Farewell to the festivities

As the semester closes I have chosen to close this blog as well. Although it has been interesting, and certainly informative, I don't think I've got the time to really continue it. I feel like I've investigated a range of topics that I probably never would have been exposed to, and learned a plethora of facts that, if I brought them up to friends, would probably think I was ridiculous for knowing.

I've found that writing a few blogs a week really has the ability to improve me as a writer, more than I think I would have learned from writing a few papers. It has also been easier to fit in considering it's informal and I can write about whatever I choose. Plenty of things in my everyday life could spark an idea, I hardly ever looked up topics.

On top of everything though I learned a lot about other things. Reading other peoples blogs has been eye opening technologically and emotionally, and has allowed me to learn about things I would have never read about otherwise. Cars, fishing, television production...things that, although I remain uninterested, have helped me become more well rounded.

All in all, I sadly close this blog.

Liquor makes you sicker

Maybe that last shot of Everclear was not the 'lucky one' that you hoped that it would be. Now life sucks and you're missing out on everything fun because you have a hangover. Certain drugs claim that they help prevent hangovers, such as chaser, however the general consensus is that they hardly work. Food and drink, however, can work as natural and plentiful remedies that don't require a trip to CVS on your worst day of the year.

Dehydration is one of the major theorized causes of a hangover, which is why it's suggested that when drinking you continue hydrating with fluids (such as water not the cranberry juice in your cocktail). However, considering this will slow down the partying process, it's often a suggestion that goes unpracticed. That's why the next day you should make a point to hydrate sufficiently.

First and foremost you should drink plenty of water. Gatorade is often praised as well for its ability to replenish the electrolytes you lost during your binge. Orange juice is also hailed for its abilities, due to the fast-acting carbohydrates that help counter low blood-sugar levels. It also helps replace the potassium that your body is now running on a limited supply of.

Upon thorough research on the web, I uncovered some other interesting 'cures.'

Burnt toast is apparently a great remedy, as the carbon supposedly has the ability to filter the impurities in your body.

Fatty and greasy foods, though they sound unappealing when even gazing at something as bland as bread makes you want to puke, are sworn by partiers to reduce the effects of alcohol by coating the stomach with the oiliness, thus interrupting alcohol absorption.

Drinking pickle juice appeals to the Polish, they consider it a common remedy for hangovers.

The caffeine in Pepsi and Coke help ease the headache, as well as cola syrup having medicinal abilities to soothe the stomach. Be careful with this advice, however, as drinking too many caffeinated beverages will only cause you to become more dehydrated.

And, my favorite cure, more alcohol. Clearly this is the cure for people now-a-days, as procrastination seems to be very popular. It seems logical to continue consuming alcohol, as your body will need to devote to dealing with the new alcohol it will pay less attention to the old. While this may work for a little while there seems to me to be no point it just putting it off. I would rather get it out of the way rather than wonder if my boss will notice if I smell like a brewery today or not.

I have never tried any of these but certain websites that I checked "swore by partiers" so that seems pretty legitimate. Partiers are usually the most knowledgeable and reasonable people, as well as renowned specialists in the field.

Did you take your vitamins?

Turns out taking those vitamins might not be the equivalent of having an apple a day. A study found that after time antioxidants like the ones lining the shelves in CVS (vitamin A, E, C, and beta-carotene, for example) actually lose their antioxidant qualities.

The Cochrane Collaboration is a network of volunteers supported by a small staff, dedicated to improving health-care decision making all over the world. Their study included thousands of individuals over many trials, making their information well-tested and legitimate, as least it's quite enough to scare me. They have recently found some startling results, and I found this statement to be cause of alarm: "Vitamin A, beta-carotene, and vitamin E may increase mortality." Allowing these supplements to sit on the shelves in stores decreases their ability to improve health, and in some cases increases risk of other implications.

