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Another Perspective
Doctor’s Orders
The importance of knowing what’s important.
Recently my doctor — a renowned lipid specialist — suggested I lay off the booze. In her estimable opinion, it was not enough that I cut back, she advised me to “take the pledge.”
It seems I have extraordinarily high levels of triglycerides and bad cholesterol. Failure to heed her advice, she warned grimly, could drastically shorten my lifespan. For years we have tried various remedies, diets, and lifestyle changes, but nothing has worked. Eliminating beer, with its high sugar content, is apparently my last hope.
Now, you should know that there are very few things that bring me pleasure in this life. Besides the obvious — spending time with my son, my fiancée, a good book, or the occasional weekend getaway, there isn’t all that much I enjoy these days. Beer may not exactly rank with the aforesaid, but it deserves an honorable mention if only because it has the wondrous capacity of making dull or mundane activities — such as a professional baseball game, a social gathering, or the holidays — slightly less intolerable. I told my doctor I would have to think about it.
I suspect most men receive a similar health-inspired ultimatum at some point in their lives: cut out the red meat, the cigars, the whisky, or suffer the consequences. Some of us take this advice better than others. A certain sportswriter I know has no interest in the counsel of physicians, so he simply avoids them. He is easily 150 pounds overweight, and probably half of that is his alcohol-sodden liver. He lives for sports and fast food and a six pack when the work day is through, and that’s the way his life will go until the inevitable heart attack carries him off in the (doubtless) near future.
MY CASE IS NOT quite so extreme. I recognize that there may be compelling reasons to make positive lifestyle changes. Perhaps you would like to be around to get to know your grandkids, assuming your children give you any, which is by no means a certainty in today’s culture. What is so great about grandchildren? Not having any it is difficult for me to say, but I do remember asking a colleague, shortly before her untimely death, when she was happiest in life. Without missing a beat, she replied, “The birth of my first grandchild.” I suppose I can see that. Grandparents do not have to suffer through the agony of childbirth nor the struggles of being a young parent with no money, nor get up at 3 a.m. to comfort a sick or crying infant. Grandchildren are like beer, but without the hangover.
Beer hasn’t always been one of my life’s few pleasures. Until I was 30 or so, I did not know there were any other brands save Busch, Budweiser and Stag. And we didn’t drink Stag because my father had always made fun of it, even though we grew up in the pungent shadows of the Stag Brewery. Dad was a strict Budweiser man; today he drinks nothing but German imports, while I drink Stag. I am not exactly sure why, but Stag has become the hipster’s beer of choice, at least here in the Midwest. Probably it is a reaction to all those precious micro-brews quaffed by the bourgeoisie. I drink Stag because it is dirt cheap and supposedly “sugar-free as beer can be,” and, regardless of what my father thinks, it tastes better than most domestic beers.
Recently I watched a PBS documentary that tried to explain why most domestic beers are so awful. According to the filmmakers, German breweries, and by extension, German lagers, were shunned during World War I, resulting in the rise of third-rate American breweries. Before the German breweries could reestablish themselves, Prohibition came along forcing the best German brewmasters to throw in the towel. Prohibition was followed by World War II, which forced brewers to use cheap ingredients (rice, corn) that were less subject to rationing. By the Fifties, Americans were used to — in Joel Achenbach’s phrase — “carbonated water with a little yeast action thrown in.” Germans, who endured far greater deprivations than Americans, never allowed their pilsners and kolsches to suffer in quality. Germans knew what was important.
I like to think I do too. I have taken a number of steps to better health. I have cut back on red meat, I try to get a bit of exercise now and then, and I have switched to whole wheat pasta. But a middle-aged guy can only do so much. Asking him to cut out beer, as far as I’m concerned, is putting too much of a strain on the doctor-patient relationship. Like the German people, I can endure a lot, but one’s quality of life must not suffer too much. Stag, anyone?
About the Author
Christopher Orlet writes from St. Louis.
Spoonman| 10.21.10 @ 7:28AM
Brings back fond memories of trips to Bermuda and England and Watneys Red Barrel - what a shame its history!
