Sharing 101

Ever since Max moved in, Steve has been a little over protective of his toys. This is a common sight- Steve makes sure that he's actually touching a couple toys and has a bunch of others nearby. As soon as he hears one of the other dogs approaching his eyes fly open and he stares down the approaching dog. Then Max or Nick usually just goes for the toy furthest from Steve.

I think we need a lesson in sharing for the boys!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

3 Dogs+2 Humans=1 Big Adjustment

We are a 3-dog household these days. Aaron's sister, Dena, and her family have moved again for her husband's job. This time around, they couldn't find a place that would accept pets, so they asked if Max could live with us for a while. We said yes, thinking, "We already have 150 pounds of dog running around. What's another 50 pounds?!?" So far this week though, it's felt like a lot more than 'just another 50 pounds of dog.'

All 3 dogs have been a lot more energetic and on edge this week than normal - at least I know Nick and Steve have been. I think they each want to make sure that they don't end up the low dog on the totem pole. This is more so the case for Max, because our dogs have teamed up against him several times this week, but already we can see our dogs teaming up with Max when it's to their advantage.

In addition, I think each dog has needed their 'alone time' this week. There's been a lot of extra sniffing, posturing, etc... and sometimes the poor guys can't even scratch their ear without another dog taking the opportunity to sniff or pounce. On Monday night Aaron was watching football in the basement and I was watching a movie in the bedroom. Max followed me into the bedroom and immediately layed down on the dog bed. He didn't move until I left the room after my movie. Nick and Steve (and even Aaron) wandered in a few times during the movie to check things out, but Max barely lifted his head to acknowledge them. He seemed very much to be saying, "I'm just laying here, minding my own business, not being bothered by anyone, so let's keep it that way!!" This morning, Nick was never more than a foot away from me while I was getting ready for work - in the bedroom, bathroom and everywhere in between. Although annoying, I kinda thought it was cute. "Hey!! Don't forget about me. I'm the dog who loves to get petted!! I noticed you weren't petting any other dogs right now, so I thought I better stay close by in case you're in the mood to pet..."
This is the dogs on Sunday morning, barely more than 12 hours after meeting eachother. You can see that they're all drawn together by a common thread - raw bacon!!

Here are my '(not-so)mini-bios' of each dog:

• Steve (85 pounds, 5 years old, Husky-Chow-German Shepard mix). He shares a name with my stepdad, because as Aaron puts it, he had the dog before he had me, so Steve is commonly known as "Steve The Dog." Steve came to live with Aaron after the vet's office that his sister worked at rescued Steve and his brother at only 6 weeks old. He didn't know how to drink water from a bowl, only from licking puddles on the sidewalk. He likes to pretend that he's cool and he doesn't really care if he gets any attention or petting. However, if you get him by himself - when the others are outside or busy eating - he can't get enough. He always looks a little ragged, because he has so much hair that no matter how much we brush him or what season it is, he is shedding. He loves to play fetch and is a big fan of catching the ball mid-air. The poor guy has some hip problems, so he has a hard time getting up after a hard day of playing, but he loves taking medicine, so we give him some glucosamine in hopes that it won't get worse. He seems to be able to sense when one of us is feeling blue and acts accordingly to try to cheer us up. When he hears the laptop click shut at night or the TV turn off, he immediately heads for the door so he can go out one last time before bed.
• Nick (65 pounds, 3 years old, Lab-Vizsla mix). We got Nick from the Animal Rescue League when he was 12 weeks old. He was tiny and adorable and afraid of pretty much everything, especially when he didn't have any backup from Steve. Nick doesn't like tall guys and gets freaked out by loud noises and falling apples. He likes to be just like the big dog, Steve, which is our explanation for his curled tail. He didn't have one when we first got him, and neither labs nor vizslas do... Anytime someone walks by the back door, he thinks he needs to go outside and check things out. We commonly use the phrase, "Nick's about to burst!" because you'd think his bladder was about to burst by the way he jumps around by the door. If he could be outside getting pet all day long he would be in heaven. He tries really hard to be a good cuddler, but he's just too much of a spaz. He has an uncanny knack to find "armholes" - any space between the crook of your elbow and your body where he can stick his head in hopes of getting pet. For a long time, we didn't think Nick really knew how to play fetch. When we throw the ball with both dogs, he just chases after Steve and bites his back side. When Steve's not around though, he tears after the ball like no other!! His claim to fame is that he can give high fives.
• Max (50 pounds, 8 years old, Rotweiler-Poodle mix) Adam and Dena got Max as a puppy and I'm told they had to use leather gloves to handle him because he was a biter with very sharp teeth. I had only met him a couple times before he moved in with us, and both times he was with Ziggy, a Miniature Pinscher, who was totally in charge of Max!! He seems to be having a really good time playing with dogs closer to his size and really seems to like the toys our dogs ignore. He reminds me of a kangaroo, because he's very jumpy. He goes from having all 4 paws on the ground to all 4 paws on the furniture (that he's not allowed on!!) in about half a second. It's crazy!! He's still learning the rules of our house, but I think at this point he's just playing dumb, hoping we'll let him get away with it. He's either playing hard or sleeping hard, there doesn't seem to be an inbetween. I'm sure we'll have the pleasure of learning even more of Max's quirks as time goes on!!

