An Open Letter to the Kindness of Strangers

Last week I got a flat tire. It's been a long time since I had a flat tire that I couldn't do anything about. As a matter of fact, I think the last one was during a triathlon that I did sometime during the summer of 2007. That's a long time.

As any veteran cyclist will tell you, at a minimum it's a good idea to carry a spare tube and something with which to pump your tire up. Last Monday, I decided to ignore this tiny tidbit of wisdom. It's not that I was blatantly shaking my fist at the gods of cycling. I just happened to have locked my saddle bag in the garage when my wife left the house for the morning and I wanted to go for a spin. I was just going to do 15-20 miles and explore a bit of the area we just moved to in Elm Grove, WI. The roads seemed lovely and not dangerous, so off I went.

A little over 8 miles later I found myself leaving Fox Brook Park and feeling a little squishy. My back tire, that is, was feeling squishy underneath me. I was just about to turn to go farther west, so I pulled off to feel the back tire. It was definitely low, and apparently sinking fast. It was safe to roll on for a little bit, so I headed back towards home. After about 2 miles I felt that I had to stop riding on it or I would risk damaging my rims. I stopped, got off my bike, took my shoes and socks off and prepared for a six mile barefoot walk home. It wasn't exactly the way I wanted the ride to go, but sometimes it happens. I had my phone, but no one to call in the middle of the day, so I plodded on.

After about a mile and a half of what had now become a mix of trudging and what probably looked like dancing/tip toeing as I tried not to step on gravel on the pavement or sticks in the boulevard, I saw a car pull a U-Turn not far in front of me. It was a nice car too. As it turns out, it was a 2003 Limited edition Dodge Viper. It looked a bit like this...

only it was a nice deep copper color.

The driver was a nice fella named Scott. He asked if I wanted a ride. I told him I was only 4 or 5 miles from home, so it wasn't really that far, and I'd hate to trouble him...yeah, even I knew it was kind of dumb sounding, but it's not everyday someone pulls over in a car that's worth more than your life to offer you a ride home... I looked a little hopefully at his trunk and made what was probably a silly gesture of some sort to which he replied, "Yeah, it won't fit in there." Now it may seem ridiculous, and I don't own a million dollar speed machine of a bicycle, but I would rather walk home barefoot knowing my bike is safe than hide it in the bushes to come back for it.

To my pleasant surprise, there happened to be a girl across the street who was out mowing her lawn. I ran over to ask if I could leave my bike by her garage and come back for it after explaining what happened and that this guy who stopped on the side of the road was about to give me a ride home. She looked a little confused (can't blame her) and a little unhappy that I had caught her sweaty and in her yard-work clothes, but once she snapped out of it, was happy to let me drop off my bike. Happy enough that my ride was safe I hopped in the car, after apologizing a couple time about being sweaty in his nice leather seats, and we took off.

I got home and went back with my van for my bike which was still where I had left it, thanked the lawn-mowing girl and headed back home to fix my flat tire. Despite the misfortune of the day, I have to say I was rather lucky to have gotten a ride home. My feet would of been really raw after 6 miles of barefootness.

All this to say, if you have the chance to pick up a cyclist with a mechanical problem or offer your assistance to anyone you might need it on the side of the road, you should do it. You never know who's day you might have the opportunity to brighten. And if you're late to where you're going because of it, I think whoever is waiting for you on the other end would probably understand.

The Puncheur

I learned a new cycling word this week: Puncheur.

Here is the definition... "Ein Puncheur ist ein Fahrertyp bei Strassenradrennen, andere Fahrertypen sind zum Beispiel der Rouleur, der Sprinter oder der Kletterer. Der Puncheur hat besondere Stärken in welligem Gelände und ist oft auch ein starker Sprinter"

Oh wait, that's in German.

Roughly it translates as: "A Puncheur is a type of rider in road cycling races, other types of riders are, for example, the Rouleur , the sprinter or climber. The Puncheur has particular strengths in rolling terrain and is often also a strong sprinter."

