JIGARTRONIC!

I was a little hesitant on putting something like this onto here but thinking about things over the past few weeks, I’ve decided I’m going to post my experience and what I’ve learned in the chance it could help someone else who may be going through this and also to keep me accountable for what I’m about to embark on.

It all started one fine evening at work and it was a boring busy day just like numerous days I’ve spent sitting at my desk. But, its a little unnerving when all of a sudden your chest starts to tighten up and you grab your chest with your hands. The exponential surge of thoughts that race across your mind are something I cant even begin to put down in words. My family has a history of health issues and the most immediate analysis I made was I might be having a heart attack or something related to it. The tightened chest muscles released their hold on my chest andt they started throbbing a little bit.

Another issue that i probably have inherited from my dad is being in denial. Understandably chest pains are nothing to take lightly but I started negotiating with myself on how it could be something I ate, gas, breathing patterns, fatigue or something else. But with some coercion I proceeded to an emergency health clinic after hours and they did the usual spate of tests involving an EKG, blood tests, chest xrays etc. All of the test thankfully came out negative and the doctor told me to relax and told me on some ways to deal with stress that I may be (certainly am) experiencing at work. 

However, the next day I got a call from the Doctor and was told to come in to discuss some results from the extended blood panel. I came to find out that my cholestrol is in a normal range however due to genetics and dietary choices that I make, my LDL particle count is EXTREMELY high. This puts me in a high risk category for cardiovascular disease if I continued to make the choices that I currently am making with what I put into my body. The doctor went over what I should do and what I shouldn’t and really told me to take this as a wake up call. He did tell me that I have the power to make changes in my life that will lead to improving my health. Its so easy to listen to those words everyday and ignore them but when you’re sitting in a doctors office and looking at data and your doctor is sternly telling you to make “lifestyle changes”, its a little different and more effective. 

After listening to my doctor advocate a whole foods plant based diet and after watching the incredible documentary called Forks over Knives and being a man of science, I’ve decided to do a personal experiment and adopt a mostly plant based diet. It’d be dishonest for me to say that I am going to stick with a Vegan diet but I’m going to be as close to it as possible. 

With that being said, I’m going to be posting a lot about my diet, what I’m eating/recipes, the affect it has on my workouts, my general well being and energy levels and also sleep patterns. Its not going to be easy, If you know me you’ll know my love for meat and dairy, but i dont expect it to. Just like working out, if it were easy then everybody would be doing it.  In order to make the transition a little more manageable I may allow some cheat items into my meals if completely unavoidable. 

Lets see what happens. 

A few weeks ago, I posted a rather vague post about feeling a little out of control of the way things are progressing in my life. It’s understandable and should be expected that life isnt always going to be postive, there’s always moments of downs that make you appreciate the ups and eventually learn from those experiences to make you a better and stronger you. These sort of lessons are easier said than done and currently I’m going through one of them.

Without going into too much details, I’m going to disguise my mind vomit in the form of somewhat structured bullet points:

• Return to my old positive habits or working out and eating healthier. A regular regimen of exercise and good diet helped me deal with the stress that I recently have not had good grips on and I need to find that wagon and get back on it. 
• I signed up for Operation Get Fast and personal issues have disallowed me from really working on it. That’s going to change real fast. 
• I promised myself that after the Portland Half, I was going to focus more on strength training and building speed. This body isn’t going to train itself for Tough Mudder, so strength and speed will roll well into training 
• Give it to genetics and a health scare to really re-evaluate what you put into your body and how it affects your mental/emotional and physical health. I’m going to change my diet to a more plant based diet and will try to share how I’m coping with this “lifestyle” change if it would be useful for others. 
• I have a crap-ton of pictures that I’ve taken in the past few months that I have not had a chance to share with all the wonderful people that are in it. Going to work on that soon. 
• I have a few personal projects that I’ve been slacking on. Need to take time to work on them too. Details shoon.
• read more books. I’m currently reading Dan Brown’s Inferno at a really slow pace and I need to read more often even if a little everyday. 

The reason I’ve been meaning to write these down is to have them as a reminder for myself and also to be held accountable for what I plan on doing in the near future. Mondays are always a tough day for me and its probably not going to get easy. Just gotta take it one step at a time and go with the flow. 

In new Orleans for the weekend with some of the coolest cats I know. Somehow all my trips out of state turn into trips revolving around food. I’m already at the 3rd place to eat today starting with breakfast at the fantastic Stanley, beignets at Cafe du monde and now lunch at Mother’s. It’s gonna be a wild weekend folks!

Its days when things spiral somewhat out of control when you realize your fate really isn’t yours to control at all and you just have to go with the flow. 

I’m to the point where stress from work is spilling into my personal life and I’m not very happy about that. Its only 8am and more than a few people have asked me if I’m ok. Eventhough I blow them off, I’m not. This weekend cant come any sooner. However, I’m still not sure if work is going to force me to come back earlier than planned. Which is why I tell all my friends who are still in school to stay in school as long as they can because work sucks. 

Whenever I’m stressed I always turn to either food or spending money. Both of which I have been doing a little too much lately. I need to start hitting the gym again and turn this frustration into something positive. Lets see what happens…