Fatty Liver rides again

*245*

  I am a bit sad about Robin Williams. He made me very happy when I was down. I always knew he felt the same way I did most of the time. That is what funny people are like. Happy on the outside. I hope that he has some peace now.

 I have been slowly purging and cleaning today. I HATE cleaning up after other people. I HATE being asked to do shit but never get anything in return. Ugh. I cleaned the ds bathroom because it was awful. I dont use it unless I have to pee really bad. That is the kid`s bathroom. They are 20, 21, and 25 but refuse to pull out the Ajax to scrub the tub. I wait till I cant take it anymore. I want my empty nest dammit!
 
  I went to the endo yesterday thinking it was my 3 month diabetes check. uh huh. It was a physical. He gave me a new insulin to see if that helps with the itch. He also set me up with a nutritionist to get my food life in order. I asked him to give me the full truth about my fatty liver. He said that I have n.a.s.h.
 He said that most people with it, never know it. There is a small subset of people that it could progress to cirrhosis of the liver.  He wouldn't say if he thinks I could be in that subset. He is a very straightforward person. He will fucking tell you. So I think he cant answer it but he didn't say I wouldn't be.  I have symptoms and pain. He said  no more booze, no OTC pain relief, and lose weight. That is what will help reverse it. I am going to rely on my instincts. If I dont change, I will have major liver issues.

 That being said, I am back to what I started last year. Same time of year, Same station. I will eat the way I was supposed to stick to all this time PLUS I will give up all carbonated beverages. Something about them weakens the flap that closes off the esophagus to the stomach. I have a six pack of orange that I will enjoy this weekend and that will be that.

 Same eating as before. Low carb meaning no pasta, rice, potatoes, or breads. Lots of veggies and fruits. Low fat meaning lean or no beef, lean or no pork. Much poultry and fish. Lots of fish! Tofu and limited eggs. Limited dairy but I will consume some but low fat. I will use vegan substitutes when I can.  Soy milk and Almond milk. Low carb grains, nuts, seeds, and powders. Salads up the wazoo. So if I have a chicken burger..it will be with no bread but a salad instead. You all know what I attempted before. I lost 30lbs and kept it off. 

 First goal is 210. I have 35 lbs to go. I could probably accomplish that buy Christmas. Back to the gym. Back to walking..bump heel or not. This is not a experiment this time. I have to do it forevah!

   I am basically talking to myself at this point. I know I have people that read this but nobody replies. So this whole thing is splayed out for me. If you are one of those hateful bitches...you know who you are...<---I know you hate when I do that...Fuck off! Keep your snide thoughts to yourself.
 I hardly think of you unless I post something like this one here. . Why not go make your husband happy for once, fuck him,  and stop being so bitter.

^^ That was menopause at it`s best.

Great cool weather out there. I am going to get off here and start some laundry.
 

Low carb for Life?

*250*

  I already had a long post and it deleted. Grrrr! Let`s try this again.

  I saw the Gastro yesterday. I have not seen him in awhile plus I have a feeling of food stuck in my chest area. We are going to do an upper endoscopy next week just to be safe plus it is time to have it done anyway. I am not worried. It is probably just my GERD acting up. But after talking with him, I realize I really need to stop fooling myself. I have to eat low carb/low fat and my body will feel better. My gums have been bothering me and I know it is because of my wild blood sugars. If you keep your sugars in normal range, you can halt periodontal disease. I have been eating wrong and I suffer for it. I started last night with dinner. Today`s breakfast was eggs with cheese. I have to wait till payday to buy more food that I can eat. I will not make a big production about all the foods that I lost. I will just do it because it will make my life last longer plus I will be happier.

  Kid #1 leaves in two days for her internship. Flying to her destination. She will be back in mid August. We will take this time to clean out her room, paint the walls, shampoo the carpet, and get it all refreshed. She will be coming back. But there will be new rules in place for them all. Rent will be paid and they will all help out in the house. I know I know. Sounding like a broken record but this record is getting pissy. Leave it up to my menopause maybe.  I am tired of the clutter, the mess, and I cannot do it all by myself. I will clean the kitchen today and tomorrow it is a mess. I never get to the deep down dirty cause I am too busy with maintaining. I ask for help. They say yeah yeah yeah but then it never gets done. We shall see how this summer pans out. I just has too. I am tired of it all.

