Spring Forward into Sleep Deprivation

Sunday, March 12, marked yet another “Spring Forward” moment for most of America. Welcome to Daylight Saving Time. That’s its proper name: you put your money in a bank “savings account,” but you can’t “save sunlight.” The sun shines the same amount of time, day in and day out, all year round. We merely change our clocks. We can lose clock time and gain clock time, but this time isn’t squirreled away in some hidden hole to be found later, like an acorn. No, we usually just add to our sleep debt in the spring and wait several months before we try to make up for it in the fall when we set our clocks back an hour.

Lord Fredrick Lighton: Flaming June, oil on canvas, 1895, MUSEO DE ARTE DE PONCE, Puerto Rico

As a result of this annual spring fling forward, most of America enters into a disruptive sleep pattern for at least a week or two. Folks who study this deeply and have the credentials to back them up say, “The science has evolved over the last decade to show the transition between standard time and DST is associated with adverse health consequences.”

Inquiring minds, if they’re still awake, might ask, “Why do we suffer health consequences from setting our clocks ahead a mere 60 minutes?” The human body is a finely tuned mechanism, which has evolved over many millennia. Most of those ages, we had no clocks or time keeping pieces. Even the Romans, who divided the day and night into a set number of watches, recognized the summer watches were longer than the winter ones. The Romans had the good sense never to attempt to gain an extra hour of daylight at any point in their history.

Guide to All Things Clock Works

We humans have two systems in our bodies which affect our sleep. The first is Sleep Homeostasis or our body’s desire to sleep, which begins as soon as we wake up. This is why some of us can hit the snooze button fifty eleven times before we get out of bed. Back in college, this roommate never signed up for any morning class. My dad was an early riser, going to the kitchen for coffee and the newspaper. About an hour later, he’d hear a weak squeaking from the back bedroom, “Coffee! Coffee!” He’d smile and make mother her precious potion, carrying it carefully back to their bedroom without spilling a single drop.

Pablo picasso. The Dream, 1932. Bridgeman Images

The other system is Circadian Rhythm, which almost every living thing has, is the sleep-wake pattern over the course of a 24-hour day. In humans, the light and dark cycles regulate our sleep and wakefulness, alter our body temperature, and regulate many of our metabolic responses. Adults should have a pretty consistent circadian rhythm if they practice healthy habits. Their bedtimes and wake times should remain stable if they follow a fairly regular schedule and aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. Adults likely get sleepy well before midnight, as melatonin releases into their bodies. As adults, we reach our most tired phases of the day from 2 to 4 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m.

Older adults may notice their circadian rhythm changes with age, as they begin to go to bed earlier than they used to and wake in the wee hours of the morning. In general, this is a normal part of aging. Babies, on the other hand, have to be trained to get their circadian rhythms in sync with the adults in their families. Newborns don’t develop a circadian rhythm until they are a few months old. This can cause their sleeping patterns to be erratic in the first days, weeks, and months of their lives. After about three months, they begin to release melatonin. Cortisol begins to develop from two to nine months of age. Children need 9 to 10 hours of sleep each night.

Vincent Van Gogh: Woman Sleeping near a Fire,
Oil on canvas, 1889, Private collection

Teens also need as much sleep as children, but due to “sleep phase delay,” most of them don’t get tired until about 10 pm, when their melatonin begins to rise. To get 10 hours of sleep, they’d wake up at 8 am. This would put them late for school in most places. No wonder our teens are sleepy in class. This doesn’t help them learn at the top of their abilities.

Some causes of poor sleep habits:

1. Not having a regular sleep schedule
2. Watching screens too close to bedtime
3. Not having a comfortable sleeping space
4. Shift work with changing hours
5. Medications
6. Eating too close to bedtime
7. Too much caffeine or alcohol during the night
8. Sleeping in a room with too much light

Marvin needs More Sleep & a Better Attitude

In the “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” Marvin is a prototype robot with Genuine People Personality (GPP) software. This gives him sentience, the ability to feel emotions and develop a personality. You may recognize him as the chronically depressed mega brain robot, since he’s always given menial tasks below his abilities. Poor Marvin, he seems to have the robot version of brain fog caused by too little sleep.

“How I Hate the Night,” also known as “Marvin’s Lullaby,” sounds like it’s written by our contemporary friend, the Chat GPT:

Now the world has gone to bed,
Darkness won’t engulf my head,
I can see by infra-red,
How I hate the night,
Now I lay me down to sleep,
Try to count electric sheep,
Sweet dream wishes you can keep,
How I hate the night.

