My Summer Phucket List

My summer bucket list is really a Phucket list.

• Walk the dog in the backyard twice a day.  Phucket, I’ll just let him out the door.
• Go to bed by 10pm.  Phucket, I’ll just read R.F. Kuang fantasy novels past midnight.
• Avoid after-supper treats.   Phucket, I’ll eat all the ice cream, cookies and chocolate I want.

Isn’t the trifecta of a healthy lifestyle to get a good night’s sleep, exercise and eat healthy foods in moderation?  If so, then my Phucket list is more like a death wish.

I blame all this on the lack of impulse control brought about by the Effexor I started taking in September.  It’s time for another visit to the doctor.

What’s the worst side effect you've experienced?

Mood Enhancers

Last year I struggled with forgetfulness, fatigue, brain fog and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.  I got in quickly for a neuropsychological exam, which resulted in a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder and ruled out any kind of cognitive decline.

I had already been taking Nuvigil and had been using a CPAP machine to reduce the number of apnea events I’d have every night.  But that wasn’t enough.  So I started Effexor¹ and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)².

About six months later I noticed that the sense of hopelessness was gone, and my mood was much improved.  Why?  Was it just the Effexor?  Was CBT helping?  Was there something else that I did to bring about change?

I decided to make a list of all interventions:

• Mindfulness – Staying in the Moment
• Caring for Pets
• Tending to Houseplants
• SAD Therapy Light
• Avoiding Refined Carbs
• Keeping a Gratitude Jar
• Smiling
• Walks in Nature
• Crisp breeze on my face on a sunny winter day
• Listening to Uplifting Music
• Metallica for a shot of high energy
• “Mood Improve” Probiotic
• Medications, such as Effexor and Nuvigil
• Being creative
• Keeping to a Regular Sleep Schedule and Rising Without an Alarm
• Walking and standing with a perfect posture
• Ice Crystals on a frosty or snow-covered lawn
• Community Support, including Online Groups³

Look for more information on some of these items in upcoming ]posts.

At first I discounted the role that CBT had in my improvement.  But it turns out that CBT was responsible for a few of the items on this list, especially Mindfulness and the other living-in-the-moment experiences listed above.  In fact, there even is a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy⁴.

On the other hand, I usually experience good mood in Late Winter and Early Spring.  It’s very possible that my improvement is due to seasonal changes.  Now that we’re beyond Summer Solstice, I’ll be able to test this idea.

What do you do to improve mood?

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¹https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a694020.html

²https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy

³Such as https://mysupportforums.org

⁴https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness-based_cognitive_therapy

Wednesday Weigh-In 20240613

I just love the after-supper snacks too much!

Waist = 40.25"
Height = 5' 7"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Balance Body Composition Bath Scale
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20240521

I haven't done a Weigh-In in nearly three months! I gained weight and waist size. I've put away my size 33 pants and got out my size 35. I remember when I bought the size 33 pants that I was considering getting size 32. I blame this on the Effexor.

First, Effexor is supposed to be taken with food. I like to take it in the morning, which meant that I started to have breakfast again. So my daily fasting time dropped from about 16 hours to less than 12 hours.

Second, two side effects may be involved. One common one is weight gain (and weight loss). And a rare side effect is impulse control, by which I think they mean lack of impulse control. I experienced this often as I would grab a couple of bags of milk chocolate baking chips at the supermarket and then devour a bag at night.

I found that recently N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) might help counter addictive tendencies. I've been taking 1200mg per day, split between morning and evening. It seems to be helping. I hope so -- I gave away my size 36 pants, and I don't want to buy more!

Waist = 40.25"
Height = 5' 7"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Balance Body Composition Bath Scale
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Ask Amy

The letter to Ask Amy from the mom of a 4-year-old girl that described how her daughter cut her own bangs and then lied about it¹ reminded me of my own hair cutting incident.

I was sick and tired of how my mom’s friends would fawn over my eyelashes.  “Oh, how long and pretty they are!”  “I’d give anything to have eyelashes like that!”  And so, you guessed it, I cut them.

At the dinner table, my mom noticed immediately and reacted strongly: “Did you cut your eyelashes!?  Why did you do that?  You could’ve poked your eye out!”  And so on.

Frankly I was surprised and insulted.  Surprised because I thought they were my eyelashes; why should it be anyone’s business?  And the “poke your eyes out” remark was utterly insulting.  I was anything but a klutz.  I was a “Little Professor” type of boy, always carefully coloring inside the lines, and I (literally) had excellent hand-eye coordination.

Two takeaways here are: children rarely are given the credit they deserve; and showing overt attention to a child can have unexpected consequences.

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¹https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/26/ask-amy-sex-offender-lives-in-the-neighborhood/

Carne y Pablano Quesadilla

I enjoy preparing my own food, usually in a large cast iron pan.

I call one of my favorites “Carne y Pablano” because I cook “chop meat” with Pablano chiles as well as other vegetables, such as onion, garlic, carrots, fresh turneric (which I add to everything) and maybe maitake mushrooms (frozen, from Woodstock), red pepper, plum tomato, parsnips and/or whatever I find in the fridge.

The cooking process starts with adding diced onion, carrots and chiles to a hot, well-oiled cast iron pan.  I use only EVOO or ghee; ghee is preferred because EVOO tends to smoke too much at medium high.  Once they’re cooked, I’ll add the garlic and mushrooms.  I don’t put the garlic in the pan at the very beginning because it will burn and turn bitter.  And the mushrooms would get tough.

After a minute I’ll turn the heat all the way up and add the beef.  I break it up and turn it continuously until it turns from red to pink.  Then I turn off the heat, and mix in about a teaspoon of sea salt, half that of fresh-cracked black pepper and a very small pinch of cayenne pepper powder.  Chopped plum tomato goes in now, too, if available.

This tastes great on its own.  But then today I had some organic corn tortillas and cheddar cheese, so I made a Quesadilla.  After it was assembled and melted shut, I spread Mother-in-Law's fermented gochujang garlic chile sauce¹ on top and then drizzled a spiral of Kewpie mayonnaise.²

This is one of the most awesome creations I’ve ever made.

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¹ https://milkimchi.com/pages/pantry-staples

² https://www.kewpie.com/en/products/mayonnaise/

The Star Fruit Experiment

So far I’ve written about my first experiences with Dragon Fruit and Passion Fruit. This time I decided to try Star Fruit.

Preparation was a bit different compared with the other two fruits, although I washed it as before. The piece was in great shape when I bought it, but I put off eating it because I wanted to take photos. Therefore, it got a bit over-ripe and damaged in spots. So I cut away the brown edges of the “fins” before slicing it into star shapes.

I pushed a few of the seeds out; I didn’t need to since they’re harmless and lack taste. But some of them were starting to turn brown, so I decided to avoid those. The flesh was resilient and juicy, with a balance of sweetness and tartness. It was a bit like grapefruit, with similar texture but not as bitter.

I didn’t experience any allergic reaction whatsoever. Nor did my digestion rebel at all.

These are priced by the piece rather than weight. They were more expensive than apples or bananas per serving size.

Wikihow has a good write-up on the Star Fruit¹ and has a few creative suggestions about how to serve it. It also warns folks with kidney problems to avoid it because it contains a neurotoxin; it cites Snopes as the source.²

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¹https://www.wikihow.com/Eat-a-Star-Fruit

²https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trancing-with-the-stars/