Archives for October, 2007
My Diet
Posted on Oct 22, 2007 under Health & Fitness, Life | No CommentIf you want to keep track of how I am doing on my diet you can check out my public profile over on Gyminee at: http://www.gyminee.com/locker_room/3435
So far I have been doing well with my new diet. Granted I am only in day 4 of the diet, but I want to feel some victory at the beginning of this week, so I guess I am gloating a bit.
I am going to the Gym Monday through Friday at 5:30am and using the Elliptical Machine for 30 minutes. I may add some more routines once this is not completely exhausting to me, or I may just keep trying to get more distance out of my 30 minutes.
But the biggest change for me is actually what I am eating.
Here are my Maximum values of intake for the day:
Calories: < 1500
Fat: < 50g
Carbohydrates: < 150g
Protein: > 50g
Over the last three days I have been logging the foods I am eating on a website called Gyminee. I am seeing how easily it is to far exceed normal amounts of calories, fat, and carbohydrates. I would estimate that on a typical day I used to eat somewhere near 4,000 - 5,000 calories per day. I munched a lot. And most of the time I would munch more than one serving of something. So changing the way I am eating is huge. And what I am finding is that by eating some different foods, I am certainly not going hungry. I am just eating smaller portions, and different foods. Jaime has done an excellent job finding foods that I actually like.
However, I have found some foods that I absolutely need to warn everyone to stay away from.
- Veggie Dogs. These are absolutely disgusting, and to be honest they are not that much more healthy than a regular hotdog. My advice, if you need a hotdog just eat a real Nathans hotdog. Forget the Veggie version. My dog wouldn’t even eat it.
- Quiznos. Health wise, they are far less healthy than subway. And their salads are no more healthy than their sandwiches. If I were to eat my typical sandwich at Quiznos (The Turkey Ranch & Swiss) I would not be able to eat anything else the entire day. Literally nothing. That one sandwich takes me to the top of all of my levels for fat and carbohydrates. Crazy. Crazy I tell you.
And let me leave you by sharing one surprisingly good item.
- Mashed Cauliflower. Add just a dab of sour cream and it is really similar to mashed potatoes.
7 Months and Counting…. down
Posted on Oct 19, 2007 under Life | No Comment
For some reason I have not been writing about the biggest thing happening in my life right now. Adoption. My wife and I are attending MAPP classes to adopt a child. We are currently half way through the classes and are extremely excited about being parents to a child that has none. We are currently open to a child that is anywhere from 5 years old to 11 years old. So far we haven’t really figured out the best age range for us at this point, we are still praying and processing what we should do specifically.
What I want to talk about today is one of the most common questions that is asked of me when I mention that my wife and I are looking at adopting a child.
“Why would you not want to adopt an infant?”
To help answer this question I will need to provide some background. Some of my readers may not know about my interesting family history so here it is. Within a few months of being born my father left my mother. He just left. And I have never had any contact with him. When I was 4 years old my mom was raising me, she was a single mom and working full time. She met Glenn Bristow and married him the summer before I began kindergarten. Within a year of their marriage Glenn legally adopted me, so that is why my last name is Bristow now instead of Rich. I consider this situation ‘half adoption’, but I remember a time when I did not have a father and then when I did have a father. It is difficult to describe the emotions involved with that, but they are powerful. I understand some of the emotions a child has when they really don’t have parents. I mean, everyone else has parents so it simply means they are always different from everyone else. Partly due to my past I want to be a parent for a child that does not have a parent. I understand their need to simply have a family.
So the answer is simply I want to be a parent to a child that does not have parents. Most of these children are not infants, they are older. Most of these children have been removed from abusive situations and are not allowed to see their parents again. And some of these children have had their parents die. So they are in a situation where unless a stranger comes along and wants for them to be a part of their family they will be in the government run foster care system until they are 18 years old. And as much as the government is helping these kids, foster care is not the answer for anyone. It is only temporary. And the other reason is that I want to be a Dad. I know the typical method of achieving ‘Dad’ status is through the normal biological process, and my wife and I are not at all against having biological children as well. Yet it is difficult for us to know about children in need and not help, when we can. One of the things I wanted to help begin in Kenya was an adoption program for street kids to Kenyan families. So I see this as a natural extension of what some of our plans were in Kenya. And maybe simplest way we can look at this is that we see our desire to be parents, and a childs desire to have parents a match. And when things match you bring them together.
We will end our MAPP classes the Tuesday before Thanksgiving this year and will probably be in about a 6 month window before we will actually have a child placed with us. So we may have a new member of the Bristow family by next May!
371
Posted on Oct 18, 2007 under Health & Fitness, Life | No CommentWednesday I had my follow up appointment with my doctor about my chest x-ray and blood lab results. Some of the results were a bit surprising but then others, I guess were to be expected.
On my chest x-ray they saw scarring on my lungs and they were wondering if I had had any severe respiratory infection when I was younger. I wasn’t able to think of anything while at the doctors office, but then while talking with Jaime I realized that this is likely from my infamous ‘Jamaica Virus’. Some of you may remember that in 2004 as soon as I returned from Jamaica I got really sick. I was sick for about three weeks with heavy coughing, fever, and little to no energy. At the time I had no medical insurance but a doctor did come to see me and said it was viral and that I would simply need to fight it off. At the end of the three weeks of illness I then lost my voice for two weeks. It got to the point that I didn’t think I would ever be able to talk above a whisper. But then I just sorta got better. And I think the scarring on my lungs that they found on the x-ray is from the Jamaica Virus.
Now I wish that this information was the most important thing they found, but it really is pretty insignificant. I have slightly high cholesterol, but my triglyceride count is near triple the normal value. So…. I am now on a very strict diet.
I need to avoid carbohydrates and fats at all costs and need to decrease my triglyceride count by 100 points by February. So I need to get with the program and stop being a glutton. Currently my Triglyceride count is at 371 and needs to be below 150. So even my doctor is only expecting a 100 point reduction by February. This makes me think that to do this, it is going to be a lot of diligence involved on my part.
So to do this, I am going to the gym at 5:30 every morning before work, and will not be eating out on a regular basis, and when I do, I will be getting a salad or something else that is no fat and low carbs. My doctor explained for about 45 minutes that if I do not make these changes now that I will become diabetic soon. I know I need to do this if I want to have a healthy life in the future. This is going to be a very difficult life style change for me, so I am glad that I have my wife and some friends that will be helping keep me accountable.
Also please pray for me, that I will be able to really change my eating and exercise habits and become healthier.
Electrocardiograms and Vampires
Posted on Oct 10, 2007 under Health & Fitness, Life | No CommentYesterday I went to my doctor and told him about some pain/pressure I had been feeling in my chest and about this past Sundays’ shortness of breath and dizziness episode. He thinks I am likely having heart burn based on my descriptions of the pain in my chest. But he had an EKG done, a chest x-ray, and blood taken for labs just to be sure. Overall, I got the impression that he thinks my coming in to see him was a waste of my time and possibly his. And he asked me to use Prilosec to see if that helps. (A heartburn medication)
The only thing I know at this point is that my EKG was perfectly normal. I had my chest x-rayed and blood drawn so I will probably learn something about those next Wednesday when I meet with the lesser physician once again.
Some people know that I have a phobia regarding giving blood. It is irrational, but it is certainly real. I have never been able to do give blood because of it. I even call the blood mobile/blood takers ‘vampires’, maybe to help reinforce my phobia. When I was in college I passed out in line to donate blood once. Yes, I did say while in line. That was embarrassing to say the least. But I did get some snacks and got to sit with all of the people who had just donated. Well, this morning I went to the vampires office to give them some of my blood. And… I survived. I explained to the lady that I had once passed out in line before giving blood, and she simply said rather firmly but in a joking manner “Just sit down.” while pointing to a chair. So I sat. She had me look at a wall with lots of random information about health and before I knew it she had two glass tubes full of my blood. I felt a little ill at the thought of what had happened, but I didn’t feel a thing. So maybe that phobia has now been dissolved from my head.
Next Wednesday I should have some more information regarding my lab results and my chest x-ray.
