Porridge in the morning, M-M- Good!

Oatmeal in the morning isn’t just for athletes. We can get all the same benefits weight lifters and other exercise fanatics get from their morning bowl of porridge. Health benefits include a leveling of metabolism, lower blood cholesterol and a stabilizing of blood glucose levels.

Oats grow on an Oat plant, also called Avena sativa. The top three producers of Oat are Russia (5.1 metric tons), Canada (3.3 metric tons) and the US (1.7 metric tons). Oats grow in temperate climates and require less heat and thrive with more rain.
Oats grow inside the hull of the plant. The plant is processed and the oats are rolled or ground for human consumption, while horses and cattle will eat the entire plant. Truly oats are an eco-friendly life cycle with every part of the plant being useful.

Health Benefits

The beta-glucan in oats is responsible for reducing the risk of heart disease, especially if combined with a low-fat diet. The fiber of rolled oat keeps digestion moving while providing maximum energy from the complex carbohydrates. Oatmeal is also high in B vitamins which are important for energy and overall good health and especially important for non-meat eaters.

Traditional Cooking Methods

Scotland: Oats have been a staple in the Scottish diet for centuries. Often cooks will soak the oats with some salt overnight then in the morning cook over a low heat until the mixture thickens.

Switzerland: Oats are soaked in milk, honey & cinnamon overnight then in the morning, add fruit & nuts, serve cold.

Vermont: An American version via Scottish settlers of the 19th Century, oatmeal is soaked overnight with a pinch of salt and maple syrup. In the morning, the mixture is cooked with nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. This must be the best recipe because Vermont leads the US per capita for oatmeal consumption.

Clearly, oatmeal is a breakfast food of champions!

No Such Thing as Adolescence

This subject really caught my eye. It all started with the email mentioning the latest report

"RE: Have you read the latest? The adolescence years go up to age 25 now."

Historically, there was no such thing as adolescence. You were a child or an adult. Teenage years or adolescence was a phenomena of the 20th Century with the increased ability of families to keep offspring immature and not responsible.

The natural progression of life includes spiritual rites such as bar-mitzvah or confirmation into adulthood at 13 -15 years old. As full members of the the church young men were able to start working to pick a wife and create families.

In more societies than not, the process of accumulating enough assets to provide a home and a living with learned trade or mercantile would take the average young man five to seven years before they were able to start courting, or arrange for a marriage. So about somewhere late teens or early 20s, many young people were selecting the mates. We see this in historical documents throughout Western Civilization, until the late 20th century after WWII, when marriage age increased and first time mother's age increased.

Ultimately, it's cruel to delay adulthood in society when both historically and physically adulthood occurs with the hormonal changes makes us ready for reproduction.

hmm, 30 years ago

I’d like to think I’m wise beyond my years, but I doubt it. I think the years have just passed me by…

Some 30 – 40 years ago, my grandparents shared their thoughts about acceptance or resignation that their impact on society was to forever be limited to that which they had immediate control, even though they knew better about many things. When would my grandparents ever get to sit down and share his wisdom with those men making the decisions that affect everyone? They knew it was past their time to impact society, so they shared with me in hopes that I might be able to help at some future time.

Today, I look at my society as it is framed for me to consume in the daily newspaper, the findings are, well, the same as they’ve been, and I thought about that…

As I read the newspaper and realized that nothing in the last, how many years… well, my cognizant lifetime anyway, has changed for the better, unless you’re into games. But then that’s games, so does that really count when you’re talking about the global human condition? I don’t know.

Promises

The promises our society made to youth, when I was that youth, were for a grander world, a cleaner world, a world where people would be fed, clothed, housed and free to create a better place. Disease would be a thing of the past, healthcare was a human right.

Our lives would have a harmonious feeling as we as a species improved ourselves: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Our lives would be determined by what our choices produced.

The best and the brightest would be used to their greatest potential. The world was to be a paradise by the turn of the 21st century!

Humans would make amends for our offenses during the dirty retched past with a clean present and a bright future.

The possibilities were endless, only by how you limited yourself and your imagination. Imagine a better town, a better city, a better state, a better country, a better world.

Promises Broken

As I read the articles in the paper today about proposed “new” technology to harness the wind, solar and ocean power. I recall the same promises and discoveries about hmm, 30 years ago.

As I read about the rise in other prices because of OPEC's choke-hold on the US economy, I recall the same situation about hmm, 30 years ago.

As I read about Russian’s opposition to free smaller states and the trouble between ethnic Albanian and Serbs, I recall a similar state of affairs with the USSR about hmm, 30 years ago.

As I read about bombers in the Mid-East, I recall the same circumstances about hmm, 30 years ago.

As I read about the politicians who have already revised their campaign promises, I recall an election where politicians adjusted their positions about hmm, 30 years ago.

As I read about the economic situation including more job lay-offs, subsistence jobs being downscaled to substandard wages for the benefit of the company, foreclosure rates up, people displaced, food banks stretched, elderly in need of medication, I recall a stories of a time called the Great Depression, and minus the added hardship of the Dust Bowl during that same period, it seems that we (regular people) have hit a Greater Depression economically than in the 1930s, even if the talking heads are silent or inaccurate on that point.

Economically, for the average American family, things are tighter and more stressful financially than it has been during my life time. The Haves & Have-mores have even started to notice that return on their dollar isn’t what once was.

Since I haven’t been tapped to move up the food-chain to a place where my thoughts matter, I guess I’ll just wait to see what the folks at the top can figure out…

The answers are so simple. If it weren’t so sad, I’d laugh at the irony. I find myself saying things I heard the old people say, hmm, 30 years ago.