Sometimes, it’s not as bad as you think

So, I did great yesterday, up until dinner.

However, I was only over by 400 calories for the day, and at 180 net carbs.

Not great, but neither was it totally out of bounds!

Not Pictured: That Which Went Off The Rails...

Mostly, things were good. Until the cupcakes & chili dogs...

Leaning In

On a Monday night I didn't 'want' to mow the lawn or prep egg cups - but dammit I did!

Learning to Bounce

An epic two weeks of force-march at home came to fruition with the 11 year old's birthday. In typical fashion, this meant that there was little time, energy, bandwidth or patience for anything else. I'm now trying to 'right the ship', but it's so damn hard, trying to paddle upstream, all by myself, while everyone else in the house is still in the conga line. Ugh.

Back To Basics

Dinner last night was AWESOME. Scallops, lightly crusted with potato chips, bacon, in a lovely cream sauce with a Brussels sprout salad.

Totally off plan, no doubt! ...and the TWO cups of soup only compounded that!!!

It's the sort of meal that would be totally fine during 'maintenance mode' ... IF ... I'd not had a big hunk of burger 60 minutes prior, AND, I'd not had two lovely cups of cream based soup.

So, yes, I still need to solve my '4th meal problem'. I've been bitching about that for over 5 years, so it's time to find a way to leave that shit in the dust.

And the rest of it? I need to simply embrace my inner abstainer and go back to the plain old Whole 30 rules.

No grains
No added sugar
No dairy
No legumes
No preservative crap

Simple, whole food. Low-ish carb, with one 'big-assed' salad every day. Just 3 appropriately sized meals, with 2/3rds of the plate being covered in fruits & veggies. No snacking. No treats. No bullshit.

One foot in front of the other...

It's not always fun, pretty, or photogenic. Sometimes it's a real pain in the ass, and it's often the absolute LAST thing I want to do. Sometimes I'm hungry enough to not give a damn, but taking half a moment to stay on-plan pays off.

It sucks, but it works

A week in New York

Last week I was in New York for a work conference. I knew the company would be providing a lot of the food, and they had team outings planned for dinner. So, I gave myself a 'pass' for the week - not to go insane - but to simply allow me to enjoy NYC & not be 'that guy' in every meeting.

Being there for 9/11 was sobering.

The conference was good, and the team building gimmicks actually worked, and I now know my geographically diverse team much better!

While in NYC, of course I had to have some pizza. Maybe I even had pizza 3 or 4 times? It was GREAT! There was also a great BBQ place with some of the best hush puppies I've had in a decade...

In the end, at home on Sunday, I weighed-in, expecting a good bit of backtracking I'd need to overcome.

I lost half a pound....

I really like this, but ...

The advantage of eating stuff that's not only on-plan, but so yummy that I'd eat it anyway, is minimizing feelings of being deprived.

This is good.

The tough part is maintaining my discipline when directly faced with hyper palatable, highly processed junk food.

When I had my previous success with this plan, I lived on my own and I simply didn't allow any crap-food into my house. At work, I had a health-nut friend who supported / encouraged me.

These days?

Kid-food is (literally) everywhere in our kitchen. I cannot open the fridge, a cabinet, or even glance at a countertop without being faced with multiple highly desirable types of junk food.

How do I turn off the 'wanting'? How do I turn off my desires for these trigger foods?

I'm so frustrated, I don't even know where to turn...

Onward...

While the last week or so has been a challenge, it’s not been all bad!  While my A-Fib still leaves me ‘huffy-puffy’, at least we finally got my blood pressure dialed-in.  While my weight is still bouncing in a 5lb range – it’s not going UP!  I have a follow-up with the Doc later this week which may dramatically impact this area, but in the meantime, I like that I can affect my weight with what I eat.  It’s just staying on-track that can be hard, especially when the house is filled with the warm delicious scent of a birthday cake baking.  After a day of yard-work & home-projects, I didn’t have the wherewithal to prep my breakfasts for the week, so we’re improvising.  Next week I’ll be traveling for work, and THAT will be a BIG additional challenge!  Stay tuned – it’s been a bitch lately, but that certainly doesn’t mean I’m giving up!