@Fruler Art, Zurich

The good news for us humans is we can reset our circadian rhythm and keep our body clocks in synchronous mode to the natural rhythm of the light. Some actions to help:

• Spend 20 minutes outside in the morning early and in the afternoon also.
• Try to adhere to a routine each day.
• Spend time outdoors when it’s light to boost your wakefulness.
• Get enough daily exercise — 20 or more minutes of aerobic exercise is generally recommended.
• Sleep in an environment that promotes rest with proper lighting, a comfortable temperature, and a supportive mattress.
• Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine in the evenings.
• Power down your screens well before bedtime and try engaging in an activity such as reading a book or meditating.
• Don’t nap late in the afternoon or evening.

Scripture even has words of wisdom about good sleep hygiene, as found in Sirach 31:20—

Healthy sleep depends on moderate eating;
he rises early, and feels fit.
The distress of sleeplessness and of nausea
and colic are with the glutton.

While we won’t secede in a pique from the nation over this annoying annual event that causes a 6% spike in fatal car accidents, 8% more strokes, 11% more depressive episodes, 24% higher risk of heart attacks, and 3% more digestive and immune related diseases, we should be aware this changing of the clocks is a time when our bodies are not in sync with the great rhythms of nature. As Psalms 127:1-2 reminds us,

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives sleep to his beloved.

If you’re reading this at work on Monday, you may be participating in the tradition of “Cyber Loafing,” a practice common on Sleepy Monday, in which employees surf the internet aimlessly because their minds aren’t able to concentrate on actual work. Not to worry however, this feeling should pass in about six weeks. In the meantime, if your boss has any brain cells left, perhaps they could calculate the lost productivity and compare it to the presumed savings of fossil fuels, the original reason for Daylight Saving Time during World War I.

For these reasons, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine both recommend the country forget Daylight Saving Time and remain on Standard Time all year long. The Navajo Nation and Arizona are always on standard time, even when all the states around the are flipping back and forth. The people living on the western edge of a time zone, who get light later in the morning and later in the evening, already get less sleep than those who live on the eastern edge of a time zone. As a result, they have higher rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and breast cancer. The studies attribute these problems to chronic sleep deprivation and misaligned circadian rhythms.

A financial cost for the biannual switch is hard to pin down, but a study by Chmura Economics & Analytics from 2016 estimated that Daylight Saving Time costs the U.S. more than $430 million a year.

Should the US Senate bill which passed with such fanfare last year to put our nation on permanent Daylight Saving Time ever wander over to the House for ratification, we can only hope the president vetoes it. The last time (under Nixon) permanent daylight saving time was instituted, it got recalled due to its colossal failure. But historic memories are short and politicians have people to please. Evidently none of their staff know how to ask Mr. Google a question, or their bosses don’t like the answer they got and went with their own plan instead.

I’m going to take advil and drink more calm tea. Maybe I’ll be able to sleep and wake up at a reasonable hour tomorrow morning. At least I have all the clocks changed to the new time. I need a clock robot to do this work for me. Maybe Marvin is looking for a new position. Indeed.

Joy, peace, and much caffeine,

Cornie

Marvin | Hitchhikers | Fandom
https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Marvin

Daylight Saving Time and Your Health | Northwestern Medicine
https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/daylight-savings-time-your-health

Circadian Rhythm: What It Is, How it Works, and More
https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/circadian-rhythm

Try This Neuroscientist’s Top Tip for a Good Night’s Sleep |
https://www.vogue.com/article/neuroscientist-top-tip-for-a-good-nights-sleep

Daylight Saving Time Pros and Cons – Top Advantages and Disadvantages
https://www.procon.org/headlines/top-3-pros-and-cons-of-daylight-saving-time/

Changing Clocks to Daylight Saving Time Is Bad for Your Health – Scientific American https://theconversation.com/springing-forward-into-daylight-saving-time-is-a-step-back-for-health-a-neurologist-explains-the-medical-evidence-and-why-this-shift-is-worse-than-the-fall-time-change-197343

‘Stranger Things’ and Ice Cream

Stranger Things Upside Down Sundae

The hit Netflix show “Stranger Things”  begins its Season 3 on July 4, but Baskin-Robbins is launching several Stranger Things-inspired ice cream flavors and sweet treats in June to get us in the mood. 

The star of Stranger Things, David Harbour says season three of the will be “lighter,” while also promising “all the dark stuff that we’re kind of known for.”

The two new flavors the Canton, Massachusetts-based chain plans to unveil are Eleven’s Heaven, a waffle cone-flavored ice cream with chocolate-coated sugar cone pieces and a chocolate-icing-flavored ribbon, and Upside Down Pralines, a chocolate ice cream with praline pecans and a chocolate-caramel flavored ribbon.

