health rules

oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and cold cereal are part of a well-balanced diet.

We always joked about my father's lonely eating habits. I call them lonely eating habits because he only did it when he was on his own (which wasn't often - my mother cooked dinner nearly every single night). But for those nights that she wasn't at home, or wasn't home soon enough, these were the actions my father took. I will say, I took my habit of eating cold cereal at any point in the day from my father. He made me feel it was normal to eat a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch at 3:00 pm. I remember a summer in high school: my father would come home for lunch everyday around 11:00 am. The phone would ring at 10:45 am; my father was calling to let me know that he is coming home. My duties then were to prepared scrambled eggs for him to eat when he arrived at home. I'm not even sure why I did it. When I wasn't home, I'm sure he ate cold cereal instead. I remember another time when we were joking about my parents' relationship and somehow it came up - what if something should happen to Mom? My brother didn't miss a beat, "Well, a man can only live on scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and cereal for so long."

one mug of coffee requires no less than 4 heaping scoops of white sugar.

Most people take the time to prepare their coffee in the morning. It's almost like a private ritual. No one sees you make it; no one knows how much creamer you use - how much sugar. Not my father. My father did everything he possibly could to shorten his time in the morning. He made is lunch the night before (normal), he prepped the coffee maker the night before (ok), he got out a mug and put 4 large scoops of sugar in it and set it next to the coffee pot (what?). This was the after-dinner ritual where we were all there to see. My father never used less than 4 scoops of sugar in his coffee - and that's even after he cut down!

if it doesn't have a label on it, it doesn't have calories.

This is probably the most used rule that I stick with today. When I was in late-elementary school, my father was hospitalized for chest pains due to high cholesterol. After that, he did a major cut-back on his diet...mostly. My mom was always (and still is) a fantastic cook and her Amish heritage surely did help with those delicious recipes. Thankfully, she never used lard in a recipe (or I would be as big as a house) - she always used butter, and lots of it. She made chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake, blueberry crumb pie, brownies, fruit turnovers, everything - all made with butter. So when my mother would bake a cake, pie, brownies, cookies, my father helped himself generously. And if confronted about his overdose of dessert portion mixed with his high cholesterol, his response would always be, "Well, it doesn't have a label on it. Therefore, it doesn't have calories, saturated fat, sugars, or cholesterol." I have to say, I like the way the man thought when it came to food. To this day when I am making something in the kitchen and enjoy an extra portion of home-baked cookies or cupcakes, I remind myself of probably my favorit piece of advice from my father. Bon appétit!