Today's topic Food.  Since I wrote the blog post on junk food I thought I would open up and let you know about all my food issues.  I like food, I like healthy food and I like junk food.  I enjoy cooking and I enjoy eating.  Now that we have that out of the way I can get to the nitty gritty of my personal eating issues.

OK, here is the thing. I have quirks with food. NO SWEET on my regular food.  If it is something that is supposed to be sweet like sweet potatoes, sure, but don't do something crazy like put bacon on them.  Don't put honey, or a glaze on my meat, no sugar on my meat, in my vegetables, in my salad dressing. I have come to realize I am in a minority. To put sweet and savory together is very, very popular. It makes me want to hurl.  I have to be very careful at restaurants "tangy" is code for sweet and sour. If you ask the wait staff if something is sweet, they don't think so, but more than half the time it is. So, it can take me a minute to get through a menu and find something I will eat.  I don't eat ribs because they are sweet, I don't eat fruit in my regular salad, because it is sweet etc. I hate sweet pickles, I remember as a young child a relish tray at some holiday or family party. I was looking at what I thought were tiny dill pickles only to find out they were Baby Gherkins, yucky pooh.  Most people you ask will say that General Tso's Chicken is spicy. I think it taste sweet and so I don't eat it.  I am constantly looking for food with the least sugar content when I shop, particularly pasta sauce and soup.

 As stated in my previous post I am a junk food junkie.  However, I like healthy food too.  I love vegetables.  I don't eat okra as followers of my blog know (see post regarding near death experiences).  I don't like Brussel sprouts, but will eat them if I have to.  I don't really eat rutabaga.  I don't like broccoli cooked soft, yuck.  Other than that I am pretty open with vegetables. I like lettuce, salad is so good.  But, I don't like cheese on my salad.  So, when I go out to eat I have to ask for no cheese.  I know I am crazy but I will eat a Cobb salad or taco salad which both come with cheese but that is how they are supposed to be served.  When I was growing up, in my early teens maybe, to put cheese in your salad became very popular and I liked it the first few hundred times I had it and now I just can't stand it. 

I don't like ketchup on my cheeseburger, or heavy sauce on my pizza, it grosses me out.  When I was in school the cafeteria would serve us cheese burgers, with ketchup.  Now, the "meat" was some kind of grossness of hamburger mixed with soy or something which gave it a gross flavor which was made grosser, in my opinion, by the ketchup.  I would ask them to put no ketchup but the worker would insist that we had to have it on the burger.  Because of this, to this day I hate ketchup on my cheeseburger.  And, frankly, ketchup is pretty sweet, so I eat it sparingly.  I usually eat fries with no ketchup, no ketchup on hot dogs etc. 

 We were poor, Thousand Island dressing is a mix of three things we kept in the house all the time, ketchup, Miracle Whip and sweet relish.  Easy to make for a cheap salad dressing. I hate Miracle Whip and sweet relish.  You can imagine how much I like TID.  My mom would make it and put it on my salad even if I said no. Thanks, Mom, for the scars.  Because, of Miracle Whip, I spent so much time trying to get the sandwiches at home to taste as good as the ones we ate out.  I finally, after years of searching and experimenting with sandwich ingredients I realized the difference was mayo. I have never looked back. 

I love fruit.  I don't eat papaya.  I didn't know I didn't like papaya until I went to a Mexican restaurant and got papaya water to drink.  I saw the person taking my order get a look on her face when I asked for it.  I knew why after I tasted it, that stuff was gross!  I wandered if  they were playing a trick on the gringa by giving her dishwater.  I told my sister how gross the papaya water was and she told me that is what papaya taste like (dishwater, in my opinion).  She served a mission in Brazil and a common prank on Americans was to give them papaya.  Apparently, it is an acquired taste.  I think I will be OK not acquiring one.  Other than that fruit is so good.  Some of my favorites are the worst for you in terms of glycemic index. Bananas, watermelon and pineapple, I am not a diabetic, so I eat them, but not as guilt free as I used to.  

I don't like vanilla ice cream.  When I tell people they say things like, French vanilla?  Old fashion vanilla? homemade vanilla?  Like that will make me say yeah, I like that kind.  Or try to make me see how wonderful vanilla is, when I know it isn't.  I will eat vanilla if there is something on it to kill the taste, like chocolate, strawberries, caramel etc.  I had yet another traumatic experience in my youth that directly caused my dislike of vanilla.  Long and short, my teacher was truly being kind, she bought the two kids that didn't have an ice cream treat after recess a Dixie cup of, you guessed it, vanilla.  When she told us she was going to treat us, I started thinking about the delicious chocolate ice cream, yummy!  Only to have her give me vanilla.  What a let down.  I was taught to be grateful and polite so I ate the vanilla, but from that moment on I didn't ever like it again.  
   
