tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40846132024-03-12T21:57:14.204-04:00The Skinny Daily Post™<br>Short, daily essays on weight loss and fitness <br>from a really average woman who lost 100 lbs. <br>and works every day to keep it off.<br><br><br>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comBlogger332125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1079027363003252972004-03-10T08:49:00.000-05:002004-03-11T22:37:35.186-05:00Reset your boomarks to skinnydaily.com<strong>Reset Your Bookmarks</strong>
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<br />Please reset your bookmarks to: <a href="http://www.skinnydaily.com">www.skinnydaily.com</a>Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1078841391720928212004-03-09T09:09:00.000-05:002004-03-09T09:12:58.810-05:00VERB Is What You Do<strong>VERB Is What You Do</strong>
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<br />Well, it's aimed at kids 9-13, but who says they get to have all the fun? The Center for Disease Control has a hugely popular Ad-ucational program going meant to instill active habits in U.S. youngsters. Studies show that nearly a third of the targeted age group who live in regions where the campaign is running are aware of the program, understand the message.
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<br />What's not to understand? "Move. It's good for you." We all know this, have always known it. Many of us, though, have transmogrified the message into "Move. Or You'll Die." Or "Move. It's a necessary evil." Or "Move. It has been shown in some subjects to mitigate the long-term effects of living."
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<br />There's good marketing, and there's bad marketing. Anyone in the business will tell you that the negative message is the hard sell, must be handled with care, often backfires. If you want to move people to act or change their behavior, go for the positive brand associations: "Move: It's Fun!!!"
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<br />And that's how the VERB campaign works. It's reminding kids and parents of kids how to have fun again. Not preachy, not prescriptive, these ebullient ads and websites (www.verbnow.com, www.verbparents.com) make you want to go outside and play. And stay inside and play. And play with your kids. And take up skateboarding. And try a three-legged race. And recall how to play four-square. And remember that skipping rope used to keep you occupied for hours. And how tag was IT. And kick the can, and hop-skotch. It shows kids some basic yoga moves, sticking techniques for hockey, helps parents find rails-to-trails, beaches, and parks near them.
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<br />Ah, Play! Fun! It's in the upper 40s here in Michigan, and the sun has been shining brightly for days, melting ice and snow, revealing our walking and bike paths. And underdressed, overeager, we're out in it, in shorts, with convertible tops down. (Michiganders who drive convertibles are staunch optimists, and deserve a wave and a smile at this or any time of year.)
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<br />One broken hole in the ice on the little lake near my home brought down rafts of waterfowl. My beloved Buffleheads, Redheads, Goldeneyes, and Mute Swans. Birders hiked down to the docs, up over rocks, maneuvering woods and beaches with their binocs to get a better look, and counted them off for me as I passed by, headed for the beach where ice floes had yet to break free and tumble into Lake Michigan. Horizon lovers were roaming the beach, taking in the wind and sun and remarking on the powerful landscape sculpting winter wind and ice performs on our beaches. Runners have begun training for the big local race in May. Helmeted kids leave fat bike tire tracks in the last of the sun-sparkling slush. I watched a kid shovel the heavy snowmelt from his family driveway so he could shoot hoops with his gloves and hat on. Poop patrol is underway in yards everywhere, hunting down a winter's worth of Fido's deposits. Bikes, trikes, strollers, and skates came clanking and squeaking out into the sunshine. And my irises are poking up, making my pruning hand itch.
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<br />It's time to VERB. Pick your pleasure. Keep it fun. All it has to be is action. If you like it, you're more likely to keep it up. Fun is fun for fun's sake. We all need it. (And yes, of course, it's good for you, will help you lose or control your weight.)
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<br />So, what'll it be, friend? A hoop, a bike, skates, garden shears this year? Pick an active hobby, and Move. It's fun.
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<br /><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/youthcampaign/advertising/index.htm">About the CDC campaign</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.verbnow.com/">The site for kids</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.verbparents.com/">The site for parents</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1078756284509376582004-03-08T09:31:00.000-05:002004-03-08T09:34:29.950-05:00Fear of Fat<strong>Fear of Fat</strong>
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<br />Every time I say this, I make somebody mad, somebody who has yet to lose weight, who's struggling hard to lose weight, is despairing of losing weight. I understand that this message isn't jolly, isn't positive. But I'll gently remind my dear readers that this column is about my experience of finally losing a bunch of weight and working hard to keep it off. I need to tell the truth of this experience, or what's the point? It's not all jolly, folks. It's not always easy.
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<br />So I'll say it again: Losing weight is easy, keeping it off is hard.
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<br />After two years at my goal weight, I put on a few pounds this winter, and it's playing with my head. My clothes are snug. I'm counting calories and working out lots again, but the scale isn't moving. At all. I've managed to stop gaining weight, but I'm not losing it. And I'm frustrated.
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<br />The research bears it out, regained weight is harder to lose again. It's sticky stuff. It wants to stay put. It refuses to budge. I cannot drop my calories any lower without hurting myself or risking malnourishment. I exercise 6 days a week, and at a pretty good intensity, with lots of variety. The numbers are all what they should be for weight loss, but I'm not losing weight.
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<br />I know enough to know that any number of things could be going on here. I might be experiencing water retention at the moment. I am at the wicked early stages of menopause. I have put on lots of muscle.
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<br />And while I try to soothe myself with all of these logical explanations, and though I know that as long as the numbers are right, I'll see some movement at some point, this extra weight is breaking my heart, distracting me, making me miserable.
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<br />I'm not overweight, but I'm scared. Scared, a little freaked out, a bit overwhelmed by how easily I can gain weight these days and how hard it is to move it. Everyone warned me. And I listened, but the truth of it is more frightening than I expected. Remember the wormholes in the movie, Dune? I feel sucked toward the wormhole of my obesity.
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<br />And of course, writing to you as often as I do, while this is going on? Makes me feel a bit of a fraud, frankly. Who am I to talk about healthy living, weight loss, exercise, if I present a pudgy middle to the world? Look how people have exhumed poor Dr. Atkins to poke over his corpse. What am I setting myself up for? How can I write this column without striated deltoids? I know. I need to give readers more credit, but we're not talking to my reasoning head. We're talking to my panicking heart.
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<br />I may need to adjust my expectations. It could be that I lost too much weight, too low a weight for my body to maintain. And if that's the case, alright, but where will it stop? Where is my "set point," if there really is such a thing?
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<br />So here is the cautionary tale, friends. This is what comes of focusing a bit too closely on a number. I'm at my healthiest state in years, but I'm miserable because of a number on the scale, a pair of jeans. The lump in my throat that won't clear away is being driven by my stats, while I'm able to run miles, lift more weight, do more pushups, than ever in my history.
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<br />Three years ago getting out of bed, pushing up from my chair, meant facing pain with courage. Today nothing hurts except my pride.
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<br />As a wise reader said to me recently, "It's not about the bikini." She meant, it is about health. It's about achieving the best health we can hope for, given all other variables.
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<br />It's not about the bikini. It's not about the bikini. It's not about the bikini.
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<br />I'm going to put my scales away for a month and ride this one out while I train for a local 5K run in May. I'm going to try to take it easy. I'm going back to my breathing exercises. I'm going to enjoy my healthy body today.
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<br />Does gaining a few throw you completely out of your saddle? That's not a good thing, poopsie. That's disordered thinking, right there. We do gain and lose weight naturally, as a reaction to seasons of greater and lesser mobility, hormonal shifts, and most especially, as a response to stress. Heaping more stress onto weight gain by freaking out about it works entirely against us.
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<br />Journal assignment for the next time weight gain or the interruption of weight loss has you freaked out: What is it about your weight that scares you? Spend some time thinking about what you've been going through lately. Has it been a rough time? Have you been afraid, anxious for any reason? Overworked? Sad? Angry? Are you actually overeating or under exercising? These last two are the easiest things to fix. The stressors may be temporary, but if they're not, consider getting some counsel from a friend or professional to help ease them. Consider, too, whether your relationship with your scale could use a cooling off period.
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<br /><a href="http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0887/1_23/112903324/p1/article.jhtml">Regain studies, National Weight Control Registry</a>
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<br /><a href="http://stress.about.com/cs/cortisol/a/cortweight.htm">Stress and weight gain, Melissa Stöppler, M.D</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1078423465970873932004-03-04T13:04:00.000-05:002004-03-04T13:08:28.920-05:00Edible Barley<strong>Edible Barley</strong>
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<br />I mostly drink my barley. To be honest, other than knowing it's a main ingredient of a beverage I admire, I have barely given barley a thought.
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<br />But during the past few weeks I've been falling in love with the stuff, and am on a campaign to try it in all of its forms. That's not going to be easy, because at the moment I can't get past how much I love the plainest possible form -- cooked, hulled barley.
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<br />Why bother trying something other than the wheat and rice we're all used to eating over and over and over again at nearly every meal? Well, there you go. I answered the question by asking it.
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<br />Boring!
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<br />For those of us who are sensitive to wheat, who need to control our calories, who need to raise our fiber consumption, control our blood sugar, whole barely is a great food. Its versatility and flavor make it one of the real rewards for people who are working at losing weight. Barley tastes good.
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<br />For flavor and fiber, I like hulled barley, available at your local health food store or through grain companies online. Pearled barley (scrubbed of its bran) is available just about everywhere, cooks a little faster, and is yummy too. You can find instant barley, barley grits (a great bulghur wheat substitute, if you're wheat sensitive), barley flakes, and rolled barley. Barley flour is a low-gluten flour great for use in pancakes, popovers, and quickbreads.
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<br />The whole grains take a little while to cook. Many people soak the grains all day or overnight before cooking them. Pressure cookers eliminate soaking time, and rice steamers work very well, although you need to watch out for bubbling over. In my rice cooker, I can cook barley in under an hour. Lately I've been cooking up a batch on weekends, then refrigerating it to use throughout the week as side dishes, in salads, or simply heated by the bowlful in the morning. Its high protein and fiber content make it a great food to eat alone, but I usually add a little olive oil, because I like that sort of thing.
