Coffee and grub

[Silver Creek Slim]

I'm taking tomorow off, not sure what I am going to do yet. Maybe play in the mud puddles with the girls. 

Slim

I have a great mental image of you and the girls doing that. It brings a smile, I hope you get to do it... will it be with barefeet?



AnnieLee

That might be a bit chilly since the water is from the melting snow. It is supposed to get into the low 40's tomorrow.

Slim

EEEEEEEEEEEEKK!!!!!

Okie, galloshes might be in order for the day.



AnnieLee

I agree. 

Slim

[Delmonico]

Wimps!

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

While I was away, look at what decided to open up! Aren't they gorgeous? Can you guess what kind of orchid they are?

< So happy to be home>

AnnieLee

[Silver Creek Slim]

Kewl!

Slim

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

Kewl!

Slim

Aw, you didn't guess, Slim! Think about it. They're orchids I've wanted for a while, because I relate to them.



Annie< Dropping a hint > Lee

[Silver Creek Slim]

Kewl!

Slim

Aw, you didn't guess, Slim! Think about it. They're orchids I've wanted for a while, because I relate to them.



Annie< Dropping a hint > Lee

I know nothing about Orchids. 

Slim

[Forty Rod]

Nun blossoms?

Why doesn't beer change color when it goes through you?

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

The common name for the Phaius tankervilleaeis Nun's Orchid.

What's your prize for getting it right, Forty?



AnnieLee

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Careful, Annie, that question's loaded .............Buck

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

I know, Buck, but I just gave him a little help on the Firebirds, so we'll see what he does, eh?




AnnieLee

[Delmonico]

Twas a show on orchid folks on PBS the other night, ended up watchin' it while eatin supper and finished watchin' the whole show.  Dem orchid folks are crazy, this guy had been kidnapeed and held for ransom for months.

What does the dummy do, but go right back to a differnt jungle, his guides was trying to figger him out.  Heck they would a cut him up and fried him in Elle ig given the chace, and all so he could find an undiscovered specis to name after his Grandma.  My granny would a whopped me with a skillet fer being so stupid.

[Trinity]

...
Why doesn't beer change color when it goes through you?

You just don't drink enough, Forty.  It turns clear on me!   .......And NO, it aint because I drink "lite" American beers.   

[Forty Rod]

Something made out of blackberries, Annie.

Beer don't change color because there ain't no fundamental change from one end to the other. (Nasty stuff.)

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

If a body is functioning properly and has all the water it needs, urine will be clear. It's supposed to be clear! Most healthy people have coloured urine because they take vitamin/mineral supplements and don't drink enough water. The excess vities/mins are peed out. We should be drinking 2-3 quarts of water a day.

This mini-lecture has been brought to you by the American Water Council*



AnnieLee

*No, I don't know if any such body exists. 

[Forty Rod]

Body?  Body?

You need help gettin' rid of a body, Annie, you just let me know.

I know this feller has a dog food factory, an'...well, you can guess.

BTW, he knew Jimmy Hoffa personally, so to speak.

[Delmonico]

Does coffee count?  If you drink that much water the fire dept. will offer you a job. 

Brought to you by the guy who was glad thing were drinking so much beer the day they caught the alfalfa field on fire.  but if they were not drinking so much beer they might not have caught it on fire.  Anyway it's hard to put out a fire when you are laughing so hard.

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

I've got a chain saw, shovel and land, Forty, but thanks for the offer!

Del, you know coffee dehydrates you, so it doesn't count!
Silly man....

AnnieLee, did she mention that it's good to be home?

[Trinity]

But Miss Annie... the main ingredient in the beverage Coffee is water!  I used to have a link to the Harvard Health School where some doctors argued that while indeed coffee is a diuretic, you could still claim some of its water as your daily intake. (I printed it out and took it to work to share with the legions of water bottle toting better-than-thous)

Anyway, while searching for that website, I found another that I found interesting!  I know we were talking about this, but just can't remember which thread it was on (Heck, it could have been in my real life that I was talking about this, but it is still intersting and still applies here  )

POOP:

Frequency. In Western societies, people generally defecate two or three times a day, but it's an individual matter. All the advice about the importance of regular bowel movements notwithstanding, some people defecate just once a week and are perfectly healthy. Constipation isn't defined by the frequency of bowel movements, but by whether someone has difficulty when they have one.

