Drink the Water
It’s been tough the past few days, as I have been working 12 hour days starting at 2am, but it was my decision. Coming off days off last Wednesday I had to call in sick with a stomach virus I picked up from my son who spent the better past of 3 days in a lethargic state with diarrhea and vomiting. I called into work sick Thursday morning at 4am when my alarm went off and remained in bed until 1am Friday morning. Much like my son I had to drink the water and had no solid food for about 36 hours.
During that time I started looked forward to my upcoming physical. It will have been about 12 months since I last went and just short of 11 months that my doctor put me on Simvastin, a medication I took myself off of about 4 weeks later due to side effects. It wasn’t long after that I made the necessary changes in my diet to clean up my health. Between July (really October when I changed my diet) and December last year I saw a 64 point drop in total cholesterol. That number further improved a few months later. Now, as I approach my physical I am taking further steps to improve my health, but am I degrading my lifestyle?
In March I had resolved to decrease the amount of beer I drank. I can’t say I have followed through very well. While we don’t go out and socialize often, when we do it usually includes BBQ and beer. What does get me are my days off when I work around the house. While I do keep busy I consistently find myself cracking open a tall, cold one all to frequently. It’s not a drinking problem, but it’s no problem to 12 fall by the wayside in a day and a half. This continues to pack on the empty calories, carbohydrates that end up turning to sugar and being processed by the liver. This in turn (I believe) has kept my triglyceride level elevated.
I still have 16 days before I go in for my next lipid panel, but have not popped the cap on a beer since last Monday (6 days). Hopefully I can continue this trend through the 30th and onwards. There is nothing wrong with a drink on occasion but I do believe it’s having an adverse effect on my health. To supplement this habit, I have started drinking more La Croix Sparkling Water, which comes flavored. It’s all natural, no sugar or sodium. It seems to hit the spot when I am working around the house and I find myself frequenting the fridge just as often to quench that thirst.
