Bye-bye Chocolate! It was nice knowing you, but our relationship was just not healthy.

I started noticing that I would get a headache shortly after eating chocolate, so I decided to have a two-week no-chocolate trial. I just finished a grueling 5-day trip, attending a funeral and then spending time with several family members, often several at once. I loved the time and all the visits, but I get so tired!

This trip I went the whole time without taking a single headache pill. I did get a couple of headaches, from fatigue or hunger, but not so bad that a little time out didn't get rid of them. I don't know if it's all chocolate, or just that made with cocoa, but I think it's pretty much all chocolate.

So there goes another yummy food, but it's worth it to feel better.

One Man's Disgusting Food is Another Man's Delicacy

In a class I am taking, the instructor invited us to tell the most disgusting food we have ever eaten.  The responses were interesting and enlightening.  I've just got to share!

Dog Head Soup:  Do not Google images of this one if you have a delicate constitution or if you just love Fido.

Goat with the skin on: Ghana, Africa.  Does this include the hair?  There's a dish called "smiley" that is a roasted goat head, and the lips pull back into a smile.  "Hello, I'm so happy to be your dinner tonight."

Haggis (recipes linked to the captions)

 

Looks tasty like this--but this is not a true haggis! It's a vegetarian copy. 

Does not look so tasty like this 

Seal Meat (only legal in US if accidentally caught in fishing nets) It was quite greasy.

Cricket (She found it frozen in her garage. Sounds risky to me.)

Dinner, anyone? 

Guinea Pig (Guatemala? or maybe it was Guam?) It's a delicacy in the country she found it in.

Grad Student Gumbo--a combination of white rice, chicken noodle soup, and Ramen.  Might have gone down easier if they cooked them separately.

Anchovy Pizza.  He'd never had it before, and he got a little worried when he overheard the employees talk about how bad the anchovy smelled. 

Looks innocent enough...almost.  

Cajun Crawfish

This picture would not sell me on crawfish, but if you just have to have it, there are sources. 

Might not be so bad if you hide it in enough pasta.

Sheep's Feet. (Sort of like Pickled Pigs' Feet?) 

Want some to cook for dinner?  

They don't look much better cooked. 

Anything she had to cook for herself. I've made a few cooking mistakes, but I can safely say most of my food is not disgusting or even unusual. 

Spicy Italian Vegetable Dish.  May I suspect Okra as a culprit? 

Periwinkles. The snail, not the flower. 

The snail. 

The flower, also called Myrtle.

Pate. The French kind. Goose Liver.  

Swedish dish that is kind of like a fish aspic, from her description.  

This one is apparently Hungarian, but it fits the concept.

Undercooked hamburger, courtesy of an American fast food place.

Escargot--mostly tastes like butter and garlic. 

Venison Heart--a little chewy, but tasty!  Somehow just the idea that it was the heart bothered her.

Cow's Tongue--It's not the flavor, it's the texture. And the fact that you know it's the tongue.  In fact, I grew up eating cow tongue and deer tongue, and the way you cook them makes a big difference.  They boil out most of the flavor and get kind of mushy, but roasting them leaves them too tough. The answer:  use a pressure cooker.  And peel off the white outside skin before you bring it to the table. Then it looks much like a roast beef and is very tender.  Eat it hot, though; it's kind of greasy when it gets cold.

Deep Fried Rice Cakes--which might not have been so bad but she fried them after the entire high school wrestling team had deep-fried all the weird things they could think of.  She said it was terrible and made her not want to eat again for a while. 

But one lady said a weird food that turned out delicious was Maple Bacon Funnel Cakes. Sounds yummy to me! 

Unfortunately, there's no recipe at the site I found this...

 

AARP Q&A on Water

Q. Do I really need to drink eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy?  I just can't seem to drink that much water!

A. No. There's no scientific evidence to support this often repeated advice. The institute of Medicine's food and Nutrition Board, which develops dietary guidelines, concluded that most healthy people can meet their need for water by letting thirst be their guide. You can get fluids from a variety of sources, including fruits, vegetables, juice, milk, coffee, soda and even beer. But if you're over age 65, you exercise strenuously, you live in a hot climate or you find yourself sweltering in the middle of a heat wave, try to drink extra fluids. --Nissa Simon  (AARP Bulletin, June 203, Vol. 54 No. 5)

How did my friend lose 50 pounds in eight months and is this a real picture?

