#113 Candy Corn - How I Love Thee

Note to Reader: This babble was posted originally in 2008 and again last year around Halloween. Nothing has changed....it's September 26th and I've already gotten into the candy corn [6 days later than last year]. And, once again I'm blaming my daughter... she brought it into the house!

Every year around this time I do something terrible. I buy candy corn. I know you're thinking how terrible can that be? Well, I just don't buy candy corn, I crave it. And once I start eating it, it's very hard to stop. Sometimes, before I even know it, I've popped 10 sweet kernels into my mouth, and as the 11th goes in, I begin to get the shakes and feel nauseous. It's usually when I'm feeling this way that I question my sanity [Aren't there better things to crave?]. What's amazing though, is that once Halloween is over, I can pass candy corn in any venue and have absolutely no desire for it. I mean zilch. If offered to me, I can very easily say - no thank you.

This year, however, things started out a tiny bit differently than previous years. This year I started buying my candy drug in September. I usually wait till at least the first week in October, but for some reason [I'll guess an emotional one] I allowed myself a small bag of Brach's candy corn. On the 4th day, when that last kernel was eaten, I contemplated the possibility that I had gotten them out of my system early.

NOT! About a week later, I arrived home to find a package from UPS on my porch. I opened it and there inside was a small bag of candy corn. Sooooo sweet!!! Not the corn, but my 12 year old daughter. Being the understanding, wonderful and nurturing person she is, she sent me a care package. To make a long story short, I OD'd on them the second day and had to head upstairs for a sugar-induced nap. During my afternoon siesta, my husband told my daughter to go hide the candy corn and to dole it out sparingly... and only if I begged. Humph!! I don't know at whom I'm angrier? My daughter for buying it, my husband for hiding it, or me for my lack of control over it.

Fortuitously [or not], I found the stash of candy corn. As I was sitting at my desk this afternoon answering emails and munching on my drug of choice, I dropped a few. Iggy, our adopted dog, knows that when something drops he has to wait for permission to eat it otherwise he would be eating buttons, staples, you name it. Well, you'll never believe what happened. The minute Iggy saw what had fallen, he lunged for those 3 yellow, orange and white tipped sweeties. I swear, we had a fist to paw fight over them.

As I sat there staring at my dog and three lost candy corn, it came to me in a flash: Oh my G-d, Iggy's previous owners had turned him into a candy corn addict!!! I smiled... it's nice to have a junkie buddy.


Quote of the Day: "The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too stong to be broken" Samuel Johnson

#112 Is My Body a Toxic Dump?

I'm not the most "green" person you'll meet... by a long shot. I hate to admit it, but the majority of my cleaning and grooming products are chemicals, and not of the organic variety. I do recycle as much as possible and carry my own bags to the grocer... when I remember. Recently, however, I read a blog about beauty products and the possibility that they can make you fat. I know!! I said I was going to write about things other than fat, fitness, forties, etc, but this caught my attention - for a number of reasons. Plus, it inspired to me to write.

Why did this catch my attention? First of all, I have a fourteen year old daughter. Said daughter likes to wear a little bit of make-up. Said daughter is also crazy about theater and performs in many plays and musicals. This means she must wear a lot of stage make-up. This also means she must remove that make-up. (As Tracey Turnblat in Hairspray wearing a wig, fat suit and of course, stage make-up)

The blog I refer to here explains that the chemicals in these beauty products are parabens. These parabens get into your bloodstream and play havoc with your hormones. Guess what? My endocrine system is a bit screwy - I have Hashimotos Thyroiditis, or Hypothyroidism. Ironically, I never wore make-up until my 20s, but over the years before and since, I can share with you that I have washed, conditioned, colored and permed my hair, used perfumes, moisturizers, sunblocks and a lot of concealer. I'm not blaming any of these products for my condition, but perhaps I was pre-disposed to an endocrine problem and the chemicals in these products just helped it come out of hiding.

Anyway, I took the paragraphs from the blog post with the most salient issues and have shown them below in blue. If you are interested in reading the whole blog, you can go to http://www.toxicbeautyblog.com/.

There were 300 million obese individuals worldwide in 2000….which increased another 100 million by 2005….alarming stats! Who leads the obesity race? It’s us, ladies! More women than men are obese. Women also use more than 5 times the beauty products men do (some even more.) A coincidence? While obesity is a growing global epidemic, toxic poisoning is also on the rise. How did it become a planet wide problem?

