Boooya! My cholesterol is DOWN!!!

When I had blood work done 2 months ago, my doctor told me that my cholesterol was way too high and if I wasn't able to get it down over the next couple months, he would have to medicated me.

He gave me a guideleine for a low-fat diet, and ever since that appointment I've been taking fish-oil pill every day and religiously sticking to that diet.

Honestly, it's not hard at all to eat this way. I already like a lot of the foods that I'm supposed to eat, such as: beans, brown rice, fish, etc. It's just been a little difficult to eat red meat so infrequently. I miss my ribs and chuck steaks!!!!! (Yes, I still eat them, but rarely).

I felt like I'd done a great job sticking to this diet, I'd done a lot of research on heart-healthy meal plans and was fairly confident that I'd put together a decent meal plan for myself. I was just very nervous that I'd go to the doctor and he'd tell me that diet wasn't working and that I'd need to take medicine, which I really wasn't interested in. Unfortunately, high cholesterol runs in my family. My grandmother has always eaten low-fat foods and sticks to an extremely healthy diet, however, because of genetics, she has high cholesterol.

I was afraid that I'd be in the same boat, and diet wouldn't work for me either. Thankfully, I went to the doctor this past Friday, and he told me that I brought my numbers down significantly! He also told me that I'd lost 7 pounds in the past two months. He asked how I managed to lose so much weight in a short amount of time. I was like - you put me on this diet! I stuck to it, and I guess this is what happens when you eat well and exercise consistently.

I really think that if people want to lose weight by sticking to a normal, balanced way of eating, they should start eating the way I do. I eat great food, I'm never hungry, and the weight has been dropping consistently!

Another idiot on imamother

Idiots on Imamother.com are fairly commonplace. A couple weeks ago, someone on the site asked whether she should go back to work so that she'll have insurance. Seems pretty straightfoward right? Apparently not. I can't believe that it's more important to be a SAHM than have insurance. Don't people realize that emergencies happen all the time and it's better to be safe than sorry?

I responded that even though I'm healthy, recently I've undergone many tests that, without insurance, would've cost a lot. I'm not sure exactly how expensive the tests are because I HAVE INSURANCE.

In response, some moron started this thread titled
"What do you consider to be good health?"

Imamother member said, Someone posted:
Quote:
"In the past couple months alone I've had an echocardiogram, gone to the doctor twice, and had blood work done. I have to go for more blood work in a couple months AND have an ultrasound (or something like that) of my thyroid, AND followup again with the doctor."

then she wrote:
Quote:
"I'm very healthy - but things come up all the time that are best to get checked out."

Things come up all the time and that's called being "very healthy"?! an echocardiagram? blood work? ultrasound? Am I the only one who thinks this does not sound like being "very healthy"?"

Is this person a complete moron? Isn't it normal for a good doctor to check out anything that might be amiss? People find lumps, get them biopsied and this doesn't mean they're unhealthy. They're just edging on the safe side of caution and checking out things IN CASE there may be a problem. It's always better to check out possible issues because if there IS a problem, it's better to catch it early.

I don't see what this poster is getting at. Most people with half a brain understand that someone can be perfectly healthy even though they're having some tests done. A good doctor will order blood work every year to check out his/her patient's cholesterol - and this doesn't mean the patient isn't healthy!

How do people have so much to talk about?

How are people able to write so much in their blog on a day to day or even a weekly basis? I've been away from my blog for nearly a year, and I don't have much to report.

Today I went to get the first part of a thyroid uptake and scan. I have no idea what they did, all I know is that I had to swallow a pill that contains dye, come back in two hours and then they did something else. Tomorrow I have to go back and they'll give me an injection and do something that'll take about a half hour. I mean to google the procedure so I'd actually know what they did, but I forgot. I'll look it up after I finish this.

I went to my doctor for a regular checkup and he said that my thyroid is enlarged and wanted to check it out. Every doctor that I've gone to has always mentioned this to me, and I've had blood work done several times to make sure everything's ok. This doctor just wants to be extra careful and even though my blood work was fine (again), he wants to check things out.

