What doesn’t kill you…

by

May 5, 2007

I’ve covered some of this ground before on the blog, but I told you I’d finish the post I began earlier this week, so here goes. I told you I’d try to explain my approach to diet, which has served me well so far. (There are no guarantees.) By “diet” I mean, The stuff I eat. I don’t mean a prescribed regimen designed by someone else, usually to foster weight loss. If my approach has a name, it would be “the ancestral diet.” Eat as your great grandparents ate. An absolute minimum of processed foods. Yes, it helps if you like to cook, because that’s what you’re going to be doing. Use the best quality ingredients available to you. I say, “Available to you,” because the healthiest ingredients aren’t always cheap or easy to find. It sounds silly, but “Shop around the edge of the grocery store” is useful advice. You might say, Our great grandparents ate a lot of fat. Well, yes. They did. And they ate salt and sugar. However, they ate basic ingredients they contributed, not polyunsaturated fats and sugars and salts that some manufacturer somewhere added for taste to everything they produce. It helps to get into it and approach eating as a hobby. I would say “lifestyle,” but I’m trying to make this sound like fun. I was reluctant to bring the subject up—again—because I don’t want to get preachy, but I’ve had some years of experience with this stuff and am happy with the results. And I don’t sweat the occasional hot dog. And ribs are fine. And as for shrimp lightly breaded and fried in monosaturated fat, bring it on. And fettucine Alfredo? Well, you can’t live forever.

77 thoughts on “What doesn’t kill you…”

  1. I always just have protein leftovers for lunch, and a starch, veggie and protein for dinner, all in Fargone moderation to keep me Symply fit…the best part os making all those lil bits taste great!

  3. I’ve chosen to eat uncured all-beef franks to achieve my goal of avoiding chemicals. One brand claims to have no added nitrites or nitrates, just those naturally occurring in sea salt and celery juice powder. Just be sure to take your reading glasses for finding the ingredient lists.
    🙂

  5. Yesterday, twice, and once this morning I attempted to reply to curmudgeonly-old-professor who noticed that “Clicking “February 26, 1998” got me nowhere.”
    In my first attempt, I had included two link samples, one working, one not. When it never appeared I seemed to recall that there was a rule about only one link in a comment so I replied again including only one link. Again this comment was not posted.
    This morning I tried a third time without any link in the text. That comment was not posted either.
    Have I violated some rule with these or previous posts that would prevent my comments from being posted? I guess if this comment doesn’t make the page, I’ve been voted off the island.

  6. Re the 2-13-21 retro cartoon (and with apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein): “…these are a few of my favorite things!”
    Actually, of the named foods, the only one I’ve had recently was the Alfredo, and that was a special occasion. And, as a wise man once said, “…you can’t live forever.”

  8. Your diet advice is exactly the same as my Dr. gave me 9 years ago. If your great grandparents do not recognize it, do not eat it and shop the edges of the grocery store. He added one piece for me. Reverse the order of the size of meals. Eat like a king for breakfast, normal for lunch, and a pauper for dinner. It’s amazing how simple advice actually works and lets you still enjoy eating without always counting calories, numbers, plans, etc.
    Keep up the good work, you are still my favorite comic strip, and the only one who’s artist I follow the blog on. You have made me laugh for 25 years. Thank you.

  9. My grandparents and those before them also ate a great amount of fat, but, because they were hard-working farmers, everyone was as skinny as a rail, even though they consumed at least 4,000 calories a day.

    My parents were born on farms, and they also ate a high calorie diet until they moved to the city. My mom was unable to gain weight when she was a child and a teenager, no matter how much or what she ate. It makes sense. She was always busy.

  11. Trucker

    As a star gazer have you read Jules Vern’s “From The Earth To The Moon”
    and its sequel “Round The Moon”? For a book written in 1865 he got a a lot of things
    right. (missed a few, it is after all Sci-Fi). He used data that was known at the time and it makes an interesting read
    150 years later. 🙂

    • You might say I cut my SF teeth on Jules Vern after I saw Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” on TV when I was about 10 or so. Those books and HG Well’s offerings prepped my for Heinlein’s. Then Asimov. Even E.E. “Doc” Smith held my attention for the entire run of his Lensman books.

  12. Using the word “diet” can cause misunderstandings: most folks think you’re trying to lose weight. That’s why, I think, diabetes self-management classes have used the term “meal plan” instead for many years.

  13. My diet that has served me well for 40+ years is from Weight Watchers from 1970’s: Eat to live, don’t live to eat. Eat all food groups, only small portions of meat and starch, large servings of fruit and veggies. You must eat each food group and 5 of fruits and veggies. Minimize casseroles and sauces. If you must have a luscious high calorie treat, go ahead … once.

