O, The Oprah Magazine articles from October 2007

O, The Oprah Magazine archives from October 2007

Soothe Sayers.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Within a matter of months after I turned 50, my mother died and I went through a bad breakup. I'd been stuck in a paralyzing stupor until I read "21 Things You Can Stop Worrying About Right Now!" [by Suzan Colon, August]--specifically Mel...

How much that doggy costs.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... As the manager of a small animal hospital, I understand the plight Lauren Slater faced when her beloved Shiba Inu, Lila, struggled with a debilitating illness ["The $60,000 Dog," August]. I recommend pet insurance to most of our clients as a...

Hair me roar.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... I'd been mourning the loss of my hair due to chemotherapy when I took one look at the August cover and burst into tears--it read "What Your Hair Says About You," referring to the essays by four women who came to drastic conclusions about their...

Global warnings.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Naomi Klein's thoughts about campaign spending in "A Million Ways to Save the World" [August] made me say aloud, "It's about time!" Our politicians spend far too much money campaigning for office, obliging them to take care of their wealthy...

Time differences.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Martha Beck's "Transition Anxiety" [August], about the two personality types, monochrones and polychrones, which differ greatly in how they view time, really hit home. Moving from one activity to the next can be so difficult that sometimes...

Novel advice.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Walter Mosley's words of wisdom in "This Year You Write Your Novel" [August] came at the perfect time for me. Although I'm writing a book for children, not adults, I expect his practical suggestions will help me immeasurably I'm a chronic...

Overeating disorder.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Thank you for "Stuffed!" by Emily Yoffe [August], which reported that binge eating disorder is more prevalent in women than we'd previously thought. My sister and I began bingeing together in our 20s, and I continued to do so right through my...

To wear or not to wear.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... As an avid O reader, I'm often caught quoting the magazine. But I won't be citing Adam Glassman, who, in his August column, wrote that "shorts on adult women in general are ghastly." Obviously, Adam doesn't live in Florida. As I'm sitting here...

More than a mall.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Thank you for highlighting the amazing, abundant arts culture that makes Minneapolis such a great city for performers and audiences alike ["Stage Directions," by Alisa Blackwood, August]. You found the gems in local theater, food, and shopping;...

Loving, losing, and believing.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... The clarity and insight with which Kate Braestrup dealt with her husband's death in "Out of the Wilderness" [August] brought me a sense of peace. None of the books I've read on grieving have helped me as much as her beautifully written article....

Corrections.(Correction notice)
October 1, 2007... In August we failed to mention that the furniture on the cover was courtesy of Janus et Cie (janusetcie.com). In "What Do You Really Want to Do with Your Life?" [September], one of the subjects we profiled was Karen Beber, not Berber, as...

Here we go!(Cover story)
October 1, 2007... JOHN LENNON ONCE DESCRIBED LIFE AS "what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." There's definitely something to be said for letting the world come and go as it pleases, but sometimes you can't help feeling as if life is spinning...

Martha Beck's anti-complain campaign; Face it: the only thing bitching does is make you bitchy, and whining just leaves you whiney. But according to Martha Beck, it's possible to take all that steaming frustration and convert it into the kind of energy that moves mountains and rocks worlds.(advice, etc.)
October 1, 2007... AT 63, MINNIE IS ONE OF THE YOUNGEST people I've ever met. She sparkles, and not just because she's dressed in a fabulous buttercup-yellow tank top bedecked with rhinestones and sequins. Everything about Minnie, from her laughter to the...

Dr. Phil: "distancing yourself from friends is a bad idea"; Phillip C. McGraw, PhD, on coping with infertility ... getting back into the job market ... and talking to a child about cancer.(advice, etc.)
October 1, 2007... Q I am 33 years old and, after two grueling years of tests and procedures, have decided to start undergoing fertility treatments. Meanwhile, many of my friends have gotten pregnant and had children. Though it didn't bother me at first,...

Suze Orman: "good things come when you follow your passion"; Can I afford to stay home with my kids?... Should I live in debt to pursue my PhD?... Do my husband and I pay off his ex-wife's credit card balance?... How do I support an aging relative?(advice, etc.)
October 1, 2007... Q I am a married mother of three, and I've been at home with the children for the past four and a half years. My youngest will start kindergarten soon. I would really like to return to work because our mortgage is pretty high, and it's hard for...

