Discussion Board

Norm,

Those are some awesome blood work numbers you got there.

Keep up the great work!!

Lookin' Good, Norm!!

It looks great! Good job!

Fulenn

Woot!!! Fantastic blood work. Way to go.

Wow, AWESOME numbers Norm! You ought to be able to sell your blood on the open market for $1000 a pint!

Great numbers! Thanks for sharing the inspiration!

Thanks everyone for the kind words! But I have to point out... I didn't do or accomplish anything, I just had bloodwork done. I'm sure some of you wish you had my cholesterol numbers, but as I said, my old numbers were pretty low too. I don't know how someone who ate like I did could have good cholesterol numbers. Go figure.

The more important numbers in all that to me were my Sed Rate and CRP numbers, as they indicate there has been no real reduction in the inflammation markers. Those numbers are pretty much the same as they were 108 pounds ago. However, on this journey I had a period of time where I did feel much better. I need to go back and re-read all my entries both here and privately, and figure out just how long that period of feeling great lasted. It certainly was the longest reprieve from my symptoms that I ever had, and for that I am grateful.
I also need to consider the possibility that I may need to make further dietary changes, as it could be an intolerance to something I'm eating that is contributing to or causing my inflammation.
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It is December 22nd!! We are past the winter solstice. The days will be getting longer instead of shorter! This is cause for celebration for those of us who have any form of wintertime blues!
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I have been on antibiotics for the past week for a problem I haven't mentioned in my journal. After the "butt boil" incident I didn't want to scare anyone away with details!! Let's just say that the problem was not as bad as an infected butt boil, but bad enough to need antibiotics. They've left me feeling even more blah, especially in the digestion area. Normally I take probiotics in the form of yogurt when I'm on antibiotics, but now that I don't eat yogurt I'm not sure what to take. Any suggestions would be welcome.
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I bought a little tiny crockpot just big enough to do my morning oats in! I started some last night and they were all happily done when I got up. Unfortunately, I never eat when I first get up and quite often don't eat until 12-1pm. I'll see how they're holding up by then. I may have to put the crock pot on a timer to start at 5 or 6 am or something, in order to get the timing right.
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Happy Thursday!

-Norm

Is it possible the numbers were skewed from the infection you are dealing with? I had this happen with one of my children where we didn't know until after the test that he was coming down with something and I was told to ignore the numbers and retest a few weeks later after the infection was cleared... sure enough the esr and crp were normal after that.

I am celebrating myself today ...very, very excited about the longer days -waahooo!

Possible? Sure. But not likely. Those tests are indicators of inflammation, and I really don't need the tests to know where I am in that regard. How I FEEL is just as good an indication, if not better, in my opinion.

-Norm

You may be correct, however in my limited experience I have found that sometimes after a period of feeling better you start to experience a new baseline and suddenly better is not so good. Not to say this is the case for you, obviously you know you much better than I know you, but perhaps you are still doing better, if not best, but your expectations are higher compounded with the infection causing an increase in inflammation? I have other theories, I'm full of them (and other stuff, my teens love me for this, not) all in an effort to see what I want to see, your ever evolving improvement and better health. In any case, I'm hoping you will be feeling much better once the antibiotics work it all out. As far as probiotics go, I've purchased New Chapter or Nature's Plus probiotics in vegcaps. I'm sure there are lots of other options, I like the pills so I don't have to taste anything unpleasant.

wishing you better feelth this side of the solstice...

Hi Norm

I took Digestive Advantage probiotics for a couple months this summer to get some healthy critters in my gut. They have a few versions/formulas. The one I chose was the Intensive Bowel Support. (I think they're cultured on milk, but that's not something I'm willing to make myself insane over.) The product generally got good reviews. For those with IBS issues, esp of the "loose" variety, the product might be something to consider. The price is reasonable, and it doesn't require refrigeration.


If whatever you're taking the antibiotics for has caused inflammation, then the test numbers (CRP, sed rate) would reflect that. That doesn't discount how you feel. Your system is re-processing and removing a lot of toxic fat. Eat more greens. Antioxidants. Can't hurt, right?

You might also look at some of the major arthritis triggers (according to a paper at PCRM--Foods and Arthritis): dairy products, corn, meats, wheat/oats/rye, eggs, citrus, potatoes, tomatoes, nuts, coffee.

I wonder if soy should be on that list.

The pain-safe foods listed:
Brown rice
Cooked or dried fruits--cherries, cranberries, pears, prunes (but not citrus, bananas, peaches or tomatoes)
Cooked green, yellow, and orange vegs--artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, chard, collards, lettuce, spinach, string beans, summer or winter squash, sweet potatoes, tapioca, and taro (poi)
Water--plain or carbonated. Other beverages, even herbal teas, can be triggers
Condiments--modest amounts of salt, maple syrup, and vanilla extract are usually well-tolerated

Just food for thought. You can compare those things to what you eat and consider if any might be contributing factors for inflammation.