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<br />Barley takes spices nicely, and works as well hot or cold. This makes it fun to play with, working as the basis of a cold salad or a hot pilaf. It can be cooked with water or broth, added to soups, breads, and casseroles.
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<br />I've been rolling up a half a cup of barley spiced with cumin and chili powder into my Ezekiel sprouted-grain tortillas with baby spinach and some shredded queso fresco for a great morning sandwich on my run out the door. Oh yeah. It's good.
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<br />It's good, and it's old. One of the grand old grains, among the first ones we ever thought to cultivate. It's good for more than beer. More than the malt in your milkshake. Give whole barley a try, or you might be missing something.
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<br /><a href="http://www.epicurious.com/s97is.vts?action=filtersearch&filter=recipe-filter.hts&collection=Recipes&ResultTemplate=recipe-results.hts&queryType=and&keyword=barley">Barley recipes at Epicurious.com</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-001-02s04ds.html">Pearled barley nutrition facts, nutritiondata.com</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.bobsredmill.com/catalog/index.php?action=do_search&keywords=barley&condition=AND">Order barley products online, Bob's Red Mill</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1078242746874414732004-03-02T10:52:00.000-05:002004-03-02T10:55:24.640-05:00The Smallest Things<strong>The Smallest Things</strong>
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<br />So I dropped my pen today. One of my average klutzy moves, my pen flipped out of my hand, landing in front of me in what would have been a worst-case-pen-dropping scenario if it had happened when I was at my heaviest. I dropped my pen in the middle of a wide and busy hallway.
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<br />In the old days, I would have considered letting the pen go. It might have been easier to pretend the pen wasn't mine than to try to struggle for it in such a public space.
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<br />Retrieving a dropped pen used to take a lot of thought. If I decided the pen was worth retrieving, I entered into planning mode. I would need to consider my approach. Should I try to lower myself using my bad knee, or drop down onto the bad knee? Either choice would mean an afternoon of pain. Which sort of pain did I want to manage, and did I have enough drugs?
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<br />Would there be a chair or wall nearby I could lean into after levering myself back up, or to help me push my way back to a standing position? Wide hallways offer no support here.
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<br />Dropping to the floor is a simple matter of using your body to control gravity, something I became worse at doing over time, but could still manage. Getting back up again required real work, use of my arms and legs to hoist 250+ pounds up into the air, and my body was never quite prepared for it. It responded by dropping my blood pressure, making my heart pound, and then I would see dark rings or perhaps my vision would go completely black for a few seconds. With a wall or chair to steady myself, I could recover without drawing too much attention.
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<br />Then the ego issues. Who is around? Will anyone see me? Is there a small child at hand who can hand me my pen? Will my flushed face return to its pasty paleness in time for my next meeting?
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<br />Today I dropped my pen in a busy, wide hallway among college students. I folded both knees to get it, stood back up again and took three or four steps more before I realized what I had done. And what I hadn't done.
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<br />It was nearly a thoughtless action. In the old days this event would have been one of a series of mean little physical challenges that built toward a difficult and frustrating day. Today pen-dropping is just a part of my natural awkwardness. Hardly worth noting.
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<br />But it is worth noting. It's actually worth celebrating as one of a hundred ways that a healthy body makes living easier. I keep track of these things, and recommend you do too. If you have lost weight, become more fit, start a list of the things, large and small, that are easier now than before. If you're planning on becoming more fit, make a list of the little annoyances you'd like to overcome.
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<br />It's so easy to take the small things for granted. I'm often guilty of missing the details in my busy run through my day. But noticing the good stuff helps me protect my health. It helps me do what I have to do to be as healthy as I can be for as long as I have.
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<br />Write down the details, friends. I will if you will.
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<br /><a href="http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4749">Fainting, American Heart Association</a>
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<br /><a href="http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/category.cfm?topcategory=Knee">Caring for your knees, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.wibsite.com/wiblog/dull/">Talk about small things, the world's dullest blog</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1078163195643218442004-03-01T12:46:00.000-05:002004-03-01T12:50:08.576-05:00No Time for This<strong>No Time for This</strong>
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<br />Overbooked, overextended? It's the morning rush, the calendar haggles, the job, the lunch-hour errands, the doctors' appointments, meals, kids' after-school programs, committee meetings. Or it's pure overwork, plain and simple. Your life is so demanding. You don't have time to cook. You don't have time to exercise. No time. No energy. No way.
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<br />Bull.
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<br />Look, overbooked is a fact of life these days. You can be ridiculously overbooked, or very overbooked, or kind of overbooked, or slightly overbooked, but all these degrees of too-too-much amount to the same thing: You have more to do in a day than you have time to do it.
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<br />So adding cooking healthy meals and exercising to all of that won't actually make things much worse, now will they? It's just a matter of degree and priority. And they will make your energy stores and the years you have to enjoy overbooking yourself more plentiful.
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<br />If you put off eating well and exercising, you're not modeling good behavior for your kids (my favorite guilt card). If you put off eating well and exercising, you're doing damage to yourself that may become permanent, or very hard to heal. If you put off eating well and exercising, you're missing out now. Today. And you shouldn't miss out now, no matter how busy you are.
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<br />The busiest people I know who enjoy good health work in a workout and find a way to eat nourishing, whole foods every day. The rich and famous do, the grand and powerful do, the introverted geniuses do, the chronically busy do. Why not me? Why not any of us?
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<br />Some hints for eating well, exercising, and multi-tasking from friends who get it done:
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<br />*Cook up whole grains, roasts, and casseroles over the weekend to enjoy, reheated, stir-fried, cassaroled, sandwhich-wrapped during your busy week.
<br />*Eat more vegetable-puree soups you simmer on the stove while going through your mail, catching up with friends on the phone, helping somebody with their homework.
<br />*Bread machines and whole-grain recipies, people.
<br />*Leave the fruit in a bowl in the middle of your kitchen. Keep the bowl full.
<br />*Crock-pot cooking is back, baby. It's the groovy new old thing.
<br />*Splurge once in awhile on good takeout.
<br />*Grocery Store Salad bars are for families too, and faster than fast food.
<br />*Shop together. Read labels together. Make good choices together.
<br />*Many grocery stores now deliver. It's not cheap, but it's better than relying on fast food.
<br />*You can get in a good walk while talking with your parents on a cell phone headset.
<br />*You can get it in a good walk with your spouse or kid or parent or sibling or buddy.
<br />*You can get in a good walk or jog while catching up with a co-worker or colleague, negotiating deals, or planning hostile takeovers.
<br />*When you drop off your daughter at her Kung Fu class, look for classes for yourself that run at the same time.
<br />*When you take your kids to the ball park, pack your walking/jogging shoes, and let the kids know you'll see half the game, but the other half you'll spend getting your own exercise.
<br />*Sign up all your friends for a dance class.
<br />*Meet your buddies for long walks on the weekends.
<br />*Trade morning rush supervision with your dear other so one of you always gets the chance to exercise.
<br />*Exercise with the family during commercial breaks, during TV viewing, or instead of TV viewing. Keep plenty of exercise equipment in front of the TV for everybody else: Therabands, Exercise balls, dumbbells. Make sure everybody knows how to use them.
<br />*Dance around the house while dusting and vacuuming.
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<br />Don't try to sort out your life before scheduling eating better and exercising. Sneak it in to your busy day, which is likely to be overbooked no matter what you do.
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<br /><a href="http://exercise.about.com/cs/fittingitin/">Lots of ways to fit in exercise, about.com</a>
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<br /><a href="http://chefmom.myria.com/recipebox/Specialties/Slow_Cooker/">Crock pot/slow cooker recipes from chefmom.com</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1077810215421750702004-02-26T10:41:00.000-05:002004-02-26T10:46:25.810-05:00A Simple Thank You Will Do: Take a compliment<strong>A Simple Thank You Will Do</strong>
<br />Take a compliment
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<br />"What an accomplishment." I hear that from a lot of folks. "That's really quite an accomplishment." They're talking about my weight loss. I don't mean to be ungracious, but I want to deflect that notion for some reason. I don't think of this as accomplishment. I think of it as a necessary project that I've completed. Like finally cleaning out the basement after letting it go for years. A necessary evil.
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<br />I made weight loss a primary focus in my life for about a year. I've elevated weight and health maintenance among my priorities since then. Lots of aspects of my life have taken a dip so that I could do this. I changed jobs, my house isn't as clean, my husband is neglected in so many ways, I don't see as much of family or friends. But I have a much healthier body. It doesn't feel like an accomplishment, it feels like a trade-off.
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<br />I traded one kind of living for another. But I am not a more accomplished person for living differently. I'm simply healthier than I was before.
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<br />I can point to actual accomplishments in my life. Things I've done or fought for, for which I truly am proud. Most of the time when I was caught up in doing these things, I wasn't taking very good care of my body. When I accomplished things, my body kind of dwindled through malnutrition and lack of exercise. Because I never developed any habits for maintaining my body, accomplishment went hand-in-hand with wasting health.
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<br />That's why the popular tendency to view overweight people as lazy has always baffled me. When I see an overweight person, I see a workaholic. I see somebody so absorbed with what they do that they never get out of their chair, too driven to do more than dive for the nearest vending machine or fast food drive-in for sustenance.
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<br />My prejudice works both ways. When I see extraordinarily fit people, I think, "Haven't you anything better to do?" I forget that it's possible to think and plan while on a treadmill (you can even take notes, draw models, sketch plans) or an exercise bike. It never before occurred to me that long runs are a great time to solve problems big and small, sort out the day's plans, catch up on the news, strategize the next meeting. Skinny people always looked pretty and empty-headed. And I really need to work on that prejudice, still. It's not fair.
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<br />The sad fact is, the personal is political. Bodies make all sorts of impressions. We have an innate tendency to size one another up, draw immediate conclusions. We are visual beings, and with every glance we make our sense of things on a subliminal level. We assign character and value to every sort of choice a person makes in their presentation from shoe leather to hairpins. And then we're so surprised to learn when Mr. Pretty Bleached Blonde has a brain, Mr. Tassle Loafers has a heart, and Ms. Grunge has a trust fund. We may try to overcome these conclusions with reason, but the impression comes first.
