April's CR Diary: May 2007 Archives

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May 31, 2007

All's Well at the Alconquin Hotel

"Are you meeting Dorothy Parker?" said my college roomate when I told her that I was meeting a writer at the Alconquin Hotel.

"Close enough," said I, "I'm meeting the greatest writer of her generation. Except this one is happily married."

I met Allswellinhell in person yesterday. Her husband won an award so he got to go to a writers' conference in New York, and I met up with her there. Wow. You know how you always wonder, when you know someone online, if you'll hit it off in person? Well, we really, really did.

First, I'd have to say that the chick is freakin' gorgeous. I was there a few mins earlier than they were, so I went around looking for a thin beautiful woman with reddish blondish hair. In most towns in the US, that would really narrow down the pool of possibilities, but in NYC, there are a lot of supermodels hanging out at bars. So I went up to various women asking, "Are you...?" and they'd say "NO!" very sharply, leading you to believe they were frequently approached by people pretending to know them.

Finally A. and her husband walk in. I somehow knew her immediately from the back of her hair. She looks a lot more like what folks think a CR chick would look like than I am: she is tiny, very thin. Skinnier even than she looks in the pictures I've sent, which makes sense as the camera adds ten pounds. Tiny, beautiful, and with a healthy glow that shows she's been using COM to monitor her nutrition! A CR person can be very thin while still looking extremely healthy... probably because we are extremely healthy. Totally different from gaunt supermodels or the starving ballerinas I went to high school with: even at very low weights, CR folks I've seen don't seem to get the sunken in look that starving people have. Nutrition really, really matters. I suspect that A will look like she's in her early twenties for a long, long time. Actually, she could easily pass for someone in college, but she's still at the age where it's annoying to look younger than you are.

I won't relay our entire three or so hours of conversation... it's after all, our business, and there's just so much CR geekiness. But here are a few favorite points:

I wanted to give her some of a supplement I had on me to try, a powdered B vitamin that you mix into liquid. It's a white powder. We're trying to figure out how to measure an appropriate dose, and neither of us have a tablespoon (I later discovered my trusty teaspoon in a secret compartment of my Hello Kitty backpack.) So I whip out mini-scale, accurate to the tenth of a gram. There we are, in NYC, weighing white powder on a tiny scale. And no one bats an eye. Gotta love New York. Then we figured out that we didn't know the gram dosage, only that it needed to be a tablespoon, so we measured in my baby measuring cup.

Neither of us ate a bite... she had just eaten a megamuffin, and I ate a late second lunch (having eaten my first, quotidian lunch of salad with yogurt, salsa, olive oil and olives right before walking out the door to a meeting) of a salad with grilled chicken just before boarding my train. Neither of us thought there was anything weird about not eating. Then I had FourthMeal, not quite Taco Bell style, when I met my college roommate at 9:30... endive, artichoke heart, tomato and fresh mozzarella salad.

I gave her a packet of my choco-banana whey protein powder. She was happy. I can imagine her mixing it in a glass of skim milk with some almonds on the side.

We discussed the diffilculty of finding the right calorie level. It's so hard when you're modifying your exercise, work schedule, macronutrient ratio, etc. We recognize that most people are not interested in this, so we very much enjoyed the opportunity to talk amongst ourselves.

I am so, so glad I went. It was a bit crazy to hop out of work, grab a train, show up, hang out with Allswell, and then crash with my college roommate who lives in NYC, then leave at 6 am to get a train home so I could get back to work. I was still in my business suit from work, as I ran out the door to the train. But it was so worth the effort to meet my CR girl soulmate.

Today it was back to the regular work kerfuffle. Is there a crisis every twenty minutes or what? At least I managed to eat well. Had my choco banana whey shake on the train this am with skim milk that I purchased in the station, then my co-workers wanted to eat out for lunch, but I just had a green salad. Tonight I had my regular salad with yogurt, flax oil, and some olives. Glass of delicious French red. Jumped back on the phone for work right after dinner. It was a lower calorie day than usual because a) I had eaten four meals instead of three the day before b) it was too hot to eat here! 90 degrees! c) Everytime I tried to eat more, another kerfuffle erupted, making it impossible for me to get home to grab my food.

Tomorrow I'm headed up to Scranton again. I must take care to pack something or other to eat. At least tonight I'll get to sleep with MR and the cat, take Pilates in the morning, and pack some good food. And the Allentown Farmers' Market is open now... crazy heirloom cauliflower is no doubt for sale!

Posted by april at 6:25 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 30, 2007

Hello Kitty Happy Cute

My hello kitty pajamas have writing all over the pants that proclaim in bright bubble letters "Hello Kitty" "Happy" "Cute." In no particular order, so it could say,

"Hello happy cute kitty."

"Hello Kitty (= implied) Happy Cute."

I find that staring all day at the words Hello Kitty Happy Cute has this totally bizarre effect of making me feel happy and cute. It's like by labeling myself such, I make it a reality.

This is a lot like those weight loss strategies that advise you to affirm "I am a thin person" over and over again until it happens.

I am happy! I am cute! Hello Kitty!

Next time I am in a crappy mood due to stress and exhaustion, I will just put on my Hello Kitty Happy Cute pjs and affirm that I am indeed happy and cute until it feels real.

Happy cute. Happy cute. Happy cute. Hello Kitty.

No longer exhausted sleep-deprived stress overloaded organizer, I am now happy cute! Happy cute!!!

You know, maybe I was just feeling happy cute because I finally had a day off. This morning I was feeling crappy/ugly. But then I drank my chocobanana whey shake that MR made me while on my way to my first meeting, and I felt happy cute again! Does whey make me happy?It seems to every time I eat it. Hello whey shake happy cute!!!!!

I'm heading up to New York to meet Jedi writer warrior goddess Allswellinhell, who is there for an event. I am bringing a small offering of chocobanana whey protein powder. I am very excited.

Posted by april at 8:50 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

May 28, 2007

Could Not Ask For More

Sometimes I am too lazy to enter things into COM.

For instance, today we had Sunday breakfast. On Monday, cause we got home super late from our dinner party on Sat night, and I told MR, "I will sleep till seven thirty am!" Aha! Look at me, being rebellious. We usually get up at five. To chop the veggies for our Sunday breakfast, I must be in the kitchen chopping at five forty-five. So I put off till Monday.

Also, I like to be very, very hungry for Sunday breakfast, as it is larger than my usual breakfast. I woke up in the night hungry, so was very ready for this am's feast.

Ah yes... scramble of fresh garden picked scallions, green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, eggwhites. Low carb pancakes with buckwheat flour and whey protein. Flax oil. Hot sauce. No cal syrup.

Yum.

Lunch was my usual salad but with our new delicious Fajita salsa, and some olives. I adore olives.

Snack was a cup of black beans with olives. On the side.

Dinner was 260 g brussels sprouts with one cup of yougurt and four tablespoons of salsa, one teaspoon flax oil, 50 cals olives.

6 oz wine with lunch and the same with dinner. On a holiday, I drink wine with lunch.

It's been a great day and while I've done some work from home, I've mostly cleaned the house, relaxed, and taken some time off!!!

And eaten 1400 cals, and done two different 20 min Pilates routines.

But who's counting?

Tomorrow we're back, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm so blessed to do the work that I love, with the most amazing people on earth. Ad Edwin McCain says, "I could not ask for more."

Posted by april at 7:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Memorial Day Cooking

It is so shocking to have a day off that I barely know what to do with myself.

For starters, I am wearing my Hello Kitty pajamas that my mother gave me for Mothers' Day. They are quite comfortable, and since I have no plans to leave the house, I can stay in them all day.

Second, I have done a ton of cleaning. The bathroom, kitchen counters, living room floor, are all sparkling. The laundry is making its way through the wash cycles. The upstairs carpets are next on the list.

Third, I have finally gotten the time to do some more creative cooking! For lunch, I made MR a Memorial Day taco salad. What does taco salad have to do with Memorial Day? Nothing. But I had time to make a multilayered dish due to the holiday.

