Good crazy woman

Sugary beverages have had a bulls-eye on their back for many years due to their impact on obesity and the part they play in many types of cancer, including mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophageal, stomach, pancreas, gallbladder, kidney, colorectal, liver, breast, endometrial, and prostate.

Nevertheless, no previous investigation had equalized 100% fruit juices to sugary drinks like sodas or sport and energy beverages until last week. On July 10th, the British Medical Journal published the results of a cohort study of Nutri-Net Santé in France.

Since 2009 and until 2017, more than 101,000 volunteers over 18 and without cancer (21.3% male and 78.7% female) completed lifestyle questionnaires, 24 hour eating diaries, and weight measurements every six months. See study.  Continue reading “100% fruit juice is also 100% sugar”

During my recent vacation in my home country, my son and I had the opportunity to spend a few leisurely days with my best friend and her three sons at a countryside house. My friend and I became the referees in charge of controlling the emotions of four kids ages eight to four.

As it could be expected, many situations arose in which a kid claimed justice especially when another one took the floating doughnut away. Nonetheless, they knew just how far they could go because the moms were ready to discipline them if necessary.

Now, on June 19th, 2019, Colombia’s congressmen behaved like kids taking advantage of their lack of supervision. They passed around the floatie of the so-called Anti-Corruption Law; for almost two years they have told their countrymen that they are willing to “clean house.” But, in the end, they popped the floatie and sunk it. Continue reading “Corruption Lifesaver”

I live by a popular quote in my country that translates “Deaf ears to foolish words”. Believe me, it is the secret to a tranquil life. Nonetheless, Nicolas Maduro’s speech last Wednesday, May 22, in which he affirmed that the best coffee in the world is not Colombian but Venezuelan, caught the attention of all my senses.

During a broadcast on the nationalized T.V. channel, a loyalist to the regime warned farmers about buying coffee seeds from Colombia because, according to him, they were plagued with biological diseases.

Then, Maduro added to the commentary and said that Colombians “are taking the coffee out of here. Half of the coffee Colombia is selling to the world is Venezuelan. They are taking it. Paramilitary armies are threatening the farmers. We are investigating all this. The best coffee in the world is from Venezuela.” (See video in Spanish)

Continue reading “Coffee Appropriation”

Even though there are more than 30 million diabetics in the United States, unfortunately this illness flies under the radar of many people. This is especially true in the Hispanic community, even though they are the second group at risk in the country.

Diabetes is not only the seventh cause of death in America, but also the number one cause for kidney failure, blindness, and lower limbs amputations in adults.

The last condition named above was detailed in a spine-chilling reportage published on CNN Health last week, which included the most recent statistics of the state of California–the state with the third largest Hispanic population in the U.S.

Continue reading “The sour side of diabetes”

On March 29th the Washington Post published the most recent results about America’s active, or better yet, inactive sex life. The study was conducted by the General Social Survey, GSS, a project of the University of Chicago, focused on the analysis of the U.S. society’s changes since 1972.

According to the paper, the percentage of individuals who reported not having a sexual partner during the past year was 23%, one in four people.

In general, the study considered the decrease of sexual activity in the past decades due to the aging population. Those people older than 60 years old increased from 18% in 1996 to 26% in 2018. Continue reading “Male sex-drive down the hill”

Last Tuesday, March 19th, The Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, published the results of a very important study about the cholesterol content on an the egg and its impact on cardiovascular diseases.

The title, Associations of Dietary Cholesterol or Egg Consumption With Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality, could be considered the most extensive and comprehensive study developed in three decades.

The sample included  29,615 American adults with an average age 51.6 who were monitored for seventeen and a half years nonstop. Continue reading “Eggs are not the enemy”

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Photo by Martin Pu00e9chy on Pexels.com

Last Wednesday, The New York Times published an article in the weddings section that caught my attention. It was about a new trend of honeymoon called “solomoons” in which each newlywed travels to a different destination.

You read it right. After pledging, “Til death do us part” in their vows, each one grabs his or her suitcase and takes a trip alone or even with other people. 

The first example in the article is an Irish couple, she 37 and he 40. While she went to Canada to visit a friend, he chose to go to France with three of his buddies and watch Ireland play at the Euro Cup.

Continue reading “Honeymoon for One”