Wake Up Call and Dietary Changes - Sun., Aug. 25

The good news is, Bob's plantar fasciitis is under control. Our Volksmarch on Sunday was back to our normal 10K and our usual pace.

On the other hand, Bob's "routine and preventative" physical exam last week was anything but. He had routine lab work done a few days prior to his family practice doctor visit. When he saw the doctor, his "one to 1-1/2 hour appointment" turned into three hours. Additional blood tests were drawn, he had to have a urinalysis, an EKG, and a sonogram.

The doctor was very worried about Bob and wanted to admit him to the hospital on the spot. Bob's diagnosis is atrial fibrillation in which one valve of the heart doesn't pump properly causing blood to pool. This condition can lead to a stroke. He also has diabetes, and edema in his ankles. The doctor told Bob to lose 80 lbs. ... Bob hasn't been at that low a weight since college. A cardiologist appointment was set up for the next day. Needless to say, Bob and I were completely shook up by this.

Bob loves his cardiologist, who is also a runner, is the same age as Bob, and recently lost 80 lbs. The cardiologist told Bob to take his medications and he can keep running marathons.

What this means is, we are changing our diet. We plan to avoid wheat breads, pasta, and sugar, and eat highly sweet, starchy vegetables (white potatoes, carrots, yams, corn, peas, etc.) in moderation. No more soda for Bob (my soda intake has been almost nil for a couple of years) and cookies, cake, pie, candy will be only for very special occasions. Thankfully, we have limited drinking beer and wine (not into heavier alcohol) to once in a great while. This will not be easy because most of our eating habits have been ingrained over many years.

My "routine and preventative" physical exam is Tuesday. I wonder what they'll find. My guess is he'll tell me to lose 30-40 lbs.

In a serendipitous turn of events, while I was working in the RV park office one of the long-time residents brought in some books for the park library. Brenda (my boss) and I looked over what he was dropping off. In the stack were many cookbooks and books about health. I snagged some low-fat, low-cholesterol cookbooks and a book called, "The Engine 2 Diet," by Rip Esselstyn. Interestingly enough, we already have a book called "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" by his father, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.

So, a new diet will be a challenge and will require cleaning out our cupboards, learning new recipes, and making a shopping list of what we'll need. I love to cook so this will be a fun, interesting process. Eating out will mean closely studying menus and opting for healthier choices.

All this makes the plantar fasciitis seem tame.

We choose to be healthy. We'll keep you posted on updates.

Travel Bug out.