Rugby!

That's right folks, those of you who may have thought there was not much of an athletic bone in the Halls family would be pleasantly surprised. I played Touch Rugby a couple weeks ago. Some of my friends and I were convinced by a couple of New Zealanders to join a team for a one-day tournament. Needless to say, we lost, but got a couple of t-shirts and a day of fun in the sun! our team was named The Mobsters. Here is a team photo:

I also recently celebrated my birthday with some friends. It was fun, and I am now officially a quarter of a century! Wow, I can barely believe it myself. Anyway, take a look at my recently updated Picassa web albums, complete with pictures from Rugby and my Birthday. Enjoy!

Kimchi, Kimchi, it is good for you and me...?

So today, someone mentioned that Dr. Oz(the guy from Oprah) says that Kimchi causes cancer. If you don't already know, Kimchi is pretty much the national food of Korea. It is served in almost every restaurant, and eaten at every meal, even(if not especially) at breakfast. I first tried Kimchi last year in Taiwan, and didn't really acquire a taste for it until trying it several more times upon arrival here in SK. Now, I look forward to my near daily intake of the spicy fermented cabbage and relish in it when a restaurant serves particularly tasty Kimchi. Koreans believe in the healing power of Kimchi, but in search of the truth, I decided to consult all-knowing Wikipedia:

Kimchi is very spicy and can also be exceptionally sweet. Kimchi is made of various vegetables and contains a high concentration of dietary fiber, while being low in calories. One serving also provides up to 80% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C and carotene.[8] Most types of kimchi contain onions, garlic, and peppers, all of which are salutary. The vegetables being made into kimchi also contribute to the overall nutritional value. Kimchi is rich in vitamin A, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium, and iron,[9][10] and contains a number of lactic acid bacteria, among those the typical species Lactobacillus kimchii.[11][12][13][11]
The magazine Health named kimchi in its list of top five "World's Healthiest Foods" for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and even possibly reducing cancer growth.[14] However, some research focused on high-sodium dietary dependence has found overconsumption of kimchi and doenjang (hangul: 된장) to be a risk factor in gastric cancer (most likely due to nitrates and salt) while unfermented alliums and unfermented seafood were found to be protective factors.[15] One oncological study found one type of kimchi to be a protective factor against gastric cancer while two other types of such high-sodium kimchi as dongchimi (hangul: 동치미) were risk factors.[16]

One study conducted by Seoul National University claimed that chickens infected with the H5N1 virus, also called avian flu, recovered after eating food containing the same bacteria found in kimchi. However, the veracity of these results has been questioned due to the very small sample size of only a handful of chickens and the fact that no subsequent research supported the claims. During the 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia, many people even believed that kimchi could protect against infection, although there was no scientific evidence to support this belief.[17][18] However, in May 2009, the Korea Food Research Institute, Korea’s state food research organization, said they had conducted a larger study on 200 chickens, which supported the theory that it boosts chickens' immunity to the virus

That's right....a possible cure for Bird Flu! Ha! Somehow I doubt it. Anyway, my conclusion is that like everything else in the world, it probably does cause cancer if its the only thing you are eating every day. I am going to keep enjoying the stuff. :)