That's guys like Phillipe Gilbert, Sylvain Chavanel, Thor Hushovd and the likes. These are the fellas who have the legs to fight the short steep climbs over rolling terrain and then still kick it in a sprint. They may not always come out on top in a mass sprint finish, but watch out if it's only a select group left over.

After analyzing my past race results and the kind of roads I do best on, I think this may just be me. Cool, eh? Hopefully I can incorporate that into my future races. Sounds like I need to look for the breakaway and help make it stick, then try to recover enough to kick it in the finale. Stay tuned and if I'm lucky maybe one of my next races will have a report that sounds just like that.

A good bike shop experience

I'm all for the local bike shop (LBS). I think it's one of the greatest types of business establishments that exist. You have likeminded community, easy conversation anytime you enter and lots of cool toys. At least that's true if you find the right shop.

I don't necessarily have anything against some of the larger sporting establishments like REI that still foster a good bike minded local shop feel in their cycling department. As a matter of fact I really like REI a lot and the way they run their shop (but a lot of that comes from how they run their entire store so we'll move on before I get too far down this rabbit trail).

Most of the time I find that the people who run good bike shops have a few things in common:

1) They like to bike. This sounds like a given, but just because you go into a shoe store doesn't mean you meet people who really like wearing shoes, right? But for the most part, people who sell bicycles, really like bicycles. Love them even. That makes for the start of a good experience, because you know that they like what you like and want to help you like it more.

2) They cater to a wide variety of riders. The best shops aren't just about the hipster doofus, the high tech roadie or the crazy downhill mountain biker. Although, stores this specialized do have they're own advantage and aura... The better LBS offers their gateway drugs (so to speak) of recreational cycling along with their high end goods so that there is a way for everyone and anyone to get hooked on this wonderful experience we call biking.

and lastly (but most importantly)

3) The best shops aren't trying to cram anything down your throat or sell you something that you will never ride or be able to afford or need. Most often when I'm faced with someone at a bike shop who has this mentality I leave shortly after talking to him or her. Don't get me wrong, I respect that they have to make a living and they do that by selling, but there needs to be an understanding of the customer. Because even if I'm not buying now, the way that I get treated will affect whether or not I come back to buy later.

It's hard not to like a shop where you can walk in, chat a little about the local rides or races, find out about whether the shop has any group outings and talk Tour de France without being asked how much cash you're going to drop while you're there or being constantly told that you have to have Product B when what you really came in to look at is Product A.

I once went into a shop to ask about a set of wheels I was interested in. I had done some research online and wanted to see them for myself. The shop tech gladly began to tell me about them and found a set in the store. He had a quick question for his boss who immediately ruined the whole situation by telling me I couldn't possibly want those wheels because they weren't nearly as good as these wheels that he uses and has for sale. Needless to say I left soon thereafter and haven't been back.

On the other hand, this is the minority of shops in my experience and even if each shop has one guy who just has to be the salesman of the year, you tend to have at least 3 others in the shop who would be willing to let you drool on their new Dura-Ace fitted Pinarello and then wipe it up for you just because they know you appreciate the beauty of it as much as they do. That's my kind of shop.

Props to the low pressure LBS where you can cruise in and out just enjoying the view as easily as freewheeling down a mountainside. Where they have something for everyone and most importantly the enthusiasm to share it with anyone who's interested. Do yourself a favor and consider stopping by one instead of buying your next gear from some warehouse you found on the internet. Even if it costs you a little bit more, you're helping out everyone by keeping these kinds of places around. Besides, no one is going to wipe the drool off your keyboard for you.

SuperBowl Sunday

As a newcomer to Wisconsin from Minnesota, I can't say that I'm particularly enthused about the Packers being in the Super Bowl this upcoming Sunday. And as someone who doesn't really care about football to start with it's just kind of obnoxious to be surrounded by the population of a state who basically worships their team.

