That's Fit

Pies are unhealthy. They're high in calories, sugar, carbs, and saturated and trans fats. But what if you replace the usual fruity goodness inside with chicken and mixed vegetables and called it a Pot Pie (funny, I don't remember these from college. Brownies, yeah, but pies, no)? Would it then be considered healthy?

I'm sure there's a very roundabout way to make a chicken pot pie healthy, but your average, run-of-the-mill version that you get from the grocery store is a dietary nightmare. Case in point: Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie.

Maximum Fitness magazine recently listed this dish as being among one of the worst foods you can eat. With a whopping 1,060 calories, 62 grams of fat (22g of which being sat. fat), and 1,600mg of sodium, eating just one of these leaves you little room for the remainder of the day in terms of suggested total caloric, fat, and sodium consumption.

Take a couple of white coats, some advanced degrees, and allocate a good chunk of university money to do groundbreaking research, and what happens? Well, in the case of a new study out of the University of California, Davis, scientists discovered something that every hackey-sack-kicking, hemp-clothes-wearing undergrad could have told them: Marijuana eases nerve pain at the expense of certain mental skills.

Appearing in the June edition of The Journal of Pain, the study revealed that pain ratings dropped precipitously in participants after smoking THC cigarettes (THC is the main psychoactive substance in cannabis), while no such reduction was reported after smoking a placebo cigarette without the THC.

Participants took tests to measure their mental skills, including memory and coordination, before and after smoking. Their scores showed a steady decline after smoking high-dose THC cigarettes. Many experts have cited studies such as this as being reasons against the use of medical marijuana for neuropathic pain, in addition to the recently uncovered link between marijuana use and the potential for developing schizophrenia-like psychoses.

University of Mississippi researchers just discovered something that people who were alive in the 60s have known for quite some time: Pot is far more potent today than it was years ago.

Even in those old, grainy super 8 films of Woodstock and Haight-Ashbury, you see kids smoking joints like they're candy cigarettes. Hit after hit and they're still dancing around, painting each others bodies, and waxing philosophical about a wide range of high-level (no pun intended) topics. Try smoking today's marijuana that way and you'll end up on Mars. More or less, this is what the researchers from UMiss confirmed.

Tracking the potency of nearly 62,800 marijuana samples seized in the U.S. since 1975 (more the disco era than the hippie era, but the point can still be taken), they found that in 2007, marijuana averaged 9.6 percent THC (marijuana's active ingredient) by dry weight -- up from 8.75 percent in 2006 and from 0.88 percent in 1977. Government officials caution that this increased level of THC might be more effective at triggering the changes in the brain that can lead to addiction.

Canadian researchers conducted a study on Nabilone, a pain drug based on the active ingredient in marijuana, to determine if its use can help ease fibromyalgia pain.

According to an article that appears in this month's issue of The Journal of Pain, researchers divided the patients into two groups. One group of patients took nabilone daily for a month, and the other group took a placebo for the same duration of time. After a month of nabilone treatment, patients reported that their fibromyalgia pain was less intense and that they felt improvement in their quality of life. These changes were not reported by patients in the placebo group.

It's important to note, however, that nabilone treatment did not have any affect on patients' number of tender points, nor did it cure fibromyalgia pain -- when patients stopped taking nabilone, their fibromyalgia pain returned to its former intensity. And, reported side-effects included drowsiness, dry mouth, vertigo and movement problems. No word on whether or not patients also experienced "the munchies" ;)

During high school, I remember hearing kids say they would rather smoke marijuana than cigarettes because they considered pot "more natural." Apparently they thought a Native American peace pipe was comparable to a bong. At any rate, anyone smoking pot under this notion is in for a surprise. New studies indicate that smoking marijuana is much worse.

In fact, someone would have to smoke twenty cigarettes to get the equivalent damage that a single joint would cause. A team of researchers found out that individuals who smoke cannabis have five times the amount of carbon monoxide in their blood compared to those lighting up tobacco!

Not only that, but the concentration of carcinogens is significantly greater in weed as well. Because of this, research indicates marijuana damages the airways more than traditional cigarettes. These may come across as a bunch of reasons to ditch smoking weed as a deviant practice, but what about patients using medicinal marijuana? As we all know, pot in a controlled medical application sparks a lot of conversation. However, given these reasons, doctors may need to reconsider this treatment.

Want some relief from that cancer pain? THC, the hallucinogenic compound in marijuana, may just be your ticket. Now, you've probably heard the term "medical marijuana" before. This is different, though.

It's been found that THC and another compound derived from marijuana can actually slow the spread of cervical and lung cancers. The tests that supported this were done in test tubes, however.

Do cannabinoids -- or chemical compounds derived from marijuana -- really have anti-cancer effects? They sure could -- in a direct way (read: not by smoking the leaves).

Looks like those folks visiting "coffee shops" in Amsterdam may soon be able to say that the pot they're smoking is for medicinal purposes instead of pleasure purposes.

The Dutch government indicated this week that it will begin promoting the use of cannabis as medicine and will allow Dutch pharmacies to stock the weed of choice for five years while more studies are conducted on its medicinal use.

The Netherlands has always been at the forefront of promoting marijuana for medical purposes, so this should come as no surprise really. However, medical cannabis is actually created in laboratory-style conditions to supply pharmacies, so those in that country won't need a greenhouse to grow and stock all that reefer.

Another food recall this week was announced after salmonella bacteria poisoning became suspect in Banquet brand chicken and turkey pot pies. Additionally, many generic store brands were under the recall as well.

