am- o, am- as, am- at ....

am- o, am- as, am- at, am- amaus, am-atis, am-ant

Several years ago while browsing in a book store, I came across Learn Latin by Peter Jones, with the following words blazed across the front cover, 'A lively Introduction to Reading the Language'. On the back cover, comments suggest, (but do not promise) the study of the book's twenty, clear, high-spirited, and anxiety-free chapters allows one to master enough grammar and vocabulary to read the poems of Catullus or the Latin Bible in just twenty weeks.

E gads! Twenty weeks?

That was enough of a 'come on', for me to read the rest of the blurb, but my skepticism was activated as I remembered the agony of studying Latin in high school. The only thing I remember from those classes is veni vedi vici.

The book comes from the serialization of a newspaper column. Charles Moore, who as editor of the British Sunday Telegraph, then of the Daily Telegraph, commissioned a weekly introduction to Latin in the Sunday from September 17 - December 24, 1995, and in a new, expanded format in the Daily from October 19, 1996 - March 1, 1997. The expanded format, and the book, is a result of reader demand.

What! Reader demand? What's that all about?
Did thousands of newspaper readers really enjoy learning Latin?

Thumbing through the chapters, each one being only a page or two, with brief grammar explanations and very short vocabulary lists, I thought to myself, hey, this can't be too hard! Being a sucker for "come on's" and a naïve believer of advertisements, it only took about three minutes to convinced myself that I, like British newspaper readers, could also learn enough Latin to read poems by Catullus. Maybe even read the historical descriptions of William, Duke of Normandy's invasion of England in 1066 which is depicted on the famous Bayeux tapestry.

I bought the book and enthusiastically studied the chapters and carried the book with me everywhere. If I had to wait for some reason, I spent the time studying my Latin. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the studying. Why hadn't my high school Latin classes been as interesting as Peter Jones made the newspaper lessons?

One day, my son drove me to the AT&T store to order a phone. I had taken the book with me thinking we would have to wait our turn, but we were in and out quickly. Leaving the store, I tripped getting into the car. The Latin book went flying through the air and I landed on my back with a broken hip. While we waited for the ambulance, a kind stranger collected my purse and its contents along with my Latin book and gave them to my son.

I've stopped studying Latin so assiduously, but from time to time I pick it up and review the lessons studied and often go on to another chapter before putting the book down. I find it just as enjoyable as when I first got the book. I can finally read some of the Bayeux tapestry phrases. I'm not kidding myself about becoming proficient in reading Latin. It's a fun hobby and I like dabbling in the language. I'm pleased the stranger retrieved the book for me. It has given me many hours of pleasure.



Learn Latin
The Book of the 'Daily Telegraph' Q.E.D.Series

So How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

KimB

Soon as we all cook sweet potatoes...

It's getting to gardening time again and I figured I should bring folks up-to-date on my potato obsession. Last year I tried sweet potatoes.

When the time came to harvest I stuck a finger, then 2 fingers, then a hand into the pot and got "nothing". Not even a rock pretending to be a sweet potato. Sigh....

So I decided to put something else in the pot and upended my container into a big garbage can I use for this and you won't guess what was hiding AT THE BOTTOM of the pot!

SWEET POTATOES! LOTS OF THEM!

They didn't grow like the taters at the surface, they burrowed right down to the bottom of the pot and even threw roots out the drain holes. There they were, neatly stacked one on top of the other!

We had enough big ones to eat stand alone and I had more than enough to make mashed sweet potatoes for the holidays. I still have enough to cook up for another meal or two.

The big ones I baked normally, the small ones I covered in water with their jackets still on, so they wouldn't dry out, and cooked them in the microwave. Once they were cooked and cooled a bit the jackets slid right off.

And you can certainly guess what's going into the garden this spring ...

