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Alison Skirtboston

Skirt! Boston editor

Skirt! is evidence that the universe is paying attention: I spent the last six years at mach speed, whether finishing college (Emerson) while writing full time for Boston Globe West (2001-2004) or editing the Boston Parents’ Paper during the day while holding down the steady gig writing for Globe ...

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Pass the cinnamon

Alison, editor

I can’t be the only one obsessing about the “right foods” to eat – you know, the fruits and veggies with secret components that’ll make us live healthfully forever? I’m thinking that if I can sneak a tablespoon of the right stuff past my kids – disguised in their smoothies or buried in a mound of white-flour pasta – my job is done.

Yesterday’s New York Times nearly spoiled my appetite, though. Their newest list of “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating”  includes beets, one of the foods I had to choke down as a kid and that I can barely tolerate now. And the writer acknowledges that some of the other foods on the list are so exotic that you’re unlikely to know where to look for them in your neighborhood Stop & Shop or Piggly Wiggly.

I thought I was on the right track with all of the black tea I drink (throat cancer is not a threat unless my stainless steel mug is somehow leaching toxins into the tea). It has come to my attention that my cinnamon intake is low, however.

Yes, cinnamon – perhaps the easiest disease-fighting condiment to consume! I thought it was a crock when I started to get press releases praising the antioxidant properties of this ground nut ... but the Times isn’t the only source of the shocking information! Check out this WebMD article that says oregano, too, provides protection from disease, perhaps more than the “miracle food,” blueberries (who wants to bet that there’s a blueberry farmer in Maine laughing all the way to the bank about the blueberry bush-infested land he’s been trying to sell for years?).

Rx: more giant coffee cake muffins from the supermarket for additional cinnamon and extra oregano in my eggplant parm to make up for my shortcomings in beet consumption.