Breakfast in America

It has been a while since I have posted anything, but sometimes life just demands more time.  This year has seen a lot of snow in Connecticut and I have been doing quite a bit of shoveling.  Because Rae is working nights, I try to get the driveway shoveled before she comes home in the morning so that she has a place to park.

One of the things that I have been trying to do for the last couple of months is to get some exercise every morning prior to breakfast.  With my heart-rate monitor, I have been fairly consistent incorporating Dr. Mercola's Peak 8 philosophy at least a couple of times per week.  On the other days, I have simply been utilizing my Wii Fit Plus along with some dumbbells.  On days when I have had to shovel I considered that as my exercise for the day.  Of course, I took a break from exercise in order to let my body recover.  For the last couple of days, though, I have been somewhat out of commission.  I seem to have a pinched nerve in my back - or something similar - that is causing pain every time that I turn my head or lift my left arm.  While it isn't a significant pain, it is enough that I don't want to aggravate it by exercising.  Today, it is feeling much better so I will likely get back into the swing of things tomorrow - just in time for the next predicted snow storm!

Today's post is named for Supertramp's song (and album), Breakfast in America.  I chose this title because I wanted to talk about my new, favorite breakfast!
For quite a while now, I have been reading quite a bit from Mercola.com - a website that focuses on holistic health.  Dr. Mercola and other regular contributors talk about ways to maintain and recover a healthy state through proper nutrition and exercise.  Rather than promoting a carnivorous, omnivorous, or vegetarian diet, Dr. Mercola thinks that each of us will fall in to one of three categories.  We, as individuals, will either be a protein type, carbohydrate type, or a mixed type.  As such, some of us will thrive on an Atkin's-type diet while others will thrive on a primarily vegetarian diet and others will do better on a blended diet.  Essentially, he encourages us to take clues from our bodies to determine what suit us best.  To interpret those clues, he provides a questionnaire.  For more information, visit HERE.  According to my results, I am a Mixed Type - somewhat of a surprise to me.  Given my thorough enjoyment of eating meat and my previous success with following the Atkin's Diet, I fully expected to land in the Protein Type category.  As a Mixed Type, it is recommended to consume proteins along with vegetables and carbohydrates.

Breakfast is definitely one of my favorite meals.  I can eat eggs prepared just about any way and be happy!  About the only thing I am a bit leery of is eating eggs raw.  Unfortunately, the more that things are cooked, the less beneficial they are from a nutrition aspect.  To compromise, I decided to cook my eggs in a way that would allow me to eat them but still be somewhat closer to raw - poached!  As a kid, I always loved poached eggs over toast, so it only made sense for me to revisit this.  As such, my new (or, at least renewed), favorite breakfast is two poached free range eggs on one slice of toasted Ezekiel bread.  While this is not a lot of food, it really does satisfy me and makes a great start to my day.

My Little Marathon

OK, so it isn't even close to running (or walking) a marathon (Song: Rush, Marathon from Power Windows) - perhaps it is more like circuit training, but I squeezed in two exercise sessions over the course of 3 hours.  Using the Wii Fit Plus, I spent about an hour doing various different activities, mostly cardio-related but with a little bit of other stuff mixed in.  According to the 'game,' I burned just under 400 calories during that time.  The Wii Fit Plus allows you to set calorie burn goals.  Whether you reach your goal in one session or not, it keeps track of what you have burned each day.  My current goal is set for 455 calories.
After my hour of exercise, I decided to take a short break.  I took Ginger out for a brief walk - it was still raining and she doesn't like to be outside in the rain - and did some chores around the house.  Using one lemon, I made another glass of lemonade and cleaned up after that.  This was a particularly juicy lemon that yielded 5 Tbsp. of juice, so my glass of lemonade actually turned out to be 2.5 servings worth.  While I know that it is better to consume the juice immediately after squeezing it, it is a little annoying that one lemon can yield so much juice while another might barely be enough for one serving - even if they are the same size!  It definitely leads to the question - is it better to drink a larger portion of lemonade fresh or to reserve the excess for another serving at a later time?  My gut feeling is that it is perfectly acceptable to drink more than one serving at a time.  Considering that the recommendation is a minimum of 6-12 servings per day, if you consumed one serving per hour, it would take 12 hours for the upper end of the range.  If you squeeze, mix, drink, and clean up after each serving, that is a lot of time spent to get 12 individual servings of lemonade.
I guess that it is all about the results, anyway...

