Categories
Calories Diet Entertainment Exercise Fitness Museum New York Reference Links

High Fructose Corn Syrup is Bad

I went to see Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water at the Whitney Museum. [http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/FirefliesOnTheWater]  It was absolutely amazing.  The exhibit is a small room that only one person may enter at a time.  The museum staff will open the door after one minute.  The sensation is surreal.  You stand upon a small platform surrounded by still water in a mirrored room full of tiny lights.  The space appears to go on forever; the water on the ground is never completely still so its reflection throughout the room means there’s movement around you as well.  I could have happily stayed inside for quite a bit longer.

Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water
Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water

From the Whitney Museum site: Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water (2002)—with its carefully constructed environment of lights, mirrors, and water—is one of the outstanding examples of this kind of installation, which creates a space in which individual viewers are invited to transcend their sense of self.

 

 

During lunch, my friend and I discussed healthier eating and the dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Here is some info that I found:

In 2010, a Princeton University research team demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States. ….

Read the entire article:  http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

———————–

Not everyone agrees that High Fructose corn syrup is any worse for you than regular sugar.  Here’s an excerpt from a MayoClinic.com article about high-fructose corn syrup with some suggestions:

Some research studies have linked consumption of large amounts of any type of added sugar — not just high-fructose corn syrup — to such health problems as weight gain, dental cavities, poor nutrition, and increased triglyceride levels, which can boost your heart attack risk… Recommendations from the American Heart Association — not a part of official U.S. dietary guidelines — say that most American women should consume no more than 100 calories a day from added sugar from any source, and that most American men should consume no more than 150 calories a day from added sugar, and that even less is better. That’s about 6 teaspoons of added sugar for women and 9 for men.

It’s prudent to consume any added sugar only in moderation. Consider these tips to cut back:

  • Avoid sugary, nondiet sodas. Drink water or other unsweetened beverages instead.
  • Choose breakfast cereals carefully. Although healthy breakfast cereals can contain added sugar to make them more appealing to children, skip the non-nutritious, sugary and frosted cereals.
  • Eat fewer processed and packaged foods, such as sweetened grains like cookies and cakes and some microwaveable meals.
  • Snack on vegetables, fruit, low-fat cheese, whole-grain crackers, and low-fat, low-calorie yogurt instead of candy, pastries and cookies

Read the entire MayoClinic.com article: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/AN01588

——-

There is a Wiki page on How to Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup.  It notes that.. “the average American eats an astounding 41.5 lbs of high fructose corn syrup per year.”

Categories
Entertainment Museum New York

THE MURDER OF CROWS at the Park Avenue Armory

 I went to see Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: THE MURDER OF CROWS 
(http://www.armoryonpark.org/programs_events/detail/janet_cardiff_george_miller_murder_of_crows)
at the Park Avenue Armory and it was fabulously dark and eerie.   The Murder of Crows is a sound installation/sound play.  There are ninety-eight speakers surrounding the audience who are sitting on chairs in a pool of light in the middle of the darkened and cavernous Drill Hall.  There’s a great description and review in the New York Times.

The Park Avenue Armory building itself is gorgeous.  I joined as a member after taking a tour of the building.  It’s under renovation and deserves to be restored.  The Park Avenue Armory was designed by architect Charles Clinton in the Gothic Revival style and dedicated in 1880. It is the only armory in the United States to be built and furnished with private funds.

Park Avenue Armory, New York
Park Avenue Armory, New York – photograph by Elliott Kaufman Photography

It originally served as the headquarters and administrative building for the 7th New York Militia Regiment, known as the Silk Stocking Regiment due to the disproportionate number of its members who were part of the city’s social elite, including the Vanderbilts, Van Rensselaers, Roosevelts, Stewarts, Livingstons and Harrimans. Built as both a military facility and a social club, the reception rooms on the first floor and the Company Rooms on the second floor were designed by the most prominent designers and artists of the day including Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, Herter Brothers and Pottier & Stymus.

Categories
Entertainment Museum New York

Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Miuccia Prada, autumn/winter 2004–5, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Miuccia Prada, autumn/winter 2004–5
Photograph © Toby McFarlan Pond
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Chester Higgins Jr./ The New York Times
An ensemble with a coat of duck featherspainted gold and a skirt of silk tulle embroidered with gold threads.

I went to see the Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.  While the clothes were lovely and the exhibit did a good job of explaining the designer’s focus and interests, it was not as good as the Museum’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” last year.  There is a great review available from The New York Times