123014 New Year

There really is nothing magic about changing the calendar. Tradition makes a fuss over it with celebrations that emphasize their pagan origins, such as trees and presents to Woden, elves in chimneys, socks on mantles, holly boughs, special lights, special colors, etc. Yeah, I’m no fun at this time of year, because I know too much about how all our happy little traditions have their origins in paganism. (Christ was born on Tishri 1, or Rosh Hashana, and not on the Winter Solstice like so many pagan gods were.)

The drunken revelry known as New Year’s Eve is simply part of that pagan festival over the return of the Sun God. These stories can be traced all the way back to the times before Babylon when Noah’s great-grandson rejected the True God. Enough of that. This bit of archaeological knowledge simply fuels the depression I feel year after year for the battle-cry of the “reason for the season”, which has absolutely nothing to do with the Son of God and everything to do with frenzy.

So, despite my feelings for the change in calendar, I plan to re-start some resolutions on January 4th. I pick this day, because it allows me to consume the rest of the non-compliant foods in my refrigerator, such as those sweet potatoes a friend gave me or the sugar-free cranberry sauce I made. This is not a “New Year’s” resolution. This is this week’s resolution. I also have to make daily resolutions. I live too much in the present to control my eating habits for a whole year. It has to be a day by day decision. Days become weeks and so on.

I also plan to exercise. Ugh.

141223 I Don't Feel Like Doing Anything

Somewhere today, someone is having a birthday  I know, because I had a friend in high school whose birthday was today. Such people often feel somewhat cheated. That's not what brings me down. My daughter and I simply can't stand the lack of sunshine, and overly happy people drive me insane. My other daughter asks me why I hate the holidays, but love all the songs? Well, the important songs are "O Holy Night", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", and "Angels We Have Heard On High". I can also sing parts of "The Messiah".

Do all holidays involve food? At least the turkey conforms. My turkey soup has a blend of spices, turkey and broccoli. I boil the bones in a gallon of water and 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar. This leaches the calcium out of the bones and deposits it into the soup. It also dissolves the tiny little bones that try to choke people. Then, I remove the softened bones and give them to the dog, because it is safe for her to eat their crumbly remains. I can eat this stuff every day. Sweet potatoes and mincemeat mock me. I may have the need for cranberry sauce licked. I accidentally made some sauce without sugar. Everyone gagged, but I found it quite invigorating.

Why do I do the vinegar thing with the bones? I am lactose intolerant. Broccoli, greens, and that trick with bones are a lot less expensive than taking calcium supplements. I'm also gluten intolerant and diabetic. Shouldn't that be motivation enough to stay on this diet?

141218 Atkins Crosspost

141218 Morning BG Is One Ten.

...and I feel nauseous. I ate nuts yesterday. My intestines feel wobbly today. I'm guessing that nuts don't work for me. This is the first time in two days that my blood glucose levels got out of the normal range. 

Unlike some people, constipation is not my problem. I went to the doctor for gas and diarrhea in the early 1990s. He said it was I BS and put me on a high fiber diet, which included lots of wheat bran. The condition became much, much worse, but I had neither money, nor insurance to go back to the doctor.

 

Five or six years later, I read ER4YT, The runs quit, because I eliminated all wheat, rye, barley, oats. etc. from my diet. Bye, bye cow's milk products, which ended the stinky gas. My intestines loved me until panceatitis and gall bladder surgery in 2010. Then once again, I had the runs for two years. This time, it was certain fats that caused it. Through process of elimination, I found that I have to be careful with olive oil. I can't even touch corn, canola, or peanut oils. Chicken fat can send me running, as does pork. 

"How could I do the Atkins?" one may ask. Well, beef and tallow give me no problem whatsoever. I've learned to love steak. That certainly goes against common thought. Coconut oil is a Godsend. I use it for everything, because again, it causes no intestinal backlash. Eggs are cheap, versatile, and cause no backlash. One strip of bacon keeps things moving for me.

For meals, I follow a list I made for myself, but I hate recording what I ate afterwards. Perhaps I shall attempt it and post it here. I designed my personal diet so that I would not have to think too much about what to eat. When I am hungry and have to think, I get frustrated and pop things into my mouth. I am attempting to break 20 year of training and 36 years of habit here!