Alan Brooks| 10.21.10 @ 10:54PM
Orlet, drink and eat anything you want; don't listen to the doctor.
He is a quack.
Ret. Marine| 10.21.10 @ 7:34AM
Moderation my friend, moderation.
Alan Brooks| 10.21.10 @ 11:03PM
No,
don't be wusses; all Republicans should eat and drink anything they want. You don't want to be health nuts--fanatics-- do you?
Live it up, boys.
Vasu Murti | 10.22.10 @ 1:16AM
Prohibition led to Al Capone and rising crime, violence and corruption, overflowing courts, jails, and prisons, the labeling of tens of millions of Americans as criminals and the consequent broadening of disrespect for the law, the dangerous expansions of federal police powers, encroachments on civil liberties, hundreds of thousands of Americans blinded, paralyzed, and killed by poisonous moonshine and industrial alcohol, and the increasing government expenditure devoted to enforcing the Prohibition laws.
Our government spends billions of dollars a year on arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating drug-law violators. Choked courts and prisons, an incarceration rate higher than most other nations in the world, and tax dollars diverted from education and health care are just a few of the costs our current prohibition imposes.
There are health costs in drug prohibition. During the prohibition era, some fifty thousand Americans were paralyzed after consuming "jake," an adulterated Jamaican ginger extract. Today we have marijuana made more dangerous by government-sprayed paraquat.
Prohibition did succeed in reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related ills ranging from cirrhosis to public drunkenness and employee related absenteeism. But this was due to the effectiveness of the temperance movement in publicizing the dangers of alcohol. The decline in alcohol consumption during those years, like the recent decline in cigarette consumption, had less to do with laws than with changing social attitudes.
During the 1980s, for example, Americans began switching from hard liquor to beer and wine, from high tar-and-nicotine to low tar-and-nicotine cigarettes, and even from caffeinated to decaffeinated sodas, coffees, and teas.
Alcohol prohibition was repealed after just thirteen years while the prohibition of other drugs has continued for over 75 years. Why? Alcohol prohibition struck directly at society's most powerful members. The prohibition of other drugs, by contrast, threatened far fewer Americans with hardly any political power.
Only the prohibition of marijuana, which nearly 100 million Americans have violated since 1965, has come close to approximating the Prohibition era experience, but marijuana smokers consist mostly of young and relatively powerless Americans.
Ending marijuana prohibition is now a mainstream political position!
A pamphlet entitled "10 Things Every Parent, Teenager and Teacher Should Know About Marijuana" produced by the Family Council on Drug Awareness tells us marijuana is not physically addictive.
The 1980 Costa Rican study, the 1975 Jamaican study and the 1972 Nixon Blue Ribbon Report all concluded that marijuana use does not lead to physical dependency.
The FBI reports that 65 to 75 percent of criminal violence is alcohol-related. On the other hand, Federal Bureau of Narcotics director Harry Anslinger testified before Congress in 1948 that marijuana leads to nonviolence and pacifism.
In a message to Congress on August 2, 1977, President Jimmy Carter insisted:
"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself."
Conservatives are living in the past--in the days of "reefer madness." In a March 1979 radio broadcast, for example, Ronald Reagan said, "Somehow they (young people) never seemed to have heard the other side. Never heard, for example, that marijuana contains 300 or more chemicals and 60 of those are found in no other plant."
What Reagan failed to mention is that tobacco smoke contains over 3,000 chemicals!
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Law Judge Francis L. Young wrote on September 8, 1988:
"Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."
After years of suppression by the government, the truth about medical marijuana is finally coming out. Dr. Tod Mikuriya, former director of marijuana research for the entire federal government, wrote in 1996:
"I was hired by the government to provide scientific evidence that marijuana was harmful. As I studied the subject, I began to realize that marijuana was once widely used as a safe and effective medicine. But the government had a different agenda, and I had to resign."
