God, Geek, Blog!

Fun with Dry Ice

We just got a shipment of food in from an Organic Market in MN (right near where I grew up) and they sent it overnight with lots of DryIce in the box.  Well we accidentally touched the ice so my fingers are a little tingly, but I got the ice into the sink and we have been running hot water over it for the last few minutes coating most of the kitchen in a nice fog.

Funnier yet is that cats are little weirded out by fog.  My wife took a video and I will try and post that as soon as she uploads it.

Kick butt Breakfast/Lunch Item

Ok, I am working toward 100% grain free eating for a bit.  I have now been 2 days without any bread, pasta items.  I feel great.  Sugars are not feeling it yet, but that will change. 

Today for lunch I had some breakfast (Ainsley and I failed to make lunch together well so I punted).  Here is what I had in the dish

• Eggs
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Kielbasa
• Cheese

Now I realize that it is a simple scrambled eggs, but was so good.  I had an entire onion, and about 5oz of mushrooms.  I am not really a fan of mushrooms, but they hit the spot just perfect today.

Now, I feel full and energized.  Today is a stressful one, and so it is good to get a great meal in and feel good about it.  Breakfast for me today was a Primal Fuel shake.  That means for the day so far I am at at TOTAL of 35 GROSS (26net) carbs.  That is AWESOME.  Tonight for dinner I am planning on a green smoothie to take me into the evening feeling full and wonderful.

I learned last night that cashews spike my sugars.  That is a bummer.  I had some cashews and walnuts as a snack around 9:30pm and when I went to bed my sugar was at 209 (up from 174 at 6pm with dinner) and I figured it would drop some, but woke up to 239 so it rose another 30pts.   Either that is the “sunrise surprise” that I deal with everyday or it was the nuts.  I suspect the nuts as I had to get up about 3hrs after I went to bed at a 11:00pm and that usually means my sugars are very high 200s or low 300s.  So, I suspect I spiked up and then came down.  So no more post 7pm snacking on anything.  Just a big jug of water and go to bed.

Onward to my goals of happy, healthy and loving it.  I am already at the happy and loving it so time to reach the healthy goal.

Really, that easy

So, now that I am adjusting my eating and trying to consume less carbs, but getting more fruits, vegetables and LESS and LESS grains I am feeling better.  My internals are rioting a little right now from a week on green smoothies and now eating again, but they will get over it.

I saw this photo and thought it was perfect for the way that I need to address my food plate.

On a cool note it has now been 12 days without a soda, and nearly 7 days without a caffeinated beverage and I feel great.  The water is really helping to clean out my system.  My left leg which has very bad adema has not been nearly as bad over the last 2 weeks.  I guess I was retaining alot more water from the higher sodium counts or preservatives in the soda then I thought.

On to another day of good choices, and healthy body adjustments.  I am on the right path, with the right mindset and accomplishing the goal set before me.  YES!

Detox 2012 is over, but good eating habits are not

Over the last couple of days I have been trying to adjust the detox/food lifestyle to fit better with my current health conditions.  Part of the issue that I have had over the last 7 days is my sugars have been swinging in nearly 150pts up and down throughout the day.  This is really rough on the body and so I need to figure out how to normalize this.

One thing that I started doing is eating solid foods again for some of the meals, and avoiding most carbs.  I am trying to keep my sugars more normalized by reducing the total carb intake.  I am trying to keep this under 100carbs for the day which seems to be a good number for keeping the sugars under control.  If I stay under that then my average sugars for the day stay under 200 and do not waiver alot.

So, I am reading the Primal Blueprint book as it seems that I will be eating a much more Primal/Paleo diet with real foods, and low carbs.  I will be trying to cut fast foods out nearly 100% and all boxed/pre-made foods also.  So, goodbye frozen pizzas and burgers and hello real meat that I have to cook.  I am actually happy about that.

As an example here is what I have eaten and the sugars related.

Start Sugar: 246

Breakfast @ 8am: 4eggs, Cheese and sausage patties (10 total carbs)

Sugars Pre Lunch: 209

Lunch @ 11:30pm: 1/2 Kielbasa with ketchup/mustard and a Grapefruit (25 total carbs)

Sugars Pre Snack: 179

Snack @ 2:30pm: Chocolate diabetic shake (20 total carbs)

Sugars Pre Dinner: 154 (I will eat dinner about 6pm today)

Dinner @ 6pm: Taco Salad sans shells (25 total carbs)

As you can see with my normal insulin and a very low carb count I can keep the sugars down.  As the sugars stay down my system can adjust.

Now, we are going to start re-introducing the green smoothies as a breakfast or lunch alternative.  The issue is that each smoothie is about 40-50 carbs and so it really restricts my choices for the day.  I know this is the best choice though as it keeps portions down, and my sugars.

DETOX 2012 - Day 7

Yesterday was a GREAT day as I got to lay around the house and do nothing.  I have not done that much nothing in a long time.  So refreshing.  The cap to the day was going to our friend Anjennete’s home and hanging out due to her birthday.  It was nice to catch up with friends and just be there.

