Hey everyone – I edited the last post by adding new information and changing the ending.
This because I didn’t want to come across in a way I hadn’t intended with the first version.
You can read the revised blog entry again if you want.
I’m as leery as anyone of white women influencers peddling “thinspiration.”
In this blog I would like to giver common-sense information that readers can use to create a better life for themselves.
Let’s face it Americans are coming down with all sorts of health issues. Separating trustworthy claims from sensational ones is my goal. There are people hanging out shingles as experts to cash in on our ill health.
I’m going to talk in a coming blog entry about liking yourself at any size. Which is more to the point.
I’m a tiny person with a big mouth. I’ve always been a feminist. What surprises me today is the alacrity with which I’m speaking out about real issues.
I think it’s a myth that a healthy woman can have disordered eating. Unless you have anorexia or bulimia I don’t think it’s possible that your eating is disordered.
Having a so-called expert or another person judge us can be shame inducing. Not only can a 200-pound woman feel poorly. We girls of any size can feel insecure.
I had not intended to lose weight. It’s just how it is. I want everyone to feel good at any size. Which is why the policing of how and what women eat should end.
I weigh 103 pounds because I lift weights and eat healthful food 90 percent of the time. I lost 20 pounds at the height of Covid because I lifted weights in my home gym and did not buy “snacks” to eat while indoors. Instead I bought organic CSA boxes of produce to make recipes with.
More to the point is that I follow the advice in the book I reviewed here How to Be Well by Dr. Frank Lipman, MD– a functional medicine doctor who is a trustworthy expert.
Big Food will sell you the cheeseburgers and Big Pharma will tell you that if you take a cholesterol pill, it will be OK to keep eating cheeseburgers.
One female nutritionist in a print advertisement recommended using Splenda years ago. How could a supposed diet expert accept funding to promote an artificial sweetener? Instead of needing to use an artificial sweetener simply cut out using sugar to begin with.
This is why what a so-called expert claims is disordered eating should be questioned. Policing how and what women eat is only going to shame us. Nobody accuses a man of having disordered eating when he mouths down a Porterhouse steak.
The shaming of women for our eating habits will have the opposite effect: Turn us away from eating dark leafy greens which you are supposed to eat. Who’s kidding who about what constitutes disordered eating.
Coca-Cola hired academic researchers at a college to promote the health benefits of Coca-Cola. You can see where I’m going with this line of thinking.
In the 1990s SYMS clothing store ran this commercial on TV in New York City touting: “An educated consumer is our best customer.”
We need to educate ourselves and seek out the truth. I’m not an influencer peddling a product. I take NO money from advertisements on my blogs or from a drug company or anyone else.
It was not lost on me that the Saturday after the election I woke up with a sore left arm. Since then the PT sessions took only exactly 2 months. Doubt I did that it would be over so quickly.
Not able I was to lift weights then. At the end of this setback I realized things must change. Ordinarily I work out like a madwoman in training for the prizefight of her life. The PT assistants at the rehab center kept telling me to ease up when I first started the sessions whirling into each exercise too intensely. Wise up I did and took it slower and calmer.
My PT therapist cleared me to end my time there. The quandary is: how to recover mentally from a setback after you’ve physically healed. How to begin again your normal fitness routine.
You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. I took my fitness for granted. The time had come to rethink my approach not just to lifting but also to living life.
I would practice mindful exercise and pace myself. Say a prayer before I first lifted in the routine thanking my body for being a workhorse that enabled me to achieve my goals.
Today I choose to act in a slow and deliberate fashion. The violent and quick workouts are gone like the dinosaurs. They outlived their usefulness.
Not only is the bigger better more ethic of consumerism an economic trap the bigger better more extreme of fitness is quicksand.
I became fitter after I started working out in my “home gym” (OK–the clear unobstructed hardwood floor in my apartment).
My new approach is going from fast and furious to serene and lean. As I turn 60 soon. Being proactive in our older years will help us stay mentally and physically fit.
Getting infirm is not the guaranteed outcome in old age. It’s the result of poor eating, not enough sleep, and not being active.
Recovery from any injury or illness or any kind of setback at all takes time, patience, hard work, and determination.
My goal is to return to the floor and gradually increase the weight as I begin to lift again.
We each should have the radical grace to change what’s not working and chart a new course. As hard as it is to start all over from square one the alternative is no option: not getting back in the ring.
This time around I want to lift weights to lift my spirits not just get muscle.
Perhaps this blog can be a guidepost for everyone who needs a shot of confidence to embark on a new path after the old route was a dead-end.
The November issue of Bon Appetit has this recipe:
Cook 1 pound spaghetti in large pot of salted water. Stir every so often until 1 minute less than package direction for al dente.
Drain. Reserve 2 cups of pasta cooking water. Return pasta to the pot. Add 1 1/4 cups plain whole-milk Greek yogurt. Toss with tongs to coat thoroughly.
Add 1/2 cup pasta cooking water and then toss. Add cooking water a splash at a time to get to a creamy sauce like Alfredo.
Use shallow bowls to divide pasta into. Top with your desired amount of chili crisp. I bought and used Momofuku chili crunch.
Serves 4 to 6.
A surprising combination of flavors. Yet a recipe to try once to see if you like it.
The fall just might be the season to cook this recipe too.
Per Sherry Pocknett chef owner of Sly Fox Den Too restaurant:
“Everything that comes out of the ocean is Indigenous food.”
Her Nation (commonly called a Tribe) is the Mashpee Wampanoag. She is the James Beard Award-winning Northeast chef based in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Pocknett’s restaurant serves food native to her culture.
I too prefer to eat what swims in the blue sea or grows on the green earth.
You can buy a copy of the November Bon Appetit magazine to read the Pocknett story.
We are all of us Indigenous or not losing our moorings in this precious world that is God’s gift to us to live on.
We need to truly embrace not just tolerate others’ unique perspectives. We have so much to learn from each other that can help us live happy healthy lives together.
Decades ago I watched a band of Native Americans give a musical performance. The lead singer told the audience that Native American history is OUR history not just theirs. They are our ancestors too.
It’s time to honor embrace and accept Indigenous Nations as American royalty so to speak. They were here before us and we’re ravaging their land that we took over and live on today.
No one can achieve perfection in our lifetime. However we can strive to do better and be a little better every day.
I’ll end here by saying that whatever we’re doing in tiny ways can make a big difference.
Like with climate change little actions can be sustainable versus drastic dramatic action you’re forced to take after the damage has been done.
I recommend subscribing to Bon Appetit magazine. It’s gotten better with the new Editor in Chief.
1.Squat press: 5-8 pound DB held at shoulder squat then press up toward ceiling as you stand up from squat. 3 x 12.
2.Single leg bridge: Lying flat on floor one foot down and the other elevated press hips toward ceiling and squeeze glutes 5-8 pounds 3 x 12 each side.
3.Walking lunges: with available space step and lunge alternating legs continue with 8 on each side for 3 rounds.
4.Single leg Romanian deadlift: Holding on to stable surface hold DB in one hand one foot stays flat while you reach other leg back – reach for stretch in hamstring – leg goes back at same pace as arm. 3 x 10 each side.
5.Goblet squat with close feet: Hold DB at chest – feet within shoulder width. 3 x 12 8 pounds.
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Alternating leg raises.
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Plank (30 seconds) 2 rounds – As long as possible 3rd round.
1.Push-ups – As many reps as possible. Modify if necessary. 3 rounds
2.Resistance band bent over row: Place foot close to handle on one side – lean over top of band and pull elbow up to body 12 times – then repeat on other side. (I have a red band with black handles.)
3.Resistance band shoulder press: Stand on band with both feet and press handles up to ceiling 12 times or 1 side at a time band held behind arms. 3 x 12.
4.Bicep curl with body bar: 3 x 15 (I have a 10 pound body bar).
5. Tricep extension with body bard: Hold bar above head elbows forward and bend back behind head then extend up toward ceiling. 3 x 15.
This recipe is from the Joanna Gaines cookbook Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering Volume 3. Since the recipe is too long and detailed and owing to copyright I won’t reprint it here.
Of course my version looks nowhere near the prettified bacon butternut squash photo in the cookbook.
Plus I didn’t use bacon so instead of sauteing the butternut squash and shallots in bacon dripping I splashed a little organic EVOO in the skillet. Too I would say you definitely need to add a splash of water to the skillet halfway through so that the pan doesn’t get dry and burnt.
This is a tasty dinner I had that was listed in the Side Dishes section of the cookbook. I would definitely use this recipe again as the food is so delicious.
It calls for 4 cups of butternut squash and I was one person having this meal. For a side dish like it was intended it might serve 4 people.
In fact I might buy this Volume 3 of Magnolia Table as I want to try other recipes in the cookbook.
I buy the Magnolia Journal magazine which also has recipes and interesting articles to read.
Now that butternut squash is in season it’s the perfect lunch or dinner.
Be aware that you need counter space or else use your sink basin to prepare the ingredients.
I accidently bought a brick of parmesan cheese that I had to grate. It was OK to buy the parmesan cheese pre-grated however I didn’t realize this. Save yourself the trouble and buy a container of grated parmesan.
Full and Robust Life Hacks 