Gardens, Hawks, And Prints.

     All the latest news worth printing. I really had no other way to open this post, so I went with that. Anyway, my mom's improvement continues. She is more aware each day, but there can be some stumbles. It usually happens when someone calls during her meal. She will stop to talk, and not finish her meal, and then refuse to finish her meal, which will almost immediacy bring on her sundowners. It gets bad. That happened tonight, and I somehow convinced her to finish her meal. He awareness continues up until I tuck her in, which was just a few minutes ago tonight. I can tell when she recognizes me, not by her calling me by name or anything like that, but when I tuck her in, and then say goodnight, she will finish up with "I love you". That is something that has only happened recently over the last week. That means that my new dietary plan for her is working out even beyond her doctor giving her the clean bill of health.

     I have on more batch of numbers for the 72 hour fast. I didn't test GKI yesterday morning like I was planning, because there was so much going on, with having to take BGG to get her dressings change. Oh, before I get to the numbers, within a few hours she removed her bandages and I had to put an ACE bandage around her head, to keep her ears clean. I only turned my head for a second, and she had them off. I was furious, but dealt with it. Back to the numbers I did test this morning just before eating, and I was shocked by my numbers. Glucose was 95, which is about normal for me. It will go up a few points, or down to 89 on an average day. The ketone level was the big shock. I pulled a 2.4, which is outstanding. That gave me a GKI of 2.2 which means I was still in high therapeutic ketosis. Which might explain why I weighed in at extol 150 this morning. I had expected to gain back the majority of the weight I lost during the fast, which is what normally happens. You go from completely empty stomach to eating food that will retain water and you gain back all that water weight. That means that I truly lost body fat with this fast. There is still the fact that I really won't know the extent of this fast for another two days or so. That is when my body will level off and hit a norm. I'll let you know on Sunday If I have officially hit my goal of 150, which I'm already feeling is going to go to 145, and then I will begin maintenance and working on solely losing body fat. It can be done, and I will write about it on my site.

     Me and the moms went to get more plants today, and I'm really excited about them. I did get a flowering plant for the secret garden, but I also got a fruit and a veggie plant, with plans for many more. Here is the current look of the garden.

     If you remember the picture from the other night, the pink flower on the top right is new. It's another shade flower, so it will do great right there, but that isn't the exciting part. I also got a strawberry plant and some brussel sprouts.

     The strawberries won't produce until June, but when it does, I'm going to have the freshest strawberries ever for my Breakfast Salad. This plant will also produce runners that I can replant and expand my strawberry empire. 

     I replanted the strawberry plant into a grow bag and it is ready to go. I have 11 more of those grow bags. They were recommended to me by a buddy of mine, that has been growing his own for some time. They don't hold the moisture in and drown the plant like a pot will. I'm going to do the Brussel sprouts in a couple of days. They will hopefully produce sometime near spring. I'm super excited about the whole grow your own thing, and I can't wait to taste the fruits of my labors. I don't expect that these plants will feed me solely, but they will put a dent in my grocery bills. Think about it. $3 plants could give me, at the very least a few meals worth of food. Strawberries are around $6 a tub, and brussel sprouts are about the same for a pound. If I can get a few pounds from each of these, the sprouts are a 4 pack, then I saved about $40. Not great, but not bad either. There is always the potential that they produce more. It doesn't get much more organic and fresh that coming out of your own backyard. I really wish I would have started this sooner, but I didn't know anything about growing then, and I only know a very small amount now, so YouTube recommendations are going to look like the Home & Garden channel for a while. 

     Oh, when we were leaving the house to go plant shopping, I happened to spot something in my tree in the front yard. I heard a familiar sound the other day and knew a certain something was in the area, I just didn't know it would be hanging out in my tree. I give you, Hawk. I couldn't believe it when I looked up in the tree and saw him just hanging out there. I have always had a love for hawks, and you may remember the time I saved a youngster in my backyard. I did wonder if this was that youngster coming back to his home territory. I have no idea what happened to that one, but I would really love to believe that that is him right over there. Although this one looks to be fully grown, no white fluff, it looks on the smallish size compared to the one I saved. That one was this size but not fully grown. It had young feathers, but it could have reached it's size before losing it's chick fluff. I'll be keeping my eye out, to see if this one sticks around. It could have a nest near by, but I loved that it was hangin in my tree.

     I opened up Instagram today, and got the surprise and thrill of a lifetime. My favorite artist is offering up a print of a portrait of one of my all time favorite singers. That's right Llewellyn is at it again. He offered up a free portrait of Eleven from Stranger Things yesterday, and then today he offered up Bowie from Legend. I did pass on Eleven, but I couldn't pass on Bowie.

     He offers it for free, but he legally has to charge something for it, so it actually costs a dollar with $12 shipping. It is way worth it. I'm trying to think of a way that I can put it up on the Emek wall with the Silver Starman print. I will have to find some way to balance it. I just can't put it along side of it and have nothing on the other side. I'll figure it all out. Oh, and this is one of the largest free prints he has offered. It is 9x7, which is about the size of a sheet of paper. A smallish piece of paper but a piece of paper non the less. If you want one for yourself, you can follow this link. to get your own. It's only $13 and it is awesome. You have nothing to lose on this. It will take some time to get to you. He is notorious for taking his time getting the prints together, then packaging them and then shipping them out. I just got the email today that my free Obama print is going in the mail tomorrow. He is an artist, and artist aren't organized, but he does get them to you, and you will love it. The first print I bought from him took nearly a year to get to me. This was a full sized and full priced print, and I'm lucky to have it at the price I paid, because his prints are normally in the thousands now, and I only paid a couple hundred. I still have it rolled up in its tub. I will eventually get a frame and hand it, but I have to find the right wall and maybe hang up all of his prints that I have. That would be pretty epic, to have a Llewellyn wall. It will happy.

     That's it for tonight, have a Happy Halloween. I'm going to try to find something spooky to watch and then go to bed early, so that I can wake up and do my cardio way before any normal person is up. Peace in and have a spooky goodnight.