Due to timing - wanting to have showered prior to the family coming home - I decided to spend another 30 minutes exercising.  For lack of a better option, I turned the Wii back on and finished off my calorie burn goal.  I decided to do another weigh in to see what my progress was as well.  Normally, I wouldn't bother weighing myself this often, but the fact that I am following the master cleanse and that I already had easy access to a scale it just made sense.  It turns out that I have now lost a total of 8 pounds since beginning the cleanse.  According to my BMI, I am now, no longer considered obese!  Now I am just simply overweight...  Still some work to do on the weight loss front.  Not that it is currently a concern for me, judging obesity/overweight/normal weight just by BMI is a little skewed.  To truly get a picture of weight v. norms, you should also factor in body fat percentage.  In my case, muscle mass in not currently doing much to tip the scales, so BMI kind of works for me at the moment.  At least it does take height into account.

I'm Not Hungry (Like The Wolf)

Today is day 6 of the master cleanse and I am feeling great!  I repeated the four capsule senna dose last night and didn't have as much abdominal pain as I did yesterday but still felt some as a result - enough to confirm that the pain I felt is, indeed, a result of the senna.  Unlike yesterday, I did the salt water flush this morning.  The combination of an herbal laxative prior to bed and the salt water flush upon waking is definitely a powerful one!  I think that the truly amazing thing about this master cleanse is that I am not at all 'hungry like the wolf.'  (Song - Duran Duran, Hungry Like The Wolf)  I have been able to cook food and go grocery shopping for the family without being tempted to eat anything.  Yesterday, we went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few things.  After my second serving of lemonade yesterday, I was completely out of maple syrup so I needed to go shopping anyway.  Trader Joe's has two offerings of grade B maple syrup!  Unfortunately they happened to be sold out of one of those offerings...  The one I ended up getting is their Canadian maple syrup in 25 oz. glass bottles.  It is a bit more expensive than the 32 oz. bottle they also offer, but as it is grade B it is still cheaper than what I was buying before.  There is a misconception with maple syrup that grade B is somehow inferior to grade A.  Unlike eggs, meats, and grades on test scores, grade B maple syrup is not inferior.  It is thicker, darker, and has a higher mineral content than grade A.  It does tend to have a slightly different taste, though, that can make it less desirable.
This past Spring, we took a day trip to a local sugar shack that taps maple trees and processes its own maple syrup.  It was a really informative and fun trip!  Had I known then that I would be undertaking the master cleanse, I would have stocked up on grade B maple syrup.  Rick, the owner/operator of the sugar shack explained the difference between the grades (which, by the way, may be revised in the not too distant future) and expressed his preference for grade B.  I tried contacting him prior to buying more syrup at the grocery store, but I haven't gotten a reply yet.  I am just not sure if he has any syrup in stock at this point and I don't feel like driving over there only to come home empty-handed.  I would prefer to buy from him, though.  He is a lot more local - within 20 miles from home - and has better prices than the grocery store.

Today being Wednesday means that I have the house to myself.  The weather is not conducive to working in the garden - unlike previous weeks.  This is fine, though, as I really don't have much else that I can do in the garden for now.  With the newly acquired compost bin in place, there isn't as much need for me to get out there and turn over the compost pile.  I still need to, just not as frequently.  Since adding the compost bin, I took a second frame - the one that had been containing the compost pile - and stacked it on top of the frame that defines my future raised bed for planting.  This will allow me to fill in even more soil and compost as a growing medium for the plants and pretty much negates the poor quality, resident soil that I started with.  Once finished, the bed will have depth of at least 15 inches of quality soil to plant in - no rocks, no clay.  I plan to take the third, remaining frame and cut it apart.  I will use the pieces to hold the stacked frames together.

Not having to spend time on the garden today means that I have more time to do other things.  Of course, the weather also rules out taking Ginger for anything other than a utility walk.  My plan is to put in a couple of sessions of exercise.  I don't really want to do one longer workout, so I will probably do two, half-hour sessions. 

I'll Not Fade Away

As day 4 of the master cleanse comes to an end, things are going really well.  I made it through today without any temptation to eat anything even though my daughter made dinner and it smelled really good.  I even sat at the table while everyone else ate their food and wasn't even tempted to taste it.  The potential gain from sticking to the cleanse is just too great for me to stop now.


After dinner, I did a short workout on the Wii with Wii Fit Plus.  I put in about 30 minutes total with Wii Fit Plus and about 15 minutes without it.  Because it was convenient, I also weighed myself.  It turns out that I have dropped 6 pounds since I started the master cleanse!  I can't helped being pleased about this - even though it is not my primary goal to lose weight.  Sure, I want to lose weight - it just isn't my number 1 reason for doing the cleanse.  Since starting the cleanse, I have stepped up my efforts to exercise.  I want to be sure that any weight that I lose is not from muscle.  No matter how much weight I lose, I'll not fade away (Rolling Stones - Not Fade Away).  The nice thing - and somewhat unexpected - is that I actually have the energy to do some exercise.

