Your mom was right—eat all the colors, and a lot of them

Research shows Mom was right. Eat all the colors. This is a meta-analysis. Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality: Results From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-Analysis of 26 Cohort Studies (ahajournals.org)  Free, original research article. Print it and read between the food commercials on TV.

• A higher intake of fruit and vegetables was associated with lower total and cause-specific mortality in a nonlinear manner in both an original data analysis in 2 prospective cohorts of US men and women and a meta-analysis of 26 prospective cohort studies.
• The lowest risk of mortality was observed for ≈5 servings per day of fruit and vegetable intake, but above that level the risk did not decrease further.
• The thresholds of risk reduction in mortality were 2 servings daily for fruit intake and 3 servings daily for vegetable intake

My favorite vegetables, peas, corn and potatoes, are not associated with lower mortality. Too starchy. Darn. It's just hard to eat this much of anything.

Despite recommendations in dietary guidelines for decades to increase fruit and vegetable intake, the current average intake among US adults is 1 serving of fruit and 1.5 servings of vegetables per day. Not good. There have been many campaigns (cited in the article) to change this because poor nutrition contributes to the burden of disease and premature death.

BTW, this is a premiere, peer reviewed journal. When I was a librarian, Circulation and its many numbered series, was the bane of my existence.

We’ll be OK—we’ll come out stronger

Taken from a friend's post. . . and passed along by Diane Orr McDermott (grew up in Mt. Morris, and lives in New Orleans) “gotta love the American people no matter what self-serving politicians do in Washington:”

“The reports are that the truckers are getting supplies to the stores. People are stocking the shelves all night and letting old people shop first.

Carnival Cruise line told Trump “We got your back and can match those big Navy Hospital ships with some fully staffed cruise ships.”

GM said hold our cars and watch this; we can make those ventilators where we were making cars starting next week. Women and children are making homemade masks and handing out snacks to truckers.

Restaurants and schools said, We’ve got kitchens and staff; we can feed kids.” Churches are holding on-line services and taking care of their members and community.

NBA basketball players said, “Hold our basketballs while we write checks to pay the arena staff.” Construction companies said, “Here are some masks for the medical staff and doctors”.  Breweries are making sanitizer out of the left-over ingredients.

We thought we couldn’t live without Baseball, NASCAR, NBA or going to the beach, restaurants or a bar. Instead, we’re trying to keep those businesses open by ordering take-out.

What communist China didn't count on was America saying "Hey, hold my beer and watch this."

I think a Japanese Admiral in the middle of the Pacific said it best in 1941, "I think we have awakened a sleeping giant."

Give us a few more weeks (maybe months) and we will be doing much better! And stop listening to the hysterical media!!  Sharing this from another FB friend. We have a wonderful country and an amazing God.

I know we will be ok .”

Guessing compliments will get you further than insults. Ya think?

  Use farther for physical distance, further for metaphorical.

Two hundred years ago in America

"Having an outdoor privy signified a level of decency above those who simply relieved themselves in the woods or fields. Indoor light was scarce and precious; families made their own candles, smelly and smoky, from animal tallow. A single fireplace provided all the cooking and heating for a common household. During winter, everybody slept in the room with the fire, several in each bed. Privacy for married couples was a luxury. ...

"It was a young society: The census listed the median age as sixteen, and only one person in eight as over forty-three years old. Women bore children in agony and danger, making their life expectancy, unlike today, slightly shorter than that of men. Once born, infants often succumbed to diseases like diphtheria, scarlet fever, and whooping cough. One-third of white children and over half of black children died before reaching adulthood. The women had enough babies to beat these grim odds. To help them through labor, neighbors and trained midwives attended them. Doctors were in short supply, hospitals almost unknown. This proved a blessing in disguise, for physicians then did as much harm as good, and hospitals incubated infection. The upside of rural isolation was that epidemics did not spread easily."

What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States) 2007, pp. 32,37

Counting on igorance

Dan Kennedy in Dumb and Dumber by Choice begins by pointing out that reading is down 20% in the last 25 years and that 40 million Americans don't read, can't read or won't read, and that most of the people who voted for Obama didn't read his books in which he outlined his socialist beliefs and anti-American plans. Nor does Congress read it's own legislation before it votes.

"This past week, some clowns in Congress proposed a tax credit of up to $3,500 a year for pet owners. It was reported as something amusing by the media. But is it funny – or frightening? Doesn’t it speak to the confidence our Royalty in Washington has about the ignorance and stupidity of the peons they rule? As does Obama’s proposed $250.00 bribe to seniors, the asinine contention that they will magically take $500-billion from Medicare without cutting the benefits it delivers, the even more asinine assertion that the near trillion dollar costs of the new socialized medicine plan will be offset by savings from stopping fraud and waste in the already existent, smaller socialized health care plan. These are all the very same kind of insults to intelligence.

All these insults display the same run-amok arrogance. The same power mad abuse of authority. The same contempt for you and me. They have decided that more than enough of us are ignorant idiots, easily pacified with empty promises and a piece of candy, happy to be done with all responsibility to think, busied with funny videos on YouTube and 146-character Tweets and X-Box and ordering complicated drinks at Starbucks. They know that five times as many people watch the climactic episodes of “American Idol” than watch TV news programs, let alone read a newspaper and news magazines. They know that more people participate in fantasy football leagues on one Sunday than watch “Meet the Press” in a year of Sundays. They are certain of – and rely on – the growing ignorance of the American public."

Are you smarter than the people you elected?

It shouldn't be difficult. The most recent annual report on Civic Literacy, released by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in November revealed an average score of F by both citizens and elected officials. I'm not surprised. Remember the election video where Obama's supporters said it was OK for him to be running with Sarah Palin and thought she'd do a good job?

"More than 2,500 randomly selected Americans took the test on Civic Literacy, and more than 1,700 of them failed. The average score was a 49%. More shocking, the average score of elected officials was 44%, meaning that our public officials performed worse than citizens selected at random. Less than 1% of those surveyed (21 of 2,508) earned an A on the test (90% or higher)." I scored 78.79 %, which isn't all that great, but apparently better than the folks I elected. When I looked at the ones I missed, there were two I just didn't read carefully, and the others I guessed (wrong). But bad either way.

Take a stab.

America's favorite Terrorist has new book

Bill Ayers, Barack's mentor and Chicago backer has a new book. I'm sure I'll have no problem finding it--given its track record my public library will flood the shelves with copies. Here's what Charming Billy bakes in his pie laced with hate for our culture and government (i.e. white Americans--a group of which he is a member, a descendant of generations of the oppressor class).

"Bill Ayers 'gets it.'* Here's what he understands: One strategy to undermine culture is to discredit its values and history. Of course, reducing American history to a simplistic notion of 'white supremacy' is absurd, but that’s the point. The point is to slowly undermine the confidence of people about the values and history of their own culture so they'll be less willing to defend and protect it. Along the way, you've also created a structure of 'them' (so-called 'white' people, meaning, in this context, people from western and northern Europe) and 'us' (everyone else). This creates internal conflict based on simple, easy to understand qualities like skin color.

"Eventually, the culture becomes so disillusioned and split apart that an organized cadre of leaders can take control and establish a new kind of society – like the Bolsheviks did in 1917, or the National Socialists in 1933, or the followers of Mao in 1949," the forum participant wrote.

More on the book at "Ayers, Dohrn: 'White supremacy' responsible for America's troubles"

*I wonder if this is what Michelle Obama meant in Bexley last week when she said, "Barack gets it." The crowd whooped and cheered.

4853 New twist on an old myth

When I was a little girl, children were told to clean up their plates because there were starving children in China (or India or Africa depending on where your church had missions). Most of us were skinny and baffled how that would help other kids--but guilt never makes much sense. Today I heard some expert say that if Americans would just eat less, Indians would have more. The reason people don't have enough food has nothing to do with available calories in their own country. Since the 1970s all countries, even the poorest, have been self-sufficient in food. The problem is corrupt governments that let it rot, or who steal it, trade it or control people with it, or don't build roads so poor, rural people can get to it. When the Irish were starving in the 19th century, Britain was exporting their food. When the Ukrainians were starving in the early 20th century, they were living in the bread basket of the world. Those were political, not agricultural, famines. Right now people are starving in Burma after a natural disaster, but they were probably awfully thin going into it; U.S. and U.N. food aid has been stolen by the military-communist controlled government. There are calls for the U.N. to DO SOMETHING besides form a committee and write a report!

Burning food stuffs to run cars does change the balance of trade and supply, and even if it never got to Burma, wouldn't you feel better if you weren't burning it?

What to wear in Italy

Cannes, the site of the film festival, isn't in Italy, but it's close enough. I saw an article on what to wear in Cannes (for the festival and site seeing), so I thought it would be a good hanger for my travel wardrobe in early summer when we visit Italy.

Daytime--women
designer jeans
colorful tight top or
wrapped dress in bold print
trimmings of diamonds, flashy handbag and expensive sun glasses

Evening--women
bleached teeth
designer gown
a tan

Sight-seeing
good flats or expensive sandals (absolutely no athletic shoes)
you can also use the sunglasses, jeans, tight shirt and white teeth

Men--Daytime
tight jeans
fitted white shirt or
rocker t-shirt
expensive shoes
gold Rolex

Men--evening
Tuxedo

I'm not sure my on-sale Talbot's jeans with sparkles and flowers qualify; even so, I do hate to see women "dressed up" in jeans--especially tight jeans. Ladies, I think the gay designers are after our men, because most of us just don't look that terrific after age 16 in tight jeans. Muffin tops, saddle bags, cellulite, sausage links--you know the routine. What we look like in that 3-way mirror in the store is exactly what someone walking behind our behinds sees.

So here's my plan--black, white and taupe, with a little color thrown in for evening. I now have two new pair of black sandals, and one pair of black walking shoes--tie oxfords. I agree with the writer--athletic shoes for strolling around ancient ruins and art museums look a bit tacky. But so do tight jeans on plump or saggy Americans.

3834

Reading about another war

Many of the passages of David McCullough's 1776 have been very moving and informative. I didn't know Americans in 1776 had a higher standard of living than any people in the world.

"The Hessian and British troops alike were astonished to find Americans blessed with such abundance-substantial farmhouses and fine furnishings. "In all the fields the finest fruit is to be found," Lieutenant von Bardeleben wrote after taking a walk on his own, away from the path of destruction. "The peach and apple trees are especially numerous .... The houses, in part, are made only of wood and the furnishing in them are excellent. Comfort, beauty, and cleanliness are readily apparent."

To many of the English, such affluence as they saw on Long Island was proof that America had indeed grown rich at the expense of Great Britain.

In fact, the Americans of 1776 enjoyed a higher standard of living than any people in the world. Their material wealth was considerably less than it would become in time, still it was a great deal more than others had elsewhere. How people with so much, living on their own land, would ever choose to rebel against the ruler God had put over them and thereby bring down such devastation upon themselves was for the invaders incomprehensible." 1776, p. 158

I googled "Lieutenant von Bardeleben" and found out that many of the diaries and letters of the German mercenaries fighting with the English have been translated.

Timeline