April 2014 - Health

When I looked at my photos for April 2014, I only had 12 pictures I took for the entire month.  Not surprising considering that I found April to be the worst month of 2014.

I was only one week into April before my neck "snapped" in the middle of night while I was sleeping. It was two days later before it snapped again in the middle of the night, the exact same time.  I had lots of pain and working was extremely difficult considering it was the busiest month of the year for me.  I worked lots of overtime (I'm salaried), worked 13 or 14 days in a row (I can't remember which anymore) and spent my entire Easter day at work.  It was miserable.  All the while having this neck issue.

After it not getting better on it's own, I ended up going to the chiropractor for help and it wasn't helping much.  It was until after an MRI did it reveal that I had two bulging discs in my neck.  It's been a long recovery, including regular adjustments, a chiropractic ultrasound, acupuncture and ultimately, traction.  The traction has helped a lot and I just received my home traction kit last week so I don't have to go to the chiropractor as often.

In addition to my neck issues, it was just days before then that I had to go overnight to a sleep clinic for a sleep study.  You see, I have severe sleep apnea.  After the results of the sleep study, I found out I stopped breathing on average, 62 times an hour.  AN HOUR. More than once a minute.  I haven't told anyone besides immediate family and super close friends until now because it's embarrassing for me.  The back of my throat is narrow so airflow is compromised.  Being overweight only contributes to the problem.  It's something I've dealt with for years and I finally decided to do something about it as my (and M's) long-time suspicions were confirmed.  I now use a CPAP machine at night, very sexy, I know. But, if I don't, I can die in my sleep, even though I truly hate putting it on every night. The machine is probably not what you think it would look like.  It's relatively small (11" x 7 ") and makes no sound during the night.  The best part is, I only apnea on average, less than 2 times per hour now. Anything under 5 times per hour is considered normal.    

Here's what a suicide bomber sleep study patient looks like.  The glue from all the sensors was loads of fun trying to get out of my hair as they were all over my head as well. 

Cat Scratch Fever

I've never had a sick cat.  Fortunately, Fuzzer doesn't mind the car and you don't even need a carrier for him.  We put him on his leash and headed to the animal hospital that is just down the street from us on Saturday, November 10th.  They didn't do much for him other than quick check him out and assume he has a virus.  They said to give him L-Lysine which is an amino acid essential to humans.  They had cat treats you could buy there that included it so I bought some.  I said to the vet, "They're not like $20 are they?"  She said no, but she wasn't sure of the cost.  After getting rung up at the counter for the visit and the treats, I realized the cat treats weren't $20 but only $19.  Great.  They did work for Fuzzer though.  The virus he had is very contagious so Powder also got sick a few days later.  Powder wouldn't eat the treats so I had to buy the pill form at the store and the crush it up with a mortar and pestle and put it in his food.  My cats are all healthy and back to normal now but wow, I really thought each of them was on their deathbed for awhile. 

Healthy Surprise

I had the opportunity to review a Healthy Surprise box a couple of weeks ago.  What is Healthy Surprise?  It's a monthly subscription service that delivers healthy snack to your door that are all natural, vegan and gluten free.  Right up my alley!

I was so excited when I received my package in the mail.  I opened it up and here's what I saw:

There are several different size boxes you can subscribed to. Healthy Surprise sent me the Healthy box, which normally costs $66 a month with free shipping.  I think this is a great sized box for a couple of people and will last awhile.  The website says it's for 2-6 people.  They also have a smaller box called the Starter box which is $33 plus shipping.  They also have a Large and Super box too.

So what did I get in my box?  It was so fun to pull out so many snacks from the box, most of which I had never heard of before.  Here's the breakdown of snacks:

• Bare Fruit Granny Smith Apple Chips
• Skinny Crisps Cinnamon Crisps
• Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax
• 2 bags of Gone Nuts! Spinach Pesto nuts
• 2 bags of Gone Nuts! Lemon Thai Curry nuts
• 2 bags of Home Free Vanilla Cookies
• Two Moms in the Raw Cranberry Nut Bar
• Happy Hemp seeds
• Hail Mary Pecans- Orange Rosemary
• Oskri Coconut Bar- Cherry

So what did I like?  

I really liked the Two Moms in the Raw Cranberry Nut bar, Hail Mary Pecans-Orange Rosemary and the Oskri Coconut Bar-Cherry.  I thought all of these were really great tasting.

I also liked the Home Free Vanilla Cookies.  They taste very similar to Nilla Wafers.  The Skinny Crisps are also good but a little too dry for me.  

Some of the goodies are just ok to me.  The Bare Fruit Granny Smith Apple Chips are fun to snack on but didn't have too much flavor to me.  The Gone Nuts! Spinach Pesto nuts are very pesto-y.  I love pesto but you can only eat a few of these nuts at a time.  The Gone Nuts! Lemon Thai Curry nuts are much better to me.  I like the added lemon but I wish it was Thai Curry Lemon instead of Lemon Thai Curry.  