  Rainy and humid. I wont do yard work today cause I am not in the mood to be a mosquito's meal. The kid has some last minute shopping to do before her trip so I will take her out to do that. I will leave a list of things that need to be done and see if Frick and Frack will do them. I am going to be positive.

Saint Patrick`s Day 2014

*245*

  Happy St Paddy`s Day to you all. I hope you have a luscious meal and don't get too drunk on Car Bombs and Guinness.  I have two flat cut corned beefs in the crock pot. I am partly using this recipe.
 I am using the glaze part where it is put in the oven. In the slow cooker, I have added 2 cups of apple juice, half cup of Bragg`s apple cider vinegar, 1 cup brown sugar, and a few squirts of Dijon mustard. I am also going to make Southern cabbage and roasted potatoes. It is in no way a traditional SPD dinner but it will be good as hell!

 Taxes are done! I used Turbo tax. I was able to do the HSA paperwork on there, it cost me only $25 and we owe $21! That is wayyyy less then what H&R Block told us. I procrastinated that shit for a couple weeks cause I knew I would have to finagle that HSA form (legally) and pay a large amount of money. I just pulled the band-aid and did it. I feel good getting that out of the way.

 I have really been trying to make my life for the better. I have been so complacent lately with the food. I have been walking but I need to step up my game. I added Myfitnesspal back on my phone so that I can be more accountable to myself with my choices that effect my body. I started it again yesterday. I had to adjust the amount of calories, carbs, and sugars. 1500 calories a day is good for me. It is not too much or too little. After I finish this, I am going to change to go on a mile walk around the neighborhood. My headphones died so I will have to listen to nature instead.
 
Keeping up with saying no. I had a couple slip ups but otherwise I am doing well. I actually got some help around the house...unsolicited. You could have knocked me over with a feather. One day at a time!

Have a great start to your week...think warm Spring thoughts!

Saturday of my disconent. Not really.

IMUSA Caldero

*249* <------According the Gastro`s scale on Friday. Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

  See! I told you that I would come back. I think I will post every Saturday or Sunday. Other days if anything juicy happens. I did not go to the vascular surgeon on Friday. They had to reschedule cause he had to perform surgery. So I will see him at the end of the month. I did see the Gastro. Ho Hum.

 He tells me that my pain is a couple of things. One area of pain has to do with my exercising. It is muscle strain and it will take my body time to adjust. The other pain he wants to have checked out. So next Tuesday I am having blood work and an ultrasound of my abdomen. He wants to see how my liver, pancreas, and gallbladder are. I KNOW that my liver is enlarged cause I can feel it and it hurts like before. But I am not really eating any fat. So it should not be in pain, but it is. So we will see on that one. I finally asked him what he thinks is going on with my liver. I said most fatty liver has no symptoms. He says Yes. I said that I have symptoms. He said this is why you have to eat healthy and lose weight so you can get off the insulin. He said I have the kind of fatty liver that could turn into non alcoholic cirrhosis. or liver cancer in the future. I got my answer, but I did not like it. I told him about not being able to tolerate any dairy, beef, or pork. I was thinking about being a vegetarian. He said that he is almost a veg. He occasionally eats fish. So that I can forgo the things that hurt me and eat everything else. I am going to work on that. There will be lapses but if I work hard at sticking to my plan with the deletion of beef, pork, and dairy..I should be good. I hope. I see him in a month and he wants me to lose 5lbs.

So, yeah. It seems I have fucketh my selfeth in the asseth because I ignored my diabetes for 13 years. Assholeth!