The only downside to the cleanse so far is that I need to make yet another trip to the grocery store - more lemons and maple syrup!  I don't want to stock up on too many lemons as I don't want them to go bad sitting on my counter, but I should have bought more maple syrup than I did.  Tomorrow, I plan to check out a couple of options for syrup, though.  The two stores I have been to in the last week only sell grade A syrup.  Grade B syrup is recommended for the cleanse due to its higher mineral and vitamin content.

It's been (over) 'One Week'...

...since my last blog post.  While the title sounds like someone heading to a confessional, it is also represents the title of the song, One Week.

For the last ten days, there really hasn't been anything of note to talk about.  I am still following The Maker's Diet but I still haven't gotten back to using the Wii Fit Plus or even checked my weight loss progress.  This is not to say that I haven't been physically active, however.

 Today is the second day in what is supposed to be a three day deluge.  While the rain isn't torrential, it hasn't let up for in the last 36 hours and it is supposed to continue through tomorrow.  The brook out back has swollen considerably.  Most of the rivers and streams are at or beyond flood levels due to all of the rain we had last week and this current rain is only exacerbating the issue.  As of 4 AM today (according to the National Weather Service), the Connecticut River has risen 8.4 above normal.  Flood stage is at 8 feet.  They also expect the river to crest at 13 feet on Thursday due to the course of the storm.  Fortunately for us, we are not at any risk of flooding.  One positive result from all this rain is that the plants and trees have really started to bud.  Things are really starting to turn green again - except for the forsythia bushes which are now a vibrant yellow!

Life is just a candle, and a dream must give it flame.

The title of this post is from a song by Rush from their Caress of Steel album, The Fountains of Lamneth.  This is definitely a thought-provoking line.

Well, the weather has returned to being amazing after several cold, overcast, rainy days.  The girls are all busy with their homeschool co-op today, so I decided to capitalize on the weather and take Ginger for a walk on the trail.  I did the now-usual walk to the bridge and turned around to come home.  For some reason, Ginger was really anxious and pretty much tried to pull me home once we started to head back.  I really hope that by taking her out for walks we can both benefit - me by getting the much needed physical activity and her by growing accustomed to the walks and not being so anxious all the time.


I haven't used the Wii Fit Plus for almost a week, now.  This is partially due to a lack of motivation to do so but it is more due to the fact that I just haven't had much of an opportunity over the last week.  The girls had a 4H event on Saturday and that took the whole day.  Additionally, I just wasn't feeling too great which is probably what led to my lack of motivation.

We need to go grocery shopping soon.  I am running low on milk and I am out of yogurt among other things.  So, today for dinner I made French Toast!  You know what is really odd about French Toast?  It is neither French nor toast.  Bread dipped in egg and fried in a skillet.  For my French Toast, I used Ezekiel 4:9 bread and cage free eggs along with a little 100% pure organic maple syrup.  I used 2 slices of bread instead of only one.  Finding the cheaper price on it at Trader Joe's makes it a little easier to use more than one slice, though I am still trying to keep to an average of 1 per day.

Three in a row...

For the third day in a row, I have been able to take a fairly extended walk.  Today was a  major test of my endurance.  I went for a walk with Ginger that took me a little under an hour.  I would have gone longer, but Ginger spooked and yanked her leash out of my hand.  She didn't run far - she actually came right back to me - but I didn't want to continue walking if she was stressed out so I turned back.  When I returned home, I was somewhat surprised at the energy that I still had.  I decided to make another attempt at learning T'ai Chi.  I worked on learning the first six positions for a while before taking a break.

After a short break, I popped in the Wii Fit Plus and spent some time using that.  The Wii Fit Plus allows you to set a calorie burn goal and keeps a running tab of the calories you burn doing the various activities.  Whether it is accurate or not, I don't really know.  It does provide a decent goal, however.  I have set my goal at 455 calories burned.  This can take me up to 1 hour and 30 minutes depending on what activities I do.  The boxing 'game' seems to be the most efficient (most calories burned per minute) - which makes sense given that it involves both upper and lower body.

Thus it begins!

Today marks the first, official day of my journey to wellness with The Maker's Diet!

OK, so I started with last night's dinner, but I am not really counting that when it comes to being 'IN' Phase 1.  Phase 1 is designed for a 14 day period, and I am trying to take that literally and stick to calendar days - not a dinner to dinner day.

Up at 7:30 today, thanks to Ginger, the dog, needing to go out.  Fortunately, the snow isn't too bad yet.

I started my day with my daily serving of VIDACELL as is normal.  I had recently been mixing the VIDACELL with oatmeal.  Oatmeal is not allowed during phase 1, so I simply mixed it with 4 oz. of hot water as is recommended.  I find that it works best to give the VIDACELL some time to dissolve in the water prior to consuming it, so while it sat there dissolving I started making my breakfast.

Breakfast consisted of a 2 egg omelet with broccoli, onions, and flax seed cooked in a cast iron skillet.  I am not entirely sure if cast iron was used during biblical times but teflon sure wasn't!  The Maker's Diet recommends that everything be cooked in glass, stainless steel, or cast iron - no teflon.

Following breakfast, I took 2 of my 1,000 mcg (microgram) B12 supplement.  Yes, it is intended for 1 per day, but as I am trying to correct a perceived deficiency I decided to use two today.  There is no known toxicity problem with taking too much of the B vitamins.  While I wouldn't supplement with any more than 2,000 mcg, I feel safe with that dosage.  As well, though my B12 supplement is not terribly expensive, I have no desire to spend more than I need to.  I fully intend to revert to taking only 1 per day and potentially stop using it all together once I am in full swing with the diet.

I am writing this while giving my body time to digest.  Shortly, I will be doing an exercise session.  I am as yet undecided on using the Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board or spending some time with my T'ai Chi DVD.  I may do a combination of the two!

Oh, and thank you Josh for yet another resource!

Done reading. Now to implement it!

I finished reading The Maker's Diet moments ago.  I am fairly happy that quite a few of the allowed foods for Phase 1 are things that I already have in the house.  Though what I have may not be the optimal variety (organic, grass-fed, etc.), at least I won't feel guilty in eating them until I can locate/purchase the better option.  I still need to peruse the The Maker's Diet: Shopper's Guide to see what added benefit that offers.

As it stands currently, I am pretty excited about the possibilities for this new direction in my life and the impact that The Maker's Diet might have on my journey to wellness.

Additionally, the girls wanted to spend some of their Christmas money, so we went shopping.  For $19.96, I picked up Wii Fit Plus to expand on my options.  I was happy to learn that the new edition imported the data from the old version.  If you have Wii Fit already, you do not need to purchase Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board but can simply buy the Wii Fit Plus and pop it in instead of the original disc.  If you have not yet purchased Wii Fit then you can simply purchase Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board and you are good to go!

We have only started exploring the new options, but so far I like it a lot better.  There is an added 'routine' option.  This allows you to choose pre-made routines or design your own - essentially allowing for a smoother transition between exercises.  As well, you can more easily switch between users.  This is great for us as one of us will 'play a game' while another watches.  Invariably, the watcher will want to try out the same game.  With the old version, this meant returning to the Wii Fit Plaza screen and selecting the other user's Mii in order for them to play without screwing up the games record keeping feature.  Now, the other user can easily 'sub in' for a turn or two and still keep accurate records.  Finally, accurate or not, the new version includes an estimated calorie burn counter.  I am always doubtful of the accuracy of built in calorie counters as there are too many factors involved - weight, age, and body fat percentage just to name a few - but it is nice to have an indicator of how hard you worked.

As if that weren't enough...
I had ordered some B12 supplements as it seems that a lot of the symptoms I am experiencing could be due to a B12 deficiency.   My delivery arrived today.
According to the WAPF website "The most commonly used form of B12 for treatment in the US is cyanocobalamin. Only two forms are active in the body, however, methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. Cyanocobalamin must be converted in the body to either methyl or adenosyl cobalamin by the enzymatic removal of a cyanide molecule. (The amount of cyanide produced during this process is very small but still could be problematical); whereas the body can immediately use supplements of methylcobalamin (the only active form of vitamin B12 commercially available in the US). In a study that looked at the ability of vitamin B12 to extend life in mice with cancer, methylcobalamin led to significant increases in survival time while cyanocobalamin had no effect (Tsao CS and Myashita K. Pathobiology 1993;61(2):104-8)."
As such, I was sure that the supplement I ordered was the methylcobalamin variety.  I had gone to local stores, but was only able to find the cyanocobalamin compound.  Fortunately, I was able to find the right compound online so I ordered two, 30 count bottles.  I figure that a two month supply combined with The Maker's Diet should give me an indication of its efficacy.  Once I am in full swing with the diet, it is likely that I will no longer need the supplement, but I will judge things at that time.

New Year...

So, a new year has begun. While I am not prone to making New Year Resolutions, I felt that this year I might do that very thing. Though I would have made this particular resolution on any other day of the year, the timing was just right to do so for New Year's Day.

