LifeHacker & WebMD Diet Tips
From a comment on a post about diet tips:
I read a great quote on WebMD that said, “There’s a difference between indulgence and overindulgence.”
The whole thing:
15 Best Diet Tips Ever
By Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic-Feature
I’ve been using many of them without having seen this list before.
The ones I use are:
Best Diet Tip No. 1: Drink plenty of water or other calorie-free beverages.
Best Diet Tip No. 2: Think about what you can add to your diet, not what you should take away.
Best Diet Tip No. 3: Consider whether you’re really hungry.
Best Diet Tip No. 5: Enjoy your favorite foods.
Best Diet Tip No. 6: Enjoy your treats away from home.
Best Diet Tip No. 7: Eat several mini-meals during the day.
Best Diet Tip No. 10: Stock your kitchen with healthy convenience foods.
Best Diet Tip No. 11: Order children’s portions at restaurants. (unfortunately, many places won’t allow this, so I have to settle for ordering sides, or stuff that keeps well so I can box half or more of it up, or share with someone)
Best Diet Tip No. 12: Eat foods in season.
Best Diet Tip No. 14: Use non-food alternatives to cope with stress. (Though this really ties into #3 for me – am I really hungry, or am I craving food out of stress/boredom?)
Best Diet Tip No. 15: Be physically active.
Read the whole article for hows & whys and for the rest of the tips.
Recipe Contest
Why I won’t be entering my everything cookies in this contest:
“All Finalists, prior to their departure to Los Angeles will be required to executed and return certain releases and other paperwork that grants Food Network the right to use each Finalist’s recipe and submitted materials in any and all media throughout the world in perpetuity and to retain all monies from the exploitation thereof and in connection with the advertising and promotion of the Program without payment of any additional consideration to Finalist or any other party. “
The Great Turtle Race!
TC sent these links. Pretty cool!
From the Great Turtle Race site:
“We’re doing this “race” to raise awareness and invite donations to protect leatherback turtles on Playa Grande’s beaches and along the turtles’ migration paths in the ocean. These amazing animals have been around 100 million years, but may have only 10 years left. I think the world needs to wake up to the issue and urgently help. As we say in the race theme, “They are going faster than you think.” – Dr. Jim Spotila, turtle researcher, professor at Drexel University and president of the Leatherback Trust
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Published April 6, 2007 12:00 AM
Endangered Turtles Swim Pacific in Race
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Eleven leatherback turtles are swimming across the Pacific Ocean to the Galapagos Islands in a “race” that will be tracked online to draw attention to the plight of the endangered creatures.
The turtles have been tagged with satellite communication devices that give their positions as they head south from their nesting sites on Costa Rica’s Playa Grande beach to feeding grounds near the Galapagos, about 950 miles away.
Online participants can choose a turtle and track its course at www.greatturtlerace.com from April 16 with the winner being the animal that travels furthest in two weeks of swimming.
There is no prize for the winner of the race, aimed at highlighting the dangers facing a creature that has graced the oceans for 100 million years.
“It’s fascinating to consider that we are able to bring together these prehistoric animals with such cutting-edge science,” said Stanford University researcher George Shillinger, one of the race organizers.
Environmentalists say 95 percent of leatherbacks in the Pacific Ocean have vanished in the last 20 years due to human activity like fishing, poaching of their eggs and building near their nests, and they could become extinct in the next decade.
Thousands of leatherbacks nested at Playa Grande 10 years ago but the number has dropped to below 100 in the last five years.
Leatherbacks, which can reach a shell length of 1.7 meter (5.6 feet) and a mass of 700 kg (1,540 lb), often die after being entangled in fishing lines and nets. Others choke on plastic bags, wrongly believing they are jellyfish, which are a delicacy for turtles.
The Galapagos Islands, which lie west of Ecuador, are home to hundreds of unique species, including giant tortoises, exotic birds and iguanas. The variety of natural life there inspired 19th century British naturalist Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
The leatherback race will not be live because the turtles left Costa Rica at different times. Instead, environmentalist group Conservation International will provide a day-to-day showing of the first 14 days of their journeys simultaneously as if they were racing.
The event will raise funds to protect Playa Grande. It is being organized by Conservation International, Costa Rica’s Environment Ministry, the Leatherback Trust and the Tagging of Pacific Predators program.
Source: Reuters
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Catching up
By reviewing emails. Had to miss game day March 24th to go home and spend some time with family. Got to meet my to-be-step-sister’s new daschound puppies. Sooo cute! And I went to church to see mom play her flute, and it was good to say hi to people I’ve known since I was little. I also looked around a lot getting ideas for mom’s wedding & reception.
I found an online board game, but I suck at the mini games: http://www.gettheglass.com/
I’m having fun playing FF12 with my pirate, I like the stuff that bores him like running around talking and shopping, and he likes the stuff that frustrates me like fighting. It’s nice to actually get to follow a story all the way through. I think we might play FFX after we finally finish FF12.
MM suggested FFX and I couldn’t resist the Viera & bunny moogles in FF12. And since my pirate had never played any of the FF stuff it seemed like a decent idea for a present. I’m just glad he’s willing to do side quests when I’m busy so I don’t miss the story line.
Great line from a friend’s blog:
“She understood that a prayer was a projection of will, the wanting of a thing was like a wish, a desire, the focus of energy toward a goal or purpose or hope. It really didn’t matter what you called it, the substance of the matter was all the same.”
It really ties in to what I’ve been talking about with my dad. Some of the same principles in the book/movie “The Secret.”
Talking with my cousin about our pets:
Very cool! Mr. Tripudio Gecko! Trip for short. They’re pretty neat to watch when the shed too, my bio teacher used to have a pair of Gecko’s. Not the friendly sort sadly so we didn’t get to hold them.
lizards are great, but my cats would try to eat it if I got one.
Hamsters are soooo cute, but Khalua is way to evil to trust around anything small and crunchy.
I also found out my cousin and her husband are on the same WoW server as me:
funny enough I logged on with my new Draenei Adiala last night to look for you and /who’d your guild. Of the four on I randomly managed to pick the redhead who was one of your husband’s groomsmen to ask if you two were on. He asked how I knew it was him and I told him it was sheer luck.
Dad sent me an adorable card for my birthday. My pirate took me to lunch at Crepeville for a strawberry chocolate crepe (they changed how they make it and it isn’t quite as fabulous as before) I went out for drinks and dessert at BJ’s with a bunch of friends on my birthday, and mom and my brother came up on Saturday and took me and my pirate out for lunch (Sudwerk’s new menu is yummy!).
I’m really starting to get into the racquetball & climbing. Though we just do volleys with the racquetball and don’t worry about scoring. I can’t play for more than 30 minutes though before my head starts to hurt, so I think we’re gonna try out tennis soon if my pirate can find his second racket.
April 3 – House finally completely officially sold!
Random tidbit you really don’t want to know but I’m going to share anyway:
Saw on History Channel that castles sometimes flushed their waste into the moat to discourage invaders. GROSSSSS. I’d say that would discourage me! Moat monsters can be killed… but sewage is not something easy to remove!
My fingernails are turning blue from cold in my office today, but I’ve been getting stuff done. Though I just found this awesome game:
http://www.adultswim.com/games
But mute the speakers if you try playing it! It starts with music and even if you turn it of there are sound effects….
Actually electric fingerless gloves would be perfect, since my sweater keeps me reasonably warm, I just can’t type wearing gloves.
Sign up for your free scoop! I just got my coupon for mine yesterday. 
http://www.baskinrobbins.com
I’m finally starting to get my product sale site together:
http://curlieq.com
Just working on linking to my cafepress stuff for now, then I need to take pictures/scan the stuff I have at home to list for sale.
Me + parties or any large groups of people:
I like parties, but parties make me tired/stressed/strung out/wound up/over stimulated.
To deal with the over stimulation I need to A) nap or B) be close to a friend
I prefer option A when at my own house or a friend’s that I’m comfortable in.
When I have to resort to option B, the more people I can spread that around to, the better. Otherwise I follow the one person I know around the whole time (and then worry that they’re are/will get bored or annoyed with me).
Many people = energy drain for me. It can be fun, but it’s always tiring. Anywhere there are lots of people. Most things are short enough that it doesn’t matter, but parties that last all day are hard. I just don’t like showing up late, or having to leave early when things are getting fun/relaxed later on, so I end up napping on the sofa or zoning out for a bit.
