It's all Greek to me...

     When one asks the universe for answers, sometimes an answer is given.
      Take me, for example.
      In my last blog post, I was talking about being overwhelmed and confused about all the different "diets" and "weight loss plans", etc etc that are out there, and how in the world are we supposed to figure it all out? As it happens, I did more than talk about it. I pondered on it, and threw it out there to the universe, and here is what happened.
     The very day that I wrote that blog post, a "Living With Heart Failure" newsletter came in the mail. In it was an article about the Mediterranean Diet, stating that it was excellent for heart health.
     And I already had a book! I hadn't read it, but since it said "diet" on the cover, I bought it for a quarter at a garage sale, many moons ago. Since I am a book hoarder, I still had it! So, I read it. It was very dry reading and a lot of blah blah blah, but I managed to ferret out the gist of it, and had a little bit of an "aha" moment, but didn't give it a lot of energy, because I do have a bad habit of jumping on bandwagons without enough information.
     BUT! The NEXT day, I got a couple of magazines in the mail. I subscribe to three magazines, all of which I am bored to death with and hardly ever even read anymore, but never remember to cancel them.  I just happened to flip through one of them (Yoga Journal) and i'll be buttered and called a biscuit, there was an article about The Mediterranean Diet and heart health!
     There was no choice but to research. Guess what? There is tons of information, recipes, etc. etc. online for free! But, even though I said I was never ever ever ever EVER going to buy another diet book, I did. But it was only 6 bucks plus free shipping (holla for Amazon Prime!).  When it came, it was fun to read, simple, yet informative.
     It is not a "diet" that somebody made up. It wasn't formulated by a doctor or a fitness buff or who ever it is that concocts these diet plans. It is the way that actual people on the coast of the Mediterranean eat, and have eaten for forever! This area is a "blue zone" area, where health and longevity are the norm. A place where the incidents of heart disease, diabetes, certain cancer and Alzheimer's are VERY low, as well as depression/anxiety, and metabolic syndrome. (Too be sure, if I lived by the ocean I would be less depressed, too.)
    It's not a weight loss "plan", but a way of eating that encourages whole body health, which  then encourages excess weight loss! There are no strict rules or deprivation or counting anything. It is also economical. No weird stuff, unless you consider feta cheese to be weird, which I kind of do.  It does not require extreme workouts. It does encourage walking at least 30 minutes most days. There are no recommended supplements.
     Two of my favorite lines: "When eating well tastes like a yearlong vacation, it's easy and exciting to do!" and "The Mediterranean Diet isn't just about healthful living:it's about joyful living."
     I needed a refresher on what places are actually Mediterranean, so I looked it up.
There are several others as well, but I could be Spanish...or Italian...
   OR...i could be Greek!
I actually don't know very much about Greece except for Aphrodite.
I was going to say: "Wait...don't Greek women have mustaches? Oh, never mind, I do too so I would fit right in." But I actually don't know if that is a Greek stereotype, and if so, where I got it from.
So I looked it up. I got a page of Greek women images. Apparently Greek women look like models. Or maybe they were models, I don't know.
Not sure I would fit in after all.
But I do have an olive complexion.
   So i've decided to be Greek, and my Greek name is...Andromeda! You can just call me And.

     If we are going to get technical, the Mediterranean way is not that different than the advice given by health/weight loss moderates...IE, Sparkpeople. But shush....this is my mind game.

     I once knew a Greek boy in high school. I was good at high school (but haven't been particularly good at anything since), and every year I went to State Deca Competition.  This boy was there every year as well. I think his name was John, but he had a very long complicated Greek last name. We sought each other out each year, walking the mall and having lunch together. Not only was he very cute, he was also very nice, and perhaps if we had email or text messaging 30+ years ago, this might be a longer story. I wonder what became of him?

    One more message from the universe: just yesterday "Cooking Light" showed up in my mailbox. I've been getting this magazine for probably 3 years and never have used one of their recipes. But this current issue was chalk full of recipes that fit right in with the Mediterranean Way.

