Opus 2019-177: The Real Hunger Games

I have noticed a lot of great memes based on the idea that guns don’t kill people; people kill people.  One of them came to me this morning as I was thinking about my battle with diabetes.  Everyone is different but for me the key to keeping diabetes in the green zone is to keep my weight down.  The battle continues.

I want to blame the food.  I want to blame my family.  I want to blame the holidays.  I want to blame all kinds of things. 

As the meme suggests, if food made me fat then the most effective diet would be a locked door.  That way the chips could not get out of the bag, run into my room, force my mouth open and hop in.  They would not be able to repeat until the bag was empty.  All I would need to do is close the door.  I wouldn’t even need to lock it.

In case you have not figured it out, it doesn’t work. 

Maybe I will figure out the answer some day.  Maybe a snack would help me think.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-107: Small Victories

I didn’t eat any peanuts yesterday.  Okay, neither did you but were you sitting at a table with an endless supply included in the cost of your meal?  We were at a steak place that has barrels of peanuts in every corner and buckets of peanuts on every table.  It is awesome.  I love peanuts.  I did not eat any.

I kept telling myself they were the spawn of Satan there to temp me into gluttony.  I would have been partly right.  They were tempting and I have good, logical reasons to scarf.  If they are included in the price of the meal it would be good stewardship to eat as many of them as I can and then take my steak home, right?  I keep telling myself that but my scale at home reminds me that I would be taking home more than the steak.

As a diabetic I have to watch what I eat and keep my weight down.  Many of you have been there.  You can lose the weight.  We have all done it many times.  The issue is that it keeps coming back.  One of the culprits is free peanuts.  Ounce by ounce, pound by pound the scales keep reporting the facts.

Peanuts are good.  They are not evil.  However I believe gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins and moderation is one of the seven ignored virtues.  I am not good at moderation.  I could have had a few peanuts and been okay.  I know my limits or at least I did this trip.  I refrained.

I had a six ounce sirloin at 250 calories and double broccoli at about 100.  I ignored the peanuts and declined the rolls dripping in butter.  It was enough.  This time.

But those peanuts looked good.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-421: Headline: Water Is Wet

The headline on Instapundit sounded exciting:  A diet that could reverse diabetes.  Since I had reversed my diabetes I was interested in finding out what this magic formula was.  The link was to something called Science Alert.

Alas, it was just another come on.  The diet consisted of eating less than 1,000 calories a day.  It was discovered that if they followed the diet and lost the weight, the diabetes went away.  Okay.  Where is the news?  Two things here are common knowledge.  First, almost anyone who consumes less than 1,000 calories a day will lose weight.  Second, if you lose enough weight, and you body is not already badly damaged, you will go into remission. 

So where is the big break through?  The problem is that people will not limit their intake for long and the weight will not stay gone.

I am waiting for the high Cheese-It consumption diet that will do away with diabetes.  That I would volunteer for.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-011: I Have Met the Enemies

As I look at the coming year I am determined to make progress in my physical well being.  I can’t do much about the threat of nuclear war and I am not worried about global warming or cooling but I can work on my health.  My major enemies are calories, appetite and sloth.

About five or six years ago I got serious about my diabetes and lost a lot of weight.  Since I was too heavy to weigh on any normal scale it is hard to tell how much I lost.  It could have been as high as 150 pounds.  That really doesn’t matter.  What matters is as my weight went down I moved from diabetic to pre-diabetic to “If I had to evaluate you now, I would say you are not diabetic.”  I lost enough to dodge a bullet.  It worked for me but everyone is different.

The problem is that the bullet is still out there and will always need to be dodged.  So I have not given up.  I am still fighting the battle but the bullet keeps getting closer and closer.  My weight keeps creeping up.  Why?  I feel like I am still watching what I eat yet the numbers refuse to stay down.  One reason is I am getting older.  The sad part of the issue is that my metabolism is not burning energy as well as it did.  There is nothing I can do about that.  The alternative is to not get older.

Enter the enemies.

