Monday Morning Check-In (Knee Braces and a New-ish Plan)

As I contemplate my next plan of action, I went ahead and weighed in this morning, and was 204.4 lb, and 45% body fat. This is about where I thought I was.  Still about 15 lb less than this time last summer, so this is better than the same, or even 15 lb more.  No reason to feel frustrated with how little it seems, even though that's an easy route for me to take.  Today (well, likely Friday since we are going out of town with friends for a couple days and I need enjoying and planning time) is a new day for a new plan and a great starting point.  I'll get back to the plan shortly.

I was measured later in the day for my new lateral unloader knee braces for both knees.  I am very excited about these since they are designed to separate the area of each of my knees so the bones do not rub on each other (where cartilage is missing and severe arthritis has taken its place) as I walk.  There's a dial I can adjust on each brace that modifies the distance the my bones are separated to accommodate for steepness of stairs and hikes.  So, potentially better workouts on my hikes, etc.  I'm ready to give them a try, as I am very frustrated with pain in my body with simple movements that restrict much of my activity for years and years, decades even.

My main question to the brace fitter was about losing weight (feeling optimistic!) and the braces still fitting, and she did say that I will likely need to replace them after each 20 pounds of weight lost since they are made specifically for my legs and knees and current weight.  She said that Kaiser would be likely to cover the 80% of the cost of a replacement set as long as they have documentation of my weight loss.  Some of that seems ironic to me as one of the recommendations from the orthopedist is to lose weight, along with trying the braces, and trying the hyaluronic gel injections, but it's possible they wouldn't cover the 80% if weight is lost and it's not documented?  Anyhow, I'm not concerned about the documentation as I seem to be at Kaiser pretty frequently now.  20% of the brace charge seems like a small price to pay every 20 pounds for the benefits of the braces and added benefit of weighing less and putting less weight on the joints.  I will obtain these little miracle workers in a couple of weeks.

 Meanwhile, in light of my goal or experiment with helping heal the underlying (and hopefully overlying) issues of uterine fibroids (story is here: An Experiment in Healing), and the success of my eliminating wheat and wheat products in late May, I am going to further modify my diet to eliminate sugar and most dairy.  This seems the simplest route to take as I need to keep it simple with pharmacy classes beginning in a few weeks. I will still eat fruits, especially those packed with nutrients like blueberries and strawberries, but anything that has added sugar of any kind will not be included.  Similar with the dairy products, pretty much the only dairy I'll be eating is the non-fat unsweetened yogurt I already consume.  Eliminating wheat has been challenging, but doable.  It is VERY difficult to control what wheat I consume when dining out, and I know the same is true for sugars (and salt!). So, one obvious solution is to eat out less often, as fun as it is, plus that will help relieve the "budget" to buy quality organic foods so that what I do put in my body is of the best quality I can find. By eliminating these three items, I pretty much eliminate whatever processed foods were left in my diet (there weren't many left), so this is extremely helpful for the immune system and preventing those kinds of toxins from getting in.  That one is in my control, vs. other environmental toxins that are less in my control.  A recent workshop presenter suggested diet-wise:  if it doesn't have a mother or come from the ground, don't eat it.... For some reason I feel highly motivated and excited about this, mainly, I think because I'm ready to feel good and better and better now that I have some answers about what has been causing my pain and things I can do about it. 

And it's not that I have a horrible diet, in fact, compared to he majority of Americans it's way on the healthy side of the continuum of healthy diets, however there are still foods that I consume that have deleterious effects on my health, so that's the part I'm looking at, and am hoping/planning to continue to lose weight. And perhaps there's a way to still have those foods that are so appealing, but on a limited basis, and to check in with their specific effects on my body.  The wheat elimination was significant to the point that I have successfully avoided it almost for the sole reason to not feel deep burning pain in my joints and discomfort all over my body from the swelling and inflammation. 

My ramble comes to a close.  I will be checking in more frequently than I have this summer, so as to keep myself going and going.  Life is short!  The time to feel good is NOW!

Update 7-31-2011

The nature of this blog is going to shift a bit in conjunction with a health issue I am working with, which is being addressed in this blog:  An Experiment in Healing. The short story is that the last few months, weight-wise, have been frustrating, not losing, even gaining a little (hovering around 205 lb), even though remaining active and watching most of what I eat, and even eliminating wheat from my diet these last two months.  Two things have been adding to the weight stabilization and/or gain, and those are the existence of growing fibroid tumors and taking progesterone (which I will be discontinuing with Dr. consent at the end of the week). 

