Smile-breaks
What Will it Be? Coffee and Chocolate or Mega Red Fish Oil?
Leafing through the latest Good Housekeeping magazine, I arrived at the “goodhealth” section. I’m always up for good health, so I’m checking it out.
“4 SLEEP HELPERS.” Skip that. I have no problem sleeping.
“COFFEE PERKS” This looks interesting. I love coffee, but I keep going between decaf and regular. Decaf to keep the blood pressure down; regular to enjoy the real coffee flavor and the morning pick-up. I don’t drink that much - a cup in the morning with nine or ten refills and a cup after lunch. I’ve been pretty much drinking the real stuff lately and enjoying it lots.
It says here coffee is good for us. Yay! I can drink without guilt! I like this Good Housekeeping magazine. It says coffee’s “rich in antioxidants” and has lots of other good health benefits. Better memory’s one of them. I could use some of that. Think I’ll ramp up to five or six cups a day… Better cognitive functions, too. If I drink enough coffee maybe I’ll recognize you next time I see you.
Lowers your risk of type 2 diabetes. That one will be good to quote when someone says I shouldn’t be drinking so much coffee. And less chance of non-melanoma skin cancer – this stuff really is good for us! I turned the page.
“DON’T BAR CHOCOLATE.” I look up to the top of the page. Am I still in the “goodhealth” section? I must be dreaming. But Yes! There it is: “goodhealth.”
This one I absolutely love. It seriously says if you’re trying to lose weight you should indulge yourself. I can do that. Seriously. The logic – if you can believe it – was that if you forbid yourself to eat any chocolate, you’ll end up eating more than if you’d allowed yourself to eat chocolate. That’s not gonna work for me. I can go through an entire one pound box of chocolates in one sitting. One ten minute sitting. If I forbid myself to eat the entire box in one sitting, I end up eating it in two sittings. Same day.
But who’s to argue with the experts? So I reach for the Ghirardelli square of dark chocolate beside me and read on. For half an ounce of chocolate a day – that would be every day, of course – you get lower blood pressure. Your arterial walls get “less stiff,” whatever that means. I haven’t checked them lately, but they haven’t been complaining, so I guess they’re okay.
It gets better and better. Your bad cholesterol level will sink; blood clots won’t be allowed to form; and your stress hormones – from not eating chocolate for two days – will go away. Be reduced, actually.
This is good stuff. I wonder what’s on the next page…
The next page is blood red with white print: “What is Small, Red, Powerful and Supports Cardiovascular Health?” This looks like an ad. Sure enough, we’re out of the “goodhealth” section. But since it’s about health and it’s powerful and it’s red, I check it out.
MegaRed. Omega-3 KRILL OIL 300 mg, a “small, easy to swallow softgel, quality tested for purity.” Says here it contains pure Arctic krill. Are there any impure Arctic krill? If not, how do they multiply? Oh, sorry. It says your body won’t have any trouble recognizing them and using them. Not my body. Never met a krill in its life.
The reason this is said to be so good for you are the “powerful antioxidants” it contains. But wait, isn’t that exactly what coffee has? And where are the stress reducers and the blood pressure lower-ers and the better memory?
I leave it to you, when it comes to your health, will it be coffee and chocolate or a MegaRed softgel capsule filled with pure Arctic krill?