Did you find yourself sweeter and kinder after Whole30 reintro?

[MeadowLily]

https://weather.com/news/news/severe-storms-early-june-2017-plains-midwest-impacts

See one of the twisters. ^^

 

[MeadowLily]

The success you are achieving with your Whole30 is money in the bank that you need to spend on additional improvements. You know how to use food as a safe haven, but have you learned how to apply other skills to achieve a safe haven? - Walking away from destructive situations. Enlisting appropriate help. Emotional self-soothing. A lot of us need to spend a few years in a counseling or therapy relationship to develop these skills. Our families did not teach us how to manage our lives in a healthy fashion.

You can't learn it from a book or develop it from watching functional families on TV.

We need face to face relationships with people who can help us develop skills that were missing where we got our start in life. Like a lot of things, it starts with food, but there is more work to do.

You really can do it. 

 

Tom Denham

[MeadowLily]

Insulin Resistance

30 Days is Not Enough

Experimenting with insulin resistance

 

After completing a Whole 90, I took the next step with reintroduction.  I left the auto mode of 90 compliant days.  I dove headfirst into adding food groups that I had eliminated....but I took it very slowly.

I added a new food every day for 4 days and I returned to  Auto Mode of the Whole 30  protocol for 4 days.   I did this for 28 days.    I did not binge on sugar or simple carbohydrates.

My lower and steady blood sugar numbers that I had experienced throughout the Whole 90 began to rise.  Like anything that needs further adjustment, I continued on with my reintroduction.

I've concluded that potatoes, rice, wheat and dairy are simply not worth the increase in blood sugar.  If I want my good blood sugar numbers to continue, I'm going to return to whole foods.    I enjoyed the energy levels and overall sense of well-being.  I was comfortable, healthy and happy.

Insulin resistance is associated with numerous health risks. For one thing, it causes hyperinsulinemia, or high circulating insulin levels, which may be directly damaging to blood vessels. Hyperinsulinemia is also associated with high blood pressure, heart disease and heart failure, obesity (particularly abdominal obesity), osteoporosis (thinning bones), and certain types of cancer, such as colon, breast, and prostate cancer. In contrast, having low circulating insulin levels is associated with greater longevity; most centenarians without diabetes have low circulating insulin levels.

Insulin resistance is a hallmark of Type 2 diabetes, but it can occur in Type 1 diabetes as well. In fact, there is a growing number of people who are said to have “double diabetes” because, in addition to having Type 1 diabetes, they also have the insulin resistance characteristic of Type 2.

The good news is that you can lower your level of insulin resistance — and raise your level of insulin sensitivity — by modifying your lifestyle choices, particularly your exercise and eating choices, regardless of the type of diabetes you have.

[MeadowLily]

Weight loss is simply amazing until it isn't.

Secretly dieting? The truth will find you out.

It doesn't last.

"We need Face-To-Face relationships with people who can help us develop skills that were missing where we got our start in life...there's more work to do."

[MeadowLily]

I've traveled the backroads of this forum. Listening and absorbing the words that Tom Denham was sharing for years and years was the push I needed to go in for Food Addiction Recovery.

Sitting down with someone. Face-To-Face.

There are people who make a big impact on our lives. As Paw always used to say to others who helped him..."until you're better paid".

I pay homage to my ancestors and those who've gone before me. Until you're better paid, Tom D.  I owe you a debt of gratitude for all of the heartfelt advice you've given me and everyone.  You're the best with a heart of gold.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Yesterday....was one hail of a day. 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Let's peel the onion and chew the fat. I want to blow the toasty socks right off of my feet.

I shouldn't have to stoke the fire to be warm on a summer night and yet, it's colder than a well diggers hindend. That is ridic for this time of year. I've had about enough of this whacky weather.

What in the world is going on. 

 

I lurve this place. It makes me happy to connect with people who are going through the same things that I am. No one is busting anyone's chops. We support one another through the UPs and downs.

I cannot help it that I remember all of the songs from my Greatgrandpaw's era and on down through the line.  I just do.

Music has been my friend when there was nothing else and no one around. Dancing is integral to our emotional healing.  

Don't you find it interesting that as a teenager, all you wanted to do was dance, dance, dance.  That was me.  I lived for those school dances. I could shake it and shimmy, it's not bragging if it's true, I am a good dancer.

I come by it naturally.  It's in my DNA and bones.  I can't help it and I make no apologies for that.  Music still moves me.  All of it.

