2012 has been a remarkable year for me. I've learned so many things about diet and health, i couldn't begin to recap them. My food intake, supplementation, and various practices (like sleep and exercise) will NEVER be the same again!
I'd like to thank a few of the people from whom i've obtained so much valuable information -- Peter at Hyperlipid, Sidereal, Wooo and Kindke, for some good solid science; Lori, Karen, and that Exceptionally Brash one, for sharing their experiences and what they've learned from it all; and countless others who have helped and encouraged me, even though they don't know they've done so.
Thanks to Steph (wherever she is), whose example inspired me to start this blog -- i never would have believed anyone would want to read my ravings and ramblings! :-) And thanks to those who DO read it, and who send me comments of encouragement, commiseration and advice!
You ALL have meant a lot to me, and i hope you all have a stellar new year!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
the old if-then
I don't often get a flashback to middle-school -- those were NOT the happiest years of my life! But ruminating on the better aspects of burning-carbs-with-exercise last week, i pulled up two memories of the old days....
Which classroom gave us our first contact with the subject of logic? I'm not sure; it had to have been either English or science. And, or, if, then: that was the sort of thing my geeky mind found entertaining! (It wasn't until my last year of high school that i discovered algebra could be as fun as working puzzles -- up to then math had just been drudgery.)
SO! IF you're doing a lot of physical work like hauling weights up an 8% grade, THEN you can afford to eat more readily-burned fuel like starches. IF you are not doing such work AND you eat the starches anyway, THEN you will either gain fat weight OR burn the excess calories as heat, but the latter only IF your metabolism is "whole" enough to do that sort of thing.
I could go on like this forever. Central point is, all your hormonal and metabolic ducks have GOT to be in a row to be able to pull off the starch-eating. Most of the time, mine are not.
The other connection from the "bad old days" is just an object-lesson: when i ceased riding the bus the 1.1 mi distance to school and began walking it twice a day, the "seal-puppy" i once was lost quite a bit of fat and got significantly more fit. An adolescent's hormones can be just as F'd up as a middle-aged woman's, i suspect! This SHOULD nudge me to do my 2 miles a day ... but will it? ..."Earth to Tess...?!" [crackle of "dead air"]
Which classroom gave us our first contact with the subject of logic? I'm not sure; it had to have been either English or science. And, or, if, then: that was the sort of thing my geeky mind found entertaining! (It wasn't until my last year of high school that i discovered algebra could be as fun as working puzzles -- up to then math had just been drudgery.)
SO! IF you're doing a lot of physical work like hauling weights up an 8% grade, THEN you can afford to eat more readily-burned fuel like starches. IF you are not doing such work AND you eat the starches anyway, THEN you will either gain fat weight OR burn the excess calories as heat, but the latter only IF your metabolism is "whole" enough to do that sort of thing.
I could go on like this forever. Central point is, all your hormonal and metabolic ducks have GOT to be in a row to be able to pull off the starch-eating. Most of the time, mine are not.
The other connection from the "bad old days" is just an object-lesson: when i ceased riding the bus the 1.1 mi distance to school and began walking it twice a day, the "seal-puppy" i once was lost quite a bit of fat and got significantly more fit. An adolescent's hormones can be just as F'd up as a middle-aged woman's, i suspect! This SHOULD nudge me to do my 2 miles a day ... but will it? ..."Earth to Tess...?!" [crackle of "dead air"]
Saturday, December 29, 2012
ONLY eat more carbs ...
...IF you plan to burn them off with exercise NOW. This is one of the lessons i'm taking away from my vacation experience.
While i was stoically trudging up and down the hills of Seattle, the rice and potatoes i ate didn't seem to mess me up. I'd hike all around after the breakfast that included hash-browns (because no lone omelette is big enough to sate me except the ones at Billie's!), and before and after lunch/dinner (which sometimes included dessert) as well, in order to try different wonderful restaurants in the area. I vowed to myself to bring along a pedometer on all future trips during which i expect to do a lot of walking, just to satisfy my curiosity.
My jeans didn't fit any differently till we got on the train to return home, and i continued the potato-and-rice-including regimen without putting in the mileage. My ability to delay meals markedly declined, as well as "muscle energy." I felt generally less resilient, and distinctly more gassy. Trying to carry luggage up the steep narrow rail-car stairways caused my knees to refuse to straighten.
Back at home, i won't be getting as much or the same kind of exercise. Walking on the flats around my neighborhood with the dog won't give me the same kind of workout i got last week -- for which my back will be grateful! Climbing the countless stairs that i do at home doesn't compare, either. Even if i cared to continue the higher-carb diet (which i DON'T!) i couldn't justify it through energy expenditure, and WOULD gain fat on it.
Exercise like a mad person just so i could eat these bland foodstuffs??? Gag! I'm a hedonist! I want my rack of lamb ... which, coincidentally enough, is for dinner tonight!
While i was stoically trudging up and down the hills of Seattle, the rice and potatoes i ate didn't seem to mess me up. I'd hike all around after the breakfast that included hash-browns (because no lone omelette is big enough to sate me except the ones at Billie's!), and before and after lunch/dinner (which sometimes included dessert) as well, in order to try different wonderful restaurants in the area. I vowed to myself to bring along a pedometer on all future trips during which i expect to do a lot of walking, just to satisfy my curiosity.
My jeans didn't fit any differently till we got on the train to return home, and i continued the potato-and-rice-including regimen without putting in the mileage. My ability to delay meals markedly declined, as well as "muscle energy." I felt generally less resilient, and distinctly more gassy. Trying to carry luggage up the steep narrow rail-car stairways caused my knees to refuse to straighten.
