My "problem" with blogging.

I have tried for years to be a regular blogger.  I never maintain a blog "correctly" by promoting it, writing on regular intervals and on a cohesive topic, etc.  Why?  I am so organized and timely in my professional life, why can't I translate some of those skills to being a writer/blogger?

I will tell you why.  Because I want to do EVERYTHING.  NOW.  And I cannot commit to just one thing.

While working through "The Declaration of You," I asked myself:  "Self, what are your hobbies, what do you enjoy?"  And unfortunately my answer looked something like this:

• Music.  Listening, collecting, playing.  I am proficient at piano and play publicly for special occasions, but my long-term goals involve forcing my daughter to take violin so I can learn strings and evench play cello.  I would also LOVE to be part of a casual band that plays publicly.
• Craftiness.  I use this term loosely.  I have done cross stitch (and have at least 3 unfinished projects in storage), knit (I have a scarf that still needs to be finished), crochet (I started an overachiever's blanket), scrapbooking (I have 2 unfinished books), wreath making (I have an unfinished Halloween wreath sitting on my desk next to my computer right now) among many MANY others.
• Exercise.  I've always wanted to be an aerobics instructor and was well on my way to becoming one when I got pregnant, tore my patellar tendon and got some good old fashioned excruciating IT band syndrome.  I'd like to teach step aerobics someday.
• Writing.  I have always loved the idea of writing something like a textbook, a novel, some other work that will live on like a legacy.  This is my least successful "hobby" so far because aside from the professional writing that I've done (my last two reviews were published in 2013! Here's number one and number two), I've not been able to devote the time to develop to writing as a hobby.
• Reading.  I looooooove to read.  I read internet magazines (print?  pshaw!), news websites, blogs, novels (mostly trash, I admit), biographies - I will almost read anything!  I cannot sleep without reading at least a paragraph first and most days I fall asleep in my king bed with a book and my google tablet.

The moral of this story/post is that I don't finish things and I am too divided.  I cannot focus hard enough on any one thing to make it happen with consistency.  For that, I apologize to my readers (all 3 of you, HA HA).

What do you think is required to be a good blogger?  How often does one have to post to remain relevant?  

A new exercise, A new book to read, I'm BACK!

There are many reasons why I haven't been writing.  I will bullet point a few in general terms so that we can move on to getting fixed by the time I turn 40 - I still have a few years and I *have made progress!

• Time.  The last few years have been a blur, honestly.  Some huge life events, some important realizations, and a few major decisions that led me down a path that has been sending me "this was right" signals all over the place.  All positive - I will dedicate more single posts to these things and how/why I made the decisions that I did in the future.
• Computer.  When I left my Biotech job to go back to academia, I surrendered my brand new company laptop.  I was left with my older (circa 2007) mac iBook which I thought would totally suffice.  It didn't.  I didn't want to write because my computer bogged me down.  But I have a shiny new computer!  Yay!
• Fear.  Yep - I have been afraid to share too much detail of my life with you all.  I'm going to get over that and try to talk in general terms about what has been going on with me and what I've learned about myself that has lead me down my current path.  Have other bloggers had this fear of putting themselves out there?  Maybe.  I've heard some rumblings on the blog-o-sphere about it.

My friend wrote a book.  Her name is Michelle Ward (want to see her?) and she's the When I Grow Up Coach.  Her book is called "The Declaration of You" and according to the website:

Through a series of creative, colorful exercises — questions to get the wheels turning and an encouraging kick in the pants — you will get all the permission you crave to step passionately into your life, discover how you and your gifts are unique, and uncover what you are meant to do!

Doesn't that sound perfect for "Fixed by 40?"  I am so excited to share this with you guys and work through it!  Stay tuned.  And feel free to join me in connecting with Michelle and her co-author Jessica Swift (I have some of her art hanging in my daughter's room!) on facebook.  I know this read's like an ad and it kinda is cause I love Michelle, but it's also how I'm going to get back into sharing how I'm fixing myself.  We need to cover some pretty important topics including:

• Why being a scientist isn't what I thought it would be.
• Why I removed chemicals from my diet.
• How getting older affects your outlook.
• How to stop being a people-pleaser and seeking approval for everything I do.
• How to detach from being a natural codependent.

We're gonna do that.  Buckle Up.

Writing on writing.

I need to be sure to write more often.  I like to write and I'm pretty sure I have a decent voice and stuff to say.

So why don't I?

I am a bit afraid that no one will read the minutia of my mind.  However, if I don't put it out there, how will I know?  So here's what's on my mind today.