Tobacco kills about 430,700 each year. Alcohol and alcohol-related diseases and injuries kill about 110,000 per year. Secondhand tobacco smoke kills about 50,000 every year. Aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs kill 7,600 each year. Cocaine kills about 500 yearly alone, and another 2,500 in combination with another drug. Heroin kills about 400 yearly alone, and another 2,500 in combination with another drug. Adverse reactions to prescription drugs total 32,000 per year, while marijuana kills no one.
According to a 2003 Zogby poll, two of every five Americans say “the government should treat marijuana the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and only make it illegal for children.”
Close to 100 million Americans, including over half of those between the ages of 18 and 50, have tried marijuana at least once. Military and police recruiters often have no alternative but to ignore past marijuana use by job seekers.
In 1996, California voters passed a law to regulate medical marijuana within the state. In 2000, voters in California approved an initiative allowing people who are arrested for simple possession of drugs to go through a rehabilitation program rather than through the court process that would result in prison. Since the program began, most agree it has been very successful. It results in less recidivism and is considered cheaper than imprisonment.
Richard Posner, Chicago's chief judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and one of the nation's leading legal scholars, says marijuana use should be legalized as a way of reducing crime.
Posner, a Reagan administration appointee once described by American Lawyer magazine as “the most brilliant judge in the country,” explained his views on marijuana in The Times Literary Supplement, a British publication, and in later interview:
“It is nonsense that we should be devoting so many law enforcement resources to marijuana," says Posner. "I am skeptical that a society that is so tolerant of alcohol and cigarettes should come down so hard on marijuana use and send people to prison for life without parole.”
Posner is the highest-ranking judge to publicly favor the repeal of marijuana laws. Several judges of the federal district court, a level lower than the appeals court, have made similar calls, including Robert Sweet of New York and James Paine of Florida, both Carter Administration appointees.
New York University law professor Burt Neuborne said it's significant that “one of the leading intellectuals in the judicial system recognizes that the laws don't seem to be working well.”
Rufus King, a Washington, DC lawyer who has served on the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, calls the drug war, “A worthless crusade.”
According to King, drug use is a social problem, not a law enforcement problem. He observes:
“Cigarette use is declining through changes in cultural values in the population. Like most smokers and alcoholics, most users of illegal drugs poison themselves because they want to be intoxicated. No human force can do them much good until they want help.”
King is optimistic that the current anti-drug hysteria will subside, and responsible and reasonable drug law policies will be adopted.
Dissenting from the Supreme Court ruling on the suspension of an Alaskan student for waving a banner -- "BONG HITS 4 Jesus" -- at a high school event, Justice John Paul Stevens took the long view:
"...the current dominant opinion supporting the war on drugs in general, and our anti-marijuana laws in particular, is reminiscent of the opinion that supported the nationwide ban on alcohol consumption when I was a student. While alcoholic beverages are now regarded as ordinary articles of commerce, their use was then condemned with the same moral fervor that now supports the war on drugs...
"...just as Prohibition in the 1920's and early 1930's was secretly questioned by thousands of otherwise law-abiding patrons of bootleggers and speakeasies, today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law abiding users of marijuana, and of the majority of voters in each of the several states that tolerate medicinal uses of the product, lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority is silencing opponents of the war on drugs."
The Washington Post, July 26, 2007, reported: "Stevens compared the current marijuana ban to the abandoned alcohol ban and urged a respectful hearing for those who suggest 'however inarticulately' that the ban is 'futile' and that marijuana should be legalized, taxed and regulated instead of prohibited."
Alice A. Huffman, President, California State NAACP, says:
"According to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, half of California's marijuana possession arrestees were nonwhite in 1990 and 28% were under age 20. Last year, 62% were nonwhite and 42% were under age 20. Marijuana possession arrests of youth of color rose from about 3,100 in 1990 to about 16,300 in 2008 -- an arrest surge 300% greater than the rate of population growth in that group. If one were to calculate the number of Black juvenile and young adult men alone, arrested in 2008 for nonviolent marijuana felony violations - over 5, 600 (and, which includes cultivation of a single plant), the criminal justice cycle entry costs would exceed $1.3 billion annually.
