Lost and Found – a Novel by Ron Rink

No! I am not someone who is going to say to you, “Don’t drink during the holidays”. I will say, “Don’t drink and drive — please, don’t ever do that”. I heard this new slogan that I hope you’ll keep in mind — “Buzz Driving IS Drunk Driving!” Please be careful!

If you’re like me and want to keep your weight under control during this time of year, then you need to pay attention to what you’re drinking. Let’s face it, the holidays without eggnog, Christmas punch, wine, and champagne may be a bit hard to imagine for some of you. The good news is that you don’t have to give these up in order to stay healthy.

Here’s a list of some of the more common alcoholic beverages and some notes on how they should be consumed if you’re watching your diet and your health.

Alcohols that are okay alone or in mixed drinks:

Vodka, Rum, Gin, Whiskey, Scotch, Bourbon, Tequila, Wine (preferably red wine)

Note: Replace sweetened mixers, sweetened juices and sodas with their sugar-free counterparts.

Alcohols that are OK with some modifications:

Eggnog — Replace cream with skim milk or fat-free half-and-half and replace sugar with Splenda.

Champagne — Enjoy a glass or two of the extra-brut variety over the holidays.

Christmas Punch — Make it with sugar-free powdered drink mixes and extra-brut champagne.

Alcohols that should generally be avoided:

Dessert Wines, Flavored Liqueurs, Wine Coolers (Also, stay away from those energy drinks — they’re loaded with sugar and caffeine)

Note: If you choose to drink, drink in moderation and make sure you do so during or right after a meal, since a stomach full of food will slow the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream — and keep your blood-sugar levels steadier.

Have a wonderful, Happy New Year!!
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Got questions?

Contact me at: http://www.ronrink.com

My email and phone number are at that site. Feel free to contact me. I’m here to help you with your health, nutrition and fitness goals.

Have a healthy and nutritious day!

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Ron

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One of the issues that is so much on the minds of Americans today is their heart health. What can we do to protect this vital organ of ours so that we can have a long, vigorous life?

It wasn’t too many years ago that a group of British scientists came up with a cocktail of six known drugs they called the “Polypill”. According to these scientists, this pill would slash the risk of heart attack and stroke by 80 percent if taken every day.

Well, here are some super foods that can protect your heart’s health just as effectively as a fistful of medication.

What I’m going to propose to you today is the “Polymeal” — six foods that if eaten regularly could reduce the risk of heart disease by 76 percent — and do it without taking any drugs. No, this isn’t something that I came up with on my own — well — in a way I have written about these foods in previous posts here — but in this case, the credit goes to a group of Dutch scientists. They came up with this to show that healthy nutrition can protect your heart as well as drugs can. They conducted volumes of careful research to design this meal so it is possible that it could add years and quality to your life.

Almonds

A handful of almonds a day reduces LDL -— bad cholesterol —- by nearly 5 percent, according to a University of Toronto study. And two handfuls cut LDL by nearly 10 percent.

Fish

Four servings of fish a week can lower heart disease risk by an average of 14 percent, say Tulane University researchers. Choose cold-water species such as salmon, tuna, and sardines—they’re full of omega-3s — fatty acids that can lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and even the blood cell stickiness that contributes to clots. But don’t go overboard. More than four four-ounce servings a week can raise blood mercury levels. If eating fish that often is a problem, then take a good fish oil capsule according to the directions.

Garlic

It may not do much for your popularity, but a daily dose of garlic can reduce total cholesterol levels by 17 points, for a 25 percent decrease in heart disease risk. Subjects in scientific studies typically take 600 to 900 mg of garlic in dried capsule form, but one fresh clove contains about the same amount of the active compounds.

Produce

Yes! Another major score for fruits and vegetables. Four hundred grams (about 14 ounces) of produce a day could cut heart disease risk by nearly one fourth. The foods contain antioxidants that fight the cellular damage that contributes to atherosclerosis, a deadly hardening of the arteries. Produce also provides dietary fiber, which was found to cut heart disease risk by 40 percent in a Harvard study. Broccoli, berries, melons, carrots, and leafy greens are all rich in both antioxidants and fiber.

Red Wine

A daily glass of the grape can lower your odds of heart disease by one third, according to the journal Circulation. Red wine is rich in polyphenols, substances that prevent oxidation, the process that causes cholesterol to glom on to artery walls. As ever, too much wine is worse for you than none at all. Keep it to a glass or two at most.

Dark chocolate

Notice — that says DARK chocolate! Eating this treat daily can reduce blood pressure. University of California, San Francisco, researchers have an idea why: flavonoids, chemical compounds found in chocolate, can decrease blood cell stickiness to promote blood flow. Don’t go nuts, though: subjects in the study ate just one 1.6-ounce bar per day. Take it easy.
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Got questions?

