I can't remember where I read about this insane idea, but apparantly there are people out there limiting their food intake to only foods beginning with the letter X. As you can imagine, there is a relatively short list of foods they consume, hardly a balanced diet, and it no doubt works in the short term, like most diets do.
Here is a list of consumables on this diet I was able to track down:
Xanax
xanthan gum
xanthine
xanthophyll
xenocrysts
xenon (in unlimited amounts)
xerophytes (all kinds)
xiang jun
xiphosurans (any kind, provided it is found in your local waterways)
xlan
XO sauce
xanthareel
xanthospermous fruits and vegetables (i.e. zuchinni)
xylene and xylidine (in small amounts)
xylocarps (all varieties)
xylose (as a sweetener)

Playing or listening to music played on a xylorimba is also supposed somehow to help with the weight loss. It's just so amazing what people will try to lose weight.




Wishing you all a very happy April 1!

Just when you think life is really friggin' hard, something even harder happens.
Like hearing that your nearly 13 year old dog (the world's best dog, officially) is nearing the end of her life. No terminal illness, but a decreasing quality of life, old age, really. She's still sweet and wonderful and cute and I will always love her, but I can't keep hanging on to her forever just so she'll be there for me. There are no immediate decisions to be made, just a mindfulness of what her life is like and how good it continues to be. I'm sure I'll never be ready to let go of her, but I can't keep her around just for that reason. So, I'll be aware of what makes her the most comfortable, and give her as much love as I can, and know that she's had, overall, a good life, and that it isn't over yet. She's been a service dog, really, to me, to Mr. Rounded (who has been her primary), to close friends, family, SuperHeroPrincess and everyone she meets (who isn't afraid of dogs, that is). I'm crying, yes, but that's typical these days.
I haven't given her a nickname on my blog, so that seems to be the least I could do for her. She has some nicknames already, but she deserves to be known for her best qualities. She is kind. Affectionate. Bright. Loyal beyond measure. She was very feisty in her younger days, a real pain in the ass as a puppy. When we first got her, at about 10 weeks old, she looked exactly like the puppy in "The Pokey Little Puppy." Pokey would be a good name for her, except it's far too negative a descriptor for her. She has been there for me through the roughest times I've had as an adult, tolerated neglect when I was grappling with parenting alone several times. She really deserved a much more stable existence than she's had. I could tell many stories about her -- her strength, her gentleness, her persistence. I borrowed from somewhere the concept that what you like in a dog is the same thing you like in a (human) partner. I couldn't have asked for a better canine partner all of these years. If her soul could occupy a human form, there's no doubt I would want to marry that human, or at least be friends for life.
Right now, I am in a world of emotional pain, the unavoidable kind that comes from grieving and unwanted change. I have a hard time taking care of myself, doing what I need to do. I'm behind in many things, and focusing on superfluous things to distract me. Such is being human, I guess. I feel like, even in the midst of what is easily the hardest period of my life to date (or ranks up there with one or two other periods), and yet, I'm staying myself, as PhD Coachy would say, most of the time.
Does this have anything to do with fatness?
It does, in this one way. One of the superfluous things my mind gravitates toward in times of stress is my size, my appearance, my weight. I'm slowly coming to the realization that it will likely always do this, my stupid, stupid, yet amazing, mind.  I want to be free from it, and yet, it's not really in my control to be free of it. I was saturated in it growing up, as much as I limit my exposure to mainstream media, it's in the friggin' air I breathe. I wish hard that there were a check box that I could once-and-for-all check that has the word "attractive" next to it, and never review that checklist again, but that's just not how it works. So this superfluous, irritating, persistent worry isn't going away anytime soon. The best I can hope for, again, coming from PhDCoachy, is to recognize it for what it is, give a little "hey, how are you," channel it into my clothing choice or hairstyling or other such direction, and not spend a lot of time fighting it or engaging it or falling down that particular rabbit hole.
Have I mentioned that I have a beautiful daughter. Beautiful in the most broad sense of the word -- she inspires awe in me (and often, "awwwwww" in me) and takes me out of my stupid, amazing mind. She is also, right now, due to the huge stress we are all under, a pain in the ass, in ways that remind me of Pokey when she was a puppy, as in waking me up in the middle of the night, making me late to work, etc. SuperHeroPrincess isn't chewing up favorite shoes or items of clothing, so that's good, but it's more the emotional kind of "chewing" that she's doing.
I will be back, eventually, to write more, but I need to get going on cleaning the house in preparation for a Chanukah party this weekend. I invited many people, and much to my surprise on this busy holiday weekend when most of those I invited aren't Jewish, many of them are coming! Great! Yikes! Aaak! I have amazing assistance, more than assistance, really, but partnership, not only with the party but in nearly every area of my life, one that I am immensely grateful for. But with how SHP has been acting these days, just getting through it without any major giant tantrums will be a miracle. A Chanukah miracle.