Toward optimal health

This next week I plan to do a liver flush and cleansing diet. I'll also be adjusting the type and dosage of the nutritional supplements I take. I've been exercising almost every day for a year or more - doing a few miles on the treadmill usually. And I've cut out eating cheese, quit eating red meat about 30 years ago, in general just eating birds/fish, veggies, fruit, and whole grain. With the diet and exercise, I'd figured that cholesterol numbers would be pretty good. Well, a month or so ago I had a check-up, and total cholesterol was in the upper 200's, HDL was just under 50. The doc I've been seeing wanted to 'treat' this by putting me on a statin drug. I think he was wanting to do 40mg a day of Zocor.

BUT ...I've had stress tests (treadmill test) with echo cardiogram with a cardiologist and that shows the heart to be in VERY good condition. Blood pressure is 108 over 73. Pulse is 63. So aside from this magic number (the total cholesterol), I seem to be in good shape.

So rather than start buying and taking a brand name drug, I have decided to 'flush' the liver to help it deal with the cholesterol. About 10 years ago I followed this liver flush and diet. I dropped the excess 10-20 pounds I'd been carrying, felt great, kept the weight off for years (it is back with me now :), and I also noticed that total cholesterol dropped to 160.

While on vacation this week, I read this book (pictured above) which includes references to many, many peer-reviewed studies published in JAMA, Lancet, etc. The gist of the book is that our bodies have the ability to heal and to stay healthy ...but we often may need to supplement our diet to give the body what it needs to do its job. Even when eating whole foods, those foods are often grown in a manner that limits their nutritional content.

The other thing I've done is to start working with a doc at Wellness Works to see what I can do to help my body achieve optimal health. There are certainly times when prescription drugs are necessary, but I do think that many physicians unfortunately fall into the habit of a rushed 15 minute appointment - determine the main 'complaint' and prescribe something to address the primary symptom. I would much rather take ownership of my health. So the revised plan now includes continuing with the cardio workouts, and I'm revising my supplements, doing the liver flush (this is my idea, not the doc at Wellness Works), adding a few weight-lifting workouts each week, reducing the amount of water I drink (suggested by the doc, after reviewing the rather massive quantity I've been consuming), and possibly other modifications after I do my next consultation with the doc at the end of the month (to review results of hair and blood analysis). This will be interesting!

Lilikoi Ale at Waimea Brewing Company

Late tomorrow night, Shirley and I will catch a red-eye flight from Lihue Kauai back to the mainland of the USA. But today and tomorrow it's still vacation. Typically on Thursday evenings, we get together with several friends for our local gathering of Drinking Liberally. We couldn't be with them in body today, but we were with them in spirits. Here I am enjoying a Lilikoi Ale at Waimea Brewing Company - the westernmost brew pub in the USA. This is a lighter brew than I usually order (I'm a fan of brown ale, mostly), but it was quite good, with a definite and very pleasant passionfruit flavor. Yum!

Yesterday we had lunch at a little pizza and pasta joint in Koloa and I had a pint of Longboard Lager from Kona Brewing Company on the Big Island. That was also a tasty brew - tho' I think the Lilikoi Ale is the one I'd buy on the mainland ...if one could find it anywhere. I do truly enjoy sampling the local beer, wine, and coffee whenever any of those are produced locally. Gosh, one could kind of build a whole vacation around that, huh?

Aloha :)

Aloha from Kauai

Shirley and I arrived late last night to one of our favorite places on earth - the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai. This evening we went to Beaches Restaurant (click the thumbnail pic to see the full-size pic). The pic shows Shirley with a Mai Tai, and me with a mojito ...sitting overlooking the ocean as the sunset drew nearer (with the sliding doors open behind us, it is too bright to see the water; look a bit to the right where the glass is cutting the glare, and you'll see the water).

It's a little weird being here without Ben - we've been here 2 other times and always with Ben. Ahhhh... Kauai. The Garden Island. Beautiful and peaceful. Peaceful is the main thing. We're planning to spend some serious time this week doing ...well, pretty much nothing :) .....the main plan is to just relax. And, with that ...I do believe I've already spent too much time online.

Aloha

Great Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close

As has become our tradition in Florida, our Thanksgiving day turkey was cooked on the outdoor grill. You really can't beat that. I just rinsed the bird, rubbed it inside and out with olive oil, sprinkled on some garlic powder, and tossed in on the grill (indirect medium heat) for just over 3 hours. The 17+ pound turkey was perfect. Shirley had prepared the rest of the feast - various veggies, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. Mmmm.

Ben came down from North Carolina, arriving Wednesday evening. Jon, one of his roommates from last year - who now lives and works about an hour east in Orlando - joined us on Thursday. Bob, one of our buddies from our local Drinking Liberally gang was also able to make it. And Paul and Rachna, our very good friends who used to live across the street came over as we were starting on dessert. So it was wonderful. It was a beautiful autumn day in Florida, which meant we were dining outside on the lanai by the pool.

Ben was able to see a couple of his other friends - Yeon, who met him at the airport and had lunch with him before she left to head south to Naples and then over to West Palm Beach to spend the holiday with her family. And another of Ben's roommates from last year, Mo, just got back into town this weekend, so he and Ben were able to grab some sushi. And of course Ben was able to spend time with Brittany - including helping her move into the apartment that she and another woman have just leased. Yup, welcome home for your visit, Ben ...now grab that box, would ya :)

But alas, the weekend flew by as even 4-day weekends are wont to do. This morning we got up at 5am and took Ben to the airport for his trip back up to Durham. The good thing, though, is that in just a few weeks he'll be back home for the Christmas holidays ...and another grilled turkey :)

Freecycle: lightened my load :)

During the past year we've switched to using an electric mower instead of a gas-powered mower, electric grass edger and string trimmer instead of gas-powered devices, and disconnected our gas-fired water heater and installed a solar water heating system. A side effect of this is that our garage was now cluttered with the devices that we were no longer using. I was enjoying a beer Thursday evening with some friends and mentioned that I needed to get rid of this stuff. Smitty suggested I list the stuff on Freecycle. Duh! I'd heard of Freecycle a year or more ago and had forgotten about it. It works like this: instead of tossing something in a landfill, thereby polluting the ground and taking a useful item out of circulation ...'gift' it on Freecycle. Or if you need some item, check Freecycle and perhaps someone has the item you need and is ready to pass it on to a new owner.

In the words of Freecycle:

Please be gentle in your expectations, gracious in your giving and appreciative for the things you receive. Please treat each other as you want to be treated and remember, you are making a difference, one gift at a time!

How cool is that? So I popped on to the Tampa Freecycle group. I listed the items earlier today, and by mid-afternoon the items all had new homes. I have more room in the garage, and these perfectly good devices will continue to provide useful service. Words really can't express how much I enjoyed this.

Now I'm looking around seeing what else we can release :)