Local Food Challenge

I belong to an organic food co-op. I get a basket of food every 2 weeks. The co-op buys the food from farms near (blueberries from New Jersey and far (bananas from Ecuador) and distributes it to the various "pods." I'm not sure how many pods there are in the co-op, but each pod has 15 members. Each pod is responsible for dividing the food into 15 shares. In our pod, members volunteer to do this job (you save $15 if you pack). Anyway, you cannot pick and choose what you want, you have to take whatever the co-op buys that week. I don't usually buy much other produce. It takes me about 2 weeks to use all the food. I am facing this local food challenge without the opportunity to shop at a local farmer's market. So, I have decided that in addition to the local food I get in my co-op order, I am going to concentrate on using up food that I have in the house-- can't get much more local than that. Time to cook all the chicken breasts in the freezer and add salsa to the tofu scramble and make salads with barley or wheatberries. I am going to cook and pack lunches for DH and I. Eating out will be more of a special treat.

The most recent co-op order did include blueberries from NJ and kale, lettuce, mushrooms, and yellow squash from Pennsylvania. Those are my local foods. Been working on the lettuce with salads, and last night I made some wonderful blueberry pancakes for dinner!

This morning I rode with "Ladies of C." There's a group of us that are 40+ years old, and we are all slow C riders. We rode 35 miles this morning and it went down pretty easy. It felt good!

Misc Monday

This past weekend featured picture perfect weather and the opportunity to ride 50 miles! On Saturday I led a 20 mile D ride for the bike club. I had 20 people show up which is great for the club but difficult to lead. I had a few "cowboys" that were looking for a faster ride, so after a few miles, they took off. Then I had one lady who had to walk up the first hill and decided to turn around on the 2nd hill. I was still left with a pretty large group of varying abilities, so I ended up splitting the ride, sending the faster riders off and finishing the ride with 9 of the slower riders. That worked out pretty well.

Yesterday was the bike club's July 4th event, which featured bike rides for all levels (A, B+, B, C+, C and D) followed by a BBQ-potluck picnic. I found plenty of room at the rear of the 30 mile C ride and a big appetite when we got back to the picnic. DH came along, he did the C+ ride for 45 miles and I was happy to have him there and to introduce him to my bike riding buddies. The potluck buffet featured salads of all types and I was able to endulge in a deeply satisfying vegetarian feast. DH told a friend about the event, and he showed up on a $300 bike, took off on the B ride (50 miles and pretty fast), discovered he had a busted axle which made it impossible to shift into his lowest gears, ended up walking up the bigger hills, and had a great time! Some people just have athleticism in their DNA. I have to work at it.

This was week #26, which means the year is half over! I haven't kept true to my "Gotta Step it Up" pledge, and I am trying to resurrect that theme. I did Step it Up this week, mostly by trying to increase my accountability, writing stuff down, and being more conscious of my choices. The result was better choices, a spin class, and the feeling that I am back on track.

The Change is making me a little crazy. I saw the gynecologist last week for my yearly checkup and she asked me if I "needed anything" to help with the symptoms. I didn't even ask what "anything" meant, I just replied that I didn't think I was there yet. Now I wonder if I am there and if I at least need to talk about some of the options that modern medicine has to offer. If only she could install a switch. I would be all over that "off" button in a hot flash!

Low Impact Lifestyle

I recently stumbled across 2 blogs that I found very thought provoking, both having to do with sustainable living /low impact lifestyles. The first, No Impact Man, is written by a man who has challenged himself to reduce his environmental impact to zero for 1 year through a series of serious lifestyle changes: no electricity, no car, not buying anything new, recycling, etc. The second, Living Plastic Free in 2007, is written by a woman who has pledged not to buy anything plastic for 1 year. Both blogs are fascinating reading, and of course I followed a whole bunch of links to other blogs and ended up spending a couple of hours reading about low impact living. So I am somewhat inspired to reduce my environmental footprint. Here is what I did today toward that goal:
1) I presented my own traveling coffee mug at the coffee cart this morning. I know, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but this simple act kept 1 styrofoam cup, 1 paper bag and a couple of coffee-stained napkins out of the trash pile.
2) And I have also decided to join Crunchy Chicken's Local Food Month Challenge which starts July 1. Here's the basic premise:

During the month of July you're going to increase your consumption of locally and sustainably grown food and decrease your consumption of imported and packaged food.

I don't think I will be making my own soymilk, but local produce is so abundant during the summer months that this should be a relatively easy way to get started. And with the kids GFTS, I look forward to preparing mostly vegetarian meals from fresh local foods.

Misc

1. Son #1 graduated on Friday night. When the graduates marched in, I almost lost it, almost started crying, but I held it together. It's kinda weird, being on the other side. I don't have vivid memories of my HS graduation, but I do remember that I had very similar feelings to what my son has expressed-- that it's alot of hype and that the ceremonies are fairly meaningless. I wasn't unwilling to go, and I knew it was a big deal for my parents, so I did go and I'm sure there are at least 100 pictures (slides) in the family archive to mark the occasion (My dad took pictures galore, all the time, anytime-- I can just imagine if he had lived during the era of the digital camera). So son #1 did the same thing, even coming home to do 5 hours of school service to earn the privilege of attending graduation after the alarm clock fiasco. And my mother and DH and I were able to swell with pride and admire the man he has become. I wasn't expecting to feel this emotional, but it was truly one of the most joyous moments of my life as a parent.

2. After graduation, son #1 went to a party, an all-night event. He called us at 5:45 to let us know he was leaving to drive back to camp because he needed to be there at 8:00. While I was a little concerned about him driving after very little or no sleep, I had to admire his sense of responsibility. I also realized that we have to trust him, his judgements, because he is heading off to college and we won't be involved in these decisions anymore. So joyous moment quickly followed by difficult moment when I knew I had to let go a little more.

3. My mom went back to Florida yesterday afternoon, but not before we indulged in some "retail therapy." My mom is a champion shopper, especially on someone else's buck! We did have fun and I did buy some clothes to fill in some holes in my wardrobe.

4. When I got back from taking mom to the airport, the house was awful quiet. Yes my kids are Gone For The Summer (GFTS). And in celebration, I opened a jar of mayonnaise. Both of my kids hate mayonnaise, they going running at the sight or smell of it. But with them GFTS, I made cole slaw with real dressing with mayonnaise instead of an asian-style slaw with an oil/vinegar dressing.

5. I found this awesome website-- Vegetarian Mealplans. I haven't prepared any of these recipes yet, but they seem to be perfect for weekday meals. I'm already thinking about tempeh sloppy joes!

Back to Basics

First an update on the Montrose 19. Our little suburban school district has made it into the NY Times once again. The students were arraigned and pleaded Not Guilty to the felony charge of placing a false bomb. They are barred from graduation ceremonies this evening. Son #1 came home and did 5 hours of school service in order to regain the privilege of attending his graduation. The principal did get all of the senior students into the auditorium and had a conversation with them about the situation. He did allow them to express their anger and although he will not budge on the issue of them attending graduation, he did listen to suggestions about how they could acknowledge them. I was glad he was at least willing to listen and didn't just lecture them about "appropriate behavior."

Although the events of this past week haven't made it any easier to get back to basics, I have been struggling the past month or so to get all the pieces working together. I have eaten too many bagels! I have not done any strength training for 2 weeks! I have used lack of time to prepare food as an excuse for eating poorly. I have ridden my bike and run some miles, but I haven't been able to do anything consistently. But there's no use punishing myself with negative thoughts. Every morning presents a new opportunity to get it right, and yesterday was one of those days. I went to the gym and purchased another 12 pack of personal training sessions. I then had MPT (My Personal Trainer) beat the crap out of me in 30 minutes. After not lifting for 2 weeks, I am paying for it today. I am sore everywhere. Very. sore. My kids are both now officially GFTS (gone for the summer) so it will be easier to spend time taking care of myself. Son #1 is actually coming home today just for the day because he is graduating from high school, but that won't put a dent in my lifestyle. It does a bunch of other things, like fill me with pride and cause me to pause and reflect, but I've already written about that.

My mom is visiting (because of son #1's graduation), so in the late afternoon we went to the gourmet supermarket and then I did some cooking. My mom never tasted collards so I cooked up a whole bunch of beautiful bright green collards with onions and craisins and toasted pine nuts. I made this gazpacho for my vegetarian self, adding scallions and fresh cilantro and some red pepper too. I made salmon steaks with a teriyaki glaze for the meateaters and we had a delicious dinner. Mom liked the collards.

Black Bean Gazpacho

• (2) 15 oz. cans black beans
• 4 peeled and finely chopped garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup lime juice (2 limes)
• 1 quart tomato juice
• 2 peeled, seeded, finely chopped cukes
• 1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or 28 oz can Italian plum tomatoes
• 2 finely chopped onions
• salt, pepper, and sugar

Drain and rinse the beans. Add garlic, vinegar, lime juice, tomato juice, cukes, tomatoes, and onions. Add whatever other vegetables you like in your gazpacho. Blend and chill.

