141127 Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry, I haven't been blogging so much around here. How about I cross post? I have been blogging at:
http://blogs.atkins.com/Blogs/Moons%20Mom/Default.aspx

141126 Warning: Higher Power Mentioned! My blogs work as a journal, but then I found the journal function. Hmm. I'll just keep blogging. You don't have to read it, but someone might enjoy my ramblings. I haven't posted in a couple of days. My girls came back from a cross country trip, and I was occupied. Guess what? I stayed on the program!  I have a new friend whose screen name references the Bible. What's not to like? I reference the Bible frequently. My favorite passage for weight loss is:  1 Corinthians 9:24-27 24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.  25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:  27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. The Epistles contain many examples of athletic terminology. That shows that God is interested in our health and well being. Some may say it isn't so, but that does more to show the limitations of their thinking than any supposed limitations of God. Anyway, we could reduce this concept to a sterilized discussion of an amorphous 'higher power', but I might as well make my stand known. (Joshua 24:15) Yesterday, my blood sugar dropped to 65, but after dinner, it spiked to 145. I'm not sure what I had eaten, but it had a dramatic effect. The first few days after starting the diet, my readings seemed to stabilize, until day 5. My children came back, and my blood sugar spiked. All that 'sugar', I guess. ;) Time for a reading. Posted Wednesday, Nov 26, 2014 4:25 AM by Moons Mom | 2 Comments [Edit Post]

141123 Progress I already forgot what day I'm on, but I think it is day 4. I haven't been counting carbs so much as following a menu. I devised the menu last week by assessing all the nutrition, including the carbohydrates. Since I have Celiac disease, that eliminates a lot of heavy carb foods already. I just have to quit the rice and watch the starchy vegetables, as well as tweak a few other foods to limit my carbs to vegetables and high protein foods. Dr. Oz said to automate some meals, so I have the same breakfast and same lunch every day. Both have six carbohydrates and 240 calories in them, although one has beef that the other has chicken. Snacks vary, but have no more than two carbs each. Supper is usually some kind of fish or eggs with vegetables that have no more than four carbs. I keep the total calories between 1200 and 1400 per day. So far, I do little exercise. After Induction, I'll work a plan for that. This morning, before breakfast, my blood glucose reading was 97. Finally, a morning where it was below 100! An hour and a half after breakfast, it was still 97. Does this mean that I have reached ketosis? What would those readings look like? Posted Sunday, Nov 23, 2014 8:07 AM by Moons Mom | 3 Comments [Edit Post]

141122 Tough Day I tore out of here at 6:30 am. Took Beef Jerky as a snack, even though that stuff is made with sugar. Got home by 11, but I have to go out again at 2:30. After that, I'll probably get home after 9. Posted Saturday, Nov 22, 2014 12:38 PM by Moons Mom | 1 Comments [Edit Post]

141121 Doing Well OK, it is Day Three. Things are going well today. I finished my NaNoWriMo challenge nine days early! W007! What is NaNoWriMo, you ask? National Novel Writing Month started some years ago with the challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. In 2008, I wrote my first ever novel, which is how a person wins. Then, I edited it and sent it for publication. Sadly, the general public will not be reading my tome. I wrote another one in 2011, but it was disjointed and vague, so I never let anyone see it. (I'm sensing a pattern here... :p) Every three years I write. What does this have to do with food? Well, I tend to eat better food when I'm happy. When I am happier, it's easier to eat good food.  Today, I checked my blood sugar twice. At waking, it was 102. I ate breakfast of beef, with a little bit of tomato. After typing for four hours, it had dropped to 84, so I ate two Italian sausages. Now, after eating two eggs, an ounce of cheddar, and some coconut oil, it reads 82. Maybe I should wait two hours after eating. I'm still jazzed about finishing my novel. :D Posted Friday, Nov 21, 2014 1:38 PM by Moons Mom | 2 Comments [Edit Post]

141120 Day Two - So Far So Good Today, I have vague hunger. This morning during cravings, my blood sugar was 107. A half an hour ago, I had some beef to try to counteract this afternoon's cravings. My blood sugar was 105. I'm checking to see if the cravings coincide with a spike or drop in blood sugar. The cravings are subsiding, so I probably didn't wait long enough after the meal to check it. Today, when I logged on, there were friend requests and comments to read. This pleases me! I really smiled to see them, and it encourages me to keep this up.  One problem common to many dieters comes in the form of familial needs. I have to feed my two daughters. Neither one will eat the foods I need to eat. (One, however, will eat bacon -- all of it!) It would be easier with them out of the house, but then the real world seldom bends to our wishes. The only real change we can effect is to our own minds. It always comes down to motivation and the willingness to bend one's will to what is best. There. I feel better and the craving is dissipating. Maybe I'll check the blood sugar again. I am having so much fun with this kit, I may use all my supplies in the first two weeks. If the Atkins works to keep my blood sugar stable, I'll never have to go on drugs. There was a diabetic cyclist who was on the Atkins. It would be nice to find that website again. Posted Thursday, Nov 20, 2014 3:07 PM by Moons Mom | 5 Comments [Edit Post]

141112 Again With the Ringing

Once again, my ears are ringing. I have been eating a lot of fruit lately, and I just finished eating some fried rice. My guess is that my blood glucose levels are up. I almost collapsed in the kitchen last night. Emily thought I'd been drinking, but I hadn't. While it seems like such a little thing to control one's diet, the truth is that cheap food has a lot of carbohydrates in it, and carbohydrates turn to sugar in the body.

