JULY IS NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH
Did you know...
-There's a billion gallons of ice cream sold annually in the U.S.
-8% of all the milk produced in the U.S. ends up as a frozen treat!
The top ten flavors for scooping
10. Praline Pecan
9. Vanilla Fudge Ripple
8. Cookies and Cream
7. French Vanilla
6. Chocolate Chip
5. Neapolitan
4. Strawberry
3. Butter Pecan
2. Chocolate
1. Vanilla
WHAT WOULD YOU LOOK LIKE ANIMATED ON "THE SIMPSONS"?
Follow the instructions carefully... http://www.simpsonizeme.com/
DIET SODA MAY BE WORSE THAN REGULAR
A new study from the Boston University School of Medicine has spotlighted the relationship between drinking diet, sugar-free sodas and having an elevated risk for what doctors call "metabolic syndrome," --a cluster of factors that boosts the chance of having a heart attack or stroke and developing diabetes. The increased risk is a whopping 45-percent!
Metabolic syndrome is associated with five specific health indicators: excess abdominal fat; high blood sugar; high triglycerides; low levels of the good cholesterol HDL; and high blood pressure.
But here's the real rub --the researchers who did the study have no idea why the increased risk happens.
And here's another factor: It might not actually be the diet soda itself, but rather, the overall lifestyle of diet soda drinkers. WebMD.com says those current numbers show that individuals who drink one or more sodas per day tend to be people who have greater overall caloric intake. They also tend to have more saturated fats and trans fats in their diet, they tend to be more sedentary, and they seem to have lower consumption of fiber.
STARBUCKS IS RAISING ITS PRICES AGAIN NEXT WEEK
The last time you went to Starbucks, did you get your coffee and think to yourself, "Ya know, this was a real bargain. Starbucks really isn't charging enough for this"??? No???
Well. . . they're raising their prices again ANYWAY.
As of next week, Starbucks will raise its prices on coffee, lattes and other drinks by an average of NINE CENTS per cup. They say it's to help offset the, quote, "soaring" costs for milk and other commodities.
This is their second price increase in less than a year. Back in October, they raised their prices about FIVE CENTS per drink.
Starbucks owns 6,300 stores in the U.S., and the price increase will go into effect at all of them. About 3,500 Starbucks stores here are licensed... but the owners of those stores are all expected to raise the prices too.
Approximately 35 million cups are sold at the Starbucks stores around the country every day... so, that nine-cent increase should be worth about an extra $3.15 MILLION every day, or $1.15 BILLION a year.
PRODUCT RECALL
The recall of Castleberry's canned chili sauce is being expanded. It now includes 80 types of meat products, plus four kinds of Natural Balance dog food made by Castleberry Food Company of Augusta, GA.
The original warning made by July 18th warned customers of the risk of botulism. The previous warning was linked to production dates of April 30th to May 22nd, but the FDA (U-S Food and Drug Administration) has extended the recall to include all products regardless of the "best by" date. See a full list of the products affected by clicking here.