Season with salt, pepper, and a little sugar.

To speed up prep, put balck beans, tomato juice and canned tomatoes in the frig.

Senior Prank Gone Bad

This has been a very interesting week in our school district. My son is a senior and will be graduating this Friday. Since he had no final or Regents exams, he went to work last Saturday (he works at a camp in Pennsylvania). Before he left, he contributed $5 to a "senior prank" which involved placing 100 alarm clocks in the school, all set to go off at 9:15 am on the last day of classes. What he didn't know was that the prank involved breaking into the school on Sunday night to hide the clocks. Well, that's when things started to go bad. The kids set off an alarm, the police showed up, and when they saw alarm clocks duct taped to the walls, they had to call the bomb squad. In the end, 19 seniors were arrested (those that were in the building as well as the "lookouts") and they are being charged with a felony. Their day in court is today. These students will graduate but they are not being permitted to attend graduation ceremonies. An additional 40 students (in a class of 215) who financed the prank (including son #1) must perform 5 hours of Community service (cleaning the schools under the supervision of the custodial staff) in order to earn back the privilege of attending graduation.

Now I have mixed feelings about the way the school district is handling this. They have very clearly drawn a line in the sand and will not back down from these decisions. While everyone knows that this was an incredibly stupid thing to do, even the administration has admitted that they never intended this to be about bombs. And while the police had no choice but to bring in the bomb-sniffing dog, I'm not sure the students should be charged with a felony. I don' think that will stick once they go to court today, but I think it was a bit heavy handed. And as for my son and his cohort, the original statement was that they would be required to do "community service," which my son was perfectly willing to do in Pennsylvania. Having them clean the schools smells more like punishment than community service. These kids were buying into something far more innocuous and are being punished for something that was really out of their control. He is coming home for the day to "do his time," but he has made it clear he is doing this for his grandmothers. My mom is coming up from Florida for graduation and my mother-in-law (who is dying) will certainly want to see the photos.

All of this was, of course, reported in the local paper, but we also got space in the New York Times over the weekend. Unlike the local paper, the NY Times got it right. These events are a commentary on "these times," and the aftermath of Columbine and Virginia Tech. That forced the administration to draw a line in the sand and watch students and families line up on both sides of the line. Two friends of son #1 are among those arrested. I feel for them and their families. I hope all goes well today when they appear before the town judge.

The Short Answer

Son #1 works as a counselor at a summer camp. The staff arrives in dribs and drabs in the weeks preceding the arrival of the campers. They call it "work camp," and I'm sure they do work setting up the facilities, etc. I think it's also a good time. No kids to worry about, nobody cares if you're a total slob, 3 meals a day, and party time. Since he has no final exams (he took AP exams in May), he will be going to camp on Saturday. As in the day after tomorrow. When camp ends, he will be home for a week or so, and then he's off to college! So these are probably the final days of him living at home. I know, some kids return home after college and parents have a hard time getting rid of them! Sure, he'll be home in a couple of weeks for graduation, and then again when he has college orientation. But right now I'm looking through a short lens and I am coming to terms with this reality. So this is it. It has forced me to think about so many things, but basically, did DH and I do good job preparing him for this? And the short answer is yes. Senior prom was last week and when I look at the pictures of him and his friends and classmates, I see grown-ups, adults, beautiful men and women. Yes, there's that whole "where did the time go" feeling, but mostly it's about the future, what lies ahead for them. And because the short answer is yes, I see wonderful opportunities, discovery, and new horizons.

But just short of the new horizons is the beachfront, which right now is littered with piles of laundry, a shopping list, and a very messy house. This is also my reality. I just feel a little bit happier tackling everyday life when the short answer is yes.

GSIU Week #23 and Halloweens Past

I had a great week on the bike. I rode on Monday (Memorial Day), Thursday evening, and Saturday and Sunday. Just under 100 miles. On Saturday I led a D+ ride through my corner of the county. It wasn't that long(22 miles) but it was hilly, so we moved slow, as slow as the slowest riders. We stopped for ice cream at my favorite homemade ice cream shop and there was only 1 person working, so that took a while. Then 2 of my slowest riders missed a turn, and I had to climb back up to the main road to either find them or get cell phone coverage to try to call them, so that took some time. It took forever, but we got thru it. On Sunday I met up with a couple of my riding friends for a 25 miler. None of us had ridden this route before, but when Lady J looked at the cue sheet, she gasped,"Whipporwill?" This ride featured hills aplenty and 3 of them were especially evil (including aforementioned Whipporwill Rd). But if you want to get stronger you gotta Dab the Wussy. So this past week, stepping it up was all about the hills. And it felt good.

On Saturday night DH and I had dinner/BBQ at a friends house with a few other friends. One of these friends brought along a slide projector and a carousel of slides taken at Halloween parties past..... really past... like 20-25 years ago past. With pictures of boyfriends and girlfriends before spouses, and spouses that are no longer spouses, people who could not be identified, and others that made you wonder, whatever happened to that person? But some of these pictures had us howling, laughing so hard we were crying, and remembering the days when we could stay awake into the wee hours. It was a blast, a blast from the past. Now we all plan to dive into our photo collections and do this again. And hopefully we will still be looking at photos of parties past 25 years from now!

My New Hero

Yesterday the bike club had a tailgate party. There were 4 or 5 different level rides all starting from the same location. We all brought something to share, and when we all returned from our assorted rides, we had a lunch party. My ride went to Manor Park in Larchmont, which is on Long Island Sound. Its a lovely spot and I was talking to Lady B, who lives in Larchmont. She and her husband are long-time club members and are both probably in their mid-60s. She commented that she loves ocean swimming. I told her she should do a triathlon and she started to tell me that she has a whole shelf of triathlon trophies at home but she hasn't competed in about 10 years. She grew up in Far Rockaway and would swim long distances in the open water. She started bike riding as an adult, so when triathlons came into existence, she was 2/3 of the way there. Swimming was her strongest event, so she was usually among the first out of the water. She often acted as a therapists for other swimmers who would start to freak out in the open water (lots of novice traithletes have difficulty making the transition to open water after training in a pool), helping them calm down and get pointed in the right direction. Sometimes she was the only woman competing in her age group, so as long as she finished, she took first place! When someone would comment on how difficult it is to compete in a triathlon, she would tell them, "when you're swimming, you're lying down, when you're riding, you're sitting down, and if the running is tough, you can walk!"

Lady B is my new hero. Even though she is no longer competing, she is still riding and swimming and sailing. She competed in triathlons not to win, but to challenge herself and because it was fun and athletic. She just happened to pick up a whole bunch of trophies along the way. And anyone who looks at triathlons as 1 part lying down, 1 part sitting down and 1 part optional running, well, you gotta love their spirit! Anything that keeps you going and gets you to the finish line. And hats off to Mr. B, who gladly served as cheerleader, equipment manager, and photographer at all those events.

The Walking Talking Mommies

On Friday I went to the HS track to run. As usual, there was a handful of walking talking mommies there. These women are my age, maybe even a little younger. They may or may not need to lose some weight. But none of them are fit. Now I realize that something is better than nothing, and some people can't run because of physical injuries. And some people can walk faster than I run! But these ladies were walking at the pace of a supermarket stroll, and I know that they think they are "exercising." For some reason, I found this extremely annoying. I wanted to scream at them to shut the f%$#(k up and move their asses until they sweat! But of course I didn't because I don't yell at people I barely know (I don't often yell at people I do know either). So instead I decided to show them what they are supposed to be doing, you know, lead by example. So I plugged into the iPod, cranked up the volume, and everytime I passed them I made sure I kept my head high and arms pumping. I wanted them to feel like unmotivated sloth-like walking talking track potatoes when they felt the wind as i wizzed by. And don't you dare suggest that 12 minute miles is hardly wizzing and does not generate a wind, because I was definitely wizzing and there was a hurricane on that HS track! The walking talking mommies may not have noticed, but behind the smile and the polite "hello," I was gloating. What a great way to spend an hour on a beautiful Friday evening of a 3-day weekend!

Dream

I had a bizarre dream last night. I went out for a run in a familiar location, around a lake. In reality, this is about a 5 mile run, but it was getting longer and longer in my dream. I was getting really tired, and I told myself "get to the top of this hill and you'll be fine," but I wasn't fine so I started crawling DOWNHILL. Then I realized that I had probably run about 7 miles and remembered I have this knee problem and I'm only supposed to be running 2 or 3 miles max. I was trying to figure out how I could have forgotten this and I woke up.

I haven't run in over a week, maybe there's a little spot in my brain that feels deprived of serotonin or whatever chemical your brain oozes when you get happy from running.

