Stop Hatin' On the Babies

Firstly I would like to apologize for my extended absence from G & C. I have no acceptable excuse, it was poor form on my part. If you so kindly choose to accept my apology I would like to share an interesting find with you.

Our beloved baby carrot has had quite a stressful last week due to a wave of bad publicity. It seems like everyone who hears the truth about the baby carrot has turned against it, choosing to never again indulge in such a satisfying yet healthful snack. If you haven't heard the news, allow me to fill you in.

There's no such thing as a "baby" carrot. Calm down, just take a deep breath, I'll explain. Baby carrots are whittled down from normal size carrots into their cute little uniform size that we all know and love. However, the carrots that are chosen to become the baby version aren't perfect. They're the ugly, abnormal, for lack of a better word, "special" carrots. For those of you out there that have ever grown carrots, you know what I'm talking about. It's hard to get those perfect carrots.

This should be a positive attribute for baby carrots right? If it weren't for the idea of chopping up these ugly carrots into little clones, these carrots would be tossed. That was the initial reason for baby carrots, to keep from wasting hundreds of unsellable carrots.

Of course, there are a few bad facts that come along with this. For one, baby carrots are more expensive than normal carrots. But that should be expected since they are processed more, such as being pealed, whittled down, etc. Also, since baby carrots come from less desirable carrots, they lack 30% of the beta carotene present in normal carrots. That means they still have 70%, not bad if you ask me.

So in my opinion, the good outweighs the bad. Although baby carrots aren't as healthful or cheap as their larger counterpart, the fact that they avoid a large amount of waste and seem to provide an alternative snack for many of our overweight, fast-food-addicted citizens, it a good enough reason to keep these little guys around.

Lucid Dreaming - Phase 1

While looking around the web a couple of days ago, I found this really interesting website, Lucidipedia. The point of the site is to teach members how to have lucid dreams (those dreams where you know you're dreaming and can control stuff). I remember as a kid I thought lucid dreams sounded so cool (don't get me wrong, I still do) and went through a phase of trying to figure out how to have one. However, after a few nights of no success I promptly gave up. Now that I'm a bit older, perhaps with a little more patience, seeing this topic again excites me and peaks my curiosity.
For awhile now, I've been searching for something fun to work on, not necessarily a life skill but just something fun. Learning how to have lucid dreams seems to fit the bill quite immaculately.
So I signed up and, having completed my first task (learning what lucid dreaming is) am working on my second task: Remembering your dreams. Definitely a good step. No sense in having a lucid dream if you can't remember it.
With becoming a member (which is free by the way) you get a free dreamJournal. This is a where you record your dream content, dream recall, sleep patterns, occurrence of lucidity and a bunch of other info. I still haven't really remembered my dreams the last few nights so haven't used this part yet, but looking forward to it.
Apparently lucid dreaming is beneficial for self exploration and growth since, with this ability you can experience all kinds of different things, such as overcoming fears. Some people use lucid dreams to practice presentations or lectures. Not a bad idea.
So that's my plan: work on lucid dreaming... well at least for now work on remembering my dreams. I know it's definitely a long process and I may never really learn how to do it, but it's worth a shot.

Earth (Every)Day

In celebration of Earth Day, I wanted to share a list of ways to make your life a little greener. Although there is no doubt that Earth Day is a wonderful holiday to spread awareness, one day of not driving your car or not buying fast food is not going to solve anything. It needs to become a lifestyle. And guess what? It's actually pretty easy! These little changes to your everyday life can eventually make a huge impact.

I found this list on the Worldwatch Institute's website and picked out the 5 easiest, most practical ways to live a greener life (but you might as well check out the list and just do all of them, right?).

1. Buy used.
• Whether you’ve just moved to a new area or are looking to redecorate, consider a service like craigslist or FreeSharing to track down furniture, appliances, and other items, rather than buying them new. Check out garage sales and thrift stores for clothing and other everyday items.
• Use your creativity in gift giving, including making homemade gifts, donating to a good cause, or even regifting. (And gift green, in general.)
• Your purchasing habits have a real impact, for better or worse. When making new purchases, make sure you know what’s “Good Stuff” and what isn’t.
2. Buy local.
• Shop at your local farmers’ market. Though the offerings can be more expensive, you can generally count on a higher quality product—and the entire purchase price goes directly to the farmer. Buying any goods produced locally saves energy by reducing the fossil fuels needed to transport food and other items across the country and around the globe.
3. Add one meatless meal per week. (or more!)
   