  I have been walking and going to the gym on a pretty regular basis. I really need to invest in some better sneakers. The ones that I have do not give me the kind of support that I need. I want to walk 2 miles a day (weather permitting) and I will hurt my feet again if I do it in the snazzy sneakers that I have. I tried on a pair of 18 jeans but still too small for me. At least that pair. But I have a pair of size 20s that I bought last month that are starting to fall off me. I have shirts that I would never wear cause they did not *cover* me the way that I felt comfy. Now they do.

  That picture up top is a IMUSA caldero. I bought one at Walmart two weeks ago and I am breaking it in today. It is a really big one, 36 cm! It cost $22. Because it is cast aluminum, you have to season it first. There are lots of videos online to show you how. I have chili cooking it but my ultimate goal is to use it to make jams. It is heavy so I will not have to worry about the jam burning on the bottom.
Now the chili has ground pork in it.  I wanted to use it instead of tossing it. I cooked it thoroughly, and then rinsed all the grease off. I am good to go. The chili has onions, garlic, yellow and orange bell pepper, white and red kidney beans, ground pork, roasted cherry tomatoes, two cans of crushed tomatoes, cumin, oregano, chili powder, cayenne, salt, pepper, and paprika. I probably missed the kitchen sink too but that is the gist of the meal. I am going to freeze some for a later meal. This is why I made a HUGE amount.

 It did not snow today. Just a bunch of rain. It is going to dip back into the 20s next week. Yuck on that! I have to get some oil for the tank. Hoping what I got will last till then. Spring is just around the corner, I keep telling myself!

Gonna go, chili is done.

Freezing Rain blues

*250*

 Ahh! December 1st. 2013 is swiftly coming to a close. We have freezing rain going on out there so I am staying my ass inside the house until it gets warmer. Dark and gloomy for this first day of the month.
 Today I am back on the food wagon. Last night we had pizza as a last hoorah! Big mistake. I feel like shit today. That is my penance for eating it. It took a few tries for me to realize that I cant eat like I used to anymore. NO MORE! Everything will be exactly the same as before. Low carb, low fat, low fat or dairy free, no grease, no junk, no take out, no fast food and all the other stuff that I said no to before. If it is processed, I aint eating it.
 The first week or two will be hard because I will be detoxing and since I am addicted to these things I will have some withdrawl. I did it before, I can do it again.

Computer is a piece of shit. The letter N can be typed by rocking it with my finger. grrr! And the computer is getting slower. We need a replacement. But I am playing chicken with the oldest. She wants me to purchase my Mac now so then she can just take it over and not spend a dime. I want her to buy her own computer first. Then I will buy mine. That way she has NO reason to use the one that I bought.
I can live with this fucking N until the end of my days. <------No I cant but she will cave before me..best believe.
  All these weather ups and downs have been fucking with my sinuses and head. Ugh. Feels like a tension headache but I am guessing it is barometric. My health has been okay. Nothing major. Last month it was 4 years since back surgery and quitting smoking and one year since my mastoidectomy. What a ride that was!
**Now the letter J is giving me troubles. I bought a can of air but it did not help.**

Okay...I need to motor. I have decorating to do and dinner to plan.

Multiple jagged little pills

*245*

 I decided that I needed to really look at the amount of pills I have to take a day. This does not represent all because I have a probiotic that I will start taking tomorrow AND my two insulin. Yeah, that is alot. I am posting this picture because I am an asshole. I ate whatever I wanted this weekend. I did so fully knowing what the outcome would be. I had to dose myself multiple times with insulin, I feel like crap, I am gassy, and I woke up with mega liver pain.
 ASSHOLE!
  The kid`s boyfriend came to stay for the weekend. I bought crap for them all to eat and then I proceeded to eat it. Bacon. Bread. Rice. Potato Chips. Ice fucking cream. WTF Heidi...WTF!
 Today is a new day and I am not going to do that anymore. I have to make a birthday cake for the kid. She turns 20 on Monday. I have not decided if I am going to eat any or not. Not after the debauched weekend of eating I have had. I feel like crap on the inside and I am an asshole for doing this to myself. I am trying to heal and I go and eat all that. I am done. Really. This has taught me a valuable lesson. Only takes two days of eating to bring me right back to where I was before.

