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Affective and Affecting Research: Researching Affect in the Social Sciences - Colloquium
Starts: 26 March 2010
A One Day Colloquium: School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Researching Affect and Affective Communication Network
Organised by ESRC National Centre for Research Methods Networks for Methodological Innovation
This final colloquium, organised by the group disseminated the activities of the group to a wider audience of around 100 academics and research students.
The day consisted of an introduction, 'What is affect?' by Lisa Blackman and Professor Couze Venn, Nottingham Trent in which they summarised recent thinking about affect, using a variety of traditions from the humanities and social sciences. See also the Special Issue of Body and Society on affect. This was followed by workshops illuminating methods for researching affect:
- Affect and writing
- Affect and Rhythmic Communications
The aim of the workshop was to explore, using different examples, the ways in which the affective dimensions of situations and events can be understood in relation to patterns of rhythm and vibration. This idea builds upon a long tradition of process-oriented theory identified with thinkers such as Tarde, Whitehead, Bachelard, Deleuze and Guattari and Lefebvre, but these ideas tend to remain highly abstract.
After an introduction, the workshop was divided into two parts. The first part was entitled 'Pan, Panic and Pattern'. The broad idea was that contributors would draw out rhythm analytical observations in relation to concrete objects or events. The session began with a paper by Miquel Domenech (from the Autonomous University of Barcelona) who talked about the affective rhythms associated with a fire-extinguisher, and the ways in which this object helps to lend order to an event of crisis. Paul Stenner then provided a rapid rhythm analysis of an episode of The Jerry Springer Show, drawing attention to the ways in which the emotional content of the show is formed by waves of patterned rhythm at various levels of analysis. Julian Henriques connected the previous two contributions through a discussion of Titian's The Flaying of Marsyas. An overarching theme was developed indicating the manner in which 'chaotic' circumstances are contained and regulated by way of rhythmic patterns.
The second part was entitled 'Space, place, rest and movement'. Felicity Callard explored some of the implications of recent neuroscientific ideas about brain rhythms in resting states and Louise Madden spoke about some of her own research on the patterned inscription of meaning into mundane household space. Gabrielle Ivinson presented a critical juxtaposition of the daily life rhythms of young people from the South Wales Valleys, and the rhythms that pattern their school environment, drawing attention to the disjunctions between the two.
The session ended with an interesting open discussion of the issues raised, focussing on the strengths and limitations of rhythm analysis in the study of affect.
Lefebvre, Henri and Régulier, Catherine [1985] Le Project Rhythmanalytique, in Communications, 41
Lefebvre, Henri (2004) Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, London: Continuum
Lunt, P. & Stenner, P. (2005) The Jerry Springer Show as an Emotional Public Sphere. Media, Culture and Society. 27 (1): 59-81.
How do researchers understand participants? Using affect as an instrument of research knowing
How is affective communication implicated in the eliciting, analysis and production of knowledge? Affective dynamics underpin intersubjective relationships through which relevant experiences and data are identified, elicited and experienced. These observed experiences are then translated into analytical formats and practices which risk obliterating their complex affective and inter-subjective texture. Even after the relatively recent 'self-reflexive turn', social sciences still retain a number of unfortunate dualisms: mind-body, cognition-affect, objectivity-subjectivity, conscious-unconscious. As a result, it feels dangerous, if not impossible, to use affective communication as an instrument of knowing in our research practice because it is deemed unreliable, invalid, unethical. At the same time, it is impossible not to use affect because the achievement of meaning is impossible without it.
Psychoanalysis, especially since the turn from drives, (with object relations and relational traditions) has developed an epistemology that welcomes and uses affect as part of knowing and there are parts of psychoanalytic theory and practice that can be adapted for research. Psychoanalysis is consistent with the constructionist suspicion of impartial knowledge, as it theorises the psychic mediations that are likely to lead to inaccurate, unethical research knowing. The combination of psychoanalytically informed methodologies with the self-reflexive techniques and long period of participant observation foreseen by anthropology and qualitative sociology can be seen as particularly apt to research social phenomena in innovative ways.
Wendy Hollway will present an outline of inter-subjective and psychoanalytically informed approaches and methodologies. The workshop will be based on a short video by Nick Mai, drawing on original interview material with young men working in the (sex) tourism industry in Tunisia. Nick Mai will introduce the video and the research context within which the audio-visual material informing it was gathered. The watching and listening of the video will be followed by discussions about group members' feelings, sensations and imaginings and the way these form part of their understanding of interviewees, their experiences and relationship to their work and their life trajectories. Discussions will be first organised in smaller groups, whose observations will then be shared with and discussed by the whole group.
- Methodological implications of attending to rhythmic forms of communication summary
- Dreaming the social
Gordon Lawrence, the founder of social dreaming led a social dreaming matrix in which participants shared dreams. As with the matrix that he led during the creativity seminar, the ability of this method to engage with affective dynamics in the group was quite remarkable. It was also able to bring to light concerns about the future political climate and the situation in higher education.
Workshop for PhD students run by PhD students to explore researching affect and affective experiences in the PhD research
As part of the Colloquium we ran a workshop for doctoral students. The series of seminars aimed to consider the methodological implications of researching affect through the consideration of the many meanings affect has assumed. The primary aim of the workshop was to bring doctoral students working with affect together in order to establish some form of a community across Cardiff University schools and other UK schools. There were more than twenty five people involved in the discussions that firstly considered the notion of affect in relation to the experience of PhD students new to the academic institution. As each one of us had different personal and family backgrounds and draw on different theoretical elements in our work, it was a very lively and engaging discussion demonstrating that affect is emerging in many different disciplinary areas.
The first part of the forum concentrated on the experience of encounters with various aspects of academic life and considered how these affective experienced have contributed, enhanced, constrained or developed our academic work. We considered the context and setting of academic life and how our personal histories have been connected to the way in which we have orientated ourselves within this space and how our own subjectivities have been moved from encountering theoretical affective concepts. This kind of informal discussion was a very useful way of linking some of the theoretical affect work to people's everyday lives as a way of bringing some of the theory alive. Each attendee provided an overview of their work and what became evident was that there were many different ways in which individuals were deploying affect. There was a general consensus within the group that much of the theoretical work was intimidating and sometimes difficult to comprehend in relation to the many different subject areas of our PhD.
There were people in attendance of the workshop from many different disciplinary areas from different universities. A really promising feeling that came from being involved in this workshop was the affinity between members. There was a general consensus between the group that working with affect and its associated theoretical bodies of knowledge do challenge more traditional ways of thinking in the Social Sciences and that this led to a feeling of isolation within the context of wider departments in Schools. There was agreement to continue some kind of dialogue between each other and potentially create a forum where we can share papers, ideas, conference information and most importantly provide a forum for creating a sense of community.
Using psychoanalytic observational methods: Cathy Urwin
In this workshop Cathy Urwin presented a number of examples of observation.
The day ended with a plenary panel in which a number of the group made short presentations reflecting upon the series in relation to their own research.
Wendy Hollway - paper
Paul Stenner - paper
Debra Ferreday - paper
Constantina Papoulias - paper
Felicity Callard - paper
John Cromby - paper
Cecilia Love - paper
The group also reflected upon what the seminar series had meant to them.
Videos for this Colloquium are available here.
- The Seminar Series Homepage
- The Researching Affect and Affective Communication Seminar Series video channel, hosted by Vimeo
- The Researching Affect and Affective Communication Seminar Series Wiki, hosted by Wikispaces
Methodological Handbook
Affect: Methodological Handbook for Social Research
Edited by Valerie Walkerdine
One outcome of the series is a Methodological Handbook, which presents key concepts in affect research with illustrations of key research methods and studies related to this concept. We are currently negotiating with a publisher.
Name: Professor Valerie Walkerdine
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Other information
Open To: Invitation Only


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From uchicagoadmissions
The football team looks a lot different today….
Henry Thurston Chase (the one on the floor), however dead he may be, was hot :))
Look at dem boys
University of Chicago Football Team, 1892.
I bet they were brainy boys, to boot.
stop that with your faces
Centennial Theme by One by Four Studio. Powered by Tumblr.

subset: commoncrawl


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A day trip from Paris – Versailles
Living in this lovely city of Paris is great… but it is easy to forget all the great things to do and visit just outside the city. A couple of weekends ago we jumped with some friends on a commuter train (the RER B) and within 40 minutes we had arrived in front of the stunning chateau of Versailles, known for its beauty and also the over the top extravagance of the Kings and Queens of France who lived there.
The children were amazed by the opulence of their surroundings and how crazy it was that this whole chateau was built just for one man and his entourage to live in! Good old Louis the 14th sure knew how to live it up!
The main palace is amazing to visit, but with a whole gaggle of children in tow, we opted for a visit of the gardens surrounding the palace and a visit to the smaller Trianon Palace together with Marie-Antoinette's domaine, which has been restored very recently.
It was a lovely day: we picnicked, played hide and seek between the manicured hedges, strolled through the different gardens, and had a good look around Marie-Antoinette's retreat.
We finished the trip with a boat ride on the Grand Canal, just like Marie Antoinette would have done, I am sure.
These kind of day trips make me realise how lucky we are to have so much history right at our doorstep! Visiting Versailles is so easy, even if you are just visiting Paris for a week!
- Emilie
The Little Things… A Nature Scavenger Hunt
Beautiful leaves are falling on the forest grounds, beechnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts can easily be found (a tasty discovery!), and upon close forest floor examination, a world of interesting insects can be explored. A little walk outdoors, just a few steps in the autumn nature, opens up an entire world!