If I get done at work today at a decent time, I will run/crawl a couple of miles at the track, no hills.

Tomorrow morning I am leading a D ride for the bike club and even though I have ridden this route before, I decided to drive it to make sure 1) I know where I am going and 2) there are no surprises like closed roads. I got so freakin lost it wasn't funny. I ended up driving in circles for about 40 miles for a 23 mile ride!! It's a good thing I did this-- getting lost and tacking extra miles onto a D ride can get ugly, especially on a ride as hilly as this one. But it is going to be a beautiful day tomorrow and I'm psyched!

Misc.

1. Son #1 had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted today. He already had an offer from a classmate to buy his Vicodin.

2. Son #2 brought home "Ready or Not Tot" today. It's a doll that simulates what it is like to take care of a baby. The "baby" cries at irregular intervals and you have to feed the baby, burp the baby, change the diaper or amuse the baby. These tasks are accomplished by inserting keys into a slot in the doll's back. He has to take care of the baby for 24 hours, including overnight. I wouldn't be surprised if the baby is wearing a Yankees T-shirt to school tomorrow.
3. My brother bought my mom a Presto mailbox for Mother's Day. Basically it's a printer with a modem that can receive and print out emails and photos. You cannot send email, only receive. To set it up, you have to unhook the phone line from the phone, plug it into the Presto, then hook up a 2nd line from the Presto back into the phone. This is too complicated for my mother. My nieces are going to visit her next week, hopefully they can accomplish this task in under 60 seconds (including taking it out of the box).

4. I work at a small college. Every year the students have an auction to raise money for their student activities (yearbook, graduation, etc.). They ask faculty for donations. I donated homemade lunch for 2 for 5 days. Two students bought it and saved it for finals week. I think they were expecting turkey sandwiches, but I am really trying to make their lunches extra special and extra big. Mostly I've just made sure there are plenty of leftovers to pack for them. They've had meatloaf, corn and black bean salad, and build-your-own-burritos with grilled chicken and beef. The other night I made a big pot of turkey soup with wild rice and grilled portobello sandwiches with chipotle mayo. It's been extra work, but I am enjoying it.

5. DH has registered for a triathlon on June 10 in Harriman State Park. Swim 1/2, ride 16, run 3. He's been training hard and I think he will do well. His last triathlon was about 17 years ago.

6. On Sunday I went for a club bike ride. It was dreary and drizzly as I was driving to the start location and I almost turned around and went home, but I figured the weather was going to get better. Only 3 other people showed up, so it was me and the boys and the big hill. We decided to push it since it was just the 4 of us and it turned out to be a great ride. And I made it up the big hill.

Veggie Recipe

These leftoversare in my lunchbag today, along with some hummus and some fresh fruit.
I cooked the vegetables less than 45 minutes because they were on the verge of burning. Next time I think I will turn the oven down to 400. I happened to have fresh oregano and rosemary from another recipe, so I used fresh herbs. The recipe is from Vegetarian Times.

Italian-Style Roasted Vegetables
Serves 4 to 6

Many Moosewood patrons love the restaurant’s very versatile roasted vegetables, served with several variations. This version is dressed with Italian seasonings. Select at least four different vegetables, or follow the combination below. To speed preparation, parboil the harder, longer-cooking vegetables, such as sweet potatoes and potatoes, before roasting them.

Roasted Vegetables 2 potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks or cut in half lengthwise and sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick semicircles 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks or sliced as above 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks or cut on diagonal 1 large onion, cut into wedges 1 medium-sized zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks or cut on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices 2 bell peppers, cut into 1-inch chunks Italian Dressing 4 tsp. olive oil 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed 3 Tbs. minced fresh rosemary 1 Tbs. minced fresh oregano 1 tsp. salt

1. To make Roasted Vegetables: Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Parboil potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots in boiling water to cover for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and drain well. In large bowl, combine parboiled vegetables with onions, zucchini and bell peppers.
3. To make Italian Dressing: Place ingredients in bowl, and whisk together or purée in blender.
4. Toss vegetables with dressing, and place in single layer on large unoiled baking tray.
5. Bake vegetables, stirring every 15 minutes, until tender, about 45 minutes.

PER SERVING:
180 Calories
4g Protein
3g Total Fat
35g Carbohydrates
410mg Sodium
4g Fiber
11g Sugars

Can We Talk?

I"m 51 years old and this "change of life" thing is happening. I'm not having major problems with symptoms, at least not yet, but they have gotten more noticeable over the last month or two. The biggest problem I'm having right now is sleeping poorly. Sometimes its night sweats, but even without that happening I wake up several times during the night and I'm feeling tired during the day. Every website that talks about menopause mentions "regular exercise" and "eating healthy" to combat the symptoms. I really believe that this is one reason that I am not having more difficulty (either that or I am delusional; the worst is yet to come), but I know I can do better, especially with the food. Over the last month I have found myself caught in a vicious cycle. I'm tired so I don't spend the necessary time on food prep, I eat more processed foods and I feel tired. I know I have to break this cycle to get my energy back and have an easier time "changing." I just can't afford to "donate" any part of my caloric intake to junk. More than ever, I need to eat clean. Whole grains. Plant food. No bar codes. No white food. Instead of thinking about all the foods I can't have ( bagels....pizza.....burritos.....baked ziti....), I will focus on all the wonderful foods I can enjoy, especially as we come into the summer season. I do owe son #2 an ice cream treat and if I'm going there, well I'm having ice cream too. So it's not about being perfect, but I Gotta Step It Up (GSIU).

GSIU Week #18

It's been a looooong time since I did one of these. So, to recap, you Gotta Step it Up (GSIU). What did you do this week to step it up?
This past week I worked out 5 days out of 7. Yesterday was Cinco de Velo, the bike club's annual Cinco de Mayo celebration. There were bike rides for all levels of riders, all leaving from the same location. After the rides, there was a huge Mexican fiesta! I volunteered to lead the D ride, which was only 12 miles. At one point we had the option to re-loop, which added 6 miles to the ride. These additional miles had the 2 nastiest hills. Most of my group opted out, but I took a few of the stronger riders on the longer ride. And the hills were easier the second time. Gotta step it up! Besides, the more hills you climb, the more Mexican food you can eat.

Roger Clemens is a Yankee once again, gotta love that!

DIY Boot Camp (or the ADHD Workout)

Today was too nice a day to be in the gym. I contemplated going out for a bike ride, but I wasn't in the mood for a solo ride. I ran 2.5 miles yesterday and I didn't want to put too much additional mileage on my knee (I'm not supposed to run on consecutive days). So I decided to go to the track and do whatever. I rummaged around and I found a teeny tiny soccer ball, a jump rope, an elastic band and a nerf Vortex (see photo). Add in a heart rate monitor, an iPod, a bottle of water and I was ready to rock!
I was pretty much the only person using the track for the hour that I was there. That was good because I didn't feel goofy. I kinda made things up and when something got too hard or just wasn't working or wasn't fun, I did something else. I dribbled the teeny tiny soccer ball down the football field first with my right foot then with my left. I did the same thing with the Vortex-- I threw it as far as I could, ran to retrieve it and then threw it down the field again until I scored a "touchdown." First I threw it with my right arm then I did it with my left (that was a sorry sight, glad no one was watching). I did dips and push ups off the bench and did some arm/shoulder exercises with the band. I tied the band around my ankles and did sidewinders down the track, then I took it off and did sideways jumpy/leapy things going the other way. I did one lap jumping rope and another running backwards. It may not have been the most efficient workout, I didn't work on upper body or lower body, I didn't even get in a real cardio thing, but it was fun! I'm sure if I really thought about it I could put together a really tough workout that would kick my butt.

Assassin- the Game continues. Both of my kids went on a stake-out with their waterguns, binoculars and walkie talkies. There are alliances, setups, and much covert activity. I'm staying out of it, that's for sure.

Apology

I called the assassin last night, the one that got the ticket. He wasn't home, but I had a conversation with his mom. She wasn't at all angry about the whole deal, although her son was very upset when he came home. She made sure to tell me that she made it very clear to him that there was to be no "payback," which I was relieved to hear. She thanked me for calling and agreed to pass on my apology to her son. I got the feeling she didn't want me to speak with him directly. I have also decided that i am going to mail him a check to reimburse him for the ticket.
Son #1 thinks I'm crazy, son #2 thinks I'm doing a good thing. So perhaps the life lesson has not been totally lost. And I certainly feel better.

Yesterday I ran 1.75 miles, still pain-free. I felt it a little when I got off the treadmill, but that subsided and my knee is not at all stiff today. I have been icing it after I run, and I think that is key.

