Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. --Princess Diana Today my grandmother would have been 110 years old. She passed away in 1987 at 86, and I still miss her, but she will always remain in my heart. Whenever I do or say anything that is slightly off-the-wall, I can still hear her voice in my head, chiding me. Her favorite saying, "Never forget where you came from, and never forget your people." She lived in fascinating times of rapid technological advances--"horseless" carriages, flight, radio, TV, computers--and almost lived long enough to see the advent of the internet as a mass medium. I often wonder what she would have thought about it. I suspect, "Not much." So, Happy Birthday, Mo , where ever you may be! I'm definitely on the mend; I have ditched the Tylenol completely with very minimal pain. Fortunately, I have been able to remain physically activ

I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime. --Elisabeth Kubler-Ross When I'm eating at home, making healthy choices is fairly easy, given that we stock our fridge and cupboards with good foods and tasty treats that don't sabotage our daily diet (and forever) diet. However, eating out does pose special problems. How foods are prepared can be unknown, so it's important to make the best possible choices while still enjoying the dining out experience. Yesterday, we were on our way home from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and, starving, we needed to stop for dinner. Jerry, my husband, wanted to go to a Chinese buffet, but I was too hungry to avoid the myriad temptations that all-you-can-eat Chinese food offers, so I begged off. He really wanted to go, but respected my wishes (Thank you, sweetie! I owe you one!), and we went to Cracker Barrel instead. I'm not over

Every citizen who stops smoking, or loses a few pounds, or starts managing his chronic disease with real diligence, is caulking a crack for the benefit of us all. --Mitch Daniels Today, we had our meeting (PCEA), went to Steamtown (Scranton), went to an antique mall in Frackville, ate at Cracker Barrel, and visited Hollywood Casino, all on the way home. We came out about $4.00 ahead; Jerry is very good at keeping gambling in check and has a system that keeps us from losing too much (Play $5.00 at a time and pull the winnings, even if it's only 50 cents, and insert another $5.00, that is, until your predetermined stake is gone. Then keep all winnings.). If it were up to me, we'd be in the poor house. The same impulses that seem to rule my eating also makes me stupid when it comes to gambling. Fortunately, I'm smart enough to realize that Jerry's system is good for our bottom line. :=) It was busy there, WAYYYY too busy and horribly smoky. I wish that these casinos would

Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant. --Mitchell Kapor I am on my way to Scranton (PA) for a meeting, so I have no real thoughts for today. My smart phone is really quite useless because the screen is too small for my old eyes, so I rarely surf on it. My next device will be an ipad. NOTE: I always post my away messages after I return; I would hate for my mailbox place to get robbed because I was away. LOL See you later!

Journeys Nicole’s latest letter arrives just a few days before Sheldon and I leave for Sioux City. How does she expect me to answer? I just don’t understand her, this brown-eyed child of mine, this child who has demanded her independence from day one. From a distance, you see this lovely 20-year-old girl, with long black hair, long legs, slim body. When she sashays into a room, she makes an entrance. Heads turn. Men drool. Women round up their men and cling to them. You wonder how she slides through life so effortlessly. But when you meet her up close, you notice that her eyes are glazed, her hair not quite clean, her teeth gray, her skin bad, her mind dulled from years of drug and alcohol abuse. Not the willful child who struggled out of my body. Read more here .

Storytelling and copulation are the two chief forms of amusement in the South. They're inexpensive and easy to procure. --Robert Penn Warren It's just a hot, hazy summer day, and I have nothing special to say. Maybe it's enough just being. For a snack, I ate 1/4 of a watermelon. Okay, it was a small watermelon, but I may be taking that "free fruit" (0 points) a bit too literally. But, wow, was it ever good, worth every bite. If I gain weight on watermelon, then I'm really messed up. I woke up earlier than usual, which means I got hungry earlier. My compression fracture seems to be healing now, and I'm getting better sleep now. I'm really lucky that my injury was fairly minor. For the past two weeks, my hot water bottle has been my best friend. Jerry and I have been going for evening walks around the neighborhood, which has been nice. No distractions, so we talk more. I have also been walking on my treadmill, slowly building back up. Now at 3.5 mph and

When I try to get work in the US all they say is that I need to lose weight--but I bet they never said that to Mae West. --Charlotte Church When Consumer Reports rated the best diet programs, the editors rated Jenny Craig the top program, basing their findings on a study funded, in part, by no other than Jenny Craig. Consumer Reports made a lame attempt to use this small study (in which the participants were given, for two years of free Jenny Craig food and waived program fees) to prove that, overall, Jenny Craig members kept the weight off the longest. Well, duh... But now I would like to cut through the BS and see how well Jenny Craig (and, eventually, other programs) really works in the weight maintenance department. We all know that weight loss programs, even dangerous ones (which Jenny Craig is not), work for taking weight off. For example, I could go on a fasting diet for a week and lose a significant amount of weight, although it's not likely I'll keep the

