Experiments in Food Production

This week I hit an amazing milestone–I’ve lost 80 pounds since February 2015. I’m so thrilled about it, I’ve been doing random happy dances for days.

For the record, random happy dances can get embarrassing if one is not careful to be unobserved.

But whatever. It is a fact worthy of celebration.

I think about calories now. Not in a “no, I can’t have that!” sad miserable way, but with the idea of getting the most bang for my buck in my food budget. Did you know that a seriously delicious ice cream-like substance can be made with a frozen banana and a blender? I didn’t either, but WOW, is it good!

It amuses me to be talking about food production, having listened to all 500+ pages of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.† It’s a fascinating book I’ve been meaning to read for a long time, but I only got around to reading it for my term paper in Western Civ. That was when I discovered that I’m 1) very busy right now and 2) easily put to sleep by even fascinating nonfiction. So I started a free trial of Audible looking for a way to get the required reading done.

How did I never try this before? Probably because I really love to read books–but it’s been a long time since I actually had the time to read, and the inclination to give that time to reading instead of exercise. (Which is probably a big part of why I never lost the weight before–given a choice between the life of a writer and the life of a “gym rat” (which is a choice I thought I had to make), I always chose writer.) (I still choose writer. But now I’m figuring out ways to go for “healthy writer.”)

Anyway. Audible. I got through Guns, Germs, and Steel. I enjoyed it. I looked around the Audible website and thought, “I could learn without writing papers. I could learn without writing discussion posts.”

I really hate discussion posts.

I’m going to write the term paper, and the other stuff that I have to do to finish the courses this semester. And then, I think I’m going to stop taking academic courses for a bit. I may take some phys ed courses (like currently, yoga!) because they enforce my attendance if I don’t want to blow my GPA, and also it will keep my student-ness from getting complicated.

In the meantime, I will write and edit and use Audible to get through some of the “Great Courses” while I walk or work out. Currently I’m in the middle of this one, and it’s amazingly cool. Did you know complex molecules have what’s termed “handedness” and that the flavor of caraway and spearmint are the same molecule? Wow.

I think this sounds like a great plan.

In Other News

Have you read the excerpt from City of Hope and Ruin? I was the first TDP editor, and it was amazing then. It’s gone through a lot since, and I cannot wait to read it again. You should be lining up to read this book.

In my distraction with my new life, I feel like I haven’t supported Burning Bright very well. I really think it’s a great read, so I’m going to put it on sale for a while. I’d also love to hand out some review copies! Message me if you’re interested.

† There’s a LOT of discussion of food production in Guns, Germs, and Steel.