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Posts Tagged ‘HFCS’

I apologize in advance for the length of this post…  If you’re not particularly interested in my thoughts on my current diet, please feel free to skip this post…
It’s the evening of Day 20 of my current diet.  Big shock – I was up 11lbs!  Just to be sure, I stepped off the scale and then back on.  Same result.  Obviously, this has to be water gain / retention.  The gain was probably slightly more as I’m not accounting for the weight of the shoes I was wearing yesterday.  Anyway, again, this morning there is no gout pain in my left foot and swelling is gone from right foot and almost completely gone from my left foot.
So, yesterday I had a drop of 5lbs from the previous day, and today it’s swung the other way – 11lbs increase.  After these big drops and gains it is typical to gain / lose over half back the next day.  So, we’ll see what happens tomorrow…
Diet:  I woke up this morning feeling normal.  …Not good, but not fat.  I skipped the water pill again today.  (20 Days on the run.)  I will be taking a water pill tomorrow if a big chunk of this increase hasn’t gone.  Fluid retention can be a serious issue for people with heart issues.
The “oily” / wax candle skin feeling is going away again.  The rash on both my arms about four inches on either side of my elbows on the outside is still there.   I’m not sure what it is but I wore a long sleeve shirt for my walk.  Afterwards, I put on some Benadryl which made the itching go away within minutes.  The bumps are still there, though.  I sent an image to my GP, but it’ll probably be Monday before she gets back to me.
I had a bowl of corn flakes for my one meal today (dinner) about 4:30pm.  Not exactly healthy, but it was the only thing on hand.
Shiva’s walk:  pulse avg 86bpm, max 111bpm for the dog walk;  18:39min walk.  Slightly longer dog walk;  around the corner to the intersection;  turn right and down five houses and then home.
Personal laps.  Six laps:  pulse avg 80bpm, max 114bpm for the laps;  53.21min walk.  No sections;  just two random spikes.  Day 20 of diet.  No light-headedness or dizziness.
Health:  No morning phlegm.  Eleven pounds weight gain today, but .5in increase to my waist size.
As I said before (above), the weight gain is almost certainly fluid retention and not actual weight.  If I’m still up tomorrow, it’s back on the water pills…
Day 20:  Day 6 of Week 3 – weight 364lbs (up 11lbs, down 8lbs total);  today’s (muffin) waist 58 inches (increase .5in, down 1.0in total).
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Click here (8 September) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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I apologize in advance for the length of this post…  If you’re not particularly interested in my thoughts on my current diet, please feel free to skip this post…
It’s the evening of Day 19 of my current diet.  I had a dental cleaning this morning.  I got up and put on my shoes and decided to weigh myself.  (I normally weigh myself barefoot.)  Big shock – I was down 5lbs!  Just to be sure, I stepped off the scale and then back on.  Same result.  Obviously, this has to be continued water loss after passing the kidney grains the night before last.  The loss was probably slightly more as I’m not accounting for the weight of the shoes.  Anyway, again, this morning there is no gout pain in my left foot and swelling is gone from right foot and almost completely gone from my left foot.
After these big drops it is typical to gain over half back the next day.  So, we’ll see what happens tomorrow.
On walking my laps, both hands began to slightly swell and get red / blue from the tips to the first knuckle.  This typically means poor blood circulation or water retention (or both).  As it did yesterday, the hand bloat went away shortly after completing the laps.  (Indicative of poor circulation.)
Diet:  I woke up this morning feeling good but fat.  I’m not sure what the reason is, but sometimes I wake up feeling thin, sometimes just normal and sometimes fat.  Today was fat.  I skipped the water pill again today.  (19 Days on the run.)  I was late taking my other regular pills because of the dental appointment.  I ended up taking them about 11:30am.  I normally take them between 8-9am
The “oily” / wax candle skin feeling is back again.  I’ve also developed a rash on both my arms about four inches on either side of my elbows on the outside.   I’m not sure what it is.  I first thought it was just some skin itch from mild sunburn caused by my hour long daily walks.  I thought I’d ignore it, but the itch became progressively worse and when I touched it, it was a rash with bumps like an allergic reaction to poison ivy / oak.  I bathed it with “after-burn” lotion and it felt a lot better, but the bumps have not gone yet.  The rash got worse after today’s walk.  So, maybe it is related to sunburn.  I’ll avoid the sun tomorrow and see if the condition improves.
I had a bowl of clam chowder soup today at 5pm.  The rest of the day it was Swamp Juice.
Shiva’s walk:  pulse avg 81bpm, max 110bpm for the dog walk;  13:02min walk.  Short dog walk;  around the corner to the intersection and home.
