LaundryOut.com – On Demand Laundry Service

Feeling like there is not enough time in day? Have a pile of work that has to come before your pile of laundry? Wish there was someone you could hire to do your laundry for you?

Guess what I found?

Introducing LaundryOut.com!

This company is a lifesaver! Offering laundry services in several cities across the United States, LaundryOut.com will collect your laundry, wash it, fold it, and deliver it back to you, all while you are using your time for the things you’d rather be doing. It’s easy to determine cost as they charge by the pound, and they even have hypoallergenic products among the detergents and fabric softeners they have to choose from.

I visited their website and was immediately greeted with a new customer coupon for 15% off! They have this neat video that clearly explains their services. And you’ll find it hard not to be impressed with the many awards, perfect ratings, and corporate sponsors proudly displayed on their front page. If only they served my hometown… But if you are lucky enough to live in the Seattle, Atlanta, or Las Vegas area, your life can get a whole lot easier if you get in touch with them right away!

WaxWrap.com – Sustainable Food Storage

Have you ever noticed how much plastic goes into preserving the food you buy and consume? Wouldn’t it be great if you could contribute to reducing the amount of plastic garbage that pollutes our planet while still keeping your food fresh?

Introducing Waxwrap.com, your one-stop shop for environmentally friendly, sustainable food storage!

According to the website The Spruce Eats, beeswax wrap is quickly becoming a popular approach to reducing the amount of waste households produce when preserving groceries and prepared food. Unlike disposable plastic wrap products which have one use, beeswax wrap can be used over and over again, thereby greatly reducing the used plastic wraps and freezer bags which end up in our oceans and elsewhere, endangering our diverse yet fragile ecosystems.

WaxWrap.com, Sustainable Food Wraps

Waxwrap.com has created an attractive selection of eco-friendly accessories such as beeswax wrap products, intentionally designed will both the wellness of their customers and the planet in mind. Their dedication to making a difference in plastic waste reduction is illustrated in stories such as the one they share on their site about Ally Mitchell and his inspiration for the creation of Ocean Plastic Pots, plant pots that are made from 100% rope and fishing net.

You can reduce plastic waste in your kitchen while still keeping your food fresh, thereby taking care of the people and the planet that you love. Visit Waxwrap.com today!

Plaque Attack: Can Dental Plaque Cause Heart Disease?

“Brush your teeth, twice a day. It keeps away all tooth decay. And like my other little chums, you also must massage your gums.” – “Boy Meets Dog” (1938)

HISTORY

The importance of brushing your teeth is a message which has been imposed on the public even before televisions ceaselessly delivered a seemingly endless variety of advertisements into the home. The quote above, taken from a 1938 cartoon short produced by Walter Lantz Productions for the Bristol-Myers Company, features comic strip characters from the syndicated “Reg’lar Fellers” by Gene Byrnes extolling the virtues of regular dental care.

While the Bristol-Myers Company may have been trying to sell Ipana toothpaste, brushing one’s teeth twice a day is also advice regularly delivered to patients by dentists across the country. The consequences of failing to brush and floss have long been understood: plaque buildup, gingivitis, and tooth decay are all conditions that can plague those unwilling to engage in oral hygiene. But if those consequences fail to motivate consumers to buy a new toothbrush, an additional threat raises the stakes considerably.

Up until recently, scientific research consistently indicated connections between dental plaque and a number of ailments outside the mouth, the most serious of which is heart disease. Other ailments, from dementia to rheumatoid arthritis, and even diabetes, have also been linked to the sticky bacteria which gather on the teeth and gums. The connection between oral health and heart disease was suggested as recently as this February 2007 press release from Harvard Medical School, which speculates on the reasons tooth plaque could affect other parts of the body, including the heart. A 2009 editors’ consensus paper, published by The American Journal of Cardiology and the Journal of Periodontology and funded by a grant from Colgate-Palmolive, Inc., further suggests a correlation between oral and heart health.

However, a 2012 “scientific statement” from the American Heart Association suggests that research now indicates no causative relationship between oral health and heart health. The more plausible scenario suggested for why such associations were made in the past is simply that the other diseases mentioned share several risk factors of periodontal disease. A December 2013 editorial by Thomas Van Dyke and Jacqueline Starr, also published by the American Heart Association, acknowledges a connection between periodontal and cardiovascular disease which centers on inflammation.

Any dissent from the AHA or elsewhere does not seem to have changed the overall conversation. A July 23, 2014, post from Julie Corliss, Executive Editor of the Harvard Heart Letter, is titled, “Treating Gum Disease May Lessen the Burden of Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Other Conditions.”

BOTTOM LINE

Dental plaque, the sticky bacteria which accumulates on the teeth and gums of those who fail to practice good oral hygiene, has long been suspected of contributing to ailments outside of the mouth, including serious conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. The majority of, but not all, reputable sources on the Internet seem to still believe there is a connection (usually involving inflammation) between periodontal disease and heart disease. As good oral hygiene should be a worthy goal in and of itself, lack of a definitive answer should not deter the continued pursuit of positive oral hygiene habits.

