This was the single most brilliant move by the Clinton campaign - to release a catalog of many (but probably not all) of
Trump's lies just before the "debate:"
19 Pages of Trump's Lies, as of September 23, 2016
#ImWithHer #NeverVoteRepublican
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Monday, August 08, 2016
Leavetakings - July 2016
July 2016 was a month of leavetakings, the happy and the sad.
We had long encouraged our daughter to move out, but we tried not to nag about it too much. She's 35 and really should be out on her own. Suddenly in June, she said she was starting to look for a place. It turns out she had a good reason for her long delay - she wanted to save at least a year's worth of rent before moving out. Leslie found an apartment that was even closer to her work than we are. So by July 8, she had moved out. She has us out to her place every Sunday night for dinner. So this was a happy leavetaking as we were all ready for her to be out on her own.
And then my mother died on Tuesday, July 26.
This was not unexpected. She was 86, had had breast cancer twice over the last few years, and was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer in February. Mom was an extraordinarily anxious person but took this news with equanimity. Not to say she was never anxious about anything in the intervening months. She had had a stillbirth in about 1961 and had some overpowering episodes of guilt over it this year. It was strange because she'd talked about her miscarriages (she had 3 before me) and the stillbirth pretty matter-of-factly while I was growing up. She talked some to the ministers at her church about it and she wrote a short poem about the baby and had it put in her casket.
My mother had a lot of support over the last few months, from our family (especially my brother Terry and sister-in-law Jess with whom Mom lived), from Jewish Home Hospice, and from the ministers at the First Congregational Church in West Boylston, particularly Steven Small and Chip Hurd. She was able to die at home which had been her hope.
Mom was really the first person I was very close to who's died, which seems like an odd thing to say when you're almost 60. While we visited our grandparents and other older relatives while I was growing up (and even lived with her parents for a few months when I was around three), I really never felt that close to them. But I lived with Mom for 18 years and while we fought we were close. We talked a lot about everything. We were both non-crafty, loved to read and write and really enjoyed food especially really sharp cheddar cheese and chocolate. We preferred comfortable clothes (though when Mom was young, she was thin and dressed more glamorously). We had kind of a morbid sense of humor and sarcasm (though Dad is still very much like that). I last saw her about three weeks before her death and she would still joke "I'm still here..."
She had a few scary health episodes this year, particularly in the last two months of her life. She got a little cold in late May, at a time when Jim and I and my brother Jeff were en route for a planned visit. When we got there she was having trouble breathing and was using a nebulizer. But she rallied; the next day she was feeling better. However, she was then pretty much bed-bound for the rest of her life. I was up visiting in early July and came over to find her napping but breathing very shallowly. Her aide was concerned about that too. But about a half hour later, she gradually woke up, and after about 10 minutes, she became quite alert and we had a wonderful talk. In doing some cleaning, I'd found a trunk of hers we'd been looking for for years. It had a lot of fascinating old family stuff in it, including some photos of her I'd never seen, her stepmother's nursing certificates and a hooked hanging, trim from her grandmother's wedding gown and her father's baby cap. I was so glad to show her a few things that afternoon.
Which turned out to be the last time I ever spoke to her.
Mom had written her own obituary and planned her funeral, so we didn't have to do very much other then be there.
The funeral was on Saturday, July 30. It was a very hot day in Central Massachusetts. Chip, the associate minister, led most of the service, but Steven, the longtime minister, came down from his vacation in New Hampshire to participate as well. Over 200 people came. She had a simple and musical service. While she didn't want a eulogy, Chip gave her a very warm and mostly accurate one (though did skip over her sarcasm, but that had toned down a bit over the last few months).
She was interred in her family's plot in Vermont the following Monday. It was cool and sprinkling early. Her cousins were there, and some of their children, and a few of us had breakfast at her favorite place, the Miss Lyndonville Diner. But it started to rain torentially just before the service. I felt sorry for Steven who wore a full ministerial gown that morning and was drenched despite the tent over the gravesite. She was buried beside her father (whom she outlived by nearly 50 years), mother (outlived by 77 years), step-mother (outlived by nearly 25 years) and other relatives.
We were a little lucky that she died when she did. Despite having bone cancer, she didn't have much pain until the last few weeks. On top of her other health problems, she'd had a very gradual dementia over the last 10 years or so. But she never forgot her family, or close friends, her past, or that she'd lived a pretty interesting life for the classic '50s woman. And I'm glad about that.
- Mom's WPI obituary.
- Some links to news about my mother's involvement at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as well as some of her writing for the Alumni Journal.
