Day 15:

Juice: Apple Blues

Apple Blues:
3 Apples
2 Handfuls of Blueberries

"Kaplink, Kaplank, Kaplunk"
- Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey

Blueberries!

A summertime favorite for me. Nothing says July like Blueberry Pie. Nowadays, Blueberries they can be enjoyed all year long, not just in the summer months.

The blue bulbs are actually one of the few fruits native to North America. They are perennial flowering plant from the Vaccinium family. 

Well loved by Americans, Blueberries have been widely lauded for their "antioxidant capacities". Full of micronutrients like dietary minerals: manganese, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc and more, and  vitamin C, vitamin K as well as a healthy dose of dietary fiber, blueberries pack quite a nutritional punch. 

In recent studies, Agnes M. Rimando a Research Chemist at the Natural Products Utilization Research (with the USDA) states that some of the nutrient components in blueberries - mainly pterostilbene (pronounced "tare-o-STILL-bean") (Source) - may help fight heart disease, cancer and cholesterol. She theorizes that "constituents in blueberry skins that can activate a protein involved in the breakdown and import of fats." (Source).

So, not only a guilt free treat (blueberries are low glycemic), but also a great idea for you bodies daily function.

Emotional Lifestyle:

Okay, so the other night I watched the documentary Mansome (2012) by Morgan Spurlock - the documentarian who made Supersize Me. Yes, he has made other documentaries. Mansome is an attempt to look at the 'recent' identity crisis of men in the American culture through increasing popularity of 'manscaping'. Urban Dictionary defines Manscaping as "to groom a man. Shaving, waxing, cleaning up the superfluous fur." (Source) So, it is mainly about male hair.
Interested? It's on Instant Netflix.

Now, for those of you that have read my earlier posts or know me personally, you may have gleaned my position on this issue, but on the female side. However, I too have noticed the change. In the media and in the real world.

As a whole, the documentary is...okay. I just didn't think it did well "tying it all together". The attempt at transitions was a witty and sarcastic repartee between Jason Bateman & Will Arnett (who were actually executive producers for the film) while spending a day at the spa. Now, while this was hilarious and very Arrested Developmenty (LOVE the show), I think it detracted from what the documentary wanted us to look at. It put you in the mood to laugh at ridiculousness, so when we were supposed to be learning about why men of today's world would buy a product called "Fresh Balls" (which keeps the boys fresh day and night) or why a guy's beard is so important to him that he lives his life around it's maintenance and attends facial hair competitions, we were ready to laugh at it instead of actually look at it. I would have preferred to hear their actual thoughts and ideas on the issue.

But some of the individual segments are definitely interesting.
One of the women interview, Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist. (http://www.helenfisher.com/) During an interview in the documentary says makes note that men throughout history and many cultures have always been into there appearance - no dispute here. She then goes on to say, but now men are "allowed" to care about their appearance - okay.

'Allowed'? Or a commercial market now being played by our capitalistic society to buy material products and make other men/women rich?


Another interviewer (and I can't remember his name) mentioned that men's magazines are now playing on the insecurities of men, the way women's mags have been working over women for a long time. So, are they really being 'allowed' to do something they always wanted to do or covertly coerced?

...Welcome to the emotional bombardment boys! Bring your A Game. You'll need it...