I played poker with my Jackson crew last week. Tom hosted. It’s the first time I’ve seen him this summer. When Covid hit we didn’t play for several months. When we did begin, we cut way back on snacks and drinks. We went from elaborate meals to individual bags of chips and drinks.
We’ve gradually increased the offerings but haven’t reached the full-blown meal stage. We won’t ever get back there. But last week, Tom brought homemade chocolate chip cookies. His wife is a wonderful baker. Everyone else buys there’s, so this was a real treat.
I haven’t had a cookie in several months. After much deliberation, I gave in and had one. One led to two, two to three, three to four and next thing I knew, I stopped counting. That’s the trouble with delicious. Sometimes it gets out of control. I hadn’t had dinner, so that contributed to my downfall.
Part of my cardio rehab addresses diet. At least half of my classmates opt out of such discussions. To each his own. The ladies all attend but the majority of guys don’t show. That in itself may be the reason they’re in the class in the first place. They think they know everything. If I don’t, they don’t, and I don’t.
For example, I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that first cookie, but I let temptation get the best of me. Once I fell in the hole, I spiraled out of control.
I made it to the halfway point of my cardio rehab last Friday. I’ve got eighteen more sessions to go. Last Friday’s class focused on entertaining. Things like poker games and such. Our dietician made some fruit-based salad concoction. She said it could be used as an appetizer or a dessert. While I appreciated her creativity, I won’t ever make it. I’d eat it, but I’m not making it.
We also discussed alcohol intake. She shared the new guidelines from Canada. Take a look.
New Alcohol Guidelines Canada 2025
- 0 drinks per week — Not drinking has benefits, such as better health, and better sleep.
- 2 standard drinks or less per week — You are likely to avoid alcohol-related consequences for yourself or others at this level.
- 3–6 standard drinks per week — Your risk of developing several types of cancer, including breast and colon cancer, increases at this level.
- 7 standard drinks or more per week — Your risk of heart disease or stroke increases significantly at this level.
- Consuming more than 2 standard drinks per occasion is associated with an increased risk of harms to self and others, including injuries and violence.
When I got home, I looked up the guidelines for Americans. Ours are updated every five years and we’re supposed to get new ones this year. If they came out, I couldn’t find them. I did find this.
The 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will likely recommend drinking less alcohol than the current guidelines suggest.
After reading the two sets I made the following observations. Canada has the same standard for everyone. Men and women are treated equally. Our guidelines cut the number of drinks for women in half. Two for guys. One for gals. And the biggie, Canada speaks to drinks per week while Americans look at drinks per day. Holy batman. If you’re a drinker, that’s huge.
In my case, I’m not much of a drinker so it doesn’t matter if I’m in Canada or the United States. Last Thursday I had one bottle of water to wash down the gazillion chocolate chip cookies I consumed. Had I flipped that equation, one chocolate chip cookie to a gazillion beers, I’d still be in a coma.
The moral of the story: everything in moderation. Consider the consequences of overindulging because you can get too much of a good thing. I need to remember that next time Tom shows up with chocolate chip cookies.