Turns, out though, it's good for me. Yeah check it out. According to Time.com, I might just be avoiding a heart attack. Apparently the emotional stresses of watching your favorite team lose a game as big as the Super Bowl can give you a heart attack. Okay, that's maybe a glossed over version and the game-day fare doesn't usually help either. But with no significant emotional ties to any professional sports team here in the US, I think I just eliminated another common American cardiac risk factor.

Although...what does that mean happened to my CV health last summer when I watched Andy Schleck lose the yellow jersey to Alberto Contador?

Friction is not your friend

During my off season training I have been doing some running from time to time, and I am reminded of what I learned during my triathloning days...

Chafing is EVIL!

Let's be honest, when it comes to endurance sports, friction is not your friend. You're body does a lot of repetitive movements and whether it rubs against your equipment or itself the end result is not a happy one. To guard against this there are many options...

1) Appropriate clothing. When I run, I wear compression shorts. They are a handy way to wear a relatively seamless garment so that what I am wearing doesn't rub my legs and leave me raw. Likewise I never wear sleeveless shirts because they rub at my armpit and shoulder. On a bike this means having a good chamois in your shorts...and (for those of you who haven't learned it yet) no underwear in your shorts.

2) Chamois cream. For cycling, there's also chamois cream if you care to deal with such a mess. The products range from Chamois Butt'r to DZ nuts and all of them are a bit weird to get used to at first.

3) Body Glide. I have never used body glide, but I remember its rise during my triathlon days. It's a great product from what I understand. It started in the triathlon niche because when you start riding or running while wet you're at a higher risk for serious chafage, but as with all products the off label uses have sky rocketed as the product becomes more widespread.

Sometimes, though, despite your best efforts you wind up wounded in action. For those days I haven't found anything better than Aquaphor. I think they know it too, because there are several race packets that I have found with samples of the stuff. These are highly coveted. You may not think you need it; but when you do need it, you won't want to be without it.

Until next time, I hope you can safely slip through those sticky situations and stay friction free. Good luck.

BMI is a baseline measure, but also a helpful one

Lots of people put tons of emphasis on BMI. It's a good baseline test for figuring out what kind of shape your body is in. The US Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes for Health (NIH) have composed guidelines for healthy BMI and are what physicians use in the initial assessment of whether or not a person is underweight, healthy weight, overweight or obese. BMI is somewhat limited in that it does not take into account a person's body composition, but the majority of the population (not elite athletes) this isn't too big of a problem. When you consider athletes BMI hits a little bit of a wall because athletes tend to have less body fat which means more of their weight is from muscle. This does not mean that BMI is invaluable, it simply needs to be used carefully. For this reason I have often given BMI less credence than perhaps it deserves.

The NIH recently released information regarding a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on BMI and it's predictive power concerning longevity. It turns out that your BMI is a little bit bigger deal than I have thought in the past. The study pooled 19 other investigations that examined BMI and the probability of mortality (dying). This study actually allowed them to look at data concerning 1.5 million people which is 0.5% of the total population in the US (not bad considering the number of people in the US). What it found was that overweight people had significantly increased mortality rates and that obese people were even more at risk. This was also examined with other possible concurrent risk factors for death and found that an increased BMI by itself increases the likelihood of death within 10 years compared to an individual with a health BMI (defined as between 20 and 25).

Interestingly, a BMI that is too low is also bad for you (there is such a thing as being too skinny). But before you go pounding down twinkies to try and protect yourself from a low BMI, consider this. The increased risk to your health begins around a BMI of 18 which would be a 5' 6" tall person who weighed less than 118 lbs or a 6' tall person under 140 lbs.

If you're curious you can go to the NIH's BMI Caculator and see for yourself what your BMI is. If that's not enough for you, the next step to finding out more about what kind of shape you're in would be to find out your body composition or % body fat, but that's a conversation for another time.

