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The program that I outline in my book, Lose 50+ Pounds at 70+Years, suggests eating foods from the list below. These are the foods I have concentrated on for the last few years as I lost weight and am now maintaining that weight loss. I’ve become especially fond of green, leafy vegs like spinach, cruciferous vegs like broccoli, and low-calorie fruits like berries and melon. I replaced some of the meat I had been consuming with nuts, seeds, and legumes. I simply cut my meat portions by at least half. Easypeasy!
Whole grain breads and olive oil have always been my favorites so little adjustment was needed there. I’m not a big fan of most fish, though, so I have to psych myself into eating seafood. I do like salmon, so I’ve tried to develop more recipes with this hearthealthy, nutritious fish. Mediterranean diet foods
It has been studied extensively and judged by doctors and scientists as one of, if not the most effective diets in the world. There is quite a bit of reliable evidence that adherence to the Mediterranean meal plan can lower the risk of death from many conditions such as cardiovascular disease by reducing LDL (low density lipoprotein or bad) cholesterol. Emerging evidence indicates that this eating method may also help with issues like age-related macular degeneration, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, diabetes, and certain cancers. And it works for weight-loss, as long as you eat reasonable sized meals with these ingredients. You’ll be satisfied and you’ll lose weight, plain and simple. Hey, it's been working for me!
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Let’s clear this up right now. There is no need to guzzle 8 big glasses of water a day. You’re already getting most of that in the food you eat. The very idea of a "minimal water requirement” is a notion from 1945 published by the British Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences. They came up with – without a single bit of evidence – the spurious quantity "2,500 mL [2.5 liter, 10 cups] of fluid” that everyone should ingest daily. [1] The myth was debunked in a 2011 article in the British Medical Journal, by Margaret McCartney who pointed out that one water advocacy group in Europe, was actually created by food giant Danone, who owns Evian among other bottled waters. [2] But health guru types - who rarely read actual science papers - had already swallowed the lie and proceeded to parrot it to the world. So, everyone, I included, ran out and bought oodles of plastic bottles of water, which ended up in landfills, the ocean and everywhere else they don’t need to be. Most everything we eat contains water. For example, iceberg lettuce is 96% water, a broiled pork chop is 71% water, and a baked potato is 58%. So, if you calculate the meals you eat, you’ll see that you consume plenty of water without drinking 8 glasses. Let’s try it out and calculate the water in a typical day’s meals. The weight and percentage of water in each of the following foods is from the very comprehensive USDA’s Nutritive Value PDF: https://tinyurl.com/USDAARSNutripdf. [3] To make the conversion from grams to milliliters I had to take each food’s physical density into account. The information on food densities can be found in the UN’s report FAO / Infoods Databases.” [4]  If you eat this menu in a day, you’ve already consumed 4.68 cups of water; you only need to drink 3.32 more cups to reach the “required” amount of water recommended by all the idiot diet gurus. Of course, no real scientists suggest that anymore. They are more likely to suggest that you listen to your own body. Our bodies give us plenty of information about hydration. It’s called thirst. When I feel thirsty, I drink. Admittedly, keeping a bottle of water handy to sip from can prevent the mindless noshing that puts weight on; thirst can sometimes masquerade as hunger. And if you’re physically working or playing hard or if you’re out in the sun, you’re going to need a little more. But nobody needs 8-10 glasses of water a day. REFERENCES [1] Chris Gayomali, “Where Did the 8-Glasses-of-Water-a-Day Myth Come from?,” The Week (The Week, September 16, 2015), https://tinyurl.com/theWeekWaterMyth [2] Margaret McCartney, “Waterlogged?,” The BMJ (British Medical Journal Publishing Group, July 12, 2011), https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4280. [3] Joyce Cox, “Nutritive Value - USDA ARS,” Agriculture Research Service (US department of Agriculture, September 30, 2002), https://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/NutritiveValueofFoods/NutritiveValueofFoods.pdf. [4] U. Ruth Charrondiere, David Haytowitz, and Barbara Stadlmayr, “FAO / Infoods Databases,” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (United Nations, 2012), https://www.fao.org/3/ap815e/ap815e.pdf.
