Dear Parents, there are some great news about a new testing system called “Flow Flex Test” (this is actually a new thing at schools to test kids!) at schools and we hope you had a wonderful evening and are delighted to welcome you back to…
Have you struggled with fears, obsessions, or feelings of guilt or shame around your food choices? Or perhaps you’ve found yourself stuck in a cycle of “starting fresh tomorrow”, or restricting foods in your diet. If you can relate, today’s post is for you. Today…
Hangover? Do you want to play a little game?
Riddle Number 1
There is a room with five chairs in it. Eight people are standing in the room. Some of them are Vampires.
Some of them are Normals. Vampires always lie. Normals always tell the truth. The room has three enormous windows in it, all facing west. It is six o’clock on an October evening.
Sunset may be seen through the westward windows. It is magnificent. (By the way, the Vampires have been awake all day. The sun does not kill them. They are not that kind of Vampires.)
The Vampires are very handsome and beautiful at the same time. They only tell handsome and beautiful lies. The Normals are wandering around the room, spreading rumours wherever they go.
There are two large bottles of inexpensive wine on the table, one of which is poisoned, one of which is not. Also, you are ruinously drunk.
Either a Vampire or a Normal touches your shoulder and suggests something that surprises you. It begins as a statement and ends as a question. Without feeling for fangs, and lying or telling the truth as you see fit, what three questions and two statements do you pose in order to determine whether you are standing or sitting down?
Hint: The wine is rosé.
Riddle Number 2
Combine the yolk of one egg with half a liter of soda. Add milk and vodka (warm) to taste. Rent Working Moms on Netflix and begin watching it. Drink the yolk/soda//milk/vodka combination while watching the first three episodes of Season 1 while rubbing your bare feet on the carpet.
Upon conclusion of the first three episodes, decide to take a shower, then change your mind. Prepare a box of instant mashed potatoes as directed. Add one whole bottle of Tabasco and the juice of one lemon. While mixing, remember high school until it becomes too painful to continue. While sucking on one ice cube, watch the rest of Season 1.
Sleep for ten hours.
Awake at sunset and suddenly realize: Everyone is standing, excluding yourself. Attempt to explain this to your husband or wife. Ask around to find out how you ended up on the bath mat and not in your bed.
So, you are done with the riddles. How do you feel? Now one final game.
The Name Game
Take the name of your pet as your first name and the name of the street you grew up on as your last name. That’s your Porn Star name.
Take the last name of the person you love as your last name. If you are a heterosexual woman, that’s your Oppressed by the Patriarchy name. If you are a heterosexual man, that’s your Sensitive New Age name. If you are a gay person of either gender, that’s an affirmation of your love.
Aim at your neighbour with a large club, then hit him over the head and take his wallet. Hide his body in the shed outside his house. The name on his credit cards? That’s your Fugitive from Justice name.
Take the kind of first name given to girls whose parents followed the Grateful Dead. Now take a patrician surname of English origin. That’s your Public Defender’s name.
Take a random six-digit number as your first name. Drop your last name. That’s your official Prison name.
Take an interjection used to call attention as your first name. Take the proper term of a female dog as your last name. That’s your unofficial Prison name.
Take the name you used back when everyone had walkmans. Boy, that takes you back, huh? That’s your You are Old name.
Imprisoned for not taking the vaccination shot? Take note of the name your cellmate whispers repeatedly in his sleep. That’s your Corona name.
Take a name from the list of most common names for babies in 1965 as your first name. Take a name chosen at random from the phone book as your last name. That’s your Witness Protection Program name.
Take your middle name as your first name. Take your mother’s maiden name as your last name. That’s your Romance Novel Name.
That should be sobered you up.
You are welcome.
THAT IS IRRATIONAL! THAT IS STUPID! THEY ARE MAKING THINGS DIFFICULT FOR THE SAKE OF IT! When I encounter emotions and behaviours that do not make sense to me, it is often because I do not have all the information. And in the absence of…
I hate self-checkout lanes at stores. I don’t like the notion to replace humans with machines. I like the social contact and the small talk at the register. But then the other day I only had three items, the line at the register was really…
Many of us are made to believe that all processed foods should be eliminated from the diet, but in today’s post, I’ll be shedding some light on what food processing means and the many different kinds.