Calories have a way of not getting counted.  You know the old lie, “One bite won’t hurt.”  No, it won’t hurt, but it will still count.  One extra Life Saver a day adds up to a pound a year.  Then there was the clerk at the See’s Candy store that said, “Our candy doesn’t have any calories”.  We both knew she was joking but too many times we act like it is true.  As I move along I also start counting calories by eye rather than honest measure.  Is the apple, small, medium or large?  How much is one bite of ice cream?  I fool myself into thinking I am consuming less calories than I really did.  Calories are like physics:  They do not lie.  Gravity will not go away.  Neither will the 3,500 calories that make up a pound.

Appetite tends to rule.  Honestly, was I really hungry?  I am not sure I know what real hunger is.  I am good at fooling myself but again the proof is in the pudding when the pudding is in the belly.  I think I consume almost half my calories in the evening.  Is it because I am in need of sustenance or seeking solace? 

Finally there is sloth.  I need to get out and exercise.  As a middle school teacher who does not sit in class and read the paper, I am pretty active during the day.  I got one of those gizmos that keep track of your steps and quickly realized I was meeting my quota.  That is not the same as getting out and walking for a half hour straight.  And what am I going to do when I retire? 

The battle continues.  I have lost ground.  That is the bad news.  The good news is I have not given up the fight.  You all know those times when you go on a diet and lose some weight and reach the nadir.  You can almost feel when you set the discipline aside and pick up the excuses.  I have not reached that point and with God’s help will never reach it.

I need a donut.  Just kidding.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-48: Healthy Insights: The Three C’s of Cuisine

I like to dine out, too much.  So I avoid it when I can unless I have been to a place often enough to know what works for me and what doesn’t.  For me diabetes is the prognosis of gluttony.  Self control and moderation are the antidotes.

When I eat out I consider three C’s.

I count the calories.  This is hard to do at restaurants.  Often they will list a calorie count but if you are not aware of the technique or don’t want to know, you miss the fact that the condiments, side courses and bread are not included.  Sometimes on sandwiches they give you the count on a dry sandwich.  Give me a bowl of soup and skip the crackers. 

I consider the cost.  I am cheap.  I have a hard time paying big bucks for something I could make at home for a fraction of the cost.  At times it is socially necessary to eat out but it still hurts my pocketbook.

Does the food provide a sense of contentment?  It is often surprising what does it.  It requires experiment.  My wife has a deli she likes.  She will sometimes want to split a small pizza with me.  I love pizza so I used to go along with that.  The problem is that after eating half the pizza with an unknown, but high, calorie count I still wanted the other half.  I found that a bowl of vegetable soup would leave me satisfied.  It doesn’t make sense but it works for me.  It is just a strategy of having her take the other half of the pizza home and getting her to feel that it wasn’t rejection of her. 

So I make popcorn at home and I can get by with from 140 to 200 calories for a satisfying portion.  My wife has two Oreo Cookies, 160 calories.  I would need to finish the whole package with a lot of milk and still want more. 

Find what works for you and let me follow my drummer.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-37: Healthy Insights: Less Is Not More

I just finished my breakfast portion and my body is calling out, “More!”  Intellectually I know I have had enough.  If I listen to my inner self I can tell that my body is trying to deceive me.  Today I had another victory and ignored that inner voice.

The thing I miss while working on my eating is not a particular food but the feeling of satiation.  You see, I can eat anything I want.  Yes, I am diabetic, but it is on a level that if I follow common sense and show moderation I can eat anything.  I just can’t eat as much as I want.  The is the rub.  I want to supersize and finish every crumb.  I look on all-you-can-eat as a challenge.  I act like leftovers are a sin.

But I can’t follow the inclination of my appetite.  A good motivation is to think of insulin syringes.  Another reason not to keep eating is so that I can keep my eyes and feet.  I have fought the good fight for several years and don’t plan on giving up.

But those pastries and breakfast sandwiches keep calling to me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-431: Goal A, part 2 of 2

When I finally admitted to myself that I had diabetes, I got serious about dealing with it.  I lost a significant amount of weight.  Many of you have been there.  I always say losing weight is easy.  Now I am trying to keep it off.  That is the hard part.  Most of us with weight problems have lost thousands of pounds over our lifetime.  Then we gain it all back, and more.

