Food and Whine: The Weekly Hodgepodge

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From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

 
What's an adult problem nobody prepared you for? 

We are not going there today. 

How tuned in are you to all the recent food related health news? Have you gotten rid of your scratched cookware? Did you pay attention to food additives before they made the news? What's one healthy eating/cooking/food shopping habit you need to adopt? 

With the plethora of snake oil salespeople, the health "experts" who don't know their butt from a hole in the ground, and the flat out liars, I ignore all of these trends and warnings.  Sorry, but I've been through every food fad and fear since the 80s:  eat eggs, don't eat eggs, high fiber, probiotics, eat grapefruit, grapefruit will make you bleed out, cast iron is bad, cast iron is good, Teflon is good, Teflon turns your innards to plastic, fried food it death, fry it and blot it and you'll be OK, organic food it best, organic food is a scam, keto, paleo, low-carb, no-carb, slow-carb, nothing but carb, low fat, Atkins' bacon buffet, sugar will kill you, sugar doesn't do anything, the South Beach Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, the "Maker's" Diet, Deal-A-Meal, Weight Watchers, First Place, Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Solution, Optifast, Optavia, NutriSystem, Jenny Craig, the Blood Type Diet, the Daniel Plan, the Weigh Down Diet, the pink salt "trick"...etc. etc. etc.  It's enough misinformation and conflicting information to make a grown man gag. 

Whatever happened to a balanced diet and common sense? And why do all these "habits" and "trends" only work if they come with a high price tag?  Don't talk to me about "food deserts" when there's a local Wal-Mart full of fresh, reasonably-priced produce nearby.  If the information comes from YouTube, TikTok, or pretty much anyone except a reputable doctor or nutritionist (which are hard to find on any kind of media), it's all bougie nonsense. 

What's getting worse and worse as you get older? How about better and better?

You know what?  I've ranted enough today and want people to actually read this.  So, I'll skip the first part of the question and answer the second.  In general, the access to information is getting better.  Yes, to properly synthesize that information takes exercising critical thinking skills and not taking everything like banana pudding on a spoon, but with proper guidance we can access and assimilate more useful information.  There are also more opportunities for multiple income streams.  If a person can be paid thousands of dollars to live stream him/herself eating a bucket of KFC on the internet, there's hope for us all to increase our incomes.  And, no, I'm not eating on the internet.  I don't need the money that bad.

For me personally, I feel that my total health is getting better and better.  It's a slow process, but I'm further along in my health journey than I've ever been.  And yes, I do realize that many of my answers today may make you question that statement in relation to my mental health.

Are you more of an indoor person or an outdoor person? Elaborate. 

It depends on the weather.  I thoroughly enjoy the outdoors, but because of work and/or weather, I spend more time inside that I'd like.  I haven't yet figured out how to get around those constraints.

If you had an expert personal assistant today, what would you have them do? 

Drive.  As I said in my Hodgepodge post "...And Cake":

Y'all know my utter terror and disdain for the interstate, plus my discomfort with nighttime driving.  I miss out on a lot of things (concerts, ball games, church events, etc.) because of it.  If I had a [personal assistant to drive], I could go anywhere I wanted anytime I wanted.  Yes, there are more transportation alternatives here than were in Alabama.  However, at night, all of them are dangerous at worst and creepy at best, not to mention expensive.  I have a friend at church who drives for a ride share service, but the company doesn't allow the customer to pick a particular driver.  No, thank you.  I want someone trustworthy. 

Insert your own random thought here. 

 

In case you missed it:  

• My previous Hodgepodge post "Ice Cream Tips" is here.
• My latest Weekly Digest "Tis or Taint" is here.
  
• My latest First Line Friday post: #37:  James by Percival Everett is here. 
• Please see my "first words" and "last words" on The Great Gatsby here.  
• My "25 for 2025" challenge is here.  (Updated regularly)
• My "2025 I Can Only Blame MyShelf Reading Challenge" is here. (Updated regularly)