I haven't tried the Happy Hemp seeds yet.  I just happened to buy a bag of hemp seeds a week before the box came so I'll probably save the bag I have for now.

I was most excited about the Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax but I didn't like them.  Why?  Because there's too much of a taste of fennel seed.  I hate fennel seed.  I did give them to M to enjoy though and he seemed to like them.  If you like pizza and fennel seed, you'll really like these. 

Being that I hadn't heard of many of these brands before, I decided to see if I could find them at Whole Foods.  I found a few of the brands I was able to sample but not necessarily the exact same products.  I found the Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax, Gone Nuts! (not in the flavors I received) and Two Moms in the Raw. (not the product I received)  These snacks were expensive in the store so I can see where the $66 a month for this size box is justified.  Hey, it costs a little more to eat healthy!  

Would I subscribe to this monthly service?  Absolutely!...if I had the income to do so.  Right now I'm on a tight budget so it's not in my budget to do so.  I will definitely consider it in the future though.  If you do not have access to a high quality grocery store such as Whole Foods in your area, you're interested in eating healthy, all natural, vegan and gluten free snacks and you have a little extra cash to put towards your monthly food bill, this service is for you.

What I can offer you today is a discount!  Healthy Surprise is offering my readers the opportunity to try one of their boxes for $5 off the normal price.  Just enter the code, JANUARYBABY at checkout to reflect the discount.  Enjoy! 

My Name is Dana, and I am a...

My name is Dana, and I am a vampire virgin vagabond vegan.

Vegan:
A strict vegetarian; one who eats plant products only and no animal or dairy products at all

Actually, I don't like to call myself a vegan.  I don't mind referring to food as vegan but when it comes to describing my eating patterns, I prefer to say I eat a plant-based diet.  Another reason I don't like using the word vegan for me is because I don't always eat vegan. I've been reluctant to talk about my eating habits with the masses since it's somewhat of a personal topic/experience as well as people get defensive (on both sides of the conversation) when talking about eating vegan. I'm not about to change you or influence you.

Since September 2010, I've been eating vegan or a plant-based diet at least 90% of the time.  It started off as just one day where after having a conversation with someone, I realized that I had eaten vegan through the morning and I wondered if I could do it all the way through the day.  I did with ease.  I did it again for the next two days.  And from then on, I pretty much started eating vegan on a consistent basis.  I think it would be into late October before I would have my first taste of cheese again and it was...different.  Very milky.  And considering I don't like cow's milk, it didn't taste all that great despite having intense cravings for cheese.


Because it's too hard to have to manipulate people's eating towards my way of eating, I "cheat" every so often.  Most times I go days, even weeks without cheating and then some days I'll cheat in a row.  I try and make good decisions when I go out with my grandpa for dinner every couple of weeks but most times I cheat while I'm with him.  I also cheat when I have a family event or occasion.  I still try to do my best and there are definitely some things I'll probably stay away from forever.  I eat red meat on average twice a month and I almost never eat chicken or turkey and occasionally, fish. 


I've done a ton of research on veganism and the lifestyle and it's one that I like.  I originally started doing it for health reasons, not that I had any issues going on, other than slightly elevated blood pressure.  I just knew that since it's only animal products that have cholesterol, eating a plant-based diet would most likely reduce my cholesterol and hopefully my triglycerides.  As a lot of you know, I've always had a soft spot for animals as well and I've learned more about the suffering of animals through my research as well.


I have been introduced to a whole new world of foods that I had ever heard of, let alone actually eating them.  Tempeh, seitan, almond milk, kale, green smoothies and quinoa have become some of my new favorites. I'm still discovering and trying new foods, as well as discovering that Oreos are vegan, which isn't a good thing for me to know.  That leads me to my new point...eating vegan doesn't have to mean eating healthy.  There are junk food vegans.  Potato chips are vegan.  I am not a junk food vegan but I have my moments like everyone else.  I'm constantly evolving while eating a plant-based diet.  One of my latest food learning experiences is eating raw.  I might post about that sometime in the future. 


While being introduced to new foods, that also means being introduced to a better and clean way of eating and knowing what to avoid.  For me, that means trying to eat whole foods or foods that are minimally processed.  It also means trying to eat organic as much as I can, which is often and also watching out for GMO's, or genetically modified organisms.  Almost all the soybean and corn crops in the United States are genetically modified so if you are going to eat anything with either of those products in it, (which are ingredients in a ton of our foods) buy organic. 


I went to the doctor at the end of May and had my blood taken.  So how do my plant-based diet numbers look compared to my old eating habit numbers?

I didn't get any blood taken in 2011 so my most recent numbers are from May 2010.