The urge to defecate is often strongest in the morning: Just getting up triggers the movement of the large intestine. The stomach also sends a signal when it expands after a meal. This gastrocolic reflex is the reason many people, and especially children, need to go to the bathroom soon after eating. The reflex gets weaker with age, which is one source of constipation problems.

Levitt says in his book that it's a good idea to delay defecation a little whenever possible because a more intense urge makes it easier to start a bowel movement. He also advises against forcing a bowel movement.

Color. Feces are normally brown because of pigments formed by bacteria acting on the bile that comes into the digestive system from the liver. Bleeding from the esophagus, stomach, or small intestine produces black, tarry stool called melena that has a very bad odor. Large bleeds from the large intestine cause the red color you'd expect from blood; small ones from anywhere in the gut are invisible. Liver problems, such as jaundice or a blockage of the bile duct that connects the liver to the small intestine, may result in acholic (which means without bile) stool that is white or pale.

In many cases, however, changes in the color of feces are completely harmless. Darkly pigmented foods like blueberries and beets can change the color. Iron pills and the bismuth in Pepto-Bismol darken stool. The contrast agents in imaging studies lighten it.

Fat content. Normal stool is about 1% fat. Passing stool that is 7% fat is called steatorrhea. The feces are soft, unusually smelly, and stick to the side of the toilet bowl. Steatorrhea is a sign that the digestive system isn't breaking down or absorbing fat as well as it should. There might be a problem with your pancreas, which produces enzymes that break down fat, or the small intestine, which absorbs fat. High-fat meals may also cause brief bouts of steatorrhea.

Consistency. Feces are normally about 75% water. If they contain too much water, they're soft; if they contain too little, they're hard. Soft feces can lead to incontinence and passive soiling. Hard feces can cause constipation.

Removing water is one of the major functions of the large intestine. A healthy large intestine takes 11/2 quarts of mushy material from the small intestine and turns it into a cup or so of semisolid feces. But if that material goes through the large intestine too fast, it stays watery and the stool is soft. If the so-called colonic transit time is slow, the material dries out and the stool is hard. One reason older people are often troubled by constipation is that movements of the large intestine tend to slow down with age, so colonic transit times get longer. Many medications and less physical activity cause intestinal sluggishness, too.

Fiber intake also influences stool consistency because it tends to hold on to water as it passes through the large intestine. Diets high in fiber from fruit, vegetables, and whole grains have a multitude of health benefits. But if you're bothered by soft-stool problems you might consider cutting back a little.

Fiber does add bulk to feces, but it's soft bulk (because of the water) and that's why it can help people with mild constipation. Dr. Levitt cautions that fiber is really a very mild laxative. For someone with a serious problem with constipation, he says "the large intestine will laugh at these puny efforts [of fiber] to make it contract while all the time permitting gas to build up inside."

Conditions that cause water and salt to flow into, rather than out of, the intestines are another cause of soft stool and diarrhea. Any number of infections can cause this wrong-way flow of fluid into the intestines.

Odor. The normal unpleasant scent of feces comes primarily from sulfur compounds produced by certain types of bacteria in the colon. Foods that are naturally high in sulfur — such as cabbage, broccoli, and other cruciferous vegetables and some types of protein — can lead to high-sulfur, and therefore, strong-smelling, feces. Sulfur compounds are also added to foods like beer and bread as preservatives. Even without a major dietary source, some people produce sulfur-rich stool because their large intestines are heavily colonized by bacteria that generate sulfur compounds.

THIS mini-lecture has been brought to you by the

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

I have a vision of Del taking that article, blowing it up, printing it out, and placing it on his wall as

THE HOMAGE TO POOP.

Annie <won't discuss the benefits of eating pineapple in a context like this>Lee

[Trinity]

I love Pineapple, Miss AnnieLee.  What does it do to you??  I'm ignunt.