"It is painfully evident that the war on drugs is a terribly failed policy which has a cost that is too high for taxpayers, and our communities...Let's keep California on the right side of justice."
Number of people arrested for a marijuana law violation in 2008: 847,864.
Percent of Americans who favor the complete legalization of marijuana: 44%.
Percent of Americans who favor legalization of medical marijuana: 72%.
Number of states that allow the medicinal use of marijuana: 14.
Estimated annual revenue that California would raise if it taxed and regulated the sale of marijuana: $1,300,000,000.
"I don't get angry when my mom smokes pot..."
---Sublime, "What I Got"
NO DOPERS!| 10.23.10 @ 1:29AM
California's Pot Initiative is going down, stoner. Sorry.
David Williams| 10.21.10 @ 8:18AM
I used to worry, too, until medical research determined that red wine and dark chocolate is good for you. Just be patient Mr. Orlet, and send a case of Stag to the nearest research lab.
Old Soldier| 10.21.10 @ 9:06AM
Exactly! I was told my blood pressure was getting too high a few years ago. My solution - a glass of beer or wine on the nights I don't go to the gym. No more high blood pressure.
I'm too old and work too hard to drink cheap swill beers any more. Yuengling or the micros for me.
Paul D| 10.21.10 @ 5:20PM
Hey, I've been through all this with my doctors. Being overweight and eating sweets raises triglycerides worse than beer does. I don't drink beer anymore but have high triglycerides. My wife drinks beer everyday and has low triglycerides.
Its genetics. Just take lipitor.
Alan Brooks| 10.21.10 @ 11:07PM
Nah, lipitor probably is a communist plot- like fluoridation.
All Republicans should drink hard liquor, eat plenty of sweets, and avoid going to the doctor: the quack will only give you bad advice.
NO DOPERS!| 10.23.10 @ 1:32AM
Hittin' that LSD again, freakin' hippy?
Hope you have a lousy trip, libtard.
PJ| 10.21.10 @ 9:08AM
Chris,
As the Marine has stated, "Moderation."
It means no daily 1/2 keg of beer but maybe a 1/2 pint. It means no daily fatty red meat or fried food but maybe once every other week. It means 2 Double Stuff Oreo cookies /day not 2 packages. It also means any aerobic-like physical movement at least 1/2 hr/day, not just getting off your rump to change the TV channel.
MoeBlotz| 10.21.10 @ 9:26AM
Beer does not travel well and we did not have myriad imports from Germany back in the early twentieth century. Refrigeration would have been required to import large quantities of foreign beer and the technology simply did not exist. American breweries that were established in the 19th century used malted barley and whatever cereal grains were prevalent in the area where the brewery was located. In the midwest and east they used wheat or corn,in the south it was rice. Our agricultural system simply did not produce sufficient barley to convert into malt for brewing. Also,corn was indigenous to the USA and much cheaper. The microbrewery surge occurred in the 1980s and now some of those brewers have grown based on the old world flavour of their beers. Most notably Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams.
JP| 10.21.10 @ 11:11AM
Lager brewing didn't hit full swing until after 1850. But there were plenty of imports from Europe nonetheless. In the cities of Dortmund and Burton on Trent, brewers usually upped to alcohol content and hopping rate in order to perserve thier beers. For the English, this practice created an entirely new beer classification -the IPA. For the German brewers of Westphalia, they simply labled these very malty, very bitter, and highly alcoholic beers -Export Bier. Einbeck, an old Hanseatic city near Hanover, brewed a highly alcoholic, sweet and malty beer which became the forerunner of the Bock category. Einbeck brewers exported these beers to Russia, Italy, and even for a spell sent them to Palestine, and Turkey.
Patrick| 10.21.10 @ 2:01PM
Barley was slashed by both WWII and the economics of the 60's - 70's. Barley grows just fine in America, it just doesn't pay to grow it without the massive subsidies and price fixing of other grains.
As an aside, I'm not against ethanol. Heaven forbid! What I am against is government subsidized ethanol in the gas tank and an ethanol tax in the bottle!
