Time Flies When...

OK, I am aware of the irony. I am writing a post entitled "Time Flies When..." on the first day after we set the clocks ahead one hour (well, at least in most of America) thanks to daylight savings time. However, as it has been several months since I last updated this blog (7 months to the day) the concept of time flying just seems to be a fitting title. (Song: "Time" - Pink Floyd)

As of the last post, I was producing two internet radio shows. Well, due to several factors, I am no longer.

As well, I was working as an intern for one of Hartford's radio stations, The Rock 106.9 WCCC. Well, I am still with WCCC, but in a different capacity. I am now officially employed! I am only part time (about 10-15 hours per week), but part of my duties include being the board operator on Friday mornings from 6-10 am during the 'Imus in the Morning' show. I have to coordinate the satellite feed with the local commercial spots as well as read the news, weather, and traffic on WCCC's AM station, WCCC AM 1290 Beethoven Radio.

Also in the last post, I mentioned that we were in pre-production of ConnecTV, the first television show produced entirely by graduates of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. We now have four shows completed and airing on a regular basis over several cable access outlets across Connecticut. The show can also be seen on the internet at our Vimeo channel.

Time definitely flies...

Today, I renewed my commitment to The Maker's Diet. While I have been mostly following the guidelines of the diet, I haven't always been terribly strict. Well, I went back to phase one. I was really happy with the results of my first attempt to follow the Maker's Diet and I am hoping to to further improve  my health by returning to the basics.

My day started with a push ups workout. I have been following the program detailed on hundredpushups.com for the last couple of weeks. I have been pretty happy with the results so far.
I followed the workout with my daily dose of VIDACELL. This would be the only food that, while truly natural, might not truly qualify for the Maker's Diet guidelines. The benefits far outweigh what might be consequences for breaking the 'rules.'
Breakfast consisted of a 3 egg omelet made with free range eggs, raw cheese, and organic salsa. I also supplemented with Vitamin D.
After suitable time for digestion, I used a free pass to go to the YMCA and get another workout. This time, I spent 35 minutes on the elliptical machine. According to the calorie counter, I burned almost 400 calories. I also spent some time doing some resistance exercise - mostly to complement the push ups, I concentrated on back exercises.
Upon returning home, my wife and daughters were just leaving for a walk in the amazing weather, so I put the leash on Ginger and joined them!
The rest of my daily food consumption consisted of plain yogurt and a homemade lentil soup with lots of veggies.

A-Z Challenge - 'B'

While B-12 is technically prefaced by the word 'vitamin,' I am using it for my letter B in the A-Z challenge. Deficiency in B-12 can lead to a lot of symptoms that are similar to those caused by multiple sclerosis. As I have stated many times, I do not believe that my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is accurate. I am firmly convinced that my symptoms are a result of something else. As such, I am taking steps on my journey to wellness to correct any potential causes. One of those steps is supplementation with vitamin B-12. Because the B vitamins work better when consumed together, I am currently only using a B complex supplement rather than an isolated B-12 supplement.

As with any supplement, please consult your doctor before using B-12 or a B complex.

Great Balls of Fire

For this step on my journey to wellness, I actually revisited something from several years ago and added a new piece of exercise equipment to my regimen.

It used to be called the Power-bee (or something similar). It is now called the DynaFlex Pro and has been somewhat remodeled. I owned one several years ago and had largely forgotten about it until I saw the DynaFlex Pro on the shelves of our (relatively) local Eastern Mountain Sports store. Given that I had a little extra cash thanks to a check I had gotten for my birthday, I bought myself a new one. So, what the heck is it?

