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By Dahni
©️ 2018, all rights reserved
“Moma said, stupid is as stupid does.” – Forrest Gump
As you may well know, this is a partial quote from the movie, ‘Forrest Gump’. It is a variant of an old adage; “Handsome is as handsome does.” This saying appears in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” and in Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd,” and can be traced as far back as the 14th Century.
“Handsome is as handsome does” basically means that true handsomeness has to do with a person’s behavior, not just a handsome face. The saying is also phrased in the forms “Pretty is as pretty does” and “Beauty is as beauty does.”
Forrest’s Gump’s version of the saying means that stupidity is not just a surface thing derived from a person’s appearance. Stupidity is a matter of deeds, not looks. Like the other versions, it comes down to this: judge people by what they do, not by how they appear.
OK, but what has any of that to do with this blog? In my journey to health, it may appear that I have done some stupid things lately. These “things” might seem like saboteurs, wrecking my recent good results?
I wrote in a recent post that I do not suggest or recommend anyone do what I have done or I am doing. This blog is merely my account of what I have done, am doing and intend to do on this, my journey to health.
So what have I done that may be questionably “stupid”? Is it taking myself completely off of an over-the-counter generic ‘Allegra®’ for allergy relief? No, it is something you know you need or not. I have had no “need” the last four weeks so; I did “not” take this. Histamines have become my friends, evident by a runny nose from time to time. It’s is just communication from my getting stronger and more robust immune system that something the body is rejecting as unneeded was trying to come in. A tissue or a hanky (handkerchief), is all I need. An antihistamine treats the symptoms and not the cause. It merely tries to prevent histamines and may in fact make matters worse? Nope, I am not stupid or a dope for stopping allergy pills!
I, I and no other took myself off of Lisinopryl for hypertension (high blood pressure). I mean, I did this myself, without professional medical advice. Is not this (high blood pressure-hypertension), called, ‘The Silent Killer’?? This is what I’ve heard. In other words, most people have no symptoms or do not know they have high blood pressure. I am told that this is particularly problematic (I suppose genetically), among those that have the darkest skin colors or hues. But I happen to be one (perhaps among few), that can tell my blood pressure is high. I may not know its measure (systolic/diastolic), but I can feel the tightness and pressure of my blood flow. It is kind of like trying to squeeze a golf ball (my blood), through a straw (my veins and arteries. It feels like something is going to pop or explode inside me. Was stoppage of my prescribed medication without medical advice stupid? It would appear so. But first, I just ceased from taking it just one day. Surely you and most everyone has forgotten to take their medication, for one day, without serious consequences? Now when I began the journey, four weeks ago (now at the end of my medically approved 5th week, before a blood draw and follow-up with my healthcare professional), my BP (blood pressure), was high at 152/103. Those numbers indicate stage 2 hypertension! Could I afford taking such a chance?
Systolic blood pressure, the top number, measures the force your heart exerts on the walls of your arteries each time it beats. Diastolic blood pressure, the bottom number, measures the force your heart exerts on the walls of your arteries in between beats. Who messes with stage 2 hypertension and stops taking their medication and baby aspirin to help against a heart attack? Me.
But after feeling, inside myself lighter and fluffy-ier (not heavy and pressured), the next morning, both my wife Susan and I took my blood pressure and it was measurably lower.
The following day, a member of our family, a registered nurse, studying to be a nurse practitioner, also took my blood pressure. It was 120/80. Today, this may still be considered high, but for most of my life, 120/80 was considered classic normal blood pressure and it was my normal. The point is, my BP was lower. And every day or so I have continued to check. My last check, it was 118/79. I can hardly wait for my follow-up visit with my healthcare professional, to see what they find! Right, that is what you read and what I wrote, “I can hardly wait!” Who gets excited about going to see their medical specialist? I do! I am! My ultimate goal if possible, is to no longer need hypertension medicine again, ever! Or for that matter, no medications prescribed or over-the-counter, at all! I recall the words of my former retired physician, who prescribed this medication for me several years ago. I asked if it was possible for me to ever be able to stop taking it? He responded with, “It is possible, but not likely.” I was not resigned then nor now, that this would remain my new normal reality! Surely there must be a better way, a more natural way to control my BP, despite my current age and past history, by diet and lifestyle?! I look forward to my blood being drawn, about Monday, June 25th, 2018, for the results and my follow-up appointment with my healthcare professional! I am now going to call them my wellness professional monitor. 🙂
Wait until I make the appointment. Will the office be surprised when I ask to schedule a visit for, a I-am-feeling-great-wellness appointment?! 🙂
One evening as I was grilling dinner, I decided to join my wife for a cocktail, my first alcoholic beverage in about a month. At the same time, having completely stopped smoking, I had not at that time decided whether or not I would even smoke an occasional cigar. I generally never inhale cigar smoke. I rarely ever smoke a cigar. When I did, it was usually with a slow sipping of a single malt scotch with friends. It was a social thing I enjoyed and mostly because, it led to good conversation. A full size cigar takes about an hour or so. Since generally only one scotch or cocktail and one cigar was involved, I could afford better scotch and cigars, since I consumed so little and so rarely. Yes, mostly it was a social thing with me and a time to share with good friends, good scotch, a good cigar and especially, to enjoy good conversation. After the weather report, perhaps some sport scores, how’s so and so, in about a hour’s time, just about anyone is going to probably end up in converse over some deep matters and things that truly matter, beyond the nicety of the day’s trivia. 🙂
Sometimes I did not have an hour to converse nor my friends. I had purchased a tin of about five small cigars, which take less time to smoke. I had four left, in a tin of five I bought several months ago. That should tell how often I smoke. And one of the few times smoking is enjoyable is with alcohol. I cannot say the alcohol was making me desirous to smoke. It was more to determine if I was ever going to smoke a cigar again, would want to or need to. Was I being stupid in tempting myself in adding nicotine back into my life? Even if one does not purposefully or intentionally inhale, they are still going to ingest some smoke and nicotine, whether they believe it or not. I wanted to know if I could handle it. I wanted to know if I could control my mind. I wanted to know that I was the boss of my body and not that my body was the boss of me. I wanted to know if I even wanted to ever smoke a cigar again. So, I had a little cigar with my cocktail, in the presence of my wife. No problem? I did enjoy it. I decided that on occasion, and eventually, I would have both an alcoholic beverage and a cigar, if I so desired.
The following day, a friend of mine stopped by and we shared each one of the small cigars left in my tin. He had some hard cider and I did not consume any alcohol. Susan was not home, but I told her about it. The following day, Susan again was out and I smoked the last little cigar, by myself. I just wanted to see if I would enjoy smoking one by myself. I was not too enthused. That evening I had a beer. The next day, Susan was again away from home and I decided to try one of my few remaining full size cigars. I did not finish it. I did not enjoy it. I concluded that even though I may talk a lot, I have a small mouth and I am not comfortable, smoking a full size cigar. 🙂
I resolved, if I am gong to smoke cigars in the future, it would be small ones. They are cheaper and take less time. Also, this same day’s evening, I had one glass of white wine with Susan.
In moderation, there are some benefits to consuming alcohol. Wine and specifically red wine, aids in digestion and contain in small amounts, resveratrol, an important property produced by several plants in response to injury or, when the plant is under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. Sources of resveratrol in food include the skin of grapes, blueberries, raspberries, and mulberries. Some people believe it aids in longer life. But one would need to consume much more than what is usually found in even a bottle of wine. I cannot even say that I have ever finished off a whole bottle of wine myself. I have no memory of ever doing that. But beer, wine and cocktails have varying degrees of calories and sugar content. On a Ketogenic diet, alcohol is not recommended. On a ketogenic diet, high carbohydrate and sugars which the bodies changes to glucose, is being replaced by fat, which the liver changes into ketones to produce energy. So was I stupid in adding sugar? Did I really want to have an alcoholic beverage, three days in a row or was I trying to see the effects? I did enjoy these, but my weight started to climb a bit upwards. And not only from this, but sometimes too high of fat and protein content. And coffee?
