Just Chill...

Reports are circulating that Coca-Cola is about to unveil a new type of soda – the super-chilled soda that is. According to the UK’s Mirror, “Coca-Cola has invented a bottle that chills on the inside when the top is twisted off.”

During the summer (and all year-round really) I love an ice-cold glass of diet soda. The problem comes when the ice melts and suddenly my flavorful soda tastes like water. It’s disgusting.

These new “super-chilled” sodas must be kept in special vending machines to regulate their temperatures. Once a consumer opens the soda, a mechanism inside the beverage creates ice out of the soda so the liquid is never diluted with water.

The line will begin its trial run in the UK first, and the first soda Coca-Cola will roll out will reportedly be a new drink called the Sprite Super Chilled.

I’ll keep you informed on any new developments but keep your eyes and your ears peeled.

Random Factoids for Your Viewing Pleasure*

The most serious outhouse related accident occurred in Gambit, Alabama in 2005. 14 people were injured, and 2 were killed.

Doctors are eight times more likely to suffer from severe depression than fireman.

Worldwide, cash is taken out of ATMs six hundred times every second.

Toy giant Mattel estimates that Barbie owners have staged over 10 billion Barbie and Ken weddings.

11 percent of food service workers don't wash their hands after using the restroom.

The average male's hair starts to grey at the age of 32.

Over half of the calories consumed worldwide come from rice.Bottled water costs 200 times as much as tap water per gallon.

The world record time for saying the alphabet backwards is 2.131 seconds. The previous record was 2.324 seconds.

86 percent of Americans say they hate opera.

Ronald Reagan was the first president with a website.

***courtest of Gullible.info

Fighting Not to be a Fall Fatty - Say That Three Times in a Row!

So yeah, summer’s almost over and that means goodbye to bathing suits and hello to thick winter jackets. Even those that despise the winter weather are likely to be free from the scantily clad days of summer. I know I sure am.

Every year around this time I notice my jeans getting a little tighter and my face looking a little fuller. I use the Fall season to enjoy all of the foods I wouldn’t dare consume during the summer – cream-based soups, tons of chocolate, steak – you get the point.

This Fall I’m determined to maintain a sleek figure and not go on an all-out food binge. Plus, my 25th birthday is coming up in October and I want to look good. Here are some very sensible tips I found. I’m going to try and incorporate them into my daily routine. For those of you also looking to maintain your figure, I hope these tips help you as well.


Make sure you eat a good breakfast. It keeps your energy levels stable and keeps your metabolism high.

Fill your plate with veggies and eat them first. If you split your plate into 4 sections two of them, or half the plate, should be veggies. That leaves 1/4 for a meat item and 1/4 for a starch.

Remove liquids with calories from your diet plan. This includes soda's and juices. Switching from regular soda to diet soda saves you 150 calories from a 12 ounce can. That's 54,750 calories a year or almost 16 pounds.

Switch from whole milk to 1 percent or skim milk.

Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day.

If you're feeling hungry have a glass of water first. Often we think we are hungry when in reality we are thirsty. Even if it is true hunger the water will fill you up a little and you'll be less likely to overeat.

Have a healthy snack at 3PM when your energy is low. Vegetables with low-calorie dip, rice cakes and sugar-free jam, low fat yogurt or a small handful of almonds are all good choices.

Keep your portions reasonable. Portions should be the size of your fist or the size of a deck of cards. Stay away from "supersize" portions

Eat at a slower pace. It can take 15 minutes for our brains to register that we are full so if you're eating fast you're probably eating too much.

Eat more soup. They are filling and good for you. Stick with the non-cream soups that are low in calories and often high in fiber.

Eat every 3 hours to keep your metabolism high, hunger at bay and your blood sugar levels stable.

Use low calories condiments like mustard instead of fatty ones like mayonnaise.

Keep a food journal, especially if you're just starting to diet. There are lots of them available online. CaloriesCount.com has a great food diary.