Personal laps.  Six laps:  pulse avg 87bpm, max 97bpm for the laps;  52:56min walk.  Two main sections:  1)  0 to 23 mins:  23min <87;  and, 2)  23 to 53mins:  30min > 87.   No light-headedness or dizziness.  The average and the max were both lows since beginning this fast.  Yesterday, they were both highs and today they are both lows.  Go figure…
Health:  No morning phlegm.  Five pounds weight loss today, but no change to my waist size.  Still waiting until my heart rate shows some stability…
As I said before (above), the weight loss is almost certainly fluid loss and not actual weight.  If I’m down again for the next few days, then I’ll have to think about it.
Day 19:  Day 5 of Week 3 – weight 353lbs (down 5lbs, down 19lbs total);  today’s (muffin) waist 57.5 inches (same .0in, down 1.5in total).
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Click here (7 September) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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I apologize in advance for the length of this post…  If you’re not particularly interested in my thoughts on my current fast, please feel free to skip this post…  (At least it’s slightly shorter than yesterday’s update!  LoL)
It’s the evening of Day 18 of my current “Juice / Blend” fast / diet / lifestyle.  Last night, (after posting,) I passed four kidney stone “grains” (to medium sized and two small).  Shortly after that I started passing fluids between ever 30 to 40 minutes (including three times after going to bed).  This morning no gout pain in my left foot and swelling gone from right foot and mostly gone from my left foot.  I guess the meal didn’t cause the water retention…
Still, I’m only down 1lb from yesterday.
On walking my laps, both hands began to swell and get red / blue from the tips to the first knuckle.  This typically means poor blood circulation or water retention (or both).  As it did yesterday, the hand bloat went away shortly after completing the laps.  (Indicative of poor circulation.)
Diet:  I woke up this morning feeling mostly good, except for my bloated left foot.  I skipped the water pill again today.  (18 Days on the run.)
No problem with energy reserves today.  The problem is I am “mad-crazy” thinking about food.  This is typical for a fast restart (after a meal day).  The next couple of days are always hard.  The “oily” / wax candle skin feeling is going again, a lot less than yesterday and about where it was two days ago.  It’s almost gone from my forehead and temples.
I had a bowl of soup today, so I guess the “juice fast” is over since I’ve had something to eat three of the last four days (two soups and one meal – soup, meal, fast, soup).  At this point, it’s time to admit the “blend fast” is over and go on to the combined / modified “One-Meal-A-Day” (OMAD), Intermittent Timed Fast (ITF) with mixed 40 hour water fasts.  I’ve got several days worth of Swamp Juice left so I’ll use that up and mix in soup or salad until it’s gone.  After that, I’ll start the first 40hr water fast.  I usually begin those at 6pm and finish at 10am after the 40hrs.  My window for the “timed” portion will be between 10am and 6pm.  Eight hours on any eating day.
FYI:  The soup was 8oz of vegetable soup mixed with 8oz of Swamp Juice.  So, I wasn’t totally “bad”.  LoL  To tell the truth, it just made me more hungry…  I’m drinking water with a squirt of lemon concentrate to forget about food for the rest of the night.
Shiva’s walk:  pulse avg 103bpm, max 124bpm for the dog walk; 13:02min walk;  around the corner to the intersection and home.  Shiva is limping badly today, so Hil says we’ll skip tomorrow’s dog walk (and I have an early morning dentist appointment anyway).
Personal laps.  Six laps:  pulse avg 119bpm, max 169bpm for the laps;  54:47min walk.  No sections today;  just up and down like a mountain range for the entire walk.  No light-headedness or dizziness.    There were no “ranges” today.  It was just up and down, up and down.  The average and the max were both highs since beginning this fast.
Health:  No morning phlegm.  One pound weight loss today and no change to my waist size.  Still not sure when I’ll be able to start the “Niko niko” jogging.  Probably not for a least another few days just to be on the safe side.  At least until my heart rate shows some stability…
Day 18:  Day 4 of Week 3 – weight 358lbs (down 1lbs, down 14lbs total);  today’s (muffin) waist 57.5 inches (same .0in, down 1.5in total).
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Click here (6 September) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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I apologize in advance for the length of this post…  If you’re not particularly interested in my thoughts on my current fast, please feel free to skip this post…
It’s the evening of Day 17 of my current “Juice / Blend” fast.  My hyper-extended my right knee, which I injured three days ago, is normal.  I’m relieved about that.  The bad news is that I have pretty bad pain in my left foot.  My weight has gone up 4lbs, (which is about a half-gallon of water,) but my waist did not change.  This “probably” means most of the fluid is from the knees down.  A combination of poor circulation and gout flare-up…
I don’t know if the pain / gout is from the meal I had or if it’s from the juice blend.  The pain started the day I made this current batch and I used a basket of tomatoes and some tomato juice, too.  The flare-up began before yesterday’s “cheat” meal, but I think the meal made it much worse.