- An essay Mom wrote about her kids back in the early '60s.
- And then Dad died 8 months later...
Thursday, June 02, 2016
An Essay By My Mother, 1962: A Young Mother's Story
[[My mother, Ruth Shonyo Trask, is a free-lance writer who spent over 20 years working for the WPI Journal as a writer and an editor. She wrote this in 1962 when she was in her early 30s. While my father recently unearthed this essay after many decades of being MIA, the last page has not been found.]]
All our books on child development and psychology have been relegated to the deepest part of the closet. Time was when they were referred to daily. As an inexperienced, first-time mother it was reassuring for me to have an expert as close as the nearest book shelf. Now, after five years and three babies, I have finally decided that in child rearing, it is better to play it by ear.
According to the books, Laurie, our first-born, was almost certainly doomed to physical or mental retardation. Perhaps both. At age one she had not yet sat up alone. She had not creeped. She rolled. She was placid, sometimes almost to the point of inertia. She rarely uttered an intelligible syllable. After reading what the "average" child her age was doing, I began to be frightened.
The family doctor assured me that there was nothing to be worried about. But being an anxious, expert-oriented mother, I continued to worry until at least 18 months our "little laggard" finally took her first step. She hasn't stopped going of growing since.
Now, at five, she is a peppy, straight-backed extrovert whose strong will, emotions and off-beat humor are both our pleasure and our bane. Her exposes of family conversations keep us on tenderhooks.
Recently a very punctual professor friend who had suffered a heart attack was nearly an hour late for lunch. We phoned him repeatedly, but there was no answer. "Oh," I moaned, "I hope he hasn't had another heart attack - or something worse."
A few minutes later he rang the doorbell and Laurie greeted him with, "Why, Uncle Claude, aren't you dead yet?" (Luckily, he has a sense of humor.) [[Note from Laurie in 2016: I remember that day. He had a great laugh over it.]]
Anyway, since age one, Laurie has leaned to communicate. Sometimes only too well.
After Laurie came Carrie, 4, and Jeff, 3. Although, of necessity, the household was busier than ever, I did try to follow the book's advice, particularly in the matter of discipline. Nothing can be more frustrating, especially when the experts say:
"Never Spank a Child. Reason with Him."
On the surface this sounds fine. I always tell my children what they are being punished for and why they should not do what they are doing. Then I ask them if they understand. This often works with the older youngsters. But trying to "reason" with a two year old when he is doing something dangerous (like darting out in front of an oncoming car) is utterly ridiculous. A sharp, open-handed spank kept our Jeff out of the road at two and today at three (the beginning of the "Age of Reason") he more clearly understands why he must be careful. The spanks are now few and far between.
On one point I heartily agree with the experts, but purely for practical reasons. In our case banishing the children to their rooms is to no avail as a punishment. They simply unlock their first floor window and slide down the bulkhead as soon as my back is turned!
If, after reasoning, et.c. the older girls continue to misbehave, warming their derrieres is still effective. Actually the worst punishment for them is taking away of special privileges. (Bribery in reverse.)
"Never Bribe a Child to Make Him Behave."
In theory this seems sound and is aimed a eliminating the child's mistaken notion throughout life "If I'm good, somehow I'll get paid for it." There is an age, I am sure, when children can be successfully taught that "Vriture is its own reward." For most pre-schoolers (especially mine!) that concept is utterly incomprehensible. If giving a timid child a pressed leaf to take to Sunday School will get him there without the usual fuss, it seems sensible to do so. The dentist's "Good Patient" balloon lure our little ones in for a cleaning with hardly a murmur of dissent. Perhaps I should feel guilty but I just feel grateful. When they are older and more able to understand, they can elarn the adult idea of being good for goodness' sake.
"Never Let Your Child Violate the Rights of Others."
Nearly everyone wants his child to respect the rights of his family and friends. Practically nobody wants him to be the bleak bully, the instigator of every neighborhood free-for-all. But after a pre-schooler has had his own rights violated it seems grossly unfair if he is severely reprimanded when he fights back. Naturally such altercations should be limited. No bites, sticks, or stones, please!
Our eldest is sometimes a too vigorous protector of her rights while the younger ones often let others take advantage of them. Some day they will have to learn to take their place in life without being pushed aside. Again, as they grown older, they will all learn, I hope, that good humor and common sense are better defenders than fists.
"Never Let Your Child Feel Insecure."
