Scales For You

Along with today’s economy woes comes a lot of stress for most of us.  We are trying to deal with things that we cannot control such as the fall in the value of our retirement account.  We need to concentrate on the things we can control to try to save money.  For example, we can eat at home, buy only the things that we need, and look for the lowest prices on the things we have to purchase.  Also, credit cards are convenient, but their interest rates are much too high.  We should never buy things on a credit card unless we can pay the entire balance when the bill comes, saving all that interest.  By keeping a tally on our savings, we can reduce our stress level.

Sometimes, the stress of not having the proper equipment needed to do our job can cause undue stress.  If you work in a lab, you definitely need a professional lab scale.  Holladay Partners offers a variety of lab scales at the lowest prices from which to choose and free shipping, too.  Check them out.  You’ll be glad you did!  

Thanksgiving is a time for food and family.  This year is going to be different for me.  I usually cook a big Thanksgiving dinner (my husband smokes the turkey) and invite my children and grandchildren over.  This year, however, I’m taking my granddaughters to Texas to see their mom and have Thanksgiving with her.  It’s much easier to control my diet at home; I can measure my food portions before filling my plate. 

In planning my trip, I’m also planning my diet.  I can’t afford to give up now.  I’ve come too far.  Their mom said she has some kitchen scales I can use at her house, but we’ll have to eat a meal on the road going and coming back.  I found the neatest thing–a portable scale.  It has a stainless steel plate for easy cleaning and will fit in my jacket pocket.  I can discretely measure my food in a restaurant and ask for a carry-out carton for the unneeded food.  If it’s not on my plate, I won’t eat it! 

It is estimated that nearly 24 million people in the United States have diabetes.  Type 2 diabetes was once rare in children, but by 1999, up to 45 percent of new diabetes cases in kids was type 2, which was linked to a rise in childhood obesity.  Type 1 diabetics produce no insulin at all, while Type 2 diabetics’ cells are resistant to insulin.  Diets have changed and concentrated sweets and processed carbohydrates add pounds.  Switch from white bread to wheat and from white rice to brown for a positive change.  Replace fried chicken with baked and stock up on fresh vegetables such as baby carrots, broccoli, and green salads.  Eliminate unhealthy snacks and fast foods. 

Exercise creates leaner muscles that are better able to metabolize sugar and decrease the cells’ resistance to insulin.  Make exercising fun by doing things together.  Children like to play, even do exercises, if their parent or significant adult is doing it, too.  Get some large capacity scales to keep track of everyone’s progress and the whole family should soon be on track toward a healthier lifestyle. 

I read an article recently about the most healthy places to retire.   Some of the choices were:  Bella Vista, Arkansas, Boulder, Colorado, Issaquah, Washington and Walnut Creek, California.  These cities have walkability, water aerobics classes, and access to nature.  This sounds good, but my roots run deep.  I live in a small town founded by my ancestors, and I’m within two hours driving distance from my children and grandchildren.  I want to be healthy, but I don’t want to move.

Some lifestyle changes are needed.  A diet plan with the right amounts of healthy food and a regular exercise program will help me get started.  A weighing scale will help me measure my progress.  By making a few small changes, I can live a healthier life without the stress of moving far away from my friends and family. 

Many women are overweight or obese when they become pregnant.  Eating a healthy diet for the baby can be even more complicated if the future mother is too heavy, but it is even more important.  Almost all pregnant women need to increase their intake of certain vitamins and minerals, protein and calories.  If their diet is already poor, they’ll need to begin eating nutritious, well-balanced meals.  Junk food is little more than empty calories and should be eliminated, or at least limited.  A pregnant woman only needs about 300 additional calories per day, therefore, eating for two doesn’t require a lot more food.  Caffeinated beverages can pose real problems for the baby.  Some studies suggest that drinking more than four cups of coffee a day can lead to miscarriage, low birth weight, or even stillbirth.  Drinking water, skim milk and 100 percent fruit juice is a healthy choice for the future mother and her baby.

A large capacity scale can help any woman, pregnant or not, determine if her eating habits and exercise program are leading toward a healthy body weight.  With a few small changes in diet and exercise, she can see progress weekly.  A healthy baby is a lot easier to care for than a sick baby, and the baby’s health largely depends on the mother’s diet, exercise, and rest during pregnancy. 
 