The DynaFlex Pro is a wrist and hand exerciser. It is essentially a ball encased in an outer shell that works like a gyroscope. By spinning the inner ball and holding on to the shell. Getting the ball rolling can be tricky, at first. Once it is spinning, you keep it spinning by making small movements with your hand and wrist. The spinning ball generates considerable torque. The combination of maintaining your grip on the shell, the torque generated by the spinning ball, and the small hand and wrist movements really gives the muscles in your forearms quite the workout! As far as this being a step along my journey to wellness...well, forearm exercises are not huge calorie burners. They certainly are going to help me get back into shape all by themselves. For me, though, it is great to feel the burn in my muscles - even from a relatively small muscle group - as it helps me get motivated to do more exercise. Sitting in a chair and watching TV or surfing the internet isn't terribly motivating and I can easily end up wasting a lot of time this way. By picking up the DynaFlex Pro and giving it a spin for a couple of minutes, I get that wonderful feeling in my arms and get motivated to get out of the chair and do some more exercises that will have a greater impact on my overall wellness.

The DynaFlex Pro is not terribly quiet when in use, so using it while watching TV or while sitting at your desk at work might not make others around you very happy. Also, it does require a bit of concentration to maintain your grip and to keep it spinning, so using it while driving is not advised.

The song reference for today - well, the 'ball' itself isn't on fire (though, it does tend to get a little warm while in use) but it does give your forearms a good burn. I couldn't resist paying homage to Jerry Lee Lewis with Great Balls of Fire as the title for this post, though technically while the ball is spinning, there is also a Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On.


A-Z Challenge

For a change of pace, I have accepted the A-Z Challenge for the month of April. The idea behind the challenge is to post a new article every day during the month of April except for Sundays that have a topic that begins with the corresponding letter of the day - starting on April 1st with the letter A and working your way to the letter Z (30 days in April minus the 4 Sundays = 26 days). The post could be a written article or simply a picture of something that begins with the letter of the day.  For this challenge, I am not sure that I will be able to continue the trend of linking the article to a song title. In fact, these posts are simply going to be titled with the letter of the day. As well, I plan to make these A-Z posts in addition to any posts that are specifically about my journey to wellness. While my current plan is to write articles about things that have an impact on my journey for this challenge, they just may not be quite the same as the rest of this blog.

Master Cleanse Reprise - 'Not' Wasted Time

Today marks the second day of this round of the Master Cleanse. It is going to be a bit of a struggle - not because I am having a hard time sticking to the fast, but because we have a busy day scheduled. Though it is better to consume the lemonade within ten minutes of squeezing the lemons, I have prepared four servings worth of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper - no water added yet - to take with me to our various appointments. I will add the mix to a bottle of water when I am ready to drink it. I am not worried about hunger. When I am keeping myself busy, I don't usually feel hunger pangs. As planned, I skipped my daily serving of VIDACELL and will continue to do so for the duration of the cleanse.
I checked my tongue this morning - already turning white. This indicates that there are toxins present that need to be purged. Even though I am careful with what I eat and have already done the cleanse twice before, I am still exposed to toxins. Really, this just provides rationalization that doing the cleanse periodically is the right thing to do and I am not wasting my time - hence today's song tie-in, Eagles' Wasted Time.