The problem I continued to have was that I fixated on the weight loss and forgot the real goal:  Being healthy.  Since I have diabetes that might be expressed better as being healthier.  That requires keeping the weight off.  That requires control of my eating.  Self control, no gimmick or pre-packaged commercial program supplies that key element.

There is a difference between a goal and a side effect.  If we focus on the side effect we will never reach our Goal A.  If I focus on weight loss I can feel good half the time and in the other half return to the same bloated condition.  If I focus on how my clothes fit I can always fool myself with different cuts and styles.  When I first started dealing with my diabetes I was told to count carbohydrates.  I counted and had victory... over my carbohydrates.  It did nothing for my diabetes because it did nothing about my weight.  Being the clever sort, I realized that I could pig out on cheese and bacon and still be following the rules.  They don’t have carbs but they do have calories.

In education we see the same thing.  We have the wrong goals.  We talk rigor and high standards.  We practice self esteem and feelings.  This is probably why the group with the highest math scores are the ones with the lowest self esteem scores.

Spiritually it boils down to,

(Matthew 6:33 KJV)  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Spend some time asking yourself what Goal A is for you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-429: Goal A, part 1 of 2

It seems almost impossible for people to set clear goals and achieve them. 

Years ago my wife and I went to seminar on time management and I read several books on the subject.  One of the key principles that they emphasized was understanding what your end goal was and why you wanted to reach it.  It is harder than it sounds.  Everyone who teaches on planning has some words that are interchangeable but represent concepts you need to understand.  The words can be goals, objects, targets, benchmarks.  Every guru defines them different.

For simplicity lets call them all goals but have levels.  At the top it Goal A.  This is your Ultimate Goal.  Below it you would have level B goals, B1, B2, B3, etc.  Below each of those you would have level C so that you could have goal C1a, C1b and C1c under B1.  Under B2 you would have C2a, C2b and C2c.  If you have the right kind of personality you can make beautiful charts and graphs that will take all you time and keep you from achieving Goal A.  You are officially OCD.

People come up with some great ideas.  Everyone likes them.  Enthusiasm builds until someone asks, “What does this have to do with reaching Goal A?”  I think I mentioned this before, but I had a district official come into my class and ask what my students were doing.  In the explanation I mentioned reading comprehension.  He lit up with joy.  He knew that term.  He did not have a clue to what it meant but he remembered hearing it somewhere.  He proceeded to tell me that the students should be sitting in groups reading to each other instead of each one working alone out of the book.  They should be interacting and feeling good about what they were doing.  I concede that would be more fun but my question was “How would that teach them reading comprehension?”  We had different Goal A’s.  Mine was reading comprehension.  His was self-esteem.  His was to feel good.  Mine was to have something to feel good about.

It is important to know what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it.  Basics in planning are overlooked.  As a result things go from bad to worse.  We get distracted by side effects and forget what we were doing in the first place.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-186: Discernment Watch: Yoga and Diabetes

Recently I learned that Yoga is good for battling Diabetes.  It must be true.  I heard it in a doctor’s office.

To be fair, it wasn’t the doctor but one of the ladies in the office that expressed this opinion.  We were having a discussion of weight loss and diabetes.  In light of that I thought, the head line on Drudge, which took me to The Independent, was interesting because it claimed that the Muslims in India were claiming that the International Day of Yoga was a plot by the Hindus to advance their religion.

This is nothing new to me.  I have long known that Yoga was a practice steeped in Hindu thought.  I shared it with the lady in the doctor’s office.  She, of course, did not believe me.  Now I find myself in the embarrassing position of agreeing with some Muslim leaders. 

“Kamal Farooqui, a member of the Muslim Personal Law Board, told BBC Urdu that by promoting yoga, the government is trying to push a Hindu agenda.”

