Posts Tagged ‘health’

Hope everyone had great Christmas and New Year celebrations and got loads of cool stuff from Santa, family and friends.

I focused on health related gifts and received the Jane Kennedy cookbook “Fabulous Food minus the boombah”, the CSIRO total wellbing diet and an hilarious but confronting book “Skinny Bastard”, more on the latter soon.

I used some gift vouchers to get myself some kitchen bit and pieces during the Boxing Day sales and picked up a Food Processor, Slow Cooker and a big Casserole dish.

So the kitchen has the missing pieces, now to start cooking more and experimenting with different dishes and make 2010 a relative culinary delight. I have been able to get my son to start eating some different foods which will make it easier to experimenting with a wide range of tastes myself.

I need to ramp up the ‘Cooking with Al’ series, so all who have either shown interest, made a promise or have something to share, I’ll be calling upon you over the coming months to make it happen (you listening Richard?).

I’m knocking off for a couple of weeks holiday, not sure if I’ll be posting much while I’m gone as the only place with free wi-fi is McDonalds .. good marketing – bastards!

I still haven’t decided on New Year resolutions, or targets for the year but I’ll work that out over the coming weeks.

So here I sit on NYE 2009, just an hour to go until the new year comes and with it more hopes and dreams that I need to find ways of turning into realities. I’m not sure if I am ready, but I wasn’t really ready 11 months ago when I et out on this journey.

It’s been a pretty amazing year by anyone’s standards, here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the year and stories that made it into the 130+ blog posts during 2009.

• Launched Saving Alan, sharing my journey through a blog and social media.
• Appeared on Channel 7 News in January 2009 regarding obesity and genetic research.
• Having a fitness age of 80 and a BMI of over 50 putting me in the “Super Obese” category. (BMI now 37)
• Reducing my risk of heart disease substantially.
• Running a fundraiser for the victims of the vic bushfires with a couple of other local bands and raising over $3,500 in one night
• Lost 40+ kilos from a starting weight of 158 kilograms.
• Sponsorship of $6,400+ for Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.
• Become a Yogi, loving Bikram Yoga and going on average 2-3 times a week.
• Cooking, skill improved and filmed 8 Cooking with Al sessions, more to come next year.
• Reconnection with old friends and colleagues.
• Generosity, love and support of family and friends.
• Putting myself first sometimes more often.
• Better understanding of what makes me tick and why I make certain choices.
• I like myself a whole lot more.
• Temptations – the failures and the successes, both equally as important.
• On air interview with Richard Stubbs on 774 ABC Radio Melbourne in May.
• Part of Perfect Gift For a Man book for the Inspire Foundation.
• Featured in an article in Sun-Herald on December 13.
• Story coming on Channel 7’s Today Tonight.
• Openly discussing depression and my darkest moments publicly for the first time.
• Started a new band  (a second one)
• Axed from original band of 7 years for personal reasons that they wouldn’t share – don’t you love 30+ year so called friendships.
• Resigned from new band – now selling one of two drum kits.

The key thing was a happy year with lots of time spent with my son. Most of ll I m in a much better and healthier place than this time last year and I have so many wonderful people to thank, which I will, but at another time. It’s getting late, I’m tired and I want to make the 8am Yoga class and set my intent for 2010.

I am enjoying the journey with all it’s highs and lows and twists and turns and look forward to 2010 as an absolute breakthrough year.

I’ll share resolutions / targets with you in the New Year.

Meanwhile have a safe and happy New Year.

Chicken Cacciatore

Nick K came over and showed me how to cook an Italian classic, Chicken Cacciatore and I have finally got around to editing and posting it.

Here’s the recipe ingrediants.

8 skinless chicken thigh fillets
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
Small amount of oil
Small tub of kalamata olives
Small bunch fresh basil
Dried oregano
2 stock cubes (chicken is the preference but it won’t really matter).
Whatever vegetables you like to eat on the side…

On Monday I visited the Health Heart Clinic run by the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute to get another check up see what the changes I have been able to benefit from physically during the Saving Alan project. At the last visit in September I had reduced my risk of Heart disease substantially, but this time wasn’t as good a picture.

