Radio Interview on 7/24/12

I just remembered that I could post a link to the radio interview I did on KMUN with Ann Goldeen on July 24th.  I came prepared to discuss "Obesity, it's not what you think",  but we did wander around the topic somewhat.  I really hate hearing my recorded voice, so I haven't listened to this myself, except when I was there recording it.

http://coastradio.org/audio/2012/health/AG072412.mp3

The points I wanted to get across the most are: 

Poor nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle DO cause health problems, in people of ALL sizes.
Everyone should be trying to eat well and move as well as they can, regardless of size.

Diets do not work for 95% of the population.

BMI is not a very accurate measurement of obesity.

Human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of how they look or what you think is going on with them.

Weight by itself is not a problem except in extreme cases where it impacts mobility or you are starving. Fat people live longer than thin people and are more likely to survive cardiac events. If fat people actually do cost the medical system more, it would be around .12% more, if that.

Just for the fun of it, here's a link to Kate Harding's BMI Project.

It’s A Hot One! Homemade Ginger Ale

Today the forecast is for 88 degrees and no chance of rain with sunny skies here on the North Oregon Coast! This is such a rare thing for us, I almost revel in it! Our high is usually 65 degrees with 60 percent chance of rain.
So we’ve buttoned up the house so we won’t get too hot, because no air conditioning here! I decided to make something cool to drink, my favorite: homemade ginger ale!  Ginger is a great digestive herb, as well as anti-inflammatory.  It rarely has side effects, although there are some cautions about ingesting a lot of ginger and taking blood thinners.
I have a iSi soda siphon to make carbonated water, so there is no fermentation involved, I just have to make the ginger syrup.

I found and adapted this recipe from the website    HerbCare.
You need:
4 cups of water
4 or 5 inches fresh ginger
4 packets of NuStevia white stevia powder
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon extract

Bring the water to boil in a small saucepan. Peel ginger and cut into chunks and chop with the food processor or by hand into fine pieces. (Sorry, I didn't get a picture of me peeling and chopping the ginger. You can see from the picture below, I pretty much mince the ginger.) Add the ginger and stevia, reduce the heat to low, and simmer gently for 8 to 10 minutes.

Strain the liquid into a heatproof container, then stir in vanilla and lemon extracts. 

Cover and refrigerate. Once the syrup is cool you can fill a glass with ice, pour in about ⅓ to ½ glass of the ginger syrup and fill the rest of the glass up with carbonated water. I like my ginger ale kind of strong, so I use ½ ginger ale syrup to ½ water.

I have substituted other sweeteners such as maple syrup or honey, but those made it too sweet for me. (If you like it sweeter, then do use maple syrup, honey or increase the stevia.)  I have used fresh lemon juice previously, but it didn’t taste the way I wanted it to taste.

What’s your favorite cool summer drink?
Cheers!