An Appetite For Life

Anybody who has browsed around my blog or read my posts over the years is probably aware I’ve been struggling with weight issues for years (decades).  I am – “health wise” – clinically morbidly obese.  A little while back, I weighed in at 363 lbs and my waist is a size 50″.  Over the last forty years I’ve lost weight and gained it back (plus some) numerous times (including three strict fruit juice and vegetable broth fasts of 30 days).  In the great “yo-yoing” of dieting for life, I’ve been steadily going up and up in weight and down and down in overall health.  I currently have low cholesterol (statin based) but high triglycerides, irregular / non-persistent AFib, and I am taking blood-thinner to prevent strokes.
My mother is currently 88 years old and in very good health – no drugs at all, and still reasonably mobile for her age.  I believe if I am able to get better control of my weight, it will go a long way in getting me to a similar age.  I am currently 60 years old and am planning (hoping) to retire when I am 62- 1/2 years old.  That’s a little over 24 months away! (Yea!!)
Anyway, my wife is constantly worried about my weight and I’ve decided I’ll try to kill two birds with one stone and give her a birthday present.  I’m going to lose 30 pounds by her birthday at the end of October.  That’s right around 1.5 pounds per week, which I believe is very do-able.  So, that’s my goal.  At the moment, that’s my short term goal.  Of course my medium term goal is to keep the weight off until I retire and, hopefully, to use this as a jump-start to go beyond that to really get down to a “manageable” weight.  I don’t really know what that weight is just now, because it’s soooo far away and I really just want to make a start and then see how I get on.
Two weeks ago, I started on a combination juicing / blending diet.  I am currently completing day 14 of no solid foods and I’ve lost between 14-16 pounds.  Recognizing that the human stomach normally carries around 5 to 7 pounds of digesting food, that means I’ve lost about 7 to 10 pounds so far and 3 to 4 inches from my waist.
I am currently walking between 30 and 45 minutes per day and I “plan” to start doing a bit more exercise, but for now, it’s just the walking.  I’m currently drinking two bottles of “juice” (64 oz. each) and one bottle of water (64 oz) each day.  I’ve only had two “bad” days, so far – where I wanted to just drop the program and go gorge myself, so I think that’s pretty good.  Anytime I get hungry, I drink about 8 oz of juice.  I have three types of “juice”.  The first is actual “juiced” vegetables and fruit.  The second type is the pulp fiber from the juicing and some bottled fruit juice and water.  The third is just straight-up bottled smoothie juice from the store.
My “juice” blend is mainly kale, spinach, broccoli, carrots, lemons, onions and an apple or two.  My “pulp” blend is the fiber from the juice plus pineapple juice, apple juice, cherry juice and cranberry juice.  I also throw in whole bananas since they don’t juice well at all.  I also try to add one can of beans (usually kidney beans) to the blend.  This gives me some salt and some protein.  Finally, once a week, I add a bottle of regular “V8”.  This is to change the flavor and (again) to give me a little salt.  The “smoothie” juice is usually the “Naked” brand of juices from Safeway (my local supermarket).  I usually have the “Green Machine”, Mango, “Very Berry” and Strawberry/Banana.  None of the juices or smoothies have added sugar or high fructose corn syrup.  Of course, they all contain their own natural sugar content (about 1200 calories per bottle).
One observation about including the “V8”.  I’ve only done it once during these two weeks because I found the blend with it increased my water retention.  This tells me, there’s “probably” too much salt in the bottle –  for me, at this time.  I don’t use the “low sodium” version, because it frankly tastes foul.  But that’s just me…
As I said earlier, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep the juicing going.  For the time being, I’m dropping weight and not hungry so the only “problem” is I miss chewing and I miss the company of mealtime.  I don’t have the will-power to sit in the kitchen while the family eats, so I take my juice to my room and jump on the computer.  Obviously, this is not a sustainable lifestyle, but it seems to be working for my short-term goal.
Medium term, when I do stop the juicing, I’ll be starting back eating slowly and work to change my carnivore habits.  Ultimately, keeping the weight off will mean a sustained exercise program and more “healthy and raw” fruit and vegetables in my future.
Wish me luck and keep me in your thoughts and prayers!
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On This Day In:
2022	What Really Matters
	Lots Of Fog
2021	Families
	Every Now And Then (Total Eclipse Of The Heart)
2020	A Message To Optional Trump Supporters (Basically Everyone)
2019	Bigger Jaws
	On The Other
2018	Hoping For A Blue Wave In November
2017	Garden Dreaming
2016	Well, Maybe Not “No” Talent
2015	An Appetite For Life
	A Trip To The Library
	Great Expectations
2014	Pass The Soul
2013	Zapping Music And Art
2012	Not Quite Fantastic
	That Kid Is Back
2011	Wolves At The Door
2010	I’m Feeling Patriotic… (Well, more than usual, anyway.)
	Beating the Heat…