I can snap myself right out of a blue mood by listening to my favorite songs. I can get so happy that people think I'm drunk and I don't even drink.  Everyone knows that about me.  Paw didn't touch a drop of alcohol either.  Maw, never.  

There are things that we cannot touch or we will get burned. I like being sober and silly.

I have no idea what tomorrow holds.

There are things that I would just love to bust loose and tell you but Maw would throw a tee-total fit.  So I stifle myself like Edith Bunker.

When you lose a folkaronie...the more time that goes by, they can do wrong. They actually become a saint.  

The trips you take down memory lane are really good. I had a great childhood. The best.

I've never had a babysitter in my entire life. Paw didn't believe in that. If he couldn't take us with him, we weren't going. His family was everything. Camping, fishing, hiking...the whole ball of wax.

He didn't have family growing up as he lost them in his youth. There were times that he was sleeping under a tree with his brothers. There was nothing to eat but a loaf of bread and a roll of bologna. Things weren't easy. He and his siblings had rickets from malnutrition.

Good food was really important to him. He knew how valuable it was and he never took it for granted. I could tell you about all of the school lunches that he never had. He had to watch the other kids eat theirs because he didn't have any lunch money.  He did without.

But I thank God that he didn't have do without anything good to eat when my husband came into our lives. He's southern fried and bonafide.

His authentic cooking skills come down through his DNA. We've never tasted anything so good as Bear's food.  Tonight, he made Maw the most wonderful chicken breast dinner.  Sauteed in garlic and EVOO, a smidge of that wonderful KerryGold Butter, roasted asparagus, fresh greens and a few other tiddlywinks. It was a taste of heaven.

Paw always said, what would his ancestors think of such good food out there on the ole lonesome prairie. What would they have thought. He said that everytime he put the fork in his mouth.  Ewwww doggies, this sure is mmmmm, mmmm good.

Good food fixes everything. Without it, where would we be. 

Like sandpaper, we rub the rough edges off of one another. We're smoothie operators. Some days, you need more than one song.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

The summer wind...came blowin' in from across the sea

It lingered there, to tear up my hair and walk with me

All summer long we sang a song and then it started snowing again on Labor Day. Like painted kites, those days and nights they went flyin' by. I have 2 months left for warm weather. These high winds are really giving me a big pinch.

The autumn wind, and the winter winds they have come and gone

And still the days, these windy days, they go on and on

And guess who sighs her lullabies through nights that never end

My fickle friend, the summer wind, chilly summer wind.

[MeadowLily]

They say the history of dogs goes back at least 40,000 years. Dogs can detect fear, anxiety, danger and sickness. They sense those who could bring harm to their pack. They know people you don't care for. Even if you act sweet to these people, dogs know they're not your cuppa tea. They react and it's not pretty.

Kids will blurt things out, too. They hear and absorb everything you say like a sponge. It's very humbling and you wish you could fall through the floor. Truth detectors.

Our original factory settings contain nothing but the truth. You can't help it, you were born that way. 

Finding your way back will take more than one conversation with yourself. You're going to have to pull the dross out of your head and be real rather than filled with fear and anxiety, always worrying about what others think of you.

That's control. Master Control. Trying to control every circumstance and outcome. Control = Fear. 

Fearful dogs bark all of the time. Yappers. They're only trying to present an image of bravery but underneath, they're afraid of almost everything.

A spirit of fear is contagious to others. It can bring on all kinds of sickness and even heart attacks.

Children and dogs react immediately to their circumstances. They don't worry about what others think. They're true to themselves but they pick up on our body cues and way of thinking.

Food Addiction ruins your body cues. Learn to listen to yourself. Say what.

Your body cues are missing and you feel skewed. You've picked up on everyone else's biases about food and your body cues are distorted in a way that is patently unfair, inaccurate and misleading.

You can suddenly change direction or position on a dime, which ever way the wind is blowing. Tossed to and fro with every wind of dieting doctrine.

Anyone can skew dieting doctrines and data to their own advantage. That can alter your body cues after a lifetime of twisted thinking. Finding your way back to your original factory settings starts with telling the truth. 

You can't worry about what others think. Master Controllers operate out of fear. Fear of not being in charge, leading the charge or leading you around by the nose.

They will react out of fear when you pull away but you've got to do it for your own survival.

[MeadowLily]

There are people all over this world protecting and serving their communities. It takes strong and brave people to do the things they do on a daily basis. You can't learn these things out of a book.