Be Thankful

So much of exercise and fitness is about moving forward, getting better, improving on what you have and leaving the old obsolete version of you behind. But if that was the only message that I ever offered you here it would be incomplete.

When I write, I am very progress minded, and this is a lot of what fitness is about. Improving so that you get faster, stronger etc. However, there comes a point where you need to reflect on what you have gained and where you are. If you don't it will only lead to discontentment.

Today is Thanksgiving, so what better time to take pause and be thankful for whatever you have to be thankful for in life and in the theme of this blog here are a few things that I am thankful for...

...a healthy body to run, bike, swim, yoga (I don't know if I can use that as a verb), jump, row, and just plain play.

...my lovely wife who supports my crazy endeavors and family who backs me up.

...the privilege of being in medical school where I can learn all about the human body and how it works.

...friends and riding partners who like to do some of the same crazy stuff that I do

...Hey Cow

...A beautiful world to explore in so many different ways

...A safe place to live and sometimes to rest and recover when I need to

...Good food to eat and fuel my adventures

...A trusty steed to take me wherever my little heart desires

God has blessed me with all of these things and it just wouldn't make sense not to be grateful for them. I hope you take the time to stop and reflect on the good things in your life from time to time and not just when we have a holiday designed for it. Happy Thanksgiving!

It's nice to know there are somethings nobody knows

One of the coolest things about taking classes like Biochemistry or Genetics, or any other upper level science class for that matter is that you realize how many things that we still don't know. There are a lot. It may seem like we've got this whole world all figured out, but there are still a bjillion different little gaps to fill in. Some of which are not so little.

Medical School is a lot of Stamp Collecting

All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

Ernest Rutherford, in J. B. Birks "Rutherford at Manchester" (1962)
British chemist & physicist (1871 - 1937)

So maybe I'm the only one who finds this amusing because I'm a big nerd, but after my past three weeks of Human Development which is basically a class based on "We know that this is this and that turns into that, but how it really works we're not so sure" I can sympathize with old Ernie, there. Now, I was a Chemistry major in college and will make my argument for Chemistry given the difficulty of chemistry concepts, but I'm willing to hand over most Biology courses to the stamp collecting side.

...just a side note, Lord Rutherford went on to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Ironic, no?

DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE!

Or should I say "dont txt and drive"? I can't believe the number of morons out there who are tapping away at their cell phone while on the road. You know who I'm talking about, the ones who forget to go at the green light because they're too busy having their conversation with 1000+ different people at once. The scariest one to me is the drivers I notice in rush hour who are doing it. The most frightening situations being when I look at the driver behind me in the rear view mirror and they are clearly split between the road and something in their hand or lap.

It has to stop! Recently, the Washington Post reported that 28% of traffic accidents involve drivers using cell phones (either texting or talking). That's worse than the number of accidents caused by drunk driving (5-10%). It's not just drivers who are having this problem. What about those pilots last year? The ones who went cruising past their destination because they weren't paying attention while they checked out "work schedules" on their laptops. Yeah, right.

Texting scares me as a driver, a passenger, a cyclist, a walker, or even just someone sitting on the side of the road. Although I'm more scared standing on the side of the road when someone is listening to their GPS without thinking about what they are actually doing.

The bottom line, think about what you're doing now and not about something that you're connected to through your latest electronic gadget. It'll be better for all of us.

Ahhhh....Morning Again

The best part about every day is that it starts with a morning. It's a chance to start all over again with a clean slate.

I've turned to more of a night person over the last two years from working in the emergency department, but this summer I've turned back into the morning person that I was in college. I like mornings. Sunrises are so much better than sunsets. You can hear the world wake up with you. It's my favorite time of day to run or ride my bike because it's peaceful. The coolness of morning can be a rush and getting out the door and doing something active is a great jumpstart to a day. Morning even smells good. Unless of course you have a bad case of morning breath.

Good Morning! Go tackle your day.

