MSI Press Blog

Yep. No typo in that subject line. I am 100% convinced that deit soda has nothing to do with a good diet if by diet you mean the attempt to lose weight. I want to lose weight. I must lose weight. With push-ups, I am pushing an extra 30 pounds. That is a lot. With pull-ups, I am pulling an extra 30 pounds. That is a lot. I have trued everythng available. Well, probably not everything , but many things. Keto? Fat cells cling stubbornly. Paleo? Fat cells cling ferociously. Trainer's special diet? Fat cells thumb their nose. Drop caloric intake to 900 calories day after day? (The thinking goes: you will lose weight with no more than 900 calories.) Those fat cells proved that thinking wrong. Cling, cling, cling! Then, Carl was busy ubering, and there was no diet soda in the house -- for a couple of days. Time for tea! Suddenly, without other explanation, a couple of pounds walked away. Gone! The only difference that I could identify: no diet soda. That prompted some resea

  THIS EXCERPT FROM THE OPTIMISTIC FOOD ADDICT SEEMS APPROPRIATE FOR WHAT MANY PEOPLE ARE EXPERIENCING FROM THE "QUARANTINE FIFTEEN" COUNTRY-WIDE AVERAGE POUNDS GAINED OVER THE PAST YEAR.              For a good half an hour before falling asleep, I would try to force my mind to coerce my body to burn itself alive. I hated my fat so much that I would imagine it sizzling like bacon in a skillet, dripping like hot wax off my bones and into the ether. I was determined to will my fat to melt away.              The next morning I would wake up, disappointed to find my thighs and ass still too big to fit comfortably in my third-hand Jordache jeans. And later that night, I’d lay prone in my bed, visually imagining my flesh liquefying in my skin once again.              This dour wishful thinking would go on night after night from the time I was 11 until well into my 20s. And yet many people asked me, nearly as often as I asked myself, if being fat bothered me so much, why couldn’

  Excerpt from Girl, You Got This! Food Dieting is talked about a lot in our culture. Every couple of months there is a new trendy diet: Atkins, Keto, the potato diet. The problem with most fad diets, though, is they are restrictive. There are too many hard rules. In order to change your eating habits long term, you need balance .   Everyone has heard the phrase, “balanced diet.” In fact, it is such a common thing to hear that most people don’t really stop to think about what it means. It just goes in one ear and out the other. What makes a diet balanced?   A balanced diet is a diet that includes variety. You eat multiple foods from multiple food groups in order to fuel your body with the most nutrients possible.   The Standard American Diet (SAD) is full of “food” that isn’t really food. It is more like packaged food-science experiments. The results might taste great, but it is no longer natural. The best way to get the most out of what you put in your body is to keep i

Too much holiday food? Gained some weight? Need to move on from overeating in general? New Year's Resolution weighing you down?  Take some advice from Christina Fisanick, author of The Optimistic Food Addict? Ending the Tyranny of Day One:  Stop Starting Over and Start Living Your Life in Recovery by Christina Fisanick “I will start day one again on Monday.”  “I blew it! It’s back to day one tomorrow.”  “I am ready to get back to eating healthy. Day one starts today!” I hear those words often in recovery circles, especially at this time of year when overeating during the holidays and then dieting in the new year are the “norm.” Even people without disordered eating struggle with guilt for eating too many high calories foods and abandoning their exercise routines. However, for people who suffer from an eating disorder (and people for whom dieting is a way of life) continuously starting over and over and over again can actually hamper recovery and overall heal

  Earlier, I wrote about the two paths that erupted in front us when faced with a late-stage cancer diagnosis: to focus on living or to focus on dying. There are so many problems and so much confusion when told after a fall or a blood test or something else that seems otherwise innocuous that your loved one has advanced stage 4 cancer.  The worst thing about a late-stage diagnosis is time, or the lack thereof. Not just the time left for a cancer victim to live, but the time available to make decisions.  The first decision--to treat or go on hospice --is a significant one, and there is often no time to really think in through. From my own experience with more than one relative diagnosed with more than one kind of cancer at an advanced stage, there is an automatic, nearly instinctive choice made, not a reasoned one. Got insurance? Treat the cancer. Don't have insurance? Don't treat the cancer. Those are clearly not the most logical or even medically best or viable criteria, but