Here is my dry assed tattoo. I have not put lotion on it yet today and the cap to the acorn is still healing. So it looks like shit. But I forgot to share before so here it is. My finger moustache touch up is healing well also. I am hoping when the scabs fall off that I have an even tat. If not, I am done with trying to fix it. It is what it is.
 We got a new to us washer and dryer this weekend. I am in the midst of washing clothes that have been sitting in limbo since the machine died. We would take all of our everyday clothes to the laundramat but I have two...no three large laundry bins full of wintery clothes that need to be cleaned. I also have leaves to rake and bag. We still have not painted. I think the whole teamwork thing is a crock of shit and I am going to be stuck doing this. I have to groom the dog too.
Ugh!
 So yeah...I am a bit stretched thin and I ate things that I shouldnt have. I am in pain and I deserve it. Healthy eating has commenced and I will stick with that shit!

Oh to sleep the sleep of the dead

*251*

  It is almost October. My most favorite month of the entire year. Yesterday I bought a couple pumpkins and some mums for the front porch. I think my days of decorating for trick or treaters is over but Fall decorating could take on a whole new thing for me. Kid number two turns 20 at the end of the month. That will be it. No more kids in my house. I know they were adults at 18 but something about not being a teenager anymore really seals it for me.

  I have been told that a couple people are patiently awaiting my jams. I have not done them yet. So this week I will get it done. I have to make a batch of strawberry and a batch of strawberry jalapeno. I have to start thinking towards the holidays too. Even though I am not eating it, I still like to make treats for others. I found these fancy looking cupcake tins called Tulips. I found out later that they are not very new but they are new to me. They were selling in the discount store. I bought a bunch for really cheap but I think I am going to go there later and grab a few more. $2.50 for a box of 12. I know that I could make them myself if I got it into me to do so. I eventually will but for now I like the colored ones that I found at the store. They are neat because they make your treats look fancy and they have the benefit of a corner to pick up your cupcake with so you do not mess up the frosting. Pretty handy.

  Except for one day where I punked out, I have been going to the gym on a regular basis. My friend A and I signed up about two weeks ago. I have been almost 3 times a week but shooting for four times. I want to do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Give myself Thursdays and the weekends to relax. The trainer at the gym said four days is a perfect amount of time. You want to give your body at least three days of rest. I am trying the dreaded elliptical. That bitch hurts! I can only do like three minutes on it but I am going to do it every single day. I do the treadmill, the stair climber and the elliptical. Then I choose a muscle group to work on. I am there a little bit over an hour now. I started to lose my way with the eating. I was eating things that I shouldnt. I ate some greasy stuff that made me really sick and I had some other foods that shot my blood sugars through the roof. I have learned my lessons. I know that I cannot be perfect and there will come times where I will want to eat some things but definitely staying away from fried foods, whole milk dairy, and wheat. Since I started this, I noticed that whenever I eat wheat, I get this phlegm thing going on afterward. I sometimes start gagging, I am guessing a wheat sensitivity.  All is a learning process. So far I have lost 24 pounds.

  I think I told you all about the at home sleep study that I did for sleep apnea...? I am not going to go back and look so I will assume I have. Insurance wouldnt pay for full on sleep study in the hospital so I had to have a monitor to bring home. I went last week to find out the results. Girlfriend needs a C-pap. Most of the time those home tests do not show the full fledged severity of your apneas. Mine did OR mine are so bad that even the home shit picked it up. Doctor said that I stopped breathing 48 times an hour. That is like almost every fucking minute! My oxygen saturation is supposed to be 100% to the upper 90s. Mine would dip down into the 80s on more than a couple of times. So they sent me across the hall at that very moment and set me up with a machine. I have been using it since Wednesday. I have not kept it on the whole night yet but the longest so far is five hours. It will take some time getting used to. I wake up a little bit freaked out and take that shit off. One night I talked myself out of it in my half sleep, left the mask on and went back to sleep. I have the full face mask because I am a mouth breather. I am trying to overcome the feeling of being trapped as in claustrophobic. I have read that in time, it does go away. The full face mask is best for me because I move around alot in my sleep, I am a mouth breather, and I like to sleep on my side. So I need to overcome that shit.
  Lots of news and little links to click on. I have been busy with the yard this week, that is why I have not been around more. Once winter settles in, I will post more. You all know how I do things.
Enjoy the rest of your lovely September 2013.