Ava and her two little friends Kate and Juul put on their wellies and went out for a Nature Scavenger Hunt the other day. The three three-year-old friends had such a beautiful time. They discovered that throwing up autumn leaves is wonderful! And it smells so good… That it is fun to gather nuts, leaves and other great finds in your backpack. That you can find caterpillars if you search between the leaves, or beetles! And fairytale like mushrooms… And they were wondering, is there a mouse hiding between the roots of that tree?
It's easy to focus on the big things in life, and sometimes, we tend to forget about the little things… But small and simple experiences can make the biggest memories. Maybe this weekend, you can take your little things outside for your own Nature Scavenger Hunt. This free download will get you going! And when you're home (and possibly drinking hot chocolate), it can be coloured in as well!
Happy Weekend!
xxx Esther
PS – This is the first post in a series which is called 'The Little Things'. Thank you Maud Fontein for taking such gorgeous photos, and Sara Musch for the beautiful download! Mini Kånken Backpacks and Bisgaard rain wellies are available from A Day With Kate, and the cosy knitted hooded coat from Mamy Factory.
Coq en Pate – Frisbee
School is out for the summer and we are so happy, we are kind of delirious! My children are off to see their grandparents in Italy, so we are packing suitcases (I sooo much prefer packing suitcases than unpacking them!).
Shorts, leggings and dresses have already been thrown in and I just remembered this cool frisbee I picked up the other day – made in France out of seaweed; how cool is that! There is nothing quite like throwing a frisbee around on a beach and I love the fact that this frisbee is actually made out of a product you find in the sea!
- Emilie
If you are in any way a follower of Instagram or read Babyccino Kids on a regular basis, you might have noticed that we all have been suffering from a very, very cold winter which has continued long into April. Well, this weekend was the first sunny weekend in 2013 and I think EVERYONE in the whole of Europe went outside and smiled.
We were challenged by some friends to a game of Molkky in our local park. Have you heard of it? It is the best – it's a bit of a Skandinavian skittles, perfect for parks and gardens as you throw a piece of wood at the skittles, as opposed to rolling it. (As an aside, it is also really good for learning how to count in your head, as you need to get 50 points exactly).
I can just imagine a gang of Vikings playing this somewhere along a fjord…
- Emilie
DIY: seashell Koalas
During the summer, it is very nice to go and look for shells at the beach. This year we got inspired by Martha Stewart and turned our shells into little Koalas. It is such a fun and easy DIY!
What you need for this activity is: shells, some beads for the eyes, and for assembly, a tacky, quick-drying glue works best. It is good to experiment with different combinations before gluing, so you find the one you like best.
We didn't use the beads for the eyes, but it worked well, and this is what turned out. It's also a nice little present to give to family when you get back from holidays!
- Maria
Games for kids of the world
Games for Kids of the World is a free downloadable ebook that gathers a collection of games that kids around the world enjoy playing. The games are simple and don't need complicated equipment, so they can be played anytime and everywhere. There are games from Italy, South Africa, India, Argentina, and more (15 countries in total). Each chapter (or country) starts with a sweet little introduction and lovely watercolours illustrate the games. Such fun too read about the different games children play — and interesting to see that some games from the other side of the world are known here too (Di? Sh?u Juàn from China, for instance). In any case, I'm going to play 'What time is it, Mr Wolf?' a game from the UK, with my kids tonight! It will be fun!
xxx Esther
A beach scavenger hunt
My kids and I spent last week at my family's beach house on Bainbridge Island, just off Seattle. We had friends from Belgium join us, and our six kids ran around from dawn until way after dusk playing on the beach and swimming in the cold water.
When we woke up one morning to blustery weather, we had to be a bit more creative in planning that day's activities. We ended up organising a big scavenger hunt, and it was so much fun! We wrote up a list of scavenge-able beach items and then we all went out to hunt for the treasures. (We divided up into teams and each team had a grown-up to help read and decipher the list.) It was a perfect cloudy day beach activity, and was actually quite hilarious to look through the contents of the bags when we got back to the house. It's amazing how many crazy things you can find on a beach!
x Courtney
DIY: a Teepee (and what to do inside one)
Last weekend, with a kind of boring and grey afternoon here in northern Spain, we decided to do something fun and so escape the dull weather. So, with the stuff we had at home, we tried to do a teepe. It was fun to put the bamboo sticks together. As we were not very skilled in the art, it took us a while, but it was so much fun!!. This is what come out.
Today, 3 things you can do on a grey afternoon in a "do it yourself" teepee:
1. Draw: I always take with me paper and pens, and also a little fruit box which makes a great table! Such fun to spend the afternoon drawing inside a teepee!
2. Take a summer nap under a tree… that's nice!
3. Have a little snack. Nico was hungry after the lovely nap!!
Three simple things to do on a grey, but not boring, afternoon!!!
- Maria
The Maxi Micro scooter
After years and years of daily use and fun, Pim sadly outgrew his beloved Mini Micro scooter (we put one of the sweet O-bars on it so it's now Ava's scooter, and she's loving it!). Pim without a scooter wouldn't be Pim, so we got him the Mini Micro's big brother, the very cool Maxi Micro. My friend Joanna, the owner of Micro-step.nl, advised me to go for the 'Joystick' instead of the 'T-bar', and after one minute of getting used to it Pim scooters (is that what you call it?) like he never did before, and he even wants us to go to the skateboard stunt field (or whatever THAT is called, you can see I'm at a loss here) all the time. My little boy is getting big, and so is his scooter!
Do your kids have scooters? I really find them fantastic — fun to play with, and such a great way of transportation!
xxx Esther
Gardening time!
This weekend we had such a treat: one day without rain and even (yes!) a few rays of sunshine!! Hurray for May! Seriously, the weather has been so lousy here in Amsterdam, we're in much need of sun. Anyway, we decided it was time to spend a day in our little garden to plant all the seedlings we'd grown in the windowsill of the kid's room the last weeks: tomato, pumpkin, courgette, sunflowers, nasturtiums, sweet pea… They had by now grown into little puppy plants so it was time for them to hit the rough Amsterdam climate outside.
Carrots, radishes, salad and rocket are best sewn in the full ground (outside). If you don't have a garden or balcony, you can also easily grow these vegetables on your window sill. Just one word of advice (we keep doing this wrong!) — don't sew the seeds too close together, or the carrots, radishes etc don't have room to grow! Plain salad and rocket are also super easy to grow (even in the windowsill), and you can keep cutting their leaves for a long time.
Of course we set the children to work immediately. They love gardening! Obviously the small scale of our vegetable garden-to-be will far from feed our entire family, but it's a real pleasure to harvest our own grows, little as it may be, and it's educational for the children. Here are some really fun ideas for gardening with kids:
Sara received this super cute Gardening Giftbox (from French brand Moulin Roty) as a gift and it comes filled with little pots, compost, seeds, a watering can and gardening tools — all packed in an adorable little suitcase. So cool! Sara and her friend spent hours working in the garden, preparing the soil, sewing their seeds, watering the plants, etc.
I got some bags of seeds at the Balcony Gardener. These bags are really pretty and also make gorgeous gifts (I just ordered a few more of them!). They also sell beautiful quality kid's sized gardening tools which we love.
Finally, if you live in the Netherlands or Belgium (or speak Dutch), this little Moestuinkabouterpakket is such fun and so very, very cute. It comes with seeds, bags to sew them in, labels, a little book about the garden gnomes that will help you to look after the seedlings (provided you make sure their hat and coat is hanging ready for them to wear!).
xxx Esther
Monkey Feet
One of the great things about living in the Netherlands is that you're never far from the beach. Dutch beaches are wide and sandy and perfect for wintery, windy walks, but even better to enjoy on a sunny summer day — what's better than playing in the sand for hours and hours? Even I still like to build a good sand castle! Besides the obligatory buckets and spades, these fantastic Monkey Print Sandals found at the new web boutique Sweet Pea will also provide hours of beach fun this summer. My son has already tested them out endlessly on our wooden living room floor, he sounded like the perfect clog-wearing little Dutchman but thankfully no foot-stamps were left. I can already imagine the fun he will have at the beach pretending to be a little monkey!
xxx Esther
Ice skating!
Ice-skating is something of a national sport in the Netherlands, especially in winters where we're lucky enough to have temperatures so low the many natural waterways in the city and countryside are frozen. Last week was such a lucky week, and children and parents alike put on their skates and hit the ice. Even the canals in the city centre here in Amsterdam were frozen, which is pretty rare! After some initial hesitation on whether or not to get the kids their own skates (after all, you never know how much they will be put to use) we did give in to the temptation. Especially after I found out that skates these days are expandable! Sara's pair for instance is size 32-36, which means she will be able to wear them for years to come. (We got their skates at Decathlon.) It's amazing how fast they pick up the skill, and how they love the activity. Fun, fun, fun!
xxx Esther
PS Photo of Pim (4) skating on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam over the weekend.
Bell Tents
I snuck off to a music festival in the UK last weekend, leaving my two little lovelies behind. It was great — good music, great company and one of my top favourite things to do: camping! I think my most cherished childhood holidays were spent in a lurid, orange A-frame tent, which always sagged a bit in the middle and wasn't always water proof.
The bell tent we took last weekend was in a different league altogether and I don't think I can ever go back to a small tent. My friend Russell had it left over from a film shoot (here is actually a clip featuring our tent!). It was super easy to put up and soo roomy and cosy! I thought we were being wildly original, but these tents are now hugely popular with the Brits and were all over the festival camp ground.
I am seriously thinking of getting one. It would be perfect to pitch up in a garden for the summer, or go for a comfortable camping trip with the whole family. I am even thinking it could work as a spare guest room in the garden, when lots of people come to visit!
