Thank you to those who have been following my writing on this blog.
My non-fiction story, “Shruti Loves Kit Kats” has been published in Snapdragon: a Journal of Art and Healing !
Please check out the fall issue here.
I love this literary journal because it celebrates emerging and existing writers, and it shows how words can be both beautiful and therapeutic.
Enjoy!
This is not an April Fool’s Joke – I’ve actually been nominated for an award. Thank you Peace, Love & Fabulous Things for giving me the Versatile Blogger Award!
First of all, I haven’t been nominated for an award since I was a kid. Second of all, I can’t believe anyone cares what I have to say, especially enough to give me a shout out!
What is this Versatile Blogger Award? This is the way it works:
If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.
So, I will pay it forward. I therefore nominate the following bloggers:
I realize that’s only 8 bloggers. I think 15 is kinda a random number and I should get to choose how many I want to nominate. As I see more blogs I like, I will certainly give them a shout out….
And, in case you care, here are 7 things about myself you probably do not know:
So thanks again Peace, Love & Fabulous Things for the award and thanks to everyone who has been reading the blog. It’s been a really fun outlet, and I look forward to sharing more with you all!
Here’s your chance to tell me how you really feel – I’ve created a little poll to see what you’d like more of here at Sensible Susan. Please take a minute to vote and feel free to comment with your own personal requests. I look forward to hearing from you!
Juicing is everywhere. Celebrities are doing it. There a thousand websites devoted to it. There are businesses popping up all the time promoting their organic juices.
It’s not enough to eat organic fruits and vegetables. Real nirvana is obtained when these things are slowly cold-pressed, packaged in thick glass bottles and sold for at least $10 a pop.
There are claims that ailments like ulcers, skin diseases and IBS can be eradicated just from juicing. There’s even a documentary about it – Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Catchy title, isn’t it?
I’m talking about juicing, cleansing, detoxing. It’s all the rage in the NYC-area. From Organic Avenue to Blueprint. There is even the Master Cleanse (aka the lemonade diet) which was first made popular in the 1970s and then again when Beyonce claimed that’s how she lost the weight for Dreamgirls.
Why do people do it?
What do I, Sensible Susan think of these reasons?
So, why did I do it this past weekend?
TO TAKE A MUCH-NEEDED BREAK FROM FOOD AND ESPECIALLY FROM THE PLANNING, SHOPPING AND COOKING OF MEALS.
Oh, and to lose a bit of weight…
I picked a long weekend when the hubby was away so I could do it my way and be a grouch without feeling too guilty. I paid a significant sum to have the juices made for me and delivered to my door. I got 5 juices a day: 2 green juices, 1 beet and carrot juice, 1 red fruit juice and 1 almond milk.
I like fruits and veggies and have tried being on a raw diet for a while, and so, I actually liked the taste of the juices and found them rather enjoyable. I didn’t really miss food. I should note that I was neither hanging out with any other adults that weekend nor surrounded by any cooked food. I was like an alcoholic staying dry while on Mormom retreat. It was easy to avoid tempation in an unrealistic every day scenario…
I didn’t feel any hungrier on this diet than any other diet I ever attempted. Did I find my Zen? Um, no. The only epiphany I had was discovering that homemade almond milk with cinnamon is crazy delicious.
I did feel a sense of freedom, though. I was free from worrying about food. I was free to think of other more important things. I was free to feel like a celebrity – doing something all trendy and relying on other people to make and deliver my healthiness. If I ever meet Gwyneth or Demi, I’m sure I’ll feel an immediate kinship with my fellow “juicers”.
Will I juice again? Maybe. I’ll do it for more sensible reasons though – just to enjoy the taste of it or to use up an abundance of fruits and veggies if I ever grow a garden or belong to a CSA.
The ultimate results:
I did lose 2 lbs – woohoo! So, yes, I probably will do it again in a few months. The cleansing part? Well, the only thing that really got cleaned out was my wallet….
Today, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled against the FDA’s proposed warning labels for cigarette packs. See story here
If you don’t think smoking is terrible for your health, then you must in a) living under a rock, b) deaf, dumb and blind or c) a rock star that believes he/she is immortal .
Warning labels are meaningless to us. Jerry Seinfeld astutely pointed this out 18 years ago on episode #84 of Seinfeld, “The Wife”.
Jerry’s stand-up: Of all the places that you go all the time, the dry-cleaning relationship is one of the most bizarre. Because you keep giving each other the same thing, back and forth, over and over again. He gives it to you, you give it to him, he gives it back to you. It’s like it’s half his shirt, in a way. He has it as much as you do…you oughta go shopping with him. ‘What do you think of this shirt?’ ‘That would look good with a light starch.’ The only warning label people really respect is ‘dry-clean only.’ Y’know what I mean? Speed limits, lung cancer, cigarette warnings – your very life is at stake! People go, ‘Ah, the hell with it!’ But dry-clean only? ‘Oh, don’t put that in the wash! It’s dry-clean only! Are you crazy?!’
Maybe the FDA needs to team up with the makers of the clothing labels….
I don’t really want to see a picture of a fat person splayed across the next bag of Cheetos I buy or a diseased liver on the label around the neck of a bottle of beer.
I don’t want to have to explain to my kid why there’s a picture of rotting teeth on the package of all the candy in the store.
Maybe they should go ahead and put those labels on. I doubt it will deter people from enjoying their vices. I ignored the Do Not Walk sign today when I crossed the road to make sure I caught my train. I also texted a message to a client while driving. I’m also consuming a Maker’s Mark Manhattan despite the label warning me that consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery. Does my laptop count as machinery???
Susan Van Sciver 