An earlier version of this article was published at WafflesatNoon.com.

Really Wasted: Confusing Dates on Food Packaging Result in Waste

Looking at the bulging reinforced plastic trash bag, which by now almost overflows with over half of the once edible contents of the kitchen, a curious observer could easily be forgiven for pondering how much food is wasted in an average household on a yearly basis. How much money, which could be used to pay utility bills and buy Christmas gifts, has been lost in purchasing items to place in the pantry only to eventually forward them to a nearby landfill? Rescued from their untimely demise, how many third-world countries worth of starving children could these abandoned morsels satiate, if only we were better managers of one of life’s essential assets: food?

EXPIRATION DATES AND FOOD WASTE

Melodrama aside, food waste is a genuine problem, and misunderstanding the dates on food packaging is a significant factor. A Time magazine article by Alexandra Sifferlin claims that over 90% of Americans throw away food based on expiration dates printed on the packaging, thus contributing to over 40% of the nation’s food supply being thrown away each year. These numbers are attributed to a report co-authored by Havard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Eggs and boxed macaroni and cheese are two examples given by Sifferlin in a related article, “Is Your Food Expired? Don’t Be So Quick to Toss It,” of foods that can be enjoyed well past the dates printed on their containers.

Additionally, dates on food packaging preceded by the words “USE BY’ and “BEST BY” are decided upon by the food manufacturer as a best guess of a product’s peak freshness. Neither phrase is intended to indicate the date a product becomes inedible. Dates on packaging preceded by the words “SELL BY” are not intended by the manufacturer to influence consumers at all. They are used to help guide stores in rotating their products for maximum shelf life after the products have been purchased.

BOTTOM LINE

Dates on food packaging do not indicate when a product spoils; however, over 40% of the food supply in the United States is thrown away each year, largely because of confusion over these dates. Many foods, especially those that do not require refrigeration, can be enjoyed well past the dates printed on their packaging. Therefore, food should not be discarded solely due to having expired dates on their labels.

An earlier version of this article was published at WafflesatNoon.com.

Hold the Sauce: McDonald’s and the Condiment Racket

If you like condiments with your burger and fries, it may cost extra at some McDonald’s locations. The last few years have seen extra condiment fees become a standard practice at most of the company’s franchises. As far back as 2008, unhappy McDonald’s customers would take to the Internet to rant about fees being attached to simple condiments at McDonald’s locations across the country. First the fees were attached primarily to cups of barbecue sauce, honey mustard, and other dipping sauces. Now it appears customers are also expected to pay almost 17 times the wholesale cost to receive extra packets of ketchup at some of McDonald’s 14,000 locations.

The policy of charging for condiments can be a sore subject for regular patrons of the restaurant with the golden arches. Those golden french fries they serve may not be nearly as alluring to some if not accompanied by complimentary dipping sauce that one would reasonably expect to receive. And as extra value meals are extra expensive and only seem to get more so, it is simply rubbing salt in the wound (or an epidemic of greed and avarice) to expect customers to pay even more for condiments with which to enjoy their pricey meal.

McDonald’s miserly strategy of charging for condiments seems to have done nothing positive for the company’s stock value, where stagnant profits and sales have placed it well behind competitors who do not charge the extra fees. The fee policy was probably not adopted with the specific intent of affecting the company’s share prices; an extra 25-50 cents per customer for extra condiments likely does more to line the pockets of individual franchise owners than to affect the entire chain’s bottom line. And this appears to be precisely the case, according to a 2016 article from the Daily Mail: franchise owners have the option to set their own prices, and the temptation to squeeze their customers for even more money is simply to much for some to resist. The extra cost of condiments is not the only sticking point for customers.

The policy of charging for condiments is bad customer relations. It is a regular opportunity to enrage the customer base and invite conflicts with management, and allows for extra animus when the customer is charged for a condiment which then is accidentally not included in the bag. It would be a similar insult to charge customers for seating or renting tableware. It would be a better policy to encourage patrons to return unused, unopened condiments to prevent waste, if waste was truly an underlying catalyst for these policies as is often argued. Simply providing customers with a basket so they could leave unused sauces for other customers would empower customers to help cut down on waste without robbing them by charging exponentially more than the true expense of the packaged condiments.

Greed is undeniably contagious, and reports of other restaurants such as Burger King and Pizza Hut charging for their condiments have become more frequent. Customers of McDonald’s and other restaurants with these policies can often avoid the fees by asking for their condiments after the purchase has been completed. Employees are often unwilling to continue holding up the line or drive-thru by ringing up the condiments separately after the initial purchase, although managers have occasionally been known to be downright rude to customers to protect their condiment fees. And if you think condiment fees are ridiculous, one author has found that some McDonald’s franchises charge for tap water.

Bottom Line

Some McDonald’s franchises charge customers for condiments in addition to their meals. Do you have a story or opinion on the condiment policies of your local McDonald’s? Feel free to add your input to the comments section.

An earlier version of this article was published at WafflesatNoon.com.