Fifth Belt Hole

Not too much to write about lately.  I'm still loosing weight, hit the fifth belt hole today.  If I loose any more weight I'll have to break out the leather punch and make a new hole.

My swelling glands may be a carb thing rather than a wheat thing.  I'd not been able to trigger the reaction with potatoes, but maybe I just don't like potatoes enough to eat too much of them.  Last Saturday I had a half a slice of cake, and a couple pieces of quiche, and a grain free supper, Sunday I had grain free breakfast and grain free lunch, but I ate a half a bag of dates and a couple bottles of juice and got my glands swollen up that afternoon.  It could have been the cake the day before, but it seems like not that much...  I'll have to continue being observant on the matter.

The excess of fruit was to fight fatigue on a long drive.  My posture and my ability to stretch while sitting are improving, making long drives more comfortable, but I had issues with low blood sugar making me sleepy.  Not sure if this is specific to long drives, or related to the exhausting week prior and the party with cake at the destination.

Deviant Thinking and Innovation

The low-carb, high fat diet debate and deviant thinking

Deviate: to depart from an established course or norm

The word deviant usually has the connotation of someone who doesn't fit in, who rubs all the conformists the wrong way and has strayed from the golden path.  But all creativity is deviation as well.  All innovation is deviation.  All invention is deviation.  Deviation can be undesirable when unproductive, but it is downright necessary to keep our society from becoming stagnant.

Some people don't like my health plan because it's not mainstream.  It goes against what they were taught all along, and people don't like hearing that what they know is wrong.  But really, I'm taking all the risk for you, trying out deviant ideas, allowing for the possibility of innovation and progress, while you sit back and keep on doing what you think will work for you.  If what you're doing is not working for you, then maybe you need to think a bit harder about becoming a deviant yourself.

Still Packing, and Going Strong

When folks hear that I own my city home free and clear and can take my time packing, they comment on how nice that is, but I now wish I'd done more pre-packing and had a deadline so I could be done already.  :)  We probably have about 2/3 of our worldly goods over at the city house now, but as any software developer knows, 90% of the effort usually goes into the last 10% of the details.  There's the desks, the file cabinets, the kitchen, and the cleaning...  Then we've got to try to sell the place.

The winds up on the ridge have been pretty impressive on colder days.  I wore two hats some days, and fleece was definitely better than knitted articles for cutting wind.  I'll have to do more felting and get a full set of matching wind resistant winter gear together by next year.  Things are more reasonable this week, the temps are up into the 20s and the wind is mild.  We got a lot done this weekend.

But the amazing thing is that on my day or rest, I'm not taking any pain meds, I'm not taking any muscle relaxants, and I'm not trying to sleep off the pain.  I have a little stiffness in my right shoulder, but frequent range of motion exercise and massage seems to keep it in check and keep me working.  Hallelujah!

I'll probably cheat a bit on this day of rest, the poor fishie is in his "trailer home" and could use the better climate control system in his full sized tank, and the shrimp also would rather be in the tank with more surface area for oxygen exchange.

Gluten Free Arthritis Treatment

Here's a nice article about a boy with juvinile idopathic arthritis who was treated with a gluten free diet, probiotics, and Chinese herbal medicine.