 

 

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The whole picture...

It's not always so easy to distill one's life into single categorical "good" or "bad" judgements. It's true that being in A-Fib makes everything harder, but it also doesn't have to keep me on the sidelines.

Never give up

After many months of trying to 'dial-in' my blood pressure, it looks like we've figured out the right med, and it's proper dose!

After a big spike in weight, I drilled-down & saw a nice turn.

Breakfasts & lunches are still pretty damn solid! Whole30 delivery for lunch ain't cheap, but it's damn good, and perfectly on-plan!

Not much to say today

Yesterday, we attempted a Cardioversion.

It failed.

My weight bounced up to where it was 30 days ago! I ate hot dogs IN THE BUNS.

I'm exhausted, sweaty, out of breath, and simply just bone-damn tired.

Tired of the fight. Tired of being hungry. Tired of people assuming I'm a lazy piece of shit.

Tired of being tired...

...and another thing...

I may be back in A-Fib, but progress continues!

I'm doing a little more cooking & food prep, doing some good Whole30 lunch options downtown, and I'm down to 443lbs. (May 1st I was 475)

I’ve done worse ...

The key, as always, is prep!

My Whole30 lunch & 7 Greens Salad, combined, were $50! Those are both GREAT options, but ain't gonna be no long time success commin' if I'm burnin' that kinda cash!!!

Well, shit ...

It's not an official diagnosis, but my my $0.99 iPhone App tells me I'm back in A-Fib.

Crap, crapper, crappity crap!

This just makes everything harder, more complicated, and adds a shit-ton of expense. Ugh! And things were going so well!

No big huge stressor event to kick me over this time. I just spent a week busting my ass with sweat dripping from my nose - but all that felt good and WAS good!

Was it too much caffein? Too much processed lunch meat? Too few vegetables?

No ... while I've always felt caffeine was a risk factor, the Cardiac Doc's disagree. They feel alcohol is a big contributor, and admittedly, I've had (maybe) four beers in the last two & half months.

Seriously!

If there was a trigger (and it could be totally random), my money is on the Sudafed I recently started taking due to the onset of my Autumn Seasonal Allergies. The irony is that crap didn't even really help!

Now I have to go back to the Doc, he has to run an official EKG (no iPhone apps there!), then I have to be on blood thinner for at least 30 days, then we check me in for a weekend, keep me on constant monitoring in the Cardio ward, load me up on the new Meds, and then give me the big reboot shock to get me back in rhythm.

That'll be a shockingly (pun intended)expensive weekend, and if past experience is a good guide, due to new insurance from my new job - I'll have all new deductibles - and in the end I'll owe about 5k.

Just in time for the holidays, and the end of year reset on deductibles!

Yeah! Winning!

Gained while on-plan with high activity

So, it was 'break week', where wife & kiddos are on the annual educational vacation. I was working from home, with many to-do lists & goals to accomplish.

Gained two pounds. Ugh!!!

The only thing I wasn't doing: logging my food. So, we'll be back on that train this week! Back in the office with a good walk to & from the train - and a big ole salad for lunch.

Tonight I need to prep a batch of egg muffins...and hopefully that'll get the success train chugging again!

Dumb, adorable, stupid little dog

Clyde's entire life (nearly 12 years) has been peppered with 'episodes' of high tummy acid, causing him to maniacally gulp, lick, and eat - to the point of not noticing or caring that other things are happening. He swallows so much air that his belly gets distended, and he burps & barfs an awful foamy mix powerful enough to make me consider owning a cat.

The danger, and often repeated visit to the Vet, is what he ingests during the episode. In an early episode, he ate a wood base-board. He ate carpet a few times, a wooden dog crate once, and several plush toys. I learned (the hard way) that he could never, ever be left alone outside his crate, no matter how well behaved or housebroken he was. I learned (the hard way) he could never ever have anything in the crate with him. I learned (the hard way) he needed to always be in a metal crate.

His episodes were unpredictable. He might not have one for a year, or even 18 months, but it'll come. The next one might be later that day, next week, or months down the road.