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<br />We hate that. When we're heavy we hate watching those conclusions happen, knowing we will have to find a way over the top of them. We'll have to work to make a different impression.
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<br />People will compliment you for losing weight. And when that happens, you may flinch. Try to remember that people don't know what to say. We all know the personal is political, and that has stopped us from saying anything when clearly, not noticing is not the right thing to do, either. So when people know that you've lost a lot of weight, it may feel they're congratulating you for joining a different team, one you have no intention of playing for.
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<br />But stop and think: they know, probably, that you had to make trade-offs. They know, probably, that it was important to you to lose weight, for whatever reasons. It may not be that they like you better small than large, but that they recognize you had to work hard to accomplish a goal you set for yourself. It's not fair to assume that they see fitness as something special, unless they're your doctor. Your doctor does want you fit. No doubt about that. Take a breath, and take the compliment. As hard as that might be for you.
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<br /><a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/obesity/www/obesity.htm#stigma">About the bias against heaviness</a>
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<br />About the bias against thinness (Hmm.. still looking for a link)
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<br /><a href="http://research.umbc.edu/%7Ekorenman/wmst/pisp.html">The Personal is Political, is political</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1077649345810090922004-02-25T08:00:00.000-05:002004-02-25T08:07:20.700-05:00Got Guts? Taking care of them<strong>Got Guts? </strong>
<br />Taking care of them
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<br />Can we talk guts? Is that alright? I mean, you know, we all have them. We all use them. They're important to us. We prefer not to live without them. And the good news is, we don't have to lose any part of them so long as we take care of them.
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<br />But chronic dieters have no regard for these organs at all. Not the intestines, not the colon, not the bowel. In fact, if you watch dieters' habits, you'd think we were bent on killing off our guts, our pipes, our main thoroughfare. With the diuretics and laxatives, carb- and fat-blockers, starvation and bingeing, really, it's no wonder so many of us complain of gas, bloating, cramps, constipation and etc. Just a couple of encounters with etc. is all you need, though, to remind you that you have guts. And your guts deserve some respect.
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<br />A caveat. What's good for your guts may not be good for mine. Figuring out what keeps them happy and functioning should be basic maintenance behavior for all of us. Disregarding the organs that are responsible for filtering and feeding every system in your body is just nuts. It's like disregarding your oil filter in your car, a sure way to shorten a healthy lifespan.
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<br />Water. You need a lot of water to keep your guts and your bladders functioning well. Drink up. Flavor your water with a little bit of juice or lemon or orange peel or cucumber slices to keep it interesting. Infuse it with herbs and drink it hot. But drink it.
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<br />Fiber. You need it. You know you do. Adults want at least 25-30 grams of dietary fiber, which you can get from your veggies and fruits, beans and peas, whole grains, and nuts and seeds. Fiber is a great regulator. It regulates your waste stream so it's neither too loose or too dense and keeps it moving along nicely, which helps your system manage any toxins from your food a whole lot more easily, getting rid of them before they can bother you too much.
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<br />In "Eating Right for a Bad Gut," by James Scala, a book focused on the problems faced by people with irritable bowel diseases, Scala reports there are five or six types of dietary fiber. Our bodies want them all, and the best way to get them is to eat a varied diet. But basically, all the fiber types can be categorized into two types: soluble and insoluble. The soluble types get a lot of press for their ability to bind up bile acids into your waste stream and carry them away. This helps lower your cholesterol and tryiglycerides, and helps prevent some types of cancer, arterial blockage, heart disease. Pectins, oat bran, guar gum all fall into this category. The insoluble fiber is what regulates the bulk of your waste stream and keeps it moving.
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<br />A nice whole grain cereal in the morning (Scala likes oatmeal for folks with IBD, but All-Bran and Fiber One provide great fiber counts for everybody else) with a high-fiber serving of fruit ("an apple a day"). Lots of leafy greens and beans with your lunch, another fruit snack, and two kinds of veggies at dinner should get you your fiber. But if you want more fiber still, or you have a hard time getting all your fruits, veggies, and grains, or if you are managing an irritable bowel, or if you are working hard to lose lots of weight, fiber supplementation is a smart new habit. Scala likes Metamucil, unflavored. Others recommend psyllium husk powder from the natural food store. A tablespoon mixed in a large glass of water or juice a half-hour before meals. One or two or three times a day. Follow it up with another glass of water. Obese folks need to know that a high-fiber diet and fiber supplementation can help control hunger, work to even out blood sugar and insulin effects, and may help to reduce the number of calories we consume.
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<br />Fiber for thought: Nutrition writer Jonny Bowden in "Living the Low-Carb Life" reports that the average American diet provides just 10 grams a day of fiber. The American Cancer Society recommends 30 grams. And our ancestors consumed perhaps 50 or 60 grams per day.
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<br /><a href="http://www.healthpress.com/badgut.html#top">Eating Right for a Bad Gut: The Complete Nutritional Guide to Ileitis, Colitis, Crohn's Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, James Scala</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.childrensmemorial.org/depts/gastroenterology/how_digest_works.asp">How Digestion Works, Children's Memorial</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/32/44.cfm">Loving your guts, mothernature.com</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.eatright.org/Public/NutritionInformation/92_nfs88.cfm">Fiber Facts from eatright.org</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1077551915710317402004-02-23T10:56:00.000-05:002004-02-23T11:06:01.076-05:00Go Ahead, Start Something: The value of the new<b>Go Ahead, Start Something</b>
<br />The value of the new
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<br />I'm a Navy brat. I grew up in the military, and we moved around a good bit. Changed countries and homes and schools. I have a built-in internal clock that looks for change every few years. And I find it. I always find it. The need for constant change has dictated my career choices, home décor, and now it rules my body maintenance efforts. I'm always on to the next thing.
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<br />Many of us have no problem starting a new fitness or diet kick. A new class, a new way of eating, a new horizon, a new challenge, a deadline, a date, an event to work toward. These give us focus, energy. But then comes the day when the thrill is gone, and we slip back into our old habits, losing the momentum, regaining the lost fat. And then we kick ourselves in the shins. What happened? Why can't we stick to a fitness plan? Why are we such losers?
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<br />We're not losers. We just get bored.
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<br />For some of us, making fitness a healthy diet part of our regular day is awfully hard. But getting us to start something new is no problem at all. We're samplers. We're curious. We like the new. The new is exciting, interesting, it stretches our brains, it makes us think, it prevents boredom. The learning curve is cool. We love to learn. So when a diet or exercise program becomes familiar, it begins to die for us. We want the next thing.
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<br />But this start-again, stop-again stuff with our bodies can play havoc with our metabolisms, with our sleep schedules and self-image. What to do?
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<br />Here's a thought: How about embracing starting-something as your particular fitness habit? That is, pay attention to your cycles of interest and boredom. Do they last two weeks, two months, two years? How long before you're bored and need to move on? Then plan for it. If you know you're going to last in this Pilates class for three months before you need to move on to the next thing, then make sure after two months you begin to look into scheduling that next spinning class, or yoga class, or belly dancing class. If you know that you must make seasonal shifts, then look forward to them, and get that new pair of spring running shoes -- now. Download the training sheets for the spring road races, sign up for those walk-a-thons.
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<br />Hey, the secret's been out for some time now: all of those diets work. So consider shifting from diet to diet to keep yourself from getting bored with them. Change your focus from counting calories to counting nutrients, from counting carbs to counting fat if you like. You can always change back again. Try different counting tools. Keep a journal online, on paper. Make up your own serving counting system. Try Somercizing, Body for Life, WeightWatchers, eDiets. Plan to start something new every few months. It's not like changing religions, folks, it's just a new set of rules for mindful eating.
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<br />Plan to work with your natural-born curiosity, eliminate the gaps between your efforts, and your body will thank you, you'll learn how your body responds to different kinds of food and work, and you know how you love to learn.
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<br /><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/Healthology/diet_debate_healthology.html">Choosing a diet, ABC News, Healthology</a><br>
<br /><a href="http://www.ivillage.com/topics/fitness/0,,165548,00.html">Explore workouts at iVillage</a><br>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1077284875597605992004-02-20T08:47:00.000-05:002004-02-20T08:50:37.420-05:00The Pill: What we're all waiting for<strong>The Pill</strong>
<br />What we're all waiting for
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<br />We want the pill. We do. We all do. We are furious that modern science can split atoms, miniaturize machines, perform nanosurgery, manipulate our genes, microchip our dogs, but cannot yet cure fat.
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<br />Come ON. The pill. The pill. The pill! When will it be ready?
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<br />Well, it's not ready now, and never has been ready, and it won't be ready any time soon. Don't you worry, though. Millions and billions are being poured into research to deliver that pill some day.
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<br />However, we won't have it for awhile, and we're fat now. I had a friend on the phone the other day. He'd lost a lot of weight awhile ago, and put it all back on. The effort of keeping it off was just too much. He could focus on the problem for a few months, but eventually his real life brought him back to his businesses, his family, social responsibilities. He resumed his old habits, so the weight returned. He's furious that there is no pill. Something in his tone suggests he believes I'm taking it and just not telling him what it is. He's got money to burn and is willing to spend it on a cure.
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<br />There is no pill.
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<br />Well, wait, there are lots and lots of pills. They don't work the way you want them to or for very long. You can get all hopped up on caffeine and herbal speed, clean out the 10 lbs. or so of clingy waste in your intestines and lose the extra water with fiber supplements and diuretic herbs and tonics so you are lighter and feel lighter, but you're not going to find a pill that will help you lose a significant amount of stored fat and keep it off for the rest of your life. Even the prescription weight loss aids can only work for so long to regulate your appetite and boost your metabolism. The best ones are not really fat-melters, but help you rise above depression enough to feel like sticking to a diet and getting your exercise. You can try for fat and carb blockers, but there's that little threat of incontinence that may make the experience, er, unworthy.
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<br />The New Yorker magazine recently ran an interesting article on the state of the dietary supplement business in the U.S. The journalist, Michael Specter, focused on the popular blue-bottled diet supplement in his story. The upshot of his research: diet supplements cure by peddling hope.
