On or about: 05-07-08  17:36, Ardith Hinton did engage James Bradley
regarding, but not limited to: Senior Moments...  2Aii.

 JB>  Alcohol thins the blood, and you're likely to clot like
 JB>  a hemophiliac.


 AH> Interesting.  I knew that folks who use alcohol... especially
 AH> wine... in moderation have fewer cardiovascular problems 
 AH> than folks who use either too much or none at all.  When I 

I don't know if the 'too much' crowd has increased risk, but the way the
nurse at the SAILL program answered the question, was, "One or two
glasses a day, and that doesn't mean glass bottles." Because she had a
room full of stubborn, heavy drinkers, I suspect she *had* to add,
"...The amount of damage it does far outweighs the good it can do to
your cholesterol." That program was geared to not be aggressive, (I
was told the scientific name for the approach.) so she was obviously
struggling to keep professional about it.


 AH> first became aware of this effect I was reading a book
 AH> about cholesterol.  Some time later I read that grape juice 
 AH> works just as well.  Then I read the other day that females 
 AH> who drink wine live longer & are less at risk for dementia 
 AH> than others although they're more at risk for breast 
 AH> cancer.  What you gain on the swings, you may lose on the 
 AH> roundabouts....  ;-)
 
If I heard right, the cholesterol issue was later distilled  down
to tannin. Red grapes have far more tannin, than green, hence red wine
trumps white. I never heard the dementia or life span stat. I know the
second *must* include moderation.

 
 JB>  grateful for modern analgesics too.

 AH> In a word... yes.  Been there, done that....  :-)
 
I *know* I've mentioned my lumpectomy was under a local anesthesia.
'Could-a used a big swig of whiskey for that one.

 
 AH>  [...]roaring drunk [...]routinely or [...]occasionally...
 AH>  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.  ;-)
 
 JB>  Depending how often the storyteller was at his side, no doubt.

 AH> How often & when... no doubt!  I think a lot may also have to
 AH> do  with the personality of the reporter, however.  In my first 
 AH> example the information comes from somebody I'd describe in 
 AH> a nutshell as rather angry & critical.  In my second 
 AH> example the information comes from somebody I'd describe as 
 AH> having a much more positive outlook on life.  While they 
 AH> had similar chances to observe what was going on, they seem 
 AH> to have interpreted it quite differently....  :-)
 
Ah, the curmudgeon needed to drink more, and the other needed to drink
less? It's odd, as alcohol is a depressant, that I should stereotype like
that. I keep bringing up the fictional characters, where Aunt Bess would
come up from the basement still with a pint of paint thinner/fortified
brandy. Today, I expect a pint a day of that percentage alcohol would paint
Aunt Bess as an alcoholic, but in moderation, she lived a full happy life,
and she was sweetness incarnate.

 
 AH> Agreed.  We have a kid who seems to be thriving, for example,
 AH> despite a medical history at BCCH which was 4 1/2 inches thick even
 AH> before her stroke. Others don't always approve of what we're doing...

If the kid's "In the game", who's to say differently? Speaking of
which, happy mothers' day!

 AH> but our daughter comes from a long line of people who refuse to accept
 AH> the notion that there's nothing for it but to roll over meekly & die
 AH> after a diagnosis of xxx, and I encourage her to carry on the family
 AH> tradition.  I have also achieved the impossible in many situations
 AH> because I was too naive to know it was impossible at the time.  ;-) 

Long live ignorance!

 JB>  (Substance Abuse In Later Life)
 JB>  What an eye opener!  Not for only the science, but the
 JB>  mechanism some adopted as denial, or vehicles for progress.

 AH> But in brief, I found it very enlightening to read what 12-Steppers
 AH> had to say.  It seems to me that what they are doing is adhering to a
 AH> formalized lesson plan based on a process which can occur naturally &
 AH> intuitively as well.  The process requires introspection, though, which
 AH> comes more naturally to some than to others.  :-) 
 
I can't speak on more than the first few pages I've read, and what little
I've garnered from others. Power to 'em for bucking the trend!


 JB>  the svelte struggled.

 AH> Uh-huh.  The same tendency to lay on fat in 
 AH> preparation for a time of famine and/or for a cold winter 
 AH> which many people find inconvenient now may be what enabled 
 AH> their ancestors to survive & reproduce.  What is considered 
 AH> to be "ideal" in terms of weight has changed within my own 
 AH> lifetime... not only from
 AH> a medical standpoint, but also from the standpoint of what's generally

Our ancestry didn't have a 24-7 store, or if we go a couple of generations
back, no corner store. Even *with* a neighbour grocer, oranges, and bananas
*in* season were a rarity.


 AH> thought attractive.  If Rubenesque figures and alabaster skin were in
 AH> favour a century ago... and if females with such characteristics were
 AH> more likely to marry than others... is it any wonder their
 AH> grandchildren are fighting the "battle of the bulge"
and/or applying
 AH> sun screen in order to prevent skin cancer?  Ukrainians are by no means
 AH> the only folks with such problems.  By trying to control  their weight,
 AH> humans may be fighting their own biology.   OTOH our ancestors probably
 AH> did more physical work & ate  less refined carbohydrate than we do. 

Now that I'm off the narcotics, the sedentary lifestyle that I complain
about, sure has helped to keep the pounds on. Funny, Rubanesque is a term I
was struggling for, when talking about anorexia, and bulemia being recent
illnesses, at least to the degree they are now. Maybe the Romans visited
the vomitorium, but only on special occasions.


 AH> Whatever a person  does may have ramifications they're unaware of at
 AH> the time.  If there's blame to be assigned it's only fair to assign 
 AH> it on both sides.  Mother Nature may be smarter than we are 
 AH> as well.  I read just recently that some people are 
 AH> predicting world shortages of rice & corn & various other 
 AH> comestibles....  :-)


I guess we'll see who finds pigeon and squirrel *comestible.*  Good'un!



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