Nearly all "sweet potatoes or yams" sold in the US are just "sweet potatoes". The orange flesh colored sweet potatoes are marketed as "yams" but are not "real yams" which are totally unrelated to sweet potatoes. There are more than 6,500 types of sweet potatoes and the sweet potato flesh comes in all colors from white to deep red. Lighter colored sweet potatoes are less "sweet" than the deeper colored varieties.

Sweet potato leaves can be eaten and are a delicacy in some parts of the world. The leaf shapes vary depending on the variety and are generally heart shaped, ranging from a leaf with a single point to leaves that have 5 points. Last year, I had the heart shaped single point leaf type but the batch I have starting for this year, turned out to be the heart shaped 5 pointed leaf type.

Regardless color or leaf shape: they all taste delish!!!

Sweet Potato Harvest 2014

Our Privacy Policy

[note: Editor's Post]

Nearly every website now has a privacy policy statement and not to be left behind, here's ours. It's simple:

We don't do anything directly to track or collect your information.

However, that doesn't mean you aren't being tracked and your data collected. So, now for the unpleasant truths of the internet:

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. aka: TANSTAAFL.

If it's a "free service" then YOU are the commodity being sold.

Your data, your photos, your life, your kids lives are all bundled, shopped, and sold to the highest bidder: Internet Marketing Slavery.

There's not much you can do about it and new laws coming "SOON(tm)" will make it nearly impossible to opt-out of anything. Even if the new laws claim to provide opt-outs, rest assured there won't be any that are meaningful.

So here's what we can tell you about our site.

KimB Editor

Topics:

• Google Hosted
• Front Page Map
• We don't monetize our site
• Pictures, Videos and Other "doodads"
• Anonymity
• We do not track you
• Suggestions on how to minimize the intrusion
• Option 1: Break your browser
• Option 2: Turn off cookies
• Option 3: Create your own White List/Black List
• Exceptions: A Note on Special Interest Groups.
• Sample Black List

Google Hosted

The site is hosted on Google's BlogSpot service. There are Google analytics running on these sites all the time. They track your access, dates, times, operating system, your geolocation and your IP Address and much more. This is collected and stored by Google and they sell this to the highest bidder.


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Front Page Map

There is a map showing the geolocation of users on the front page. This is provided by a 3d party site which provides the map. It collects page views, geolocation (hence the map part) and you can presume they are collecting the same sorts of data that Google collects for the same purposes.


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We don't monetize our site

Google provides an incentive to bloggers to allow them to gather more information by placing ads on their sites. For a kick-back payment, the site holder allows the ads to display. Google selects the ads. The ad companies pay Google for this and Google charges them plenty. The ads themselves have more data trackers and predictive algorithms to see which ones you watch or click on, so they can put more of the same on your site.

Again, we don't monetize our site, but Google is still tracking your visits and passing this on to their advertisers.


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Pictures, Videos and Other "doodads"

We try to use our own pictures or those that are in the public domain or have un-restricted licenses. We don't embed "web bugs" or "1 pixel by 1 pixel web beacons" on the page or in the pictures.

This does not mean there's nothing bad in the images as these things are manipulated on the back side of the blog beyond our control.

Google harvests the pictures similar to Facebook and it's the Google backend the shoves the picture out on the page. Google and others can and do embed "web beacons" in pictures and can place "web bugs" on pages too. This is all out of our control but you can expect it's being done.

YouTube Videos are the property of their creators and many have ads and trackers. Watching the videos embedded in the blog or by clicking on links taking you directly to YouTube may attach more trackers and harvest more information from you.

There are some links to other sites that may have trackers or have advertising. We try to minimize these sorts of links but generally you can expect that clicking on any link that the click will be tracked.

We have one script: the Google Translate drop down box on the front page. This is provided by Google and we added it to allow people from other countries to read the blog in their preferred language. There are other scripts that run as part of the blog service.

At times we have the "fish tank" header or other similar "doodad"; we no longer have these for technical reasons. It can be expected that your data is being harvested from any and all of these add-ons.


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Anonymity

The contributors to the blog have their own "signatures" which can identify them to family members. We don't harvest or collect your personal names or other information.

