Diet Soda & 48% Risk of Stroke-Izzy Graduates Pre-School, A Vacation and Accepting Horatio is Gone!

A few quick things today-the sad news first is that Horatio my cat has been missing over a week now so I am beginning to accept that regardless of the flyers, reward, and endless searching-he is probably not coming home.  I am just hoping that he is safe and okay wherever he is.  I miss him terribly but I don't know what else I can do to find him so now I have to get through my sadness at the loss of him:(

On a positive note-Izzy my 5 year old is a pre-school graduate and is on her way to kindergarten next year! Woohoooo go Izzy:)



 And now for the very astounding information Ann the trainer told me today!  I love, love, love my diet Coke! I LOVE it and look forward to it so much!  Well I have not had any diet Coke in 4 days (which is hell pure hell) so I figured hmmmm I could have just one and it wouldn't hurt but Ann looked at me and told me that everytime I drink a diet soda I raise my chances of a stroke by 48%!!! Almost half! I was astounded so I looked online and found the study that showed this so now I really need to stay off of it!  I found this in the Los Angeles Times:

"Here’s the outline of the study, which was started in 2003, and what it found:

A total of 2,564 people in the study were asked about their intake of sodas (among other questions) at the start of the study. After nine years, 559 cardiovascular events had occurred, and those who had reported drinking diet soda every day had a 60% higher rate of these events, which included various forms of stroke as well as heart attacks.

The scientists adjusted for certain factors, such as age, sex, race, smoking, exercise, alcohol and daily calories. When they added additional factors to do with heart disease risk, such as metabolic syndrome, the risk was still 48% higher for the daily-diet-soda-drinking group. (Metabolic syndrome is a group of factors that can include extra weight around the waist and the inability to efficiently process blood sugar.)
“If our results are confirmed with future studies, then it would suggest that diet soda may not be the optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages for protection against vascular outcomes,” noted the study lead author, Hannah Gardener of the University of Miami School of Medicine, in a release from the stroke association. "

And finally,  I am hoping to return to my very favorite place on the earth where monkeys sit in trees as waves crash on the shore!  I am hopefully going to be going to the beach where I am my happiest this summer so I guess we will see.  I love the anticipation of going on a vacation but unfortunately I won't be having a diet Coke when there.

Have a great weekend!

Heidi