Agave, Peaches, And Jaws #35

Peaches are a delicious and very healthful fruit to eat.  High in vitamin A and potassium.  Peaches are sweet in taste and contain natural sugars which give you an energy boost when eaten after working out or late in the afternoon.  A medium size peach contains only around 40 calories and is great as a snack food for weight control. The vitamin A promotes good vision and is important to your retina. Vitamin A also promotes healthy skin.  Potassium is one of the more important minerals needed by the human body. It is virtually important to every element of your body and maintaining its good health.  Potassium helps in good cardiovascular health, and is vital to your brain function and the entire nervous system.

Agave nectar is something Cindy and I have tried and I will give you my report.
Agave comes from a plant of the same name grown in Mexico.  Most of what I have read about agave, and agave nectar, says almost all of the worlds supply is produced in Mexico.  It is a healthy alternative to processed sugar and honey as a sweetener in food and beverages.  We don't use much sugar in our home.  I do not add any sugar to anything I eat or drink.  That is not to say I don't have a sweet tooth, because I do. I am not a diabetic, and when possible, I avoid consuming  processed sugar.  The large amount of fruit I eat concerns me because of the natural sugar content.  As long as my body can absorb it I should be okay.  My sugar levels are checked every 6 months.  I should read more, but what I have read indicates natural sugars are more easily absorbed and processed by your body than processed (table) sugars.  Back to agave.  It is a natural  sweetener, with a low glycemic index rating, lower in calories than honey or table sugars.  What we bought is agave nectar and it comes packaged almost like pancake syrup, and a taste similar to it.  Honestly, I don't care much for the taste of agave.  As I said, we don't use sugar much to add to any foods.  I don't know of anything Cindy cooks for us that she is adding sugar to.  When we bought the agave, it came packaged as 2 bottles.  So we have one that someone can have or it is going away.  I prefer honey myself which is higher in calories than agave or table sugar.  I have not had any honey in quite a while.  I use to take some uncooked oatmeal in a small bowl, mixing in some sunflower kernels, walnuts, and maybe some pecans.  Then I would pour over a tablespoon of honey and mix in.  I really thought it was great and it satisfied my sweet cravings.

My daughter Michelle and her husband just competed in a triathlon in Florida.  It consisted of a 1/2 mile ocean swim. A 20 mile bike race, and 4 mile run to the finish.  There were over 700 total participants.  They both did really well.  Michelle finished 16th in her age group and her husband finished 13th in his.  They trained a lot for this event and I think they are going to compete next month in another triathlon in Nashville.  I'm glad to see them doing this, and that they are dedicated enough to go through the training in order to be competitive in each of the 3 segments of the event.

You can look through the website results of all the participants broken down by age groups.  The times are shown by each segment, then the total of the 3 establishes the finishing order.  In looking through the results, I saw where a couple of 79 and 70 year old guys competed.  The 79 year old must be one athletic guy. Based on his total time of 1: 54: 29 he would have finished in 15th place in the 25-29 year old age bracket.   If I had competed I would still be floating around in the ocean hoping Jaws is a vegetarian.