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Mark believes we have "old growth" dandelions. They are still lush and knee high in spite of a dosing with high powered weed killer. They live in fortified defenses. Crab grass on the ground, as it were, chick weed on the battlements and the huge old white puffy heads deep inside the castle. But yesterday we purchased a new siege weapon. An industrial strength dandelion puller. Has long metal spikes which you jam down over the trunk of the dandelion and then give a vicious twist. When you hear a snapping sound, as in boughs breaking, you give a mighty tug, and viola, dead dandelion. V-e-r-y satisfying.

Mark and I went out on a date Friday. In truth he went to a ethics workshop. Now there is an oxymoron. An ethics workshop for lawyers. Sorry, sorry, I am perpetuating a stereotype. But, as Mark says, "Stereotypes are so much easier. You don't have to actually get to know people." I went to Albertson's and bought groceries. Afterward we decided to go out and eat. We had a wonderful time and I have been paying for it ever since. It was the darn Bloody Mary.

We don't drink much anymore. Mark's dad was an alcoholic so he abstains, and my libation of choice is cheesecake laced with peanut M&M's. We only drank when we went out in the evening. We don't go out anymore. This is not as dismal as it sounds. I don't want to hang around in any more bars thank-you-very-much. Anyway I hadn't had a real drink in over a year. I loved that Bloody Mary. I am salivating thinking about it. I additionally licked the outside of the glass when it was gone. I am craving another. I came home and have eaten, over the past two days, two cans of tomatoes and a jar of salsa. I am swollen up like a poison toad. My eyelid blebs are back. Which brings me to "The Menopause Diet."

A fellow summer moment sufferer gave me this book by Larrain Gillespie. It was published in 1999. Her other best seller was "You Don't Have To Live With Cystitis." Just up my...alley. This book is a killer. Medical doctors in my experience are not intentionally a comical lot. This woman is hilarious. Great info in an engaging style. Much of what she says is common knowledge to Kay Shepperd "food planners." But, she a had few new tidbits which intrigued me. Such as, menopausal women crave alcohol. "...women subconsciously crave alcohol as their estrogen levels are dropping. The more we drink the higher estradiol levels can go." "Metabolism of estrogen is intensely affected with blood levels tripling within one hour." Who knew? She also says menopausal delayed stomach emptying allows us to absorb more carbohydrates than our younger counterparts. Her advice? Fiber filled frequent mini meals. In the stomach fiber pushes the carbs through the system faster, and smaller meals are more rapidly digested. Hence less carb absorption. Works for me. She says to eat protein first at each meal. Then wait a couple of minutes before eating the carbs. In the interim glucagon is secreted and insulin secretion is limited. More of the food can then be burned as fuel and less stored as fat. Dandy. She then goes off on a diatribe about fats.

I have Atkinsed on and off for years. Saturated fat didn't scare me. This woman has put the fear of full fat butter in me. Not all the artery clogging rigmarole, I knew all that. What she said was, "The addition of fat to a carbohydrate gives you the same blood sugar response as if you ate the carbohydrate alone but with greater insulin response. This is not good, as the longer insulin stays around, the more hostile your tissue becomes to letting go of fat." Gad. She is not totally anti saturated fat. In fact says to stop eating non-fat dairy products and switch to low fat. Says we need a small amount of fat to metabolize the protein in the dairy. With non-fat products the lactose is quickly dumped into the bloodstream upping insulin levels before the protein in the milk can be metabolized. She made a believer out of me. If I can't get 2% I am going to mix my non-fat dairy with the whole stuff half and half. I hate that non-fat yogurt anyway.

Was a fun read. Motivated me to keep on keepin on.

I have been tagged by Jen but have not yet figured out how to make links. Am rereading Vickie's link instruction post and hope tomorrow to be "linked up" to the rest of you.

Take care of yourselves. Love Bea

P.S. I figured out how to link. Stay tuned.