April's CR Diary

"A barter exchange does not include arrangements that provide solely for the informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis" (IRS Topic 420). So no, such a transaction wouldn't be taxable!

I'd swap you any decorating advice you want for some of your mutant spring opnions, but I'm pretty awful at interior design myself. Researching nutrition is just SO much MORE interesting than playing housey :-)

I justread the dreadful Salon article and all I want to say as a journalist first of all, is, what an idiot whoever wrote it!
She based her article on assumptions and assumptions only coming from her opinionated mind.
The first thing you learn as a journalist is to use as many different sources as you can and to detach yourself from the subject as much as you can to be objective. Otherwise, you might mislead your readers.
This bitch obviously has no understanding of any journalistic concepts. And, she is very conservative, stuck on reproduction.
I never liked salon anyway, they're very conservative, I especially know from their film reviews.
Anyway, Aprilitamu, don't let this piece of shit get to you, it doesn't deserve your attention.

And you started writing as wonderfully as you used to again. Knock on wood.

I have a problem. People misunderstand veggies. They think they ate veggies when they eat a corn on the cob or a green bean casserole with dead beans and lots of unsaturated fat. They think they ate tomatoes when they had a pizza. They believe they had lots of veggies when they had a burger with lettuce and a minestrone soup. They believe the peas and carrots mix from the can in their mom's home's side dish is too much to bear. How to teach them to eat veggies "real"ly?

Hi April!

I was wondering if you felt that the assessment tool that you linked to was accurate. It says that my daily calorie requirements are somewhere over over 2,000 per day, which SHOCKED me, since I am five foot one and weigh 108 (would like to get down to 103-105). I always believed my calorie requirements were more like 1200-1500. When I used the calculating tool, I input my lifestyle as moderately active and I wrote that I practice hatha yoga. All of that is an UNDER-estimate of my actual activity level, since I walk my big ole hound several miles a day and walk my children too and from all of their activities here in NYC, and I practice Ashtanga Yoga, which is probably more akin to heavy-duty calisthenics.

Anyway, I would like to get myself started on the CR lifestyle, albeit slowly...perhaps at first, just figuring out how much I am supposed to be eating from a calories-only standpoint and then honing it from there.

Any advice on the proper number to start with?

Thanks!

Lauren

April,
We had a delightful Thanksgiving with you and MR. Just a brief note on the wines. The great one was a Chateau Le Gay '94. It's from the Pomerol region of Bordeaux and is unclassified. Robert Parker (the ultimate wine guru) rated it only an 86 when he last tasted it in '98. I think it has aged spectacularly. I would give it a 92; you might go higher. The second wine was an Haut-Bages-Liberal '01, from the Pauillac region of Bordeaux. It's in the 1855 Grand Cru Classe classification as a fifth growth. It was good but was so overshadowed by the Le Gay that my 84 rating for it might be a little low.
As I noted to you and MR, I wish that any who think your CR diet is anexoric would see the sheer volume of food you and MR consume. It may not be a lot of calories, but it is certainly a lot of food.
Love, Dad

Unfortuately, yes it is a taxable transaction. I am not sure in what context Lindsay was reading the quoted sentence, but any bartered exchange is taxable to both parties.

April, you would be performing the services of cooking & giving advice and getting "paid" with other services. It is an economic exchange.

Sorry this has little or nothing to do with this article, but i was reading through a few of your past posts and you mentioned something about infertility? Can you tell me if you become infertile after going CR or was it just in that exercise example?

Hi Lily,

There is no short answer to your question. For most women, CR doesn't impact fertility at all because most women who practice CR are very moderate. I, for example, have not hit amenorrhea and could get pregnant any time I want. As I don't want children, I would not consider amenorrhea a problem, but even at 37 pounds lighter than I was pre-CR, I still have normal cycles, though I have a lot fewer cramps and almost no PMS symptoms.

However, some women do stop getting their periods at a low level of body fat. There are a lot more dancers and atheletes in amenorrhea than CR practitioners, I suspect.
Most women CR practitioners are moderate, and don't stop ovulating. The level of calorie restriction that causes amenorrhea seems to vary a whole lot from person to person, and is also effected by exercise as it's a function (it appears) of total body fat, not just calorie intake. People who are pregnant or nursing, obviously, should not restrict their calories.

Caution: without great attention to nutrition, fertility can be damaged. Anorexics who starve themselves and are malnourished often can't have kids later, or have a lot of trouble getting pregnant. So as always, pay attention to nutrition first, and don't take shortcuts. CR is not about starving yourself: it's about taking in fewer calories while maintaining and improving nutrition so that you slow your aging process as much as possible. I would suggest that women be moderate in their CR until they're done having all the children they want, or wait to start CR at all until they're done with childbearing and nursing. It's plenty of work just to maintain a healthy weight and get optimal nutrition in a culture that bombards us with unhealthy food.

As with everything, these are very individual decisions. People need to do the research for themselves and decide what works for their goals in life. In any case, attention to nutrition and giving your body the nutrients it really needs will help anyone's health.

a

Before he met me, MR created a CR-friendly low-carb pancake by mixing two-thirds buckwheat flour with one-third whey protein powder.

Oooh this I want to try. I need more protein delivery mechanisms. Do you think this would be okay with other flours (I'm thinking oat but that's just because it's what I have on hand)? And do you then just add water or skim milk until it reaches pancake-y consistency?

Hi April
Could I comment to your poster Lauren? I also practice Ashtanga and live in a walking city. So I also burn a lot of calories daily with the hour and a half yoga and walking to and from work. Calorie restriction is mainly about calories consumed and we don't look so much into our level of activity. It does help to keep weight down to be active, but that is not the focus of CR. I'm not sure which software Lauren is using. Chronometer, which I started using, does not have a section for level of activity yet. In any case, I would not put that much attention to that part of the software. It could be that Lauren is not estimating portions of foods correctly, or the ingredients in the recipes that she prepares. Hope that helps. Arturo

Incidentally I practise Ashtanga too, but only a couple of times a week. I'd be interested to know (as I was in my question earlier) how CR is made compatible with moderate-to-heavy physical activity. I still want to be able to build muscle and get stronger, whatever my diet, so I wish someone somewhere would do the necessary self-experimentation to see what's possible/necessary.