 OK, I’m gonna get this out of the way early:
I don’t care whether people wish me a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or Happy Heidentag (a holiday made up by my daughter and I – loosely translated to ‘Heathen’s Day.’) It’s a nice thought and I always reciprocate in kind. BUT… Like it or not, there are several cultural/religious celebrations around that time. Hanukkah begins on November 29th in 2021 - it's early this year. Most Americans know this and enjoy seeing the different traditions for celebrating different holidays. Christmas trees and Hanukkah candles are pretty, the principles behind Kwanzaa are ones to which we should all aspire – look ’em up . And Christmas music is enjoyable, well… until you’ve heard the same song 7 times a day for two months. So, wishing people a happy time, no matter which holiday they celebrate, is just more ACCURATE. It’s not a matter of being “politically correct” (I f***ing HATE that term! It basically means “I don’t give a sh*t about your feelings, my feelings and beliefs are more important than yours!”) “Happy Holidays” is just FACTUALLY CORRECT! Want to quickly insert a symbol / character into a doc, spreadsheet, email, etc., but don't want to scroll through a table searching for the right symbol? Using the ALT key with a combination of numbers can make the process a bit quicker and simpler. Here's how: This only works with number keys on the number pad, it won't work with the numbers at the top on the keyboard. Hold down the ALT key, hit the 1 number key then release the ALT key - you will get a smiley face (It may not be as large as you want it unless you enlarge the font.) ☺ Hold down the ALT key, type 223, release the ALT key - you get a filled in box. ▀ Don't release the ALT key till you've typed all the numbers in the code – which may include up to 5 numbers. There are LOTS more symbols available - and most even work in emails and websites. ALT-3 = ♥ ALT-160 = á ALT-168 = ¿ ALT-26 = → ALT-164 = ñ ALT-173 = ¡ Some fonts don't include all the symbols. Arial or Times Roman seem to be the best fonts to use for inserting a symbol. You may need to increase the font size to make the character more visible. Don't forget to reset the font size as you continue to type your document. Many non-English language characters can be inserted with the ALT key, like the "N" with a tilda over it (ñ = ALT-164), in Spanish or the French C cedille (Ç = ALT-128). There are special character that may be used in specific professions, like the § (ALT-21) character used in legal documents; or the yen character ¥ (ALT-157) used in international finance. There is a whole chart of musical symbols at https://altcodeunicode.com/alt-codes-musical-note-instrument-symbols/ There are plenty of websites with ALT-key charts. You can Google "alt-key chart" to find them. Here are a few links: www.alt-codes.net www.theworldofstuff.com/characters www.tedmontgomery.com/tutorial/altchrc.html Charts are also often included in the index of software manuals. It's handy to memorize a few of the number combinations and/or keep a chart nearby so you can insert them quickly - keep a chart of most-used symbols on your desk: Here are some I use most often:  I had a heart attack in May 2021. When I was in the hospital in Franklin, KY, and later in Bowling Green, KY, I was appalled by how many of the healthcare staff were vaccine-refusers. I started cardiac rehab soon after I got out of the hospital. The nurse, an R.N. (!) was also a vax-refuser. You'd think that would be a mandatory requirement to employment in a hospital.
Of course, I was fully vaccinated by this time so I wasn't worried so much about myself, but how many people did they come in contact with who weren't or couldn't be vaccinated?! Boggles the mind! Frankly my dear, I don't give even a third of a damn about the health of people who refuse vaccination. I don't care even one little bit about whether they contract COVID or not. I am fully vaccinated, but I still wear my mask to prevent bringing microbes home to my 84-year-old sister and protect myself from the admittedly remote possibility of contracting the delta variant of COVID. The fact that most of the people who contract COVID now are the unvaccinated should prove that vaccines work, but to some, not so much. Some people prefer to get their information from idiots or "influencers" who want to politicize health care information. Too bad facts are facts. 
