My nutricionista had set me up on a diet that emphasized the different food groups, with the proper size servings for each. My weight loss was satisfactory for the first month, but slowed down during the second month. I was also uncomfortable because I didn't understand her system, which involved five meals a day.
I researched diets on the Web, and the experts there said there was no advantage to eating more meals. It is true that you can find support for almost any kind of crazy diet you can name on the Web, but I picked the ones who seemed to be the most scientific, who had done studies testing their theories. One thing they agreed on: calories were important, and you had to keep track of them. This made sense to my engineering mind, that likes to calculate things.
I found a neat site on the Web by the US Department of Agriculture, the USDA National Nutrient Database, that gives the nutritional value for anything you can imagine. For example, a small banana, 6-7 inches long, is 90 calories, and a extra-small has 72 calories. This is handy because bananas don't come with labels on them. Almost everything else does.
I started making a small index card for each meal, listing everything I ate, and the calories it had. I then entered this info on a large grid, using one line for each meal. This also allowed me to insure that I was getting a balanced diet, with something from each food group.
After floundering around for awhile, I determined my basal metabolism was about 1500 calories a day. I had to stay below this to lose weight.
And what do you know? It works!
An American Health Plan is not Going to Happen
By an American health plan, I mean a plan that is of the people, by the people, and for the people - as Lincoln said. In other words, a plan that is good for America.
There are two reasons for this: (1) the way Obama works, and (20) the way America works. Let's start with Obama.
(1) Let's be cynical, (and realistic) Obama's first objective was to become president. Now his objective is to become president again. Everything he and his administration does is focused on that. We need to keep this in mind. Whatever you can say about Obama he is not stupid. He understands America and Americans very well. He knows Americans will not re-elect him just because he has been good to America. This brings up the next point.
(2) Americans no longer think of themselves as Americans - but as members of special interest groups. They will deny this emphatically, but all one has to do is watch what they do, not what they say. Often the two are entirely different - as is often the case with the human race.
And the perfect case in point is their response to Obama's health plan. Except for the radical fringe, they seem to be completely stupified, and unable to comprehend it. They want something handed to them on a silver platter with no price tags attached. Since this is impossible, they are baffled, and end up watching television, trying to find a group they can identify with.
George Lakoff, a cognitive psychologist, has a long piece on this. I used to be very impressed with this guy, I bought two of his books. But I think he expects too much from Americans - who are in bad shape, and barely able to think. For them to understand something, it has to be really simple. If you read carefully, he says much the same thing, in many more words. He speaks of the policy-speak disaster:
Then he gets down to details:
And he identifies evil where it is: the health insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry. This is the kind of simple idea Americans can understand immediately, but even he backs off from saying so too loudly.
He then goes into his theory:
He gives the conservatives credit:
By now, your brains have probably turned off. But you should really understand this. It will make you understand why people seem to be so stupid.