…or drink no wine at all, especially if you’re a woman with any breast cancer risk factors. That seems to be the gist of the latest health advice in relation to cancer and heart disease.
Meat: The World Cancer Research Fund report, to be released later this week, reviews all available science relating to cancer prevention. The results are no surprise and are pretty unequivocal - consumption of red meat is implicated in development of bowel cancer, which is the most common cancer to affect both men and woman in Australia (and the second most common, after prostate cancer).
Wine: The recommended red wine isn’t going to come cheap for Australians: “Many of the big-brand Aussies, while overly rich in alcohol, are generally poor for polyphenols - though some of their cabernet sauvignon-based wines are better.” Polyphenols are the compounds found in some red wines which might inhibit the development of cancers. So Australians with angina/heart disease or who are serious about reducing their possibility of developing same might be shelling out more for the good French (or Argentinian) stuff.
While the nation wonders how it is going to survive another four weeks of election campaigning, Sydneysiders are focusing on more important issues such as Clover Moore’s Small Bar bill. As previously discussed on LP, the aim of the bill is to overturn NSW’s archaic licensing regulations.
There is some good news. Firstly the coalition, with some provisions, will support the bill. Secondly Alison Megarrity, the Labor member for Menai, has told caucus that they risk being seen as stooges of the AHA if they oppose or make concession in regards to the Small Bars bill. Thirdly the SMH ran an op-ed today by the AHA president John Thorpe that confirms he is an out of touch dinosaur who thinks Bob Askin is still premier.
Continue reading ‘AHA starting to lose the battle against small bars’
Sophie says: “If you are going to take your clothes off for something, it better be a good cause”.
I think most blokes will think Sophie getting naked is enough of a good cause in itself.
The above quote comes from The Sun’s, err, thoughtful article about Sophie Monk’s decision to get her kit off in the interests of promoting animal rights. Being naked and promoting a political cause makes so much sense, doesn’t it? It’d be interesting to see The Sun’s reaction if Ms Monk’s non-meat eating boyfriend dropped his duds (after all he’s a rock star or something) for the same cause. It’d probably go something like this:
I think most blokes will think Benji getting naked is enough to put them off a bloody good steak.
Of course, The Sun is The Sun, but what justification does PETA have for resorting to such images?
Ugly, ain’t they?
When I am paying damn good money for something hot and wet, in a cafe which has 15 different ways that one can have one’s coffee, you better believe that I expect you to make up a pot of tea using loose leaves, not just a teabag. You are not a greasy spoon diner, mmkay?
Continue reading ‘Anathema on lazy cafes’
Let’s get this straight; Beth Ditto is a deadset legend for not buying the bull that to be a successful singing chick (meant in a reclaiming the language kind of way), you have to be skinnier than a model with a smack habit. Let’s get this straight; Beth Ditto is a bloody superstar for not believing all those hideous magazine articles that tell women they’re unclean and ugly if certain sections of their bodies aren’t waxed into a state of prepubescence. Nevertheless, what was The Age thinking on the weekend when it ended the first paragraph of an article about Ms Ditto with a kind of “that’s so cool” support for the self-harming habit of overeating?
Not everyone recognises Beth Ditto’s name straight off, but they know exactly who you mean when you say, “You know, the fat rock star”. There are so few women in rock and even fewer - i.e. none, apart from Ditto - who are anything other than whip-thin that she stands right out, even if all you have seen of her band the Gossip is the poster for Standing in the Way of Control, its last album. There’s Ditto, with her big round arms raised to form a letterbox across her face and her black-rimmed eyes peeping through. No track marks on this punk rocker’s arms, just the dimpling left by too many doughnuts. How great is that?
Back by popular request - So, since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
That kinda sums up how I felt at the end of it all!
Continue reading ‘Lazy Sunday’
Some time ago I wrote, and had published, a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald in response to reports, in connection with the death of Dianne Brimble, that P&O had run an overtly sexist advertising campaign for its cruises designed to attract male passengers of similar character and sexual politics to those regarded as “persons of interest” in relation to Ms. Brimble’s death. The letter urged people to boycott companies which engaged in such crassly sexist advertising campaigns, and that such firms be blacklisted from government purchasing and procurement.
Now, our most Christian of Federal Treasurers is steering a Bill through Parliament which would give the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission the power to sue the ring off me if ever I have the temerity to write similar letters in future.
David Marr reports and comments on the Bill in today’s SMH. The Bill enables the ACCC to sue individuals and organisations who advocate or engage in secondary boycotts of companies for any reason which is not “substantially related” to environmental protection or consumer protection, for damages up to the full value of any loss which the company might incur as a result of the boycott.
Continue reading ‘So sue me’
Earlier this year I posted on the topic of the right and wrong ways to proselytise for vegetarianism. Yesterday, at the Brisbane Exhibition (aka the Ekka) I discovered that the Australian Chicken Meat Federation had - no doubt inadvertantly - hit upon the most sublime vego promotion technique yet devised.
One of the most popular displays at the Ekka is the animal nursery, in which people can see, mingle with and feed baby farm animals and birds. One enclosure holds a flock of infant and juvenile chickens, including a raised semi-enclosed platform on which newly hatched chicks dwell and eat, observed by hordes of adoring children and their parents. And posted directly above the infant chicken enclosure is an Australian Chicken Meat Federation poster on the nutritional merits of eating chicken.
Sheer genius! Does anyone know whether a Ms. Eliza Twaddell is working for the public relations department of the ACMF?
Having achieved “huge success” in Victoria last year, SPC Ardmona’s Collect-A-Tub program has gone national through Coles and BiLo. When you buy certain Goulburn Valley “fruit snacks” in a plastic tub, you get points for your school, which can eventually be redeemed for “sporting goods“. High-scoring schools will be “rewarded” with visits from athletes while the highest scoring wins the Flying Fruit Fly Circus.
Sounds all very admirable, active and healthy and no doubt it speaks to the national anxiety about food, exercise and childhood obesity, but as a parent my critical antennae went up when I first saw these collect-a-tub ads on TV. Continue reading ‘Fruit, glorious fruit’
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