Unfortunately this chestnut has led many innocent parents (myself included) into a maze of trouble. We are drawn into overindulgence of the grossest kind. We are so afraid that our children might undergo a moment's insecurity that we are constantly at their beck and call, give them expensive gifts, pre-plan too much of their time, fight their fights, and in the process erroneously teach them that life is one great featherbed of togetherness. What a shock when they get out into world and discover they aren't the only pepples on the beach!
I believe that if we truly love our children and demonstrate our love verbally or with a pat on the head, that coupled with the providing of the basic necessities and a disciplined, decent home atmosphere is all that should be expected of us parents. From such an encouraging climate there could emerge a sensible brand of "security;" a security which allows for some individual independence.
"Never Break a Promise to Your Child."
This, of course, goes hand in hand with the "security" problem. The idea seems to be that if enough promises are broken the child is bound to be insecure. Theoretically this is probably true.
However, in practice, it is sometimes impossible to keep every promise. Conditions change. The bicycle promised in September may be an economic impossibility by Christmas. If such an unhappy occasion arises, a reasonable explanation is in order.
Perhaps the best way to get around the "promising" block is to try to keep promises at a minimum and, most of all, to keep them. We are having better luck with the "We'll see" tactic which does offer some hope of fulfillment without the ensnarement of a real promise. [[Note from Laurie in 2016: I agree with an awful lot of what my mother wrote in this essay, but I hated "we'll see" because they did use it quite a lot in childhood, especially my father. From an early age, I thought of this as the "parental indefinite." When we had Leslie, I avoided it as much as possible, though I tended to do many of the things Mom recommended here - read childrearing books to a point then did what seemed sensible.]]
Actually if things do not always turn out as expected by our children, it may be all to the good. It teaches them at an early age that life is unpredictable and that they will have to accept the bitter with the sweet.
Enough of books and experts! They are fine for occasional reference but often misleading and unnerving as a daily diet.
We parents must lear to fend for ourselves and use the system that works best in raising our particular families. Most of all, we should remember that we are...[[[Note from Laurie in 2016: Page 5 lost]]
[[Almost anyone who knows me know would agree with the observations Mom made about me back in 1962. I am a trifle mellower at least. My mother died on July 26, 2016.]]
* * *
 |
| Carrie, Ruth, Jeff, Laurie 1962 |
According to the books, Laurie, our first-born, was almost certainly doomed to physical or mental retardation. Perhaps both. At age one she had not yet sat up alone. She had not creeped. She rolled. She was placid, sometimes almost to the point of inertia. She rarely uttered an intelligible syllable. After reading what the "average" child her age was doing, I began to be frightened.
The family doctor assured me that there was nothing to be worried about. But being an anxious, expert-oriented mother, I continued to worry until at least 18 months our "little laggard" finally took her first step. She hasn't stopped going of growing since.
Now, at five, she is a peppy, straight-backed extrovert whose strong will, emotions and off-beat humor are both our pleasure and our bane. Her exposes of family conversations keep us on tenderhooks.
Recently a very punctual professor friend who had suffered a heart attack was nearly an hour late for lunch. We phoned him repeatedly, but there was no answer. "Oh," I moaned, "I hope he hasn't had another heart attack - or something worse."
A few minutes later he rang the doorbell and Laurie greeted him with, "Why, Uncle Claude, aren't you dead yet?" (Luckily, he has a sense of humor.) [[Note from Laurie in 2016: I remember that day. He had a great laugh over it.]]
Anyway, since age one, Laurie has leaned to communicate. Sometimes only too well.
After Laurie came Carrie, 4, and Jeff, 3. Although, of necessity, the household was busier than ever, I did try to follow the book's advice, particularly in the matter of discipline. Nothing can be more frustrating, especially when the experts say:
"Never Spank a Child. Reason with Him."
On the surface this sounds fine. I always tell my children what they are being punished for and why they should not do what they are doing. Then I ask them if they understand. This often works with the older youngsters. But trying to "reason" with a two year old when he is doing something dangerous (like darting out in front of an oncoming car) is utterly ridiculous. A sharp, open-handed spank kept our Jeff out of the road at two and today at three (the beginning of the "Age of Reason") he more clearly understands why he must be careful. The spanks are now few and far between.
On one point I heartily agree with the experts, but purely for practical reasons. In our case banishing the children to their rooms is to no avail as a punishment. They simply unlock their first floor window and slide down the bulkhead as soon as my back is turned!
If, after reasoning, et.c. the older girls continue to misbehave, warming their derrieres is still effective. Actually the worst punishment for them is taking away of special privileges. (Bribery in reverse.)
