My blog is calling me to write again
Wow it’s been over a year and a half since I’ve written a blog post. The original project was never intended to be a permanent ongoing thing. It was a temporary 40 day project. It helped me a great deal. It was therapeutic to write and started the momentum to me being more productive with my time.
But here I am again, feeling an urge, or maybe more like a responsibility to write again. So why am I deciding to write again exactly? You know sometimes you experience coincidences that seem to have an underlying message pointing to the same thing? That seems to be the case with this blog. Let me explain…
Last week between Wednesday-Thursday 19th-21st December I had Wilbar Surgunaraj’s co-producer for the new movie Simple Superstar, Robert Stephens stay with me while he traced his grandmother’s footsteps when she met his grandfather during World War II. During his trip I made him a fresh juice after dinner each day (carrot and orange on Wednesday and apple and ginger on Thursday). He was fascinated by the juices and took photos of me making them. This reminded me of the times I would take photos of me making juices for this blog when I first started writing here a couple of years ago.
Towards the end of Robert’s trip I discovered that Robert is an active blogger, he showed me his blog I showed him mine.
Also on the Thursday while Robert was sat here I received a phone call from my Doctor. I was expecting a call a week before on Friday. After much chasing he finally called me back a week later on Thursday evening. He had my blood test results. My doctor has a thick south Indian accent. It was hard understanding first time round what he was saying, after asking him to repeat what he was saying a few times (I would have much preferred an appointment in person) I got the gist of what he was saying.
My Blood Test Results on 20th December 2012
My blood count was normal.
My white blood cells were normal.
My platelets were normal.
My liver function was normal.
My fasting glucose level was normal.
My total cholesterol was high. My Doctor said it should be less than 5 but mine was 5.9.
My healthy cholesterol/HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) was normal.
My unhealthy cholesterol/LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) was high. My doctor said it should be less than 3 but mine was 3.7.
My creatinine level was high. He said it should be less than 110 but mine was 120.
Creatinine he said was a measure of my kidney function. He was going to continue explaining. But the idea that there could be something wrong with my kidney, just didn’t compute in my mind. I thought there must be a misunderstanding. Creatinine sounded a lot like Creatine, and with the doctor’s heavy accent, at first I wondered if he meant Creatine. So I interrupted him and said lately I’d been taking a creatine supplement and maybe that’s what was showing in my blood. He said what’s that and why? I said people who workout tend to use it. It didn’t feel like he was aware of creatine supplementation. Anyway so he advised me to stop taking creatine and that I should have another blood test in 3 months to see if it made an improvement. I then started to think, why did I open my mouth so quickly. I should have let him finish.
He also told me to go to www.patient.co.uk and search for “low fat” which would lead me to the low fat diet sheet.
I had a quick skim over the advice and something just didn’t sit right with me. I have this strong impression that the medical industry currently has a limited understanding of good nutrition and it felt that the advice in the sheet was outdated (for example the advice to eat as much dried fruit as I liked didn’t sound right). Also the information on fats seemed contradictory. If you scroll down it says not all fats are bad. That unsaturated fats are good and can be found in “vegetables, nuts and fruits”. And yet at the same time condemns coconut, brazils and roasted peanuts as “Foods to avoid or to eat rarely (high in fat and/or ‘unhealthy’ foods)”. I got the feeling I needed to do some more digging to get to the bottom of what changes I should make if any.
On Sunday 23rd December I got a message from Attorneys in the USA to take down copyrighted material that was appearing on this blog (was a photo of a man with nice abs). So for the first time in a year and a half I logged in and was forced to familiarised myself with the blog interface again.
When I first received my blood test results I had quite a positive attitude. I felt good I had numbers to play with. Felt like I had a new health project to work on, and was excited about what I was about to learn about health, nutrition and my body. I was excited about the positive improvements I will be making in the coming future.
But as the week has passed my attitude has taken a turn for the worse. I’ve been getting confused by the contradictory stuff I’ve been reading and feel even more puzzled with all sorts of information floating around in my head. I’ve been wondering if there really is something wrong with my kidneys? I’ve felt discomfort in my kidney area and been feeling down, weak and a sense apathy. I’ve even wondering if I’m going to die? Sounds dramatic, but it is a thought that has gone through my head. I even looked at some of my Facebook profile photos and thought “Yeh if I were to guess, his face looks like someone who would probably die of kidney disease”. Crazy thoughts I know. I’ve wondered if maybe it’s nothing, maybe it’s just an elevated creatinine reading because of the creatine I’ve been supplementing with. I’ve also been wondering if how I am feeling is due to negative psychology rather than something biologically going on underneath. But then I wonder what if there is something wrong biologically, but I’m just blaming it on my psychology? And so the circle of negative thought and confusion goes on and on.
All of these experiences over the last week are making me feel that it’s time to write here on this blog once again. It will be therapeutic for me. It will help me to approach this issue systematically. It will force me to increase my awareness of my health and nutrition. And while I do all that I can share my experiences and what I learn with you, whoever you may be.
Robert Stephens, Wilbur Sargunraj's Co-Producer culturally fascinated by a washing machine in the kitchen (it's normal for us Brits)