What do I do now? Your too-thin friend and her worried husband. Dodging a colleague's come-on, and hosting a high-stress birthday party. Jancee Dunn consults O's etiquette experts.(advice, etc.)
October 1, 2007... Q Your best friend tells you she has an eating disorder and swears you to secrecy. As she becomes thinner and thinner, her husband becomes increasingly worried and asks you what you know. What do you say? Tell him you believe on good...

Jennifer Hudson's aha! moment: she always knew she'd survive, succeed, soar. How a Dreamgirl makes her wildest dreams come true.(advice, etc.)
October 1, 2007... AS A SINGER IN MY CHURCH CHOIR, I learned that in order to sing well, you have to understand the real meaning behind a song. But I never realized the impact lyrics could have on my life until I was shooting Dreamgirls. About six months before I...

A million ways to save the world.(advice, etc.)
October 1, 2007... Award-winning playwright EVE ENSLER resumes her monthly mission: to canvass the best brains around the globe for their earth-fixing ideas. So that by April 2008, the tenth anniversary of V-Day--the movement to end violence against women and...

How to be a star at work: 7 rules for a really big career; From a lowly sales assistant to head of a magazine empire (okay, our magazine empire), Cathie Black has boldly gone where no woman has gone before. Here, in a preview of her forthcoming book, Basic Black, she shares her unorthodox (dare we say daredevil) strategies for getting ahead....(advice, etc.)
October 1, 2007... THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, A HANDful of fortune-tellers roamed ancient China, traveling to the palaces of Mandarins and predicting the future. When they were right, they were showered with riches and praised at lavish banquets. When they were...

The O list.
October 1, 2007... "A few things I think are just great." --OPRAH Stand and Deliver "The ergonomically designed handle on these kitchen tools comes with a bonus feature: It keeps each piece standing upright, so countertops stay clean and tools stay...

The year of the coat: at this time of year, your coat makes the first (and lasting) impression--why waste it on something solemn and safe? O's entrance-making, body-shaping, heat-seeking picks (some under $100!) will build your confidence all winter long.(style)
October 1, 2007... The Right Coat for Your Body WANTED: Softer Curves "I wouldn't have picked this, but it looked amazing when I put it on," says silver-haired NANCY OZELLI of a cashmere and leather jacket (Rachel Roy) that does an hourglass number...

Look what we found! The new wrist candy.(style)
October 1, 2007... * YOUR OWN SWEET TIME. Less stark than black, more exciting than white, yet still conveniently neutral, chocolate watch faces make promptness feel like a calories-be-damned treat. They'd be excellent with a tweed jacket or under the cuff of a...

Editors' choice: what our fashion team is crazy about this month.(style report)
October 1, 2007... Fashion Finder Some of fashion's most coveted names (Proenza Schouler, Rachel Roy, Thakoon) are making their high-end wares a lot easier to find now that they have joined the populist e-commerce site shopbop.com. Its elegant new Designer...

Great buys under $100! The best of the season at crazy low prices.(style)
October 1, 2007... $25 Structured faux-python clutch with great texture, Necessary Objects Handbags, SRI Shoes, Raleigh, NC; 919-954-0051. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] $88 Craftsy, subtly pleated embroidered silk top--sweet over a turtleneck, Banana Republic;...

Adam says: O's creative director, Adam Glassman, tells you what your best friends won't.(style report)
October 1, 2007... Q WHICH COLORS LOOK CONFIDENT? I think it's old-fashioned to think in terms of "power" colors. Remember how female newscasters and execs in the '80s wore red suits because they were supposed to look authoritative? Women no longer need to...

Look what we found! A deliciously floral bath and body oil, remarkably versatile eyeshadow palettes, a skincare system that's got you covered, and more ... Here's what O's beauty editors, Valerie Monroe and Jessica Matlin, fell in love with this month.(style beauty)
October 1, 2007... * Can you imagine what it would be like to bathe in a field riotous with fresh and deeply fragrant flowers? We'll make it easy for you: Pour into your tub a capful of Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb perfumed Bath and Body Oil ($90 for 10 ounces)....