Back at home, i won't be getting as much or the same kind of exercise. Walking on the flats around my neighborhood with the dog won't give me the same kind of workout i got last week -- for which my back will be grateful! Climbing the countless stairs that i do at home doesn't compare, either. Even if i cared to continue the higher-carb diet (which i DON'T!) i couldn't justify it through energy expenditure, and WOULD gain fat on it.
Exercise like a mad person just so i could eat these bland foodstuffs??? Gag! I'm a hedonist! I want my rack of lamb ... which, coincidentally enough, is for dinner tonight!
"everywhere i go, there's always an asshole"
It's no secret -- i enjoy movies which my friend Jules and i describe as "charming garbage." ...The kind which have major flaws but which are enjoyable for the mood you come away with, after seeing them. They sometimes have a great soundtrack, or abundant eye-candy, or characters who tickle you, or witty dialogue: whatever! One such piece of '80s fluff was "Streets of Fire."
One character in it reminds me of my niece, the ex-WAC* -- one of those tough babies with a heart of gold. She's sitting in a bar chatting with the hero, and the bartender becomes obnoxious, so she punches him out and delivers the line from which i derived today's blog title.
'Cause it's true -- you can't go anywhere without coming in contact with people who are a disgrace to whatever group or profession or hobby they belong to. For every Chris Masterjohn there's a Stephan Guyenet; for every Sisson or Wolf there's a ... few people who comment on FTA. ;-)
But to assume that the proverbial spoiled apple is reason to discard the entire containerful is faulty logic.
Speaking for myself, even though i was doing low-carb and getting good results as long as i went low enough, when i committed to a month of strict paleo-style eating ... i couldn't believe how much better i felt! The stiffness and aches, the inflammation and allergies, the heart arrhythmia, the bloat and the occasional intestinal woes cleared up in a miraculous way. Clearly -- those foods which have been labeled "neolithic" by my favorite paleoblogospheric writers ARE problematic for me: gluten grains, seed oils, and even some kinds of dairy products.
THIS MUCH smoke indicates a fire somewhere -- the tiny smudge emanating from a guru's incense-burner can't be mistaken for what i'm seeing.
And now that i'm home again, i'm going back on the whole-30-style wagon. (I would say strong-medicine-wagon, except that i anticipate eating eggs as well as my meat, coffee and "yellow vegetables.") I anticipate feeling less like a bloated manatee within the week.
_____
* dating myself with the use of obsolete terminology again....
One character in it reminds me of my niece, the ex-WAC* -- one of those tough babies with a heart of gold. She's sitting in a bar chatting with the hero, and the bartender becomes obnoxious, so she punches him out and delivers the line from which i derived today's blog title.
'Cause it's true -- you can't go anywhere without coming in contact with people who are a disgrace to whatever group or profession or hobby they belong to. For every Chris Masterjohn there's a Stephan Guyenet; for every Sisson or Wolf there's a ... few people who comment on FTA. ;-)
But to assume that the proverbial spoiled apple is reason to discard the entire containerful is faulty logic.
Speaking for myself, even though i was doing low-carb and getting good results as long as i went low enough, when i committed to a month of strict paleo-style eating ... i couldn't believe how much better i felt! The stiffness and aches, the inflammation and allergies, the heart arrhythmia, the bloat and the occasional intestinal woes cleared up in a miraculous way. Clearly -- those foods which have been labeled "neolithic" by my favorite paleoblogospheric writers ARE problematic for me: gluten grains, seed oils, and even some kinds of dairy products.
THIS MUCH smoke indicates a fire somewhere -- the tiny smudge emanating from a guru's incense-burner can't be mistaken for what i'm seeing.
And now that i'm home again, i'm going back on the whole-30-style wagon. (I would say strong-medicine-wagon, except that i anticipate eating eggs as well as my meat, coffee and "yellow vegetables.") I anticipate feeling less like a bloated manatee within the week.
_____
* dating myself with the use of obsolete terminology again....
Thursday, December 27, 2012
"normal response" to carbs, at last?
There's no doubt about the fact that i feel best on VLC. But surprisingly enough after this holiday of unusual carb intake, my mood and physical sense of well-being are pretty high. Why? I can guess, and it's all about exercise, omega-3 and hormones.
We walked ALL over the downtown area of Seattle, and though the hills did a number on my back and legs, i know we burned a boatload of glucose in the process. I ordered seafood at meals whenever i wasn't actually craving red meat. I encouraged mitochondrial performance with carnitine, and boosted raw material for testosterone production with pregnenolone supplements. Through it all, when not having to wait in uncomfortable public areas for late trains, i've been sleeping well.
I've resisted snacking most of the time, and when i succumbed it was generally to pistachios or cashews (once, waiting for the dinner train an extra 3 hours or so after having no lunch, i had myself a happy-hour with cheese-flavored rice crackers and Abbeys). I've tried to satisfy appetite on the meat or egg main dish , and then "fill up the corners" (if you'll forgive the Hobbitism) with non-starchy vegetables, then potatoes and finally with sweets.
The celebration-worthy part of gaining a little fat through it all is that leptin is doing its proper job of inhibiting subsequent appetite. Eating a good-sized meal with more carbs than i'm used to is not spurring me to chow down again in a couple of hours, but to WANT to fast for awhile! Many days, we've been eating a late breakfast and an early dinner, and that's all.
