Lee Ann Rubsam
Lee Ann Rubsam |
Over 50, Still Kickin'A slightly skewed perspective on life in The Middle Ages |
An eye-opening report on our Peruvian missions trip: 
Stories from Paul's career as a letter carrier:  |
Christmas SweetsSome of my friends don’t know it, but I moonlight as a nutritionist. Oh, I don’t have the official certificate hanging on the wall, but I did have the food pyramid posted there when the girls were young. Let’s just say I have achieved my nutritionist title via on-the-job training. Still, I don’t seem to have communicated my nutrition knowledge very well to the family. One of my daughters isn’t quite sure if a banana fits in the meat or dairy category, and the other one thinks a potato chip is a serving of veggies. The one who is confused about bananas rarely feeds her own little family either fruit or veggies, much to the sorrow of my soul. When we visited with them recently, Professor Grandma was severely tempted to try to rectify the situation with an educational lecture, but once the kids are grown, you gotta just let it go, you know! I do a nutrition column in several newspapers across the country. It’s one of those ask-the-food-expert pieces. I thought I’d share with you one of the better questions I have received during the holidays. Alva Mago, from East Swillspoon, Iowa, wrote to ask: “Does a Christmas cookie count as one of the 6-11 recommended grain servings per day in the food pyramid?” I’m glad you asked that, Alva. It’s a very good question that I’m sure a lot of our readers are wondering about. To tell the truth, we nutritionists do not have a good handle on just where to classify the Christmas cookie. It is sort of the platypus of the food world. If it is made with white flour, a very big no-no, it does not fit into the grains category. If you put a little bran in with the flour, we count it. If you use butter to make that cookie, it goes in the dairy category, but if you use margarine it does not. Most nutritionists agree that Christmas cookies belong in the meat, fish, and eggs classification. We certainly have not seen too many cookie recipes that call for meat or fish, but eggs are a definite enhancement in them. My personal preference, contrary to that of most of my colleagues, is to classify the Christmas cookie in the grains category, whether it is made with whole grain flour or not. There is logical reasoning behind this. If we put it in either the dairy or the meat, fish, and eggs category, the recommended daily servings number is only two or three. BUT, if we stick it in the grain category, we can have between six and eleven servings daily, totally guilt-free. Uncle Sam’s board of certified nutritionists says so. So pass me another Christmas cookie, please — a tree, with white frosting, green and red sugar sprinkles, and a cinnamon candy on top. © Copyright 2007 by Lee Ann Rubsam. All rights reserved. |
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