   I don't have unrealistic expectations, unlike my hot mess of a friend Vivian. She is panicking that she is about to be 50 (she has the same birthday as me) and that summer is right around the bend, and is now determined to lose 60 lbs in the next couple of months.
Personally, I have decided that I am going to focus on heart health and see what happens, while mentally living on a Greek island.

   Valentine's day has come and gone.
    I made some homemade peanut butter cups for my fella. Audrey "helped". By that I mean, she sat on the counter and ate ingredients, and then bonked her head on the floor when I took her off the counter and put her down, against her will.  Then I painstakingly shaped the peanut butter mix into hearts, (at the dining room table, not the counter) which took some time, and then Audrey smashed them, so the didn't turn out very heart shaped.  They were kind of hard to dip in the chocolate...it got pretty messy. In the end, they weren't pretty, but they were delicious and well received anyway!

    Know what else happened that weekend? The 50 Shades movie came out, and has been the subject of much conversation and debate. (I did not see the movie. Just read the books, and enjoy getting to rant about it.)
    This is all I have to say:
    A.) Why was this wealthy, handsome but messed up guy interested in Ana? Oh, because she was mousy and he could "mold" her. No other reason. Not that plain unremarkable people are unworthy of attention, but really, there has to be something to attract a rich good looking guy, who probably has a choice of many...like, a personality, or amazing character or something. Ana had nothing.
    B.) "My tastes are very singular." BOOOOOOORING!!!!! I bet before too long, Ana would be all "really? The room again? Siiiiiiigh. Ok." and then will proceed to practice the times table or make a grocery list or mentally redecorate until it is over. And she will be saying (even if just mentally) "Get away from me, freak! Let me feed the baby in peace!"
   C.) If I were C's parents, I would be suing a therapist. Evidently, he/she was incompetent, if he was in therapy all those years and still that messed up. Clearly C was born psycho. (I personally know kids who suffered hideously at the hands of their relatives, and then suffered more in the foster care system, were adopted into a loving safe stable family, and are amazing well adjusted kids!)
   D.) If you get involved with a "bad boy", you are going to get stuck with a "bad boy". I did not get the "ooooh, but if you look past the sex, it was a great romance." Um. No it wasn't. It was two messed up people in a dysfunctional relationship, and probably their kid is going to be dysfunctional, as well.Adult people that messed up cannot be saved by "true love"., at least not the human variety. It just doesn't happen and it is irresponsible to pretend like maybe it does.  (Personal experience, right here! It was ugly.)

     And also, I have deduced that maybe this weird story was maybe written by a man and passed off as being written by a woman!
   Because: An absolute innocent and a man with plenty of experience....
                   A whole room just for sex!
                    Teenaged C having "a relationship" with a much older woman (and not being upset by it)
                    That Ana was all worried about ever displeasing him...
                   He was controlling down to what she ate....
That's all "boy stuff".
       The only other explanation is that "we" as women in the collective sense, have taken our liberation to the extreme in that "we" have become men.
     Also, I don't really know much about "fan fiction", but that is what 50 Shades supposedly was, inspired by the "twilight" series.
      Fan fiction sounds an awful lot like trying to rip off someone else's idea, but if that's the case this man failed miserably! Whatever you do or don't think of Twilight, (I was team Jacob all the way!) at least Edward was a gentleman and refused Bella's advances because he did not want to hurt her, and he held out all the way until after they were married.
     I don't really think this is Twilight fan fiction.
     I think it is probably Anne Rice fan fiction.
The only reason I know this is because, having purchased the 50 shades on my ereader, all kinds of wierdo stuff popped up on my suggested reading list, and I am the curious sort. As it happens, Anne Rice wrote an "erotic" trilogy about...guess what...submission/bondage.
  The most disturbing thing about all this is that TEENAGE girls are all over this. We are going backwards.
    And now i'm over it and moving on!
    Pssssh....get on outta here with your "my tastes are very singular."

     In other news,  I'm looking at participating in something like 4 0r 5 5k events in the next few months, the first in April and the last in October...one with inflatable obstacles and one involving foam...so someone better get to training!

    Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend...my fella is home, but he has man flu...


Sincerely,
And