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<br />Hope in a bottle may be a good thing. Hope in a bottle may have its own kind of curative effects. The very act of taking a pill may be enough of a physical cue reminding you of your desire for a healthy body. Maybe the ritual of it is enough to help you maintain your focus on caring for your body for a day, for a few hours.
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<br />If you find taking pills gives you hope, then how about meditating on your good health while taking nutritional supplements that help even out the nutritional imbalance most of us experience these days? Think about your desire for good health while you take a multi-vitamin, your omega 3 and vitamin E, a magnesium and a calcium supplement. Check with your doctor first to make sure any supplement you're taking won't interfere with other drugs you're using.
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<br />What we choose to eat is the real diet pill. Filling up on veggies, getting enough protein, cutting back on added sugars, empty starches. Keep your calories down, and you'll see the magic chemistry you've been looking for. Exercise every day to build the "stack" that melts fat away. Slowly. Get plenty of fiber in your diet, and you'll feel like doing it again tomorrow. Doing it every day keeps it off forever.
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<br /><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040202fa_fact">"Miracle in a Bottle", Feb 2, Michael Specter, Newyorker.com</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.ivillage.com/diet/experts/askdiet/articles/0,,192151_435907,00.html">Lynn Grieger, R.D. on diet pills, iVillage.com</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1077204440062699202004-02-19T10:27:00.000-05:002004-02-19T10:30:00.890-05:00So Over Winter: Curing cold weather blues<strong>So Over Winter</strong>
<br />Curing cold weather blues
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<br />It's winter in Michigan, where I live. It's been winter for some time now. It seems it's been winter for longer than it's ever been winter before at this time of year. I've been cold. I've been cranky. I walk stooped over, trying to cup my meager body heat toward my exposed nose and cheeks. Granted, I'm living with less insulation these days. Without extra body fat, with extra age, I've been leaking tolerance for the cold, for the snow, for winter.
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<br />I used to have enough northern-girl stamina to hold on until at least mid-March, but this year, my cold tolerance gave out by the third week of January. My warm weather fantasies have wandered much farther than Florida. They involve equatorial expatriation. A new language. A new identity. A new name. Meanwhile I'm more introverted, holed-up, irritable than usual.
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<br />Feeling as hollow-eyed and slime-pastey as Gollum, I whine to a friend of mine who rolls her eyes and suggests something really stupid: "You have to go out and play in the snow."
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<br />Yeah, right. A silly non-sequitur. Clearly she hadn't been listening. I repeated the problem. "See, I'm COLD. I'm CHAPPED. I can't STAND BEING COLD ANYMORE," I repeat, slowly, with emphasis because clearly she hadn't been paying attention the first time.
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<br />"Yeah," she says, just as patiently, "You need to PLAY in the SNOW. You definitely should try ski skating."
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<br />I smiled at the youngster, shook my head, and backed slowly away. Some people you just can't talk to.
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<br />And then one day I was snowed in (don't get me started on my husband's insistence on hand-shoveling the driveway when there are people around who have actual plows mounted on actual trucks and know how to use them), and trading email with a friend (probably with a plow service) who was stuck in a meeting. He suggested I head out cross-country skiing, that the trails near me were great, the powder would be perfect.
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<br />Now, this wasn't some insane kid suggesting this. Here was a friend approaching his sixth decade, a survivor, and notoriously fit person, among my more sane-ish friends. No, I explained that my skis were broken, or my boots were torn, or something was wrong with my equipment. There must have been something wrong with my equipment, because I haven't been skiing in 15 years or so.
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<br />But I hadn't moved in days and needed to do something. The snow was coming down heavily, but the temperature was reasonable. I went to the garage to find out just what state my equipment was in.
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<br />Other than being ancient, cobwebby, mildewy and maybe one boot a little mouse-inhabited, there really wasn't anything wrong with my gear. I cleaned it up, bundled up, and headed out. After a quarter of an hour fussing with goggles and mittens, gators and layers, I began to move. Though a bit wobbly at first, I remained upright. And my old fish-scale-bottomed skiis from the late 70s wouldn't run away from me or force me to go faster than my brain and body could manage.
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<br />I cut a half mile of trail starting from my house to a little wooded park, then tottered around the perfectly silent woods for a spell before heading back. The snow fell heavily and quietly, and I had the park and its low-bowing branches, its birds and deer to myself. All in all I was outside in the heavy quiet snow for 45 minutes, moving the whole time, but not killing myself. Peeling layers as I went, removing head gear, finally. I wasn't freezing. I was more than warm. Much toastier than when I've tried to walk in the winter. Much happier gliding above the snow than trying to walk through it.
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<br />At home, I peeled off clothes that were soaked and heavy with sweat. And for the next four hours, for the first time all winter, I was warm enough. I was plenty warm. I didn't require two wool sweaters, long underwear, woolly slippers, hot tea, a fire and a comforter to comfort me. I could just sit around, normally clothed, feeling fine.
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<br />I reported back to my girlfriend. "Yeah, but you really need to try ski-skating," says she.
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<br />Yeah right.
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<br />Another buddy bequeathed her old snow shoes to me, and a pair for hubby too. We used them last weekend to make the dogs jealous as we walked above the banks along a stream while they slogged, chest-deep behind us. We finally had to give them a break, go back home. This is a good sport for us, one where slowness and awkwardness are masked by the naturally slow and awkward gait that snowshoes enforce on people. We were made for this sport. And we were warm. We came back in and let the fire die out.
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<br />"Yeah but you'd really like ski-skating," says my young friend.
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<br />I'm starting to think she's may just have a point. I'm starting to think I may survive this winter after all. See, what you have to do is go out and PLAY in the SNOW.
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<br /><a href="http://www.skipost.com/">Cross-country skiing, skipost.com</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.atlassnowshoe.com/snowshoe/basics.asp">Snowshoe Basics, atlassnowshoe.com</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.xcskiworld.com/training/Technique/intro.htm">Ski-Skating Basics, xcskiworld.com</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1077022355607419962004-02-17T07:52:00.000-05:002004-02-17T08:00:31.746-05:00Habit Forming: Automating good health<strong>Habit Forming</strong>
<br />Automating good health
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<br />It wasn't giving up certain foods or eating less for awhile. It wasn't going to the gym every day while I lost the weight. The hardest part of losing a big chunk of weight and keeping it off has been remembering to work at it every day. The longer I keep my weight off, the harder this is, for some reason. When I'm most myself, I'm completely immersed in my work and hobbies and family and friends. Time flies by, and I haven't attended to my body at all. I haven't eaten well, and I haven't exercised. I don't want to be obsessed with my body, but my most natural self completely ignores the presence of a body at all. What to do?
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<br />Habit. I have long held the theory that if I can automate body care, I won't have to Think about it or obsess over it, but it will still be done. I use passive verbs to describe the ideal state, here. I'd like my body to maintain itself through sheer force of habit. If I can make it so much a part of moving through my day that it's not even top of mind, but just part of the natural rhythm of a day, like letting dogs in and out and feeding them, like brushing my teeth, like using Carmex 12 times a day.
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<br />The Carmex Strategy
<br />God bless Carmex. It should be like using Carmex. I have to make some small effort to use Carmex. I have to make sure there are pots of it nearby all the time. I need to note that my lips have dried, and find and open the jar and use it. So too with exercise and good food. I need the opportunities to be there always, shoes and gym clothes always in my car, gyms and class schedules and videos within a short distance or arms' reach, pantry contents clear in my head, healthy fall-back food in my back-pack. Having the resources ready is a good thing, so that when I feel the urge and have the time, I can find and prepare good food, get in a good workout.
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<br />The Tooth Brushing Strategy
<br />Or maybe it should be more like brushing my teeth. I live at the whim of clients and projects. No single day looks anything like the one before it or the one that will follow. I wake at different times, go to bed at different times. I've whittled my beauty routine down to the occasional smear of moisturizer, random jabbing of mascara. The only habit I've managed to lock in place is brushing my teeth. I'm darned consistent about that. Body care should be more like tooth brushing, the thing I do before anyone or anything else can enter the day's picture.
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<br />I'm trying for a combination of the toothbrushing and Carmex strategies: A short series of old-fashioned calisthenics in the morning, just before tooth brushing, and/or a trip to the gym on the way to the office. Readiness for random fitness blasts at any point of any busy day. Planning meals and grocery management just before going to bed at night, and keeping my backpack equipped with protein-centered snacks.
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<br />Also, of course, keeping a log of what I eat and how much I exercise, until the habit is set. How long does it take to set a new habit? I'm told anywhere from 21 days to 3 years. I'm thinking it's more like 3 years.
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<br />And you? What habits are you trying to weave into or unravel from your day? Have you made a plan? How will you track your progress? How much do you think about your fitness and nutrition habits now? Not enough? Just enough? Too much? Let's find the right balance between unconscious effort and wacked-out obsessiveness. Make a plan today. Okay? I will if you will.
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<br /><a href="http://www.nightingalecenter.com/archive/starting.html">Starting New Habits, Breaking Old Patterns, nightingalecenter.com</a>
<br /><a href="http://organizedhome.com/organized/habit.html">Habit, the Household Wonder Worker, organizedhome.com</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.ideallifecoaching.com/Tools%20Resources/developingahabit.pdf">Developing a Habit Coaching Form, ideallifecoaching.com</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1076901344112389692004-02-16T06:00:00.000-05:002004-02-16T06:07:06.123-05:00Fish In a Can? Sardines and herring and tuna, oh my!<strong>Fish in a Can?</strong>
<br />Sardines and herring and tuna, oh my!
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<br />I don't know why, but we just didn't grow up eating sardines or herring. Maybe one or the other of my parents had too many when they were little, a bad experience, I really couldn't say, but sardines and anchovies and herring never made it to our table, into our picnic baskets.
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<br />In the past few years, as I read nutrition book after nutrition book, reading dieticians and doctors, it's clear it's time for me to experiment with these foods, recommended over and over again by people from every corner of the medical and nutritional communities. These people don't agree on much, but when I find them all promoting a food I'm not eating, a behavior I'm not trying, I have to at least try. I promised myself I would.