Here's how it went, layer by layer, starting at the bottom:

Romaine
avocado
Quorn tenders
black beans
cooked eggwhites
tomatoes
green pepper
nonfat plain organic yogurt
Fajita spicy salsa

And between all the layers I shook in my various chili powders from my chili powder variety shaker. Ancho chili, New Mexico chili, Cayenne chili, habenero flakes, etc.

Topped with a teaspoon of olive oil.

It was a big hit. A great cool dish for a very hot day. It's near ninety here again today, and while our house is staying remarkably cool, MR is still sweltering. He hates our humidity. He will never get used to it, I fear. Much like my body couldn't take the dryness in Calgary... within four hours of landing on the plane, I'd have chapped and cracking lips and my skin would be flaking off. I am a girl of the humid east coast, and I like it this way.

Not sure yet what I'll make for dinner. I may do something red white and blue for the holiday, or maybe a variation on a cook out favorite, like my chili cheese Quorn dogs. In any event, it's lovely to have a tiny touch of time off.

Tomorrow, back to the grind. But I am very excited about our campaign in Scranton, Luke is coming back to work after his three weeks of leave with his new baby, and things are going well with contract negotiation prep at the place we just won. And I spent a half hour doing Pilates at home, having decided that I've got to keep up with my workouts no matter how long my work hours get.

Okay, off to attend to the bathroom carpets.

Posted by april at 2:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 27, 2007

Rescue Asparagus

Last night at the dinner party, I hear my hostess say, "I am going to compost these asparagus bottoms."

She reached for the compost container, holding the asparagus bottoms.

"Stop! We'll take them! MR will eat them!"

She didn't hear me, so I said more loudly and insistently, "Stop! Stop what you're doing right now! We'll eat them! Rescue the asparagus!"

We took home no less than 502 grams of asparagus! Nearly the entire stalk, it seemed to me, of two bunches of asparagus. Today I whipped them up in a chilled soup for MR's lunch.

It's a variation on Enlightenment Soup, but fit for a hot day (it was ninety here today!)

502 g asparagus bottoms, the woody parts
41 g red onion
45 g shiitakes
1/2 cup Magic yogurt (nonfat plain organic, Butterworks Farms)
1 teaspoon EVOO
no salt organic veggie broth

Boil the broth and onions. Boil the asparagus bottoms and onion for about five minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit for an hour or two. Add shiitakes, yogurt and evoo. Serve un-hot.

I added some eggwhites for protein and a side of brussels sprouts with oil, plus hazelnuts.

502 g of nutrient packed asparagi that would have gone into the composter had I not been in the right place at the right time...

Posted by april at 4:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Everyone Is Of A Certain Age

We were just listening to a report on NPR on which the announcer said, "If you are a woman of a certain age..." and MR pointed out that everyone is of a certain age, whether that's old, young, or whatever.

We went to a little dinner party last night... I fed MR his dinner in advance, but I ate there. The food was quite lovely... appetizers were artichoke hearts, cucumbers, carrots, these interesting little hot peppers that I think were called piquant peppers, a selection of cheeses and bread. My friends are all good wine drinkers, so we had quite a few excellent reds. I try to avoid bread, but I did have a small slice of it with dinner and a little bit of the goat cheese on cucumber slices. I had never used a cucumber slice as an object on which to spread a spread, and it worked quite well. I even made a small sandwich of goat cheese, artichoke hearts and piquant pepper between two cucumbers. Dinner was a big salad, veal chops, and roasted asparagus, mushrooms and red peppers. I had never eaten veal before and felt a bit odd about it since I've read for so many years about the bad treatment of the baby cows. I ate it anyway, my old vegan heart giving me some trouble, and I'll admit that it was delicious. I've never been much of a fan of steak, and hence concluded that I dislike beef in general. I never eat beef, except for the occasional bite off a friend's plate. Our hostess had made homemade strawberry shortcake, which was also quite amazing: not too sweet, fresh from the oven, very good strawberries.

Needless to say, I'm having a lower calorie day today. Breakfast was 125 calories of eggwhites with flax oil and Carolina Treet, for a total of 185. Lunch will be the usual salad. Dinner will be something small. It's easy to eat light when at home.

Today MR and I are staying home, and I'll finally get to relax a bit. The house needs a lot of cleaning, and the gnomes are not arriving to do it for me, so I suspect I'll spend a considerable part of the day on the cleaning.

I've gotten a few requests for a repost of my quotidian diet. It's been under so much revision lately that I've been putting off re-posting until I get it all straight. Between processing the effects of exercise, slight changes in my tastes, and getting past the stress and travel associated with the campaigns we're working on, it's just not been a time of CR tranquility. I'm still eating out too much, and still working out how to get all my nutrition in even on days when I eat a meal out. I really need to just cut back on the eating out, but the week after a major win involves so many celebrations that it's not the greatest time to focus.

Here's a recent stab at the new quotidian:

Breakfast:
cup skim milk with 50 calories banana chocolate whey protein and 1 teaspoon flax oil

Snack:
8 oz low sodium vegetable juice, 60 cals almonds

Lunch:
Salad of kale, turnip greens, napa, tomatoes, green peppers, topped with 1 cup nonfat yogurt, 4 tablespoons salsa, + 60 calories almonds

Sometimes snack:
another whey shake, or a cup of nonfat fruit yogurt, with some almonds

Dinner:
Something with two tablespoons brewers yeast, like a lot of veggies, and some mushrooms for Bs. Or if I'm out, most likely a fish dish or a salad with grilled chicken.

Lauren "tagged" me in this interesting little bloggie game, and now I am supposed to put eight random facts about myself up on my blog, so here goes:

1. I have never taken a yoga class, but I think I should.
2. I am not quite sure what my natural hair color was.
3. I have very few shoes, and basically wear the same shoes every day. One pair for work, one for casual. I am not a shoe person.
4. I received a Hello Kitty backpack from MR as our second anniversary present.
5. I love sugar free jello, especially black cherry and strawberry kiwi flavors.
6. I despise the public radio show "Praire Home Companion."
7. I have taken a vow that I will never attempt any sort of house painting ever again.
8. My cat is polydactyl, meaning that he has thumbs, and he can use the thumbs to do neat things like open tupperware.

Speaking of Lauren, and her recent comments re: yoga and CR... actually, quite a few CR practitioners practice every other day fasting, which sounds pretty much like what you're describing. Others fast maybe one day a week. The main difference would be in the attention paid to nutrition, sounds like. Lots of CR practitioners like Arturo are also yoga practitioners or one stripe or another.

Aha, now I have tagged eight other bloggers. I hit up mostly folks who haven't been posting much lately, hoping to inspire them to write a quick post of eight facts as a little window to get back into blogging more frequently. I do miss my CR bloggiefriends when you're away!

Okay, off to the gym.

PS: I owe a post on protein restriction. I really do mean to get around to it. Sorry it's taking so long.

Posted by april at 6:38 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

May 24, 2007

Will We Gain It Back?

This entry by Robin reminded me of something that happened today.

I was listening to NPR today when I heard an interview with Gina Kolata about her new book, Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss and the Myths and Realities of Dieting. I haven't read it but from the interview I gather Kolata is pretty pessimistic about the possibility of significant long-term weight loss for the vast majority of overweight and obese people.

I must admit I feel so torn when I hear these types of discussions. On the one hand, I want to believe that people are capable of exercising free will when it comes to food. I'd like to think we humans, being rational creatures, have control over what and how much we eat. On the other hand, I'm well aware that genetic factors can strongly influence things like appetite and metabolism in some if not most people. For example, obese people who lose weight often must contend with a constant feeling of deprivation. That's a pretty impossible feeling to live with day in, day out for the rest of your life. I mean, if you honestly feel like you're starving all the time, how long can you hold out before you go nuts and start downing Twinkies like there's no tomorrow? This, Kolata says, is why most people who lose weight on a diet will gain that weight back within a year or two.