Eat Me Eat Me

When I got off the train today, the Girl Scouts had a table set up to sell Girl Scout Cookies. They cost $3.50/box. Three girls, one of whom was wearing a cookie costume, greeted commuters with this catchy little jingle-- "Eat me, Eat me, I'm Just $3.50."
Their mothers tried to get them to change their marketing strategy, but were not successful. How do you explain to 7 and 8 year old girls that "eat me" goes way beyond cookies. I chuckled and then I bought one box of Thin Mints from the Eat Me Girl Scout Chorus.

Assassin--The Game

NOTE: This post may seem insensitive to some in the aftermath of the Virgina Tech tragedy. I considered not writing about it, but decided that this is really about what happened to me yesterday, an ordinary person living in an extraordinary world. It has nothing to do with what happened at Virginia Tech or I how I feel about what happened there. If you find it offensive in any way, well, that's how you feel and you are entitled to feel that way.

My kids are playing a game called Assassin that involves just about the entire high school. You pay $5 to join. Everyone is divided into teams of 3. You are given a target team and you have to assassinate the members of that team. Assassination involves shooting them with a water gun. Every week the remaining teams are given new targets, so this involves several weeks of devotion and planning. The last team standing collects a big chunk of money. There are many rules that govern the game. For example, the game is not played during school hours (for obvious reasons).

Yesterday, son #2 went to the Yankee game. When he got off of the train, he saw the truck belonging to one of the kids that he knows is after him. He knew he wouldn’t make it down the stairs to my car without getting assassinated so he locked himself in the bathroom. The 3 assassins recognized me so they knew that he was hiding somewhere and they were determined to wait it out. They soon figured out that he had locked himself in the bathroom. For the next 30 minutes, we conversed via cell phone trying to figure out how he was going to get out of the bathroom without getting assassinated. This involved calling the 3 assassins who are targeting the 3 assassins that are trying to assassinate my son, which was effective in eliminating only 1 of the 3. Are you with me? So he’s now been in the bathroom for close to an hour and I’m getting tired of waiting for him to emerge, so I decided to call the police, to see if I could get them to chase the kids away. So I called and complained to the police that these kids were driving around the parking lot in circles, running up and down the stairs and shooting water guns and being pretty annoying to other passengers (all of it true). The police showed up at around the same time that the station manager unlocked the bathroom door and son #2 was officially assassinated. None of the assassins were in the truck, but the police did stop them and talk to them and I presume tell them to get lost. At this point, their mission was accomplished so they were glad to oblige. They piled into the truck and took off. My son emerged, slightly wet and we followed. When we got out of the train station lot, we saw that the police essentially waited for the boys to get into the truck and they pulled them over as soon as they pulled out onto the main road. Luckily, they hadn’t done anything wrong, like speeding or running stop signs, but the police did give him a ticket for having a tinted windshield.

The more I thought about it, the crappier I felt about it. I certainly never wanted these kids to get in trouble with the police, I just wanted them to get shooed away so I could get my son out of the bathroom (without being assassinated). So yes, I was playing the game too. And I realized that involving the police was an inappropriate way to play the game. I am also concerned that my kids may be the target of a “payback.” I have always tried to impress upon my kids that their behaviors have consequences, and this is certainly an example. But quite frankly, my kids are both too busy laughing their asses off to appreciate the life lesson. But I am still having conversations with my super-ego.

Earth Day

Sunday was Earth Day. In my part of the universe, it was truly a beautiful day, a PERFECT day on Planet Earth. I celebrated with a 20 mile club bike ride with a dozen club members that went over the Croton Dam and around the reservoir. The daffodils are out, the trees are starting to bloom, and the birds and frogs are singing. Everyone was thrilled to put their butts on a saddle and finally get out there! Great ride. In the late afternoon, I decided to go for a run, so I went over to the high school track and ran 1.5 miles. My legs felt a little weary but it was all good. And my knee was 100%, so I can bump my mileage up another quarter mile!

There was one thing that annoyed me. There were about 5 or 6 youth league lacrosse teams practicing, so about 70 kids and assorted parents and coaches. The field, track and bleachers were littered with garbage, water bottles, and assorted items that I'm sure were left behind. This wasn't even about recycling or picking up somebody else's garbage or other environmental Earth Day type issues, it was about cleaning up after yourself. It's even worse when the parents and coaches aren't teaching their kids to clean up, but on Earth Day it was really triple annoying.
Perhaps my "green" sensitivity has been heightened because I am reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. I'm not sure why I decided to read it, and I'm also not sure why I never got to it before this week (it was published in 1962). I have since discovered that May 27 will be Carson's 100th birthday, and there will be celebrations and events in her honor. Sadly, she died of breast cancer about 18 months after the book was published, at the age of 56.

One of my reasons for choosing a vegetarian lifestyle is because it does reduce exposure to toxins from insectisides and pesticides (which become more concentrated as you move up the food chain). I also belong to an organic food coop for the same reason. Reading Silent Spring has made me realize that the issue is much bigger than that, all these chemicals are in the groundwater and the soil. Basically you can run but you cannot hide. I don't want to get on a soapbox here-- not my style. It's more a personal decision about taking care of myself and my family. I guess you could say that my decision to be a vegetarian is rather selfish! But this last week I've just found myself thinking about how fragile the planet is, and how I wish everyone would be a little bit more responsible about taking care of Earth.

The Big Decision

If any of you have kids in college, you know how it works. By April 1, all the accept/reject letters have arrived. You then have until May 1 to make a decision and put down a deposit to secure a place in the freshman class of your choice. If any of you have high school seniors, then you alos know that this has been one of the most competitive years ever. The number of applications to colleges was about a gazillion, with more kids going to college and more applications per kid. To make a long story short, son #1 was not accepted at any of his top 4 choices. It came down to Binghamton University and the Honors program at the University of Delaware. The pros/cons:
Binghamton is one of the best public universities in the country and in-state tuition is dirt cheap ($6,000), but Binghamton is not one of the most exciting places to be. UDel has better facilities and access to Baltimore and Philadelphia. The out-of-state tuition is very reasonable ($18,000) and the honors program probably enhances the academics to make it equivalent to that at Binghamton. Last weekend DH took him to Binghamton and this weekend I took him to Delaware. I'm sure it helped that it was an absolutely beautiful day, but after meeting with current Honors students and hearing about the Study Abroad program, he decided he wants to be at Delaware for the next 4 years. And so there it is, probably one of the biggest decisions he will face in his life, and he has made it.

Gonna Get It Back

Failure is not an option. I am going to get my "aerobic base" back and then I'm going to keep moving forward. With or without running. Yesterday I ran 1.5 miles and today my knee is tired but its definitely better than it had been. I know I have to live with the reality of 51 year old knees, which means I may not be able to run more than 10 miles a week (actually 10 miles a week would be fabulous) and I will not be able to take shortcuts. I have to do the stretching, the ice, even some ibuprofen on occasion. But I still have my bike, my beautiful shiny new Dolce and hundreds of miles to ride. I am hopeful that all this horrible weather is fading away and spring is going to erupt this weekend! So that's the plan. Get back to working out on a regular basis, run a few miles, and ride, ride, ride!

When I was on the treadmill yesterday, plugged into my new nano, it really felt awesome. It felt much easier than the mile I ran a few days ago. After the first half, I just found myself in that place where runners often find themselves, and it just felt good! Too bad I had to quit at 1.5 miles.

My SIL (the one with 2 broken wrists) is functioning well enough in her "activities of daily living" to be left alone, so my mom is returning to Florida today. I know she is anxious to get home. She was the perfect companion and helper over the past 3 weeks. Kudos to my mom.

One Painfree Mile, the Nor'easter, Killer Pillows, and MIL Update

On Saturday, I ran one mile on the treadmill. One painfree mile. I will probably bump that up to 1.5 tomorrow, but I am not to go any higher than that until I see the PT for my last visit on Wednesday. That is the good news. The bad news is running 1 mile was hard! I have lost a good chunk of my aerobic base. I'm hoping it will be easy to get it back once I get back in the groove.

We planned on spending Sunday indoors, and that is what we did. It rained steadily all day, but the high winds never seemed to be a problem and although it rained hard, it never had the intensity of a summer thunderboomer. It just rained and rained and rained......... Our house is on top of a little hill, and we never have water issues, so we don't pay much attention to the flood warnings, etc. At a little before 6 am this morning, the phone rang and it was a recording from the school district that the schools are closed today. When I drove past the middle school on my way to the train station, I understood why they made that decision. The water was up to the front door.

Is my pillow killing me? I have woken up with a headache for the last few days. I'm not a headachey person, so this was a little unusual. On Friday, I couldn't get rid of it either, despite 2 Tylenols and 2 Advils. Last night I woke up during the night and felt the headache as soon as I turned my head to look at the clock. I sleep with 2 pillows, and I decided to throw the top one off the bed. When I woke up a few hours later, the headache was gone.

