Today's weight - 191.2

Whew, definitely better today. Down to 191.2 after being up to 195.6 on Saturday!

Healthy You Challenge

Well, coming back from Arkansas my weight was up about 6 pounds. It's coming back down. I always need to give my body a chance to adjust back to altitude, plus it was that time of the month. Did my buns & thighs workout yesterday and the first two levels of the Bender Ball core workout. Today I woke up with a killer headache and was nauseous, so it was tending toward a migraine. Took my meds and have been taking it easy and feeling a bit better.

We have 4 chocolate parties this week. M, Tu, W and F. Yikes! Last night's went well. I'm thinking Fridays party is iffy and I'm actually hoping the hostess cancels! Yeah, I'm bad! ;-) The parties make walking in the evenings impossible. I think I'm going to start just scheduling them on Wed and Fri. Four is TOO MANY! I love the sales I'll have for July though. :-D

Hope everyone is doing well! I'm going to need to make chocolate so I probably won't get to visit many today. Will try for a few a day.

Summer travel

I was happy to get a chance to visit with a friend from high school who lives in the same KS town as our nephew and his family. Looking at the photos of us, I realized - I have a HUMONGOUS head! No wonder I can't wear too many hats. LOL

My great niece is my very special buddy. She's a cute little munchkin and we had fun reading books together and playing a Littlest Pet Shop board game. Her little brother showed me how awesome he is on the Wii Mario Kart. (Obviously, even mineral makeup doesn't cut the SHINE I get in the higher humidity. And I know there are lots of places more humid, and I don't like ANY of them. I'll take my mountains, thank you very much!!!!!!)

Taking a "break"?

I'm in Arkansas. I did 3 chocolate parties in 24 hours. Woohoo! :-)

My mom took a fall in the kitchen yesterday. (Doing too much, as always!) She's OK, but twisted her ankle, so it's hurting. But not swollen or turning ugly colors, so I'm pretty sure nothing is broken or sprained. She might have pulled a tendon a bit. It hurts when she lifts her toes. That's the tendons, right?

Not sure if their scale is the same as mine. I feel all bloated from the humidity. Will have to see if there's any "damage" when I get home to my mountain. :-D

Reward for exercise challenge

OK, I was going to get a massage for a reward, but instead, today I went to Victoria's Secret and spent more for a bra than I ever do on shoes. I just wanted one that FIT and I wanted someone to HELP me find it in the style I wanted. (That just doesn't happen at Walmart, I end up trying on 20 bras with nary an offer of help!) I don't like underwires and VS has very little to choose from that's wireless, but the one I got is very comfortable and pretty, too. For another reward I may go back and buy one in another color. ;-)

But let's just say the experience of trying on bras points out some weak areas. Need to do some upper body work!

Anonymous bloggers

If you come to my blog and comment without a link to who you are, then don't expect your comment to stay. I will delete it. I'm just sayin'.

Healthy You Challenge update

Wow, my life has been so crazy, I forgot to check in yesterday. My body has been weird lately.

Weight this past week
7/9 - 190.0 - morning of my 2nd colonoscopy after 2 days of liquid diet!
7/10 - 190.8
7/11 - 190.2
7/12 - 192.8 (weird, I didn't eat much on the 11th)
7/13 - 191.8
7/14 - 192.4
7/15 - 191.4
7/16 - 188.8!!!!!!!!!!! SWEET! That's .2 below my lowest on this journey so I'm totally excited. Maybe, just MAYBE my body is adjusting and adapting to the new supplements and I'll start seeing better results due to my healthy habits? Fingers crossed!

Doin' the happy feet dance!

Note: Please read the article on Aspartame below!

Aspartame - DITCH THE DIET SODAS!!!!

I have to post this. I know many on the weight loss path turn to diet sodas. Please, please, please, consider this info carefully and try to quit drinking anything with aspartame. It's why I haven't yet redeemed my coupons for Lipton White Tea. I can't find any 1 1/2 liter bottles of the regular, not the diet, except for raspberry and I HATE all things raspberry. I want to find some non-diet peach mango bottles. Nowhere to be found in this area. :-(

Aspartame Disease

Article written by Nancy Markle (11/20/97)

I have spent several days lecturing at the World Environmental Conference on "Aspartame, Marketed as 'NutraSweet', 'Equal', and 'Spoonful'." In the keynote address by the EPA, they announced that there was an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, and they did not understand what toxin was causing this to be rampant across the United States.

