A solid, balanced breakfast significantly improves school children's attendance, punctuality, behavior, weight, and grades. Researchers feel this benefit applies to any age, and regular breakfast also correlates with a 50% reduction in the incidence of obesity and obesity-induced prediabetes. Running on fumes hurts your car, your body, and your mind.
Those belts that use electricity to exercise your abs or thighs? Come on; you didn't really believe that, did you? It's TEEVEE, guys!
Is ice water a healthy, safe, effective drink during and after exercise?
You bet. It tastes great, empties from your stomach more quickly than warmer water, and cools your body down. Enjoy.
Germ warfare in the home.
Antibacterial hand soaps are a waste of money. Pass. Those alcohol-based hand sanitizers, however, actually work quite well, and bacteria can't become resistant to them. Ideally, wash first in soap and water to remove dirt and oils that may block their sanitizing action.
Wood and plastic cutting boards are equally sanitary, as long as they' re washed well in hot, soapy water, far preferably in the dishwasher. But those disposable cutting sheets available in the supermarket often cut through, leaving a biohazardous mess underneath. Back to the cutting boards.
Commercial vegetable washes? Fuhgettaboutem. Rinse your produce well in water and enjoy. For kids or people with weak immune systems, it may help to scrub fruits such as apples, peaches, or pears with a brush and a tiny drop of dish soap in plenty of water to remove the wax often applied to them.
Sponges, even the germ/killing variety, are b-u-u-u-u-u-g heaven - yes, even when washed in the dishwasher. Dish cloths are much easier to clean effectively.
What's the most effective toothpaste?
Water. Everything else in non-medicinal toothpastes is window dressing to get your buck. The exception? Fluoride. It doesn't help clean teeth, but it does fight cavities. If the water you drink doesn't contain sufficient fluoride, your toothpaste should.
Drug expiration dates: how critical?
The pharmacists I polled didn't know this, but the answer is . . . not very, unless the drug is treating a critical medical problem. A couple of exceptions are insulin and liquid antibiotics, but you can let most other drug expiration dates slide for a year or two, easy. Caveats: they need to be stored in tight containers in a cool, dry, dark place, and not mixed together in one container where they might interact. Of course, if a drug's texture, color, smell, etc. has changed, don't use it. If you can detect a change in it, it has probably changed chemically regardless of its date. Dispose of it.
And there you have a scattering of brief topics in which almost every one of us should find some connection.