So where does that leave me? A year ago, I was over 50 pounds heavier than I am right now. Will I still be this skinny next year? And the year after that? What about 5 years from now? Will I wake up one morning suddenly feeling ravenous and unable to resist the urge to stuff my face with gak? I won't pretend I never worry about it. After all, I've lost a lot of weight before only to regain it when I found I could no longer keep up with all the exercise required to maintain the weight loss.

What gives me hope this time is this feeling, deep down, that CRON truly is different from other things I've tried. It's a completely new way of life. Once you start down this path, you never look at food in quite the same way again. I can't imagine going back to the way I was before. I know too much about nutrition and health now.

And yet...

I still worry just a little when I hear things like this radio interview with Gina Kolata. Her message seems to be: "If you're overweight, you might as well just give up and learn to live with that because no matter how hard you try, you'll never come up with a sustainable way to keep excess weight off." She might be right, at least for some people, but I can't accept that for myself. I have to at least try. To do otherwise would be to meekly accept the myriad health problems the overweight and obese are destined to suffer.

So onward and upward. I hope this time next year, and the year after that, and 5 years from now and even a decade from now, I'll be here to prove Kolata wrong. Stay tuned.

I had a discussion today with some friends about the thought of regaining lost weight. It all happened because an old friend of all of ours who just had a baby asked me if she could borrow some of my size 6 and 8 suits, since her 2s no longer fit (we are all very short.) I was thrilled to let her borrow the suits, as I certainly can't wear them. I'm walking around in an Ann Taylor size 0 these days, and while that's by no means skinny (MR reminds me that I'm not "underweight" by BMI, no matter what the height/weight charts day, and his mom frequently comments that I'm not skinny) it's not a size 6 or 8.

My friends at the lunch table (we were all eating in our office conference room) asked me why I had kept the suits. Am I afraid that I'll gain the weight back?

The honest answer is no, I've never thought I'd gain the weight back. It's just too easy to stay at my current weight. I still go out way more than I should, much to the chagrin of MR and our bank account. I still eat more than I need to, drink more than is necessary for proper resveratrol consumption, and in general live like a normal person. I was just ranting to one of our friends that I've gained a few pounds during the last fit of campaign intensity, and while it's not about weight, there's no question in this case that I've been consuming too many calories. Yes, my nutrition has been excellent. Yes, I've been under a lot of stress. Yes, I eat really good quality foods when I go out. A few days ago, for instance, a friend took me out to celebrate my recent victory, and I ate a non-cream based asparagus soup and a scallop appetizer as my entree, with just two pan seared scallops. No dessert. Drank some amazing French red wine (when is Sara coming over? We would have the best time eating light and drinking well!) Good food, not much by normal people standards, but still more than my usual at home dinner. Point being, I can go out a lot, live a live I very much enjoy, sacrifice nothing, and stay under 110 pounds. Usually around 104, sometimes as much as 108, but not scary numbers, and a solid size 0.

So why did I keep the suits? Mostly because I love them so much and they're such good quality that I have trouble giving them away to someone I don't know, and none of my girlfriends are the right size. Chances are, MR's mom will be taking them home at Christmas, as they'll fit her great with her recent weight loss. I've never thought I'd gain back the weight... the only thing I fear is that I won't be able to take my CR low enough that I really slow my aging process. However, I trust that with constant work and help from MR, I'll get there. Not as soon as he'd like me too, but soon enough.

When I look at the "diets" most people use to lose weight, I'm not surprised that they gain the weight back. They're still eating way too many empty calories in the form of grains, and they're not monitoring their nutrition. The miracle of eating the RDA of your essential nutrients is that you're just not as hungry. Fancy that: you give your body what it needs, and it's happy! Isn't it sad that in our culture food is about everything *but* nutrition, so this concept seems quite radical? Check out RDA Method for more info on eating healthy to live well.

I just learned the simple tricks that make it easy to stay thin. When I watch other people try to lose weight, it's hard to bite my tongue cause they make mistakes that are so easily corrected. But I try not to pry. I just go about my business, and while I still eat way too much for CR at times, I have no doubt that I'll be slim for the rest of my life.

Short recap of the tricks:

-- Stop eating grains, except on special occasions.
-- Eat enough protein. Harder if you're a vegetarian, but eggwhites and nonfat dairy help.
-- Get enough calcium.
-- Eat enough fat, but all unsaturated.
-- Throw out the mixed drinks, replace with red wine.
-- Learn how many calories are in the foods you eat, and plan accordingly.

You don't have to use nutritional software every day or memorize long lists of calorie counts, you just have to learn the basics. For instance, before I learned that it has 74 calories per ounce, I ate a lot of feta. Then I stopped! Every once in awhile, I'll eat some. But pre-CR, I was eating tons of feta on my Greek salad at lunch several times a week. Hundreds of calories that I didn't realize were packing on the weight. Once I knew, I had the power to make a rational decision.

As I've said a hundred million times, it's not about being good, right, moral, or better than anyone else. I keep the weight off because I learned how, and the new habits are no more difficult than the old ones. At least, not much more difficult. When I'm looking for a breakfast option, a Dunkin Donuts bagel with cream cheese is no longer on the list of choices. But with all the healthy, low cal, high protein choices available, I don't miss the bagel.

So I'll lend out my old suits and eventually find a good home for them. Tomorrow I'll be showing up for work in a size 0, and while I wonder where the heck I'll buy clothes once I lose any more weight (British size 0 is much smaller than ours, so maybe I'll go to London to shop), I'll keep striving for more serious CR so that I can join MR on the bus to even greater life-extension. And so that I still look cute when he's 75 and gorgeous and 50 year old chicks are hitting on him.

Posted by april at 1:16 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

May 23, 2007

Meredith Averill and Paul McGlothin Host Workshop in August

Hi all,

Meredith Averill, CR Society board chair and close personal friend of ours, sent word of this workshop she and her husband will be hosting in August.

Calorie Restriction Experts to Reveal

Secrets of Slowing Aging

Scientists, Committed Practitioners and People Interested in Living Long Healthy Lives

Benefits of Calorie Restriction to Meet in Tarrytown, NY,
August 10 to 12

People from all over the world will converge from Friday, August 10 through Sunday, August 12 on the village of Tarrytown, New York, near Sleepy Hollow, where Washington Irving spun his yarn of "The Headless Horseman." But this is a meeting of facts, not fiction. It is a workshop on calorie restriction, the only scientifically proven way to slow aging .

Millions of people of moderate weight are already limiting calories, but they are not activating the longevity biology needed to get the life-transforming benefits of calorie restriction. This workshop will show people how to do that.

The workshop – sponsored by the Calorie Restriction Society ( http://calorierestriction.org/), is to be held at the Sheraton Tarrytown.

Foremost practitioners, conducting the workshop, include Meredith Averill, Chairman of the Board of the Calorie Restriction Society, and Paul McGlothin, its Vice President of Research.

They will share their experience in how to put the newest scientific discoveries about calorie restriction practice. McGlothin and Averill are authors of a new book, The CR Way to be released in the fall.

"We are here to share the secrets of successful calorie restriction as one of the happiest, most rewarding lifestyles imaginable," says Meredith Averill. "Just think how much fun it is to have the maturity that living a long life gives you, while still enjoying a youthful body. I have more energy for work and play than I ever thought possible."

Recent research has revealed that along with calorie restriction, maintaining low glucose levels is critical to slowing the aging process. Food selection, how foods are prepared, how rapidly meals are eaten, the stress a person is under, and strong emotions like anger or fear can send glucose soaring. In the workshop atmosphere, people will be able to learn how limiting calories and keeping glucose low work together to activate genes associated with longevity. They will enjoy delicious CR meals and learn about lifestyle practices that are not only satisfying to the palate and mind, but also may help slow their rate of aging.

Workshop Benefits Research

The workshop is a benefit for the continuation of a milestone research project on the effects of calorie restriction on humans. Initiated in cooperation with the Calorie Restriction Society by Drs. Luigi Fontana and John Holloszy, of Washington University Medical School in Saint Louis, the first two phases of the research have discovered new knowledge that allows people everywhere to better understand how to prevent disease associated with aging.

A highlight of the workshop will be presentations by Dr. Fontana and by Dr. Stephen Spindler, whose genetic analysis of calorie-restricted animals has garnered worldwide acclaim. Dr. Spindler will lead the exploration of the genetic and cell signaling patterns of human calorie restrictors in Phase Three of the research whose funding is spearheaded by the Calorie Restriction Society.

Contributions of $1,000 or more for the research project are requested for anyone wishing to register for the workshop. As a special "thank you" for this support, workshop attendees will receive a glucose control kit that includes a glucometer, testing strips, and stylus. A copy of NutriBase, the leading dietary tracking software, will be available for participants to use while they are at the workshop and to take home to try. Participants will also receive a bibliography and copies of the charts presented at the workshop.

All who are interested in slowing the ravages of aging are invited to take part in the warm, friendly immersion experience of the Calorie Restriction Workshop, where they can meet kindred spirits, exchange ideas, and make friendships that may last for a very long lifetime. Attendance is limited so that a personal experience can be provided to all attendees. To make a donation of $1000 or more and secure a space – send contribution, along with personal information: name, mailing address, e-mail address and phone number to:

Bob Cavanaugh, Managing Director

Calorie Restriction Society

187 Ocean Drive

Newport, North Carolina 28570

Don't miss the tax benefits of donating appreciated assets. The CR Society has a brokerage account set up for the purpose of receiving such contributions. For details call 1-800-929-6511.

For more information on calorie restriction research, visit

http://www.calorierestriction.org/ResearchOnAging

Or call toll free: 1-866-894-1812

###

Posted by april at 1:34 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Breakfast

WARNING TO LONG TIME READERS: What you are about to read may shock you.

I have been changing what I eat for breakfast.

Yes, after years of nothing but eggwhite omlettes, sometimes with salsa or hot sauce or brewers yeast, always with flax oil, sometimes with veggies, often with nonfat cheese, but always that 1 cup scrambled get your 29 g protein in the tummy before leaving for the day etc. I am switching it up.

It started about the time when one of my nurses got fired and I was having trouble eating at all due to stress. I just couldn't face eggwhites. Sad, but true.

So I messed around with different ideas: first MR made me "eggwhite drop" soup, and I started adding brewers yeast to it to add protein and nutrition. Then I got tired of that and thought of eating my salads for breakfast. Some days I just ate South Beach Diet breakfast wraps, but needless to say, I didn't want to make that an everyday habit (and MR wouldn't let me even if I did.)

So... I puzzled and puzzled. After all these eggwhite years, I just wasn't feeling it.

Then the strangest thing happened. I decided to try a whey protein and skim milk shake again.

Those of you who have been with me from the beginning may recall my failed whey protein shake experiments. I really hated the brand of whey protein I had purchased, yet I forced myself to consume it because a) it has calcium b) it has protein c) I read that MR had whey protein shakes and wanted to seduce him. You might find it a somewhat odd seduction strategy to find out what a man eats and eat that, but in my case, it pretty much worked. Three years later we own a house together and are blissfully happy. So there.

The weirdest thing happened. MR made me up a chocolate whey protein and skim milk shake, and I loved it! I really did! It was great!

The next day, we were out of plain chocolate, but MR had chocolate banana. Even better! I love banana flavored things, so much so that recently MR has found and made me banana tea! I just freaked out over the chocolate banana whey shake. It is so good! And we checked the chocolate ingredients and found that it has no cocoa powder, which is the ingredient we worry about consuming too much of (I can't recall why at the moment but it will come back to me) but rather has a trace of cocoa butter and besides that is just harmless flavoring. Yippie!

Now if I can just get myself to stir in my am teaspoon of flax oil, I'll be set. New breakfast, high protein, lots of calcium, and takes seconds to drink.

It just goes to show... when it comes to creating a CR breakfast that you love, where there's a will, there's a whey.

Posted by april at 5:56 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

May 20, 2007

Potluck Salads

I never follow a recipe in its entirity. I just can't do it. I take an idea then modify it. Variations on a theme are us.

So I read about salads, and broccoli salads, and bean salads. And I modified. And here's what I brought to potluck:

Chipoltle Broccoli Black Bean Salad

3 cans black beans, drained
A whole lot of broccoli florets, lightly steamed
half a can of stewed diced tomatoes
chipoltle Tabasco
chipoltle pepper flakes
garlic powder

Stir and serve cold.

Chickpea Cauliflower salad:

Chickpeas
The other half can of stewed diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon capers, with juice
oregano, basil (dried)
Lots of cauliflower, lightly steamed

Mix and serve cold.

Posted by april at 8:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Fighting Weight

Or: "The Danger Of Leaving Our Heroine Alone At Home with ITunes."

I am listening to one of my favorite Kenny Loggins songs, "Conviction of the Heart." I can admit, as a rational agent, that this song is horrendously tacky. Sappy, pathetic. But I love it.

Where are the dreams that we once had?
This is the time to bring them back.

For the last few months I've felt powerfully re-connected to my organizing work, in a way I hadn't in years. It's funny how the thing that caused me to feel re-connected was a horrible management campaign in which the nurses I respect and love and care about were brutally attacked. It just made me focus on what is really important in life, and on the valuable role I am blessed to be able to play in helping these brave health care providers stand up for themselves and their patients.

I've let my CR take a backseat as I focused on organizing, and I've at times used my work as an excuse for being less disciplined than I know I can be. I've allowed myself to think of CR and organizing as somehow mutually exclusive, conflicting priorities.

But over the last few days I've started to think more and more that the two are not conflicting. Rather, I can't expect to do my job, with the demands of long hours and emotional intensity and physical strain, unless I maintain the youthful body and brain that only CR is likely to give me. I look at the brilliant trajectory I see in front of us, as these campaigns are just the beginning of a breakthrough and there are many more to follow. Bigger ones, ones that will be harder, and that will take every ounce of strength I have in me. Or gram, if you prefer.

A few weeks ago, my partner in running the organization said to one of our younger staff members, "It may take me and April twenty years to organize this city," and we looked at each other and said, "But what else are ya gonna do?"

And I had this sudden flash of "I'm in it for the long haul."

Now this isn't exactly new information. I've known for a long time that I would be organizing for a very long while, and though I hope to do more in the arena of health and nutrition as well, that organizing would be the foundation of my being. I just can't escape the fact that helping the working people of this country fight for what they deserve is my main calling in life.

So for awhile that made me think I could be a bit less serious about my CR. I mean, it's hard to really focus on calorie counts when nurses are getting fired for standing up for their co-workers, and the bullets are flying. It's easy to say, "I'm under stress, I deserve a treat."

But then I think about the next twenty years, and the challenges we will face. The long hours I will have to work, the physical and emotional strength it will take just to get through every day. And the consequences of failure.

A dream that will need all the love you can give
Every day of your life for as long as you live!

Raise your paw if you can identify the quote!

The whole purpose of CR, in my opinion, is to live life more fully, longer, more abundantly. If you read my father's book, Jesus and the Pleasures, you'll read about how Christ came so that we might have life more abundantly. I feel the same about CR. That's why it cracks me up when people say, "Why would you want to live that long?" I wonder what kind of lives they must be living now, to say such a thing. I want to be young and healthy in body and brain, while I continue to become wiser and more experienced, so that I can do more of what I'm doing now, just smarter and better and longer.

So I'm working on getting down to fighting weight. Cause I'm planning to be fighting for the foreseeable future. And winning.

CR isn't just about pie in the sky when you don't die. It's about having the strength and health to get through every day, and having that health ten or twenty years from now, so you can do more of the same. I'm not living to see my kids grow up... I've never wanted kids, and I can't imagine that I ever will. But I am living to see a more fair and just world, and to do my tiny part to bring it about. And I am blessed to fight along side of the most wonderful people in the world.