Until writing this I didn’t realize how often I really do use option A now. And it’s not really due to shyness, it’s that large groups of people are just really overstimulating for me. I’d follow my friend around for option B, but then I’d talk to whoever we ended up near with no problem.
Major thing for me to work on: I need to actually tell people my needs instead of just using people to fulfill them and get their permission. And two, I need to stop trying to do what I think people would want, without actually asking what they want.
This gorgeous weather is making it so hard to work, I want to go outside and lay in the grass.
trying to resist the evilly delicious birthday vanilla vanilla cupcakes with frosting & sprinkles Princess SP made and had JP sneak onto my desk before I got in this morning. I’ve already had two. I’m going to need to run up and down some stairs or something.
My pirate and I got some swimming and tennis in on Sunday, and I managed to get sunburned.
A cat that rides the bus, pretty amazing: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
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Mystery cat takes regular bus to the shops
Bus drivers have nicknamed a white cat Macavity after it has started using the No 331 several mornings a week.
The feline, which has a purple collar, gets onto the busy Walsall to Wolverhampton bus at the same stop most mornings – he then jumps off at the next stop 400m down the road, near a fish and chip shop.
The cat was nicknamed Macavity after the mystery cat in T.S Elliot’s poem. He gets on the bus in front of a row of 1950s semi-detached houses and jumps off at a row of shops down the road which include a fish and chip shop.
Driver Bill Khunkhun, 49, who first saw the cat jumping from the bus in January, said: “It is really odd, the first time I saw the cat jumping off the bus with a group of passengers. I hadn’t seen it get on which was a bit confusing.
“The next day I pulled up on Churchill Road to let a couple of passengers on. As soon as I opened the doors the cat ran towards the bus, jumped on and ran under one of the seats, I don’t think any of the passengers noticed.
“Because I had seen it jump off the day before I carried on driving and sure enough when I stopped just down the road he jumped off – I don’t know why he would catch the bus but he seems to like it. I told some of the other drivers on this route and they have seen him too.”
Since January, when the cat first caught the bus he has done it two or three times a week and always gets on and off at the same stops.
Passenger, Paul Brennan, 19, who catches the 331 to work, said: “I first noticed the cat a few weeks ago. At first I thought it had been accompanied by its owner but after the first stop it became quite clear he was on his own.
“He sat at the front of the bus, waited patiently for the next stop and then got off. It was was quite strange at first but now it just seems normal. I suppose he is the perfect passenger really – he sits quietly, minds his own business and then gets off.”
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April 10 – I woke up with a killer headache, that I haven’t managed to quite kill off. But I did order my dishwasher! I can’t wait till it shows up and I can give the kitchen a good scrub down.
Meow came over last night and we hung out for a while which was nice. I still miss seeing him every day. I can’t wait till they finish building the rest of the offices.
I finally got the batteries in my swiffer wetjet though, it’s awesome. Way less mess than a mop and bucket. I scrubbed down the master bathroom kitty stuff and floors this weekend.
I found a free staff development yoga class I’m gonna sign up for. I hope they have room!
Dance class last night was good. Then the teacher invited me to join her dance teacher certification program, which I would LOVE to do, but it’s $450 a month for 16 months. So I really can’t do it now. I’ll just have to hope that she has space and decides to run it again in a couple years when I have my debt paid off. I’m getting my dishwasher Monday though. Woohoo! And we’re going climbing again tonight. Oh, and since I had two hours to kill till class, Meow & I walked down to the farmers market, there is some stuff I want to go pick up on Saturday.
My boss took me out to lunch for my birthday since he missed it last week, so that was nice. Finally tried out Village Bakery’s pizza. It’s good, but it isn’t all that. That one in the bay area that JL loves is much better. I just can’t recall the name.
my psychiatrist called back, so I get to go see him tomorrow during lunch to see about changing up my meds. My night one is not working so well, and I don’t think I need my morning one, so I want to cut the one and double the other. Not sleeping well is pretty much the main thing left to mess with my head at this point.
I’m halving my morning one and doubling my night one and then gotta check back in two weeks.
