After my other overly-sentimental post about my gross old sneakers, it seemed appropriate to mention that this enormous transition had finally been made, but I promise I won’t make a habit of posting about my shoes.

Still can’t bring myself to throw them out though. I feel like I should get them one of those glass trophy boxes that people keep game-winning footballs in, or something.

In other news, The Baroness Knows Best has finally been updated! Thanks so much for sending in your questions and please, keep them coming! I’ve just started formatting the next Promises Promises book (yes!) and the advice column was such a fun feature of the first one, (Starting Tomorrow – available in the Promises Shop) I’d like to make it an ongoing thing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The comic that was scheduled to run today has been bumped thanks to this bit of news my Dad passed on to me this weekend;

Shopping May Improve Health

According to the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health via BBC news online, of the 1,850 people aged 65 plus studied, those who shopped daily were 27% less likely to die than those who shopped infrequently with the biggest difference noted in men.

Shopping is going to involve physical activity, social interaction with other shoppers and because it’s quite a complex task it’s going to keep you mentally active.

I just couldn’t deny the Baroness science like that.

Did you remember to set your clocks ahead last night? I’m sure you’ve heard/seen/read the reminders by now. There are a bunch of terrific articles in the news this morning about how to ease into the time change so you don’t get hit with that jet-laggy feeling, (the one that sticks around much, MUCH longer than that hour seems to be worth).  They suggest going to bed a half hour earlier and waking up a half hour earlier, apparently splitting the difference is the big secret.

Maybe it’s a bit salty, but I can’t help having a laugh over how much more useful this information would have been to me YESTERDAY!

Three articles really got my attention, What’s In It? Behind the Label, Diabetes Care In Schools and Tips For A Healthy School Lunch. I liked the tips for healthy lunches but really took exception the notion that chocolate milk was just as good as regular milk. It was actually one of the hot-button issues in Jamie Oliver’s food revolution. (Which is really eye opening if you haven’t seen it.) Here are some of the facts out of the National Dairy Council’s report on flavoured milk from Jamie’s home page:

ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT SUGAR IN FLAVORED MILK? HERE ARE THE FACTS:

• The recommended serving size for milk in schools is 8oz
• Kids get milk for breakfast and lunch – that’s 16oz per day.
• A serving of milk naturally contains 12 grams of sugar (lactose) – that’s 3 teaspoons.
• The National Dairy Council (NDC) says a serving of flavoured milk has about 4 teaspoons of added sugar.
• If a kid drinks two servings, that’s 8 extra teaspoons of sugar per day they don’t need.
• The NDC also says flavoured milk has less sugar than soda, which has 7 teaspoons.
• Three teaspoons of natural sugars plus 4 teaspoons of added sugar also equals 7, which means that flavoured milk has the same amount of sugar as soda.

So…Doesn’t that much sugar kind of negate any nutritional value a little body would take in from the milk?

Which leads me to the next article about Diabetes care in schools. It really made me wonder how rampant Diabetes has become, for care to become a school board issue? I knew the statistics were up, but that high? Then I got into the what’s in it on the mac n’ cheese label article and that just made my head spin. I don’t know any parent who would defend the virtues of “processed cheese food” but here we are, giving it to them without really thinking about it. How can a little body be expected to sit and concentrate in school if it’s trying to sort out that much sugar, coloured and chemical “food product”?

As I said, I’m not a parent so I don’t have the responsibility of daily nutritional needs for little people. Particularly, finicky little people who won’t eat anything that isn’t shaped like dinosaurs and buried in ketchup. But, I’m completely guilty of it too. Any time my niece and nephew are in my care I bring them candy and let them have whatever they want. Mostly because I’m Auntie and I want them to like me best, (they do) but also because I know they’ll be bouncing off the walls after I leave, making things difficult for my brother and that amuses me. (I’m a terrific aunt, but a terrible sister.)

Since it’s a whole page now I’ve added some Promises Promises banners, links to some of my super-talented friends, (waiting on banners from others so check back) favourite comics and favourite health and fitness resources.  (Say what you want to about reality TV, I’m probably right there with you but biggestloser.com is a fantastic site and let’s face it, that Bob Harper is a cutie!) Heh, I should put up a Team Promises on the Biggest Loser Club and see how we all do… That will have to be a project for another time.

I finally updated the “About” page.  It’s not deep but it’s better than it was and I think, gives a nice little intro to the comic.

The other big announcement is the new Facebook page.  A bunch of my friends have been on me to build one of these things for ages, so Ta-Daaa! There are a bunch of convention photos up there, and some basic tweets.  I’m learning about the apps and such that I can add, so go!  Link, add, fan, friend, comment whatever you do on Facebook.  I think it’ll be a fun way to interact.   I also enjoy the scrabble game if you’re feeling like challenging me.

Be nice to them.

More soon.

Jules