On Thankfulness

I'm not thankful for anything.

There are a lot of good things about my life. I am where I am today for many reasons. Some of them were from actions taken by individual other people, and I am grateful to them for the specific things that they did for me.

But gratitude in general for being alive and well?

The choices I made along my life path, that have led me here, were my own. The luck I've had has been both good and bad. There was not some fundamental sentient force that has caused my good fortune, to which I owe anything. And I resent the implication, in the whole concept of thankfulness, that I should believe that there is.

Turning over a new leaf in dietary habits

My father died of a sudden heart attack when he was 53. He was not overweight and did not have high blood pressure, so everyone figured he was fine. But when they checked after the fact, they found he had lots of bad cholesterol.

I've just passed 40. I'm not overweight, don't have high blood pressure, and all my blood stats are fine - except for the bad cholesterol. For some reason I have lots of bad cholesterol.

After a quick degree from the University of Google, I've decided I need to somehow add a ton of bird food to my diet.

1. oats
2. olive oil or canola oil
3. nuts and peanuts
4. beans and lentils
5. barley
6. pears, apples, fruits with lots of pectin (soluble fiber)
7. anything with omega-3 fatty acids (fish, flaxseed)
8. soy (tofu, edamame)
9. things fortified with plant sterols/stanols (check the OJ)
10. okra
11. tomatoes
12. avocados

Lots of things that are plant seeds of some sort. The hardest part to add will be the fresh fruit - I just don't normally eat fruit. The hardest thing to subtract? I'm really going to miss cheese.