Too Much, Too Fast

Binge drinking is a dangerous pattern of drinking that can put your health and safety at serious risk. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as drinking that raises your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 percent or higher. A rough way to estimate this is 5 or more standard drinks in two hours for men or 4 or more standard drinks in 2 hours for women or anyone over the age of 65. A standard “drink” is usually equal to a bottle of beer, a glass of wine, a shot of distilled liquor, or a cocktail or mixed drink. This definition is based on the percentage of alcohol usually found in these different drink categories.

Binge drinkers are more likely to experience alcohol-related incidences of physical and verbal abuse, property damage or loss and fear-related situations. Binge drinking is associated with risky sexual behavior, including multiple partners and sex without barrier protection (condoms). These effects are in addition to injury due to motor vehicle accidents.

Despite the dangers, too much and too fast has its attractions. An Australian study found men who engaged in frequent heavy episodic drinking and women who drank more frequently were given a higher status among their peers than those drinking less. The higher social status was also linked to drinking more on an occasion. The author of the study stated, "We don't really know why a higher social status is associated with more drinking but, for young men especially, it may be related to the perception the ability to tolerate large amounts of alcohol is associated with 'coolness', power and masculinity. For young women, tolerance of alcohol is evaluated positively by female peers, often as a sign they can 'keep up with the boys'."

The legal limit to drive is a BAC less than 0.08 percent.

Rethinking Drinking

Reducing Your Risk 

Apps

There are more than 800,000 medical apps in the iTunes store – how to know which ones are good?

Here a few recommendations:

Pill Reminder is a medication and refill reminder. It allows tracking of multiple medications for multiple users. 

My Fitness Pal helps count calories and suggests exercise programs.

Lose It! is one of the most popular weight loss apps; it includes a barcode scanner and recipe planner.

GoMeals is especially useful for diabetics. 

And just for fun: SongPop.  Keeping the brain challenged may head off dementia.

The links are for the Apple products - these programs all available of the Android platform as well. 

Harvest Season

The frost is not yet on the pumpkin, but harvest season is at hand. For many it’s a time of plenty, but many of our friends and neighbors are food insecure: not confident that they will have enough to feed their families.  It is a challenge to pay for housing, utilities, healthcare and food. Natural and financial disasters are equal opportunity actors.

I have my favorite national charities and will “set the table for another” by making regular contributions. I also participate in local drives to replenish the shelves in our local pantry. It’s no effort (and not very expensive) to pick up case of canned corn or canned fruit at the warehouse club. The store brand is fine – it’s what I feed my own family.

I was a little disheartened when I made room for my canned corn for the food drive yesterday and surveyed the other contributions.  We need to better educate those who choose to contribute. A food drive is not the opportunity to clean the pantry of old food. Food that is out of date must be discarded – a waste of a volunteer’s time and the charity will need to pay for the disposal. If your kids won’t eat that weird canned stuff, someone else’s kids won’t eat it either. If you won’t feed your children breakfast cereal that is little more then sugar and chemicals don’t feed it to someone else’s child.

If you are fortunate enough, please share. Please give mindfully and with love.

Some resources:

Mazon 

Connecticut Food Bank

No Kid Hungry

Liberated by Repetition

Thomas Keller, the only American chef to have earned three Michelin stars at two restaurants, spoke to the Wall Street Journal about habits. He said that he was most comfortable in situations where repetition is the norm.

“In order to be great, you have to be consistent.” Habit doesn’t interfere with inspiration – it allows it to happen. At first, Keller needed to pay close attention to cleaning a salmon, but after a couple of years the task didn’t require so much concentration. The habit of always cleaning a salmon the same way allowed him the freedom to think about what he would do with the salmon after cleaning it.  “You become liberated by repetition.”

Set a routine to take medication the same way every day – it will free the mind to think of more interesting things than “did I take my pill?” Make the next blood pressure appointment when leaving the physician’s office – no need to worry about schedule conflicts and medication shortages. Prepare a brown-bag lunch the night before – the time saved by not looking for something to eat will free up time for a daily walk.

An Expensive Rash

An excellent treatment for early poison ivy is a topical steroid cream. Low dose steroids, such as over the counter strength creams, not only are not helpful but can lead to exacerbation of the condition.  The continued itching and subsequent scratching can lead to infection and patient frustration.

There are a couple of often used products that safe and effective. These creams have been around forever – so long that only the generic product is still available. Imagine my shock when a patient told me that a small tube was more than $400! My database lists the average cost to be $25. I immediately called the pharmacist who said that the patient actually got an insurance discount and the full retail price is nearly $600.

It turns out that the ever increasing cost of dermatologic medications is a huge problem. For a variety of reasons, the manufacturers are leaving the market, resulting in shortages and prices that escalate in the face of demand. Those patients lucky enough to have insurance have greater out of pocket expenses – but one case of poison ivy can put a big dent in the deductible.

Fresh Corn

One of my favorite summer foods is fresh corn on the cob. I always get two ears per person: in my opinion that’s one serving and if by chance one ear is not so good there will still be a delicious ear to eat.

The fresher the better and a farmers' market is the ideal place to buy. Not only is the corn fresh but also it’s an opportunity to support local agriculture. I never spoil the corn by partially peeling the husk. Keeping the corn tightly sealed in the husk will keep it fresh. Once the husk is opened the farmer can no longer sell the ear. Choosing a good ear is simple: go for fat, firm and heavy. The process of sugar converting to starch is exothermic so if the corn is cool there will be plenty of sugar in the kernels.

Don’t remove the husk until the water is boiling. Peel the ear and remove the strings. Put the ears into the boiling water, cover tightly and turn off the heat. The corn will be perfectly cooked in 5 minutes and can be left in the closed pot for as much as 30 minutes without overcooking.

Buy corn the same day you plan to eat it. And while at the farmers’ market buy other local produce. Ask what it tasty – there might be something new to try.

The Farmers' Market Trail has year-round activities.