The CDC in Atlanta started investigating the problem early this week after some reports of illnesses last week were tied to the consumption of these pot pie products.

Over 100 sick people were identified and the correlation between them was the el-cheapo, frozen pot pie. Banquet is a discount brand produced by ConAgra Foods, the same company that brought us the wonderful peanut butter recall earlier this year.

Pot pie production was halted this past Tuesday by ConAgra, so perhaps these distasteful products will stay off shelves for at least a little while.

New research from New Zealand brings bad news for pot smokers. A recent study of 25-49 year-olds found that those who don't smoke cigarettes, but do smoke marijuana, still reported wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and phlegm.

In fact, because pot smokers generally inhale more deeply, forgo filters, and smoke to a shorter butt length, it's estimated that their habit is even more damaging than those who use nicotine -- with every joint doing the same amount of damage as up to 5 cigarettes.

However, it's not all bad news for marijuana enthusiasts. The study also found that users of the drug were significantly less likely to develop emphysema than their cigarette smoking counterparts (presumably because pot smokers tend to light up less frequently).

All of that aside, it's worth noting that the best thing for your health would be to avoid smoking anything -- marijuana or otherwise.

OK, I will admit that I don't think that drinking or smoking in moderation, is a huge deal. As long as you're being considerate of those around you and being responsible (not driving drunk, for example), I figure that you can do with your life what you want. And speaking of smoking, I'm not a marijuana fan but again I think that using it in moderation is probably OK.

Maybe it's because I'm from Canada where the view on cannabis is much more lax than in the US, but I never really believed the suggestion that pot (along with drinking and smoking cigarettes) is a gateway drug that will lead users to try harder, more dangerous drugs. Apparently I'm going to have to revise my position and eat my words though, as a huge Australian study has shown the exact opposite to be true.

The study, which followed 2000 young people from the State of Victoria in southeastern Oz for 10 years, has shown that teens who smoked cannabis at age 15 were 15 times more likely to use amphetamines in their 20s. The study also says that study participants who began drinking and smoking cigarettes at a young age were more likely to try pot in the first place. Considering the size and length of the study, as well as the pretty huge findings, I'm thinking I may have to change my opinion about what sorts of things are OK in moderation.

In Washington state, you're allowed to have a "60 day supply" of marijuana on hand if you're using it for medicinal purposes. But just how much pot is that? No one seems to know. And the answer is important -- as it helps police and lawmakers determine who they need to arrest, and who they should leave alone.

Currently, patients suffering from "intractable pain" and serious diseases (like cancer, AIDS, or multiple sclerosis), can possess and use marijuana without being convicted of drug charges. However, because there's no set limit, officers in the field have no guidance, and are left to arrest everyone -- hoping a judge will later sort out who's guilty and who's not.

On the other hand, any limit on the amount of pot a person has for medicinal purposes is too restrictive for some. They say different patients need varying amounts depending on their illness, and that amount shouldn't be regulated by anyone other than their doctor.

I tend to agree. There are plenty of medications that -- if they hadn't been prescribed by a doctor -- would be illegal to posses or consume (for good reason). But because of the widespread use of marijuana as a recreational drug, it seems there's an urge to treat it differently than other narcotics. When it comes to the drug's medicinal use, why not treat it just like any other prescription?

"Moderation is the key." We've heard this a lot as the golden rule for a healthy diet. So long as you don't overdo it in one way or another, everything will work out. Right? Correct, moderation is the key for wellness, but here are 10 foods that you should never moderately consider for consumption (they're just plain bad for you!).

Leading the pack is Pepperidge Farm's Original Flaky Crust Roasted Chicken Pot Pie. Sounds like a pretty good meal. But what makes it so unhealthy? At 510 calories and 9 grams of saturated fat, this food actually appears to be OK. Looking at it closer, you'll find that these nutrition facts are only for half of the meal! If you consume the whole pie (and honestly, who wouldn't?) you're looking at 1,020 calories and over 30 grams of fat (oh yeah, 13 grams of that are trans fat). All of this in one little pot pie.

Another food to keep an eye out for is the Starbucks Venti Cafe Mocha. Add some whipped cream to this delicacy and you're looking at 490 calories of piping hot brew. However, you can shave off 320 calories and all 16 grams of fat by ordering a tall with nonfat milk (hold the whipped cream). This may or may not surprise you, but check out the other foods to learn about what to avoid.

With everything you hear about tea nowadays, we're almost to the point of just hooking everyone up to an intravenous drip. Tea helps memory, alleviates arthritis, and even wards off skin cancer. But this article isn't about another benefit of drinking tea. Instead, this one is about scientists who have targeted how to get the most out of your daily cuppa (and it's not via the quick tea bag).

Getting the maximum benefits from a cup of tea is directly related to the infusion time it goes through. Scientists studied volunteers who drank black tea that was brewed from one to ten minutes. What they were looking for was the amount of antioxidants in the blood due to polyphenols. These naturally occurring antioxidants help fight against cancer.

It turns out that dunking a bag of tea for a quick one-minute infusion is less healthy than a five-minute brew. Antioxidant levels in volunteers who had the five-minute infusion were 60% higher than those other guys. But if it goes for any longer than five minutes, the benefits level off. The moral of the story here is to brew your tea for five minutes if you want the ultimate healthy cuppa, but it won't kill you to keep using the good 'ol bag for a quick fix.