The Role Joy and Bliss Play in Good Health
 

Just some food for thought as far as the role that joy and bliss play in good health and overall happiness in general.

Everyone who has them , knows how much delight young babies and children bring into our lives.....and how these little ones bring back the joy of raising our own brood, baking them cookies before they came home from school.....birthday parties for their toddler friends and then school classmates..........all the major celebrations that require repast..........

Food plays a big role in our culture. However, for quite some time now it has become difficult to balance what we all know to be healthful eating habits vs. feasting as we recall from our immigrant grandparents' days and our own parents' prime of life...........times have surely changed,.

But here's a cute little observation I made recently........after the list of restricted eaters, which I also made ..........


Some of my memorable guests and what they could or could not eat.
.......with a surprise ending..........


Irritable Bowel Syndrome cousin.........no beans, no three bean salad, no onions, no nuts, no raw veggies and on and on....


Lactose Intolerant folks............no milk, no cheese, no ice cream or whipped cream.....no dairy in general.....so, no stuffed shells, no lasagna, no baked ziti al forno.....no eggplant parm, no cheesecake.


Those on certain heart meds; blood thinners.........many restricted vegetables and fruits and spices.........
For understandable reason; double blood thinning.


Vegans and vegetarians.........nothing with a face.

The purists are doing the right thing. The ones who eat soy shaped into chicken or fake burgers, I don’t think so.


Those on a health kick.............you name it......”I cannot eat that”.........but they’d pop open the baggy of supplements.


Our grandparents and great grandparents ate everything during the holidays as they ate sparsely inbetween........and lived very long lives....irregardless.


With our over abundance of food in this country..........there is no need to gorge on rich foods every day.


However, how rigid could one be, to not even partake on a holiday or special birthday occasion?????


WE treated our visiting one year old grandbaby to a big German family dinner at the *Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe Vermont. *Sound of Music fame........


When the waiter carried out this HUGE whipped cream and strawberries cake for her birthday..........I wished I could bottle her expression.
PURE JOY.


Dozens of lit candles..........most babies cry on their first b.day. She was delighted.

Now, she sure doesn’t eat like that every day.


She eats healthily of organic fruits and veggies and home raised eggs............etc............but it was a festive occasion..........for all her other little cousins as well as us older folks.

After the waiter cut HUGE SLABS........for all the guests..........the baby carefully smoothed out the top of her “slab of cake”.........and licked the top. She was very reverent in smoothing the top of her cake.

She took off each and every strawberry............it was her party.
Her smiles of delight and happiness warmed our hearts.

We have wonderful memories. I can’t imagine someone bringing her a carrot with candles on it.

Although she does love the carrots in her garden at home.........and she loves fresh sweet potatoes.........mom is a gardener and whole foods advocate. But, this was a special occasion.


EVERYTHING IN MODERATION and as suits the occasion.............we’ve known plenty of vegetarians and vegans who died young, sad to say........who were also athletes & did everything right.

Our other grandchildren were also raised to eat healthily but they still are allowed to have their treats on special occasions.........all in balance.

I never rationed food in our home while my now adult kids were growing up. We ate a well balanced diet which I cooked from scratch and sat down as a family to eat our meals.........not drive through a drive up window for fast food.

Our kids are all tall and thin and healthy......and passing on the good habits to their own children..........but I never forbid the goodies in the house. They did their own "self monitoring". They always leaned towards moderation and healthy fresh grown salads, etc. but they ate meat and now prefer the free range type and organic type of everything.

Excellent post. :BigApplause: :BigApplause:

I enjoyed your post, too, SC....and it made me think of my granddaughter's first birthday cake....cream and strawberries....and she loved it!

Bliss and joy make our hearts lighter, which makes life look brighter. Thanks for the reminder....:)

When young people choose a partner to make their life a good one they would be wise to choose someone like you, Senior. I was lucky to have made a fortunate choice early on and my husband too, is a person much like you, with good common sense, a sense of humor, someone who makes wise choices and cherishes the good times.

THAT is what it is all about. Not how long life is, but how we make life lovely..No one has any guarantees. We can do everything perfectly health wise and still bad things happen.

I tell my treasured children and everyone that I love,
Live wisely and well, and treasure each moment.

Best post ever!!!!
 

The food police are constantly monitoring and watching us. That includes some of those that post here. When you see that person eating out at a restaurant having something less that healthy, don't be critical. It may be their special occasion. Life is a balance.

I would advise caution. If you get caught eating something really bad, you could be brought in to the food police station for questioning and perhaps even charged with a food felony. Do you have any idea what the food is like when you're doing time in a maximum security food prision?

Breakfast: Shredded wheat biscuit and water.

Lunch: A small bowl of tofu

Dinner: Dandelion greens

P.S. Don't ask me how I know.

:a20::a20::a20: Good one, VPL....:D

Well then you haven't been sent to the slammer in Vermont......

Breakfast: Flapjacks with natural maple syrup

Lunch: Road Kill of the Day

(could be moose; could be venison, could be groundhog; racoon, opposum or other..........)

Dinner: Leftover "road kill du jour" plus dandelion greens "in season".

Ditto for fiddleneck ferns....fiddlehead ferns.....edible and picked along the roadside in springtime.

Not bad! I could live with small servings of wild game. It's low in saturated fat and has a good balance between omega 6 and omega 3. I think the greens would be fine too with some healthful dressing. The only thing I might change is: I would ask for 100% whole grain flapjacks with walnuts and fruit mixed in.

Now , I'm really puzzled.

Vegans can eat roadkill? Wild Game?

Moose, venison, racoon, groundhog, oppossum, etc., etc. ?????

I've never been in prison in Vermont (or any other state) so my answer to you assumed that there wouldn't be any choice. Naturally, if there would be good vegan items on the menu, I would choose veganism. But why would they have a vegan menu? It doesn't sound very likely to me.

And, if it's unlikely, I would choose to look at the positives rather than the negatives.