Yesterday, David had a ‘brownout’ at the grocery store. He took his Metformin (for prediabetes) but forgot to eat breakfast before he left. So, this morning, I made him sit down and eat before he went to his room to continue his work on hoard clearance. He says I am a dictator, but I want him around as long as possible. My conclusion after living 70 years is that men don’t take care of themselves. My other conclusion is that I don’t understand them at all. Well, perhaps a bit, but you have to admit, they are curious creatures.
David got it into his head, probably from our GP, that he needed to lose weight. Now he weighs less than he did when I met him, and he was fairly thin then. Yesterday, I showed him an article entitled “A Healthy Weight May Help to Protect Your Memory,” in the latest issue of Focus on Healthy Aging, a newsletter published by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He was impressed. So impressed that after we make our latest trip to the county recycle/shredding facility this morning, he has agreed to go with me to the grocery store to retrieve more food for him.
Truth is he needs to gain weight and I need to continue losing it. Thus, we must eat differently.
This revelation reminded me of a poem about Jack Sprat my Dad used to cite to me: (Material from Wikipedia)
English: The old Jack Sprat Food Store, now Ed’s Museum, in the Historic Gold Street Commercial District in Wykoff, Fillmore County, Minnesota. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The name Jack Sprat was used of people of small stature in the sixteenth century.[1] This rhyme was an English proverb from at least the mid-seventeenth century.[1] It appeared in John Clarke’s collection of sayings in 1639 in the form:
- Jack will eat not fat, and Jull doth love no leane.
- Yet betwixt them both they lick the dishes cleane.
The saying entered the canon of English nursery rhymes when it was printed in Mother Goose’s Melody around 1765, but it may have been adopted for use with children much earlier.
My husband is very thin and yet he eats almost twice what I do. I think it’s because of what he eats as opposed to what I do. I admit it. I’m trying to do better. I know the Jack Spratt poem but I didn’t know the origin. This is so much fun to learn.
I remember my granny teaching me about Jack Sprat, but I seem to remember another line:
Jack Sprat would eat no fat,
His wife would eat no lean.
Between them both,
they bought a goat
and licked their dishes clean!
I used to say this one to my children, but in the modern version:
Jack Sprat would eat no fat
His wife would eat no lean
And so between them both
They licked the platter clean
Interesting post. I love researching the origin of things like that. I agree that men can be confusing (to use a nice word for it !). Having lived alone for over 2o years I can’t imagine how I would react to a man in the house.
Good luck with the weight paradox. As for men, think of them as mascara; they run at the first sign of emotion.
Yes, so glad he is eating more. G and I have the same problem you do. More is not less around here. Love Jack Sprat. Mother used to recite thos ditties when I was a kid. There was one about a Woodchuck that only my grandfather could recite at light speed.
I can do the Woodchuck poem….real fast. I will have to try it on my grandsons next time I see them. Do they have Woodchucks in CA?
I have lost 15 lbs since Sept. 9. Don’t know how, as I continue to eat normally. I read an article that equated major weight loss with future dementia. This sort of stats makes me uneasy! Lol.
You probably lost weight from being so ill. I find weight I lost when ill quickly returns as I recover. To lose weight and keep it off you must change habits that caused you to gain the weight.
I love the Jack Spratt research, my trouble is that I just enjoy my food so much. Unfortunately I have been told to moderate my exercise, so it is quite slow shifting the weight. Thank goodness for good old Weight Watchers!
Yes, Weight Watchers works if you work it. I have to watch it in the exercise department also. Have painful back strain today from overdoing it.