Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Mon, Jan 10 2005
Get Out The Magnifying Glass
Geek News Central wisely reminded all of us blogging types to read the fine print when we are thinking of creating an alliance with some third party. It's bad enough that some of us are plagued with comment spam, referral spam and other intrusions without going and unwittingly signing up for something that sticks its nose into our business and that of our readers.
posted at: 15:29 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Geek News Central wisely reminded all of us blogging types to read the fine print when we are thinking of creating an alliance with some third party. It's bad enough that some of us are plagued with comment spam, referral spam and other intrusions without going and unwittingly signing up for something that sticks its nose into our business and that of our readers.
posted at: 15:29 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Small Business: Looking For An Oasis?
If you want to start a small business and you don't mind relocating, you might check the American City Business Journals list of friendly places for entrepreneurs. The report includes cities of small, medium and large populations.
posted at: 14:19 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
If you want to start a small business and you don't mind relocating, you might check the American City Business Journals list of friendly places for entrepreneurs. The report includes cities of small, medium and large populations.
posted at: 14:19 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
Goal! And Now They Can Prove It!
Technology is changing the world of sports in yet another way. We-make-money-not-art points to news of a wireless ball and player system for soccer.
posted at: 08:08 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
Technology is changing the world of sports in yet another way. We-make-money-not-art points to news of a wireless ball and player system for soccer.
posted at: 08:08 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
If We're So Smart, Why Are We So Fat And Stupid?
If our American little ones are showing increased obesity, I can't help but wonder if the causes are a combination of factors. Those of us born after World War II have grown up in a world full of fever-pitch media that includes daily news footage of starving and malnourished people all over the world. We've also grown up with the idea that thin is beautiful, healthy and desirable in both juveniles and adults. Food is nourishment, but it's also pleasurable, and an abundance of food, or a lack of food, sends a very powerful message to human minds and brains. It would be an understatement to say that most of us now living who grew up in the United States have gotten a lot of mixed messages when it comes to food and body image.
As a child, I heard a lot of discussion about putting a little cereal in babies' bottles as a way to introduce the wee ones to something other than the cows' milk they were drinking. When a baby cried a lot, an older, more experienced mom would often tell a younger mom that the baby receiving only bottles of cows' milk was hungry and should be given cereal, even as early as 6-8 weeks of age. Now I'm wondering if babies are hungry because cows' milk isn't the best food for humans. A lot of babies get formula, but the verdict is still out on whether or not that does the trick. And I see that doctors still can't agree on what to tell parents about introducing cereal and solid foods into a little one's diet. Again, we have mixed messages about what is, and isn't, the right way to eat and the right way to feed a child.
The four major food groups were once touted as a healthy guide to eating. Now we have a food pyramid. Weight loss experts can't agree on the amount of fat, protein or carbohydrates that's best for humans. Should we all have to be professional nutritionists to figure out what foods to eat and what foods to feed children in our society? We have more food science information now than at any time in history. And yet, we're told that an increasing number of adults, children and toddlers are obese and are experiencing diabetes and other complications because of excess weight.
If you don't get enough to eat, or the right foods to eat, you can starve to death. If you eat too much, or eat the wrong foods, or eat too many times you can become obese and die from obesity's complications. Logic might tell us that eating just the right amount of just the right foods at just the right times would be the ticket to health for both young and old. But since no one can agree on just what the right foods, right amounts or right times should be, we continue to get those mixed messages. And now we seem to be heaping guilt on parents who try to do the best they can for their children with the conflicting data that's out there from the scientific, medical and food production experts. If the experts won't agree on what to do, how in the world do we expect parents to do any more?
In the meantime, all the experts seem to make money off food, or the lack of food. Pharmaceutical companies, health professionals, weight loss specialists, gymnasiums, low-calorie food processors and fitness gurus all seem to be willing to take our money to tell us their version of the truth, or to sell us surgery or drugs when we don't get relief from any of the other versions of the truth.
If there's no one answer for the problem of obesity, why don't they just come out and say that? At least then we could be like the folks who utilize the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. We could take simple steps to do the best we can and we could trust in a Higher Power. I guess that's just not going to happen though. There's simply no money in that sort of thing.
posted at: 07:30 | category: /Health and Fitness | link to this entry
If our American little ones are showing increased obesity, I can't help but wonder if the causes are a combination of factors. Those of us born after World War II have grown up in a world full of fever-pitch media that includes daily news footage of starving and malnourished people all over the world. We've also grown up with the idea that thin is beautiful, healthy and desirable in both juveniles and adults. Food is nourishment, but it's also pleasurable, and an abundance of food, or a lack of food, sends a very powerful message to human minds and brains. It would be an understatement to say that most of us now living who grew up in the United States have gotten a lot of mixed messages when it comes to food and body image.
As a child, I heard a lot of discussion about putting a little cereal in babies' bottles as a way to introduce the wee ones to something other than the cows' milk they were drinking. When a baby cried a lot, an older, more experienced mom would often tell a younger mom that the baby receiving only bottles of cows' milk was hungry and should be given cereal, even as early as 6-8 weeks of age. Now I'm wondering if babies are hungry because cows' milk isn't the best food for humans. A lot of babies get formula, but the verdict is still out on whether or not that does the trick. And I see that doctors still can't agree on what to tell parents about introducing cereal and solid foods into a little one's diet. Again, we have mixed messages about what is, and isn't, the right way to eat and the right way to feed a child.
The four major food groups were once touted as a healthy guide to eating. Now we have a food pyramid. Weight loss experts can't agree on the amount of fat, protein or carbohydrates that's best for humans. Should we all have to be professional nutritionists to figure out what foods to eat and what foods to feed children in our society? We have more food science information now than at any time in history. And yet, we're told that an increasing number of adults, children and toddlers are obese and are experiencing diabetes and other complications because of excess weight.
If you don't get enough to eat, or the right foods to eat, you can starve to death. If you eat too much, or eat the wrong foods, or eat too many times you can become obese and die from obesity's complications. Logic might tell us that eating just the right amount of just the right foods at just the right times would be the ticket to health for both young and old. But since no one can agree on just what the right foods, right amounts or right times should be, we continue to get those mixed messages. And now we seem to be heaping guilt on parents who try to do the best they can for their children with the conflicting data that's out there from the scientific, medical and food production experts. If the experts won't agree on what to do, how in the world do we expect parents to do any more?
In the meantime, all the experts seem to make money off food, or the lack of food. Pharmaceutical companies, health professionals, weight loss specialists, gymnasiums, low-calorie food processors and fitness gurus all seem to be willing to take our money to tell us their version of the truth, or to sell us surgery or drugs when we don't get relief from any of the other versions of the truth.
If there's no one answer for the problem of obesity, why don't they just come out and say that? At least then we could be like the folks who utilize the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. We could take simple steps to do the best we can and we could trust in a Higher Power. I guess that's just not going to happen though. There's simply no money in that sort of thing.
posted at: 07:30 | category: /Health and Fitness | link to this entry
