clevermanka | Bhagavate

Kirtan with Keshavacharya Das last night was wonderful. I knew there would be a little bit of food afterward, but I didn't expect a whole meal. A whole delicious meal. I should have taken a photo of my plate. I did take a photo with Keshavacharya.

He's tall, but when I tried the first photo, the top of his head got cut off. So that's me standing on tiptoe and him sort of crouching down. We're sweating like crazy because it was hot in the studio what with all the people, singing, and food. And, you know, the sun was actually out yesterday. For a change. Too bad it couldn't stay around for more than twenty-four hours.

I'm really really really really really tired of rain.

The post office destroyed my returned cleanse. Of course I didn't think to insure it. Now I'm out my $65 reimbursement. Nice.

Thanks to a suggestion by

razorart, I'm going to try a new eating method. The Johnson Up Day Down Day Diet. It's yet another method of calorie restricted eating, which I'm convinced is the only known way to extend longevity in humans (so far). I never planned on living an exceptionally long time, but being with

mckitterick and hearing his hopes and thoughts about a long life, I revised my plan and I hope to make it to 100 years in good health and mental acuity. Thus, my various forays into the world of intermittent fasting and calorie restriction.

And speaking of calorie restriction. My mom's been very ill for over a year. She's never been a terribly healthy person or someone interested in being in good shape, so when she started getting sick, she didn't have any healthy reserves to draw from--not to mention her lifetime of poor health choices. She has a heart condition, a thyroid problem, osteoporosis, and a vocal chord problem that makes her cough a lot--ugly, wracking coughs that keep her from breathing sometimes. Late last year she started having bad reactions to several foods, so she stopped eating much. Now she can't taste anything either, so that's not helping her get down the foods she can eat. She fired her old cardiologist, stopped taking her medication (the heart medication was exacerbating the thyroid problem), and started seeing a new heart doctor. When she went in for the first visit they weighed her--and she came in at 148 pounds. She's lost thirteen pounds since I saw her at the beginning of April, and she was looking frail then. My mom is not, never has been, a small person. When she was young, she was nearly five foot ten. Thanks to spinal compression and bone deterioration, she's shorter than me now. And she's within a pound of weighing less than me now. I'm worried about her. Even if she does get over this whatever-it-is she's dealing with now, the toll of a years-long illness isn't going to help her live longer. My mommy's not going to live to be 100.

Long-ass ~~four-hour meeting~~ five-hour meeting this afternoon. At least when it's over, it'll be the weekend.

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Oh hey!

I think I will try the Up Down day diet too!

My biggest challenge with Fast-5 was no morning tea with milk. That was unsustainable. Thank you so much for the link and I am going to go finish reading the site now!

That is exactly my problem with Fast-5, too. Milk in my morning caffeine, please! It allows for a bit of a protein hit before/after a workout every day, too.

Realizing my parents are mortal and that, barring accident, most likely to die before me was one of those realizations that was just too big to deal with and almost immediately shut down. But I most definietly remember the realization.

I'm okay with the general notion that my parents will die before I do. I even hope they do. I mean, really...

It's the realization that I will probably live most of my adult life without my mother alive that's sobering--and recent.

Ah, see I knew you would understand :D

The only problem I see is that constantly varying days bit, I am a creature of habit and doing a MWF thing seems easier. Still, this is doable, totally.

I'm going to set MWF as my Down Days, and then just sort of eat as I choose on the weekends. I usually wind up eating pretty light at least one day on a weekend, anyway, because I get busy with something.

Yes. When I saw my mother last, it was really apparent that she wasn't just getting older and a bit more frail with time. She was not thriving...a very uncomfortable realization.

I'm using this cleanse as the slingshot into a return to alternate day CR myself. We'll all be up day down day together!

Edited to add wrt parents and aging: 3 of my grandparents lived into their 90s and the one who didn't had been a coal miner all his life and finally died of black lung in his 70s. A tendency toward old age notwithstanding, a few years ago my parents -- both in their 70s now -- did the whole "we're going to die, what of ours do you want when we do?" thing to me and my bro and sis. Not only did I end up with some of the stuff I had asked for in hand (my dad's army scrapbooks, my mom's cheapo jewelry box which is this hideous 70s gold color but which I loved anyway because it opens out and I loved looking through it as a child, etc.) but it was a wake up call for *closure*. And I didn't even have any "childhood issues" or anything to really deal with, but it brought an awareness that *now* was the time to say stuff that you'd regret not saying, even if there wasn't a lot of that. Or to hash out even the petty things that have been stuck in your craw.

