmen's comp to pay for health care bills. But last time I called a company like this one, they were clearly fishing around for a pre-existing condition. Regardless, it is the insurance companies and parasites like Trovers, Inc. that are the problem with our health system.

I'm sick of these jokers. To get harassed every time I seek health care? This kind of administrative waste is exactly why we need a single-payer system.

Worried about hair loss? My experience with Minoxidil

Just two years ago in 2007 I noticed that I had a considerable amount of hair loss near the front of my hairline. The receding was significant half-way back from the front of my bangs, leaving a large tuft of hair in the center. Since my father is bald, and a slew of uncles as well, it was the moment of truth I was waiting for and I wasn't all too pleased. I decided to arrest the balding by using minoxidil, the drug behind Rogaine. Back in the 1990s, when Rogaine first came out, it cost around $50 a month. But today, due to the entrance of generics in the market, the brand Rogaine costs around a third of its original price and the generics much less. Now that it was affordable, I saw no reason not to give it a try.

In my case, there was a reason not to use Rogaine or one of its generics, however. The literature says that it isn't FDA-approved for use on a receding hairline in the front, only for pattern baldness at the crown. However, I tried it for my frontal receding hairline for over a year, perhaps almost two years, and thought that it had increased my hair density significantly. I was confirmed of that view when I stopped using it this year and I experienced significant hair loss again in the same frontal region. I'm convinced that the stuff works anywhere on the scalp, but if it works, why did I stop?

There was one side effect of minoxidil that I found very annoying, besides the pain of having to apply this greasy liquid to your scalp twice a day. The worst was the dandruff flaking caused by the product. I'm convinced that the flaking was caused by the scalp becoming more "fertile" and able to grow hair, but with the amount of flaking produced, I'd preferred at times to go bald! I also have a theory that people who use more medicines and chemicals in their lives, even if they are given the green light by the FDA, are increasing their risk of cancer and other diseases. The FDA isn't perfect, and some dangerous products could get approved. The more you use, the higher the risk. Minoxidil is a lifestyle drug, and it felt strange applying to you scalp this greasy chemical that causes dandruff. It just didn't seem worth taking any risks. I stopped using it, trying to come to terms with baldness by buying hats and devising a new, shorter haircut. But, now that the baldness is coming back, I'm not sure if I've come to terms. Do I really want to go back to the grease and the dandruff? No.... time to come to terms with vanity, get a new haircut and buy some more hats.

Ditto on the last post

Whoa, I'm way off my diet and I'm blaming Thanksgiving. My willpower crumbled as all sorts of dishes and desserts were shoved in front of my face. Now, meaning right now, I need to get back on track! The only problem is that eating habits are acquired by practice and right now I'm out of practice.

Back on the routine

Sometimes you need to reconfirm your commitments and redouble your efforts. Yesterday I noticed in the mirror that I might've gained a little weight, with a little extra padding around the mid-section. Lately I've been cheating here and there on my diet and missing a few workouts due to illness. I'm energized, though, in starting again. What was gained is not that much and can easily be taken off.

The role of exercise in losing weight

I'm still trying to digest this article on exercise and weight-loss in the New York Times. It confirms my own experience in losing weight, namely that diet is far more crucial in losing weight than exercise. Also according with my experience is the role exercise can play in maintaining a reduced weight. Something new for me, however, was the advice that exercise be somewhat leisurely if weight-loss is the goal.

Measuring girth

I've discovered that the easiest way for a guy to tell if he's gaining weight is to buy jeans that fit him perfectly, and then monitor over time if the jeans are getting too snug or loose. Just this past week or so, unfortunately, I've noticed that my new jeans, bought two months ago, are definitely starting to get a little snug. I was so happy to get down to a 31 waist size, but now I could stand to have a 32 at least. Looks like I need to cut out the extra carbs and sugar and the late-night beer once in awhile!

Am I getting enough sleep?

Getting enough sleep is always a problem for me. I love to stay up late, sometimes squeezing some late night time for myself before I have to go to sleep and then wake up the next day for the daily grind. Lately, though, I've realized that I might be getting enough sleep at around 7 hours per night. For whatever reason, 8 hours has always been the magic number for me, but this WebMD article says that the average is 7 to 8 hours. To test what works best, I might record my sleep hours and how I feel in my exercise journal and then analyze the results.

Harvest time is here again in Central IL

I was told just 2 days ago, by a Bloomington friend, that harvest season began here a week ago. He mentioned it because some people have claimed that the corn fields are the source of all the aphids in town, as they get dislodged from the fields and head to town in search for trees to mate. He was also pleasantly surprised that his allergies haven't kicked in, which up till that time, was true for me as well. But, since we've talked, my morning allergies have definitely gotten worse. Not as bad as last year, that's for sure, when I couldn't tell if I were sick or suffering from allergies for an entire 3 months! But, still, I gotta hunker down. My plan? Stay away from grass and weeds (no disc golf!), a daily dose of Zyrtec, a daily dose of locally produced honey, and hope.

Difficulties diagnosing injuries of the shoulder

It must be difficult to diagnose shoulder injuries. At first I was diagnosed with having rotary cuff tendinitis. Then, after a more in-depth evaluation, the verdict was deltoid tendinitis, a less severe injury than those associated with the rotary cuff. Now, after yet another evaluation, my therapist says that the deltoid tendinitis judgment was mistaken. It's rotary cuff. Whatever it is, I have to say that it's feeling better today, after two weeks of treatment and laying off the weights.

Car-free living diary

I'm believe very fervently that the automobile has degraded our lives, and our health, and that the more we can divorce ourselves from its use, the better our lives will become. The car not only pollutes the environment, directly impacting the health of our lungs, it also makes us lazy, reducing the amount of exercise we get in a day. Also, driving cars is aesthetically unappealing. By walking or riding bicycles, we are much more likely to enjoy our surroundings, take notice of the beauty around us or complain if it is unattractive (I'm thinking here of the terrible monotony of strip-mall, highways underpasses, the concrete jungle that largely gets ignored speeding down the street with the stereo cranked up). For me, it a quality of life issue, for which reason I'm going to record the number of car miles driven per month with the goal of decreasing my car usage. Eventually I'll record my bike miles as well. Just so you know, however, my car use might increase slightly in the months ahead as we head into winter and increase my regional Illinois activism.

August miles: 175 miles (record)

No health risk posed by aphids

With the swarms of annoying aphids in Bloomington-Normal nowadays, we can feel content at least that they pose no health risks. The Pantagraph reported recently that the aphids do not pose a risk to humans. The only problem they pose is to gardens and plants.

Exercise for the glutes

I've seen many times at the gym a stability ball used for gluteus maximus strengthening, and have been thinking lately that I need some strengthening in that area. This site offers the glute stability ball exercise I've seen, with good instructions on how to perform the exercise.

When enough is enough

With my recent experience of needing physical therapy, due to my deltoid tendinitis, and my excruciatingly painful back problem in February, it is more than clear to me now that I need to listen to my body when it feels pain! Both problems were caused by exercising when injured, making a bad situation much worse. My deltoid tendinitis is slowly getting better, but now I worry that I may have permanently damaged the tendon that connects the deltoid to the lower arm, making for a chronic condition. My doctor claims that deltoid tendinitis usually doesn't become chronic, turning into tendonoses (a condition wherein the tendon actually changes in consistency, becoming more brittle and liable to fraying), as does rotator cuff tendinitis. But he did say that it might never feel 100%. Oh well, all I can do is hope it gets better. Maybe weightlifting is no longer a possible exercise for me.