WATERMELLEN's SparkPeople Blog

Are Americans Becoming More Like Canadians?

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:04:29 EST

www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/c
anadianizing-the-yanks-not-quite-but-c
lose/article12573341/

Is it true that Americans have been virtually hosed down with maple syrup and issued ceremonial toques? (That's pronounced "took" to rhyme with "spook": meaning those knitted winter hats you pull down over your ears . . . brrrrrr).

Or is it Canadians who are becoming more like Americans?

One of the bemusing things I experience quite reg...

Obesity: Easy or Hard?

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:35:00 EST

I'm guessing this is not controversial for most of us here.

Because if it were easy, we wouldn't need the support of the Spark community in our struggles to manage obesity.

Obesity may be simple (eat less, move more). Although not everyone agrees about that. Or would perhaps qualify the "simplicity". Because obesity is also complicated: it's not simple to figure out why we aren't eating less and moving more. Even if that's the answer.

Obesity is hard. ...

Poppy

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 06:27:05 EST

Love my garden.

This colour of Oriental poppy is -- yup -- a Watermelon!

In celebration of it blooming, wore my matching coral pencil skirt . . . .

Obesity: Simple or Complicated?

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:18:22 EST

www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md
/obesity-epidemic_b_3292179.html

FOR-A-HEALTHY_BMI recently referred me to this great David Katz blog from the Huff Post on the whole obesity debate.

I'd been thinking about whether dealing with obesity is simple, or complicated. And Katz has too: that's really what he's writing about.

And of course at one level obesity management IS simple . . . for most of us. Eat less, move more.

But: n...

Obesity, politics, morality, KANOE10: no easy answers!

Sat, 8 Jun 2013 09:57:13 EST

KANOE10 has a great blog today on the topic of obesity and shaming with a further link to a wonderful blog by Colin Gifford in which he writes about obese PhD candidates being told not to bother applying: if they can't discipline themselves enough to lose weight, then they can't discipline themselves enough to complete a doctorate.

www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_jo
urnal_individual.asp?blog_id=5381426

KANOE10 believes that such shaming of the ob...

Didn't Eat/Did Hear . . .

Fri, 7 Jun 2013 23:08:34 EST

On that Nutrition Tracker for what I didn't eat today would have gone . . .

First of all, chocolate croissants, Danish pastries, giant muffins as big as my head: all on offer at today's continuing legal education seminar for breakfast. I'd had my breakfast: Greek omelette with feta cheese and spinach. Wanted them all anyhow, couldn't stop thinking about them from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. . . had instead two small cups of black coffee, a fruit kebab (mostly melon with 1 strawberry) and a ...

Extreme Flavour? Extremely Poor Nutrition!

Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:33:50 EST

Short short in my Globe and Mail this morning tells me what's probably self-evident: if we eat while doing other stuff, we don't taste. And since most of us eat while doing other stuff (driving, watching TV, surfing the internet, socializing, or my own fave: reading) food manufacturers compensate by oomphing up the flavour with all kinds of artificial additives. Think, for example, of the myriad variants on a potato chip theme. How do I love thee, saltiness? Let me count the ways. Or t...

Identifying the sensual deficit that triggers food craving: Thanks DDORN!

Sun, 2 Jun 2013 09:36:42 EST

Really liked Don's comments on my "rewarding a leave it" blog -- having identified touch as the sensual deficit that creates the biggest "gravitational pull" for him towards food, he's created a plan to meet that need: more swing dancing, more massage!

And of course he made me think about what my own biggest deficit would be . . .

It might be hearing. Good sounds.

I'm inundated with voices all day long . . . by phone and in person: staff and clients and ot...

Rewarding a Leave It!

Thu, 30 May 2013 22:16:36 EST

STARDUSTD always asks such interesting questions . . . such as how do you reward a successful "leave it"? That is, when you don't eat the thing that you want to eat, but manage to "leave it"?

Hmmm. Gonna depend upon the circumstances and personal preferences, right? And also it helps to deliver the reward quickly . . . but not necessarily with every "leave it". We remember those psych classes which taught us that random conditioning (rats running through mazes getting a food pel...

Leave it!

Wed, 29 May 2013 22:21:41 EST

Charlie loves practising all of his various obedience skills: the main ones are sit, stay, down, on your mat, about, wait, and leave it.

Leave it is tricky. When Charlie is in a down position, I throw one of his favourite freeze dried liver treats right under his nose, with the command "Leave it". He might drool but he won't touch it. I'll pick it up, then get him to do something else and give the reward. I might even leave the room, then come back to see if he's left it whil...

