Day 27: Keto diet and other nonsense

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 27: Keto diet and other nonsense

It always amazes me how people are obsessed with their health. This is good for you and that is good for you, this is bad for you and that is bad for you. The various articles online don’t help either: healthy summer, exercise yourself to better health, lose weight and feel healthier … I get sick it!

These days it’s all about the Keto diet and how it can make you lose weight. Before trying this diet, one should read about the 7 dangers of the Keto diet. 

Those who want to lose weight should pay attention to what they eat, exercise on a regular basis or have their thyroid checked. Losing too much weight too fast can have a devastating effect on one’s health and physique.

As for staying healthy …

Many years ago I worked with a woman named Natalie. I didn’t know her well, I merely saw her every day in the company’s cafeteria. While the majority of the people were served soup and a main course and helped themselves to salad, fruit, and cheese, Natalie only ate the main course and salad.

She only drank water, she exercised regularly and a piece of candy never passed her lips. She looked great and stated that she felt great.

At the age of 37, she died. One morning she got up, got ready for work, collapsed and died.

Then there’s Mary. Mary didn’t feel well, went to the doctor and was diagnosed with diabetes. She came home, extremely upset. Mary loved candy, chocolate, ice cream, etc. and the prospect of never being able to enjoy these treats again had her very upset. While her mother made her a cup of tea Mary went to have a shower. She fell in the shower, her hair clogged up the drain and she drowned.

Next up, Margaret. After a hip replacement, Margaret still battled with walking and it was decided that she should go and live in a retirement community. Margaret wasn’t keen on it, she loved her house, her garden, and her freedom. Still, she saw the benefits of living with 24-hour assistance. 

When Margaret joined the retirement community, she was issued an alarm system that she was to wear around her neck at all times. She merely had to press the alarm button and a nurse would come running. One day Margaret fell, the alarm system got caught on something and Margaret was strangled.  

As for my family … they never paid attention to anything. They ate, drank and smoked whatever they wanted. Mom lived to be 84, dad died at 88. Their parents all lived to be 90+.

So tell me, who will live longer? Those who are obsessed with their health or those who enjoy life and all it has to offer?

  

Day 25: Naughty cats

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 25: Naughty cats

Whenever I hear or read that cats shouldn’t be fed table scraps, I can’t help but smile. I never feed my cats scraps, but occasionally they’ve helped themselves or at least tried to.

Yesterday I was having lunch, a sandwich with Baby Bell cheese. I got up to pour myself a drink and when I came back Charlotte was eating the Baby Bell.

Over the years there have been other incidents but none funnier than the stunt Pitoe pulled.

Pitoe was a big white cat who loved to go hunting at night. This was before indoor cats became popular, when I lived in a suburb, in a quiet street with hardly any traffic.

During the day Pitoe would sleep or groom himself, but come nightfall he would position himself at the backdoor, look at us over his shoulder and the message was clear … let me out.

He would come back a few hours later with or without the catch of the day. Sometimes it was a mouse, other times a bird.

He caught his most famous catch on a Saturday afternoon. He’d strutted into our neighbor Christiana’s garden and a few minutes later we heard her shrieking “Pitoe, come back here! Pitoe, drop it!” Then to her husband “Constant, stop that cat!”

Hearing the commotion I went outside and saw Pitoe come running into our garden with … a string of sausages in his mouth and dragging them between his paws.

Somehow we managed to stop Pitoe, take the string of half fried sausages away from him and return them to Christiane. She told us that Pitoe had taken the sausages right off the frying pan.

Having lost his loot, Pitoe was set on revenge. And he got it.

One night, Mom took three pork chops out of the freezer. Knowing that we had to go out, she put the pork chops on a plate on top of a high cabinet to defrost. When we came home Mom started dinner and took the plate off the cabinet. She was more than a little surprised when one of them was missing. Not the biggest one, not the smallest one, but the middle one.

Sometime later another stunt.

Mom had made brochettes. I was the first at the table and tried to push the meat pieces off the wooden stick with my fork. After putting some effort into it, a piece of meat suddenly came off, flew off my plate, and skidded across the table. Quick as lightning Pitoe’s paw grabbed the meat and he ran off with it.

It was only later that I learned how dangerous it is when cats eat human food. I had given one of our cats, Rocky, a piece of meat. Shortly afterward I noticed him under a chair making strange movements with his head. 

With a shock, I realized that he was choking on something. I rushed him to the vet who managed to get the piece of meat out of his throat. That was the last time I ever fed a cat off the table.

That’s not to say that they never get anything. Holly, for instance, is very fond of strawberries.