Waste not; waist more

Each year, 108 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted.  Feeding America website

From 1999 –2000 through 2017 –March 2020, US obesity prevalence increased from 30.5% to 41.9%. During the same time, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%. (NHANES, 2021)

Hmmmm, coincidence? I don’t think so. Let me explain.

As a child, my parents always admonished me to “clean my plate.” The consequence of not doing so was being denied dessert - which was often lime Jello with embedded suspended canned fruit. Yum. Who wouldn’t force down those last couple of bites of creamed chipped beef on toast or liver and onions?.

As an adult, it is more often my conscience that guilts me into joining the clean plate club. Combined with echoes of my grandmother’s statement “think of all those starving children in China,” a plethora of articles about food waste/food insecurity in this country guilt me into not wasting food. 

And how does one not waste food? By eating it, of course.

I certainly do my best to minimize putting any edibles in the trash. I buy minimum quantities of perishable foods, shop relatively often, use my fridge and freezer for leftovers, and happily eat those leftovers for lunch the next day. The odd stale slice of bread gets tossed into the backyard beneath the birdfeeder, defying the HOA rule not to feed wildlife. (Damn squirrels!)

Oversized restaurant meals get divided in half. I eat one and take the other home in a doggie box. My friend and I often share a meal or at least a salad. And then there is sometimes a “seniors” menu with smaller costs and serving sizes. Funny that no one IDs me anymore about qualifying.

But really, what does one do with those last couple teaspoons of chili, quarter cup of peas, or last slice of garlic bread?

The only PC thing to do is eat up. Especially if only a couple tablespoons of ice cream remain in the bottom of the carton. And buy pants with an expandable waistband.

From Strength to Strength - an important read

I rarely review books in this blog, but Brook’s From Strength to Strength informed and moved me. I only wish I had read it 10 or 20 years ago. (Might have been tough since it was just recently published.)

Like many folks who had a successful career with some degree of public recognition, I still find myself at a bit of a loss now in retirement. While I get a great deal of satisfaction from volunteering, traveling, participating in service and interest groups, and having time with family, I often miss work and my side gigs of professional speaking and writing. I believe my last conference speaking gig was March of 2020, the very month the COVID virus began shutting down a lot of activity. My last professional article was published in June of 2019. I stopped writing my last column in 2015 after 20 years of continuous publication.

Better a “has been” than a “never was”, I have consoled myself. But it is sometimes cold comfort.

Brook’s book is written for what he calls “strivers” - those who pushed themselves to be successful in their careers, but then find themselves becoming less successful as they move past middle age. This is a must read for anyone who has had a job with responsibility and growth - for anyone who has strived at a career. *

The author compellingly argues we lose our "fluid" intelligence (creativity) quite early and then must figure out how to change to using our "crystalized" intelligence (wisdom). Using research, religious and philosophical references, and practical advice, Brooks explains how to move from concrete rewards like money, notoriety, and career advancement to the psychological rewards of inner peace, better interpersonal relationships, and one’s roles as a mentor/teacher, recognizing this “jump” is not an easy one.

On reflection, I believe I was personally transforming long before retirement, always valuing family, friends and recreation, not just work and the rewards it brought. I suspect my “jump” was not as far as it would be for many.

The book doesn’t offer any easy solutions to making this transition nor give concrete examples of people who successfully changed, but it was helpful to me to read the theory and learn that my situation is far from uncommon.

Still processing its message, but I encourage anyone struggling to find a new meaning in retirement to read it as well.

*The book on Goodreads has also collected a number of negative reviews, with an “elite” audience often cited as a criticism. Be warned.

It's OK not to have an opinion in my opinion

Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one. (Various)

The passing of Queen Elizabeth II stimulated a good deal of discussion around the value of the monarchy to the UK. It seems that a requirement of CommonWealth citizenship is that one must be fervently supportive or actively dismissive of having a royal head of state. (I think England had a similar situation around the time of the first King Charles.)

And I don’t have an opinion about it one way or the other whether Great Britain needs royalty. Nor do I intend to form one. Why?

• I don’t have a horse in this race.
• I recognize the validity of multiple perspectives on the issue. 
• I don’t have enough information to make an informed decision.
• I have better things to learn and think about.

Social media, it seems, demands that everyone form an opinion about everything. That political Facebook post, that knee-jerk Tweet, that latest Instagram rumor, all are just begging for a response. No matter how ill-informed or ill-advised.

Next time you feel the urge to express an opinion, ask yourself if you would be willing to write a 1000 word essay that justifies your stance, including how the topic actually impacts you and the research you have done to make sure your views are supported by fact. If not, keep your opinion to yourself.

Thank you for contributing to a more rational world. It’s OK not to have an opinion