Sugar Rush

Shocking: Sugar Content of Common Food Products

I'm not sure if I should be amused or dismayed by the sugar content of "healthy" processed foods, as detailed in the above link.

However, I do know for sure that this article did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for homemade desserts.  If a store-bought doughnut has so little sugar, surely a little pumpkin bread, apple pie, or chocolate cake made with good oils and ingredients can't do me too much harm!

My sweet tooth (and love of fragrant, hearty breads and pastas) will continue to be my health nemesis . . .

 

Image source
http://www.krispykreme.com/images/glazedtopper3.jpg

Counting Blessings & Keeping Them

Since I've been home this summer, it's given me the opportunity to watch the headlines a bit more than usual. Ironically, it's almost a refreshing change to review the top (clean) headlines of major new sources, since they utterly ignore the real news regarding changes our government is making that conservative news feeds remind me are a pressing reality.

Today I read a bit about the unrest in China. Wow. At least our government is not arresting thousands of its citizens. At least our government isn't crashing into citizen homes to incarcerate people of a certain nationality just because they have a scratch on them and may have been involved in the street demonstrations. At least our government doesn't methodically slow internet and cell connections to prevent us from communicating what's happening in our country with the outside world.

However, what does it take for a country to become like that? Perhaps, a government like ours and a group of citizens who would rather have another person fight their battles and control their lives. Already, we see increased persecution tolerated for people who stand for traditional values and morality. Yet, we must also remember that this is not a political battle alone. Lukewarm hearts yeild a lukewarm response to bad government; sleeping minds and souls allow those who are not asleep to revel in manipulative practices and powerplays.

In Chesterton's brilliant book on St. Francis of Assisi, he talks about viewing the world upside-down. He says that if we were to turn over and look at the world that way, the houses, trees, and people upon the earth, which normally look rather steady, rooted, and independant, suddenly look like their hold on this earth is rather tenuous. We question if gravity alone can really be enough to hold them to the earth's surface. The world quickly appears very dependant. Chesterton argues that this is looking at the world with a more proper perspective; everything on this earth really is incredibly dependant. Nothing can stand firm or seem independant except by the grace of God, which alows it to exist, nevermind stay in place in space and time.

Perhaps we should keep this image in mind as we consider our country. Some people see immediately how tenuous our democracy is and they shout or faint in fear. Others hurry to patch it up and stick thier finger in the dike wherever they see a hole. Still others think that the "change" we have been promised is as good as the 2nd Coming and they smile stupidly and nod as they receive thier tax breaks and welfare checks and never think where that money came from and how it got to them. Hopefully, some of us will stand on our heads. We will see that while human action is needed in defense of the good and of the true rights and dignity of man, ultimately, it is not us that prevents our society from crashing onto its clay feet; it is the power of God.

Join me, as we are still reminded by the flags lingering from July 4th celebrations, in praying for our country. Pray that the Lord may continue to favor His people with His protection. Pray that American's will not forget, even if the dollar coin fails to remind them, that truely, "In God We Trust."

Whining Their Way Through the Culture War

The amazing thing about a completely biased media is that it reaches a point where reason, convincing arguments, and logic are all unnecessary. It repeats its glittering generalities and mantras enough times, and people stop thinking for themselves. As Dostoevsky so aptly phrased, "We like getting by on other people’s reason--we’ve acquired a taste for it!"

On the flip side, whenever a political or religious leader, celebrity, or a group of independent thinkers comes along with ideas that contradict or question the mantras we've all been trained to parrot, the media responds with horror and disgust.

A sadly poignant example is Pope Benedict's recent trip to Africa. While there, he condemned the racial and political movements that have oppressed freedom. He called Africa the land of hope and praised them for their religious fervor in a largely apathetic world. He also mentioned that abstinence was a more effective AIDs prevention tool than any number of responsibility-erasing condoms . . . and then there was wailing and gnashing of journalistic teeth.

When will they learn to address issues instead of generically crying "corrupter of the youth!," as the sophist Athenians did thousands of years ago to Socrates? When will people refuse to let these modern sophists rhetorically beg the question by whining about someone's audacity to contradict research we "all know" to be indubitably true? No longer can the rational members of society stand by while these media monologuers whine their way through the battles of the culture war. Those who dare to contradict the "p.c." voices need to do so with good arguments, statistics, and prayer.

Thank the Lord that we have a true leader in Pope Benedict, who seeks out ways to encourage nations to better themselves in areas of character as well as in the realms of physical and economic health. And if we ever get the guts to speak out, he may not stand alone; then, our country may again be the land of the free, instead of the land of the nodding couch-potatoes.

http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=309