Ask Val: you've got questions? Our beauty director, Valerie Monroe, has answers.(style beauty)
October 1, 2007... Q Why do I always sneeze when I tweeze my eyebrows? Reader, I love you. (And you, and you, and you. You all ask the most interesting questions.) I called Cynthia Boxrud, MD, assistant clinical professor at the Geffen School of Medicine at...

If perfume be the food of love ... Hungry for an unforgettable new scent? Today's perfumes are redolent of caramel, fresh ginger, grapefruit, pink peppercorn, even just-baked bread. Chandler Burr inhales a deliciously appetizing phenomenon in fragrance.(style beauty)
October 1, 2007... I STAND AT THE END OF THE LONG, elegant, crystal-and-silver-laid dinner table at the Carlyle hotel on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. It's 7 P.M., and 17 guests are watching me. I hold 17 touches, the paper blotter strips perfumers use, all soaked...

Backstage at Dancing with the Stars.(bodywise)
October 1, 2007... THE SEQUINS, THE SAMBA... THE GUMMI WORMS and sesame bagels? How do the gifted professionals on ABC's Dancing with the Stars stay so lean, loose, and enthusiastic as they train their clumsy celebrity partners? On the next page you'll find the...

Chromium: a one-stop supplement?(bodywise)
October 1, 2007... YOU MAY HAVE heard it hyped recently as the go-to pill for weight loss, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Here, the bottom line on what chromium can do for you. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHAT IT IS: A mineral found in many foods, including...

3 health books we love.(bodywise)
October 1, 2007... INTRIGUING BOOKS ON health and medicine are a dime a dozen. But it's rare that they're also meticulously reported and well written. Now there are three in one month. Curl up next to the fire with any--or all--of these. You won't be...

A vitamin cocktail for the brain.(bodywise)
October 1, 2007... IN 1998, WHEN THE UNITED States government required manufacturers to enrich bread and grain products with the B vitamin folic acid, the goal was to reduce the number of babies born with neural tube birth defects. It worked--incidence has...

Stay flexible, stay well.(bodywise)
October 1, 2007... Practitioners tout yoga for its mind-body benefits--flexibility, toned muscles, reduced stress, among others. More recently, scientists have begun to test yoga's effect on serious medical conditions. The results have been impressive enough that...

Your doctor, your diet coach: physician-run weight loss clinics are the latest craze in America's $58 billion dieting industry. Doctors are prescribing drugs, "fat dissolving" injections, and severe diets to help patients lose weight. Fran Smith reports on the trend--the good, the bad, and the dangerous.(bodywise)(Company overview)
October 1, 2007... LOVE HANDLES. ROSE KATZ, 43, an attorney, wanted to lose hers. Even though she worked out five times a week and watched what she ate, she just couldn't smooth those bulges. Katz had read that injections of something called Lipodissolve might...

The way to eat: David L. Katz, MD, sorts out the healthy, the harmful, and the hype.(bodywise)
October 1, 2007... Q I am obsessed with chips of any flavor. I can sit and eat a whole bag with no problem. Can you suggest ways I can control this craving, along with a healthier alternative? I have tried popcorn, but I'm growing tired of it, plus I usually put...

The breast cancer nobody is talking about: the news about breast cancer is good, and getting better all the time--except for one virulent, fast-acting type that attacks more than twice as many young black women as all other women. Mary A. Fischer delves into a highly charged medical mystery.(bodywise)
October 1, 2007... IN MAY 2006, AS SHE WAS GET-ting dressed for work, Lori Booker felt a small lump in her left breast. Only 32, she was concerned but thought it was probably just a cyst, and made an appointment to see her gynecologist. With a demanding job as a...

The possibility of joy: facing a terrifying illness didn't turn Hilene Flanzbaum into a flower-sniffing, every-moment-counts goody-goody. It did, however, give her an identity so shockingly focused, satisfying, and purely her that she could hardly believe it.(mindwise)
October 1, 2007... I AM NOT AN OPTIMIST. I don't believe that the glass is half full, or in making lemonade when life hands me lemons. I am the granddaughter of four Eastern European Jews who fled Poland to escape pogroms. I am a pessimist; when it is sunny, I...

