“Sit down and write. People who want to write, talk about writing.”

Sit Down, You’re Not Finished Yet: Writing Advice From My Dad

Excuse me, I have to sit down and write.

November 17, 2024

Boomers Worry About Moving to Senior Communities for One Significant Reason

A new survey, The Great Expectations survey by Age of Majority, a consultancy specializing in the 55+ market, found that when considering a residential facility, boomers prioritize their tummies. A whopping 71% say food quality is a “very important” factor when deciding on a move to a new community.

Source – Boomers Worry About Moving to Senior Communities for 1 Surprising Reason—but Would Thrive in These 10 Retirement Spots – https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/boomers-senior-communities-the-villages/

Second Source – The link in the quote takes you here – Here’s a surprising reason most boomers are worried about moving to a senior residence – https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-do-some-boomers-shun-living-in-senior-residences-theydontwant-to-eat-cafeteriafood

One senior community mentioned in the MarketWatch article has entrance fees starting at $285,740 and monthly fees on top of that starting at $3,980. Another senior residence rates start at $12,600 per month for one person in a studio unit.

I have to remind myself this is a food blog.

At these prices you can buy a lot of food and cook it yourself.

October 10, 2024

Beer Sales in Utah (at a hockey game)

HT to VinePair for reporting this story.

https://vinepair.com/booze-news/beer-sales-break-record-utah-nhl-first-game/

Delta Center had a record-breaking demand for beverages from the hockey audience. The arena did $120,000 in beer sales alone, which is more than any NBA or NHL event it has hosted, Smith Entertainment Group said. Utah’s beer-loving hockey fans bought a record amount of brews at Delta Center – https://www.sltrib.com/sports/2024/10/09/utah-hockey-club-delta-center/

First time I’ve posted about beer twice in one day.

October 10, 2024

Scary Charts – 10.10.24 (and the answer to the question is NO)

Who’s Drinking (Non-Alcoholic) Beer? – https://www.statista.com/chart/33210/regular-beer-drinkers-survey/

Anyone who knows me personally or has followed my blog posts know I have a fondness for beer. The problem is empty non-nutritional calories. I just learned about Persistent Metabolic Adaptation so I thought why not try a new strategy? Yup, I’m testing non-alcoholic beers. Sample size is small, researcher bias definitely exists, so don’t try to extrapolate my findings to a larger population of non-alcoholic beers. So, straight to the research.

Coors Edge – somewhat palatable, tastes somewhat like beer.

Heineken 0.0 – odd taste, worse aftertaste almost like a spoiled real Heineken.

I’m guessing whatever the Spaniards are drinking must taste better than the zero taste, zero alcohol brews we have in the US.

October 8, 2024

Still Not Vegan 2.0

What do you get when a blogger https://theveganword.com/about/ analyzes the number of vegan restaurants from a vegan restaurant listing website https://www.happycow.net/?

You get modern day journalism. You get this:

The Cities With The Most Vegan Options Worldwide – https://www.statista.com/chart/19612/share-of-restaurants-classified-as-vegan-friendly/

Once a fringe movement, it is now firmly mainstream, something that is being reflected by increasing vegan options in restaurants and supermarkets.

Nope. Still a trendy thing on the fringe. Don’t take this the wrong way. I haven’t eaten any meat in several days. But please try to do just a little bit of serious research before jumping to conclusions.

Oh sorry, I forgot this was a food blog. If you’ve read this far, thank you for reading my mini-rant. And to think I started this post thinking about making a new to me chickpea recipe.

Electronic Sticky Notes

25 Vegan Chickpea Recipes – The First Mess

30 Recipes with a Can of Chickpeas

Keep it simple. Eat more plants.

September 5, 2024

Blueberries Make You Smarter?

Half a cup of blueberries a day improved the average participant’s language skills, improved their short-term memory, and enhanced their decision-making, planning, and organizational skills. Scientists Just Discovered That Eating Blueberries Will Make You Smarter and ‘Significantly’ Improve Your Memory — https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/scientists-just-discovered-that-eating-blueberries-will-make-you-smarter-significantly-improve-your-memory.html

So I suppose not eating blueberries for most of my life was the main driver behind my impaired language skills, memory and decision making.

I wonder if the effects are dose dependent?

Sorry Hon, I ate all the blueberries. Again.

September 3, 2024September 3, 2024

ATTENTION PARENTS – New Wrinkle Worry

“When kids use anti-aging skin care, they can actually cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring,” says Dr. Brooke Jeffy, a Scottsdale, Arizona, dermatologist who has posted her own social media videos rebutting influencers’ advice.

More than the physical harm, parents and child psychologists worry about the trend’s effects on girls’ mental health — for years to come. Extensive data suggests a fixation on appearance can affect self-esteem and body image and fuel anxiety, depression and eating disorders. ‘I didn’t want to get wrinkles’: The alarming effects of tweens using antiaging products — https://www.fastcompany.com/91183100/didnt-want-wrinkles-alarming-effects-kids-using-anti-aging-products

You’re welcome.

Reducing leisure screen time to just a few hours a week could decrease behavioral issues and increase positive social interactions for children and adolescents, according to a randomized trial of 89 families in Denmark. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, included 181 children aged 4 years through 17 years.

Less Screen Time Linked to Improved Sociability and Behavior in Children

JAMA. 2024;332(9):697-698. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.14875

And healthier skin in young girls.

August 21, 2024August 24, 2024

Seed Oils – Updated 08.24.24

If you consume social media, you may have heard: Seed oils are terrible for your health–even toxic! Cooking oils derived from seeds cause everything from heart disease to inflammation to fatigue to bad skin–according to a certain subset of Internet influencers. Yet contrary to the posts demonizing the common ingredients, a bevy of scientific research disagrees…

And broadly, the best path to a healthy diet is probably what you’d expect. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables, with whole grains and lots of fiber, is best, say Calder and Johnson. “It’s what your mother told you,” Johnson adds. Moving more and eating slightly less overall, are probably also good ideas for most Americans, notes Harris. “It’s not sexy, but that’s the way it is.” What science actually says about seed oils — https://www.popsci.com/health/are-seed-oils-bad-for-you/

Update

The American Heart Association supports the inclusion of omega-6 fatty acids as part of a healthy diet. There’s no reason to avoid seed oils and plenty of reasons to eat them — https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/08/20/theres-no-reason-to-avoid-seed-oils-and-plenty-of-reasons-to-eat-them

You’re welcome.

May 25, 2024

Eat The Real Paleo Diet…(eat more plants)

It has long been thought that meat played an important role in the diet of hunter-gatherers before the Neolithic transition. However, due to the scarcity of well-preserved human remains from Paleolithic sites, little information exists about the dietary habits of pre-agricultural human groups. A new study challenges this notion by presenting compelling isotopic evidence of a strong preference for plants among 15,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Morocco. This is the first time a significant amount of plant consumption has been measured for a pre-agricultural population, shedding new light on the dietary practices of ancient human societies. More plants on the menu of ancient hunter-gatherers — https://www.mpg.de/21865602/more-plants-on-the-menu-of-ancient-hunters-gatherers