Wednesday Weigh-in

You can't help but become obsessed with the scale when you do W.W. That probably isn't good, because the point should be health, not pounds, but let's face it: we all compete with ourselves to lose just a little more.  So this week, it was two pounds gone. With Mother's Day brunch and our wedding anniversary in there, that's not bad.

I've learned in these five months that variety isn't my friend. A few things work for me, and if I don't stick with them, I stall or go backwards. For instance, an English muffin with real, unsalted butter and sugar free orange marmalade is breakfast.  That would seem to contradict most diet advice, except the one that says eat your bread for the day in the morning.  I don't eat margarine. Keep your body as chemical free as you can. A little butter, and I do mean little, is OK for me. And hot tea. Irish Breakfast Tea (Twinings) is delicious. You do not need sugar or milk. In fact, let your taste buds learn the taste of real tea, hot or cold, not sweet tea, and especially not tea with a chemical sweetener.

You would think fruit, orange juice, yogurt, oatmeal, etc. would be better. I've tried to cut out milk products (all those vitamins can be obtained in a healthier way in vegetables,) and milk contributes to swelling and bloat. Orange juice is generally a diet advice no-no (eat an orange,) and I do eat fruit, mostly apples and berries, throughout the day. 

By the way, I am definitely not a diet guru, unlike that wonderful Dr. Oz. who hustles coffee pills on-line (what a scam) and that dear Katy Holmes who shills for coffee pills, too. (Katy, really, how could you? I was 100% behind you in that Tom Cruise debacle, but I guess a girl needs to make a buck where she can. But coffee pills?) I am just telling you what has worked for me.

You can Google, so be proactive and check out everything for yourself. Doctors seldom learn much about diet and nutrition in med school, so it is fair to check what they tell you (if they tell you anything at all) for yourself. If they tell you nothing and offer you a new pill FOR ANYTHING, its time to teach yourself about your body chemistry. Pills have their place, but they aren't a cure-all or health substitute. But you knew that already.

 I am thinking of my dear friend recovering from chemo, who no longer produces enough white blood cells to fight off infection, and whose heart is pumping at about 50%. This lovely lady spends most of her days in bed, dowses all food in salt, and prefers red meat, fried foods, and everything eggy and cheesy. And she is tiny, so it is not a weight issue - it is a nutrition issue, exactly the one that killed my father at a young age and will get her if she  just waits to be given another pill. That's what she is doing now. She had a heart attack preceding this cancer, and swears no one lectured her about the role of salt. Lordy, lordy. Maybe so, maybe not. There is also willful ignorance.

I am less hungry than I used to be. I am satisfied with a lot less food, which is probably because my stomach has shrunk and also because  my brain  expects less after five months of repetition.It was a nice surprise.

Enough  rants from me. In the future, lunch, dinner, snacks, chocolate and the Nutri-Bullet, not necessarily in that order.  For now, it's a beautiful day!