Saturday, February 23, 2013

Finishing up in Port Aransas

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We had to drive over to Rockport this morning for several meetings and then hustle back across the ferry to move the rig to a new park. Checkout is 11:30 and we were only 45 minutes late getting off our site. Luckily the folks, who will be going onto our site, hadn't arrived yet. We had gotten the rig packed up before we left this morning so just had to disconnect our utilities, back out of our site and head two miles down the road. Here's the view from the top of our rig at the park we just left. Pretty park and nice to be so close to the beach if it wasn't so dang windy. The rig is covered with sand. My task for tomorrow is giving her a bath to get rid of the grit.

We are at our final park for this area. The other day when we were driving on the beach we saw these kites that IMG_0062 were tethered and blowing in the wind. Look at all the RV's in the background that are boondocking on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the kite that was in the middle of that whole group that we thought was so cute.IMG_0068 Isn't it neat ? Just a puppy dog blowing in the wind...

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We'll finish up this week and pull out on Friday to head to Lake Conroe. Tomorrow is the start of NASCAR...I hope the Daytona 500 is a little calmer than the Nationwide race was today. The wreck, at the end of that race, was pretty horrific, with 17 people (in the grandstand) getting injured. Hoping that all the spectators are ok...amazing that the driver that went into the fence walked away !

Saturday, February 16, 2013

The Big Move

We moved this morning, from Rockport over to Port Aransas. Not that far but we cross on the ferry. Linda drove the car separate from the ferry coming in rig and they put her on a different ferry from the one they put me on. Here I am waiting for the ferry to come in and be unloaded.

 

 

They asked me the height of the rig and the weight as I waited in line to be loaded. I knew both of those and something that's important that every RVer know about their rig. Nothing scarier than approaching an overpass with a height restriction posted on it and not knowing if you'll come through the other side with an unwanted skylight or if it will be clear sailing. They put me on the left side of the ferry, taking up both lanes so I was in the middle of the deck. I had shut the gas off, just in case that might be an issue. Once you're on board, you shut the engine off and wait till you get to the other side. I got out real quick (since it's not a very long ride to the other side) and snapped a couple pictures.

rig on ferry 2

It's a little scary the first time that you do it but after that it's no big deal. We arrived here at On The Beach and we're all set up for the next week. The final park (and move) will be about a mile down the road from here. Weather is beautiful today. Wind has a chill to it but very sunny. The sites in the area where we are are pull ins so you can face the beach. Here's the view from our front window.Not a bad view for the next week.....Close enough to walk out on the beach hear the surf.

Rig at on the beach

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Great Numbers...

Linda got her numbers back from her bloodwork. She had two more tests than I did since she monitors her Lipo A and glucose. Both had been high when we had our last tests done. Here are the new results:

                                Before Whole 30                      After Whole 30

Cholesterol                      243                                          191

HDL                                 57                                             55

Triglycerides                  190                                            90

VLDL                              38                                             18

LDL                               148                                           118

Glucose                       102                                              92

Lipo(a)                          61                                               52

Wow, she dropped 52 points on her cholesterol (we stopped taking the red yeast rice pills while doing the whole 30 so this is all due to diet) !Glucose is in normal range and using the Iranian equation, that I talked about the other day in my post, her LDL is in an acceptable range. Pretty impressive stuff after just 30 days on the challenge.

We are still following it since we like the kinds of food we eat and seeing what reintroducing foods does. My body did not like the chocolate cake I had the other day. I got a searing headache and felt like crap. As good as it tasted when I ate it, I now know that gluten is a trigger and to either steer clear of it or be aware of the consequences. Our next test is non-gluten such as white rice, corn tortilla chips or non gluten bread. I think we'll opt for the corn tortilla chips and try those out on Friday night.

Calling for rain here tomorrow. My mom just called me and said that 1-2 feet of snow is headed towards Boston. Brace yourself, Becky ! You might have a day off from work on Friday. Hoping everyone is having a great week so far. Working towards the weekend and will be moving to our next park on Saturday.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

By The Numbers...

I promised that I'd share my pre and post numbers, from on the Whole 30 challenge and here they are:

                             11/2012                       1/2013
cholesterol                202                           197     

Triglycerides             132                             64     
HDL                            55                              51
VLDL                          26                              13

LDL                           121                           133

Also lost 8 pounds and several inches, here and there.