I never figured out a trigger, never found a pattern, never had any way of predicting or preventing it.

Most Vet's would listen to my description of symptoms, shrug, and give trite, meaningless advice - clearly thinking the issue was all in MY head.

My greatest fear was always towels. He once shredded one legthwise, and started trying to swallow a 3 foot long strip! I was convinced that one day he'd choke himself. So, I was vigilant.

Then ... we got Cyrus. Cyrus didn't have any of these issues, but since we always put Clyde in a crate, Cyrus went too. But I thought it'd be ok to give the skinny boy a towel!

Leave it to Clyde! In his most recent episode, he managed to stealthily spit out the Pepcid AC, I gave him, and he acted fine enough in his crate that I left him unattended, thinking the worst was behind us. Little did I know, his episode flared up, and the little booger managed to grab a corner of Cyrus' towel! He pulled it through, and managed to eat about 2/3 of it - which you can see in the picture above, (what the Vet removed during surgery), in the dog bowl.

Poor guy is recovering...

You know it’s good when the dogs beg for it

So, today was a fun day, on the road with Fiat Friends. Lunch was off-plan, but relatively low-volume. Sweet Potato fries at dinner were a "best of bad" option, but breakfast & late-dinner were SOLID. 2800 calories, 156g of carbs, and just over 5k mg of Sodium. So, room for improvement, but all things considered, not too bad!

How it's done

From May 1st through August 3rd, I lost almost exactly 30lbs!  2.3lbs a week!  

You can also see I've cut my average daily Sodium intake by 40%!

How?  By paying attention every damn day!  

I can't always immediately log my food, so I try to take pictures of everything I eat.  That way I can catch up at the end of the day.  Everyday I'm reading, researching, and listening to podcasts.  It's a constant, ongoing process, and make no mistake, I have a LONG way to go!

I fact, if I loose 10 more pounds, I'll be at my previous high, where I started my fabulous weight loss in 2014.  It may feel like a well worn path, but I learn something each time I pass this way.  When I get back down to 300lbs, that'll finally be an unfamiliar neighborhood, a place I've not seen in decades.  I was "almost" there in 2015.  I'm leery of making goals, since The Gods of Fate & Destiny so enjoy laughing at me; and weight loss is funny - you just have to do all the right things and let it come off at the pace it chooses.  

However, it'd be cool to combine a few things.  In May of 2021 I will cross a personal Rubicon, into territory unknown - I will have outlived my father.  It'd be great to honor him with hitting a goal weight by then.  If I'm going to outlive him, I may as well be the best version of myself, which bless his heart, he never doubted.

That's 22 months, or 94 weeks to loose 200 lbs.  Thats 2.13lbs per week, for nearly 2 years!  My knee jerk reaction is that's INSANE.  I "know" I can't do that each week - sure, some may be a good bit more, but I'm going to stall & hit plateaus.  That's just how it goes.

…but it'd be cool, wouldn't it?  And a damn big challenge has always been fun!

On-Plan Excess

Totally on-plan today, yet I came in at 3300 calories, 130 net carbs, and 4,000mg of Sodium!

I've gotta figure out the reality of how to get through 4pm to 8pm without turning into Cookie Monster

I ate the cheesecake

Actually, I split the piece of cheesecake - as it was our 3rd anniversary! This cheesecake was our wedding cake, so it's kinda special :)

...and surprisingly, it had fewer carbs than yesterday's apples! I'm not suggesting I start having cheesecake for breakfast everyday, but still ...

The Plan

So, I ginned this up in Excel in order to diagram my 24 hour eating & sleeping schedule.

Weird? Dorky? Looney?

Yeah, I know ...

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I know, I know....Hello, 4th meal...! Um...I mean, 5th meal?

Mid afternoon with a headache, and my Lizard Brain convinced me that a Starbucks sausage breakfast muffin would do the trick. Spoiler Alert: it didn't. And at 900+mg of Sodium, it was my heavy hitter of the day.

The 41 grams of carbs was just adding insult to injury!