  Carl and I lived in Jordan for a few years. One thing we especially liked about Jordan were the figs. Figs were round, unlike the more pear-shaped ones in the US, and they were, in our opinion, considerably sweeter. Regardless, they were an important of everyone's daily diet, including ours, and they were oh, so sweet! So, why are figs good for preventing cancer? Figs provide polyphenols and carotenoids, which are two phytonutrients, found to help detoxify  carcinogens  that can lead to cancer. These two phytonutrients help repair DNA and other tissue damage. And how do figs treat cancer ? First, if you have cancer, ask your doctor about eating figs. If s/he says yes (there seems to be no negatives to figs), then here are the benefits: Colon cancer: a source of needed fiber Breast cancer (post-menopausal): provide a layer of protection for hormonal imbalance, fight free radicals Brain cancer: restrain cancer cell growth Liver cancer: restrain cell growth; speed up the cure Any ca

It seems that sometimes I get tired --- less so from physical workouts (those are often pick-me-ups) but more as the day goes on and I am not continuing with the physical activity but having to do real work, as in, the kinds of things you do to earn a living. Since I am still trying to lose weight, sigh!, I figured there might be some foods I could pull into a diet that would up the energy level. Just in case, someone has an image of me hanging out in bed or developing a best-friend relationship with my pillow, I should explain that I usually outlast anyone who works with me, and I get called the energizer bunny a lot. Still, the energizer bunny's battery does eventually run down, as does mine. So, I am looking for a battery extender fueled by diet. Here is what I learned: Lemon water for breakfast. This is a good one for me because of my GERD. Yes, it sounds counterproductive to be adding acid to my diet rather than avoiding it, but everything I read and everything docto

  Excerpt from The Optimistic Food Addict by Dr. Christina Fisanick. Lovely in My Bones (part 1)                            I remember well wanting to be the woman Theodore Roethke knew. She was “lovely in her bones.” I am not sure that I knew what he meant when I first encountered those lines. In fact, I think back then, around fifth grade, I misunderstood entirely. Trained to understand beauty and worth by the media and American culture from the moment my eyes could see, I figured Roethke meant that this woman was physically stunning—slender, sleek, and, well, skeletal. I wanted to be just like her. I wanted to BE her. But even more, I wanted someone to feel that way about me, to wax poetically over my face and form, but I believed that my body—fat, frumpy, and flabby—would never give rise to such melodic praise.               Whether Roethke’s focus remained solely on this woman’s physical form is debatable, but he never utters her name. We never learn what she does, if she is

from chapter, Before You Conceive: Every person has a different body with different needs, but whether you are young or old, fit or not, pregnancy puts the body through a lot. I want you to keep in mind that health and fitness aren’t one-size-fits all. What works for one person won’t always work for another. Life—and health—are all about finding something that works for you. Taking stock is a powerful first step if you want to set yourself up for success. When is the last time you touched base with yourself and your health? Questionnaire  1 . How do you feel about your body as it is right now? Try to be as nice as possible . 2 . What role has health played in your life? Has it been an adversary? Has it always been on the backburner? Is it something you have poked fun at? 3 . Do you have any medical conditions you need to take into account when exercising? Chronic pain? Migraines? Old injuries? 4 . Do you have any dietary restrictions (or personal taste restrictions for th

photo and The Conversation article by Laura Brow n I cannot stick to diets. I have tried for at 50 years to do so, but I just can't. I know from my friends that I am not alone. THIS diet, though, I CAN manage. It's not exactly a diet. It is more about modestly manage what you buy and eat, as explained clearly and briefly in this great article from The Conversation today: " Changing Your Diet Could Add Ten Years to Your Life -- New Research. " Very nifty, summative, easy-to-use chart, too. Worth the few minutes to read, especially since research says it may add TEN years to your life. Easier said than done? If you are struggling with low self-esteem from food being in control of your life, MIS Press author, Dr. Christine Fisanick, has a very sane and helpful approach to it all. She shares remarkable personal details in her book, The Optimistic Food Addict . Description from Amazon and other sellers:  The Optimistic Food Addict explores the author's journey through

  Dennis Ortman, author of several award-winning books, offers the following reflection for MSI Press blog readers -  FULL LIFE “I came that they might have life and have it to the full.” --John 10: 10   We have two natural desires: to live forever and to be happy. Modern medical science promises the first, but cannot guarantee the second. However, a recent bestselling book suggests that we can have both, now. Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles wrote  Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life  (New York: Penguin Books, 2016) in which they described the natural steps to a long, fulfilled life. They journeyed to Ogimi, Japan, where a large portion of the population lives into their hundreds. They interviewed dozens of the elderly residents to discover their secret. What they learned was a natural way to live longer with joy. Here are some of their recommendations: ·           Live an active life doing what you enjoy, and don’t retire. ·           Eat a moderate, balanced diet