Writing, society, magic… thought spirals out of control, comes back around, but is never the same
It is time once again for the annual “No, really, I can garden” attempt. This year it’s lettuce lining the sidewalk leading up to our house and flowers in the main bed in front of the windows. The lettuce that I planted a week and a half ago has started sprouting! Yay! The lettuce I planted two days ago has not, but then I hadn’t expected it to yet.
In other news, this might be the most awesomest video ever. OK Go and Syyn Labs rules. (And yeah, it’s real).
I’m trying to be a better housekeeper, and so like normal, I’m turning to a variety of sources to see what works. So far I have further proof that my husband is particularly attuned to all things Eastern. After learning about how to feng shui the “traveling” bagua of my home, I noted how we were sending energy into Venice and then went outside and stuck a stick in the ground to finish a missing energy line (or something like that). This afternoon my husband hops online to tell me that the “pie-in-the-sky” business trip to Italy (to the Veneto even) suddenly sounds really likely and he’s looking up plane tickets. The sad part about this is that the only plane tickets he could currently locate were $2000, which means I can’t afford to join him. So… I research, clean, energize, and put a stick in the ground, and my husband goes to Italy without me. FML.
I’ve also been continuing my love-affair with all things Norse, and I’m learning to read runes. They told me that in order to keep my house clean, I have to make a plan and stick to it with the strength of a wild ox, and then I will find joy and success. Go figure.
Finally, I had to laugh at how my research for housekeeping has kept me almost constantly on house-keeping for Jesus sites. I didn’t know JC was so big into hearth and home, but apparently he is. And I’m never going to be a true success because I refuse to get up fifteen minutes earlier than my husband (according to an astonishing number of websites, the Bible says I have to be an early riser, regardless of what God and nature instilled into my constitution) who gets up at 5:30 in the morning so that he can wander around the house in his underwear for 2 hours (you didn’t need that visual, did you >:) – would it help if I said he’s got muscles on top of muscles, ’cause he does. Re-visualize. Looks better now, eh?) . But other than that, I have gotten the most use out of a site created by a woman who homeschools her children because…. public school encourages Satan or something. I’m not sure whether to be slightly appalled that I am being electronically mentored by this woman or to remind myself that we can all learn from each other if we just open our ears and get past our prejudices. I think I’ll do both.
Saw it during the Olympics last night, and Scott and I about died laughing.
I find myself defending this too often, so I’m posting online my thoughts on food and eating healthy. I’ve been thinking and reading and listening a lot about this since I quit my job in an effort to become a more healthy person, and food is an integral part of that. Here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Holy cow, everybody says something different. You can find a statistic, a doctor, a study, and a politician to tell you anything is satan in food form… and that anything is healthy.
2. So… you have to pick out what makes sense to you, do that, and pay attention what happens as a result.
Kinda like… everything else in life.
But here’s some things I’ve gleaned from my Mission: Impossible – figure out what’s healthy.
“When you eat a food containing carbohydrates, the digestive system breaks down the digestible ones into sugar, which then enters the blood. As blood sugar levels rise, special cells in the pancreas churn out more and more insulin, a hormone that signals cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage… A new system, called the glycemic index, aims to classify carbohydrates based on how quickly and how high they boost blood sugar… Foods with a high glycemic index, like white bread, cause rapid spikes in blood sugar. Foods with a low glycemic index, like whole oats, are digested more slowly, causing a lower and gentler change in blood sugar.” – Havard School of Public Health
If you want to read arguments that will last until forever, google “glycemic load.” Basically I’m going with two things:
I’ve read in several places now (and been told by a homeopathic dietitian, but my cautious fandom and loving distrust of homeopathic anything is another post) that a lot of people who aren’t necessarily gluten intolerant or have celiac’s disease are still gluten reactive. (My personal take on this goes with the idea that man was around a long time before we became farmers, and a lot of us still haven’t evolved into grain-eaters, but that’s just the theory that sounds logical to me.) Basically, there are theories that say that in a lot of people, gluten can cause minor inflammation on a cellular level. So, from what I understand, a small part of the population was born with a body that handles gluten, no sweat. A small part of the population was born a body that flips a gasket when fed gluten. The rest of us have bodies that don’t keel over, but would run more smoothly without gluten.
