Patterico's Pontifications

12/25/2010

GMTA: The Christmas Edition

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 11:58 am



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]

One thing I didn’t mention previously is that my wife and I are diabetic, the adult-onset kind, so we are both adjusting to that reality (which sucks a55, if you are wondering).  So we were both Christmas shopping at Potomac Mills last Sunday (locals know what a madhouse that place was), when I snuck off to find something for her (in addition to what I had already gotten her).  I went to the mall’s candy shop and tried to find her sugar-free candy canes.  Well, those had been sold out like a month ago, but I found candy called “Sugar Free Assorted Fruit Flavored Slices” as well as Jelly Beans made with Spenda.

So as the day went on we got a few books at Books-A-Million, and got one of their discount cards, which comes with a free (cheap-looking) tote.  So we put everything in the tote and I carried it out of the mall as that finally wrapped up all the gift giving.

When I got home I took the tote aside and tried to get the sugar-free candy out of there so she wouldn’t see.  So I pull open the bag and all there is, is the fruit slices.  And I think to myself, “where it the Jelly Beans?”  So I look further in the bag and I find the jelly beans in another bag…  with the fruit slices.

That is right, both me and my wife snuck off and bought the same stocking stuffer for each other, much to our amusement when I pointed this out to her.

Merry Christmas.

—————–

By the way, I should warn you that you should be very careful about whom you give books to, as this pair of videos shows.  This appears to be from last Christmas:

And one year later, same kid, apparently from this morning:

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

31 Responses to “GMTA: The Christmas Edition”

  1. Aaron, I’m Type 2 diabetic as well. It’s not so bad. I eat meats, dairy, and green vegetables. Very little grains (I find breads and rice tend to send my blood sugar through the roof), and no starches. Nothing sugary, which sucks because I love ice cream. On the other hand, I can enjoy single malt scotch with no difficulties. Be well.

    Some chump (e84e27)

  2. Knock on Wood/Thank G*d–We are all relatively healthy in our home…

    What do you folks think about the issues between artificial sweeteners and methyl alcohol?

    I am not sure what I am reading it real or not–There seems to be some problems with artificial sweeteners and the fact that they do have methyl alcohol as part of the chemistry (the poisonous version of wood alcohol or “bad moon shine”).

    Does anyone here believe that there are medical reasons to avoid artificial sweeteners?

    I personally keep them away from my family (getting more difficult to do these days) because of the above issues–Plus every overweight person I see has a shopping cart full of diet sodas–So, I believe there is an issue with diet too (tricking the brain with “zero calorie sweeteners” or similar).

    I can post a bunch of links (pro and con)–but I really don’t know what to trust. Chemistry is not a simple science.

    BfC (ffa9b4)

  3. bfc

    well, i don’t drink nutrasweet/equal/aspertame because it makes my physically ill.

    As for the others, a few years back there was a scare with saccarine, but apparently it was proven that it only is a problem with mice, and not with humans.

    i am not sure whether there are other health issues, but my diet is bland enough already that i am not willing to make it even blander.

    Aaron Worthing (a767d3)

  4. I agree the Saccharin / Rat issues where most likely bad science and Saccharin had inspired a lot of politics even back in the early 1900’s.

    Saccharin:

    Studies in laboratory rats during the early 1970s linked saccharin with the development of bladder cancer in rodents, resulting in the United States Congress mandating that all food containing saccharin bear a warning label.

    However, in 2000, the warning labels were removed because scientists learned that rodents, unlike humans, have a unique combination of high pH, high calcium phosphate, and high protein levels in their urine.[20][21] One or more of the proteins that is more prevalent in male rats combines with calcium phosphate and saccharin to produce microcrystals that damage the lining of the bladder. Over time, the rat’s bladder responds to this damage by over-producing cells to repair the damage, and this leads to tumor formation. This does not occur in humans, so there is no bladder cancer risk.

    Interesting Aspartame Chemistry:

    Upon ingestion, aspartame breaks down into natural residual components, including aspartic acid, phenylalanine, methanol,[21] and further breakdown products including formaldehyde[22] and formic acid, accumulation of the latter being suspected as the major cause of injury in methanol poisoning. Human studies show that formic acid is excreted faster than it is formed after ingestion of aspartate. In some fruit juices, higher concentrations of methanol can be found than the amount produced from aspartame in beverages.[9]

    High levels of the naturally-occurring essential amino acid phenylalanine are a health hazard to those born with phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare inherited disease that prevents phenylalanine from being properly metabolized. Since individuals with PKU must consider aspartame as an additional source of phenylalanine, foods containing aspartame sold in the United States must state “Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine” on their product labels.[23]

    BfC (ffa9b4)

  5. BfC – You gotta watch out for those Alar treated apples too. I’m pretty sure FLOTUS knows what we should all be eating and will be issuing appropriate mandates shortly.

    daleyrocks (bfdac7)

  6. DR.,

    Never worried about the Alar treated apples… Just stop buying red apples because they seemed to be all mealy from cold storage (decades ago).

    Big believer in moderation–massive intake of anything can have negative impacts. Anyone for dihydrogen monoxide?

    BfC (ffa9b4)

  7. bfc

    watch out, that dihydrogen monoxide stuff is present in polluted water, acid rain, its shockingly present in virtually all human and animal life, it is such a problem.

    Aaron Worthing (a767d3)

  8. It was also probably bad-science that killed cyclamates as an artificial sweetener much earlier.
    The basic problem in all of these lab-rat studies is that they ignore the old saw that the dosage is the poison.
    But, since the law was written by the rocket-scientists in Congress that any negative effect on lab rats was to equal a danger to humans…
    it was a good thing they never force-fed those rats dihydrogen monoxide.