I understand that millions of people participate in Yoga as nothing more than a type of exercise.  I also know that it is rooted in a philosophy from eastern religion in which meditation is an emptying of the mind.  Christian meditation is different.  It is a filling of the mind with a teaching or principle from the Bible.  Same word, different foundation, opposite goals.

So think twice before you get into Yoga.  Look a little deeper.  Do the same thing when you hear the Muslims demanding accommodations like places to wash their feet and Sharia.  Of course, if you are a cafeteria Christian or garden type pagan, it doesn’t make any difference.

Whatever its spiritual roots, I still don’t think Yoga will cure diabetes.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-22: Speed Dull

Are knives dulled more quickly by plastic cutting boards?

As I fight my diabetes-nurturing weight I am learning to do more than make baloney sandwiches.  One of the big parts of my diet is salad.  I do a lot of cutting, pealing and chopping.  I have come to appreciate good knives.  I have learned to try to keep them sharp.  A dull knife is a dangerous knife.

Keeping them sharp involves a sharpener, obviously, but even more.  There is an intermediate step of honing.  It looks like a steel rod.  It has a handle on one end and a rough surface.  You strop the knife on a regular basis and it keeps it sharp longer.  Simple and effective.

I have been noticing something and I am wondering if it is my imagination.  I use different types of cutting boards.  At one point my wife was getting fussy about the wooden boards so I started using some made of plastic.  It seems to me that the knives get dull faster using the plastic than they do with wood.

Fact or fiction?

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-239: Balance Is Extreme

As I have shared, when I was forced to admit I was diabetic, I lost over 100 pounds and in my case the symptoms went away.  Praise God.  I realize we are all different and this was my blessing.  Now comes the hard part, keeping it off.

One of the things I noticed is that I do a much better job of food control when I am going solo than when I am in a social environment.  Thus, I lost most of my weight in a year when my wife was out of town a lot.  The next year she was only gone a little, my weight ticked up.  The next time period she was home and the trend continued.  I have not given up.  I am still working on controlling my appetite. 

A lot of it is attitude.  I find that if I set a certain level of calories it helps me keep control of what I eat, but attitude takes over.  I start looking at that magic number as a target.  I find that I have tried to get as close as I can without going over.  I can feel good about that but it is the wrong attitude. 

I have begun to realize that my attitude should not be “see how close I can come,” but “see how far away I can stay.” 

Spiritually it is the difference between legalism and holiness.  In the Christian life there is a continuum of responses to the relationship between sin and righteousness.  There are three responses to temptation and sin:  Legalism - Holiness - Antinomianism

Legalism says, “How close can I come.”  Antinomianism, the rejection of any law, says, “It doesn’t matter what I do.”  Holiness is in the middle.  It matters how you stand in regard to right and wrong but the attitude is different.  It is not how close you can come but how far away you can stay.  It is a matter of willing obedience in the quest for the right balance.

Is it the heart of the law.  I seek to stay on that middle ground even though I keep sliding one way or the other.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-86: Healthy Insights: Ruts and Rails

I am in a rut and I can live with it.

I pulled in the parking lot, got out of the car and slowly walked into Panera.  It was another glorious morning.  I savored those steps from door to door.  When I walked inside I noticed that my order was already on the counter.  I made a joke about being in a rut.  I get the same thing every day.  It works for me.

The problem with ruts is when they throw you off course or don’t go where you want them to go.  There is no problem with being in a rut if it saves you time.  There is nothing wrong with ruts if they are worn be repeated right actions.

My breakfast rut doesn’t mean I am refusing variety.  I have tried many of the items on the menu.  I like them all.  On a given day I might bust out and have one again.  On a daily basis they do not meet my needs.  I need to control my diabetes.  A bagel and cream cheese would triple my calorie intake for the morning.  After experimentation and calculation I have established my rut.  That is my rut and I’m sticking to it.

Think about it as a railroad track.  It is expensive to establish.  It only goes one place.  But it is carefully laid out and engineered.  You can get where you want to get without spending all your energy trying to avoid pot holes.  Enjoy your breakfast sandwich with designer bread, egg, cheese, bacon, avocado and mayo.  I will enjoy my low blood sugar.