Mini Micro — clip on bags
Gosh, I wish I had invented something as simple and successful as the Mini Micro Scooter! City kids everywhere are riding them, and no wonder why: finally they can keep up with the faster pace of grown-ups without becoming exhausted, and have a fun ride too! The Mini Micro scooters come in really fun and funky colours (you can personalise different elements of the scooter), but best of all, there are little clip-on back-packs available that are brilliant for little snacks, or for all the little treasures children gather on a trip to the park (feathers, stones, acorns etc.). So clever!
xxx Esther
Swimming Exams
My 5-year-old daughter, Sara, just passed her first swimming exam! Swimming is taken really serious here in the Netherlands, which is not surprising if you consider the amount of water which surrounds us. Children are taught how to swim at an early age and have to prove their abilities by passing a difficult exam. They have to dive through an underwater hole, show they master different stroke techniques such as breast stroke, back stroke, front crawl, and lifesaving techniques which mean they have to swim fully clothed (with shoes on even!). I remember having to pass the same test as a child and it was very difficult and tiring. I hated having to swim with all my clothes on! How do you teach your kids to swim? Are there similar swimming exams in your country?
xxx Esther
P.S. Photo of Sara during her exam.
Micro Step — (not just) for kids!
We're all big fans of the Micro Steps here at Babyccino (I think we all have them for our children) — Mo was the last one to rave about them here. So, about time to understand what the kids are talking about and try out the grown-up Micro White myself! And… although a little bit scary at first (I could hardly keep up with my kids) I did quite enjoy myself! It's still a bit cold here in Amsterdam, but I'm thinking I will use mine loads as soon as it gets a bit warmer — such a great way to keep in shape and a welcome change from the (here in Amsterdam) ubiquitous bicycle!
xxx Esther
Jamie at Winter Wonderland
As children are starting to break up from nurseries, kindergartens and schools for the Christmas holidays, a typical London holiday attraction to visit is Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. We went last weekend and whilst crazy busy I was really impressed with the fairground — lots of really beautiful old-fashioned fairground rides, mixed up with more crazy modern ones. Also there is Zippo's circus and an ice-rink and of course a German Christmas Market to browse around.
Jamie Oliver even has a presence there (for those of you who don't know Jamie — he is the UK's culinary cheeky chappy). He has taken over the band stand to offer some proper outdoor winter cuisine — Jamie's Fabulous Feasts offers hot pork rolls, polenta chips and much much more, all of which looked delicious.
But the best bit of Jamie's presence was the 'decorate your own gingerbread man' bit, set up for children. For £5 my son and I gave it a go. We got a naked man and tree and an egg box filled with various decorations — dolly mixture sweets, white and milk chocolate buttons, cranberries, apricots, dessicated coconut and an icing tube (to act as glue). We had a lot of fun jazzing our biscuits up and I have to admit, when we finally felt we had admired them enough, they tasted pretty good too.
Winter Wonderland is open in London's Hyde Park until the 4th January.
Outdoor ice baubles
I picked my son up from his kindergarten today and these were hanging on the trees outside — what a 'cool' (get it?) idea! Yesterday, the children had chosen leaves and set them on plates covered in water with a loop of string hanging over the edge. Overnight the ice had frozen into these beautiful baubles to hang on the tree. So I think I have found something positive to come out of the freezing temperatures we're having here!
-Mo. x
Let it Snow!
As I write this, it is snowing heavily outside my window! Winter is really here and it's cold! Thankfully I stocked up on snow gear from Polarn O. Pyret this year — my kids are staying toasty warm. Their collection of outerwear is superb — wind-proof, waterproof, and with added details like fleece linings, thermal insulation, inner sleeve cuffs with thumb-holes, and reflector detailing on everything. Trust the Swedish to do it well.
Polarn O. Pyret has recently launched in the USA, and they just opened a shop in Greenwich, CT (just outside NYC). They also, of course, have locations across London (Oxford Street, Brent Cross and Westfield) — I'm just waiting for them to launch a UK webshop!
My son's favourite 'toy'
For this theme week I asked my son, Elias, what his favourite toy is. Elias is 3 (nearly 4) and so it will come as no surprise to most mums with a 3 (nearly 4)-year-old boy that he answered, "my scooter". Elias loves his blue Micro scooter and goes everywhere on it. A boring trip to the shops can be turned into an exciting adventure if his scooter comes too.
However, the unoriginality of this choice brings me to tell you about another of Elias's favourite toys (if it can be called that). Elias likes his 'stuff' — everyday he carries around with him 3 – 4 random objects and can not be with out these 'things', whether they are tied to him in some fashion or stuffed in his pockets or in his back-pack. He is lost without them, he goes to bed with them and they are always the first things he asks for the next morning.
I did find the whole 'thing' obsession a little strange for a while, but now I love it about him — all his 'things' form so many ideas for games and imaginative play throughout his day. So what are his typical 'things'? Well I just checked his pockets (see picture for proof) — this is what I found: (more…)


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The directory will be updated regularly so if any members who are not included would like to be added to future editions, please just drop me an email. If any information included is incorrect or out-of-date, please let Hannah know.
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Please let the process unfold | LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the editor:
Langley voters are in the process of selecting the next city council. They have selected the top two candidates in the primary and are now considering who to elect in the General Election.
I encourage the Langley City Council to allow the electoral process to play out as voters expect it to. Short-circuiting the election by elevating any active candidate to the council would not allow Langley voters to complete the selection process that they are currently engaged in.
Indeed, it would elevate both candidates onto the council because Thomas Gill would be the only candidate remaining in the Position 4 race.
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Back-To-School Round-Up
This week on Mommyish I tackle "back-to-school." For me, back-to-school is marked not only by incredibly annoying commercials on TV, but also by submissions that revolve around subjects like homework, teachers, mean bus drivers and - according to one of the submissions posted on Mommyish - hoochie mama backpacks. Ahhh, Fall! Let's take a look at some of the different types of school-related submissions that have made their way into my inbox as a tribute to this special time of year:
1. Fancy Lockers
You know, Shelly making her daughter pay half is all well and good, but here's the thing: She's still spending $100 to decorate her kid's locker, which is a little crazy, and I'm still unsure as to where Shelly's daughter's $50 is coming from. Considering it's illegal in most states to work at the age of 10, I'm assuming the $50 is coming from an allowance, which means it's not exactly her money. Not that that's relevant or any of my business, but what 10-year-old has an extra $50 laying around to buy a chandelier for her locker? And what happened to just tacking up a $2 mirror, some photobooth photos and $5 worth of stickers from the mall?? The times they are a-changin'.
2. School Picture Nazis
Did you guys not hear me the first time?? MY BABY IS HAVING PICTURES DONE TODAY; WHICH SIZE(S) DO YOU WANT? Good Lord, it's like people need a freaking engraved invitation or something! Do they not understand how adorable these pictures are going to be? The "refrigerator potential" is QUITE high. Multiple copies and sizes are recommended. DUH.
3. Complaining About Teachers
Yeah, Lisa, you go girl! You speak the truth! Stupid teachers with their stupid credentials and certificates and degrees. What do they know?? "If they don't have kids, they don't know shit!" That's my motto!
4. Sanctimommies
This is one of those instances where I wish the screen cap came with a video, because I have a feeling the scene in that check-out line was mighty entertaining. Now, don't get me wrong, if some woman is holding a shrieking baby and needs to get the hell outta there, I'm usually happy to let her cut in line. But just because a person is a parent she gets to cut an hour-long line filled with
patient students people who don't want to be there any more than she does? NOPE. I don't think so.
5. Mom's Gold Star
I'm not much of a fan of the types of updates that Audriana posted because they're so predictable and fake. Every May, the stay-at-home mom friends in my newsfeed are like, "ZOMG only one more month until my babies get out of school and we get to spend all day together!!! SO EXCITED!" which turns into June when they post, "ZOMG my kids are getting on my last nerve, come on summer camp!! Hurry up and start!!" Then August comes around and they're like, "Haha, moms, remember when all we wanted was to spend more time with our little rascals? What were we thinking? AMIRITE OR AMIRITE??? So ready for school!"
In my opinion, those updates get real old, real fast since so many people post the exact same thing. Which is why I love Melody for keepin' it real. You can tell she really means what she's saying. Her kids are about a week away from eating each other, and I believe that. So to end this scholastic round-up on a high note, I shall award Melody a Gold Star. Cheers to her for having a genuine sense of humor, and let's hope her update sets a precedence for the upcoming school year. Moms, take note!
Don't forget to head over to Mommyish for my column and plenty of additional back-to-school submissions. Don't let that hoochie mama backpack down.
(submitted by Anonymous)


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Drum n bass artists (technique recordings)
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- MusicBrainz entry on Hashtag
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Carrot pasta~ a healthy alternative to pasta ~ approx 300 calories
You will need (for ONE person):
- Carrot x 2
- 1/2 onion (red preferably)
- A portion of your favourite tomato pasta sauce (or make your own!)
- Oil
How to:
1) Peel the carrots + chop of the ends
2) Continue peeling the carrot until you get to the tough/bitter inside section of the carrot (we don't use this, put it in the compost!). These are your 'pasta/spaghetti' pieces.
3) Finely chop the onion & fry in 1 teaspoon of oil (use a frying pan or wok). Cook until they begin to soft
4) Add the carrot pasta pieces to the pan, with the onion, and cook until the carrot pieces bend and twist around (ie. until they're softer and no longer straight & raw). This can take around 10 minutes
5) Add the pasta sauce and cook until the carrot is soft enough for your liking.
Serve with halloumi, feta or cheddar cheese and a salad
NB 1: The 300 calories estimate does not include any added cheese etc.