  14. Now I’m seeing bright sunshine for the first time in days. Still estimated 4-8 inches of snow starting after midnight tonight. And then several inches a couple more days this week. Temperatures forecast below zero Monday and Tuesday night, if so, will set new records for Tulsa.

    • We had three or so hours of sunshine before sunset down here on the lake, Mark. Didn’t do a thing to increase the temperature, though, and the forecast is still nothing to which to look forward. We’re scheduled for appointments in Tulsa Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, but somehow I don’t see that happening based on the present forecasts. Notwithstanding what may be a foot of snow on the ground then, I don’t feel that getting Jackie into and out her wheelchair in single-digit temps and below zero wind chills is advisable for either of us.

  17. Sad news from Miz Charlotte’s daughter Amy on Facebook. My dear mom, Charlotte Roberts Christian, passed away peacefully today. She was a great role model as a lifelong learner, nature lover, poetry reader, genealogy and antiques hound, and mother. Love you, Mom.

  19. Mark, thank you so very much for passing along the information about Miz Charlotte. If you can send a message back to her daughter Amy, please let her know that many of us here in the Village found Charlotte to be both intelligent and kind. She will be missed.

  20. I loved Miss Charlotte. Ghost and I had planned to detour to New Hampshire back in 2017 to visit her before cancer got us. It was our loss. She was amazing lady. She went straight by St. Peter no question.

  21. Could NOT get here any previous way but managed to get into archives from GoComics! Then worked my way here from way back!

    Ironically I landed on one of Jimmy’s posts from 2019 where he was going to work on the blog page for a few hours. Deja vu all over again!

  22. I was so terribly sorry to hear just now the news of Miz Charlotte’s passing from Jackie via Mark. She was absolutely one of my favorite Villagers, and even though she no longer posted very often, I thought of her often. She was apparently the same age as my father when he passed several years ago, and I can tell you that age 88 is still much too young for a loved one to leave us.
    We are diminished.

  23. My sister’s been getting early shifts at the local market, so I’ve had to be the one taking the dog out in the morning most of the time lately. Marcia’s been letting the dog run loose here ever since her last leg problem, and the last time I walked the dog on the leash I ended up in the ER with (among other things) a partially broken kneecap, so I’m not interested in giving her a second chance at my bones. Normally, she’s out for between one and two hours, coming back past home a few times. Today, she was only out for about ten minutes, just long enough to find the right place to relieve herself and get back inside. I wasn’t surprised, as it was snowing, and the day’s high was only 18. I’d have been shivvering if I hadn’t put on my thermals, and expect to be wearing them five days a week for the next month or so. Hope the rest of you in snow country are keeping properly warm.

    • However, I have also read that eating four to six times a day is a healthy way to lose weight.

      The technique to eat only healthy foods and small amounts each time.

      Supposedly, that is the method humans used thousands of years ago.

    • Please accept my condolences. Your mother was a valued member of this variable-sized online community and our village will be diminished without her.

    • Yes, and we loved her. I know you must be devastated, and you will miss her. My mom has been gone about 20 years, and I still occasionally think of something I want to ask her. Prayers…

    • I hope you will join this “village”, as we describe ourselves. Perchance you do, we may address you as “Miz Patricia” – in the same style as we knew your mom.
      .Peace be with you.

    • A message for you from another of our long term members: emb
      Sunday, February 14, 2021 at 10:22 pm
      Charlotte was a gem. Also, one of the few who shared emails w/ me. Partly, this allowed us to encourage each other in subjects the Village wisely avoids, but I often cc’d her when I broadcast something that she might be interested in. She had wide interests; would love to have had Charlotte as a student, 88 or decades earlier. I don’t have FB. Mark, please send this to whomever. A major loss.
      Where I reside now, this is all too common. At least 4 former BSU faculty live here, one in an apt w/ spouse, others moved here w/ spouse who later died. I moved 10 yr after Elaine died; too many degenerative tendon tears. Will likely soon lose one of my girlfriends.
      Peace,

  27. In bed with a Garfield and Dickens the Support Dog. A second cat Skipper is in main house while other five are in back part of house keeping warm. I hope we all, along with our pets, stay warm and inside through the storm, snow, ice and cold.