It's All About Autophagy

     I'm breaking my fast as I'm writing this. I made it 72 hours and 18 minutes. Well actually a little longer because I stopped the clock before I have taken a sip of my bone broth and turmeric. I feel really good about this fast. It wasn't easy. At the 48 hour mark I started having hunger pangs that were making me want to break early, but I held on and pushed through. I did double my potassium and magnesium intake, since I was drinking so much and urinating so much. All those good electrolytes come out in the urine, so you have to keep them replenished.

     I don't have a final weight for the fast, but I have my morning weight and all the numbers for my GKI. I started at 153.8 lbs. I weighed in this morning at 150 on the nose. I need to repeat what I said before going into this. This fast was not about weight loss. It was all about a big body reset at the cellular level. With that said, here are my numbers. I didn't test for my GKI at the start, but I had a ketone reading of .7. Very low to moderate ketosis. After 24 hours I had ketones levels of 2.2, my glucose was at 85 which gave me a GKI of 2.15. That put me at a high therapeutic level of ketosis. I was burning a ton of fat for fuel. At the 48 hour mark my ketones were at 4.4, Glucose at 77, with a GKI reading at .97. That puts me at the highest therapeutic level that you can have. This is the point that doctors are usually involved to get epileptic patients to calm their tendencies. Oh, did you not know that the ketogenic diet was developed to help epileptics? It was, but it also turns out that it helps so many other things. I won't get into that here though. We still have 24 hours to go. I did my readings at the 70 hour mark, so it wasn't a true 72 hour test. My ketone levels were 5.6, glucose at 72, which put me at an even lower GKI of .71. That is pretty epic right there. I spent the last 24 hours at a minimum in the highest therapeutic level of ketosis. I will be posting an article about how this fast affected me and what it was like at certain points of time on the website late tomorrow. I want to get information from tomorrow morning as well, to add to it.

     Speaking of tomorrow morning, I will be eating my next meal after I get home from taking Baby Girl Gauge to get her dressings changed. That means I will only have 40 calories of pure protein from now until then. It will almost be like I'm doing an 89 hour fast. There are some schools of thought that would truly consider it an 89 hour fast. They put a 50 calorie limit on consumption during a fast. I'm not of that thought. I believe that as soon as you take in calories, it's done, so I finished at 72 hours. My morning meal is going to be my Breakfast Salad with my Warrior Blend and Collagen mix shake. it's probably going to taste like the best it's ever been. I'm really looking forward to it.

     As I mentioned earlier, BGG goes to get her dressings changed tomorrow. Monday was a mess, but I got her to the shelter about 2 hours late. My mom's doctors appointment went really well. She got a clean bill of health. The Doc said that she had slightly elevated levels of cholesterol. I wanted to ask him which one, LDL or HDL. There is a reason for that. When you go keto your cholesterol levels rise slightly, but that isn't a bad thing. We have been told that any rise in LDL or HDL is bad, but that just isn't true. LDL and HDL are only carriers of nutrients, and on keto your LDL will raise because you have more of those nutrients to transport. Supply meets demand. I didn't ask, since he said she was still in good perimeters. Oh yeah, I didn't get a picture of BGG with her new doo. She's wearing yellow with Ruff Day and a thumbs down on it. It's rather cute.

     The secret garden is coming along, and we are getting more plants on Thursday. Only one or two more for now. I cleared a little out, and rearranged some step stones that I really have no use for, but by placing them on the wall, it adds a decorative affect that I liked. I still have a long way to go, but the new plants are taking to their new little plots of land.

     I'll get better pictures when I have more to show. That is my view from the chair I sit in. I really like it, and never thought I would enjoy gardening so much. It's really fulfilling watching the plants grow and thrive. The goal for Thursday is for one more flowering plant to go next to that red one, and maybe some kind of fruit or vegetable plant. I read that brussel sprouts are great for this time of year, so if I can find some I'm going to give it a go. That reminds me. I found the absolute best way to make brussel sprouts, fried. I always had an adverse affect when I steamed brussel sprouts, and then I saw a cooking segment on a show where they were frying them. You have to quarter them first, and then I do it a little differently then they do. I start with avocado oil, put in the sprouts, then add salt and pepper to taste, and they are out of this world good. Give it a try, you will love them to. I fry them until I get a golden brown color on at least one side.

     Alright it's time for Favorite Song of the Week, and it's also my Favorite Thing of the Week. I'll explain why in a second. It's from my favorite current band, so you know another TØP song is coming. Tyler has been doing location sessions and redoing some of the songs on the album in a new way, and this version of The Hype, is amazing. What makes this my FTOTW is him and his wive Jenna dancing at the end. It just makes me happy, and I hope it does you. Here is Twenty One Pilots with the Location Session of "The Hype".



     Seriously, how great is that? I really do hope that it made you as happy as it does me. The world needs more things like this in it. Peace in and goodnight.

I'm A Genius

     It's been a very long weekend. That isn't to say that it has all been bad. There have been some highlights, but as always, any plans I attempted to make were thwarted and restructured, to fit the circumstances that were provided me.

     Saturdays are kind of a standing date for my mom. A member of the family comes and takes her to lunch. This Saturday it was called on account of a bad situation. I understand that, but it still dramatically affects my day. When that happens I have to scramble to come up with lunch plans and restructure any plans that I have. Fortunately my plans are basically going to do some things that I'd prefer to do by myself, so they are easily changed, but the meals become an issue. My mom wants to eat, so I have to get something together fast, and that means I can't be as strict as I would like to. This leads to a whole weekend of her progress going backwards. Since that lunch isn't as strict, then she has another meal the next day that isn't strict and then when it comes to dinner time, she doesn't want to eat anything. That of course leads to even more backsliding. It gets really frustrating, and on top of that, I'm doing my 72 hour fast. I'll get to that in a minute. I spend the entire week getting my mom on a good path, where she is even understanding that there is something wrong with her thinking. She has asked me twice this week what was wrong with her head. She wants to know why she can't remember things, so I tell her. She has dementia, and that there isn't anything wrong with that, and that she just doesn't remember things the way she used to. Then she begins to remember things. It is truly amazing that by changing her diet, it has changed her mental state, but that all goes backwards on the weekend, and I start from step 2 or 3. The good thing is that it doesn't go back to step 1. It's definitely a two steps forward 1 step back kind of thing. The biggest thing is, that she can remember things that happen earlier in the day. She doesn't remember all the details, but she remembers the biggest moments, and that is something she couldn't do a month ago. This is working out, I just wish I could control everything, but I can't. It's impossible, so I have to take the good with the bad.