Contact me at: http://www.ronrink.com

My email and phone number are at that site. Feel free to contact me. I’m here to help you with your health, nutrition and fitness goals.

Have a healthy and nutritious day!

Shanti,

Ron

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Today’s article is a favorite story of mine for this holiday season. So, rather than the usual article, I’d like to share this beautiful story with you.

It’s Simple. Charming. Heart-warming. An expression of gratitude. Love. Compassion. Acceptance. Abundance.

It’s a little piece called “Christmas Story” by John Henry Faulk. Faulk was a gifted storyteller and former radio broadcaster. He first recorded his Christmas Story in 1974 for the program “Voices in the Wind.”

National Public Radio started a tradition of airing Faulk’s story every year during this holiday season, so if you’re a regular listener you have probably heard it. But here it is anyway. I hope you enjoy it.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Shanti,

Ron
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To hear an audio of John Henry Faulk reading the Christmas Story, go to —

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5028755

There’s a link to the audio at the top of the page — Look for the “Listen” button …

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5028755

Or — You can read the story right here ….
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The day after Christmas a number of years ago, I was driving down a country road in Texas. And it was a bitter cold, cold morning. And walking ahead of me on the gravel road was a little bare-footed boy with non-descript ragged overalls and a makeshift sleeved sweater tied around his little ears. I stopped and picked him up. Looked like he was about 12 years old and his little feet were blue with the cold. He was carrying an orange.

And he got in and had the brightest blue eyes one ever saw. And he turned a bright smile on my face and says, “I’m-a going down the road about two miles to my cousins. I want to show him my orange old Santa Claus brought me.” But I wasn’t going to mention Christmas to him because I figured he came from a family — the kind that don’t have Christmas. But he brought it up himself. He said, “Did old Santa Claus come to see you, Mister?” And I said, “Yes. We had a real nice Christmas at our house and I hope you had the same.”

He paused for a moment, looked at me. And then with all the sincerity in the world said, “Mister, we had the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States down to our place. Lordy, it was the first one we ever had had there. See, we never do have them out there much. Don’t notice when Christmastime comes. We heared about it, but never did have one ’cause — well, you know, it’s just papa says that old Santa Claus — papa hoorahs a lot and said old Santa Claus was scared to bring his reindeer down into our section of the county because folks down there so hard up that they liable to catch one of his reindeer and butcher him for meat.

But just several days before Christmas, a lady come out from town and she told all the families through there, our family, too, that they was — old Santa Claus was come in town to leave some things for us and if papa’d go in town, he could get some Christmastime for all of us. And papa hooked up the mule and wagon. He went in town. But he told us children, said, “Now don’t ya’ll get all worked up and excited because there might not be nothing to this yarn that lady told.”

And–but, shucks, he hadn’t got out of sight up the lane there till we was done a-watching for him to come back. We couldn’t get our minds on nothing else, you know. And mama, she’d come to the door once in a while and say, “Now ya’ll quit that looking up the lane because papa told you there might not be nothing.” And — but long about the middle of the afternoon, well, we heared the team a-jangling harness a-coming and we ran out in the front yard, and Ernie, my little brother, called out and said, “Yonder come papa.” And here come them mules just in a big trot, you know, and papa standing upright in the bed of that wagon holding two big old chickens, all the feathers picked off. And he was just yelling, “Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.” And the team stopped right in front of the gate. And all us children just went a-swarming out there like a flock of chichis, you know, and just a-crawling over that wagon and a-looking in.

And, Mister, I wish you could have seen what was in that wagon. It’s bags of stripety candy and apples and oranges and sacks of flour and some real coffee, you know, and just all tinselly and pretty and we couldn’t say nothing. Just kind of held our breath and looked at it, you know. And papa standing there just waving them two chickens, a-yelling, “Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you,” and a-laughing that big old grin on his face. And mama, she come a-hurrying out with the baby in her arms, you know. And when she looked in that wagon, she just stopped, and then papa, he dropped them two chickens and reached and caught the baby out of her arms, you know, and held him up and said, “Merry Christmas to you, Santa Claus.” And baby, little old Alvie Lee, he just laughed like he knowed it was Christmas, too, you know. And mama, she started telling us the name of all of them nuts. They wasn’t just peanuts. They was — she had names for all of them. She — mama knows a heap of things like that. She’d seen that stuff before, you know? And we was, all of us, just a-chattering and a-going on at the same time, us young’uns, a-looking in there.