"Never Bribe a Child to Make Him Behave."
In theory this seems sound and is aimed a eliminating the child's mistaken notion throughout life "If I'm good, somehow I'll get paid for it." There is an age, I am sure, when children can be successfully taught that "Vriture is its own reward." For most pre-schoolers (especially mine!) that concept is utterly incomprehensible. If giving a timid child a pressed leaf to take to Sunday School will get him there without the usual fuss, it seems sensible to do so. The dentist's "Good Patient" balloon lure our little ones in for a cleaning with hardly a murmur of dissent. Perhaps I should feel guilty but I just feel grateful. When they are older and more able to understand, they can elarn the adult idea of being good for goodness' sake.
"Never Let Your Child Violate the Rights of Others."
Nearly everyone wants his child to respect the rights of his family and friends. Practically nobody wants him to be the bleak bully, the instigator of every neighborhood free-for-all. But after a pre-schooler has had his own rights violated it seems grossly unfair if he is severely reprimanded when he fights back. Naturally such altercations should be limited. No bites, sticks, or stones, please!
Our eldest is sometimes a too vigorous protector of her rights while the younger ones often let others take advantage of them. Some day they will have to learn to take their place in life without being pushed aside. Again, as they grown older, they will all learn, I hope, that good humor and common sense are better defenders than fists.
"Never Let Your Child Feel Insecure."
Unfortunately this chestnut has led many innocent parents (myself included) into a maze of trouble. We are drawn into overindulgence of the grossest kind. We are so afraid that our children might undergo a moment's insecurity that we are constantly at their beck and call, give them expensive gifts, pre-plan too much of their time, fight their fights, and in the process erroneously teach them that life is one great featherbed of togetherness. What a shock when they get out into world and discover they aren't the only pepples on the beach!
I believe that if we truly love our children and demonstrate our love verbally or with a pat on the head, that coupled with the providing of the basic necessities and a disciplined, decent home atmosphere is all that should be expected of us parents. From such an encouraging climate there could emerge a sensible brand of "security;" a security which allows for some individual independence.
"Never Break a Promise to Your Child."
This, of course, goes hand in hand with the "security" problem. The idea seems to be that if enough promises are broken the child is bound to be insecure. Theoretically this is probably true.
However, in practice, it is sometimes impossible to keep every promise. Conditions change. The bicycle promised in September may be an economic impossibility by Christmas. If such an unhappy occasion arises, a reasonable explanation is in order.
Perhaps the best way to get around the "promising" block is to try to keep promises at a minimum and, most of all, to keep them. We are having better luck with the "We'll see" tactic which does offer some hope of fulfillment without the ensnarement of a real promise. [[Note from Laurie in 2016: I agree with an awful lot of what my mother wrote in this essay, but I hated "we'll see" because they did use it quite a lot in childhood, especially my father. From an early age, I thought of this as the "parental indefinite." When we had Leslie, I avoided it as much as possible, though I tended to do many of the things Mom recommended here - read childrearing books to a point then did what seemed sensible.]]
Actually if things do not always turn out as expected by our children, it may be all to the good. It teaches them at an early age that life is unpredictable and that they will have to accept the bitter with the sweet.
Enough of books and experts! They are fine for occasional reference but often misleading and unnerving as a daily diet.
We parents must lear to fend for ourselves and use the system that works best in raising our particular families. Most of all, we should remember that we are...[[[Note from Laurie in 2016: Page 5 lost]]
* * *
[[Almost anyone who knows me know would agree with the observations Mom made about me back in 1962. I am a trifle mellower at least. My mother died on July 26, 2016.]]
Friday, May 13, 2016
Why I Love the Always Hungry Diet: Obese, Post-Menopausal Woman on the Journey to Being "High Normal"
I've been a fat person for nearly 50 years, an obese person for nearly 33 of those years, and a morbidly obese person for about 3 of those years.
With bad cholesterol, high blood pressure and the like, I've known I needed to be a thinner person for a long time.
Ever since I was very small, I always preferred processed carbs and protein. Didn't like any vegetables except for potatoes (of course), carrots and corn. Not a fruit lover either. Major junk food fanatic.
Usually I was a kid looking at the camera, but here I am at about 5, staring at a friend's birthday cake.
But I really didn't get fat until I was about 9. The year was 1966, Twiggy was the major role model and being thin was more than in. By the time I was 11, I looked more like this.
Being a fat girl in high school in the '70s was a miserable experience. I was harassed about my weight every single day. But I kept on eating, kept on feeling depressed and angry, and hated gym class most of all.
