30 in 30 - Day 24

But being today is day 1 of my husband's vacation I won't be able to write a long, or even anything bordering on intelligent, post today. We've got some local shopping to do and a few DVD's to catch up on, and perhaps we'll also take naps this afternoon. Excitement, huh?

Ouch!

I have to watch how I step, as I'm pretty sure my plantar fasciitis is coming back. Every time I step down on my left foot the pain starts up again. The first time I had it I was in pain for two years, trying all kinds of exercises and treatments. The only thing that really got rid of it was the new orthotic. I have a feeling I might be needing a new one, not just a re-lining of this old one.

Because of this foot pain I popped that new Richard Simmons DVD in, Sit Tight. It's worse than I feared. Even the exercisers, even RICHARD, had a hard time keeping up with the steps, mixed up the moves, or couldn't keep up. The camera work was shoddy, sometimes focusing on the woman with cerebral palsy as steps were changing to something completely different than what she was doing or even capable of doing, and many times when they showed a group shot you can see that many were either behind, doing the steps wrong, or completely lost and just sitting there waiting to find a place they could jump in to. I lasted a few seconds beyond the 17 minute point when my neck just gave out on me. I'm gonna pay for this today! Here it is, hours later, and I can barely lift my right arm or turn my head. Tomorrow it's back to the nice and slow Mindful Movements.



I wrote yesterday about that Quaker Oats/Walmart pumpkin spice oatmeal, and how I was going to have my first packet this morning. Yuck! A mouthful of grit and chemicals. At least my husband will enjoy the rest of them. Tomorrow I'll be back to my old fashioned oats with plain old fruit mixed in.

I Love Oatmeal!

I have oatmeal for breakfast a minimum of 5 out of every 7 days of the week. Once in a while I'll make scrambled tofu, and every Sunday I have a vegan burrito. But every other day I grab my trusty old 4-Cup Pyrex measuring cup, dump a few raisins in the bottom, add a cup of filtered water and a half cup of old-fashioned oats, nuke for 2 minutes, then add either fruit or a spoon of peanut butter and cocoa powder, mix well, and yum, yum eat. This meal holds me until around 2pm most days, and that's pretty amazing for someone with hypoglycemia!

I like to mix it up with all different fruits, but now and then I just have a yen for something, well, different. The first cool day after a long summer usually finds me opening a can of pureed pumpkin, and for the next week or so, or until I get so sick of it I dump the rest of the can in the garbage, I have pumpkin flavored oats. Well, Quaker has done me one better. I found out on this and other blog posts that Quaker and Walmart are having a promotion of limited time only flavors of instant oatmeal, pumpkin spice and roasted pecan. I'm usually not a fan of instant oatmeal because of the sugar, and even if I had 4 packets of instant the meal doesn't hold me more than an hour because of that, but I couldn't pass up buying these yesterday at the tiny Walmart in Harrison, NJ. (I call it "tiny" because it's about a quarter the size of the Walmarts I used to go to when we lived in Kissimmee, Florida. God, I miss that place and can't wait to move back when hubby retires!) It's always jammed, filthy, aisles are over-crowded and the lines take forever to get through, but it's the only Walmart I've got so I'm stuck. It was worth the 15 minute wait on line to pay for my 4 boxes of oatmeal. Today was burrito day, but tomorrow morning I'll be diving into my first bowl of Quaker Pumpkin Spice Walmart-only oatmeal, and it better be good!

If I didn't Have Neck Problems Before . . .

. . . I would certainly have them after doing the Sit Tight video by Richard Simmons!

What was he thinking? More specifically, how did the choreography by Anne Czarkowski pass muster with any medical expert? Perhaps it didn't - maybe these videos aren't observed by anyone in the medical field before release? Being a video for the handicapped I assumed it would be.

Anne is one of Richard's trainers in his gym, Slimmons. She's the tall blonde front and center in the first Sweatin' to the Oldies video, and has been with Richard since the opening of the gym, I believe. The Sweatin' videos, which even Richard has admitted lately while on the publicity tours, are still the fan favorite, even at 20 years of age. Perhaps that's because the woman who choreographed them, Dorain Grusman, made sure that the moves were easy enough for everyone of every fitness level to do, that they were repeated enough times that people could do them right instead of changing steps every 4 beats, like this, and many of the other newer (past 10 years) videos of Richard's. Heck, some of the steps changed in a 2-count!

And so fast! I always watch an exercise video before doing it, and this one made my head spin. 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2 and stop, video's over. Huh? I'm still trying to figure out what the heck the move was 10 steps ago!

I realize a video for people in wheelchairs has to focus on upper body work, but do with a bit more slowly and safely, okay? People's necks were whipping around so fast I thought they would get whiplash! And the arm flailing! I thought I was in a revival meeting at times! I can't do those moves with my neuritis and osteoarthritis without harming my neck and back. I need this video to be slowed down to at least half the speed. His original video for the handicapped, Reach for Fitness, not only was do-able sitting or standing by people of any fitness level, but the moves were much slower and simpler to do. If my old tape didn't break I would still be doing that one on my achy days. This one can only be done on days I feel in tip-top shape.

Another $20 tossed into the garbage in the futile pursuit of fitness, another $20 in the pocket of the weight loss industry. I wonder what the return policy is like? When I returned the BlastOff set back to QVC a few years ago I got every penny back, as they had a no questions asked return policy. I hope Richard has one, too. Nope, "damaged or defective" merchandise and replacement product given. Oh, well.

Longevity Soup

Five ingredient recipes are beloved by everyone, and if they follow the rules of The McDougall Plan, so much the better. Dr. McDougall has a nutritionist in his employ named Jeff Novick. Now, not everything Jeff says is 100% McDougall, like his insistence on people popping their daily foods eaten into something called the CRON-ometer, a nutritional information database developed by the CRON - Calorie Restriction for Optimal Nutrition, the people who believe that eating a super-low calorie diet prolongs life, which, ironically, is a higher calorie diet than what most doctors put their fatties on. He wants you to make sure your daily foods cover all those micronutrients, like selenium and folic acid, and that the calorie count stays fairly low - he insists normal healthy adults can live on 1200 to 1500 calories a day, even have enough energy to bike a few hours and do an hour or more of other aerobic exercise. Dr. McDougall, in every one of his books, tells us not to count calories or go bat-shit checking every little nutrient, that as long as we eat a diverse diet within his guidelines we have everything covered except for B-12, and for that he recommends a B-12 injection every three years.

But one of the things Jeff did that I do agree with is post his file of 5-ingredient recipes. Today's soup comes from that file. He calls it Longevity Soup.

Longevity Soup
1) 1 can whole tomatoes, 1 can pureed
2) Your favorite beans (I use kidney or garbanzo)
3) 1.5- 2 lbs of Your favorite frozen veggies plus 1 lb of frozen collards
4) Your favorite starch (potato, sweet potato, rice, barley) cooked separate then added
5) your favorite seasoning (I use fresh ginger, garlic)

I used a bit more tomatoes - 2 giant cans of crushed and a 15 ounce of diced. I added a small bag of mixed frozen vegetables as well as 2 giant chopped carrots and spinach instead of collards. Instead of adding a starch into the pot I'm making a loaf of bread to go with the soup. And garlic. Plenty of garlic. I also added 2 giant cans of water. It looks and smells fantastic!

The bread, on the other hand, has more ingredients than the soup. It's a new-to-me recipe and I'm making it for the first time, so let's see how it goes, shall we? I'm omitting the oil and using dried parsley and celery flakes and had to add a bit of liquid (I used water) to moisten the dough as it kneaded.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Veggie Bread

Recipe By :Sandra L. Woodruff
Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : ABM breads Whole Wheat


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon yeast -- instant, bread machine
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon oil -- or lecithin granules
1 tablespoon honey -- or barley malt
3/4 cup buttermilk -- non-fat, OR
3/4 cup non-dairy milk and 1 teaspoon
vinegar
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup celery -- finely chopped
2 tablespoons green onion -- finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley -- minced

Put everything in your machine according to the manufacturer's
instructions, on the whole wheat setting if you have one.