However, both contributors and viewers are assigned Universal Identifiers by Google, ATT and many other corporate entities as the data rolls back and forth on the internet. These UIDs are designed to remove your anonymity and advertising companies maintain massive databases with cross references just to de-anonymized you.

You can pretty well assume that by now your personal name, address, SSN, phone number, your marital status, your family make up and friends along with a lot of other identifying items are stored in these massive corporate databases. These entities just "want to get to know you better".


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We do not track you

We don't know who you are and we don't care. Our only purpose is to share the history and stories of our family with other family members and with friends both old and new. We publish the stories so that anyone who wants to, can read them. We hope you enjoy the stories about our family and activities. We enjoy getting feedback but it's not necessary. If you get a chuckle or a grin reading about our adventures that's payment enough.

Google and nearly every other corporation with an internet presence, do track you. It's pervasive tracking: 24x7x365.


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Suggestions on how to minimize the intrusion

There are upcoming laws that will prevent you from opting out in any significant way. There are opt-out services you can subscribe to but these are basically reverse-tracking companies and are not much help. There are millions of websites and millions of companies invested in tracking you and they won't make it easy.


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Option 1: Break your browser

Break your browser by turning off things like JavaScript which will break a lot of pages. Nothing better than seeing where they put the trackers when you get that "blank box" effect.

Tracking companies spend a lot of money developing JavaScript to track you and line their pockets with your information. By turning off JavaScript you will limit what they can do. They can still do plenty but you can block much of it.


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Option 2: Turn off cookies

There are cookies you can turn off and there are pervasive/super cookies you cannot. You can adjust your browser settings to block all cookies and allow the ones you select. Turning off cookies will generally prevent you from logging in to websites but it also makes it harder for those websites to track you.


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Option 3: Create your own White List/Black List

A White List is a listing of sites you allow or consider safe. A Black List is a listing of sites you consider unsafe or have policies you don't agree with. Creating this list is daunting but you can block an awful lot of sites in short order. Most people visit a handful of sites on a regular basis and these sites are easily identified by checking the webpage itself for the names of advertisers. There are millions of possible names but you might only need 20-50 for your normal browsing habits.

All browsers have the ability to block sites or allow sites. You have to put the Black List ones in the block column and the White List ones in the allow column.

All browsers have a "developer" option. In Internet explorer it's F12 or click the Gear Icon and select Developer Tools. From developer tool window you can see much of the HTML and JavaScript code running on the page. It's tedious but you can go through the script on the HTML, Script and Console tabs to find the names of "suspicious" characters to place on your list.

As you build your Black/White Lists you want to see things like this on the Console Tab:

A download in this page was blocked by Tracking Protection.

You can ID tracking companies pretty fast: They aren't the web page you are looking at.

ex: googlesyndication. com

You can bet you didn't click on that URL name to see "the news".

There is a list of companies at the bottom of this post for starters. You have to create these entries on every browser you use on every device. Currently there's no import/export option for these lists. By now you can guess why not.


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Exceptions: A Note on Special Interest Groups

Even with all the best efforts you can only limit a tiny bit of the tracking and tracing. You can only limit this from legitimate companies. If you are going to some "weird" places on the internet you will need a lot more than the above. It will not stop any tracking by any 3Letter Agency from any country on the globe. You can expect all your information is being held in Romania, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, Canada, Tasmania and any country that has a security service with an internet connection.

You have no privacy or freedom from this group.