Sometimes, we of the older generation or seniors, are a little slow to get involved with new technology.  I finally, with the help of her daughter, talked my 69 year old neighbor into getting on line.  We found a used laptop for $75 and she ordered internet service.  This morning, I went over and helped her set it all up, got her online, and sent an email to her daughter.  To say the least, she and her daughter were both excited.  I’ll probably have to make several trips over to her house before she learns enough to feel comfortable with her new technology, but we have definitely made progress.

Electronic scales are not necessarily new technology, but they have been vastly improved over the years.  They have the “hold” feature that allows us to step off the scale and then read the results.  This is especially helpful to the ones of us who have a sight problem.  Who wants to ask their spouse to tell them what they weigh?  Upgrading our old spring bathroom scales to an up-to-date electronic scale can give us a real uplift to help us get started on that new diet. 

Have you ever thought about how many games, puzzles, card sets, and various other activities are available to help children learn to count.  Lots of money is spent by parents, teachers, and schools on this endeavor.  Counting is a lot of fun when you’re four, five, or six years old; but when you get older, it becomes boring and tedious.  It’s hard to keep alert enough not to make errors when you’re counting large numbers of small items.

Digital counting scales can solve this problem.  If your work or hobby consists of counting many small items, these scales can make your life a lot easier.  The Tare feature will subtract the weight of your container, then you can weigh one of your items that needs counting.  Next, place a container full of the items on the scales and they can tell you how many you have.  If you just want a certain number of items, keep placing items in the container a few at a time until you reach the wanted number.  What could be easier?  Technology to the rescue! 

Several years ago, I purchased a Nintendo game to have at my house when my grandchildren visited.  Of course, I soon became somewhat addicted to playing.  Sometime later our house burned and we lost everything including the Nintendo game.  After we had rebuilt and obtained the necessities again, I thought I would replace the Nintendo game.  Like most technology, the game was out-of-date and all I could find was used units that didn’t work properly.  My daughter suggested I get a Gameboy instead.  I had never heard of a Gameboy, but she got me one for Christmas that year.  Guess what!  I had my old game back, but it was a handheld unit.  I could take it with me anywhere I went and always have it available if I got bored.  The grandchildren loved it!  They could borrow my Gameboy anytime they were with me.  In fact, we eventually bought one for them.  Portability is a convenient thing!

A handheld scale is now available.  You can put it in your pocket or purse and take it with you on the road.  If you’re serious about dieting and measuring your food portions, this portable scale is a wonderful convenience.  Take it into a restaurant, measure the amount of food that you need to eat, call for a take-out carton and place the remainder of the food in it.  Once it’s in that take-out carton, it’s not nearly so tempting to eat it all.  And, if you’re willing to eat leftovers, put it in the motel refrigerator and reheat it for another meal.  That’s smart!  Now you can use that money you saved to shop for clothes! 

We Americans, in many ways, are a culture of extremes, and we tend to flip-flop from one end of the spectrum to the other.  A bandwagon comes along and we hop on and ride to the end of the line, then catch one going the other way.  We buy stocks hoping to cash in on some quick, easy money, then sell in a hurry, fearful that the bottom is falling out.   We exercise and diet the same erratic way.  We run marathons, even when our joints and knees are past feeling the pain, then we become couch potatoes.  We eat no fat, then no carbs–whatever the latest diet information tells us to do.  By the way, the latest study I read shows that eating healthy is more important to heart health than exercise.  Moderation is the best approach in most situations–moderation in eating and exercise.

A kitchen scale that can measure our portions before we eat them is probably a wise investment.  Since money is tight, a spring scale could be the right choice.  They are less expensive, yet do a good job of weighing accurately.  The bowl covers the scale when not in use.

Alzheimer’s disease affects about 5.2 million Americans.  It causes senility and often leads to death.  There’s no cure for this neurodegenerative condition, however a new study has looked at nicotinamide (a form of Vitamin B3).  They did the study with mice that had been genetically engineered to develop the equivalent of human Alzheimer’s disease.  They tested their memory in a shallow pool of water to see if they could remember where the platform was that would allow them to get out of the water.  Then some of the mice were given Vitamin B3 and were again tested in the pool.  They performed as if they had never developed the disease.  The vitamin apparently clears “tangles” of brain cells that were caused by the Alzheimer’s disease.

Vitamin B3 is found in foods such as pork, peanuts,turkey, chicken, veal, fish, salmon, swordfish, tuna and sunflower seeds.  I wonder how much of these foods we need to eat to take care of our “tangles” in our brains.  We’ll have to watch the scale or our weight will escalate!  Life sure is complicated!