Hopefully everything will be fine. I mean, my thyroid's been this size for years, so it should be ok.

Alright, I'm sure nobody really wants to hear about my thyroid so I'll sign off now. Although this post gave me an idea for another post, so hopefully I'll get to that soon.

Cravings

When I got married, I weighed 133 pounds. No, I didn't gain weight after marriage. After I turned 22 and began working full-time at a desk, extra pounds slowly krept up on me. It took over a year before I noticed my svelt new body! I didn't own a scale, and most of my clothing stretched with me. I finally noticed my newly expanded body when I started wearing my summer wardrobe. Some stuff didn't fit anymore. I figured that I would easily shed the weight. After all, I'd always been able to eat anything (and tons of it) and never gained a pound!

I guess age and my fairly sedentary lifestyle caught up with me. After I got married, and received a scale as wedding present, I realized how much weight I'd gained. I'm 5' and used to weigh around 110. At 133, everyone could tell that I'd become rather chunky. After hearing too many people mention that I looked a little heavier, I decided a major lifestyle change was in order!

Since I'd always been able to eat lots of junk and never gained, I needed to learn how to eat properly. This lesson has taken me nearly 2 years to learn. I've slowly learned how to portion out my food and read nutrition labels. I started off my weight loss journey by cutting out all junk food. I've always been one devour cookies and cheese crunchies and loads of other junk during the work day. It was a very sad day when I realized that I had to stop eating all this.

I think that cutting out snacks took off 5 pounds. I also tried out the South Beach diet which didn't work out for me b/c I was always hungry and couldn't keep to such a strict lifestyle (although I did lose a few pounds on that as well). I joined the JCC, but didn't stick with it. I tried the Special K diet, and lost around 4 pounds.

4 months ago I joined another gym and began working out 4-5 times a week. This, together with keeping to a good diet (or just eating correctly) has helped me close in on my goal. It's also helped that I have high cholesterol and I'm on a low-fat diet - which basically amounts to following the food pyramid and eating a balanced diet. It's very easy to stick to.

I currently weigh 117 and my goal is 108. Hopefully I'll get there soon!

Shidduch Crisis

I have a question. I constantly hear people bleating about the shidduch crisis. But is a crisis REALLY happening?

Maybe people are getting married later because more people are going to college, or doing things that prevent them from dating so early. Or maybe it's ok that people aren't getting married at 19 or 20. Let them have a life before committing themselves to marriage!

Are we calling this a crisis because people aren't married at 25? 30? 35?

I think the entire crisis is that people are calling this a crisis at all. Why scare people and tell them that since they aren't married at a certain age, their chances at ever getting married are slim? We are scaring people unecessarily, and that's the main problem! We shouldn't be preaching in seminary that your focal goal when you leave the sem gate is to aquire a hubby. We should insist on secondary education and aquiring a good job. Yes, look for a husband during that time, but don't make it your primary goal. If you're life is rich in other ways, then you won't be upset constantly when your search doesn't end immediately.

My friends that are the happiest are ones that have jobs and an active social life without dating being their focal extracaricular activity. Yes, they date, but they realize that their life can be full in other ways. Of course they understand the importance of finding a husband, and they do their part, but they realize that they need to be happy. They don't want to turn into bitter women that only date and complain about how unlucky they are.

(By the way guys, this goes for you too)

Some more things that bother me:

Recently I became addicted to a message board called imamother.com.
It's very interesting and I think it's great that there's a place for frum women to get together where they can get advice and support from other frum women. Especially since many women that frequent the board obviously come from backgrounds that are slightly close-minded and probably wouldn't be able to find women in their community that they would feel comfortable discussing intimate matters with.

I was shocked when I found a thread where women were discussing how uncomfortable they felt being intimate with their husband and allowing him to see them completely naked. Many women wrote that they were ecstatic when their kallah teacher told them that they're supposed to have sex with the lights off. One woman admitted that she leaves most of her clothing on during the act!

