Featured on NoFIZZ Charlotte WaterBLOG

Hello! My name is Joe, and I’m a sodaholic. They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different results each time.How much product can I get in? This will pick me up this time. I just want the fizz between my teeth for a little while longer.

If there were a meeting for a soda addiction, you might find me there. I moved up to Charlotte some years ago and it was at that point that I discovered even more local soda products that were not available in other parts of the country. This made my soda drinking habits even worse.

I enjoy coffee. I enjoy the pick-me-up. It can be argued that once combined, the caffeine rush with HFCS found in soda gave me the perfect peace of mind I so craved. Does this sound familiar? I will never argue to take away a good cup of coffee. What I will argue against is the experience of walking down the grocery aisle and feeling the craving of something that I would later learn can give me extreme issues with diabetes along with a myriad of other health consequences thanks to HFCS and the byproducts found within soda.

The first step was to take the challenge and admit there was a problem. Thankfully for beginning this challenge, food allergies were nothing new to me. I suffered severe migraines as a kid thanks in part to my addictively overeating a product loaded with preservatives. Still don’t think unnatural, unhealthy and processed food is bad for you?Luckily, I have outgrown most of those issues by this point in my life. The lifestyle I led as a result of those allergies has stayed with me, and forced me to make some changes. Why not turn over a new leaf and take a step against diabetes, obesity, and the bad effects of a sugary crash?

I had already begun the process of eliminating out soda from my life a few years prior. Encouraged by NoFizz Charlotte and the daily reminders via Twitter, along with the support of fellow Charlotte friends, soda and high fructose corn syrup-based products would be a thing of the past in my life.

The simple challenge NoFizzCLT presented to me was not a major lifestyle change. No body is asking me to remove my coffee drinking – simply the byproducts, and unnatural processed chemicals found within soda. The results are another step towards a healthier alternative to living.

There are no sugary crashes during the middle of the day. While I have no scientific proof, since the last time I cracked open a can of soda, even stress levels appear to have subsided. The impacts to my areas of life being a little less stressed have improved. I supplanted soda for water, sparkling cider, and carbonated flavored water mixed with natural juices.

Living healthier is not all or nothing. Making a healthier change is as simple as one step at a time. I encourage all to take one simple step as I did with NoFizz Charlotte and take this challenge!

About the Author: Joe, an avid dog trainer and rescuer, lives and works in Charlotte, North Carolina, and runs the blog Caffeine Central.

Original Post located on NoFIZZ Charlotte's WaterBlog posted September 22, 2010

How do you say that?!

Josie is too adorable for words!

Today was Josie’s first day of daycare. She is a Xoloitzcuintli (pronounced sho-lo-skwink-le), or Mexican Hairless Dog. The Xoloitzcuintli is the national dog of Mexico. According to the Xoloitzcuintle Club USA, Xoloitzcuintle was regarded as the earthly representative of the god Xolotl from which the name originates. In Mesoamerican art, Xolotl is portrayed as a man with a dog’s head. He was said to have created a protector and guide for humans in the underworld in the form of the hairless dog, the Xoloitzcuintle. Its task was to accompany the souls of the dead to the eternal resting place. It is estimated that the breed dates back 3,000 years and was a companion of the Colima, Mayan and Aztec Indians.


The website www.dogbreedinfo.com says that the Aztecs enjoyed the hairless dogs as pets, but also found them useful. They would even use the toy version of the breed as ancient hot-water bottles to relieving stomach pains and rheumatic joints, or simply for warming beds during cold nights. Extreme cold made for a “Three Dog Night.” I know that’s something to make me sing “Joy to the World!”
Whatever her ancient history, we’re so glad that Josie is here to help keep our playrooms warm now that summer is ending!


Originally featured on Dogtopia of Charlotte's Doggy Blog
Thank you Nicole Pennell of DOGTOPIA for featuring Josie!

Breed Profiling is the Pits

FEATURED IN CLTBLOG.com (June 9, 2010)

Author: Nicole Pennell

Franklin playing at Dogtopia

As a dog daycare owner I get to meet lots of different breeds of dogs. I was really excited this week when we had a blue pit bull named Franklin come to play with us. Franklin is one of the sweetest, happiest dogs I’ve met since I opened Dogtopia. He’s wonderful in the playrooms with the other dogs and has a great temperament. So I was I was more than a little taken aback when some of the comments I got from friends when I told them about Franklin were along the lines of “Oh my God, I can’t believe you guys let pit bulls play with the other dogs!”

Of course we let pit bulls play with the other dogs. We evaluate each individual dog that comes to Dogtopia based on their temperament. Not every business in Charlotte, or every town in North Carolina agrees with that idea, however.

In February a Mount Holly man and his greyhound were attacked during a walk by a pit bull, which led him to propose a pit bull ban to the Mount Holly City Council. According to Joe Katon, a Gaston County resident, responsibility for attacks like that fall on the owner’s shoulders, not the dog’s. “We’ll never break through the misconceptions of what pit bulls are” noted Katon. He believes that pit bulls are such a hot topic these days because people own them just to say they have a pit bull and don’t understand the responsibility, training and exercise this high-energy breed requires. In Katon’s blog The Gaston Gallop he states, “Dogs cannot be merely placed in our homes without any expectations, rules, boundaries, exercise, and mental foundation. The result of failing to provide these things to ANY breed creates an animal that is destructive, hyper, and dangerous.” Thebreed specific legislation is still currently under review by the Mount Holly City Council, but pit bull discrimination continues.

On April 29, a pit bull named Bella escaped from her family’s fenced in yard and was shot and killed by a Cabarrus County Animal Control officer even though she showed no signs of aggression. The animal control officer stated she wasn’t worth his time to catch. The officer was recently cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Department investigation. According to a press release from the Sheriff’s office the investigation “determined that the officer acted appropriately to protect the potential harm presented to the citizens by shooting the pit bull that could not be captured.” Since the shooting Bella’s family has created a non-profit organization called Justice for Bella. The goal of the organization is to seek the termination of the animal control officers involved and increase training for future animal control officers. More than 12,500 people support their cause on Facebook.

Even here in Mecklenburg County our Animal Care & Control office is prohibited from adopting out a dog classified as a pit bull. Luckily they partner with the Humane Society of Charlotte to help find loving, responsible homes for pit bulls brought into the shelter. The Humane Society of Charlotte even held an Adopt-a-Bull Party on April 10 to showcase some of the pit bulls available for adoption, as well as to educate the public about what great companions pit bulls can be and how myths about the breed have been an obstacle to placing them in new forever homes.

The truth of the matter is that breed specific legislation is never going to be the answer to reducing the number of dog attacks that occur or bites that are reported. The answer is stronger enforcement of dangerous animal ordinances, animal license enforcement, spay/neuter legislation, and education about responsible dog ownership that includes training and exercise. Animal Care & Control offers humane education classes for students, businesses and pet owners to learn more about bite prevention, pet ownership and local ordinances.