My husband just called from the doctor's office to tell me they gave him a shot, and they're running a food allergy test. He's had an ugly, itchy rash all over his body for a couple weeks now. We had connected it to a prescription med (NSAID, I think) he was given for arthritis pain. He was hesitant about stopping the drug when the rash first came. (He really wants to believe there's a pill to fix everything.) The rash was isolated to his neck then, but eventually took over his whole body. Eventually, the rash convinced him to quit the drug. He always has bad reaction to NSAIDs. I told him not to take that drug. He doesn't listen to me...because I don't tell him what he wants to hear, I guess. He eats a lot of healthier foods now, but he also still eats a lot of crap. I keep trying to lure him away from the dark side. It would be so much easier for us (me) if he'd just choose to leave it behind. If that allergy test comes back that he's allergic to corn, he'll be sad. He loves corn. If it comes back he's allergic to shrimp and seafood or chicken, he'll probably toss himself off a cliff.

Have a great day, Norm!

I spent a good chunk of today going over everything I'd written down along the way and have some ideas. Going through the list of trigger foods I can see I've given up some of them. Dairy, meat, eggs, coffee. I eat less citrus than I did when I felt better. I've been eating boatloads of grains since March, though my wheat intake has declined. I'm eating the same amount of nuts, nut butters, and tomatoes as I have been. My potato intake has increased some. But by and large, my diet isn't significantly different than it was when I felt better.
I can't rule out foods I'm eating but I suspect it has more to do with the toxic fats I'm re-processing and removing. What makes me think this is that I felt great up until I had a mad push to reach 100 pounds and for a short while increased my weight loss to 5 pounds a week. That was when I started feeling poorly and haven't gotten over it. I had a prior relapse of symptoms, brought on by stress and overwork back when my plumbing backed up in early October, but that cleared up quickly in a few days.
What further makes me think this is that I know what I've put into my system over the years, both in the way of crap foods and exposure to different chemicals at work, and it's my understanding that a lot of toxins get pushed into fat cells. (If I'm wrong on that understanding, someone please correct me.) So I have a LOT of toxins to process as I lose fat, and could be I simply dumped too many into my system at once. I will follow your suggestion and eat more greens and antioxidants, and try not to lose too much weight at once. (heh, that sounds funny to me.) If doing those things doesn't help my symptoms after a while then I'll take a look at other foods I might be eating, probably starting with potatoes since that's the one food that's increased in recent months.
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A Crock Pot Full Of Oats.

Yesterday I had oats cooked in a crock pot over night. By the time I got around to eating them they were way overcooked and a good chunk of them had burned to the bottom of the crock, even though it was on low. Last night I put the crock on a timer to come on at 4am in the morning. When I first checked them at 9am they were done. I didn't get to eating them till after 11, and ate them sooner than I was ready to because they were starting to stick on the bottom of the crock. Tonight I'll set the timer so it comes on at 6am. That way they should be ready for my wife around 11 but still in good shape when I get to them after noon.
Two things I really like about cooking them this way. They cook slower and so absorb more water and are softer to chew, so my wife will eat them more often. Because of this, I can use whole oats only and they cook up just fine, no need to add in half steel cut oats to make the overall texture more palatable to my wife. I like this! Steel cut oats aren't overly processed, but they are processed.

-Norm

Norm, you could also add just a touch more water to the oats in the crockpot if you know they're going to be there extra long. It will get absorbed and help prevent scorching.

Chocolate-Covered Katie has a lot of different ideas of ways to eat oatmeal. There's 15 oatmeal recipes on her blog. Maybe something there would appeal to your wife. Oatmeal pudding? I'll just drop the link to the oatmeal section here, in case you're interested.
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/chocol ... s-oatmeal/

Speaking of toxins and greens, husband and I watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" on Netflix last night. It was very interesting. (Husband didn't fall asleep, and that's saying something. When we watched Forks over Knives, I had to keep poking him to keep him awake. ) Anyway, if you haven't already and get a chance to see it, do. The transformation of the trucker is remarkable. Losing over 200#, and going from a depressed guy who could barely walk 5 minutes to a health-focused guy who can actually jog--watching that just made me smile. I think it showcases the benefits of greens on health. They call the juice fast a "reboot," and it probably is, but I think one could see a lot of health benefits just from adding more greens to one's starch-based diet. If you don't have netflix, I think you can also watch the film on hulu.

People who don't have health issues might not need so many antioxidants, and so might not need to make the addition of greens a focus. But for those of us with health problems, or those releasing lots of toxic fat, I think making the addition of greens in the daily diet a priority, at least for a while, isn't a bad idea. The more "polluted" among us might benefit from adding even more antioxidants and phytochemicals methinks. How we choose to do it (juice, smoothies, salads, cooked) will vary. Greens in savory oatmeal is good.

Weigh Day!!

Ugh!! The past two weeks mark the lowest rate of weight loss since I started on this Journey Home. One pound in two weeks!
There is no real surprise, I suppose, because I can cite incident after incident of going off plan... It is, after all... the holidays!
There are definite lessons to be reflected on, and I intend to do just that over the next few days. Also to ponder is just where I've come in the past year and where I want to go in the next year.

I'll be posting my New Years hopes and observations in a couple days.

-Norm

Norm, that's good news! You managed to lose a pound in two weeks which included the holidays. That in and of itself is a positive. Further, after a while one starts to slow down the weekly loss. So half a pound a week is still a good show. Keep on keeping on!