Source:
"Smart Bread Machine Recipes - Healthy, Whole Grain, and Delicious"
Copyright:
"1994"
Yield:
"1 pound"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 97 Calories; 2g Fat (14.8% calories
from fat); 4g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 1mg
Cholesterol; 178mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0
Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.


Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

It All Comes from Eating Too Much

Remember that line from Winnie the Pooh? Rabbit says it to Pooh after he gets stuck in the rabbit hole. I, like Pooh, love to eat. I'm not that much of a honey-lover, but give me a ring of kielbasa and mashed potatoes and I'm in culinary heaven.

Mmmmm, kielbasa!!



(Gee, remember the episode of Scrubs when Dr. Molly Clock, played by Heather Graham, uttered those famous words?)


I think I know what I'm making for our anniversary dinner tonight. We pretty much decided against pizza last night. Right now we have so much leftovers in the refrigerator that we'll still be eating them over the weekend, so my husband suggested instead of making our traditional anniversary pizza tonight we'll work on the leftovers. At the time I agreed, but I don't want leftovers! Come on! 31 years of marriage and we celebrate it with leftovers?!?! If he doesn't want pizza, fine, but maybe phallic shaped meat would be more symbolic. I'll concede defeat with the leftover bread.

Yes, I am a food lover. I eat when hungry; I eat when happy or sad; I eat when nervous or relaxed; I eat to celebrate or to mourn. But mostly, I eat because I love the taste of the food. And what's so wrong about that?

So tonight we celebrate. If we're lucky, besides celebrating Thirty-one-derful years of marriage, we'll celebrate getting the kid's ultrasound results (Yep, still waiting) and getting our Rosie back from the garage without too big a dent in our credit card (Still waiting for that, too). Unlike 31 years ago, we'll be celebrating with our son and will most likely spend the night like every other night - watching Jeopardy, 21, then popping a DVD in the machine, maybe Kung-Fu Panda or hey, what about a Dr. Clock episode of Scrubs?

Half Asleep

I wish my doctor would believe me when I tell him my thyroid is low and I not only need another lab test but an increase in my meds. I'm so tired I'm napping every afternoon and still falling asleep in front of the tv, some nights as early as 7 pm. I can't do the amount of exercise I need to do, even want to do, because I get part way through and experience severe muscle aches and tiredness as well as loose my "umph." Exercise isn't effective if you're just going through the motions without putting any effort into it. But the doc says I've been stable for 3 months and he feels there's no need for a test, no need for a med increase. Although even LabCorp finally dropped the reference range, my doc is one of those who feels any TSH level under 10 is fine and dandy. It doesn't matter if a patient has a TSH as low as 1.x and still feels like shit. His prescription is to eat less and exercise more. He gave me the same orders when I first complained about my chronic fatigue and hypoglycemia 25 years ago. Ah, an old story on this blog, not worth rehashing again.

Our main car, a 1996 (?) Toyota Corolla, is still at the garage as they try figure out why the brake lights stay on even though the brake isn't being depressed and the headlights aren't turned on. They already changed all the fuses and did a few diagnostics, but I guess it's going to take a while. A few years ago our other car, a Toyota Camry Wagon LE, had rear lights that wouldn't light, the opposite problem. It took four different garages before the cause was found and even then it was only partially fixed - the lights now come on but the inside light doesn't. That was the car that was hit twice in the left front bumper as well as was involved in the fireball when it was parked next to the garage when the gas station we had it at (for those electrical repairs) exploded. Aside from a few minor dings and discoloration in the back tinted windshield from the heat of that of that fire in 2003 the car is going as good as new.

Soup and homemade bread for dinner yesterday and today again. Butternut squash soup and bread yesterday, minestrone soup and sun-dried tomato bread today. Tomorrow is our 31st anniversary - pizza!