Well, i'm not going to "continue the experiment" when we get home -- i'll be gratefully returning to the VLC diet i actually PREFER. I enjoyed that croissant and the four bites of sourdough toast i had, but i feel no desire to make a regular indulgence of it. Pushing my luck any further is NOT at all tempting!
We walked ALL over the downtown area of Seattle, and though the hills did a number on my back and legs, i know we burned a boatload of glucose in the process. I ordered seafood at meals whenever i wasn't actually craving red meat. I encouraged mitochondrial performance with carnitine, and boosted raw material for testosterone production with pregnenolone supplements. Through it all, when not having to wait in uncomfortable public areas for late trains, i've been sleeping well.
I've resisted snacking most of the time, and when i succumbed it was generally to pistachios or cashews (once, waiting for the dinner train an extra 3 hours or so after having no lunch, i had myself a happy-hour with cheese-flavored rice crackers and Abbeys). I've tried to satisfy appetite on the meat or egg main dish , and then "fill up the corners" (if you'll forgive the Hobbitism) with non-starchy vegetables, then potatoes and finally with sweets.
The celebration-worthy part of gaining a little fat through it all is that leptin is doing its proper job of inhibiting subsequent appetite. Eating a good-sized meal with more carbs than i'm used to is not spurring me to chow down again in a couple of hours, but to WANT to fast for awhile! Many days, we've been eating a late breakfast and an early dinner, and that's all.
Well, i'm not going to "continue the experiment" when we get home -- i'll be gratefully returning to the VLC diet i actually PREFER. I enjoyed that croissant and the four bites of sourdough toast i had, but i feel no desire to make a regular indulgence of it. Pushing my luck any further is NOT at all tempting!
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
superior P-word supplement
I'm very pleased with how i feel, using the pregnenolone. It's been a two or three weeks since i started taking a 10 mg sublingual every day and i have that "balanced" feeling which, at my age, is cause for rejoicing. I've also settled into taking a gram of carnitine every morning, which together with the P does a much better job of providing steady (if not abundant) energy than tyrosine, which tends to make me uncomfortably wired.
The thing i didn't like about the progesterone creme i used to use was that i definitely put FAT on the portions of my anatomy where it was applied. And those places where it is recommended that one apply the creme? -- EXACTLY where i don't need more fat! :-) I ended up preferring to rub it into my butt, to balance my proportions out a bit. When i first learned about maca, i thought maybe that would be good for me, but hearing that it can be detrimental to thyroid function, i haven't played with it much yet.
I didn't get an immediate boost from the pregnenolone -- it took at least a week for me to feel that something good was happening. Of course, being the cautious self-experimenter that i am, i wasn't about to start off with the massive dose some people use. However, being also of an age at which natural pregnenolone production is significantly reduced, i felt confident about doubling the amount suggested by Dr. Peat -- 10 mg is the smallest concentration offered through Amazon.
I didn't get the boundless energy of youth, but i do feel good about adding this supplement to my regimen -- the more so because it IS the dissolve-in-the-mouth sort (i do get tired of swallowing pills). Perhaps when the time comes to buy another bottle i'll go for the 25 mg size. If i don't like the way i feel with the higher dosage, i'll just bite the little suckers in half.
The thing i didn't like about the progesterone creme i used to use was that i definitely put FAT on the portions of my anatomy where it was applied. And those places where it is recommended that one apply the creme? -- EXACTLY where i don't need more fat! :-) I ended up preferring to rub it into my butt, to balance my proportions out a bit. When i first learned about maca, i thought maybe that would be good for me, but hearing that it can be detrimental to thyroid function, i haven't played with it much yet.
I didn't get an immediate boost from the pregnenolone -- it took at least a week for me to feel that something good was happening. Of course, being the cautious self-experimenter that i am, i wasn't about to start off with the massive dose some people use. However, being also of an age at which natural pregnenolone production is significantly reduced, i felt confident about doubling the amount suggested by Dr. Peat -- 10 mg is the smallest concentration offered through Amazon.
I didn't get the boundless energy of youth, but i do feel good about adding this supplement to my regimen -- the more so because it IS the dissolve-in-the-mouth sort (i do get tired of swallowing pills). Perhaps when the time comes to buy another bottle i'll go for the 25 mg size. If i don't like the way i feel with the higher dosage, i'll just bite the little suckers in half.
Monday, December 24, 2012
enough love
I treated myself to a new DVD copy of my favorite Christmas movie, the 1951 British production of "A Christmas Carol," starring Alastair Sim. This one is very faithful to Dickens' story, and the cast is full of GREAT character actors of the era. It's heartfelt without being maudlin.
To me, the theme of this movie IS Love -- the "Christmas" aspect is almost incidental. You see the Cratchit family in their respectable poverty, mutually supporting each other in an atmosphere in which Love keeps the threadbare aspect of their lives from dominating. Ditto for Scrooge's nephew, though he obviously has a better job than Bob does. (Compare this to my favorite Dickens novel "Our Mutual Friend," in which poor Rumty Wilfer's living room -- cold with selfishness -- is a very uncomfortable place indeed.)
Bearing in mind this IS fiction, you can still connect that when children are raised with the knowledge that they are warmly loved and that their real best interests are considered important*, they learn by example HOW TO LOVE, themselves. Conversely, the hero of the tale grew up convinced that he was NOT loved, which put him emotionally on his own -- no good formative example for HIM! Of course he didn't prioritize love in his life (or anything else besides money) -- he had no idea that it had any value.