NB 2: you can use parnsip/squashes instead of/with the carrot if you so wish. Carrot is a good starting point though due to it being so sweet - it's pretty hard to dislike it!
no you dont understand
these are two separate toys that we found at the thrift store today okay
and we found out that they fit like this and it was beautiful
and then we were going up to the cashier to get our things and realized they were still like that and were separating them so that we could each purchase the one we had found and
the cashier
so confused and", distressed and horrified omg
the look on his face was like we had taken his soul and run it through a blenderim
i tried to fix it omg i was just like
"……………………..he was just…. resting"
but i dont think anything can make up for the trauma we caused.


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Coastal Bend counties receive FEMA funds
Several Coastal Bend counties have received federal funds to care for the homeless and hungry.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded $153 million across the nation, including $12,654,188 to Texas, for its Emergency Food and Shelter Program.
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Coastal Bend counties receiving funding were Aransas, $15,644; Bee, $17,675; Duval, $7,319; Jim Wells, $24,995; Kleberg, $18,982; Nueces, $193,443; and San Patricio, $46,410.
Beth Wilson


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> return to the clayton county library system home page
Summer Reading Program!
"Here's the thing about dragons: I know absolutely nothing whatsoever about them."
what is this from?
want to see more great first lines?
> tcc home > fun stuff > tcc reviews
This page is for reviews of music but no one has submitted any reviews yet. Want to be the first?


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"The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Challenge was an enriching experience and incredibly beneficial on several different levels. During the event week, we were able to challenge our current market vision and the way we conduct business." Read More!
Sarah Cherruault & François Dupayrat of Team Auticiel, Télécom Ecole de Management, Evry, France.
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Virginia Tech, Virginia, USA


text:
Few Changes Ahead
ATA economist Bob Costello said large truckload carrier turnover averaged 121 percent during 2004 and 136 percent in the fourth quarter, both record levels.
Expect plenty of freight in the coming years but no relief from costly fuel or the driver shortage, according to a top trucking economist.
Freight has slacked a little, "but when we get back to the fall freight season, it's going to be very tight again," said Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations. He addressed about 400 industry executives in May at the Randall Trucking Spring Symposium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The symposium is sponsored by Randall Publishing, parent company of eTrucker.com, Overdrive, CCJ and Truckers News magazines.
Reports that U.S. manufacturing is dying because production is moving out of the country are misleading because they look only at jobs, Costello said. Technology gains allowed U.S. manufacturers to increase production by 60 percent during the 1990s, yet the manufacturing work force dropped 1 percent.
"U.S. manufacturers are going to continue to produce more – more to be hauled in trucks," he said. "What they're not going to do is create jobs."
The Gross Domestic Product should continue growing at about 3.3 percent each year, Costello said – a steady rate that should deter the Federal Reserve from frequent interest rate changes. Combine those trends with expectations of low inflation and reduced federal spending, and GDP growth should be good for the next five years, he said.
For-hire truck tonnage grew 5.7 percent in 2004, the biggest increase since 1998, and for-hire fleets are proving to be more efficient than private fleets, Costello said. "They haul 52 percent of the tonnage with 40 percent of the trucks," Costello said. "There's a lot of opportunity there."
Less-than-truckload has seen the strongest increase in freight volumes, 16.4 percent, based on year-to-date figures through March versus a year ago. Reefer is next highest, followed by flatbed.
During the same period there have been "unprecedented increases in average revenue per mile," Costello said. Truckload revenue per mile is up 13.3 percent. LTL revenue per ton is up 7.7 percent.
"Not only is the volume doing well, but the revenue's there, too," he said.
The industry appears to be adding enough trucks to keep up with demand, though other factors weigh against capacity, Costello said.
After the dramatic drop in Class 8 sales during the recession, followed by the minor pre-buy surge in advance of 2002 engines, sales have risen steadily, Costello said. However, "So much of what's going on is replacement," Costello said. Some carriers need to replace old pre-2002 trucks, or they want to have a young fleet "to hold off as long as possible in 2007″ when the next emissions mandate takes effect.
Also working against capacity are the inability of startup carriers to quickly assume the roles played by larger carriers that failed during the recession, loss of productivity from hours-of-service changes, a tight lending market and the lack of drivers.
OverdriveOnline.com strives to maintain an open forum for reader opinions. Click here to read our comment policy.


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I agree with other reviews about the great complimenting tastes of the two sauces; however, I would change a couple things about this dish. It felt like too much of a hodgepodge, and next time I would layer the filling between corn or flour tortillas, instead of using just a few baked tortilla chips. I also think the dish needed more of a tortilla to vegetable ratio, and more cheese!
Christmas Chilaquiles
Karry Hosford
This Mexican entrée was invented to use up leftovers, earning it the reputation of a working person's dish. This version gets its name by being served with both red and green chile sauces.
Yield: 8 servings
More From Cooking Light
Nutritional Information
Amount per serving
- Calories: 195
- Calories from fat: 30%
- Fat: 6.5g
- Saturated fat: 2.9g
- Monounsaturated fat: 1.6g
- Polyunsaturated fat: 1g
- Protein: 8.4g
- Carbohydrate: 31.1g
- Fiber: 6.9g
- Cholesterol: 15mg
- Iron: 1.9mg
- Sodium: 411mg
- Calcium: 139mg
- Cooking spray
- 2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 4 ears)
- 2 cups (1/4-inch) diced zucchini
- 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped Roasted Anaheim Chiles
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 ounces baked tortilla chips (about 2 cups), divided
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim Oaxaca cheese or Monterey Jack cheese, divided
- 2 cups Green Chile Sauce
- 2 cups New Mexican Red Chile Sauce
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add corn, zucchini, bell pepper, and onion; sauté 6 minutes or until browned. Add chopped chiles, oregano, and garlic; sauté 2 minutes.
- Arrange half of tortilla chips in a single layer in bottom of an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread half of corn mixture evenly over tortilla chips. Top with 1/2 cup cheese. Arrange remaining tortilla chips over cheese. Spread remaining corn mixture evenly over tortilla chips. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
- Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Top each serving with 1/4 cup Green Chile Sauce and 1/4 cup New Mexican Red Chile Sauce.
My Notes
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Christmas Chilaquiles Recipe at a Glance
- COURSE: Casseroles, Main Dishes
- CONVENIENCE: Entertaining
- CUISINE: American, Southwest
- MAIN INGREDIENT: Vegetables
- COOKING METHOD: Bake
- PUBLICATION: Cooking Light
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by Tv Fanatic | Apr 1, 2011 1:49PM EDT News
The Enchanted Donkey?!? Yes, this really is the name of 90210's April 17 episode, its first new installment in six weeks. What can fans expect to see during this hour? The CW has released its official episode description for the spring break-based outing. more
by Tv Fanatic | Mar 31, 2011 1:09PM EDT News
Gossip Girl and 90210 are off for another couple of weeks, but below is a promo for both of the shows' return. The CW is going coast-to-coast on Monday, April 18! It's unclear just how many of the clips in this minute-long spot are new (a bunch of them ar more
by Tv Fanatic | Mar 21, 2011 10:42AM EDT News
Naomi is totally getting knocked up. On TV columnist Michael Ausiello's Facebook page this week, he announced that a 90210 character will discover she's pregnant on the show's May 16 season finale. So, why do we suspect Naomi as the mother-to-be? Read Mor more
by Zap2It | Mar 10, 2011 1:07PM EST News
This season on "90210," Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes) has proved herself one of the most insufferably annoying characters on television, ever. Milking her 15 minutes of popstar fame for all its worth, she made a series of deplorable decisions for the sake of more
by Mtv Hollywood Crush | Mar 9, 2011 1:33PM EST Review
Ding dong the witch is dead! Finally, after months of sneaking and sabotaging, we said goodbye to not-so Innocent Cousin Emily. During her stay in Beverly Hills, she had managed to isolate Annie from her friends and boyfriend, steal her part in the local more
by Tv Fanatic | Mar 9, 2011 1:32PM EST News
Snoop Dogg. Naomi as a figure from Avatar . And the wrath of Adrianna. 90210 delivered a fun, storyline-packed episode this week. What did you think of the final installment for a few weeks? As you ponder developments and await the next new episode, we in more
by Tv Fanatic | Mar 9, 2011 1:26PM EST Review
Feeling a little blue? You'd have fit right in on "Blue Naomi." Navid continued on his quest to legitimize Shirazi Studios and turn it into a production powerhouse. Formalizing a partnership with Dixon, he acted more like an old school studio boss than th more
by Tv Overmind | Mar 9, 2011 1:25PM EST Review
Last night's 90210 sent us off on another hiatus break with a lot of reveals, hookups, and the sendoff of the most unwelcome houseguest ever in the witch known as Cousin Emily. All in all, a damn fine episode. But before we pop off champagne bottles in ho more


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YUMA, Ariz. (KSWT News 13) - Police want you to know about a convicted sex offender who has moved into a new neighborhood in Yuma.
Police say 37-year-old Frankie M. Munoz Jr. is now living at 1458 S. Thomas Avenue in Yuma.
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The smell of the salty water, the wind in my face, the gentle roar of the waves all combine to create a sense of peace and calm. ♪♫ paradise ♫♪
Say hello to #middleEast by #NubiaLounge ;) amazing date night with the girls @mona_abdel @Cecy @Andy & @Yasmine. #GirlsNightOut #bonding #thatswhatfriendsArefor (at Nubia Lounge)


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Last update: 04/09/2014 9:00am ET
HHS Ventures is managed by the HHS IDEA Lab within the Office of the Deputy Secretary and managed by the HHS Chief Technology Officer. HHS Ventures currently has $100,000 to obligate in FY2014 towards innovation activities within the Department and as determined by the Secretary. In addition to these funds, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has committed an additional $50,000 to support projects through the HHS Ventures mechanism.
