Getting healthy

I'm sure I'm not the only one who cares about exercise, good nutrition, etc., in spurts. I'll do really well for a while. Then I'll fall back into bad habits. Or create new ones.

I was doing really well for a couple of years. I was eating a low-carb, low sugar diet that really made me feel great. As a bonus, I lost 27 pounds. Then my daughter got engaged. There were cakes to taste and food to plan. There were showers.

At the same time, we bought and started refurbishing a money pit.

And my husband started spending five days a week in another state.

And, then, there was leftover wedding cake.

I just never went back. Oh, for the most part I still ate better than I did before my low-carb, almost-no-sweets days, but I was giving in too often to weaknesses like crusty baguettes with homemade pesto, the Ragin Cajun's white chocolate bread pudding, and my various pasta creations. At the same time, I was drinking wine and beer more often.

So over the last two years the pounds have crept back on. I'm perilously close to where I started. And I have been feeling worse and worse. Stomach problems. Achy joints. General blergh.

Unfortunately, it has also become clear to me that my beloved coffee is a problem. My stomach just can't handle it. So I'm in the cutting-back-to-quit process. I'm also limiting alcohol to dinners out or get-togethers with friends. I've just finished my third day successfully low-carb. I have a kombucha starter from a friend. Each of these things is likely to help.


Why does it take so long to do the right things when we know that they will make us feel better?

To-do update

I had a comment on my to-do list asking for an update.

It's been a year and four months since I posted this list. A few are done. A couple have a bit of progress. The red are done. An update:

1. Learn to make a souffle.
2. Visit England.
3. Swim a mile.
4. Make a dress that looks good enough to wear.
5. Learn Spanish. (working on it!)
6. Go to a Broadway show.
7. Sell another article.
8. Make my own tortillas.
9. Make noodles as good as Grandma's.
10. Get my scrapping stuff organized and out of my dining room. Almost done. Soon.
11. Find out who Sarah Serring was. Much progress. Her name was probably Zehrung. (Still working.)
12. Move. Waaaaahhhhhhh.
13. Paint my grandma's kitchen table and chairs.(chairs done)
14. Wash the windows. (Many times)
15. Have six month emergency fund.
16. Ten pounds. Just ten pounds. Halfway there.
17. Clean the master bedroom.
18. And paint it. (Different MBR, still need to paint.)
19. And paint the furniture.
20. And the master bath, while I'm at it.
21. And the kitchen cupboards. Started. A year ago. Different kitchen. Rip it out.
22. And then the dining room.Yep.
23. Reupholster the dining room chairs.
24. Make a perfect risotto.
25. Make money doing what I love.

Book Review: In Defense of Food

I finished Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food last night. It was a good look at what we should be eating and why, with some information thrown in about why we're not. The basic premise is simple: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

This is one of those books I wish everyone I care about would read. So many people are still stuck in the "It's low-fat!" rut, ignoring the fact that it's loaded with sugars and no real nutritional value, or still think butter is bad/carbs are bad, etc., and cling to every new nutrition pronouncement that comes out in the media.

As I went grocery shopping yesterday I was struck by how little of what was in the store--including the five new products that were being sampled--was real food. Food products were everywhere, wrapped in plastic with unpronounceable ingredients, or promising "Low Fat," "Heart Healthy," or one of the other claims that have appeared on labels in abundance in recent years.

Pollan looks at what has happened to the way we eat becauseof outside factors. One of these is nutritionism, thinking of what to eat in terms nutrients--protein, fat, vitamins, etc.--instead of as food: meat, vegetables, butter, etc. His book goes along with many books and studies that I have read in recent years that question much of the conventional wisdom about how we should eat. The fact that much of that conventional wisdom has come from research studies paid for by food product companies should tell us a great deal.

Pollan also talks about the importance of food culture: the way that we eat, when and with whom. We Americans do far too much of our eating in the car, on the run, by ourselves, in front of a screen, etc. We need to slow down and enjoy our food.

I've been working on improving what we eat. We still have a long way to go. And we will probably never be free from some food products. Cheez-its come to mind. But the next big step for me is to begin working on the how and when. We are almost always on the run. Dinner most nights is cooked by me, but everyone eats it when and where they will. I suppose it would help if I cleared the papers off the kitchen table!

This is one of those times I need to fight the twin demons of perfectionism and procrastination. (I have a tendency to want to be perfect or I just won't try.) We will never be able to eat perfectly. We aren't going to have a farm with our own grass-fed cows and free-range chickens. But we can grow a wide variety of yummy veggies in our garden. I can bake bread. We may not sit down and eat three meals a day at the table together, but we can at least start with dinner.

And with a little work we can eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

Happy New Year!

I am breaking with my own tradition this year and making no resolutions. This isn't because I have nothing that I need to accomplish or change. Instead, it's because there is so much. And a lot of that is undone from last year!

I do have one quick, short-term goal. I am going to lose the five pounds I gained between Thanksgiving and last night! We'll worry about the rest later.

How 'bout you? Resolutions? Unfinished business? Or did you manage to keep them all last year?

I forgot about some of those...

Yeah, I've got some muscles that I haven't thought about for a long time.

Hello quads. I do need you to ride a bike, don't I?

I never realized how many of the muscles in my lower body were going largely unused. Wow.

Accidental diet

I've lost six pounds in the last two weeks. I haven't even tried.

Here are the step-by-step instructions.

Buy stones to mark a 10x20 garden. Fill with good dirt. Plant four cherry tomato plants. And five other tomato plants. And some cukes. And some green pepper. And some basil.

Try to incorporate the above ingredients into every meal for two weeks. Especially the tomatoes.
Give some tomatoes away. Eat more of them. Give some more away. Eat more.

Weigh yourself.