My MIL is not doing well. She has lung cancer and has had 3 weeks of chemotherapy. She became so weak and debilitated that she couldn't really get out of bed. My SIL (not the one with 2 broken wrists) got her to the doctor and she was so dehydrated that they put her on an IV for 2 days. She rebounded a bit but it's not clear if the cancer or the chemo is killing her. I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to quit treatment. In the meantime, it is time to start thinking about home care, etc. DH will probably make a trip to Florida next week to help sort out some of these issues.

Wednesday Miscellany

My family usually celebrates Passover at my brother and sister-in-laws home, but since my SIL broke both wrists, that was not an option. Instead, we gathered at a kosher-style deli/restaurant, which offered a traditional Passover dinner in addition to the typical gigantic menu of all things Jewish (and beyond). My brother, SIL and mom did not join us, but a fine time was had by all and the food was decent. It was a boisterous family gathering that I am glad we pulled off. I am glad we made the effort and didn't just retreat into our own homes.

My SIL, meanwhile, is feeling better physically but overall she is miserable. The swelling in her fingers has subsided so they no longer look like sausages poking out of the casts, and she is able to sleep a bit better but she is totally dependent upon other people for everything except changing the channel. My mom is going to stay up north for as long as she is needed.

The bike season is upon us! I rode 26 fairly flat miles on Sunday. It was a club ride but it was only 41 degrees when we started, so only 1 other person showed. Still, we rode and it felt great. I'm getting to know my new bike, and I was really comfortable on her. I'm confident that I will still feel that way when I ride up and down some hills. D4w (designed for women) totally rocks!

I have decided to resurrect "Gotta Step it Up (GSIU)." I didn't stick with that idea for very long, especially since my PT brought a good piece of my fitness effort to a halt, and that seemed to boomerang into bad food habits as well. But PT is coming to an end (2 more sessions), I am starting to step up the cardio, and working on the food habits as well. So this week I am concentrating on "no white food." So far, I am doing quite well. This morning I had a baked stuffed potato topped with guacamole for breakfast. Yes it was a white potato, but that was a better choice than Honey Nut Cheerios. Even last night at dinner, I made good choices.

I took the day off yesterday, and one of my accomplishments was taking son#2 for his learner's permit. What a hassle! First, didn't realize I needed his social security card, so we had to go home to get that, then his birth certificate was not a certified copy, so I had to go home again to get his passport. Then credit card transactions went down, so I had to find an ATM to get the cash, and finally the clerk hit a "random check for supervisor," so we had to wait for a supervisor to come and check all the documents again to make sure the clerk had entered all the info properly. We were exhausted and starving by the time we got done! but done it is and now my husband can have the joy for taking him for his first lesson driving around a big parking lot.

Ramping Up

I'm trying to keep this forward momentum going. I have slowly been ramping up my activity level. Today I took an easy spin class, 45 minutes without putting on too much resistance. I was sweating! I then did all my knee exercises, and both an upper and lower body workout. It took some time because I had to adjust my weights some and modify certain exercises to minimize knee risk. In between, I did lots of stretching. By the time I showered and headed for home, I had been at the gym for over 3 hours. It just felt so good that I kept going, saying hello to all my people, watching the trainers for interesting exercises and then trying them, and then letting the hot water cascade over my weary muscles! It felt awesome.

Last night we went to see An Evening with Colin Mockrie and Brad Sherwood. These are 2 of the guys from Whose Line Is It and they do improv comedy. It was hilarious. It's been a long time since I laughed that hard. It is getting more difficult to find events that all 4 of us want to attend. (the kids have different tastes in music and theatre). I so enjoyed being together and hearing all 4 of us laughing out loud.

Being Helpless

I spoke to my brother last night. My SIL was cleaning a light fixture, fell off the ladder and broke both bones in both wrists. Both of her arms are casted for 6 weeks. She is totally helpless. She can barely change the channel. I can't even begin to imagine all the activities of daily living that she cannot do without help. Luckily, my nieces are all grown up and she doesn't have small children at home. My brother didn't go to work these last few days, but he does need to get back on Monday. My mom is scheduled to fly up from Florida next Friday, but she may change her flight and come earlier (if she can find a flight) and stay for as long as my SIL needs her (they get along pretty well, so that would not be an issue). Now, my SIL is one of the most organized, efficient, productive, get-things-done people I know. Right now I know she's working through the pain and the humiliation of being so dependent, but in a week or two it will be coping with the loss of control over her environment. I hope she can get through the next 6 weeks without going totally nuts!

So, with a new appreciation for my limbs, I have been using them all, both at the gym and in the kitchen (although I do not usually use my legs in the kitchen other than to walk from kitchen to counter to oven, etc.). I actually feel much better. On Tuesday the PT freed me to start doing some lower body weight lifting, although I am forbidden to do leg extensions ever again. The exercise dude put me on the leg press, and wow, was my butt sore the next day!! But that actually got me psyched because I realized that this strength training is so good for you! So on Thursday I did the whole shabang, stretching, cardio, upper body, lower body, more stretching and all my prescribed knee exercises. I still need to take it easy and ramp it up slowly, and that was hard. I wanted to really go for it, but I refrained. But at least I worked out hard enough to sweat! Today should be a repeat performance. I've also had a couple of pretty clean food days, and that makes all the difference in the world. The defunkification has begun.

Time to Defunk

I had a crappy weekend. In fact, the last few weeks have been crappy. At this point, the only option is for things to get better, to head up out of my funk. Being in PT, and having my cardio very limited has totally killed my motivation to go to the gym. That in turn has totally killed my motivation to eat properly. Add in the following:

1) Snowstorm that keeps you indoors all day Friday and most of Saturday.
2) Son that wants to go to his friend's house wearing his slippers after snowstorm.
3) Lack of telephone service while husband is away and both children are somplace other than home accompanied by lack of cell phone coverage at home, making it necessary to drive to the firehouse parking lot to get cell phone coverage in order to leave messages for various people so they know the phone doesn't work.
4) DH leaving pen in shirt pocket which ends up in washer/dryer and ruins 4 shirts.
5) Starting to make banana muffins and realizing I am missing key ingredient and having to make trip to the supermarket because I don't want to throw out the ingredients that I have already prepared.
6) Feeling sorry for myself and buying Oreos at the supermarket and then eating too many.

The Oreo thing is so uncharacteristic of me! I am not an emotional eater, but this was defintiely a response to feeling lonely and cranky. At least it made me realize that this was a total pity party and that it was time to turn it around. Yesterday was much better. Getting back to work after a 3 day wekend (snow day on Friday) was the best medicine. I do much better when I have structure and a routine. And tomorrow is the first day of spring! A new season, longer daylight hours, new growth and bicycle season! I am heading out of this funk, time to get back on the bus, the only option is up.

This week also marked the beginning of a 3 week Health and Fitness Challenge here at work. It is a fundraiser for the students and I am "team captain" for faculty/staff. I signed up 42 participants ($10 entry fee, winner gets a $25 gift certificate to Sports Authority). It involves everyone identifying healthy habits that they need to practice daily and a weekly fitness goal. Basically you earn points for practicing these habits and achieving your goals. My daily habits are not to eat any white food (white flour, white rice) and to floss my teeth. My weekly goal is to Dab the Wussy once a week. What would be your daily habits and weekly fitness goal?

Quick Trip to Florida

We went down to Florida for the weekend to visit my MIL. She has been diagnosed with lung cancer and we needed a better sense of how she is doing. She has a bad habit of not telling us the whole truth or painting a far rosier picture. My SIL lives about 20 miles away from her, but we still felt that we needed to see for ourselves. DH also talked to her about some financial things, making sure everything is in order and that he knows where to find everything. We were pleasantly surprised to see that she looks good and seems to be getting around. She starts chemotherapy this Thursday. We hope it's not too hard on her. She is 86 years old!

We had a little drama on the plane on the way home. There was a family of 4 sitting in the row in front of us. There were 5 seats in each row, 3 on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other. The mom was sitting with the 2 kids (12 year old boy and 10 year old girl) and the dad was sitting on the other side of the aisle. My younger son was sitting next to the dad. Sitting in front of the 10 year old girl was a man, probably in his 20s. When we got on the plane, he tried to give the girl a little teddy bear. Mom promptly gave it back to him and said "no thank you." During the flight he kept turning around in his seat to stare at her and try to make conversation with her, asking her where she is from, her name. Finally the mom told the dad what was going on, dad got up, started banging on the guy's seat, told him he was going to "fuck him up" if he didn't keep his head and eyes pointed straight ahead. When the potential pedophile responded that he was just trying to be friendly, dad made it very clear that he had no business trying to be friendly with a 10 year old girl. The flight attendants (one of whom was rather large and looked like he could bench press the pedophile with no difficulty) were getting ready to spring into action. Things settled down and a few minutes later I asked the mom if it would help if my son switched seats with the girl so she could sit next to her father and further away from the pervert. The mother was so grateful and thanked me 10 times and the girl was so relieved to get away from the creep. The flight attendants took the pervert up to first class for a litle while and must have explained a few things to him because he walked back to the father (accompanied by the flight attendants) and apologized. He realized that his behavior was inappropriate and while he had no "bad intent," he could see how dad might interpret his actions as less than wholesome. Dad actually thanked him for the apology and shook his hand. Kudos to the dad for protecting his family. There are just too many creeps out there.