Gotta go get my Amazon order in. MXC discs 4 and 5 finally came out today, as well as Scrubs season 7. I still didn't finish watching season 4 on DVD. As soon as those discs were delivered the episodes started playing in constant rotation on Comedy Central. But MXC - a.k.a. Most Extreme Elimination Challange? We've been waiting for these discs for ages and will watch them at least a dozen times, then start with season one and watch them all over again.

Thanksgiving Already?

It's coming very soon. The first harbinger was all the sales in the grocery store and the "seasonal" aisle filled with pumpkin pie fixings and stuffing boxes. Then yesterday's newspaper had photos from the annual testing of the Macy's Parade balloons. And of course, all the Christmas commercials on tv and songs on the radio. Last night my fingers got twitchy and I almost pulled out my Brian Setzer Christmas album! Ack!

All this means I have to seriously start thinking about what we're going to eat that day. My husband said pizza, the kid prefers burgers or mac & cheese, I wouldn't mind a traditional turkey dinner but nobody wants dried out meat, so I suggested Bryanna's soy and seitan vegan turkey loaf, but my son wants nothing to do with either tofu or seitan and my husband reminded me that it makes a three pound loaf and only 2 of us would be eating it.

So, I may just do what I did other years and make up a bunch of side dishes. Everyone enjoys mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted carrots and Brussel sprouts, peas, stuffing, and biscuits. I might even make up that mac and cheese. Yeah, who needs a dead bird.

Spending Like There's No Tomorrow

Unfortunately, it's all stuff we need. Fortunately, all of what I ordered helps lower my grocery store bills.

First was my twice-yearly Mail Order Catalog spending spree, where I bought more vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, cHreese, and a few pieces of Primal Strips. This replaces all the meat and cheese (and boxes of mac & cheese) in our house. I know Dr. McDougall is against soy-based meat substitutes because of the isolated soy proteins and plain old protein itself, but with my hypoglycemia I need to have readily available protein foods when the shakes hit, something that can be carried in my purse or coat pocket. It's better than grabbing a Slim Jim, right?

Next was Spices, Inc., where I stocked up on dehydrated tomatoes, peppers, and a few other items. Great for tossing into pizza dough to add flavor and nutrition, and some times the only veggies I get into my boys.

Then came something for mama that would help her eat less, further reducing grocery store bills. Another exercise video from Richard Simmons, Sit Tight. On days my arthritis and sciatica act up I use that as an excuse not to do any workout, not even Mindful Movements. Now I'll have a workout specifically designed to be done from a chair for those painful days.

Lastly, my annual SAF yeast order from the King Arthur catalog. I adore this yeast and nobody in my city even sells it in those expensive little packets, much less in bulk. Our city fathers banned warehouse stores, too, so even the cheaper brands are unaccessible without an hour's drive, so each year I order 2 pounds and keep them in the freezer.

With winter rapidly approaching, not to mention another Depression, I'll feel much better once my pantry is stocked up again.

Hippies!

I really wish I had saved everything from my past! It's all back in style now!

One of those things is cloth grocery bags. Back in the 1970's I was one of the few people in my city who brought my own tote bags to grocery stores. It was probably an article in The Mother Earth News Magazine that prompted me, and also gave me my first bag pattern. Okay, so most of the store managers insisted on also giving me my items in a paper bag and I could then do with it what I wanted, and I would usually step aside to a non-used checkout aisle and remove things from the paper bag and put them into my cloth bag, fold up the paper bag, and leave it. After a while it just became too time consuming, or I would forget to bring my bag, or our little family of two expanded, necessitating many bags, but over the years my using of the cloth bags fell out of favor.

Flash forward 25 - 30 years. Now some stores are offering incentives if you use your own bag, and in NYC they're thinking of charging a 5 cent tax per bag if you use plastic. Our mayor-elect (swearing in isn't until next week) also thinks it's a good idea and is thinking of doing the same thing. Ever since Earth Day 2008 local grocery stores have been selling their own bags - some are canvass, others are plastic, but all are ugly and have the store's logo prominently displayed. The prices vary widely, too. Some stores have them as low as 99 cents each, while others are charging an outrageous $10 or more. And they're cheesy and shoddily made, too. So many people are complaining how they have to buy new bags at least monthly to replace bags whose handles fell off or bags that ripped under the strain.