141216 Holiday Food Crosspost

141216 Tamales, Turkey, and Pie

TexMex tradition = tamales at Christmas. I have already ordered mine, but won't get to eat any. Masa (corn flour used in tamales) has too many carbs. The rest of the family will enjoy them while I munch on tortilla-less barbacoa. Why is food so infused into all our traditions?

This year, I bought a turkey, too. Turkey is carb-free. I won't make any dressing for it, and the soup I make from the leftovers has no flour, no potatoes, and no corn. I usually add broccoli and spices to the broth and enjoy.

I discovered that pumpkin thickens like flour, so maybe I'll add that to the broth.

Pumpkin brings me to pie. My favorite is not pumpkin. Mincemeat is, (sigh). Pumpkin is sweet on its own. Because of gluten problems, I gave up pie crust a long time ago. Two decades ago, I started making custards instead of pie. My children LOVED pumpkin custard. Use the pie recipe and put in custard dishes instead of a pie pan. Cut the bake time in half, or monitor until done. The can of pumpkin has the recipe on the inside of the label, and one just needs to make the appropriate substitutions.

I quit making the custard, and just eat the pumpkin. Every year, a local church sells pumpkins for less than what the grocery store charges. The smallest ones make good pies, and the big ones are good with butter. Not everyone is good with cooking and storing fresh pumpkin, so look for the cans with no added sugar nor spice. My grocery store sells cans of pumpkin in the baking isle. 

When I keep my carbs evenly spread among the meals, I can have 1/2 cup of pumpkin mush a couple of times a week. I usually put it into my chicken soup, which will be turkey soup in January... 

141206 Race Rants

Why does this yelling about race so infuriate me? I know why. I can't talk about it. It sticks in my throat as the bile in my stomach threatens to erupt in a violent spew of disgusting matter. No one knows. Well, my little sister knows some of it, but she wants to talk about it as much as I do. We keep our mouths closed. Karnes City was a far, far better place than that from whence we came.

Sometimes, I want to record how daily I was threatened with bodily harm for being blond. I want to explain why I had to walk six blocks out of my way to get home from school. I want to reveal why I feared other children. Occasionally, someone left both physical and emotional scars with words, a ball, a fist, a wooden bat. I once feared for my life. Then, it doesn't matter. My narrative doesn't fit the race-baiters narrative. Speaking does no good. It doesn't change minds. No one cares.

Those people are somewhere else, and no longer scare me. Certain leaders call for a 'dialogue on race', but they don't want an honest discussion. They want to lay blame. They don't want to hear about the two-way street. They don't want to hear that success takes work. They don't want to hear about the Renewed Mind. (Romans 12:1-3)

Romans 12:1-3
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, your reasonable service. 
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 
"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

In other parts of the Word, the 'measure of faith' is all there is, so how can one think higher than everything? It is a figure of speech to emphasize that we don't think highly enough of what God gives. God is no respecter of persons, so race does not matter. God does not care what is on the outside. Is a person born again, or is that person an empty vessel?

The Word of God healed me. Even though I post stuff about race, I fight the bitterness of it. I want people to see that race doesn't matter. Investing in 'fairness' causes strife and envying. Life is not fair; it never has been, and it never will be. God is not fair. He withholds merited judgement from the guilty, and gives unmerited favor to anyone who is willing to receive it.

If God were fair, we'd all be dead -- for all have sinned an come short of the glory of God.

Aren't you glad that God wasn't fair?

141203 Not Writing Much

Must be all the writing I did last month. ;)

Not much going on other than the diet. I went off after Thanksgiving, and it has been difficult to return to the restrictions. I have tried, however, to keep to the glycemic stuff to avoid another blood glucose horror. It worked. Mango is all sugar, but when I mixed it with chicken, I did not have another episode.

Today, I really must find me a doctor who will fill out the forms for free testing supplies. They cost way too much for me to keep up with them. It's $50 a bottle, or a dollar a strip. At this point, I need to test six times per day, so fifty strips last about eight days. I ran out just before the holiday, and have been flying by the seat of my pants. This gives me all the more reason to get back on the diet!

Get back on the diet!