With my new awareness of the fibroids, I plan to modify my diet even further, and I'll explain that soon, to aid with either helping with decreasing the size of the fibroids and the symptoms they are causing, and/or to aid in optimizing my health if surgery is still called for in mid-December, so that the procedure runs more smoothly and recovery is optimized.  Through the other blog I will be exploring the awareness on all levels I gain as I explore the different healing aspects specific to fibroid tumors and the healing modalities I choose to utilize during the next several months. 

I hope you will join me over there, too.
More details soon, but for now I must take my leave.

Parasite Cleanse Information

Here is the protocol for the program Dr. Mikio Sankey presented in Crestone, Colorado at one of his few public appearances.

More information can also be found in his book called Support the Mountain. 

 

PARASIDAL FORMULA CLEANSE

Phase 1 Take 2 capsules twice daily for 4-6 weeks, increase to 3 caps twice daily if needed in between meals.

Phase 2  Repeat Phase 1 again to really be thorough.

What to eliminate while cleansing:

Dairy, Meat, Sugars (organic fruit is ok, no processed sugar.  If you need sweet, use blackstrap molasses and manuka honey) and Alcohol

Caffeine (coffee, alcohol, sodas, black tea)

What to have during cleansing:

Eat as light as possible and as raw as possible to ease the stress of digestion on your body.

Lots of greens

Raw and unprocessed foods

Sprouted grains

Organic fruits and vegetables

Juicing of celery, cabbage, and more greens

Lots of pure water (use Flanaghan’s Crystals if you can)

This can be a huge change of diet and lifestyle.  Please be mindful and stick to the program as much as possible to really shake the parasites.  It is important to start with two capsules twice daily and then increase the dosage to three or four capsules twice daily (6-8 capsules) for maximum effect.  Parasites will replicate themselves very quickly and a new colony can emerge in a few weeks.  Please complete the bottle once you begin.  Some have reported that after taking rounds of antibiotics, the parasites became dormant but were not expelled with medication.  If left untreated, they will worsen your condition and the discomfort will intensify.

Enjoy:

·         Moving your body daily

·         Walking and enjoying the scenery

·         Drinking more water and less sweet and caffeinated drinks (do it for your kidneys!)

·         Feeling relaxed and less agitated

·         Having better quality sleep

·         Cleaning out the house, garage, closets, and getting rid of unwanted things

·         Becoming more clear in all of your relationships and having stronger boundaries

·         Eliminating unconscious actions and replacing them with intention filled actions

·         Having more compassion for yourself and others

·         Creating a GRATITUDE LIST to remind yourself daily of all the GOOD things in life

·         Feeling ready to proceed with the next stage of cleansing:  Support the Mountain Parasidal Formula

CRAMPS – If you experience cramps then reduce your dosage.  There are no known side effects from using the whole herb in this premium organic vegan herbal formula.  Positive signs reported are less bloating, increase of energy and weight loss.

SKIN – Rashes are common during this time as the body will try to eliminate toxins through the pores.  Do no to scratch or irritate the skin, simply take a warm Epson salt bath and use apple cider vinegar to help dry out the affected area.  Be kind to yourself and wear cotton and breathable material.  Drink plenty of water and remember to rest, sweat, and sauna as much as possible.

NO NOs –What not to have while you are cleansing:  dairy, meat, sugars, alcohol, caffeine (coffee, sodas, black tea).  You will want to eat as light as possible and as raw as possible to ease the stress of digestion on your body.

SLEEP and SILENCE – Sleep is vital at this time and if you feel the need to be silent or sleep, please honor that.  Ideally, we cleanse in the high mountains and walk in the forests and live on the earth, but for most of us, that is not the case, so create a little sanctuary where you feel safe and can retreat to.  Turn off the TV and outside media and really focus on what messages are coming to you.  Simply write them down and release them.  The point of cleansing is to release and to not be burdened or attached to the messages.  We are shaking your foundation which can be unnerving and uncomfortable, but you know that you are very much loved.

May you go through your cleanse with the optimism and innocence of a child.

2011 Healthy Body and EFT: Wheat-free Ponderings and Possible Cleanse

2011 Healthy Body and EFT: Wheat-free Ponderings and Possible Cleanse: "I am now back to 202.8lb, so down 5.4lb from that super swollen weigh-in two weeks ago. Ever since I reported the next day that the severe ..."