A quick search of fruits and vegetables which effect gout flare-ups (“in some”) turns up:  tomatoes and bananas – among many other fruits and veggies.  The web sites also state reduce meat intake and don’t eat organs.  I don’t know what the goat part was, but it reminded me of beef tongue I used to eat as a child.  Tongue is considered an “organ” meat.  It doesn’t help that the West African food I tasted yesterday – the rice is made with tomatoes and tomato paste and I believe the meat was made with some type of peanut based powder – peanuts are also bad for gout.  (But it sure was delicious!!)
Anyway, both ankles and feet swole up badly – the left more than the right.  The left was painful to walk on and ached when just sitting.  Both seemed fine (didn’t feel swollen) while I was in bed, but as soon as I got up I could tell they were still swollen.  Again, the left more than the right.
On walking my laps, my feet stopped hurting, but both hands began to swell.  This typically means poor blood circulation or water retention.  The hand bloat went away shortly after completing the laps.  (Indicative of poor circulation.)
Diet:  I woke up this morning feeling mostly good, except for my bloated feet.  I skipped the water pill again today.  (17 Days on the run.)
No problem with energy reserve today.  My energy level really seems to be leveling off.  Of course, it may also be I had food yesterday.  The “oily” / wax candle skin feeling is still with me, again, a lot more than yesterday or two days ago.  It’s also come back to my forehead and temples.
Shiva’s walk was another short walk.  Around the corner, to the intersection and then home.  Dog walk:  pulse avg 114bpm, max 130bpm for the dog walk;  14:10min walk.
Personal laps.  Six laps:  pulse avg 92bpm, max 157bpm for the laps;  55:29min walk.  Three sections to the walk today:  1) main high zone;  >100bpm 21min;  2) >125bpm 5 of that 21min;  3) <85bpm 34min.
No light-headedness or dizziness.  The laps were a bit faster today.
Health:  No morning phlegm.  Four pounds weight gain today but no change to my waist size.  Still not sure when I’ll be able to start the “Niko niko” jogging.  Probably not for a least another few days just to be on the safe side.
I’m going to try to make it through this week and then go to either “One-Meal-A-Day” (OMAD) or alternating “40-hour” water fasts.  Which ever I choose, I’ll try it for a week or so and then come back to juice-blend fasting.  It takes the body about 2-3 weeks for your metabolism to start slowing on reduced caloric diets.  I’m not really on that type of diet.  Juicing (as I do it) is more of a energy balancing / micro-nutrient rich diet.  I don’t drink all day (continuously), but I drink whenever I feel my energy falling.  I believe I’m still consuming well over 2,000 calories a day.  1,700 is considered border line starving and 2,000 to 2,200 is considered “normal” for my height.  My normal caloric consumption is over 3,000 calories per day.  The goal is to lose weight without lowering my metabolic rate.  Otherwise, as soon as I go back to food, my weight will just come back – even if I switch to a more vegetarian based diet / lifestyle.  The “trick” is to lower caloric consumption without triggering the change to metabolic rate.  I’m hoping to do this via “confusion”:  alternating between very healthy, but fewer calories and more normal meals (with time limited intake).  And, so, the experiment continues…
A final thought on bloating:  before January of this year, I used to “control” my bloating and water retention by drinking more water.  I found this tended to flush out the blood-stream salts which are a big part of water retention.  Uric acid is water soluble and is flushed out of your body by your kidneys.  As I also suffer with kidney stones, this is another plus of drinking (passing) water.
After my trip to the ER in January, my cardiologist said not to drink water and just take the prescribed diuretic (“water pills”).  I’ve been taking them since then.  The problem is drinking less water means I also retain more uric acid (which crystalizes into gout).  So, less water increases the chances of gout flare-ups and kidney stones.  This is why I’m a bit hesitant to go back to the water pills.  Still, if the weight gain and foot bloating continues, I may have to resume taking the water pills…
Day 17:  Day 3 of Week 3 – weight 359lbs (up 4lbs, down 13lbs total);  today’s (muffin) waist 57.5 inches (same .0in, down 1.5in total).
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Click here (5 September) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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The end of day six and the start of day seven…  Today completes the first week of blend fasting.
Morning weight:  362lbs.  (on Day 7)
I am down / down “2 / 11”.  As in, 2lbs down from yesterday and 11lbs down from my fasting start weight:  373lbs (the morning of Day 1).
