Back at it

I was not allowed to exercise for a week after a lil procedure I had done last Saturday (well, 5 days + discombobulation due to ophthalmology eyedrops) so it was nice to get back to the gym today. Especially because I’m feeling a bit like a blob (logging in here and seeing “It’s Sausage Week” might be another clue as to why that is).

I’m at the “pants feel tight” stage, which is when I usually put a lil effort into diet and exercise and get back on track, but not sure how that will work in light of my post-concussion brain. I need nutrition and specifically carbs (brains run on glucose!) to get better. The trick I guess is to get those needs met without going overboard in other areas.

Like fat. Pretty much every day I log my nutrition in Cronometer, and pretty much every day it tells me I’m way over budget on fat. Oops! The problem is, fat is yummy.

It’s funny how no one ever puts it that way. 

Like, I saw an infographic the other day about women’s clothing sizes and how they don’t match up (super annoying) and how they also don’t match up to actual women. Or should I say, actual American women. I mean yeah, I have definitely noticed that Japanese brands, for example, run way small compared to American brands. Last fall, when I had to buy a bunch of sweat pants and spaghetti strap cami tops—i.e. clothing I could easily step into and pull up with one hand—I had fun surprises when the same letter size was too small in one brand and too big in another. Simons and H&M had small smalls. Old Navy had huge smalls. Interesting to note, too, that the infographic left off most of the big American brands like Gap. Could it be that American brands cater to American markets, and European and Asian brands cater to European and Asian markets? If you look at a label from H&M, it lists about six different sizes—US, UK, Euro, China, Mexico, and Australia. They all have totally different systems. Why is is such a surprise that items designed and manufactured in different countries would use their own sizing instead of American sizing? US defaultism at its worst.

This at the same time as people are losing their minds over GLP-1 drugs. Are they going to save the world? Or destroy it? Is it “fair” that some people might get to be thin without “doing the work”? There was an editorial about this a few weeks ago marvelling about these things, most amusingly that the per capita cost of obesity in the US—roughly $200/month—is roughly the same as a prescription for these drugs. Give them to everyone! It’s gonna be great!

Which makes me inwardly groan at the thought of all the other wonder drugs that were expected to be panaceas and turned out to cause a whole host of unexpected problems. The marketing of these new drugs, and how easy it is for people to get prescriptions without even a real medical appointment, seems like a set up for disaster.

And shouldn’t the real question be, what caused this shift? Why are this many people in the US suddenly so overweight? At no time in history has there been such a massive shift in such a short period of time. And it’s pretty well confined to the US, although some countries are working to catch up. Why not figure out the root causes and work on those? Maybe stop adding corn syrup and soy to everything, maybe stop eating convenience foods in cars, maybe drive less and walk or bike more!

Anyway I’ve complained about this stuff enough elsewhere on this blog, so I’ll drop the subject for now, because I’m about to go to dinner with friends. A proper meal, sitting down and socialising with people as we break bread, not a solo drive-through dinner.

 

It’s sausage week

I feel like I’m on a meat-themed version of Great British Bake-Off every time I enter the kitchen, imagining Sue Perkins announcing “It’s sausage week.”

Actually I’m just eating a lot of sausages.

Back in November, I attended a charcuterie event with mixed results. It was a lovely evening, but I struggled with various things—the noise and light, even though it was a relatively quiet event with gentle lighting; and various shoulder-related struggles.

The same crew recently hosted a sausage-making class, which I had wanted to attend for ages and quietly campaigned for, so when it was announced in January I had to get a ticket. I anticipated with a mixture of excitement—because surely I’d be better by late February, right?—and dread that it would be overwhelming and lead to more regression.

Happy to say I got through it! No candles this time, hooray. And no loud clappers. And no sling for me to contend with! We worked in groups of two, and most people were very focused on kneading their meat and filling their casings, so not too much “hubbub.”

And, I came home with sausages! Guess what I’ve been eating every day this week (paired with various Odd Bunch veg).

