Ripping off the headline and everything—but here's five choices that are relatively painless ways to improve the percentage of organics in your diet. Straight from the article in the New York Times (which is based on the work of Dr. Alan Greene and his book Raising Baby Green)"

1. Milk: “When you choose a glass of conventional milk, you are buying into a whole chemical system of agriculture,'’ says Dr. Greene. People who switch to organic milk typically do so because they are concerned about the antibiotics, artificial hormones and pesticides used in the commercial dairy industry.
2. Potatoes: Potatoes are a staple of the American diet — one survey found they account for 30 percent of our overall vegetable consumption. A simple switch to organic potatoes has the potential to have a big impact because commercially-farmed potatoes are some of the most pesticide-contaminated vegetables.
3. Peanut butter: More acres are devoted to growing peanuts than any other fruits, vegetable or nut, according to the U.S.D.A.
4. Ketchup: For some families, ketchup accounts for a large part of the household vegetable intake.
5. Apples: Apples are the second most commonly eaten fresh fruit, after bananas, and they are also used in the second most popular juice, after oranges, according to Dr. Greene. But apples are also one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables.

What's good for major league baseball is good for the dairy industry:

Starbucks moving to hormone-free milk

Demand rising for milk made without additive

You've got to love Starbucks—they offer all their employees health insurance, they're cutting trans fats from their pastries and muffins (sure, the NYC alone forces them to do this but you don't see McDonald's announcing this), and now their switching to milk from cows not treated with rBGH.

Not a bad stock, either. Right in front of your nose.

Kellog's Pop Tarts make a yummy pre-run snack but I always feel a bit guilty feeding my body these things with all the junk in them. Well, my guilt-ridden days are over (with regard to Pop Tarts, anyway) because I've found Nature's Path Toaster Pastries.

Compare the ingredients in Toaster Pastries . . .

Organic wheat flour, organic evaporated cane juice, organic powdered evaporated cane juice, organic palm oil, organic apples, organic whole wheat flour, organic corn starch, organic vital wheat gluten, organic dextrose, organic blueberries, organic rice starch, organic blueberry flavor, sea salt, leavenings (baking soda, cream of tartar), rice bran extract, organic honey, organic molasses, citric acid, algin, sodium citrate, monocalcium phosphate, whey protein isolate, natural food color (vegetable juice extract), organic vanilla flavor, organic butter flavor.

. . . with those in Kellog's Pop Tarts . . . (emphasis added)

Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacinamide, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [vitamin B1], riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid), corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, vegetable oil (canola, cottonseed, palm, palm kernel, soybean, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, TBHQ for freshness), sugar, cracker meal, contains two percent or less of wheat starch, salt, dried blueberries, dried apples, dried grapes, cornstarch, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate), modified wheat starch, citric acid, milled corn, gelatin, natural and artificial flavor, soy lecithin, modified corn starch, xanthan gum, caramel color, red #40, calcium phosphate, niacinamide, reduced iron, color added, blue #1, blue #2, vitamin A palmitate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin (vitamin B2), thiamin hydrochloride (vitamin B1), folic acid, turmeric color. 

So enjoy and leave the guilt behind.

Holy Mackerel! How'd I miss this story about the corn syrup debate, A Sweetener With a Bad Rap, in the New York Times just two days before my post about 7UP and it's "100% Natural" campaign? As I read the article I began to feel like a reactionary, a poor victim of mob hysteria. High-fructose corn syrup is very close to sugar, 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose with sugar being 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose. Could the 5-percent difference in fructose really matter? Some comments on the article . . .

So sure, it's close to sugar and you can get fat from real sugar, too. But it's still to processed for me:

Produced in large manufacturing facilities scattered mostly across the flat, golden expanse of the American corn belt, high-fructose corn syrup is not a product that anyone could cook up at home using a few ears of corn. The process starts with corn kernels and takes place in a series of stainless steel vats and tubes in which a dozen different mechanical processes and chemical reactions occur — including several rounds of high-velocity spinning and the introduction of three different enzymes to incite molecular rearrangements.

And then, it's the usual suspects that own this industry:

The major manufacturers of high-fructose corn syrup — the farm giants Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Corn Products International and the ingredients company Tate & Lyle — say that their product is natural because it is made from plain old corn (though some of it is genetically modified) and contains no synthetic materials or color or flavor additives.

Apparently I'm not the only one wondering about the 7UP's "100% Natural" campaign:

The Food and Drug Administration has never established rules on what, exactly, "natural" means, allowing companies to pitch products as natural even if they contain high-fructose corn syrup. Cadbury Schweppes recently began promoting 7-Up, which is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, as "100 percent natural."