I get home @ 6pm, and I'm hungry! A little steak, with a touch of Pimento Cheese can't be bad. Right?

Who knew cheese was so high in salt? At 300+mg, those two tablespoons of cheese were NOT worth it! Only 6g of carbs, but still!!!

So - I still need to work on my meal timing. And my cravings. And my attitude.

The Weekend Update

So, first of all, the good news. I'm down 26.8lbs!!! Woo-Hoo! For two months progress, that's not bad for just 8 weeks! That's about 3.3lbs per week, and that's astounding!

As far as the Sodium thing goes ... yeah .... I feel like figuring that out helped a few things 'click', but I still need to figure out how to put it into practice. Short term wins? My beloved Frank's Wing Sauce (460mg / tbl spoon) was a Whole 30 staple - but it's a MASSIVE hit of Sodium! So, two almost-new bottles hit the trash. In it's place? Well, the green hot sauce I fell in love with at Real Urban BBQ (Pain Is Good - Jalepeno Pepper Sauce) is fabulously on-plan! Not only is it Whole 30 compliant, but it's super low Sodium!

My other big easy win was breakfast - while I loved my Dunkin bowl & Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls, they were both massive Sodium hits. So, I made my old egg cups with my super high quality US Wellness Meats Breakfast Sausage, and I'm in GREAT shape!

Today's breakfast & supplements - a total of 156mg of Sodium.

Last week's breakfast w/ Dunkin Bowl & Franks - more than 2200mg of Sodium!

Oddly, the carbs & calories stay pretty much even - so it's just the processed food I have to watch out for.

Jimmy John's Gargantuan Unwich (4989mg) - I will miss you!

Oh, HOLY CRAP

Have you ever been looking at something so close, that you are totally shocked when you back up a bit & see something totally obvious?

For many months, I've been concerned that I was pre-diabetic.  I was ravenously thirsty, exhausted, stiff & sore, with occasional BRUTAL headaches, and consistently dark urine.

I've been logging my food & really trying to drill down the carbs, to the point of favoring old-school Atkins instead of 'real food'.  A Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl & a Jimmy John Gargantuan Unwich are quick, easy, totally low carb, and ASTONISHINGLY high in sodium!

Then, I was reading through Loren Cordain's site, and I came across this article:

https://thepaleodiet.com/a-rare-and-never-before-published-book-chapter-concerning-salt-and-cancer/

Well, Holy Shit!  

So, I dug into my sodium intake...

Ugh.  Ok.  I get it.  Time to seriously re-jigger the plan!

A series of questionable choices ...

... leading to an end result that's not actually very awful.

Breakfast & Lunch were typical 'store bought', but dinner was The Signature Room with wife & kiddos, which was a helluva treat. The daily numbers ended up pretty solid, too!

The illustrated need for planning

It's ok when one meal is 'store bought' because life is busy and you make the best choice from bad options. But all THREE meals?

Yeah, I need to tighten some shit up, but ... I'm already overbooked, underslept, and exhausted. Time to make some bold pronouncements like "Stop Watching TV", and "Master Your To-Do List".

Ugh. Might as well hold hands and sing campfire songs...

Everything Old is New Again

So, after my carb-eriffic weekend, my Tuesday weigh-in is UP 1.2lbs.

Ugh.

That tells me I have a much thinner margin of error than I'd thought, which is disappointing now AND in the near future. It tells me that my future plateau is both closer & tougher than I'd hoped.

So ... what's the plan? Well, setting my grumpy-fit aside for a moment, it's all the same old battle, right? My carb counts are up, and I'm battling the 4th (and 5th?) meal conundrum.

I love the Nutrient Optimizer / Chronometer approach (getting adequate nutrition will satisfy cravings), but GOOD LORD it's complicated, and I fear I may just be too much of a #metabolichotmess to ride that train just yet.

I need to focus on the basics. I love my daily 'big bag of berries', but that's 25 carbs, right off the bat. I need to focus on an 'old school' low carb approach, perhaps keeping it Whole 30-ish (real, whole food, no dairy or grains). AND ... I need to revisit my idea of pushing brekkie to 10 or 11am, so that lunch can be at 2 or 3pm, allowing me to hit a 7 or 8pm dinner without a 4th meal in that 4 to 6pm zone.

Grumble, grumble ... me & my headache are gonna sit here & pout for a few hours before I stomp off down Franklin Street to the damn salad bar place. It'll be a joy, I'm sure! Wanna meet there? ;-)

So, the weekend didn’t totally suck

I'm hitting Monday morning feeling pretty good! I ate WAY too many carbs Sat & Sun, but my total calorie count wasn't too bad. Add to that a butt-load of steps & activity Sunday as I mowed & trimmed the lawn & did a bunch of other projects.

Nothing succeeds like success

Sunday - no progress
Wednesday - up 1lb
Friday - down 2.1

Sometimes I think my body takes a deep breath before letting go!

Rocks in my head

So, I need to learn more about this, but it's not *just* about carbs. Added sugar, we know is bad, no discussion needed. BUT ... starch? Yeah, it turns out, that's super bad, too. In the body it instantly & easily becomes plain old sugar. That includes all those root veggies I love :(

But the real superfood seems to be fiber. I'm cheating the system right now by supplementing it, but let me tell you - GOSH, what a difference!

I need to find a way to pump up the natural fiber, while keeping the sugar & starch low. That means sugary fruit (apples), and things like carrots & parsnips are not my friends right now. They have great nutrient profiles - but I just can't take the insulin hit.

An interesting theory put forward in Don't Eat For Winter is that seasonally autumnal foods naturally trigger our body to put on weight.

What foods are seasonally autumnal? Apples, other tree fruit, root veggies, and all the stuff that takes all summer to grow.

Gotta eat like it's Spring! Lean meats & low carb...

Solid Choices, but reverse progress

So ... my weekly weigh-in showed I *gained* a pound and a half! Ugh.

Sometimes, even good choices are just too much...

A pretty solid weekend

It looks like I'm averaging roughly 150 carbs per day. Just over a third of that are refined carbs. (1090 carbs for the week, 448 'bad' = 155 per day, 64 of which are refined.) So - a great deal of room for improvement! But how? I still crave enough, and am still not being proactive enough, that I end up backed into a corner. I have GOT to get proactive, or I'll never hold off the cravings!

A damn good day

Damn Straight

In the 3.5 weeks since I got my new scale, I'm down 11.2lbs! I'm down I.5 just since Sunday. This is GREAT progress, and I haven't even been 100% on anything!

Some thoughts on that, later...

Rough Start / Smooth Finish

So ... yesterday I wrapped up at 169 carbs. 109 were from breakfast alone! Those were refined carbs, simply because I got surprised at Dunkin' with my low carb bowl being discontinued. The rest of my carbs, I'll cheerfully take - mostly salad & peanuts. I had 20 carbs, roughly, in the fried Mozzarella appetizer, which was a lovely treat.

The point to all this? It's DAMN hard to get super low on carbs! Especially if you still want to incorporate at least one 'big ass' salad every day.

Breakfast sets up the day for success or failure, and since I apparently can't count on Dunkin', I need a better solution for myself.

Breakfast is too important!

Good Choices / Bad Choices

How I start the day, is how my day goes.

Or to put it another way: Breakfast = Success (or lack thereof)

If my breakfast is on-plan & good, my day will be a winner, plain & simple! Even if I go off-plan later in the day, a satisfying breakfast keeps that later off-plan choice from blowing up. Conversely, a bad breakfast will equal a bad day, no matter how tight the rest of the day is. It'll be a shit-struggle, too!

So - as Dunkin heartlessly discontinues my PERFECT sausage scramble bowl - I have made some off-plan choices, and have struggled to Stay The Course.

What to do?

I may order some Jimmy Dean refrigerated breakfast bowls & keep them at the office. Totally on-plan, and easy to microwave. Might take some planning & effort - but that's better than an off-plan choice!