Coffee? But what about my one cup of black, single origin organic coffee with only a teaspoon of coconut oil and big pat of organic unsalted butter or my homemade Ghee, per day? Well, there was a couple of days with two cups of my Keto Koffee’, but only in the morning. One day I had matcha green tea with coconut oil, butter, and 3 drops of organic vanilla flavored stevia and 2 drops of butterscotch stevia. It was a nice change. And the particular matcha was highly recommended as it aids in reducing blood pressure. One time I also had this in the afternoon (in addition to my morning Keto Koffee). I had afternoon tea with my wife Susan and her aunt. Then there were a couple of times I added organic ½ & ½ to my morning Keto Koffee’. I did not like it as much. Another time I added the ½ & ½ to my Keto Koffee’, along with a couple of drops of vanilla flavored organic liquid stevia. I did not like it much either. I went back to my 1 or 2 cups of regular Keto Koffee’, and only in the morning and one after another.
When I started back on coffee (after my first week in this test program where I had none at all), it was Keto Koffee’. Since I was used to many pots of coffee every day, afternoon and night and was limiting myself to just one cup a day, in the morning and usually, Susan and I would share this time together, I decided it was going to be the biggest mug I had. I only had one, which was a gift to me from Susan and it has a picture of our cat Bella and our dog Lady and a picture of the wooden carved sign over our mantle that says, ‘The Gathering Place’.
Now when I said I started to have two cups of coffee in the morning (one right after the other), it started with two of these big mugs, each full of Keto Koffee’ (black), with coconut oil and butter. I like my coffee really hot. I found that the temperature dropped too rapidly for me, from this large mug and I did not like adding an extra heaping teaspoon and another large pat of butter to this second cup. It was just too much for me. And when each cup cooled down, I did not want to microwave it to heat it up or cook it even more on the stove. And besides this, I had other ‘favorite’ mugs which were smaller. My smaller mugs would be equal to about 1 ½ cups of my big, one and only large mug. Drinking slowly and to enjoy this as long as possible, I would drink the first until about ¼ of it was all that was left and at that point, it had started to cool. So, I would re-fill this smaller cup with only black coffee. The coconut oil and butter left from the first cup was sufficient for my second cup. So, when ever I feel like a second cup, this is what works the best for me. I enjoy it longer and it stays hotter and I’ve no need to add any more oils (fats).
On occasion, I would have just coffee, ½ & ½ and about ½ teaspoon of raw sugar. I wanted to see it’s effects. Initially it was like having to get used to it all over again. As I write this, it is now past 1 AM on Saturday, June 23rd, 2018. I am obviously up past what has been my normal bedtime, these past five weeks at 9, 10 and a few times, 11 PM. This is the latest I have been able to stay awake or wanted to in almost five weeks. Perhaps this has been possible because:
1. I wanted to finish this blog post
2. I made myself a pot of coffee and have had several cups with ½ & ½ and raw sugar
Am I being stupid? Or am I trying to understand what does and does not work for me, why, why not, and what are the effects of modifying or veering off and away from, my ketogenic program?
When following what I have been doing correctly these past few weeks, I have lost weight. I started to gain some back when my fats and/or proteins consumed were too high, adding alcohol and sugar (real raw sugar), back into my cleaned out blood stream, removing toxins from my colon, reducing caffeine and eliminating nicotine. Adding Vitamin D as a supplement (prescribed my healthcare professional), my energy levels began to return. First, it was just as on a even-keel and sustained. Then there were some bursts of energy which I have greatly appreciated. I was able to get more done during the day and without the need for ibuprofen for tired muscles and minor aches and pains. I was glad to be able to sit on my butt, ride on my lawnmower and cut the grass in about 1 hour and forty minutes without the need of ibuprofen and not having to be totally spent and not able to do much of anything else, for 24-48 hours. Yes, it took me that long. to recover.
I am confident my immune system has been strengthened as evident by the lack of needing allergy relief and overall feeling of wellness. I have been sleeping better and longer. To my wife Susan’s delight, I am pretty much in bed before her or nearly about the same time, except for last night, which is now the following, early morning Saturday. I have been usually awake around the same time each morning, between 5 and 5:30 AM. I have been ready to go to bed around 9 or ten and maybe once or so, at 11 PM. Pretty much, I have sort of become like a farmer (we do live in the country). 🙂
I am up by first light and in bed nearly just after sunset, when it first starts to get dark. That is, until last night and now this continuation of being awake, early Saturday morning.
