Alice and the kids have long teased me as the Dr. with no MD. Children of medical doctors often believe we are experts just by having watched our dads ply their trade.
Looking back, while some of Dad’s thinking has been replaced by research and new approaches, here are some of his many thoughts that are still true.
- Penicillin, the miracle drug. Dad was in medical school when Alexander Fleming invented it. He remained in awe as millions were cured of deadly infections by this, the first modern antibiotic.
- When his kids would slim down on all-protein, water, vegetarian, fruit diets he would say to us, “nothing will ever replace the food pyramid and portion control. If you follow the food groups, you won’t even need vitamins.”
- Nicotine, alcohol, caffeine and chocolate (sugar) are mood–altering substances. He called them “drugs”.
- Want a good dessert? Dad would ask Mom to make Angel Food cake with no frosting. When he wanted to “break over”, he’d add vanilla ice cream.
- He enjoyed watching me enter my salad phase, pointing out that the dressing I drenched my lettuce with might alone equal a good hamburger.
- He picked up a cluster of grapes one time to show his cigarette smoking son (me) the destruction carbon dioxide reeks on the small sacs (alveoli) in my lungs where oxygen is processed. It was in response to my assertion that I’d quit someday.
- Beware cholesterol – it leaves gunk in your arteries. His very specific suggestion was “one egg and two slices of bacon a week”.
- “Timmy, If you are going to be a drinker, which is hard on your lungs and liver, make sure to eat a lot because alcohol attacks the liver faster on an empty stomach.”
- You can’t drink too much water because bad things cannot stay in your body if you are flushing them out with water. He called it our irrigation system.
- Walk or swim, don’t run. Running over time is hard on your bones and heart.
- Knees, ankles, feet and hips are load bearing devices. The best remedy is not surgery but staying close (or returning) to your recommended body weight. “Imagine the joints on a small bridge while a semi-truck is driving over it.”
Looking back, I see that my Dad’s genius was the same as David Ogilvy’s in advertising and Peter Drucker’s in business. That is, that genius is no more than learning simple truths then applying common sense and self-discipline.
Peace,
Tim McCarthy