For those unfamiliar with the show, Eleven is the name of one of the key characters on Stranger Things, and the Upside Down is an alternate dimension on the series.

Baskin-Robbins and Netflix are also partnering to create a Scoops Ahoy ice-cream truck, a reference to the ice cream parlor that’s on the show. It will serve fans on the West Coast in June.

I’ve included the nutrition link for these specials. They’re entire meal portions in their own right. As snacks, they’d best be shared by two persons, so like don’t be strangers.

Upside Down Sundae —a sundae made with Upside Down Pralines, but built upside down with the toppings on the bottom

Demogorgon Sundae —a waffle bowl sundae that looks like a Demogorgon monster

Eleven’s Heaven Cone

Byers’ House Lights Polar Pizza Ice Cream Treat — a chocolate chip Polar Pizza crust with Snickers ice cream, topped with strings of fudge and M&Ms, Christmas lights, a reference to the lights hung up in the Byers’ home on the show

USS Butterscotch Quarts —butterscotch flavored ice cream with butterscotch toffee and a toffee ribbon

Stranger Things Pizza and Pints

Elevenade Freeze — a drink made with vanilla ice cream and Minute Maid lemonade

“When Netflix originally approached us about a partnership, we immediately recognized a number of fantastic synergies between Baskin-Robbins and ‘Stranger Things,’ including the fact that Steve Harrington was going to have a summer job at an ice cream shop,” said Dave Nagel, senior director of consumer engagement at Baskin-Robbins, referring to one of the show protagonists.

The ice-cream chain also will sell exclusive “Stranger Things” merchandise, such as a Steve Funko figure, 1980s-inspired magnets and sticker sets, and Stranger Things T-shirts. Fresh-packed ice cream also will be sold in four limited-edition take-home containers with show-related designs.

Baskin Robbins Nutrition 
https://www.baskinrobbins.com/content/baskinrobbins/en/nutritioncatalog.html

THE RACE FOR SPACE BRANDING

When I was young, we drank Tang because the it was the beverage choice of astronauts. Now I hear the Trump campaign plans to sell Space Force merchandise and is floating logos, but I keep thinking about Tang Beverage and Space Sticks.

The Trump campaign announced Thursday they’ll be selling Space Force merchandise, hours after Vice President Mike Pence painted a grounded picture of the prospective military branch’s future.

In an email to supporters, Brad Parscale, the campaign manager for Trump’s 2020 bid, said the final design will be open to a vote. While a logo will be on official campaign gear, it’s unlikely that any of them will ultimately be the final design for the next branch, since that decision is managed by the U.S. Army’s Institute of Heraldry.

The sale of merchandise with the final logo will also likely be barred if the Space Force is formally established, since the Defense Department has strict regulations on the use of its military seals. That is, they aren’t allowed to be used in political campaigns.

In other words, any logo bought will be for an “imaginary space force,” not a real space force, much like a vote for an imaginary president, versus a real president.

Like Space Sticks and Tang, two processed foods developed for the astronauts, any relationship with nutrition is fanciful at best. These two items were developed for short term stays, not long term use. They were packed with sugars and fats, or dense nutritional choices in small servings, to take up small spaces in crowded places such as space capsules.

The breakfast drink of my childhood was Tang, since the astronauts drank it. It had the imprimatur of science all over it, just like white on rice. However, just one serving of Tang (about 2 tablespoons) contains 90 calories and 24 grams of carbohydrates from sugar. It had no fat, and no protein. Vitamin enriched Tang gives 100% of your recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin C. It’s also enriched with vitamin A, vitamin B2 or riboflavin, B3 or niacin and B6. Tang also contains calcium for stronger bones and teeth.

Ironically, Tang only contains a measly 2% of real orange juice solids. Most of Tang’s flavor comes from a cocktail of food flavorings, sugars, and artificial flavors. Quite simply, Tang is not orange juice. But it does provide all the health benefits of orange juice. It’s also extremely good for cleaning off the rust stains inside your dishwasher or washing machines, if you have iron rich water. Just throw the contents of a small container in the bottom, run a cycle with nothing inside, and you have bright and pretty again. (Now think of your insides!)

Orange juice has pulp/fiber, and doesn’t have Maltodextrin, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, and Neotame. Plus it doesn’t have as many calories as Tang. Why didn’t the astronauts carry OJ into space? Tang was a powder and a lighter load to liftoff. Math wins over nutrition all day long.

Space Sticks were products of The Pillsbury Company, which had been lending its support to NASA. It saw an opportunity to catch a little “moon fever” for their company.