This year, I am resolved to work harder to being symptom-free. As such, I plan to do a couple of new things to help me to achieve that goal.

As you probably know by now, I have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. However, I am not 100% sold on this diagnosis. As such, I feel that there are things that I can do to not only reduce my symptoms, but to possible even heal myself completely!

For over a year now, I have been using a product called VIDACELL to aid in recovery. I have no doubt in my mind that I am better off today as a result. My symptoms, though not gone, have been less severe than they were previous to my using VIDACELL. While the battle seems to be going in my favor, it seems that it will not be won in the near future without adding a few more weapons to my arsenal.

One of the things that I have resolved to do is to learn the art of T'ai Chi. Several years ago, I purchased a DVD to learn T'ai Chi at home. While I tried it out a couple of times, I just did not have the time or the motivation to stick to it very long. Knowing that I would someday regret getting rid of the DVD, I hung on to it. Well, it seems that the time has come for me to dust it off and give it another shot. Because T'ai Chi is used to bringing the mind, body, and spirit together to gain balance, prevent injury, and promote good health, I felt that it might help me out. MS or not, whatever is causing my symptoms is definitely neurologically based. From my experience as a personal trainer, I know that the brain-muscle connection is improved through repetitive motion. I know - I KNOW - that exercise is essential to my recovery. Due to my symptoms, beneficial, effective exercise is not always the easiest thing for me to achieve. I know that this can also be an excuse for me to not even try. Last year, I joined the YMCA to use the pool and gym equipment. While it worked out well for me when I was able to get there, getting there was not always possible. I am dependent on having my wife drive me there as I cannot drive myself. I had it worked out so that I could go to the YMCA once a week during the time that the rest of my family took their weekly trip to the library. Well, circumstances change - as they are prone to do - and the weekly library trip is now part of a day long educational event (we homeschool our children), thus making it next to impossible for me to continue with that plan. As a result, I have not been to the YMCA in over 5 months, now. One option is for me to find an alternative at home. Well, it seemed about time to dust off the DVD and do my best to learn the basics (this particular DVD covers the first 30 positions) of T'ai Chi. In the brief attempt I had made previously, I know that T'ai Chi is fully capable of filling my exercise needs. However, I fully intend to supplement my T'ai Chi sessions with other exercise options.
Last year, we purchased Wii Fit for the family. We weren't really sure how much of a benefit we would get out of using it, but I figured that it would at least provide me with a higher level of activity as well as something to do as a family. As you would expect, motivation waxed and waned over the year. Well, it is my plan to utilize this tool more regularly and even expand my options by picking up the new addition, Wii Fit Plus.
For the third arm of my exercise program, I plan to use the heavy bag that I purchased during the height of my physical fitness craze several years ago.

Earlier, I mentioned that the time for this resolution just seemed right. Well, when I posted my intent to "to learn T'ai Chi and work towards being symptom-free in the coming year" as my status on Facebook, a good friend of mine responded. He provided me with a link to a website about nutrition. When I went to the site, I was immediately in conflict. Some of the things mentioned just flew in the face of all of the currently held beliefs about nutrition. Now, one thing that you have to understand about me is that I have an open mind. I am willing to take a look at opposing views and hear the supporting arguments. If there is merit, then I am willing to consider the options. Rather than state the point of view and their supporting data, I will simply direct you to the website and let you come to your own conclusions. Mind you, I still need to do a lot more research, but I have known for some time that changes need to be made in my nutrition. Prior to even looking at this website, I knew that I wanted to take steps to move away from processed foods and toward natural foods. While the site talks about things that I may or may not agree with, they do have some things that I very much agree with. To establish your own opinion, I recommend visiting the site by clicking HERE.
As a result of another suggestion by my friend as well as supporting reviews on the above site, I ordered a copy of The Maker's Diet. As I have not yet taken delivery on the book, I cannot offer my own opinion of it. When Josh mentioned it to me, the name rang a bell. It turns out that it was a book that I had at least passing familiarity with. It had been sold, along with another book by the same author, Patient Heal Thyself, at one of my former employers. Of course, at that time I didn't have any reason to review either book for my own purposes. The author of these books went on a nutrition program with which he was able to cure himself of Crohn's Disease.

Well, I hope to receive my copy of the book in the next day or so (tracking shows that the shipment is currently at my local Post Office!), read it, and get started soon on my new nutrition plan. I am obviously not yet sure if I will adopt the one detailed in the book or some other plan, but I do intend to provide regular updates here.

For now, I am off to another T'ai Chi DVD session in my living room!