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<br />I can no longer ignore their advice about little fishes. Why? These foods are loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium, and protein. They're the cheapest open water fish you can get your hands on, and while they are still stocked in convenience food stores, they count as one of the healthiest "fast foods" you can hope to find on the open road, running between meetings. Read the labels on the cans, and you see they are also one of the few ready-to-eat proteins that are not loaded with the sorts of preservatives a delicate flower like me can't tolerate.
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<br />So, I'll start with a can of sardines. I have never even looked inside a can of sardines. I have never studied cans of sardines on the shelves of my supermarket, but skim right over this whole canned meat section of the store. Today I paid attention and found… mind numbing choices. I can choose sardines packed in olive oil, fish oil, salsa, mustard. There are several brands and options. I do what I usually do, and opt for the most impressive packaging and brand name. King Oscar of Norway graces the neat red package I choose. He's got an expression that embraces both awe and pain. He has epaulets. These are two good reasons to eat his sardines. Another is the copy on the back of the package:
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<br />"King Oscar Brisling, the world's smallest, most delicate sardines, are taken from the pure, icy fjords of Norway. They are then lightly smoked in oak wood ovens and hand-packed in a variety of natural oils, spring water and flavorful sauces."
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<br />Pure icy fjords? Oak wood ovens? Hand-packed? Natural oils? I'm transfixed by a country, a people, a water body I've never seen or met or imagined. These sardines must be good. They have to be. How could a package carry copy like this, if it were not true? The Norweigans I know are not terribly ironic. Not known for irony, bless them. However, they do eat lutefisk. I need to temper my expectations against this people's idea of a seafood delicacy. The ingredient list: sardines, olive oil, salt. This is straightforward. I understand the ingredient list. That is good.
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<br />Okay, I can see this package meets my every need. It grabs my imagination and satisfies my concern over scary food processing. Now, all I have to do is pay my $2.25, and then, eat up.
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<br />And there it is. I must summon the courage to open the can, and put something new, a new animal, into my mouth. I am a fairly adventurous eater, so I can't explain why this feels so difficult for me. I have asked around: What are sardines like? What do they taste like? How do they feel in your mouth? Are there bones? Is the head there? Do you eat the bones? And I get remarkably little information from long-time sardine eaters. "They're pretty fishy," people say.
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<br />Fishy? They're fish. Why wouldn't they be fishy? This is non-information.
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<br />When I don't have a clue what to do or what to expect, I run to the Internet. Google rarely lets me down. Rarely. Almost never. But in this case, I'm afraid, there is little to be had on how to eat sardines. Clearly no one thinks it's important to explain how to eat sardines. Who doesn't know how to eat sardines?
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<br />It turns out I am the only one. I remove the outer package and see this groovy flat can. I open it, and I swear to you, I gasped. I couldn't help it. I cooed.
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<br />I've seen images of cans of sardines, enough to know that I will find lots of little fishes packed in like… like sardines. What I don't expect is how pretty these little fish are.
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<br />They're beautiful, bright silver fishes. They look precious, like jewelry. Like coin. No heads, but the tails are there. They've been gutted. I can't tell if the bones are in them or not. Man, they're so pretty. They smell like tuna, and are bathed in olive oil. They remind me very much of the minnows I used to catch for fishing bait in the Michigan lake where I grew up. These sardines are minnows without their heads, bright, bright silver. There must be 20 or so. I check the can. One little can is one serving. 150 calories. I'm hungry. Okay. A fork. I choose a small fork. Somehow I want to eat these straight out of the can using a special little escargot fork that belonged to my grandmother. It seems the right thing to do. I can't imagine mushing or breaking up these little silver baubles in any way.
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<br />I select one out of the can, let the oil drip off. It's very tender. Never one to mince with tasting food, I pop the whole thing in my mouth. It's very soft. I can't detect bones, can't even detect the tail I know is there. It's less intense a flavor than tuna, not nearly so salty. A nice oily fish flavor. Not nearly so strong as the low tide in Maine smells. Not nearly as mild as a hunk of haddock. Only slightly stronger than salmon, frankly. It's the smallness of the nearly whole fish in my mouth that takes me a minute to get over. All I can think of is those minnows I used to catch in my hands from my minnow net as a young girl. I expect these little fish to wriggle.
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<br />They never do.
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<br />I ate the whole can. Happily. Where have these sardines been all my life? A new food is a rare thing for me. A new food so readily available at even the meanest of food shops is a real bonus. A food I can sneak into back packs and purses as an emergency backup ration for when I haven't planned my food well for the day is a find. A can of sardines is the perfect thing. The perfect number of calories, the perfect food.
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<br />And now, on to the herring. An even cuter can. Wish me luck.
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<br /><a href="http://www.epicurious.com/s97is.vts?action=filtersearch&filter=recipe-filter.hts&collection=Recipes&ResultTemplate=recipe-results.hts&queryType=and&keyword=sardine">Epicurious.com cooks with sardines</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.kingoscar.no/KingOscar/Main.nsf/">King Oscar Sardines</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-001-02s036a.html">Nutritiondata.com reads sardines</a>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1076626894987064042004-02-13T06:00:00.000-05:002004-02-12T18:04:59.606-05:00Focus on Hunger: relearning cues to eat<b>Focus on Hunger</b><br>Relearning cues to eat<p>After a run of holidays, a week's vacation, a period in my life when it feels as if I'm eating all the time for reasons that have very little to do with hunger, I like to take a week to get back in touch with eating cues. When am I hungry? What does it feel like? When am I full? <p>I know, these may sound like odd or even stupid questions, but as we become adults, many of us learn to override true hunger and satiation to eat in response to events and emotions. I eat when I'm frustrated, eat to celebrate, eat because it's time to eat, eat because everyone else is eating. I eat to please a hostess, a parent, a friend. I eat just to enjoy the flavor of food, eat because I'm bored, eat when I'm unhappy, and sometimes, like a lot of overweight people, I eat to overload my senses and thoughts with something other than some unpleasantness that I don't want to feel. That is, I sometimes eat to avoid my feelings. I eat to procrastinate, eat while thinking about what I'll prepare to eat. Eat to keep myself awake. Eat to put myself to sleep.<p>I had a lot of reasons to eat hen I was heavy, and responded to each of them with the same thought, "I'm hungry," when what I felt wasn't hunger at all. Hunger is hunger pangs and for me that jittery, confused state that comes when my blood sugar drops. At my heaviest, I experienced hunger rarely, because I was eating so often for so many other reasons, actual hunger often didn't get a chance. Taking the weight off and keeping it off has meant learning to eat only when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm full. <p>And that's not actually that easy for me.<p>But that's my focus for this week. I'm concentrating on the experience of my own hunger, so I can reinforce the feeling of becoming hungry, eating, and becoming full. That means, for this week at least, I don't eat until I grow hungry, and plenty hungry, so I know it's the real thing. And then I eat as slowly as I can, focusing entirely on the food, the experience of it. Noting how my body feels before, during, and after eating. I can do this because I've run away for a few days, and can live slowly, away from work, focus for a spell. It's a good exercise, and it's been interesting. <p>Your own eating plan may vary, but most of us who have lost a bunch of weight settle on a series of meals and snacks spread out through the day to keep our calories low and blood sugar stabilized. I eat 5 or 6 200-calorie "meals," never eat carbohydrates by themselves, but always accompanied by a protein and/or a fat. Eating this way, hunger is not a big problem for me. I usually feel hunger pangs right at my regular mealtimes, and not much before. My trouble is, because my meals are so small, I'm often still hungry after I've finished them. That is, the food's gone before my stomach and brain and blood have had a chance to communicate that all's well, all systems go. <p>I've noticed some things. I've noticed that my hunger disappears faster when I chew more. This seems to have less to do with bulk than with the simple act of chewing. Chewing up raw veggies or a salad along with a goodly serving of protein works way better than just the protein alone. That is, a bed of baby spinach with the egg salad, works far better than the egg salad alone, though it doesn't add much more in bulk or calories. It takes longer to consume this lunch, and there's more fiber. If I skip the protein, my hunger will not be satisfied at all, and will likely be worse. With protein, 15 to 20 or even 30 minutes after I've eaten, I can feel that nice satiated feeling come back, and I'm good to go for another three hours. The delay factor is quite long, and kind of frustrating, but if I keep eating until I'm full or until I stop feeling the hunger, I'm sure to overeat. <p>Warm foods work better than cold. Solid foods work better than liquid. Chewy works better than foods that slither right down the old pipes.
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<br />Not eating until I feel that slightly uncomfortable, popping out all over feeling has distinct advantages. I don't become sleepy or dull from the effort of digesting. I don't experience heartburn or indigestion. I feel ready, fast, alert all day long. Never feel the need to nap off a meal, though napping is one of my greatest talents, one I've honed and perfected through hours of relentless and dedicated practice throughout my lifetime. I'm trying to redefine the feeling of "satisfied," in my mind, recalibrating my brain so that "satisfied" means "not hungry," rather than "ready to explode." <p>Is it time for you to get back in touch with your hunger? Or maybe feel it for the first time in a long time? I recommend you experiment with a journal by your side. Keep track of the times of day when hunger occurs to you. Note how quickly it develops, rises and falls. How do different foods affect it? What difference does exercise make? Caffeine? Medications? Does hunger trigger unusual feelings or emotions for you? Or do certain feelings trigger hunger? When do you want to eat without experiencing hunger, why? How long does it take to stop feeling hungry? How much do you need to eat, of what kinds of foods, and how often? Write to learn how your body works and responds to food and hunger. Knowing about your hunger will help you feed your body what it needs when it needs it. And that's a good step toward good health.
<br /><p><a href="http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0KGB/1_3/82476486/p1/article.jhtml">Understanding
<br /> hunger and satiety, Muscle & Fitness </a>
<br /><p><a href="http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_food_diet/satiety_index.php">What
<br /> Foods Fill Fast? Satiety Index, at diabetesnet.com</a>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1076522118722193342004-02-11T12:55:00.000-05:002004-02-11T12:57:49.060-05:00RSS Shift.
