Good Health News!

The past week has gone pretty well. I've been seeing the nutritionist and recording my foods. I did have a Krispy Kreme doughnut for the first time - right from the factory. WOW- but they've got lots of saturated fat and sugar, and are obviously not something I'll be eating much of in the future. I am not ordering myself to stay away completely from all foods, but I think that over time I will naturally refuse these types of things. I won't feel a craving or desire for these foods and won't feel that I am depriving myself. Currently there are days when I have to force myself to stay away from the unhealthy stuff, but these days occur less often with time.

Thank you, Chubbiegirl, for the juice and fizzy water idea. That is great! I used to drink juice and diet Vernor's or diet 7-Up, but I can drink it with Pellegrino or Perrier or some other sparkling water. Why didn't I think of that? This will help me when I have a taste for diet pop or Pepsi.

During my last visit to the nutritionist she measured my blood pressure at 110/80. What a difference from the 154/89 I had a short time ago during that scary health episode. I've also lost 14 lbs since July 10th. Even better, she went over my bloodwork results and said that the only thing that can explain my good HDL and triglyceride are my genetics. Lord knows I certainly haven't been eating healthfully or exercising regularly enough to have good HDL or triglycerides. I've always felt that I am very lucky to not have diabetes or diet-related heart problems. My cholesterol is high, but she says that she has seen cholesterol go from the high 200's to the high 100's in just a few short weeks from a change in diet. She wants me to get my bloodwork done again 6 weeks after the previous one was done to see how my diet has improved my cholesterol.

This morning I had the sudden idea to have lunch at the local raw food restaurant. I had about 1/3 of a cantaloupe for breakfast and then around noon went there for my lunch. I had the enchiladas. Boy, were they good! Amazingly, I was not hungry the rest of the day. No cravings, no hunger pangs, no thinking about when I was going to get my next meal. I went out to the outlet mall with a friend who ate a large pretzel, an ice cream cone, and also got candy samples, but I really had no desire for those things myself. We almost had dinner at a sushi place but the price drove us away. I would have eaten some sushi if she were hungry but if I'd been at the mall alone I wouldn't have even gone in. Today reminded me of how it felt to be raw last year, going hours without thinking about food and eating healthfully with little of the effort it is taking me right now. I can't wait for those days again!

When I finally did get hungry tonight, I had an eggbeaters omelette with vegetables. I have no idea how many calories, fat grams, proteins or carbs I had at the restaurant, but I have pledged to get enough protein, so the eggs filled that bill. At the restaurant I bought flaxseed crackers. One ounce has 8 grams of protein- not bad!

So today was a good day - I had no cravings for junk foods, drank enough water (my back started hurting, which served as a reminder!) got a taste of how great an all-raw day is, and got a lot of exercise and vitamin D walking around the mall for a few hours in the sunshine.

Note to Christine: I am at www.myspace.com/rawodyssey if you happen to have a myspace page and want to contact me there. If not, feel free to send me your email address (I won't publish it) if you want to talk. I'm glad to know you are out there!