And all of a sudden, we heared papa call out, “Merry Christmas to you, Sam Jackson.” And we stopped and looked. And here comes Sam Jackson a-leading that old cripple-legged mule of his up the lane. And papa said, “Sam Jackson, did you get in town to get some Christmas this year?” Sam Jackson, you know, he sharecrops over there across the creek from our place. And he shook his head and said, “Well, no, sir, Mister. Well, I didn’t go in town. I heared about that, but I didn’t know it was for colored folks, too. I thought it was just for you white families.” All of a sudden, none of us children were saying nothing. Papa, he looked down at mama and mama looked up at him and they didn’t say nothing, like they don’t a heap of times, but they know what the other one’s a-thinking. They’re like that, you know. And all of a sudden, papa, he broke out in a big grin again. He said, “Dad-blame-it, Sam Jackson, it’s a sure a good thing you come by here. Lord have mercy, I liked to forgot. Old Santa Claus would have me in court if he heared about this. The last thing he asked me if I lived out here near you. Said he hadn’t seen you around and said he wanted me to bring part of this out here to you and your family, your woman and your children.”

Well, sir, Sam Jackson, he broke out in a big grin. Papa says, “I’ll tell you what to do. You get your wife and children and you come down here tomorrow morning. It’s going to be Christmastime all day long. Come early and stay late.” Sam Jackson said, “You reckon?” And mama called out to him and said, “Yes, and you tell your wife to be sure and bring some pots and pans because we’re going to have a heap of cookin’ to do and I ain’t sure I’ve got enough to take care of all of it.” Well, sir, old Sam Jackson, he started off a-leading that mule up the lane in a full trot, you know, and he was a-heading home to get the word to his folks and his children, you know.

And next morning, it just — you remember how it was yesterday morning, just rosy red and looked like Christmastime. It was cold, but you didn’t notice the cold, you know, when the sun just come up, just all rosy red. And us young’uns were all out of bed before daylight seemed like, just running in the kitchen and smelling and looking. And it was all there sure enough. And here come Sam Jackson and his team and his wife and his five young’uns in there. And they’s all lookin’ over the edge. And we run out and yelled, “Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.” And papa said, “Christmas gift to you, Sam Jackson. Ya’ll come on in.” And they come in and mama and Sister Jackson, they got in the kitchen and they started a-cooking things up. And us young’uns started playing Christmastime. And it’s a lot of fun, you know. We’d just play Christmas Gift with one another and run around and around the house and just roll in the dirt, you know, and then we started playing Go Up To The Kitchen Door And Smell. And we’d run up and smell inside that kitchen door where mama and Sister Jackson was a-cooking at, and then we’d just die laughing and roll in the dirt, you know, and go chasing around and playing Christmas Gift.

And we played Christmastime till we just wore ourselves out. And papa and Sam Jackson–they put a table up and put some sheets over it, some boards up over some sawhorses. And everybody had a place, even the baby. And mama and Sister Jackson said, “Well, now it’s ready to come on in. We’re going to have Christmas dinner.” And I sit right next to Willy Jackson, you know, and he just rolled his eyes at me and I’d roll mine at him. And we’d just die laughing, you know, and there was an apple and an orange and some stripety candy at everybody’s place. And that was just dessert, see. That wasn’t the real Christmas dinner. Mama and them had done cooked that up. And they just had it spread up and down the table.

And so papa and Sam Jackson, they’d been sitting on the front porch and they come in. Papa, he sit at one end of the table, Sam Jackson sit at the other. And it was just a beautiful table like you never had seen. And I didn’t know nothing could ever look like that and smell that good, you know. And Sam Jackson, you know, he’s real black and he had on that white clean shirt of his and then them overalls. Everything had been washed and was real clean. Papa, he said, “Brother Jackson, I believe you’re a deacon in the church. I ain’t much of a church man myself, but I believe you’re a deacon. Maybe you’d be willing to give grace.”

Well, Sam Jackson, he stood up there and his hands is real big and he kind of held onto the side of the table, you know. But he didn’t bow his head like a heap of folks do when they’re saying the blessing. He just looked up and smiled. And he said, “Lord, I hope you having as nice a Christmas up there with your angels as we’re having down here because it sure is Christmastime down here. And I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you, Lord.

Like I say, Mister, I believe that was the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States of America.”‘

I wish you and yours a peaceful, joyous, loving holiday!

