I am sitting waiting for my airplane to leave Amsterdam for Detroit as I write this. Bob (my husband) and I went to Salzburg for a wedding. For those of you who are Sound of Music fans, the wedding ceremony was on the back porch of the Von Trapp family home that was portrayed in the movie. Think of the boat scene when everyone in the curtain play clothes falls into the lake when Captain Von Trapp comes home.
The Sound of Music has been my favorite movie since I was 8 years old. A fun fact: 300,000 people visit Salzburg every year because of their love for the movie. I’m in good company. 
It was surreal and beyond my wildest dreams. In many ways, it blew my world of all things possible wide open. Never in my wildest dreams did any of what we experienced even cross my mind as a possibility. Going to Salzburg sure, (it was definitely on my bucket list), but go to a wedding there and participate not as a tourist but as a guest and all that went with the four days and the Sound of Music sets? It was beyond my imagination and because of this experience, I have been inspired not only to think bigger but differently.
One of the things I love so much about traveling is being exposed to different ideas and new ways of thinking. Today I was reading the International English edition of the New York Times. Truth is, I was hungry for anything written in English!
There was an article called, “No, chocolate probably isn’t a superfood”, by Anahad O’Connor. It was about the downfall of a food scientist at Cornell University and how it could lead to a bigger problem in nutrition research. Until recently, Brian Wasnick was one of the most respected food researchers in America. Apparently, his research was significantly and possibly deliberately flawed, and it has been for years.
Have you ever wondered why one-day chocolate is a superfood saving you from cancer and the next month a probable cause of cancer? You can change chocolate to read coffee, meat, cheese, etc. Pick your food, I am sure you can find the “evidence” you seek from the two to three million studies reported every year. I am not kidding – 2 -3 million “studies”. Herein may lie a big part of the problem.
While only about 1400 of the false articles are retracted annually, many scientists are publishing one paper every FIVE days, and they are encouraged to write them with the intention to go viral. Critics argue that much of what is published is unscientific or manipulative to draw misleading conclusions and generate lots of clicks.
This is why it is so important to pay attention to your body and see what makes you feel you’re best, or not. I know I enjoyed the days I ate Keto (and got in a 5 – 6-mile walk) with more energy and strength than the days I ate sugar and extra carbs (it was a once in a lifetime wedding after all). At the end of the day, self-awareness is the key, vs. some published “opinion”. (That’s why I stick to the Good Fat Bars!)
Sherri Richards
FYI – the Von Trapp’s were married 11 years and had 3 more children before the Nazi’s came to Salzburg. All 10 kids and their parents left Austria before the war via train by their own choice. I actually like this ending to the story better. It doesn’t make for great Hollywood drama but it is the truth. While it is Ok for Hollywood to make up new endings (they never said it was a completely true story), It’s not OK for the food scientists. Just saying.