Did you hear the latest about Paris-Britney-Lindsay? Is celebrity gossip bad for our brains? What's the real appeal of tabloid mania?(mindwise)
October 1, 2007... IN 2000, FAMED New York Post gossip columnist Liz Smith, the Grande Dame of Dish, wrote an engrossing tell-all about a celebrity she knows intimately: herself. The introduction to Natural Blonde is chilling today, particularly following a...

The too-good marriage.
October 1, 2007... YOU'RE THE PERFECT couple, people say--so in sync, you never fight. Or they marvel at how you're always together 24/7, or how you've got a super marriage (the Big Careers, the beautiful house, the great family). O tapped the country's top...

Deborah Norville says thanks.(mindwise)
October 1, 2007... AFTERYEARS of interviewing people on television, Inside Edition anchor Deborah Norville had a hunch: Being thankful leads to fulfillment. It made sense, but seasoned journalist that she is, Norville wasn't about to spit out a bunch of...

You've lost that oven feeling: individual souffles in little ramekins. A rustic-looking casserole that's a perfect fit for mac and cheese.... Dinner parties are less work with chic bake-and-serve dishes (no more tiny blue flowers) that can sit proudly on the most stylish table.(comfort zone)
October 1, 2007... Get personal with individual-size ramekins and souffle dishes. The portion-control aspect is nice, but the real reason we love these sleek miniatures is that they're unbelievably cute (and this mini lemon souffle: even cuter). If you like a...

The gang's all here: be it ever so humble, there's no place like the neighborhood joint. After reading Amy Bloom's paean to Casey's, you'll want what she's having.(food)
October 1, 2007... THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, OF COURSE. No other place where you can walk in, all dressed up and all grown up and still count on someone saying: That's not your color. Or: You looked better with bangs. (If you're in your 40s, it may be...

Eater's digest: what's new and delicious this month.(food)
October 1, 2007... One Good Turnover Deserves Another For those drafty fall nights when you crave foods not for their novelty but for the sustenance they provide, we suggest stocking your freezer with Frog Hollow Farm's savory turnovers. The handmade,...

Live from New York.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... IN ALL MODESTY, SYLVIA PLACHY TRIES to vanish behind the lens--yet somehow she seems to be inside the picture, the genie that lets loose its swirling, slightly off-balance energy. Her Goings On About Town (Aperture/The New Yorker) showcases the...

True stories of love, loss, longing and what it takes to get through the hard times.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... * IT'S CALLED "BEATING THE DARKNESS": the Haitian custom of brazenly clanging pots and pans to keep terror at bay. Behind this urgent domestic defense ("an act of protest, a cry for peace") that Edwidge Danticat (Breath, Eyes, Memory) evokes in...

Joyce to the world! A taste of her journal.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... January 7, 1973. Fascinating, the human mind; unfathomable. To think that we inhabit the greatest, most ingenious work in the universe... that is, the human brain... and we inhabit it gracelessly, casually rarely aware of the phenomenon we've...

Tell it on the mountain: a fervent debut novelist writes of a landscape and a family bulldozed beyond recognition.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... WHAT MIGHT IT BE like to love a string of mountaintops all the way down to your bones? To come from seven generations of families who learned to live on their green, forested flanks. To follow your mother into the woods collecting ramps and...

You call this justice? A passionate account of surveillance gone berserk.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... IN SEPTEMBER 2002, Mukhtar al-Bakri, a young Yemeni-American, was spending his wedding night with his bride in Bahrain when a group of policemen burst into his hotel room. The explanation was at once simple and horribly complex. As he'd planned...

Reality bites.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... Here's the news: Some 17,500 people who have fallen prey to human trafficking enter the United States each year and endure prostitution, domestic servitude, sweatshop production, or backbreaking agricultural travail. In Nobodies: Modern...

