You Mean There’s Never Going To Be A Doughnut Diet? Rats. Life Isn’t Worth Living.

Earlier in the week there was breaking news in the diet department.

Apparently there are “10 Despicable Doughnuts!” and an article urging you to “think twice before grabbing one of these fatty sugar bombs.”

I enjoy a doughnut from time to time.  I imbibe every third month or so. And I have fond memories of my more regular doughnut eating days. Weekends when my dad would bring home a dozen from Dunkin’ Donuts or after church, sneaking doughnut holes off the buffet at the meet ‘n greet in the church hall.

Curious as a cat, I clicked the link. Evil doughnuts? Were there any angelic ones? If there are 10 despicable ones then maybe they list the virtuous ones.

Are you curious? Do you want to know who graces the evil top 10?

Starbucks Old Fashioned Glazed Doughnut. Entenmann’s Devil’s Food. Little Debbie Mini Frosted. Dunkin’ Donut’s Chocolate Coconut Glazed. Krispy Kreme’s Vanilla Iced Creme.

Oh. No.

Aren’t these your run of the mill, fun, treat-type doughnuts?

And they’re ALL bad for me?

The article goes on to state “don’t be fooled” by the addition of blueberries to Dunkin’ Donut’s Blueberry Crumb Donut. (I wasn’t.) And here’s the big shocker (not): doughnuts are loaded with calories mainly from sugar and fat.

Horrors!

Who knew?

Uhhmmmm….practically everyone.

Am I right?

Raise your hand if you thought doughnuts were health food.

Hmmm. No one. Well, that’s a sigh of relief.

Is there anyone out there stupid enough to think that a doughnut is the breakfast of champions? That it shouldn’t be a once in a while treat? That maybe, just maybe, they might be packed with empty calories?

(Shaking my head in disbelief at what passes for breaking news these days. It must be a slow news day.

And I suppose, that’s a good thing.

Now go on and have a great, newsworthy day!  Oh, and have a doughnut! I know I will. Because after reading that article, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them.)

The (Health) Countdown to Halloween

My two youngest have just recovered from a cold?…the flu? …..H1N1 (formerly known as Swine flu)? A friend of mine said that her pediatrician told her that in our area H1N1 is presenting itself as a mild, upper respiratory, low grade fever kind of flu. That’s exactly what the boys had. Fingers crossed!

But that still doesn’t ease my mind about getting the vaccine (I’m still undecided) or if we should get the regular flu vaccine (which I wrestle with every year, decide not to and then sit on pins and needles all season worrying that I made the wrong decision) or if this last thing that passed between them (daughter and husband still healthy, I just had the achies for a day) will come back to haunt us in just one more day. Hold on, guys! I know you can do it!

You see, Halloween is a big deal in our house. Probably because we don’t keep candy in the house or even eat candy that much all year-round. But at Halloween we let them have a free for all, eating as much as they want for the week or two. Eventually, they forget about the candy (I’m not kidding) and I can toss the leftovers and they never ask what happened to it.

But when they’re sick? No candy. No sugar. My husband (Chinese Medicine Man) calls sugar “Rocket fuel for a cold.” And having to give up sugar at the only time of year we let them eat candy with abandon would be torture in this house.

Plus, I remember a Halloween not so long ago…ok, 40 years ago…when a sweet little girl had to miss Halloween. She missed the Halloween parties. She missed wearing her costume to school. (Remember when you could do that and not offend anyone?) She missed….trick or treating. She had the chicken pox. And all she could do (because she felt fine, her skin just decided to try on a polka-dotted costume that wouldn’t wash away) was stand about 18ft. from the front door and watch all the trick-o- treaters come and go. She had a very dear friend who carried around an extra plastic pumpkin to fill for her. But it wasn’t the same.

So, fingers are crossed. Toes are crossed. We’re eating Flintstone vitamins like, well, candy around here.

Hope everyone out there has a safe AND healthy Halloween!