Apparently, there was no resurrection, but a girl can get a second (and third, and forth...) chance, right? Just read my latest post from 6 months ago to see basically how I feel today.
After living through the past months and couple of years of steady weight gain, I feel I've finally hit my "this-has-gotta-stop" moment. Last week, I started searching online for a holistic physician. Sadly, it's easy to find medical doctors who throw meds at each symptom, and it's almost as easy to find a quack who will sell you some "herb" or have you rub Buddha's belly. I was looking for someone moderate; an MD who knew diet was the major player in my health and could help me get on the right track.
Well, I found him! After reading his reviews on Yelp, I had no doubts. It's cool how I stumbled upon the reviews. I began reading about another clinic in the area with horrid reviews, then decided to check out Dr. Dickey. Like our midwife in Las Vegas, he doesn't accept insurance, so it costs us more, but is worth every penny. I won't go into the fact that our good doctors are limited and stifled to practice how they see fit when they are under the thumb of insurance companies. It's nice to have a medical doctor who is free to treat me to the best of his knowledge, not according to the preferences of insurance businessmen. But I digress...
If you want to know how the office visit went, just read the reviews. They pretty much sum it up. He and his wife are both delightful people who truly care to know their patients and patients' families.
As for my health, I'm in good health. I went in wanting to discuss my weight and fatigue, among other things. Dr. Dickey visited with me for 2 hours! He listened to my medical history, family history, and current concerns...for 2 hours (did I mention that yet?)... before even beginning the physical exam. At the end of our visit, he gave me a written "plan of action." For me, it's all about diet and exercise. Whole foods. Produce. Organic, grass-fed, wild-caught, high-quality meats. Nuts and seeds. Moderate amounts of hormone-free (even raw) dairy. Cut WAY down on grains. One serving of either quinoa, brown rice, or steel-cut oats per day. Otherwise, no grains. That part won't be easy, but when I compare this to starting a regimen of chemical meds and staying fatigued and overweight, it doesn't seem so bad. He gave me a lot of great advice that I won't post here, because it was advice for me; his advice would likely be different for you. If you're in the Austin area, I can highly recommend him.
Two documentaries are currently streaming on Netflix and are closed captioned. I highly recommend them. It all falls right in line with what Dr. Dickey told me about diet and health:
Hungry for Change
Food Matters
On the exercise front, I attended my first ever Crossfit Saturday. My legs were sore for the next 3 days. I'll keep going to the Saturday free class. The workout (WOD) mostly uses bodyweight and was heavy on legs. If I want to see improvement, I'll need to keep up the same type of workouts at least a couple more times during the week.
I truly fell in love with yoga, but for budgeting purposes, didn't stay on at Lifetime. I need to start back by simply watching the plethora of yoga videos on YouTube. I also love walking downtown on the Ladybird trails. I'm committing to that once per week. Dr. Dickey said that weight lifting burns fat best; Crossfit is one way, but I need to find one or two more days during the week that I can do weight training. He also told me to get out on the trampoline as often as I can.
Since the appointment Monday morning, I've been focusing on the food part, knowing that's more than half my battle. Next week, I'll work on adding the daily, purposeful workouts. Mixing Crossfit, trampoline, yoga, walking/running trails, and various types of weight training should keep me interested and busy. I just have to DO it regularly and with purpose.
