Sixth Day

Yesterday, the sixth day of ten cokes a day, I went in to the doctor to review the results of my physical from last week. A staff member weighed me and put me in a room and took my blood pressure. She then noticed something curious. “You were just here last week…” she said, and then took me back to the scale to weigh me again because she thought she had made a mistake. I’m assuming that’s why she weighed me twice, anyway.

My weight, as I measured it that morning, was back up, to 173, or five pounds heavier than when I started. My blood sugar was 86. Except for an all-day feeling of fullness, I don’t have any other symptoms.

The doctor, who, I think, seems like he’s trying to do a good job for his patients, sat me down in the office to discuss my crazy high cholesterol numbers: Total cholesterol: 359. HDL: 112, the highest he had ever seen. But the LDL, at 231, is what he wanted us to focus on lowering. His suggestion was to reduce fattening foods, and what he meant by that was red meat, sausage, fats, “processed” foods. But those are my main food groups, and I don’t believe those are “fattening.” I believe high carbs, sugars, and grains are fattening, but when I started to explain some of this he seemed a little offended and asked if I was trying to educate him. I was really just trying to see if he and I were compatible. Like a first date, touching on politics and religion. He did say that he himself lost 40 pounds on a low-carb diet, but that all patients were different and it didn’t work for everyone. I guess.

Then I mentioned this blog, and my 10 Cokes a day, but he was in a hurry by that point in the meeting and didn’t have much to say for or against, except acknowledging that he had seen these kind of stunts on the internet. My words, not his. I want to emphasize that I think he’s a good doctor and a smart guy, but it may be hard to go through years and years of medical school and come out paleo.

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