Not bad though, considering my weight and that i still smoke, my bloods etc are all good, it just seemed that the blood pressure was up a little – probably due to my stupidity in having a cigarette just before going in, we smokers are playing with loaded guns – and we know it.

My next visit will be late May 2010, and I am confident that the moles will be gone by then and I should be below 100 kilos, so we will see the pendulum swing back.

Here are the comparative results from my visits so far, click to see a larger version;

Smoker: If I stopped smoking then I would get my overall risk factor cut by half to 3.5%, which is low but higher than what it could be.

Systolic Blood Pressure: was up this visit, we think it could have been th influence of a cigarette, I’ll make sure next time there are no smokes

Diastolic Blood Pressure: This is the pressure coming in to the heart, it remains good if not excellent.

TC (Total Cholesterol); Well within the healthy normal range

HDL (Good Cholesterol): Still needs to come up a bit, but my diet has been a bit off lately so if I get with it we’ll see an upward move..

LDL (Bad Cholesterol): All good here

Triglycerides: Nice and low

Glucose: have I mentioned that I am indestructible?

Weight: Heading in the right direction.

Body Mass Index (BMI): Down to 37.2 – and I used to over the 50 mark.

Waist circumference: Another 30cm to go.

Heart Health: Risk factor has dropped from 9% to 7% a low risk to have a cardiovascular event in the next 5 years. My target absolute risk is 2.5% and I am 2.8 times more likely than a person with a low risk profile to have said event, down from 3.6x.

Diabetes Health: My risk of developing type 2 diabetes within 5 years is High, and with this risk level I have a 1 in 7 chance. This hasn’t moved since the start, so weight and waist circumference are the two big indicators here..

The Heart Clinic is based at the Alfred Hospital in Commercial Road, Prahran (between Punt and St.Kilda Roads) and you can call them on 03 9076 3398 to organise your own check up. The first time you go takes about 40 minutes and all it consists of is a questionnaire, blood pressure and a blood test. The blood test is cool compared to what I have been used to, instead of taking a syringe to you and extracting a heap of blood, they just prick the end of a finger  and take  small amount of blood through a tiny little straw .. it just runs up there on its own.

Then they analyse the blood in a little machine and that provides results on cholesterols, triglycerides and glucose levels. These combined with blood pressure, weight, body mass index, waist measurement, age and whether you’re a smoker all combine to provide a risk factor.

So give Jan or Liz a call now, it’s free and the information is worth knowing before you end up in the Alfred proper.

Some people have been asking for a before and current photo to see the change. Believe it or not, I don’t have many shots from january this year, but I found this one from last summer. Underneath is a shot from July 08, when I was smaller than at the Jan 09 shot.

I wonder what I’ll look like with another 30+ kilos gone?

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I have been having a lot of trouble with blisters on my let foot and it has meant that I haven’t been doing anywhere near as much walking as I’d like to. So the Podiatrist got me into a new pair of running shoes that stopped the lateral movement that was causing most of the trouble. To test it out I went for a 2 hour walk, and of course no lateral movement, but on the left foot I was getting movement the other way causing a blister to kick in at about the 80 minute mark, and so the walking is on hold until it heals.

Luckily, I have an exercise bike on loan from friends, while they live overseas, and it sits in my living room, mocking me most days, but I have been getting back on it the past few days. With only 4 weeks to go, I am motivated to do whatever it takes to move as much weight as I possibly can and I have been able to move my time spent on it from 30 minutes, to 40 minutes, to 50 minutes and tomorrow morning it will be 60 minutes (if I get up early enough).

Not an attractive facial expression when D took the shot, I think he just wanted me to stop so he could hear the TV

I find it boring and repetitive, but for the next month it will be a great fall back to burn off the weight. So the tunes get turned up and I just keep going, trying to work out the amount of calories I’ll burn, the distance I’ll ride and anything else I can do to keep the mind off wanting to give up at 30 minutes. I just have to keep going, it doesn’t hurt that much and the benefit far outweighs the short term discomfort.

Let’s see if I last 60 minutes in the morning!

Highlights and lowlights can come in close succession, one has a way of lifting high, while the other drags you down and suffocates the will.