HHS Ventures teams are able to request up to $50,000 to go towards implementing their project. Applicants are asked to submit an "Essay / Proposal" not to exceed 10,000 characters. Among the information included in this Essay should be a reiteration of the requested dollar amount and a justification for this requested dollar amount. The justification should delineate specific tools and/or services and their costs. Teams that make it into the second stage of the Ventures selection process may be asked to provide a line-itemed budget. Funds will not be delegated until a sufficient budget is presented. Funds are transferred from OS GDM to the OpDivs via an Intradepartmental Delegation of Authority (IDDA).
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- You are here:
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Catholics already have a celebration in December in honor of a figure with a nine-month gestation, and that's exactly how long it took the latest Mercedes Benz Popemobile to go from conception to delivery. While The Messiah arrived in a manger, the new Popemobile was delivered by company head ...
Look around. See anyone who could stand to lose a few pounds? Of course you do. Americans are fat. And not in a funny, two-twins-riding-on-the-back-of-motorcycles way, but in a depressing, billions-wasted-on-health-care-costs-associated-with-obesity way. That's why you have guys like New York ...
Kia Pop Concept – Click above for high-res image galleryWhen the Paris Motor Show opens up next month, Kia will roll out a new battery powered commuter concept. Thus far, Kia has only released a few details about its door-stop-shaped Pop Concept, including its sub-10-foot length and its ...


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How can I become more healthy and fit?
October 22, 2012
I've never eaten too healthy in my life. I feel like it's taking a toll on my body and my mood at a relatively young age. More details inside. (long and some things about my past)
I'm a 23 year old woman, graduated from college, working part time. Just a lil about myself. I'm adopted from a different country. I grew up in the U.S. with my mother and father. From a young age, I was always very very skinny...and also a picky eater. Not once do I remember eating anything green. My parents were so worried about my weight. They actually let me have spaghetti every night for dinner, because if there wasn't something I liked then I would go without food. Or I would just eat candy.
I remember the first time I had pizza I was in 4th grade. I have never ever eaten broccoli in my life.My parents were worried that I was bulimic or anorexic, which I wasn't. The thought of throwing up freaks me out and back then I didn't realize how skinny I was. In high school, I went on birth control because my periods were so heavy and cramping was way too bad I couldn't go to school. The birth control helped me with my periods but I started to gain weight.
In about a year and a half I gained about 50 lbs. A professional I was seeing told me in a nice way that they were worried about me. So I started to do exercises on Comcast T.V and right about when I started to work out every night I got a full time job at a fast food place. I guess between working out and snacking every few hours at work, I lost 30 lbs. But basically all the fat I had didn't seem to come off...I'm still pudgy in a few areas.
This all happened about 3 years ago. And I've kept the weight off. Everyone that sees me freaks out cause I lost 30 lbs, but I still feel big. It is hard being told I am a good weight, because mostly I am the only one who sees me naked. I want to tone up. It's hard to tell I am a bit pudgy when I am in clothes. Which works fine for me, but I wish I looked the same naked, basically!Haha.
Here's my problem. I am still a picky eater. I don't eat salad, and the one time I tried it was hard to get down. I had it with ranch dressing and forced myself to eat some, but still wasn't satisfied. Later on that night my stomach feel really bad and I ended up throwing the salad back up. I doubt there was anything wrong with the salad, but I feel like my body just rejected it. I drink soda and was addicted to lemonade, but now I have told the person I live with to stop buying it cause we shared it and they were cool with that, so lemonade is out of the picture. I do, have, and will drink water, but I feel like I get a headache without anything sugary for me. Also while I never drank alcohol that much, I have decided not to drink anymore at all.
Here's a list of things I do eat that are healthy, but I feel like I don't eat them enough:
Cantelope (hardly)
Strawberries (hardly)
Bananas(at least 3 times a week)
Eggs (twice a week for breakfast, scrambled)
For about a month I went to the gym, 5 times a week, for an hour and a half, lifted weights, cardio, and sit ups for about 10 minutes, and I was having a smoothie after I got back from the gym. I would blend raspberries, blueberries with yogurt and silk milk. I didn't put any supplements in my smoothie because I feel like that is cheating mostly. I stopped that because one day my roommate broke the smoothie machine, and I've been slacking on getting one.
Here's a list of things I eat too much...
Pasta (4+ times a week) with Alfredo,marinara sauce, any kind of sauce and sometimes just with butter. At places like Noodles and Company or Friday's with the Cajun shrimp.
Toast with Reese's peanut butter for breakfast everyday. Except on weekends.
Chips...potato chips mostly maybe once a week.
Candy...like starbursts and skittles. Maybe twice a week.
Pizza...at least twice a week and more then two slices.
Chicken...maybe once or twice a month, but not a lot of it.
It's pretty horrible. But even though I am not gaining weight rapidly, I am getting more pudgy around my waist, and my arms are becoming flabby. I'm 5'4 and 120-125 lbs depending on how much weight I gain or lose without even trying. I don't go to the gym anymore...I used to everyday for a month, but I stopped.
My boyfriend eats worse than me, but he doesn't gain anything at all. So when him and I hang out which is only like twice a week, we always go out to eat. I feel bad asking him to buy healthy food and I'm already weird about money and I feel like a lot of healthy meals are WAYYYY too expensive. I've looked around online for meals, but feel like if I did make any I wouldn't like them or would need to go out any buy too much stuff, and what if I don't like what I buy? Just a waste of money.
The worst part was after a weekend with my boyfriend the next day I just felt like crap. I felt really tired and just down in the dumps and wasn't acting normal. I just felt like something was off in my body. I had to tell my roommate not to buy anything candy wise, or cookie wise, or any soda, which they had no problem with and they said if they did they would keep it in their room and not tell me. I knew something was off because I was driving to a friends and realized I was going 40 mph on a 60 mph road. I wasn't dehydrated because I had been drinking water with all the crappy meals we had that weekend.
So I guess my question is what are some easy foods to make, buy, and that are no so expensive? How can I get over my picky food eating? I did go to a counselor when I was 14 because my parents were scared I had an eating disorder. I hate my pudge, but I want to eat better! Not like a health freak, and I never want to go back to being overly skinny, but I want to tone up and instead of fat, I want muscle. I'm not willing to take weight lose supplements because I take medicine that would interfere with that. I also feel like since I am eating crappy I have less energy to go to the gym...Any motivation or words of advice on food, getting over pickiness, and exercises would be very helpful.
posted by
Health & Fitness
(28 answers total)
14 users marked this as a favorite
You need to go to a doctor if you're having experiences like what you're describing. There are bigger issues going on here than needing to "eat healthy", which is a vague and unachievable goal until you figure out what you are trying to fix. You will not be able to fix your body image by "trying harder" and your health problems will not magically disappear by eating more cantaloupe. You have a BMI of approximately 21, which is well-within normal body weight. Based solely on that, you do not need to lose weight. The fact that you are having health issues that exist despite being normal weight indicates to me you need medical attention, not Ask Metafilter's attention.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
One possibility is a sensory processing disorder; there's a
self-test here that might be helpful
. If this sounds familiar, working with an occupational therapist could be helpful. Sharon Heller's
Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight
also has some helpful coping strategies.
posted by
pie ninja
on October 22, 2012 [
1 favorite
Some of what you write makes it sound like you're at high risk for an eating disorder. But as someone who's about two inches taller and about 10 pounds heavier than you, so probably with a similar body composition, I get where you're coming from on the body image stuff. I am a healthy weight and size, but would still be healthy if I lost 10 pounds, and wouldn't mind looking 10 pounds skinnier (or the same weight with more muscle and less jiggles). That said, trying to tackle weight loss and healthy eating at the same time is hard, and since you ARE a healthy weight I think you should focus on the food first. If you decide to lose weight later that's fine, within reason, but first try to get some healthy eating habits down.
Question: How much of your limited food experience is because you're still picky? How much is because you're just not familiar with what is out there? Or is there a bit of both going on -- perhaps you're afraid to explore new food because you don't know what is out there?
posted by
on October 22, 2012
Thanks saeculorum for your input. I want to gain muscle though....so I would lose some fat, but replace it with muslce, which would make me weigh more..which is fine with me.
And thanks pie ninja for the book suggestion. I actually do like to read.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
Croutonsupafreak- I think it is a bit of both! I have been out to places with friends and at friends houses and will eat some new things, but nothing I have ever really liked. I do also kind of blame my parents. They let me have anything I wanted when I was younger, and they did buy me a lot of candy. I feel like they were too worried about me not eating at all, then having me eat pasta every night for dinner. And now the people I am with, don't eat that much healthy either.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
Have you ever had a physical? I don't think you need to lose weight or go to the gym, I think you need to have a full physical with bloodwork and get a referral to see a nutritionist or dietitian. There are professionals who are trained to help you learn how to eat a healthy diet and fit it into your lifestyle.
Categorizing foods as "healthy" or "unhealthy" and trying to eat as many of the "healthy" foods as possible is not how you create a healthy diet, and I honestly think you need the assistance of a professional to learn the basics. It's nothing to be ashamed of, many adults are never taught how to eat a balanced diet, but you should start now and get help from a qualified expert.
posted by
on October 22, 2012 [
2 favorites
It just seems like ton of carbs to me. If I ate like that I'd feel terrible all the time. It also seems like you might be reliant on sugar to the point of mild addiction. saeculorum (and others) may be right and you may have bigger concerns than simply diet, but in the interest of trying to give an answer:
What I'd suggest you do is gradually reduce the carbs you eat in favor of protein and fat. I'd also limit your sugar intake and gradually switch from soda to anything else.
Try an experiment where you drink nothing but water and unsweetened tea or coffee all day (and at least 4 glasses of water), move your carbs (pizza, pasta, bread) to whole grains, try to eat an amount of protein (chicken, fish, shrimp, eggs) equal to the size of a deck of cards per day, and try your best to eat one fruit or vegetable everyday. I'd also switch to a peanut butter with no added sugar. It's not perfect but any of these small changes should help you feel better without a drastic diet change.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
Your question is pretty negative about yourself.