Wheat-free Ponderings and Possible Cleanse

I am now back to 202.8lb, so down 5.4lb from that super swollen weigh-in two weeks ago.  Ever since I reported the next day that the severe burning joint pain was gone, it has remained so, and I am grateful.  I have eaten no wheat for two weeks, and very little refined sugar.  I was exercising regularly until I caught a cold/strep at the family reunion last week, since then I've most been in bed with no appetite, so I'm sure that has helped a bit, although part of my recent diet has included Menchee's frozen non-fat yogurt and some delicious raw honey, all for throat soothing purposes.  Today I'm hoping to stroll a bit to get my lymph moving again; I will also do a focused colorpuncture treatment on myself to obtain lymph draining effects.

I toy with the idea of a cleanse and summer is a good time to do it.  It would probably be helpful to help clear out the remainder of this lingering illness (along with continued journaling and expressing).  I've done a few cleanses in the past.  The parasite cleanse with Dr. Mikio Sankey's parasite cleanse herbs and clean diet was exceptionally helpful for gaining clarity and insight, and removing both physical and emotional toxicities.  If I wanted to explore more of the diet-related allergy related toxicities, I might pursue the cleanse in The False Fat Diet, which is an elimination diet, for awhile, and then add foods back into the diet one by one while noting any reactions, such as congestion, or digestive issues, etc.  There is also the liver/gallbladder cleanse or the Ultra Clear liver cleanse.  I am leaning, at this moment, toward the parasite cleanse since I can still eat a healthy and clean diet, and I have the herbs on hand.  My brain and mind a slowly coming back on board from the illness knockout, so soon I'll be able to decide if this is appropriate for me, and then take action.

As for the wheat sensitivity, I am both excited and dismayed to have isolated one of the culprits of the severe joint pain I was experiencing.  Excited because the pain is virtually gone, and I know what caused it, and dismayed because wheat can be a difficult thing to eliminate from the diet and avoid in the general public.  When we were in the Tetons last week, eating out at one of the resort lodges, I was excited to obtain their gluten-free menu, and super excited when I saw that they had sandwiches available made with Udi's whole grain gluten-free bread.   Udi's is a bakery in Denver, and I often consume their ready-made fresh sandwiches and delicious salads purchased from local health food stores.  They now have a restaurant in Arvada (and other places around Colorado), which we are looking forward to trying.  Thankfully, companies like Udi's are making these products which saves me lots of bread-making experimental time that I can focus on other creative endeavors.  For more about Udi's check out: Udi's Food.  

At the reunion I worked around the wheat thing by making sure I had enough non-wheat foods to gnaw on.  My main intention for the trip was to stay within the DASH diet guidelines, and remain wheat-free.  I made lasagna for the reunion, with the whole kit-n-kaboodle of wheat noodles, eggs, cheese, sausage, etc., which is one of my favorite recipes, however it doesn't work for those of us who are wheat-free, or those of us who are meat-free, like Richard.  

My solution for lasagna night:  quinoa spiral noodles (I was on a big search for quinoa lasagna noodles - to no avail yet) mixed with Italian spiced tomato sauce, fat-free cottage cheese, a bit of grated parmesan cheese and mozzarella, and some Egg Beaters stirred and cooked in.  It was actually pretty tasty, and I didn't feel as though I was missing out on the lasagna at all.  I know my body was very, very happy to not have to contend with the extra calories and high saturated fat food.  I did consume several glasses of red wine that evening, which seemed to exacerbate my increasing sore throat and illness, so I refrained for the rest of the gathering, and since.

My plan is to continue on, possibly modifying the DASH diet to reflect the requirements of the parasite cleanse (no alcohol, no refined sugar/wheat, no caffeine, decreased dairy - and eating organic fruits and vegetables, and whole grains and clean proteins).  

I am glad to be feeling better, finally, and anticipating feeling even more energized as the days go by.  I am looking forward to when the scale decides that it can register under 200 lb for me.  :-)  I will post the details of the parasite cleanse soon.

Blessings and Great Joy in the meantime!

2.5 pounds of water: May 31, 2011

I know two weeks haven't yet gone by, however I wanted to report about yesterday before it drifted to the dark recesses of my mind.  Yesterday morning when I wrote, I was in a lot of overall body pain, could barely move my fingers or the rest of my body for that matter.  I was extremely swollen and uncomfortable. I felt like I weighed 1000 pounds with zero strength along with the searing burning pain.  Despite the pain and sluggishness I told Richard I still wanted to go on our 4 mile walk down the hill, into town, around the lake and back, because it seemed like a good idea to try to keep moving.  I also ate no wheat or refined sugar, and stayed within the guidelines of the DASH diet, just under 1600 calories, and no extra salt.   We did our walk in the early afternoon, and stopped along the way to have spring rolls at the Vietnamese place, and then after the lake loop stopped for a spinach salad at our favorite New Mexican restaurant downtown.  Then it was time to trudge up the hill.  By this time I was already feeling better, lighter, less fluid-filled.  I joked last night that I bet I was carrying at least 4 extra pounds of water, so I got on the scale this morning and, sure enough, I am down 2.5 pounds from yesterday.  The deep searing pain is gone, except for my usual arthritic places, and my strength is back to some degree.  I am slightly puffy this morning, so a bit more water retention, but I can at least move my fingers and open jars.