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.21.10 @ 9:32AM
Chris,
I got not one, but several belly-laughs out of that.
Thank you.
I simply cannot prevent myself from dragging two old stories into this conversation.
1. Doctor:" You don't drink? You don't chase your wife around the house for exercise? You don't smoke? ...why do you care how long you will live?
2. Three old men sitting in rocking chairs on the veranda of a nursing home...asked the inevitable questions by the young reporter: "To what do you attribute your clear memory and long life?
First old man: "I'm 89 years old...never drank, smoked or chased fast women."
Second old man: Well I'm 79 and spry as can be. I didn't drink or chase fast women, but I did smoke like a chimney my whole life."
Third old man: "Idiots! You guys didn't have any fun at all! Heck, I enjoyed it all. I chased fast women till my tongue hung out, I drank till I couldn't walk most nights, and I'm fixin' to go have a smoke...right now."
"And how old are you Sir?" the reporter asked. "29 and proud I made it."
So Chris, its not the years...but the miles on the old speedometer. I've got a BUNCH, and the memory tapes of every mile.
Thanks for the article
Al Adab| 10.21.10 @ 12:17PM
Rode hard and put up wet as they say.
Good morning Ken.
Steve A| 10.21.10 @ 10:24AM
Correct me if I am wrong here, but was the first documented miracle in the New Testament when a young Christ was instructed by his Mom to turn the water into wine as they ran short at the wedding party?? Good enough for me. Cheers!
Petronius| 10.21.10 @ 10:51AM
The nectar of Pestalozi St. was corrupted for the duration before I was old enough to legally partake, and the Rhineheitsgebott has no force here, but Stag? G & W bratts aren't what they used to be either. The values of our world are indeed crumbling, but there's no sense in going down with it. Enjoy! I recommend the veal chop at Al's just north of Laclede's Landing.
JP| 10.21.10 @ 11:05AM
As a homebrewer I was surprised by this prohibition. If the author drinks with moderation, I seriously doubt that his cholesteral count will go down all that much. Both beer and red meat get bum raps. Stress brought on by poor diet (processed foods -esp those containing high fructose corn syryp, bleached flour, etc..), and lack of excercise usually do the damage. When I lived in Germany, a German farmer I knew worked from 5AM to sundown 7 days a week. He drank a bottle a wine with dinner, and drank either a litre of beer, hard apple cider, or 2-3 glasses of schnapps before bedtime. He lived until he was 83. He ate pork and red meat from his farm, as well as fresh veggies(he ate schnitzel or beef rouladen for dinner). His high intake of booze made no difference. It was his diet and excerise. Yet, experts here would label him either a
"problem drinker" or alcoholic.
Al Adab| 10.21.10 @ 11:16AM
Daily dose of barley water...
Preferably about 16 years old maybe Lagavulin.
John Navratil| 10.21.10 @ 12:16PM
Or Laphroig! It's drinkin' and smokin' at the same time.
Al Adab| 10.21.10 @ 12:38PM
Also a great choice. Smokey and rich.
Patrick| 10.21.10 @ 1:53PM
...this is the last thing I needed to read today...
I'm still in mourning.
You see, my bottle of Lagavulin just recently perished....
Not for want of savoring or using only on special occasions, but well, all good things come to an end...
*sniff* I'll just have to make due with Talisker 18yr until I go to the store.
Al Adab| 10.21.10 @ 1:57PM
Maybe save it for Nov. 2?
Tom of the Missouri| 10.21.10 @ 11:58AM
As a fellow St. Louisan and long time conservative fan of T.A.S., I very much enjoy your writing and your midwestern take on life and the conservative issues of the day, so I would miss you if you were gone. I also once received the same reports from my doc but easily solved the problem. How? Please google "Taubes GCBC" and read. It changed my life and the lives of many others and hopefully will yours too. The Doc is right btw about the beer - and the problem is the sugar. Whether your pasta is whole wheat or regular is irrelevant, for both also turn to sugar seconds after leaving your mouth. The good news though is that the red meat is not the source of your problem.
