Those Scientists!

Even though I don’t write about it much any more, I think about diet and losing weight and healthy living all the time. I watch you tube videos, read online and magazine articles, and sometimes even buy a book.

And I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but I get exasperated at those scientists! They are so gung ho on their theories that they present their information as FACT. They seldom use the word theory in their presentations. So even though you may watch two doctors giving two OPPOSING presentations about the best way to eat and lose weight, both of them will be presented as fact, not as theory.

I listened to one UC doctor who said that sugar was the enemy. His concluding thoughts were reasonable–stop drinking sugared soda. Then I listened to a very popular doctor who thinks that fasting is the solution to all our problems. As a nurse, he made statements of “fact” over and over that I know to be untrue. And aside from his enthusiasm for fasting, he actually adhered to a paleo diet.

Then, I decided to buy the book “Body Respect,” because I realized that I was having issues with feeling very poorly about myself and I did not like that. The title was something I was looking for. However, the author, who is also a doctor, presented pretty much the same message that she has in her previous book (Health at Any Size.) And as a doctor she presented many “facts” about why being overweight does not affect your health. To be fair, the goal of this book was to try to convince health care workers to be more compassionate in their care of the overweight person. But being very overweight does take a toll on your health, IMO. Also, to be fair, just reading this book, which did not really teach me anything new, did manage to calm myself down about how I feel about still being overweight.

And then I got my Nutrition Action Healthletter. Before I got it, I had thought that I would say that I still appreciate Marion Nestle’s advice about healthy eating. And there was an interview with her about how scientists can be swayed by industry funding and their own points of view! One quote from her: ” All researchers have intellectual conflicts of interest.” 

Bottom line: Read a lot, but don’t believe that everything in print is truth. Experiment and find out what works and doesn’t work for you. Later this week I’ll write more about what is working for me now in living the healthiest life possible at age 62 🙂

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I Should Write a Blog

Hey, that’s a better title than the  alternative titie, “I flushed my glasses down the toilet.”  I DID.  Can you believe it?  Never mind the details.   So my alternative methods of seeing are my old contacts (tried those yesterday and remembered why I decided to stop wearing contacts.  Its like there’s a constant glare in my left eye.)  Today I am making do with my glasses that developed a film on the anti-glare coating.  So its like wearing glasses that seem like they always need to be cleaned.  But at least I can see.  When did I get like this? I used to be able to see the tiniest things perfectly.

Anyway, I don’t have anything outstanding to say, so thought I’d just chat about this and that.

Went to the ladie’s retreat last weekend.  It was in Tahoe, and honestly, for me, there is probably not a more beautiful place on earth.  I grew up spending a week at Lake Tahoe almost every summer, so there is the nostalgic component to it as well.

No more ladie’s retreats for me though.  TOO MUCH FOOD!!!  In addition to the three gigantic meals they serve you, there seems to be an unwritten rule that a never-ending array of snack items must be available at all times.  Honestly, aren’t these the same women who are complaining about their weight, and trying to lose weight the rest of the year?  Anyway, I am not actually blaming them.  But for me, it is too hard to resist that much tempting food, and I was pretty miserable (as were my cabin-mates) by the end of the weekend.  I loved the speaker, and I loved the worship time.  But I don’t particularly enjoy spending that much time in that close a proximity to that many women LOL.  Again, its me, not them.  To me, my idea of retreat is to spend some time alone with the Lord, and reading/thinking/praying.  So I might go on retreat again, but it will be a different kind of retreat.

Some good food pics from the past few days:

I never tried this before.  I usually eat my yogurt unflavored, with walnuts or granola or muesli, or sometimes on top of chopped fruit.  First, did I tell you about making the strawberry cubes.  I took some strawberries, pulverized them in the food processor and then tried to strain them to get most of the seeds out, and put them in ice cube trays to freeze like I do the mashed bananas.  I thought they would come in handy for toppings and such.  And they have!  So I had thawed out one banana and one strawberry cube, and I mixed them up with 1/2 cup of plain (homemade) yogurt.  Quite yummy.  And it stayed nice and thick too.  Of course I had to put some bananas on top.  Same  idea as that frozen yogurt I showed you the other day.

Southwestern salad.

Topped with my favorite Chevy’s salsa, no need for dressing.

Not sure if this will make sense to you, but I was VERY excited to get this drawn today.  Rug camp is coming up, and once again I am scrambling to get my project ready to go.  I have had this idea for a long time, but I am always afraid to draw, so I put it off  for as long as possible.  My friend said, ‘I bet if you just set two hours aside to sketch and draw, you can get it done.’  And I said, ‘well, yes, if I would set two hours aside for ANYTHING, I could get a lot done.’  Hmmm.  I think I have a problem with being distracted.  Anyway, I took her advice, and it took me less than two hours to get this done.  It is my vision of the Bible passage

“Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
 Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise
 before the Lord, for he is coming!”

The class I am taking at rug camp is on doing a rug in the Klimt style.  That’s why the drawing is so full of little shapes and curliques.  And if anyone is wondering, I am working like mad to try to get the sheep rug finished, but I don’t think I’ll make it.

