Here Be Dragons

2007-04-11

I'm in class all this week in Boston. It sure is warmer than when I attended in January and February. It's almost pleasant!

A few things I haven't mentioned:

1. My youngest daughter recently went back to college for her masters. She's decided to become an elementary school teacher in special ed. Last Friday she found out that she passed the first of three tests she must take to be a teacher in Massachusetts. I'm so proud and happy for her. I think she's found "her thing".

2. My oldest daughter also went back to school to get her Bachelors. After 13 years of nursing in every department except emergency she's ready to branch out into management. I'm excited for her!

3. Ok now the big one, for me anyhow. When Ron left me I took stock of myself as I was going on the market again, the meat market, and I didn't like what I saw.

I was almost bald from chemo, 30 pounds
overweight, over 50 years old, a smoker and a daily drinker. My wardrobe consisted of jeans and casual tops, some of them over 15 years old and very out of style. The only shoes I had were sneakers. I didn't exercise except for my good weather walks and I wasn't very faithful to them even when it was good weather. It was always too hot, too cold, too damp or too windy.

That was in 2003. Since then I went on Atkins and lost 40 pounds, quit smoking, gained back 30 pounds because of it, but lately I've managed to exercise regularly. I've asked Fred to stop bringing alcohol into the house and asked if he minds much if we refrain from drinking for awhile. He was all for it. (and I have updated my wardrobe, I just don't fit in it anymore)

So I don't smoke, don't drink, exercise regularly and I'm still 30 pounds overweight, rapidly going on 35. It has become obvious that I, along with most of America, don't know how to eat. I've tried and succeeded on Atkins but I think I lost alot of muscle and leeched bone mass from my frame as immediately afterwards I was weak as a kitten and diagnosed with osteoporosis.

I ate raw foods for awhile but that too was too restrictive and not a varied diet that would naturally serve most of my body's needs. As I researched I found that theories on how to eat were so varied and contradictory that it was confusing as hell. But I think I found a book with some scientific backing that makes sense for a human being that naturally evolved as both a vegetable, fruit and meat eater, an omnivore if you will. It's called The Zone and it is very close to the low carb South Beach Diet. Since I've seen the success of very low carb (and the dangers)diets it makes sense to me that something not quite so severe may work well and be more natural.

Basically you eat in a 3 to 4 ratio of protein and carbs with carbs being slightly more pronounced than protein with 4 units of carbs to every three units of protein. It's goal is to control insulin (and disease) by controlling what controls insulin, eicosanoids, and you have to eat fats but good ones.

It's a way of eating and not specifically a diet for weight loss. The anti-inflammatory benfits I think will help my arthritis without asprin.

Quote: "Dr. Barry Sears emphasizes a hormonal paradox of which "low-fat" advocates were unaware, namely that low-fat diets increase the production of the hormone insulin, causing the body to store more fat. He points to the cattle ranching practice of fattening livestock efficiently by feeding them lots of low-fat grain. He and others have noted the irony that human diets in the West for the last twenty years have been full of low-fat carbohydrates, yet people are more obese."

You can read about it HERE. What I want is a natural and healthy way of not just eating but disease prevention and naturally maintaing a proper weight. He said that the most powerful human drug is food and that stuck with me because I think he's right and there must be an optimal way to eat for full health. It's also known as the paleolithic diet or caveman diet as they think it mimics the ratios we developed as hunter gatherers in Paleolithic times. I'll let you know how it works out.

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