We see all the time that some people just don't know HOW to love. Why??? Could it be comparable to a person who has never seen a meal cooked from scratch not knowing how to cook? Is it like a person who has never seen printed materials before not knowing how to read? I sure think so.
For a household, or any other group of people, to enjoy the kind of harmony that makes light of privation, truly caring about the comfort and troubles of each other is a seed which will bear the kind of fruit everyone rejoices to see.
___
* I didn't say "happiness" mind you -- trying to "make children happy" frequently backfires.
To me, the theme of this movie IS Love -- the "Christmas" aspect is almost incidental. You see the Cratchit family in their respectable poverty, mutually supporting each other in an atmosphere in which Love keeps the threadbare aspect of their lives from dominating. Ditto for Scrooge's nephew, though he obviously has a better job than Bob does. (Compare this to my favorite Dickens novel "Our Mutual Friend," in which poor Rumty Wilfer's living room -- cold with selfishness -- is a very uncomfortable place indeed.)
Bearing in mind this IS fiction, you can still connect that when children are raised with the knowledge that they are warmly loved and that their real best interests are considered important*, they learn by example HOW TO LOVE, themselves. Conversely, the hero of the tale grew up convinced that he was NOT loved, which put him emotionally on his own -- no good formative example for HIM! Of course he didn't prioritize love in his life (or anything else besides money) -- he had no idea that it had any value.
We see all the time that some people just don't know HOW to love. Why??? Could it be comparable to a person who has never seen a meal cooked from scratch not knowing how to cook? Is it like a person who has never seen printed materials before not knowing how to read? I sure think so.
For a household, or any other group of people, to enjoy the kind of harmony that makes light of privation, truly caring about the comfort and troubles of each other is a seed which will bear the kind of fruit everyone rejoices to see.
___
* I didn't say "happiness" mind you -- trying to "make children happy" frequently backfires.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
defending your ... sanity
If you've never seen the movie "Defending Your Life," i recommend it heartily. It's the story of what happens in one man's afterlife, and although Albert Brooks' whining gets old really fast, some of the comic touches more than make up for it. I also think that Meryl could have done a lot better for herself....
The "Judgement Hall of Osiris" gets a new twist in this flick. With the help of an advocate, the recently-dead individual needs to demonstrate a certain degree of personal growth. We are told that when we become sufficiently intelligent, we don't have to reincarnate ON EARTH anymore -- we go on to a different place where we'll continue to evolve, then move on to another place and so on. When we start using more of our brains, we don't WANT to be here any longer.
I think i've been on this planet one life too many. Accidentally overhearing the "news" programs my husband watches -- that is, the rampant flaunting-of-stupidity of those trying to mold public opinion -- leaves me astonished and nauseated. I feel surrounded by self-absorbed idiocy. How CAN people be so illogical?
I'm inclined to blame the carbs. ;-)
The "Judgement Hall of Osiris" gets a new twist in this flick. With the help of an advocate, the recently-dead individual needs to demonstrate a certain degree of personal growth. We are told that when we become sufficiently intelligent, we don't have to reincarnate ON EARTH anymore -- we go on to a different place where we'll continue to evolve, then move on to another place and so on. When we start using more of our brains, we don't WANT to be here any longer.
I think i've been on this planet one life too many. Accidentally overhearing the "news" programs my husband watches -- that is, the rampant flaunting-of-stupidity of those trying to mold public opinion -- leaves me astonished and nauseated. I feel surrounded by self-absorbed idiocy. How CAN people be so illogical?
I'm inclined to blame the carbs. ;-)
Friday, December 21, 2012
shame on me...
...for not posting in a week! ;-) I've been busy traveling, TRYING to get enough sleep (despite the midnight train a couple of days ago being 3.5 hours late in loading). On the rails, our internet connection was on-again-off-again despite having a good "portable hotspot." When the modem was not connecting i could sometimes read my favorite blogs on my Blackberry, but i can't comment or post from it.
I tell ya, eating from the menu while traveling via Amtrak is a tricky business. Only in the dining car can one get dishes which are not carb-based -- and for lunch one has to order sandwiches without the bread in order to meet that criterion. :-( On the flip-side, the food IS good even though the menu is limited.
If one is obliged to eat in a station between trains ... good luck! We had a terrific meal in Sacramento, but that was only because the depot was in the middle of town and a short walk took us to a variety of restaurants to choose between (apologies for the grammar). There WAS a time when stations had a Harvey House or at least a good diner nearby, but the glory days have passed them by. What a pity! Rail travel has virtues that flying can't aspire to, even if the hour at which one has to make connections can be inconvenient.
On the ground here in Seattle, we've been eating a lot of the excellent seafood to be found. We were profoundly impressed with the fresh fin- and shellfish in the shops of Pike Place Market. Omega-3 heaven! ;-) I had a steak for dinner tonight, however -- sometimes, only red meat satisfies....
And we've WALKED (and walked and walked and walked). My starchy and sugary sins (not too many of them) have been atoned-for, i believe. We've also come to understand why coffee is so important here -- the cold damp weather we've enjoyed since arriving encourages me to find a snug corner and a hot drink. ...Hmmm, i wonder if Victor down in the hotel bar knows how to make hot Tom&Jerry? :-D
I tell ya, eating from the menu while traveling via Amtrak is a tricky business. Only in the dining car can one get dishes which are not carb-based -- and for lunch one has to order sandwiches without the bread in order to meet that criterion. :-( On the flip-side, the food IS good even though the menu is limited.