Shanti,

~~~ Ron

As I was thinking about what my next series of articles will be about, I got to thinking about “Peace” and what it means to me.

I presently have a sort of “hang-up” about this because I really wanted to get one of those lighted signs to put in my window this year that said “Peace” or “Peace on Earth” or somethng along those lines.

I searched in every store within a reasonable driving distance. I could find “Santa Clause” — I could find “Angels” — or “Christmas Trees” — or “Reindeer” — or “Stars” —

—– but not one that just said “Peace“.

I didn’t go online to find one — maybe I should have — or maybe I still will to get one for next year, if there is such a thing.

I did try to make one myself, but that turned out to be an exercise in non-peaceful frustration. (Have you ever tried to get a string of lights to stay on a piece of cardboard with holes punched in it?) As they say, don’t try this at home! {smile}

Even as I drove through the neighborhoods looking at all the beautiful light displays — I didn’t see the word “Peace” anywhere.

Disappointing!

According to the home page of the World Peace Prayer Society, the simple prayer “May Peace Prevail on Earth”, carries a message of great hope and healing. It transcends barriers of nationality, race and religion to unite humanity in a call for the common good of all life on Earth.

What better time than now to accept their invitation to join in this universal prayer for peace? The link below will take you to a page where you can view this prayer in 80 languages. A link at the bottom of that page will take you to the Society’s home page where you can learn more about this organization’s work.

Have a great day.

Oh yes, this phrase that I end all my postings with — “Shanti” –That’s a sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world, Peace for all beings.”

Shanti,

Ron
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Good day fine reader,

During this time of year, it’s always nice to spread cheer to others, I wanted to share with you a movie I’ve mentioned before — http://www.YourDashMovie.com — and which has been viewed by over 15 million people in the past few months, making it one of the most popular movies of its kind, of all-time.

During this frequently hectic and stressful time of year, it’s nice to be able to reflect on the truly important things in life. If you haven’t seen it in a while, or didn’t have a chance to view it in the first place, please take a few moments to view — http://www.YourDashMovie.com — and send it on to others who would appreciate the message as well.
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According to a recent survey, there are 54 million people in the United States that either have been diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes, or who might not even know they have it.

There aren’t any clear symptoms for the early stages of this disease, so many people don’t know how vital it is for them to be making some serious lifestyle changes. So why take the chance — if youve been eating a poor diet, now is the time to change so that you can avoid ending up with a full-blown type 2 diabetes in the future.

We all know what a healthy lifestyle change looks like — the problem is that too many people are reluctant to make the necessary changes. We need to lose weight — we need to include nutrient-dense, fiber-rich foods in our diets — and we need to exercise. It’s just not worth risking the dangers of heart disease or stroke.

To reverse pre-diabetes (and ward off type 2 diabetes), try these smart-eating guidelines — perfect for those who have pre-diabetes, as well as those who don’t!

* Eat whole grains, such as brown rice, wild rice, bulgur, slow-cooking oatmeal, and whole-grain breads and pasta.

* Enjoy beans and legumes frequently.

* Enjoy plenty of vegetables, prepared without unhealthy fats (like margarine and butter) or sweetened sauces.

* Consume whole, low-glycemic-index fresh fruits like berries, apples, and citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruit halves. Avoid canned or jarred fruits with added sweeteners or syrups.

* Include nonfat or low-fat dairy in your diet, such as nonfat or 1 percent milk, plain or artificially sweetened low-fat soy milk, and nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt.

* Focus on lean proteins, like fish, skinless poultry breasts, and lean cuts of beef; use healthier cooking methods, such as baking, roasting, broiling, or grilling.

* Avoid saturated and trans fats; instead, choose monounsaturated and omega-3 fats found in avocados, nuts, fish, and extra-virgin olive and canola oils.

The good news is that weight loss and lifestyle changes have been found to be more effective than medications for reversing pre-diabetes. As many of the readers of this blog know, I follow a South Beach Diet® program. Sure, I have the occasional sweet dessert — or I may indulge in a pizza very rarely, but I tend to follow what I’ve learned about this excellent diet program.

My plan for the holiday season is to post regularly this week, but may be quite sporadic over the week leading to the new year.
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Good day fine reader,

During this time of year, it’s always nice to spread cheer to others, I wanted to share with you a movie I’ve mentioned before — http://www.YourDashMovie.com — and which has been viewed by over 15 million people in the past few months, making it one of the most popular movies of its kind, of all-time.

During this frequently hectic and stressful time of year, it’s nice to be able to reflect on the truly important things in life. If you haven’t seen it in a while, or didn’t have a chance to view it in the first place, please take a few moments to view — http://www.YourDashMovie.com — and send it on to others who would appreciate the message as well.
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Got questions?

Contact me at: http://www.ronrink.com

My email and phone number are at that site. Feel free to contact me. I’m here to help you with your health, nutrition and fitness goals.

Have a healthy and nutritious day!

Shanti,

Ron

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