Hoofing it.

One of the things Aaron and I were most excited about when moving to Ames was that we wouldn't have to drive everywhere. When we lived in Slater, we had to go to Ames or Ankeny to get/do pretty much everything, so walking or riding our bikes wasn't really an option. We had 2 motivations for wanting to drive everywhere - exercising more and polluting less.

I found this set of facts from http://www.idealbite.com/ pertaining to walking and thought it was interesting.

The Benefits

• Getting fit as a horse. Even at a slow pace, you'll burn around 100 calories per mile, and consistent exercise from walking reduces the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
• Saving change for the races. Walking 1 mile each day instead of driving will save you about 15 cents on gas each day. That's almost $55 a year.
• Not horsing around with our air. Walking instead of driving 10 1-mile trips each week averts 500 pounds of CO2 emissions per year.
• Connecting with neigh-bors. It's easier to interact with other people when you're not stuck behind the wheel.

So how's the walking/bike riding going?? Well, we're making small strides. We walk to my mom's a lot - all .2 miles each way. We've also ridden our bikes to the farmer's market, the library and church a couple times. Only recently did I get a helmet, we both got flashing lights for the bikes and we got a basket to go on the front of one of the bikes. Since then, we've been able to safely take advantage of the bikes a little more.

I don't think we'll ever ride our bikes to work - I don't like what the helmet does to my hair - and it seems quite unlikely that we'll ride our bikes during the winter, but we're doing what we can while we can.

Best Slumber Party EVER!!

Although we would never wish Aaron's mom back in the hospital, we did find the silver lining of it all - more time with Emma!! Dena and Emma both stayed with us for a few nights, then we got a night with Emma all to ourselves for a "slumber party."

She took a bubble bath and then we all piled onto air mattresses on the floor of our family room. We ate popcorn, watched Hannah Montana and best of all...cuddled!! Aaron and I didn't get much sleep that night, (turns out 3 year olds move around alot while they're sleeping...who knew?!?) but I would still say it was fantastic.

For Seriously!?!

Aaron and I picked up about 130 gallons of apples from our backyard on Saturday morning. Aaron actually raked most of the apples into piles while I picked up the strays. Then we were able to just shove the apples into buckets from the pile - much easier than the previously used methods. However, there were also waaayy more apples than we've had to deal with before.
This is our 96 gallon trash can. The only thing other than apples in here is one bag of trash, so basically all apples.
We also had 2 overflowing 13 gallon trash cans, one 5 gallon bucket and three 2 gallon buckets.

So the garbage was picked up today, but not without a little resistance from the garbage-men. They left us a notice on the trash can, stating that there is a weight limit to what can be picked up. So apparently 90-ish gallons of apples weighs too much. Which begs the question, "What will we do with this week's apples??" We already have 37+ gallons of overflow from last week...