I was really happy about all of the numbers except for the LDL, which is my "bad" cholesterol number. Then my daughter pointed out some info from the forum that sorted things out and made more sense. I'm going to post the whole thing here. I apologize that it's so long but for anyone that has changed their eating habits due to low carb, Paleo, etc.it's important to know the correct way to look at your numbers. Apparently the doctors don't know how to use any other equation because if your cholesterol is high, they seem to want to put everyone on statins. So here's the explanation and the sources from whence they came:

"I’ve been working on this for a while, and I think it’s finally ready to post here. A lot of people post to MDA’s forums freaking out about their cholesterol tests after going Primal - their numbers are higher, their doctor wants them on statins, etc. and so forth. I’m usually called on to answer them, because I’ve done quite a bit of research on the great cholesterol con, and I know how to interpret the results. But I think this is a tool that everyone should have, so without further ado, here’s an article for you about cholesterol, what it does, and what those numbers mean.


DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
Total cholesterol: This is the total of all three kinds of cholesterol: HDL + LDL + Triglycerides. Each of them has a different function inside the body.
The recommended level of total cholesterol these days is 200 or less.

Cholesterol: A waxy substance that is actually an alcohol (hence the -ol suffix). It’s carried by lipoproteins (fats and proteins) through the water-based environment of the bloodstream (remember that water and oil don’t mix). It’s necessary to sustain cell wall integrity and to repair damaged cell walls within (among other places) the arterial system of the body. Many things can damage the cell walls in the arteries and veins, including (but not limited to) stress, high blood sugar, high insulin levels, and lack of physical activity. When damage happens to these cell walls, the body has to do something about it. Normally, it will repair them with saturated fat and protein, which is what cell walls are made of, but if we’re not eating those things, the body can’t produce them out of thin air, so it sends cholesterol in as a stopgap measure. Your body uses cholesterol to make a "patch" over cell walls that need to be repaired, but if we don’t give it the proper amount of raw materials (saturated fat and protein) to repair them with, the patch will stay there, and like any old bandage, eventually start to peel off. In the absence of the proper raw materials, the body slaps another layer of cholesterol over them to make sure that the patch doesn’t break. This is where cholesterol buildup, or plaque, in the arteries comes from. The longer the body has to go without the right raw materials, the worse the problem gets, and these plaques can eventually break off, just like a scab on the outside of your body does, and block up the arteries, causing a heart attack or a stroke. The technical term used for "increases risk of heart disease" is "atherosclerotic," which, translated out of its non-English roots, means "athero" (artery) "sclerotic" (hardening).
One of the problems with the way that current medical science treats cholesterol is that it doesn’t recognize the function of cholesterol. It just sees higher cholesterol readings and naively assumes that since high cholesterol and heart disease "seem" to go together, that cholesterol must be the cause of heart disease. The real cause of heart disease is what causes both the damage to the cell walls and the (ideally) temporary patches of cholesterol: not enough of the right raw materials being given to the body, and too much of the stuff that damages the cell walls being given to the body - to wit, too many carbs and not enough saturated fat or protein. It’s like blaming firemen for a fire, or blaming a bandage for the wound, and saying "if we take away some firemen, the fire will die out," or "if we take the bandage off the wound, the wound will heal without help" (even though it’s usually a wound that needs stitches in order to close up and heal). It’s overly simplistic, it’s a junior-high-school-level mistake, and it makes no sense.

LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein): This has been blamed as the "bad" cholesterol because its job is to go around inside your body, bringing cholesterol from the liver to spots that need repair, and placing cholesterol "patches" on them. There are two types: Pattern A and Pattern B. Sometimes you’ll have a mixed bag: Pattern A/B, some of each. When you have a VAP test, this is part of what gets reported. Pattern A is "large and fluffy" and non-atherosclerotic, like a cotton ball. Pattern B is "small and dense" and atherosclerotic, like a BB pellet. You want to have Pattern A. Pattern B is sometimes called "oxidized" cholesterol, and because it’s so small and dense, it can penetrate the endothelium (the thin layer of cells that line the inside of the blood vessels), just like a BB pellet penetrates skin. So Pattern B LDL is worrisome, because it can also cause damage to the cell walls inside the arteries. LDL becomes Pattern B due to a number of reasons, but one of the main ones is insulin resistance. If you lower your insulin resistance (which low-carbers almost always manage to do), then your LDL Pattern B goes down, which is good.
The recommended level of LDL these days is no more than 150, and most doctors now want it below 100.

HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein): This is considered the "good" cholesterol because its job is to go around inside your body and clean up used cholesterol. HDL goes around after the patched area has been repaired, and cleans up the old cholesterol patches, taking them back to the liver for processing and breakdown. You can see why HDL is high-density: it carries old cholesterols with it to the liver, so it’s got lots of tightly-packed stuff on it, hence high-density. Low-density LDL is just the opposite - it’s dropping cholesterol here and there, so it’s no longer as dense.
The recommended level of HDL these days is at least 40 for women and 50 for men. Some recommendations are "get it above 60."