Companies use synthetic chemicals in their products. These can affect the user. They also affect the non-user. The waste products have to go somewhere…so they empty into land and water. This contamination affects everyone, not just the person using the product! These chemicals are called parabens. They are found in many products from shampoos to hair color and can even be found in natural and organic brands!) Parabens are hormone disruptors which mimic or block human hormones. They get into the blood when you use them on your skin and affect the endocrine system, which controls every function of the body (including weight control…beginning to see the connection?) When you use a body lotion or fragrance, the parabens enter your body, confusing your own hormones, causing them to malfunction. These endocrine disruptors are stored in fatty tissue and are not flushed….accumulating over time. Could this be one reason why you can’t seem to lose weight?

Parabens, Parabens, Everywhere

So how can you reduce your risk of paraben-related illness? Well, one way is to discontinue using all products containing any form of paraben: methyparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben. There are a plethora of organic brands which don’t contain these and still give you the same (if not better) performance [Aubrey Organics, 100% Pure, and Real Purity]. Another method is to make your own cosmetics. There are many recipes you can find easily online and on beauty blogs. Some of the easiest recipes include only one ingredient! Since I have been on my new detox diet, I have rediscovered the beauty of organic cold pressed coconut oil. It’s so versatile I can use it on my face, body, hair and even take it internally for the metabolic boosting benefit [hence fat burning!).

PS. This is the bag I carried all summer. It was made from black and white garbage bags and a red take-out bag from a restaurant in China Town. The artist crochets these bags into whatever shape and size you want. By the way, she washes the bags, so these are truly recycled goods. I'm singing her praises because these bags can be custom made for you, are cost friendly, fashionable and "green". If you are interested in having one made, email or send me a comment requesting her information and I will give you her email address.

Quote of the Day: "It's the friends we meet along life's path who help us appreciate the journey" author unknown

#111 I'm Plum Babbled Out

Lately, I have felt babbled out. I have ideas, but when I sit down at the computer, I'm uninspired. Originally, as many of you know, I started writing my babbles as emails to a group of women I met with weekly. What I had discovered was some of them would fall off track [either with their diet or a project] and would come to the meeting either unprepared or with a weight gain. The emails were sent in the middle of the week to try to keep them focused and positive. Of course, the emails also helped me to stay focused and inspired me to eat healthy and exercise. I also started sharing the emails with some family members and friends who were also trying to lose "a couple of pounds". And so, the blog - Bobbiesbabbles - was born.

Over time, I started writing about other topics besides weight - like my aging body, my relationships, my husband, articles I read, exercising, recipes, and so on. My sister, who helped me design the blog, wrote a little blurb about me [can be read in the right margin of the blog site] which I've tried to keep in mind when developing a blog post. She wrote, "....As with other mentors who have provided support and direction to Bobbie, may her reflections and thoughts on the frustrating world of weight management provide motivation, laughter and insight for those of you young at heart, but aging in body". With those words in mind, I wrote my blog. However, I think it's time for a change.

CHANGE being the operative word here because I've changed. Controlling my weight and physique, although still very important to me, are not as obsessively and compulsively as important. I've figured out how to eat and exercise to maintain my present weight and if wanted, how to lose a couple of pounds. I guess at 48 years and 6 months, something finally clicked, or perhaps I just don't care that much anymore. I'm not saying that I'll ever be "normal" when it comes to food, body image and liking myself in photographs, but I'm calmer about it all. When I joined Trevose Behavior Modification http://www.tbmp.org/ 11 years ago, I walked into the meeting thinking and hoping that this "eating program" would be "the answer". Instead, I saw a woman who looked to be about eighty years old waiting for the meeting to begin. I turned to my friend joining with me and said, "shit, does it never end?". Well, Trevose was definitely the answer in helping me lose and maintain my 25 pound weight loss, and it still is the answer. I continue to go to a meeting at least 3 times a month to keep my head in the game.

And so, I will continue to write my babbles, but I'm not sure that they will always be about body image [photo: does my ass look fat?], food, diets, etc. I'm not overly political or religious, so you don't have to worry about some rant on the newest piece of trash written about some senator or my take on the Bible.

I also want to thank all of you for reading and commenting on my blog, and especially to those who have contacted me to ask, "where are you?", or to let me know, "I think I got kicked off your distribution list because I'm no longer getting your babbles".

I'll be babbling soon....

Quote of the day: "We think in generalities, but we live in details"
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), mathematician and philosopher