Yesterday, was a peculiar day.  I had to give a blood sample in the morning for a doctor’s appointment on Friday.  This meant I had to “fast” (no eating of drinking of my blend) for 12 hours.  I stopped about 9pm the night before.  I got up and walked the dog about 9am, so I was on time.  I got to the office about 10:15am and gave the sample a little after 11am.  I almost never make an appointment to give blood.  I just bring a book or read email on my cell.  In this case, I did both.  Some time this week, I’ll get my results with my cholesterol and triglycerides levels and the doctor will review them with me to see where I stand.  Hopefully, both will be down (at least slightly) and I’ll be able to avoid any statins.  I was taking them in pill form for a number of years and been having a negative reaction (muscle pains and joint stiffness), but my cardiologist feels I will need to go back on something.  He’s recommending some new drug (new to me) which is administered via shot.   I’m not keen on drugs or shots (in particular), so I have another reason to make a go of fasting and losing weight.
After giving blood, I had a shot of OJ and then went out to mow the front lawn.  That took about an hour.  I settled in to drink at least a quart of my blend.  I watched a bit of TV and read a bit and then took a nap for about 2hrs.  After that, I watched some Netflix and then went to the pool for an evening swim (60 minutes / breast stroke).  I felt like it was exhilarating but (again) I tired quickly (after about 30 minutes).  So, it was another gut check to finish the time.  I just set a nice relaxing pace and got through it…  I can pretty easily do 40 lengths (25 yard lengths) in under 55 minutes, so I say I’m doing 42 to 44 lengths an hour.  That’s a little more than one half mile (36 lengths).  It may not sound great to any young readers, but I started out in April taking between 75 and 80 minutes to do just 40 lengths, so I’ve made reasonable progress for an ol’ geezer.
Today is actually Day 7 of the fast and tomorrow I’ll be posting a photo of my progress.  Tonight I’ll make a decision about going for another week or just going day to day.  At this moment, I’m feeling great, so I’m leaning towards committing to a second full week and then switching.  The thing about “committing” is if I fall off the wagon, I’ll start beating myself up about it, whereas “day to day” is just until yesterday.  I know it’s psychologically wrong, but that’s the way (formerly) A+ personality types think.  “Set a goal.  MUST make it.  MUST make it.  MUST aaauurrgghh!”
Why Studying Dieting Doesn’t Work…
On this journey I’ve struggled with dieting for most of my adult life.  I’ve almost always succeeded (for a while) in losing some weight, and then rebounded – sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly.  I’ve tried every diet plan I could reasonably afford, and almost all of them have worked (for a while).  For me, the problem has been, “What’s next?”  Sure, this or that diet works for a week or two, but what happens next?  I don’t want to “diet” forever.  This means over the last 20 years I’ve used “fasting” as my hack to a non-healthy eating lifestyle.  I either eat too much or I eat too frequently – or both.  For the longest time I’d felt this was some kind of psychological failure / adaptation on my part.  Although not poor while growing up, we certainly didn’t have the quality or quantity of food which I experienced when eating over at my friends houses.
It’s only in the last ten years I’ve thought maybe it’s not me with the problem.  Okay.  Yes, it is ME, but it’s not necessarily my brain’s (a lack of self-discipline) fault.  It’s not that I’m weak.  It’s that modern food is addicting and it’s promoted in advertising as a substitute for happiness.  I don’t mean psychologically addicting, by the way, although there is definitely some of that, too.  I mean modern food is full of chemicals (mainly) – sugar and flavor enhancers – which are meant to stimulate our appetites without giving us a sense of fullness (to tell us to stop stuffing our faces / stomachs).  I mean that modern food is physically addicting.  (Our stomachs, in fact, have sensors which tell our brain “we’re full, stop eating for a while”.  This is why drinking water before eating somewhat deadens our appetites.  The water – which has zero calories – takes up space and generates a sense of fullness in the stomach.)
The human body has served us well for thousands of years and until fairly recently, obesity (and in particular morbid obesity) has been rare.  The trend over the last ten to twenty years has been to blame what we eat (junk food / fast food), how much we eat (portions and frequency), and, everybody’s favorite culprit:  High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  The problem we (as individuals and as a society) have is correlation is not causation and food science is closer to a “soft” science (like psychology) than it is to a “hard” science (like chemistry).  This is because we have little to no ability to create valid controls for a scientific test.  The primary variable is the human body and, despite appearances (we all “seem” pretty much the same), in fact, we have wildly different individual reactions to different types of food AND we have no longitudinal studies (that I am aware of) which show the same person has the same reactions to different types of food across their individual life spans.  What longitudinal studies we do have tend to be voluntary, subjective and self-reported.  We are, therefore, highly dependent on the person reporting to provide accurate and honest information / data for our analysis.  We then use statistics and hope accuracy and honesty will level out under our Bell Curve.
