4 the Better: Driven Dreams, Resistant Starches, Wash Your Rinds

Bite-sized inspiration and information in 4 minutes

Driven to Big Dreams

When I write these profiles about inspirational people, I find myself grinning as I recognize their common thread: an indomitable spirit. Rosemary Smith is no exception. Unless you are a diehard racing fan, you may not recognize her name, and even if you are, it may still be unfamiliar unless you lived in Ireland, where she was a cultural fixture since the 1960s.

Rosemary Smith was best known for two things: in the racing world, for her fearless road rally wins and decades-long career, and in the social sphere, for her snappy dressing and enduring style. As a young woman, she was a gifted dress designer and modeled for Dior, but her real passion and interests were with cars and driving fast. Very fast.

In 1959, Rosemary serendipitously met a young woman driver looking for a navigator, who offered her the job. Rosemary jumped at the chance and never looked back, dedicating the rest of her life to racing, driving, and instructing.

Aside from being a motorsport pioneer and winning multiple iconic rallies, she had many career high points, including establishing the Rosemary Smith Driving School; being featured on a postage stamp celebrating the Royal Irish Automobile Club centenary in 2001; receiving the Irish Times Sportswoman Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013; publishing her autobiography Driven: A Pioneer Woman in Motorsport in 2018; and being inducted into FIVA (Federation International des Vehiculed Anciens) Hall of Fame, the first Irish person to receive the honor.

What I find so inspiring about Rosemary is that she maintained her exuberance and optimism as the years passed, even though her life’s road was not without treacherous curves. She endured tremendous heartaches with a failed marriage and wayward relationships, four miscarriages, the early deaths of her brother and sister, and stressful financial woes.

Despite it all, her zeal for life remained stylishly intact. When asked about her ambitions in her seventies, she said she wanted to drive a Formula 1 racecar. As a Renault Ireland ambassador, her dream came true when she was afforded the opportunity to drive a Renault F1.

So on May 10, 2017, at the age of 79, just before her 80th birthday, when most people are settling into a recliner, Rosemary Smith became the oldest person—not only the oldest woman, mind you—but the oldest person in history to do don a well-designed fireproof racing suit, get dolled up with beautifully styled hair and make-up, and slide behind the wheel of a screaming F1.

Several years later, Rosemary was sadly diagnosed with cancer and died at the age of 86, but her fearless loop around the circuit was a fitting climax to a ceiling-shattering career and an exhilarating example of dreaming big, no matter your age. The next time I feel the least bit hesitant about tackling something to which my mind at first says, “no,” I’m going to remind myself of Rosemary’s temerity to grab life by the wheel and go!

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Resistant Starches Are Good for Your Gut

Not all starches are created equal, and even those of you who steer clear of carbohydrates may want to give resistant starches a second look. Unlike most starches that are digested in the small intestine and quickly converted to glucose, resistant starch remains mostly undigested until it reaches the large intestine, where it ferments and feeds good gut bacteria.

The beneficial fermentation process promotes gut health, supports blood sugar regulation (which in turn improves insulin sensitivity), and may even aid in preventing weight gain by helping you feel fuller longer. Additionally, the gut is considered the second brain, so what’s good for your gut is good for brain health and cognitive function.

Interestingly, resistant starch is not only a particular type of complex carbohydrate but also a cooked and cooled starch. Foods high in resistant starch are green bananas, lentils, beans, quinoa, whole grains such as barley and oats (just to name a few), and rice and potatoes that have been cooked and cooled. Consider incorporating some of these delightful additions into salads as a way to weave resistant starches into your diet.

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Wash Fruit and Vegetables with Rinds

You may remember that I am lemon-obsessed and blessed to have an old-growth lemon tree next door that our neighbor allows us to harvest. Luckily, she doesn’t spray the tree with pesticides, so I typically haven’t washed the lemons, but lately, they are much dirtier than usual, with all the ash and soot still in the air from our recent wildfires.

As I washed my morning lemon, I remembered a listeria scare several years back that had me scrubbing cantaloupe before slicing. Prior to that particular outbreak, I wasn’t in the habit of washing fruits or vegetables with a rind, but it’s prudent to wash all produce, even if the outer skin is discarded. Lest you think I am being overly fastidious, visualize this: when cutting, the knife grabs bacteria on the surface and drags it down, contaminating the pristine flesh inside. Not good. My dirty lemons are a good reminder to stay vigilant and clean.

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