Friday, May 25, 2007

    hEAlThy EATing

    So far, so good. It has been a month since I launched my plan to lower my cholesterol. I have not been re-tested (yet), but I think it is going extremely well. I reduced my caloric intake, drastically cut back on total fat intake, and for the most part, I have eliminated saturated fats and cholesterol from my diet. (There has been some level of consumption, but it is extremely limited).

    I have found that it is difficult to limit my sodium intake (keeping it well below the 2300 mg daily allowance recommended by the American Heart Association). I started with a goal of > (less than) 2300 mg, and gradually lowered that bar to 1800, which was a hard goal to meet. There is a lot of hidden sodium in foods and I am still in the process of eliminating those high-salt foods from my life. The goal now sits at 2200. On an average day, I am eating less than 2000 mg of sodium per day. I think that is pretty good, but I plan to do even better in the near future.

    I have tried a lot of new things: 2% milk based cheese (I get three 1 oz. servings in a week, if that much). This was my way of not having to give up cheese entirely, but not doing too much damage to my cholesterol levels. Other products that I have tried - and have been recommending to friends: So(y) Delicous Dairy Free ("Ice Cream"). Specifically, the creamy vanilla "ice cream". Take my word for it -- this stuff is GOOD. They also have a line of product sweetened with fruit sweetened and sugar free varieties, but I have not tried these.

    I am tracking my food intake with an application called Calorie King. (This is not just for caloric dieters, it has a massive database of nutrition label information. All you have to do is drag and drop your food intake from the database to the meal plan and it calculates everything for you. It is relatively inexpensive (around forty bucks I think) and it has been extremely useful to me during this process.

    Of course, I have also made more time to exercise several times a week. After another 4-6 weeks of this, I hope that my dedication is reflected in my cholesterol levels.

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    pero      @ 10:11 PM | œ | 2 comments

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    Wednesday, May 16, 2007

    Pessimistic is what I am. It is what I have been since I was a very young child. I don't wish to convert my opposing optimists to my dark thinking ways -- but I do wish that they would not try to pull me over to the bright side where they stand.

    I rather like it here... I don't put any effort into my negativity. It is not as if I am this way on purpose. I do not wake up in a great mood and pinch myself until I am miserable.

    I do realize that most optimists are as annoyed by pessimists as the pessimists are the optimists. What the optimists fail to understand is:
  • not all pessimists are looking for sympathy.

  • most of them do not want to change.

  • your happy sunshine personality will only make them despise you if you are too pushy about it.

    • pero      @ 6:30 PM | œ | 4 comments

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