Babies Gain More Weight in Day Care

It's already a tough decision for any parent, but opting for child care may have just become an even weightier issue.

Researchers at the University of Illinois and the Harvard School of Public Health report that toddlers who spend time in day care tend to gain more weight than those who are cared for by their parents at home.

For your viewing enjoyment

I know this inspired me.

"Horrors" Found In Tween, Teen Dating

For realsies?

Tweens and teens in dating relationships are experiencing significant levels of various forms of abuse, many don't know the warning signs of an abusive relationship, and many parents don't know what's going on in those relationships, a new survey says.

Among the findings:

• 69 percent of all teens who had sex by age 14 said they have gone through one or more types of abuse in a relationship.

• 40 percent of the youngest tweens, those between the ages of 11 and 12, report that their friends are victims of verbal abuse in relationships, and nearly one-in-ten (9 percent) say their friends have had sex.

• Nearly three-in-four tweens (72 percent) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger.
  
  
• More than one-in-three 11-12 year olds (37percent) say they have been in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

• One-in-five between the ages of 13 and 14 say their friends are victims of dating violence, such as getting struck, hit or slapped by a boyfriend or girlfriend, and nearly half of all tweens in relationships say they know friends who are verbally abused.
  
  
• One-in-five 13-14 year olds in relationships (20 percent) say they know friends and peers who've been struck in anger (kicked, hit, slapped, or punched) by a boyfriend or girlfriend.
  
  
• Only half of all tweens (51 percent) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. In addition, significant numbers of teens (15-18) are experiencing emotional and mental abuse as well as violence when dating; it's even more prevalent among teens who've had sex by 14.
  
  

  And many teens and tweens say they've been victims of technological abuse, in which cell phones, paging, IMs, social networking sites, etc. were used to carry out the abuse.

Column: If only drivers shared the road, cyclists would be safer

We're out there obeying the rules, getting exercise, and saving gasoline. We've ridden in charity rides that benefit cancer, mental retardation, poor children, multiple sclerosis, and myriad other causes. We stay on the far right side of the lane. We never blow through traffic lights or stop signs. We're cautious because we know that you're out there in mega-ton vehicles, any one of which could flatten us in an instant.

But all too often, you're sitting on your horn, screaming at us and generally acting as if you own the road. Guess what? You don't. Under state law, bicycles are considered vehicles and have just as much right to the road as cars.

This column generated A LOT of heated commentary on Boston.com. Mostly, I agree that -- in a perfect world -- cyclists wouldn't run red lights or ride in crosswalks or go down one-way streets the wrong way. All these things bug me TO NO END.

But, cyclists DON'T obey the rules, which basically says that they are a vehicle just the same as a car. I do believe, especially in the city, that it's too dangerous for bikes to be on sidewalks sideswiping pedestrians. So bike people, let's stop trying to have it both ways -- if you want to be respected on the road, act like you'ree in your car. All the time.

On the same day this article came out, a Northborough native -- only 22 years old -- was killed in Dupont Circle in D.C., near where I used to live. Just another reminder that sometimes these accidents can't be avoided, even in a bike friendly city like D.C.

FINALLY

MBTA workers, who have one of the most generous benefit packages in the country, will be required for the first time to contribute towards their health insurance when they retire, an arbitrator ruled this week.

The change takes effect today, requiring that new retirees in the MBTA's largest union pay 10 percent of their health insurance costs.
Workers who are already retired will continue to get free healthcare for life.

Under the old contract, workers paid only $3 or $4 to fill a prescription and only $5 to visit a doctor. The new contract raises those co-payments to between $5 and $20 for prescriptions and $20 to visit a doctor.

China's athletes feel push for gold in Beijing Games

Hungering for gold, particularly if you're the host of the Aug. 8-24 Games, is hardly unusual. What distinguishes China is the intensity of its quest for gold, backed up by military rigor, buckets of money, one of the world's last remaining Soviet-style sports programs and a desire to gain "face" with the international community.

If this doesn't make you want to never live in New York....

And I DO want to move to New York! But this is ridiculous. I know we have friends who were forced to add carpeting to 80 percent of their co-op to comply with "rules." (yes, rules INSIDE a home YOU OWN). What about people like us with severe allergies? We could NEVER live somewhere that has carpeting -- hence why we don't!

Read "The Noise Children Make."

Lucky for me, my brother in law grows these on his farm

(Mother Earth News) If you grow your own garlic or have a good farmer’s market, then you can enjoy a new kind of vegetable — garlic scapes.

The scapes are the flower stems that garlic plants produce before the bulbs mature. Growers often remove the scapes to push the plant’s energy toward bigger bulbs, and when harvested while they are young and tender, the scapes are delicious.

On the coast of Slovenia, where Italian is spoken and garlic scapes used liberally, a dish is created by sautéing the chopped scapes in olive oil, then pouring a beaten egg mixture over them, similar to a frittata. The cakelike omelet is then served with a liberal garnish of chopped fresh herbs and a glass of local wine.

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

You can find more details and recipes on the Men’s Health Web site, which published the original version of the list last year.
Or, read the New York Times story here.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
   How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
   How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
   How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
4. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
   How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
5. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
   How to eat: Just drink it.
6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
   How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
   How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
8. Sardines: aka “health food in a can.'’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
   How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,'’ it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
   How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
    How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
    How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Happy Fourth

Gross

Meat After Meat Joy

• At: Pierre Menard Gallery, 10 Arrow St., Cambridge
• When: Through July 20.
• 617- 868-2033

Beautiful, bloody, nourishing, disgusting. No matter how you look at it, meat is packed with meaning. "Meat After Meat Joy" at Pierre Menard Gallery features artists who work with meat as material, subject, or both.

Obama vows $500m in faith-based aid

I think you'd have to be careful with some aspects of this, but extended research shows that faith-based charities (in any faith) and substance abuse programs have more than triple the success rate in their given areas of outreach.

In Ohio, Obama said his plan would get religious charities more involved in solving the nation's social problems, including feeding the needy, helping poor children learn, and providing job training for those who need work.

Unlike Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Obama said, his plan would not be used to "promote partisan interests" - and it would lay out far more money than Bush's program, which depends largely on a network of grants.

New Web site I love

Kudos to my brother Brent who pointed this one out. Plug in your car make and model, where you live, and the repair you need, and it gives you the price range -- from what a local mechanic would charge, and up to the dealership's price. I tested it on a couple repairs I've had done recently and it was on the mark.

repairpal.com