To can or not to can. That is the question of the day

Ball half gallon canning jar

*255*<-----in the losing inches phase now

  I love that my friend had taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes on your weight loss journey, you seem to not lose any weight even though you have cut calories and upped the movement. She told me that you lose inches instead, and then you will lose pounds. I am doing the inches thang now. I know this because all my clothes that I usually wear are either fitting looser OR are way too fucking big. I have started to dig into my stash of clothes that were on the snug side or I did not like this or that cause it made my gut show offy more. Today I am wearing a pair of purple cotton lounge type pants but they are for outside. They used to be on the snug side. I would never wear them. I am pleasantly floating in them now. Not too big, more like just right big. I am liking what I am doing. And I am loving all the *new* clothes I am venturing into.
I have to confess though that this week was a week of eating things not on the list. I ate 1/4 of a pancake with syrup. I had a burger with bun and small amount of fries, and yesterday I ate half a small bag of Lay`s. I chalk it up to my period was late and long and I have not eaten a chip in almost 2 months. It had to be done. My sugars were a teensy bit high. I am still eating well otherwise. I will be careful not to do THAT in excess.
 I always said I would never totally deny myself stuff. I have found healthy alternatives to many things but there is gonna be times when I just want it and I am not going to be denied. :)

  I found the canning jar of my dreams yesterday at Walmart. It is a half gallon jar. They come in a pack of six. I bought the last one in the store. And my pack had been opened (i guess they wanted to see how big it truly was). I did not care. I wanted them. I am hoping to find one more pack of six before the winter. I have no idea what I will do with them but I had to own them. They are usually used for people that can juices. I was thinking big jars of tomato sauce or salsa. We shall see.
 It is cooler this weekend. I am thinking maybe I will do my jams tomorrow (Sunday). I want to do regular strawberry. Then buy some more strawberries now while they are still cheaper and the next weekend make strawberry jalapeno. I have enough jars to make a shit load. I am not going to short myself this year. I want to make enough of the strawberry so that the family has enough for the winter. Then I will have extras for giving to friends. 
 So that is the plan, I think. I am going to do some yard work today. Fish for dinner. Canning tomorrow and then the man and I are going to go through our clothes to put away for winter, and get rid of anything we do not want. Full schedule if you ask me.
Oh and he gets to watch football. Lovely lovely football.

I can see me cleaning out our room on my own.

First day back

*255*

  Today was my first time back at the gym in way over a year. The place has expanded, upgraded and I like it. They have new machines, new free trainers and I can see myself being able to do this at least 4 times a week. I went with my friend, A. She signed up too because she realizes that she needs to get healthy again. It is going to be a long road for both of us but we can do it. I may have a bit of a leg up on her on it but that doesn't mean she couldn't catch up in the coming months. I will be her cheerleader and make sure she does not over do it but also that she does not slack off either.
 I plan on going Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. and maybe Friday but either weekend day. So I might do five days.  We shall see. But this is what I want to work up to. I am not going to kill myself just yet.
 Today I am eating something new. I bought Egg Beaters egg whites. My lunch is a country scramble with onions, yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes, a tablespoon of pesto, and daiya cheese.  It actually tastes pretty good. I have a side dish of cucumber, tomato, and onion salad. Trying to round out the meal.
I need to go. I have some food to eat, paperwork to fill out, and laundry to do.
Have a nice week!

Twenty Pounds Down..Ba-Bye

*255*

 This bitch lost 20 lbs! WooHoo!

I do not step on the scale every day. That would be stupid. Your weight fluctuates with hormones and such. It would drive a person insane if today you weighed 179 and tomorrow 174 and later on that day 181. You have to spread them out during the week.  But for some reason this morning, I was compelled...to...look.
 255.
Wait. What?
Get off the scale. Get on the scale.
 255.
 Get off the scale. Move the scale to another location. Get on the scale. 
255.