So maybe it's not the bogeyman it has been made out to be. But food manufacturers use it purely for cost reasons and I just don't get the feeling that the manufacturer really gives a damn when the ingredients list says high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar.

I was reading an article on MSNBC when the web ad below for 7UP caught me eye:

Wow! Is 7UP bucking the trend, switching to sugar in place of high-fructose corn syrup? 7UP has always been the also-ran, the Schick of the lemony carbonated beverage world. But this could actually work, I thought. With the popular press obsessing about the "obesity epidemic" and the theory du jour about its cause (including America's food being loaded with corn syrup), maybe 7UP has a real angle here. Whole Foods isn't carrying carbonated beverages sweetened with corn syrup (because of the GMO issue) and perhaps this "healthy" angle would make 7UP the crossover drink for the healthy crowd. Sure, the shelf space that Whole Foods delivers would be tiny in comparison to some of their other outlets, but when's the last time anyone actually ordered a 7UP?

But my cynicism wins out again. After hunting around for the new "100% Natural" ingredients, this is what I find: filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, natural citric acid, natural flavors, natural potassium citrate. I guess those smarties in Plano think if you use the word natural enough times it makes it so (3-Mile Island is now 100% Natural: natural uranium-235, natural plutonium, natural deuterium!). Yep, corn grows out of the ground, that's about where the natural part ends for corn-based sweeteners.

So, too bad. Just more of the same in a slightly different package.

I've always wondered about the chances of dropping dead from a heart attack while on a run. Especially recently with my inconsistent training—the heart rate is way too high sometimes. Here's a good article that discusses exercise and heart attacks from Tuesday's New York Times. So what's the verdict?

The answer is somewhat paradoxical. While jogging, a person — especially someone with underlying heart disease — is more likely to die than if that person were walking or resting at that same moment. During vigorous exercise, the heart can develop an irregular beat, blood pressure can rise to a dangerous level or plaque from a partly clogged artery can break off and stop blood flow.

But — and this is a big but — over all, people who jog, including those with major cardiac risk factors, are less likely to have a heart attack in the long run than if they had not been joggers.

The other interesting tidbit from the article was this one: "In the long run, various studies have found, jogging adds years to life. Over all, each hour spent exercising (up to 30 hours a week) adds about two hours to a person's life expectancy, according to the Harvard Alumni Study, which has tracked deaths among 17,000 men for more than two decades."

. . .

San Antonio, I'm discovering, is a bit of a lame running town. I don't understand this—the terrain, climate, and air quality are much better than Houston but there just there just doesn't seem to be as many runners per capita. One of the things that stands out is there's no park equivalent to Houston's Memorial Park or Austin's Town Lake. So runners are banished to lonely suburban streets, dodging humongous SUV's and wandering dogs (a future topic).

There's hope, my neighborhood actually has two running stores so I know the runners must be out there somewhere.

The running in SA is good. This cool weather is helping, too, but the asphalt roads, hills, and a slightly more pedestrian friendly environment are making it more difficult to find reasons not to run. And, there are several runners at the office wearing their Polar or Nike Triax watches and that gives me some more motivation. I'm on my third HRM device,  I comment to myself as they pass me in the hall.

. . .

Let's see, another Mad Cow and no one is sure where it came from or how old it is. Funny how that happens. And while I never thought I'd be rooting for a meatpacker, here's one that wants to test every single cow it slaughters for Mad Cow but the USDA won't let them. How's that work? There's actually a regulation on the books preventing a slaughterhouse from testing cows? You can carry a concealed weapon in these parts but test a cow for Mad Cow and you're going to jail, dammit. 

So this slaughterhouse [Creekstone is the name—conjures up images of jersey cows peacefully sipping Chardonnay as they wander through the green grass up to the punching machine, doesn't it?] is doing what all good companies seem to do these days: suing. But this time they're going after the USDA. Sock it to 'em.

And one last comment on the Mad Cow news and Japan's reluctance to import U.S. beef. The news media, terrififed of the unbalanced label, always seems to include in any article about Mad Cow and Japanese beef imports some variant of this line: [from the same source above but pick any of them] (emphasis added)

The U.S. has had three cases of mad cow disease. The first appeared in December 2003 in a Washington state cow that had been imported from Canada. The second was confirmed last June in a Texas-born cow, and the third was confirmed last week in an Alabama cow.

Japan has had two dozen cases of BSE.

