Life is Healthy

“I've gone through a lot of trial and error to find what works and what doesn't, ... With that comes an understanding of how to offer the same opportunities to other artists.” ~ Usher Raymond IV

Mentorship.

Merpati plane with flight from Jayapura to Oksibil lost contact with the tower. Until now has not known yet about the fate of crews and passengers of the plane.

"True, we lost contact with the Twin Otter aircraft is," said Merpati PR Sukandi to detikcom, Sunday (2/8/2009).

Plane carry 11 adults and two babies and was crewed by three people. Local media indicate that the internal flight took off at 10:15 and was due to arrive at 11:05, but that the aircraft lost contact at 10:28.

Flight's ACAS database lists the carrier as owning nine DHC-6s. Unconfirmed information indicates that the aircraft is a 30-year old airframe, serial number 626, registered PK-NVC.

Indonesian airlines, including Merpati Nusantara, remain largely blacklisted by the European Commission despite the lifting of restrictions on four carriers last month.

Tweeting your new blog posts is a great way to engage your readers, and something that many on the team have taken advantage of for our own blogs. An easy way to do this is through Twitterfeed, which automatically updates Twitter with each new blog post. Here's how to set it up:

Head on over to the Twitterfeed site, click Sign In with OpenID and type in your Blogger blog's URL. Once you've registered you'll then be taken to the New Feed page where you can start linking blog feeds to your Twitter account.

First click the Connect your feed to Twitter Account button, which will prompt you to enter your Twitter login credentials to authorize Twitterfeed's access. You will get a nice little confirmation once you've successfully linked up your Twitter Account.


Next just enter a name for your feed, as well as your blog's Feed URL into the form. If you want to customize your feed's settings you can modify frequency, add prefixes, and even create keyword filters. Otherwise you're all set—click the Create Feed button and your Twitterfeed is enabled.

You can always come back later to the Twitterfeed site and modify your feed settings, as well as look at click-through metrics for existing feeds.

The July/August edition of Nutrition Action Newsletter features an interview with David Kessler, MD, author of the book “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite.”

I knew of this book through my friend and blogging partner, Dr. Barbara Berkeley, who recently reviewed the book on our blog Refuse to Regain in an entry titled “Don’t Get Me Started.” Barbara focused on the book’s lack of outrage at the food industry as it pertains to its contribution to (and probable creation of) hyperovereating, an offense with which I concur.

However, I personally found Kessler’s explanation of why we overeat very helpful in understanding my own relationship to food, particularly as a person who is three years into weight maintenance. Hindsight may be 20/20, but turning around and looking back at my past behavior is the only way I can gauge how my “relearned” behavior is working.

I’ll break down my insightful insights into four points and will publish them in two blogs as to not bore you to tears with one long diatribe. So without further ado, let’s get this puppy started.

Point #1 – Dopamine

Nutrition Action Newsletter interviewer Bonnie Liebman: “How is dopamine – a neurotransmitter that conveys messages from one nerve cell to another – part of overeating?”

Kessler: “Dopamine focuses your attention. As human beings, we are wired to focus on the most important stimuli in our environment. If a bear walked into your office right now, your dopamine would spike. If your child is sick today, that’s what you’re thinking about. That’s what captures your attention…Of all the cues in this room right now, of all the things I could be thinking about, those little chocolate chip cookies over there are capturing my attention. Why? Because of my past experience, chocolate chip cookies will activate my brain.”

Liebman: “Before you take the first bite?”

Kessler: “Yes. I’m not tasting them. It’s not genuine hunger, but the anticipation that makes us eat long after our calorie needs are satisfied.”

Liebman: “And the sight of the cookies is the cue?”

Kessler: “Yes, but I could also be cued by the location, the time of day, or just getting in my car because it anticipates the consumption.”

Aha! Kessler just answered years of questioning, “Why do I want to eat that when I’m not hungry?” There are as many answers to that question as people asking the question, but for me, that one thing – dopamine – explains so much.

For instance, I don’t eat when I’m stressed. (Exception: when I’m under a writing deadline. Then my oral fixation takes over and I “need” to keep my mouth busy. I used to stuff it with M&Ms and sunflower seeds. Now I just chew gum or suck on a Tic Tac…more on that in the next blog.) I don’t eat when I’m sad. I’m not prone to binging. So why do I want to eat certain things when I’m hungry or when I’m already calorically satisfied? I get it now! It’s the memory of having been stimulated by that food, not the food itself, that’s making my mouth water or the desire to eat so strong.