Yesterday, as a quasi-birthday present to myself, I bought myself a new pair of sneakers. The last pair I had (well, still have until the new ones are fully broken in) was not a very nice pair of sneakers. I had gotten them for about $15 and they were worth every penny...you definitely get what you pay for. Part of my problem is that my feet are what are affected most by my disorder (I still don't believe MS is the answer, but...). Buying cheap shoes is not really a great idea. Honestly, cheap shoes tend to be a bad idea for everyone considering how much we ask of our feet on a daily basis.
Up until recently, I was really interested in getting a pair of Vibram's FiveFingers shoes. The FiveFingers shoes mimic being barefoot but protect your feet from rocks, broken glass, and other foreign objects. As you might expect, the FiveFingers shoes have separate pockets for each toe - just like a glove for the feet. I was a bit concerned that this would be more aggravating to the pins and needles sensation that my feet are constantly feeling. I found a local store that sells them so I was able to try them on. There are several styles of the FiveFingers to choose from. The pair that I wanted - one that would have been suitable for daily, normal wear - just gave me issues in trying to put them on. Getting all of my toes into the right pockets was just not possible. My toes - and probably yours - are just so used to being crammed into ill-fitting shoes (any shoe is ill-fitting when you realize that our feet are not designed to wear them). I spent about 15 minutes just trying to make them fit. Not one to give up on a good idea too easily, I tried on a different pair of the FiveFingers and had no problem getting them on. The second pair, however, was not at all suited for cold weather as the one thing that made them easy to get on was that they didn't fully enclose my feet. They were more like a sandal or slipper. Sure, they would protect the soles of my feet, but not the tops. As well, due to their unique design, wearing socks with the FiveFingers is out of the question. Mind you, I don't mind not wearing socks - I actually prefer it - but sometimes you just need that extra warmth.
Though I decided to pass on the FiveFingers, I am still considering them for warmer weather.
The other style of shoes that I wanted to check out is made by Skechers. These are the Shape-Ups. Shape-Ups have a different style sole that provide a workout for your legs just by walking in them. Yeah, I know...walking is already a great exercise and I try to do it as often as possible. My rational behind getting the Shape-Ups is that I can maximize the benefit that I get when I am able to walk - even if it is around the grocery store. Well, I haven't been able to find any local store that stocks the Shape-Ups. As with the FiveFingers, I could order them online. My problem with doing so is that I really want to try them on to get the feel of them before buying. It would be one thing if I were looking for a pair to replace the ones that I already had, but buying a new style of shoe over the internet just doesn't suit me.
What I came home with yesterday is made by (or for) Dr. Scholl's. They are from their Personal Trainer line. Similar to Shape-Ups, the soles are different than the average shoe and are designed to more fully engage the leg muscles while walking. I found a pair that I actually liked (I am not too picky about the appearance of my shoes, but some are just plain ugly) and tried them on. While the box was simply labeled as size 12, the shoes in the box turned out to be 12W. My feet aren't particularly wide, but these fit really well. Had I seen 12W on the box, I wouldn't even have tried them on. Hopefully these shoes will continue to be comfortable as I wear them for longer periods of time. My last pair would actually start to hurt if I wore them even for reasonable periods of time.

I Am Singing The Lemon(ade) Song Again

It is time once again for me to do the Master Cleanse AKA The Lemonade Diet. Starting tomorrow morning, I will be singing that song again. (Song reference: The Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin) Technically, though, I have already started by taking a dose of senna tonight. Because I have class and a generally busy day tomorrow, I won't be starting my day with the salt water flush - I'll save that for Saturday morning when I have nothing to do until later in the day.
I won't be using VIDACELL during this cleanse. I don't think VIDACELL would interfere with the it, but I'd rather be sure that I get the biggest benefit from the cleanse - besides, it can't hurt to save the money. I bought enough lemons for at least a couple of days, today. I already had the maple syrup and cayenne pepper, so I am all set to go!

My hope this time is to continue the cleanse for at least 14 days but possibly even longer. Because we are now in maple sugaring season, I fully intend to buy some locally harvested grade B maple syrup when I am close to finishing my current supply. It may not save any money, but it is certainly a better option to buy local products over those shipped in from far away.

I Won't Back Down

Sorry for the seemingly combative title, but it works.  The song, of course is by Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down.  The reason that it works for this entry?  Well, I have decided to begin following the master cleanse for the next 10 - 14 days and I am setting my mind to the task.  I have been reading up on the process and the benefits for quite some time, and the timing just seems right to start the fast tomorrow.

Essentially, the master cleanse calls for you to drink a mixture of freshly squeezed lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.  In addition, it is recommended to drink a cup of senna tea each night for the laxative properties and as much purified water as desired.  I have never been a big fan of tea, so I will be skipping that part.  I will also be modifying the fast by adding my daily dose of VIDACELL, raw honey, and cinnamon in the morning.  I don't really know what sort of impact this will have on the overall benefits of the cleanse, but I am willing to find out.

My plan is to keep a daily log during the next 10 days of the fast and the following four days while I slowly resume my regular diet.  Depending on how things go, I will likely be posting at least one entry per day on this blog.  So, if you are interested in my progress, be sure to check back!

