Readin’ that’s been makin’ me think

I’ve been reading some addictive “crap fiction” (as an old creative writing professor of mine would call it) lately but I want to wait until I’m finished with that to review it. To keep my brain alive and to keep harvesting good tips, I’ve also been reading more health and fitness books. I read Nancy Snyderman’s book about medical myths (http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Myths-That-Can-Kill/dp/0307406148/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272323603&sr=1-2) and it was good although I have to say some of it sounded a bit like scare tactics. I also read Mindless Eating (http://www.amazon.com/Mindless-Eating-More-Than-Think/dp/0553384481/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271113242&sr=8-1), which was better than I expected. It’s not a diet book per se but Wansink does offer the option of trimming 100 calories from your eating each day in an effort to make you a few pounds slimmer in a year’s time. Sorta like mindless eating can be made into mindless dieting. I was more intrigued by how food companies market items to us and how we sabotage ourselves unknowingly and knowingly in our relationships with food. It was funny to read about how we’ll eat popcorn that tastes like sawdust if we’re zoned out at the movies or that we’ll drink crappy wine in loads if we’re told in advance that it’s highbrow and decadent. I don’t think Wansink’s ‘trim 100 calories and do nothing else’ move is good for people who want to get serious about fitness but for someone who wants to lose a few pounds very slowly and painlessly, it would be better than nothing at all. Reading it to learn about how we mindlessly eat and why is a better objective.


I also checked out one of the Body for Life books even though I am not on that particular program. I figure good information and hints are worth their weight in gold wherever they may come from. I really appreciated the personal stories in the book from the contestants in the BFL competition. I found myself identifying strongly with some of their experiences. One girl discussed how she lost friends during and after her weight loss because their lifestyles were different. She mentioned that she no longer had the desire to go out for greasy hamburgers and booze anymore but her old friends still did. She had to devote more time to exercise and they didn’t support that. So their friendships drifted apart and the girl made new friends who understood her current lifestyle. I laughed out loud when I read the greasy hamburgers and booze comment because it reminded me so much of the crap I used to eat on the weekends. Something else the contestants discussed was that the physical change brings with it mental, emotional and spiritual changes, too. That part of the process is something I never prepared for. It’s one thing to go buy new clothes and celebrate when a pair of pants is suddenly looser or a muscle is more defined. It’s quite another thing to cope with the psychological aspects of it. I notice it more with the things I like to do and things I don’t like to do and in my relationships with other people. My tolerance for bullshit has always been pretty low but now my tolerance for people who screw me over or leave me hanging due to their own laziness is very low. My dislike of the bar and club scene has been firmly in place for 2 or 3 years now and I have been emphatically clear with people that I am not a party friend. That dynamic has only gotten stronger and it has certainly caused some people who were not true friends but merely party buddies to bail. And I don’t miss those people. I’ve always enjoyed my own company and it feels good to be comfy in my own skin and to even more so enjoy spending time with myself. It’s like my blog post from a long time back about James Bond being a lone wolf—some people can find ways of keeping active without requiring lots of people around. Deep, contemplative sigh. Never in a million years would I have expected a simple (ha ha) mission for weight loss and improved fitness to cause all this damn thinking. What an odd world it is sometimes.


On less heavy topics, I have decided that Stephen Fry is one of my favorite people in the whole world. He is so hilariously fucking funny and smart and cool and I could be wrong but he seems to be a nice guy. Though it pains me to say it, he can be funnier than Jezza (who I think is hysterically funny) and I have come close to rib-cracking during episodes of A Bit of Fry and Laurie. I’ve gotten hooked on House so I rented ABOF&L for Hugh Laurie of course. And then, true to myself in so many ways, I promptly fell for Stephen Fry. They are both crazy funny and Hugh Laurie on House is genius. No debating that. But Stephen Fry is g-o-l-d. I am tempted to say that it’s especially when he plays a stereotypical British fop or any manner of critic. But it’s really anything he does. I adorrrrrrrrrrre Stephen Fry. I like the ep from I think the second season where he says he’s gained some weight and taken up dancercising (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYdGVrUhyBM). Whenever he dances it looks like an apoplectic expression of rickets and that is good in itself but he’s dancing and Hugh Laurie says, “Love that body” and he replies, “Thanks. It’s mine.” That almost killed me and I have decided that will be my standard line from now on. “Thanks. It’s mine.” If you haven’t watched the show and you are up for something quirky and different, go for it.