Processed food is a term we hear left and right. You may have been told before to avoid processed foods in order to lead a healthy lifestyle, but hear me out my friend: not all processed foods are created equally.
While I appreciate the sentiment (I’ve thought that exact way before, too!) food and food processing is much more nuanced than being either good or bad.
Let’s clarify what “processed” really means so you can make the best choices for you and your family, without feeling anxious or confused when grocery shopping or making other decisions around food.
Processed food is any type of food that has undergone changes to its natural state. This can include any of the following:
In some cases, ingredients like preservatives, flavours, nutrients or other additives such as salt, sugar, or fat, may be added in. As you can see, almost all foods are processed to some degree before we eat them. This is why it’s helpful to differentiate between the different types of processing rather than declaring processed food overall as inherently bad or unhealthy.
One way that we can classify the different types of processed foods is with a system known as the NOVA classification system that was introduced in 2009.
Unprocessed or Minimally Processed Foods
Unprocessed foods are what many of us describe as “whole” foods. These are foods that are unadulterated and found in their whole, natural state. This includes foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and animal proteins.
Minimally processed foods have been slightly altered for the purpose of preservation without substantially changing the nutritional content. Cleaning and removing inedible parts, grinding, refrigeration, pasteurization, fermentation or freezing are examples of minimal food processing. Shelled nuts, pasteurized dairy, or pickled vegetables fall into this category. These kinds of processing allow the food to be stored for a greater amount of time and remain safe to eat.
Processed culinary ingredients are another category of minimally processed foods that have been pressed, ground, or milled. This can include oils from plants (e.g. olive oil), spices, and flour or pasta from whole grains. They’re not usually eaten on their own but rather help prepare or season dishes.
Processed Foods
These foods may have the addition of salt, sugar, or fats and have been mixed or packaged in some way. Examples include some canned fruits and vegetables, canned beans, tomato sauce, pasta, nut butter, or canned fish. These foods are usually made with only 2-3 ingredients and are still generally recognized as containing whole foods.
Ultra-Processed Foods
These foods are the most highly processed and contain little if any intact whole food component. Examples are sugary drinks, cookies, candy, some crackers, chips, sweetened breakfast cereals, frozen dinners, and processed luncheon meats. Ultra-processed foods also tend to contain additives such as dyes and colours, stabilizers, flavours, or artificial sweeteners. Processing aids that are often used in ultra-processed foods include carbonating, bulking, anti-caking and glazing agents, emulsifiers and other such additives that promote shelf stability, maintain texture, and make the foods more palatable.
Additionally, ultra-processed food products are branded and packaged attractively, in ready-to-eat packages, and are more hyper-palatable. Many of these foods tend to be low in fiber and nutrients compared to unprocessed or minimally processed foods, which is why they should make up a much smaller part of one’s diet.
The term ultra-processed food was coined in 2018 by Brazilian researchers who conducted a large study where they analyzed over 100,000 adults and found that consuming a high amount of ultra-processed foods was linked to greater health risks, such as cancer.
Ultimately, not all processed foods are bad and there’s certainly no need to eradicate them from your diet completely. As a general rule of thumb, the more unprocessed or minimally processed foods you eat, and the less ultra-processed foods you eat, the better for your health. In doing so, you’re ensuring you’re getting plenty of fibre and nutrients.
Minimally or moderately processed foods can absolutely be part of a well-balanced diet. Canned beans, tomato sauce, yoghurt, canned coconut milk or tuna are all small examples of processed foods that are nutritious and help add convenience to day-to-day cooking. If buying a pre-made sauce that you love the taste of and look forward to enjoying with salad or as a marinade with a home-cooked meal, then in my books, it’s a vehicle for helping you get whole foods into your diet more easily. And that’s a total win!
And while yes, we don’t want ultra-processed foods to make up a large part of our diet, enjoying cookies, ice cream, or potato chips sometimes is not a crime. You now know that they’re simply best eaten less often.
I hope this post taught you a thing or two about food processing. Leave me a comment below — what was most surprising to you about processed foods? What was your biggest takeaway from this article?