I decided to go as far away to college as I could afford. That would be about 550 miles - from central Massachusetts to southwestern Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. By the time I got to college, I'd started reading science fiction and hanging out with science fiction fans. Fans were much more accepting of people of all sizes. I understood I should accept myself no matter my size and not be a self-hating fat person. And I met & fell in love with Jim Mann who was a fan who loved me back. So, we got married, had a daughter, worked hard in the computer industry...and, over 20 years, I ate my way up to 255 pounds, even though I was happy most of the time. Should note - I only gained 20 pounds when I was pregnant, but while I lost 15 pounds right away, I gained most of the baby weight back.
I did periodically diet a little and would sometimes lose 20 pounds...then gain back 25 pounds. I lost weight when Leslie was a toddler and had to chase after her, but gained 30 pounds in a few months when I went to work full time and was sitting at a desk. And we had pizza a lot in those days. But I really hated dieting as I was hungry all the time and still didn't like most vegetables, though I would sometimes eat salad and had learned to like cooked broccoli and tomatoes that hadn't been turned into sauce.
Here I am at my 20th high school reunion, the time you want to be exceptionally thin. I was close to my all time high weight (I might have weighed as much as 260, but I didn't have a scale in those days).
As I was generally unemployed due to my lack of sleep and we'd moved out to the country, I took up walking more seriously in 2012. I started walking 2 miles a day and the next year 3 miles a day most days. But, being post-menopausal meant my weight would rarely budge. When we traveled, I would always gain a little weight, and when I got home, I would get back to the pre-vacation weight pretty quickly...except the weight wouldn't go any lower. Here are Jim and I on a Game of Thrones tour outside of Belfast in August 2014. I weighed about 220 in this photo. During a 3 week trip to the UK that year, I walked 75 miles but gained 12 pounds. I lost 10 pounds pretty easily when I got home. When I got back from that trip, I realized there was a Diabetes Prevention Coach working in the same building as my doctor. Given my weight issues and the fact that there have been a number of type two diabetics in my family, I started going to see Joellen Brewton. It was helpful to go and talk about food issues, weight issues. She encouraged me to avoid juice (which I was able to do) and avoid carbohydrates (which I wasn't having as much luck with). While I wasn't working, I was doing a huge volunteer project in 2015, which meant I didn't walk as much as I'd hoped and I often found myself snacking. I was also achy and generally not feeling very well even after the volunteer job was over.
With bad cholesterol, high blood pressure and the like, I've known I needed to be a thinner person for a long time.
Ever since I was very small, I always preferred processed carbs and protein. Didn't like any vegetables except for potatoes (of course), carrots and corn. Not a fruit lover either. Major junk food fanatic.
Usually I was a kid looking at the camera, but here I am at about 5, staring at a friend's birthday cake.But I really didn't get fat until I was about 9. The year was 1966, Twiggy was the major role model and being thin was more than in. By the time I was 11, I looked more like this.
Being a fat girl in high school in the '70s was a miserable experience. I was harassed about my weight every single day. But I kept on eating, kept on feeling depressed and angry, and hated gym class most of all.
I decided to go as far away to college as I could afford. That would be about 550 miles - from central Massachusetts to southwestern Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. By the time I got to college, I'd started reading science fiction and hanging out with science fiction fans. Fans were much more accepting of people of all sizes. I understood I should accept myself no matter my size and not be a self-hating fat person. And I met & fell in love with Jim Mann who was a fan who loved me back. So, we got married, had a daughter, worked hard in the computer industry...and, over 20 years, I ate my way up to 255 pounds, even though I was happy most of the time. Should note - I only gained 20 pounds when I was pregnant, but while I lost 15 pounds right away, I gained most of the baby weight back.
I did periodically diet a little and would sometimes lose 20 pounds...then gain back 25 pounds. I lost weight when Leslie was a toddler and had to chase after her, but gained 30 pounds in a few months when I went to work full time and was sitting at a desk. And we had pizza a lot in those days. But I really hated dieting as I was hungry all the time and still didn't like most vegetables, though I would sometimes eat salad and had learned to like cooked broccoli and tomatoes that hadn't been turned into sauce.
Here I am at my 20th high school reunion, the time you want to be exceptionally thin. I was close to my all time high weight (I might have weighed as much as 260, but I didn't have a scale in those days).
I was torn. On the one hand, I honestly believe we should like ourselves and never hide ourselves away no matter our weight. We shouldn't harass fat people. Being fat is not inherently bad or mean that you're lazy, stupid, non-sexual or have a character defect. But...being fat can be unhealthy. My blood pressure and cholesterol were already creeping upward. I wasn't particularly active.
