Monday: Pot Roast and mashed potatoes Lonestar with the parents
Tuesday: Bowling night Spaghetti, bread sticks, and salad
Wednesday: Hot dogs and beans
Thursday: Veggie and bean fajitas, chips and salsa (Hubs added that)
Sunday: Make your own pizza
Live from the grocery store parking lot!
Why, do you ask, am I blogging from a parking lot?
Well, I have about 45 minutes to kill before the dude gets here to change my tire.
Yea, I have a flat tire. Bummer!
I knew it right as I got out of the car and heard hissing coming from the back left tire.
What killed was that I didn’t have my cell phone with me! We had just returned from KY and I left my direct in Hubs car thinking I would remember to get it before I went shopping.
Yea right. I should have known myself better.
Luckily, the nice lady inside let me use the store phone and I summoned Hubs to rescue me (and by rescue me, I mean call AAA). Its funny how there are very few pay phones for public use anymore.
We’re making good use of the wait, though. I sent Hubs inside to shop while I blog and wait for the tire dude.
Its been a long, long day and I’m just ready to snuggle up on the couch and catch up on shows with my love.
Turns out that bringing your own food to the bowling alley is a uniquely me thing.
I had my little cooler filled with good eats and about 1/2 way through the night, I whipped out the banana I had packed.
Everyone seemed to be focused on something else and I was just sitting there peeling the banana.
A few minutes later, this gal came up to me and said, “you’re just so precious! Sitting there, watching the world, enjoying your banana.”
Looking back, I can see how someone sitting in a bowling alley peeling a banana might be weird, but she straight up said I was precious.
Who would have thought?
Nutritionally speaking, I think I had a perfect day.
I started my day out right by eating breakfast (granola with skim milk).
I took a cooler full of healthy snacks to work- which I munched on throughout much of the morning. Carrot sticks, sliced green pepper, strawberries, and chocolate covered rice cakes (which are really, really good).
I also drank a 16 oz bottle of water before lunch.
Hubs and I came home for lunch where I enjoyed a small sandwich (on a dollar roll) and more fruit. I also drank a can of tomato juice and a 100% juicy juice box (counts as 1/2 c fruit).
This afternoon, I ate more carrot sticks and enjoyed a 100 calorie jello cup. I also drank 2 bottles of water.
Tonight, I had a hotdog and beans AND ate more strawberries and had a cup of apple sauce. You can criticize me for the hot dog (and maybe the beans), but I did really well in terms of fruits and veggies.
The real test will be at the bowling alley. Tonight is league bowling. Last time, I brought my own drink (lemonade) and didn’t buy anything! Everyone else on the team ate dinner at the alley (chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, cheeseburger, soda, and beer) but not me! I waited until I got home to eat. Tonight, I’m bringing a lunch bag full of snacks- more veggies and some rice cakes.
I’m really proud of myself.
This proves one thing; I can do anything for a day 
I finally made the Roasted Ratatouille I’ve been writing about for months.
Its Delish! It’s really, really delicious! I took pictures so you can “Oh” and “ah” at it:
The salmon was terrific, too! I used a seasoning packet I’ve never used before and it provided great flavor.
A delish dinner complete with great company (Hubs) made for a wonderful evening at home.
Our plans for the day previously consisted of:
Grocery shopping together
Mowing the lawn together (he mows, I trim)
Moving furniture around in the basement together
Then, about 2 minutes ago, Hubs came running upstairs, excited to announce:
“My game is working!”
(Grand Theft Auto IV, which he purchased a few weeks ago, wasn’t running properly on his xbox. He read online that some xboxes have a certain harddrive that isn’t compatible with the new game, so he had basically given up all hope that he would be able to enjoy the game. Fortunately, he messed around with it more this morning, unplugged the Guitar Hero guitars, rebooted the xbox and now it’s working. Apparently, the xbox was recognizing the guitar as the main controller.)
I am now forced to adjust our Sunday plans:
Grocery shop (alone)
Mow the lawn (alone)
Move furniture around in the basement (alone)
Enjoy a very large bottle of Cafe Zinfandel (alone)
-OR-
I’ll just secretly plug the guitar back into the system. muuuaaahhhh!
Monday: Salmon with Roasted Ratatouille (I WILL make it this week!) and croissants
Tuesday: Hot dogs, beans, and Greek Salad (bowling league, need something easy)
Wednesday: Orange Chicken with white rice (guest night- American Idol Season Finale party!)
Thursday: Make-your-own-pizza
Weekend plans include heading to Southern Indiana to attend sister-in-love’s college graduation and then to the ‘ville to celebrate no more paperwriting (which we’re ALL excited about!)
Hot off the press from ABC World News:
Based on the following study released today (with my comments in italicized bold):
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer-
Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found — adding to evidence the “sunshine vitamin” has anti-cancer benefits. The results are sure to renew arguments about whether a little more sunshine is a good thing (bag the sunshine and just take supplements, that puts the worries about skin cancer to rest) .
The skin makes vitamin D from ultraviolet light. Too much sunlight can raise the risk of skin cancer, but small amounts — 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen — may be beneficial, many doctors believe.
