Tabloid Edition

Pie for life!

Woo Hoo! this sounds like a great idea, pie for life....from Royers Round Top Cafe in Texas.

Yes, that's right, pie for life, not one of these minor league little offers like a pie a month for only a measly 12 months. You can indeed sign up to get a pie a month for the rest of your life: pie for life, as the offer says.

It's here at Royers Round Top Cafe. Actually, this is pie for life.

The idea is really very simple. You sign up now...and pay now....and they will send you pie for life. One pie each and every month for the rest of your life. Now obviously, there are different likely number of years that we're all going to live. So the older you are the cheaper pie for life is. The younger you are the more expensive pie for life is: hey, they may be great bakers at Royers Round Top Cafe but they ain't ignerant of statistics and life expectancy.

Here's how pie for life works out financially:

All pies retail individually for $23.50, except for the Sin-Nammon Ring, which is $24.50. Shipping is $11.95, in state. If your humble author lives to her natural expectancy, that is, 80.1 years for females in Texas*, I have approximately 651 monthly pies left in me.

Assuming a 3% inflation rate, buying those pies retail would cost somewhere around $60,188. However, if I buy them all today, Royers will charge me a mere $26,750 for the privilege of eating a pie a month. That's a lifetime savings of $33,438**! While it may be likely that eating that much pie might, in fact, significantly shorten one's lifespan and thus help things out on Royers' end, we are going to assume you are generous souls, will spread the artery-clogging love around, live to a ripe old age, and that thus the pie-for-life deal is simply a lot of free pie.

Which leads to an uncomfortable conclusion: the best way to make out over the pie for life deal is to sign up for it: but to then give all of the pie away. That way you're maximising your lifespan and thus the number of pies you're getting....but really, would that be worth it? A pie every month but none for you?

Curry cures cancer

Curry cures cancer: or if we're to be accurate, one part of one of the spices in one type of curry can cure one type of cancer.

Not nearly so exciting that way of course, but that does seem to be more like the truth of the matter.

The spice turmeric is what gives certain curries their distinctive deep yellow colour. One part of that is curcumin and it's been found that this molecule can kill certain cancers cells simply on contact.

So, mine's a Balti then I think....

Perricone Diet

The Perricone diet...oh dear, another bit of snake oil. While the Perricone Diet won't do you any harm (as long as you have no underlying conditions that is) it won't do you the good suggested.

The actual foods in the Perricone diet are fine. Pretty much a low cholestorol Mediterranean diet if we're to be honest.

All of these foods are extremely beneficial to your body when you eat them on a regular basis. Fish is listed as one of the must-haves for improving the health of your body, as they have plenty of protein and give good benefits to your system. Dr. Perricone suggests eating tofu, shell fish, poultry, and other low-fat meats and fish. It is also recommended that you eat carbohydrates that are low on the glycemic index , such as vegetables, fresh fruit, and whole grains, as well as oatmeal, lentils, and beans.

All of that's true and quite possibly a little healthier than most people's normal diets. However, the Perricone diet goes on to make some rather silly claims.

All of these foods are anti-inflammatory foods naturally

Eh? What is this wibble about "inflammatory?" That part of the Perricone diet is explained over here.

It makes the redical link between skin ageing and inflammation, which if true could change many peoples perspectives on ageing. Perricone believes this connection is the single greatest precipitator of aging and the associated maladies - but it is not macro inflammation, but inflammation on the cellular scale that he is talking about. It’s based on the free radical theory of ageing.

Nonsense. Wibble in fact.

The truth about the Perricone diet is that it'll probably do you some good as it is indeed a reasonably healthy one. However, the "science" underlying it is rubbish. It's no more anti-ageing than any other reasonably healthy diet.