"You Eat a Lot of Sugar"
Blog Instead of being asleep at 21:45 on 28 December 2015, kitt created this:That's what he said to me.
"You eat a lot of sugar."
And I do. Wow, do I eat a lot of sugar.
This is problematic.
There is a link between diabetes and Alzheimer's, and theories that Alzheimer's is the last stage of a lifetime of excess insulin in the body.
"Current research has suggested that the brain in Alzheimer’s disease cannot fully process insulin, similar to what happens in the body of type 2 patients. As Dr. Yarchoan states, “Alzheimer’s disease is actually remarkably similar to type 2 diabetes, but in the brain.”
Or maybe something like this:
"People who have type 2 diabetes produce extra insulin. That insulin can get into the brain, disrupting brain chemistry and leading toxic proteins that poison brain cells to form. The protein that forms in both Alzheimer’s patients and people with type 2 diabetes is the same protein."
Yeah, go goog "alzheimer's diabetes link" and you'll see the rest of the reports of the evidence and the links to the research.
So, other than the general scare of sugar is a really fucked up thing to put into one's body, why would my sugar consumption in particular be problematic?
When I was maybe 15, I read an article that stated persons with siblings with Type 1 diabetes have a 1 in 4 chance of developing diabetes in their lifetimes. I recall thinking, "Wow, that sucks for them," before I thought, "Wait a second... that's me." This was before the epidemic of diabetes that currently exists in the United States.
Now, in the United States, 29.1 million people, 9.3% of the US population, have diabetes. Think about that for a second: 1 in 10 people are diabetic. Of them, a quarter are undiagnosed, walking around (or maybe not) with high blood sugar and no concept of the long term damage occurring.
So, yeah, already predisposed to diabetes. Eating a lot of sugar. Getting older.
With a family history of Alzheimer's.
More than 5 million Americans, about 1.5% of the population, have Alzheimer's, and by 2050, as the U.S. population ages, the number is expected to be 14 million or so. It is a horrible thing, to lose oneself, a bit by bit. Losing the memories, the life built up, even as you keep living.
Yeah, so, a double family whammy on that one.
So, maybe the damage is already done in my head, and not eating sugar isn't going to repair it. Eating more sugar is definitely going to make it worse, so it is safe to say, eating less to no sugar would be a good thing.
Despite my preference for sugar, I'm done. I'll have it on very special occasions, but for my daily consumption, I'm done. It's going to be hard, I expect. I hate having addictions, and this is one of mine.
Going cold turkey.
Or maybe, cold buckeye.
The Rosie Effect
Book Notes Posted by kitt at 18:09 on 28 December 2015
And here we go, the 104th book of the year for me, and likely the last one I will finish this year.
This is book two of the Rosie series, the sequel to The Rosie Project. In this one, we have much of the same humour derived from a person (yes, an autistic person) taking everything said literally. Balance this with always making objective statements, without any social nuances, and you have the humour and charm of the first book.
What you also have, unfortunately, is an ass in the book. I really do not like books where one person is abusing power, which is the premise of much of the plot in this book. I should be less upset by it, given how much the world is about abusing power and not doing the right thing. Less upset, sure, and I also can choose not to seek out that particular style of conflict, given there are plenty others to choose among (Man vs. Fate/God, Man vs Self, Man vs. Society, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Supernatural (-ish), and Man vs. Technology).
It is a quick read.
It's an amusing book, but much less so than the first Rosie book. I would liken the two books to the first and second bites of a treat: the first bite is amazing and delicious, and while the second bite is good, it isn't as amazing as the first bite.
Planetary
Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 22:36 on 27 December 2015
Okay, another graphic novel series. Unlike the Alias / Jessica Jones series, this one is from the DC Universe, which I know not a lot about other than the over-arching storylines of Superman and Batman.
Like all good stories, we start out with world building. Like all great stories, we don't have a lot of overly explicit explanations of the world. Instead, things just "are" and we are left as the reader to figure out the laws of this universe.
And, in this universe, the laws are very strange indeed.
I picked up these books on Susan's recommendation, not really able to resist a good story, regardless of the telling form.
The book follows the mystery of Elijah Snow, "Mr. Snow" to the world. He's been wasting his life in a desert diner. He's invited to a new job at a mysterious corporation, Planetary, whose job is to discover secrets and uncover mysteries. The world is strange, and Planetary keeps it strange. Sorta like Austin and Portland, I suspect.
I binge read these books, which are a collection of the entire saga, issues 1-29. I don't know if the storyline would have been more suspenseful doled out over 6 years, but the story by Warren Ellis was fun, and the cultural references interesting (in the actual definition of interesting, and not the "I'm using a neutral word to describe something not engaging").
I recommend the series (and currently have a full set available for friends to borrow).
New Car Parts
Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 20:51 on 22 December 2015I went to Pep Boys today to pick up a bulb today. It reminded me of walking into auto parts shops as a kid with my dad. The giant racks of parts in the back of the store, a counter for the guy to look up part numbers and go back to pluck the parts in their boxes from the floor to ceiling shelves. And the smell! New car parts smell! I managed to walk in maybe 10 steps before I had to stop and just feel the memories flood.
The bulb aisle was all the way in the back of the store. Looking up the part number wasn't difficult, finding the bulb was. Turns out, the store was sold out for the bulb size I needed. Boo. I have a short but growing list of car fixes to make, with changing the bulb being the first one up. I was hoping for better car-fixing momentum than stopped-on-the-first-task.
The only odd thing about the whole car parts experience was the lack of anyone offering to help me. From my previous observations, women are often helped a LOT when dealing with anything remotely car related. Maybe it was the FOAD vibe I was giving off, that kept all the shop guys away.