To start off right, I had a simple dinner of plain, whole milk yogurt mixed with some berries and cherries with a glass of water.  As well, I weighed myself to see if there is any weight loss benefit.  As of a few moments ago, I weighed in at 237 pounds.  This is considerably less than the almost 300 pounds that I weighed at the beginning of the year, but still has quite a bit of room for improvement.  Tonight, while I will not be drinking any tea, I will be using a psyllium seed husk drink mix in place of it.  Hopefully it will have a similar effect to the tea.

This past week has been another eventful and exhausting one...  In my last post, Take It To the Limit, I talked about our adventure to the NY Renaissance Faire and about my work on preparing the garden for next year.  Well, this week was almost a carbon copy!  Instead of the NY Ren Faire, we went to the CT Ren Faire on Saturday - much closer to home.  The girls didn't feel like going in costume, but I did.  We got another chance to see one of our favorite performers, Jayna Lee.  She does an amazing aerial acrobatics (how's that for alliteration?) performance.

Yesterday found me in the garden once again.  My intent was to sift some more of the soil back into what will eventually be a raised bed.  While I was out there, my neighbor came out and suggested that I claim the compost bin that was left behind by another neighbor several years ago.  She and I went down the hill into the woods where Jim had installed the bin.  He had it wedged in pretty well and it was about half full of wonderfully composted soil, so it took a bit of effort for us to move it.  We scooped out and distributed the soil to some of the plants we have growing out back as well as into my raised bed.  After that, it was simple to move the bin out of its spot and up into the area that I had already established as my compost pile.
In addition to recovering the compost bin, we also discovered some really nice flagstones that were essentially discarded down the hill.  It took some effort, but we also moved those from their resting place to the spot just outside my door.  I didn't spend too much time nestling them into a nice, level spot, but I plan to revisit that project.  I will probably have to get some gravel to really do the job right, though.

Take It To The Limit

One thing about recovery, whether it be from an accident, surgery, or disease, is that you need to constantly - but within reason - push the limits of your abilities.  Really, you have two paths that you can choose to follow.  On one side, you have the path of least resistance.  Following this path means that you accept your limitations and essentially give up the fight.  On the other side, you have the path to recovery.  This path is much more tiring to follow.  It entails physical activity - using your body in a way that will take it to the limit of your endurance (and, of course, the title of this post refers to the song from the Eagles, Take It To The Limit).

This week has been a relatively busy one, but today I pretty much ran into a brick wall.  Let me recap a bit...

• Last Wednesday, I took Ginger for a fairly substantial walk.  I already talked about that in my last post, so I won't repeat myself here except to mention it as the beginning of this recent flurry of activity.
• Thursday morning marked the first of ten weekly sessions at the YMCA for myself and the girls.  We have a group of homeschooling families that have secured one hour of pool time at the Y.  I didn't swim last week but I went with the girls to let them have some fun in the pool.  I will be swimming with them tomorrow, though!
• On Friday, we hopped in the car and drove to New Jersey - just over the NY border.  We stayed the night in a hotel so we could be up and out to a Renaissance fair on Saturday.  After we arrived at our hotel, we unpacked, unwound, and hopped back into the car to head to the Palisades Center Mall.  This mall is huge at four stories tall.  Normally, we would visit the food court for a meal, but this year we packed food, so this was merely a shopping/walking visit.  We spent about 2 hours walking the mall until finally heading back to the hotel.
• Saturday was spent at the NY Renaissance Faire.  This meant a lot more walking for me.  I fortunately had the insight to buy a pair of gel insoles for my boots!  I have a really nice pair of Minnetonka moccasin boots that I wear as part of my ren faire garb.  The only down side is that, even though these have a harder sole than your average moccasin, I still feel every little rock that I step on.  For my feet with the constant pins and needles I feel, it can be unbearable.  The insoles made all the difference!
• Sunday really was a day of rest!  I was beat!  Even with the insoles, my feet were protesting any sort of real activity.  We did, however, go grocery shopping.  So I still got some walking in.
• Monday found us with Ginger at the dog park in the neighboring town to let her get some quality, outdoor, off-leash time.  The park is set back in the woods.  It isn't much of a walk to get to, but it still takes a little effort.  There were several dogs and their people at the park and Ginger had a blast!  As well, we took a trip to Lyman's Orchards to pick some more apples.  We came home with about 10 pounds of apples - gala, empire, and Cortland.  We were just going to buy some apples at the grocery store, but would have only gotten about 10 apples for $11.00!  We go through at least 12 apples per week, so that wasn't working for us.  At Lyman's we saved $0.59 per pound off of the grocery store price and we got to pick them ourselves.  On top of that, the individual apples are smaller so portion control is a lot better.
• Tuesday was another relatively uneventful day.  Phew!

