2023, Fitness, Health

I Am What I Yam

51 Comments

I’ve gotten to the point where if anybody is willing to give me a shot to keep me from getting some disease, lay it on me.  So I found myself once again at the pharmacy yesterday getting this year’s flu shot.  For many years I didn’t get the shot but then about 15 years ago I got the flu one winter and it was dreadful.  Flu shot every year for me since then.  I know it’s no guarantee but I’ll take all the help I can get.

When I sat down for my shot, the pharmacist asked me which arm I preferred.  In thinking about it, I realized that the last few years, every shot but one has been in my left arm.  I asked her if getting all my shots in the same arm would cause me to get a “Popeye” arm.  She laughed out loud.  And then assured me it wouldn’t happen. (I can’t stomach watching the Popeye cartoons anymore.  They are so violent and Olive Oyl is such an irritating damsel in distress.  Ick.)

Before I left the pharmacy, she said that I probably wouldn’t have any soreness in my arm but if I wanted to, I could do extra arm movements to help out.  So once again I was doing the chicken dance in the car on the way home!

What food gives you strength and energy?

51 thoughts on “I Am What I Yam”

  1. I eat a lot of wild caught Alaskan fish and variety of vegetables in a salad, goat milk that I also make yoghurt and kefir with. Also lamb and goat meat from a friend’s farm and sometimes also pork,  Another friend has “Happy Critters” beef I eat occasionally. Hot weather steals my energy no matter what I eat, unfortunately, so it gets better in the fall. Now.  Cynthia “Life is a shifting carpet…learn to dance.”

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  2. Husband makes really good coffee for me every morning. We also make almost all of our food from scratch. That is tiring, but much healthier and energizing in the long run. I see the younger people I work with drink their energy drinks and the processed food they eat on the run, and then call in sick with migraines. I realize I am very fortunate to have the spouse I have who loves to cook and garden, and the finances to eat and cook the the way we do.

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  5. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I get my Flu shot/COVID booster Monday. It always goes into my right arm because my lymph nodes in the left arm are gone due to breast cancer surgery. I cannot even have my blood pressure taken on the left side. VS, you will be relieved to know this has not caused Popeye arm in 33 years. And I agree about Pop Eye Cartoons. I do remember in grade school some boys in my class were watching the Three Stooges and Pop Eye, then re-enacting the fight scenes at recess. That got them in all kinds of trouble.

    I do best on a Mediteranean-ish like diet of high protein and balanced carbs. Things like olive oil (vs. Olive OYL) agree with me too, Oatmeal is another “Old Saw” food that my body really thrives on. My grandma ate oatmeal daily and lived to age 99 years. Proof enough. I do not eat it daily, but I eat it often. After my mother’s last weeks and her final demise, I was put in situations that did not allow this kind of eating. About 3 weeks ago I finally got myself disciplined again, and I feel better. Now if it would freeze and kill all the pollen, I would really feel good. My hands have been so swollen from allergic reactions, including a wasp sting, that I cannot even get my rings on my fingers.

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    1. Definitely Olive OIL! I get virgin bottles from various parts of the world depending on north or south hemisphere seasons every quarter. I think the October supply may be from Australia. Last quarter was Chili.

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  6. Despite what it takes out of y time and energy, I have continued to cook from fresh. Lately a great deal of fresh fish, which I don’t always get right. Fish, especially oily fish, is supposed to be good for my eye problems.
    Clyde

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  7. I’ve evolved into less of a vegetarian but I still don’t eat any red meat or pork. I found that I feel better if I eat healthy proteins and lots of vegetables and some whole grains, like quinoa or wild rice. I like to grill veggies and seafood. I feel the best when I’ve had a good meal of grilled salmon or shrimp or maybe a chicken breast and a pile of grilled veggies. I like to grill all kinds of veggies. Squashes and zucchini are great on the grill. I’ll often cut up a big pile of veggies like carrots, onions, Brussels sprouts, garlic, mushrooms, squash, beans, asparagus, or whatever is available, then dump them all into a big ziplock bag, drizzle olive oil over the lot, shake it around, then refrigerate until I’m ready. I get fresh shrimp or salmon at the Coop and grill that too. That’s my favorite go-to kind of meal. I can make enough to eat for a few days.

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  8. Also eggs from my chickens every other day for breakfast. The yolks are bright orange!  Ben, yours must be also, yes?

    Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

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  9. Not sure if I can prove any food gives me strength or energy, but I eat a fair amount of spinach, garlic, tomatoes (fresh in season, sauces or canned the rest of the year), salad greens, oatmeal, nuts and berries, peanut butter, coffee, and not as much meat as I did say ten years ago. We cook mostly with EVOO, but love a good smear of butter on a piece of quality bread.

    I also started adding wheat germ, ground flax seeds, chia seeds, and pumpkin or sunflower seeds to my oatmeal, along with Ceylon cinnamon and cocoa powder. That may be the most nutrient dense meal I eat (4 times/week). Gotta have my cold cereal the other three days (with frozen blueberries)

    Chris in Owatonna

    **BSP** Saturday, Sept. 23, 9-1, Riverwalk Market Fair in Downtown Northfield. Your last chance to buy a signed copy of one or more of my books until October 7 at the Deep Valley Book Festival in Mankato. And that’s a festival you might want to make the drive for because the keynote speaker will be none other than the fabulous William Kent Krueger! His topic will be “What books mean to us all.” I think he’ll have copies available of his lastest gem, “The River We Remember.” **END BSP**

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    1. There will also be more than 30 other authors in many genres who’ll be there selling their books. Never to late to look for that special gift for someone special for theh “holiday season.” (Whenever that officially happens).

      Chris

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  11. I’m trying to eat more grass fed meats, and fish. I feel healthy when I make a good vegetable soup or stew with meat or fish. Now that cool weather is coming, I’ll do that more often.

    In my twenties I sometimes had a head of broccoli for dinner – that was pretty much it, maybe a little rice. Felt so virtuous and healthy!

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  12. I also cook almost exclusively from scratch though what I make is simpler and looser than the meals Chris and Renee apparently cook.

    My summer menus differ from the winter ones owing to the abundance of fresh vegetables available and also that I have to make use of before they go bad. I’ve been grilling several times a week—mostly chicken or fish and certain vegetables like sweet corn or zucchini. We favor chicken thighs to breasts and I have a couple of marinades I like to use. This summer I’ve started grilling the tilapia fillets from Trader Joe’s. I used to bake them after coating them with crushed hazelnuts but I have a grilling basket that I hadn’t been using much and I found it perfect for getting the tilapia on and off the grill in one piece. I brush the filets in lemon butter, top them with fresh thyme and sprinkle them with smoked paprika to bring out the grill flavor. It’s so easy and delicious and tilapia is a prime sustainable fish. With a cooked green vegetable and a salad and a starch of some kind—potatoes or rice or flatbread.

    In the winter we tend more to soups and stews and curries, stir-frys, casseroles and pastas—the soups and stews and curries in large enough quantities that we freeze a couple of meal’s worth.

    I haven’t had a flu-like illness since 1980 but I still get a flu shot and the current Covid booster.

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    1. Our recent meals have been dictated by our garden produce and our anxiety, as children of parents who grew up in the Great Depression, to never let food go to waste. The 4 cabbages are all used up, thank goodness, in borscht, cod stuffed cabbage rolls, and a Portugese/Mexican type stir fry with chorizo and garden peppers.

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        1. Oh, out here there are vast dfferences between the various borschts from different national traditions. One also notices distinct differences between the recipes and food traditions of German-Russians and the Reich Deutch decendents. The latter are people whose ancestors came straight to the US from Germany. German Russions, on the other hand, are decendents of Germans who spend a century in regions around the Black Sea like Moldava, Hungary, Ukraine, and Russia before immigrating.

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        4. Last week a friend brought us a big batch of homemade borscht. It was delicious, though it was unlike any borscht I had ever had before. It contained neither beef nor cabbage! Her recipe was from a mutual friend who is an excellent cook that grew up in Finland. It did have plenty of beets, beet tops, and was served with sour cream and fresh dill.

          My notion of what Russian borscht is, is heavily influenced by the soup Tamara, our Russian maid in Moscow, made. I suspect her borscht was very much dependent on whatever vegetables were available at the market when she shopped. Back in those days, some weeks that was a pretty sparse selection.

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        5. Here’s a version of Ukranian borscht that most of us have at least heard of:

          “The lyrics are reproduced without official record company permission, but with the permission of Peter’s publicist Susan Martinez and with Peter’s own blessing, which is good enough for me. From the Rounder Records album “Down the Streets of My Old Neighborhood”, Rounder 0227. It might be hard to find now, but Peter hopes to have it re-released on CD within a year or so …

          B-O-R-S-C-H-T
          Is the sweetest thing this side of heaven Mama made for me.
          I’ve eaten it all my life, or at least since I was three,
          This B-O-R-S-C-H-T.