Doubts? Take it from another Missouri writer: "Gary Taubes’s GCBC is easily the most important book on diet and health to be published in the past one hundred years...... If Taubes were a scientist rather than a gifted, resourceful science journalist, he would deserve and receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine."
- Richard Rhodes, Pulitizer Prize winning writer from Missouri
Aftan Romanczak | 10.21.10 @ 12:00PM
Ive written a e-book on this very subject. "Who Moved My Cheesecake? A man's guide to avoid being dragged kicking and screaming into middle age.".
http://search.barnesandnoble.c.....296/?itm=1
Vern Crisler| 10.21.10 @ 12:47PM
When people are troubled, and sorrowful, and do not know what the future may bring, and spend each day enduring a dark night of the soul, and worrying what new sadness the world will bring, I tell them the answer to their problem is simple, booze.
When I tell this to people, it is as though the heavens have opened for them, and they saw a great light -- of some kind. From that day on they live lives of holiness, albeit not unmixed with a certain level of good cheer. I won't say what level, but it is noticeable.
This reminds me of a circumstance -- a couple of months ago I sat next to a guy on the plane to LA. He smelled like a beer factory, and was so pickled, you could've put him in a jar and preserved him for the holidays. From time to time, he displayed the odd trait of "commenting" to no one in particular, as if he had an imaginary companion he talked to.
What a very sad life, I thought to myself. . . . I mean, sad for me, inasmuch as I never get to meet any imaginary companions, no matter how much I try.
Perhaps I should try Stag, no?
Mike B| 10.21.10 @ 1:07PM
While in college(U of MO-Rolla) I worked for the Stag distributor in Cuba, MO.where I was indoctrinated to the pleasures of Stag Beer (AND-it was free in the warehouse, even better). That was 1973-74. To this day I drink Stag, especially at Top Shooters on RT 3N, Columbia IL. on Wednesdays---dollar draft day. My friends still redicule me for drinking it, but as I tell them, it's an American owned brew, let's hear them say that about those In-Bev products. BTW----here in St. Louis, Stag has often been referred to as Belleville Budweiser.
Margie| 10.21.10 @ 1:24PM
If you do want to lower the Try-gly's 'tis true: it's the carbs. Lower the carbohydrates and it'll take care of them.
Easier said than done, of course. Bread, pasta, beer et al. Like the poster said above~ they all turn to sugar in your bod.
Just sayin' that's the trick~ it isn't about the fat, but the carbos.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 10.21.10 @ 1:35PM
Three years ago this month I suffered a stroke the emergency room physician attributed to previously undetected, mostly because I had quit going to the doctor, raging type 2 diabetes, which had converted my blood to maple syrup. After talking to the hospital nutritionist, it quickly seemed obvious to me that a low-carbohydrate diet would be the best course of action. On this diet I have shed over 50 pounds and have maintained an A1C score under 6 for over a year. I also try to walk at least 40-60 minutes daily. A low-carb diet does not allow me to enjoy more than an occasional beer or wine. But whenever a door is shut, God opens another. My stroke took place in the heart of Kentucky Bourbon country, which was such an obvious clue that I naturally missed it until just now. The Boss picked up a carb counter which I consulted. I was happy to learn that beverages formed by the cooling condensations of vaporized beers or wines, contain zero or dang few carbohydrates. This is a natural byproduct of the distilling process. This means that I can pour 2 ounces of whatever bourbon I currently have opened into 8 ounces of Diet Coke and have a tasty night time treat. However, caution must be taken when mixing any spirit with other ingredients as many of those could contain carbs. While I have a preference for bourbon, I am more than willing to participate in the emptying of any bottles of its fine cousins from my ancestral homelands of Scotland and Ireland, or their counterparts of the rum family. The 4:1 ratio of diet coke to bourbon is not set in stone, though it is based on a popular bar cocktail called Jack and Coke. I fully ascribe to Uncle Nick’s advice that the only drink to swallow is whatever you please, and the only way to drink is often. Attending a bourbon tasting a few months ago, I was often asked which was my favorite. I answered “on the house”. Life is too short to play snob games about which is best, or the proper way to drink it, time much better spent enjoying your friends and families.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“What whiskey will not cure, there is no cure for.” - Irish proverb
Only 822 days to go
Patrick| 10.21.10 @ 1:47PM
Beer is not the sole beverage of the German diet. Germans are also quite fond of sekt (German champaign, though they drink more of the French stuff than anyone else in the world) and brandy.
