Healthier_Kathi (AKA PediDoc)

After reading and participating on a limited basis on this site for over 6 months, I've decided to take the plunge and start a journal. I had a fun filled weekend celebrating my 51st birthday. Managed to stay primal, with the exception of too much wine! My 2nd son took me to see Magic Mike (bless his heart), I'm not sure what was more entertaining the movie or the audience!

A bit of background. I live in a planned community outside of hot, humid Houston. No scenic views, goats, wildlife (well we do have raccoons, do they count?), or other interesting tid bits to talk about. We have lived here about 2 years since my husband retired after 28 years. He now works for the UT system (I told him he was too young to sit home and drive me crazy!). I'm happy to be in a green area with "real" trees (spent the previous 30+ years in the desert), but not so enamoured with the humidity. We have 4 adult sons, the eldest of which is married. The eldest, daughter-in-law, and #s 3&4 all share a home in another city. Number 2 lives with us, Juliet our rescue schnauzer and Latte the Bassett picture you see as my avatar.

I am a pediatric nurse practitioner who doesn't know when to stop going to school. I'm back for a second doctorate (guess I don't want to be the old dog who can't learn a new trick). I have a full time job teaching nurse practitioner and doctoral students and three part time clinical positions. I enjoy both the academic and clinical sides of my work, they feed different parts of my brain. My full time job is in our old city >800 miles from our new home. I do most of my teaching on-line, but do travel quite a bit. This makes eating primal a bit of a challenge, so I tend to stick to the same places with my favorite servers. It's not unusual for me to plan where I'm going to eat based on who is working when (they know my likes, dislikes, and that I eat primal, so it's easier).

I started my journey toward being healthier over a year ago when I saw the pictures from my son's wedding (who is that fat woman?). I weighed 198 pounds on a not quite 5'4" small boned frame. I grew up quite "skinny" and stayed that way even through 4 pregnancies (I went home from the hospital in my normal clothes). Then I hit 40, a not so happy job, and started stress eating. So now I had a bad habit to break and weight to loose. Following CW, I got down 30 pounds and stalled. I also started having lots of bloating, low back pain, and my asthma was out of control. A google search for solutions led me to MDA, which led to several books being ordered and read. I no longer do cows milk, instead it's either canned coconut milk or unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my coffee. I've been off sodas for almost a year, substituting water, teas, and occasional coconut water. I do eat butter and cheese without issue. Eliminating grains, with the exception of 1/2 cup brown rice once a month or less and the occasional corn tortilla (it's Texas, you know) took some time (I'm fighting the battle of having a husband and son who do not eat primal). With the changes, my asthma has improved, no more bloating, and back pain is gone. I've dropped another 10 pounds. I started my journey in a tight size 16 and now I'm in a loose 12, tight 10 with a goal of hitting a 8 this summer. I've started working out to the Wii for 30 minutes a day (combining activity with play), hula hooping for 2-10 minutes a day, and wearing a pedometer to make sure I move slowly for long periods of time!

Well that was quite the ramble, so I promise I will try and be shorter from now on. My goals for this journal are to help keep me honest with my eating, get some support (not happening in my house), and share my journey with others.

Great start to your journal! I am looking forward to sharing your progress. We are very similar in many ways - height, frame size, age. I am in awe of your professional life, I can barely manage my full-time job 20 minutes away. I will stop whining now! I need to get off cow's milk also, I need to experiment and see what changes. There are certainly enough substitutes.

Don't worry, I will pet the goats in your honor!

My asthma improved significantly when I stopped cow's milk. I always keep canned coconut milk in the pantry. I put one in the refrigerator and when chilled use the can opener to take the tip off. It looks like whipped cream and is sooooo good in coffee or on berries. Blueberries and 2 cups of coffee with almond milk this morning (I'm not much of a breakfast eater).

You are really inspiring me, I'm stopping cow's milk today. I need to see if my skin clears up completely - I am having an occasional zit (yuck) and also I want to sing better. I have noticed a difference in my voice - I can hit high notes easily now - and I need to see if milk is the problem. I'm not worried about butter as I understand it is actually the proteins in cow's milk that can be a problem, but I can easily test this on myself. After reading Mark's post today, I realize I need to add coconut in some form daily and see the results also.

I'm thinking you will sing better because you will have less phlem. Same principle with my asthma. 30 minutes of Wii, 3 minutes of hula hoop and some carnitas I made yesterday with strawberries for lunch.

Hi, Kathi. I enjoyed reading your entry. I'm just finishing an Executive MBA and dabbled with the idea of a DBM or PhD but not sure that I'm up to it. I'm on Day 8 of Palao and feeling great. I've always eaten clean but the past week eliminated sugar, dairy and grains: The transition has not been difficult. I hope to see some weight come off --- reading these posts gives me hope. I'm currently 5'11" 160 lbs --- I added 10 lbs during my MBA (always studying and reading vs having physical activity). I need to get back to a more playful life and drop these 10 lbs. Cheers, and hope to be around for your success stories!
/Louisa

Welcome Louisa - boy do I know about stress eating....... I'm glad to hear you find the transition easy. My difficulty is DH, DS, and wine (I'm thinking living in Italy as a child where you drank wine at lunch and dinner did me in). I took a few years off after my post-masters before I did my DNP, but turned around a year after I walked the stage to start my PhD. Take your time, get the weight off, then start again. I'm trying to loose weight this time around! :D

Eggplant, spaghetti squash, and homemade meat sauce for dinner. Yummy!:p

Well off to the clinic today. Hopefully it won't be too busy with the holiday tomorrow. During lunch I'm going to do my research interview for qualitative research class. Had blueberries and coffee with almond milk for breakfast. Packed carnitas, zucchini, and strawberries for lunch. I've got 3 paper to get written the next 10 days, so tonight will be hitting the books after I Wii and hula hoop. Probably some laundry too, as I fly out on the 9th.

So the office brought lunch for my birthday, but three guesses what they had? Wings (okay) and pizza (not so okay) with ice cream (not doing dairy) and fresh peaches. So I had wings, the zucchini I brought, the strawberries I packed and peaches. Saw 30 patients in about 4 hours with the help of a student. Came home tired. Leftovers for dinner.