Are there "essential" carbs?? Or is sugar really "toxic"?

Lots of interesting articles out and about with regard to low carb diets. Here's an interesting article to the New York Times, with an in-depth article about the perception that sugar has among some today, as well as some of the history related to changes in perception with regards to sugar and subsets such as high-fructose corn syrup. Interesting read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html

No Limits

Here's an interesting motivational story as told by a student of Bruce Lee's:

“Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile [Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a half minutes per mile]. So this morning he said to me “We’re going to go five.” I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.” He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it.” I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,” –and we’re still running-”if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.” He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, “Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

Although you might want to wear a heart rate monitor while you're working out just exactly what these limits are ;)

Prison Quality Fit; an overdue update

Looks like I haven't posted regularly here in a while, which is good in a way, as it means I was out doing stuff. Which was the whole point of having open heart surgery and a  valve replacement in the first place I reckon.....

Anyways, for those of you who have been through this yourselves or have a loved on who is going though it, there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Once you get past the first couple of months, things get better fast. Granted it takes longer to get back to 100% (I'm gunning for about 12 months post-op to be at what I consider 100%, pushing 85% plus most of the time now) and 100% may never be exactly what you were pre-symptoms, or maybe it is over 100% of what you were before. Either way, stick to your goals (mine are scuba diving, and getting back to kendo among others) and work at them, one little bit at a time. IN my case, I've been slowly adding to my fitness "regimen", mostly concentrating on diet recently (more on that later...) while adding in more exercises here and there. 

Protime update

Just had my most recent protime done last week, and scored a 2.6, which is pretty much where the docs want me with the On-X. Originally my surgeon was aiming for a range between a 2.0-2.5 (people who aren't on anti-coagulants are usually around a 1.0-ish) although I'm happy with being around a 2.5-30. No clotting events for me thanks! Staying steady on the coumadin dose, and my diet and supplements etc, are pretty consistent, so hopefully not too many more swings in the protime levels. 6 week checks at this time.

I would love to have a home tester, but technically I don't meet all the criteria for home testing so the insurance won't cover it. Saving my pennies, as you can buy anything off of ebay, and the additional readings will give me a little more peace of mind. As other coumadin patients have told me, I dose the diet, not diet based of the dose.