No More News--Please!

I got up on the right side of the bed ready to accomplish great things.

I made one big mistake, I turned on the news. I was prepared for a financial collapse, terrible weather somewhere..

Someone being forced from their lovely home--someone else 's car not starting.

The usual suspects--nothing prepared me for the shocker I saw.

A dear sweet boy who had died or is soon to die said he had had a wonderful life and when it was time to go it was time to go.

I looked at him and wondered if he knew what he was talking about.
I am glad he had a wonderful life--I wish he could have a whole lot more of it.

Meanwhile I shall manage with less news. If I can fix a problem fine, but my sadness will not diminish his folks sadness--so why am I informed?

Why did I write this?

I am venting.

Alice,

Go ahead and vent! It is sad when people our age die. It is sadder when young people die. Sometimes sad news just doesn't need to be told, and if it can be balanced with some good news then it is not so bad.

The good news here is that it is a beautiful day! We had three inches of snow last night and it has covered everything, leaving a winter wonderland. I love new snow. We drove into town for me to have a blood test, and the whole drive was magical. Across the river, the trees in the bluffs were covered with snow. Soon the eagles will come and inhabit the island in the river as they do every winter.

Love ya, Carol

Ah ,Carol,

The bloodsuckers are so much fun--you know you are still alive as they prob and pick to get a drop or more like a pint of blood.

Watch out--pretty soon they will want to give you a transfusion and ask you why you are anemic.

I said "Beats me, All I know is your bloodsuckers come every day and take huge amounts and they must throw it out because they come for more the next day."

Tha slowed them down a scant bit.

Alice,

You are right. I am anemic and the medical people wonder why! Maybe if they left me with a little more blood it would help. This was JUST a finger prick today. The nurse who does this regularly is my friend's daughter-in-law. Last time I went to the clinic, one of the people at the check-in desk had brought me a picture of her and my youngest daughter's first communion class. It was really cute. Ah, small town life can be okay.

Carol

Carol a little good news -- someone told me that you get the same amount of iron from 6 ounces of steak as you can get in 2 pounds of spinach -- bring on the steak!!

Pam,

Sorry to rain on your parade, but there is the heart also.
The spinach will be easier on your heart.

Phooey, phooey phooey!

Long ago, I had a doctor tell me to go easy on the spinach, (As in never eat it unless I had to in order to be polite) as the acid in it is very hard on the kidneys!!

There ya go--I learn somethng new each day.
PopEye the Spinachman had best shut up.

On second thought he probably succombed to kidney failure.

Talk to enough specialists and you learn that everything is bad for some part of your body and your safest bet is to starve to death.
As mentioned before, my late writer friend Ross Spencer had it right when he told the doctors, "I would rather live one day my way than ten years your way." He did it his way and lived another eighteen years

Dick,

I agree. I have to avoid vitamin K foods because I am on blood thinners. Then I am supposed to have five or six helping of potassium rich foods a day for some reason I don't remember. Then for anemia I'm supposed to eat iron rich foods and iron absorption enhancing foods. The only good news is that chocolate and white wine are permissible, like that really matters since they are both staples, (in moderation) in my diet and also for the blood thinners I am supposed to be cautious about changes in my diet and not make them.

I think I like your advice best. I'm not a big eater anyway, and always eat small portions. Sometimes all this reminds me of the skinny little girl I once was who sat through many dinners with mother and grandmother telling me to eat my meat, potatoes, broccoli, whatever, which only made me want to eat less.

Carol

Dick and Carol,

I hear you. The worst part of the whole sorry situation is that what is good for you one day is killing you the next.


Butter is good, butter is bad.

When I left the hospital the doctor said to eat chocolate--that is the reccomendation I like the very best.

Ha I cannot wait to tell my kids that spinach can be bad for you! They'll laugh like crazy over that. I really am a moderation person too -- I can eat moderate amounts of anything, except chocolate. I find it hard to keep my hands off the stuff, and the darker the better!

Good for you, Pam,

You are on the right road . Dark chocolate is the new health food.

Don't even try to keep your hands off of it--put it in your mouth and let it slide down--enjoy the delicious taste and relish the fact that it is actually good for you.

I too find it interesting, strange and confusing when it comes to what is good and what is bad to eat. I don't know if it is entirely based on new scientific data or influenced by the producers of some products.
As Alice pointed out, it is supposed to be good one day and bad the next.
Eggs are bad - eggs are good.
Red meat is bad - red meat is full of protein
Chocolate is bad - chocolate is good
Alcohol is bad - red wine is beneficial to the heart.
Etc.