Holy shit.
  Five pounds away from 250 and then say good by to the 50s and hello to the 40s. Friday I go to the local gym with my bestie and we are both going to re-join. She wants me to walk with her in the mornings. Then I can go back later in the day to get a more intensive work out. Not planning on over doing it at all. I am going to go slow. I might be really slow in the beginning just like my friend but eventually I will ramp it up to more extensive exercises to build muscle. Especially in the gut.

Anyway, I thought I would share. Tonight`s dinner is going to be two fillets of oregano and garlic crusted Tilapia cooked under the broiler with some rainbow salad and sugar free jello.
Yummy!

Hot steamy days and Cool Autumn nights

*259* <---that is right. Not a typo!

    A warm September Sunday brewing. Not sweating but it could happen.  I do not care because the air conditioner is going out of the window. I want fresh are to blow through until I have to close up shop for the winter. We are getting a new to us couch to replace the disgusting dog love seat. Ruby killed it through her puppyhood and now it is a sad stinking mess. It is going out on the back patio with the AC. We will be doing a dump run probably sometime in October. Someone we know has to leave their apartment because they cannot afford it so they are giving us their couch. It is not spectacular but it is good enough until we have the floor done and replace it. If it has good springs in it, we will keep it for the basement man cave.
  I am in a good mood today. I am going to re-arrange the living room to accommodate the new couch. I have plans on Friday to buy the paint for said living room with all the crap you need to paint. Need to get it done. Floors in October hopefully. The living room is going to be a slate colored grey and the kitchen and dining room are going to be like a peacock blue. Something really out there. I like bold colors with white trim.
   The journey of health is doing well. I have lost a total of 15 lbs in a month. I had a couple slip ups. I learned my lesson though. I have purified my gastrointestinals to the point that if I eat certain things, I will be spending the better half of the day on the crapper. Blue cheese dressing is one of those things. Basically I have deemed all commercial salad dressings off limits to me. I will stick with my red wine vinegar and sometimes a small bit of olive oil. I had a pumpkin iced coffee and asked for one pump of the syrup, no sweetener, and two creams. There was way more than one pump. I had to take a shot of insulin when I came home. I still have not eaten any junk food or take out food at all. I have tested the waters (and failed) with some things that would be deemed ok with me. I tried those small corn tortillas to have tacos with..FAIL. I tried a low carb pita thing made especially for low carb eaters...FAIL. I tried brown rice...you guessed it. I am thinking I will have to wait until I have lost a significant amount of weight before I can introduce low carb options when it comes to rice, bread, and pasta. Maybe after I lose 100lbs.
  I will have the cash next week to buy sneakers and sign up for the gym. Once I introduce regular exercise into the mix, the pounds will drop the fuck off. 15 lbs in a  month with no real exercise but just moving around more. Imagine what that will be with an hour of formal exercise a day at the gym plus the stuff I do around here.
It will be so amazing..I hope.

  I need to wrap this up. I have some cleaning to do before the new couch arrives. You have a great Sunday!
 

Doing it the Old Fashioned Way

*261*

   I had a long discussion with Hubs about two weeks ago about weight loss surgery (wls) and losing weight. My decision is that I am putting the surgery journey on hold, for now. I am giving myself until January 1, 2014 to lose at least 50 lbs. If I can do that or come really close to that, I will not have the surgery. I will continue on the path of healthy living as I am doing. If I fail by that date, then I will go to a wls seminar and start the ball rolling for the surgery. I do not want to rush into something. So far, I am doing pretty damn good. The pain in my side has gotten better. I am eating so healthy it is scary to me. I have given up so much this past month and I am still here. I did not die or wither away into a pool of whining tears. Okay, I did whine quite a bit but it is getting better. :)

    I feel the surgery is a great tool for those that cannot lose weight on their own. I have many friends that have had successful surgeries, lost weight, and kept the majority of the weight off. I also know there are people out there that have the surgery, go thru all that pain and change to only go right back to eating badly and not exercising. Too many people have gained the weight back. And you only get one stomach surgery! They cannot go back in and tighten it back up because you love pretzels so fucking much. With that being said, I am going to put a hold on the wls. I did not go to the seminar.

