Monday Morning Mix-Up 4/4/11

Happy Monday, readers!  As I write this I’m in the local coffee shop.  The past few days I’ve been a bit frazzled trying to get anything done at home now that spring break has begun.  It doesn’t help that I’ve forgotten to take my cod liver oil recently.  I notice a very obvious difference in my patience levels when that happens!  I’m taking a huge hit of the stuff when I get home so I can be sure to enjoy the kids this coming week, because most of the time I really do love having them home with me.  🙂

Here’s what I’ve got for you today…

• As much as I complained about “one more thing” at first, I’ve grown to love Facebook and Twitter!  Especially now that I’ve chilled out about the fact that some days I’ll have time to putz around on there and other days I won’t.  Just this week my FB followers have come through for me huge…
• First I asked for suggestions on finding a local Mexican market after Camille’s advice in this homemade soaked tortillas post when she said that was the best place to find a good tortilla press.  So my FB friends helped me know where to go this week as the kids and I are bombing around Grand Rapids enjoying some frugal fun, thanks to Jen and her Big Binder blog.
• Next I asked for help with a bridal shower I’m helping to give my nephew’s fiancé soon and needed to come up with three games that are tasteful, not-cheesy and simple.  Youza!  Within minutes I had them all planned out, thanks to my amazing Facebook friends!
• An interesting low-carb debate continues in the comments at my recent “Do low-carb diets cause kidney stones?” post, so check it out if that’s your thing.
• The author of this New York Times article, Mark Bittman, says, “I’ve griped for weeks, and no doubt I’ll get back to it, but there are bright spots on our food landscape, hopeful trends, even movements, of which we can be proud. Here are six examples…”, so I suppose I could stop my griping for a bit, too, and share this with you:  “Some Good News About Food:  Six Things to Feel Good About.”  (I first heard about Mark Bittman from my friend Alex, hi Alex!)
• Thanks to a reader friend, Barbara, for sending me this NPR article with some not so happy news:  How Western Diets are Making the World Sick. Read an excerpt:
  

  “No country in the world has the resources to continue to treat diabetics the way that they're being treated now, if the prevalence rates increase at the rates that they're increasing for much longer,” he says. “I worked in Saipan, which is in the Marianas Island in the Pacific, and there, the dialysis population was increasing at about 18 percent a year, all as a consequence of diabetes and acculturation — exactly the same process as what's going on with the Inuit.

  “When you look at the curves, it's clear how unsustainable it is. In 20 or 30 years, everybody on that island will either be a dialysis patient or a dialysis nurse unless something fundamental is done about the rise in diabetes. That's no less true in Canada and in Samoa and Hawaii, and even in Omaha and Toronto. We all have exactly the same problem when we plot out those curves.”

The solution to that gloomy article?  Keep learning more about the POWER of Real Food.  Thanks for being here so we can keep learning together!