I eat morons like you for breakfast. You're gonna be crying before this is over. -- Judge Judy I have the world's strangest dreams. What's more, after I scratch my head and say, "What the hey?" I often find important messages within them. You see, I believe that our dreams are simply extensions of our daytime thought processes and just tumble out in our subconscious minds as these strange scenarios and allegories, seemingly apropos of nothing. The other night, my dream involved Judge Judy. Now, I don't watch Judge Judy; she's a bit too mean for my taste, often not giving her defendants and plaintiffs much benefit of the doubt. It seems as though she has already pre-decided her rulings based on the case files, not the people before her. I squirm when she browbeats people in her courtroom; I watch TV or movies to be entertained and/or informed, not to watch other people being demeaned, even the obvious lowlifes. Yet Judge Judy was the star o

Harley D. Semple, circa 1972 ______________________________ My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. --Jim Valvano Harley D. Semple, my grandfather Dee-Dee, was a very special man. Not only did he and my grandmother Mo raise me, but they did so at a time in their lives when they should have been retired and free of child rearing. Taking me in must have been a huge sacrifice, but I never got the sense that I was a bother. Still, I was always a bit at odds with Mo because, even as a child, I had a suspicion that she was the one who made the final decision to leave Robin, my baby sister, with my stepfather’s family. In our family, Dee-Dee never made those kinds of decisions, but, in my heart, I know he would have been more than okay with having Robin around. Indeed, Mo, in her last years, admitted that leaving my sister behind had been one of her greatest regrets. My relationship with Mo and Dee-Dee was complicated; as I grew into my teen y

A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money. --John Ruskin Tomorrow is Father's Day. Be sure to honor your dad; it doesn't have to be anything major. Just spend some time with him--take him to dinner, movie, or sports event. What you choose does not have to be expensive; Dad just wants to spend some time with you. Also, if you have a special step dad, don't forget him. At least send him him a card and give him a call. But if you are close to both Dad and Step dad, you can honor both dads. Have a good one!

Hunger is insolent, and will be fed. --Homer How can you tell the difference between "mouth" hunger and body hunger? Sometimes it's difficult to tell, especially if one has been overeating for years: all hunger seems the same. However, you can train your body to differentiate between the two types of hunger. The first place to start is the Hunger and Fullness chart. Note that mouth hunger is not based on the need for body fuel, but a yearning for specific foods and/or food groups, usually fat and carbohydrates. Body hunger is based on a need for fuel. Read more here.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it. --Thomas Jefferson Sorry to disappoint, but this post has nothing to do with anything racy, unless you consider eating a racy topic. Harvey Rapp, in our interview last week, said something interesting about taste: that for him the first bite of a meal is always extremely enjoyable but then becomes less so with each subsequent bite. The pleasure principle at work. Enjoying our meals makes perfect evolutionary sense; if we suddenly hated eating (like we hate getting shots, even though they are usually good for us), we would avoid eating whenever possible, and our species would die out, for we would happily starve ourselves to death. It seems that naturally thin people have a near-perfect equilibrium with their hunger/satiety cues, and they think nothing about it. Lucky them. For the rest of us, something has gone haywire in the way we interact with food; for some of us, it may be genetic (e

Winston Churchill, 1874-1965 ___________________________________ A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. --Winston Churchill Have you ever had a day when thoughts seem to flow like an oozing sludge? Today is such a day--it must be the back thing caused by the treadmill mishap: I have a compression fracture of the L1, so I'm a bit concerned about that. Tomorrow I'm going to the spine specialist, so that I can get a treatment plan and put the injury out of my mind. Meanwhile, I keep going back to the H.G. Wells quote: "Advertising is legalized lying." Seems especially timely right now: my husband Jerry is shopping around for tires, and the various ads appear to be offering some good deals. However, when he inquires about the so-called deals, suddenly the fees begin piling on: taxes, recycling fee, disposal fee, installation fee, balancing the tires fee, breathing fee--well, almost. Jerry is normally a patient person, but

Funky, Cool Fish Statue, Skopje, Macedonia, Located near the center and along my walking path _________________________ All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. --Friedrich Nietzsche Could YOU walk a 5k TODAY? Yes, you could! Just for today, decide to walk a 5k. Don't worry about tomorrow, for you should decide what you do tomorrow, tomorrow. No matter where you are right now or how old you are, if you have legs and are able to walk at all, you can walk a 5k (3.1 miles) today . HOW you do it does not matter; you can break up your 5k in small increments, even 10-15 minute sessions throughout the day: at work, at the grocery store, and at home. You don't need any special equipment, just a pair of comfortable shoes and a bottle of water (to keep yourself hydrated). You don't need to walk fast; you just need to move. In fact, for the long haul, slow as she goes is more sustainable. Our bodies were built for walking, and when we don't do it re

Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. --Tony Robbins We are not likely to find the best answers unless we ask the right questions. Yesterday, my first interview with a naturally thin person (Harvey Rapp) was a real eye opener; I literally stumbled upon, by accident, some interesting facts about slim people. Serendipity. Of course, an interview with one person does not prove anything definitive, but this particular interview revealed some of the "secret" questions I should be adding to my questionnaire. Without my having asked--because I was unaware of the right questions--Harvey offered some stunning insights. To find out, you'll have to read the interview . We have two groups of people: those who struggle with weight and food issues and those who don't. And there is often a lack of understanding between the two groups, which can cause conflict. For example, I can't tell you how often I have heard these

Harvey Rapp (right), posing with former Baltimore Oriole Boog Powell (left) at Camden Yards ______________________________ In Harvey Rapp's world, no hand goes unshaken. --The Webmaster To be social is to be forgiving. --Robert Frost For all of us who struggle with weight and eating issues, here's the burning question: How do slim people remain slim all their lives? In a series of interviews with both naturally slim and "thin-by-design" people (who have remained slim for two or more years after shedding their excess weight), I hope to unlock the secrets to a successful weight maintenance protocol. My first interviewee: Harvey Rapp, of Columbia, Maryland. Dr. Rapp, 65+, a psychologist in private practice, has been slim his entire life and has never had to diet. Before setting up his private practice in 1980, he taught for 10 years at Loyola University as an adjunct associate professor. The decision to give up tenure for self-employment was difficult

If men liked shopping, they'd call it research. --Cynthia Nelms On Saturday (yesterday), I had a wonderful outing with Amy Golightly, my son's (Eric Brown) girlfriend. Better to do something than sit around home, thinking about how much I hurt and what a bummer that we couldn't go to the Merkel picnic in Willow Grove, PA, two hours away. I really wanted to go. My injury is odd in that it's more comfortable to walk around than to sit for long periods of time. Slow walk in mall and stores = no problem. CAREFUL walk on the treadmill = no problem. Sitting on my posterior = PAIN!!! Bending over = PAIN!!! Laying flat = Depends on position. It was neat going out with Amy and just chatting about, well, you know, girl stuff. Jerry joined us for lunch, but we decided that the rest of the day would be just the girls and sent him home. We headed for T.J. Maxx and Home Goods, places I have visited but not often. I bought a heart-shaped onyx heart, two tops, bath salts, and an ergono

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear. --Martin Luther King, Jr. For two days, I have been eyeballing that stupid treadmill, not wanting to have anything to do with it. But the truth of the matter: the treadmill accident was entirely my fault because I did not offer due respect to a powerful machine with a surface that was moving at 3.9 mph. It might seem counter intuitive, but my doctor said I should move around and not sit or lie still for too long because my injured muscles might spasm. So with my husband close by, I climbed back on the treadmill, albeit at a lower level of intensity: No elevation and 3.2 mph. Given that I'm in overall good shape, this was doable and I didn't overtax my body or exacerbate my injury. I made sure treadmill was OFF before getting on, and I stood on the rails before starting it up. So that others may learn from my mistake (or be reminded once again), here are some basic treadmill safety tips. --ALWAYS appr

Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. --George Herbert What a strange power there is in clothing. --Isaac Bashevis Singer On Wednesday, Dr. Oz featured Susan and Pete, a couple who started Weight Watchers three months ago. So far, they have done very well, lowering their weight (Susan, 18 pounds lost; Pete, 33 pounds), BMI (she, from 29 to 26; he from 35 to 29), and body fat (she, from 41% to 37%; he, 33% to 28%). Kudos to them! The truth of the matter: all diets work very well at taking the weight off. However, what I would like to see: follow-up shows on Susan and Pete, a year and two years from now, to see how well these Weight Watchers members have maintained their weight and healthy lifestyles. You see, I am convinced that this is the missing element from all commercial diet programs, and I'm trying to unde

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? --Albert Einstein Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals. --David Ogilvy The critics are finally discovering what I posted about last month about Consumer Reports' ranking of diet programs . Meanwhile, the media machine has already spread the "best" program "news" like a virus. The Google search term "Jenny Craig Best Program" (with quotes) has returned (as of June 7) about 47,000 results. Very few "critical" entries of the Consumer Reports diet program rankings. No exact results for the terms "critics of diet ratings" or "critics of diet rating." Nothing for "critics of Jenny Craig diet rating." Zip for "critics of Consumer Reports diet rating" and zero for "critics of Consumer Reports diet ratings." But buried within the rah, rah po