Kidnapped by Hippies

[The Jade Knight]

You know, studies have proven that slight cooking helps release nutrients in vegetables.  Steamed broccoli is better for you than the raw stuff.  (you know you spend too much time on Wikipedia when you nearly end your post with "~~~~")

[Shrain]

Hey, where's Chimera? Shouldn't she be back from Sprout Camp by now? I don't know about you guys, but I'm worried. Those hippies might've decided they liked her too much to give her back to us!

Edit: Um, this is a rather ominous sign. If these ads are any indication, we'll never see our dear Chimera again!

       Vegetable Raised Gardens
Create many shapes and heights Grow more vegetables in less space!

       Sprouting Supplies
Manual and Electric Sprouters and Organic Sprouting Seed

[Skar]

She probably had some sort of epiphany concerning the quality of our company.

Darn epiphanies.

[Shrain]

Nah, can't be. What's more wholesome than TWG? No empty calories here, I dare say. But we are rather carnivorous... hmm.

[Mr_Pleasington]

You know, studies have proven that slight cooking helps release nutrients in vegetables.  Steamed broccoli is better for you than the raw stuff.  (you know you spend too much time on Wikipedia when you nearly end your post with "~~~~")

Althought cooking the dark, leafy greens does denature the leutine and xeoxanthine, making them essentially worthless.  You have to eat the stuff raw to get the benefit of those antioxidants.

[The Jade Knight]

You mean steamed spinach isn't good for me?  Aww.  I loved steamed spinach!  What about Popeye?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Popeye eats it straight out of the can, boy. No cooking for him. Though I don't suppose you can call from a can reall "raw"

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

yeah cooked in a pressure cooker and then canned isnt exactly raw

[Chimera]

I'm back! I'm alive!

Actually, I've been back for over a week. But I've been super busy. I wanted to have time to write about my experience and report it to you, and there never was time, so I stayed away because I knew I'd be tempted to waste time (hence TWG). I want to tell all who are interested about it, because there was so much that was positive about the experience. But I'll have to do that sometime in the near future on my LJ and provide a link, because it'd be much too long. And then only those who are really interested will have to read a long post about it.

In short, I am eating a lot more raw vegetables and trying to make veggies my main food staple, and it seems to be helping. However, I have not become a vegetarian. I lost weight while I was there, and I don't have any weight to lose currently. No matter how you look, being under 100 pounds is a bad thing. My blood sugar also crashed. So, to make sure I don't waste away and my energy can stablelize, I put protein back into my diet. That also seemed to be a good move. And I have successfully cut sugar out of my diet. I have been sugar-free for a month now. Go me!

[stacer]

Welcome back, Chimera!

Those are all very good ideas. I love veggies, but for some reason it's really hard to put them as a priority in my diet--mainly for time reasons. And I've been meaning to get rid of processed foods (sugar, white flour) for a while, but it's the easiest thing to eat. I'm going to have to try again. I think it would really help my overall health, even if it is that I'm just plain allergic to Seattle (you missed, I think, how my doctor told me that if I didn't start having allergy shots, I'd have to either move away or live in a bubble?).

[Shrain]

Chimera, you're alive! Phew. Honestly, I was worried that maybe you really crashed after the OHI thing. I'm sorry to hear about the weight loss and low blood sugar.

But it's great that now you can tailor your diet to your needs even better after the trip. The no-sugar for a month thing is *quite* the accomplishment, too! Welcome back!

[fuzzyoctopus]

The no-sugar for a month thing is *quite* the accomplishment, too! Welcome back!

But if you want to gain weight it 'aint gonna help.  Take it from an expert on gaining weight.

[42]

Gaining weight san-sugar is pretty hard. At the mental health center we "force" the anorexics to eat lots of sugar. They usually often have to have a booster shake with their meal.

That's the fastest way I know of to gain weight is to have a breakfast or diet shake with your meal.

Course, if you aren't underweight, going vegan and avoiding sugar is a great way to lose weight.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

The sugar thing for you only applies to simple sugars right?
So you could carb load. Ie.. lots of Pasta and wheat bread and stuff.

[Tage]

Welcome back!

I'm no nutritionist, but I think a good serving of pasta or bread is a good way to maintain a healthy weight. I realize not many people have to worry about wasting away, but for those of us that do, carbs are a good thing.