It wasn't like I woke up one day and started eating better and exercising. Very gradually over the next few years, I started doing simple things like parking further away when I went places. Trying to eat a little less and a little better. Having a little less junk food in the house. And I finally bought a scale. By the time I was 40, I was down about 15 pounds and noticed I could stand longer and walk a little more.
So between the ages of 40 and 55, I continued working on a very gradual weight loss and activity increase. But by my late 40s, my cholesterol had gotten bad enough that I went on Lipitor. Later, I had to add a blood pressure drug.
In my mid-40s I developed severe insomnia. I want to note that I was down about 25 pounds from my all-time high weight, was walking more, and when I finally had a sleep study I did not have sleep apnea. Women in my mother's family tended to have insomnia from about the age of 45 until they were through menopause. I wound up going on Ambien. That gave me about an extra half hour of sleep a night...and, an odd side effect - Ambien depressed my craving for carbohydrates. While on Ambien, I lost about 5 pounds a year. However, Ambien stopped working as a sleep aid after a few years, as it inevitably does, so I went off it and the renewed carbohydrate craving, combined with going through surgical menopause, led to a 5 pound weight gain overall. Not horrible, all things considered, but kind of depressing.
As I was generally unemployed due to my lack of sleep and we'd moved out to the country, I took up walking more seriously in 2012. I started walking 2 miles a day and the next year 3 miles a day most days. But, being post-menopausal meant my weight would rarely budge. When we traveled, I would always gain a little weight, and when I got home, I would get back to the pre-vacation weight pretty quickly...except the weight wouldn't go any lower. Here are Jim and I on a Game of Thrones tour outside of Belfast in August 2014. I weighed about 220 in this photo. During a 3 week trip to the UK that year, I walked 75 miles but gained 12 pounds. I lost 10 pounds pretty easily when I got home. When I got back from that trip, I realized there was a Diabetes Prevention Coach working in the same building as my doctor. Given my weight issues and the fact that there have been a number of type two diabetics in my family, I started going to see Joellen Brewton. It was helpful to go and talk about food issues, weight issues. She encouraged me to avoid juice (which I was able to do) and avoid carbohydrates (which I wasn't having as much luck with). While I wasn't working, I was doing a huge volunteer project in 2015, which meant I didn't walk as much as I'd hoped and I often found myself snacking. I was also achy and generally not feeling very well even after the volunteer job was over.
In late 2015, realizing 2016 would mark 50 years of being a fat person, I felt I had to make changes. I decided I would walk at least 1,000 miles and would start dieting very conscientiously, on January 1. And I did, but I was having the same problem I always had when I dieted - I was always hungry.
In early January 2016, I was listening to the radio and heard Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist, talking about dieting. Yes, he had a new diet book out and it was called Always Hungry?. Everything he said sounded extremely reasonable. Hmmm. I think I ordered the book from Amazon before the show was over. What did I have to lose?
In early January, I started tracking my eating and lost 2 pounds the traditional way--eating less of everything, being hungry all times and craving carbs a lot. In mid-January, I got the Always Hungry? book and leapt into it (it encourages you to take a week to read the book and clean out your pantry). Suddenly, I was eating eggs and full-fat yogurt and making shakes and not eating bread. Aside from its Phase 1 which is pretty strict, it encourages you to adapt the diet to suit your likes, so long as you avoid processed carbs (bread, pastas, cookies, alcohol and also potatoes). By following Phase 1 very strictly, I stopped craving breads and chips almost immediately. Eating more full-fat foods and more vegetables (learned to like roasted cauliflower!!) made a huge difference. And the recipes, developed by Dr. Ludwig's wife chef Dana Ludwig, were mostly excellent.
During January, I lost 7 pounds. Yes, I know some of that was water weight. But still - 7 pounds without feeling constantly hungry or wanting crackers.
I found a weird but good way to keep exercising even in the winter. I walk 2-4 miles outside almost every day. When it was too cold or rainy to walk outside, I'd walk around the rooms of the house. It took about 21 minutes to walk about a mile in the house. I'd also climb up to the second floor at least once a mile. I've been able to keep walking 100 miles a month that way, well on the way to walking 1,200 miles this year, even more than I'd planned.