I am taking that as a confirmation that wheat and refined sugar needed to be removed.  I love bread so much, it is really hard to think that wheat may be gone for good.  But, I would definitely rather go without than live in the bloated, extremely painful condition I've been in for the last few days (that has been gradually worsening since I reintroduced wheat in March.)

Richard's working today, so I may get on the elliptical for 60 minutes, although it is finally gorgeous outside, so maybe it will be a hilly brisk walk. 


Today's a new day, and I am enthused about feeling great, and better and better each day.

May 30, 2011: A new start on the DASH diet

It has been awhile since the last check in, and awhile since I last even thought about it.  The inspiration to check in comes from the fact that I've been experiencing some severe pain throughout all of the joints of my body, and increased heel pain.  I've also been experiencing lots of water retention which may be an effect of a medication I recently started to help with the worsening dysmenorrhea/menorrhagia I've been experiencing, and will hopefully even out after awhile.  

I recalled that one of my main original ideas, last summer and at the beginning of the year, for decreasing my overall body weight was to decrease the pain I'm experiencing.  I suspected with the increased pain that my weight was also increasing.  My wonderful hubby, Richard, also, very sweetly, reminded me that I had experienced much less pain when I eliminated wheat and refined sugar from my diet in February.  He is right and I am thankful for the reminder, and those items have made their way back into my diet on a regular basis.  More so the wheat than the sugar, but I've not been monitoring either.  School pretty much took over my life, so I stopped weighing, stopped recording everything in MyFoodDiary.com, and decreased, to an extent, the exercise. 

Here are my current stats:

Weight: 208.2lb (up 6 lb from 2 months ago, but down 3lb from the beginning of the year - and still down 11.8 lb from last August)

Percent body fat: 45.5% (which is down 1% from the beginning of the year - so perhaps all of the exercise has paid off in that area.  We remeasured my body parts, and almost all of them are back to the original size they were in January.

I feel a bit discouraged, and had hoped to have lost lots more by now, and certainly hoped Ihadn't gained but I really need to start again, taking it easy on myself (especially since some of the gain is this swollen puffiness of water retention), and continuing in a reasonable maintainable way.  

I had a recent conversation with one of my aunts who followed the DASH diet, lost all of her extra weight and was able to side-step taking the blood pressure medication the doctor had prescribed for her.  She is my inspiration for the DASH diet, as is the information I learned in my OTC class this past term.  I strongly recommend this eating plan to anyone who is at risk for, or is suffering from, hypertension.  I am choosing it for myself, not because I currently have high blood pressure, but because, with the family history on both sides, and my tendency to pre-hypertension and white coat syndrome, this choice makes the most sense to me to start eating this way now.

So, The DASH diet it is, in addition to eliminating refined sugars and wheat (for allergy/joint reasons).  

Aside from limiting daily calories, ensuring ample vegetables and fruits, and dairy like low- or no fat yogurt, the DASH diet helps to gain awareness of sodium consumption.  For more on the concepts and details of the DASH diet, visit: DASH Diet.

I've modified the Diet log given on the DASH site to accommodate 1600 calories, which is my goal.  

The food log looks like this:

 

This is where I will check off the items I eat.  I may still use MyFoodDiary to also track the specifics, if it's not too time-consuming.  My goal is to make it as natural as possible, where it doesn't consume my life.  It seems summer is a good time to start in again, with the goal of having the new way of eating as much of my being as breathing.  That way, when school starts again, it will be more natural, and less-time consuming.

My exercise goal is to be active at least 60 minutes each day, whether it is walking, utilizing the elliptical machine, or a combination (or even bicycling when I get a new bicycle...)  We also plan to incorporate tai chi back into our daily routine.

We will be at a family reunion next week, which can make eating a bit challenging, however, with a bit of planning and determination, I know that I will persevere and take the greatest care of myself.

Also, over the summer, I ought to have more time to implement the EFT aspect of my goals, which will likely help immensely.  I will keep you posted.  I won't be weighing in next week since we will be out of town, but for sure the Monday after that, and I know I will have splendid things to report.

Until then!  (Or before if something significant comes up before the weigh-in.)  I am greatly looking forward to easing the body pains with a lighter me.

Blessings!