This is my friend's before and after picture. Yes, it's real. Admittedly she is posing and has her hair styled for the second picture, but it's still a striking difference.  I saw her at the halfway point and the difference was noticeable then.  She says now she is the same size she was in tenth grade!  Talk about inspiration!

Last summer I borrowed a little jacket for my son's wedding. She says she doesn't want it back because it no longer fits her.  So yea, I look more like her before picture.

This has been inspiring me all week!

Kate Middleton: Beautiful Mother

They said it best:

http://www.emilywierenga.com/2013/07/a-letter-to-kate-middleton-on.html


“The media’s neuroticism over Kate’s post-pregnant looks is brainwashing women into thinking that they will constantly be judged and criticized unless they meet the new standard – unattainable perfection,” human behavior expert Patrick Wanis PhD, told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “The obsession with the perfect female body is spiraling out of control.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/07/26/is-kate-middeton-mummy-tummy-coverage-bad-for-women/#ixzz2agMnsF2h

I suppose I am adding to the "media frenzy" but I just want to say I think she is beautiful and I am glad she didn't hide out for weeks or lash herself into a painful girdle after the birth of her baby.  So she's not skinny yet? So What?  I was amazed that she is up, dressed, and has her makeup on.

I don't suppose the public persona of royal life is terribly easy, and so far she is pulling it off with grace and confidence.  And what could be more beautiful?

In one picture from the Fox News site, she is looking a little fake, but who can blame her? She's probably just wishing she could go back to bed and sleep with nobody around but Will and the baby.  This
can't be easy!

Allergic to Air

All I need is the air that I breathe, just to.....

get sick.  

I've had a sore throat for weeks, months, years.  After my CT test came out clear, my chest x-ray was perfect, acid reflux pills didn't make a difference, and my tonsils are normal,  it was attributed to post-nasal drip.

Which is where most doctors in the past have left it, with a shrug of the shoulders and advice to use a Neti Pot or Flo-Nase.  Gee, thanks, Doc, take away any hope I'll ever get well.

My new ENT decided on allergy testing, with startling results.  I am allergic to 33/38 common allergens. I don't sneeze, I get sore eyes and internalize it; post-nasal drip, sore throat, sore under-arms (immune reaction, maybe?) My voice is lower than it used to be; I can sing tenor if I pay attention. I wonder if it's even part of my sleep apnea. Being swollen and clogged up probably contributes to sleep apnea too. I also have a deviated septum, which complicates the issue but doesn't cause it.


This explains a lot of things.  Like why my eyes burn in church--the lights aggravate my already sensitive eyes just from walking out to the car and into the church.  It explains why I get tired after exercise--breathing harder makes me absorb more allergens--and exposes me to them, whether it's dust mites from the carpet or plants and more outdoors.  It explains why I can be so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open, and then go to bed and toss and turn.  My whole body isn't tired, and my brain is wide awake, but my eyes burn from allergies.

I already knew I had trouble with dust, cats, and a few specific plants, but 33 common things?  It's not just seasonal; it's year-round.

The question now is whether treatment will help.  I'm scheduled to start allergy shots on Tuesday.  My sister-in-law also recommended a nutritionist and muscle testing as it has helped her a lot.  If I can get on top of this thing I will enjoy life a lot more.  It may even make a difference to my whole body.  After the testing, I gained three pounds overnight.  Two days later, I had an allergic reaction to something at a horse show, and got a splitting headache so I took three Tylenol (an anti-inflammatory drug) and went to bed earlier than usual.  12 hours of rest later I got up and guess what?  I lost three pounds overnight!

This makes me wonder how often a sudden inflammation that I think is water retention, is actually an allergic response.  I can go all week and do well, and then weigh in on Thursday and be heavier, and feel the swelling all over my body.  Well, on Wednesdays I am out and about a lot more, so maybe I swell up on Thursdays.   I'll update you on this adventure as time goes by.

Another Day, Another Park

We've enjoyed walking outdoors lately. Today we went back to a park we first discovered three years ago. It has a one-mile path, which is just about what I felt up to after going to the dentist for three fillings.

It rained during the night, so much that the creek through the park had overflowed.  The weather sites say it was only an inch or two of rain, but I think it came down all at once. The grass was all matted down for several feet on each side of the creek. The gravel path was dotted with puddles, occasionally wide enough to cover the whole path.

We saw a lady out walking her dog, and warned her about the wet spots. She said she knew, and wasn't going to walk very far. We chuckled when we were leaving to see her pick up her little dog and carry him over a puddle.  I guess that's easier than giving  him a bath, or dealing with  muddy dog in the car.