Mar 13 - no red meat, more donuts

It's the 13th ... not quite the Ides of March ... but of course the 13th is bad, right ?

So I'm reading this CNN article that has the following paragraph:

On average, each additional serving of red meat the participants ate per day was associated with a 13% higher risk of dying during the study. Processed red meat products -- such as hot dogs, bacon, and salami -- appeared to be even more dangerous: Each additional daily serving was associated with a 20% higher risk of dying.

This was a study of 120,000+ people over a 28 year period. So ... if I interpret this correctly ... if I have a salami sandwich 5 days a week, I have a 100% chance of dying ... hmmm ... but then again, everyone has a 100% chance of dying, it's just a matter of time :).

Of course these things are not actually additive, nor are they necessarily causal -- it's the entire lifestyle that is at issue. If I substitute the red meat with several donuts, how do you think that I'll fare ? If I substitute the red meat with nothing, perhaps I'll just die anyway ?

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We had three trips out yesterday, one of them by foot. We took a walk first thing, south on the island and out on the pier ... what a lovely spot ! Visiting here and Apollo Beach have completely changed our view of the west coast of Florida. Cape Coral, on the other hand, had confirmed our view -- busy suburbia with a beach. Anna Maria Island, on the other hand, is quaint, quirky, quasual (casual ?).

The next trip was a cruise northward where the island widens. There we found some suburbia-like areas but they are never far from the beach. Here at Nancy's condo, we are within a hundred yards of water on either side, Gulf and Intracoastal.

We ate lunch at the condo and then later took a drive south to Longboat Key and then into Sarasota, parking and exploring the famous shopping on the circle. Some of the art work was amazing ... I was sorely tempted ... but held back. Afterwards we drove north and had dinner by the water at the planned restaurant on Longboat Key, sitting under the trees on the beach. We stopped on the way back to the condo to watch the sunset and then were back on the balcony and chatting.

We've had a great time, very relaxing. Of course I'm itching to do something, but that's me. I don't relax particularly well :).

Today will be about driving to Winter Park, leaving here at 10 a.m., having lunch somewhere and getting to Sandy's annual check-up at 2pm and then back home, probably by 4pm to our waiting Abby.

Tomorrow ... I'm betting that I'll be on the bike !

I heard back from the nurse/paramed yesterday that the insurance co has asked for an EKG. We had wondered to each other why it wasn't requested at first, given my age and the insurance application, and now they've "remembered". She'll be back next Wednesday ... for my third appointment with this lady. OK, I'm getting tired of this.

Onward ...