After 2 weeks, the Phase 2 of the diet encourages you to start re-adding whole grains and the like. One food Always Hungry? recommended a lot was steel-cut oatmeal. I found quickly that nothing, and I mean nothing, makes me crave more carbs as badly as steel-cut oatmeal does. This diet encourages you to listen to your body about cravings, and I did. So I stuck to either having eggs, a yogurt berry shake or a fritatta (more eggs) for breakfast - no oatmeal, cereal, or my longtime traditional breakfast of a piece of whole wheat toast, Smuckers all-natural crunchy peanut butter and a glass of skim milk. We haven't had skim milk in the house since January which is very odd, but I don't generally drink whole milk either. I've generally been drinking kefir (a yogurt-based drink) or water. And generally one Diet Coke a day. While the diet discourages artificial sweeteners (and there are some people who are quite fanatical about that), I like my Coke and appreciate having a little bit of caffein every day since I can't drink coffee.
Other cheats for me - some crispy-burnt hash browns when I have an omelette in a restaurant, small pieces of crusty cibatta bread, a few whole wheat crackers occasionally with peanut butter. Generally limit alcohol to trips, and try to stick to prosecco but still enjoy a beer, red wine or Moscow mule from time to time. But I was surprised by how well steamed cauliflower and white beans mashed together will substitute for mashed potatoes. And some of my favorite foods like unsalted peanuts and cheddar cheese are not cheat foods!
I've lost 17 pounds over 19 weeks. Now, granted, that's not a huge amount of weight, it's slightly under a pound a week. My BMI is still in the obese range at 31 but it's getting closer to the merely overweight range all the time. But as a post-menopausal woman who does, admittedly, cheat on this diet, it tells me I've finally found an eating plan I can live with and lose weight. I'm down a total of 57 pounds since 1996, without gastric surgery. I'm finally learning how to eat and exercise most of the time. We travel some and I love to go to restaurants. There I will eat and drink things I avoid at home. I generally come home a couple of pounds heavier. But I go back on Always Hungry Phase 1 diet pretty quickly, the vacation weight goes away in days and I go back to losing about a pound a week overall.
The thing I particularly like about Always Hungry? is that the carbohydrate cravings are gone. Most afternoons, I can have fruit or cold (but cooked) cauliflower with hummus. Yes, I do sometimes get hungry between meals but mere hunger is much easier to deal with than carb cravings. My diet counselor says that's a clear sign that my insulin resistance is in good shape. And the second most important thing is that my cholesterol and blood pressure are both better. And...I still like food. Dieters tend to view food as the enemy. We need to eat and I'll eat unapologetically. But I'll eat better and move more most of the time.
Most people report a lot of physical changes improvements from dieting. I couldn't say the Always Hungry? diet made me feel better or sleep better. In fact, I've felt like crap most of the last year. And then I realized - a common side effect of Lipitor is body aches. Maybe, even though I didn't have body aches the first 11 years I was on Lipitor, maybe I was getting them now? So I took myself off of Lipitor...and the body aches went away over a week. At the end of June, I'll ask my doctor if I can have another cholesterol test to see if the dieting is keeping the cholesterol low enough without medication.
So thanks, Dr. Ludwig and the Always Hungry? diet book for finally helping me to find an eating plan that will help take me from being an obese women to being a more normal weight. And thanks to Joellen Brewton for providing excellent counseling over the last two years. My goal is to get down to about 150. I will probably still look a little fat at 150, but, technically, that's "high normal." I haven't weighed 150 since college. I will generally avoid processed carbs. And any time I reach 160 pounds in the future, I will go back to eating Phase 1 of the Always Hungry? diet.
During January, I lost 7 pounds. Yes, I know some of that was water weight. But still - 7 pounds without feeling constantly hungry or wanting crackers.
I found a weird but good way to keep exercising even in the winter. I walk 2-4 miles outside almost every day. When it was too cold or rainy to walk outside, I'd walk around the rooms of the house. It took about 21 minutes to walk about a mile in the house. I'd also climb up to the second floor at least once a mile. I've been able to keep walking 100 miles a month that way, well on the way to walking 1,200 miles this year, even more than I'd planned.
After 2 weeks, the Phase 2 of the diet encourages you to start re-adding whole grains and the like. One food Always Hungry? recommended a lot was steel-cut oatmeal. I found quickly that nothing, and I mean nothing, makes me crave more carbs as badly as steel-cut oatmeal does. This diet encourages you to listen to your body about cravings, and I did. So I stuck to either having eggs, a yogurt berry shake or a fritatta (more eggs) for breakfast - no oatmeal, cereal, or my longtime traditional breakfast of a piece of whole wheat toast, Smuckers all-natural crunchy peanut butter and a glass of skim milk. We haven't had skim milk in the house since January which is very odd, but I don't generally drink whole milk either. I've generally been drinking kefir (a yogurt-based drink) or water. And generally one Diet Coke a day. While the diet discourages artificial sweeteners (and there are some people who are quite fanatical about that), I like my Coke and appreciate having a little bit of caffein every day since I can't drink coffee.