I love shopping with my mom, it’s our #1 mother-daughter activity I think.
Well, that’s all the tidbits from email, from oldest down to newest. I should probably clean it up some if I ever get around to it.
Meat Cake
Disturbing, amusing, intriguing: I give you the meat cake!
http://www.blackwidowbakery.com/demo/meatcake/
Even scarier:
Spring Catch-up
First a PSA: Pet food recall – see the list of products recalled.
Random tid-bits:
I forgot to link to the site after watching An Inconvenient Truth, so here is their Take Action page (the home page is noisy).
Laser engraving on laptops. Looks neat and sturdier than stickers, but not good for those of us who change their minds a lot. Plus it’s not cheap.
Mac Laptop = Cat Toy video. Thankfully my cats aren’t like this… I don’t think.
More of the monster/ugly dolls.
Uploaded 138 or 139 new photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liata/
Mar 20:Went to dinner at Dos with one of HK’s coworker friends and then put away laundry and did dishes and HK took out the trash and recycling for me. So nice not to walk out and see the kitchen and go “Ugh!” I’m definitely putting some of the house profit toward a dishwasher, it’s just not worth the time and stress of hand washing everything. And I probably waste hot water doing it myself anyway. I really like how the new curtains on the sliding glass door turned out, though I think I want to add a few more panels at some point.Mar 19:This guy’s stuff has been around for a while, but since I can’t find the original video I saw, here’s another: http://studio.vpod.tv/loiclemeur/135867
Also, I hate the time changes, they always mess up my sleep schedule. Slowly getting back on track. I smelled brownies walking back to my office and now I’m craving them. Thankfully I have hot chocolate mix (and chili, nutmeg & cinnamon to add to it).
I got a lot done this weekend, cleaned up my piles of paperwork, finally got the curtains up with HK’s help and a few loads of laundry. That plus much napping & relaxing which is the main thing I needed. HK & I went to Johnny Carrino’s in Natomas after his haircut Friday, but we filled up on bread and soup and ended up eating the leftovers the rest of the weekend. The asthma pill (Singulair) is working hella good and my allergies seem to have settled down without taking the Clartin stuff, yippee!
And! Good news! My house might actually close before April after all which would be awesome. One less mortgage payment to pay.
Mar 17:
This sounds fun: Spring Party on Saturday 4/14/07…All you can drink beer and Margaritas, Fresh Mexican food, Wonderbread 5, DJ Rigatoni, Mechanical Bull and Gladiator Style Jousting….all for $35 and all proceeds go to local children’s charities!! Go to www.awildnightincabo.com.
Mar 16:
My office is so cold. I’m thinking of bringing in a throw or something. Rugs would be good if I had any. I have a space heater, but I blew the circuit the time I moved it to another plug to get it under my desk. An electric blanket would work better. I wouldn’t lose all my warm air every time my boss pops in and doesn’t shut the door most of the way behind him.
Mar 15:
Painted my toenails pink at work during lunch, and managed to not smudge them, yay! Now I can actually wear sandals sometimes.
Mar 14:
Had a ton of weird dreams last night, which for me means I didn’t sleep soundly at all or I wouldn’t remember. Probably why I was so tired this morning.
I forgot to check the racquetball rules, so my pirate and I just goofed off hitting back and forth to each other since there was a free court last night. Good workout, but it did not help my headache. It was fun though, and my headache didn’t get too bad till the last 10 minutes ish.
Article stuffs
I used to read Psychology Today when I TA’d in my high school library all the time. Now I have it on my Google homepage so I’m back into reading it again. Just in case you’re wondering how I find this stuff:Hormones Got You Down?
Hormones may play a pivotal role in women’s maladies—including PMS, post-partum, and others.
By:Natasha Raymond”research shows it’s not just the psychological stress of aging, childbirth, or cramps that brings on the blues. It’s the physiological factor that ties them together—hormones.”"Hormones released by the ovaries—estrogen and progesterone—actually seem to influence the neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, that are known to affect mood. Normally, estrogen blocks enzymes that break serotonin down, allowing more of the spirit-lifting substance to stay operative in the brain and act like an antidepressant. But before menstruation, after giving birth, and during menopause, when estrogen levels dip, serotonin levels plunge, too.”