Last week in PT the therapist was stretching my IT band and she did something to me that totally messed up my IT band on the other leg. I felt it while she was doing it but nothing outrageous or cause to tell her to STOP. Well, the next day I could barely lift that leg, crossing my legs was out of the question and stairs were quite painful. I could not put on my socks and shoes. It took 4 days of total rest for it to heal. I had to cancel my next PT appointment and the therapist was supposed to call me and of course she didn't. This is my last week of PT and I almost blew it off, but I think I need to tell them I am not real happy.

Ratdog

Any Deadheads out there? Last night I went to a Ratdog concert for the first time. They played at a tiny theatre, about 1500 seats, that is practically around the corner (I go there often to see films). It was really wonderful. I think I enjoyed it more than seeing the Grateful Dead! They definitely played Grateful Dead music ( Terrapin Station is still in my head) but the first set was bluesy with Dylan covers and reggae. His band is great and sitting in the balcony was perfect because you could sit and still see the stage perfectly. The only bad part was I was really revved up and I couldn't fall asleep for a couple of hours, so I got very little sleep. This ain't as easy as it used to be. Being an aging hippie can be tough! I so enjoyed the music, I would happily do it again, and again.

I: Jam > The Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion > All Along the Watchtower > Little Red Rooster > Wang Dang Doodle > Memphis Blues > Bury Me Standing > Sitting in Limbo > Greatest Story Ever Told > Might as Well

II: Me and Bobby McGee > Bombs Away@ > When I Paint My Masterpiece@, Picasso Moon > Lady with a Fan > Terrapin > Stuff > Ship of Fools > St. Stephen > William Tell Bridge > The Eleven

E: At a Siding > Terrapin Flyer

PT or BS

I started physical therapy for my knee. I have to tell you, I am not convinced that these therapists really know what is wrong with my knee. Sometimes my hamstrings are tight and that’s what’s causing my knee to track improperly, the next time my hamstrings aren’t that tight but my quads are weak, or my IT band is tight. I feel like every person with a “knee problem” gets the same therapy program. Last week I was finally allowed 10 minutes on the bike at level 1. I was told to stop if I had any pain. I wanted to scream at her, “I CAN RIDE THE FUCKING BIKE FOR AN HOUR WITH NO PAIN, THE ONLY TIME I HAVE ANY PAIN IS WHEN I RUN AS I HAVE TOLD YOU EVERY TIME I COME HERE.” But I didn’t, I rode the bike for 10 pain-free minutes. Then I went to Dallas on business and I didn’t do any exercising or bike riding for 3 days. All I did was sit around in meetings and airports. I got home on Friday night and on Saturday morning, my knee was bothering me. FROM DOING NOTHING. I went to the gym anyway, did my 10 minutes on the bike, did all my exercises, and it was still bothering me. So I took Sunday off and it feels better today. I am determined to give this PT program the benefit of the doubt and I will continue to do exactly what is prescribed, but right now my feeling is that it isn’t doing anything for my knee and that when all is said and done, I will be in exactly the same place as when I started.

I have been making friends with the UBE at the gym. I find that it is very difficult to get my heart rate up and sustain the activity for any length of time. It’s one or the other. On Saturday I was on it for 20 minutes. My heart rate monitor wasn’t registering but I doubt I got my heart rate much higher than 100. I burned 60 calories! This is so frustrating. Well, at least my shoulders got a workout.

On the homefront, Son #1 got his first acceptance to college, to SUNY Geneseo. It is not one of his top picks, but at least we know he has one in the bank and he is going to college next year.

Time Warp

Yesterday I was coming home on the train and when I stood up to put on my coat, this man starting looking at me kinda funny. "Excuse me, but you look just like somebody I went to elementary school with, did you go to P.S. 76 in the Bronx?" Not only did this man recognize me after 40 years, but he remembered my name. How wild is that. I, on the other hand, didn't even remember him when he told me his name. He said he still has the class pictures and he's going to find them and call me so we can look at them and laugh at how dorky we were.

UBE: The Cardio Frontier

Today I got a copy of the radiology report for the MRI of my right knee and I have been diagnosed with Grade III to IV Chondromalacia Patella involving the medial patellar facet. So I guess it is my knee afterall. Any diagnosis with "malacia" sounds bad. Mal means bad in Spanish, chondro means cartilage and patellar means knee. So this would translate to bad knee cartilage. But the good news is that it is treatable with PT and appropriate attention to strength training and stretching. I have a feeling that a better word is probably "manageable," that this will likely be a chronic problem that will cycle through flare-ups and calm-downs. But I might even have that 10k in my knees, if I'm lucky and I am mindful of not overtraining. I started PT last week, and that seems to be going OK. They have pulled me off of all cardio and lower body strength training for now, and they are starting to add in some very simple exercises and stretches. I tried to hold onto some cardio, I really did. First she said no spinning, so I said ok, no problem I'll use the arc trainer or elliptical. No. Well, then surely I can do some deep water running?? No. Ok, swimming, I can swim, right (You know I was getting desperate if I was begging for swimming)? But once agian the answer was No, because I probably swim so poorly that I use my hamstrings too much instead of my hip flexors and quads. She's got a point there. So tomorrow I am going to meet UBE, the Upper Body Ergometer, kinda a bicycle for your arms. Luckily, my gym has 1.

I must admit that I have used the "No Cardio" order to chill out and do some other things (besides driving 450 miles in big circles on the post-Valentine's Day FUBAR Adventure). I did some cooking, some reading, some extra internet surfing, and I watched American Idol. But I am starting to feel lazy. And not working out makes it easier to eat like crap because I'm just not in the right mindset. I'm looking forward to meeting UBE and doing an upper body workout.

Quality Part II--The Anti-Nutrients

The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure Energy and Weight Loss by Marc David

The Metabolic Power of Quality Part II

Eating quality food increases nutrient value and signals your brain to stop eating. Increasing quality decreases quantity. Eating good quality food also means decreasing the “anti-nutrients” in your diet: Poor quality fats, sugar, white flour, dairy and meats.

Poor quality fats are foods that contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, margarine, and most fried foods. This includes most processed foods, such as crackers, cookies, frozen foods (have you read the ingredients on a loaf of bread lately?). Replace poor quality fat with high quality oils and foods. Use olive oil for cooking and butter for baking. Eat avocados, olives fresh fish, nuts and seeds, nut butters and organic milk, cheese and yogurt. Fat is an essential component of the cell wall of every cell in your body. Cell walls control the movement of biochemicals across their surfaces. If cell walls are bbuilt with poor quality fats, they become more rigid and less able to control chemical traffic. This may be associated with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Poor quality sugar includes high fructose corn syrup, white sugar and all artificial sweeteners. They are everywhere: soft drinks, juice drinks, snack foods, even protein bars. Replace them with organic juices, teas, and water. Use organic jams, fresh fruit and quality sweeteners—raw honey, maple syrup and barley malt. Artificial sweeteners may signal the release of insulin, and without the presence of sugar, signals the body to store fat. Food science states that all sugars are the same from a metabolic perspective, but the distinctions between these different energy sources and how they are metabolized is just beginning to be understood, and they are not all created equal (especially high fructose corn syrup).
Poor quality white flour is another ubiquitous anti-nutrient. These processed carbs cause spikes in insulin levels, followed by a crash and cravings for more sugar and carbs. All diets that reduce carbohydrates have an important tenet at their core: processed/refined carbs are the problem. Don’t eliminate carbohydrates, replace them with high quality grains, fruits and vegetables.
Poor quality dairy means mass-produced hormone-laden milk, cheese and yogurt. Replace with organic products. Evidence is mounting that milk is overrated as a quality food. Lactose intolerance and allergies to milk are rising. Try a week of milk/dairy free eating and see how you feel. You might be surprised. Try rice milk, almond milk and soy cheese as dairy free alternatives (almond milk in your oatmeal is heavenly).
Poor quality meats include processed meats, frozen prepared foods and meat from animals raised on industrial farms. Repalce them with organic/free range/hormone free meats. Eggs, too. Replace some of the meat with vegetarian sources of protein such as tofu. Our overreliance on animal protein is polluting the environment and causing disease.

Make a list of all the reasons why you can’t incorporate quality foods into your life—“not enough time,” “too expensive,” “kids won’t go for it.” Go through the list item by item and decide either:

• it’s a stupid excuse, take it off the list.
• I can find a way to manage this one
• there’s wiggle room here, I can come up with a creative way to mange this some of the time
• I can’t get around this one right now.

