Killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle

Miss Baby will enjoy good homemade food.

First, I'm not going to spend much time on this as Miss Baby is stopping by; I have a small child with whom to discuss art. She may be only five-months-old but she communicates better than some adults. Marcel Marceau has nothing on her.

Plus, she has a pretty positive outlook. I've always thought nothing improves a woman's looks more than a smile. Miss Baby knows how to look beautiful. I think it's in Miss Baby's genes as her grandmother knows a thing or two about dressing up the face with a smile.

Killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle

Paul Berton, editor-in-chief of The London Free Press, wrote about our unhealthy lifestyle in the Saturday paper pointofview column. (And yes it is spelled pointofview in the paper. Cute, eh?)

My wife making her own pasta.

Paul writes, "we're killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle." He's right but he quickly goes way off track. The tone seems to be --- It's us. Foolish us. --- "We'd rather use a food processor than a knife," Paul writes.

Stay out of my kitchen, Paul, because you'd confuse apples and oranges. Food processors are not knives. My wife uses both a food processor and a large stand mixer. They help her to quickly make good food from good ingredients.

The other night she made pasta using durum semolina flour bought at Arva Flour Mills. The pasta was quick to make and (she'll hate me for revealing this) her arthritic hands did not ache afterwards, thanks to the pasta maker attachment driven by her stand mixer.

The soup for salt addicts.

Ross Feldman, a researcher at the Robarts Research Institute, was right on target when he told you, Paul, governments can do more to regulate the amount of sodium in our foods.

This "Hearty Favourites" has 700 mg of sodium (salt) in 125 ml of the condensed soup or 1590 mg of sodium for the entire can. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend an upper limit of no more than 1,500 milligrams for the middle-aged and older. That's the upper limit!

Paul tells us, "We need to do something about this ourselves. . . We can't afford . . . to ignore it any longer."

It is interesting to note that Paul is just being gracious when he says "we." Paul must be in his fifties, but he is a young fifty something. He is tall and not obviously overweight. In the past, he rode a bike to work and not a fancy and efficient multi-speed lighweight; Paul rode a good, sturdy somewhat heavy old-fashioned two-wheeler.

Admittedly there is a lot to be done in improving our North American lifestyle which is quickly becoming a global lifestyle. But all is not lost, trust me, Paul. All the attempts to make us aware of our shortcomings have not "clearly been a failure." Just check the mirror. You're living proof.

Now, back to that Campbell's soup. Why 125 ml of condensed soup should have such an incredible amount of salt is simply beyond me. It is time to vote for better food, less salt and no transfats --- in fact, less fat of all kinds --- by voting with our pocketbooks and not buying the obviously questionable products and by voting with our feet by walking to the store, if possible, and by making our own soup with using our food processors.

I'm lucky; I live in a suburban home surrounded by grocery stores and all within walking distance and come spring there will be asparagus and strawberries and other good, fresh stuff available from a stand just a short walk away.
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This post corrects the spelling of Robarts Research Institute. The institute was named in honour of John Robarts, a former premier of Ontario.