In my view, eating what one likes in moderation combined with exercise is no problem. Movement/motion is necessary for the body to function properly. If the body can digest what one eats quickly, it is beneficial. If, like in red meat, it takes longer to digest and is still in the process when one plops another batch to be processed on top, the build up is not only uncomfortable but creates all sorts of internal problems. The body tries to keep pace but eventually can just give up.
Perhaps it can be likened to a worker. Before one job is completed another gets placed on top and they can't seem to get caught up. After a time, the worker gets frustrated and just quits.
Fasting for some may help by giving the internal workers a chance to rest.

Abe,

I like all of your ideas except for the fasting one.

I am certain you are nothing like my brother who is just plain against eating.

Holidays are not festive with him about because he preaches against eating. He is convinced any and all conditions can be aleviated by merely ceasing to eat.

So far he has cured no one of anything, but that does not dissuade him in the least.

Abe you could be right about the red meat thing...but it's practically my favourite food group so hopefully, in another 3-5 years, it comes back onto the "good for you, eat it in moderation Mon-Fri and go crazy on the weekends list"!

Alice, he doesn't eat at all? How interesting. I suppose there will be a time when your brother just fades away to nothing if he refuses to eat...then again, maybe he eats when nobody is looking. I wouldn't surprised to find a stash of chocolate somewhere...or at least broccoli.

Now why did you go and spoil a nice message by mentioning broccoli? Even our hamster Sophie won't eat it.

Pam,

His all-time record was 32 days. At the end of that time he weighed 115 pounds. He is about 6 feet tall, so I don't think he had much chocolate or that other item Dick cannot stand.

I do believe in freedom of eating and never made my kids eat anything.
I am a fast eater, so would eat my food and then spear something off of their plates.

It was so funny to watch them guard their plates, Grown-ups cook what they like and then impose it on their poor kids all in the guise of being "good for them."

Dick,

Why don't you like brocolii? Do you overeat on it as a child?

As a person who was starved as a child, I really do appreciate food. I weigh 106 right now, so you can say that I do not just hog out willy nilly. It is important to me to have food in the house and in the cupboard and the refrigerator, just in case I would like to eat or anyone else might be hungry. It is a comforting thing to me. In fact, I am a little nuts about it if the pantry looks sparce.

I really would feed the world if I could. I am not hungry, but I know that many children and families are. I wish that I could just show them how to plant seeds, water them and wait. One bean seed produces ten pounds of beans. What am I missing?

I wish you all a wonderful day tomorrow. I am cooking a giant turkey of 26 pounds and all of the other stuff that goes with that.

How does a turkey get to be 26 pounds, without feathers and guts and feet, head and beak? I imagine it was a fierce bird about my size.

I am glad that the Democrats are back or I would start to worry on next Thanksgiving. I would be about ripe by then and on the Publix deli buffet complete with horseradish.

Love,
Betty

Dick I threw that broccoli in there just for you - so you can say you've had some this week.

I did make (encourage?) my kids try everything at least once, and they are both pretty easy going when it comes to food, although I found it fascinating that they got more adventurous when they got bigger and started cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. Jenn, however, never took a liking to broccoli...I suspect it's Dick's fault.

I like broccoli just about anyway it is prepared. The best is raw, then lightly steamed. Either way, give it a squeeze of lemon!

My least favorite is when it has been cooked to a soggy mass.Then the best you can do is melt some cheese over it...

'Betty, You work too hard. I wish I weighed less not at less as you though.

At 5'10" I'd be quite a beanstring.

While you were starving I was overeating as a child --not my wish.

Brew I never thought about lemon on it and I love lemon on just about anything. Thanks for the tip!

I have a feeling my dr. was telling me that to make me want to eat spinach. It worked, but my kidneys put me an inch from the grave when I was 26! Go figure. I don't blame the spinach, just my own over indulgence in things I knew were bad for me.

I eat spinach in small amounts, but like it fresh from our garden the best.

Good today and bad tomorrow is so true. I had a doctor when I was pregnant that told me to listen to my body, and it would tell me what it needed. For four months I ate a lot of chocolate eclairs!! I don't think that's what he had in mind.

zadaconnaway wrote:

I had a doctor when I was pregnant that told me
to listen to my body, and it would tell me what it needed.

I believe that, Zada. Here in Georgia when I was a kid I frequently saw
little black kids eating red clay. I learned later from my doctor that
they were eating it for the iron content. They couldn't have known
that, but their bodies were fulfilling a need (the red in Georgia clay
comes from the iron oxide).

Pam, I think you will love the lemon on broccoli!