This month's meeting, after rambling

I have been reading other's blogs, and not writing too much coherent stuff on mine.
I have been moving into a new area in my mindset, and that involves more activity and less idle time.
Next week, I finish driving my school bus.
Over the summer...

• I will finish cleaning out my basement. This includes numerous trips up the stairs with "stuff". Big, little, round, square, and odd shaped "stuff".
• I will re-box everything down there and store them on the shelves, rather than have them all over the floor.
• I will string up a clothes line of sorts so we can go back to hanging wet clothes instead of using the dryer. Lord Obama doesn't like us to be comfortable.
• I will buy a 5 gallon bucket of white paint and distribute it on all of the walls down there in order to brighten it up a bit. The last time it had a fresh coat of paint was probably the mid 80's.
• I also have one bedroom, the kitchen, and bathroom to paint, but I may not do that until the fall.
• I plan to walk the rail trail as much as I can, as well as ride my bike there too. I may try my hand (feet?) at jogging too.
• I want to kayak, and may be able to rent one to go to the river. I will try hard not to drown.
• I am going to Hershey Park. I really wanted to buy a season pass so I could go there once a week, But Lord Obama said "we need more of your money so we can pay off the rich bankers", so I won't be doing that.
• I am going to take at least one long ride on my Helix. I want to go back to my home town and just spend the day riding around. Levittown is a fun place to ride.
  

I do need a new computer. This one has numbers missing. It is slower than I'd like it to be, and it still has windows on it.
I would like to get another computer and use this one for experimenting with Ubuntu. I would also like to get a DJ music dedicated Apple laptop, but I will be broke long before that happens.
So, I get up early, and work late, and feel good.
I went to the meeting for the support group Thursday night and it was very informative.
They had a plastic surgeon explaining all the gory details to body contouring with the knife.
I have to admit that I don't like the bat wings forming under my arms, or the extra left over stretched out skin on my belly, but I have real reservations about getting it all cut off. I may change my mind, but right now, I am not going to consider it.
It seems they have made progress with the surgery, but they still leave scars.
I believe they will soon figure out how to do it without scars. After all, my gastric bypass didn't leave anything except for a few red spots, and they look just fine.
There is also the matter of cost. No insurance here, unless the extra skin is life threatening. I can't blame them for not paying.
A lot of the stuff they do can now be done outpatient. That's good.
I think I will live with my reminders, so I don't ever think about gaining weight ever again.
Next month's meeting will be held in the Doctor's new facility, which is supposed to have a real workout room, along with a large area for meetings. I look forward to it since it is only about 4 miles from my house and doesn't involve driving into the city. Did I tell you I hate cities?

Sugar, Salt, and other things that cause global warming!

First off, there ain't no such thing as man made global warming. Get over it!
Algore is in it for the money, power and fame. Nothing more, nothing less.
That being said, let's talk about stuff you add to your food, and other stuff to make you healthy.

Sugar:
Why is sugar fattening?
I can't give you the scientific explanation, but I can give you the general idea. Feel free to investigate for yourself.
Here it is: Your body simplifies everything you eat into sugar. Everything eventually breaks down into sugar in your body. What doesn't break down gets passed through or stored.
Protein is the hardest thing for the body to break down into sugar. The body takes longer to get rid of it. Your stomach stays fuller longer with protein in it.
There are other reasons too. Since the body doesn't use all of the protein, some is converted to fat, and the rest is passed through.
Fat is next. Fats take a long time to break down, but not as long as carbs listed below. Fat is what you store in your body for later. In the caveman days, we didn't eat very regularly, so our body learned to store energy in the form of fat, for when we had a long break between meals.
Carbohydrates are the next thing the body can process. Carbs take less time to be converted to sugar, so if your body is sedentary and you take in lots of carbs, your body will store them as fat faster than if you take in protein.
Sugar is a simple carb, whereas, pasta is more complex. So, sugar burns quickly, causing the body to be satisfied, and not be so inclined to burn the fat stores.
So, the goal in losing weight should be to burn off the fat stores (not all of them, of course), and still maintain muscle tone so we don't end up as a big blob of loose skin and no muscle.
Sugar is not bad, it just keeps us from burning off the fat stores.