Other cheats for me - some crispy-burnt hash browns when I have an omelette in a restaurant, small pieces of crusty cibatta bread, a few whole wheat crackers occasionally with peanut butter. Generally limit alcohol to trips, and try to stick to prosecco but still enjoy a beer, red wine or Moscow mule from time to time. But I was surprised by how well steamed cauliflower and white beans mashed together will substitute for mashed potatoes. And some of my favorite foods like unsalted peanuts and cheddar cheese are not cheat foods!
I've lost 17 pounds over 19 weeks. Now, granted, that's not a huge amount of weight, it's slightly under a pound a week. My BMI is still in the obese range at 31 but it's getting closer to the merely overweight range all the time. But as a post-menopausal woman who does, admittedly, cheat on this diet, it tells me I've finally found an eating plan I can live with and lose weight. I'm down a total of 57 pounds since 1996, without gastric surgery. I'm finally learning how to eat and exercise most of the time. We travel some and I love to go to restaurants. There I will eat and drink things I avoid at home. I generally come home a couple of pounds heavier. But I go back on Always Hungry Phase 1 diet pretty quickly, the vacation weight goes away in days and I go back to losing about a pound a week overall.
The thing I particularly like about Always Hungry? is that the carbohydrate cravings are gone. Most afternoons, I can have fruit or cold (but cooked) cauliflower with hummus. Yes, I do sometimes get hungry between meals but mere hunger is much easier to deal with than carb cravings. My diet counselor says that's a clear sign that my insulin resistance is in good shape. And the second most important thing is that my cholesterol and blood pressure are both better. And...I still like food. Dieters tend to view food as the enemy. We need to eat and I'll eat unapologetically. But I'll eat better and move more most of the time.
Most people report a lot of physical changes improvements from dieting. I couldn't say the Always Hungry? diet made me feel better or sleep better. In fact, I've felt like crap most of the last year. And then I realized - a common side effect of Lipitor is body aches. Maybe, even though I didn't have body aches the first 11 years I was on Lipitor, maybe I was getting them now? So I took myself off of Lipitor...and the body aches went away over a week. At the end of June, I'll ask my doctor if I can have another cholesterol test to see if the dieting is keeping the cholesterol low enough without medication.
So thanks, Dr. Ludwig and the Always Hungry? diet book for finally helping me to find an eating plan that will help take me from being an obese women to being a more normal weight. And thanks to Joellen Brewton for providing excellent counseling over the last two years. My goal is to get down to about 150. I will probably still look a little fat at 150, but, technically, that's "high normal." I haven't weighed 150 since college. I will generally avoid processed carbs. And any time I reach 160 pounds in the future, I will go back to eating Phase 1 of the Always Hungry? diet.
Laurie Mann, 5/13/16, 5'7", 198 pounds
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Quick Lower Calorie Smore
Desserts are often a sore point if you're trying to cut back on junk food. But sometimes you want more than fruit. Certainly eating a little 85% chocolate (thanks, Dr. Ludwig for my favorite hint from the Always Hungry? book!) helps to satisfy chocolate cravings. But what happens when you have a house with marshmallows and graham crackers after the first cookout of the year? Here's an easy way to have a smore without blowing your diet.
- 1 graham cracker
- 3 small squares of 85% chocolate
- 1 marshmallow
Break up chocolate into small pieces over the graham cracker. Cut marshmallow into 2 or 4 pieces, put on chocolate. Heat in a toaster oven for a few minutes until the marshmallow & chocolate soften.
If you're tracking your foods on MyFitnessPal, the recipe "Quick Lower Calorie Smore" is in the database.
Calories 153
Total Fat 7 g 10%
Saturated Fat 3 g 15%
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 86 mg 4%
Potassium 25 mg 1%
Total Carbohydrate 22 g 7%
Dietary Fiber 2 g 6%
Sugars 10 g
Protein 2 g 5%
Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0%
Iron 4%
For Always Hungry? fans out there, this isn't strictly kosher obviously. May be OK for Phases 2 or 3. I find this doesn't trigger junk food cravings for me, but I know different people crave different kinds of carbs. Could work well with chickpea flour crackers.
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