Fat Guy (in a little coat)
I visited the doctor on my journey and did the whole vials of blood thing that went to the lab (not the Labrador Retriever – at least I don’t think that’s how they do it, but maybe they had a dog bark at the blood – it’s all shrouded in mystery and common people such as myself don’t get to see what does on behind the curtain). I’ve been on a self-imposed low carb diet and it’s working. The A1C is in the mid sixes and everything else is normal. I find myself packing a healthy lunch (no bread, no spuds, no rice, no pasta, etc.) and while that’s pretty nerdy, it works if I plan to live with any sort of quality of life. I order off the menu now in restaurants. usually something like a big steak, green beans, asparagus, and rabbit food. You have to pick the right place to eat and there’s really no such thing as drive-though food if you want to do this. It’s tough to keep it up when I’m away from home but it is worth the effort.
I’ve always been a generally healthy guy, but as I’ve aged, I’ve fallen prey to the ‘age gene’ (I’m not 25 anymore no matter how much I lie to myself) and I’m trying to reverse the curse to the extent possible.
The Virus
(more here) A friend of mine is planning to go to China mid-crisis and we had a discussion on the telephone last night about it. I say that he has a screw loose, but I’ve told him to his face before now. His problem is that once he lands (he’d planned to go to Hong Kong, no internal flights, no trains, no contact with the ‘mainland’), he needs to leave China and go to Thailand or somewhere before he can fly back into a different Chinese city. American personnel assigned to the US Embassy have left China “on vacation for Chinese New Year” to get out of the place and so as not to appear panicked. But internally in China, the place is very much on lock down. Word on the street is that the mortality rate is right around 10%. And that’s very bad for “the flu”. He told me that he’ll hold off for a week or so to see how things progress. This is not the time to go to China. Accidental release of a weaponized virus? Maybe? Call me mistrustful of ‘official Chinese information’.
I've shunned carbs now for about two years, and it does indeed work. Bacon and eggs for breakfast, a couple of pork chops for lunch, and a shrimp stir fry for dinner. A couple of glasses of 5 carb per glass pino grigio, and I'm done.
Fast food: Burger King is OK, just order the triple whopper, no ketchup, and don't eat the bun. KFC: rotisserie chicken, nothing else. Taco Bell – no Taco Bell, sorry. Boston Market – a half a chicken, usually hits the spot, although it's not really fast food.
I've lost 39 pounds in two years. Not exactly the stuff of Marie Osmond's miracle diet program that melts off that stubborn belly fat, but I'm still heading south, now working on three years and I don't starve.
What do I miss (but not really 'crave')? Mars Bars, Snickers, double stuff oreos, Butterfingers, biscuits and gravy, McDonald's french fries, avocados, apple pie ala mode, I could go on indefinitely. But I like being skinnier than satisfying my desires with all of this sugary/high carb garbage.
Some call it paleo, maybe a modified Adkins, I just stay away from carbs, and my veggies are limited to green beans, saute'd spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, tomatoes, those usually suck up my carb budget for the day. Ranch dressing on everything. Or my wife makes a great cheese sauce.
I've been doing a modified Keto/Paleo plan for over a year. I'm consistently losing 5 lbs a month. The goal is to change my chart from "morbidly obese" to "obese". The biggest benefit has been my knees. No fast food and I seldom eat out. Even traveling I take my food.
About once a month I sabotage the diet when I have Sunday brunch with friends at a truck stop. Then it is a chicken fried steak with gravy smothering everything.
Alcohol is restricted to a glass of red wine (from a 5 l box) before bedtime.
Due to blood pressure issues, I visit my doc twice a year instead of the normal once. Every time I go blood is drawn. The techs at the lab know me far to well.
Weight is something I struggle with as well, though people I know tell me I'm not fat. A few years back I peaked at 199, far too much for a guy who's only 5'6". I did manage to get it to the mid 160s for a while, but have since ballooned back up to the upper 170s. If only the better half was a lesser cook.
Your friend is an idiot. There are videos out there of Chinese families sending off their medical responder family members to the quarantine zone, and they are acting like the people going in are not expected to come out.
10%? At the low end, I'd say more like 15%, since the Red Chinese aren't telling us of people dieing from it who weren't admitted for it.
Something spooked the Norks into closing their border.
A morbidity rate of 10% makes this a very serious problem. That rate is on par with the Spanish Flu of a century ago…..when healthcare was primitive by comparison. And I doubt we are getting even half the facts.
Eating healthy is good. The problem is, I miss bread… Grew up southern, so bread was a fixture.
Re China- Figure if they are saying 10%, it's probably double that.
Johnson's Corner?
I prefer the Silver Grill or Vern's, but I've stopped at Johnson's Corner many times.
I've lost 60 lbs since we moved here, mostly by NOT eating any fast food. Back in SoCal there was a McDonald's every 5 blocks, along with BK, Carl's, and (oooooh!) In 'N Out. Since I no longer drive by places like that, the amount of junk food I eat has dropped by 95%.
My A1c dropped down to below "pre-Diabetic" levels, my blood pressure has dropped 20 points, and I feel better.
No bad, but we go to the Double Clutch in Evans. Back in the day when we had a lot at Del Camino Exit 240 I-25) I would take my crew once a month to Johnson Corner for a breakfast meeting.
I'll keep the Double Clutch in mind if I'm in Greeley and hungry.
Johnson's Corner is real, live, gen-you-ine Truck Stop food. Keeps ya goin', and pretty much the same coast-to-coast.
Hmm, hoodoo voodoo sounds easier than cutting carbs….
I'm new enough into this diet, but since I like the food that I'm eating, it works out. I miss the bread, but given the cause and effect, I'll pass.
No wonder you liked Aunt Sally's food. No more chipping a tooth on her spaghetti.
My BP without medication was 102/50. Which is very low compared to where it was. Arizona has done wonders for me. I guess that a lot of it can be chalked up to a change of attitude more than latitude.
I just now got off the phone with him. He isn't going (yet). People in Asia are very spooked. He's spooked now too.
My thoughts follow yours. I don't know what the standard of care is in rural China but it won't be what it is in the US. The concern is always that existing care will be degraded by raw numbers. A 10+ day incubation period will create problems containing it.
Hot fresh, home made bread with butter and honey is wonderful. I've never tried crack cocaine but if it's better than fresh bread, it's a real danger.
There is no fast food here, so that's been helpful. So has the diet. I feel much better.
Cutting the carbs hasn't been all THAT bad. But it would be nice to voodoo away unwanted pounds.
The highest mine hit was 240/120, something I would only wish on someone truly evil. They were a long time getting me under control. The cause? Unknown. A daily pile of pills keeps it in the happy zone now.
The rim looks like wonderful country to grab a thermos, a sandwich and a rifle and just go for a walk. Up here in Western WA, unless one is walking through real old growth thick enough to shade out the brush, it is mother natures version of concertina wire. I used to to love walking through the old growth on the coast, cruising timber,axe and thermos to hand. Good for the attitude, as you say. Solitude sweeps away the petty annoyances and brings us closer to our Creator.
Ah, the old "no carbs" trick. It does work and I go down that route in Lent AND no meat. Feel better for it, too. Careful tho…
I ditch the diet when I'm at the family gatherings, but otherwise no bread for me, either. I'm a sourdour junkie, mostly. The sourdough withdrawal is not as bad as the Heath Bar withdrawals, though.
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