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Starter Black List

*.2o7. net
*.adextent. com
*.adnxs. com
*.adroll. com
*.adstream_mjx. ads
*.akamaihd. net
*.amazon-adsystem. com
*.atdmt. com [bundled with IE / microsoft partner]
*.baynote. net
*.big-direkt. de
*.burstnet. com
*.casalemedia. com
*.chartbeat. com
*.coremetrics. com
*.criteo. com
*.demdex. net
*.domdex. com [maybe malware]
*.dotomi. com
*.doubleclick. net
*.dynamicyield. com
*.ensighten. com
*.exct. net [email target marketing]
*.facebook. com
*.facebook. net
*.fastclick. net
*.fbcdn. net
*.fetchback. com
*.fimserve. com
*.gigya. com
*.googleadservices. com
*.google-analytics. com
*.googleapis. com
*.googlesyndication. com
*.googletagmanager. com
*.googletagservices. com
*.guim. co. uk
*.insightexpressai. com
*.krxd. net
*.llnwd. net
*.mediaplex. com
*.mediavoice. com
*.meebo. com
*.msads. net
*.msn. com [not sure this will work]
*.mxcdn. net
*.networkadvertising. org
*.newrelic. com
*.nr-data. net
*.omniture. com
*.omtrdc. net
*.opbandit. com
*.openx. net [maybe malware]
*.optimizely. com
*.outbrain. com
*.perfectmarket. com
*.quality-channel. de
*.quantserve. com
*.redirectingat. com
*.refinedads. com
*.revsci. net [aka Audience Science]
*.rfihub. com [maybe malware]
*.rubiconproject. com
*.schema. org
*.scorecardresearch. com
*.serving-sys. com [maybe malware]
*.specificmedia. com
*.spotxchange. com
*.tiqcdn. com
*.troveread. com
*.turn. com
*.twitter. com
*.upsellit. com
*.w4. com
*.webtrendslive. com
*.wlxrs. com [microsoft ad push]
*.wunderloop. net

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New Year's Resolutions

Some do, some don't, but I usually make them. From my list of resolves, I actually accomplish some of them. It's a game I play with myself because I list things I "could, would and should" do and call them New Year's Resolutions. Sometimes it's a short list and, on occasion, it might number a dozen.

Of course, "the classic" resolves of loosing weight and exercising are number 1 and 2 on the list, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. After a few days, or even a week or two, the resolve weakens and fades away.

Many of the things on my list are things I want to do but haven't gotten around to... yet. I also list things that need doing, like finishing craft projects before starting new ones. I often list things that require study, (a language), or practice, (the violin), but one resolution that I always make doesn't have a name or description.

I resolve to "do something different during the year that I have never done before". I never know what it will be until it happens. I never plan the 'happening'. It usually occurs when I make a spontaneous decision to try something new. One year it was raising chickens and selling the eggs. One year it was having my ears pierced. One year I learned how to knot pearls. Last year I knitted a lot of scarves and gave them to the homeless.

As the year progresses I forget about the nameless resolution, but when it happens, a light bulb goes on and Voila! There it is! Another resolution accomplished!


Resolution Accomplished!

An Odyssey ... of a sort - Part 6 of 6 by KimB

Over the year, I've learned a lot about myself and my health. I've lost a great deal of weight. My health has stabilized, my lab tests are good. My illnesses will never go away. I will have them until I die. I have pain too. My aches are a permanent feature of my life. I will never be 100% pain free but I can be free of some pain. I can now chose which sort of life I want to have over the next few years.

I cannot predict how the FAT war will end up. FAT is a very clever opponent and will work hard to upend all the things I have achieved. I've lost 40 pounds this year – little by little, month by month. My balance is improved and I can now keep up with much of the Zumba class. I can stretch quite a bit in Yoga too and every week I can to a little bit more. I am able to bike for the whole hour and each week I push up that gear a bit further.

There is reality to keep in mind. I'm not ever going to be 20 or 40 again. I won't be able to do so many things that were easy years ago and are now hard. They will remain hard and get harder. My health is stable but it won't stay that way. The nature of illnesses is that they progress over time. Mine are the same; delayed but not halted.

I am determined to make the effort to keep it this way as long as possible.

A few months ago my good friend told me she'd bought a new bike to ride at her ranch. Several times a day, she has to go down some dirt paths to open gates and turn on/off water values and such. She had bought herself a new bike and told me all about the way it worked. It had gears and brakes and adjustable everything.

I asked her to bring it on a visit because I wanted to find out if I could ride a real bike. I didn't know if I would be able to balance well enough to keep upright and there's a big difference in pushing pedals on a stationary bike and moving a real bike with tires and 200 pounds on it down the street.

She brought her new bike and her old bike. She helped me adjust the new bike so I could ride it. I got on and with a bit of wobble I rode down the street. It IS like the adage says: you never forget how to ride a bike. I wobbled about but we went on a short ride to a nearby park and back. I was SO excited. I never, ever thought I would be able to ride a real bike and here I was actually riding one!

I thought and figured and thought about this experience. I looked at it a hundred ways. I had fun. I wanted to do it again. I knew I could do it too.

So, I bought a bike. Not a great bike but an OK bike. I didn't really know much about bikes, my last bike was 45 years ago. I got something that worked for me. I went to the bike store and got the stuff I needed: helmet, head lights/tail lights and a bell.

The bell was a gift from MrsB, my mom, and it's my PRIDE AND JOY. I bike off the street on the local bike paths and I ring my bell whenever I meet up with hikers, dog walkers and distracted joggers listening to their iPods running along the path. They smile and give me a thumbs-up. I say good morning to everyone I meet and they reply in kind.

When my friend comes to visit, she now brings her bike too. I show her my latest trail finds and take her down the new paths. We have gone to the Big Park in the city and biked there too. We bike to the bird sanctuary and check out the wild birds as they stop on their migration routes. We are both having fun.

We have a goal for next year. We plan to bike around the valley floor at Yosemite Valley. There are loads of bike trails and we have maps and points of interest already picked out.

I've shared my plans with my gym instructors and it makes their day, to see someone like me, come in to their class and improve their health so much. My bike instructor has declared she will make sure I am READY TO RIDE in the spring time. She reminds me that a mile is a mile no matter how long it takes to bike it. It's not the speed that matters, it's the effort.

Effort is Everything.

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB and is part 6 of a 6 part series.]

An Odyssey ... of a sort - Part 5 of 6 by KimB

I could still hardly move and I considered my options VERY CAREFULLY. I knew that I needed to do more physical activity or I would just freeze up again. That POP! in my back might not last. I couldn't be sure what it was even. The doctors didn't know either. I knew that I had to do something but I had to be very careful or I might end up worse than before.

Rule #1 – Don't Get Hurt.
Rule #2 - see Rule #1.

So, I worked on the elliptical trainer at the gym in s l o w  m o t i o n. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. Done. You can't move 210 pounds very far, very fast if you want to keep Rule #1: Don't Get Hurt.

I then did something extremely brave. I joined in a class at the gym. I started doing Yoga.

I'd done yoga in the past when my weight rivaled Oprah's but it wasn't too successful. This time I determined that I would not “compete” against anyone, not even myself. I would honor Rule #1 and monitor every move and modify anything that was difficult or might be painful. I would do what was reasonable for ME to do and nothing more.

I moved my goal posts so far in that anything I did would be a “win”. Getting my gear ready. Getting in the car. Driving to the gym. Walking in to the gym. Going into the class. Staying until class was over. It was all WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN.

It's not hard to imagine what a elephant seal would look like doing yoga and that's pretty much what it was like. I didn't work myself into a lather about it. I did what I could. What I couldn't, I set aside. The important thing was I came back the next week and the next week and the next.

After a short while I could see there was improvement. The scale showed it too. Not a lot, just a pound here and there. It was slow but steady and my health was improving.

I knew I couldn't stop there. I needed to do more. I decided to try Zumba. I watched the class work out a few times and I knew that there was no way I could move the way they did. You don't hustle 210 pounds that easily. I was unsteady on my feet and my balance wasn't that great. I thought this might help and it fit Rule #1.

I went to the class and stood in the farthest back corner where I wouldn't get run over by the more agile members. When the music started I waved my hands around; when I remembered, I moved my feet too.

