Super Corvette: The Corvette ZR1

The Corvette ZR-1 at the Geneva Auto Show

And I thought the ZO-6 was just the end all be all, and along comes the fastest, baddest corvette ever produced at the factory.

While the base Corvette has 435 hp and the ZO-6 has about 505 horses, this latest version will have over 600 horses. Wow. By comparison my 1978 Vette had about 235 horses from the factory and was considered the fastest production car that year, edging the Porsche 911 with a top end of about 135-140 MPH.

Certainly GM is attempting to focus attention back on the Vette after some higher performance Mustangs and Vipers got too close for comfort to this bow tie legends title of fastest car in America.

The ZO-6 is itself a very special car, with a 7 L light weight engine that is hand assembled by one person and gets an amazing 25 MPG highway, to a special aluminium frame, carbon fiber fenders that weigh 3 lbs and a transmission mounted near the rear tires to maintain a near perfect front to rear weight balance. The ZO-6 also does not have an oil pan, it has a dry sump that continuously circulates the oil, even against high G forces, like a race car.Which it is, with a top end near 195 MPH

I'm sure this new ZR-1 has all these tricks and more. Wow.

Not a car that preserves your CO2 credits, but they will only make 2000 of them a year.

Hey, a guy can dream right?

Natural Cleaners for your home

I talk a lot about nutrition, which is important obviously, but there are other sources of unhealthy substances besides the chemical laden, over processed foods we eat:

Household cleaners.

So here are a few tips to try to eliminate some of these.

Cleaning Your Home Naturally

The cleaner your home is, the unhealthier it may be, because of toxic cleaning products made from petroleum-based chemicals. Many of these commercial cleaning products contain dangerous chemicals that are not listed on the label. A manufacturer can omit any ingredient that is considered a secret formula from its label, and many of these secret ingredients are toxic and carcinogenic. Beware that many cleaning products are now saying they are “Green” or “Eco Friendly,” and are now on the Green bandwagon.You can reduce your chemical exposure by eliminating chemicals in your home, and using only natural cleaning products that are plant based. I buy a cleaning product called BOTANIC GOLD it is totally organic and biodegradable and nontoxic go here to take a look!

http://www.symmetrydirect.com/USA/products/BGconvkit.htm.

Even though they are more expensive up front, they are more concentrated so they last longer, and worth it because they are safe.

Another alternative is to make your own natural cleaning products. Using homemade natural cleaning products makes “cents,” because it is cheaper, healthier and non-toxic, and it is fun.

Learn More...
To clean with natural products all you need is:
Baking soda
Vinegar
Borax
Hydrogen peroxide
Liquid castile soap
Organic essential oils (optional)
Mixing bowls
Spray bottles
Micro fiber cloths
Vodka (optional)

Baking Soda is great to scrub your bath and kitchen. Put it in a glass grated cheese container with a stainless steel top that has holes in it, and just sprinkle the baking soda on the surfaces and scrub. You may add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to this. Lavender and tea tree oil have anti-bacterial qualities. Baking soda mixed with apple cider vinegar is a bubbly combination that has many uses. As a drain cleaner, sprinkle baking soda down the drain then add apple cider vinegar and let it bubble for 15 minutes, then rinse with hot water. This is a safer alternative to dangerous drain cleaners. Baking soda and apple cider make a wonderful spa-like bath for soaking away aches and pains and detoxing. It also cleans the tub and the drain. Baking soda can also be used as a fabric softener in your laundry.

To polish silver, instead of using toxic silver polish, fill your kitchen sink with hot water, add a sheet of aluminum foil and baking soda, and let the silver pieces soak until clean. It is an easy and fun way to clean silver.
Vinegar can clean almost anything in your house; you can add liquid castile soap, essential oil (optional), and filtered water, then clean floors, windows, bath, kitchen, etc. Vinegar can also be used as a fabric softener. Never use dryer sheets -- they are toxic too. In the laundry, use vinegar in the wash cycle to prevent fabrics from fading.
Commercial window cleaners contain butyl cellosolve -- a toxic ingredient that is not listed on the labels, so vinegar and water is much safer. Use a micro fabric cloth, not newspaper, which contains toxic dyes.
Borax is a good laundry booster and cleaner (it can even remove mold) -- and is safe and non-toxic.
Hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant, and is safer to use than chlorine bleach for disinfecting and whitening. Lemon juice is also a natural whitener.
Liquid Castile Soaps can be found in health food stores and are safer than commercial liquid cleaning products.
Organic essential oils may be used in homemade cleaning products depending on your personal preference and tolerance to these scents. Never use synthetic fragrances or air cleaners.
Commercial fabric refreshers also contain dangerous chemicals, therefore, use vodka in a spray bottle to freshen up chairs and upholstery. The vodka is cheaper, non-toxic and the alcohol evaporates, and is not harmful. The alcohol in hand sanitizers is harmful, however, and should not be used on children since the alcohol absorbs into your body via your skin. Therefore, use only hand sanitizers that are plant based from the health food store, or just good old soap and water.
Making your own natural cleaning products is rewarding and fun, and you can use the natural scents that you prefer while ensuring that your home is safe from dangerous chemicals that are harmful to your, and your family’s, health.

