Food for Thought Friday

Green Beer + Black Licorice + Requiem for Butter

Whatever Friday

From Omaha World Herald (12/30):  "Shopping:  What to buy when during the year. MARCH. There aren't any major shopping holidays in MAR, but that doesn't mean sales are lacking. Look for sales on these products:  Golf clubs . . . Grills . . . St. Patrick's Day Essentials."  COMMENTS:  It is time for me to replace my set of miniature-golf clubs. I haven't played a round of "grown-up golf" since 1973 . . . I got a spiffy new grill for Father's Day a couple of years ago. Since then my ratio of "crispy" meat entrees to palatable ones has slowly gotten better . . . St. Patrick's Day received short shrift in the Leckband family, despite my interest in learning more about a legendary ancestor, Angus McLeckband, who is credited w/introducing green lager beer to America.

Food for Thought

From OWH (2/9/17):  "Black licorice could land you in the hospital, FDA warns. Black licorice looks innocent enough, But eat enough of those sticks or candies, & you could suffer the consequences. 'We're not talking about weight gain or tooth decay. We're talking bonafide, serious health issues like arrhythmia, reports the FDA."  COMMENTS:  In my younger days, family vacations included my parent doling out "expense" money before we embarked on a trip. We could spend our cash however we pleased on comic books, candy, souvenirs . . . or we could save it. My sister, being the most astute financially among my siblings [No offense, Mark.] would inevitably refuse to spend her money on candy. Mark [my esteemed little brother] & I would warn her that we were not about to share our candy with her because of her stinginess, I mean, thriftiness. She would deny having any intentions of begging candy from us. So, off we would head on our vacation jaunt, out would come our candy, out would come my sister's outstretched palm, & my brother & I would indignantly refuse to share. Then my mother would intervene, i.e., "share with your sister," & we would have to oblige. Solution? We discovered that our sibling had a strong distaste for black licorice, which Mark & I both relished, so guess what became our candy of preference? You guessed it, & that put an end to our charitable giving. [In hindsight, the Christian thing to do would have been sharing with Carolyn. Unfortunately, Mark & I had not developed a strong sense of spirituality at that point in our younger days.]

From Parade Magazine, Stay Healthy, (1/7/18):  "Surprising Reasons You Overeat.

• "You're overestimating the value of exercise. IN MY CASE, NOT AN ISSUE. [This is NOT to my credit.]
• "Your go-to social activity is dining out. LOIS & I ARE NOT ANTI-SOCIAL, just somewhat unsociable when it comes to eating out. We do have friends that join us in eating out, maybe once every 4-6 weeks. And we prefer ordering out & relaxing at home, which prevents us from ordering appetizers & dessert. [One could consider this a downside of ordering in.]
• "You're not getting enough sleep. SINCE I WAS DIAGNOSED W/INFLUENZA IN EARLY JANUARY, followed by pneumonia, followed by a staph infection in my lung, the quality of my sleep has been seriously eroded, due to a chronic cough. This could be linked to an insatiable desire for sweets. After over 6 weeks of cough medicine & other treatments, I seem to be getting over my cough, so now I have to break a very, very bad habit of turning to sweets for my snacking at all hours of the day.
• "You're not getting enough fat." AS PART OF OUR COMMITMENT TO A MEDITERRANEAN DIET, brought on with my diagnosis of an 80% blockage in the main artery to my heart, we've given up butter & corn house and switched to olive & canola oil. Alas & alack, I LOVE butter, & this will sorely try my willpower.