Author: katiebird

Our motto?  Defeating Republicans through diet and exercise!

Earlier in the week I stumbled onto The Hacker’s Diet which was developed by John Walker (one of the programmers of AutoCad.)  After being fat for most of his life, he decided to treat the problem of controlling his weight like any other problem to solve.  And he set out to debug himself.

I’m awed by his work.  The information is balanced by a lot of illustrations & a light voice.  Which is important because his background as a programmer is reflected in the level of detail and the technical nature of his analogies.  

He’s generously given me permission to publish excerpts at Eat4Today each day to stimulate discussion of it and maybe inspire others to start following it along with us. (let’s talk about it on the other side)
His idea is that we’re born with an Eat Watch.  A gadget that let’s us know when it’s time to start eating and when it’s time to stop.  But some of us have broken Eat Watches.  And he’s decided to build a replacement.  The Hacker’s Diet will replace our broken Eat Watches and give us a tool that will tell us when it’s time to eat and when it’s time to stop.

Which I think will fit perfectly into my idea of not eating between meals and not taking seconds!

In addition to that, I’ve been trying to work exercise into my daily routine.  Here’s a series of photographs of me getting started (reprinted from Getting Fresh Air at Eat4Today):

And a side view:

And pull those arms back!

Whew! That’s about it for today.

(I just found this experiment.  Here I am doing the same thing at work)

Here in Kansas City, we’ve got rain coming in two shifts today so I’m glad I got out yesterday!

The big news is the new flier for next weeks Live edition of Eat4Today:

There were four of us at the session last week, which was a nice number for my first chance to lead a discussion group. If you find yourself in the Kansas City area next week, I’d love it if you could join us.

And I continue to be excited about finding The Hacker’s Diet. It’s just in time to help me through the next phase of The Commitment. The Hacker’s Diet is the creation of John Walker (one of the programmers who created AutoCAD) and he approaches Weight Management as a problem solving exercise. Much like debugging a program.

If any of this sounds interesting to you or you have something you’d like to share yourself, please stop by Eat4Today.com.

I’ve seen so many proposals for Health Care plans, so many good ideas and horrible ideas. And passionate discussions of the nitty-gritty details of what should be covered and how often and when we should stop covering certain things for some people. But I think we are jumping way ahead of ourselves when we talk about these details. There is one very simple question that we should be asking before we get into those issues:

Does everyone have a right to Affordable Health Care?

Since over 40 million of us don’t have access to Affordable Health Care, it seems obvious that they don’t have that right.

So I’m proposing that we draft an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States granting the right to affordable health care to everyone.

With this call to action, I’m asking for help drafting the amendment, naming it and finding sponsors to introduce it.

Cross-posted to Man Eegee, The Daily Kos and The Booman Tribune.

I am getting ready to try a new idea (new for me anyway) and take my blog live.

The focus of my blog, Eat4Today.com
is food and eating issues, particularly as relating to self-help
diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol or other conditions where the doctor says you have to
change everything you’ve been doing and I’ll see you in 3 months.

Well.  It occurred to me that these sorts of issues affect loads
of people who never go near the Internet, much less a blog!  And
how could I bring my discussion to them?  

And I decided that I’d do a presentation at the public library.
 I would put notices up around grocery stores and other public
bulletin boards (like for the Dean Meetup all those years ago.)
 And see who shows up.

Then — I went to the Community Services Librarian at my library to see what she thought of the idea.  And she loved it.  She wants to do it as a regular thing at the library and she’s going to handle publicity.

We’ve reserved the auditorium for 2 evenings a month through the end
of the year.  Just to see how it goes.  So, it’s an
experiment, who knows how it will go.  But what an idea!

I think it’s a good idea for any of us with a special interest or developing knowledge of an issue.  

Libraries are always looking for programming of interest to the
community.  Can your interest be packaged in a way that would draw
your neighbors to an evening discussion group?  Or something like
a teach-in?

Almost all public libraries have meeting rooms that are available
for anyone to use.  So, even if the library isn’t interested in
making it a formal program, you can reserve a room and promote it
yourself.

I really think it’s important for us to become as comfortable with
public speaking and presentations as with writing comments and diaries.
 Even if our audience is limited to just a couple of people, it
will give us experience that is very valuable.

And as we go on, we can find ways to broaden that audience.
 And soon, when the local newspaper & TV stations are looking
for someone to interview on your topic, it will be you!  And
you’ll know how to say what you mean.

Are you interested?  Here’s a link to a list of all the U.S. Public Libraries.  

Just 4 Today I’m going to drink my 2 liters of water (which I’ve been doing for over a week now).  

But, I’m also in the lucky position of being able to conduct an experiment.  I’m not going to be able to do any distance walking for two weeks. Which means that:

Just for today I will write down everything I eat and keep track of the calories in each.  Just for today I will measure & weigh every single thing.  And Just for today I will think ahead (about everything I eat) so I don’t get in trouble later.

Because in the past this situation has been my downfall.

It’s not only about food —  If there’s something you’ve been meaning to do, maybe today would be a good day to do it.

Just 4 today, I’m going to drink my 2 liters of water (one in the morning and one in the afternoon).  And walk with my new friend at the parking garage for 1/2 hour.

It made a big difference to do that yesterday (up until the time I destroyed Eat4Today — at that point, nothing mattered).

ALSO:

I am not eating between meals and I’m not taking seconds.  Just Today.  And I’m going to try this for a year to see what happens.

And I want to assure myself and my good friends that Eat4Today will be up again as soon as possible.