Today, the girls are all off at the homeschool co-op, so I once again have the day to myself.  I didn't sleep well last night, so the morning found me dozing off quite a bit after they left.  Around noon, I decided that it was time to do something!
We have a small garden out back that has been rather unfruitful this year.  The soil is just awful - mostly a rocky clay - but we have had varying degrees of success.  Tomato plants usually do quite well but even they struggled this year.  I was able to harvest my two whole peppers, though, so that's at least something.
My goal for today was to prepare a small, raised bed for next year's planting.  I had made three frames a couple of years ago for the same purpose, but we didn't implement it well and decided not to use them this year.  As a result, I have been using one of the frames to contain my compost pile - which is doing quite nicely.  I read up on using raised beds for vegetable gardens, and I really wanted to give it another shot.  So...out I went with shovel and cultivator in hand to prepare a raised bed.
I started loosening up the soil and clearing it of weeds and rocks.  Somehow, no matter how well you clear out the rocks, they always seem to work their way back in to the garden!  After clearing a sufficient space for the frame - about 2' by 3' - I started to dig down about 6 inches, moving the soil into a pile.  I continued to encounter some really big rocks!  After placing the frame around my newly dug hole, I needed to level do a little more excavation so that the hole was as big as the frame.  I then lined the bottom of the hole with a weed barrier.  Raised bed farming is not supposed to require a weed barrier due to the fact that the plants are placed in such a way as to limit weed growth.  I figured that it couldn't hurt, though.  We had purchased a weed barrier made from recycled materials and is even eco-friendly.  Next came the refilling of the hole.  Along with the frames, I had also built a sifting frame.  This is simply a frame of 2x4's with a screen attached to sift smaller rocks out of the soil.  Setting the frame in the hole, I scooped a couple of shovels of dirt into it and sifted the soil right into the hole.  This meant a lot of bending and lifting for me and it is where I reached my limit of physical activity.  After about 8 or 10 rounds of shoveling and sifting, I was about done.  I began feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous after each round - each 'round' consisting of: shoveling dirt into the frame, bending to lift the frame but keeping it close to the ground, shaking the frame to sift the soil, and finally standing and dumping the rocks out.  I continued to sift more soil until the weed barrier was completely covered but not even close to filling the hole back up.  It didn't matter, though...I had nothing left.  One more round of sifting probably would have done me in.

I plan to revisit my currently-sunken raised bed within the next couple of days.  I really want to get the dirt that I removed from the hole sifted and returned to it soon.  I also need to establish a second compost pile so I can let the current one finish decomposing so that I can add the compost to the planting bed.  If I keep adding to it, it will never be ready for use.  I will eventually add more soil and compost to fill the hole and the frame thus creating the 'raised' bed.  This will result in depth of about 12 inches of sifted soil/compost for the plants to grow in.  Hopefully that will give them adequate space for the roots and will result in a much better harvest than we had this year.

A New Beginning

It is with some misgivings that I am beginning to post my blog here, but nonetheless here I am. See, it was not too long ago that I began to put some serious thought into blogging. As a result of an earlier decision, I started to post my blog entries using a different service. While I am not dissatisfied with the service provided, I am encountering some limitations.

As with my previous effort, my goal here is to provide information to help others achieve wellness - not just physical well-being but financial and spiritual as well. You can take my advice and do with it as you please. I am not going to try to convert anyone's way of thinking, but rather to enlighten people about things that they may be otherwise unaware. I will provide information on things that have benefited me so that you too might glean some benefit as well.