I had blood tests last week. No biggie; diabetics are supposed to have an A1C test fairly often. Blood sugar tends to "pollute" hemoglobin, and the higher the blood glucose level, the more the hemoglobin gets "polluted". The body replaces hemoglobin fairly regularly - the reason stools are brown is because your blood heme is discarded by your body - so the A1C gives a picture of blood glucose levels over the past few months.

But this is a test that you really oughta be fasting for. I went NPO - nil per os means "nothing by mouth" before I went to sleep, and it was 10 AM before they drew my blood. I wasn't too steady as I drove to the health campus, so I drove extra-slow, with a foot ready to stomp on the brake pedal. I normally try to take back roads anyway, when I'm driving places, but there are no deserted streets leading to the health campus.

But I got there safely and it was almost 11 AM when I got out. The best way to boost your blood sugar is to drink some juice. That's why they give you juice when you give blood. There aren't any convenience stores too close to the health campus (Hey, Turkey Hill! Take a hint!) so I walked across the aisle to the snack bar and ordered a TJ.

Tomato Juice

TJ? Tijuana? What's TJ? Tomato juice, I said. Oh, the nice lady said. We don't have tomato juice. So I asked what they did have. Orange Juice, she said, apple juice, and oh, there's red grapefruit. Apple juice is always too sweet, and often orange juice is, as well, but grapefruit juice sounded good, even though it interferes with some blood pressure medicines.

I should have ordered something else. This crap tasted like runny pancake syrup, and didn't taste very grapefruity.

When I weebled to the car - I'm a gimp, so I wobble, especially when my blood sugar is low, but I didn't fall down - I took a look at the bottle. The front of the bottle says 100% Juice, and it's Dole brand, which ought to be trustworthy. And it didn't say Red Grapefruit Blend, it said Red Grapefuit. The ingredients, though, told the story. It's made from concentrate, which is certainly tolerable, so the first ingredient is water. The second ingredient (ingredients are in order of weight) was grape concentrate, with grapefruit concentrate third, and apple concentrate coming in fourth. aaa

Jim Rhodes

It wouldn't be so bad in a convenience store, where you can read the ingredients before you buy, but it's still misleading labeling if the front of the bottle clearly disagrees with the ingredients list. Dole ought to be ashamed, and Pepsi as well (the bottle says it's actually bottled by Pepsico.) Lancaster General, however, ought to especially be ashamed.

When the late Jim Rhodes was governor of Ohio, he insisted that all state banquets offer tomato juice, or a choice of juices including tomato juices. It's was pretty simple, as he expressed it: he didn't know of any orange groves in Ohio. He was forty years ahead of the localvore movement. Tomatos get raised in Pennsylvania as well, but no citrus orchards.

What's more, because of the health problems with grapefruit juice keeping medicines from working, Lancaster General ought to be offering tomato juice, not grapefruit juice.

Mojito Green Tea

Incidentally, there's a new flavor of green tea from Turkey Hill: Mojito Green Tea. I don't particularly care for Green Tea's flavor, although Blondie likes it. This tea has 15 grams of sugar versus 17 grams for their regular Green Tea an 19 grams for their Mango Green Tea, if that matters to you. It claims to have lime, mint and rum flavoring. They add more High Fructose Corn Syrup than sugar, and it's not just green tea, but there is black tea in the drink as well, so I don't know that it's as particularly healthful as the name might suggest, but it doesn't taste bad.

I renew my complaint: they don't have unsweet tea at Turkey Hill, in small containers, gallon jugs, or on draught. I don't know why. If all the fast food restaurants can offer unsweet tea, why can't Turkey Hill?