Four Day Holiday Weekend

I certainly wasn't 100% with my food choices over the holiday, but I took my own breakfast stuff, and my 'big bags of berries', which allowed me to make some good choices at dinnertime. The wood-fired pizza Saturday was WAY off-plan, but it was 'real food'. It was serious validation to see my weight continue downward. My blood pressure continues to vex me, even though my Doctor had me bump up my medication. I'll be contacting him so that we can address this, but I know that continuing to lose weight is the best medicine of all. Being able to do that without feeling deprived is what will allow my success to continue!

Planning ahead

Weekends & holidays away can be a special challenge for me. Excuses of 'it's a special occasion' and so forth ... and 'small' thing like that can easily derail me. So, a little bit of planning & prep can go a long way.

I did some nice hearty portions of Honeydew, Cantaloupe, Red Grapes, Kiwi, Blackberries, Blueberries, and Raspberries. This should be a low glycemic nutritional antioxidant powerhouse!

Somedays you win...

Yesterday went really well.

So, let's talk about *why* it went well.

1. I was fairly busy, and didn't have so much time to think about food.

2. I timed everything later, giving me the ability to 'skip' one 'meal'.

3. I front-loaded the day with a hearty breakfast, allowing me to stay in front of the hunger.

Now ... let's see if I can continue to apply this model as we move forward!

One foot in front of the other...

I've said it before, but it bears repeating - Nothing succeeds like success!

This may be more of my own personal truth, rather than a universal truism! 90% of my battle is inside my own head, so it's good for me to be self-aware.

So - I'm trying some new things! The Nutrient Optimizer is great - however I still prefer logging my food through My Fitness Pal vs. Chronometer. I know Chronometer is 'better', but the food database isn't nearly as complete, so it's a moot point. If I can figure out how to download MFP to then upload to Nutrient Optimizer ... then that'd be a helluva win!

I also signed up for Day Two. They analyze (DNA Sequence) your gut microbiome, in order to give tailored recommendations around carb tolerance. I have my personalized conference the morning of July 12th, so stay tuned! Some of the default advice looks pretty standard (remove red meat / eat more whole grains - ugh!), but I still have hope that it'll give me some good insights.

...and I signed up for the Balanced Bites nutritional Master Class! I've wanted to do this for a few years, so I finally bit the bullet! THIS is going to be good - I really like the common sense Paleo approach, and I hope this lets me drill down beyond the typical Cross Fit athlete style recommendations.

I know that my home-brew routine is working right now. My paleo / whole food / low carb / nutrient focused outlook "works", but I need to know "why", so that I can continue to refine it. I have to keep my own interest, fight my cravings, and push through plateaus. It's a tall order!

...but I'm figuring it out, and getting there with a 'progress, not perfection' mindset. I've just gotta keep the momentum of progress going!!!

Onward...

Sweet Baby Jesus, THANK YOU!!!

As recently as early May, my weight was still climbing. I peaked at 475. Previously, my peak was 440, back in 2013 / 14, back before I started my first Whole 30. When I was 440, I was freaked out due to being exactly twice the man I was when I got off active duty at 220lbs. Needless to say, I was upset to see I'd recently exceeded that record by 35lbs. I was heavy enough that I could only weigh myself at the Dr's office. Regular scales max out 125lbs below my weight. So, not only am I upset about my record weight, I have to have it witnessed by a Physician's Assistant.

Ugh.

10-ish days ago, I got a new scale - one with a max rating at nearly twice my weight! It was a 'dumb' scale, with no Bluetooth, and no integration with anything. I was pleased that my initial weight on it was roughly 10lbs lower than the Dr's office, but I knew that could merely be a difference in calibration.

So, seeing my weight down AGAIN today? This was a definite victory! This was validation that what I'm doing is WORKING.

Thank goodness. It's just too exhausting to keep trying SO hard & having no results.

Onward!

Marty Kendall’s got it figured

If you haven't heard of Marty, you should check out his site, https://optimisingnutrition.com

He's agnostically looking at nutrition, based on the premise that if we give our bodies the optimal nutrients they need, the cravings will subside.

Interesting thought, and it'd certainly be a HUGE win for me!

He says, "Hunger increases exponentially as more of our energy comes from fat+starch.