Perhaps this is your body's wake-up call for a snifter this time.
Patrick| 10.21.10 @ 2:03PM
As for Milwaukee, the hipster beer is either Pabst or Red Stripe.
I think I'll prefer to be uncool in that respect.
bob alou| 10.21.10 @ 5:42PM
I can understand what you are saying because, having grown up in South St. Louis, I know that "Stag wets your whistle wetter, because Stag is extra dry. Stag is extra refreshing, and that's the reason why; More and more people are joining the Stag line. More extra dry Stag beer."
Matt| 10.21.10 @ 9:00PM
I had this same issue and was advised the same by my doctor. Throw it all out. Triglycerides are related to carbs period.
Here's how I reduced my triglycerides, blood pressure, decreased bad cholesterol and increased good cholesterol (to the shock of my doctor):
1. Paleo diet: only eat it if it's a plant or animal (except beans and potatoes). As much meat, as fatty as you want it and lots of eggs. Some people can tolerate dairy (cheese, milk), others cannot. For more info read "The Primal Blueprint" by Mark Sisson or visit MarksDailyApple.com to see lots of case studies, recipes, etc.
2. Fish oil: take 2-3 capsules a day, 1000 mg with food.
3. High intensity exercise. It's better to sprint than do long bouts of walking (the walking is good too though). Do 4-7 sprints as fast as you can for as long as you can with 2-4 minute breaks in between.
4. Beer and Carbs are OK in moderation, but try to go 2-3 weeks of pure paleo diet before adding them back, you'll probably find you don't like them that much. Try to do 80% paleo diet after that.
Guarantee this will work for you.
cave canem| 10.21.10 @ 11:52PM
Stag=Steak, Taters, and Gravy
It don't git much healthier than that.
Nobama| 10.22.10 @ 2:03AM
There are a lot of things you can do: Fish/Krill oil, grape extract, and what the heck, switch from beer to red wine, cut sugar and eat lean steak. Plant Sterols also help. If all this doesn't work for ya, take Lipitor and go back to whatever you want.
Friendly Advice| 10.23.10 @ 1:04AM
Mr Orlet I hope you give your doctor's advice an honest try. You will get a nice surprise next time you do the blood tests. You will feel fitter and stronger. You will be healthier for longer, and spend less time sick before you die. If you have something to live for then give it your best shot. At least you can say you tried. Don't be half hearted. If you have nothing to live for then that is different. But if there are people who love you here on Earth then Heaven can wait.
SoCon| 10.23.10 @ 1:49AM
"But if there are people who love you here on Earth then Heaven can wait." Sweet, wise and true.
Fred Z| 10.23.10 @ 9:58PM
I'm first generation from Germany and while I like (North) German beers, (Herforder, Bitburger, Veltins, DAB, Paderborner) I fear the best are from Belgium and France - Stella and Kronenbourg.
I do find that when my friends and I argue over the various beers we all find all properly made opposing arguments (samples!) quite convincing, at the time.
“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Benjamin Franklin, who also, and unfortunately said, “To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.”
Adult toys | 7.4.11 @ 3:42AM
three drunk friends made a bet whoever can make their wives scream the longest during sex win 1000.next day when they met.
first guy:I made love to my wife 2.5hours and she screaming for 1.5hours;
second guy:I licked my wife for 2hours and she was screaming whole time and even 1/2hour after I was done;
third guy:that’s nothing,I made love to my wife 10mins and I came twice,wipe my dick on the curtain and my wife still screming at me up to now!