Not 24, but two dozen, maybe even two baker's dozen. Close to thirty, you know. So many that it needs to be grouped. Heck, let's just leave it at dozens. All I know is that it's a whole lot more.

You've got to know that this is something the U.S. beef industry keeps reminding the mice who pose as journalists these days: U.S. beef is safe, even safer than Japanese beef.

But read carefully, folks. Japan tests every single cow for Mad Cow before slaughter. Our federal government, the same knuckleheads who responded to Katrina, tests 1% of the 35 million slaughtered. The Japanese have 24 confirmed cases because they actually look for it while our USDA wants to scale back testing.

Could someone please explain to me why Japan can do this and we can't? 

Why is it that I eat healthier when I'm exercising regularly than when I'm not? It's paradoxical but true—when I miss my runs several days in a row I find myself loosening up on what and how much I allow myself to eat. An "In for a penny, in for a pound" attitude but one I find myself falling into time and time again. If I run in the morning I find myself trying to eat healthier, accelerating the momentum of my healthy phase. But a couple of days without running and I begin to think "At this point, will one more cookie really make a difference?" Exercise checks excess.

I finally got some decent mileage under my belt this weekend. With a cool front making it feel like autumn (at least temporarily) in Houston I was able to sleep in today and still run in sub-80° weather.

I took a several days off (I can always find an excuse) because I did something wacky to my knee earlier this week. Tuesday morning I drove from Houston to San Antonio and when I got out of the car in San Antonio my right knee was stiff and the back of the knee was sore when walking. It quickly got worse and in a few hours I couldn't bend it without really feeling pain along the knee back and side. It felt like IT band pain except more—not just limited to the side of the knee but on the back and a bit of the upper calf. It also had that ticklish feel that you can get with a tendinitis-type injury. But the weird thing is I hadn't done any exercise in a couple of days so where it came from had me perplexed, initially. I think I've figured it out, however. The night before my trip I was working on my notebook computer and was tired of sitting over my desk so took the notebook and put in on my lap, reclining in my chair and putting my legs, crossed, up on the desk—a fairly common position. My right leg was the bottom one and was bearing the weight of my legs and I think this may have hyper-extended my right leg at the knee. Why I didn't feel it until the next morning, and then not until a 3-hour car ride, I can't explain. I must be getting older, however, because I've sat with my legs crossed on my desk thousands of times and haven't had any problems until now.

. . .

During today's run the heart rate info on my Polar displayed a value about half of normal. A few minutes later it showed no data, just double zero. I think the battery on the chest strap may need replacement—pace and distance information was fine. Thankfully this can now be done by the owner and doesn't require sending your chest strap back to Polar like with the earlier models.

. . .

Take five minutes and read this from The New York Times: To Prevent Mad Cow Disease, F.D.A. Proposes New Restrictions on Food for Animals. But in case you don't, here's a few excerpts: [emphasis added]

The Food and Drug Administration proposed new rules yesterday to prevent the spread of mad cow disease by banning brains and spinal cords from older cows in all animal feed.

. . .

But the rules are not as strict as those the agency proposed last year and never adopted, and critics promptly denounced them as inadequate.

The new proposal still allows chickens, pigs and other noncattle animals to be fed material that some scientists consider potentially infectious, including the brains and spinal cords of young animals, and the eyes, tonsils, intestines and nerves of older ones.

Cows can potentially ingest that material because they can be given chicken feed and droppings swept up from the floors of poultry farms, scrapings from restaurant plates, and a calf milk replacement made from cow blood and fat. In the rules proposed in early 2004, poultry litter and plate waste would have been banned.

. . .

In 1997, the F.D.A. banned feeding ruminants like cattle and sheep to other cattle and sheep, with a few exceptions like calf "milk replacement" made from cow blood.

My friends back in Texas are getting tired of me talking about how great the weather is here in Mountain View but I just can't help myself—it makes running a delight and not the chore it sometimes feels like in Houston. Maybe it's the new scenery but I think the grass really is greener here.

This morning I ran eight miles on the Stevens Creek Trail that runs along Stevens Creek through Mountain View. It has all the right things for a good running area—pedestrian bridges over the highways, benches, restrooms, and nice scenery. While not busy, there were plenty of joggers and people riding their bike to work. A large portion of the trail runs underneath and parallel to high-voltage power lines and this caused the readings on my Polar to go crazy from time-to-time. I wouldn't want to live near high-voltage lines but it's a good use of this right-of-way: a walking/jogging trail.

. . .

