Veggies Shrink the Brain???

Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.

Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.

The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.

When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.

Brain scans of more than 1,800 people found that people who downed 14 drinks or more a week had 1.6% more brain shrinkage than teetotallers. Women in their seventies were the most at risk.

Beer does less damage than wine according to a study in Alcohol and Alcoholism.

Researchers found that the hippocampus-the part of the brain that stores memories - was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine.

And being overweight or obese is linked to brain loss, Swedish researchers discovered. Scans of around 300 women found that those with brain shrink had an average body mass index of 27 And for every one point increase in their BMI the loss rose by 13 to 16%.

Sleeping Awake

I look... like a trainwreck every day because I can't seem to sleep right.

I"ve been waking up every night around 3:30 or 4:00 and want to cry, but admit defeat, walk to the kitchen, consume about 40 ounces of water, and then climb back in bed, easily drifting back to sleep three minutes later. I asked my acupuncturist about this and she mentioned that the hours of 3:00 to 5:00am are ruled by the lungs - which govern feelings of grief. Makes sense.


Despite the short wake-up in the middle of the night, it still appears I am not sleeping soundly or fully. We're talking, giant bags under the eyes - and don't be surprised if I leave my hair exactly as I slept on it, and barely brush out the ends from sheer exhaustion of not wanting to get up a mere 20 minutes earlier to shower.

I'm not sure if my sleep is punishing me because true to form, I have had a lot going on lately, and I haven't so much taken the time to stress out during the day, or this is just some sick and twisted part in getting older and I just need to grow up and accept it.

Enter all of my extremely lucid dreams about all the small things that I should be worrying about the next day. For example - my alarm went off this morning around eight and I dreamt I picked up the phone and looked at the time: 8:49am.

"Great, I'm late. Oh wait, I'm too tired to care."

Then I reasoned with myself -- nooo... it can only be five after eight at the latest. I checked my phone: 8:06.

That's one of 50 things. You can also add to that really violent dreams. Something about going to stay at a bed and breakfast in Seattle, not getting the room we requested, running into a friend that was horribly mean to me and sent me home crying. Then another with blood and murder and all the other fun stuff.

Has anyone ever gone through this? I'm not so much surprised at the violence making an appearance, but the real-life sleep-awake stuff is really creeping me out and I really don't want to look like i'm 57 every morning.

Please Vote for Team Hoyt!

It's the competition of the toughest athlete -- and down from 32 athletes, Team Hoyt is up against Lack Mackey - both awesome!!!! I'm posting this to see if you can help with bringing Team Hoyt out front!!!

I'm sure you've heard of them - a father/son team who competes regularly in the Boston Marathon, as well as Triathalons. Rick has cerebal palsey and is in a wheelchair. His father swims, bikes, pushes him the whole way - and together they are an AMAZING power house. If you haven't seen them in action, HERE is a short clip (you may cry... I always do):

To vote for Team Hoyt, please GO HERE and VOTE! Voting ends September 15th (Monday). Thanks for your support!!! Sami xoxoxoxo

Augosto Over

Praise every god imaginable.

It's been awhile since writing, because my August was bustled in with a bang and ended with an even more catastrophic event.

I've kept telling myself that the only thing that really makes me cry anymore are boys. Boy was that an understatement.

After having to deal with two major men from my past in one month, i have effectively cleaned out my closet of ex boyfriends. One isn't worth dwelling on because, well... why beat a dead horse?

The other, was scarily persistent - and even though my will to eject him from my life has been stronger than his will to stay - I never saw an end in sight.

Enter a protection order and a change of phone number.
Life is good again. Things are finally done and i left all the past 3-5 years in August.

I guess the biggest lesson out of all of that was that all of my life, i've always waited for people to give me closure. I have to figure out the desperate, "Why?" "Answer this?" "Analyze that?" I NEED TO KNOW... and now, it's clear that i've been the one in charge all along.

Tough to grasp, because closure is scary when flooded with that what ifs. But, what if you just keep on running a cycle that limits you from really moving on to a better version of yourself?

That being said, a close friend of mine decided to give himself some closure of his own.

Two Sundays ago, I was out shopping for some boots in the heart of the DNC when I got a call that collapsed me to the bottom of the junior sales rack. My most favorite Christopher, a "brother," someone i've grown up with since the age of five and have especially grown closer with in my four years here in Denver had taken his own life.

I can't even begin to wrap my head around this - because I've been in the midst of someone (now divided by the restraining order, mind you) who threatens suicide at the drop of a dime to try and bring me back into save him. It's been a fresh topic for the last three years, and then it becomes reality with someone I truly love and admire...

Christopher was positive. He always lightened the mood. He has coined a number of my nicknames and my favorite sayings that make me laugh from the bottom of my toes. He always came over with his super-smart electrician knowledge to make my home better looking and more efficient. He stole me away in his jeep cherokee to participate in haunted houses. We'd drive home to Sodak together to drop anchor and listen to Tool, Perfect Circle and other Chris music along the way, then talk about philosophical shit that you can only talk about on long drives. Every Sunday, we'd hit a Mexican DRIVETHRU for disgusting, gut-bomb burritos (his ONLY day off during the week) and feel sick after eating half. Chris always ate two, then we'd jump back into his jeep and go play pool, go on a movie date or ride the alpine slides up in Golden. The list goes on and on, but he always, always was a good friend, and always took care of me.

His best friend, and my brother Oakley said it best that there are just too many memories of him to just pick one. It's the overall sense of who he was and now it's gone. Being home and around our 'crew' was more theraputic than any where else I could have chosen to be - but man, I miss that kid.

One of his friends said it well at his memorial - "He fooled us all. He got us all together."

Cliche, but it makes you look at life differently. There's just no room for the trivial bullshit anymore. And with all of the questions this has provoked within me about god and heaven and all that other bullshit debated over years and years against science, all i can hope is that he is OK and happy and around all of us who loved him all of the time...

On that note - Chris was not only the kind of guy to go out of his way to help you, even if he couldn't really afford to - but a STELLAR musician.

Most girls in high school wanted to be my friend not because of me, but because I was in the little clique revolving around Amnesia - "the greatest alternative band of all time" during our formative high school years. :) I know all of those videos/audios/etc. are still being rounded up - but I do have this video, taped in the house I grew up in --- I had just driven home from college and brought a friend along. No offense, J, but Chris makes you look like a total tool :)

Circa 2004: (Chris is the one tearin' it up :))