To the Health and Well-Being of Adults, Children, and Cute Fuzzy Animals

Sometimes it takes the BBC to tell us the bleeding obvious: “Too much food, alcohol and sun has fuelled a massive rise in some forms of cancer, warn UK experts.” They’re British, so save the pedantic comments about spelling. There’s a lot to be said for “Moderation in all things.” Now, science confirms it!

Speaking of too much food, a new study suggests that feeding lots of “diet” foods to kids may cause overeating as adults. The working theory is that they “are conditioned to associate certain tastes – be they sweet or salty – with low-calorie foods, [so] they will begin to overeat at later meals to compensate, even if the sweet and salty treats are calorie-rich.” But by the time puberty is reached, “they likely used other cues, such as texture and portion size, to determine more correct calorie intake.” Granted, the research in question was done in rats, but in an age where we are becoming increasingly concerned about childhood obesity rates, this research may mean rethinking weight control for kids. The scientist in charge of the research concluded “Use nutritious, healthy food with calories and make sure the calories are balanced to the amount of activity level of the children.”

Of course I think we are all better off eating “nutritious, healthy food with calories” as opposed to the chemistry experiments that allow us to eat “low calorie” versions of cookies, candy, and high fat/sugar things.

And as for Cute Fuzzy Animals, today I received an email. I don’t normally forward such things, but I have verified this particular story via Snopes:

Hi, all you animal lovers. This is pretty simple… Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals.It takes less than a minute (How about 20 seconds) [actually it takes about 5 seconds, I tried it] to go to their site and click on the purple box “fund food for animals” for free. This doesn’t cost you a thing.

Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.

Here’s the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

AGAIN, PLEASE TELL 10 FRIENDS

Snopes points out that CharityUSA runs a family of sites that allow you to “donate” money for free by clicking a simple link, in addition to several online stores that allow you to both give money and show your charitable pride.

If you want to tell 10 people, that’s fine. If you’d rather put this information on your own site, that’s even better. But in any event, get clicking!

In closing: Bush 41, proud father?; if the economy is so great, how come fewer Mexican workers in the United States are sending money home; the CSM reports that experts say if you want to fly and get there on time, it will cost you extra; the new environmentalists on the block, Christian Evangelicals; a HUGE new planet has been found; and finally, Support Our Constitution.