Frog Fat

In a heroic act of motherly love, consistent with my philosophy of taking every opportunity to get into my kids’ element, I volunteered to help the kids dissect frogs in my 6th grader’s science class.  The aversion to anything medical, needles and beyond, originates genetically.  The first time in the presence of a cadaver, my father passed out.  He immediately transferred from medical school to the psychology program.  Fortunately at my frog dissecting debut, unlike a couple of  white-faced students who had to sit down during the exercise to avoid tumbling to the floor, I survived to curiously explore God’s creations with the kids.

Ian and friends cut and pulled back the skin and muscle to expose the abdominal cavity.  The science teacher Mrs. Sauber directed the kids to identify the organs in the frog , comparing to the diagram in their handout.  The kids found the liver, the heart, the gallbladder, and more. Our group initially mistook the banana-like structures that we say for the lungs, later to find out they were fat deposits.

The amount of  space the fat took up surprised me, as we lifted the organs and found more “fat bananas”.  Peering at neighboring frogs, we noticed the amount of fat varied.

I’m not a herpetologist (someone who studies amphibians)  and I don’t know the optimal amount of fat a frog should have.  But I can see how easy it would be for the fat to crowd out the essential organs, making it cluttered and crowded, maybe even impeding proper breathing.

I could easily equate this to the fat I feel like I am shedding as a result of working Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University alongside with implementing the meal planning ideas from dietician Diane Greenleaf.  Frog fat and human clutter are not that different as you will see in my next blog.

The Catholic Women’s Guide to Healthy Relationships Tip:  Is the “fat” in your life crowding out what is most important?