Birthday Weekend Review

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You know how sometimes you feel like no one in the world cares much about you and your life is dull and blah blah blah...

But then you have a birthday and between facebook comments, text messages, phone calls, emails, and snail mail cards over 70 people acknowledge your existence! It sure gives you a boost! (By the way, those were real people, actual friends as varied from lifelong friends, elementary/junior high/high school/college mates, former teammates, old neighbors, new neighbors, roommates, church friends, coworkers, and family members, to name a few. Additionally, I also got at least a dozen token birthday cards and coupons from various businesses. So far, I've only managed to use Noodles & Company and Rodizio, but I'll have to use at least one of the Maggie Moo's/Cold Stone/Dairy Queen/Basin Robbins coupons before they expire. Don't know if I'll get around to Texas Roadhouse, Winger's, Red Robin, Tucanos, The Happy Sumo, or Mimi's Cafe in time, but we shall see!)

Wow, I mean for the sheer acknowledgement alone, I think facebook is awesome and someday I will convince Hylan to join too! But, he's "an old man" and doesn't "have time for it." Perhaps he just pretends not to care, or maybe he really doesn't. I think he just doesn't know what he's missing.

So, that's why birthdays are neat. And by the way, it's July (my favorite month!) so I wasn't really feeling like nobody cared about me, but someday when I am feeling down, I'll remember weekends like this past one!

No pictures of it, but we sure enjoyed our dinner at The Tree Room on Saturday night. SO GOOD! Everyone remotely close to Sundance should save their pennies and eat there several times in their lifetime.

My coworkers threw me a fun work party with an exercise/MyPlate theme on Friday.

For my present, Hylan bought me a new set of dumbbells. He gave them to me on Friday because I asked him if it was a gift I would want to use on Saturday. And I did use them, only I made the mistake of trying each and every exercise, maximum reps, doing cario intervals on the treadmill in between each set. Needless to say, two hours later, I was worked out! And it felt great. :o)

Sunday, my actual birthday, was a normal church kind of a day with phone calls from my Mom and two of my brothers, as well as checking facebook and text messages. I took a picture of the delicious and creative breakfast I made in the morning but I forgot to save it on my phone, so just imagine beautiful sweet potato pancake/latkes with maplehoneybrownsugarcinnamonbuttersyrup, bell pepper/onion scrambled eggs with cheese, and a honeydew yogurt smoothie. It was good. Even Hylan who disdains sweet potatoes, ate it up! It's always rewarding for me to cook from my brain instead of a recipe.

Anyway, I hope I have sufficiently thanked everyone who has wished me well on my birthday. Now it's time to live it up for the last year of another decade.

I'll have MyPlate and eat it too!

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I wrote the following as a response to this article and to a student who I overheard in the hallway of the conference center (BYU campus) saying how she thought MyPlate was dumb. I would have written more, but I had to keep it under 250 words, so enjoy my soapbox rant:

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The anti-MyPlate responses are really starting to bum me out.

MyPlate is much clearer to the average food consumer, young and old.

The Food Pyramid served its purpose, but when compared to MyPlate, it was more complicated! For example, how many of us actually counted our 6-11 servings allotment of the Bread, Cereal, Rice, Pasta group and adjusted for our body size, condition, fitness goals, as well as studied labels to understand portion size and then consumed accordingly?

Most Americans do not eat enough fruits and vegetables! This new food plate clearly shows that a balanced meal includes half of a plate full of fruits and vegetables. Most Americans also eat way too many refined, over-processed, nutrient-void grains. Carbs can and should be our friends, but the recommendation is that at least half of the grains consumed should be whole grains. Eat lean protein, drink lean milk, limit high sodium foods, avoid oversized portions, and drink more water—MyPlate isn’t overly simplistic; it is revolutionary because of its simplicity.

There is genius in simplicity! The principle of Occam’s razor seems to apply well here. Both the Food Pyramid and MyPlate are useful daily food guides, but the simpler explanation, MyPlate, is better because it is a more useful teaching tool. Because it is easier to remember and understand, it has a greater power to help us to make smarter food choices.

The Food Pyramid just wasn’t getting the job done.

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I read this article written by Jillian Michaels after I wrote the above response. I didn't particularly care for it. Here was my facebook comment about it:

Emily Marie Woolstenhulme Harper
But if you resent the implication that Americans are stupid, then aren't we smart enough to use MyPlate as our springboard for making better food choices? Those who could care less about nutrition may at least be able to make a small change with MyPlate, and those of us who are more nutrition-conscious are smart enough to empower ourselves with the further knowledge needed to make the best food choices. The government is not responsible for forcing us to make better choices, though sometimes I wish I could force my husband. ;) See More
Yesterday at 2:05pm · LikeUnlike · 7 people like this.

Yes, that was a whole seven people who liked my comment! Ha ha. I think Jill did have some good points, but I didn't really agree with most of it.

I have more to say on the matter, but who wants to read long blogs? Not me.

For the record, I like The First Lady's approach to encouraging more activity and better nutrition, particularly among kids. I especially liked her commercials about playing basketball that ran during the NBA playoffs. Made me smile inside!

The end.

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