Health and Fitness

[HighlyIrregular II]

"Tyson, 57, 'became nauseous and dizzy due to an ulcer flare up 30 minutes before landing,' his representative said."

I bet it's his heart and not ulcer related. Bet it's from training or performance enhancing drugs. People's hearts go through a change pretty quickly in their early 50s, and some people say even in your mid 40s you should stop shoveling snow. I root for people about my age, like Tyson, to be in good shape, and I'm following his training for the Jake Paul fight.

This thread could have been called Getting Old but I think a health thread is more useful.

[HighlyIrregular II]

I thought about buying a water filter for years and I finally did. It took the hard water deposits in my new city to convince me. I ordered a Zerowater 10 Cup Ready-Pour Pitcher. It's not a water softener but hard water is possibly healthier than soft water (there's some debate over whether that's just for people with certain mineral deficiencies). I just wanted to take it down a notch and filter some other impurities out.

I never got one of those electric kettles that were discussed here. I actually downgraded from a whistling stovetop kettle to a small pot, which is even easier to clean. But the hard water buildup in my area comes fast and I can actually feel the texture of it when I rub my finger across the bottom of the pot after boiling and pouring out just one cup of water. It leaves a white film on my finger.

Zerowater has a tool that tells you the total dissolved solids of your water from your zip code (at least in PA) and mine was 301. I bet it's actually higher.

I didn't subscribe to their new filter delivery service yet. I'll see how it goes.

I wish I remembered what brand of fluoride mouthwash I liked. I'm going to start buying it again. I'm not anti-fluoride and I actually wanted it in my water but my new filter filters it out.

[Senseye]

I've never read anything that convinces me drinking hard water is bad for you. I think the desire to drink distilled/filtered water is just a psychological thing (not to mention it is a cash cow and highly marketed). It makes intuitive sense one would want to drink pure as possible water. However, since we are evolved to drink not so pure water (mostly from lakes and streams) I think purifying water is at least not necessary (and possibly counter productive).

I've tried using Brita type activated charcoal filter water pitchers in the past, but the hassle/expense of replacing filters eventually leads me to stop using them.

PS> I also think systemic fluoride (consuming it) is better than topical fluoride from toothpaste. But by your age, you've probably got enough of it in your bones/teeth that you don't need to worry about consuming any more.

[HighlyIrregular II]

Thuay back Thursday for the power members.

[HighlyIrregular II]

I've never read anything that convinces me drinking hard water is bad for you.

There's something about kidney damage but I don't remember the details. Most of the info is about it being beneficial.

Hard water has certain types of dissolved solids. The residue in my pot could be other types. I ordered a meter to check for TDS out of curiosity, my aversion to extreme levels of TDS, and to help determine when to change my water filter. Based on some research I recommend the the HM Digital TDS-3 SMART or the easier to find (on Amazon) HM Digital TDS-3.

500 PPM of TDS and up are the levels most mentioned by the EPA and WHO. The EPA's secondary standards set a 500 PPM limit. Secondary means it's not for health reasons and it's not enforced.

[HighlyIrregular II]

My scooter leg drawing was viewed 2634 times in 5 days. That can't be normal.

Xylitol is in the news for being linked to heart attacks and stroke. I had a gum infection a few years ago and did various things to treat it myself (nobody says you should do that but I had reasons). With my first round of treatment, it quickly subsided but a year later it flared up to the point where I was going to see a dentist, but then my new water flosser, which I used with mouthwash some of the time, immediately flushed the life out of it. My maintenance regimen included chewing xylitol gum for its anti-bacterial properties. Not sure how much good it did but it helped dislodge the center of my left wisdom tooth, which had looked possibly cracked and apparently was. So now I water floss it after every meal because I don't want to deal with what a dentist will likely want to do with BOTH my wisdom teeth, and an insurance issue. Anyway, I had done research on other health benefits of Xylitol and it sounded healthy. Now I'm glad I stopped chewing Xylitol gum.

[HighlyIrregular II]

Penis cancer rates are rising. It's highly treatable before it gets to the point where amputation is indicated. Get those penial warts looked at.

[HighlyIrregular II]

Been eating too many pancakes lately, Browned starches are unhealthy, so I asked about a possible way to make them healthier.

Would adding soy flour to pancake batter reduce acrylamide formation

ChatGPT
Yes, adding soy flour to pancake batter could potentially help reduce acrylamide formation. Soy flour contains asparaginase, an enzyme that converts asparagine (an amino acid) into aspartic acid, thereby reducing the availability of asparagine to react with sugars during cooking to form acrylamide.

Here’s how it works:

Reduction of Asparagine: The asparaginase in soy flour breaks down asparagine into aspartic acid, which doesn’t form acrylamide when heated.
Preventive Action: By reducing the asparagine content before cooking, less acrylamide is formed during the cooking process.
However, the effectiveness of this approach may depend on factors such as the amount of soy flour added, the cooking temperature, and the specific recipe. To maximize the potential benefit, you might consider experimenting with different proportions of soy flour in your pancake batter while maintaining the desired taste and texture.

Overall, incorporating soy flour could be a practical way to reduce acrylamide formation in pancakes and potentially other baked or fried foods.

[Senseye]

There's something about kidney damage but I don't remember the details. Most of the info is about it being beneficial.

Hard water has certain types of dissolved solids. The residue in my pot could be other types. I ordered a meter to check for TDS out of curiosity, my aversion to extreme levels of TDS, and to help determine when to change my water filter. Based on some research I recommend the the HM Digital TDS-3 SMART or the easier to find (on Amazon) HM Digital TDS-3.

500 PPM of TDS and up are the levels most mentioned by the EPA and WHO. The EPA's secondary standards set a 500 PPM limit. Secondary means it's not for health reasons and it's not enforced.

I have no doubt there are dissolved solids. But as you say, some of those minerals are probably beneficial. And your kidneys take care of the rest. Humans probably drink mostly hard water (from lakes, streams, and wells). Rainwater (soft) once in a while but not that often. So unless your city's water is unusually hard, I wouldn't worry about it.

OTOH, filtered water isn't going to do you any harm, outside of minor damage to your wallet.

[HighlyIrregular II]

OTOH, filtered water isn't going to do you any harm, outside of minor damage to your wallet.

I bought a Zero Water pitcher, used it for about 3 weeks, then threw it out. The water started tasting bad after about 3-4 fillings. I tested the water from the pitcher with the TDS meter that came with it and with my better meter and the TDS was extremely low, supposedly indicating it's not time for a new filter, but something must have been growing in the filter that wasn't filtered out. My household tap water never tasted bad. Only the filtered water tasted bad after three weeks. With no reliable warning of when the filter was going bad (which would have meant too short a filter life anyway) the best thing to do was not use the pitcher. I'm back to bottled water, except for beverages made with boiled water.