A battery of Pillsbury food scientists, led by Dr. Howard Bauman, whipped up an energy stick that was actually edible. The long chewy stick could slide into an airtight port located in an astronaut’s helmet to provide essential nutrition in case of an emergency. Pillsbury released a commercial spin-off of their cosmic creation, imaginatively dubbing the product Space Food Sticks.

Described as a “non-frozen balanced energy snack in rod form containing nutritionally balanced amounts of carbohydrate, fat and protein,” the original energy bars came in several flavors including caramel, chocolate, malt, mint, orange and the ever-popular peanut butter. Aficionados will recall that the Space Food Sticks were wrapped in special foil to give them an added space-age appearance.

While Tang made it to our family table, somehow Tootsie Rolls prevailed over Space Sticks. Sometime in the 1970’s, the product’s profile was further reduced when Pillsbury dropped the Space and distributed them as Food Sticks. The word energy bar hadn’t been invented yet. Slowly but inevitably the fabled Sticks gradually disappeared from supermarket shelves. Then in the 2000’s, they made a comeback when a true believer founded “Space Food Sticks Preservation Society” at Spacefoodsticks.com.

Perhaps we all need to be reminded of a kinder and gentler time when all things seemed possible, and especially of a time when we “asked not what our country could do for us, but what we could do for our country.” We want to think of a time when we could all join together in a common, peaceful purpose and head for the moon, the planets, the stars, and beyond. Perhaps we can still be that people.

If you look up to the night sky from August 10 to 16,you just might catch the magnificent Perseid meteor showers, with the morning of August 11 to 13 at the peak. A country location, away from city lights, around midnight is the best time to see them. If these remnants from the comet’s tail burn up in our atmosphere, they’re called meteors. If they hit the ground, they’re meteorites. Comet Swift-Tuttle has been visiting earth as far back as 188 CE, and perhaps may be the same one which visited on 69 BCE. It won’t return again until 2126 CE. I sure won’t be around for the comet’s next visit, but the Perseid meteor shower happens every year when the earth’s orbit intersects the fragments left behind in the comet’s orbit.

Take a healthy snack and maybe a caffeinated beverage for this late night viewing party. As I recall, the last time I stayed up late for a meteor shower, no one else wanted to see the sky light up with me. I thought, “Where is their sense of awe and mystery?” They were kind enough to wake me with coffee in the morning, however.

Eat well, and live with joy! Love, Cornie

SHARK WEEK CHOCOLATE BARK

Shark Week always grabs my attention. After all, that’s what sharks do! Or maybe because it’s far too hot to be outside in Arkansas or because my inner child loves to learn new things. I always loved the beach as a child, since the sea breezes kept the heat tolerable. Inland, folks just suffered in the sweltering humidity pods. Thankfully we now have modern air conditioning, an invention that didn’t come to my home until I was a teenager.

When the temperature was 99F at 10 PM, even a ceiling fan wouldn’t make sleeping comfortable. Cooking was out of the question. Daddy would barbecue or we’d eat cold cuts and fruit. Chocolate candy bark didn’t take long to heat on the stove, so it was a treat to make in the cooler mornings. It also reminds me of coral reefs, which Shark Week shows us nightly on the Discovery Channel.

Corals come in a wide array of shapes, sizes, and colors. Some resemble deer antlers, trees, giant fans, brains, and honeycomb. Although many corals may look like plants, they’re actually animals; they’re most closely related to jellyfish and anemones. There are three different types of coral reef formations—barrier reefs, coral atolls, and fringing reefs. Barrier reefs help to protect lagoons and other types of shallow water; coral atolls (which are often mistaken for islands) are made from volcanic remains; and fringing reefs are found right along the coastline.

Coral reefs, which only grow at a maximum depth of around 150 feet, also grow very slowly, at an average rate of just two centimeters per year. This is because their biomes must maintain a temperature of 70 to 85º Fahrenheit. (Shallow water is more easily warmed by the sun.) Strangely, most coral reefs seem to grow on the eastern side of land masses, where the temperature is believed to be warmer than the western side. Stony coral groups are primarily responsible for building up reef structures.  Coral reefs grow upward from the sea floor as the polyps of new corals cement themselves to the skeletons of those below.

When I make Shark Week Chocolate Bark, I gather the following dry ingredients in a plastic bag or in a bowl:

120 gram(s) Wonderful Pistachios Roasted & Salted Shelled Pistachios

0.5 cup Dried cherries (tart montmorency)

12 pretzels Splits pretzels—break into pieces 1 inch long (I used the broken pieces in the bottom of the bag).

