Youth Cream

I had to smile when I read the letter from Diane Rowe of Santa Monica, “Hold the Fat, Please,” in the Dec. 21 Food section.

My late mother was raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin around the time of World War I. Her eating habits acquired there never changed: Whole milk to drink, half and half on cereal, whipped cream on desserts, butter, eggs, bacon, ham, sausages, all types of red meat, plus about a pound of chocolate candy a week. She also loved fruits and vegetables.

When she was admitted to the hospital at age 94 following a fall at home, routine tests showed her heart, arteries, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose level to be normal.

In the end, it was pneumonia that killed her.

--ROBERT E. LAWTON

San Gabriel