The last few days have been absolutely fantastic, spending almost 5 days straight with my boy, being active, hanging out, talking, cooking, reading and making stuff up was just great. But the flip side is when he leaves and the house just seems so empty and barren and I don’t know what to do with myself. I have a large list of things that need to get done, but I just couldn’t be bothered with them, so procrastination takes over. It’s just a crap feeling and I am sick of it.

I just defeated McDonalds .. after having a bit of a run in (over what I still can’t figure out) with someone and after dropping D back at his Mum’s house I had that familiar feeling of just not giving toss, not caring, what did it matter, who really cares (hear the self pity kicking in?) to the point where I actually got in the car and drove to McDonalds.

200 metres short I stopped the car and asked myself did I really want to eat McDonalds and undo all the hard work I’ve done over the past 4-5 days, the exercise and the cooking? and did I really want to front up to weigh in on Thursday and have an average or poor result all because I ate McDonalds for feeling down.

I did the unbelievable … I started driving again and drove right by and went back home. Still feeling down, but better because I hadn’t buckled.

Last month I went in for my second last visit to the Healthy Hearts Clinic to get a status update.

Only one more to go on the 30th of November, the change you will see is quite substantial, wither though I have been battling getting the weight off – it has really slowed down, my health has improved dramatically. Most noticeably my risk of a cardiovascular event has declined 55%, over half than when I started. So this illustrates it’s the health aspect more so than the weight that is important. Mind you I still totally intend to drop the full 70 kilo target and give up the cigarettes which will really have further impact.

Here are the comparative results from my visits so far;

Smoker: If I stopped smoking then I would get my overall risk factor cut by half to 2, which is below average for someone of my age.

Systolic Blood Pressure: All good

Diastolic Blood Pressure: This is the pressure coming in to the heart, it remains good if not excellent.

TC (Total Cholesterol); Have reduced by 35.3%, and it is well within the healthy normal range

HDL (Good Cholesterol): Here’s the impact of the changes in my diet, I am now aroundr the 1.0 mark, regarded as the healthy benchmark.

LDL (Bad Cholesterol): Down to an unmeasurable level, how good is that..

Triglycerides: Too low to measure, great outcome.

Glucose: Sitting right in the healthy range..

Weight: have been through a rough period, just not getting the food right, but I’ll get there.

Body Mass Index (BMI): Down 18.2% – not sure if I will ever get to 25.

Waist circumference: Down 15.4% or 23cm. By my weekly measurements I got to 40cm off, but over the past 4 weeks have added 10cm although this will come off very quickly.

Heart Health: Risk factor has dropped from 9% to 4% a low risk to have a cardiovascular event in the next 5 years. My target absolute risk is 2.5% and I am 1.6 times more likely than a person with a low risk profile to have said event, down from 3.6x.

Diabetes Health: My risk of developing type 2 diabetes within 5 years is High, and with this risk level I have a 1 in 7 chance. I’d like to see this drop considerably over the next 4 months.

So I am heading in the right direction to be around to see grandchildren and enjoy all life has to offer.

The Heart Clinic is based at the Alfred Hospital in Commercial Road, Prahran (between Punt and St.Kilda Roads) and you can call them on 03 9076 3398 to organise your own check up. The first time you go takes about 40 minutes and all it consists of is a questionnaire, blood pressure and a blood test. The blood test is cool compared to what I have been used to, instead of taking a syringe to you and extracting a heap of blood, they just prick the end of a finger  and take  small amount of blood through a tiny little straw .. it just runs up there on its own.

Then they analyse the blood in a little machine and that provides results on cholesterols, triglycerides and glucose levels. These combined with blood pressure, weight, body mass index, waist measurement, age and whether you’re a smoker all combine to provide a risk factor.

So give Jan or Liz a call now, it’s free and the information is worth knowing before you end up in the Alfred proper.

It’s been a hard haul over the past 4 weeks and the results have shown that, and also the regularity of blogging always drops off when I am struggling, although this past week work has been the cause.

