Noticeable changes

My consistency with the diet has been due, largely to the fact that it is convenient. There is not much cooking; I have even eaten a bit of the red-meat portions raw. I do not think I could ever eat poultry raw as I have seen people who have been infected with salmonella, it is not pretty. Fish could arguably be eaten raw, but for some reason, I feel like it takes specialized Sushi chef training to do so. I generally cook with a Teflon pan (I know, how very Paleolithic of me), slice meat thin, sauté with little or no olive oil and it is done in a few minutes. Fruits nuts, seeds and veggies, I tend to eat raw. Very simple, very easy.

The exercise I was getting during the school year was baseline; a little weight training and at least four days of cardio workout. It was enough so that I felt at least like a couch carrot rather than a couch potato. The rest of the days involved sitting, reading, writing, eating and frequent boozing – truly a recipe for ever tightening jeans.

The combination of the more protein based diet and hours-long bouts of exercise, what with all the walking combined with the workouts, have had a noticeable effect:

• In 18 days, my waistline has decreased from between 3 and five inches, depending on how you measure.
• Weight is down from 209# to 201#.
• Measured muscle mass has remained stable, which is good to know as often muscle mass is sacrificed over fat by the body. Maybe it is because I am not putting my body into starvation mode; I never let myself get too hungry.
• There has been a definite change in my normally prehypertensive blood pressure. At this point, my daytime highs are running 122/74 and morning lows are 108/62! I have never measured blood pressures so low on myself.

I have just broken the hundred-mile mark with the walking. However, I have only been counting intentional walking. Last Friday I worked my E.R. volunteer shift and I was noticing that for at least 60% of my five hour shift, I was walking as briskly as when I am outside. That means, I could have easily walked ten to 12 miles just within San Francisco General! Maybe I should get a pedometer and monitor passive walking as well.

On the docket today, put away the Walton feed order that arrived the other day, write an article on biodiesel for Gone to Croatoan (which is up to 2,440 hits as of today) and of course, the dishes; always the dishes.

(GARY BLACKMAN Dirty Dishes)

PS.. No that's not me in the top photo.