Tag: Health Posts

Back at it again. Now that the Junos are over, I’m basically full swing back into the daily grind. I have an interesting optimization problem at work that I’ll write about at some point (from the perspective of how to speed up compilation of a project), but other than that, it’s just business as usual. I started getting a tickle in my throat yesterday which has somehow exploded into a full-on sore throat today. So, while I’m at work, I feel like I’m on the verge of getting sick. It’s most likely related to being on a few crowded planes and shaking hands with tons of new people last weekend, and I’m hopeful it passes. I’m going to use this weekend as a chance to catch up on sleep and put my body back on schedule. I’ve been working on a few projects on the side, one of which involves […]

So, it’s only been about 5 days since I started, but I thought I’d drop a quick update. As most of you know, I am a big supporter of low-carbohydrate diets, mostly because a great deal of research show they are superior for treating things like diabetes and heart disease, but also because I once lost a great deal of weight (with relative ease) by just giving up carbs. Effectively, the last few days have really been a transition from a moderate carbohydrate to a low-carb one for me. I’ve been keeping accurate food, weight and activity logs, which should help me figure out what’s working and what’s not. First thing of note is that I seem to be eating about 500 calories *more* per day than I was about a week ago, and I find I’m still actually quite a bit hungrier than I was before (which is sort […]

So while many of us suffer from the end products of love, and some of us end up broken hearted, my friend Clay is the only guy I know who actually has, quite literally, a broken heart. Photo from here. Clay is currently down at St. Paul’s hospital getting a coronary bypass operation. Not a very enjoyable way to spend Valentine’s day. I just called down and he’s still in surgery. I’ll probably swing by later tonight if he’s out of the ICU, or more than likely tomorrow. If anyone has that stupid fish game with the hoops and the water, let me know. I’m sure Clay will swing by my blog in a few days and check it out, so if anyone wants to leave some well wishes, just drop a comment for him.

1977, in front of the House Agriculture Subcommittee of Domestic Marketing, talking about the recent recommendations by the USDA and Food and Nutrition Board towards a low-fat diet: However tenuous that linkage, however disappointing the various intervention trials, it still seems prudent to propose to the American public that we not only maintain reasonable weights for our height, body structure and age, but also reduce our dietary fat intakes significantly, and keep cholesterol to a minimum. And, conceivably, you might conclude that it is proper for the federal government to so recommend. On the other hand, you may instead argue: What right has the federal government to propose that the American people conduct a vast nutritional experiment, with themselves as subjects, on the strength of so very little evidence that it will do them any good? Mr Chairman, resolution of this dilemma turns on a value judgment. The dilemma so […]

My first MRI was actually fair bit shittier than I imagined. I got to the hospital about 40 minutes before my scheduled time, and went to the Jim Pattison pavilion (like I was told). Unfortunately, there was no MRI facility in the JPP, and at that hour there wasn’t really anyone to ask. I found an information kiosk that showed a MRI lab in the Centennial Pavilion, so I hurried down there and took a seat in the waiting room. Of course, there wasn’t anyone in the reception booth so I just sat in the corner hoping that it was the correct place. There were a few other people in the waiting room with me, so I wasn’t too concerned at that point. However, an hour later everyone had left and it was just me in the waiting room alone. One of the MRI technicians eventually came out and looked […]

Part of the reason I went back to Chilliwack this last weekend was to get caught up on sleep before all the craziness begins this month and next. Thankfully I managed to do just that, and often slept in until 11:30 or noon. I actually feel fairly refreshed, which is a nice change. Chilliwack Rainbow One of the things I’m going to try to do over the next two months is to lose a few pounds. Before being in the hospital and all my surgeries, I was in a fairly happy place with regards to health. But this last year has been tough and I haven’t really been that vigilant with watching what I eat and getting exercise. So, I’ve decided I’m going to make a focused attempt to drop down to the happy zone again in the next few months, which means I won’t be going out and doing […]

I eat subway pretty much an average of one time per day. In the little food court where I work it is the lesser of many evils, including A & W, some Pizza place and a greasy chinese food place. For the most part, I always order a little wrap, either filled with chicken or like this morning filled with ham and egg. It’s not a hard thing to make really. You take some egg, put it in a wrap, but some ham and cheese on it and call it a sandwich. However, it doesn’t matter how many times I order a wrap, EVERY SINGLE TIME I DO it’s like watching some huge elaborate machine grind to a freaking halt. Every time, the lady will reach for a six inch white bun, stare at it for a while, then stare at me, then back at the bun, trying to figure […]

Yes, it’s that time of month again, maid day. When I got sick with pneumonia in the fall my mom came and spent a few days with me and ended up cleaning my entire apartment. Being a busy, single guy, it was in a pretty sad state. My mom, being a constant worrier, implored me, for her sake, to get someone to help clean my apartment so it would be clean and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting sick at home. Since I’m sort of cheap (at least for things that don’t involve technology), but wanted to put my mom’s mind at ease, I made myself a compromise — I’d get a maid but cancel my cable TV to pay for it. So, that’s what I did, and I’ve had two girls come every two weeks and clean my apartment for me ever since. At first it felt weird […]

I stumbled upon this article about killer viruses this morning, and it pretty much echos exactly everything that happened to me. I had a nap a few months ago, only to wake up with severe fever and chills. I thought I was battling the flu, and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting better. Six days later I was in the ICU at St. Paul’s with a 104 degree F fever, and my left lung had partially collapsed due to pneumonia. A high school varsity athlete, a sturdy guy with a health history blissfully free of blips, 18-year-old Joseph Spencer had little reason to think anything was seriously wrong when he got sick last April. Doctors say Joseph Spencer could have died from adenovirus, a virus that usually just causes a cold. The vomiting, chills, fever — “It must be the flu,” he thought. Within hours, Spencer’s fever was 104 degrees. […]

I’ve posted a few times on this subject, but this is a new paper that’s hot off the presses. Once thought to help with weight loss, caffeine has recently been cast in a new light as actually contributing to weight gain. Even caffeinated diet pop can lead to weight gain, due to increased insulin secretion in the body. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study with periods of 7 days and washouts of 5 days comparing caffeine with placebo capsules was conducted. Participants were 16 healthy adults aged 18 to 22 years with a history of caffeine consumption. Blood samples from each subject were assayed for glucose, insulin, serum cortisol, DHEA, and androstenedione on the eighth day of each period after an overnight fast. Nighttime salivary melatonin was also measured. Insulin levels were significantly higher (by 1.80 muU/mL; 95% confidence interval, 0.33-3.28) after caffeine intake than after placebo. The homeostasis model […]