Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wishful thinking..

In the hopes that my schedule will become less crazy in the weeks to come, I offer you this.

Here is a great example of how science can be twisted and warped to support a claim that may not be entirely true; luckily, someone was present to set the record straight.



You may have heard that a glass of wine contains beneficial compounds such as antioxidants, this is true, and apparently so does a bottle of whiskey. Unfortunately the beneficial effects of these compounds will be outweighed when one chooses to consume excessive amounts of either of these beverages. Additionally, the very same antioxidants as well as many others are also found in a variety of foods and beverages that have lesser negative effects.

~ anti - oxi - what now?? in a future post (when I have more free time) I plan to explain the role antioxidants play in protecting your cells, what they protect against, what this means for your overall health, what the heck antioxidants really are, and where you can find them. but this is all for now ~

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Expiration Date: 2004?!?!

I was taking some free time this weekend to clean up and rearrange a few things in my bathroom, this included my medicine cabinet where I found some OLD NyQuil and Sudafed that are waaay past their expiration date.

I decided to look up what I should do with them.
I have always heard that they should be flushed down the toilet, but I wasn't sure if that was wise. I live in a city so the water should go to a treatment plant to be cleaned, but what about those who have septic tanks/leeching fields and well water?

As it turns out, the FDA has a very helpful guide put together that instructs you to take advantage of your communities 'take-back' program where available. Many communities will host days where they will accept any and all expired medications and dispose of them safely for you.

They recommend only flushing medications if they specifically say on the package to do so, for most other medications the trash is best and to mix them up with something like coffee grounds. This is what I did with mine.


The Guidelines for Drug Disposal can be found here.

I hope this helps you safely discard your expired medications; remember to never consume expired drugs, especially if they are in liquid or gel cap form, and when in doubt always contact your doctor or pharmacist.