     Baby Girl Gauge is getting better. She has begun taking her bandages off, which is a positive and a negative. It means she is getting her feistiness back, but it also means that I have to keep on top of her to keep her incisions clean and covered. It's a challenge but very much a worthwhile one. I do have problem tomorrow. I am double booked on doctors appointments. I have one for my mom at the same time the Baby Girl is supposed to get her redressing done. I'm going to call them in the morning and see if I can take her in later in the day. The mentioned that I could do that on Friday, when I said I may have a problem, but that was when I thought my mom's appointment was a little later and we could make both easily. I'l figure it out.

     Oh, one other great moment of the week was doing the plant shopping. My mother and I went to Lowe's yesterday to get some fencing for the garden, so the dogs would stay out of it.  I put the fencing up this morning, and my mom loves it. The secret garden doesn't look like much yet, but it will in time. I took a picture to share with you so you could see the very early and rather grubby looking phase that it is in right now.

     Bottom right is the plant that started it all. It was a wilted little plant that was dying in it's tiny pot. I replanted it and it has thrived. The purple flower and the two in the back are the new additions. I will be taking those step stones out, and tilling up the soil in the next week or so, and we will be adding new flowers from time to time. We sit over to the right of this when we sit outside, so that my mom can look at it while we are out there. She wonders in amazement at it the entire time she is out there. It makes her happy and that makes me happy, so I am truly the Flower King now. This is also testing me and my ability at having a green thumb so that I can plant some berry bushes and vegetables in the next planting season. I'm going to be getting the soil ready ahead of time, so that I can plant in the spring. I want my own fresh fruit and veggies. If I can do this, it will save a ton of money, and they will probably taste better.

     Now for the fasting. I'm nearing the 24 hour mark as I write this, and I'm feeling pretty good. Actually 24 hours is nothing to me anymore. The last 48 hour that I did I nearly extended it to 72, but I didn't want to do two 72 hour fasts so close to one another. I went into this fast cleaner than any other fast, and it was paid off. My ketone levels were at .7 with my GKI at 5.4. That puts me at moderate ketosis, which is pretty much where I live now. That is the norm so to say. I'm going to check my levels as soon as I'm done posting this, so I won't have the 24 hour numbers for you tonight, but I'll write them down so that I can give them to you on Tuesday, which will be the 72 hour mark. This brings me to breaking my fast. Since I started in the evening, I'm supposed to break fast on Tuesday evening, but I don't really want to eat that late. Yes, 6 in the evening is late to me. I'm thinking about going ahead and breaking my fast with bone broth at that point, but then not eating again until my morning meal at around 9 or 10 in the morning. That would of course be my Breakfast Salad. Oh, did I not tell you that I named that a Breakfast Salad? Well, I have. I think that will be the cleanest way to break my fast. I will have that salad with that new Clean Keto drink, and then eat as I have been doing.

     That reminds me. I watched a video yesterday that described exactly the way I'm eating lately, and how it's a great way to do Keto. Turns out, I'm a genius and had no idea. Basically it was talking about how Keto and the Mediterranean diet parallel each other, and if you blend them together, it is a fantastic way of doing keto. Basically leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, a little fruit, lean cuts of meat, and getting your fats from quality oils and fruits like avocados, and olives. That is exactly how I eat, with the occasional dirty option of a protein bar, shakes, or my keto cookies. This way of eating has worked wonders for me, and I really enjoy it. My meat consumption is probably 25-30% of my entire eating, and I have far more veggies and fruit than I ever did in the past. Old diet was predominately sugar with 50-65% meat. I really can't explain how much better I feel eating this way, and how this way of eating has set me up great for this fat. My body is truly fat adapted and I love it.

     That reminds me. I just saw a picture over the last 24 hours of a buddy of mine that went keto because he saw what it was doing for me. He looked incredible. I'm so happy that he is looking healthy and happy. I know it's hard to believe, but I really do know what I'm talking about with this stuff. If you want help as well, just check out the website, or just email me. I'll let you in on what I eat during a normal day, so that you can maybe start a journey towards a healthier you. The first thing you have to do, is get healthy so that you can lose weight. It doesn't work the other way around. You have to cure the inflammation first, and then the rest will follow. My mom is proof of that, my buddy is proof of that, and I'm proof of that.

    Enough of my selfish plug. I'm out of here, so I can just sit back and finish my green tea. Peace in and goodnight.

I Am The Flower King

    Baby Girl Gauge had another appointment to check her ears. They said that she is doing great and healing well. They also mentioned facial paralysis. She is having trouble on her right side and her squinty eye is closed quite a bit more. The woman that I communicate with said that she thinks it is only temporary and is more likely a result of the swelling from the surgery. It doesn't matter though, because she is getting around really well. She nearly did her happy dance today when it was food time. She also ate all her food, which is a big accomplishment. Her appetite has not been up to snuff lately, but it seems to be coming back. She has an appointment tomorrow morning for the doc to take another look and probably redress her incisions. The other thing is, that some of her old obsessive habits are returning. Mostly the high anxiety in the car, and some paw chewing. She hasn't dug yet, which is a major accomplishment. I have kept a very close eye on her when she goes outside. I have to keep her dressings clean, so she hasn't really had a chance to do any digging. I'll let you know on Sunday how everything goes.