You will note that most of my food issues stem from my youth.  But, I think most of all of our food issues do.  I am grateful that mine are so few.  I get sad when people won't try new foods or don't like fruit and vegetables.  I am sure people get sad when I tell them how much I hate sweet on my regular food.  When I eat at someones home and they have sweet on regular food, I just eat it, I don't like it but I eat it because it isn't their job to worry about my weirdness.  I am gracious about it and just keep my mouth shut except when I put in food.

Today's topic Junk food.  Or as I like to think of it, heaven.  There is a movement, granted small, but there to call sugar a toxic substance.  I think it may be, clearly, too much has rotted the brains of those claiming it is bad.  Just kidding.  I think it is relevant to look at what sugar does to us.  Not all junk food is sugar based, let us not leave out chips, dips, other crunchy delights and one of my favorites fat. Ummm, fat. When you mix the fat and sugar together, ahhh.

What does junk food do to us?  We get fat, we get hyper, we get diabetes, we loose our teeth, we have heart attacks.  These can have serious and dangerous effects on our lives.  Junk food can make you do some crazy things, see the above.  However, junk food also isn't like so many things that are bad for us.  We don't go on shooting rampages, steal or beat each other up because we are hyped up on sugar or want money to buy more sugar or loose our sense of right and wrong because we are strung out on sugar.  "Man, you will not believe, I had some pure cane sugar last night, wow, I can't remember what I did after the second slice of cake!"  See, you never hear that.

I admit to being a junk food junkie.  I am amazed at some of the inventive new junk foo (sorry, had to get some Cheetos, all this talk about junk food made me hungry) d creations.  I will admit to trying some things.  Way before they ever created Double Stuffed Oreos, I was taking two and putting the cream parts together.  Until this year, though, I have never had a fluffenutter (marshmellow fluff and peanut butter) sandwich.  But once I had one, I then created the fluff, Nutella, peanut butter and banana sandwich.  It was very good. I have had a couple of them.

There is a way to moderate our sugar or junk food intake, we just have to choose to do so.  Now, those of you who know me know I am not giving a lecture but rather stating fact. How we do is the tricky thing.  Some people allow themselves a little something, a cookie, a piece of candy a day.  Some, allow themselves something once a week and you get the picture.  Allow is the operative word, they constrain and allow themselves a reward. They think about their calorie intake and output and what is worth putting in their mouth.

 Some people eat whatever they want and don't put on an ounce and are as healthy as a horse.  These are the ones we all hate, and not even secretly, we are out there and serious.  I have known people like that I didn't hate, but was in envy of them.  I once worked with a guy who ate junk food all the time.  I heard that he and some others calculated his caloric intake at about 5,000 a day.  And there he was, his ol' average weight self, telling the story and eating gummy bears or something.

I haven't really got the knack of self denial very well.  I go through spurts of really good self control.  These spurts can last as long as an hour.  Then I am back on the sugar, fat, crunchy road to an early death.  And as I walk down that ooey, gooey, tasty road I usually have a smile on my face.

Today's topic Mom's. The media has had quite a bit of coverage of mom's lately. I am not writing this in defense of Anne Romney but am interested in how we treat stay at home mom's. Her situation has just brought my thoughts on the subject to the front of my mind.

So, first what has the women's movement really done for us. Stop, before you get all freaked out, I have deep and abiding feelings of gratitude toward all those women who suffered for suffrage. Those who stood up and gave us a voice. My thanks are innumerable. Knowing that I can be a single woman, live in my own house, drive my own car and travel on my own is owed to them. What I take for granted in my life wasn't possible for so many of those great women who had to have a man oversee their lives. I get it and am so grateful.

I feel that the pendulum has swung a little too far. We were promised we could have "it all". I don't see that much. What I see most is women are now expected, I said expected, to work, keep the house, cook and see to the children. The women's movement has taken a toll on us as women, particularly mother's. Suddenly, we are fighting each other. Some have called it a "faux war". I don't think there is anything false about it. There is an underlying disdain for stay at home moms. It has been stated that they don't know what it is like in the real world because they don't work outside the home. The role as mother is somehow less than CEO, lawyer, doctor, waitress, teacher, secretary, bank teller etc. It is assumed that you know less because of what you do. Right, because all you do is sit around and do nothing all day. You don't run a home, have a budget, manage time, have friends, carry out charitable acts or leave your house. You stay at home all day waiting for your husband to come home and tell you what to do next.

Some mom's don't have a choice but to work, if there is going to be food on the table and a roof over head they have to provide for it. They have to work. Some mom's choose to work because they want to. That is fine with me. However, I have had more friends, acquaintances complain that their husbands won't let them quit work than won't let them go to work. Some families would be fine with one of the parents staying home, you will note that I don't say it has to be mom. You may just have less, less of a house, less of a car, less of a vacation etc. I don't mean that you can't have nice or decent just maybe not as fancy.