I am also blessed to have a partner in life who is doing all he can to live long enough to see a better world, and to work to bring that world about.

When I was little, watching the Sound of Music, I wondered where I would be when I felt like someone could put the question to me, "And have you found your dream?" and I could truthfully say yes.

Here I am, at age 32 in a suburb of Philadelphia, in a house I bought with the man of my dreams, surrounded by two somewhat demented cats, six blocks from the office I share with the most amazing people I could have ever hoped to count as my friends, and I can honestly say yes, I have found my dream. I live it every day. I whine from time to time that it's hard, that I'm stressed, that I don't see how I can ever live up the the expectations of those around me. But when I come face to face with the reality of my life, I realize that yes, I have found my dream.

My poor mother must be suffering terrible regret that she took me to see "The Sound of Music" when I was too young to know any better.

A dream that will need
All the love you can give
Every day of your life
For as long as you live!

Posted by april at 3:31 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

May 19, 2007

Really Annoying Trip to the Grocery Store

I don't know why I continue to be surprised by the fact that the regular grocery store is full of junk food and people who can't identify vegetables.

First, I was looking for dried cilantro, so I asked an employee where I might find spices. He had no idea. I thought to myself, "Everyone comes to the grocery store for processed junk and no one can find something you would actually use to cook food!"

Then I went over to the dairy and egg section to buy my nonfat organic milk and eggwhites. I passed a sign for the "Kids' Cookie Club." Apparently, parents can sign up their kids for this deal where you buy a certain amount and the kid gets a free cookie. Way to help out with the childhood obesity epidemic. Can't we find some better way to reward kids than to feed them stuff that sets them up for a lifetime of obesity and disease? When I was a kid, it was a major treat to go to the giant salad bar. I turned out fine.

Then I went to check out and the cashier couldn't identify a single one of our salad greens. That's right: kale, napa cabbage, and turnip greens utterly confused this fellow.

"I haven't eaten greens like that since I was a kid," said he.

I'll admit I wasn't in the best of all possible moods.

"Well, that's unfortunate," said I. "You might want to try them again. Cause if you don't eat healthy, you'll end up in the hospital much sooner than you might like."

"Healthy food just isn't right," he said. "Big Macs, fries, that's what I like. Healthy food is un-American."

"I suppose someone has to support the heart bypass industry," I replied.

"Yeah, sign me up for heart bypass surgery," said this fellow, who was overweight and I'd say in his twenties, "Cause my arteries are already clogged up. But I'll die full and happy."

One of my bags was quite heavy, so I asked if the cashier could put it in my cart. He referred the request to the skinny cashier at the next aisle.

I got out of the grocery store as fast as I could.

I have nothing against the occasional cookie, piece of brie, whatever. When I go out for a nice dinner, I often split a dessert, and I thorougly enjoy it. But there's something sick about a culture where the majority of Americans are overweight or obese, heart disease is the number one killer, and grocery stores are maketing cookie clubs to kids. Eating stuff like that should be a once in awhile thing, not an every day thing. As Cookie Monster says, "Cookies are a sometimes food."

Kids get cookies as rewards, but normal people can not identify salad greens.

Anyhow, I spent a lovely afternoon at Longwood Gardens with my mom and my new staff member from London. The flowers are so pretty! We had a nice lunch on the terrace, and I actually had a fritatta with eggplant and asparagus. Unfortunately it was not an eggwhite fritatta, so I'll be going light on calories tonight at dinner with just a small salad and some nonfat yogurt and flax oil. It was the best thing I could find on the menu, which had less in the salad department than I remembered.

Tomorrow I'm going to a potluck and I am blanking on ideas for something to bring. Seems like I've made variations on my vegetarian chili too many times to count, and while everyone enjoys it, I just can't bring myself to recycle the recipe one more time. Thoughts? I need to bring something vegetarian and substantial.

Posted by april at 6:29 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

May 17, 2007

There's Never Going To Be A Better Time

I've gotten some questions about whether I can relax for awhile now. The answer is a resounding no. Between the contract campaign at the new place we won yesterday, the Scranton campaign, and one of my staff out on paternity leave, I am swamped. The house is in desperate need of a clean, I've gotten about five hours of sleep in the last forty-eight, and my CR is going well today (now that I'm home) but was far from perfect while I was out. I ate mostly *good* food, but too much, and indulged in bread and cheese at my co-worker' house between vote times yesterday when he set out a huge lunch for me and my team so that we could work though lunch without starving to death. Shrimp, turkey sandwiches, brie (ah, the evil brie!), salad, fruit salad, homemade guacamole (he once won the office guacamole cook-off), olives. It was great. I was starving having eating a tiny eggwhite omlette in the hotel restaurant like seven hours before and been up since 4 am. So I ate a big lunch, then had one piece of bruchetta and a mussel at the victory party late last night.

My job is hard on my CR, but I sometimes think that I just use work as an excuse for being less disciplined than I know I could be. I mean, it's perfectly possible to eat the turkey, shrimp, salad and fruit salad without the bread or brie. Did the election make me eat the brie? Did the anti-union consultants hold a gun to my head and threaten to fire more of my nurses if I didn't eat the brie? No, they did not. Though perhaps they should, since de-railing my CR would cause me to die earlier, eliminating some of their prime competition. Point being, the devil did not make me do it. I ate the brie (and a lot of guacamole, which is very healthy in small amounts but adds up fast as avocadoes are very high calorie) of my own free will. Yes, it was the day of the vote. But so what? Did my consuming more calories somehow aid my nurses in winning? I don't think so!

If one is looking for excuses for why one can not eat properly, there will always be an excuse. From the holidays to the weather, there is always some ostensible reason why the brie finds its way from a buffet table into our mouths and hence to our digestive tracts.

I've been thinking about the upcoming Scranton campaign, and how to stay CR'd on the road. Basically, I need to stop whining about how hard it is and pack my food and eat right. And exercise. There's a hotel gym, there for the using. I know my Pilates routine well enough to do it in my room in the mornings. I can stay CR'd and stay in shape, and I know I'll feel better and function better all around. Time to get past the excuses.

Fact is, there's no good time for a life change. There's always going to be something. The best time for a life change is always now.

But in my own defense, that guacamole was really good. And avacadoes are a healthy fat.

Posted by april at 1:08 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Too Good To Be True

That's how people often view our descriptions of the benefits, short term and long term, of CR.

But anyway. Today's entry is about my happy day yesterday.

WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

134 to 86. Congratulations brave nurses!

They were *ecstatic* as you might imagine.

Now, onward to negotiate a contract... that means electing a bargaining committee with nurses from every unit and floor to represent the department, collecting more contract surveys, getting folks focused on what they want to improve, etc.

And I need to run another campaign in Scranton. I'll be supervising aspects of this campaign, but transitioning large parts of it to the other half of our staff who are responsible for already organized places. These folks will be getting a great guy, an attorney with lots of experience, to be there permanent staff rep. Some of the leaders met him yesterday.

Tonight, one of my friends is taking me and my second-in-command out to dinner to celebrate. We are so happy.

Headline for today is taking from a Shawn Colvin song, "Whole New You," which is a great self-transformation song if there ever was one:

Shake the lonliness and shine the light
Take all your tears and save em for a rainy night
Go and wish on every star that's fallen
Shake your head in wonder when it's all too good to be true.

Posted by april at 7:42 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

May 14, 2007

Designer Food

This from my "Why French Women Don't Get Fat" newsletter:

Superb Spring Asparagus
A Seasonal Food That Comes in Two Designer Shades

That strikes me as incredibly cute, for some reason.

Does anyone remember how I used to talk about buying tall, skinny, sexy asparagi? For some reason, I thought it extremely obvious that I was hitting on MR with this statement. I tend to think myself much more transparent than I am. I always think that men know when I am interested in them. When we're talking about science geeks, the answer is usually that they have no clue. No clue whatsoever.

Now I have my own sexy skinny boy to feed tall skinny asparagi to. In two designer shades.

And someday I will have time to do serious cooking again.