I was flabbergasted. I know women that are extremely overweight and yet they still feel comfortable with their husband. What is wrong with a society that makes a woman feel uncomfortable with her body? Are they taking tznius too far? Or not presenting the rationale behind modesty in an appropriate fashion? When these girls are growing up are they told that their body is gross, and that's why it needs to be covered? Or do they teach them the beauty of keeping your body special to yourself, and then someday when you get married you get to share your beautiful body with your husband. And that you SHOULD show your husband your naked body. AND it's a good thing!!!!!

I think it's wonderful if people are very frum, but when certain laws are twisted and people don't understand why laws are kept, it effectively taints something that could be beautiful. It's wonderful that women keep their bodies to themselves. . . but it's a very serious matter when so many ultra-frum women feel uncomfortable being intimate with their husbands.

The Yeshivish Dating System is Really F*CKED Up!

I'm really fed up with the Yeshivish Dating System. I'm sick of yeshivish people complaining that they can't get any dates, but at the same time relying on a system that isn't conducive to meeting people.

The Yeshivish Dating System (as viewed by me):
1. The parents are completely in charge of the who the son/daughter dates
2. Too much research is done into the potential date: just go out with the person and see for yourself if you like them or not!
3. Too many dating rules (eg., can only go to a lobby on the first date)
4. Can only date for about a month, if you're not sure about a person within a few dates, you'd better dump them right away!
5. Almost forgot the most stupidest item on the list: Solely relying on a shadchan!

I never fully understood how stupid this system is until I became good friends with a yeshivish school-mate. She has NOTHING to do with finding potential guys. Her parents contact shadchanim on her behalf, after awhile the shadchan will get back to her parents with the name of an available guy. They proceed to call a bunch of the guy's references, and eventually, if they feel that he's perfect enough for their daughter, they'll give the go-ahead, and she'll go out with him. Invariably, they'll go on one date, and that's it. Let's get this straight: weeks of checking out someone, only to go out with him ONCE!!! That's really screwed up.
If someone is mature enough to get married, they should be the ones calling the shadchanim and telling the shadchan what they're looking for. Possibly, the parents aren't completely privy to all aspects of their daughter. I know that when I was looking for a guy, I wouldn't have told my parents that I wanted to marry someone that wouldn't care if I covered my hair or not. Children don't always feel comfortable telling their parents everything.

I'm also bothered by the extensive "checking out" of potential dating partners.
To quote my husband, here's why checking someone out isn't necessarily so helpful:
"2) You risk eliminating someone who appears bad but whose true personality and deeds can not be accurately captured by those who know him.What could you possibly ask that would give you true insight into a person's character? There is not one person in this world (ex. my wife who might have some idea), including my family and best friends, who could give you an accurate description of who I really am. They could tell you how often I went to shul or learned or whether I watched movies, but they could not fully capture my true feelings toward my life philosophies or beliefs. They couldn't tell you if I quietly deliver meals to poor people or visit the sick on shabbos. They also couldn't tell you if I went home and watched TV on shabbos after davening. They couldn't tell you if I went to bars after work or if I wrote seforim under a pseudonym. I truly wonder how many people would be married if each spouse knew each other's idiosyncrasies before they went out."
In my humble opinion, the only way to really know someone is to date them.

Another person on H.com had this point to make:
"The purpose of dating is to educate yourself before you get married. Real information about a person can only come from interacting with them on a meaningful level.The question becomes is it more strategically advantagous to investigate people with the assumed risk of creating false negatives than to go out with anyone and assume the risk of marrying someone inappropriate."

Another problem with the dating system is pressure to get engaged quickly. A major problem with this is that you will most likely overlook very important personality problems (that can cause divorce later on). Or you might just fall in love very quickly, and a month later, you realize that this person is completely wrong for you.
Don't make a decision so quickly! Take your time, date within a time frame that YOU feel comfortable with. It's not a race. Just because Joe Shmoe got engaged within a month, does not mean that you need to also!

