When I first bought this domain name, I had plans of using it to chronicle my weight loss activities and practices. Well, I kind of took this blog off on a tangent, but I’m trying to bring it all back on track. I can’t decide whether to use my main page, www.SaneFitness.com , or this subdomain blog page. I am doing my best not to duplicate content on both pages, so please bear with me while I try to decide where I want to post everything.

I just read that a jury decided that Walgreen’s was 97 percent responsible for the death of an Arizona man who apparently died from a toxic interaction of the pain medicines, Methadone and Tramadol. The jury also said that the man’s doctor was 2 percent responsible, and the man himself was 1 percent responsible. The dead man’s family’s attorneys were successful in persuading the jury that Walgreen’s should have warned the doctor and the dead man that the drugs shouldn’t be used together because Walgreen’s employees should’ve received a computer warning of the interactions.

Personally, I think the doctor should be held more responsible, and that the family only sued Walgreen’s because they knew the store chain would probably be able to pay more in a lawsuit. I could be wrong, and I may be jumping to conclusions, but when did doctors lose responsibility for their actions?

It looks like there could be some E. coli contamination in some of their potato salad. Man, that really bothers me. I can kind of understand raw food like lettuce but when it comes to prepared food, there is just no excuse!

Oh speaking of raw food, the article also mentions recalled spinach contaminated by salmonella. Pretty soon, the only safe food to eat will be canned raviolis or something gross like that.

A few days ago, I posted about an FDA bulletin regarding Swanson Health products, and the government’s assertions that Swanson’s may be adding a prescription cholestrol lowering drug to some of their Red Yeast Rice products.

Well, someone from Swanson posted a reply, going on and on about how Swanson is committed to their customers, etc, etc. However, she did NOT address the allegations that the FDA made, nor did she mention/affirm/deny that they did or did not add lovastatin to their formulas. Her entire email threw up big red flags in my mind and made me even more concerned about the entire situation.

I want Swanson to come clean. If the FDA is correct, I want Swanson to admit it and move on. I don’t want any more dancing around the issue because that does nothing to resolve the issue and only causes more erosion in the entire industry.

Swanson Health, tell us what happened. The sooner, the better.

I was reading bulletins at the FDA site, and found a warning letter they issued to Swanson Health Products. Apparently, the FDA is asserting that Swanson is adding a cholestrol lowering drug to their Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosanol Complex products. Apparently, tests have found significant levels of lovastatin, a pharmaceutical drug used to treat patients with primary hypercholesterolemia and “traditional red yeast rice does not contain more than trace amounts of lovastatin, if any”.

If the FDA’s allegations are true, then I hope that they manage to close down Swanson and their web site. This whole thing just sickens me because some people are working to limit access to natural products by passing various laws, and companies like Swanson are only making it easier for them to make a case that supplements aren’t beneficial to consumers. It seems that Swanson Health products is playing right into the hands of those that want to deny us the right to choose whether or not to take supplements.

I had assumed that prosthetic medicine was a fairly recent development, but scientists are now saying that the Egyptians made a functional artificial toe. The toe seems to date from circa 1000 B.C. and is made of wood and leather. Another prosthetic toe is being examined and tested for functionality as well. Named the Greville Chester Great toe, it was acquired for the British Museum in 1881 and seems to be composed of a sort of papier maché, and possibly dates from 1295 to 664 B.C.

Castleberry is just one of the brand names that is part of the canned food recall in the U.S., as well as Canada. If you have ANY canned food in your home, please make sure to compare it to the recall list. Many of the items were manufactured under various names, so you can’t assume you’re safe if your cans do not say “Castleberry”. As a matter of fact, Castleberry’s is part of Bumble Bee Foods, their parent company.

The contamination extends to some pet foods as well, so please make sure to check everything in your home. All the products seem to have been available at major stores across the country, including Kroger and Piggily Wiggily. Officials said 16 out of 17 cans that have been tested have turned up positive for the bacterium that causes botulism, so this could have major health implications for all of North America.

My daughter forwarded me the link to this unusual story. A man noticed that the hay on his wagon caught fire, but instead of pulling over, he drove around five miles through the rural countryside because he wanted to find a home that had a hose he could use. He created a wake of burning piles of hay, but thankfully, there was no major damage. Local fire chief Ken Klotz said, “One guy saw him driving by and said he saw 30- foot flames coming out of the hay as he was going down the road.”

Seriously, why didn’t the guy just take a moment to think? I don’t know how common it is to have burning hay in a wagon, but maybe the guy should’ve considered different scenarios and what to do, before something like this happened. I guess he must’ve missed all the public service ads about what to do with a fire, but how does one get a hay wagon to “stop, drop and roll”?

I’m watching ‘American Inventor’ on NBC. The contestants go in front of a judges panel, show their inventions, and hope the judges deem them worthy enough to go on to the next round.

I believe in following your dreams, but some of these people need to wake up. I felt so sorry for the guy with the foam double hat contraption. It kind of looked like a foam rubber toilet seat on his head. They said that he had spent over $4700 to develop it. Why didn’t someone tell him how ridiculous it looked before he spent all the money?

I guess the healthy approach would be to find your passion, but ask someone you trust for an unbiased straight forward opinion.

Right now, it’s 112 F outside, at 6:30 pm, so my family and I are staying cool indoors. Personal fireworks are illegal in Arizona, so if you want to enjoy them, you go to one of the big shows. Still, some people always seem to manage to get hold of a pop bottle rocket or two, so I think we’re going to stay home because those noises really bother our dog.

I hope everyone stays cool and safe this holiday and God Bless America!