Subj : Extra Sweet [1] To : Dave Drum From : Ruth Haffly Date : Wed Oct 22 2025 13:38:03 Hi Dave, RH> It was in just about anything that was "diet" or "low Calorie" for a RH> long time--until scientists got ahold of it and fed it to a lot of lab RH> rats. I think it was the only "artificial sweetener" around, so it was RH> very common for common folks to use. DD> My Granny stocked the tiny tablets. I learned a bitter (literally) DD> lesson when I w2as six years old. Took one of the tablets and popped DD> it into my cake hole - thinking it would be like the teeny sugar bomb. DD> Eeeeewwww ... took over a week to lose the bitter taste. Never again I tasted a tiny bit of crystalised stuff that was around the rim of the bottle my parents had--and like you, instant eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww ! Also, the summer after my last year of high school but before starting college, I visited my mom's younger sister for a week. One night she offered me a can of diet Dr. Pepper; I drank it but after the first couple of swallows vowed never to drink it again. Don't remember what the sweetener was but the combination of that and Dr. Pepper converted me to a life long Coke drinker. DD> 8<----- HACK ----->8 DD> I do tomato juice and the cranberry juice - which my nephrologist DD> (kidney doc) recommended as being good in several ways for my kidney RH> So far my kidneys seem to be doing well without cranberry juice. Had a RH> scare a few years ago with some blood work that indicated maybe RH> otherwise so my primary care dr. referred me to a nephrologist. He said RH> all was well, just come back once a year to keep an eye on things. Last RH> time I saw him, he suggested drinking more water (or whatever) to stay RH> better hydrated; this was not too long after our most recent long cross RH> country trip. DD> Back in the day when I was ignoring ny high blood pressure one of the DD> side consequences was damaged kidneys. So I'm on a "water" pill for DD> life (literally) and have to keep hydrated abd watch my potassium DD> levels. I'm not sure about this 'living' gig. If it was easy anyone DD> could do it. Bv)= One of my doctors caught the blood pressure creeping up (from round the clock albuterol use for bronchitis/atalectisis) and got me on meds. Unfortunatly, it took a lot longer to find out some of the b/p issues were caused by untreated hyper aldosteronism; by then, only way to treat it was with another med but I was able to cut back on one of my other meds. DD> functions - and lemon juice to add to the water I drink. If I do drink DD> soda it'd as an accompaniment to a meal. Just for drinking, once I'm DD> done with my half- pot of coffee it's water w/lemon for the rest of DD> the day. RH> Soda is generally only with meals, unless I really need hydration and RH> water isn't reasonably available. Otherwise it's water, flavored or RH> otherwise--at lunch (out) today it was with 2 slices of lemon. DD> I find that it helps cut the chlorine taste in my local tap water. If DD> I'm dining out I generally have only water w/lemon to drink. If I go DD> to breakfast at Charlie Parker's (out nationally known diner) I get DD> the "Early Bird" speciasl of 2 eggs, meat, taters (hash browns, DD> American fries (1/2"-ish cubes) or Tater Tots. And sine I don't drink DD> coffee once I've left the house - they give me a large (14 oz) glass DD> of tomato juice. A very good and filling deal. I'd ask for a cuppa tea--English Breakfast or something similar. My morning cup is usually British Blend but I will drink others if that isn't available. RH> on. I tried RH> to suggest some better subs for things but she RH> resisted RH> change. RH> Probably some of that was dementia starting to kick in but RH> she was RH> diagnosed diabeticc several years before that. Don't know RH> what her A1Cs RH> ran but morning b/g checks ran in the 140s. Dr. just RH> had her on RH> metformin. DD> 140 fasting see *very* high. If my fasting sugar is above 110 I get DD> concerned. I start to get concerned if I'm over 105; if it's much higher than that, I'll do a major carb cut back and push protein hard for a couple of days. DD> Another thing that I do routinely is to use honey as a sweetner. DD> Especially in tea - hot or iced. It even makes the oil of bergamot in DD> Earl Gray tea almost palatable. Bv)= RH> We use that, sorgum and molasses. Any sugar I buy is brown, powdered, RH> raw or turbinado; main use of the latter two is in making jam or RH> preserves (which I eat very little of). DD> Sorghum is hard to find around here in the stupormarkups. Humphrey's DD> do stock it else I'd have to visit the outlet store for the processor DD> - for both the molasses and the flour. DD> I'm still amazed that many people do not know that shorhum is from the DD> corn family. Does the use of sorghum molasses affect Steve's headaches DD> at all? Or is it sAfe for him? It doesn't seem to bother him. Corn as is or in corn meal, torrillas, etc seems to be the main triggers. He can have corn starch or corn syrup (I use a tablespoon or so in some of my recipies.) without harm. DD> Not even on your PB&J sandwiches? RH> Not even those. (G) DD> Title: Apple Rice Pudding DD> Categories: Diabetic, Desserts, Rice, Fruits DD> Yield: 6 Servings RH> Hmm, looks interesting. I use brown rice, jasmine rice or a rice blend RH> (put out by Lundberg). The brown would work the best all around of the RH> 3, jasmine and blend is for when I cook Asian or just want a different RH> side. DD> My default rice is bassmati (or Texmati). No special reason for it - DD> just fell into its use after buting a BIG (30#) bag at a Big Lots DD> store. Realised when I got it home that's a LOT of rice. Especially DD> for a single guy cooking mostly for himself. RH> It freezes well, both raw and cooked. I've got some in the freezer I RH> need to pull out this week and use, maybe in chicken soup now that the RH> weather has cooled down. Also have to pull out some pumpkin next week RH> to make a pumpkin roll for Steve's birthday. DD> Title: Peach Skillet Cake w/Sorghum Flour DD> Categories: Cakes, Fruits, Spices DD> Yield: 8 Servings Have to keep this in mind for next year's peach season. --- Catch you later, Ruth rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28 .... OH NO! Not ANOTHER learning experience! --- PPoint 3.01 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28) .