Since then, all this time has seemed like "bonus" time.

And I'll FURTHER edit to add (in my OVERLY EMOTIONAL way): A lot of that is the burden of being the last (or late) child. My mom was 32 when she had me and my dad 35 and I've ALWAYS felt aware of that -- always knew they would likely never see *my* kid (if I ever had one) graduate highschool, etc. And *that* is still the painful part to me, now that we *do* have Jet. It's like I feel as if the best way I can show them how well I feel they parented is by letting them see the results of *my* parenting, and I know I only have a limited time for that.

Okay! Ending this comment now before I just fast-ramble all day! :)

Edited 2009-05-08 17:15 (UTC)

A lot of people do the MWF thing and enjoy all the same benefits as if they did the every other day thing!

I have a lot of positive things to say about this way of eating. We'll talk more tomorrow :)

Edited 2009-05-08 17:44 (UTC)

I am so sorry to hear about your mom's condition. I hope the new doctor is able to devise some alternate treatments that will show significant benefit.

xo

Is it right that I find it amusing that you look far more Indian than he does? :)

I wish for all the best of changes for Mummy, it was a dose of reality to me when my mum almost died and was so very ill for those years. Now I see the age on them and feel a bit sad, but I know they're basically healthy and have had a fabulously full life. It's my mum's emotional state that bothers me.. she's bored, everything is "been there, done that" and I find it not like the her I used to know AT ALL.
Bleh. I hope the changes in meds do something more stable for your mum.

That diet looks like the way I used to eat, except for Prepackaged diet shakes and bars from Slim Fast®, Atkins®, and other companies .. euww. I'll count the calories, thankyouverymuch. :)
This looks similar to what mum has called The Rotation Diet, only more frequent "rotations". Cool! ooh, and cheap, too.

Edited 2009-05-08 18:18 (UTC)

Hey!

It's yet another method of calorie restricted eating, which I'm convinced is the only known way to extend longevity in humans (so far).

I've been doing the calorie restriction for several years (actually for over 15 years, but with a couple of lapses). Except for dining out I average 1200-1400 calories a day. (And to think I'm not that skinny, but that's because of slower metabolism from a diet like this. I think slower metabolism is part of the key to the benefits. And yet, I have unlimited energy.)

To your thoughts about your mother--{{hugs}}. There really isn't a lot more to say. I could go on at length about my own parents, but I won't. I do know, though, how hard and strange it is to watch them changing and slowly relinquishing things. I don't want to do it the way my parents are doing it. I want it to be better when I do it, and less sad. But I don't know how much choice one has. I guess I won't know until I get there. Not to be too much of a downer, though--sometimes people seem to start going downhill, and then they perk up again and get better. That happens too! I hope it will be that way for your mother, and that you'll have her for longer than you think.

you look far more Indian than he does

Well, he's from Switzerland, so...

We'll all be up day down day together!

We should align our days together. =D

That's a good outlook to have about your parents. I'm lucky to have a good friendship with my folks. They stopped really being "parents" when I was in high school or even as early as junior high. So we've had lots of time to develop relationships as friends. I've never hesitated to tell them I love them every time we speak.

I'm really, really lucky when it comes to my parents and our relationship.

Thanks. I talked to her yesterday and she's sounding positive and happy. Even the quality of her voice was different, so that's huge. Go, new doctor!!!

I would love to talk with you about your long term experiences with calorie restriction--not necessarily about the method, but how it affects your daily life (like vacations, or when friends come in from out of town, etc.). Eating is a very social activity for me, and I love to feed people, so this a quite a change in my approach to living. Talking with someone who has done it for years would be fantastic.

(insert "funny, he doesn't sound Swiss" joke here)

I want it to be better when I do it, and less sad. But I don't know how much choice one has.

You (almost) always have a choice about how you react to circumstances. That's not necessarily true when it comes to some age-related issues like dementia, but for the most part, we are always responsible for our actions and reactions.

I think you will make beautiful choices.

Yes. I do this.

Bhagavate

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