I Heart Guts

Baby Got Colic?

gutsy — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:31:07 +0000

According to an article from The Cochrane Library, colic in babies can be actually be helped by adjusting their spinal alignment (ie, chiropractic and osteopathy methods). Say hello to about 1 hour fewer of crying per day (I’d say that’s completely worth it)!

Colic usually happens in the first 6 months of life and affects about 16% of babies. See the full “Manipulative therapies for infantile colic” article here.

Craving Sweets?

gutsy — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:37:11 +0000

When people comment that I must have a sweet tooth, I counter with “Actually, they’re all sweet.” I LOVE sweets. I tried to live almost solely on them my first semester of college.. All-you-can-eat ice cream at the diner, every night?! Didn’t work out so well. Hello, freshman fifteen!

Why is the call of sweets so powerful? When was the last time you just had to eat something sweet? For me, it was this morning.

Today I realized our hypothalamus has a bunch of answers to the 3 o’clock need (or all-the-time need) for sweet things. It basically keeps tabs on how much energy you have stored, while also keeping an eye on blood sugar levels. Of course, it’s also influenced by personal preferences and experiences with food.

This article explains the cycle of eating that first bite of delicious food and whether you reach back for another bite, and what makes you feel full vs. still hungry for more (hint: FRUCTOSE isn’t the fairy godmother that you thought it was).

Birthday Party

gutsy — Thu, 02 May 2013 17:32:49 +0000

It’s never too early to celebrate the arrival of International Day of the Midwife, which falls this year on the same day as Cinco de Mayo, May 5th. So give your midwife a high-five or a strong margarita this Sunday!

The Skin You’re In

gutsy — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:44:24 +0000

If you haven’t yet seen the 2012 documentary Marley, make some time to watch it, it’s a fascinating portrait of reggae superstar Bob Marley, who died super young at age 36 from melanoma. The cancer was detected under one toenail in 1977, went untreated, and spread to his lungs and brain, ultimately killing him in 1981. May is skin cancer awareness month, so it’s not a bad time to remember to check your moles for any signs of melanoma. Have fun, get naked with a friend and go on a mole hunt with our bilingual skin check chart to guide and take care of the skin you’re in.

Hearts Content

gutsy — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:02:35 +0000

Esty makers heart hearts, and we love these glass anatomical heart pendants from vendor Nanopod in Toronto. The plasma one at center is really gorgeous, and we love the milky white one, too.

Fun and Function

gutsy — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:01:37 +0000

We are honored to announce that our plush kidney is featured in a photo illustration for a story about kidney medications in the May 2013 issue of Nikkei Drug Information, a pharmacy journal in Japan. The story describes how some drugs doses must be adjusted depending on the patient’s kidney function. This is so exciting, I could practically pee.

Just My Type

gutsy — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:24:14 +0000

Ridiculously cute blood drawings by Bloody Family and Piktorama with K, check them out!

Grand Ol’ Nads

gutsy — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:35:13 +0000

Whoops, we missed Testicular Cancer Awareness Week, it was April 1-7 this year, but why not make every day an excuse to check on your ‘nads? Since 43% of men readjust their junk six or more times a day, there’s no better time than right now to check your balls for lumps!

Japan in DC

gutsy — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:06:47 +0000

The cherry blossoms are at full peak today, and we love that people are flocking to DC to gape at a bunch of trees. We are busy packing for next Saturday’s 53rd annual Sakura Matsuri street festival in downtown Washington DC! The family-friendly festival features an exciting spectrum of Japanese culture, music, dance, martial arts, visual arts and food, including green tea ice cream. Just a to mention a few things to see and do: taiko drumming, kimono fashion show, calligraphy, learn Japanese booth, origami, Sodoku, Go games, tea, bonsai, manga, all things kawaii, green tea ice cream, Pokemon, anime, Harajuku girls, Domo-Kun, and the list goes on. Taste of Japan will host 25 different Japanese and Asian food vendors, green tea ice cream, plus two Kirin beer gardens and a sake tasting station. If you are Japanophiles like we are, then don’t miss it! Come and visit us Saturday April 13th from 10:30 am to 6:00 pm we will be bringing gutsy plush — including new plush organ friends Heart of Gold, Tooth and Eyeball — and t-shirts for sale, we hope to see you there, should be a gorgeous day! Did I mention the green tea ice cream?

Fun in the Sun

gutsy — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:31:43 +0000

Our new plush tooth recently visited Florida for some beaching and bleaching and sent us this postcard. Thanks, Rachel, for taking your tooth with you on vacation! “After careful examination of this deciduous molar,” wrote Gilberto R. on our Facebook page, “I have found three carious lesions (cavities): 2 in the pits (not to be confused with “eyeballs”) and one along the groove (not to be confused with a mouth with one tooth) Now I need my drill and some filling material and I’ll have him looking completely shiny white!”