Paper or Plastic Sir?

There's a question I hear a lot a the local Grocery. We all want to minimize our ecological "footsteps" but which one do we pick? Well this article got me thinking.

Whole Foods to Stop Use of Plastic Bags
The Whole Foods grocery chain plans to stop offering customers plastic grocery bags, and instead use only recycled paper or reusable bags.
A rising number of governments and retailers are banning plastic bags, or discouraging their use, due to concerns about their environmental impact.
Whole Foods had previously tried to get customers to buy reusable bags, but the concept did not catch on until they began offering them for 99 cents.
Whole Foods officials estimate that the store currently distributes 150 million plastic bags a year.
Plastic bags are typically thrown away after one use, do not break down easily in the environment, fill landfills, and float into trees, rooftops, roadways and oceans.
Sources:
New York Times January 23, 2008

Now I am not a big fan of Whole Foods and the entire "aura" that one is helping the environment in any way shape or form when one shops there. It's been well proven that this company gives nothing more than LIP SERVICE to supporting local food producers and they ship asparagus from Venuzulea, and grass fed beef from Australia, I mean lets get real this is OHIO if you cannot find grass fed beef here... where can you find it?
But that is another issue.

Plastic pollution causes more than 1 million seabirds, 100,000 marine mammals, and even more fish to die in the North Pacific alone, every year.
The problem is so bad that a plastic “stew,” twice the size of Texas has formed on the Pacific Ocean. Scientists have dubbed the mass of floating plastic trash the “Eastern Garbage Patch,” and its volume is growing at an alarming pace. Even more shocking: when researchers tested the water of the Pacific Ocean, they found it contained six times as much plastic as plankton, by weight! It’s not just marine animals that are poisoned by all these stray plastic bags. You too (and your breast fed baby) are ingesting plastics every day through the food chain. It’s a hazardous mix of chemicals and additives, such as:
Cancer-causing PFOAs
PBDEs which cause reproductive problems
Phthalates; another group of reproductive toxins
BPA, which disrupts the endocrine system by mimicking the female hormone estrogen
The end result of breathing, eating, drinking and absorbing all of this plastic includes obesity, declining fertility rates and other reproductive problems, and cancer, just to name a few.
Sobering Statistics on Our Use of Plastic
The statistics on our use of plastic bags world-wide are truly staggering. For example, did you know that:
Between 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide annually. That’s more than one million bags PER MINUTE!!
U.S. consumers use more than 380 billion plastic bags annually
Taiwan consumes about 20 billion bags a year, or 900 per person annually
Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year, or 326 per person
Ireland consumes about 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person
Of these billions of plastic bags:
Only 1 to 7 percent are recycled
It takes 1,000 years for polyethylene bags to break down
During that 1,000 years of photodegradation, toxic substances leach into the soil and enter the food chain
According to the BBC, windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that cottage industry groups are now harvesting about 30,000 bags each per month, which they use to weave bags and hats.
And, plastic bag litter can now be found as far north as Spitsbergen (78° North latitude), and as far south as the Falklands (51° South latitude).
Why Switching to Paper is FAR From the Best Solution
While switching to paper might appear to be better than sticking with plastic, paper also, unfortunately, comes at a very high price to your environment, and your health. In fact, they’re roughly equal in their number of pros and cons. For example:
Producing a paper bag requires more than four times as much energy than it does to produce a plastic bag. A plastic bag uses 594 BTUs, compared to a paper bag, which uses 2511 BTUs during the manufacturing process.(Source: 1989 Plastic Recycling Directory, Society of Plastics Industry.)
The majority of paper comes from tree pulp, so naturally the impact in the form of deforestation is enormous. In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year alone. In fact, paper bag production delivers a detrimental double-whammy as forests (major absorbers of greenhouse gases) are cut down, combined with the actual manufacturing process of the bags, which produces toxic greenhouse gases, acid rain, and water pollution.
Although paper bags have a higher recycling rate than plastic, only 10 to 15 percent of paper bags are recycled. And, making matters even less attractive, it takes 91 percent LESS energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper.
Last but not least, current research indicates that paper does not degrade at a substantially faster rate than plastic once it’s in a landfill. This is because virtually nothing degrades completely in modern landfills due to lack of water, light, oxygen and other factors necessary for successful degradation.

What’s the Answer? At the end of the day, your best option to ensure a cleaner environment and better health for both man and beast is to use reusable, cloth shopping bags.
I read an article a few weeks ago about how one country put a 35 cent fee on ALL plastic bags. They did not ban or make them illegal, anyone could still purchase them, BUT this simple act done six years ago virtually eliminated the use of plastic bags in their country.

Plastic bags may seem like an insignificant issue but they certainly add up over time and this is clearly one area where you can have a dramatic impact if you encourage your friends, family and neighbors to follow your lead

Thrift shop finds, edition 2

I found this amazing crystal ice bucket for a pittance at a thrift shop my antiques habit causes me to frequent. It is a trophy for a golf tourney at America's oldest golf course Oakhurst, near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. A unique piece of golf memorabilia.

I gave it to my daughter to put on Ebay, you can see it or even bid on it, just click the link!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESEX:IT&item=150218956995&_trksid=p3984.cSELL.m315.lVI

Heres a little history I found on Oakhurst golf Course. Oh, and no I don't golf anymore. No I don't think thats a violation of the Hipocratic oath.

