So, here's the thing

My doctor scared me just a little bit with my last physical. Well, it wasn't her fault, it was my pesky cholesterol. It seems that I didn't do quite enough over the last year (since I found out the first time that I had a problem) to bring my numbers down. In fact, they went up. Yuck. I've learned more about cholesterol and all those bazillion numbers they use to measure it in the last few months than I ever really cared to know. But all that talk is really boring (and causes my husband to compare going to dinner with me with eating with somebody's grandpa), so I will skip all the details. Just know that I am a small person who is mostly pretty darn healthy, and I'm just about to exit my twenties, so age isn't a factor either.

So, what's a girl to do??? My doctor actually told me that she would normally talk to someone with my lab results about statin drugs to bring down my cholesterol. NOOOOOOO, I said. I am VERY anti-statins, but I'm also realistic and I know something needs to be done. My doc felt that I should avoid them at this point, too, and I left her office with the plan to get serious about diet and exercise. Then I had some serious self-discovery happen, and had to acknowledge that I am not very honest with myself. I don't "count" all the "little extras" I sneak into my eating routine during the day. I also got extremely overwhelmed trying to process all the info out there into an eating plan that was the most effective for me personally. I needed professional help.

Enter Dr. Kathryn Barkshire. Hooray! She is a naturopathic doctor who was recommended to me by someone whose opinion I respect. I knew within 5 minutes (or less) of meeting her that she was just the person I needed. We talked for an HOUR at my first appointment. What a special treat in today's 15 min. appointment medical world! She believes in treating the whole person, and it is very obvious in her methods. I've never been asked so many questions by a doctor, and I felt the entire time as if I were chatting with a friend.

We did discuss diet a little, and she recommended I begin some supplements, including something derived from cane sugar, and cod liver oil. I'll let you know how that goes; I haven't been able to buy it yet. I think it might be psychological. LOL

The one thing she wanted me to start right away was keeping a food journal. It's not just a record of everything that goes in my mouth, but also of activity, stress levels, physical well-being, bodily functions, and anything I else I feel is important enough to include. Remember what I said about not being honest with myself? I have to will myself to write everything down sometimes! Talk about a day of reckoning! I feel the need to explain away my cheeseburger at lunch today . . . I had better put that in the stress level column. :-)

The positive result from this journal is that I was embarrassed to not have much "significant" activity to write down, so I had to remedy that. I've started an evening tradition of taking my big dog for longer walks around the neighborhood. We've only done it twice so far, but I can already tell that these walks will be inspiration for more posts in the future.

So, this is the change I'm experiencing right now. I feel very motivated to get my body into a state of healthy balance. I'll let you know how it goes!