Well, it all started a few weeks ago. I was talking to Jill, a friend of mine, about diet and exercise. She linked me to LiveStrong.com, namely, The Daily Plate. It’s a site by Lance Armstrong. I don’t use all of it, but The Daily Plate is really cool.

I get to put in what I eat every day and what exercise I do and it tells me how many calories I’ve burned and how many more calories I can eat and still lose a bit of weight, maintain my weight, or even gain, if that’s my goal. I have my measurements in there and am tracking all kinds of neat little things that are incredibly motivating. It’s free, I don’t use the premium features, which are available, but the free parts are quite excellent on their own.

Since I’ve started I’ve lost a few pounds and have really been motivated to do more around the house (like cleaning, or whatever) for the simple reason that it was great for burning calories. Finding motivation can be so tough, but this has been great for me.

Anyway, I’ve been looking more closely at what I eat, too, and have been mortified at what’s really in some of the foods I was casually eating. One thing I had been having occasionally was Marie Callender’s turkey pot pies. They’re pretty good. We were getting the 4 pack, which are smaller and have mostly gravy and not much in them, yet somehow pack a huge punch with calories and fat and carbs and stuff. Like almost 700 calories or something like that! So, no more of that for me once I realized it! No wonder weight was creeping up on me!

Then, on a podcast the other day, I heard of a study that said that people who keep a food log (like you do for free on LiveStrong) are able to lose TWICE as much weight as those who don’t. The study was mentioned on Scientific American’s podcast. Just search on there for food diary and you’ll find it.

That was even more motivating!

So, now it’s getting really cold lately. (It seems like this is going to be a really cold winter, but that’s just a feeling I have) So I’ve been thinking of soup and stews and stuff. Since everything that you get that’s already made is junk, I decided to try to make a soup or two myself.

My friend Gary helped me find a source of recipes and stuff, so I’ve been working on making one here and there… much tastier than Campbell’s and hopefully a bit healthier too. This led me to think that MAYBE I could make a chicken pot pie!

So, today, after finding a recipe from Gary which I then modified greatly, I decided today would be the day. I’d whip up 2 pot pies for dinner. It took THREE hours! Actually, probably more. The good news is that cooking burns a decent amount of calories, so I wasn’t too upset about it.

But now the pot pies are baking as I type, and my back and feet really really hurt, and I just can’t get my brain into research and Think mode. I’m sorry!

Oh, I sure do hope these pot pies are delicious! I’ll let you know!

Also, on a side note, we went shopping yesterday and would you believe it? We found a Wii Fit just sitting there all alone! So we got it! I tried it last night and it’s FUN! I love it! My Wii Age is 47, though, which is kind of sad, since I’m only 39. I guess it could be worse.

Anyway, I thought I was going to hate this thing, but it really is fun. The mini games/training is challenging and entertaining, and very motivating. I was looking forward to playing again today, but alas, it took all afternoon to make pot pies. There’s always tomorrow, though.

Ok, my husband Butch just pulled up so we’re going to go eat pot pies. Have a great evening and I will do my best to get the next logical fallacy up as soon as I can!

Later: Ok.. the pot pies were good. Needed more gravy though.

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OH MY GOSH! There is a really long story attached to this bit of fun, but basically if you have a Wii, there is an AWESOME, FUN game I highly recommend! World of Goo! Oh! And I am pretty sure you can get it for your computer too! It’s so FUN!

World of Goo is Goo-tastic! Anyhoo, I was TRYING to do something today, and ended up finding this little gem of a game. It’s a good price and totally addictive. I think it was just released to wiiware or whatever that’s called on the 13th of October. So give it a try and tell me what you think. You can get the PC version here. And get the demo of Level One here.

So, what I thought of today was, wouldn’t it be neat if I could use my Wii to read my pdf books? I have all these pdfs that I’d love to read, but I don’t have a reader, and reading on the computer is so uncomfortable. So, I got the Opera internet browser for the Wii, but I can’t get it to see pdfs. I’m a bit flummoxed. But hopefully I’ll get it all worked out soon.

The book I’m trying to read is Atheist Universe by David Mills. I’ve read the intro and it’s awesome, but I really need to get it into a really small doc file or .. I have no idea.

Anyway… if you need a break, look into World of Goo. If you have any suggestions for me using my Wii as an ereader, let me know! WOOT! (oh, and the Logical Fallacy lesson will start tomorrow. I got a little distracted by the shiny today, sorry)

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You can go here to read about the science behind the “game”.

So basically, in a really simple nutshell, you’re using your intuitive awesome brain to do something that would take computers a huge amount of time and expense to do.

Proteins are part of lots of diseases, so understanding how they fold on themselves is very important.

If scientists understand how they fold, they can then design new proteins to combat the disease related proteins and cure the disease.

Here’s how protein is involved in cancer:

Cancer: Cancer is very different from HIV in that it’s usually our own proteins to blame, instead of proteins from an outside invader. Cancer arises from the uncontrolled growth of cells in some part of our bodies, such as the lung, breast, or skin. Ordinarily, there are systems of proteins that limit cell growth, but they may be damaged by things like UV rays from the sun or chemicals from cigarette smoke. But other proteins, like p53 tumor suppressor, normally recognize the damage and stop the cell from becoming cancerous — unless they too are damaged. In fact, damage to the gene for p53 occurs in about half of human cancers (together with damage to various other genes).

And here’s how protein is involved in Alzheimer’s:

Alzheimer’s: In some ways, Alzheimer’s is the disease most directly caused by proteins. A protein called amyloid-beta precursor protein is a normal part of healthy, functioning nerve cells in the brain. But to do its job, it gets cut into two pieces, leaving behind a little scrap from the middle — amyloid-beta peptide. Many copies of this peptide (short protein segment) can come together to form clumps of protein in the brain. Although many things about Alzheimer’s are still not understood, it is thought that these clumps of protein are a major part of the disease.

There are other things you’re helping too. Go here to read all of the science. Pretty cool, huh? Go here to sign up for a free account and start helping science by playing a game.

I havent’ started playing yet, but I signed up today. I’m ZeNeece over there.

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