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One thing I'm really religious about is making sure my family has their yearly check-ups at the doctor. It was an easy habit to start with the kids, as there were so many required appointments after they were born. Before they were born, too, for that matter. Once we stopped being prompted to come in for regular vaccines and to check growth, I made a point of making appointments for them close to their birthdays. We are fortunate that we don't have to go to the doctor very often between their yearly visits, and also fortunate that we have such a good doctor. I hope that I am instilling in them a sense of responsibility for their own, health. I think it's an important lesson to learn as you get older - you are in charge of your body and you shouldn't wait for or expect someone else to do it for you. (sidenote: I am not including my hubby when I mention my kids - he is responsible for his own appointments and rather than nagging, I try to keep to occasional gentle reminders. He seems to do just fine without my interference, thankfully!)

So at my latest physical I had all the usuals, including bloodwork and my once-a-decade tetanus shot. (who knew?) I barely felt the needle piercing my skin, but my arm hurt like crazy for the rest of the week. Glad that's done with. Just two days later, I received a call from the doctor's office, asking me to come in for some results. They always say they'll call if there's anything unusual, but they never call, because there's never anything unusual! The lady on the phone assured me that it was nothing urgent, and in spite of my badgering her to tell me what it was about, she remained cryptic, as they are supposed to. She said I could wait a few days to come in...but still. I admit I was feeling kind of nervous, wondering what sort of strange conditions they may have unearthed in my blood that were presenting me no symptoms or concerns, that wasn't urgent, but still required follow-up. Me and my over-active imagination.

As I soon discovered, there was indeed nothing to worry about. Two issues had been flagged in my bloodwork, however. One, my good cholesterol was a little on the low side. The solution? Get exercising! I confess that I've been really slacking with my running this winter, so this is excellent incentive to lace up my runners and hit the road.

The second issue is that I have low levels of vitamin B12. I've been reading a lof about B12 lately and wondered if I should be taking a supplement. Turns out, I should be. There are very few good food sources of this vitamin (sorry, but I'm not about to start eating liver, which is incidentally the food with the highest source of B12 and also my most hated food. Ever.) You can also get B12 from other red meats, but I'm trying to cut that out of my diet, not eat more of it. So, a supplement it is. B12 deficiency gets more serious as we get older and can take a long time to become a serious problem, I understand, so it's important to have healthy levels of this vitamin as you get older. One early symptom can be tiredness and lack of energy. Hmmmm. Most people I know struggle with those! I'd assumed a lack of sleep and 3 children will do that to a person. And they will. I can get more sleep, but not much I can do about the kids - I'm keeping all 3! Apparently the vitamins work pretty much immediately, so the doctor said I should notice a boost in energy. I went for a run that evening, my first run in a long while, and I kid you not, I felt like I was flying! Self-fulfilling prophecy maybe? Possibly, but I'll take it!

So, I'm feeling fine today. I wrote this blog sitting on a comfy high-backed chair in the lobby of the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto, and on the train on the way back home, after a fun lunch date with my fabulous hubby. We ate at the brand new earls downtown where I bumped into a girl I used to waitress with at earls in Winnipeg - she now manages this location. I seriously bump into people everywhere! With this connection, I managed to score a spot on her "insiders list" for my hubby when he needs a last minute lunch reservation! Hope he appreciates it!

I've got Bon Jovi cranked on my ipod (what else), I'm sipping my tea, and I'm going to sit back and enjoy the train ride home.

The Beauty of Advertising...

I was driving through town with my kids yesterday, when, about 5 minutes from home, my 9 year old points at a Holiday Inn we were passing and said he wanted to stay the night there sometime. Odd, I thought - are my kids getting that desperate for a vacation that the local Holiday Inn looks appealing? I asked him why he wanted to stay there and he said it was because it advertised a pool on the sign. And I, ever the burster of bubbles, mentioned that the pool was probably really small, and not very nice, and therefore not a good place to go. But maybe they have a waterpark, Mom? Not likely, since it doesn't say anything about it on the sign. But he still wasn't totally convinced, thinking that the pool must be nice at a HOLIDAY Inn.

Which got me to thinking, once again, about just how misleading advertising can be, and how easy it is to be fooled by titles and descriptions. Now, I am not accusing the Holiday Inn of being misleading, because they're not. However, it's easy to see how a 9 year old boy, feeling like he could use a little holiday, could think what he thought when he read what he read. Shouldn't a Holiday Inn, by definition, have a fun pool? I actually did go to their website, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with their pool, it looks as average as just about every other hotel pool I've seen. I can think of better places to take a holiday...

This also got me thinking of how food advertising most definitely IS misleading at worst, and requires very diligent label-reading at best. Maybe you heard about the lady in California recently who was suing Nutella over their not-so-healthy chocolate spread? You've probably heard of buyer-beware, a very applicable term in this situation. There's the school of thought which basically says that if a product has to tell you how healthy it is, it probably isn't. Apples and broccoli don't come with labels, after all.

The following is a list of some of the more outrageous food advertising that I've seen or heard recently:
Kraft Dinner - Enriched with BOLD (is bold supposed to be healthy? how is a food enriched with bold anyway?)
Cheez Whiz - Adds Personality (since when does our food need personality? don't people have personality? and is cheez whiz really food?)
Coke - Pour Some Happiness/ Brings moms and families together (how does one pour happiness? can a family not be brought together by pouring something that doesn't have so many teaspoons of sugar, such as water?)
Ranch Dressing - No artificial flavors (so you're telling me that xanthan gum, polysorbate 60 and silicon dioxide, among others, are what, natural?)
Pop Tarts - Life should be sprinkled with happiness, frosted with possibilities and filled with fun....so you can feel good about sharing the fun of pop tarts with your kids (really...so that's the key to happiness!)
Froot Loops - fortified with 11 essential vitamins and minerals, low in fat, now provides fiber. (I'll keep this is mind the next time I'm craving something healthy)
Honey Nut Cheerios - according to the ads on TV, they just might prevent a heart attack! (good to know, isn't it?)
And, last but not least, make sure to get your money's worth at McDonalds! After all, their chicken nuggets are a symbol of JOY (the O is a nugget). (Don't get me started on this one!)

This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination, but isn't it easy to see how people might be fooled into thinking something is either healthy to eat or will bring them some sort of happiness if they eat it? Especially if that person is young or uneducated. Or maybe gullible. I am definitely not immune to these types of advertising, although I tend to make much more informed choices these days. (True story - as of about 12 years ago, I'd never had a filet of fish at McDonalds. It just never appealed to me. Then one day, while watching TV, an ad came on showing someone eating one, and I immediately was hungry for one and went out THAT HOUR and bought myself one.) This is actually embarrassing to admit, as I am usually not that easily influenced. But I just wanted you to know how easy it is to be sucked in to the beauty of advertising.

Can you think of any food advertising that is particularly misleading that I haven't mentioned?