     The mom had a scary episode last night. Sometime around midnight Morty came into my room and I could hear my mom calling out for help. I quickly tripped over Morty and fell on my ass and then made my way into her room. She had gotten sick and threw up. I got her cleaned up and changed and had her drink some cool water. After a while she began feeling better enough to go back to sleep. It was a very strange occurrence, and neither of us can figure out what brought it on. Just to be safe, I didn't give her any MCT oil at night with her sleepy time tea. I don't know if that was the culprit, but MCT oil can have some rough affects on the stomach when you have an empty stomach. The thing is, she had just finished dinner before she had her tea. I'll keep a close eye on how she reacts from now on, and limit it.

     We did have a really good day today. We went to a garden nursery and bought a few flowers. We have this little flowering plant that the woman that was watching her last, gave her. It was a little potted plant and was withering away, so I replanted it near where we sit when we are in the backyard, and it is flourishing, so I figured why not get another plant. We ended up with three more that I will be planting tomorrow. They are currently sitting on the grill table outside right now. Mom loves them and is looking forward to planting them. After that we went for pizza for lunch. It has been 6 weeks since I had a real pizza, and it was good. I only had 2 and 1/2 slices, but they of course wrecked my carb total for the day, so I'm counting today as a re-feed day. It's a thing trust me. Anyway, I decided to take advantage of the extra carbs, and did an intense workout this evening, and will be doing a third round of cardio before bed. Anyway, the mom really enjoyed her day and is currently resting peacefully.

     I released my review of Clean Keto by Sun Warrior. I do believe I'm the first review on that product, so I'm hoping to get some readers out of this. The post on Instagram got a lot of likes, well a lot for one of my posts, and it was even noticed by Sun Warrior, so that was pretty cool. I did shamelessly ask for free stuff if Sun Warrior was reading. I'm not above begging. Their stuff is pricey, so if they will send me free stuff, I'm all on board. I do hope you will go check it out. I do mean every word of what I say in the review, and I even give a downside of the product, which I will see if I get the stomach issues when I have it with my breakfast next week. That reminds me, have you tried that breakfast salad that I've shared yet. It is really amazing. I have it 6 days a week now, and I'm feeling great. still having some fiber issues, but I'm working on that. I did cut the kale out, and I may add a little pili nut butter to it tomorrow, to see how that is. The great thing about that butter, is that it is very solid right out of the fridge. You have to refrigerate this nut butter. When I take it out to have, I simply scrape it off, and it comes off in flakes that melt into a delicious oily liquid. It will be a nice little touch on the top of that beautiful breakfast salad. If you want to know what's in it, just leave a comment below. I can't seem to respond to the comments, but I do see them, and I will put the ingredients and measurements in Sunday's post.

     With that, I'm out of here. Peace in and goodnight.

She's A Redhead Now

     I'm so out of the habit of writing, that I nearly forgot to write this tonight. Today got weird with my mom. It started out great. Had breakfast went to see The Addam's Family movie, which was really fun, and she enjoyed it, and then got home and had a simple dinner. Very soon after dinner was when she began to deteriorate. Out of nowhere, she started talking about how her son has left her and doesn't want anything to do with her. I think she got tired very early today and that was the cause, plus our routine was disrupted by going to the movie. She went to sleep after her tea, and then woke up out of nowhere and came out to ask who she was. I told her and she thanked me, because she wasn't sure who she was anymore. That's a scary experience right there. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

     Baby Girl Gauge had her follow up appointment to remove the bandages and her drains. They said the incision and stitches looked great and she is healing well. The redressed her bandages and she is due back tomorrow morning. She hasn't had much of an appetite, but this morning was a little better. She is currently snoring in the other chair in the living room where I am. It's funny and cute.

     She has been such a trooper through this whole thing. I'm not sure if she can't hear because of all the bandages, or if she is completely deaf at this point. I will have to wait and see once she is healed.

     Oh, I forgot to mention something the other night. I did write about it in the latest article for the website which went up today. I also found that Tuesday releases aren't optimal. Anyway, I began drinking some Earl Grey tea each morning. I'm not a coffee drinker, and coffee is one of the best sources of polyphenols. I had to find an alternate source, so Earl Grey was the way to go. EG also has caffeine in it. Since I started the 100 day challenge I have had no caffeine of any kind. EG only has a very small amount compared to the sodas I was drinking, and it managed to really affect me. I got super jittery and was bouncing off the walls. It was wild. How do you coffee drinkers handle that?

     I got this delivered today, and it was a surprise. For one, the tracking on it said it wouldn't be here until the 24th, and for another, it isn't due to be released until the 25th. I'm pretty sure I have spoken about Sun Warrior and their products before, and when they sent an email about pre-ordering their newest Clean Keto, I jumped on it. I also had a ton of points with them and managed to get it for half the cost.

     This is a protein powder that was developed by them to have perfect keto macros. For those of you not in the know, macros is short for macro nutrients which are: carbs, proteins, and fats. The standard macros on keto are 5% carbs 25% protein, and 70% fat. The Tropical Vanilla flavor has those exact, and their chocolate version is just a smidge off. I wanted to try their vanilla since I already enjoy their chocolate flavor Warrior Blend, which is their other keto friendly protein powder. When I got done with my evening workout, yes I did my cardio at the end, and waited for my cool down. Oh, I should explain my cool down. I basically relax and let my heart rate lower before I consume anything of substance. I can have water or my ACV drink, which I have every morning after my morning cardio, but no food or shakes until my heart rate falls to my average, which is now around 62 beats per minute. Yeah, remember when my resting heart rate was in the mid to upper 90's? That's a thing of the past, and yes it is due to keto. Anyway, I was dying to try this powder, and once I was settled I gave it a try. This is a bit unusual in that you need 2 scoops with 10 ounces of water. Their other powders, only have 1 scoops for 10 to 16 ounces of water. I was a little worried it was going to be thick and chalky, but it was far from it. It had a taste similar to a piná-colada. It had a consistency similar to milk, with that wonderful flavor. I really enjoyed it, and look forward to having it again. That probably won't be until the weekend. I will be adding it to my morning mix. I think I mentioned that I go from the Warrior Blend, to the WB with Collaged mixed in, to the Quest powers that I have. I like to mix it up, and since I have a few options, why not keep it crazy.

