The First Day of Lent

Okay, this entry probably isn't going to convince my newest "fan" that I'm not a "Carb Nazi."  The background to that new nickname is an email I got Monday from someone on one of the probably too many boards I read and post to.  She wrote saying that I was a carb and fat Nazi, that I was giving people the wrong impression of the sort of diet one must follow after duodenal switch surgery, that she'd also been successful with her weight loss (!!), didn't have weight loss surgery so she could spend the rest of her life on a diet and basically that I should shutthefuckup and take my negative attitude toward the "magic duodenal switch" (her words, not mine) elsewhere.  All this prompted by my reply a while back to another poster who was about to have surgery and asked for advice on making she lost the 200+ pounds she wanted lose during her window.

What did I tell the poster?  "Don't waste your window on carbs -- try and stay between 50 - 100 a day until you hit goal and avoid all white (simple) carbohydrates."

Radical stuff, clearly meriting being called a nazi. 

My response to my new fan was that better women then her have tried to close my mouth.   And that I did have weight loss surgery knowing that I was going to live the rest of my life following a specifically low carb, high protein diet.  If she wants to spend her days going to the toilet ten to twenty times, having fissure issues, moaning about the last twenty pounds she can't seem lose, taking antibiotics / anti-fungals to control her gas while having a carb count of 200 plus grams a day*, that's her choice (though I do worry that she and others are going to breed some super-resistant intestinal flora that I'm going to end up with). 

Anyway, on to happier things.  Over on Deluzy's blog, she wrote yesterday about Lent and giving up sugar.  I must have read it right after she posted it, but didn't reply until this morning? 

As I've probably mentioned, I was brought up and educated as a Catholic.  Clearly my politics, feminism, opinion on gay marriage, divorce and secular remarriage to an atheist indicates that a certain amount didn't take.  Except that I do consider myself a Catholic and think the opinions I hold reflect the morality and ethics taught at my rather wonderful** Catholic girls' school in the 1980s. 

So my point is I haven't given anything up for Lent in years.  But I'm going to this Lent, following Alison's example on sugar.  Further, I'm not going to follow my grandmother's*** Lenten rules, that Sunday and St. Patrick's Day aren't part of Lent.  Forty days, counting today, without sugar, partly as a meditation on the good things I've taken from my semi-lapsed religion.   And I'm going to post here, good or bad, on whether I'm able do this or not.

Let's see how Lent goes, shall we?

---
* Please note: I realize that that there are DS patients who have all these side effects and more through no fault of their own -- it's just the way their body has responded to the digestive changes.  But there's a big difference (for me) between something that can't be controlled and something that could be controlled via diet if the person was simply willing to make the changes needed.  Personally I can't imagine taking the risk of being permanently on antibiotics and fungals when I know I can control my gas and bowel movements via diet.  The same goes for my allergies -- I could be on steroids for life to control eczema or I can and do opt to avoid eating the things that make my rashes go from moderate to severe only using the drugs when the eczema slips out of control.

** Notre Dame Academy in West Los Angeles.  It was wonderful then, but the current administration has made some choices, specifically with regard to the firing of gays and lesbians in response to archdiocesan pressure that are, in a word, horrific.  Just for the record, there were gay and lesbian teachers when I was there 15+ years ago, when my godmother was there 35 years ago and when my mother was a student there 45 years ago.  We all knew it and no one I knew thought anything negative about it.  Yeah, I was / am really disappointed in my alma mater and hope they reclaim their former sense of social justice before it's too late.

*** She always gave up candy and alcohol for Lent and Advent.  This stopped, however, 10 years ago, the year she turned 90.  Her reasoning was she might not live long enough to see the end of Lent / Advent.

Comments

[carol]

I'm giving up sugar for Lent, also. Not only real sugar, but everything with sugar, and all artificial sweetners - I want to go without the taste of anything sweet for 40 days and see if I can beat this addiction

[Melting Mama]

Nazi? Ugh. That's all for now.

[*S*]

Oy, now people trying to live with a diet that is appropriate for their surgery are "nazis"? If she keeps this up, she'll annex the Sudetenland with her smell! You shouldn't know from such meshuggeneh people, Ezpy.

Glad you liked "call the moose". It's a translation of the Swedish "ropa på älgen". I guess the word "älg" (moose") is kind of onomatopoetic in Swedish. In Finnish, the standard slang verb is "yrjötä" - literally, "to George". As in "älä Yrjöä!" - "Don't George" "Yrjö" does sound like vomiting though.

Good luck with your Lenten sacrifices.

*S*

[Bronwen]

Um, how much weight have you lost? Slightly over 200 pounds? I think ANYTHING you have to say on the subject of weight loss should be considered with gravity and not instantly discarded because it goes against "conventional DS wisdom."

Pish posh.

Frankly, carbs were pretty much universally discouraged by most every DS surgeon I've heard of. What's your "fan's" deal? Did she never hear that? Then she only heard what she wanted. Fat, though, I've heard conflicting reports on, so I think there's some play there. Some people need it, some can't tolerate it well, so maybe that's more of an individual tolerance issue?

You're no Nazi.

[Melody]

Nobody can shut you up. That's one of the things I love about you!

Go, Carb Nazi!

Your loyal follower,
Melody
:)

[bessie]

You're being much more ambitious about Lent than I am... I agonized over my choice to do chewing gum, and I'm the one who is supposidly practicing!

[Deluzy]

So, a couple of days into Lent, my question to you is, how are *you* dealing with artificial sweeteners? I'd like to be like Carol, who repsonded to your post earlier, but I don't think I can hack it without them right now.

I decided to order myself some sugar-free chocolate rugelah from Perfectly Sweet --> partly as a way of staying away from real sugar and lowering carb intake generally.

(I kind of think I might be cheating, but whaddyagonnado? You do the best you can do, right?) The larger point is the meditation on bigger issues, after all.

[Ezpy]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

First, I debated about using the term "Nazi" even if I was just quoting someone else. A dear friend when I was an undergraduate had grandparents who were holocaust survivors. She felt very strongly that terms "Nazi" and "fascist" shouldn't be used lightly. But on the other hand, I hate either ignoring people who write hate emails or getting into it with them in private so I thought I'd use my blog to bully back in public.

Carol and Alison: I really admire the idea of giving up all sweeteners, but I know I can't do it. Aside from my current tropical sugar-free popsicles passion, there must be Splenda for the morning coffee or my day just isn't going to work out.

:)