Sometime ago, I was behind our garage and looking west. I saw what I thought was a bird, flying from south to north. I watched it fly and turned my head. I could not tell how far it was away from me or what kind of bird it was. Then, as I turned my had back to my left, it seemed to be following me. I thought this was a little strange and then decided it was impossible. I knew something was amiss in the vision of my left eye. Later on I saw what seemed like flashes in my same left eye. I knew I needed to see my ophthalmologist. I did. It was determined that due to my now older age of 64, these eye floaters are spots in my vision. They look like black or gray specks, strings, or cobwebs that drift about when you move your eyes and appear to dart away when you try to look at them directly.
Most eye floaters are caused by age-related changes that occur as the jelly like substance (vitreous) inside your eyes becomes more liquid. Microscopic fibers within the vitreous tend to clump and can cast tiny shadows on your retina. The shadows you see are called floaters. It was also told me that these are likely now to be expected and there is generally no known cure, The flashes were more serious, but it was determined that there was no permanent damage to my eye. It may be possible to not be as bothered by these on occasion, as the loose vitreous fluid could relax or settle at the bottom of my eye. The flashes have not returned, but the single bird floater became a flock of birds. I don’t know whether to laugh about that or if you should, but it is not funny to me. But I got used to it. But sometimes it seemed as if our cat’s tail swished in the corner of my left eye’s peripheral vision. I was also informed with some bad news and some good news.
The bad news was eventually, I would have to have cataract surgery. Sometime after age 50, most of us are likely to hear our eye doctor say, “You have cataracts.”
A cataract is a clouding of the lens inside the eye, causing vision loss that cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or corneal refractive surgery like LASIK.
As frightening as cataracts might sound, modern cataract surgery usually can restore vision lost to cataracts — and often can reduce your dependence on eyeglasses as well. Was that the good news? No. The good news is that after the cataracts buildup they tend to dull your vision, turn colors into a more amber or yellow appearance. So, the good news is, eventually, I will be able to see the vibrant colors of my normal vision, after the cataracts are removed.
And wouldn’t you know, the floaters are just in my dominant left eye. My right eyes is just not as strong as my right. But what follows is my even more recent good news!
Our cat’s (Bella’s), like flick of her tail and those flock of birds (floaters), seem to either have diminished, disappeared or have not been as noticeable as much. Is is possible, despite medical advice that my old eyes could actually improve by food (natural medicine), and this ketogenic program, I have begun to explore? Well it sure does seem so!! Now why could this be?
My former high blood pressure seems to have been effected by smoking. Were my eyes as well? Uhh Ohh, here comes “…stupid is as stupid does,” again? Well what did I do?
Did I start smoking (cigarettes), again? Wouldn’t that be stupid? If for the most part, nicotine (the addictive agent), was removed from my body the first 24 hours after I stopped smoking (and it was), why in hell, would I want to start smoking again? If I stopped wheezing, coughing, hacking; my clothing, skin and breath all ceased from smelling like an ashtray and I stopped sleeping someplace else other than in bed next to my wife in part, not to wake her up, why would I want to start that all over again? If I was saving money, a lot of money (and I have been), why would I want to spend money to burn up, all over again, with nothing to show for it, but adverse effects and basically with no enjoyment at all, not even one with alcohol or food or any special occasion? Why would I want to worry my Susan again? If my lungs had begun to heal and I was breathing in more oxygen and my overall breathing was better (all of these were true), how stupid would it be to screw all of this up and go backwards? Are cigarettes that addictive, my will so weak and my body’s memory too great, to really quit smoking, just stop for a while? And by the way, in the past, when I have stopped smoking and gone back, it’s like my body just slapped me in the face and as if to say, “I’ll show you who’s boss, now I’m going make you smoke even more, than you did before you stopped!!!” Yes, now why would I want to do that???
The fact is, I did start smoking (cigarettes), again. Does Susan know? Well, once she reads this she will. Did I not tell her because I wanted to keep it secret, to lie about it, to lie to her? No! I certainly did not want to worry her or upset her. But I also did not want any input from her or anyone else about what I am doing. It’s not that I have tried to keep it secret or to lie to Susan or anyone, but I did want to keep it to myself and not let anyone or anything distract or detour me, intentionally or not. Why? Because, “Moma said, stupid is as stupid does?” You will have to answer this for yourselves, should you find yourself in a similar situation and for what you think of my decisions. You can determine for yourselves if all I have said here are nothing more than excuses.
But for my part, Forrest Gump’s Mama is not my Mama and my Mama never said to me that, “..stupid is as stupid does.” I have purposefully, willfully and intentionally, made myself my own guinea pig so to speak. I made myself my own lab rat in my own laboratory of experimentation. I am after all, my own physician, endeavoring to heal myself, before I ever (if ever), try to give advice or heal anyone else. So why did I start smoking again? For one thing, I really want to quit for good, forever and not just stop for a time. I have stopped several times in my life. I have tried many different things. I tried nicotine patches and gum. It did not work for me. I wrapped a piece a paper and a pencil around my pack of cigarettes and from top to bottom and put several rubber bands around it, all to make it difficult to open to take out a cigarette to smoke. The piece of paper had lines and instructions. I was to fill out the paper for each cigarette I would smoke:
1. Time of day
2. The number of the cigarette(s) smoked
3. How was I feeling, why did I want this cigarette(s) to relax, stress, as a pick-me-up, a calm-me-down, after having food; alcohol etc.
The whole purpose of this program was to make it difficult to smoke, to make myself aware of why I was smoking, when I was smoking, where, with whom, what the circumstances were that made me want to smoke and eventually, to realize that my real nicotine habit was just a few per day: one after every meal, after an alcoholic drink and maybe another few times when cigarettes are sort of enjoyable. This equal about 3-5 cigarettes per day. A three to five cigarette addiction per day should be much easier to kick than 20-40 (1-2 packs) per day. All the work and basically, this program did not work for me. But I did learn that for the most part, my actual addiction was really only, 3-5 cigarettes, per day. That was it! That was all! All the rest was habit, my messed up psychology— it was all all in my head.
I stopped one time because, I could not seem to get over upper respiratory ailments, bronchitis, pneumonia, sinus infections and etc.i mean these were back to back, seemingly continuously and continually. My doctor then kept prescribing more and more different antibiotics. I was sicker than a dawg’! I was so sick, I could not work. My immune system was weak and so was I. I was home alone. I could not get off the couch. I slept all the time and in my pajamas. I was coughing, hacking and wheezeing and I remember getting up to go outside and smoke a cigarette. I saw a vision of my grandfather, flash before my eyes. Call it what you want, but I believe this was a revelation God showed me to help me!
My grandfather and grandmother married, say around age 18. They lived their first month of married life with family. Then they moved to a small 2 bedroom drafty house that was built for the night watchman at a brickyard. But the night watchmen had bought a trailer and lived in it instead of this house, which for years, was right next to the office at the brickyard. There was for years, nothing but a gravel road where trucks loaded with brick all day long would go up and down the road leaving clouds of dust. The house was years later moved further down from the office, back away from the road and placed on a foundation, so my grandmother could wash clothes with and old wringer washer inside, hang up clothes to dry on a line in the basement during inclement weather. It had a place to put their one car. Most especially and after many years, for the first time, they had indoor plumbing and a bathtub in this, their only bathroom, in the cold, dark basement that only a small electric heater could take off some of the chill. Both my grandfather and my grandmother later developed emphysema. My grandfather more so because, he was a smoker, he checked he kilns, was more exposed to the gravel road dust and the small clay particulates in the air of the brickyard. They lived in this house until my grandfather retired at age sixty-five or about 45 years. They lived in their first and only owned home for around eight years, when my grandfather had been hospitalized for emphysema several times. Towards the end of his life he was at home, but never far from a pole of oxygen he would push or pull around from room to room.
In the vision I saw, when I was in my pajamas and hacking and coughing and getting up off the couch to go and smoke a cigarette, I saw my grandfather, also in his pajamas, pushing his oxygen pole from his bedroom, down the hall and into the garage, so he could smoke a cigarette. That did it for me! I did not smoke that cigarette. I stopped smoking. I got better. My lungs cleared out. After several weeks, I was finally able to return to work. At the time, I worked in construction. The project we were working on was a bunch of suites of offices for doctors, inside a hospital. My newly healing and cleared out lungs could not handle the sawdust, from the central saw we all used. My decision was to NOT get paid, for NOT working or to get paid and start smoking again. I started smoking again, which seemed to lessen the effects of the sawdust.