On a super positive note, I was very tempted to have a slice or cake, or a cookie to celebrate with everyone else but did not.  I brought a great tasting Pink Lady Apple along and when I was tempted I went and ate that.  It was very refreshing, and I feel glad that I was able to make that simple switch in my brain from not needing the sweets to just eating the apple.

The frustrating part is that the apple at 10pm put me into high sugar modes this morning.  That is kind of frustrating, but in the end it was still better for me then eating the cookie as that would have done the same without the nutrients.

Here are the stats:

• Starting Sugar: 209
• Ending Sugar: 197
• Water: 64oz (low water day)
• Sleep: 13hrs (yes that is right, 13 STRAIGHT HOURS)

One other small note is that I have not had a soda in 7 days now, and not had any green tea (or any other caffeine) for 4 days.  I am not getting the headaches that I thought I should.  This may be due to the MACA in the protein powder that I am having.  It is not a caffeine but stimulates the same areas of the brain.  I also have NO cravings for a soda which is even cooler.

Next week I am going to try and get in and do a ION Footbath Detoxer.  My friend Rick was talking about it yesterday at the party and said it is amazing and powerfully detoxing.  I think that will be the first step before I can get up the courage to do the Colon HydroTherapy!

So, happy Sunday, GO STEELERS and see you on the other side of the salad!

No Wonder Salads Are Rough

Today, I was reading a post about detoxing and some of the power foods, and this is the description that they gave for Green Leafy Vegetables and it is no wonder that people love and hate these things.

Green Leafy Veggies: Are the most nutrient dense of any food. Greens contain chlorophyll which help repair tissue, helps neutralize toxins, neutralizes free radicals, increases the flow of bile, sucks up toxins from the blood stream. And that is just a few of the things they do! Aim for 1 1/2 pounds of greens a day. Work up to it.

So off to have a green smoothy, and all the “BENEFITS” that come along with it. Maybe, I should add an Avacado with all its power benefits also… oh wait, I do hate those!

DETOX 2012 - Day 6

Today was a BUSY BUSY day and that means that I was BAD about remembering to eat (drink) today.  I woke up at 6:45am and did not have any water, or smoothie until 12:45.  That means for 6hrs my body figured that it was in starvation mode and was slowing my metabolism which is not what I want.

The really frustrating thing about this also is that my sugars rose 40pts and I did not eat any carbs ARGHHH

The exciting part of the day was that I got to try and fly my new RC Helicopter.  I can say that I am NOT very good at it yet.  I need to learn more and practice alot.  I also got RC cars in a cops and robbers format so that Ainsley and run them up and down the hallways in our apt (they are wide).

Here are the stats for the day:

• Start Sugar: 209
• End Sugar: 199
• Water: 128oz
• Tea: 0oz
• Food: yes

On a interesting note is that my daily sugars have dropped from a avg of 207 to 195.  Over the last 30 days my average was 209, and the last 7 was 192.  That is nearly a 20pt per day lower value which is very encouraging.  Now to get that down into my peak range of 70-125

Now to finish out the first 7 days strong with a full day off and having a good time.

DETOX 2012 - Day 5

Today was a real test of my patience and I am happy to say that I did not go out and buy food.  I did end up having a GrapeFruit, Celery and pistachios though.  In the grand scheme of things that is a good healthy alternative choice for the day.  I was tempted to order foods just to get my out of the bad mood funk, but victory in small things.

So, you are probably wondering what got me in a bad mood.  Well for the most part it has to do with some things I am working on personally and related projects to it.  I just want to complete them and move forward.  I am frustrated because until I really finish up these personal projects I do not really feel that I can move forward with some other misc things that I want to do.

So, pray needed for patience and joy in the simple things in life.  I do see the joy in them.  I am excited to get out this weekend and fly my new remote helicopter.  I got a NICE unit and it will be alot of fun to fly.

As for the days numbers here goes:

• Start Sugar: 234
• End Sugar: 198
• Food: yes some, but healthy choices
• Water: 96oz
• Tea: none

Goals for Friday are to drink at least 128oz of water, and 64oz of tea.   I really feel much better when I am heavily hydrated like that.

DETOX 2012 - Day 4

It was nice to have a day off and not doing anything today.  I got to run errands and take care of some nagging issues with Verizon FiOS!   I also learned something that I did not realize.  I have become so programmed that when I go out and run errands that I stop and get food.  This was not really evident until I was driving home and realized that I had stopped at wendys and got food.  It was so ingrained in me that it is scary.

The rest of the day went well though.  I realized that I really like the green smoothies.  My favorite so far is Aloe, WheatGrass, Bee Pollen, RAW Protein, Fruits of the Earth, and Dirt with Honey (see the photo yesterday).  It actually smells like chocolate, but offers 2X the daily value of fruit and 3X the daily protein intake.  This means that even though I am not chewing anything I am still getting all the things I need.

Here are the stats for the day:

• Start Sugar: 191
• End Sugar: 144
• Insulin: Full does today
• Food: YEAH (boo)
• Water: 96oz
• Tea: 16oz

Still no caffeine (outside of one cup of green tea a day) and doing well.  So, on to day 5 and forward.