« Who Will Benefit From This Project? | Main | Take It Home and Weigh It »
April 7, 2005
Now I'm Actually Sick
The air travel finally got to me. I have a cold.
Not nearly as bad a cold as I used to get every six months pre-CR, and the first cold I've had since starting CR a year ago, but a cold. Ick. I feel like I have a fever and I am sniffling a lot. I am also very indignant about the whole thing, as I've gotten so used to feeling so good all the time that I'm just not prepared to feel ill.
I may actually purchase a box of kleenex. I feel like I'm caving in!!!
And don't you just love the way everyone has some kind of weird remedy when you're sick? VLC says to eat two whole cloves of garlic. My other good friend says to drink orange juice and megadose on Vitamin C, but I'm scared to get rebound scurvy, which is what happens when you megadose on vitamin C and then stop. Rebound scurvy: sounds to me like what happens when you're just getting out of a bad relationship: you bruise easily and get sick a lot. My favorite home remedy I learned from a janitor at a hospital in Bayonne, New Jersey. When you feel a cold coming on, drink grapefruit juice and tequilla. I've tried this and it really works. I don't know if it's the Vitamin C in the grapefruit juice, the fact that the tequilla knocks you out, or what, but it curse what ails you. A lot of extra calories though, so I might not go with that remedy this time.
In any case, I feel terrible and I haven't felt terrible in a long time. It may be time to lie down with a giant cat on my head. That always makes me feel better, no matter what the problem is.
I had the strangest experience this morning upon returning from a quick trip to the Starbucks. There was a note at my door from one of my neighbors whom I've never met, claiming that I "borrowed" his patio chairs around New Years and never returned them. There was a phone number, so I called and left a message explaining that my mother had given me my patio chairs and has two exactly like them herself, so I'm quite sure that they are in fact mine and not borrowed. The guy called back almost immediately and apologized profusely. How weird is that? I'd never been accused of stealing patio furniture before.
Meanwhile, I'm having a fairly moderate calorie day. I skipped my usual eggwhite scramble in favor of a cup of leftover cannelini bean, asparagus and red pepper soup. Later on I ate 12 olives and 100 g turkey before heading out to meet two friends for lunch. We ended up going to a place that has calorie counts on their "healthy" menu, so I ate a shrimp cocktail that had 125 calories -- just plain shrimp -- and a side salad with just vinegar. I had taken my lunch time supplements, including the one that sounds like metronome and has to be taken with fat, with my turkey and olive pre-lunch snack, so I wasn't too worried about the lowfat lunch. Going out was a big mistake though, because by the time I got home my nose was running non-stop and I was feeling terrible. Sore throat too... this is not looking good. It's been so long since I've been sick, thanks to CR, that I am just plain confused by this. I don't want to take cold medicine because the last time I took any kind of medicine it made me really lightheaded and confused. If anything, I should take children's tylenol or baby aspirin. I'm just too little now for grown-up medication! I think I will probably just take nothing, drink lots of water (like that's anything unusual) and look back at my emails from MR in which he suggested things to do to get rid of sniffly feelings.
If I can get through the rest of the day without being accused of stealing patio furniture, I'll be in good shape.
There... it's later and I've had dinner. I also had a bit of grapefruit tequilla. Here's today's crunch:
Food List : 3-8.fls
DATE : 04/07/05
Num. Foods : 16
Food #1 : Turkey, all classes, meat only, cooked, roasted 0.5 servings
Food #2 : Beans, great northern, mature seeds, canned 0.4 servings
Food #3 : Asparagus, raw 1.0 servings
Food #4 : Olives, ripe, canned (jumbo-super colossal) 12.0 servings
Food #5 : Cranberry-grape juice drink, bottled 1.0 servings
Food #6 : Peppers, sweet, red, raw 0.1 servings
Food #7 : Crustaceans, shrimp, mixed species, raw 1.4 servings
Food #8 : Lettuce, looseleaf, raw 1.0 servings
Food #9 : Cheese, cheddar 0.1 servings
Food #10 : Lewis Labs 4.0 servings
Food #11 : Broccoli, frozen, chopped, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt 0.5 servings
Food #12 : Cauliflower, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 0.7 servings
Food #13 : Carrots, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 0.7 servings
Food #14 : Grapefruit juice, pink, raw 1.3 servings
Food #15 : Alcoholic beverage, distilled, all (gin, rum, vodka, whiskey) 80 proof 1.0 servings
Food #16 : Oil, olive, salad or cooking 1.0 servings
NUTRIENT TOTALS:
Abs. Values %RDA/SA
Calories 1109.68__cal 55%
Protein 74.00__gm 135% RDA
Total Fat 37.35__gm 57%
Sat. Fat 6.84__gm 34%
Mono. Fat 21.31__gm 74%
Poly. Fat 5.81__gm 87%
Carbohydrate 105.61__gm 35%
Fiber 29.25__gm 97%
Cholesterol 259.44__mg 86%
Vit. A 18599.24__IU 372% RDA
Vit. B6 1.45__mg 90% RDA
Vit. B12 1.77__mcg 89% RDA
Vit. C 278.74__mg 465% RDA
Vit. E 11.22__mg 140% RDA
Thiamine 0.54__mg 49% RDA
Folacin 410.45__mcg 228% RDA
Riboflavin 0.64__mg 49% RDA
Niacin 11.94__mg 80% RDA
Panto. Acid 2.96__mg 59% SA
Calcium 609.78__mg 51% RDA
Copper 1.41__mg 71% SA
Iron 15.91__mg 106% RDA
Magnesium 270.58__mg 97% RDA
Manganese 2.12__mg 71% SA
Phosphorus 850.60__mg 71% RDA
Potassium 2521.52__mg 126% RDA
Selenium 85.32__mcg 155% RDA
Sodium 2969.66__mg 124% SA
Zinc 8.55__mg 71% RDA
Tyrosine 2.94__gm 306% RDA
Lysine 7.28__gm 1011% RDA
Phenylalanine 4.11__gm 428% RDA
Leucine 7.91__gm 824% RDA
Valine 5.30__gm 631% RDA
Methionine 2.59__gm 864% RDA
Cystine 1.17__gm 392% RDA
Tryptophan 1.43__gm 794% RDA
Threonine 4.07__gm 848% RDA
Isoleucine 5.00__gm 695% RDA
Posted by april at April 7, 2005 12:59 PM
Comments
Rebound scurvy - what is that!?@ I think you are making this up. All the other mammals are making grams of C when they are starting to get sick and they don't get rebound scurvy. I've taken mega C dozens of times. It doesn't seem to cause any bad effects for me and I've chased aways the hint of a cold several times with this.
Try taking 6-10 caps of quercitin at a time - a couple of times a day. It will unstuff you and it's good for you - it's a xenohormetic (remember the CR conference briefing on them!).
Also - try saline nose spray.
And, if you want to get more exotic - garlic caps are good, they're an antibiotic. Also, grapefruit seed extract. Silver nasal spray also seems to work, but only use it for a week or two - it will give you blue skin (I know you'll love this concept).
Posted by: Mary at April 7, 2005 8:00 PM
Oh, April! I wondered how you would do with the flying. I always get sinus infections after flying. After visiting the British West Indies, I had one which was quite terrible. Listen to your body and rest! Lots of H2O, rest and good food will put you back on track! Think of the advice you would give! :-)
Posted by: Danielle at April 8, 2005 8:51 AM