Quite simply, Oakhurst Links in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., belongs on every serious player's list of must-make pilgrimages. Founded in 1884, it's the oldest golf club in the United States, predating the U.S. Golf Association, or USGA, and its charter clubs by a decade, and thus stands as the birthplace of American golf.

Oldest American golf club lives on
Spying the eighth green of Oakhurst Links, a golfer prepares to hit an approach shot when his concentration is interrupted.
Sheep. Dozens of them meandering across a fairway in search of food, mowing the grass the way it was done here a century ago.
Like the replica hickory clubs, sand-and-water tee boxes and balls made from tree sap, the sheep are part of the attraction at the birthplace of American golf.
"Anybody who wants to know about the history of the game, it's a treasure," said Jay Harris, a High Point, N.C., dentist who won a two-day national tournament at Oakhurst in July.
Those hoping to fine-tune their swing or soak in golf's modern comforts will have to go six miles to the west to the posh Greenbrier resort and its three championship courses.
At Oakhurst, the enjoyment comes from discovering firsthand how the game was played before steel, graphite and titanium.
It is shuffling from wall to wall and room to room of the museum during a personal narrated tour. Or talking over coffee or lemonade in the clubhouse with owner Lewis Keller, who volunteers a story upon the summons of a visitor to any hanging photo.
It is holding a replica 19th century driver, with a suede grip, ram's horn protecting the curved wooden face, and the hickory shaft bowing ever slightly from the force of a swing. Or learning how gutta-percha balls are made in molds from the sap of the sapodilla tree.
And it is stepping up to a tee box and, in the 1880s tradition, mixing sand and water from separate buckets to form a tiny mound on which to place the ball.
Education wasn't on his agenda when Jason Lampe arrived recently with his mom and brother. Grip-and-rip was.
The Pittsburgh natives were on a five-day golf trip through West Virginia. Their original destination, The Greenbrier, was booked and they found the short, nine-hole Oakhurst course by accident.
Or was it destiny?
"There really are no accidents," said Lampe, 25. "It was fun. It was well worth the trip. It gives you an idea of how golf evolved."
Oakhurst was first owned by Russell Montague, who became addicted to golf while studying in Great Britain.
In 1878, his doctor advised him to move from Boston to a healthier climate. Montague chose White Sulphur Springs, in part upon hearing stories of its so-called healing waters.
Montague and a small group of colleagues built the course and held the first golf competition around 1884 in the Scottish match play tradition, predating by a few years the St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, N.Y.
But Montague and most of the original members eventually moved away. Play on the course stopped after 1910. Montague's son, Cary, would return to the estate to live. But the course faded.
In the early 1950s, golf pro Sam Snead, who lived just across the Virginia border, became friends with Keller and told him about Oakhurst. A New York native, Keller bought the property from Cary Montague in 1959 to use as a summer retreat and raise horses.
An avid golfer, Keller would knock a golf ball around the pastures with his sons and occasionally find reminders of yesteryear: A gutta-percha ball, and a cup still imbedded in what was once the No. 8 green.
Keller had a vision about restoring the course, but it wasn't until some coaxing from golf writer Dick Taylor that he got the nerve to act. Golf designer Bob Cupp heard about the course and stepped forward to volunteer with the restoration.
Using newspaper and magazine clippings and course photos as guides, work started in 1991. It was done by hand.
"We never altered this terrain since the day I bought it and the day Mr. Montague played golf here," Keller said. "It's the same golf course they played in 1884."
The 2,235-yard course reopened in October 1994. The longest hole is 356 yards and the shortest is 106. Keller's best round is a 37, the course record.

An end of Innocence..

An Army UH-60 helicopter like those used in Korea and all around the world

It was winter in Korea 1992 and, like an episode of MASH, it was a cold one. I was stationed on a small base that had army aviation assets and artillery assets. We shared a troop medical clinic that took care of all the troops on base about 2000 or so. We had two docs on base. I was assigned to a military unit, the aviation brigade and took care of pilots, while the other doc was assigned to the medical command and wore a second hat as artillery doc. Not that it mattered, we all took care of all the soldiers to support the Army mission. We shared weekend call and saw anyone who needed to be seen at anytime.
One Saturday I was called to see a soldier complaining of severe foot pain. He was brought in from the field where the Artillery was out on maneuvers. Upon examining him it was obvious to both of us that he had a cold injury.
He didn't want to come in from the field as that was seen as a serious sign of weakness by soldiers, but the kid couldn't feel his feet.
He still has pulses and had no definitive skin changes but his pain and numbness and mild circulation changes persisted well after warming and we would find out later, persisted for months.
It was the tip of the iceberg. I saw ten more soldiers that day with varying degrees of cold injury.
No frank frostbite, yet. But what was coming? I made some calls to the medical command, but who I really needed to talk to was the unit command. Were they aware? What was being dome to prevent this? What were the options to protect these injured soldiers?
Well I guess I hadn't truly realized what kind of trouble I was opening up. Commanders are responsible for the health of their command so I was actually indirectly making accusations against the command of soldier abuse and it runs all the way up to the Head guy of the unit its called accountability and the army preaches it.
It runs up AND down a command from top to bottom.
Well the story emerging from these injured artillery types was clear. They were all from one company and their young company commander had made some decisions to try to get a jump on the mission that was given because he was being graded, and that grade went on his officer evaluation and that evaluation decides when and if he gets promoted.
So he decided not to set up camp because he wanted to be mobile, to react to the fire missions sent his way. He didn't want to set up tents and stoves because they slowed him down so the troops slept in their tracked artillery.
Well they don't have proper heat, they don't have food and water and troops in the field need warming periods and feeding periods. This wasn't war it was peacetime and training injuries are hard to justify.
Well the crap hit the fan.
I walked into the troop clinic the next morning on a Sunday and into a full house. "Damn" I remember thinking, "a party at my clinic and I was not invited?"
A Colonel was seeing soldiers. The same soldiers I saw the day before. I was perplexed.
Until I saw the medical records.
The doctor seeing my soldiers was the division surgeon, and he was systematically downgrading all those injuries to non-reportable milder forms of cold injury.
He then proceeded, after introductions ( I had been in country 6 months and had never met this man, as he was NOT in my chain of command nor was he of any use to anyone ) to lecture me on cold injury.
He was attempting to justify his actions.
It was clear that he had bowed to pressure from the artillery higher command to cover up
what was going on.

