Education Day

Today was a day for education. At Cardiac Rehab, the nutritionist talked to the group about healthy eating, which included a demonstration of portion sizes using plastic "food" items, like half a chicken breast and a piece of steak (each about the size of a deck on playing cards), an orange (the size of a fist), cooked rice and spaghetti (half a cup), a hamburger bun (counts as two servings), and a slice of bread (one serving). Since Mother and I are Weight Watcher members, I was already aware of the concept of portion control.

An American Heart Association booklet the nutritionist provided contains some information that I was unaware of, however. It states that adults aged 51 years and older need four servings of fat-free or low-fat milk products...the same required by children and teenagers 9-18 years old. I don't think I'm getting that much every day.

The other informational tidbit is that albacore (white) tuna contains more mercury than canned tuna. We haven't been eating albacore, but now that I know about the mercury, I'll be avoiding it for sure.

This afternoon, Mother and I attended a session on maintaining a healthy brain, sponsored by the local agency on aging. The informative workshop included fun brain teaser and crossword puzzle games. Mother and I both love puzzles. She works crossword, cryptogram, and word search puzzles almost every day. Time constraints prevent me from working puzzles every day, but I keep crosswords, word searches, Sudoku, and brain teaser puzzles on the end table in the den for when I have a few minutes of down time.

Before we went to the healthy brain session, we stopped by the art gallery so Mother could see a fiber arts exhibit. Hubbie and I saw it a few weeks ago at a reception for the artist, but Mother opted out of going that evening. The artist creates whimsical human figures on wall hangings that are fashioned from fabrics and found objects. She also makes fabric jewelry, and creates quilted postcards. Her work is very interesting, and I thought Mother might enjoy seeing it. She did.