Weekly Best

It’s that time again, friends, when I get to tell you the best things about my week. It’s been a good week, and I’m excited to share:

My High

My sister and nephew are visiting from Utah, and it has been fun to see them. That is definitely a high, but I have been waiting for this week for a while because I also started my culinary class.

My first class was today, and I got to bring home this super official chef’s jacket with my name on it. Somehow my name is spelled wrong because apparently 2 n’s are difficult, but I still feel like a rock star!

We didn’t make it into the kitchen today in class, but I learned all sorts of interesting things. Like, for instance, back in the 1970s, the obesity rate in America was 17 percent. The U.S. Senate called a meeting in 1976 to discuss the relationship between diet, obesity, and heart disease. The thinking of the day was that people were fat because they were eating too much dietary fat, which was leading to heart disease.

That meeting led to the creation of the first set of dietary guidelines for America, where fat was villainized, and carbohydrates were elevated to priority status. Low-fat everything became the “healthy” standard. (source) But fat is synonymous with flavor, so it had to be replaced with something to make food palatable. That something was sugar.

Now, 40 years later, after listening to the dietary guidelines and jumping on board with the low-fat craze, 40% of Americans are obese. It looks like dietary fat was not the problem, after all. Shame on you, sugar (and high fructose corn syrup).

Maybe I am a nerd, but this is fascinating stuff. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be back in school, even if it is only for a few hours a week. I feel like I was born to love food – cooking it, eating it, and studying it.

The Best Article I Read

I haven’t done a lot of reading this week, but I did find this article interesting:

Did You Know That Intelligence is Inherited From Mothers?

I knew it all along! But that does not explain why Jordan is taking Multivariable Calculus as a senior, after having already completed two years of regular calculus. I took a year of calculus in college and only passed because we took quizzes in groups and I had a smart group. I failed every test. He must have gotten that particular piece of intelligence from his dad. But all the rest of his smarts are my gift to him.

My Favorite Instagram Post

Bethlehem is taking over my garage. It might be a couple of months before the cars can fit in here again, but we will enjoy the smell of freshly cut wood and sawdust in the meantime.

Christmas comes early around here!

(Follow me on Instagram)

That pretty much sums up my week. What was your high or something that you learned?