5 posts from December 2006

I have gone along the path of trying to give up pop for a couple of years now. I'll go great for a couple of weeks or a couple of months and then out of nowhere without even really thinking about it, I'll have a Coke. And from then on I start drinking a lot more until I'm back up to a couple a day. I found this list via the naturalliving community on LiveJournal. It's a great list, and very eye opening. Maybe it will keep me from drinking pop.  

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high.
They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
>60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.

*FYI: The Coke itself is not the enemy, here. It’s the dynamic combo of massive sugar doses combined with caffeine and phosphoric acid. Things which are found in almost all soda.

Found via Alas, A Blog.

The Center for Economic Policy and Research has put forth a paper Are Shorter Work Hours Good for the Environment? (pdf) that states that if the workers here in the US worked fewer hours, comparable to the hours of workers in most of Europe, we could save energy and decrease global warming. They conversely conclude that it countries in Europe that currently work fewer hours than the average worker in the US, that increase could lead to an increase in more energy use and an increase in global warming.

Along with hitting on the points that simply being at work compared to being at home uses more energy, they also point out the fact that many people who work longer hours tend to use time saving, but not energy saving, methods which correlate to more energy usage as well. For example, if someone works long hours they are less likely to line dry their clothes than if they had more free time to do so. Instead using a clothes dryer. Also, if someone does not have the time to paint their own house because they are busy with work, they are more likely to pay someone else to do it. And that worker will have to find transportation to and from the house in order to paint it while the original person is also going to and from work.

It is by no means an exhaustive study. But it is very intuitive and worth the read.

Page Neal started up the Baltimore Free Store Baltimore, Maryland in 2004 as a way to really "Think Globally, Act Locally". What started as a very small operation has turned into a large investment on her part, and a huge contribution to the city of Baltimore. She takes donations and leftover items from places like the Salvation Army and sets up a "store" in different sections of the city where she and other volunteers give away the items for free.

She describes the work that she's done and the reaction the community has had to her free store at SuperNaturale. She explains how her work with the free store is not only about giving away free stuff, but it is also about bringing the community together and showing people that they do not always have to depend on stores for the things they need.

It's an excellent read, and I highly recommend it.

I had received a Borders gift card for Christmas that I have been really excited about using. I love books and never feel like I have enough. I decided today that I would finally redeem it. When I went to borders.com I realized that it redirected to Amazon.com which I was really excited about! You can buy used books on Amazon.com! Unfortunately after reading the fine print on the card, I realized that no I couldn't actually buy used books. So I figured since I have to buy new books, I'd better buy good books that I'll use.

After searching for a bit I came up with two. The first was The Bell Blue Book of Canning and Preserving. I have always wanted to learn how to can foods. And from all the reviews I had read about it this book, it's supposed to be the best canning book out there. Columbus has a ton of pick your own produce farms around so I thought picking fruit and canning it might be a nice way to spend the summer. And I thought that getting the book long before the summer, and learning how to can before I had lots of things I wanted to can, might be a good idea.

The other book I bought was one I've been lusting over for a long time. It's called 30 Colorful Quilts and Patchwork Projects by Denise Schmidt. I have been a big fan of Denise Schmidt since I started quilting, and I love her ideas. She tends to stay away from scrappy quilts, and I love that. I hate scrappy quilts! Since I've started making quilts to give as gifts, I thought I'd give ones that I like as well as well as ones the people I'm giving them to will like. It's hard to make a quilt you think is ugly!

So, be better than me and buy used books. But for those times that you can't, buy useFUL books. :-)

And on a happy note, Kevin brought home some pomegranates. And we had snacks!

Pomegranate

I have been throwing around the idea of starting a new blog specifically for posting about environmental ideas and tips to living more simply. Since the new year is coming up very soon, I thought right now would be a great time to do it.

I hope that by keeping this blog I'll learn more about myself and not only how to do more with less, but how to be happier with less. I have so many things that I want to post about, and hope to do so soon. Some of those ideas include composting, canning, crafting, sewing, gardening, and so much more. And if I try something new, I'll do my best to document it for you because I know everyone loves pictures.

If you're here, let me know!