If one is obliged to eat in a station between trains ... good luck! We had a terrific meal in Sacramento, but that was only because the depot was in the middle of town and a short walk took us to a variety of restaurants to choose between (apologies for the grammar). There WAS a time when stations had a Harvey House or at least a good diner nearby, but the glory days have passed them by. What a pity! Rail travel has virtues that flying can't aspire to, even if the hour at which one has to make connections can be inconvenient.
On the ground here in Seattle, we've been eating a lot of the excellent seafood to be found. We were profoundly impressed with the fresh fin- and shellfish in the shops of Pike Place Market. Omega-3 heaven! ;-) I had a steak for dinner tonight, however -- sometimes, only red meat satisfies....
And we've WALKED (and walked and walked and walked). My starchy and sugary sins (not too many of them) have been atoned-for, i believe. We've also come to understand why coffee is so important here -- the cold damp weather we've enjoyed since arriving encourages me to find a snug corner and a hot drink. ...Hmmm, i wonder if Victor down in the hotel bar knows how to make hot Tom&Jerry? :-D
Friday, December 14, 2012
another "duh" moment
My mood, energy and well-being vary significantly, depending on what i eat. If i eat like "normal people" for awhile (i'm out of town, eating in restaurants a lot, snacking, or at the mercy of some other person's cooking), i lack vitality, i tire easily and take a long time to recover, and tend to be crankier. Now, by most people's estimation, i'm STILL EATING LOW-CARB (under 100g/d), but far more than i'm used to ... and some of the food is FRIED.
AHAAA, shouts the mainstream, it's that high-fat diet!!!
NO. It's that omega-6 overdose. ...In ME, who has NO industrial-seed-oils in the house AT ALL. Can you imagine the imbalance in those poor overweight devils who try to live on salad ... with commercial dressing?
In one of those blinding-light-on-the-road-to-Damascus moments, i "saw" last night that the reason i FEEL SO GOOD eating my at-home diet of grassfed/pastured meat and eggs is ... the additional omega-3s. I take cod liver oil every day and eat salmon and sardines regularly, but obviously in my case more is better. My thanks to Wooo and Sidereal for pointing out recently what a difference O3 makes to the brain.
It wouldn't be the first time.... I need to supplement all kinds of things that properly-functioning individuals safely assume they get from food. Iron, B12, carnitine....
We're going out of town again as a Christmas treat -- the first vacation J and i have enjoyed ALONE together without him having any work duties, in over a decade. I'll be eating out for over a week. Tell ya what i'll also be doing -- loading up on fatty fish! I considered leaving the CLO at home, but that ain't gonna happen now. If i have to fill the hotel fridge with lox, i WILL do it! ;-)
AHAAA, shouts the mainstream, it's that high-fat diet!!!
NO. It's that omega-6 overdose. ...In ME, who has NO industrial-seed-oils in the house AT ALL. Can you imagine the imbalance in those poor overweight devils who try to live on salad ... with commercial dressing?
In one of those blinding-light-on-the-road-to-Damascus moments, i "saw" last night that the reason i FEEL SO GOOD eating my at-home diet of grassfed/pastured meat and eggs is ... the additional omega-3s. I take cod liver oil every day and eat salmon and sardines regularly, but obviously in my case more is better. My thanks to Wooo and Sidereal for pointing out recently what a difference O3 makes to the brain.
It wouldn't be the first time.... I need to supplement all kinds of things that properly-functioning individuals safely assume they get from food. Iron, B12, carnitine....
We're going out of town again as a Christmas treat -- the first vacation J and i have enjoyed ALONE together without him having any work duties, in over a decade. I'll be eating out for over a week. Tell ya what i'll also be doing -- loading up on fatty fish! I considered leaving the CLO at home, but that ain't gonna happen now. If i have to fill the hotel fridge with lox, i WILL do it! ;-)
Thursday, December 13, 2012
this oughta fool 'em
:-D Got somebody in your Christmas circle whom YOU think ought to cut back on the sugar? I tried a new recipe (which has been in my collection for years, untested) just now, for a cream-cheese-based fudge that i consider an unqualified success. It even has that slightly gritty texture that REAL from-scratch fudge has!
I'll confess this stuff is not paleo-correct -- i used "forbidden" sweeteners -- but hey, it's holiday-time! If one is not going to be PERFECT all the time (the BEST plan, i agree) ... if one needs to take a sweet to a holiday party that isn't the "weird stuff" WE prefer ... if our diabetic-idiot Aunt Gertrude INSISTS on eating fudge ... well, this might be an acceptable choice. (I'll publish it here AND put in on my recipe page.)
CREAM CHEESE FOOLIN' FUDGE
8 oz. block of cream cheese
3 T. cream
1 c. granulated/powdered erythritol
1 c. granulated/powdered xylitol (don't let the dog have any!)
4-6 oz. unsweetened "baking" chocolate
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 t. sea salt (i used coarse-ground)
nuts, to taste
Place cream and broken chocolate in the top of a double-boiler and heat together till chocolate is melty (it doesn't have to become homogenous). Blend the room-temp cheese in a food-processor and add in the sweeteners and vanilla till smooth. Add the chocolate mixture and mix well. Last, mix in the salt and nuts, then spread in a buttered pan, and chill to harden.