Fall novels--the pick of the crop.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... AMBITIOUS NOVELS ARRIVE this month from three of America's most popular serious writers, Philip Roth, Ann Patchett, and Richard Russo. Their books are like three of your friends who live in different towns, in different styles of houses, with...

Books that made a difference to George Saunders: the writer finds salvation, good company, and new twists on old truths in shimmering short stories and novels, plus a blue-eyed masterpiece.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... THE SCARIEST THOUGHT IN THE world is that someday I'll wake up and realize I've been sleepwalking through my life: underappreciating the people I love, making the same hurtful mistakes over and over, a slave to neuroses, fear, and the habitual....

Confessions of a self-help-book reader.(reading room)
October 1, 2007... For years she thought self-help books were only for nincompoops. Then she read one. And another. And another. Now she can't believe the hands-on wisdom about love and sex! The timely advice about breaking up! The illuminating psychology about...

The Finish Party: part boot camp, part therapy, part lovefest, novelist ZZ Packer's writing group meets once a month to keep its eight members going strong. Every woman should have such friendship and support (not to mention the cookies, wine, and chocolate)....(connections)
October 1, 2007... THIS MONTH JACKIE LUCKETT IS hosting our writing group at her place--a modern loft in a hip part of Oakland's Jack London Square. She has laid out a frisee salad with pomegranate seeds, broiled chicken breasts prepared with pesto, feta cheese,...

That shrinking feeling: she was not his patient, still he had patience. Phyllis Raphael on how one expert unlocked her car while the other unlocked her heart.(connections)
October 1, 2007... I HAD BEEN DIVORCED FOR 14 YEARS AND HAD three children off on their own--a daughter working in Europe, a son in graduate film school, and another daughter in college--when a woman I met on a ski lift in Aspen offered to set me up with a...

Live your best love life! Bored in bed? Intimidated by intimacy? Romance running on empty? Have no sexual fear ... Cindy Chupack is here!(connections)
October 1, 2007... Am I the only woman in the world who likes watching porn with her husband? My friends say they think it's disgusting, but I find it keeps me focused during sex instead of thinking about my to-do list. --Sheila in Illinois ...

Seeing in the dark: never mind the frozen computers and the rapidly thawing food. When the lights go out, Thelma Adams finds wonder, unexpected clarity, even joy.(connections)
October 1, 2007... BLACKOUTS HAVE THEIR USES. DURING the New York City blackout of 2003, on the 8.2-mile walk from my midtown Manhattan office to my Brooklyn brownstone (a trek that included two Mister Softee ice cream stops and the crossing of one immense...

The victim.(report)
October 1, 2007... He was dark, smelled of gasoline, and held 32-year-old Ann Meng prisoner for nearly an hour while savagely and repeatedly raping her. Thanks to her "100 percent positive" identification, he was sentenced to five life terms. There was only one...

How to take care of your beautiful mind.
October 1, 2007... Do you ever have those moments when you feel you're losing it? You're totally overwhelmed, or you're soaking in sadness, or everyone's driving you nuts. You're having a really bad day... or month... or life. Well, hold on! We've got some...

O's mental health kit: for those times when your mind is addled, your heart feels turbulent, your center is shaky--a little black bag full of cures, from experts who are devoted to keeping us all in beautiful balance.
October 1, 2007... ANXIETY 5 Ways to Calm the Jitters SWEATY PALMS, jagged nerves, choking insecurity: LEVEL ORANGE. Heart pounding out of your chest: LEVEL RED. Most of us know what it is to feel like a walking Homeland Security alert system. In fact,...

Help! Whether you've tripped into a black hole of depression or simply feel that your life has become one big rut, psychiatrist-in-training Christine Montross explains how going into therapy can get you back on solid ground--then listens in as three women and their therapists talk candidly about how the process works.
October 1, 2007... IN MY FIRST YEAR OF TRAINING AS A PSYchiatric resident, a friend called to ask whether I thought she needed to be on an antidepressant. She'd been dating the same man for several years, and despite the fact that nothing in the relationship had...

