I'm Finally Getting Blood Tests

Well, I saw the doctor today. I weighed in at 277 - I knew it would be higher than 270 (my lowest). My blood pressure was 110/80. The doctor was puzzled that my hair loss is symmetrical, as if I did it myself -for example, a certain hairstyle or tightly fitting hats could cause this pattern. But after reviewing my situation and finding no evidence of infection or support for my doing this to myself (!) he recommended $160 worth of blood tests- YIKES! He want to check a few things, but most importantly my thyroid, iron, cholesterol, electrolytes and glucose.

I really had to think about going through with the tests because I surely don't have $160. My university-based insurance will reimburse me at some point, but that doesn't help me today. I took the choice of having them bill me. I will not be able to register for classes until I pay the bill, but I figure I'll have the money by fall, and my health is important. So, tomorrow I have my round of tests. The results come in about a week. Even if they don't find anything that explains the hair loss, it'll be helpful to have the results just so I can see how effective my raw lifestyle has been. Last year my cholesterol was over 200; I can't imagine there not being an improvement.

So, now that the medical stuff has begun, I'm looking at my diet again. According to Sparkpeople I had around 1700 calories yesterday. Almost 400 of that was because of the nuts I ate, but those nuts also gave me a high proportion of the 46 grams of protein I consumed. Fish was another large contributor to my protein total even though I had less than 3 ounces. If my calorie or fat count are causing me to not lose weight (remember, I'm not working out at the moment!) I may decide to alternate my protein sources because they are both higher in calories. Maybe I'll eat the fish and nuts on separate days. Some raw foodists claim that overweight people can eat high amounts of raw plant fat and not worry about caloric intake because they will still lose weight. I haven't seen that for myself as of yet.

I'm happy to be getting the medical stuff underway, at last. Next on the agenda: the nutritionist!