Research Kharma, or Facing the Scale for the Benefit of All

As you may have read before, I am not a fan of weighing myself or knowing the actual mass measurement associated with my body. I know I need to lose mass. For my health, and because I cannot afford to buy new clothes! (Ha!)

I am scared of the reality in spite of my intelligence.

When I was younger, I my pants got a little tight once a month, but I always went back down. Then suddenly that changed and I have yet to successfully change my behavior to match my body's needs.

Well, as you may have read before, my friend researches obesity behavior. She has published works (which I have ignored despite my respect for her) that show there is evidence that daily weigh-ins are correlated with people successfully losing weight.

This woman is not my friend and with that attitude she may never be my friend.

Tonight I embark on my second stint in a weight loss research study, this time I will have to weigh myself how ever many times my random selected study group protocol tells me.

Fancy space scale.

I am doing this for participants in studies I recruited for in my years of work in research.
I am doing this for myself.
I will commit to it for my friend! I do not want to botch her study results with poor participation. Plus I get anxious about breaking rules!

I have been eating better, now I will weigh in, and hopefully exercise more from the terror on the scale!

And let me tell you, telling a friend your weight honestly is pretty humbling in itself. My friend was professional and kind. Thanks, friend!

Goodreads review that I wrote pasted here for you!

The No-Salt, Lowest-Sodium Cookbook: Hundreds of Favorite Recipes Created to Combat Congestive Heart Failure and Dangerous Hypertension by Donald A. Gazzaniga


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My 37 year old husband has had a rough year. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and then had a very damaging heart attack. Like the author of this book, he was told he may need a heart transplant. Of course he/we have been eating better and trying to find the most flavor bang for our buck AND sodium count. We love to eat out and try all kinds of foods and we wanted to keep that as a part of our life. I have loved this book because it reads like more than a cook book. I enjoyed sitting down and reading it, I looked forward to going back to it despite the fact that I was so bummed about NEEDING it in my life when I picked it up. I cannot say that about many of the chronic disease diet books I have been browsing!

In addition to the recipes, the book gives a great primer on low-sodium eating, where sodium is found, what it is used for, and how to live low-sodium all the time. The author goes to great lengths in his own life to be at around 500mg of sodium a day, super low, and it is inspiring to read his commentary. I also like the board of people he used to help write the book. Even better, my husband and I have enjoyed all of the recipes we have tried so far. I like how the recipes are not bland and all areas of dinning are covered (comfort food, holidays, potlucks, light snacks, dressings, salads, sweets). The nutrition information on each dish is included, which is helpful for other areas of diet that we are monitoring.

The book has me excited because it is helping me adapt my cooking and shopping to what I was hoping: that being low-sodium does not mean flavorless and boring.

View all my reviews >>

Psyching myself up for safety!

Ok, I am still making excuses for not getting to the gym. I am disappointed in myself and I am dreading the next call from my health coach.

One excuse I have for avoiding the gym is safety when walking or biking to the gym at night. It is only 7-8 blocks away, odds are nothing will happen, but I get nervous carrying any sort of bag with me or wearing a bulky coat.

I purchased these babies after I told myself I would make them myself for about 5 months:

Wrist Zips!

They have room enough to keep my keys and my gym ID. And I kind of like the fabric pattern; sort of a tribute to the Ska fashioniska I never became.

Sorry, The Specials. I love you but I never bought "the look" and I sold your CDs for a killing before the dawn of MP3s.

Also, I think they could be nice for safety if/when they are not covered by my sweatshirt(s). I need to get some non-black sweatshirts and some safety tape next. Safety tape is expensive!

The wrist zips have not gotten me out to the gym yet, but I have not given up on them!

I have given up on Ska, or out grown it. I will still skank when given the chance!

Healthy cooking in a rush.

I stole this quote from a friend's blog:

"My goal tonight was to use them up before they rotted."

I feel like this is the goal with way too much of my cooking with fresh vegetables! My healthy cooking challenge.

I am inspired by this:


to make something like this:


But I get busy or forgetful and soon the vegetables in the fridge are looking at me like this:


I am working on a better game plan right now and I have learned to accept my limitations, for the sake of food and budget waste. Living in a climate with a short growing season, the vegetables will soon be pretty pricy, like 99cents per green pepper. That always seems like a lot to me.

How much are green peppers in other states?

Future topic:

Food dehydrators!
Do you have one? Do you use it? Is it good for making low salt, low sugar food? Or are those a part of the process?

I have no clue- I just know that dried food is delicious for snacks but can be so expensive, like Just Corn and Just Raspberries. Those are freeze dried, so I cant afford that machine but I may be able to swing a dehydrator.

I am working on the gym. Anyone out there who would like to motivate me or tag along with me, please pipe up!