Musings on diet and the holidays

So, I've lost about 5 more pounds, bringing me to a total weight loss of 155lbs.  I'm still 20 lbs away from my goal, but that's OK.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, though.  Now, I've gotten several comments and questions personally and seen the sameTweeted and blogged and whatever-you-call-posting-on FarceBook'd.  The question?

"Oh, so how do you handle the holidays?"

Uhh, what?  What do you mean 'handle' the holidays?

Well, it turns out that during Thanksgiving and xmas, apparently, like Halloween, people (mostly women) have some sort of mental breakdown that causes them to gorge themselves.  They know that they are going to do this in advance (which is, frankly, scary). They psych themselves up, work out more, diet more, fret and worry all the way up to the holiday in question.

Then they gorge themselves anyway.

THEN they flog themselves on twitter and blogs and farcebook about eating too much.  Then the next holiday arrives. Lather, rinse, repeat.

They all want to know how *I* handle these holidays, how it is that *I* won't gain weight. Well, the answer is simple and here it is:

I'm not dieting.  period.

I can't 'fall off the wagon' or 'cheat' because I'm not on a diet.

Diets don't work. They are a powerful, pervasive, MYTH. If you are on a diet or dieting right now, then you are just treading water.

Sugar and grains are bad for you. They will kill you. They cause obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. I want to be a fit and healthy 80 year old, not a fat, sick, and tired one*. Indulging myself now on sweets and 'comfort foods' just because I want to is not worth ending my life unable to walk or breathe.

So I don't eat them, end of story. I'd no more eat "just one tiny piece" of Halloween candy than I would take "just one tiny" drag off of a cigarrette.  I'd not eat a slice of pecan pie any more than I would snort a line of cocaine.  I adore pecan pie and I'm pretty sure cocaine is fun but neither one is good for me.

I enacted a lifestyle change 2 years ago that I'll be sticking with for the rest of my life. My poison of choice is alcohol which, I'm proud to say, I have cut back quite a bit and only drink in moderation.  The rest of that stuff is gone out of my life. I love the foods I eat and can eat up to 3000 calories a day and not gain weight. It's a perfect lifestyle for me.

So how do I handle the holidays?  You nom all you want at the dessert table; get seconds, if you like.  Pass me the turkey!

*Yes, yes, I know, everyone has the anecdotal relative who drank, smoked, and ate a loaf of white bread a day and lived to be 90 and felt like a teenager. Genetics and lifestyle do play a role. But I don't know how well my genetics are going to protect me and I've spent half a lifetime abusing my body with sugar and grains, so I'm gonna err on the side of caution, LOL.

Double rant, and it's a doozy! Lotsa CAPS

So, I need to be writing on NaNoWriMo, I'm behind on my word count, I just spent the morning over at my childrens's school to be with Bitty whilst they gave the H1N1 (she did swimmingly), but I just HAD to share these two articles with you.

First this article on the mind boggling number of hours the average american kid spends in front of the television.

They (finally) thought to look at the amount of telly viewed at daycares and were stunned (!!) to find that *gasp* daycares sit the wee tykes down in front of the telly up to a whopping 2 hours a day.  Home daycares were the worst with kids watching telly an average of 2.5 hours a day.

Am I the only one who is not shocked by this?  It's just too easy. I know many many moms who say "Oh I just put them in front of it so I can grab a shower" or "So I can fix dinner" or my favourite: "I have it on a lot but he/she never watches it. It's just for background noise."

Oh, horseshit. 

You know damn good and well that those kids are in front of that idiot box for hours a day and mom is either in denial or just doesn't grasp the actual numbers.  Most folks run their telly most of the time that they are home.  Wee Eva Raven or Braighdyn is actually raptly quiet when they watch the boob tube, aren't they?  Giving you a break from the mommy mommy MOMMY lookit me play with me entetain ME that you put up with all day because you never taught your child to entertain his or herself.

I cannot ABIDE women who say "well it's the only way I can get a shower or cook dinner". Well, whose fault is that?  (That's right up there with "well he'll only eat goldfish crackers and kraft mac n cheese so that's all I serve!")  Then they proceed to tell me how they have an 12 month old and a 3 year old and no one knows what it's like, weep, weep.

Get over yourself, Emo Mom. YOU made this bed and YOU get to lie in it.  I HAVE had an 12 month old and a 3 year old. Except I also had a 2 year old and was pregnant at the time. I have had every permutation of closely spaced small babies that's possible (I think) and yet I still bathed when I wanted and cooked three meals a day, unmolested.

And we have NEVER watched television in our home.

Conclusion: I don't give a flying fark at the moon if you let your kid watch telly 5 hours a day.  Serisoulsy, that's your choice.  But ADMIT IT. Don't try to tell me that they only watch a few minutes a day. That's just a lie. Or that you only do it to entertain them for a second while you catch up on household chores.  It takes me a good hour to prepare supper and I'd no more let my kids watch a hour of commercial television than I'd let them spend time with a smoker.

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Gem of an article number two: Doctor may get license revoked for telling patient the truth.

Yep, apparently, doctors are now obliged to LIE to be politically correct. We wouldn't want to hurt anyone's wee feelings now would we?

Dr. Earl Sunderhaus (an eye doctor)  "admitted he told the patient that her thick thighs and diabetes could cause her to go blind."


