Tuesday, March 25, 2008

    Vacation Update ... and a Little Rant (for good measure)

    Happy Tuesday. Vacation is going well; I feel rested, to say the least, although I did wake up much earlier than I had planned this morning.

    I am staying with friends, a family of my friend, his wife, and their four year old. They are all continuing to go to work and school for the first part of the week, and later in the week they will take a few days off. This morning, I awoke to the little girl yelling, "Daaaaaaadyyyyy!" (after a few times, I got up and followed the voice to the living room.

    She looked at me and said, "I want my daddy. I'm cold." I asked her where her daddy was, and she told me he was in the shower.

    "He cannot hear you if he is in the shower, but there is a blanket behind you on the couch."

    Now I am drinking coffee, and watching the TODAY show, where they are finally-FINALLY admitting that all of the disinfecting and antibacterial/antimicrobial products are affecting our immune systems. I've been saying this for years. I've been telling people -- or at least trying to tell them that some germ exposure is GOOD, and taking antibiotics for everything (or simply too often) is not good.

    They have also pointed out that doctors are now exposing children to very small amounts of foods to which they have allergies. (DO NOT JUST RUN OUT AND TRY THIS YOURSELF... CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR.) For example, children with peanut allergies are being given small amounts of peanut dust/powder in other foods in order to expose them to peanuts and allow their bodies to (SLOWLY) develop a resistance to it. This is also something I have been (preaching) talking about for years.

    My (ex)wife's sister has a daughter with an allergy to milk. Well, at least, the child had a problem with it as an INFANT. Now, the girl is eleven, and if you simply (lie to her and) tell her that what she just ate had milk in it, she "feels sick" about an hour later. Years ago (when the kid was around four years old), I attempted to make the suggestion to (that entire family) that it might be a good idea to expose her to small amounts of milk, since her body reacted fairly mildly and simply made her have excess mucus and congestion, and suggested that they might want to consult her pediatrician about it to see if s/he agreed with the theory.

    My (ex)wife and (ex)sister-in-law, both being LPNs, argued with my theory, and stated that I was crazy. It would never work. She could DIE. Yet, they allow her to have small amounts of milk product (such as whipped cream on her strawberries or ice cream,) but to let her start drinking real milk instead of soy? "CRAZY." "STUPID.", "RISKY."

    As it turns out -- I may be right. (I may be crazy).

    Labels: ,


    pero      @ 5:41 AM | œ | 0 comments

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


    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.

    Labels: ,


    pero      @ 10:11 PM | œ | 0 comments

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


    Sunday, April 22, 2007

    Please Pass the Oat Bran...

    And the Omega(s) 3,6 & 9; and hide the cheese...

    I spent the majority of my day torturing myself over food choices. I spent a couple of hours pondering what I should consume for my next meal. I would finally eat something, just to feel like I was starving again half an hour later.

    Then I'd have to start planning again so I wouldn't starve to death before I figured out what to eat. I know which foods I should avoid.

    I have a feeling that 70% of my food intake is going to be of the plant variety. Don't get me wrong, I love fruits and vegetables. (But, please don't give me apples that taste like grape soda.)


    I have just failed to convince myself that life would not be awful without CHEESE.


    I have made a lot of excuses lately when it comes to "having time to exercise". I used to enjoy running. This is now limited due to my old knees. I haven't found something I enjoy quite as much, so I haven't been getting as much exercise as I used to. I have made a promise to change this, along with the other habits that I know are going to kill me - EVENTUALLY.

    I am waiting for Monday to arrive. Monday is the day Dr. A. will call and give me the "bad news". Monday is the day that the hammer comes down and crushes my "I am actually pretty healthy" ego.

    Just a Bit Outside


    After tracking the foods I ate throughout the day Saturday, I discovered that while it is fairly easy to make wise choices where fats and cholesterol are concerned; there is a LOT of hidden sodium in foods. I realize that this is not news, since pretty much everybody knows that processed foods have an abundance of sodium.

    When I make the above statement, I mean to say that, despite the fact that I thought something was a wise choice - once I did the calculations, I realized I had exceeded the amount of sodium recommended for me. [Yikes... I'll work on that, too.]

    More Information Sources
    Understanding Cholesterol

    Welchol - About Cholesterol

    Labels: ,


    pero      @ 12:12 AM | œ | 0 comments

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *