What exactly can you eat?

If I had a dollar for every time I have been asked this recently, I would be well on my way to funding my legal education. The simple answer is not much at least when you look at the typical college student diet or even the general American diet. 

I have recently discovered (after being somewhat of a medical mystery for over a year) that I have two separate conditions that severely restrict my diet. First off, I'm corn intolerant. For whatever reason that is beyond me (and the doctors I have spoken with) my body simply refuses to process any form of corn in the way it should and as a result I get quite sick whenever I eat it. I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say it is quite unpleasant. The first reaction of people when I tell them this is confusion. The question inevitably follows: you mean like corn on the cob? Well yes corn on the cob is a definite no but the reason I'm refusing the ice cream that is being offered to me is that it is sweetened as many other things in this country with corn syrup. So the first step in answering the big question for this post is to scratch off everything containing corn. Read the labels in your pantry to figure out just how wide of range that covers.

The second restriction comes from a condition I've known about for almost a year but was not told until very recently in none-to-subtle terms that my diet needed a dramatic make-over if I wanted to truly manage the condition. I have reactive hypoglycemia. Simply put, once again for reasons they cannot explain, my body floods itself with insulin after I eat to the point where if I eat something that is easy to break down, my blood sugar will take a nose-dive. Things easy to break down include most any type of processed food, sugar and white grains (the remaining staples of a college diet not already taken away by the corn problem).

Now to finally answer the question what can I eat? Whole grains in moderate quantities, lean meats (mostly fish and chicken), eggs, nuts, beans, dark green and yellow vegetables, squash and other things with high fiber and fresh or frozen fruits (no sugar added of course and no juice). Every now and then I can have potatoes although sweet potatoes are much better for me in that regard and if I am careful and don't do it too often, I can have small dessert made with sugar provided that I have it as part of a larger meal. There it is in a nutshell. I eat about every two and a half hours to keep my blood-sugar from dropping (this has actually been the hardest part, striking the right balance for enough food but not too much). 

Now that I have outlined my diet, I have a request. Please don't feel sorry for me and if you do please do not tell that you do. Here is an example. On Monday night at an get together there were several people roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. Not wanting to be left out I had brought my own chicken sausage to roast and my own bun. This of course led to questions. One girl (who is really very sweet and I'm not trying to point fingers) questioned me on whether or not I could eat several specific things. When it came out that I could not eat marshmallows (made almost entirely out of corn syrup and even if that wasn't the case full of sugar), it became a big deal. I was told over and over again how sad she was that I could not eat marshmallows. I'm sure this was meant to console me but it has quite the opposite effect I assure you. I'm desperately trying to accept my new diet restrictions and instead of bemoaning the loss of many of my favorite foods enjoy the health that it brings that I've been missing for so long. Oddly enough, constant reminders of what I can't have and how others would hate to have the same restrictions doesn't help that goal along. 

I want to make it clear that I am not accusing my friends and family of not being supportive. Throughout the past year, which has been incredibly difficult, everyone has been more than supportive and without them I would still be lost. I just feel that with my new diet restrictions people are unsure of how to be supportive. It is simple. Treat me normally. Don't be offended if I bring my own food and if you happen across a good healthy recipe that is made out of things I can eat then by all means share it. :)

Late Night Ponderings

I really should be sleeping right now. After all, I'm supposed to be putting myself on my law school schedule since one month from now I'll be knee deep in traversing the unfamiliar trails of a legal education. But what am I doing instead? Starting a blog of course. I'm not entirely sure why because I have no idea how much time I can spend on something like this. However, I'm hoping that this will serve as a vessel for me to channel my random musings so that they stop keeping me up late at night. I'm not even sure who I'll share this with. My family I suppose; they will be the only ones who would want to read it. 


Anyway, for those who are curious about the title of my blog, it is a line from Alice in Wonderland (the book, although it might be in the movie too. I can't remember.) It may not be grammatically correct but it is quite often how I feel about life. The more I learn and observe in life the more curious and odd it seems.


