5 Things You Should Know – Part 47

Here are 5 more things you should know.

01. There is a massive recall of frozen fruits and vegetables (and products that contain them) happening in the U.S. and Canada

Products may contain Listeria monocytogenes. This particular bacterium is very dangerous for infants because they could develop meningitis and keep this away from pregnant women too.

All affected products have the best by dates or sell by dates between April 26, 2016 and April 26, 2018. These include approximately 358 consumer products sold under 42 separate brands. For a complete list of affected products, see the official FDA notice listed here. Products being recalled may have been purchased in all fifty U.S. states and the following Canadian Provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

02. How to correct your forward head posture

Use what works and ditch the rest:

• Strengthen your deep neck flexors (chin tuck exercise- start on your back, progress to standing once you feel like you’ve mastered it in lying).
• Exercises that work on scapular retraction (upper back muscles) like rows, Prone I’s, T’s, Y’s while holding a chin tuck (three different exercises… can’t link to them right now but if you Google them you should find them).
• Exercises that strengthen your shoulder external rotators.
• Ergonomics assessment. If you sit for long periods of time, think about purchasing a lumbar roll (which surprisingly helps with neck posture). If you sit at a computer for long periods of time, read up on the proper ergonomics regarding computer displays.
• Think about purchasing a 36inch foam roll. They’re cheap and useful. When laying on your back on these foam rolls (with your feet flat on the floor) you are in an ideal posture. It allows your body to attain proper posture without forcing your muscles to do the work. I find that it is a good way to understand what good posture “feels like”
• If all else fails, see a good physical therapist in your area for a full assessment.

Unfortunately posture isn’t an easy fix, and despite the prevalence of posture-related issues, there is still much arguing among medical professionals about the best way to treat it. But, there is a fair amount of empirical evidence with the stuff I mentioned above.

03. Putting tape over a stamp voids the stamp

According to this quote from USPS: “Affix your stamps securely, but do not put tape over the stamp(s) — this invalidates the postage.” – Source.

04. Coconut oil can damage latex condoms

Using coconut(or any) oil as lubricant can weaken the structural integrity of condoms and increase the chances of leaks or breaks.

Coconut oil is a great substance with many uses, but science is not in our favor this time. Thanks to chemistry and solubility and such, any latex condom is going to be weakened by contact with an oil, which may lead to holes or breaks. Non latex condoms may be fine, depending on what they’re made with. If you’re going to the trouble of using condoms, presumably you want to be safe. Stay safe by not putting yourself at greater risk of breakage. Use condoms and water based lubricant to avoid this risk.

05. How to change other person’s wrong opinion

One of our readers asked us this question the other day: How do I make my mom’s friend understand anti-vac is stupid without patronizing her?

A useful strategy when people hold misguided or even blatantly wrong opinions is let them do the talking.

When people have “made up their minds” about something, it is notoriously difficult to change their minds by arguing the “correct” viewpoint to them. 9 times out of 10, doing so will backfire, causing people to become even more entrenched in their views. This is especially true for issues and/or ideologies that people tend to conflate with their sense of identity (i.e. religion, health, politics, etc.), and research shows this applies to anti-vaxxer beliefs as well. What you may think is a perfectly rational, “just the facts, ma’am” discussion, they perceive as an attack on the core of who they are. Thus, fear and anxiety set in, cognitive dissonance happens, and then everyone’s worse off than when they started.

No one is going to “make” your mom’s friend understand anything that she hasn’t arrived at through her own conclusions or experience. You’ve got to meet her where she is and start from there. It’ll take a lot of patience and self-control, but start by asking her why she chooses not to vaccinate and actually listen to her, even if what she’s saying is a total crock of sh*t. By mindfully listening, you can look for discrepancies in her story and/or learn what really matters to her (i.e. Is it her children’s safety? Fighting Big Pharma? Her all-natural, holistic lifestyle and love of homeopathic medicine?) Have you ever read any Plato? Basically, you’ve got to go full Socrates on her ass. Use the power of listening and inquiry to get her to change her own mind. Because if an army of scientists at the CDC can’t do it, you sure won’t.

This therapist/Socratic approach is more challenging than it sounds. However, here’s the good news — more often than not, simply by getting the other person to talk at length and actually explain their opinions, their misguided views tend to start crumbling on their own. It may seem counter-intuitive, but if she shuts down the conversation (à la “I’m tired of this topic, let’s not talk about this anymore”) you’ve made progress in the right direction. Because it’s not about you, and it’s not about “winning” – it’s about creating a space (mentally and emotionally) where the other person feels safe enough to change their own mind, which tends to happen gradually.