Eat at Home

That's right, eat at home. In a world full of restaurants and fast food joints it's easy to convince yourself that it's easier to eat out and faster. But it's so much better for you to make your own food and share a meal with your family!

First let's evaluate this strictly on a convenience factor. While it may seem like you save a lot of time by going out to dinner, that's hardly ever true (unless you only visit McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell etc.) Let's say that dinner takes an hour to prepare and you spend 30 minutes eating. I'd say that's a fairly generous time allotment considering the number of families who dine and dash off to sporting events, school plays, PTA meetings, Wednesday night church and such. That's 1.5 hours of your evening.

Now let's take a look at a night out. Most people are willing to drive at least 20 minutes to go out to eat at a place that they like, often even more than that. There's 40 minutes right there. Not including the 15-20 minutes that it takes to be seated, order your food and have it brought to your table. Suddenly there's the hour that it took to make dinner and that's assuming that there was no traffic, you are the only one at the restaurant and you instantly knew which place to go for dinner without any delay in decision making. Not so fast and convenient now, is it?

Granted it's nice not to do the dishes, but is it worth paying $10 a plate or more just to have the dishes done when you could prepare the same meal for less than half the cost at home? And face it, $10 a plate these days is relatively moderate when you include taxes and tip (I doubt your tipping the server at home, although, maybe you should be).

Besides the time and money factors there is also the health factor. When you cook at home you know exactly what goes into your food and how much you are eating. Plus you rarely feel as obligated to stuff yourself and "get your money's worth" when you are eating at home instead of at a restaurant.

To illustrate, try this on for size: This winter I took my wife to dinner at a nearby restaurant as a special night out. I had a roasted red pepper stuffed chicken breast with mashed potatoes. Sounds tasty, no? I was curious about the nutrition facts for the meal and was shocked to find that the meal I had just eaten was around 1500 calories, not including my two large glasses of lemonade. I did not feel like I had stuffed myself despite eating over half a day's worth of calories. Admittedly, I was full, but not to the point of bursting or to the point at which I felt like I really shouldn't eat anything else that evening. In comparison, I had cooked a similar meal of stuffed chicken breasts at home during the spring and had an equally tasty dinner that was approximately half the calories of eating out.

Another danger to your health of eating out is feeling that you need to get your "money's worth" as I previously mentioned. The unfortunate American definition of this generally means More = Better. We opt for quantity over quality. Which leads to all sorts of problems that I will have to address at a later date.

All this to say that there are many benefits to eating at home, and you don't have to sacrifice flavor or quality. Not that eating out once in awhile is a bad thing. All things in moderation, right? Including moderation itself...hmmm...chew on that all you philosophers out there. But for now, try dining in a little more often. Make it a game and see what you can save by eating at home. Whether it's dollars or pounds it'll all add up in the end.

In case you need any other encouragement, have a taste of this...

Working out is good for your brain too.

I recently read an interesting article about the correlation between vigorous physical activity and GPA. While there have been many recent studies relating the mental and cognitive benefits for seniors who exercise, I haven't seen a whole lot on what goes on with a young brain with exercise. Studies show that there are strange correlations between being able to concentrate and the amount of physical activity one engages in. Even to the point where physical activity can help a person avoid taking medication for things like ADD (Riding is my Ritalin).

This past June, however, the American College of Sports medicine reported the results of a project that showed a positive correlation between GPA and exercise in undergraduate students who engaged in "vigorous" activity for at least 20 minutes a day. (vigorous means it's hard to talk while you are doing your exercise. Like Big Bob up there^) The study goes on to say that this correlation has been well established in elementary students and secondary students, but that no previous studies have significantly investigated the same phenomenon in college students.

I'm hoping that this finding extends to medical students too, given my pending return to the classroom. Looks like maybe I should be lobbying for a return to recess after lunch like back in the good old days.

