Recently my friend Mahtab and I shared a memory. We were reminded of her 30th birthday in Baltimore. We were both attending the IA Summit and it happened to also be her birthday weekend, so we went out for her favorite, Indian Food.
We found a wonderful little restaurant just down the street from our hotel. I found these pics and thought I’d post for her in honor of the memory. Enjoy the memory, Mahtab. 
I am always on a quest to be better than I am. My current path has me very focused on understanding how what I eat affects me. It’s a complicated topic. I believe I am beginning to get a new understanding. I made my first meal tonight using the principles I’ve been learning as a guide.
I admit I cheated by making a frozen Matar Paneer. However, I coupled it smartly with gluten free polenta and tofu both lightly fried in olive oil. A big glass of green tea goes well with everything don’t you think?
I’ve been reading a really interesting book lately. The strange thing is that I didn’t seek it out, it really found me. It came to me through a web site solicitation. I saw the title and felt that it might be what I’m seeking in terms of knowledge in its subject matter. I’m reading it because I’ve been on a quest. I’ve been on a quest to understand my health, my body, my fitness and nutrition. There is much information out there and it is very, very confusing. I’ve been through so many ‘plans’. I’ve known for the past 4-5 years that it’s really about your lifestyle and a holistic approach. I’ve been working diligently during these past 4-5 years in fits and starts to move toward wellness.
It started because my body made me pay attention.
I wasn’t well. I didn’t want to admit it but my body made me.
So once my body got my attention, I did begin some activities that really changed my health. I immediately stopped drinking soda at that time and ever since then I’ve picked up one or two good habits here and there along the path. It’s like I’ve been collecting these habits over time to build my future. I guess it’s my plan to counteract aging.
Recently, I’ve been reading this book, the one I told you about earlier, and I feel as if I am crossing a new threshold in my understanding of the relationship between my health and my consumption. Let me again state that in our dizzying culture, this is becoming insanely complex. We are drowning in food and processes of obtaining that food that make us sick. It’s difficult to figure any of this out. It takes time and patience. You should be skeptical and you should read labels not marketing. Know what you are putting in your body. It’s really almost as simple as that old saying, ‘you are what you eat.’
I have been frustrated in this process many times, but over the years I have come to realize, as long as you keep pushing forward in your knowledge and keep building on the good habits along the way, you will get to health. It’s a personal journey to figure out what that means to you-both health and pushing forward but if you are actively participating in it and trying to understand, you will get there.
I just saw Sicko yesterday. I then found this blog post today. I’m not so sure that the people at Google selling ads to the healthcare industry should be commenting on this at all. It’s a pretty murky water they are wading into here not to mention the unseemly and blatant selling nature of the post. I expect better from Google.
Good news for the poor beleagured health insurance and pharma companies though because, “…companies come to us hoping we can help them better manage their reputations through “Get the Facts” or issue management campaigns. Your brand or corporate site may already have these informational assets, but can users easily find them?”
Gosh, what to do. Instead of fixing the real problem, they can help you, “…place text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or in relevant websites within our ever-expanding content network. Whatever the problem, Google can act as a platform for educating the public and promoting your message. We help you connect your company’s assets while helping users find the information they seek.”
As long as people think everything is ok, then it must be, right? Google can help promote your message. (whether it’s true or not)
Not only is the blog a blatant advertisement itself, there is no place to leave a comment telling them politely that I find this tactic unseemly and I thought Google was better than that.
Will the loss of innocence never stop?
We just found out this week that our second dog, Pascal, has diabetes. It seemed like such a sad thing at first until we realized it only means one of us has to be home every twelve hours. Over three decades into my life this is my first ‘real responsibility’. My little doggie needs his shots and that’s not negotiable. So as my husband and I work toward finding that magic time every twelve hours in our day, I think about how grateful I am that I live in a time and place that makes it real easy to cope with something that could have taken him away from me in another time and place.
We started this morning (our time is 6:30). That’s why I’m blog posting at 8 am on a Saturday. Oh dear, I think I may have turned that corner from young to old. 
I’m not even having a problem being up this early on a Saturday…..
I was set free yesterday by a doctor I was seeing for some problems that started 4 years ago. It was a big milestone. I started to see him in November of 2002. I had some really scary bloodwork happening and he’s a specialist. I was sent there by my GP. He was cautious with me. He explained so calmly that the situation was right on the brink. I realized I had the power to save myself from a lifetime of irreversible damage. He found out that I had B12 deficiency. If you have this your body doesn’t absorb B12, so you need monthly shots. It’s simple, but if you don’t get it, you could have nerve damage that can’t be fixed. He also had me take a bone marrow biopsy. I wasn’t really freaked out at the time, but now I look back and think, “wow, I probably should have been freaked out”. But it was my doctor that soothed my fears. He was so calm when he explained our next steps. Even though he was succeeding in communicating that the tests we were undergoing were serious, he made me feel safe. He made me feel like he was going to take care of me no matter what was wrong.