Triglycerides: The "cholesterols" made in the liver from the carbs you eat. They are technically not cholesterol at all, but fat. They’re used by cells for energy. A third kind of cholesterol called VLDL (very low-density lipoprotein) carries triglycerides around in the body, delivering them to cells for energy. When VLDLs lose most of their triglycerides, they become smaller and denser, and now they’re LDLs instead of VLDLs. Triglycerides can shoot the level of VLDL way, way up - the more triglycerides you have, the more VLDL is needed to move it around the body. So if you’re eating lots of carbs, your triglycerides are going to be higher, and since VLDL becomes LDL when it deposits its triglycerides into the cells, your LDL will also be higher.
The recommended level of triglycerides these days is under 150.

EQUATIONS USED FOR CHOLESTEROL MEASUREMENT
There are two equations used today for cholesterol measurement. The first one, and the one most commonly used, is called the Friedewald equation. It works fine as long as your triglycerides are at least 100 and below 400, but outside of that range things get wonky. And the main problem is, when your triglycerides are below 100, it overestimates LDL levels. A quick rundown:
The Friedewald formula used to calculate total cholesterol is:
LDL + HDL + [Trigs/5] = total.
But because LDL are so small in comparison to the other particles, what they usually do is calculate your LDL. They measure your HDL, your Trigs and your Total - so the equation becomes:
Total - (HDL + [Trigs/5]) = LDL.
(I don’t know why the triglycerides are divided by 5. I haven’t yet found that out.)
Because this equation miscalculates LDL if you drop below 100 trigs, I’d recommend that you always, always demand a VAP test, which is a direct measurement of the LDL. People who restrict carbs usually have very low triglycerides, which means that we’re going to have problems if the lab uses the Friedewald equation to calculate our LDL levels. According to Dr. Mary Vernon, "These labs in which the LDL is calculated are not accurate if your triglycerides are below 100... The equation used to calculate these numbers makes assumptions which are not accurate when triglycerides are low." (from http://www.livinlavidalowcarb.blogsp...t-results.html).
To give an example of how it doesn’t calculate LDL correctly, let’s look at a hypothetical cholesterol result. Let’s say that Joe the Primal Dude goes in for a lipid profile after six months on the Primal diet. Here’s his results (before they do the LDL calculation):
Total: 250 (ideal <200)
HDL: 70 (ideal >60)
LDL: ? (must be calculated) (ideal <100)
Trig: 40 (ideal <150)
This is a common profile for someone who’s been low-carbing/eating Primally for a while. Now, when we put that into the Friedewald equation, here’s what we get:
250 - (70 + (40/5)) = LDL
250 - (70 + 8) = LDL
250 - 78 = LDL
250 - 78 = 172
This may give Joe’s doctor a heart attack if he doesn’t know what he’s looking at, as many doctors don’t. To him, Joe’s LDL and total cholesterol levels are way above the "ideal" numbers, and that must mean that Joe is headed for a heart attack or a stroke if he doesn’t take a statin drug immediately and get those numbers down.
For many doctors, this level of analysis is as far as they go. The nuanced information about the two types of LDL is something they either don’t have or aren’t aware of. And recognizing that if Joe’s HDL were lower, his total cholesterol would be lower too - they don’t often see that, either.
However, there is a newer equation, called the Iranian Equation, that does a better job of calculating LDL when trigs are below 100. That equation is:
(Total/1.19) + (Trig/1.9) - (HDL/1.1) -38 = LDL
Let’s plug Joe’s numbers into this equation and see what we get.
(250/1.19) + (40/1.9) - (70/1.1) - 38 = LDL
210 + 21 - 64 - 38 = LDL
231 - 102 = 129
Look at that. It’s a difference of almost 50 points in Joe’s favor. With the Iranian equation, his numbers come out to:
Total: 250
HDL: 70
LDL: 129
Trig: 40