And in the process he was hanging my ass out in the wind.
It was like an episode of MASH all right, The Valiant doctors fighting the army machine fighting for what was right, except the idealistic Hawkeye Pierce didn't win this one.
I was outgunned on this one. This man was three ranks above me but I told him what I thought of his actions that day.
I guess I just assumed that he would be subjective on his medical evaluations of those injured soldiers and do the right thing to protect them from a company commander that was more concerned about being promoted than taking care of his men.
I guess I learned the real army way. Discipline and rules tend to flow DOWNSTREAM, upstream...not so much.
He knew and I knew that he had no real influence over me as I was not in his chain of command.
Although he was charged with evaluating my medical performance at the end of the year.
He gave me a glowing evaluation. Guilt I suppose.
If you are reading this Col. Boehm, kiss my butt!

The Real Scandal at the FDA

Members of Congress and the press are working up another panic about the state of the Food and Drug Administration. The place is a mess all right, but as usual the most alarming news is receiving almost no attention.
Washington is responding to a series of investigations concluding that the FDA cannot "adequately" monitor America's food supply and medical products. One of the FDA's outside advisory panels, the Science Board, reports that the agency is in "a precarious position," in part because it is chronically underfunded. The Government Accountability Office chimes in that, at the FDA's current pace, it would take 13 years to inspect every foreign drug plant exporting to the U.S. and 1,900 years to inspect every overseas food factory.
That last factoid may be true, or not, but it does raise the question of whether such a crackdown is possible, never mind desirable. Monitoring 100% of foreign imports -- or 10%, or whatever -- would be so onerous that it might as well be a ban. Yet lapses like adulterated Chinese toothpaste are exceedingly rare, mainly because companies have every incentive to police themselves. (Ask Mattel about its toy import nightmare.)
Still, it's generally agreed that the FDA could use more cash, and the White House's 2009 budget requests a 5.7% increase.
But what no one reports is that the Science Board says these shortfalls crop up because Congress hasn't increased FDA funding in proportion to its burgeoning regulatory demands. Over the last two decades, Congress has expanded the FDA's reach more than 127 times; it now oversees about 25 cents of every dollar spent in the U.S.
Amazing, its not all about drugs is it?
The Science Board's most important, and distressing, finding is that the FDA bureaucracy "cannot even keep up with the advances in science" -- and not solely due to a lack of funding. While "the world of drug discovery and development has undergone revolutionary change," the authors write, the FDA's "evaluation methods have remained largely unchanged over the last half-century."
Think about that: We live amid a revolution in biology, but the FDA still thinks like it did when Sputnik launched.
The observation comes on page three, which leads us to suspect that Congress's hand-wringers haven't even read the study. Here's a refresher: "The mission of getting safe and effective drugs to patients in a timely manner is currently threatened by inadequate expertise and capabilities," the Science Board notes.
Particularly in complex and specialized fields like genomics and biotechnology medicine, the FDA lacks the basic competence "to understand the impact of product use, to maintain ongoing currency with their evolution or to evaluate the sophisticated products produced" and "to support innovation in the industries and markets that it regulates."
The Science Board authors propose that the FDA "modernize current regulatory pathways," especially the narrowness with which it balances risk and benefit for the most promising new therapies before they are allowed to reach the public.
The FDA uses rigid statistical techniques to evaluate developmental drugs, even when the lives of terminally ill patients are at stake. Many advanced immunotherapies for cancer, for instance, are held hostage to the FDA's old models, which still insist on crude mortality rates and the large average effects detected in clinical trials. Better metrics would include improving the quality of life or slowing the progression of tumors, or focusing on targeted populations. The Science Board says that "there is an urgent need for developing . . . new statistical methods that are most appropriate for the data generated by new areas of science."
Take Junovan, a medicine for a rare pediatric bone cancer. Junovan's successes in a clinical trial were "only" demonstrated with a 94% level of statistical certainty, instead of the FDA-mandated 95%. Avastin, a revolutionary biologic currently used against lung and colorectal cancers, also looks like it will get a thumbs-down as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer. While the evidence shows that patients lived longer before their symptoms got worse, they didn't live longer on average. Refusing to consider "progression-free survival" as a drug benefit is not only unscientific, but morally hideous. Or maybe the FDA is bowing to pressure from insurance companies that don't want to have to pay for expensive new therapies?
The real scandal is that these policies are the product of the FDA's institutional culture, which puts political incentives and bureaucratic procedure above patient results. Congress and the press could do some good if they investigated that problem, but it's so much easier to say, "spend more money."
Perhaps that's why the Science Board ends on a mordant, but all too accurate, note: "Finding: Recommendations of excellent FDA reviews are seldom followed."
This is why I often just BRISTLE when I see surveys about national ranking of quality of care.
Its not just the healthcare that is provided. It's the population its provided on AND the system in which it is provided.
Doc