I had the opportunity as a young woman to be a nanny for about 2 years. I truly loved the children I cared for. I took good care of them and was conscientious of the parent's wishes for their little ones. Being a nanny believe it or not is what made realize that I would be a stay at home mom. Those kids loved me, I saw first steps, new words, wonder with the world. I loved being part of that. But, I also recognized, clearly, that I didn't want someone else there for my children's first. That is why I have always said that when or if I married and had a family I was staying at home, and if we ate dirt every day then so be it. After 20 years of fulfilling work knowing how rewarding it has been and what I have been able to personally do for others I would give it all up now if I had a family. I won't lie and say with no regrets, I have loved the work, but I feel that the greatest work is in the home.

I think we get confused about what is important. I had a friend once who told me her husband said she was too smart to stay at home. I was a little surprised, too smart to stay at home. I didn't care if she worked but took exception to "too smart to stay at home". I think this is a crazy way to think. Again, work if you want to work. But don't fool yourself that it is because you are too smart. We had a very polite exchange, but I couldn't help but ask if she didn't want someone smart raising her children.

With a few exceptions, child care is at best high school graduates, maybe with some higher education worked in some of the workers, working in a daycare center or even in their or your home. These people aren't invested in your family, they are invested in a paycheck. That doesn't mean they wouldn't have true liking or even love for your child/ren but it isn't the same.

The disdain for stay at home mom's continues to stun me.  Particularly when it is strongly hinted that they don't contribute to society. What? What are you saying you crazy loons? The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. There is a reason for that old chestnut. Raising or at least trying to raise up strong, smart children ready to take on the world is the best use of our time and resources. Children really are the future. Give me something that trumps that. There is no award, degree, or discovery that outweighs loving attention to the next generation.

Today's topic thoughts of Christ. Again, I am not trying to proselyte, have no fear, but this is my blog so I get to write about things I want to write about. This is Easter, a time we celebrate our Savior's triumph over sin and death. I think of all it, where did we come from, why are we here and were do we go when it is all over. Those are big questions. I am so grateful to have been given big answers.

My thoughts are so many when it comes to this topic. First, briefly, evolution vs creationism. Those who believe in the evolutionary theory seem to think that we believers of creationism don't understand science, how it works etc. I don't claim to know all there is to know about science but I know that God, the Creator, used science to create the earth and all else. He understands and uses science perfectly. He created it. We are the ones who cannot grasp his perfect ability to do all so, some claim it cannot be. I truly believe with God nothing is impossible.

Secondly, agency or free will. One argument against belief in God is why would He allow such atrocities, famine, war, murder, horrible, unspeakable things to his precious little ones. I would remind you that He loves us, respects us, understands the importance of freely choosing to obey and knows perfectly what it means to take someones free will. Even Satan, the father of all lies, understands the importance of obedience to God's commands. If God commands Satan to leave he must leave, feel free to read the scriptures for yourself, (again not proselyting, just inviting you to get your own information).

Lastly, we come to why we need a Savior, why Jesus Christ is the way and means we can enter into our Father's presence. When we leave this mortal coil we go to be with our Heavenly Father, if we are repentant. Repentance is more than saying you are sorry to God. Repentance means you recognize sin, feel truly sorry, forsake the sin and make restitution to those harmed. That is why the Atonement (Webster's “the reconciliation of God and human kind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.”) is so amazing. God cannot look at sin with the least bit of acceptance, so how can we become clean of the stains our sins cause? Our Savior, Jesus Christ suffered for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, he then gave up his life on the cross and took his life up again on the third day. He was resurrected and brought eternal life to us all. He suffered for our sins so that we can follow the steps of repentance and be forgiven. Without Him, we wouldn't have the option to use the repentance process. He makes it possible for us to become clean, He has set a perfect example for us to follow.

I recently heard a religious based talk where the speaker quoted a bumper sticker he saw. It read "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you." How absolutely true that is! We all get up tight over each others sins and decide we are somehow better. Don't get me wrong, we still need to understand the difference between right and wrong, recognizing sin isn't a problem how we treat the sinner can be if we treat them in an unChrist like manner.

That takes me back to my original thoughts of Jesus Christ, he is the literal son of God, he is the Savior of the world, the only way and means to return to our Heavenly Father. He set a perfect example and has given us a pattern to follow. If only I were a good follower, I seem to let myself wander away from the straight and narrow path, I let my self get distracted over things of the world and worry too much over things I cannot change. How grateful I am that even though I choose to disobey, even though I am so flawed, my Savior loves me perfectly and if it had been just me to pay such a high price for He would have. Just as He would if it were only you.