I'll confess this stuff is not paleo-correct -- i used "forbidden" sweeteners -- but hey, it's holiday-time! If one is not going to be PERFECT all the time (the BEST plan, i agree) ... if one needs to take a sweet to a holiday party that isn't the "weird stuff" WE prefer ... if our diabetic-idiot Aunt Gertrude INSISTS on eating fudge ... well, this might be an acceptable choice. (I'll publish it here AND put in on my recipe page.)
CREAM CHEESE FOOLIN' FUDGE
8 oz. block of cream cheese
3 T. cream
1 c. granulated/powdered erythritol
1 c. granulated/powdered xylitol (don't let the dog have any!)
4-6 oz. unsweetened "baking" chocolate
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 t. sea salt (i used coarse-ground)
nuts, to taste
Place cream and broken chocolate in the top of a double-boiler and heat together till chocolate is melty (it doesn't have to become homogenous). Blend the room-temp cheese in a food-processor and add in the sweeteners and vanilla till smooth. Add the chocolate mixture and mix well. Last, mix in the salt and nuts, then spread in a buttered pan, and chill to harden.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
new recipe
FYI, i just remembered to add my husband's stellar recipe for cauliflower to the list. It makes a good low-carb side for any meat dish, and even vegetable-haters tend to love it. Just in time for that Christmas feast.... ;-)
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
proud to present anecdotes!
Ya know ... an awful lot of writers/bloggers, amateur and professional, make a big point of sneering at anecdotes and proclaiming that THEIR point of view is the correct one because they have SCIENCE on their side!!! There are a few problems with that:
...Because ideal macronutrient ratios are different between rats and mice, let alone us.
...Because studies often use human subjects who are young, whole, and uncomplicated -- not the middle-aged, menopausal and carbohydrate-intolerant.
...Because the sometimes-arbitrary conditions of laboratory studies don't necessarily match real-world situations.
"Science" can be very good at pinning down mechanisms and processes once they're identified, but until they are, conducting studies can just confuse the poor myopic plodders who do things like feed, exercise and test nocturnal animals during the daytime.
So -- sorry -- claims of scientific evidence are not a clinching argument, but rather a starting point for enquiry into ways and means. You may feel your study is definitive, but until you can show that it works in real people under normal circumstances, it doesn't actually MEAN diddly-squat.
- one can design a study that will "prove" anything one bloody well pleases;
- the proclaimers get all nearsighted when accosted with a study that "proves" the opposite;
- just because it works on genetically-modified mice does not mean it will apply to humans;
- due to genetic and time/damage-wrought variations in humans, we can each react very differently to ANY stimulus.
...Because ideal macronutrient ratios are different between rats and mice, let alone us.
...Because studies often use human subjects who are young, whole, and uncomplicated -- not the middle-aged, menopausal and carbohydrate-intolerant.
...Because the sometimes-arbitrary conditions of laboratory studies don't necessarily match real-world situations.
"Science" can be very good at pinning down mechanisms and processes once they're identified, but until they are, conducting studies can just confuse the poor myopic plodders who do things like feed, exercise and test nocturnal animals during the daytime.
So -- sorry -- claims of scientific evidence are not a clinching argument, but rather a starting point for enquiry into ways and means. You may feel your study is definitive, but until you can show that it works in real people under normal circumstances, it doesn't actually MEAN diddly-squat.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
supplements "as needed"
When i go out of town, my supplement-taking becomes a lot less organized. It's a pain to have to pack all those little bottles -- they take up a lot of space which means they have a train-case of their very own. I can't always spread them out at my destination (if i stay in one place more than a couple of days), which makes my taking them more haphazard. But when i leave some behind at home, i see pretty clearly which ones have a strong impact on my well-being.
At home, they're ranged on my side of the bathroom counter with the contact-lens solutions, deodorant, salt container for the neti-pot, electric toothbrush and scented candle -- quite a lot of clutter! But they're also organized by time-of-day when they're taken, so i don't have to seek for the first-thing-in-the-morning bottles, and the midday take-these-together items are easily identified. I use my comb as a divider between those i've already taken and the ones i haven't. If i choose not to use a particular supplement today, i turn the bottle upside-down as i put it to the left of the comb. I "have to" do things like this -- i have so vivid an imagination that sometimes i wonder if i DID take those antihistamines or just THOUGHT about it....
Being systematic about my supplement-taking has helped to define which nutrients are really necessary, and some of the conclusions are surprising. After my thyroid glandular and the iodine and selenium, i find that the most obvious things i need to pack are the IRON and the BETAINE-HCl! The latter is an "emergency" supplement -- indispensable when i'm so drained that my stomach doesn't work properly. My absorption of iron from foods is obviously so poor that without the supplement, taken on an empty stomach in company with selenium, C and B12, the amount of hair i shed is directly connected with my depletion. I see NO correlation with shedding and copper, though balance of the two minerals is theoretically essential.
The "as needed" part is where things get tricky. I "know" that cod-liver oil (or capsules of it), K2, acetyl-carnitine and CoQ10 are beneficial, and i KNOW that magnesium and zinc are essential, but i don't feel their effects much if at all. I take them in modest quantities daily. Carnitine i'm convinced is a good addition, but like vitamin C is a behind-the-scenes "plus" rather than a star on stage -- if i skip a day or two, i don't expect to experience a big difference. Tyrosine is so potent a stimulant as well as a provoker of tremors, i'm treating it very gingerly these days. If circumstances make me need to pour out my energy, i have no doubt that it is a good thing, but for an ordinary day i find it winds me up too much -- rather than improving thyroid function and boosting dopamine, it seems to prefer to take the highway to adrenaline, and i tend to secrete that a lot already. The mucuna seems to be an antidote to tyrosine's action as an upper, balancing the catecholamines.