If you can eliminate sugar from your diet, you will lose weight. Sugar makes bad things taste good. So, you need to find a sugar substitute that won't kill you, or add any calories to your diet.
Sweet and Low is my favorite because it causes cancer in rats. Get over it!
Aspartame is good too, but some people have problems with it. I don't know why, but someday, the scientists will figure it out and tell you about it.

So, these sweeteners taste funny if your taste buds are used to large amounts of sugar. I had that problem. So, how do you get rid of that taste?
You eliminate sugar completely from your diet for at least 2 weeks. You have to plan this because sugar is in processed foods, even when you don't think it's there. You have to read labels, or, eat fresh for at least two weeks.
If you can do this, pretty soon, you won't be able to tell that you are using an artificial sweetener. They don't taste funny anymore. Honest!

Now, there is one kind of sugar that is OK to eat, as long as you eat it at the end of your meal, after taking in proteins, and carbs. That is the kind of "binding" sugar found in fruit. Fresh fruit, not the fruit cocktail stuff you buy in cans.
Binding sugar binds to other things in your food, and does whatever, but doesn't mess with your blood sugar as much. Now, if you eat nothing but fruit, you will overdo it and defeat your purpose.

Why is salt bad?
It's not, in small amounts. The problem is, we add tons of salt through processed foods. Places where they don't use sugar, they use salt. Read the labels!
They use cheaper grade of meat, fish, pork, chicken, fruits, veggies, etc. They want the food to last for months or years in a box, until you are ready to eat them. Salt and sugar add flavor that isn't there normally. It is addictive.
Salt in large amounts causes us to retain water, and thus weigh more. It raises our blood pressure, making the heart to work harder.
We need salt to live, but only so much of it, not too much.
Adding salt? I don't add salt, but since I have lost weight, and stopped taking my other meds, I don't think about it. My food tastes better because I am cooking my own fresh food more. I am not adding salt or sugar to my chili. Don't need it.
There is sugar in some of the canned beans I use, but I pour out the liquid before I add it to my mix, so it's not too bad.

A simple diet that works.

• Eat proteins first at every meal.
• Eat Complex carbs next
• Eat fruit last
• Add fiber to your diet
  
• Eliminate simple sugar
• Don't add Salt

Last but not least, fiber!
Fiber is found in vegetables, cereal, wheat, oats, and many other places you wouldn't believe. The more fiber you can eat, the happier you will be. Of course, that is within limits.
Too much fiber gives you gas. Not enough, and you get constipated. Find the right balance, and you will be happy for life. Fiber makes you feel good.
I lost weight just by increasing my fiber intake.
As a Bariatric patient, and a celiac, it's really hard for me to get enough fiber. I crave fiber one cereal. I miss it so much. I used to add wheat germ to my foods to increase the fiber. It bulks up the stool, making it much easier to poop.
Now, I add fiber from various OTC supplements. It doesn't do the same thing, but it does help. Metamucil is good, except that it bulks up too quickly in the glass, making it tough for me to drink. I am only allowed to sip my drinks, so I can't get it into my stomach before it starts to work. I am going to try smaller amounts soon to see if I can tolerate it. I'll let you know.
I now use Unifiber, which doesn't have any taste and doesn't swell up. I can add it to anything I eat, hot or cold. I usually add it to my protein drink, as well as my oatmeal. I don't even know it's there, but I get my fiber allowance. But, since it doesn't bulk up, it doesn't do the same thing, and I get constipated a lot. No fun.
Fiber is the stuff that the body can't process, so it passes it through. While fiber is on it's journey, it absorbs liquid, and that liquid has impurities that the body is also trying to get rid of. So, the fiber helps the body to eliminate more waste and regulate the amount of liquid. The fiber tends to swell, stretching the intestine as it goes. This exercise helps the intestine to release anything that is stuck along the way. It keeps it clean.
Fiber has been proven to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. I have no idea why.
So, feel free to question my theories, or add to them, but I know one thing:

When you use these ideas, you lose weight!