To Eat Them Is Not In Question

Crisp and Tasty In Their Own Way!

In the book Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic (New Society Publishers, 2007) the authors Liz Armstrong, Guy Dauncey and Anne Wordsworth consider the importance of eating specific foods and drinks for cancer protection. Here’s what they suggest:

1. Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy and kale. These score high for containing many anti-cancer substances, such as isothiocyanates.

2. Globe artichoke for very high levels of salvestrols.

3. Dark greens, such as spinach and romaine lettuce, for their fiber, folate and a wide range of cancer-fighting carotenoids. Other dark colored veggies, too, such as beets and red cabbage.

4. Grapes and red wine, especially for the resveratrol.

5. Legumes: beans, peas and lentils, for the saponins, protease inhibitors and more.

6. Berries, particularly blueberries, for the ellagic acid and anthocyanosides.

7. Flaxseed, especially if you grind it yourself and consume when fresh, for the essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, lignans and other “good fats.”

8. Garlic, onions, scallions, leeks and chives, for many anti-cancer substances including allicin.

9. Green tea, for its anti-cancer catechins, a potent anti-oxidant.

10. Tomatoes, for the famous flavenoid lycopene.

To Eat It Or Not To Eat It...That Is The Question

So tasty, but so bad for us!

In the book Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic (New Society Publishers, 2007) by Liz Armstrong et al, the No. 4 solution is “Eat a Healthy Diet.” Listed within are the 10 Foods and Drinks to Limit or Eliminate:

1. All charred food, which create heterocyclic aromatic amines, known carcinogens. Even dark toast is suspect.

2. Well-done red meat. Medium or rare is better, little or no red meat is best.

3. Sugar, both white and brown–which is simply white sugar with molasses added. (See Care2’s Directory of Natural Sweeteners for great, healthy alternatives.)

4. Heavily salted, smoked and pickled foods, which lead to higher rates of stomach cancer.

5. Sodas/soft drinks, which pose health risks, both for what they contain–sugar and various additives–and for what they replace in the diet–beverages and foods that provide vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.

6. French fries, chips and snack foods that contain trans fats.

7. Food and drink additives such as aspartame.

8. Excess alcohol.

9. Baked goods, for the acrylamide.

10. Farmed fish, which contains higher levels of toxins such as PCBs.

A Valentine's Surprise

What a surprise! While I was on the phone

this afternoon, The Old Coot got in the car and

drove himself to Walmart where he bought

five long-stemmed red roses for me.

Now I can't nag, er remind, him about

never remembering Valentines Day.

That's o.k. The roses make up for it!

The Old Crone

A Valentine Memory

Remember these? Candy wins the day for any child, and I loved these in elementary school. Strange, they began to taste like medicine, child vitamins specifically, as I got older.

Here are a few things I found out about heart-shaped candies from Google websites.

• Necco is the candy-maker.
• They date back to before the Civil War.
• They were factory made in 1902.
• The most popular messages are "Kiss Me" and "Be Mine."
• For 2010 messages will include "Tweet Me," "Text Me," "You Rock," "Soul Mate," "Love Bug," and "Me + You." These were all chosen in an on-line survey.

The question that remains for me is who made them by hand (women, I'm sure) and what was the process and ingredients?

I plan to bake brownies for Valentine's Day here at Castle Yonder. Once I'd been married a couple years and The Old Coot hadn't recognized V.Day, I gave up expecting anything. I also gave up pouting about it, and decided I'd just give myself a present, as I had learned to do for my birthday.

During the past recent years, The Old Coot usually gives me a V.Day card. I used to give him a bag of sour ball candy.

So if you can't figure out how to compromise a V.Day present, buy a bag of Necco's and give each other a heart. Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

The Old Crone

A Whipped Cream Winter

This Winter has been like living in whipped cream. Or maybe in a big marshmallow!

It started actually in December, and the first 12 days of January were frigid, never going above 32 degrees. Two weeks ago we got a snowstorm leaving about 4 inches on the ground. Then last weekend, the East Coast got over 20 inches but it went slightly east and north of us so we got only rain.

However, that changed yesterday. Snow fell all night, then all day. Big dry fluffy flakes that piled up like Ivory flakes in a soapbox. Remember Ivory Flakes? I'll have to check the grocery aisle the next time I go to see if they still sell them.

So, needless to say, The Old Coot and I have been snowbound all winter. His gall bladder has relaxed, but now he is having serious back pain. We had MRI's last week for arthritis and scoliosis. We both have the same thing altho I've had the scoliosis for 70 years.

Once the MRI's are read, we will see an Orthopedist.

The Old Crone

An Elder Man Loved Is Like Winter Surrounded By Flowers