A Broken Heart on Valentine's Day

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

DON"T TAKE ANTIBIOTICS UNLESS YOU NEED THEM!

Doctors in Britain will soon be told to stop prescribing antibiotics for coughs, colds and sore throats. Overuse of the drugs is fueling the spread of deadly antibiotic-resistant super bugs. A new government program aims to diminish the use of the drugs.

Most colds, coughs and flu are caused by viruses, which cannot be treated with antibiotics since antibiotics only work on bacteria.

Overuse of antibiotics has been blamed for the rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis. If antibiotic use is not curbed, doctors could run out of effective treatment for some diseases.

Sources:
The Telegraph January 9, 2008


My daughter recently had one heck of a viral illness that laid her out for 5 days. Muscle aches, sore throat, fever, cough eventually leading to bronchitis and a very scary episode of shortness of breath ( DAD... gasp,.. I can't.. gasp breath!) and severe upper respiratory congestion.
I called the local pharmacist who is a good friend of mine and he set me up with a powerful decongestant and a bronchodilating syrup. I easily could have gotten an antibiotic but chose not to.
I did take her to the doctor's office the next day just to get another set of eyes on her. (you know the saying about the man who represents himself having a fool for a lawyer? Well it applies to docs too)
Well her exam was basically normal as he confirmed, I had looked her over myself several times. BUT THE DOC OFFERED US AN ANTIBIOTIC! Come on Docs, IF the exam screams VIRAL just be available if we get worse and call in the antibiotic. Tell us what the options are. Explain why that Z-pack is overkill.

In my career I have seen at least three antibiotics become essentially useless. We have to do better and we as patients have to do better also.
Now I realize it's easier for me as a physician to keep my eye on these things, but with basic common sense and a trusting relationship with a doc that shares your philosophy you too can help eliminate uneeded antibiotic use.

Just don't assume you need an antibiotic and know that the odds are HUGE that if you have sore throat with drainage runny nose and cough that has lasted less that 7 days you have a 95% chance of the infection being caused by a virus. So don't expect an antibiotic. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. It's the doc's fault and its's YOUR fault.
I had my own practice in a small for over 10 years and I RARELY, almost NEVER, had negative interactions with patients. But the prescribing of antibiotics was often a tough topic.
If 97% of coughs and other upper respiratory infections are VIRAL, and DO NOT RESPOND to antibiotics why use them?. Because the drug rep is cute? (Don't laugh it happens)
It's a medicine with potential side effects.
Patients still often INSISTED upon antibiotics, sometimes making a scene
I am not opposed to antibiotics; they obviously do have an important use under the right circumstances. However, I do believe that well over 75 percent of the time antibiotics are prescribed, they are completely unnecessary, and even worse, cause serious side effects that are sometimes fatal. They also add to the cost of medical care best spent elsewhere to real benefit.

Additionally, this unrestrained use of antibiotics in the past has now caught up with us and led to new super-bugs, such as the drug resistant MRSA -- which is why you should never ask your doctor for antibiotics when you suffer from colds, coughs, sore throat, ear aches and flu. .

Several common antibiotic ingredients have become less effective due to the increase in drug resistant bacteria, including:

Amoxicillin
Cefaclor (used for chest infections)
Trimethoprim (used to treat urinary tract infections)

The Dangers of Antibiotic Misuse

Unnecessary use of antibiotics can also leave your body susceptible to gut infections like clostridium difficile by stripping your natural, healthy bacteria from your gut. Clostridium difficile can then take hold and might cause death in vulnerable people, especially the elderly.

By killing not only bad bacteria but also all of the good bacteria, antibiotics weaken your already compromised immune system, which can lead to all sorts of diseases and additional ailments. Antibiotics are also linked to:

Tripling the risk of asthma in babies
Increasing your breast cancer risk
Increasing your risk of allergies, including food allergies due to the alteration of the normal terrain of your intestines
The bottom line is that, more often than not, simple infections -- from ear infections to even some urinary tract infections -- clear up without a need for antibiotics, particularly if you’re eating right, exercising, and leading an overall healthy lifestyle.


Healthier Options For Common Ailments

Keeping your immune system in good working order will prevent most bugs from proliferating and causing disease in the first place. Eating a proper diet based on your nutritional type will help you do just that by keeping you in optimal health. Avoiding sugar and excesive fruit juices will also help.

