I need a better way to not eat!?
Image by John Carleton
EVERY SUMMER thousands of tiny Vaux swifts swoop into Portland, Oregon, to spend several months feasting on flying insects during the day and roosting in the tall chimney at Chapman School at night. NW Portland is a regular vacation stopover for swifts during their annual migration from Alaska/Canada to Mexico/South America.
Historically, migrating swifts roosted in big hollow trees they found in Oregon’s old growth forests, but now, thanks to logging and urban sprawl, most of those trees are gone. In 1994, some adventurous swift scouted out new digs in the brick chimney atop Chapman Elementary School. The little birds, 4-5" ("cigars with wings"), like the rough surfaces and cracks in the bricks that give them lots of convenient toe holds, plus the chimney is big enough to accomodate between 20,000 to 40,000 birds.
The school children and their teachers welcomed the swifts in their chimney. They researched the swifts and other migratory birds, drew and painted pictures of their feathered friends, and even elected the swift as the school mascot. As the days grew colder in late September and October, students wore their coats to class so that administrators could postpone starting up the school furnace until after the swifts left the chimney to fly south. At last, the Portland Public Schools and the Audubon Society teamed up to raise grant money to stabilize the chimney for the swifts and to install a new gas heating system for the school. The renovation cost approximately ,000 (that’s not chicken feed!), and was funded by the Collins Foundation, the Metro Central Enhancement Grant Committee, and the Autzen Foundation.
Nine years have gone by, and the swifts are still summer celebrities in Portland. If you wander over to Chapman in the early evening, you’ll find a crowd of spectators sitting on a grassy bank overlooking the school. Some bring their picnic suppers, some bring champagne, many have binoculars and cameras. All ages come to watch the swifts as they congregate and prepare to call it a day. At first, there are just a few of the little birds circling the chimney, dipping close to the mouth of the chimney stack, then abruptly pulling up and flying away to repeat the cycle. As more and more birds arrive, from a distance, they look like a cloud of bees, wheeling round and round the chimney. Other birds – predators – also appear. A hawk sits on the rim of the chimney, watching, waiting, then suddenly strikes and carries off his unlucky prey. Occasionally, the tables are turned, and a gang of irate swifts attack the hawk, driving him away, at least for a short time.
The flock grows and grows until the cloud of birds turns black, and still they circle. What are they waiting for? Maybe they’re waiting for late arrivals? Maybe they are still catching insects as they fly? (Swifts eat in the air, and during their migration, sleep midair, too). Maybe they’re waiting for the air in the chimney to be the right temperature, or for the setting sunlight to fall at a certain angle? The Audubon Society has put an information kiosk in the schoolyard; perhaps it explains what finally triggers the birds’ descent.
Gradually the circling picks up speed. The birds fly several rapid last laps, and then…..Swooosh! They dive down the chimney and disappear. The sky is suddenly empty, blank. The sun is going down, too, and evening is here. Time to go home. The swifts will stay a few more weeks, until the days get shorter and the weather gets colder. Then mid-October or so, possibly when we fall back to standard time, they will fly away to winter in Mexico.
Text from here.
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Question by StarJeni: I need a better way to not eat!?
I know throwing up and not eating isn’t thwe answer for everybody. It seems to be the answer for me. I gained fifty pounds and i am more than unhappy, I am suicidal. I only live for my children. If it was up to me, I would just die and get it over with. I can not stand the way I look. I need severe weight loss help. I have bee exercising two times a day and eating barely nothing and when I do eat I throuw it up. i hate myself, but I have to live as long as I can for my children. they need me to care for them. try being 27 yrs old divorced with six children from an ex-husnabd that doesn’t support them or raise them. I want to be accepted by the men of today and myself. anyone can say what they want, but I am fat and ugly. I will do what i have to do to live or not.
Feel free to answer in the comment section below
5 Responses to I need a better way to not eat!?
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oh please don’t be so pessimistic,go to a dietician and then be patient,you’ll lose weight.everybody has different appearances,the most important beauty is in your inside.
Good Luck
pinarilicious
November 1, 2012 at 8:46 pm
First of all depriving your self of nutriention actually causes you to gain weight because the body thinks it is starving and it goes into a panic and starts storing every little bit it can get.
