What did you have for breakfast this morning? Years ago when
I was overweight - ranging from 25 to 50 pounds overweight, I never had time
for breakfast. I couldn’t stomach the mere thought of breakfast. But by mid
morning I could usually be found at the office snack shop wolfing down a Danish
with coffee.
Now that I’m thin and have been thin for 30 years, I eat
breakfast every morning. Pat and I quickly whip up some scrambled or eggs fried
in a bit of butter and add fruit - this morning we shared an apple and an
orange. He jump-starts his day with coffee, I eat an ounce or so of dark
chocolate. From start to finish our morning ritual takes about 15 minutes.
Unless we get to talking and that’s fun, too.
Our summer breakfasts usually contain a summer-type fruit -
watermelon, cherries, peaches, but not today. We need to do a grocery store run
soon.
From all the research pouring from the news leads every day,
we all know that eating breakfast stokes one’s metabolism, that folks who eat
breakfast weight less, and that women who eat eggs for breakfast weight less.
To sum up the research, eating breakfast keeps weight gain at bay and aids
weight loss.
I have personal prejudices, I admit. I think that a soy or
protein shake could possibly be good for a snack, but hardly for a breakfast. A
person’s stomach just isn’t well designed by nature to efficiently get much
value from soy protein. Perhaps if you put tofu - a fermented soy product in
your shake, you’d get more value. I favor eggs or another source of animal
protein because when you eat it for breakfast, it can banish the 4 pm hungry
blues. (Yes, I’m the one at the continental breakfasts in hotels both in the US
and abroad who pulls out a 3-oz. tuna packet to eat with the fresh fruit. I
need the energy.)
Danishes are yummy, but I think they helped make me fat.
Ditto the pastries, cereals, and starchy grain-based products. If they stave
off your hunger for 4 hours, they’re working for you. If I starches for
breakfast, I crave sweets and starches all day long. By dinner, I yearn to hold
the real food and instead eat a couple desserts.
There’s a couple HOT news items on health that will get more
and more significant in the next year, so keep an eye out for more. Probiotics
(which now include important life-giving viruses and fungi) may dictate your
moods, health, condition of your teeth, and aging. Researchers now plan to
corral the power of probiotics, etal, to rid the body of bacterial infections
in place of antibiotics. Even your skin uses bacteria to create a protective
shield that could help prevent wrinkles and infections.
The zinc in sunscreen isn’t so great after all. When exposed
to ultraviolet light, it becomes chemically active and produces compounds that
harm your skin. Best idea: wear a hat. For now, wear sunscreen. I anticipate
next summer’s crop of sunscreens will find a way around this problem.
I’ve had a problem with my right foot off and on for couple
years: plantar fasciitis one year, dislocated metatarsals the next. Last winter
it was an inflamed tendon. Finally, I realized that I love to sit on my right
foot. I do it at dinner, at meetings, whenever I think I can get away with it.
Well, even if no one saw me, I didn’t get away with it. I’m consciously and
mindfully NOT doing this anymore and so far I haven’t had any more foot
“itis”es or such. Fingers crossed I have solved this puzzle.
And about the herniated disc in my neck - which was so yucky
last summer. I have placed my computer screen on a 16-inch wooden crate/ box so
that the bottom of my screen is at eye height. I no longer bend my neck forward
for long hours to write. Watercolor painting was also a problem. The time-old
tradition is to sit down and bend over the paper. I can’t do this anymore, so
I’m standing up at an easel. It’s confused my various teachers: I set up my
easel in the back of class and try to stay under the radar. Only one teacher
simply didn’t want me in class anymore. My art isn’t as precise, but I’m still
having fun.
And I really hope you’re having fun, too, this summer.
Summer activities here in Utah only last 3 short months - street fairs, art
festivals, outdoor concerts, breakfast on the deck, dinners on the patio,
balloon festivals, parades, and rodeos. I’ve gotten so relaxed and laid back
this summer, that as I was paging through the July Better Homes & Gardens,
I read the following note: “Buying in bulk can save up to 50 percent, says,
Lucy Beale,” My first thought was, “oh, my gosh, that girl has a name like
mine. I wonder who she is.” To continue, “coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s
Guide to Eating Well on a Budget. But using up 5 pounds of anything before
it goes bad or you get bored is tough. Go in on the haul with friends.”
Turns out that girl is me. Have a wonderful summer.
Love,
Lucy Beale Partridge
Author, books at www.lucybeale.com
801-501-8240