More of my random thoughts to come…
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Click here (4 September) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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The end of day four and the start of day five…  Today was a strange one…  6:00am.  Get up.  Walk the dog.  1 mile;  25 minutes.  Piece of cake.  And from there the battle was on.
The two things about juice fasting are:  you have to have easy access to juice and you have to have easy access to toilet facilities.  If you don’t have the first, you’ll probably cheat and fall off the wagon.  If you don’t have the latter,  you can embarrass yourself.  Access to veggie juice has been easy so far because I made up enough for 3+ days.  Access to facilities is mostly managed by just staying home and going when nature calls.
Today I had two doctor appointments:  one at 8am and one at 1:45pm.  This meant getting up earlier than usual to walk the dog and then going without a breakfast juice until after the first appointment.  The problem, of course, is the doctor’s office is 20 minutes away by car and I don’t want to risk getting stuck in traffic listening to nature’s call.  Bottom line:  a cheat.  I have a couple of Ricola cough drops for the road.  And use them.  As mentioned yesterday, if my blood sugar level dips too much, I have problems – headaches and shaking.  I also lose the ability to concentrate on normal activities – like driving.  So, I take one while waiting in the office and then a second when I get in the car to drive home.  I try to convince myself a) it’s not “really” eating;  and, 2)  they are sort of healthy.  I do this because I want to believe I’m being strict on this fast.  Okay, I’m not (convincing).  I get home and look them up.  First ingredient:  SUGAR.  Second ingredient:  Glucose syrup (aka:  sugar).  Calories:  15 per cough drop.  Still, no point in beating one’s self up too much…  I made it home and had a 24oz bottle of blend (4 heaping tablespoons of roughage mixed with fruit juice).  An hour or so of peace, and then off to the loo (repeatedly).
I made it home from the second appointment and was in between extreme fatigue and getting ready to shake.  So, I treated myself to a large glass (16oz) of Naked Juice Mighty Mango smoothie.  This is “supposed” to be “healthy”, but nothing that tastes this good can be “healthy”.  The juice is 150 calories per 8oz serving (that’s 300 calories I drank) and has the equivalent of a can of soda pop in sugar.  The only significant difference is the sugar is fructose and not HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup).  My initial reaction was perfectly normal for a sugar rush:  crash in chair in front of the TV.  And, after a 45 minute (sugar-powered) power nap, I am good to go for the rest of the evening.  Did I mention that Naked is owned by Pepsi?  Yeah, that kind of healthy…
Still, we are all human and I’m making up for it by having my veggie juice for dinner.  Note to self:  just stay home while juice / blend fasting.  Answer to self:  yeah, but sometimes life gets in the way…
And that was sooooo yummy I’m finishing the evening by drinking 30oz of ice water with 2oz of lemon concentrate.  My urologist told me years ago to drink lots of water and add a little lemon as the citric acid is supposed to help break up “some types” of kidney stones.  When I was in Saudi, my Indian co-workers insisted on pomegranate juice for curing kidney stones.  And, most lately, my co-workers at SSA (before I retired) used to tell me to drink cranberry juice (mostly those from the east coast).  So, I do a bit of all three, but mainly water with lemon, as it is the least expensive and requires the fewest trips to the store to replenish.  And, yes, my stones are still playing up.
And the news you’ve all been waiting for:  morning weigh-in 365lbs!  Somehow, I managed to drop 3lbs over a single day.  Actually, I’m cheating again…  I said I dropped only one yesterday, but it was slightly more and I was giving it a conservative rounding up.  This morning the arrow is clearly below the line, but I’m rounding up again – so it’s “really” only 2lbs to 3lbs instead of 3 to 4.  I don’t mind the inaccuracy because I’m using an analog scale and not a digital one.  Which means:  380 – 365 = 15lbs after four days of not chewing.   Minus “assumption” weight (10lbs), and I’ve lost 5 real pounds with three days to go.
It’s evening now and I’m half way through day 5, so I’ll project to finish the week between 8 and 10 real pounds down and then comes the hard part of breaking the fast with a lifestyle change which includes diet AND fitness.  The swimming (three times a week) is fun, but I’m going to have to breakdown and start a daily program of lifting weights, jogging and yoga.  Well, here’s to “eat less and move more”…  Four down, three to go!
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Click here (31 July) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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