If you're eating out get a doggie bag and put half your meal into it for later or even better for someone else. A typical meal out will have 1000+ calories, not including bread, appetizers, drinks etc.

When eating out skip the dessert. If you simply have to have that triple fudge chocolate layer cake share it with someone.

Treat yourself once a week. Even the strongest of us have weak moments. If you know that you'll get a break once a week it's much easier to stick with your diet for the other 6 days.

Exercise regularly. Even if you just walk 20-30 minutes a day the benefits are amazing. You'll lose not just from the calories you burn during exercise, but also from the boost in metabolism.

Find an exercise partner. It helps to know that someone is counting on you to show up at the gym. And it makes it more like an appointment and thus harder to skip out on.

Limit the amount of alcohol you drink. Try to drink only on weekends and limit yourself to one or two glasses.

Big Boy and Big Girl Things

It has begun – my friends are starting to do “big boy and big girl things” like getting married and gasp, having babies!!! I’m not ready for this people. I still feel like I’m a little 18-year-old packing up all of her stuff from home and heading to college.

Today I head back home to Houston to attend one of my best friends from high school’s baby shower. She’s 23 and she’s about to have a child and incredibly excited about it. I know she will make an incredibly mother because she is by far, one of the most loving and kind people I’ve ever met.

However, this whole situation still freaks me out. I can’t even keep a plant alive and my friends are having babies!! What is this world coming to?

I don’t have a serious boyfriend, nor do I have any desire to have one at the moment, so getting married is nowhere in my immediate future – thank goodness. It seems like some of the people I hang out with actually attend social functions for the sole reason to “meet their mate.” Come on people. If you find love at the right time, no matter the age, I say go for it. However, desperately seeking it out isn’t going to get you anywhere. Is this odd social game more frequent in the South? Probably but that doesn’t make it any more excusable.

I suppose in the race of life, I’m just on a different track but that suits me just fine, thank you very much.

Leading Scientists Reaffirm Safety of Aspartame

An international expert panel recently completed a review of more than 500 studies on aspartame and concluded, “Aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption, which remain well below ADI [acceptable daily intake] levels…No credibly evidence was found that aspartame is carcinogenic, neurotoxic or has nay other adverse effects when consumed even at levels many times the established ADI levels.”

Okay, so what does this mean to the average consumer? Basically, seven experts from around the globe looked at almost every study out there on aspartame. The experts are considered the best of the best in their fields - toxicology, epidemiology, neurotoxicity, etc. These people know their stuff.

After examining all of these studies the researchers concluded, independently, that aspartame is safe. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this is the most comprehensive review ever done on the low-calorie sweetener.

"There have been continued questions in the media and on the Internet about the safety of aspartame," said panel member and University of Maryland food and nutrition professor Bernadene Magnuson. "Our study is a very comprehensive review of all of the research that’s been done on aspartame. Never before has a group with the breadth of experience of this panel looked at this question."

I hope this will put any fears people have about this food ingredient to rest. If you want to read the press release about the review, issued by the University of Maryland, it’s available here: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/533245/?sc=rsmn.

FridgePack, CoolMate, Fridgemate

A couple of days ago I mentioned Fridge Packs in a post about rediscovering Fresca. I can hardly remember a time without these handy devices and wanted to know more about how they came to be omnipresent in household refrigerators. Luckily, Alcoa provides a cool history of the packaging on their web site. Is this the best invention in soda since the pull tab can?

Fridge Vendor: A cool idea that’s paying off

Too Much Time on Their Hands or Totally Awesome?

By now most people that read my blog have heard about the Diet Coke/Mentos experiment. It’s actually become somewhat of an obsession of mine to find the best display of this experiment and you know what, I think I’ve found it.

In this video, two men use 523 Mentos and 101 bottles of Diet Coke to create the largest, most impressive fountain of Diet Coke I’ve ever seen. Plus, it’s paired with some pretty cool music.

Enjoy!