   I do not think I am willing to give up the future of eating a steak if I want it on my birthday. (or any foods for that matter).  I thought I did, but I realized that I would be lying to myself. I have to do it this way. I put the pounds on! I can take them off! I have given up steak and roasts (both pork and beef), I have given up chicken skin. Eventually I will give up ground beef because I eat so very little of it now. I used to eat beef at least 3 times a week. It is now down to once every two weeks. I have been using ground pork. It is lean, cheap, and tasty. Chicken and Fish are my go too proteins. I also eat eggs but sparingly. I have realized that I truly have to give up all dairy. I still have some low fat cottage cheese and yogurt in the fridge. I will finish those this week.  I am going to have to use vegan versions to satisfy me when i am in the mood. I found some noodles at the Asian market that have a low carb load so on occasion I can have that. I also have some brown rice to try. I want to add these back into my diet but only in small amounts. Like when I make soups. I cannot have potato so having some of those noodles in a seafood soup with make me happy.

 Some friends have told me that I should just become a Vegan. I am pretty close to it except for my love of the chicken egg. Too much change going on right now. I am willing to MAYBE become a vegetarian but that is in the future. Not yet.  I am posting a second post today because I realized that I never told you about my decision. You were probably wondering why I had not mentioned what happened at the seminar and why I was not talking about it. This is why.
I am feeling healthier, I am stronger then I was before when I started this and I just feel different. And after eating that ONE PIECE OF FRIED SQUID that gave me the shits from hell, I know that I am doing the right thing.

End of Summer 2013

*261*

  Today is the last day of August and Labor day weekend. The garden is starting to wind down a bit early this year or maybe I am just thinking that. I have really neglected the community beds this year. The growing season took so long to get started that I probably have rotting tomatoes on the vine, which is a crime in my eyes. I am going to go there today and pick what I can. Maybe next weekend when I feel up to it, I will just clean out the whole bed, dig up my strawberry plants and call it. I am not going to do the beds anymore. I just do not have it in me to keep going there. I will have beds made here at the house.
 I went to the GP yesterday. He says that I do not have high blood pressure (yay!) and I told him about my new way of eating. On his scale yesterday it said I have lost 10 lbs since last month. He tells me to keep doing what I am doing. He said that 1400 calories is plenty. I wonder if I should eat less but I do not want to limit myself since I am already so limited in my food choices as it is. I am doing good. I had a couple missteps that I am okay with. Except for yesterday. Oy. I can eat at the Chinese buffet here because at dinner they serve seafood and really good seafood. Like blue crab legs, alaskan crab legs, whole clams, crawfish, etc. I am in heaven and it only costs me about $12. I made the mistake of eating ONE fried squid circle. I love squid. Apparently, fried squid does not like me. I will just say that I spent alot of time in the bathroom that evening. Hubs and I both said that fried food is a wrap for me and my gut.
 Right now I have been doing an easy lap around the neighborhood and we have been doing housecleaning for the prep of painting soon. So that is exercise in itself. I am going to wait to sign up for the gym until I can sign up the family too. They want to come back into the exercise fold. I hope they do utilize it this time as well as I.  I am having another itchy day today. Not in the best of moods. I need to talk directly to my gastro to find out if this is truly related to my liver or not. His nurse practitioner told me it was not. Then I will have to assume that is hormonal and I will be taking benadryl for a very long time.
 Last but not least, I think I have to now give up coffee. I have an aversion to it. I want it so badly but I get one or two sips in and I just do not want it. At first I thought it was because of the cream and that fat it contains and how that effects my liver. I have some Coconut milk coffee creamer that seems to be doing the trick. It is totally dairy free. But we will see................ I have not demolished my cup of coffee so this could mean that the coffee is not good for me either.

Damn! Damn! Damn!