Two pieces of good news. First, I've actually started following Dr. Dean Ornish's "Life Choice" plan again in the past week, eating only 10% or less calories from fat, with moderate exercise (though not much yet). That means no added fat in cooking, no meat, and avoiding cheeses, nuts, avocados, olives, and other high-fat foods. I feel a lot better, and the weight from this month's misadventures with peanut butter cups is already all gone again. Plus, I generally feel better, though I'd feel better yet if I could get my butt moving a bit more.

You low-carbers can have your fun, but when I first started the Life Choice plan in 1998, I lost about 40 pounds in four months. After living alone, though, I fell almost completely off the plan, but am enjoying getting it back in gear. Some of the cooking will be a challenge, but I have a few more years' experience now. Thanks to my lovely pressure cooker, I can get a batch of saffron risotto with vegetables done in less than 30 minutes, with virtually no fat. Yum.

Second, thanks in part to the Life Choice plan, I'm sleeping more regularly. In the past five days, I've turned around from going to bed at 10AM to getting up at 10AM, a far more sustainable schedule. It took a few days of mid-day naps, and I'm still waking up after five hours, but I'm now capable of going back to sleep. I'm close to getting enough sleep for the first time this year.

The bad news: it's a setup for better future performance. This week, the transition, especially in sleeping hours, put me about 12 pages behind schedule. We didn't get to publish either MDJ or MWJ on 2004.02.29, and I really had wanted to publish February 29 issues. I like February 29th, even if it's on a Sunday.

Maybe next time. :-(