Obesity gets an early start
"Some 20 percent of children are now overweight or obese, and those who gain that weight during late childhood or adolescence are at most risk for adult obesity. Yes, you can blame genes for making some kids more likely than others to pile on the pounds, but genes don't change in a few decades. The rising tide of childhood obesity reflects early environment, including imprints left from a mother's womb." Posted at 8:20 AM Central Time

Teas and Neighbors
"It looked like a lot of luggage for a weekend trip: Three suitcases and two big boxes. But it was easy carrying them to the airline counter. Most were empty. I was taking them to New Mexico to fill them up. Two days later, when I checked in at the Albuquerque airport for the flight home, they were stuffed. I had boxes packed with wine, Thai-spiced peanuts, cans of corn chowder, organic dog biscuits, hand lotion, dried gooseberries and much more.Yes, I know we have grocery stores in Dallas. But we don't have a Trader Joe's." Posted at 8:12 AM Central Time

Cool Tool: Handy Adder
"...it can be hard to change any habit, including habits about how we spend money. It's easy to slip into a rut of buying the same stuff all the time at the grocery store without noticing weekly price fluctuations. Using the Handy Adder is an effective and weirdly fun way to reconnect your attention with every item and not get hosed or miss big price increases." (Thanks 43 Folders!) Posted at 11:38 PM Central Time

Supermarkets Go High-Tech to Get Shoppers to Spend
"Supermarkets are bigger than ever and adding all sorts of innovations to stay competitive ever since Wal-Mart, Costco and gas stations started selling groceries. Many of the bells and whistles supermarkets have added are designed to make customers linger longer and spend more money." Posted at 8:14 AM Central Time

Gofers brave stores for you
"Nila Sturlin, a mother of three, has grocery shopping down to an art. The 32-year-old Loves Park mother and full-time systems engineer says she can complete $200 worth of shopping at Woodman's in about 30 minutes... But, not every mother can master such a swift grocery run, Sturlin has learned. That's why she and her husband, Alan, have launched Grocery Gofers, a grocery delivery service that caters to young mothers and homebound residents in the Rock River Valley." Posted at 8:09 AM Central Time

TO-DO LIST book deadline approaching
Now that I'm pretty much done with my grocery lists book, maybe y'all can help out the cool folks at TO-DO LIST. They're also putting a book together and the deadline for submissions is September 15. Head on over and send yours in! Posted at 12:04 PM Central Time

How safe is your grocery store?
"In an unprecedented report, NBC News ranks the top 10 grocery chains in the country in Dateline's 'Supermarket Sweep.'" Posted at 11:55 AM Central Time

Sausage shaped like a beer bottle
Noted without comment.
Posted at 7:17 AM Central Time

B.O.S.S. shopping cart follows you around
"Gregory Garcia, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, developed a shopping cart that not only follows you around the store, but keeps a steady pace while cruising and throws on the brakes before clipping someone's heels. Garcia got the inspiration for the B.O.S.S. (Battery Operated Smart Servant) from his (presumably mischievous) little sister, who enjoyed ramming into his legs as a child while manning the buggy." Posted at 9:41 AM Central Time

Free books: It's the August GLC giveaway!
UPDATE: The books are gone! | The first person to write in and request one of the books linked below gets it for free during our 8th Monthly GLC Giveaway of 2006. Limit one per person -- and you must request a specific book. First come, first served. You also must include a snail mail address -- but we won't use your email or postal address for anything other than sending you the book. Email me for a free book while they last!