Another time, I stopped smoking, but noticed I was not able to write. Writing is one of my passions. I never really learned how to type. I was what I call a hunt-and pecker. When I finally understood the concept of typing, I would literally have to type even slower than I already was able to hunt for the letters and peck out the characters to form words, sentences and paragraphs, before ever being able to type faster. I did not have the patience for that. I continued to hunt and peck, maybe thirty-five words a minutes. This worked out for me because, I would type and stop and think about the next stuff I wanted to write. I smoked during those thinking about times. So, at this time, when I stopped smoking, I could not write because, smoking was indelibly engrained in me and associated with those pauses and thinking about what to write next. In other words, my hunting and pecking, my pauses and thinking about what to write next and smoking, were all a part of the same thing. I could not write anymore. I started smoking again. Poor choice, “…stupid is as stupid does,” but that was the way it was.
The time before last time, I stopped smoking by smoking 2 packs of cigarettes (40 cigarettes), one after another. Oh yes, I wanted to make myself sick to my stomach, get a hell of a tobacco buzz, cough out my lungs and even get a headache. And I did one more thing to make a memory of a very, very bad experience to hopefully never smoke again. And this one last thing, my wife Susan will certainly never forget, I licked the ashtray! “…stupid is as stupid does?” Well, it was effective, at least for a while. I stopped smoking. The main problem besides going back to smoking was, I never eliminated the triggers. I did not treat the cause, just the symptoms.
This last time, everything was different. It was the easiest cold turkey stoppage I have ever experienced. I did not miss it at all. I was exposed to others smoking, a couple of weeks after I stopped and it did not bother me a bit. The addiction, the habit and the triggers all seemed to be gone. I had no desire to smoke again. My body was not trying to seduce me into thinking it was the boss of me and with its perpetual lie that, ‘There’s something good about smoking.’ There isn’t!!!
When I began this program, now almost 5 full weeks ago, I knew the first week I cold have no caffeine, no sugar and not even any food, just water, vitamin and mineral supplements and the two ingredients needed to cleanse my colon, rid toxins and clean my blood. If that was not traumatic enough, why add no-smoking? Shouldn’t-couldn’t I have just done one thing at a time and not stress myself into a total failure? Friends of mune advised me of this! Was my doing it anyway just, “…stupid is as stupid does?”
I knew only three things when I started this program. These in order, were my motivators. I knew that throughout my life, I seemed to be blessed with a lot of gladness. I seem to have a skill or a knack, for joy, the kind of child-like joy expected from a little child. But I had not been too happy with me, for quite some time. So I thought, what if God in Christ was happy with me? I figured if that is what would and could occur, I’d be pretty happy! 🙂
I knew that if I stopped smoking, I would gain weight, no matter what. Smoking acts like an appetite suppressant. It makes my heart work harder and this would burn more calories and at least maintain my then present weight. I knew when I stopped smoking, I would gain weight. So If the first week I was basically not eating and the following 4 weeks only eating twice a day, maybe the wight gain would not be as much or as noticeable. I lost eight pounds my first week. And I have maintained a little up and down the next four weeks, a total of 13-14 pounds loss. Maybe if I was not a smoker and all the healing and etc. of all the changes made, maybe I could have lost more? But anyway, this is why I also included, stopping smoking.
This leads me to the third and last thing that motivated me to start this program. This is the last thing I knew. I knew I was sick and tired of looking at my fat belly in the mirror with my shirt off and alone. I was sick of wearing only loose-fitting and large shirts untucked, to hide that damn fat belly! Oh yes, I wanted to lose weight, but my health was way down on my list of priorities. I don’t think my health was all that important to me? I was sick and tired of looking at my fat belly. Call it vanity, but this was the way it was. I was sick and tired of looking at myself and I was just tired, most of the time.
So now in finality, why on earth would I want to mess with all my good results? Why go back to smoking? Because I am stupid and “…stupid is as stupid does?”