     Enough about me. I know what you are really here for, and it's Favorite Song of the Week. This one is from a legend in music. He is my mom's favorite artist, and from time to time I put his music on, because it brings her joy, so why not share with you, what I think is his greatest song. This is all subjective and what I think is his greatest song may not be what you think is his greatest song, but I don't care what you think, I'm writing this and what I say goes. Really, I could chose form a dozen or more songs and each one could be his greatest songs, that is how prolific this artist is. yes is. He is still writing music today. Ok I'll get to it already. It's non other than Sir Elton John. Good ol' Reg is my mom's favorite artist, and what can I say, she has great taste. The man is a phenomenon. Every time people think he is done, he manages to just come out with a new mind bending hit. He has done it for decades and I hope he has a couple more decades in him. It seems that we lose legends far too soon, so it is good to share with you, one that is still with us. So here is, in my opinion, his greatest song of all time. Here is Elton John, with the magical classic "Bennie and the Jets".


     Just timeless. I love that song, an so thankful that I live in the world at the same time as Elton John. Truly one of the greatest of all times.

     I'm going to call it a night. I plan on writing a full review of that Clean Keto and put it up the day before it is supposed to be released to the public. That will be Thursday, so keep an eye out for that in the mean time, peace in and goodnight.

I'm Back.

 
  Well, the two weeks is up, and a lot has happened. I did miss writing this and there were several times that I wanted to just come on, and write about what had happened that day. I decided that I would stick to my two week sabbatical and stay away. It worked, I feel refreshed and reset. It was kind of like a mental recharge

     Let's start with Baby Girl Gauge. She had her surgery and she is still recovering. Today was the final day of her pain killer, which turns out is a power opiod. She is wrapped up and ready for the next stage of her life, which will be with very limited (if any) hearing. She hasn't eaten much, and I have to hand feed her most of her food, since her equilibrium is off. When she bows her head down to eat she gets dizzy, and wobbles. She is getting better each day, and that wobble is less and less. The first day, she couldn't even walk it was so bad. I had to carry her in the house. After about 6 hour she hopped up in my chair with the last of her energy for the day.

     That picture was taken right after she got home. She is currently sleeping right now. That is mostly what she has done and I completely understand. When I don't feel 100% I want to sleep the whole day away as well. She did come into my room the first two nights, which was quite the accomplishment considering it was the middle of the night and she weaved and wobbled the whole way. Tomorrow she has to go to the shelter to get her bandages and drain removed. They will redress her and then go over what the next steps are for her recovery.

     My mom has been up and down. Today is a not so good day, but she is out with my nephew now, so I have a little time for myself, which is why I'm writing this now. The new diet has been going well, but the one big problem is, that I have no control of what she eats when she goes out with someone. A friend of hers took her out for ice cream last week, which is pure sugar, and it led to a bad sundowner session that evening. Today is due to her not sleeping well last night. If you don't think that can't have an enormous impact on your mental state, then you need to load that stuff up. I'm hoping that she will get a bit of a reset with my nephew today. When she hears or sees someone that she does recognize, it opens her mind up, which is why I am so upset that the family member that claims they are going to take care of her, can't even call her on a daily basis. Those calls help, but what do I know.

     Yesterday was a very good day, and she even had some self recognition that something was wrong with her mind. I explained to her that she had dementia, and that she would forget things from time to time, but on some days, she would remember. She was upset by that, but it was a comforting form of being upset. She finally had an idea of what was going on. Of course, a sleepless night destroyed all of that, but it may come back. I just have to stick with the plan.

     There has been a difference in her diet the last two days. She wanted this breakfast bread that our grocery store make, so I got it. It is loaded with fruit and nuts, which shouldn't be bad, but maybe that extra sugar is causing a problem. Lately her sugars all come from natural sources like fruit. She only drinks water, tea and coffee, and has eaten mostly whole foods. We do have the occasional Quest pizza, but that is sugar free and in line with keto. Once again, she is not on a ketogenic diet. She is on a keto like, low carb moderate fat, moderate protein diet. It is a slightly different version of what I eat. I just keep some of the fats from her meals, and allow her a few more carbs. The only reason I'm not doing a full on keto diet with her, is because I don't want her to go through the keto flu. I know how to avoid that, but it would require her taking some supplemental vitamins to make up what she isn't getting from the extra foods that I have her eating right now. She doesn't not like taking her medication as is, so adding a few extra pills in the way of vitamins won't go over well. That being said and the sleepless night last night, she has been doing very well up to the point of the ice cream visit. I have seen a big difference in her mood, and her sleeping. Until last night, she was sleeping through the night and late (for her) into the morning. One morning she even slept until 8 in the morning. It gave me a ton of time to read and just relax in the quite morning light.

      With everyone else covered. Oh, Morty has been Morty and is doing great. I should cover how I've been. The short answer is things are going great. The longer and much more interesting answer is, that I have had a few breakthroughs this past two weeks. I'll get to the health stuff in a second. I did also have something incredible happen last week. A buddy fo mine texted me to ask if I had finally got what I needed to build the outdoor pull up bar. I hadn't. I still haven't felt comfortable with getting 10 foot 4x4's in my car, so I haven't done it, not to mention that I have to keep a close eye on money. The supplies aren't expensive, but I need to do things in small dozes. He offered to get the stuff and drop it off by the house since he was in the area. I let him get the boards, because I could fit the rest of the stuff in my car, and I could get that stuff next month. I now have two 10 foot 4x4s sitting in the garage, waiting for me to put them to use. This was a huge deal and helped me out tremendously. I will get the other supplies in a couple of weeks and I should be doing pull ups soon after.

