Carb Up, Carb Down

If you've been at all following the Paleosphere lately you know there's a lot of back and forth about Carbs and Safe Starches.  Is low carb, medium carb, or high carb better?  Are there safe starches or are all carbs the same?  Should we individualize our needs for these things (duh) or make broad prescriptions since we're all humans?

I'm going to offer up my opinion, and considering my immense knowledge, my immense breadth and depth concerning the scope of the matter, this should settle things:

My opinion is ... REALLY?  Listen to your own body!


Okay, moving along.  Just a few odds and ends, and a riddle for you today.


There's a lot of talk right now about how bad sitting all day is for you, and thus the benefit of stand up work stations. I thought I would show you mine.  Nice, eh?  Who says it has to be complicated.  I do want to make clear though that I mainly use my computer after work for surfing the web.  In other words, I don't type a lot.  If I did, I would have to figure out a keyboard at a lower height.  Luckily for me, my day job doesn't involve sitting at a desk all day ... or any part of the day for that matter.




 

This is my Berkey water filter.  Nice little gravity filtration model that takes out most bacteria, chlorine, fluoride, and small particles.  I'm not overly worried about drinking tap water, but this is something I can afford, so, why not?  I consider it a luxury.  Actually, my biggest problem with tap water, and with adding fluoride to it specifically, has to to with consent.  If you want to add fluoride or any other substance to your diet, then it should be your choice and yours alone.

I got a sample of this Carrot Pickle awhile back and liked it so much that I ordered some in to sell at the store.  It has a very unique flavor.  The third ingredient in it is mustard oil.  I think that might be the secret ingredient.  Apparently mustard oil is used a lot in India, but not so much here.  Anyway, I mix it in with meat and veggies for my evening meal and it rocks.

And to end, I thought I'd toss out a riddle that has been with me for twenty years now.  It makes the carb debate mentioned above look like child's play.  I warn you now that if you continue reading, you may spend nights awake pondering this enigma and its ultimate significance in the Universe.

When I was at University oh so many years ago, I would go out for walks beyond our little studious sanctuary into the surrounding city.  A little for the exercise, but mainly just to see some 'real life' if you know what I mean.  I actually did this quite a bit, so I became familiar with some of the local neighborhoods.  As fate would have it, my roommate scored a VHS video camcorder for a few days one semester (think one of those giant shoulder mounted type deals).  We were just messing around with it having some fun when I had the brilliant idea to bring it to one of the neighborhood playgrounds I had come across.  This particular playground had some 8 foot basketball rims and we set off to film ourselves dunking the ball, doing our best Michael Jordan and Spud Webb impersonations (wouldn't that be one of the first things you did if you had a video camcorder back then?). While filming, a number of the local kids took an interest, egging us on and showing us some of their best moves as well.  I'd say they were 10 years old.  Maybe 11.  We had a blast, and then moved along to find something else ridiculous to put on tape.

Now for the riddle part.  A few days after our Dunkfest I was walking about, headed past the playground where we had filmed.   Some of the kids we had played with saw me and ran over, excitedly asking if I was there to film again.  I told them no, that I was just out for a walk.  I then asked ' where's that kid who is really good' (there was one little boy that had some serious skills and I didn't see him).  One of the them very enthusiastically piped up 'you mean Sam?'  I said 'yes, Sam, where is he?'  The young boy informed me that Sam wasn't around and then very, very proudly he stated 'you know, Sam is almost my cousin'

I believe the meaning of life may very well lie in that sentence. 'Almost my cousin' -  I have no idea what that means, but I find myself thinking about it on occasion, even twenty years after the fact.