1.  There will be no CURE for cancer.  There will be personalized medicine and better approaches for sure but there is no cure and I am very bothered by all of the small organizations that "campaign" on this "WE WANT A CURE" platform.

2.  I think that scientific research is broken.  "The system" is set up to reward a small subset of people and accomlishments that aren't necessarily winning the battle against anything...and we have lost basic pure research (for no other reason than to figure out "life") in favor of translation to the clinic.  Not that translational research is a bad thing, but the days of the "-omics" are generating information at ludicrous speed and we don't know what to do with it.  At all.

3.  If everyone was in a little less of a hurry and more kind to one another, there would be less negativity in this world.  By that I mean what has happened to our sense of community as human beings?  I would love to talk to some evolutionary biologists and some anthropologists on this.  If you are one, hit me up.

Are potatoes bad?

With all of the talk of obesity, glycemic index, paleo, cholesterol, blood sugar and diabetes on this blog, you might start to get the impression that potatoes are a "never" food.

I disagree.

A nice round whole potato is not a bad thing once in a while.  If it keeps me from eating a processed bag of nonsense from the grocery store, a potato is a whole and natural alternative.

The glycemic index (GI) of a "serving" of baked russet potato is 111.  To put that in context, an average "serving" of baked sweet potato has a GI of 74 (odd huh?  We will get to that later).  For more context, the GI of a serving of hummus - containing those "bad" peas called chickpeas - has a GI of 6.  Finally, a serving of boiled spaghetti (white) has a GI of 46.

So yeah, potatoes are "bad" for blood sugar and glycemic load.  In fact, if you look at this list of GIs from a Harvard U website, they are the "worst" GI food on the list.  Shocking, no?

It's all about starch and russet potatoes are the starchiest.

So I think, in my honest opinion, regular starchy white potatoes are a "sometimes" food.  Once a week wont kill ya.  I'm pretty certain that if a caveman happened upon a white potato that he dug up, he wouldn't have said:  OH NO WAY AM I EATING THAT.  :)  Then again, he wouldn't have come across one probably, well, ever.

Sweet potatoes are an odd bird - they are lower in GI and yet taste sweet?  What gives?

What's really interesting are that aside from GI, sweet and white potatoes are virtually identical in "stats:"
     Sweet potato:  90 calories, 21 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fiber, 2 grams of protein
     White potato:  92 calories, 21 grams of carbs, 2.3 grams of dietary fiber, 2.3 g of protein

Weird.

I tried to dig deeper to see why white potatoes are taboo and sweet potatoes are "in."  Aside from the soluble fiber in sweet potato and glycemic index, they are not that different.  And the fact is that research hasn't determined whether sweet potatoes are better for us in the long run since they have come into "food vogue" quite recently.  It is certainly true that sweet pots have more antioxidants and vits/minerals.  I don't argue that.  And if you're watching your blood sugar, definitely reach for the sweet potato.    But if you're an average Joe with no health issues who is not following a prescribed diet - and if you realize that eating ANYTHING deep fried is not healthy because it increases the saturated fat and caloric density of your food - a white potato now and again is not gonna kill ya!

Balance. Stress. Organization.

These are my hopeful themes of 2013.

Step 1 - slowly reclaim my space.  I have help.  There are some great websites - most notably my ever encouraging and patient friend at GetAGrip.  I also like UFYH (which is actually a really bad name for business because who wants to go around swearing the "Eff" word when mentioning a place of business??).  Finally, good ole Flylady has some great ideas.

I took some time to declutter a few areas BEFORE putting away the new holiday stuff including my stockpile of shower stuff (shower gel I'm allergic to?  WHY am I saving that???), my drawers and hanging clothes in the closet and my daughter's huge piles of too-small clothing.  I have a mega stack to give to Goodwill and a box - one that even made it to my CAR - to ship to a friend for her daughter.

Each night I will tackle one - albeit likely very small - task designed to make my life less stressy.

What steps are you taking to find balance and destress your 2013?

On using the scale.

Do you weigh yourself regularly?  How do you measure your health if not by the scale?

It's 2013 and I refuse to begin the daily obsession with weighing myself daily.  I will weigh once a month at best.

#staceysresolutions

Happy New Year!

So its 2013.  How was your year?  I know a lot of you were with me in discovering what we can tolerate and what our food sensitivities are.  Many of us were stunned to realize that the so-called food pyramid that was taught to us in school is, in fact, not the healthiest way to eat. 

For me - its gluten and sugar.  Those two things cause inflammation, ear ringing, joint pain, and sometimes, rashes. 

What's your trigger and how will you managed your dietary restrictions this year?  Leave me a comment!