Zumba was amazing. At first I had a very hard time and wanted to stop. It was so intimidating to see people bouncing up and down and moving quickly. I lacked the coordination to do many of the moves and could barely stand up for the whole hour. But I didn't stop. I came back the next week and the next week and the next week.

Soon I found I could do more and my balance improved. I re-labeled Zumba: “My Agility Training Program” and realized I could make it as hard as I wanted. You do all the standard exercises standing up and moving. The first time I was able to balance on one leg for just a few seconds was an amazing experience.

Immobility gives you a perspective on something simple like that. Things were getting better and the scale was showing it.

I had my stretching and my agility programs in place but there was another aspect I needed to add: strength. I went to the cycling class.

I didn't really know much about cycling classes other than they use stationary bikes. I figured I couldn't fall off a stationary bike so that fit Rule #1. In other classes, I could see people hopping up and down on their bikes and I knew THAT wasn't going to happen but maybe I could just pedal... slowly.

So I went to my first class. I didn't know at the time; it was another moment that would change everything.

The instructor helped me adjust the bike and off we went – visually. I waited for the up and down routines to start but that didn't happen. People just hunkered down and pedaled, so I did the same, although a lot slower. Periodically, there was a call out to “add more gear” and a neighbor showed me the lever to shift the gears. I tried Gear 2 but was soon back to Gear 1. I pedaled the whole hour and was fork-tender-done by the end.

I found out that the class I was in, was a road-racing workout class. None of that up and down, hopping around stuff, just bike like you're on the Tour de France. I bought a padded seat from the sporting goods store so my derriere would fit on the bike. I learned about tempo and cadence and sprints and thresholds and climbing. I had fun, so I went back. Each week I could pedal a bit harder and longer. I could see it in the monitor on the bike. I moved from Gear 1 to Gear 2 and then on to Gears 3, 4, 5. Each week I could see my own improvement and now the scale began tilt in the downward direction.

While Rule #1 is the primary rule, I found that “effort” is an aspect that gets ignored in the equation. Effort is not the same as Pain. Effort is uncomfortable and may make you sore the next day but pain is not part of that equation. You need Effort, to get Health. You do not need Pain.

The adage “No Pain - No Gain” is false. Pain stops everything. If you get hurt, you stop. That's the end.

Effort is what makes things happen. You have to try hard things, to do hard things and make the hard things easier. It's effort that powers the bike. It's effort that moves the feet. It's effort that makes the stretch. Without effort, you are spinning in Gear 0, going nowhere; you're racing the engine but missing the staging lights.

Rule #3 = Make an Effort

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB and is part 5 of a 6 part series.]

An Odyssey ... of a sort - Part 4 of 6 by KimB

The following is 100% unscientific.
It's my own personal rationalization of the effects of the FAT cycle.

the FAT cycle FAT => SALT => SWEET
FAT	SALT	SWEET
cheeseburger	fries	coke
pizza	bread sticks	coke
ribs	loaded baked potato	coke
sandwich	chips	coke

I like cheeseburgers, I like pizza, I like ribs and I eat a lot of sandwiches.

I like fries, bread sticks, bakers and chips too.

Coke? Hmmm... Coke?

A few rounds of regular coke or maybe a lemon-lime drink that's OK isn't it? I don't always drink the whole thing so there's not that many calories. They all have that High Fructose Corn Syrup stuff. That's OK isn't it?

STOP

LIGHTBULB

INSIGHT

It's not the coke... it's the HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.

The cycle should really be this:

the SWEET TO FAT cycle SWEET => SALT => FAT
SWEET	SALT	FAT

High Fructose Corn Syrup is sweeter than previous sweeteners like sugar and honey. It's way sweeter. It's in everything. It's claimed that HFCS are just like sugars. Many health professionals claim that sugar, regardless of origin, is just plain bad for your health.

