Here is a collection of interesting and informative things I have stumbled into since our last newsletter. Please consider each carefully even though you may have read or seen the issue before. They are all important enough that we should be reminded about them often - and then carry them out!
75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often
mistaken for hunger. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's
metabolism as much as 3%. One glass of water shut down midnight hunger
pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a U-Washington study.
Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. Preliminary research
indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back
and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. A mere 2% drop in body water
can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and
difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by
45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50%
less likely to develop bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of
water you should every day?
Surviving A Heart Attack When Alone
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, I felt that the following advice from the Johnson City Medical Center should be part of our knowledge base. Without help, the person whose heart is beating properly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds before losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every 2 seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.
Protecting Yourself From Identity Theft
We've all seen most of this stuff before, but this one has some additional
thoughts that I hadn't thought of so thought I'd pass it along as well:
An attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:
The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first
name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your check book they
will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your
first name but your bank will know how you sign your checks.
When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT
put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the
last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number
and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the
check processing channels won't have access to it.
Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you
have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a
PO Box use your work address.
Never have your SS# printed on your checks (DUH!) -- you can add it if it
is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of
each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet
and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.
Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my
passport when I travel either here or abroad.
We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in
stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards, etc.
Unfortunately I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet
was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive
monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit
line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to
change my driving record information online, and more.
But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this
happens to you or someone you know:
We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the
key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you
know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them easily.
File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen,
this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step
toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps most important: (I never even thought to do
this).
Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to
place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. I had never
heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an
application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert
means any company that checks your credit knows your information was
stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By
the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all
the damage had been done.
There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves'
purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since
then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet
away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them
in their tracks.
The numbers are:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397- 3742
Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289
Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271
Becoming What You Eat
James Haller taught me how to cook 20 years ago. He was preaching this
stuff then and it is as true today as it was then.
found at: http://www.portsmouthnh.com/haller/index.cfm
Becoming What You Eat
By James Haller
I recently taught a series of classes at UNH to nutritionists on how to
get kids interested in eating and cooking healthy foods. I felt somewhat
daunted by the fact that a great percent of the nutritionists were
overweight. How can you teach good nutrition when you're not practicing it
yourself? Couple this with the fact that school principals and
administrators have installed fast food chains and soft drink machines in
the lunch rooms (economic viability was the justification) and you begin
to see part of the problem of obesity in children, not to mention they sit
too long in front of their computers and televisions.
Kids eat junk food because parents find it's easier to feed their children
garbage than it is to be aware of good nutrition, taking them to
restaurants and fast food chains where they stuff you with huge portions
of the least expensive, least nutritious foodstuffs.
Just try to get one scoop of ice cream. This past summer I went into an
ice cream store and asked for the smallest sized cone. The smallest was
two scoops hanging over the edge of the cone. When I asked if they had
anything smaller I was offered a "kiddie size": one huge scoop hanging
over the edge of the cone. I directed the server to simply fill the
scooper, just a small ball of ice cream. This seemed to be an impossible
feat for the young lady who, I think out of the goodness of her heart,
kept wanting me to have more. She seemed dumbfounded at the small portion
I had asked for.
A few weeks ago my friend and I went to have lunch at a near-by
restaurant. I ordered a hamburger with fries, and he had the same. The
burger was ten ounces and the fries filled the rest of the plate. I ate
about half the sandwich and less of the potatoes.
In the next booth was a family of five, the mother and father grossly
overweight, the three children well on their way to obesity. I could not
help but notice they were feasting on huge portions of deep fried shrimp
with French fries, a loaf of garlic bread, ten ounce hamburgers with
fries, and for dessert they all had a hot fudge sundae.
The next time you go to the mall take a look at the folks eating in the
food section. Almost everyone over thirty is fat. What's even more amazing
is that moms and dads bring their little, thin, beautiful kids and feed
them the same junk that got them overweight.
Recently there has been a movement advising us that fat is beautiful and,
for many chubby chasers, this is true. We do know that Bill Clinton found
Molto Monica attractive, and talented Cameron Mannheim is a big star (no
pun intended). However, fat is not so beautiful on a ten year old kid and
neither is it so healthy.
In the past twenty or so years this weighty problem has created an
epidemic of diabedes. Universities and the federal government are spending
hundreds of thousands of dollars seeking the reasons and the solution.
Tomes are written about the cause, thousands of diet books for the effect,
and, in all of this, no one bothered to ask a chef.
So here's my advice.
I eat what I want. I eat cheese, bread, meat, sauces, pastries and candy.
I just don't eat a lot of it. And I don't sit on my duff. I walk, I go to
a gym, I work out. Am I healthy? You bet ! Am I over weight? Maybe a
couple of pounds, not ten, maybe three. Do I cook for myself? You betcha!
Frozen dinners? Frozen weight-loss food? Let me tell you, I would never
think to buy some junk put together by a corporation. You want to trust
your health to a corporation just because they tell you it's convenient,
time, and money saving?
If you're too busy to cook for your family you're too busy, period.
If your job is more important then your children's health you're in the
wrong job.
If you're bringing home pizza more than twice a week you're eating too
much pizza. If you're buying take out, and eating at fast food places more
than once a week, you're doing it too much.
When I was a little kid my grandmother used to say that the more colorful
your plate, the healthier it is. This still holds true. To have a dinner
plate filled with carrots and greens, yellow corn, red tomatoes, broccoli
etc. is one of the few ways you can help yourself ward off illness. Do you
need to become a vegan? Not unless you want to.
"My kids refuse to eat vegetables." I hear this all the time and my
response is "Yeah, well who's the boss in your house?"
Parents feel since they can't give their kids a hundred percent of their
time they can buy them off by giving them what they want. Here's a clue.
Kids have no idea what is good for them. They'd be happy to eat candy,
pizza, burgers and any kind of garbage they see advertised on television.
If television, music, videos, magazines and the media is showing them
gross immorality (and implying there's nothing wrong with it) what do you
think the food they advertise is doing for your kids?
Part of the parent's job is to teach them the difference between right and
wrong, so that in their lives they know how to choose between life and
death. Choose life. Cook and eat healthy.
http://www.portsmouthnh.com
Don't Spread False Virus Rumors
Folks mean well when they send me warnings of some lethal virus that will supposedly wipe out my hard drive or steal my personal information. Though some warnings are valid, most are hoaxes. And in one instance of a warning, following the instructions about deleting a file from your system which supposedly contained the virus would basically cripple your computer the next time you tried to re-boot because it was a critical Windows operating system file.
Don't fall into the trap of forwarding un-checked virus warnings to everyone in your address book unless you can determine the threat is real. Do not rely on the fact that the warning comes from your brother - he might not have checked it out. Hardly anyone ever checks this stuff out but it only takes a few seconds.
There are quite a few sights that are good information sites to check. Sites from the major virus software protection programs (like Norton www.norton.com) are usually good places to start. I use one called Truth Or Fiction at http://www.truthorfiction.com/. I also use Urban Legends at http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/. So, check it out before you forward it on and scare the heck out of half your address book!
Grandmaster Peter M. Rose holds an 8th Degree Black Belt. He began his studies with Grandmaster S.A. Brock in 1968. He has operated the Rose School of Karate in Portsmouth, NH since 1972. Grandmaster Rose is a senior software engineer, analyst, designer, and technical project manager. Grandmaster Rose can be reached at zzrose@yahoo.com, or you can visit his personal web site http://www.zzrose.com/pmr.html.
