Beer: Moving On Up

I like beer . . . the wife likes wine.  The wife and other wine lovers regard beer and beer drinkers as something less than refined when compared to wine drinkers . . . that they are second class citizens.  Often the reasoning for this is because wine is good for one’s health when imbibed in moderation . . . it is good for one’s heart and health.  Beer, on the other hand, isn’t.  At least that is the line beer drinkers have listened to for many, many years.  I think that is the propaganda of the vineyard lobby . . . a sort of stomping out the competition.  Yet, the bottom line is that for a long time beer was the second fiddle to wine’s more illustrious place in the world of drinking.

Not anymore!

Beer is moving up!

According to an article on the “never can miss or be wrong” Internet . . . put out there by the reliable MSN website . . . beer—in moderate consumption—can be healthy for those who drink it.  Based on three medical research projects the writer of the article even suggests  that this information is grounds for switching up the nightly red-wine routine.  Yeah, I heard a few corks pop on that suggestion.  Yet, facts are facts . . . beer—when drank in moderation—can provide health benefits.

Beer can reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disease.  One of the greatest myths about drinking beer was that it killed off brain cells . . . well, it’s not true!  Now, if you drink too much beer, or any alcohol for that matter, it is a proven fact that you can become stupid . . . but that is not because your brain cells are dropping over dead . . . nah, they are just drunk.  But that is a post for another time.  Researchers at China’s Lanzhou University subjected rat brain cells to a host of stressors, mimicking the conditions thought to cause diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.  What they discovered is that there is a potent antioxidant—Xanthohumol—that is found in the hops that make beer.  This antioxidant is found to protect brain cells from damage.  The conclusion?  Drink a beer a day and there is a five percent reduction in the risk of neurodegenerative disease.  I’ll buy it . . . the Chinese have never lied to us when it came to beer drinking.

Research shared in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (has to do with the study of kidneys and their function) over an eight year period shows that beer is more effective than coffee, tea, or orange juice at preventing kidney stones.  In fact, it slashes the risk of kidney stones by 41 percent!  Now, get this, wine was a distant second only reducing risk by 31 to 33 percent.  The researchers credited the beer’s diuretic effect for this particular benefit.  Now a logical person knows that beer makes you want to pee.  Peeing apparently has something to do with getting rid of all those chemicals that congregate in the kidneys to form kidney stones.  Thus, the more you pee the better for you.  Beer makes you pee.  Everyone knows that you don’t buy beer . . . you rent it.

Lastly, Harvard researchers pooled self-reported drinking data from more than 100,000 female nurses and found that women who drank beer two to four times weekly lowered the risk of rheumatoid arthritis by 31 percent.  They determined that it was the beer’s ability to suppress inflammatory proteins.  Hey, this comes from Harvard so it has to be true . . . drink beer and avoid arthritis . . . drink enough beer and you don’t care.  Yet, at the same time, this research concerned me . . . 100,000 nurses!  Makes you wonder about the state of health care.

Apparently the writer believes these health findings and benefits warrants a move up for beer in the world of “folk” and real health life styles . . . but not to the point of knocking wine off of it pedestal.  No, the anonymous writer only suggests that these findings open up the door for switching up the nightly wine consumption.  Instead of drinking wine all of the time . . . drink a beer every now and then.  Shoot!  If one is good for you, two should be even better . . . right?  Drink them both!  That is what I say!

Of course, the wife and my other whiners . . . I mean, winers . . . don’t agree.  They still point out that wine is the better of the two . . . has a lot more research to back them up . . . and, besides, wine doesn’t create the infamous “beer belly”.  When was the last time you ever saw a “wine belly”?  They rest their case.  The benefits of beer for health research is catching up . . . beer is moving up.  Someday beer will climb up onto that pedestal alongside wine . . . in the meantime, both sides disagree.  I can live with that . . . let’s disagree to disagree and go on.  I can drink to that . . . but a bunch of Chinese and Harvard researchers can’t be wrong!  It was on the Internet!  It has to be true!

Whine, I Mean Wine, Festival

Sometimes in life you have to do things that you are uncomfortable with.    Since starting to work at the university the wife has always wanted to attend the annual wine festival hosted by the university’s foundation.  This is a big week long celebration in which all the activities center around wine and food.  The university brings in several big name chefs for seminars on wine and food.  Then on the last two days they set up a huge tent, bring in wineries, caterers, and a host of other wine-related items for a big two-day blow out wine tasting party.  The cost for each night’s tasting is $85 a person—a little out of my league.  Ever since she learned about this event she has wanted to go.  So . . . when the dean of the College of Education (which my department falls under) offered free tickets to attend one of the nights, I took a chance and asked for two tickets.  Lo and behold, I got two tickets.  Last night we attend the wine festival in all of its glory.

Talk about a person out of his element . . . I felt lost and overwhelmed at the festival.  I felt way out of place.  First of all, I am not a wine person.  I am no connoisseur of wine, fine or not.  My experience of wine is drinking whatever it is that is offered to me by the wife before we eat a meal.  But, I do know one thing about wine—at least for me—and that is that it must have a cork and not a screw on cap.  Otherwise, wine is wine.  The festival was a haven for those who love wine, like to drink it, like to talk about it, and like to run around swirling their wine glasses and sniffing the contents.  It was a far cry from my familiar stomping grounds of beer festivals.