All Hail the Domestique

Domestique is a french word for servant. Initially it was used in cycling as an insult for the first rider to offer his services to assist another rider. Back when there were not teams and cycling was a brutal display of individual endurance, tenacity and determination. Now those elements have not left the sport, but the battlefield has changed as teammates try to assist one another in their goals.

Domestiques are the coolest guys in the peloton as far as I'm concerned. Everyone loves to cheer for a superhero like Lance Armstrong or Alberto Contador, but what they don't understand is the help they are getting from their teammates and domestiques. Some of these "behind the scenes" guys are so good at helping their team leaders that they have even earned the title of "super-domestique." Jens Voigt, George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer are a few examples to name a few. All of them are accomplished cyclists in their own right, but what makes them greatest and most valuable in a race like the Tour is there ability to watch out for their team leaders.

I saw an awesome example of this by Team Saxo Bank two days ago when there was crashing and carnage like none other during stage 2 of the Tour de France. The whole day, the Saxo Bank boys had been riding close to the front chasing a breakaway to try and keep their man Fabian Cancellera in the yellow jersey. Suddenly on the descent of the very last hill all hell broke loose and riders started going down all over the place. The road narrowed and it had been raining hard for almost half and hour. Riders just couldn't keep their wheels under them in the slippery conditions and then gravity took it from there.

One of my favorite riders, Andy Schleck, was included in this crash along with many other very good riders. I was afraid that he would be out of contention for the overall and maybe even out of the race altogether by the way he looked. After looking stunned for a few moments though, another teammate came over and gave him his bike, none other than Matti Breschel the former Danish national champion. Then Jens Voigt dropped back from the lead group to help and Frank Schleck who had also crashed (Andy's older brother and current Luxembourg National Champion) both did their best to get Andy back to the front since he is Saxo Bank's team leader.

Talk about selflessness. It's just stinking awesome. No two ways about it.

So the next time you decide to sit down and watch a bike race look for the guys in front doing all the work and say an extra hurrah for them. Without those riders to help, the guys standing on the podium at the end of three weeks might not have ever made it.

Distracted

Is it just me, or does the whole world seem just a little bit distracted ALL the time? I can't say that all of the advancements in communication that we've made are necessarily a bad thing (i.e. email, cell phones, internet etc.). But I can't help but notice that it's gone a bit too far.

During my recent bicycle adventure I passed not one, not two but three people riding bicycles and talking on their cell phones. And one of these people was riding on a state highway. Now take into account that I only saw 50 or so other cyclists while I was riding for the three days and that makes it just plain ridiculous!

We can all agree that there is such a thing as too much cell phone use. We all know the people, whether they are the teen girls who are texting until their hands don't work any more, the busy businessman who is always talking work while he wanders through the airport or the soccer mom that is driving, talking, putting on her makeup and trying to manage her kids in the back seat at the same time. All of these people scare the bejeebers out of me for at least two reasons.

First, I like to ride my bike. A lot. Which puts me on a lot of roads which I appreciate being able to share and ride without the constant threat of someone plowing into me because they were looking down at their phone. Actually, forget the fact that I worry about that on my bicycle. How about just while I'm in the car, and the car in front of me doesn't start or--even worse--doesn't stop at a traffic signal when they are supposed to because they are too busy paying attention to 17 different conversations all at the same time conveniently brought to them via their omnipotent smartphone.

Some food for thought from research done by Virginia Tech last summer.

CELL PHONE TASK

Risk of Crash or Near Crash event

Light Vehicle/Cars

Dialing Cell Phone

2.8 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Talking/Listening to Cell Phone

1.3 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Reaching for object (i.e. electronic device and other)

1.4 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Heavy Vehicles/Trucks

Dialing Cell phone

5.9 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Talking/Listening to Cell Phone

1.0 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Use/Reach for electronic device

6.7 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Text messaging

23.2 times as high as non‐distracted driving

The second reason, besides the obvious physical danger that people put themselves by being distracted by phones or ipods (lightning, trains, planes) and the like, is simply that you miss too much of life.

