The Health Reasons Diet

Health is something you take for granted in your youth.

In short, I feel old. I've been feeling this way for quite some time now, like every time I start yawning when the clock strikes 10:30pm, or when I think to myself that my siblings will turn deaf by the time they reach my age if they keep listening to their sounds at that volume. But I finally have proof that, indeed, my age has caught up to me.

I had dinner with my cousin last week at Jack's Loft and ordered my usual pasta meal: penne in tomato cream sauce. It was a Monday night and it had been a stressful day, so when she said, "I think I'll get a drink," I decided what the heck, I'd get a cocktail too. So I ordered my usual cocktail, a tequila sunrise. We had a pleasant chat over dinner, I felt slightly buzzed from the drink, but nothing I couldn't handle.

Until 3 A.M. rolled in and I found myself heaving into the toilet bowl, leaning against it as if it was my best friend. Actually, we did become best friends because I found myself hanging out with it four more times that day, even if I could heave no more. All the while I thought to myself, "I am never drinking again!" I went so far as to take a two-hour nap in the office's clinic, hoping I could sleep off the hangover.

I knew it wasn't a hangover when I ran a fever, had to go home, and couldn't eat a thing. I knew for sure it wasn't a hangover when, the next day, I still couldn't eat and was feeling nauseated even after naps. So the next day, I went to see the doctor, and after a long line of questioning, he finally told me, "It seems like you have a gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD."

Say what?? The only way I could explain it was in comparison to hyperacidity: if hyperacidity is when your stomach produces too much acid, this GERD means my body expels the acid, usually by belching and you can generally taste something acidic near the throat. Once he said that, I realized he was right. And I thought my constant burping after meals was normal-- apparently, that was the acid reflux in action.

As a consequence, I now have to make changes in my lifestyle and diet. No skipping meals-- even if I don't skip meals, I do have a tendency of eating very late. Lunch at almost 2PM, dinner at 10PM. None of that now. I also have to eat something every two to three hours, even if it's just crackers.

Best of all, I have to avoid the following, as they stimulate acid production in the body: caffeine, milk, softdrinks, alcoholic beverages, acidic and spicy foods. The doctor says I can still take them, as long as I've eaten a real meal before doing so, but I can't have them frequently. In any case, I'm still choosing to avoid them because I noticed that since I obeyed my doctor's orders, the condition seems to be more under control. I keep drinking water now, and I have crackers with me at all times, and I'm realizing that I don't need caffeine and sweets to function. Now if I lose some weight in the process, that would be great!

Oh, and with that list, I figured out what happened to me on Monday night: it turns out that tomato is considered acidic food, and partnered with the alcohol, it was a double whammy and my acid-producers probably went wild. It made me realize that when I was younger, I never thought of these things, how the things I ate could be the cause of a real illness and not just an upset stomach. Controlling my diet seemed like something I would do in mid-life, not quarter-life. But I guess there's no age limit to being healthy and taking care of your body.

Lesson learned? There's no day like today to start eating on time, getting enough sleep, and turning down the volume of the stereo!

Why I made a new Multiply site

It all started with a story that I told my mom about a woman who found out through Facebook that her husband wanted a divorce. Since she doesn't have Facebook, I had to preface the story with an explanation of how Facebook alerts you over the slightest changes in someone's account. She tsked-tsked over the story and said, "That's why I don't like all those sites, like Livejournal and Facebook and Multiply. People end up knowing about things they're not supposed to know about."

I thought that was the end of it, but she continued to tell me about something I had written in my Multiply site two years ago. It was one of my random musings about money, and I guess I must have said something about the way some parents obligate their children to contribute to the household so much, they're unable to start saving up for their own future. I've been lucky enough that my parents don't ask me to contribute to household expenses, and that they would probably rather I save up for myself and my own expenses. I know that others my age are not as lucky. But that's not the point. The point is, apparently, an uncle of mine read it, and all this time assumed that I was talking about my own household, griping about my own parents. It really ticked me off how he could assume things about my life because, frankly, it's none of his business. I also discovered that he really does check my site whenever I upload something new, and it bugs me that he seems so interested in my life. (It doesn't help that I've had my gripes about this uncle on separate occassions.)