What a tough day . . .

Tue, 28 May 2013 21:17:46 EST

. . . and my goodness, it helped so much to take a lunch time walk break.

Pretty brisk, around two big city blocks . . . . and then back at it.

Moving does help, yes it does. Even mild moving.

Getting outside helps too: just looking at the bridal wreath spirea coming into bloom in the gardens as I walked along under the bigger sky.

Instant Thai-ish Kinda Soup

Sun, 26 May 2013 22:36:50 EST

I worked for several hours today, getting ready for a thingy on Tuesday . . . tricky!!

And then rather late in the day headed to the golf course with DH; gorgeous but chilly, and we managed to complete 18 holes before dark by stamping around very swiftly!

So . . . had done the laundry and the groceries and the salads for work . . . but not my pot of soup of the week. (And I was finishing up the final bowlful of last week's minestrone for supper tonight).

Wh...

Moving Does Help

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:52:26 EST

When I'm cranky.
When I'm gloomy.
When I'm stiff.
When I wanna eat right now.
When I HAVE eaten right then, and not the right stuff.
When I'm bored.
When I feel like a coiled spring (thanks for that image, Barb!)
When I'm tense.
When I'm overwhelmed.

Even sometimes when I think I'm tired . . . but I'm not really.

Moving does help. After I've done it.

Eating Doesn't Help

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:45:02 EST

When I'm tired
When I'm thirsty
When I'm bored
When I'm mad
When I'm sad
When I'm bad

Nope: eating doesn't help.

Happiness Economics -- and Maintenance!

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:54:45 EST

m.theglobeandmail.com/life/money-mig
ht-buy-you-happiness-if-you-spend-it-r
ight/article12005553/?service=mobile

In recent years, there's been lots of great new research on happiness psychology. From an emotional perspective, it appears that an ebullient personality is in part hereditary -- but optimism and resilience can also be quite deliberately learned. I believe that's so: and that most of us (barring intermittent life crises) are just about as happy a...

in bloom

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:21:59 EST

. . . in my garden today

lilacs (a huge hedge of them, proper lavender ones)
japonica (bright coral and pale orange)
crab apple (deep pink)
apple blossom
forget-me-not (in sky-blue drifts)
lily-of-the-valley
violets, deep purple
tulips, many colours
primula

and there are coming attractions, very soon . . .

early iris
allium
chestnut blossom

There were moments like this
Before I was,
...

What do you do when you have lost your motivation

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:33:33 EST

This inquiry (and a lot of my punctuation is not working on Spark People, not sure why: but no question mark, no apostrophes) caught my eye. Message Board thread.

So: I would say that it helps me to lose my expectation that I will be motivated. And it helps me to lose my justification, that if I am not motivated that would be a reason to stop doing whatever it is I need to so. Stop exercising. Stop tracking nutrition.

Motivated or not, I am going to keep on.
...

Four Years at Spark People!

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:56:40 EST

Yesterday, May 11, made it four year here. Just checking in at my start week Spark team, it appears that very few of us are left . . . I did hear from team buddy JOPAPGH who has been burning up the running trails big time.

Although I consider the At Goal and Maintaining Team to be an invaluable source of information and motivation, I'm not a great team person myself -- mostly use Spark to track nutrition and fitness, and to keep in touch with Spark friends by reading their blo...

Bird Song

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:11:31 EST

I really love birdjam which provides bird song . . . now an app on my iPhone. And the Audobon bird app too -- up to five different bird conversations per species! Even better of course: listening to birds au naturel!! In nature!

So: this morning a short article in the Globe and Mail caught my eye: it tells me that birdsong is uniquely able to put us into a stage of simultaneous relaxation AND mental focus.

Why? Apparently so long as the birds are singing, there is n...

Mommy Brain: Happy Mother's Day!

Sun, 12 May 2013 10:54:38 EST

www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenti
ng/mothers-day/sarah-hampson-on-mother
hood-we-get-stretch-marks-of-the-heart
-and-mind/article11831805/

Who knew that having babies (and raising them) makes us smarter? Mothering actually results in measurable growth in grey matter in the mid brain!!

No question that having children has taken every ounce of intellectual AND emotional ability I could bring to bear on the project . . . and some days continue...

Estrogen, Exercise, Breast Cancer

Fri, 10 May 2013 07:09:01 EST

www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-
and-fitness/health-navigator/the-link-
between-exercise-breast-cancer-researc
hers-may-have-the-answer/article11830499/

Regular vigorous exercise helps manage excess estrogen -- the kind that's associated with breast cancer.

