Life, Interrupted

In our world today, especially if you live in the United States, it's easy to be so caught up in the proverbial Rat Race that you forget to take a break. I don't mean kicking back of an evening, melted in front of the TV, or prowling the Internet reading posts from friends and the latest news brouhaha. I don't mean a Stay-cation, where you alternate not going to work with hitting a movie theater, getting a massage, or cleaning out your garage. I don't even mean planning a six nights, seven days cruise that hits eight islands and offers five meals a day.

I mean a real break--one where you try hard to avoid smart phones, computers, and televisions. Where you lay around like a slug and don't think about doing any kind of work for at least half the time blocked out in your calendar. You try and schedule all Internet work in advance, you turn off the phone, you have no cable or satellite...and you rest. I'll let you hit town once to check email, but it's a two hour limit at the library, and you should respect it. Absolutely no driving hours every day from one place to the next, unless driving is the most relaxing thing you have ever done.

Because your body needs to recharge. It has limits.
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It kills or changes everything.

It's made mycotoxins into monsters. And mycotoxins have pretty much destroyed corn, wheat and even soybeans (at least dried soybeans. Not sure about fresh or frozen ones yet.)

Have a few links, via this article on the problem.

It appears that there are now multiple reasons for not eating at night. Women have known for a long time that it's better to eat something "bad" that you want while there's time to start burning it off. Resisting nighttime snacking is also important because eating carbs close to bed makes some people fall asleep hard, and then wake up -- usually hungry -- several hours later. Dairy before bed apparently can contribute to snoring!

But now we're seeing signs that our ancestors ate their last big meal before the sun set, and then did not eat until 16 hours later. And that may have to do with why they were mostly a slender people. Simply put, your liver may need to rest. And allowing it to rest during your "recharge" hours may make it burn calories more efficiently at other times.

I know several people who have been slowly but steadily losing weight on this system. The hardest part for me is that I literally forget to eat until later in the evening. Or I don't get around to breakfast, so I eat lunch at 3 pm, and there you are -- the day is pushed back.

But since the sun doesn't set until after 8 pm, as long as I don't eat breakfast until noon, that might still work! I've been trying to stop anything other than water or coconut water after 7 pm, so this is just another step in a better direction.

Advantages? You get to eat meals with higher fat and calories IF you then don't eat anything from 6 at night until 9 the next morning. I did watch a woman at work lost 25 pounds by not eating after 5 pm, and having one big salad a day as her only required food -- otherwise she just varied healthy choices as her food selections. That definitely worked for her.

Wouldn't it be incredible if it could work for most of us, or even all of us? Has this been the missing explanation of why meat and potatoes did not cause most people to get fat -- not just work, but real rest of the entire system?

PS -- magnesium supplements help when I'm having sugar or chocolate cravings. I really like ones that have more than one form of magnesium in them, like Vital Nutrients Triple Mag 250 mg. It contains oxide, dimagnesium malate and glycinate forms of magnesium. Magnesium depletion is almost always at the root of my cravings. Water soluble, and we burn it when stressed -- make sense?

Well, word's back on my father's health, and it's not good. It's bad enough that I finally have him willing to try eating food prepared in a macrobiotic style. So I'm looking for someone who would be willing to take a diet plan created by a macrobiotic nutritionist and prepare some basics for him, like soups and grains. He would need these delivered to him at an assisted living center in northwest Tucson.

I'm hoping that if he likes the food, he will want more things from the chef. If this makes a significant improvement in his health, the chef might see more business from the doctor. I will make sure the doctor knows about the improvement.

I am pretty frustrated. I made extra of things summer before last, and he "did not want to take any of my special food I'd hauled up there" so would not try it. Even the squash soup, which he watched me pluck from a farm stand and saute. AND tasted and said was SO good, but would not steal any!

If I can't find a macro chef, I will look for a chef who would prepare macro to spec from the nutritionist's recipes. (I'm assuming this could be accomplished, often a dangerous thing.)

Last ditch, moving to Tucson to cook for him. Not what I want (or my parents -- they like having us a little bit farther away), but it has to be on the table.

So please -- forward to anyone who might know about the Tucson area!