I was talking to my daughter about this the other day. Her boyfriend brought her a Pizza Pub pizza the night before and she was heating up leftovers. I told her if I eat a piece of Pizza Pub cheese pizza (the best pizza in the world and it’s made right here in Podunkville), I will want another piece and another. Back in the day, I would eat half a pie and take the other half to work with me. A half a pie, folks! But it “felt” so good to eat it. The memory of sitting there with my husband, watching Jeopardy and eating pizza is extremely pleasurable. I wasn’t eating out of depression or stress or even real hunger. It was just pure enjoyment.

Not that there is ANYTHING WRONG with eating for pleasure. Food should be pleasurable. It’s what keeps us alive. If it tasted wretched, we’d not eat. Ergo, we’d die. But eating beyond feeling full just because the food “feels” good is the problem, and now that I understand that, it makes saying “No” or “Just a small piece, please” empowering and not personal. I used to think wanting to eat a certain food was some kind of character flaw.

Point #2 – Distraction

Kessler said, “A food industry executive told me that the industry creates dishes to hit what he called the three points of the compass. Sugar, fat and salt are what make food compelling and indulgent. The most palatable foods have two or three of them. They lead to a roller coaster in the mouth – the total orosensory experience. We get captured.”

Liebman: “What’s the roller coaster?”

Kessler: “It’s the cycle of cue-activation-arousal-release. We get cued – by sights, sounds, smells, time of day, location. The brain circuits get activated. There’s arousal. And then you either DISTRACT (my emphasis) yourself with something that’s more important or you consume it and there’s a release.”

I take issue with Kessler’s assertion that we must distract ourselves in order to not eat a certain food. I’ve spent a lot of time the last few years learning to not “distract” myself from things that are unpleasant or are seeming barriers to my well being. I choose to observe them with as much emotional detachment as I can. I’ve found immense personal understanding by asking, “Why is this urge/feeling/emotion so strong? What’s going on here?” By understanding the root cause of a particular pain or uncomfortable emotion, I can better deal with the entire situation at hand and not just the symptom.

Now that I know there is a chemical (dopamine) and emotional (the anticipation of “feeling good” when confronted with certain foods) going on, I’m better equipped to answer the question, “What’s going on here?” and therefore deal with whatever food issue I’m faced with. I may find I want to distract myself by going for a walk or painting my nails, but only after I’ve faced the food issue and asked the question.

That’s all for this entry. I’ll publish the last two points (and by then there may be more…lucky you!) in my next blog entry. I’m sure you’ll be waiting with anxious anticipation. Just don’t be eating something fat/salt/sugar-laden while you read it or you’ll want to eat that food every time you read my blog in the future! Can’t say I didn’t warn you :)

Well, here we go again. My diagnosis has changed again from just pneumonia to a compressed lung and pleurisy with a little pneumonia. Why does it keep changing? Because there's something else wrong and no one can figure out what it is. I have an idea. But I won't speak of it yet. Why? Because I hope with all of my heart and soul that I'm wrong. I will give you just a little hint though: it starts with pancreatic. . . .

It's going to take me six months to recover from all of this once it's finally finished. At least I hope that's all it takes. I move like an old woman now. After two years of diet and exercise and once being able to move like the person I was in my 30s, I'm now reduced to a shuffling old woman. And I'm rapidly gaining weight. That goes along with the nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, itching, and pain--God, let's not forget the constant pain.

Gaining weight? Yes, gaining weight. But shouldn't people with pancreatic. . . be losing weight? Well, not if they have islet cell carcinoma, insulinoma in particular. And if they are a middle-aged, overweight woman--the kind of people insulinomas love. Fortunately not all insulinomas are malignant. Many are benign. But they do affect insulin production and do require surgery.

Believe me. I want it to be something simple. I truly do. But so many things have been ruled out. And the pain is still there.

I'm still holding out hope. I have another test next week. Let's hope it rules out one more thing.

Egypt Blocks Nile Water Deal

Will this area be a place of 'water wars' as climate change and population increases continue to place strains on water resources? Tensions are already flaring as Egypt claims it needs to have the water it was allotted previously due to the fact that it is the Nile alone that supplies the majority of its water. Whereas other riparian states have other sources of water and receive more rain. Is this a valid claim? Does Egypt not hold any responsibility for the water it uses, its population increases, nor its consumption and irrigation practices? What of the future as we already see many areas getting less rainfall and water evaporation taking place due to changes in climate?

Also, there are many dams built in this area that already decrease available water resources to agricultural areas and which have displaced thousands of people. I find it illogical that based on the predictions of future climate changes for this area, drought, and water usage that is wasteful as well as the many dams being built that cause diversion of water resources and environmental devastation that Egypt or Sudan can continue to give these same excuses for much longer.

More about the Nile Basin Initiative:

Nile Basin Initiative