The constant ringing in my ears had started to go away, but I was going crazy on the restrictive diet. Food prices also took another jump, so I went back to the food bank. What they give falls mostly into the "breads and grains" category, so I dropped off the expense of the Atkins and added rice to my diet. Emily took the other grains. The ringing is back full force, and although I've had only water so far this morning, I feel like I am drunk. My brain is fuzzy and that low level buzz makes me think of alien bombardments.

Temperatures here took a drastic nose dive yesterday. Monday's high was near 80F (26C). Tuesday's high came at about eight o'clock in the morning. It got close to freezing last night, and we should have a hard freeze tonight. Yes, northerners laugh, but adapting to survive the summers here does come at a price. Cold bites.

If this doesn't sound incredibly depressing, it is because I am fighting SAD with all I have. The novel has become dark, but I'm on track with my goals concerning word counts. I have discovered that I cannot write an outline, then write the book. I have to just write. I thought this was a failing, but then I listened to a favorite author, John Erickson, discuss writing. He doesn't plan, either, and sixty-four published books says outlines don't have to be.

OK, how can you be depressed listening to "It's me again..."

What? Children's books can be fun and funny. He didn't write the first two for children, but when children loved them, he decided to make a whole series of them. He's a good speaker, too.

I'm just a lump on a log. I miss ice cream. Ice cream tastes wonderful and is fun to eat, but would just make my body feel worse. *cries*

141027 Bumps and Bruises

Saturday was Estella's wedding shower. I baked a cake and made name tags. In my excitement, I attempted the stairs without my walker, and fell. My ankle swelled to half again its size, and my knees became loose and painful again.

Determined not to miss the shower, I rubbed Pan Away on everything. I took oils with me and applied them occasionally. I stayed off my feet as often as possible.

Sunday, I could get by with the cane. Today, the swelling in gone, and the pain is only in the plantar fasiitis. Even the latter is greatly diminished from what it was three weeks ago. This is why I love the oils. They remove both the symptoms as well as the causes of my pains.

141023 Registering for NaNoWriMo

There is a story bubbling in my soul, and this is the right time to write. Now, the rules are that I have to wait until the 1st to start. I shall be hampered by the trip we have planned, so I'll need to fit that into the schedule. Some people write the novel in two weeks. I'll shoot for that.

I won't post anything here until it's done.

141021 The Fastest Way of Being Hit

I like Robert Downey, Jr. He plays arrogance well, and it seems that his characters have used their arrogance to hide painful weakness. They may have depth, but use shallowness to cover it.

The Judge made me laugh and brought a tear. It also had Robert Duvall in it, as well as a few other familiar faces. Robert Duvall does the "I'm too tough to have weakness."

Downey played a NYC attorney who liked to win at all costs. The rest of the family stayed in Indiana, where the dad, played by Duvall, was a judge. Downey played the middle kid. Mom died, and the two men had to face each other. Fireworks ensued.

Why did I like this movie? I'm the middle kid. Middle kids suffer from not being good enough, and not being cute enough, to have "love". This was one of those movies that spoke to me on many levels. Yes, I realize that I can be a self-centered *** at times, but only when I'm feeling slighted. I promise.

The Judge may find its way into my video collection. No where can I fault the acting, and the story appeals to me. It is neither action/adventure nor SF, but it made my day.

BTW, there is a proverb that applies to birth order as well as the highway of opinion: "Standing in the middle of the road is the fastest way of being hit."

141014 First Check

Finally, after three or four years of being a distributor of essential oils, I received my first check! OK, it's only sixty bucks, but it's a check! Cool!

141014 SoA

I know and have known dozens of people who own motorcycles. Maybe a double handful of those Ride. Four Bikers have been close personal contacts. At least two of those associates are born again.

A month or so ago, two unrelated Facebook friends referenced a TV show known as The Sons of Anarchy. Good Internet had just been piped into my home, so I watched the first couple of seasons online.

Like a fifteen car pileup, it drew my attention. It took until the start of the third season for me to pull my eyes from it. Yes, there was a code of honor; there was the love of family; there was a kind of justice, but there was nothing inherently good about it. Hollywood keeps its characters in constant strife, and tweaks all story lines to conform to their own worldview. Truth doesn't matter.

Truth is, while isolated incidents and even some story lines were believable, the combination was not. There should have been more jail time, injury, and/or death for all. I know of only one old biker who still rides, and he does that only for show. Also, he has lost his hearing. Cops are not stupid, and in any department, more than one of them is going to be a 'straight arrow'. Based on these deviations from reality and the excessive emotional pain the characters constantly generate, I developed a great dislike for the show.

I realize that TV is not real, but Hollywood acts like they are showing the 'real deal' in their fiction. Actually, many writers such as myself do attempt to illustrate reality with our fiction. Aesop used stories to convey wisdom. Shakespeare and Steinbeck illustrated the human condition. Maybe that's why most of Hollywood disgusts me. It seems that they have completely abandoned this facet of fiction that reveals truth and replaced it with this facet of coercion. They seem obligated to drive home certain narratives without ever allowing certain alternate opinions or even facts that contradict.

My daughter told me that new experiences, even second-hand or fictional, cause the brain to produce dopamine. Even unpleasant experiences can cause the production of dopamine. That must be why SoA captured my attention. I am not, however, an addict (dependent personality disorder). Nope. Not me, but I was married to one.

In sixteen days, I may return to an old experience that causes a rush: NaNoWriMo. November is usually a tough month with many obligations, so maybe not. It is, however, my kind of fun! Certainly, I can do better than watching SoA!