DAY43: 10,000 STEPS
April 21, 2022 ~ Thursday
Refeeding Update: Day 10 of 14.
Daily refeeding numbers: Weight-179.7 Weight loss since adopting diet-55.9 BP-110/77 Heart rate-76 Oxygen level-98 Temperature-97.8 Glucose-91 Sleep-6 One minute pulse rate-steady73. Muscle pain level-0 (scale 1-10) Energy level-5 (scale 1-10).
Phase 4: Grains – This includes all of the other phases plus: pre-made salads and cold foods; oatmeal, rice, quinoa, corn, avocado, nuts and seeds. NO LEGUMES (beans) yet.
I enjoyed oat groats for breakfast in the dinning room with our little cohort of patients. Then had a huge salad. I really do like eating salads now. Then Dr. Streutker walked through and took a picture of us (see below). THEN the chef brought out carrot ginger and fennel soups that he is developing for our group to try and give feedback. I could taste the ginger but not the carrot and there was not enough fennel in the fennel soup. The chef is all about the balance of flavor in dishes. He wants to taste all the components come out as the food rests in the mouth. I am NO genius when it comes to the palate and the balancing of flavor for it, but I am learning.
My Comments: Today in Santa Rosa, it was a mix of sunshine and rain. We went for walks when the sun was shinning and was back in time to hide from the rain. The temperature here was about 60-65 degrees most of the day. For the first time in YEARS, I walked 10,000 steps according to my FitBit watch! As of 11 pm, my legs feel fine! I will know more tomorrow and just how sore I might be but I still have a walk scheduled for tomorrow right after breakfast! And when I get back to Vermont ….. I will once again walk around the lake at least once a day.
However, I do have some issues with my feet when walking. Primarily, that I am not picking up the toes enough so I do stumble a bit. One of my new friends keeps an eye on me. 🙂 She always walks on the outside of the side walk as it often tapers to the street. That way I can stay on the part of the sidewalk that stays level. This issue will of course correct itself, with a bit of conscious effort by me when walking. Have I lost muscle mass in my legs, you might be asking? No. I can still do a deep knee bend and get back up with out help or holding on to anything. And I have had this happen before. I need to strengthen the muscles that lift the toes when walking so that the heel strikes the ground, then the foot rolls down to the toes, and is lifted to repeat the movement. I have not done much walking in 6 weeks. For that matter, I have not done much walking in the past few years.
During the refeeding I am building up my gut biome, and in my case, for up to 4 weeks after the fast ends my body is restoring itself to a pre-fasting state. If I were to do an extended fast AND exercise, I would have slowed down the purpose for doing a therapeutic fast which was to reverse diabetes and high blood pressure, invoke autophagy to clean up the body, and lastly to lose visceral fat. During this type of extended fast in complete rest, the body preferentially eats up the visceral fat first. This is the most deadly fat in the body. All of this I have accomplished.
Another benefit I have noticed from this process, is that I can eat and then exercise without heart palpitations! This is huge for me. I used to have to do physical activity in an intermittent fasted state and then eat because because of these palpitations. I had my heart checked out last year and it is doing fine but I suspect the visceral fat was crowding the heart causing these palpitations. When I start gardening, I will know for sure if this is better.
I have about 55 pounds yet to lose. I know I can do this. I have all the tools in place to do this. I do not “worry” about this but there is this little bit of doubt that I can finish this on my own. When I get back to Vermont to real life where there is stress and too many things to do, will I short change my health to deal with all that? My frame of mind is NO I will not again short change my health for anyone or anything. I have felt clean living, clean food, clean rest, and no stress. And I like it.
Things at home will change. Boundaries must be set. I asked Dr Goldhamer to sign my paper journal. He did and said “Beware of the Pleasure Trap”. That comment more than anything will stay foremost in my mind as I wind down my last 5 days here at TrueNorth.
