July 20, 2006 - Day 2 - Week 16 - New Vocabulary

Tomorrow is my birthday, and as is customary for the last decade or so, I pause and reflect upon my life during the past year.  It was and continues to be a year of transition. No longer the son, I am the elder of the Kreitler clan because of my Dad’s death last August.  In addition, the year has brought the usual mix of joy and sorrow, much of which has already been covered in the Compact.

Upon reflection it has become apparent that there is the immediate necessity of developing a new vocabulary.  Words have always had meaning for me, but the following list points to current circumstances and may indeed be the 10 most important words in my entire life.

An exercise that is always revelatory for me is to put on paper the five most important words that define mine life.  The usual cast of characters gets distilled down to words like love, family, health, trust, faith, God, etc. etc.  All important to me, but the 10 below will have their place in my life for the foreseeable future, and 4 months ago I knew two of them.

Welcome to The Kreitler Compact 10 Ten Words For My Future

1. allium
2. anthocyanins
3. carotenoids
4. ellegic acid
5. indoles
6. lentinen
7. lycopene
8. polyphenols
9. polysaccrides
10. saponins

What builds the smile factor in this list is that not one of them came up on the spell check of my computer.  In addition, I will wager that you were stumped by at least 50% of the words, maybe more.  Raise your hand if you have never heard of a one of these words. Ok Pickett and Grimmett I saw your hands go up.

What we have here is a list of The Kreitler Super Ingredients cleaned from sources like Super Foods and the Cancer LifeLine Cookbook.  I did not make up a single word, nor have I chosen to divulge their secrets just yet.

As we age the choices we make about our lives are supposed to be more discerning and beneficial. As teenagers we all admit that we did things that today seem preposterous, some even dangerous, but the fact that we survived indicates we began to make better choices. 

As I bounce around the idea in my head that I am one year away from retirement, social security, and a discount on everything from movies to air travel, I want the choices I make about my diet to be right on target.

I love to eat and I might as well eat foods that have ingredients that can help my immune system grow stronger daily.  However, I must admit now, and it is hard to do this, that I am not particularly fond of seaweed and broccoli, unless grown with a mineral fertilizer and organically. However, in the 10 ten ingredients for my well being there are many foods that I love. Stay tuned as to what the diet is beginning to look like.

Back to Week 16