Blood Pressure
2010: highest reading- 146/90
2012: lowest reading- 118/60-- Better than average of 120/80

Triglycerides
2006: highest reading- 256, after 3 months of dietary changes- 197
2010: 165
2012: 148-- Normal is anything under 150

Vitamin B12
I had never had my vitamin B12 levels measured before but because this is a vitamin that vegans do not get in their food, I had it measured.  Anywhere from 211-946 is normal.  I am at 215.

Vitamin D
I also had never had my vitamin D levels measured and good thing I did.  I have a severe deficiency...like the most severe my doctor has ever seen.  Anything 30-100 is normal and under 12 is severe deficiency.  I am 8.6.  I'm guessing this is something I've been deficient in for quite some time.  I never drank cow's milk growing up and I just didn't gravitate towards foods with calcium in it.  In order to absorb calcium, you need to have vitamin D.  I also avoid the sun a lot. I'm sure my bones look like swiss cheese on the inside.  Since being diagnosed, I've been taking 4000 IU's of vitamin D3 a day.  I can tell with 5 weeks of supplements, my body feels better and my bones don't ache (especially the lower back) as much.  And because of that, it makes me wonder if I have/had this disease.

Cholesterol
Finally, my cholesterol numbers!  I was so excited to learn what my cholesterol would be after hardly taking in any dietary cholesterol.  (Your liver still makes cholesterol within your body.)


2006: highest reading- 207
2007: 177
2010: 184
2012: 153- anything under 200 is considered normal


My cholesterol lowered 31 points in 9 months!  I found that to be very exciting, considering it was already in the normal range.  It's not only about the total cholesterol number though.  My HDL (good) cholesterol is 45.  That's the number that you want to be high.  Anything greater than 39 is good.  My LDL (bad) cholesterol is 78.  That's the number you want to be low.  Anything under 100 is optimal. 


Overall, I feel decent about my numbers and am confident I can get the vitamin D and B12 levels increased over the next year.  


Now that I've outed myself and my eating lifestyle, I'm sure you'll see more posts on nutrition and the foods I eat along with some recipes.   

Mmmmm....

But, but, but...it's so good!

Eco-Dinner

Last Thursday, I met my friend Tanya for dinner in Minneapolis at a place called Ecopolitan.  I've wanted to try this place for awhile and Tanya was my guinea pig with me.  I've been eating quite a healthy lifestyle since September 2011 and this place fits into my lifestyle.  Everything at Ecopolitan is raw, organic, vegan and gluten free. Sound kind of scary?  I know, even a tiny bit for me too but once I got there, I really liked the atmosphere. It's a tiny little place with maybe room for 20 people or so in a building that also houses other types of health services, such as an oxygen bar and a colon hydrotherapy.

I wanted to start out with a smoothie as they have lots to choose from but decided not to since sometimes smoothies can be filling.

We instead started out with the nacho cheese and chips, which consisted of "cheese" made from cashews and nutritional yeast mostly, and chips that looked like dehydrated flax crackers.  I was surprised at how spicy the cheese was but it was good.

For our entree, we both ordered the same thing, the Pesto Pasta which consisted of pesto sauce on zucchini noodles, with tomato, bell pepper, marinated mushrooms and walnuts on top of cherry vinaigrette dressed spinach.  It was fabulous!

We both skipped on desserts because we were full but I'd love to go back and try the cardamom and orange cookie.  I wish I would have brought one home!  I'll definitely be back and so will Tanya so most likely, you'll see us again back there at some time in the future.

As for Tanya and me, we talked our heads off and still always have plenty more to talk about.  I've seen here more this year than I have in some other years combined and I'm hoping we both can continue with this trend since we're both busy individuals but we must make time for our friends!

I'm Sick

I caught M's cold.  I'm on day 3 and I'm miserable. I'm so sick that my hair hurts.  Have you ever had that?  I started to get it on Thursday while at work and I decided it was best to take Friday off so yesterday I unfortunately woke up in the 6 am hour, got up and headed to the couch where I watched some news, took some pills and drank a smoothie, finished a book, slept for less than an hour, ate some garlic rice noodle soup, pita chips and hummus and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's before M got home from work.  I had never seen the movie before and it was not what I had expected.  I had never seen an Audrey Hepburn movie before.  She was beautiful in the movie and her costar George Peppard was very handsome and I was surprised to learn that he is the same guy who was "Hannibal" in the A-Team series from the '80's.  Weird.  She died in 1993 and he died in 1994, both in their early 60's, from cancer and pneumonia, respectively.  Tell me, have you seen this movie?  

Back to being sick. I went to sleep for a couple of hours, had another smoothie (thank you Blendtec) and then stayed up with M until 1 am, talking, listening to music and finally, reading a magazine.  Hoping to turn the proverbial corner tomorrow!

Breakfast of Champions Sickies