    AD-RtR/OS! (fb45ff)

  9. 9….more…
    because we know that an excess of dihydrogen monoxide in the diet of humans is deadly (not even considering being submerged in the junk, just excessive consumption).

    AD-RtR/OS! (fb45ff)

  10. Chia Obama. How cool is that?!

    JD (822109)

  11. I do not wish to catch diabetes so I always wash my hands before eating candy.

    Actually I enjoy the sugar free version of Jolly Rancher hard candies. There are some good sugar free chocolates available also. I especially like Dove. They do a sugar free dark chocolate that is excellent.

    As with anything, moderation is probably the best way to avoid any problems with artificial sweeteners.

    Huey (339a76)

  12. i believe in moderation for moderation…. nothing succeeds like excess, and at least i will have a good idea of what killed me.

    and lets bring back cyclamates, so at least diet soda will taste good again.

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  13. “Chia Obama. How cool is that?!”

    Plenty of room for potting soil between the ears of the human version.

    daleyrocks (bfdac7)

  14. Aaron,

    Are you aware of nutritional support for diabetes?

    Natural Treatments for Type 2 Diabetes

    Merry Christmas (or what’s left of it) to all.

    Gerald A (9ef895)

  15. On the iron wedding anniversary, my wife and I got each other cast iron tea pots. The one I gave her was FAR superior to the one she gave me — honestly! She refused to return hers. Our divorce is final in January.

    viktor (73db5e)

  16. Stupidity and bad manners are routinely self inflicted as well.

    JD (395555)

  17. When dealing with sugar-free products, be aware that some of the sugar substitutes can act as a natural laxative. This may be a feature for those who tend towards constipation, but for those of us who tend the other way, it’s a definite bug. Sorbitol is the prime example: I automatically put back on the shelf anything that lists sorbitol in the ingredients.

    kishnevi (b40a74)

  18. I don’t know why, but I was looking up “anal cancer” today and a picture of Bill Yelverton appeared under the online description of it. Maybe it’s caused by that health regime he keeps yammering about.

    daleyrocks (bfdac7)

  19. You can live with Type 2 diabetes, but understand it’s largely a life-style disease. Lay off the sauce, get thin, exercise moderately, avoid bread, pasta, potatoes, and rice. Stay away from sweets of all kinds, artificial included.

    Get a meter and check your blood sugar every morning, learn what foods cause it to spike and which ones make you feel good but keep you in the acceptable range. Take notes till you know what works for you.

    Diabetes is nothing to fool around with, screw up and you can start losing useful body parts.

    ropelight (584fcf)

  20. “It is the CONSERVATIVE states such as LA, MS, OK, the real bible belt states, where there are the highest percentage of obese people.”

    Ron – Are you suggesting conservatism causes obesity or something? Do you actually have a study linking the two.

    I can tell you conservative ideology, in the spirit of the Constitution, generally objects to overzealous government involvement in the lives of individuals. Liberals generally believe the government provides the solution to all their problems. So complaints about ObamaCare and nannystatism correlate fairly well along ideological lines. Nice try, though.

    daleyrocks (bfdac7)

  21. Ron stops at breaking down the numbers by state, because he knows that breaking it down by demographics would lead him to say something racist.

    Walt Gilbert (eb39f1)

  22. Daley – guess who “ron” is ?!

    JD (6e25b4)

  23. JD – Ron’s comment has the stink of that racist cross-speciesist, incest promoting, racist, midget Willie the Wanker, which is why I figured he has not been back to defend it.

    daleyrocks (bfdac7)

  24. BTW — I had first intended to reply that this was a nice little Christmas story, but would have been even better if it had turned out that you both hate jellybeans and candy fruit slices.

    Walt Gilbert (eb39f1)

  25. Bingo. Yelverton is a f@cking bigoted idiot.

    JD (6e25b4)

  26. Certainly conflating conservatism, obesity and opposition to Obamacare is among the less coherent of thoughts.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  27. Aaron an oddity related to Type 2 diabetes. Although artificial sweeteners do not have any calories per-se the gut apparently has ‘taste buds’ that detect sweetness which results in the pancreas to act as if the body is getting an influx of glucose. That can result in an increase of insulin which leads to or aggravates hyperinsulinemia which in turn leads to further insulin resistance and lipid disorders.

    Not every type 2 diabetic is obese but if you are significantly overweight losing a substantial amount of weight and rigorous exercise can lead to being able to get off the medications. However even if this were the case it wise to lay off simple carbs.
    I used to have a hemoglobin A1C of 6 with the drugs for 15 years (and watching carbs) and now have the same results without the drugs from diet and exercise (still take supplements as a precaution). I hate dieting and exercise with a passion but the results are worth it.

    cubanbob (409ac2)

  28. It is the CONSERVATIVE states such as LA, MS, OK, the real bible belt states, where there are the highest percentage of obese people. No surprise the biggest complainers about healthcare reform are also the most unhealthy and will cause our healthcare system the most expense.

    Maybe if Conservatives would get to the gym half as much as they got to church?

    Comment by Ron — 12/26/2010 @ 6:49 am

    You do realize that those states and the other red states and the red zones of the blue states are where the food in this country is primarily produced. Perhaps they ought to halt food shipments to the blue zone areas for a year. Just think of all the money in mental health-care costs that cannot be saved when the mentally unbalanced are no longer here. And C02 emissions are reduced. A win-win situation.

    cubanbob (409ac2)

  29. You are a cock, William Yelverton. And a fool. How many names do you plan on using? Going to go all gender bender on us again?

    JD (395555)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0808 secs.