I recently had my post-blood test Wellness Exam, required by OHP. She barely got 20 words out before I interrupted,
"Please, as a reminder, I'm not interested in more than Drink more milk or Eat a banana," I won't understand anything else. I don't even understand the blood pressure numbers they pronounce to my blank expression: Is that good or bad? They always tell me it's a bit high, but theirs might be, too, if they'd been dealing with housing insecurity for 10 years.
"EAT MORE GREENS," she immediately said, adding stuff about anemia; more red meat; buy some Vitamin D-3 because we don't absorb sunshine here in the Northwest (something about the Equator); and knock off the bread. I can deal with that.
I was too embarrassed to admit I thought all milk had vitamin D and don't really know what 'greens' are, so I tried to call a friend to ask but my free phone still doesn't work. I looked around Produce in Walmart, zooming in on the lettuce section. I couldn't find anything leafy other than the large bag of spinach and kale, but in case opening the bag caused me to gag I picked up a can of Popeye's Spinach, I've liked canned spinach since a kid. That song's been inside in my head for a week.
After I got home and learned what 'greens' are I went to Grocery Outlet and picked up bags of peas, broccoli and cabbage-slaw, zucchini, Romaine lettuce, also bags of avocados and plums. I stared at my cart in disbelief.
My next surprise was when told I didn't have enough SNAP benefits to pay for my bounty; that hasn't happened in over a year, ever since they started giving us additional benefits. I guess that's finished, along with the eviction moratorium. I'll resist returning to processed meats and pasta for economy's sake, not after losing all that weight this past year with healthy eating. Luckily I can afford to pay for the extra food I'll need; also fortunate that I've changed my eating habits and don't need as much as before.
See you can teach old dogs new tricks.
I happen to like chard and kale, but not raw in salad as a lot of people eat it. I cut it up into inch pieces, saute it with onions, mushrooms and/or bacon (I do that first), then add the washed greens that have the water on them, put a lid on and steam it. Being that we grew up in the same household, I'm surprised as all getout that I now eat it as well.
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