The solution to those problems is to make my own again. I have plenty of unused fabric in my stash, mostly novelty calicoes that I was going to use either for quilts or aprons but never got around to making. I also have a load of heavier fabrics that were bought ages ago from a fabric warehouse store that went out of business. I never used those fabrics for their intended purchases because being a "warehouse" that sold second-quality fabric and bolt ends there was some damage to every piece that wasn't noticed before purchase and probably hidden by the women who did the cutting. They never cut the fabric right in front of you - the cutting table was about 20 feet behind a counter along the back wall of the store so the employee's back was to you, blocking your view of the fabric on the table. Hey, it was the ONLY fabric store our city had for over 20 years, and since it closed, all we had was a non-closed crafting store that sold some fabric of almost similar quality but at 3 times the cost. That place lasted less than 3 years before the chain went bankrupt and we're now fabric-less again.

Anyway, my big job for next week is to start making my own fabric grocery bags again. My husband estimates that 12 should be plentiful, and both he and the kid, the 2 main carriers of said bags, prefer the traditional plastic bag style to the squared off tote bag with narrow strap style. They would also prefer a not-too-girly print or better yet, a solid color, but reversible will do if I insist on cutsie things for when I go shopping. I found exactly what I was looking for on this craft blog post. The instructor shows plenty of photos and gives clear, precise, step by step instructions on how to make a cloth reversible grocery bag in the plastic bag style, complete with its own built-in storage pocket so you can fold it up and tuck it into itself for a nice, neat package to tuck into your pocket or purse while shopping.



That reminds me of another thing owners of today's cloth bags complains about - carrying those empty bags around the store. Those tote-style bags are bulky, especially the plastic or plastic-lined ones, so if you have a lot of shopping to do and use a lot of bags they take up a lot of room in your already-bulging cart. Then you have to worry about someone swiping your bags from your cart when your head is turned. I've seen it happen. The same type of women who think nothing of leaving their purse in the wagon while they walk back to the next aisle to grab an item they forgot leave their empty bags unattended in the cart. I've seen people push their cart past the unwatched cart, grab a bag or 2, and keep on walking. Since everyone has the same ugly bag sold by the store, there's no way to prove ownership of the empty bag, because usually the same type of person who leaves her valuables unattended also never thinks to put their name in their bags.

So, if I get one a day done I'll be happy, but with everything that's been going on around here lately, I'll be happy to get one a week. I'll try photograph them as they're finished and post the pics.

November Menu Is Set

November Menu Is Set

It's been a crazy month so far, between the kid's job interviews and medical problems, the election, 3 doctor's appointments, lab and radiology (some for me, some for my son). Then the gloomy weather - I don't remember the last time I saw the sun. Oh, wait - it was as I was coming home from the opthamologist with my eyes fully dilated from the drops he gave me, and because it was raining when I went in I didn't bring my sunglasses so I was in pain for the next few hours.

And it's not over yet. My son is still waiting for the doctor to call him back with the results (He was out of the office at the time my son was told to call), and he still hasn't heard back from the job interview, but in that case she did say in 3 weeks and it's only been less than 2. I hope he hears something soon - his first student loan payment is due in 2 weeks.

And I'm still jerking myself back and forth between vegan foods and SAD (Standard American Diet). Don't get me wrong - I do love the healthy vegan foods that are available. It's just that some of it is so darn expensive! Rice milk is more than twice the cost of powdered skim; a batch of scrambled tofu costs about ten times more than 2 scrambled eggs; vegetarian sausage is more than twice the price of real sausage and sometimes has the same amount of fat, unless I make it from scratch. And I miss dairy cheese and yogurts. Not only are they much cheaper than vegan versions but they taste so much better.

But I really should avoid them. Tonight we were supposed to have this mushroom and barley thing, but my mushrooms turned fuzzy, so we're having burgers instead. I have no veggie burgers made right now so we'll have the turkey burgers that I have in the freezer. At least I have plenty of stone ground whole wheat burger rolls. I have plenty of fruit for snacks, especially bananas and apples, but have to get used to not putting peanut butter on them, or in my morning oatmeal. I made a tofu scramble this morning and felt guilty because of the price, but I was just so sick of oatmeal and needed a change.

And the dinner menus are not just chosen but printed out and hanging in the kitchen for all to see for the rest of the month. I have December's planned but not printed, too. Out of all these meals, every one is McDougall legal, as long as I eat cheeseless pizzas on Fridays, that is. :) This month we have 2 birthdays, and in both cases they want pizza, so again, a cheeseless pizza for me, with cheese for the birthday boys.

Our 31st anniversary is also this month. On the day of our wedding, my husband and I never got to eat dinner. As soon as the meals at the head table were served we were called by the photographer to get the cutting of the cake pictures. While we were gone the waitstaff cleared our plates! We complained loudly, even calling them idiots - Didn't they notice that every plate for the entire bridal party was untouched? They had no food left in the kitchen (Even the band ate their meals while we were getting snapped) so we were to go hungry. The kitchen helpers felt sorry for us and did give all of us a larger piece of cake each, but we were still going table to table asking our relatives if there was any FOOD. Our best man's mother and an usher's wife had some leftovers that they ate up, but the rest of us had to make do with some candy from the machine in the bar.

My husband and I were almost the last people to leave the reception. What the heck, we were paying for this party and not leaving for our honeymoon until the next day so why not?! As soon as we got to our apartment we popped a frozen pizza into the oven, put Tom Waits on the stereo, and started counting the money and signing the checks from the envelopes, as my mom was going to deposit it into the bank for us while we were gone. Every anniversary we go through the same routine - we eat frozen pizza while Tom Waits is playing on the stereo, and since we have no money we just count our blessings.

For You Monster Magazine Fans Out There

A read this plea today from bobbie on the Bad Movies group on Yahoogroups. For those of you who have memorized the script from every monster movie ever made, this is for you. For those who aren't fans, or are too young to know who Forrest J. Ackerman even is, go to his WikiPedia page or the Wiki page for his life's work, Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine.


Some of you may have heard this, as it has been posted in several
groups. Forry Ackerman is very ill. He has pneumonia and, considering
his age, many of us are very worried.

If anyone would like to send a card to cheer him up, please mail it to:


FORREST J ACKERMAN
4511 Russell Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
90027

(Thanks to good fan Jeff for posting this.)

How much does it really cost to eat a healthy diet?

Money Is Tight, and Junk Food Beckons

By TARA PARKER-POPE

How much does it really cost to eat a healthy diet?

Economists, health researchers and consumers are struggling to answer that question as food prices rise and the economy slumps. The World Bank says nearly a billion people around the world live on a dollar a day, or even less; in the United States, the daily food-stamp allowance is typically just a few dollars per person, while the average American eats $7 worth of food per day.

Even middle-class people struggle to put healthful food on the table. Studies show that junk foods tend to cost less than fruits, vegetables and other healthful foods, whose prices continue to rise.

This fall a couple in Encinitas, Calif., conducted their own experiment to find out what it was like to live for a month on just a dollar a day for food. Overnight, their diets changed significantly. The budget forced them to give up many store-bought foods and dinners out. Even bread and canned refried beans were too expensive.

Instead, the couple — Christopher Greenslate, 28, and Kerri Leonard, 29, both high school social studies teachers — bought raw beans, rice, cornmeal and oatmeal in bulk, and made their own bread and tortillas. Fresh fruits and vegetables weren’t an option. Ms. Leonard’s mother was so worried about scurvy, a result of vitamin C deficiency, that they made room in their budget for Tang orange drink mix. (They don’t eat meat — not that they could have afforded it.)

Breakfast consisted of oatmeal; lunch was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Dinner often consisted of beans, rice and homemade tortillas. Homemade pancakes were affordable, but syrup was not; a local restaurant gave them a few free syrup packets.

One of the biggest changes was the time they had to spend in meal preparation.

“If you’re buying raw materials, you’re spending more time preparing things,” Mr. Greenslate said. “We’d come home after working 10 to 11 hours and have to roll out tortillas. If you’re already really hungry at that point, it’s tough.”

While he lost weight on the budget diet, Mr. Greenslate said, the larger issue was his lack of energy. During the experiment he was no longer able to work out at the gym.

A few times they found a bag of carrots or lettuce that was within their budget, but produce was usually too expensive. They foraged for lemons on the trees in their neighborhood to squeeze juice into their water.

Ms. Leonard said that after the 30-day experiment, one of the first foods she ate was a strawberry. “I almost cried,” she said.

The couple acknowledged that the experiment was something of a luxury, given that many people have no choice about how much to spend on food.

“People in our situation have the leisure to be concerned about issues like this,” Ms. Leonard said. “If we were actually living in this situation, I would not be taking the time to be concerned about what I could and could not have; I’d be worried about survival.”

Researchers say the experiment reflects many of the challenges that poor people actually face. When food stamps and income checks run low toward the end of the month, they often do scrape by on a dollar a day or less. But many people don’t know how to prepare foods from scratch, or lack the time.

“You have to know how to cook beans and rice, how to make tortillas, how to soak lentils,” said Adam Drewnowski, director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington. “Many people don’t have the knowledge or the time if they’re working two jobs.”

Last year, Dr. Drewnowski led a study, published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, comparing the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area. The study showed that “energy dense” junk foods, which pack the most calories and fewest nutrients per gram, were far less expensive than nutrient-rich, lower-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables. The prices of the most healthful foods surged 19.5 percent over the two-year study period, while the junk food prices dropped 1.8 percent.

Obesity researchers worry that these trends will push consumers toward less healthful foods. “The message for this year and next year is going to be affordable nutrition,” Dr. Drewnowski said. “It’s not the food pyramid, it’s the budget pyramid.”

The experiment in California was hardly the first of its kind, though the teachers’ budget was tighter than most. Last month Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan and her family took a weeklong “food stamp challenge,” spending only $5.87 per day per person on food — the Michigan food stamp allotment. She told reporters that she ended up buying a lot of macaroni and cheese. Last year Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski of Oregon lived for a week on his state’s $3-a-day food stamp allocation.

Ms. Leonard and Mr. Greenslate, who chronicled their dollar-a-day experience on their blog, onedollardietproject.wordpress.com, say they are looking at other ways to explore how difficult it is for people with limited income to eat a healthful diet.

“I challenge anyone to try to live on a dollar a day and eat fresh food in this country,” Mr. Greenslate said. “I would love to be proven wrong.”

well@nytimes.com

The Director Who Films Your LIfe Test

I had a problem embedding the code so just copy/pasted it all here. The link to the test is after the results.

Your romantic comedy-drama of a life is now in the hands of Laverne. We almost put Ron Howard in this spot, but we figured you wouldn't want the part of your dad played by Ron's little brother Clint (who's in EVERY one of his films). Penny will hire Squiggy, instead. She directed A League Of Their Own, Big, Awakenings, and Riding In Cars With Boys among few others.

The Director Who Films Your Life

I would rather have Clint Howard - I loved him in his role of Eaglebauer in Rock and Roll High School, and just about every zany character he plays in Adam Sandler movies. With all his famous friends and relatives in the "business" I'm sure he's make a great movie!

Another Reason to Post

Yes, another reason to post daily, at least through the month on November - NaBloPoMo - National Blog Post Month!



So, I may not make a lot of sense, I may whine and moan, curse or pray, but at least something will get written. At least VeganMoFo is over so I'm no longer posting daily recipes. :)

I won't be posting to the official NaBloPoMo site for their feed, just here and my LJ blog. With Thanksgiving, our vacation, and the kid's current health problem, I may not be able to make a daily post, but I'll try.