The bipolar diaries: imagine being on a small boat on a rocky sea. Waves whoosh back and forth. You can't get your bearings. There's no land in sight. Now imagine that this boat is you and that perfect storm is caused by a disorder in your brain's chemistry. Playwright Elizabeth Swados lets you in on what it takes to keep herself afloat.
October 1, 2007... I HATE THIS POLITICALLY CORRECT TERM-bipolar. On the surface it can seem sexy, like bicoastal or bisexual. Or it might suggest that I'm into saving the environment, traveling to those places where penguins mate and whales eat seals. ...

If you've ever thought about going into therapy ... or getting out of it: novelist, short story writer, and psychotherapist Amy Bloom has looked at therapy from both sides of the couch. Here, a few things she wants every patient to know about the sane way to get help.
October 1, 2007... 1 Great Therapists Are Where You Find Them It does not matter what the person's training is. Intelligent, insightful, empathetic people with a sense of humor and of boundaries appear with anything from a nursing degree to an MD and ten...

Those sips! Those sighs! For heat seekers everywhere--creamy, fragrant, heart-soothing, easy-to-make soups, guaranteed to banish the chill of early autumn. Mimi Read goes spooning.
October 1, 2007... LEAN OVER A BOWL OF SOUP; IT'S LIKE A PERSONAL HEARTH. WHETHER YOU'RE SHIVERING WITH CHILLS AND UNDER THE weather, or simply depleted and hungry, it will restore you, body and soul. "To me, soup represents everything good about fall," says...

Breathing space.
October 1, 2007... ECOLA STATE PARK, OREGON Photograph by Craig Tuttle

The gray is coming! The gray is coming!(O INTERVENTION)(Interview)
October 1, 2007... What do you do when you see your first gray hair? Do you pluck it? Ignore it? Discreetly adjust your part--the way you might surreptitiously slide a chair over a slender imperfection in a rug? And when the gray starts coming in fast and...

Is your handbag killing you? O's spine-tingling buying guide.
October 1, 2007... Get a load of this year's it bags: They're very cool, they're very heavy, and they're really rotten to your back... your shoulder... your neck. O asked chiropractor ISIS M. MEDINA to weigh in on hundreds of styles and assess the potential...

The power of pink: you know that rush you get after you've just bought something you love? Feel it magnified when you shop for clothes, cosmetics, and accessories that help fund the fight against breast cancer.(FASHION BEAUTY)
October 1, 2007... For a touch of the delicate rose water, jasmine, and lavender scent in LOLLIA INSPIRE DUSTING POWDER, tap the plush puff onto shoulders and decolletage. ($28; lollialife.com. Twenty percent of proceeds goes to a consortium of Colorado breast...

The multitaskers; The day I had to dump two pounds of makeup out of my tote to find my keys, I admitted that I had a problem. But when I realized I needed to build a third shelf in my shower to hold all my soaps and shampoos, I decided to take action. The resolution: replace everything with load-lightening, versatile space-savers.(BEAUTY)
October 1, 2007... The ultimate pinch hitter: A unique blend of pomegranate essence, calendula, bergamot, myrrh extract, and vitamin C in RODIAL GLAM BALM ($95) moisturizes as a face mask or night cream, tames brows, softens cuticles, plumps lips, and soothes...

Those sips! Those sighs! Simmer down! Rustic egg drop and butternut squash blends, plus the comfort food-iest tomato soup ever ... (for story see page 330).(THE RECIPES)
October 1, 2007... The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup The stock recipe makes more than the soup recipe calls for. Store the remaining stock in small airtight, freezer-safe containers, up to 3 months. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Stock: 1 whole...

Shop guide (all prices are approximate).
October 1, 2007... COVER/HERE WE GO! P.75 Jacket, Gianfranco Ferre, $4,230; 212-717-5430. Sweater, TSE, $495, similar styles available, Bergdorf Goodman, NYC; 212-753-7300. Pants, Loro Piana, $1,790, similar styles available, Bergdorf Goodman, NYC; 212-753-7300....

What I know for sure.
October 1, 2007... I HAD TO GIVE MYSELF A BREAK. My body was turning on me. First hyperthyroidism, which sped up my metabolism and left me unable to sleep for days. (Most people lose weight. I didn't.) Then hypothyroidism, which slowed down my metabolism and made...