OK, then: another reason for all of us breast cancer survivors to keep on getting sweaty!

Goodlife

Tue, 7 May 2013 07:14:42 EST

Goodlife is Canada's largest gym chain. Not my gym: I'm a Y member. But a recent Globe interview with Goodlife founder David Patchell-Evans offers some interesting observations about how to lead --what else? -- a good life:

www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-
and-fitness/5-tips-for-good-living-fro
m-goodlife-founder-david-patchell-evan
s/article11715886/

A couple of the most intriguing:

Operate from the presumption that ever...

Extreme Gardening!

Sun, 5 May 2013 15:49:45 EST

I've been digging.

I've been weeding. Rooting out twitch grass from my flower beds.

I've been cutting back last year's perennials.

I've been pruning out errant raspberry canes.

And: my back is sore. My arms are scratched. I'm kinda filthy.

But: there's a great big grin on my face.

The hyacinths and daffodils in bloom in my garden smell glorious.

The sky is blue. The robins and cardinals are singing.

Leaping Greenly!

Thu, 2 May 2013 20:32:37 EST

There's that bright fresh green fuzz on the trees which are once again "leaping greenly" -- and of course e.e. cummings' great poem about spring always comes to mind when I see new leaves unfolding:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthda...

Stiff Muscles!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:27:43 EST

Never fails to surprise me how stiff my arms and shoulders (and butt) feel after the first few rounds of golf each spring.

I work 'em all at the gym.

I did more XC skiing than ever this past winter. Great upper AND lower body workout.

So how come I'm so stiff this morning after 9 holes Sunday, 9 holes last night?

Golf is supposed to be a "walk in the park" right? I do walk. And I pull my clubs on a cart (don't carry, don't ride a cart). Walkin...

Audobon Birds and Butterflies App! Get It Now!!

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 11:10:28 EST

. . . . is on sale, regularly $16.99, for just $1.99 ending April 29. And yup, that's tomorrow!!

It's terrific!! The bird part may even be better in some ways than birdjam (which cost me a whack more) and waaaaaay easier to download. No syncing nonsense: no separate CD ripping for the birdsongs: multiple images of each bird instead of just one: multiple birdsong sound tracks for each bird giving a fuller sense of the possible conversations: phenom advanced search techniques inc...

Tech Bliss!

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:34:56 EST

At home: a new laptop. So much faster, so much more reliable.

And: I've finally replaced my old flip cell phone (kept turned off, for emergency out-calls only) with an iPhone5. Truly amazing. A camera! My work emails! My work calendar! Texting: my DS actually responds to texts (especially when accompanied by a picture of beloved Charlie . . . .). And apps!! I've got birdjam right on my iPhone. (This one was costly and complicated and actually pooched my old laptop.) But w...

"The First Bite is the Banquet"

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 10:46:32 EST

That's a quotation from Michael Pollan (of "Eat plants" fame) in Saturday's National Post.

Full quote:

"The first bite is the banquet. That's a Chinese rule. Every subsequent bite will be less good. It's never going to get better than that first bite, and once you realize that this is going downhill, you don't need to have the sixth or seventh bite."

DH has always lived by this, eating the "best part" of whatever's on his plate first . . . of two fried e...

Presentism, Focalism, Decision Fatigue

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:21:45 EST

Is there an app for making decisions? Yes there is and more than one. Quite a number of them, in fact, as a recent article in the Globe and Mail pointed out to me:

www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relatio
nships/choices-got-you-down-leave-it-t
o-an-app-and-strangers-to-decide-for-y
ou/article11391875/

Too many choices of toothpaste and laundry detergent and breakfast cereal -- and so many other consumer goods -- can be a huge time-waster. ...

Ten Minutes: Food Prep or Exercise?

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:58:15 EST

Read a short article in the Globe and Mail yesterday which summarized a pretty large study correlating time spent on food preparation with time spent on exercise.

Conclusion: people who spend more time on food prep spend less time exercising. Minute for minute . . . 10 minutes more cooking translates to 10 minutes less movement.

Hmmmm.

We know that eating pre-fab packaged or fast foods is not very good for us: salt, fat, sugar.

But what if doing...

Good Stuff! . . . After a Tough Start to My Day

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 21:06:18 EST

I was heading to the grocery store with DH, chewing away on a piece of cinnamon gum and . . . . yikes!! broke a tooth, upper left molar. It was a sharp fracture, sensitive, and felt pretty wobbly as if more was going to fracture. I'm of the era when all childhood dental work was done with a foot powered drill and no anaesthetic, so dental emergencies put me into a total swither of anxiety.

DH took charge. He called the hospital on his cell phone: no dental emergency clinic. H...

Weight Loss Competing for Money?

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:19:13 EST

An article in today's Globe and Mail indicates that competition for money is an optimum motivation to lose weight. Particularly when my individual loss (weight wise) is your loss (financially). That's apparently even more effective than sharing the financial losses within a team of weight losers.

www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot
-button/the-best-way-to-lose-weight-th
e-biggest-loser-may-be-on-to-something
/article11048768/

Gotta say, ...

Sixty-Two?? Really?? How Did That Happen So Fast???

Sun, 7 Apr 2013 11:25:02 EST

OK, it's a bit of a shock.

But sixty-two is the new forty-two, right? Or maybe thirty-two? I'm at least as healthy as I was 30 years ago. And although I definitely don't look thirty-two, I pretty often feel thirty-two.

My dad at sixty-two was retired at least 6 years from a job he'd come to hate. After retirement and prior to his death in 1997, he spent about 30 years doing nothing: watching TV, reading murder mysteries, playing a little golf. My mother (10 yea...

Body language to reduce cortisol

Sat, 6 Apr 2013 10:56:51 EST

www.ted.com/playlists/77/new_to_ted.
html

Have you seen this brilliant TED talk with Amy Cuddy, on how we can change our minds by changing our posture?

She talks about increasing testosterone and reducing cortisol by how we arrange our bodies.

Testosterone is about confidence -- not just "maleness".

We know that excess cortisol is associated with excess weight . . Amy Cuddy doesn't make that connection but she herself is prett...

How Far Would I Have To Walk To Burn It Off?

Tue, 2 Apr 2013 21:25:17 EST

I've known for a long time that I can never exercise enough to eat whatever I want. Not remotely possible.

But an article in today's Toronto Star really brings that home. And it says that the most effective food labelling indicates not just the food's fat/carb/vitamin nutritional content or how many calories it contains or how much time I'd need to exercise to burn it off. Effective food labelling indicates just how far I'd have to walk. How many miles to burn off that egg, or...

Maintaining My Off Leash Life!

Mon, 1 Apr 2013 08:33:46 EST

I've been thinking about FREELADY's inquiry as to whether Charlie gets to run off leash when we take him for a walk in the woods.

He does.

And that's because (despite the very unfortunate muskrat massacre on New Year's Day cross country skiing . . . when he'd already exhausted his will power with several very provocative temptations) Charlie is almost always a very obedient dog.

We've taken all of our dogs to obedience training as puppies and as young dogs. R...

Bonus Blog: Layered Seasoning, More Flavour!!

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:58:57 EST

I was sceptical about this article from last week's Globe and Mail which advises that we should use MORE salt when cooking.

MORE SALT? Heresy, really. We're supposed to be reducing sodium, Harrumph!! Blood pressure, doncha know??

But . . . the food professional chefs make tastes better. (Talking serious cuisine here, not fast food natch: not the unholy triumvirate of salt, fat, sugar: no no no).

So I went out to dinner with DH on Wednesday night: had ...

Hungry Bald Cardinal!

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:05:29 EST

This morning as I was listening (and looking hopefully) for robins, I noticed a cardinal perched on top of my bird feeder.

He was cold. He had his chest feathers puffed out over his feet. And (I grabbed the binoculars) he had no head feathers at all! Bald!!

Then I realized: the bird feeder was empty. And he was eying me reproachfully. Turning his head sideways and looking right at me. He sat there for a good ten minutes until I understood that he was sending a mess...

Hearing Robins!

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 09:23:00 EST

Last evening as the sun was going down, I could hear robins in my back yard.

And early this motning too.

Not the cheerful "chirrup chirrup chirrup" of happy robins sitting on a tree branch!

The irritable "ch ch ch ch ch ch" sound of robins in flight still seeing way too much snow! That "what the heck" sound. That "No worms yet" sound! That "What's for supper? sound.

Would some sliced oranges help? A few raspberries or strawberries?? Just ...

Long Lazy Weekend

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:03:14 EST

Good Friday is a stat holiday: we've closed our office for Easter Monday too . . . and neither of us is planning to go into work OR to work from home.

We've been working hard. Flat out.

A loooooooong weekend. A lazy weekend. And how best to spend it?

Too warm to ski: last weekend was the last weekend for that.

Too cool to golf: there's still a bit of snow.

So: what will it be? I started off with Belgian chocolate coffee and a toast...

Soup of the Week: Minestrone!