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A Trip To The Library

“The Journey To The East”  —  book review
Today’s book review is for a book I finished last Saturday (July 11th), but never got around to posting about.  The book is:  “The Journey To The East” (1956©), written by Hermann Hesse.  The book is supposedly autobiographically written by an un-named character “H. H.”, but as Hesse has written other books with main characters who share his initials, the intent seems to be to not make this novel personally semi-autobiographical.  “H. H.” is a member of a secret “League” which exists to assist its members in understanding life (via shared personal experiences) and in advancing civilization (via the creation of a vast library containing all of human knowledge).
The group on the journey with H. H. fails to reach their destination and the individual members lose faith in the League, with each other, and with themselves.  The author (H. H.), spends a good part of the rest of his life living as a “failure” and then decides to make himself whole by writing a book about the journey.  The problem is he can’t remember the specific details of his trip.  He seeks out a friend who’s advise is the find one of the other participants from his trip (Leo the servant) and to seek his (Leo’s) recollections.  Leo is not receptive at first and then he lets H. H. have access to the League’s library – which contains the sum of human knowledge, including entries about every single person (living or dead).
The journey to the East seems to be a metaphor for growing up, or more precisely, for going on a vision quest to seek the meaning of life.  The trip to the “East” is a trip to discover yourself and the realization from that discovery (for H. H.) is that the meaning of life is service to others.  Thus, “East” is not a direction of travel.  It is a destination.  Your “home”.
The novel is very short (120 pages) and can be read in a couple of hours.  It is a simple narrative told by the principal and is done in very straight forward language – so it’s easy to read.  I found the book interesting for a number of reasons.  The two main ones were (are): 1)  the book created a reinforcing memory of a scene in the movie “Interstellar” where the main character is in a four dimensional representation of a library (actually behind a bookshelf in a bedroom); and, 2)  because there are a lot of pseudo-Christian messages sprinkled throughout the book.  The meaning of life being service to others is just one of many such messages.
So, final recommendation:  Strong recommendation.  The book is short, easy to read and promotes thought for the reader about what is the purpose of life.  It worked for me…
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On This Day In:
2022	What Really Matters
	Lots Of Fog
2021	Families
	Every Now And Then (Total Eclipse Of The Heart)
2020	A Message To Optional Trump Supporters (Basically Everyone)
2019	Bigger Jaws
	On The Other
2018	Hoping For A Blue Wave In November
2017	Garden Dreaming
2016	Well, Maybe Not “No” Talent
2015	An Appetite For Life
	A Trip To The Library
	Great Expectations
2014	Pass The Soul
2013	Zapping Music And Art
2012	Not Quite Fantastic
	That Kid Is Back
2011	Wolves At The Door
2010	I’m Feeling Patriotic… (Well, more than usual, anyway.)
	Beating the Heat…

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Great Expectations

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
―    Thomas Jefferson
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On This Day In:
2022	What Really Matters
	Lots Of Fog
2021	Families
	Every Now And Then (Total Eclipse Of The Heart)
2020	A Message To Optional Trump Supporters (Basically Everyone)
2019	Bigger Jaws
	On The Other
2018	Hoping For A Blue Wave In November
2017	Garden Dreaming
2016	Well, Maybe Not “No” Talent
2015	An Appetite For Life
	A Trip To The Library
	Great Expectations
2014	Pass The Soul
2013	Zapping Music And Art
2012	Not Quite Fantastic
	That Kid Is Back
2011	Wolves At The Door
2010	I’m Feeling Patriotic… (Well, more than usual, anyway.)
	Beating the Heat…

Read Full Post »