To the part I can try to answer:
what are some easy foods to make, buy, and that are no so expensive?
Cooking, once you figure out that
you don't need recipes
, is truly really easy. You just combine things you like (or things you like with one thing you're questioning). Recipes can be stressful - who wants to buy a $10 jar of rare capers you don't regularly eat for an untested recipe? If you use recipes at all, use them to find general cooking times and procedures and then do whatever you want with what you already have.
So say I have some mushrooms, broccoli, eggs, rice, flour, spices and oils in my house. I could make a fried rice, I could make a sauteed veg dish, I could make fritters, I could eat the mushrooms and broccoli raw, etc.
Farmers' markets are great for cheap produce. This past Saturday, I bought sweet corn, radishes, summer squash, satsuma, and skim milk at the market. Then I came home and, never having done it before and without a recipe, I boiled the sweet corn in water and skim milk and added sauteed radish and summer squash and spices and made a soup. It was delicious. While I cooked, I looked up general recipes for making soup just to check my instincts and found out that apparently you shouldn't add milk until the end. Whatever, mine came out fine. And then I ate a satsuma for dessert.
posted by
on October 22, 2012 [
1 favorite
I think her main goal is to feel healthier. I definitely notice that when I'm eating more nutritiously, I have more energy and am in a better state of mind, so I feel like I understand her motivation (correct me if I'm off track). I noticed you are already doing some things that have really helped me a lot like drinking more water and not keeping certain junk foods around. I'm wondering if perhaps in regards to your gym routine, if you were attempting to do too much. Did you enjoy it or dread it?
In regards to picky eating, I'm not sure if my advice will be doable, depending on how severe of a picky eater you are, but I can let you know what works for me. A lot of it is based upon the idea that trying a food once is not really sufficient to determine if you truly like it, so if a food is not completely offensive and you just aren't sure about it, it might be worth it to keep it in your rotation for awhile and then evaluate after a couple months if you've adjusted to it. I think some foods just take awhile to get used to and there are many foods that I only like when they are prepared certain ways. A lot of this just takes some time experimenting.
For example, I was always really frustrated that I could not stand uncooked tomatoes. So just this year, I finally had the idea to try eating them with hummus, which was something I enjoyed. After awhile I got used to the taste with the hummus and was ready to start eating them on their own. I also want to point out that hummus was something I did not enjoy the first time I ate it but I gave myself a couple more chances and was able to adjust to it.
Salad was actually a really hard one for me. I never ate salad by choice until my senior year of high school. I would usually try to eat some side salad with maybe ranch dressing, like you said, and did not enjoy it at all. Then I became determined to make myself a salad eater and set a goal to eat salad x times a month. I never really fell in love with salad but now I eat it fairly regularly and in the interest of fulfilling my goal, I discovered ways to make it more palatable. For example, I learned that if I have meat, beans, fruit or nuts in my salad I enjoy it a lot more. There are lots of different dressings you can use. I still don't like ranch and am more likely to pick a vinaigrette. Maybe you would enjoy something sweeter like raspberry vinaigrette? The same thing goes for the lettuce. If you don't like iceberg (or whatever you tried), you can always try a different leaf.
I think you'll have the most success though if you focus on making small changes. Can you change up some of the things you regularly eat, just slightly, to incorporate (more) vegetables? For example, find a pasta dish with vegetables mixed in. I just wanted to offer you some encouragement because I know changing up what you eat can be hard. Honestly, if I ate what appealed to me most for every meal, I would eat mostly peanut butter sandwiches but like you, I've noticed that I'm more energetic and generally feel better when I make an effort to eat more balanced meals and I have found it ultimately very satisfying to be able to start eating foods I had previously been unable to. A final trick I will use, is that I will make deals with myself or set goals. I might say, If you want to eat that peanut butter sandwich, that's fine, but you have to have a side of vegetables as well. This way I'm not depriving myself but I'm also able to keep my nutrient intake up.
posted by
on October 22, 2012 [
1 favorite
I have been were you are. I felt nauseous when I tried new vegetables (never puked it up tho, but really wanted to.) Got headaches when I didn't have soda or eat sugar, it was miserable. I also smoked like a chimney. I was 21-23 during this time.
Basically, you have to start out with small changes and goals. Also - stop eating like your boyfriend, his metabolism is higher, your's isn't. Been there, done that. What I did was every time boyfriend wants food and I'm not really hungry, I eat fruit. We still share a meal, but it's a better choice for me than another slice of pizza.
I would start by looking up veggie side recipes and picking on that looked good to me. My hands down absolute favorite is steamed broccoli with lemon or lime juice on it. Steam for 8-10 minutes, make sure all the broccoli is cooked and dump some lemon juice on it. As I've cleaned up my diet, I don't get queasy when I eat veggies and salads. Realize salad doesn't have to be iceberg lettuce and ranch! It can be spinach, with strawberries, maybe a bit of cheese and some nuts with a balsamic vinaigrette.
For me, cooking doesn't come naturally and if I don't have a recipe, it's not happening in an edible way. This websitee
is a godsend.
recipe is also my favorite of all time and it's super fast, and super easy. My bf will eat all of this if I let him.
is also a great website to help you along. It helps with motivation and sticking with it during a suck ass day. It's going to be a process. Most of my changes I started this past January, and I've lost 15lbs with a better diet and exercise. So it's taken almost year to do this but it totally worth it.
posted by
on October 22, 2012 [
5 favorites
I do, have, and will drink water, but I feel like I get a headache without anything sugary for me.
I'll second those who say you should visit a doctor and get a physical if you can, mentioning this issue specifically. My SIL had similar feelings and turned out to have blood sugar issues that needed attention.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
Thanks for the reply all of you. And as far as working out goes I do sometimes get into this work out mode and do enjoy working out. I used to get up 5 times a week at 9 A.M. and go to the gym with my friend. Like I said it worked for a month, but this was while I was in college still, so I liked to keep my day busy, and since school was in the afternoon I'd go in the morning. Now I work in the morning and rest during the evening. I feel like eating better would give me more motivation to work out. Also working out made me a happier person in general, and was something to prevent the "pudginess" I now have.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. I feel good because I can actually eat tomatoes,but only cooked one, so maybe I will try to eat the uncooked tomatoes too...
posted by
on October 22, 2012
Yes, I agree with the answer on small goals. Here are some examples of small goals:
- Change all soda to diet soda
- Trying sundried tomatoes (if you like cooked, sundried could be a good mid-way step)
- Make pasta at home instead of eating it out. Pasta meals at restaurants are much less healthy than what you'd make at home, they've got a ton more oil/butter/salt in them. Then you can switch to whole wheat pasta from regular pasta.
- Pick a new fruit and new vegetable that you want to like more and try to work it into meals. You can find great ways to sneak fruits and vegetables into your diet if you look at parenting websites for picky eating children (seriously! I am a reformed picky eater myself). A lot of the suggestions involve either cutting things up really tiny and mixing them into other things or blending them up. Get a new blender on Craigslist for cheap.
- Instead of trying to force yourself to eat a bowl of salad, try the components of salad. How about just carrots? How about carrots with peanut butter?
Also, you should look at your list of what you eat and consider that not all the things you've listed as your 'bad diet' are actually that bad. For example, peanut butter toast and chicken. You can definitely continue to eat these. Peanut butter is not 'bad'. For the toast, you can switch to multigrain or wheat bread if you're not currently eating that. Chicken is also not a problem - it is a part of a healthy diet. It is a lean white meat and you can really eat as much of it as you'd like - far more important than the chicken itself is what you're eating it with or in. Focus in on cutting things like candy, potato chips, and regular soda out of your diet completely.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
I also wanted to add: when I was just a little bit younger than you in college I survived on ramen noodles, peanut butter and jelly, and macaroni and cheese. I would not eat any 'ethnic food'. I started hanging out with people who loved food and loved to cook who showed me the right things to try and just kept on trying things. Sometimes you have to try things different ways and paired/mixed with things you like, to get used to them and then you can branch out with them on their own. Now it is 10 years later and I eat quite a variety of fruits and vegetables. I focus on the ones I like but I am still pushing myself to try more things. I now enjoy many kinds of sushi, Indian/Thai/Korean food, and other ethnic foods I used to refuse to taste (I almost threw up the first several times I tried sushi but I got past it and now I love it). It has really broadened what I can do when eating out with friends and family, and I feel way better physically too. So I know from experience - you can do this and it really will change your life!
posted by
on October 22, 2012
Chicken? Chicken is not unhealthy.
Same with pasta, peanut butter, etc.
I eat significantly more candy than you do, and I would not consider myself "unhealthy," whatever that means.
Here are a few problems, though:
1. Reese's peanut butter is full of sugar. Eat unsweetened or low-sugar peanut butter. Peanut butter on a banana is a good, healthy snack that should keep you full in between meals.
2. Chicken and pasta are unhealthy if you eat out a lot, especially at chain restaurants. Do you know how to cook? Do you have access to a kitchen?
3. Even if you don't like salad, there are a lot of ways to cook vegetables. It's fall - roast some squash!
I hate my pudge, but I want to eat better! Not like a health freak, and I never want to go back to being overly skinny, but I want to tone up and instead of fat, I want muscle. I'm not willing to take weight lose supplements because I take medicine that would interfere with that. I also feel like since I am eating crappy I have less energy to go to the gym...Any motivation or words of advice on food, getting over pickiness, and exercises would be very helpful.
It doesn't really sound like your diet is the problem. Maybe it's part of the problem, but I think you're emotional issues around food and your body are tripping you up. The language you use to describe yourself if very negative.
