Smokers

Recently, my boss bought me insurance and I have to say, this is pretty awesome. I haven’t had insurance in over 10 years. I had a bicycle accident several years ago and when it was all said and done I paid somewhere between $3,000-$5,000 and that’s after I decided to skip out of physical therapy which was costing me $300 a session. What was the damage? Three stitches in my head and a broken collar bone. For those that have not had a broken collar bone, they can’t actually do much about it. They just line up the bone and give you a canvass sling to help keep it in place so that hopefully it’ll heal properly. My bone was lined up already so they just gave me a sling. I wonder what I would have paid with insurance.

Yesterday I got my adderall (for ADHD). Usually I pay somewhere from $85-$100 for this. It’s expensive stuff and that’s generic! I thought that it would be half the price with insurance but nope. I paid $15. If I had gotten it on campus it would have been cheaper. Is this what the real people in this country pay? The people that don’t “choose” to be poor? No wonder they think everything is fine and don’t want to change the system. It is! It’s fine for them. So what if over 50 million people in America don’t have that privilege.

Follow The Belly Project if:

• You binge
• You cry about how you look
• You love how you look
• You stop eating for days
• You would never starve yourself
• You try crazy diets
• You’ve never dieted a day in your life
• You work out too much
• You don’t work out at all
• You look at pictures of skinny people
• You avoid skinny people
• You stare in the mirror for hours
• You avoid mirrors
• You consider purging
• You would never purge
• You look at proana/promia websites and blogs
• You are antiana/antimia

Because The Belly Project isn’t about being proana/antiana. It’s not about being fit. It’s about the path to finding health and peace with the way you look.

This path takes me all over the map. There is no rhyme or reason to this blog. It’s not strictly ana and it’s not strictly health or fitness. It is about my struggle to be healthy. And I open my heart to anyone going through the same struggle.

Health-related challenges, if you will. I had a whole list of them earlier this year, but sadly fell off the wagon one challenge at a time. So now they return!

Current challenge: Caffeine Free.

I was caffeine free on my earlier run of challenges for about two months. Then, of course, finals rolled around, and then I was drinking coffee and Diet Dr. Pepper like there was no tomorrow. And I continued through last week, as I was volunteering at a camp and only got three hours of sleep a night. But as of Monday, I am caffeine free once again. It hasn’t been as bad this time around. Hopefully it will remain easy!

Additional challenge: Lack of red meat

I eat hamburgers. A lot of hamburgers. I really like hamburgers. And that’s really the only red meat I eat, besides the occasional ground beef in stuff and a steak every now and then. So, I’m challenging myself to give up red meat for at least a week or two, COMPLETELY, then I can see how I feel. Really, since I mostly eat burgers when I eat red meat, it can only be good for me. I’m not going veggie, as I still eat oodles of turkey. Turrrrkey. nom nom nom.Anyways. I started today on the red meat (and turned down a free lunch because of it) so we shall see.

So, those are my challenges for this week/the next two weeks. I meet with a trainer on Friday, so then we’ll see what my workout challenges will be! I mainly just want to get in good running shape so I can be on the World Cup team when Quidditch (yes, Quidditch) rolls around this fall!

got prescribed double the medication this time.

Male contraceptive pill:

I’ve Embarassing Bodies on in the background, and they’re discussing the male contraceptive pill. It’s been on the cards for years, but this is the first time I’ve actually heard of it. They just posed the question, given that women have been taking responsibility for this contraception, is it really necessary for men to as well? I cannot believe they actually even need to ask this question! Why should it just be the woman? And men should already be taking responsibility by using condoms! There’s a discussion about STIs and how only condoms can stop them, which I think is absolutely correct for people with multiple sexual partners, but I don’t see why a man and woman in a long-term relationship who have both been checked could skip condoms and both take the pill to avoid getting pregnant if they’re not ready. Everyone knows that neither condoms nor the female contraceptive options are 100% effective, and I think it’s safe to assume this won’t be either, so I think covering all your bases if you don’t want to be pregnant, or make someone pregnant is a good idea. They also did a poll which said seventy-odd percent of men would take it, but only 43% of women would trust him to take it every day. I honestly don’t think there is any genuine difference in the ability between a man and a woman to remember to take a pill every day. I got pregnant because I forgot mine, and so do many other women, and the same could happen with a man. I don’t understand why nobody on this program seemed to simply say that it is both a man and a woman’s responsibility to protect against unwanted pregnancies!

Oh, and I’ve also just discovered yet ANOTHER symptom of inflammatory bowel disease that I’ve been experiencing for months. Why will these goddamn people just give me the goddamn colonoscopy so I can get a goddamn diagnosis?! Argh! Making angry phone calls tomorrow for sure!

It’s back. With a vengeance.

That, or I’m just winking and quietly grunting at you repeatedly because I think you’re cute.

Either one. Up to you.

“Gradually, study after mind body study, carried out with the most careful