A similar study was done with tea, known and praised for its antioxidant abilities. Tea doesn't spoil once packaged, therefore leading many to believe that its always still good. However Mendel Friedman and colleagues from the Albany, Calif.-based Western Regional Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture found "that among the teas we looked at there seems to be a progressive decrease in the amount of antioxidants as a function of time." After the longest period they tested, 6 months, up to 32% of the benefits had been stripped, and considering that the tea that you purchase at the grocery store has probably been sitting there for much longer than just 6 months, you are fooling yourself thinking that its so good for you.

This issue seems kind of shocking to me, and obviously more research is still needed, though I still feel its pertinent. Check out some of those sites and read more about the studies, they're pretty interesting.

Allergic?

Have you ever noticed that those people who have food allergies always seem to have the same ones? I mean in my short life of 18 years I have met probably five to ten people who are lactose intolerant and probably just as many people allergic to nuts. However I have met only a few people allergic to things like cherry flavoring or tomatoes. Though this may seem like a coincidence it actually is not. According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network there are eight foods that account for 90% of all food allergies. It may be important to know a little about each in case you need to cook for or order food for someone affected by these allergens. Of the most common are:

Milk:

It's fortunate if you're allergic to milk (well, not that fortunate) because its easy to substitute for. Often times when people don't have milk they will already naturally make the substitution, without any unwanted repercussions in the taste of the food. For example using water in hot chocolate instead of milk, or even in oatmeal.

However some things that one who is allergic to milk needs to be aware of is the fact that it may hide slyly in a product that you wouldn't ever consider would have milk in it. This includes being wary of canned tuna (some brands include casein, a milk protein used in many foods as a binding agent) and steak, which is sometimes buttered in restaurants to add flavor.

Eggs:


Eggs are an easy substitute because lately with vegan diets becoming more popular, its necessary to find alternatives for eggs, especially in baking. A few of the recipes for egg substitute are as follow:

• 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 T. liquid, 1 T. vinegar
• 1 tsp. yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 T. water, 1 1/2 T. oil, 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 packet gelatin, 2 T. warm water. Do not mix until ready to use.

Be careful of the foam toppings on coffees, some brands of egg substitutes (as they sometimes contain egg white) and of course pastas.

Peanuts

On products that contain peanuts a warning is listed on the packaging, which could mean that there might not be peanuts in it but that it's processed on machinery that also processes peanuts. One more thing that may slip past people trying to avoid peanuts is Arachis oil, which is just peanut oil under another name.

Tree nuts

This category includes most other nuts that you would be familiar with, including cashews, walnuts, pecans and almonds. Something to watch out for would be hackysacks or beanbags that use crushed nutshells.


Fish

Having a fish allergy doesn't always mean being allergic to all fish. Pollock, salmon, cod, tuna, snapper, eel, and tilapia are among the most common fish to be allergic to. Luckily fish is a pretty easy food to avoid and is more likely to come on in adulthood than in childhood. People with this allergy should be careful of Caesar salad dressing and Worcestershire sauce as well, as they are known to contain anchovies. Someone with a severe fish allergy should also avoid places where fish is cooking such as seafood restaurants as fish protein can become airborne.

Shellfish

Shellfish allergies are similar to fish allergies.

Soy

Avoiding these products may be difficult considering the popularity of soy in today's processed foods. Looking further into the issue its shown that soy is actually an ingredient in over 60% of today's processed foods. Some culprits include:

• cereals
• baby formulas
• crackers
• sauces
• soups
  

Wheat

This allergy is actually more difficult to manage than one may think. That's because wheat in contained in obscure foods where you would not expect it- such as imitation crab meat, hot dogs and ice cream. There are a few tricks to dealing with a wheat allergy, of these are a few substitutions, these are for one cup of wheat flour:

• 7/8 cup rice flour
• 5/8 cup potato starch flour
• 1 cup soy flour plus 1/4 cup potato starch flour
• 1 cup corn flour

I found that the information can be useful in that baking/cooking for people with allergies to staple items can be tricky, knowing some tips though can be helpful.