Monday, March 31, 2008

Artificial Sweetners can make you Fat?

Funny thing... Researchers recently fed a steady diet of sugar substitutes to lab rats and discovered that the rats were hungrier and gained more weight than rats who ate 'regular' sugars. Why? It seems the artificial sweetners confuse the body--sweet tastes are evidently associated with calories consumed. If we eat something sweet that provides no calories, that association is 'broken' so our confused bodies seek more food. Likewise, since they didn't have the typical metabolic increase after eating a meal, they burned fewer calories. So just a thought for you as you reach for a "Diet" drink! See, it's not all boring economics here...!

Miscellaneous Ramblings

I PROMISE to do more wine tips and fun stuff soon-I just felt that the $ info on my economics blog was too important. Don't delete this one--take a second to read it as we are at a critical time for our industry. To tide you over for now, Spring = Riesling. You can always check out my wine blog for more tips!

"Who is John Galt?" All I can say is that I wish I could get to Galt's Gulch before Dagny gives up the ghost...

My website notes (with tongue firmly in cheek) that an attorney is a commodity. That is true to a degree, but just remember-choose wisely as you need a 'team player' that can/will make it happen for you (like a friend who stayed at work 'til 8pm last night to kick out a necessary refi for a good client/friend-kudos to them; that's what you're supposed to do!). Reward those who take care of you-if you're not getting service, forget who "they" tell you to use! Choose wisely!

What a difference a ___ makes! Why the fill-in-the-blank? Add the phrase "a few years" to that blank. Does March 13, 1993 ring a bell? Yep, that was "The Snowstorm of 1993". I was moving to ATL that day, but I wisely waited for the storm to pass. The other blank could be for "a few weeks" as March 7, I learned that I can still drive in snow. A 5.5 hour drive turned into 7 hours plus as we took a quick trip to KY and ended up driving into 8 inches of the white stuff! My home town of Owensboro was under a beautiful white blanket so we got to enjoy the scenery and promptly return to the sunny South!