My rut is something I can live with.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-272: Healthy Insights: A Word of Hope

I am diabetic.

Like anything else in life we are all different.  Nothing seems to work the same for everyone.  I want to encourage those on the diabetic road a little.  At the same time I understand that you may do everything right and your blood sugar still climbs.

I am diabetic.  At this point it is important to remember that.  Just as an alcoholic involved in Alcoholics Anonymous must continually confess that they are alcoholics even if they have not had a drink for years, we must remember what we are.  The ugly giant is there in the shadows, waiting to descend again.

But sometimes the attempts to control can make a real difference.  What woke me up and got me serious was an A1c of 10 and a referral to an endocrinologist.  I got serious enough to lose 100 pounds.  I stayed serious enough to keep it off for nine months now.  I don’t say that to brag or cast dispersions.  I may start chowing down tomorrow.  Or today.  I do say that to offer hope.

When I went to visit my kids this summer I was away from home for over a month.  I did not exercise as I should.  My diet was borderline at best.  I decided not to take my meter or test strips to check my blood.  When I got back my weight was the same and the two Sundays I checked my blood the cholesterol was at 94 and 87. 

If you have lost weight and it didn’t help, my heart goes out to you.  If you have never worked up the resolve to make it happen, let me encourage you.  It may be the decision that transforms your life.  You might be able to join me by throwing out all your medications and putting aside a lot of the worries.

The other shoe may drop tomorrow.  I understand that.  But for today, all is well.  Give it a try.  Encourage someone else to give it a try.  It isn’t easy.  It never goes away.

But remember, no medication needed is better than relying on the miracles of modern medicine.

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-332, Healthy Insights: The Three Strikes Season

There is a phrase that was used of people trying to deal with their drunkenness.  When they would have a relapse and hit the bottle again they would say they had “fallen off the wagon.”  I don’t drink but I do eat and there are similarities to abuse of alcohol and abuse of food.

We have come through Thanksgiving and Christmas.  New Years day is still ahead.  This is like the three strikes and you’re out law.  It is a time when people struggling with weight issues throw up their hands and give up.

I made it through Thanksgiving just fine.  I overdid a little, but that is life.  On the whole, I was a good little boy. 

Then Christmas approached.  One of the things that my wife does it bake before and during Christmas.  She doesn’t just bake, she BAKES.  We have creations and concoctions that started out as good recipes and get tweaked into celestial realms.  They have become part of the bribery that is supposed to bring the kids home.  So they get placed around the house in mixed piles.  Cookies with caramel and white chocolate chips.  Cookies with all kinds of nuts.  Layered things that have multiple colors and flavors with sprinkles of goodness on top.  Pretzels dipped in chocolate and who knows what else.  She even goes so far as to put out boxes of See’s Candy.

I pigged out.  That is not the problem.  It happens.  The problem is that I almost allowed a momentary relapse to grab hold of me and take me back to my old habits.  I was this close to giving up.  (Show fingers a quarter of an inch apart.)

This is the danger moment.  I made it past.  I thank the Lord.  I pray that you will also make it past.  To be healthy in your eating is a pattern and an attitude.  It is not perfection, it is a lifestyle.  If you had a bad day, I am sorry to say that New Years is still coming.  Don’t worry about it.  Don’t let it defeat you. 

Pick yourself up.  Dust yourself off.  Get back on the wagon.  If you need one more cookie before you climb aboard, go for it but be honest with yourself and make it one.  It isn’t the one cookie that brings back the obesity and diabetes, it is the package that comes after it.

Blessings as you grow in life.

Happy New Year.

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-199, Healthy Insights: A Word of Hope for Diabetics, Part 3 of 3

Currently my A1c is 5.  My fasting glucose ranges from 85 to 103.  My blood pressure was 120/65.  All my numbers are good.  This is the danger time.

