turkey Archives - GrandmaBetsyBell

Gentle Reader,

Thanksgiving Day and 17 of the children and grandchildren are coming. The alarm went off at 5:15 so I could put the turkey in for a dinner time of 2 p.m. When I chopped up the giblets, I thought, yes, it is worth it to pay for the organic free range bird. The organs are deep purple-red, the tissue tight and resilient. These are signs of health. Here’s an organic turkey’s innards.

One year I panicked when I realized 29 people were coming and one turkey wouldn’t feed the whole crowd. I ran to the local Safeway to pick one up. When I laid the two sets of innards on the counter, the poor cadged bird’s organs were full of lesions, had a grey tone and the liver dissolved into granules when I put my forefinger into it. I wish I had a picture so you could see the comparison. I wonder what my liver looks like.

When they say we are what we eat, I think they are referring to the health of our liver, our kidneys, our heart, and our lungs perhaps more than our joints. It’s the joints that hurt because these organs are the means by which the joints are nourished. They cleanse the blood, absorb the nutrients into the blood and send health or harm to those creaky arthritic painful joints.

My house mate passed on a lot of frozen stuff from Trader Joe’s. I know it is sacrilege to cast aspersions on Trader Joe’s, but the chicken patty I grilled, tasty thought it was, had a lot of stuff in it besides chicken. Does the body know what to do with that extra stuff? One rice concoction was so crowded with strange ingredients, I just didn’t want to eat it. Guess what, the chickens wouldn’t eat it either and they are my bell weather. They will eat anything. Tasty, convenient? Yes. Recognizable by the liver, kidneys and cells as food? I’m not so sure.

Some people dread the feast because it is so hard to resist over indulgence. Relax, I say. Eat something of everything. Enjoy the tastes. Then take a walk. The more you eat the longer you walk.

Hauling that 20 # turkey around yesterday made me wake up with a sore back. That old osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis kicked in big time this morning. To be pain free by the time they come, I’m on the floor stretching. I’ll take a walk before they get here. I’ll let them move the furniture. And I am fortified with plenty of the herbal pain relief pills I rely on.

There will be pie. I’ll enjoy all three flavors. I hope you are going to enjoy your day as well. I’d love to hear how it went and what your anxieties are around the holidays and eating. How does your body do when you change your diet for a few days? Is it hard to get back to healthy normal the next morning?

We can support each other in our pain and agony! J . I am thankful for you and for all people in my life.

Fondly, Betsy

P.S. What a fantastic day. The 20# turkey was demolished. Here’s the afters: