Changing the things I can

Just about everybody is suffering to some extent from the financial crisis, except maybe the AIG execs who are cashing bonus checks paid for with my tax money. I finally figured out that the carefully selected mutual funds in my IRA have sunk in value to what they were worth in 1999. We're all asking each other, "Should we bail out now or is it just going to get worse?" I remember thinking when my funds were doing well, "Should I bail out now, or is it just going to get better?"

Since we got home last weekend I've been spending hours on the couch or bed, my foot elevated on a pile of pillows, reading, dozing and pondering issues like finances, health and aging. Far too much thinking time is available when you're laid up with an injury. And lurking in the back of the mind is the knowledge that I haven't had any exercise in almost two weeks, and nightmare visions of myself as Jabba the Hutt are haunting me.

So when a friend we hadn't seen in a few months came by and told us about the diet he adopted this year, I paid attention. Fit for Life, by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, is a somewhat dated book with an approach that has quite a few detractors, but our friend JB has just about made me a believer. He has lost more than 30 pounds and has considerably more energy than last year, when he looked somewhat bloated, drank too much and had a scary cholesterol count. The Capt is interested, in hopes he can beat the sinusitis that has been plaguing him for the past few years, making him feel like he has a perpetual cold.
The ground rules are:
Eat nothing but fruit before noon. This rules out coffee, too, although we haven't been able to live up to that restriction yet.
Concentrate on fruit, vegetables, whole grains
No dairy. Dairy, says Harvey, is for baby cows. (Although, curiously, a small amount of butter is allowed.)
No sugar or refined flour (hard to avoid in Mexico)
There are also quite a few guidelines about combinations of food, which I'm still learning about.

JB stressed that the rules don't have to be followed religiously, and in fact the book itself has at least one recipe calling for a little heavy cream (aha!) but he says after a while he lost the craving for the foods he used to think he couldn't live without.

We've only been doing this for a couple of days. JB and the book both warn that the first month we will be processing and discharging toxins. I'll spare you the disgusting signs we'll be experiencing, but I've got extra incense and mouthwash in the bathroom.

All my pondering hasn't resulted in a single solution to my financial crisis, beyond getting out of debt, on which I'm making headway. So I've been applying the Serenity Prayer a lot lately. And how I feed myself and the Capt is one thing I have the courage to change.

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference