I went to see a certain Mr. Soladja on recommendation from Samina. It seems most of what's been bothering her for the past several years have been taken care of by this diet he recommends and she has lost weight, to boot.
So, I went to see him. He explains that the intestinal fungus Candida is responsible for the inflammation that causes osteo-arthritis, osteoporosis, and other ills. In order to get rid of the excess Candida, he says you need to starve it - no sugar, for example. No gluton, no wheat products, no coffee, no tea, no milk products..... It's an endless list of "no"!
It means vegetable soup or raw veggies for breakfast (actually at all meals). Protein for breakfast and lunch, but none at dinner. Whole grain, except wheat, at lunch and dinner. No fruit at any meal, with anything else, but a piece of fruit is ok as a snack between lunch and dinner.
It's not surprising that weight loss comes with the deal. After 10 days, though, I'm remarkably stable, no loss at all.
I'm not convinced that this is for real, so when I saw my chiropractor earlier this week I asked about it. She immediately recognized the base. It seems as if it is a combination of the Seignalet diet and is used for auto-immune diseases (arthritis is an auto-immune disease). However, there are variations. For example, you can't have cow's milk, but you can still have goat or sheep cheese, or soy milk. You can't have wheat, but you can have "épeautre", which I believe is "spelt" in English. She said that if one can stick to it, it really is effective. She also said that the combinations: keeping fruit separate; protein + veggies; veggies + carbs; but not protein + carbs comes from another popular diet, Montignac.
As I said, I'm not convinced. It's like saying I'm allergic to milk and gluton without ever having what are recognizable allergy symptoms. I am not at all sure that I will be able to stick to this.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Such Blue Skies
Most people who know the Paris region in winter will tell you it's rainy and gray. We've been having some beautiful weather. It's even been warm. (OK, today it's freezing, but the sky is cloudless!)
On February 6, Daniel led the Ile de France walk to the Abbey of Royaumont and last Wednesday, Krystina led the walk to Neauphle-le-Château. In order not to take up too much room on the blog, I've put the photos up on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/elebelle/IleDeFranceWalks2008. They are not great photos; some might only be interesting to those who were there.
Abbaye de Royaumont
It was a large group -- over 30 -- to the abbey. Although it was cold and it had rained the day before, the weather report was good. We had a fairly long train ride to get to Seugy, on the edge of the Chantilly forest, where we started our walk. It was muddy. My boots felt like they were carrying their weight in mud. But as we walked, the clouds lifted and we actually started shedding layers.
I had been on a similar walk to Royaumont a few years ago with the group of Diabetes Club hikers. It was in the summer. The abbey is very interesting, probably at its apogee in the 13th century when Louis IX, Saint Louis, spent time there. After the French revolution, in the 19th century, it became a cotton factory. Now, it's a cultural center - music mostly. It's a good hike destination. You go around fields and through woods to get there. There are some nice villages you walk through. I'm not sure it's the kind of place I would make an effort to visit by car, so I'm glad I discovered it on these walks.
Of course, the nice thing about the walks is meeting new people and seeing other familiar faces from previous walks. Tom had the book Sarum with him. He had just finished it. Coincidentally, I finished reading Sarum the week before. (Alison lent it to me at Christmas.) Sarum is an epic novel about Salisbury, England. It starts in prehistoric times -- when the glaciers started receding and Great Britain became an island. A small group of nomads arrived in the region on their search for better hunting grounds. Later, Stonehenge was built. Then the Romans made it a minor intersection. In the Middle Ages, they built a great cathedral. And so on. All through this, you keep finding descendants of the original families. Tom loved it. I read it all the way through, but I didn't love it. It was like a Mitchner novel -- once you get into it, you want to find out how it ends, but I wasn't impressed by the quality of writing.
Neauphle-le-Château
This week, Krystina, led us through her neighborhood, from Plaisir to Neauphle-le-Château, near Versailles. Plaisir, or at least the part we walked through, is one of these new cities around Paris -- a succession of residential neighborhoods that all come out of the same catalog. Then, all of a sudden, there are fields with horses grazing and you find yourself at the château.
The Château de Plaisir is a municipal building with the music conservatory, a theater and a pony club. The park was devastated in the storm that hit France on Dec. 26, 1999. Most of the trees were uprooted. That was one of those events that brings out tales of where you were (we were in Florida for Christmas) and what damage you had (we lost some tiles from the roof) and how long it took to be repaired (we waited more than a year and had the roof replaced). So, all us permanent residents told our tales to the newcomers.
We cut through some woods and fields to reach Neauphle-le-Château. I think Americans, if they know the name at all, only know that it is where ayatollah Khomeini lived before returning to Iran in 1979. He didn't even live there for six months.
Historically, Neauphle-le-Château was a major market town. Probably for that reason, Mr. Lapostolle chose to found his distillery there in 1827. Fruit liqueurs were quite the thing in the 19th century and he made them. During the Franco-Prussian war, the family went to the southwest of France to escape the war. There, they got to know Cognac. By this time, Miss Lapostolle had married Mr. Marnier and they came back to create a new kind of drink, a blend of essence of fruit and cognac. They still make the Cherry drink created then.
Later, Mr. Marnier discovered the Caribbean, especially the sour oranges used for marmalade. They bought plantations in Haiti and the zests of unripened sour oranges are the base for Grand Marnier. There's a free tour of the distillery -- very interesting. To start, you get a presentation of how they make Grand Marnier, a history of the drink, the different varieties of Grand Marnier (variations of the orange-based liqueur, the ancestor Cherry, and the new Navan, which is vanilla-based). Then they take you into the distillery. It smells wonderful. And it's an interesting visit. At the end of the visit there's a little tasting session. I compared the "red ribbon" with the "yellow ribbon" and my conclusion is that the "yellow ribbon" is undrinkable. I did like the Navan, which is not available in France (only the US and Canada). It's made from vanilla blooms, so it's very sweet, like vanilla ice cream actually. This would make a nice side trip to a visit to Versailles.
On February 6, Daniel led the Ile de France walk to the Abbey of Royaumont and last Wednesday, Krystina led the walk to Neauphle-le-Château. In order not to take up too much room on the blog, I've put the photos up on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/elebelle/IleDeFranceWalks2008. They are not great photos; some might only be interesting to those who were there.
Abbaye de Royaumont
It was a large group -- over 30 -- to the abbey. Although it was cold and it had rained the day before, the weather report was good. We had a fairly long train ride to get to Seugy, on the edge of the Chantilly forest, where we started our walk. It was muddy. My boots felt like they were carrying their weight in mud. But as we walked, the clouds lifted and we actually started shedding layers.I had been on a similar walk to Royaumont a few years ago with the group of Diabetes Club hikers. It was in the summer. The abbey is very interesting, probably at its apogee in the 13th century when Louis IX, Saint Louis, spent time there. After the French revolution, in the 19th century, it became a cotton factory. Now, it's a cultural center - music mostly. It's a good hike destination. You go around fields and through woods to get there. There are some nice villages you walk through. I'm not sure it's the kind of place I would make an effort to visit by car, so I'm glad I discovered it on these walks.
Of course, the nice thing about the walks is meeting new people and seeing other familiar faces from previous walks. Tom had the book Sarum with him. He had just finished it. Coincidentally, I finished reading Sarum the week before. (Alison lent it to me at Christmas.) Sarum is an epic novel about Salisbury, England. It starts in prehistoric times -- when the glaciers started receding and Great Britain became an island. A small group of nomads arrived in the region on their search for better hunting grounds. Later, Stonehenge was built. Then the Romans made it a minor intersection. In the Middle Ages, they built a great cathedral. And so on. All through this, you keep finding descendants of the original families. Tom loved it. I read it all the way through, but I didn't love it. It was like a Mitchner novel -- once you get into it, you want to find out how it ends, but I wasn't impressed by the quality of writing.
Neauphle-le-Château
This week, Krystina, led us through her neighborhood, from Plaisir to Neauphle-le-Château, near Versailles. Plaisir, or at least the part we walked through, is one of these new cities around Paris -- a succession of residential neighborhoods that all come out of the same catalog. Then, all of a sudden, there are fields with horses grazing and you find yourself at the château.
The Château de Plaisir is a municipal building with the music conservatory, a theater and a pony club. The park was devastated in the storm that hit France on Dec. 26, 1999. Most of the trees were uprooted. That was one of those events that brings out tales of where you were (we were in Florida for Christmas) and what damage you had (we lost some tiles from the roof) and how long it took to be repaired (we waited more than a year and had the roof replaced). So, all us permanent residents told our tales to the newcomers.
We cut through some woods and fields to reach Neauphle-le-Château. I think Americans, if they know the name at all, only know that it is where ayatollah Khomeini lived before returning to Iran in 1979. He didn't even live there for six months.
Historically, Neauphle-le-Château was a major market town. Probably for that reason, Mr. Lapostolle chose to found his distillery there in 1827. Fruit liqueurs were quite the thing in the 19th century and he made them. During the Franco-Prussian war, the family went to the southwest of France to escape the war. There, they got to know Cognac. By this time, Miss Lapostolle had married Mr. Marnier and they came back to create a new kind of drink, a blend of essence of fruit and cognac. They still make the Cherry drink created then.
Later, Mr. Marnier discovered the Caribbean, especially the sour oranges used for marmalade. They bought plantations in Haiti and the zests of unripened sour oranges are the base for Grand Marnier. There's a free tour of the distillery -- very interesting. To start, you get a presentation of how they make Grand Marnier, a history of the drink, the different varieties of Grand Marnier (variations of the orange-based liqueur, the ancestor Cherry, and the new Navan, which is vanilla-based). Then they take you into the distillery. It smells wonderful. And it's an interesting visit. At the end of the visit there's a little tasting session. I compared the "red ribbon" with the "yellow ribbon" and my conclusion is that the "yellow ribbon" is undrinkable. I did like the Navan, which is not available in France (only the US and Canada). It's made from vanilla blooms, so it's very sweet, like vanilla ice cream actually. This would make a nice side trip to a visit to Versailles.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
My 15 minutes of Fame
More like 15 seconds, but at the end of this report (
The next evening there was a Barak Obama event in Paris and an "undecided" couple that I met at the Hillary event went to the Obama to-do and said it was much nicer. They did not tell me if they came away any more convinced to go with one candidate or the other.
I've made up my mind since then. I'm really happy that the Democratic party is allowing Americans abroad to have a say - 22 delegates. In the real election I vote "in" Philadelphia, my last legal residence in the United States. The kids, except Emma, also vote in Philadelphia because their only reference is my last address. Emma registered in Florida when she was in college. If I get the primary ballot this year (I did register for an absentee ballot, but we can never be sure about the primary ballot coming through) I am on the honor system NOT to participate in the presidential primary if I choose to participate in the Democrats Abroad election. That's fine with me. I prefer not to make local choices in Pennsylvania - I do not live there! If we had a system that would allow Americans resident abroad to vote in the real elections as citizens abroad, I would prefer that. With the electoral college system, though, that is just impossible; we have to vote "in" states.
http://www.parismatch.com/parismatch/dans-l-oeil-de-match/reportages/au-salon-avec-les-partisans-d-hillary/ ), that's me asking my question to Terry McAuliffe - and not really getting any answer. I think the report is a bit off; several of us in the room were not convinced Hillary supporters. It was a Hillary evening, but we wanted to learn more in order to make our decision. It was really a fund-raising event - not why I should vote for Hillary but why I should give money to her campaign.
The next evening there was a Barak Obama event in Paris and an "undecided" couple that I met at the Hillary event went to the Obama to-do and said it was much nicer. They did not tell me if they came away any more convinced to go with one candidate or the other.
I've made up my mind since then. I'm really happy that the Democratic party is allowing Americans abroad to have a say - 22 delegates. In the real election I vote "in" Philadelphia, my last legal residence in the United States. The kids, except Emma, also vote in Philadelphia because their only reference is my last address. Emma registered in Florida when she was in college. If I get the primary ballot this year (I did register for an absentee ballot, but we can never be sure about the primary ballot coming through) I am on the honor system NOT to participate in the presidential primary if I choose to participate in the Democrats Abroad election. That's fine with me. I prefer not to make local choices in Pennsylvania - I do not live there! If we had a system that would allow Americans resident abroad to vote in the real elections as citizens abroad, I would prefer that. With the electoral college system, though, that is just impossible; we have to vote "in" states.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Groundhog's Day in the States, Chandeleur en France, and my Birthday Everywhere Else
I'm late getting to this today because so many of you have sent birthday greetings and I've been answering them. Thanks. It also meant that I started to write you about things that I then repeated to the next one. I finally remembered that that is what I was writing this blog for.
Yesterday, the mayor of Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl, was in Paris to promote Pittsburgh. I went because of our Pittsburgh connection and Jon sent me a question to ask, so I did. Yes, the mayor went to Amsterdam and met with officials from KLM to discuss opening a single direct line between Europe and Pittsburgh with Amsterdam as the European hub. The audience applauded when I asked if they were hoping to reconnect Pittsburgh to the rest of the world, meaning there were several people present who were familiar with the current obligation to connect through Philly or Cincinnati. The thing is that the Amsterdam hub doesn't really change things for us Parisians because we'd still have to connect.
I also learned some things about Pittsburgh. It's a remarkably green city and trying to become even greener. It's growing again - very big in the health-related industry, robotics and sustainable development. I remember him mentioning BPL (making more efficient use of power lines, office in Paris,...) and that Louis should look into them. And for Emma, there are several links: Sustainable Pittsburgh, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the e-mail address of the person to contact for any interest there. I also spoke with Maureen Guttman, Executive Director of the Governor's Green Government Council.
I read that the mayor is being criticized for this trip; it's being called a vacation. Well, what I saw on Friday morning was not someone on vacation. Looks more like someone on a business trip. He's very curious about other cities and how they manage difficulties. It sounds like he's been getting some flack about the US not having signed any of the international agreements on the environment, but he did a good job explaining that in the US, the movement is bottom-to-top, and that a city, like Pittsburgh, has much more leeway to find its way to becoming a "green" city. In Europe, he has seen much more top-down management. He was so proud to show off the bike paths in Pittsburgh, but he said that, after almost being run over by the bikes in Amsterdam, he realizes that the Pittsburgh bike grid is not that much of a to-do. So, he touted "flex-car", which works like Paris's "velib" except that it is short-term car rental instead of bikes. Someone in the audience asked about public transportation and he explained that it was virtually non-existent, except for the bus lines and a rapid transit project between the universities and downtown. He also explained the need to look for more space for university (Pitt and CMU, at least) expansion and that former steel mill sites were being investigated for that. Someone else in the audience is thinking of returning to the States to live because the dollar has dropped so far as to make it too expensive to continue on here -- she asked about the cost of living. There was a shocked gasp when he told us the low cost of a family home. I'm bad at estimating attendance; I'd say there were about 75 people attending this early morning presentation.
What else is going on? Not much. I'm still drawing - I did a landscape based on a photo Paul took in China. It forced me to work on shading. I don't have the patience. I think I'm more a line-drawing person.
The STC France conference is coming up. I'm still working on it, but I won't be able to attend.
That's it, for now.
Yesterday, the mayor of Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl, was in Paris to promote Pittsburgh. I went because of our Pittsburgh connection and Jon sent me a question to ask, so I did. Yes, the mayor went to Amsterdam and met with officials from KLM to discuss opening a single direct line between Europe and Pittsburgh with Amsterdam as the European hub. The audience applauded when I asked if they were hoping to reconnect Pittsburgh to the rest of the world, meaning there were several people present who were familiar with the current obligation to connect through Philly or Cincinnati. The thing is that the Amsterdam hub doesn't really change things for us Parisians because we'd still have to connect.
I also learned some things about Pittsburgh. It's a remarkably green city and trying to become even greener. It's growing again - very big in the health-related industry, robotics and sustainable development. I remember him mentioning BPL (making more efficient use of power lines, office in Paris,...) and that Louis should look into them. And for Emma, there are several links: Sustainable Pittsburgh, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the e-mail address of the person to contact for any interest there. I also spoke with Maureen Guttman, Executive Director of the Governor's Green Government Council.
I read that the mayor is being criticized for this trip; it's being called a vacation. Well, what I saw on Friday morning was not someone on vacation. Looks more like someone on a business trip. He's very curious about other cities and how they manage difficulties. It sounds like he's been getting some flack about the US not having signed any of the international agreements on the environment, but he did a good job explaining that in the US, the movement is bottom-to-top, and that a city, like Pittsburgh, has much more leeway to find its way to becoming a "green" city. In Europe, he has seen much more top-down management. He was so proud to show off the bike paths in Pittsburgh, but he said that, after almost being run over by the bikes in Amsterdam, he realizes that the Pittsburgh bike grid is not that much of a to-do. So, he touted "flex-car", which works like Paris's "velib" except that it is short-term car rental instead of bikes. Someone in the audience asked about public transportation and he explained that it was virtually non-existent, except for the bus lines and a rapid transit project between the universities and downtown. He also explained the need to look for more space for university (Pitt and CMU, at least) expansion and that former steel mill sites were being investigated for that. Someone else in the audience is thinking of returning to the States to live because the dollar has dropped so far as to make it too expensive to continue on here -- she asked about the cost of living. There was a shocked gasp when he told us the low cost of a family home. I'm bad at estimating attendance; I'd say there were about 75 people attending this early morning presentation.
What else is going on? Not much. I'm still drawing - I did a landscape based on a photo Paul took in China. It forced me to work on shading. I don't have the patience. I think I'm more a line-drawing person.
The STC France conference is coming up. I'm still working on it, but I won't be able to attend.
That's it, for now.
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