Oct 21, 2010

Full Day Times Two

Wednesday

I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, since the medications still are having no effect and the test results still show nothing. So, I had to eat breakfast basically as soon as I woke up. As much as I wanted something hot to eat, I just could not get the idea of cereal out of my head. So, I poured myself a big bowl of All Bran and sprinkled on some cinnamon, added dried berries, and poured some Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze on top. Well, apparently this is a very absorbent cereal because by the time I brought my bowl back into my room all I had left was essentially a bowl of mush. But, I ate it anyway. No picture though, sorry.

I’m getting another scan done and getting referred to a bigger, better hospital in Ann Arbor, because the doctors here that I’ve been seeing are all stumped as to why this has been going on for 5+ months and keeps getting worse. Right after my doctors appointment was work for several hours, errands, and class. I went home very quickly to drop things off and grab a quick bite to eat (very veggie salad topped with artichoke hommus and Italian dressing), then it was straight back to campus for a midterm review session. Basically, all of this rushing around amounts to few pictures being taken and not much to report for the day. So, sorry, again.

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Thursday

No work this morning, but no play either. To start, my alarm clock malfunctioned somehow and never went off this morning. So, I rushed to make oatmeal: old-fashioned oats made in Vanilla tea, mixed with chia seeds, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pureed pumpkin, and topped with dried berries, maple syrup, and PB&Co. WCW peanut butter.

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Jetting off to class, I had a lecture on calorie restriction. Basically, what I got from it was, if you restrict your calories, you will live longer. That is, if you are in a bubble of complete health and never face exposure to pathogens of any sort. However, since that is never the case and we are forced to leave our homes and interact with the world around us, it is more important to eat normally so that our body responds appropriately to invaders.

After a snack of Honey Nut Cheerios and Cinnamon Brown Sugar almonds, it was off to Biology lecture. Nothing too much to report there. Circulatory system, blah blah blah. I ate a banana and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while sitting there and listening. Afterwards it was straight to Biology Lab to collect some more data in the Natural Area behind the lab. We should be done collecting all of our data next week. Thank goodness!

Once back home, I made up spaghetti squash, broccoli, and a tomato for dinner. I love eating bowlfuls of vegetables!

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Now back to study, study, STUDYING!

2 comments:

  1. I need to make bowls of veggies that don't require leafy greens - it's too cold for salads and I still feel the need to cram a ton of vegetables in me for dinner. That would require planning on my part... *sigh*

    Interesting stuff on the calorie restriction. I've read that it does promote a longer life through some sort of cell mechanism (being they don't have to work as hard to process energy) but I'd like to learn more about the science behind it. Maybe we'll get to something similar in class this semester - we're finishing alcohol and starting lipids tomorrow. :P

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  2. Yeah, apparently my presenter has been doing pretty extensive work on it for the past few years. Dr. Elizabeth Gardner in case you were interested.

    The health benefits she described were less oxidative damage from free radicals, less instance of cancer/tumors, higher T cell count and antibody production, and an increased response to non-specific stimuli. HOWEVER, for some reason this does not apply to the influenza virus. For some yet unknown reason, rats that were calorically restricted died faster than those who had the baseline diet. So, maybe it's just the influenza virus that calorie restriction doesn't help? I know that the flu is one of the leading causes of death among the very old and the very young (people who eat less than the "average adult").

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