Realizing that I didn't want this uncle, his wife and their kids (even if they keep separate Multiply accounts, they do still live in the same house) to have access to my personal life, I decided to log on to my Multiply account and try to find a way to filter my contacts. There must be a way to edit him out without deleting him/them because that would be too obvious-- what happens in the next family reunion and he says, "Oh, why am I not seeing you on Multiply anymore?" What am I supposed to say then?

I discovered that Multiply is not filter-friendly. While it recognizes that relationships vary in degree (it does allow you to classify your relationship with someone as a neighbor, classmate, or sorority sister), when it comes to allowing access to your friends, it only lumps those subtle distinctions into the general Friends category. Which means that if I decide to filter an album and make it unavailable to Family (including that uncle), it means that my cousins and sister cannot see it either. Yes, I could select particular individuals that will have access to that album, but I find it too tedious to run through my entire Multiply list. Aside from that uncle, I realized that there are so many people on my list who were just my classmates in one subject, high school classmates I wasn't really close to, and old friends I haven't heard from in a very, very long time. And when these people post things, I don't open their albums anyway because, quite honestly, I'm really not that interested in what they're up to.

That's when I realized that I really should've taken Multiply seriously when they said "This is a site for meaningful relationships." So I decided to open a new site and invite only the people that I really want to let into my life. Letting the whole world know about what's going on in your life really does not appeal to me, and that's the downside to these online networking sites. I like Facebook, I like Multiply, I like Plurk, and I like Blogger (if I didn't, this blog wouldn't be alive), but there is always a risk of oversharing in these sites. What I've learned as I've gotten older is that you must straddle a line between putting your thoughts out there and putting every single thought (including how you can still taste your lunch every time you burp and now you need to go pee-pee) out there. Share, but don't overshare, and learn to share with the right people.

I'm still keeping the old one though, but now it has a new purpose. After all, I'm still uploading links to my press releases as they appear on the Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP.ph) and I sometimes still make blog entries that are work-related. Besides, that site has all my contacts for online shopping as well, so I can somehow look at it as a "professional" site, as opposed to my new "personal" site.

Now I must begin the slow and steady effort of building my new site.

Spotlight: "Freakonomics" and "Live a Little"

Currently reading.
I don't know why I delayed reading this book for so long. A fellow book hoarder lover gave this to me for Christmas 2007, and it somehow got lost in the pile of all my books. I rediscovered it, added it to my reading list, and finally decided to start on it since it had already waited so long to be read.

I now regret delaying it. Freakonomics is one of the most interesting things I've read in a while. It's non-fiction, which is a good break from all the fiction I've been reading. But it's a little hard to explain what it's about. Steven Levitt is an economist but a very creative thinker at the same time. I used to hate economics classes because they all seemed so technical-- though in high school, I remember thinking that economics was an easy subject that teachers just like to complicate. There's a lot of logic involved in understanding economics and its basic principles like supply and demand (which is probably the only thing I ever learned of the subject). Levitt applies the same logic needed to understand economics into unearthing the truth behind many other things. How is legalized abortion connected to the crime rate decline in the US? What makes teachers cheat? (Yes, teachers. Not students.) How did one man bring down the Klu Klux Klan? Levitt is able to present data in a way that is not boring at all-- they just seem like important elements to understanding a story. I'm only in the second (or is it third?) chapter, so I'm sure that there's still so much more to learn from this book. It just really appeals to my Connect-the-Dots sensibilities.


The latest addition to my reading list. Yes, I'm fully aware that I currently have 13 books on my reading list, but I couldn't resist this one.

I have a confession. On days when I have nothing better to do, I browse the websites of Fully Booked and Powerbooks and look for interesting reads. If I find a title I like, I log on to Amazon and read reviews. I found this book on one of those days.

The premise intrigued me. A housewife neglected by her husband and taken for granted by her bratty teenagers is diagnosed with breast cancer. All of a sudden, her family is being very appreciative of her, they treat her really well-- basically behavior you would expect from people who know that you're on the brink of death. So she's loving all the attention, when her doctor suddenly tells her, "Oh, sorry, we made a mistake. You don't have cancer after all." What does she do? She doesn't tell her family that she doesn't have cancer. Why should she, when they're finally treating her well? This makes me wonder where the book will go. Will someone discover that she's not sick after all? Will she eventually have to break the news to them? Will there be a twist that has her dying by accident in the end? What, pray tell, happens when you let your family think that you're dying? Do you actually get the chance to, ironically, live a little? (Yes, I figured out the story behind the title!)