I use to host this blog out of my house on a dinky-little server under my desk—no UPS, no redundant routes, nothing special—and I had good availability. I've switched to a hosting solution a few weeks ago that has a 99.9% uptime guarantee and I've already had a couple outages. Somehow yesterday's blackout in Los Angeles brought down the data center of my provider. So much for 99.9% uptime.

. . .

I ditched most of my non-stick cookware a few years ago after hearing about Teflon Flu (a more alarming article here). The idea that letting a pan get too hot on a stove could make you sick made me a bit uneasy, especially with kids in the house. The debate rages on and I'm glad I've made the switch to stainless.

I lost an entire week of training last week due to illness. I'm back now and trying to prepare for Sunday's sprint triathlon, Try Andy's Tri. I should survive this one, I've done several race-distance workouts and managed to maintain a decent pace.

It's the following week that has me worried, the Cinco Ranch Triathlon. This is an 800-meter swim, 20-mile ride and a 5 mile run. I'm definitely racing to finish and it's going to take some effort on my part.

. . .

Sigh. I don't know who's worse, the U.S. beef industry or the clowns who are supposed to monitor them: USDA finds 1,000+ violations of mad cow rules . . .

Yet another health article from those peace-loving, Birkenstock-wearing crazies at the Wall Street Journal. This one about the high levels of mercury in canned tuna. When Wifey was pregnant we cut way back on tuna but even then you have to be careful. And here I thought we were buying the best when choosing solid white albacore.

With all the stories about thimerosol (approximately 50% mercury) and autism [which I think is hooey], you'd think mercury in tuna would be getting more coverage. Once again, the ever vigilant FDA is late to the game.

If you're concerned about mercury levels in seafood, check out this handy calculator.

As if on cue, I'm sick. I knew it was coming because the boy came down with a cold on Monday, Wifey had it a few days later, and then baby girl. I thought I was almost out of the woods but then Friday night I felt it coming and, after a fitful night (with my restless leg raging because I took some Benadryl), I awoke Saturday feeling like hell. I'm not sure where the boy picks up these bugs but they wallop me. A runny/stuffy nose and other "regular" cold symptoms I can live with. But the last couple of bugs have been severe—body aches, feverish and chills and it takes me days and days to recover.

. . .

Friday, before feeling crummy, I had my first brick workout where I swam and then immediately got on the bike for a fifteen mile ride. I'm not sure why they're called bricks but it's supposed to get your body familiar with biking after swimming and running after biking. With the distance I did on Friday it was more like a pave stone but it was a good start.

Well, some good news: that suspected cow (the one from April that was just now tested) didn't have Mad Cow. Sometimes the best plan is to have a little luck. Yes, I'm about to quote from USA Today but maybe Americans will pay attention since that paper breaks it into little pieces for them with lots of snazzy graphics and charts. From a Monday editorial, Mad cow cases met with shrug instead of safeguards:

The story is always the same. Consumers are urged not to worry about the chance of a major outbreak of the disease, like the one that occurred in Europe a decade ago. They are assured they will be protected by the practices of the cattle industry and the policies of responsible government agencies.

In fact, those practices and policies are considered so ineffective that 64 nations have total or partial bans on U.S. beef products. And the two agencies charged with ensuring a safe beef supply, the Agriculture Department (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have become as much a part of the industry's public relations team as they are public health watchdogs. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns' response to each episode seems to be to tell everyone he's going to have beef for dinner.

[. . .]

At the moment, American consumers have neither protection:

•Feed loopholes. In 1997, the FDA imposed a so-called ban on the feeding of ruminant protein to cows. But that policy has two enormous exemptions. Weaning calves may drink cattle blood as a milk substitute. And feed may include the waste from chicken coop floors as a protein supplement. This waste poses a risk not because of its many unsavory elements, including feces and feathers, but because FDA officials estimate that up to 30% of it can be uneaten chicken feed - which routinely contains beef.

•"Keystone Kops" testing. The brain tissue of the cow that is currently being tested was first collected in April. The investigation was delayed because the veterinarian forgot to send the sample to the laboratory. The sample that tested positive in June had originally been cleared by USDA last year. Subsequent tests were ordered by a suspicious internal investigator, showing how inadequate the department's testing is.

What's my fixation on repeatedly quoting news sources about calves drinking cattle blood and eating chicken shit? Maybe it's because when I tell people about this they don't believe me, they're incredulous. Forget Mad Cow, do we really want to be feeding our livestock this stuff? Meanwhile, the US beef industry dodges another bullet and continues along their merry way . . .