Posted by april at 6:28 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 13, 2007

This Looks Disgusting, But It Tastes Really Good!

Or: Unusual Mothers' Day Gifts.

Happy Mothers' Day to all you moms out there. We're not doing the big Mothers' Day this weekend because I am so swamped with work (election on Wednesday) but next weekend I'm taking my mom to Longwood Gardens as her Mothers' Day present. We'll have lunch on the terrace and then walk through the gardens.

In the meantime, I whipped up a quick batch of my homemade salsa verde to take over to Luke and Christine for Mothers' Day/new baby congratulations. I hadn't seen their baby yet, since things have been so busy that I haven't had a moment to make it over there. The baby is, well, small. Obviously human, but still has his eyes closed, as though he were a kitten. About the size of a large butternut squash, but with hair. Looks a lot like his father. He was three weeks early, and only weighs 5 lb 6 oz! About a third of the size of my cat.

Christine asked if I wanted to hold him.

"No way," said I. "I don't like to hold those things till they're about 35."

The way I figure it, I don't want to hold anything that might get hurt if you drop it. I don't even like holding fancy crystal glasses, much less children. By the time they're in their late thirties, they're okay to stand on their own.

The best part was that I got to see Lucy, Luke and Christine's cat. She's a magnificent creature, with beautiful green eyes and very, very long black and white fur. She was lounging in a sunbeam in a chair. We nuzzled and kissed and cuddled, and I got covered in fur. You could almost see her thinking, "Finally, someone who knows who is important around here!"

I can't help it. I like cats more than babies.

Here's my salsa verde recipe, not too spicy but flavorful:

tomatillos
several varieties of chili powder
habenero flakes
garlic
lemon juice (fresh)
dash of Emerill's "Kick It Up" green sauce
dried cilantro (though fresh would be better if you had it)

Blend in the food processor. Allow to chill for a day so the flavors meld together before serving.

For Luke and Christine's salsa, I added a half a can of black beans, drained, to make it a bit more substantial. That's what made it look a bit like the excrement of a sea monster. I handed it over to them and said, "This looks disgusting, but it tastes really good!" Then I dropped off another jar to our new employee, Cindy, who lives in the house MR and I used to live in with her eight month old son. Her husband is coming in July from California.

One thing about CR and life-extension in general is that it makes me think about what these people who are babies now will be like when they're forty or so. I plan to be quite alive and well and running around forty years from now, when I'm 72. My grandparents would tell you that some of the best years of their lives took place in their seventies, when they were retired and could do whatever they wanted, financially comfortable, done raising rugrats, and still perfectly healthy and active. Their de facto CR'd lifestyle is I think largely to credit for this. Intentional CR, plus any age-reversing technologies that evolve between now and then, could lead me to be even healthier than they were.

That's the idea, anyhow.

Posted by april at 9:15 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

May 11, 2007

Cold Cruciferous Salad

My partner MR is from a very cool, very dry place. The ideal place to store wine: Calgary, Alberta. He does not much care for the heat and humidity that we have here in Philadelphia.

I am from North Carolina. I love heat and humidity. Two mornings ago I woke up, came downstairs, and said, "Oh, isn't the weather lovely?"

He said, "Are you completely insane?"

He despises humidity. He feels like he is in the shower all the time.

Last night I came out of a meeting with nurses, getting ready for contract negotiations, at about 10 pm and said, "I love this weather!" I simply adore going outside and feeling all nestled in a cushion of heat and humidity.

I am so very American.

But my love does not care for this weather, so on this warm afternoon I decided to make for him a cool dinner: Cold Cruciferous Salad.

Warning: do not make this salad if you don't care for raw vegetables!

I chopped up a huge layer of raw cauliflower, and topped it with an only slightly smaller layer of raw broccoli. Coating of garlic powder, basil and oregano. Then I added a layer of eggwhites for protein, though I think that steamed shrimp or scallops sauteed in white wine and balsalmic vinegar would also be excellent.

Then I topped with 1 cup Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, plus 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar. 1 teaspoon flax oil, 1 teaspoon olive oil. Some hazelnuts on the side for added fat.

MR loved it... took him forever to eat, but he thought it was delicious. Perfect cold food for a warm evening!

Posted by april at 8:46 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

May 10, 2007

Nice Article on Sanjay Gupta's New Book, Chasing Life

Read it here.

I really liked that guy. He was so sane and rational, and very pleasant to hang out with. I wish we'd gotten to spend more time with him.

Posted by april at 8:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Dinner on the Table... FAST!

Needless to say, I don't have a lot of time to cook.

So I've created a formula for getting a healthy dinner on the table very, very quickly... under 20 minutes for a Zoned, nutritious dinner that tastes pretty good. I spend a bit more time cooking on weekends if I can, since I really enjoy cooking as a creative enterprise, and then I do other fancier dishes, like stuffed vegetables, pasta-less lasagnas, etc. But on weeknights, if I get to cook at all, it's the quick and easy, no-frills way.

Here's the basic formula: start with a bunch of veggies. It can be a bag of frozen veggies, some fresh squash or eggplant, leeks, whatever. Or a combination thereof. Last night I made a 20 minute dinner while on a brief break from work calls by throwing together a bag of Asian blend frozen veggies, generic from our grocery store (mushrooms, snow peas, broccoli) and half a giant leek. I boiled up a cup of no-salt veggie broth and steamed the veggies, then added the protein, in this case, eggwhites. I use eggwhites as the protein souce, usually cooked and crumbled into chunks, since they're pure protein, no saturated fat, and they really have no taste at all so that pick up the flavor of whatever dish you throw them into. But you could use shrimp, chicken, scallops, tofu, Quorn, whatever.

After I add the protein source, I figure out how to spice it up. I have about five basic combinations of spices that I use:

-- Vaguely Italianish spice mix: garlic, basil, oregano, and sometimes some tomato paste or Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes. This goes great with eggplant, cauliflower, squash mixes.

-- Vaguely Asian spice mix: garlic, ginger, low sodium soy sauce (Trader Joe's has a great one), lime. That's what I used last night.

-- Vaguely curried orange thing: I do this a lot in fall with pumpkin, baby corn, and sometimes even apples. Garlic, curry powder, and sometimes cinnamon.

-- "The Flavor": This was one of those desperation meets necessity creates creativity ones. About six months ago I had this bizarre brainstorm that if worcestershire sauce is good with Tabasco in a Bloody Mary, then why not use a similar combination in a veggie dish? So I poured some worcestershire sauce along with some Chipoltle Tabasco into a dish that was broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, squash, eggwhites, and onions. MR loved it! It tastes vaguely like ginger, which I can't explain. It's one of his favorite combinations, so I use it about once a week in one dish or another.

-- Vaguely southwestern thing with cumin and hot pepper: I have this spice dispenser that has about seven kinds of chili powders, and I love to mix that up with cumin, habenero pepper flakes, and tomato based chili like dishes. Also can benefit from a dash of hot sauce, and we own many, many hot sauces. My ex-boyfriend used to say that I had no taste buds left because I've burned them all off eating spicy foods and drinking extra hot coffee. Some like it hot.

Those are my basic rotations of flavor mixes.

Then I add the healthy fat source, usually a teaspoon of flax oil on the dish (add after removing from heat) plus some hazelnuts on the side. Sometimes avocado, sometimes almonds, sometimes olive oil.

So here's how it works:

1. Choose veggies, steam them in no salt veggie broth.

2. Choose protein, cook and add, or just add if already cooked (like eggwhites, tofu or Quorn.)

3. Choose spice mix and spice.

4. Add unsaturated fat sources.

5. Serve and eat.

6. Go back to working.

I try really hard to make dinner for MR most nights, even if it's just the quick one-dish supper. The beauty of living six blocks from my office is that I can run home, throw together dinner, sit down and eat for half an hour, and then either go back to the office or go back to working from home and still get in a good twelve hour work day (or more, if it's an early morning.) We picked our house location for exactly this purpose, and it's been a tremendous improvement in my quality of life.

