The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Friday, June 8, 2012

Eatin' healthy and other follies


I have nothing against eating healthy foods. I don't do it myself, mind you, but I have no problem with people who make that effort. I see nothing inherently wrong with my diet of peanut butter and Craisin sandwiches, multiple Snickers bars, and anything with lots of cheese and/or butter, or deep-fried. And hot dogs. And a number of other things I can't think of right now but I am sure taste good. Like Utz pretzel rods... which I buy by the jug.

But my sister-in-law, Franny, is health conscious. And diabetic. Something she had a genetic predisposition for and which was triggered by eating at Jack in the Box 3 times a day for a year or so until her pancreas went on strike in protest.

I can tolerate a lot of unhealthy food. I figure it's because of my early diet and Mom's cooking. Mom was not a culinary artiste. Lard was a major factor in anything she cooked. I did not have to worry about things like trichinosis or e.coli from insufficiently cooked foods. Mom burnt everything. Burgers clattered onto your plate (glistening in melted lard) like little black hockey pucks. Pork chops were... crispy.

My main dietary concern in my youngest days was making sure no food touched another on my plate. And surviving the meal with as many unbroken teeth as possible. Later on, I got less picky. I learned that burgers can actually be soft (thank you Burger King!) and that some foods actually tasted better when mixed together; like corn or peas or green beans or cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. And that mashed potatoes did not actually have to be lumpy (made from actual potatoes) or soupy (from a box of "instant" mashed potatoes). But I was into my teens by then. Once in the Navy, I found I could eat just about anything... except liver (though I do like liverwurst).



Marathons - Peanut Butter


But today is about peanut butter. And high fructose corn syrup. You see, we have 4 (large) jars of peanut butter  in our pantry. Two of crunchy, 2 of creamy. One creamy/crunchy pair is store brand, the other is Peter Pan. So I tracked down the likely suspect, Franny, and asked why we have all these. She showed me the Peter Pan crunchy label that said "No High Fructose Corn Syrup."

I later checked the ingredients on the other jars, noting that the creamy version of Peter Pan did not have that announcement, looking for the words "High Fructose Corn Syrup" or "HFCS". I could not find any indication that the other jars included that additive.

But just because something does not mention it does not mean it doesn't have it, I went online to see what I could learn about peanut butter ingredients. I still don't know. It's possible that it is not in the ingredients list because they are not required by law or regulation to list it. But, somehow, I doubt that.


3 comments:

T.C. said...

Years ago I switched to all natural peanut butter: Ingredients: 100% peanuts.

It took some time to get used to it but I stuck to it. A few months after my mother gave me a jar of Kraft peanut butter. Loving peanut butter, I took it. Wouldn't you know I couldn't eat it? It was like I wasn't eating peanut butter the taste was so foreign - and terrible.

I still only eat 100% peanut butter. While I don't classify myself a "health nut" I have converted a lot of what I eat to "all natural" (cereal, yogourt etc.) and to be honest, it's the best thing I've done.

Douglas4517 said...

 I bought a pound of Spanish peanuts once and had a peanut butter maker (a grinder of sorts) and made  some peanut butter. It was excellent. The only thing I didn't like was having to refrigerate it.
Being lazy, I went back to store-bought. I have nothing against "all natural" foods; like some, dislike others.

T.C. said...

It does take more work to buy and maintain it. All natural peanut buttter gets hard and I have to wait a while before it softens to spread it around.

When it's hard it rips soft bread apart. At which point I yell, "Ah, nuts."

Can I have a drum/cymbal hit please?