Second of all, it was crowded.  Being an introvert among a huge crowd of people I did not know, I was overwhelmed with people.  There were people everywhere . . . people drinking wine . . . people eating food . . . people talking . . . people squeezing around people-made traffic jams . . . all under a great big tent.  And, it looked like they were all enjoying themselves!  Just made me uneasy being among all those people.  I felt like I was in WalMart . . . just a classier crowd than your typical WalMart.  Everyone seemed to stop right in the middle of the aisles talking and blocking the path for everyone.  Everyone crowded in front of others even though it was plain to see that there were lines of people waiting their turn.  Yep, just like Wally World only classier and with wine.

Third of all, it was hard to hear.  With all of those people yakking away I had a hard time hearing anything that was being said to me.  Now, I cannot blame it all on the people or the wine.  Years ago I worked building grain bins—I was the guy on the inside with the impact wrench.  It was a very loud and noisy job and way before OSHA required hearing protection.  Long story short—I pretty much sacrificed part of my hearing to that job years ago and it is difficult for me to hear in large crowds.  Basically I spent the evening nodding my head up and down.  I have no idea what was being said.  I probably ended up agreeing to something that I will regret later.  But, hey!  There was probably nothing important being said as the whole evening centered around wine.

 

My experience at the wine festival has proven—once and for all—that I am not a wine snob.  I am not some sophisticated, well educated, well dressed and groomed individual who basks in the glory of fine wines . . . or even has delusions of doing that.  Nope, it is just not my element.  I am a beer snob through and through.  I don’t need a fancy glass to drink my beer as I can do that straight out of the bottle—which is something that wine snobs frown upon.  Wine is fine, but beer is my comfort zone.

And so, I fulfilled my husbandly duty and took the wife to the big wine festival.  She had a wonderful time as she got to sample some mighty fine and expensive wines that we would have never been able to afford.  I survived . . . I survived because it was a wine festival.  They served wine.  The wine eventually took the whine out of me.  It was an educational experience and one everyone should experience at least once in his or her lifetime.  I am not sure if I will ever do the wine festival again—even with free tickets, but if the university’s foundation ever decides to host a beer fest . . . count me in!  At least I won’t feel out of place!  Ah, the things we do for love!

Ya Gotta Laugh--This Week's News

It was reported that a Chinese teenager sold his own kidney to buy and iPad.  The 17-year old, identified only as Little Zheng, says that he was paid around $3,000 for his kidney with all surgical expenses thrown in for free.  The teen then used the money to fulfill his dream of owning the popular Apple tablet computer as well as a laptop.  I always thought of Chinese youth as being smart and astute, but I am wondering about Little Zheng . . . the kid got taken to the cleaners on this one!  According to Havocscope Black Market (http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/organs-kidneys/), an online database of black market activities, the average price for a kidney (world-wide) is $150,000 with the seller averaging $5,000.  In the United States the average price for a black market kidney is $30,000--in China it is $87,000 to purchase a kidney on the black market.  According to this website the average price a seller in China gets is $15,000.  So why in the world did this kid settle for a mere $3,000?  Sometimes youth do impulsive things to get what they want.  Haven't we all said, "I'd give my left kidney for that", when we really wanted something we couldn't afford?  The kid needs to stay awake in his economics class--he could have bought a lot of iPads for what others were willing to pay for a kidney.

Seems that the black market for organs isn't the only place where the big bucks are getting bigger.  Last year airlines hauled in $21.5 billion from charges for add-on fees such as checked baggage, food, and buying a little more leg room.  According to CBSMoneyWatch.com that is a 38 percent jump in revenue from such fees in a year.  Whatever happened to "flying the friendly skies"?  I understand that they will be adding pay toilets to the planes by the end of the summer.  This will probably be the next evolution of the snack on flights:

We Americans have finally caught up with the French and passed them.  The Chicago Tribune reports that last year, for the first time ever, Americans annual consumption of wine surpassed that of France.  I'll raise a glass to that!  But, hold on, don't go popping the corks yet!  That is in quantity--the French still beat us Americans in per capita.  When it comes to wine consumption the French still drink us Americans under the table.  The population of the United States is almost five times as large as France's and we used it to our advantage.  Now if they wanted to talk beer, well, Montana by itself could give France a good run for its money!

On the health scene . . .

They say that commuting can be bad for your health.  Commuting can cause back problems, stress, obesity, and mind-numbing from having to listen to Lady Gaga over and over again on the radio.  Now you can add divorce to the list!  A study in Sweden says that couples are 40 percent more likely to split up if one partner has a daily commute of longer than 45 minutes each way.  Thank goodness I only have about a 35 to 40 minute commute into the big city!  I think that my marriage is going to make it!  Now if I could only find some way to prevent the mind-numbing that comes with the radio life would be good.

I always knew work would eventually kill me.  There is a new report that states that work is making us American workers obese.  According to the report the American obesity epidemic may have less to do with what we eat than with what we do all day.  Work is less active than it used to be 50 years ago.  Today only one in five workers puts in physically demanding hours, as opposed to one in two in 1960.  This means we are burning an average of  up to 140 calories less per day.  The bottom line is we are less active in what we do for work.  Boy, that was great news for me . . . I thought that I would have to give up my two donuts a day habit!  Besides, they make pants that stretch!

And, finally, this last information just proves that it is never too early to get started . . . Matt and Ellie Greene of Whitehouse, Texas, made a Facebook profile for their daughter--Marriah--even though she has yet to be born.  Marriah already has 268 friends!  I have been on Facebook for two years now and I am only up to 70 friends!  If I didn't laugh, I'd have to cry.  I think I'll go have a donut!