Am I cured?  No.  I never will be.  This is a lifestyle change.  I think of it like being an alcoholic.  I may be in control but I will always be a diabetic.  Will things change?  Maybe.  Our bodies get older, things wear out.  But for now I am healthier than I was ten years ago.  The charts still say I am overweight so don’t pay too much attention to them.  Everyone thinks I am skinny.  Believe it or not, my wife is now nagging be that I should eat more.  I am in not danger of becoming anorexic.  I am still around 215 pounds at 6'3".  I can maintain that.  I am still eating 2,500 calories a day.  I can live with that.  God willing, I will remain in control.

It might not work for you.  I understand that.  Don’t feel guilt if you are doing everything right and it isn’t working for you.  But please, if you have never given weight loss a serious try, check it out.  It has worked for me.  I can only hope that you might also be one of that undiscovered 5%.

To be continued in life, if not on this blog.

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-198, Healthy Insights: A Word of Hope for Diabetics, Part 2 of 3

I was slow getting serious about dealing with my diabetes.  The problems were sloth and gluttony.  I did not want to be bothered and I enjoyed eating.  Food is my big sin.  I don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, chase women, gossip or watch sports all the time.  I eat.  I wanted to hang on to that.

I tried counting carbohydrates and walking.  The GP gave me a goal of 200 grams of carbs a day and I was able to do that.  It slowed things down but did not stop the upward swing.  Counting carbohydrates works well for gluttons.  Think of all the great foods that are carb free:  Cheese, steak, and fish.  I could really scarf and feel righteous about it.  But the numbers don’t lie.

Finally, when my wife was out of town and I had complete control of what I ate and no one to blame for my overeating I took the plunge.  I began to get serious about what I ate.

My first step was twofold.  I kept my carbohydrates below 200 grams and my calories below 2,500 a day.  I am a big guy.  I began to lose weight on 2,500 calories a day.  I was not after a big showy loss.  Like most overweight people, I have lost weight before.  I am not impressed by losing weight.  It is like some people who stop smoking.  They have done it many times.  I was in for the long hall.  As long as I was going down I was happy.

I also tried to get away from focusing on weight and diet and tried to zero in on change of lifestyle.  I only weighed once a week.  Most weeks I lost.  I also kept track of what I ate so that I could look back and see what was going into my body.  I wrote everything down in a little notebook.  I weighed everything I could and went on line to find sites that could give me information when I ate out.  By doing this I could take the weeks when I did not lose anything because I knew what I was doing would work.  I had the numbers.

My numbers began to go down with the weight.  I reached a point where I asked the doctor if I could ignore the carbohydrate counting and we gave it a try.  The numbers kept getting better.  We cut back on my diabetes medication.  The numbers kept getting better.  Eventually he took me off of all diabetes medication, blood pressure medication and cholesterol medication.  The number kept going down.  I have not taken any of those for about six months and my numbers are great.

I just saw my GP and he went though all the blood and urine tests.  Everything is well into the normal range.  My diabetes doctor says I am one of the 5%.  I hope that remains true in the future. 

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-197, Links: Hope from Another Source

While I am on the subject of hope for diabetics let me share something I came across this morning.  It is at a blog titled “The White Man” and the post is “Outliving a ‘Death Sentence’.”  If you have just been diagnosed or are living in fear of the future, give it a read.

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-196, Healthy Insights: A Word of Hope for Diabetics, Part 1 of 3

I want to give a word of hope for people suffering with diabetes.  Before I do I want to offer some serious disclaimers.  And I really mean them.  I am aware that everyone is different and everyone’s body responds differently.  What works for one often does not work for another.  This is not a guilt trip but a word of encouragement. 

My parents had four sons.  We developed diabetes.  Each of us has followed a different road.  The two that were the most vigorous and in the best condition have the worst experiences.  My younger brother has always been normal sized.  He was athletic and only slightly overweight.  When he was diagnosed, he lost weight and did what he was supposed to do.  Today he is taking several pills and using a needle.  I was the least active and at the same time the last one to be diagnosed.  For years the doctor kept telling me to lose weight or I would develop diabetes.  I did not lose and I did develop.  I did the same things my brother did and while he is popping pills and using a needle, I am medication free.

