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October 29, 2011
Just Me. In a room sunk down in a house in a town.
MR is at the CR Society Conference that I couldn't go to because work is way too busy with an election on Nov. 17 - 18 and five different campaigns sparking up at once. In a completely bizarre occurance for October, it's snowing here. I had to drive to a meeting with unorganized health care workers in the snow, and basically thought I would die the entire way there and back. Glad to be home, cat in lap, working on my midterm for one of my classes and wondering for the four thousandth time if I'm just an idiot for pursuing graduate school part time while working a more than full time job, trying to keep up a house, etc. etc. etc.
"I won't go as a passenger no, waiting for the road to be laid," says Sara Barailles over my iPod. I think that's why I'm in graduate school. I don't want to be just a passenger on this train wreck that is our health care system. I want to understand it better so that I can better lead the nurses and other health care workers who have entrusted me with the responsibility to know about these things. I'm an excellent organizer, but I want to be more than that. I actually want to be a leader in the discussion of what health care should look like in the rest of this century. It's funny how the union busters like to talk about organizers as though we're salespeople, when we all know we could make a lot more money with a lot less stress by actually going into sales. Teaching people that by joining together they can empower themselves, protect their families, and more effectively advocate for their patients: that's not easy, glamourous, fun or well-paid. But some days it works and when it works, it's the best thing ever.
I miss my epidemiology class with its tables and numbers and odds ratios. I had come to depend on the numbers as my escape from my "real" life of human emotion. Yet I love health policy, and am finding it so fulfilling to learn more about this health care system with which I have interacted for my entire adult life. My health policy class is amazing, and I learn more every day.
This was a terrible eating week. I think sometimes that self-discipline really is a zero-sum game. I ate meeting pizza, a bagel that a co-worker brought to a staff meeting, etc. etc. etc. Didn't gain weight but didn't eat healthy. Still hitting yoga most days but not doing enough cardio now that it's too cold out (note the snow!) to go for long walks. Must join office gym and treadmill. I know better than most how important healthy habits are at crunch time and at least I've made time for yoga classes, but it's hard to do it all when I could work 18 hours a day every day.
Off to bed soon... more soon...
Posted by april at October 29, 2011 5:40 PM
Comments
April
could you please e-mail me the guys name you mentioned a few months ago that advocates a low carb diet that you are now following - I believe you mentioned he wrote a book also - and if so I'd appreciate the book title again. I tried to review the archives for your blog but could not recall exactly what months/days you had blogged about him - thanks!
Posted by: Irit at October 30, 2011 8:11 PM
I snipped this from today's Huffington Post. An article about dieting by a lady named Kirpatrick,cs.. I thought this might be of interest since many blog readers here use diet sodas:
"No calories mean no weight gain, right? This is the popular line of reasoning for many diet soda drinkers. Unfortunately, current research indicates a possible link between artificial sweetener consumption and weight gain. A study in the journal Diabetes Care found that daily consumption of diet soda was associated with a 36 percent greater relative risk of developing metabolic syndrome and a 67 percent greater relative risk of developing Type 2 diabetes compared with non-consumption. Another study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that, in one group of study participants, consumption of artificially sweetened beverages was associated with Type 2 diabetes. The findings are mimicked in rat studies as well. A study in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience found that consumption of products containing artificial sweeteners led to weight gain due to changes in the rat's normal physiological processes of sweets. In addition to this, the presence of constant artificial sweeteners in the diet means you're never really letting your taste buds get a break from the sweet taste you love. The more you drink diet soda, the longer you'll remain trapped in the sugar cycle and continue to crave."
Robert
Posted by: Robert at November 2, 2011 5:24 PM
Thanks for the snip Robert... it will give me a good chance to teach some epidemiology once I'm done with this midterm and a crazy work week! Will post at the weekend!
Posted by: April at November 4, 2011 5:08 AM