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<br />Hi gang. Looking for your Skinny Daily RSS feed? The address has shifted. It is now:
<br />http://skinnydaily.blogspot.com/rss/skinnydaily.xml. I couldn't say why the change...
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<br />JuJuJuliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1076511749052458032004-02-11T10:02:00.000-05:002004-02-11T10:04:59.153-05:00Valentine's Planning: Strategies for kicking the candy habit<b>Valentine's Planning</b><br>Strategies for kicking the candy habit<p>Believe it or not, the point of Valentine's Day is not to send your sweetie into insulin shock. It is not necessary to present blood sugar spiking, non-nutritive, trans-fat-laced cancer bombs as a token of your tender feelings. You always have that option, but it's not actually the point of the celebration. Really.<p>You don't have to give these things, and you don't have to get them. If you're working to avoid added sugar in your diet, and Valentines Day has you running scared, know that you have options. <p>First, Valentine's Day is traditionally a day to celebrate romantic love. We've stretched the celebration to include all forms of love, romantic, platonic, brotherly, sisterly, and other-worldish. I'm concerned mainly about you. The Valentine's tokens you give and the ones you get.<p>Giving
<br />A Valentine's token can be candy, but candy is a pretty recent tradition in this constantly evolving and ancient celebration. Other tokens are more traditional. Handmade cards, small handmade gifts, photos or drawings, little mementos, poems, stones, pressed leaves. Valentine tokens used to be things you gave your sweetheart to remember you and your love by. It might be the words or sheet music of your favorite song, a photo from a special moment you shared. Tokens are intended to be romantic, personal, and carried by the person you love, kept close to the body or the heart. Yeah, this sort of gift takes a little bit more time and energy to produce. But that's not such a bad thing, is it? Focusing on the folks you love?<p>Getting
<br />Let it be known now that candy isn't going to work for you this year. Give people hints. You want something handmade. You want socks. You'd like underwear this year. Or maybe you'd like a massage. How about a break from your regular chores for a day? Make up an idea list to help your valentines, so you don't send them into panic mode by declaring your sugar-free status. <p>So it's already raining candy hearts in your house or office? Decide now that you don't need them. You have been eating them all your life, no doubt, and know exactly how they taste. I can argue that I have had more than my share of them in my lifetime. Not eating them this year is not any form of deprivation for me, because I've already had all that I could ever need. Not eating them does not make me a scrooge. I can say with absolute confidence that I have fully lived the entire conversation heart experience, and now I'm moving on to other things.<p>Chocolate jonesing? More chocolate availability can make your chocolate addiction feel worse now than usual. Give somebody else the job of grocery shopping and drugstore visiting during this time when the shelves are buldging with the stuff. If you can avoid being in the path of the extra chocolate this year, you'll help yourself keep the monster at bay. Some people do well enjoying just one bite of chocolate to satisfy the craving. But you know if you're not one of those people, and instead need to keep the chocolate out of your line of sight to help you stay in control, do it.<p>Love is the point of the celebration. What is loving for you would naturally support your good health and well-being. Think along those lines, and you're likely to have a Happy Valentine's Day, indeedy.<p><a href="http://www.diabeticcandy.com/shop/Valentines.html">Sugar-free Valentines from diabeticcandy.com</a><br><a href="http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/valentine_crafts.htm">Valentine Crafts for Kids, amazingmoms.com</a>
<br /><p>Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.<p>Want to read past posts? Visit <a href="http://www.skinnydaily.com">skinnydaily.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1076387263147506272004-02-10T03:25:00.000-05:002004-02-10T11:00:32.903-05:00Hmm.. rats.
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<br />We're experiencing technical difficulty with Bloglet, the email delivery tool. Sorry about this, folks. We hope to resolve our email edition difficulties soon.
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<br />JuJuJuliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1076288663742690172004-02-09T04:03:00.000-05:002004-02-10T11:03:17.513-05:00Dumping the Resolution? Slow down, but don't turn back<b>Dumping the Resolution?</b><br>Slow down, but don't turn back<p>You've been good for 5 whole weeks now. Maybe six? But it's getting harder every day, every minute. It's winter where you are, and you want to stay inside where it's warm and dry, or it's summer where you are, and you want to be inside where it's cool and dry. You're hopeless. It's not happening fast enough. It's too hard, too different, too time-consuming. It's too much, this New Year's resolution of yours to get in shape this year. <p>And you're hungry. Cranky. Hungry. Tired. Bored. Hungry. Sore, and hungry.<p>Oh, I know, honey. I know this feeling. This is the feeling of being overwhelmed by your good intentions, your elaborate plans, your gigantic goals. You made yourself a big, audacious promise, and now that you find yourself unable to achieve perfection, you're ready to toss the towel, call it a game, accept defeat with all the grace you can muster. <p>And already, a little relieved that you've wised up, you slip. You binge. You sleep in instead of heading to the gym. You skip your yoga class, pick up the office donuts, put the cream back in your coffee. A total reversal, and doesn't it just feel more like you? Comfy. Whew. Thank goodness that's finished.<p>May I propose a different conclusion?<p>Try taking a smaller bite out of your grand scheme. Chew it completely, swallow it before moving on. It's like our dads' old joke: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Broiled, preferably, with all the skin and fat removed.<p>What if you did little better this day, this week, this month, instead of a lot better by the end of the year? Instead of radically overhauling your diet, and wearing your body out with an ultra challenge at the gym, and taking a lot of new supplements, and eliminating all the goodies in your life, and drinking 10 glasses of water a day, starting now, how about making just a couple of these changes this week?<p>Or just one?<p>Instead of trying to get completely fit this year, try breaking it down to what you'll accomplish today, and maybe tomorrow. In what ways could you help your health today? Tonight? Right now? What looks doable? Don't focus on the washboard abs of your dreams, but on the crunches you'll do today. Instead of promising yourself you'll compete in a marathon by the end of the year, focus on today's training schedule. Skip fussing over following somebody else's diet perfectly, and consider what changes can you make to your diet and way of eating this week, this month.<p>Relax, willya? Just relax. Try breathing. Try giving yourself a break for a second while you think things through.<p>If you take it a day at a time, making healthier choices each day, then each day you're ahead of the day before. You head in the right direction. Remove the deadlines. There isn't a finish line. You simply want to face the right way and keep moving.<p>Today, I haven't exercised. At all. I'm sitting here, after dinner, writing to you. I have been battling a chest cold. It's too dark and cold to run, and my strength isn't up to a whole Pilates workout. Instead of getting discouraged about being "off plan," and letting myself slide into a nap or a bowl of ice cream (these sound so good to me right now), I'll do a few pushups, lunges, crunches. Then I'll stretch. And that'll be about it. It's not much, but it's facing the right way. It's not a huge help, but it's not hurting myself either.<p>Before you give up, give in, slide backward, think about just the day ahead of you. What can you do for yourself in this one day?<p>
<br /><a href="http://www.hawaii.edu/news/kulama/000204/resolutions.html">Behaviorist David Watson on making significant changes</a>
<br /><br><a href="http://www.princetonyoga.com/resolutions.htm">Princeton Yoga on Resolutions</a>
<br /><p>Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.<p>Want to read past posts? Visit <a href="http://www.skinnydaily.com">skinnydaily.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1076078765007365332004-02-06T09:46:00.000-05:002004-02-06T10:36:39.343-05:00Passing For Thin: Frances Kuffel's Fine Memoir<b>Passing For Thin</b><br>Frances Kuffel's Fine Memoir<p>Frances Kuffel lost 170 lbs. Half her body. Gone. It took years. It was hard. It still is. Luckily for all of us, Frances Kuffel is a remarkable writer, and managed, somehow, to write brilliantly about the messy, confusing, painful, joyful, complicated, hard work of losing lots and lots of weight.<p>Don't buy this book if you're looking for diet tips. The real "how to" in the book is a lesson on walking into a recovery group - probably Overeater's Anonymous, but she never identifies her group, of course - and giving oneself over to the hard work one does there. Roll your eyes if you choose to, but recovery groups, 12-step programs, are working every day for hundreds of thousands of us. Why not you? Why not me? Brilliant, funny, jaded, busy Frances walked into one of these meetings one day. That's how she did it.<p>Get this book if you have a lot of weight to lose, love someone who is losing a lot of weight, want to lose your fattist edge, or just if you're a fan of the memoir genre, because this is a good one. It's actually also, weirdly, a great coming-of-age novel, if the heroine of such a novel can come of age in her mid-40s. Except of course, this isn't a novel. This is Frances' life, and it is hard, painful, touching. <p>But not at first. When I first met Frances in these pages, I had a very hard time warming up to her and her story. At the beginning of the book and 338 lbs, Frances was prickly, fell in for that brand of easy sarcasm that passes for comedy these days and is just so tiresome, distancing humor, self-deprecating humor, belittling humor. It's annoying in its monotone. But as the book goes on, as her fat comes off, as Frances becomes more and more exposed, vulnerable, willing to take on and take responsibility for changing things, she becomes more and more and more genuinely funny, likable. <p>I have to be careful here. It's not skinny that made Frances likable. It was Frances learning to like herself that showed us all what's to like. And there's plenty. Frances does have good stuff.<p>She carefully crafts this telling so that her brains really shine along with her courage at the point when she joins her group. Slowly, she becomes more tolerant of others, more generally accepting, appreciative, curious, gentle, funny. She never drops her wit for a second, thank God. And by the end of the book, I was not only sobbing along at her story, but also cheering for this woman as she literally and figuratively climbs the mountains of her childhood and finds a place to belong. It's that kind of book.<p>But it's not sentimental. There are no Cinderella moments. When Frances drops enough weight to "pass for normal," and realizes, in a dressing room, with her mom, for the first time, ever, "I'm pretty," the moment is not so much celebratory as terrifying. This woman who has been obese since childhood has been handed her femininity and has no clue what to do with it. Very little experience to draw from. Moments when she spies on other women, adopting their fashion sense, their gestures, when she considers everything from how she will dress to how to handle casual flirtations are full of pathos without being at all pathetic. It is all new, it's hard, it's upsetting. She can't go back. She often can't go forward. Or has too many choices, and is frozen with indecision. She almost has no choice but to rely on other people, and other people do what they do. They give her what she needs when she needs it. And they let her down.