Friday 11 May 2007

Thank you

Thank you everyone for your comments and kind thoughts. It's been a strange and disconcerting and disorientating week and it is somehow grounding to know people are reading this blog and taking the time to respond to my posts.

Thank you.

Irritatingly, once more I find myself on an unplanned visit to London because when I got home late on Wednesday, I found my ADSL router was non-functioning and of course without it, I can't really work from home. Slow is not the word. So after spending yesterday on dial-up into the office (urgh), I left home at 3.30am this morning to drive up because I was just too tired last night to contemplate it. I haven't been sleeping at all well recently, and feel incredibly stressed and hassled. This happens, I find, when I am away from home for an extended amount of time and not on vacation. I hate living out of a rucksack, not having my things around me, not being able to eat Sara food as and when, and I've been doing that for over a week now and will be doing so until early next week, and then some more when we head north for the funeral at the end of it.

On the bright side, I got to see the sun rise behind Stonehenge at 4am! Or as near to sunrise as it was going to get - it was actually raining and with a striking grey band of cloud on the horizon... but the concept is still good, right?

I will struggle through the rest of today with the help of strong coffee (and maybe power naps in the loos). I forgot to bring my scales with me this time, but I did manage to be organised enough last night to pack a salad and cottage cheese with LLBY for lunch, and enter it all into CoM so I know where I am nutritionally.

Then this evening, I hope I finally get to meet my good friend N's new baby boy C - I say hope because the poor little mite has been in and out of hospital for blood tests because he has a mild case of jaundice. Those of you who are mothers will be able to appreciate how frantic N is at the moment not knowing the results. With luck they will be in later today, and N can enjoy introducing C to his Bad Auntie Sara. I am very excited about this; I hope my friends' children will be an important part of my future.

I hope everyone has good weekends... with better weather than we are promised here! We've gone from summer in spring to winter in summer and I am not amused.

Oh, and out of curiosity, is anyone reading this not vaguely zoned in their eating? There was an interesting posting on one of the CR lists about 90g protein resulting in higher incidence of mortality... Of course, I don't understand these things, but the posting also used as an alternative example a diet that was lower in fat and protein and higher in veggie carb - and since I struggle with keeping my veggie carbs to 40%, and getting both my fats and protein to 30%, I was wondering if this might be a better ratio for me. Sometimes I feel really icky on a day when I've done 90g protein... Huh. My brain just keeps ticking away on the trivial, doesn't it?

8 comments:

Robin said...

Hi Sara,

I have never worried about whether I'm zoned or not. All I do is make sure I get all my vitamins and minerals from foods I enjoy eating. Maybe I *should* worry about the zone thing but I just can't be bothered. I tend to consume a lot of protein anyway (a lot from non-fat dairy, which I love) but I never worry about ratios. I'm not sure I would have the energy for adding another layer of complexity to my diet. Others may disagree, though.

Try not to stress too much about food. It sounds like you have enough stress in your life already.

Take care of yourself. My thoughts are with you.

R

Mizpah Matus said...

Sometimes I feel the same with high intakes of protein, especially animal proteins too. But I do find that mostly my intake is close to zone-like but often the carbs are higher like around 50%.

I read that post as well and was wondering whether all of my effort to get my protein higher all the time is really warranted. I guess the only way to know is to experiment with different macros for a while and see how you react.

Matthew said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Matthew said...

In rodents it has been shown that 30% and 50% of calories from protein is associated with better survival in the CR group. Also getting a lot of calories from fat, around 40% (I think) was associated with lower mortality, but 60% was associated with higher mortality in CR'd rodents. But they STILL all lived longer than the ad lib group of course ;)

I think CRONies should aim for higher protein intakes. But in the end, its calories IN that matter.

Deborah said...

I think you have to go with what feels best for you in the long run. I know I set my numbers to the zone ratios based on other people's plans and then I found after a few months that I was gravitating one way or the other, so I made those adjustments. Higher protein than the RDA (which is quite low) seems to be better especially for women (is this MR's wisdom?) but too high has the scientific community concerned..so we need to find the balance that we can be comfortable in without micromanaging ourselves to death!

Work with what is comfortable, get your nutrients as best you can and please don't stress it..you have enough going on right now with all your big plans...to let this little thing go for a while.

I hope the baby is okay..must be rough but this time too shall pass ...
:D

April said...

Hi Sara!

I am actually not Zoned myself... I tend to be over the course of the day, but my breakfast is high protein, my lunch and snack are high fat, and my dinner is high carb. Doesn't count! MR is Zoned at each meal, but he's just that way. I agree with Robin... it's about what works for you.

Hang in there sweetie... you've had too much loss and stress this month. My thoughts and prayers and hugs are with you!

a

Illiah said...

I know if I don't get enough protein, my hair comes out in clumps, not a pleasant experience. What woman wants to live to 120 bald?

Most days, I'm zoned, but like April, it's more over the course of the day. Heavy protein in the morning, getting carbier as the day gets longer. On days I run more than ten miles, I'll do 50 or 60% carb, otherwise, I'm closer to 40 or 45 percent.

Take care of yourself, and get some rest this weekend!

Arturo said...

Hi Sara
Your question is one I share. Since I'm veg(etari)an, I write offlist to one other CRONie to comment on protein consumption. It seems to me that if one's source of protein is from vegetarian sources, and that if one would avoid soy products that would lead to higher levels of methione, (consuming those soy products that are considered safe, such as fermented ones - soy sauce, tempeh, for example) then there should not be the same danger compared to a person whose source of proteins is from meat. Meat consumption leads to higher levels of methione, which leads to aging sooner. But that is only speculation on my part, and something that some of us entertain offlist. On the other hand, I could not do a diet primarily dependent on fruit, because the high glycemic content would make me ravishly hungry.
Cheers,
Arturo