November: Lung Cancer Awareness

Breast Cancer Awareness preceeds Lung Cancer Awareness month by, well, one month. That gets the lung cancer people all bound up, because, really, lung cancer is the big killer. Breast cancer is out in front of us, and pleas to check for breast cancer are often treated like a joke: "Have a friend check!" But it's still the C word. People still die.

The trouble with lung cancer, well... there's a lot of trouble with lung cancer. You're so dependent on your lungs for the ability to do anything.

A simple thing to help prevent it, and to help your overall health, speed of healing after injury/surgery, etc, is to stop smoking. However, it's not the only answer.

Here's a great article discussing causes, stigma, and awareness of lung cancer.

An excerpt:
The National Lung Cancer Partnership blames the discrepancy on the stigma around smoking, the cause of 87 percent of lung cancer cases, and the sense that those who have developed the disease have brought it on themselves.

"Even among people who have never smoked and get this disease, if they share with somebody, 'Hey, you know, I have lung cancer,' the first question is, 'Well, did you smoke?' " says Regina Vidaver, executive director of the Madison, Wis.-based partnership. "It's such a judging question, and it's so difficult for people to bear when they're bearing a diagnosis of lung cancer."

Such judgments affect the amount of funding available for research, Vidaver says.

It's the second leading cause of death :/

melamine, kidney failure, and halloween

My sis sent out an email cautioning parents about halloween candy. The melamine scare has everyone understandably all antsy-in-the-pantsy. I tried to figure out how much is hype and how much is for reals.

this site: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1077775/is_chocolate_halloween_candy_dangerous.html ) describes a press release sent Sept 26th saying there had not been any melamine in tested chocolates. (cut and pasted: they have not yet detected any melamine in their testing of milk-containing products imported from China, nor have any melamine related illnesses been reported within the USA. To date, all FDA announced recalls and withdrawals of melamine tainted products within the USA have come from testing results in other countries. Testing here and abroad is expected to continue, and the FDA is advising consumers to avoid purchasing infant formulas produced in China.)

Also...

General info about melamine from time: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1841757,00.html
and from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine
and
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/21/FD1313JJBF.DTL&type=science

More info, with specifics about Halloween candy: http://www.courant.com/news/health/hc-webmelamine.artoct22,0,2895398.story
most current article i could find: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g_ZGr2pd7hrVTs-w8Lqx_DDuAd7g


Melamine is not toxic exactly, but can cause renal (kidney) stones and kidney failure, which can be deadly. It's not a bad idea to keep in mind the symptoms of kidney stones. They don't always have symptoms, but a symptomatic stone involves a sudden onset of excruciating, cramping pain in the abdomen that can radiate to the lower back or groin. Changes in body position do not relieve this pain. The pain typically waxes and wanes in severity, kind of a colicky pain. The pain can be so bad that it sends the person into nausea and vomiting. There can be blood in the urine.

Kidney failure symptoms include generalized swelling, swelling in the legs, and decreased urine output. Folks with renal failure generally get tired easily or are tired constantly. Then there's also anemia, trouble focusing/remembering, metallic taste in the mouth.

These symptoms can be related to other problems. PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO DIAGNOSE YOURSELF or your kids because you could misdiagnose and end up treating the wrong thing or exacerbating a different problem. If you or your loved ones have any of these symptoms, call your health care provider.

xoxo,
steph

Organic, but at what cost.

I've been reading Green Living, the E Magazine Handbook for Living Lightly on the Earth. Picked it up at Powell's for over half off. It's been my bathtime read. (Don't worry, I reuse the mad amounts of water a bath takes to water the lawn and non-food plants).

Back to the book...

There's a lot of information packed into it. While the writers don't delve down deep into the politics and meanings of things, they do let you know that major corporations are responsible for bringing "organics" to your table. Do you want to eat Boca Burgers anymore knowing they come from Kraft? I don't, but I should tell you that I gave up on Bocas years ago because they're a bit subdelicious. Kellogg's also is in the non-meat burger bizness, whipping up Natural Touch organic soy burgers. ConAgra! ConAgra, the maker of Chef Boyardee, offers organic bread flour.

One of the big disappointments on the list is Seeds of Change. Those are the folks I bought several seeds from, including those cool lookin' Dragon Carrots. They are owned by Mars. Yeah, makers of Skittles and users of artificial fruit flavors. I don't think I can convince myself that this is a glowing, wonderful thing that's beneficial to both business and to the rest of the world, which an article here suggests.

I have looked into buying seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange. This year, though, I wanted to have one catalog order and buy the rest local. I think next year, I'll have to give these guys a try.

From their site: "Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds or our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations. When people grow and save seeds, they join an ancient tradition as stewards, nurturing our diverse, fragile, genetic and cultural heritage.

Seed Savers Exchange was founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, to honor this tradition. Their collection started when Diane’s terminally-ill grandfather gave them the seeds of two garden plants, Grandpa Ott's Morning Glory and German Pink Tomato, that his parents brought from Bavaria when they immigrated to St. Lucas, Iowa in the 1870s."

Next year:

I'll grow houses for my fine feathered friends.

just ran just shy of one mile

Which is a lot for me. I took a break halfway through, walked one block, but ran the rest. It took 6 minutes there, 8 minutes back. Not bad for a rookie, but i have a long way to go if I'm going to run 6 miles on my birthday. I run/walk a lot, but today was almost all running.

To be less of a scumbag, I should probably stop eating cruelty meat. It's about time, ffs.



I rode my bike yesterday, about 6 and a half miles.

I did my pilates tape the day before. Most of it. I have to stop during sections of it because my abs/legs can't take it all.



Maybe it's a midlife crisis.

Maybe I know I'm weak.

But I'd like to be stronger, healthier. I started taking vitamins more regularly. At least every other day, alternating MVIs with Ca/Mag/Zinc. My nails are crazy long (for me).

I heart mapmyrun.com. It helps you track distances.