Robot cars: Italian engineers are currently conducting an 8,000 mile road test of an automobile that uses laser scanners, cameras and computers instead of a driver. I’m not making this up! (They do have a human backup during the test hopefully avoiding hazards that the navigation system misses.)

My 2 cents: Personally, I plan to stay off the highway between Italy and China until the test is complete. These science-fiction-envisioned cars would sure be a blessing to blind people, giving them more independence. Also, thousands of lives could be saved each year if everyone drove one. That’s because we’d be spared the deadly mistakes of drunken drivers, drive-while-texting idiots and even those who fall asleep from low blood sugar. See next item.

McDonald’s smoothies: Fruit smoothies are now on the menu of the fast food giant.

My 2 cents: …fast food so fast you don’t even need to chew it. At first you might think the chain is doing a good thing because the smoothies contain fruit. Yessss, but it’s not like eating a piece of fruit. If you ate a whole medium banana plus ½ cup of sliced strawberries, you’d get 4+ teaspoons of sugar. With a medium size (16 oz) McDonald’s Strawberry Banana Smoothie, you gulp down 13+ teaspoons of sugar. Such a load of sugar spikes your blood glucose and that calls on the pancreas to pump out insulin to clear the sugar. (Sometimes that results in blood sugar so low that you get drowsy and need a robot car.) Insulin also tells the body to store fat. Chronic high levels of insulin are associated with heart disease and the early stages of Type 2 diabetes. The McDonald’s smoothie is at least a better choice than their 16 oz McCafe® Strawberry Shake. It has 25 teaspoons of sugar or over ½ a cup. As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, my recipe for a refreshing protein shake easily creates a dramatically lower carbohydrate and more nourishing drink. Add yummy Fruit of the Spirit for more fruit flavor and tons of nutrition with very little sugar.