For someone with body image issues, I'd suggest finding a physical activity that you enjoy outside the gym. The little calorie counters (which are mostly full of shit, by the way) can lead to obsessive thoughts. Can you go hiking? Ride a bike? Start couch to 5k? Dance? Find a form of exercise that you genuinely enjoy.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
It's kind of hard to explain that I think food is the bigger issue here. I'm young, so if I did continue to eat the way I do I wouldn't gain a lot of weight for another few years. That is my whole point. It's not about being negative to me. I do have a little pudge, not the biggest, but sometimes my pants can feel tighter one week and looser the next, so I'm basing this all on facts. I'm MUCH better off now, then I was a few years ago when I weighed 30 lbs more and developing a double chin like some people said (and not in a rude way). I don't see anything wrong with trying to improve my body instead of eating unhealthy and trying to work out.
Also I heard that diet soda is way worse than regular soda.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
So I'm kind of a picky eater, too, and the thing you need to do is identify what, exactly, you're picky about.
For example, if you put a slice of tomato on anything, I will not eat it because I hate tomato. Only I don't, as it turns out, hate the actual taste of tomato. I will eat tomato sauce and tomato soup and ketchup and...well, you get the idea. What I hate is that kind of slimy, rubbery texture.
So I can avoid things with that kind of slimy/rubbery texture.
Likewise, I seem to have the gene where I taste the bitter in green plants much more intensely than normal people do. It's not that I object to lettuce on principle, it's pretty much just watery and crunchy, but then I get a load of OH GOD BITTER flooding my tastebuds.
Makes it much easier to pick and choose now that I know what to avoid (textures and bitter) rather than just EWW VEGETABLES.
posted by
Ghostride The Whip
on October 22, 2012
I don't see anything wrong with trying to improve my body instead of eating unhealthy and trying to work out.
Yeah, sure. But you seem to have very vague, unhelpful ideas about eating healthily and working out. For example, you use the word "tone." You can't really tone your body the way that I suspect you think that you can. You can build muscle in specific places, and by building muscle you can increase your resting metabolism. You can lose fat all over your body, but you can't spot reduce.
You also use the words "healthy" and "unhealthy" as if they are some sort of dichotomy. I am very fit, healthy, thin person, and I drink somewhat regularly. You can be healthy, fit, and thin if you eat a snickers bar every now and then or have a few beers on the weekend. I think you need to learn more about nutrition and exercise, and you can start by asking your doctor for guidance.
I would definitely eat out a lot less, though. Cook meals with your boyfriend - easier on the wallet and a lot better for you. My dinner last week was cooked spinach, brown rice, and some sort of fish (I think it was Tilapia, but I honestly don't remember). But even homemade pizza will be better for you than almost anything you eat at a restaurant. Chain restaurants, especially, put so much junk in their food it's horrifying.
And diet soda is bad for you. Regular soda is bad for you. Stop drinking soda.
Start slow. It sounds like you went way too whole hog with the gym thing. Start with three times a week, maybe, for forty-five minutes. If you can keep that up, it's better for you in the long-run than go every day. If you don't have a base level fitness, you can really wear yourself out.
posted by
on October 22, 2012
First, go see a doctor. They're the best guide to your health.
But yeah, we come from different backgrounds, but I can relate to an extent. On one hand I'm from an "ethnic" culture and was exposed to a wide variety of food as a child, but on the other hand, when I immigrated, my mom didn't know anything about raising a child on her own and being in charge of the cooking (she used to have hired help), so I lived off pizza pops and cheese whiz. It was so gross. So what ended up happening was that I became a young adult that was "cultured" enough to appreciate almost all food (and I'm spoiled by the sushi options in Vancouver!) but I was crap at feeding myself and was genuinely unhealthy for a long time.
I'm near to the same age as you, and there's a wide range in how food-literate people are in our age. Some are foodies that grow their own tomatoes, make the most delicious healthy foods ever, and there's some that live off canned soup and cheap pizza. I've moved steadily to the former instead of the latter, and it was a loooong several year process even though I already appreciated most foods... it's the habits, food planning, and "taste" for healthy food that took a while.
Like others, I think healthy food is a spectrum, not a binary healthy vs. unhealthy. It's about the portion of how much you eat compared to what. And it's important to do it all gradually. Quitting things cold turkey never worked well for me. Here's my own health journey (of course, YMMV, especially if you have an eating disorder).
-I gave up soda (I used to drink soda daily) and lost my headaches. I drink as much or more alcohol than others, but it doesn't really affect me the way soda did.
-I gave up daily coffee and now mostly drink tea and the occasional coffee on weekends, which helped me focus on getting a better night's sleep instead of trying to get caffeine to do the heavy lifting, which used to result in energy crashes and excessive napping at odd hours. It was BAAAD. So glad I'm not addicted to coffee anymore.
-I started cooking for myself, which isn't easy for a broke student living by herself, but I found which ingredients were necessary and just cooked in bulk. You can cook up something really good with 5 ingredients or less, trust me. You just need good quality ingredients, not pricey ones necessary, but good quality and/or fresh. Always buy good cheese!
-I started liking salads. I realized that my family was just crap at preparing salads. Iceberg lettuce and thousand island dressing or ranch is so unappealing for me. It's just that I used to know only one kind of salad and I hated it, but when I got exposed to other salads, the world opened up to me. Heck, I'm planning to eat salads for lunch this week and enjoy it! I like spinach, mixed herbs, nuts, green onions, alfalfa sprouts in my salads. I also like to mix up the dressings. I can't stand ranch dressing, I am more of a vinaigrette person. Also, try putting fruits into your salad if you're more of a fruit person!
-I phased out super processed junk food for slightly healthier snacks. I went from super processed cheesy chips to yoghurt and fruit, edamame beans, peanuts, fruit by itself, healthier crackers. I still have a processed mac and cheese snack about once a month because you know, it won't kill me.
-I switched from having a very processed and meat-oriented diet to a more home-prepared and semi-vegetarian diet. It was a hard process but I decided to try it out, and it worked out well for me. I went through a rough year and a half where I hated ALL the lunches I prepared. Hated it. I didn't know what to do with broccoli other than eat it raw and dump it in a dip! Urgh, it tasted like boiled sock! Now after years of trial and error, I can make something in less than 5 minutes and be very tasty at the same time.
-Food started tasting different and BETTER as I switched to a less processed diet. I stopped needing as much seasoning or cheese or salt because I started just liking the flavour of a nice fresh vegetable. I feel like my taste buds became alive.
But yeah, good on you for thinking about your health now, you're further ahead than many other people. But take it slow and don't beat yourself up. It's a journey. Be patient and be kind to your body. Your body doesn't want change too quickly, just introduce things gradually.
Also regarding your exercising, go into it slowly, and maybe find something you're more passionate about? Dance? A sport? Combat? A community event? A Wii? It doesn't need to be "at the gym exercise"... it just needs to get you moving. I always have hated exercise until I found what I was passionate about, and man, did I get some muscles. Find something fun, and if it's fun enough for you to throw yourself into for at least 5 hours a week, the fit body will be a side effect. See physical activity as an opportunity to try out new things or go on adventures, don't look at it as a chore. The motivation flows easier that way.
I have tonnes of recipes, although I'm not sure if any are up your alley since I'm an adventurous very not picky semi-vegetarian. However, pastas and alfredo sauces are my comfort foods too. Me mail me if you want some recipes. But yes, how about just adding mushrooms and shrimp to an alfredo? Or sliced celery in a tomato-based pasta? Maybe vegetables and other foods will be more palatable that way.
posted by
Hawk V
on October 23, 2012
Also, maybe try to go for a more natural/organic peanut butter (the kind that you have to stir). It'll have less sugar, but it'll be yummy and satisfying. Even store brand natural/organic peanut butter tastes really good to me.
You'll also find that once you reduce the amount of processed sugars in your system, you'll start realizing that whenever you crave something sweet, you're actually craving fruit. And sweetened snacks and stuff will start becoming too sweet for you. You'll also start appreciating things that are more tart or have a more subtle taste. I used to hate natural cherries, but now I love them. I also used to think that brown rice tasted like tree bark. I still love white rice, but I like brown rice more now, and with the added benefit that my energy level seems to be more constant throughout the day.
And if you have a sweet tooth, maybe just go for some dark chocolate? Eat rich high quality foods, it'll actually reduce your cravings. Instead of Reese's peanut butter, have slices of banana on your toast with natural peanut butter, and maybe sprinkle in some dark chocolate for a treat once in a while, and it would be especially tasty if you had a sandwich press. Yum! Now I'm starting to wish I had some bananas...
posted by
Hawk V
on October 23, 2012
I know people with food issues who like
The Fresh 20,
which puts together well-rounded daily meal plans and shopping lists for $5 a month. Haven't tested it myself, but you might find it helpful.
posted by
on October 23, 2012
Honestly, one of the best things I did personally is to simply round up all the essential nutrients as supplements - whey protein, potassium (citrate was the best, tastes ok and doesn't come with extras like gluconate), iron, everything in the RDIs as well as biotin and leutine (sp?).
Only the essential nutrients. A lot came from life brand chewable multivitamin. Then divide a bit more than the AI for each one into 5 parts or so - you can't just eat them all in the morning I found, that doesn't work - and add some crackers.
That was my base, for about 3 months. And I drank just water otherwise, filtered brita is a lot tastier.
And then *don't worry*. It's cheap, ultra convenient, and I didn't feel deprived if I didn't eat any particular meal. It gave me the freedom to miss meals, which meant freedom to experiment and try all kinds of new things, focusing on agricultural not processed foods and produce in particular. Also, I lost a lot of weight by just not bothering to eat, basically.
I found my impatience regarding learning how to cook was much reduced as I sort of liked being around food more.