They made the choice and that takes true grit. They're not operating out of fear because that won't last. The truth will find them out.

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

On 6/11/2017 at 7:11 AM, MeadowLily said:

I'm waiting for corresponding movement to travel down - hang a right, go sideways and make a dido this way.  

 

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations (UUSS) is monitoring an earthquake swarm which is currently active on the western edge of Yellowstone National Park.  The swarm began on June 12^th, 2017 and, as of 23:00 MDT on June 13^th, 2017, is composed of 74 events with the largest magnitude of M_L 3.2 (Figure 1).  The swarm consists of two earthquakes in the magnitude 3 range, 17 earthquakes in the magnitude 2 range, 33 earthquakes in the magnitude 1 range, 19 earthquakes in the magnitude 0 range, and 3 earthquakes with magnitudes of less than zero.  These events have depths from ~0.0 km to ~12 km, relative to sea level.

Earthquake swarms are common in Yellowstone and, on average, comprise about 50% of the total seismicity in the Yellowstone region. UUSS will continue to monitor this swarm and will provide updates as necessary.

[MeadowLily]

If this doesn't melt soon... that ole fall haze will be hanging right back in here. Everyone has their dues in life to pay but I've paid mine. 

I believe the total solar eclipse has something to do with this strange weather. Hoards of  tourists are coming from across the world to see it. They could stay home and watch it on TV but nooooo, they're coming. Kombucha is the first thing to go off the shelves, followed by the good produce...and they take all of the Apricot LaCroix, too. Those pesky tourists. 

[MeadowLily]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-why-a-rested-brain-is-more-creative/

The Secret of Longevity = Taking a Nap

Bear told me that. He's right.

Non-stop busyness won't increase your lifespan.

Bear says the body and joints only have so many repetitions until that's all she wrote.  Oooo sure, you can get some new knees and hip replacements. You can opt for back surgery, get your rotator cuffs fixed, too - shouldering the burden that keep your tendons in your shoulder socket. You can replace everything or you can simply take a nap.

There are people who are driven to the point of taking a dirt nap. Driving yourself to the point of no return and total burnout is not beneficial.

We are bent on survival.  Life moves pretty fast. If you don't pace yourself, stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

[MeadowLily]

"I think about rest very differently now than when I started working on this project. I thought about rest as much more passive and as something you do when you're finished with everything else you have going on.

I now firmly believe that is wrong.

Rest is not this optional leftover activity. Work and rest are actually partners. They are like different parts of a wave. You can't have the high without the low. The better you are at resting, the better you will be at working."

You can't have the highs without the lows. The better you are at taking a nap, the better you will be at working.

Ever been around someone who is driven to the point of no return. You literally pick up on that non-stop busyness and you begin to feel ill.

Running around like Edith Bunker is contagious. If that's not your normal mode you have got to get away from that frenetic,frantic activity that messes with your gut and ties you up in knots.

Change your gut and you can change your life. Your gut needs a nap.

Your muscles have a memory. They won't forget what you've done to get  into the best shape of your life.  Even if you lay down on the job for a couple of weeks, the return journey back to optimum health will be shorter and quicker than the long road getting there.

Longevity takes a nap.  I have longevity on Maw's side of the family. Grandmaw and Greatgrandmaw took naps.  They gardened and spent a great deal of time outdoors. Taking care of kids was a marathon but they rested.They didn't run non-stop on the dreadmill or wear ankle and wrist weights. They didn't have to roll tractor tires down the lane.

 

Neither one of them had back/knee/hip/shoulder surgeries. They paced themselves for the long haul.  Their food choices were based on what was available at the time and there were times of lean.

Choices and Consequences. Don't burn yourself out.  There's no such thing as the Finish Line for your overall health and wellbeing.

[MeadowLily]

ROFL. Notice how much the snow melted in the last 24 hours.

Milling around and shooting the breeze with the Universe is not overrated.

Sooo, SC and LS. I've been watching V. again if you pick up on my continental drift. There's a slow pushing of the plates in about 3 places and I think that movement may be swinging back around your way.

Extremes beget extremes. We're approaching the summer solstice and that historically brings movement with it. I've been watching the craton plates for quite some time. Then you'll see the compensation movement like the cracking of a whip that swings back towards my direction.

We've all got alot on our 'plates'.  Ayup.  Strikes and gutters. UPs and downs.  The Dude Abides.

 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psych-unseen/201406/is-obesity-psychiatric-disorder

I speak in general, mostly to the Universe but I want to know the answers and the secret keys to cracking the obesity code.

I know that Food Addiction is a chronic disorder of food rewards.  I know that.

If I cannot manage the portions on my plate for the rest of my life, does this mean what that says ^^^ up there?

"But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. An online survey administered to people in the U.S. and Australia found that the majority of respondents (54%) thought that obesity should be considered a form of addiction and 64% were prepared to classify it as an eating disorder.⁹ As with addiction, it appears that a psychiatric model of obesity has the potential to decrease stigma by undermining the myth that people are obese because they lack willpower and choose to be overweight. Participants in the survey also rated psychotherapy or counseling as the most effective treatment option for obesity by far, beating out both diet and exercise. These results provide both a rationale and hypothetical benefit to classifying obesity as a psychiatric disorder. By extension, they also suggest that the majority of the U.S. population could benefit from psychiatric care."

 

[MeadowLily]

"Still, we now have compelling animal models for addiction, with reasonably clear outlines of the neural pathways in the brain that govern behaviors associated with reward and loss of control. This has helped to build a strong case for modeling addiction as a psychiatric disorder, a viewpoint that is now widely embraced by the medical community, if still debated in other circles including the legal system. Just so, best practice addiction therapy now involves the combination of psychotherapy as well as pharmacotherapy, with several medications now approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of alcohol dependence. 

Many researchers have applied an addiction model to at least some forms of obesity, noting similarities in terms of the immediate psychological rewards one derives from eating, a loss of behavioral control, and overlapping neural systems underlying “appetitive and consummatory behaviors.”⁸ Again then, adopting a psychiatric model for obesity hardly seems a stretch."

[MeadowLily]

Alrighty then. 

You know the old adage, just fake it 'til you make it.

That doesn't work with obesity, food addiction and diabetes. Willpower and dieting will only get you so far until your willpower runs out.

Dieting is followed by the eating it all back phase.  Can you just fake putting the proper portions on your plate and appear "normal" like everyone else...knowing that your relationship with food is really abby normal.

You can't fix a broken brain with a broken brain. 

You can try to appear normal but there's a dialogue going on in your head. If you put the square portions on the round plate, you'll be level-headed.

If you present yourself as having it all together will you eventually get there?  Fake it 'til you make it.

Or will the truth find you out.  Your truth.

My spirit is the best part of me.  I can't rely on the body and mind to see me through food addiction. Left to their own devices, those two would take me on a thrill eating ride that would never ever end. 

I can't for the life of me remember where I witnessed this but I think it was on the TV...there was a person eating all of the deliberately engineered to be craved foods and eating themselves literally to death. They could not quit.  The food was nothing but a chemical sheetstorm and it was driving them into this place where they looked so worn out and haggard from trying to stop. They could not stop because they were driven.

Deliberately engineered to be craved food is a driver. It's created in a lab to drive you into a Food NutHut. That's the state of mind where you throw the towel in, swish your hands together and walk off. Never to return.  Giving up. For real.

Took myself to the picture show. Sat myself in the very front row. Got so fresh I slapped my face. Ima nut...Ima nut.

I remember that song.

Now you can't take it back out in the other direction and fall into massive rationalization for yourself.  Self-pity is for the birds. Ooooo, don't be so hard on yourself.

That's giving yourself permission to stay stuck in food addiction for the rest of your life.  You don't want that either.

If I put the proper portions on my plate...is my relationship with food still abby normal at the core. 

I'm here to tell you, Felicias, if you let one day turn into a week - before you know it you'll be looking at a month or 6 months before you know what just hit you.  You will find yourself eating it all back in the unconscious mode of autopilot.

It comes right back on you like stink on stink.  That made my life a living hail and I cannot go back to that.  But there are days when you're just a few inches from sliding back off the goose. 

For the food addict, you can't say....Ooooo, it's alright honeybee, go ahead. Nuh huh. 

The dust up from falling back into full blown food addiction is nothing but misery. I wish I had it all together like normal folks do. They've got the world on a string. Everything is coming up roses and everything they touch turns to gold.

Moi? I'm just a hound dog yakkin' on a bone. But I can't fall back into self-pity and feeling sorry for myself. I've cried a million tears already. So I'll just keep on pulling myself up by the bootstraps and giving it all I've got.  

I need a song now. I'm not ready for the dungheap.   Much Love, Felicias. Much Love.

 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Wrangling your thoughts is like herding cats. I've been thinking all day. Maw's BP is all over the place and we had to run into town and try to remedy what's going on. Stress.

No matter what I say or do it seems to backfire. Zipping my lip seems to work when everything is out of control.

When our mouths speak out of order it's a sign that our hearts are out of order.

 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations reports that an earthquake of magnitude 4.5 occurred at 06:48 PM on June 15, 2017 (MDT). The epicenter was located in Yellowstone National Park, eight miles north-northeast of the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. The earthquake was reported felt in the towns of West Yellowstone and Gardiner, Montana, in Yellowstone National Park, and elsewhere in the surrounding region. Today’s earthquake is part of an energetic sequence of earthquakes in the same area that began on June 12. This sequence has included approximately thirty earthquakes of magnitude 2 and larger and four earthquakes of magnitude 3 and larger, including today’s magnitude 4.5 event. Today’s earthquake is the largest earthquake to occur in Yellowstone National Park since March 30, 2014, when a magnitude 4.8 event occurred 18 miles to the east, near Norris Geyser Basin.

http://yellowstoneinsider.com/2017/06/15/young-kayak-guide-dies-rescuing-client-yellowstone-lake/

http://yellowstoneinsider.com/2017/06/14/young-man-burned-falling-yellowstone-hot-spring/

[MeadowLily]

Do you remember the last time you had a chicken nugget?

Yesterday, I had one.  Control Alt Delete

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

The desire for free speech and expression can keep us from closing our mouths and listening to others.    Mark Twain

 

Think of anything you say at work or home as an opportunity to add value.  If the thing you are thinking won’t add value, it shouldn’t be said.  There is value in silence.  It allows you to observe.

Rethink your  conversations. If a person hasn’t said three full sentences in the last three minutes, then you are talking too much.   Ask an open ended question and listen.

Build power through silence. Each time you are silent instead of saying what you are thinking, it will make the next time you talk more powerful. Meetings are the best time to practice this and see if you can build respect from colleagues by avoiding meaningless talk.

Write it down. Stop talking. Start a journal. If your conversations have been frustrating and multi-crap keeps hitting the fan... work out your thoughts on paper before you say them.

Think “This is permanent” before you post a comment or status update on any social media network. Once you publish it to the web, there is a copy that remains forever in someone’s files. Question whether you want your kids or friends to be able to reference this thought years down the line.

Understand the  ramifications of posting online. Your public post can be seen by your employers, your spouses and their employers, children or anyone. It can be used in a court of law in most places as well.

These are good reasons to think of your family before you blather and foam at the mouth. Too much is not a good thing.

Oooo, if you're posting while you're on the clock, you're actually robbing your employer and stealing time.  They pay you do your actual job and they know what you're up  to.  Someone is always watching. It could cost you...your job, a promotion and good reference.  You don't want to get fired.  Remember who's putting food on your table and a roof over your head.

Blather and foam, responsibly.

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Choices and Consequences.

Every time you see a speed limit sign it reminds us of consequences. We obey the speed limit because of consequences. There's not a highway patrolman in sight but we're reminded of fines and higher insurance rates. We choose to follow rules.

We can't control anyone.  We can only influence others to make reasonable decisions based on consequences. That goes for children and family members.

Remember, you don't want to cost yourself or family their job by saying waaay too much about their quality of health and personal biz.

Respectfully, MeadowLily

 

 

[MeadowLily]

June 16, 2017 UPDATE: The University of Utah Seismograph Stations (UUSS) is monitoring an earthquake swarm which is currently active on the western edge of Yellowstone National Park.  The swarm began on June 12^th, 2017 and, as of 10:00 MDT on June 16^th, 2017, is composed of 235 events with the largest magnitude of M_L 4.4 (M_W 4.4) (Figure 1).  The swarm consists of one earthquake in the magnitude 4 range, 3 earthquakes in the magnitude 3 range, 41 earthquakes in the magnitude 2 range, 123 earthquakes in the magnitude 1 range, 62 earthquakes in the magnitude 0 range, and 5 earthquakes with magnitudes of less than zero. 

Two pictures have fallen off a wall. Summer solstice will soon be here.  Six degrees of separation is more like 2. Next compensation movement...OK and TN,and then it swings back around again to LS and SC and comes back around this way again. We're all in this thing called life...together. Connected.