Update to diet

I had a doctor's appointment today to go over my blood work. The news was meh, meh to say the least.

My HDL (the good stuff) was in a normal range. However my LDL (bad stuff) was really high! Now high cholesterol runs in both sides of my family, but still for being 27 I should not be having that high of cholesterol!

That scared me. I don't need a heart attack by age 30. So right now, I don't need meds because I'm young enough. However I am supposed to take Benefiber once a day and a prescription fiber powder that will also help with the cholesterol twice a day. The problem? That prescription is $47! Yikes! I don't have that kind of money. I'm going to ask the doctor if I can just try diet, exercise and a butt load of Benefiber for a few months and see if that works.

Hopefully he will say ok, otherwise I need to come up with $47 a month, which if that's the case I'll do it somehow. I guess $47 a month until my weight is down and I don't need it is a lot cheaper than heart surgery in the long run.

So here we go, I need a new low cholesterol/high fiber diet. I'm going to continue following Weight Watchers points because that is definitely high in fiber. I am also going to need 2-3 dairy servings a day (calcium was low as well).

I will NOT eat fast food, I rarely do but I'm cutting myself off completely.
I will NOT eat the food at the restaurant I work at. If absolutely necessary I will eat the light enchiladas we offer, however ideally I will be bringing in my own lunch and snacks.
I will eat fruits and veggies.

It's weird because I'm not a big meat eater, but maybe my body just creates more cholesterol than I need. If in three months my levels haven't dropped enough then I guess I need to get myself on some medication.

So that is that. Way to end 2010! I'm definitely glad I set up that doctor's appointment otherwise who knows how long this would have gone on! Cheers to lowering my cholesterol!

New beginnings

I cannot believe I haven't blogged since March. Is that even the correct spelling of blogged?

Well A lot has changed, and somethings have not. I have a job, and am not at GVSU instead of GRCC. I love my major program and actually look forward to classes, although the homework load is hard and only going to get harder.

One thing that hasn't changed much at all is my weight. 2010 has been a bust so far when it comes to weight loss. I have no one to blame but myself. I've fallen victim to my own demons when it comes to eating and working out. I think I've lost and gained the same ten pounds over and over again since March.

But I'm taking a stand. I focus so much on bettering my mind and my soul. Why can't I put that much effort into bettering my body? My mind and soul cannot flourish if my body is wasting away.

Consider this a pre-new year resolution. I WILL take better care of myself. I WILL put my nutritional needs above all else. I WILL focus on healing my body from the inside out.

One of the main things I need to remind myself of is this: each day is a new start. And each meal is a new chance for healthy choices. So what if I ate a bunch of fun size snickers this morning? Don't throw the whole day away because of one bad choice. Make the rest of the meal choices healthy, and get some exercise and all will be forgiven.

The year is not over, and life is certainly not over.

What now?

You know how people use those sound machines to fall asleep? Just turn on the soothing sounds of frogs, or crickets, maybe a babbling brook and off to sleep they go. That is not me. If I hear nature I will not sleep but instead start to daydream.

No, I’m the girl who uses the OTHER setting on those machines, the one usually titled “traffic” or “city.”

I can’t help it, I love the sounds of traffic, car horns, ambulance sirens, and they lull me to sleep.

Ever since I was a kid I wanted to move to New York, even though I’d never been there.

A favorite movie growing up, and still today, is Baby Boom staring Diane Keaton. God I love her! If you’ve never seen the movie, it’s an 80s classic. 80’s powerful career woman in NYC inherits a baby girl from deceased cousins in England. She decides to move to Vermont and own a house in the country. Hilarity ensues as you see the city woman trying to adjust to country life.

I never understood why she moved.

My mother would watch and say, “Wouldn’t that be fun to live in the country?”

And I remember thinking, no not really. It looks cold and lonely and spread out. What if she needs a sandwich at 2 a.m.?

Well, I finally made it to NYC for a whole day and a half. I thought I’d be able to have fun and maybe it won’t be as amazing as I’d hyped it up to be. You know how when you’ve only seen something on TV you can be sorely disappointed?

I wasn’t disappointed.

And now I’m left wanting to move there more than ever. I thought maybe I could get my masters and PhD at a school there, but the only one is NYU and that’s 50k a year. I don’t know about you but the whole point of a PhD is so that I can hopefully earn 50k a year, not live in debt the rest of my life.

So now what? Well I wish I knew! I’m such a planner, I like to know exactly what is going to happen and how and when and with whom and when one thing goes awry I go into damage control mode. And that is where I am right now, trying not to stress myself out but failing miserably!

I'm going to have to just suck it up, and admit defeat that I cannot change everything just yet. Guess it's time to just enjoy the ride, against my will!

Long awaited update!

Wow, how long has it been since I updated? I get so used to just filming myself, that I forget about writing and how much I love it. Well, I'm super excited. It seems like lots of things are changing for me, but for the better. I finally got a job, and will start with an orientation next week. No idea how much I'll be making or how many hours but who cares, I'm currently raking in a giant ZERO amount of dollars, so anything is better than nothing! I recently changed my major from journalism to cultural anthropology. I've been feeling a little burnt out on journalism as of late and so I was relieved to find out that most journalists don't actually have a degree in journalism. I am instead following my latest love of cultural anthropology. I am also planning on getting a masters degree at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. I'm assuming I'll look a little something like this:


I'm actually excited for these classes this fall, and genuinely interested in learning as much as I can. I am such a nerd! Not sure yet, but I will probably also need a PhD after the masters. Yikes, maybe I'll be done with school before I'm 40? ^_^ Well, this weekend I'll be going to NYC! Four days of fun and probably no sleep! See you guys later!