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:17:43 EST

In the fridge: celery, carrots, onion, red and yellow and orange bell peppers, parmesan cheese.

In the freezer: three skinless boneless chicken breasts, corn and peas.

In the cupboard: canned diced tomatoes, whole wheat spaghetti noodles, canned mixed beans (fava, chickpea, kidney), rosemary, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt.

What a great soup! I had a tiny "taster bowl" before heading to the office for about three hours (sob, sob: waaaay too much to...

Early early spring ski!

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 21:42:13 EST

What a gorgeous late afternoon ski!

Fresh snow, the sun amazingly high in the sky at 5:30. Still cold: about 0C and with a very brisk east wind moving a few clouds across a brilliant blue sky and gusting across the polished damask-patterned surfaces of the hills. There were a few early pussy willows high up and out of reach, and exuberant honks from Canada geese coming home. And I heard my very first redwing blackbird calling from among the red dogwoods in the swamp: not let...

Not a whole lotta taste?

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:47:49 EST

My Globe and Mail had an interesting article this morning (not on-line, apparently) on new research with respect to supertasters, regular tasters and nontasters.

There's a method of testing to determine which of these you might be: a dye to count tastebuds on the tongue. And a chemical test through which you apply concentrated "bitter": the supertasters react so intensely that they experience nausea with this test.

However, I'm suspecting that most of us already know...

What I Like About Maintaining #5 (Last in the Series!)

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 13:27:36 EST

The longer I maintain, the fewer people presently in my life remember that I was ever overweight. Pretty much nobody notices or comments on my present shape and size. Everybody just takes it for granted: this is me.

I lost the big whack o'weight in 2001, 230 to 150. That's now a dozen years ago. I've been a size 8 long enough to have worn out most of my original "after weight loss" wardrobe. There was just one temporary regain blip up in 2009 of about 20 pity party pounds w...

What I Like About Maintaining #4

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:36:02 EST

"What would I like to wear?"

I get to stand in my closet and ask myself this question every day. Depending upon mood. Depending upon what's appropriate, of course. But: there are a lot of choices. A lot.

I don't have to ask, "Will this fit?" Yes, it will.

I don't have to ask, "Will this make me look fat?" No, it won't.

My clothing choices aren't constrained by what I need to wear, by the couple of things that will "work". Sort of. W...

What I Like About Maintaining #3

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 07:32:05 EST

Moving feels good.

It's not that exercise helps me (much) in maintaining weight loss. It's that maintaining weight loss means I feel good moving.

I feel good cross country skiing. I feel good doing lat pull downs at the gym. I feel good zooming up the stairs at work.

I can remember: thighs rubbing together; uncomfortable bulging over my waistband; overall sense of bulkiness. Not feeling good.

Maintaining (finally) is a very moving experience...

What I Like About Maintaining #2

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 12:02:27 EST

I THINK (knocking on wood here) that I've conquered my addiction to cheese. It's no longer a binge trigger. I can eat cheese in moderation. I can go days without eating cheese at all. Cutting a big whack of cheese was very often the first thing I did coming into the house . . . and then another big whack . . . and maybe a third: but not now. When I do have cheese, it's generally a moderate amount of low fat feta in an omelette. And tracked.

Read an excerpt from the Micha...

What I Like About Maintaining #1

Sat, 9 Mar 2013 17:28:03 EST

My recent mammo was all clear. No recurrence of that estrogen positive (obesity related) cancer. Whew. It's been four years.

(to be continued . . . . )

Perfectionist Daughters, Controlling Mothers: Binge Eating

Wed, 6 Mar 2013 12:55:23 EST

My Toronto Globe and Mail had an interesting article on this topic this morning:

www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-
and-fitness/health/women-with-controll
ing-moms-more-likely-to-be-binge-eater
s-study-finds/article9317796/

Oh, my. I know that this research is not meant to be about blaming. But . . .

As a daughter who is an admitted perfectionist and had an uber controlling mother . . . gotta avoid using this as a new justifica...

What It Takes To Maintain: Thanks For Asking, STARDUSTD!

Sun, 3 Mar 2013 16:39:21 EST

STARDUSTD has left an intriguing comment and inquiry on my SparkPage, riffing on a quotation from Steve Siebold of fatloser.com fame (and if you haven't tried fatloser, it's free and it's pretty motivational!):

Steve Siebold: "What would I have to believe to succeed at this at the level I desire? If you don't know, ask people who are consciously competent of why they are successful in what you want to succeed at."

What are your beliefs regarding maintenance and your abi...