Saturday, April 6, 2013

what works, from a different angle

This is not a personal progress report.  I'm inspired to write something more like a State of the Union (Blogosphere?) Address, inspired by a few of my favorite internet writers.

I think that some of us start blogging as a relief valve; our nearest and dearest frequently have NO need for -- or interest in -- our particular dietary interventions, and merely talking to ourselves is less ... methodical.  KEEPING TRACK OF THINGS, organizing our thoughts in such a way that it makes sense on paper -- that's the way to formulate a viable hypothesis when it comes to improving our bodies' functions.  What's likely to be productive for us, what will REALLY improve our health and well-being?  The slap-dash methods "normal" people can get away with can be disastrous for "us."  We use internet blogging as an off-site journal -- record-keeping that others can access too.

And we RANT!!!  :-D  It's very satisfying (and not particularly destructive) to express one's righteous fury to the aether!  The aether doesn't file for divorce, fire our asses, cut off our allowance, or throw us out of the house.

Whatever the reasons each of us has for writing, somewhere someone can learn and benefit from our experiences and ruminations thereon.  The more i see, the more i'm convinced that this is important.

The bit is, although we're not really UNIQUE snowflakes, there are very few with our particular challenges to be found, and finding others like us CLOSE TO HOME is almost impossible.  ...Shit, try to find salsify or sunchokes in your local grocery!  Try to find non-goitrogenic greens in KingmanFrigginKansas!*  Ask "normal" people about diet?  Expect to hear nothing that won't make YOU suffer and lose ground.

Well, thanks to blogging sites, i've FOUND a comparative abundance of people whose knowledge and experience is of value to me, and whose personalities are not painful to bear, but are reasonably congenial.  Not here in my town, of course -- one is in Ireland, and one in New Jersey, others in California, Washington, Colorado, and Scotland, various places in Europe, several in England and Canada and a couple in New Zealand, and ... lots more in places i don't know.  The nearest ones are at a considerable distance -- not people i can spontaneously go meet for lunch!

So we have collected our own special international community --welcome to the far-flung tribe!  Wise Women and Shamans:  we have experience of life outside the norm, we ruminate over what we've learned and we're able to communicate lucidly.  Gandalf once said something about people like us talking to ourselves because we tend to address the most intelligent person in the room ... but that's not necessary now, as we have each other.  Here we sit, ostensibly participating in a discussion circle of one, with the help of a machine which is hooked to other machines, in front of which are other people like us ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD.  Truly, the internet can take away the stigma of muttering to ourselves as we trudge along our accustomed rut, because on the internet even wackos have readers.  We're never completely ALONE unless we want to be.

And our un-met friends will be there to answer our questions, reassure and encourage us, and send us sympathy and best wishes because whatever it is that's troubling us, SOMEBODY has been there before, done that and come out the other side already.  Want to know WHAT WORKS or how to deal with whatever-it-is?  Just ask.  SOMEBODY knows.

I appreciate my friends i've never met!  I'm grateful that they take the time and trouble to share their wisdom.  They're another manifestation of what i've found in the more-immediate world -- most people are at least "good" and some of them are absolutely OUTSTANDING.

_____
*  yeah, once i was hungry for greens while visiting the MIL, and the only thing that came close was bagged spinach....

16 comments:

  1. Yes, well put- it's been a strange past few weeks, hope the rift in the time/space/internet continuum is mending....

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    1. Me too!!! Remarkable how so many of us have had a rough time recently! Sending "healing thoughts" to the LCH....

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  2. Great post. I had a very intense need to find other people who were eating/living/maintaining the way I was. I totally think that Paleo/Primal/ grain free living is under used for weight maintenance and general overall health.

    Gotta have your "tribe". I suspect that more people in real life will join us as they face more major health situations? or not.

    I steer clear of the weirdness and embrace the people who are on my same path.

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    1. Thanks, Karen! ...I do think we're only beginning to see.a trend toward grain-avoidance. If we can once get our loved-ones to TRY a "whole30" they often learn what we're talking about.

      :-). But if I steered clear of weirdness I'd have to disown my whole family!

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  3. Hi again Tess, I do regularly come over from England and read your blog. The air miles quickly disappear thanks to the inter-net. We have a saying in the UK "your ears must be burning" when we talk about people and they are not in our direct company. Your ears must quite regularly burn but in a nice way, never heard anyone say a bad word about you. But your name and blog does come up in conversation from as far afield as Hampshire in the South of the UK to Lancashire in the North West and I'm sure in other places I am not aware of.
    It's great to keep in touch with people we've not actually met in the real world but feel we know them thanks to the modern day wonders that the inter net provides. Mind you as with anything some is good and some is bad and we all have to make our own choices. For me your blog is on my reading list and I hop over to your blog lists too and enjoy a quiet read.

    Best Wishes Jan

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    1. :-D thank you for the kind words, Jan - you brightened my day! Yes, this technology is a wondrous thing! To think we can bridge the miles so ... INSTANTLY....

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  4. Well said, Tess. This aspect of the internet is priceless in my opinion. I’ve been working in the field of nutrition research for almost 15 years and have met only about 2 people IRL who give LC/Paleo the time of day. Without internet-mediated access to so many different people/friends/ideas, I'd think I was crazy. (I do anyway, just a little).
    all best,
    Bill

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    1. Aw, if you weren't a LITTLE crazy you wouldn't hang out with the WoooCrew! ;-)

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  5. Hello Friend!!!! Hey, I do know some people irl who have heard of paleo.

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    1. Hello!!! :-) there ARE some out there, and more all the time ... But we're still surrounded. Oh well, if paleo were too mainstream I'd have more doubts about its "rightness"....

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  6. Without the Internet, I'd have been chewed up in the healthywholegrain, move more, and now let's medicate you machinery.

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    1. Ain't that the truth! I hate to think about how rotten I'd feel if I hadn't learned all this stuff.

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  7. Sorry for the dramas, Tess. ;)

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    1. my dear, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for! :-)

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