Does an apple a day actually keep the doctor away?

Apples are amazing. Those shiny red and green delights are virtual medicinal miracles. For generations, folks have trumpeted the virtues of this fruit, saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Is that true? Pretty much.

Here are 15 of the most commonly recognized potential benefits of eating plenty of apples:

1. better heart health
2. boosted immunities
3. decreased risk of diabetes
4. fewer gallstones
5. healthier brain
6. hunger satisfaction
7. improved cancer protection
8. increased fiber for intestinal health
9. less cataract risk
10. lower risk of stroke
11. more consistent blood sugar levels
12. reduced cholesterol levels
13. slower mental aging
14. whiter smile
15. vitamin boost

To clarify, doctors seldom come to us anymore. As sure as God made little green apples, house calls are a distant memory in most parts. But apples may indeed help to keep us from requiring extra visits to emergency rooms, walk-in clinics, or doctors’ offices – at least, for everyday illnesses.

How ‘bout them apples and good health?

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No sugarcoating it: Shocking sugar totals in top sweets and drinks

Sugar is sweet indeed, but what if we consume mountains of it? Guess what? Many of us do, perhaps without realizing it.

Look at these totals (from Live Science), showing sugar equivalents of several popular sweets and drinks.

Source:LiveScience

Wow.

So a 100-gram Butterfinger candy bar contains the equivalent of seven teaspoonfuls of sugar? And a 20-ounce Gatorade, often passed out to refresh endurance athletes, has more than five tablespoons of sugar? And a 16-ounce Starbucks vanilla latte totals the same as six sugary spoonfuls?

Oh, honey.

There’s no way to sweeten this pill. Maybe a spoonful of sugar won’t help that medicine go down, after all.

 NOTE:  This blogger has no affiliation with any product/s or companies mentioned in this post and received no remuneration from the manufacturer/s or product promoter/s for this post.

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White sink wiping without sinking to griping

Sometimes a solution is far simpler than it has to be. My sparkling white kitchen sink proves that point – sort of.

Someone in my house has a definite thing – a real penchant – for leaving little sticky notes around, especially to declare discontent or to instruct other family members to do certain tasks or projects. (Team Motivation 101, right?)

Here’s a recent example, although I cleaned it up slightly.

Touche!

Color me tea drinker. I might be the only tea drinker in the house. Of course, the sticky note writer drinks coffee (LOTS of coffee), and we have to wonder where the coffee grounds are going.

But I digress.

The sink stain cleanup is simple.

All it takes is a gob of whitening toothpaste. Any of the popular varieties (like Colgate Baking Soda and Peroxide Whitening Brisk Mint Toothpaste, Colgate Total Whitening Toothpaste, Crest 3D White Radiant Mint Flavor Whitening Toothpaste, Sensodyne Extra Whitening Twin Pack Toothpaste, Tom's of Maine Antiplaque and Whitening Fluoride-Free Natural Toothpaste, and Ultrabrite Clean Mint All in One Advanced Whitening Toothpaste).

It doesn’t have to be the expensive stuff, like Rembrandt Deeply White Whitening Fluoride Toothpaste.

That’s the secret weapon. In fact, I keep a couple of nearly-empty toothpaste tubes (You know, the ones that have become a little crusty around the cap area, so no one wants to use them anymore.) under the kitchen sink for just this purpose.

Whenever the pristine white sink doesn’t not so pristine (which is nearly daily in a home where at least one person somehow manages often to drip ketchup or pizza sauce into the sink and where another leaves empty soda cans inverted there to drain before recycling), I grab the stashed toothpaste and an old toothbrush and perform my little sink magic in seconds.

Poof! No more sink stain. Plus, my sink smells minty fresh. (OK, that may have taken it a little far.)

Toothpaste seems like a better solution for cleaning most sorts of sinks, as it’s not nearly as abrasive as a scouring cleansing powder. Plus, I wouldn’t dream of using steel wool or a scrubbing pad on my smooth-surfaced sink.

Hey, if professional dentists claim whitening toothpaste is safe for our teeth, wouldn’t it be safe for my sink too? (Don’t answer that.)

Now our resident note-writer has to find another topic. Sink cleaning has become a non-issue.

NOTE:  This blogger has no affiliation with any product/s mentioned in this post and received no remuneration from the manufacturer/s or product promoter/s for this post.

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G is for Gross Gum

Gack! Is that gum?

Gum is gross. It goes in the garbage. OK, it’s fun to chomp and chew on a big wad of gooey gum. Chewing gum can help calorie counters to stave off snack cravings. Bubble-blowing can be a great way to pass the time in a boring study hall or a rush hour traffic jam. So what, if gum chewing destroys braces and bridgework - and may even cause extra facial wrinkles.

But c’mon now!

Earlier today, I climbed out of my car at the drug store and stepped in a giant glob of you-guessed-it. Oh, not happy!

Grrrrr.

Know why lots of schools prohibit gum chewing? It’s not because of kids cracking and popping their favorite flavors in class. It’s not even because of the germs conveyed by sticky hands that have tugged and pulled on bubbly bundles.

You can bet that schools ban gum because custodians find it stuck to chairs, desks, floors, railings, bleachers, sidewalks, goal nets, and all sorts of other surfaces.

Gee, when I was in school, a kid was nicknamed Gumby. Know why? He used to stick his gum to the bottom of his locker shelf, so he could pop it into his mouth again between classes.

And did you ever find gum in the laundry, after someone left a piece in a pocket. Trust me. You don’t wanna know.

Get rid of that gum, would ya?

Please, don’t just toss it in the trash. Wrap it up in a tissue or something. We don’t wanna find it again later.

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Gum-Puller by Helga Weber 

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