I really resoved to exercise hard this week and not to cheat myself with food during the week, and although I was poor with food over the weekend, I still managed to drop off 2.2 kilos last week. For the first time in probably 5-6 years I am below 120 kilograms. I am now just 12 kilograms away from my minimum target of 50 kilos and somewhere closer to 60 kilograms is looking more like a reasonable target .. imagine if I could get below 100 kilos by the end of November or even by Christmas .. what an amazing change that will be from last Christmas and from where I am right now.

I knew I had a good week in terms of results, I could feel it in my body shape, especially my stomach. An old belt now fits, I am now into my 4th suit in the progression down, jeans that were tight now fit but I still have a bunch of jeans to get back into in probably another 8-10 kilos time. It’s going to get expensive in regards to clothes – suits, jeans, shirts etc and the things I hadn’t thought of are shoe size is reduced so new shoes, underwear is starting to get baggy and uncomfortable – all good problems though.

Off to the footy tonight for the last time in the season to see the Bombers take on the Lions. Food choices may go out the window .. I’ll have to work extra hard over the week to minimise the collateral damage.

Took my 8 year old to Yoga this morning, he joined in for the floor exercises, I love having him there, he’s turned into an amazing support always on the look out for the food choices I make, questioning whether something is ok to eat or not. And oh for his flexibility!

So here’s this weeks results, I’ll post a Cooking with Al tomorrow, with my new invention test – Chicken and Vegetable Stew.

That's better!

Yesterday I ventured into the Healthy Heart Clinic at the Alfred Hospital, run by Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute, for an update on the health impact of my lifestyle changes.

This is the third visit I’ve made, and the plan is to visit again in late September and then again right at the end of SavingAlan in late November. I wrote about my last visit in this blog post.

Here are the comparative results from my visits so far;

Smoker: If I stopped smoking then I would get my overall risk factor cut by half to 2.5, which is the average for someone of my age.

Systolic Blood Pressure: They say the pressure is a little high, but a surgeon mate of mine reckons my blood pressure is brilliant for someone my age, regardless of the weight I carry.

Diastolic Blood Pressure: This is the pressure coming in to the heart, it remains good if not excellent.

TC (Total Cholesterol); Have reduced by 22.5%, and it is within the healthy normal range

HDL (Good Cholesterol): Here’s the impact of the changes in my diet, I am now over the 1.0 mark, regarded as the healthy benchmark.

LDL (Bad Cholesterol): Down 35.3% in 5 months.

Triglycerides: No issues here, in fact the decrease of 38.8% is a fantastic result.

Glucose: Sitting right in the healthy range..

Weight: In the last period I only dropped 5 kilos, but have still been able to get the great results we see above. School Holidays blew my routine though.

Body Mass Index (BMI): Down 17.7% – not sure if I will ever get to 25.

Waist circumference: Down 11.4% or 17cm. By my weekly measurements I am down to 126.5cm, so I must have been bloated from toast I didn’t have the day before. I can’t imagine how good it would feel to be 94cm around the waist, but if I stay motivated anything is possible.

Heart Health: Risk factor has dropped from 9% to 8% and now to 5%, regarded as a mild risk to have a cardiovascular event in the next 5 years. My target absolute risk is 2.5% and I am 2 times more likely than a person with a low risk profile to have said event, down from 3.6x.

Diabetes Health: My risk of developing type 2 diabetes within 5 years is High, and with this risk level I have a 1 in 7 chance. I’d like to see this drop considerably over the next 4 months.

So I am still indestructible!

The Heart Clinic is based at the Alfred Hospital in Commercial Road, Prahran (between Punt and St.Kilda Roads) and you can call them on 03 9076 3398 to organise your own check up. The first time you go takes about 40 minutes and all it consists of is a questionnaire, blood pressure and a blood test. The blood test is cool compared to what I have been used to, instead of taking a syringe to you and extracting a heap of blood, they just prick the end of a finger  and take  small amount of blood through a tiny little straw .. it just runs up there on its own.

Then they analyse the blood in a little machine and that provides results on cholesterols, triglycerides and glucose levels. These combined with blood pressure, weight, body mass index, waist measurement, age and whether you’re a smoker all combine to provide a risk factor.

So give Jan or Liz a call now, it’s free and the information is worth knowing before you end up in the Alfred proper.