     Now for the health and the breakthroughs. First off, I decided not to go vegan keto, for a couple of reasons. Through my research I found out some troubling information about protein. The absorption rates for plant based protein is rather poor. You can get your protein from plant based sources, but in order to do so, you have to eat a lot of it, and that just won't fit in with my way of eating. The other is the militant attitude that a lot of vegans take. I've seen it first hand and all though not all vegans are like that, I don't want to ever be that person. I will still look for plant based options, and I have cut down on my meat consumption considerably in the past few weeks, so although I am not vegan I am much more plant based. I also make sure my meat sources come from responsibly farmed livestock. The feed off that land and don't destroy it, which is the main reason I was going to go vegan. I want sustainability in my food sources, and the big farming industry in both livestock and crops destroy the land and strip if of its nutrients. That is why all the veggies I buy are organically sourced as well.

     Enough about my soap box. The other breakthrough I discovered, I kind of fell into. It has to do with my workouts. I am of course still doing my morning cardio as per the 100 Days challenge, but with my nightly cardio, I have switched it to a slightly different time. I was doing it right before I went to sleep, which was fine, and worked great. What I did do was switch it to incorporate it into my evening workout. What I'm saying is, that I do my evening workout, and then do 10 minutes of cardio at the end of it. This has had a profound effect on my body. The common believe is that cardio kills gains. I have found that to not be true at all. I'm seeing more muscle growth in the two weeks that I have been doing it, than I saw the previous two months with not doing it. My weight is still coming off and I'm gaining size at the same time. Oh, and no I won't share a picture with you. I'm still holding a moratorium on photos of me until I hit my goal look. The picture above is the one I took just before taking the two weeks off, and I quite frankly don't look like that anymore.

     I had someone tell me this past week that I didn't need to lose any more weight, otherwise I would start looking unhealthy. Before I get into what I said to them, a little background on statements like that. The last time I lost a lot of weight a few years ago, which was 20 lbs, a bunch of people started telling me how gaunt I was looking and that they were worried about me. That led me to spiral into the weight that I was. If I didn't look good with the weight off, then I had to look good with the weight on. That was horrible thinking on my part. This time when the person said that, I told them, "only if I do it wrong". I still have fat to lose, and I still have a goal weight in mind, which I will hit, and then reevaluate whether I have more weight to lose. I am current 3 lbs away from that goal weight. I did hit it briefly at the end of my 48 hour fast, but I knew that was mostly water weight. The goal of that fast wasn't weight loss, it was more for autopahgy and resetting my cells, which is what the 72 hour fast coming up this next weekend is all about. I'm planning on going back in time, at a cellular level anyway. Oh, I should explain autophagy. That is when your cells are starved of their fuel source and begin feeding on one another. That sounds way to vague. Basically you have cells of varying ages in your body. The older cells don't do much, but they still require food sources to exist. Autophagy takes care of that waste and allows healthy cells to eat the damaged cells. That leaves you with healthy cells. Healthy cells mean a much healthier body. You begin seeing autophagy at the 24 hour mark, and it continues until around the 72 hour mark, where it peaks, which is why a 72 hour fast is so great. You get the benefits of your body cannibalizing itself for fuel (burning body fat for fuel), but you get a cellular rebirth of sorts. This leads to healthier skin, better mental cognition, and just an overall feeling of better. Yes, I said better. It's the best way to put it. Here comes the plug, make sure you check out the 72 hour post on the website so you can do it as well.

      I mentioned before taking my break that I was going to be eating that certain breakfast most of the time, and I have. This has also lead to an overall feeling of better.

     That is basically what I have had every day for the past week, with the exception of 1 day. I do have bacon and eggs with walnuts and macadamia nuts and almond milk once a week. I have added some blueberries the past few days, since they were available in the grocery store. I do think I'm going to omit the kale, due to it's heavy metal content, and just stick with arugula and spinach as my leafy greens. I switch up the protein shake each day, so depending on what I have, it will either be complete vegan or just vegetarian. It is really good and satisfying, and I think you should try it. You won't be disappointed.

    That's all I have for today. There is more to talk about, but I'll just keep all that to myself for now. I will be back on the normal schedule starting today. I have a great song for Favorite Song of the Week coming up on Tuesday so look forward to that. Peace in and goodnight.

Food For Healing

     My new plan has been working out great. I told you that I was putting MCT oil in my mom's coffee in the morning. If you don't know MCT oil stands for medium chain triglycerides. Those are extremely healthy fats, that the brain loves to eat. Happy brain means a less forgetful brain. Well, I cut the amount in half (it was already only half a tablespoon). I don't want to put too much in at once, it does have some minor side affects in the way of diarrhea. Well, I cut that in half and added the other half to her nightly sleepy time tea, and it has had remarkable results. She hasn't had a violent episode since starting on this regimen, and she has had better uninterrupted sleep. She has been more upbeat and I think she actually recognized me today, for a little while at least. The more important thing is that she has been happy and content and not overactive.

     Her workout program is a hit as well. She loves doing it and that has also resulted in her having better sleep and a more positive attitude. So, if anyone out there is saying that food can't heal you, you need to look them straight in the eye and tell them to go kick rocks. I have not only seen the results in myself, but now I have seen them in my mother.

     My current weight loss has slowed down, but I'm ok with that. I'm in hover mode around the 153-155 mark, and in reality I didn't expect to be there. I expected to only be around 160 for the last two weeks. I was settling in on kickstarting my metabolism. I don't think I damaged it, but I have been going hardcore and a little excessive on the fasting, and that can damage your metabolic rate. I just wanted to take a couple of weeks and reset a little. I added in a few more carbs, (all keto friendly berries), and although I wasn't really limiting my carb intake, I kept it under 30 grams the entire time. This has resulted in my being in constant ketosis, whether it be moderate or high ketosis, and that is remarkable, considering I was expecting to be kicked out of it this entire time. This may be my maintenance diet, when I finally decide to no longer focus on losing and start focusing on keeping off what I lost and just worry about muscle mass and body fat.

