Primal With A Side Of FABULOUS page 90

[Gay Panda]

UPDATE: (in explanation of * and **)

* How successful was I overall at blending in college, you ask? I failed dismally.

** How the hell have I kept this journal a secret for so long?! It’s almost Lady Friend’s birthday! Maybe she’ll make her own journal after she learns about mine. If you’re reading this, Lady Friend, start a journal! You can talk about going primal after 20 years of vegetarianism, or how primal cured your farting, or just bitch about how you have to push carts and open doors for Gay Panda all the time. Inquiring minds want to know!

[phreebie]

Wow, I can relate to this so well. I was never cool at school either, in fact I was regularly tormented and ended up pretty much a loner. You know those shows where there is a loner and they are dark and mysterious and tough and cool? I was the other kind.

One outlet I did develop was theatre. On stage I could be whoever I wanted, and even dark and mysterious or tough or cool. One role I had required me to smoke on stage. Of course having never been cool I was never even offered a cigarette at high school, let alone subjected to peer pressure over it. I didn't smoke, and had no interest in it, but smoking for a role could be interesting.

Since the role required being cool, I had no desire to hack, cough and wheeze on stage, going green around the gills. So I decided that I needed to rehearse. The plan was to buy a pack of cigarettes with my groceries and smoke 1 on non rehearsal days, and 1 during rehearsals. This seemed to work OK, I was doing great and totally in control.

If my pack ran out it was no problem, I would simply wait until grocery day and then get another packet. Strangely I found that I would run out of other household essentials, such as maybe I suddenly needed to replace the dish brush, or get new oven liners or something, neccesitating a trip to the grocery store. According to the rules in my mind, this was grocery shopping, so smokes are allowed in the cart.

One day, not long before opening night as the rehearsal schedule was ramping up, as I had a smoke on the way to rehearsal, to make sure I had the timing right for my puffs between lines and other such vital matters, I noticed that my pack was empty. This just simply could not be. I had only bought it 3 days ago. Where can they all have gone?

I resolved right then to get another packet, and that packet was to last until we opened, then I would get another packet that would last for the season, then no more.

I was surprised at how easy it was to get hooked on these things, and luckily I realised it early enough to be able to stop.

Maybe what we need is a quit potato lobby group that is as high profile as the quit smoking lobby?


Stamp out spuds!

Good luck, and happy birthday Lady Friend.

[kcarol]

Fabulous is one of my favorite words, so I had to click on this log. YOU ARE FABULOUS. Make no mistake.

I'm not sure how you're handling your social anxiety right now, but I struggle with it too. I used to have OCD tendencies and I could've easily developed OCD, but I've lowered my anxiety much since that time. I still have some social phobias.

This may sound stupid, but...sometimes I forget something really crucial. Everyone wants a friend. That's sometimes enough to brave making a new acquaintance.

We're the same weight now. Good luck to both of us eh?

[Sigi]

I think the best compromise is that the only potatoes I’ll eat are those from restaurants. I don’t go out that much anyway. But they cannot be in my shopping cart; they cannot come in my house. Not only do they stop the loss, a few too many and my body leaps after them instead of meat as a fuel source.

I think you're on the right strategy there, Panda. For some people, no matter how well-Primal-intentioned, there are some foods that are just not safe to have around the house because they do. not. stop. beckoning until consumed.

[Gay Panda]

You know those shows where there is a loner and they are dark and mysterious and tough and cool? I was the other kind.

That cracked me up! You win the Gay Panda Funny Point for the day.

Glad you were also able to stop yourself before it became a problem! That was chilling about how you'd find extra reasons to go to the store. Funny how youth programs against smoking made no impact on me; my addicted family members made little impact; what made me stop was three years of observing the smokers in my own peer group. Their desperation when denied a smoke was ridiculous and more than a little alarming. They NEEDED it. And if they did not get it, they fell apart into these obsessed, whining children. NOT COOL.

[Gay Panda]

Fabulous is one of my favorite words, so I had to click on this log. YOU ARE FABULOUS. Make no mistake.

I'm not sure how you're handling your social anxiety right now, but I struggle with it too. I used to have OCD tendencies and I could've easily developed OCD, but I've lowered my anxiety much since that time. I still have some social phobias.

We're the same weight now. Good luck to both of us eh?

I'm so happy you enjoy my journal! I enjoy writing it. (It's also a beautiful procrastination from when I really should be doing other things.)

I handle my social anxiety in The Healthy Way: by avoiding many social situations. I also space out my People Days with Non-People Days for recovery. Tomorrow is going to be a People Day, so Monday will be Population One: Gay Panda Day. This helps. I'm taking a vacation later this month that will be full of people, and when it's over, I'll need a vacation from the vacation all on my own.

YES! Good luck to both of us! I am so ready to move under 184.4. Go, bodies, go!

[Gay Panda]

For some people, no matter how well-Primal-intentioned, there are some foods that are just not safe to have around the house because they do. not. stop. beckoning until consumed.

How is it that I can control myself perfectly well with Cadbury Eggs, but not potatoes? I would have expected it to be the other way around.

Maybe we should do a poll on Primal With A Side Of FABULOUS: what is your top trouble food?

[namelesswonder]

I had a similar encounter with smoking. All told, I probably smoked the equivalent of one pack over the course of 5-6 years. I even had my own packs, but never smoked them on my own. I bummed, I gave away, and I threw them out from time to time. I also got to the point of horror when I realized I was thinking "I need a cigarette". I think the last one I had was 4 years ago, and it was black with a gold filter. It was Russian. It had a lovely smell. But I always felt like a terrible person with that acrid smell clinging to me, and now my boyfriend would be quite unhappy with me if I ever picked up the habit again. Self-harm is a struggle for me.

My top trouble foods are sugar in most forms & beer. Having good beer in the house...there's some calling to me in the fridge right now! The worst part is I know I won't like the taste nearly as much as I used to. It's more the habit of consuming it from the bottle that I look forward to.

[beachrat]

I handle my social anxiety in The Healthy Way: by avoiding many social situations. I also space out my People Days with Non-People Days for recovery. Tomorrow is going to be a People Day, so Monday will be Population One: Gay Panda Day. This helps. I'm taking a vacation later this month that will be full of people, and when it's over, I'll need a vacation from the vacation all on my own.

Oh yes, I am so on this wavelength. Long ago I realized that it's important to know your limits. Then you can stretch them if you want, but recognize when it's important not to go too far above and beyond.

[Sigi]

Maybe we should do a poll on Primal With A Side Of FABULOUS: what is your top trouble food?

Non-Primal-friendly foods: Too many even to attempt to list. The concept of wheat and carb addiction is one to which I unreservedly subscribe. If there is a loaf of good bread in the house, I will eat every last slice. Quickly, while it's still fresh. Just keep the stuff away from me, please - that's the only way I can handle it. Ditto any custardy/cheesecakey stuff. Lethal.

Primal-friendly foods: Fruit. I love fruit, all sorts, but particularly that with a limited season, like summer stone fruits. As I type this, I am working my way through a bowl of cherries which will completely nix this week's weight loss and cause me more digestive distress than is socially desirable, but I just adore the damn things. And I shouldn't bring them into the house, but I do. And I regret it every time. And then I do it again.

I can have chocolate galore in the house for weeks on end without casting it a glance. I think there are about four blocks of good chocolate in the pantry right now, but I don't crave them at all. However, if you waggle a sugar banana in my direction ...