How to form an enduring bond. Healthy relationships are built on love and trust, commitment and intimacy.
By:Hara Estroff Marano“These are the five bonding forces that form the glue of your relationship, he stresses. And here’s the catch—they must grow together in a balanced way. You must keep your heart and your head in harmony. So you never let one of the five forces too far ahead of your progress in any of the others.
* Know
* Trust
* Rely
* Commit
* TouchIn other words, says Van Epp, there’s a safe zone you need to stay within as your relationship grows. And the basic rule for staying in the safe zone is, never let the level of one bonding dynamic exceed the level of the previous one. “
Navigating risky situations teaches you about yourself, increases your self-confidence, and helps you better manage life’s inevitable uncertainties.
By:Jessica DuLong“”It’s the heightened awareness in physical risk taking that’s so valuable,” says Michael Gass … “The limited stimulus field helps people weed out less important information.” In the face of danger, instinct takes over. Your attention becomes keenly focused on your body and your surroundings. ”
“Once you accomplish this, you realize that you are not a victim of your emotions, that you can override them if you want.”
“Just as shocking the muscles makes them grow stronger, confronting your fears makes you realize you can live with stress. “Any time you’re afraid to do something and you do it, it makes you stronger,” he says. “Even if you fail.”"
“”Physical risk taking is beneficial because it’s a consequential, obvious statement of what you’re able to do,” says Gass. And the ability to handle adversity can generalize into the less dangerous—but no less fraught—realms of personal and professional life. It was Stanford researcher Albert Bandura who first articulated the idea that greater feelings of self-efficacy produce increased effort and persistence on a task and, ultimately, a higher level of performance.”
“Self-determination in the face of uncertainty helps develop a strong sense of self. ”
“”The more practice you have in situations where you have to make rapid decisions with great consequence, the more likely you are to be able to act rather than freeze,” says Cline.”
I find evolutionary psychology fascinating! I took a class on environmental psychology that covered some of it and really enjoyed the class. Article:The Orgasm Wars
Evolutionary biologists think female orgasms may pick the best sperm.
By:PT Staff”They discovered that when a woman climaxes any time between a minute before to 45 minutes after her lover ejaculates, she retains significantly more sperm than she does after nonorgasmic sex. When her orgasm precedes her male’s by more than a minute, or when she does not have an orgasm, little sperm is retained. “”In their studies, women consistently identify as most attractive males whose faces (and other body parts) are most symmetrical.”"A large and growing body of medical literature documents that symmetrical people are physically and psychologically healthier than their less symmetrical counterparts.”“those whose partners were most symmetrical enjoyed a significantly higher frequency of orgasms during sexual intercourse than did those with less symmetrical mates.”
“Of course, symmetry is a relative thing, and a relative rarity at that. No one is perfectly symmetrical, and very high symmetry scores were few and far between in this sample, as in others. In consolation, Thornhill and Gangestad point out that the differences they are measuring are subtle, and most require the use of calipers to detect.”
“Degree of women’s romantic attachment did not increase the frequency of orgasm! Nor did the sexual experience of either partner. Conventional wisdom holds that birth control and protection from disease up orgasm rates, since they allow women to feel more relaxed during intercourse. But no relationship emerged between female orgasm and the use of contraception.
Nor can the study results be explained by the possibility that the symmetrical males were dating especially uninhibited and orgasmic women. Their partners did not have more orgasms during foreplay or in other sexual activities. Male symmetry correlated with a high frequency of female orgasm only during copulation.”
“He points to the following results as among those we should take to heart:
o A woman’s capacity for orgasm depends not on her partner’s sexual skill but on her subconscious evaluation of his genetic merits.
o Women’s orgasm has little to do with love. Or experience.
o Good men are indeed hard to find.
o The men with the best genes make the worst mates.
o Women are no more built for monogamy than men are. They are designed to keep their options open.
o Women fake orgasm to divert a partner’s attention from their infidelities.”
Not terribly scientific, the comments are more interesting than the article:Female Gamers Have More Sex
“According to a survey conducted by Gametart, a game rental service in the UK, chicks who game get more lovin’ than those who don’t. Out of a sample of 200 ladies (or should that be “laid-ees”?), the ones who gamed got, erm, fragged 1.1 more times a week than those who didn’t.”