A friend of mine sent me this article from the New York Times about all the gadgets to monitor exercise—from heart rate monitors to power meters. By Data Obsessed may not describe the majority of those who use these devices, however. "Obsessed" is a bit strong. Sure, I wouldn't run or bike without a heart rate monitor but I don't obsess over the numbers. I frequently forget to upload the data from my S625X to my PC which is too bad because there's probably some good information to garner from it. But I do want to see my performance and progress during the run.

When I bought my bike I had a bike computer added that gives me speed, distance, and pedal cadence. I wanted to see how far and how fast I was going and also ensure that my cadence was appropriate (Proper cadence?--Don't know, 90-95 RPM?) because I wanted to see how far and how fast I was going. Polar has all sorts of bike computers but it doesn't appear that they integrate well with my S625X. If I bike and then run I have to treat these as separate exercises because the speed sensor is not able to do both running and biking in the same exercise set (meaning there is re-configuration required).

. . .

So another possible case of Mad Cow, huh? Amazing what you'll find once you start looking. I love how the beef industry and the Bush administration keeps telling the public how there's no danger because these cows didn't enter the food supply—they were caught before slaughter. Yeah, but what about all the herdmates (is that a term—herdmates?)? If one cow in the herd is positive for Mad Cow because it exhibited symptoms how are we to know the other cows who did enter the food supply weren't infected? Weren't they eating the same tainted feed?

I like the way Zane thinks and I read his blog daily. It's where I found a link to yet another worthwhile blog, Trends I'm Watching. And this led me to this piece about agricultural antibiotic use contributing to 'super-bugs' in humans. Not that I didn't already know that since we had the close-encounter with salmonellosis a few months ago. But if you've been living under a rock and want to know what's contributing to the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, it's worth a read.

. . .

Just as I feared, I found myself in the bike store today pondering some clip-in pedals (but I resisted). I'm not too crazy about the toe-clip pedals and how my shoelaces slap around while I pedal so some bike shoes might help which means new pedals . . . Wifey says I need a kickstand and that made me laugh only because she's right, leaning the bike against the wall means the boy will eventually knock it over. But, hey, I can't have a kickstand, that's too practical and would ruin the clean lines of the bike.

Funny I should stumble upon this link about Whole Foods at the Brand Autopsy blog because I was just thinking about how much I've come to depend on Whole Foods. So much so that I won't relocate to a city that doesn't have one (or a store very much like it such as Larry's Markets in Seattle) and any dwelling I live in has to have a Whole Foods within a reasonable distance.

I'm rarely in a "regular" supermarket such as Safeway or Kroger (though we joke that we patronize these places to buy our chemicals) but this morning I had to run into Randall's to buy some coffee (ever start a Monday with the kids screaming only to find out there's no coffee in the house?) and once again I was reminded how much more pleasant the experience is at Whole Foods. What, specifically, makes Whole Foods more pleasant? I don't know, maybe the softer lighting (no fluorescent lights blinding you as you walk in), the natural colors (or lack of garish colors), the cleaner displays with no SAVE! tags hanging from them, the staff, the comfort in knowing that whatever you buy won't have something crazy in it—too many things to count. But the difference is night and day and one you've experienced it it's hard to go back.

I've decided to try a triathlon. There are two short triathlons in late August (one a 400-meter swim, 10-mile bike and 3-mile run and the other an 850-meter swim, 20-mile bike and 5-mile run) in the Houston area and I'm definitely going to attempt the shorter of the two. I can swim but I'm not an especially strong swimmer and I can ride a bike but I don't have a road bike so that's something I'll have to figure out, too. For the moment I've been spending time reading training articles on Tri-Newbies and figuring out how to prepare myself in six weeks.

Well, well, well, I can't say I was surprised when I received email from David and Colleen late Friday about the Mad Cow confirmation. I think we all knew it was a foregone conclusion that it was going to come back positive. The "Your mother is on the roof" tactic was fooling no one. But another Friday press release? Damn, these Bushies have some big cojones. I should have used this approach with my report cards.

And if you think I'm being unfair or paranoid, remember that the cow in question was suspected of having BSE (Mad Cow) back in November. The first rapid-test came back positive for BSE but a second, more comprehensive test, was negative. So what did the USDA do? Test again to be sure? No, they stopped right there. Does this make sense? Why not double-check with the most thorough test, the Western blot test? From the Associated Press story: [emphasis added]

Consumer groups and scientists urged the department to perform a Western blot test and seek confirmation from the lab in Weybridge, England.