Also needed:

1 tbsp Vanilla extract —divided into 2 tsp and 1 tsp

12 tsp Coconut Sugar—divided into 8 tsp and 4 tsp

Then I weigh out 571 gram(s) GHIRARDELLI chocolate premium baking chips 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate — divided into 400 grams and 171 grams.

Take the larger amounts of chocolate baking chips first. Take chocolate and put into microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds and melt them in the microwave. Stir well. The first or larger amount may need a second 30 second cooking. The hot melted pieces will melt the unmelted ones. Stir after each heating. Bowl will be HOT! Don’t over cook the chocolate.

Remove & add vanilla 2 tsp. Stir. Add 8 tsp sugar. Stir.

Turn out onto parchment paper on cookie sheet. Spread chocolate with spatula. Spread nut and pretzel mix out over it evenly. Gently press it into chocolate.

Take remaining chocolate and put into same bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well. The hot melted pieces will melt the unmelted ones. Don’t over cook the chocolate. Add 1 tsp vanilla and 3 tsp sugar. Stir well. Drizzle over the surface and spread out. It will almost cover the whole nut layer.

Put into icebox for for 30 to 45 minutes to harden. Afterward, cut into small pieces about 1” x 1 1/2”. It will keep in an airtight container for about two weeks.

Serving Size: Makes 36 pieces appropriately 1 inch by 1 1/2 inch.

Number of Servings: 36

As you can see, making chocolate bark with broken pretzels, pieces of dried fruit, and nuts comes together much like a coral reef: it gets all the various pieces cemented with a binding agent, which in the kitchen is chocolate. I don’t suggest you go out into the sea and nibble on a coral reef. It wouldn’t be good for the pearly whites.

The Benefits of Coral Reefs

Scientists have discovered that many parts of a coral reef can be harvested to make medications. According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, coral reefs are emerging as the medicine cabinets of the 21st century: “Coral reef plants and animals are important sources of new medicines being developed to treat cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, viruses, and other diseases.”

Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. There are often more types of fish living in a two-acre area of healthy coral reef than there are species of birds in all of North America!

Coral reefs help to improve the quality of the surrounding water. They do this by filtering out things floating in the ocean, which leads to cleaner water. In addition to protecting shorelines, coral reefs are immensely valuable to the fishing and tourism industries. According to the World Resources Institute, the destruction of one kilometer of coral reef equals a loss of between $137,000 to $1,200,000 over a 25-year period. And yet, they estimate some 60% of the world’s coral reefs are currently threatened by human activity.

Dark chocolate has its own benefits to humankind. Without it, some of us aren’t fit for civilized company! We don’t need a massive shark bite full of this calming food to bring us into a harmonious state. This is because chocolate has multiple chemicals that produce positive feelings in us. Phenylethylamine is sometimes called “the love drug”, because it arouses feelings similar to those that occur when one is in love. Another neurotransmitter, serotonin, is a mood-lifter, as well. One chemical that causes the release of serotonin into the brain is tryptophan, found in (wait for it!) chocolate!

If chocolate were a drug, we might need a prescription. Or we might find the law regulating how much chocolate we could have in our candies. As far as I’m concerned, the darker the better, but small children often prefer milk chocolate due to the greater sugar and milk content. Dark chocolate has probiotics and prebiotics, magnesium, iron, copper, and antioxidants. Even commercial dark chocolate bars will have large amounts of sugar, so not all dark chocolate is good for people with diabetes or weight issues. Look for 15 g carbohydrates per serving as a limit. Chocolate is a snack treat, not a meal.

A little afternoon pickmeup or as a side nibble with coffee and a friend, and your mood will be adjusted in no time. Then you can go back to swimming with the sharks and they can’t bite you, since you now have on your impervious dark chocolate shark repellent suit. Enjoy!

Joy and Peace,

Cornie

Nutrition Facts

Servings Per Recipe: 36

Serving Size: 1 serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories

127.9

Total Fat

8.1 g

Saturated Fat

3.9 g

Polyunsaturated Fat

0.4 g

Monounsaturated Fat

0.8 g

Cholesterol

0.0 mg

Sodium

65.2 mg

Potassium

39.4 mg

Total Carbohydrate

15.1 g

Dietary Fiber

1.6 g

Sugars

9.1 g

Protein

2.1 g

Vitamin A

2.2 %

Vitamin B-12

0.0 %

Vitamin B-6

2.2 %

Vitamin C

0.3 %

Vitamin D

0.0 %

Vitamin E

0.0 %

Calcium

0.4 %

Copper

2.2 %

Folate

0.0 %

Iron

7.1 %

Magnesium

0.9 %

Manganese

2.2 %

Niacin

0.0 %

Pantothenic Acid

0.0 %

Phosphorus

1.7 %

Riboflavin

0.0 %

Selenium

0.0 %

Thiamin

1.7 %

Zinc

Kitchen Experiments

When I was a child, I had a science kit. My parents trusted me not to blow up the backyard carport or lose a digit in the process, but I don’t remember them supervising my experiments. In fact, once we children went outside, we were on our own, but I did live back in the late Stone Age. Even I watched my daughter when she was out and about nearly three decades ago. 

