When cutting carbs, look beyond the obvious sources

Even though cutting back on carbohydrates can result in a desired weight loss, I’d never tried low-carb eating. Brown rice and whole-wheat pasta, both containing a substantial number of carbs, were foundations of my vegetarian diet.

Then an A1c blood sugar test indicated I have type 2 diabetes. “Cut back on sugary drinks, sweets, alcohol, and carbs,” my doctor advised. 

My knee replacement six months afterward

I admit to being taken aback when asked whether I’m glad I decided to have a knee replaced. Choosing between walking and worsening immobility seemed no choice at all.

But now that it’s six months after total knee replacement, I’m happy to be questioned about the recovery process and how I’m doing. 

Have you heard about the false tracking scam?

Bear with me if you can take another scam story. I just experienced a scam I’d not heard about, despite the many warnings seniors get from AARP. 

An email informed me that the US Postal Service had delivered the under-sink mat I had ordered on eBay. But our building’s efficient delivery room had not seen the package.

Nails, a window to your health

I used to think about fingernails only in terms of appearance. Painting them wasn’t for me because I didn’t want to draw attention to my stubby fingers.

Then three recent emails arrived linking nails to a myriad of unhealthy conditions. That my nails break easily may be not just a cosmetic liability. 

“There are hundreds of medical conditions, disorders, and diseases that may cause nail changes,” Mayo Clinic dermatologist Dawn Davis said in a clinic newsletter. “Fingernails are a window to your health.”

A natural, nonstatin approach to lowering cholesterol

Last month the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association issued new cholesterol guidelines. Among other advice is a recommendation against taking natural supplements to lower cholesterol because there is not enough evidence in their favor. 

I’m not a doctor, but I think my experience qualifies me to disagree. Two natural supplements — bergamot and red yeast rice — worked for me. 

Old cook, new tricks

I’ve never had a cooking lesson and don’t watch cooking shows, so a lot of kitchen knowledge bypassed me. I’ve managed to feed myself for a half-century, but there’s still a lot I could learn. Skimming a gift for my sister, Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything: The Basics, I picked up tips.

Genealogy is fun, but don’t take it too seriously

I was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin—Madison when Roots took the country by storm. It inspired me to step into the State Historical Society of Wisconsin genealogy library, where I found my lowly great-great-grandfather Silas Buck Goss in a family history. He was the most distant ancestor I knew of, and having his name allowed me to trace the Gosses back to Puritan New England in one afternoon. 

That hooked me on genealogy. I dove into tracing not only the Anglo-American branch but also the seven-eights of my ancestry that came from continental Europe. My goal was to identify the immigrants in each ethnic group and their birthplaces and then to do cultural history about the regions.

In the nearly half-century since, I’ve returned to genealogy research several times, making additions and corrections. Over time my initial fervor abated and I developed more nuanced views about the significance of identifying one’s ancestors. Here are some thoughts in that vein, should you be inclined to search for your roots.

Why are there audiences for hopeless stories?

I watched the first two seasons of the Italian television series Inspector Ricciardi on PBS Passport and was engaged by the interesting characters, the Naples setting, and the insights into 1930s fascist Italy. 

Luigi Riccardi has a supernatural ability: he sees the ghosts and hears the last words of murder victims. It aids his investigations but torments his soul. Terrified of passing on what he considers a curse, Ricciardi doesn’t want to marry and have children. But he’s enamored of a young woman whose kitchen window faces his bedroom window, and the feelings are mutual. For the first season and a half, they stare longingly at one another. They finally declare their love, and Season 2 ends happily. 

Passport hasn’t picked up the third season yet, but I Googled and found out that Ricciardi and Enrica marry and she dies giving birth to their child. I won’t watch season 3.

Hearing from long-lost college roommate prompts a life review

The other day an email arrived from an old college roommate. It was startling to hear from someone after more than half a century. It was humbling to Google her and learn that she is a retired multidegreed professor. 

Sharon and I shared an apartment on the University of Illinois campus when it was still at Champaign-Urbana rather than Urbana-Champaign. We lost contact after graduation.

She wanted to catch up by phone or email. What did I have to say for myself? I decided to be candid in my email:

Roth novel foreshadowed Trump's tyranny

“Every day I ask myself the same question: How can this be happening in America? How can people like these be in charge of our country? If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I’d think I was having an hallucination.” 

Think that’s from a recent news story? Nope. It’s from Philip Roth’s 2004 speculative fiction novel The Plot Against America, which HBO later adapted for television. 

Dear Congressional Republicans . . .

I usually don’t write about politics because I don’t have anything to say that professional pundits have not said already. But every now and then the news is so bad that to ignore it is callous. 

New food guidelines don’t convince me that my cheese habit is OK

Normally I would not pay attention to anything coming from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but the new USDA dietary guidelines, released earlier this month, have some good recommendations: more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, unprocessed foods, unsweetened beverages, and adequate protein. 

However, the top of the new inverted food pyramid shows foods high in saturated fat: meat, cheese, and whole milk. Recommending them as prime sources of protein contradicts another recommendation to limit saturated fat, which clogs the arteries and leads to heart disease. (We can’t expect consistency from anyone in the Trump administration.)

This is customer service nowadays

I joined Jewel’s Fresh Pass because I wouldn’t be able to go to the store after my knee replacement surgery. Delivery is free if you spend $30 — not hard to do these days — but you are asked to tip the driver from Door Dash. I wish all vegetables and fruits didn’t arrive in separate plastic bags, but so be it. 

Every delivery but one has gone smoothly, but that one was bananas (pardon the pun). 

I’m underinformed about pop culture. Does it matter?

As the oldest Baby Boomers turn 80 this year, a quiz has been circulating online to test how well Boomers know or remember the pop culture of our youth. I could answer only 4 of the 20 questions. 

I didn’t do much better on Mind the Gap, a board game of trivia from four generations, which my family played over Christmas. I answered few of the Boomer questions and drew a blank on those related to later years.