Taking It Off

"Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks."

    - Lin Yutang (1895-1976), The Importance of Living (1937)

Do you know the thing I dread the most when I have a doctor's appointment?  Nope, not the long delay in the waiting area.  Nope, not the blood tests.  Not the examination for prostate enlargement either.  It's when I first get in there and they make me weigh!

I'm scheduled for a physical next month and I'm trying to lose a little weight so that my physician will say, "Hey, pretty good Nantz, you're a pound and a half lighter than you were last time."  The fact that I'm still fifteen pounds overweight could be a problem though.

When I make up my mind to shed a few pounds, what I normally do is just stop eating so much.  I've never tried any of the fad diets, nor have I kept charts of calories or foods ingested.  I just stop eating.  The wife says, "Not good!"

Today I ran across this bit of advice on AOL's Welcome Page, courtesy of Health Magazine.  You who are AOL-Users have probably already seen it, but it was so good that I decided to post it tonight.  Most of what they say is merely common sense, in somewhat short supply these days, and it speaks to me.  There was one surprise, however:

"Insufficient shut-eye appears to increase production of the stress hormone cortisol, which regulates appetite. High levels seem to worsen bingeing and hunger; moreover, too little sleep could keep your body from burning carbohydrates, which translates to more stored body fat."

Now did you know that?  I didn't.  Check the whole thing out.  It's good stuff.

Don't forget that early Sunday morning (2 AM) Daylight Savings Time ends.  Set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed tonight.