Tag Archives: Health & Nutrition

Life

I Got Mad The Other Day

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Mad graphic.
I’ve been having a moment.  Well, a very long moment that started in January and has been building ever since. This isn’t book related so if you care to skip it, feel free.

Last Friday I did not have a good appointment with my Rheumatologist. My iron levels are leading me to a transfusion and my Vitamin D levels are so low that “heart event” was mentioned as was “stroke”.  To make matters worse, my BP was 182 and it continued to go up as my phone kept going off from work. It was unreal. It has never been that high and the nurse took it numerous times.

My. Health. Sucks.

I take iron. I take Vitamin D. I make good food choices about 75% of the time. I am just not absorbing nutrients and this is not something I can even control so it made me angry. I suspect that Celiac as well as Lupus have done their damage and now I am just a sieve for nutrients to pass through. Plus the shape of my red blood cells are wonky too.

After three solid days of wallowing in my misery and being angry as heck, I started to feel very small for focusing on all the negatives but sometimes you gotta get it out of your system. I haven’t quite gotten it all out yet but I am close.

This week I am making small changes to fix the 25% of my diet and habits that are not so great.

  • I haven’t had coffee in nearly a week but I don’t plan to give it up, I just can’t drink it right now with my BP so high.
  • I’ve cut my portions in half and added more fish to my diet. The family is already complaining about that because I managed to stink up the house cooking up my lunches.
  • I’m not exercising yet because with the low iron levels my energy levels can barely get me through the day right now but that is coming.
  • Trying to sleep more. Trying.
  • Removing sync on my work email account as soon as I leave the building.
  • Trying to get up every hour to walk around. I was sitting for very long periods of time… maybe three hours of intense focus before getting up. Not good.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at right now. By December, when I find out who my new doctor is, I am hoping to be down 20 lbs. Sounds like a lot but I’ve lost three since Friday so really only 17 more!

So that’s it. I got mad, pouted, cried a little, threw myself on top of my bed and groaned like Harry Burns did in the Casablanca scene of When Harry Met Sally. Whatever I can fix, I will and if I can’t I won’t.

I’m over it now.

Book Review

Review: The Perfect 10 Diet

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The Perfect 10 Diet Book Cover

The Perfect 10 Diet
Dr. Michael Aziz
Sourcebooks, Inc.
January 2010
422pp

The Short of It:

The Perfect 10 Diet is not a fad, but a proposed way of life. It’s based on sound principles and is pretty easy to live with.

The Rest of It:

If you’ve been on a diet or two within the last, oh…twenty years, you’ve probably seen dieting come full-circle. Some programs focus on liquids, others on carbs, some on proteins and all of them basically result in a restriction of what is going in, and an increase of what you are putting out. Less food, more activity. Makes perfect sense, yet so many of us fight this concept daily.

The Perfect 10 Diet does sound a bit trendy. However, it addresses the way your body reacts to certain foods. Processed foods that are high in fat wreak havoc with your system. This program has you eating whole foods that are low-fat and low in calories, but interspersed with some good fats. The difference here, is that the healthy fats fill you up and provide your body what it needs to function properly.

I have been dealing with some health issues of my own, so although I had every intention to follow this program in its entirety, I was not able to follow it the way it should be followed due to severe food allergies. As a result, I ended up gaining a few pounds.

However, as a person who has been raised on chemicals and processed, pre-packaged foods, I can honestly tell you what little I did manage to follow, still made a difference as far as how I felt.  The program makes sense. The book is well-organized and includes recipes and a supplement section for those that want to address specific health concerns.

If you are looking for a program you can live with, then The Perfect 10 Diet may be just what you are looking for.

Once my allergies are under control, I am going to re-visit the program and see what it can do for me. If you’ve followed Dr. Aziz’s program, I’d love to hear from you.

Source: This ARC was sent to me by Sourcebooks, Inc.