Day 27

Hi

Blood Pressure for today: I measured 3 times in quick succession and each time I measured it was lower than the one before. The final reading was: 146/86. I am not sure what this means, but I do know, that in the past, even if I measured 3 times in a row like I did today -- it did not come down -- so I think that is an improvement for me. At least that is how I shall interpret it, unless I find out something that would change that interpretation. I have not seen numbers as low as these previous to doing "The 30 Day Diabetes Cure" -- even with blood pressure medication (I am still taking two of them -- Losartan and Triamterene). So I consider that a success -- or at least heading in the right direction. I have it in mind that if I don't see real further success with the program, I would like to try "time released L-arginine", too, because of the natural blood pressure lowering effects that I have read about. What had been keeping me from it, is the expense. If the program continues to work, I may not need it, anyway.

My blood sugar is high: 147 -- after a 2C bowl of beans flavored with picante sauce and parmeson cheese which was my breakfast. I also had a bottle and a half of water (glass bottle, 12 oz.) -- one of which had about 2 ounces of pomegranate juice in it. I believe the juice is what raised my blood sugar -- because in my other tests the beans did not raise my blood sugar in the same way. In the book Dr Ripich highly recommends the watered down pomegranate juice because it does so many wonderful things for the body.

I have copied and pasted the following 2 paragraphs from:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/63812-health-effects-pomegranate-juice/ 

"Heart Health -- Pomegranate juice contains higher levels of antioxidants than most other fruit juices. According to a research review in "Nutrition Reviews," pomegranate juice contains potent antioxidants that reduce hypertension and inhibit the buildup of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol. Reducing cholesterol is a major step in protecting yourself against heart attack and stroke. 

"Diabetes -- People with diabetes mellitus have higher levels of glucose in their blood. This increases free radical damage, which can lead to cardiovascular diseases. A study in the Oct. 15, 2009 issue of the "Journal of Endocrinological Investigation" concluded that the antioxidants in pomegranate extract can reverse free radical damage and protect patients with type 2 diabetes from heart disease." (Written by: Janet Contursi)

 

I think that would convince anyone that pomegranates and their juice are extremely healthful and should be incorporated into the diabetes healing diet. The only side effect I noticed is the raising of the blood sugar, but, along with Dr. Ripich, I think that if the juice is drunk in moderation, it should be part of the diabetic healing program. There are other health benefits that pomegranate juice provides, but I will leave that to you to investigate.

One thing that happened with the pomegranate juice was that a few days ago I drank it and became quite dizzy with nausea. I commented on it in the blog but I did not share what I later discovered. I think now is a good time to do so. I had been buying my P-juice in large 48 oz bottles to save on the per ounce price. Then, since I am not always careful to take my 1.5 to 2 ozs every single day, I had had my bottle for quite a long time (I was drinking it before I started the 30 Day program) without realizing that it had started to go bad. I still don't really care for the flavor of the juice, (the fresh juice is not actually unpalatable, it just tastes unfamiliar and odd to me... still) so I did not recognize that the flavor had changed and gotten a little worse.

Since the big bottle, which I had been storing in the fridge, was getting very low, I had bought 3 smaller bottles equaling the same 48 ounces to replenish the larder. (The 3 smaller bottles were on sale, so the per ounce price was lower.) After the nausea I began to suspect that the juice in the older bottle might have started to change and decided to check it. I opened one of the new bottles and sniffed to compare it with the older one. In doing that, I could tell that the older bottle had, actually gone bad without smelling really bad, and that is what was making me dizzy and sick feeling. I had been drinking bad juice. It had no further bad effect on me than to cause the nausea right after drinking, which passed quickly when I ate something on top of it.

So let me warn you, it does not get a terrible bad odor when it gets old, (like milk, which you cannot "miss") the flavor just begins to change a very little at a time. To me, it still tasted just like itself, only more so -- if that makes any sense. So what I did was to put two of the small bottles that I had bought in the freezer to preserve them for later worry free use.  In the future if I buy another large bottle I shall pour out some and freeze it until I need it. I know that was not such a good story, but I need to remember it, and thought that others may need to be aware of it, too.

Concerning the weight training: I started looking around on the internet for guidance on the correct form that Dr Ripich talks about when using dumbbells. At the web site he recommended I did not find the article/video he talked about so I just started branching out. I did find this website:

http://www.dumbbell-exercises.com/exercises/shoulders/index.html

-- which I will use as a guide to begin my strength training with the weights I have. I don't have a barbell, only a nice set of dumbbells that I can use to assist me. I think I have discovered that the necessary form is to keep the body aligned while doing any weight lifting exercise, and not rock the body, or swing the weights to assist in lifting them. If you have to swing the weights, you are using the wrong weights and need to use something lighter until you have built up your muscles more. The movements need to be smooth and steady, and the same speed should be maintained on both the flex and the relax part of the movement. And they should only be done 3 times a week to let the body rest and rebuild in between. So I think I can begin trying out the weights now. I just have to figure out which areas I want to begin working on. I shall continue with my stretchy cords until I feel the need to do something else, too.

On to day 27: Adding Green Drinks to our diet.  I had often wondered what Spirulina was about and Dr Rip also recommends chlorella and barley grass. He goes into great and convincing detail about why we should be including green drinks and calls them true Super Foods. I knew they were some kind of sea weed or algae or something but did not have any idea why people were so excited by them. Well now I know, and you will too, if you starting reading at page 337. He says they reduce inflammation and are loaded with necessary minerals in a natural form that the body absorbs easily and are even recommended for folks with rheumatoid arthritis. He gives a lot of very specific information about these items and I recommend you read about it. I shall see which one I can afford and begin taking it to help reverse my metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes).

Be back soon, as the Lord wills,

--Marcia