The weather can't make up its mind!

I woke to clouds & a wet deck. It rained last night!

For days if not weeks our low has been in the teens & twenties, but last night the low was 35F. That is about what they predicted the high to be today. It has been cloudy, then sunny, then cloudy all AM. I don't think it knows what it wants to do. Storms predicted for early next week.


Duane should be home a little bit later.


I bit the bullet.

Some time ago my mother told me of this program that several of my aunts (i have seven still living) are doing that has helped them feel better, have more energy, take less medication, & lose weight. It intrigued me, & i asked one of my aunts about it. She is a retired RN & was so enthused she bought the material for everyone in her (immediate) family.


The program (Great Taste, No Pain) focuses a lot on folks with gastrointestinal issues & my aunties that used to have to take meds with every meal are no longer taking them. (My mother isn't particularly interested. She states she "only" takes a med with breakfast. When i'd told her some time ago that she might have a lot less pain if she went gluten-free, her response was that it was too much trouble & the pain meds helped a lot & that she "really didn't have that much pain, anyway." Yeah, right.)


The aunt who told me about this program said that she didn't herself have gastrointestinal issues, but a side effect of this program is weight loss & that she has more energy. Well, that sounds good to me! I put it on hold for a while, tho. The program (which is an on line download) is about $40. So i dithered around a lot.


BUT it was working for my aunties. Not some anonymous person quoted as saying "Yeah this is great! This works!" It is working for people i actually know. So, i've been meaning to do it for a while. (Have i mentioned i have procrastination down to an exact science?)

Monday i spent about an hour watching (well, mostly listening) to a you tube program put out by Dr. Mercola of another doc (don't remember the name right off) called "The Bitter Truth About Sugar." It is in 9 segments & very well done. In a nutshell, the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) & sugar in our country is what is driving the obesity & chronic disease issues. (There are other problems, too, but these are the biggies.) Now, over all this is not news to me. But the way he presents it is new & he explains exactly why HFCS gets transformed into fat - triglycerides mostly. He also said that the way that sugar molecules are metabolized is very much like how alcohol is metabolized without the buzz. Alcohol & sugars are both toxins. So you can have a small amount without creating problems, but we don't use small amounts of sugar in this country. Anyway, i highly recommend watching the program.

I like sugar. I also find it rather addictive & have a difficult time with it. If i have any at all then i seem to crave it, i mean, REALLY crave it.

So i decided to get all that sweet stuff out of the house. I'm not throwing it away. I imagine that after a while - a few months - i may occasionally make cookies or brownies to have as a RARE treat or when company comes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the sweeteners & other things i have only filled a small to medium-sized basket. Except i didn't put the honey in. I've not decided on that. Anyway, i'm going to put the basket in a difficult to reach corner of the garage.

And having decided that (& one other thing), i decided that it was time to bite the bullet & buy the program my aunts recommended.

So last night i did. In essence, it is food combining. Eat fruit alone, it digests best that way. Certain foods don't digest well with others, & so need to not be eaten together (sandwiches or meat & potatoes are foods that shouldn't be eaten together, she says).

This concept is not new to me, but she does a very thorough job. Much of what she says i agree with, particularly that most of the foods we eat in our culture make our bodies too acidic & that leads to disease.

However, she spouts out some things with which i disagree. When i read where she said, "Spelt bread doesn't contain gluten" i almost tossed the whole thing out. "It is working for my aunties, it is working for my aunties" i chanted. (Well, not really, but i was thinking it.) She falls into myth that lard/tallow are bad for you & that canola or safflower oils are good for you. She also falls into the cholesterol myth that eating meats/animal products contribute to higher cholesterol & then heart disease.

Also, she said you don't have to restrict foods or food choices, only restrict how they are combined. "You can eat your favorite foods!" This is true as long as your favorite foods are not convenience foods or fast foods. Nothing - or little - processed. Also, beverages are rather limited.

She does repeat herself a lot in the cross literature (there are a total of 6 downloads) mostly her story, which is interesting, but i don't need to read it 4 times. I do like that she outlines the first 4 days with options for breakfast, lunch, & dinner plus snacks. It will take a change in mindset, but i don't think it will be that hard. What will be harder is to know how to cook for Duane.

Part of the reason that Duane eats so much convenience food is that 1. i'm often too tired to cook & 2. he usually doesn't like what i fix. When you combine the two, it makes it difficult to have any enthusiasm about making meals. He simply won't eat veggies. (I'm not trying to make him vegetarian, but it would be nice if he would be more willing to eat some of these things part of the time.) I've essentially only 2 meals he likes Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna & Tuna Casserole (plus he likes the meatloaf i make for him). I won't be able to make either of those items with this program; no, i might be able to get away with the Mexican Lasagna.

So, this is what i'll be doing. I've no idea how we're going to feed Duane while i'm doing it. My big wish, i guess, is that he'd be willing to give it a try for a couple of weeks & see if it makes a difference. (This program is not vegetarian per se. She doesn't limit eating meat. She says that her family eats "mostly vegetarian" with just a little fish or chicken. But the program can be used either way with equal ease.)

The other thing (mentioned above) i'd decided to do is this: Borax in water.

WHAT???

I read about this some months ago. It just sounded so unappetizing. Yuck! But i keep running across the link in my searches to be healthier & it has a lot of adherents to it. It is recommended for treating chronic fluoride poisoning. It is only a tiny amount - they recommend between 1/32 to 1/4 tsp in 1 liter (just over 4 cups) of water & then sip it thru the day. You can also add 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of sea salt.

NOT boric acid, by the way, which is slightly acidic, but borax (yeah, that stuff i buy in the laundry aisle). Borax in water is slightly alkaline, i'm told. I'm going to try it for a few days, but i'm also going to try rotating things as well as the food combining. Twice a week i'll do baking soda in water or lemon juice in water (which are both alkaline, also). I'm going to rotate the supplements i take (or more often don't take). Cal/mag/zinc at bedtime to help sleep.

Can you tell i'm starting to feel desperate in trying to have more energy & feel better?

Oh, but i've been dreaming all week! That's exciting because it means i'm sleeping better. I don't remember the dreams much, but they do seem to have a theme in common: frustration. The one i remember was i was trying to plan a party & complete a massage at the same time & things kept getting in the way of it being completed & i was really stressing out. The others have been similar in frustration/stress level.

Anyway, that's the plan. If it works well for me, believe me i'll be singing about it. :) Also, if it doesn't seem to work at some time i'll also share. My weight numbers are the same as last spring when i wanted to lose weight. (A friend said that trying to lose weight with chronic fatigue can be dangerous, so i gave it up then.) But this is - honestly - the things i already eat, i'm just limited them (like no cheese in my salad that has avocado, simple basic things). I think this will be safe, i'll just be eating slightly different food combos. AND not eating sweets. Or soda (which is my downfall). Nothing gained, nothing lost. It makes sense to at least try.


269