Your best bet is to go see your dr. He can get you on a diet and exercise program that will help you lose weight. It could be that you have something wrong that caused your rapid weight gain. Also being that you are in a deep depression doesnt help either.
You really need to get to your doctor. You have your kids to live for and honestly….they dont care if you are fat or not. Hang in there
lurky77
November 1, 2012 at 8:48 pm
Ok, believe it or not, you have to EAT to lose weight. If you are not eating AND throwing up what you do eat, your body goes into starvation mode and slows your metabolism WAY down to conserve energy. There are MANY healthy ways to diet. I lost a lot of weight doing weight watchers. You don’t have to do a certain plan though. Just eating healthy, low cal, low carb, high protein and high fiber diets tend to work best. Also, are you doing weight training with your exercise? If you are just doing cardio, add some weights, building muscle increases your body’s metabolism helping you to burn more calories throughout the day.
Now, on to what I consider the most important thing…your emotional health. You need to find some help. Try doing a google search for support groups for single mothers in your area. A lot of times you can meet other mothers who are going through very similar situations as yourself, and sometimes just knowing you aren’t the only one helps a ton. Also, maybe you would make friends and you could take turns watching each other’s children to get a little break. Even an hour out by yourself to just take a walk or get your hair done can really decrease your stress level. Also, there are a lot of social services available to people through most communities. Try finding someone you can go talk to like a psychiatrist, or, if you are religious, try talking to your pastor/rabbi/etc.
About wanting the “men of today” to like you…what you really need is to like yourself. You don’t need a man. Try being single for awhile. Focus on yourself, your children, and your other family members and friends.
Please don’t harm yourself. The children of parents who commit suicide have very many long-term issues that reach into their adult lives. Your children need you. You’re the most important person in their whole lives. When you are feeling bad about yourself try thinking “there are 6 little people in this world who think I hung the moon and can’t live without me.”
Hang in there, things will get better.
Alison
November 1, 2012 at 9:46 pm
StarJeni, it may be true that you weigh a bit more than you should. But starving yourself and up-chucking what you do eat is not the answer for anyone. Not to mention it’s a bad role-model for your kids. Speaking as a former child of a dead-beat dad, I have some knowledge of what happens. And frankly, I deliberately decided I want absolutely nothing from my sire.
You do need some major help. The law is on your side: Get what that scuz owes you, even if you have to sue him. A lawyer can advise you about that. And get some counseling of some sort for yourself at the very least.
Do you have any friends and family of your own that you can call on? Ask them to help with the kids. That has got to be stressing you too. In fact, if you haven’t, you might want to even join a gym. A lot of them offer child care nowadays. And you won’t be alone.
Good luck, Honey.
Tigger
November 1, 2012 at 10:30 pm
YOU HAVE KIDS AND NEED TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. I AM VERY THIN AND HAVE A HARD TIME PUTTING ON WEIGHT AND I HAVE TO TELL YOU, PEOPLE ALWAYS ASK IF I HAVE AN EATING DISORDER. IT HURTS JUST AS BAD TO BE UNDER WEIGHT. THIS IS WHAT I DO. I DONT EAT AFTER 7PM. I USUALLY DONT EAT THE LAST BITE OF FOOD AND I ONLY EAT WHEN I AM HUNGRY, NOT BORED! TAKE THE KIDS TO THE PARK. GO EXERCISE WITH THEM. TALK TO THE DOCTOR IF YOU ARE SUICIDAL. LIKE DR PHIL SAID, YOU DONT HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE YOUR LIFE, YOU HAVE CHILDREN AND THEY NEED YOU. YOUR LOOKS ARE NOT WHO YOU ARE! YOUR LOOKS ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE PERSON YOU ARE ON THE INSIDE. I KNOW YOU WANT THEM TO BE THE SAME AND IF YOU WORK HARD YOU CAN DO IT. GET THE DR PHIL WEIGHT LOSS BOOK. THROWING UP IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY AND MANY BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN AS A RESULT.
PLEASE GET HELP…..
Amber M
November 1, 2012 at 11:22 pm