In a letter to Consumers Union last March, the department said there was no need for the British lab to confirm the results and that the Western blot test would not have given a more accurate reading.

"We are confident in the expertise of USDA's laboratory technicians in conducting BSE testing," wrote Jere Dick, an associate deputy administrator. Mad cow disease is medically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.

Troubled by the conflicting test results, the department's inspector general, Phyllis Fong, ordered the Western blot test this month. By the time an aide notified Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, the testing was under way. The testing was positive. The department then sent tissue samples to the British lab, which subjected the samples to all the tests again.

Johanns, amid an uproar from the cattle industry, was irked that she did so without his knowledge or consent.

"From my standpoint, I believe I was put there to operate the department and was very disappointed," he told reporters Friday morning.

By that afternoon, the verdict from Britain was in: The cow had mad cow disease.

Forget Mad Cow, forget public health, Johanns is stewing because someone (and a woman at that!) ordered another test without asking him first. And now the USDA and the beef industry are putting on a big PR show of how they're using DNA samples to find where this cow came from and locate other cattle that may have eaten the same feed—seven months after the fact. Let's hope the war on terror isn't being run by this same crew.

The insanity continues. From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON - American cattle are eating chicken litter, cattle blood and restaurant leftovers that could help transmit mad cow disease — a gap in the U.S. defense that the Bush administration promised to close nearly 18 months ago.

Read more about it here on MSNBC but the net is that cattle blood and chicken litter is a cheap source of feed and it's all about profits with this administration. It was Mark McClellan, head of the FDA (and brother of the dimwit White House spokesman Scott McClellan) who jumped in front of the cameras in January 2004 and promised to put an end to these practices. The regulation was never instituted and we're still eating beef from cows that ate chicken shit and cow blood.

I've said it before but I seem to keep forgetting it: a walking break can save a run that would ordinarily be abandoned. It's hot in Houston (only five more months!) so just getting out to run is an accomplishment in itself. But this morning I was out of gas early—as I finished the three mile loop around Rice University my legs didn't want to go around again. I decided to bag it but then thought "Why not just walk one more loop? It's better than not doing anything." After walking for a minute or two I decided to run for just a couple hundred yards. Then I walked for about another minute followed by some more running. This got me through the last three miles and on the last mile I felt fine, the legs were back.

I think I need to pin a note to my shirt that says: When thinking of quitting, walk. You'll feel better soon.

. . .

So here's an interesting count of reported cased of BSE (Mad Cow), by country, from those commies at the Wall Street Journal:

U.K. U.S. Canada Japan Netherlands France Ireland Italy

182,807 1 4 19 77 960 1,510 150

One case here in the U.S.? Are Americans lucky or what? Or is it, as the Houston Chronicle reports, that maybe the U.S. government isn't trying real hard:

Feds skipped key mad cow disease test in 2004 case

WASHINGTON - Confronted with a possible case of mad cow disease last year, the U.S. Agriculture Department failed to perform all of the same rigorous tests it had used to confirm an incident of the brain-wasting ailment back in 2003.

Federal regulators skipped a key test last November that is routinely used elsewhere by experts who say it is, under certain circumstances, more effective for detecting the dread disease.

Relying on a single kind of test to verify the results of an initial screening, USDA officials declared the cow — reportedly from Texas — free of the disease.

That was a decision they have come to rue.

Seven months later, they had to acknowledge the animal may have been infected after all. [. . .]

Ever see those stories on television about people getting conned or scammed in some get-rich-quick scheme? And what do you tell yourself as you shake your head? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Well . . .

Huh, so late Friday night the Department of Agriculture announces that a cow somewhere in the U.S. (they won't say where) has tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, aka Mad Cow). There were several stories on this over the weekend but it's a bit played out at this point. Call me cynical, but presidential administrations (companies, too) have been known to release unpopular news on Friday nights so the item is buried over the weekend thus being "old" news by Monday:

The Bush administration seems to be following an axiom that guided many of its predecessors: To keep negative headlines to a minimum, release bad news on a Friday. [. . .] To attract little attention, the strategy makes sense. Friday night's network news broadcasts are the least-watched of the workweek. Saturday newspapers are the week's least-read editions.

^{Source: It's TGIF for the White House when it has bad news./USA Today}

Maybe it's just coincidence the news came out Friday night. Besides, the USDA will probably claim that this cow came from an Indian reservation so technically it's not even in the U.S. And this test isn't even conclusive, the USDA is testing again with a more rigorous screening and they'll let us know when those results are in—probably on another Friday night.