 A friend asked for a pattern for this. I don't have one, I tend to use a combination of patterns/directions on a lot of my crochet items. I used Red Heart worsted weight yarn and a 5.25mm hook (size I). I just made it as wide and as long as I thought it should be for a lapghan - about 26" wide and 35" long before the edgings. The body of the thing is just half-double crochet, then a half-double crochet edge (in cranberry). The sides use a scalloped edging - as shown here: http://www.hopefulhoney.com/2014/05/how-to-crochet-scalloped-edging.html Then the ends use the spade design - as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C2DEzAcrsA I didn't like the way the spades were sort of flopping around, so I modified the spades by connecting them: on the first Chain 2 of each spade, Chain 1 then take the hook out of the chain and insert it into the second chain 2 of the previous spade and pull up a short loop. Chain 1 then proceed with the spade as directed in the video.   I learned a few things this week. I have my great niece, a firearms enthusiast, to thank for the impetus to look this stuff up. Many of the victims of mass shootings have been killed or injured by AR-15s, an assault weapon often called an "assault rifle". It's not. The term “assault weapon” is a loosely defined term for a semiautomatic civilian firearm that has the appearance—but not the function—of a fully automatic military firearm. The Russian-made Kalashnikov or AK-47 is actually an assault rifle, the AR-15 is just a rifle that sort of looks like an AK-47. The military has never used the AR-15. It is not a military weapon, it is merely a long-gun version of a semi automatic rifle or pistol - a hunting rifle or a Glock. For a weapon to be a military spec assault rifle, it must have the ability to shoot fully-automatic, or have some form of burst feature. The military term, “assault rifle,” refers to a medium-caliber, shoulder-fired rifle that allows the shooter to select between semiautomatic mode (the gun fires one bullet per pull of the trigger), a three-shot-burst mode (the gun fires three bullets per pull of the trigger), or a fully automatic mode (the gun continues to fire bullet after bullet as long as the trigger is depressed.) An AR-15 can only fire one round with each trigger pull. It cannot fire a burst of rounds at one trigger press. It is an "assault weapon" not an assault rifle. The 1994 U.S. “Federal Assault Weapons Ban,” which expired in 2004, defined an “assault weapon” as semiautomatic, that can accept a detachable magazine, and had at least two military-style features such as a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip, a bayonet mount, a flash suppressor ("silencer"), or a threaded barrel designed to accept a flash suppressor. While I agree with the general intent of the above, I have to say that neither Rep. Crow nor anyone who comes back from Afghanistan brings their military-issued assault rifle home with them. And a civilian firearms buyer cannot buy a "gen-u-wine" "assault rifle" unless they have very deep pockets and find a supplier willing to sell illegal firearms. That won't change anytime soon. I'm 2+ weeks out from my 2nd Pfizer vaccination shot, so I'm pretty sure I'm protected from the virus. So why am I still wearing a mask, you ask? Because I'm protecting YOU, fool! Scientists are still not sure about whether I still could be a carrier of the virus that I've encountered since I got my jab. That's right, I and anyone else who is fully vaccinated could still be carrying the virus. According to the CDC, "For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to:
So, when I am at a grocery store, a restaurant, or anywhere with people I don't live with I'm gonna keep wearing a mask. You should be happy about that: I'm less likely to infect you or to collect virus bits that I could then 'shed' on you. REFERENCES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 8, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html#anchor_1615143393075. The New York Times published an article about a doctor who was fired for vaccinating people instead of wasting vaccine. To quote the article:  "...he had to find 10 eligible people for its remaining doses before the precious medicine expired. In six hours...Scrambling, the doctor made house calls and directed people to his home outside Houston. Some were acquaintances; others, strangers. A bed-bound nonagenarian. A woman in her 80s with dementia. A mother with a child who uses a ventilator. After midnight, and with just minutes before the vaccine became unusable, the doctor, Hasan Gokal, gave the last dose to his wife, who has a pulmonary disease that leaves her short of breath. For his actions, Dr. Gokal was fired from his government job and then charged with stealing 10 vaccine doses worth a total of $135 — a shun-worthy misdemeanor that sent his name and mug shot rocketing around the globe. “It was my world coming down,” Dr. Gokal said..." That's right: he was fired from a job that paid less than what had been making and charged for "stealing" the vaccine! I was stunned when I read the article. Read the whole article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/us/houston-doctor-fired-covid-vaccine.html#commentsContainer I wrote a letter to the Acting Executive Director of the Harris County Health Department and faxed it to her. Fax # 713.439.6080 There is no email contact given. I posted the text of the letter on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HarrisCountyPublicHealth Here's the letter. You're welcome to copy, personalize the letter and fax and post it. Send them something! Let's try and get this doc re-hired. Gwen Sims, Med, RD, LD Interim Executive Director Harris County Public Health Office of the Executive Director 2223 West Loop South Houston, TX 77027 Re: The dismissal of Hasan Gokal, M.D. February 4, 2021 Dear Director Sims: Thank you for what must be hard work in dealing with this pandemic, but I believe you have made a serious error in the dismissal of Hasan Gokal, M.D. Firing this doctor because he vaccinated 10 deserving patients to prevent the loss of precious COVID vaccine was simply wrong. It was irresponsible of your organization in the face of this pandemic. The fact that Dr. Gokal is from Pakistan makes his dismissal sound a lot like racism. From the New York Times article published on the web, it appears that such an issue had no precedent in your organization. If you do not have protocols in place to deal with incidents of this sort you must create such conventions. I urge you to reinstate Dr. Gokal. I use FaxZero to send free faxes: https://faxzero.com/
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