I had a deep sense of curiosity, which my parents nourished. As a result, I’ve never been afraid to try something new, to learn things outside of my comfort zone, or to stretch my boundaries beyond the familiar. This includes meeting new people. I’ve always figured a stranger was just a new best friend you haven’t met yet. And yes, I’ve met a few weirdos doing this, but I’ve also met some really neat folks also. 

Encouraging a sense of adventure keeps us young. This may be the attraction of the many meal in a box delivery services offered today. They decide the menu, find the spices and ingredients, get it to your door, and all the cook at home has to do is follow the directions. I like to go to my local grocery, find the seasonal foods, or clean out the remaining foods in my fridge, and see what I can create with them. I consider this a challenge, as if I were on a desert island with limited resources. What could I do with what I have? 

In a sense, all Kitchen experiments are science projects at heart, for all foods have unique properties: heat, time, salt, fat, and moisture all affect the taste and texture of the ingredients and the concoction. Change one and the others change also. Sometimes we add salt at the end of cooking so the food doesn’t toughen up or dry out. Only experience teaches this, for our tendency would be to dump in all our spices at once. After all, we want to taste test along the way. 

An interesting book, SUGAR SALT FAT, by Michael Moss, outlines the science behind the processed food industry. By concentrating fat, salt and sugar in products formulated for maximum “bliss,” Big Food has spent almost a century distorting the American diet in favor of calorie-dense products whose consumption pattern has been mirrored by the calamitous rise in obesity rates. Entire food categories were invented to support this strategy. This is why Resturant meals often have an entire day’s worth of calories and sodium packed into one serving and Lunchable meals (aimed at children) have over 800 mg of sodium each, an amount far too high for little bodies to consume. 

To eat healthy, many of us choose to eat at home instead, for we can experiment with different food combinations and make choices based on our own health needs. I always limit the salt and carbohydrates, due to blood pressure and glucose resistance. This same dish in a restaurant would be drowning in olive oil and much heavier with cheese. Most likely it would also have a grain pasta with it, so the serving size would be both smaller and more calorie dense. It would be off the menu for most people like me. 

The truth is, we can experiment with our recipes, but experiments with our health isn’t a good idea. Folks who overindulge with carbs or salt can damage their bodies. Retaining fluid is a sign of too much salt, such as around the ankles. Yeast infections can be a sign of too many carbs. Eating healthy is a better choice than eating poorly, even if someone else is cooking or cleaning up for you. If this is a novel adventure, step out and try it! 

You might want to try a Vegetable Lasagna, from Cornie’s Kitchen: Squash Lasagna. 

The registration is free, and the site is free. I hope you enjoy it!

https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=3272393

SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE: Cheesus to Mac n Cheetos

Scripture tells us when the end times come, the Lord will appear to save all who are eagerly awaiting him! (Hebrews 9:28) Cheesus has arrived, for who doesn’t like Cheetos and Jesus both?

Mac and cheese, a comfort food for these uncertain times, now comes wrapped in ground Cheetos dust and deep fried. Brought to you by the good folks at Burger King, purveyors of the hot dog, it must be the end times because the Lord himself said, “Listen! I’m standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I’ll come in to you and eat with you and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

When Jesus was with his disciples, he broke bread and gave it to them saying, “This is my body that is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24) 

So, while it may be a long shot, or it may be a contemporary miracle of transubstantiation in which the ordinary elements of grain, water, yeast, milk, and enzymes actually become the divine body and blog of the Lord Jesus Christ, the signs are all pointing to the arrival of the return of the long awaited lord and savior. 

If indeed we are what we eat, would then a mere taste of this sign would be sufficient for holiness? Or would we have to masticate mass quantities? Does Cheesus require faith or works? Would we have to be extremely corpulent to show our devotion to this God of fried cheese? Would homemade mac and cheese be as effective as Cheetos Mac and Cheese? If we were to pound or ground our own Cheetos, or top the casserole with the crunchy sticks (only the best), would this recipe taste the same?