This reminds me of an old joke. A man is left in charge with his neighbor's house, including his cat and bedridden mother. One day the man on vacation calls to check up on things:

MAN: How's my cat?
NEIGHBOR: I'm sorry to tell you that your cat died.
MAN: No, no, no. You aren't supposed to just up and say that he died! The first time I call you say he's up on the roof. The second time I call, you say the firemen are on their way. The third time I call, you say that the six days the feline spent on the roof wore his little heart out, and it gave out during surgery.
NEIGHBOR: Oh. I'll try to remember that next time. I'm very sorry.
MAN: It's all right. I understand. So, how's my mom doing?
NEIGHBOR: She's up on the roof.

Ultra-marathoning is hot right now with the book Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes selling well and his appearances on various talk shows. But the record for running nonstop consecutive miles is held by a woman, Pam Reed, who did 301 miles in about 80 hours. The New York Times has her story here.

. . .

I couldn't have said it better myself: Brain degeneration at the Dept. of Agriculture.

If you've worn running shorts or a shirt made from Coolmax, you know about that post-workout smell. I typically don't lounge around in my running clothes after a run so it's not much of an issue for me. But if you like to go clubbing after your interval session (or get in a car with someone you want to impress), there may be a solution—SmartWool. Read the story here along with a quick review of other new apparel for runners.

While you're at the New York Times, stick around to read about how you're never too old to start playing competitive sports. Saturday soccer games and swim meets aren't just for kids anymore.

So the boy isn't feeling well—fever, lethargic, and what looks like conjunctivitis in one eye. No big deal, we'll get through it. But then we get a phone call from a friend of ours that one of the boy's playmates (they were playing together on Saturday) has a confirmed case of salmonellosis, an infection from the salmonella bacteria. These parents, while doting, were already on my list for feeding their toddlers junk (Mountain Dew and Oreos among other things) and my first reaction was annoyance at the parents for unknowingly exposing the boy to salmonellosis. Of course it's not their fault, their kid could have picked it up anywhere and even if the boy catches it he should be okay. But still . . .

And it gets better. A google search on salmonellosis will take you to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site where they have a good write-up on salmonellosis and what to expect with the illness and  how to avoid it. Now this is the CDC, a government agency and the one that gets involved in all matters of disease that impact public health; this is not the granola-eating, Birkenstock wearing crowd I usually cite. And what does the CDC say about the efficacy of antibiotics for salmonellosis? From their write up [emphasis added]: " Unfortunately, some Salmonella bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics, largely as a result of the use of antibiotics to promote the growth of feed animals."

So if I'm going to get angry about this, if I'm going to shake the proverbial fist, it's not at the parents whose son potentially exposed the boy to salmonellosis. No, it's at all the cheap bastards who buy their chicken breasts by the gross, who insist on paying the absolute minimum for ground beef, who don't want to think about where their food is coming from because it's unsettling, who refuse to spend a few minutes becoming informed on public health issues because they're too damn busy watching American Idol and eating Pringles, and who bitch about taxes and government regulation until it's their ass that's threatened.

Now for the two of you that read this blog, this isn't directed at you. But if there's anyone else out there, do you really feel good about where your food is coming from and how it was produced? And you can do something—get informed, refuse to buy in to the argument that antibiotics and hormones for feed animals is benefiting you, and vote with your dollars. It takes a little more effort to eat healthy, it certainly costs more, and your family may think you're foolish. But they'll thank you later and until then be content knowing it's the right thing to do.

I hate to be one of those people who links to silly things on the Internet, but if you've got ten minutes (and a fast connection) check out Store Wars, a parody of Star Wars with a good message regarding sustainable agriculture and organic farming. This is from the same group that did The Meatrix, another worthwhile and funny way to kill ten minutes when the boss ain't looking.

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Took a treadmill stress test today as part of a routine physical exam. I mentioned to my doctor that I am a runner and occasionally felt some tightness across my chest when first starting out on a run and can't remember it not happening since I started running. He thought this was nothing significant but suggested the treadmill test to err on the side of caution. A treadmill test at a doctor's office, how hard can that be? Harder than I thought. While only fifteen minutes long, the last four minutes are at a quick jog at an 18% grade. I stepped off that treadmill (the test requires no cooldown so time-to-recovery can be measured) and was ready to call it a day. So much for my plan to wow the staff with my awe-inspiring conditioning.