Part of the reason the Friedewald equation doesn’t work so well is that Trig/5 issue. The Friedewald equation assumes that anything that isn’t HDL or triglycerides is LDL. LDL is the "leftover" number. Well, when your trigs are 200/5, the number it will subtract from the overall total is 40, but when your trigs are 40/5, the number it will subtract from the overall total is 8. That’s a big difference, because the smaller your trigs are, the more of the "leftover" number in the equation gets attributed to LDL, and that’s really misleading.
CHOLESTEROL RATIOS, AND WHY THEY'RE MORE IMPORTANT THAN TOTAL CHOLESTEROL
There are three ratios that scientists have found which measure the impact of cholesterol in the body. These are the ratios between the total amount of cholesterol measured and the HDL (Total/HDL), between triglycerides and HDL (Trig/HDL), and between LDL and HDL (LDL/HDL). Each one is an indicator of something different. Many doctors don't pay attention to these ratios, and that's a shame, because they're a far better indicator of cardiovascular health than the total cholesterol number. You'll see why in a minute.
The ideal ratio of Total/HDL is 4.4 for women and 5 for men. Also, according to http://www.yourmedic.../public/523.cfmand several other sites, the ratio of your trigs to your HDL will indicate whether your LDL is small and dense (bad - Pattern B) or large and fluffy (neutral - Pattern A). A larger number indicates smaller LDL particles and a smaller number indicates larger LDL particles. It's an inverse relationship.
The ideal ratio of Trig/HDL is 2 or below. 4 is high. 6 is "danger!!" This ratio indicates the level of risk for heart disease. Additionally, a low ratio of Trig/HDL is great because it's a semi-reliable indicator of lower free insulin levels. Lower free insulin is good. (However, this doesn't appear to work for those of African descent, so take that with a grain of salt.)
The ideal ratio of LDL to HDL is 4.3 or lower. 4.4 to 7.1 is average. 7.1 to 11 is moderate. 11 or more means you're at high risk for developing heart disease. The ratio of LDL to HDL is considered to be a marker of carotid plaque, or how much plaque you have built up in your arteries.
THE BOTTOM LINE
So if we look at Joe's results (using the Iranian equation), his ratios are:
Total/HDL: 250/70 or 3.57 (ideal = 5 or below)
Trig/HDL: 40/70 or 0.57 (ideal = 2 or below)
LDL/HDL: 129/70 or 1.84 (ideal = 4.3 or below)
Even if we use the Friedewald equation (with its misleading, overestimated LDL), Joe still does pretty well:
Total/HDL: 250/70 or 3.57 (ideal = 5 or below)
Trig/HDL: 40/70 or 0.57 (ideal = 2 or below)
LDL/HDL: 172/70 or 2.45 (ideal = 4.3 or below)
In all cases, Joe's ratios are well below the "ideal" - and being below the ideal is awesome. And look at that ratio of trigs to HDL! It's a great indicator of lower free insulin levels for Joe, and the ratio of Total/HDL also says that his LDL is probably (mostly) Pattern A.
Let's compare that to Pat, who's been on a low-fat, high-carb diet and exercising with chronic cardio, and whose doctor thinks he's doing really well because his cholesterol tests came back with these numbers:
Total: 180
HDL: 25
LDL (calculated with the basic Friedewald equation): 131, or (calculated with the Iranian equation): 153
Triglycerides: 120
Pat's ratios are:
Total/HDL: 180/25 or 7.2 (ideal = 5 or below)
Trig/HDL: 120/25 or 4.8 (ideal = 2 or below)
LDL/HDL: 131/25 or 5.24 (Friedewald LDL); 153/25 or 6.12 (Iranian LDL) (ideal = 4.3 or below)
Compared to Joe, Pat's got one foot in a heart disease grave! His Total/HDL is way above the ideal, his trig/HDL is in the "nearly danger" zone, and his LDL/HDL says "Look, you're at average risk for heart disease and heading higher." But if the doctor only focuses on total cholesterol, Joe's the one who'll be put on a statin, while Pat might be advised to find ways to bring up that HDL number a little bit, if his doctor does anything other than congratulate him on his "good" cholesterol numbers. And way too many doctors focus only on total cholesterol."

References:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cho...levels/CL00001 for information on recommended cholesterol levels
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/w...king-the-myth/ for more information about cholesterol generally
http://www.atherotech.com/images/vap...sterolTest.pdf for more information about the specific results of a VAP test
http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC2664115/ for information about the ratio of triglycerides to HDL
http://www.lipidsonl...le.cfm?aid=8583 has an article about the LDL/HDL ratio
http://www.healthtip...rol/LDL-HDL.php has the numbers I cited for LDL/HDL ratio level meanings
http://www.atherotech.com/images/vap...VAPResults.pdf has information about insulin resistance raising Pattern B cholesterol.
Other information about cholesterol was found in Anthony Colpo's book "The Great Cholesterol Con" (which is entirely based on peer-reviewed research), the Protein Power books by Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades, Gary Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories" (again, with a ton of peer-reviewed research), and Mark Sisson's "Primal Blueprint."

I reworked my numbers, using the Iranian formula, and my numbers are fine. Works for me...We are in the reintroduction phase and so far we tried a dairy product (ice cream and feta cheese). No side effects...had a little tummy rumbling in the first half hour but it didn't result in any outcome. Last night we had some of the Garlic and Herb Tilapia that is coated with flour and other "junk" ingredients in it. Woke up with a pounding headache, up the base of my neck, and it continued for most of the day. Had that same headache before going on the challenge but for the whole 30 days of the challenge, I was headache free. Other great outcomes was that within the first week of starting the challenge, the pain I had in my knees totally disappeared. I hope to identify what food group creates the pain (I suspect that it's sugar) because I don't want that back...no way, no how. It was really uncomfortable and I felt like my knees belonged to a 70 year old instead of on my body. Been great to be free of that pain for the last month. So onward we go, eating the way we have been. We don't feel like we're missing out on anything. Well, I do want to have a glass of wine occasionally but we have to wait to go through the testing of each category before we jump to another. No sense wasting all the time to purge our systems of crap only to throw everything back into the mix and not know what causes problems for our bodies. It's a great system for sorting all that out.

Well, it's Super Bowl time. We just got back from a bike ride that took longer than we counted on. We got on the ferry to go over to Port Aransas. We had the premo spot, parked right up front and we watched a pair of dolphins jump in the waves ahead of a barge that was going by. It was so cool ! We got to the other side and the bike wouldn't start. ARGHHHH ! We'd made several stops before going to the ferry and it had been fine restarting each time. The guy behind us couldn't get his started either. Long story short, we called FMCA Roadside Assistance and they couldn't find anyone. He had broadened his radius and was out 60-70 miles. Oh My....Linda went and asked a couple people fishing if they could help us push the bike to try and pop the clutch. They did, it started and we were good. Oh, except for the fact that we couldn't get back on the ferry cause we'd have to shut the bike off again (federal law). So off we went....clear up to Corpus Christi and around, the long way to get back to Rockport. Oh, what a day it has been ! Where's that glass of wine......

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Tex-Mex Stuff.....

We arrived in the Fulton/Rockport area of Texas and stayed our first week at Blue Lagoons RV Resort where we had some of the mostP2010018 beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Much to my regret, I awoke at 6 this morning and knowing that the sun would soon come up, I thought I might as well get up and test out my new camera. After much research I bought a Canon Powershot SX-500. It's amazing how lightweight it is and with the "auto" setting on, you don't have to do a thing except point and shoot. It has a 30x zoom so this morning I was able to clearly see the boat that was loudly chugging across the horizon in front of the emerging sunrise. Pretty neat ! Anyway, the sunrise wasn't as nice as it had been yesterday. We got up early Friday morning to go get our bloodwork done so we can compare our pre-Whole 30 numbers with post Whole-30. We should get the results early next week so we'll let you know the outcome of everything.

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We left Blue Lagoons this morning and are now at Coastal Oaks RV Resort....just about 10 minutes away from the other park. We are in the overflow due to them being full but we told them we'll just stay here. We have everything we need except cable but we get CBS and I think the Super Bowl is on that network, so no worries. There's no one around us so very peaceful...sitting in the grass, instead of squeezed between two RV's. Nice breeze blowing....a very pleasant day with temps in the 70's. We'll move again next Saturday to our next park. We have five parks to do in this area.

Looking forward to the Super Bowl. I think it might be a really good game (at least I hope so). Since the Super Bowl is here, you know what that means, don't you? Yep, the start of NASCAR is right around the corner. Yeehaw ! Can't wait....new cars this year. Gonna  be a good year, I can feel it.

We are getting some dental work done across the border in Mexico. I need a crown so they got that work started and a temporary crown putP1300009 in place. We had cleanings and x-rays done too. Linda found out that she needs two crowns so she will also get that done. They charge $200 for a crown and if you need a root canal and post, it's an additional $300. That is still so much cheaper than here in the States ! $25 for a cleaning an $15 per x-ray. Linda was really nervous about crossing the border. Our friend Colette told us everything we needed know...where to park, how much for the turnstiles and cost to park, where to find the dentist, etc. It's really a simple process...you pay .50 to go through the turnstile and then you walk across this covered bridge. When you get to the other side, you walk down into this little village with rough, cobbled streets and vendors set up on every street corner, hawking their wares. Feels like you're in another world (or at least another country). The dentist was on the first street to the left from where we came in. Super nice and professional. So glad we decided to get the work done. Saves us a lot of money. We checked the cost of Linda's prescription but it was much higher than she is paying so it pays to shop around. We were happy to cross back over and be on home soil. Sure makes you appreciate what you have living here, to go and experience what it's like on the other side.

P1300010 The plaque on the wall at the border of US and Mexico.