It's sad to me to see parents at kids sports games while talking on the phone. Or even walking the dog for that matter. How can you really enjoy the present and the here and now that is all around us when you are plugged into your gadgets nonstop. Unplug before you find out you are missing out on real life because of the constant ring of your phone or the tug of text messages and tweets.

Go outside. Walk the dog. Turn off your phone. Play with your kids. Sit on a bench in the park and just watch people go by (and laugh at them when they walk into a tree because they are texting). Just get away from gadgets for a little while. You'll be happy you did.

Up in Smoke

I recently saw this commercial for Splode at the beginning of a movie I rented from Redbox

I haven't seen it since the late 90's maybe, but was happy to see it's still out there. Besides being pretty amusing, I'm always one for an attention getting way to remind everyone out there to avoid smoking. Yet, somehow, amidst the barrage of bad press the message is just not getting through and it seems the ones who have the most to lose by smoking are the ones who can't get away from it. What's with that?

It never ceases to amaze me that no matter what time of day I show up to work there is always someone out smoking on the curb. And I work at a hospital! It's generally the food service people, techs and nurses and being that our hospital has a "non smoking campus" anyone wanting to light up has to take the walk of shame down to the 3 foot boulevard along the street where it's technically city property.

It didn't used to be that way. Or at least I'm told from the doctors and nurses who have been around long enough that it used to be the doctors who smoked the most and were the only ones allowed to smoke inside (where they would puff away in their offices until the ceiling was black). But they've gotten the bigger picture now and left the problem with the rest of the employees who are frequently encouraged to quit. Some do, to their credit, but others just tune it out and go on turning their lungs to tar.

As a cyclist and endurance sports fanatic this makes no sense to me. My heart and lungs are my engine and are nurtured with the utmost care. But as a medical profession the I'm aware the cost is much greater than having a little extra trouble running or walking up stairs. Set aside the big ones (cancer and heart disease) that get all the attention and there are a plethora of other reasons that are worth putting out that smoke, such as narrowing of blood vessels which leads to difficulty healing in places all over the body like your mouth. Not to mention the cost is ridiculous. The number of patients I meet in the emergency department who say they can't afford ibuprofen but are smoking a pack or two a day is unimaginable.

Thankfully the word is getting out, although, more slowly than you would think. Bowling alleys and bars are now bearable with indoor clean air acts like MN and many other states have taken the time to enact. Some colleges and universities have even gone as far as to make their campuses smoke free. And for some reason this meets resistance...weird, no? Obviously I could go on all day about this, but I'll stop banging my head against the wall and leave you with this, my favorite bumper sticker saying:

"Isn't a smoking area in a restaurant kind of like a peeing area in a pool?"

Turn off the TV

I read an interesting article on Time.com today about the foods that get advertised on TV and what your diet would look like if you ate only things advertised in TV commercials.

Think about it a little. If you watch TV much and pay attention to the commercials instead of just skipping over them with Tivo (if you have that option), what are the most important things in life? Cars, Beer, new clothes, perfume, fast food, fine dining and weight loss...to name a few. Hmmm...fine dining, fast food and weight loss. A bit of a paradox eh?

The research team from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, GA watched 84 hours of prime time television and 12 hours of Saturday morning cartoons. Then they formulated a 2000 calorie a day diet based only on the things that they saw advertised on TV. Here's a taste:

"When the research team calculated the nutritional content of a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet containing only foods that were advertised on television, they found that it exceeded the government's recommended daily amount of fat by 20 times and had 25 times the recommended daily intake of sugar. "That's almost a month's worth of sugar in one day," notes study leader Michael Mink."

Yuck! Not only that, but the daily intake was significantly deficient of important vitamins and minerals like potassium, calcium, Vitamins D and E for example. Not that this should really be surprising to anyone who thinks about the food they are putting in their mouths, but still, that's disgusting.

To quote your mother "Turn off the TV and go play outside." You'll be happy you did.