Product Review: Roomba 500 series

I am a lazy guy, if there's something that can help me to clean less, I'm all ears. I have owned 4 roomba since 2002. The first 3 were killed by my dogs fur, the only survivor is my 2 year old Roomba 500 series. If you have pets, don't get anything lower than a 500 series, the older generation were not designed to handle fur.

One of the down side of being allergic to dust is that I must clean often, especially we have carpet. Let me tell you this, the Roomba WILL NOT replace regular vacuuming, you will still need to use your upright. However, the Roomba will reduce your vacuuming frequency. With 2 dogs in the house, I run the Roomba once a day, it learned my 2300 sqft home terrain and not miss a spot. Very impressive. I get a full bucket load EVERY DAY. Clean up is not bad either. With the addition of the Roomba, my house is able to cut down to Vacuuming only once a week with our Dyson. Not bad at all.

Here's a video of my Roomba in action, also my dogs are featured.

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Bread Recipe

If you are concerned about preservatives or just love the smell of fresh bread baking here is a recipe for you. I use a bread machine and it makes a medium/small loaf.  Depending on your bread machine you may be able to double the recipe, but I would suggest making it the way it is first to make sure your machine is going to be large enough.

2/3cup applesauce

1 cup almond milk (I use almond breeze the original, and I have used soy milk and its turned out great. I suspect it would be fine with regular milk too)

2.5 cups whole wheat flour

1tsp cinnamon

2tbsp brown sugar

1tsp salt

1tbs Earth Balance (smart balance or what ever healthy butter substitute you use will suffice)

1.5 tsp dry yeast

Optional- Apple chunks.  I will take half an apple or one apple depending on the apple's size and dice and put in bread machine with all the other ingredients.

machine note-Dump all the ingredients in, I never worry about what goes in first and start the machine on its regular mode.  I would NOT suggest using this one on a delayed timer or rapid cycle.


photo credit: nessguide

Do you really know how to peel a Banana?

I thought I always knew how to, it's interesting how we - the superior ones need to learn how to eat bananas from the monkeys :)

Product Review: 3M Filtrete

If you have allergies, make sure you change your AC filter monthly, especially if you have pets at home. Years ago when I was bachelor, AC filter was the last thing on my list, it's amazing how marriage can change a guy :) Never use the el cheapo blue wire filter, its cheap and nasty, invest in a good one like the 3M Filtrete. With 2 dogs in my house and living in Florida, the AC runs constantly and a good quality filter is needed. Every month when I change out the filter and compare it to last months? I can tell the difference by the color. Do yourself a favor, change that filter, if you don't? It's going into your lungs.

Power Smoothie, Boost your Immune System

Do you have a good blender?  Have you been putting it to good use?

One of the simplest and most enjoyable beverages can also be very good for you (if you are putting in the right things) and a very enjoyable summer treat.  The benefit of blending is that you get the whole food; all the fiber and nutrients in a broken down form.  Because of being broken down it makes it easy for the body to finish breaking it down and for the body to absorb all the nutrients.

There are many different ways you can make a smoothie, but ill share with you what I put in mine.  This simple smoothie is low in calories and high in nutrients, great for boosting the immune system and help eliminating some extra calories if replacing a meal.

2 cups mixed frozen fruit (I usually buy a mixed bag, warning- Black Berries & Raspberries have seeds and will make it gritty)

1 Ripe Banana (the more brown spots the better, this makes it sweeter)

2 Handfuls of spinach fresh or frozen

Water to blend or sometimes Almond milk (water keeps it even lower in calories)

The reason for the spinach is to increase the amount of nutrients I am consuming and I find it keeps me from being hungry longer.  Because of the nice ripe banana you can't taste the spinach although it does make it a funky color.  If color bothers you put a lid on it and you wont even notice =) If your blender is not amazing place the spinach and water in first to blend then add the fruit.  Fruit chunks are fine, but who wants green chunks!  If you are going to be making a lot of smoothies you may want to invest in a high powered blender such as a Vita-mix, BlendTec, or some other industrial blender.  I've found it to be totally worth the investment!


photo credit: tiffanywashko

Pancreatic Cancer and Animal Fat

This week I came across an research article that has come out from the U.S. National Cancer Institute on the strong association between increased animal fat and dairy products with pancreatic cancer.  I have seen the devastation this disease can bring first hand when I lost my grandfather almost 2 years ago(its the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the US).  Health Day stated, "Men who consumed the most fat from animal sources had a 53 percent increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer and women had a 23 percent increased risk, compared with men and women who ate the least fat."  Above and beyond that they noted that an increased level of saturated fat increased risk of pancreatic cancer by 36%.

The Journal of the American Medical Association has toted that being over weight in your 30s was associated with a 60 percent increased risk for pancreatic cancer, and being obese was associated with a twofold to threefold higher risk.

In short, you may want to evaluate the amount of meat and dairy you consume(remembering that 2% milk is actually 35% fat) Make sure you are getting lots of fresh vegetables and fruit which are so important to maintaining a healthy weight and disease prevention. photo credit: VirtualErn

Mental Acuity, Keep the Thinker working and Avoid Alzheimer’s

Lifestyle can make a huge difference in maintaining brain functions such as memory, learning, judgment, and mental acuity.  Here are a few things according to Mayo Clinic, Andrews University, and Web MD that are beneficial in prevention of Alzheimers's Disease.

1. Control your stress, stress makes it difficult to remember things and to create memory files for new information.

2. Get your sleep! A habitual loss of 1-2 hours of sleep per night can impare brain function.

3. lower if high or maintain your blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose(blood sugars) in a healthy range

4. Keep your mind active through reading, word games such as crosswords or sudoku, staying up on current events, and engaging in conversations with the sharing of ideas.

5. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!!

6. Maintain and grow healthy interpersonal relationships. This keeps the mind occupied in a healthy way.

7. Maintaining a healthy weight and getting a variety of vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, omega-3 rich nuts and seeds.

A few other factors which can cause memory problems are ongoing depression, use of certain prescription drugs, chronic pain, and a deficiency of vitamin B12 in the elderly.