Thinking on my feet

I am not very good at thinking on my feet.

Wednesday was my interview with the NYT magazine reporter. He was very nice and is writing an article on CALERIE for the food issue which should be out the second weekend in October.

I prepped answers to some of his questions ahead of time- knowing that I ramble a lot, rarely making it to the point I want to make. So I thought that if I had those answers planned out, it would leave little room for my strange side tangents -- Of course that was not the case :)

I keep thinking about what I said throughout the interview though, and random thoughts hit me like "Oh no, I talked for 3min about how I was curious about my reaction to mosquito bites changing/improving by being on this diet." (Inflammatory responses are supposed to improve in animal models of CR) But really?! Yeah sure- that was a fleeting thought at some point, but not something I regularly think about.

Oh- and I said my least favorite test of the study was the glucose tolerance test. Really!? I know it is gross- but people do it all the time. It is essentially orange tang!! I have never been good at taking liquid meds-- but I don't think it is the actual test that I don't like-- it is the fact that on that day I can't eat until 2pm. The muscle and fat biopsies are much more invasive/uncomfortable- why didn't I choose those?!

Also- I got asked the one question that everyone asks me: "Are you going to have a big feast once the diet is over?" I do not have a good answer to this question. I was honest enough with him- saying that I hope not, but that my friends and family may have other plans/ideas. Then I rambled on and on about food as a reward and the focus of happy celebrations- and how I went on a camping trip for my birthday last year because that was fun alternative to the typical calorie centered "going out to dinner/bar" celebration.

The kicker was my answer to the big question at the end (I did not prepare for this one...): "Do you think this is a diet that most Americans can/will do?" I had and still have no answer to this question- but of course that did not stop me from rambling on and on about how "maybe the longer my friends and family see me living a "normal life" while doing CR the more feasible it can be" ...but really I only know one friend who actually wants to do the diet- so maybe not...

Then I made a reference to how on a day to day basis- it really is not much different than weight watchers (in terms of counting/measuring)- which led us into a big discussion about weight loss vs. longevity, motivation, and the intangible/immeasurable goal of a "long life."

Maybe there are no good answers. Maybe I should talk more about CR (ha!)...

But in the end, I guess I can relax a bit- the fact is that the reporter has interviewed a lot of participants between 2 different study locations, the researchers, nutritionists, and study coordinators. The chance that my random, rambling thoughts make it into the article are probably small.

It was a good experience though and will give me a lot to keep thinking about...