While the vitamin is found in certain foods and supplements, most don’t contain the best form, D-3, and have only a modest effect on blood levels of the nutrient (read: you literally cannot eat or drink your way to adequate vitamin d levels). That’s what matters, the Canadian study found.
Only 24 percent of women in the study had sufficient blood levels of D at the time they were first diagnosed with breast cancer. Those who were deficient were nearly twice as likely to have their cancer recur or spread over the next 10 years, and 73 percent more likely to die of the disease.
“These are pretty big differences,” said study leader Dr. Pamela Goodwin of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. “It’s the first time that vitamin D has been linked to breast cancer progression.”
But people shouldn’t start downing supplements, she warned. Experts don’t agree on how much vitamin D people need or the best way to get it, and too much can be harmful (tell us more! Please, tell us that too much D is nearly impossible to get and that even if one happens to intentionally take too much, they’ll basically have the craps for three weeks. It really bothers me how they don’t expand on what “harmful” means. Nearly all name brand drugs that doctors prescribe have more harmful side effects, even when taken in appropriate doses, than too much D. Read any warning label for Chantix (stop smoking drug), Prozac (popular anti-depressant, they each have more harmful side effects than D, yet doctors prescribe those waaaay more than they do over-the-counter D). They also don’t know whether getting more vitamin D can help when someone already has cancer (check out the above video in which the breast cancer cells SHRINK and disappear).
“We have no idea whether correcting a vitamin D deficiency will in any way alter these outcomes,” said Dr. Julie Gralow, a cancer specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The study was released Thursday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and will be presented at the group’s annual meeting later this month.
Lots of earlier research suggests vitamin D may help prevent prostate, breast and especially colon cancer. In lab and animal tests, vitamin D stifles abnormal cell growth, curbs formation of blood vessels that feed tumors and has many other anti-cancer effects (and we’re still wondering if D has any affect on someone who already has cancer?).
Other evidence: People who live in northern regions of the world have higher cancer rates than those living closer to the equator, possibly because of less sunshine and vitamin D.
The Canadian researchers wanted to see whether it made a difference in survival. They took blood from 512 women at three University of Toronto hospitals between 1989 and 1995, when the women were first diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.
A decade later, 83 percent of those who had had adequate vitamin D blood levels were alive without extensive spread of their cancer, versus 79 percent of those whose vitamin D levels were insufficient and 69 percent of those who were deficient, as defined by widely used medical standards for measuring intake.
One red flag: The few women with the very highest levels of vitamin D seemed to have worse survival.
Though the study was too small and those results were not conclusive, “there may be an optimal level of vitamin D in women with breast cancer and it may be possible to take too much,” Goodwin said.
The federal government says up to 2,000 international units of vitamin D a day seems OK. Taking 800 units per day will, on average, raise blood levels to the middle of the range that seems best for bone and general health, Goodwin said (WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. If you’re already deficient, only taking 800 IU will not raise your storage levels of D. And, why would you want to be in the middle range anyway? Why not be on the higher end of “normal”).
Vitamin D is in salmon and other oily fish, and milk is routinely fortified with it, but dietary sources account for little of the amount of D circulating in the blood, experts say (true dat).
“It’s very hard to make a recommendation” because how much difference a supplement makes depends on someone’s baseline level, which also can be affected by sunlight, skin type and time of year, she explained (true dat. Get your levels checked! Taking Vitamin D without checking your levels is like baking a cake without knowing the temperature of the oven).
Doctors do suggest breast cancer patients get their vitamin D levels checked to see whether they are deficient. The simple blood test is available in many hospitals and labs for about $25, Goodwin said (my experience is that it costs $52-100 and, it’s getting more expensive and demand increases).
Dr. Nancy Davidson, a Johns Hopkins University cancer specialist who is president of the oncology society, said those tests are growing in popularity, even in ordinary medical care.
“Rightly or wrongly, I’m increasingly seeing physicians who are measuring this,” she said (why would she say, “rightly or wrongly?” The benefits far outweigh the risks, so why would she imply that it would somehow be wrong to decrease your risk of cancer, diabetes, MS, etc?)
The Canadian study was paid for by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in New York, established by cosmetics magnate Evelyn Lauder.
“It’s a very provocative paper. It’s confirmatory of a tremendous amount of evidence that vitamin D is an important component of health,” said Dr. Larry Norton, chief of breast cancer programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a medical adviser to the foundation.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. About 184,450 cases and 40,930 deaths from the disease are expected in the United States this year.
Finally, there is a fantastic, new article just recently made available to the public. Definitely worth the read!
What did you do tonight?
Here’s what I did:
What a fantastic evening dedicated to improving health care.
And yes, thats Mike Huckabee.
And, here’s the other speaker:
Levar Burton! He’s soooo awesome!
What a wonderful, fascinating evening.
It’s one I’ll remember forever.
It's finally done! After many, many hours spent starring at my laptop, I finally got my design complete! I have other things I want to do, but for now, enjoy the new design!
3/23 Happy Easter!
3/25 Searcy's Birthday
3/25 Zein's Birthday
3/26 Erin's Birthday (sorority big sis)
3/27 Polly's Birthday