So, my last thought of the day is this.  Hooray for Dietgirl.  She is a real person.  She had a great successful weight loss that took a long time, she wrote a great book about that experience, and now, years later, she still struggles with her weight/eating/body image.  Just this week alone I have gone from ‘deciding’ that I am going to eat very stringently and get my weight down to 125, to saying, forget about it, that’s not going to happen.  And its not like I said forget about it because I wanted to pig out on junk food.  No way.  I was just enjoying way too much all the great healthy food I have.  Started out the day with my fabulous quinoa, got hungry before lunch so had a really good smoothie made with whey (leftover from my yogurt,) almond milk, a little yogurt, strawberry and banana cubes, and some protein powder.  That was yummy.  So then I wasn’t hungry for lunch until 2:30, and I had strawberries (some of those really great vine-ripened ones) and  cottage cheese and walnuts.  And then I had one of the blueberry chia muffins.  I didn’t need it, but I sure enjoyed it.  So then I wasn’t hungry for dinner until 7pm, and I had a great piece of salmon, an artichoke, and some leftover roasted brussel sprouts.  And I wasn’t really hungry, but I made some froyo with the yogurt and strawberry and banana cubes.  So yes, you can eat really healthy food and NOT lose weight.  That’s how its done.

Step Away from the Crabby Old Lady!

Good morning, people!  Its your lucky day.  I don’t post for a week, and now you get to listen to me complain.  That’s okay if you don’t want to read.  Click away to some happy little elf’s blog (Lemony Snickets movie reference.  I LOVE that movie, BTW.)

So this is the deal.  My work (do you call it ex-work when you’re retired?) offers a ‘healthy living plan,’ and if you fill out the form online and maybe do what they tell you to, they give you $100.  Good deal, huh?  Well, apparently I am going to have to be tortured for my $100.

Last week I filled out the form accurately.  They knew how much I exercised, what types of food I ate, and my height and weight.  And I was treated to their assessment that I was overweight and had an unhealthy BMI.  (insert me screaming here.)  And the BMI recommended that I weigh 98-132 pounds.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.  I treated them to a tongue lashing, telling them that they did not have enough information to make that assessment.  They did not ask about ANY weight loss history.  They did not know that I was currently maintaining an 80 pound weight loss after having lost 100 pounds.  and that to recommend such a thing could likely cause a person to REGAIN weight if they were to try to reach such a low weight.  Their information was outdated and poorly informed.  Of course, this is all on computer, and I am sure my response went into some great internet void, never to be seen by human eyes that give a crap.

So today I get an email from them to start my ‘healthy living adventure.’  Okay.  The $100 carrot is still dangling in front of my nose.  So I go through the check list.  Yawn.  Really?  I should keep a food journal?  THANK YOU for that bit of advice.  Oh?  I can ‘eat more and weigh less?  Whoopee.  That sounds great!   But I keep playing along.  Let’s check the menu for day one.  Wow, at first glance it looks a little skimpy.  Only 3 meals and one 100 cal snack.  But wait!  There’s more.  The lunch menu sounds vaguely familiar–shrimp over avocado salsa (my shrimp ceviche.)  Oh, but they have you eat it with TWO slices of french bread.  And they have you eat dinner over TWO cups of couscous.  Breakfast was an egg white SANDWICH.  Evidently these people haven’t read “Wheat Belly.”

Ah well.  I know they are well meaning.  Stay tuned to see if I win my $100.  I think I’ll spend it all on TOO MUCH FOOD.

I’m just tired of this stuff right now.  I’m tired of counting calories in my brain (I swear, there are  neuropathways devoted specifically to this chore.  I can’t NOT count calories.)  I’m tired of food and body image being a constant buzz in the back of my mind.  Its irritating.  Its even unimportant.  “Life is a vapor.”

In other news.  Oh, I don’t have any other news.  How about some pretty pictures?

I’ve been quilting like crazy.  I LOVE the saying on this quilt.  I think you can click on the picture so you can see a bigger picture.  I’m not crazy about the composition of the quilt.  But that’s exactly what that verse is about.  So it seems perfect to me.  I’m still blogging about my quilting on my other blog.  I probably will blog later today over there, because I have a plan to go to the gym this morning  for a change.

The scene after I am done with my morning reading.  I noticed afterwards my kindle on one arm of the chair, and ‘real’ books on the other.  I still like real books, and I like writing in a paper journal.   The dogs are always happy when I am done sitting there.  Its too crowded when I try to sit in their chair.

Mmm.  My latest breakfast obsession.  I told you I really love that Abundance brand of oatmeal, only its not just oatmeal, its multi-grain.  I love that it is so easy (microwave) and still has texture and tastes delicious. I usually add a few walnuts and raisins or cranberries.  Then after last week’s post about eating more vegetables, I thought about how I could add veggies to breakfast.  So I just shredded some zucchini and put a little in the dish with the oatmeal and water.  It is just right in the 2 minutes it cooks in the microwave.  Adds a nice texture.  And that shredded zucchini keeps very well in the refrigerator.  I’ve been using it all week!

Thanks for listening.  I feel better now.  I’ll feel even better after spending an hour at the gym, lifting weights and riding the bike while watching the food network.  Oh, and then I’ll feel EVEN BETTER after a Starbuck’s coffee with my favorite Quest bar with 20 grams of protein.  I might feel better after my turkey burger that I have planned for lunch.  Or after I take Noah for a quick walk this afternoon.  Maybe I’ll write a blog post tonight from the Cheerful Old Lady!