fun fact friday

October 22, 2010

delicious science
well, it’s a bit of departure from the usual friday fashion. but instead of outrageously expensive boots, i wanted to share this scientific finding that i came across yesterday while i was browsing aimlessly around pubmed churning out my grant:

this just in (fine, last year): wine fights fat!
by monteiro et al, Nutrition. 2009 Jun;25(6):699-705. a portuguese group . . .hmmm, these rats probably got to drink the good stuff! more details:

click above to enlarge for a closer look
believe it or not, this was actually slightly relevant to my research, since i am looking at the metabolic effects of estrogen receptor action (though my focus is fatty liver disease). first of all, how awesome is it that wine was the SOLE drinking fluid for these baby rats (highlighted in yellow)? and hard to argue with the results (especially when you haven’t seen the rest of the study, huh)?

if you needed an excuse to enjoy a nice glass of red tonight, there you go.


YUM.

long weekend!?
sort of! i will be working from home and then heading out a bit early today as josh and i embark on a virginia adventure. we are visiting friends in roanoke tonight, and then headed to lovely charlottesville to run a 10K race (i do not plan on actually racing, but i’m okay with that!) and celebrate someone’s KERF-day. my long-lost local friend allie and HLS running buddy meghann will be there too — i can’t wait to reunite with these ladies.

ROAD TRIP with my favorite driving partner ♥ (though i bet dollars to doughnuts he’ll be asleep for a significant portion of the ride).


time to make a fun playlist! (after finishing up the mouse-model section of my background section, that is).

more thoughts on 168 hours
yesterday, i surfed around to see what others had to say about 168 hours. i particularly liked this take from slate.com — this reviewer mused,

“I’m clearly addicted to something, but I doubt that (as the author of that particular volume would have it) it’s stress. I’m irresistibly drawn in by time management itself: the illusion that somehow, if I can just seize control of my schedule and prioritize and work strategically, I will get everything done and then live happily ever after. And since I can’t be the only person buying all of these books (two were best-sellers), I’m not the only one who ought to be asking the obvious question: Are we getting anything out of all of this reading, or are we just wasting more time?”

a bit more on the negative side was the wall street journal‘s take on things:

“Did I mention that Ms. Vanderkam cross-trained while pregnant? She tell us about it, three times. It is true that we seem to be busier than ever and yet feel unproductive, and Ms. Vanderkam is right to make us think harder about how we spend our time. But the solution to our time- management ordeal may not be a frantic attempt to jam everything in, even assuming that we can match Ms. Vanderkam’s energy and sense of mission. The solution might be simpler: to do less, to disconnect, to insist on retaining a measure of tranquility. And that, too, takes time.”

good point; i think that leo babauta would agree! and he seems to be making it work quite well for himself . . .

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10.21.10

workout: super-easy 20 minute yoga sesh (rodney yee’s AM yoga). this was mostly just stretching, which i needed.

if i had $1,000,000, i would just eat whole foods takeout every night.


actually, that’s a boldfaced LIE! i would miss cooking and putting together my own dinners. this week, though, having nearly all of our dinners prepared for me by others was a nice break. this colorful plate was healthy AND delicious (and expensive, but worth it).

writing progress report: i got over some sort of hump yesterday and wrote a significant chunk of my background section! all right.

3 Comments

  • Reply Chelsea March 10, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    When we lived in Albuquerque I had a Whole Foods veggie burrito for lunch waaaayyyyy more times than I want to admit. Super tasty, though.

  • Reply Jenny March 10, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    I feel a bit sorry for the rats. Imagine ONLY drinking red wine for 8 weeks. My head hurts just thinking about it!

    I bet they did see *quite* a lot of alcohol related damage in the wine group with those doses. That would be a confounding factor…

    Good luck at your 10K!

  • Reply Meagan March 10, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    I totally feel the same way about whole foods as you do!

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