Crappy day

 Having one of those days. Pandemic is getting to me. And then a friend said to me, "you know what you need..."

Hot tip: never, ever say "you should" or "you need" unless you are ready and willing to procure that thing.

This was the worst when my kid was a baby, and childless single friends would say dumb stuff like, "you need to make time for yourself! Plan a spa day!" Oh, are you willing to pay for that spa day, and provide childcare? No? Well how is it supposed to happen then? You think it never occurred to me that a spa day would be lovely, and that's the only reason I haven't done it?

Honestly 90% of the time people know what they need, they just aren't able to get it. 

And reminding people that they aren't able to get things they really, really need is just rubbing salt in the wound.

Grr.

I think it is once again time to go full hermit mode. Interacting with people means either seeing happy families (grumble) or happy couples (grrrr) or people going out and about throwing caution to the wind (GRAAAAGH) or getting shouted at by neurotic judgy doomsayers (augh!) or self-righteous people who lack empathy saying "you have no right to complain because someone else is worse off" (seethe) none of which is what I need right now.

Even Instagram, formerly a haven of lovely loaves of bread and birdwatching posts, is now full of restaurants announcing closures, either out of caution, or because their staff members have already tested positive. I just can't handle the constant misery. Augh.

Anyway this blog might get busier as I try to divert myself away from other things. We'll see.

Monday Foods

Much better with nutrients today! Started the day with blood pudding (look at that B12!) and ended it with a swiss chard salad. The kid didn't much care for blood pudding, so in the future I'll just make it for me and he can just have eggs.

I realize this blog is a bit dull but it's mainly for my own accountability and is anyone reading anyway? Ha! Maybe things will get more interesting Friday when I'm off work till January.

Sunday foods

 I did not hit my nutrient goals. Also, over one third of my calories came from a can of Pringles. Coincidence?

Looking back, looking ahead

Yesterday morning I stepped on the scale for the first time in a long time (the scale was literally dusty) and no surprise I'm at the heaviest I've been in a few years - 149lbs, BMI 24.8 - still healthy range, but at the very upper edge. More to the point, some of my clothing is uncomfortably snug, which I do not like.

So, I'm getting back on track. 

Since I've restarted this blog, I've started most mornings with 20 situps. Not a lot, but at least I'm getting the blood pumping early! Yesterday I picked up some calcium-free vitamin C to take with my iron, in addition to upping my intake of red meat. Last night I had swiss chard in addition to beef. I just need to get myself moving! I used to get up early to run, but it's so hard in the dark. Thankfully we're nearly at the solstice, so days will be getting longer again. Also, winter break is almost here, so no rush in the mornings.

I think to start, my goals will be: do something physical when I get up (i.e. keep doing situps but add more), and do something outside for at least an hour a day.

This is scary, but I took "before" pics Saturday morning, in hopes that some day there will be visible progress:

Ignore my messy hair and grumpy expression!

Meanwhile, here's Saturday's nutrition:

Friday foods

 

Duck!

I was looking at a resource on getting enough iron and it offered this easy tip:

The redder the meat, the more iron it contains

... which made me think, what about duck? It's fairly dark. So I looked it up, and it's pretty good, and is also in my freezer, so that will be dinner tonight. Thinking of picking up lamb for tomorrow, as I haven't had it in a while, and my last blog post in 2018 was about how I finally got 100% of my iron from food by eating lamb with spinach. Worth a shot!

Meanwhile, here's yesterday's nutrition log:

Blarg

Not a great mood today. The haemotologist rejected the referral because my hemoglobin isn't low enough. Meanwhile I stumbled across this blog post I wrote back in 2018:

I just had a call from my regular doctor's office (they were cc'd on the bloodwork results, which I can only assume came back abnormal). The doctor said my red blood cells had been "increasing in size" over the years, and "nothing to worry about, we just want to rule out a few things," and determine whether they need to send me to a haematologist.

Guess what, I never got to see a haemotologist back then, either!

So basically my red blood cells have been getting weirder for 4+ years, I have low energy and shortness of breath, but no one is inclined to do anything about it until I get a whole lot worse? Meh. Current doc says to re-do bloodwork in 4-6 months, to see if anything changes (anyone wanna bet? anyone wanna buy the Brooklyn Bridge?) and I am half-tempted to sabotage by going vegetarian for a few weeks (obviously I wouldn't really, because the only person I'd be punishing is myself).

Anyway. Blarg.

Rebuilding habits

Going to try to get back in the habit of posting regularly, even if no one is looking! Maybe tomorrow I will take some "before" pics so I can see my progress as I start exercising again. It's been too easy to get in the habit of staying in all day, just because it's cold and dark and generally grim. This evening I went for a short bike ride (about 8km) so that's a start at least!

Nutrition for the day is a bit messed up, as it was our "holiday lunch" at work, which meant ordering in and doing a zoom call. I ordered a salad of kale, squash, pears, and goat cheese. All they sent was squash! Not happy, Sud Forno. You let me down. I added a few ingredients from home, but no kale on hand so that was out.

My red meat of the day is a steak, currently in the oven getting ready for a reverse-sear, along with tomato salad. Not the best balance of nutrients, but somewhat out of my control! The cake for breakfast though, I blame no one but myself.

Where’s the beef?

Wow it’s been a while!

Have spent the last nearly-two-years in lockdown due to covid (how is this still going on??), and in that time fitness has been up and down. 2020 was my first “official” 10k, although in between signing up in January and running in May, it went from a proper event to “do it on your own and everyone gets a finishing medal.” I did run the full 10k though! 

In other news, my lungs are still poor, although I’m wondering if it’s my lungs that are the issue, or anemia? I’ve always been on the anemic side, despite taking iron for years. Shortness of breath can be a symptom of anemia. So maybe that’s what’s happening?

I’ve had all sorts of bloodwork done. My thyroid, kidneys, and liver are all top-notch. I have beautiful levels of B12. I had a GI scope (upper and lower) and my insides are perfect. Basically I am a picture of perfect health, except that RBC is the low edge of normal, dipping into anemia. Ferritin is in the basement (should be between 50 and 150; the highest I remember mine ever being is 18, and this year it’s slipped from 6 down to 5). I also have a higher than normal RDW, which refers to the size/width of red blood cells; basically they’re irregular from what I understand.

Years of Eurofer followed by a couple of years of Feramax have done nothing. Now I’m waiting for a referral to a haemotologist. 

Meanwhile, I switched to Palafer, at my doctor’s suggestion, and I’ve decided on top of that to increase my red meat intake. Far from vegetarian, I still don’t eat that much red meat—we usually have burgers on Wednesday and spaghetti and meatballs on Thursday, but that’s really it for beef. Once in a while I’ll have a steak for dinner, or marrow on toast, but not very frequently.

So, starting today, more beef! I just had liver and onions for lunch, and have a steak planned for dinner tomorrow. Friday morning, blood pudding for breakfast. Sunday, beef stew for dinner. Will keep this up until my next round of bloodwork and see if it helps!