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.

Yay?

Went back in for my semi-regular protime blood test at the doctor's office (my PCP, or GP for you Commonwealth peeps) and was happy to say I am actually pretty stable at this point (2.5 INR). At this stage I've been pretty good over my last couple of tests, so no more blood work till 6 weeks from now. Not sure how comfortable I am with that, seeing as how I am only 4 and 1/2 months out, and things are still changing as I continue to rehab: 6 weeks seems like a long time. However, insurance only pays for so many tests based on how stable I am, and they don't want to contribute towards any home monitoring, as I don't meet the criteria for needed weekly INR testing. I guess that is a good thing, will just have to wait and see. I've been pretty good about keeping things in my diet pretty stable,  and exercise levels are also pretty consistent, so here's hoping INR-wise things stay stable without too much drama till my follow-up....

Overall though, it's nice to finally be in a pretty consistent range that also meets with where my surgeon wants me to be. Honestly, for all the bad rap that coumadin gets, it really hasn't had that much of an effect on my lifestyle: I can eat and drink what I like, and my doctors just adjust the dose to match my lifestyle. The trick is is to be pretty consistent; have a consistent amount to drink (alcohol-wise), if you like greens, eat 'em, just keep the amount you eat over several days pretty stable, without wild swings back and forth. You need or like to take supplements/multivitamins? Take them too, just take the same thing every day. Not rocket science by any means, but it does require some discipline. Nice thing about all this is 1) I still get to drink, I just drink less. This means I can afford to get the good stuff :) 2) As part of getting in Prison Quality Shape/PQF (minus the jailhouse tats or actual criminal record) I have to watch what and how much I eat, which segueways nicely into monitoring what I eat as far as coumadin/wafarin goes. Not too bad.

Working out

As far as rehab goes, most if not all of my rehab has been in the pool, although all the walking I did in the first 2 and a 1/2 months is technically rehab as well (although not as sexy as swimming....) Am up to 30 min swimming 4-5 times a week, and have been getting more vigorous each time, so given now I'm 4 and a 1/2 months out post-op, it seemed a good time to add some other exercises to the mix. Being a mechanical valve patient with an aorta wrapped in Dacron, heavy, heavy weights are out of the question. However, given how important maintaining muscle mass is as we age, as well as the well-documented cardiovascular benefits of moderate weight lifting, I decided to add very low weight training to the mix. Benched 55 lbs total on incline bench-press, and did about 65 lbs on squats. Pretty low-level stuff for any fitness level, but damn....I'm weak. Little-girl weak. Did about 30 bench presses in sets of 10 and about 25 squats, and wow. Wow as in, I really had more trouble than I was expecting. Of course I was trying to keep things light to minimize effects on the heart from lifting heavy, but it still felt way heavier than I would have thought. Even weirder was the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) I had starting when I woke up today. At least I know it had an effect on my muscles and wasn't just in my mind.

The plan now is to keep up the swimming and repeat the low weights in a day or two, only adding low increments as the soreness and heaviness go away. Getting Prison Quality Fit, one day at a time.....

Happy Halloween!