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!

Review of Day One of my Updated Raw Menu

( Fig photo taken by Xerones. Click image for more images)

Mission: Regrow my hair!
The Plan

1. Get 80 to 100 grams of protein.
2. Get between 50 - 70 grams of healthy fats.
3. Increase my intake of minerals- especially calcium, magnesium, and iron
4. Increase my B vitamin intake
5. Eat between 1200 and 1700 calories.
   

DAY ONE (yesterday)
I tried oh so hard to meet my protein goal! It was hard to achieve it without googobs of fat and calories. Raw foodists have said that we can eat as much fat as we want without infringing on weight loss, but I have not experienced consistent weight loss while eating high amounts of fat. However, my blood tests showed me that eating high amounts of plant fats have not harmed me- and probably contributed to my great cholesterol levels.

This is consistent with what scientists have found with people who follow a Mediterranean diet that is high in healthy fats such as olive oil. While low-fat diets lower your HDL cholesterol- the kind of cholesterol you actually want to raise- a Mediterranean diet protects your heart by raising your HDL. So while I'm not concerned about my heart and arteries when I eat a lot of plant fat, I do worry that I'm slowing or halting my rate of weight loss.

So here's what I ate: fresh figs, some dried fruits, and some nuts. FOUR slices of Ezekiel bread because they had 16 grams of protein and only 2 grams of fat. Mozzarella balls marinated in olive oil, sundried tomatoes and basil, and 4 oz. of smoked salmon. Overall I had about 2000 calories - way more than I prefer. I overdid the fat as well: 100 grams. I made it to about 90 grams of protein, though- yaaay!

ADJUSTMENTS
Using Sparkpeople.com I found that I did not get all the vitamins and minerals I needed, so I'm going to add blackstrap molasses to my diet to see if that helps- it's also good for hair because it's full of iron and other minerals. I'm sure it's not raw, but I'm on a mission this month. I will work on finding more protein sources that I enjoy eating but which have fewer fat calories, like the Ezekiel bread and fish. Hummus would work, too. I'm choosing to avoid brewer's yeast because, despite the fact that it would be perfect, I can't stand the stuff! I refuse to eat foods I don't like.

Here's another change: I'm going to incorporate fresh fish into my diet and greatly reduce or even eliminate smoked fish. Why? Because even though smoked salmon tastes great, both Felicia and I have noticed that we get mild headaches after eating it. It could be the salt it is cured in or it could be the nitrites so many smoked fish products have.

Th-th-th-that's all for now, folks!

Comparing Blood Levels Pre and Post Raw

I obtained the blood test results today. I have posted only the results that I felt were most relevant to the nutritional issue I'm dealing with- my concern about hair loss. The results show that everything is normal. I was happy to find a test I had taken last August that I can use for comparison between my non-raw days and my current diet. Now, the 2005 test was taken during an emergency room visit for an ovarian cyst, so I had not fasted beforehand, as I did for the latest test, and the nature of the emergency might have played a role in some of the numbers. Still, the results for many of the tests are very similar. If any of you are nurses or doctors or in some field that requires you to understand the implications of these numbers, feel free to share your knowledge. It's amazing how much people know that doctors won't/can't take the time to truly explain to you.

The highlighted items are the ones that stood out to me the most. Oh- I didn't include my cholesterol, but it's 177- very good, and much improved from the mid-200's I've had in the recent past. My HDL (the good stuff) is 54 (if it were above 60, it would be awesome!) But 40 to 60 is good. LDL (the bad stuff) needs to be below 130 for someone of my characteristics, so this is at a healthy level as well. The raw diet has truly helped me obtain that result.

It's late, so I will have to reserve my comments about what all these tests mean until another post. I did a lot of research, though! In summary, I'm thinking I could stand to raise the protein levels, but I've read that you can't do that by eating protein, you just have to have an overall balanced diet. I also believe my calcium level could stand to be raised. Looking at all of the blood counts (some of which I haven't posted) I've also deduced that my iron level is on the low-normal side. I can't tell if its gone up or down since last year but I believe it has gone up because after the first week of eating raw, the severe tongue pain that my doctor had said was iron-related totally disappeared.
(UPDATE: my potassium level should read 4.7. Thanks, Pam, for noting that I might be half dead with potassium at .87). :-)

NEXT UP: The Dietician, and perhaps some pH strips so I can test my acid/alkalinity levels (thanks for the idea, bkrisp).

Happy Independence Day!