Back From the Holidays

The past two weeks have been very busy. The trip over 299 to my parents house was alright, we ran into some snow and ice, and lots of rain, but David and I both made it over and to Red Bluff just fine.

Christmas was pretty relaxed, and for a Christmas that we had agreed would be no presents, everybody got some really good gifts. I gave baskets of homemade/canned applesauce, blueberry syrup, and bread and butter pickles, as well as some loose leaf tea, candy cane sugar scrub, and a cookbook of my favorite recipes. I also put together a CD of some vegan podcasts for my grammy so that she could see (or hear) that I'm eating a healthy diet. My mom and I made vegan truffles, but they didn't end up in the baskets because I forgot to grab them from the fridge on Christmas day, so I had to eat them all myself. Darn.

For Christmas dinner, I ended up making everything I planned on. We also had stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, and there was turkey for the rest of the family. Everything turned out really good, and besides from a small incident, everyone got along real well and I for one thought the day was very nice.

We would have taken the next few days to relax, but my little sister has decided that it is time for her to move away from home, so we spent the next several days getting her packed up (and fighting, and bickering, and being upset and pissy....). On the 1st, we set out on a nine hour drive to San Luis Obispo. We unpacked her into her new home (that she's sharing with five other girls), took her to dinner, and then took off. Mom, Dad, and I left first thing yesterday morning for an eight hour drive home. I feel like we left under bad terms, but I think I'm the only one that feels that way, at least at this end of California.

My grades posted the day after Christmas. I earned two A's, two C's, and a credit for a PE class. I'm not exactly happy, but I passed Physics and Chemistry, so they are out of the way and I can focus on next semester, which will be even worse than this one was. I'm already looking forward to summer break.

I had blood drawn at the doctor's while I was home to finally get this diabetes thing put to rest. They did an A1C and a thyroid test, as well as a regular blood work-up. After a little confusion (they lost my blood work), I received a phone call yesterday with the results. I haven't gotten the exact numbers yet, but they said everything was perfect except my iron was a little on the low side of normal. I'm assuming that means that I lowered my cholesterol and lipid levels from what they were in February. The doctor said my iron level was nothing a supplement or two, or a week or so of some iron heavy foods wouldn't fix. So good news; I don't have diabetes or anything wrong with my thyroid. Bad news; there's still no reason I should be this overweight or gain weight so easily. Maybe that's just how my body is, but I'd still like to look for a medical reason before I resign my self to a lifetime of obesity.

Well, I think that brings everyone up to speed. I spent some time thinking about my words for 2009, but I'll do a separate post for that.

Has it really been three weeks since my last post? Well, time flies when you're having fun. Or having midterms, term papers, presentations, paperwork for work due at the same times, plus looking into buying a house, a couple of concerts, and your and your boyfriend's doctors appointments. And you can probably guess which category I fall under. :) The joys of being a working college student.

I went to the doctor today and she was confident that I don't have pre-diabetes. In fact, she said beside from my weight and my slightly high cholesterol and triglycerides I am in perfect health. Woot! She also said that I was doing great on my diet since I was far from anemic and didn't have any nutrient deficiency. I was a little worried when she was doing the hammer-on-the-knee thing to my right leg and my leg wasn't jumping at all, but then she moved to my left leg and I almost kicked her in the face. Apparently all is well there. Her only advice was to up the exercise more, which if my accidental 3 mile hike on Monday counts, I think I'm good for this week. I certainly wasn't a happy camper while I was hauling myself and my backpack up and down all the hills, but I was impressed when I mapped my route and discovered I'd walked that far in about an hour. Maybe I'll start taking shorter walks a couple times a week....

In a kind of ironic twist, David has been diagnosed with might-as-well-be diabetes. An A1C score of 7.0 is considered diabetic, and his score was a 6.9. He's been seeing a nutritionist, and she's recommended that he cut most carbs from his diet and eat more lean proteins like eggs and meats. She's also recommended that he stay away from most vegan protein sources because they are mostly classified as carbs. Which has made menu planning slightly trickier, but he's been good about learning to cook his own meat.

