Hi all,

Last night I got one of the best kinds of messages, IMO, from my BF while working out at the gym: "I went fishing today. Call me and tell me what you want for dinner, triggerfish, flounder, or sea bass." YUM!!! They were small fillets, so we had some of all of them!

As some of you may recall I've had problems w/ my roommates sometimes making a lot of noise late at night, and being inconsiderate, but it's difficult to find affordable housing where I am. I've finally found a house that is nice, meets my needs, and I can afford! I move in the middle of September. I'm so excited!!! Peace and quiet, and all my own fridge, freezer, and pantry space for "my" foods!

Jessica, Allison, what you're supposed to do when no one sees what happened is make up a really fun story, e.g. "well I was wrestling with a gator..." or "I was trying to reel in a shark..." lol. I hear them all the time! Sorry you fell though!

Freda, weird, Sutafed does that to me, but Benadryl sucks the life out of me and makes me sleep like the dead. Funny how different body chemistries work.

Allison, that is sweet to hide the cookbook for your DD. Yes, I did get the recipe, thanks! Once I can get some spicy red peppers again (I've been mixing spicy & sweet red peppers) I'm going to experiment with a few more recipe combinations. I made 2 recipes that turned out well, but are not perfect in my mind. I can't decide if there aren't red peppers at the store b/c I'm in such a rural place, or b/c of the bacteria outbreak pepper/tomato thing.

Ok, I'm still thinking about my new house. Hurray!

Megan-- congrats on the house! I'm sure you will be so much happier living alone!

Allison-- I don't buy into what the book is saying. How do you explain the Asian culture which depends heavily on rice? Very few people in Asia are obese! Many get obese when they come here and start eating our high fat/ high calorie foods though!

Michelle~I agree. What culture does NOT have some sort of bread or grain as a staple in it's diet? I can't think of one.

I am experiencing numbness in my face, mainly my chin. I get a tingly sensation when I touch it somewhat like the sensation that you get after a novocaine shot. I looked on the internet for ideas on what this could be and found many things such as stroke, Bell's Palsy or MS. Anyone experience anything like this? I have made an appointment with my doctor to see what is going on.

Bargoo~I can't say that I know what could be the problem, but I hope you are able to get to the doctor to see what it is. Scary. I hope you're okay. Good luck.

bargoo, in addition to the stuff you listed, you might consider migraine. My sister had similar symptoms with no accompanying headache, and it took forever to get diagnosed, eliminating stroke, MS, etc etc. Not all migraines create headaches apparently.

Hope it goes away!

Anne

Happy Friday all,

Bargoo, when is your doctor's appointment? Please keep up posted and let us know what the doctor says. I'm keeping my for you.

Michelle, Allison, I agree - grains are not the root of all evil! I think the world would be better off eating whole grains in moderation, but I don't think they're at the root of the obesity epidemic. But Allison, I do hope you find a healthful, satisfying new way of eating that will help you get rid of these few pounds you've been frustrated with.

Tonight I've invited some friends over and am making slightly more healthful versions of Chinese food, and watching the opening ceremonies. I always like to watch the Olympics. It should be fun. I think the pre-season college athlete crowd just left my gym, now I'll see if there's an "Olympic surge". Tomorrow I'm going scuba diving! I love all this diving I'm doing. Anyone else have fun plans for the weekend?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Megan,
I am green with envy over your scuba diving. It is top on my list of things I want to learn to do. How long have you been doing it?
I have snorkeled many times and want to scuba. Have you been anywhere exciting to scuba? I'm sure Florida itself is great!

Allison - I agree as well, cutting out all grains entirely seems pretty ridiculous. Grains and/or starches are considered staple foods in every traditional culture I'm aware of (but I'm no anthropologist!). Obviously there is rice in Asia, wheat in Europe, corn in the Americas . . . Sweet potatoes are a staple in some parts of Africa, and when I watch "Tribal Life" on the travel channel (which follows an indiginous tribe in Vanuatu) they also use some form of yam as a staple (although I don't think I've seen them use any grains).

If we are supposed to go back to our hunting and gathering roots, then fruit should definitely not be off-limits! Fruit is the easiest thing to gather usually. I'm pretty sure all of the great apes eat fruit. Besides, hunter-gatherers don't eat nearly as much meat as Americans today do. If we had to actually hunt for our food we probably wouldn't catch enough to feed our families meat at every meal.