And from one of the columns I read that also happened to look at evolution’s effect:The Pig Picture
The Advice Goddess by Amy Alkon
“The truth is, as you suspected, straight guys just don’t have the filth and disarray vision that women and gay men do. Studies show gay men’s attention to environmental detail is similar to that of straight women, but in general, “the female brain takes in more sensory data than does the male,” writes brain researcher Michael Gurian in “What Could He Be Thinking?” How much more visual detail does the female brain take in? Well, in an object recall test by York University psychologists Irwin Silverman and Marion Eals, women remembered the name and placement of 70 percent more items than the men did.”"Men can be obsessive about detail, explains Gurian, but their mental and visual attention is usually single-minded and achievement-oriented. “”According to Silverman, Eals, and other researchers, a guy’s tendency to let his home become a pizza crust wilderness refuge probably traces back to our hunter-gatherer past. Men’s current visual and attentional strengths correspond to what would’ve made them successful hunters: the distance vision and mental focus needed to track and bring home dinner — instead of being eaten by what was supposed to be dinner. Women’s superior peripheral vision and ability to process detail would’ve helped them spot the family’s favorite edible plants in a big tangle of vegetation — while making sure the children weren’t playing in wildebeest traffic.
Culture or training may mitigate the modern man’s natural crud-blindness.”
Happy Pie/Pi/3.14 Day!
HomeTech ApartmentTherapy: Feel the Geeky Love: Happy Pi Day! Today’s date matches the first numbers of the venerable number that never ends: 3.14.
Cool coffee table design (though way more than I would consider paying) 
News: Digital TV Transition Subsidies
To aid in the Digital TV transition, households with at least one TV set will be able to request up to two $40 coupons meant to subsidize the cost of purchasing digital to analog converter boxes. The converters are expected to cost around $50, but make sure you get in line quickly, applications for the first wave of coupons valued up to $990 milion will begin January 1, 2008…..and continue until there is no more money available. Somehow, we think that won’t take long.
- via the New York Times:
U.S. Sets Rules for Digital TV Payments
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
Published: March 13, 2007
The government will offer households as much as $80 each to help convert televisions to receive digital broadcasts under a $1.5 billion program.
Households with one or more TV sets can ask for as many as two $40 coupons as long as the first allotment, of $990 million, is not depleted, according to Commerce Department rules published yesterday. If the initial amount is inadequate, an extra $510 million in coupons may be offered to households without pay-TV service.
The subsidies are intended to help consumers prepare for the end of analog TV broadcasts in February 2009. After that, TVs without digital receivers will not be able to show over-the-air broadcasts.
Sets connected to cable TV and satellite systems will not need converters, the Commerce Department said.
Converters are expected to cost about $50 each, according to Congressional testimony. Households can apply for the coupons starting Jan. 1, 2008, the Commerce Department said. Retailers who want to participate in the program must apply for certification by March 31, 2008.
BlogMail
Mar 7:
Not feeling as miserable as yesterday, but that’s not really saying a ton. I was hoping I’d be up to biking, but I decided to call Meow for a ride. Didn’t get to sleep till midnight and woke up between 3-4 again last night, but I’m not actually terribly tired today. Been doing the ice pack on the head thing to deal with my headache. I might make some more of these to keep at work too.
Anyway, I am feeling somewhat better today. Took the claritin again and my nose isn’t going as crazy as it was. And no tar fumes today, yay!
My dad is coming tomorrow so it’ll be really nice to see him. He’s bringing his old monitor too so I can hook up my old computers and get the data off them.
Mar 8:
Feeling waaaaay better today. Only 15 minutes late. Dad is coming tonight too, so having dinner and getting to spend some time with him is good.
I was already slowly feeling better. Monday & Tuesday were the worst. And between my nasacort, and taking the claritin-d knock off tues & wednesday, and the singulair (for asthma but also can help with allergies) last night, I’d be worried if I didn’t feel better. I’m still stuffed up and my eyes feel weird. Not quite itchy, but not all the way better either. Coughing or sneezing every once in a while. All the outright pain stuff is gone though thankfully.
