Body

"To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear."

... Buddha

A Step In The Right Direction

Last week, for the very first time in my life, I spoke with a Nutritionist regarding my (horrible) eating habits and my (record-high) weight. The service is/was free (through GMHC) and the appointment actually exceeded my expectations. The Nutritionist I spoke to was knowledgeable, empathetic and seemed eager to help me change my ways.

Ms. Nutrition gave me three goals to work on until I see her again in 3 weeks.

1. Only one diet soda per day. I'm supposed to drink water/seltzer instead.

2. Fast Food only once a week (as opposed to my normal 3-5/week). Just when the McRib came back! Damn! Damn! Damn!

3. Exercise at least 3 times per week.

As time goes by, she and I will add more goals to the mix. The idea is for me to slowly modify my behavior as opposed to going on a specific diet and changing everything at once.

As a matter of fact, right now I'm eating a bowl of homemade vegetable soup - which I whipped up this weekend. So far I'm off to a decent start.

I'm MOST DEFINITELY An Anti-Dentite

AFTER OVER SIX MONTHS OF WAITING, I FIND OUT CALLEN-LORDE DENTAL CLINIC CAN ACTUALLY ONLY CLEAN MY FRIGGIN TEETH - NOT PULL THEM. It would have been so nice if they told me this SIX FRIGGIN MONTHS AGO. In the meantime, I'm sure Callen Lorde is enjoying the fees (which they billed to NY state) for the cleanings I've received.

Callen Lorde DID give me a referral to 3 different clinics - NONE of which, it turns out, can help me with oral surgery  Either these clinics don't take my state-run insurance, or they are no longer accepting patients. GOD BLESS AMERICA.

What a racket. Stay tuned for my Yelp review...

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Beef - It's What's For Dinner

"The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook."

... Julia Child

Ryan H. 

“Being American is to eat a lot of beef steak, and boy, we've got a lot more beef steak than any other country, and that's why you ought to be glad you're an American. And people have started looking at these big hunks of bloody meat on their plates, you know, and wondering what on earth they think they're doing.” ... Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

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My Liver Is Quite Photogenic

Doctor said that the sonogram pics showed my liver wasn't enlarged or weird - in fact, it looked quite adorable. However, my Liver Function Test numbers pretty much stayed the same (a little high) - so my Doc thinks I'm in the early stages of Fatty Liver Disease. But, like everything else, if I lose weight this probably won't be an issue since FLD is reversible.

Also, my blood pressure is back to being "perfect" (suck it, skinny biatches!!). Next week I'll find out the results of cholesterol/blood sugar tests.

Mandatory "Good Day"

Today will definitely be a "Good Day", due to the fact that I'm not allowed to eat. My doctor has scheduled blood work for later - so I'm gonna be HONGRAY all day. Let's pray to the Baby Jeebus that I don't get crazy and eat everything in sight after my appointment.

BTW - I did NOT succumb to the siren song of beer-battered onion rings yesterday {{patting myself on the back}}

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Let's All Make Today ...

... a GOOD DAY.




Original Image Source: TDB


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Today's Breakfast

Cantaloupe and Watermelon

Like a few of you, I got a "Bad Day" (oooh, it was B-A-D) out of my system yesterday - but today will be a "Good Day", I promise you.

BTW - here's a little trick I did with my breakfast cantaloupe and watermelon. Last night, while cutting up my melon for this morning, I noticed that the cantaloupe was a tad past its peak ripeness. I like my melon to be REALLY sweet - and the cantaloupe was just a little off. But the watermelon was nice and sweet - so I mixed the two together and let them sit in the fridge overnight. Et voila! The cantaloupe took on some of the sweetness of the watermelon - thus providing me with a fabulous breakfast.

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Good Days Begin Tomorrow!

Don't forget - the Good Days Not-So-Fluffy Bunny Project ("GDNSFBP"?? ... someone needs to work on a nickname/acronym) begins tomorrow! Let's ALL have a "Good Day" tomorrow and start the week off right.

I'll be providing updates and motivation throughout the week. All YOU need to do is keep track of your Good Days and Bad Days - which will be posted the following Monday.

Wishing us many "Good Days" ahead...

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"Good Days" Healthier Living Project

Two days ago a stranger on the subway threw me a shady comment regarding my weight. This made me want to take action and reclaim my health - and many of you said you'd like to join me. So I've been trying to think of a simple way for us help each other eat better and live healthier - while accommodating different people with different goals and different lifestyles.

That same day, in a discussion with Froggy, we talked about "Good Days" and "Bad Days". It doesn't take Weight Watchers, Jennie Craig or even counting calories to know if you've had a "Good" health day or not. For some of us, a Good Day is simply not pigging out - for others, a Good Day is sticking to your Weight Watchers points. And for others it's whether or not you went to the gym that day.

So here's my idea... the BunnyNation "Good Days" Healthier Living Project. The premise is simple - to have more Good Days than Bad Days.