These days I'm so busy with work that I can't do much volunteering for the Mprize or SENS, so I also feel like by liberating MR from the task of cooking his dinner so that he can spend more time writing/researching, I am at least making a tiny contribution most days.

Cooking is a great creative release for me... stress reducing activity, as odd as it sounds. I find that when I'm so busy that I can't take even forty-five minutes to cook and eat dinner with my partner, my stress level goes way up. Just the act of playing with vegetables in a meaningful, productive way that immediately adds joy to the life of someone I love reduces my stress and makes me happy.

And here's one of the main reasons why I like to be in charge of dinner: I am so much faster and more efficient than MR is. I can throw together a dinner in no time flat, and so imagining him spending time cooking (it takes him a lot more time than it takes me to cook a meal) really offends my sense of efficiency.

Posted by april at 5:32 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

May 8, 2007

And How Many Nurses Do You Know?

MR asked me something like this today as I pondered whether or not I had a kidney infection.

Around noon I was doubled over on the floor of my office in pain. Lower back, localized on the left side. I have a history of chronic urinary tract infections. I've not been drinking enough water as of late, and I missed my cranberry pills for a few days while my supplement feeder (aka my partner MR) was out of town at a scientific conference.

So I was a bit concerned... a kidney infection can be very dangerous. I had nausea, a low grade fever, and localized pain in my lower back, left side.

I called a bunch of nurses. One perk of my job is that if you have a nursing question, you've got people.

I got ahold of one of my ER tech good friends who described kidney infection symptoms in detail.

"Get MR to hit your back where it hurts. If pain radiates throughout your body, you have a kidney infection. If it doesn't, you don't."

I got MR to hit me a few times. Pain didn't radiate; in fact, I felt better.

It's muscular. Muscle spasms as a result of stress and sleeping terribly/not at all. I was up at 1:30 am and never got back to sleep, left for work at 5:30 am.

I got MR to rub out the knots in my lower back and I felt better, went on to my meeting with nurses.

Of course, my nurses, upon hearing the story, said, "Call me anytime!"

It's a wonderful side effect of my work. The most amazing, dedicated women and men on earth are there to help me if I'm sick. I'm about to have some of their cell phone numbers tatooed on my chest in case I'm in a car accident, cause if I'm ever a trauma, I want these people to take care of me. I know they'd save my life.

And they know I'll be there for them, no matter what it takes out of me.

Tonight I find myself calling upon the spirits of every patient my brave nurses have ever saved, protected, and helped to heal. Those of you who are alive and well today because these people were there for you, send your prayers and your energy to the men and women who sacrifice so much to care for you.

As I drove to my morning meeting at 5:30 am, I hear one of my old favorite songs, one that always reminds me of why it is I'm willing to be there for my nurses.

I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you
Take me in into your darkest hour
And I'll never desert you.

And when, when the night falls on you baby
You're feeling all alone
Wandering on your own...
I'll stand by you.

PS It occurs to me that it's been awhile since someone wrote in and said, "You CR people must have no priorities in life other than counting calories!"

PS PS One of my union members, the ER tech I mentioned, was doing some googling about diet and health and found me! It was very funny. She asked me to send her info, which I will now do.

PS PS PS I haven't mentioned them in awhile, but I spent last year working with professional and technical staff at the same hospital system where the last group of unorganized nurses are currently organizing. It was a wonderful experience working with all the other people who make health care possible... med techs, respiratory therapists, dieticians (I loved the dieticians!), social workers, physical therapists, OR techs, radiology techs, peds techs, telemetry techs... the list goes on. So when I refer to nurses, it's because they're at the forefront of my mind now that I'm running two RN campaigns. But hospitals wouldn't run without everyone else who takes care of you, even the ones you don't see like the med techs locked up in the lab.

Posted by april at 6:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 7, 2007

"You Look Awful!"

That's what MR said to me this morning when he woke me up. I hadn't been sleeping, I've not been eating particularly well, and I look worse than I have since I started CR three years ago. Huge circles under my eyes. MR said I look like I am at death's door. Of course I don't care much because right now the only thing that matters to me is making sure that the brave nurses I work win their right to a voice on the job.

One of the nurses I work with was quite shocked to see me eat a piece of pizza. I hadn't eaten much, due to a stress-induced lack of appetite, in about a week, and then, when confronted with delicious Northeast Philly pizza, I ate two slices.

Not exactly good CRON.

My CR went to hell while MR was away... between work stress and my routine being disrupted with MR not at home, I just didn't take care of myself well. It's ironic because when I was a single girl I ate so well... but I've gotten used to having MR make my lunches and pack my supplements and check up on me to make sure I'm eating properly even when I'm under tons of stress.

I was so happy when he walked in the door last night. His flight was terribly delayed, so he got home close to midnight. I waited up for him. When he walked through the door I honestly thought he was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I guess you girls (and guys!) out there who are with the love of your life know what I mean, but there's something about being apart for a few days and then seeing him again that just brings home to me how much I love, adore and worship the man.

Meanwhile, the nurses at the hospital are scared after their colleague was fired. We've racked up so many unfair labor practices charges (documentations of occasions when the employer has broken the law) that even if for some reason we lose the election, we'll get it overturned. Nurses are constantly calling me with more reports of these events, and it's good that they are documenting them and watching out for their rights. It's just horrible to see nurses get beaten up by their employer for standing up for themselves and their patients. All these people want is fairness: safe staffing, a fair salary, and a bit of security.

There are so many moments when I am filed with respect and admiration for the nurses I work with... they spend twelve or more hours a day taking care of critically ill human beings, then they go home and care for their families. They're the strongest people on earth. I want all of you out there who know a nurse to go up to him or her tomorrow and say how much you appreciate the work they do. It's so hard to battle the health care system that views nurses as little more than licenses to comply with state regulations. Yet our nurses do battle every day, at tremendous cost to their own health and sanity, to take care of you and me and the people we love. Every single day I am grateful to God for the opportunity to help these women (and men!) win the respect they deserve at work, and win the right to advocate for their patients without fear.

There are plenty of times when I'm tired and I look like death and I know I could do something easier with my life. But when I remember that one day, all of us will be that patient in the bed, depending on our nurse to make sure we make it home alive, I know I am willing to do whatever it takes to take care of my nurses.

I wish you could all meet these women (and of course the guys too!) I work with. Their strength in the face of adversity, their absolute dedication to their patients and their profession... you have no idea how much that nurse caring for your loved one really cares, and how much she has sacrificed to give the life-saving care that you might take for granted. She's given up her holidays, her weekends, her time with her family, her health, to make sure that others heal. And when she asks for even minimal wage increases, retirement benefits, health care benefits, she's met with nothing but cutbacks from profit-focused health care executives who care a lot more about the bottom line than about patient care.

No matter what happens, I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with these nurses. And you should be grateful that they sacrifice so much to care for you and your loved ones.

Posted by april at 6:51 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

May 6, 2007

Can They Do That?

Whenever management does something illegal (or just immoral but actually legal) people always ask, "Can they do that?"

The answer is, of course, "They just did."

Employees have very few rights under American labor law. My friends from Canada and Europe are quite shocked at the barbaric nature of the American work place.

However, it actually is illegal for management to fire a nurse for union activity, so they always make up an excuse. In the case I mentioned yesterday, though I don't know all the details yet, it seems pretty obviously motivated by union activity, so I suspect we will actually win a labor charge on it and the nurse will get his job back. However, the intent is to chill the organizing campaign by scaring the other nurses so much that they are afraid to talk to their co-workers. It remains to be seen whether or not this will work.

There are some risks to an employer who pursues such a strategy. One is that even if they win the election because, for example, pro-union nurses were afraid to come out and vote due to management intimidation, with such a long record of unfair labor practices, specifically intimidation, it's quite possible that the election could be overturned. Of course that process takes time, and if they employer if interested in making cuts to workers' salaries or benefits, they can go on ahead with those.