I'm all for diets that encourage eating whole grains instead of refined ones, or modifying your ratios so that you eat more protein and less grains, but cutting them out entirely seems crazy.

...Then again I usually end up eating 70% of my calories from carbs, so I am obviously a carb advocate.

I have had migraines for many years and don't believe this is related. I am hoping my doctor will be able to figure it out. I will let you know. Thanks everyone for your concern.

Ugh. I need crowns on two of my teeth in my lower jaw and they did the prep work today. I forgot how much this type of dental works ! I am not happy right now. At least the Novocaine is wearing off and I can finally feel my bottom lip and chin, that that means I can also feel my jaw and gums aching. And I don't think they got the temporary crowns fitted correctly; I may have to go back on Monday to see if they can fix them. I also may be wishing I had planned on something soft, or, heck, maybe even liquid, for dinner. The bright spot is that between the procedure itself and waiting for the Novocaine to wear off, I couldn't eat for several hours, so my calories are going to come in under plan today (and I should be able to eat on the left side of my jaw again without worrying about sudden sharp pains).

On the topic of low carb diets, I just recently received an article from the National Weight Control Registry. The have about 4,000 people in the registry that have, on average, lost more than 65 lbs and maintained that loss for 5.5 years. Less than 1% follow a low carb diet (which the registry defines as less than 24% carbs). On average, registrants eat 24% of calories from fat, 56% from carbs, and 15% from protein. Of course, I am with paperclippy in terms of carb advocacy (about 50% of my calories are from carbs), so I'm definitely biased.

Megan: Congrats on the house! That's is so awesome for you. You are going to love living on your own; I know I loved it when I finally got my own place after living with roommates for years. It's so nice not to have to deal with anyone else's mess, noise, and annoying habits.

Bargoo: I hope your dr figures out the thing with your chin and I hope it turns out to be nothing serious.

Hello to everyone else ; I'd respond to you all individually but this tooth thing has zapped my energy and I still have work to do before I can rest, so I'd better get back to it.

Hi everyone, it's midnight here and I'm just now finding time to post. I had a great workout today. Then this afternoon I got my 3 grandson's for the night. (they are now ages 4, 2 and 1). OMG, I just thought the gym workout was hard. These 3 little boys have run me ragged. Kudos to all you young moms that do this everyday! So, the baby went to sleep about 7PM and I fully expect now that I got the other 2 finally to sleep that he will wake up again. Throw the 2 big Lab's, the new skittish kitty and the 2 bunny rabbits into the mix and my house has definitely been a 3 ring circus tonite. LOL.

My son was finally able to call home yesterday. We talked for an hour and it was so great to hear his voice. I can't wait til next month when he gets to come home for a visit. He did tell me that he definitely plans to re-enlist in December while he is still in Iraq. Of course, I tried to talk him out of that idea, but it's a no-go for me.

I'm gonna sneak quietly to bed and see if I can get a little sleep before any of the kiddos wake up.

Hi Lily, I know what you mean about the kids. I can't believe we ever raised 10. Now the grandkids just drain me. Good to have them when you are young.

Woohoo, they all 3 slept a total of 1 hr. 10 min's at the same time last night. I'm exhausted. After they leave today at 3PM bets are I'll skip the gym and take a nap!

carol, yes, I'm too old for this now. But then again my kids were spaced 6 yrs. apart and I didn't have this problem with No Sleep.

Hi all, finally getting some much needed rain, along with lots of thunder and lightening! Should put lots of nutrients in the lawn. God some sad news today. Husbands brother died last night. It wasn't a big surprise, he had been in hospice for awhile. But no matter how prepared you think you are, it's still a shock.

Megan, i'm thrilled for you for finding a house by yourself! No one to tell you how to decorate, your own refrigerator!! And the noise you hear will be yours.

Bargoo, Upsetting symptoms. Hope it turns out to be nothing!

Barb, I hate dentists too, but they are a necessary evil! Hope you're feeling better.

Lilly, I know you were happy to talk to your son! Too bad we can't "make" them do things like we did when they were little!! The night with the little ones made me smile. That is why the young have children, and us older ladies just keep them awhile. Although you hear of more and more grandparents raising their grandchildren. I really give them a lot of credit!

Everone, make it a good day, Freda