Maple-5-spice sausage with enoki mushrooms and sesame-miso dressing

Bratwurst with rutabaga “fries”

Chorizo with guacamole, roasted tomato salsa, and corn chips

Toulouse sausage with green salad

The rutabaga fries were not bad! It’s definitely one of those what-do-I-do-with-this vegetables, but other than being annoying to peel, pretty easy to prepare this way.

Rutabaga Oven “Fries”

Ingredients:

1 rutabaga
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika

Directions:

Cut the rutabaga in half. This is the hardest part! To say this thing is sturdy would be an understatement. 

Once you have two halves that will sit flat and not roll around, it gets easier. Cut each half into slices, about ⅜” to ½” thick. Peel each of these using a paring knife (It’s much easier to peel the individual slices than the whole thing, and you’ll need a proper knife, not a peeler). 

Once peeled, cut each slice into sticks about ⅜” to ½” wide.

Toss with oil to coat. Season with salt and paprika and toss again to coat evenly.

Arrange in a single, well-spaced layer on a baking sheet (I did a half-recipe to start, and needed a full-sized sheet). 

Bake at 425° f for 35 minutes. Just enough time to make a bit of salad and cook a sausage!

Just realised it’s been a while...

... and I left on a bit of a cliffhanger.

My CT-scan was all clear, no funny business showing up in my brain.

I had a follow up appointment the next day (why do hospitals do this—discharge in the wee hours, and ask you to come back the next morning, maybe six hours later) with the hospital ophthalmologist, who did some additional testing, said everything seems fine, but I should consider following up with a more thorough exam. I mentioned that I was due for an ophthalmology appointment—my optometrist had referred me to the Kensington Eye Institute back on Hallowe’en when I got my eye exam for new glasses, and told me I should expect to hear from them in January or February, and to call them if I hadn’t heard anything by then, so this was my trigger to call. The hospital ophthalmologist said that was great news, everyone at Kensington is great, so I gave them a call.

They said they had no record of a referral. 

We had a brief conversation where they basically told me to call my eye doc and have them re-send the referral, but it would probably be months before I got an appointment. I called my eye doc, told them about the missing referral and my subconjunctival haemorrhage, and they said they’d call me back.

A couple of days later, Kensington called with my appointment—at the end of this month! I don’t know what they said, but it worked. That appointment is Friday.

Meanwhile, I asked the hospital ophthalmologist about the recurring subconjunctival haemorrhages (this is the third time it’s happened) considering I don’t have any of the obvious risk factors, like high blood pressure. They said, maybe it’s because I have such low blood pressure? That a BP reading that most would take as “normal” would be enough of a spike that my eyeballs, used to very low BP, just go kaboing? I will definitely be asking about that in Friday’s appointment. 

Worst night ever

Decided to try attending an important event at my theatre. Lobby was overwhelming so I sat down early and kept fairly quiet. But I got a bad headache, that came like a stabbing feeling above my left eye. Then I felt like there was something happening behind my right eye. I tried to ignore it but it was uncomfortable so eventually I found a moment where I could sneak out to the washroom. 

My eye was all bloody. 

I've had subconjunctival hematoma before (twice) but both times I didn't feel it at all. This feeling was different and combined with the headache (which is like a slow throb, just getting stabbed once an hour like when I had appendicitis) I started feeling anxious and walked to the ER at Toronto Western Hospital (just a block away).

I've been here 4 hours sitting in various chairs and only just now got some orange juice after I started crying. (I had been waiting 2 hours and just learned that the hospital coffee shop was still open and was about to grab something when they called me from the main waiting room to the exam area, where I waited another 2 hours.)

20 minutes later... when I started writing this no one had talked to me for 2 hours; now I have been given juice and a bed. Doctor has had a brief look and disappeared again.

I am going to try to nap

3am update... had a CT-scan about an hour ago and just now had some blood drawn. 

Here's a decoy photo of my dumb pleather pants to push the gross eyeball photo below the fold:

Don't scroll down if you don't want to be grossed out

Really 

You've been warned