It really angers me when people will ONLY use a shadchan. Nowadays we have so many dating outlets, and they should all be utilized.
Just because you are yeshivish, this does not mean that these methods should be beneath you. Who knows you better than a friend? If your friend suggests someone, go out with them!!!!
Broaden the dating pool, nowadays we have all of these options:
Dating Websites (Frumster, Saw You at Sinai, FutureSimchas, etc.)
Many singles events (Aish, EndTheMadness.org, Gateways, etc)
Organize a shabbos meal and invite a bunch of people!!!!!

I get so annoyed when people will constantly refuse to attend a mixed meal or event. What do you think will happen? You might meet a nice person, exchange numbers, go on a nice date, and maybe marry them??? Oh no. . . we don't want that to happen! How terrible would that be???

We really do need to END THE MADNESS!!!!!!

List of Broadway Shows I've Seen

Good Vibrations
Wicked 5x
Movin’ Out 2x
45 Seconds from Broadway 2x
Avenue Q 4x
Rent 3x
Wonderful Town 2x
Kiss Me Kate
Mama Mia
Hairspray
Les Miz
Aida 2x
Rocky Horror Picture Show
42nd Street
Phantom of the Opera 2x
Music Man
Jewtopia
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 2x
Rainmaker
Modern Orthodox
Minelli on Minelli
Proof
The Real Thing
Little Shop of Horrors
Amadeus
Riverdance
Producers
Fiddler
Brooklyn
Bombay Dreams
Musical of Musicals
King and I 2x
Chicago
Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Miss Saigon
Beauty and the Beast
La Cage
700 Sundays
All Shook Up
Little Women
Spelling Bee
The Last 5 Years
Spamalot
Steel Magnolias
La Cage aux Folles
Sweeney Todd
Evita
The Lion King
Urinetown
Footloose

I can add some more shows to the list:
Once on this Island
Saw Hairspray and Wicked again
I'm seeing Cats tonight and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat next week.

My Night With the Mason-Dixon Rescue Dogs

Last night my husband and I went to a Boy Scout camp about an hour and a half from Baltimore and helped train German Shepherds for search and rescue.

The organization needed people to hide in the empty building on the campgrounds and in the woods, and then (hopefully) the dogs would catch our scent and find us. Among the group there were two beginner dogs, and 4 experienced dogs. Their goal with the beginner dogs is to instill in them the drive to find people. They accomplish this by making the dogs very fond of their toys, and increase this fondness by giving the dogs VERY limited playtime during the day. As time goes on, these dogs want their toys so badly, and eventually learn that the reward for finding people is playtime. This gives them the necessary drive to do their job.

The first victim - my husband!My husband hid in a closet in an empty building and Bear, a huge, plush coat black German Shepherd, was sent to find him. He caught his scent right away and trotted through the woods with all of us trailing behind him. She wasn't uncertain at all and let us straight to the building, looked through it, and then let his handler know that DH was inside the closet. He did this by lightly tugging on a rope that her handler had tied to her belt loop. He was rewarded for his good work by a round of toy playing.

The second victim - me (and one other person b/c I'm terrified of the dark).

We hiked through the woods, and after 10 minutes, found a small trailer. Since it was locked, we went around to the back and sat on a stoop. We waited quietly, and soon heard Cleo (the dog) and the rest of the crew clomping through the woods. Cleo came within a few feet of us, but then got distracted by some deer poop. She chowed down, and completely forgot what she was supposed to be doing! Her handler reminded her, and it appeared that she'd found us, but instead she had AGAIN become interested in another pile of deer droppings, that was less then ONE FOOT from us! She was so interested in this (yuck) delicousy that she did not notice us sitting right next to her! The bad girl was reprimanded, and punished by not getting a playtime. (This really pissed her off!)

I had a great time with the dogs. It was an interesting and fun experience, and if you ever have the time, it's a great activity.