I am not into any particular religion but I am open to new things. The other day I stumbled upon a book on Buddhism that I enjoyed. I would like to share what I loved the most. There is an old Buddhist proverb called “The 84th…
Lockdown 3487 and Happy New Year. When I get out of here,” I wrote to the group chat during the lockdown, “the first place I’m going to is a bookstore.” And that’s just where I went when the world opened up again. I spent an…
It is almost five o’clock, it’s Wednesday, and I am feeling good. Finally, I made it halfway through the week. I had a somewhat productive day at work, and I am looking forward getting home. I am finally on the train and just want to come down when an approximately fifteen-year-old teenager not far away from me starts calling his friend “digger” while yelling in his phone that there is no tomorrow. I was just about to tell him that it is a cell phone and not a megaphone when his conversation continued. It went like this:
Strange Person (SP): “What’s up, digger!???? Yoooooo, duuuuuude, what’s up. HAVEN’T HEARD FROM YOU IN A LOOOOONG TIME, MAN!”
Me (thinking while breathing in deeply): What the hell is a “digger”?! I would never call another person “digger”. But as you can tell by now, I am a little different than most people.
SP: Bro, I totally nailed that school project…..Sorry, T-Bone and I were just talking about jobs and careers after we are done with this shit school. He wants to be a lawyer. Did I mention I want to be a judge? Yeah, I can totally like put people to jail, dude. Like Judge Barbara Salesch. Do you even know how much a fucking judge makes? A fuckload. I am going to be super rich! This is why I will start spending money now. Hence my dinner plan to go out and get some Schnitzel! LET’S GET SOME SCHNITZEL! Bro, did I tell you how many women I am going to score this weekend? Yo, digger…… you listening?
Me: (thinking and breathing even deeper): What are they talking about? I hope my son will never say “digger”!!! What does he mean by “how many women I am going to score”? Maybe it is better not to know. Who is or what is a T-Bone? I think he would make a great Judge.
SP: Bro, how many chicks do you think I will bang this weekend? Digger, zero? That’s not fair, dude. Fuck you! Anyone who thinks lower than zero failed and should get the f-off the train. Ha-ha, just kidding!
What the fuck, bro?! What the fuck are you talking about, digger? What the FUCKARE YOU FUCKING TALKING ABOUT, BRO?!? OH, MAN! [laughs]…Sorry for laughing so hard. You just reminded me of one of our inside jokes from school. So fucking hilarious. These teachers suck. They all seem pretty uptight compared to our crazy asses. Alright, this was a good chat. Catch you later, digger… Peace!
Me [crying on the inside]: Thank god that’s over. What just happened? Is this the way teenagers talk to each other these days? I consider myself funny. I love to laugh! I love to make other people laugh. I could not help but wonder who these two people are. Will he become a Judge? A politician? Will he sentence people by calling them digger before the handcuffs click?
Since when did language change that much? When I was that age we never spoke to each other like that. Does this make me sound old? Sort of, I think but this is fine with me. We just had different values but life seemed a lot better. Last thought and back to my first question: what is a “digger”?
Well, there are many meanings. I don’t think those two meant “a person, animal, or large machine that digs earth. Or a member of a group of radical dissenters formed in England in 1649 as an offshoot of the Levellers, believing in a form of agrarian communism in which common land would be made available to the poor”. Believe it or not, the word “digger” is not from the USA but from Germany and derives from the German word “Dicker”, most likely from the Hip-Hop Scene in Hamburg in the 90s. Since “ck” is pronounced “g” in the Hamburg region the word “Digger” had been somehow created. It also has nothing to do with a derogatory term of a heavier person.
The other day, my son, who is in second grade, came home with his friend who he called “digger”. Now, all I want is a Schnitzel and some wine. Does anyone want to hug me? I dreamt of this conversation already several times. I am an applied linguist. I will see myself out.
With this being said, I wish you all a Happy New Year! Thank you for reading my stuff. I will see you all in 2022. And please, nobody claims 2022 as “their year”. We are all going to walk in real slowly. Be good. Be quiet. Be cautious and respectful. Don’t touch anything.
Today, I want to talk about intuition, what it is, and how to listen to your inner knowing better. Keep reading for 6 strategies to sharpen your intuition. The subject of intuition and “listening to your gut” is so near and dear to me. I…