The pregnenolone arrived yesterday and i've let a 10mg sublingual melt in my mouth twice already -- i don't notice any reaction yet, but i'll keep you informed. In my mid-life reduced-hormone state, i may find that getting used to it then dropping it again might show me its effects more clearly; that's a sure test for the iron.
[sigh] The hoops i jump through, to try to function like a normal person...!!! The young and "whole" -- that is, most paleo bloggers -- don't have a clue how fortunate they are. And it's not like i "brought it on myself with poor choices." :-P- - - ...How do you blow a "razberry" using emoticons?
At home, they're ranged on my side of the bathroom counter with the contact-lens solutions, deodorant, salt container for the neti-pot, electric toothbrush and scented candle -- quite a lot of clutter! But they're also organized by time-of-day when they're taken, so i don't have to seek for the first-thing-in-the-morning bottles, and the midday take-these-together items are easily identified. I use my comb as a divider between those i've already taken and the ones i haven't. If i choose not to use a particular supplement today, i turn the bottle upside-down as i put it to the left of the comb. I "have to" do things like this -- i have so vivid an imagination that sometimes i wonder if i DID take those antihistamines or just THOUGHT about it....
Being systematic about my supplement-taking has helped to define which nutrients are really necessary, and some of the conclusions are surprising. After my thyroid glandular and the iodine and selenium, i find that the most obvious things i need to pack are the IRON and the BETAINE-HCl! The latter is an "emergency" supplement -- indispensable when i'm so drained that my stomach doesn't work properly. My absorption of iron from foods is obviously so poor that without the supplement, taken on an empty stomach in company with selenium, C and B12, the amount of hair i shed is directly connected with my depletion. I see NO correlation with shedding and copper, though balance of the two minerals is theoretically essential.
The "as needed" part is where things get tricky. I "know" that cod-liver oil (or capsules of it), K2, acetyl-carnitine and CoQ10 are beneficial, and i KNOW that magnesium and zinc are essential, but i don't feel their effects much if at all. I take them in modest quantities daily. Carnitine i'm convinced is a good addition, but like vitamin C is a behind-the-scenes "plus" rather than a star on stage -- if i skip a day or two, i don't expect to experience a big difference. Tyrosine is so potent a stimulant as well as a provoker of tremors, i'm treating it very gingerly these days. If circumstances make me need to pour out my energy, i have no doubt that it is a good thing, but for an ordinary day i find it winds me up too much -- rather than improving thyroid function and boosting dopamine, it seems to prefer to take the highway to adrenaline, and i tend to secrete that a lot already. The mucuna seems to be an antidote to tyrosine's action as an upper, balancing the catecholamines.
The pregnenolone arrived yesterday and i've let a 10mg sublingual melt in my mouth twice already -- i don't notice any reaction yet, but i'll keep you informed. In my mid-life reduced-hormone state, i may find that getting used to it then dropping it again might show me its effects more clearly; that's a sure test for the iron.
[sigh] The hoops i jump through, to try to function like a normal person...!!! The young and "whole" -- that is, most paleo bloggers -- don't have a clue how fortunate they are. And it's not like i "brought it on myself with poor choices." :-P- - - ...How do you blow a "razberry" using emoticons?
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
new idea for me, borrowed from EB
I had occasion to reread Sidereal's last post, having referred my son to it this morning.... It's no surprise to me that blogs' comment sections can be just as fertile an area for ideas as the main text -- except where the audience is a pack of morons, and Ad Libitum's readers are NOT.
"Exceptionally Brash" made a comment which didn't particularly "click" with me when i first read it, but DID this morning. She observed that the use of bioidentical progesterone seemed to "fix" her ability to use carbohydrates in a "normal" way (my phrasing). Remember, she was a lean vegetarian for many years, then with midlife hormonal changes began to gain weight on the same intake that she maintained with before.
The discussion seems to me to settle on dopamine as the final substance which wrought the desirable end-product, but i wonder if testosterone might be a part of the equation. It occurs to me that the paleo world's "potato brigade" is peopled largely by the highly-T-endowed amongst us....
Since going out of town a couple of weeks ago, i have been abnormally low in energy. It's as though to have even MY usual levels of vitality, i need to have every nutrient in proper quantity and balance just like a house of cards -- and one puff of wind (in the form of a deficiency, or too many carbs, or too little sleep...) can tumble it right down. The tedious rebuilding of my Edifice of Energy can take a LONG TIME ... and i'm just beginning the second story at this point.
I'm going to try yet another experiment. Adding tyrosine made me hyper instead of energetic, and carnitine was less than perfect too, though i'm still using both supplements albeit in smaller, less frequent doses. I just ordered some sublingual pregnenolone tablets as suggested by Drs Peat and Sahelian (not that these guys are on my go-to list), and i'm interested to see what the effects will be. Ideally, it will be a better supplement than the progesterone cream i've used before, which tends to promote fat deposition on the location where it's applied!
one benefit of being away...
Yesterday afternoon, i indulged myself, and it felt GOOD! I was drinking champagne and catching up on half a week's blog posts.
Sometimes weeks go by without much new stuff too read -- sad for me, a reading junkie! Not that there isn't a lot of good older articles in the archives of my favorite blogs, but somehow "dried fruit" isn't as compelling to me as the fresh juicy stuff (figuratively speaking). When Peter, John, Emily or Mike writes about a study that's hot off the presses, and which confirms my low-carb bias, the sweet smell of victory fills the air! :-D And as for "think-pieces" from Sid or Wooo....