(Let that sink in for a moment)

When we look at the foods that have more of their energy from fat+starch we can start to see why this is the case. Regardless of willpower and dedicated weighing and measure these people will likely struggle to maintain a sustained calorie deficit. It's the "comfort foods" like crackers, doughnuts, cookies and lasagna that you will go back to for seconds and not stop until they're all gone.
It's the added fats and flours that have increased the most in parallel
with the growing obesity epidemic.

(I feel like he's speaking directly to me!)

If weight loss is a goal, you should reduce the foods and meals that contain both starch (e.g. wheat flour, corn starch etc) and added fats (e.g. canola, soy oil, rapeseed oil etc) together."

Looking at his data, it's astounding. Where was all this knowledge several decades ago, when I could have turned it around more easily???

Onward...

Nutrient Optimizer

The primary goal of the Nutrient Optimiser algorithm is to
help you get more of the nutrients you need without excess energy.
Various micronutrients interact with each other and compete for
absorption, so balancing these nutrients is also beneficial.
Rather than emphasising nutrients based on your nutrient ratios,
the Nutrient Optimiser uses the nutrient ratios as a safety check
to make sure that you're not being recommended any food that will
push micronutrient imbalances and to maximise the benefit of your diet.


1. Your omega-6:omega-3 ratio is elevated, so you should
consider reducing foods that contain significant amounts
of vegetable oils and prioritise wild-caught seafood.

2. Generally, it's not advisable to supplement with zinc
or copper. But instead you should make sure your diet has
adequate amounts of whole foods that contain these nutrients,
ideally in a reasonable balance. Your body will absorb what
it needs and excrete the rest. Focus on Liver, other organ
meats, and Oysters.


3. The potassium:sodium ratio is possibly the most important
of all the nutrient ratios. If you focus on getting enough potassium,
you likely don't need to worry so much about sodium. There's nothing
wrong with salting your food to taste. But if you are thinking of
supplementing, you most likely need more potassium rather than sodium.
Focus on Avocado, Sweet Potato, and Spinach.


4. Calcium and magnesium also compete with one other and interfere
with the other's functions if they are out of balance. Your ratio is good,
but is due to supplememtaion. Focus on Almonds, Spinach, and Avocado.

5. Higher calcium:phosphorus ratios tend to be associated with
reduced risk of obesity. Supplementing calcium does not appear to be
beneficial. Whole foods are best. Focus on Almonds, Kale, and Broccoli.

While the Nutrient Optimiser will highlight some supplements to help
you meet the Daily Recommended Intake levels for important nutrients,
supplements don't absorb into our system the same way and don't appear in the right ratios and combinations. Whole foods are always going to be optimal.

Ugh

Yup! See it? Friday is stickin' up like a sore thumb, and my #1 biggest carb for the week is directly because of it. I just can't be around pizza. Seriously!

A Winning Weekend

Over the weekend, we had some GREAT food, some skipped meals, and a great deal of food-prep success!

...and one moment where the 'old me' came out & four slices of cold pizza got hoovered, but we won't dwell on that...

A winning Thursday

Came in 105 calories below goal, and only 88 carbs - 35 of which were from vegetables! So, yeah, I'll take that as a win! Steps were only 6200, but that 6k is getting a LOT easier!

Friday is off to a patchy start, but that's a story for another day ...

Onward!

Hump Day

Marines Understand!!!

Yesterday wasn’t my best day, but in the end (with some close examination), it wasn’t a total loss. First, looking at the calorie breakdown - 45% came at dinner. Lesson? Don’t get that damn hungry! Also? A dinner salad with 100 carbs *might* not be the best health choice!!! The silver lining? I was THAT hungry, and I had a damn salad!!! Lastly, a lesson to hold onto as we move forward, FIBER. I’ve been adding 4 tabs at breakfast, and 4 tabs at night. While I’m still under on my daily tracking, the difference in gut health is ASTONISHING. Fiber is the one true superfood, and I need more, and it needs to come from food, not pills. But damn, in the meantime? That shit is working! LITERALLY!!!