I haven't been keeping a list of what I've been eating lately, but some highlights include Vegan Dad's Pasta with Peppers and Spicy Sausage, which was excellent. Vegan Dad has now been redeemed. Even David told me to keep this recipe in the rotation. Also on the highlights list were Sour Cream Chicken* Enchiladas, which were very good, but on the second day were so spicy we couldn't eat the rest of them. Next time, less chipotle? Meatloaf and fried chicken also topped the list, but both were too salty for me. I have been using less and less salt, and have been trying to buy more low sodium items, so maybe it's just my taste buds? I've managed to catch a cold in the last few days, so last night I was happy to find vegan cream of mushroom soup and made made favorite comfort food; Connie's Barf Chicken. Not the most appetizing name, I know, but it has stuck since we first made it from Connie's recipe and my dad said it looked like someone barfed in the bowl. Pre-veg*n days, I made it with cream of mushroom soup, cream cheese/sour cream (whatever was on hand), chopped chicken breast, covered in buttered cracker crumbs and baked until everything was cooked and gooey. Last night I used Imagine brand mushroom soup, frozen chicken strips, broccoli, and some cream cheese and ate it over rice. Just what I needed. I also realized that what I liked so much about it was the cream of mushroom soup and cream cheese, so next time I might skip the chicken strips all together and just keep the broccoli instead.

Now I'm off to get yet another cup of tea and study for Friday's genetics exam. Only two weeks left of classes, a week of finals, and then I'm free for the summer and my long awaited road trip!

*You may have noticed that I'm not using Chik'n or qualifying my ingredients as vegan. I am eating almost entirely vegan except for pantry items that were bought before the switch, so just assume that when I say chicken, I mean some sort of vegan product that tastes/is meant to mimic chicken, etc.

First Steps

I got in to see the new doctor today. The office was very clean and when I went back, the nurse was nice (although she laughed at me, more on that later) and nothing screamed that I needed to leave and make an appointment somewhere else. We went through all the weight, temperature, blood pressure stuff and since I was in for diabetes testing, she did a finger prick for blood sugar. She told me I better hope I never got diabetes, because I was horrible with the finger prick. The dr. came, was very nice, went through all the family history stuff, talked for a little bit, and she said that she is not really worried about diabetes, but because of the history we will be doing tests. I go in sometime next week to do a fasting blood sugar, lipid panel, and general blood work and go back to discuss the results and get a physical next month (assuming nothing in the lab work is horrible).

This check-up:
Weight: 236.6

BMI: 37.1
Temp: 99.7
BP: 114/70 (lowest I've ever had it!)
BS: 107

The only thing she told me was to try to up the exercise, so we'll see what the lab shows and play it by ear.

This week I ate entirely vegan (except for the leftover pizza) and tried to get in some exercise.

Monday:
Exercise: 30 minutes on bike
Meals: smoothie
left over veggie pizza
1.5 liters water
(Can't remember what I had for dinner, maybe nothing?)

Tuesday:
Exercise: walked home; 15 minutes fast pace,
Meals: whole wheat bagel with vegan cream cheese
pre-made inari sushi from the Depot on campus
whole wheat pancakes with corn and hot dogs mixed in
1.0 liters water, .5 can Pepsi

Wednesday:
Exercise: walked home; 15 minutes fast pace
Meals: left over pancake with vegan butter and peach jam
seitan salad wrap, apple, handful Terra veggie chips
whole wheat couscous with Moroccan vegetables and steamed greens
vegan strawberry milkshake
2.0 liters water

Thursday:
Exercise: none
Meals: left over pancake with butter and peach jam, 1 soy sausage
left over couscous with vegetables, handful Terra veggie chips, 1 dark chocolate kiss
Baked whole wheat rigatoni with zucchini and mushrooms, steamed broccoli
1.0 liters water

Friday:
Exercise: none
Meals: granola bar (may not have been vegan, was in the cupboard)
left over baked rigatoni
will have Panko stuffed mushroom with green salad and seared green beans, maybe some mashed potatoes
so far 1.0 liters water, .5 can Pepsi


Not a bad start. I need to make more of an effort to go to the gym and I'm thinking about buying a locker so I don't have any excuse not to go and work out because I couldn't stuff gym clothes in my backpack. If anyone wants, I will start posting the recipes I'm using and give them some sort of a rating system (how I liked them, how David liked them).