Being as incommunicado as i am in "cowboy town" gives me an exceptional opportunity of reading new stuff when i get back in range of a secure internet connection. In the wilds there, i depend on my Blackberry, and though my Verizon connection is better than the old AT&T one, it's still VERY iffy. Holding an audible telephone conversation isn't a sure thing, and when it comes to loading a page with too many pictures ... HA!
So getting back home i had a wealth of fresh blog posts and articles to read -- hurrah! My favorite reading chair was burdened for HOURS.
I've long believed in the power of reading for encouragement and reinforcement in "dieting," and there was a post at Mike Eades' blog (which eludes me, now that i'm trying to find it) that gave a good scientific reason for continuing my habit. These days i'm so confirmed in what works and what doesn't i don't really HAVE to get continued reassurance that whatever practice i'm pursuing actually WILL pay off ... but i must say i like the positive input anyway!
Sometimes weeks go by without much new stuff too read -- sad for me, a reading junkie! Not that there isn't a lot of good older articles in the archives of my favorite blogs, but somehow "dried fruit" isn't as compelling to me as the fresh juicy stuff (figuratively speaking). When Peter, John, Emily or Mike writes about a study that's hot off the presses, and which confirms my low-carb bias, the sweet smell of victory fills the air! :-D And as for "think-pieces" from Sid or Wooo....
Being as incommunicado as i am in "cowboy town" gives me an exceptional opportunity of reading new stuff when i get back in range of a secure internet connection. In the wilds there, i depend on my Blackberry, and though my Verizon connection is better than the old AT&T one, it's still VERY iffy. Holding an audible telephone conversation isn't a sure thing, and when it comes to loading a page with too many pictures ... HA!
So getting back home i had a wealth of fresh blog posts and articles to read -- hurrah! My favorite reading chair was burdened for HOURS.
I've long believed in the power of reading for encouragement and reinforcement in "dieting," and there was a post at Mike Eades' blog (which eludes me, now that i'm trying to find it) that gave a good scientific reason for continuing my habit. These days i'm so confirmed in what works and what doesn't i don't really HAVE to get continued reassurance that whatever practice i'm pursuing actually WILL pay off ... but i must say i like the positive input anyway!
Monday, December 3, 2012
finally back at home!
On the way home from Thanksgiving at my daughter's house in Houston, Spense and i attended a living-history weekend. It completed the conversion of my diet from "sloppy" to properly low-carb.
Did you all notice the recipe for jalapeno cheese squares? The batch i made on Wednesday provided several meals for me, and were very handy in the car. Fortunately, the nearest little town to our "playground for grown-ups" has one good basic restaurant where some of us ate a dinner and a breakfast before the event began -- an "ultimate omelet" for the latter meal and grilled shrimp, green beans, squash and spinach for the former. I was even saved from temptation to order a baked potato by the lack of REAL butter in the establishment....
While the other citizens of our old-west town chowed down on chicken and dumplings, i reheated the leftovers of my prime rib of Wednesday night. :-) I prepared lunch on Saturday, and i must blushingly confess to cooking them up some rather "evil" little pasties, which they polished off rapidly. My brunch was completely different, as you might imagine. Saturday dinner there is always STEAK, and usually very good ones. My bone-in ribeye was so big i couldn't finish it, and my side-dish was an innocent vegetable unlike the baked beans and rolls indulged in by the others. That evening my dessert consisted of a couple of jiggers of Curacao as the sweetening agent in the period-appropriate cocktails i was making for us. My single indulgence!
I ate breakfast with the others this (Sunday) morning -- bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and black coffee. SOMEONE PUT MILK IN THE EGGS! YUK!!!!! Then i dashed madly about, packing stuff up, loading the car, and driving the 11 hours back home. There were certain misadventures, too, with my Verizon Navigator. :-( Only made two stops; I was VERY ready to reach my destination.
If my husband wakes me in the morning, i'll kill him....
Did you all notice the recipe for jalapeno cheese squares? The batch i made on Wednesday provided several meals for me, and were very handy in the car. Fortunately, the nearest little town to our "playground for grown-ups" has one good basic restaurant where some of us ate a dinner and a breakfast before the event began -- an "ultimate omelet" for the latter meal and grilled shrimp, green beans, squash and spinach for the former. I was even saved from temptation to order a baked potato by the lack of REAL butter in the establishment....
While the other citizens of our old-west town chowed down on chicken and dumplings, i reheated the leftovers of my prime rib of Wednesday night. :-) I prepared lunch on Saturday, and i must blushingly confess to cooking them up some rather "evil" little pasties, which they polished off rapidly. My brunch was completely different, as you might imagine. Saturday dinner there is always STEAK, and usually very good ones. My bone-in ribeye was so big i couldn't finish it, and my side-dish was an innocent vegetable unlike the baked beans and rolls indulged in by the others. That evening my dessert consisted of a couple of jiggers of Curacao as the sweetening agent in the period-appropriate cocktails i was making for us. My single indulgence!
I ate breakfast with the others this (Sunday) morning -- bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and black coffee. SOMEONE PUT MILK IN THE EGGS! YUK!!!!! Then i dashed madly about, packing stuff up, loading the car, and driving the 11 hours back home. There were certain misadventures, too, with my Verizon Navigator. :-( Only made two stops; I was VERY ready to reach my destination.
If my husband wakes me in the morning, i'll kill him....
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