You may find ways to increase the quality of your food more of the time if not all the time.

FUBAR

Yes, the last 2 days have been fucked up beyond all recognition, but all is well and I’m glad I have a 3 day weekend. Son #1 is in London with a friend from camp, GirlT, visiting other camp friends in the UK. Getting Son#1 and GirlT on a plane to London was the essence of FUBAR.

GirlT lives in Small town PA, in the northeast corner of the state, but goes to school in Harrisburg, which is to the south and west. Valentine’s Day storm brought snow and mostly ice and Pennsylvania was hit very hard, to the point that several interstates were closed, trucks and cars are still embedded in 6 inches of ice. So GirlT was not able to get from Harrisburg to Smalltown on Thursday, as planned. She was able to get a bus to Scranton on Friday morning, which should have given us enough time to get from Scranton to the airport in Newark. So I agreed to drive to Scranton (about 2 hr drive) to pick up GirlT and drive both of them to Newark airport (another 2+ hrs). On our way out I spied Son#1’s cell phone on the table and said, “don’t forget your phone,” to which he replied, “I don’t need it ‘cause it won’t work over there anyway.” BIG MISTAKE. Parents, never allow your children to leave home without their cell phones.

We got to Scranton at about 4:00 without too much difficulty, but the bus hadn’t arrived yet. After a few telephone conversations, we figured out the bus was nowhere close to Scranton, that the bus driver had gotten lost and driven into at least 1 snow bank, and GirlT wasn’t going to make it (her bus didn’t arrive in Scranton until 9 pm). So Son#1 and I left for Newark Airport. This also was not too bad a drive, except for the part where we followed the signs to the airport (bad idea?) and had to drive through downtown Newark which took way too long. I dropped Son#1 curbside at 7:02 pm for an 8:30 flight. Then I headed north on the NJ Turnpike, on my way home (this is about a 90 minute drive). I needed gas and got off at the Vince Lombardi Service Area, where I had to wait about a half hour to get gas. It is now about 8 pm and I’m hungry so I had dinner there. I won’t even tell you what I ate for dinner, it resembled food, but I’m not sure. I finally got home about 10 pm, having started my journey at 1:30 pm, and when I walked in the door, DH looked at me and said, “he called 15 minutes ago, he got bumped.” I thought he was kidding. What a cruel joke! But obviously it wasn’t a joke. My 18 year old son was in Newark Airport at 10 pm with no flight, no cell phone, and no traveling companion. He said he would call back in about a half hour when he got things figured out. 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, no phone call. Now Son#1 is very responsible, this is very uncharacteristic, why hasn’t he called back. I didn’t want to be on the phone in case he was trying to call, (and did I mention that we do not have cell phone access from home so I couldn’t use cell phone to call the police), so I called my brother and asked him to try to call airline/airport/police. As soon as I hung up with my brother, Son #1 finally called at midnight from a hotel room, apologizing for not calling earlier, but no cell, no quarters, no open stores to get quarters, no airline staff willing or able to allow him to use their phones, has already asked 2 strangers if he could use their cell phones, runs off the shuttle bus so he can be the first person at the desk to get a room, runs to his room so he can finally get to a telephone to call us. When I hung up the telephone, I started crying. I couldn’t fall asleep for a couple of hours, despite being physically and emotionally wiped out. I’m surprised my anti-dinner stayed down.

So now Son #1 is rebooked on the same flight as GirlT, leaving Saturday night at 10 pm. His luggage is (hopefully) somewhere in Newark airport, and the airline has promised but not delivered a $700 voucher for getting bumped. On Saturday morning, I got back in my car, drove back to Newark airport, picked him up and went to visit my brother who lives less than a half hour south. We went out for lunch, sat around, watched a movie, it was actually quite a pleasant afternoon, and I hadn’t seen my brother in quite a while. We then set off for the airport, with directions that did not include driving through downtown Newark, and I dropped him off at 6:03 for a 10:00 pm flight. When I got home, DH looked at me and said, “where can I take you for dinner?” I did call Son#1 a little later, he and GirlT were all set, boarding passes in hand, luggage recovered and rerouted. Son#1 had fought and clawed until he got his voucher, I’m sure he is already thinking about how far $700 can take him! He called this morning from London, having arrived safe and sound, but exhausted.

GSIU Week #6

This was not the best week overall for the GSIU campaign. I worked late couple of days, had a meeting a 3rd day, and got lazy for another day or two. So, I didn't get in the gym time I should have. When presented with a free lunch, I ate too much of the wrong thing. There were a couple of bright spots; the week was not a total disaster.
1) I had an MRI of my knee done on Wednesday and I will call the doctor tomorrow, but I am hopeful that the report will confirm the fact that my knee problem is not in fact a knee problem. I scheduled my first appointment for physical therapy for this Tuesday.
2) Yesterday I totally busted my a$$ at the gym. It was Dab the Wussy and Beyond. I took a body sculpting class that really got into my core and my shoulders. Then I took a spin class and just didn't hold back, until the last five minutes when I was really out of gas!
3) I tried a new food-- tempeh. Tempeh is made by a fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. It has a stronger flavor that tofu and a higher protein content. I made Barbecued Tempeh with Bell Peppers from the Vegetarian Times Cookbook and I loved it! Are you feeling adventursoy? Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tb rice wine vinegar
4 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp honey
8 ounces tempeh
1 cup sliced onion
2 red or green bell peppers, cut into strips
1/4 cup tomato paste
1-2 Tb molasses
1-2 Tb brown sugar
2 tsp mustard
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, and honey in a mixing bowl. Put the tempeh in the bowl, covering it with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Turn occasionally. Drain the tempeh, reserve the marinade. Cut the tempeh into small cubes.
2. Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray (I actaully prefer to use a little olive oil) and heat over medium heat. Add onions and bell peppers amd cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the marinade, tomato paste, molasses, sugar, mustard, vinegar, garlic, chili powder and 3/4 cup water to the skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil, add the tempeh, reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered until the mixture begins to thicken, maybe 10 minutes. Mash the tempeh slightly with a fork. Season with salt and pepper. Serves 4.

Per serving: 222 calories, 18G protein, 5G fat, 30G carb, 0 MG chol, 215 Mg Sodium, 7G fiber

Murderous Tomatoes

The Metabolic Power of Quality, Part I
From The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure Energy and Weight Loss by Marc David

"Disregarding the Earth, its soil and the food web and not thoughtfully sharing with all our fellow eaters around the planet has pathological consequences, not the least of which is recorded in our food as energy and information and fed directly back to us."

Yes, what goes around, comes around.

"Consider, for example, the tomato.. If the soil it grows in is depleted, then the tomato has measurably low mineral content, less natural sugar and more acids, which means it will be tough, tasteless and nutritionally inferior. If it is sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, it will carry instructional messages to your body that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, and neurotoxic. If it is grown on an impersonal farm, the tomato will be lifeless and have no charm. If it is picked by an underpaid migrant worker who has no benefits and few worker's rights, then the tomato is hypocritical and lacks integrity. If it is chopped by a machine along with thousands of other tomatoes, delivered to a fast food joint, and slapped together with a bun and meat from a cow that suffered even worse trauma, then our tomato is now suicidal or even murderous, because it has lost its soul and has no reason to live."

Over the past few years, these ideas and concepts have become integral to my own beliefs about food and health. One of the reasons I devoured this book is because it articulates so many ideas that I practice, or it helped me find ways to practice some of my ideas. But I'm sure many people can't expand their concept of quality food beyond the walls of a food science lab. A tomato that has become murderous because it has lost its soul..... this may sound totally absurd to you, but not to me. I would put this is the category of "conventional wisdom." You know it is true even though it has not been proven in a laboratory. I'm not saying science is bad. I'm just not always willing to wait for science to validate a concept before I accept it as truth.

If you believe in murderous tomatoes, then elevate the quality of your food. Quality means: Real. Fresh. Organic. Homemade. Locally produced. Filled with true flavor, not virtual ones that mask the absence of nutrients and vitality.

If you don't believe in murderous tomatoes, then stayed tuned for Part II on the metabolic power of quality.

GSIU Week #5

The theme of the week was finding the time to do things right. I cleaned out the frig, I cooked some good foods, I brought my lunch to work 4 out of 4 days. But when I was pressed for time, I fell back on some old habits. A bagel with dinner, cold cereal for breakfast.
The most significant accomplishment of the week was a visit to the orthopedist in the continuing saga of my right knee. The good news is that he doesn't think the problem is my knee. He thinks I have really tight hamstrings and that is causing the pain and stiffness when I run. The bad news is that he wants me to have some phsical therapy at a "magical" place where he sends world class ballerinas and dancers and they do not accept my insurance. So I need to talk to him about choosing between magic and $1000. In the meantime I am having an MRI on Wednesday to be sure it is not my knee.