<p>I use journey and discovery metaphors a lot when writing about losing lots of weight. And here it is again. Frances has been on a long expedition. She bravely faced down a lot of things many of us have never seen or tackled before. She took good notes, and came back to tell us all about it. Read this if you like stories of hope hard won. Read it if you are losing lots of weight and just need someone around who understands how weird it is, how hard, how at sea you can feel. Read it if what you need is courage. This is above all, a good book for courage.<p>The slow, slow dawning, building, developing of her ability to trust in her own wisdom, claim her due, protect herself, discover what it is that people like, and have always liked, about her. The internalizing of lessons she has to learn over and over. The setbacks and unanswered questions, messy and so like real life. Oooph, that's good stuff, right there. <p>This woman did not need to write this book. It's a powerful part of her recovery, though, to reach back and help the rest of us. And she does that here in a big way, using all of her astonishing talent to do it. Exposing herself. Putting it all in. It's good. I recommend.<p><a href="http://btobsearch.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?sourceid=00395996645644787198&btob=Y&cds2Pid=1427&isbn=0767912918">Passing For Thin at Barnes & Noble</a><br><a href="http://www.overeatersanonymous.org/">Overeaters Anonymous</a>
<br /><p>Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.<p>Want to read past posts? Visit <a href="http://www.skinnydaily.com">skinnydaily.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1075946989398403262004-02-05T04:08:00.000-05:002004-02-05T07:02:04.780-05:00Side Effects of Exercise: A Good Night's Sleep<b>Side Effects of Exercise</b><br>A Good Night's Sleep<p>Last night the most amazing thing happened. I went to bed at night, as usual. Tucking everybody in, checking the lights, preparing as much as possible for the morning rush. Climbed into bed, set my alarm, dropped head to pillow.<p>And then, I woke up. It was morning, just two minutes before my alarm would go off. I had slept through the night.<p>I mean, my body slept the entire night. Start to finish. Sunup to sundown. I am not sure if I dreamt or not. My eyes opened, and I felt fine and awake and confused. It has been so long since I have awoken without the aid of an alarm, without feeling worse than I will feel the whole rest of the day, that I was a little lost. I stared at my alarm clock for some time, blinking, trying to take in what had happened. I looked twice at the clock on the wall, trying to make sense of this. <p>I didn't haul myself out of my bed in the middle of the night with heartburn or headache, feeling as quietly as possible for one medication or another. I wasn't wildly twisting in my knickers to relieve strained neck and back muscles. No night sweats, restless legs, or anxious ruminating. <p>What happened? Did I take something? Eat something? No, no, I couldn't trace it, until I looked back over my log. Here it is: I exercised every day last week. I finally got back on my exercise wagon and have been good about moving every day. Also, I drank all my water. I wasn't brilliant about my food choices, but at least I got in my exercise and my water. <p>Could this be enough to have brought me the gift of a full night's sleep in the middle of my middle age? Enough moisture and enough movement? Well, as it turns out, yes. It really could be enough. Exercise helps us sleep. Sleep and water give us energy and restore our bodies. It's a reciprocal thing, it turns out. <p>So, exercise more, drink up, get your rest, feel better. And keep a body log so that when things suddenly go right, you can figure out why.<p>
<br /><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/Healthology/diet_sleep010921.html">Diet and sleep, healthology.com</a><br><a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=474C4EB1-8EB6-4C98-983D02CBF348B86E">Getting your water, Mayo</a>
<br /><p>Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.<p>Want to read past posts? Visit <a href="http://www.skinnydaily.com">skinnydaily.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1075860929265684652004-02-04T04:10:00.000-05:002004-02-04T07:54:41.450-05:00Should You Trust Your Instincts? Or should you know better?<b>Should You Trust Your Instincts?</b><br>Or should you know better?<p>We hear it all the time: Trust your instincts, listen to your inner voice where food and exercise are concerned. We find babies are naturally averse to foods that don't agree with them. We're told if we suspect a food results in an ache, a rash, a bloat, we shouldn't eat it. Monitor your body while exercising, and if it hurts, slow down.<p>On the other hand, human beings are growing huge, flabby, unable to climb short flights of stairs. We're frantic to buy the next brand of packaged food. We ache for the convenience of the microwaved meal. We can't face a day, a morning, a meal without our soda pop. Why? Well, because we follow our instincts. <p>That is, we follow the biggest, baddest of our instincts, our survival instinct. <p>This one is the ancient, gnawing one, the one that governs over all the others. It's the prehistoric one that tells us to eat sweet and starchy things wherever we can find them, the one whose primary objective is storing energy as fat for the inevitable future periods of flight and starvation. We follow the instincts that tell us to sit for hours on the couch, conserving the energy we'll surely need to run from the next predator that might cross our paths. This survival instinct of ours has served us so well throughout the history of mankind.<p>Thing is, we've outgrown it.<p>Today we live in an environment where food is plentiful, rest pretty much assured, and predators not all that hard to avoid. So these instincts, the ones that tell us to stay in bed instead of exercising, to find any way possible to avoid physical labor, to eat the most convenient calories available, to eat calorie-dense foods rather than going to all the work of eating lots of food that is lower in calories, these instincts that are all about getting and conserving energy have turned on us. We're so darned smart we've designed and built a world in which we don't need instincts to survive. But we're not smart enough to turn off our instincts. They run whether we need them or not, and they just keep telling us to eat and get our rest.<p>We can't turn off those survival instincts, and we're not very good at controlling the ever-wily, and rather miraculous biochemistry that governs energy storage, retrieval, and use. So what to do?<p>You have to use the reasoning part of your brain to outsmart your instincts. You need to recognize when it's your prehistoric little survival creature telling you to eat more calories than you need, and to rest when what your body really needs is exercise. You need to go to the gym anyway, and put down the donut even when you think you'll die if you don't eat it. Now.<p>For a long time I tried to think of exercising when I didn't want to as abuse, going without the food I wanted as deprivation, forgetting what real abuse looks like, how actual deprivation ravages bodies halfway around the world, but not in my house. I finally came to realize that I was programmed to eat food and rest, but not to maintain my health. If I wanted good health, I was going to have to actively think about it, spend energy working for it. I would have to do this every day, do battle with my instincts.<p>Of course, I spent a lot of time writing about how my instincts told me to do one thing when I knew that I should really do the other. The more I wrote about it, the more clear my choices became. Slowly, slowly, the healthier choices become, if not instinctive, then at least habitual. <p>So, your assignment: Write down the ways your instincts seem to overtake your best intentions to take good care of your body. When does it happen? In what circumstances? How are you feeling when it happens? What time of day? Where are you? What is it that you wind up doing? What do you think you should do instead that would be healthier for you in the long run? What you're doing is developing a battle plan, a strategy for helping your rational, emotional, evolved mind overcome your cold little reptilian mind. <p>So, when I wake up in the morning, and my inner reptile thinks it's a better form of survival to stay in bed for an extra hour, I have programmed my rational mind to kick in and tell me to get my feet on the floor and my butt out the door. When I am tempted to stand in front of the fridge and eat a whole meal before dinner, or while preparing it, my rational mind steps in and reminds me to squeeze my lips shut, wait for the meal, the moment. Even to enjoy the hunger I know will be satisfied very soon.<p>It's one thing to know these instincts of yours get in the way. But writing them down and deciding what you're going to do about these moments in advance has huge power. The act of writing helps you rewire your brain. Prepare to dominate during these moments. Do it. Get a journal, a sheet of paper, fire up your word processor, and start outsmarting yourself.<p><a href="http://www.putdownthedonut.com">Put Down the Donut</a>
<br /><br><a href="http://www.buffalostate.edu/orgs/bcp/brainbasics/triune.html">Your inner reptile</a>
<br /> <p>Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a><p>Want to read past posts? Visit <a href="http://www.skinnydaily.com">skinnydaily.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1075775129033497342004-02-03T04:10:00.000-05:002004-02-03T07:47:32.746-05:00Skinny Sick Day<b>Skinny Sick Day</b><br>Sorry folks. Taking a sick day from skinniness. A cold grabbed my asthmatic airways and is shaking them down. I'm drinking my fluids and watching old movies. Snoozing and sitting in steamy bathrooms. All the echinacea and Vity C and Zicam and Zinc couldn't quite fight my lifelong bronchitis, former smoking habit, and asthma.<p>Much as a girl wants to be a rock, sometimes a girl can't beat a stampeding herd of rhino viruses. My goal: not letting it go to pneumonia. <p>Oh the Staples creampuff mafia ad just came on again. I love that one.<p>I'm curled up with Frances Kuffel's "Passing for Thin," Broadway Books, 2004. It's a memoir of a funny, smart, beautiful woman's transformation as she lost, I can't remember right now, 170 pounds? Well, half her weight. Her writing -- and she is a writer, with her MFA in creative writing from Cornell, and having other literary works published in some of the most prestigious literary mags in the world -- is beautiful, haunting, careful. Her attitude is not. She's baldly truthful, jarringly honest, and.... I'm not writing this review now, but will when I've finished it. At any rate, it's not like I'm not thinking about you. I'm reading about Frances and thinking about you.<p>And going through boxes and boxes of tissues.<p>JuJu<p>Want to discuss past posts? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1075680688531972562004-02-02T04:10:00.000-05:002004-02-02T09:19:45.450-05:00No One Will Love You: Oh, really?<b>No One Will Love You</b><br>Oh, really?<p>There is some tiny part of me that admires spam authors. They used to be unimaginative hacks with four selling verbs under their belts. They had no idea how to lure someone at all, whether they peddled mortgages or biophysical miracles, websites or drugs. But lately, just lately, a new breed of spam peddler has surfaced who can write truly compelling headlines. Real grabbers. I got one today. The headline read:<p>No one will love you if you are fat. <p>And I thought, Oh, really?