Or is our comfort in the shared meal itself? Even if we eat alone, do our memories of family and friends attend our table and entertain us with their laughter and their stories. I know I lose my appetite when I’m alone, but when I remember my friends and family who’ve gone on before me, and I tell my daily stories to them, I feel connected to the ones I’ll someday join. Then I remember the stories of their lives, so they still live in my heart and mind, until I join them in the life beyond. 

In the meantime, I’ll laugh about the Cheeto Jesus and trust in the actual Jesus day by day. 

Will Burger King’s new Mac ‘n Cheetos be a fast food game-changer?

Death of the Coffee Maker: Always plan ahead.

 

NASA Shuttle Launch

Have plan B ready to go, for plan A is just the starting point. I know NASA can’t work this way, after all they are shooting gazillions of dollars of equipment and invaluable human lives into space! NASA needs to have the plans A to Z worked out ahead of time. However, even they know Plan A1 might be necessary. 

No one can know all the contingencies ahead of time, or if they did, we’d call this being “God,” who has foreknowledge of all the possibilities of all the timelines of all our possible choices. How does this happen? Time, as we know it, is fixed with a beginning and an end, but God experiences time differently, for God existed before time. God is eternal, so God has no beginning or end. All times are “now,” so to speak, to God. 

What might be future for us, IS to God. What was past for us at one time, God always knows, but unlike us, God chooses to remember no more. This is grace, a gift to us.  

 When my coffee pot died this morning, I didn’t berate it for giving up the ghost. After all, it was a free coffee pot from my coffee service. I’d bought a replacement at my local big box store and then they sent me a new one out of the blue! That pot is in storage (plan C). I got this Starbucks pourover system for those single cup moments. So I pressed it into service when the Gevalia drip carafe died after the first measly spurts. 

Sometimes our friends fail us, for we want them to be something they aren’t. We want them to take care of us, we want them to make our lives interesting, we want them to make us feel warm inside, we want them to stimulate us, or to make us feel alive again. Or we want them to be a bottomless reservoir of good cheer.   

 Most of these we can get from a good cup of coffee or tea! The rest we can get by risking a conversation in a public place with someone who’s doing what we are doing. Not everyone will respond well. That’s ok. Just keep your eyes open. 

Sometimes we want God only for the good things God provides: health, security, prosperity, abundance, or blessings. We forget about the love of God, the comfort of God, the wisdom of God, or even the trials of God as other goods to be sought. The steadfast love of God and the enduring presence of God are nothing to sneeze at! When we seek only the material blessings and not God alone, we have begun to seek another god, and these blessings will begin to leave us. Our first call is to seek God, and all other things we seek will be added to us. 

God will always provide companions for the journey and you can always buy a new coffee maker tomorrow. Or make do with the pourover until your ship comes in. Have a better day than yesterday, always! Love, Cornie. 

THE JAPANESE HAVE A NAME FOR MY AFFLICTION

  
Hokusai: New Year’s Days of the Tea House Ogi-ya (woodcut)

O-souji or The Big Year End Cleaning Ritual

I must have been Japanese in a former life. 
So far I’ve rearranged the bathroom cabinets, hung a new curtain in the tub, cleaned the shower grout, washed the mattress cover, cleaned out the bookshelves to donate the books I’m no longer reading, taken the clothes I don’t wear to the resale shop, and taken down the old curtains. 
These I repurposed for the studio, and I gave away a rug I never felt was right. Then I noticed my kitchen tile was dirty, so I cleaned it with a magic sponge. When I opened the ice box, I realized I could see crumbs of stuff underneath the bins. I don’t know how long they’ve been there, but they aren’t there any longer! When one area gets clean, then the next area has to be cleaned also, or it looks extra soiled. 

  
The hardest thing about cleaning this lower part of my fridge was getting my trick knee to raise my body up again from a kneeling position. I thought I might be crawling about the floor for a while until I found a sturdy surface and I could pull myself upright. 

While I don’t seem to have the energy for creative work, I am one cleaning machine. I seem to have a kinship with folks halfway across the world. 

While it is the time of the year for preparing Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties in many countries, in Japan things are a little different. It is the time when people return to their hometown to enjoy a few days together with their families. However, the lack of parties does not mean Japanese people do not have any rituals or culture in welcoming the new year. The one custom which I love the most, called o-souji (大掃除), is when you have to do a big cleaning before the year’s end. This big cleaning usually takes place in your workplace and your home.

The History of O-souji

In the West, the big cleaning is commonly held at the beginning of spring, and people usually call it “Spring Cleaning”. In Japan, o-souji is literally formed by 掃除 (そうじ, souji, to clean) and 大(おお, o-, big), so o-souji can be defined as “a big cleaning” and it is done by the end of the year. Back in the Edo period when most Japanese houses had hearths and fire stoves, the house would rather get dirty by the end of the year. Edo Castle started to be cleaned in December, and people started to believe that the December cleaning was not merely a matter of cleaning the house, but also as a purification ritual in preparation for greeting the New Year God, Toshigami-sama.