So, I focused on the common denominator of High Fructose Corn Syrup. I banished anything with HFCS in it. Out went the ketchup, the BBQ sauces and a whole pile of other things which had this in the ingredient list. It was surprising how much of this is used in everyday foods. Into the bin it went.

I dropped all the artificial sweeteners too. If SWEET is part of the cycle then the artificial sweeteners are part of this trigger. They may have fewer calories but they interact with the rest of the body's metabolism.

I stopped buying any drinks with HFCS or artificial sweeteners in them. If I wanted a coke I bought the kind made with regular sugar without any additives. I put my own sugar in drinks, not because the sugar has fewer calories or is better for you but because I could SEE how much I was putting in.

The first few days were a bit odd. Mostly from not running down to Mac's Drive Thru to buy the $1 ginormous sized sweetened drink but after a few days I didn't miss it.

It didn't take long for other things to begin to fall away too.

I stopped craving potato chips/french fries. There are bags of Olive Oil Chips in my pantry and I really have no desire to eat them. There's no prohibition to eating them, I just don't want to.

After the SWEET and SALT began to recede I found I had a lot less interest in eating big portions of FAT. Especially those served at Fast Food Joints. I like cheeseburgers but I can make a better burger at home and I put all the trimmings on it too: cheese, dressing, pickles, mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, lettuce ... the works. The ribs and pizza are OK but I just don't find them as tempting as before.

I can eat any of these items; I just don't have any desire to eat them.

I began to lose weight too. Just a little bit.

It took less than a month to go from nearly immobile with pain and dying from FAT, to seeing something positive happen in my life.

A pound less is a pound less.

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB and is part 4 of a 6 part series.]

An Odyssey ... of a sort - Part 3 of 6 by KimB

I took a hard internal and emotional look at myself and my future. It wasn't a happy viewing.

I was fat; beyond fat: obese; beyond obese: morbidly obese. I was going to die from FAT.

That was how I was going to die: I was going to die from FAT.

Every day I was lifting 20, 40, 50, 100 pounds every step I made. Every day my heart struggled to pump blood into those extra 20, 40, 50, 100 pounds of FAT that was clogging my arteries, my internal organs and hanging on my belly like a boat anchor, reminding me daily that FAT was taking my quality of life and leaving me with bitter dregs of “might have beens”. FAT was dictating what I did, when and how I did it, and removed more and more options with each extra pound.

It was a tough and hard viewing.

I decided I didn't want to die from FAT.

Nearly everyone who lives in the US has dealt with FAT before. We have diets and fads and special foods and special programs to help us deal with FAT. I've been there, done that. It doesn't work. FAT wins, returns and claims more of you than before. FAT is smarter than we are, it knows you will fight for a while and then cave. Once you cave-in, FAT wins and the pounds roll back on faster and heavier than before. It's a war; one FAT always wins.

In the US, the diet food companies and anti-fat programs bet on FAT.

It seems impossible to deal with FAT but there are ways to delay, sabotage and derail the FAT inevitable re-invasion. It takes courage to start and courage to endeavor to make a change when you know that you will have to do it again, and again and again and again. If you don't want to die from FAT, this is what you have to accept: The War in never won and it's never over. The victory is every day there is less FAT than before. That's all there is: less FAT. In return you get more quality of life. Not MORE life, more QUALITY of life.

I pooled my knowledge about FAT and how it works and put my “little gray cells” to work trying to figure out something, anything, that would help me with FAT. I did more searches, I went to FAT seminars and attended FAT Medical Weight Loss program informational meetings, reviewed surgical options and generally came up with... NOTHING WORKS.

It doesn't work. FAT wins. FAT is good business.

At this point, most folks just “pick one from the list” to try to give FAT a shove out the door. I've done this too. You pick what you think you can do and you do it for a while and then you cave. I can't even think of a “turkey roll up” without gagging now. I knew I had to try something “else”, something that would work for me, that I could do without too much effort or discomfort. Something I could make happen every day.

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB and is part 3 of a 6 part series.]