It was so handy I use it in a modified form about 6 months later now, added creatine which helps sustain and improve muscle mass (20g per day again divided by 5 into separate doses). Now I combine the whey, potassium, 15 g ground chia ( for ALA) and 25g.day of powdered freeze dried parsley (I just computed that it was a food that was easy to add and relatively nutrient dense and low cost) and creatine into a drink mix, and append the other supplements in pill form (fish oil for epa/dha (7 with 180 mg dha and 120 epa I think each), multivitamin, choline, iron, calcium and magnesium and zinc plus sunflower seeds for LA though those aren't needed much as LA is pretty abundant in food and I'm switching to safflower oil on vegetables soon). I could . If I'm not eating anything else, which is often, I'll use that as my base on which to build by adding veggies etc., subtracting supplements if/when the nutrients are displaced by actual food.
The main way I'd like to improve this is by making it a solid instead of a drink mix, for convenience and because there is research that indicates liquid calories are processed differently than solid by satiety centers in our brains. Haven't quite figured that out yet, if I mix a bit of water in it turns into a dough but then I have to either add a preservative of some sort or remove water again to reduce the water activity low enough that it will keep without refrigeration... and it's kind of hard to experiment. A stopgap measure is to put some powder in a plastic ziploc sandwich bag, to which water can be added on-the-go and I can drink from.
I feel and look better now, a 5 9 guy, I went from 88 kg to 66 kg in only a few months. But I should warn you that I have started going back up again now slowly. Such is the problem; ultimately we live in a poor food environment, and I think a good part of the solution is to use your neocortex to try to maintain your own micro-environment. What that means is changing the relative difficulty of obtaining various foods (especially in a daily or hourly time window) such that it becomes relatively more biased in favour of more agricultural, relatively unprocessed and relatively tasty (in season, spices etc) lower calorie density food being easier to obtain. To read more on this I suggest Marion nestle's books and blog.
Doesn't sound too healthy? it's not. It's not a healthy diet, really, but it's what worked for me. A truly healthy diet as described by Nestle, for instance, is just too much work and too expensive right now to be practical. This is better than nothing. It's wheylent green, basically. And it's as good as it gets for now. This is the world we live in these days.
People won't switch to wheylent green because they "have to", they will do it because they think it is somehow smart and they are beating the odds. Which it is, given certain realities. But ultimately the only good solution is to change those larger scale realities.
In my local grocery store, a single peach, maybe 80calories, costs more than a 225 bag of flavoured corn chips, 1500 calories. And try comparing it with chocolate. Peaches are food, they are not supposed to be rare treats. Chips are treats, not food. Until this is reflected in the food environment we will keep having these problems.
posted by
Nish ton
on October 23, 2012
I'm right there with figuring out what you like to eat and combining them: Mr. Telophase used to think he hated salads. But I discovered that he likes romaine lettuce, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Hey presto: a salad. (He still won't eat them without ranch dressing or ginger dressing, but hey, he's eating salad!)
I'm still pretty picky about vegetables, but I've come up with workarounds. I find most lettuces unbearably bitter (and haaaate cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, and have never met a squash I didn't loathe), but (a) salt takes away some of the bitter, and (b) bitterness varies between variety, so if I stick to iceberg or butter lettuce and other light green ones, I can usually deal with the taste. Also, in extremis, I will put a vinaigrette dressing on it if I'm given a large bowl of dark green bitter ick.
I dislike the vast majority of dressings, and rarely eat dressing on a salad. I routinely encounter servers at restaurants who can't believe that I'd eat a salad dry, but in those cases I tell them to bring a couple of lemon wedges, which I then carefully ignore. (Well. Occasionally I sprinkle some on the salad, but mostly I just give them to Mr. T for his ice tea.)
My husband also dislikes most raw or steamed vegetables, but I've found that roasting them changes or destroys whatever it is that he objects to, so roasted green beans, asparagus, portobello mushrooms, and roasted tomatoes are on the menu. (Now I just have to find a way to get him to appreciate the beauty that is peas!)
Simple vegetable roasting: put a sheet of aluminum foil in a baking dish or cookie sheet. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400°. Spread your vegetable out on the foil in a single layer (if it's tomatoes, cut them in half, cut side up. Feel free to scrape out any oogy bits that weird you out. Other chunky vegetables cut into 1-2" pieces). Sprinkle them with olive oil (toss them in it, if you're so inclined). Dot them with butter if you're feeling luxurious. Salt and pepper them. Put the dish into the oven.
It'll take 10-60 minutes depending on the thickness and heartiness of the vegetable: tomatoes and green beans closer to 10, asparagus more like 15-25, potatoes more like 45-60. Poke a fork, sharp knife, or a skewer through a piece periodically to judge how done they are--when it goes through easily, it's done but you're the best judge of your preferred mouthfeel and may want to stop when there's a little resistance (better for green beans and asparagus). You can also cut little bits off and taste them as you cook, to check that it gets to a texture you like.
If you're lucky, all the oil will have been contained by the foil so all you have to do is throw it away and the cleanup is done. If you're not lucky, at least much less of it will now be baked to the pan.
You can jazz it up by sprinkling a bit of (fresh! not from a bottle!) lemon juice over them before or after cooking, or sprinkling various fresh or dried herbs on them. (start with rosemary and thyme, and experiment from there.)
posted by
on October 23, 2012 [
1 favorite
You sound like you have a sugar addiction. Sugar withdrawal symptoms are headaches and lethargy. I would seek advice from a nutritionist. I am aspiring to be a nutritionist and you are the exact person I'd love to work with. Look at www.coachcalorie.com for great articles on healthy weightloss, fitness tips, and recipes and nutrition. I learned a lot from this site. You need to take baby steps as your diet is mainly comprised of high starch and high carb and processed foods. It will take time for you slowly to incorporate healthy foods and stop eating so much candy. Start with eliminating soda completely and more water. Then add one vegetable a day and one fruit a day. Work on incorporating more fruits and veggies and don't focus on what not to eat. If you keep in mind the concept of whole foods, real food, unprocessed food, this will help.
Regarding toning up- lift weights or do exercises involving your own body weight as resistance (pushups, lunges, lower leg lifts, squats).
posted by
Summer Fall
on October 23, 2012 [
1 favorite
Just to add on to my comments based on the responses:
- I double checked this before my post but did not link it: Reese's peanut butter is no more 'unhealthy' than other peanut butters, with
190 calories per serving, 7g carbs, 3g sugar
. I eat the Fifty50 low glycemic peanut butter personally, but it really isn't much different:
190 calories per serving, 7g carbs, 1g sugar
. So from my perspective if you like Reese's peanut butter, go to town.
- You said "I've heard diet soda is way worse for you than regular soda." "Way worse"... well, I would have to disagree, especially if you're trying to prevent diabetes. Compare diet Coke to regular Coke.
If you're trying to avoid calories, diet Coke has zero calories, regular Coke has 240 per 20 ounce bottle.
Don't want to eat too much sugar/carbs? Regular Coke has 65grams of carbs and all of them are sugar. Diet Coke has zero grams of carbs and zero sugar.
So, why is diet Coke "way worse" than regular Coke, when it has far fewer calories, carbs, or sugar (i.e. zero compared to a lot)? Well, probably because whoever told you that is afraid of artificial sweeteners. Diet Coke is sweetened with aspartame. Although many people are wary of
, the last comprehensive medical review in 2007 reported the scientific evidence showed that it was safe for human consumption. Now, I wouldn't recommend you drink a 6 pack a day of diet Cokes or any other aspartame containing soda. As ablazingsaddle noted, no soda is good for you. But we're talking about baby steps to improve your diet, and switching from soda to diet soda is, I maintain, a good baby step, and much easier to do than completely cutting soda from your diet. Once you've switched to diet, you could then work on cutting down how many times a week you drink it.
posted by
on October 23, 2012
Just stumbled across this free course in nutrition through U of WA Seattle - Open UW:
Good luck!
(Keep at it - it's worth it! You can feel sooo much better than you can even imagine!)
posted by
on October 23, 2012
I think I am addicted to sugar.Not just in soda, but any desserts or any food they serve at restaurants. I've tested this theory out. I have a headache one day right? I will eat at home, make pasta, soup, or whatever. I'll feel alright. The next day I go to eat with friends at Denny's (yeah broke college graduate here :P) but then I feel amazing and happy the rest of the day. I'm just so sick of it.
Yeah and I'd rather just quit drinking soda all together then drink diet. Does diet have high corn fructose syrup in it too? I'll probably find this out on my own. I've been trying to read articles on why and how soda is bad for your body. I was highly maybe addicted to lemonade for a few years. I'd get up in the middle of the night and drink almost a half gallon. It was pretty bad. We don't keep soda in the house because the person I live with doesn't drink soda and I don't buy it. It's just at work, we get to drink whatever we want, so it's pretty easy to just grab a cup and fill it up with soda. Today though, instead of drinking soda I drank hot chocolate.
Someone mentioned I should take up a hobby that I enjoy besides the gym. This Saturday I'm going to start skydiving solo working towards my skydiving license. I know from skydiving tandem before staying hydrated like crazy is very important. My life is at stake and if I mess up just because I was hungry..well you know :)
posted by
on October 24, 2012
Yay, skydiving sounds fun!
Yeah, just try to find other drinks to replace soda and eventually get to mostly water. Maybe if you're looking for a soda alternative, sparkling water with a slice of lime is a good alternative? San Pallegrino makes me feel fancy. Or maybe Ginger Ale without High Fructose Corn Syrup?
Don't know if you live in a cold city, but bagged/loose-leaf teas are not a bad substitute to drink in large quantities. I replaced my soda addiction with coffee, so try not to go there.
posted by
Hawk V
on October 24, 2012
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