So the Challenge has begun, yesterday in fact was my first juice fasting day in over 13 days, that was the day I went to the doctors and set myself the challenge of getting my Cholesterol down to 4.6 or lower, I am not due to go back to the doctors until the end of October, so I hope I can get the results I want, and the results that will keep the doctor happy too.
Starting a new fast is not as much as a shock to the system as it was 12 months ago, when we went on the 28 day fast, I didn't want to break any of the rules as I wanted the best results possible, so I didn't even have my much loved cup of tea, I just had vegetable juice and water, and it paid off. Although black coffee and tea or herbal teas are allowed during the fast, milk is not, I don't take milk in tea but I do like my one sugarine tablet, which is a no no, so not breaking any rules back then I did stick to my guns. This time around I am going hard and not wanting to break any of the rules, but it will have its inner challenges, like in a fortnight's time when we are off to Sydney to see a show and I know right now that I will be having some (or a lot) of alcoholic beverages, I will probably eat a little too, although I have the Boost juice bar on my radar so I can keep in the swing of the juicing because when we get back from our little trip it will be juicing "the full Monty" again. I couldn't afford to keep moving the start date, I had already been stalling and making the most of having Terri home from UNI, and to be honest at times I was eating like there is no tomorrow, but to be honest I prefer the juicing to the eating, and there are dangers to coming off juicing and beginning to eat solids again as I found out, I had forgotten how to chew and bit my lip 3 times in the one spot, it hurt a lot. We went out for lunch on Sunday and I can't say I enjoyed the meal that much, I know there was way too many carbs and I paid for that with the high readings I had on Monday morning, but I did know that after juicing for just the one day my readings would fall considerably, which they did, but nothing to skite about, but it is early days, I will start sprouting numbers when they are more impressive. September is Sugar Free month "Yay" I love hearing how more people are cutting sugar from their diets, but still people kid themselves that there is such as thing as "Moderation" nope I disagree there is no moderation to addiction and sugar is addictive, just the mere thought of giving it up, scares the hell out of people, but it is not that scary really, like any addict, going cold turkey is hard but once you are over the line , all you have to avoid is the temptation, and the easiest way to do this is remove all sugar foods from the pantry, Oh and avoid outings to the local bakery or cakes shops the smell alone can make you fold ha ha. I have mentioned this site before "ditchthecarbs.com" they have great recipes and tips to help cut the sugar or as the name suggests Ditch the Carbs, today they posted a handy guide for the "social drinker" which I find very informative, especially as I don't drink beer or wine, and if I have a mixed drink I have coke zero but mostly I have straight spirits and liqueurs and they are happily lower in carbs, for all the scotch lovers, drinking it straight has no carbs great diet drink ever ha ha. Follow this link to view how many carbs your favourite drink is... http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2016/08/30/ultimate-guide-carbs-in-alcohol/ Stay calm and Juice or have a low carb alcoholic beverage :-)
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I thought that would get you curious, the C word is Cholesterol! I had my results earlier this week, from the previous blood tests, which I had done after the last fast I was on, and the results were... My fasting blood sugar was excellent according to the doctor, but his conversation went something like this, SOME really good results (me "Some!!!") so he continues to tell me that my diabetic control is excellent but my Cholesterol is high? and I have to say that I was rather confused at this point, but he pointed out that if it was his result and with him being non diabetic he would be happy with the result, so now i am thinking so it is not bad or high after all and I was right in my books 6 is a good reading for Cholesterol, given my age and the fact that I am a diabetic, I am extremely happy with a reading of 6, so why was my doctor not so happy? well for one I discovered that he was under the impression that I was still taking metformin for my diabetes (stopped 12 months ago) and apparently if you are taking diabetic medication this should also keep your cholesterol readings down, but I am still confused and feeling that I know where he is going with this conversation, I am starting to bite my tongue just a little, to stop myself from telling him where to put those statin tablets he is trying to push onto me. So he pulls out some of my past readings, the one from when my diabetic control was quite frankly "shit" and that was about 18 months ago, so back then my diabetic control was in the 10's and my cholesterol was in the high 7's almost 8 so I agree that even though at the time I was taking diabetic medication my diabetes was not controlled and I felt like crap to boot!, I also remember my doctor trying to give me some more medication at the time for the cholesterol, he even wrote me a script, but as my mother use to say "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" and this was me, he could write all the scripts he liked but I didn't bother to get it filled. No instead, I did even more research into fixing my cholesterol and diabetes, that is about the time I found Joe Cross, watched his movie "Fat sick and Nearly dead" and turned my life around (go me!!!) so the doctor then pulls out the results from the blood tests done 12 months ago after the 28 days fasting on Vegetable juices and points out that my cholesterol was only 4.6! but even then he says that if you are a person of my age and having diabetes that ideally my cholesterol would be 4? has anyone got a reading of 4? I was ecstatic with the reading of 4.6 eighteen months ago, and like I said I am happy with my reading of 6 but to halt the script writing doctor from reaching for his pen (actually the scripts are just a push of the button on the computer now but that doesn't sound as good now does it ?) we tried to work out what was different this time, and the only thing I could put it down to was, that for the 28 days of the original fasting (and a little while before hand too) I was taking 1000mg of Krill oil in the form of a capsule, I am pretty sure that Dr Mercola