          B-O-R-S-C-H-T,
          And now that I’m an adult I can make it just for me,
          And if you’ve got a minute I will share my recipe
          For B-O-R-S-C-H-T.

          [Mandolin interlude …]

          First you take four quarts of water, put it in a pot,
          You start a blaze beneath, add some salt but not a lot,
          Add some pepper and some parsley, and a bayleaf don’t you know,
          When the water starts to boil now you know you’re on the go,

          Then get a chicken (tho’ my mama says that turkey tastes the best),
          You chop it into pieces, take the giblets and the neck,
          You add it to the water and you turn the heat down low,
          And let that chicken simmer for a half an hour or so.

          When your chicken meat is cooked, take it out with extra care,
          You put it in a bowl inside your cold re-Frigidaire.
          When your meat is slowly cooling take a break and have a smoke,
          While the soup pot slowly simmers you can watch your favorite soap.

          Now it’s time to get an onion, and four garlic cloves,
          You chop them finely then into the frying pan they go.
          Saute them in some butter til they’re brown and kinda clear,
          You add them to the soup and now tomato time is here!

          Now if you grow your own tomatoes, one quart is all you need,
          If you use the store-bought kind, get two cans of Del Monte’s.
          Add the ‘maters to the soup and let it simmer if you will,
          Then add about a tablespoon of dried or fresh-cut dill.

          Now get a half a dozen carrots, potatoes five or six,
          Three or four red beets and chop them into bite-size bits,
          Add the veggies to the soup and let it simmer there and thicken,
          Go back to the re-Frigidaire and get that cooled-off chicken.

          Take the meat off of the bones, take away the skin and fat,
          Put the meat into the soup, give the rest to your old cat.
          Now the soup is nearly finished and your race is almost run,
          But don’t forget the cabbage, that’s the last thing that is done.

          One small head of cabbage that you shred up fairly fine,
          And once you put it in the soup it doesn’t take much time.
          You can start to set your table and call your dinner guests,
          But don’t forget the condiments that’ll put them to the test!

          First you get some rye bread that’s full of caraway seeds,
          You slice it nice and thick; use lots of butter, if you please!
          Then next comes thick white sour cream that’ll make you groan with pleasure,
          You plop it in the soup and now you’re really under pressure

          ‘Cause the final step is garlic cloves that are thick and fat,
          You peel them ’till they’re naked and you eat them just like that!
          You dip them in a bowl of salt and eat those puppies raw,
          And now you’re ready for the finest meal you ever saw …

          And Nirvana is at hand,
          It’s the best soup in the land,
          And I’ll spell it for you one more time so you will understand …

          B-O-R-S-C-H-T
          Is the sweetest thing this side of heaven Mama made for me,
          For breakfast, lunch or dinner, any day of any week,
          It’s B-O-R-S-C-H-T.

          B-O-R-S-C-H-T,
          It makes you healthy, wealthy, wise; unless I sound too meek,
          It’s made me what I am and I’ll continually speak
          For B-O-R-S-C-H-T.

          Bee ohh arr ess SEEEEE AIIIITCH TEEEEEEEEEE!

          (Follow this song, and you’ll make a superb pot of borscht. If you’re using fresh dill instead of dried, double the amount, or to taste. Variations: I grated the beets (since that’s the way I had borscht for the first time during my trip to St. Petersburg), and I ate picked garlic instead of raw. Yes, I know, I wimped out … — Chuck)”

          Chuck Taggart

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  13. You’re all much better cooks than us.
    We’ve been making those ‘energy bite’ balls a lot lately. Oatmeal, honey, mini-choc chips, chia seeds, flax, peanut butter… a couple other things. Good stuff.
    And a snickers bar.

    If I don’t have my cup of tea in the morning, I’m hungry all day. Not so much energy, but at least fills me up to point.

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  15. Curiously, I had roughly this same question in my ‘blog notes’. For whatever reason, I eat apples when programming lights. I don’t know if it’s the fructose giving me brain energy or what, but yeah, apples often for a snack (and lately with cheese) but always apple slices when programming.
    Besides the bag of Peanut M&M’s on the tech table, but I don’t ‘nibble’ on them while programming so much. I share them w/ the cast and crew.

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