flemmings | (no subject)

When one's books on the go prove indifferent, it's a lot easier to do the necessary other things like exercise and kanji writing. Yes, and indifferent French reading practice as well. Claudine in French gets on my nerves, possibly because I detect the slimy hand of Willy. But I wish I had better books on the go. The second Vinyl Detective came in. Once again someone wants him to find a record. Once again, no sooner does a lead appear than the lead is murdered. If the theme of the series is going to be 'accidental judgements, casual slaughters' then I'll drop it now and let the sixteen people behind me in the library queue have it instead.

Then, having finished the rather charming and certainly out of date The Medieval Myths, completist me has to start in on the only slightly later Medieval Epics which is what I read Beowulf out of in my medieval lit. survey course. But this is a translation, not merely a retelling, prefaced by in-detail historical background.

Thought I'd start out with El Cid because he, alone of the Medieval Myths guys, behaved like a decent human being and not (cf Roland, Prince Igor, and Sigfried) a berserker bathing in the blood of a thousand youkai/ whatever. I'm still wading through the preface to that which is all head-spinny shifting alliances among a dozen Muslim and Christian kingdoms, when I thought the tory was just about El Cid trying to win back the love of his king Alfonso who for reasons unstated had sent him into exile. Yes, well, reasons were that El Cid had been fighting against Alonso on the side of his brothers, since the three kings, in best medieval fashion, were constantly trying to take over each other's territory. So when oldest brother is murdered and Alonso takes over his territory, Alonso is not gonna be best buddies with brother's champion. (Incidentally, Spain provides a strong argument in favour of primogeniture. Though I suppose if you're fratricidal enough, it hardly matters if only one of you is king.)

Maybe I should read some Pratchett instead.

Also low-fat low-carb eating is getting old. I would die for some toast and butter, or sweetened yoghurt, or chocolate. Someone on the FFL lost thirty pounds not eating wheat or sugar. Won't happen to me, not with my sedentary lifestyle, but the vague hope of getting to what I weighed in 1987 keeps me sticking to it. I cruise various restaurants on various delivery services, click on pad thai and hamburgers, and then back button.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Unless your body can't digest wheat there is no reason to cut it out. Most of the gluten free substitutes are low in fiber, something whole wheat products are good for. The fiber also makes you feel fuller longer. And when figuring out your carbohydrate intake you can subtract the insoluble fiber from the carbohydrate total, giving you more room for your carbohydrates intake.

The trouble with bread qua bread is that I want stuff on top of it like butter and jam, so it's easier to go with oatmeal (my breakfast of choice) and brown rice to pad the dinner vegetables. But I'm tempted to start eating pumpernickel, which is stodgy enough that one slice should be more than enough.

I'm not much of a bread eater anymore. My gluten free choices are pretty bad. My approach to my diet is, Is this food worth giving up a serving of bread/rice/spaghetti? You can have one Tablespoon of Jam (13 carbohydrates) but you have to give up half of your oatmeal (a single serving of oatmeal can be anywhere from 30 to 45 carbohydrates)or your morning fruit (1/2 cup of peaches equals 15 carbohydrates).Maybe at that moment the jam is what you really need. Also check the carbohydrates of the bread, maybe you can only fit half a slice in your carbohydrate count. Each serving of carbohydrates is 15. I think I was allowed 5 servings per meal. And don't forget everything has carbohydrates. I gave up sugar in my coffee so I could put milk in it. Sounds hard but it quickly becomes second nature. Your dietician might have a very different approach than mine, but I like this one because I eat as normal as being gluten and lactose intolerant allows me to and it's worked to 10 years.