Today is Day 1 in my husband's quest to lose weight, approximately 70 pounds worth of weight. It's not going to be easy however with me as the backseat driver it should go easier on him. It really is a pretty basic principle that as a team we can succeed as we will both be following the same food plans which will result in hopefully fewer unintentional sabotages on his quest.
Here's a little background to how we got to where we are today.....
I've been married to my husband for 32 years now. Even back in our early 20's it concerned me that every time he ate a meal he would flush bright red as to me that was not normal. He wasn't overweight, he was active all day long, he seemed "normal" except for when he ate. By his late 20's it was confirmed that his blood pressure was high and instead of opting for big pharm drugs we took steps to reduce salt, try to exercise more, all the stuff you're supposed to do. It was hard though with two kids by the time we were thirty our plans always had to shift so we couldn't do what we had to for his diet. With both of us working full time there wasn't much time for cooking so we began to take the easy way out with purchasing prepackaged food, eating out, and way to many carbs.
By the time he was in his mid-30's my husband owned his own business. He was a paint contractor, active all day long, constantly moving, lifting, bending, climbing. The weight was starting to pack on though and we both knew it. There is a saying that everything can change in one day and yes, I remember the day that changed out lives forever. Painting a chimney on top of a tile barrel roof he lost his footing. He saved himself from falling off the roof and instead caused extensive damage to his knee. He didn't break it but instead damaged tendons and ligaments to the point he was on crutches for a couple of weeks. Like most injuries it healed over time but after a few years of more spraining and straining it, the knee ached so badly that he finally talked to the doctor about what could be done as over the counter pain relievers just weren't working anymore. Scar tissue had developed in the knee and through a simple procedure they would go in and clean it out. Surgery was a success and in very short order he was back with full range to the knee and he was active again. The weight seemed to fall right off without trying....the problem though was that it didn't stop falling off and seemed in fact to be accelerating in speed.
Within 2.5 months he had dropped over 60 pounds without trying, without dieting....something was wrong. At age 39 he was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. A complication from undergoing anaesthesia to repair the knee his pancreas totally shut down. His doctor immediately admitted him into the hospital and he was transferred to ICU as his blood sugar was so high they feared he could die. After 5 days in ICU he was finally stabilized and moved to a regular room for the next 48 hours. He was now on insulin shots multiple times a day and once again on a strict carb counting diet. We took classes in food from a licensed dietician to help make sense of how diet and body chemistry all work together. I absolutely believe that those classes gave me a better understanding of food and how to cook and what to eat....for us though, looking back, it wasn't quite enough.
The next big "one day everything can change" occurred ten months after the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. One day his pancreas just decided to turn back on full steam. His endocronologist had warned us that it might happen because of how he developed diabetes however no one, including her, thought it would occur outside of the first few months. Nothing is scarier than after eating a full meal and making sure they've take an insulin shot you see someone bottoming out and slipping close to diabetic coma. Trying to find easily digestible sugar filled foods and drinks to counteract the insulin in a house that had little of these foods I reverted to sugar water, fruit and "fully leaded (non-diet) soda" that we had just for the kids to drink occasionally. For 15 minutes I monitored his symptoms and just as I was ready to dial 911 for an ambulance his world finally starting coming back into focus.
My non-diabetic husband was back. Life got easier and everything we had so strictly monitored in the past for diet ever so slowly went by the wayside. Looking back now I can honestly point a finger to what went wrong in the following years....carbs....the bad carbs. I'm talking the bread, the rice, the pizza, the burgers, the deep fried this and the deep fried that everything that we had always loved to eat as kids that had been strictly monitored and sometimes now never eaten could suddenly be eaten again. Within 12 years, by the time he turned 52 he had developed type 2 diabetes and yes, had packed on the pounds again.
His fight against type 2 diabetes was different....it was much harder. Insurance coverage had changed and the expenses were higher. He was prescribed Metaformin which worked admirably for a little while, then a long acting insulin shot was also prescribed. The problem though was that the long acting insulin was not working for him as his blood sugar in the morning was horribly high and none of the changes in dosage or diet were helping. Finally he was prescribed some of the new classes of drugs. Once a week shot of Tanzeum and daily pill of Farxiga. Success was achieved but was very short lived. Within two weeks of glucose readings we were excited about the side effects of Farxiga set in. Lighthead, dizzy, stomach feeling as it was being ripped apart from acid. He immediately stopped taking the Farxiga and within a week he was feeling better. The Tanzeum shot was working but it still needed something else added to help. The endocronologist prescribed another drug in the same class with a free one month to start. Success! No side effects and blood glucose levels coming in perfect every single day. The kicker....after that first month, with our insurance carrier not having the drug on the "approved" list for coverage the cost would have been $1000/month. The Tanzeum help we were receiving with their costs would be running out in 9 months.....that will then cost about $1000/month. Two drugs when added together is over twice our monthly mortgage payment. Enough is enough and action needed to be taken and taken now to get him off of these big pharm medications but we needed to get his weight down and keep it down for the rest of his life.
Along came Nutrimost. My husband had heard about this through a local radio station where one of the on air personalities had done it. The praises of the program and the doctors were enough to get us interested in exploring this program. As I have a very anal personality I had to learn as much as possible about them....I found everything online from they're the best to they are scammers.....somewhere in the middle though is the truth and I intend to report truthfully through this blog every day about our progress. Yes, OUR progress. Even though I myself am not going through the personalized program the staff did say that I will lose some weight (which is good because I need to lose about 50 pounds if I want to be totally honest).
During the first appointment they did some scans and talked about the program including the fact that it is tailored specifically for him. They went through what is out of whack in his metabolism including some of the items he's not getting enough of. Appointment #2 came last week with a final scan to set up his supplements and yesterday he received his goody packet with shampoo, conditioner, hair gel, toothpaste, etc along with his supplements.
So today is Day 1. You get to have "good fats" which for the next 43 days following we will not be using or eating at all unless specifically told to use by the doctor. Yes you eat protein...fish, mollusks, shrimp, free range chicken, buffalo, veal, very lean beef, specific vegetables, and fruit. All of these need to be as organic as possible....no chemicals, antibiotics, GMO free, and most importantly of all removal of bad fats and bad carbs all with controlled portions.
One thing I want to state.....Yes these are medical doctors, you meet with the doctors throughout this entire process. You text updates to them DAILY! If they see an issue it is addressed immediately including when you hit a plateau. Please do not think of following this diet to the extreme without oversight by a doctor. Although I am overweight I am also pretty healthy....my blood pressure is good, my cholesterol is good, I do not take any prescribed medications and I also know that if something feels wrong to stop immediately.
So today I started my day with mixed nuts (almonds, macadamia, cashews)....my lunch will be strawberries and arugula and dinner tonight will be Buffalo Meatloaf (individual sized 3.5 oz pre-cooking weight) which is seasoned only with herbs, Roasted Cabbage (oven baked with a drizzle of EVOO-a good fat, lemon juice, pepper and a bit of Pink Salt...the original recipe calls for bacon bits which I will not be adding to the dish at this time). Dessert tonight will be either an orange or an apple (no sure which yet). The goal today is to keep the calories between 500-800 calories and make them good calories so they provide energy instead of being converted to fat.
I also intend on posting some of my more favorite dishes I've discovered in this process to my Pinterest Account if you would like some healthy food options. During the next 44 days these recipes will be modified to meet the requirements of removing bad fats and to maintain the correct calorie count. https://www.pinterest.com/jb11037/food-low-cal-cooking/
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