Oh, right, there’s not a mole

The mole is the unit of amount in chemistry. … A mole of a substance is defined as: The mass of substance containing the same number of fundamental units as there are atoms in exactly 12.000 g of 12C. Fundamental units may be atoms, molecules, or formula units, depending on the substance concerned.
The Mole—Chemistry

My chemist father once dryly remarked that, until there was a mole of humans, no conclusions drawn about humans could be considered scientific.

I’ve bitterly repeated this to myself since June.

So the Half-Plate Project formally wrapped up last October, right. And since then I’ve been studying on what my ongoing normal had best be. I began with a return to prior life, but that proved itself a mistake. In the second quarter of 2017, I returned to small plates, though less strictly half-ing. That seems to be a more sustainable choice, though the weight I reached in October 2016 continues to remain below my current weight. My BMI resides within the approved range, I have appropriate energy and stamina, I am healthy. Yes?

My repeat full-physical says: kinda. We reviewed results on the last day of May. Most measures either stayed at their healthy levels or improved…
but my A1C level, currently thought to be the most reliable marker of pre-diabetes, climbed.

I asked my general practitioner, “What am I supposed to do now?” He said, “Observe it. For some people, it just goes up.” My gynecologic practitioner later commented, “That is really frustrating, isn’t it.”

I changed my shape not to look cute in clothes, but to keep from having to manage a chronic health issue… as I slowly approach the time when I’ll be managing others’ chronic health issues. I’m doing all the “right things,” but it doesn’t matter. All I have is looking cute in clothes. Frustrating is the best word I have for it.

Add to this an odd happenstance: when I road-tripped with B to Fort Worth for dinner, as we completed our meal I shifted my body and felt a cold wash rise from my stomach up into my throat. Reflux? How odd. We had been joyfully sampling many things, I guess, and perhaps I’d flexed my frame inappropriately. I held really still for a few minutes, and when nothing more occurred, I went on about my evening.

Then there’s this morning. When I eat my usual breakfast, drink my usual coffee, sit upright in my usual chair to read the newspaper, then relocate to my usual computer-desk chair (also upright). Type, type, type… and my throat burns.

I consult the Oracle of the Interwebs for “throat warm” and, once confirmed, “reflux remedies.” Guess what’s consistently in the top five remedies?

Lose weight.

Also eat less, don’t lay down within an hour of meals…

I swear, it’s déjà vu all over again. Do everything right? Doesn’t matter.

  1. We know more than we used to about humans, but it’s still not all that much.
  2. I wish I didn’t keep receiving extra lessons about how I’m not the one in control. Particularly when the culture seems pretty intent on telling me I should be controlling at least this much.

 

ps: 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda in 1 glass water. Tastes slippery, but is reasonably effective. Thanks, chemist Dad!

One thought on “Oh, right, there’s not a mole

  1. I went off blood pressure meds (cuz I was lazy, basically) for a bit. During that period (it may have started before I went off those meds; I’m not sure), we were walking 20-30 minutes 6 days a week – a good amount of exercise and a marked increase from where we had been. My eating habits stayed about the same.
    So of course, I lost no weight and within a few month, my blood pressure went back up.
    Yes, I felt better; yes, it’s worth doing regardless. But SERIOUSLY?!?!? Ugh.

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