Organic healthy eating on $7 a day

As a college student I have a lot of trouble eating healthy. I tend to go for what's fast and/or what's cheap. I have weeks where I go on a MSG trip and eat nothing but Top Ramen Cup-O-Noodles. But I really DO want to eat healthy, as I'm sure all of us do (unless you're one of those people who can't live without a McDonald's quarter-pounder every other day.)
So, I came upon this article from MSN Health & Fitness that set me on the right track as far as shopping goes.
You may have to cut down on your meat intake, but nuts are a yummy and healthy substitute. See the recipe I posted below.

Follow-up on anal bleaching

I finally found an article about the health risks of anal bleaching. Apparently the anus isn't the only area of skin that people bleach. According to the article all skin-bleaching creams have been targeted by The Food and Drug Administration(FDA) for a proposed ban.

As stated in the article most of the creams contain a drug called hydroquinone, which is a possible carcinogen. The drug has also been linked to a skin-disfiguring condition.

All health risks aside I think the biggest reason not to bleach your skin/anus is:

Spanking follow-up Poll

To spank or not to spank?

I read an article at MSN.com today about the parenting debate over whether or not you should spank your children. I'm not a parent, but I always find parenting articles interesting because it teaches us basic principles of psychology.
I wasn't spanked until I was ten years old, and as you can imagine it wasn't very effective. I thought my dad was kidding, and when he bent me over his knee I laughed uncontrollably during the whole procedure. My dad got fed up and went to complain to my mom that I wasn't taking it seriously. Sorry dad, but what did you expect?
I'm pretty sure I won't spank my kids either (I don't even hit pets to reprimand them), but I can see how it could be difficult not to at times, when you feel like you are "losing control" as was stated in the article.
Parenting has to be tough. I'm certainly not ready to have a go at it any time soon.

Anal Bleaching?!!??!?

Podcast #1
Gabcast! Healthy Student #1

Yummy Spinach Pesto

Here's a recipe paraphrased from "The Abs Diet 6-Minute Meals for 6-Pack Abs: 101 Great Tasting Recipes for Every Occasion" published by Men's Health Magazine.

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 crushed clove of garlic
1 cup torn baby spinach leaves
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the walnuts in the olive oil for 4 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over whole wheat or spelt fettucini noodles.
Serves Two.

Life could change in an instant

In October of 2006 The Daily Evergreen published a story about a WSU student who had contracted meningococcal meningitis. The disease was contracted after the student had spent the night partying at a fraternity on campus, said his roommate Daniel Mistak.
Mistak said he returned home from a weekend trip to find his roommate vomiting all over the house. "I thought he had the flu and I couldn't afford to catch it from him so I stayed the night at my friend's house and told our other roommate to check on him every few hours," Mistak said. "I called [our roommate] that night and he hadn't checked on him in six hours. When he went down to check he said 'we have to get him to the hospital right now.'"
Mistak said when he got to the house his roommate had bloodshot veins all up his legs and could not speak.
In the follow-up story published by The Daily Evergreen it was reported that the student was in "satisfactory condition" and would be discharged soon. However The Daily Evergreen painted an overly rosy picture as Mistak said his roommate was forced to drop his enrollment at Washington State University as he lost all vision and was at risk for leg amputation. Mistak said his roommate is back at home in Spokane and will not be attending school for the spring semester, but he has recently been able to see blurred shadows of movement within his field of vision.

Bodies in our bodies

I visited Bodies: The Exhibition with my mom in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. Although the price was extremely high for my student budget ($26.50 or $32.50 with audio tour) I found it to be completely worth the price of admission. I originally heard about the exhibit from my brother who had visited it the week prior, and between him, my mom and myself we all had the same outstanding impression.
I've always been a pro-choice enthusiast, but after going through the reproductive segment of the exhibit we all realized that by the time a fetus is in it's 7th week of development it has all the parts required to look like a baby. It has all of the organs needed for life, it has all of it's limbs and it has a face with available expression.
I was always taught in school that if you are planning to have an abortion it is safe and humane to have it done up to the 3 month mark. When my mom saw the fetus displays in their various stages of development, she told me the story of when she accidentally got pregnant with my second oldest brother, Kyle. She had an IUD implanted at the time, so as compensation for it not working the health professional told her she could have an abortion. She was ten weeks along when they gave her this option. She decided to keep the fetus and now after seeing the Bodies exhibit she can put a face on the decision she made 31 years ago. And after seeing the exhibit I think I have changed the way I would have decided the matter, or possibly will in the future.