So he found the B12 deficit, he got me on monthly shots. I now give myself the shots. I’ve come to live with the abnormality within the routine of my life. He also inspired me to start fixing my health. I pretty much stopped drinking soda the next day. From there I continued and to this day continue a life long journey toward health.
My actions have made a difference. My strange readings are back to normal. The doctor said we didn’t need to follow up anymore. I seem to have made it through this scare and don’t need him anymore. He set me free. I feel proud of how I took control and continue to this day to stay conscious of my health and pay attention to my actions every day. It was almost like a graduation. I felt a tremendous amount of gratitude and accomplishment. It’s really helpful to have some professional assistance, but in the end, we all to have to save ourselves.
I think somehow we all feel some level of obligation when the calendar year changes to take a look at our life and improve some aspect of it. The ususal promises are things like exercise more, read, not eat junk food, etc….
I decided that this year I was going to choose a word that would be my mantra for 2006. The word I have chosen is discipline. I have a few pretty significant adventures to take on this year and I’m going to need the focus that concentrating on one word gives me.
I started the year by going on a yoga adventure. We participated in a yoga experience to perform 108 Sun Salutations to ring in the New Year. Thanks to the Yoga Center for the experience.
So, Happy New Year and wish me luck with my one word mantra.
As part of my new healthy lifestyle I’ve been eating at Quizno’s the sub restaurant. The unfortunate thing is that I’m limited to 3 sandwiches based on my desire to know the nutritional information in my food and make choices based on knowledge. I have visited the web site several times over the past year and a half. I have requested nutritional information each of these times. I waited for a couple months between each inquiry and sadly nobody ever responded. It’s not just one email that got lost, I’m talking about several emails over a period longer than a year. I finally decided on Monday that this was just not acceptable anymore. So I called 411 for the phone number for corporate HQ. I knew where it was because of information on the web site so I was able to request the right state and city. The web site did not contain the phone number just the address. 411 gave me the number for a store in Denver which is where it is located. I didn’t want a store number I wanted corporate but I figured out I had been connected to a store and I asked them for the corporate number.
I got through to the corporate office. This is where it all started to go wrong. The first person I talked to was the receptionist. She didn’t even try to answer my question or get me to someone that could. She kept saying it’s on the web site like some sort of trained parrot monkey. Finally after some reluctance she transferred me to customer service.
Customer Service must not be the name of the department based on how the call went from there. The customer service rep was telling me the information was on the web site. I explained that only three sandwiches were detailed on the web site. She said that was all they had and then mentioned something very vague about ‘our nutritionists’. The way she said this made me feel as if she didn’t actually have any nutritionists. “When we have more information it will be posted on the web site” she said.
I asked if there was a timeline for this information. “No” she said.
I then explained to her that I wouldn’t even be calling if someone had responded to one of my many emails over the past year. She was quiet. More silence came out of the other end of the phone and I continued, “I guess I won’t be able to shop at your store until you get more information….”
Without really waiting for me to finish, she said, “I’m sorry about that” in a very sarcastic tone and then she hung up.
She did not care about my business or my interest in further information about her companies products.
I guess she didn’t think about the fact that I might tell others of the ‘stellar’ (sarcasm) customer service from Quizno’s but what do you expect from a company that uses a creepy baby that hits on hot babes in its commercials.
All I’m asking for is the ability to be informed. I deserve to know what I’m eating. Every single product on the grocery store shelf has to tell me. Starbuck’s tells me for gawd’s sake. Quiznon’s biggest competitor, Subway tells you EVERYTHING. Get over yourself Quizno’s and give me the data!
I’ve been experimenting with Photoshop again. I like playing with the pictures I take, so much can be altered from the original. So much can stay the same. I’m having fun with colors.
This one is part of a series:
fire self portrait of evoljen
I am doing the work for two reasons
1. to track progress: I am taking these photos as part of a documentation of a new skin care regimen I have undergone. I wanted to see if it really made my skin look healthier and seeing is believing. It’s anthropological.
2. to engage in an artistic endeavor: inspired by two favorite artists, Chuck Close, who said ‘the process will set you free’ and documentarian Morgan Spurlock who shows us 30 days can change us.
Getting to know the canvas of something familiar may be the most challenging. It’s hard to look inside these days when there is so much external noise.
I went to Applebee’s this weekend. I was in Brookings with my family, there are only a few choices, we thought Applebee’s was the best choice.
As it turns out, they have many items listed on their menu that disclose full nutrition information. I have to say I was actually delighted. The only way for Americans to make good choices about their health is to give them the information. I had lots of choice and I was easily able to make a good choice from the options I was presented.
After years of mediocre service at Applebee’s chains, this spruced up menu and great service definitely opened my eyes. I’ll definitely go their again.
Thanks for giving us information so we don’t have to continue to be obese.
