Day Five of Diet

Some interesting observations as i get closer to the end of my first week. I remember reading in the great book by Michael Pollan - In Defense of Food, that we should eat less, pay more for it and be healthier. Well I can already attest to the truth of all three of those items. First of all, from a standpoint of weight, you do each much less. Secondly, you do spend more. I spent $45 at the store and I've consumed 80 percent of those items in 4 days. Today I'll need to go shopping again to get fresh produce of all kinds. You end up being healthier just by the fact that you are not polluting your body with carb loaded foods and animal fats. While I have a long way to go, I'm feeling better each day and that's a good thing in my book. Now if my wallet can stand it.........

Peace,

Day Four of the Diet

Well so far so good. Although yesterday afternoon I was having major cravings. I've been told that for the first week your body will crave the fats, carbs and sugars you used to eat. My first real experience with that was yesterday. Around 2pm the cravings for something substantial, like a sandwich or pizza started. I had a peach and this seemed to deal with things ok and then after leaving SF for one of my twice weekly physical therapy appointments to work on my previously broken hand, i continued to get the pangs again. I found that just getting some water helped alot. Bottled water is also a good help, at least for me. I definitely feel better and have more energy and sleep better also. The weight loss/metabolism change hasn't been as obvious yet, but i would imagine that there is plenty to work off so to speak from my previous carb/meat diet. 220 here i come.

Peace,

Day Three of the Diet

Yesterday was an interesting day as it was my first at work. I found I was literally eating something for most of the morning. I had some watermelon, some hummus i made, carrots and a banana. My energy level certainly is higher and I can feel the difference in how much of that internal 'load' you carry from eating carbs and fats. I later had some sauteed vegetables and ginger at the local vegan chinese restaurant near my office.
Upon arriving home last night i tried some other things, with mixed results. I had almond butter which is on my list of 'acceptable nuts' with some sliced banana. I felt bloated after eating this so I think i'm going to refrain from almond butter at least for a bit. I also made a vegan tapioca pudding without sugar, using maple syrup instead. This is something i've been working on for a while trying to find the correct consistency. I found the consistency needed, and now can make a dessert that is dairy free, sugar free and minimally containing fat in the form of light coconut milk. The fat content in the entire dish is 3.5g so if you divide the batch up into four servings it's less that 1 g of fat. Problem is I again felt bloated after eating it. So that is going on the shelf too.
My next project was a strawberry yogurt made from tofu and fresh strawberries. This was not bad, a bit sour, but it's supposed to be yogurt, so that seems logical.
Today I'm having some of the yogurt with some sliced banana. Hopefully the bloating feeling will subside and i can move ahead feeling lighter and more alive than i have in years.
In reading books on Raw Cuisine, Low Fat and Vegan diets, one thing that is stressed is that you will be best off by eating throughout the day, snacking so to speak. Like Dean Ornish said in his seminal book, Eat More Weigh Less!
Received great news today that my oldest son's epilepsy seems to have subsided and he no longer needs to take medication. He's gone 5 years without a seizure so we're all happy.
Not sure what dinner surprise awaits tonight, but i'll report back.
Peace,

The Hand Continues to Get Better and More

Well here we are one week later and my left hand is continuing to get back to normal. I've gone from having minimal feeling in my left pinky finger to now having minimal numbness, a big improvement. Still can't play a steel string guitar yet, as my pinky cannot really push down on the strings yet. I can play nylon string, without pain, but as i'll be surrendering my nylon string soon, i'll be left with steel string options after that.
Started a cleansing diet today, no dairy, no sugar, which will be very hard for me. Sugar has been my bugaboo for a long time and going cold turkey in the sugar department won't be easy. If it isn't naturally in the food, i.e. fruits, I can't have it. Should get me to my weight goal of 220, which is what I weighed in May of 2002. I've been told that my metabolism will speed up, i'll need less sleep and my energy level will be much better. So here goes.
I'll be checking in on progress and keep you posted as to how i'm doing.
Peace,

Finally Back At It

Well my finger is now finally at a point where i can actually start using it. For any of you who have been in an accident or mishap that caused you to have to get major surgery on your finger, you now have my heartfelt sympathies. Today is 3 mos. since my injury and while I'm far from 100 percent, i can actually use my finger a bit which starts to make my left hand somewhat useful again. Thank god it's coming back to life. The feeling still isn't so great and numbness unfortunately is still a daily reminder, but the stiffness is starting to go away and soon I suspect I'll be at least at 90 percent. Hand therapy is helping tremendously.
Since I turn 51 tomorrow, having some use of my hand is a good thing and another positive in what was otherwise a pretty crappy year for my health. As I move into year 51, i trust things will be better. Some unpleasant experiences will be behind me and moving ahead in life will be the priority. No looking back, no hard feelings, no grudges, no reprisals. Move ahead in the best way possible.

surgery

well i had surgery on my left hand to repair multiple breaks in my hand. my heart rate plummeted during the procedure and i am still not 100% 2 days later. hope to be normal by monday.

Books

In recuperating from my broken finger i've had time to read, as playing music was difficult. I've read a couple of great books. The first was Things Your Grandparents Should Know by Mark Oliver Everett. Everett is the founder of the Eels and is known to most music fans as just "E". He's produced a substantial body of work over the last 17 years, but that's only what part of the book is about. Most of it is about his family and his experience of it. The book is fascinating, at times depressing, at other times uplifting. This guy has had alot of bad things happen in his life. He has no immediate family left and at age 46, I don't think he has any children of his own yet. His dad was a famous quantum mechanics physicist who came up with the theory of parallel universes. Even though they lived in the same house, communication was a challenge. His story is fascinating and reading this book is HIGHLY recommended.
The second book is a classic, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. This book hits pretty close to home, not only because it accurately and ruthlessly describes the late 50's/early 60's time period, but also because of the point on descriptions of a relationship gone bad where the participants don't want to admit it, at least not yet. Others have said this book is as close to a perfect contemporary novel as you can get. I don't know about that, but it's pretty amazing. There was alot in this novel that was familiar to me. Two people who felt like they loved each other but weren't very nice to each other. Much too often they were unfaithful and sometimes cruel (in the forms of words and in the way they held each other in utter contempt), in their behavior towards each other. The husband, Frank definitely wanted things to work, but didn't know how to make that happen, and the wife, April, wanted a dream instead of reality, (to her credit Frank didn't have the balls to make the dream come true no matter how pie in the sky it was). There are examples of caring and of love but the overarching theme is one of people working at something that is false. They've brought all kinds of dreams, anger, issues, fears to bear on each other and the result is an unseemly mess that is pretty toxic. I highly recommend reading this book. It brings up so many good points and some very uncomfortable ones, that you can't come away from reading it without being impacted. The one thing we have that the main characters don't after reading this book is a second chance at making things in our life work and by not making the mistakes we made in the past. That we can take each new day and make it the best day we can, that we can be a good parent to our children, a good friend and that each day we can be thankful we've got that second chance to learn and be our best. It's a tremendous amount of work to hold a grudge against someone, especially a loved one. Doesn't make much sense in the long run, really. Use your limited energy to impact others in a good way and enjoy each day as best you can.

Peace,