I explained that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject. When the temperature of Aspartame exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in aspartame coverts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. (Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants). The methanol toxicity mimics multiple sclerosis; thus people were being diagnosed with having multiple sclerosis in error. The multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, where methanol toxicity is.

In the case of systemic lupus, we are finding it has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. Also, with methanol toxicity, the victims usually drink three to four 12 oz. cans of them per day, some even more. In the cases of systemic lupus, which is triggered by aspartame, the victim usually does not know that the aspartame is the culprit. The victim continues its use aggravating the lupus to such a degree, that sometimes it becomes life threatening. When we get people off the aspartame, those with systemic lupus usually become asymptomatic. Unfortunately, we can not reverse this disease.

On the other hand, in the case of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, (when in reality, the disease is methanol toxicity), most of the symptoms disappear. We have seen cases where their vision has returned and even their hearing has returned. This also applies to cases of tinnitus.

During a lecture I said "If you are using aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc.) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss-you probably have Aspartame Disease!" People were jumping up during the lecture saying, "I've got this, is it reversible?" It is rampant. Some of the speakers at my lecture even were suffering from these symptoms.

In one lecture attended by the Ambassador of Uganda, he told us that their sugar industry is adding aspartame ! He continued by saying that one of the industry leader's son could no longer walk — due in part by product usage. We have a very serious problem. Even a stranger came up to Dr. Espisto (one of my speakers) and myself and said, could you tell me why so many people seem to be coming down with MS? During a visit to a hospice, a nurse said that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence.

Here is the problem. There were Congressional Hearings when aspartame was included in 100 different products. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, but to no avail. Nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets. Now there are over 5,000 products containing this chemical, and the patent has expired (ed. note: which means anyone can produce the stuff) !! At the time of this first hearing, people were going blind. The methanol in the aspartame converts to formaldehyde in the retina of the eye. Formaldehyde is grouped in the same class of drugs as cyanide and arsenic: deadly poisons !! Unfortunately, it just takes longer to quietly kill, but it is killing people and causing all kinds of neurological problems.

Aspartame changes the brain's chemistry. It is a reason for severe seizures. This drug changes the dopamine level in the brain. Imagine what this drug does to patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease. This drug also causes Birth Defects. There is absolutely no reason to take this product. It is not a diet product ! The Congressional record said, "It makes you crave carbohydrates and will make you fat." Dr. Roberts stated that when he got patients off aspartame, their average weight loss was 19 pounds per person. The formaldehyde stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs.

Aspartame is especially deadly for diabetics. All physicians know what wood alcohol will do to a diabetic. We find that physicians believe that they have patients with retinopathy, when in fact, it is caused by the aspartame. The aspartame keeps the blood sugar level out of control, causing many patients to go into a coma. Unfortunately, many have died. People were telling us at the Conference of the American College of Physicians, that they had relatives that switched from saccharin to an aspartame product and how that relative had eventually gone into a coma. Their physicians could not get the blood sugar levels under control. Thus, the patients suffered acute memory loss and eventually coma and death. Memory loss is due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are neurotoxic without the other amino acids found in protein. Thus it goes past the blood brain barrier and deteriorates the neurons of the brain.

Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon, said, "The ingredients stimulates the neurons of the brain to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees." Dr. Blaylock has written a book entitled Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills (Health Press 1-800-643-2665). Dr. H.J. Roberts, diabetic specialist and world expert on aspartame poisoning, has also written a book entitled Defense Against Alzheimer's Disease (1-800-814-9800). Dr. Roberts tells how aspartame poisoning is escalating Alzheimer's Disease, and indeed it is. As the hospice nurse told me, women are being admitted at 30 years of age with Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Blaylock and Dr. Roberts will be writing a position paper with some case histories and will post it on the Internet. According to the Conference of the American College of Physicians, 'We are talking about a plague of neurological diseases caused by this deadly poison".

Dr. Roberts realized what was happening when aspartame was first marketed. He said diabetic patients presented memory loss, confusion, and severe vision loss. At the Conference of the American College of Physicians, doctors admitted that they did not know. They had wondered why seizures were rampant (the phenylalanine in aspartame breaks down the seizure threshold and depletes serotonin, which causes manic depression, panic attacks, rage and violence).

Just before the conference, I received a fax from Norway, asking for a possible antidote for this poison because they are experiencing so many problems in their country. This poison is now available in 90 plus countries worldwide. Fortunately, we had speakers and ambassadors at the conference from different nations who have pledged their help. We ask that you help too. Print this article out and warn everyone you know.

Take anything that contains aspartame back to the store. Take the No Aspartame Test and send us your case history. I assure you that Monsanto, the creator of aspartame, knows how deadly it is. They fund the American Diabetes Association, American Dietetic Association, Congress, and the Conference of the American College of Physicians. The New York Times, on November 15, 1996, ran an article on how the American Dietetic Association takes money from the food industry to endorse their products. Therefore, they can not criticize any additives or tell about their link to Monsanto.

How bad is this? We told a mother who had a child on NutraSweet to get off the product. The child was having grand mal seizures every day. The mother called her physician, who called the ADA, who told the doctor not to take the child off the NutraSweet. We are still trying to convince the mother that the aspartame is causing the seizures. Every time we get someone off of aspartame, the seizures stop. If the baby dies, you know whose fault it is, and what we are up against.

There are 92 documented symptoms of aspartame, from coma to death. The majority of them are all neurological, because the aspartame destroys the nervous system. Aspartame Disease is partially the cause to what is behind some of the mystery of the Dessert Storm health problems. The burning tongue and other problems discussed in over 60 cases can be directly related to the consumption of an aspartame product. Several thousand pallets of diet drinks were shipped to the Dessert Storm troops. (Remember heat can liberate the methanol from the aspartame at 86 degrees F). Diet drinks sat in the 120 degree F Arabian sun for weeks at a time on pallets. The service men and women drank them all day long. All of their symptoms are identical to aspartame poisoning.

Dr. Roberts says "consuming aspartame at the time of conception can cause birth defects." The phenylalanine concentrates in the placenta, causing mental retardation, according to Dr. Louis Elsas, Pediatrician Professor of Genetics, at Emory University in his testimony before Congress. In the original lab tests, animals developed brain tumors (phenylalanine breaks down into DXP, a brain tumor agent). When Dr. Espisto was lecturing on aspartame, one physician in the audience, a neurosurgeon, said, "when they remove brain tumors, they have found high levels of aspartame in them."

Stevia, a sweet food, not an additive, which helps in the metabolism of sugar, which would be ideal for diabetics, has now been approved as a dietary supplement by the F.D.A. For years, the F.D.A. has outlawed this sweet food because of their loyalty to Monsanto. If it says "sugar free" on the label, do not even think about it !!

Senator Howard Hertzenbaum wrote a bill that would have warned all infants, pregnant mothers and children of the dangers of aspartame. The bill would have also instituted independent studies on the problems existing in the population (seizures, changes in brain chemistry, changes in neurological and behavioral symptoms). It was killed by the powerful drug and chemical lobbies, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting public.

Since the Conference of the American College of Physicians, we hope to have the help of some world leaders. Again, please help us too. There are a lot of people out there who must be warned, please let them know this information. This could be considered life saving information for some of you and your friends and relatives. I've forwarded it to everyone I can contact. If you know people who drink diet sodas on a regular basis, get this message to them!! Make sure and lay off the Diet Soda and other stuff with Nutra-Sweet. People's lives are at stake! What you now know can make an important difference.

Thank you for getting the message out.

Thursday December 13, 2007 - 01:16am (PST)

Chocolate: a Health Food?

From Denise Austin:
You may have heard of a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition where researchers found that chocolate may actually be good for you! While they didn't go so far as to recommend chocolate as a health food, moderate amounts of chocolate as part of an overall balanced diet may help protect your heart, they say. Why? Chocolate — especially the dark kind — contains flavonoids, the same heart-friendly substances also found in tea and red wine. It also contains sterols, B vitamins, magnesium, copper, potassium, and other heart-healthy substances.

Food companies have jumped on the marketing bandwagon, producing chocolate "health food" bars. But watch out, experts say! At 135 to 150 calories per ounce, chocolate — even the fat-free variety — adds up quickly! Eating too many "empty" chocolate calories in place of healthier foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein could offset any potential health gains. (All things in moderation!)

Iodine deficiency

I had promised to post some funny stuff in the insert for my iodine pills and kept forgetting. It talks a lot about studies done and the FIRST thing mentioned is that "Several studies have demonstrated a relationship between low iodine intake and fibrocystic disease of the breast both in women and laboratory animals." That's been a big problem for me. Then it talks about the amount needed.

"The RDA for iodine was based on the amount of iodine/iodide needed to prevent goiter, extreme stupidity and hypothyroidism." So if someone tells you that you might have an iodine deficiency, it is NOT a compliment! LOL At least I have an excuse, right? ;-) My new slam is "Dude, you are SO iodine deficient!"

Health report

With all of the fun of the past few days, I forgot to mention that the biopsies they took during the upper endoscopy last week were all fine.

And yes, the prep is definitely the worst part of a colonoscopy, but this is a VERY important test to get done. (And the doctor said only about 5% of people have the "difficult" colons like me!) ;-) Colon cancer is very treatable when caught early. If you wait until you have symptoms, it's often too late. So don't put it off, especially if you've had any kind of cancer in your family. My grandpa had colon cancer, it was caught early and he lived for many more years. He died of a heart attack, not the cancer.

I bought a new bike seat at Walmart today and am going to try that out. Also got a speedometer/odometer and a bag for carrying cell phone, etc. The local bike shop didn't have the padded shorts on hand and they cost $70. I'm not too keen on having him order them not knowing how the sizes work. So I'm going to try the new seat. The guy at the bike shop mentioned adjusting the tilt of the seat for comfort, too. So I'll try those things first.

Colonoscopy - FAIL!

Monday had an all liquid diet, took the pills that evening and Tuesday morning (at 5am no less - ugh). But I wasn't cleaned out enough so after being drugged and probed that morning, I had to do the liquid diet again all Tuesday and drink the nasty liquid in the evening. Kept me up most of the night, so I was quite cranky going in again. We went early this morning so I could drink the rest of the nasty stuff at the hospital and not have to worry about making the 45 min. drive with me wondering if I was going to make it to a bathroom. (If you are young and have no idea what I'm talking about for a colonoscopy prep, count your blessings and enjoy life.) The one really bright spot of the morning is that after drinking one large glass of the prep stuff on the drive, the nurse said I didn't have to drink the rest since my stool looked good. (I know, TMI!) They actually took me in an hour sooner than I was scheduled, so I was glad of that. I've been STARVING and had a bad headache from not eating for two days and getting very little sleep. (Weight this morning was 190.0, which was a minor bright spot of the day, but I'm sure as I eat normally, it'll pop back up again.)

Well, I was cleaned out enough this time, BUT, my colon is all "loopy" so the doctor couldn't get the scope all the way in, over and down. Normally with the good drugs you get, ya don't remember much of the procedure. But no, not for this princess! I had a nurse on either side of me pressing down on my abdomen as the doctor tried to maneuver the scope in and around and I was having flashbacks to childbirth! NOT FUN! I tried the deep breaths through the pain, but it wasn't helping much. When I got back to recovery, I had bad cramps for quite a while until they gave me more fentanyl (sp?) and I was able to sit up.

My options:
Have the other GI doc at this hospital do a colonoscopy since he has 22 years experience and is good with the loopy colons.
Get a barium enema done with contrast and they look at x-rays and if they see anything suspicious, the colonoscopy would need to be done anyway. But if they don't, I'd be good for 5 years or so.
Do nothing for now.

We're opting for the BE for now, I think. But I'm taking a little rest first. I want to wait until I get back from Arkansas at the end of the month to take the next step.

Rev up your metabolism

From Denise Austin

Rev up your Metabolism!

Want to give your metabolism a boost? While a pill or potion won't do it, there are ways to increase your body's calorie burn-rate! To keep your metabolism at top speed, use these tips from researchers at Moses Taylor Hospital in Pennsylvania:

* Don't skip meals or snacks, especially breakfast — you'll activate your body's starvation response and actually slow your metabolic rate! Small meals throughout the day keep your furnace burning at a steady pace.
* Go aerobic — choose a routine with enough intensity to make a difference! Walking, biking, cross-country skiing, swimming, and step aerobics are all good choices.
* Exercise for at least 30 minutes — after a half-hour, your body starts tapping into stored energy (a.k.a. fat) to keep moving!
* Shake it up — change your workout every six weeks. Your body will have to work harder to adapt to a new routine!
* Avoid alcohol and smoking — both keep your body from burning belly fat!

Healthy You Challenge

I've got to rest for a few days since they did biopsies yesterday during my upper endoscopy. I still feel a little weird. Just tired, I think. My hiney is a little sore from bike riding, too. I should probably take Denise Austin's advice and get some padded shorts! ;-)

Overview for June and the exercise challenge:
Total minutes of cardio - 951 (Goal was 400 minutes, so I think I rocked!) :-D
Number of buns & thighs workouts - 12 (Goal was 3 per week, total of 12 - MET!)
Number of upper body & abs workouts - 7
Days of exercise - 25