actually recommended it when I was researching the lowering of Cholesterol 18 months ago. So I have made a pact with the doctor that I will continue to juice fast intermittently in the next 2 months and take a daily Krill oil capsule, and see if the next cholesterol readings are as low as they were when I first began fasting. I was really tempted to start talking about all these doctors that have had cases of patients having really high Cholesterol all their life (like 9 and 10) and living into their 90's, but my doctor gets a bit defensive about the whole thing and assures me that it is because he doesn't want to be visiting me at the Manning Base hospital after I have had a heart attack. Mind you he then did my blood pressure and no surprise it was up, and he even laughed and said it was probably up due to the conversation we had been having, and I have to agree, nothing like the mention of Statin drugs to get me started. So I have some home work to do for the doctor for the next two months and that is to get my Cholesterol down and my blood pressure down, and I am confident that I can do both those things. I like my doctor, he knows me and knows that I will try to do anything within my power to keep my health in check while trying my hardest not to take pills, so it makes his job easier, I have been going to this doctor since he started at the practice 22 years ago and he has moved from the dingy little corridor office at he back of the building to the front spacious office, and he is now the popular doctor to see as it takes over 2 weeks to get an appointment, but one thing that hasn't changed in 22 years, is his bloody scales, they are ancient and he says the same thing each and every time he weighs you, " hop on they are 2 kilos out" and they are too, exactly 2 kilos out, at first I use to think he was just saying that to make you feel better but I always weigh myself on the wii before going to the doctors, I have mentioned that he should get new scales, I am sure that the practice can afford it, anyway regardless of the age of the scales he was really happy that my weight this week was exactly the same as it was 12 months ago, and he is very happy with that, I am happy to know that I can actually loose more weight and have been lower in the last 12 months maybe I will surprise him in the next 2 months with not only lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol but lower weight as well, then I will be his gold star patient for sure! Something new the now computer savvy doctors have is a program or an app that gives the likely hood of a patient having a heart attack according to their blood tests, so given that my health at the present is about the best it has been in the last 16 years (time I have been diabetic) my doctor gives me the statistic that I have a 17% risk of having a heart attack he also reckons this is a 1 in 5 chance ( I don't think his numbers add up ) but it makes me think back to when my diabetic control was "Shit" and my weight was about 28 kilos heavier, what would my percentage been then? so if I said to him go back and punch in my results from 2007 and tell me what it says, would it say I was already dead? not everything works in statistics now does it? but I would be curious to see what my percentage was back then! Stay Calm and Juice! After two weeks juicing and then going to have my blood tests done, I am on to solids, I lost weight and got my blood sugar down to 5 and under, so another winning result for just 14 days of juicing, and if everyone juiced I would be happy to keep on juicing, but it is a little anti social, I have my daughter home from uni again doing her final prac in her final year of study, and she doesn't juice, although I have talked her into a few now and then, and my eldest daughter is still toying with the idea of getting healthy, I have given her a juicer and a great book of information on what nutrients our bodies need for optimum health, but she has yet to make a start, i don't want to push too hard, I know the feeling you get from the inside out, when you juice, it is like your body is processing every last nutrient and repays you with the feeling of aliveness, it is almost euphoric, I have been eating solids for just 3 days and already have lost that feeling, starting to feel sluggish and bloated even though I am still eating healthy home made foods (so I know whats in it) but nothing beats Juicing so after I do the social thing and go out for a meal with the family, try out one or two of the recipes I have been collating for the last couple of weeks, I will return to my juicing, in time to go to the doctors and receive my results for the blood tests. This doctors visit will mark 12 months since I first embarked on the 28 day juice fast, that changed my life and my relation to food, I lost a great deal of weight, and came off all my medication, that means I haven't had any diabetic meds for 12 months, I believe I have reversed my diabetes, and it has been said that you have to keep the weight off for 12 months? well if that is so then I have accomplished that also, but in my mind I haven't reached my goal in weight loss, that goal that everyone tells you that can't be reached! well I don't think that should mean that you stop trying and my incentive is the cruise we are going on later this year, I will have to lose a lot of weight before then, because I will probably gain a lot on the cruise, unless they have a juice bar onboard then I will be cruising and juicing. Today I shared a youtube video on the Myths of High Cholesterol, I never tire of hearing people saying they got it wrong! that the information about Saturated Fats and cholesterol /heart disease are wrong, it is about time that the real culprits for our ill health and obesity problems are being told, but you have to listen to what is being said, and you have to want good health to make the change, so I am sharing it again here, it is pretty clear that Sugar and Toxic oils are the blame. The 4 things you can GIVE UP TODAY for your long term health are –
And if you’re on a statin, or your doctor wants you to go on a statin, take a look at Zoe Harcombe’s website. She discusses what is high cholesterol, is it in fact healthy, side effects of statins and the impending lawsuits. Love this quote from her – “My top tip is: don’t have a cholesterol test and then you’ll have one fewer thing to worry about”. That is about all I have for today, Keep Calm and Juice! |
Wendy MeersI am a mother of two grown daughters, 3 beautiful grand-babies. Retired freelance Web Designer and a Sugar Free - Juicing Crusader& Keto supporter Archives
May 2022
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