The New Beginning

Therefore, the Japanese belief that o-souji is more than only getting your house prepared for the coming of the whole family continues today. It symbolizes a fresh spirit and a new beginning. The most important part of o-souji, known as susuharai (煤払い, dust cleaning), is the act of cleaning your home and workplace from dust and dirt. While doing susuharai, we also give thanks for the blessings of the previous year and we clean to purify the spaces for the year to come.

When to Do O-souji

The o-souji ritual used to start around the second week of December, starting at the 13th day. But nowadays the ritual seems to be done a lot later, even as late as the last day of December (大晦日, o-misoka, December 31st). In many companies, schools, or work places, o-souji is held just before the Christmas holiday comes, around December 23rd or 24th.

Though it seems like space cleaning is an easy task to do, while doing o-souji, parts of the home or office that are usually not cleaned—ventilation fans and windows, the hard-to-get-to tops of tall shelves, lamps, and storage areas that are usually not normally accessed — are all cleaned at this time of year, which makes New Year’s cleaning rather demanding physical work. At this time of the year, fill your house with cleaning products, and pay attention to removing dirt from the parts of your house that never got your attention before. When your living and working space are clean and tidy, you will find that your mood is actually lifted and you are ready to welcome the new year with a new mind!

GREETINGS AND BLESSINGS FOR THE NEW YEAR. MAY EACH OF YOU FIND A CLEAN SPACE IN YOUR HEARTS, LIVES, AND HOMES FOR JOY, PEACE, AND HOPE. 

LOVE, CORNIE. 
http://jpninfo.com/36791

Simple Summer Dinner

Even though I grew up in the city, my parents always kept a garden in the backyard of our house. Sometimes it was an actual plot of land, but as we grew older, we needed the yard for our roaming games. The garden was relegated to the borders beside the fences. There the tomatoes, squash and onions shared space with the day lilies, the roses and the zinnias. My mother was in charge of both beauty and nourishment.

One late summer evening, before the fashion of daylight savings time took hold of the land, she sent me out for some onions. Green onions grow thin leaves above ground, but the white bulb is hidden. In the fading light, I grubbed a few of these from the soil, shook off the main dirt, and brought them to the kitchen sink for a good washing. Since mother was occupied, I put these down on the serving platter.

My dad always enjoyed the fresh garden produce. He was particular about the serving fork as the utensil to move the food from platter to plate. We got the evil eye if our own fork ever moved toward the common tray. Our good health depended upon this, in more ways than one.

His eyes lit up when he saw the fresh sliced tomatoes. Their red flesh and juice indicated their sweet taste awaiting his first bite. Even the green and white bulb looked inviting. The face he made when he crunched down upon it was another story altogether. As he chewed, he bravely asked, “is this from our garden?”

“Oh, yes! I picked it myself!” I announced proudly.

“Indeed. Have you tasted it yet?”

“Oh, I don’t care for onions!”

“I think I may be eating a flower.”

My brothers spit their milk straight through their noses as they collapsed laughing at my mistake and dad’s straight man’s delivery of a silly sentence. Mother just shook her head, for milk was everywhere.

September is the month when the gardens play out and fresh foods are but a memory. The trees turn colors with the fading light, so that transition too stirs up reminders of seasons past. If we get to racing along, hurrying toward Thanksgiving or Christmas, then we will miss these small, everyday simple, summer dinners.

Tale of the Wandering Asparagus

I had a coupon for veggies at Kroger, so I bought some of their best fruits and vegetables on sale. The broccoli looks like its on steroids & cherry tomatoes are feeling the pain of the weather increased costs. Oh, but the prize is the asparagus if you have the Kroger locality card! $2.99/pound, and the bunch I bought was only 99 cents.

Unfortunately, it was prone to wander. Sometimes these good things are too good to keep. While the clerk rang up my prize and the bagger sacked my score, my asparagus failed to walk into my basket.

Instead, a nice lady dressed in pink, who was parked beside me in the handicapped spot, said “They tried to give me your asparagus! You should go back & get it!”

When I went inside, no one knew anything. So I go out my sales receipt, checked off all the food, and said, “need asparagus!” I found it sitting upright on the asparagus display, ready to be sold again. The staff found another on a different check out counter. We were suddenly flush with asparagus!

Go get yourself some: it’s great with a little olive oil, a touch of garlic, & some rosemary. Broil it or microwave it al dente.