This hasn't been an extraordinarily hot summer overall, but I have been doing some sweating and usually about this point in the summer I'd start getting a bad case of the salt craves to make up for all the salt I'd been losing in sweat. Hitting the potato chips, for instance, or the salted cashews.

But it hasn't happened this year, and I'd been wondering why. Finally it occurred to me that the Jack cheese I've been using to make quesadillas might have a lot of salt in it. So I checked the nutrition label on an unopened package. A "single serving" is one ounce (nominally a 1-inch cube, which is a laughably tiny amount of cheese for one meal; I usually use at least twice that). That one ounce contains 170 milligrams of sodium. It also provides 100 calories, of which 80 are from fat.

No wonder I like it so much! Salt and fat are two of the things that make life worth living.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Daily Life at 04:46 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Well, they are two of the four food groups, the others being caffeine and sugar.

Posted by: EvilOtto at August 22, 2008 04:54 PM (tYvh+)

2 EvilOtto, I beg to differ: caffeine is not a food group.

The fourth group is peppers.

Posted by: refugee at August 22, 2008 05:15 PM (l5DzU)

3

The traditional joke was that the four food groups were salt, fat, carbs, and alcohol; a sixpack and a bag of pretzels were a balanced meal.

But I don't drink anymore so alcohol is off the menu. I'll have to settle for salt, fat, carbs and chocolate.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 22, 2008 05:49 PM (+rSRq)

4 I could fix that but hold my tongue

Posted by: engdre at August 22, 2008 06:05 PM (L4gtU)

5 I'm not trying to chase everyone away, OK?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 22, 2008 06:47 PM (+rSRq)

6 Perhaps we need a new FDA food pyramid. The base can have salt and fat, which should so into everything, then further up as the pyramid narrows we can have carbs, alcohol, chocolate, peppers, and caffeine. 

Posted by: EvilOtto at August 23, 2008 10:21 AM (tYvh+)

7 I'm sorry I was going for humor but got a dud.   Anyway is there anything new with the ducks?  I'm not sure why I 'm concerned with ducks 2000 miles west but I like hearing old fashion news: who what when where. 

Posted by: engdre at August 23, 2008 02:56 PM (L4gtU)

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