Plus he gave me a prescription for some over the counter lotion to help with the bumps on my arms that I get into picking at. So I’m taking a two pronged approach to that. Trying to follow my therapist’s advice, but also reducing what usually triggers it to start in the first place physically. Nice of him to prescribe it so maybe insurance covers it, or if not it should at least be able to come out of my HCRA, though I’ll double check first.
Actually getting a lot of work done today. And the upside to the loss of appetite with the allergy attack is I’m finally down to 140! 5lbs to go and I’m back in my normal range and can hopefully fit into all my pants again. Yay! I’m already fitting back into some of them, but I haven’t tried some of the snugger ones yet.
I try the snug ones every 5-10 pounds. I don’t really care if I get back to my old weight as long as I fit into my pants again.
And I actually managed to bike back here and go to dance class last night and bike home, so I got some exercise in.
I’m sooooooooooooooo looking forward to pizza tonight with dad.
I want to go camping though, I haven’t been in ages.
I used to have pizza pockets and stuff ALL the time but between trying to lose weight and eat healthier and dating my pirate I haven’t had a really good pizza in a while.
I just read this thing today on pizza baking:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/03/broiled-pizza.html
Head is all achy, I might go home early if dad gets there soon.
So nice to bike home in the daylight and spend more time with papa.
Touchy Tuesday
No word on the house yet. Had to wear my mules today since I kicked the tub faucet yesterday morning and sliced open my heel. Got my external drive and laptop back thanks to Meow picking them up on his way in. Just gotta reinstall my laptop, find a way of syncing my laptop and external drive and then start recovering my pictures. I grabbed the few I had up on cafepress. Flickr and Shutterfly will take longer since I have a LOT there. A lot of it is overlap, but not all of it. The only recipe I think I might have lost that I want to recover is the pepper cookie one from the Princess.
Some good articles on touch on Psychology Today:
You Can Touch This
A parent or infant’s touch can convey emotion as well as a facial expression or spoken word.
By: Matthew Hutson
“At birth, touch is the most developed sense. But scientists have always thought touch conveys only a general positive or negative affect. According to a paper in the journal Emotion, touch can communicate distinct emotions—about as well as faces or voices. People “expressed” 12 emotions to a stranger who had put his arm through a curtain. Recipients guessed six of the emotions well above chance, scoring between 48 and 83 percent. MC Hammer didn’t know what he was missing.”
Touching News
An interview with Tiffany Field, founder of Touch Research Institutes, explains why healing is all in our hands.
By: Nancy K. Dess
The good bits:
What are some of massage therapy’s important effects?
Babies gain more weight, sleep better and relate better to parents. Their brain waves indicate more alertness, and they learn faster. Kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism also become more attentive. MT alleviates depression, too. It decreases stress hormones and increases serotonin, the body’s own antidepressant. It also improves sleep. That relates, I think, to MT’s alleviation of pain syndromes, such as fibromyalgia and migraine, which seem to be exacerbated by sleep disorders.
MT also alters the immune system. In autoimmune problems such as asthma, lung functions improve and asthma attacks decrease. Immune cell counts improve in people with HIV. In a breast cancer study, natural killer cells are increasing, which is good, because they kill cancer cells. The list goes on.
Any practical advice to offer?
Everybody needs to either get massaged by a therapist or a significant other, or self-massage by doing yoga or using a long-handled shower brush. Being touched in this way is as important as proper diet and exercise, and should be part of one’s regular daily activities.
What happens when people don’t get their share of touch?
Touch deprivation impairs development. Romanian nursery children, for example, were stunted, and MT helped them grow. Interestingly, nonhuman animals that are touch-deprived not only lose weight but become aggressive. In a study of 49 non-industrialized cultures, groups showing physical affection toward children had little adult violence; in groups that were less affectionate to kids, adults were significantly more violent.
Bonobos, an ape closely related to us, live in intimate physical contact with each other—and they’re pacifists.
That’s fascinating. This principle seems to apply generally. In a study, we found that there exists more physical affection toward children and less aggression among adults in France than in the United States. The power of touch in our lives seems rooted in our nature, as individuals and as social beings.