Another risk is damage to the reputation in the community. No employer likes to admit that he would rather break the law, violate workers' rights, and fire good employees rather than see the employes win a voice on the job.

Then there's the permanent mistrust of the employees. While firings scare other employees (who need their jobs, health insurance and benefits, and who also don't want to lose the many years of hard work they've given the institution) they also make other employees very angry. No one likes to see a co-worker fired unfairly, and when it's so blatant that a co-worker is fired for union activity, it sometimes makes those who have been unsure think that management can no longer be trusted.

Meanwhile, the real tragedy is that human beings who've made the choice to stand up for themselves, their co-workers and their patients have to go through the hell of losing a job, trying to figure out how to provide for their families, and the extremely traumatic experience of being treated unfairly and cruelly by the very administrators they have worked with for many years. Nurses give 200% at work, and do so much more every day to make sure that their patients get the care they need, no matter how understaffed the floor is or how hard it is to get proper equipment. Nurses have the highest rate of kidney infections of any profession because they simply can't leave the floor to take bathroom breaks... in a twelve hour shift! They're so busy delivering life-saving care that they don't have time for the basic things a human needs: restroom trips, meal breaks in twelve hours, etc. There's tons of documentation on the incredible toll stress takes on a nurse's health, family life, and long term risk of disease.

Several of the nurses I've worked with have come to me for advice about how to lose weight and eat healthy in spite of having an extremely stressful job and lifestyle. It's fun to be able to combine the two things I love most: helping nurses organize to have a voice at work, and helping people in general get control of their diet and improve their health through nutrition. As everyone knows, it's hard to make your own health a priority when you're a) under a lot of stress b) chronically in situations where you can't eat for hours on end, then you're confronted with an array of unhealthy food choices and very few healthy ones. Your average hospital cafeteria is a nutritional nightmare, not that most nurses ever get a break to go there.

Imagine the stress of running around for 12.5 hours at minimum, often with no breaks to eat, often with barely one break to even go to the bathroom. The entire time, you know that every decision you make, everything you do, is the difference between life and death, between getting better and going home or getting sicker and even dying for several critically ill human beings who are your responsibility, both legally and morally. Families are often hysterical and even abusive; equipment, even basic supplies are often lacking. (I know nurses who bring their own ice packs and band-aids to work cause the hospital fails to provide them on a regular basis!) Staffing is chronically short, not because they hospitals can't find nurses (there are plenty out there, and our organized hospitals have very low vancancy rates because people actually want to work there!) but because hospitals cut costs by cutting nurse staffing. Not all hospitals of course... I once sat at an airport bar next to a hospital administrator from Illinois who was actually trying to improve working conditions for nurses, and he had quite genuinely sought their input and made changes to improve the quality of care and nurse job satisfaction (which for obvious reasons go hand in hand.) But too many hospitals have caved into pressure from the insurance industry, and instead of joining with their health care professionals to fight for quality standards, they've fought the very dedicated professionals who stand up for the patients. We've tried over and over again to enlist hospitals in our legislative efforts to set minimum nurse to patient ratios, which would effectively take staffing out of competition, so that each hospital could provide safe staffing ratios without worrying that hospital x up the street, the competitor, will be able to offer better deals to big insurance because they have fewer nurses and lower costs. The hospitals refuse, and more often than not allign themselves with the insurance companies. It's a sad situation, but one that the nurses themselves have a great deal of power to fight... if they can make it through the organizing phase and win themselves a real voice on the job and in the healthcare system.

Very few people outside the medical field have any idea what nurses do. Media images of sexualized nurses fluffing pillows and flirting with doctors abound. People know that nurses "care," but they don't realize that nurses actively move your healing process forward. Nursing diagnosis and care is different from medical diagnosis and care, but it's the nursing care you receive that makes the difference in your hospital experience. Excellent, well-rested, nurses, and enough of them: you're likely to make it out alive, and even well. For every patient that a nurse has over six on a regular medical surgical floor, your chances of DYING in the bed go up by 30%. Do you want to play those odds? Well, hospitals are willing to gamble with your life. And today there's one fewer nurse at work because one hospital in particular is willing to do anything, illegal or immoral, to prevent its nurses from having a seat at the table where decisions are made.

So is CR my top priority right now? Frankly, no. My top priority is helping these brave women and men get the justice they deserve, and the power that their patients need to have to be true advocates for the weakest, most vulnerable among us, those who are sick in the hospital. Does that mean that CR goes out the window? No. My CR practice has been on medium auto-pilot for so long, eating my quotidian diet mixed with some more elaborate meals I cook when I have time and restaurant eating (ah, the salad with grilled chicken, dressing on the side) when I go out. I need my CR to maintain the energy it takes to do my job, and it definitely helps with emotional strength and mental focus. I've actually had some trouble lately with losing my appetite due to stress, and it's a fight to make sure that when I do eat, I eat only healthy foods so that I get my proper nutrition. But I don't want my life to be cut short by my job, so I do the best I can. And MR is such a help and support... he's used to me waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to go back to sleep because I'm worried about my nurses... he's used to me taking calls at all hours of the day and night, running out the door to meetings, and being home rarely.

It's going to be a rough two weeks until the election, then I'm directly onto another, where the person who has been the primary organizer on the campaign is going out for three weeks of leave when his wife has their first baby. So I'll be taking over the day after I win this election, and my co-worker will be remaining to help these nurses win their first contract. These days there are so many nurses who want to organize that we are running around like crazy trying to help them, and though I've hired new staff, it takes awhile to train them. No vacation this year either for me, but I think you can see why I feel like it's worth the sacrifice of my time, energy, and large portions of my sanity to help nurses get a voice on the job.

When I think about the people in my life who are alive today only thanks to the hard work of dedicated nurses who could have done anything with their careers but who chose to take on the responsibility of saving others' lives, I have no doubt, no doubt whatsoever, that it's worth it.

Posted by april at 5:25 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

May 5, 2007

May 4, 2007

Congratulations Luke and Christine!

My co-workers Luke and Christine just had a baby at 6:20! It's a boy. They haven't figured out a name yet.

Posted by april at 9:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 1, 2007

Looks Like You'll Be Making Your Own Dinner

That's what I said to MR as I walked out the door, having just found out that one of the nurses who has been very active out outspoken in talking to his co-workers on our current campaign got fired. Two weeks out from a vote, and management thinks they can scare the other nurses by firing a popular and well-known union supporter. It's really disgusting how they would fire an excellent, dedicated nurse, without regard for either the great care he's been giving his patients all these years, or his family's livelihood, all because they think it will kill the nurses' attempt to organize.

Well, it's backfiring. All the other nurses are up in arms, furious that they'd fire an excellent nurse. Of course they're scared as well.

I had gone home for a quick lunch with MR... he leaves for a conference tomorrow and I want to spend all the time with him I can (which is not much) before he goes, so I ate my lunch salad at our breakfast table with him. Then my co-worker came bounding down the street with the news of the firing... I had just brewed a pot of double strength coffee and poured a glass of it over ice to make iced coffee and make a plan.

Now we're at the office calling every nurse in the bargaining unit... they're fired up mad, but worried and scared too.

Luckily, I had already gotten most of my nutrition in before this development transpired. I had eggwhites with brewers yeast for breakfast, a megamuffin for snack, and my usual MR-made salad for lunch. Then after getting the news we adjourned to get a bite to eat before making calls and I ate a bunch of hummus with pita... a stress-induced hummus craving now doubt. Tomorrow may have to be a little lower calorie to make up for that one. Sure was good hummus though.

Meanwhile, Philomena the 21 year old calico is acting sick. She was lying listless on the bedroom sheets, and so we filled her up with her kitty subcutaneous fluids. I hope she perks up by the time I get home. The last thing I need right now is a sick kitty.

MR is making his own dinner and I'm working late as usual. I'm lucky to have a partner who is so patient and supportive.

Life is never boring, and the fight for justice is never over.

All the more reason to keep a megamuffin on hand at all times.

Posted by april at 7:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April's CR Diary