     This will be my last post for two weeks. I will return on the 20th right before I begin my 72 hour fast. I will update you then on how Baby Girl Gauge's surgery went, since that will be next week on Tuesday. I am planning on 1 article for the website this week which will be up on Wednesday. This one is going to be about what I just went through in boosting my metabolism, kind of like what I wrote above, but more in-depth. I will have a picture up. I only felt that it was needed for the example of how my body has changed throughout this process. So, if you want to see what I currently look like, you need to check out that post on Wednesday. It will be a fully clothed picture to go opposite of an old picture of myself. I didn't want to take any pictures until I reached my ideal body look, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

     Oh, I did want to share with you a picture of this mornings breakfast which is basically what I've been eating most of the week, just so you could see the berry assortment.

    As you can see, there are plenty of berries, with my bowl of walnuts and Macadamia nuts. I got some peanut butte this morning, but I'll be going back to my almond butte tomorrow. Peanut butter just wasn't right. I put the pili nut butter on the nuts, since it has such a low melt point, gives it a nice drizzle type of coating on them. Not pictured is my protein shake which I went with my Quest Cinnamon Crunch mix. All together it ended up being one super keto breakfast. Not as super as the powerhouse vegan one I had the other day. Wait, I don't think I shared that photo with you.

     That one was amazing. Kale, arugula, spinach salad, with strawberries and blackberries, macadamia nuts, and walnuts, with a drizzle of macadamia nut oil, and a Sun Warrior Warrior blend and peanut butter shake. That was perfect keto macros and over 800 calories for breakfast, and everything was put in there for it's ability to work together. The dark leafy greens were there to take care of the antitoxins in the peanut butter and the protein benefits, with the nuts helping out the low glycemic load of the berries. It's quite frankly the perfect breakfast. I'll be eating that again soon, probably after I do a 36 hour fast this week. I wanted to get a longer term fast in before the 72 which I'm really looking forward too. Hitting that big reset button in the body is a glorious thing.

     That's all I have for tonight. I'll see you in two weeks on the 20th. Until then peace in and goodnight.

I Can't Believe My Eyes

     Had a very risky moment with my mom today. She tried walking out the front door to go find her brother (me) down the street in her house. Yes, I know that sentence doesn't make sense, but that is what sundowners is all about. I talked her out of it, and changed the subject to going to a movie next week. We are going to see Abominable. I have to pick movies that are family and actually kid friendly. The will entertain her and make her smile. I've been giving her MCT oil in the morning and I'm thinking about switching it up to evening so that she can get some brain stimulus from it. What is MCT oil you ask. Well its basically coconut oil that has been broken down a little more so that it can be easily converted to ketones. Ketones are a great source of brain food, one of the many reasons a ketogenic diet is great for your brain health. Before you start, I don't have my mom on a ketogenic diet, I have her on a keto like diet. Moderate carbs, no sugars, whole foods, moderate healthy fats, and moderate protein. She is taking to it rather well, and I have seen some cognitive improvement, but there are still lapses. She has eaten a carb/sugar heavy diet for a great portion of her life, so there is a lot to repair. Do I think it will repair everything? No, I do not, but I do believe it will help relieve some of the confusion that she goes through and minimize the sundowners. For some reason her doctor won't give her medication to treat her dementia, so I'm going the healthy food route, and giving her some relief.

     Here is an example of her cognitive improvement. I took her for her hair appointment today. While she was there, she recognized all the woman that took care of her, and asked them question about their kids. Not just how is your kid doing, but how is your daughter, and how is your son, and is he still working at that job. She had definitive recognition, which I think is outstanding. She is there, she is just locked behind a door that now has a window in it. I don't think she will ever recognize who I am ever again. I am lost to her, but she is much calmer and the violent episodes that she was prone to have stopped. She still has some feisty moments, but she doesn't get violent anymore.

     On a different subject. I got a good look at myself in a mirror today. I don't really look at myself, which is why pictures are so jarring to me. The day spa where my mom gets her hair and nails done has large mirrors, and as I walked by one, I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my mind and I was floored. I know this is going to sound incredibly conceited, but I looked really good. My arms had a great shape, my gut wasn't leading the way, it was falling behind, my chest is coming to the shape that I want it to be. I had one thought, my hard work is finally paying off. I'm getting the body I always wanted to have and it is all to eating healthy and learning about my body and myself. I'm still not where I want to be, but I'm getting there. I'm finally in the teens when it comes to body fat percentage. My weight is at the lowest it has been in over 20 years, and the body I have now would have been something I would have killed for in my 20's. I'm going to do better, and I'm so happy about it.

      I'm taking the night off from my evening workouts, but I'm going to test a few things with resistance bands to get ready for tomorrow night's workout. Yeah, those are the kinds of things I do now. If I learn a new training idea, I give it a try as soon as I can, so that I can incorporate it in my next workout. Oh, I have been using resistance bands a lot lately, since I can't make it to the gym. This isn't an excuse, lately my mom has been waking up at odd hours, and if I'm not her when she has a freakout session, I don't know how bad it will be. The last few nights she has been sleeping through the night though so maybe tomorrow I will be able to visit the gym late at night. Her new workouts and sleepy time tea, I think have been helping. The great thing about those resistance bands, is that I can get a weight lifting type or experience with some simple bands. I didn't use them until about a week ago. They came with the dip bars that I got, and I really didn't know how to use them, but I found a few videos recently that have shown me the light, and my home workouts have been outstanding with them.

     I have been sticking to my mostly vegetarian diet this week an I'm feeling ok, but my body is starting to have some troubles. Nothing too bad, but the extra fiber is not agreeing with me, if you know what I mean. I did try something yesterday that doesn't have anything to do with that, but it was a massive protein boost for the day. Remember how I said I was going to do that collagen drink once a week? Well, Wednesdays are the day that I've chosen, so what I did, was mix it with my Warrior Blend protein shake. The mixture of Tahitian vanilla collagen and chocolate protein shake was freaking fantastic. I'll be looking forward to that every Wednesday now. Just thinking about it has my mouth watering. No, I can't have it now, I'm done eating for the day.