I did Dab the Wussy on the arc trainer. I actually tried to see how high I could push my heart rate. Talk about anaerobic! And the Great Breakfast Experiment continues. I haven't eaten anything really weird for breakfast, but I did avoid cold cereal 6 out of 7 days. I read The Slow Down Diet this week and I have been trying to incorporate some of these principles into my daily life. One of the things he talks about is listening to your gut and being more aware of how you feel after meals. On Saturday I made a vegetable soup with shirataki noodles. These are noodles that are made from tofu and I never ate them before. After eating a bowl of this soup I felt really full-- almost uncomfortable. I didn't go to the gym because of this. So, I won't be eating anymore shiratake noodles.

My "week" begins on Sunday. There is no doubt that I will spend the rest of week #6 trying to recover from the Super Bowl Overconsumption Spectacle. It goes beyond food at the party, although that is the biggest piece. Time to accept the artic blast as nature's way of saying it's okay to shift into a lower gear, and focus on self instead of getting caught up in all the media hype about alot of things that really don't matter. At least until baseball season starts.

Breathe More, Burn More

The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure Energy and Weight Loss by Marc David

The Metabolic Power of Relaxation

Although stress is a normal part of living, the stress response is designed to function for a few minutes in life-threatening situations (e.g. running away from the saber-toothed tiger). When exposed to chronic stress such as trying to juggle a full-time job, family obligations and keeping a home in order, the prolonged physiologic stress response begins to wear us down. Stress causes a shift in the central nervous system to shut down the digestive system. You can eat the healthiest meal, but if you do it while answering the phone, reading emails and preparing for the big meeting, your digestive system is not prepared to metabolize it optimally. It has been shown that stress hormones block the assimilation of calcium and increase its secretion. Thus, stress has an effect on bone density.

The answer is vitamin T: Time. Relax. Increase the amount of time you spend at a meal. Try to allow yourself at least 30 minutes for lunch and dinner. If you cannot eat at your desk without “unplugging,” then find another place to eat your lunch. Make a conscious effort to become a slow-eater. To help you relax and become a slow-eater, practice conscious breathing. Metabolizing your food requires oxygen and conscious breath will increase your oxygen intake. You need to get your metabolic furnace turned up to burn your food. Before you begin eating, take 2 or 3 deep breaths. This will signal your body and your brain that it is time to shift into a relaxed state and allow your digestive system to come “online.” Breath is a vital part of our diet. Consciously consume oxygen at every meal. When you breathe more, you burn more.

The Slow Down Diet

The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure Energy and Weight Loss by Marc David

I don’t remember where I heard or read about this book, but I reserved it at my library and I have been ripping through it. There is a good deal of wisdom in this book. Although it is supported by scientific evidence, the strength of the book lies in allowing you to acknowledge these principles and making them part of your daily life. The basic premise is that the pace at which we live our lives has a profound effect on our metabolism. The result is a diminished ability to draw nutrients and produce energy from our food. We are left with little pleasure from our meals, and a physiological reason to eat more and accumulate more fat. The antidote is “slowing down:” become more aware. Open. Centered. Present. Balanced. An alignment of body and mind will cause changes in your nervous, endocrine, and immune systems that will result in the ability to burn calories at an optimal rate. He identifies 8 universal metabolizers: relaxation, quality, awareness, rhythm, pleasure, thought, story and the sacred. I think I will do separate posts on each of these, as I read, reread, and ponder.

If You Build it They Will Come

This is a great article written by Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma. Nutritionism and food science has taken a very simple question-- what should you eat-- and cloaked the answer in clouds of confusion and marketing. He begins the article by answering this question, and then goes onto explain why there is so much confusion surrounding the relationship between food and health. So here is the answer:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

He then goes onto describe 4 rapid and far reaching changes in food culture and relationships (from soil to table) that have a profound effect on the western diet and therefore on health.

1. From whole foods to refined-- the rise of white foods (refined flour and white rice); corn becomes corn syrup. These foods deliver glucose much more quickly and overwhelm the body's ability to produce insulin. Result-----> Type II diabetes
2. From complexity to simplicity-- the rise of chemical fertilizers simplify the production of food, but decrease its nutritional quality. Four crops -- wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice -- account for 2/3 of the calories we eat (I find this astonishing).
   
3. From leaves to seeds-- grains are easy to store, and easily and economically transformed into processed foods and animal protein. Replacing vegetables with grains means less nutrients, phytochemicals, fiber. The implications are barely understood.
   
4. From food culture to food science-- science, journalism and marketing have replaced "mom" in determining what we eat.

Pollan does offer some advice on how to escape from these trends and their deleterious effects on health.

1. Eat food. Stay away from anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
   
2. Avoid food products that come bearing health claims. They are apt to be heavily processed. Bananas and yams may be silent, but that doesn't mean they don't have anything to do with your health.
3. Avoid products with ingredients that are unrecognizable, unpronounceable, more than 5 in number, and/or includes high fructose corn syrup.
4. Get out of the supermarket if you can. Farmer's markets sell food.
   
5. Eat less and pay more. Good quality food costs more, but it is a good investment in your health, and the health of the planet.
   
6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. Vegetarians and near vegetarians are healthier than carnivores. Plants are good for you!
7. Eat more like the French, or the Italians, or the Greeks, or the Japanese. Adopt the principles of a food culture, not food science.
8. Cook. Take part in the process of providing sustenance and communion. Escape the culture of cheap fast food.
   
9. Eat like an omnivore. Add diversity to your diet.
   

Sundays is usually a food prep/cooking day. I work late on Mondays, so I usually make sure there is enough food for Sunday dinner, and Monday lunch and dinner. I cleaned out the frig. I was away for 2 days and there were all these mysterious things wrapped in aluminum foil and take out containers in there. Son #1 is a pizza delivery boy. The recycling bin was filled with pizza boxes! Then I cooked-- string beans and chickpeas in peanut sauce, pumpkin-corn muffins, and a roast chicken. There was leftover salad. Sometimes it's hard to get everyone on the same page, but "if you build it, they will come." I sure hope they come, because there's an awful big tub of string beans with chickpeas in peanut sauce!

Why

This morning I listened to a WGBH Morning Stories Podcast called Runner’s High. It is about a couple, both of them runners. The wife became seriously ill with an infection and almost died. It took her a long time to recover and eventually she was able to resume running. She then entered and completed a 7 mile road race. Her husband, of course, also participated. He finished first and when he saw her come across the finish line, he realized that running is not about fitness or competing, it’s about celebrating life and not taking a single day for granted. Then I saw Leslie’s post about Cardio Coach and the description of the couple in their 60’s, with kayaks on the top of the car and bicycles on the back, dancing in their seats because they are so excited about life and their adventures.

This is why I do what I do. So I can get on my bike on a beautiful summer day and feel the wind and take pictures of my friends. So I can travel and explore and eat more really delicious food. So I can run up the hill, because it’s there and because once you get to the top you get to run down the other side. So I won’t be afraid to try something new, especially something that is physically challenging. So I can listen to new music and let it flow inside me and make me move and dance. So I can look at my “personal best” and challenge myself to do better. So I can be a role model for other women my age to stop reading magazines on the freakin hamster wheel treadmill!!!

Then, I was in the weight room and I was walking behind a woman, roughly my age, maybe a little older. Let me tell you, the view was not pretty. She was wearing a velour track suit, sweat suit (not a drop of sweat on it), whatever you want to call it. That was not pretty either. She was in the weight room, with a friend, carrying her pocketbook around, from machine to machine. She was talking a lot and lifting a little.
This is also why I do what I do. This was scary. I do not want to be like her. She won’t be taking any “adventure vacations” anytime soon. I want DH and I to be wearing our hiking boots, bopping to the music, driving somewhere we’ve never been before with the bikes on the back of the car. No kayaks, though. We suck at kayaking. Ooooh, maybe we’ll take kayaking lessons so we can make the kayaks go straight and then we will like it and we can have kayaks on top of the car which we will buy for our 70^th birthdays.

GSIU Week #3

The weekend featured the typical mix-- gym, cooking, laundry and Sunday football. Now watching football games means having a good dose of treats and junk food available. So, yesterday was not the greatest day, but I did get to the gym in the morning. Other than that, I had a good week.

1) I was in the gym 6 out 7 days. Some of those days, my workouts were limited, but something is better than nothing. And, I did initiate the once weekly Dab the Wussy challenge, with good success!

2) The GBE is still in full swing. I tried a smoothie featuring coffe yogurt and frozen bananas. I wasn't crazy about it, but DH liked it. He took it to work and had it for lunch. I had spilt pea soup. I even had a scrambled egg (hardly experimental, but I avoided cold cereal). So far, I like having soup for breakfast.

3) I did a good job planning my own meals, packing my lunch. I'm still feeding the carnivores, but I try to take care of myself first. So far, they haven't really noticed.