So poor baby patient is fat, diabetic, on welfare, and pregnant (all things that she has control over, all things she can/could have change(d)/prevented.) but no one is allowed to TELL her that?

Oh suck it up you blubbering Very Bad Word!  Her diabetes and obesity are her own doing and they can indeed cause her to go blind. I think it was awfully nice of the doctor to TELL her that. Seems like sound medical advice to me.

Obesity is hazardous to your health and it's preventable, people! Type 2 diabetes (with it's blindness, poor circulation, heart disease, etc) is preventable.  If you feel bad about yourself because you are overweight then, LOSE WEIGHT. Don't expect the world to pussyfoot around you, being careful not to damage your fragile ego for something you did to yourself.

Should we not tell smokers to quit smoking because they already feel so bad about their nicotine stained fingers, smelly hair and clothes, ashtray breath, and yellow teeth, poor dears?

How far downhill have we come as a people that mollycoddling to the point of endangering our health is preferable to the TRUTH from a doctor?  WTF?!

NaNoWriMo day 11

"NaNoWriMo ate my soul!"

There's a forum post over at the National Novel Writing Month website with that title. How appropriate.

Over here at the Evil Genius secret hidden lair, it's been 11 days of crazy.

It's not just NaNoWriMo of course. Our lives are hectic as it is and for us to decide to take on writing a bloody novel in a month - EACH - was crazyness.

I just caught up with my daily word count quota on day 8 and Bodog hasn't quite caught up yet. He's a pretty competative guy, but he's nowhere near my Type A, snarling, OCD, self.  My anxiety level was sky high those first 8 days and nothing else got done: no laundry, no cleaning (Oh except when I obsessively cleaned the entire kitchen at 4 a.m. because I had writers block.), no work, nothing.

So, yeah, now that I've caught up, I'm better.  I promise I am.

Now I'm trying to ease back into doing all those things, plus spend a wee bit of time with my husband and my children!

It's not NaNoWriMo, of course. It could be a broken car or a hole in the fence.  It's just a grain of sand in the cogs of our lives. Trying to cope with another obligation in already busy lives.

"So why are you doing it, Blue?  You don't win a prize for completing 50,000 words by November 30th, you're not making any money.  Why put yourself through the stress?"

Two reasons:

1. The sense of accomplishment. The ability to say: "I did this", to say "I CAN write a novel."
2. My lifelong dream has been to be a writer. A large number of WriMos go into this with no intention of ever rewriting and polishing, finding an agent, and submitting their novel for publication.  They are doing it for the experience or just for fun or just for practice.  Many more intend to publish but will never go through all the hard steps it takes to do so.

Not me. I fully intend to try to publish a book one day. Perhaps not this book (or the next 3 I write) but A book.  Now I will know that I can write that book.

Right. Back to the insanity.  I actually got some work work done yesterday (ok, about 10 minutes worth, but still), made my daily word goal by noon and wrote a bit more.  yay, me!

Now if a plot would just appear, I'd be set ...

Warning: long post, last one for a bit!

Sorry, but this is gonna be a long one and may be one of my few posts in the whole month of November. No rants are included today, though! :D

Not only am I behind in my posting of Gratuitus Baby Pics, but I also have taken the plunge this year and am participating in NaNoWriMo!

Yep, I have officially lost my mind!  I have wanted to do NaNoWriMo every year since it's inception and I've always talked myself out of it. No time, no talent, no story; I'll quit, I'll fail, I'll fold; it'll suck, it'll never get published; and on and on. I had every excuse in the book.

Well, not this year.

This year we'll see if a self-employed, work-at-home, mother of 5 under age 8, who farms livestock, can write a 50,000 novel in 30 days.

Plus both Bodog AND Boy are on board, writing their own novels.  If my 7-year-old can do it*, then I bloody well can.

Uh ... right?

My user name is MrsEvil Genius if you want to deride my pathetic word count cheer me on!  Bodog is there as BodogSivana if you'd like to track him as well.

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OK, on to the pics!

South Carolina State Fair 2009:

First year that Fiver (left) got to ride unaccompanied by an adult. He and Bulk, of course, just HAD to go on the cars.

Just prior to the obligatory sit-down-and-gorge-on-fair-food portion. (L-R) Bodog and Bitty Girl make weird faces and THCTD just looks lovely.  Foreground is Bulk, Boy, and Fiver.

Fiver, Boy, and Bulk awaiting corn dogs, Fiske fries, and $5-apiece diet Pepsi (*gag*).

Most popular ride this year!  L-R Bulk, Boy, THCTD, and Bitty.

Bonus pic, Halloween 2009!  Unfortunately, since we drive somewhere to trick or treat (this year it was Dr. SIL's neighbourhood), we have to finish donning costumes after we arrive and by then it's usually dark, so I snapped this pic before we left.  The batteries died in my camera after this (of course!) but Bodog's sister took some. I'll post those when I get 'em.

They were (after costume completion) L-R, a devil, a ghost, a witch, a skeleton, and a wee pig.

OK, that's it.  No more posts from me, maybe, until December. Take care, all of you, and please think some literary thoughts in my direction!

* Boy is signed up with the Young Writers thingy over at NaNoWriMo. His goal is 3000 words by Nov 30th which is the midway point of the suggested word count for a 2nd grader.  I think he finished 800+ words yesterday (day 4).