So what part of my life experience has me tied up in knots tonight? Harry Potter. I was not expecting to be ambushed by deep thoughts in the middle of my lighthearted attempt to treat myself to a night out. My original plan of dancing in Rexburg fell through but not wanting to spend the evening at home, I treated myself to the final Harry Potter movie. I had heard it was good, and it did not disappoint. Maybe I over-analyse things that are meant for entertainment purposes only but this movie has my head spinning in circles. I'll attempt to write out some of my random musings for your entertainment and consideration.


My first thought is not new. I've had it several times before. What is it that attracts me so much to the Harry Potter series? It captivates me in a way that very few other books have ever managed to do (possibly with the exceptions of Percy Jackson and Pride and Prejudice). I decided that in large part what draws me in is that the books are both set in this world and somewhat apart from it. I have a hard time connecting with fantasy books set in some far off world that doesn't resemble my own reality. J.K. Rowlings makes the setting feel possible by putting Harry Potter in an amped up version of our world. I remember when I first read the books, I desperately wished that somehow my Hogwarts letter simply got lost in the mail and I'm convinced that I'm not alone in those thoughts. 


While I still feel that this is in large part the reason I love Harry Potter, unfortunately my ability to believe the Harry Potter story as plausible took a big step backwards tonight. It wasn't the magic, the deathly hallows, or hijacking a dragon that did it. It wasn't even the final scene that is supposedly 19 years later (they really should have at least tried to make the actors look older. I mean Ginny looked like she was playing dress up in her mommy's clothes). It was the absolute black and whiteness of the story. Of course I realize that this is somewhat standard for stories. I've praised Rowlings before for sometimes allowing the good guys to die. War comes with casualties on both sides. However, thinking about it now, the most important characters (those who really put themselves in the most danger and therefore probably should have been the ones die), Ron, Harry and Hermoine all survive. Still it isn't even really this that bothers me. It is the brave final stand against the forces of evil which threaten to consume the world. I'm sorry but this just doesn't happen. Name one time in history where there has been such a time and a moment. I don't believe there ever has been. There have been time when truly evil people have done truly evil things but it has never threatened to consume the whole world and never was it up to one person to save the day. Rowlings has said that all the characters she created were flawed being neither wholly good or evil with the exception of Voldemort. I can see that to some extent but really Harry's moments of indecision and his dark side is so small that it hardly seems worth mentioning. Consider for a moment when he finds out that Dumbledore, his trusted mentor, has saved Harry to a sacrificial lamb. He accepts it so fast that one can only guess if he felt betrayed. I know if I were put into a similar situation my pause would be considerably longer.


All that being said, Rowlings created one truly believable character that is so pure genius just thinking about it sends chills down my spine: Snape. The whole is Snape good or bad conundrum has provided me with several glorious discussions and arguments prior to the seventh book coming out. In the end, Snape is neither on Dumbledore's side (the "good side") or truly part of the death eaters. He is motivated by something that I feel is much more realistic: his own passions (specifically his love for Lily Potter). From here, Snape only becomes more brilliant. On the surface, it might seem self-less that Snape repeatedly risks his life for Lily and then for her son, but really it is just the opposite. Snape is deeply selfish. Lily is both the bright spot and the thing that causes him the most pain in life. He does not protect Harry because he believes in any cause. He does it to preserve any piece of Lily that he can. Snape is the best character because he is motivated by what I feel motivates most men. Their own selfish desires.


The rest of my musings are much shorter. So for those who are thoroughly bored (assuming anyone is still reading at this point at all), I'm almost done. Here are a few random questions I'm left with: what would it be like to be a death eater? Even assuming that Voldemort won, their lives would be a full of fear of ever disappointing such a master. How do heroes in these types of epics feel when they vanquish their enemy? What is it like to know that the moment you have lived for your entire life is over? Finally, how come right after Voldemort is killed Harry and Hermione happen to have a cut on their lip in the exact same spot while Ron is just a bit dirty but hardly worse for wear?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySN8Q4U6wys