Tuesday is in the books, my shelves are restocked with groceries, and I’m still among the living. Hard to top that!
My big event was a visit to Dr. Jo to review the results of my recent bloodwork. It wasn’t quite as good as I hoped it would be, but not so bad that I’m hopeless. Comparing the results of my previous test in May and this one, here’s the lowdown:
My uric acid is high. Up from 438.74 to 529.52 (high normal is 416)
My fasting blood sugar is high. Up from 6.35 to 6.49 (high normal is 5.49)
I also have increased levels of kidney enzymes:
Blood Urrea Nitrogen. Up from 4.20 to 6.80 (high normal is 8.33)
Creatine. Up from 82.0 to 102.0 (high normal is 104)
In the good news department, my cholesterol is down.
So, I have a couple of new meds to try for the next thirty days. And I have to develop more discipline in my daily dietary habits. Back on low carb and limited sugar intakes. My motivation is not to become diabetic like my mother was and to avoid kidney failure. Wish me luck.
After the doctor’s appointment, I hiked out to Baloy Beach to do my Tuesday gig on the floating bar.
And when the sun goes, so do we. This time, we visited DaKudos for our supper.
Via Facebook memories came this from five years ago:
And in the sad news department, Toby Keith has died at 62. I first became familiar with Keith as a performer when I heard “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue,” which resonated with me after seeing the 9/11 attacks up close and personal in DC. That event also transformed me from a Democrat voter to a person who puts America first. And I hear this song frequently played in The Hideaway Bar and others:
Today’s Quora Q&A question:
Q: If you could go back to 1986 and restart your life from that moment, would you do it?
A: Yes, I would. There would be lots of IPO stocks to buy.
Today’s funnies:
Alright, got to run. I have a birthday party to attend to at Hideaway this evening.
My fasting blood sugar is high. Up from 6.35 to 6.49 (high normal is 5.49)
Fasting blood sugar changes hourly, and the corresponding number can vary from, say, 80-something (good) to 300-something (horrifically bad), with many people averaging about 100-something. That number there, 6.49, is more likely your A1c, a 3-month average and therefore a more reliable number. A reading of 6.49 is pre-diabetic, so you’re becoming insulin-resistant, which isn’t a good thing. We’re all ideally supposed to be insulin-sensitive, i.e., our bodies ought to react quickly to the presence of insulin. Insulin resistance comes from having so much insulin running around your body that your body has gotten used to it. The insulin is there because you’re ingesting too many carbs, and your body is trying to keep your blood sugar down. But after too much time spent this way, your body just kind of gives up and stops responding to insulin. That’s insulin resistance, and the royal road to diabetes. I know this path well.
I also know you’re a stubborn old fart who’s not about to cut out the alcohol (the cutting-out of which would really reduce your numbers), so you’re going to have to cut other carbs and do intensive exercise to lower blood sugar. I’m on such a program myself now: strength training in various forms over the next several months, plus the return of distance walking, along with staircase work.
As you develop muscle strength and tone, your basal metabolic rate will go up (muscles need a lot of energy), and this will create a virtuous cycle that lowers your blood sugar. Walking alone won’t be enough: intensive training that gets your heart rate up and gets you breathing hard will be key. Sorry to say it, but walking, with no other exercise, is not a cure for weight loss. If it were, I’d have been skinny long ago.
I’d suggest HIIT training, but I confess I’m kind of afraid of HIIT myself: such training requires insane bursts of activity to bring you to the brink of exhaustion in under a minute or two. The closest I get to HIIT is my staircase work, which is like walking up one big hill, and my training doesn’t follow the HIIT pattern. (HIIT pattern: 20-30 seconds maximum effort, 10 seconds rest; do this for up to 20 or so minutes. Stair work is a continuous grind, unbroken for 10-15 minutes, with 1-minute breaks when I take the elevator back down to B1. So what I do isn’t really HIIT training at all, but it does get the heart and lungs going.)
Anyway, good luck with whatever program you end up following.
Ferme la bouche
Technically, that’s “Shut your mouth,” but if you’re looking for ways to say “Shut up” more naturally, try these:
Tais-toi!
Ta gueule! (gueule = an animals’ mouth)
La ferme!
Ferme-la! (“Shut it!”)
Écrase! (literally, “Break!”—but it means “Shaddap!”)
Have fun at the b-day party.
Thanks for the info, Kevin. Scary shit. I’m going to definitely engage in a more disciplined diet. Yeah, I will keep drinking beer, but those Zeros are sugar-free, low calorie/alcohol, and not likely the primary source of my problems–it’s my sweet tooth. Gonna have to give up the ice cream, snacks, and carby foods. We’ll see about the HIIT training…
Lots to think about.
Here’s Dr. Sten Ekberg talking about alcohol, for what it’s worth. The whole video is worth a watch.
Thanks for the link. I watched the alcohol portion of the video and will get to the rest. Everything in moderation is my view. And yes, my intake is more than the medically accepted recommended dosage. Still, my standard is more about maintaining a functional level of sobriety–I like a warm buzz, not being drunk. Beer drinking is a family tradition!