This is not bragging or preaching.  I just want to say that there are some things that can make your life better if you are one of those who have a body that responds. 

I patted my doctor on the head and ignored the nagging of my wife for years.  When my A1c reached 10 and my fasting glucose reached 200 my GP referred me to a specialist.  Some of you are much higher than that but this was my wake up call.  For some reason God seemed to let me know that the party was over.  I got serious.

Let me share you what has worked for me but remember it may not work for you.  Then again, it might.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-119, Healthy Insights: Weight Loss Secrets

Alister Begg strikes again.  He was talking about Jesus and the woman at the well.  When the disciples returned from seeking food, John records this conversation.

(John 4:31-34 KJV)  In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.  But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.  Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?  Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

At this point my mind began to wander again.  Since I have admitted to myself that I am diabetic I have been working on my weight.  Since there is not enough exercise in the world to make up for what I wanted to eat, the only avenue left was to eat less.  That is easy to say and hard to do.

One of the phenomenon I have noticed is that when I am occupied with something that really pulls me in I have less of a tendency to eat.  It tells me that much of my eating is recreational or boredom eating.  I remember thirty years ago in my first experience with the war games.  They were board games then, printed on huge maps with hundreds of counters.  I remember that once I got so carried away that I played all night.  What was really shocking was that I did it without eating. 

If I get involved in something now I don’t think about eating. 

What I am suggesting for a weight loss technique is to develop some interests that sidetrack you from food.  It is not a panacea but every little thing can help.  This would obviously be different for each of us.  It would probably be different from day to day.  It might not even work for you.

Blessings as you deal with the issue in your life.  Pray that I would not fall off the wagon.

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-83, Healthy Insights: Does This Dress Make Me Look Fat?

First off I must confess that I don’t wear dresses.  But in answer to the real question being asked, no.  Fat makes you look fat, not clothes.  But lighten up a bit about your weight.

We have all been to the doctor and had some part of our physical life measured and told we need to change.  Almost every time I see a new doctor they tell me to quit drinking.  In order to take in less alcohol I would need to stop walking by bars because all I ever get in is the air.  The advice is rote, not response.

We have all seen the charts that tell us if we are healthy or not.  Blood pressure is healthy or not based on some mysterious norm.  Cholesterol is too high or two low.  You weigh to much.

Says who?

The one that amuses me the most is the BMI.  I think it stands for Body Mass Index.  It is supposed to tell you whether you are too heavy or too fat.  It takes two numbers and comes up with a ratio.  Most of my adult life I have been either obese or morbidly obese.  Recently I have lost some weight and I am feeling reasonably confident I will be able to keep it off.  Currently I am still considered overweight by the BMI.  Everyone who sees me thinks I am a walking skeleton.  Some have expressed concerns about my health because I am looking emaciated.  How can you be overweight and emaciated at the same time?  The key is putting too much confidence in charts that are impersonal and one-size-fits-all. 

Consider:  I have very large feet; two of them.  I have not been able to walk into a store and buy a pair of shoes since grade school.  I think that adds a bit to my weight.  I have a very large head.  Hats in most stores come in general sizes, the largest being extra large.  They do not fit me.  When I get one of those cheap baseball caps with the plastic adjuster on the back I can only snap one of the little buttons and the hat is tight at that point.  I had a dentist tell me one time that he had never seen teeth so big.  I think it would be safe to say that I have big bones.  I am not just saying it to make excuses.  I do.  To put me on the same chart as a walking string bean is an exercise in futility.

So look at the charts.  Take them into consideration.  Evaluate the data but don’t get consumed by generic medicine.  We are all individuals.  We are all different.  What works for one person will not necessarily help another.  I was reading on a diabetic blog the story of a guy who was depressed because he was 157 pounds instead of 156.  The old BMI scale said he should be around 180.  The new one had lowered the numbers and he was consumed with reaching them.  He, and possibly you, needs to lighten up.

Stay healthy, by your definition.  Don’t let your blood pressure get high because someone printed a chart.

homo unius libri