• While strict vegetarianism isn’t for everyone, even the most devout carnivores can cut back on meat consumption without cramping their style—and save money in the process. Industrial meat production requires huge energy inputs and creates noxious waste problems. The proliferation of factory farms is damaging the environment, and the global nature of the industry creates conditions that promote the spread of diseases such as avian flu, potentially costing society billions.
4. Think twice about new electronics.
• E-waste from discarded cell phones and computers is a growing environmental problem. Mounds of electronic refuse are being shipped abroad illegally for ‘disassembly’ by workers with little protection against the mercury and other toxic substances they contain.
• Keep your electronics as long as possible and dispose of them responsibly when the time comes.
• Buy higher-quality items and don’t give in to ‘psychological obsolescence’ marketing campaigns.
• Recycle your cell phone and support good causes at the same time!
5. Use your local library and other public amenities.
• Borrowing from libraries, instead of buying personal books and movies, saves money and printing resources. Consider donating the money saved to your local library.

Trash the Tube

This morning, I discovered one blogger's list of the top ten reasons why not to own a television, and myself being a non-owner of one, I was intrigued. I decided I would fashion my own list, incorporating several of the same arguments, but the point being it would be my list. There are few things in my life that have come closer to the satisfaction felt from posting an original, well written post. I know, this one isn't completely original, but at least I didn't cut and paste, something I was considering.

So without further ado, my list.
If you don't own a television...

• You save money. Even if you're not paying for Comcast or On-Demand, you're still paying something, even if it's just the electricity. That alone can cost you almost 50 bucks a year!
• You have more energy. I swear, TV sucks the life out of you. Once you stop watching, you'll notice you want to do stuff, like actual productive living. Which leads me to my next point,
• Your house will be cleaner. Without a TV there to distract you, you'll finally notice all the things around the house that need to get done. That lightbulb'll get replaced, those dead cockroaches will get swept up and you'll notice how unearthly disgusting your microwave is.
• You have an ungodly amount of free time. Now, you can finally take up a new hobby, maybe blogging! Guaranteed, if we watched TV, Gum & Carrots would have never been born.
• You don't feel like a zombie. I remember sitting in front of the tube for hours on end, absorbing all those ads and mindless entertainment. When I would finally get up to actually do something, I felt like I just woke up from a dream, like I had been in some alternate universe for those last few hours. What a waste. Life's too short to spend it zoned out.

Okay, so my list only has 5 points, but I felt that was adequate to do the no-TV life justice.
Anyway, even if you can't necessarily get rid of your television, (you live with family, roommates, etc.) at least try not turning it on for a week, just to see what it would be like. Trust me! You won't regret it!

Reason to be Green?

For the last week(ish), I've consciously added more green tea to my diet, around 3 cups a day. Plus, unintentionally I haven't had any black tea. Interesting... at least for now, I guess green tea is able to suffice my hot beverage/caffeine quotient. But why, you might ask, did I elect to incorporate this earthy elixir into my routine?
Well, that's a good question.
I'm not really sure. Perhaps I wanted a change, or maybe just because it's healthier.
Or is it??
Most people assume green tea is the healthiest of the teas, but this made me wonder how that's possible since black, green, oolong, pu-erh and white teas all come from the same plant. So then, how can the variations in the processing of these different types of tea account for such drastically different levels of health benefits?
From my wanderings around the internet, it seems that the biggest reason, is simply that green tea is almost always the focus of tea studies. Other types of teas have scarcely been studied. Tea research is definitely still in its early stages.
Having said that, I was able to find one study on black tea conducted by the Netherlands National Institute of Public Health and the Environment. About.com gives a good synopsis. Apparently black tea can do as much as green tea! (Unless, of course, you take milk in your tea.) Both black and green teas were shown to have high levels of (albeit different) antioxidants.
I guess the best thing to do, as WebMD advises, is to just drink lots of tea - at least 6 to 10 cups a day!! I reckon my elementary 3-cups-a-day routine is in need of an upgrade.

p.s. - If you're curious about what exactly the tea benefits are, then check out Wikipedia's page on the topic.

Cayenne to the Rescue!

I just read on reddit a very interesting cure for a sore throat: cayenne pepper. Apparently, if you gargle a mixture of water, cayenne and salt (optional) your sore throat will magically disappear. Instantly. I haven't tried it yet, but when I do, don't worry, I will blog about it.

This cure comes from Earth Clinic, a website with an eclectic mix of folk remedies and holistic cures. The layout of the website is nice, since readers/patients of these remedies can post comments about their personal experiences with the treatment, in a yea or nay fashion. It looks like the cayenne pepper remedy is by far the best received, with well over 100 yeas.
I just got over a cold, (damn!) so I have no need to experiment with this as of now... however I do have a slightly stuffy nose...