Anyone want a bucket full of bug-infested, partially eaten and bruised apples??

It made me smile...

"You're awesome!!"

Wiiiii!

Yay for friends who make us veggie pizza for dinner and let us play Wii. They even let us create our own Mii's tonight!

Luckily we can trade out with Rock Band and black bean enchiladas...
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

I'm a Lovely Lady!!

I'm lucky enough to have a couple great friends (who have more great friends) who are all interested in eating healthier, while maintaining a budget for food and using a reasonable amount of time. In an effort to help each other out, they've started a new blog, "Lovely Ladies Dish on the Dish," which I'm now a contributor to. Take a look if you're interested in joining us in our quest to be healthier!!

The Battle Against HFCS, Part 2

I'll start with a summary of the information presented in my previous entry. Then I'll move on to my thoughts and frustrations.

• High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a sweetener and preservative used in many processed foods, such as soda, baked goods and condiments, that is made by changing the sugar in cornstarch to to fructose.
• The process was discovered in 1957 and the use of HFCS in many foods began in the late 1970's.
• There seems to be a link between the use of HFCS and the increase in obesity of Americans. In addition, it is thought to increase the chances of diabetes and heart disease. So far, very few studies have been able to determine if there is a causal relationship between HFCS and these health problems, if it is due to an increase in sugar consumption in general or if it's mere 'coincidence.'

After initially reading about the possible link between HFCS and obesity a few months ago, I looked at a few labels and discovered that the bread we were buying had HFCS as the 3rd or 4th ingredient. I decided that finding bread without HFCS would be an easy first step for eliminating it from my diet. We found a bread that we liked and were even lucky enough to find it at the Old Home bread store in town, where it's significantly cheaper. So that's where we were for a few months.

Then I looked at a few more labels. At that point, I really felt like I understood the phrase, "Ignorance is bliss." I didn't mind the jelly we were using, until I saw that the very first ingredient was HFCS, and then I had the get rid of it immediately. Aaron decided to stop drinking soda (Great!!) but can't stand drinking water all the time like I do, so we had gotten some frozen lemonade that he could make up on a whim. Then we look at the ingredient list and #1 is HFCS. At this point, I wasn't too surprised by what I was finding it in, I was more surprised to find it as the main ingredient and a little frustrated by trying to find (more expensive) alternatives.

The absolute disgust came in when I realized it was in our ketchup, a can of kidney beans and even my Reduced Fat Wheat Thins. At this point I felt a little lost. I mean, we don't really consume that much ketcup, so did it really matter?? And yeah, there's HFCS in the Wheat Thins, but it's the 7th ingredient, so how much damage could it really do??

At this point, I'm still not entirely sure what we'll do. We'll most likely try to find a brand of ketchup, kidney beans, etc... that doesn't have HFCS, but we'll probably use the rest of what we have first. I'm cheap by nature, and it just seems wasteful to throw it all out. Wheat thins, on the other hand, have thrown me for a loop. About 3 afternoons a week, I have a wedge of Light Laughing Cow cheese and 12 Reduced Fat Wheat Thins as an afternoon snack. It's my alternative to buying a bag of chips from the vending machine, because it's low calorie, the Wheat Thins are made with whole grain, and they don't have any PHO - another ingredient we're trying to avoid. So the thing I wonder about is, "How large of an effect will a small amount have?" Is HFCS similar to PHO - it's suggested that you can have a little PHO, about 2g a day, without a negative effect.

I probably won't have an answer until more research is done. I'm glad I was a Psych major who took several reserch methodology classes, so that I can wade through the research and make an attempt at deciphering between fact-based information and propaganda!! But to be completely honest, until I get a better answer, I'll probably keep eating my Wheat Thins and Laughing Cow Cheese...

The Battle Against HFCS

I'm going to try to present fact/research based information on High Fructose Corn Syrup in this post, followed by my personal feelings and frustrations in another post - although you can probably tell from the title how I feel about it, so this will probably come off biased.