Here are some other, healthier options for preventing or treating ailments that are commonly mis-prescribed with antibiotics:

Ear infections -- Avoiding pasteurized milk is one of the best proactive solutions to prevent ear infections. If your child does develop an ear infection, a simple solution is to put a few drops of breast milk in the ear canal every few hours. This usually works to clear up the infection within 24 to 48 hours and is far safer, less expensive and a better solution than putting the child on antibiotics.

Simple wounds -- As a natural antimicrobial remedy for wounds, try raw honey instead, which is a natural antimicrobial that works wonders when applied topically.

Common cold and flu – The most helpful remedy for reducing cold transmission is to wash your hands frequently with plain soap and water. Remember that antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary here as well and cause far more harm than good.
raw

Simple zinc lozenges can help speed up your recovery from a cold, if you do get one, by almost half. But perhaps one of the best tricks I ever found for treating colds and flu’s is simply putting a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in your ears.

Sinus infections – Drink hot liquids such as tea or chicken soup, and apply warm compresses to your face. Irrigating your sinuses using a nettie pot filled with a saline solution can also speed up your recovery. AND IS AMAZING FOR CHRONIC ALLERGIES sometimes leading to a patient stopping all meds! More info here>>>>>
http://www.ohiohealth.com/bodymayo.cfm?id=6&action=detail&ref=1942

If for some reason you do have to take an antibiotic, always make sure to supplement with probiotics: There is a common confusion that one should wait until finished with the antibiotic to start taking probiotics. Even though the antibiotic is killing the good bacteria, that is exactly when you need it the most. .

The daily supplement that I take and recommend has a probiotic ALREADY in it, along with many other amazing herbals designed to replace and restore your body. It comes in THREE amazing forms a powder that is easily mixed with water or your favorite drink, hi tech well absorbed tabs and A NEW READY TO DRINK LIQUID!

Check out this amazing supplement at this link. And try to avoid those antibiotics.

https://www.symmetrydirect.com/usa/products/ultra-vitality_new.htm

Have a topic you'd like to see discussed here?

Id love to hear from you all out there about topics to research and discuss! It could be anything from Carpal tunnel syndrome to lipo dissolve! just make a comment in the comment blocks at the end of the posts!
Thanks!
Doc

Lose those love handles!

I recommend a routine that incorporates exercises that will help you work your love handles (the oblique region of the torso) over time and with effort. Personally, I suggest its most successful to work the"obliques" on days you work your legs.
As with any abdominal fat loss goal, you need to concentrate on three areas to help firm your mid-section.
These are: 1) Healthy Diet (to build energy and burn fat), 2) Cardio-vascular and resistance training (to burn fat and build muscle), and 3) Targeted Abdominal exercises (to help firm the muscles under the fatty area)

* Note - you cannot target fat loss. Fat will be used as energy for your workouts and will be reduced after time performing cardio, resistance training, and eating healthy.

The number one item if you will notice is food intake. As with any fitness and health goal - nutrition and exercise are always the main ingredients to success. Neither can be missing or you will not have the energy to exercise or you will be part of the yo-yo diet crowd, buying a new diet book every year. Here is how I would break it down to get rid of those "love handles":

#1 Healthy Diet
The most important factor in acquiring washboard abs is eating a healthy diet. Here is a list of recommended healthy ways to help you lose a few inches:
- Drink at least three liters of water per day (100 oz) - Eat five servings of vegetables and fruits per day - LIMIT fried foods and cheese - LIMIT processed sugar (for example: sodas, cookies, candy) - Eliminate fatty red meat - only lean red meats (1-2 times weekly)

Diets like the Atkins and other high protein diets may help at first if you are over 50 lbs. overweight or more, but to get rid of that last 10-15 pounds, it is recommended to follow a more realistic eating plan that does not ELIMINATE any vital nutrients (such as carbs) from your diet. I do not like to endorse certain diet plans because if you eat healthy, drink plenty of water and exercise, the fat will come off too AND you will be healthier and not lose lean muscle than just dieting alone.
I do believe in a good supplement for supplemental nutrition, see my other posts on Omega 3 supplements, a great once a day mutivitamin and resveratrol for weight loss and cancer prevention.
For other food ideas, a food plan that was developed by a nutritionist see the following: Lean Down Meal Options

#2) Cardio-vascular exercise
Losing love handles (stored fat) and increasing the metabolism so you can lose weight more effectively are all tied into a consistent cardiovascular / resistance training program. The stored fat around your mid-section (for men) is typically the last to leave your body even after months or years of an exercise plan. It is difficult to lose those last few pounds. For women, the last few pounds of fat is typically stored in the hips / buttocks / thigh region.
Whether you are a man or woman, you should do 20-45 minutes of activities like walking, running, biking, or swimming daily 4-5 times per week, but also mix in 2-3 times a week of basic calisthenics like pushups, bench dips, squats and lunges. It takes a few weeks before you start to see the physical benefits or your diet and exercise program. You will see almost immediate results in your energy level, overall mental alertness when exercising daily.
The sample routine below will help you better organize exercise into your week:

Monday & ThursdayUpperbody Program

Warmup 5:00 / stretch
Repeat 5-10 times- Pushups - 10-20- Regular Crunches - 20- Bench dips - 10-20- Reverse Crunches - 20- Pullups - max reps or pull-downs - 10- Hanging Knee up- Stretch abs/lowerback

Cardio option 20-30:00Run, bike, walk, swim etc

Tuesday & FridayLegs and Love Handles
Repeat 4-5 times- Walk, bike or jog 5:00- Stretch legs- Squats - 20- Lunges 10 / leg- Left crunches - 25- Right crunches - 25- Hip rollers - 10/side- Stretch abs / lowerback
Cooldown walk or bike5:00 / stretch

WednesdayLONG Cardio Day- 45-60 minutes of walking, running or combination of the two- Or biking, swimming, elliptical gliding machines

The workout above is just a basic guide to getting started with a calisthenics or resistance training plan or adding cardio to your workout. For a free 45 Day Beginner Guide to Fitness - check out the link:

The 45 Day Plan - This guide will also help you with motivation, basic nutrition, and pictures of the exercises listed above.

Number 3 target the abs

Sample exercises to help build muscles of the core (stomach and lower back) are the following:

Hanging knee-ups - Bring your knees as high as you can as shown.

Advanced Crunch - (Legs up) - Lie on your back with your feet straight in the air. Keep your legs straight up in the air for the advanced crunches. Cross your hands over your chest and bring your elbows to your knees by flexing your stomach. (Do not do if you have previous lower back injury - place feet on the floor.)

Reverse Crunch - In the same position as the regular crunch, lift your knees and butt toward your elbows. Leave your head and upper body flat on the ground. Only move your legs and butt. (Do not do if you have previous lower back injury)

Right Elbow to Left Knee - Cross your left leg over your right leg. Flex your stomach and twist to bring your right elbow to your left knee.

Left Elbow to Right Knee - Same as above just switch sides. Cross your right leg over your leg. Flex your stomach and twist to bring your left elbow to your right knee.

Hip Rollers - This exercise will help you build your abs, back and hips to help with long ocean swims and balance out the hip flexors exercises. Twist to both sides keeping your shoulders on the floor and stay in the bent knee position when rotating left and right.
* Note - Anytime you work your abs, you should also exercise your lower back to build balance in your torso.
Lower Back Exercise - Swimmers - Lie on your stomach and lift your feet and knees off the floor by flutter kicking repeatedly as if you were swimming freestyle.

A healthy lifestyle has its own benefits. Its worth the effort, and you don't have to be cut like an athlete to get huge benefits!

Retro 1970's Disco Ladies

A funky pair of disco divas!

I found this great vintage pair of prints in an the backroom of an old bargain outlet. I thought they were just too unique to pass up and talked the store owner down a bit, as is obligatory in these types of shops.

My 14 year old daughter was pretty amused at the get ups. She wanted to know if I dressed that funky in the '70s. I laughed. I was 14 in 1980. Missed it by a few years there, toots. I did have a few pairs of bell bottoms though.

It turns out that these are a set of prints by Gloria Eriksen. She has achieved a great deal of fame since she did these prints, but mostly with floral still lifes. If interested in her current work go to http://www.art.com/ and search Eriksen

My daughter listed them on Ebay, she wants a laptop and is trying to earn one. I am pretty impreseed that she is trying to earn the money instead of beggging me for it! If you would like to see these vintage prints in a bit more detail or maybe even bid on them click on this link. Maybe you can help her get that laptop? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESEX:IT&item=150212436223&_trksid=p3984.cSELL.m315.lVI

We have been pricing laptops and found a great site to help us find a great deal. I'll post more on that in the next day or two.

Gotta love those divas though, right?

Doc

Lightning Crashes...

I had a very strange start to my day today.
The loudest "crash boom flash" I have ever been subjected to seemed to THROW me out of bed early this morning. I Flew to the window to catch the very end of a huge flash.
For an instant I literally thought the world was ending. I expected to see a mushroom cloud and the associated nuclear blast as I looked out. (yes I watched Terminator 3 just the other night,I guess it sank a little deeper into my psyche than I would like to admit)
My pulse was pounding and my thoughts raced as my mind, newly thrust into consiousness, tried to grasp the situation.

It reminded me of the times during my internship my pager would jolt my mind back to consciousness with harsh tones that likely signalled an end to my rest for that evening.
Rain pounded down in sheets. A thunderstorm, unsual for Februrary.
I did a quick lap of the house and found it intact. Amazing. I would have thought it was blown apart from the sheer deafening roar of the thunder clap.
I went about my day and didn't give it much thought. I was out running various errands the entire day and evening.
As I sat talking to my daughter that evening she excitedly relayed the days events.
Then she stopped. "Dad, did you hear a farmer here in town was struck by lightning and killed?"
No I didnt know. Then I thought of how I was awakened that morning.
And I realized that it was likely that the same bolt that had so rudely tossed me out of bed had taken that mans life.

