The Thoughts of a Frumpy Professor

............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.

Monday, August 01, 2022

List of Items


 

Just a bulleted list from me today:

  • Ran 15 miles this morning (~24.1 km).  I wasn't really in the mood to run when I woke, and I ended up procrastinating on starting until it was almost 7:00am, so that was not great either. When I started out, it was looking like it would be very sunny too, so I put on sunscreen on all my exposed facial, hand, and leg areas.... but, fortunately, about 30 minutes into the run, a nice, heavy cloud cover settled in and I felt better.  
  • My wife is starting a new routine today to try to treat and possibly reverse her diabetes.  I am trying to be as encouraging as possible.  But, the challenge is really not the plan or routine.... any of the various plans or routines over the years WOULD WORK, it is unfortunately just that my wife is not good at consistency and maintaining effort of this sort.  She typically starts out strong for a few days, and then something or other in day-to-day life gets her "frustrated" or "too busy", and she throws in the towel.  If she would somehow convince herself to stick with simply a) a low/no fat food plan with portion control to get her BMI lower, b) aerobic exercise every day for a minimum of 30 minutes, and c) ample water intake of ~60 ounces or more.... then she would be doing all the right things to get her cell's sensitivity to insulin to return (that is what is needed for the vast majority of people with Type 2 Diabetes).  I worry about her, yet if I say too much, she gets angry at me.
  • Our oldest daughter decided to make dinner for us yesterday where she was experimenting for the first time to make Vietnamese Pho. I gave her some fresh basil from our garden, and she used them along with star anise and fresh ginger, made a really delicious, authentic Pho. Because some of us are vegetarian, she made Tofu Pho.   
  • My wife and I have plans to go swimming this afternoon.  Swimming is such a valuable and integral part of the day for me lately.  It is almost like a mental and emotional cleansing.  When my wife and I go in the late afternoon, it is at a time that is very limited in terms of having many, if any other folks there.  That in of itself is quite peaceful.  Yet, getting to submerge and cool down the body in the pool, helps to wash away a lot of stresses of the day, and we both leave feeling quite relaxed.  
  • OH!  I almost forgot..... I actually had a "dream" I remembered.  But, unfortunately, it was a rather disgusting/gruesome "nightmare" sort of snippet.....This happened overnight Saturday into Sunday morning.  In this "dream" I was walking along a wooded path, and this ENORMOUS dragonfly came flying at me.  By ENORMOUS, I mean.... it was the size of things in a lot of scary, sci-fi films.... its body was ~3 feet in length (~ about a meter).  Well... this damn dragonfly flew at me and then perched on top of my head.  In my dream I did not have a hat on (and I always wear hats) and in the dream I was even wondering why the hell I didn't have a hat on.... and I could feel the HUGE dragonfly's leg appendages poke into my scalp as it landed.  I reflexively reached up with my hand to try to hit or push the damn dragonfly off my head.... and then, immediately when I touched it, the insect's entire body disintegrated into a grey/black mass of both dust and liquidy goo that ran down all over me.  It was terrifying and it ended up jolting me awake.  When I woke, it was around 3:30am and I was so unnerved by the dream that I could not fall back asleep.  To try to calm myself, I took the dog out and sat on the back porch for about 1/2 an hour before I came back in and could fall asleep again. 
  • PCS.... staying stuck at a 6.  Sunday morning after the nightmare, I really, REALLY wanted to smoke my pipe (probably a PCS of at least 9 during that half hour after awakening from the nightmare).  Today, I would very much relish a pipe.  And I keep imagining the beautiful flavors and textures of the pipe smoke.  
 PipeTobacco

4 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Professor, if you had been carrying a nice long churchwarden in your dream, you could have swatted that nasty dragonfly away without it touching you! :-)

I'm glad you are able to enjoy the flavors, aromas, and textures of so many wonderful varieties of food, but I won't deny that when I see you writing of PCS 9 I find myself hoping that you are close to coming home to your long-neglected pipes and tobaccos, which offer incomparable flavor, aroma, and texture of their own. You'll be so much happier whenever your journey brings you to that point. I think I had doubts or regrets about my own return for at most one evening, but since then it's the long abstinence that I've come to regret. But, as the kids say, "you do you!"

Until then, I'll be hoping you have more happy dreams of swimming, teaching, smoking your pipes, and no more nasty dream bugs!

Monday, 01 August, 2022  
Blogger Margaret said...

Swimming must be good for your wife; it's great exercise. Perhaps that will encourage her to do other activities. That, combined with a better diet (even a small improvement) would help. Between one daughter or another living with me, I haven't been in my normal exercise routine and have been feeling it a lot lately. I need to work on it and stay motivated!

Monday, 01 August, 2022  
Blogger Pam J. said...

You wrote: "If she [wife] would somehow convince herself to stick with simply a) a low/no fat food plan with portion control to get her BMI lower, b) aerobic exercise every day for a minimum of 30 minutes, and c) ample water intake of ~60 ounces or more.... then she would be doing all the right things to get her cell's sensitivity to insulin to return (that is what is needed for the vast majority of people with Type 2 Diabetes)."
A friend recently became obsessed with a low carb/high(ish) fat diet. Her biggest dietary enemy is sugar (pastries) and she's been free of added sugar for 1 year now and feels better. She lost a bit of weight (didn't need to lose any really) but her arthritis pain in her joints is much improved. As is my way, I then got obsessed with reading about low carb diets--Atkins from the 70s and now tons of other similar diet plans. Nutritionists disagree mightily about the benefits. And especially about whether a low carb diet can help with diabetes.
I'm telling you all of this because, as a scientist, maybe you'll be interested in delving into this topic -- maybe you already have -- and tell me: is the low carb/high fat diet really as healthy as some say? To me, it seems like an OK diet as long as you eat enough fiber. Added dietary refined sugar/flour is never good for any person, for any reason. I cut out buying cookies/cakes/pies last September and I've lost 10 pounds. I still have a couple of chocolate truffles daily though.
Hope to hear your thoughts.

Monday, 08 August, 2022  
Blogger Pam J. said...

Oh, and one more thought: those who promote low carb diet tend to argue that a high fat diet has never been linked conclusively with heart or cardiovascular disease. I've tried to find out what's up with that but can't find anything that convinces me one way or the other. Nutrition is such a new science.

Monday, 08 August, 2022  

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