For those who may not know what it is, "High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetener and preservative used in many processed foods. It is made by changing the sugar in cornstarch to fructose — another form of sugar." (1) "HFCS is a sweetener found in many foods and beverages, including non-diet soda pop, baked goods, and condiments. It is has become the sweetener of choice for many food manufacturers because it is considered more economical, sweeter and more easy to blend into beverages than table sugar." (2)

"High-fructose corn syrup is any of a group of corn syrups which have undergone enzymatic processing in order to increase their fructose content and are then mixed with pure corn syrup (100% glucose) to reach their final form. The typical types of HFCS are: HFCS 90 (used almost exclusively in the production of HFCS 55) which is approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose; HFCS 55 (most commonly used in soft drinks) which is approximately 55% fructose and 45% glucose; and HFCS 42 (used in a variety of other foods, including baked goods) which is approximately 42% fructose and 58% glucose. Further, the fructose and glucose in HFCS are in the form of separate molecules; by contrast, the fructose and glucose that are contained in sucrose are joined together to form a single molecule (called a disaccharide). " (3)

Based on definition, it sounds harmless enough. However, "Some nutrition experts blame increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup for the growing obesity problem. One theory is that fructose is more readily converted to fat by your liver than is sucrose, increasing the levels of fat in your bloodstream. But this hasn't been proven." (1) In addition, "There is a correlation between the rise of obesity in the U.S. and the use of HFCS for sweetening beverages and foods. The controversy largely comes down to whether this is coincidence or a causal relationship. Some critics of HFCS do not claim that it is any worse than similar quantities of sucrose would be, but rather focus on its prominent role in the overconsumption of sugar; for example, encouraging overconsumption through its low cost." (3)

This graph shows US sweetener consumption, 1966-2004. It disputes the claim that overall sugar consumption alone is responsible for the rise in obesity and other health effects, suggesting that HFCS itself may be one of the biggest factors. "It is apparent from this graph that overall sweetener consumption, and in particular glucose-fructose mixtures, has increased since the introduction of HFCS. Thus, the amount of fructose consumed in the United States & Canada has increased since the early 1980s. This would be true whether the added sweetener was HFCS, table sugar, or any other glucose-fructose mixture. However, because HFCS has slightly more fructose than does table sugar, the proportion of fructose as a component of overall sweetener intake in the United States has also increased, which would not be true if the increase in overall intake was table sugar." (3)

Besides obesity, there are other health problems that are theorized to be linked to HFCS. "Some researchers have suggested that high-fructose corn syrup may contribute to an increased risk of diabetes... Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., conducted chemical tests among 11 different carbonated soft drinks containing HFCS. He found 'astonishingly high' levels of reactive carbonyls in those beverages. These undesirable and highly-reactive compounds associated with "unbound" fructose and glucose molecules are believed to cause tissue damage, says Ho, a professor of food science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. By contrast, reactive carbonyls are not present in table sugar, whose fructose and glucose components are "bound" and chemically stable, the researcher notes.

Reactive carbonyls also are elevated in the blood of individuals with diabetes and linked to the complications of that disease. Based on the study data, Ho estimates that a single can of soda contains about five times the concentration of reactive carbonyls than the concentration found in the blood of an adult person with diabetes. "(2)

"Peter Havel of UC Davis presented a study at an Endocrine Society meeting last month in which he followed 33 overweight and obese adults as they dieted for 12 weeks. During the last 10 weeks, half of them got 25% of their calories from fructose, and half got 25% from glucose. Though both groups gained the same amount of weight -- 3.3 pounds -- those who had the fructose had an increase in the least-desirable fat (the kind that wraps around internal organs, causes a pot belly and is linked to higher risk of diabetes and heart disease) while the others did not." (4)

By contrast, "An expert panel, led by Richard Forshee, Ph.D. of the University of Maryland Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy, concluded that 'the currently available evidence is insufficient to implicate HFCS per se as a causal factor in the overweight and obesity problem in the United States.' The panel’s report was published in the August 2007 issue of Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition" (5)

(1) Mayo Clinic
(2) Science Daily
(3) Wikipedia
(4) LA Times
(5) HFCSFacts.com