I thought about his family, and I thought about how I would have known a lot sooner if I was still serving as coroner.
It's a wild world we live in.
Doc

A Drink To Your Health

Exactly why many docs hesitate to recommend alcohol

An active lifestyle that includes a little alcohol may be the ticket to preventing heart disease, according to a new study by Danish researchers.The nearly 20-year study involved close to 12,000 men and women. Those who did not drink or do any exercise had the highest risk of heart disease, at 49 percent higher than those who drank, exercised or did both.

However, among people who did similar amounts of exercise, those who also drank moderately were 30 percent less likely to develop heart disease than non-drinkers.Meanwhile, physically active people who drank at least one drink a week had up to 50 percent lower risk than physically inactive non-drinkers.

Past studies have suggested that alcohol may decrease your risk of heart disease by increasing levels of good cholesterol and thinning your blood.

In the study, “moderate” drinking was defined as one to 14 units of alcohol a week, with one unit of alcohol being equal to half a pint of normal strength beer, half of a medium-sized glass of wine, or a single shot of a spirit.
Sources:
BBC News January 9, 2008
European Heart Journal January 2008 29(2):204-212 (Free Full-Text Article)

Alcohol has recently been singled out as a health tool, of all things, and though studies have linked moderate consumption to reductions in diabetes risk, rheumatoid arthritis, and even dementia.

Alcohol, despite all of the research showing potential benefits, is not something I recommend drinking much of .Why? Because alcohol is a neurotoxin that can poison your brain. It can also leave you more vulnerable to various preventable cancers, probably even in smaller amounts, and it can harm your body's delicate hormonal balance.

Of course, drinking to excess can also cause major health problems, not the least of which is liver damage. Folks that drink much more than moderate amounts tell themselves they are not hurting their bodies and point to these kind of studies.

There is one positive side to certain types of alcohol, namely red wine, and that is the powerful plant polyphenols like reservatrol that it contains. Resveratrol is an antioxidant that has been found to extend life, prevent Alzheimer’s disease and inhibit the spread of cancer, and alcohol appears to significantly improve its absorption in your body. So if you are taking resveratrol supplements and not using some alcohol to increase its absorption, it is likely much of your supplement is not going into your bloodstream but rather is going down the toilet.

Unless you use supplements with other herbal ingrediants that help in absorption like a product I have talked about previously Genesis. (see the link below to view more on Genesis)

That is likely why certain studies show health benefits from drinking red wine.

The alcohol itself is not directly helpful, but indirectly it facilitates the absorption of these highly beneficial polyphenols.

Exercise is Always a Wise Choice. Regular physical activity will always be superior to drinking alcohol for your heart health. When combined with a healthy diet, exercise is quite remarkable. It can:
Help cure diabetes
Lower your high blood pressure
Reduce your risk of heart attacks
Help alleviate depression

Exercise is the most powerful medicine available. Its that simple.

So drink a little red wine. Or use a great supplement like Genesis but put together an exercise program.

Check out the symmetry info below

Doc

Symmetry GenesisTM

Genesis™ is a delicious combination of highly standardized fruit juices and whole fruit extracts, infused with a proprietary blend of herbs and other powerful foods. The renowned antioxidant properties of whole fruit pomegranate and whole fruit red grape combine with the healing and restorative nature of whole fruit apple, olive leaf and Aloe Vera for a heavenly-tasting 100% juice product.
Symmetry has chosen to use the slow but powerful infusion process with Genesis to create the greatest concentration of protective anthropalexins (literally, "protector of humankind"), age-fighting antioxidants and powerful phytonutrients imaginable.
Infusion is the lost art and science of coaxing maximum benefits from botanical materials without adding damaging heat or nasty chemicals. Infusion has been practiced for thousands of years and has been the basis for nearly all medications.

Powerful Anti-Aging and Wellness Benefits
Each serving of Genesis provides:
The polyphenolic anthropalexins (the most potent plant antioxidants) equivalent to the juice of one medium pomegranate
The resveratrol (another potent antioxidant) equivalent of one bottle of red wine, but without the alcohol

Elagitannins, the stable food form of ellagic acid
100% juice standardized by Symmetry’s proprietary PhytoPure™ technology, ensuring a consistent nutritional benefit and consistent high quality
Infused Biblical herbs and nutrients including aloe vera, olive leaf, fig extracts, red grape skin and grape seed extracts, barley grass, cinnamon bark, coriander leaf and seed, cucumber, garlic bulb, juniper berry, leek, lentil, mulberry fruit, onion bulb, sweet almond, and wheat grass.
Vitamins, minerals, enzymes, trace minerals, phytonutrients, carotenoids, cruciferous nutrients

to order visit www.symmetrydirect.com/sservices

Saving a little money shopping online

There's not a whole lot better than saving some money, especially while shopping online because you are also saving money on gas, which is a big issue for those of us that have to drive an hour or so to the nearest mall.
So I was surfin' the net on Ebay and ran across this program that is designed to save money. They earn a commission from sellers by delivering customers, then give the customers a little slice of those commissions.
Everyone is happy because the sellers get customers, the service which calls themselves BIG CRUMBS makes a buck and the shoppers get great deals and a little slice of the profit! Not a bad deal especially if you shop online anyways.
Retailers include Ebay, Best Buy, Gap, Target and Office Depot to name a few.
So take a look there is a link below click and take a look, save a buck. You can even make some money by signing up your friends.
Doc