So, to sum all that up, if I’m getting my very necessary carbs from bread instead of spinach, I’m not getting the vitamins and minerals, getting a higher insulin spike, and, as I’m gluten semi-intolerant, causing my body minor internal havoc.
Back to my title.
So, I’m not low-carb. I eat apples every day. And vegetables. And sometimes I eat pea soup (which is a lentil, not a vegetable). But I can’t remember the last time I had pasta, whole grain or otherwise. At first I thought this was a big deal, a huge sacrifice. Then I went Paleo for a month and that really did change the way I think about food. It was amazing how much in week two I thought I couldn’t live without a Snickers bar (but I did). But what was more amazing was how I came out the other side not caring that much about cookies, candy, sugary-drinks… pretty much the only things I still wanted that I’d been denied was alcohol and cheese. The whole experience made me a firm believer in the idea that sugary carbs mess with our brains in a serious way. 30 days of Paleo made eating healthy seem not like a chore, but something that I want to do. Bok choy tastes better than pizza, and right now if you asked me which one I want, I can with no hesitation tell you bok choy. A month of paleo a pain in the butt to do, but from a having done it perspective, I can’t recommend it highly enough. (Just don’t cheat… there seems to be a very strong correlation between the people who cheat and the people who don’t get it after it’s over. Week two is freaking hard. Put the cookie down.)
In the end, it all comes down to that commercial from the 80s… sing with me now!
You are what you eat from your head down to your feet Things like meat and fish and eggs you need to build up muscle tissue Uh Oh! Appitite control? More Protein! We need energy. All the motors in your body need a lot of fuel to go on Things like carbohydrates fats and proteins, vitamins and so on. What’s left over forms the building blocks you need, indeed, to grow on! Yes you are what you swallow so the next time you feel hollow Don’t just fill your face with any old kind of treat! This goes for every kid or 6 foot athlete Yes you really are is what you eeeeeeeeat!And I just heard it for the first time. So here ya go.
I was reading an article the other day about my state’s revamping of history curriculum (which, I think curriculum should be regularly looked at and revamped. I’m good with this so far), and two of the committee chairs are pushing for a history curriculum that teaches the importance of Christianity in shaping America, and how, according to them, our founding fathers wanted a Christian nation. *head to desk* This new wtfery is beyond me. But some politicians see a lot of power in the religious right and are going to wield it like a club, apparently and, well, maybe somebody actually believes that the people who wrote “freedom of religion” meant “right-wing theocracy”.
Just goes to show that everybody truly does believe their views are the center from which all others are judged.
Anywho, I am jaded enough to know this sort of madness will regularly come from politicians, and feel confident that the majority of the committee will turn down their truthiness version of history. What always bugs me more than politicians, is the people that post comments on them. Somebody actually said something to the effect of ”Christians help people with Habitat for Humanity and Salvation Army; atheists do nothing.”
You know what? As a religious person, I am regularly shamed by the atheists and the agnostics that I am friends with. They are some of the most ethical, fun-loving, least hypocritical people on the planet, and every good act they do has no fear of hell behind it. They are good people… because it’s the right thing to do. I admire them. (Those screaming people with bad hygiene that you see on TV are about as typical of an atheist as Jerry Falwell is of a Christian)
And so, back to the song, I love it, because it reminds us that the celebration of family and the turning of the seasons is not a religious thing, but a human thing. I can love carols even as I don’t agree with all the words, and this doesn’t make me a bad person… it just makes me a person. Celebrating people, all people, our traditions, our faiths (even if that’s faith in humanity, or just faith that you and your friends can make a difference), this is a human party. And what better season to have one, than the end of the year when so many different cultures from all over the world have found a reason to gather? Christmas, a celebration established from many religions that came before it, is for everyone.