Here is a supposedly good recipe I got from this blog:

• 1 standard drinking glass of hot to warm water
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne powder
• a couple pinches of salt for good measure (most people say its not necessary but it won’t hurt)

Please, if you try this, let me know how it goes, I am so curious!

Edamame Eaters: Beware

The point of this post is to warn all edamame eaters. This is the second time this has happened to me so I assume it could be a common occurrence and I don't want anyone else to have to experience what I had to twice. And if it does happen to you, I want you to be prepared.

It is twice now that I have found a worm, yes a worm, a dead one, inside an edamame pod I was eating. It almost made me gag, which is saying something because it takes A LOT to gross me out.

Both times, I went to pop the seed out, and as I popped it out, I noticed the seed looked a bit brown, nothing that unusual, since occasionally there are little brown spots on edamame seeds. However, my quick glance at this seed turned into a longer inspection as I noticed this seemed to have a bit more brown than normal. As I opened the pod to get a better look, I realized the entire inside of half the pod was covered with a brown substance, and there, on top of the seed I was so anxiously awaiting to eat, was a dead worm. Ughhhhh.... now as I write this I'm getting the same churning feeling in my stomach as when I found that horrid creature... From my research on the subject, I haven't found much, only a few other bloggers telling a similar story. But I was able to conclude that it was most likely a soybean podworm, also known as a corn earworm.

However, I am such a fan of edamame, that I haven't let this experience turn me away. Instead, I have learned a valuable lesson:

DON'T pop the seeds out of the pod using your mouth, causing the seed to pop directly from the pod into your mouth, since this technique doesn't allow you to see the seed at all.

DO pop open the pod using your fingers, quickly glance at the seed and then eat it. This quick glance is all that is needed, since you will be able to tell immediately if closer inspection is required.

I hope you all continue to enjoy edamame, but do so with a more educated approach.

Battle of the Brews

Returning to my argument first brought up last week on the Superiority of Tea, I would like to add to the ever-
growing demise of "the bean" beverage. My post last week definitely stirred some deep feelings readers had regarding their stance on the topic. I had a whopping 4 responses! Indeed, is appears the tea/coffee debate is a black and white subject: you're either a tea person or a coffee person, just like you're either a Beatles person or an Elvis person. Maybe there is no clear right or wrong side to take... but when there's evidence at hand, there's no sense in leaving it unexploited!
Again, my ally, the BBC has produced more evidence against the dreaded bean. A new study shows that regular coffee drinkers are not actually gaining any heightened alertness by having their morning cup. Instead, their morning fix of caffeine simply returns their bodies to normal alertness, no more than your average non-coffee drinker, or even tea drinker for that matter. Interesting! So what does that make me think...Well, at least tea drinkers don't rely on a placebo to get through their day. Muah haha!

Don't Punch That Wall!!

A few days ago, I read this article on Null Hypothesis about anger. It argues against the idea that venting anger is the best solution. Instead they suggest just trying to calm down and taking a few deep breaths should solve the problem more successfully. This got me thinking...
I'm not much of a "venting anger" kind of girl, but the few times I've let myself explode and do something emotionally rash, the feeling I had afterwards was not one of satisfaction, but of embarrassment and guilt for what I just did. So, needless to say, I was happy to read this news. During the past few days, I've consciously tried to test this hypothesis, and I have to say, I like it. At least with little things. I mean, I haven't really had anything ridiculously anger provoking occur in the last couple of days, just the standard items of frustration: being late, traffic, not being able to find that other sock, birthday presents, you know. But through all that, by simply trying to relax I've stopped myself at frustration, and not moved on to actual anger. Plus I actually feel like those feelings dissipate. So like the author of the article writes, "Next time I'm ready to explode I'll hug that pillow instead of beating the living daylights out of it."

The Superiority of Tea

I'm a tea drinker. Ok, occasionally I do indulge in a cup o' Joe, usually just to get through a boring class or stressful test, but I feel the satisfaction I get from a simple cup of tea far outweighs that heightened alertness - and then later complete loss of energy - you get from coffee. I might even go so far as to say I think it's better than water. Preposterous you say? I think not. I've got the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition on my side. BBC News recently published an article showing the EJCN's findings on just how magnificent tea is, claiming that, "Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers."Lead author Dr. Ruxton goes on to say, "Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so its got two things going for it." And what does water have to say to this? Even coffee, do you have anything you'd like to add? That's right, you can just stay quite. I always knew tea would come out on top.
While we're on the topic, if you too enjoy the healthiest beverage on Earth, then check out Adagio Teas. It's a beautiful site just look around on and their ingenuiTEA products are great to have. Excuse me while I put the kettle on...