Monday, July 12, 2010

Status: Another Check-up

Had another CT Scan on June 21st. Nothing has changed with that process although my head felt as though it was on fire while the contrast was being administered. Typically, that warm feeling wasn't so unpleasant before.
Met with the Onc on June 30th and he announced all was well. Nothing in the blood work, nothing on the scans...there as one outlier; weight loss. Now the Onc and I have had many conversations about my weight since my diagnosis. At one point, I exclaimed, "I'm determined to change my lifestyle and surprise you". He chuckled, "You would be the first".

It has been my experience that doctors realize weight has an affect on general health. They always tell most of us to lose weight and rarely explain how we personally could accomplishwhat with age, seems to be a constant struggle. The old adage, "Eat less, exercise more," seems to be an easy fix but the curious and self-competitive side of me engaged in a pursuit of knowledge that led me to Mark's Daily Apple. As with any movement, primal eating has lurkers, the bleeding edge, and many, many people in between. I'm more comfortable closer toward the edge but I find fanatics troubled and ultimately boring. So I will avoid boring you aside from saying, I am on day 60. 6o days of a lot of meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. That's it. 27 lbs lighter. More energy, better sleep, stronger. I have reduced my hard cardio work to 1000 jumps with a rope per session every 7-10 days, random body weight exercises (push-ups, pull-ups, dips, etc.), and occasional 5 x 5 using three of the basic weight lifting techniques (squats, deadlifts, curls, presses, etc.). Nothing fancy. Believe me, this is a far cry from some of the weight lifting routines I have embarked on.

The Onc was a bit concerned about the rapid weight loss and whether I would be able to sustain that diet. He also mentioned the China Study book which gave me pause only to find so much contrary evidence online by folks just as qualified and respected as the author.

Anyway, BORING. I decided to start another blog called Primal Paul but realized that I wasn't interested in regular entries about my primal progress. So...I'll use this forum to update all my health progress.

Feeling groovy.