So on my next trip to Fully Booked, I tracked it down and just made a mental note to consider it for my list. This went on for months-- I'd be in Fully Booked High Street, I'd see one copy lying there, I'd walk away, strangely comforted by the fact that it was still there. Finally, when I went to Fully Booked High Street this week, I checked it out and read the first chapter. Lo and behold, it was actually funny! Realizing that this wasn't a somber book and I was probably going to be in for a few laughs, plus that lone copy had been sitting there for months (okay, maybe it's not the same copy, but I've always just seen one copy in all these months), I finally decided to buy it.

I can't wait to keep reading Freakonomics this weekend! And I'm glad I have Live a Little waiting in the wings. :)

pushing daisies in a place called Here

An update on my reading list:

The 2009 Reading List

1. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

2. The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik

3. Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin

4. A Place Called Hereby Cecelia Ahern

5. If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern

6. Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

7. Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done by David Allen

8. The Amber Room by Steve Berry

9. Doctors by Erich Segal

10. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

11. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

12. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding

13. Prizes by Erich Segal

I stopped reading Skinny Bitch because I disagreed that you need to be a vegetarian to become healthy. I started reading A Place Called Here in the car while waiting for parking, but the book was pretty good so I ended up taking it out of the car and reading it a few chapters a night for the whole week.

The premise is actually pretty good. When Sandy Shortt was ten years old, a classmate went missing and was never found. This made her obsessed with lost things, literally turning the house upside down in search of a sock or a toothbrush or anything that went missing. She dedicated her adult life to searching for missing persons, until one day, she goes missing herself. She finds herself in a place where all the lost things go-- including some of the 

lost people she'd spent years trying to find. There is a whole other life in this place, as people try to go on with their lives, building families and taking on jobs, working together as a community. But Sandy only wants to go home. The question is, how?

I'm thinking I should probably read something lighter now, like maybe Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin. If I do that though, I'll be left with much heavier stuff to tackle. So I dunno, I'll think about it. Maybe I'll pause on the reading for a while and resume watching Pushing Daisies. It's a pretty interesting series about a guy who has the power to bring people back to live for just one minute. After that, he has to touch them again so that they become dead again-- otherwise, something else must die in its place. It sounds morbid, but it's actually got some dry humor. Plus, I love that the colors are very vivid. It actually reminds me of a movie, but I can't quite figure out what. Maybe Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johnny Depp version)? Everything is so vibrant, and the voiceover adds a fairytale-like quality to it. I only have Season 1, and I heard that the series will end with Season 2, but maybe that's just right. The story might get ruined if they let it drag on too long.

Wow! This marks the first time my blog actually has pictures! Hooray! :) Signing off for now. :)

Writer's Block

It was bound to happen.

On Monday, I was able to write one cheat sheet and two press releases.

Tuesday, it was one cheat sheet and two press releases.

Wednesday, it was two press releases-- one, I had to rewrite completely, the other I had to revise. So that's kinda like 3 1/2, if you think about it.

Today, Thursday, I'm supposed to write three press releases, and so far...

...

*crickets chirping*

My mind is a complete blank. I can't think. I can't function. I just want to sit, stare at nothing, not think of anything. I don't want to do anything.

I don't know if I was thrown off by the missing bodega key (which is still currently missing), or just started the morning with bad vibes from the rant of a usually-cheerful officemate (it was actually a shocker to hear her in a bad mood), or I didn't have a restful sleep.

I don't know what it is. All I know is I just want to sleep. Or lie down. Or sit down. Anything, as long as the common denominator is not doing and thinking of anything.

Our intern is here today, and I can't even bring myself to think of what she should be doing. It's that bad. I mean, I know what she should be doing, I have her tasks in my head, but I can't bring myself to tell her to get started because it would mean that I'd have to start working too. And I can't function yet.

Ugh, I hate this. :(