Thursday, November 29, 2012

Nostalgia and Grapefruit Dangers




From the time I was a young boy, I have loved citrus. Oranges, tangerines, lemons, tangelos,  limes, and grapefruits. Especially grapefruits and oranges. They all remind me of time spent in Florida during my childhood. My father worked for a citrus company on the West Coast of Florida for a short while in the mid-1970's. I remember the smell of oranges on his skin & clothes when he came home from work. I am one who can't seem to escape nostalgia, especially now that my father has been gone for almost three decades. Every-time we visit Florida now, I have to try to find one of those road-side orange and grapefruit stores. Citrus groves are common along the Indian River area where we often visit, and it is a pleasant thing for me to spend time checking out the citrus. I have family who live in Florida that had grapefruit trees in their back yard. I was so envious.  

Now I am a fat, middle-aged man, as a result of having fallen into the bad American lifestyle of being too sedentary (desk jockey?), and eating too many unhealthy foods and too few great foods. I find myself excusing the fast food or convenience foods as a necessary evil that goes along with the work life I have (yes, I did acknowledge that is a excuse). I take medication for the things that are typical with over-fed Americans. Many of the medications have unpleasant side-effects. Furthermore, consuming grapefruit or grapefruit juice with some of these medications can be very bad for you. Consumed in enough quantity, it can even kill you. There's a paradox in this, I think. What is normally considered a healthy food is deadly when you're taking meds to counteract a diet of bad foods.

Of course, the ideal thing to do is to become healthier--eat better, exercise, lose weight, get the blood pressure and triglycerides down, and eliminate the need for the meds altogether. At least that's been my New Year's Resolution for the last several years. Perhaps in 2013 I will stick to it.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/27/researchers-warn-mixing-grapefruit-with-drugs-can-kill-you/

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About Me

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I work for a Community-Based, Not-for-Profit agency. I have worked in the disability field for over twenty-five years. I am the father of two boys, and have been married to my teenage sweet-heart for 23 years. I live and work in the same town where I was born & raised.
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