Today's Wall Street Journal has a Health Journal piece about the benefits of exercise for those suffering from depression. Because you need a subscription to read it, I'm quoting liberally from the story:

• A growing body of medical literature, including at least three 2005 studies, is showing that aerobic routines as well as weight lifting are effective at combating depression. In addition to the famous "runner's high," or endorphin surge that provides a temporary mood lift following a workout, the studies show that there is a round-the-clock relief that sets in several weeks after the establishment of a regular exercise routine.
• Between 20% and 30% of depression patients don't respond to medication after a year of taking it, says Douglas G. Jacobs, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
• If, as some studies have suggested, exercise is even remotely as effective as medication, then in some respects it could be an ideal treatment. It's less expensive than medication and psychotherapy. It doesn't cause sexual dysfunction or harbor potentially fatal side effects when combined with other drugs, as do some antidepressants.
• Unlike depression medication -- which has behind it the research and marketing clout of the pharmaceutical industry -- exercise has behind it little research or advertising money. Consequently, the studies supporting it are typically too small to win publication in major medical journals. Without any marketing push, the studies are getting little attention.
• Interviews with psychiatrists -- medical doctors whose specialty is mental health -- suggest that some aren't even aware of the body of literature supporting exercise as a treatment for depression. [. . .] "Because of collective professional values and financial interests of academic psychiatry, research priorities have almost exclusively targeted psychopharmacology," says James Lake, a California psychiatrist who says he believes his specialty is too narrowly focused on medication.

No, there'll be no women in short skirts with black bags on wheels wanting a few minutes of the doctors' time to educate him/her about the benefits of this regimen. But maybe we'll see a few more doctors put down the prescription pad and ask their patients to exercise.

In Chicago for work and am neglecting everything. But this article in today's New York Times is worth posting. Here's the net: donuts are bad for you. But it's the opening paragraph that made me chuckle:

No matter which route Reginald Burns takes when he drives to work each morning in Houston, he knows every doughnut shop along the way. Almost every day, he stops for a fix: a Diet Coke and six doughnuts - any kind as long as they have just emerged from the fryer.

Well, I guess the Diet Coke makes up for it. Seriously, who doesn't like a donut, but six a day washed down with a Diet Coke sweetened with a chemical produced by (who else) Monsanto?

Every month in The Atlantic Magazine I see a half-page ad for the ROM. It's an exercise machine that claims to give you the same results of a 20-45 minute aerobic workout, 45 minute weight workout, and 20 minute stretching session in four minutes.

Crazy? Of course. And if the machine was $79 and sold late at night you'd disregard it. But the ROM isn't $79, it's $14,615 and the company makes no apologies for the price. And they're advertising in The Atlantic—not exactly a fitness magazine. I'm really intrigued by this. The machine, as you can see, looks like some Rube Goldberg contraption and there's no pictures on their web site or in their ad of how you use it.

Fourteen grand? But can you imagine if it really did work what this would mean? You could get the equivalent of two hours of exercise in four minutes. Heck, I'd use it for eight minutes. And if you invented such a device, wouldn't you ask for the moon?

Has anyone ever used this thing? It's not easy to try out—they've got a pretty generous 30-day trial but they claim only 3% of individuals return it after the trial. That's what scares me.

More Mad Cow controversy as reported in The New York Times. Net: Japan doesn't want to import U.S. beef until they're confident that it's safe. I love this quote from the article: "Later in March, the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, visited here and devoted more of her comments to American beef than to North Korean bombs."

The Japanese test every single cow they slaughter for Mad Cow. In the U.S. we may test something like 14 percent this year. Maybe that's why Japan has detected 17 infected cows since August 2001 while the U.S. has found one. You're not gonna find it if you you're not looking.

And not only has the Bush administration backtracked on their committment to ban cow blood in cattle feed, but now we're saying some sick cows be be okay to slaughter for human food: White House may ease "downer cattle" ban.

So Mad Cow in Europe, Mad Cow in Japan, Mad Cow in Canada but no Mad Cow in the good ole US of A?

Yet another article about hyponatremia, the condition of low blood sodium levels from too much water. There have been several articles about this in various publications the last few years. Expect to hear more about it now that The New England Journal of Medicine has published a study.

The HP Houston Marathon changed the number of water/hydration stations starting in 2003 to reduce the possibility of a runner consuming too much water and endangering him/herself. The article from the Times mentions how the pendulum has swung regarding hydration advice. Remember the "Drink before your thirsty" advice? Or what about the 8x8 rule (8 ounces of water 8 times per day)? And while I haven't read the full study in NEJM, I'm confused about how much of a danger there is when drinking a sports d