Here's what I propose:

• At the end of each day you must HONESTLY asses if you've had a Good Day or a Bad Day - based on your own unique criteria. Participants should keep track of this because ...
• Every Monday participants will email me their Good Days/Bad Days tally for the previous week. For instance, if you had 4 good days last week you would get a 4 out of 7 (since there are 7 days in a week, duh).
• On Tuesdays I'll post a weekly Good Days Project Report and list everyone's results. Those with the most Good Days will be at the top of the list - and those with the fewest at the bottom.
• In addition to Good Days/Bad Days, I'll list actual weight loss/gain if you send it in your email.
• Participants can then provide further updates, provide tips, or simply elaborate on their Good Days/Bad Days in the comments section of the weekly Good Days Project Report post.

Additonal thoughts:

• I think a specific time frame would work well, instead of just an open-ended project. I propose that we start on Monday and continue through the summer. The day after Labor Day would be the final Weekly Report.
• I like the idea of listing everyone's Good Days progress in a post rather than simply sharing in the comments. Being at the top of the list should be a motivating factor - after all, a couple thousand DustBunnies (and others) will see it. Although ...
• We must keep in mind that we're comparing apples and oranges in most cases. Like I said, my Good Days would probably be OHMYGODNoooooo Days for most people. So this won't be a competition - since we're only competing with ourselves. The Good Days/Bad Days standard is simply a way for us to communicate our progress with each other.

So ... what do you think???

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BODY of Evidence

"The body can feed the body only."

 

... Henry David Thoreau

Brandon 

Spencer 

"Man may have his opinion as to the relative importance of feeding his body and nourishing his soul, but he is allowed by Nature to have no opinion whatever as to the need for feeding the body before the soul can think of anything but the body's hunger." 

... George Bernard Shaw

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They Don't Call It DIEt Soda For Nothing

Oh crap. I guess the gallons of Diet Dr. Pepper I drink each day might not be such a great thing. A new study shows that daily diet soda drinkers have a much greater risk of stroke and heart attack. From MSNBC:

The study, which followed more than 2,500 New Yorkers for nine or more years, found that people who drank diet soda every day had a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events, including stroke and heart attack, than those who completely eschewed the diet drinks, according to researchers who presented their results today at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles.

GREAT.

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Are You Gonna Eat That? ...

Healthwise, things are going great for me and my viral load is now at "undetectable" levels. The lab STILL hasn't sent over my CD4/T-Cell counts - but they are expected to have improved exponentially from the 34 lonely T-Cells I had while in the hospital just 3 months ago (for background on this - go HERE).

Yet with all this good health, that old demon - my weight - has reared its ugly head again. I've been gaining these past few weeks, mainly because I seem to be hungry ALL the time. And soup and vegetables and salads just don't seem to cut it.

Furthermore, this hunger seems different than before. In the past I would eat when I was bored or depressed or happy or whatever. Now, I'm simply HONGRAY. I don't know if I'm just imagining it, but I don't ever remember having an appetite like this. And I've ALWAYS been a hungry little biatch.

I must do something soon, or I'll be back to wearing my REALLY fat clothes before too long.

Unbelievable

I went to fill my anti-depressant prescription today (I ran out of free samples), and a month's supply of Pristiq costs almost $140.00 !!! That's over $4.50 per PILL!! It's a brand new drug, so there is no generic version yet - and unfortunately my health insurance doesn't cover prescriptions at all.

I'm going to see my doctor next week about a couple of issues (apparently I am diabetic - FUN!), and we're definitely going to talk about an alternative to Pristiq - $140/month is unsustainable within my current budget.

Monday Weigh-In

All in all, it was a pretty good week for me – I achieved my goal and lost two pounds!

I walked home (2 ½ miles) after work 4 days this week – but that was the extent of my exercise. This weekend I was not nearly as energetic or motivated as I was last weekend: no exercise and not much accomplished on my “To Do” list. However, I DID fight with a closeted lesbian “Christian” Teabagger over at Joy’s BLOG regarding healthcare. Miss Thang even recruited a couple more Trolls to comment about my “anger management issues”. Yeah, I get angry … at "Christians" who think helping people is a bad thing…

I also received some bad news: because of financial restraints I couldn’t really afford a vacation this year. However, I WAS looking forward to Gay Camping with the Bears again at the end of the summer. Unfortunately I found out last night that our host at Camp won’t be available that weekend, so it looks like no vacation for me. I was REALLY looking forward to getting out of the city, but oh well … :(

Anywhore, I AM happy that I had a decent week health-wise.

What Is Your "Walk Score"?

I saw a post about this on DailyKos. Go to WalkScore.Com and enter your address - it will give you a score from 0 to 100. Living in a neighborhood with a high Walk Score is good for your health and good for the environment.

President Bush's ranch in Crawford, TX gets a big fat 0. Wanna know what MY address gets? A 98 out of 100, bitches!! So why in the HELL am I big as a house?!?

Answer: "FREE DELIVERY".

What is YOUR score?

I Am Sick As A DOG today...

I pray my roommate returns soon from the drugstore with a bag of goodies. MAKE THIS GO AWAY!!