  28. Charlotte was a gem. Also, one of the few who shared emails w/ me. Partly, this allowed us to encourage each other in subjects the Village wisely avoids, but I often cc’d her when I broadcast something that she might be interested in. She had wide interests; would love to have had Charlotte as a student, 88 or decades earlier. I don’t have FB. Mark, please send this to whomever. A major loss.
    Where I reside now, this is all too common. At least 4 former BSU faculty live here, one in an apt w/ spouse, others moved here w/ spouse who later died. I moved 10 yr after Elaine died; too many degenerative tendon tears. Will likely soon lose one of my girlfriends.
    Peace,

  29. I always pictured Miss Charlotte as the elegant understated genteel older lady, listening to soft classical music in a room decorated with only real antiques that she sat on and used, drinking her tea from fragile floral porcelain. Her books surrounded her as she embroidered and needlepointed in a highbacked wingchair, An ancient desk sat nearby to hold her poems and her computer she wrote us from.

    I always saw her when I read her. It may not be accurate but it was my Miss Charlotte. I wish I could be as I saw her for she was the woman I wanted to be like. I will never be and I shall miss her terribly.

  30. Good morning. Zero degrees in Tulsa with several inches of snow on the ground. Forecast has windchill below zero today, actual lows tonight below zero. Another large snowstorm expected tomorrow with several more inches accumulating. Hope it’s better wherever you are. Stay warm, stay safe, stay home if possible.

  31. We’re in the middle of the worst drought Utah has had in the 42 years I’ve lived in this state. I’ve only had to push around perhaps an inch of snow on the driveway twice this winter. Our ski resorts would be out of business if they didn’t have the snow machines for their runs. We’d LOVE to have Tulsa’s current weather pattern.

    • I reckon Tulsa would love for you to have it too! I know I would. If I wanted this kind of weather I’d have moved to Alaska. I’m from the Deep South, like Ghost and Jackie. Give me sunshine, very small amounts of snow, moderate winter temperatures and lots of heat in the spring and summer. I’m semitropical.

      • I 86ed and rescheduled Jackie’s Tuesday and Wednesday Tulsa appointments. Temperatures alone were good enough a reason, even if road conditions weren’t going to be problematic.
        There are too many sheltered areas, and too much drifting took place, for me to make an accurate estimate of the snowfall total here in Eufaula by looking out the window, although I’d guess more than two inches and less than six inches. I’m certainly not interested enough to go outside and look. Current temp is +5, wind chill -13. I experienced much worse in the interior of Alaska, but this is bad enough.

  32. Good morning, all Villagers, and some special notes.
    To Mark, thank you for the Facebook link to Charlotte’s daughter Amy. Yes, I am on FB (and often like or love your gorgeous old houses posts.) I couldn’t figure out how to contact Amy from the link, though, so thank you SO much for coming here, Pat.

    Here’s what I said about your mom: If you can send a message back to her daughter, please let her know that many of us here in the Village found Charlotte to be both intelligent and kind. She will be missed.

    I posted that earlier but hope that both Pat and Amy and others of Charlotte’s family will see it here. It is heartfelt.

    Stay in and stay safe, everyone. Even my relatives in Kansas are dealing with this bitter cold and snow right now.

  33. Pat, my comments about Miz Charlotte’s passing, in case you missed them, were made here on Sunday, February 14, 2021 at 12:07 am.
    Please accept my condolences for your entire family. She seemed to be fond of me, and I was certainly fond of her.

    • Thank you so much – and everyone here. I was so impressed that my mother had found this amazing group. It was her own thing and the friendships she made here were real and important to her. She often mentioned things people here said and talked about. Thank you for your condolences. I miss her so much.

  35. My work computer is still showing the old message from Jimmy. I have tried to send out messages on my phone but they have not shown up.

    I wanted to express my condolences to Patricia and her family for the loss of Charlotte. She was a wonderful lady who was always very kind to me. My prayers are with Charlotte and her entire family

  39. Big Garfield is an inside-outside cat so yesterday he wanted out. Ghost told him he wouldn’t like it. He stayed out about 10 minutes, today he only lasted 3 minutes.

    The snow is as deep as his legs. Ghost told him if he hadn’t been neutered they’d be frozen. He is down on foot of bed curled up.

    • Usually, Sadie is out for at least an hour, maybe two every morning. The last two days she’s been back in in under fifteen minutes, having gone just far enough to find a place to do what’s needed and come back. This is one dog who won’t use her own yard for a toilet!

  40. I started having osteoarthritis a couple years ago and all the meat I was eating was organic, pastured, etc., but I was eating meat daily. I cut back to once a week and the arthritis pain vanished shortly, never to return. Highly recommend a mostly plant based diet for great health! Jimmy, my husband just got new hearing aids and it was a game changer! Love A & J.

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