     There has been this thing happening to me lately. It is more a mental thing and a wondering if I have the right to speak to people about a certain thing. Today was one of this moments. The woman that was cutting my mom's hair was a rather large woman, and I could see that she was having some discomfort because of her weight. The thought that runs through my mind is, I could help her, if I could just talk to her. Since I am a deeply shy person (yes it's true, I don't go out of my way to talk to people), I always hold my tongue. There is also a secondary thought of, do I even have the right to bring that up to someone. Someone's weight can be a really touchy subject and I don't want to offend someone, when I really just want to help them. That is part of the reason I started howuketo.com, people can come to me rather than me going to them. What do you think? Would it be rude to ask someone if they wanted to hear about the benefits of a ketogenic diet and how it could relieve them of inflammation and soreness, and basically change their life. Yeah, I know that sounds like a pitch from a Jehovah's Witness, but that is what I feel about the Keto Lifestyle.

     The 72 hour fast is approaching and I'm really looking forward to not eating for 3 days. I still don't have anyone that has reached out to tell me that they are doing it with me. The few people that wanted to, have decided to do it at a different time to fit their schedules, and have decided to be accountable to themselves, so I'm happy I gave them some encouragement to do it, but I'm bummed that I'm not in the loop for it, to keep pushing them to keep up what they are doing. I've been wanting to do a long fast for the past two weeks, but I don't want to burn myself out before I do the 72, so I've only done 1 24 hour in the past two weeks. I'm thinking about doing a 36 either in the next couple of days, or sometime in the middle of next week. I'm ready to get into some autophagy, and destroy and rebuild some cells. I'm planning on a follow up article to give everyone that reads the website on what to expect during the 72 hours and why it is important to do 72 hours. Here's a hint, that word autophagy is a very big part of it. I'm not going to explain what it means here, but I will in that follow up article.

     I only have 2 articles for this week, the first was about the waist to height ratio, and the second was a 100 days update. I think I did a good job with them, and I know that a few people didn't know about a couple of things, and they learned something new. Remember kids, learn something new each and every day.

     Oh yeah, before I go I should share a picture of the collagen I take. It's really good, so if you are looking to increase your collagen intake, this is great way, and no I'm not being paid to say that. If I was I would tell you, because I would be excited that I was actually making money.

     Oh yeah again. I'm still not taking any photos of myself yet. I'm not where I want to be for that, but when I am, you will probably be incredibly sick of them when they come. That's it for tonight, peace in and goodnight.

The Best Laid Plans Of Mice And Men

     What's that old line about best laid plans? Don't, I already know what it is, I was just being silly. Anyway, Baby Girl Gauge's surgery has been postponed until the 15th. I'm bummed, because she has to continue to suffer a little longer, but it will all be worth it in the end. I just hope that her ears don't act up between now and then.

     The last two days have been pretty good with my mom. I have her eating healthy, and on a brain healthy diet. Yes, I have done research on brain healthy foods. I have also started her on a very mild and low impact workout program. She is very happy with it. The one hitch in the plan is when people talk about me. It creates a ton of confusion and then sets her off on a memory rant. I wish people would just follow one simple rule. I know longer exist. I am simply the man who works at the place she lives now. Whenever someone mentions my name, it sets her off on how I have abandoned her and left her to get her out of my life. Of course the truth is so far from that that it should be funny, but it isn't. I have to hear this every evening when someone mentions my name. She goes off about how she doesn't want to leave this place, because everyone has taken such good care of her, but she doesn't know where she belongs anymore, since I abandoned her. It may be the toughest thing I have to go through, and the reason that I say I'm losing my identity. I'm ok being anonymous to her as long as I don't have to hear about how much of a horrible son I am.

     Let's get on to a better subject. I have joined a new 30 day challenge group on Facebook. This is another Keto challenge, and it is being lead by a woman. I'm excited about this, because I want to hear about Keto from a female perspective. I can't relate to the troubles that women go through, so I want to learn about them, and how Keto may be different for them. This will all lead more knowledge for me, and the potential to write more compelling articles that will encompass everyone. I know what works for me, and learning what works for others will only help me.

     Speaking of articles, I have another 100 Days update coming out tomorrow. It tells you all about how this challenge has really changed my life, and I mean in a very profound way. I really hope that you will check it out, so don't forget to go to howuketo.com and take a look at it.

     I forgot to mention that I finally got the collagen that I ordered, and I have to say that it was a real jolt to my system. I'm only going to take it once a week. It's pricey per scoop so I don't want to blow it all in a matter of 25 days. That is how many scoops it holds. Like I said, I really felt a dynamic difference on the day that I had it, and I highly recommend it. It is another Sun Warrior product, so that means it's all plant based.

     From the barking of Morty ( so annoying ), I can tell that my new book from Stephan Chobsky just arrived. I mention this the other day, and I'm really looking forward to finishing the book that I'm currently reading so that I can start it. It's a horror novel called Imaginary Friend. I loved Perks of being a Wallflower, and this will be drastically different from that, so I have my worries. I write all over the place so I shouldn't hold an author to a genre and for that reason I'm really excited to see what he does with this story.

     Favorite Song of the Week, is here, and I have one that is from an artist that I've featured a couple of times now. The first time I didn't even know who she was, I was just captivated by the song in and Apple commercial. This is from her appearance on the Howard Stern show. She is a young woman with remarkable talent. Before you cast her off as the new fad artist, listen to her and realize that she is going to be around for a very long time, and I think her music is going to evolve and grow as she does, and that is going to lead to some remarkable songs. This one is already my favorite on her last album so I'm excited to share this very raw and amazing performance of her and her piano player. This is Billie Eilish with "When the Party's Over".



     I'm just going to leave with that. Peace in and goodnight.