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Family and Friends is my everyday journal. Captain's Log is where I pontificate on religion and politics.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Kung Fu Monkey

This quote makes a lot of sense in today's economic world:
-- There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
Krugman used it today in his column,

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Detox and life without Prilosec

Wife and I started a six week detox program using the Blood Sugar Solution book and website. We joined a gym and started working out on treamill and stationary bike three times a week. Worked my way up to 3 miles in an hour yesterday. Wife is putting in an hour too. That with golfing one day a week and I'm losing weight, so is she just not as much but then she doesn't need to lose as much as I do.
The diet is to get completely off white starch (potatos, rice, bread, pasta) and dairy for six weeks, then add things back. If what you eat makes you feel worse don't take it, if it doesn't bother you it's okay. Regardless no sugar, HFCS or corn sugar and artifical sweeteners. That means no sodas of any kind. No kool-aide, crystal light etc. A diet of green tea and filtered water, salads with oil and vinegar, small portions of meat with no sauces other than mustard, and cooked vegetables and fresh fruit is filling, but gets rather old. You can have olives, avacados, pinto beans and other types of beans. Cracker Barrel has a good low carb menu, but most other places to eat don't. Shopping at Whole Foods and Sunflower is a lot more expensive, but since we're not eating out as much it's actually saving us a little. There are also gobs of supplements to take and they are expensive. If I bought them from Dr. Hyman it would run 800+ a month. Even at Whole foods they're not cheap. COQ10 is outrageous and so is PGX if you can find it. GNC didn't have it. Still if it gets me off the statins and my cholesteral, glucose and triglicerides come down I'll be much healthier.


Last week I stopped taking Prilosec. I've been using it for ten years and it has kept the acid reflux in check. I've always suffered from it, even when I weighed less that a 120lbs. I remember when I was in college and told Mom I was having trouble. She sent me a box full of gelusel packets. When the box arrived about six guys hovered around me at the front desk hoping for home made cookies. The looks on their faces when I opened the box was priceless. I grew up in an age where everytime you got a sniffle they gave you a shot of penicillin. Acid reflux is the byproduct.
For most of my life I lived on Tums or Rolaids and then it was pepsid when Prilosec came along I was in heaven and I've known a life without acid reflux for over ten years. Still the bad part of no acid is starting to outweigh the good part. I knew once the Prilosec wore off the flood gates would open and I'd have trouble. The Acid Refllux Solution had some nifty tricks to control the reflux. They include: Acidopholus pills of at least 2 billion -- these good bacteria feed on the acid and most people get reflux after they're all killed off with antibiotics. Dr. Hyman recommends 10 to 20 billion, but that gets expensive. Eat an apple-- works for about thirty minutes. Baking soda and water -- Regular doctor doesn't like the sodium content, but it works for about an hour. Apple Cider vinegar and honey -- hard to gag down at first, but it works best of all. Honey by itself -- not as affective without the vinegar, but it does sooth the esophagus. With this I am fudging a bit on the other diet. I've been able to sleep through the night without reflux as long as I don't try to go to sleep before three hours since eating. An empty stomach is also much better for your sleep anyway.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Not sure

Went to the doctor yesterday. After the usual review of my bloodwork I mentioned I wasn't hearing much out of my hearing aide and if he would  take a look. Right ear was completely clogged up. He got most of the stuff out, not all and I do hear better. Was my problem wax build-up and I don't need the hearing aide, or did the hearing aide cause the wax build up?

Milestone

Went over 10,000 visits to this blog. I know for some people they get that many in a day or week, but an accomplishment to me. Thanks Michael Manning as many of those hits came from you.