< Parent Traps: October 2007

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Good Eating Starts with Sam


Yes, I'm back to harping on food -- specifically fast food, which has a death grip on millions of people. Sure, it's cheap and it's easy, but consider the trade offs. Instead of going into all the gory details, watch Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me!" (available on DVD) and see how fast food turned a healthy young man into a very sick person in just 30 days!! Seriously! Fast food should come with huge warning labels, and even then plenty of people would still buy it because it's convenient, tastes "good" and doesn't cost much. Then they wonder why they're tired, cranky, overweight and can't focus. Could it be because so few people realize that fast food is not only addictive but damages health even at the cellular level?

What's the alternative? Cooking your own food is a good place to start, but before you break out in a rash at the thought of turning on the stove, tune in to Discovery Channel's new show -- "Just Cook This with Sam the Cooking Guy." Here's Sam's "manifesto":

"If you cooked more, you'd eat out less and you'd eat better—it's that simple. I think a lot of people eat fast food or order out because they're just not comfortable in the kitchen. They think it's like this club and if you don't know the secret terminology and handshake, you can't belong. But that's just a bunch of BS.

"A lot of the problem comes from cooking shows that make things look complicated—too many steps ... too many weird ingredients. Just Cook This! is a show that demystifies what goes on in a kitchen. Why? Because I'm not a chef, I'm just a regular person who cooks like a regular person. The show is shot right in my home with my dogs, kids or whomever around. If I make a mistake—we leave it in. If I drop something—we leave it in. Because that's what goes on in a real home and the goal is not sophisticated culinary excellence that would go on in a restaurant—it's food that's big in taste but small in effort. Food you can make easily and really enjoy. Food that'll keep you from going out.

"It's cooking—it's not rocket science. If I have a goal, it's that you watch the show and say, "Hey, I can make that guy's stuff"—and you start cooking. That's the goal. Well, that and I also want to be King of the World someday ... that's all."

You can learn more about Sam and good food, plus download recipes, at the Discovery Health website (link above) or find out when the show is on locally. Even giving up a few fast food meals every week can make a difference.

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Friday, October 05, 2007

Getting Things Done - Streamlined


From the latest issue of the wonderful Wired magazine, a profile on Getting Things Done author David Allen. It covers not only his "colorful" background but includes a bare bones version of the complex organizing system, very helpful for those who are too bogged down in "stuff" to get through the book right now.

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Thursday, October 04, 2007

Free Burma!


Free Burma!


Millions of Iraqis are dead, wounded, maimed or displaced. The same is true in Africa, and now Burma. Why? Power, profits, greed. You can find details about what you can do to stop the slaughter of innocent monks at the link. Please act now. Every voice makes a difference. The situation is not getting better, and the U.S. and China are both profiting from it by looking the other way. Don't we have enough blood our hands already?

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Getting Things Done: Yes, You Can!

How many times have you heard people say "I can't get anything done!" or "There just aren't enough hours in the day"? Productivity expert David Allen has plenty of ideas on how to wade through the stacks of paper and other seemingly endless time-wasters we all face, and his best-selling book, Getting Things Done (Penguin Putnam, 2001) lays them all out, clearly and succinctly.

His website (linked above) is another good place to start, especially since the book can be a bit daunting on first read. But Allen's method can be distilled into a fairly simple notion: get tasks off your mind by putting them on paper (or on a computer or whatever works for you). Not on dozens of Post-Its, napkins and whatever's handy to write on, but in one place so they cannot "get lost." Once all the ideas swarming in your head are recorded in a safe place, stress levels drop, increasing memory and creativity, and accomplishing goals becomes easier. And if you read yesterday's post, you know that working toward a purpose, having and achieving goals and "getting things done" appears to minimize the risk of developing Alzheimer's, a very worthwhile goal in and of itself.

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Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Organized, Accomplished People Have Lower Risk of Alzheimer's

Having trouble getting things done? Feeling frustrated by that long to-do list? Can't even find the long to-do list? If these situations sound familiar, take heed -- MSNBC/Newsweek reports that researchers at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center have found that people who are task-driven, goal-oriented and conscientiously follow through on their plans have a significantly lower risk of being affected by Alzheimer's disease. So although autopsies showed that many of the study participants had changes in the brain identified as Alzheimer's, they were less likely to show symptoms of the disease.

If photograph above could have been shot in your own house, don't despair! There are loads of great organizing tools available, including software, books and even twelve-step organizations, like Clutters Anonymous.

If you decide to pursue a more organized life, tune in tomorrow, when we look at the work of David Allen, one of the leading gurus in the field, and author of the mega-best-seller, Getting Things Done (Penguin Putnam, 2001).

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