Cod liver oil
January 27, 2006
I’m listening to public radio, and they are talking about the old motherly fetish of dosing kids with cod liver oil. How well I remember seeing Mom head for me with my daily tablespoon of cod liver oil, saying, “It’s g-o-o-d for you!” To five-year-olds Moms are by definition omniscient, so I gaped and swallowed with little grumbling. I don’t remember when she stopped that practice, but it probably was when I started school and started listening to my buddies.
Strangely enough, I didn’t find the oily after-taste very objectionable. I remember that I also rather liked mineral oil, a common, since discredited, dosage for a common childhood indisposition. My psychiatrist, if I had one, might find deep meaning in those acquired tastes, but I’m not going there.
Back to the radio report. It seems that tests now show that regularly ingested fish oil benefits cardiovascular health, and, who knows? my daily lubrication may have added to my allotted days, which may or may not turn out to be a blessing.
All of which leads my meandering thoughts to my own adult fetish: aerobic exercise. A cardiologist once told me that my body has been responding to my daily huffing and puffing by busily constructing “mini-bypasses” of my heart arteries. This frees me from having the usual symptoms of cardiac artery disease (a Good Thing), but when I finally have, as they so delicately put it, “my cardio-event,” it will likely be a dandy (which sounds like a Not-So-Good Thing).
I think it’s time to switch to Mozart, streaming my way via WCPE.org.
Dave, having a hard time directing his thoughts this cold morning.
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