Day 32: Letter to the Editor

Today, I have a guest writer, my sister Jessica.  She has written me from far-away Pakistan, where the mountains are high, the water is pure (okay, it isn't that pure), and apparently, everyone is skinny. 

Dear Jeffrey,

Although I am thousands of miles away in the foothills of the Himalayas, I have been diligently reading your blog though the miracle of modern, digital technology.

As a life-long weight-loss advocate, I have to say that your blog is probably the very best blog out there related to losing weight.  In fact, I will now go so far as to say that this blog is the best blog that has ever been written and created on any topic, ever.

As you know, I am currently in the Hunza Valley of the Gilgit-Baltisan autonomous region in Pakistan.  In case you don't know where that is, think of it this way.  You know how Pakistan is shaped kind of like a cocker spaniel up on its hind legs begging?  I am in the head/snout part of the cocker spaniel, as indicated in the graphical rendering to the left.

Of course, the area is absolutely beautiful, and I have loved exploring every part of this amazing valley.  I have included a few pictures for you.  Here is a picture of the view outside my front door:

Here is the view to the left of my house:

Here is the view to the right of my house:

Here is what I see when I look out the back window:

Of course, the people are great, and, like the rest of the world, they love everyone who isn't American.  I have told them that I am from Canada.  They love people from Canada.  This ruse worked until a few weeks ago.  That is when my class asked to see my passport (I was teaching them a little about traveling and they wanted to see it).  Things got a little dicey when I showed them and one of the smarter kids asked why, if I was Canadian, I had a passport that said "United States of America."  I told him that he was wasn't sounding the letters out correctly on the passport and that he was confused (I am, after all, the one teaching them English).  By humiliating him in front of the class, he became quiet and placated.  Now, weeks later, he is having a very, very hard time reading anything.  He uses a "c" sound every time he reads the letter "u," and he keeps thinking that half of the letters in the English language are silent.  I feel bad, but I am going to have to fail him out of the class (hey, if you can't cut it in my class, you are out). 

Anyway, I digress.  I wanted to laud you for your efforts on this blog and thought I would share a few of my experiences in Pakistan with you.  First of all, Americans could learn a thing or two from the people out here.  They NEVER call you fat!  They prefer more appropriate words, such as "really fit" or "strong."  As you know, our family's fat gene has not been friendly to either of us, but I will tell you, out here they think you are good to go with a fat gene.  I have never been called "really fit" before in the United States.  Here, I am told that I am "really fit" at least four times a day.  


Given how you looked last time I saw you, if you lived here I am sure you would be (by far) the "strongest" man in the Hunza Valley.  Why, you ask?  Well, every single person here is skinny as a rail.  When I arrived, I thought I may lose a few pounds while out here because I was convinced that the diet was the basis of their lack of fat.  Plus, the food is foreign to me, and the diet is extremely simple.  This has not been the case.  In northern Pakistan, dinner (and lunch and breakfast) consists of rice, dal (a sort of lentil soup), and potatoes.  There is no coffee, no candy, no sugar or baked goods of any kind.  Eating this food all the time, people here are literally fit as a fiddle (the American kind of "fit," not the Hunza Valley kind of fit), and I figured that I could lose a few pounds while I was here.  I have been completely wrong.  I have now been on the "Dal Diet" for 103 days, and I haven't lost an ounce.  The diet seems to work on everyone else here, but not on me.  I really don't get it.  It has got to be the fat gene, it is the worst.

Anyway, glad to hear that things are going well.  Say hi to the family and I will try to write again soon.

Love,

Jessie.