The Grind

I learned a very interesting tidbit at the dentist today. I’ve been a chronic tooth grinder for awhile. My dentist noticed it about 2 or 3 years ago, but I suspect it was going on for awhile before that. I was talking to my dental hygienist at my cleaning this morning, and she said that grinding cases have shot up in the last 30 years. It was very rare in the 80’s, but now its commonplace. It had been attributed to more stressful jobs and work environments, but apparently there have been some recent studies that show that it is also affected by the amount of sugar and starch in people’s diets. All that added sugar and starch raises the acidity level in the blood which affects the ability of the muscles in the body to relax properly. So our muscles are constantly tense, even when we sleep. I’m not a doctor, and I in no way claim to be an expert on any of this, but common sense tells me that any huge shifts in diet like we’ve had in the last 50 or so years are going to affect our bodies in unforeseen ways. I just couldn't get over it. You really are what you eat and it's so important to eat real wholesome foods so you don't get some random health issue like tooth grinding. Who knew?!

On a totally different topic, I'm going to start posting weight this week. I actually weigh in 3 times a week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday - but I'll just share one of them a week. I think I'll go with Wednesday and see how it goes. I'm not a huge fan of focusing on my weight, but for the purpose of a blog it makes sense. You all need to see some tangible evidence that I'm actually doing something, and I'm not completely comfortable posting pictures quite yet.

Here's a very short background of my weight gain (I've been trying to put together a post about my history, but my weight has been an issue my whole life, so I'm trying to condense it down for you. Nice of me, right?). I started really trying to lose weight when I was 22 years old and 205 pounds. I think I was down from a high around 215 or so (I had stopped weighing myself completely). I had put most of it on in college with beer and horrible food, but I managed to get my eating under control when I lived by myself after college ended. I actually lost the vast majority of weight around 6 years ago (50lbs), met a boy, got married, and gained around 20lbs back. I've almost taken that 20lbs off, and from there I would like to lose another 20lbs to be at 135. I seriously can't get over that number, especially now that it seems so close. 20lbs is a ways to go for me. I tend to lose quite slowly with the intention of keeping it off forever, and I've been pretty successful with it. But 135. I can't wrap my head around what I would even look like - I think I was in the 4th or 5th grade when I weighed that much. Maybe.

So I hope you'll all help me out for the last 23-ish pounds (we'll know tomorrow). I think sometimes that getting so close to the end is the hardest part. You can almost taste it (ha, ironic) but it seems to hover just out of reach. I want to get there and I want it to last.