Gone! Claimed by Terry of Lemay, Missouri
Harley and Davidson Family Recipes: Celebrating 100 Years of Home Cooking | "More than 100 years ago, best friends William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson made history when they created the first 'motorized bicycle' and founded the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. But there's another story. Over the century, the Harley and Davidson families grew up together, celebrating their company's milestones with road trips, hunting and fishing sallies--and lots and lots of eating. In HARLEY AND DAVIDSON FAMILY RECIPES, the founders' grandchildren Margo Manning and Carol Lange present 100 family recipes tailor-made for home gatherings and roadside picnics, including Gilroy 40-Clove Garlic Chicken, Endurance Run Spinach Pasta Salad, and Grandma Harley's Peach Cobbler. Packed with rare archival photographs and anecdotes about the families and their motorcycles." —Amazon.com (List price: $19.95)

Gone! Claimed by Kathy of Lakewood, Colorado
Stir the Pot: The History of Cajun Cuisine | "Despite the increased popularity of Cajun foods such as gumbo, crawfish etouffee, and boudin, relatively little is known about the history of this cuisine. Stir the Pot explores its origins, its evolution from a seventeenth-century French settlement in Nova Scotia to the explosion of Cajun food onto the American dining scene over the past few decades. The authors debunk the myths surrounding Cajun food - foremost that its staples are closely guarded relics of the Cajuns' early days in Louisiana - and explain how local dishes and culinary traditions have come to embody Cajun cuisine both at home and throughout the world. Stir the Pot also explores the role that food plays in Acadia both in everyday life and on special occasions, such as boucheries (commonal butcherings), festivals, and holidays. The book closes with a personal memoir of growing up in Cajun country and witnessing the modern evolution of the cuisine, which brings the history to life." —B&N (List price: $18.95)

UPDATE: The books are gone! Check back every month for more free books.

Love,
The GLC Crew and keaggy.com Posted at 6:57 AM Central Time

200 new lists added
I just posted 200 more lists: See sets 1200 and 1300. That means there are one thousand three hundred discarded scraps of paper here. Have fun looking through them! Posted at 10:21 PM Central Time

Food vouchers add fruit and vegetables, cut milk
"Fruits, vegetables and whole grains will be added to the grocery list of items covered by the U.S. government's Women, Infants and Children program, which provides vouchers and food checks to more than 8 million Americans, the Agriculture Department said on Monday. The proposed changes, the WIC program's first major overhaul since it was implemented in 1974, will now include these items while paying less for milk, eggs and juice." Posted at 6:16 AM Central Time

Cutting grocery bills in half
"If you're spending $150 to $250 a week, the grocery game can reduce that by a half to two-thirds. All you have to do is sign-up for the grocery game, which has now expanded to include Safeway and Albertsons as well as King Soopers. It's the brain child of a California housewife. Her name is Teri Gault, and she visited with us at a Safeway store to show us how the coupons in the Sunday paper can save you a fortune." Posted at 7:15 AM Central Time

Doctors say shopping carts can be a danger to children
"The nation's pediatricians are warning parents today against putting children in shopping carts. 'Parents are strongly encouraged to seek alternatives,' says the American Academy of Pediatrics, which reports that shopping carts were involved in injuries to more than 24,000 children last year, mostly when a child fell out or a cart tipped over. But parents who have tried to pick up a couple things at the store while keeping their children from toppling the displays or playing hide-and-seek in the clothing racks may find the warning hard to accommodate." Posted at 7:57 AM Central Time

Price Checkers Assemble Inflation Report
"Caren Gaffney would be the perfect contestant on 'The Price is Right.' She moves from store to store, meticulously combing the aisles and taking down prices. A head of Boston butterhead lettuce. A bottle of Advil. Car inspection. Diamond bracelet. Eyeglasses. A 50-foot black TV cable. Washing machine. It's an eclectic shopping list that comes from her employer, the U.S. government. The items that she prices -- and thousands of others -- are reflected in the government's most closely watched inflation barometer. The Consumer Price Index measures the prices shoppers pay for a market basket of goods and services." Posted at 7:07 AM Central Time

Are organic fruit, veggies worth the extra cost?
"For parents concerned about the effect of the pesticides used in conventional food production, buying organic makes sense, University of Washington research shows. Children eating non-organic foods were switched for five days to an organic diet and pesticide levels were measured in their urine before and after the change. The study -- published this past fall -- found that some pesticides disappeared from the children's urine after going organic." Posted at 7:21 AM Central Time