I wanted to know if my body is the boss of me or is my will, my mind, the boss of my body? I want to know if without smoking, can I still write? Well I was, albeit not up all night writing like I am here and with fewer words and less frequency. What’s wrong with that? Maybe I found other things more important like spending more time with my wife? Maybe there is more to life besides thinking about food, preparing food and eating food, watching TV so much, being on the Internet, social media, working on artwork, music, my websites and blogs? Maybe even spending more time with our cat Bella, our dog Lady, 5 of our six grandchildren (the 6th is in Japan), a few close friends, reading and listening instead of talking and writing so much? Maybe if I am not in your face as often, when I do have something to say, you will find it more entertaining, informative and inspiring? Maybe you would miss me like the adage, “absence makes the heart grow fonder?” And maybe less is more? I mean who has the time to write or talk as much as I have? And who has the time to listen to or read as much superfluity of perhaps in excess, so much bull s—t? 🙂
For example, this long-ass multipule cups of ½ & ½, sugar loaded late night-early morning coffee with cigarettes?
So in finality, last but not least, why go back to smoking? “…stupid is as stupid does?”
I wanted to see what consequences came about if I did. And what are they? My mental clarity has suffered. My energy levels have suffered. My allergies have started to act up. I can feel my blood pressure on the rise. My vision has been negatively affected. The floaters and the cat tail are back in my left eye. I can feel the pressure in my left eye building again. I am sure by heart is being overworked again, my blood, veins and arteries. My digestive tract is off a bit. And that liver cyst that I am not supposed to be able to feel and that I have not felt in four weeks or so, I can feel it acting up again. Smoking depletes Vitamin C. Am I worried about that? Not so much because, I still have some Vitamin C supplements left and magnesium that I continue to take. Not to mention the smell of my clothes, my breath, the drying out of my skin again. Oh, I just did because, I do detect all of these things. How much smoking am I talking about? Enough to know these things have started to return. And all of this for what? So I can sleep all day now after I finish this? Because, “…stupid is as stupid does?”
Oh, and sugar. What about my being diabetic? Have I blown my soon blood draw results with my blood sugar up again?
In conclusion, for me, in a sense, I now clearly have life and death set before me. It is in my hands. Do I choose life or death? Do I choose food as medicine or medicine? Do I choose to live to eat or to eat to live? Who is the boss of me, my body or me? Who do I choose to be the boss of me, me-myself-and-i or my God? If, “… stupid is as stupid does,” then I am done being stupid! I choose Life!!!! My choice is made. My triggers are now known and their adverse effects. I start again, where I am. I’m done with smoking once and for all!
Life is simple if you just make a few choices daily for health, wellness, prosperity, life, peace, liberty and to pursue happiness. God in Christ is happy in my choice! I look forward to God in Christ in me, living in prolonged happiness!!
I may have to put-off my blood draw until next Thursday, June 28th, 2018, to give myself a better opportunity to have better results before I see my wellness specialist as a followup.
Yah’ gotta’ start somewhere! Start where you are! Start with what you’ve got! Do the best you can and that is available to you! Bloom where you are planted! Don’t get stupid! Or as my grandmother said, don’t act sooky (silly or stupid), or you could become stuck being a sook (a stupid silly person)!! 🙂
Dahni
Next time: The Lab Report
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OK, what is “Brain Octane Oil”? Again, it’s Bulletproof Coffee’s name for nothing more than, organic, extra virgin; unrefined coconut oil.
with melted organic unsalted butter (or Ghee), organic, extra virgin; unrefined coconut oil and a few drops of liquid Stevia (vanilla and butterscotch), for a change. Our taste buds get bored sometimes, so it is nice to have variety. The Stevia helps to break up the bitterness of matcha green tea powder, but I like matcha as is and it is good, for most everyone, sweetened or not.
No, I’m not recommending or suggesting you or anyone do what I am doing!! But anyone at sometime could possibly benefit from it. But at least everyone, could benefit from cutting back the intake of carbohydrates and sugars and essentially, burning more of the calories (to lose weight) or equal to the calories (to maintain your present weight), than what we consume daily!!!
My Journey to Health 