The very capable guys and gals at the Mayo Clinic have an article today about Bisphenol A health risks. This is something very new to most of us but it involves plastic containers that we store food in.

An important article in the Sept. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association discusses the health effects of the chemical Bisphenol A. What is this compound and what are its effects? What might happen as a result of this study?

Bisphenol A is a chemical in plastics. It is widely found in the lining of food containers, plastic bottles, compact discs, carbonless paper, and many medical devices. It also is used to coat metal products (food cans and bottle tops), and even water supply lines. Some dental sealants also contain this ingredient.

Now for the Bisphenol A health risks. Animal studies done in the 1980s and ’90s identified that low doses of Bisphenol A have adverse effects on the brain, reproductive system, and metabolic processes related to insulin balance and liver function. It may also be related to cancer or even obesity and heart disease. Although it is not immediately lethal, studies show that greatest sensitivity to Bisphenol A occurs during periods of early development and that the substance accumulates over time in the body and environment. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: American Medical Association, cancer, dishwasher, Environmental Protection Agency, food cans, food containers, food in., heart disease, Mayo Clinic, medical devices, metal products, National Institute, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, obesity, plastic food containers, plastic sports bottles, plastics, the Journal of the American Medical Association, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

One of the biggest complaints that I hear from people getting started, or trying to get stated, in working out is:

“Where will I find the time to workout?”

We all lead busy days and often the time between the morning when we get up and the evening when we go to sleep goes by in a blur of work, family, preparing meals, finding and foraging for food and getting a little bit of downtime.

So where do we find that few minutes a day to workout? I think that I have a bit of an answer.

Get you priorities straight

First things first. Look at your day from the time that you awake until the time that you go to sleep. What are you doing in every 15 minute block? You may think of this as micromanagement but really it is more important to look at your day and see little gaps and times when you are not batching your work. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: batching process, dishwasher, food, hawaii, internet looking, Olympia, priorities, surfing, workout

About a year ago my wife switched us from using regular sponges in the kitchen to some kind of strange rubber cloth that we can throw out after a month or tow. The reason for the change? Bacteria and the problem with sponges being a haven for bacteria that can cause disease. There is a story out on MSNBC today that seems to give a solution to these spongeborne bacteria and apparently microwaving is the answer.

Two minutes in a microwave oven can sterilize most household sponges, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

A team of engineering researchers at the University of Florida found that two minutes of microwaving on full power killed or inactivated more than 99 percent of bacteria, viruses or parasites, as well as spores, on a kitchen sponge.

“People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if they really want to decontaminate them and not just clean them, they should use the microwave,” said Gabriel Bitton, a professor of environmental engineering who led the study.

Writing in the Journal of Environmental Health, Bitton and colleagues said they soaked sponges and scrubbing pads in raw wastewater containing fecal bacteria such as E. coli, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores.

Then they used a common household microwave oven to heat up the sponges. It took four to 10 minutes to kill all the spores but everything else was killed after two, they said.

The researchers suggest wetting the objects—water being heated by the microwave seems to play a role in the sterilization—before zapping them every other day or so.

“The microwave is a very powerful and an inexpensive tool for sterilization,” Bitton said.

At least 76 million Americans get sick from food borne microbes every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 5,000 people die from them.

Kitchens are a common source of these illnesses.

Tags: dishwasher, environmental engineering, Florida, food, Gabriel Bitton, microwave, professor of environmental engineering, professor of environmental engineering who led the study, strange rubber cloth, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States, University of Florida