One of the first news articles I saw this morning was Tom Clancy author of "Patriot Games" dies. When I realized it was not about the Patriots football team I read more. Mr. Clancy was 66-years-old, that really got my attention. He leaves a wife named Wanda, that did too. He was a prolific author; his 17th novel is due out later this year.
I think it's normal to look back on your life and think about changes you could have made. Fortunately for me, when I look back nothing much comes to mind. OK, my first marriage. That truly was a stupid thing to do. We were children.
I couldn't find my ass with both hands. Hell, I couldn't find her ass with both hands. The reason many young couples married was pregnancy and she wasn't. I said I couldn't find her ass with both hands, didn't I. Young kids don't get married now. They have babies and go on the Jerry Springer Show. Eighteen is too flipping young for the responsibility of marriage. I can't take it back and I've always been sorry for that decision.
What else? I don't think I would buy that 1961 Ford again. It was a horrible car.
I like this, thanks to Avie for sending it.
At age 4 success is not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is having friends.
At age 16 success is having a drivers license.
At age 35 success is having money.
At age 50 success is having money.
At age 70 success is having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is having friends.
At age 80 success is not peeing in your pants.
I know we could debate the successes at 35 and 50 but it's a short little e-mail not Erikson's stages of psychosocial development.
The blog entry yesterday dealt with potential dangers lurking in most everything we eat. In keeping with that theme: "Healthy" foods that aren't.
Pretzels: Only one fat gram per serving of 10 but over half your daily allowance of salt. Kari Blassman R.D. suggests popcorn; plain, dry popcorn that tastes like cardboard.
Splenda: I use Splenda in my lattes. Researchers have found that artificial sweeteners may actually make people overindulge and crave sweet food because they trick the body into thinking they are getting calories. When calories do not follow the sweetness, you look for them elsewhere. I'm more concerned about research that suggests artificial sweeteners can cause damage to essential bacteria in the gut. Seems rather silly to kill with Splenda and restore with Good Belly Probiotics at $4 a quart.
Blassman suggests using real honey which is only 60 calories per tablespoon. Like I'm going to spend $20 for a pound of coffee and put honey in it. I may as well go back to real sugar. I don't have to guess with that, I know it's bad for me.
High-fiber cereal: Most of these are loaded with sugar. The last thing a body needs is a morning sugar rush. Fiber is good for the body, especially as we age. The suggestion here is Kashi Go Lean, which is 140 calories, 6 grams of sugar and 10 grams of fiber per serving.
I'd rather eat dirt, or wood shavings, which is what a lot of this "healthy" cereal tastes like. I can barely say Kashi let alone eat it. My issue may be my childhood. There's a Jewish dish called Kasha that was forced on me. Kasha is made with sauteed onions, schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) bow-tie pasta and buckwheat groats....groats, enough said.
I just remembered something I used to eat (and love), Gribenes. You've never heard of Gribenes? It's a simple dish, chopped onions and chicken skin strips deep fried in schmaltz (rendered chicken fat). I ate lots of it when I was a kid and I'm worried about Splenda?
Diet Soda: This has the same problem as Splenda, the body carves calories. In addition to your waistline it's also bad for over all health. In a study of 2,500 people that drank diet soda daily 61% had a higher risk of stroke and heart attack then those that did not. Drink water!
Frozen Yogurt: You may as well eat ice-cream and it tastes so much better. A half cup of frozen yogurt contains 200 calories, 4.5 grams of fat and 21 grams of sugar. Ice cream has more fat, almost 14 grams but the same amount of sugar and only 70 more calories.
Today is National Fried Scallops Day so cook up some cornmeal crusted scallops with heirloom beans and oregano succotash. Succotash is a great word. "Sufferin' Succotash," Sylvester the Cat. Or go all out and have deep fried scallops wrapped in bacon. Not Kosher but very, very good.
Honestly, forget all the crap about Splenda, pretzels and diet soda. Tom Clancy died at 66, have some fun before it's too late.
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