<p>I mean, yes, there will be people around who mock, think less of, avoid, ignore, feel sorry for people who are fat. Sure. That happens. But being without love because we are fat? No. No, see, that’s not the way it works, ever. I mean, there are plenty of reasons a person can be unlovable, but fat isn’t one of them.<p>Still, many of us are raised to believe it, and so with extra fat on our bodies, we feel unlovable. And feeling unlovable has a way of fulfilling itself. We react in two main directions. One way to go is by overcompensating, overreaching, over-nurturing, overdoing for others, over-performing at work. Or we react by shutting down, shutting out the world, other people, relationships, opportunities. Or maybe we do both. A very few of us manage to maintain a strong self image without swallowing this line of horse poo-poo.<p>What could possibly be unlovable about fat? It’s energy. That’s all it is. It’s potential energy. Storage. Walk-in closets, full of energy. Bins and boxes and barrels full of that which makes us go. It’s warmth, it’s heat. Sure, too much of it hurts us. No doubt about it. But that’s another issue for another day. <p>Stop and count up the big people in your life who you love. Would you say you would love them more if they were thinner? <p>Silly question, right. Absolutely.<p>Do you think you’d love yourself more if you were thinner?<p>Is that question not so silly?<p>Fat can be a problem in a lot of ways, but making you unlovable to other people? No. Actually it can’t do that. Some people may not find fat sexy. That’s okay. Many others do. Fat is mainly a problem when it makes you unlovable to yourself. And that’s what this wily spam writer knows. The spam headline wakes and shakes that little driveling fool that lives in all of us, big or small, that fears going through life without love. Silly old fool.<p>So, got a little extra hanging around? Hating yourself for it? Maybe spend a little time soon writing in your journal or body log to consider what fat does to your ability to care about and for yourself. Write out some memories of how you’ve felt about your extra weight. Where did those feelings come from, do you think? Read them over.<p>When you’ve really had a chance to analyze them, decide to change your mind about what you think about your own fat. We can do that, you know. We don’t have to live with every little feeling that shows up. We can reprogram our thinking. Spend a little time actively apologizing to yourself for giving yourself too hard a time about your weight. Apologize for beating yourself up. Apologize for punishing yourself excessively. Apologize for making yourself a doormat or shutting yourself off from the world. For being angry or defensive or bitter about it. Consider all the people you love who carry extra weight, and decide to put yourself in the same boat with them. All of you go on a nice cruise somewhere.<p>Then promise yourself you’re going to see your fat and anybody else’s for what it is, plain old stored energy, and nothing more. There is no magical person-shifting aspect to stored fat. You will not change for better or for worse by having it or not having it. And so, there’s no more poor you. No more poor unlovable you. Just you with energy to burn. <p>Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1075430289913986132004-01-30T04:34:00.000-05:002004-01-30T07:42:16.186-05:00Maude's Beloved Buckwheat: A grain you can love<b>Maude's Beloved Buckwheat</b><br>A grain you can love<p>My grandmother, Maude Williams Garlinghouse, was an osteopath, a whole-body doc back in the early half of the last century. She was a friend of Adele Davis,' and preached from the same food gospel. That is, she spurned packaged foods, believed in eating lots of veggies. And she wanted us to use more buckwheat in our diets.<p>She made buckwheat pancakes instead of the white-flour sort. Nutty, intensely-favored things. I never had the chance to taste them, but my mother did, remembered them well, hankered for them. So we found and tweaked recipes to make one we feel closely approximates Maude's simple griddle cakes. They were a hit among three generations around our table that morning.<p>Why was she such a buckwheat nut? Why do we care now? Well, a whole lot of us are sensitive to wheat products. Refined wheat, whole wheat, it doesn't matter. If we have it, we have trouble. So we look for other things to eat. Many, many more of us are insulin resistant and looking for healthier carbohydrates that don't send our insulin production into overdrive with every bite. Those of us in that category cut most grains from our diets at least until we get our blood sugar back in line. Buckwheat offers one exception to grain restriction for those of us in that boat. Well, it's not a grain at all.<p>I started making my own pasta from buckwheat flour awhile ago. Easily done, you just whip up an egg per person you're serving, then knead in enough buckwheat flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Run it though your pasta maker as you would any pasta. Dry anything you don't want to cook right away. <p>Buckwheat has a slightly more distinct, nuttish, vegetable flavor that loves stronger sauces. When you cook it, in pasta or griddle cakes, it has a chocolatey look to it, or at least that's how one 14 year-old in my house described it. <p>Aside from tasting good, it's a higher fiber, higher protein, gluten-free, grain-like food rich in magnesium (we're nearly all deficient in magnesium) and potassium and lots of other goodies. There are compounds in it shown to lower your bad cholesterol and help people with Type II diabetes. <p>What I'm saying is, grandma was right. Again.<p>*Use in place of wheat flour in recipes that call for regular flour but don't require the gluten of a wheat flour for rising. Think muffins, crusts, quickbreads, crackers. You'll find buckwheat wants more moisture to work well, and the doughs will be very soft, needing a light hand. I've had great luck with a tart crust, and will soon share my buckwheat morning muffin recipe.
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<br />*Make your own pastas from it. Involve kids, who love to cut noodles.<p>*Eat buckwheat groats, kasha, cooked for breakfast or as a side dish. <p>*Exchange buckwheat flour for wheat in your cornbread recipe for a delicious difference.<p>Try Maude's pancakes:<p><b>For Maude: Simple Buckwheat Pancakes, 6 servings</b><p>Mix:<br>3 cups buckwheat flour<br>2 T. Stevia powder<br>1 tsp. salt<br>1 T. cinnamon<br>4 tsp. baking powder<p>Whisk together:<br>2 eggs<br>3 cups water (or milk if you're not carb careful, or milk and cream if you're not calorie nervous)<br>2 T Grapeseed oil<p>Heat your non-stick griddle until it's hot enough for droplets of water to dance like you remember dancing oughtta go. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet stuff. Use an ice cream scoop (If you can find it, because you're not really eating much ice cream any more, are you? That stuff can kill you.) to drop batter onto your griddle, which you may wipe with a smidgen of grapeseed oil or butter if you like. Cook those cakes until they're dry around the edges and bubbling a bit, then flip them. Let them brown on the other side, then serve them up to someone hungry for something real. This mixture will thicken as it stands. You can loosen it with water or milk as you make your cakes. <p>Lowcarb folks, these are not without carbs, so you may want to wait for your maintenance plan, or enjoy them on special occasions. They won't tank your program, though. Consider topping them with whipped cream or whipped cream cheese sweetened with Stevia, and a few strawberries. Other folks, go easy on the syrups, will you? I worry about you people. Everybody, keep track of the calories. Overeating matters. And these will encourage overeating.<p>Nutrition info, based on pancakes made with water, from dietsite.com<br> Servings: 6<br>Calories per serving 267, Calories from Fat 72<br>Fiber 6g<br>Carbohydrates 43g<br>Fat 8g<br>Protein 10g<p><a href="http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-001-02s04dw.html">Buckwheat flour facts from Nutritiondata.com</a><br><a href="http://www.drweil.com/app/cda/drw_cda.html-command=TodayQA-questionId=70306">Doc Weil on buckwheat</a>
<br /><p>Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4084613.post-1075343652805323692004-01-29T03:33:00.000-05:002004-01-29T07:43:50.810-05:00Those Wussy Athletes: Suck it up and move just a little<b>Those Wussy Athletes</b><br>Suck it up and move just a little<p>I encounter this guy, Fred, everywhere. Fred very much wants to get back in shape, lose weight, regain his fitness. He hasn't exercised in years. He's tried. He laces up his old Keds and runs a few miles, he hurts himself. He gives up. I suggest to Fred that he try something a little easier, kicking laps in the pool. No, he's not getting in the pool with a lapboard. I suggest to Fred he try an elliptical machine. He crosses his eyes. No. Videos, no. Aerobics class, heckle no.<p>So, I have to ask, "Fred, by any chance were you at all athletic while you were growing up?"<p>The answer, of course, is yes, absolutely. Fred was a part of one team or another from about the age of 10 until marriage, the job, the kids came along. Fred can tell me his handicap, his averages, his speed, his distances, his events, his medals, the big game, the big night, the things his coach would say to him. He can recall to the most infinite level of loving detail the special piquant smell of his own beloved high school locker room, the taste of the victory steaks, the feeling of the pads as he geared up for a game. <p>Fred can't exercise now because anything short of his early performance just feels ridiculous. He's an athlete. He doesn't belong on an elliptical machine. He's a jock, he doesn't belong in a therapy pool. <p>For Fred getting in shape involves exercising until you puke. His recollection of "workouts," meant wind-sprints until he fell over, teammates fainting in their gear in the heat, running endless laps, doing endless pushups. Hours of practice every day, for a season. He tries to go back there. And of course he gets hurt. Or he makes a valiant effort for about the length of one season, and then his inner clock tells him to stop.<p>Just try to get this guy to go for a half-hour brisk walk every day, forever. Just try to hand this guy a set of 10-lb. dumb-bells for a few reps. A maintenance level of exercise does not compute. A metabolism-boosting level of exercise has no place in the mental model for "workout" that Fred locked into his brain many, many years ago.<p>You may at this point have a pretty clear picture of Fred in your mind. But I need you to understand I meet Fred in the most surprising places. I meet Fred in high school girls. I meet Fred among girlfriends at lunch. I meet Fred at the retirement village. I even meet Fred among fitness professionals. You might have a little Fred lurking inside you somewhere.<p>And I say to your inner Fred, and mine, and to all Freds: Just get over yourselves.<p>Your body needs to move every day. It doesn't have to move perfectly, dramatically, endlessly, or until you throw up or fall down. It needs to move some. Every day. Some movement every day, some strength work, some sweat. A bit. It never, ever has to hurt you. <p>Just, get over yourself, Fred, and move today.<p>
<br /><a href="http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=8737">Advice for the aging athlete from active.com</a><br><a href=http://www.harvard-magazine.com/issues/jf97/right.jock.html>More advice for geriatric jocks</a><p>
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<br />Want to discuss today's Post? Visit The Skinny Daily Forum at <a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109">3fatchicks.com</a>.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10097214118459241085noreply@blogger.com